Saturday, May 28, 2005 16:12 IST
JNW HEADLINE NEWSNetanyahu: Pullout a major boost to terror
By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial StaffMay 26th, 2005
Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Wednesday kept up his new offensive against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's “disengagement” plan, saying it was providing a major boost to Islamic terror.
Netanyahu voted in favor of the plan when it was brought before the Knesset plenum in February in order to protect implementation of his economic recovery plan, but has since made vocal his opposition to Sharon's policies.
Speaking at the College of Judea and Samaria in Ariel, Netanyahu noted, “As the unilateral pullout nears closer, the terror forces grow. Hamas is forming its own army and maybe soon its own government. Why are they getting stronger?”
The answer, the former prime minister said, lies in the perception on the Arab street that Islamic terrorism, led by Hamas, has driven the Jews from Gaza.
As such, the Arabs have hope that if Hamas and other terrorists are strengthened, Israel can also be driven from “Ariel and then Tel Aviv.”
“I would like to be able say that prior to the withdrawal we would see parades and protests of peace in Gaza,” Ynetnews quoted Netanyahu as saying. “That is not what we’re seeing. We are seeing rows of armed youngsters calling for Israel’s destruction, and calling to continue the uprooting.”
His present position notwithstanding, Netanyahu told The Jerusalem Post earlier this month that if he were in Sharon's shoes, he too would withdraw from Gaza, but only in return for more Arab promises.
Many Israelis fear that quitting Gaza will result in the area becoming a terrorist haven on par with southern Lebanon and Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
Former General Security Services chief Avi Dichter Wednesday confirmed Netanyahu's conclusion that Hamas was massing an army in Gaza.
"In the Gaza Strip, despite our pinpoint [military] actions, the terrorist infrastructure remains intact," Dichter told an economic conference in Jerusalem.
"An army of thousands of people who belong to Hamas is building on the model of Hizballah in Lebanon,” he said.
IDF officers stationed in Gaza further warned that if Sharon surrendered the Gaza-Sinai border to Egypt, as he indicated he would do this week, there would be no restraints on the kind of weaponry the new Hamas mini-state could obtain.
“We have not seen the Egyptians lift a finger to stop the tunnels and the arms smuggling, which is happening regularly,” one officer told WorldNetDaily on condition of anonymity. “If Israel doesn't work to stop the Palestinians from bringing in weapons, no one is going to do it.”
Another officer at the border told WND, “The Egyptians have not given one indication they will protect the border. I can't believe Sharon would entrust them with Israel's security like that.”
Taking the threat to a global level, Major General (res.) Yaakov Amidror said in December that if Gaza fell under Hamas's sway, it would become the “only shelter state in the world for the Al-Qaida organization.”
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