Monday, September 05, 2005

"Plucked"?

The Washington Post published this personal opinion piece by Hanna Sender.

Entitled "Now We Must Rebuild Our Lives in Israel", the section editor, I presume, preceded it with the heading "Plucked From Gaza", words that are misleading.

Ariel Sharon, Israel's Prime Minister of the Likud, ran on a platform in the 2003 elections diametrically opposed to his rival Labor party candidate's policy of but a partial disengagement from Gaza, one that did not include four other communities in northern Samaria. He violated his pledge to abide by an internal Likud party plebiscite which he lost. He fired two ministers prior to a crucial cabinet meeting, thus assuring a majority by denying them the democratic responsibility entrusted them - to represent their voters.

He then approved not granting the traditional fourth year of service of the commander-in-chief of Israel's army who publicly asserted that disengagement would provide a "tailwind to terror". The head of the General Security Service, parallel to the FBI, who had disagreements about the wisdom of the policy, was replaced. With hundreds of thousands demonstrating in the streets, he refused a suggestion that a referendum be conducted. The State Prosecutor's office lent itself to a dangerous chilling of legitimate opposition. In addition, the woeful unpreparedness of the state agency to provide adequate alternatives for these internally displaced citizens is another blemish.

Hanna Sender and her neighbors were not "plucked". They were expelled and their rights, as Jews, to live in the Jewish national homeland, were trampled.

Could we conceive Arabs being displaced so?

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