Bibi’s Slippery Slope

By: Moshe Feiglin

Published: February 17th, 2010

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Senior American sources say that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already surrendered almost everything: the Golan, almost all of Judea and Samaria, Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, and even some areas inside Israel’s 1967 border – in order to retain a few settlement blocs. And what has Netanyahu achieved for Israel in exchange for this far-reaching agreement-in-principle? Nothing. Not peace, and not even international recognition that Israel is a Jewish state.

For years, we have been warning that Netanyahu is liable to drag us down a slippery slope. In the end, Netanyahu will not get the settlement blocs. But he will have succeeded in violating the integrity of Israel’s 1967 borders.

The Arabs, it turns out, really do not want a state. None other than British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin, not exactly known for his affection for Jews, stated to the British Parliament in 1947:“To the Arabs, the essential point of principle is to resist to the last the establishment of Jewish sovereignty in any part of Palestine.”

Nothing has changed since then. The main goal of the Arabs who live in Israel is to prevent us, the Jews, from having a Jewish state. They do not want their own state. If they really did want one, they could have had it many times over.

Netanyahu is relying on continued Arab intransigence. What then, is wrong with his strategy?

It might be fine if this were just a game. But when the prime minister of Israel agrees to surrender Jewish sovereignty in the land of Israel – and in Jerusalem – it has far-reaching and serious implications. No other leader in the world would dare commit such an act. Netanyahu is playing with fire. Mahmoud Abbas does not want a state, but if the Americans force it down his throat, he just may take it.

If that happens, God forbid, it would mean that the only territory in the world that does not have an official sovereign today – Judea and Samaria – will be internationally recognized as non-Jewish territory. Israel will have officially surrendered the inheritance that it received from the Creator, and that was recognized as such by the nations of the world.

Nationalist attorney Elyakim Haetzni writes as follows:

” ‘Fate’ or Divine Providence has left the Chosen Land open for the Chosen People, as there is no state in the world that has ‘right of return’ to Yesha according to international law. The Jordanians invaded and in 1988 they surrendered their claim; the British Mandate that preceded them no longer exists; the Turkish, in the Treaty of Lausanne, surrendered their rights; and the Marmelukes are in the museum. All that is still valid, so long as there is no other sovereign, is the mandate that recognized the historical rights of the Jewish nation to re-establish its national home in the Land of Israel and instructed the British to ‘encourage dense settlement on the ground, including state lands.’ Thus, we are still the rightful owner, and only the rightful owner can surrender his rights.

“If, however, a Palestinian state is established with Israel’s consent, our land will be considered ‘Palestinian.’ Afterwards, when the Palestinians breach the agreement and the IDF will once again conquer Shechem, we will always be forced to retreat, because it will be ‘Palestinian land.’ Nazi Germany was destroyed, but it was exchanged for ‘a different Germany,’ because it was still ‘German Land.’

“Woe to the Jewish leader whose name will go down in history as the person responsible for turning Israel’s land into Palestinian land. There are Jews who would prefer to die rather than be responsible for such a historical catastrophe, equal to all the physical dangers facing us put together.”

In the meantime, “fate” or Divine Providence has saved the Promised Land for the Jews. But in Gush Katif we learned that Divine Providence also expects us to take practical action. We are not on the high, Biblical level of “God will fight for you, and you remain silent.” And as we know from our sages, we must not rely on miracles.

Sadly, Netanyahu is not among those Jews who would “prefer to die rather than be responsible for such a historical catastrophe.” If given the opportunity, he will certainly send this particular historical catastrophe our way. Clearly, he must be replaced – and the sooner the better.

And now for the good news: The past months have seen a tremendous surge in registration for the Likud. Soon, Israel’s political system will emerge from its winter hibernation and that is traditionally the time for political crises – both inside and outside the Likud. Those registering for the Likud now will be perfectly positioned to prevent the re-election of the same “catastrophe.”

For information about Manhigut Yehudit’s Shushan Purim (March 1) dinner at Yankee Stadium, visit www.jewishisrael.org.