[Based on an article that originally appeared in Hebrew in Besheva and translated from the original Hebrew by Sally Zahav for the Sovereignty Movement]
We have been familiar with the radical leftist organization Commanders for Israel’s Security for many years. We still remember the delusional fliers that they distributed before the expulsion from Gush Katif and northern Samaria entitled “Senior Reserves Officers and Security figures from the entire range of the political spectrum state: the Disengagement from Gaza is good for security.” On paper, in black and white, they signed their names to the statement that the expulsion was the best thing for the State of Israel. “We, the undersigned”, said the flyer, above the signatures, “state that in our professional opinion, in the absence of a partner for an arrangement, the intended Disengagement plan strengthens the state and is essential for Israel’s security.”
Five years previously, during the brief period of Ehud Barak’s government, the commanders said that the hasty withdrawal from Lebanon was the correct step. In his article, The Return of the Disconnected Generals, that was published in Haaretz, Israel Harel writes: “In the flight from Lebanon and Gaza, the security experts promised that if the enemy dared to shell the home front ‘we will beat the crap out of him.’ Thus, for example, is how the crap was beaten out of Hizb’Allah: after fleeing in 2000, and especially when it shelled the Israeli home front in the Second Lebanon War, we abandoned the battlefield before its resolution. We allowed Hizb'Allah to stockpile hundreds of thousands of missiles, dig attack tunnels underneath us and be the spearhead for the Revolutionary Guard. And in the case of Hamas as well, which, for the past 13 years has been embittering our lives, we have not stopped ‘beating the crap out of them.’”
In recent weeks, the organization has been putting the best of its money and energy into cutting off the process of applying sovereignty in Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley. They are flooding the various media outlets with a misleading survey claiming that most of the citizens of the State of Israel oppose the application of sovereignty. They claim that only 24% of the Jewish public believes that the appropriate political goal for the State of Israel at this time is the annexation of the territories of Judea and Samaria and continuing Israeli rule in the entire area; compared to 55% who think that a permanent agreement is the preferred solution and 21% who support unilateral separation.
In contrast to this survey, a survey by Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar’s Sovereignty Movement, in a representative sample of the adult Jewish public in Israel, by the research institute Ma’agar Mohot, managed by Prof. Yizhak Katz, claims different results. According to this survey, the great majority of the Israeli population – about 75% – is interested in the applying Israeli sovereignty in the territories of Judea and Samaria. Only 7% are interested in establishing a Palestinian state in this area.
A survey conducted by the YESHA (Judea, Samara and Gaza) Council in 2016 by the Medagem Institute, led by Meno Geva and Dr. Mina Tsemah, shows that a great majority of the Israeli public on the Right and the Left supports the application of Israeli sovereignty in the city of Ma’ale Adumim. The findings of the survey show that approximately 78% of the Jewish population is convinced that Israel must apply her sovereignty in Ma’ale Adumim even without the Palestinians’ agreement – as it legally applied sovereignty in the Golan Heights – and that more than 70% believe that it is necessary to apply sovereignty in Ma’ale Adumim even if Israel must pay a significant political price and absorb a sharp international response.
The significance of not applying sovereignty is profound. While those who oppose it claim that the application of sovereignty will turn the State of Israel into a bi-national state with a clear Arab majority, the Two-state Solution that they advocate would turn the state that would be established in Judea and Samaria, Heaven forbid, into a terror state within touching distance. In such a case, the geographical problem would be a thousand times more dangerous than the demographic problem. We must not allow ourselves to become a state with such a “narrow waist,” which would pose a much greater security threat to us. Moreover, the establishment of a Palestinian state between the Jordan River and the sea would cause millions of “refugees” to come to Judea and Samaria, which would intensify the demographic problem immeasurably.
It has already been more than fifty years that parties in Israel and the world have been trying to formulate a solution that would be acceptable to both sides, but no solution has been accepted to this point. All of the solutions that have been formulated have not succeeded or have been rejected by the Arab side. Also, every time that we have fled from the field unilaterally or under a peace agreement, we have received an even larger terror state. Anyone who has tried to use scare tactics in the past has avoided the issue of security for the citizens of Israel. We have tried the solutions that say that we must uproot communities – now the time has come to try the sovereignty solution.
The great general Ariel Sharon said a few months before executing the expulsion, that “I understand security and I promise the People of Israel 40 years of quiet”. The Commanders for the Security of Israel also said this, and this is what they are saying today. It seems that it does not matter how big the general is, what his rank is, how much experience he has, and the number of generals – in the end, his opinion is no guarantee for security. The residents of the Gaza belt can testify to this.
It is our duty to apply our sovereignty in the expanse of Jewish settlement in Judea, Samaria, and the Jordan Valley. In light of past failures, when there was not even one solution that was acceptable to both sides and would protect the security of the citizens of the State of Israel, we must put an end to the transient situation in which the residents of Judea and Samaria find themselves today. The military administration must end, the time has come for the State of Israel to take responsibility for the residents of Judea, Samaria, and the Jordan Valley and turn the area into an integral part of the State of Israel.
The politicians say from every stage that beyond security, the main reason for our settling Judea and Samaria is because this tract of land is ours. Now we must roll up our sleeves and set out on the mission – the public has decided: Apply sovereignty now!