Interestingly, the present disagreement between those that wish to make peace with the enemy and those that believe that we must resist all peace overtures, has an historical precedent. The story can be found in Tanach ( Isaiah 22;15 ) as well as in the Gemorah Sanhedrin 26a.
It took place during the reign of the very great and righteous King Chizkiyahu. The city of Yerushalayim was besieged by the powerful and vastly superior forces of King Sancheriv. Shevna, an officer in Chizkiyahu’s army and also a great Torah scholar who had a following of 130,000 people called for peace negotiations with the enemy. He stood on the great wall protecting and surrounding the city of Yerushalayim and shot a note into the enemy camp saying, “Shevna and his party desire to make peace with you.”
King Chizkiyahu, who was against making peace, greatly feared that Hashem would be on Shevna’s side since he represented the majority. Thereupon the prophet Yeshiyahu came and told him that he need not fear since “A majority of the wicked is not considered a majority.”
When Shevna went out of the gates of Yerushalayim to negotiate a peace treaty with the enemy, the Angel Gavriel came and closed the gates behind him so that none of his people could be able to follow him. Sancheriv thereupon asked him, “Where are all your people that you claim are on your side?” When he could not come up with a satisfactory answer, they assumed that he was just mocking them, so they pierced his heels and tied them to horses that dragged him over thorns and thistles until he died in terrible pain and agony.
Today, as well, there are those who still haven’t learned any lessons from the failed Oslo agreements and still insist that peace is possible with an enemy that openly seeks our destruction as it clearly says in their Charter. The ancient “Shevnas” who mislead and misguide us and even tell us that the Palestinians have revoked their Charter unfortunately have a very large following and don’t seem to learn any lessons from our long history. Let’s remember that a misguided majority of fools obviously doesn’t make something right.
Even our good friends try to convince us that if we would only follow their “Road Map” everything will work out. While we appreciate their friendliness and help, we would like to know why they didn’t follow their own advice and make peace with Al Qaeda or Saddam Hussein? It’s only now that the US is beginning to realize what terrorism is all about and that even the world’s greatest and best equipped army cannot easily win a war against terrorists and suicide bombers. It has now become clear that they badly underestimated what they were in for when they invaded Iraq. You can bomb the world to pieces, but you can’t bomb the world into peace. They also don’t fully realize the great hatred that Yasser Arafat has managed to implant into the minds of the Palestinian people. Hatreds don’t disappear overnight even if Palestine becomes a democracy. There are many democracies in Europe where the hate for Israel and Jews keeps growing to alarming proportions.
And so while we’re all for peace, the only thing I’m willing to give them in exchange for it is peace itself. If they want a state, let them turn to their many friendly Arab neighbors who have vast territories of empty, unused, and uninhabited land. Perhaps they can spare a few empty tracts of land upon which the Palestinians can build their “peaceful” state. I’m sure Israel will be more than willing to help them relocate as they are now offering the settlers. Why not use the money for more worthwhile purposes and move the Palestinians rather than the Jews who are the rightful owners of the land.