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 Looking Back on 40 Years of OccupationPosted on Jun 3, 2007
By Chris Hedges Israel captured and occupied the Gaza Strip and the West Bank 40 years ago this week. The victory was celebrated as a great triumph, at once tripling the size of the land under Israeli control, including East Jerusalem. It was, however, a Pyrrhic victory. As the occupation stretched over the decades, it transformed and deformed Israeli society. It led Israel to abandon the norms and practices of a democratic society until, in the name of national security, it began to routinely accept the brutal violence of occupation and open discrimination and abuse of Palestinians, including the torture of prisoners and collective reprisals for Palestinians attacks. Palestinian neighborhoods, olive groves and villages were, in the name of national security, bulldozed into the ground.
“We are raising commanders who are policemen,” former Israeli General Amiram Levine told the newspaper Maariv. “We ask them to excel at the checkpoint. What does it means to excel at the checkpoint? It means being enough of a bastard to delay a pregnant woman from getting to the hospital.” The occupation was benign at the beginning. Israelis crossed into Palestinian territory to buy cheap vegetables, eat at local restaurants, spend the weekend in the desert oasis of Jericho and get their cars fixed. The Palestinians were a pool of cheap labor and by the mid-1980s, 40 percent of the Palestinian workforce was employed in Israel. The Palestinians flowed over the border to the shops and beaches of Tel Aviv. But the second-class status of Palestinians, growing repression by Israeli authorities in the West Bank and Gaza and festering poverty saw Palestinians, most of them too young to remember the moment of occupation, rise up in December 1987 to launch six years of street protests. The uprising eventually led to a peace accord between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization led by Yasir Arafat. Arafat, who had spent most of his life in exile, returned in triumph to Gaza. The Oslo Accords that followed momentarily heralded a new era, a moment of hope. I was in Gaza when they were signed. The Gaza Strip was awash in a giddy optimism. Palestinian businessmen who had made their fortunes abroad returned to help build the new Palestinian state. The radical Islamists seemed to shrink away. Palestinian women threw off their head scarves and beauty salons sprouted on city streets. There was a brief and shining sense that life could be normal, free from strife and violence, that finally Palestinians had a future. But it all swiftly turned sour. The 1995 assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, coupled with mounting draconian restrictions on Palestinians to prevent them from entering Israel and keep them in submission, led to another uprising in 2000. This one, which I also covered for The New York Times, was far more violent. This latest uprising has led to the deaths of more than 4,300 Palestinians and 1,100 Israelis. It ushered in an Israeli policy that saw Jewish settlers relocated from Gaza. Gaza was then sealed off like a vast prison. Israel also began to build a security barrier—at a cost of about $ 1 million per mile—in the West Bank. When it is done, the barrier is expected to incorporate 40 percent of Palestinian land into the Israeli state. Israeli air strikes have, over the past year, decimated the infrastructure in Gaza, destroying bridges, power stations and civilian administration buildings. The breakdown in law and order, coupled with the growing desperation in Gaza, has triggered an internecine conflict between Hamas and Fatah. There are some 200 Palestinians who have died in clashes and street fighting between the two factions during the past year—more than one-third of those killed by Israel during the same period. The Israeli abuses have been well documented, not only by international human rights organizations, but Israeli human rights groups such as B’Tselem. On June 4, 2007, Amnesty International released a new 45-page report called “Enduring Occupation: Palestinians Under Siege in the West Bank,” which again illustrates the devastating impact of four decades of Israeli military occupation. The report documents the relentless expansion of unlawful settlements on occupied land. It details the ways Israel has seized or denied crucial resources, such as water, to Palestinians under occupation. It documents a plethora of measures that confine Palestinians to fragmented enclaves and hinder their access to work, health and education facilities. These measures include the 700-kilometer barrier or wall, more than 500 checkpoints and blockades, and a complicated system of permits to heavily restrict movement. “Palestinians living in the West Bank are blocked at every turn. This is not simply an inconvenience—it can be a matter of life or death. It is unacceptable that women in labor, sick children, or victims of accidents on their way to hospital should be forced to take long detours and face delays which can cost them their lives,” said Malcolm Smart, director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Program. “International action is urgently needed to address the widespread human rights abuses being committed under the occupation, and which are fueling resentment and despair among a predominantly young and increasingly radicalized Palestinian population,” said Smart. “For 40 years, the international community has failed to adequately address the Israeli-Palestinian problem; it cannot, must not, wait another 40 years to do so.” Of Gaza’s 1.4 million residents, a staggering 1.1 million now depend on outside food assistance. The World Food Program has identified Gaza as one of the world’s hunger global hot spots. The WFP is a principal food aid provider to Palestinians, providing assistance to 640,000 Palestinians, more than a third of them in Gaza. The desperation—with young men unable to find work, travel outside the Gaza Strip or West Bank and forced to sleep 10 to a room in concrete hovels