Post by Paddy by Grace on May 21, 2009 22:43:32 GMT -7
Friends,
Unless Israel commits to further withdrawals after this summer's
disengagement from Gaza, the pullout will be followed by an outbreak of
renewed violence, outgoing Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Moshe
Ya'alon warned in an interview with Haaretz.
"If there is an Israeli commitment to another move, we will gain another
period of quiet," he said. "If not, there will be an eruption ... Terrorist
attacks of all types: shooting, bombs, suicide bombers, mortars, Qassam
rockets." Without an additional withdrawal, "there is a high probability of
a second war of terror," which will begin in the West Bank.
Asked whether he intended to say that, following the disengagement, Kfar
Sava's situation will be like Sderot's today, he responded: "And Tel Aviv
and Jerusalem, too. There will be suicide bombings wherever they can
perpetrate them."
Ya'alon said that recent statements by Palestinian Authority Chairman
Mahmoud Abbas show that Abbas "has not given up the right of return. And
this is not a symbolic right of return, but the right of return as a claim
to be realized. To return to the houses, to return to the villages. The
implication of this is that there will not be a Jewish state here."
Therefore, he said, the establishment of a Palestinian state will lead to
war "at some stage," and such a war could be dangerous for Israel. The idea
that a Palestinian state can be established by 2008, and will then produce
stability, is "divorced from reality" and "dangerous," as any such state
"will be a state that will try to undermine Israel."
Asked about the current situation in the PA, Ya'alon responded: "For the
Palestinians it is still convenient to maintain a gang-based reality rather
than a state foundation.
"When [the PA] permits Hamas to take part in the elections without
abandoning its firearms, is that democracy? It's gangs. Armed gangs playing
at pretend democracy," he said. "If Fatah continues to behave as it does
now, Hamas will eventually take over the Gaza Strip," he added.
Regarding the IDF's plans for implementing the disengagement from Gaza,
Ya'alon said that the army is preparing for the possibility of entering Khan
Yunis "if there is shooting from there" during the withdrawal. The
disengagement, he continued, will not create a "situation of stability."
Therefore, "I do not rule out" the possibility that the army will return to
the Gaza Strip at some point.
Ya'alon said it is impossible to know how long the disengagement will take.
"The question is whether we evacuate 8,000 residents or 20,000 Israeli
citizens or maybe 50,000. If you evacuate 8,000, it could last three weeks.
If you have to evacuate more, it could take longer." In other words, he
said, it is too soon to talk about the withdrawal as a fait accompli. "If
and when we complete the move, we will talk about a fait accompli."
Asked for his views on the general concept of two states for two peoples, he
said: "In the present reality, I see difficulty in producing a stable
situation of end-of-conflict within that paradigm." A two-state solution, he
continued, is simply "not relevant. It is a story that the Western world
tells with Western eyes. And that story does not comprehend the scale of the
gap and the scale of the problem. We, too, are sweeping it under the
carpet."
Asked whether he fears for Israel's existence, Ya'alon responded: "A
combination of terrorism and demography, with question marks among us about
the rightness of our way, are a recipe for a situation in which there will
not be a Jewish state here in the end."
Regarding the army that he leaves behind, Ya'alon said he was concerned
about the existence of a "criminal subculture" in the army that has even
reached senior officers and become a "malignant disease."
Unless Israel commits to further withdrawals after this summer's
disengagement from Gaza, the pullout will be followed by an outbreak of
renewed violence, outgoing Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Moshe
Ya'alon warned in an interview with Haaretz.
"If there is an Israeli commitment to another move, we will gain another
period of quiet," he said. "If not, there will be an eruption ... Terrorist
attacks of all types: shooting, bombs, suicide bombers, mortars, Qassam
rockets." Without an additional withdrawal, "there is a high probability of
a second war of terror," which will begin in the West Bank.
Asked whether he intended to say that, following the disengagement, Kfar
Sava's situation will be like Sderot's today, he responded: "And Tel Aviv
and Jerusalem, too. There will be suicide bombings wherever they can
perpetrate them."
Ya'alon said that recent statements by Palestinian Authority Chairman
Mahmoud Abbas show that Abbas "has not given up the right of return. And
this is not a symbolic right of return, but the right of return as a claim
to be realized. To return to the houses, to return to the villages. The
implication of this is that there will not be a Jewish state here."
Therefore, he said, the establishment of a Palestinian state will lead to
war "at some stage," and such a war could be dangerous for Israel. The idea
that a Palestinian state can be established by 2008, and will then produce
stability, is "divorced from reality" and "dangerous," as any such state
"will be a state that will try to undermine Israel."
Asked about the current situation in the PA, Ya'alon responded: "For the
Palestinians it is still convenient to maintain a gang-based reality rather
than a state foundation.
"When [the PA] permits Hamas to take part in the elections without
abandoning its firearms, is that democracy? It's gangs. Armed gangs playing
at pretend democracy," he said. "If Fatah continues to behave as it does
now, Hamas will eventually take over the Gaza Strip," he added.
Regarding the IDF's plans for implementing the disengagement from Gaza,
Ya'alon said that the army is preparing for the possibility of entering Khan
Yunis "if there is shooting from there" during the withdrawal. The
disengagement, he continued, will not create a "situation of stability."
Therefore, "I do not rule out" the possibility that the army will return to
the Gaza Strip at some point.
Ya'alon said it is impossible to know how long the disengagement will take.
"The question is whether we evacuate 8,000 residents or 20,000 Israeli
citizens or maybe 50,000. If you evacuate 8,000, it could last three weeks.
If you have to evacuate more, it could take longer." In other words, he
said, it is too soon to talk about the withdrawal as a fait accompli. "If
and when we complete the move, we will talk about a fait accompli."
Asked for his views on the general concept of two states for two peoples, he
said: "In the present reality, I see difficulty in producing a stable
situation of end-of-conflict within that paradigm." A two-state solution, he
continued, is simply "not relevant. It is a story that the Western world
tells with Western eyes. And that story does not comprehend the scale of the
gap and the scale of the problem. We, too, are sweeping it under the
carpet."
Asked whether he fears for Israel's existence, Ya'alon responded: "A
combination of terrorism and demography, with question marks among us about
the rightness of our way, are a recipe for a situation in which there will
not be a Jewish state here in the end."
Regarding the army that he leaves behind, Ya'alon said he was concerned
about the existence of a "criminal subculture" in the army that has even
reached senior officers and become a "malignant disease."