Rav Menahem Felix remembers the tough times that began with Defense Minister Peres’ announcement of his intention to turn the settlers out and ended with the first step of the settlement enterprise.
With the approach of the anniversary of the day of liberation of Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and the Golan, we conducted discussions with a number of key figures in the settlement enterprise, we aroused memories from the first days and we wondered how much the vision of sovereignty occupied the pioneers of Judea and Samaria in those days, days of the first steps of the settlement enterprise.
Rav Menahem Felix
Rav Menahem Felix, one of the heads of the Gush Emunim movement, picks a very emotional moment in the annals of the settlement enterprise as the important moment that he chooses to recall – the time of negotiations with Defense Minister Shimon Peres about the community in Sebastia.
“It was a very significant experience, but it is a mixture of good moments with less good moments”, he says. “The best, most uplifting moment was when we (the members that had met with Shimon Peres, the defense minister) returned to the public that was waiting in Sebastia. When we returned with the “Sebastia Compromise”, there was tremendous happiness and dancing. We felt that we had taken a very decisive step in the subject of settlement”.
“This compromise was cooking even before then and while we were on the way to Peres’ office we understood that it was going in the right direction”, says Rav Felix, who also recalls the difficult moments that preceded it. “Before this, Peres came by helicopter to announce the coming evacuation. Rav Levinger, obm, was very dramatic – he tore his garment as a sign of mourning. There was pressure and then circumstances caused things to change so that Prime Minister Rabin gave his permission to the defense minister to come to an agreement with us about staying in Samaria. It was very emotional”.
This compromise - and Rav Felix is careful to emphasize that he calls it a compromise in quotes because it was real news for the settlement enterprise, which had then taken its first step - was accepted by a great majority but it also had opposition. “Even beforehand there was a discussion and there were those that did not agree, but we decided by a large majority and the secretariat of the nucleus, together with the Gush Emunim people, accepted it with a large majority as well. Although for tactical reasons we chose to settle in the train station in Sebastia, it is not the specific point that is the issue, but the Jewish settlement next to Nablus, and when we received it with the words that Peres wrote in a telephone consultation with Rabin, we were mad with joy”.
About the engagement with the vision of sovereignty, Rav Felix says that indeed, in the background, the vision was present as the aim of the settlement. “In general, we related to the settlement enterprise in these parts of the Land of Israel with great importance both for itself and as a device toward sovereignty. It was not forgotten by us. We thought that the settlement, ultimately, would bring about sovereignty. We spoke about it all the time. After all, what is it that we wanted? That the area would be an integral part of the State of Israel. Indeed, settling the land has value even under Turkish or British rule, but it is a component in the commandment of settling the Land – it was not abandoned to the wilderness and not abandoned to other nations”.