Some fifty plus years after the Holocaust and the rebirth of the Jewish State, the nations of the world have conceived of a plan to achieve the Final Solution to the Jewish Problem. This plan is euphemistically called the "road map toward peace", and is the brainchild of the so-called ?Quartet? . The ?Quartet? , of course, is the European Union, the United Nations, Russia and the United States ? or rather the US State Department ? all not such good friends of Israel. In fact, not friends of Israel at all.
The "road map to peace" is a road map deeper into the hell of Oslo - a road map to the "peace of the grave" for the Jews and the Jewish State. According to this road map, there will be a provisional Palestinian State, which is on land within Judea and Samaria, by the year 2003, and a full state by the year 2005. In addition, according to this road map, all Jewish "outposts" ? a purposefully deprecating term for small Jewish communities ? will be dismantled, and all construction in existing larger Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria will be frozen. Jewish communities that interfere with the territorial contiguity of this planned Palestinian State will be uprooted and all their Jewish inhabitants will be transferred.
In a public opinion survey commissioned by Independent Media Review and conducted by the Smith Research organization in June of this year, respondents were asked: ?Do you support the proposal that Israel withdraw to the pre-Six Day War lines - including from all of the Golan, Jordan Rift Valley and the Old City of Jerusalem - and agree to the establishment of a Palestinian State in return for peace with the Palestinians and the Arab states?? The results were: For, 22% ; Against, 73%; No reply, 5%. Among Jews only, the results were: For, 16%; Against, 80%; No reply, 4%. When including the ?right of return? demanded by the Palestinians, the percentage of Jews against such a peace deal jumps to 93%.
Since the overwhelming majority of the Jewish People are against a Palestinian State, why are we not screaming our objections from the rooftops? This question was asked of me by Aram Paquin in an email dated November 8. Quite a few other listeners have asked this very same question. Aram Paquin wrote:
?I do have one question that has been echoing in my mind for months. You said, towards the end of your last program, words to the effect that a majority of Israelis support Israel as a Jewish State, and that those you feared to call 'traitors' are really a minority. I hope you are correct. But if you are, why is this majority, which clearly has the facts on its side, so quiet, so passive?
?I must tell you that as a Christian Zionist, I remain in a constant state of frustration when I hear an endless succession of mealy-mouthed equivocators and even openly pro-Palestinian liars. Any defense of Israel is spoken in a muted, apologetic tone. I want - no, I long - to hear strong, loud Jewish and Christian voices speaking out. Not in supplication and not in appeasement, but in declaring the truth without apology. Surely, if I can display my love of Israel with a very visible pin on my hat, an Israeli flag next to the red, white and blue on my automobile, and running my mouth off at the drop of a hat, it shouldn't be asking too much that the average patriotic Israeli and American Jewish Zionist demonstrate the courage of their convictions by speaking out against those who would support a return to the Galut.?
Dear Aram, we are not so silent, and not so passive. You are not hearing the voice of the majority of the Jewish People.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, in an interview with the London Times, published on November 5 of this year, stated that he offers general support for the principles of the Quartet's "road map toward peace". The Israeli government's excuse for this position is that there is tremendous pressure from the United States. I sincerely believe that, at the end of the day, President Bush would respect Israel if there was a democratic decision not to allow a Palestinian State on her land.
What right does Ariel Sharon have to agree to the establishment of a Palestinian State on Jewish land? What if President George W. Bush would decide to support the creation of a foreign state for Mexicans in parts of Texas? Wouldn't he have to get the permission of Congress for that? Ariel Sharon has never brought the question of a Palestinian state before the Knesset (the Israeli Parliament) for a vote. In fact, his own Likud Party, at a recent convention, voted overwhelmingly against such a Palestinian State. And he certainly seems not one bit concerned about the opinion of the majority of Israelis.
Not only Sharon's own party, the Likud, is very much against a Palestinian State. Women for Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green) have collected over 300,000 signatures on a petition to Prime Minister Sharon against a Palestinian State. This is an ongoing campaign of ours all across Israel, and we fax hundreds of signatures to Mr. Sharon's office every day. To date, we have not gotten a single reply from Mr. Sharon.
The Israeli media explained the Likud convention vote against a Palestinian State as mere rivalry between Netanyahu and Sharon. As far as the Women in Green campaign is concerned, the media purposely ignores any mention thereof whatsoever. The only place where you might see any mention of our campaign is an advertisement paid for by us under our weekly cartoon in the Jerusalem Post. Over three hundred thousand signatures with addresses and phone numbers is no small matter in a country like Israel with a population of less than six million. Wouldn't such a campaign merit at least a small mention by the Israeli media?
I will give you an example of media manipulation. On the anniversary of the death of Rehavam Ze?evi (?Gandhi?), with his whole family present, the Women in Green had a tree-planting ceremony on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, and we erected a memorial stone in his memory. We notified the media, but nobody came. That evening, Israel's TV Station Channel One spoke movingly about a tree-planting ceremony by a Jewish-Arab friendship group. Upon being asked why they didn't also come to our ceremony, they first said they hadn't been notified. Finally, they admitted that they had been notified, and in addition, that the Jewish-Arab friendship tree-planting ceremony never even took place.
So, dear friends, we are not so silent or so passive. But powerful political forces continually prevent us from being heard.
During the Second World War, the Warsaw Jews were herded into the ghetto, stripped of everything, starved, beaten, murdered and carted off to death camps. There is only eleven miles between some parts of the Palestinian State proposed by the ?Quartet? and the Mediterranean Sea. The world is trying once again to herd the Jewish People into another tiny and indefensible ghetto. History repeats itself. May G-d give us the courage to fight back before it is too late.
