The Yesha Council, which represents communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, convened yesterday (Monday) and came out in support of a controversial letter written by a former Council chief. The open letter, by Binyamin Regional Council leader Pinchas Wallerstein, stated that the only way to stop the disengagement/expulsion plan is for many people to be willing to violate the proposed law banning resistance to the evacuation - even if it means going to prison.
"The Yesha Council is of the opinion," Council head Bentzy Lieberman said last night (Monday), "that the proposed law to expel Jews from their homes stands in opposition to the State of Israel's Basic Laws [roughly parallel to a Constitution – ed.], and it must be fought against even at the price of going to prison." He added that in any event, "violence of any kind is out of bounds, and we will not cause a civil war of any sort."
The disengagement program would dismantle 25 communities in Gaza and northern Samaria, expel their Jewish residents and abandon the land to the Arabs.
Lieberman compared Wallerstein's approach against this plan to that of Mahatma Ghandi, whose passive resistance movement in India became a model for protest movements around the world. He further noted that the public response to an expulsion of Arab residents would be much more outraged than it is to the proposed expulsion of Jews.
"We are taking this step with tears in our eyes," said Gush Etzion Regional Council head Sha'ul Goldstein, who is considered a "moderate" among the five Council members. "However, we feel that this is the last resort in saving the democracy of the State of Israel. We thought we had a democracy, and suddenly we find ourselves subjected to an illegitimate and undemocratic law. We have checked and found that no such law has been legislated anywhere in the world in the past 100 years."
The Yesha Rabbis Council also backed Wallerstein's approach. Rabbi Dov Lior of Kiryat Arba praised the "strong stand on behalf of the integrity of the Land, the security of its residents, and the Torah-banned uprooting and expulsion of from their homes and land."
Not all Yesha rabbis agree, however. Rabbi Shlomo Aviner of Beit El, head of Yeshivat Ateret Cohanim in the Old City's "Moslem Quarter," praised Wallerstein, but added, "his is not the only opinion... There are those like me, for instance, who feel that we must walk in moderate and gentle paths in this struggle for the Land, Nation, and national soul. On the other hand, there are also many who are more extreme than Pinchas Wallerstein... Despite our disagreements, we will always be united [in this struggle]!"
"Over the past 200 years," Rabbi Aviner explained to Arutz-7 today, "we have succeeded in accomplishing things on a national scale not by scaring people, but by talking to them and showing enthusiasm... It's true that the Prime Minister is going about this process in a strong-armed manner, but he need not be our example in this matter... I think that the way we and the Gush Katif people have acted until now is the right way: ... just going house to house and convincing people and spreading our message of 'engagement' as opposed to 'disengagement.' In the end, I think that public opinion will prevail. To speak in Halakhic [Jewish legal] terms: One does not do a mitzvah [Torah commandment] by doing a sin; if you can't do a mitzvah without doing a sin, then don't do it at all."
Many politicians from the Likud and leftward lambasted the Yesha leaders, calling for a criminal investigation against them on suspicion of inciting to violence and causing rebellion. Disengagement opponent Likud MK Ehud Yatom called on Pinchas Wallerstein to retract his remarks. Attorney-General Menachem Mazuz announced that he would be reviewing the issue to see if statements by Wallerstein or the others are grounds for a criminal probe.
Extreme left-wing MK Ran Cohen (Meretz/Yahad) said that Wallerstein's and Lieberman's declarations "are creating a mood that is paving the way for the next political assassination." Activists of the radical left-wing Peace Now organization demonstrated in Jerusalem yesterday, with signs reading, “Yesha Council – The Root of Evil."
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he "feels the pain" of Yesha residents and that the proposed transfer plan "hurts, but is necessary and will be carried out." Former Minister Avigdor Lieberman, head of the Yisrael Beiteinu Party and a resident of Nokdim in Judea, voiced his support for the Yesha leaders.
MK Effie Eitam, leader of the National Religious Party, said that Wallerstein's remarks express the real outcry of an entire public, but he is not a party to the call to break the law and go to jail.
MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union) congratulated Wallerstein from the Knesset floor today for his call "to violate the disengagement law." The party's Knesset faction came out in support of Wallerstein's approach, saying that this "call for passive non-violent resistance follows the best of democratic tradition as set by Gandhi and Martin Luther King." The party's statement laid the responsibility for a possible split in the nation and civil war at the doorstep of the Prime Minister, "who refuses to take the matter back to the people."
