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Nadia Matar is co-chairwoman of , a grassroots women's movement dedicated to the security and Jewish heritage of historic Israel.
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By Nadia Matar
February 8, 2004
The scenario: Jean-Marie Le Pen, the fascist leader in France, takes power and becomes the French Prime Minister. The following day he announces a list of steps that his government will take, in order to limit the numerous expenditures in the state budget. These decisions include the prohibition of further Jewish residence in Paris. Le Pen explains: "In light of the many attacks against Parisian Jews, a considerable portion of our budget is wasted on the security of those Jews, everywhere in Paris. We must invest the money in other places, that are of greater importance to all Frenchmen, such as education, welfare, health, and the like. I have therefore decided to 'relocate' the Jews of Paris to small and remote villages, and even to persuade them to leave France. From today on, Jews will no longer live in or visit Paris."
An imaginary scenario? Until a few days ago - yes. But Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's statements for the uprooting of Jews from Gush Katif and for making the region Judenrein (clean of Jews) make this scenario extremely realistic. In response to all those who would rise up against Jean-Marie Le Pen in our scenario and accuse him of anti- Semitism, Le-Pen could argue, and justifiably so: "If a Jewish Prime Minister can uproot Jews from the Land of Israel, the birthright of the Jews - how much more can a non-Jewish Prime Minister uproot Jews from their homes in France, a place to which Jews have no historical connection."
And, really, who would have believed that, of all people, Ariel Sharon, the hero of Unit 101, would want to fulfill the anti-Semitic dreams of the PLO, the Hamas, and the Islamic Jihad: the uprooting of Jews from their homes, the destruction of Jewish settlements, and the handing over of portions of the homeland to the enemy? To our amazement and shame, Ariel Sharon has thereby become the operational arm of these terrorist organizations.
Our response to the Sharon plan is simple: This shall never come to pass! We have the power to prevent the imposition of the evil decree. First of all, since Ariel Sharon has become the most dangerous person for the Jewish people in Israel and the Diaspora, we must act so that Ariel Sharon will be deposed from his post of Prime Minister. Sharon must be transferred - sorry, "relocated" - from his office, to retirement on his Shikmim farm. In this manner we shall demonstrate, once again, that any prime minister who is ready to betray Eretz Israel and hand it over to the enemy, will be sent home in disgrace.
Secondly, even if we do not succeed in deposing him, it will still be possible to easily prevent the realization of the transfer. How? By upsetting Sharon's plans. Sharon and the rest of those who champion transfer for Jews begin from the assumption that the same scenario as in Yamit will play out in Gush Katif: that most of the residents will accept their fate, consent to receive compensation, and evacuate willingly. [In Yamit, 99% of the actual residents agreed to receive compensations and left quietly. The struggle we all saw on tv was fought by a couple of thousands of activist outsiders who had come to protest the uprooting by living there for a few months and staying till the bitter end]. Sharon expects that the same will happen in the Gaza Strip, that most families will leave quietly and only a hardcore of "ideologues" will remain. Them he will treat harshly. In this manner, and only in this manner, will Sharon be able to uproot the settlements.
But what if the scenario on which Sharon builds will not be realized? What if the decisive majority of the inhabitants of Gush Katif were to declare: This shall never come to pass! Under no circumstances will we budge. Eretz Israel belongs to the people of Israel throughout all the generations. No Jew is entitled to hand over a single bit of the land of Eretz Israel to foreigners, because Eretz Israel belongs to the generations of the past, present, and future. Not even a majority in the government or in the Knesset, not even a referendum, can make the handing over of portions of Eretz Israel legal or moral.
Accordingly, even if, Heaven forbid, the government or the Knesset were to betray the homeland, we shall not accept this. It is well-known that there are immoral government decisions that a citizen must oppose, even if they enjoy a majority in the government and in the Knesset. Just as, for example, we would not obey a decision by the government and the Knesset forcing us to eat pork, so, too, we shall not obey the decision to uproot us from Eretz Israel. We shall say "No!" to compensation, we shall say "No!" to enticements, and we shall declare: "Our home is here, we are raising a third generation of children here and we are staying." If the inhabitants of Yamit had acted in accordance with this scenario, Yamit would probably still stand today - growing and flourishing.
For what will Ariel Sharon, or any other government, do in such a situation? The deportation of thousands of families, men, women and children, simply could not be realized. Thousands of police officers and soldiers had to come for the uprooting of the Gilad Farm, inhabited by 2 families and hundreds of supporters. Even if Ariel Sharon were to mobilize the entire army and all the police, he would not succeed in his mission of destruction of the thousands of Gush Katif residents and the tens of thousands of their supporters. We must therefore understand that, with God's help, we have the power to stop Sharon's contemptible plan - whether by dethroning him, or whether by taking a firm and uncompromising stand that will upset all of Sharon's schemes.
We must initiate an informational offensive (which is what the leaders of the national camp, both in and outside the Knesset, should have done long ago) that will remind the public that we are in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza by right, and not on sufferance. The state media sows disinformation as if there is no historic Jewish connection to Gaza. The time has come to shatter these lies and to explain to the public that we must stay in Gaza , not only for security reasons -anybody with common sense understands that withdrawing from Gaza would turn the area into a haven for terrorists who would threaten the entire south of Israel- but mainly because Gaza is part of Biblical Israel.
Gaza and its surrounding areas were included in the portion of the tribe of Judah. The first settlement in Gaza was initiated by Johanan the Hasmonean, who conquered the city, and by Simeon the Hasmonean who settled Jews there. During the Bar Kochba rebellion, the Jews of Gaza also participated in the war against the Romans. Consequently, when the Roman commander Titus set out to repress the uprising, he was forced to first go to Gaza and put down the revolt there. This was because Gaza was "the key to Eretz Israel," since it is situated on the crossroads between Egypt and central Eretz Israel, and is also on the coastline. Following a Roman victory, a large slave fair was held in Gaza in which Bar Kochba's soldiers were sold to merchants from the various lands who came to rejoice at the downfall of Israel.
During the long years of the Exile, the Jews returned and settled in the holy cities of Israel, including Gaza. For a long period of time there were only three centers of Jewish settlement in Eretz Israel: in Jerusalem, in Tiberias, and in Gaza. It should be recalled that R. Israel Najara (the author of the Sabbath song Y-ah Ribon Olam) was the rabbi of the city of Gaza in the sixteenth century; and R. Abraham Azulai, the grandfather of the Hida (R. Hayyim Joseph David Azulai), wrote his holy book Hesed le-Avraham in Gaza.
The Jews of Gaza were forced to leave when Napoleon's army passed through the city in 1799, but they would later return and rebuild. The Jewish community in Gaza was destroyed during the British bombardment in 1917, but it was subsequently rebuilt. When the Arabs threatened to massacre the Jews of Gaza during the pogroms of 1929, the British compelled the Jews to leave. In 1946, however, the Jews returned and established Kfar Darom, that existed until 1948, when Egypt conquered the region.
In short, our connection to the Gaza region is much deeper than our ties to Tel Aviv or to Ramat Hasharon. A prime minister who is willing to relinquish the Gaza District will eventually surrender Jerusalem, as well. The struggle for the Gaza District is therefore the struggle for the continued existence of the State of Israel. We have the ability to stand firm against those who arise to destroy us - the enemies from within and without - and, with the help of God, we shall prevail.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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