Been There, Done That

By Moshe Feiglin

All the well-oiled systems, the chartered buses, the settlement secretariat, the familiar demonstration machine were perfectly orchestrated for Monday's protest against "American pressure." "We must strengthen Netanyahu," they explained in the settlement synagogues. The small turnout shows that the public understands that any protest led by the same people who had them pointlessly marching around the fence of Kfar Maimon will ultimately achieve the same results.

At the same time, pioneering youth built 11 new outposts in the Land of Israel. Anonymous sources in the Yesha Council denounced the youth, claiming that their actions are detrimental to the building of the land. I don't understand how settling the land is detrimental to the building of the land, but it is quite clear that it is detrimental to the stability of the old Yesha leadership.

After Monday's demonstration, Ynet reported that "Yesha Council Director, Pinchas Wallerstein, said that the American pressure on Israel this week reached heights that are an embarrassment to a democratic society." Wallerstein's concern for democracy is touching. But wasn't it Danny Dayan who was elected to head the New Yesha Council? The council that cleansed itself of the betrayal and cooperation with the destruction of Gush Katif? How has Wallerstein turned up once again? What democratic procedure re-installed the star of the Gush Katif fiasco to front stage?

Yes, there is truly nothing new under the sun. This is not the first time that a pioneering public wishes to build and counter the grand collapse of its leaders. And it is not the first time that those established leaders make grandiose declarations, stage huge demonstrations with unclear goals and all the while, stab the pioneers in the back.

Winter, 5754 (1993) - 16 years ago. After countless attempts to convince the Yesha Council to build outposts throughout Yesha, Zo Artzeinu proceeded with the plan, called Mivtza Machpil, by itself. Settlement groups were prepared and the general public was enthusiastic; ready and willing to carry out the plan that could very well have prevented the signing of the Oslo Accords and all the horrific events that have transpired since. And who denounced the pioneers and took action to prevent Mivtza Machpil from being implemented?

You guessed it. The Yesha Council. The following is an excerpt of an article that I wrote over five years ago about the Yesha Council. It is even more relevant today:

On the eve of the Jewish new year of 5754 I hung a note on the bulletin board of my settlement, Neve Aliza. The note delineated a simple plan that would prevent the implementation of the developing Oslo Accords. I was a private person. I didn't know anybody in a leadership position in the Yesha Council, and the neighborhood bulletin board was the only outlet for my ideas.

Arafat and his cohorts were still in Tunis. Nobody in Israel really believed that Rabin would actually bring him to Israel and shake his hand. After all the years that Israel had blacklisted Arafat, the Americans were also astounded by the idea. Arafat was subject to strong internal pressure and suspicion was rampant. At that point, Oslo seemed to be a fragile non-starter.

The plan that I outlined in that note was based on the fact that the core of Oslo - the territories that were slated to be surrendered to the Arabs - were strewn with Jewish settlements. A significant change on the ground would necessarily torpedo any secret agreements being put together. If every settlement would build an outpost near it and re-populate it every time it would be destroyed, it would be impossible for the government to continue in the Oslo direction. The plan detailed exactly how to carry out the project simply and effectively.

On Rosh Hashanah, our neighborhood rabbi asked me to provide him with more details. Right after the holiday, many neighbors gathered in my home and the next day a delegation of rabbis, doctors and other very respectable people from our neighborhood traveled to Jerusalem to get the ball rolling.

Where did we go? To the place that seemed most natural to start: the official leadership of the settlers - the Yesha Council.

I will not tire my readers with all the details. You can read them (and it is important for everyone who wants to carry out an effective struggle today to do so) in my book, "Where There Are no Men." I will just state a few facts:

• The Yesha Council gave us its blessing and adopted the plan.
• The Yesha Council took upon itself to carry it out - and did nothing.
• When we began to carry out the plan ourselves, the Yesha Council delayed and sabotaged it.
• The very little that we nevertheless managed to carry out despite the stubborn opposition of the Yesha Council (six outposts) really did have the potential to stop Oslo - if we had only been able to continue.
• About a year later, in the summer of 5755, when we decided to block traffic throughout the country, we had already learned our lesson. We made sure not to have any connection at all with the Yesha Council and not to rely on it. The road blocking project was successful beyond all our expectations.

That is how Zo Artzeinu was born.

No, the people in the Yesha Council are not less idealistic than we are and they do not have personal motives. It goes much deeper than that. They are the old guard of Religious Zionism - the elite of Sebastia. These are the people who, in the '70s, drew the strength from their faith to run ahead of Zionism. But they never drew the strength to lead it. For these wonderful people, the source of the legitimacy of the Return to Zion is Zionism - not Judaism. In Sebastia they were nothing more than Yigal Alon with a skullcap and ritual fringes. They thought that Shimon Peres had just gotten a bit tired, so they will run ahead and he will eventually catch up.

We need to understand that running to the people and convincing them is exactly the Yesha Council's forte. But to go into a head-on battle against the very foundation on which they stand - is simply impossible.
(From "The Greatest Danger to the Struggle for Gush Katif," p. 196, The War of Dreams by Moshe Feiglin).

The Yesha public, like most people in Israel, is deeply connected to its Jewish identity, knows the truth, believes in its Jewish destiny and easily interfaces with actions that propel them toward their goals.

The "trick" that prevents the Jewish Nation from progressing toward its destiny repeats itself in different variations throughout history. You don't need thousands of riot police to stop 30,000 idealists with self sacrifice unparalleled since the splitting of the Red Sea from marching out of Kfar Maimon and saving Gush Katif. All you need is a cunning political and spiritual leadership that knows how to play both sides of the coin and gradually deflate the lofty spirit that motivates the masses.

This is the same deception used by the leadership of the fledgling State of Israel in the War of Independence to allow the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem to be destroyed and relinquished to the Jordanian enemy. This is precisely the method that will be employed to destroy the settlements in Judea and Samaria if its settlers do not learn from their own experience and appoint authentic and clear leadership now.

The struggle for the Land of Israel, for the Temple and for Israel's Jewish destiny is first and foremost the struggle for leadership of Israel. Manhigut Yehudit is doing its utmost to establish authentic Jewish leadership for the State of Israel. The settlers of Yesha must establish authentic Jewish leadership for the settlements. If the struggle for the outposts is not accompanied by a struggle for the leadership of Yesha, Wallerstein and his friends will lead the "battle" against Netanyahu's expulsion plans. The end of the story is already a given.

It is important to build new outposts in the Land of Israel and we salute those who do so. It is less pleasant to establish new leadership for Yesha. But it is much more vital!