HOME

MORE ON PALESTINE

1world communication

MIDDLEEAST

E-MAIL0

The competition for Israeli premiership between Mr. Sharon and Mr. Barak at a time when the fever of extremism had overwhelmed the Israeli streets was presented to the world as one between a policy of peace and a policy of war, while, in fact, both policies, as they stand, are war policies. Under prevailing conditions, the Middle East is at a crossroad between an Israeli war waged against the Palestinians and surrounding Arab countries and peace on Israeli terms, which means a peace based on securing Israeli interests and neglecting the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people. Since the establishment of Israel in 1948, Israeli generations have been indoctrinated with illusions and historical lies, which developed into facts and de factos in Israeli minds.

For example, Israeli generations were fed with lies about the establishment of the State of Israel. They were told that Palestine was an empty desert, which the Jews returned to and turned into a green paradise. Israeli schools curriculum and books have never mentioned that Palestine was a fertile country inhabited by a civilised people and that the Jews had established armed terrorist organisations like Irgun, Haganah and Sturn to wage a war of mass killings against the indigenous peaceful Palestinian people.

It was Israeli television on the 50th anniversary of Israel, which broadcasted a documentary mentioning this fact that shook Israel from top to bottom, distorting the illusions indoctrinated in Israeli minds. Since 1967, Israelis were made to believe that the land of Sinai, the Golan Heights, the West Bank and Gaza Strip belong to Israel- from Nile to Euphrates. The same process had been done, accumulating lies in the minds of Israelis to the extent of becoming facts to at least 3 Israeli generations. It took President Sadat a lot of effort and a war in 1973 to shake Israeli accumulated illusions and bring to the surface the fact that Sinai is an Egyptian land occupied by Israel. Israel had to pay a heavy price in that war before being convinced to negotiate a peaceful political solution with Egypt, the same way it took the Israelis the first Palestinian Intifada, which lasted several years, to talk to the PLO.

At the present moment, the same Israeli behaviour is recurring. Israelis still have illusions about the Golan Heights, believing it to be Israeli and not Syrian. Similarly the Israelis consider the West Bank and Gaza their own land. Seemingly, the Israelis need another shock to wake up from their illusions and realize that the Golan is Syrian and the West Bank and Gaza are Palestinian and that peace cannot be established until the repercussions of previous wars, namely 1967, are erased. Mr. Shimon Peres said that it might take a few years before the Israelis realise that they should cede the sovereignty of the Haram El Shareef to the Palestinians. He said this with a smile full of sorrow. In fact, what Mr. Peres probably meant was that it might take a shock before Israelis admit this fact.

Even Mr. Ehud Barak, the resigned Prime Minister of Israel, said in an interview on Israeli television that Israelis have two choices: Peace or War. But, in a very interesting remark, Mr. Barak himself confirmed what was said earlier by saying that even if a disastrous war took place, Israelis will have to go back to negotiations. In other words, he was trying to tell the Israelis that a costly regional war could be avoided by negotiating peace. Israeli soldiers spread throughout the Palestinian territories belong to the generations of the post 1967 war and behave and treat the Palestinians with the spirit and physique of the injected illusions. Snipers who kill Palestinian children do the same.

The Middle East is at a crossroad, but not one between peace and war. It is between war and war in disguise. Mr. Barak warns the Israelis from voting for Sharon, because Sharon s policy will definitely lead the region to war. But where will Mr. Barak's policy itself lead? The following scenario could simplify the answer to this question:

Mr. Barak s policy is far from accepting international and UN resolutions as a base for a settlement. Among so many points in the proposed American framework for a peace deal, Jerusalem and the right of return are conspicuous. This means, in brief, that the Palestinians will reject it since it does not answer to the legal, political and sovereign rights of the Palestinian people. What will prevail is a state of attacks waged by the Israeli occupation army against the Palestinians and a state of economic siege and settlement expansion. The Palestinians will have to defend themselves. That is only a human right. Therefore, the cycle of violence will continue.

At one point, Palestinians might incur heavy losses on the Israeli side, to which the Israelis will retaliate massively, incurring peril and loss of life. A thousand more Palestinians will be killed and 15000 more injured. The Arab organisations like Hizbullah and others in Jordan will be encouraged to help the Palestinians by carrying operations against the Israeli army. One of these operations might be big enough to embarrass Barak s government (if he wins the elections). He will definitely be tempted to use the strong military machine of Israel to strike Lebanon and the Syrian forces in Lebanon Barak s peaceful policy will lead to war. If Mr. Sharon wins, he will not start a regional war straight away. It will take Sharon as many Palestinians killed as Mr. Barak to start a regional war.

