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| ARIEL SHARON IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SABRA AND SHATILLA MASSACRES The great massacre at the Sabra and Shatilla camps came back onto the agenda with the BBC program "The Accused" broadcast on June 17, 2001. In that documentary, which looked into Ariel Sharon's role in the massacre in which 3,000 people lost their lives, living witnesses who escaped the slaughter spoke at first hand of the savagery, which lasted nearly 3 days. The program concluded by saying that Ariel Sharon, who was then defense minister, was responsible for the massacre and must face trial for it. "The Accused" Was Broadcast Despite Pressure From the State of Israel
People who escaped the massacre, the Phalange leaders who carried it out, representatives of the Israeli Army, lawyers, and academics participated in the documentary, which was prepared by journalist Fergal Keane. However, before it had even been broadcast it met with a strong reaction from Israel and radical Jewish communities. Right up until the last moment, everyone expected that it might be cancelled. However, according to statements by Keane, the program was screened "under thousands of e-mails, threatening messages, and warnings of boycotts." Furthermore, because of the wide interest it received, it was repeated several times on the BBC and shown on television channels in a number of foreign countries. What Panorama revealed The Sabra and Shatilla massacre was carried out by the Lebanese Christian Phalange groups whom Lebanese Muslim Arabs had been at war for a long time. Yet it was Israel that supported, organized, and armed these groups from the beginning. In his program, Keane described the relationship between the Phalangists and Israel in this manner: The Phalange were led by the charismatic and ruthless Bashir Gemayel. He was Israel's main ally in Lebanon. Israel's Mossad knew from meetings with him that he wanted to "eliminate" the Palestinian problem, and now he was about to become president of Lebanon. Bashir's election worried the people of the camps, but they'd been promised security. The Israeli Army, which guaranteed the Palestinians in the camps that nothing would happen to them, was firmly behind the Phalange, the force that carried out the massacre. Before the massacre, the Israeli Army took the camp under its control by bombing it for days. It later closed all the gates to the camp, forbidding anyone without permission to enter or leave. It also gave the Phalange the time and the means to carry out the slaughter by firing flares all night long that lit their way, and by not intervening for 40 hours. It made it easier for the massacre to continue by issuing death threats, and by turning back those Palestinians who tried to leave and who got as far as the exits and sought help. In Keane's words, "in the rubble were children who'd been scalped, young men who'd been castrated." One of the living witnesses of the Sabra and Shatilla massacre who spoke on the program, Nabil Ahmed, described what he went through in this way: I was hoping to find my family alive. Then, when I started seeing the bodies in the streets, I accepted the fact then that I'll be grateful to find their bodies. You see what happened. They put them in a house, they killed them and they bulldozed the houses on them, so we were digging the rubble to identify. So we pulled the hair of my relative and that's when we realised that this is the spot where they are there. The massacre perpetrated by the Phalange was indescribable. Statements of an Israeli officer in the program clearly revealed that the Phalange were enemies of the Muslims. Israeli paratroop brigade commander Yoram Yair recounted the shocking request he received from a Phalangist:
He say: "Do me a favour, make sure to bring me that much." I say: "What is it?" He say: "Listen, I know that you will sooner or later go inside West Beirut. Promise me that you will bring me that much Palestinian blood. I want to drink it." Israel's then-Defense Minister Ariel Sharon knew about every stage of this massacre which was carried out under an Israeli Army security umbrella. Keane explained Sharon's role in these words: Ariel Sharon arrived in Beirut on Wednesday morning insisting there were PLO forces in the camps. And so after conferring with his senior officers, including Amos Yuron, the Commander for Beirut and the refugee camps, Ariel Sharon agreed a fateful order. "Only one element, and that is the Israeli Defence Force, shall command the forces in the area. For the operation in the camps the Phalangist should be sent in." Ariel Sharon went to see the Phalange at their headquarters to discuss the Beirut operation… Now, a day after their leader's murder, the Israelis were asking the Phalange to fight in Palestinian camps. Could Ariel Sharon have been in any doubt about what would have happened if you sent the Phalangists into a Palestinian refugee camp, an undefended camp?
