[Peace-discuss] Gaza Pullout

[David Green]

In reference to comment made by Hillary at tonight's
meeting (CAPS MINE):

July 15, 2005

What May Come After the Evacuation of Jewish Settlers
from the Gaza Strip
A Warning from Israel
By URI DAVIS, ILAN PAPPE, and TAMAR YARON

We feel that it is urgent and necessary to raise the
alarm regarding what may come during and after
evacuation of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip
occupied by Israel in 1967, in the event that the
evacuation is implemented.

We held back on getting this statement published and
circulated, seeking additional feedback from our
peers. The publication in Ha'aretz (22 June 2005)
quoting statements by General (Reserves) Eival Giladi,
the head of the Coordination and Strategy team of the
Prime Minister's Office, motivated us not to delay
publication and circulation any further. Confirming
our worst fears, General (Res.) Eival Giladi went on
record in print and on television to the effect that
"Israel will act in a very resolute manner in order to
prevent terror attacks and [militant] fire while the
disengagement is being implemented" and that "If
pinpoint response proves insufficient, we may have to
use weaponry that causes major collateral damage,
including helicopters and planes, with mounting danger
to surrounding people."

We believe that one primary, unstated motive for the
determination of the government of the State of Israel
to get the Jewish settlers of the Qatif (Katif)
settlement block out of the Gaza Strip may be to keep
them out of harm's way when the Israeli government and
military possibly trigger an INTENSIFIED MASS ATTACK
on the approximately one and a half million
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, of whom about half are
1948 Palestine refugees.

The scenario could be similar to what has already
happened in the past - a tactic that Ariel Sharon has
used many times in his military career - i.e.,
utilizing provocation in order to launch massive
attacks.

Following this pattern, we believe that Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon and Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz are
considering to utilize provocation for vicious attacks
in the near future on the approximately one and a half
million Palestinian inhabitants of the Gaza Strip: a
possible combination of intensified state terror and
mass killing. The Israeli army is not likely to risk
the kind of casualties to its soldiers that would be
involved in employing ground troops on a large scale
in the Gaza Strip. With General Dan Halutz as Chief of
Staff they don't need to. It was General Dan Halutz,
in his capacity as Commander of the Israeli Air Force,
who authorized the bombing of a civilian Gaza City
quarter with a bomb weighing one ton, and then went on
record as saying that he sleeps well and that the only
thing he feels when dropping a bomb is a slight bump
of the aircraft.

The initiators of this alarm have been active for many
decades in the defence of human rights inside the
State of Israel and beyond. We do not have the
academic evidence to support our feeling, but given
past behavior, ideological leanings and current media
spin initiated by the Israeli government and military,
we believe that the designs of the State of Israel are
clear, and we submit that our educated intuition with
matters pertaining to the defence of human rights has
been more often correct than otherwise.

We urge all those who share the concern above to add
their names to ours and urgently give this alarm as
wide a circulation as possible.

Circulating and publishing this text may constitute a
significant factor in deterring the Israeli
government, thus protecting the Palestinian population
in the Gaza Strip from this very possible catastrophe
and contributing to prevent yet more war crimes from
occurring.

Please sign, circulate, and publish this alarm without
delay!

Please send notification of your signature to Tamar
Yaron tiyaron at hazorea.org.il

WE WOULD ALSO APPRECIATE RECEIVING NOTIFICATION IF THE
ALARM WAS PUBLISHED IN ANY MEDIA AND/OR IF IT WAS SENT
TO A GROUP DISTRIBUTION LIST.

Uri Davis, Sakhnin, uridavis at actcom.co.il , Ilan
Pappe, Tiv'on, pappe at poli.haifa.ac.il, and Tamar
Yaron, Kibbutz Hazorea, tiyaron at hazorea.org.il 




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