|
NewMediaJournal.us
www.NewMediaJournal.us
Return
to Article
Kindle Compatible
Ari Bussel
The Second Disengagement
August 6, 2009
"According to the Hebrew calendar, today is the fourth anniversary of
the disengagement. Israel uprooted approximately 10,000 Israelis – men,
women and children – from their homes. To our regret, Gaza has become a
base for Hamas-led, Iranian-sponsored terrorism; thousands of rockets
and missiles have been fired at us. Therefore, today, I would like to
emphasize...Peace will go back to being based on reciprocity, not
unilateralism. In the framework of the peace agreements, Israel expects
that the Palestinians will recognize the State of Israel as the national
state of the Jewish People, that the problem of the refugees will be
resolved outside Israel's borders, that there will be effective security
arrangements and demilitarization, with international recognition and
guarantees. These are not pre-conditions for the start of a peace
process but the basic conditions for establishing a lasting and stable
peace. Palestinian moderates should internalize this.”
-- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s remarks at the weekly Cabinet
meeting on Sunday, August 2, 2009
The Gaza Unilateral Disengagement, August, 2005
Most of us wanted to believe in that Disengagement of four years ago.
Led by Arik Sharon, “the General,” the no-nonsense strategist, we
trusted he had already planned the next steps, like a master chess
player. We expected benefits we will reap for years to come for the deep
wound Israel would self-inflict. There might have been a plan, but God
thought otherwise. Prime Minister Sharon is still in a coma of sorts,
and there is not a single soul who was privy to his Grand Plan.
Some of us opposed unilateral Disengagement. The most vocal opposition
included the residents of Gush Katif, who for decades had lived with the
full blessing and support of the Israeli government and created a green
desert area. Their supporters also included predominantly religious Jews
throughout the Diaspora for this community that developed an industry,
bringing hundreds of millions of dollars into Israel through exports.
The Gush Katif community also supported numerous Gazans, employing them
full time.
For decades the prevailing argument in Israel was why should so many
resources be spent to guard so few. “There is no reason to be there” was
often spoken. The army periodically renewed its study of the cost
benefit analysis of providing the defense of this small area in the
Northern Gaza Strip. It was always in favor.
Israelis craving peace were willing to do whatever it took to usher in
its arrival, including leaving the Gazans to themselves. Providing the
billions in monetary aid and hundreds of truckloads of “humanitarian
aid” that passed every day from Israel to Gaza, the area could quickly
turn into a tourist Mecca. Good Jews, Peace and anti-Apartheid
activists, Palestinians from the world over and Muslims in general could
come and vacation in Gaza, along the shores of the Mediterranean, and
support this newly created oasis. If one craved history, a short
excursion into Egypt to view the Pyramids or to Israel’s Biblical sites
or even to Jordan to see Petra could satisfy the sudden urge. Gaza is at
the crossroads, as Turkey is between continents.
It was still a recent memory how Israel had given a very substantial
portion of its land to Egypt in return for a peace accord. It had given
away the area where Israelites traveled for more than 40 years until an
unworthy generation has passed. To ensure peace by giving away a small
strip of land, where only a handful of people lived in constant danger,
sounded very reasonable to many.
How wrong we all were.
Wrong were those inhabitants who fought to the very last minute and
rather than struggle to stand again on their own two feet, crumbled
under their self pity and despair.
Wrong was the government that went blindly after a General who left no
clue as to what the next step should be.
Wrong were the vast majority of Israelis who supported the move based on
some convoluted notion of peace that cannot be achieved in our lifetime.
The Gazans proved how wrong we all were when they began by desecrating
the synagogues, burning the fertile hot houses, turning thriving towns
into rubble and converting the area into a massive terrorist super-camp.
Wrong were those who opposed the Disengagement from afar. To take an
integral part in what is happening in Israel, to truly bring about
change, the fight should have been on the ground. They should have
immigrated to Israel, to the Holy City of Jerusalem, and amidst a
quarter of a million native English speakers, settled in the heartland
of Zion.
Wrong was the IDF, who received orders from the political echelon and
failed to remind the country it is not the job of the Israel Defense
Forces to uproot Jews from their homes in their own homeland. It was
morally repugnant, especially when it was done unilaterally, with no
peace accord offered in return. Such a directive contrasts the mission
of the IDF, the very essence of its creation.
Four years have passed and we lament the mistakes of the past. Some are
still mourning, and yet, I am jubilant. That Disengagement must now be
followed by the second disengagement.