Keane put that question to many officials, to Morris Draper, the U.S. Middle East representative at the time; Richard Goldstone, former chief prosecutor at the U.N. War Crimes Tribunal; Professor Richard Falk of Princeton University; and others… They all agreed that Ariel Sharon was responsible in the first degree for the massacre and that he was a war criminal. For instance, Goldstone revealed his thoughts in these terms: 'If the person who gave the command knows, or should know on the facts available to him or her, that is a situation where innocent civilians are going to be injured or killed, then that person is as responsible, in fact in my book more responsible even than the people who carry out the order." Space was given in the program to a telephone conversation that supported these opinions. Israeli journalist Ron Ben Yishai reported a conversation between himself and Sharon on the second day in this way: I found him at home sleeping. He woke up and I told him: "Listen, there are stories about killings and massacres in the camps. A lot of our officers know about it and tell me about it, and if they know it, the whole world will know about it. You can still stop it." I didn't know that the massacre actually started 24 hours earlier. I thought it started only then and I said to him: "Look, we still have time to stop it. Do something about it." He didn't react. In short, although he has denied it for years, Ariel Sharon knew about the massacre, decided on it together with the Phalangists, and made no effort to stop the killings in the camps, which were under his responsibility. This reality that Panorama revealed was one that had been expressed for years by those who have studied the event closely and those who lived through it. However, the reason why the program attracted so much attention was that it was the first time that such a respectable channel as BBC had broadcast statements directly accusing Israel, and because it also accused Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Death Threats To Those Who Declare Ariel Sharon To Be A War Criminal
There was a most interesting reaction after this broadcast. Professor Richard Falk of Princeton University, who said that Ariel Sharon should be indicted as a war criminal, further noted: I think there is no question in my mind that he is indictable for the kind of knowledge that he either had or should have had. Falk began to receive death threats after that statement. Shortly afterwards, his home and family were given police protection. Israel was once again attempting to silence people and prevent the truth from being told by means of violence, pressure, and threats. However, Falk stated in The Independent that his conscience was easy and that he had told the truth. After the program, debates began over whether or not Ariel Sharon could be tried. Several international jurists joined in. However, these debates were an example of insincerity. The genocide of the Palestinians, which most states had ignored for more than half a century, was now being talked about 20 years after it happened. Those who had ignored it at the time, and those who made no effort to stop Israel, were behaving as if these massacres were being revealed for the very first time. In fact, this charge is not limited to Sharon but extends to Zionism itself, Israel's official ideology. It is enough to look at Israel's basic principles to see this, and to understand the philosophy behind the bloodshed at Sabra and Shatilla. Will Ariel Sharon Be Tried As A "War Criminal"? When the BBC program "The Accused" was aired, 28 Palestinians who survived the Sabra and Shatilla massacre sued Aried Sharon in Belgium so that he could be tried as a war criminal in Belgian courts. Belgium is one of the few countries whose law permits the trial of anyone who commits human rights violations in any country. The indictment sheds a great deal of light on Sharon's and Israel's bloody history. The indictment, which presents commission reports and research by important historians and writers as evidence, contains important information that Sharon knew about the massacre, that he supported those who carried it out, and even that he was working with them: Historians and journalists agree that it was probably during a meeting between Ariel Sharon and Bashir Gemayel in Bikfaya on 12 September [1982] that an agreement was concluded to authorise the "Lebanese forces" to "mop up" these Palestinian camps. 1 The intention to send the Phalangist forces into West Beirut had already been announced by Mr Sharon on 9 July 1982 2, and in his biography (called "Warrior"), he confirms having negotiated the operation during his meeting with Bikfaya. 3 According to Ariel Sharon's 22 September 1982 declarations in the Knesset (Israeli parliament), the entry of the Phalangists into the refugee camps of Beirut was decided on Wednesday 15 September 1982 at 15.30.4 Also according to General Sharon, the Israeli commandant had received the following instruction: "The Tsahal forces are forbidden to enter the refugee camps. The 'mopping-up' of the camps will be carried out by the Phalanges or the Lebanese army." 5 At that point, General Drori telephoned Ariel Sharon and announced, "Our friends (the Phalangists) are advancing into the camps. We have coordinated their entry." Sharon replied, "Congratulations! Our friends' operation is approved." 6 (For the whole text of the indictment and detailed statements by the victims, see http://www.mallat.com/complaint.htm) The above details are only a part of the evidence revealing the relationship between Sharon and Gemayel. Sharon's autobiography, "Warrior," provides many more details of the massacre carried out by the Phalangists. In any case, the fact that Israeli soldiers did not enter a camp under their control for 3 days, that they did not know what was going on inside, while all the time preparing logistical support and bulldozers to open graves and demolish houses, means that the claim that they were "well-intentioned" is false.
