                       A Voice from Hebron

                      by Gary M. Cooperberg

                       Who Needs Palestine?

     Ofra Felix, the nineteen year old daughter of Rabbi Menachem Felix, was but the latest murder
victim of our marvelous "peace" process.  She was guilty of being Jewish and living in the Shomron. 
The military commander of the central region lamented the fact that he was unable to provide military
escorts for every Jewish vehicle which travels the road... a solution which he feels would be proper.
     My daughter just arrived home in Kiryat Arba from a visit to Jerusalem in a brand new public
transportation bus.  What made this bus different from the others is the fact that it is bullet proof. 
While I am certainly relieved to know that assassins will not be able to murder Jews travelling in these
buses, the very concept of such a need, especially during a "peace" process, is an outrage.
Indeed, the national policy of all Israeli governments has always been to treat the symptom and to
ignore the problem.  
     When it "rained rocks" we simply enshrouded ourselves in plastic rock-proof "umbrellas" and
ignored the murderous intent of those who threw rocks.  Prime Minister Shamir glibly declared that
we can live with the intifada!  Now we have gone to the ridiculous extreme where we are beginning
to have bullet proof buses so we can ignore our armed enemies who actually shoot at us!!!  Because
of "peace" with Arafat, it has been decided by our government that we can "live" with the continued
murder of our children!
     Have we gone completely mad?   Just because we saw Rabin shake hands with Arafat and sign
an agreement are we all so mesmerized as to really believe that we have achieved peace?  How many
Jews need to be gunned down in cold blood before we open our eyes to the truth?  Our military
leaders continue to explain why they cannot stop terror and our political leaders continue to make
our lives even more dangerous... in all parts of our country.  Even under the gun of Arafat's cohorts
Rabin and Peres discuss "redeployment" (which means the retreat of the IDF and Israeli police to be
replaced by Arab terrorists)!  
     In Efrat Arabs and leftists had violent, illegal demonstrations to protest government approved
construction work.  
Rather than endanger the "peace" process the government withdrew its approval and halted the
construction.  
     In Jerusalem Jews attempted to protest the cold blooded murder of Ofra Felix and were
confronted by mounted police and water cannons.  Several Jews were arrested.   The demonstration
was successfully halted.  This is democracy and peaceful freedom of expression--- Israeli style.
     For those who find the situation too complicated to understand, allow me to spell it out in
simple terms.  From even before the state of Israel was established our Arab enemies sought our
destruction.  Nothing has changed except for our perception of our enemies.  Owing to our consistent
and effective thwarting of every Arab attempt to destroy us in war, we have decided that our enemies
now love us and are willing to live together in peace with us.  We close our ears to their continued
open declarations that we occupy Arab land and that it is the goal of the Arab nations to remove
Jewish sovereignty from the Middle East.  We close our eyes to cold blooded murder of Jewish
civilians, on both sides of the so called "green" line.  And, worst of all, we close our Jewish hearts
to the anguish of bereaved parents and loved ones of the ever growing numbers of victims of Arab
terror.
     Why do we do these terrible things?  There is a reason.  Foreign Minister Peres sums it up
best, "What is the alternative"?  The alternative, which terrifies Shimon even more than dead Jewish
women and children, is the very idea that someone may call us "racists"!  What inanity!  Could anyone
imagine Harry Truman being called a "racist" who hated Japanese because he bombed Hiroshima and
Nagasaki killing countless defenseless women and children?   The fact is that he saved countless
American lives by ending the war.  That is the miserable fact of war.  Hateful as it may be to fight a
war, it is many times more hateful to lose a war.  
     Can anyone imagine a moral justification for avoiding World War II by having surrendered
to Hitler?  There are times when nothing is more moral than to fight a war and to win.  NOW is one
of those times.  
     I proudly and openly announce that I am an "enemy of Peace".  If this is "peace" I oppose it
with every fiber of my being.  I would prefer to risk my life and that of my family in a war that this
country was determined to win, than to watch my fellow Jews continue to be butchered, G-d forbid,
in a "peace" process in which  we clearly are the losers.  This wonderful "peace" of ours only claims
more and more victims and gives no logical reason to assume anything for the future other than Israeli
self destruction.
     If we had an honest Jewish leader in this country, and we don't, he would stand up and state
an honest program of self respect and pride.  He would not only halt the so called "peace" process,
but would eradicate the concept of Palestine, both physically and ideologically.  Rather than ask the
rhetorical question "Who needs Gaza and Jericho?" he would ask "Who needs Palestine"?   He would
then, methodically and thoroughly destroy it.  
     In view of the patent impossibility of Jews and Arabs living together peacefully, a fact openly
declared by Rabin and Yussie Sarid, the Arabs of Israel would be given an ultimatum.  Either leave
peacefully or be wiped out.  Within two weeks we would have the kind of peace we could live with. 
No more little girls shot to death in the family car.  No more children and old folks torn to shreds in
bombed passenger buses.  No more fear to drive on Israeli roads.
     But what about the other Arab countries?   Surely they will band together to destroy us should
we take such a stand.  NO.  They will not.  The Arabs cannot possibly hate us more than they already
do.  There is only one reason why they don't destroy us right now... because they know that they
cannot.  The very moment that this perception changes... for any reason, they will all attack us.
     The very "peace" process in which we are currently engaged is actually working toward
changing the perception of an invincible Israel.   As such it is just the opposite of a real "peace"
process.  In effect it is really a war process which is daily enticing our enemies to unite and destroy
us.  
     How stupid can we all be?  The name of the game is survival.  Calling surrender "peace" and
trusting in the good will of murderers will do nothing to enhance our chances for survival.  Can it be
possible that we have grown tired of playing the game and thus have decided to lose, even though
we have all the tools needed to win?  That is the real alternative which Peres refuses to see.