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Last update - 10:06 05/07/2009
They should read Jabotinsky
By Chaim Gans
Tags: settlements, Ze'ev Jabotinsky 

President Barack Obama's insistence on a complete settlement freeze is justified from the standpoint of his global policy - which aims for a world order with as little violence as possible - with all the dangers this entails. But it is also justified from the standpoint of his concern for Israel, its wholeness, Jewishness and morality.

As for Obama's global policy, Moshe Arens complained on this page a few days ago of Obama's double standard for treating Israel and "the troublemakers in Tehran, Damascus and Pyongyang." Arens tells us that Obama has decided to "sweet-talk them" and to allow them to "get away with murder." As for Israel, "America's longtime ally," Obama decided to use a firm hand. It's as if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il were toddlers in Obama's nursery, and he must rule in favor of one of them according to some infantile "it's-not-fair" standard.

Is it not clear that if Obama wishes to make credible demands of those who upset the world order and who do not count themselves among America's allies - countries like North Korea, Iran and Syria - he must first gain control over those who upset the world order but who are ensconced in his camp, particularly Israel? It is somewhat embarrassing to have to tell this to a man who was once Israel's defense minister. But Arens errs not only in his criticism of Obama's foreign policy. He also does not understand that Obama's policy is also correct from Israel's standpoint. The U.S. president and his administration are convinced that settlements are illegitimate, and they are right.
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Arens and the right wing in general believe that the settlements are legitimate because the Jews' historic right to the Land of Israel serves as the basis for the right to exercise sovereignty over all the land. Yet even Arens' ideological forefather, Ze'ev Jabotinsky, did not think so. As Prof. Gideon Shimoni has noted, Jabotinsky wrote that if the Jews felt they had enough land, they wouldn't need to rely on historic rights.

During his testimony to the Peel Commission, Jabotinsky rationalized the necessity for a Jewish homeland on both banks of the Jordan River not by citing historic rights, but by the need to rescue Europe's Jews from extermination (while taking into account the population density that would have resulted in the late 1930s in relation to the number of Jews in Europe).

The Jews' historic right justified their choice of the Land of Israel as the place to realize their self-determination. But that right has never justified Jewish sovereignty over all the Land of Israel. The Zionist movement accepted this truth at every important stage of its history. After the persecution of the Jews reached its peak in the 1940s, Zionism had the justification to actualize its right to self-determination immediately. It is no wonder then that Israel's attempt to turn this historic right into the basis for demands more than 60 years after the persecution of the Jews - all while continuing its cruelty and abuse of the Palestinians - endangers both world peace and Israel's moral standing.

