http://musliminsuffer.wordpress.com/
bismi-lLahi-rRahmani-rRahiem
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
=== News Update ===
The Israeli policy in the Occupied Territories: what should one call it?
By: Victoria Buch- Jan 14, 2007
The State of Israel calls it “fight for existence” or “fight against
terror”. Its detractors call it “colonization”, “apartheid”, or “ethnic
cleansing”. Baruch Kimmerling coined the term “politicide of
Palestinians”. Edward Said spoke of slow bleeding. Recently, even words
such as “genocide”[1] have been used. Let us try to define the Israeli
policy, and then grapple with the question of proper naming.
It should be stated in advance, that by “policy” I mean consistent long
term developments pursued by the different Israeli governments in the
Occupied Territories. Its major element has been massive settlement
construction in conjunction with land grab. By now the number of Israeli
Jewish citizens residing beyond Israel’s 1967 border nears 0.44 million
(including Jerusalem). The built-up area of the settlements consists of
less than 3% of the area of the West Bank, but the area which they
officially dominate (municipal jurisdiction) constitutes over 40% [2].
Presently, more than 1/3 of the West Bank is out of reach for most
Palestinians [3]. A second element has been confinement of West Bank
Palestinians to disconnected enclaves, and attrition of the enclaves by
military invasions and economic blockade [4].
On the other hand, I shall attach little significance to the recent
Olmert-Abbas meeting, and to recent declarations by PM Olmert of
forthcoming goodwill gestures towards Palestinians. Similar declarations
by Israeli leaders were made periodically in the past, and have thus
been an integral part of the Israeli policy. However, the “goodwill
gestures” were never carried through to any significant extent, for any
significant length of time [5]. Not a dent was made in the large-scale
settlement and expropriation projects noted above. Thus, the obvious
significance of such declarations is a publicity gimmick designed to
make Israel look good in the eyes of the public, which is ignorant of
the reality on the ground, and mistakes the declarations for reality.
Also, as noted astutely by D. Breslau, such declarations often serve as
a prelude for a major military invasion to the Occupied Territories.
To assess the Israeli policy one needs to face squarely the grim reality
in the Occupied Territories, and to look through periodic publicity
exercises. One aspect of this reality transpires through the following
translation of a letter from a soldier, received by Yesh Gvul - an
organization of Israeli men who refuse military service in the Occupied
Territories. I quote such an ugly letter, since in my view, it is
indicative of the strong current inside the IDF:
“Hello, as written above, my name is Ofir and all I have to say is that
for 3 years I have committed `war crimes` as you guys define it. I have
beaten and shot Palestinians and their belongings. I even have plenty of
pictures. I really enjoyed it and I was even a commander, a Platoon
Sergeant, and later a Sergeant-Major of a company. The entire company
did similar things. I must admit that I am proud of what I did there. I
don't give a damn about those beasts you call Palestinians, and don't
give a damn about you guys. I think you should all be sent to camps, you
and your friends across the border. OK, I am sure you are nothing but a
bunch of old ladies who came up with this temporary solution to your
boredom, to pass time between retirement and death... I am sure you
won't bother to read this but just in case, you should know that I am
quite smart (engineering major), young (23), secular, not some settler
loonie from the OT, and yet, I think you shouldn't be living with us. I
wish you all get the worst disease there is, you and your kids. Die.
Nazi assholes.”
The adjectives applied by the author of the letter to Yesh Gvul
activists are not of much interest beyond evoking an old Jewish saying
“A condemner condemns himself” (“Ha-posel be’mumo posel”). Of much
greater interest is this man’s self image – he views himself as just a
“regular guy”. Most “regular people” acquire their value systems from
the surroundings. It appears that the army leaders want the soldiers to
view Arabs as “those beasts”. The army leaders seem to view them
likewise.
And if you do not believe me – observe the current policy in Gaza, the
West Bank, and, last summer, in Lebanon. The principle is simple – “the
more damage to the Arabs, the better”. Otherwise, how can you explain
spreading of millions of cluster bombs all over South Lebanon just
before the retreat from Lebanon? In view of the commanders, the act must
have been equivalent to spraying pesticide before leaving a room. And
what is the point of systematic demolition of the Gaza Strip by the
Israeli army since the beginning of the Second Intifada? You cannot
seriously believe that the objective is to stop the Qassams. In fact,
there were no Qassam rockets well into the second year of the Intifada,
by which time the piece-meal destruction campaign of Gaza by military
invasions was well under way. Keeping one and a half million traumatized
people imprisoned under hellish conditions, and denying them any chance
of normal life will mathematically feed the ranks of extremists, and
thus bring more Qassams. Any sensible person understands that the
Qassams will keep coming.