What Will Ariel Sharon's Being Tried As A War Criminal Change? The trial of Ariel Sharon for the Sabra and Shatilla massacre would be an important initiative. However, the current campaign by some survivors is not receiving sufficient world support. Apart from a few human rights organizations, nobody is supporting them. The most important thing is that massacres in Palestine are still ongoing. In Palestine, hundreds of innocent Palestinians are being forced out of their homes and exiled from their land. Bulldozers run over their homes. Again a defenceless father is killed, together with the child in his arms. Israeli troops carry out new killings and attacks every day. And the man giving the orders is Ariel Sharon. Even if someone else replaces him, the massacres will continue, for Israeli violence is based upon such a deep-rooted ideology that just bringing Sharon to trial will not expunge it. And until Israel abandons its Zionist ideology, it will continue to bring death and blood to the Middle East. Of course getting past massacres onto the agenda is an important initiative. But for this to be a statement of sincerity, the commitment displayed must continue until the cruelty ends. Therefore, all sincere people need to pursue wide-scale international legal sanctions (for instance an embargo) and a policy of isolation to force an end to the killings committed by the Zionists in the name of their ideology. 1- Benny Morris, The Righteous Victims, New York,
A. Knopf, 1999, p. 540
Are the Witnesses Against Sharon Being Eliminated? While the issue of Sharon's facing trial before the Belgian courts over the Sabra and Shatila massacres was still on the agenda, interesting reports began to come in from different parts of the world. Those individuals who played a personal role in the 1982 massacre were, one by one, losing their lives in mysterious circumstances. Although the Belgian court has not decided whether Sharon should face charges or not, the lawyers for the survivors keep producing new evidence. However, the most important new evidence is the memories of those who witnessed and even took part in this savagery. For some reason, some of these participants have been killed in recent months, thus eliminating the most important witnesses. First of all, Jean Ghanem, the closest friend of Elia Hobeika, the leader of the Phalange groups that carried out the attack in 1982, lost his life in an odd traffic accident. His car drove into a clearly visible tree on New Year's Eve, resulting in his death after two weeks in a coma. Elia Hobeika, known as one of the bloodiest and most ruthless leaders in Lebanese history, was killed by a bomb placed in his car. One reason why all eyes turned toward the Israeli forces immediately after this event was that approximately 24 hours before his death, he had announced that he would give evidence against Sharon in Belgium. At a press conference, Hobeika even said: "And I have evidence of what actually happened at Sabra and Shatila which will throw a completely new light on the Kahan commission report." a Such evidence clearly would make things very difficult for Sharon. Hobeika had been trained by the Israeli security forces in Israeli camps during the 1980s, and became leader of the Phalangists who carried out the Sabra and Shatila massacre at Sharon's direction. In fact, the Kahan Commission, charged with investigating the massacre in Israel gave Hobeika's name and stated that he and the then Defence Minister Ariel Sharon were responsible for the massacre in the first degree. b In short, the civilians who lost their lives in the Sabra and Shatila camps were the victims of Hobeika's Phalangists, who were operating under Israeli protection. One of the best known anecdotes about him comes from while the attack was going on, when one Phalangist officer asked him what should be done about the Palestian civilian prisoners. Smiling, Hobeika gave the order for all of them to be killed, saying: "Don't ask me such a stupid question again." c Michael Nassar, one of the late Hobeika's former assistants, sold arms left over from the Lebanese civil war to the Croatian militia during the conflict in the Balkans. With the money he obtained, he emigrated to Brazil. Nassar was shot in his car, together with his wife. Although it may be suggested that he was killed by the Brazilian mafia, the fact that these murders followed one another in close succession offers an important clue as to what really happened. 1- The Independent, 25 Ocak
2002
In 1948, with the recognition of UN Resolution 181, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians instantly found themselves stateless in their own land. According to this resolution, Palestine was to be partitioned as follows: 55% of the land, including the greater part of the valuable coastal area, went to the Israelis, while the remaining 45%, including the narrow coastal strip of Gaza, half of Galilee, the Judaean and Samarian uplands, and a bit of the Negev, went to the Palestinians. Once the British pulled out of the region completely, a war started on May 15, 1948 between Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, and Iraq on one side, and Israel on the other. War ended in December and Israel emerged from the war with about 50 percent more land than it had been allotted under the UN plan, including all of Galilee, the coastal area, and northwestern Jerusalem, leaving only the West Bank and Gaza Strip. As a result, more than 750,000 Palestinian Arabs left behind everything they owned and emigrated. About one-third of them settled in the West Bank, another third in the Gaza Strip, and the remaining third sought refuge in neighboring Arab countries, principally Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. During the Six Day War of 1967, Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and a majority of Palestinians left these areas as well for neighboring Arab countries. The number of Palestinians scattered around the world today is estimated to be 3.5 to 4 million. Of these, about one million live in West Bank and Gaza Strip refugee camps and along the borders of Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria. The others live outside the camps, but without any citizenship. Most middle-aged Palestinians today were born in these refugee camps. Palestinian Muslims live in extremely difficult and primitive conditions in these camps, for each living unit is about 60 meters square and has virtually no infrastructure. One of the biggest problems is that most of the residents are unemployed.
