After Gaza
All parties must work to ensure the area won't become a
terrorists' haven
August 23, 2005
Now comes the hard
part.
For all the angst and pathos of Israel's withdrawal from its settlements
in the Gaza Strip, the job of making that territory stable and economically
viable will be an even more difficult challenge. If Gaza turns into a
squalid haven for terrorists and a launching pad for attacks against Israelis,
it will be a disaster for any hope that a peace process can resume in
the Mideast.
The Israelis believe they have done their part by evacuating the settlements,
as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon promised. But that is only partly correct.
Yes, of course, the next important step is for the Palestinians to establish
civil order there and not allow the terrorists to control the territory.
But the Israeli government must do all it can to help the Palestinian
economy by opening its borders as soon as possible to trade and allowing
development of sea and air transport.
Arab governments in the area also must actually help the Palestinians
get the Gaza economy off the ground, not just pay lip service to the goal.
Egypt, which shares a border with Gaza, has a special responsibility to
prevent an illegal arms build-up there. A nation such as Saudi Arabia
must also use its oil wealth to help dismantle the refugee camps that
have been allowed to exist all these years as a propaganda tool against
Israel.
The United States has a key role to play, too, especially in helping train
Palestinians to establish a civil government, possibly with an assist
from the European Union and the World Bank. The Palestinian Authority,
so long under the thumb of the late Yasser Arafat, is so corrupt and inefficient
that it has lost the confidence of many Palestinians. A large number of
them tell pollsters they are more likely to vote for rival organizations
such as the terrorist group, Hamas, which has delivered social services
on the ground much more effectively. That could doom the entire effort.
The expectation that the peace process, in the form of the so-called "road
map," will automatically follow the withdrawal of Israeli forces is naive.
The Israelis will first insist on proof that the militias in Gaza are
disarming and then will need time to settle their own interior political
struggles. This is, we hope, the beginning of a process, not the end.
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Copyright 2005 Newsday Inc.