We hear it every time a politician, academic or reserve general advocates territorial concessions. The word seems to have more therapeutic value than Valium, Prozac or sleeping pills. Worse yet, people believe demilitarization acts like a vaccine. Inject it and the body politic is immune to war. It can produce a lethal side effect.
History reveals that demilitarized territory is eventually remilitarized.
There is no reason to suspect any future deviations from this trend. The Egyptian example offers a prognostic and a warning. A more obvious indicator is the Palestinian Authority's flagrant violation of the demilitarization clauses of the Interim Agreement of September 1995. According to Israeli sources, the PA is stockpiling weapons prohibited by the accords. Only the naive believe that Yasser Arafat is not building an army.