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Aryeh Eldad is a Member of Knesset from the National Union party.
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By Aryeh Eldad
November 13, 2004
Sharon has already decided to relinquish East Jerusalem, and Olmert is aiding him. The Zionist Organization established the Jewish National Fund as an instrument for the redemption of the land and its transformation into national land. Jews were called upon to donate to this Fund, also by means of the blue-and-white boxes with the map of Eretz Israel emblazoned on them, that were distributed throughout the world. Generations of tots sang "This is our box, the redemption of our soil."
But in the last generation the box has become a collector's item, the map of Eretz Israel has been expunged from our hearts and from political programs; the concept of redemption has become a disgraceful term that the Prime Minister includes in the definition of "messianism" when he seeks to disengage from the bearers of the flag that only yesterday he marched under.
The Zionist movement, from the time of Ussishkin and Hankin, the redeemers of the lands of the Jezreel Valley, to that of Moshe Zar, the redeemer of the lands of Samaria, and Irving Moskowitz, the redeemer of the lands of Jerusalem, knew that it was right to purchase lands from Arabs. They paid the full price, and at times even for double and triple what the land was worth. They made this land available to Jewish settlers. Now, right before our very eyes, this trend is being reversed.
A number of months ago the Hebrew University sold 91 dunams [about 23 acres] in the Beit Hanina neighborhood of Jerusalem to a Palestinian bank. This is a plot of land that a Jewish family of German immigrants donated to the University 70 years ago, and now the need arose to make use of it as the solution to financial distress. The University first offered to sell the plot to the Israel Lands Administration. The ILA declined, and Irving Moskowitz's representative entered the picture. But even though the price that he offered was higher than that of the Palestinian bank, the land passed into Arab hands.
I directed a Knesset query on this matter to Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is also responsible for the Israel Lands Administration, and who responded after three months: "The Israel Lands Administration decided to reject the offer to purchase lands, because the land is situated in a settled area within the bounds of the city of Jerusalem, its realization would have required construction for the citizens of the State of Israel. The purchase of the lands in these circumstances would have been done for the purpose of marketing by tender to that [i.e., Arab] population."
Of what concern to him is redemption? Of what concern to him is national land? A donation of land in Jerusalem became commercial property for the Hebrew University, and the person charged with responsibility for the national lands declares that he would sell the land to Arabs if he had purchased it - and therefore it did not matter whether the University sold it, or the ILA. The Jewish National Fund had an inviolable principle, not to sell national lands in perpetuity, not even to Jews! Those entrusted with responsibility for the national land give lip service to the strengthening of [Jewish] settlement in Galilee, in the Negev, and in Jerusalem, and abandon land that is already Jewish owned. With the money of the oil states, the Arabs are establishing an Ishmaelite National Fund, to buy lands from Jews. And the guard? Has he fallen asleep? No, he simply collaborates and sells, brazenly.
Sharon has already decided to relinquish East Jerusalem, and Olmert is merely his faithful agent. They are so occupied in denouncing "messianism" that these two have turned themselves into the obedient beasts of burden of the Israeli left and of Arab national aspirations. Also in Jerusalem. Whoever deceives himself that the disengagement will stop at the fences of the Gaza District and northern Samaria should look closely at the actions of the Prime Minister and his Vice Prime Minister, also in Jerusalem, and he will understand: they are selling Israel. In perpetuity.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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