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| Tamar, a resident of Shilo on the West Bank (Screenshot) |
I expected that there would be somewhat of a diverse range of opinions but that most of them would fight to stay in their homes. I am happy to report that some of them (about half I would say) said they would be willing to give up their homes on the West Bank if a true and lasting peace was in the offing. Considering the fact that most of these settlers are likely to be of the religious Zionist camp – which believes that settling all of the land of Israel is of the highest priority... one that might require great sacrifice, I thought these answers were remarkable.
This is not to say that I didn’t hear the expected ‘fight to the finish’ response from some of them. But clearly the other responses were reasonable.
So where are the extremists that I have discussed here in the past? These are not them. These are settlers that are there for a variety of reasons. Some ideological. Some practical - (like cheaper housing). Some both. I did not recognize the names of all the settlements, but I did recognize some. They are well established and consist of mainstream religious Zionists who strongly believe in the tenets of religious Zionism but are also reasonable people that recognize their responsibility to the public welfare. I was happy to hear so many of them say they would leave their homes if the government required it. Reluctant though they might be.
It has been my view for quite some time now that a real and lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians is worth the price of giving up some land. I have not changed my views about that. What is unfortunately also true is that a real peace is unlikely if not impossible under current conditions. As I have said numerous times, giving Gaza to the Palestinians demonstrated in microcosm what would happen if Israel gave them the West Bank.
There is not the slightest doubt in my mind that the religious fanatics of Islam (of which Hamas and Hezbollah are members) see it as their moral duty to rid ‘their’ holy land of the ‘infidel Jews’ and retake it for the glory of Islam. Israel can ill afford to take the same chance with the West Bank it did with Gaza. Doing so would create an extremely wide border with Israel. And just like in Gaza, the West Bank would soon be under the control of Hamas. Who with the backing of Iran, would not waste a minute attacking Israel. How do I know this? All one need do is look at what they are trying to do now from Gaza. There is no reason to believe they will not do the same from the West Bank. Resulting in mass casualties many times more than has been the case till now.
So those settlers are on safe ground right now. They do not have to worry about losing their homes. Nor would the necessarily lose them in some sort of peace treaty.
The settlers that more or less said they would fight to the finish to keep their homes, are the ones I worry about. They are not the extremist type settlers who set up trailer parks deep into the West Bank where Palestinians live. They are not be the rock throwers and fire bombers that some of those extremists are. They are not the ‘price taggers’.
But their active resistance to leave their homes in the unlikely event that there would be a legitimate peace treaty would in my view be the height of arrogance and selfishness. Thinking only of themselves rather than the welfare of their countryman is not anything to celebrate and support. They would be wrong to not abide by the law of the land. Morally no better than Neturei Karta at the other end of the spectrum who would give up all of Israel and live under Palestinian rule if it were up to them.
It is a religious imperative that Pikuach Nefesh trumps almost everything else. Including settling all of Eretz Yisroel. It is the same Pikuach Nefesh imperative that argues for not giving any land back at all - under current conditions.
I know it’s hard to leave the home you have made for yourself and lived in for so many years. I would not want to leave my own home under similar circumstances. But hard as it would be, I would do it if it meant eliminating or substantially reducing the bloodshed of my brothers. Pikuach Nefesh is what drives my opinion on this issue. Whether it means keeping the West Bank of giving it up.
