Israelis Wonder if Rushing to Evacuate Judea, Samaria is Necessary

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Israelis Wonder if Rushing to Evacuate Judea, Samaria is Necessary
Speedy Gaza Withdrawal Left Thousands Without Homes Traumatized

By Amihai Zippor
Israel Hasbara Committee

(IHC News, 18 May 2006) Prime Minister Ehud Olmert spoke about plans to withdraw from most of Judea and Samaria at a meeting with a group of religious Zionists concerned about the future of the state on Tuesday, 17 May 2006.

Scheduled to begin in 2008, Olmert hopes to institute his “Convergence Plan,” pulling Israel out of large areas of Judaism’s ancient heartland creating a large space for the establishment of a future Palestinian state.

In the process, Israel will build up the blocs of Jewish communities closer to the 1949 armistice lines, areas Israel says it would definitely retain in any final settlement.

Origins of the convergence plan are based on the fears that in the near future, the Arab population between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea will surpass the Jewish population and Israel will cease to be a democratic Jewish state if millions of Palestinians are under its sovereignty.

With that in mind, Olmert expressed his view to the gathering that a Jewish majority is more important than the Land of Israel and that Israel must carry out his vision because, as he put it, “time is not on [Israel’s] side.”

Olmert claimed that despite the fact there is no Palestinian peace partner, if Israel did nothing to advance its cause, it would be forced to retreat to much smaller borders down the road.

Meanwhile, as Israel’s new government makes preparations to implement the Convergence Plan, many Israelis are asking why the state needs to act with such swiftness and run the risk of repeating the mistakes of last summer’s withdrawal from Gaza and northern Samaria.

That evacuation saw the uprooting of 10,000 Jews and the destruction of their communities before new communities were built for resettlement and before the government had the proper funds to compensate the residents and help them rebuild their lives.

A new study dealing with these issues released by The Gush Katif Committee shows that ten months after the disengagement, 98% of the refugees still have no permanent housing, 68 families still live in hotel rooms and 50 families, including children, are still living in tents near Yad Mordechai north of Gaza.

Furthermore, most of the children from Gaza suffer from trauma and post-traumatic symptoms and are considered “at risk.”

As a whole the report and others like it that have been issued in recent months, display in numbers what went wrong due to the hurried nature of the disengagement and the reality that the government wasn’t prepared for its undertaking.

If anything, the success of the next pullout, if actualized, will be judged on the advanced preparations the state’s agencies undertake to ensure the safety and well being of those it chooses to transfer.

Only then will the nation be able to survive the painful concessions its leaders believe will make a better Israel.

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Source: Original text contributed by the author, IHC reporter.

Copyright © Israel Hasbara Committee, 18 May 2006.

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