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co published with the institute for palestine studies 2022 muhammad ali khalidi published by or books new york and london visit our website at www orbooks com all rights information rights orbooks com all rights reserved no part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical including photocopy recording or any information storage retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher except brief passages for review purposes first printing 2022 cataloging in publication data is available from the library of congress a catalog record for this book is available from the british library typeset by lapiz digital services printed by bookmobile usa and cpi uk paperback isbn 978 1 68219 347 1 ebook isbn 978 1 68219 348 8 contents translator s note and acknowledgments introduction writing palestinian exile through autobiographical essays perla issa graffiti from a time gone by salem yassin i m not dead yet mira sidawi the babbling of a refugee taha younis ever since i became a mother i ve hated winter nadia fahed da uq a burial plot a cemetery youssef naanaa shorter and longer than a winter s cold spell yafa talal el masri hanin longing hanin mohammad rashid my heart hangs from a mulberry tree wedad taha khadijeh my mother s mother intisar hajaj and the dream goes on ruba rahme a migration in two exiles a diary of the israeli invasion of lebanon 1982 mahmoud mohammad zeidan glossary translator s note and acknowledgments this collection of autobiographical essays by eleven palestinian refugees about their lives loves yearnings and losses is a unique document since it constitutes a rare opportunity for refugees themselves to narrate the twists and turns in their own lives though none of them were trained as writers each of these authors has a distinctive voice and approach some confessional others formal some narrative others impressionistic all drawing attention to different facets of life in exile for palestinians as translator i feel privileged to have been able to convey their hopes and dreams as well as their fears and nightmares and have tried as far as possible to adhere to the literal meanings of their words while attempting to convey something of their varying tones and moods the creative writing workshop that this book is based on was the brainchild of perla issa researcher and senior fellow at the institute for palestine studies ips in 2016 she had the idea of advertising a workshop in autobiographical writing to the community of palestinian refugees in lebanon as a result of that open call eleven people were chosen to participate in the twelve sessions of the workshop they gathered each week in beirut under the capable guidance of lebanese novelist hassan daoud to share their manuscripts and try out their ideas the result would not have been as honed crafted and polished without daoud s literary skill and expertise i have tried to intrude as little as possible on the authors own words but have occasionally added a word or phrase in parentheses to clarify the meaning proper names and arabic words that may not be familiar to some readers have been defined in a glossary at the end of the book this translation owes its existence to a number of people at or books and ips at or books catherine cumming expertly edited my translations from the arabic which were often literal to the point of clumsiness rearranging sentences and reanimating paragraphs with the aim of better conveying the authors prose in idiomatic english she was also supremely patient during the production stages overseeing the cover and overall design of the book among many other things many thanks are also due to colin robinson who saw the value in the project from the beginning and supported it to the end at ips in addition to the indispensable role of perla issa each in their own ways stephen bennett khalid farraj and rashid khalidi all played a part in seeing the book to fruition but my greatest thanks goes to the authors themselves who entrusted their stories to me in the hope that i have reflected them faithfully and have borne witness to their collective love for palestine m a k new york 2022 writing palestinian exile through autobiographical essays introduction perla issa the history of the palestinian people has been one of constant war occupation and exile since the 1948 nakba the palestinian experience has been one of continuous fragmentation and dispersal these multiple displacements engendered myriad trajectories for the individual refugee starting from their initial exodus from palestine in 1948 the fate of palestinian refugees has depended on numerous factors such as which country they sought refuge in what sect they belonged to what wars visited them and what laws they were subjected to just as snowflakes which originate in the same cloud gain unique shapes and sizes as they tumble through the air swirling and spiraling so do palestinians take on unique journeys as they face various political legal and economic realities in that sense each palestinian story is unique and each story tells the story of all palestinians i know this firsthand though it took me twenty three years to start learning my own story born in lebanon during the civil war i only discovered my palestinian roots rather late in life i was born with a lebanese citizenship and was not subjected to the systematic discrimination and economic marginalization that palestinian refugees face in lebanon for many years i thought that my personal story did not qualify as a palestinian story as it did not bear the signs of physical and economic violence that are the emblem of palestinian life in lebanon in a sense i felt that i did not deserve to be called palestinian it took me time to accept that while my story may be different it is no less a palestinian story and its meaning can only be revealed when put next to other palestinian tales this is the idea behind the book you are reading today it is a collection of short essays written by palestinian refugees in lebanon about their personal experiences in life it is the outcome of a creative writing workshop entitled writing the palestinian exile through autobiographical essays that was held at the institute for palestine studies in the winter of 2016 2017 and was supported by selat links through the arts a project launched by a m qattan foundation palestine in partnership with prince claus fund netherlands eleven participants were chosen from an open call to participate in a creative writing workshop led by the renowned lebanese writer hassan daoud participants were predominantly women and their ages ranged from the twenties to the fifties this was not by design but was the organic outcome of the open call the workshop consisting of twelve sessions aimed to write autobiographical essays in arabic with an end goal of producing the edited book you are currently holding a collection of stories about palestinian refugees written by the protagonists themselves to coach palestinian from lebanon refugees the other reason for holding the workshop was a desire to engage with the palestinian community in lebanon in a different way than as objects of research as an academic institution we at the institute for palestine studies often conduct and publish studies that speak in the name of palestinian refugees describing their lives and recounting their stories with the workshop we wanted to give a chance to the refugees to write about their own lives and gain credit for it through the publication of the book we wanted to relate to the palestinian community in lebanon not as objects of study but as subjects able to narrate their own tales in their own words however once the workshop began i realized that it was not that simple and that my intentions may not have been so pristine participants often challenged the purpose of the workshop the writing of autobiographical texts they would ask me what do you mean by autobiographical essays can t we write about others about a neighbor about a friend some did not want to write about themselves some wanted to include fiction in their stories these repeated questions made me realize that by defining the goal of the workshop as the writing of autobiographical essays i was again acting like the researcher who descends upon the community imposing their own agenda with a desire to extract particular information about people s lives in my initial vision for the project i saw this as an opportunity for readers to access the true story of the refugees unfiltered by others whether they be academics journalists or literary authors i wanted access to the private the unseen the personal the details that only those who live the life would know just as in my academic studies i was again driven by a desire to uncover the hidden to gain more information about the lives of palestinian refugees as if that were a goal whose importance is unquestionable with time and as these discussions persisted i relented i realized my own narrow mindedness and accepted that participants write about what they deemed fit but in the end it seems that most participants incorporated my initial desire to write autobiographical essays and that is what they produced in this book you will find a wide variety of essays each recounting a different life a different tale a different opinion each particular to its author some wrote about life in the refugee camps but using vastly different angles salem yassin artfully describes his coming of age experiences in a refugee camp through what he calls the people s free newspaper the graffiti on walls mira sidawi blurs the line between fantasy and reality to turn the ordinary into extraordinary taha younis moves skillfully between the present and the past between childhood and adulthood recounting with chilling honesty his personal experiences while nadia fahed describes with humor and simplicity the daily challenges she faced taking care of her young daughter as well as her aging grandmother finally youssef naanaa brings life and laughter to the small palestinian gathering da uq through the daily activities of his extended family other participants preferred to use this opportunity to reflect yafa talal el masri ponders the meaning of exile through a discussion of her dreams friendships and family relations while hanin mohammad rashid reflects upon the meaning of her name in relation to her father s and grandmother s lives in contrast wedad taha draws on her life from early childhood in the emirates to adulthood in lebanon where she came face to face with a palestinian society she disavows some preferred to write about the nakba intisar hajaj recounts the quintessential palestinian experience through the story of her maternal grandmother khadijeh a lebanese woman who lived a palestinian life while ruba rahme moves us back to the painful present to the latest nakba the flight and dispersal of the palestinian refugees from syria finally in an essay that resembles more an eyewitness account than a literary text mahmoud mohammad zeidan documents in painstaking detail the occupation of ayn al hilweh camp by israeli forces in 1982 as he lived it when he was just thirteen years old in the end what joins these essays together is their deeply personal nature they reveal the lives and thoughts of ordinary people whose voices we seldom hear there is no need to say more the texts say it all graffiti from a time gone by salem yassin b miyeh wa miyeh refugee camp saida lebanon 1966 this is where i grew up in a palestinian refugee camp among eleven brothers and sisters and the sun and the moon in a home with three rooms and a tin covered roof that roof was the reason i hid behind a voice that could barely be heard a voice that nearly disappeared in winter the sound of the rain colliding against that roof and the hubbub of raucous voices drowned out soft voices such as mine and prevented them from reaching their destinations i was born nine years before the outbreak of the lebanese civil war in which palestinians played a principal role as both fuel and fire i lived through the war s blaze as a hostage of the camp confined between the house of umm anwar and the empty lot of abu na meh pictures of martyrs climbed the walls of our home their eyes peering out at passersby calling them by their names and nicknames telegraphing to them the injustice of their deaths the revolutionary songs playing over the loudspeakers echoed throughout the camp blending together in my memory with the hum of the ain al rummaneh bus my childhood dreams sprouted in the alleyways of the camp and blossomed among dreary stone walls in a humid atmosphere that weighed upon the heart it was there that i experienced days of war death and sadness as well as of peace and love there i had my first kiss and sang dolefully with shaykh imam during long evening vigils drinking tea under the mulberry tree my love of words conquers my silence and my hatred of silence brings me woe as a boy before i knew my left from my right i learned to navigate the byways of the camp by following the exposed water channels i could go anywhere by tracing the open sewers carrying putrid water through the winding alleyways i struggled along the narrow paths and sidled up to the carriage that delivered flour rations tussling with the driver every time and coming home coated in flour my grandmother sa da would laugh and say you poor white thing you look like a flea who fell into the yogurt i learned to read and write in the unrwa schools which freshened my awareness of the writing that adorned the cold walls of the camp the words were no longer talismans stuck on the walls from time immemorial i could now recognize new brighter inscriptions appearing daily these were the headlines of the people s free newspaper each time we lived through an event someone would issue a silent scream on one of the walls in a spontaneous burst of words that might be misspelled or grammatically incorrect but nevertheless gave the wall added value and color the words mainly written in secret attracted the attention of all the people of the camp they became stored in the memory of the alleyways and incorporated into our sense of place and space soft voices could become strident like the call to prayer when expressed on the walls of tin covered houses these inscriptions whose signatories are anonymous were honest and unambiguous unlike the official newspaper whose skimpy reports were disingenuous and subject to censorship by the security services the walls of the camp erected to house refugees in a civilized and refined manner were transformed by words into mirrors of our lives and of current events they conveyed a message that set them apart from all other walls in the world these walls lived and breathed were born and died had nicknames and grew haphazardly like wild berry bushes in dimensions that defied the norms of architecture barred from expanding horizontally our walls grew vertically from earth to sky against the direction of the lord s merciful rain and in times of war they grew deep underground to create a martyr s grave or a child s bomb shelter the walls of the camp carried death sentences and marked the confines of a prison whose strict limits were set by a rental lease the landlords didn t seem to realize with the feigned innocence of hospitality and humanitarianism that people tend to multiply after a hundred years of solitude or rather after ninety nine years the leases on our homes were set to expire at ninety nine years to ensure that they would never become our property according to the idiotic law of a nation that sees its future in past glories the stray words that here and there decorated the walls were penned deliberately and with intent by men who disappeared into the pages of an extemporaneous