Below The Fold

My heart is breaking today.
In what is being called largely a “symbolic” gesture, Ariel Sharon has wiped out the Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and is handing over the land to the so-called Palestinian Authority.
That name still cracks me up. Just a pseudonym for a the PLO, and so far removed from the power of the early PLO days that they have basically zero “Authority,” over groups like the Hamas.
Soldiers broke into tears as they dismantled the settlements and evacuated the settlers, who were not very willing to go. Jews fought Jews as Palestinians stood on rooftops and watched in smug appreciation. One soldier even finally refused to follow orders and was carted off.
Gaza City correspondent Tom Aspell wrote this piece detailing the perceptions of Palestinians during the course of the evacuation. In it, the people he spoke with talked about how it really means very little to them in terms of the whole peace process and how it was really beneficial for Israel to pull settlers out. After all, there were only about 8,500 settlers, and the military resources they required for protection were very costly. The Palestinians talk about how they are still surrounded with no air or water rights and how they’re basically imprisoned. Aspell carried the jail metaphor for quite a while throughout his piece, referring to the Israelis as the Jailers and the Palestinians as the inmates.
Newsflash, Aspell: it’s not a prison if you can leave.
Click on this Gaza Map See how big Gaza is? That little red blob there. That’s what they’re fighting over. Why? Because it helps to continue the massive Arab cordon around Israel. Let’s zoom out a bit. See that? Israel is surrounded on every border by huge Arab countries. Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and further out, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, etc…Now, for size comparison, I’ve superimposed the State of Colorado over Israel to give you an idea of just how small the country is.
Now take another look at the Gaza Strip. It’s like the size of Greeley, man.
All this has done is make the militant terrorist bombers think that their tactics work. It’s going to make the West Bank negotiations bloodier than ever.
Israel is bleeding, Ariel Sharon. And you’ve become her own scalpel.