Issue No. 610
Opinion
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31 Oct. - 6 Nov. 2002 Issue No. 610 Opinion |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
Hilltops of illegality
The settlers may have been pawns of Israel's secular politicians for decades. But, writes Azmi Bishara*, no one is scoffing at their risible arguments anymore
A debate has started in Israel about the evacuation of certain settlements by Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer. The use of the term "illegal settlements" is, in itself, provocative -- as though there were two types of settlements, some legal and others illegal. The reference here is, of course, to Israeli law. For according to international law, all settlements are illegal. All countries -- including the United States -- recognise this as a fact.
In an occurrence that epitomises the bizarreness of Israeli politics, the right-wing, making its case against the evacuation of settlements, claims that Palestinians, too, are building illegally, and that the settlers have the right to the same consideration as those Palestinians. So now the land grabbers want to be equated with their own victims.
Israel's settlers may steal, murder, commit perjury and generally disregard the Ten Commandments, but they are worried about keeping the Sabbath, and about the legalities of building under Israeli law. Even more alarmingly, what the current debate suggests is that Israeli law is applicable to the West Bank and Gaza, which would amount to their annexation, something Israel forcefully rejects. Yet, Israel is following the logic of the settlers when it demolishes Palestinian homes built "illegally" outside Zone A.
The history of the so-called illegal settlements is quite peculiar. Trying to upstage Binyamin Netanyahu during the Wye River talks in 1998, Ariel Sharon, then foreign minister, told the settlers to "run and take the hilltops". This is how dozens of illegal outposts sprang to life in the first place. In the twisted tradition of Israeli politics, the evacuation of the same outposts is now occurring under Sharon's government, and again as a result of political rivalry, this time within the Labour Party, not the government.
Minister Ben-Eliezer, trying to score a point against Haim Ramon, is determined to sort out the unauthorised settlements. Going back further, one may recall that some of the existing settlements were built between 1974 and 1977, at the behest of then-Defence Minister Peres who wanted to undermine the authority of his boss, then-Prime Minister Rabin.
In a nutshell, the quarrel over settlements, their building and their dismantling, has often taken place as a result of political bickering between Israel's secular parties. But not anymore. The latest confrontations prove that Israel's settlers are no longer a pawn in the chess game between Israel's secular politicians. The settlers are turning into Israel's most influential lobby and using their clout to considerable effect. Many of the settlements, they argue, were created without government authorisation in the first place.
In their recent confrontation with the politicians, the settlers succeeded in turning the issue into one of soldiers ordered "to desecrate the Sabbath", a reference to Saturday 19 October when the evacuation began. The Sabbath detail may be risible, but it gives you an idea of the extent of sympathy between the settlers and religious army soldiers. On 20 October, Sharon had to apologise for what he termed an uncalled-for violation of the Sabbath. On that same day, Minister Effie Etam called Ben-Eliezer "a scoundrel, a liar and a coward". All this happened three days after Israel marked a national day in commemoration of the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin.
During the same week, Peres received a threatening letter from the Rabbinical Council of Judea and Samaria blaming the Israeli left for acts of violence against the right. The letter refers to Haim Arlosorof's unsolved 1948 murder -- a continuing source of friction among Israel's political trends -- and the bombing of Altalena, the ship that was supposedly carrying weapons to the Irgun in 1994. The rabbis, having deplored the Oslo process, advised the settlers to ignore orders for the evacuation of settlements on the "land of Israel".
A few days later, scuffles occurred at the Gilad Farms. About 1,000 Israeli soldiers tried, with obvious restraint, to remove 300 settlers from the site. The scene, relayed on television, was one of angry, but not violent confrontation. One is tempted to think what would have happened if the Arabs were the ones being removed. But then, there is no room for comparison.
Since Rabin's murder, Israel has been careful to avoid domestic divisions. Rabin's death was turned into a national day of remembrance. No particular section of Israelis has been blamed for Rabin's murder. The tribe has closed ranks.
Things are different with the Arabs, even Israel's citizens. The Israelis are worried over the "extremist tendencies" of the Arabs of Israel. Obviously, the latter do not belong to the tribe. And while the Israelis may differ over their policy towards the Arabs, they are not going to quarrel over that.
* The writer is a leading Palestinian political activist and member of the Knesset.
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