Gaza's dense population of 2,500 people per square kilometer only increases the violence of the refugees' living conditions. And when you consider that these people left behind all of their possessions and job opportunities to seek refuge in these regions, it is easier to visualize the conditions in which they live. In his book The Israeli Connection: Who Israel Arms and Why, Haifa University professor Benjamin Beit Hallahmi describes the situation of the Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip and Israel's attitude toward them: In 1986, the Gaza population stood at 525,000, and the density at 2,150 per square kilometer (in Israel it is 186)… Most able-bodied Gazans, starting sometimes at age eight, work in Israel, at wages which are 40 percent below average Israeli pay. They pay income tax and social security tax - without being entitled to any benefits, since they are defined as nonresidents… In the Israeli consciousness Gaza has become the symbol of helplessness and squalor, but there is no sympathy for the denizens of Gaza, for they are the enemy.54
For a better understanding of the refugee camps' reality, consider the impressions of a Palestinian-American who visited the camps. Yasmine Subhi Ali, a medical student, made the following observations during her visit to Shatilla camp in 1999: ... Passing many damaged remnants of the civil war and the Israeli invasion all along our route. I expected that we would have to stop at some gate signifying the entrance to the camp when we reached it, but I saw nothing of the sort. I didn't need to: the contrast between the camp and the surrounding area (which was not the nicest part of town in the first place) was so striking that there could be no mistaking it. There were piles upon piles of trash, junk, and stones lining both sides of the road… Crowded shops line the street now, but in the distance behind them reminders remain: those bullet-hole-ridden, gunpowder-stained buildings … and a graveyard for which (we were told) the camp inhabitants were not allowed to build any memorials or even tombstones.55
Another important refugee camp is Dheisheh, near Bethlehem. In the October 2000 issue of the French magazine Le Monde Diplomatique, Muna Hamzeh-Muhaisen, in her capacity as the technical director and public relations manager of Birzeit University's Across Borders Project, published excerpts from her journal about this camp. The events quoted below are interesting for their reflection of the Palestinians' condition:
No one in Dheisheh has the chance to go to work, except those working in Bethlehem. Each Palestinian living unit in Region A is cut off from all the others by tanks. We can't go from Bethlehem to Al-Khalil or Jerusalem. We spend our entire day following the news... People are subjected to such pressure, that they think the time has come - it's either them or us... People have gotten sick and tired of this. They're fed up with the provocations of Israel, with the rottenness of the authorities. They're fed up with these agreements to found a racist state on this land, to divide the West Bank into two hundred little islands. They're sick of the peace agreements... And while all this is happening in Israel the normal rhythm of life continues. Israelis wake up every day, while their children go to school and they go to their jobs. They go out to visit restaurants or to go to the theater. They don't care what's happening here. They act as if the people wounding, maiming, and killing us are not their own husbands, sons, and fathers, but rather some hired guns brought from far away... No one wants to hear news about new agreements. Israel will pull back its heavy artillery. Then what? They'll still use real ammunition to kill civilians. They'll use rubber bullets and tear gas. We'll still be waking up in an apartheid system… How shall we now look Um Hazem in the face? Mustafa, the son of Um Hazem, has joined the army of the martyred. Israeli bullets turned Mustafa's chest and arms into coal. They showed us the body in the hospital room. We could see his bones. Four sniper bullets had torn his body apart... In a dark September in 1967, I was a child in Amman. Throughout almost the entire Intifada I lived in Palestine. But for the first time, the sound of shells did not scare me. And I understood for the first time why Palestinians who spend their lives under occupation continuously struggle with the Israelis, and why they confront their weapons with stones...56 These conditions, as well as Israeli violence, continue in the camps today. Author Norman Finkelstein, himself born in a Jewish Polish ghetto, describes examples of this violence in The Rise and Fall of Palestine, his book about the Intifada years: The most common form of Israeli violence in the refugee camps was "the pogroms. Entering the camps after dusk, soldiers or settlers sprayed them [the Palestinians] with bullets and tear gas, banged on doors and smashed windows and solar heaters, broke into homes, then beat a swift retreat (usually with a hostage or two)."57 The only wish of the Palestinian refugees is to return to their land and their country. In fact, their plight is one of the main discussion points of all peace negotiations. However, Israel has a very strict policy on this matter. This is shown clearly by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's motto: "Jerusalem cannot be divided - the refugees cannot return." As long as he remains in office, this will remain official Israeli policy.
