The route to be approved, which is widely-felt to be Prime Minister Sharon's version of Israel's final borders, leaves only some 6.5% of Judea and Samaria in Israeli hands.
Among the areas that will remain in Israeli hands is the Gush Etzion bloc of communities, located approximately 10-15 kilometers south of Jerusalem. Gush Etzion's modern history is a dramatic one; the area fell to hostile Jordanian hands during the week that Israel declared its independence in 1948. Dozens of men were taken prisoner and held in Jordan for close to a year. When Gush Etzion was liberated by Israel 19 years later in the Six Day War, many children who were born and had grown up there, and their parents, returned to rebuild the towns they had built and been forced to leave.
Sha'ul Goldstein, head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council, spoke with Arutz-7's Ariel Kahane today.
A-7: "It appears that you in Gush Etzion are just about the only winners from this route, is that right?"
A. "On such a hard day for Zionism like today, there are no winners, only losers. I
think that this disengagement - the uprooting - is a black day for Zionism, the likes of which we never had. And this partition fence, as well, is a black mark, because it symbolizes the division between faith and determination, on the one hand, and helplessness and closing-off, on the other. In terms of both these areas, I believe that we are in a very difficult situation."
Q. "Do you feel that Gush Etzion is safe now, given the expected Cabinet vote, or are you not even certain about Gust Etzion?"
A. "Even if they vote today in favor of the fence and its route, this means that only western Gush Etzion – which is about 20-25% of the original Gush Etzion – will be included within the fenced-in area. This leads to two possibilities: Either the fence will be built as planned, and then we will have to continue to struggle on behalf of the rest of Gush Etzion - or the Supreme Court will reject it, and the result will be some other type of convoluted route. This is certainly a possibility, as the body that today rules Israel's public life is the Supreme Court and no one else."
Q. "Doesn't it appear, in light of what's going on in Gush Katif, that we need to think of a new strategy to convince the public about the importance of these communities?"
A. "We must be aware of the forces arrayed against us, but one point is that we must first 'stray from bad' and only then 'do good' [based on Psalms 34,15]. We have to know that this fence is a strategic catastrophe for Israel. There should definitely be some security barriers in various places, but this contiguous fence along almost the entire Green Line signals to the whole world, and to the Palestinians, that we have already given up on 3/4 of Judea and Samaria [sic; 93% of Yesha is on the PA side of the fence – ed.]. The current government is of the opinion that this will be a final border, and therefore we have to try to replace this government as quickly as possible. Not that what will follow will necessarily be better, but we have to try until we reach the right faith-based leadership. Regarding the 'do good,' there must be education to the right values; this is a long-range process, and the sooner the better."
Q. "Yes, but as you said, there are forces arrayed against us, and maybe they have the edge over us in terms of the public awareness, and that's that?"
A. "The forces against us are currently running some institutions that we barely have any influence in, such as the court system, and the Supreme Court, and the media – except for Arutz-7..."
Q. "We, too, are only working in limited fashion, given what happened [a year and a half ago, when Arutz-7 Radio was shut down for lack of a license – ed.]..."
A. "And it's clear that we have to get our forces into the important squares, including in politics; in the Likud there's not even one person with a kippah [yarmulke] – MK Leah Ness, possibly, represents the faith-based sector. We have to have a long-range plan for this. We must also know that for 57 years, most of this country has been educated in a system that is, at best, good for transmitting information, and at worst, tries to impart a value system that I can't even say what it is. Our Torah core-groups that are spread out all over the country are in the right direction.
"During the door-to-door campaign that we ran a few months ago during the Likud referendum, many people told us that what particularly impressed them was just having met us: They said that they saw how we – our youth and adults – spoke with such enthusiasm and conviction, and with respect and strength – and they connected with this. We need not lower our heads; we have to know that we are a sector that can lead the country. We are still looking for the leader that can sweep us after him, and then there is no doubt that we will be able to both transmit our values and to persuade others in the justness of our way."
Goldstein said that it appears that the political options for stopping the plan have dwindled to working to attain Likud Central Committee support for a referendum. "The only other possibility is the public struggle," he said. "The Yesha Council and other groups - Cities of Israel is working very nicely - have plans... But we have to remember that we live in a country, and a country is made up of its entire populace, not just 20-30% of it. We have to see how to wage this struggle in a way that the country remains intact afterwards. There is a government, Knesset and army, and if we succeed in sabotaging them, the question is what will remain afterwards. We have to know that we won't succeed in defeating the army; maybe people can take off from work in the summer, and the like, but in the end, the army can withstand us for longer than we can fight. People coming to resist the disengagement – that's not what will stop it; if people try to stop the withdrawal on the last day, that will be too late.
"We have to know that this is just the opening battle in a series of battles for the entire Land of Israel, so that even if we lose, we must not let our spirits fall. If, Heaven forbid, we lose, we must not falter, we must not lose hope and faith, and we must not disengage from our brothers. When we say, 'Brothers must not be abandoned' [a Yesha Council slogan used against the disengagement], we must remember that it works both ways: We must not abandon our brothers in Tel Aviv, even when they make mistakes and do terrible things. We must find our way back into their hearts, so that Ofrah, Beit El and Tekoa won't be in the next stage of uprooting."