without running water—has empowered the Islamic radicals. The desperation has led the Palestinian population, once one of the most secular in the Middle East, to turn to radical fundamentalism. The more pressure and violence Israel employs, the more these radicals are empowered. The Israeli lobby in the United States is captive to the far right of Israeli politics. It exerts influence not on behalf of the Jewish state but an ideological strain within Israel that believes it can crush Palestinian aspirations through force. The self-defeating policies of the Bush administration are mirrored in the self-defeating policies championed by the hard-right administration of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem. Israel flouts international law and dismisses Security Council resolutions to respect the integrity of Palestinian territory. It has instead trapped Palestinians in squalid, barricaded ghettos where they barely survive. It is not in Israel’s interest—or our own—to continue to fuel increased Palestinian strife and rising militancy. Economic sanctions and an arms ban against Israel are our last hope. These were the tools that toppled the apartheid regime in South Africa. And it was, after all, the sanctions imposed by the first President Bush—he suspended $10 billion of loan guarantees for resettling Russian immigrants in Israel—that prodded right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir to attend peace talks in Madrid. A trade embargo—even if imposed only by European states—would be a start. It is outside pressure that can alone halt the inexorable slide into a conflict that could become regional. And a new regional conflict with Israel could spell the end of the Zionist experiment in the Middle East. It may be quixotic, perhaps even impossible, but it is the last measure left to save Israel from itself. Chris Hedges is a veteran journalist and former Mideast bureau chief for The New York Times. His most recent book is “American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On America.” Previous item: Satire: Hillary Tries to Fatten Up the Competition Next item: Sentencing for Dummies Elsewhere: . CommentsAre you a Truthdig member yet? Login now, or register with Truthdig.
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By Charles Barton, June 12, 2007 at 3:15 pm # “ITW & Barton...are just frothing and moaning at the mouth. They have NO substance at all.” - Robert Robert, Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me. The last time I frothed at the mouth I had swollowed too much beer, but i did no moan. I usually do not froth at the mouth and moan when I laugh so much I fall down. You ought to read my earlier comments about pejorative language. Robert you don’t seem to understand the points I am trying to make. Perhaps I am being to harsh on you. You might actually be a 7th grader instead of just thinking like one.
By Inherit The Wind, June 12, 2007 at 2:18 pm # Here goes Robert: I think ITW needs to join his pal “looney/lefty=ephraim” psyche ward. No one in his/her NORMAL state of mind would make or advocate what “stenchy/lefty’s” posted. NOTICE that ITW is staying low & not even making a sound about it. He is SILENT! Just imagine if someone posted a comment to nuke Israel/Jews/zionists...what would ITW say? Would he remain “SILENT” as he is doing right now...in regards to his “dear” pal ‘looney/lefty’? Who knows, maybe ITW shares and advocates the same message and/or agenda of the abscessed pus filled skull of...looney/lefty=ephraim ? “ ************************************** Didn’t I tell you he would do this? “Watch, just watch: One of them will call me a feculant name and then say I’m crazy, ranting and need a chill pill--as predictible as lunar eclipses!” Robert, Next, you’ll shriek that my ideas and opinions aren’t independent, they are dictated to me by AIPAC, the Israel Government, The Elders of Zion (and their Protocols), and, don’t forget, The Great Pumpkin. You’ll through in all sorts of disgusting substances, mainly fecal, and deem yourself highly clever. Billy the Dik will agree with you and add his own “flavor” but at least TW is enough of a gentleman to stay clear of that. Just like a Republican senator saying “Tax-and-Spend Democrats!” while adding a $250 million ear-mark. When do you and Billy break out The Horst Wesel Song?
By Inherit The Wind, June 12, 2007 at 10:38 am # IHW, Now you are talking my language. The Palestinians, the Israelis and also the Americans need leaders genuinely committed to peace and democracy above and beyond all else. Then there will be peace and democracy. It’s that simple. What the people have now are are gangs of phonies and liars dragging them into endless war. All three peoples have had lies and hate dinned into their ears for generations and that is why they have such leaders. On the relationship of Judaism to modern Zionism, you can argue with Grand Rebbe Joel Teitelbaum: “Six million Jews were killed as a result of the Zionists” ************************************************** Teitelbaum is an criminally idiotic and morally bankrupt. Jews weren’t responsible for the Holocaust and anyone who says they were, like Teitelbaum, is scum. The old-time Chassidim who are against the foundation of Israel until Moshiach (The Messiah) comes will say ANYTHING to support their position. Quoting him is like quoting Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson right after 9/11--that it was punishment for tolerating Gays and liberals in America. TW: It’s time you got real and wake up--the coffee’s brewing. Time to smell it. This from the top left of Today’s NYTimes: “Palestinian Leaders Targeted in Rising Violence The Palestinians are launching a full-scale terrorist war on each other for who gets to be Captain of The Titanic. And you want Israel to open its doors and lay down its defenses and trust THESE maniacs with their childrens’ lives? You go first and we’ll see if YOU survive! TW, you missed my point: The Palestinians would MURDER any Gandhi or Mandella who appeared, and do it summarily, then get back to their internecine gang war.