In the midst of all this, i.e. giving the Palestinians the choice of being killed by Sharon or Barak, a choice between war and war in disguise, Mr.Clinton is not happy with the Palestinian response to his suggested solution and proposed agreement. Such a reaction of the outgoing American President means that he is still adhering to a policy which is greatly influenced by Israel and the American Jewish Lobby. He is neither fair nor just, in fact, nor committed to the US position vis a vis each and every element of the conflict.

Why is President Clinton angry with the Palestinian response if both Israeli and Palestinian responses are identical. The Palestinians and Israelis rejected two main elements and raised questions about several other elements in Clinton s proposal. Israel rejected the American proposals on Jerusalem and refused to acknowledge the right of return, for their own reasons. So did the Palestinians, for their own different reasons. By being unfair, unjust and uncommitted to US policies, Clinton himself is triggering war in the Middle East.

A fact was and still is that the settlement which can bring a durable peace to the Middle East is one based on the American formula of Land for Peace and Security Council resolution 242. President Clinton suggested a solution far from complying with these two references. Mr. Barak has a historical opportunity that would be lost if he does not take a brave step in the historical sense. Barak needs to surmount the piles of illusions injected into the minds of Israelis. This would be a leap after thorough thinking. As for the Palestinians, they have no opportunity to lose. To chose between the two war options is to leave them with the choice of being killed. They will definitely respond by defending themselves.

Events

Kahane's Son killed in the West Bank

Binyamin Kahane, son of the slain anti-Arab Rabbi Meir Kahane, was killed along with his wife when Palestinian gunmen ambushed their van in the West Bank Sunday, Jewish settlers and medical officials said. The killing of the Kahanes, in which five of their children were wounded, raised the specter of Jewish militant revenge attacks on Arabs just as Washington struggled to forge a peace framework after three months of Israeli-Palestinian violence. There is no turning of the other cheek in Judaism...Judaism is revenge, said Noam Federman, a long-time friend of Binyamin Kahane and follower of his slain father. There is no difference between one Arab or another. Every Arab wants to murder us.

The Kahane killing occurred a decade after an Egyptian-born U.S. citizen assassinated Meir Kahane, leader of Israel's outlawed Kach movement, in New York. Kach advocated forcibly evicting Arabs from Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. Binyamin Kahane, a settler who had been jailed himself by Israel for his activities as part of militant anti-Arab groups, was in his early 30s. He had led a group called Kahane Hai (Kahane Lives) formed after his father's death.

Palestinian Group Says It Killed Kahane's Son

A Palestinian group claimed responsibility Sunday for the killing of Binyamin Kahane, son of the slain anti-Arab rabbi Meir Kahane, and his wife in the West Bank. One of our groups set up an ambush today for the forces of the occupation near the Ofra settlement north of Ramallah and when a settlers' car passed by, they opened fire with machineguns, killing and wounding those who were inside, said a statement by a group calling itself the Martyrs of the al-Aqsa Intifada faxed to an international news agency in Beirut.

Fateh Leader Assassinated in the West Bank

A senior West Bank official of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, Thabet Thabet, was shot dead as he left his house in Tulkarm in what Palestinian officials called an Israeli assassination. Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat condemned the killing of Thabet. This gives us an indication of Israel's intentions toward peace. On the ground it uses the language of murder and aggression against our people, Erekat told Reuters. Thabet, a dentist in his 40s, was director-general of control and inspection at the Palestinian Health Ministry.

This is not linked to the killing of settler Kahane -- this is not a response to it -- because Thabet's assassination was planned and carried out after study and approval, a senior Fatah official said. Israel will learn of our response soon. Palestinian officials blamed Thabet's death on Israeli undercover units which they say have killed more than 20 activists from Fatah and other groups. Thabet was shot in the chest and legs in an area adjacent to Israeli-controlled territory.

Confrontations, Shelling and Closure Tightening in Palestinian Territories

Confrontations broke off throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip yesterday, during which over 30 Palestinians were injured. Israeli occupation forces tightened the military closure imposed on the Palestinian territories. Shelling of Palestinian residential areas continues.

