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Sharon's dream
By Akiva Eldar
Tags: Sharon, West Bank, Gaza Strip 

Click here for more articles by Akiva Eldar

If Ariel Sharon were able to hear the news from the Gaza Strip and West Bank, he would call his loyal aide, Dov Weissglas, and say with a big laugh: "We did it, Dubi." Sharon is in a coma, but his plan is alive and kicking. Everyone is now talking about the state of Hamastan. In his house, they called it a bantustan, after the South African protectorates designed to perpetuate apartheid.

Just as in the Palestinian territories, blacks and colored people in South Africa were given limited autonomy in the country's least fertile areas. Those who remained outside these isolated enclaves, which were disconnected from each other, received the status of foreign workers, without civil rights. A few years ago, Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema told Israeli friends that shortly before he was elected prime minister, Sharon told him that the bantustan plan was the most suitable solution to our conflict.
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The right and the settlers feared that the disengagement from the entire Gaza Strip was no more than a down payment on a withdrawal from most of the West Bank. The left and the international community similarly believed that if the evacuation of Israeli soldiers and civilians from Gaza went well, the way would be paved for a two-state solution; but there were also some who feared that Sharon did not intend merely to sever Gaza from Israel, thereby erasing 1.4 million Arabs from the demographic balance, but also to drive a wedge between Gaza and the West Bank.

Exactly two years ago, in June 2005, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit warned Shimon Peres during a visit to Israel that if the disengagement were not accompanied by progress toward a solution in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip "would explode," in his words. The then vice premier told his guest that he agreed with every word, but took care to point out that his statements did not necessarily reflect the views of prime minister Sharon.

Israel's violation of the Agreement on Movement and Access, which was signed by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, strengthened suspicions that Sharon was plotting to sever Gaza from the West Bank. The order that the dogs could bark, but the caravans would not move between the Palestinian Authority's two sections had already been quietly issued by the end of 2005. That was a few months before Hamas' victory in the PA parliamentary elections provided the winning excuse for sealing off Gaza. Following the political upset in the territories, the severance policy became official. Israel imposed a sweeping ban on Gaza residents entering the West Bank, which even applied to students with no record of security offenses. Even as it was protesting the Hamas government's refusal to commit itself to previous agreements, Israel was disavowing the interim agreement (Oslo II) that it signed in Washington in September 1995, under which the West Bank and Gaza constitute a "single territorial unit."

Alongside the severance of Gaza from the West Bank, a policy now called "isolation," the Sharon-Peres government and the Olmert-Peres government that succeeded it carried out the bantustan program in the West Bank. The Jordan Valley was separated from the rest of the West Bank; the south was severed from the north; and all three areas were severed from East Jerusalem. The "two states for two peoples" plan gave way to a "five states for two peoples" plan: one contiguous state, surrounded by settlement blocs, for Israel, and four isolated enclaves for the Palestinians. This plan was implemented on the ground via the intrusive route of the separation fence, a network of roadblocks deep inside the West Bank, settlement expansion and arbitrary orders by military commanders. The cantonized map that these dictated left no chance for the road map or the "gestures" that Israel promised to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and the Americans.

