[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 17]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 22738]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 RECOGNIZING A STATEMENT BY RABBI ISRAEL ZOBERMAN, SPIRITUAL LEADER OF 
              CONGREGATION BETH CHAVERIM IN VIRGINIA BEACH

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. J. RANDY FORBES

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 7, 2005

  Mr. FORBES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of a statement 
by Rabbi Israel Zoberman, spiritual leader of Congregation Beth 
Chaverim in Virginia Beach, Virginia in recognition of the hope of 
peace created by recent Middle East developments.
  Israel's historic disengagement from Gaza and parts of the West Bank 
has begun on August 15, 2005. These unilateral acts by a democratic 
Israel, though coordinated with the Palestinian Authority, approved by 
its government and Knesset, and commanding a majority in the Israeli 
public, are nonetheless painful and controversial in uprooting 
thousands of Israeli settlers from areas associated with Biblical 
Israel gained following the 1967 Six-Day War.
  Paradoxically, that miraculous victory by a gravely threatened Israel 
facilitated through a pre-emptive strike by the superb Israeli Air 
Force that destroyed the Egyptian planes still on the ground, saddled 
Israel with two challenging dilemmas; a recalcitrant, fast growing 
Palestinian population with its own national aspirations and a rising 
messianic Judaism mesmerized by a universal redemptive vision rooted in 
the stunning return to the ancient inheritance with every inch of it 
consequential, flying in the face of classical Zionism's operative 
principle of compromise with the Arabs.
  I surely sympathize with fellow Jews who accomplished much and whose 
lives are now dramatically impacted with their realities and dreams 
undergoing demanding change. We also recognize that both Likkud and 
Labor-led governments encouraged the settlement enterprise as a 
patriotic act. How ironic and symbol-laden that Prime Minister Sharon 
is the one presiding over the transfer of territory that he was the 
grand architect of settling, stamped by his unique style of charismatic 
leadership and pioneering zeal. I personally witnessed during earlier 
missions to Israel the enthusiastic use of dotted maps by the once hero 
of the settlers' movement and the political Right who has turned into 
their maligned figure, making him into the most guarded man on earth.
  How history repeats itself with altered twists. It was Sharon who as 
Defense Minister ordered the destruction of Yamit in 1982 in the wake 
of the 1979 peace treaty with Egypt which included the Sinai 
Peninsula's loss. It is this courageously transformed Prime Minister 
Sharon who, following the bloody Second Intifada of barbaric suicide 
bombings against Israel's civilian population, the death of his 
longstanding nemesis Chairman Arafat and the yet unsettling murder of 
Prime Minister Rabin by a fanatic Jew, has finally decided to act.
  He thus offsets world pressure and begins to draw, with the Road 
Map's backdrop, Israel's future boundaries sans the Palestinian 
demographic trap, signaling with sacrificial acts to the Palestinian 
Authority Israel's abiding interest in reaching a peace agreement and 
its commitment to establishing a Palestinian state. The Israeli 
military is also freed from the cumbersome and expensive yoke of 
guarding the Gaza settlers, attempting to preserve the genuinely 
Biblically connected major blocks of West Bank settlements, assuring 
greater Jerusalem's Jewish destiny.
  This realistic Zionist vision comes with the heavy and traumatic 
price of relocating Israelis whose majority peacefully complies albeit 
with some understandable legal demonstration. However, a hard core 
minority with outside agitators seems bent on resisting the order to 
evacuate in spite of offered compensation, even as we pray that in the 
moment of truth the tragically unacceptable scenario of Jew fighting 
Jew will be averted. To be sure, the state's authority properly carried 
out should prevail to safeguard its very foundation.
  What is described as Israel's most fateful internal test since 1948, 
will hopefully prove a rallying point for reordering the only Jewish 
state's priorities toward applying its limited resources to pressing 
economic, social and educational needs along with focusing on the holy 
as well southern Negev and northern Galilee, without which an enduring 
Israel is truly at risk, quality-wise and physically.
  The Palestinian Authority has a golden opportunity and 
responsibility, not to be missed, assuring that violence from its midst 
will not interfere with Israel's forthcoming move which benefits both 
sides to this far too long and costly entanglement. Indeed, the 
challenge for President Abbas remains to put an end to Palestinian 
terrorism and competing organizations such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, 
undermining both Israel's and his own dreams for his people. How his 
leadership will run the evacuated territory will be indicative of 
what's in store for a future Palestine state. Active American 
involvement and essential support remain key for the prospect of peace 
and prosperity to the entire turbulent region bearing upon the world at 
large these eventful times.
  Rabbi Israel Zoberman is the spiritual leader of Congregation Beth 
Chaverim in Virginia Beach. He grew up in Haifa, Israel.

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