                      A Voice From Hebron
                     by Gary M. Cooperberg
                          May 3, 1996
            Peres Makes "peace" while Jew gets Stabbed
                                
     A Jew was stabbed in the back in Hebron on Wednesday.  Rabbi Nissim Gudaei, an elderly
gentleman who claimed to know that Arabs only attack "provocative" Jews who carry weapons,
made a habit of shopping, unarmed, in the Arab market for many years.   Wednesday his theory
was disproved.  We now can say, unequivocally, that Arabs murder (or try to murder) Jews,
simply because they are Jews.
     There are those who say that, in reaction to such an event, Jews should simply pack up
and leave.  After all, who needs to get murdered?  But why is it that no one sees the logical result
of such a suggestion, much less of its implementation?  By as much as suggesting that Jews leave
in reaction to murder is to justify murder, and, what is worse, to encourage more such "valiant"
acts.
     Ironically the stabbing took place at the very time the Knesset was debating the proposed
military retreat from Hebron.  The residents of Hebron and Kiryat Arba veritably closed up the
town and went to Jerusalem, enmasse,  to demonstrate, pray, and lobby by the Knesset in the
hope that they could convince our leaders not to turn Hebron into the biggest haven for
murderous Arab terrorists to date.  It is already a haven for them, but without the ability for our
army to pursue them, it will become another safety zone for murderers as Gaza and Jericho and
Shechem have already become.
     All that the alleged right wing is calling for is to stop, or at least slow down, the plans to
have our army retreat from Hebron and hand it over to the PLO.  To me that sounds like a left
wing demand.  It is not a matter of a handful of stubborn Jews living in an Arab city.  It is a matter
of Arabs attempting to take over a Jewish city by murdering Jews in the hope that the rest will
either flee or be removed by their own government.  And it is only the Jewish government and its
self-hating left wing supporters which allows such a concept to as much as see the light of day. 
Why shouldn't the Arab "nationalist" murder Jews?  He already was given Gaza, Jericho,
Ramallah, and Bethlehem for murdering Jews.  Perhaps if he murders a few more he can get
Hebron and Jerusalem and, maybe even the rest of the Zionist entity called Israel.  What have we
done to convince him otherwise?  




     If we had a self-respecting government, the very least it would do would be to halt all
discussion about retreating from Hebron, and begin considering the relocation of the Hebron
Arabs.  If they demonstrate so emphatically that they cannot live with us, then let them find
another place to live.  How can it be justified, by any stretch of the imagination, to react to
continual acts of Arab terror by abandoning our holy city to the terrorists?  
     Mr. Peres, and, perhaps to a lesser degree, all of our so-called and would-be leaders, have
taken a path which presumes that yielding to blackmail will bring peace and tranquility.  What
meaning do the Oslo agreements have other than to see the mighty Jewish nation attempt to pay
off the PLO in Jewish land and lives in return for their promise to love us?  It is a totally absurd,
self-deceiving policy which will only lead to more bloodshed, and, eventually to a bitter and costly
war.
     How, in the name of common sense, can any rational being really believe that peace can be
achieved by rewarding terrorists and murderers?  It is a cowardly policy of lemmings who
willingly march to their demise all the while smiling and pretending that life is rosy.
     Life is not rosy.  War is not good.  But self-deception and abdication of the most basic
principles of self respect and survival is far worse.  A reflective Neville Chamberlain was said to
have uttered as his last words, "If only Hitler hadn't lied to me".  A better observation might have
been, "If only I had the common sense not to have believed him."  Our leaders in Israel are
making the same mistake.  Only for us the stakes are much higher, and the false presumptions
even more preposterous.
     In the Exile the Jew learned how to make bitter compromises to survive.  He paid off  his
blackmailers; he moved from place to place; and, in spite of all of his compromises, he was beaten
and murdered anyway.  We are no longer in the Exile.  We have returned home to our only
homeland.  There is nowhere else to run to.  Our enemies will continue to seek our destruction no
matter where we try to hide.  If we don't fight for what is ours now, no one will care when it is
taken from us tomorrow.  It is unconscionable that any Jewish government, not only refuses to
fight for its homeland, but is actually willingly parceling it out to its enemies!  There can be no
greater national crime than this.  Government exists to protect the people and the country it
presumes to govern.  When it acts against these most basic obligations it forfeits its right to
govern.
     Rabbi Gudaei is the perfect example of what happens to a Jew who treats his enemies as if
they are his "partners".   The Peres "Peace Plan" is the same thing on a larger scale.  The
difference is that the rabbi's naive assumption invited the Arab to plunge a knife into his back,
while Peres' pompous assumption has effectively invited and assisted our enemies to plunge a
knife into the back of the Jewish State.    
