Politics & Policies: Settlements unsettlement

Published 4/11/2005 9:00 AM

WASHINGTON, April 11 (UPI) -- Israel's forthcoming withdrawal from the Gaza Strip is likely to test the Jewish state's strength, resolve and unity as proponents and opponents of evacuating the occupied Palestinian territory are bound to clash -- in some instances quite literally.

A number of rabbis, right-wing groups and settlers are calling on Israeli soldiers and police to dissent, and to refuse orders that come down the chain of command, asking them to forcefully evict Jewish settlers from Gaza and four West Bank settlements.

The Union of Rabbis for the People of Israel and the Land of Israel issued a statement last week asking "Tens of thousands of people to prepare" for a call "to be with our brethren" in support of the settlers in Gaza who refuse to leave.

The issue of settlements will likely be among the topics Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will discuss with President George W. Bush when the two leaders meet at the president's Texas ranch, Monday, during the prime minister's six-hour stopover. An Israeli diplomat told United Press International that Bush and Sharon will discuss "the disengagement process and security concerns."

Among the president's concerns is Israel's E-1 plan to add about 3,500 apartments to Ma'aleh Adumim, connecting it with Jerusalem, a plan that was harshly criticized by the Bush administration.

However, in recent days new concerns arose. There are fears of a potential terrorist attack by Jewish extremists on the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in order to disrupt the withdrawal. Any such attack would set the peace process back, reviving the risk of all-out violence and re-fueling the intifada. Palestinian resistance groups have threatened to end the cease-fire with Israel if the mosque -- Islam's third-holiest site -- is attacked.

"If Zionist extremists carry out their threats of invading Al-Aqsa mosque, it will enflame the region and end the truce," the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, a militant Palestinian group, said in a statement. The group has in the past claimed responsibility for a number of terrorist attacks in Israel.

"Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa mosque are a red line that no Zionist should be able to cross," the group warned.

Israel, which captured Gaza from Egypt during the June 1967 Six-Day War, plans to begin evacuating the Strip on July 20. About 7,500 Israeli settlers have made their home in the 225-square-mile territory -- an area slightly more than twice the size of Washington, D.C. -- and where about 1.3 million Palestinians live, a majority of them in poverty.

"It will not be easy," said Ehud Olmert, Israel's deputy prime minister during a telephone conference last week, referring to the planned pullout. "It will be difficult," said Olmert, "it will be heartbreaking."

Indeed, it was not easy maintaining those settlements in the first place, where thousands of Israeli soldiers were needed to ensure the security of the Gaza settlers.

The risk of violence emanating from settlers, and their supporters, wishing to resist the evacuation exists, said Olmert. "The danger is there. We hope it will be prevented."

"One must not help evacuate settlements in the Land of Israel and give them to foreigners," declared former Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Avraham Shapiro last week. "This contradicts the Halacha (Jewish law), the Torah, ethics, and God forbid, one must not be partner to a transgression."

Olmert's reply to those who argue that Israel is "giving part of the Land of Israel away," is that "Gaza was the base of aggression against Israel, and was never part of historic Israel. I don't remember that Gaza was part of Israel. I don't remember praying for Gaza," said Olmert.

"Even Moses took the long way to the Promised Land by avoiding going through Gaza when he guided the Jews out of Egypt," said one analyst.

Olmert, who spoke a few days before Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's visit to the United States, said that giving up the settlements was a necessity to achieve peace with the Palestinians. Olmert said he had "trust (in) the good will of Abu Mazen," referring to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas by his more familiar name.

"He is certainly different from Yasser Arafat," said the Israeli politician. "He (Abbas) wants to make peace. There is no reason to doubt him."

Not everyone in Israel agrees, or trusts, Abu Mazen as much. Olmert concedes that the Sharon government is taking a political gamble in applying such controversial policies as the withdrawal. "We have stuck our necks out politically; now is the time for the Palestinians to take risks," said Olmert.

Mahmoud Abbas is due to visit the United States possibly during the third week in April to meet with President Bush, according to a PA source. The Bush administration had in the past refused to meet with Abbas' predecessor, Arafat, accusing him of being tainted by, and supportive of terrorism. Abbas will come to Washington with a clean slate, but will leave with heavy baggage.

Olmert said he believed Abu Mazen would be forced, in the near future, to confront the "terrorist organizations." That is one issue President Bush will most likely raise with Abu Mazen when they meet.

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