                                                           B"sd

                      A Voice from Hebron
                     by Gary M. Cooperberg
                                
                      The Netanyahu Legacy
                    Wye don't we Have Peace?
                       November 12, 1998

     Five cabinet ministers decided not to decide on Wye.  Four at least had the courage vote
against it, and eight, less than a majority, voted to reject any vestige of self-respect and national
pride and approved the most treasonous, self-destructive, document this country ever concocted.  

     There may still be someone out there who thinks that our Prime Minister is playing a good
game of hardball with Yassir Arafat.  What a clever man, our Bibi.  He didn't really give up 13%
more land in Judea and Samaria.  He cut off a full three percent by making it a "nature reserve". 
Never mind that the nature we are preserving will belong to the PLO.  This is the first time that
Arafat has promised, in writing, that he will fight terror, and  we will not implement any of the
agreements until the PLO lives up to its signed commitments.  

     The English version of the Wye agreement promises a ceremony which will not have the
legal authority to change the PLO covenant, while the Hebrew version implies that it will.  Our
Prime Minister, together with his cabinet, has declared that unless the covenant is officially and
legally amended, Israel will not complete its commitments.  He also assured us that next time we
surrender (already a foregone conclusion) it will only be one percent more of our homeland.  How
comforting. And, the most powerful assurance of all, should Arafat dare declare a PLO state in
May, then Israel declares its "right" to annex what ever is still left of Judea and Samaria. (Not
necessarily that it will exercise that alleged "right").

     I really do not understand why Netanyahu is so pleased with himself.  He has painted us
into a box and doesn't seem to realize that Arafat now has us exactly where he wants us.  Just
think for a minute.  What will happen if Arafat decides to and really does (at least temporarily)
fight terror and prevent any more terrorist attacks?  What happens if he succeeds in assembling
the PNC and legally changes the covenant to Netanyahu's satisfaction?  What happens if he
arrests and even extradites the thirty murderers to Israel?  (Which we are not even asking him to
do any more).  And, what happens if he agrees not to declare a state in May?  

     What happens?  I'll tell you what happens.   No one in Netanyahu's government will have
any grounds to stop the giveaway of our homeland.  Even if the third giveaway is only one
percent, after having shown such good faith in fulfilling all of his commitments, Arafat will
demand, in the final status agreement, that all of Judea and Samaria be turned into a PLO state. 
How can we stop him?  Netanyahu only threatened to declare "his right" to annex Judea and
Samaria if Arafat declared a state in May.  Obviously this implies that he really doesn't accept the
fact that he has such a right or he would have annexed them already.  Since Arafat always
declared that it belonged to him, and since he honored his side of the bargain, the least we can do
is give him the rest. . . for peace of course.

      In any country in the world, if a foreign body would dare declare sovereignty over any
part of that country, this would clearly be recognized as a blatant act of war!  Only in Israel do we
accept such a threat with a meaningless "almost-threat" in retaliation.  There is no more blatant
act of war than to declare sovereignty over the property of another nation.  By not clearly stating
that such an act will be considered an act of war against the Jewish State, our government has
telegraphed to the PLO that we will accept that declaration of sovereignty!  We have already
handed them their state on a silver platter!  

     Without having to blow up any more buses, or stab another Jew, or fire another bullet,
Arafat can sever Judea, Samaria and Gaza from the Jewish people with the help of the Jewish
government.  After he has achieved this diplomatic victory, he will then be in a far better position
to join with his neighbors in an all out effort to wipe the Jewish State off the map.  After all, just
because he promised to love us doesn't mean that after he gets all that he can get that he will still
feel obligated to do so.  So what if he "fights terror" until he gets our homeland?  Why should he
not continue to murder us after we give him what he wants?  Who will care what Arafat does
after we give him his new PLO state with Jerusalem as its capital, the CIA?

     I can hear Netanyahu now, "But he promised to fight terror!  He promised to love us!  I
made him put it down in writing and no one ever did that before!  Had Labor negotiated the peace
agreement he never would have amended the PLO covenant.  Nations have an obligation to fulfill
signed commitments.  I gave him Jerusalem for peace.  Why don't we have peace?" 
     