Arab News Editorial

Fearing another embarrassment over his planned disengagement from Gaza, Ariel Sharon’s decision to postpone the Cabinet vote on the issue for at least another week was the only alternative available. After initial defeat for his Gaza pullout plan by the Likud on May 2, a Cabinet rejection of the same plan, albeit a modified one, would have been one blow too many to recover from. The 23-member Cabinet is already split on the issue — 11 for and 12 against — forcing Sharon to retreat and plan for another day. Already, however, two right-wing parties in his Cabinet have threatened to bolt from the government should one single settlement be evacuated. This leaves Sharon without a majority in Parliament and in the end, the majority of Likud ministers could not back the plan — the watered-down one or any other version — because of its rejection by their party whose hard-liners oppose ceding any land.

The Cabinet vote now offers several scenarios. Sharon could invite the opposition Labor Party, which supports the plan, to join his government and thus provide the majority he needs. But Labor’s Shimon Peres supports the original plan, not the amended version. Sharon could resign and hope for general elections but Likud’s Benjamin Netanyahu, the finance minister, might muster enough support in Parliament to form a new government without elections. And even if the plan were to win the blessing of the Cabinet, it would have to get the approval of the Knesset. Sharon’s dilemma is that while his party, Cabinet and perhaps government are all against pulling out of Gaza, a solid Israeli majority supports it. He thus needs to persuade detractors that he is not too old to govern and that he does not want to quit Gaza in order to negotiate. He is in fact getting out of Gaza so as not to ever have to negotiate. If some Israelis have doubts that Sharon is getting soft by wanting to withdraw, they need only look at Rafah to remind them otherwise. The place is still counting the cost of Israel’s murderous blitz which Amnesty International called “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity.”

The declared goal of the Israeli Army was to locate and destroy alleged tunnels used by Palestinians to smuggle weapons from the Sinai Peninsula. The fact, however, that most of the deaths and the destruction occurred at Tel Al-Sultan, several kilometers from the border with Egypt, suggests that the tunnels were only a pretext. Sharon wanted revenge following the deaths of 13 Israeli soldiers earlier this month in Gaza. He wanted to show Palestinians and Israelis alike who the boss is and he wanted to make it clear that he would leave Gaza with head held high. To do so he must bludgeon. Occupation is of course impossible to maintain without bludgeoning.