Why Peres Should Not Cede Israeli Sites to the Vatican

בס"ד

When the
states of the Arab League and Iran
(1) left Palestinian people on the border, between 1945-1948,
(2) refused to recognize the
state of Israel, and then, (3) expelled the majority of Jews from their borders, save Persian Jews, and very small communities remaining in certain countries across the Arab League, they knew EXACTLY what they were doing...

It was the implementation of the strategy of divide and conquer Israel from within, good cop/bad cop...and if the Naturei Kartei attending a Holocaust denial conference in Iran is not evidence of this, then I do not know what is...

The problems with the Oslo accords:

~ we negotiated with terrorists;

~ we made concessions of land to the PLO/Palestinian Authority without having any concessions made by the surrounding states of the Arab League and Iran to secure the sovereignty of Israel.

Since then, anti-Israeli, anti-semitic terrorism has worsened significantly, exists on a much larger scale, and has crossed international borders...

...and just days after Mahmoud Abbas has annouced that he will not recognize the state of Israel as a state with a Jewish majority (therefore suggesting that what he desires is a one state solution which would transform Israel into a state with a non-Jewish ~ most likely Muslim and Christian ~ majority...), Peres is seriously considering ceding land and sites within the borders of the state of Israel of cultural and historical importance to the larger Christian community to the Vatican...

All the while, Ahmandinejad is convincing Orthodox Jews that they have no right to the state of Israel...

Does Peres not see what is happening??? What is coloring his vision?

I would say that one of the greatest debates of history is whether or not Cyrus the Great freed us from Babylon out of moral good will, or out of political necessity...

Another greatly debated myth of history is the pre-existence of a Palestinian state, a myth which is constantly invoked in the attempt to delegitimize the very existence of the state of Israel...

Christians have long defended Israel in this debate; there has never been a pre-existing Palestinian state. And yet, we must remember that Christians who come in peace and goodwill to the support of Israel do not have the same vision of Israel as we do at the end of the history of this world...The "restoration of Israel" upon the return of the Moshiach means something different to us than it means to them.

We must remember this because, theologically and eschatologically, at the end of time, the Christian vision of Israel is of an Israel that is a Christian state, and not a Jewish one. Our visions of Israel at the end of time are not the same...and although the peace negotiations may attempt to confine their means of reasoning to secular legal language and terms, there is no doubt that these different understandings and visions of Israel at the end of time mean that our negotiation interests, and therefore our approach to these negotiations, is NOT in perfect alignment...even though our Christian friends may come to our aid in goodwill.

Peres believes that in ceding these sites, this land, to the Vatican, he is advancing peace in the world...but what he is doing, actually, is helping to deconstruct the state of Israel as a state with a Jewish majority, the vision of Israel as a state with a Jewish majority, with an undivided Jerusalem as its capital, to which all could come in peace and visit whatever holy site they wanted, by setting a precedent for a divided Jerusalem...

Legally, this is what the cession of these sites to the Vatican does...support a divided Jerusalem.

If the Vatican truly supports Israel as a state with a Jewish majority, then they should simply accept to visit these sites in peace, to encourage all of its followers to visit these sites in peace, by visiting Israel. They would not need or desire ownership over these sites, sovereignty over the land.

I am praying that Peres' eyes will open - that he will see and understand this - and that he will request the Vatican to simply consider these sites as holy sites within the borders of the state of Israel, inviting its leaders and its followers to come and visit these sites freely, in peace.

He should then request that the Vatican work together with the Claims Conference in order to ensure that all those artifacts and artworks acquired by the Vatican during the WWII be returned to their rightful owners; this, too, would be healing for the state of Israel and the Jewish community, and would work towards the end of peace in the world.

~ Ruth Rachel Anderson-Avraham, ISRAELrealNATION,
7 June 2009, 15 Sivan 5769

© 2009
ISRAELrealNATION / Ruth Rachel Anderson-Avraham