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June
23, 2003
The Consistency of Sharon
Deception as
Strategy
By
CONN HALLINAN
One thing to keep in mind about the current push
for peace between Israelis and Palestinians is that Ariel Sharon
is one of the most consistent political figures in the Middle
East, and he keeps his word. It is a deeply chilling observation.
Back in the early 1970s, when Sharon
engineered the settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, he was
always clear that they were permanent, and that their primary
function was military. "They guard both the birthright of
the Jewish people," he told the newspaper Ha'aretz, "and
also grant us essential strategic depth to protect our existence."
For all his talk about "painful concessions" in the
present "road map," those priorities have never altered
a whit.
However, like any good general, deception
is always central to his strategy.
In the uproar created over his use of
the word "occupation" to describe Israeli presence
in the Territories, most people missed the fine print. Sharon
did indeed use the word, but quietly told his supporters that
the "occupation" referred to the Palestinians in "those
cities," not the land. In short, while Israel intends to
maintain its hold over the West Bank, it doesn't want the burden
of feeding and providing basic services to the increasingly impoverished
Palestinian population. Some 1.8 million are presently being
fed by various international agencies.
Asked by Likud lawmakers if ending the
"occupation" meant freezing settlements, he told them
there were "no restrictions" against expanding the
settlements: "you can build for your children and your grandchildren,
and I hope for your great-grandchildren."
The key to understanding the Prime Minister,
says Israeli Knesset member Yossi Sarid, is that "Sharon
is a deceiver."
The settlements of Shiloh and Beit El
are a case in point. Sharon told the New York Times "I know
that we will have to part with some of these places. As a Jew,
this agonizes me." But when asked about the two settlements
by the conservative Jerusalem Post, he said, "Jews will
live there," and made it clear that the Palestinians would
never regain control of Shiloh and Beit El.
The present "road map" is a
three-stage plan whose goal is the eventual establishment of
an "independent, viable, and sovereign Palestinian state"
by 2005, and peace for Israel. But is hard to imagine how that
would come about if Israel maintains its 150 plus settlements
in the Occupied Territories.
Continuing to allow some 220,000 Israeli
settlers (plus another 200,000 in East Jerusalem) to remain in
place is a non-starter for the Palestinians. As the Palestinian's
chief negotiator Saeb Erekat says, "It's either the settlements
or peace. Both cannot go together."
Sharon has talked about removing 17 "unauthorized"
outposts, although both the Palestinians and the international
community consider all the settlements to be illegal. According
to Peace Now, there are about 100 of these small outposts, most
created since the Sharon government took office in March 2001.
If there is any word that best describes
the Prime Minister, it is consistent.
According to Israeli historian Jonathan
Shainin, Sharon has a "persistent preference for force over
diplomacy to solve political problems." In his autobiography,
Warrior Sharon says his goal has always been "to create
in the Arabs a psychology of defeat, to beat them every time,
and to beat them so decisively that they would develop the conviction
that they would never win."
That philosophy has guided him throughout
his career. In 1953 he retaliated against a guerilla raid by
attacking the Jordanian town of Qibya, blowing up 45 houses and
killing 69 villagers.
In 1982 he allowed the Christian Phalange
militia to massacre somewhere between 1,000 and 3,000 helpless
civilians at the Sabra and Shantilla Palestinian refugee camps
during his invasion of Lebanon.
Sharon bitterly opposed to the 1993 Oslo
Agreements, particularly the creation of a Palestinian Authority.
So when the Israeli army reoccupied the territories last year,
he targeted the Authority for destruction. What the man couldn't
stop politically, he dismantled with tanks.
The Prime Minister has also surrounded
himself with similar-minded people. His Israeli Defense Forces
Chief of Staff, General Moshe Ya'alon says his job vis-a-vis
the Palestinians is to get them to accept that "in the deepest
recesses of their consciousness that they are a defeated people."
Others, like Tourism Minister Benny Elon,
openly call for "voluntary transfer" of the Palestinian
population to Jordan and Egypt. And Sharon allies, like Efraim
Eitam of the National Religious Party, calls all Arabs a "cancer,"
and advocates transferring not only Palestinians in the Occupied
Territories, but the 1.2 million Arab citizens of Israel.
In the Balkans this would be called "ethnic
cleansing," and probably land one on the docket at the International
War Crimes Tribunal at The Hague.
One Sharon initiative that has sparked
deep antagonism among Palestinians is the "Fence,"
a 225-mile-long "security barrier" fencing in the entire
West Bank. According to the World Bank, the fence will push 3
1/2 miles into the West Bank, and cut off some 95,000 Palestinains
from the richest agricultural land in the Occupied Territories.
In its first phase it has already seized almost seven square
miles of Palestinian land, and uprooted 83,000 fruit and olive
trees.
Palestinians claim the fence is a permanent
border, designed to protect Israeli settlements, divide Palestinian
communities, and harass the local Arab population into "voluntarily"
leaving. "Transfer isn't necessarily a dramatic moment,
with buses and trucks loaded with people," human rights
activist Gadi Algazi told the newspaper Ha'aretz, but a "continuing
strangulation under closures and sieges that prevent people from
getting to work or school, receiving medical services, and from
allowing the passage of water trucks and ambulances, which sends
the Palestinians back to the age of the donkey and cart."
Attacks by settlers, settlement expansion,
and border closures have wrecked the Palestinian economy, in
particular, agriculture. The olive harvest, for instance, fell
from 126,147 tons in 2000, to 22,155 tons in 2002. According
to Palestinians, one million olive trees have been uprooted by
the occupation.
Sharon has always been clear that a Palestinian
"state" would consist of less than half the land on
the West Bank and the settlements would remain. Some small outposts
may be removed, but huge sprawling settlements like Ariel and
Shiloh will remain. The "state" will not include the
Jordan Valley, and Israel will control its borders and airspace
(which is why Sharon refuses to use the word "sovereign").
It is not a new "map" at all.
Ariel Mayor Ron Nahman told Ha'aretz that the "road map"
is the "the same map I've seen every time I've visited Arik
[Sharon] since 1978. He told me he has been thinking about it
since 1973."
Will it bring security? "The occupation
itself is the source of insecurity for everyone, including the
Israelis," says Palestinian human rights activist and legislator
Hannan Ashwari. "Sharon still thinks that massacres, gratuitous
cruelty, and killing can produce results. He has not learned
that armies can defeat armies, but can never defeat a nation
or a people's will to be free."
Conn Hallinan
is the provost at the University of California at Santa Cruz
and a political analyst for Foreign Policy in Focus . He can
be reached at: connm@cats.ucsc.edu
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