Comments on Israel and Gaza

Alright, so this is a topic that I have neglected. I did so not because it was insignificant; it is obviously quite the opposite. The issue though with getting involved in the Israel debate is the level of contention overwhelms its significance. Also, there is little constructive to be said on the issue. No one can provide any ideas that would help the situation without offending some party involved.

I am going to be very brief. I believe that Israel has every right to withdraw from Gaza. Doing so unilaterally is fine by me. They did win the territory in a war and there is plenty of precedent saying that if you win territory you can keep what you want (think every war ever).

But we also can not forget that Israel has put itself in this situation. It won the West Bank and Gaza Strip almost 40 years ago, keeping its inhabitants in limbo. For more than 20 years Palestinians were content with being neither citizens of a Palestinian state nor citizens of Israel. While Palestinian discontent slowly built up, Israel sat by, its politicians choosing to ignore the issue, instead of deciding to annex or grant independence.

Now Israel is in a tight spot. In a number of years there will be more Israeli Arabs and Palestinians in Israel and the occupied territories than Jewish Israelis. This is a problem because that could lead to Palestinians no longer demanding an independent state. Why would they when they could have all of Israel, democratically. In that scenario Israel would have to choose between Apartheid state and a non-Jewish democracy, ouch.

I feel that this is the real reason Ariel Sharon has chosen to give up Gaza. Israel simply can not survive without giving it up.

I am unsure how this will all play out, but hopefully this is the beginning of Israeli politicians realizing they must give up the occupied territories for the continued existence of a Jewish state.

-Mr. Alec