Ehud Olmert’s “Convergence” Plan for the West Bank and U.S. Middle East Policy

 The Gaza Withdrawal: Consequences for Israel’s National Security

 Sharon and his associates touted the redeployment of IDF forces outside of Gaza as a tactical gain for Israel. They argued that the withdrawal would lower the threat level to Israel and that Israel’s defensive lines would be shortened. However, quite the opposite has eventuated.

Israel’s withdrawal from the international border between Gaza and the Sinai Peninsulaenabled the linkage of Palestinian terror forces in Gaza with Egyptian and international terror forces in the Sinai. The immediate impact of this union has been the inundation of Gaza with advanced terror weaponry and the penetration of Gaza by global terror forces such as al Qaeda, Iranian Revolutionary Guards units and Hizbullah.

Israel’s withdrawal from northern Gaza has brought the city of Ashkelon within range of Palestinian rockets and mortars. This has exposed some of Israel’s most sensitive national infrastructures, including the Ashkelon-Eilat oil pipeline and the electrical grid that serves all of southern Israel, under continuous attack.

The withdrawal has forced the IDF to defend the communities bordering Gaza from within those communities. This compulsory defensive posture has handed the terrorists the power to initiate and control their clashes with Israeli forces.

When Israel controlled Gaza militarily, its240 kilometer(150 mile) border withEgyptwas left largely unmanned. In contrast, since its retreat, the IDF has been forced to send crack combat troops to the border. The calm that characterized the Israeli-Egyptian border prior to Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip had been secured through Israel’s control of the ten kilometer long Gaza-Sinai border. That control effectively separated Palestinian terror forces in Gaza from Egyptian, pan-Arab and pan-Islamic terror forces operating in theSinai Peninsula.

When Israel withdrew from that narrow border, its absence was exploited immediately by terror forces on both sides. Gaza was inundated with foreign terrorist forces. Al Qaeda, Hizbullah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards set up forward operating bases in Gaza.[13] Advanced weaponry including Katyusha missiles, shoulder launched anti-aircraft missiles and advanced anti-tank missiles were brought into Gaza. Munitions and personnel have continued to move between Gaza and Sinai unimpeded.[14]

Once united, terror forces from Gaza and Egyptimmediately capitalized on Israel’s loosely defended open border with Egypt. They formed operational ties with Israeli Bedouin crime families that have used this border in recent years to smuggle prostitutes and narcotics, (and occasionally arms and personnel) from Egyptto Israel. Since the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, these crime families have intensified their previously loose association with these terror elements. They assist both groups in ferrying terrorists and munitions across the Israeli-Egyptian border. Once inside of Israel, these terrorists and terror armaments are moved to Israeli towns or to the West Bank.[15]

Before the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the three Israeli communities in northern Gaza provided a buffer zone that protected the adjacent Israeli city of Ashkelon from Palestinian rocket attack by keeping the city out of range of these munitions. Additionally, IDF forces operating in Gaza used their bases adjacent to these communities to launch operations in Palestinian populated areas next to them like Beit Hanoun, to prevent the terror forces from amassing significant arsenals of such weapons systems and from extending their range. Similarly, IDF forces operated within Gaza to limit terror forces’ ability to freely attack other Israeli communities that border Gaza.