Israel’s Best P.R. Ever
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has been getting a lot of good press lately for his withdrawl of settlers from the Gaza Strip. But is the praise really all that deserved? From the moment Sharon was elected he was widely considered to be an obstacle to the peace process in the region as a supporter of Israeli settlements. The recent pullout was seen as a massive turnaround in policy for Sharon and an enormous step toward peace and a Palistinian state. But was it?
NYT: Israel on Monday wrapped up its withdrawal of the nearly 9,000 settlers from the Gaza Strip. Despite the pullout, there will almost certainly be more Jewish settlers at the end of this year than at the beginning, said Yariv Oppenheimer, the leader of Peace Now, an Israeli group that opposes settlement building.
The West Bank settler population is about 240,000. With the number increasing by more than 10,000 a year, the growth will offset those who have been removed, even if none of the evacuees resettle in the West Bank. The figures do not include Israelis in East Jerusalem.
Palestinians, as well as Israeli critics of the settlements, say the Gaza evacuation was welcomed, but they note that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says he plans to continue strengthening the much larger West Bank settlements.
Mr. Oppenheimer said he expected settler leaders to push for the Gaza evacuees to relocate in the West Bank. “The settler leadership has a political interest in showing that this was not a defeat, and that it will only result in the further building of West Bank settlements,” he said.
If the Gaza settlements are to be disbanded only to bolster West Bank settlements, how are we any closer to a peaceful arrangement? It would seem that Sharon has pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes by demonstrating a massive sacrifice on the part of Israel complete with heart-wrenching news feeds of people being dragged from their homes for the sake of peace, while continuing to provoke Palestinians with West Bank settlements.
Before we applaud Israel, it is important to scrutinize what exactly this will accomplish. While even the most skeptical of us is willing to concede that this is a sacrifice on the part of Israel, what does it really accomplish? If violence suddenly ceases in the Gaza Strip only to escalate in the West Bank, this only weakens the Palestinian position while further solidifying the Israeli grip on the territory. While I of course commend the Gaza pullout, I believe if Sharon were truly interested in peace he would be interested in evacuating West Bank settlements as well, as per UN Security Council Resolution 446, March 1979:
The Security Council, […] Determines that the policy and practices of Israel in establishing settlements in the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967 have no legal validity and constitute a serious obstruction to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East;
Instead twenty-five years later we still can’t achieve much more than token gestures and visual overtures.