Between
The Lines
By Jim Miles
10 August, 2007
Countercurrents.org
Between the Lines – Readings on Israel, The Palestinians,
and the U.S. “War on Terror”. Edited by Tikva Honig-Parnass
and Toufi Haddad. Haymarket Books, Chicago, Ill., 2007.
This work is a powerful compilation
of articles relating the story of the al-Aqsa Intifada, tying it into
a broader world vision of the Middle East and American Empire. That
serves as the main theme for the book, “the continuation of the
Zionist colonial project, which has aspired to…control all of
historic Palestine with the full backing of U.S. imperialism.”
Expressed similarly from another angle, “Israel plays a key role
in enforcing U.S. imperial strategy regionally and internationally,
particularly…subsumed beneath the “war on terror.”
It is essentially a partnership, not Israel controlling Congress, or
the U.S. manipulating Israel, but a more cooperative partnership, perhaps
not of equals of power in a military-economic sense, but certainly equals
of ideology.
Another strong sub-theme
accompanies this over-riding viewpoint - that of the weakening power
of Fatah and the PA and the rise of Hamas. The authors are quite harsh
on their treatment of Fatah as it became more and more elitist, riven
with internal dissent and corruption, and more and more seen as a tool
of the Israeli occupiers. Accompanying this is the rising power of Hamas,
partly as a result of their own strong organizational skills and ideology,
but also because the Palestinians see them as a more reliable alternative
to Fatah, not compromised in their association with the IDF and Israeli
politics.
Other ongoing minor themes
accompany these two main texts. Foremost of these would be the transition
of the Israeli Left (Labour Party) into a partner for the Zionist Right
(Likud) project of redeeming Eretz Israel and its longer-term goal of
ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians. Along with this transition is
a similar transition of Israel adapting neo-liberal economic policies,
including IMF restructuring ideas that leads inevitably to a larger
income gap, lower wages, the use of import labour (rather than the rebellious
Palestinians or the poorer Mizrahi Jews from the African diaspora),
and a general deterioration of social services for the poor (the Mizrahi
and ‘Arab Israelis’) and the increase in wealth of the Israeli
elites, generally the Ashkenazi (European Jews). This economic restructuring
in turn transferred into the occupied territories, further diminishing
the economic abilities and possibilities of a militarized occupied territory.
A third minor theme (none
are truly ‘minor’, but play a smaller role in this narrative)
is that of the Allon Plan, the “Field of Thorns” which includes
all actions combined to assist with the ethnic cleansing of Palestine,
and how it is really the subtext to all the political manipulations
through the Peace Process, Camp David, the “disengagement”,
“convergence”, and on into the “war on terror.”
Ethnic cleansing brings forth the idea of the “demographic danger”
used politically as a rallying point, especially within 1967 Israel.
Along with these themes is
the ever-present one of media manipulations. The freedom of “Between
the Lines” to publish and the quotes derived from Israeli sources
are often quite condemning of Israeli actions, political, economic,
or military, yet little of that ever reaches the western press. With
the recent emphasis on the “war on terror”, the rise of
Hamas, and the strong political turn to the far right, this openness
is not nearly as apparent.
This variety of ideas is
summed up in toto at the end of the forward: “the mainstream discourse
within Israel and abroad ignores the fact that Zionism, as the hegemonic
ideology of the Israeli state and society, is constantly reproduced
and sustained in the service of the Israeli-U.S. colonialist project,
including the globalized economic interests that underlie it.”
There are numerous substantiated
events and ideas that support the editors and authors viewpoint very
strongly. The articles read sequentially, as published in Between the
Lines in its brief existence in Jerusalem during the Intifada, followed
by additional essays on more recent events, significantly the Hamas
electoral success and the Hezbolla military success in Lebanon. They
display a disconcerting foresightedness as to what future possibilities
might arise. Azmi Bishara, the Palestinian member of the Knesset who
has recently been charged with accusations against the State of Israel
(of course), is well represented throughout the book. Many of the ‘common’
events (Jenin, the ‘wall’, Oslo Peace process) are presented
within the discourse of Israeli-American colonial-imperial strategies,
bringing them into the broader context of a more complete Middle East
imperial project.
While the whole text is powerful
enough to raise my blood pressure and make me stifle the more crude
epithets of anger, the final sections on the realization of the Allon
Plan disguised under the freedom provided by the rhetoric of the “war
on terror” and the new quests for “peace” on Israel’s
terms only (“we have no partner”) leaves the reader with
understandably scary imaginative scenarios. Those scenarios include
possible attacks on Iran, certainly done cooperatively between the U.S.
and Israel although one or the other may lead the attack. Add to this
another instigated attack against Lebanon and Syria, using different
tactics than the failed war of 2006. Above all for Palestine, there
is and will be a sustained increase of aggressiveness from the Israeli
IDF in creating positions and conditions for the ethnic cleansing of
the West Bank, while acting militarily against the Gaza strip (November
2006 – “Autumn Clouds”, how poetic) in its bantustan
style prison camp formation.