But the hope that Hamas' thugs and Fatah's good-for-nothings will finish the work of that well-known righteous man, Sharon, and his flunkies in the government and army is no more than a warped delusion. Eight years of rioting and terror ended in the liquidation of South Africa's bantustans and their inclusion in a unified state governed by the black majority. This dream of Palestinian protectorates - Hamastan in Gaza and the Fatahland enclaves in the West Bank - is similarly the end of any solution based on dividing the land: Israel in agreed-upon borders based on the Green Line and Palestine on the other side. If we do not quickly wake up from this dream and rescue what remains of the two-state vision, we will truly be left with a choice between the plague - an apartheid regime - and the cholera: the Jewish state's replacement with a binational state between the Jordan River and the sea. Including the Gaza Strip.
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  1.   And on the West Bank the work continues 09:13  |  Clickfool 18/06/07
  2.   Gaza Withdrawal a Sucess? 09:22  |  Jay 18/06/07
  3.   Sharon should be disconnected from his machines 09:36  |  Gesina Maria 18/06/07
  4.   Rothshetl, in its peculiar and cult-like glory 09:38  |  Hannah 18/06/07
  5.   Stop blaming Israel, the Palestinians aren`t children 09:43  |  TM (Jewlicious.com) 18/06/07
  6.   Planting the seeds of ruin 09:51  |  Natallie Durson 18/06/07
  7.   To make bantustan, you need bantus 09:56  |  Uri 18/06/07
  8.   For Jay in Brooklyn # 2 09:59  |  Clickfool 18/06/07
  9.   "WE " did not "do it" Hamas did,in the traditional manner. 10:00  |  PETER.SM 18/06/07
  10.   Sharon is a Genius! 10:01  |  don 18/06/07
  11.   Akiva Eldar`s "Bazaaretz" 10:21  |  Akiva Patysh 18/06/07
  12.   3 states for 3 peoples 10:37  |  Yonatan 18/06/07
  13.   Chances for a Palestinian state as good as never before !!! 10:41  |  Swiss (Dino) 18/06/07
  14.   Harsh 10:55  |  bill 18/06/07
  15.   #13 Swiss 11:15  |  Willy 18/06/07
  16.   Its not the settlements, stupid....#6 11:21  |  LawyerII 18/06/07
  17.   Come now, Clickfool 11:31  |  Yonatan 18/06/07
  18.   #13 Swiaa (Dino) 11:33  |  Yonatan 18/06/07
  19.   # 15 Willy 11:38  |  Swiss (Dino) 18/06/07
  20.   # 18 Yonatan 11:42  |  Swiss (Dino) 18/06/07
  21.   Flawed Lone gunman theory 12:04  |  jonathan 18/06/07
  22.   Criticizing and vilifying is easy 12:06  |  ScotFuy 18/06/07
  23.   Bantustan versus Hamastan 12:18  |  Ehud 18/06/07
  24.   C.FOOL #1.Sharon what a man! Hamas does his bidding even though 12:38  |  PETER. S.M 18/06/07
  25.   SHARON`S DREAM WAS EVERONES NIGHTMARE 12:44  |  SAM 18/06/07
  26.   Another sick re-invention of history 12:48  |  Daniel 18/06/07
  27.   Good olf leftist tradition 12:52  |  Uri 18/06/07
  28.   FORGET THAT SHARON, YOU LOST, BABY 13:03  |  indrajaya 18/06/07
  29.   1#Clickdrool 13:10  |  Zebulonguy 18/06/07
  30.   16: What about Arab Peace Plan 2002 for `67 borders? 13:13  |  Tupac 18/06/07
  31.   Hmm, maybe Sharon was not such a bad PM after all. Thanks Eldar! 13:23  |  Elli 18/06/07
  32.   this is my equation 13:24  |  Zebulonguy 18/06/07
  33.   ONLY SOLUTION: GAZA TO EGYPT; W.BANK PARTITIONED WITH JORDAN 13:34  |  MG 18/06/07
  34.   #30 SO WHAT HAVE THEY GOT TUPAC?? 13:39  |  paul harris 18/06/07
  35.   TUPAC What about the Arab plan& its unlimited "right of return" 13:55  |  PETER. S.M 18/06/07
  36.   Eldar and Friends Scramble for Excuses for Their Failure 14:08  |  Jane 18/06/07
  37.   Despite Eldar`s racist comment about Hamas thugs,his analysis is 14:19  |  lakshmi 18/06/07
  38.   To Jane/36 14:50  |  Anne 18/06/07
  39.   Who wipes whom from the map? 15:06  |  Lena 18/06/07
