Foot-Dragging in the Mouth. What an Idiot.
Ha'aretz's Yoel Marcus, Israel's answer to the petulant American academic who sneers every time he spits the words "red state", wants Israel to stop foot-dragging and evacuate Gaza in the next month:
Mofaz, as chief of staff, was against Ehud Barak's decision to withdraw IDF troops from Lebanon in 24 hours. Now he's trying to follow his lead: He wants the pullout to be pushed up from July to March.
I don't mean to be rude about this, and I usually try to show deference to my betters, but this is offensively stupid. The entire reason to wait until July is to avoid looking like Israel is panicking. Because when it looks like Israel is panicking, it makes them look weak and invites Arab attack. And the proof of this dynamic is... wait for it... the aftermath of the Lebanon withdrawal! Without exaggeration, the Lebanon withdrawal directly convinced Arafat to start the terrorist war that has cost over 500 Israeli lives. To the extent that the central question of disengagement is how to prevent this necessary demographic adjustment from being perceived as a victory for terrorism, it seems supremely stupid to advocate doing anything that even flirts with "panic". But he goes on:
Vacating Gaza within four weeks is the way to go, and here's why: (a) It will keep the Palestinians from thinking that Israel is stalling, which could trigger a new round of terror; (b) It will keep Syria, which apparently masterminded the suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, from ordering more attacks, thereby provoking Israel into retaliation against the Palestinian Authority; and (c) It won't give the Greater Israel loonies a chance to fan the flames and set the region ablaze.
That's right - it will keep the Palestinians from thinking that Israel is stalling. Instead, it will convince them that Israel is so frightened of terrorism that they're running scared. That "give them land so they won't attack us" is precisely the myopic Oslo mindset that got Israel into this mess in the first place, of course, doesn't even require mention. But make no mistake: Marcus is, with little subtlety, advocating that Israel broadcast to the most radical Palestinian terrorists that their strategy of murder has worked! He is literally saying that Israel should flee Gaza to avoid more Palestinian terrorism: as if every concession to terrorism since even before Oslo has not, in every case and without exception, triggered more terrorism.
The stuff about Syria is asinine. First of all, disengagement now or later isn't going to change Syria's motive for attacking Israel - their problems with Israel have zero to do with Gaza or the West Bank. And even if that wasn't the case, when Israel blames Syria for terrorist attacks, they go after Syria, not the Palestinians.
The final subpoint, incidentally, is more revelatory than Marcus might like it to be. He gets through a long paragraph which literally advocates panic in order to avoid Arab terrorism that could erupt at any moment, and then says that it's the Jewish "loonies" who are going to "set the region ablaze." The amount of energy it must take to alleviate the cognitive dissonance of a paragraph like this can't be trivial. But it gets at what Marcus is really after: he just doesn't like "the rabbis, Kahane groupies and assorted toughs" on the religious side of the spectrum. It has nothing to do with politics. It has nothing to do with security. It has nothing to do with his faux compassion for the settlers (a compassion he neatly compartmentalizes to the point of practical insignificance by implying that you can't tell the real settlers from the trouble-makers). It has everything to do with the fact that he just doesn't like his political opponents, and is taking every opportunity to hasten their trauma and humiliation.
Mofaz, as chief of staff, was against Ehud Barak's decision to withdraw IDF troops from Lebanon in 24 hours. Now he's trying to follow his lead: He wants the pullout to be pushed up from July to March.
I don't mean to be rude about this, and I usually try to show deference to my betters, but this is offensively stupid. The entire reason to wait until July is to avoid looking like Israel is panicking. Because when it looks like Israel is panicking, it makes them look weak and invites Arab attack. And the proof of this dynamic is... wait for it... the aftermath of the Lebanon withdrawal! Without exaggeration, the Lebanon withdrawal directly convinced Arafat to start the terrorist war that has cost over 500 Israeli lives. To the extent that the central question of disengagement is how to prevent this necessary demographic adjustment from being perceived as a victory for terrorism, it seems supremely stupid to advocate doing anything that even flirts with "panic". But he goes on:
Vacating Gaza within four weeks is the way to go, and here's why: (a) It will keep the Palestinians from thinking that Israel is stalling, which could trigger a new round of terror; (b) It will keep Syria, which apparently masterminded the suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, from ordering more attacks, thereby provoking Israel into retaliation against the Palestinian Authority; and (c) It won't give the Greater Israel loonies a chance to fan the flames and set the region ablaze.
That's right - it will keep the Palestinians from thinking that Israel is stalling. Instead, it will convince them that Israel is so frightened of terrorism that they're running scared. That "give them land so they won't attack us" is precisely the myopic Oslo mindset that got Israel into this mess in the first place, of course, doesn't even require mention. But make no mistake: Marcus is, with little subtlety, advocating that Israel broadcast to the most radical Palestinian terrorists that their strategy of murder has worked! He is literally saying that Israel should flee Gaza to avoid more Palestinian terrorism: as if every concession to terrorism since even before Oslo has not, in every case and without exception, triggered more terrorism.
The stuff about Syria is asinine. First of all, disengagement now or later isn't going to change Syria's motive for attacking Israel - their problems with Israel have zero to do with Gaza or the West Bank. And even if that wasn't the case, when Israel blames Syria for terrorist attacks, they go after Syria, not the Palestinians.
The final subpoint, incidentally, is more revelatory than Marcus might like it to be. He gets through a long paragraph which literally advocates panic in order to avoid Arab terrorism that could erupt at any moment, and then says that it's the Jewish "loonies" who are going to "set the region ablaze." The amount of energy it must take to alleviate the cognitive dissonance of a paragraph like this can't be trivial. But it gets at what Marcus is really after: he just doesn't like "the rabbis, Kahane groupies and assorted toughs" on the religious side of the spectrum. It has nothing to do with politics. It has nothing to do with security. It has nothing to do with his faux compassion for the settlers (a compassion he neatly compartmentalizes to the point of practical insignificance by implying that you can't tell the real settlers from the trouble-makers). It has everything to do with the fact that he just doesn't like his political opponents, and is taking every opportunity to hasten their trauma and humiliation.
