Vandalism and disengagement

There has been a spate of attacks on the graves and memorials of former
Israeli leaders, from that of Ben Gurion in Sde Boker to Rabin's tomb in
Jerusalem. The word "hitler" was written in Hebrew on their graves, and
various other slogans. Also the graves of several IDF soldiers on Mt. Herzl
in Jerusalem were defaced. No-one knows who is responsible for these
shocking acts, but it is expected that it is a militant right wing Jewish
group, that opposes the disengagement plan and is showing its opposition
this way. It is very unlikely that this was done by Arabs because all the
writing is in Hebrew.
The police seem impotent to catch them. Even when the memorial in Rabin
Square in Jerusalem was defaced, where there was supposed to be a police
presence, no-one was caught. The National Police force has now formed a
special unit to try to catch the culprits. But, this campaign can be seen as
one of several actions that the right-wing anti-disengagement forces are
taking to show their contempt for the official government policy.
Feelings are definitely running high. Within the settler movement there is
a deep rift between those who have come to see disengagement from Gaza as an
inevitability, and those who intend to fight it to the end. Today there are
unprecedented 'secret' discussions going on between the Prime Minister and a
group of settlers from Gush Katif, the largest most southern Gaza settlement
bloc, for the whole group to move en masse to a new area just north of Gaza,
along the Nitzanim coast south of Ashkelon. This would be a wonderful
solution to the problem if it happens, since it would avoid direct conflict
between the settlers and the army/police. One factor in the decision to
make such an organized move is the funding that the Government will give to
the settlers as compensation for leaving their homes. Money always talks.
However, a large portion of the settlers and their supporters see this kind
of agreement as being traitorous. Two members of the Knesset have actually
moved to Gaza, using their parliamentary immunity to get around the new
regulations preventing this. Some members of the settlements are digging in
and getting ready for a fight. The precise ratio of those prepared to leave
and those who will fight is unknown. The vandalism is merely an indication
of the depth of feelings and the presence of a hard core of opponents of
disengagement.
Meanwhile, Pres. Abbas of the PA is not making any progress in enforcing his
own policies on the situation. He has now fired several high military and
police leaders in order to remove those who were ineffectual in the face of
recent attacks and are loyal to the old guard of Arafat. There is a power
struggle going on between Abbas and PM Querei, who himself is a member of
Arafat's old guard, as was Abbas. But, Abbas is having a hard time to
overcome the inertia of the Palestinian leadership. There are still armed
gunmen patrolling the towns of the PA in defiance of Abbas' new rules for
disarming them, but nothing can be done about it.
It is in this context, the inability of Abbas to actually change the
situation from that which persisted under Arafat, that has caused Abbas to
postpone his visit to Washington that was due to have taken place next
month. Frankly he has no progress to report to Pres. Bush in changing the
situation in the PA, in relation to consolidating the security forces,
controlling the terrorists, and introducing transparency into the workings
of the PA. The question is whether or not he will ever make such progress.