history the words carved grooves into the memory spinning stories that were never spoken but were seen in faded colors leaning lazily layered on the walls of the camp s houses by anyone who could decipher them each sentence engraved by a man s hand amounted to a communique no 1 or a draft will and testament for a martyr many of their words spoke for themselves while the meanings of others remained in the depths of the sea palestine our dead sea that rages and swells forever we will come to you my homeland when the winds of our love carry us back over land and sea the words hung like icons on the walls of the alleyways where strangers always got lost getting dizzy wandering in circles oh wise wanderer your only guide is the speech of the eyes these mute walls preserve all our secrets starting with the whispers of love that compose our very lives and ending with our silent deaths palestine eternal wound of time i love you with a picture of a bleeding heart a colorless rose with the first initials of two lovers a map of the lost homeland pevolution until victory scrawled with the messy tar used to pave the main street of the camp thick straight lines smudged with handprints remaining visible on the wall of abu salma s house despite being covered in layers of whitewash mixed with yellow ocher words etched by the school dunce on the walls of the camp school marking his presence years after his body disappeared in a martyrdom operation on the inside i remember walking in his funeral procession wondering about the contents of the coffin the men carried on their shoulders it was shrouded in the flag of palestine wreathed with roses and draped with a sash commemorating the martyr in the name of the revolution the coffin contains pieces of his body the coffin contains his revolutionary uniform his mother s shawl and his father s prayer beads no the coffin s empty that s what the women whispered shielding their mouths with the fringes of their shawls while walking along on the periphery of the funeral procession symbolic funeral was the hushed expression that my ears picked out from the murmurings of the assembled crowd from that day the symbolic lodged itself in my personal dictionary in association with images of funerals and martyrs the story of the dunce is just one of many that sits alongside those of abu jildeh who tortured dogs with his whip nu man the feverish lover arnoub the fan of the shu lah football team and other anonymous teachers whose lessons are taught in deafening silence on the walls of the camp school as i grew i became aware not only of the writing on the walls but of the large banners that sagged under the weight of all the words emblazoned on them and the smaller ones with short dense words like the one hanging near the abu lubnan coffee shop which read keep your hands off vietnam because it defied our comprehension my friends and i assumed that it was the work of the popular front which we avoided getting close to because of its complexities once though the leader of our gang arif who was a couple of years older than the rest of us more impressive looking and more mischievous decided that we should leave fateh because he was unconvinced by the party and that we should instead enlist in the popular front we couldn t oppose his decision we went straight to the popular front and piled into the makeshift office like the stray cats that crowded the butcher shop of abu mamduh the cups of tea were the same as in the offices of fateh sweet and dark poured from a charred kettle but here everyone read and smoked the adjoining room contained stacks of books with thick red covers in an incomprehensible language arif alerted me to this treasure with a wink which i immediately understood the latest trend in the camp was to make little red vases out of these books propaganda from foreign governments distributed by the popular front so we took more than our fair share using them for crafting and bestowing some of them on the youngsters who begged us for the love of god for the sake of your mother on your sister s honor please give me a red book we d save our most charitable act however for the most groveling beggars namely the gift of the large book with the dark blue cover so it was all because we loved god and cherished our mothers and sisters that we sacrificed our opportunity to don a uniform and carry a torch in that year s annual march celebrating the founding of fateh it was not long before arif got tired of the red vases and announced that we should return to fateh it s true that the fateh logo was harder to draw on the wall than that of the popular front but it also depicted two machine guns and a grenade which was more powerful than the popular front arrow plus according to arif fateh was much larger than the popular front which only had seven hundred and seven cadres this was how his little brain had interpreted the number that we always drew alongside the logo no one had explained to us that it symbolized the hijacking of a boeing 707 aircraft by the popular front in 1970 so we all returned to fateh all but ahmad al affar who declared that al sa iqa the lightning bolt was stronger than al asifa the storm we started to spy on him from afar watching as he and others lit fires from straw in the low lying areas at the far end of the jalloul neighborhood leaping over the flames we never dared join their organization but we were forced to increase our drawings of our own slogans on the walls once we started seeing the slogan men of fire appear in charcoal on the yellow walls of the unrwa bathrooms and the garbage incinerator we all ignored however a lone slogan written in a distinctive font that read jund allah soldiers of god we didn t have the energy to grapple with whoever this villain was who had introduced god and his soldiers into our battle we were not capable of engaging in a war of attrition that would inevitably end in our defeat i wasn t always convinced by arif whose face as an infant had been washed with his own urine by the midwife salma to make him shameless he was a true mastermind who made sure that he had a finger in every pie i continued to search for the real reason that drove arif to return us to fateh until one evening he revealed all to me he had heard from his father that fateh would soon be distributing meat sheep with tails an overflowing storehouse full then arif revealed to me his parting shot before leaving the popular front he had torn from each red book the thin parchment paper that covered the image of kim sung which came right after the cover page and he was going to use this as tracing paper to copy the fateh logo words leap from the walls and resonate in my mind evoking the memories i folded into the alleys of the camp once i was forced to take a break from our wheelings and dealings as a result of being stricken with jaundice i had pains in my lower chest and my eyes turned as yellow as the pastries on the bakery cart as my mother put it god rest her soul but illness and isolation did not make me sad since the jar of honey that was reserved for me and me alone was enough to gladden my heart i exaggerated my pained gestures for the benefit of my guests never forgetting to clutch at my lower chest so as to justify my exclusive right to the honey just in case one of my siblings had the inclination to taste it one day i was visited by my most precious childhood friend gentle khalil i regaled him with the tale of how i discovered that i was ill when i noticed that my urine had changed color to a brownish red and how i alerted my father who immediately took me to the doctor but before i had the opportunity to sing the doctor s praises and boast about the honey that i had enjoyed in my isolation khalil suddenly interrupted me with a tear glinting in his eye if i were you i wouldn t have told anyone about it i would just have written on the walls down with the isolationist forces we soon resumed our usual internecine wars no disease could deter us from our buffoonish duties our gang s exploits were seasonally based and consisted of raiding the fields of fava beans chickpeas and watermelons and the orchards of almonds and oranges that lay close to the camp the loveliest seasons were those of grapes and figs since the trees were plentiful and easy to reach but we didn t restrict ourselves to raiding fruits we also caught small birds in their nests we could distinguish types of birds from their nests the materials used the construction the color of the eggs and from the different kinds of trees they built them in our usual habit was to walk around and scope the trees noting the locations of the nests and committing them to memory we would then monitor the progress of the hatchlings until they were mature enough for us to catch and raise at home we fed them by dripping liquid into their tiny beaks from the thin end of a stick the cleverest kid in our cohort when it came to these matters was salman ghazi who stalked the trees alone without letting anyone in on the action one day myself and some other members of our gang were out in one of the fields where salman roamed when i noticed that several of the trees in which we had located nests had mud on their trunks it looked as though someone had left footprints after climbing up when i investigated further i noticed that symbols had been scratched into the bark of each of the trees i tried to detect a connection between them and the letters of salman s name or nickname but couldn t and it suddenly dawned on me that they designated the type of bird nesting in each tree we went on to conduct a wide ranging tour of the area in the full flush of victory since we now had the locations of all of salman s nests without any effort on our part we didn t have to clamber up the trunks to search through the dense branches of the trees or crane our necks to peer into their upper reaches we could just glance at each trunk to know what kind of treasure awaited us up above the race was on we just had to wait for the eggs to hatch and for the first fluff of feathers to form on the hatchlings then we could capture them before they could fly as for salman we could just tell him the early bird catches the worm one day we all met in the tabrani cave in abu ni meh to roast some hazelnuts in season these were actually seeds gathered from sorrel plants by moles and stored underground which sprouted in abundance in the winter we would find the hazelnut storehouse and collect the seeds to then roast in a tin can from a nearby junkyard we were all gathered around the fire when suddenly arif extracted from his shirtsleeve some cigarettes and shoved one in my direction saying smoke it was an unfiltered lucky strike or would you rather have a sissy kent cigarette after your illness that was a dramatic and magical leap on arif s part we were used to smoking the dried leaves of grapevines and fig trees which we crumbled and rolled up in newspaper to smoke for an added fancy flavor we would mix in some dried mint if arif wanted to show off he would stuff his pipe with a mix of dried leaves the pipe was made from the coarse husk of an acorn in which a hole was drilled to insert a straw he would light the pipe and stretch out his long legs like those of a praying mantis before taking a deep drag while closing one of his eyes and raising the other eyebrow we would laugh and call him barbar agha after the fabled ottoman ruler but for arif to bring real tobacco was serious stuff and without a doubt the sign of a real man i took the cigarette and smoked it silently trying not to choke on my suppressed coughs suddenly a sound like thunder assaulted us and shook the ground underneath it was abu aziz ayub who was out hunting with his dog golda abu aziz was a respected and fearsome military commander in the palestinian revolution and he was distantly related to arif on his mother s side he rained down blows on us like a beast not a single one of us escaped a slap or a punch before we all ran off with our feet higher than our heads leaving arif behind to face his fate and the wrath of his mother na mat some of the women secretly called her naqmat retribution she was a formidable widow who would fill her mouth with kerosene light a match and spray the liquid from her lips to target the flies swarming around the mulberries that fell onto her courtyard in a split second they would be incinerated their wings and legs burnt off their bodies spinning on the ground then she would let her hens and chicks loose to feed on them one day we awoke to the sound of screaming and cursing it was abu aziz ayub fuming with rage and vowing to kill all the inhabitants of the camp those sons of bitches someone had climbed over the wall around his house and wreaked havoc in his garden pouring tar all over the trees plants and walls worst of all they had also hanged golda on a tree branch abu aziz s garden was a splendid plot that had started out as a small onion patch and expanded by dint of a policy of annexation and appropriation he would erect tin roofing panels around the perimeter and then move them pushing them forward bit by bit to enlarge his garden and no one dared to stop him as for us we never had the nerve to think about approaching the garden or defiling its tempting white wall with even a single mark lest we provoke the wrath of the beast and his dog unidentified perpetrator how formidable you were though in truth we never had any doubt as to the identity of the perpetrator after careful investigation we noticed a word daubed in tar in the corner of abu aziz s wall in a hand that we knew well arif had slanted his writing slightly to the right and appeared to have used his left hand in an attempt at disguise it read traitor arif had changed as well as the smoking he had carved real tattoos into his biceps the word palestine and an image of a scorpion it was as though the walls of the camp could no longer hold his words and so he had begun to engrave them on his body his arms became a moving banner displaying eternal words we no longer dared approach arif the scorpion though we occasionally saw him in his narrow jeans with a box of marlboros displayed prominently in the pocket of his see through shirt we gathered anecdotes about his militant activities with his new gang such as filling empty bullet casings with the yellow gunpowder used in hunting rifles and detonating them in the valley his technique consisted of sealing the refilled bullet casing with a stone leaving a small opening for the insertion of a fuse made of gunpowder twisted up in fine paper he would light the fuse and then run to the shelter of a nearby tree a few seconds later his bomb would explode and arif would emerge to survey the damage he would let out a long laugh whose pitch was proportional to his degree of satisfaction with the results we got used to the sound of arif s explosions and the armed struggle security forces got used to arresting him without even asking him whether he was responsible or not one of arif s most fabled exploits took place after he got fed up with the security forces and was driven to hatch a diabolical plot he went down to the valley having prepared a hefty explosive charge made up of casings from a 14 5 caliber anti aircraft gun which were attached by a short fuse to a mosquito repellent incense coil after lighting the slow burning coil he scrambled up the valley to the security forces office hey guys do you mind sharing a cup of tea on the first sip of the third cup of tea the huge explosion went off it s not me it s not me he sputtered as he sprayed everyone with tea you see god has revealed the truth once around sunset i came face to face with the scorpion near the entrance to the alleyway leading to our house he blocked my way with his ample stature and laughed as