Among the areas that will remain in Israeli hands is the Gush Etzion bloc of communities, located approximately 10-15 kilometers south of Jerusalem. Gush Etzion's modern history is a dramatic one; the area fell to hostile Jordanian hands during the week that Israel declared its independence in 1948. Dozens of men were taken prisoner and held in Jordan for close to a year. When Gush Etzion was liberated by Israel 19 years later in the Six Day War, many children who were born and had grown up there, and their parents, returned to rebuild the towns they had built and been forced to leave.
Sha'ul Goldstein, head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council, spoke with Arutz-7's Ariel Kahane today.
A-7: "It appears that you in Gush Etzion are just about the only winners from this route, is that right?"
A. "On such a hard day for Zionism like today, there are no winners, only losers. I
think that this disengagement - the uprooting - is a black day for Zionism, the likes of which we never had. And this partition fence, as well, is a black mark, because it symbolizes the division between faith and determination, on the one hand, and helplessness and closing-off, on the other. In terms of both these areas, I believe that we are in a very difficult situation."
Q. "Do you feel that Gush Etzion is safe now, given the expected Cabinet vote, or are you not even certain about Gust Etzion?"
A. "Even if they vote today in favor of the fence and its route, this means that only western Gush Etzion – which is about 20-25% of the original Gush Etzion – will be included within the fenced-in area. This leads to two possibilities: Either the fence will be built as planned, and then we will have to continue to struggle on behalf of the rest of Gush Etzion - or the Supreme Court will reject it, and the result will be some other type of convoluted route. This is certainly a possibility, as the body that today rules Israel's public life is the Supreme Court and no one else."
Q. "Doesn't it appear, in light of what's going on in Gush Katif, that we need to think of a new strategy to convince the public about the importance of these communities?"
A. "We must be aware of the forces arrayed against us, but one point is that we must first 'stray from bad' and only then 'do good' [based on Psalms 34,15]. We have to know that this fence is a strategic catastrophe for Israel. There should definitely be some security barriers in various places, but this contiguous fence along almost the entire Green Line signals to the whole world, and to the Palestinians, that we have already given up on 3/4 of Judea and Samaria [sic; 93% of Yesha is on the PA side of the fence – ed.]. The current government is of the opinion that this will be a final border, and therefore we have to try to replace this government as quickly as possible. Not that what will follow will necessarily be better, but we have to try until we reach the right faith-based leadership. Regarding the 'do good,' there must be education to the right values; this is a long-range process, and the sooner the better."
Q. "Yes, but as you said, there are forces arrayed against us, and maybe they have the edge over us in terms of the public awareness, and that's that?"
A. "The forces against us are currently running some institutions that we barely have any influence in, such as the court system, and the Supreme Court, and the media – except for Arutz-7..."
Q. "We, too, are only working in limited fashion, given what happened [a year and a half ago, when Arutz-7 Radio was shut down for lack of a license – ed.]..."
A. "And it's clear that we have to get our forces into the important squares, including in politics; in the Likud there's not even one person with a kippah [yarmulke] – MK Leah Ness, possibly, represents the faith-based sector. We have to have a long-range plan for this. We must also know that for 57 years, most of this country has been educated in a system that is, at best, good for transmitting information, and at worst, tries to impart a value system that I can't even say what it is. Our Torah core-groups that are spread out all over the country are in the right direction.
"During the door-to-door campaign that we ran a few months ago during the Likud referendum, many people told us that what particularly impressed them was just having met us: They said that they saw how we – our youth and adults – spoke with such enthusiasm and conviction, and with respect and strength – and they connected with this. We need not lower our heads; we have to know that we are a sector that can lead the country. We are still looking for the leader that can sweep us after him, and then there is no doubt that we will be able to both transmit our values and to persuade others in the justness of our way."
Goldstein said that it appears that the political options for stopping the plan have dwindled to working to attain Likud Central Committee support for a referendum. "The only other possibility is the public struggle," he said. "The Yesha Council and other groups - Cities of Israel is working very nicely - have plans... But we have to remember that we live in a country, and a country is made up of its entire populace, not just 20-30% of it. We have to see how to wage this struggle in a way that the country remains intact afterwards. There is a government, Knesset and army, and if we succeed in sabotaging them, the question is what will remain afterwards. We have to know that we won't succeed in defeating the army; maybe people can take off from work in the summer, and the like, but in the end, the army can withstand us for longer than we can fight. People coming to resist the disengagement – that's not what will stop it; if people try to stop the withdrawal on the last day, that will be too late.
"We have to know that this is just the opening battle in a series of battles for the entire Land of Israel, so that even if we lose, we must not let our spirits fall. If, Heaven forbid, we lose, we must not falter, we must not lose hope and faith, and we must not disengage from our brothers. When we say, 'Brothers must not be abandoned' [a Yesha Council slogan used against the disengagement], we must remember that it works both ways: We must not abandon our brothers in Tel Aviv, even when they make mistakes and do terrible things. We must find our way back into their hearts, so that Ofrah, Beit El and Tekoa won't be in the next stage of uprooting."