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Ruth Matar is co-chairwoman of the grass-roots activist organization Women for Israel?s Tomorrow (Women in Green). This article was adapted from the Women in Green radio program on Arutz Sheva - Israel National Radio, which can be heard on demand at IsraelNationalNews.com.
The "road map to peace" is a road map deeper into the hell of Oslo - a road map to the "peace of the grave" for the Jews and the Jewish State. According to this road map, there will be a provisional Palestinian State, which is on land within Judea and Samaria, by the year 2003, and a full state by the year 2005. In addition, according to this road map, all Jewish "outposts" ? a purposefully deprecating term for small Jewish communities ? will be dismantled, and all construction in existing larger Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria will be frozen. Jewish communities that interfere with the territorial contiguity of this planned Palestinian State will be uprooted and all their Jewish inhabitants will be transferred.
In a public opinion survey commissioned by Independent Media Review and conducted by the Smith Research organization in June of this year, respondents were asked: ?Do you support the proposal that Israel withdraw to the pre-Six Day War lines - including from all of the Golan, Jordan Rift Valley and the Old City of Jerusalem - and agree to the establishment of a Palestinian State in return for peace with the Palestinians and the Arab states?? The results were: For, 22% ; Against, 73%; No reply, 5%. Among Jews only, the results were: For, 16%; Against, 80%; No reply, 4%. When including the ?right of return? demanded by the Palestinians, the percentage of Jews against such a peace deal jumps to 93%.
Since the overwhelming majority of the Jewish People are against a Palestinian State, why are we not screaming our objections from the rooftops? This question was asked of me by Aram Paquin in an email dated November 8. Quite a few other listeners have asked this very same question. Aram Paquin wrote:
?I do have one question that has been echoing in my mind for months. You said, towards the end of your last program, words to the effect that a majority of Israelis support Israel as a Jewish State, and that those you feared to call 'traitors' are really a minority. I hope you are correct. But if you are, why is this majority, which clearly has the facts on its side, so quiet, so passive?
?I must tell you that as a Christian Zionist, I remain in a constant state of frustration when I hear an endless succession of mealy-mouthed equivocators and even openly pro-Palestinian liars. Any defense of Israel is spoken in a muted, apologetic tone. I want - no, I long - to hear strong, loud Jewish and Christian voices speaking out. Not in supplication and not in appeasement, but in declaring the truth without apology. Surely, if I can display my love of Israel with a very visible pin on my hat, an Israeli flag next to the red, white and blue on my automobile, and running my mouth off at the drop of a hat, it shouldn't be asking too much that the average patriotic Israeli and American Jewish Zionist demonstrate the courage of their convictions by speaking out against those who would support a return to the Galut.?
Dear Aram, we are not so silent, and not so passive. You are not hearing the voice of the majority of the Jewish People.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, in an interview with the London Times, published on November 5 of this year, stated that he offers general support for the principles of the Quartet's "road map toward peace". The Israeli government's excuse for this position is that there is tremendous pressure from the United States. I sincerely believe that, at the end of the day, President Bush would respect Israel if there was a democratic decision not to allow a Palestinian State on her land.
What right does Ariel Sharon have to agree to the establishment of a Palestinian State on Jewish land? What if President George W. Bush would decide to support the creation of a foreign state for Mexicans in parts of Texas? Wouldn't he have to get the permission of Congress for that? Ariel Sharon has never brought the question of a Palestinian state before the Knesset (the Israeli Parliament) for a vote. In fact, his own Likud Party, at a recent convention, voted overwhelmingly against such a Palestinian State. And he certainly seems not one bit concerned about the opinion of the majority of Israelis.
Not only Sharon's own party, the Likud, is very much against a Palestinian State. Women for Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green) have collected over 300,000 signatures on a petition to Prime Minister Sharon against a Palestinian State. This is an ongoing campaign of ours all across Israel, and we fax hundreds of signatures to Mr. Sharon's office every day. To date, we have not gotten a single reply from Mr. Sharon.
The Israeli media explained the Likud convention vote against a Palestinian State as mere rivalry between Netanyahu and Sharon. As far as the Women in Green campaign is concerned, the media purposely ignores any mention thereof whatsoever. The only place where you might see any mention of our campaign is an advertisement paid for by us under our weekly cartoon in the Jerusalem Post. Over three hundred thousand signatures with addresses and phone numbers is no small matter in a country like Israel with a population of less than six million. Wouldn't such a campaign merit at least a small mention by the Israeli media?
I will give you an example of media manipulation. On the anniversary of the death of Rehavam Ze?evi (?Gandhi?), with his whole family present, the Women in Green had a tree-planting ceremony on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, and we erected a memorial stone in his memory. We notified the media, but nobody came. That evening, Israel's TV Station Channel One spoke movingly about a tree-planting ceremony by a Jewish-Arab friendship group. Upon being asked why they didn't also come to our ceremony, they first said they hadn't been notified. Finally, they admitted that they had been notified, and in addition, that the Jewish-Arab friendship tree-planting ceremony never even took place.
So, dear friends, we are not so silent or so passive. But powerful political forces continually prevent us from being heard.
During the Second World War, the Warsaw Jews were herded into the ghetto, stripped of everything, starved, beaten, murdered and carted off to death camps. There is only eleven miles between some parts of the Palestinian State proposed by the ?Quartet? and the Mediterranean Sea. The world is trying once again to herd the Jewish People into another tiny and indefensible ghetto. History repeats itself. May G-d give us the courage to fight back before it is too late.
--------------------------------------------------------
Ruth Matar is co-chairwoman of the grass-roots activist organization Women for Israel?s Tomorrow (Women in Green). This article was adapted from the Women in Green radio program on Arutz Sheva - Israel National Radio, which can be heard on demand at IsraelNationalNews.com.