Only Our Return Can Bring Peace, One Step At A Time
With all of the discussion surrounding the extension of Israeli sovereignty to Judea and Samaria as well as the storm such a move would make, there are many false assumptions that have been made by even well meaning people.
The main thrust of most of these “peace” initiatives is the need to reach some sort of final status “agreement” based on the erroneous assumption that the leadership on both sides can and will force peace onto their constituents.
At Ateret Cohanim we have always believed that not only are the Jewish people the indigenous nation that has returned to its promised land, but it really is only us that can make coexistence and peace a reality.
How so?
By being active in all places in the Land of Israel. Of course, Ateret Cohanim focuses on Jerusalem, primarily those neighborhoods liberated in 1967. This is where it is necessary to establish a real presence on the ground in all areas. By doing so, the city is forced to actually repair and renovate infrastructure that has long been neglected. This will in turn change the neighborhoods where Jews and Arabs now find themselves living with mutual tension to a different paradigm altogether – one of mutual trust.
We can all agree that none of this happens over night and cannot be guaranteed by mere statements, but must be undertaken by the only people who deserve to be the sovereign in the Land of Israel and that is the Jewish people.
Many leftwing radical groups have accused us of “ethnic cleansing.” This could not be further from the truth. We support full coexistence between the Jewish people and the individuals that live in the Land of Israel. This is the case whether they are Druze, Arab, Aramean, or Bedouin. There is only one caveat, they must be willing to live with us in peace, under the sovereignty of the State of Israel.
This is why the work of Ateret Cohanim is so important to the cause of peace. The more Jews that return and live side by side in areas where they had been ethnically cleansed from, the faster a historic wrong can be corrected and true peace achieved.
