Whose victory?

Someone asked me why I was so pleased about the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, since Hamas were claiming it as a victory for their tactics, and as a defeat for Israel. Surely, they asked, since you are a supporter of Israel, you should be upset by this defeat? Surely, they asked, allowing Hamas to taste victory means that there will be more terrorist attacks against Israel, and that means that peace in the Middle East is even further away.

I disagree. The Israeli withdrawal from Gaza is not about victory or defeat. It's about doing the right thing. It is so clearly the right thing for 6,000 Jewish civilians to move out of a territory inhabited by 1.5 million Palestinians. It is the right thing to do, ethically, morally and politically. By being an occupying power for 35 years Israel has not only caused great hardship and suffering to the Palestinians, it has also corrupted itself. Leaving Gaza proves that Israel can survive without huge chunks of the territories occupied since 1967, and I hope that eventually it will show the people of Israel that their state can survive without most of the West Bank as well.

The settler rump forcibly removed by the Israeli Army this week represented a messianic fundamentalist Judaism which has a small but vociferous following. It is very significant that their view of the future of the Middle East has been dealt such a serious blow. Most Israelis. like most Palestinians, just want to get on with their lives in peace. The disengagement has very wide support across all sectors of the community in Israel, except of course, amongst the settlers themselves. They had dictated the agenda for far too long. Now it is time to move forward without the messianic baggage.

I am not a romantc who believes that the end to the occupation will bring an end to terrorism against Israel. But it should make it much easier for the moderate, pragmatic Palestinians (who I believe constitutue the vast majority) to reach an accord with Israel that brings hope for the future. I am more hopeful this week than I have been for a long time. If the withdrawal from Gaza is a victory for anyone or anything, it is a victory for optimism.