Observing Israel being steadily pushed back by its grossly outgunned islamic enemy is a sad old story playing out again right before our eyes. The moslems are united behind the mission of completely eradicating the Jewish State and replacing it with a Moslem State, while the Jews are indecisive, ambivalent and passive about their fate.
This was also true before Israel came to be a recognized State in 1947 and the British stood in opposition to the settling Jews for pragmatic reasons: why inflame the crazy moslems when you can lean on the passive, outnumbered Jews who have no friends?
Today, except for a minority segment of Zionist Nationals, representing perhaps 25% of the total Israeli population, Jews are treating this as a game, willing to use their once beloved Land as bargaining chips to gain their real goal: tranquility.
Yet, is tranquility in and of itself really a worthy goal? If that's all one wants then that essentially means nothing else is worth fighting for. Give away your own mother if it makes your life easier. Give away your spouse, or your kids, or your house if it means less aggravation. Is this what a Jewish State really is about? Just a tool to use for bargaining away any adversity and inconvenience?
And if so, why should the Jewish State exist at all? Is there not ample tranquility for Jews in America? Do Jews need this plot of Land if it's only a real estate transaction being subdivided by opportunists for political expedience?
The moslems driven, hardline approach is such a stark contrast against Israel's wishy-washy pragmatism, and that was never more obvious than in a recent interview
by Aaron Klein of Worldnet Daily with the PA's Al Aqsa Martyrs leader Abu Audai.
WND: Which West Bank towns can you currently strike with your rockets? Right now, can you reach Jerusalem or Tel Aviv?
OUDAI: We will reach every point where there is Israeli occupation on our land. We will shoot these rockets as long as Israeli tanks and aircraft are killing our people and yes this includes Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, but don't ask me where we shall shoot from next.
WND: When you talk about "our land," are you referring to the West Bank, or do you mean you will try to drive the Jews from all of Israel with your rockets?
OUDAI: Of course the whole thing [all of what you call Israel] is part of Palestine and we'll never give it up.
Now, compare this to the confused position by Israel on what the future borders should look like and what Israel's military mission is with regard to the rebel moslems, both from within and without, who seek its total destruction.
All three of Israel's top political parties - Likud, Labor and Kadima - are willing to make land concessions to the moslems and give them statehood, with only small differences over the semantics and details.
This belief among Israel's mainstream electorate that concession of territory to the moslems will ease Israel's burden is fascinating. The idea that one should divide one's own land and give it to the enemy with the hope that it will somehow make you safer and stronger as a result is very hard to believe, but it is happening right before ouir very eyes. Conquest by retreat, if you will.
Yet, there is nothing real to base these naive utopian dreams on. When the State of Israel came into existence it came from a willingness to settle Land that Jews claimed to be their own despite the hostile Arabs who stood in their way and despite being outnumbered. Jews kept settling and digging in with the understanding that this was not a move of practical convenience or luxury but of fulfilling a purely ideological mission at all costs.
Tranquility? That wasn't even on the map for those settlers, just as it is not a factor for today's. This was a life and death struggle for a cause that meant everything, and certainly nobody would have ever dreamed of giving away their homes and villages for the promise of stress reduction.
Today, those who settle in Judea or Samaria based on an ideological mission are reviled by the Israeli majority for being "religious zealots" or "extremists" despite the fact that they are in some ways a mirror reflection of the secular dreamers of long ago who stood for something bigger than political expedience and the promise of an easier path.
The old Leftwing Zionists are now the ones fat with power and have assumed the role the British held over the Jews years ago. Like that old British mandate of the White Paper that had banned Jews from coming to Israel and settling the land, the Jewish liberal elites of today are similarly banning the Jews from going to Judea, Samaria and Gaza for identical reasons: to appease the angry, violent moslems. The brave settlers are seen as disturbing the easy life. A thorn in the side of those wanting just to chill out and enjoy their coffee and pitas in peace.
Remember though, the mighty British no longer are in power over "Palestine" because the outnumbered Jewish settlers eventually won the day by standing strong in the face of adversity. This was no fluke, but the natural result of those who are driven by higher purpose against those in power just protecting their status quo.
Take heed from history's lessons, for the settlers and the nationalists who support them are not going to just go away in the face of long odds and high adversity. Their stomach for a fight is big, for the battle they wage is for everything, while the elites are just looking for the path of least resistance.
Just last week a settler group from Judea and Samaria proposed a plan to secede from Israel. Disregarding their mission might be a big mistake for those who are blinded by pragmatism.
-MZ