  40.   Hamas is still a little dog barking at a big horse 15:42  |  Dhimmi Hendrix 18/06/07
  41.   " a binational state between the Jordan River and the sea" 16:08  |  Roger Bannister 18/06/07
  42.   #13 16:33  |  EA 18/06/07
  43.   Difference between Israrel and the Bantustan 16:36  |  Ofer 18/06/07
  44.   Natalie, you are - as always - wrong 16:37  |  Netanel 18/06/07
  45.   right on haaretz home of mentally challanged to separate them fro 16:41  |  ralph 18/06/07
  46.   One state by default...End 16:41  |  Edithann 18/06/07
  47.   Yonatan - 3 states 16:43  |  Mark Lincoln 18/06/07
  48.   #41 ROGER STICK TO MIDDLE DISTANCE RUNNING !! 16:45  |  paul harris 18/06/07
  49.   "a binational state between the Jordan River and the sea"? 16:48  |  Mark Lincoln 18/06/07
  50.   On the contrary, this IS the beginning of a two-state solution. 16:59  |  Fortuna Benmayor 18/06/07
  51.   LEFTIST HISTORICAL REVISIONISM!!!!! 17:02  |  Ben Uziel 18/06/07
  52.   Bosrah 17:04  |  Alone ben Caro 18/06/07
  53.   #35 There is no "unlimited right of return" 17:40  |  Rebekah S 18/06/07
  54.   Mark Lincoln 17:45  |  Roger Bannister 18/06/07
  55.   Ben Uziel you are one deluded nitwit 17:54  |  Marilyn 18/06/07
  56.   Akiva Eldar, they behave as predicted! 18:04  |  Julius 18/06/07
  57.   Clickfool, any comments about the cold blooded murders? 18:06  |  Alan 18/06/07
  58.   To Dhimmi Hendrix 19:01  |  Uri 18/06/07
  59.   Natalie Durson 19:02  |  Connie 18/06/07
  60.   Eldar/Arafat`s Dream 19:04  |  pace306 18/06/07
  61.   To#2 Gesina Maria, Why Sharon is in suffer 19:10  |  Hideous Reality 18/06/07
  62.   To#3 Gesina Maria, Why Sharon is in suffer 19:12  |  Hideous Reality 18/06/07
  63.   One state, one people. And those who do not want to live under 19:17  |  G 18/06/07
  64.   Legal issues and future prospects 19:25  |  Tosefta 18/06/07
  65.   Eldar`s interpretation of Sharon`s dream probably correct 19:37  |  Tosefta 18/06/07
  66.   #53 Rebeka S, the clear minded 19:45  |  Tosefta 18/06/07
  67.   For Alan # 57 19:47  |  Clickfool 18/06/07
  68.   64Tosefta, my understanding is that Abbas by his decree suspended 19:48  |  lakshmi 18/06/07
  69.   The things you learn on Talkback.... # 59 19:51  |  Clickfool 18/06/07
  70.   #`5 Willy 19:51  |  Haithem El-Zabri 18/06/07
  71.   "Cholera" 20:02  |  Paul Meyer 18/06/07
  72.   Natalie and Marilyn; Are you two Skinheads or Arabs 20:18  |  Lev Ben 18/06/07
  73.   Arabs slaughter Arabs. Akiva blames the Jews. 20:19  |  Teez El-Nabi 18/06/07
  74.   Suspension of laws (Lakshmi #68) 20:22  |  Tosefta 18/06/07
  75.   #57 Alan: Who is the cold blooded murders? 20:22  |  Hideous Reality 18/06/07
  76.   Two states, Two people. And those who do not want to accept the 20:30  |  Hideous Reality 18/06/07
  77.   #63 Two states, Two people. & those who do not want to accept the 20:31  |  Hideous Reality 18/06/07
  78.   To #13 20:37  |  Jimbo 18/06/07
  79.   Marilyn 20:52  |  Jim 18/06/07
  80.   The Bantustan plot my rear end. 21:00  |  Bartley Kulp 18/06/07
  81.   Jim 21:02  |  Rowan Berkeley 18/06/07
  82.   #75 Sorry Hideous Reality, I must have read the wrong newspapers 21:09  |  Alan 18/06/07
  83.   Hideous Reality, I have been reading your contributions 21:20  |  Richard 18/06/07
  84.   Bantus are not Hamas 21:43  |  Seth 18/06/07
  85.   True, Sharon knew it. So what? 21:44  |  Laurent 18/06/07
  86.   Sharon was really smart 21:50  |  KUTW 18/06/07
  87.   Everything that happens to the Palestinians is their own fault 21:50  |  FB 18/06/07
  88.   #55 MARYLIN IS DEMENTED AND NEEDS MEDIICAL HELP URGENTLY 22:16  |  paul harris 18/06/07
  89.   Gesina Maria, mind your own damn business 22:37  |  Jake 18/06/07
  90.   Rebekah S tells a blatant half-truth 22:48  |  Jake 18/06/07
