Negotiating with Nazis?

Shalom.

Being that tonight marks the beginning of the Memorial Day for victims of the Holocaust and victims of terror, I believe it is appropriate to broach the following subject.

Last week I spoke at length about the soon-to-be Prime Minister of the Palestinian Terrorist Authority, Abu Mazen. Abu Mazen’s doctoral thesis accused the Zionist movement, of conspiring against the Jewish people and collaborated with the Nazis to annihilate it, because the movement considered “Palestine” the only appropriate destination for Jewish emigration.

Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. The aim of the Zionist movement was to encourage Aliyah from Europe, not to decimate it.

But, what if it were true? Can you imagine the impact such a revelation would have on the Jewish people, on the leadership of the then future State of Israel? It is so preposterous an idea that, the implications so inherently evil, Jews making a deal with the devil himself, Hitler, Yemach shmo – one of the greatest fiends of all human history, it is unfathomable.

Yet, in a bizarre way, it looks like that is exactly what Israel is doing today, fifty five years after the creation of the state, fifty eight years after conclusion of the second world war and cessation of the Holocaust.

There are those in our midst who are actually willing to make a deal, participate in signing a ‘treaty’ with the greatest and most deadly of our enemies. I know, there are those who say, ‘only after Arafat.’ ‘Arafat is the evil, not all the palestinians. Despite Abu Mazen’s past, maybe he will be able to prove himself. And if not him, someone after him.’

Yesterday an Israeli minister commented on the present situation during an interview on Ga’ali Tzahal.  He has a unique solution to the problem at hand. He suggested that the so-called palestinians accept Jordan as heart of their ‘state,’ a state which will include ‘branches’ throughout Judea, Samaria and Gaza. He said, and I quote, “The palestinians should also be privileged to a national identity and that identity can be expressed by a palestinian state based around Jordan, with branches in Judea and Samaria, in the area [classified] A.” Area A, about 40% of Yesha, is land abandoned to the PA as part of the Oslo Accords, and includes Shechem, Ramallah, Bethlehem, and others. Israel moved back into all these cities a year ago, following the Passover Massacre at the Park Hotel in Netanya and has remained, in an effort to thwart further terrorism.

The minister said that personally he wouldn’t want to abandon land in Yesha, but that the previous government already did, and that the Israeli army’s presence in these cities is only temporary because the world has already recognized the palestinian existence. A palestinian army and parliament will be that of the Jordanians, with scattered ‘branches’ throughout Yesha. He added, “Unfortunately, this is the situation which has been created. We don’t agree. It is our right to live on all parts of Eretz Yisrael, but we cannot now fulfill this, not in Ramallah, Jenin or Shechem.”

Of course, all of these concessions, says the minister, are dependent on stopping the terror, incitement, etc. etc.

So I ask you to name the minister. Who could it be? Maybe a weak Likudnik, under the influence of Ariel Sharon? Maybe Bibi, who gave away Hebron and signed the Wye Accords? Or perhaps someone from the Shinui party, who is trying to acquiesce politely, thereby soothing the feelings of the ‘settlers’ while, at the same time, disagreeing with them?

No, my friends, not Likud, not Shinui, no, we are talking about Welfare Minister Zevulun Orlev, of the National Religious Party, the Mafdal.

I read this interview earlier today on the Arutz 7 website in Hebrew, then read it again and again. The words stayed the same each time.

So, how to react, that is the question?

First of all – Arafat is not just a person. Arafat is a concept. Even post-Arafat, Arafat will still exist. Arafat personifies the aspirations of the Arabs – that being, of course, the annihilation of the State of Israel. It makes no difference who inherits Arafat, or who inherits his successor. It must be understood, and it is as clear as daylight. They don’t want us here and will do anything and everything, even if it takes them generations to try and achieve their goal. Call it a Trojan horse, as did Faisal Husseini. Call it fragmentation of Israeli society, as did Abu Mazen – divide and conquer, call it whatever you want. The end result of any equation is always the same – get the Jews out of Israel.

Second – it makes no difference what they say or what they do – they could be the most wonderful peace-loving people in the universe. That does not change one iota the fact that Eretz Yisrael belongs to Am Yisrael – the Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people. G-d gave us this land, He brought us back to the land after a two thousand year exile, and He made the land prosper. It is written in the Talmud that the sign of redemption is when the Land of Israel flourishes, when plants and flower grow, when the trees are rich with fruit. As long as the Jews were in exile the land was desolate – no agriculture, no nothing, until the Jews returned. Then, again, the land blossomed in all its glory.

Third – According to Jewish law, a person doesn’t have the right to commit suicide, because our life is not ours, it is G-d’s. He gave it to us and He will take it from us. We don’t have anything to say about it. Ditto, causing bodily harm to oneself.  I cannot cut off my arm or finger, or anything else, because my body is a gift from Above. And the same is true with Eretz Yisrael. It is not ours to cut up, to give away, to abandon. And especially not to our worst enemies.

Zevulun Orlev’s ideas are tantamount to Jews sitting down at the negotiating table with the Nazi leadership. They are equivalent to participating in a Holocaust. Holocaust number two, G-d forbid, the destruction of the State of Israel. One Holocaust was one too many. Let’s not help in bringing about another one.

With blessings from Hebron,

This is David Wilder