By Tsafrir Ronen
From the day the Zionist Movement was established, the historical meaning of settling the Land of Israel was the returning of the land to the Nation of Israel but mainly the returning the Hebrew identity to Eretz Yisrael-the Land of Israel.
The pioneers who turned um-Juni to be Degania (the first kibbutz “collective farm”—established in 1909 by Jews in the areas of the Land of Israel then under Ottoman control), brought back the Hebrew identity. This was a piece of homeland that was conquered. The working brigade—35 young people from Gdud Ha’avoda—that turned “Ein Jalud†to Ein Harod (in the Jezreel Valley) brought the Biblical identity from Gideon times to the Valley. The establishment of Mishmar Ha’emek turned “Abu Shusha†hills to Mishmar Ha’emek hills. The establishment of Rosh Pinna (Rosh Pinna was settled in 1882 by a group of pioneers from Romania) turned “Jauni” to Guy-Oni (valley of strength) to Rosh Pinna. Each settlement returned each remote point in the Land to its Biblical Hebrew identity. The establishment of Elon Moreh (Elon Moreh is an Israeli settlement located in the Samarian Hills of the West Bank northeast of Shechem/Nablus on the slopes of Mount Kabir ridge; Elon Moreh represents the pioneering spirit of rebuilding the Land of Israel after 2000 years of exile. The community overlooks the city of Shechem) renewed the Israel identity of Biblical Elon Moreh.
The latest battle on Hebron is not a battle over two, pioneer families who renewed the Jewish life in Hebron. It is a battle on the identity of Hebron. If Jews are living in Hebron then Hebron’s identity will be Jewish. If only Arabs will be living in Hebron even her name Hebron will vanish to become el-Khalil (Shrine of the Friend). The Left want Hebron to have Arab identity. The hate for the settlements is their hate for the Land of Israel’s identity and their hate for Am Yisrael-the Nation of Israel. This is the entire story.
However, it is not only Hebron. The Left does not want to see Jewish identity in Judea and Samaria. Their friends in the media continue calling the heart of the Land of Israel in foreign names that our enemies use i.e. “Palestine†as the androgynous Hadrianus Caesar named it; “West Bank, as King Hussein named it, “territories,†“occupation.†They will call the Biblical Land in any name possible but will not label it by the one name the gives her back her Jewish identity, Judea and Samaria, because Judea means the Land of the Jews and Eretz Yisrael means it is the Land of Am Yisrael-the Nation of Israel. Like Ire-Land is the Land of the Irish and Eng-Land the Land of the English and Fin-Land the Land of the Finish Israel-Land—that is the name of Eretz Yisrael-the Land of Israel—means the Land of the Israelis. The Identity of the Land is the same as the identity of the Nation residing in it, therefore the Nation of Israel cannot be an occupier of the Land of Israel.
If not for the renewal of the settlements in Shiloh, Beit El, Elon Moreh, these names would have remained abstract Biblical names from some legend. The settlements created the renewal of the land’s identity and returned to its districts their real names and reclaimed from the Arab occupier the false Arabic identity. Shiloh recreated and renewed the Biblical town of Shiloh. If Judea and Samaria will be abandoned they it will not only be physically abandoned but also suffer identity abandonment. Again, in the world’s map the land will no longer be called Eretz Yisrael-the Land of Israel or Israel but another name. You see, until ’67 Judea and Samaria appeared in the world’s maps as “The West Bank of the Kingdom of Jordan.†The victory against the Jordanian military brought back the Biblical names. If you abandon these places the enemy will not call it by the Hebrew name rather by the false name, Palestine, an artificial name Hadrianus Caesar named it along his ambition to destroy the Jewish identity in Judea after he subdued Bar Kokhba revolt. Hadrianus’ curse did not succeed. With the years, the name Palestine was forsaken and forgotten. The Crusaders names the land “The Kingdom of Jerusalem.†The Arab occupation did not have a name for the land; she was known as South Syria. For 1300 years the land had no identity and absent of a nation that identified itself with it. No one claimed ownership but our nation. The British, when they halted immigration and settlements understood, what the anti Zionism among us understand too, that settling the land returns the Israeli identity to the land and each settlement that carries a Hebrew name turns to be a mile stone for the Hebrews.
The battle is not of tanks or warplanes; today’s battle is the most crucial and decisive one, the battle on the identity of the Land. Whether she will have the pagan, false Arabic identity, Hadrianus Caesar falsehood identity, or she will have Biblical Israeli identity, the real name of the Land.
This is the entire story. Only the settlements will return the Israeli identity to the Land. The Arabs demand that Olmert transfers the Land free and clear of Jews. As long as there are Jews in Judea, Judea could not be called by its false name Palestine. The only thing that stops the cadre of traitors from transferring our Land to the enemy, already at our gates, is their inability to uproot the settlements that halt the wheels of destruction.
The building of tens of hundreds new settlements is our only guarantee that Eretz Yisrael-the Land of Israel will have Israeli identity.
The wish to destroy the settlements is the wish to destroy the identity of the land, the Land of the Nation of Israel—the Land of Israel.
Note: the fact is that there is already on its way an Arab, terrorist fascist-Nazi in the Land of Israel. This is a fact that was determined fourteen years ago. Today these facts are threatening to annihilate us. 800,000 Arabs live today on land they robbed from the State in the Negev, Ramlah, Lod, Galilee, the Jordan Valley and Jezreel Valley and Temple Mount is being destroyed without interruption.
