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CounterPunch
September
5, 2002
Drunk with Power and Out of
Shame
The
Israeli chief of staff spoke of the Palestinians as a "cancerous
demographic threat" and the world shrugged. So who said
"Never Again"?
by Irit Katriel
Commenting on the Israeli government's enthusiastic
calls for the US to attack Iraq [1], Knesset member Zehava Gal'on
of Meretz, a member of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense
committee, said "It is hard to understand the government's
fervor. This is an American matter and not one we should be involving
ourselves in. The Europeans are making it clear there is no coalition,
while we are pushing for war. Beyond that, Israel is going to
get hit if there is a war." [2] Iraqi foreign minister Tareq
Aziz, however, thinks that "What Bush the father did in
1991 was in the interest of America, what his son is planning
to do now is in the interests of Israel and the Zionists."
[3]
If Aziz doesn't offer Gal'on the missing
link towards understanding her government and the danger it is
putting her in, perhaps she found the clue in the interview with
Israeli chief of staff Moshe Ya'alon in Ha'aretz last week:
"Q: There is something surprising
in the fact that you see the Palestinian threat as an existential
threat.
"A: The characteristics of that
threat are invisible, like cancer. When you are attacked externally,
you see the attack, you are wounded. Cancer, on the other hand,
is something internal. Therefore, I find it more disturbing,
because here the diagnosis is critical. If the diagnosis is wrong
and people say it's not cancer but a headache, then the response
is irrelevant. But I maintain that it is cancer. My professional
diagnosis is that there is a phenomenon here that constitutes
an existential threat.
"Q: Does that mean that what you
are doing now, as chief of staff, in the West Bank and the Gaza
Strip, is applying chemotherapy?
A: There are all kinds of solutions to
cancerous manifestations. Some will say it is necessary to amputate
organs. But at the moment, I am applying chemotherapy, yes."
[4]
Later in the interview he explains: "they
believe that time is on their side and that, with a combination
of terrorism and demography, they will tire us out and wear us
down."
The "demography" part of the
threat can only mean that each and every Palestinian, in his
mind, is a cancerous cell to be eliminated. To be a demographic
threat, you don't need to do anything. You only need to be Palestinian.
[5] Prime minister Sharon backed his words [6], thus placing
them in line with government policy. It is irrelevant, therefore,
to speak of the Israeli actions against the Palestinians as "collective
punishment." They are not a population which is collectively
punished for the crimes of a few. Each and every Palestinian
is a target in the Sharon-Ya'alon "war against cancer".
Uri Avnery described everything that
Ya'alon said in the interview as "myths that are taught
in Israeli elementary schools instead of history." [7] This
is not true. Children learn terrible things in school, but three
years ago a teacher would probably be fired for saying that the
Palestinians are a demographic cancer that should be dealt with
by chemotherapy and possibly amputation of organs. I have no
doubts about the Avnery's good intentions, but see his reaction
as yet another example of the power of monotonous escalation.
What shocked us yesterday, seems today like something that was
always there. What would have sounded like a Nazi statement three
years ago is accepted today as a standard and familiar rightwing
line, eliciting the standard and familiar response.
In November 2000, when the "war
against cancer" had just begun, then deputy chief of staff
Ya'alon already made it clear what this war is about when he
said "this is the second half of '48." [8] The Jerusalem
Post reported last week about an organization that helps Palestinians
emigrate. The president of this organization, who said that its
"aim is to empty the state of Arabs," claims that 380,000
Palestinians have emigrated already since October 2000. [9]
During the first Intifada, in 1989, I
attended a political gathering of the rightwing Moledet party
in a Haifa suburb. The crowd consisted of about 20 people, half
of whom were teenagers in leftist T-shirts like myself, who came
to listen. Rehav'am Ze'evi, who was then the leader of Moledet,
spoke of his "voluntary transfer" plan: cut electricity
and water, shut down universities and deny jobs, and they will
leave. At the time, this was the lunatic fringe. In the second
Intifada, Moledet became a member of the coalition and Ze'evi
became tourism minister (he was later assassinated by the Popular
Front for the Liberation of Palestine). Moledet hired billboards
in Tel Aviv and put up signs saying "only transfer will
bring peace." The "voluntary transfer" is already
happening, and the rightwing is now talking about the next stage,
transfer without "voluntary." In weekly rightwing vigils
in Haifa and elsewhere, their banners read "The Land of
Israel for the People of Israel - 'Palestinians' to Jordan!"
