|
Toward National Self-Realization
by Arno HaKohen Weinstein
September 23rd, 1997
Barbarism knows no bounds when the perpetrators of death and destruction seek to annihilate the Jewish people. According to news reports, as the terrorists of the Hizbullah and the soldiers of the Lebanese Army declared the righteousness of their cause, they paraded the severed head of an Israeli soldier in front of cameras. Their brutality speaks for itself. As do the actions of their brothers-in-arms, the Arafat-labeled "heroic" suicide bombers, who self-detonate onto little girls excitedly buying books for the new school year.
Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has announced that Israel faces a two-front war against terrorists. He said that those forces cannot allow for Jewish presence in the land of Israel. The prime minister is right, however, he does not go far enough in explaining the essence of the problem nor does he go far enough in explaining the actions to be taken by the Israeli government.
Modern nationalism is replete with what is referred to today as racism and ethno-centrism. Post-modern nationalism, on the other hand, assumes the guise of self-determination and the freedom of a "people" to express their cultural diversity within internationally recognized borders.
|
The two-front war does not consist of the depraved suicide bombers invading the streets of Jerusalem and the Hizbullah butchers of Southern Lebanon. The truth is that the Jewish people remain locked in a battle against both the religious and post-modern forces of the Arab/Islamic rejectionist camp. The two-front war is the fight against religiously-crazed Islamic death merchants and the post-modern Arab nationalist cadres of Jew-haters. Certainly, one feeds upon the other, giving support and comfort and allowing what would, were it not for the unifying hatred of the state of Israel, be opposing factions to work in a perverted harmony toward the common goal of Jewish genocide. It should be noted that modern nationalism is replete with what is referred to today as racism and ethno-centrism. Post-modern nationalism, on the other hand, assumes the guise of self-determination and the freedom of a "people" to express their cultural diversity within internationally recognized borders.
The history of this evil amalgamation of religious and modern notions predates the Second World War. Radicalized Islamic variations of modern nationalism relevant to the Land of Israel can be traced, by-and-large, to the activities of Hadj Amin el-Husseini, the self-styled "Grand Mufti of Palestine." El-Husseini integrated modern nationalism with fundamentalist Islamic concepts in an open war against Jewish presence in the Land of Israel. He fomented the riots which took hundreds of Jewish lives in the 1920s and 1930s and was responsible for the massacre of the Jews in Hebron and Jerusalem. Although the terminology and references used by the Muslim cleric were highly parochial and lacked the appeal of post-modern nationalism, el-Husseini's style gained him favor with the Nazis for whom he broadcast vitriolic anti-Jewish speeches. It was from the Nazi microphones in Berlin that el-Husseini cried for a jihad against the Jews, and proposed that it would be "pleasing to Allah to kill the Jews wherever they could be found." Further, it was el-Husseini, after surviving WW II, who created the Arab Legion to wage war against the nascent Jewish State.
The current purveyors of this most insidious ideology took their lessons from el-Husseini. Today's post-modern Arab nationalism underlined with Islamic fundamentalism is represented by, among others, the Palestinian Authority and the political regimes of Syria, Iraq, and Lybia. They, in consort and individually, will never be drawn into an honest reproachment with an independent Jewish State in the Land of Israel. Their very ideological existence is based upon the requirement to rid the Middle-East of a political Jewish entity, i.e., an authentic Jewish presence. The manner of their brutality and their barbarism, speaks to the essence of their quest. Whether it is the Palestinian Authority's Hamas or Syria's Hizbullah, they do not merely seek to murder, but to disembody their Jewish victims. (It is irrelevant that the Hizbullah is also supported by Iranian money and training for without the Syrian go-ahead, there would be no Hizbullah in Southern Lebanon.)
This is the two front war and it consists of far more than the individual criminals who ravage Israeli cities and borders. There is an infrastructure and world view to this enemy that cannot and must not be ignored. Too often it is more dangerous to underestimate the opposition than it is to fear it. Israel must look squarely at the consequences of having underestimated the PLO in Lebanon throughout the 1970s and early 1980s.