Bethlehem

Deheisha refugee camp was shelled yesterday with heavy machine gun fire, inflicting severe material damage to residential homes. Israeli forces also fired light bombs during the shelling. The Israeli army linked the shelling with gunfire in the direction of an Israeli military base near Ifrat settlement, built on Palestinian confiscated land in Al Khader village, from the Palestinian side. Confrontations broke off between Palestinian youths and Israeli armed settlers and soldiers at the entrance of Nahaleen village. Several citizens suffered from tear gas bombs used by Israeli soldiers. Israeli occupation forces tightened the imposed military closure even further on and within Bethlehem City.

Hebron

Settler attacks continued against Palestinian citizens and their property in various towns of Hebron City. Five Palestinians suffered from tear gas bombs fired by Israeli forces in Sahla, three of whom were taken to hospital. Israeli soldiers and armed settlers chased Palestinian farmers and confiscated their machinery. The imposed military closure was tightened within the city, preventing citizens from moving freely between its towns, villages and refugee camps.

Ramallah and Al Bireh

Several citizens were injured during clashes which broke out at the northern entrance of Al Bireh. One Palestinian was injured with live ammunition and medical sources described his condition as medium . Israeli radio reported that armed Palestinians fired in the direction of Oufar military camp. No injuries were reported.

Nablus and Salfeet

Lu ay Dawoud, 16, from Haris village was hit in the eye with a live bullet near Burkan settlement. Witnesses say that Dawoud was standing near his home at a short distance from Israeli bulldozers protected by Israeli soldiers constructing a by pass road between Rafafa and Burkan settlements. Witnesses also said that no clashes were taking place at the time of the incident. Settlers also attacked Palestinian cars near Tfouh settlement, injuring several citizens slightly and inflicting damage on a number of cars.

Qalqilya

Palestinian youths threw stones in the direction of Israeli soldiers, who used rubber coated metal bullets and tear gas bombs to disperse the young demonstrators. Several citizens suffered from tear gas bombs used by the soldiers to disperse demonstrators.

Gaza Strip

Military reinforcements took place on the green line in Khaza a region in the Gaza Strip and Israeli soldiers present in the area fired live ammunition towards Palestinian residential areas. Israeli bulldozers continued for the third day to level land east of Beit Hanoun in Gaza Strip with an aim of constructing a settlement by pass road 70 meters wide. A large number of citrus and olive trees, belonging to Palestinian families, were destroyed in the process. Five Palestinians were injured in Rafah with live ammunition and shrapnel. Medical sources say injuries were centred in the upper part of the body. An Israeli rocket was fired at Annour mosque, which resulted in three Palestinian injured and taken to hospital. Israeli radio reported that Israeli military bases near Eretz and Karni crossings were targeted by Palestinian gunfire. No injuries were reported.

Peace Process

Clinton angered by Palestinian position on US proposal Palestinian and Arab sources in Cairo and London declared that US President Clinton expressed his discontent with the Palestinian response to his proposals and considered the Palestinian letter which confirmed adherence to international legitimacy and a request for clarifications did not open the door to continue negotiations. The sources described President Clinton s position as angry .

U.S. Steps up Pressure on Arafat to Agree

Ha aretz- A senior diplomatic source in Jerusalem expressed grave concern yesterday that the opportunity for reaching a framework agreement with the Palestinians before U.S. President Bill Clinton leaves office on January 20, and elections for prime minister are held in Israel, will be lost. "Precious time is being lost because Yasser Arafat is walking on the edge and may miss the point of no return, which is the most tragic aspect of the Palestinian game." The same source said that Prime Minister Ehud Barak is not planning to make more compromises. "Arafat is playing for time and honor and trying to pull Barak closer to his positions, so that he will succumb to Arafat's demands, but this will not happen, and it is a mistaken assessment of Barak's ability to withstand pressure." "Arafat is trying to use time in order to show that he does not give in to anyone's demands, neither the U.S. nor Israel, but what may happen is that there will be no time to reach an agreement."

For their part the Palestinians are rejecting what they view as intense pressure on them to accept the American bridging proposals, and a senior member of their negotiating team, Yasser Abed Rabbo, equated them to the Sykes-Picot agreement of 1916, when British and French diplomats divided the Middle East. According to the proposals put forth, he said, "the Palestinians will receive promises on what will be negotiated in the future, while the Israelis will gain everything they want."

