WE NEED TO BE UNITED IN THE FIGHT AGAINST FASCISM AND REPRESSION
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Page Not FoundWE NEED TO BE UNITED IN THE FIGHT AGAINST FASCISM AND REPRESSION In These Times is committed to remaining fiercely independent, but we need your help. Donate now to make sure we can continue providing the original reporting, deep investigation, and strategic analysis needed in this moment. We're proud to be in this together. |
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Page Not FoundWE NEED TO BE UNITED IN THE FIGHT AGAINST FASCISM AND REPRESSION In These Times is committed to remaining fiercely independent, but we need your help. Donate now to make sure we can continue providing the original reporting, deep investigation, and strategic analysis needed in this moment. We're proud to be in this together.
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December 22, 2001
The Enemy Within
Israel’s gravest danger is not the Palestinians
Jerusalem—Ariel Sharon appears determined to wreak havoc on the Palestinian
Authority. Events in December suggest that the Israeli prime minister’s
strategy may be to unseat Yasser Arafat in the hope of precipitating an inner
Palestinian conflict, perhaps even a civil war. Israel, so the twisted logic
goes, can then help set up a puppet government while changing the West Bank’s
territorial demarcation—the Lebanon debacle revisited. “For Israel, September 11 was a Hanukkah Miracle,” Israeli political
and security officials recently told the newspaper Ha’aretz. Thousands
of American fatalities are considered a godsend—in this cynical world—simply
because their deaths helped shift international pressure from Israel onto the
Palestinians, while allowing the Israeli government to pursue its regional objectives
unobstructed. And indeed, in the past months, the United States has unfalteringly
supported all of Israel’s actions. A series of deadly suicide attacks inside Israel by Hamas and Islamic Jihad
helped Sharon receive a green light to carry out his plans. Returning on December
9, he convened a cabinet meeting at which the Palestinian Authority was designated
an entity supporting terrorism. F-16 jets began bombing Arafat’s offices
in Gaza and destroying the two helicopters he uses for transportation even before
the meeting concluded. Other Palestinian Authority structures were attacked
in Bethlehem, Nablus and Ramallah, including key state institutions. Not even
a murmur of protest was heard from the Bush administration. On the contrary, on the following day Arafat was handed a list of the “33
Most Wanted” leading militants from Hamas and Islamic Jihad. He was asked
by both Israel and U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni to arrest them immediately and to
shut down all Hamas and Islamic Jihad offices. As arrests were underway, a failed
Israeli attempt to assassinate Islamic Jihad activist Mohammed Ayoub Sidr in
Hebron killed two Palestinian children. Arafat’s protests that Sidr was
not on the “wanted” list and that Israel cannot expect him to effectively
crack down on Hamas and Islamic Jihad while it continues its assassinations
were conveniently ignored. The bloodshed continued. On December 10, a Palestinian attack on a bus left
10 Israelis dead and many more wounded. The Israeli cabinet convened again,
this time stating that the Palestinian Authority was solely responsible for
the attack and that Arafat had become an “irrelevant figure.” On December
13, Sharon directed the military to mount an all-out assault on the Palestinian
Authority. Altogether, in the first two weeks of December, 52 Palestinians and
34 Israelis were killed, 16 of them minors. As the cycle of violence continues, what remains of the Israeli political left
has been trying to mount some kind of viable opposition. Weekly protests in
front of the prime minister’s house, scores of soldiers refusing to serve
in the occupied territories, and hundreds of people breaking the military siege
by transferring basic foodstuffs to Palestinian villages—these are just
a few of the activities taking place on a regular basis. They have not, however,
managed to challenge the hegemonic spirit of war. Israel’s gravest danger today is not the Palestinian Authority, or even
Hamas and Islamic Jihad, but the one it faces from within. During the past year,
peace activists have been “invited” to meetings with the secret service,
where they are “warned” about their activities. The secret service
routinely intercepts the e-mails of peace groups, and often obstructs solidarity
meetings or protests in the West Bank by declaring whole regions “closed
military zones.” For months, the Gaza Strip has been totally closed off
to Israelis from the peace camp—including members of the Israeli parliament,
the Knesset—and only Jewish settlers, journalists and soldiers can now
enter the region. The security forces’ ongoing attempts to frighten activists
have surely affected the left, but their attack on civil liberties is only one
manifestation of much broader social processes taking place within Israel. Israeli intellectuals who criticize the government are often attacked, not
only by the establishment inside Israel, but by its international proxies. Middle
East Quarterly recently published an article titled “Israel’s Academic
Extremists.” Written by “a watchdog team of researchers keeping an
eye on Israel’s universities”—the actual author is not mentioned—the
article goes after 20 Israeli professors (including this one) using lies and
half-truths to defame and blacklist them. Worse is the blatant racism and hatred of the “other” that pervades
every aspect of Israeli political discourse these days. Jewish cabinet ministers
repeatedly refer to the Arab Knesset members as a fifth column of Arafat’s
agents and collaborators. In the past year, there has been a concerted effort
to delegitimize them; six out of the 10 Arab Knesset members from opposition
parties have undergone police investigations for “anti-Israeli” statements
made during political speeches, while the immunity of one has already been stripped.
Simultaneously, Israel’s public radio and television have prevented Arab
leaders from voicing their grievances by ceasing to interview them and, in this
way, have intensified the alienation felt by their constituency, which comprises
a fifth of Israel’s citizenry. Adopting the nationalistic refrain, the Israeli media, which were once known
for their critical edge, now silence all opposition, broadcasting almost solely
those views conforming to the official line. TV crews pass by as if the peace
groups—standing at peace rallies in front of government offices, chanting
anti-war slogans—were thin air. By rendering the peace camp invisible to
the public at large, the Israeli media helps make it powerless. But the peace camp also bears some responsibility, since it has not adapted
its strategies to the new situation. The time has come to modify its methods
of protest, shifting its strategy from mere opposition to nonviolent resistance.
Only widespread civil disobedience can bring an end to the dreadful cycle of
violence and destruction. It is up to the left to do everything possible so
that years from now people won’t ask (as we wonder about other times and
places) how it was that a whole population didn’t realize what was happening.
Neve Gordon teaches politics at Ben-Gurion University in Israel and can be reached at ngordon@bgumail.bgu.ac.il. |
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WE NEED TO BE UNITED IN THE FIGHT AGAINST FASCISM AND REPRESSION
In These Times is committed to remaining fiercely independent, but we need your help. Donate now to make sure we can continue providing the original reporting, deep investigation, and strategic analysis needed in this moment. We're proud to be in this together.
