Over the past century there has been much turmoil, political discourse and debate regarding the political concept of Zionism, and the political formation of a man-made nation called "Israel," situated on the ancestral Holy Land of the B'nei Yisrael (ארץ הקודש של ארץ ישראל השלמה). To be sure this issue is not one of "good" versus "evil" where one side is entirely good and the other entirely bad. Both sides operate from the foundations of secular nationalism. Both sides must come to the table with this understanding.

The Palestinians have given the world suicide bombers and often callous massacres of the Jerusalem riots, Safed and Hebron that men and women of peace cannot comprehend. Palestinians and Arabs - Muslims in general - must understand that long before the State of Israel was formed, there were decades of massacres and attacks on Jews of Yerushalayim, Safed and Hebron. But Israelis and even the Jewish people - the Israelites - must acknowledge that these did not legitimize the terrorist actions of defectors like the Irgun and Stern Gang. Safed and Hebron, in other words, do not justify Deir Yassin, nor - more recently - Sabra and Shatila, which occurred by the hands of others, but with Israeli State complicity. As Jews, we must continue our record of championing human rights and opposing all forms of injustice (even when it is against those who hate us).

If you have two entities, both political in nature and both with their hands covered to the elbows in blood, would you even begin to confuse this bloodshed with the cause of the One True God? Certainly our Creator wants all Jews to live free from Antisemitism and in security, so that nothing like Ha'Shoah would ever occur again. And yet no truly objective individual could imagine for a second that this same Creator would not wish for Palestinians to live securely in their homes without being forcibly removed, threatened with imminent violence if they do not leave, nor  pushed to the side; prevented from returning to their homes when they fled the violence of war. This is not acceptable in any context, whether here or in the context of the European colonization of the Americas and subsequent crimes against the indigenous peoples there. Jews are the champions of Civil Rights; to act against Civil Rights is to act against Judaism. This is simply not the way of those who follow the Mitzvot and yearn for the rise of Mashiach.

Both sides of this political fight have committed crimes against the other. We could spend hours, days, weeks, months, years and even decades analyzing, discussing and debating the things that each side did wrong to the other. As well, Palestinians will often blame Jews for migrating to the Holy Land at all. But their real issue today is the forced removal from their homes, and the refusal of the right of return. We often justify this with European Antisemitism, Theodor Hertzel's original motivating in creating the political ideology of Zionism in the first place. But this is neither here nor there. It is not that neither side is right at all, nor is it that there is not in any situation one side that has likely been antagonized. The point is that this does not change the reality of the situation that we face now, nor does it change how this relates to those who anticipate the rise of King Mashiach ben David in accordance with Jewish, Christian and Muslim sources of prophecy...

The Scriptures are clear on the root of this political distraction. The Holy Land is King Mashiach's dominion alone; endowed to him by Ha'Shem, as the righteous ruler of this land steeped in ages of bloodshed and turmoil. It is not the domain of King Herod. It is not the domain of the Ottomans, nor the British nor the Mufti. It is not the domain of Ariel Sharon, nor Netanyahu. It is not the domain of Yisrael Beiteinu, nor Likkud. The land does not belong to the B'nei Yisrael by genetic right, as we know that the promise to our father Avraham was made before our father Yitzaq was even conceived. Similarly, we know that it is written in the Torah that:

If a man has two wives, and he loves one but not the other, and both bear him sons but the firstborn is the son of the wife he does not love, when he wills his property to his sons, he must not give the rights of the firstborn to the son of the wife he loves in preference to his actual firstborn, the son of the wife he does not love. He must acknowledge the son of his unloved wife as the firstborn by giving him a double share of all he has. That son is the first sign of his father's strength. The right of the firstborn belongs to him. D'barim (Deuteronomy) 21:15-17

כִּי-תִהְיֶיןָ לְאִישׁ שְׁתֵּי נָשִׁים, הָאַחַת אֲהוּבָה וְהָאַחַת שְׂנוּאָה, וְיָלְדוּ-לוֹ בָנִים, הָאֲהוּבָה וְהַשְּׂנוּאָה; וְהָיָה הַבֵּן הַבְּכֹר, לַשְּׂנִיאָה. וְהָיָה, בְּיוֹם הַנְחִילוֹ אֶת-בָּנָיו, אֵת אֲשֶׁר-יִהְיֶה, לוֹ--לֹא יוּכַל, לְבַכֵּר אֶת-בֶּן-הָאֲהוּבָה, עַל-פְּנֵי בֶן-הַשְּׂנוּאָה, הַבְּכֹר. כִּי אֶת-הַבְּכֹר בֶּן-הַשְּׂנוּאָה יַכִּיר, לָתֶת לוֹ פִּי שְׁנַיִם, בְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר-יִמָּצֵא, לוֹ: כִּי-הוּא רֵאשִׁית אֹנוֹ, לוֹ מִשְׁפַּט הַבְּכֹרָה.