As mentioned earlier, the Zionists consider the protection and fortification of an all-Jewish Israeli nation-state as sacred as the formation of Israel. This fortification is possible only through expanding the settlements and increasing the number of Jews living in the Holy Land. In a press statement of March 2001, Sharon explained that approximately one million Jews must immigrate to Israel within the next 10 to 12 years, and that by 2020 they must create suitable living conditions for those Jews moving to, and already living in, Israel. Sharon's view that "[Israel] must create the right conditions for them to move... If they want to remain Jewish, they must move to live here. Every effort must be made to bring Jews here."58 goes to show how important it is for Israel to rob Palestinians of their land. The cruelty perpetrated against the Palestinians is being done before the eyes of the world. The refugees live in extremely difficult conditions and face the threat of new bombings every moment. But it must not be forgotten that true believers always have God's help and support, both here on Earth and in Heaven, as described in: Many a Prophet has been killed, when there were many thousands with him! They did not give up in the face of what assailed them in the Way of God, nor did they weaken, nor did they yield. God loves the steadfast. All they said was: "Our Lord, forgive us our wrong actions and any excesses we went to in what we did. Make our feet firm and help us against these disbelieving people." So God gave them the reward of this world and the best reward of the hereafter. God loves good-doers. (Qur'an, 3:146-148) As we emphasized earlier, true Muslims cannot ignore such cruelty. While innocent people are dying one by one, it is impossible for any Muslim to sleep peacefully, go about his or her daily business, and think only of personal comfort. The Qur'an provides the solution, and those who can carry it out are Muslims. With these verses, "A Light has come to you from God and a Clear Book. By it, God guides those who follow that which pleases Him to the ways of peace. He will bring them from the darkness to the light by His permission, and guide them to a straight path" (Qur'an, 5:15-16), God reveals that those subjected to cruelty can achieve salvation through the Qur'an's guidance. The solution is to embrace the Qur'an, demand that the rights of Muslims around the world be respected, and struggle against the foes of religious morality. Life under Siege The Israeli government also forces the Palestinians to live under blockades. Though they only own very small amounts of land in proportion to their population, the Palestinians are under strict control and subjected to continuous supervision. (In fact, they do not currently own any land. They have been sentenced to live only in those parts of the Occupied Territories for which Israel has given permission.) Israel continues to exercise supervisory authority over 97% of the West Bank and 40% of the Gaza Strip, both of which fall under the autonomous Palestinian Authority. Although it might appear that the Palestinians living in these regions are ruled by their own government, Israel has placed severe restrictions on the freedom of movement of all Palestinians living in the West Bank and in most of the Gaza Strip. Since March 1993, travel by Palestinians living in Israel and East Jerusalem has been subject to government approval. Not only does this limit the Palestinians' economic activities, but it also takes away such basic rights as education, health, and the freedom to worship. Israel's blockade policy is actually two-faceted. The most visible aspect consists of placing checkpoints at various places and deploying large troop concentrations near Palestinian-inhabited areas for "security" reasons. Recently, Israeli forces have even begun to erect barbed wire fences and concrete walls around Palestinian areas and dig trenches across the main roads. As these forces are quite aggressive, these points are often the scene of deadly confrontations.
