Congratulations on publishing a piece such as this. It hopefully reflects an openness to seeing our situation in new ways. As for the content, the writer is spot-on. Once we realize what a gift is our land and heritage, we will be less inclined to part with either one of them.

that you believe will result in crippling sanctions against Israel if executed? This tells me that either you're either the stupidest person alive or you want to cripple Israel. Which is it?

Arlene Kushner has written a gem of an article. Every word is pure truth. Israel's biggest problem is not our enemies. It is our leaders who keep empowering our enemies. Following our glorious victory in 1967, we could easily have driven our enemies from our land, and they EXPECTED us to! However, our guilt plagued leaders chose to cultivate our enemies and strengthen them. The sickness persisted through Oslo, when Peres rescued the moribund PLO terrorists. It still exists today. Our enemies would have no power over us if we resoundingly defeat them, without concessions. We are more than capable of it. Israel must annex Judea and Samaria and pay Arabs to leave. Arabs are already leaving Judea and Samaria by the tens of thousands annually. We need merely accelerate this favorable trend.

What a great article. I'm really shocked that Ynet published it. After all this site is clearly in the left delusional part of the world. The question remains, how is it possible that almost 50% of Israelis do not know the truth about the Land, and the people and their mistakes?

It would've been a lot nicer had you mentioned that Arthur Balfour( Palestine didn't belong to him)1917 from Egn.land offer Israelis place in Palestine

Thank you for an eloquent and frank exposure of the self-destructive path created by Israel's own 'leaders' through the years. I'd like to address just one issue this time, and I hope you can elaborate on it on a future column. You write: "the San Remo Conference and the Mandate for Palestine are enshrined in international law to this day and give us the right to this land?" And further on you say: "The world would attempt to bring us to our knees were we to attempt now to annex all the land that is properly ours. Depriving the Palestinians of their "legitimate" rights? Acting like an "apartheid" nation? They'd come after us big time. " To put it in the simplest of terms, Arlene, WHAT'S THE WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN if a strong Israeli leader were to annex Judea and Samaria, offer residency and equal rights to Arabs, and promise citizenship to those who are interested in applying and who qualify. Those not amenable to the idea of becoming residents of Israel could be offered a substancial sum for relocation to another country. I'm aware that such a daring move would be full of pitfalls and enormous risks, but WHAT'S THE ALTERNATIVE?

Let's pretend for a moment that Israel doesn't have a government headed for catastrophe. Or let's pretend that the status quo continues until the next election, and that Israelis elect a government that miraculously actually intends to fulfill the promises made to the electorate. Let's pretend that this new government will truly understand the precarious situation Israel is in and that they will put the future of the country above petty politics and personal interests. With the country firmly behind them, and without putting any foreign leader on notice (in order to prevent any threats) they make the announcement carefully worded as a gesture of peace and generosity. Now, I repeat that key question: WHAT'S THE WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN? If Israel has international law on its side - and it does - then how could the UN or the EU or the US or anyone else prove that Israel's move is illegal? It would be utterly frustrating and irritating to those in the West who have tried for so long to destroy Israel by war or by diplomacy. But the move would still be LEGAL. After all, the PA has failed to fulfill their part of the bargain in every agreement reached so far. (By the way, I won't even elaborate on the reaction to the announcement by those in the PA who have been benefitting personally from the West's largesse all these years.) I'm well aware of two big obstacles for such a move: 1) The Jewish left - utterly deranged and self-destructive. It has powerful friends and a well organized PR army that can be extremely effective. 2) The Diaspora Mentality that won't go away for at least a couple of generations, because it has been carefully nurtured by the left itself. The left has been in charge of educating little Jews for decades, after all. The media they read, watch or listen to, is all geared at feeding their minds for life with the same message: You are guilty of taking someone else's land. Whoever says otherwise is a right wing fanatic, a racist. However, THE ALTERNATIVE TO ANNEXATION is the slow destruction of Israel until there's nothing left. The alternative to annexation is to watch Arabs continue to make demand after demand because they know that they have a militarily strong but emotionally weak adversary, and all they have to do is pout, make threats, summon their Western friends in high places, mobilize their PR international army - and Israeli leaders will buckle, every time. Once Arabs get their Palestinian state, they'll want something more. Perhaps the Galilee. Or a land corridor to the sea. Or ALL of Jerusalem, because the capital's partition is already in the works. And if they don't get it quickly enough, all they have to do is to ratchet up the violence across the border. They'll blame it on rogue elements. And if Israel dares to retaliate, they'll show us pictures of victims and we'll all feel bad about it. And that's the good news. The bad news would be an all-out war on Israel, perhaps with WMD in order to conquer all of Israel. So, Arlene, there is a fork in the road: IT'S EITHER ANNEXATION OR SELF-DESTRUCTION.

