They Got It All Wrong

Musings #47
April 28, 2004

They Got It All Wrong

I was listening to the news this morning, the morning after Yom HaAtzmaut, Israeli Independence Day 56. One of the top stories was the hundred thousand, or more, visitors to Gush Katif. According to the news editor, they were there to support the “settlers.” They got it all wrong, and I’m not referring to the term “settler.”

This struggle is not a personal one; it’s not about people. Even Moetzet Yesha (The Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip) has it wrong. It’s not about the residents, “brothers,” family etc. We’re fighting for our Land, the Land G-d gave us, the Land G-d told Abram he’d show him, the Land Joshua conquered and David unified and ruled.

People are temporary, even if we live to a hundred and twenty, we only have a short, limited role in this world. Our Land is eternal, and our People, the Jewish People are eternal, like the stars in the sky.

The wonderful Jews living in the various communities, now called “Gush Katif,” are following a great tradition. Just like the Zionist pioneers who, under the most difficult conditions, established the early kibbutzim, moshavim and what are today vibrant cities in Israel, the Jews in Gush Katif and the rest of Yesha see all of Eretz Yisrael as our Homeland.

You most probably have heard the saying: “You can’t be just a little bit pregnant.” In this case, once people began to say that some parts of Eretz Yisrael should be “juden rein,” then the principle that we have an eternal, G-d given, right to be here is under attack. The basic legitimacy of the state is questioned, then denied. If one accepts that we have no right to live near Gaza, or in Hebron, the hilltops of the Shomron or Shiloh, then we have no right to live in Haifa, Beer Sheva and Tel Aviv.

It’s inconceivable to us that the same people who idealize those who settled the foundation of the State of Israel condemn the Jews in Gush Katif, Judea and Samaria. And it’s pitiful and dangerous that today there are Israelis who claim “moral” problems with the establishment and existence of our state.

Either we have a right to live in all of Eretz Yisrael, or not an inch of it. Our struggle against Ariel Sharon’s plan to destroy Jewish communities is not about “settlers.” It’s about our G-d-given right to be here in Eretz Yisrael. If the farmers of Gush Katif have no rights to their fields, then the Prime Minister has no right to his Negev farm.

“…u’faratzta yama, v’kedma, tzafona, v’negba…”
“…and you will spread out to the west, and to the east and to the north, and to the south…” Bereishit, (Genesis XXVIII, 14)

Batya Medad, Shiloh
http://www.shilo.org.il