www.townhall.com/columnists/charleskrauthammer/ck20050819.shtml
WASHINGTON -- The Israeli abandonment of Gaza is a withdrawal of despair. Unlike the Oslo concessions of 1993, there is not even the pretense of getting anything in return from the Palestinians. Nonetheless, unilatera lism is both correct and necessary. Israel has no peace partner -- Mahmo ud Abbas has nothing to offer and has offered nothing -- and in the abse nce of a partner, there is only one logical policy: rationalize your def ensive lines and prepare for a long wait. Gaza was simply a bridge too far: settlements too far-flung and small to justify the huge psychological and material cost of defending them. Pul ling out of Gaza leaves behind the first truly independent Palestinian s tate -- uncontrolled and highly militant -- but one from which Israel is fenced off. If Israel can complete its West Bank fence, it will have established a stable equilibrium and essentially abolished terrorism as a regular a nd reliable means of attack -- ie, as a usable strategic weapon. That will leave the Palestinians a stark choice: remain in their state of mis erable militancy with no prospects of victory, or finally accept the Jew ish state and make a deal. There are two problems with it: What abou t the rockets? The first problem is that while the fences do prevent terrorist infi ltration, they do nothing about rockets. For months, Palestinians have b een firing rockets from Gaza into towns within Israel proper. The attack s are momentarily in suspension, but with the enhanced ability to smuggl e in weapons from Egypt and with no Israeli patrols looking for them, th e attacks will resume and get far worse. Something Israel should have done long ago: active and r elentless deterrence. Israel should announce that henceforth, any rocket launched from Palestinian territory will immediately trigger a mechanic ally automatic response in which five Israeli rockets will be fired back . Every Palestinian roc ket landing in Israel will instantly trigger sensors and preset counter- launchers. Any Palestinian terrorist firing up a rocket will know that h e is triggering six: one Palestinian and five Israeli. Israel would decide how these five would be preprogrammed to respond . Perhaps three aimed at the launch site and vicinity, and two at a list of predetermined military and strategic assets of the Palestinian milit ias. This new policy would echo, though in far more benign form, America' s Cold War deterrence policy of massive retaliation." That was all som ewhat theoretical, but the Soviets apparently thought otherwise when the y backed down during the Cuban missile crisis. Once Israel leaves, there is no way to dismantle the rocke ts. After but a few Israeli demonstrations o f non-massive retaliation,'' the Palestinians themselves will shut dow n their terrorist rocketeers. The second problem is world reaction to the Gaza withdrawal. Far fro m Israel getting any credit for this deeply wrenching action, the demand now is for yet more concessions -- from Israel. The New York Times call ed the Gaza withdrawal only the beginning'' and declared sonorously th at Ariel Sharon must also be forewarned'' that giving up the West Bank must be next. The idea that if only Israel made more c oncessions and more withdrawals, the Palestinians will be enticed into m aking peace is flatly contradicted by history. Under Oslo, Israel made massive, near-suicidal concessions: bring ing the PLO back to life, installing Yasser Arafat in power in the West Bank and Gaza, permitting him to arm militia after militia, and ultimate ly offering him (at Camp David 2000) the first Palestinian state in hist ory, with a shared Jerusalem and total Israeli withdrawal from 95 percen t of the formerly occupied territories (with Israel giving up some of it s own territory to make the Palestinians whole). With a savage terror war that killed 1,000 Israelis and maimed thousands more. Apart from per haps some evacuations of outlying settlements on the West Bank, it is th e end of the concession road for Israel. And it is the beginning of the new era of self-sufficiency and separation in which Israel ensures its s ecurity not by concessions, but by fortification, barrier creation, real ism and patient waiting. Waiting for the first-ever genuine Palestinian concessions. Waiting for the Palestinians to honor the promises -- to recognize Israel and re nounce terrorism -- they solemnly made at Oslo and brazenly betrayed.
Bernard Goldberg, the bestselling author of Bias, fearlessly and hilariou sly identifies the people, famous and not-so-famous, whom he believes ar e most responsible for our society's decline.
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