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CounterPunch
November
5, 2002
An Opportunity
for the Israelis to Choose Peace
by LINDA HEARD
Ever noticed that just when you think events are
as bad as they can possibly get, they sink to even greater depths?
That is just what happened in Israel last week. However, there
may be a glimmer of hope on the horizon now that Ariel Sharon
has been forced to call for an early election, set to take place
in February.
Palestinians were alarmed at the announcement
of Iranian-born Shaul Mofaz accepting the post of defence minister
vacated by Labor Party leader Binyamin Ben-Eliezer. He is a hardline
dinosaur, advocating the expulsion of the Palestinian President
Yasser Arafat and, during his stint as Chief of Staff, led the
charge to re-occupy West Bank cities.
Mofaz is, in fact, being investigated
by Britain's Scotland Yard for alleged warcrimes committed by
the IDF while under his control. These crimes include using Palestinian
civilians as human shields, extra-judicial assassinations, the
torture of detainees and the wanton demolition of homes.
We can only imagine the horrors which
would have awaited the Palestinian people if Sharon and Mofaz
were allowed to go their merry way for any length of time. Sharon
was accused by an Israeli commission of being indirectly responsible
for the massacre of Palestinians in the Lebanese refugee camps
Sabra and Shatilla, and Mofaz displayed his brutal methods in
Jenin earlier this year.
There was worse. Benyamin 'Bibi' Netanyahu
tentatively agreed to become one of Sharon's cohorts in the position
of foreign minister. He has spent his years since his ouster
from the post of prime minister travelling the world lecturing
on the "evils of Yasser Arafat and the PNA (Palestinian
National Authority)" to pro-Israel groups.
The egotistical and power hungry Netanyahu
probably thought long and hard whether or not to play second
fiddle to Sharon but deigned to offer his services on condition
that early elections are called.
On November 5, Sharon announced his failure
to form a new right-wing coalition government, saying that 'his
desire to maintain the special relationship with Washington'
was his main concern and that he would not give in to political
arm-twisting. No doubt, the Palestinian leadership breathed a
sigh of relief.
At a time when Israel and the world commemorates
the demise of assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin,
Arafat's partner in the Oslo peace process, the Israel people
now have a chance to re-evaluate Israel under Sharon's leadership
and to choose peace or war.
Tributes
As up to 100,000 Israelis gathered in
a Tel Aviv square last Saturday to pay their respects on this
seventh anniversary of Rabin's death, King Abdullah of Jordan
and Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak conveyed pre-televised tributes
to the former Israeli leader who was genuinely committed to peace.
Former American President Bill Clinton
said that Yitzhak Rabin had been his friend, and the fact that
"peace seems so far away" should not be understood
that "Rabin's life had been in vain".
Clinton continued: "His death did
not bring the end of his cause. The troubles in the Middle East
and other parts of the world remind us how important it is to
follow the example of Yitzhak Rabin, and never, ever lose hope
even in the face of the greatest tragedies."
A recent statement by the PLO's legal
adviser Diana Buttu could indicate that the Palestinian leadership
is, in fact, losing hope. Buttu indicated that the PLO might
be forced to rethink its support for a two-state solution. Her
proposed alternative is to incorporate the Palestinians into
the State of Israel and offer them citizenship.
Buttu said: "The leadership is going
to have to start reassessing whether it should be pushing for
a two-state solution, or whether we should start pushing for
equal citizenship and an anti-apartheid campaign along the same
lines as South Africa".
Such a course is extremely unlikely to
be hailed by either the Palestinians or the Israelis and is just
as unattainable as a two-state solution in this climate of mutual
hatred. Far too much blood has been shed on both sides with the
death toll standing at approximately 1,700 Palestinians and 600
Israelis killed since September 2000.
Palestinians are fiercely proud of their
nationhood, protective of their rights and determined to have
their own state with Jerusalem as its capital. Sharon and other
right-wingers are just as committed to safeguarding Israel's
Jewish identity and concerned at the demographic time bomb when,
by 2020, Palestinians and Palestinians in 1948 areas will outnumber
the country's Jewish population.
