Zionist Organization of America
4 East 34 St. - New York, NY 10016
phone 212-481-1500 * fax 212-481-1515
e-mail: email@zoa.org * web site: www.zoa.org
Morton A. Klein, National President
Dr. Alan Mazurek, Chairman of the Board
Dr. Michael Goldblatt, Chair, National Executive Committee

Gaza: The Case Against sraeli Withdrawal

+U.S.Joint Chiefs of Staff Gaza is crucial to Israel's security

On June 19, 1967, in the wake of the Six Day War, the U.S. Secretary of
Defense instructed the Joint Chiefs of Staff to present their "views,
without
regard to political factors, on the minimum territory" that Israel would be
"
justified in retaining in order to permit a more effective defense against
possible
conventional Arab attack and terrorist raids."

Ten days later, the Joint Chiefs presented a report which concluded that
Israel needed to retain substantial portions of the Golan Heights, and
Judea-Samaria, and all of Gaza. With regard to Gaza, the Joint Chiefs
wrote:

"By occupying the Gaza Strip, Israel would trade approximately 45 miles of
hostile border for eight. Configured as it is, the strip serves as a
salient
for introduction of Arab subversion and terrorism, and its retention would
be
to Israel' s military advantage."

Throughout history, foreign armies have used Gaza as a springboard for
invading the Land of Israel, from Pharoah Sethos I in the 13th century BCE,
to
Napoleon in 1799.

In 1948, Egypt used Gaza as its route to invade the newborn State of Israel.
Advancing through Gaza, the Egyptians approached the outskirts of Yavneh,
just fifteen miles from Tel Aviv. Several Jewish towns in Gaza, including
Nitzanim and Kfar Darom, were destroyed by the Egyptians and not rebuilt
until
after Israel recaptured the area in 1967.

+What prominent Israelis have said about Gaza:

* Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said in 2002: "Netzarim [a Jewish town in
Gaza] is the same as Negba and Tel Aviv; evacuating Netzarim will only
encourage
terrorism and increase the pressure upon us." (Arutz 7, Nov. 25, 2003)

* Then-Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said in 1988: "To just get up and
leave Gaza would be a mistake and a scandal. It would create a chaotic
situation, a situation like Lebanon; I don't suggest we take such a step."
(Israel
Army Radio's "Good Evening, Israel" program, March 22, 1988)

* Yitzhak Rabin's Minister of Housing and Construction, Binyamin
Ben-Eliezer, said in 1993: "I wish I could believe that pulling out of
Gaza would
solve the problems. But this won't solve anything and is only running away
from
the problem which we have to face." (Jerusalem Post, March 9, 1993)

* In 1971, Yisrael Galili, a minister in the cabinet of Golda Meir's Labor
Party government, said that Gaza was "critical for Israel's security and
could never be given up." The Labor government began building fourteen
Jewish
communities in Gaza. (Jerusalem Report, July 14, 2003)

+The Jewish presence in Gaza dates back to biblical times:

Gaza has been a part of the Land of Israel since biblical times. The
borders of Israel specified in Genesis 15 clearly include Gaza, and it is
described
in Joshua 15:47 and Judges 1:18 as part of the inheritance of the tribe of
Judah, and in Kings it is included in the areas ruled by King Solomon.
The
area came under foreign occupation during some periods, but the Jewish king
Yochanan, brother of Judah the Maccabee, recaptured Gaza in 145 CE and sent
Jews to
rebuild the community there.

Throughout the centuries, there was a large Jewish presence in Gaza--in
fact,
it was the largest Jewish community in the country at the time of the Muslim
invasion (7th century CE). Medieval Christian visitors to the region
mentioned the presence of the Jewish community in Gaza--including Giorgio
Gucci of
Florence (1384), Bertandon de la Brooquiere (1432), Felix Fabri (1483), and
George Sandys (1611). So did Jewish travelers, such as Benjamin of Tudela
and Meshullam of Voltera (1481).