he slapped my neck saying there are hazelnuts in abu aziz ayub s plot of land around a year later we learned that the scorpion and his comrades had fallen in combat at the crusader castle at beaufort in southern lebanon in fierce clashes with israeli forces at the funeral the coffin was draped with banners and the sounds of heavy gunfire and revolutionary ballads rang in the air but none of it could ease our sadness for the departed leader that night we took our spray cans and spread out across the camp we covered all available and unavailable space painting over all the old dusty slogans forces of the heroic martyr arif the scorpion it was our way of honoring the martyr whose blood flowed on the battlefield so as to make it bloom every spring with red anemones as the plo eulogy stated on the walls of the martyr s house i drew a scorpion to the best of my artistic abilities under which i wrote if time passes and you don t see me this is my portrait by which to remember me i signed it with his initials a s one day not long afterward i sat in the shade of an olive tree smoking and scratching at the soil with a piece of wood i was filled with a sense of cosmic boredom and felt a quiet rage overcoming me it swelled in my chest and crashed against my sides spraying me with questions that settled in my numb brain without receiving any answers i picked up a rusty nail and began to score the bark of the branch hanging nearest me i etched it with the first words that came to mind palestine is a bride and its dowry is blood suddenly i heard the voice of nazmi al tahir behind me do you want me to tattoo it on you he added my fee is a box of tobacco without hesitation i stretched out my arm saying i have ten cigarettes but i want you to write something else until when followed by a large question mark after weighing my offer against the amount of effort required and the surface area of my scrawny biceps he agreed albeit shaking his head in bewilderment at the phrase i had selected i can t make head or tail of it it was completely alien to his store of practiced phrases but the customer is always right he reached into his pocket and took out the equipment for this baptism of masculinity it consisted of a sewing needle ink pen rubber band and lighter he traced out the tattoo on my arm with the pen then he broke the pen and emptied the ink out into the cap after that he heated the rubber band over the lighter flame melted it into the ink and mixed the two ingredients he sterilized the needle with the flame from the lighter and set to work on my arm alternately dipping the tip of the needle into the mixture and pricking it into my arm without diverging from the lines he had drawn his small blows never faltered and never lost their force or momentum he only paused to wipe my blood with the tip of a cloth rag terrible pain froze the blood in my head and choked up my throat but crying was out of the question the torturous experience ended when he tied the rag around my arm and said leave it covered and don t wash it the wound will get inflamed a bit but you ll be fine in a couple of days then he added tapping his fingers against the ten cigarettes in his pocket i charged you half price and am forgiving love of god congratulations the rest it s my donation for the i immediately got up undid the cloth wrapped around my arm and wandered the length and breadth of the camp s alleyways to everything i met people stones the words on the walls even refuge itself and this entire existence i brandished my right arm until when words remain tattooed plainly on arms or walls between the nakba and the naksa throughout defeats and massacres love affairs and revolutions and in a vanquished era when spirits yearn for the right to pledge allegiance in the shadow of a flag after their migration from people s souls to unlined walls they persist in feverish exile let us hope that life will be breathed into our words which reverberate for all time on the walls of refuge and the limbs of our bodies and that they will be heard openly across all borders then the world may come to realize we write therefore we exist we take such pride in our small cosmic wars we are the masters of our neighborhoods and alleyways we are the free writers and we alone own the word i m not dead yet mira sidawi b beirut 1984 the scenario in my head is very vivid i stop breathing it appears as though i m dead i m carried to the cemetery in the burj al barajneh refugee camp and i m buried i don t like this scenario i d prefer to be buried in a different place the cemetery in the burj refugee camp is haunted by the corpses of my father and sister and i think i d prefer somewhere more spacious for me alone i d be fine in a green space yes a green space surrounded on all sides by the sea and before my death i might hang my name on all the trees in that land i know i spout all this rubbish to overcome the inane longing inside of me what i really want is to be buried in acre why not i affirm and solemnly swear one hundred times that i will not rise up from the earth to blow myself up and i will not harm those who colonize the land i m a very peaceful individual i wouldn t harm an ant and i don t swipe at the mosquitoes that fly over my head at night i m always focused on my breathing and on practicing calmness and i m not bothered at all by the narrow alleyways of the camp or the rats i adore rats i don t complain about anything to me everything is rosy and joyous i welcome the rain when it comes down on my head i celebrate when war breaks out and when someone i love dies in war it s normal everything is normal my blue identity card my meagre cash the airplane that takes off and lands again every couple of hours in front of me in the camp i accept all of this as normal i have no issues except this burial thing i need a grave that fits me and nothing else privacy in death is very important it s virtually the only right that still stands in the event that your other rights are usurped frankly i won t lie i never understood politics and i can t speak eloquently about a country that i ve never lived in but i feel a strange sensation every time abu imad my unemployed friend in the camp utters the word acre maybe it s the mysteriousness of its meaning that stirs me as a refugee i have the honor of enjoying the special and important privilege of fantasy every time abu imad says acre i get a slight ache in my stomach and become quite incapable of preventing my mind from going to that mysterious place in fact i m quite adept at producing a steady stream of fantasies about things i don t know god the mystery of existence or acre right away i imagine myself in a boat no larger than the palm of my hand yes my palm it is a very small boat that i sleep in under the sun while acre shades my body with its hands and i m enveloped by a smell that is close to cinnamon i love cinnamon and acre s smell is like cinnamon or is it rather like fish yes like fish anyway i m in a boat giant trees surround me birds mask the color of the sky or rather the sky masks the birds yes the sky there is mobile everything seems mobile in acre apart from me the only static thing in that place abu imad is not impressed by my constant daydreaming and he always interrupts it with what he calls a proper cup of tea i drink tea with him for no clear reason every day i ask myself why i don t break the habit of drinking tea in the afternoon with this man anyway i give myself over to this custom in front of his house when he brings the tea he seems to me like a traditional englishman putting on a proper tea party he drinks converses analyzes curses abu mazin a hundred times depending on his mood and i just listen as i said before momentous issues don t concern me at all but each time i see him abu imad becomes more intent on drawing me into the conversation and arousing my enthusiasm for the stories that he tells he jumps around like a clown in front of me cursing oslo and exclaiming it s a piece of paper that i wouldn t use to wipe my ass my daydreams return i imagine abu imad meeting with the leaders of the country wherever they may be shining among them and repeating his famous statement i wouldn t even wipe my ass with it it would be very interesting to observe him confronting president bush bush with his short hair and large ears as abu imad describes him and he with his scruffy kufiyah and the cigarette that never leaves his lips abu imad might discuss with him the whole issue of our country he might say to the president you and your presidency are not more precious than my grandfather s sweetheart whom he left in acre at the time of the nakba abu imad is proud of his grandfather s love story in acre passion before the nakba according to abu imad is more valuable than passion afterward when love is mixed with exodus and migration it acquires a sharp taste like ginger we re not talking about just any exodus and migration which afflict people generally we re talking as he says about palestine abu imad keeps coming back to palestine whether it s his daughter fatima s divorce or her children s failure at school or the united nations relief and works agency unrwa or the militant factions palestine is the large gold stamp that concludes all his stories ushering in a long silence before the announcement that the tea party is over i remember well how abu imad died he got the best death according to our neighbor ayyubeh a retired midwife i don t deny that i envied him for a long time better than a martyr s death said ayyubeh describing how he shined in the end the man chose to die free of everything and on his own terms once a lebanese friend gifted abu imad a parrot and the whole camp went crazy singing and dancing around the bird we didn t sleep that night the whole tarshiha quarter in the burj camp was seized by a collective hysteria everyone participated in finding a larger cage for the parrot and unusually we all reached a consensus about what to feed it dr fahmi at haifa hospital was consulted about the parrot s state of health and he confirmed that the parrot is a lion rivalling abu hasan salameh in his heyday everyone took their picture with the parrot who was considered a new refugee from the parrot species it was a valuable species not easily acquired during the night everyone gathered outside abu imad s house and together we settled on nickname for the parrot calling him victory everyone in the neighborhood whichever faction they belong to agrees on three watchwords victory the right of return and abu ammar yasir arafat of course they disagree about everything else each faction is skilled at blaming another faction whenever someone dies by electrocution drugs or just the usual despair what matters is that the neighborhood seemed colorful that day and my personal tea party with abu imad was transformed into a celebration of the camp s new parrot cups of tea were distributed among those present abu imad played an umm kulthum song and heads swayed to the rhythm the celebration was attended by the muezzin of the mosque abu iyad who enjoyed the voice of the diva he waited for his turn to recite the sura of yasin from the qur an to bless the parrot and protect it from the evil eye to my eye everything was wonderful for a moment the camp seemed spacious wider than the boat in the sea off the coast of acre i wished i could write the following message on the wall where the posters of the leaders hung the camp is also a boat but one without a sea we are the sea i waxed poetic in the face of all the joy that overcame the children the walls the cats and even the rats on the third day that the parrot resided with abu imad the man woke up to the reality that his bird had died he tried repeatedly to revive him and to speak to his stiff body but it didn t change anything everyone grieved the parrot s death and some said sarcastically that it couldn t acclimate inside the camp it was simply not a refugee it was a child of privilege with an illustrious pedigree after that i saw before me a different abu imad he d told me one day before the parrot was buried in the camp s cemetery that death either brings on laughter or it strikes you like a dagger and disappears that s what that parrot did to abu imad the regular afternoon tea parties came to an end he withdrew into isolation closing his door behind him leaving his birdcage empty some time later i saw abu imad s door open again to let in the light and he emerged elegant wearing a simple hopeful expression and he never came back it was said in the report of his death that he was standing around with some of the young men in mar elias camp specifically in front of the office of the bureau of refugee affairs and that one of the men told a joke and abu imad couldn t control himself so he laughed and chuckled until he died when i was little my aunt would take me by the hand and lead me around the whole camp between incantations she would insist that we would find the welfare office open at that time the only thing that concerned me was the kite i saw on television circling the skies of the city for a long time i dreamt of a kite like that i imagined myself holding on to the strings of the largest kite in the world steering it in the sky above i was always annoyed by the sweat that would collect between my hand and my aunt s as she held on to me tightly so that i wouldn t jump off like a grasshopper in front of her and get lost the whole welfare thing didn t concern me and i didn t even know what it meant until i asked my aunt about the significance of that office and she replied this is palestine or perhaps i m making things up my head was full of fantasies and i saw myself holding on to kites in all directions and all the kites surrounded palestine for a long time i fantasized about palestine and i would look forward to my aunt s arrival so that we could go and wander around the camp as usual awaiting the opening of the welfare office i was special in my aunt s eyes since i was the one who struggled to utter a single syllable i appeared unbalanced to her and didn t behave like the other children in her opinion i was too short and suffered from an unwillingness to progress beyond the age of six in fact i don t remember any of that i only remember the arrival of the moment i had been waiting for namely standing in a long line with my aunt to receive the welfare handout at that moment i understood that i was on the verge of entering a large amusement park called palestine i imagined cotton candy everywhere i waited in silence for a long time with my aunt until it was our turn to enter when we went in i was overcome by dizziness and nausea i fell to the ground and everyone thought i had died but i was at rest inside my head the office was extremely ugly and the air was sparse in that room where was the colorful amusement park that i imagined the images of rice shortening and egg cartons made me want to die more i was dead for a long time two days everyone cried over me including my aunt who felt guilty for exhausting my body on that trip while i was dead i roamed around palestine an old man with a white beard came along and picked me up and said palestine has eyes of gold but it doesn t like those who complain i rose up from the dead and went back to jumping around like a grasshopper only to find myself daydreaming again all i ever wanted was to get a big balloon tie it to the camp and take it far away from here the here is what suffocates me frankly sometimes i can t tolerate the crush of so many people in one place but i prefer not to express my discomfort because it seems to me a total luxury to articulate an abhorrence for something that you have no ability to change my friend ali tells me that power lies in expressing not changing of course i disagree and despite the fact