18 - 24 April 2002
Issue No.582
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 18 - 24 April 2002 Issue No.582 |
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Terrorists and occupation
The world never ceases to amaze me. I was already quite shocked when Ariel Sharon, quickly parroted by the US president, demanded that Yasser Arafat, held incommunicado and with less than the minimum to survive on, order his freedom fighters to "stop the violence" against their aggressors. For one, Sharon intends Arafat to lose his prestige and credibility as leader of the PLO and therefore as head of the Palestinians. Crushed, unable to make decisions affecting his people's fate, how can he stop operations on a territory under complete Israeli jurisdiction? Let us be rational: do the Israelis want to get rid of Arafat, or do they want him to stop the violence -- assuming he can? In the former case, he has no vested interest in doing the Israelis' bidding; in the latter, deprived of the aura of leadership, how can he command the authority of popular leaders who are not known for their compliance?
If the Israelis really wanted his mediation, they should have enhanced his role as a peace partner, not attempted to humiliate him. As things stand, the Arabs regard Arafat as a hero, and the violence has not stopped. Speaking of which, it is hard to believe that, with all the roadblocks, barricades and weaponry at their disposal, the thugs and other brutes who constitute the Israeli army are incapable of sniffing out dangerous individuals attempting to interfere with their population's merrymaking. Did it ever occur to the occupiers that their celebrations are repugnant to those whose land they have stolen, and whom they have imprisoned in ghettoes and refugee camps, depriving them of the right to live freely in their own country? One would have expected the Israelis, of all people, to understand the feeling. Instead, they hysterically denounce their victims as terrorists without heeding warning signals that things are about to get much worse, and that, no matter how much Palestinians suffer, Israelis will suffer too.
And who are the terrorists, anyway (the Palestinian ones, not those who blew up the World Trade Center -- for they are different, regardless of what Sharon wants the world to believe)? Ordinary young men and women who have decided to sacrifice their lives so that others one day may enjoy a country free from occupation. They are deeply religious, and believe that life will be better in Paradise. In any case, it can hardly be worse than what they are experiencing: the daily humiliations and deprivations, courtesy of the state of Israel. They are neither a different species nor unnaturally evil. Only despair breeds a sincere desire to end one's life. Only the totally helpless make such decisions. Young monks in Tibet used to immolate themselves to bring their grief to the world's attention.
Once one has chosen suicide, there is a very narrow line between killing oneself alone and taking a few of one's enemies along. It is not the terrorists one should fear; it is the power that has been so oppressive as to leave no ray of hope in the hearts of an entire population, leading them to such extreme acts.
Palestinian "terrorists" are only youngsters who have lost every shred of confidence in the world. They are the first and most pathetic victims of Israel's inhuman policies. They have families who love them and whom they love, and they die knowing that they could have had a bright future, had this terrible rape of their country not been allowed to happen.
I fully understand that young people blowing themselves up in crowded public places is absolutely terrifying. Even more terrifying is the idea that nothing short of justice will ever stop them. As long as the occupation continues, as long as the world keeps trying to ram an unfair settlement down the Palestinians' throats, the suicide bombings will continue.
Israelis want the world to believe that terrorism is a matter of education, that Palestinian children are brought up to transform themselves into lethal weapons, that the PLO sponsors terrorist kindergartens (the last allegation made by Binyamin Netanyahu, who thinks he is addressing fools). Why they carry on blowing themselves up seems beyond the West's comprehension, so let us not argue about the cause, but instead consider how the Israelis propose to stop a practice for which they are entirely responsible. Kill every young Palestinian? Murder every child, for fear he might grow up to be a terrorist? Should special Israeli squads take care of those in the Diaspora, wherever they are?
Sharon and his cronies should know better. After all, the Jews rose from the ashes of the concentration camps in little more than half a century. Don't they think the Palestinians could follow their example? In the near future, the words of the Zionist Vladimir Jabotinsky could apply to them too:
From the pit of decay and dust
Through blood and sweat
A generation will arise to us
Proud, generous and fierce
As for Arafat stopping the violence, I have one question for Mr Sharon. Has Bush been able to stop the massacres by demanding, in no uncertain terms and in a language Sharon understands, that he withdraw his troops from Palestinian cities? I am sure Arafat cannot be expected to succeed with the Palestinians where Bush has failed with the Israelis.
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