A Jewish Decisioמ

A Jewish Decision

February 3, 2004

"I have given an order to plan for the evacuation of 17 settlements in the

Gaza Strip."

"It is my intention to carry out an evacuation - sorry, a relocation - of

settlements that cause us problems and of places that we will not hold onto

anyway in a final settlement, like the Gaza settlements.  We are

talking of a population of 7,500 people. It's not a simple matter. We are

talking of thousands of square kilometers of hothouses, factories and

packing plants. People there who are third-generation. The first thing is to

ask their agreement, to reach an agreement with the residents. To move

thousands of dunams of hothouses, educational institutions, thousands and

thousands of vehicles, it's not a quick matter, especially if it's done

under fire."

"I am working on the assumption that in the future there will be no Jews in

Gaza," Sharon added.

So said Ariel Sharon, Prime Minister of the State of Israel, to journalist Yoel Marcus of HaAretz yesterday, February 2, 2004. This morning Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed his opinion that the ‘relocation’ will occur sometime this summer – June or July.

Why? There are any number of possibilities. Perhaps it’s Sharon’s possible upcoming indictment. As was said yesterday, ‘the deeper the legal problems, the deeper the eviction.’ Sharon may believe that he’s ‘saving’ himself, i.e., as long as he faithfully follows the ‘left track’ he will not be indicted.

However, it could also be the opposite. Sharon knows that he’s going, that the axe will fall in the very near future. He may believe that a positive Knesset vote to abandon Gush Katif will obligate any future government, just as Oslo, initiated by a Labor government was accepted as ‘legitimate’ by the following Likud-Netanyahu-Sharon regimes.

American-European pressure, or maybe he really believes this is good for the State of Israel. I wouldn’t discount Alzheimer’s also. The truth is that it really doesn’t matter. What does matter is that Sharon has to go. If anyone had any doubts about Sharon’s intentions, they are now crystal clear. Sharon intends to meet George W. next month, map in hand. And not to have any false impressions…Gush Katif is only the beginning. According to secret information leaked from the Eiland Committee, set up by Sharon to plan massive transfer evictions throughout Yesha, Kiryat Arba and Hebron are potential victims, on the list of communities to be ‘relocated’ along with other South Hebron Hills settlements.

We cannot live under illusions. Sharon intends to dump out tens of thousands of people in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, effectively destroying a Jewish presence in Yesha. He has said it and he has the capabilities to do it. We have a long record of experience with Arik – he is a builder and he is an evictor. Let’s not forget Yamit.

Besides actual transfer itself, the dangers inherent in Sharon’s statements are multiple. It goes without saying that each and every word creates additional motivation to kill Jews. Why not? The rewards Israel is granting the terrorists are tangible. The more the blood, the more the land. At the same time the left is licking its chops. The warmonger of the right is about to implement the plans they’ve talked about for decades. They will be victorious without even having to dirty their hands.

But the real threat has yet to be mentioned. It’s not the Arabs I’m worried about. They are predictable. The menace is the Jews.

Let’s put the cards on the table. And, there should be no mistake – I am not, in any way, shape or form, supporting or justifying the ideas about to be presented. However, it would be grossly negligent to blatantly ignore them. Sharon has a deeply embedded love of agriculture. So much so that he has not yet stopped planting, for at the moment he could easily be sowing the seeds of an all-out civil war. Let’s face it: there are hundreds of thousands of Israelis who are fervently opposed to abandoning Yesha and evicting tens or hundreds of thousands of people. Probably, a great number of them would, given little choice, swallow the bitter pill. Not voluntarily – I expect that an overwhelming majority would never leave their homes of their own accord. But they would not go overboard, in other words, they would not use weapons against police, soldiers or any other security force expelling them from their homes. But, make no mistake, there probably are those who would. It’s scary, and it would be a big big mistake on their part. However, it is practically impossible to prevent. There is not, in all of Israel today, any leader who is accepted by everyone. There is no one who could ‘give orders’ thereby preventing anyone from pulling the trigger. Israelis are, as a rule, extremely independent.

The culpable parties would not necessarily originate in Yesha. Yitzhak Rabin’s assassin came from Hertzelia. And part of the problem is that such acts tend to snowball. It’s difficult to know where it would end. Unfortunately we already witnessed the murder of one prime minister. It would be an immensely criminal wrong-doing, but it wouldn’t be overly surprising if high-level politicians were targeted – not by Arab terrorists, but by unbalanced Israelis. We should all have learned by now that violence is not the solution, that differences, as deep as they are, cannot and should not be dealt with via guns and explosives. That only exacerbates already flammable situations. But it is almost impossible to prevent or disregard. The possibility does exist.

Again – all these forecasts are not based on any ‘inside information’ and would be, in my opinion Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!!  Murder and political assassination cannot be condoned. But one would have to be blind to ignore the potential.  

And it is all Ariel Sharon’s fault. He is chopping up Eretz Yisrael into little pieces, and boiling them, together with a multitude of Israeli Jews - Am Yisrael, in a cauldron placed atop on a mammoth scorching bonfire. It should be obvious that the contents will boil over.

This is all easily preventable. A few days ago, at the ceremony marking the return of the bodies of our three soldiers from Lebanon, Sharon spoke, defending his decision to release hundreds of terrorists. He said, “We have taken all aspects into consideration, we have seriously considered and weighed all the information, and finally we placed on the scales a decisive weight: it is called, "Jewish Sentiment.  I have no other word to describe the decision to bring the boys home, to the soil of our homeland, carrying a heavy price other than a "Jewish Decision".

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon: Jewish Sentiment is not exclusive to murdered prisoners of war. It certainly should play a role when dealing with Eretz Yisrael. Make a real “Jewish Decision” – either stop your follies or resign!