that he s a first class hashish smoker and an expert when it comes to women and politics i can outdo him in my extraordinary ability to puncture any seemingly well reasoned idea and turn it into a flight of fancy in my humble opinion complaining doesn t get you anywhere there is no expressing without changing and no changing without expressing it s a knotty and sensitive issue every day i remind myself that i wasn t born to be ordinary i m the camp s superman ali explained to me at length his own theory about me in his opinion my problem was that i didn t have a title only men had titles when the news of this rule hit me i became mute for a long time after which i asked for change without directly articulating my demands i began to cut my hair like men dress like them and refer to myself and my actions using the masculine gender everyone tried to accommodate me since i had a very delicate health condition and they didn t want me to die as i was the only child in the household of abu adil al sidawi i was specially cared for abu imad found a neutral name for me which wasn t affiliated with hamas or fateh or the popular front for the liberation of palestine i was named abdul jalil for ali the change that i effected as an individual within the community was nothing short of a revolution and he considers me distinctive in my commitment to having freedom as a woman in a very masculine world but i don t believe a word of it i think that he overdoes the analysis in proportion to the amount of hashish that he smokes it s simpler than that i just wanted a legendary title like superman whom i consider more of a refugee than myself i wanted the title and i imagined myself walking alongside superman i imagined us smiling to each other it was a magical thing for me to become a hero i don t understand why it s necessary for everyone to be either a man or a woman why not simply be a hero ali says that i lost my femininity and that he alone is capable of retrieving it i don t understand why he continually needs to breathe close to my lips and frankly i don t like the smell of his breath much i feel like i m suffocating every time he reaches his hands toward my breast and turns to face me each time my mother comes to my rescue as for me i m incapacitated and powerless i find myself standing waiting for something to happen i don t object to ali moving before me like a snake i do nothing about it as for my mother she screams cries and rains down curses and obscenities at ali and at the camp and even at my father for good measure then she holds my hand and shouts at me to make me understand that this is shameful i really don t know what shame is i don t want to know i shut my ears and try to fantasize again i m not too inclined to stay close to my mother since she never ceases to criticize me even as she loses her fingers in the cushions while stuffing them with pieces of colored cloth according to her i m going to bring shame on her because i hang out with the men in the square and no one will marry me because they will see me as one of those who ve been preyed upon quite simply my mother is not entertaining she isn t inspired like me by the world of ants and she s indifferent to my musings on space which disappears between the wires that extend from house to house and behind the new floors that keep trying to reach higher as though they don t want to stay on this earth i cried a lot when my father died for the first time i felt as though there was a woman stirring inside of me who felt the loss i placed my hands on my breasts i felt the curve of the pomegranate and i entered my room as a man only to emerge again as a noisy woman no one understood the bout of craziness that struck me but i realized that death itself had made me feel the necessity of changing again i had many dreams in which i saw my father telling me that i was his daughter who resembled the moon he didn t specifically say the word moon but i felt from the way he looked at me that i was his little beauty time in that restricted space didn t pass easily my mother stopped talking she just prayed repeatedly everywhere even in the bathroom where she would call on god in her nakedness to rescue her from something i didn t understand maybe from her feelings of loss fear and loneliness or maybe because she apprehended my yearning to leave i had started to grow up and the city of devils as my mother called it began to twinkle in my eye the old woman agreed to me leaving the camp to complete my university studies in beirut on one condition that i accompany her every day for a whole month on a journey by foot from the camp to the uza i shore south of beirut i quickly agreed and we made a secret pact every day we would walk through the alleys of the camp in silence passing all the faces that recognized us emerging from one maze into another my eyes would record each scene before me like a camera sometimes i felt as though i would cry again but then i would remember that i abhor crying and wailing along with all types of endless drama this camp is one of those worlds that seem to inhabit the clouds no one sees it and it sometimes doesn t see itself i ask questions and my questions slam pointlessly into the walls of each alleyway and bounce back to me mother who put us in the clouds i try to glean a single answer from her the woman never responds she s also been transformed as i was she s an absent presence and has no need to linger long nor to leave we arrive at the uza i shore by foot i don t feel tired i feel nothing the old woman throws herself down on the ground as though she wants to return to it my mother would like to inhabit the ground all of her resentment and loathing for poverty has already been expressed and she no longer has the ability to blame anyone her husband has died and now i m on the verge of abandoning her she knows that god is her only solution so she talks to him about everything and when she grows tired she sleeps without stirring at the seashore as the stench of the sewers infiltrates my nose the old woman goes back to being a child she plays with her little feet and sings softly to the sea oh sea take me back to my folks swallow me and carry me oh sea bring back my missing people so that i can sleep in their laps and forget all my cares we spend two hours in that place then return to the camp we look like two lost women i don t resemble her but i ve begun to see her more clearly as i grow older as we chase our shadows while we walk i imagine how this old woman will die will the family grave be big enough for her too i m overcome by the shivers again and i remember i don t want to be buried here i want to die in acre the camp was drowning in silence the war that had occurred in the camp of nahr al barid seemed to be lying in wait for us all the faces were grimacing in anticipation of something happening many of the people from nahr al barid had fled to burj one morning umm tawfiq told us the whole story of what happened there everyone gathered around to listen to her tale she said all the camps will be finished off soon everyone is conspiring against us and we need to go where should we go my mother asked we should go back to our country we should walk there the same way we came nahr al barid is gone and all the other camps will follow there s no hope they said they wanted to set us straight we should just walk back she explained how a lebanese army officer had refused to let her take her own couch i shouted at him and said this is my couch what s wrong with you it seems you don t know what palestinian women are like she took a knife cut open the couch and drew out some money that she had hidden inside then she looked at the officer and said this is my money when umm tawfiq speaks her stories get lost in constant digressions she said she remembered the entire nakba even though she was very little when she left palestine with her father in nahr al barid she saw people fleeing and screaming they even forgot their shoes when they reached the camp they sat on the sidewalk in the main street and saw the shells coming down on their houses everything seemed clear to us we were the ones being bombarded not the houses umm tawfiq s husband died in the war when she speaks about it disjointed laughs escape from her mouth i don t know they say that my husband is a martyr all i know is that he died and left me wandering from camp to camp like a cat she describes how her husband abu tawfiq stood in front of a lebanese tank shouting you ll have to enter over my dead body he didn t complete the sentence but fell to the ground like a hero i ask myself why do these stories get replayed for us palestinians why are we always supposed to die like that we re either standing in a temporary land or hiding in an occupied land abu tawfiq s body was abandoned in the heat of the sun for around half an hour the world seemed to be drowning in the shock of that event the people of al burj camp tried to swallow the crisis of nahr al barid camp as they had tried to swallow the nakba as i walked around the camp the weight of the stories would block my path from one alley to another i tried to persuade myself that our country was not growing more distant since i was the country each one of us was a mobile country but i couldn t remain silent i walked to the cemetery at night and when i got there i couldn t stop screaming i felt as though i was completely absent as in death before i woke up to the sight of faces i knew people s hands were warm and the cold water that they scattered on my face made me feel as though i needed to get up again i was carried to haifa hospital and everyone stood around with my mother it s just a nervous breakdown due to what s happening in nahr al barid and the shitty situation we re in was dr fahmi s diagnosis i would have liked to disappear i just wanted to quench the fires lodged in my throat and imagination i wanted to walk far from the camp maybe i was afraid that it too would disappear i pack my bags at dawn i open my mother s room and notice that nothing has changed her prayer rug is folded on the chair her bed is warm as usual the smell of the room is as ancient as she is i close the door and listen to her performing her ablutions before prayer i sense a pain in my heart i imagine a white shuttle on a loom entwining my body and carrying me away from all my doubts i listen to her repeated invocations then shut my ears god is great she says god is great i say i yawn i remember being with my aunt when i was little she draws me close to her runs her hand through my short hair and reads the qur an she says to me there s an evil eye on you i yawn as a flood of tears flows out of her eyes i think of my aunt as my fingers count the books that i will carry to my small apartment in beirut the apartment resembles a can of sardines a sardine can in the city i m going to put the whole city in a sardine can since i don t like cities i m going to search in the city for a road that would take me back to the beginning of the story to palestine i may hide the camp in my hand i laugh and my mother continues her prayers i think of my aunt s face again i recall how before her death she put her head on my knee and said i swear i m confused my little one are you a boy or a girl when are you going to become a girl i remained silent and opted to imagine her floating in the sky above the camp as though she were going to perform a pilgrimage in space my aunt died just as many others in the camp had died before her few of the faces i know remain my mother says time is like the blink of an eye it cheats you and passes by quickly i pack my bags arranging the books that i love kundera márquez ghassan kanafani mahmud darwish kafka lorca and the bible and qur an there is a picture of abu jihad and another of marlon brando i wear my translucent blue shirt and wait until the camp bustles with activity i go over to my mother still sitting on her prayer rug i gaze at her and she gazes at me then i walk calmly to the door it s been some time since the old woman and i stopped conversing that has relieved me i won t go back i say to myself when i pass the torn posters on the walls of the camp the martyrs seem to say goodbye to me and the words of abu ammar appear before my eyes and remind me of my father i look up at the electricity wires that i always dreamt about jumping from one wire to another like tarzan here is ahmad s house who died a couple of days ago in an electrical accident at the door of the mosque abu zuhdi stands pointing his rifle at ihab the drug dealer issuing threats against all those who traffic pills inside the camp close to the shop of abu tammam who sells nuts there has been an incident between young men belonging to hamas and fateh the two factions have been fighting over the issue of posters and how to divide up the wall space fairly among them everything here makes me laugh it looks nothing like the homeland but it tastes sweet and has a strange flavor sometimes sharp it s all normal everything is normal there s nothing wrong with living outside of time for a while as my father used to say everything outside palestine is outside of time there is no time outside palestine never mind i carry on preventing myself from crying i hate the wailing and the drama and all manner of complaining not to worry i observe space which is covered by wires that appear to me like entrails or rather like an assortment of veins who hung our veins here the maze gives me a headache and makes me dizzy and nausea strikes again i climb into the taxi where to asks the driver to palestine i want to breathe the taxi driver laughs and says climb in sister you seem bored like me the babbling of a refugee taha younis b beirut 1991 what brought you here the heart led me somewhere i know not and how did you cross the border i don t remember crossing any border i was just asleep and what did you dream about i dreamt that i returned to our house and where is your house in northern palestine east of the mediterranean i follow the waves to the old city of acre suddenly the conversation stops and a kick transports me into another world at first i thought it was delivered by the foot of the interrogator but it was followed by a clear pronouncement get up and go to school you brute there was no doubt about it it was my father and it was time for my daily journey of hardship to begin as was her usual habit my mother had crumbled some ka k for me in a bowl poured milk over it and sprinkled some sugar on top she hid it deftly from my father who always admonished her for adding sugar to my food my usual daily routine was to enter the hallway and wait until i heard the sound of our rickety metal door slamming shut which would tell me that my father had left for work then i would take my turn in the bathroom singing to myself while drumming along on the water jug my mother would hurry me along to make way for the convoy of my four siblings who were waiting in line at last i would emerge and devour the bowl of ka k then the voices of the neighborhood kids outside would begin to beckon me to go to school with them which was a two kilometer walk from the camp only saturday was different because it was my father s day off that day there would be no singing in the bathroom no sugar on the food and no voices calling my name to try to avoid detection by my father my friend ahmad and i would agree on a password for him to use instead of my name when he reached our neighborhood he might call out beeeep beeeeeep and i would know that he was waiting in the alleyway outside our house i d scramble out quickly before my father could discover he was there and holler out curses and damnation upon him but the password could only be used twice at most before my father would figure it out as soon as little ahmad