http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2000/05/26/Opinion/Opinion.7336.html  

What will happen now?  

By Ariel Sharon  

Israel Opposition Leader

(General A. Sharon is Former Defense Minister and Foreign Minister of Israel)

(May 26) - Kiryat Shmona was an unpleasant sight early this week. The few remaining citizens huddled in shelters. Shelters are unpleasant to visit, and even more so to sit in - almost unbearable.

I saw one sight which I will have difficulty forgetting. A little girl, sleeping on an iron bed. Next to her, almost on top of her, lay her mother, an immigrant from the Ural Mountains. No privacy on this fateful night, yet no complaints - only the desire to sleep without fear of katyushas.

Next to them was the Ohana family. Raheli, their daughter, charming, beautiful and articulate, is preparing to graduate high school. A daughter of the katyushas, Raheli has only one request: "Let me live like any other girl, to study like any other girl, to play like any other girl."

I heard and I was ashamed.

It is even more difficult to meet with SLA fighters who were left behind. Some are still in uniform. Young wives carrying infants in their arms. Mothers of soldiers, children. The few belongings they managed to grab in their flight. Their eyes tell a desperate tale.

I walked among them. I saw a veteran Christian fighter whom I first met many years ago in Lebanon. He clung to me, crying "What have you done to us? We fought at your side for 25 years." I had no words for him. I was ashamed.

A young SLA fighter in battle fatigues crouched on the ground, the IDF emblem sewn onto his shirt. Next to him, his young wife with their infant child in her arms. He recognized me and asked to say a few words. "Israel betrayed us - why?"

He added: "We knew you were leaving - we have no complaints about that - but why didn't you coordinate it with us? Why did you create a situation where we didn't even have a chance to organize ourselves? Mighty Israel couldn't protect its allies? You abandoned us."

I looked away in shame. The price of betrayal is heavy. Who will believe us next time we need an ally?

We are all relieved by the IDF's success in removing each and every soldier from south Lebanon without mishap. The IDF returned to its old self, executing the nighttime evacuation efficiently and prudently. That phase is over.

As someone who demanded to sever the evacuation from the negotiations with Syria, I supported a unilateral withdrawal from Lebanon.

However, I insisted that prior to redeployment along the international border Israel create a deterrent that would result in quiet in south Lebanon. Even during the withdrawal it would have been possible to do this.

Thus we could have avoided the humiliation of retreat under fire, and I believe the SLA would not have disintegrated. This was our moral obligation, especially with respect to our allies, who fought at our side for 25 years - an entire generation - against terrorists in Lebanon.

If we had acted properly, we would not have had to beat a hasty retreat, leaving equipment and weapons in the hands of the enemy. We would have preserved our deterrent capability, as well as the honor of Israel. In addition, the damage to Israel in Judea and Samaria would have been minimized.

The government had 10 months to plan the withdrawal and coordinate it with the SLA, sufficient time by any standard. Nevertheless we were surprised, and the redeployment was rushed when Lebanese citizens accompanied by Hizbullah terrorists crossed into the security zone and penetrated the villages. Questions were asked in the field - how to act, what to do - and there was no answer. In this way the situation disintegrated. Apparently we didn't think of everything.

We are a nation of extreme contrasts. Yesterday's humiliation and shame have become today's semantic victory for Israel. Today's tactical success in evacuating IDF soldiers covers up for tomorrow's difficult strategic problems. Unfortunately, Mr. Barak's tactics have distanced real peace.

What will happen now? We must wait and see. Perhaps, despite recent events, peace will reign along the northern border, and we will all rejoice.

Meanwhile, we must strengthen the northern settlements, including Kiryat Shmona, as a first priority, without delay or red tape.