The value of apology
As the 10th anniversary of the Gaza disengagement approaches, the media in Israel has naturally started looking back on that event.
As the 10th anniversary of the Gaza disengagement approaches, the media in Israel has naturally started looking back on that event.
Current statistics suggests that, even though France is depicted as less than empathetic to the Jewish community, the Jewish population there has actually grown.
In May of 1998, a wealthy Israeli-born businessman called our offices and suggested I go to the Peninsula Hotel to interview his friend, Ariel Sharon. I said no.
For visitors to Israel this summer, the disengagement from the Gaza Strip proved hard to ignore.
\”Everybody\’s orange,\” said Rebecca Kaminski, from Berlin, with a laugh, referring to the color adopted by the anti-disengagement activists. \”I\’m on the blue side, I guess.\”
Sitting on the beach in Netanya, the 22-year-old was working on her already impressive tan with a group of girlfriends, all students at a six-week summer ulpan, or Hebrew-language immersion course, in Kibbutz Mishmar Hasharon.
They have not been deterred from visiting Israel during its exit from the Gaza settlements and parts of the West Bank.
The disengagement from Gaza has exposed raw emotions and wrenching scenes of families being uprooted from their homes of decades.
To the Jews of the Diaspora:
I recently returned from a monthlong vacation to the United States. Since I\’ve gotten back home to Israel, however, it seems as though \”reality\” has smacked me upside the head.
The question on the Palestinian street now is who will successfully claim credit for expelling Israel from Gaza and northern Samaria – Hamas, an organization that carries out terrorist attacks, or Fatah, the official Palestinian ruling party?
Whatever the answer turns out to be, one thing is certain. Both factions are presenting Israel\’s withdrawal of settlers and troops from Gaza and the northern West Bank as a Palestinian military victory.
The withdrawal of Israeli settlements and settlers from the Gaza Strip will dominate the Jewish summer.
The mid-August Israeli pullout from Gaza is fraught with risks and unknowns, but the Israeli government remains committed to \”unilateral disengagement,\” says Daniel Ayalon, Israel\’s ambassador to the United States.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon\’s plan for an Israeli pullout from Gaza and a few more settlements in the Shomron has found extensive initial approval among Jews in the Diaspora.
At first glance, this is understandable. The absence of a credible Palestinian negotiating partner, combined with Israel\’s vigorous desire to create a more peaceful atmosphere in the Middle East, has made a partial segregation from the Palestinian Arabs appear to be a step in the right direction.
But before we leap, let\’s look. Let\’s pay attention to the serious voices of dissent.