To this day, only the political left in Eretz Yisroel has presented a concrete policy on the issue of the country’s permanent borders while the nationalist camp has merely settled for expressions of protest and opposition to the leftist proposals. To ensure the continuity of the settlements in Yehuda and Shomron, we must create a national vision based on the Divine promise of the Land of Israel for the People of Israel according to the Torah of Israel.
Translated by Michoel Leib Dobry
1.
Which prime minister should we believe? Is it the one who has agreed to establish a ‘Palestinian’ state along the 1967 borders or the one who claims that uprooting settlements in Yehuda and Shomron will lead to Gaza-styled terrorist tunnels in Kfar Saba?
Two significant revelations were made public in recent weeks. The first was that Mr. Netanyahu had consented to withdraw to the borders in existence prior to the Six Day War and create a sovereign Arab state along the perimeter of the Judean foothills, posing a serious security threat to the international airport in Lod. The second revelation was Netanyahu’s recent warning in closed discussions that if Israel withdraws from Yehuda and Shomron there will be terrorist tunnels extending throughout the Sharon region.
These two headlines are ironclad proof of the absurdity represented by the policies of the government of Israel. On the one hand we are engaged in a great war against the forces of terror, yet we find that there is no line of action prepared to deter these forces. On the other hand, however, the policymakers continue to make empty declarations on diplomatic negotiations, undermining any future agreement that will include uprooting settlements.
After the recent conflict, the time has finally come to bury, once and for all, the delusional concept of creating a ‘Palestinian’ state in the heart of Eretz Yisroel. After our best soldiers were killed in battle on the ruins of Gush Katif, the time has come to appoint a blue-ribbon committee to investigate the crime of the expulsion, euphemistically called “the Gaza disengagement,” ensuring that all those who participated in this reckless initiative – including the incumbent prime minister – will pay the political consequences and be removed from their positions of national leadership.
Last week, the seventy-second casualty of Operation “Protective Edge,” Shachar Shalev (may G-d avenge his blood) from the Golan Heights settlement of Alonei HaBashan, was laid to rest. Shachar joined dozens of soldiers who paid the heavy price for the expulsion from Gush Katif with their very lives. These courageous warriors made the ultimate sacrifice in protecting innocent Jews from terrorists who erected rocket launchers on the rubble of the Gaza settlements to fire on cities throughout Eretz Yisroel’s central and southern regions. Among these soldiers was Major Benaya Sarel Hy”d, who was murdered just three weeks before his wedding. According to official reports, Benaya was killed on the battlefield in Gaza. However, his family chose to engrave the exact location on his tombstone – “killed on the outskirts of Morag.” As you may recall, Benaya was killed together with his friend, Hadar Goldin Hy”d, who also was about to get married, and Staff Sgt. Liel Gidoni. The three of them were murdered near a house where a terrorist tunnel had been dug, near the ruins of the former Gush Katif settlement of Morag. This was once the location of a thriving Jewish community, now the place where these three brave soldiers gave their lives for the Jewish People.
2.
The time has come for us to forge a new vision following the events of Operation “Protective Edge.” Our first mission is to preserve the Jewish strength and fortitude revealed during this struggle. We have demonstrated that we are truly an amazing people who live according to the eternal principle of “Love your fellow as yourself.” Now we must show that this love for our fellow Jews constantly exists among us – not just during times of war.
The second mission is to present a clear ideological program with true foresight. To this day, only the political left in Eretz Yisroel has presented a concrete policy on the issue of the country’s permanent borders while the nationalist camp has merely settled for expressions of protest and opposition to the leftist proposals. To ensure the continuity of the settlements in Yehuda and Shomron, we must create a national vision based on the Divine promise of the Land of Israel for the People of Israel according to the Torah of Israel.
