Gaza Disengagement Does Not Mean Peace (Yet)

Israel is finally evacuating the 8,000 Israeli settlers who live in the Gaza Strip and the 20,000 troops that protect them. Since capturing the area in 1967, 21 Jewish settlements have been built in Gaza, with extensive fortifications that carve up the countryside. The United Nations Security Council has repeatedly instructed Israel to give the Gaza and the West Bank to the Palestinians.

Gaza is a tiny patch of land, approximately 25 miles long and six miles wide, on the Mediterranean coast. It is home to 1.3 million Palestinians, most of whom are refugees who lost their homes in the war 38 years ago. Many progressive observers have called the Gaza Strip the world’s largest prison, as it is entirely sealed off from the outside world by an Israeli fence, guarded by watchtowers, snipers and tanks. Israel is building a second fence, replete with more watchtowers and remote-controlled machine guns.

Gaza is a troubled area. The unemployment rate is 38 percent. Forty-seven percent of Palestinians live under the poverty line of $2.10 a day, making it one of the poorest lands in the world. Corruption (largely the legacy of Yassir Arafat’s administration) is rife. Housing and infrastructure is dismal. Raw sewage pours from the overcrowded cities into the Mediterranean. The airport is unusable since Israel destroyed its runway.

Public opinion polls show that 60 percent of Israelis support the disengagement plan. The right-wing, however, adamantly denounces the action. Many of them claim that Gaza is part of “Eretz Israel,” a biblical definition of Israel comprising most of the Middle East.

Why is Israel evacuating its settlements without reaching any definitive peace agreement with the Palestinians? Israeli officials claim that disengaging from Gaza will increase the standard of living and the level of security for Israelis. Those are ambiguous declarations. Israel’s intent, however, is clear. The Gaza disengagement is part of a larger strategic plan to consolidate Israeli control over its settlement blocs in the West Bank. In the West Bank, where most Palestinians live Israel is also evacuating 4 settlements in the north, while continuing its land confiscations, illegal settlement expansion, and building barriers. Prime Minister Sharon has indicated that there will be no further peace discussions with the Palestinians unless they disarm the militant groups.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority doesn’t have enough rifles or bullets to arm its security forces, much less to disarm the militants. Israel will continue to control the borders of Gaza and prevent any arms from reaching the Palestinian Authority, which it says is complicit with the militants. In short, the Israelis have given the Palestinian Authority an extremely difficult (some say impossible) mandate.

The world is hoping, against these odds, that the Gaza disengagement will be the first step to a final agreement creating a Palestinian state. That seems unlikely as long as the right wing stay in power in Israel. Yet at the very least, the Israeli disengagement allows the chance for new governance and investment that will allow the Palestinians to lift themselves out of dire poverty and restore their human dignity.