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The man, a Rwandan refugee, worked as a volunteer for the cathedral and had been in charge of locking up the building on Friday night, LCI said, citing prosecutor Pierre Sennes.

Sennes said the man in custody was being held to clear up inconsistencies in his schedule.

He said on Saturday that three fires had been started at the site and that there had been no signs of a break-in. Authorities said an investigation for suspected arson had been opened.

The blaze began on Saturday morning, engulfing the inside of the Gothic structure in flames. Firefighters brought it under control after several hours and extinguished it completely by the afternoon.

It happened just over a year after a fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris which destroyed its roof and main spire.

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Instead of laying the groundwork for the creation of a Palestinian state that would live in peace alongside Israel, many across the political spectrum in Israel now believe that the Gaza withdrawal of more than 8,500 Jews in August 2005 serves as a costly case study demonstrating the implications of evacuating lands and turning them over to Arab control.

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Many of the assumptions proposed by Israel's military establishment ahead of the withdrawals have proven false, while the social impact of the evacuations have left deep scars on many of the Jewish residents who lost their homes in the experiment.

Maj. Gen. (res.) Gershon Hacohen led the IDF's 36th Division that was responsible for carrying out the disengagement. At the time, he personally opposed the move, yet still carried out his assigned duties as a commanding officer.

"In a way, I now see the disengagement from Gaza as sort of a miracle from heaven," Hacohen told JNS.

"Just imagine if Hamas would have remained quiet for several years after the disengagement; there would have been a general consensus in Israel to disengage from Judea and Samaria. No one in his right mind in Israel will now agree to a disengagement from Judea and Samaria except for a few left-wing radicals."

Hacohen explains that the military assumptions that were asserted by proponents of the withdrawal from the security community have been proven "totally untrue."

The first assumption, he said, is that "territorial separation between Israelis and Palestinians, including massive evacuation of Jewish West Bank neighborhoods, will delineate borders, reduce friction and create stability."

Rather than lead toward a peaceful coexistence between neighbors, Hacohen said that "on the contrary, massive evacuation from Gaza gave Hamas a chance to fortify itself and make life for Israelis miserable."

He said that leading up to the controversial withdrawal, Israel's security establishment insisted that if security broke down, "the Israeli government would not hesitate to decide to embark on any necessary military operation;" that "the IDF will be able to remove this security threat within days;" and that any such an operation would be supported with "broad international backing."

When asked why he implemented the disengagement if he opposed it at the time, Hacohen told JNS that he felt if not for him, "it would have been a million times worse."

As he explained, "if the struggle in Gush Katif would have escalated to a point where soldiers would have been killed or injured severely, the settlement movement would have been delegitimized by the masses, and Sharon would have no problem evacuating the settlers from Judea and Samaria. I made sure that did not happen."

Broken hearts, shattered faith

Aside from the security setback of the Gaza withdrawal, former Gush Katif Regional Council member Yigal Kirzenshaft told JNS that the evacuation has taken a severe toll on the displaced community and ruined a model, albeit a flawed one, of integration between Jews and Arabs.

He said the government has done a less-than-satisfactory job of compensating the evacuees and helping them rebuild their lives, now 14 years after the disengagement. "They promised us full compensation and said that there will be a solution for everyone, but it turned out bollocks; they really never had any solutions."

Kirzenshaft related that the expulsion broke up some of the families who left. "The divorce rate increased, and it shattered the faith of many. Most of those expelled belonged to a national religious community to whom the value of Eretz Israel was sacred.

"The heartbreak of the expulsion even caused many to fall ill and die prematurely. These are young people who died from heartbreak."

Kirzenshaft added that "most of the residents were owners of greenhouses, where they grew and exported vegetables with a very high turnover rate. One acre produced 20 tons of tomatoes. It was a supernatural blessing, despite the fact that before we came it was a desert, total desolate. Now it reverted to its former state of total desolation and serves as a safe haven for terrorists."

"When we lived in Gush Katif, it was good for the Jews and for the Arabs," said Kirzenshaft. "The Arabs of Gaza were employed by the Jewish farmers and had a decent income to provide for their families. They did not want us to leave. Just recently, someone told me that one of the Arabs who worked in one of our greenhouses is now trying to grow a greenhouse on his own, but with no success."

