The language of bloodshed
By targeting Hamas activists, Israel is pulling the rug from under a looming truce. Khaled Amayreh reports from Jerusalem
As Hamas and other Palestinian resistance groups discuss with the Palestinian Authority (PA) the possibility of calling a truce with the Israeli army, Israel responded characteristically with assassinations, killings, arrests, and house demolitions.
On Saturday night, 21 June, as hopes were being raised for an impending cease-fire agreement, Israeli undercover soldiers riding in a civilian car bearing Palestinian licence plates murdered Abdullah Al-Qawasmeh, the Hebron leader of Hamas's military wing, the Izzedin Al-Qassam Brigades.
Al-Qawasmeh was leaving the Al-Ansar Mosque in downtown Hebron, having finished the night prayer, when the disguised soldiers sprayed him with bullets, killing him on the spot.
Seeking to justify the murder, the Israeli army and some Israeli officials claimed that Al-Qawasmeh, a father of six, resisted arrest. However, it was apparent that the Israelis wanted the 36-year-old man dead.
Gloating over the killing, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, described Al-Qawasmeh as a "vile terrorist" and called the assassination "a vital and successful operation".
Sharon also said that Israel wouldn't stop targeting the "terrorists" irrespective of the "talk about cease-fire with the terrorist organisation", he said in a reference to the discussions between Hamas and the PA.
Both the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas condemned the killing. PA officials accused Israel of seeking to sabotage Palestinian efforts to reach a cease-fire and move forward towards the implementation of the American-backed peace plan, the "roadmap".
"Those who carry out assassinations obviously have no desire to implement the roadmap," said PA Information Minister Nabil Amr.
Predictably, Hamas vowed to retaliate, saying that Israel understands nothing but the language of bloodshed.
"This is Israel's response to our efforts at reaching a cease- fire," said Hamas political leader Abdul-Aziz Al-Rantisi who himself narrowly escaped an assassination attempt by the Israeli army on 10 June.
However, Al-Rantisi and other Hamas leaders made it clear that the assassination wouldn't undermine "the dialogue with our brothers in the Palestinian Authority".
"We will continue to fight Jewish terror irrespective of the dialogue with PA government, and we shall keep up the dialogue with the PA, irrespective of Jewish terror," said Al-Rantisi.
However, it was amply clear that the assassination of Al- Qawasmeh would harden, not soften Hamas's overall stance.
Hamas founder and spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin made it clear that his movement wouldn't make concessions in the face of Israeli pressure.
"We will not accept a cease-fire whereby the Zionist enemy continues to shed our blood and murder our people," said Yassin, warning that "there will be no truce as long as the enemy continues to murder Palestinians."
The assassination of Al-Qawasmeh was further criticised by Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher who described it as a "clear provocation".
Moreover, European and American officials attending the World Economic Forum in Jordan mildly censured Israel for the assassination, expressing worry that the murder might complicate the implementation of the roadmap.
Flying in the face of everybody else, the Israeli government argued rather brazenly that the roadmap didn't commit Israel to "stop fighting terror".
The mild reservations expressed by the US about the assassination, coupled with a plethora of anti-Hamas statements by Colin Powell, in which the American secretary of state effectively adopted the Israeli stance by declaring that there was no distinction between Hamas's military and political wings, ostensibly gave Israel a green light to continue the killings.
Thus, on 22 June, the Israeli army killed five Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, a woman and four members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
The following day, the Israeli army, backed by tanks and armoured personnel carriers, attacked Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip. Invading forces terrorised the local population and dynamited three Palestinian homes, rendering three large families homeless.
The forces wouldn't even allow the families to try to salvage their belongings, prompting one Red Cross representative to remark sarcastically it was "Israel's way of displaying good will towards the Palestinians".
The only reason the Israeli army gave for the wanton destruction of the homes was, "some shots had been fired from the vicinity of the houses".
Israel also continued to arrest and detain dozens of Palestinian civilians, giving further credence to the conclusion that Sharon's government was determined to abort Palestinian efforts to reach agreement on a unilateral ceasefire. On 23 June, Israeli soldiers raided hundreds of homes in Hebron, arresting more than 140 men, women and children.
Most of the detainees are ordinary civilians, including shopkeepers, workers, students, housewives and school children, whom the Israeli media, parroting Israeli army statements, labelled "Hamas members and supporters".
Israel is already holding as many as 7,000 Palestinian detainees, mostly without charge or trial, in squalid and inhuman conditions in 10 internment camps.
Among the conditions endured by some prisoners are solitary confinement for months, continuous handcuffing and foot- shackling, a very poor diet and sleep deprivation. Past experience suggests that Israel views the internees as "political hostages" and "bargaining chips" to be used to extract political concessions from the PA.
The sweeping internment of Palestinians was concurrent with the resumption of establishing Jewish settlement outposts throughout the West Bank.
On 23 June, the Hebrew press quoted Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as telling the leaders of Jewish settlers "to go on building settlements".
"Go and do it, but be quiet and don't make a big noise," Sharon was quoted as saying.
Earlier this month, the international media praised Israel for removing a few caravans from some hills in the West Bank and for the release of some 100 Palestinian detainees, most of whom were nearing the end of their prison terms.
These days, though, Israel appears intent on showing that for every step forward, it takes five back.
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 26 June - 2 July 2003 (Issue No. 644)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/644/re11.htm