The Golden Opportunity

By Moshe Feiglin

10 Nissan, 5774
April 10, ‘14

Translated from Makor Rishon

The breakdown of ‘peace talks’ and Abu Mazen’s formal application to 15 UN organizations is Netanyahu’s golden opportunity. He can continue with his “whose fault is the breakdown of talks” strategy – in other words, Zionism’s rear guard war – and pay outrageous prices for the fact that a dialogue is taking place. Or he can emerge from his defensive strategy and go on the offense; he can go from reacting to initiative; from stammering to clear statements; from excuses to justice.

The Rabin-Arafat handshake – and later, the Netanyahu-Arafat handshake – caged Israeli mentality in the Oslo concept. Twenty years have passed since we adopted the ‘justice’ of the ‘Palestinian’ cause and surrendered our own. The result is international pressure that erodes all the moral, sovereign and security achievements of Zionism.

Israel’s recognition of the ‘Palestinian nation’ and its rights to our heartland turned Zionism into colonialism and the State of Israel into a state founded in sin. Oslo laid Zionism bare of its moral expression. Twenty years later, we are no longer the good guys, the ingathering of exiles and making the desert bloom no longer make us ethical and we have become the ‘new Nazis.”

Israel’s willingness to retreat from parts of its Land, to freeze construction in Jerusalem, to transfer the Temple Mount to Jordanian rule and much more, have dealt a severe blow to our sovereign achievements. Since Oslo, we are less and less a sovereign nation. Before Oslo, Israel’s position ensured that the US would not recognize the PLO. Today, Israel recognizes the PLO, but the PLO does not recognize Israel – and merits American backing. Instead of demanding an apology of Turkey for the Marmara, Israel apologizes and reimburses Turkey. Our loss of sovereignty is also closely linked to the rise of the underworld in our country. Where government is weak, the Bedouin law rules the Negev and gangster law rules our cities.

Most severe of all is the security damage brought about by the Oslo Accords. It is not only the narrow dimension of our technical ability to defend  ourselves – the thousands of murdered Israelis and the rockets on Sderot and Tel Aviv. It is also the deeper dimension of the loss of legitimacy for Jewish existence. Israel’s willingness to free convicted murderers has returned the status of Jewish existence to something less than sanctified. First, the murderers were freed for the sake of ‘peace’. Today, they are being freed for the privilege of talking with their leaders. For when you have agreed that you are nothing more than a colonialist in their land, you need a peace process to justify your continued occupancy of both Beit El and Tel Aviv.

There is no real moral difference between the conquest of 1948 and the conquest of 1967. If Beit El belongs to them, then Jaffa does, as well. After all, everybody knows that they are both part of one country.  The loss of our sense of justice brings about the terrorist release and the terrorist release brings about the loss of our existential legitimacy. When we see how the Jews release the murderers of women, children and babies, we no longer ask how the world remained silent as the transports travelled east.

Netanyahu now has a golden opportunity to turn all of this around. By turning to the UN, Abu Mazen has announced the end of the Oslo Accords. Israel has already said that this would bring about the nullification of the Accords. Netanyahu must announce that the Oslo Accords are null and void. He must declare full Israeli sovereignty over all the territory under IDF control and afford the Arab residents of Judea and Samaria permanent resident status. Those Arabs who prove their loyalty may be offered a future option for citizenship. This is the same option that Israel gives the Arabs of East Jerusalem.

The astronomic sums that the cursed Oslo Accords continue to drain from our economy – nearly one trillion shekels to date and more than 10% of our annual budget – can be channeled to creating a generous emigration package for the Arabs and massive Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria.