by Dr. Haim Shine
U.S. Secretary of State
John Kerry is learning the hard, roundabout way that 150-year-old
bloody conflicts (according to narrative A, Jews versus Arabs) and
thousands-of-years-old bloody conflicts (according to narrative B,
Israelites versus Canaanites) cannot be solved with a sword-wielding
dove.
As has been proved
countless times in history, peace cannot be forced on anyone. Peace is
not made through coercion; love does not develop in the brain. As was
written in Kings 1: "And the Lord gave Solomon wisdom ... and there was
peace between Hiram and Solomon; and they two made a league together."
The wise man, king of Israel, understood that a ratified peace deal was
only possible once peace had been achieved between those in conflict.
Whoever tries to cut a
deal first and seek peace later is leading his or her people astray.
There will never be peace as long as the Palestinian Arabs remain
unwilling to recognize a Jewish state of Israel, end incitement and wake
up from the dream of return, which, as long as Israelis value their
lives, will never be fulfilled. The greatest tragedy in our region is
that the sons of darkness among our neighbors are much more determined
than the sons of light, hindering progress toward reconciliation and
peace.
When Kerry shows early
signs of dejection or desperation over his ability to make quick peace
during his term, even Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman lets himself
go, obsequiously complimenting Kerry's determination and longing for
immediate peace. When it turns out that the Kerry document is nothing
more than a collection of disputable items, a document that leaves
Israeli security to advanced technology and foreign armies, even Habayit
Hayehudi Chairman Naftali Bennett will go up to the Torah in his
synagogue to intone an ancient blessing in honor of U.S. President
Barack Obama and the secretary of state: Give salvation to kings and
miracles to a multitude of advisers.
As always, the Israeli
Left has wrapped itself in gloom, mourning the loss of the last peace
deal. The Left's pessimism has accompanied the rebirth of Israel for
decades. It was already present in the Brit Shalom organization, which
favored binationalism, before the state was established. My advice to
left-wing leaders is to save their despondence; they'll need it later
on. When the Left laments and the Right builds, the future of Israel is
assured for many generations to come.
The great majority of
Israeli citizens supports Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's firm and
just stance on the right of Jews to security in their ancient homeland.
What the leadership needs now is historical vision, beyond the endless,
mundane, everyday tasks of running a complex state. Realizing the vision
of reviving Israel in its land is a thousand times more important than
any attempt to win favor among the international community. Nobody will
ever ride Jewish people into the ground again. The reason we came home
after thousands of years was to seize our own destiny's plow, refusing
to hand it over to foreign hands, certainly not the European Union,
which has time and again proved both its shortsightedness and its hatred
for Israel and its policymakers.
A clear sign that the Kerry drama
is coming to a close is the return to the burning issue of recruiting
yeshiva students to the army. When the external pressure is off, the
Jews immediately relapse to internal wrangling. Maybe the time has come
to turn that fighting spirit toward creativity and development. Peace
between brothers should come before peace between enemies.
Dr. Haim Shine
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=7329
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
No comments:
Post a Comment