Sharon has persuaded international opinion that the road to a solution to the Palestinian cause passes through Gaza. So skillfully has he raised hopes that many had looked forward to the withdrawal, oblivious to the advantages he has to gain, not least the opportunity to tighten defences and refresh his forces. Yet the Arabs, more than most, should have learned by now to be able to see beyond the fanfare surrounding Israel's withdrawal and instead address crucial strategic concerns. We must not evade discussion of the possibility that the Gaza disengagement will become the first nail in the coffin of an independent, sovereign Palestinian state with defined borders and territorial contiguity for this, whatever he may say to the contrary, is part of Sharon's plan. Disengagement from Gaza is the obverse of his dream of burying Palestinian statehood. The disengagement, first unveiled at the Herzliya Conference in May 2003, could all too easily hamper the Palestinian drive to statehood for however important the benefits that accrue to the Palestinians it presents a difficult platform upon which to build a state. Israel is in the process of pushing for a tradeoff. It is dismantling its settlements in Gaza in the hope of retaining the enormous settlement infrastructure that has already gobbled up nearly a third of the West Bank. Sharon openly admitted as much when, in an attempt to appease Jewish extremists who regard the withdrawal from Gaza as a betrayal of the Zionist dream of a Greater Israel, he announced that Jewish settlement of the West Bank would continue. Nor should we forget -- Sharon certainly never tires of reminding his audiences -- that President George W Bush gave him his word that Israel could hold on to the larger settlements in the West Bank. And those settlements are an integral part of the plan to annex East Jerusalem. What remains of the dream of a Palestinian state, then, should Israel succeed in securing its control over the West Bank and the whole of Jerusalem? Even the disengagement from Gaza is fraught with contradictions. Israel wants to retain control over airspace, territorial waters, borders and ports of entry. Even on this small patch of land Palestinian control will only be partial. Sharon's version of disengagement is clearly intended as a façade, disguising the lack of substance -- the territorial sovereignty -- that is a condition of statehood.
