With the planned Israeli withdrawal from Gaza less than three weeks away, right-wing leaders say they haven\’t yet given up hope of preventing it.
More than 500 demonstrators, mostly Orthodox Jews, gathered in front of the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles last weekend to oppose Israel\’s planned, upcoming pullout of settlers from Gaza.
The withdrawal of Israeli settlements and settlers from the Gaza Strip will dominate the Jewish summer.
The mid-August Israeli pullout from Gaza is fraught with risks and unknowns, but the Israeli government remains committed to \”unilateral disengagement,\” says Daniel Ayalon, Israel\’s ambassador to the United States.
Tuesday, Oct. 26 may well go down as one of the more important, and bizarre, dates in the annals of Israeli politics.
In the debate over a possible Israeli withdrawal from Gaza — 80 percent of which was already surrendered by Israel in 1994 according to the Gaza-Jericho First policy — little has been said about Gaza\’s Jewish roots.
No evacuation is scheduled to take place until next year, but the mood on both sides already is tense.
On the international front, the Israeli prime minister has weathered scathing criticism of Israel\’s latest military operation in the Gaza Strip, which left more than 40 Palestinians dead and dozens of homes demolished in the Rafah refugee camp.
At home, a rebellion is gathering steam in Sharon\’s Likud Party by opponents of the planned withdrawal from Gaza and parts of the West Bank.
After what it sees as President Bush\’s tilt toward Israel, the European Union is indicating that it wants to play a larger role in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — with an eye toward promoting Palestinian interests.
No one believes Israel is a safer place just after the assassination of Sheik Ahmad Yassin, leader of the terrorist group Hamas.
The question is whether the assassination and continued Israeli pressure on Hamas will contribute to stability over time.
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