A glimpse into the soul of a transfer advocate can be found online.
[10] He makes three main points: 1. Transfer is the way to create
a healthy relationship between Israelis and Palestinians. 2.
If you don't agree with this, it proves that you are anti-Jewish.
3. Transfer will be achieved by extreme measures of state terror.
Sharon and Ya'alon are drunk with power
("Israel is a regional superpower. It is a military superpower,
an economic superpower, a cultural-spiritual superpower,"
Ya'alon told a Rabbis' conference last week [11]). They are selling
stories about being prepared for conventional and non-conventional
attacks, while it is obvious that they are willing to sacrifice
many Israelis to achieve their goals (is this what Ya'alon calls
"amputating organs"? It reminds me of Moussolini's
view of the nation as a body that sometimes needs to sacrifice
some of its cells for the sake of the body as a whole). Maybe
this is why Israeli radio reported last week that 30,000 coffins
were ordered by the state. (Only soldiers are buried in coffins
in Israel. Civilians are buried according to Jewish law in shroud).
Meron Benvenisti, former deputy mayor
of Jerusalem, has warned of a possible "transfer" scenario:
"an American assault on Iraq against Arab and world opposition,
and an Israeli involvement, even if only symbolic, leads to the
collapse of the Hashemite regime in Jordan. Israel then executes
the old 'Jordanian option' - expelling hundreds of thousands
of Palestinians across the Jordan River ... Anyone who regards
such ethnic cleansing as a horrible crime must raise their voice
now, without any of the 'ifs, ands or buts' so typical of the
response to the punishment already being meted out in ever more
strict steps." [12] There are also other transfer scenarios
in the air -- with a war with Syria as the cover or an exceptionally
murderous terror attack as the pretext.
The Israeli liberals are perhaps in a
habit of disregarding Moledet and their like as a lunatic fringe,
and are still hesitant to acknowledge that they have taken control.
There is also the reluctance to speak about "transfer",
in order not to belittle the current horrors of curfews and starvation,
and not to help raise "transfer" to the status of the
"thinkable." But when the chief of staff talks of a
cancerous demographic threat and the prime minister backs his
words, it is time to realize that the rules of the game have
changed. The opposition, so much as it still exists, cannot stop
Sharon and Ya'alon by ridiculing them or by "not understanding
their logic." It has to turn outside for help. Diplomatic
isolation and boycotts are by far better than the consequences
of the "war against cancer".
Chancellor Shroeder, when asked if Germany
will come to Israel's aid if it will be attacked by Iraq, replied
"when friends are attacked, it's clear, we help." [13]
A real friend will not only call an ambulance after you crash,
but will tell you not to drive when you're drunk.
Irit Katriel
is an Israeli activist, currently living in Germany. This article
originally appeared in Dissident
Voice. Email: iritka@zahav.net.il
NOTES
[1] Ha'aretz, Aug 16 2002, "PM urging
U.S. not to delay strike against Iraq."
[2] Christian Science Monitor, August
30, 2002, "Israel sees opportunity in possible US strike
on Iraq".
[3] Albawaba.com, August 21 2002, (quoting
CBS evening news), "Aziz: Bush plans towards Iraq serve
interests of Israel."
[4] Ha'aretz, August 30 2002, "The
enemy within."
[5] On the "demographic problem,"
see my article "Deep Ideological Crisis", July 8 2002,
[6] Ha'aretz, August 31 2002, "Sharon
backs Ya'alon remarks on 'cancerous Palestinian threat'."
[7] Uri Avnery, August 30 2002, "The
return of the dinosaurs."
[8] Ha'aretz, Nov 17 2000, "Truth
or consequences."
10, "'The second half of '48' -
The Sharon-Ya'alon plan," http://www.zmag.org/reinsyplan.htm
[9] Jerusalem Post, Aug 26 2002, "New
organization aims 'to empty the state of Arabs'." The website
of this organization is at
http://www.emigrations.net
.
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