Israel's risk for peace

Nothing Israel does is going to satisfy the largely pro-Palestinian, pro-Arab international community, but fair-minded people are applauding the Jewish state's unilateral pullout from the Gaza Strip.

It marks the first time that the beleaguered nation has given up any of the land it acquired in the 1967 six-day war against its Arab neighbors. Moreover, it is a very painful thing for Israel to do: using the army to force thousands of their countrymen out of their homes.

Yet, for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, it's especially courageous. The Gaza withdrawal ordered by the former general and 1967 war hero is the largest noncombat military operation in the nation's history. It is not only dividing his country, it's also splitting the hardline Likud Party he heads.

By dismantling all 21 settlements in Gaza and four in the northern West Bank, Sharon is taking a risk for peace that puts to shame his opposite number, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas has done nothing to put down the militants and extremists, such as Hamas, that have been harassing and killing Israelis at every opportunity.

Instead of giving Israel credit for turning over Gaza to the Palestinians, Hamas and Abbas' Palestinian Authority are competing with each other in taking credit for "defeating" the Israelis and "forcing" their withdrawal.

And, typically, Hamas vows to fight on. Hamas would return Israel's outstretched hand with a gun barrel.

In time, the Palestinian people will come to realize what nonsense that is. The separation walls Israelis are putting up in Gaza and the West Bank have cut back dramatically on Palestinian terrorist and suicide bomb attacks. The walls provide a defense that keeps the enemy out - which is a peace of sorts, but not nearly as good as a peace pact.

For the Palestinians, who depend on the Israeli economy and good will, the walls are a disaster - depriving many of them a means to a livelihood. It may take days, months or years, but eventually Palestinians will have to face the fact that they need Israel to survive more than Israel needs them.

When that day comes, so will meaningful peace talks.

"To an oustretched hand we will respond with an olive branch," says Sharon.

That's the message Palestinians should be listening to - not the hogwash from their own sorry leaders.