Official Spin
Israel's ambassador to the U.S. tries to convince
American Jews on disengagement.
MATTHEW E. BERGER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Washington
very few minutes, Daniel
Ayalon checks the television in
the corner of his office, seeking
the latest images from Gaya.
Like many American Jewish support-
ers of Israel, Ayalon, Israel's ambassador
to Washington, is concerned about the
images people will see in coming days
and weeks — settlers and their support-
ers forming blockades against Israeli
troops who have come to evict them,
defiant residents being dragged from
their homes — as Israel evacuates settlers
from the Gaza Strip and four communi-
ties in the West Bank.
While the Gaza withdrawal has been a
hot topic in Israel for months, it just
began this week to take top billing on
American television screens.
E
For the next few weeks, Ayalon's key
task will be highlighting the positive ele-
ments of the withdrawal and capitalizing
on the goodwill it has prompted from
U.S. officials.
"I think there is a growing under-
standing and a growing realization of
the enormity of the task and the sacrifice
by the Israeli people and the Jewish
state," Ayalon said Monday. "It will be
our task and the objective of the
embassy to make sure to translate this
empathy into active support for Israeli
policies."
While some U.S. lawmakers were
focused on providing assistance for the
withdrawal to Israel and the Palestinians
and American Jewish organizations were
sending out their last messages for and
against the plan, Ayalon's was the loud-
est voice in the United States on the
issue. The 49-year-old Ayalon, a foreign
policy adviser to the last three Israeli
prime minis-
ters, is no
stranger to the
United States.
He received a
An Israeli settler wrapped in a prayer shawl sits on a roof in the
master's in
Jewish settlement of Neve Dekalim, in the south of Gaza, as Israeli
business from
forces surround the settlement Aug. 15.
Bowling
Green State
States and Arab leaders, to pressure
University in Ohio in 1983, and his
Gaza's future rulers to "put the 'authori-
wife is an American.
ty' in Palestinian Authority."
Ayalon calls the withdrawal plan "dra-
"Just as Israel is paying this heavy
matic and traumatic." He has upped his
price, it is important that the
media exposure, booking appearances
Palestinians will take the same attitude,
on numerous television news programs
and also they have to make very impor-
this week. He also gave a well-received
tant decisions about how to go forward
address at the National Press Club on
from here," Ayalon said. "The onus,
Aug. 12, taking questions from Arab
quite frankly, is on them."
reporters on the details of the withdraw-
He said Israel wants Gaza to be "free,
al and on Israel's future plans.
secure and democratic" but that the
Ayalon's message focuses heavily on
Palestinians must show their willingness
the "day after" withdrawal. He's urging
to fight terrorism before they receive
the wider world, including the United
more arms or a seaport.
❑
ly deserted. Most of the expected evac-
uees hadn't arrived yet, staying behind
in Gush Katif for the final showdown
with soldiers coming to evict them.
The Tabachs were among the few
families who already had settled in.
On Tisha B'Av, traditionally a solemn
day of fasting in remembrance of the
destruction of the First and Second
Temples, the young couple sat in the
small living room of their new home
and ate. "We've broken the fast," Ravit
Tabach said. "Too much pressure."
"On the face of it, everything is all
right," Shlomi Tabach said, "but our
entire life is under a question mark.
We don't know how many of our
friends will join us here, Ravit's par-
ents have moved to Ashdod, and we
still don't know whether our son will
have a kindergarten to go to."
It was getting darker, and Shlomi
Tabach turned on the sprinklers to
water carpets of grass newly planted
near the mobile home, a marked
change from Gush Katif's greenery.
"We are willing to give up many
things, as long as we have peace and
quiet," Shlomi Tabach said, "but it
doesn't look like we will. I know the
Arabs, and I know that their only
wish is to see us evaporate away," and
Israeli Prime Minister "Ariel Sharon
helps them out. And for this he will
be doomed to eternal disgrace."
The younger generation's trauma,
however, is marginal compared with
that of their parents, the people who
built Gush Katif a generation ago.
Having finally settled down, with pri-
vate homes, successful farms and the
time to enjoy their children and grand-
children, they were forced to leave.
They find themselves in new neigh-
borhoods, with an unhappy present
and an uncertain future. It's not that
they don't feel the political reward for
the Gaza withdrawal plan isn't worth
it; it's that they don't see any political
reward whatsoever.
"The whole thing seems unreal to
me. I don't believe I'm here" in Asdod,
said Ravit Tabach's mother, Yaffa
Michaeli. "I feel that in just a little
while I'll go back to Gadid."
"I used to hand the keys of my
$40,000 car to my Palestinian worker
to go and have it washed. I trusted
him completely," said Yaffa Michaeli's
husband, Salim, 55. "It was a different
world."
Salim Michaeli spoke of Gadid as if
he had just been exiled from the Garden
of Eden, ignoring the frequent terrorist
attacks the settlers endured.
❑
For more on this story and ongoing dis-
engagmenet, see www.JNOnline.com .
BytheNumbers
Jerusalem/JTA
n addition to the human dimensions, this summer's disengagement plan
can be measured by the numbers:
• 100 — percent of the Gaza Strip to be evacuated and handed over to
the Palestinian Authority
• 300 — square miles of the West Bank to be evacuated
• 21 — Israeli settlements to be uprooted in the Gaza Strip
• 4 — Israeli settlements to be uprooted in the West Bank
• 9,000 — approximate number of Israelis to be evacuated
• 45,000 — Israeli soldiers and police expected to participate in the Gaza
withdrawal
• $1.74 billion — approximate cost of the withdrawal to the Israeli
government
• $360,000 — average compensation the Israeli government expects to
pay each relocated family
• $870 million — approximate cost to resettle former West Bank and
Gaza residents elsewhere in Israel
• $2.2 billion — amount of special assistance Israel plans to request from
the United States
Figures were provided by the Israel Project, culled from various sources, with
some modifications.
ITN
8/18
2005
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