The Prime Minister's Own Words

"Israel did not return all the territories taken from Egypt in the Six Day War; the most important of these, the Gaza Strip, was not handed back. Moreover, the essentiality of retaining the strip in Israeli hands was so self-evident that even the Egyptians did not try -- certainly not seriously -- to demand its return.

"One reason for not raising the Gaza issue, and of course for not returning the area, was historical-political: all parties, including the Arabs and the Americans, understood that no sane Jewish government could conceive of handing over parts of the Land of Israel, even in return for peace.

"A second reason, in itself sufficient to reject out of hand any notion of discussing the transfer of the Gaza Strip, was what everyone accepted as the most elementary requirements of Israeli security, even in conditions of peace. The strip is -- and was -- a hostile zone, thrusting out of the Sinai area towards Israel's very heart.

"It enables any potential enemy to deploy forces or station artillery and rocket launchers of the sort long owned by all terrorist organizations, and certainly by all armies, only 13 km. from Ashkelon, 30 km. from Ashdod port and 55 km. from Gush Dan.

"In the crisis which enveloped the General Staff on the eve of the Six Day War, the Gaza Strip was designated as the exclusive target of the IDF in war. So long as Gaza was in Arab hands, it was the most dangerous security element along our frontiers and the chief base for terrorist activity." ("A Highly Deceptive Precedent," Jerusalem Post International Edition, Oct. 3, 1992)

"Those who suggest that the solution is to flee from Gaza are, in effect, proposing that we abandon it when stricken and defeated by terrorism. If we run from terror, it will pursue us, and the Gaza Strip will turn into a terrorists' base, paralyzing the settlements in the northern and western Negev and even beyond." ("Its Possible to Stop Terror," The Jerusalem Post International Edition, Dec. 26, 1992.

"Let's take Europe. France keeps its forces in Germany: Britain, this BAR, the British Army of the Rhine. They keep their forces in the places where they believe they can defend their homes. What is Gaza? Gaza is the southern security belt." ("Israel: The Soliloquy of Ariel Sharon, Part One," Wall Street Journal, Feb. 22, 1989)

"Not coincidentally, the Gaza Strip was the last area the Ben Gurion government evacuated in 1956-57, with great reluctance. Again, it was no coincidence that conquering the Gaza Strip was the IDF's primary objective in June 1967." ("The Security Sellout, Jerusalem Post, Feb. 8, 1994)

"The national-historical argument is basic and eternal -- even when detached and in its own right -- while the security-objective consideration, needed to ensure elementary defense of the main population centers within the Green Line, requires that the areas of Judea, Samaria and Gaza, and the Golan Heights in the north, must stay in their entirely under our control." ("Jordan is the Palestinian state" Jerusalem Post, April 13, 1991)

"Then there are those, even among Likud members, who say 'Gaza first.' Who needs Gaza? They say let us fence Gaza in, let's mine it, dig trenches, put up road blocks. The main thing is to get out.

"First, there is no way to hermetically seal any district. In the past, terrorist units from Gaza reached Tel Aviv suburbs. But to hit Negev towns, no Arab need leave Gaza. A Katyusha in the center of Palestine Square in Gaza will easily hit Mohammed the Fifth Square in Ashkelon. Likewise, it can reach Kiryat Gat, Sederot, Netivot and scores of kibbutzim and moshavim." ("Autonomy Means Statehood," Jerusalem Post International Edition., Week ending Aug. 14, 1992)

"Israel is signaling the world that it is ready even to evacuate settlements by force; the smaller and more wretched this government is perceived to be abroad, the more cunning it exercises at home.

"One more point: do not try to evacuate Jewish settlements!" ("Then and Now: Startling Contrasts, Jerusalem Post International Edition, Week ending March 19, 1994)