                      A Voice from Hebron
                          Common Sense
                        October 10, 1996
                     by Gary M. Cooperberg

        How is it that an ancient, underdeveloped city in a remote part of the world can command
central stage in world news?  The holy Jewish city of Hebron has no skyscrapers, is not a center
for trade, serves no instrumental purpose whatsoever, yet is the single most perplexing thorn in 
the side of the so called "peace process".
        An argument has been made that, owing to the complexity of finding a method to safeguard
the security of a mere few hundred Jews living in the center of town, the easiest solution would be
to relocate them outside of the city limits.  Peace with our Arab neighbors is too important to
permit a handful of Jews the luxury of making a political statement by insisting upon living in such
a controversial spot.  Even King Hussein, our most moderate peace partner, warned that we are
endangering even the present agreements we have with Jordan and Egypt!   Surely then we must
do everything possible to secure the peace we already have established, and build upon the
process to include Arafat as well.
        Peace is a magic word.  When you say it to a Jew it causes him to forget all former acts of
enmity towards him and lulls him into a hypnotic acceptance of anything his enemies ask.  If we
would but take an honest look at what we have done to ourselves since Oslo, it would or should
snap us out of our unnatural lethargy.
        Let's go back even further.   At the Camp David talks which produced "peace" with Egypt,
Prime Minister Begin set the precedent of recognizing the legitimacy of a "palestinian" people.  In
this short-sighted attempt at wisdom, he hoped to placate our Arab enemies within Israel.  His
intent was to offer them the dignity of recognition, while simultaneously limiting that dignity to
having the right to conduct their own municipal affairs independently, but under the overall
sovereignty of the Jewish State.  This was the vehicle which paved the way to Oslo.
        The very concept of a "palestinian" Arab was originally created as a means to replace Jewish
Israel with Arab "palestine."  It was a propaganda tool with which to challenge the legitimacy of
Israel as a Jewish State.  Unfortunately there are also many Jews who challenge this concept. 
They feel uncomfortable having a state which is based upon Biblical mandates and which reminds
them that to be Jewish brings with it responsibilities to observe Biblical commandments.  Once
you begin to accept the Bible as the ultimate authority, then your private interests are 
involved as well.  They wish to have the right to eat unkosher food, to go to the beach on the
Sabbath and to refrain from worship in the synagogue.  Any state which claims its legitimacy upon
religious grounds, might well interfere with the religious freedom of those under its rule.   
        Thus we find a large number of worried secular Jews who side with our enemies in the hope
of changing the function of the state from one based upon Jewish principles to one of democratic
principles.  This, of course, necessitates the end of the Jewish nature of the state.   What our 
brothers fail to understand are two things: 1) Having a state based upon Jewish principles need
not affect how one lives his private life; and 2) Our enemies do not want a "democratic" state with
equal rights.  They want an Islamic state which, by definition, would eliminate Jewish rights 
altogether.
        Every Israeli government was faced with this dual challenge.  Our Arab enemies who could
not accept alien sovereignty over what they believe to be Islamic soil, and secular Jews who
oppose the concept of a Jewish State as an infringement upon their private lives.  As such, a
disastrous and futile attempt was made, from the very inception of the state, to accommodate two
diametrically opposed concepts-- democracy and Judaism.  This was a formula for the delayed
reaction explosion which we are beginning to experience today.        Even from the moment of
our declaration of the reestablishment of our sovereign homeland in Eretz Yisrael, when our
leaders concurrently declared the right of our Arab neighbors to become equal citizens, no Arab 
honestly saw himself as equal to the Jew, whom he viewed and still views as an infidel and a thief
who stole his homeland.  It has been and still is a fundamental religious principle of Islam to
redeem the land stolen by the Jews. . . all of the Land of Israel.        What then is the basis of our
"negotiations" with our enemies? How do we find a way to "overcome our differences" as
President Clinton likes to say?  Prime Minister Begin said it best, "What are we to negotiate, the 
terms of our self-destruction?"   Yet, as absurd as that question appears, that is precisely what our
government is doing today!
        Oslo never should have happened.  Rabin and Peres met illegally with Arafat and signed
treacherous agreements.  Today we are continually admonished that we must fulfill, to the letter, 
all signed agreements.  But the fact is that the most basic premise of the original agreement has 
been continually violated by the PLO.  Oslo was designed to provide the PLO with the right to
autonomy under Israeli overall sovereignty.  As such there never should have been a PLO flag or
any involvement with border crossings or international relations on the part of the PLO.  All they 
should have been granted was self-rule under the authority of  the sovereign state of Israel.  
        The stated purpose of Gaza and Jericho first was to have been a test as to whether or not
this concept was workable.  When PLO soldiers "conquered" these areas and tore down the
Jewish flag which was replaced with a PLO flag, that was enough proof that Gaza and Jericho
was a failure.  At that juncture the agreement was already breached and should have been 
junked.  Instead Rabin and Peres continued to retreat from more and more of our towns and
cities, and further suggested that a PLO state might be acceptable to them in the future.  Once the
precedent had been set, more and more violations of the concept of "autonomy" were made by the
PLO and ignored by Israel.
