Pro-Israel Group Urges Bush to Oppose Israeli Disengagement
by Chad Groening and Jenni Parker
August 11, 2005
(AgapePress) - A coalition of more than 200 Christian and Jewish organizations is calling on President George W. Bush to withdraw U.S. support for the Israeli disengagement plan, which is set to begin implementation next week. Disengagement Authority officials have said that no graves are to be left in enemy territory during that process, which means not only will Israelis be forcibly relocated, but their dead family members' bodies are to be disinterred and removed as well. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and defense and disengagement officials have said they would make efforts to coordinate the grave removals with each bereaved family. Nevertheless, many Israelis have reacted strongly to being, as it were, doubly displaced by the disengagement plan. A recent Ynetnews.com article quotes Eran Sternberg, a spokesman for the Gaza Beach Regional Council, as saying, "In the framework of uprooting Jews there are no 'grave removals,' but rather 'grave desecrations.'"
Last April, Ynetnews.com reported that the Disengagement Authority was considering establishing a section in the Ashkelon cemetery for the relocated graves. Sternberg noted that if the disengagement plan does in fact come to fruition, "God forbid, the Arabs will have so much motivation to continue their struggle that we will need many more cemeteries in Ashkelon.'
Esther Levens is founder and CEO of the Unity Coalition for Israel, a group dedicated to a safe and secure holy land. She says Israel is committing "mass suicide" by allowing the Palestinians to occupy the West Bank and Gaza and forcing all Jews, alive and dead, to be removed from the area. "It really sets a horrendous precedent that the Jews accept not to live in certain areas of Israel," Levens says. "That is really deadly for the future, I believe."
The pro-Israel spokeswoman says her group is trying one last entreaty to the Oval Office. "This is just about the eleventh hour," she notes. "We've put out an action alert, and it's to President Bush, appealing to him to reconsider the disengagement plan."
Levens sees the disengagement plan as a great injustice. If the United States supported a plan to remove Muslims from any territory, she contends, there would be a huge outcry. However, she says it would seem President Bush is perfectly willing to stand by and see Jewish settlers kicked off their land.
What the coalition founder cannot understand, she says, is why the Israeli government is willing to go along with a plan so contrary to its own interests. "It's almost a parallel with suicide bombers," she asserts, "only Israel seems to be wanting to commit mass suicide. It's just an incredible thing. To the people in the United States, both Christians and Jews, it just seems like a step off the brink."
Levens asserts that the present is a pivotal time in Israel's history when the European Union, the United Nations, Russia, and other nations are questioning the Jewish state's very right to exist. She says the Unity Coalition for Israel is urging its partners and government leaders to action in an effort to help Israel survive the global anti-Semitism and terrorism generated by radical Islam.
