The land in Gaza is one thing, and the people who live in Gaza are something else.
Reader comment on item: How to Turn Gaza Over to Egypt
in response to reader comment: M. Tovey, that "vacuum" would be self-inflicted

Submitted by Doc Tater (United States), Feb 11, 2008 at 12:18

Jennifer,

It is a delight to read comments by a person with a sound grasp of history, willing to share history that most people have never been informed of, or that people enjoy reviewing. I applaud you for your grasp of historical fact, but I don't know if I can agree with your conclusions.

I just don't see why we should make the a priori assumption that "Gazans", whoever they happen to be today, must be allowed to remain in Gaza. That'd be like saying that today's residents of Bloomfield, New Jersey, have an ancestral and racial claim to the land of Bloomfield. When there's a war, some people have to move. The people who win the war get to say where the defeated can live.

If Gazans share a language and have family ties with Sinai Egyptians, they can move to Egypt. It doesn't really matter if it's a good deal for Egypt or not. It doesn't matter if it's a good deal for Gazans. Israel won the land in Gaza by force of arms, in the sort of "offensive military measure" that was required of Isreal for her survival. Israel conceded Gaza halfway back to the people who lost it, but that was then and this is now. Gaza would still be a great buffer zone if today's "Gazans" were expelled back into Egypt.

Why can't Israel reclaim the land, regardless of treaties and concessions in the past, and require the expulsion of Gazans who pray for the destruction of Israel? "Land for Peace" deals were tried, and Gaza is part of that Land for Peace experiment. We've had a chance to observe the outcome of that experiment, and the outcome is that Land for Peace deals don't work when you make those deals with jihadists.

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