Edition 2: No 35
Israel’s reign of terror
Normally,Israel would have the world believe that its biggest political priority is to protect itself from terror attacks of Palestinians and Arabs from neighbouring countries.
Israel’s record over the past four decades makes it difficult to resist the conclusion that it has become a virtual terror state which routinely contravenes international law, possesses weapons of mass destruction and practises terrorism – the use of violence against civilians for political purposes.Israel’s real aim is not peaceful coexistence with its Palestinian neighbours but military domination. It keeps compounding the mistakes of the past with new and more disastrous ones.
Israelis generally portrayed by the mass media as the victim of terrorism, a characterization that is in part correct. Its own role as a major perpetrator of state terrorism is consistently downplayed or ignored.Israel persists with violent attacks anytime it pleases and with no real provocation if it wants to send a bully message to Palestinians who dare to protest or to assert themselves and their elementary rights.
Strangely, they defend their attacks on civilians with the exact logic which orthodox analysts of terrorism attribute to- that deliberate attacks may properly be made on innocent parties in order to achieve higher ends. Whatever that means!
Hundreds of Palestinians shout and complain that family members are being held in Israeli prisons, including children and juveniles. This is a grim reminder ofIsrael’s ongoing structural terrorism and violence. For decades, Palestinians have not only resisted and struggled againstIsrael’s terror tactics, but they have tried to overcome institutional terror, mainly the systematic destruction of a Palestinian state, including its religious, racial, political, and cultural heritage. For their resistance, and for obstructingU.S.imperialist aims andIsrael’s racist designs, Palestinians have had to pay a price, and continue to do so virtually every single day.
Late last month,Israelsought a court’s backing to raze eight Palestinian villages in theWest Bank. , according to legal documents, in what an Israeli rights group called a potential “humanitarian disaster.”Israel’s High Court called for an explanation only to receive the ridiculous explanation that “the demolition orders pertained to permanent structures built by Palestinians on military firing ranges, contrary to orders barring civilians from the area while exercises are in progress.” To compound the absurdity, the Israeli government said: “The respondent is prepared to allow the petitioners to enter the firing zone for the purposes of tending farmland and grazing livestock when there are no exercises under way (on weekends and Israeli holidays).”
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, which together with residents of the villages of Majaz, Tabban, Sfai, Fakheit, Halaweh, Mirkez, Jinba, and Kharuba, is asking the court to block the demolitions and says the villagers have been in the area longer than the Israeli military. Most of them were born and raised in these villages to families that have been living in the area for several decades — long before 1967. If the Israeli authorities have their way, the result would be a humanitarian disaster for almost 2,000 people, the destruction of villages, and the eradication of a presence that has endured for centuries.
Just three months ago, Ehud Barak, had approved an intelligence recommendation to demolish the houses of two people from the PalestinianvillageofAwartaas revenge for a crime they supposedly committed in a settlement in 2011. This recommendation if implemented will be reviving a long abandoned practice (after facing heavy international criticism) of punitive demolitions. Collective punishment is illegal under both Israeli and international law as it is against the Fourth Geneva Convention.”
Earlier this morning, Haaretz reported a curious operation by the Israel Defense Forces in the South Hebron Hills region which has prompted “suspicions among Palestinian residents that Israel is moving forward with its plan to demolish villages in the area and expel their residents.” The Israeli Defence Force spokesman said in response that the army does not provide details on the operations it conducts. ( http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/idf-raids-hebron-area-village-residents-fear-impending-demolition.premium-1.456665)
The Haaretz report states that: “The soldiers, who were masked and armed, raided the village, photographed and mapped the cave dwellings, the tents and the structures, and made extensive searches while causing property damage, the residents said. The soldiers also emptied out the contents of closets and poured out jugs of milk and cream.
At the time of the raid, dozens of children, who study in the town ofYattaduring the school year, were present in the village. Their parents said the children were frightened by the sight of masked soldiers fanning out among the houses of the village. The villagers were not given any explanation as to the nature of the operation.”
It is not too hard to link these new hard-line actions to the upcoming elections in September. The ‘settler lobby’ knows this is the ideal time to extract advantage and concessions from the political establishment.
For all these violations, US politicians – Obama and Romney- are fiercely competing to prove to Israel that they areIsrael’s best bet. And, that if Israel ensures that if theUSJewish vote goes their way,Israelcan keep at their illegalities and theUSwill turn the other way. The European Union is no better. And closer to home,India emerges asIsrael’s biggest buyer of Israeli military hardware!
At the end of the day, Israel is always the winner.
In solidarity
Ranjan Solomon