Letter to Netzarim
Settlers
B.H. Sukkot, Wednesday, 18th October 2000
To the Netzarim Residents,
Today at approximately 8 am I received a call
from my beloved friend and colleague Roni Hirshenson informing me that
his son El'ad committed suicide. El'ad left a letter in which he wrote
that he cannot continue living after the death of his best friend David
who fell in Netzarim a day before Rosh Hashanna. Roni and Miri, El'ad's
parents, buried a son Amir, killed in the Beit-Lid bombing, in January
l995 and now they bury their second son El'ad.
I am writing this letter from the bottom of my
heart, shaking with fury, and my soul is trembling from the sound of
the sand sacks being emptied over the coffin. Look what has happened
to our people and country owing to the absence of peace. The absence
of peace has killed Amir in an act of terror, my own son Arik was killed
by the Hamas in July 1994 and many others have fallen due to the absence
of peace. In the past month over 100 people were killed due to the absence
of peace. El'ad's best friend has also fallen in Netzarim due to the
absence of peace. And now, El'ad has taken his own life only because
his best friend David fell in Netzarim.
Any sane individual knows that Netzarim will
be evacuated when peace will be reached between ourselves and the Palestinians,
just as Yamit was evacuated, just as the Sinai was evacuated.
Why in God's mercy do you continue to inhabit
this cursed place that has demanded so many lives?
Where is your mercy on the children who are in
peril?
Where is your mercy for a mother who buried two
of her children?
Is God's spirit within you?
Is your God the belief in a messianic settlement
that has nothing to do with the security of Israel? It is virtually
paganism that children are being sacrificed to false gods, and please
do not tell me that all your compassion is directed to me and therefore
you have no compassion for the children of Israel.
I do not need your compassion, I need your understanding,
the understanding that your conduct led to countless tragedies to the
People of Israel. You really believe that you are protecting the security
of Tel-Aviv, but this is just a myth. The citizens of Tel-Aviv do not
need your protection, what they need is protection from you.
Do you really think that security will prevail
in Israel without peace, that there can be peace without very painful
compromises? In any case, the state of affairs as it stands today where
settlements in the Gaza Strip is not acceptable. Do you find any living
your present standard of living level whilst your neighbors exist at
the level maintained in the forties? Had we been in the place of the
Palestinians would we have not done more and more acts of terror in
order to get our own state? Why should the Palestinians be any different?
Again, please don't tell me that I am a defeatist
and that I am prepared to surrender mother-earth and that I want peace
at any cost and that I do not understand, the course of history. Not
at all, I have been "fighting" for peace together with Roni
for many years, not just recently, and we have been doing so in order
to prevent more and more unnecessary deaths. For us, the Land of Israel
is very important and beloved. A land where our children can live, not
a land that consumes its children. Is land more important than a human
being? What makes you believe that this forsaken damned hole - Netzarim
- that has cost so many lives, is worth bringing our children to the
slaughter? Can you not understand that your path leads to the slaughter
of our children?
Please, Brothers, do not regard us as your enemies,
you are our brothers and we understand very well the meaning of peace.
We
understand that peace will only prevail if we make painful compromises,
but we also know that most of our settler brothers will eventually be
annexed to Israel and will become an inseparable part of the State of
Israel. Even if we have to compromise on Jerusalem in order to make
peace, even if in the Old City only the Wailing Wall and the Jewish
Quarter will remain under Israeli
sovereignty, and the rest will come under Palestinian sovereignty, the
price of peace is worth paying because the People of Israel have never
worshipped sovereignty but God.
Please my Brothers, do not think that we fail
to understand the meaning of the term "To serve the Lord".
For a father that says Kadish for his son, that says Yitgadal Veitkadash
Shemaya Raba near his grave like Roni and I did, there is no doubt that
we serve the Lord as otherwise we would not have blessed the Lord for
the death of our children.
I rest the full responsibility for this terrible
bloodshed, where our children are killed in Netzarim solely at your
door, residents of Netzarim. I am sure that the Lord will know how to
repay you properly.
Finally I want to quote Miri, El'ad's mother
who cried at her son's grave "Whoever heard of a mother that buries
her son, and whoever saw and heard of a mother that buries two sons?".
"Instead of leading my sons to the Chuppah I am burying them".
"Whom shall I cry for first, Amir or El'ad? I have brought children
into the world to give them life."
"I sent them to the army alive and they
returned dead. Whoever heard of a country that gives up its children
to indulge the land? Don't pour soil over El'ad, don't soil his hair,
only a week ago I bought him a new pair of shoes, and he had not yet
worn them. I am a mother that cares for her children, how can I leave
El'ad here? How can I eat whilst he is in his grave?"
"I had five children, and I am left with
three. Ever since David died in Netzarim 20 days ago you wrote him a
daily letter. How can I be at home whilst Amir and El'ad are here on
Mount Hertzel? Whose grave shall I visit first? Amir's or El'ad's? I
have lost the strength to go on living. What for? Whoever dreamt that
I will be visited twice?"
"Thank you, Netzarim's settlers, a straight
red line is drawn from Netzarim to Mount Hertzel. I have brought up
my children to contribute to the country, and what did I get in return?
Two coffins, two graves, and they were only 19, didn't even reach the
age of 20. I will not be ironing any more shirts for them, won't make
their beds, two empty rooms at home."
Before we left the cemetery my beloved Roni turned
to me and asked to send you a letter. I hope I have succeeded, even
partially, to convey to you the painful feelings we foster on the loss
of our sons.
I beg you, please, take your belongings and come
back to Israel.
Come back and help build a democratic society
that will address the terrible social hardships we face. You have an
enormous potential to become leaders of brotherhood and friendship in
the country, but today you act as Angels of Death to our children. Today
you are the messengers of the devil who says "better land than
man".
Please, wake up, before God forbid we will bury
more children.
With heartache and terrible disappointment
at you.
Yitzhak Frankenthal - Gimzo