In an article published in the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram, journalist Graham Usher describes the Israeli blockade of Gaza, which began in 2001, and its effect upon the Palestinians: There are around 90 army roadblocks in the West Bank and 163 earth barricades.... Palestians overcome this by wading through cornfields and over rocky tracks to reach their jobs in Israel … there are between 10,000-30,000 Palestinians working in Israel… The most common blockade is the mud and gravel rampart about a metre high, encircled by ditches about a metre deep… These have torn apart virtually every road leading to a town, village or camp in the West Bank… It is realities like these that convince Palestinians that the siege is precisely what the Israeli government is most loath to describe it: a collective punishment against an innocent and unarmed civilian population. And it hurts like hell… The undeclared aim of such oppression is to exhaust the Palestinians into giving up the fight.59 These barricades also hinder Palestinian access to such basic needs as medicine and water. In many camps, where the lack of infrastructure and plumbing means that people get water from trucks, such trenches prevent the trucks from passing. Many people in this situation now try to meet their water needs by collecting rainwater. Beyond this, the right to educate the children living in these refugee camps also is being violated. As teachers generally travel to refugee camps and villages from other cities, the blockade prevents them from reaching their students. The blockade also impacts negatively upon Palestinian farmers, for the trucks bringing their crops to market fall into the trenches. Thus they have no choice but to carry their goods on their backs. Israeli journalist Gordon Levy has spent much time in the Occupied Territories and has witnessed the hardship experienced by Palestinians. In his article "Women in Black," he describes life in these blockaded camps and villages: The West Bank is under siege, its towns and villages are blocked and most of the main roads are open to Jews only… The drivers pass on information to one another with hand gestures. These are not traffic reports on the radio, they are life-and-death messages about the location of the soldiers and the settlers… The soldiers are seen from afar, watching from the roadblock and from the main road. Sometimes they swoop down in their jeeps to stop the forbidden traffic. Sometimes they confiscate the ID cards of the passengers … and sometimes they beat up drivers… They also chase back anyone who tries to cross the fields on foot. Sometimes they open fire, as they did on a young passenger, Fatma Abu Jish from the neighboring village, who was killed here on Sunday of this week a short time after we had passed by.60
The Settlements and Blockaded Palestinian Lands One subtle aspect of the blockade is that the Palestinians' remaining land is being constricted by the continuous building of Jewish settlements. Israel is following a systematic policy of creating new settlement areas. What is more, these settlements, which are built for maximum occupancy, have a profound importance for Israel. For example, the Jewish settlements in Gaza and on the West Bank, areas thought to have been left to the Palestinian Authority, are considered very important. Even though these lands have been left to Palestine, Israel will never agree to remove these settlers. In fact, Palestinian police have no authority to supervise and inspect these areas. This situation means that Israel will never withdraw from these de facto Occupied Territories. These settlements also are important because they surround the Palestinian enclaves. To get from one settlement to another, settlers can travel through tunnels constructed by the Israeli government without setting foot on Palestinian land. But Palestinians who want to leave their camps to visit relatives living in another camp, or who just have to get to work everyday, must pass through a series of military checkpoints. Even if Palestine declared its independence today, it would consist of many noncontiguous and widely separated regions. Moreover, all of these regions still would be under the control of Israeli forces. How would the borders of such a nation be determined? How would the economy develop? How would investments be made in health and education? Obviously, Israel's goal is to destroy, through assimilation, those Palestinians who it could not destroy physically. Thus it plans to create communities that are far apart and inaccessible to each other, and then to isolate them culturally and sociologically. The deliberate deployment of settlements in the middle of overwhelmingly Palestinian areas is actually one of the basic reasons for the clashes. Le Monde Diplomatique magazine's publishing director Alain Gresh, who is known for his books about the Middle East, wrote the following about the Israeli settlements in an article: These settlements, right in the center of the Palestinian lands… These settlements eat away at the Palestinian lands, a little bit at a time, every day. Thousands of Israeli soldiers are put there for their "protection," countless checkpoints are set up, and for Palestinians these become the scene of every type of humiliation. Roads are made for the settlements. Just the presence of these is enough to damage the notion of a permanent and independent nation.61 These settlements on Palestinian land are among the bloodiest flashpoints of the new Intifada, for the message given by those Palestinians who resist is clear: Israel is in a position to choose between these settlements and peace. And these settlements are classified by the International Criminal Code as a "war crime." M. Yossi Sarid, a parliamentarian from the leftist Meretz movement, makes the following admission: These settlements are in the eye of the storm, and have always invited danger, both for the residents and for the soldiers. These settlements must be dispersed without wasting any time.62
