Israel Matzav

'Peace Now' bows to political reality - for now

I've written several times about the Givat HaYovel neighborhood of the town of Eli. Givat HaYovel is under a May 1 deadline for the government to demolish it as an 'illegal outpost.'

But Givat HaYovel has two families (out of 12) who have made the ultimate sacrifice for the State of Israel. And because of those two sacrifices, the neighborhood those two families' homes may be saved.

Three weeks ago, Eliraz Peretz HY"D (may God avenge his blood) was killed in action along the Gaza border fence in a battle with 'Palestinian' terrorists. And four years ago, Roi Klein HY"D fell on a hand grenade during the battle of Bint Jbeil, causing his own death but saving the lives of his men. When word got out that the homes of their widows and orphans were to be destroyed, it caused an uproar among the public. Now, 'Peace Now,' which brought the High Court petition asking that the homes be destroyed, is bowing to the political reality that insisting on these homes' destruction will destroy whatever credibility they have left. 'Peace Now' is going to ask the court not to order the homes destroyed. For now.

“We, too, are attentive to the families’ suffering and the delicate situation,” Peace Now Secretary General Yariv Oppenheimer said. “We are not insensitive; the thought that soldiers may come to evacuate those homes is difficult to bear, also for us.”

But Oppenheimer said there was also a political consideration involved.

“There is a campaign by right-wing officials trying to exploit difficult cases to prevent the evacuation of any outpost and we do not want to step into this trap,” he said.

“It is important to clarify that we still demand the demolition of illegal homes, but at this time we will ask the High Court of Justice not to discuss these two specific homes.”

Not good enough. What, you're going to leave the Klein and Peretz children with no playmates?

National Union MK Michael Ben Ari lambasted Peace Now’s revision to its petition, originally submitted five years ago, as “a cruel evasion.”

“The heroes of the outposts do not need to get killed so that their homes are spared demolition,” he said.

No, they don't. But unfortunately, I suspect that if that becomes the official policy, there will be a lot more homes saved in the 'outposts.' You see, the same people who live in the 'outposts' are much of the young officer corps in the IDF's elite combat units. And although Yariv Oppenheimer himself was a combat soldier (yes, really), most of his followers today are not and were not combat soldiers.

Just who does 'Peace Now' think will expel Jews from their homes in Judea and Samaria? Probably the military police, who include many 'Israeli Arabs' among their ranks. What could go wrong?

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:59 AM