caught sight of big ahmad s face he would flee from the neighborhood and my father would turn to me and utter his notorious sentence damn the hour that i first saw you of course when i was born here in burj al barajneh refugee camp it wasn t my choice i never invited my father to the second floor of haifa hospital i wasn t yet able to move my finger to point to him and choose him as my father it was my grandfather who whispered the call to prayer into my ear i don t know if my father was even there while i tossed and turned in my mother s womb no one consulted me to find out which country i wanted to belong to i didn t have an identity card even the seed s entry into my mother s womb was coincidental it was just an accident my mother says that she was taken by surprise by her third pregnancy and that she didn t want it my father had just been released from prison with a spent body and a new and difficult temperament she was working while he was recovering from the blows of his jailers why was this child being born at a time like this the jinn in the evenings a garbage bag awaited me in front of the door to our house my father refused to dispose of it in the neighborhood like our neighbors did so i was supposed to carry the bag to the dump which surrounded the camp at all entrances in the beginning i would leave the house and turn right heading in the opposite direction from the dump and would toss the bag into the first deserted alleyway i found but my father with his uncanny intuition soon found out about that and disaster struck my day turned into hell and ended with my skin turning shades of red and green from the lashes of his belt and cane against it i soon found another solution our house looked out onto an abandoned house and the distance between houses in our neighborhood being about an arm and a half s length i started throwing the bags into one of its open windows then i would occupy myself outside for a short while corresponding to the time it would take to walk to the garbage dump our neighbor su ad who lived on the other side of the abandoned house scolded me numerous times but i ignored her as long as she didn t threaten to tell my father but su ad a woman in her forties living with her husband and four children was smarter than i was and she once invited me into her home and told me a story about the house next door she told me that a tribe of jinn lived there i was unimpressed by su ad s story at first but as evening fell and the camp went dark due to the usual power cuts su ad s words came back to me i was suddenly seized by fear the room that my siblings and i slept in alternating head to toe so that we would fit looked directly out over the abandoned house i tossed and turned in my bed and couldn t get to sleep i went over and glanced out of the window and saw shadows moving inside the abandoned house i could hear gasping voices coming from the darkened rooms i thought they sounded like the voices of people being tortured i called over my brother ali who verified what i saw and we both couldn t sleep that night we spent all night observing the shadows crisscrossing the walls trembling with fear all this was happening in a house that nobody lived in nobody slept in and nobody even dared enter at least that s what my mother said the next morning when we explained what we d seen she dismissed everything we told her the next day we gathered the neighborhood kids we told them the story of the haunted house and what ali and i had witnessed during the night i embellished it by saying that the jinn had threatened to kidnap all the children in the camp and ali swore that i was telling the truth no one called us out mustafa even said that he too had seen the jinn many times and jamal confirmed this we all determined not to go near the abandoned house and my friends pleaded with me not to throw any more garbage bags into it the garbage didn t pose a problem for long i soon started throwing it onto the roof of su ad s house to me it seemed like a logical and conclusive solution the roof was high and the stairs leading up to it had been largely destroyed by ancient mortar shells that had fallen upon it su ad was fearful of trying to climb those stairs and i had no fear of her children should they have discovered the garbage since my brother ali was the strongest kid in the neighborhood after the meeting in which we discussed the jinn i went to my friend wasim who was ten years older than me i used to call him dimwit since he had never gone to school he was twice my height but was not ashamed to hang out with me and he would do whatever i wanted our friendship had begun with a fight he had slapped me on the back of the neck when i passed in front of his house and i responded by preparing an ambush for him at the intersection leading to our house i settled the score with an empty soda bottle to his head which resulted in six stiches that are still visible on his scalp this very day after that incident i could use wasim to defend me he was the tallest boy in the neighborhood and ali was the strongest anyway i told wasim that i had lost a one thousandlira bill in the abandoned house and i asked him to go and look for it promising to split it with him if he found it the offer was too tempting for him to decline so he waited until nightfall to enter the house without being seen after it got dark i watched him climb the stairs leading to the abandoned house he showed no hesitation but only a minute later he ran back panting his heart was beating fast and he made hurried circular motions with his arms to indicate that he wanted me to follow him i wasn t prepared to do that until he managed to splutter some choppy sentences conveying to me what he d seen i led the way there at once having completely forgotten the whole issue of the jinn just as wasim had forgotten the one thousand lira note the door to the abandoned house was partly smashed and we poked our heads in through the corner of the frame to take a look inside was a large man with his back to the door on top of a woman s body he was naked from the waist up and we could see his bent spine and his head of thinning hair moving rhythmically back and forth i heard the very same gasping noises that i had heard the night before wasim s legs had given in and he was now kneeling in front of the door i found a rock nearby and aimed it at a lantern inside that was casting a faint light on the scene darkness descended everywhere i started running without knowing why i had done it wasim running behind me i arrived at my house somehow and threw myself into bed i was perplexed and terrified by what i had seen i thought it was the jinn that our neighbor had warned me about a wicked jinn who brought women into his house and had sex with them rations when i was little i used to hate being hungry i would eat at short intervals so that i would never experience the feeling of hunger when i couldn t get food i would chew my lower lip until it got inflamed and infected my mother said that i once caught a stomach bug that made me feel hungry all the time and drove me to eat a lot my father was an unrwa employee in fact he still works as a security guard at their main offices as a result ours was the only house that didn t receive the unrwa food rations that were distributed to all camp residents even though we were the only ones who paid rent while all the other families owned their homes this latter wasn t any concern of mine what did interest me were the tightly sealed food rations i would go to wazzan square where the rations were distributed to see the great throng of people that formed there once a month some friends and i once climbed an electricity pole to get a glimpse of the action from above we climbed right to the top and as they began to count out the rations down below i looked into the window of abu sa id s house inside was the most beautiful young woman in the camp she was nearly twenty years old and i was just ten though i always said ten and a half anyone asked but for some reason i didn t think that age was a problem at all i would close my eyes and find her beside me i would take a strand of her long black hair which spilled down her back in my hand her shoulder was too far for me to reach because of the difference in our heights we would walk together along the road to the airport which ran alongside the camp a shout from below snapped me out of my dream come down you two you re going to fall and break your necks i looked down and saw hajjeh a isha underneath us brandishing a kitchen knife waving it to warn us of the dangers of falling the shadow she cast behind her covered the whole alleyway hajjeh a isha was sturdily built and so fat that we would make fun of her as kids i had two options either come down and face hajjeh a isha s sharp knife or stay up high and ogle the one i secretly named sarah of course i decided to ignore a isha s shouts and continue to feast my eyes but sarah soon noticed me and shut her window snappishly calling out i m going to tell your parents one of my friends jumped down the pole in fear only to be pursued by a isha waiting below i waited for the coast to be clear and ran away without being followed that day i was afraid to go back home and dawdled for a long time between the al khazzan quarter sal us quarter and dar wardeh until nightfall the rule was that i couldn t stay out after hajj safadi began the call to prayer at sunset i had been suppressing my urge to pee all day i had stopped myself from going in the road since i now considered myself a man who knew love and a real man would never urinate in the road as soon as i opened the door to our house i was met with my father s voice come here i was confident that i d done nothing wrong that day i didn t get into a fight with anyone i hadn t hit a single cat in sight of one of the neighborhood women and i hadn t even thrown out the garbage bag since it was a saturday and the garbage didn t go out until sunday evening my only worry was that someone had told him about me spying on sarah he asked me to bring him the hose that was used to connect the propane tank it was a thick and sturdy blue hose but it was flexible when wielded by my father against my back in his hands it became malleable softened by warmth and perspiration it even spoke the language that my father reserved exclusively for his three male offspring i said baba what did i do and he replied will you bring the hose or shall i since i had some experience with that request i chose to bring him the hose myself and as soon as he received it he asked me to turn around at that instant i was overcome by the urge to pee and i begged him to let me go to the bathroom but he had already started whipping i cried out but he just kept striking me without me knowing why until i wetted myself at that instant the earth stopped turning for a few moments his hand came to rest more out of disgust at the stench of my urine than out of mercy some women from the neighborhood were visiting that night and they witnessed the whole thing i had to remove my pants and underwear covered in urine in front of them i rushed into the bathroom sat down on the tiles and recalled sarah s round face but this time it looked repulsive because she was the reason for all this after a few minutes i tried to open the bathroom door but was surprised to find it locked from the outside when i banged forcefully on the door my father got annoyed and turned the electricity off in the house he knew very well that i was afraid of the dark especially when i was in the bathroom i begged him to open the door and was told firmly count to a hundred but i d always hated math and i could only count up to twenty in one go i started counting for me thirty was close to twenty it was practically its next door neighbor but for my father it lived nine doors away that incident caused me to dislike numbers even more as they led me to conjure all the jinn of the earth and do battle with them in the bathroom that night i fell asleep and woke up lying next to my brother on a plastic sheet that my mother had laid down for me she had poured water on me and washed me without me even feeling it it was as though she was washing a corpse strangely enough when i woke up i slipped out of the house early and made my way back to wazzan square i climbed the electricity pole and cast a glance toward the window of the sa id house but it was closed this time and i never saw sarah again nation names are not arbitrary they can t be they always go to the heart of the matter often they tell us things about people before we meet them when you go to meet someone named abdullah for example you don t take a bottle of wine whereas you might take one when you go to meet someone called joe some names are so rare that you need a red kufiyah to gain their intimacy a red kufiyah steeped in blood from the first march of return a witness to the first stone to cross the border and a companion to my first sight of the homeland it was a kufiyah that expressed everything i wanted to say so i carried it to her and it conveyed my love it was completely planned it wasn t a coincidence that this young woman of palestine should fall in love with me above all others for her name was heavy and couldn t be shortened and it was a name borne by no one else on this earth before her i was a contrary child who defied relatives neighbors and teachers i knew nothing of love but the fake letters that i would write for my friends in return for money they admired my words about their girlfriends words that meant nothing to me nothing but the one thousand liras that i would get for each letter in high school everything changed something in my chest began to beat strongly her hair was reddish her face was formed of the earth of the nation her presence had a special luster we were joined together in many patriotic activities in the poetry and theatre through which she would call out to the homeland she gave me a palestine chain and i gave her a hanzala keepsake and everything that passed between us was sacred like the nation she is far away now since the fates drove me to seek my fortune in exile and brought me back again they have not conspired to lead me back to her yet but i have faith just as the sufi has faith in his master i love her as i love the country that she was named after but what have i done now i ve confessed everything but her name her name was watan nation istanbul the distance between the house and the train station was about half an hour s walk in the storm we climbed a road leading uphill the snow covered our feet and weighed down our legs as we raised and lowered them despite the icy roads life around us had not calmed down and we were surrounded by a cacophony of sound children were sliding down the hills on kitchen trays a young woman inebriated by the storm was frantically clinging to her boyfriend an elderly man was entertaining his family with snowballs we took the train to the airport where a strange scene was unfolding crowds of people had congregated awaiting flights that had been delayed by hours a blonde haired woman had fallen asleep on a bench her toes virtually touching the mouth of the man who accompanied her without so much as disturbing his sleep everyone was overcome with boredom the airlines were distributing food to travelers who stood in long rows in front of the display panels announcing the departures and arrivals suddenly the agent distributing the food raised his voice and we gathered around to hear what he was saying one of from behind perhaps unintentionally but the agent interpreted this as an assault and tapped angrily on the passenger s back yelling loudly in english you want this the passengers had touched him my brother and i laughed at the commotion soon after we heard