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Paula R. Stern is the Founder and Documentation Manager of , a technical writing company. More of her articles can be found on her .
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By Paula R. Stern
April 8, 2004
For my bat mitzvah, my parents bought me Menachem Begin's book, The Revolt. Almost from the first line, I was enthralled. He wrote of "this simple truth: that there are things more precious than life, and more horrible than death." I became a fervent believer. "Faith," wrote Begin, "is perhaps stronger than reality; faith itself creates reality."
When I moved to Israel more than a decade ago, I researched each party, each leader, each position and as each election rolled around, I decided which party I believed would best serve the future of my newly-adopted, but always-loved country. The reality was that Israel was then, as it has always been, a nation at war. But I had faith that we would create a reality in which my children could live in peace.
I voted for a few different parties along the way, but finally settled on joining the Likud. It was the party of Menachem Begin. "If we learn and remember," he promised, "we shall overcome all our enemies."
While I differed with some theological statements or policy decisions of the modern Likud leaders, I believed that from the inside, I and others of similar beliefs could help shape the party. I watched Likud rise to the top, fall and rise again and each time was convinced that somehow Israel would, in the end, choose the right path.
Now, I am facing the end of my Likud membership with a sense of melancholy and sadness. Very soon the day will come that I can no longer continue to be a member because I cannot support a party that will, under fire and pressure, ignore the basic realities of the area in which we live.
The day that Sharon pushes his disengagement plan through, I will quit the Likud party because it will be a signal that they no longer serve the most important principle of our society, survival as a Jewish state in the Jewish land of Israel. "There are things more precious than life, and more horrible than death."
When Peres and Rabin, Barak and Beilin begged the Palestinians for a temporary cease-fire, just a few days of quiet, Sharon put forth to the world a strong policy. We will not negotiate under fire, announced the Bull Dozer. We will not negotiate while terrorists continue to target our buses, our cafes, our children, said Sharon, and then he proceeded to do exactly that.
The Barak appeasement plan of Camp David was nothing short of a renunciation of our rights to secure borders. We will not start where Barak left off, announced Sharon, and then proceeded to do even worse. Sharon would withdraw under fire, transfer one population without any concessions, uproot the lives and efforts of generations of Israelis, while receiving absolutely nothing in return. He will not achieve peace, nor security and he knows this. Despite this monumental sacrifice, the Palestinians will continue their campaign of terror. How do we know this? We have only to listen to the Palestinians themselves.
Will we have to withdraw from Gaza eventually? Do we have an historic right, a moral obligation to stay there? This isn't the issue at a time when the Chief of Police has to instruct all licensed gun owners to carry weapons with the hope that someone, somewhere, will spot one of the terrorists that are believed, at this very moment, to be trying to find some hole to crawl through. There are sixty terror warnings of impending attacks. Friday night, a father of six was murdered while trying to defend his family. The last suicide bomber attacked less than a month ago.
This is not the time to withdraw, not the time to reward terrorists for murdering our people. To give them what they want while receiving nothing in return is to tell them that their methods are successful. We will give them Gaza. If they wish to "liberate" Judea and Samaria, they have but to try harder, use more explosives and mortars and guns. And, when they have achieved their goals here, if they wish to "reclaim" Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Hadera and Netanya, they have but to continue.
Appeasement did not work in 1939 and six million of our people died. Today, there are almost six million more whose lives will be at risk if Sharon, like Chamberlain before him, believes that surrendering to arch terrorists will stem the flow of hatred and murder.
The Palestinian leadership must understand. There is one road, and only one road to a future Palestinian entity and that road is NOT through suicide bombings, but negotiation. They will not write their history with our blood, nor will they achieve victory through murder. Until there is an absolute cessation of violence, there can be no discussion of exchanging land.
And so, on the day Sharon pushes his policy of appeasement and withdrawal through, I too will withdraw. With regret for the Likud party and what it has become, and with sadness that the man Sharon was, is no more, I will leave the party of Menachem Begin. I will resign from the Likud so that my voice will not lend credence to rewarding the murderers of children. As I try to find another party, I will believe that "faith itself creates reality" and that another leader will arise from amongst us to stand strong and guide Israel to peace.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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