Chapter Eight
Stop! For Clarity Purposes:
A Moment of Review

The ancient Greeks called Israel Youdaia. The Romans called it something similar, Judea. Later, Hadrian’s Rome sought to humiliate the Jews and erase G-d’s chosen names for His land and it’s cities; he changed Judea to the Latin word Palea Estina, meaning Antique Eastern(land) an adjective derived from Philistia which was the territory occupied by an extinct pagan people who had arrived from the Islands of Crete. Palestine is of course the anglicized version of Palaestina. Likewise was done with the cities. Shechem became Nablus , (from the Greek Nea Polis) and Jerusalem Aelia Capitolina, after the family name which was bestowed on Hadrian for defeating the Jewish rebellion of 132 CE. And now, keeping this in mind lets return to our analysis of present day reality.
 
In an agreement with Hamas in mid-March in Cairo, in a May 15 th “Catastrophe Day” speech, Abu Mazen could not have been more direct: From his point of view, there will be no peace, there will be no security, and there will be no stability in the Middle East, either, without the implementation of the right of return. The declaration states: First, that the Palestinians have a right to exercise violence against Israel until the implementation of the right of return; second, because the declaration states that the right of return means a return to the actual homes. Not to the Palestinian state - not to a reconstructed Gaza – but to the green house in Sheikh Munis. To Lod and Ramle. To Acre and Jaffa and Safed. (Sheikh Munis is now the site of the Tel Aviv University ). All of the above ac cited by Ari Shavit in the left wing “HaAretz” newspaper of May 20 th, 2005 .
 
If the Nazis or al-Qaid disavowed violence would that be enough? Would that make Hitler and Bin –laden kosher? In the same vein Fattah, PLO, Hamas, etc. should not be made kosher simply because the change tactics when all their goals remain the same. The Vice PM Peres said, “Hamas is against peace. Not only are they against peace, but they have rifles.” Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom attacks the wisdom of withdrawing from Gaza , with Hamas gaining so much in the elections. ”Do you think there is a way to negotiate with them, while their main aim and their main goal is to destroy the state? Is there anyway to make progress with the disengagement plan and the PA If Hamas will be in power? There would be no logic in handing over more territory, and no logic in facilitating the establishment Hamastan.” Some relationships are just not meant to be. Yet the Israeli ruling coalition is forcing a relationship with the PA, Fattah, and backstage Hamas. How desperate can you get?
 
This brings to mind two Yiddishe jokes. As Jews are want to do in the hot days of summer, two Jewish ladies decided to summer in the Catskill Mountains . Some seek fresh air and quiet, some good food. These ladies were seeking husbands. Finally a lone man entered the bar where the ladies sat commiserating. One of the ladies immediately started a conversation with the usual opening line, “We haven’t seen you around before?” “Well, - the man replied haltingly - I’ve been away for quite awhile.” The ladies immediately began an internal list (“doctor, lawyer, accountant, at worst…)”You’ve been at school?” asked one of the ladies hopefully. “Well, - he replied - I’ve actually been in jail.” “Oh my, - they gasped - “whatever for?” “ I actually killed my wife.” “Aha!” Both ladies pounced at once. “So you are single!”
Yehuda Tayar says, “We remember that each time Israeli governments turned over parts of our land, Jews paid for it with their blood.” Abbas is a holocaust denier who the Israeli ruling coalition is so desperately trying to “romance” and find a way to glorify him, set him up as leader of peace, and crown him head of a new (terrorist) state. His security man, “best man” at the wedding of the absurd, is none other then Mohammed Dahlan. Herr Don Dahlan is a world-class criminal and terrorist and recently responsible for the murderous attack upon a school bus in Kfar Darom. Our groom has told us that there is a cease fire. (He had to call and tell us – we wouldn’t have known amid the sounds of shelling and impact of Kassam Rockets). He lies to us even under the wedding canopy. Hamas’ spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhari, repeatedly said that there will be no truce with Israel . Rajoub (PA Security Advisor), he stated, was speaking in his own name only when he said that there was a temporary truce – he was not (could not) speak in the name of all the different factions. Islamic Jihad also denies any agreement to halt attacks.
Each leader can speak only for himself and maybe very briefly for his own faction, for the factions are like a constantly dividing virus that as soon as you think you’ve caught it under the microscope and identified it, and even found a vaccine, it mutates then under your very eyes. One faction is speaking to the western media while the other faction is blowing up buses. They play by no rules but with the same shared goal: the destruction of Israel , and eventual victory over the free non-Muslim world.
 
