(AP/Washington Post) Josef Federman - Less than a year after withdrawing from Gaza, Israel has discovered it cannot wash its hands of the teeming coastal strip, raising questions about Prime Minister Olmert's plan to stage a similar pullout from large parts of the West Bank. "The Gaza disengagement was a lost opportunity for the Palestinians. It could have evolved into a promising beginning for Palestinian statehood, but instead collapsed into a Hamas-stan that hosted international terror groups," said Dore Gold, a former adviser to Sharon. "The key lesson from the failure of disengagement is that in the future, Israel must retain vital territories for defensible borders so it will not create vulnerabilities that the Palestinians can exploit," he added.
2006-06-30 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive