Now, as long as the IDF is camped out inside a settlement, they won’t be able to hand it over to foreign hands. And as soon as the army leaves, we will return to our settlement, even if it is in ruins. This has been done successfully in recent years at the outposts.
LET’S GET PRACTICAL
When a similar plan was offered at the time to certain leaders in Gush Katif, it faced two types of objection. The tougher one was ideological: the belief that the state is a sacred instrument on the way to our redemption.
We must answer simply: this very argument proves our point. If the state indeed carries out its redemptive role – it should be viewed as a sacred instrument; but when an Israeli administration acts against the values and the interests of the nation – it must be viewed as a stumbling block which carries the name Israel in vain.
The more honest concern was voiced near the end: how would we survive by ourselves, surrounded by the Arabs? These were more than just the obvious misgivings about security, but also practical, mundane concerns: where do we get water, electricity, food, fuel, jobs, budgets?
That is precisely the area we must deal with today, well ahead of the envisioned crisis – we must strive for practical independence.
Because, truth be told, the Israeli government doesn’t need to send any soldiers or police to evacuate anyone from his legally owned home. All it has to do is disconnect the water and the electricity, stop the budgets, fire all the municipal employees and take back the soldiers guarding the settlements. Most Israelis would give up and flee in response. But every single settlement that would start today to prepare for a time of emergency would be able to sustain a prolonged siege when the time of harsh decrees and expulsions arrives.
Water reservoirs, facilities to generate electricity, storage of food, clothing, medicine and any other essential supplies will endow the more determined communities with a longer breathing time. Incidentally, emergency storage could be helpful in other times of crisis, such as natural disasters, wars, and economic or technological collapse. To the best of our knowledge, organizing one’s community in preparation for an emergency is not against the law in Israel.
THAT’S IT? WE’RE SECEDING FROM ISRAEL?
Yes and no. Jews who remain in their homes in Eretz Israel are not seceding from the State of Israel. It’s more accurate to say that the state is leaving them, abandoning them in the hands of their enemies.
But those who remain on their land don’t have any requirement to give up their Israeli citizenship, nor their patriotic allegiance to Israel. Nevertheless, the moment the State of Israel were to officially give up its sovereignty over any portion of the Land of Israel, the local residents will immediately gain their natural right to self determination.
According to international law, the Jewish residents may declare themselves a sovereign state provided they meet the four conditions determined by the 1933 “Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States”: The state as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications: (a) a permanent population; (b) a defined territory; (c) government; and (d) capacity to enter into relations with the other states.
Furthermore, the first sentence of article 3 states that “The political existence of the state is independent of recognition by the other states.”
Examining these conditions, we can see that the first one is certainly fulfilled: the Jewish settlers are a permanent population. The second condition will be met as soon as the State of Israel announces officially that it gives up its claim of sovereignty in the area where a given settlement is located.