The Rabbinical Congress for Peace (RCP), known in Hebrew as the Pikuach Nefesh Committee, has strongly condemned the Israeli governments recent decision to place a settlement freeze in Judea and Samaria calling it an “irresponsible move that jeopardizes not only the residents of Judea and Samaria but will ultimately endanger every Jew in every part of Israel”.

The media statement released by the rabbonim adds “There is a clear ruling in the Jewish Code of Law Orach Chaim Chapter 329 that warns against giving up land to foreigners because it will weaken Israel and make it easier for them to conquer the land, the RCP statement states. This fundamental law has become very obvious in recent years but Israeli leaders choose to ignore it paving the way for more demands, more terrorism and more instability in the region, the rabbis said. We have yet to see that conceding land brings to peace. In the past decades we have witnessed that whenever Israel conceded land it only led to more demands, more concessions, more bloodshed and instability in the region. The Prime Minister and his cabinet have, by their degenerate decision, endangered millions of residents of Israel.

“To prove this point, Rabbi Moshe Havlin, Chief Rabbi of Kiryat Gat and a leading member of the RCP, noted that right after the decision was announced last week there was a terrorist attack in Kiryat Arba and a barrage of missiles rained down on Jewish towns in the south. Do we have to reiterate our warning over and over again? Isn’t it about time that the government realizes that this formula of land for peace is an exercise in futility and pushes us away from peace rather than bring us closer to it?

“’The worst thing about this stupid decision,’ Rabbi Havlin continued, ‘is that it is done for the purpose of persuading the Palestinians to come back to the negotiating table but the mere negotiations themselves whose goal is to force Israel to give up more land is absurd and detrimental to Israel’s security’”, the RCP statement read.

“Ever since Israel started negotiating with the Palestinians in 1993 thousands of Jews have been killed and maimed. Is this what the government wants to happen to the extent that it is prepared to prevent Jews from building in their own settlements?” the rabbis asked.

The Rabbis are calling for an urgent meeting with the Prime Minister in order to “point out his suicidal actions and present to him the Halachic Ruling which leads to a true and durable peace for the Jewish nation and stability in the region as well”.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)