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Reuven Koret is the publisher of Israel Insider and the CEO of Koret Communications.
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By Reuven Koret
December 5, 2006
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The controversy du jour, initiated by the Education Minister of the Olmert government, of returning the "green line" to Israeli textbooks, showing the distinction of disputed Judea and Samaria from "Israel proper," should be seized on as a golden opportunity and an impetus for action to all those who hold the Jewish homeland dear.
Those green lines should be enshrined as potential borders for a new nation, not for Arabs but for Jews. There is a strong case to be made for preparing immediately to declare an independent Jewish state in the disputed territories -- call it, for the sake of simplicity and historical resonance, Judea -- especially in the contingency of a government that takes further steps to endanger the security of this homeland by further "disengaging" from the Biblical inheritance of our people and trying to expel its Jewish citizens from their homes.
If this is, after all, "disputed territory," then there should be no reason why Jews who are a legitimate party to this dispute cannot stake their claim to the right of self-determination as its just owners. This historical claim is something that is indisputable: Judea is the historical land of the Jews.
"Little Israel" in its 1949 borders, after all, is fast becoming a secular "state of its citizens" with a rising Arab percentage of the population. Its values are becoming secular, its Jewish character becoming diluted, its adherence to Zionist principles loosened. There are ever-growing calls from Arabs and leftists to de-Judaize the flag and the national anthem, and willingness of the current government to entertain an Arab plan that features a full-force "right of return" and which relies on foreign troops to defend its borders.
The idea of an independent Jewish state in Yesha has been raised in the past but now the time has never been more right. It seizes from our enemies the high ground of self-determination, especially since the leaders of the independence movement will inevitably be led by residents of Yesha, including, of course, Greater Jerusalem. They have seen what happened to the expelled citizens of Gush Katif and northern Samaria. They have seen what followed those expulsions and community destructions. They will not accept that as their fate.
The choice will soon be thrust by the united nations of the world upon the state of Israel: Abandon East Jerusalem, Hevron, Gush Ariel, Beit El, Shilo, Beit Lechem and Gush Etzion, etc., as well as the Golan Heights -- or else face boycotts and abandonment by the US, UK and EU.
It is not a coincidence that all nations have now removed their embassies from Jerusalem, and that even the western part of our capital is not recognized as ours by even the United States. The new wind blowing in Washington will try to sweep the Jews from Judea and Samaria, and the Golan Heights too. UN or NATO troops will replace the IDF in all these places. Anyone who cannot foresee the end-game is blind.
There's an excellent chance that the current Israeli Government will succumb to this pressure, and will eventually withdraw its armed forces from Yesha, as it did so ignominiously and foolishly from Jewish Gaza and northern Samaria in 2005. At that MOMENT of abandonment and retreat, Jewish patriots must have the leadership in place to declare a separate state, to call up a defense force and to consolidate the nation of Judea, with all that implies. This does not necessarily mean conquering Arab cities or expelling all Arabs beyond the Jordan, but rather carving out a viable and contiguous territory in which Jews can live securely on the inheritance bequeathed by our forefathers and foremothers, vouchsafed by the G-d of Israel for His People.
On that day, you can bet your Bible that there will be hundreds of thousands of Israeli and Jews, and believing Christians too, who will rise up to defend with their lives what the lily-livered Olmert and Peretz will not!
The residents of Yesha, about to be abandoned by the State of Israel, would have every right to declare their independence, to form militias to defend their homes and lives, and call for volunteers from Israel and the Diaspora to assist them in their struggle to defend the Jewish heartland.
And because the fledgling Judea will be a new entity, it will be independent, "irresponsible" and therefore free to act in ways that Israel cannot and will not. It will be a legal self-defense and self-determination movement where Jewish residents of the territories will be left with no choice but to fight for their homes and their lives. They will struggle for their independence against the Palestinians and their supporters. And if they succeed -- as they must -- the result will be a Jewish state in Judea living side-by-side with the democratic state in Israel which, one would hope and expect, will have neighborly, fraternal relations and a mutual defense treaty.
This idea has been developed by others but sometimes "timing is everything" -- it may well be that the time to resurrect Judea has finally come. Even those who are daunted by the less than successful precedent of the two kingdoms of Israel and Judea of more than two thousand years ago cannot ignore the reality that Yesha and Yerushalayim are at dire risk of being wrested from Israel by powerful multinational forces if not by the Jihadist hordes. Something must be done, and the idea of Judea can touch the national imagination and ignite energies that would otherwise be smothered under the suffocating reality of the current impotent and incompetent leadership in the face of a worsening global and regional situation.
Besides, a state of Judea would serve as a "spare" and a refuge in the hills, as it has in the past, for the residents of the coastal plain, should they come again under missile fire, perhaps of catastrophic proportions.
But this course of action -- declaring a new Jewish nation in Judea and Samaria -- may be a case of "ein breira" [no choice] and the most likely vehicle to succeed in navigating the bleak and treacherous landscape we face. What is the alternative? This is the alternative.
Those who are coming to this realization must come out of their private closets, lend their voices, risk imprisonment, and if necessary give their lives for this historic imperative. Now is the time to rise to the urgency of the hour, to adopt what the left is so eager to leave, and to prepare to declare an independent, free-to-act truly Jewish State.
One can only hope and pray that the State of Israel will come to its senses and stop the suicidal abandonment of its strategic heartland and its historical homeland. Whether by change of heart or change of leadership, it's not too late to stengthen rather than sever the geographical source of our identity and faith. But if not, there is a last resort: Liberate Judea now!
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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