                                                           B"sd

                      A Voice from Hebron
                     by Gary M. Cooperberg
              To Shake Hands or Not to Shake Hands
                     Is that the Question?
                        October 21, 1998

     Worry is the word of the day.  Will Bibi hold up to the pressure?  Will Sharon save the
day?   Will Israel retreat from more of our homeland and give greater military advantage to those
who murder us?  We listened to our Prime Minister assure us that he has red lines and that he
would demand reciprocity.  He told us, unequivocally, that there would be no further retreat
unless the PLO lived up to promises which they already made with the Hebron retreat, yet have
failed to honor.  Yet now, word is leaking out of Wye that an agreement is already being
prepared.  What are we to believe?   What can we do?

     Ariel Sharon declared that he would never shake hands with the terrorist chieftain, Arafat. 
Indeed, he was good for his word as he boldly strode past Arafat and shook hands with Abu
Mazen.  What is the difference?  Is Abu Mazen somehow more pure than Arafat?  If Arafat were
to disappear tomorrow would the PLO be a true peace partner and worthy recipient of Jewish
land and arms?  Have we all gone mad?

     Wye indeed.  Why did Netanyahu agree to go to Wye in the first place?  It was an all lose
situation from the moment he made that tragic decision.  He could have and should have, on his
own terms and using his own philosophy, told Clinton that he would be willing to sit down with
Arafat the minute he completed fulfillment of all the obligations he had agreed to with the Hebron
retreat.  By not doing that he sent a clear signal that he is prepared to back down on his red lines.
After that Arafat knew that if he would stick to his position that our Prime Minister would back
down.  

     It is easy for us to blame Clinton for exerting pressure upon our leaders.  But it is more to
the point to blame our leaders for not standing up to that pressure.  Anyone who chooses to
accept the role of leader of the Jewish people has an obligation to uphold Jewish principles, not
the least of which is the safety and security of our homeland.  It is nice that Ariel Sharon can
announce his refusal to shake hands with Arafat.  But that same Sharon sat down with the PLO
and participated in the negotiation of our homeland with our enemies.  There is absolutely no
justification to as much as consider giving away any of our homeland to anyone, much less the
PLO.  On the contrary.  Any normal leadership, Jewish or otherwise, would have recognized the
failure of Oslo and thrown our enemies out of our country, rather than accept murderers within
our sovereign borders.

     Bibi handed over 80% of Hebron to Arafat for peace.  Today all we hear about in Hebron
is attacks against soldiers and civilians which include rocks, fire bombs, knives, bullets and
grenades.  If we gave so much of our holy city to Arafat for peace, and if this is the peace we got
in return, then how is it that any sane individual would consider continuing to give away more of
our homeland to such a partner?

     War is on the threshold.  That is terrible and no one likes it.  But the threat will not
disappear if we try to surrender in stages.  The war will still come, only our ability to defend
ourselves will be so much more difficult.  Our sages ask, "Who is wise?" and they answer, "He
who sees the future."   They are not talking about prophets or fortune tellers.  They are referring
to ordinary common sense.   We do not want to believe that our enemies seek our destruction and
will go to war to destroy us.  We would much prefer to believe the nonsense that if we placate
our enemies they will learn to love us, or at least accept us.   One needn't be a prophet to realize
that this is not a rational expectation.   Listen to our enemies and watch what they are doing to us.
They are calling for the destruction of the Jewish state and they are murdering our people
indiscriminately, even as they call for "peace".

     We are presently engaged in a war for our very survival and we refuse to recognize it.  We
call this war, "peace".  We refer to our surrender as "peace negotiations" and convince ourselves
(and no one else) that we are ushering in a new era which will find all of our Arab enemies
delighted to live together in peace with Jewish Israel.  Frightened Jewish lemmings proclaim that
Biblical ideals in which weapons are turned into farming implements and the lion grazes with the
lamb are being realized.  These prophesies will certainly come to pass, but they have not happened
yet.  Our people are being murdered in cold blood and we refuse to open our eyes.  One does not
negotiate with those who seek his destruction.  One destroys those who come to destroy him.  If
not we are guilty of participating in our own self-destruction.   

     We have no shortage of enemies.  But we have a famine of Jewish leadership.  There is
not one Jewish leader on the scene today who calls for the removal of our enemies from our
homeland.  Our security commanders have openly told us that they are incapable of stopping
murderous terrorists from bombing our bus stations and shopping centers.  Yet when it is
suggested, by a contender for leadership of the town of Carmiel, that Arabs be prevented from
free access to this Jewish community, MK Michael Goldman, rushes to condemn the candidate
and seeks to have him legally banned from running for office owing to racism!   If it is racism not
to want to give free reign to our enemies to murder us then moral priorities in this country are
very confused.

     There is nothing less ethical than guaranteeing the right of murderers to continue to
murder us.  It has been a consistent policy in this country to avoid taking the only measure that
can prevent terrorism. . . removing the terrorists.  The day will come, and it is not far off, when
even MK Goldman will understand that unless we remove the Arabs from Israel, then the Arabs
will try to remove us, as they are already doing.  They do not limit their efforts to political
maneuvering, but are actively employing terrorist tactics to convince us to run away from our
homeland.  Any child can see this.  My government can stop it but refuses to.  It is not enough to
refuse to shake hands.  They must refuse to continue maintaining our Arab enemies within our
borders. Wye indeed.