You end your column with a very logical and inspired thought: "And so what matters at least as much as how we respond to the outside world is the process of developing our own resilience, and solidifying our belief in the rightness of our stance. Step by step, until we know how to stand tall as a nation - strong in our sense of inheritance, and in our determination to hold fast to our entitlements." Dear Arlene, there's no time to de-program the population. Israel has only one or two years at the most to make a fateful decision. That's all. Obama means it: Either Israel surrenders the land, or the Arabs will declare their state, which will be recognized by the UN, the EU, the US and every country in the world. What's needed is to URGENTLY organize a few people like you: well informed, influential, articulate, with good credentials - and become a force to confront those in power who hide behind excuses to do nothing or to acquiesce to every demand made by the Arabs and the US. I plead with you to please join forces with like-minded Israelis to help save Israel. You don't need hundreds. You only need a dozen or two top-quality citizens to make a difference. Speak with one voice. Challenge those with political power to answer key questions. Tell them that they are being short-sighted. That while they enjoy power and perks right now, their legacy will be shameful. And that future generations of Jews will regard them with opprobrium for contributing to the weakening of Israel. Tell them that they are destroying the only country that will protect world Jews from persecution and hate.

Thank you for the most clearly articulated piece I have ever read on Ynet or elsewhere.

The only thing Israel is doing is negotiating with itself, the PA has no intention of recognizing Israel as a Jewish State, and the PA only represents a minor fraction of Palestinians. We need not fool ourselves any longer. I hope many people in Israel and in the Diaspora read your article and decide its time to stand up, speak out, and create our true narrative. Thank you.

This is an amazing article. All Israelis should read this.

Now you are wanting the 'final solution of deportations? I guess it's better then Gas Chambers, right?.. Why should any Palestinian turn their homes and lands over to you without a fight ? Who are you to demand anything of them? Are you so void of any human qualities in this day and age..to think you can be a Nazi without the world coming down on you? As the article states...you are skating on thin ice in the eyes of the rest of the world as it it...Be very careful what you do..as it might be your Swan Song after all! TATA

makes me cry. How naive we were! How naive and stupid our leaders were and many still are! How did we allow this to happen? I have been repeating day by day that most Israelis still suffer from diaspora syndrom in stretching out their necks to the Arab slaughterers. Most our governments suffered from ghetto complex as well and we all are paying the heavy price. I would say that we need spokes people like Arlene n the UN and at every possible point in the world to replace the dull and unnoticed present representation. It has to be noted, however, that we owe many "thanks" to Shulamit Aloni and her followers for damaging our country perhaps irretrievably , with their childish self-conceited political attitude that contaminated many , who -like her - refused to face reality and sank into their imaginative intellectual idealism. We should also remember that it all started with the Labor party .

Things are bad and getting worse with the image of Israel, but no one in Israel takes it seriously. I know the problems of suicide bombers seem to be far more important than what some young Arabs are shouting on university campuses here, but by ignoring the issue and not helping us fight them you have ceded the control of the conversation. In essence, they have been allowed to create their own narrative and use it to control the conversation almost without a fight. We try to form organizations to counter them, but we aren't that popular to begin with and run into problems when they receive support from Muslim groups and countries and far left elements here in Canada, while we are left more disorganized and without a clear cut message that tracks with what Israel is saying. It's an issue. And by losing out on the narrative to these thugs the students who graduate are echoing their sentiments to corporations and world leaders, all to the tune of "ban, boycott, divestment." It's not enough that we all rally around the Israeli flag, we need that flag to lead us in a cohesive and directed fashion. We're ready. We're willing. We WANT to help! Please let us work with you! Let us work FOR you! But we need to do this together, because the current methods are falling short.

People who say they are Jews (but they are Jews in name only) and then use the status of their celebrity or fame or fortune as a platform to admonish Israel. Americans like playwright Tony Kushner or MIT professor Noam Chomsky work through the minutia of their personal problems (most likely due to deep-seated rejection by family members) via the sicking solution of rejecting their Jewish heritage! Such people have sunk to an all time moral low by embracing all the lies, falsehoods and blood libels heaped onto the Jewish people and attempt to gain acceptance in society by embracing the notion as fact that the Jews are a debased people! In doing so, the intellectual elite and basically all the anti-Semitic people in America then embrace these self-hating Jews as the face of the modern humble and remorseful Jew. Then people like Kushner and Chomsky embrace the enemies of the Jews (Arabs & Muslims) and demonize Israel! But that is such the case of the turncoat individual, worst of all is organizations such as J Street who work towards delegitimizing Israel through the unrealistic and looking at the world through rose coloured glasses solution of a negotiated two state solution. Until we Jews can confront and tackle our own self-hating Jews who use an anti-Israel platform in order to gain acceptance by society; we won't be successful in countering Israeli / Zionists / Jewish hatred by the professionals (U.N., Muslims, Arab League, the industry of holocaust deniers, etc)!

