Take Back Katif

As foreseen
by Israel’s leading military leaders, right
wing politicians and religious Jews, the ethnic cleansing of the
Jewish population of Gaza has gained Israel absolutely nothing.
Amid promises of peace by Sharon, Bush and Rice, thirty seven
years of blood, sweat and tears were flattened by bulldozers
following the gut wrenching removal of the people, and now the
Jewish towns of Gaza are terrorist training camps and Kassam
rocket launching sites. More rockets have landed on Israeli towns
in the 4 months following the withdrawal, than in the 4 months
previous to the withdrawal. Now Ashkelon’s power station
and major oil pipelines are within reach - it’s only a
matter of time. A child care centre was nearly hit this week and
now Israel is resorting to air strikes to stop the rockets.
Israel should have never left Gaza.

Stan Goodenough from Out of Zion Ministries places this report
on the situation for The Omega Times.

Ever fearful of negative international repercussions,
Israel’s leaders are vacillating over what would be the
most appropriate response to the unrelenting mortar and rocket
attacks from Gaza. And unrelenting they have been. There has been
no diminishing, no letup, in the level of aggressive fire at
Israeli targets since Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip last
August. In fact, it’s getting worse. This past week saw
rockets hit the industrial area of the Israeli city of Ashkelon
and two military bases, the second – just hours before this
writing –sending five Israeli soldiers to hospital.
It’s only a matter of time before the Kassams kill more
Jews.

The answer – a real and effective response that would
bring this terrorism against Israel’s Negev towns to an
abrupt halt – is a simple one which can be quickly
implemented. Let the IDF retake Gush Katif. Let Israel send its
tanks and troops back into the recently abandoned settlements.
Let its soldiers and helicopter gun-ships drive out the
terrorists who have turned the Katif Bloc into a training ground
for more of their ilk; using the once Jewish neighborhoods as a
launching pad for their rockets and mortars. Let the uniformed
and armed Israelis secure the violated Jewish towns; let them set
up camp amid the ruins of the once-lovely Jewish homes and
gardens; let them raise the Star of David over the desecrated
synagogues. Then let Israel send a clear warning to the Arabs:
Stop the rocket fire or we will take back more. And let Israel
put the Quartet on notice: unless massive international pressure
is brought to bear on the "Palestinians" to stop the terrorism
from Gaza, Jerusalem will allow the evicted residents of Gush
Katif to return.

They will come back in, rebuild their homes and schools,
re-establish their greenhouses, and reconstitute their
communities, with government guarantees that they will never be
uprooted again. Let Israel start this process, and we’ll
see how quickly the world sits up and takes notice. The sight of
Israel’s Merkavas rolling back into the Gush will send the
international community into shock. Outrage will overflow; the
world’s negative reaction will be in direct proportion to
the elation it expressed as it watched Jewish soldiers uprooting
Jewish families a few short months ago.

But Israel has enough evidence, enough footage of its painful
withdrawal to reawaken recent memories, to deflect this
indignation away from itself and towards the Arab side. For
Israel did what it promised to do. It brutally drove its citizens
out of their homes, flattened their houses, disinterred their
loved ones, and turned Gaza’s Jews into refugees for whom
charity organizations are now trying to collect thousands of
winter coats to ward off the encroaching winter. Israel went
much, much further than the extra mile. It did what no other
nation has ever been willing to do, giving away land it
controlled to people who remain committed to its destruction.

And in response, what did Israel get from those enemies? No
thanks. No appreciation. No reciprocity. No change. Not so much
as a nod. Nothing! The violence continues as if the Jews were
still in the Strip. If this reality cannot expose the bankruptcy
of the land-for-peace approach, what will? Israel unilaterally
withdrew from Lebanon, but instead of peace its citizens today
stare over their northern border at 15,000 missiles that have
been deployed for cataclysmic use against them. Israel
unilaterally withdrew from the Gaza Strip, but instead of peace
on its south-western border it has to send its people into
bunkers and deploy early-warning systems while waiting fearfully
for rockets to rain down on its schools, kindergartens and
homes.

Mark my word, if – God forbid – Israel
unilaterally withdraws from Judea and Samaria as the Kadima Party
plans to do, peace will be just as elusive as it is today. The
day after that withdrawal, buses will continue to blow up in
Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and shoppers will be blasted to bits in
Netanya and Haifa. Nothing will change, except that Israel will
be smaller, its people more vulnerable even than they are today.
History has shown this repeatedly – Israel can give the
"Palestinians" whatever they or the world demands, but peace will
still elude the Jewish people in their homeland. If the Jewish
state is going to be saved, Israel’s governments have to
start acting like they head a nation under existential threat. No
more "risks for peace." No more "concessions." No more "good will
gestures."

Let Israel retake the Gush...