Statement on Ariel Sharon's Plan to Withdraw from Gaza
February 05, 2004
MPAC cannot help but note that Ariel Sharon has however repeatedly made "painful concessions" and accepted the necessity of a Palestinian state in name only, while playing musical chairs on the West Bank by "evacuating" uninhabited outposts while simultaneously building new settlements. Many observers, both Israeli and Palestinian, are skeptical of Sharon's true intentions. MPAC also notes that Prime Minister Sharon has said he intends to keep the settlements on the northern end of the Gaza Strip. Israel's withdrawal from Gaza must include a transfer of control of water rights to the Palestinians since the largest natural aquifers sit under the largest of the Israeli settlements. The long standing policy of draining Palestinian aquifers while charging Palestinians for their own water and cutting off supplies if poverty prevents payment appears to remain intact.
Some Israeli observers believe that Sharon is trying to distract attention from the growing bribery scandal in which the equivalent of Israel's attorney general must soon decide whether to indict Ariel Sharon himself, a move that would almost certainly result in his resignation.
Initial press reports suggest that any withdrawal would take quite some time. Ha'aretz, the leading Israeli newspaper, reports Sharon to have said "that Israel would need one or two years to remove the Gaza settlements". However, it is clear that this announcement is a major shift in Sharon's policies, and creates a strong precedent for settler withdrawal by a future Israeli government. MPAC would applaud the full withdrawal of the settlers from Gaza. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat stated of the Palestinian reaction, "If Mr. Sharon intends to pull out of Gaza... no Palestinian will stand in his way."
MPAC emphasizes that the proposed withdrawal from Gaza is not a substitute for an acceptable final status. MPAC rejects as inherently unfeasible Sharon's notion of "unilateral disengagement". This announced policy, which suggests that Israel will evacuate most of Gaza and some of the West Bank settlements while walling the Palestinians into a repugnant cages, while simultaneously declaring that a Palestinian state is politically unworkable, is a moral abomination.
Sharon is also floating notions of transferring Israeli citizens who are not Jewish into the new Palestinian statelet. This would appear to be an odd notion for any truly democratic state that considers all of its citizens to be equally valuable and legitimate members of its polity. No nation on Earth will recognize that statelet, nor will any accept Israel's unilateral annexations, nor will any agree that this represents the end of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. To achieve that will require the full withdrawal of Israeli settlers from the West Bank and Gaza, and the creation of a viable Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. The United States should make this clear to the government of Israel, and not accept Sharon's unilateralist fantasy peace as a substitute for the real thing.
A just and lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians is a vital American interest. No other issue creates as much ill will in the Middle East toward the United States than does the ongoing plight of the Palestinians. Ending this conflict is in our national interest, but it cannot be ended with an unjust peace. Only an equitable and just peace will prove lasting. What Sharon offers is far from that.
