WATCH – Aaron Klein: Gaza Rocket War Shows Israel Must Retain West Bank

This week’s massive escalation of rocket attacks from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip spotlights the security dangers faced by Israel if the Jewish state evacuates territory either unilaterally or in a deal with the Palestinians, contended Breitbart Jerusalem chief Aaron Klein.

Speaking in a panel discussion on Israel’s i24NEWS (video above), Klein reminded viewers about Israel’s 2005 withdrawal from Gaza, which he argued paved the way for Hamas’s takeover and the use of the coastal enclave to attack Israel. He warned that any future withdrawal from the strategic West Bank, which borders central Israel, would result in a similar security nightmare for the Jewish state.

“[Then-Prime Minister] Arial Sharon pledged that if Israel evacuates the Gaza Strip then the world would understand if the Jewish state needed to go in and defend itself,” Klein stated.

He continued:

So, don’t forget that while we see this rocket war aimed at Israeli civilian population centers in part because of the Gaza evacuation, we are now talking about the continued so-called land for peace formula and for some sort of creation ultimately of a Palestinian state in the West bank. In Judea and Samaria. Bordering Israel’s International Airport. Gaza wouldn’t have to aim at Ben Gurion Airport.  From the West Bank, you can very easily lob a very short range Qassam rocket or less at Ben Gurion.

So, let’s keep in mind the disaster, the war that Israel is facing right now in Gaza when we continue to talk about the so-called peace process even though there doesn’t seem to be a peace partner not just in Gaza but in the West Bank with Mahmoud Abbas and Fatah.

Any way you look at it, there is no Palestinian leadership that can take over any strategic territory, whether evacuated or in a so-called peace deal.

More than 180 projectiles were fired from the Gaza Strip aimed at Israeli civilian population centers this week. At least 19 Israelis were reportedly injured in the attacks, which slammed the city of Sderot and reached as far as the Israeli city of Beersheba.