Daoud Kattub (Salon): Eyeless in Gaza

[Jack Rabbit]

From Salon.com (Subscription or Day Pass Required)
Dated Thursday August 18

Eyeless in Gaza
For Palestinians, the baffling Israeli withdrawal is a milestone -- but their future is still shrouded in uncertainty.
By Daoud Kattub

Thirty-eight years after Israeli troops rumbled into the Gaza Strip, Sinai, the West Bank and the Golan Heights, real change on the ground is taking place. Israel is adding the Gaza Strip to Sinai (as well as south Lebanon) on the list of occupied areas that it has decided to abandon. But unlike the Sinai withdrawal, which was completed as part of a peace agreement with Egypt, or the one from south Lebanon, quitting Gaza is different. Much as Palestinian militants would like to attribute Israel's withdrawal to their acts of resistance, most Palestinians concede that local, regional and international issues, as well as military and political considerations, contributed to the Israeli decision.

Now is the time to take stock of the lessons learned from the years of occupation and resistance in order to understand what Israelis and Palestinians should do next.

The Israeli occupiers, as well as their sidekick settlement movement, should by now clearly understand the limits of military power, even when that power is overwhelming. This understanding, however, has not translated into genuine Israeli attempts to negotiate solutions rather than dictate them. Ariel Sharon's use of unilateralism has produced confusion on all fronts, Israeli, Palestinian and international. Long-term political success and real peace will not result from one-sided acts.

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