Saturday, August 20, 2005

Article: The Fate of Gush Katif is the Fate of New York

Chabad finally said something about the situation in Israel, and boy, did they come out swinging! This article they published in their weekly magazine, The Fate of Gush Katif is the Fate of New York, is amazing, poignant and absolutely, 100% true. Just the opening paragraphs, I think, are an eye opener:
Argument #1: We don't belong there. Why should 8,500 Jews insist on living amongst more than a million Arabs? This is the question prompting the forced evacuation of all Jews from the Gaza Strip this month.

Of all arguments for the "disengagement," this one by far is the most objectionable. It proves the power of propaganda--how people will parrot nonsense without realizing the foolishness of the argument. There are 20,000 Jews living in Berlin amongst 3.6 million Germans. No one would dare suggest that we should expel the Jews from Berlin because they may be a provocation to 3.6 million Germans. So let's get this straight. A Jew is allowed to live in Berlin, a Jew is allowed in Moscow, in Melbourne and in Shanghai. The only place in the world a Jew is not allowed to live, is in Israel! Why? Because Arabs living in Gaza hate Jews too much to tolerate the sight of a single Jew before their eyes.

And then this, my favorite statement in the whole article, and the reason why I am opposed to the "disengagement" from Gaza and the West Bank:
By this logic, Israel should close up shop entirely. Is it practical to have five million Jews in a sea of hundreds of millions of Arabs and more than a billion Muslims? Or maybe we should disappear from the world completely: does it make sense that 14 million Jews live among 6 billion gentiles?

Those are some powerful words, and very true at that, and is what Jewish proponents of the withdrawal need to understand: in leaving Gaza and the West Bank, we have just given a statement that we don't deserve to be in this world. To the Arabs, Palestinians and otherwise, as well as to the rest of the Nations of the world, there is NO DIFFERENCE between Gaza and Jerusalem, and when they come knocking at the Knesset's doors saying, "Give up Jerusalem, East AND West," we won't have a leg to stand on, because we ourselves set the precedent.

Read the article, it is just excellent.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The Palestinian part of the bargain is to disarm and disable the terrorists, but Abbas has yet to make a move. So far, he has been striking deals with Hamas to not interfere with Israeli withdrawal. But negotiating with terrorists has only backed the Palestinian Authority into a corner.

Hamas, the most organized and most popular terrorist group, will hold the Palestinian Authority hostage on every decision. As Sami Abu Zouhri, a Hamas spokesman, clarified that “If the Palestinian Authority continues to manage the withdrawal alone, we will protest at all the mistakes it may make. In particular, if the land is stolen from the people, or devoted to private projects or given to people close to the Authority, then we will react.” Reaction means “resuming operations” (what the rest of us like to call terrorist attacks). The “mistakes” will be determined by Hamas.

If Abbas is planning a swift round up of all known terrorists, he is likely to lose all credibility with the Palestinians. This is because Abbas has been visibly aligning himself with the popular martyr theory. Last week, banners waved across Gaza proclaiming that “The blood of martyrs has led to liberation.” Then, Abbas attended Friday prayers at Caliph Mosque, where the imam announced, “Allah knows that when we offer up our children, it is much better than choosing the road of humiliation and negotiation.” Additionally, the PA’s official radio station - Ramallah Voice of Palestine - continues to broadcast messages that Israelis “want neither a solution nor peace.” These statements are synonymous with those of Hamas, and the Palestinians are listening.