HERZLIYA, Israel – A highly esteemed supporter of Israel’s evacuation of the Gaza Strip now calls it a “mistaken” policy that has damaged the country’s security.
Meir Amit, former director of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, publicly supported the Gaza evacuation prior to its implementation in August 2005.
“Israel had good intentions at the time,” Amit told WND in an interview. “It was our way of fighting terrorism and tackling the Palestinian issue.”
But looking back, he said, the withdrawal “proved to be a mistake.”
Amit cited rockets regularly fired from the northern Gaza Strip at nearby Jewish communities, hundreds of tons of weapons reportedly smuggled into Gaza from the neighboring Egyptian Sinai desert, multiple terror attacks orchestrated from Gaza and reports global jihad groups moved into the territory.
“All this makes clear we didn’t succeed in Gaza,” Amit told WND.
The former Mossad chief recommended the Israeli army make local incursions into the Gaza Strip to stem the flow of weapons smuggling, confiscate weaponry already brought into Gaza, deal a blow to the terror infrastructure there and clean out rocket-launching areas.
Some prominent military leaders here have been petitioning for Israel to reoccupy parts of Gaza, particularly the Rafah section through which weapons are transported into the territory and swaths of land in the northern Gaza Strip from which rocket attacks are regularly launched.
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Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was elected on the platform of carrying out a withdrawal from the West Bank, which borders Jerusalem and is within rocket-firing range of Tel Aviv and Israel’s international airport.
Several recent public opinion polls showed the majority of Israelis now oppose a West Bank withdrawal.
The leaders of Egypt and Jordan have expressed reservations about withdrawal plans, fearing terrorism can spill over into their respective countries.
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