  91.   A crock of nonsense. 23:10  |  Judith 18/06/07
  92.   To roger B 23:13  |  michael 18/06/07
  93.   #55 Marilyn, You are absolutely right.... 23:18  |  Dutch 18/06/07
  94.   Amazing, he blames it all on the Jews 23:19  |  Steven 18/06/07
  95.   13, Swiss Dino - Israel`s right to exist 23:59  |  Nicolas from Paris 18/06/07
  96.   take back the settlers in Israel and leave the other ones 00:12  |  Nicolas from Paris 19/06/07
  97.   "Right to Exist" 00:45  |  Michael Martin-Smith 19/06/07
  98.   To Steven in San Francisco 00:46  |  Mark B. 19/06/07
  99.   To Uri 00:51  |  Dhimmi Hendrix 19/06/07
  100.   ISR is to BLAME! whatelse is new! 00:52  |  maria 19/06/07
  101.   @86 KUTW 00:57  |  Mark B. 19/06/07
  102.   Jews a great people! Must have courage to RISK making peace. 01:09  |  Dave Smith 19/06/07
  103.   #90 Jake, you are mistaken. The Arab plan 01:13  |  Rebekah S 19/06/07
  104.   #66 thanksTosefta; but apparently 01:23  |  Rebekah S 19/06/07
  105.   No manners Jake (from nowhere) 01:42  |  Gesina Maria 19/06/07
  106.   |83 Richard 02:19  |  Labhras 19/06/07
  107.   Ari and I planned all of this 02:22  |  Bill 19/06/07
  108.   Another Jewish Trotskyite 02:27  |  Bill 19/06/07
  109.   #55 Marilyn: You need to read more 02:32  |  Bill 19/06/07
  110.   # 28 Don`t worry Inda... 02:34  |  misha 19/06/07
  111.   this article smacks of the TRUTH 02:48  |  eric 19/06/07
  112.   Nothing rong with Israel-one state solution.... 02:52  |  misha 19/06/07
  113.   Mark Lincoln #47 03:41  |  TonyL 19/06/07
  114.   #89, Jake 04:26  |  Hannah 19/06/07
  115.   #20, Swiss Dino 04:40  |  Hannah 19/06/07
  116.   #37, Lakshmi 04:49  |  Hannah 19/06/07
  117.   #64, Tosefta 05:06  |  Hannah 19/06/07
  118.   Rebekah S, you`re wrong 05:32  |  Jake 19/06/07
  119.   #102 HAVE YOU THOUGHT YOUR POST THROUGH ?/ 05:52  |  paul harris 19/06/07
  120.   #114 HANNAH BELIEVES IN GOD !! BUT NEVER SHOWS IT IN HER POSTS 05:53  |  paul harris 19/06/07
  121.   Netanel to Natalie 06:18  |  Silvienne 19/06/07
  122.   Natalie, Marilyn & Silvienne: not skinheads or Arabs 06:22  |  Silvienne 19/06/07
  123.   Natalie, Marilyn & Silvienne: not skinheads or Arabs 06:22  |  Silvienne 19/06/07
  124.   Paul Harris says Marilyn is what..? 06:26  |  Silvienne 19/06/07
  125.   To Bill: Marilyn is correct 06:30  |  Silvienne 19/06/07
  126.   to 28 06:33  |  luis 19/06/07
  127.   Silvienne 06:48  |  Eli 19/06/07
  128.   #118 Jake, Of course the PLO says every 07:22  |  Rebekah S 19/06/07
  129.   #118 Jake, It`s late here and I have to sleep 07:48  |  Rebekah S 19/06/07
  130.   Akiva, Dov Weissglas Belongs at the Hague... 07:50  |  Dutch 19/06/07
  131.   Akiva, Dov Weissglas Belongs at he Hague ... 07:57  |  Dutch 19/06/07
  132.   #118, (finally), the PLO has been telling you for 08:04  |  Rebekah S 19/06/07
  133.   #124 SILVIENNE IS TOO SMART FOR THIS COLUMN 08:06  |  paul harris 19/06/07
  134.   Silvienne: Both you and Marilyn are wrong 08:09  |  Bill 19/06/07
  135.   #30: what arab peace initiative? 09:54  |  Lawyer II 19/06/07
  136.   101. Mark B. 09:59  |  KUTW 19/06/07
  137.   who is Clickfool? 10:00  |  Richard 19/06/07
  138.   Luis (126) 10:06  |  Robertito 19/06/07
  139.   Marilyn Shpeherd *55 10:06  |  Richard 19/06/07
  140.   so what ? 10:07  |  Montreal 19/06/07
  141.   Are you Israeli? 12:50  |  Anatoly 19/06/07
  142.   Kutw #86 13:08  |  JJ 19/06/07
  143.   Richard #137 15:11  |  JJ 19/06/07
  144.   So #140 15:16  |  JJ 19/06/07
  145.   142. JJ 17:12  |  KUTW 19/06/07
  146.   Bill (Silvienne and Marilyn are wrong!!! 08:18  |  Silvienne 20/06/07
  147.   Sharon`s Dream 19:27  |  M.L. Gold 30/06/07
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