Fruits Borne of a Poisoned Tree

A frequent position taken by the various Pro-Gaza Disengagement fractions was that Israel could not afford to hold the Gaza Strip. Disengagement was the cheapest, safest solution, and would give the Palestinian Authority enough of a taste of statehood that their appetite would be wet for more. The pro-Gaza fraction were seemingly blind to the possibility that if the Palestinian’s had their appetite wetted for statehood – it’s hunger might only be satisfied with an Israeli dish.

It didn’t matter that a great number of like minded people like me said Israel could not afford NOT to hold the Gaza Strip. Today the Jerusalem Post offers this report of an interview with Yuval Diskin, Chief of Shin Bet:

Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) chief Yuval Diskin told the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday that Israel's government must prepare for a large-scale military operation in the Gaza Strip. The Shin Bet chief also said that since disengagement from Gaza, Palestinians have smuffledsome30 tonsof TNT into the Strip.

Diskin said that if the Fatah Party, headed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, continues to lose strength and lose ground to Palestinian extremist elements, there will be no choice but to take action. "There are no good options in Gaza," said Diskin, "and we must choose the one that is less worse. "The situation in Gaza is no longer that of a changing red, yellow and green traffic light. Now it is completely red, red, red," he said.
(..)
Committee members Yuval Steinitz and Limor Livnat (Likud) both urged more action as well. "Egypt has a deliberate policy of supporting terror groups in Gaza by arming them. What Syria did with Hizbullah in the north Egypt is doing with terror groups in the south," said Steinitz. As on previous occasions, Steinitz urged a large-scale operation to retake the Philadelphi Route, located on the Gaza-Egypt border. Livnat attacked Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for letting the situation in Gaza become so dire.

Too bad Sharon is not around to see the fruit borne of his grand gesture/plan in action or at least eat a little humble pie.