Why Abu Mazen wants a freeze
For those of you who are having a hard time understanding just what the issues are regarding the 'settlement freeze,' Daniel Gordis does a great job of explaining. ABBAS’S INSISTENCE on the freeze, even in places like Gush Etzion, Ariel and other blocs which are clearly not going to be returned, is not about roads or houses, but is but the first shot across the bow. The freeze is a metaphor for the legitimacy of the idea of this as the home of the Jews. The issue, he knows, is not borders, or even security. Most of us know approximately how those will eventually be settled.And that, my friends, is why 'two crummy months' make a difference. It's time for the World to recognize the Jews' right to the land of Israel. If not now, when?
The real issue is whether the world will acknowledge, almost a century after the Balfour Declaration, that the Jews, like other peoples, have a right to a homeland. Sadly, on that issue, there is much less international consensus than there used to be. We are in much worse shape than we were a decade or two ago. And given the direction in which matters are moving, time is not on our side.
Abbas, the Palestinians and even CNN get all of this. The question that matters, however, is whether we do – and what we will do to ensure that Jews, and others across the world who might sympathize with us, come to understand what is truly at stake.
Sorry for the blog being on autopilot for so long. I went out Sunday at 4:30, with all posts loaded until 11:00 pm. I came back at 10:30 and barely managed to schedule posts until 4:00 am. I did not even look at the comments until this morning. I appreciate your patience - I was totally wasted last night.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:49 AM
4 Comments:
When I first read it, I realized how Stupid Jews like Tzipi Livni and Ehud Barak don't really get it.
If Jews can't build anywhere in parts of Yesha, Israel would get to keep, why should Jews be allowed to build in Jerusalem or for that matter in pre-1967 Israel at all?
The Americans and Abu Bluff understand its the principle - and the precedent that's set for whittling away the Jews' sovereign right to live in their own homeland. The Stupid Jews think its all about the timing related to the peace talks.
What could go wrong indeed
"other blocs which are clearly not going to be returned"
I object to the use of the word "returned."
"Given" is more accurate.
Right. Why don't people get this?
There's also the Danegeld principle: Did the Vikings stop coming up the Thames each summer because they got paid the previous summer? On the contrary, that's exactly why they came back again and again. Why in the world should the freeze be extended for only "two crummy months"? On the contrary it would then be two months more and two months more. In fact, that's what's happening right now--after all, the _last_ one was supposed to be "only" a certain number of months, and look what's happening.
I get kind of perturbed, too, at the use of the term "settlement" when part of what we're talking about is east Jerusalem (right?), which was _supposedly_ annexed unilaterally. That's some unilateral annexation there!
I sometimes want to ask this question: What, exactly, is someone like Netanyahu afraid Obama will do to him if he just says, "Go away and leave me alone" and counts his blessings that he doesn't have to go through the ritual of phony "peace talks" anymore with people who want to kill him?
Is it that the U.S. will refuse to sell arms to Israel anymore? What's the threat that our president holds over your prime minister?
It is a time for Jews to claim their belief in their land given to them by Hashem and set out clearly in the Torah. It is in our hands to set this clear for the world. We have a G-d given right to it.
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