February 21, 2005
By Aaron Klein
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
JERUSALEM – As Israel forges ahead with its strategy to evacuate Jewish settlements from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank this summer, one Israeli politician, Moshe Feiglin, has set himself up as the principle opposition to the controversial withdrawal plan.
Feiglin, leader of Manhigut Yehudit, a nationalist party within Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's mainstream Likud faction, has drawn fire recently for calling on Israeli soldiers to disobey orders to dismantle settlements.
Some Likud politicians are demanding his ouster, accusing him of being "a Trojan horse that uses the Likud to spread dangerous Messianic ideas." Supported by many settlers and a significant segment of Likud voters, Feiglin accuses his detractors of acting for political reasons and says he intends to stick to his views, no matter how controversial. Feiglin talked to WND about the Gaza withdrawal and prospects for civil war in Israel.
WND: What do you think about the Gaza withdrawal plan?
FEIGLIN: The disengagement plan is basically a continuation of the Oslo accords – land for the possibility of peace. It's the same way of mind, the same psychology of giving the bad guys a prize for killing Jews. The plan is the acceptance of the fact that "they" are right and "we" are wrong. And it is giving Israel's enemies justice, the strongest weapon of all. Because it is a continuation of Oslo, it will bring the same results – a march of bloodshed.
WND: Most agree the situation between the Israelis and Palestinians cannot stay the same forever. There needs to be some sort of action ultimately taken to address the violence and the claims on both sides. The Oslo process didn't work. You are saying the plan to unilaterally separate from the Palestinians and evacuate Jews from Gaza is no good. So what is your solution to the conflict?
FEIGLIN: I only have plans for the Jews, not for the Arabs. I can't solve the problems of the French, or issues in the U.S. or Southeast Asia. So too I cannot solve the problems of the Arabs. But I believe that when Jews in Israel will understand who they are and why they are here in the land of Israel, when they will solve their basic identity problem and come to grips with themselves as the rightful owners of Israel, then we will be able to understand our enemies.
Because we have an identity problem, this is the reason we don't have peace with our enemies. When you leave the gate open and announce to the world you don't justify your existence, you will never have peace.
WND: Still, doesn't Israel need some strategy toward the Palestinians? Is it realistic to think you can just solve internal conflicts and ignore the fact that there is a hostile population within your borders? You must have some policy for the Palestinian situation.
FEIGLIN: First of all, there are no Palestinians. They are Arabs. There is no difference between the Arabs in Gaza and Arabs in Jordan. As long as the world fools itself and Israel comes to the table with this charade, we cannot solve the problems. In reality, there are Jews in their promised land and there are Arabs who don't accept Jewish sovereignty on their promised land.
The Arabs showed in the last 100 years that it is not just a question of this part of the land or the other part. The problem will always be the part where the Jews are holding now. No so-called Palestinian had any problem with the fact that the Jordanians held the [West Bank] for 19 years, 1948-1967. They only had a problem when the Jews came instead. There is no national problem of the Palestinian people, but a religious problem with the entire Arab Muslim world that the Jews came back to their promised land.
WND: OK, so what is your solution? If there is an entire group of people who have a problem with Jewish sovereignty, what specific plan do you propose to address it?
FEIGLIN: Every person who is not Jewish and doesn't accept full Jewish sovereignty over the land of Israel cannot stay in the country. It's that simple. Can you imagine an Israeli with a green card who lives in New York and declares one day the entire West Side of Manhattan is not American anymore? We understand what will happen the day after. He will be kicked out.
WND: Do you think Sharon has the political clout to go through with the disengagement. Or do you think it will spark a civil war that will end his government?
FEIGLIN: My belief is Sharon won't succeed at the end. But he has already caused a terrible situation. The state of things in Israel now is very unstable and dangerous.
WND: Let's say the disengagement goes through. Israeli soldiers come to Gaza to facilitate the transfer of settlers from their homes. Do you foresee things happening peacefully, or is there going to be a revolt? Are settlers going to use guns against Israeli soldiers?
FEIGLIN: For the last few months, every week we have been sending messages to our people to not bring weapons to any place where you can find yourself demonstrating because we are afraid of this very scenario. People are certainly going to fight against this, and they are going to fight hard. All over the country there will be protests against the disengagement plan, not just in the settlements. But at least from the settler side, there will be no shooting. They will fight, some will fight with their bare hands. They are not going to leave their homes. But no shooting. I really hope and pray we wont get to that point.
WND: The disengagement itself seems quite a complicate thing to coordinate. Who is going to actually be there on the ground enforcing the withdrawal? WorldNetDaily broke the story that some settler leaders are charging that Sharon is quietly putting together a special unit of soldiers composed of Arabs and extreme Israeli leftists who are more distanced from the settlement movement and less likely to refrain from using force to remove Jewish residents from Gaza. Any truth to this?
FEIGLIN: I don't know the exact details, but I know the army is developing units like that. They will not outright advertise that only Arabs and leftists will be acceptable, but in order to be accepted to such a unit you have to agree to take part in a unit created specifically for a political act. So it will be ensured those in such a unit agree. No true Jew who identifies with Judaism will volunteer to serve in a unit like that, which means most of the people will be Arab and leftist. It doesn't matter whether it is officially declared this way, but that will be the end result. They are building political forces in the Israeli army based either on non-Jews or extreme leftist soldiers. When you think about it, this reminds me of the worst dictatorships we remember from the 20th century.
WND: The mainstream Likud leaders are blasting your call to have IDF soldiers refuse to take part in the Gaza withdrawal. You're being called an extremist and some are trying to have you kicked out of the party. Will they succeed in sidelining you?
FEIGLIN: Look, the establishment is of course doing Sharon's will. They are carrying out the immediate orders of Sharon himself. And just by showing this hysteria over me, it proves we touched exactly the right nerve.
What do they really want? They want soldiers to do the disengagement. But most Israeli soldiers are right-wing nationalists. How many soldiers of leftist families are in the IDF? Not a lot. So they want soldiers to drag their own parents from their homes, and that's the only way this plan can be accomplished. They don't have the manpower. If people will disobey this criminal order, the whole plan cannot work.
WND: Will they succeed in sidelining you?
FEIGLIN: Long term, definitely not. I'm not going to look for a different party. Likud is my home, the party that represents the people of Israel. I'm staying. Sharon will have to leave.
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