someone else shouting on the upper level this time it was some passengers demanding hotel rooms for the night since their flight had been delayed by over twelve hours they yelled at the airline employees but privately they weren t annoyed they were laughing among themselves after some hours of waiting i was directed into the security screening room because i was carrying a travel document that the official was unable to decipher he asked me where are you from i replied as i always did from palestine he glanced at my papers and then he looked back at me and said you re from lebanon i said i m a refugee from palestine to lebanon that was too difficult for him to grasp so he turned me over to another security official who said where are you from i replied from palestine he held a magnifying glass up to his left eye examined my document closely then looked at me and asked are you going to lebanon i said yes he said so you re from lebanon i replied no i m from palestine i ll live in lebanon until such time as i return to my land i don t think he understood and i couldn t explain the whole question of palestine in a matter of minutes from the balfour declaration to the displacement that led to my exile but he accepted my documents and ushered me on my way the gate leading to palestine was numbered 220 every time i entered a foreign airport i made sure to search for the planes flying to my home country and this time there was one just a few steps away from my own gate the sign said tel aviv so my feet carried me to that gate where dozens of passengers stood glued to the glass windows watching the heavily falling snow and cursing their bad luck everyone was waiting but waiting had a different meaning at the gate leading to palestine when i arrived at 220 the employee blocked my path where are you from from palestine he saw the palestine chain that i always wore around my neck and asked for my papers then he directed me to go to gate 227 when we boarded the plane i met a woman in her sixties who asked me if she could have my window seat so i gave it to her she said where are you from i said from palestine she smiled replying where in palestine my dear i said from acre hajjeh so she said blood is thicker than water my son i m from jaffa we had a long conversation during which i learned that she had lebanese citizenship though if you asked her where she was from she would immediately reply i m from jaffa bride of palestine the plane engine was loud and the woman from jaffa was playing a game on her tablet from time to time she would ask me to help her and i would decline since i don t play games at all and she would just smile at me the plane took off and the lady let out a frightened cry because of the heavy turbulence once the plane was flying above the clouds the woman smiled at me again patted me on the shoulder and said i swear by this sun pointing out the window which i haven t seen for five days that when you get married i m going to buy your wife her wedding dress openness things are no longer what they used to be i walk along the seashore in beirut and look inward if you conversed with me a little you might think that i m not the child who once wandered night and day through the camp but if you really befriended me you d soon discover that i m one and the same and you d recognize some of the scars and bruises that my body retains to this day or some of the blemishes left upon my soul i ll tell you a secret i still chase my shadow at noon as i did when i was a kid every night i pick out the ten most beautiful stars in the sky and i bite on my lower lip when i m hungry i still visit the sea as often as i can and i m still thrilled by the reddening of the sun at sunset this is all the same and my country is still the same truthful and false near and far beautiful and ugly loyal and treacherous strong and weak but everything else has changed i m no longer frightened by the jinn having made his acquaintance and the garbage is no longer my daily priority even the interrogator has softened his tone with me my answers and my features are familiar to him now i walk along the seashore at twilight with my eyes on the horizon with my hands behind my back and my tongue hidden inside my mouth her voice comes to me suddenly a great joy awaits you which shines through your sad eyes she said as she surreptitiously tried to read my palm your luck is controlled by a star in the sky she added trying to entangle me in her plot i remained silent but spread out my hand in surrender she froze then took a gulp of air and recovered her ability to speak after a moment of silence there s a difficult girl in your life the bridges between you are broken things will improve but time moves like the hands of a clock and everyone will have their day the path in front of you begins in fire and ends in roses i smiled and she continued don t harbor any fear of her in your heart for she loves you like no one else does i smiled more broadly and drew her fee from my pocket she said give her my regards i said who she replied your homeland ever since i became a mother i ve hated winter nadia fahed b sharjah 1987 despite my avid love of swimming in the sea in summertime i prefer or rather i used to prefer winter not for its romantic ambience its intimacy or its poetic qualities and not because i enjoy walking in the rain but for the sole reason that in winter insects would disappear from the camp but ever since i became a mother i ve hated winter i hate it because it s turned into a curse a bother and a burden it s become a routine source of worry and disquiet for me with every rainy morning i must go through the process of selecting the most appropriate plan to exit the house and make my way to my parents place or my in laws to drop off my nursing daughter qamar before heading to work even though our houses are only separated by a six or seven minute walk in winter the trip takes an eon i carry her all bundled up in layers to protect her from the rain in one hand while carrying the umbrella in the other as we like to say kull ishi tamam it s all good i head toward the main road traversing the alleyways my footsteps quickening until i m nearly jogging the road is where the problem lies motor scooters speed like lightning bolts in all directions carrying women children and men they flow steadily forward while me my daughter and the umbrella are just another barrier in the way of their deluge i m forced to take a step back to let someone pass from one alley to the next or i find myself having to close the umbrella halfway with one hand to let someone else have right of way i feel embarrassed when someone is kind enough to let me pass and i forge ahead taking with me an assortment of things that stick to the umbrella including hair clothes and limbs i was soon compelled to buy a special backpack carrier for small infants what s sometimes known as a kangaroo bag a truly ingenious invention for any mother or father once one of my hands had been liberated at least part of my problem was solved or so i thought the alleyways had a different idea picture this qamar is in the kangaroo bag and i m carrying the umbrella charging confidently against the wind i m suddenly pulled back by a violent force the umbrella is yanked from my hand i look back and find that it s hooked on the low lying electricity wires and water pipes so i go back to extract it carefully bracing myself for an electric shock i m seized by phobias and recall all the cases of death by electric shock that have occurred in the camp due to the chaotic intermingling networks of electrical wires and water pipes what if i get zapped by the electrical current would it reach the body of my daughter underneath her layers of blankets god forbid how would i react and what would i do i banish all these thoughts and surrender to the fates you might be wondering why am i going to all this trouble why not just use a stroller i ve already tried that the roads in the camp are shot to pieces unfit for human transport especially during the rainy season the routes to my parents and my in laws houses are relatively long and are full of bizarre geological formations mounds slides hills cliffs inclines and precipices but the larger issue is how to carry the stroller up the three flights of stairs to my apartment there s no elevator in my building and not enough space or security to leave the stroller on the ground floor it would seem that the only way out for me and qamar is for my husband to get a motor scooter but since my husband and i are creatures of etiquette as some like to describe us we refuse to transport her by scooter when she is just a nursing infant we insist on carrying her through the bug infested alleyways in summertime to avoid putting her on a motorbike you can only imagine my husband s mortification and my own when i scream and hop around like a crazy person whenever i suddenly encounter a cockroach in my path this happens especially in the evenings when the cockroaches take over in all their glory i hate bugs and i hate that i hate them my late grandmother may she rest in peace always relied on me to help her bathe to her utter misfortune and mine before bath time i would always send my mother on a reconnaissance mission to check the bathroom for cockroaches or other insects the crawlspace in my grandmother s bathroom was somehow connected to the neighbors roof don t ask me how the architecture of houses in the camp is a real wonder but that meant that it was a gateway for those repulsive insects after ascertaining that the coast was clear it was my turn to carry out maneuvers i would grasp the end of the mop and position myself as far away as possible from the door to the bathroom standing on tiptoe there i would shake and rattle the mop repeatedly creating as much of a din as possible giving my enemy a chance to exit the battlefield at that point i would draw closer to the bathroom repeating my maneuver again and then and only then would i give my grandmother the green light to approach the bathing would begin as usual and it would soon produce in us the familiar sensations of asphyxiation and claustrophobia the space was scarcely large enough for both of us and with the door closed i felt captive without an escape route if a cockroach appeared from nowhere it was a real source of horror for me and my poor grandmother could feel my anxiety and sense of urgency but she never realized that what lay behind it was my fear of bugs not my lack of interest in helping her bathe or my distaste for it i never dared tell her the truth i would have felt extremely silly saying i m afraid that the cockroaches will come sitti she was the type simply to swipe them aside with her hand just like that as though they were flies to make things worse my grandmother was a loyal enthusiast of locally made soap especially the kind made of olive oil and she resolutely shunned the use of any other product on her hair washing her hair with a bar of soap took a long time adding to my suffering and multiplying my anxiety but my efforts to cajole her to use shampoo were all in vain as the water quality in the camp deteriorated and turned saltier my grandmother began to tire of the endless effort to scrub her hair with soap without working up a lather she finally surrendered to the shampoo option i had been waiting for that moment for an eternity but she soon reversed her decision when her skin had an allergic reaction to as she put it that filthy shampoo that you all use of course that was only to be expected from a woman who had spent her whole life using natural soap and who had even made her own soap when she was still in good health i remember her preparing a batch of soap on the roof in a large pot over a wood fire she let it boil then poured it into a metal mold divided into smaller cubes telling me and my siblings not to play in the vicinity she had one eye on us and the other on her various potted plants distributed around the roof we could never understand why she went to all that trouble in the twentieth century when soaps of all colors and varieties were at our fingertips as children we didn t appreciate how enlightened her behavior was and how utterly wholesome and ecological medical research is constantly warning us nowadays about the dangers and hazards of soaps and shampoos that contain all kinds of chemical additives my grandmother was way ahead of us all of her daily routines were friendly to the environment she always sewed her own clothes and reused and recycled pieces of cloth she hated using paper tissues and saved empty containers glass jars and plastic bags her habits didn t come from a delusional impulse that afflicts the elderly or a phobia about losing stuff or an obsession with hoarding it was an instinctive love for the land and the spirit of village and country life that lived in my grandmother having been born and raised in the village of shaykh dawud in the district of acre even though my grandmother had taken us back to square one when it came to the bathing ritual i was determined not to surrender i began to put a small dollop of shampoo in her hair without her noticing before she scrubbed it with soap and combed it as far as i was concerned it was a compromise that assuaged me and left her satisfied i always worried about transmitting my fear of cockroaches to my daughter qamar so far for reasons that i can t fathom she has no trace of it she s scarcely perturbed when she sees a cockroach passing by instead she gets excited and races over to crush it with her foot as a thin smile plays over my mouth the smile is my attempt to hide my horror the last thing i want is for my daughter to seize upon my weakness and use it to blackmail me or to get what she wants a bar of chocolate for example i ve hated cockroaches ever since i was little and because of that would take pains to torture them whenever i d see one flipped on its back in the hallway of our house or on the roof i would light a candle and pour the molten wax drop by drop onto it transforming it into a petrified wax statue i once came across the information that a cockroach is the only living being that would survive a nuclear bomb and that it can live for ten days without a head yet more reasons to hate and dread that revolting creature i remember once engaging in a conversation about the supernatural and the fate of animals on the day of judgement especially those that had been tortured by humans a friend of mine claimed that animals would wreak their revenge on those who had harmed them using the same means that gave me a fright did it apply to insects too what a disaster can you imagine a human sized cockroach retaliating against you wouldn t that be pure hell by contrast with cockroaches i ve always had a fascination with ants whenever i found them on the roof or near various cracks in the house i d make sure to sprinkle some sugar for them sometimes i would observe them closely until i fell asleep then wake up and find that they had accomplished their mission of retrieving all the sugar i d left grain by grain i got very upset with my mother for asking my father to fill up all those cracks with caulk so as to be rid of the ants and all the dirt they brought in from their ant kingdom at the same time i was confident that they d always find a way to reopen the cracks or find new outlets when i was especially bored i might help them reopen the cracks most of the houses in the camp were originally built on sandy soil in the beginning there were temporary tents followed by small rooms built out of clay and straw with tin roofs and finally the architectural misfits of today these were only constructed as a result of a long struggle to bring building materials into the camp my grandmother laid the first stone for our house