Even some Arabs I am personlly acquainted with, feel that Israel is going to try to deport huge segments of their population if the coming conflict is as bad as the prognosticators say.

On-chore!

You might not know this but the Arabs are invaders. And the Turks were the owners. The Brits concurred so it "was theirs" and they also made promises to the Arabs... but I guess the creation of an Arab state was also a crime of the Brits.

problem. I hope that we will not be forced to experience the results of your cowardly leftist stupid policy. The writer of this article sees the situation with open eyes and with wisdom that you lack.

no. 4 instead of 14. Any way, it was and answer to TATA.

Israeli government read, comporehend and apply?I pray to God it does!

Such clarity amongst all the lies. Well Done. aLL THE ARAB AND LEFT WING ISRAELI LIES. THE WORLD CHOOSES TO FORGET THE TRUTH AND IS TRYING TO REWRITE HISTORY.

THE END OF ISRAEL'S EXISTENCE!!!!!!!!!!!

Arlene, it's an article that should be sent to 200 Israeli Ambassadors, who should send it in turn to 200 head of states - including to 200 news papers. Land for peace a farce? Except for a few gifts to mankind in chemistry, economics, medicine, physics an a few other 'goodies', we Jews seem to have considered life, politics and, not withstanding our " know-it-all " wise men, a big joke, a big farce, a god will do it for us (with dire results). Instead of being ourselves and maybe we are, we aim to please, we aim to belong, we aim to turn the other cheek ( a legacy? ).This is probably why Hollywood became such a success the world over --- La vie en rose ". I would say that our ' fiasco', our major problem, is that we do what we think others will approve and not what we should do for ourselves..Politicians lie, and like everybody else, we gobble what we like to hear and elect them. They exchange views, data, and other tid-bits with other politicians who lie as well. With so many distortions, half truths, innuendos and yes lies, no one can remember what was said, written or agreed upon ---- treaties, pacts, contracts, solemn everything.All lost in a sea of deception. Par contre, the arab, the master of deceit, perjury, perversion, the " Mille et une nuit " inventor that even Hollywood acknowledged as a master piece, has everything pat-dry, written in black and white in their koran, with a strict , unwavering ' sacred goal ', pounded day and night to the masses and ' sold ' to the stupid intelligentsia. Today, instead of tacking energetic counter measure to redress and alter this " Goebbels " like fantasy, our not so glorious leaders fight tooth an nail in order to retain power, for the prominence of being accepted in the Hall of the powerful --- Disaster in the making --- No one to blame but Jews.

Perhaps inadvertent, nevertheless... The #1 error of '67 was Moshe Dayan's return of Har ha-Bayit to the Arabs because it underpins everything the (otherwise terrific) article suggests... AND it directly implies WHY we're in the fix we are today: division among ourselves because of the chasm between misojudaic Jews and Judaic (Torah) Jews. Misojudaics hate and fight Judaics while Judaics cannot compromise Judaism. Who has time for the Iran and the Arabs? Wakey, wakey! Until we get our "story" straight we will not be able to form a coherent front to our enemies and we will continue to be the chaotic mess of decisions, vacillating between the two extremes. Judaic Jews have been around ca. 4037 years. Misojudaic Jews have been around only since the Reform Movement in the early 19th century Germany--about 204 years. So which do YOU (readers) think is permanent and which is an ephemeral mirage? Only the Judaic message can ever provide a reasoned and solid front against our enemies... and that requires that every Jew line up behind the Judaic message... and THAT requires that every Jew not be a hypocrite: begin doing the best you can to live according to Torah/Halakhah. THEN--and not before--we'll see the unification of the Name that will enable genuine victory, i.e., the Imprimatur of 'ה. Paqid Yirmeyahu Paqid 16, The Netzarim, Ra'anana, Israel Israeli Torah-reverer (& Orthodox Jew) Advocate for Logic as Hermeneutic Halakhic Authority Welcoming All Torah-reverers (Jews & non-Jews)