Sharon's Skin And Bush's Spots (Uri Avnery)

[Violet_Crumble]

19 April, 2004
Gush Shalom

Question: Is the "Unilateral Disengagement" plan, which was so dramatically endorsed this week by President Bush, a bluff ?

Answer: Yes and No.

If Ariel Sharon can avoid implementing it, he certainly will. He will implement it only if he has no alternative. The written plan says that it will be implemented "by the end of 2005" - and by then the situation in this country and in the Middle East as a whole may be changed beyond recognition.

Anyhow, up to now no preparations have begun. There is no answer to the dozens of questions that must be addressed before a meaningful plan for implementation can even begin to be formulated. For example: Where will the settlers go? How much compensation will they get Who will control the Gaza strip after the withdrawal? To whom will the houses and public buildings be turned over How will the army execute the evacuation? Where will the evacuated army forces be relocated

http://www.countercurrents.org/pa-avnery190404.htm

[Classical_Liberal]

1. This part was very interesting

uestion:What is his overall plan?

Answer: The maximum plan is to turn all of the land between the ??Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River into a Jewish State, with no non-Jewish population. Since such an ethnic cleansing is not feasible for the time being, he is implementing his minimum plan: to enlarge the borders of the Jewish State as much as possible, without incorporating a further large Arab population.Therefore he wants to get rid of the Gaza Strip with its 1.2 million Palestinian inhabitants. He is prepared to evacuate the 7,000 Jewish settlers who are living there, in return for the consolidation of the West Bank settlements, where 250,000 Jewish settlers live.

Sharon wants to incorporate in Israel 55% of the West Bank - the area where most of the settlers are located and the Arab population is relatively sparse. The plan spells it out: "It is clear that in the Judea and Samaria region there will remain areas that will be part of the State of Israel, including civilian localities, security areas and other places where Israel has additional interests" (Article 1c)*. This definition could include ??practically anything.
* Since the plan has been leaked only in Hebrew, I have made the translation.

Almost all the Palestinian population in the West Bank, some 2.5 ??million people, will be crowded into the remaining 45% of the area, which, together with the Gaza Strip, will constitute about 10% of the country called Palestine under the British mandate, before 1948. This area will be a kind of archipelago in the big Israeli sea. Each "island" will be cut off from the others and surrounded by Israeli areas. The islands will be artificially connected by new roads, bridges and tunnels, so as to create the illusion of a "viable, contiguous state", as the Americans demand. According to the written plan: "Israel will improve the transportation infrastructure in the Judea and Samaria region, in order to make possible uninterrupted Palestinian transportation" (4). In practice, these connections can be cut off within minutes at any time. Pretexts can always be found easily.Sharon does not mind if this collection of enclaves is called a "Palestinian state" according to Bush's "vision"......

http://www.countercurrents.org/pa-avnery190404.htm