A second pertinent quotation follows, this time by a public figure:
Arnon Sofer, Professor of Geography at Haifa University, father of
Sharon`s "separation plan" (quotation from the Jerusalem Post weekend
supplement Up Front, May 21, 2004, p.9):
"When 1.5 million people live in a closed-off Gaza, it`s going to be a
human catastrophe. Those people will become even bigger animals than
they are today, with the aid of an insane fundamentalist Islam. The
pressure at the border will be awful. It`s going to be a terrible war.
So, if we want to remain alive, we will have to kill and kill and kill.
All day, every day. If we don`t kill, we will cease to exist. The only
thing that concerns me is how to ensure that the boys and men who are
going to have to do the killing will be able to return home to their
families and be normal human beings."
There was no public uproar in Israel after the above pronouncement. The
author of the above quotation remains a respectable professor in one of
the major Israeli academic institutions. You can hear him on public
radio. He is a recognized specialist on “demographic problems”. Note the
kind of ideas which are currently accepted – or tolerated - by the
brain-washed Israeli mainstream.
I do not wish to convey by this that most Jewish Israelis are blood-
thirsty monsters craving Arab blood. In fact most are quite oblivious to
the existence of Palestinians and their plight. The majority of Israelis
simply don’t care. For myself, a 1968 immigrant from Poland,
Palestinians used to be an abstract entity. I became very disturbed and
embarrassed by what is done to them by my State only in the nineties,
after becoming personally acquainted with some of them. Most Israelis do
not have Arab friends. Most Israelis view themselves as peace loving
people, regretfully forced to protect themselves from these Palestinian
barbarians by military force. The Israelis are desensitized to the
humanity of Palestinians by daily propaganda dispensed copiously by the
media (“Arabs only want to throw us to the sea”, “this is our fight for
existence”, “we have to overcome terror before negotiating” and the
remaining worn-out mantras, which are literally believed.) However, I
think that if offered a different version of reality (“we have to seek a
compromise with Palastinians to survive”) the majority of Israeli Jews
would believe that too. The potential for peaceful coexistence still
exists. You can still see Israeli Jews and Arabs coexisting and
cooperating under normal everyday conditions (although the opportunities
for such cooperation are being reduced).
However, the people in power in Israel are not interested in dispensing
the other version of reality, except as a part of occasional propaganda
stints noted above. The Israeli Jewish citizens have been harnessed by
their leaders to service a Machine for Gradual Piece-Meal Demolition and
Expropriation of Palestinians. The majority of the Israeli citizens are
wonderfully unaware of what is it that they are servicing; they are
being told – and believe – that they are serving the State Security.
This is despite the evidence of massive settlement construction in the
West Bank, the inefficacy of military means to bring security, and the
pauperization of the Israeli society, as the Occupation keeps draining
the resources. Discarding the media spin and grasping the big picture
seems to be beyond the capacity of an average citizen of our country. In
this respect, Israelis are not very different from any other nation.
Let us summarize the principles governing the Israeli government policy:
Principle (1) was already noted: “The more damage to Arabs, the better”.
It was not always like that, at least not entirely. Well into the PM
Barak tenure, a notion was floating among Israeli politicians and
military, that making Palestinian life bearable and keeping them
gainfully employed is in the interests of the State of Israel. No more.
This notion was effectively eradicated by that terrible old man, the
epitome of Israeli colonialism, presently lingering in the Hadassah
Hospital. Since the beginning of the Occupation, Sharon was perhaps the
most important and talented of the developers and promoters of the
Machine (though by far not the only one). The Machine was greatly
empowered and fine-tuned during Sharon’s tenure as the Prime Minister.
Here is just a fraction of the “methods” [4,6]: Palestinian home and
property demolitions. Unleashing “hilltop boys” from settlements to
scare off farmers from their fields, and to destroy crops. Denying
Palestinian access to water. Delaying access of Palestinian produce to
markets until it rots, while pushing Israeli products to Palestinian
shops. Blocking economic investment, confiscating money. Making
Palestinian travel to any place outside one’s own town or village a
humiliating, lengthy and often impossible undertaking. Evicting foreign
citizens married to Palestinians. Evicting sympathetic foreigners.
