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Title: Settlements: Obstacles to Peace? Part4 View count: 229 Rating: 0 (0 ratings) Description: This is the Michael Coren Show. His guests are Rabbi Reuben Poupko- Beth Israel, Beth Aaron Synagogue, Shaul Goldstein- Regional Council Mayor Gush Etzion, Mayen Masri- Doctoral Candidate Osgoode Hall Law School, and Rafeef Ziadah- Palestinian Activist. http://www.michaelcoren.com Ariel Sharon's Settlement Plan in Samaria and Judea aims to keep the high important strategic terrain that is overlooking the coastal plane in Israeli hands. He aspires to blend the Arabs of the West Bank and the Jewish settlers in a way that it would not be possible to separate them in the future by a border. For that end, Sharon and Begin adopt the Settlers, a religious ideological movement which believes that the territories Israel has occupied since 1967, the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem, belong to the Biblical Land of Israel. Over the next twenty years, Sharon holds various ministerial portfolios and uses them all to sponsor more than a hundred settlements throughout the West Bank and Gaza, a home to some 200,000 Israeli citizens. Sharon explains his settlement policy as follows: "In my opinion what determines our fate for many generations to come are the Jewish settlements. Without underestimating the importance of war and military combat in the defense of our country, I think that in establishing settlements in the Galilee, in the Negev, in the Golan Heights, in Judea and Samaria, in the Jordan Valley and in the Gaza Strip I had the privilege as the chairman of the Settlement Affairs Ministers Committee and as the Defense Minister to decide about the establishing 230 settlements all over Israel, more than 60 of which in the Galilee. To me, the settlements are the most important thing. "Even back when I was on the banks of the Suez Canal, at the end of the Six-Day War in 1967, after my division fought and broke the Egyptian formation in Um Katef, I sent a telegram to the Infantry School in Israel ordering to move it, or units of it, to the nearest Jordanian base in Nablus. Later, when I returned to the General Headquarters in my position as Head of Training Department, I moved other bases as well This was the foundation of the Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria It started under the Labor government of Rabin and Peres, with Kedumim and Elkana. Moving the army bases was indeed what created the settlement map. Part of Nahals Basic Training Camp to Mevo Dotan, Infantry School to a base near Nablus, Horon Military Base, Military Police HQ was moved to Kadum, which is now Kedumim, Artillery Basic Training Camp was moved to Dir Sharf, which is now Shavey Shomron, Basic Training Camp 4 was moved to Beit El, Paratroopers Base to Beit Sahur near Beit Lehem, Engineering Base to Gush Etzion, Engineering Basic Training Camp to Adorayim, between Hebron and Dahariya, and to the Jordan Valley. This is how the map was created. Later, in 1977, when the large settlement campaign began, in that night when 12 settlement groups of Gush Emunim began building their settlements, each group was directed according to the settlement map which was based on the location of those army bases. Those army bases were the first places to which Gush Emunishs settlement groups entered. "The most important motive for settlement is historic. It was a mistake, of mine too, that for 30 years I did not stress enough the historic significance of establishing settlements in Judea and Samaria. This is indeed the birthplace of the Jewish people, and feeling your rights, which is a crucial component of security, depends first and foremost on the fact that you live in a place thats yours. To think that only the security factor is important was a mistake. Throughout the years, when I explained why Israel should keep Judea and Samaria and other regions, I emphasized only security reasons. While it is true that theres no alternative to the minimal depth problem, theres always the possibility that someone would say: To solve this security problem we grant you such and such aid or guarantees or means to cope. The security issue is of a temporary nature and a moot point, while the historic issue, which is the real issue, if far stronger than anything else. It was a mistake. Not a personal, but rather a Zionist one. The center of attraction to Israel is the Bible stories. The holidays, the seasons, the landscapes everything is historic. Mearat Hamachpela (Tomb of the Patriarchs) what nation in the world has such a monument, of almost 4,000 years, where the forefathers are buried, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Leah? We come to the United States and see Jeffersons tomb and the Lincoln Memorial, and millions of people come and observe with excitement a thing that is 200 years old. And here we see sites that are thousands years old. This element gives power and a feeling that you have a right." Say no to Islamic Jihad on the West and Israel. Tags: war, agreements, oslo, west, bank, gaza, peace, freedom, Author: kretinkooper |