The Second Disengagement, Rosh Ha’Shana 5770
Israel must disengage from American Jewry. It must do so now and can
wait no longer. The effort should be planned and executed by the Jewish
New Year starting in September 2009. There is no time to waste. Having
learned the lessons of the First Disengagement, the process must be
carried out promptly, passionately and perfectly.
The country will shed tears, most orchestrated, a few real. A song
lamenting an illusion will ultimately emerge with a true understanding.
Its melody will be so ancient as to bring back a deep belief, not in the
power of politics, money or the lure of America, but in the very essence
of Israel itself. A rebirth of the knowledge the Jewish Homeland exists
as a result of a Covenant with God.
In the Second Disengagement, the master planner is President Barack
Obama. His administration will oversee the necessary moves. The military
and other annual aid to Israel will be reduced to nothing and the
pressure to diminish Israel will increase. This is already evident as
first attempts begin to flower – the American Consulate in Jerusalem has
just removed all mention of Israel, allowing Arabic but no Hebrew
translations. This will be but a small example as the full Obama-Clinton
Plan takes full effect.
Difficult days lie ahead for American Jewry. It will be blamed for
supporting Israel, a stubborn country that refuses to do what it is told
to bring about peace. The settlements will reappear (in discussions),
like a red contagious rush. American Jewry, who so strongly opposed
Prime Minister’s Netanyahu’s insistence on minimal expansion to
accommodate newborns and basic community needs, will be targeted. It
will be blamed for the ten top Obama advisors – all token Jews – for all
the hardships that remain in store as a byproduct of a failed economy
and down to a widespread Swine Pandemic.
As a matter of convenience Jews will once again be made scapegoats,
blamed for the economy’s collapse and the root cause of all the
suffering, unemployment, hunger and crime. Jewish life will become close
to unbearable. Now having to care for their own, their elderly and young
and to provide social services to their communities, American Jewry will
be distanced from standing so strongly with Israel (or at least with
their vision of a Peace Now Israel).
For their own sake, for their long-term well-being and for Israel’s
sake, American Jews should disengage from Israel. They may always
emigrate, but the decades old co-dependence must stop. It is unhealthy
and will bring only destruction. Jews will visit Israel, the “right of
return” will continue in full force and effect, money will continue
flowing – but the message must be in the most practical terms: We are
separated.
Those who opposed the First Disengagement so strongly would immediately
point out the devil is in the details. But an astute observer will
equally recognize this is not the case. The vast majority of American
Jews voted for (then Senator) Obama. Tens of millions of dollars were
raised from these same American Jews.
To this day, the major Jewish organizations continue to provide strong
backing for President Obama and his aspirations to impose peace on a
region he does not in any way comprehend. Rabbi after Rabbi, cantor
after cantor and leadership of one religious institution following
another signed a letter supporting the President, condemning Israel.
AIPAC, so immersed in its mountains of gold amassed over the decades,
decided to sway from its own stated rule-that-should-never-be-bent and
categorically oppose the Government of Israel under Netanyahu.
American Jewry is the one enabling President Obama’s dreams of a weak
Israel and strong Muslim world, and Israel is paying the price for this
folly. If we were today living under Ottoman rule, one would immediately
recognize the signs that Israel was about to be tortured. Ah, but we are
in the 21st Century, and President Obama is too slick, too oily an
orator to exercise brute force. Why bother with it when the majority of
American Jewry is covering his back.
Israel, stand strong. Disengage. Break the ties that bind you into
submission to America’s leaders, and the sooner you do so, the better.
When graffiti morphs into violence, when American Jews businesses begin
closing and Jewish American lives are threatened, then you must accept
them into Israel. Just as you have done for the better part of a century
– bringing in Yemenite and Jews who fled Muslim rule in Arab lands,
embracing Ethiopian Jews, absorbing a massive immigration from Russia
and most recently opening your gates to French and Venezuelan Jewry.
The time draws near when you must also accept the American Jew in masses
onto your tiny land on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. Until
then, Israel, act unilaterally, disengage.
About Ari Bussel
In the series “Postcards from
Israel,” Ari Bussel and Norma Zager invite readers
throughout the world to join them as they present
reports from Israel as seen by two sets of eyes:
Bussel’s on the ground, Zager’s counter-point from
home. Israel and the United States are inter-related
- the two countries we hold dearest to our hearts -
and so is this “point - counter-point” presentation
that has, since 2008, become part of our lives. |