The American administration is exercising heavy pressure on Yasser Arafat to accept President Clinton's bridging proposals. U.S. officials are trying to convince the Palestinian leader through the intervention of Arab and Western leaders, including United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, of the need to agree to the American proposals. However, the U.S. is not only facing difficulties from the Palestinians, but also from the recent declarations by Prime Minister Ehud Barak on Channel Two Television on Friday, where he reiterated that he will not sign an agreement that gives up Israeli sovereignty over the Temple Mount and does not do away with the Palestinian claim to the right of return.

A senior American official said that "both of them, Arafat and Barak, are drawing lines in the sand and declare that they will never cross them, instead of saying first that they accept the Clinton plan and welcome it." The American president, commenting on the situation, warned that matters can only become more complicated. "They know exactly what I mean," Clinton said impatiently. "Both sides know exactly what they still need to do," he said. The Palestinians continue to argue that they cannot give a final answer on whether they accept the proposals until a number of clarifications are given to them.

The Palestinian representative in Washington, Hassan Abd al-Rahman, said that "we are not looking for excuses in order to say no. We are looking for reasons to continue. We are not in a rush to say no, but we still cannot say yes. This is supposed to be a final agreement, permanent, and we must live with it. Therefore, it needs to be very clear."

The U.S. sees some hope in the Palestinian cabinet's declaration on Friday that the Palestinian Authority is committed to the negotiations. However, the cabinet also reiterated its demand for the negotiations to be carried out under "international auspices." Clinton, who is at Camp David on a New Year's break, is expected to wait for positive responses from the two sides until the middle of the week. As far as the outgoing U.S. administration is concerned, that is truly the final deadline if any sort of negotiations on the final status framework agreement is to be achieved while Clinton is still president.

Israeli sources said yesterday that they have already fulfilled their plan by offering the Americans a positive response to Clinton's proposals. At the Prime Minister's Bureau, a detailed document requesting details and clarifications on a series of issues is already prepared. Leading the list is the issue of sovereignty over the Temple Mount and the security arrangements. Nonetheless, Barak has decided not to send the document to Washington before a positive Palestinian response, on principle, is given to the Americans.

Kahane's killing raises fears of extremist violence aimed at Arabs - or maybe even the Temple Mount Ha'aretz- The growing fear in recent days that Jewish extremists might commit violent acts - in a desperate bid to head off a possible Israeli-Palestinian peace deal - moved up several notches Sunday with the killing of Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane. Kahane, the son of assassinated extreme right-wing leader Meir Kahane, and his wife, Talya, were shot by Palestinian gunmen while driving south of the West Bank settlement of Ofrah.

Shortly after the attack, associates of Binyamin Kahane - who established the "Kahane Chai" (Kahane Lives) movement with the aim of perpetuating his father's legacy after his 1990 assassination by a Muslim in New York - threatened to take revenge on Arabs. "There is no difference between one Arab and another," railed Noam Federman, a well-known far-right activist. Federman is a former member of Meir Kahane's Kach movement, which was outlawed in March 1994, along with Kahane Chai, after Kiryat Arba resident Baruch Goldstein massacred 29 Arabs at Hebron's Cave of the Patriarchs.

Shmuel Sakkett, who described himself as a disciple of Meir Kahane, told Army Radio that all the Arabs had to be evicted from Israel: "As long as there are Arabs here," he said, 'Jews will be murdered. We have to make sure that there isn't a single Arab left here in the State of Israel. The good Jews know exactly what has to be done. We are going like sheep to the slaughter." Immediately after the attack, the Israel Defense Forces moved troops into Hebron where several former Kach activists live. The soldiers took up positions at the points of potential friction between the Jewish and Palestinian residents of the West Bank city. They were too late, though, to stop an exchange of blows between a group of women settlers and Palestinian hawkers in the local fruit and vegetable market.

Anger among those on the far right has been rising ever since President Bill Clinton put his plan for a framework peace agreement on the table a week ago. For many on the religious right, the proposal for Israel to cede East Jerusalem and the Temple Mount is tantamount to betrayal. Add to this the "success" of Palestinian attacks in recent days, including the bombing of a Tel Aviv bus and the death of two IDF soldiers in Gaza last Thursday, and you have all the ingredients for extremist action on the right.

