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August 22, 2005
Arab News: Israel Did the Palestinians No Favor in Gaza
Arab News told its readers in an August 22, 2005 editorial: The settlers have lost. Their dreams are over. The Jewish soldiers did not refuse to obey orders; the Israeli people did not rise up; the demonstrations ultimately failed to sway the government and the majority of Israelis remained firm supporters of the decision to withdraw from Gaza. Most of the 21 settlements are now virtually deserted. The orderly, smooth and quick disengagement belies the scenes of wailing and defiance by some settlers that TV and the sensation-seeking media like to zoom in on. The settlers should be so lucky, given the constraints shown to them by their troops and with up to $500,000 in their pockets as compensation. There might have been emotional scenes of settlers leaving their homes nothing of course compared to Palestinians when their homes are destroyed by Israeli bulldozers but they are leaving not their land but someone else's. They are not doing the Palestinians a favor,
Arab news added: Freeing just five percent of occupied land and involving just 21 of 150 illegal settlements, the Gaza withdrawal is not a marvel or a miracle or a painful concession as the Israeli government and settlers would like for the world to believe. Because Gaza is so unsafe, so barren, so poor, and of no strategic benefit not to mention that its huge Palestinian population threatens to tip the Jewish demographic scale in Israel its loss is of no consequence to the Israelis or to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who ensured that the price he had to pay was as low as possible.
The publication, which bills itself as "The Middle East's Leading English Language Daily," noted that Gaza still "remains in Israeli hands. Here's more.
Posted by Munir Umrani at August 22, 2005 03:32 AM
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