Nine Percent or Thirteen Percent?
Haggling over
the terms of our Surrender
by
Gary M. Cooperberg
May 21, 1998
We Jews have lived under oppression for two thousand years.
We
have been scattered to the four corners of the world.
We have been
beaten, humiliated, persecuted, murdered, and nearly annihilated.
The
only thing which held us together over all of these years is
our common
identity as Jews, and our common persecution because of it.
While we
have always tried to find rational ways to prove to our host
nations
that we are really not so terrible, and in many ways we are
even
beneficial, the end result has always been suspicion and expulsion,
and
even murder.
If Jewish history has taught us anything, it should have taught
us that our common identity and our common destiny cannot be
shaken nor
denied. It remains with us no matter how we try to be
like all the
other nations of the world. The fact that Jews have
always maintained
a presence in the Land of our Fathers', albeit under Arab persecution,
failed to impress many people. But the incredible reestablishment
of
Jewish sovereignty here in 1948 created an ideological explosion
heard
around the world. It destroyed the Christian myth that
the Jews were no
longer the chosen people of G-d. It proved that the Torah
is Truth and
that, indeed, after the Jewish people had been scattered all
over the
world and decimated, they would be re-gathered to their ancient
homeland. This was now a fact all could see with their
eyes.
Yet, despite undeniable miracles, two thousand years of
persecution cannot help but leave scars. We Jews have
evolved into
experts at surviving our enemies by blending into the woodwork
and
trying hard not to incite our would-be murderers. And
our enemies are
not so eager to give up their desire to believe that we are
no longer
G-d's chosen. It is from these scars that we find ourselves
enmeshed
the incredible fraud called a "peace" process.
All that this process
really seeks to do is to prove, once and for all, that Israel
is a
freak, and not the authentic recipient of Biblical Promises.
If it can be proven that there is another, more deserving,
people with rights to the Land of Israel, then the embarrassment
of
recognizing Jews as the authentic people of Israel can be denied.
While
I can certainly understand why the Pope has a vested interest
in
recognizing Arafat and the PLO, I continue to be baffled as
to how my
prime minister and entire government insist upon doing so.
If the PLO
has rights to any part of my homeland, by our own admission,
then how do
we presume to limit those rights either in scope or in volume?
There is
a flaw in the presumption that we can grant limited rights to
those whom
we proclaim to be a legitimate people.
The problem is that we are cowards and liars. We are afraid
that our enemies will win the sympathy of our imagined patrons.
As such
we have decided to self inflict the first blow in order sympathy
of our
imagined patrons. As such we have decided to self inflict
the first
blow in order to be on the receiving end of the sympathy.
Of course it
didn't work. On the contrary. All we accomplished
was to prove to
friend and foe alike that we are wrong, and that those who seek
our
destruction are really innocent victims of our oppression who
have every
right to try and destroy us. Even now, when it has become
quite obvious
that peace will never be the result of this process, our leaders
still
insist that we continue upon the path to self-destruction.
We are so
afraid of conflict that we see no choice but to continue to
surrender in
the hope that our enemies and friends will eventually take pity
upon
us.
Living, as I do, on the front line of the "peace process",
here
in Hebron, I am acutely aware of the insanity of the path our
leaders
have taken. While they claim to be embarking upon
the road to peace, I
have to suffer for their arrogance. They have built new
roads, just for
people like me, for peace. Yet I cannot imagine why new
roads need to
be built in order to protect me from our new peace partners.
One would
expect that peace would result in an end of rocks, fire-bombs
and
bullets. Yet, since we have made peace, our government
has found the
need to purchase bullet proof buses to protect us from our peace
partners, even as we ride on the new roads they built for our
protection.
My wife is a brave woman. She has been effectively terrorized.
As
a nurse in Kiryat Arba she has personally witnessed the results
of our
new peace. She has learned how to treat bullet holes (which
they didn't
teach her in nursing school) and she has seen her friends and
neighbors
after they had been wounded or slain by our peace partners.
Were she
less courageous we would have left Kiryat Arba long ago for
a place from
which we would not have to run the gauntlet every time we wanted
to
visit another town or city. Courageous does not mean fearless.
Courageous means that, in spite of very real fears, we continue
to live
our lives as normally as possible and refuse to back down to
terror.