Widespread arrests. Imprisonment in disconnected enclaves, where work is
scarce and life miserable. Subjecting the enclaves to endless military
incursions. All this concurrently with a large-scale land grab and
settlement construction.
Principle (2) of the Israeli policy: Keep the violence rolling; dodge
peace initiatives. This policy is carried out in broad daylight,
unnoticed by the brainwashed Israeli public. Among the past examples,
note the scorned peace overtures of Abu-Mazen, and those of the Saudis.
Perhaps the most striking example is the Israeli treatment of the Hamas
government [4]. The Israeli establishment must have sighed in relief
when Abu-Mazen, with his Western face and uncomfortable peace overtures
finally lost power to Hamas. But Hanieh did not deliver! He behaved like
a respectable statesman rather than a terrorist! The political wing of
Hamas which came to power expressed interest in negotiating a settled
solution based on that anathema to the Israeli establishment – 1967
international borders! Even worse, Hamas demonstrated the ability to
maintain a ceasefire throughout the year preceding the elections, at the
time that Israel did not maintain any ceasefire. This could not be
permitted. A frantic string of Israeli provocations followed in the form
of assassinations of Palestinian leaders, which finally bore fruit – the
attack on Israeli military post, in which a soldier was taken prisoner.
The poor soldier Shalit provided the military leaders with a pretext for
a large scale invasion of Gaza, for which they have been drooling since
the “disengagement” from Gaza . Much of the Hamas political wing was
carted off to jail, impairing their ability to rule, and leaving the
Palestinian street to gunmen. The latter are unlikely to make any
uncomfortable peace overtures, and can be trusted to deliver the
Qassams. The latter could be stopped – simply by negotiating with Hamas.
But the Qassam salvos are convenient prerequisites for the militaristic
policy.
[Do not get confused by the recent Olmert – Abu-Mazen meeting. Support
for Abu-Mazen could have been considered an effective step towards
negotiated compromise a couple of years ago, when Abu-Mazen came to
power and enjoyed support of most of the Palestinian public. At that
time Israeli government did everything in its means to pull the rung
from under his feet. The present show of support for the discredited
Palestinian leader who lost the elections can only be interpreted as an
effort towards further destabilization of the Palestinian society.]
Principle (3): Bully anybody who dares to criticize Israel. One may note
the shameless use of Holocaust, and the accusations of anti-Semitism
directed against decent people (some Jewish!) who oppose the Israeli
government.
So what should we call the above Israeli policy in the Occupied
Territories? It certainly does not answer the definition of “fight
against terror”, as claimed by the government, since one of its outcomes
is empowerment of the violent elements within the Palestinian political
system. On the other hand, the term “genocide” in its simple meaning
does not sound appropriate, since wholesale murder does not take place
(however the extended definition adopted by the UN does include elements
of the OT reality [1]). “Colonial expansion” seems to cover much, but
not all, of this reality. Apartheid appears to be a fair approximation.
In fact, many of the discriminatory rulings against the Palestinians
parallel the ones employed in the past against the non-whites in South
Africa . One can only marvel, what is the point of imitating measures
such as the infamous Pass Laws and confinement to Bantustans, after
these measures failed so spectacularly in South Africa ! However there
is one significant difference with respect to the SA apartheid. The
whites in SA viewed the rest of the society as inferiors, designated
servants and laborers, but did not propose to exclude them totally from
the society. The people in power in Israel have a dream – a dream of
Palestinians disappearing from sight – and pursue this dream
relentlessly. If you do not believe me, just look around. For example,
note that most West Bank and Gaza Palestinians were expelled from the
Israeli labor market, and laborers from Thailand, Romania, and other
remote lands were imported in their stead. Or drive along No 6 freeway,
and note the grey walls of the Qalqilya ghetto. There is not one road-
sign pointing towards Qalqilya along the freeway. And trees are being
planted along the walls, which will eventually hide the ugly sight from
the drivers. There are numerous other examples, big and small.
Summarizing, I think that “ethnic cleansing” is the most adequate
description of the Israeli policy. Meaning: “(1) Forceful dispossession
of one ethnic group (Palestinians) on behalf of another (Israeli Jews),
which considers itself superior. (2) Gradual destruction of the
dispossessed society”.
