Is Nothing Sacred?

Here in Israel, Jews around the world, and just about everyone who has a stake in what happens here in the region is wondering if "Disengagement" represents "Gaza 1st" or "Gaza only".

Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, in an interview with a Kuwaiti daily published Thursday, laid out Israel's vision for the future. Among the most notable statements was the following:

No topics, including Jerusalem, were off-limits to peace negotiations with the Palestinians, the Israeli official said. However, confidence should be built before final status talks on Jerusalem - which Palestinians claim as the capital of their state - refugees, borders, and water, he said.

On disrupted peace talks with Syria, and whether Israel would be willing to give up the settlements in the Golan Heights as it did with Gaza, the foreign minister said: "Every party can come to the negotiation table with the topics they want, and we have to talk about everything."

What troubles me, however, is the underlying reason as to why we are implementing the "Disengagement" as I write these very words. From reading the interview with Israel's Foreign Minister, it appears that nothing is sacred anymore in the State of Israel. We are willing to give everything and anything to chase after the elusive "Holy Grail" or "Golden Calf" of "Peace".

The question that I have had for a long time is, "and then what"? What happens when we have given away everything, including Jerusalem, and we are living in our pre-1967 Israel in "peace" - what is it that we are hoping to accomplish as a nation.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, there are two major problems with this way of thinking (check out the post to see what I am talking about).

An additional concern that I have is that in having Israel's Foreign Minister's broadcast to the world that everything is negotiable, then how strong can our claim to the Land of Israel really be? The world looks at us and looks at the "Palestinians". We say that everything is on the table for the sake of peace. The "Palestinians" say that unless we put everything on the table and rightfully restore all that is theirs, there won't be peace.

The difference: The "Palestinians" truly believe that the Land of Israel (Palestine) belongs to them, and they are willing to fight for it. We, however, have seemingly forgotten that this Land belongs to us, and until that changes, the policy of the Israeli government will reflect the fact that in the Jewish State, nothing is sacred any longer.