Israel Matzav

How soon they want us to forget

Every time I see an article by Uri Dan, who was Ariel Sharon's 'lifelong friend' and sycophantic supporter, ranting and raving about how the disengagement surrender and expulsion of the Jews from Gaza was a terrible mistake, an alarm goes off in me: "Beware of hypocrites. Beware of people who cannot admit that they were wrong."

Uri Dan was Ariel Sharon's biggest supporter. This article from 2004 should give you some idea of how far off the deep end Uri Dan was willing to go for Ariel Sharon:

Visit every home in Gush Katif. Make a painful journey no other Jewish leader has ever made. Tell them the bitter truth: that there is no chance of peace for many years, despite all the sweeping concessions you have made in accordance with the “road map.”

But there is a risk of the Jewish state being destroyed by the architects of all the Oslo-type agreements since 1993. Tell them the dangers you see in Yossi Beilin’s and Ami Ayalon’s plans. Try to convince the Gaza settlers, face to face, that the alternatives are far worse.

You put them there. No one else in the leadership has fought for Israel’s security in Gaza like you have — dating all the way back to the 1954 reprisal raids.

Tell them the truth: It’s precisely because there’s no chance for peace that you must shorten Israel’s defense lines; this is the way to give them maximum security.

Explain to them that it’s only now, after three years of desperate attempts to achieve peace, that you are resorting to disengagement. That it’s not just separation but minimum contact with the Palestinians — no workers, no tax collection.

Make it clear to our brothers in the Katif Bloc that when you talk about relocating settlements, you mean transferring their entire contents to a new place.

Everything will be relocated, from the houses themselves to the piping under the roads. Employment, too. [It's now more than a year since the 'disengagement.' The revenants from Gaza have been scattered around the country; most of them have neither permanent homes nor jobs yet. CiJ]

Reveal to them what is now clear even to the White House: that there is no hope of reaching stable agreements with the Palestinians — no chance, in fact, of the Palestinians being able to rule themselves.

The Palestinian situation is hopeless. There are 13 organizations that are both political parties and militant bodies controlling military forces. They have personnel in Syria, Lebanon, Iran and Saudi Arabia. Palestinians from the Gaza Strip leave through tunnels to Egypt, then go on to Lebanon to train with Hezbollah. They return to Gaza carrying arms from Lebanon.

Explain to the settlers that this is the form the war is taking.

Speak to the settlers, Ariel. Address their hearts and minds, and try to convince them that you, as the person responsible for the security of the Jews, must shorten, fence and strengthen the lines in order to achieve Jewish security for many years to come.

Perhaps — just perhaps — these wonderful settlers will be convinced that no one but you can implement this revolutionary program to save Israel from its enemies.

To listen to Uri Dan today, it's as if he never had anything to do with the surrender. It's as if Ariel Sharon never existed and never came up with the 'plan.' It's as if all those arguments in favor of the 'disengagement' were never made. It's as if Ariel Sharon and his sons were never facing criminal indictments.

WHAT IS needed is a complete overhaul in every area of our democracy where the rot has set in - from the corrupt government ministries to all the IDF's branches.

These areas of Israeli life have degenerated because Israeli governments promised Jews false illusions - a "peace process," "disengagement," "realignment" - as if any of these could lead to peace. And if we are moving toward peace, so the logic goes, what difference does it make if the IDF degenerates, becomes corrupt and loses its national-Jewish direction?

Most Israelis awoke from this pipe-dream in the second Lebanon war; except perhaps the government, which is still fighting for its survival.

Without admitting that he and his hero were wrong, and that Sharon was selling the same illusions that Shimon Peres and Ehud Barak tried to sell us, Uri Dan calling the 'peace process,' 'disengagement' and 'realignment' false illusions and a pipe dream is about as credible as Shimon Peres saying there's no such thing as a 'New Middle East.' It's a bunch of words mouthed meaninglessly.

Sorry Uri, but until you come clean, you're part of the problem, not the solution. You're one of the promoters of the illusions. You and your corrupt friend Ariel Sharon (who sold the 'disengagement' to keep himself and his sons out of jail) are part of what you (correctly) call "the rot." Face it: if Ariel Sharon hadn't had a stroke in January, you'd still be promoting all the 'security' that has come out of the Gaza surrender, second war in Lebanon and Kassams from Gaza notwithstanding. You'd still be telling us that were it not for the 'disengagement,' we'd be stuck with Yossi Beilin's Geneva plan. You would never criticize Ariel Sharon the same way you're criticizing Ehud Olmert. And that is not to say that Olmert doesn't deserve the criticism. Only that you aren't the one to be doing the criticizing.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:58 PM