Nehemia Strasler (Haaretz): You have to read Sharon's speech

[Jack Rabbit]

From Haaretz (Tel Aviv)
Dated Thursday Augusut 18

You have to read Sharon's speech
By Nehemia Strasler

In his dry and declamatory way, Ariel Sharon turned the Israeli reality on its head this week.

In the speech that he delivered to the nation, he did not apologize to the settlers (the truth is that they should be apologizing to the citizens of Israel, who were forced to pay - monetarily and in human terms - for the expensive adventure in Gaza). He spoke words of truth that no prime minister before him ever dared to say.

For the first time, we heard the reason for the shift in his position: demography. It is demography that forced the evacuation of Gaza on anyone wishing to live in a state with a Jewish majority and who is not prepared to rely on the messiah. The approximately 1.3 million Arabs now living in the Gaza Strip are what changed Sharon's mind. "We will not be able to hold onto Gaza forever. Over a million Palestinians live there, and they are doubling in number every generation."

Indeed, on the eve of the disengagement, Jews became a minority between the Mediterranean and the Jordan. The percentage of Jews living in territories controlled by Israel is now 49 percent; after the withdrawal from Gaza, they will once again be in the majority.

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[NVMojo]

1. thanks for posting, it's all puzzling.