Back in February 1997, when Benjamin Natanyahu was Israel’s prime minister, I wrote an article in The Jewish Press bearing the above title. Well, here it is, seven years later, and Bibi, to distinguish himself from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Sharon’s policy of “unilateral disengagement” from Gaza, is again flying the banner of “reciprocity.” Here is what I said, in part, seven years ago:
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been disarming people at home and abroad by intoning the term “reciprocity” as the moral imperative of the Israel-Arab “peace process.” What is the meaning of this mantra? In ordinary parlance, “reciprocity” means exchanging a Jewish quid for an Arab quo. But his Jewish quid means surrendering solid and not easily recoverable land for an Arab quo, which means nothing more than a tenuous and easily revocable Arab promise—say a promise to refrain from terrorist acts against Jews.
Netanyahu’s policy of reciprocity 1997 was nothing more than a spin for Oslo 1993, as witness the Wye Memorandum of 1998, when his government relinquished 42% of Judea and Samaria to Yasser Arafat and thus facilitated the Arafat War two years later. But what would “reciprocity” require today to satisfy Mr. Netanyahu? He does not say.
Today the Jewish quid, the removal of 7,500 Jews from Gaza and the surrender of this Jewish land to terrorists, would constitute not only a violation of Jewish law, but also of international law since that quid rewards terrorism, meaning crimes against humanity. What Arab quo will Mr. Netanyahu insist upon in return for this Jewish quid—this Jewish violation of law? That Hamas cease terrorist acts for 30 or 60 or 90 days? Has Bibi the PR man become a con man (assuming the two can be distinguished)? He knows very well that terrorism is the very lifeblood of Hamas.
Alternatively, perhaps Mr. Netanyahu would insist that Hamas be disarmed and disbanded. But as anyone with half a brain knows, only the Israel Defense Forces can disarm and disband Hamas, and that is beyond the mettle of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, judging from his policy of self-restraint vis-a-vis Arab terror, or, if you prefer, his having become a lackey of Washington.
It thus appears that Mr. Netanyahu is playing the same old “reciprocity” game that disarmed unwary Jews in 1997. As I warned then, Bibi’s spin makes him very dangerous, for who can be opposed to “reciprocity” once Jewish land and Jewish homes have been stripped of absolute value and have become bargaining chips in the “peace process”?
But as I have repeatedly warned, once you make Jewish land and Jewish homes negotiable—and even Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir said “everything is negotiable”—you have lost the war Arabs are waging against the Jewish state!
Let us be clear on this point. Netanyahu’s call for reciprocity is nothing less than incitement—an incitement of Arabs to kill Jews! Indeed, Netanyahu’s call for reciprocity is tantamount to moral or spiritual disengagement. Sharon and his peace-intoxicated or defeatist predecessors have already committed this betrayal, this crime, against the Jewish people and their sacred heritage.
Reciprocity indeed! How the Arabs despise Jews who make any part of Eretz Yisrael negotiable. How this whets their appetite, fuels their arrogance, and steels their determination to exterminate Jews whom they regard as descended from dogs and pigs!
Reciprocity? I call this infamy!