The medieval Jewish communities of Gaza included many famous rabbinical
authorities, among them Rabbi Yisrael Najara, author of the 16th-century
hymn Kah
Ribbon Olam, which to this day is sung at Shabbat tables throughout the
Jewish
world, and the kabbalist Rabbi Avraham Azoulai, author of the famous book
Hessed L'Avraham. Writing about the question of whether or not there
living in
Gaza fulfills the biblical requirement [mitzvah] to live in the Land of
Israel, the famous sage Rabbi Yaakov Emden, in his book Mor Uketziya, wrote:
"Gaza
and its environs are absolutely considered part of the Land of Israel,
without a doubt. There is no doubt that it is a mitzvah to live there, as
in any
part of the Land of Israel."

The Jews of Gaza were forced to leave the area when Napoleon's army
marched
through in 1799, but they later returned. The Jewish community in Gaza was
destroyed during the British bombardment in 1917, but later it was rebuilt
again. When Palestinian Arab threatened to slaughter the Jews of Gaza
during
the 1929 pogroms, the British ruling authorities forced the Jews to leave.
But
in 1946, the Jews returned, establishing the town of Kfar Darom in the Gaza
Strip, which lasted until 1948, when Egypt occupied the area.

+Rewarding terrorists is wrong--and dangerous:

During the past three years, Palestinian Arab terrorists have carried out
tens of thousands of terrorist attacks against Israel, murdering nearly
1,000 Israelis and maiming many more. The terrorists demand, among
other things, that Israel withdraw from Gaza and expel the Jewish residents.
Terrorists, like all criminals,
deserve to be punished for the crimes, not rewarded. For Israel to
withdraw from Gaza and expel the Jewish residents would be to reward the
terrorists. It would also encourage more terrorism, by demonstrating to
the terrorists that additional violence may bring about additional Israeli
concessions.

+An Israeli withdrawal means creating a terrorist state in Gaza:

The Palestinian Authority regime currently administers parts of Gaza but
does
has not have sovereignty, because of the presence of the Israeli Army. The
PA does not control the borders, does not control sea access to Gaza, and
does
not have a full-fledged army. If Israel withdraws from the area, the PA
will be able to establish a sovereign state.

Such a state would certainly be a terrorist state, to judge by how the PA
has
treated terrorists until now. It has not disarmed or outlawed terrorist
groups; it has not shut down their bomb factories; it has not closed down
the
terrorists' training camps. It has rewarded with terrorists with jobs in
the PA
police force. In short, the PA has actively collaborated with and
sheltered
the terrorists. Moreover, the PA itself has sponsored thousands of
terrorist attacks against Israel.

The PA has also created an entire culture of glorification of terrorism and
anti-Jewish hatred in its official media, schools, summer camps, sermons by
PA-appointed clergy, and speeches by PA representatives. PA school
textbooks
teach that Jews are "evil racists."

+Creating a Palestinian Arab state in Gaza would not lead to peace:

Establishing a state in Gaza would not satisfy the Palestinian Arabs' goals.
The aim of a Palestinian Arab state would not be to live in peace next to
Israel, but to serve as a spring board for terrorism and invasions aimed at
annihilating the Jewish State. The PA makes no secret of its goal; the
official
maps on PA letterhead, in PA schoolbooks and atlases, and even on the patch
worn on the uniforms of PA policemen show all of Israel --not just the
disputed
territories-- labeled "Palestine."

+A Palestinian Arab state in Gaza would be an anti-American dictatorship:

The last thing the world needs now is yet another totalitarian,
anti-American terrorist state. Yet that is exactly what a Palestinian Arab
state in Gaza
would be, to judge by the behavior of the PA during the ten years since it
was
created. The PA is a brutal Muslim dictatorship which tortures dissidents,
silences newspaper that deviate from the PA line, and persecutes Christians.
The official PA media actively incite hatred against America, and the PA
maintains warm relations with the most anti-American regimes in the world,
including Iran, Syria, Sudan, and North Korea.