just as everyone else did in our neighborhood and other parts of the camp they built their houses themselves without any planning or engineering or any help of any kind they did so with their blind faith and whatever came to hand my grandmother gathered discarded building materials from the camp s surroundings or collected leftovers from construction sites farther afield she d come back from these forays with a variety of different tiles in all shapes and colors the floors of our rooms were like mismatched mosaics when we d make fun of the variegated floors she d reply decisively and with a measure of pride we were the first to tile our floors other people used to pour concrete we were often surprised to find tiles in the same style on the floor of a friend s or neighbor s house we d say sitti just needed that one tile to complete the pattern in our house above ants my greatest passion is for cats not just any cats the camp s cats i prefer them to foreign cats or as we like to say bourgeois cats our home was never cat less i raised them either inside the house or on the roof i ve had many weird cats but the weirdest of all brought me gifts and rewards believe it or not at least that s what they must have seemed like from the cat s point of view his name was mushu and he was insane he d move hysterically between the rooms playing and amusing himself he d dart up to the roof like a rocket disappearing for a short time then race back down carrying some reward one night he set off as usual and came back with a dead bird i think he was trying to impress me with his hunting skills but it was clear that the bird was dead when he found it because it already looked desiccated i ignored him so he launched again like a rocket returning with another bird this time i scolded him and he laid down and curled himself up in a ball suddenly he sprinted away again coming back this time with a cockroach which he spat out in front of me how totally gross thankfully the cockroach was in its death throes and scarcely moving as i recall after a severe reprimand and a period of shunning from me he dropped the habit but then several nights later he startled me with a rabbit i was fast asleep when i felt mushu jump onto my bed carrying a creature in his mouth which he proceeded to deposit right next to me it felt heavy and my heart nearly stopped with fear that night i only found out what it was when i sprang up to turn the light on and made out that it was a mature live rabbit almost the size of mushu himself i was stunned but i have to admit that i was also quite delighted i hugged mushu and kissed him who s a pretty boy what a lovely sight wherever did you get him from how in the world were you able to carry him later on i learned that the rabbit belonged to our neighbor but i never owned up and i raised him as though he had always been mine qamar is also enamored of cats she loved to visit my grandmother s house where a number of stray cats would always settle it was calm and safe for them there they became used to the place and to us visitors never flinching or scampering off when they saw us my grandmother always enjoyed our visits and was happy to see us it was as though life had been restored to her one time she surprised me when she was playing with qamar and i heard her say qamar my little bunny come get a coin what i was dumbfounded i thought she only used that nickname with me i was convinced it was exclusively reserved for me my private name it was always accompanied by a little jingle that she gently clapped along to i hope you never die my dear and don t lie in your grave in fear it distresses me now that qamar won t remember my grandmother and has no special memories of their time together but i know that i ll tell her so many stories and anecdotes about her she was only a year and a half old when my grandmother passed away i still find it hard to accept the reality of her death i can t bring myself to visit her grave i hate the thought of her being there it s not that i object to god s will and judgement nor do i doubt that death is real but it fills me with pain anger and sadness how could she have died in exile still dreaming of returning to her land until her last breath only to be buried as a refugee in a strange land even dead refugees should have the right to return to palestine my grandmother s body should return there to her village i doubt that this is a concern of our palestinian leadership but as a refugee i declare that the return to palestine is every refugee s right dead or alive my grandmother was constantly preoccupied with staying in touch with her relatives in her village of shaykh dawud when she was still alive telecommunications weren t as advanced as they are now the central telephone exchange was her only means of contacting and asking after them i d accompany her there whenever she asked me to i don t know why she insisted on going very early or why i would agree especially since i would be the one who was put on the spot i would have to knock on the door of the home of the telephone operator and wake him up my grandmother would like to speak to her family in palestine it s urgent please i think that if he hadn t been so taken aback by this request he might have rebuked me for disturbing him so early in the morning then i would go to the telephone exchange which was just a few steps away from his house where my grandmother was waiting isn t he there sitti yes he is but i told you he d still be asleep it s still early he s just getting himself ready and will be here soon then he would show up welcome welcome umm khayr please come in hajjeh how are you my dear may god be pleased with you and ease your path how are your mother and father dear once inside she d hand me her telephone book and i would search for the number of abu ibrahim or anyone else with her family name then i would pass it to the man to dial the number that s how she would find out how they all were who got married who gave birth and who died she spoke constantly about her life in palestine i often doubted some of the things she said especially when it came to her family s ownership of land the beauty of her house the splendor of life there and so on i thought that it was the kind of exaggeration that comes with longing yearning and reminiscing but i that everything she had said was an understatement the details were all correct and accurate it was actually more beautiful than her description and lovelier than my imagination later found out i m one of the fortunate few whom god graced with the chance to visit palestine two of my friends and i decided that our return to palestine would be lacking if we didn t return to the very same villages that our families had been displaced from and that s what we did since we didn t have a permit from the occupation authorities to enter the territories occupied in 1948 we sought the help of a brave man from jerusalem who smuggled palestinian workers from the west bank to the inside he knew the name of every village in palestine by heart as soon as i said i was from shaykh dawud he recognized it and broke out into a smile rattling off the names of several neighboring villages all we had to do was cross the border of the west bank and pass through one of the israeli checkpoints the man from jerusalem had a car with an israeli license plate which allowed him to enter and exit the west bank he told us to keep quiet relax and act natural so as not to arouse any suspicions in case they stopped us at the checkpoint and asked for his car permit when we got to the first checkpoint the soldiers asked him to step out of the car and bring the identity cards of everyone inside we re screwed we thought this was supposed to be the easiest checkpoint they started scrutinizing our documents we tried to stay calm when we saw the man returning with one of the soldiers the soldier handed back the papers saying they can t go through they need a permit he got back in the car they re not going to let us pass don t be upset we ll go to another checkpoint and try after many overt and covert prayers and incantations the second checkpoint turned out to be less strict the soldiers only asked for the car permit and waved us on we finally managed to breathe a sigh of relief we were on our way to fulfilling the dream of return we drove to jaffa then acre the names of the villages in the district of acre began to appear i could hardly contain myself when i saw the name of the village of shaykh danun which neighbors and intertwines with the village of shaykh dawud we didn t know what we were looking for we only had the family name when we arrived in shaykh danun we asked the village butcher about the fahed family he motioned us to keep going uphill all along the drive i turned my head right and left to see if i could make out anything that resembled my grandmother s descriptions could this be it no that s not possible keep going a little farther and a little later wait stop here that must be them i have no idea how i knew that that was the right spot i just knew it was as though i had known this house and its inhabitants for an eternity the car had stopped in front of a metal gate behind which an elderly man and two women were sitting and sipping their afternoon coffee greetings hajj is this the fahed family house we just want to make sure yes my dear welcome was the surprised and apprehensive response from the elderly man he looked at us as though we were a group of aliens who had just descended from a spaceship my god i m at my grandmother s house i m in my village i m from here this is my house this is where i m meant to be this is where i m supposed to come every weekend and for my summer vacations why am i not here why am i over there a refugee in a miserable camp in lebanon i drew closer to them may god give you strength i m from lebanon i m the daughter of khayr fahed my grandmother is umm khayr hussani her first name was hussniyya but hussani was her nickname after a type of bird with a sweet song maybe because she had a beautiful voice and sang at weddings the old man breathed a long sigh and got up from his chair to hug me my dear you carry the scent of the precious ones he said and we all started crying dear grandmother life is tasteless in your absence you left a large lump in my throat it s a lump that hurts me and makes me choke sitti i visited our village shaykh dawud i managed to slip past the occupiers i met your relatives my relatives i told them about you and they told me about you and they related your common memories i walked among our village s neighborhoods i visited its shrine and i read the opening prayer from the qur an for the soul of your martyred brother salih about whom you told me many stories i stood on the ruins of the house that you were born and grew up in the setting was just as you described it only lovelier the cruelty of fate is such that it denied you your simple wish to die in your own land it terrifies me to think that i might die far away your grave should be there not here in forced exile in a refugee camp i promise you that one day i ll sit beside your grave and read the opening prayer for your soul but it ll be there not here there where your favorite lemon tree still remembers you misses you and is waiting for you da uq a burial plot a cemetery youssef naanaa b beirut 1957 in the closet of my father may he rest in peace a tin biscuit box and envelopes of various sizes were stored carefully after the funeral proceedings and the condolences had ended i sat alone in front of his closet the storehouse of his secrets here was the box where he had meticulously stashed the family photographs some of these he had carried with him from palestine while others had been taken in the bloom of his youth he was especially proud of the pictures he had taken with arab artists visiting lebanon where he had migrated with his family he had one with the egyptian comedian hasan fayiq and another with the actor husayn sudqi there were pictures of us as children on the occasion of the outdoor festivals to celebrate id one photograph showed a backdrop of the late egyptian leader jamal abdul nasir with a hand outstretched to shake ours these were just some of the many pictures taken on various occasions the envelopes were scruffy like their contents various documents birth certificates and our report cards from elementary school but the real treasure was an envelope that had been carefully folded as though it contained a holy relic i opened it to find papers belonging to my grandfather who was an antique furniture merchant in jaffa including sales invoices and rental contracts it also held title deeds to my great aunt s house and her palestinian passport in its three languages arabic english and hebrew my memory took me back to the story of my family s migration from palestine of their arrival in beirut in a boat that was nearly destroyed before making it safely to shore at first they sought refuge with relatives of my grandmother who was of lebanese origin they stayed with them for a short time and then moved on to various places including a horse stable located between jalloul and the martyrs cemetery before they settled at last in da uq a burial plot in beirut the plot no larger than thirty meters by forty was donated by the da uq family to accommodate palestinian refugees until they could return to their homes it was bounded on the west side by sabra square and the islamic seniors home and on the north side by rawas street da uq had a single main gate that opened onto the main street of sabra as residents tell it before 1960 that gate was commanded and controlled by men from the deuxième bureau of the lebanese intelligence services they would scrutinize all those who entered and left da uq especially those traveling from faraway places questioning them about their relationship with residents and the purpose of their visit just to make things tougher for the people living there a row of shops served as a kind of wall for da uq on one side of the main gate was subhi al batal s shop which sold candy and ice cream he was my first customer i made one lira from him for drawing the likeness of a boy with an ice cream cone to hang on the side panel of his delivery bike on the other side of the gate was abu muhammad al yassir s shop where you could buy sandwiches of spleen brains and tongue as well as alcoholic drinks abu muhammad had his own special rituals after preparing the varieties of meats vegetables and pickles and lining them up methodically he would pour himself a glass of arak and make his own special mezze then he would light a cigarette and switch on the cassette player blaring the voice of the eastern star umm kulthum only after sipping from his drink and preening himself would he begin to take his customers orders next door to him was a shop selling ful hummus and fatteh owned by abu mahmud and nearby was an outfit that specialized in repairing and soldering shishas and kerosene heaters owned by abu khalil al masalkhi next to them was a juice store belonging to a member of the abu husah family then the hammami supermarket and roastery and two grocery stores one owned by abu marwan and the other by abu adas the latter had a window looking out onto our alleyway from which he used to hand us our groceries there was also a wholesale enterprise that sold grains and oils which was the proud possession of abu taysir al yazuri from the village of yazur in palestine the al ittihad bookstore belonging to yahya ubayd was where we bought our stationery and greeting cards and also collected our mail the best date sweets came from abu abd al ahwal next door to the al salayhi café where my grandfather and i shared our last cup of tea before his death that day it seemed as though he was taking