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Hamas Out? PA In

Reader comment on item: Have Israelis Finally Learned the Strategic Value of Territory?

Submitted by Prof. Paul Eidelberg (Israel), Jan 5, 2009 at 03:11

I may be mistaken, but I think the primary motive of the Olmert-Livni-Barak government for waging war against Hamas in Gaza is to restore control of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority as a preliminary to the establishing a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria. These dismal—if not pathological—politicians have not really abandoned Oslo. The "territory-for-peace" syndrome is ingrained in their mentality perhaps as much as murderous hatred of Israel is ingrained in the mentality of the Palestinians.

There is another factor that may be motivating these politicians. They see that the birthrate of religious Jews in Israel will soon relegate them and their co-secularists to the political wilderness. To postpone this day, they are attempting to eviscerate the national identity or historical consciousness of the Jewish people, which is intimately linked to Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem, the tangible place names of the teachings of the prophets of Israel.

It is in this light that we are to understand why such words as "Judaism," Zionism," and "Eretz Israel" were deleted from the Soldiers Code of Ethics under the Rabin government—when Ehud Barak was Chief of General Staff. That government emasculated the Jewish content of the public school curriculum.

Notice, moreover, that Israel's ruling elites are multiculturalists: President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Education Minister Yuli Tamir, Defense Minister Ehud Barak—and let us not forget the ubiquitous influence of former Supreme Court president Aharon Barak. These elites have been tainted by the cultural relativism prevalent in Israel's "liberal" universities.

Underlying Israel's leftwing's policy of territory for peace, therefore, is an "undeclared" cultural war. The same sort of war is occurring in the United States, where the university-bred doctrine of moral relativism modulates the news media, the courts, and the leadership of the Democratic Party.

The ultimate issue is as large as the survival of Western civilization, the primary source of which, along with classical Greek philosophy, is the Bible of Israel.

Submitting....

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Reader comments (40) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
Could Mr Pipes or anyone help me understand why [623 words]Marcella, USJan 7, 2009 15:38147331
stop the misunderstanding on muslims attitude especially on martyrdorm [228 words]maiyangJan 9, 2009 00:45147331
ARAB EMIGRATION [135 words]CaroleJan 24, 2009 13:18147331
Whose land for peace? [757 words]Halley FaustJan 7, 2009 14:28147322
Media, the Craven Enemy of Humanity -- Ignores Legal Definition of "Disproportionate" and Uses the Sound Bite to Disinform -- Dore Gold Clarifies [205 words]Sofa SogoodJan 6, 2009 07:50147117
No No out-of-context givebacks! [87 words]MelMJan 5, 2009 23:50147089
Israel, That Special Country [241 words]JayJan 5, 2009 20:20147070
Mazel Tov but.. has Ehud Olmert learnt from the mistakes of 2006? [292 words]ShishirJan 5, 2009 13:50147025
Civilian populations enable terrorists [288 words]MichaelJan 5, 2009 12:18147020
The Withdraw for the Sinai was a terrible mistake ( and when many unsolvable problems began ) [69 words]James BurkeJan 5, 2009 10:51146996
Have Israelis Finally Learned that giving up their land which the LORD God has given them is not theirs but Gods! [155 words]VigilantJan 5, 2009 10:30146990
Prove to me that religion is true [74 words]Badr HariJan 9, 2009 15:33146990
Massacre of Israelis [104 words]CaroleJan 24, 2009 12:57146990
Israel should not give up one acre of land...Ever! [91 words]Ames TiedemanJan 5, 2009 09:17146977
i hope israel is not giving up any land [28 words]thomasMar 3, 2010 19:28146977
The Morality of War [173 words]Ralph C Whaley MDJan 5, 2009 08:17146968
Territory [18 words]PhillipJan 5, 2009 07:33146965
Self-defense [168 words]Jolly JackJan 5, 2009 05:31146955
Hamas Out? PA In [325 words]Prof. Paul EidelbergJan 5, 2009 03:11146945
Media, the Craven Enemy of Humanity -- Ignores Definition of "Disproportionate" and Uses the Sound Bite to Disinform -- Dore Gold Clarifies [206 words]Sofa SogoodJan 5, 2009 02:47146942
Disproportionality of Israeli Response ? [349 words]Stephen HughesJan 4, 2009 15:41146884
Disproportionality -- Nonsense [39 words]Romesh ChanderJan 5, 2009 01:45146884
What is a proper proportion in warfare? [75 words]Seamus MacNemiJan 5, 2009 16:59146884
Maximum terror/minimum damage has its advantages (for Hamas) [131 words]MelMJan 5, 2009 17:37146884
Fresh Thinking is Needed [822 words]Steve BermanJan 4, 2009 10:28146863
I wish, but it misses the point: RELIGION [990 words]der AlleswisserJan 4, 2009 20:19146863
If Egypt were to possess Gaza... [48 words]Matthew C. MasottiJan 3, 2009 16:29146765
Egypt does not want any part of Gaza [112 words]Romesh ChanderJan 5, 2009 01:41146765
It's not just about territory [134 words]Fred SchlomkaJan 3, 2009 10:38146744
Have Israelis Finally Learned the Strategic Value of Territory? [2739 words]Tess McNamara B.A. Women's Studies, B.A Family Studies, Student of Islam....(Australia)Jan 3, 2009 04:38146716
Magnanimous Speech. [195 words]SvetlanachkahJan 4, 2009 14:34146716
Bravo Tess! You survived the liberal, academic community, [15 words]Kerry L. WinnJan 5, 2009 08:46146716
All good points except [38 words]ShishirJan 5, 2009 13:37146716
Palestinian People Must Feel the Pain [142 words]John HarrisJan 2, 2009 22:02146698
flaws in the argument [91 words]yuval BrandstetterJan 4, 2009 13:02146698
A brilliant observation Mr. Harris and so true [122 words]Seamus MacNemiJan 6, 2009 09:20146698
Mr. Pipes: I asked you years ago to not use the misnomer. "War on Terror " as there is no such thing. [77 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Steve BorkowskiJan 2, 2009 16:32146671
Land for Peace policy [114 words]Jon PurizhanskyJan 2, 2009 11:54146656
What about Sinai [61 words]WayneJan 2, 2009 04:14146637
No Wayne [35 words]Kerry L. WinnJan 5, 2009 08:50146637

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Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

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