                      A Voice from Hebron
                     by Gary M. Cooperberg
                       September 9, 1996
                  The  Danger of Self-delusion

     Reciprocity.  What a wonderful five syllable word!  Our new and eloquent prime minister has
based his entire foreign policy upon this word and is fully confident that it will guard and protect the
security of the Jewish State.  
     Using simple cold logic it really does make sense.  Indeed, the history of Israeli negotiations
has been one of real concessions, both ideological and territorial, on the Israeli side, in return for
meaningless paper promises which have been consistently broken by our Arab partners.  It is a
refreshing new approach for an Israeli leader to insist that, for a change, the Arab side must make
equal concessions in future negotiations with the Jewish state.
     The problem, which our prime minister does not address, is a two fold one.  First, logic has
no place in Israeli politics; and second, Arabs have no cultural precedence for self-denigration.  When
Mubarak declared, arbitration or no arbitration, "Not one inch of holy Islamic soil will be yielded to
Israel", he got all of Taba as he demanded.  This was after Menachem Begin had voluntarily given
away the Sinai, the Abu Rodeis oil fields (which would have supplied all of Israeli oil needs for over
100 years) as well as an added token of good will, Yamit.
     Former Prime Minister, Shimon Peres, had publicly declared, on more than one occasion, that
Hebron is an Arab city, and that all of the Golan Heights belong to Syria.  With such precedents it
is difficult to imagine how Mr. Netanyahu will convince our enemies that Jews too have irreconcilable
demands.   But the fact is, even this concept is not what our Prime Minister is espousing.  What he
is really saying is, "We are willing to make compromises on our homeland.  But the Arabs, too,  must
show a willingness to compromise."   What he fails to realize is that this concept is a non starter with
Moslems.  The reason is simple.  They are religious.  They really believe that all of the Middle East
belongs to them by Divine right!  No truly religious individual is capable of compromise when it
comes to basic religious principles.
     While, politically, Mr. Netanyahu's ideas may be sound, pragmatically they have no chance
to succeed.  The only reason we have ever succeeded in getting the so called "peace talks" off the
ground, is because the Arabs have learned two things: 1) They cannot defeat Israel militarily; and 2)
Jews are willing to make physical concessions for paper promises.  All that has happened is that the
Arab-Israeli conflict has temporarily changed its form from armed conflict to political conflict.   In
fact the Arab world has caused far more harm to the Jewish State via its "peace negotiations" than
it has in any combination of the wars it has waged against it.



     The slogans of "reciprocity" and "security", while certainly positive ones, are no substitute
for the open and clear declaration of Israel's exclusive and eternal sovereignty over all Jewish Lands. 
Actually this would be true reciprocity, because the Arabs have all along declared their belief that all
of the Middle East is exclusive Islamic territory!
     It would really be nice if all the players in the game would be able and willing to sit down and
negotiate a fair and equal peace, based upon genuine compromise.  But that just isn't addressing
reality.  One side of the equation conducts itself  according to unbendable religious philosophy, while
the other side is prepared to make compromise.  This is the formula which produces a situation where
Israel makes very real  compromises, and the Arabs make pseudo promises.  Does our prime minister
honestly believe that, by hanging tough, he will convince the Arab side to compromise on its religious
integrity?
     When Mr. Netanyahu agreed to shake hands with the murderer, Arafat, he made his biggest
mistake.  He gave a loud and clear message that he is prepared to compromise on the most ethical
of issues.  Now the Arabs know that their game is still working. All the slogans in the world are
meaningless in the face of such self-degradation.  For the likes of a Peres to shake hands with the
murderer is one thing, but for Netanyahu to do so is to negate all the efforts he has made to reverse
the old Israeli concept of backing down to Arab demands.  As things stand now, the only difference
between Netanyahu's method and that of Peres is a matter of pace.  
     Things do not need to continue this way.  There is still time for our prime minister to accept
the unpleasant reality and deal with it honestly.  He has no obligation to honor the living symbol of
terrorism.  He has no mandate to surrender one inch of Jewish soil to the PLO or anyone else.  He 
has a moral obligation to follow up on his own declaration that Hebron is Israel's oldest Jewish city,
and make it clear, not that it is "complicated" for "security reasons", rather that no people in the
world would give up, or even share, the graves of their Fathers.  
     To contend that it is possible to share our inheritance, our birthright, our Divine obligation,
with any other nation is an exercise in self-delusion and will only encourage our enemies to make
more and more demands.  Not only must we put on the brakes to this suicidal path we are on, we
must put it into high reverse.  Arafat must be declared the criminal he really is and brought to trial
for murder and terrorism.  As Ariel Sharon recently pointed out, the CIA has indisputable proof that
Arafat personally ordered the murder of American diplomats!  This leads one to wonder how it was
possible for an American president to host such a criminal.  The Jew, Pollard, is in jail for saving
Jewish lives, and the murderer of American diplomats, Arafat, is hosted in the White House!
     We have no obligation to continue this madness.  On the contrary we have a moral obligation
to stop it.  The sooner we put it to an end, the more lives will be saved.  The end of the road here is
not peace and tranquility.  We have become the willing victims in a skillful Arab game of "how much
can the Jewish State be weakened for the kill."  The longer we wait, the weaker we become, and the
more difficult it will be to win the next war the Arabs are already preparing to launch against us.  This
is the challenge which lies before our prime minister.  May G-d give him the wisdom to open his eyes
before grave harm befalls our homeland.