Nine years have passed since that unfortunate mistake called the disengagement plan. Over eight thousand Jews were expelled from their homes, thriving communities were destroyed, graves were moved.
The propaganda wizards have brainwashed us into thinking that there is a 'disengagement' from the Gaza Strip, and that we are leaving it behind us.
This plan seemed illusory from the start, and any person with common sense understood that it would bring disaster upon us. The majority of the public opposed it, and many good people pointed out the serious dangers inherent in it.
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But the program's leaders promoted it aggressively, and the media gave it unqualified support.
Attempts at deception
It is sad to discover that even the most ardent opponents of the plan did not imagine how accurate their predictions would be. Who dreamed then of missiles being launched from the Gaza Strip to Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and the Haifa area? Who imagined that bomb tunnels would be dug on such a massive scale? Who imagined that commando units would be trained in Gaza to raid Jewish settlements from the sea?.
We were told that after the disengagement, if rockets are launched at Israeli settlements, there will be a harsh and deterrent response. Tell that to the residents of the south, the sounds of bombs and rockets have become a routine part of their lives.
We were told that withdrawing from the Strip would give us international legitimacy to return to war. A look at the world media actually confirms this assumption.
The vast majority of the public has already disillusioned themselves with these illusions, and it is clear to them that the disengagement plan was a terrible mistake.
However, there are still those who stubbornly refuse to admit their mistake, and hide behind arguments that supposedly even before the disengagement, rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip.
This statement is reminiscent of the claims of supporters of the Oslo Accords, in light of the wave of terrorism that erupted in its wake, that 'there has always been terrorism.' This is deliberate deception and an attempt to confuse public opinion.
Indeed, there has always been terrorism, but there were times when we fought it and were able to reduce it to a minimum. The Oslo Accords tied our hands, removed the IDF from the city centers in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip, and then terrorism grew to monstrous proportions.
Before Oslo, we faced terror from stones and knives. Although even a stone thrown at a moving car can be fatal, and certainly stabbings with knives can be fatal, the Oslo Accords brought a wave of horrific bomb attacks on buses and in city centers, which left more than a thousand people dead.
This is exactly what this agreement caused – instead of dealing with stones and knives, we were forced to deal with suicide bombers carrying explosive belts.
Correct the mistake.
Gaza was never a paradise either, but before the Oslo Accords we had control over the terrorist elements there. That unfortunate agreement, which began with the slogan 'Gaza and Jericho first,' removed the IDF from the cities of the Gaza Strip, and then terrorism began to flourish.
But as long as we controlled the crossings and the Philadelphia route, the terrorism from Gaza was limited and relatively limited. As soon as we left the Strip, we accepted the crazy death industry that had been created there.
The public now understands these simple facts, despite attempts to confuse minds with empty slogans.
Therefore, the public demands that the government correct the grave mistake, return to the Gaza Strip, and uproot terrorism from the root.
The public knows that this is an action that will exact a heavy price, but it understands that we simply have no choice, if we are to survive, and God will help us.
• The column is published in The Conversation of the Week.