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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The incident marked the first fire in the area to be caused by an arson balloon from Gaza after a respite of about a month from attacks of this kind.

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Last month, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi and GOC Southern Command Maj. Gen. Herzi Halevi met with heads of local authorities near Gaza. During the meeting, Kochavi said that the IDF was using every tool at its disposal to put a stop to arson terrorism from the Gaza Strip. Kochavi also briefed the local authority heads on the situation in Gaza, as well as provided an overview of the terrorist organizations which are active there.

The meeting touched on common goals and discussed continued cooperation between the IDF and communities that lie to the east of Gaza.

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At the end of the meeting, Netanyahu said, "We held a cabinet meeting at the Gaza Division with the division commander and the GOC Southern Command. Our policy is clear – we want to restore calm, but at the same time, we are preparing for a large scale military operation if necessary. These were my instructions to the army."

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"At the same time, I met with heads of local authorities near Gaza and Ashkelon. I discussed what steps must be taken and they gave instructions about how we could help them. I'm sorry that a few local authority heads who always say no one listens to them got up and left when we came to listen, but we will do what is necessary for everyone," Netanyahu said.

The prime minister also touched on this week's protests against police violence toward members of the Ethiopian-Israeli community, and said the Ethiopians were "dear to us."

"I say this … as the person who heads the ministerial committee on how to address the problems in that community. We will discuss all the issues, but we will also discuss something that is unacceptable – we will not accept or suffer roads being blocked and violence, including Molotov cocktails, being perpetrated against our [security] forces – or cars being set on fire or any other property being burned. We are a law-abiding nation and we demand that everyone obey the law," Netanyahu said.

The prime minister said that discussions were being held about police brutality and ways of changing how Ethiopian-Israelis are treated. However, he said, one thing was certain – that blocking roads and violence were not the way to address the issue.

After the cabinet meeting, Netanyahu and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon met with leaders of Gaza-adjacent communities. Gadi Yarkoni, head of the Eshkol Regional Council, and Ofir Libstein, head of the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council, declined to attend the meeting.

"We were surprised to discover that 20 heads of local authorities from southern Israel had been invited to meet with the prime minister, and that he had no intention of holding a meeting devoted to the Gaza periphery, as we expected and as should have been held at a time like this, and which we asked for," Yarkoni and Libstein said.

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The Bahrain conference was intended "first and foremost to bring economic growth to the Palestinians and the region as a whole," Netanyahu said.

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The prime minister quoted Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, who said last week that Israel, as a Middle Eastern country, was "part of the heritage of the region" and that "the Jewish people have a place among us."

Al Khalifa also said that "the Israeli public should believe that there are countries in the region that want to achieve peace and are encouraging the Palestinians to make peace."

Netanyahu called the Bahraini official's remarks "very important" and said they were the "direct result of our policy, which is making Israel a powerful force in the region and a rising world power."

"While we are drawing closer to Arab nations, and gradually normalizing relations with them, and while we welcomed the Bahrain conference, which was intended first and foremost to bring economic growth to the Palestinians … the Palestinians were attacking it viciously, against their own interests," Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu said that the Palestinian Authority had recently arrested a Palestinian businessman for the "crime" of taking part in the Bahrain conference. The man was later released due to US diplomatic pressure on Ramallah.

"All this brings one thing to the surface – [that] the Palestinians are determined to continue the conflict at any cost, including the welfare of the Palestinians themselves. That is not how those who want to promote peace operate. We, unlike them, are continuing to foster ties with the Arab world, and that is to everyone's benefit," he said.

Turning to the situation in southern Israel in the face of renewed arson attacks from the Gaza Strip, Netanyahu said, "We completely understand the distress of the communities along the Gaza border, and we are working to ease it as much as possible."

"Last week, we applied stringent sanctions on Hamas, including stopping the supply of fuel. If we need to, we'll use much harsher measures. We carry out these actions after consulting with all the branches of the defense and security establishment."

The prime minister said he was "unimpressed by the propaganda from various 'experts.'"

"A lot of them are giving us advice that they themselves didn't implement when they were in charge. And don't get mixed up – they'll also be the first to criticize us when we launch a wide-scale military operation, which we might be forced to do. So I am guided by only one thing – Israel's security," Netanyahu said.

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