Abandoning Israel

As the war in Gaza is intensifying, it should become clear to even the most willfully blind that abandoning Gaza to the barbarians is only the first step in abandoning Israel entire.

Why is this so?

If Sharon would have his way, Gaza would become an Arab-controlled entity. An area from which assaults can be staged at will, because all preparations for such assaults would be unhindered.
But more immediate is the example of Sderot. Sederot is situated eight km (five miles) away from Gaza. Yet already it is under constant rocket attack from a Gaza that still has an IDF presence in and near it.

The rockets being fired are crude, simple devices, but already quite capable of killing. The most recent victims are two children, aged two and four, but they were not the first victims. I am afraid they won't be the last either, and it seems the people of Sderot feel the same way, because thousands are fleeing the city. And this brings me to my point of abandoning Israel.

At present, Sderot is the principal target because it is the largest target the Arabs can yet reach. People are fleeing Sderot, and who can blame them? The IDF has sofar shown itself incapable of protecting them.

Fleeing outside the range of the Qassam rockets seems a natural, if shortsighted act. Soon, anywhere the current Qassams can reach will be off limits for Israeli's, and a form of no-mans land will be created.

And this no-mans land will be as wide as the Qassams (or whatever other weaponry the Arabs can come up with) can reach. The no-mans land will become a disputed area, not officially but in practice, because there will be no people living there, so the only way Israel will have any semblance of control over it will be through patrolling it vigorously. But the only other people in the area besides the IDF will be terrorists. And remember, this is on land that no one (besides the murderers of course) disputes is Israel's land. So the IDF is then faced with a constant battle for control of land which is officially Israel's. If this fight is abandoned or lost, the no-mans land becomes de-facto Arab land. From which attacks will be staged against the adjoining area's.

And even though the fight therefore can never be lost, it also cannot be won. Because the enemy lives in Gaza, unhindered, safe, supplied by sea, air and land, and supported by Egypt.

Gaza, more than any other part of Israel, should be made an undisputed part of Israel. All arabs living there should be moved one way or another into Egypt or any other country of their choosing. Then, if the Arabs want to wage war, they'll have no place to do it from or hide in that Israel can't properly and officially strike back at. If Egypt then still persists in this war, it can no longer do so by proxy. And it can be made to answer for its actions.

At the same time, Hamas and the rest of the murderers will loose their base of operations. They will effectively become Egyptians or Jordanians, and can be dealt with as such by Israel.

The international community accepts whatever the 'Gazans' do. A de-facto state of war, as long as only the Arabs fight it is perfectly legitimate to the UN, the EU, and the world at large. Even the US are clear in their position on Gaza: As far as they are concerned, it belongs to the Arabs.

Even if it rightfully did (which it DOESN'T), practical considerations should force Israel to create the no-mans land zone INSIDE of gaza, and not by default let towns like Sderot become the no-mans land. Because it will not end there.

Update: Israeli experts think Ashkelon still a big leap for Qassams

Asked during a visit to the front Sunday what the army would do if the Palestinians start firing longer range Kassams, Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Moshe Ya'alon answered curtly that, "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

But in truth, the IDF is trying to ensure that Hamas never does come to it. Backed by the Shin Bet, the IDF has embarked on a campaign to shatter the Kassam rocket industry in Gaza.

I can't believe this is the scope of the vision of the IDF. To 'embark on a campaign to shatter the Kassam rocket industry in Gaza'. Even if you manage to destroy all metalshops, all explosives, and kill everyone who knows just how to light a fuse, what will you accomplish? Will anything have changed three months after the IDF successfully concludes this mission and withdraws? Of course not. New materials will be imported from Egypt, along with the people who can construct the rockets.

Why doesn't Egypt attack Israel, and why doesn't Syria? Because they'll get beaten severely. But now these terrorist nations get Israel to bleed, and pay no price.

The no-mans land is to be created inside Gaza. Fine. If you make it as wide and as deep as the rockets can reach, soon no Arab can live there anyway.