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CounterPunch
March 10,
2003
An Approaching Emergency
Black
Flags in Ramallah: Of War and Transfer
By URI AVNERY
When I visited Ramallah last, it wore a shining
white frock. Even after days of sunshine, many areas where still
covered with snow that hid the ravages of the occupation, destruction
and neglect.
I was driving slowly and enjoying the
landscape, when I tensed instinctively. Through the corner of
my eye I saw a group of children. Something was hurled forcefully
against my windshield and landed with a bang. In the split of
a second I relaxed: it wasn't a rock but a snowball. I waved
and they waved cheerfully back, in spite of my yellow Israeli
license plates.
But that was the only light moment during
this visit. I had come to ask Palestinian civic leaders about
the dangers threatening the Palestinian population in case of
an American attack on Iraq.
They had no illusions. The present Israeli
political-military leadership includes groups that have been
planning for a long time to exploit a war situation in order
to do things which cannot be done in ordinary times. The moral
brakes that still exist in parts of the Israeli public, as well
as the expected international reaction, prevent the implementation
of these plans for the time being.
All this can change in a war situation.
The attention of the world will be riveted to the battle in Iraq.
In the Arab countries, chaos may prevail, diverting attention
from the Palestinian territories. The Israeli public, fearful
of Saddam's capabilities, will be (even) less sensitive to the
plight of the Palestinians.
What can happen?
The list is long, and every item is worse
than the preceding one.
The first--and almost certain--act will
be a prolonged closure and curfew in all the occupied territories.
The Palestinians have a long and painful experience with these.
It means that for days and weeks on end it will be impossible
to get food and medicines into towns and villages, especially
to remote and isolated ones. This time, electricity may be completely
cut off, cutting all connections with the outside world. Patients
will not reach hospitals for ordinary treatment (dialysis and
chemotherapy, for example) or emergency procedures (wounds, operations,
births etc.). In many cases, this can literally be a matter of
life and death.
Only some of these eventualities can
be forestalled. For example, Villages can be helped to stock
essential supplies in advance.
It is clear to the Palestinians that the war will give the occupation
forces the opportunity to intensify even more the things which
happen now every day: the execution of militants and others,
wholesale demolition of homes, uprooting of plantations. It is
difficult to know what new dimensions these can attain.
But there is one word that hovers over
all the discussions: "transfer".
In simple terms, "transfer"
means the mass expulsion of the Palestinian people from Palestine,
as happened in 1948 and 1967. In the situation of 2003, that
will be difficult. The question will be: where to? Jordan will
close its border and the mass expulsion of Palestinians there
would constitute an act of war against the Hashemite kingdom.
It is hard to imagine the Americans allowing Sharon to do this
while Jordan is serving as one of their bases in the war against
neighboring Iraq. Expulsion to Lebanon is almost impossible without
creating a war-like situation on the northern border.
But there is another form of transfer:
deportation from one part of the occupied territories to another.
For example: deportation of the population from towns and villages
adjacent to the planned "separation wall" (Kalkilya,
Tulkarm) to the central areas (Nablus).
That has already happened before. During
the June 1967 war, Moshe Dayan emptied whole neighborhoods of
Kalkilya and drove their inhabitants on foot to Nablus. The demolition
of the neighborhoods had already begun, when we succeeded in
stopping it. (I exploited the fact that I was a member of the
Knesset at the time and alerted several senior personalities.)
The refugees were allowed back and the neighborhoods rebuilt.
(At the same time, many inhabitants of Tulkarm were put on buses
and brought to the Jordan bridges.)
Another example: many settlements on
the West Bank are planning to grab adjacent areas. If the armed
settlers' militias will terrorize near-by villages under the
cover of the closure, they may cause a Deir Yassin-style mass
flight.
It is common knowledge that many people
in the military leadership are waiting impatiently for the opportunity
to remove Yasser Arafar. Removing means killing, as nobody believes
that Arafat will surrender without resistance. If the Americans
want "regime change" in Iraq and are not hiding their
intention of killing Saddam, why should Sharon be prevented from
doing the same?
The question is: will the Americans allow
Sharon and his accomplices to do all this, or part of it?
There can be no clear answer to that.
Logic says no. The Americans will not want Israel to disturb
their war. Even after the war, Washington will not want the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict to flare up. The American military occupation of Iraq
might last for many years, and any inflammation of the Arab world
will be detrimental.
But America and logic are two different
things. The group that is now in control in Washington--a mixed
bag of Evangelical fundamentalists and Jews connected with the
extreme right in Israel--has a logic of its own. They may direct
and even push Sharon to extremes.
It is, of course, clear that all the
acts mentioned constitute war crimes under the Geneva Convention
and other international laws. Some of them are crimes under Israeli
law, too, being "manifestly illegal orders, over which a
black flag is waving", to quote an Israeli legal precedent.
Participants in such actions may find themselves, some day in
the future, before an international or national court. There
is no statute of limitations.
But that is not the only reason for sounding
a warning. Every one of these actions will be a disaster for
Israel. If one believes that the long-term security and well-being
of Israel depend on Israeli-Palestinian peace and reconciliation
between the two peoples of this country, one has to do everything
to prevent acts that will deepen the abyss of hatred between
us. Things may happen that will destroy for generations any possibility
of building a bridge over the abyss, and turn the whole Arab
and Muslim worlds against us forever.
Therefore, we should not rely on the
Americans to stop Sharon. We, the Israelis, must do everything--but
everything!--to prevent such acts from taking place. I believe
that this is a patriotic duty of the highest order.
Uri Avnery
has closely followed the career of Sharon for four decades. Over
the years, he has written three extensive biographical essays
about him, two (1973, 1981) with his cooperation. Avnery is featured
in the new book, The
Other Israel: Voices of Refusal and Dissent.
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