It’s 1994 all over again; Camp David was a joke, and Sharm
el-Sheikh was the stage for the new theatrical masterpiece,
“Sharon, Man of Peace.” How can the new disengagement
plan be a lasting solution to the Palestinian crisis when it
doesn’t address any of the main causes of the crisis?
At no point did anyone mention occupation, the refugees, the
“right of return,” or Jerusalem as a Palestinian
capital. All these issues were ignored while the policy makers
designed a “peace plan.”
This is what Sharon came up with: Israeli occupiers leave Gaza
strip (they’re compensated by more land in the more valuable
West Bank), remove Gaza’s defenses, build a wall to surround
Gaza, and “free” a number of Palestinian prisoners.
The Israelis illegally occupy land in Gaza ““ about 7,500
Israelis live in this area. Sharon’s seemingly magnanimous
sacrifice to dismantle settlements in Gaza (settlements that are
illegal and internationally condemned) actually benefits him.
It buys more valuable settlements in the West Bank, allows for
the continued maintenance of large Israeli settlement blocs, makes
withdrawal to the 1967 border out of the question, perpetuates the
sprawl of Israeli-controlled Jerusalem, and denies the historic
rights of Palestinians who were driven out of their homes during
the violent birth of Israel in 1948.
It is important to note that even after Israel disengages from
Gaza, they reserve control over the Gaza airspace and will maintain
the right to invade again at any time for “security”
reasons. So Israeli people leave, but Israeli air force stays.
And those prisoners who are going to be freed, many have not
been officially charged with anything ““ in other words,
they’re supposed to be free in the first place. Some
concession.
As part of the disengagement plan, the Israelis will also
continue to erect a “security fence” throughout
Palestinian areas. This fence will cause what little land the
Palestinians do have to be fragmented, inoperable and completely
dependent.
And in case you are getting an image of a cute white picket
fence with a little swing gate, you should know that the title of
this “security fence” is as misleading as most titles
in this process.
At many points along its length, the fence is 12 meters high,
60-100 meters wide, concrete and barbed wire wall. It has been
condemned by humanitarian organizations such as Amnesty
International. Part of it will enclose Gaza, separating it from the
West Bank, which will have its own wall around it.
How is there supposed to be a Palestinian state divided by a
concrete wall that the people can only access through a series of
tunnels and bridges patrolled by Israeli armed forces? Do the
Israelis want peace or do they want segregation?
Gaza will be economically cut off because it has little economic
structure of its own. It will have no defense mechanism because it
will be demilitarized and its security responsibilities will be
turned over to the eager-to-please-anyone Abbas government.
OK, so let’s see ““ Israelis leave illegally occupied
Palestinian land, and in return for this concession they get more
illegal occupation in the West Bank; a wall is built around both
the West Bank and Gaza, Gaza is stripped of its defense and
economic opportunities, separated from family ““ oh, and
Israel still has control over Gaza air space.
Funny, that kind of sounds like a prison ““ a large prison
with a 12-meter-high wall containing its moneyless, defenseless and
family-less prisoners. It will separate them from the outside world
with Israeli patrol in the sky and a puppet Abbas government on the
ground.
Gaza will become an incarceration camp, and Sharon will become a
man of peace. They will live happily ever after because it will
ensure Israeli security, which is the real issue at hand.
As Sharon said during the Sharm el-Sheikh meeting, “Only
by crushing terror and violence can we build peace.”
First of all, Sharon, you used crushing and peace in the same
sentence, and second, you have it all wrong ““ only by
establishing justice can we build peace.
As long as we keep dodging the real issues of the crisis, as
long as we continue to fiddle with “solutions” that
confuse, complicate and undermine peace, the Palestinian and
Israeli people will, sadly, never live in peace.
Kurdi is a third-year political science and international
development studies student.