By Inherit The Wind, June 12, 2007 at 8:56 am # “ Why is it NOT ok to use the same as above on Israelis, Jews...etc...? Why is ITW screaming on this forum & keeps sarcastically hinting directly and indirectly about “anti-semitism? Why “DOESN’T” ITW hold the same “logic/standards” when his zionist pals spew their labels/names, such as, Arabs, Moslems, Jihadists...etc… on us? Isn’t that RACISM & fits in the same definition category as ...anti-semitic and the “N” word? Why is ITW SILENT when the worst form of RACISM is being used by his zionist pals on this forum? Can ITW see further than his zionist ideology’s circle allows him to see? Where is the application & LOGIC? “ Robert, You might also find that I think the radical right in Israel has made a huge mess where peace was possible. I’m aware that there are fanatics who want to tear down the Dome of The Rock, just like there are fanatics who want to blow up The Western Wall. They are both wrong. But the idea that Jews in Israel are being held to a far, FAR higher standard by the critics than their neighbors shows that their critics (like you) aren’t interested in the for-show straw man Justice, or Fairness, merely in eradicating the Jews from the Middle East. You continually myopically see only the conflict between Israeli and Palestinian. You ignore all the politics and pressures from the other Arab nations to keep this conflict going and to NEVER let it be resolved. Arab politicians who seriously work to end the conflict GET SHOT! (remember Anwar Sadat? How about all the Lebanese Gemayiels who have been assassinated for advocating a negotiated peace?) When every Arab leader who advocates sitting down and negotiating gets murdered by his fellow Arabs, what Israeli can ever believe peace is possible? If every documentand every speech someone (like Hamas) makes calls for the destruction of Israel and the death of EVERY Jew, I guess you feel that’s OK. I guess if it was you and your family you might not think it quite so “Ok”.
By Charles Barton, June 12, 2007 at 8:08 am # “Isn’t calling someone an “ARAB” or a “MOSLEM” or a “Jihadist” in a derogatory way the SAME AS THE “N” word?” - Robert Gee Robert, When Egyptians refer to each other by the “A” word, are they being racist? Or is this a special exception like Afro-Americans using the “N” word with each other. When a follower of Islam, refers to devotees of his religion using the “M” word, is he being racist? Might it be considered racist, by Robert’s standard, to refer to followers of the Religion of Moses by using the “J” word? Are we demeaning members of the radical Islamic organization, Islamic Jihad, by using the other “J” word to classify them. In fact I must wonder if “Islamic” - lest call it “I” word 1, and “Islamicist” - “I” word 2 - are all racist terms. What about Palestinians - the “P” word. Come to think of it, calling someone Robert has suddenly become pretty insulting in my book. Maybe we should refer to it as the “R” word.
By Peter RV, June 12, 2007 at 8:06 am # Ref.#77292 by Robert. Robert,
By Inherit The Wind, June 12, 2007 at 4:26 am # “In the face of the incredibly onerous Israeli oppression, do you think it is possible for Palestinians to unite around a leadership comnmitted to democracy and nonviolence? Can your people elevate from among themselves a Mandela, a Gandhi?” Yes, that would be wonderful, for everyone, until Hamas slaughters him. TW, your knowledge of Judaism is lacking. The Passover Seder, for 2000 years, since the Diaspora, has ended with the phrase “Next year in Jerusalem”. The modern movement of Herzl is, however, linked to the extreme prosecution that occured in Europe, especially Eastern Europe, in the 19th and early 20th century. The “Pogrom” existed long before Auschwitz, and was an Eastern European phrase. In Tsarist Russia, Jews were seen as a regular scapegoat to blame when the Russian aristocracy and autocracy really screwed up, as they did a lot. So they would blame the Jews and send the Cossacks to burn some villages. I lost a great-grandmother in one of those back in the 1890’s. But what you have consistently failed to acknowledge is that the Zionist movement was a search for a SAFE homeland, naturally based around the holy sites of the religion. You would have Israel give up the Western Wall. “Return to the 1967 boundaries” means just that. You might as well ask Saudi Arabia to give up the Ka’aba in Mecca, or Medina. Or ask the Pope to give up the Vatican. TW: You keep dodging a fundamental question: Why is it OK for the 22 Arab Moslem states in the Middle-East to practice discrimation, segregation and even genocide (Darfur) but Israelis are to be condemned, blockaded, boycotted for far less transgressions? Make no mistake: Since the death of Rabin and the ouster of Peres, the Israeli Govt has been run by fools and nincompoops. Olmert is about the worst excuse for a “liberal” I’ve ever seen. They need to clean up their situation. Yet the Palestinians have turned corruption and violent intimidation amongst themselves into an art form. How can Hamas POSSIBLY live in peaceful harmony with Jews when they can’t even do it with fellow Sunni Arabs who are also Palestinian? I would love to see a Mandela or Gandhi emerge, with strength, dignity, moral force--and a bullet-proof vest. The Palestinians need one--and the Israelis would do well with one too.
