The Masquerade is Over

The Masquerade is Over
December 27, 1996

This  morning  on  the  Kol Yisrael radio  news,  Defense
Minister  Yitzhak  Mordechai, speaking about  the  Hebron
accords,  emphasized that he has ordered his subordinates
to  insure that the Jewish residents of Hebron  will  not
feel   any   lessening   of  their   security   following
`redeployment.'  A few weeks ago Mordechai took a walking
tour   from   Beit   Hadassah  to   the   Avraham   Avinu
neighborhood.   As  he inspected the market,  due  to  be
reopened with implementation of the agreement,   I  shook
his  hand, welcomed him to Hebron and pointed out to  him
that  the market, located on Jewish property, was  stolen
from  us  following the expulsion of the Jewish community
in  1929.  His response: "And how much land did  we  take
from  them?"  Shocked at this answer, especially  because
in  Hebron  we  didn't take any land from  the  Arabs,  I
responded,  "but  they murdered us  and  then  stole  our
land."  Mordechai retorted, "you're looking at this  from
an  historical  perspective; where does  that  historical
perspective  begin?"  This is the Israeli Likud  Minister
of Defense, who we put into office.
      Last  week, on Friday, the Bibi bombshell exploded.
But  unfortunately, too many of us are  so  shell-shocked
that  even  when  a  bomb explodes in your  face,  you're
liable to miss it.  Netanyahu's right-hand man, David Bar-
Ilan, former editor of the Jerusalem Post and one of  the
most right-wing, if not the most right-wing member of the
Prime Minister's team, in an interview with the Jerusalem
Post,  revealed that Netanyahu has rejected the  idea  of
`Eretz Yisrael HaShlema' the idea of a `complete Israel',
that  the  Land will have to be shared and that  he  will
accept  a  `limited palestinian state.'   Of  course  the
words `limited state' contradict themselves.  There is no
such  animal.  A state is, by definition, sovereign.   If
it  is  not sovereign, it is not a state.  And if  it  is
sovereign, it is not limited.  And even if Arafat  should
agree  to  accept `limited sovereignty - we all know  how
much  Arafat feels obligated by signed agreements.   When
this  was pointed out to Bar Ilan, he confirmed that  the
administration is aware of this, but even so....  He even
went   so   far   as  to  agree  with  the  interviewer's
observation  that with the advent of Oslo,  and  Israel's
acceptance  of  its  obligations, there  is  very  little
difference today between the Likud and Labor.
      Bar-Ilan  wasn't  speaking  for  himself.   He  was
speaking  for  Benyamin Netanyahu.  Our  Prime  Minister.
Who we elected.
      What is one of the major predicaments of the Hebron
accords?   It  is very simple, but unfortunately  remains
totally  unnoticed.  When the Rabin-Peres  administration
signed the agreement, they did so with the full intention
of  removing  all  Jewish presence from  Hebron.   Rabin,
speaking  before groups from the US, said time  and  time
again  that  he  had no intention of leaving  the  Jewish
Community  in  Hebron.  He promised  not  to  remove  any
`settlements'  during the interim stage of  the  accords,
but  planned, as part of final status agreement, to expel
Hebron's  Jews from the City of the Patriarchs.   Knowing
this, both he and Peres had no compunctions about signing
an  agreement  which, for all intensive purposes,  sealed
the  fate of the community.  They knew that the terms and
conditions   of   the  accords  created  an   intolerable
unlivable  situation.   But  that  didn't  bother   them,
because that is what they wanted.  That is, as disgusting
as  it  is,  comprehensible.  That they were  willing  to
forsake  Jewish lives, to sacrifice Jewish  blood,  as  a
means  to  a goal, is not.  But the terms of the  accords
were  at  one  with  the expected future  -  a  Judenrein
Hebron.
      BUT,  Netanyahu, by all accounts, is interested  in
maintaining  a Jewish presence in Hebron.   He  does  not
want  to abandon Ma'arat HaMachpela to Arafat.  He  truly
desires  a strong Jewish community in the city.   On  the
face  of it, he does not wish to be responsible for  more
`sacrifices  for  peace.'  But what is he  doing?  He  is
planning  on  implementing  an agreement,  geared  around
expulsion  of  the Jewish community, while  promising  to
leave the Jews in Hebron, with `the same security that we
presently  have,' in spite of the allowance of what  will
eventually   be,  thousands  of  armed  Arab   terrorists
patrolling in and around the city.  In other words, he is
contradicting  himself.   He is  trying  to  implement  a
suicide  pact  and  remain alive, even after  firing  the
bullet into his brain.  And it just doesn't work.  If you
shoot yourself in the head, you die, like it or not.
      This morning Yitzhak Mordechai was quoted as saying
that he too is unhappy with the Hebron agreement, that it
is not good for us, but, what can you do?  A `legitimate'
Israeli  government  signed an  official  agreement  that
binds not only that government, but the country.  We have
no choice, in his opinion, but to honor the accords.
      Personally,  I  have  a lot of  trouble  with  this
philosophy.  True, when an agreement is broken  one  must
be  think  out the possible consequences and be ready  to
pay  the price.  But everyone with eyes in his head  sees
what  Arafat  is doing.  Using the salami method,  he  is
taking  a  slice  at a time.  And he  is  doing  it  very
successfully.   We all know what his goal  is.   No,  not
only Jerusalem. Jerusalem is, as is Hebron, a  means  to  
an end. He is interested in Haifa and Acco and Yaffo, and
Nazareth and, well, all of Eretz Yisrael.  He desires  to
be King of Palestine stretching from the Mediterranean to
the  Jordan,  and perhaps over to the east  side  of  the
Jordan too.  His goal is not a Judenrein Hebron - it is a
Judenrein Israel.  And we are playing straight  into  his
hands.  We are killing ourselves for him - saving him the
work.  He is dictating the conditions of our obligations,
the conditions of our suicide, while sitting on the 
sidelines  and  watching  us   destroy ourselves.
      Arafat  took  off  his mask a long  time  ago.   He
doesn't  fulfill  his obligations and he  makes  it  very
clear that he has no intention to - as per extradition of
murderers to Israel.  The problem isn't Arafat  -  it  is
Netanyahu  and  his  administration.   I'm  not  sure  if
Netanyahu is wearing  a mask that has blinded him, or  if
he  is  hallucinating,  thinking that the Arafat he  sees
isn't the real Arafat - that Arafat is still wearing  his
mask.   But  the whole story is very reminiscent  of  the
Emperor's New Clothes.
      I  will not say that Netanyahu has betrayed us.  He
is  not  a  traitor.   He  did create  Oslo  and  is  not
responsible  for its existence.  But, he is  implementing
it,  against all expectations, against all his  promises,
against  his own personal political philosophies, against
all logic or reason.  So, inasmuch as I will say that  we
are  very disappointed in him, as are so many others,   I
won't  say that he is a traitor, or that he has  betrayed
us,  that  he has betrayed Am Yisrael, Eretz  Yisrael  or
Torat Yisrael.
     But I don't know what history will say.