Israeli pullout from Gaza

Gaza, the coastal strip of the Palestinian territory on the Mediterranean, was annexed by Israel, along with a much larger territory on the West Bank, following the Arab-Israeli war of 1967. The United Nations since passed resolutions calling for vacation of occupied territories, but Israel has kept on ignobly defying the will and demand of the international community like a prodigal child. It is strange but true that a die-hard leader of the right wing Likud party, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, pushed through the process of withdrawal from Gaza in the teeth of stiff opposition from his own party led by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who resigned from the cabinet in protest.

People wonder why a personality like Ariel Sharon would take an apparently appeasing step towards a sworn adversary, even at the risk of losing both party and government leadership? Sharon has a long record of commando activities in his youth, displayed valour as a General in the 1967 war and committed, as Defense Minister, the massacre of Palestinian refugees in Sabra and Shatila in Lebanon in 1983.

Some observers are of the opinion that Sharon did not act solely in a spirit of compassion and reconciliation. They assume he acted with a well defined and thought out strategy, however disputed it may have been. He found the Gaza strip, where Palestinians used to smuggled arms and ammunition from the adjuring territory of Egypt, was being increasingly difficult to administer and control for want of adequate logistical support and in the face of an increasingly hostile population. Again, he preferred to give up a small territory with 1.2 million people for retention of a much bigger land with double the population on the West Bank and the vantage city of Jerusalem. This satisfied, for the time being, the US administration and assuaged, though partly, the international community. Such an act, consequently, might retard the peace process as defined in the "road map" and meet the ultimate design of the Israel Prime Minister. Withdrawal from the West Bank, despite continuing vociferous demands by the Palestinians and their supporters, would them appear to be farfetched and difficult to attain.

Yet, Ariel Sharon in his address to the UN General Assembly on September 15 expressed his support for the establishment of a Palestinian state, though with provisional borders during the first step of negotiation. He also reiterated demand for Israel's security, including a veiled reference to his plan of stationing Israeli troops, at least, for the time being, on the border at Rafa, the principal route of communication between Gaza and Egypt. With the closure of the airport and a non-functioning sea port, Israel already controls the air space and sea access to Gaza. In spite of these, Sharon renewed his pledge to work for realisation of the 'road map' for peace.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, while ceremonially hoisting the Palestine flag in librated Gaza, underlined the Israeli actions being the first step towards withdrawal of the rest of the occupied territories. The term 'liberation' was claimed by the extremist Palestinian factions of Hamas and Islamic Jihad in whose opinion only the continued armed struggle would compel Israel to withdraw from the other occupied territories. It may be recalled a cease-fire agreed to by them for the last 8 months enabled a smooth process of withdrawal by Israel from Gaza. It would be a matter of utmost concern for the Palestinian authorities to restrain the extremist organizations from resumption of armed struggle after the pullout from Gaza. The other significant challenges for the Palestinian authorities would be to overcome the difficulty to administer and to reconstruct the war-ravaged land with a poor and unemployed population to make it economically viable. For this purpose help from the this international community would evidently be solicited.

Notwithstanding varied assessments, Israeli pullout from Gaza has been recognised by all as a positive first step towards solution of the complex and chronic problems in the region. Almost all countries welcomed and commended, if not publicly, the Israeli action. Pakistan, on its part, took advantage of publicly demonstrating its desire to cease hostility and work towards normalisation of relations with its lifelong adversary. This may incline other Muslim countries to reassess their constricted relations with Israel. The Israeli pullout from Gaza thus has a more far-reaching and wide-ranging significance in world politics than being confined merely to an Arab-Israeli exercise in thawing their relations.

M M Rezaul Karim, a former Ambassador, is a member of BNP's Advisory Council.