Retreat from Gaza is a victory for terrorists

Page 2 of 2 -- Listen to Ahmed al-Bahar, a top Hamas operative. ''Israel has never been in such a state of retreat and weakness as it is today following more than four years of the intifadah," he exulted last week. ''The withdrawal marks the end of the Zionist dream and is a sign of the moral and psychological decline of the Jewish state."

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Just as Israel's unilateral withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000 proved a triumph for Hezbollah, so will Fatah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad revel in Israel's surrender of Gaza. The Lebanon retreat inspired the Palestinian Authority to launch a murderous terror war, the so-called ''second intifadah." What fresh hell will the Gaza disengagement inspire?

A few days ago, Israeli officials learned that Palestinians had smuggled SA-7 antiaircraft missiles into Gaza from Egypt. Mahmoud Abbas, the ''moderate" Palestinian president, announced plans to release two hard-core terrorists from custody. Far from cracking down on Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Abbas is taking them on as partners: The official Palestinian media reported this week that the two terror organizations intend to formally join the PLO. ''What's happening now isn't considered a calm," the leader of yet another terror squad, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, told an Israeli newspaper. ''It's merely a warrior's rest."

If the terrorists are this brazen now, when Israeli troops are still on the ground, what will happen when those troops are gone and Gaza becomes a safe haven for killers and radicals?

It isn't only Israel that will pay the price. ''A Hamas flag over Netzarim will justify 37 years of terrorism," writes Michael Rubin, the editor of the Middle East Quarterly. An Israeli withdrawal will embolden rejectionists across the region. ''If terrorism can free Gaza, why not the West Bank, the Galilee, Indian Kashmir, or democratic Iraq?"

Wars are not won by retreats or with fences or through the ethnic cleansing of Jews. Difficult as the Gaza status quo may be, what is scheduled to take place this summer will prove far worse. Sharon -- the old Sharon -- had it right: Unilateral withdrawal is a prescription for disaster.

Jeff Jacoby's e-mail address is jacoby@globe.com.