The current round of fighting in Gaza has a twister and a cause, a cause and a generator. It should not be skipped. What is happening now on our southern border, and what happened there in previous rounds, is not written on a blank page. The mortar shells, rockets and missiles were not and are not fate. They are all the fruit of our folly – the folly of the "disengagement."
We must not tire of mentioning this: the expulsion, or to put it euphemistically, "the disengagement," was not only a cynical, anti-Zionist, senseless and unwise act, but also the direct cause of the severe deterioration in security. Immediately after the disengagement, Hamas and the terrorist organizations took control of Gaza, and the threats from the south became much worse. From round to round, the rate of launches increased. From round to round, the enemy's arsenal of weapons was enriched tens of times, as well as its own production capability.
Legitimacy not granted
The IDF was not there to prevent the establishment of Hamastan. The promises made before the destruction of Gush Katif – "If they only dare to fire one bullet, we will enter them" – turned out to be empty promises. The "glorious" display of withdrawal was interpreted as a show of tremendous weakness. The disengagement did not give Israel legitimacy to "enter them" – neither internationally nor even internally. Each response was measured and weighed not only by operational measures of benefit and damage, but also by the "length of the rope" Israel may or may not have.
A vehicle in Ashkelon damaged by a rocket, photo: AFP
The claim that even before the withdrawal, mortar shells and missiles were fired at Israel from Gaza is very misleading. The basic data most relevant to its refutation relate to three dates: June 1967, when the IDF occupied the Gaza Strip in the Six-Day War; May 1994, when Israel transferred 80% of Gaza to the Palestinians; and August 2005, when the settlements of the Katif region were destroyed and handed over to the Palestinians.
In the first period, not a single incident of high-trajectory fire into Israeli territory was recorded. During the second period, some 6,000 mortar shells and rockets were fired at Gush Katif communities, which effectively served as a security belt for southern communities (only 600 missiles were fired at southern communities and the Gaza envelope during that period).
In the third period, following the expulsion, more than 27,000 mortar shells, rockets and missiles have been fired at Israel so far. The first rocket landed in Ashkelon in 2006, in 2012 in Tel Aviv.
Prevent Hamastan in Judea and Samaria
The exposure of the plan to fire rockets from Jenin shows the exact same potential. Salah Arouri, a senior Hamas figure, has long concocted a vision to turn Judea and Samaria into Hamastan and create a similar rocket threat against the center of the country, and he has even spoken publicly about it.
The scenes of rocket hits in the south, with no casualties // Photo: The Silent People System
On the eve of the disengagement, Ariel Sharon ridiculed everyone who warned about what was expected. Minister Meir Sheetrit defined as ridiculous the claims that "there will be a threat to communities in the Negev." The justices of the High Court of Justice (with the exception of the late Edmond Levy) were satisfied with state security experts and automatically assumed that such programs "improve the security situation."
Do not allow Gantz, Lapid and those to their left to settle for saying that the time for disengagement from most of Judea and Samaria, in coordination or unilaterally, has not yet arrived and that the time is not yet ripe for it; Demand that they completely shelve the plan to establish a Palestinian state there; Demand it with the same boldness and determination that they demand of supporters of judicial reform to completely shelve their plan.
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