There are two radically different visions of what will happen
in the future after the Disengagement, and what it means in
the present.
The Left is almost beside itself with nachas, watching
its great "victory" since it "knew" all the time that there
is no future for Jewish settlement beyond the Green Line. For
the past 15 years it has been eager to give back whatever it
could.
But they do not seem to even consider that the Right may be
correct in its assertion that the one-sided return of Gaza
may be seen as a victory by the terrorists and give them a
big moral boost, as former IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Yaalon
said at the time. After the Israelis and the IDF withdraw
from Gaza, this line of reasoning goes, the entire area will
soon become a base for world terror, and Israel will suffer a
new and powerful wave of terror — this time aimed at
the Israeli heartland in the Negev and at settlements in
Shomron and even central Israel. It is clear to all that the
terror organizations have been struggling to transfer their
operations from Gaza to Yehuda and Shomron.
At the signing of the Oslo Agreements the Right argued that
whenever the Palestinians got a bit of autonomy they would
set up a state that would be focused on nothing but terror.
They were certainly correct then. Perhaps they are also right
now in expecting a renewed wave of terror after the
unilateral Disengagement that requires nothing from the
Arabs.
On the other side, the Right seems not to consider that there
may be something to the argument of the Left, that it is not
possible to rule over more than a million Arabs and to deny
them the very commonly accepted right (in our days) to real
autonomy and to govern themselves. Maybe also, as many
demographers argue, the only practical way to ensure a
democratic Jewish state is to ensure a Jewish majority by
withdrawing the state to borders that will preserve such a
majority for the foreseeable future. There may also be some
justice to the assertion that there should not be an island
of Jewish settlement surrounded by a hostile sea of Arabs, as
is the case with the bulk of the Gaza settlements to one
degree or another.
Each side is thoroughly convinced of the rightness of its
arguments and the lack of power on the other side.
Many see the struggle as an issue of epic proportions, but
others, like the former Finance Minister, apparently believe
that the decision is not so critical one way or the other.
Although he is clearly against the Disengagement, he does not
think it is a disaster.
It is not clear exactly where the prime minister stands. His
actions are what the Left has always wanted, but his declared
principles are still those of the Right. He is engineering
the withdrawal not because he hopes or believes the
Palestinians "really" want peace, but because he fears that
they do not. Speaking on Monday night, he said of Gaza that
"the Palestinians live there... crowded in refugee camps,
poverty and hotbeds of hatred with no hope on the
horizon."
Sharon believes that he has maneuvered the Palestinians into
a position in which the immediate future of the region will
be determined by the Palestinian reaction to the Israeli
moves, and that this is plain for all to see: "The world
waits for the Palestinian response: a hand for peace or the
fire of terror. To an outstretched hand we will respond with
an olive branch; but to fire we will respond with fire
— and harsher than ever before."
And we, as believing Jews, who do not presume to be able to
foretell the future — we focus on the truth that we do
know now. Our future is in our hands. Whether there is peace
or terror, who will live and who will die does not depend on
diplomatic steps but on our own deeds.
"Who will rest and who will move; who will be peaceful and
who will be maddened; who will be serene and who will suffer
. . ." (Nesaneh tokef prayer of Yomim Noraim). If
Jewish communities are forced to uproot, then it is because
of our deeds. If there is terror, it is our fault.
What we must do is to look into ourselves and what we do. We
who are zocheh to live in Eretz Hakodesh must
try to live lives that make us worthy to live peacefully in
the Holy Land.
When the future is terribly uncertain, we know that the
security of Am Yisroel is in the halls of Torah, in
the botei knesset, in keeping mitzvos carefully, in
gemilas chassodim, in promoting true brotherhood.
These are what have kept us going for thousands of years, and
what guarantee our future — not any particular piece of
land.
