Summary:
Explores the Israeli disengagement plan. Considers advantages and disadvantages, consequences and provides a personal opinion on the issue.
In general, the Disengagement plan is a proposal by Ariel Sharon, Israel's Prime Minister, to evacuate 21 Israeli settlements from the Gaza strip and 4 settlements from the Shomron, without any negotiation with the Palestinians. This plan is highly controversial.
On the one hand, some say that the plan will improve Israel's security, in the absence of political negotiations to end the conflict. Supporters also claim that nine thousand Jews cannot live among over a million Palestinians, and that it is totally inappropriate that the state will provide its subjects with dangerous living conditions, even if they wish for it. Moreover, it is unlikely that Israel will jeopardize the lives of soldiers because of the national-religious belief of those settlers. Another significant aspect is that via withdrawal, Israel will save huge sums of money, which until now, have been invested in maintaining IDF soldiers in the Gaza strip in order to protect the settlers.
On the other hand, the settlers, emphasize the historical and religious relation of the Jewish people to the Gaza strip. Rabbis stated that there is a clear prohibition against evacuating the Gaza strip settlements, and some even decided that the settlers must disobey governmental orders. Beyond that, the left wing refers to the order of Arab evacuation as an obvious illegal order, and therefore, we should refer to evacuation of Jews settlers from their homes in the same manner.
However, the government has already decided, and the Disengagement plan will be accomplished by the end of 2005.
The plan arouses new moral dilemmas. How does the state dare to evict from their houses civilians, whose only "crime" is fulfilling the Zionist ideology? How will 18 year old soldiers, who might not be supporters of the plan, be able to force families to leave their homes? Mothers are using their babies as weapons against the evicting soldiers, and the latter often have to use violence in order to separate them and make them leave Gaza. We can clearly see the sorrow and unpleasant situations these people are at, and yet, the majority of the Israeli people have come to the conclusion that there is no other better solution.
To sum up, the Disengagement plan has created many uncomfortable situations both to the evicted settlers and to the evictors. I believe that the plan is good and might, indeed, improve Israel's security. However, we should still be conscious to every step we make concerning the disengagement, unless we stay with a minor territory for our people.
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