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Americans for a Safe Israel Americans For a Safe Israel 1751 Second Avenue (91st Street) New York, NY 10128 Tel: 212-828-2424; 800-235-3658; Fax: 212-828-4538 www.afsi.org; afsi@rcn.com Contact: Helen Freedman, Executive Director May 18, 2011 ABOMINATION - 120,000 JEWISH LIVES MAY BE SACRIFICED by Helen Freedman Visitors to the VietNam Memorial Wall in Washington, DC are struck by the endless listing of names of brave American soldiers who died in that battle. It's not the numbers of the dead, but their names that break one's heart. So it is with the names of the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust. We have just finished listening to those names, read in synagogues over a period of days and nights, remembering that each life was precious and its loss means the loss of so many others that might have followed. At the ceremonies on 9/11, again the names of the victims of the heinous Islamic terrorist attack on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center are read by the families of those who will never return. And when one visits Yad Vashem, and enters the hall of the children, one is surrounded by the sounding of the names of the 1.5million Jewish children murdered by the Nazis and their accomplices. It is all about names - as well as numbers. When we hear that 120,000 Jews may be removed from their homes in Israel because PM Netanyahu believes that "painful concessions" must be made to the Hamas/Fatah alliance, dedicated to Israel's destruction, we must know that names are connected to that number. What will happen to the children, the businesses, the schools, the farms, the vineyards, the synagogues, the very lives and hopes of each named person in that number? We know only too well that the majority of the 10,000 Jews expelled from their homes in the former Gush Katif are still trying to rebuild their lives - most of them still living in temporary trailers that serve as homes. To what future can the 120,000 look in light of this past experience? And what possible logic can be operating in the decision to appease and mollify and debase oneself in the eyes of the world? Please read excerpts from the report by David Lev in the May 18 Arutz Sheva on the subject of communities that might be sacrificed. Then write to P.M. Netanyahu at:memshala@pmo.gov.il; pm_eng2@it.pmo.gov.il. Tell him it is his country's duty to protect its citizens - NOT offer them as sacrificial lambs to false gods. 4. MK Katz Shows Knesset Scope of Communities Outside the "Blocs" by David Lev Based on his and most media analyses of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's speech to the Knesset Monday, National Union chairman MK Ya'akov Katz (Ketzaleh) on Tuesday said that the Prime Minister is talking about negotiations on removal of over 120,000 Jews from their homes. Speaking to the Knesset, Ketzaleh said that based on the content of Netanyahu's policy statement at the opening of the Knesset's summer session Monday, the fact that the Prime Minister mentioned the need for "painful concessions" along with Israel's desire to keep the "settlement blocs," clearly implied holding on to the second while giving up the first. While Netanyahu did not actually say specifically that Jews living outside the settlement blocs, or anywhere else, would be expelled from their homes - and, in fact, according to news reports Monday night, sent reassuring messages to right wing Mks who were taken aback by his speech that he meant that there would be no negotiations whatsoever on the settlement blocs - Ketzaleh claimed that the Prime Minister's intentions were very clear. "This is a very specific plan that will be remembered for an eternal condemnation among the Jewish people, with the head of the Likud drawing up a list of who will be expelled and who will not," he said. The "settlement blocs," as popularly defined, center on three areas - Gush Etzion, Maale Adumim, and the city of Ariel in central Samaria. These blocs contain numerous communities located in close proximity to each other, with major roads leading to the center of the country or to Jerusalem. Most of the blocs are either fully, or partially, within the security fence. There are, however, numerous other blocs that Netanyahu apparently plans to give away, Ketzaleh told Mks. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So, if Netanyahu has his way, Ariel and the towns to the west - those mentioned above, as well as the border communities of Oranit and Alfei Menashe - will remain under Israeli control. Altogether, some 47,000 Jews live in that area . The Palestinian Authority has stated numerous times that it would never agree to allowing Ariel, nearly 30 kilometers away from the green line, to remain under Israeli control. Not as fortunate are the towns to the north of Ariel that, until now, were considered to be part of the "Ariel bloc," including Karnei Shomron, Emanuel, Yakir, Nofim and Kedumim - all of which, incidentally, are already, or are slated to be, inside the security fence - but are to be eliminated if that is what Netanyahu's speech entails. The same goes for the communities further north and east, including Shavei Shomron, Einav, Avnei Hefetz, Tapuach, Salit, Migdalim, Itamar, Elon Moreh, Har Bracha, and Yitzhar, which will also be cleared of Jews under the plan, Ketzaleh says. Also out of the blocs is the community of Tzofim; although it is very close to the 1948 border, but its proximity to the Arab city of Kalkilya makes it problematic. Altogether some 30,000 Jews live in these communities, with the largest of them Karnei Shomron, with over 7,000 residents. Also negotiable according to one interpretation of the PM's speech, but expendable according to Ketsale and others' interpretations, are the communities of the Binyamin bloc, "the back of the mountain" (Gav Hahar) communities, north of Jerusalem hugging Road 60. Eli, not far from Itamar, is one, along with nearly all the towns north of Jerusalem - including Shilo, Beit El, Ofra, Psagot, Ma'ale Levonah, and others. From many of these communities, one can see the vulnerable, densely populated Tel Aviv area. They are literally a rocket's throw from the coast of Israel, which, from Netanya eastward, is only 70 km wide with Samaria and only 15 km wide without it. Surprisingly, Ketzaleh claims, the Prime Minister also left out communities very close to Jerusalem which, for years, were considered "untouchable," including Kochav Ya'akov, Mevo Horon, Givat Ze'ev, Beit Horon, Givon, Kochav Hashachar, Ma'ale Michmash, Geva Binyamin, and Har Adar. Also to be abandoned are the towns of the Talmon bloc, north of Kiryat Sefer, including Talmon, Nili, Nachliel, Na'aleh, Beit Aryeh, and others. Ketzaleh reported that over 67,000 Jews live in these towns. Also excluded from the blocs are all the Har Hevron communities, including Kiryat Arba, Susia, Otniel, Negohot, Carmei Tsur, the historic city of Hevron's Jewish community, Beit Hagai, Maale Hever and others. Over 14,600 Jews live in these communities. The same fate awaits Jews living in the "east Etzion bloc," including Tekoa, Nokdim, Ma'ale Amos, and the extremely isolated Asfar, on the edge of the Judean desert. Also troubling to many MKs on the right was Netanyahu's pointed omission of the Jordan Valley as an important area that would remain under Israeli control. While the IDF would have to remain there for defensive purposes, Netanyahu said, MKs said that the speech marks the first time Netanyahu failed to mention a continued Israeli civil presence in the Jordan Valley - leading Ketzaleh, as well as many other rightwing Mks, to conclude that Netanyahu had crossed another "red line." Some 7,000 Jews live in nearly 30 communities in the Valley - and they, too, said Ketzaleh, will find themselves homeless, if Netanyahu means to hold on to only the "blocs".