Palestinian society shows us what is truly in its heart
Today we found out that the three boys, Eyal, Gilad and Naftali, were murdered shortly after their abduction. I’m sure we’ll hear the full story, in horrifying detail, at some point.
I can’t imagine how the families must feel. Or rather, I can imagine it but I am certain that their actual experience must be far worse than what I can imagine.
There have been so many terrorist murders, so many murders of children. The Ma’alot massacre, The bus of blood, the Haran family, the Sbarro bombing, the Dolphinarium, the Fogel family. The Palestinians and their supporters tell you it is “resistance to occupation” but in fact it is pure evil, hate made substance. Hate made flesh.
The Left says that it is our fault that they are doing these things because we are not giving them what they want. But what if what they want is to kill us?
Societies protect themselves against murderous criminals by killing or imprisoning them in order to separate them from normal society.
“If a man comes to kill you, rise up and kill him first.” Good advice, but how do we follow it when a whole culture has been created out of the idea that they should kill us?
The Palestinian people have demonstrated by the whole-hearted support shown for the kidnappers, the murderers, that they are satisfied with the path they have taken, the path of hate.
The problem is not a few extremists or criminals or terrorists who need to be killed or captured. The problem is a culture whose essence is to negate ours. These acts will not stop until the culture changes or dies out, or we completely separate ourselves from it. I don’t think our society can tolerate living as a target of terrorism forever.
First we have to decide that yes, we want our society, the Jewish people, to survive, and to continue to do so in its historic homeland. It’s not such a forgone conclusion — many, especially the intellectual elite among us are not so sure. But let’s suppose that we do. Since the nature of the Palestinian Arab culture is not under our control, since we can’t educate them or change them, our survival depends on separation and deterrence.
Then we need to look at geography and military realities. What territories do we need to control as a necessary condition for our survival? Authorities agree that the Jordan Valley and the high ground of Judea and Samaria must remain under our control. This isn’t a political issue, and we don’t need to bring in the spiritual dimension to decide this. It is simply a fact that follows from the topography of the region.
But some of the area that is essential is heavily populated by Arabs, many of whom belong to terror organizations and most of whom wouldn’t accept Jewish sovereignty.
Caroline Glick is probably correct that annexation of all of Judea and Samaria wouldn’t create an Arab majority. She estimates that the Arab population of Israel would go from about 20% to about 30%. She believes that the same relationship that has been established with the Israeli Arabs could be extended to the Arabs of the territories.
The lesson I have drawn from these murders is that she is not correct. It won’t work. This marriage cannot be saved. The educational enterprise of Yasser Arafat and his followers, aided by the West, has succeeded — perhaps beyond expectations. There is no going back. The Palestinian Arabs will not, cannot, coexist with the Jewish people.
The Left wants to trade territories for peace. That isn’t possible. The Right (at least, the moderate Right represented by Ms Glick) wants to keep the territories and coexist with the Arabs. That isn’t possible either.
The logic is inexorable, unfortunately. We commit suicide as a society or we keep the territories — without the Arabs. The Arabs of Judea and Samaria must be encouraged to emigrate. Maybe it can be peaceful and even profitable for them, maybe not. That will depend on them and on the “international community.”
I expect to hear that I’m crazy, a racist, an extremist, a Kahane-ist, and worse. But I don’t hate Arabs. The problem is that the Palestinian culture hates me, and worse, hates my children and grandchildren. I can’t change this, but I need to protect those children and grandchildren.
So if I am crazy, here is a suggestion: explain to me how you would deal with the situation. Do you want the Jewish people to survive? If so, do you agree that we can’t give up control of the territories? If so, do you think we can coexist with the Arabs? Can Israel become a 30% Arab state when most of those Arabs hate our Jewish guts?
If you want to refute my argument, show me where I’m wrong. Nothing would make me happier.
It would be wonderful if you or someone else could convince the Arabs of Judea and Samaria to move elsewhere. But I don’t believe anyone would be able to do that. Perhaps Mr. Adelson could provide enough cash incentive for some to move but it would not be a significant enough number to make a difference.
