Israel's Withdrawal from Gaza: A Good First Step
August 18, 2005
In a promising turn of events thirty-eight years after occupying the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 War, Israel has chosen to remove illegal settlements from the Gaza Strip. Although many want the credit for this action, the credit belongs to the people of Gaza who refused to accept permanent occupation and dispossession in the face of extreme hardship and pressure. MPAC calls upon the international community to aid the efforts of the Palestinian people in their attempt to create a new beginning that will bring sustainable development and self determination.
Israel burdened the people of Gaza with all manners of restrictions on their daily lives and injured or killed thousands to maintain its control, while inserting Jewish settlers in their midst. The Israeli settlers were not Jews who chose to live among the people of Gaza as equals, but instead were implanted at the point of a gun on expropriated land. The 1.3 million Gazans had to give up one third of the land area and 60 percent of the water supply of Gaza to provide ample living space for 7,500 Jewish settlers. In order to provide security for those 21 settlements, the heavy hand of the Israeli army was set upon the Palestinians.
At the end of all this, the Israeli army is now forcibly evicting the settlers and leaving Gaza. This has come with a fresh round of violence. Two weeks ago, an Israeli terrorist killed four Palestinians living in Israel. Just yesterday, an Israeli settler in the West Bank settlement of Shiloh opened fired on Palestinian workers, killing four and wounding one.
This policy of occupation and settlement has finally been seen by the Israelis themselves for the folly that it was. At no point has Israel's occupation nor dispossession of Palestinians enhanced security. For all the innocent Palestinians who suffered physically, emotionally, financially, or otherwise, while Israel learned this lesson, this is cold comfort. Most immediately, the over 800,000 refugees remaining in Gaza deserve a just settlement.
Furthermore, there must be a similar withdrawal of the Israeli army and the settlements from the entirety of the West Bank. This withdrawal should be in the context of a final peace treaty between Israel and Palestine, leading to a two-state solution of the conflict, a return to the borders before 1967, and the establishment of East Jerusalem as the capitol of a Palestinian state. The Bush administration should take this opportunity to follow through on its stated policy goal of having a real Palestinian nation. The United States should return to the table and push for a final status negotiation between the two sides.
In the interim, the status of Gaza remains unclear. Who will now be sovereign over Gaza? Have the Gazans merely exchanged many small prisons for one large one? How will they have dedicated access to the West Bank? Can the people of Gaza declare nationhood after the withdrawal? Will they have control over their border with Egypt and free access to the sea and airspace? The unilateral nature of Israel's withdrawal left these important questions unanswered. The withdrawal from Gaza can only be seen as a good first step, but we remain a long way from our goal.
