Before starting the interview, Nadia Matar with a voluminous approach Holy book a small book in one hand Palestinian history in the other. “The world has to choose which of the two it prefers,” he says, before opening the Palestine book and showing that all its pages are blank. “The history of Palestine is an invention. All who want it Palestinian state Without blinking, he adds: “They want the destruction of Israel.” Matar is one of the most active figures of the period. national religious movementThe ideological umbrella covering the world’s most radical sector Jewish settlersmix Zionist ultranationalism And religious fundamentalism. He is also a key activist in the movement’s comeback plans. Colonizing Gaza with Jewish settlements when the war is over. “This time we will build great cities and repopulate them with 300,000 Jews,” he says Occupied West Bank.
The devastating war waged by Israel and Hamas opened a window of opportunity for Israel. Israeli expansionist rightwho dreams of return to Gaza since that time Ariel Sharon In 2005, it disbanded the Jewish colonies in the region and withdrew Israeli troops who were protecting more than 8,000 settlers living there. “After clearing out all the terrorists, we will offer the remaining Arabs to go to other countries. If the world cares about them that much, let them care, because Gaza will never fall under them again. Arab control. this is a part country of israel“, he says, echoing the merits of the plan proposed by the former Israeli ambassador to the UN and Likud lawmaker. Danny Dannon. Ethnic cleansing a la carte. He adds that those who do not want to leave can continue to remain in the Strip as long as they accept Israeli control.
Matar’s birthplace Belgium and migrated Israel When I was 18. Today, three of his six children are fighting in Gaza and Lebanon borderwhile co-chairing an organization that advocates annexation Loop and West Bankso far they are just occupied so they stay under Israeli sovereignty. A day after Hamas brutally killed hundreds of civilians in southern Israel, Sovereignty Movement President Benjamin Netanyahu sent a letter to his government calling on it to raze the Strip. ” destruction of Gaza this is a moral obligation“, he said along the lines expressed by many political and military leaders of the country.”There are no innocents on that side. “There are murderers, the mothers who raised them, and those who celebrate the murder of the Jews with candy,” he says, now firing the flamethrower. “We must do the same thing as the Allies. Dresden And Hiroshima”.
A government divided against recolonization plans
The feasibility of plans to recolonize Gaza after the war remains a mystery. US President Joe Biden said this would be a “big mistake”. Netanyahu He claimed this weeks ago “not realistic”. The army, in the national unity government, Benny Gantz And Joab BraveThey don’t seem ready for this job but they all far right and a large part Likud Netanyahu’s. It may all depend on the new balance of powers that will emerge in the US presidential elections next November, as well as on the elections that are supposed to be held when the bombs stop. “I don’t think we can do this without American support, so I hope embers Go back to the White House,” Matar admits.
In another colony of the settlement block Gush Etzion, Danny Halamish, one of the activists at the forefront of the movement, experiences that they are all illegal under international law. “Nothing that has happened to the Jewish people in their history was realistic,” he says in a café, “but it finally happened.” Tekoa. “HE appeasement It didn’t get us anywhere. But this crisis is different. “Not only because of the number of Israelis killed in the terrorist attack, but also because we have reached the end of the road.”
Even though he is still 53 years old, Halamish sees himself as part of the calling Youth of the Hills (Hill Youth), offspring of a movement dedicated to terrorizing Palestinians into leaving, burning their fields, or avenging settlers killed by the armed resistance. He lived on one of these hills for almost thirty years. Maale RahavamA proto-caravan settlement built on private land in Palestine. However, his members all fought and he chose to leave. “We Jews are similar ‘Brian’s Life’“We always fight to the death over something stupid.”
But there is nothing banal about his desires. “We have to Get rid of the Arabs. First in Gaza, where not even a single person could stay, and then in West BankHalamish speaks in a calm tone, as if she were talking about the weather. He doesn’t care what he proposes might be anything war crime or against humanity. “The solution to this crisis is to return to our country” Jewish identity. Our problem is that we have tried to assimilate by following this. European benchmark what is right and what is wrong. The Bible calls us to take this land by force, and it is our responsibility to do its bidding.”
Accelerate the ‘solution’ of the Palestinian issue
Current Minister of Finance, Bezalel SmotrichOne of the leaders of the movement has been advocating for years Speed up ‘Solution’ to Palestine problemAs Halamish claims. But for now, the priority is to recolonize Gaza. A dozen organizations, backed by politicians, rabbis and military heavyweights, divided up the duties. lobby in parliament, mobilize the population and make plans for what will happen New settlements on the Strip.
Nadia Matar’s organization is one of them. “We all have the same goal: to realize our purpose Zionist dream from the Jewish homeland From the Jordan River to the sea. And that is what we will do,” concludes the settler movement activist.