Disengaging, Pt. II
1) Congressman Mark Kirk is a man with a memory. The House Appropriations committee is considering a bill to provide $50 million in direct aid to the PA. During a recent subcommittee hearing, Rep. Kirk told Lt. Gen. William Ward, “I worry that I’ve seen this movie before.” During the 1990s, he said, Congress, under pressure from Clinton administration officials, gave thousands of M-16 rifles to the PA. “Under a veto threat, the Congress relented… Now, imagine how we felt a year later when we saw Palestinian policemen using those M-16s to shoot Israelis….
1) Congressman Mark Kirk is a man with a memory. The House Appropriations committee is considering a bill to provide $50 million in direct aid to the PA. During a recent subcommittee hearing, Rep. Kirk told Lt. Gen. William Ward, “I worry that I’ve seen this movie before.” During the 1990s, he said, Congress, under pressure from Clinton administration officials, gave thousands of M-16 rifles to the PA. “Under a veto threat, the Congress relented… Now, imagine how we felt a year later when we saw Palestinian policemen using those M-16s to shoot Israelis…. And General Ward, do we know where all these M-16s are? Have we done an audit of all the guns we’ve already given the PA?”
Lt. Gen. Ward, tasked by the American government with training, equipping, helping the Palestinians build their security forces, replied, “No, we’ve not yet seen the audit.”
2) In the past few weeks, the normally levelheaded Secretary of State has put forward some rather odd notions about Israeli responsibility for the future of the Gaza Strip and its inhabitants while the Palestinians continue their war against Israel with mortars, rockets and attempts at suicide bombings. Rather than demanding that the Palestinians stop, she informed Israel that the Palestinians should have easier access between Gaza and the West Bank; that Israel should build better crossing points; and most bizarrely, in light of #1 above, that Israel should arm the Palestinian police.
3) PM Sharon has consistently said Israel would not disengage from Gaza under Palestinian fire. Senior IDF commanders said last week that the military would suspend the disengagement and spend up to three weeks in an effort to destroy Palestinian insurgency strongholds if necessary. Yesterday, however, Middle East NewsLine (MENL) reported a senior Israeli military source saying, “The IDF has prepared for a withdrawal under Palestinian fire. Over the last few weeks, we have planned for a scenario that we would be ordered to continue the withdrawal even if Israelis are injured from Palestinian mortar and rocket fire. We have also prepared civilian authorities for such a scenario.”
Abu Mazen has failed in every measure to create the “one authority, one gun” PA necessary to control not only security for Israel’s disengagement, but also security for the Palestinian people after Israel leaves. Despite continuing Palestinian terrorism and incitement, the Government of Israel appears committed to disengagement as a means to determine for itself what Israel requires as “defensible borders.”
Leaving aside (as is JINSA’s rule) any opinion about any decision of the Israeli Government itself, the only appropriate role for the American government under these circumstances is to provide Israel all possible measures of political and other support. Secretary Rice has been most forceful in her denunciations of terrorism and eloquent in her formulations of the requirements of good government in the Arab world. This is not the time for her to focus on Israel’s presumed obligations to Palestinian society. This is the time for her to turn her attention to the obligations of Palestinians – first and foremost to end their war against America’s ally and friend, Israel.”