Arab dictatorships (including Egypt ) want to exploit hatred of Israel in order to mobilize support for their respective leaderships. Reform they argue, is impossible because the threat from Israel requires continuity and unity (Barry Rubin, Director: Global Research and International Affairs). The extreme left-wing Professor, Shlomo Avineri, in his op-ed Jerusalem Post article “Out of the Barrel of a gun,” is very pessimistic about any reform. “There will not be any quick democratic fix” for the Arab Palestinians, he insists. Forty-six central election officials resigned en masse saying that they had been intimidated by Abu Mazen, his top aides, and his security forces. This shows the lack of integrity of the entire vote. This hoax of democracy would never stand up to the famous “Town Square Test;” no one is able to publicly state anti-government sentiments without severe repercussions.
Don Abu Mazen’s mafia-terrorist regime, can hardly be called a democracy. He ran in an uncontested race against no one. The populace had no choice – other then between various shades of Israel hatred, and various tactic of destroying her. Abu Mazen’s insistence on release of terrorists proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that murderers of men, women, and children, in his eyes, are heroic saints and martyrs. Instead of sending the message that terrorism doesn’t pay, the unequivocal message is that it terrorism does pay, and terrorism is the way. Abu Mazen’s goal is not to remove terrorists but to keep them safe from the long arm of Israeli justice. The constant comparison of Israeli defense forces to terrorist murderers only highlights the bankrupt morality, and strengthens the case against Israel ’s right to self-defense.
Even the left-wing Haaretz ( Feb 11, 2005 ) is forced to admit that the recent summit was “A lot of diplomatic deja vu.” The writer Aluf Benn wrote,
“So why was this summit different from all other summits, if at all? Mainly, in its tone.”
There was a little more warmth and smiles. I love smiles and warmth not less then the next fellow. But really, God help us. People are dying, and all the writers can report about, is tone. And smiles. I must submit, that Israel ’s ruling coalition is tone-deaf. They also seem not to hear the repeated calls by Abu Mazen et al. for Israel ’s destruction. Left-wing analysts and their news media are emphasizing smiles?! I agree. The PA et al, are smiling – as the ruling coalition in Israel is participating in its own assured destruction. The same left-wing newspaper was forced to admit: “Shin Bet operatives say that their chief Avi Dichter, and his successor Yuval Diskin don’t see an end to the conflict, but exploitation of the quiet to reorganize their terror campaign.”
 
The Arab Press Freedom Watch (2004) bravely stated, “If the experience of the first ten years of the rule of a Palestinian Authority, which has not yet gained control of all the lands occupied in ’67, is to be the basis for judgment? We have no choice but to pray for the deliverance of the Palestinian people from what is in store for it….there is every possibility that the situation in Palestine would be worse then any other Arab country, for the simple reason that our security organs have been created and trained by 22 security organs in all the Arab world – and they have that vast and unprecedented ‘expertise in repression’ at their disposal.” (Ali Al Salih, editor of Asharq Al - Awsat in England.)

The congressional majority leader Tom De Lay, who is second only to the President in real power and represents the thinking of tens of millions of Americans, has said many times: the post-’67 lands are not by any stretch of the imagination to be considered “occupied,” but are part of Israel proper. Israel’s wars are considered America’s wars, and under no condition should a democracy like Israel be negotiating with these terrorists.
 
A quick study of history should be enough to prove the error of our modern day tactics. Diplomatic tools such as cooperation with and appeals to non-Jewish administrations, have been used as attempts to protect Jewish entities from the violence of anti-Semitism. Raul Hilberg’s The Destruction of the European Jews provides a concise explanation of the downward spiral of events that allowed for the fruition of the German's plans to exterminate European Jewry. As Hilberg explains, the Jewish leaders of the time did indeed attempt to attain security for their communities. This time, however, the tried and true tactics used by leaders in the preceding centuries did not work. Leaders of Jewish communities of generations past, when faced with anti-Semitism, had managed to wrangle a certain amount of protection by going through official channels to the leader of non-Jewish communities. This time, these tactics did not work - with devastating results.
 
As Hilberg’s work shows, he, the author, does in no way accuse the Jewish leaders of inaction. He simply points out that their tried and true actions of the past, this time did not work. Also today, summit after summit, communications passed back and forth through official diplomatic channels. None of these tactics, now in modern time (for different reasons perhaps then the historical example given, but the lesson is the same), not once have successfully attained protection from anti-Semitism, or further security for the Jewish community in Israel and in the Diaspora.
 
The difference between now, and 1940, however, is that now we are being given second, third and fourth chances to recognize that our tactics are ineffective. What, those leaders of the ghettos and communities would have given for even one more chance. As we drag our feet, decades pass, decades that for sure are marked by the blood of those who lost their live because of our leaders mistaken tactics, but decades that pass while our State is still in our hands, while our population is frayed, injured, torn around the edges, but still essentially whole.
 
Those leaders of the past are now long gone; some leave only diaries as testament to their tactics tried and failed. Back then, events spiraled out of control, so quickly, that as one diarist wrote, after repeated efforts at diplomacy, the full realization of his failure staring him in the face, “they wanted me to kill the children with my own hands.” Knowing all was lost,, he took his life, leaving us with his diary, a precious gift, a lesson, in how we can protect our children. For us, for Israel , it is not too late.

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