There was a time when I did not understand the ambiguous policy of the government of Israel. Then, I also did not know much about the Jewish pioneering in Gaza, Judea and Samaria. I am a Jew living in the United States.
In 2004, as every year, I attended the Independence Day of Israel Festival, a yearly event in Los Angeles. There I was approached by a group of people clad in orange shirts who informed me about Gush Katif and the expulsion of its Jews and potential destruction.
I signed their petition, but in my mind I thought, the government of Israel simply cannot do such an evil deed; Jews simply do not expel other Jews from their homes and make them homeless overnight; these Jewish pioneers and patriots will remain where they are and the whole thing will blow over.
How wrong I was.
A year later, in August 2005, in spite of the petitions, demonstrations, the outcries and the political rhetoric, the Government of Israel sent the Israeli army to Gush Katif and in a massive operation, that remains an enigma to me, destroyed every single home and structure and forcibly expelled the 8,600 residents of Gush Katif.
As it turned out, this unilateral disengagement plan that Ariel Sharon, the Prime Minister at that time, convinced his government to support, was a total failure and it has set back and badly compromised Israel's security in the south of the country.
The videos that were filmed and published during the Gush Katif expulsion were horrendous and hard to watch. It was hard to believe that the Israeli military used such brutal tactics and showed such disregard for the properties and synagogues that had been built there. Flourishing and profitable communities vanished overnight, as if a tsunami had washed them all away. Gush Katif became rubble.
American philanthropists purchased productive and profitable greenhouses for the remaining Arabs, but instead of growing and harvesting, with state of the art equipment, which produced over one half of the fresh produce for Israel, they were trashed and destroyed down to every seed.
Did Israel gain anything positive from the disengagement, as Ariel Sharon promised she would? Yes [sic],thousands of rockets and mortars have been fired into Israel since, causing fear and chaos and even injuries and death. Yes, millions of dollars more were and are spent to fight the terrorist enclave Gaza and to keep the citizens of Israel safe.
The unilateral disengagement from Gaza was a total failure. More so, it forced me to use a repulsive new terminology, such as "Jewish Pogrom," Jews vandalizing other Jews, Jews expelling other Jews.
The anti-Semitic Spaniards, of the March 31, 1492 expulsions edict must have been laughing in their graves. We are now exonerated, they would have said if they were alive; if Jews can do it to other Jews, surely it is acceptable that non-Jews, who hate Jews, can do the same.
In 1967, in a brilliant and miraculous military operation that became part of the curriculum of warfare studies in military schools, Israel gained territories she lost in her 1948 War of Independence against five Arab nations, i.e. Gaza Strip was regained from Egyptian control, Judea and Samaria were regained from Jordanian control, and some land on the Golan Heights was gained from Syrian control. Israel became a country from the[Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea, as God promised.
Gush Katif, meaning, Harvest Bloc,was a bloc of seventeen Israeli communities in the Gaza Strip in southern Israel. Late Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin emphasized the fact that Gush Katif was essential to Israel's security border. Ariel Sharon did not care what Rabin said; he had his agenda and he was going to force it on the nation through lies and deception.
Gush Katif was not the only place Jews settled after the 1976 Six Day War victory.
With the stamp of approval from the Government of Israel, Jews began settling in their ancient lands in Judea and Samaria as well. However instead of making this land a natural part of Israel's sovereignty, Israel chose to exclude it and maintained the territory under military control and law. In other words, no matter that Judea and Samaria is vitallyy important territory for Israel's security, it could fall victim to another unilateral disengagement, as Gush Katif did.
Today, forty-five years after the Six Day War, there are approximately 350,000 Jews living in Judea and Samaria.That means that should such expulsion take place, it will be approximately 35times the size of Gush Katif expulsion. Who can tolerate that? I cannot!
To add more fuel to the fire, in 1993, in the Oslo Accords, the government of Israel came up with a new, not at all smart, idea: to give the Arabs land, in Judea and Samaria, to establish their own country Palestine. Israel also conceded to their newly acclaimed name "Palestinians," thus giving birth to a new Arab nation that never existed before.
Through the Arabs consider all of the state of Israel to be"their" Palestine, Israel thought that by conceding to the Arab state idea, the Arabs would get off their goal to conquer all of Israel's land, expel[or kill] all Jews and bring to an end the Zionist enterprise. How wrong in her thinking was Israel again.
Learning the lessons from Gush Katif, seeing how the Supreme Court, the Defense Ministry and even the Prime Minister's office act when it comes to Jews living in Judea and Samaria - one can only predict, with trepidation, that more government wickedness is being prepared for their constituent Jews. Precaution is therefore necessary.
The government of Israel set a bad precedent and created a new dark history, by approving and then destroying communities in Judea and Samaria. To mention one is the notorious and violent expulsion of Jews from Amona, a community that was once part of Mateh Binyamin.
The Amona pogrom פוגרום עמונה- :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMtltu16pGk
פינוי עמונה - Amona Pogrom: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mx1xY0KmRsg
Harsh realism made me understand that surprises may come and soon.
The expulsion from Gush Katif was a shock to the nation, more so, a shock to me. A repeat of such action is unacceptable.
With the clear view that the policy of the Israeli Defense Ministry is bias toward Jews living in Judea and Samaria, I see the much spoken about case of the community of Migron a time bomb, ready to explode.
Migron, founded in 1999 in Samaria-Shomron, with full approval and support of the government of Israel, is a community of 50 families with over 300 Jewish souls, and is now in danger of destruction.
The anti-Israel, pro-Arab-"Palestinians" organization Peace Now searched and found some Arabs who can come forward to claim that they owned the land, withabsolutely no proof. Peace Now then went to the High Court of Israel and made the claim to the land on behalf of the Arabs. The court then ordered the community of Migron to be evacuated on the 1st August 2012.
Early in April 2012, a friend from Australia, who was greatly involved in petitioning against the destruction and evacuation of Gush Katif, asked me to be part of a global petition to save Migron.
Reading reliable legal opinion that Migron has the full legal right to remain where it is, I did what any good Jew would do, I said yes, and got involved in the petition campaign to save Migron. Because, the battle for Migron is so important, as the fate of Migorn is the harbinger of the fate of the 350,000 Jews living in Yehuda and Shomron-Judea and Samaria.
In 1967 Israel did not conquer any land. It gained land that legally belongs to Israel, which the Arabs illegally occupied since 1949 when the fledgling Israeli army could not defend it from the Arabs' onslaught. (The Jewish People's Rights To The Land Of Israel -http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0065WZM14)
It is time to end the two state policy; there is no room for another Arab state in Judea and Samaria;
It is time to end any and all destructions of Jewish communities, even if considered an"outpost";
It is time to annex the entire Judea and Samaria and admit, to ourselves first, that the land from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea is legally Jewish Land;
It is time to open the economic gate and offer huge incentives to settle every possible square kilometer of Judea and Samaria; build and build our ancient Jewish land;
It is time to reverse the Supreme Court order and allow Migron to remain and thrive on the precise land where it wasf ounded and where it stands now;
It is time for the government of Israel to become the people of the Torah;
It is time to end any and all Jews against Jews acts; Jews do not demolish other Jews' homes. Jews do not uproot one Jewish tree; Jews do not destroy one Jewish home, even if it is a caravan, in which Jews dwell. Jews do not destroy Jewish synagogues. Please join us, Friends of Migron International, in the campaign to save Migron now.
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The link for the petition in English: http://www.yeshuv.org/mission/save-migron
The link for thepetition in Hebrewהעתירה בעברית-: http://www.yeshuv.org/mission/save-migron/hebrew