Disengagement Can Work!

Gary Cooperberg
May 25, 2005

I remember a few years ago, when the so called “intifada” was in full swing. It was about this time of year when any time I would drive my car to or from Jerusalem I could expect to have to duck flying stones. Then there was a period of time when rocks were no longer in fashion, and bullets were directed at passenger cars. At that time I left my car at home and took the bullet proof bus whenever we went to Jerusalem. Now it seems all of that is behind us. For the last year or two I did not experience even an attempt to throw a rock at my car. I was even thinking about getting a new car and being able to keep the glass windows!

Then, on Sunday, as I was taking my family on an excursion, driving peacefully down the road, there was a loud smash against the window. It seems that a young “liberator of Palestine” decided to renew the successful efforts to wrest Israel from the Jews. Had we not installed the rock proof windows in our car my dear wife would, G-d forbid, have either been seriously injured or murdered by that rock. . . for the crime of being a Jew living in Israel. Make no mistake. That Arab youth had every intention to murder for the cause of “Palestine”.

When a dog barks at you, if you run away he will chase you and bite you. If you stand your ground and pick up a rock or a stick then the dog will run away. When Arabs see the mighty IDF turning tail and running from them, like a dog they move in for the kill.

I agree with our Prime Minister that we have no choice but to disengage ourselves from the Arabs. They will never accept the concept of living with a Jewish Israel of any size. There are only two possible ways to disengage. The one which Sharon has chosen is to abandon our homeland. Clearly if we leave then terror will no longer have a purpose. His program is one which effectively declares that Zionism has failed and we must now undo everything and return to the Exile.

The other choice is to disengage by removing our enemies from our midst. The concept of an Israeli Arab is an oxymoron. And those Jews who insist upon living with our enemies are simply morons. There was a slogan many years ago saying “Give Peace a Chance”. Well we gave “peace” too many chances. All of them failed miserably and far too many Jews and Arabs have been killed as a result. Ignoring problems or trying to run away from them will never solve the problem. Every honest Jew knows that the Arabs do not want to live in peace with us. They want us out of what they feel is their land. Even Sharon knows what will happen to the cemeteries in Katif should we abandon them. Only a hypocrite, a liar, or a complete fool would suggest that running away from an enemy will have positive results.

He who says “we have no need to stay in Gaza” is also a liar. What he really means is that we have no need for so many Arabs. But he is afraid to be so blunt, and he really feels that it would be easier to uproot Jews rather than uproot Arabs. Running away always seems to be the easiest solution to a problem. But, in the long run, as all cowards eventually discover, it only makes the problem worse. First of all it encourages our enemies to continue their efforts to destroy us. Secondly it sets the precedent for us to abandon more of our country to Arabs who have succeeded in over populating them, such as in Shechem and the Wadi Ara triangle and much of the north of our country, not to mention East Jerusalem. Were we to take Sharon’s method to its logical conclusion we would, step by step, physically turn over our country to the Arabs until we would be small enough and weak enough for them to take the rest away by force.

There are only two choices. Either we remove all the Arabs from our country, or we just pack up and leave. To pretend that we can surrender just a little and continue to live with our enemies is pure self deception and will result in much needless bloodshed.