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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| The Gush Katif War |
| 2014-08-05 |
| By MICHAEL FREUND 08/04/2014 21:54 As the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas appears to be winding down after more than three weeks of bloodshed, it is time to confront a painful and inconvenient truth. Though hardly anyone has had the courage to admit as much publicly, the fact is that Operation Protective Edge should never have needed to have been fought. All the destruction and loss of life, all the economic disruption and diplomatic fallout of recent events did not have to come to pass. Simply put, this conflict is a direct result of the grave and unnecessary strategic errors that Israel made nearly a decade ago, chief among them the unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in 2005. Indeed, don't think for a minute that Operation Protective Edge began on July 17, when Israeli ground forces entered the Strip, or that it commenced on July 8, when Israel's air force launched its offensive in response to Hamas rocket fire. The groundwork for this bloody clash was laid precisely nine years ago this week, on the tenth day of the Hebrew month of Av, when Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon's government began dismantling Gaza's Jewish communities as part of the so-called disengagement plan. Despite countless warnings at the time that the Gaza pullout would bring disaster, Sharon pressed ahead, demolishing more than 20 flourishing Jewish communities and withdrawing the IDF from the Strip. This foolhardy move paved the way for the Hamas takeover of Gaza in 2007, a turning point that has had calamitous consequences for Israel ever since. Had Israel not uprooted thousands of Jews from their homes, had the government not pulled the army out of Gaza, Hamas would never have been able to seize control over the area, transforming it into a platform for unprecedented terrorist attacks. Thus, through its own reckless actions, the Sharon government helped to create the monster that is now using Gaza to fire rockets at Tel Aviv and to build dozens of underground tunnels. IMO, the original mistake was made in 1967 |
| Posted by:g(r)omgoru |