Incensed by the notion that Judaism's holiest site might come under Palestinian sovereignty, settler rabbis have launched a vitriolic attack on Prime Minister Ehud Barak in recent days, and have called for action against the government. Last week, Rabbi Zalman Melamed, a leader of the Yesha (Judea, Samaria and Gaza) rabbinical council called the prime minister an "idiot" and implored his religious associates to "do something" to halt a Temple Mount concession. Speaking at a conference of rabbis in Jerusalem, Melamed said: "If the Temple Mount isn't ours, I don't know if there is any point to rest of the country ... The government has broken all the rules, and the time has come to struggle, quite simply, with all our hearts. I don't see any other way... A chain of activities should be started so that the country burns with fires blazing from hilltop to hilltop, until it becomes clear this small minority [the government] is leading us toward a general regional war."

The comments are reminiscent of the rhetoric that existed at the time of Yitzhak Rabin's assassination in November 1995, and which many believe contributed to the climate of incitement in which the assassin Yigal Amir operated. "These are harsh words," said Chezi Calo, a former senior Shin Bet (internal security service) official, referring to the rabbi's recent declarations. "They afford legitimacy to a potential assailant whether it be an individual or a group. We have already seen people who have acted because they thought they had a rabbinic permit," he said, referring to both Amir and Goldstein.

The fear of an attack, it seems, comes less from the likes of Federman and his cronies than from an unknown, lone-wolf extremist whom the security services would have a much tougher time tracking down. Ehud Sprinzak, an expert on the radical right, told Israel Radio that, "The motif of revenge is very central in (Meir) Kahane's ideology," but, he said it was unlikely an attack would be carried out by one of the well-known extremists. "They are pretty much covered by the security forces," he explained. "But, I'm sure that the security forces are on high alert for a possible revenge attack."

Former members of the Shin Bet interviewed Sunday pointed to several possible targets of an extremist attack, including Palestinian civilians and even Israeli political leaders. Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg warned that the rabbis' declarations could be interpreted as a "Halakhic decree" [that is, one made according to Jewish law] to attack Arabs or even politicians on the left. But ,the "ultimate" act in the eyes of the far-right would be an attack on the mosques located on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City an event that would have a disastrous regional impact, possibly even bringing Israel and the Arab countries to the brink of war. It wouldn't be the first time extremists have actively targeted the compound known by Muslims as Haram al-Sharif: Some members of the Jewish terror underground uncovered in the early 1980s after carrying out several attacks on Palestinians were hatching plans to blow up the mosques.

Ha'aretz correspondent Nadav Shragai writes in Sunday's paper that "something dangerous" is percolating among Temple Mount activists who, in recent days ,have been infused with the feeling that they "have nothing left to lose. Never," writes Shragai, "have so many of them spoken in the streets of Jerusalem, and almost openly, about their desire to see the destruction of the mosques on the Mount." An Ha'aretz editorial published Sunday warns against the dangerous reemergence of anti-Rabin-style rhetoric on the right, a mere five years after a Jewish assassin gunned down the prime minister: "The settler rabbis are returning to the slander and incitement with which they besmirched Yitzhak Rabin, and are now directing it toward Ehud Barak and his government.

"While provocateurs may hide behind the broad margins of freedom of expression, the police and the security services cannot divest themselves of the concern that there are those who are hearing, in the slanderous statements, instructions to take action: to carry out attacks against the national and religious symbols of the Palestinians, or to strike at Israelis whom they regard as 'idiots.' These agencies are now required to show extra vigilance and do their utmost in order to prevent acts of crime and deadly provocation in the name of faith. The leaders of the right wing, and at their head the candidate for the post of prime minister, Ariel Sharon, will be held responsible for their silence if they do not reject these provocative statements."

Israeli elections

Barak Warns Israelis Of War If Sharon Elected

Ha aretz- Opinion polls show Barak's popularity at an all-time low and forecast that he will be trounced by leading hawk Ariel Sharon in the February 6 ballot Seeking to sway a doubtful public, Barak warned his people Saturday they would face war if Sharon won the election. Limor Livnat, a leading member of parliament from Sharon's rightist Likud party, told the radio: ``Security must be restored -- and Arik Sharon will know how to do that.''

END

top