Every time we go to Jerusalem we fear attack from our enemies.
This is
not a phobia. It is a very real and rational fear of being
stoned or
murdered. For over four years now we do not drive the
roads at night in
capitulation to terror. And, when we drive during daylight
hours, ,we
try desperately not to think about the danger which lurks around
us.
All too often we fail.
We are not at all impressed with the prospect that our
government is prepared to give away more of our homeland to
murderers.
We are not pleased to hear our defense minister declare that
he is not
certain if Arafat is sneaking in weapons, but if he finds out
that it is
true, he will then think about how to lessen the amount!
Where in the
world would you find another people who would tolerate such
leadership?
Our government, in its entirety, is presiding over the terms
of our
self-destruction as if we have no choice but to fold our hands
and
surrender.
How could this be the same people who, back in 1948 defied the
entire world when we had no army and no allies, and won?
How could this
be the same people who faced certain destruction in 1967, as
all of our
Arab enemies joined in battle against us, and we defeated them
all
within six days, liberating even more of our holy inheritance?
The fact is that we do not believe in miracles, even as they
are
being performed for us right before our eyes. We did not
win wars
because of our military prowess. We won the wars because
we refused to
surrender. We understood that not to fight meant certain
destruction,
and, despite impossible odds, we simply did what we had to do
without
thinking about the probable outcome. After the fact, no
one was more
amazed at the results then were our military leaders.
There was no
rational explanation as to how we could have won. Yet
we did, because
the G-d of Israel was fighting for us. He was fighting
for us and will
continue to fight for us because that is His Will. If
we conduct our
lives in order to fulfill His Will to the best of our ability,
then He
will always stand with us and protect us. But should we
deny His
miracles and even try to work against them, His Will will still
prevail. Only we will suffer tragic consequences, G-d
forbid.
Today we suffer under leadership which refuses to act with
Jewish pride. Zionism has been junked in order that we
succumb to
blackmail. We have begun to deal with the Devil as we
plunge deeper and
deeper into a process of surrender which we have convinced ourselves
is
the only way to achieve peace. Yet the further we go with
it the more
hopeless our position becomes.
Peres arrogantly declared his brilliant strategy as
irreversible. What is amazing is that Netanyahu actually
believed him.
Peres declared that Netanyahu would also shake hands with Arafat.
What
is amazing is that, indeed, he chose to do so. Netanyahu
accused Peres
of dividing Jerusalem. What is amazing is that it is Netanyahu
who
denied Jews the right to build and live on the Mount of Olives,
and who
has been holding up building on Har Homa.
Our Prime Minister has been meticulously listing all of the
flagrant violations by the PLO of the Oslo agreements.
Yet he has done
nothing about them. Rather than enforce his pronounced
policy of
reciprocity, he continues in spite of the violations.
Rather than
reversing the policy of giving away of pieces of our homeland,
his only
argument is to try and limit how much more he will give away.
Of
course Clinton is pressuring us. Why shouldn't he?
Israel isn't even
demanding that our enemies be removed, never mind taking steps
to remove
them. Should Clinton be more concerned about our future
than is our own
government? What wonderful policies we have: "Peace
with Security".
What does that mean? Apparently our official policy is
like Al Capone's
concept of "protection". For payoffs the
hoodlums will refrain from
attacking. If we give Arafat our country, he will promise
not to murder
us.
Are we all fools? Is this reality so complex as to make
it
impossible for us to see what is happening to us? Even
if we are not
strong in faith in G-d, does that oblige us to have faith in
Clinton and
Arafat? No one cares about our safety or security.
If we are not
willing to fight for what is ours, certainly no one else will.
Why can
we not see that peace will not be the result of our cowardice.
Dogs
smell fear and it drives them to attack. All we are doing
is
broadcasting our fear and inviting the dogs to attack us.
Whether or not we have faith in G-d, the only path for us to
take is one of Jewish pride. Fearing war and pretending
to prevent it
by surrendering to our enemies will not succeed unless we are
prepared
to completely and totally surrender. Only by being strong
and
courageous will we have a chance to survive by logic. . . and
a
guarantee to prevail by faith. There is no choice but
to stop the
madness and stand up for what is ours. This will eventually
happen no
matter what we try to do. The only difference is, the
longer it takes
us to reach that conclusion, the more we will suffer.
