PR and nothing else
The toning-down of Israeli rhetoric against Arafat is nothing but a smokescreen as the brutality of the occupation continues unabated, Khaled Amayreh reports
Israeli and Palestinian officials have held two "exploratory meetings" to examine the possibility of reaching a cease-fire. The meetings, in which Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz and two high- ranking Palestinian officials took part, achieved no tangible results as Israel continues to demand that the almost moribund PA crack down on Hamas and other resistance groups.
It is not clear what prompted the Israeli government to agree to renew contacts with the PA at this time, but Israeli press sources spoke of a behind- the-scenes American "request" of Israel to see to it that a "semblance of calm" be brought to the Israeli- Palestinian arena. The sources said the Americans, unsettled by mounting American casualties in Iraq, didn't want to further reinforce an already prevalent impression in much of the Arab and Muslim worlds that "Israelis are killing Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza while their American allies are killing Iraqis in Iraq."
Indicating an apparent change of tact on the Palestinian side also, some Israeli sources even spoke of renewed PA collaboration with Israel against Hamas, which lead to the assassination by Israel of several Islamist guerrillas recently.
Nonetheless, there seems to be additional internal Israeli factors contributing to the toned-down Israeli public stance towards the PA, including PA Chairman Yasser Arafat.
Last week, remarks by the Israeli Army Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon, in which he criticised the government's bullying approach towards the Palestinians, were circulated widely in the Israeli media. Ya'alon questioned the unrelenting draconian measures Israel is wreaking on Palestinian civilians, describing the harsh treatment as inhumane and politically harmful. Moreover, joint Palestinian-Israeli initiatives, such as the so-called Geneva Agreement, have acquired ample media coverage, leading many to feel that there is an alternative to the internecine violence. This, suggested a veteran Israeli journalist, created the impression among many Israelis "that Sharon's government is not the only game in town".
This prognosis seems to be fairly logical, as many Israelis are now asking: What is next? On 2 November, over a hundred thousand Israeli Jews converged at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv to commemorate the anniversary of the assassination of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin at the hands of an extremist right-winger, indoctrinated in the Greater Land of Israel ideology. The huge multitude listened attentively to speaker after speaker lambasting the Sharon government for "bringing neither peace nor security to Israel", and for "ravaging the Israeli economy". The huge rally was seen by many as representing a certain rebirth of the erstwhile discredited Israeli "peace camp".
It is inconceivable that the Israeli political-military establishment will not take stock of the growing disenchantment in Israel itself with Sharon's policies. Moreover, the Sharon government is likely to come under additional psychological pressure following the publication of a Eurobarometer poll revealing that nearly 60 per cent of Europeans view Israel as the greatest threat to world peace. Israeli officials lambasted the poll, evoking old charges of anti- Semitism. However, some Israeli newspapers recognised that there was a direct connection between the rise of anti-Israeli feelings in Europe, on the one hand, and the gruesome images of Israeli atrocities and home demolitions in Gaza and the West Bank.
"It is much easier to claim the entire world is against us," wrote Akiva Eldar of the Ha'aretz newspaper. He criticised as "cheapening anti- Semitism" Israel's ready-made charges against everyone and anyone condemning Israel's sinister treatment of the Palestinians. "We should remember that Israel has not only turned into a place less-Jewish and less safe for its citizens, but has become a genuine source of danger and a source of shameful embarrassment to Jews who choose to live outside its borders. Arguing that it takes an anti-Semite to call the Israeli government's policies of 2003 a danger to world peace is a contemptible cheapening of the term anti-Semitism."
It is unlikely, though, that the Sharon government will change its policies, let alone its behaviour, towards the Palestinians as a result of growing international indignation. A more likely response, which has characterised the Sharon's government behaviour all along, is a hike in PR. Hence, the latest meeting with PA officials and the expected meeting between Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei. In short, Sharon's aim is to enhance Israel's image, not change his policy, or even restore calm.
The killing continues. The Israeli army continues to torment Palestinian civilians in every possible respect. On Monday, 3 November, Israeli troops, backed by tanks and armoured vehicles stormed the northern West Bank town of Tulkarm. The invading forces imposed a tight curfew on the town's 100,000 inhabitants who are observing the holy month of Ramadan during which Muslims fast from dawn to dusk. Meanwhile, trigger-happy Israeli soldiers shot and killed two Palestinians, including a motorcyclist at the Balata refugee camp near Nablus. Eyewitnesses described the killing as a cold- blooded murder. "They simply couldn't bear seeing a Palestinian riding a motorcycle ... and they shot him," said one eyewitness.
Earlier, messianic Jewish settlers from the Yitshar settlement north of Nablus ran amok in the olive groves of the Palestinian village of Aynabous, hacking limbless over 500 full-grown olive trees. This criminal act, which the Israeli army failed to prevent, meant that several Palestinian families have lost their main source of livelihood through no fault of their own. The settlers who committed the crime were defiant. "We don't know who did it. But what I do know is that when the Arabs creep close to the settlement for the harvest it becomes a security problem. We are very happy that from now on they will not be able to approach too close," the right- wing newspaper, The Jerusalem Post, quoted a settler leader as saying.
"Anyway, the trees grow back and ultimately we hope to harvest them in the place of unwanted inhabitants of the area," said the spokesman of the Yitshar settlement, Yosi Peli.
Interestingly, the Israeli army keeps an army outpost less than 70 metres from the doomed grove. When asked whether they had heard the sound of chain saws lopping the trees down, the soldiers reportedly shrugged snidely. Well, they were only carrying out government policy. Isn't that what the Israeli army has been doing all along?
C a p t i o n : An Israeli soldier patrolling in the West Bank town of Hebron during curfew hours
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 6 - 12 November 2003 (Issue No. 663)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/663/re1.htm