Gaza Disengagement Plan
(Updated August 2005)
Israel has
announced its intention to disengage from
the Gaza
Strip and dismantle all settlements there in the hope of improving the lives
of Palestinians and Israelis. If the Palestinians
were sincere about their desire for peace
in exchange for land, they would do everything
possible to allow for a peaceful transition.
Instead, terrorists continue to attack Israeli
soldiers and Jews in Gaza, try to infiltrate
Israel to carry out suicide
attacks, and
fire deadly rockets at communities inside
Israel.
Israel tried to negotiate a withdrawal from Gaza, as
well as the West Bank, in exchange
for peace, but even after withdrawing from 80 percent of the Gaza Strip,
the Palestinians continued to engage in terror.
The Islamic fundamentalists, led by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, have
consistently maintained that they would not be content with an Israeli
withdrawal from Gaza; their goal is to destroy the Jewish state, which
they believe cannot exist in the Islamic heartland.
Only about 8,500 Jews
live in the Gaza Strip. They have
posed no threat to the 1.3
million Palestinians surrounding
them, but have nevertheless been under
almost constant attack.
In the course of the evacuation,
1,700 families in 21 communities
will be uprooted at a cost of nearly $900
million. This includes 166 Israeli farmers
who produce $120 million in flowers and produce.
Approximately 15 percent of Israel's agricultural
exports originate in Gaza, including 60
percent of its cherry tomato and herb exports.
Israel will also lose 70 percent of all its
organic produce, which also is grown
in Gaza.
Thirty-eight synagogues will
be dismantled and 47 graves will have to
be relocated. A total of 42 daycare centers,
36 kindergartens, seven elementary schools,
and three high schools will be closed. It
will cost approximately $500 million to relocated
military bases outside Gaza and build new
crossing facilities.
Once Israel withdraws,
Palestinians in Gaza will have complete autonomy
over their lives. Rather than prepare for
self-government and peaceful relations with
Israel, however, the Palestinian
Authority has been unable to
establish order. Meanwhile, Hamas and Islamic
Jihad have been preparing
for further warfare by
building rockets and smuggling weapons
across the Egyptian border, reinforcing the
fear of many Israelis that
once the evacuation is complete the terrorists
will escalate the violence against
Jews within Israel.
Since September 2004, nearly
500 rockets have been fired from Gaza into
Israel. On the eve of the Sukkot holiday (September 29, 2004), two Israeli
children, ages two and four, were murdered
by a Kassam rocket fired at their home in
southern Israel by Hamas terrorists.
No nation would tolerate such attacks on
its population.
The Palestinian
Authority has thousands of security
personnel in the Gaza Strip who could stop the rocket fire and arrest
the terrorists. Instead, the PA continues to incite more violence and
then complains to the international community when Israel protects its
citizens.
Even as Israel takes military action to defend its
population by going after the terrorists, smuggling tunnels and bomb
factories, it is trying to minimize the injury to innocent Palestinians
who have allowed the murderers to live in their midst. Special humanitarian
officers now accompany every battalion serving in the Gaza Strip and
guidelines have been issued relating to the maintenance of key services
and the flow of Palestinian ambulances in and out of combat areas.
Egypt has
a vital role to play to insure that Gaza
develops into a peaceful Palestinian enclave.
Egypt must prevent Palestinians from smuggling
weapons and contraband across its border;
otherwise, Gaza will become a terrorist
haven that will pose a threat to Israel.
Despite the danger posed by introducing Egyptian
troops into the Sinai, a step that is limited
under the Israel-Egypt
peace treaty, Israel agreed to allow
the deployment of 750 Egyptian national guards
along the “Philadelphi Route” (the
border area separating Egypt and
the Gaza
Strip)
Nearly half a million Palestinians
live in eight Gaza
refugee camps. When Israel controlled
the area, it consistently tried to move
them into permanent housing, but was condemned
for doing so by Arab-sponsored UN
resolutions.
The Palestinian
Authority has controlled these camps
now for a decade and, despite receiving
$6 billion in international aid, has not
made any effort to dismantle the camps or
build a single home for even one refugee
family.
Israel and the Palestinians
mutually agreed that the settlement buildings
would be razed after disengagement because
the PA said it needed to build different
types of structures to house the refugees.
They will have no excuse for failing to
move some or all of the Palestinians out
of camps into permanent housing after Israel
withdraws.
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