Israel Matzav

A recipe for disaster

You may recall that ten days or so ago, Defense Minister Ehud Barak suggested that Israel unilaterally withdraw from much of Judea and Samaria, as it did in Gaza seven years ago. 'Palestinian' journalist Khaled Abu Toameh writes that such a unilateral withdrawal is a recipe for disaster.

Fatah lost the 2006 parliamentary election mainly because of its leaders' involvement in the embezzlement of public funds. Since then, Fatah has failed to draw the conclusions from its defeat and has not even been able to come up with a new list of capable candidates that could attract Palestinian voters.

The same Fatah men who lost the vote are, in fact, continuing to run the show in Ramallah -- as if they had never lost.

Even if the Islamists do not take over the West Bank in the aftermath of a unilateral Israeli pullout, it is almost certain that the Palestinian Authority would not be able to prevent local gangs and clans from seizing power.

The case of Jenin, a city in the West Bank, is a good example of the weakness of the Palestinian Authority security forces, especially with regard to imposing law and order: Palestinian Authority officials have admitted that Jenin has been controlled over the past two years by Fatah militiamen and thugs who worked closely with many top Palestinian security officers, imposing a reign of terror and intimidation on the city's residents.

A unilateral withdrawal from the West Bank could mean that Palestinian cities like Ramallah, Nablus, Jenin, Bethlehem and Hebron would fall either into the hands of Hamas or armed Fatah gangs.

Abbas and Fayyad would not be able to do much to prevent a return to scenes of anarchy and lawlessness that were once prevalent on the Palestinian street.

The chaos and violence inside the Palestinian cities would also spill over into Israel, forcing it to launch another "Defensive Shield" type of operation, like the one in 2002, to clear the area of armed gangs.

Some of us warned of terrorists taking over Gaza in 2005 and using it as a platform to launch rockets against Israel. They didn't listen to us then. Why should they listen to us now?

Labels: Ehud Barak, Gaza expulsion, Judea and Samaria, unilateral withdrawal

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:45 AM