Europe's bear hug

Indeed, the world's red carpets are waiting.

Wherever he may turn, the prime minister, formerly one of the most despised people by many in Europe, will be welcomed with warmth and sympathy. Everyone will want to shake the hand of the scary warrior who holds, ironically enough, the key for a new hope in the Middle East and has paved the way for a new period of calm.

However, this global hug will be problematic, unstable, temporary, and somewhat deceptive. The tighter it is, the more choking and threatening it will be.

The Europeans, and not only them, will not offer their hugs for long without getting something in return. The world, even if Israelis tend to ignore this, has already decided: Gaza is just the beginning, not the end.

The Gaza Strip withdrawal will have to be followed by the next, large-scale evacuation, in the West Bank, where tens of thousands of Israelis reside in dozens of communities, some of them isolated.

The question the world is asking is not "if", but rather "when" – when will Israel complete the full withdrawal from the territories and when will a Palestinian state be established.

Israelis also seem to think that following the Gaza exit, the situation will grow stagnant, and nothing will change here for eternity. This, however, is a mirage aimed at assisting politicians and lulling into sleep supporters of the Greater Israel and those concerned about handing territory over to the Arabs without receiving anything in exchange.

This illusion is also producing a sense that Israelis, including West Bank settlers, are unwilling to hear about another disengagement, another withdrawal.

However, studies and polls undertaken recently by various groups show fascinating results: Not only do some settlers who live east of the large settlement blocs think another withdrawal shall come and understand Gaza is only the beginning, but a considerable percentage of them are willing to leave their homes now.

If a proper solution is found for us, they say, if there will be someone who compensates us for the house we live in now, we'll pack up and leave. We are sick and tired of living like people did in the period before Israel's establishment, with daily life subject to terror alerts.

These findings, along with the activity of new and old organizations such as "One Home," which collect requests by settlers in the West Bank who wish to leave, prove that the Gaza pullout shattered the previously prevalent dogma that settlements cannot be evacuated.

The past seven days proved that if there is something reversible, it's history, and if there's anything that does not determine or decide anything, it's the so-called facts on the ground.