By Paula R. Stern
August 19, 2005
Months ago, a friend told me he had nothing in common with Jews who lived in settlements such as Beit Haggai, Kiryat Arba, and the Gaza Strip. He was looking forward to the implementation of Sharon's plan because it would bring an end to Israel's occupation, he said, and make us like other nations. He also told me that he was convinced, despite all that I said, that the disengagement plan would end in civil war characterized by horrible, bloody scenes, armed battles and many casualties.
He thought I was naïve when I said it wouldn't happen. Can the right arm kill the left one? I asked him. Can the left side of the heart beat if the right side stops? I tried over and over again to explain why a referendum would have saved so much pain and suffering, why those of us who were so against this expulsion plan needed the referendum as a reaffirmation of Israel's democracy after it was so betrayed and defiled by the likes of our prime minister.
It took the protest rallies at Netivot and Kfar Maimon to convince my friend that there would be no violence and, conversely, he then became sure that there would actually be a Gaza pullout. At the same time, after listening to the people who spoke, the greatest rabbis of our generation, our political leaders and finally, after watching the amazing dedication and love among the tens of thousands of youth, I was sure it wouldn't happen, that it couldn't happen.
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I have nothing in common with pro-disengagement Israelis who can smile and be cheerful at a time when so many suffer. I do not understand a nation that would unilaterally weaken itself for absolutely nothing.
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I was wrong, of course. Sharon, the master planner, the consummate strategist, the bulldozer, managed to expel and destroy Gaza's Jewish communities just as he managed to thwart our democracy, twist and manipulate votes, betray all that he stood for, and decimate what was Israel's strongest political party.
Given the anger I feel towards our so-called leader after watching what Sharon's plan has done to soldiers and settlers alike for two days now, it is rather strange to find myself in complete agreement with the prime minister. He is correct, he is fully to blame.
Not the soldiers, who acted with as much restraint and love as possible. Not the rabbis and settler leaders, who mediated and calmed the situation as much as possible. Not the settlers who were forced from their homes with little or no real and concrete plans for where they would go, what they would do and yet managed to leave with dignity and honor. And certainly, not the supporters who tried in every way possible to legitimately protest against Sharon's plan.
I fear for the country that has come out of this plan because for the first time, I agree with my friend. I too have nothing in common with pro-disengagement Israelis who can smile and be cheerful at a time when so many suffer. I do not understand a nation that would unilaterally weaken itself for absolutely nothing.
As long as I live, I will never forget the words of one teenage boy, the last of his family left in the house. Sobbing as soldiers took his parents out of the house, he said "Can I ask one thing?" A soldier leaned towards him as the boy continued, "Please, please just kill me. Please kill me." The soldier put his arm around him and quietly said, "Come, we'll go out together. Come."
I will never, ever forget the scene of hundreds of Jewish soldiers breaking the doors of a Jewish synagogue and pulling Jews out. Palestinian gunmen, murderers and terrorists were given weeks inside a church, but unarmed Jewish teenagers were bodily dragged from a synagogue.
Will the scene of broken children leaving, for the last time, the home decorated by their mother, who was murdered in a terrorist attack, ever fade in my mind? Or the sight of so many begging someone to tell them what they did to deserve such a fate. Or the naïve and gentle boy quietly asking a soldier to please ask Ariel Sharon to just send him a short note explaining why he was being taken from his home.
Never will I forget the scenes of rabbis tearing their clothes in mourning, of a young soldier sobbing in a quiet corner after she had just loaded someone on a bus. Or the man carrying his grandfather's menorah, that he'd brought from Germany, being expelled from his home. Or the image of a family sobbing as they watched their house burn and collapse. Or the times soldier hugged settler, both with tears in their eyes. Or the distraught man ripping the Israeli flag to pieces, and then hugging an Israeli soldier.
Or Bentzi Lieberman telling Police Chief Bar-Lev that the youth, "among the finest in the land" couldn't come out of the synagogue in Neve Dekalim. "They just cannot leave," he explained, "they are pained and broken and are unable to just walk out." Each time I think I have finished crying, I see another heart-breaking scene.
I have sung "Our Brothers" many times. It is a beautiful song of dedication and promise. Very short, it simply says:
If any of our brothers, members of the house of Israel,
find themselves in trouble or in captivity,
whether they are at sea or on dry land,
may God take pity on them and deliver them
from their trouble to safety, from darkness to light,
from captivity to freedom, swiftly!
I have sung it for the Jews of the Soviet Union and Ethiopia, even with the Jews of France in mind. I never thought it would be sung for Jews here in our own land, and for this, I will blame Ariel Sharon.
Israel shed a river of tears today, and for this too, Ariel Sharon is to blame. And finally, as four more mortars were shot at Israel today, as more calls for revenge come from many Palestinians, as Palestinians leaders kindly remind us that our withdrawal really is not much of a concession anyway, and as the entire Arab world celebrates our perceived weakness in the face of terrorism, I thank Ariel Sharon for finally, if a little late, realizing that he truly is the one to blame.
And, as hundreds of thousands of Israelis requested in the last few days, Sharon, please just go home -- and be thankful that you have a home tonight, unlike 9000 Jews, most of whom supported you, voted for you, believed in you and have been betrayed by you.
May you be forever haunted by the damage you have done today, by the knowledge that no Jew has ever done what you did today. No Jew ... ever, in all of our history.
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