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| Sunday, 6 June 2004 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Israeli voices of sanity by Iffat Idris Israel's Operation Rainbow in Gaza's Rafah refugee camp over the past few weeks has aroused condemnation from many quarters. The Arab world, of course; human rights groups; the US State Department (but not the White House); and the EU have all criticized at least some (Colin Powell could not bring himself to fault the entire operation) of the Israeli Defence Force's actions in Rafah. The most telling critics, though, have been Israelis themselves. Tommy Lapid, Israeli justice minister, shocked his cabinet colleagues when he said the pictures of an old woman in Rafah, picking through the rubble of her home for medicine, reminded him of his grandmother, killed by the Nazis in the Holocaust. "The demolition of houses in Rafah must stop. It is not humane, not Jewish and causes us great damage in the world. At the end of the day they'll kick us out of the United Nations, try those responsible in the international court in The Hague, and no one will want to speak to us." Lapid was right to make comparisons with the Nazi Holocaust, but wrong to warn of dire consequences. The scale and nature of the crimes being committed by Israel against the Palestinians are nothing compared to those of the Nazis against the Jews. But they still constitute systematic oppression and destruction of a particular people because of their identity: in this there are no differences between what Israel is doing today and what Hitler did 60 years ago. Where Israeli culpability overtakes the Nazis' is that, as victims of the Holocaust themselves, they know all too well how it feels to be on the receiving end. Yet that knowledge has not stayed their hand. In fact, they are also more guilty because they are operating in a context 60 years forward in history - 60 years in which one would expect the world to have advanced in its respect for human rights, not be stuck at the same level as 1945. But as for being thrown out of the United Nations or facing trial in The Hague, that is a non-starter. So long as Washington continues to turn a blind eye to Israeli excesses, no one else will take any action against Tel Aviv. That non-seeing, readily forgiving American eye was all too evident after the worst Rafah attack in which a tank shell lobbed into a crowd of civilian demonstrators killed at least 10 Palestinians, some of them young children. While the State Department condemned the attack, the US president, George W. Bush, remained conspicuously silent. One day before the shell incident, addressing a pro-Israel audience, Bush drew direct parallels between the two countries' "struggles against terrorism". There might be direct parallels between the carnage being inflicted by Israel and America on Palestinians and Iraqis respectively, but as far as "struggles against terrorism" are concerned, the only parallels are in the two governments' ability to twist, spin and lie. The Israeli spin machine describes the Rafah operation as a move to destroy terrorist hideouts, tunnels and bomb factories. Palestinians present a quite different explanation for Operation Rainbow, one that has little to do with security and terrorist threats, and much to do with revenge and collective punishment. Cynics would argue that, of course, the Palestinians are going to say that. But what about Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth? Yedioth Ahronoth could not be described as a natural supporter of Palestinian views. Yet in its editorial the paper too said Operation Rainbow had little to do with tunnel-busting. "This is a strong-armed operation intended to dull the impression - in both Israeli and Palestinian consciousness - of the attacks in which 13 Israeli soldiers were killed. In delicate language, this is 'searing the consciousness'. In slightly less polite wording, this is revenge, pure and simple." Additional explanations put forward for Operation Rainbow relate to the long-promised - but still not implemented - Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Prime Minister Sharon wants to dispel any potential impression that Israel is fleeing: hence the "ground razing" policy. Both Lapid's and Yedioth Ahronoth's words are damning. But the truest and most searing commentary - though one that has received far less publicity - came from former deputy mayor of Jerusalem Meron Benvenisti. Writing in Ha'aretz he told readers: "The sights of Rafah are too difficult to bear - trails of refugees alongside carts laden with bedding and the meagre contents of their homes; children dragging suitcases larger than themselves; women, draped in black, kneeling in mourning on piles of rubble." That was bad, but there was worse to come. Pointing to the comparisons between the present Palestinian exodus and that of 1948, he noted how the sons and grandsons of the original Israeli evictors are today displacing the sons and grandsons of those 1948 refugees. The tragedy and cruelty of history being repeated. Benvenisti's most powerful words, though, were reserved for the end. He posed a question that goes to the very heart of the Middle East tragedy: "Is there some 'original sin' that lies at the foundation of the Zionist enterprise? Those who initiated the Rafah operation, and those executing it, should know that one of the outcomes of their actions will inevitably be the raising of questions about this heresy." Benvenisti called it "heresy" but in fact what he said was "truth". Israel is a country founded on "original sin": the expulsion of a people from their land and the theft of that land. There is no justification - there can never be any justification - for that sin: not morally and certainly not legally. Zionist arguments that the Holocaust had to be compensated for with a Jewish homeland, or Orthodox claims to the Holy Land described in Jewish scripture, are both disingenuous. Why should the Palestinians have to compensate for the crimes of others? Since when has one man's religious scripture decided the fate of another man's land? An enterprise launched in sin can never wash itself clean of the stench. It especially cannot do so when the original sin is supplemented by more: more Arabs being displaced from their homes, more Jews stealing Palestinian land, more denial of Palestinian rights, and more violence and bloodshed. Because of its original and subsequent sins, Israel will never be able to sit comfortably on the land it stole. It will always be damned by the curses of the displaced. Look for the root causes of Operation Rainbow and you eventually - inevitably - arrive at this answer. Lapid, Yedioth Ahronoth and Benvenisti all voiced varying degrees of truth. Lapid pointed out the immorality of Operation Rainbow, Yehdioth Ahronoth the lies and spin that surround it, and Benvenisti the deep-rooted malaise of which it is just one small part. These are all Israeli voices of truth. That is what is so remarkable about them: that is what should make the world take notice. (Courtesy: Dawn) |
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