Yet in the two-and-a-half months that Olmert has been serving as Acting Prime Minister, he has acted precisely in the manner he forswears in this statement. He unleashed the pogrom that resulted in the hospitalization of 217 people during the destruction of Amona at the beginning of February. And in January, he allowed Arab residents of eastern Jerusalem to vote in elections for the Palestinian Authority. Had he not done so, Palestinian Chairman Mahmoud Abbas was threatening to postpone the elections, thereby postponing both Hamas' rise to power, and the supposed "humanitarian crisis" in the Gaza Strip that is its result.
At the same time, as part of Olmert's election campaign, he has set out a plan to expel tens of thousands of additional Jews from their homes throughout Judea and Samaria, forcing them to live the kind of hand-to-mouth existence currently being suffered by those expelled this summer from Gush Katif.
Such an expulsion would lead to the Hamas-led Palestinian government taking over these areas, and would bring Tel Aviv, Netanya, Hadera, Afula, Jerusalem, the airport, and basically all of what is left of Israel within easy range of Katyusha rockets, Kassam rockets, mortar shells, and any other type of kitchen-made weapon Palestinian terrorists can concoct.
Of course, there is Israel's much vaunted security fence which, it is now clear, will form Israel's eastern border. But a 10-foot high concrete wall will not stop a rocket from flying over it to maim and kill Jews in Israel's heartland. It will certainly not stop the more sophisticated weapons that are sure to flood these areas courtesy of Hamas' main international sponsors – Iran, Syria and Hezbollah.
Many years ago, I was privileged to attend a debate at which Yael Dayan, not yet a member of Knesset, suggested that, "In today's age of missiles and rockets, land does not provide security." She pointed to the 39 Scud missiles that had been fired at Israel the previous year during the Gulf War. In a question from the audience, I pointed out that without the defensive resource of land, those Scuds could have been fired from a distance of 10 kilometers, rather than 1000.
One person died as an indirect result of all those Scuds. But in the past two years, we have already had at least six people killed and dozens more injured by Kassam rockets landing on their homes. And that was when only Sderot and a few kibbutzim were within range.
This past summer's abandonment of the Gaza Strip, whose chief champion was Ehud Olmert, has now brought Ashkelon's power plant, fuel depots, and water desalination facilities within range of the same rockets. That in itself places 40% of Israel under the threat of having its water and electricity cut off, and a whole city and surrounding villages in danger of a mass disaster should the fuel facilities be hit.
By abandoning Judea and Samaria to the same terrorists, the entire rest of the country will be placed under ever increasing danger of such attacks, at the same time as the technology available to the terrorists becomes more advanced and more lethal.
It is a bald-faced lie for Olmert to state that he will do nothing to put Israelis in danger. By simply suggesting such a plan, he has already increased the danger we all face.
Israelis have an in-grown cultural aversion to being considered "friers", or fools. But should Israeli voters elect Ehud Olmert as prime minister next week, the price of their foolishness could be their lives.
Copyright 2006. All rights reserved. Yehuda Poch is a journalist living in Israel. Reproduction in electronic or print format by permission of the author only.
