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Occupation as withdrawal<br><br>
By: Dr. Mustafa Barghouti*<br><br>
The evidence is piled high, yet some remain in denial, still believing
Sharon plans to<br>
"withdraw" from Gaza. Sharon himself never used the word
"withdrawal", yet the word has spread<br>
like wildfire. The international media invented it, the Arab media picked
it up and Palestinian<br>
officials seem to have believed it. Arab officialdom now acts as if
"withdrawal" is just around<br>
the corner.<br><br>
All Sharon ever wanted to do was to turn Gaza into one enormous big
prison. Sharon seeks to<br>
surround the strip with Israeli forces on all sides and prevent its
inhabitants from<br>
communicating with the outside world by air, sea or land. Sharon dreams
of a Gaza he can invade<br>
and attack at will. This is his scheme. This is the alternative he offers
to the roadmap and the<br>
assortment of other "peace plans".<br><br>
Sharon is working overtime to undermine any possibility of an independent
Palestinian state. He<br>
is using the apartheid wall to annex and Judaise 58 per cent of the West
Bank. His methods are<br>
simple. He is directing one military blow after another at the towns,
villages and camps of the<br>
West Bank and Gaza. Sharon wants to splinter the unity and struggle of
the Palestinian people.<br>
He wants to compromise the future of the occupied territories, from
Jerusalem to Gaza. The<br>
disengagement plan is his attempt to conceal his true
intentions.<br><br>
Sharon has repeatedly announced the death of the roadmap, by word and by
deed. But none of this<br>
has dissuaded the defeatists in our midst to cease their endless attempts
to fit Sharon's scheme<br>
into that same roadmap.<br><br>
Sharon's tanks are rampaging through Jabalia and Beit Lahia, just as they
did in Khan Yunis,<br>
Rafah and Beit Hanun. The simple fact is that Sharon is doing to Gaza
what he did to the West<br>
Bank in2002 . He is reinstating the occupation, one step at a time, until
he judges the time<br>
ripe to re-impose complete occupation.<br><br>
Sharon is not retaliating for Palestinian acts, as some claim. He has a
clear strategy, and he<br>
is justifying it with every possible excuse. His scheme is being put into
action regardless of<br>
anything the Palestinians say or do.<br><br>
At the most recent Israeli cabinet meeting Sharon had wanted to call up
reserves and wage<br>
"Operation Protective Shield II", an operation to re-occupy
Gaza entirely. His ministers<br>
convinced him to carry out the plan in stages, as has been widely
reported.<br><br>
In Rafah, Israel has been demolishing homes, one row at a time, for the
past two years. The<br>
number of demolished houses now exceeds2 ,000. These are the brutal
mechanics of ethnic<br>
cleansing, aimed at widening the so-called Philadelphia corridor to 500
metres and in doing so,<br>
to sever all links between Gaza and Egypt.<br><br>
Yet some people still think of taking part in the future management of
Gaza, of acting as<br>
policemen in this big Israeli prison. What is taking place in Gaza is not
withdrawal, or the<br>
preparation for a withdrawal. It is not even redeployment. What is
happening in Gaza is the<br>
reinstatement of full occupation, of apartheid and racial discrimination.
It is an attempt to<br>
reconfigure occupation and make it less costly to Israel. This is why
Sharon wants to get the<br>
settlers out, all of6 , 000of them. That gives him the freehand he needs
to act with utmost<br>
brutality in Gaza.<br><br>
We don't need to react to Sharon. We don't need to react to him or his
ideas. We need to boycott<br>
Sharon. We need to reject his plans altogether. We need to send a clear
message, to the Arabs<br>
and the world, that we reject Sharon's schemes and intend to fight and
defeat them. We need to<br>
formulate a unified Palestinian stand. We want Sharon's government
boycotted and placed under<br>
sanctions for it is a government that has broken every law and
norm.<br><br>
As for the Palestinian dialogue, it has to focus on unifying our
energies, on coordinating our<br>
methods of struggle -- not on sharing a cake that exists only in the
imagination of the<br>
defeatists. The occupation is waging a full war against us and we have to
confront this war with<br>
unity and steadfastness.<br><br>
<br><br>
* The writer is secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative.<br>
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