Amona clash
Photo: Gil Yohanan
Say no to violence
Rabbi Yoel Ben-Nun says violent struggle may put end to entire settlement enterprise
The outposts have become a major international issue, along with the whole settlement enterprise in Judea and Samaria, with the new US Administration deciding to put an end to the deception policy led by PM Ariel Sharon. The US is now seeking to collect the debts he left in his wake: The removal of outposts and a freeze on settlement construction in the framework of the “Road Map” for the establishment of (yet another!) Palestinian state.
Should the American security plan succeed, the Israeli government will be required to halt the settlement enterprise in exchange. The Americans are pressing both sides. Therefore, as noted, only Hamas and its supporters can spoil the American plan as they did in the past.
Those who thought that we can obligate but not deliver, while winking in all directions, have been proven false. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not feel, and rightfully so, bound by the pledges made by his predecessor. However, he is chained to the Road Map, which a rightist Israeli government committed to. It would be very difficult for him to lead Israel to the direction he would have wanted to see – reverting to some version of the historic “Allon Plan” vis-à-vis the Jordanians – after we, the Judea and Samaria settlers, ripped it apart with Yitzhak Shamir as prime minister, pushed Jordan out of the picture, and were left with the Palestinians on our own.
The new American determination can only be spoiled by Hamas and its supports, Syria and Iran, should they decide to act resolutely. The arena for the struggle is currently in Qalqiliya and Tulkarem, where the US-trained Abbas forces are operating. The clashes there already led to casualties on both sides, and they pledge to continue with a determined struggle.
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'Outpost zealots'
This is where our “outpost zealots” get into the picture. They already embarked on an all-out campaign against the “Ehud Barak-Barack Obama axis." And again we are hearing their battle cries, as if every outpost is at the frontlines of the entire settlement enterprise, and as if evacuating the outposts will lead to a slippery slope, culminating with the loss of Jerusalem and Temple Mount.However, we would do well to remember that we have lost every head-on confrontation against any Israeli government - From Yamit to Gush Katif and from Hawara to Amona, including the disputed Jewish Home in Hebron. All these struggles gravely hurt our youths and pushed some of them into rejecting the State. All these struggles brought no benefits.
The gravest thing that may cause the collapse of the entire settlement enterprise is precisely this struggle. According to the American logic, and part of the radical Israeli Left that explicitly supports him, there is a clear advantage in a life and death battle between the "outpost zealots" and the IDF and Israeli police, just like what we saw on the Palestinian side. Some members of the radical Left are still waiting for a second Altalena, and they know why. Following the Altalena incident, the Irgun's and the Right's power was eliminated for many years, with the wounds of hatred and separation still not fully healed to this day.
If, heaven forbid, people will be killed during the outpost battles, and it doesn't matter at all who opens fire and who gets killed, the struggle for the Judea and Samaria settlements and their inclusion in the future borders of an Israeli state will end once and for oall. The majority of Israelis will turn their backs on the settlements, the Palestinians will celebrate, and the Israeli government will enter the dark "Road Map" tunnel. Meanwhile, the people of Israel will also be paying the security price they are unwilling to pay at this time, as happened in the wake of the uprooting of Gush Katif. In American eyes, it will be prove a historical need, as part of the bloody struggle against "radicals on both sides."
People will almost necessarily be killed, based on the way in which Yesha rabbis are currently leading their students at the outpost. Every day that goes by without anyone dying in this struggle is a miracle. In the Kfar Maimon protest ahead of disengagement, Rabbi Avraham Shapira (may he rest in peace) and the rightist leadership, headed by Effie Eitam, prevented a bloody clash with police, thereby earning the great contempt of the zealots. Today, there is no longer a public leadership that can prevent it. Only the Yesha rabbis can do it, and it is their responsibility.
If we do not see a clear and decisive ruling by Yesha rabbis, including Rabbi Lior and Rabbi Levinger, that the Torah forbids violence against police, soldiers, and Palestinians as well, only a miracle will save the entire settlement enterprise. The time for this is now, before someone is killed, heaven forbid.
Question of Authority
Don't say "we didn't imagine it would happen" and don't say there were no warnings. Here is a warning right here. Your students currently understand that they have the green light to resort to any means in this struggle, against the backdrop of the determined American effort that we have no way of stopping at this time. Only the Israeli government has the moral and political authority to conduct this campaign.It is precisely according to Jewish Law that no person or group have the authority to act on behalf of "all of Israel," and this includes the Yesha rabbis as well. And you, the so-called "moderates," who are standing on the sidelines and waiting to see whether the zealots will win the outpost struggle – we'll cheer them on and realize that "only a determined struggle has a chance in our cruel world." Yet if, heaven forbid, they fail, we'll roll our eyes and say that they do not represent most settlers. Yet this trick won't help at all if we see people killed, heaven forbid. It also doesn’t matter who would be at fault, and what the subsequent commission of inquiry will decide.
The anxiety and the growing despair give rise to the most terrible acts. The gravest danger to the settlement enterprise at this time comes from within it, because the Land of Israel can only be built through the people's strength, as we all learned from Rabbi Kook.
In the War of Independence, the people of Israel were divided among different organizations, and the Land of Israel and Jerusalem were given to us divided. Only the rare national unity of the Six-Day War brought us the great privilege and great opportunity of the Land of Israel and Jerusalem. We already undertook many nationally divisive acts. Only Palestinian recklessness averted the loss of the land and of the united Jerusalem thus far. We must not lend our hand to dividing the nation.