Between the Lines begins
with a well-written introduction serving as a concise historical précis
of events leading up to the al-Aqsa Intifada. That section alone deserves
to be mass-marketed for its clarity and brevity. Following on that,
as indicated above, the chapters follow in time-sequenced progression.
While there are details of the actual conflict itself, much of the narrative
discusses the politics and behind the scenes working of the various
members of the conflict, from the “Likud-Labor Gangster Government”
with its “Provocative Escalations”, to the “Essence
of the Conflict – Total War”, “The True Nature of
Israel’s Democracy”, through Jenin and its implications
for the resistance, Sharon’s re-election in 2003, the implications
of the U.S. invasion of Iraq which leads into the “Era of Force,
Force, and More Force.”
The closing chapters concentrate
on the “disengagement” locally, and the preparations for
a broader conflict regionally.
The disengagement and the
subsequent invasive tactics are rationalized by Silvan Shalom, the Israeli
Foreign Minister in Sharon’s Likud government as part of the “global
battle against this terrorism….That’s why we should do everything
we can, because we are protecting our people fighting against this global
phenomenon that is threatening the entire world, and all the democratic
countries.” This is the perfect political answer to support continued
terrorism on the part of the Israeli’s and the U.S., making the
aggressor and perpetrator into the victim, turning the victim into the
aggressor. Once again the western press is noted for its complicity:
“The mileage this line of justification [previous] has received
in the Western press is mind-boggling, especially considering the nature
of the powers that promote it (the Zionist movement and U.S. ruling
classes).”
While Israel sought to “convey
the unequivocal message” that disengagement was a result of “Israel’s
position of strength” it is also noted “if not for the resistance,
Israel would never have considered disengaging from Gaza in the first
place.” Ultimately, “while continuing to maintain full control
over its [Gaza’s] land, air, and seas, Israel effectively imposed
a containment regime of the Strip.” At the same time it is really
“a tactical redeployment to more effective positions of control…not
unprecedented in Israeli policy” at the same time allowing more
settlement and military engagements in the West Bank. The worst aspect
that I can see from this is the “Normalization of Transfer”
such that “If one day the situation arises whereby Israel finds
the opportunity to actively transfer Palestinians…in the West
Bank or even Palestinian citizens of Israel…the international
community can “understand” this necessity based on the disengagement’s
precedent.”
The final section looks at
the broader conflict with the unsuccessful attacks on Lebanon and the
election of Hamas in Gaza.
For Lebanon, an unnamed
Israeli minister explained that their desire was “to turn Lebanon
into a wasteland. After that, things will be good.” They are supported
by the Americans as usual with Condaleeza Rice claiming, “that
Israel’s catastrophic assault on Lebanon embodied the “birth
pangs of the new Middle East.” (consider the source for that metaphor).
Again, the western media expressed the aggression of the Hezbollah attack
as a unique provocative attack, but it was simply one of many in a back
and forth ‘ember’ engagement. For the U.S. and Israel it
“provided a “unique moment” with “convergence
of interests.” Whereas before the U.S. remained discreet in its
support of Israeli military aggression, this support was a “departure
from past strategy” of the U.S. hiding “its fingerprints
on the dirty jobs Israel committed in the service of the imperial master.”
Apart from the defeat of
Fatah and the PA politically, the Hamas victory represents “the
pinnacle of the mass popular movement that began with the Al Aqsa Intifada,
to definitively displace the Oslo process paradigm and its infectious
repercussions upon the Palestinian national movement.” Part of
this was because “Hamas unapologetically preserved and implemented,
at times, the Palestinian right to resist, using force as a political
tool.” This of course fits well within the UN Charter on occupation
and defensive war, two good reasons why Israel and the U.S. are planning
their own “peace summit” with neighbouring Arab countries
and not with UN presence.
The authors’ conclusion,
if it is as prescient as their writing was during the Intifada, reveals
a cauldron set to explode: “The stakes have risen to such a level
that it is not irrational to preclude, in both the near and distant
future, the possibility of accelerated ethnic cleansing of Palestinians
from their lands, the ignition of expanded regional wars, and the possible
use of nonconventional weaponry.”
A fully engaging book, an
intense read, Between the Lines provides a strong and comprehensible
analysis of the al-Aqsa Intifada, its consequences, and probable future
developments. Along with the many other authors who have developed similar
themes (Ilan Pappe, Ramzy Baroud, Tanya Reinhart, Jonathan Cook, Mishal
and Sela) this story expands the library of information and consciousness
concerning the occupation and ethnic cleansing that is the story of
Palestine.
Jim Miles is a Canadian educator and a regular contributor/columnist
of opinion pieces and book reviews to Palestine Chronicles. His interest
in this topic stems originally from an environmental perspective, which
encompasses the militarization and economic subjugation of the global
community and its commodification by corporate governance and by the
American government.
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