Children of Israel thus know that Avraham Aveinu did not treat his firstborn Yishmael in contradiction to the Eternal Torah. Children of Adam, the Path of all Prophets, was not a path of politics, of military aggression, of conquest, or land seizure or implementation of the man-made governments of the Nations, of the goyyim. This is not the way that we are commanded to follow. For we will ONLY be restored by the just reign of King Mashiach. Restoration in any other manner is a usurpation of King Mashiach's Divine right to rule this Land, his domain. The State of Israel is what it is. But what it is not is the State that we have hoped for. It is not a substitute for Mashiach. We must always remember that and not think that we can rule, legislate and act in the capacity of such a just ruler, who we know will bring peace to the world. We must thus use this man-made State to do good deeds to all of the B'nei Adam. We must employ it to continue our mission to be an aur l'goyyim; our very existence as a people is to bring light to the nations, not suffering. Let us try to repair, even when the naysayers tell us that it cannot be done.

Let us remember the Three Oaths, so often cited against Jewish `aliyot to Eretz Yisrael Hashlamah. Rebbi Elazar states that one who lives in Eretz Yisrael "dwells without sin" ("Nesu Avon"), as the verse says, "One who lives there will not say, 'I am sick;' the people that dwells there will be forgiven of sin" Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 33:24

וּבַל יֹאמַר שָׁכֵן, חָלִיתִי; הָעָם הַיֹּשֵׁב בָּהּ, נְשֻׂא עָוֹן

This passage of the Talmud, from Mesechet Ketuvot 111a, explains this "forgiveness of sin" by saying that "sins committed in Eretz Yisrael are punished much more severely than sins committed in Chutz la'Aretz!" (Pnei Yehoshuah) So thus, it is only a people "who are not sick" - as Yeshayahu explains - that will be able to enter into Eretz Yisrael when King Mashiach reigns. The people who would enter the Holy Land by force prior to that Messianic Era would in fact still "be sick" with their character flaws, covetiveness, envy and greed that would cause them to take the land by force, band together and "go up in a wall."

The Gemara (end of 110b until the beginning of 111a) records the view of Rav Yehudah, who says that anyone who goes from Bavel to Eretz Yisrael transgresses an Isur Aseh, because the verse says, "To Bavel they will be brought, and there they will stay until the day that I remember them, says YHWH, when I shall bring them up and return them to this place" - Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 27:22

בָּבֶלָה יוּבָאוּ, וְשָׁמָּה יִהְיוּ--עַד יוֹם פָּקְדִי אֹתָם, נְאֻם יְהוָה, וְהַעֲלִיתִים וַהֲשִׁיבֹתִים, אֶל הַמָּקוֹם הַזֶּה

This verse commands us not to return from Galut until Ha'Shem redeems us through Mashiach. Why? This was as much about us as it was about the goyyim. The goyyim would not be brought to a state of peacefullness until Mashiach's rise. Thus, we would be - in a sense - out of the proverbial kettle and into the frying pan. This is in fact what happened; out of antisemitic Europe and into the clutches of the Nazi Mufti.

To ensure that a perfect set of circumstances could be attained in Eretz Yisrael, for the work of Mashiach, Ha'Shem has made us swear to three oaths:

1. She'lo ya'alu Yisrael B'Chomah (שעלו יעלו ישראל בחומה) - Ha'Shem made us swear not to band together and "go up like a wall"

This first oath means that Eretz Yisrael Hashlamah - when instituted and ruled by Mashiach - will not be built by "walling" itself off from the indigenous society or from the surrounding societies. Not without irony, there now a Berlinesque wall which dishonors the derekh ha'Yahadut. This must change.

2. Ha'Shem made us swear that they would not rebel against the nations of the world.

Yet the "settlements" continue to grow within the West Bank, even as those in Gaza have been forced into compliance with the rule of law. The nations oppose us in these settlements. We have two choices, withdraw all settlements form the West Bank, as in Gaza, and give our Arab brothers and sisters back their right of self determination. With this implemented, extremist groups lose some of their attraction. But the other solution is to leave the Settlements and bring Gaza and the West Bank into a One State Solution of Eretz Yisrael Hashlamah, under a name to be determined through negotiations. Each of the three states retain their individual flavor and statehood, but citizenship would be first to the state, then to the greater government of the whole. As the nations call on us to freeze and dismantle settlements, we should answer that there is another way, that way is Eretz Yisrael Hashlamah.