So what next? Evidently, the Israeli establishment believes that the
policy of imprisonment of Palestinians in ghettoes, their disconnection
from the rest of the world, and piece-meal destruction by attrition –
can continue indefinitely. The hope seems to be that the Palestinian
society will implode, and the in-fighting will “finish the job”. However
the number of Palestinians living under Israeli rule is close to that of
Israeli Jews. In the not-so-long-run, making normal life impossible for
Palestinians will result in large scale escalation of violence, unlikely
to remain confined within the walls of the ghettoes. Are the Israeli
military and militaristic leaders unable to see it? The answer may be
“yes”; as short-sightedness of military men is a well documented
phenomenon in the history. But it is also possible that some of them
foresee the forthcoming paroxysm of violence and look forward to it -
their ilk thrives on bloodshed. They may consider it an opportunity for
large scale expulsion of Palestinians from the West Bank, in the 1948
fashion. Perhaps Gaza is a designated mega-refugee camp and a
destination for such mass expulsion.
Will the above succeed? Ethnic cleansing projects have been known to
succeed in distant and not-so-distant past. The Israeli government is
riding the wave of newly fashionable and acceptable Western colonialism
(renamed conveniently “fight against terror”). Also, by now everyone in
the US Congress and Senate knows that saying a good word for
Palestinians is equivalent to a political suicide. Even supposedly
progressive people such as Nancy Pelosi grovel in front of AIPAC[7]. But
once-upon-a-time South African apartheid also seemed invincible,
enjoying support of Reagan and Thatcher. And then it crumbled. And the
Israeli Machine does display signs of wear. Sharon, the evil genius who
contributed more than anybody to its launching, is out of political
circulation. The people who replaced him in power appear narrow-minded
and predictable, by far below his league. Israeli citizens continue to
serve the Machine, but without the erstwhile ideological zeal. During
the last elections, remarkably low percentage went to the polls; and out
of those, surprisingly many chose to vote for a “Pensioners’ Party”.
I once attended a tour to the Wall (“Separation Fence”) in the Jerusalem
area. Our guide, a well known lawyer Danny Seideman described
preposterous resources spent on erecting the Wall, and equally
preposterous manpower resources needed to maintain it in future. “The
thing will collapse under its own weight, like the South African
apartheid system”, he prophesized. In my view, the same will happen to
the whole Machine. Let us only hope that the two hapless nations will
not end up buried under its ruins.
* An Israeli academic, an anti-occupation activist, and one of the
editors of the Occupation Magazine: www.kibush.co.il. She can be reached
via e-mail at: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sources:
[1] Kathleen and Bill Christianson, Counterpunch, 27.11.06 "Does it
matter what you call it? Genocide or erasure of Palestinians"
http://www.counterpunch.org/christison11272006.html
One may note that the criteria that determine genocide under the UN
Convention extend beyond wholesale murder: `In the present Convention,
genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to
destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious
group, as such:
a. Killing members of the group;
b. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
c. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to
bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
d. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
e. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.`
[2] The West Bank - Facts and Figures - June 2006
http://www.peacenow.org.il/site/en/peace.asp?pi=61&fld=191&docid=1856
[3] See, a map published in Haaretz in March 2006 “More than a third of
the West Bank - out of reach for most Palestinians” . A copy, with
legends translated to English, can be downloaded from
http://www.kibush.co.il/downloads/MAP.jpg.
[4] For an archive of pertinent articles from the Israeli, Palestinian
and international press, see the Occupation Magazine
http://www.kibush.co.il
See also compilations of UN data www.ochaopt.org
[5] See, e.g., Haaretz Editorial 25.12.06
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/805014.html
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=18212
[6] Many of the methods of oppression are summarized in the website of
B’Tselem, http://www.btselem.org
[7] From Nancy Pelosi speech to AIPAC “`There are those who contend that
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is all about Israel`s occupation of the
West Bank and Gaza. This is absolute nonsense. In truth, the history of
the conflict is not over occupation, and never has been: it is over the
fundamental right of Israel to exist.” See:
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=3840
Original url: http://www.amin.org/look/amin/en.tpl?
IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=7&NrArticle=38887&NrIssue=1&NrSection=3
===
-muslim voice-
______________________________________
BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
