Blood Set to Flow Again In Occupied Lands

by Khaled Al-Maeena

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s call to “deepen settlements” in the occupied West Bank will help to plunge the peace process even further into disarray. Condoning the killing of a 57-year-old Palestinian worker by a trigger-happy Israeli while at the same time calling for revenge for the death of an Israeli woman and her son, Netanyahu played to the gallery. The gallery was of course the hordes of Zionist settlers who had mobbed him on his arrival.

As an additional provocation to the Palestinians, the prime minister promised financial help for the construction of settlements in East Jerusalem. This is a project deplored not only by France but also by such wimps as Britain. Israeli actions in the past few months have upset many, Israeli and non-Israeli alike, who believe in the peace process.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, as a firm advocate of peace, has thrown up his hands in disgust at the rabid anti-peace Israeli prime minister. Mubarak has accused him of trying to marginalize Cairo in the peace process and backtracking on several issues previously agreed upon, including a visit to Israel by Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa.

Apparently, there is no coherent Israeli foreign policy. While Netanyahu struts around making utterances anything but conducive to peace, his level-headed and pragmatic foreign minister, David Levy, declares that Israel must give up part of the Golan Heights occupied since the June 1967 war. This concession to Syria, which would have certain built-in guarantees, would go a long way toward easing tensions in the Middle East.

No right-thinking person disapproves of peace. The region has been ravaged by far too many wars. It was also the ground where the two superpowers, the United States and the then-Soviet Union, attempted to further their aims and exploit both the land and its natural resources. Israel was America’s stepping stone and was the recipient of billions of American taxpayers’ dollars. In fact, the report that an American businessman has pledged to build 800 homes in the occupied lands surprised some Arabs who are aware of the plight of the homeless across the United States. “Why not build some shelters for these deprived people, especially now that a harsh winter is enveloping America?” asked a bemused Arab.

However, American businessmen seem not to mind Netanyahu’s hawkish policies.

An Asian remarked on the United States’ total subservience to Israel: “This will continue until the people in the United States wake up and realize how Washington’s interests are downplayed alongside Tel Aviv’s.”

Condoned by the U.S.

The United States, we have seen, can never find anything wrong in Israel’s actions. The massacre at Qana, the shooting by trigger-happy Zionist settlers of six- and seven-year-old children, the burning of Muslim places of worship, the brutal beating of innocent Palestinians condoned by Israeli courts count for nothing in the eyes of Clinton or the American media. Israel’s treatment of Arab prisoners as well as of mentally handicapped Arabs will, I am sure, shock Americans.

Israel’s Social Welfare Ministry forcibly threw out a one-year-old Palestinian girl, Hanan Jaafreh, who is now forced to live chained in a cage. The plight of this girl was revealed by the well-known British journalist Shyam Bhatia in The Observer daily of Dec. 8. In Israel’s self-styled democracy others also are treated like subhuman beings.

The bias that Clinton has displayed in the new appointment of those who put Israel first and America second fails to startle us. But average Americans are oblivious to all this. While American social services are cut and reduced from every angle, the aid to Israel increases by leaps and bounds.

But Clinton and American foreign policy-makers are living in a fool’s paradise if they think that the oppressed people of the occupied lands are going to give up so easily. Netanyahu and his cohorts cannot reasonably expect the Palestinians to give in easily without reacting to the combined force of Israel and the United States.

Yes, the Americans may be talking of peace but they want a one-sided peace. A peace that will give Israel political, military and economic hegemony over the area. That the Arabs will not accept. Netanyahu has only to look at South Africa where, after years of apartheid, the true inhabitants of the land finally had their say.

It is important that saner elements in Israel realize that the days of superiority, arrogance and stubborn behavior are over. The Palestinians have exercised self-restraint in the face of extreme provocations. Hamas and other groups have openly stated that they will not carry out any military operations and will give the peace process a chance. In the light of new Israeli provocations this restraint may not last much longer and blood may flow yet again in the occupied lands. Israelis will then pay a heavy price for the policies of their leaders.