Black flags
Israel planning Palestinian ethnic cleansing under
cover of Iraq war
By Uri Avnery*
When I visited Ramallah last, it wore a shining white frock.
Even after days of sunshine, many areas where still covered with
snow that hid the ravages of the occupation, destruction and
neglect.
I was driving slowly and enjoying the landscape, when I tensed
instinctively. Through the corner of my eye I saw a group of
children. Something was hurled forcefully against my windshield
and landed with a bang. In the split of a second I relaxed: it
wasn't a rock but a snowball. I waved and they waved cheerfully
back, in spite of my yellow Israeli licence plates.
But that was the only light moment during this visit. I had
come to ask Palestinian civic leaders about the dangers threatening
the Palestinian population in case of an American attack on Iraq.
They had no illusions. The present Israeli political-military
leadership includes groups that have been planning for a long
time to exploit a war situation in order to do things which cannot
be done in ordinary times. The moral brakes that still exist
in parts of the Israeli public, as well as the expected international
reaction, prevent the implementation of these plans for the time
being.
All this can change in a war situation. The attention of the
world will be riveted to the battle in Iraq. In the Arab countries,
chaos may prevail, diverting attention from the Palestinian territories.
The Israeli public, fearful of Saddam's capabilities, will be
(even) less sensitive to the plight of the Palestinians.
What can happen?
The list is long, and every item is worse than the preceding
one.
The first - and almost certain - act will be a prolonged closure
and curfew in all the occupied territories. The Palestinians
have a long and painful experience with these. It means that,
for days and weeks on end, it will be impossible to get food
and medicines into towns and villages, especially to remote and
isolated ones. This time, electricity may be completely cut off,
cutting all connections with the outside world. Patients will
not reach hospitals for ordinary treatment (dialysis and chemotherapy,
for example) or emergency procedures (wounds, operations, births
etc.). In many cases, this can literally be a matter of life
and death.
Only some of these eventualities can be forestalled. For example,
villages can be helped to stock essential supplies in advance.
It is clear to the Palestinians that the war will give the
occupation forces the opportunity to intensify even more the
things which happen now every day: the execution of militants
and others, wholesale demolition of homes, uprooting of plantations.
It is difficult to know what new dimensions these can attain.
But there is one word that hovers over all the discussions:
"transfer".
In simple terms, "transfer" means the mass expulsion
of the Palestinian people from Palestine, as happened in 1948
and 1967. In the situation of 2003, that will be difficult. The
question will be: where to? Jordan will close its border and
the mass expulsion of Palestinians there would constitute an
act of war against the Hashemite kingdom. It is hard to imagine
the Americans allowing Sharon to do this while Jordan is serving
as one of their bases in the war against neighbouring Iraq. Expulsion
to Lebanon is almost impossible without creating a war-like situation
on the northern border.
But there is another form of transfer: deportation from one
part of the occupied territories to another. For example: deportation
of the population from towns and villages adjacent to the planned
"separation wall" (Kalkilya, Tulkarm) to the central
areas (Nablus).
That has already happened before. During the June 1967 war,
Moshe Dayan emptied whole neighbourhoods of Kalkilya and drove
their inhabitants on foot to Nablus. The demolition of the neighbourhoods
had already begun, when we succeeded in stopping it. (I exploited
the fact that I was a member of the Knesset at the time and alerted
several senior personalities.) The refugees were allowed back
and the neighbourhoods rebuilt. (At the same time, many inhabitants
of Tulkarm were put on buses and brought to the Jordan bridges.)
Another example: many settlements on the West Bank are planning
to grab adjacent areas. If the armed settlers' militias will
terrorize nearby villages under the cover of the closure, they
may cause a Deir Yassin-style mass flight.
It is common knowledge that many people in the military leadership
are waiting impatiently for the opportunity to remove Yasser
Arafat. Removing means killing, as nobody believes that Arafat
will surrender without resistance. If the Americans want "regime
change" in Iraq and are not hiding their intention of killing
Saddam, why should Sharon be prevented from doing the same?
The question is: will the Americans allow Sharon and his accomplices
to do all this, or part of it?
There can be no clear answer to that. Logic says no. The Americans
will not want Israel to disturb their war. Even after the war,
Washington will not want the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to
flare up. The American military occupation of Iraq might last
for many years, and any inflammation of the Arab world will be
detrimental.
But America and logic are two different things. The group
that is now in control in Washington - a mixed bag of Evangelical
fundamentalists and Jews connected with the extreme right in
Israel - has a logic of its own. They may direct and even push
Sharon to extremes.
It is, of course, clear that all the acts mentioned constitute
war crimes under the Geneva Convention and other international
laws. Some of them are crimes under Israeli law, too, being "manifestly
illegal orders, over which a black flag is waving", to quote
an Israeli legal precedent. Participants in such actions may
find themselves, some day in the future, before an international
or national court. There is no statute of limitations.
But that is not the only reason for sounding a warning. Every
one of these actions will be a disaster for Israel. If one believes
that the long-term security and well-being of Israel depend on
Israeli-Palestinian peace and reconciliation between the two
peoples of this country, one has to do everything to prevent
acts that will deepen the abyss of hatred between us. Things
may happen that will destroy for generations any possibility
of building a bridge over the abyss, and turn the whole Arab
and Muslim worlds against us forever.
Therefore, we should not rely on the Americans to stop Sharon.
We, the Israelis, must do everything - but everything! - to prevent
such acts from taking place. I believe that this is a patriotic
duty of the highest order.
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