SHLOMO RISKIN

It would have been far better to have conducted free elections and to have signed the agreement with elected Palestinian representatives from Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

write these lines at the very terrorist enemies, and that whereas we to the State of . moment that Prime Minister can never give up our claim to any part • The major problem with Arafat is Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader of Erelz Yisrael (vitur), we may very well not only his terrorist history. Arafat still I Yasser Arafat are signing the peace have to compromise territory (p'shara) demands the Palestinian right of agreement at the White House. A in the interest of peace and saving return—that is, the influx of hundreds group of friends from the Hebrew human lives. of thousands of refugees now residing University invited me to a party of cel­ But I am uneasy, and my natural opti­ in Jordan, Gaza and Lebanon into ebration; we'll drink Tchaim" togeth­ mism is mixed widi deep foreboding. Judea, Samaria and, eventually, er, they said. Anodier group invited During the 1930s, when an early and Tiberias, Nazareth, Jaffa, Acco, Ramie me to a minyan comprised of those quite paltry partition suggestion was and . This would mean the who declared this day as a fast day, the made to David Ben-Gurion, who head­ end of the Jewish state. According to all end of Zionism as we know it and the ed a "provisional government," the "old reports, Arafat has not given up on his beginning of the destruction of the man" turned to one of his trusted col­ platform of the right of return; much State of Israel. Not far from my home leagues, Yitzhak Tabenkin, and asked the opposite, he is now speaking of the in , a group of Arabs have for his opinion. The latter said he had return of close to a million refugees, stopped traffic, singing and dancing to seek counsel with two individuals. even those who fled from Israel as a on the first day of their ultimate liber­ When Tabenkin returned the next day result of the War of Independence. ation. A few minutes in another direc­ with a negative vote, Ben-Gurion The most problematic aspect of the tion, refugee-camp Arabs are throw­ inquired as to the identity of his advis­ agreement is the expectations it ing stones—four Israelis were already ers. Tabenkin responded: "I asked my engenders—and what happens when killed yesterday—as a protest by grandfather and I asked my grandson; these expectations are not fulfilled. Hamas against PLO collaboration I asked my grandfather who died 10 • The agreement calls for elections, with the Zionist entity. years ago, and I asked my grandson who but what guarantee do we have that I am sitting on my porch overlooking has not yet been born." those Palestinian Arabs who live in Jerusalem—neither in euphoria nor in Such is the awesome responsibility of Judea, Samaria and Gaza-—some of despair, wanting to be hopeful but filled leadership in Israel, responsibility to whom were brutally killed by the PLO with a gnawing sense of unease. My past generations who nurtured and when merely suspected of collabora­ desire for hopefulness is not difficult died for the dream of a Jewish state, and tion with Israel—will now be respect­ to understand. I've had a recurring responsibility to the future generations ed by Arafat and will be allowed to dream since I made aliyah 10 years ago: who will lead us to redemption. vote against him? Do we have no my two sons, Hilly and Yoni (now 20 And in light of such a momentous obligation to those who have been and 18, respectively) are dressed in responsibility, I am haunted by the fol­ moderate and may even have helped army uniform, but they look no older lowing image: a man and woman in the us in the past? And would it not have titan diey were when we first arrived in flush of young love standing under the been far better to have conducted Efrat. I am blessing them as they leave nuptial canopy at a time when they can free elections (monitored perhaps by for war. I turn to my wife, tears coursing hardly believe they will ever have a a third party). and to have signed the down my cheeks, and plead: "But I was quarrel, much less divorce. Our sages agreement with those elected repre­ sure that by the time they were old insist that they commit themselves to sentatives of the Arab areas in Judea, enough to fight, we would be at peace obey a ketubah, which details their Samaria and Gaza? with the Arabs." mutual legal responsibilities and spec­ • Although all publicity speaks of She responds: "Did you think we ifies the obligations of the groom in the "Gaza and Jericho First," the appen­ would not have to pay a price for what event of death or divorce. In this dix to the agreement reads: "The we've achieved?" And 1 wake up.... instance, Rabin and Arafat are involved jurisdiction of the Palestinian Council And so 1 pray for peace—especially in a peace agreement with 80 percent will extend over the entire territory of now that we have four grandsons in of its details (according to Rabin) still the and the Gaza Strip, addition to two sons. And I understand unknown. And the agreement is with the exclusions of those matters that peace must be made with one's fraught with agonizing questions, which will be negotiated for the per­ enemies, even with cruel, murderous which can potentially prove destructive manent settlement: Jerusalem, and

24 MOMENT • DECEMBER 1993 Jewish settlements"—and the status of ciate the fact that sometimes an oppor­ information must allow the people of those places will be decided in three tunity for peace must be grasped quick­ Israel to decide the wisdom of such an years. In other words, we have already ly, even before the details are ham­ agreement. given up all of Judea, Samaria and mered out, or else the possibility may This year, more than any other since Ga/.a—areas that provide strategic be forever lost. But now that the signing 1 have made aliyah, requires the fervent land and critical water supply. We will has taken place, the substance of the prayers of all Israel for a year of true be returning to the boundaries of pre- agreement must be qualified. And if peace and well-being. ® '67—which Abba Eban called indeed the risks prove to be great, and Shlomo Rishin is tlie chief rabbi and "Auschwitz borders"—but in a worse the State of Israel is asked to undergo founder of the cily of lifrat. He was the first position than pre-'67 because we will the radical changes I have outlined, the rabbi of the in have an armed Palestinian stale inherent dangers demand that a refer­ N. Y. and is the founder and dean of Ohr poised at our throat. endum based on full disclosure of Torah institutions in Efral and Jerusalem. • Israeli settlements are self-con­ tained entities, each independent of the other, in such a way that, according . . an inspiring synergy of art and symbol to the agreement, the territory between settlements will be under the jurisdic­ tion of the Palestinian autonomy. Daily life in the territories may become so impossible (and is it really logical to MM- believe that the PLO autonomy will protect us from Hamas-Hezbollah? And what if Hamas gains the leader­ ship?) that the settlers will of necessity leave without even haring to be evacu­ o r\ ated by the Israeli government. We are THE Y 0 N A T A N COLLECTION staunchly opposed to the transfer of To request our catalogue of Judaic jewelry Arabs; we must be at least equally 7

DECEMBER 1993 * MOMENT 25