Can there be a meeting of the minds between the head of the Disengagement Evacuation Authority and the leader of a Land of Israel grassroots organization? Not if one of them tries to destroy the other's home. So says Nadia Matar, co-chairperson of Women in Green, regarding the possibility of a meeting between her and Yonatan Bassi, who heads the newly formed Evacuation Authority.
The story began last Thursday when Matar wrote an article entitled, "Shukran ['Thank You,' in Arabic], Yonatan Bassi." Written tongue-in-cheek as if from a Hamas commander, the article states:
"For years we've been trying to get rid of Al-Yahud [the Jews] from our holy land... We tried war and terrorists and shahids exploding in Al-Yahud's buses, and nothing worked! We thought they would run away, but those stubborn Jews remained undeterred and kept on building - for every Jew we murdered, they built another town, another street, another building. We even started to despair. We started to think that maybe we could never defeat Al-Yahud and we would have to give up our dream of destroying Israel and getting rid of all the Jews from here. Some of us, may Allah have mercy, even said that we should leave and look for another country!
"But then, for the sake of the merciful and great Allah, Ariel Sharon came along! Only Allah knows what happened to him, but one thing is clear: He started doing that which we had long been dreaming of, but couldn't do: Getting rid of Al-Yahud from the lands of Falestin [Palestine]! First of all from Gaza and Shomron, then we'll keep on killing and murdering Al-Yahud, and thus we'll ensure that they'll leave every place - Jaffa, Tiberias, the Galilee, the Negev, etc., and of course Al-Quds [Jerusalem]. Ariel Sharon couldn't do it alone without your help, Mr. Bassi. We therefore wish to thank you... Shukran, Mr. Bassi!"
Bassi, a member of the religious Kibbutz Sdeh Eliyahu in the Jordan Valley, phoned Matar that night and requested to meet with Matar to discuss their differences. Matar told him that she would do so only if there was even a small chance that he might change his mind. "I would like to meet with you," she told Bassi, "but not simply so that afterwards we can 'agree to disagree' - just like the photograph that appeared of you and Amnon Shapira [who had very sharp criticism of Bassi for agreeing to take the position] shaking hands."
The next day, Bassi faxed to Matar a letter of response. He wrote that he had recently met with other Jews with whom he vehemently disagrees: Anti-Zionists from the famous Yeshivat Toldot Aharon, Lubavitchers who say that the Rebbe did not die, and Jews who eat pig:
"We are all Jews, and we meet even with those who disagree with us. The Torah of Israel has many faces. Why, then, can you not meet with me without pre-conditions? ... Incidentally, I will not begin my practical work before the government makes a formal decision to approve compensation for residents, and I will not pay out any compensation until the Knesset passes the appropriate law."
Matar responded after the Sabbath as follows:
"Yes, of course I conduct dialogue with Jews of all stripes... even those who support Sharon's expulsion plan. Even in my family, we have all types... yet we all love each other. Why? Because each one respects the other and does not try to force his lifestyle on them. None of us try to destroy the life-works of the other. But believe me that if one of my relatives would inform me that he is heading a body that is planning to force me to eat pig and that he is not willing to change his mind, and that he is planning to do it - albeit with a 'heavy heart and with emotional solidarity with me' - by force with soldiers and policemen - you can understand that I will not sit with him to hear why it's good for me to eat pig. I would instead tell him clearly that he will not succeed, and that I plan to organize the entire family against him in order to resist this criminal act."
"Here, then, is the difference, Yonatan. You don't just represent 'another opinion.' ... You have moved on to the next stage - the execution stage, the one at which you cooperate with the government which is planning to force upon an entire public an extreme-left policy of uprooting and expulsion..."
Matar then cited a passage from the most recent weekly Torah portion describing the yibum procedure. A man whose brother has died childless is asked to either marry the widow and thus "build up a name for his brother," or to suffer an ignominious ceremony of removing his shoe and being spat upon for not wishing to do so.
"The elders are willing to sit and talk with the recalcitrant brother for as long as the hope exists that he will build up his brother's name. But the moment he makes it clear that he will not do so, the Torah dictates a public ceremony of humiliation... How much more so must we act with someone who cooperates with the tearing down of his brothers' entire life-works, entire communities and the destruction of families and giving over the inheritance of our fathers to our enemies... I therefore beg you once again: Resign from your debased position, in order that you avoid humiliation and excommunication, and in order that you and your descendants not be remembered even more disgracefully than [the recalcitrant brother]."
