25 April - 1 May 2002
Issue No.583
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 25 April - 1 May 2002 Issue No.583 |
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Israel in danger
If we are to achieve peace, the Arab world needs to confront the myths of the Israeli national narrative, writes Saleh Abdel-Jawad*
This article aims at responding to the myth that the Palestinians are waging a war against the existence of Israel and that, as such, Israel's war against the Palestinians is a struggle for survival (milkhama bifshil habayt, or "war for the defence of one's home"). This (mis)conception has gained currency in recent months, and is currently being used as the spearhead and strategic axis of Zionist propaganda against the Palestinian people.
It is further backed up by two other misconceptions that help compose the Israeli narrative: the generosity of Israel at Camp David (which was subsequently rejected by the Palestinians) and the media-tested epithet of "Palestinian terrorism."
The Zionist lobby in the United States and Sharon's propaganda machinery have both adopted this three- pronged approach. It has recently found resonance even in one of US President George W Bush's speeches. The successful dissemination of this narrative can have no better illustration than a recent Newsweek Special Edition, whose cover showed the Star of David, with the caption inquiring about Israel's "chances of remaining in existence." The magazine was replete with articles and reports -- one of which was written by the well- known American war criminal Henry Kissinger who, according to recently declassified official documents, was directly responsible not only for forming US foreign policy towards the Arab world, but also for the human tragedies that befell the people of East Timor (in the Carter era) and Angola (during the Ford years).
Kissinger's article claims that Israel returning to 4 June 1967 borders would be a threat to its existence. The Arab areas of the West Bank would be too close to the heart of Israel, says Kissinger. He provides an example. The Israeli city of Netanya is a mere 8 miles from Tulkarem, he says, ignoring the fact that Tulkarem would be 8 miles away from Netanya even if Israel did not withdraw to the pre-67 borders -- unless of course Kissinger would like to see Tulkarem removed from the map.
Kissinger argues against the view that the American administration is responsible for finding a final solution to the Palestinian question. Instead, he advocates the regulation of such crises by way of temporary interim agreements. Neither does it come as any surprise to see Kissinger doubt the significance of the Saudi initiative and its relevance vis-à-vis Israel. He cites the "coldness" of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty and the cynicism regarding the importance of Arab recognition of Israel and the full normalisation of relations.
Despite the fact that these misconceptions are glaringly false, it is necessary for the Arab world to address them seriously. This is because they compose the cornerstone of justification for all the crimes that take place today, and the flagrant violation of the full body of international law, primarily the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, that governs and composes the principles of conduct in times of war towards civilians. In this case, the war is a unilateral war on behalf of the powerful, the arrogant, and the insolent.
American misconceptions thus form the blank check for all that Sharon practices. So it is necessary for the Palestinian leadership, and Palestinian and Arab intellectuals, to convey the clearest of messages to the Israeli and international public at large, by deconstructing the cynicism of these misconceptions. It may well be the case that these misconceptions are more dangerous than the lies propagated by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Shlomo Ben Ami, echoed by Western and Israeli mainstream media outlets in the wake of the failed Camp David 2000 negotiations.
Just as this myth, more than any other, paved the way for striking at the Palestinians after the eruption of the Al-Aqsa Intifada (in the shadow of Palestinian silence at the time regarding a narrative for what took place at Camp David), so this most recent myth threatens to pave the road for the creation of an Israeli, and perhaps Western- Zionist, consensus that justifies whatever is waged against the Palestinian people by way of killing, destruction and -- possibly -- even forcible collective expulsion. We must recall that Zionist misconceptions and myths regarding the War of 1948, which everyone is familiar with, provided the legitimation for all that tragically befell our people together with much of what has occurred since then.
* The writer is a professor of political science at Birzeit University, Ramallah.
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