20 years ago, the Israeli government of Yitzchak Shamir used to respond to every terrorist attack by establishing a community on the spot of the murder to memorialize those killed. The community of Shvut Rachel was established that way, as was the community of Rechelim nearby. The neighborhood of Maoz Tzur near Beit El is another example. People live there to this day, and their very presence, the growth of their families, every brick in their homes, is another memorial to those killed.
The people killed in terrorist attacks are killed because they are Jews who have chosen to live in the Jewish homeland -- no other reason. The most fitting Zionist answer to terrorism is therefore to establish new communities where more people can live as Jews in the Jewish homeland.
People say that Amona is an "illegal outpost". It is but one of many, most of which were established on the spot where others have been killed by our enemies.
But all of Israel is an "illegal outpost" if one listens to Hamas -- even after last week's elections. This country was founded and built by people who came here with no government sanction, built "tower and fence" settlements overnight in order to establish their presence, and helped other "illegal immigrants" evade first Turkish and then British patrols as they risked their lives to come to Israel.
Even a mere 20 years ago, when such an "illegal outpost" as Amona was established, the then-Zionist government of Israel not only allowed it to remain, they granted it legal legitimacy. It didn't matter who was in charge. It could have been Shamir, or Begin before him, or even Yitzchak Rabin in his first incarnation.
Today, the heirs of those Zionist pioneers are standing on top of houses as police in riot gear force their way in, clubbing people as they go. Rather than the heirs of the Zionist pioneers of last century, they are being turned into the heirs of Gush Katif. They are being forced from their homes by their own government simply because terrorists say so, and the world agrees.
The Supreme Court, posing as the self-declared final arbiter on Zionism, ruled this morning that Amona must go. Kudos to Justice Elyakim Rubinstein for his lone dissent. But as Amona goes, so goes Zionism.
This is not what Israel was meant to be. Israel -- Zionism -- is the spirit that guides the establishment of new communities as a response to terrorism and anti-Semitism. That is how Israel got its start (Remember Herzl?) and that is how many of its communities got theirs.
Now, we have a government that is working to destroy all that. It began with Gush Katif -- completely legal communities established by, and with the backing of, the government. It continues today with Amona. Most of the Prime Ministerial candidates have stated they will be prepared to continue with "legal" communities in Judea and Samaria, and with neighborhoods in Jerusalem.
If any government anywhere in the world tried today to kick Jews out of their homes in that country, I would hope that the State of Israel would loudly protest, get the UN involved, and raise as much noise as possible about the inhumanity of the situation. But in Israel itself, such actions are okay, condoned by one and all -- because terrorists threaten us and the world pressures us.
Anyone who today talks about Zionism as the guiding philosophy of the State of Israel has no clue what they are talking about. The State of Israel today is becoming the antithesis of Zionism.
Copyright 2006. All rights reserved. Yehuda Poch is a journalist living in Israel. Reproduction in electronic or print format by permission of the author only.