Eitan Felner is the director of B'Tselem, The Israeli Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories. His essay on the Maale Adumim settlement is entitled "En Afrique du Sud, On appelait cela l'Apartheid" (In South Africa, they call it apartheid). He points out that while creating the settlements, the Israel government forced Palestinians from their homes, and then made large investments in those same areas and provided government incentives for people to move there. Then-prime minister Ehud Barak was conducting peace discussions on the one hand while, on the other, he was accelerating the building of new settlements. The article emphasizes his speech made at Ma'aleh Adumim's opening ceremony: "Every house you have built here is part of the state of Israel. Forever. Period. The new government will continue to strengthen the state of Israel, its hold over the Land of Israel, and we will continue to develop and strengthen Ma'aleh Adumim." The result, stresses Felner, is that, But Ma'aleh Adumim is not just the story of a successful urban development as depicted in the municipality's glossy brochures and snazzy website. Ma'aleh Adumim was established on lands taken from Palestinians, from the villages of Abu Dis, Al Izariyah, Al Issawiyah, Al Tuor and Anata.63 Cruelty at the Checkpoints Actually, Israel's hypocritical policy has continued ever since the peace process began. When the Oslo Accords came into effect in 1993, Israel recognized the autonomous Palestinian Authority. These accords were the means by which an autonomous Palestinian nation-state could be brought to the agenda, even if its borders were not yet exactly clear. While this seemed to be a positive development, the Israeli government has used it as yet another tool to inflict cruelty upon the Palestinians. After the Palestinian Authority's boundaries were laid out, the Palestinians were faced with even more debilitating restrictions. Crossing these borders was now subject to visa requirements, a practice that thoroughly eroded their ability to travel. Already subjected to frequent ID checks, Palestinians now were removed from their cars and searched, not to mention harassed and insulted, at barricades erected on the roads. In other words, they were effectively put under complete Israeli control. One result of this practice was the frequent news items such as "An elderly Palestinian man died when an ambulance was not allowed to pick him up" or "A sick woman died when she was not granted passage to the hospital." Suleiman Abu Karsh, the deputy trade minister of Palestine, describes in an interview how these blockades have tormented the lives of Palestinians: Do you know how I got here? The area between our home and the airport was full of Israeli tanks. If they had killed me, who would have called them to account? Israel would just say that I was suspicious, and that is why I was killed. The Israeli soldiers did not allow my delegation to continue to the airport. Now I'm going home, but my son tells me on the phone that the roads are closed. I don't know if I'll make it home or not.64
English parliamentarian Bashir Khanbhai, a member of the European Parliament, witnessed such events during a visit to Palestine. The following is quoted from his report to Parliament regarding Israel's oppressive and aggressive policy: Israel has exercised its powers to confiscate; destroy homes and farms; detain, torture and assassinate innocent civilians and punish collectively through curfew and crude intimidation without any sanction from the international community… The Israel Defence Force (IDF) is the largest and best funded ministry. It controls all publications (newspapers) for circulation in Palestine; which goods and services can be imported; all movement of people and vehicles; use of land including construction of new buildings and supply of utilities. It determines protection for the hundreds of new settlements which have mushroomed all over the Palestinian land - land seized without compensation! Some of these settlements only house 30 or 40 people but they have hundreds of armed soldiers… The Israeli curfew imposed since last September last year has closed schools, presevented olive farmers from harvesting the crop, killed tourist trade and deprived over 120,000 workers of work in Israel.65 The Radical Settlers Practice Their Own Terror Radical Israeli settlers always have been one of the most important players in the policy of terrorizing and oppressing the Palestianians. The Jewish migration to Palestine, which began with the end of World War I, resulted in the Palestinians' being driven from their land so that they could be used to establish Jewish settlements. The Israeli government then used these settlements to expand its occupation of Palestinian territory. This policy continues unabated today. For example, since the Oslo Accords of 1993, the number of settlements in the Occupied Territories has increased by 50 percent. Furthermore, Israel budgets millions of dollars every year to develop them. According to statements made in November 2000, the Israeli government decided to allocate $500 million to expand settlements in the Occupied Territories in 2001.66 The settlements in question represent a dire threat to the Palestinian people in quite a few ways. In addition to being an obstacle to the Palestinians' hopes of returning to their homes, the settlers also threaten them with their aggressive behavior. The Israeli army and the militant settlers, in fact, act as partners in attacking Palestinians. In the article "Exposing Israel: A Nation of Colonialists" in the American journal The Palestine Chronicle, Middle East expert Ramzy Baroud describes