Q&A: Your support for establishing a Palestinian state in the territories of Judea and Samaria
Your support for establishing a Palestinian state in the territories of Judea and Samaria
Question
I watched on YouTube “A Philosophical Look at the Axis of Evil” — a Zoom session you held a few days ago.
You said that דווקא now you support an Arab state in the territories of Judea and Samaria, because in your view not everyone there is bad.
A few small questions:
A. How many negative criticisms have you heard from the moderate “Palestinian” elements (for example, the Palestinian Authority) about the massacre of October 7?
B. How many Arabs in Judea and Samaria, and their behavior, have you personally encountered in recent years — not only in the context of terror attacks, but also in day-to-day life?
C. How many demilitarized Arab societies do you know of in our region (Egypt-Jordan-Israel-Syria-Lebanon-Iraq)?
Answer
The discussion is pointless. With all due respect, I’ll allow myself not to respond.
With all due respect from my side as well —
I have no interest in stirring up a debate over whether there is or isn’t a chance for a peace agreement with the Arabs.
My intention in raising these questions is to ask them in the context of the things you said in that Zoom session — criticism and fundamentalism. So whether you respond or not, I recommend that all readers of the blog read what I’m writing here.
To the point:
Isn’t chasing after a peace agreement itself a kind of fundamentalism, which you mentioned in the discussion as something negative (especially since it’s clear that this is not something that is a must, or even close to that)?
That is, after everything we did for the sake of calm and peace with the Arabs of Judea and Samaria and Gaza (Oslo/Wye/the disengagement/benefits to Hamas/strengthening the Palestinian Authority) and the failed results, isn’t someone who still supports an agreement with them himself a fundamentalist who is behaving irrationally?
And granted, if October 7 had not happened, or at least if we had seen whole groups within the public of the Arabs of Judea and Samaria come out forcefully against the slaughter that was carried out in the Gaza border communities on that day, then maybe….
But as stated, the facts are not on the side of those who advocate peace, so are you capable of looking in a critical and rational way, as you recommend to everyone on every subject, also at the things that you yourself say?
And finally — morality.
Let’s set aside for a moment the obvious security dangers (that alone is enough to disqualify your idea from even a slightly logical and critical perspective, because the level of risk to Jews would rise by orders of magnitude), and let’s also leave aside the halakhic issue — what about the moral aspect?
Isn’t throwing Jews out of their homes (obviously against their will), destroying those homes (including removing graves, destroying synagogues and study halls, etc.), and of course leaving those areas as “Judenrein” a hideous moral wrong?
Is giving the Arabs a “full prize,” in the form of a state of their own, after the catastrophe of October 7 a moral and logical idea?
Even if there is a period of security quiet (as noted, a pipe dream), won’t their books say that the “resistance operation” of October 7 was worth it (despite the prices they paid in Gaza)?