Wednesday, June 01, 2005 18:30 IST
JNW HEADLINE NEWS

Israel must keep retreating, or face terror
By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff

June 1st, 2005

Outgoing IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon told Ha'aretz in a parting shot Wednesday that Israel would have to continue retreating unilaterally or face a full renewal of “Palestinian” anti-Jewish terrorism.

“If there is an Israeli commitment for another [withdrawal], we will gain another

period of quiet,” Ya'alon said. Otherwise, “there will be an eruption” of violence.

“Terrorist attacks of all types: shooting, bombs, suicide bombers, mortars, Kassam

rockets” are to follow the Gaza-Samaria retreat unless Israel continues to appease the “Palestinian” terrorist forces.

Ya'alon explained that the next major wave of terror would originate in Samaria, but would quickly spill over the Green Line, putting Jerusalem and Greater Tel Aviv in the same position the rocket-battered Negev town of Sderot is today.

The general's assessment was consistent with “Palestinian” assertions that terrorism had driven Israel from Gaza, and would eventually accomplish the same in all of Judea, Samaria and even “Israel proper.”

Ya'alon's remarks also, again, belied Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's premise that quitting Gaza and northern Samaria would result in increased security and economic prosperity for Israelis.

Ya'alon, who many feel was prematurely dismissed because of his open criticism of Sharon's “disengagement” plan, went on to explain that a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was ultimately unrealistic.

“In the present reality, I see difficulty in producing a stable situation of end-of-conflict within [the] paradigm” of two states for two peoples, he said.

“It is a story that the Western world tells with Western eyes. And that story does not comprehend the scale of the gap and the scale of the problem.”

At any rate, Ya'alon stated, to attempt to birth “Palestine” within the next three years as US President George W. Bush desires, would be to impose war on the region.

Establishing an independent Palestinian state by 2008 would be “dangerous,” as any such state “will be a state that will try to undermine Israel.”

Ya'alon pointed out that PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas remains adamant about securing the “right” of millions of so-called “Palestinian refugees” to take up residence inside Israel.

“The implication of this is that there will not be a Jewish state here.”

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