Aref Assaf, "Smokescreen disengagement", Jewish News, August,  24, 2005

The "disengagement" plan is a smokescreen to further isolate one Palestinian area from the other to create apartheid-like Bantustans. While Israel "disengages" from Gaza, it will continue construction of the illegal Wall in the West Bank, expand illegal settlements there, and confine the Palestinians to ever shrinking parcels of land. This "Bantustanization" of Palestinian land effectively denies the Palestinian people true self-determination and the right to return to their homeland.
Israel is asking for US aid to the tune of $2.2 billion, to relocate settlers from the Gaza Strip inside Israel. Will Israel be asking the US to compensate Palestinian refugees whom Israel evicted from their homes in 1948? Will Israel even admit to its moral and legal responsibility for the disposition of these people who now number close to 6 million? After all, these people owned the lands from which they were evicted unlike the Jewish settlers who were not conveyed any title to the lands on which their home were built.
Unconditional US military, economic, and diplomatic support for Israel's 38 year-old military occupation of the Palestinian Gaza Strip has resulted in the de-development of the Palestinian economy and the destruction of its infrastructure. Rather than rewarding Israel for maintaining the Gaza Strip as an open-air prison after the "disengagement", the United States should provide money for the re-development of the Palestinian economy.
The world community needs to be actively engaged to ensure that further steps be taken to give Israelis and Arabs long-term security and stability following the pullout. We recall President George W. Bush’s vision as stated in his second-term inaugural address: "The goal of two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace is within reach - and America will help them achieve that goal." His promise to help Palestinians and Israelis achieve this dream means that his credibility and reputation are now at stake in the region.  

Aref Assaf, President

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