So I don’t believe the answer you give is realistically possible. I am ruling out the idea of ‘forced expulsion’ because it is morally unacceptable even if the world would consent to it.
I do believe that annexing all of Judea and Samaria and offering Arabs Israeli citizenship is also not an answer. The Arab minority in Israel has already shown that it can force actions which work against the well-being of the state. A larger minority would be an even bigger problem. I would remind here that one job of the hostile minority is to make sure that life is never too pleasant for the majority they resent.
So what is the answer? The answer from me is that I don’t know the answer. As I have said Israel is already compromised in many ways by having such a large minority which opposes its fundamental character as Jewish state.
Another point. We do by and large co-exist with the Arabs and they with us. I cannot speak for their inner feelings and attitudes. But the overwhelming majority of Arabs within Green Line Israel do not engage in violent acts against the State. A good share of them work and contribute to the overall economic development of the state. They also play central roles in many kinds of work, especially those Jews do not particularly want to do. This is not my ideal, but it is the reality.
Vic, I don’t know if you’re right, or if Carolyn is right or who has the best idea.
I can’t even feel the sadness that I know will come eventually. Right now the only emotion I’m feeling is rage. And it’s a rage directed of course at our genocidal enemies, but also a rage directed at our own leaders who continue supporting the myth that we can have peace with animals, animals who celebrate the slaughter of teenagers, who celebrate the slitting of throats of babies, and who celebrate the deaths of their own children, so long as they take as many Jews as possible with them.
What am I to do with all this rage?
I would only add, that I could easily spread my rage around to include Obama, the UN, and the EU too, but the truth is that if we had the right person in the Knesset, none of the rest would matter.
Very well reasoned -rational thought as compared to knee jerk liberalism.
Common sense actually.
Rational thinking aka Common sense is what liberals fear most. That is why those who use common sense are attacked by liberals as…crazy, racist, extremist, even a Kahane-ist, and worse.
Liberals like to think that “Liberalism”itself owns common sense… hence the name calling should true common sense surface in the hands of non-liberals
The “common sense” rational thinker sees liberal thinking for what it is “Folly”.
Caroline Glick is comfortable with a 30% Muslim/Palestinian Israel?
Ask Caroline Glick what is happens in Western Secular nations have Muslim populations approaching 30%?
A good question with an obvious answer especially when the 30% of these Muslims represent the 100% that have been indoctrinated since pre-school that all infidels as well as JEWS are to be killed.
Following the restoration of the Jewish state in 1948 some 800,000 Jews had to flee/were expelled from the vast Arab territories, resulting in the end of ancient communities which were established centuries before the advent of Islam and the Arab conquest of those lands, and were robbed of their property and possessions into the bargain! In effect, this was the Jewish part of what should have been and should still be an exchange of populations with the Arabs occupying Judea and Samaria. They should move into the “Palestinian” state called Jordan, which is already some 95% “Palestinian” in population.
The Greeks and Turks made such an exchange of populations back in the 1920s with the blessing of the “international community”, as part of an agreement for the exchange of certain territories, but of course we all know from experience that the rest of the world always applies standards that differ from the norm to any situation in which Jews are involved!
I share the frustration I see in the post and previous comments, but I would like to tie the last paragraph of Shalom Freedman’s reply with Caroline Glick’s demographic assumptions, which form the basis of her book and should be seen in a long enough time span.
Israel is the only exception to the demographic collapse going on around the world and the acceleration of European Aliyah should help it even more. On the other hand, the fertility of Muslims everywhere is dropping like a rock, and I don’t see any reason why Palestinian emigration from Judea and Samaria will not continue or even accelerate (cash incentives wouldn’t hurt). For those interested in the demographic problem, I recommend reading Eric Kaufmann’s Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth?, Phillip Longman’s The Empty Cradle, and David Goldman’s How Civilizations Die.
As Freedman says, Israelis and Palestinians do coexist, although barely and based only on Israel’s power. But we have seen a young Israeli Arab protest the kidnapping and murder of the three youths. An isolated case, but interesting and perhaps indicative. Israel should deport all the bad apples, from Abbas on down, and systematically confront the educational problem. And give it enough time, as there are no immediate solutions.