March 25, 2005 – Israel's withdrawal from Gaza is not the most important issue that Israel has to deal with though there are those trying make sure that it is. Israelis who have focused themselves so completely on this issue do so to the exclusion of all other things.
Opponents of the Gaza withdrawal are not all wrong in what they are saying. Another time, another place and they would be absolutely right. But they are missing what is going on around them.
Here's what they are right about.
Giving up the land, any Israeli land, to an Arab people who have demonstrated such murderous intent is wrong. Vacating historical lands to those whose only argument is that it is theirs by right of possession is wrong, too. Driving fellow citizens from their homes and livelihoods is not reasonable either. And being bullied by ones own government and people makes accepting reality more difficult.
But there's more to it than that. What is best for Israel is the question, and the answer is that whatever makes her stronger, better able to survive and more capable of protecting her citizens is what is best. We have consistently come down on the side of the government on this issue and still do.
First, there is a question of majority. The government has a parliamentary, electoral and cabinet majority. They have it now and would prevail at the polls if there were an election. For a minority to continue to tear the fabric of the country apart to achieve its goals in the face of majority opinion is dangerous. This is what a tiny cabal did when they forced Israel to accept Oslo, but even with Oslo, the country's agony didn't rip it apart. Making the IDF take sides, not something soldiers should be made to do, urging civil disobedience, not without its consequences at any time and undermining the public trust in its leaders, can and will tear the nation's fabric.
Far too many soldiers are needed to safeguard this small group of Israeli villages and farms. Gaza is exposed and difficult to protect. The high casualty rate sustained by the IDF in and around Gaza tells us that. Shortening Israel's lines of defense makes strategic sense. It is more important to have a mobile force available in a future conflict than to tie down 50,000 troops around Kfar Darom and other parts of Gaza.
The existential threat to Israel comes from Iran, not Gaza. A nuclear Iran could end Israel's existence, and Israel and the U.S. have to be clear about what has to be done in Iran.
And finally, what the impassioned keep-Gaza movement misses completely is what is going on in the Arab world. We carry no brief for the claim that democracy is breaking out all over and would be first to warn against over exuberance, but we do recognize change is happening and it is for the good. Arab regimes are turning inward instead of constantly focusing their attention outward towards Israel.
Here’s the irony to all of this.
Since the founding of Israel, the world has always had to be reminded that Israel's conflict was with the Arab world. It has always been an Arab-Israeli confrontation and the "Palestinians" are a people invented by the Arab world to do its bidding.
It all started with the expulsion of Jews from every Arab nation followed by each Arab regime’s eagerness to engage Israel in armed confrontation at every opportunity. But that's in the past, and Palestinian terror is all that's left. Absent support and direction from their Arab sponsors, terrorism and the intifadas would diminish greatly. Palestinians just don't have the resources to sustain their belligerence without the patronage of Arab nation-states and their proxies.
There is a difference between perseverance and obstinacy and it takes common sense to distinguish between the two. We think that most Israelis have a common sense grasp on reality and will resist the obstinacy that can only tear Israel apart.
–nrg

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