        In spite of Prime Minister Peres' comments to the contrary, Hebron is a Jewish city.  It
would be so even if not even one Jew happened to live there.  What people are so quick to forget
is the reason for the disparity in demography in this city.  Back in 1967 the Arabs fled from
Hebron.  It was the IDF, under Moshe Dayan, which stopped the flight and urged the Arabs to
remain.  At the same time the IDF refused to permit Jews to return to and live in our holy city.  It
was an unnatural, controlled situation which saw the Israeli government encourage Arab
population growth in Hebron, while impeding Jewish return.  Now, when in spite of all of the 
obstacles, a healthy and vibrant Jewish community has returned anyway, we are told that we
should abandon the City of our Fathers because we are outnumbered by our Arab peace partners
who seek to murder us!
        The puny King of Jordan, whose "kingdom" rests entirely upon Jewish soil, is considered the
most moderate of our Arab "peace" partners.  Yet he has openly threatened our Prime Minister
that failure to honor Oslo can result in the nullification of the peace agreements with Jordan and
Egypt.  He went so far as to suggest that Israelis may soon need their gas masks again.  If this is
the "nice guy" what are we to expect from Arafat and Assad?
        There was a Jewish leader in Israel who saw this mess coming many years ago.  He knew
that there was no possibility of coexistence between the concept of a Jewish State and "palestine".
Most other leaders knew this too.  But to examine the facts too closely led to a conclusion which
no one had the courage to accept.  If we don't remove our enemies from our midst, the day will
come when they will remove us.  That was and is the bitter truth.  It matters not if you are a leftist
or a rightist; religious or anti-religious.  The axiom holds.  Seven years ago Rabbi Meir Kahane, of
blessed memory, stood alone at the Knesset podium and stated to the people of Israel. "You have
a choice.  You can choose me or you can choose Arafat."  As outrageous as that statement
sounded then, it has become a prophesy fulfilled.  No matter who we voted for in the last 
election, we still got Arafat.
        For decades Rabbi Kahane warned us that not to remove our Arab enemies from within
would guarantee that the horrors of Northern Ireland would plague the Jewish state.  This was
before the bus bombings in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.  The fiasco in Shechem proved conclusively
that calling terrorists "policemen" doesn't make them so.
        In face of all of the above, how does our present government dare to continue negotiations
and suggest an obligation of further yielding to our enemies?  Any Jewish government with a
modicum of responsibility has no choice, no alternative, then to immediately cancel all agreements
and take steps to undo all of the mistakes already made.  Certainly it would be nothing short of
insanity to continue to emasculate ourselves in surrender to our enemies.
        Why do the Arab nations threaten us now?  Why were they so friendly to Peres?  The
answer is simple.  Peres was consistently surrendering.  Why shouldn't our enemies love someone
who was doing their work for them.  How wonderful to conquer the Jews without having to fight
and shed blood!  They hate Netanyahu because they don't understand him.  They really think that 
he will refuse to surrender.  They know what a self respecting leader should and would do.  When
he says that he will redeploy from Hebron they don't believe him. 
        All Netanyahu really wants is to live in peace with the Arabs.  What he fails to take into
consideration is the cold fact that the Arabs want to live in peace without Jews.  It is a non
negotiable point which will never be resolved.  This being the case, he really has only two 
choices-  to evacuate the Jews, or to evacuate the Arabs.  This is what Rabbi Kahane understood
decades ago, and our prime minister and all other Jewish leaders, throughout the entire political
spectrum, still refuse to accept.  
        Hebron today serves as the red line for our immediate security throughout the Jewish
homeland.  We are already under attack, on all fronts,  no matter what we do in Hebron.  To
surrender while under attack will display weakness to our enemies and encourage more and more
attacks against us.  To stand up to our enemies will not prevent the inevitable war that is coming,
but it will serve as a warning that we will fight for what is ours.  It will also avoid further needless
weakening of our defenses. 
        The bottom line here is self respect.  The Arabs have it and we don't.  They risked losing
everything by rioting over a tunnel which, in no way, threatened their holy places.  Today we
learn of the construction of a new mosque underneath our Temple Mount which is causing
damage to ancient historical relics and structures.  We need not riot.  After all, it is our 
country.  Yet no official move has been made to halt, even temporarily, this clear desecration of
our holiest place.  This is why we have so much trouble today.  We have consistently failed to
stand up for our most basic rights.  Jewish police still prevent Jews from praying at our holiest site 
only because the Arabs will riot if we do!  
         Oslo passed the point of no return in which our enemies are convinced that our destruction
is just a matter of time.  To continue this process is to participate in our own self-destruction.  If
we are wise we will stop it now.  If not, it is only a matter of time until any government will have
no choice but to stop it . . .  But at what price? 