It's no secret these days that Sharon's
ideology demands a Greater Israel. He doesn't want Israeli-passport
carrying Palestinians. He wants them gone, one way or another.
Sharon isn't the only one. An advertisement
recently featured in a Palestinian newspaper offering free help
and advice to anyone wanting to emigrate from the West Bank and
Gaza. A right-wing Israeli party called Moledet paid for the
advertisement. Its motives are far from being altruistic. It
wants the Palestinian territories ethnically cleansed.
Deprived of
basics
America, under the leadership of George
W. Bush, has shown itself to be unconcerned that illegal settlements
on the West Bank are expanding, Palestinian towns and cities
are under occupation, and Palestinians are being deprived of
life's basics: shelter, food, and security.
Instead the Bush administration has a
one-track policy: fighting its so-called War on Terrorism and
effecting a regime change in Iraq. Anything, which interferes
with these aims is a mere annoying irritation. Bush and his Washington
hawks want the Arab world on board if and when the U.S. attacks
Baghdad, an extremely tall order while Arabs watch their Palestinian
brethren struggling to survive against all odds.
A dazed Arab world is gradually coming
to the conclusion that the U.S. is no impartial friend to both
sides of the dispute and is currently re-evaluating its individual
and collective positions vis-a-vis both Israel and America.
Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi's recent
threat to pull out of the Arab League spurred that erstwhile
union to adopt a more unified and decisive stance. We have yet
to witness the result of this new resolve.
Yet while the world looks on askance
at Israel's ongoing crimes, Sharon's popularity grows among Israelis,
who tend to equate any criticism of their leadership with anti-Semitism.
They don't view their government as riddled with possible war
criminals. Instead, they perceive Sharon and Mofaz as the guardians
of their security.
Israelis have somehow forgotten that
it was Sharon who led the Israeli army into a protracted invasion
of southern Lebanon decimating their economy; they ignore the
fact it was Sharon's calculated visit to Al Haram Al Quds Al
Sharif, which triggered the second Intifada.
Most ordinary Israelis refuse to acknowledge
that since Sharon came to power, more Israelis have lost their
lives than ever before in a similar period, or to lay that death
toll at Sharon's feet.
Israelis also seem to manage to brush
aside studies from human rights groups, such as the one recently
published by Amnesty International, which suggest that Israeli
officials could be responsible for war crimes and crimes against
humanity. Instead of studying and addressing the findings of
such reports, the Israeli government attempts to discredit their
authors.
Thanks to their beloved leader's bellicose
attitudes towards the Arab world, Israelis may soon have a lot
more to worry about than the attentions of Palestinian militants.
Sharon has been threatening Lebanon with
another war if it doesn't stop pumping water for irrigation purposes
from its own Wazzani River, which flows onward into Israel.
In reply, Hezbollah has begun to stockpile
rockets, missiles and other artillery near the Israeli border,
while its leader Hassan Nasrallah has more than hinted that this
time around the Lebanese group is well-placed militarily to inflict
maximum damage on its belligerent neighbour.
Israeli experts believe that the two
sides are destined to clash sooner or later and predict that
Hezbollah might launch attacks while America wages war on Iraq
and restrains Israel's military arm.
Ticket to purgatory
With a disinterested self-absorbed U.S.,
a politically ineffective Europe when it comes to the region,
a weakened PNA and a new extremist Israeli government, the only
people who can influence the future of the Middle East right
now are the Israelis themselves.
Instead of commemorating the death of
Rabin, the Israeli people would do better to celebrate his life
and work to further his life's mission - peace and prosperity
for the entire Middle East. Applauding Sharon and his warmongering
ilk is a one-way ticket to purgatory. Israelis now have the chance
to stand up to be counted. They must set aside their fears and
get Israel back on the path of peace.
Linda Heard
is a writer, editor and Arabist, who has lived and worked for
most of her life in the Middle East.
She can be reached at: freenewsreport@yahoo.com
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