                      A Voice from Hebron
                     by Gary M. Cooperberg
                                
   How much longer will You Force us to Depend upon Miracles?
           An open letter to Prime Minister Netanyahu
                         June 10, 1998
                         16 Sivan 5758

Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

        First of all, I must tell you that I actually voted for you.  No, I am not one of your groupies
who really thought you were the best thing that happened to Israel since Zeev Jabotinsky.  I tell
you honestly that I really had little, if any, hope that you would provide us with the leadership we
sorely need in this country.  But what could I do?  Certainly I could not vote for Peres who was
the author of this disaster which sees you kissing Arafat's feet even as you exclaim how dirty they
are.

        If nothing else, Mr. Prime Minister, your constituents elected you to stop the madness called
Oslo.  If we wanted to continue on the mad path to self destruction we would have voted for
Peres who would at least have finished us off quickly, rather than have us endure the slow and
painful death you are torturing us with. 

        My family and I live in Kiryat Arba.  I still go every morning before dawn to pray at the
tombs of our Patriarchs in Hebron.  I will never understand why you chose to hand over anything,
much less 80% of the City of Abraham, to Arafat.  It matters not what the former government
signed.  You were elected as a demonstration that the people of Israel did not agree to that
traitorous document.  How dare you continue the disaster begun by Peres?  You, of all people,
know exactly what horrors you have already unleashed within our sovereign borders.  You, Sir,
are responsible for arming our enemies, and giving them bases on Jewish soil from which to attack
your people.  How can you live with yourself?   

        Peace?  Can you really convince yourself that you are making peace with our executioners? 
You have spent a fortune of this country's money on by-pass roads, bullet-proof buses, and a
standing army in our cities, all to protect us from our peace partners.  And now, the most
"right-wing" stand you can take is to decide how much more of our holy inheritance you will give
away to those who will use it as bases from which to attack and destroy us.   Do you really think
that all will be well if Arafat changes his covenant and promises to fight terror?  Even if he did,
you still have no right to give him one grain of sand on the Gaza beach.  But you know that he
won't, yet you still talk about giving away more and more in a pathetic display of Jewish weakness
and appeasement.

        Mr. Prime Minister, the main reason I am writing to you today is to tell you about a neighbor
of mine.  Yossie Sharvit had to go to Netanya last night.  That is hardly an unusual thing to do. 
He drove on the new roads that you had especially made for us to by-pass Halhul.  Actually
this is usually a very quiet and peaceful ride.  Yossie was alone in the car and noticed another car
behind him.   He became suspicious as the car began to tailgate him.  He thought to turn in at the
Jewish community of Telem, and then again, at Adura.  But he told himself that surely this was
just an impatient driver who was in a big hurry.  After all, we have peace now.  So he slowed
down and let the car pass.  As it did, windows rolled down and shots were fired at Yossie as the
car sped away into the night.  

        Three bullets entered and exited Yossie's car.  One just missed his head and another just
missed his stomach.  Had this triple miracle not occurred, perhaps there would have been a
demonstration outside your home today.  But Yossie survived the murderous ambush by your
PLO friends, so no harm was done and life goes on.

        Mr. Prime Minister I have only one question.  Why?  Why do you keep on playing Russian
Roulette with our lives and with the future of our homeland?   No one wants war.  But what the
hell do you think we are living with?  Yossie was a fortunate survivor of an attempted PLO
"demonstration" for "peace".   There have been many, many others who have not been so
fortunate.  How can you continue this charade?  Your office has issued countless reports
itemizing how your friend, Arafat, has violated every agreement he has signed.  Why?  In spite of
all of your well documented evidence, you continue to debate how much more of Israel you will
give away to him!   

        What is your choice?  You Sir, ran for the office of Prime Minister of Israel.  You were
elected to that office.  It is high time that you took your responsibility seriously and started acting
like a Jewish leader and not a representative of  the United Nations.  This is your country.  You
have been given a clear mandate to protect and defend it. . . not to give it away.  It is never too
late to be the leader you claim you wanted to be.  It matters not what you do, the nations will
always hate us and condemn us.  So at least give them reason to respect us.

        Let me remind you how this whole mess got started.  Peres and Rabin began with, what was
supposed to have been, a test.  They called it "Gaza and Jericho first".   The idea was that if the
PLO could prove their ability to govern themselves under Jewish sovereignty in a peaceful
manner, then more autonomous areas would be granted them.    

        The Gaza and Jericho test failed miserably.   Arafat and his storm troopers entered those
areas as conquering heros and literally turned, what was supposed to be, autonomous areas into
the beginning of a defacto PLO state.  Rather than declare the test a failure and throw the PLO
out, the Labor government gave its blessing to the revolution, saluted the PLO flag and continued
the process of Israeli surrender to the PLO.

        When you were elected you had the mandate to do what they should have done.  You should
have (and still can, it is never too late) declared the test a failure and recaptured all Jewish land
stolen from us by the PLO. (By the way, your own defense minister recently declared that we
are well able to do this).  Remember, this land was never ceded to them.  They were just given
permission to rule themselves there if they adhered to our guidelines.  Once they violated our
conditions, they forfeited any rights and should have been evicted immediately.

        Forget about percentages.  We are already being attacked and murdered from our own land
and with our own guns now.  Why are you letting this continue?  Why do I have to run a gauntlet
of rocks, fire-bombs and bullets every time I drive to Jerusalem?  Peace and security?  We have
neither and never will as long as you are willing to negotiate with murderers.

        Yossie benched gomel this morning as he thanked G-d for the miracle of sparing his life. 
How much longer will you force us to depend upon miracles just to live our lives in our
homeland.?

                                                With Love of Israel,

                                                Gary M. Cooperberg