What is the meaning of sovereignty and what are the ramifications of the situation in which there is no sovereignty, regarding the aspects of consciousness and legislation, and how is the process practically promoted. MK Boaron at the Hanukah Sovereignty Youth Seminar 2024.
Among the speakers at the 2024 Sovereignty Youth Hanukah Seminar was Member of Knesset Avihai Boaron, representing Judea and Samaria in the Likud Knesset list. During his remarks, he explained the essence and importance of sovereignty and the role of the youth in the process of consciousness-raising and the practical process on the way to realizing the step.
At the beginning of his remarks, Boaron told of a meeting with the agriculturalists in farms scattered throughout Judea and Samaria, agriculturalists who not only live faithfully in the Land of Israel but also invest significant sums of money to benefit the national challenge. This total dedication resembles the dedication and commitment between spouses “It is not just land, it is the homeland, a living body, not barren ground but the Land of Israel, which was the subject of our forefathers’ longings for thousands of years, land where the Shekhina resides and to which we are connected, and not to any other place, the soil of the homeland is a marital partner to the People of Israel”, he said.
From this point of view, said Boaron, we arrive at sovereignty and its practical meaning, which is “the ability to realize the rights to the land as a state”, in his words. “When we want to apply sovereignty, the expression is the application of holiness, sanctification of the land and differentiating it from all other lands. This is our connection to our marital partner, the Land of Israel and a declaration to the world that we sanctify this Land and it is special to us and we are more special to it than all other peoples”, he continued, in completing the resemblance.
This approach gives rise to the understanding that despite its great importance, the political sphere is not what generates the solidarity behind the truth of the matter, rather it is the sphere of consciousness of the connection between the People of Israel and its Land. A discussion such as this, which focuses on consciousness will lead to identity. “Sovereignty begins with the root of consciousness and continues to the level of activity. When there is no sovereignty, when I do not sanctify and unite with the homeland, I have no real right to the land. The connection is direct. It is as if I declare to the world that I do not belong to the place”. The deep meaning of these things is also the insight that stems from the situation in which there has not been sovereignty for the 57 past years.
The lack of sovereignty breaks the connection between the People and the Land as the temporary connection of occupation that will end with the conclusion of a peace agreement, as happens in battles between other countries throughout the world. In this spirit, Member of Knesset Boaron related that a senior officer with whom he conversed related to the military and governmental presence in Judea and Samaria as a sort of frozen situation that allows construction temporarily but he is deeply aware that the Jewish towns will not be able to hold out for long. “this is the reason that for many years roads have not been paved here and construction here is very slow. Even when there is a new neighborhood built here or there, compared to other areas throughout the Land, the construction graph there is much higher in relation to the population. In Judea and Samaria, there is the least construction compared to the rest of the Land”.
In the situation in which sovereignty has not yet been applied, the marriage between the People of Israel and its Land has not been consummated, there are also legal ramifications which Member of Knesset Boaron also related to, mentioning the situation in which it is not Israeli law that applies in these areas, but rather international law, which begs the question of what we are doing in a place where the law isn’t even our law, and the conclusion is that it is a situation of occupation. Thus, it happens that natives of the place are defined, ironically, as Arabs and not Jews, even if they are Jews who were born there and lived all their lives in Judea and Samaria.
An example of practical ramifications of this situation can be seen in one of the farms holding land of more than 400 dunams, which were designated for the establishment of a town, but there is no road to the town. In any other place in Israel, they would expropriate land in order to pave a road but not in Judea and Samaria, where if someone is defined as an occupier, he cannot expropriate the asset of the occupied state, even if there had never been a state here. Expropriation is allowed only if it also serves the occupied party. Thus, it happens that in the town of Harasha, a neighborhood cannot be built because of a few dozen meters that prevent the completion of the access road. The application of sovereignty is also the application of Israeli law, which offers solutions for many other similar matters.
Later in his remarks, Member of Knesset Boaron presented the impossible situation created by the authors of the Oslo Accords, who divided the territory into areas A, B and C, where the systematic trend of the PA leadership is to connect the areas and create a territorial contiguity as a fait accompli that will combine with Israeli-Arab centers of population and the Bedouin sector. This would result in a large strip several times greater than the Gaza Strip, where the population supports the slaughter of the seventh of October by over 80 percent and within that strip there are cities that overlook cities in the center of the Land. “They sit on the soft belly of the State of Israel”, says Boaron, who thinks that the Israeli leadership is still avoiding the reality, in light of verified military assessments, of an approaching reality of betrayal, when the barrels of guns held by PA people are turned toward Israel and its residents. “Sovereignty is necessary for this reason as well, which means that I am responsible and the one who rules the area and there is no other authority in the field, and if there is no sovereignty it means that I am only a visitor and not a permanent resident here. The resolution of the dispute demands sovereignty”.
Boaron moved from here to the question of the steps that will lead to sovereignty and it begins with action such as the activity of the Sovereignty Movement to shape and raise consciousness. “After thinking about it, we must talk about it and then everyone of you must take it upon yourselves to talk with ten people about sovereignty and this will work wonders. The more people talk about it, the more likely it will happen”, says Boaron, noting the power of public pressure on members of Knesset, who do not act without public pressure being applied from below, even if they are idealistic and ideological. “This is our role in the game. When we come from the outside, directed at the matter, we have a strong influence on politicians”.
Any group of youths can begin to exert such pressure on various groups of acquaintances, states Boaron, to get people to sign letters demanding sovereignty and send them to members of Knesset, he said, expanding on the power of Sovereignty Youth in general and those present at the seminar in particular, to create a situation with that public pressure that must be exerted in order to realize the vision within the two years of the overlap between the current government and the Trump administration.