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BBC Monitoring Quotes From Israel's Hebrew Press 23 Aug 05

Posted on: Tuesday, 23 August 2005, 06:00 CDT

The following is a selection of quotes from editorials published in 23 Aug editions of Hebrew-language Israeli newspapers available to BBCM.

Disengagement

The disengagement operation is coming to an end and the healing stage begins. The [anti-withdrawal] opposition leadership, which is responsible for a major part of the heartbreak felt by the evacuees thanks to the agitation and the illusions it spread, must now turn its energy to the tasks of coming together and responsibility\ Israel is here and this is the moment they must help the uprooted establish roots. They should consider the evacuation behind them and the good of the evacuees and the state of Israel before them." (Yediot Aharonot editorial [centrist, largest circulation])

Mahmud Abbas is right when he attributes the Israelis' exit to the Palestinian struggle. Had the Palestinians remained submissive and obedient, like 20 years ago, nobody would have thought to withdraw from Gaza, or anywhere else in the territories\ But Sharon, too, is correct when he speaks sadly about the shattering of the dream, and says that had the Jewish people settled a million settlers in the territories, instead of just a quarter of a million, things would have been different. The political formula accepted in recent years, in the plans laid out by Presidents Clinton and Bush, teach us that the "facts on the ground" are a function of the number of settlers. That's the factor that will determine what will remain and what will go. (Aluf Benn in Ha'aretz)

The tears in my eyes are of joy that the disengagement, as it was carried out, proved that the State of Israel has a democratic framework and organized forces to defend it also in difficult situations such as these\ And this in particular when a large proportion of those who carried out the evacuation, perhaps even the majority, opposed in their hearts and thoughts the acto of evacuation. (Prof Yosef Gorni in Ma'ariv [centre-right])

If there will be no continuation to the disengagement, if it transpires that what we have here is a move aimed at strengthen Israel's hold on the West Bank and to dictate to the Palestinians seven enclaves "as a state with interim borders", then a third intifadah is inevitable. To prevent renewal of the war there is a need to act in three parallel directions. First, an early opening of negotiations on an agreement whose essence is to implment the two states vision and settle the conflict on a realistic timescale. Second, strengthening the Palestinian security forces so that they can control the field effectively and prevent terrorism. Third, developing the Palestinian economy. (Labour MP Ephraim Sneh in Yediot Aharonot)

Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has handed Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas a rare opportunity. He shouldn't blow it\ If he maximizes the opportunities disengagement presents and begins the process of preparing his society for a genuine accommodation with Israel, the way is open for meaningful progress\ The onus is on Abbas to show his people how to make constructive use of the opportunity presented to them, at so painful a price, by Sharon. (Jerusalem Post [English-language, centre-right])

Israel explicitly committed itself to dismantling 24 outposts immediately after the disengagement - ones that were put up during Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's term of office. The undertaking was given to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, without any connection to the road map, and it is in Israel's interest to uphold it. The prime minister correctly decided to delay evacuating these outposts until after disengagement; but now that it has transpired that the disengagement went even better than expected and was carried out with wisdom and responsibility, it is time to demand that the same determination be demonstrated in the next imperative move. (Ha'aretz [left-of-centre, independent broadsheet])

Religious Zionism has failed in one field: representation in the Knesset. Moreover, it is split with many internal rivalries, thus making it difficult for it to exhaust its immense, direct and indirect, realistic power\ It seems that the time has come to establish a new list on the backdrop of Gush Katif ruins and the state of the country in general that would run for the Knesset without primaries and other tests of democracy \ The ball is in the Knesset playground, and hence there is a need to drop all the important things and deal with this especially important thing at present. With all the forces, all the money and every secular person ready to extend a hand. (Shaul Schiff in Hatzofe [affiliated to the right-wing National Religious Party])

Sources: as listed

Source: BBC Monitoring Newsfile

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