What of the Jewish response? Once it is clear who the enemy is, the Jewish response should be as clear. The problem is Jewish uncertainty, confusion and lack of clarity. The Jewish learning curve has become so large that it is hardly worth the mention. The Jewish State knows neither what it represents nor who its enemies are. Of course, one uncertainty follows the other. Is the State of Israel the democratic expression of all its citizens or is the Jewish State the realization of the Jewish mandate to establish a Jewish polity in Eretz Israel? Unquestionably, if the State of Israel has no basis other than the democratic expression of all its citizenry then confusion and lack of moral certainty have its legitimate place, and no force can criticize its inability to act as its own defender. After all, very few of Israel's citizens are familiar with the Jewish reasons for a Jewish State. And, of course, no one should expect the Arab population of Israel to favor harsh and direct confrontation of Israel's Arab and Islamic foes. As for a very large segment of Israel's Jewish residents, they can hardly be blamed for their socialist-based educations devoid of any Jewish content. They cannot be expected to have a tough response to threats of security. Those masses were taught that appeasement will solve all problems for, in fact, they are themselves confused about The Jewish right to the Land of Israel. The intellectual class within Israel wouldn't recognize a Jewish concept if they tripped over it, as they often do in the streets of most major Israeli cities. This is not to mention the so-called ultra-Orthodox of Israel who are more concerned with the closure of streets on the Sabbath or the funding of their schools than the religious culture of the country or the nature of the Jewish State.
However, a State of Israel that has as its fundamental law that its creation and reason for being is the Jewish obligation to establish a Jewish nation-state, is another story. This state possesses the certainty of its being. Such a Jewish State would understand why it exists and what its responsibility is to the Jewish people. Leaving aside the possible contradictions between democracy and Judaism, with the one fundamental law requiring Israel to be first and foremost a Jewish State, the country could gear its educational system and cultural activities toward the goal of preserving the nation as a Jewish entity. Israel would recognize what it represents and when threatened, who the enemy is. The first step in obtaining clarity and moral certitude is self definition.
Perhaps this goal can be reached through the back door. Should Israel respond properly to the most recent attacks of those who seek its destruction, it would go a long way in sending the correct signal to the Israeli population. Proper government behavior could set the tone for debates about self-definition. Will the Jewish State then be defined by its enemies? Perhaps, however, the current malaise is so overwhelmingly destructive and any other means of rectifying the situation seems so far out of reach. Israel is on the breach of either self-realization of self-destruction.
What must the government do? Israel must take the Palestinian Authority at its word. When PA President Arafat makes martyrs of suicide bombers and those who build the bombs that blow up Jews, Israel must act. When the PA's Security Chief Rajoub calls the Hamas, "brothers in the struggle against Israel," Israel must act. The Jewish State must make public in clear language the crimes of the PA and then issue statements on Israeli responses to those crimes. The government must then follow through with actions commensurate with its words.
Recommendations for National Self-Realization:
1) End all negotiations with the Palestinian Authority regarding any further land turnovers.
2) Re-enter intelligence units into all PA controlled areas.
3) Disarm all forces within PA controlled areas that are not strictly needed for internal law enforcement.
4) Surround PA controlled areas with IDF units making it clearly understood that if the PA security forces choose to engage IDF units they will lose and lose badly.
5) State unequivocally that the "Oslo" model for peace is no longer viable and that any further peace negotiations with the Palestinians will be based on a final settlement negotiation in a confederation with Jordan.
6) Demand the immediate extradition from the PA of all terrorists accused of crimes against Israeli citizens.
7) Maintain full closure of Judea, Samaria and Gaza to include "VIP" Palestinian officials.
8) Openly state that there will be no negotiations on Jerusalem.
9) Begin full scale building in all parts of Jerusalem, in Hebron and in settlement areas.
10) Make life in Lebanon increasingly difficult for the Lebanese government until they are forced to move against the terrorists in Southern Lebanon.
11) Indicate to Syria that any further instigation within Lebanon will mean a confrontation with Israeli forces.
12) Reenforce the Christian elements in Southern Lebanon and begin promoting a "Free Lebanon" consisting of Christian sovereignty for the southern half of Lebanon.
# Click for the B'tzedek commentary index.
|
|