Judging by the voluminous media reports concerning Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's "disengagement plan", which would uproot Jews from their homes in Gaza and other areas of the Jewish homeland, the core of the problem is whether or not such action will bring Israel closer to peace with our Arab enemies. This searing debate has served to polarize Israeli society to the degree that the specter of civil war, G-d forbid, hovers ominously in the air.



Moreover, the question of whether or not IDF soldiers should disobey orders to dismantle settlements has elicited diversified rabbinic responses, further adding to the widening rift, even among the religiously observant.



As one who believes that that the entire Land of Israel was given by G-d to the Jewish people, I have long been opposed to any concessions to chief PLO terrorist Yasser Arafat and his murderous henchmen. Fully cognizant that the climate today for those who speak out and warn against the danger of disengagement has become increasingly precarious under the Sharon administration, it is nevertheless incumbent upon all who love Eretz Yisrael to continue to raise our voices and cry out against the obscenity of Jews being 'transferred' by a Jewish government to reward Arab terrorists with Jewish land (even after experiencing beatings at the hands of Jewish police at peaceful demonstrations against the Oslo Accords).



The heart of the problem confronting Israelis is not whether the Sharon government or any other government has the right to decide what is best for its citizens by imposing their will on the people of Israel. The true core of the conflict lies in the long-festering, unresolved issue of which law, Torah or secular, should govern a Jewish State.



Thus, in the democratic, secular State of Israel, Justice Minister Tommy Lapid warns rabbis who call for Jewish soldiers to disobey orders to evacuate settlements in accordance with Torah law, saying they will be prosecuted. Thus, in the democratic, secular State of Israel, a devoted lover of Zion, Nadia Matar, who sent a letter to Yonatan Bassi calling upon him not to participate in the "disengagement", is subjected to a criminal investigation. Thus, in the democratic, secular State of Israel, thousands of courageous, dedicated Jews who follow the Zionist dream of building the Land of Israel, who, in an uncommon display of self-sacrifice, willingly endure the hardships of living in mobile homes on hilltops, are branded "outlaws", as their government sends in troops to destroy their makeshift synagogues and houses.



Not for this were countless generations of the Jewish people reciting the "Shema Yisrael" prayer with their last breath, sacrificed in pogroms, crusades, Inquisitions and the Final Solution of the unspeakable Holocaust.



Indeed, if Jewish law is trampled and those who remain loyal to the Torah are vilified and demonized, then in what way does Israel claim the Jewish right to Eretz Yisrael is based on the Bible and G-d's promise to the Jewish people ("Unto thy seed will I give this land as an eternal inheritance....")?



In the final analysis, it is this lack of understanding by Israel's leaders that has emboldened our enemies and placed the State of Israel in grave danger. Our leaders fear the nations and are willing to throw their own brethren to the wolves to appease the world; rather than standing firm with faith in G-d and declaring, "Not one inch of our sacred soil will be given up."