this collaboration: Mistakenly, many create the distinction between the Israeli army and Israeli settlers, as if the two are not clearly opposite sides of the same coin. It is often witnessed that even well-intending human rights groups naively call on the Israeli army to protect the Palestinian population from settlers's assaults, disregarding the fact that Israeli settlements and the Israeli army are both part of Israel's offensive strategy aimed at strengthening the grip of the Jewish state in the Occupied Territories.67 A good portion of the settlers living in about 200 settlements are being directed by Kach, the notorious radical terrorist organization. (The Kach organization, founded by Rabbi Meir Kahane, is known for such terrorist activities as the 1994 al-Khalil massacre and the Masjid al-Aqsa bombing attempt.) Kach members are known to conduct armed raids on the refugee camps, with the soldiers' aid and support, during which they murder innocent people and damage their homes and places of worship. In his article, Baroud describes these attacks: Just listen to the news, which hardly fails to point out the joint cooperation between Israeli army units and settlers. "Israeli soldiers kill Palestinian protestors, Jewish settlers open fire at villagers…," "Israeli army shells a refugee camp, settlers block the main road leading to it…," "Army declares Palestinian land military zone, settlers rush to expand a settlement…," "Soldiers prevent Palestinian farmers from reaching their land for harvest, settlers kill a farmer while harvesting his olive trees…"68 Raids conducted by settlers and soldiers about the time that the al-Aqsa Intifada began also were reported in the Turkish media. For example, Yeni Safak reported on October 10, 2000, that, Settlers from the northern Israel city of Nazareth, supported by soldiers, orchestrated sudden raids on areas inhabited by Muslims. It is reported that two Palestinians died and hundreds were wounded in the raids… Eyewitnesses reported that more than one thousand Israelis went to the Arab villages, stoning houses and attacking some Arabs with weapons. It was also reported that Israeli police provided support for the assailants by lighting flares over the area.
These frequently recurring incidents occasionally make their way into the international media. An article appearing in The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, one of the few American magazines that does not follow a pro-Israel policy, a Muslim who witnessed one of these raids gives a first-hand account of what he saw. Samah Jabr describes life under siege on the outskirts of Jerusalem: Since the Al-Aqsa intifada began, we cannot leave the house at night and sometimes we cannot go out in the day, either. Even if one of us becomes violently ill, we cannot go out to summon a physician or go to a hospital. If we need milk from the store, too bad. It will have to wait.69 Alerted by their neighbors' screams of "The settlers are attacking!" as he is sitting at home with his family, Jabr describes the terrifying ordeal: Most settlers living illegally on Palestinian land believe that it is their religious task to reunite the Holy Land with themselves, God's Chosen People. Others, the followers of Rabbi Meir Kahane, believe that they must take back the Temple Mount, reconstruct the Jewish Temple… Neve Yaqoup is the settlement of God's People nearest our home. The night of the attack was dark and shadowless, but we peered from our windows into the night, trying to see. We could only hear shouting and shooting… From the nearby mosque, we heard a voice on the loud speaker… This Palestinian Arabic speaker told us to gather stones and glass for defense and to stay in our homes with the lights out. Outside our compound, we heard the rustle of kids gathering stones … the kids actually cleaned up the area… Settlers never come in the day. Like the fox to a barnyard, they sneak in at night. They come fully armed, and often with Israeli soldiers… While it is rare for them actually to kill one of us, they have a habit of destroying property and terrorizing our children… As the shooting and shouting came closer to our house, the street lights went out. In the dark, we sat on the floor for about four hours... Finally, we heard one of our Christian neighbors calling out. "Help!" he yelled. "The settlers are in the mosque with their fire." Then, he began to chant our Islamic prayer, "Allahu Akbar," - God is great.70
Incidents like the ones you have read about above, and even more violent ones, appear frequently in the media of Muslim countries, on the Internet, and in the few Western media sources that cover Middle Eastern events objectively. And these events have been a part of everyday life for the Palestinians for more than 50 years. As described in the examples above, settlers who carry out these attacks do so with the support of the Israeli military. In one of his articles, Israeli journalist Amnon Denkner describes the terror carried out by settlers with the support of soldiers:
The simple truth is that an Arab who attempts to shoot a Jew forfeits his life-and justly. [B]ut a Jew who attempts to shoot an Arab is immune from the wrath of the soldiers, if they act according to the army's orders. They will not hinder him or prevent him from murdering an Arab, they will not shoot over his head or shoot at his legs, and certainly will not shoot to kill before he commits his dastardly crime.
In the continuation of his article, Denkner states that these standing orders "invite all the settler fanatics to shoot Arabs, guaranteeing to them that in the course of the action not a hair on their heads will be harmed."71
54- Benjamin
Beit Hallahmi, The Israeli Connection:Who Israel Arms and Why, (New
York:Pantheon Books, 1986), p. 239, emphasis added. |
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