Ezra Ben-Shalom
jewishstate.com

28 February 2005

On 25 October 1956, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan announced the establishment of a unified military command for a "war of destruction against Israel". This was only the latest incident in a long history of aggression against the Jewish Homeland. Arab terrorism had been increasing every year; in 1956 alone, fedayeen terrorists killed 28 Israelis and wounded 127.

As regional dictators congratulated themselves on their Arab Nation, united in aggression against the only democracy in the Middle East, they trained armies and terrorists for the elimination of the Jewish State. For the Jews, a simple choice: fight or die.

The Jews fought and won a decisive victory. After all, men and women fighting for their freedom always defeat slaves. Launching their offensive on 29 October, they secured the entire Sinai peninsula by 5 November.

On 7 November, the United Nations General Assembly called on Israel to withdraw from Sinai.  President Eisenhower demanded Israeli compliance. Egypt, on the other hand, was not expected to give Israel anything in exchange for the withdrawal.

On 6 March 1957, Israel completed its withdrawal from the Sinai peninsula and Gaza. Were the Arabs impressed by this manifestation of Jewish generosity? Well, on 15 March, Egypt announced that Israel was no longer permitted to navigate through the newly reopened Suez Canal. Egypt and other Arab states went on to participate in further campaigns of attempted genocide.

Now the Israeli government intends to give away Gaza one more time, again for nothing. Thus the Jewish State will forfeit some of the bargaining chips that it could use in any future final-status negotiation. What justification is given? That the United States, the same actor that made Israel commit this mistake the first time, will support Israel's claim to parts of Judea and Samaria.

It is more likely that future US presidents will forget what George Bush said, but everyone will remember the precedent of Israeli withdrawals in exchange for nothing.

Unlike the vast majority of the lands seized in its wars against genocidal armies, Israel simply could not, and still cannot, hand over to Arab governments certain portions of Judea, Gaza, and Samaria that offer the strategic advantage that might allow it to survive the next Arab invasion. That is, the Jewish State should at least hold onto these territories until Arab governments are ready to recognize final borders.

We have another reason to remember the events of 1956. Today, the very, very numerous anti-Semites in Europe, North America, and across the world pretend that the Arabs' intolerance began in 1967, when Israel seized and held onto certain territories in its war for survival.

However, in 1956, the disputed territories, i.e., that part of Israel which surpasses the 1949 Armistice Lines, did not exist. So why did many Arabs want to destroy the Jews before the "settlements" (anti-Semitic speech for "disputed territory") existed? For that matter, why did some Arab extremists kill Jews even decades before the declaration of a Jewish State?

Because some parts of the Arab Nation have not come out of the cultural Dark Ages yet. Let us embrace those who have, without losing ourselves in the desert chasing mirages.

We may be walking out into the desert again, and there are many people who would like to lead us farther out.

For example, taxpayer-funded news media in Europe and North America call Jew-killing terrorists "militants" or "fighters", wheras jihadist killers of civilians on their respective continents remain terrorists. And, of course, the anti-Semites do not use the term "disputed territories". They prefer the word "settlement", or "colony", as if the Cherokee could colonize North America, or the Koreans Korea.

For these people, the "peace process" ends when the Jewish State accepts the untenable temporary cease-fire line of 1949 as its final borders. They would also like to see Israel commit demographic self-destruction by allowing itself an Arab majority, or a large enough Arab minority to form a coalition with masochistic anti-Zionist Jews.

The anti-Semites are high on their crack pipe of hatred. They feel secure when they know that they have the power to push down the Jews. If we take their opinions seriously, they will see that we are weak, and they will know that they can push us down. They will demand ever greater sacrifices and concessions, and the cycle of our self-destruction will have begun.