Friday, August 19, 2005

"Waiting" Is For Those Who Are Ready To Surrender...

But the point is well taken. With no neighbor as a partner, Israel must await the next Palestinian attack to prove the "road map" not worth the paper it's written on. The Israeli's did an extraordinarily painful thing, but MUST be proactive in awaiting the next step...the reply from the cultists who would destroy them. How does one provide a defense without a good offense...remain active yet passive? Step up the patrols, infiltrate, use modern technology to monitor the killers, and stay prepared to retaliate when necessary. And, retaliate in full force.

Israel's Next Step Is To Wait

By CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER The Washington PostAugust 19, 2005

WASHINGTON -- The Israeli abandonment of Gaza is a withdrawal of despair. Unlike the Oslo concessions of 1993, there is not even the pretense of getting anything in return from the Palestinians. Nonetheless, unilateralism is both correct and necessary. Israel has no peace partner -- Mahmoud Abbas has nothing to offer and has offered nothing -- and in the absence of a partner, there is only one logical policy: Rationalize your defensive lines and prepare for a long wait.

Gaza was simply a bridge too far: settlements too far-flung and small to justify the huge cost of their defense. Pulling out leaves the first truly independent Palestinian state -- uncontrolled and highly militant -- one from which Israel is fenced off.

If Israel can complete its West Bank fence, it will have established a stable equilibrium and essentially abolished terrorism as a usable strategic weapon. That will leave the Palestinians a choice: remain in their state of miserable militancy with no prospects of victory, or accept the Jewish state and make a deal.

That is Israel's strategy. There are two problems with it: What about the rockets? What about the world?

The first problem is that fences do nothing about rockets. For months, Palestinians have been firing rockets from Gaza into towns within Israel proper. The attacks are momentarily in suspension, but with no Israeli patrols looking for them, the attacks will resume and get far worse.

What to do: active and relentless deterrence. Israel should announce that henceforth, any rocket launched from Palestinian territory will immediately trigger a mechanically automatic response in which five Israeli rockets will be fired back. In Gaza, deterrence is all there is. After but a few Israeli demonstrations of such retaliation, the Palestinians themselves will shut down their terrorist rocketeers.

The second problem is world reaction to the Gaza withdrawal. Far from Israel getting any credit for this deeply wrenching action, the demand now is for yet more concessions -- from Israel. The New York Times called the Gaza withdrawal "only the beginning" and said Ariel Sharon "must also be forewarned" that giving up the West Bank must be next.

This is a counsel of folly. The idea that if only Israel made more concessions and more withdrawals, the Palestinians will be enticed into making peace is flatly contradicted by history.
The Gaza withdrawal is not the beginning but the end. Apart from perhaps some evacuations of outlying settlements on the West Bank, it is the end of the concession road for Israel. And it is the beginning of the new era of self-sufficiency and separation in which Israel ensures its security not by concessions, but by fortification, barrier creation, realism and patient waiting.
Waiting for the first-ever genuine Palestinian concessions. Waiting for the Palestinians to honor the promises -- to recognize Israel and renounce terrorism -- they solemnly made at Oslo and brazenly betrayed. That's the next step. Without it, nothing happens.

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