It's
The Occupation Stupid!
By Am Johal
29 September, 2004
Countercurrents.org
Four
years ago on September 28, 2000, when Ariel Sharon made his operatic
visit to the Temple Mount igniting the Second Intifada, no one could
have predicted how dire the situation would become so quickly: Close
to 6,000 dead, the building of the Separation Wall inside Palestinian
Territory despite an International Court of Justice decision calling
it illegal, mass movement restrictions, continued passage of discriminatory
legislation, military assassinations, much of the Palestinian population
under closure and curfew, thousands of home demolitions and the uprooting
of olive groves, socio-economic discrimination, racist incitement, subsidization
of settlers, the number of jobless at an all time high, continued police
violence, no cessation of suicide bombings, an economy in freefall,
continued West Bank settlement expansion, the Gaza withdrawal still
on hold and the Roadmap to Peace ostensibly dead. This is seemingly
the pathetic legacy of the Al Aqsa Intifada years and Ariel Sharon's
Likud government.
The Al Aqsa Intifada,
as the Second Intifada, began as a Palestinian uprising to get the peace
process back on the table and to set the stage for an independent Palestinian
state. Ariel Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount, significant in Jewish
tradition, but also a Muslim holy site was seen as provocative by many
as his visit included over 1,000 security forces. The riots which followed
in the days after resulted in numerous deaths including the killing
of 13 Arab citizens of Israel and a massive military crackdown.
Since then, West
Bank cities in the Occupied Territories like Jenin, Nablus and Hebron
have seen their cities terrorized. Gaza has been relentlessly bombarded
despite all the talk of withdrawal. Buses in Jerusalem and Beersheba
have been bombed. Israel continues to flaunt international human rights
and humanitarian law in full view of the international community with
little response.
What is one of the
worst things perhaps in this new reality, which is quite similar to
the old reality, is the level of normalization this political climate
has taken on in Palestinian and Israeli society. The Palestinians are
still in trauma, shell shocked by the effects of the Occupation are
still testing the
atmosphere for change.
Its unfortunate
result is the prevalence of several positions within the Israeli silent
majority which perpetuate the present situation. First, that Israeli
security concerns justify violations of Palestinian human rights through
the use of collective punishment, mass movement restrictions and construction
of the Separation Wall inside the Green Line. Second, that unilateral
Israeli action is necessary to maintain Israel as both a Jewish and
democratic state. And thirdly, that the Palestinian Authority and Yasser
Arafat are not credible partners for peace.
Challenging the
present political climate in favour of one which is driven by a need
for human rights is not high on the agenda of any of the mainstream
political movements in Israel today. It was after all the Labor Party
which started the West Bank settlement expansion and plans for the Separation
Wall, a barrier presently being constructed between Israel and the West
Bank.
As the leaders talk
peace, the situation on the ground rarely shifts. From Hebron to Bethlehem
to Nablus to Jericho, to Jenin to Gaza, the humiliating and daily effects
of the Occupation are direct and all encompassing. This power relationship
that exists today is still clearly not yet on an equal footing nor is
there any relevant plan that sees this as the goal in the near future.
The Roadmap to Peace
and the Geneva Accord are deeply flawed. The Roadmamap to Peace, a plan
for Palestinian statehood by 2005 led by the United States, was drafted
by envoys from the US, European Union, United Nations and Russia in
April of 2003.
Despite the Roadmap's
claims to push for an end to the Occupation and a move to a two state
solution, its conditions placed on the Palestinian state are rigid and
do not acknowledge the role Israel plays in maintaining a weakened Palestinian
state. Arafat and the Palestinian Authority today has little power and
is regularly undermined by Israel and its own lack of leadership. The
Geneva Accord, signed in October of 2003 by prominent Israeli and Palestinian
leaders outside of official government channels, is a blueprint for
a final status agreement between Israel and Palestine. However, in its
present form would have a Palestinian state cede control of its borders,
airspace and underground water reserves to Israel.
Since Sharon became
Prime Minister he has justified much of his unilateral policy in the
Occupied Territories on the basis of "fighting terror" and
an unwillingness to deal with Arafat. This game of violent response
and counter-response between the Israelis and Palestinians has resulted
in the
Palestinians losing more than four times the number of lives through
military repression, and territory as a result of the Separation Wall
and within the other side of the West Bank through settlement expansion
and its supporting infrastructure development. The borders of Jerusalem
are also being expanded through annexation policies designed to create
territorial contiguity for the benefit of settlers.
Sharon's vision
is ultimately to incorporate the West Bank into de facto Israeli control
without absorbing any of the existing Palestinian population into Israel.
In fact, some Israeli Cabinet Ministers openly talk about transferring
some of the existing Israel Arab population to the West Bank. The refugee
issue is not even on the map in any realistic way in the major peace
plans being offered up today by Yossi Beilin, former Shabak director
Ami Ayalon, Sharon through his unilateral disengagement plan or in the
US led Roadmap to Peace.
The Americans have
been total failures in guiding Israel towards peace, having bought into
the argument that Israel requires operational space to deal with Palestinian
resistance. The US continues to fund Israel between 3 - 5 billion dollars
annually. In the Emergency Wartime Supplemental Appropriations Act of
2003 (Public Law 108-1, HR 1559), the US Congress approved $9 billion
in US loan guarantees to Israel stipulating that the funds could only
be used by those areas under Israeli control prior to 1967. This past
week, they sold 5,000 American bombs to the Israeli Defense Forces seemingly
in preparation for a possible future conflict with Iran.
The UN Special Rapporteur
for Palestine, John Dugard, stated in his report that the growth of
settlements together with the construction of the Wall "suggests
that territorial expansion remains an essential feature of Israel's
policies and practises in the [occupied Palestinian territories]."
The great legacy
of the Second Intifada and the Sharon era will be the Separation Wall
standing 26 feet tall, over 400 miles long, constructed with concrete
and, in parts, enclosed with razor wire and with plans to set up a trace
zone with fine sand to pick up footprints and to have parts of it mined.
Palestinians living between the Green Line and the Separation Wall will
particularly be isolated. When completed, 70,000 Palestinians will find
themselves within this "no man's land" without access to Israel
and the Palestinian territories on the other side of the wall. Water
and food shortages resulting from movement restrictions have occurred
regularly and the economy continues to suffer due to curfews, closures
and checkpoints.
As Dugard noted,
"The Wall has all the features of a permanent structure. The fact
that it will incorporate half of the settler population in the West
Bank and East Jerusalem suggests that it is designed to further entrench
the position of the settlers. The evidence strongly suggests that Israel
is determined to create facts on the ground amounting to de facto annexation."
What is being done
today in the name of protecting Israeli security is clearly disproportionate
to the threat being posed and is being used as a cover for land expropriation
in the West Bank and Jerusalem. The Israelis and Palestinians continue
to live through a 'Grand Dissonance' - leading parallel but uneqal lives
disconnected from each others narratives resulting in disastrous consequences.
Naomi Klein's recent
observation about the 'Likudization' of world politics is hardly a ringing
endorsement of the Ariel Sharon regime. There is certainly value in
bringing to international light the grave excesses of Israeli government
policy in the past four years and of the Second Intifada in general.
There has been a gross failure of leadership at every level in this
conflict. Fundamentalism of the religious and right wing variety has
increased amongst Jews and Palestinians. Ariel Sharon's position as
a moderate in Israel is not well earned considering his long history
of military repression. Yasser Arafat needs to cultivate a new generation
of leadership.
In short, after
four years of pathetic leadership, the Israeli/Palestinian situation
is no further ahead.