3. Ha'Shem made the nations swear not to oppress us yoter midai (יותר מדי) meaning "more than too much."

The Talmud records Ha'Shem as having said: Ani matir es besarkhem (אני מתיר יש בשרכם) - I will make your flesh to be taken, meaning that Ha'Shem has allowed there to be a certain degree of oppression of Y'hudim...  However, the nations have done this yoter midai, transgressing the permission given to test us, into outright oppression and genocide.

Thus, the final oath was not honored. The goyyim did oppress us... yoter midai. This extends not only to the German nation, but to the Arab nations, including the usurped leadership of Mandate Palestine. The so-called "Grossmufti" not only collaborated with the Nazis, he was close friends with them. In that way, the ancient sages foresaw both possibilities. Children are not only told to honor their father and mother, but fathers are also told not to provoke their children. The Arab world must be educated in its historical hand in oppressing the Jewish people. Both sides must wash their hands of the blood and dissolve these false borders. If there was not such oppression, the waves of `aliyot to Eretz Yisrael would not have occurred.

This oppression, however, was to teach us never to be the oppressor. This is why Pesach is so important and why we have always been instructed to pay so much attention to our roots as slaves in Mitzrayim. Ha'Shem knows all, and certainly had full knowledge of what path many would take in this age of global oppression and tyranny. Thus, Ha'Shem permitted limited oppression to come down upon us so that a remnant among us might remember that oppression is never the answer. This is why Judaism has always maintained that the Diaspora is a metaphysical state, that should not be hastened by "worldly means," and will only be ended through the creation of the True Nation of Yisrael by Mashiach alone!

According to the Talmud itself, this is the meaning of the verse: "I adjure you, O daughters of Yerushalayim, by the gazelles or by the hinds of the field, should you wake or rouse the love until it pleases." Shir Ha'Shirim 2:7 

הִשְׁבַּעְתִּי אֶתְכֶם בְּנוֹת יְרוּשָׁלִַם, בִּצְבָאוֹת, אוֹ, בְּאַיְלוֹת הַשָּׂדֶה: אִם תָּעִירוּ וְאִם תְּעוֹרְרוּ אֶת הָאַהֲבָה, עַד שֶׁתֶּחְפָּץ

This verse is so important that it is repeated again in Shir Ha'Shirim 3:5 word for word: "I adjure you, O daughters of Yerushalayim, by the gazelles or by the hinds of the field, should you wake or rouse the love until it pleases." 

הִשְׁבַּעְתִּי אֶתְכֶם בְּנוֹת יְרוּשָׁלִַם, בִּצְבָאוֹת, אוֹ, בְּאַיְלוֹת הַשָּׂדֶה: אִם תָּעִירוּ וְאִם תְּעוֹרְרוּ אֶת הָאַהֲבָה, עַד שֶׁתֶּחְפָּץ

An over-zealous youth who pursues infatuation with one that they have set their eyes upon - while the one whom they admire is not yet ready to accept their advances - is called a "stalker" when they pursue one who repeatedly fights off their advances. In a similar manner the B'nei Yisrael have forsaken this Talmud and taken the Holy Land by force. Taking this analogy of Shir Ha'Shirim to its logical conclusion, the colonization of Palestine can be likened to a rape of the land and its inhabitants.

If the Talmudic "Three Oaths" would have been followed, then the process of love would have naturally matured. Mashiach would have Risen and led the pure among the B'nei Yisrael to the Holy Land. Thus the True Nation of Yisrael would have been created by Mashiach in the perfect manner - in accordance with the Divine Will and Knowledge of how to deal with Justice and maintain Peace... But this is the caveat of yoter midai. Those fleeing oppression had few options. This was their motivation, not the violation of these oaths and not depriving Palestinians of their homes. We must therefore understand that we violated these oaths, and the nations must remember that they violated their oath against oppressing us yoter midai. This acknowledgment is essential to the act of tiqqun which can still occur in bringing about hashlamah between these parties...

This is still the option that Ha'Shem has offered us for peace. Admit where errors were made, and where we as a people have violated our oaths. Seek reconciliation. Seek Hashlamah. View our brothers and sisters in Palestine as the brothers and sisters that they are. Seek to resolve conflict in areas where we have wronged others, and just as we seek for others to look past our wrongs and resolve conflict with us, we should be willing to forgive a people for the wrongs of a tiny few and not be heavy handed or oppressive with them. For the time has come that the B'nei Yisrael withdraw from the ways of the nations and their political systems. It is not for us to adopt their politics and systems so that we can face the turmoil, strife and terrorism that they have faced through their centuries of colonialism. Only then can we expect for Mashiach to rise, and to look upon us favorably as his people when that time comes.