There is a rapidly growing, strong opposition on the part of the Israeli public to Ariel Sharon´s dictatorial Disengagement Plan. Please don´t believe those supposedly accurate opinion polls that "65% of the Israeli public" want their fellow Jews violently evicted from their homes. These polls, you will notice, are never attributed to any reliable pollster by name. Most likely, they were taken in one of the many bars or pubs on Sheinkin Street in Tel Aviv.

There is also much discussion about "democracy" and that any opposition to disengagement is "undemocratic". Both the Sharon government and, unfortunately, the American government are making this argument.

It is not made quite clear how it is "undemocratic" not to want to be forcibly evicted from one´s home.

Reading today´s newspapers is like a very painful punch in the solar plexus. We can´t help but feel as if the train has already left the station, is gathering speed, and is hurtling toward the abyss. There were two articles in the Jerusalem Post of January 27 that added to this worrisome picture.

One article was entitled, "PM: New Anti-Semites Hate Jews Who Fight Back".

Sharon was speaking at the Knesset commemoration for the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. "Israel provides a safe haven for Jews," Sharon said, adding that "we can trust no one but ourselves. This phenomenon of Jews defending themselves is an ´anathema´ to the new anti-Semites."

Beautiful words, but not in touch with reality. Israel no longer provides a "safe haven for Jews." Ariel Sharon promised the electorate security, but during his watch, more Jews have been murdered by Arab terrorists than during the watch of any other Israeli prime minister.

Today, Ariel Sharon, against the wishes of the Israeli public and diametrically opposed to the platform on which he was elected, is planning to give up Jewish covenant land. Sharon, running away with his tail between his legs, is not making Israel more beloved. On the contrary, anti-Semitism has grown worldwide by leaps and bounds, and is endangering Jews in the Diaspora as well. On the other hand, when the Jews defended themselves during the 1967 Six Day War, against overwhelming odds, Israel enjoyed worldwide admiration and popularity.

A second article, even more upsetting, appeared on the front page of the same edition of the Post. That article was entitled, "Pull Out Costs Included in New U.S. Aid Package".

"The US and Israel are in preliminary discussions on an aid package that would include money to help Israel cover costs associated with its disengagement plan, Israeli officials said Wednesday."

Amazing! Israel´s government kept saying that the Gaza and Samaria disengagement was going to be much more difficult than the abandonment of Yamit, since the US government refused to fund this new evil plan of Sharon. (By the way, the Yamit tragedy, even though it took place while Menachem Begin was prime minister, was to a great part engineered by Sharon. In fact, before his election as prime minister, Sharon confessed that the Yamit evacuation was the one thing in his career that he regretted.)

The question many Israelis and Americans would like to have the answer to is, what costs is the United States particularly interested in covering at this time?

Does America want to cover the cost of the building of additional prisons capable of holding thousands of objectors to the Disengagement Plan?

Is America going to fund the large amount of money to purchase protective gear for the evacuating forces? (But not for the little children, fathers and mothers, who are the objective of this violent evacuation.)

Is America going to fund the preparations of special training camps to train police, soldiers and other forces to deal with Jews who in any way resist expulsion?

Is America funding shelters in the Negev desert for the Jews who are being transferred from one of the most beautiful parts of Israel? In fact, there is a persistent rumor that when, G-d forbid, the PLO gets its hands on the Gush Katif coastal strip, Saudi Arabia will acquire this area and build a luxurious vacation spot with gambling casinos, hotels, beaches etc., to surpass even the splendor of the French Riviera.

Is America going to fund Sharon´s gruesome plan to dig up the bones from the Jewish graves in Gush Katif, because the Arabs demand that even the soil of this Jewish land be Judenrein?

We cannot afford to become discouraged! Yes, the train may have left the station, but with G-d´s help, we will defeat Sharon´s Disengagement Plan. It is up to us, Jewish and Christian Zionists alike, to fight this evil plan together. (IsraelNationalNews © 02/01/05)