By Peter RV, June 12, 2007 at 4:21 am # Everyone knows who an Anti-Semite is.
By Inherit The Wind, June 11, 2007 at 7:41 pm # Notice how the anti-semites, oops! (heh, heh!) anti-"zionists" call everyone names who challenge them. Notice that those names are all feculant? And, of course, since Truthdig has reveiled itself to be anti-semitic--OOPS!--"anti-zionist" they let it happen. That’s an old Nazi trick as well--name-calling. Constant, continuous, repetitive and redolant hate-filled, until murder and genocide are justified. In 1921 and 1922, they sang And sure enough, in 1922, Dr. Walther Rathenau, the Foreign Minister of Germany, was assassinated. The killers barely served 8 years. Oh, yes--they were anti-Semitic, WHOOPS!!!! “anti-Zionist”. See, the Jews were taking over Germany and Rathenau was proof of that. Sounds exactly the same as the Jew-haters on this board, who pretend they love Jews but hate “Zionists”. “See? The Jews, Oops! “Zionists"(chortle) are running America! Bastard nazis using our own freedoms against us to destroy our freedom. Watch, just watch: One of them will call me a feculant name and then say I’m crazy, ranting and need a chill pill--as predictible as lunar eclipses!
By Inherit The Wind, June 11, 2007 at 2:09 pm # So the anti-Semites, oops, “Anti-Zionists” are coming out of the closet again. I keep waiting for them to say, “You know, Hitler might have been right about the Jews, oops, ‘Zionists’(chortle)” They self-righteously have come up with “new” ways to justify their anti-Semitism, oops, “anti-Zionism” that are all exactly the same old lies. Just substitute “International Jewry” for “International Zionism” and you see it the same damn thing all over again. “Jewish World Domination” is now “Zionist Imperialism”. Nothing but code words, pioneered by the American Nazi Party. It’s just lipstick on the same old pig, by the same old pigs. The Jews, oops, “Zionists” are inherently evil. When will they drag out the “blood libel” and “The Protocols of The Elders of Zion” and pretend they are real? After all, they already pretend that little Israel controls the most powerful nation in the history of the world, The United States of America. Like Zeus in the Illiad, if all the nations of the world made war against us, if we chose, they couldn’t defeat us. And like Zeus, if we wanted to, we could defeat all of them--all it takes is the will. Yet somehow, little Israel and the evil Jews, oops, “evil Zionists” magically control this awesome power. They don’t have money, they don’t have the military to match it, they don’t have ANYTHING to control us with. Must be The Devil’s Black Magic, because there’s no other way it could happen. But the new Nazis insist on it. Who needs facts? Who needs proof? Two thousand years of hating Jews, oops, “Zionists” (chortle) is all they proof they need. They’ve been forced to go underground since 1945 but now they are back. But they don’t hate Jews--just Zionists. Wanna buy a bridge in Brooklyn?
By Peter RV, June 11, 2007 at 7:09 am # Ref.76874 by lilmamzer
By Charles Barton, June 11, 2007 at 6:11 am # Why did the Palestinians leave in 1947-48? During the fighting, bands of armed men under no ones effective control swarmed through the Palestinian country side pillaging and looting. These bands, made up mainly of gunmen from other Arab states, expected to be paid from the plunder they won from Jews, but since the Jews were not easily plundered, they plundered Palestinian Arabs instead. It is HARDLY ANY WONDER THEN THAT MOST PALESTINIAN ARABS FLED THEIR HOMES WITHOUT EVER SEEING AN ARMED JEW. The Palestinian story of forced exile is a myth designed to cover up Palestinian shame over their flight from their undefended homes. |
Newsroom Carnage Continues at The Washington Post
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