Arens' claim that "the right of Jews to live in Judea and Samaria is a basic principle not subject to negotiations" has only managed to persuade the Israeli right, which has also misinterpreted the views of its spiritual leader. But it fails to convince other Israelis, Obama and the world. From Israel's standpoint, this view not only endangers the future, but also the past.
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  1.   has mr gans heard of san remo 1920???? 09:56  |  vhardman 05/07/09
  2.   Legitimacy : Israel and the 22 Arab League countries. 10:01  |  Lane 05/07/09
  3.   The ?Mandate for Palestine? is Valid to This Day. 10:03  |  Lane 05/07/09
  4.   Almost Lane, But No Cigar 10:41  |  Mark of Lewiston 05/07/09
  5.   Barring access to olive groves with Jewish settlements is theft. 10:41  |  Hannah 05/07/09
  6.   Why bother coming back to Israel if not to come home 11:14  |  Jason 05/07/09
  7.   those justifying settling land on a basis of divine right 11:29  |  ay 05/07/09
  8.   #5 reply 11:58  |  observer 05/07/09
  9.   G-D JUSTIFIES ISRAEL`S INHERITANCE ON HIS LAND ?? 13:38  |  BILL 05/07/09
  10.   #1 Victor Hardhead aka paul harris aka mr san remo 14:05  |  Labhras 05/07/09
  11.   #8 Observer, why no address????. 14:09  |  Labhras 05/07/09
  12.   Britain`s mandate 14:30  |  Sherlock Holmes 05/07/09
  13.   #9 Labarse of arabia the irish brigand and more bilge 15:38  |  vhardman 05/07/09
  14.   Not Obama, but decent Israelis must end the WB take-over 15:42  |  soeasytomakefriends 05/07/09
  15.   #9 Actual hand written and signed deed---please 15:44  |  Labhras 05/07/09
  16.   San Remo gave general, not "TOTAL" approval 15:45  |  Witness 05/07/09
  17.   To lane #2 15:46  |  Martin 05/07/09
  18.   # 10 labhras 15:52  |  Axel 05/07/09
  19.   # 10 labhras 15:52  |  Axel 05/07/09
  20.   "endangers (both) world peace" 15:56  |  Conrad Gillte 05/07/09
  21.   IRA types talk about fanatics & ignore their own racists 16:00  |  PETER SM 05/07/09
  22.   If Jews have right to live in "Judea and Samaria" 16:00  |  newageblues 05/07/09
  23.   #17 Peter SM 16:27  |  Chris Linthwaite 05/07/09
  24.   #17 Peter Sm got it wrong ---again 16:28  |  Labhras 05/07/09
  25.   #9 Bill 16:32  |  Chris Linthwaite 05/07/09
  26.   #15 Axel correct--but dont be too hard on vicky 16:37  |  Labhras 05/07/09
  27.   historic rights 17:48  |  oz 05/07/09
  28.   labhras 17:59  |  patriot 05/07/09
  29.   JESUSALEN 18:12  |  JESUSALEN 05/07/09
  30.   historic 18:17  |  oz 05/07/09
  31.   They should read Jabotinsky 18:20  |  Claire Magyar 05/07/09
  32.   patriot I did not raise irelands problems 18:39  |  Labhras 05/07/09
  33.   Lane - This Mandate granted Jews the irrevocable right to settle 18:58  |  CJ 05/07/09
  34.   peter sm 19:09  |  patriot 05/07/09
  35.   chaim gans 19:46  |  Connie 05/07/09
  36.   #34 patriot now I will hold a discussion with you. 20:19  |  Labhras 05/07/09
  37.   from axel and labarse of arabia who will prove 20:24  |  v hardman 05/07/09
  38.   It`s not divine right, and it`s not the entire land either 21:29  |  Joe Sittizen 05/07/09
  39.   #37 Victor hardhead aka Paul Harris--proof Paul 22:31  |  Labhras 05/07/09
  40.   What is truly amazing 22:45  |  Janice 05/07/09
  41.   joe sittizen 38 23:17  |  potobac 05/07/09
  42.   San Remo, 1920 00:00  |  Adam Bennett 06/07/09
  43.   # 40 janice 00:09  |  Axel 06/07/09
  44.   To Connie@ 35 chaim gans is a BUM,Obama is In trouble gans forget 00:12  |  Whiskey/Bravo 06/07/09
  45.   almost a Mark 00:39  |  Hilda 06/07/09
  46.   ti Hanna in New Zealand. 00:43  |  Hilda 06/07/09
  47.   #8 reply Waitangi Tribunal compensates Maori 00:53  |  Hannah 06/07/09
  48.   Settlement Construction is ILLEGAL 00:54  |  Jordan 06/07/09
  49.   Mr Gans should learn to read period 01:25  |  Gee 06/07/09
  50.   Historic Fact 04:11  |  Iain 06/07/09
  51.   Why the term sovereighn state was definitively meant. 04:47  |  ameneyman 06/07/09
  52.   Obama wants a confrontation with Israel 05:04  |  Roberto 06/07/09
  53.   Well! That`s sticking it to Arens.... 06:13  |  Johnboy 06/07/09
  54.   v hardman - the 1922 mandate was NOT adopted into the uncharter 06:35  |  CJ 06/07/09
  55.   Joe Sittizen 06:40  |  CJ 06/07/09
  56.   Roberto and no peace 06:43  |  Janice 06/07/09
  57.   ameneyman - the phrase "In Palastine" didn`t mean a STATE 06:46  |  CJ 06/07/09
  58.   Roberto 06:52  |  CJ 06/07/09
  59.   #48 cj begs the question but agrees the points 08:13  |  v hardman 06/07/09
  60.   #59 I`m curious, VictorPaul.... 11:30  |  Johnboy 06/07/09
  61.   The Bottom line! 18:57  |  ameneyman 06/07/09
  62.   v hardman....alas reality isn`t your forte 06:21  |  CJ 07/07/09
  63.   Johnboy..The mandate became irrelevant when the Brits left.. 06:29  |  CJ 07/07/09
  64.   Post #10: Here is some proof Labhras 22:23  |  Michael 07/07/09
  65.   Gans Should Read Jabotinsky 07:50  |  Daniel Tauber 17/08/09
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