President Biden declares at every opportunity that after the war, the "two-state vision" must be advanced, and in order for us to withstand the expected American pressure, it is important that we remind ourselves of some truths. The massacre in the western Negev proved what is growing in the territory from which we are withdrawing, and how absurd is the mantra that in the 21st century territory has no meaning.
Prime Minister Netanyahu: "There is no way we are not returning to fighting to the end. This is my policy" // Video: Itay Beit On /GPO, Sound: Ben Peretz /GPO
At Simchat Torah we have experienced in a concentrated way what we have witnessed, in fact, over the past 30 years. In Oslo I and II, Israel withdrew from the territories in exchange for a Palestinian commitment to end armed struggle and terrorism, but terrorism intensified on a scale unknown before in the history of the conflict.
Went for the jackpot
When Ehud Barak changed course and strove for a permanent agreement with the Palestinians, he crushed all the principles of the national consensus and went all out: an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, withdrawal from the Jordan Valley, acceptance of the principle of withdrawal to the '67 lines, and land swaps, in which Israel would withdraw from territories in the Negev as compensation for the large settlement blocs in the West Bank, which would remain under its sovereignty.
In return, he expected Arafat to sign a peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians, declaring an end to the conflict. Hela, who refused to give up the demand for the "right of return," rejected the proposal out of hand - in blood and fire and billows of smoke:
Peres, Arafat and Rabin, Photo: Yaakov Saar
In the largest and most brutal wave of terror since the beginning of the conflict, which has claimed the lives of more than a thousand Israelis. And all this when the PA territories in Judea and Samaria and Gaza were like a state in every respect, and the IDF refrained from entering them in order to fight back. In those years, Palestinians only saw an Israeli soldier on television.
Cry for the ages
In Operation Defensive Shield, the IDF entered PA territory in Judea and Samaria with great force, destroyed the terrorist infrastructure and restored the freedom of action of the IDF and the security forces. The operation was also intended to take place in the Gaza Strip, but was canceled at the last minute in a decision that turned out to be a cry for generations.
The difference between the scope and intensity of terrorism from Judea and Samaria – where the IDF and Shin Bet thwart hundreds of attacks every year by arresting terrorists before they carry out their plot – and the scope and intensity of terrorism from the Gaza Strip, where the IDF and Shin Bet do not operate, we have felt throughout the years since then, and the peak was on October 7.
The destruction in Bari. "Some people find it more difficult", Photo: Yossi Zeliger
Without the IDF's freedom of action, the de facto state of Gaza has a monstrous terrorist infrastructure, a high-trajectory launching force that covers most of Israel's territory and has fired tens of thousands of rockets at it over the years, and an unprecedented underground tunnel system that allows terrorists to operate unhindered. The disengagement escalated terrorism and gave it a tailwind.
And now they are again trying to sell us the vision of a Palestinian state. After realizing the importance of the area, some try to dwarf us to a territory about half the distance between the Gaza border and Ofakim, where the terrorists arrived on Simchat Torah.
This means that the Dan region, where most of Israel's population is concentrated, will be the next "envelope" – the envelope of the Palestinian state. This must not happen. Israel's eastern border must not be even one meter west of the Jordan River.
For the past 30 years, Israeli citizens have been guinea pigs for this path. Having seen the results of its partial implementation, we must not agree to be guinea pigs for its full implementation – much less after the October 7 disaster.
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