During the recent Gaza operation, a survey from the Ynet news agency revealed that 80% of Gaza residents are interested in immigrating to another country in the free or Arab world. It turns out that the billions invested thus far in the war on terror could have been used to encourage an orderly transfer of the local Arab population and subsequently transform Gaza into an energetic source of Jewish life. While Tzfas and Yafo were also once cities with Arab majorities, the war in 5708 between the Jews of Eretz Yisroel and their Moslem neighbors, together with the realization that the Jewish People were restoring their sovereignty over the land G-d had given them, convinced these Arabs to flee. Today, they call themselves “refugees.” None of them ever thought of the possibility of returning, because they understood that from the moment these cities returned to Jewish control, there was nothing for them to do except leave. It was only the fantasies and deceit of the “peace” camp that led the Arabs to demand their homes back in these cities. Thus, it isn’t clear what the difference is between Gaza and Tzfas. Even Gaza City had been home to Jews in the past, while (l’havdil) Tzfas had also once been a city with an Arab majority. Just as hundreds of thousands of refugees had left these cities during the first Arab-Israeli War and did not return, by the same token, a gradual evacuation of the Arabs of Gaza and their re-settlement in other countries could be carried out honorably and respectably.
It is the height of irony that the political left, who fervently claimed that the Gush Katif expulsion was merely a “relocation,” as people do move from time to time, is the same political left that is so vehemently opposed to any discussion of an exchange of populations in Gaza.
When you come to Sderot and you see the perilously short distance between Sderot and Gaza, you can understand why these two cities simply cannot exist side-by-side. Gaza has a population supporting terrorists who would be more than happy to see Sderot wiped off the map – regardless of the price that must be paid. It is home to suicide bombers who are interested in doing everything possible to harm Sderot – and we do not expect this desire to disappear any time soon. The Israel Defense Forces will continue to bomb them while the terrorists will continue to produce missiles and explosive-laden tunnels as a means of carrying out their plans of destruction. Thus, there is only one logical way to solve this problem: either we transfer Sderot or we transfer Gaza…
3.
During the farbrengen of Yud-Gimmel Tammuz 5742, as IDF forces were fighting in Beirut, Lebanon, the Rebbe addressed the prevailing security situation: “There is no need for even one single soldier to move deeper [into Beirut], for even simple people see with their physical eyes that they [the IDF] can make a ‘heap’ (of rubble) out of the entire area. With an announcement five minutes beforehand, not twenty-six hours, there is time for anyone there during those five minutes to move from this area in Beirut or to leave Beirut (entirely), and none of those delaying this whole matter will interfere with them.
“There are a number of people who are big noisemakers, and these two or three people who have the power to carry this out in an instant can do so in a way that would not ‘cost’ a single wounded Jew, and certainly not one single fatality. Furthermore, it will also not ‘cost’ any wounded and killed on the other side, if they will see that we really mean it. The matter depends on them.”
We have been out of the Gaza Strip for the past nine years after controlling it for nearly four decades. In the first years of our presence in Gaza, although there was still an official state of war, peace reigned throughout the territory. The local Arab population may have gritted its teeth, but there were no open hostilities anywhere in Gaza. They went to work at garages in Tel Aviv and various building sites, and the residents of southern Eretz Yisroel would regularly come to Gaza for auto repairs. While we were controlling Gaza with a firm hand the terrorists did not dare to lift their heads.
From the day we tried to make peace in Gaza the war began. More than twenty years have passed since the accursed Oslo Accords during which we tried every way to stop the terrorism. Over the past two decades there has been a “peace of paper,” while in reality, Gaza has been transformed into a swarming terrorist nest, posing the most serious problem for Israeli security. During the recent war, cities as far north as Haifa were in the crosshairs of the growing threat from Gaza.
Therefore, in the current situation, it appears that the only solution is to enable the residents of Gaza to immigrate to some other country. This seems to be the only logical way of preventing the greatest security threat currently looming over the cities of southern Eretz Yisroel. Otherwise, we will find ourselves in another couple of years with yet another military operation, striking fear into the hearts of millions of Jews and again ending without achieving its true objective.
In order to develop such a process, there first must be the recognition that this is our land – Eretz Yisroel for Am Yisroel, as stated explicitly in our Holy Torah. Only on the basis of such an understanding will there be a determined war without fear or vacillation, with the knowledge that this is our land, and therefore, we have no need to apologize for reconquering and retaking it.