Opinion
Other Views
Disengagement Makes Sense
Jerusalem/JTA
he withdrawal from Gaza,
scheduled to begin in mid-
August, is one of the most
important events in the history of the
State of Israel. It will determine
whether Israel can continue to be a
Jewish and democratic state.
In an Alert Paper published in June
2003 by the Jewish People Policy
Planning Institute, tided "Jewish
Demography: Facts, Outlook,
Challenges," a renowned demographer,
Professor Sergio DellaPergola, makes
the following prediction: Sometime
around 2014, there will be between the
Jordan River and the Mediterranean
Sea more Arabs than Jews.
My interpretation of this chilling sta-
tistic is that in less than 10 years, if
Israel keeps the West Bank and Gaza
and still wants to remain Jewish, then it
T
Uri Dromi is director of international
outreach at the Israel Democracy
Institute in Jerusalem. From 1992 to
1996, he was the spokesman for the
Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres gov-
ernments.
will become an apartheid state. And if
it wants to remain a democracy, then it
will lose its Jewish nature. Or, in the
words of a Palestinian poet-in-exile,
Mahmud Darwish, "If you don't want a
Palestinian state on 22 percent of the
land today, in 20 years, there will be a
Palestinian state on the whole land."
Pulling out of Gaza, then, is the
beginning of a long journey that will
hopefully bring Israel back to its senses.
But is it indeed? Many Sharon mavens
believe he wants to get rid of Gaza only
to strengthen Israel's grip on the West
Bank and thus coerce the Palestinians
into accepting some kind of "autono-
my." The trauma of the Gaza pullout,
with the ugly scenes expected to flood
TV screens, should supposedly con-
vince the Israelis and the world com-
munity that further withdrawal is
impossible. Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon even went to Ariel, a West Bank
city of 18,000, and promised it would
forever be ours.
If I were liviMg .in Ariel, I would start
looking for a moving company just in
case. Not only because Sharon said
something and maybe meant the oppo-
site, but because the basic
(traditional Shabbat stew) in
analysis of DellaPergola
the night pot. The worried
remains unchanged.
woman asked the rabbi if it
Whether Sharon meant it or
was kosher. It is kosher, he
not, he has just started a
told her, but it stinks.
process bigger than he had
It stinks, indeed, yet it's
envisioned — namely, bringing
kosher. It was repeatedly
Israel to its viable borders. It
approved by the Knesset, the
remains to be seen if, in due
URI DROMI body representing all Israelis
course, he will be the one to
and by the Israeli Supreme
Point
break the bad news to the West
Court. As for Sharon's sudden
Bank settlers or if someone else
U-turn, wasn't Prime Minister
will lead us in the next painful phase.
Menachem Begin elected in 1977 on
Either way, it has to be someone from
the slogan of Greater Israel only to
the right, because in Israel, only the
give Sinai back to the Egyptians when
right can carry out the policy of the left. the historic opportunity presented
itself? And anyhow, the settlers, who
Opponents' Dismay
for decades benefited from Ariel
Settlers and opponents of the evacua-
Sharon's talents when those helped
tion claim that the way Sharon
them in cunningly maneuvering all
brought about this plan was undemoc- governments in their favor, should be
ratic: He dismissed his campaign
the last to be surprised and cry gevalt
promises, disregarded his reluctant
when he suddenly turns against them.
Likud party, fired two right-wing min-
As for a referendum, I don't recall
isters and refused to hold a referen-
ever being asked if I agreed to settling
dum on the evacuation plan. His con-
the West Bank and Gaza. I didn't.
duct reminds one of the Jewish
At stake is not only the future of the
woman who, in the darkness of the
settlements. It's the future of Israel's
shtetl, mistakenly prepared the cholent
democracy. Sharon's plan to pull out
At Issue: Israel's coming pullout from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank
Pullout Shakes
Roots Of Zionism
Kedumim, West Bank/JTA
he Jewish people are in the grasp
of a powerful catalyst called the
disengagement plan, which
envisions the unilateral withdrawal from
Israel's settlements in the Gaza Strip and
parts of Samaria.
Whatever the result of the plan,
Israelis must come to grips with its
implications on Judaism, Zionism and
even democracy. Disengagement forces
upon us decisions that can no longer be
postponed and the effects of which will
be present for decades.
For many, including myself, the anti-
T
David Trombka, originally from Ann
Arbor, is a biologist who has lived in
Israel since 1982. He is married with
four children and has lived in Samaria
since 1993, where he adopted the name
Asher Keren. He is the author of the
new book 'A Time For Change,"' to be
published by Gefen Publishing. For
more on his activities protesting the
Gaza disengagement, see the stories
beginning on page 53.
8/11
2005
50
disengagement protest last month at
Kfar Maimon was the first real state-
ment regarding these issues. There was a
sense of unity that is impossible to
describe in words, a sense of harmony
and purpose that came from within each
of the tens of thousands of people who
attended.
What I witnessed gives me hope and
even confidence for a reaffirmation of
the Jewish roots of the State of Israel.
If disengagement happens, it will be
the first step in the endeavor to empty
the rest of Judea and Samaria, including
half of Jerusalem, of its Jewish presence.
The sociological and political ramifica-
tions of this attempt already are shaking
the foundations of the Jewish return to
Israel. Whatever happens will produce
an earthquake.
The danger of disengagement is so
great precisely because it has nothing to
do with peace. Peace will not come
because of disengagement, nor will ter-
rorism cease. Quite the contrary, disen-
gagement is the greatest reward that
Palestinian terrorists could have hoped
for, and it will further whet their
appetite. Everybody knows this, from
the supporters of the plan to its most
vociferous opponents.
Rather, it has to do with the changing
of the guards: The tired and
state, from the court system to
morally bankrupt secular elite
the media and government.
trying to halt the growing and
In fact, the disengagement
ideologically charged religious
plan is the expression of an
settler movement.
exhausted and ideologically
To those who support disen-
bereft left-wing populace no
gagement, the excuse given is
longer willing to come to terms
that leaving the Gaza Strip and
with a hostile external reality.
northern Samaria behind means
The chiefly religious settler
DA.
AV
taking Jewish soldiers and citi-
movement is saying that even if
TRO MBKA.
zens out of the heart of a hostile
hard and costly, it's a divine
Count. erpoint
Arab populace. The deeper
right and privilege to reassert
truth is that its a declaration of
our Jewish presence in all parts
divorce from the Jewish settlers.
of the Land of Israel.
Economic wealth and corrupted values
Their view may be termed biblical
are the sole interests today, and that is
Zionism, which means a much bolder
the true motivation for disengagement.
and primal Jewish response to the world
To those who oppose disengagement,
than has existed since Zionism took root
uprooting thousand of Jews from their
and, really, since the destruction of the
homes signals the loss of Jewish claims
Second Temple in 70 C.E.
over all parts of the Land of Israel. It is a
The issues have been delineated:
painful recognition that the ruling
• How is the Zionist claim diminished
minority wishes to crush the remnants
or strengthened by disengagement?
of early Zionism and Jewish revival in
• 'What is Jewish or even Zionist about
the Land of Israel.
secular post-Zionism?
• How is religious Jewry to relate to the
At Odds
state after it uproots thousands of pre-
Secular Jewry is slowly abandoning the
dominantly religious settlers?
most rudimentary vestiges of Judaism
• What is the cost to Israeli democracy
and political Zionism, while religious
of a plan that goes against the govern-
Jewry is becoming more and more fun-
ment's mandate, especially in light of the
damentalist and suspicious of the secular prime minister's refusal to conduct a