They Are Almost Out: Israel Close to Leaving the Gaza Strip

According to me, today was the first day after the 48 hour deadline that Israel gave its citizens in Gaza to evacaute their homes and take their belongings. And as many people expected, the world watched as many families and young people still remained within their settlements. With that, the Israeli army was called to go in and remove them, if necessary, by force. All of this created even more tension in an already tense day as everyone expected the worse - violence between the Jews of Israel. Fortunately, up until now the worst has been the shouting of insults and other hurtful remakrs as the people protest and attempt to resist their removal. No one has been hurt or killed.

I must admit I did not know a lot about Israel or about the problems between Israelis and Palestinians besides the obvious clash between their religions and their fight for Jerusalem. Fortunately, about six months ago I got a chance to read a little bit more about what has happened in that troubled area that helped me understand the situation a bit more.

Since its independence, Israel has characterized itself as being a strong nation perhaps at times even seeming aggressive to their Arab neighbours. In two wars, Israel managed to occupy the whole Sinai penninsula and areas of the neighbouring countries. Both Gaza and the "West Bank" are part of those territories that Israel occupied even after those wars ended (this is agreed to by the UN). These territories are supposedly (then) going to be part of a Palestinian state which, of course, is another issue that has had decades long negotiations without much progress.

In the latest years, Israel, under the command of Ariel Sharon, has begun an unilateral program that seeks to comply with some of the conditions for peace set out in negotations. One of these conditions was to evacuate the "occupied" areas and leave them to the Palestinians. Sharon was highly criticized for this for two reasons. The first one was that the Palestinians had not given their approval or support to this initiative nor had they said how they would "pay the Israelis back". The second one was that, as many things in government and politics, there was concern about who was going to bear the brunt of the payment for this move and for the housing and support the Jewish settlers would receive after the move.

Beyond that context, today what was clearly evident was the high emotion on the side of the Jews and the sadness that they all demonstrated while leaving their homes. It's understandable. All of us grow fond of our home, our neighbourhood and our routine. Makes it also understandable that they would find the strength to fight for this.

But what surprised me the most in these last few days was that some of the people opposed to the move and also to Sharon, firmly believe that this land they are being forced to leave is actually a gift directly from their God. In other words, they believe it is their destiny and divine right to live in this land. Wow. It makes even more sense that they would not want to leave and the extreme refusal can be understood. Luckily, as I said in the beginning, there have been no people hurt or killed.

I really admire Sharon for this move, for searching for peace and also because he accepts the blame, the tears and the rage of his people who have come to the unfortunate point of resorting to call him Nazi.

Lets hope it is worth it and that this is the true beginning for peace for this land. Peace for the Jews. Peace for Palestine.