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Last week, the Palestinians observed their “Naqba,”
the “Catastrophe” of their failure to destroy the State of Israel after
launching 6 and a half wars against it. In rituals that deliberately parody the
Israeli Memorial Day observance, Palestinians and their cheerleaders stood at
attention while sirens wailed, muzzeins moaned and church bells tolled. Then the
frenzied crowds screamed for the destruction of Israel and the extermination of
its Jewish population. In Israel, guilt-ridden leftists called for a national
“soul searching” and urged collective “repentance” by caving in to the
demands of the terrorists. Less than a year ago, all we heard about was the “Right
of Return” for the millions of refugees displaced by the creation of the State
of Israel, excluding, of course, the Jews expelled from their homes in Egypt,
Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Algeria, and other places where the Arabs chased them out.
The erstwhile Prime Minister, Ehud Barak (now thankfully retired to private
life) had offered the enemies of the State of Israel a state of their own on 97%
of the West Bank and Gaza (from which all Jewish “settlers” were to be
removed), the other 3% to be made up by donations of real estate inside the
“Green Line,” control of half of Jerusalem (with removal of all Jews from
“their half”) and absolute sovereignty over the Temple Mount (Judaism’s
holiest site), where devout Muslims could worship Allah by dropping cement
blocks onto the heads of Jews down at the Western Wall. This offer, which cost
Barak his job, was rejected (and how!) because not even the arch-appeaser Barak
and his leftist cronies could agree to the overrunning of a truncated Israel
with millions of its sworn enemies.
“Right of Return” still remains at the top of the
Palestinians’ shopping list of “or else” demands, but now each and every
news report that comes from Reuters, AP, and of course the “Voice of
Palestine” aka CNN, contains a statement that the “settlements” are
“illegal under international law.” Not “in dispute” or even “alleged
to be illegal,” but “are illegal.”
The first time I heard this allegation was over 30 years
ago. Golda Meir was being interviewed on “Meet the Press,” and was asked how
she could allow Jews to build homes on territory occupied by Israel during the
1967 war. Golda looked the reporter straight in the eyes and said, “There
is no ‘international law’ that prohibits Jews from building homes on their
own land.” I was only a kid at the time, but Golda’s bold words drilled
into my skull and “settled” there.
Section III, Article 49, of the Fourth
Geneva Convention (August 12, 1949) states: “The Occupying Power
shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the
territory it occupies.” This does not apply to the Jewish settlements in
Yesha, since Geneva Convention is here speaking in the context of forced
deportations. Furthermore, the legal status of the territories as “occupied”
according to the definition of the Fourth Geneva Convention is in dispute.
U.N.
Security Council Resolution 242 (which, like all other U.N. Security
Council Resolutions, does not have the status of “international law”)
states: “Withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories
occupied in the recent conflict,” which is linked to “Termination of
all claims or states of belligerency and respect for and acknowledgement of the
sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State in
the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized
boundaries free from threats or acts of force;”
Israel has rightfully refused to withdraw from territories
(not from “all” territories or even from “the”
territories) not because they are “international outlaws,” but because they
are still waiting for fulfillment of second clause, something that has been
flouted by the Arabs for 34 years, no, make that 53 years.
What the Palestinians and their propagandists at Reuters, et
al are saying, is that “international law” somehow requires any
territories to which they lay claim to be ethnically cleansed of Jews. Not that
the Palestinians and their compeers have any great respect for “international
law” when it comes to other internationally prohibited activities such as the
trashing of Joseph’s Tomb. In other words, they will scream endlessly about
“international law” to serve their own ends (even if it doesn’t really
apply—hey, who is going to actually look it up?), but will conveniently ignore
it when it means that they might be expected to obey it themselves.
A detailed analysis of “international law” and U.N.
Security Council Resolutions as they apply to the Yesha settlements can be found
here.
The major news propaganda services such as Reuters,
AP and CNN have all been sucked into chanting the “Big Lie” mantra as a
condition for being allowed to remain in PA-controlled areas, by repeating only
“the news” that the Palestinian purveyors of propaganda deem favorable to
their cause.
On the occasion of “Catastrophe Day,” however, Arafat
actually spoke the truth for once. He stated what exactly he wants: Elimination
of all Jewish settlements and settlers, the “Right of Return” to anywhere
within the “Green Line,” and the continuation of terror and violence until
all of Israel has been obliterated and its population uprooted or exterminated.
The time is past for tiptoeing around in fear of “world
opinion” and kid-gloves-and-rosewater treatment for brutal terrorists. The
time is past for worrying over what “the Press” is going to say because
they’ve already said it. There is no longer a “peace process” and there
was never a “peace partner.” There is a “war partner” who’s really,
really spoiling for a fight.
So what is Israel to do?
To begin with, they should stop apologizing for defending
their land. They should stop listening to the “Dismantle Israel Piece By
Piece” crowd, called the “Peace” camp for short. Every worthless snake-oil
scheme for “peace” recommended by this gang of numbskulls has been tried and
proven a miserable failure.
They should stop listening to lies, and turn to the source
of eternal Truth, and reclaim their pride and their honor.
Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, the Lubavitcher
Rebbe, of blessed memory, gave this advice to the leaders of the State of
Israel:
Honor is when a Jew stands tall and proud, confident
in his G-d and His Torah, and says to the world: We will not give up any more of
our land, and we will make no more concessions. We have seen how our enemies
honor their word, and we do not choose to place the lives of over five million
Jews in danger. The peace accords were illegal from the beginning, for no one
can give away that which G-d has given to all Jews for all generations. We
demand the return of those lands already surrendered, and we demand them as
their rightful owners.
We do not lay claim to the land because of our
strength, our army, or our diplomacy. It is ours solely because it was given to
us by G-d, the Holy Land to the Holy People.
Muslims and Christians are believers in the Bible,
and when we speak to them with the assurances given in the Bible, it is
accepted. All other rationales are twisted perversions, and as we see, are not
logically acceptable. Our only justifiable claim lies in the Torah, and it is
with its strength that we must speak.
True peace can only be attained through Torah,
through adherence to G-d’s will. "The Torah was given to make peace in
the world," and "The L-rd will give strength to His people, the L-rd
will bless His people with peace." No longer shall we be craven imitators
of other peoples, but distinguished, separate, sanctified. Then shall we walk
proudly with our G-d, all the Holy People, in all the Holy Land, to welcome our
righteous Moshiach.
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