"The Yesha Council is of the opinion," Council head Bentzy Lieberman said last night (Monday), "that the proposed law to expel Jews from their homes stands in opposition to the State of Israel's Basic Laws [roughly parallel to a Constitution – ed.], and it must be fought against even at the price of going to prison." He added that in any event, "violence of any kind is out of bounds, and we will not cause a civil war of any sort."
The disengagement program would dismantle 25 communities in Gaza and northern Samaria, expel their Jewish residents and abandon the land to the Arabs.
Lieberman compared Wallerstein's approach against this plan to that of Mahatma Ghandi, whose passive resistance movement in India became a model for protest movements around the world. He further noted that the public response to an expulsion of Arab residents would be much more outraged than it is to the proposed expulsion of Jews.
"We are taking this step with tears in our eyes," said Gush Etzion Regional Council head Sha'ul Goldstein, who is considered a "moderate" among the five Council members. "However, we feel that this is the last resort in saving the democracy of the State of Israel. We thought we had a democracy, and suddenly we find ourselves subjected to an illegitimate and undemocratic law. We have checked and found that no such law has been legislated anywhere in the world in the past 100 years."
The Yesha Rabbis Council also backed Wallerstein's approach. Rabbi Dov Lior of Kiryat Arba praised the "strong stand on behalf of the integrity of the Land, the security of its residents, and the Torah-banned uprooting and expulsion of from their homes and land."
Not all Yesha rabbis agree, however. Rabbi Shlomo Aviner of Beit El, head of Yeshivat Ateret Cohanim in the Old City's "Moslem Quarter," praised Wallerstein, but added, "his is not the only opinion... There are those like me, for instance, who feel that we must walk in moderate and gentle paths in this struggle for the Land, Nation, and national soul. On the other hand, there are also many who are more extreme than Pinchas Wallerstein... Despite our disagreements, we will always be united [in this struggle]!"
"Over the past 200 years," Rabbi Aviner explained to Arutz-7 today, "we have succeeded in accomplishing things on a national scale not by scaring people, but by talking to them and showing enthusiasm... It's true that the Prime Minister is going about this process in a strong-armed manner, but he need not be our example in this matter... I think that the way we and the Gush Katif people have acted until now is the right way: ... just going house to house and convincing people and spreading our message of 'engagement' as opposed to 'disengagement.' In the end, I think that public opinion will prevail. To speak in Halakhic [Jewish legal] terms: One does not do a mitzvah [Torah commandment] by doing a sin; if you can't do a mitzvah without doing a sin, then don't do it at all."
Many politicians from the Likud and leftward lambasted the Yesha leaders, calling for a criminal investigation against them on suspicion of inciting to violence and causing rebellion. Disengagement opponent Likud MK Ehud Yatom called on Pinchas Wallerstein to retract his remarks. Attorney-General Menachem Mazuz announced that he would be reviewing the issue to see if statements by Wallerstein or the others are grounds for a criminal probe.
Extreme left-wing MK Ran Cohen (Meretz/Yahad) said that Wallerstein's and Lieberman's declarations "are creating a mood that is paving the way for the next political assassination." Activists of the radical left-wing Peace Now organization demonstrated in Jerusalem yesterday, with signs reading, “Yesha Council – The Root of Evil."
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he "feels the pain" of Yesha residents and that the proposed transfer plan "hurts, but is necessary and will be carried out." Former Minister Avigdor Lieberman, head of the Yisrael Beiteinu Party and a resident of Nokdim in Judea, voiced his support for the Yesha leaders.
MK Effie Eitam, leader of the National Religious Party, said that Wallerstein's remarks express the real outcry of an entire public, but he is not a party to the call to break the law and go to jail.
MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union) congratulated Wallerstein from the Knesset floor today for his call "to violate the disengagement law." The party's Knesset faction came out in support of Wallerstein's approach, saying that this "call for passive non-violent resistance follows the best of democratic tradition as set by Gandhi and Martin Luther King." The party's statement laid the responsibility for a possible split in the nation and civil war at the doorstep of the Prime Minister, "who refuses to take the matter back to the people."