The story began last Thursday when Matar wrote an article entitled, "Shukran ['Thank You,' in Arabic], Yonatan Bassi." Written tongue-in-cheek as if from a Hamas commander, the article states:
"For years we've been trying to get rid of Al-Yahud [the Jews] from our holy land... We tried war and terrorists and shahids exploding in Al-Yahud's buses, and nothing worked! We thought they would run away, but those stubborn Jews remained undeterred and kept on building - for every Jew we murdered, they built another town, another street, another building. We even started to despair. We started to think that maybe we could never defeat Al-Yahud and we would have to give up our dream of destroying Israel and getting rid of all the Jews from here. Some of us, may Allah have mercy, even said that we should leave and look for another country!
"But then, for the sake of the merciful and great Allah, Ariel Sharon came along! Only Allah knows what happened to him, but one thing is clear: He started doing that which we had long been dreaming of, but couldn't do: Getting rid of Al-Yahud from the lands of Falestin [Palestine]! First of all from Gaza and Shomron, then we'll keep on killing and murdering Al-Yahud, and thus we'll ensure that they'll leave every place - Jaffa, Tiberias, the Galilee, the Negev, etc., and of course Al-Quds [Jerusalem]. Ariel Sharon couldn't do it alone without your help, Mr. Bassi. We therefore wish to thank you... Shukran, Mr. Bassi!"
Bassi, a member of the religious Kibbutz Sdeh Eliyahu in the Jordan Valley, phoned Matar that night and requested to meet with Matar to discuss their differences. Matar told him that she would do so only if there was even a small chance that he might change his mind. "I would like to meet with you," she told Bassi, "but not simply so that afterwards we can 'agree to disagree' - just like the photograph that appeared of you and Amnon Shapira [who had very sharp criticism of Bassi for agreeing to take the position] shaking hands."
The next day, Bassi faxed to Matar a letter of response. He wrote that he had recently met with other Jews with whom he vehemently disagrees: Anti-Zionists from the famous Yeshivat Toldot Aharon, Lubavitchers who say that the Rebbe did not die, and Jews who eat pig:
"We are all Jews, and we meet even with those who disagree with us. The Torah of Israel has many faces. Why, then, can you not meet with me without pre-conditions? ... Incidentally, I will not begin my practical work before the government makes a formal decision to approve compensation for residents, and I will not pay out any compensation until the Knesset passes the appropriate law."
Matar responded after the Sabbath as follows:
"Yes, of course I conduct dialogue with Jews of all stripes... even those who support Sharon's expulsion plan. Even in my family, we have all types... yet we all love each other. Why? Because each one respects the other and does not try to force his lifestyle on them. None of us try to destroy the life-works of the other. But believe me that if one of my relatives would inform me that he is heading a body that is planning to force me to eat pig and that he is not willing to change his mind, and that he is planning to do it - albeit with a 'heavy heart and with emotional solidarity with me' - by force with soldiers and policemen - you can understand that I will not sit with him to hear why it's good for me to eat pig. I would instead tell him clearly that he will not succeed, and that I plan to organize the entire family against him in order to resist this criminal act."
"Here, then, is the difference, Yonatan. You don't just represent 'another opinion.' ... You have moved on to the next stage - the execution stage, the one at which you cooperate with the government which is planning to force upon an entire public an extreme-left policy of uprooting and expulsion..."
Matar then cited a passage from the most recent weekly Torah portion describing the yibum procedure. A man whose brother has died childless is asked to either marry the widow and thus "build up a name for his brother," or to suffer an ignominious ceremony of removing his shoe and being spat upon for not wishing to do so.
"The elders are willing to sit and talk with the recalcitrant brother for as long as the hope exists that he will build up his brother's name. But the moment he makes it clear that he will not do so, the Torah dictates a public ceremony of humiliation... How much more so must we act with someone who cooperates with the tearing down of his brothers' entire life-works, entire communities and the destruction of families and giving over the inheritance of our fathers to our enemies... I therefore beg you once again: Resign from your debased position, in order that you avoid humiliation and excommunication, and in order that you and your descendants not be remembered even more disgracefully than [the recalcitrant brother]."