a final tour of the neighborhood visiting all the shopkeepers and his friends we d also bought some fine semolina from which he would make asida sweets with his own hands to the right was the al ashi butcher shop and fawzi ubayd s radio and television repair shop there was another exit from da uq which opened onto the aviation area so named because it was the site of the first airport established in beirut near the current cité sportive stadium but entry and exit to da uq was largely through the main gate where young men would congregate to share gossip and jokes like brothers whenever a young woman exited the gate by herself one of the young men would follow her surreptitiously to ensure that she wasn t intercepted by anyone as soon as she arrived at her destination the young man guarding her would turn back da uq did not receive any services from unrwa since the area did not lie within its field of operation so the residents managed by cooperating among themselves to arrange basic services and secure the necessities of life electrical lighting where present was dim and the walls of the houses were covered with moss due to the humidity and the water pipes that ran along them houses were contiguous and you could hear the voices of your neighbors having private conversations the alleys were narrow and intertwining and would not allow two people to pass through side by side it was a running joke that our parents must have brought the furniture in first and built the house around it the sewers were visible and only partially covered serving as a haven for rats and other vermin when we returned home late at night we would stomp our feet and sing loudly so as to keep the rats at bay the first time i opened my eyes i would have seen a room containing my parents bed a wooden closet with three compartments and a mountain of mattresses that would be laid down for us at night so that we could sleep side by side i slept alongside my five brothers and two sisters pressed close together like sardines in a can the youngest among us would sleep in a swing consisting of a wooden board covered with bedding hanging by a rope from the ceiling once my brother jamal was swinging our youngest brother with considerable force and the swing slammed into the middle door of the closet and smashed it jamal was chastised when my mother returned with my father from an evening at the neighbors but the punishment wasn t as severe as it might have been since my youngest brother was unscathed my grandfather and grandmother occupied a room adjacent to ours and they took in each child as he or she reached adolescence the first to go was my eldest brother zuhayr the darling of my grandmother he was a well behaved and calm child and most importantly slept early without making a fuss next was my brother muhsin who annoyed my grandfather because he would stay up all night moving restlessly and asking endless questions a kind and patient man my grandfather was soon at his wits end one night when he was trying to find a way to have some private time with my grandmother he called out to my father ahmad we were fine with zuhayr but not with muhsin in addition to the two bedrooms our house had another narrow room serving as a reception area which was covered by a corrugated tin roof in winter we listened to the melodious sound of rain on the roof playing various rhythms and tunes a symphony that turned menacing when the hail began to fall in summer it was transformed into a scorching oven that sent us fleeing to the bedroom or outside to the alleyway the kitchen which was also where we bathed was sectioned off from the reception area it was a small room dominated by a sink beside a wooden shelf mounted with three gas burners the surrounding shelves contained numerous pots and pans and of course the indispensable kerosene heater the toilet was situated right at the entrance of the house behind a wooden door riddled with holes through which we could see passersby when the main door to the house was open because of the tightness of the space no one stayed there long my uncle lived in a room on the roof of our house with the rest of the roof devoted to a clothesline a large pot in one corner of the roof contained a privet tree with a fragrant aroma that my grandmother adored to get to the roof you had to climb two ladders intercepted by a wooden platform my uncle s room had a bed a closet with two compartments and a kerosene heater and we spent many delightful hours there especially in wintertime he would light the kerosene heater place the top of a tin box over the flame and roast chestnuts for us this method he explained to us reduced the intensity of the fire so that it didn t scorch the chestnuts and they cooked more evenly sometimes he would roast chestnuts dates and sweet potatoes together these moments seem to have happened just yesterday the taste of chestnuts and dates still lingering on our tongues my uncle had a beautiful voice and could play the tabla he took part in many concerts and often came home tipsy after an alcohol infused evening he worked selling vegetables chickens and sweets from a pushcart and i often accompanied him on his rounds during school holidays he was always happy for me to come along since i helped him sell out early as he often repeated his customers loved him especially the women because of his way with words and his quick wit and they sometimes came out to see him in their nightgowns in one of our rounds before id al adha a woman called out to us from a second floor window and requested two live chickens my uncle weighed them and i took them up to her and collected the money at the end of the day after god had bestowed as my uncle liked to say we passed by the woman s house again she called out to my uncle hey chicken seller the chickens died i left them on the roof and they died it was summer the sun was blazing and it was scorching hot so my uncle with his usual quick wit replied if i d been left out in this sun i would ve burst the woman laughed and we joined in before continuing on our way my uncle had been stricken with an eye disease in childhood and the condition was exacerbated later in life weakening his eyesight i don t know if that had anything to do with the sudden change in his lifestyle that occurred around the same time he was semiliterate but had memorized the qur an by heart and i remember his transformation from a lover of music and song into a reciter of the qur an a muezzin and an imam he never lost his sense of humor his sociability and open mindedness but he turned into a modern shaykh whose resonant voice led him to excel in the recitation of the qur an and in performing religious chants my uncle married late which made it necessary for him to move out of his little room on the roof and find a new home for most of my childhood the house adjacent to ours was inhabited by a young man and his mother from the town of shahim in southern lebanon his name was husayn and we just called him husayn al shahimi since we didn t know his last name when his mother died he decided to move back to his hometown and my newly married uncle bought the house and moved into it when we were children the alleyways of da uq were our world and our playground we organized football tournaments and played capture the flag hopscotch and an assortment of other games one of the most important festivals of the year was the commemoration of the prophet s birth and we would celebrate in the alleys by drawing a circle on the ground in charcoal dousing it with kerosene and lighting it up at night along with firecrackers and fireworks if childhood was a dream that i lived adolescence seems like a series of images that i am forever trying to recapture i try to recall the moments that i entered into the world of adolescence when the girl next door came of age and grew into her femininity with her radiant face and shapely figure feelings of masculinity began to emerge in me and i was constantly trying to catch her attention i would observe the alley in front of her house and wait for her to emerge to sweep or mop the front steps if i should be lucky enough to receive a look in my direction it would unleash in me that sensation that overpowers lovers in da uq we always bought our groceries from the shops of resident families there was the grocery store of abu adnan and the vegetable store of al shaykh sha ban who was given that nickname because he would write qur anic verses with a brush dipped in ink on the cheeks of children who were afflicted with mumps there was a widespread belief which persists that the swelling would begin to subside as the ink faded and that it would vanish entirely once the ink had disappeared there was also the pickle store of abu ahmad asraf and the cake bakery of the abu qaba family where we could buy pieces of leftover cake for a pittance there was a tailor shop owned by anis al umari who specialized in shirts and a butcher shop owned by al hajj al kak at least that was his nickname there was even abu husah s a store dedicated to slicing and washing carrots apples and other fruit to be sent to a juice shop outside the neighborhood our greatest delight was reserved for the traveling candy salesman naji who was at least sixty years old a tall man with long gray hair and deeply lined cheeks he always wore a heavy coat even in the height of summer trousers with rolled up cuffs and tattered shoes he pushed a worn out children s stroller filled with an assortment of candy chocolates and multicolored balloons as well as some miscellaneous toys naji was generous to a fault giving children who had no money whatever they wanted for free the thing that amazed me most was that he would give children a plastic pistol and ask them to aim at a target like a clothesline on a nearby roof and when they fired he would cry out boooom bravo you hit it the clothesline or other target would not have moved but he still gave the child a gift in reward for good marksmanship i never knew whether he was having fun at the children s expense or whether all he wanted was to make us happy naji had a university degree and spoke several languages people used to make fun of him and say that too much education reading and knowledge had driven him to madness for that was the widespread belief after naji went missing for a long time we learned that he had passed away with his passing the smiles that he had left on children s faces also disappeared which raises the question who was the real lunatic the inhabitants of da uq lived as one family in many houses and in the month of ramadan we became one large household the variety of dishes served at mealtimes multiplied and neighbors exchanged platters of food and dessert in the final week of ramadan the little shops teemed with semolina nuts dates and shortening of all kinds the women would congregate every evening to prepare ma mul and ka k pastries for the celebration of id al fitr they met in a different house each evening until they had prepared enough pastries for everyone my great aunt on my mother s side sitti hajjeh umm ali was always present at these evening gatherings and was the most active and enthusiastic when it came to preparing the pastries the role of myself and other youngsters was to carry the large round aluminum pans containing the pastries to one of the two bakeries we would balance them on our heads and take them to either ahmad al hajj s bakery or that of abu hattah the baking would be done in the predawn hours and the caravans carrying the pastries would return home in the early morning on the eve of id al fitr sabra square became a beehive of activity a busy marketplace for butchers to sell their meat and chicken cages full of chickens were stacked on top of one another and the butchers would stand behind their scales poised to weigh the chicken selected by the customer after it was weighed it was slaughtered and then caught by a boy standing by a pot of boiling water who would scald it before throwing it into a chicken plucker a kind of rotating barrel with protrusions like little rubber fingers the chicken would emerge plucked of all of its feathers it would be rinsed in water and then presented to the customer butchers who stayed up all night constructed makeshift stables around their shops in which they kept their sheep and cows tethered by ropes or held in by wooden boards if you wandered around da uq at night you would be greeted by the hum of the glowing kerosene heaters upon which the id meal was prepared you would take in the fragrant aromas of meat chicken and rice pilaf covered with nuts you would hear mothers urging their children to hurry up and bathe so that they would be ready in the morning to wear their new id clothes before the dawn call to prayer the men would head off to the mosque accompanied by their sons to perform the id prayer wearing their traditional dishdasha gowns and white skullcaps which were brought back each year by pilgrims returning from mecca on their way back from the mosque they passed by the coffeehouses and pastry sellers to buy kanafeh pastries for breakfast in our excitement over the id and our new clothes we would wake up early to greet the feast i can still remember the morning of the id when i went over to visit sitti umm ali my maternal great aunt after she had become partially paralyzed and was unable to stand up when i knocked on her door carrying a gift of oranges her husband opened it she was lying in her bed with her head resting on the headboard she looked at me with tears in her eyes having never had children of her own i strode toward her with a smile saying may each year bring you happiness as soon as i was close enough she hurried to clasp me to her breast so that i could embrace her her white nightgown gave off a fragrant scent she kissed me taking deep breaths from my neck and then insisted on offering me some sweets and a holiday gift of money over my protests she told me that i had done what none of the adults had done by visiting her later when she succumbed to disease and passed away everyone missed her and cried over her the women still remember her fondly whenever they get together especially at the time of the id feast may sitti umm ali rest in peace we still have close ties to some of the families that we lived and grew up with and though we ve lost touch with others their names remain carved in our memories shakatna ahwal sirri ghazalah maraqah jajah iskandarani sa di sawwan irwadi qambur sahli yasin huwaylu mughayyir abu adas hallaq abu qaba khazandar buhayri minawi yasir sirhan far maslakhawi ayyash handam kasita sadiq ghaban ghabayin asraf bushnaq shafi i kabbarah ghazzawi lahham zaydan hafi abu shanab dababish sa idi sundus zaydan safadi za inni zughbi uways hindawi mashharawi abdul rahim abu afash na na all of them families from the towns and villages of palestine in 1969 my mother suffered from a swelling in her head that had to be surgically removed as a result of which she lost her memory that same year i lost my grandfather on my father s side who was a mentor to me and my greatest advocate i used to read him stories of antar bin shaddad and the womanizer salem abu layla al muhalhal and he was the person who turned me into a storyteller encouraged my love of reading and broadened my imaginative horizons my grandfather worked as a used clothes salesman in downtown beirut he partnered with a lebanese friend of his whom he had met when the latter would visit jaffa for business before it was occupied my grandfather used to spend most of the day at work returning in the afternoon carrying a leather suitcase which was more like a large bag packed with fruits and vegetables his pockets would always be weighed down with candies which he doled out to the children of the family and the whole neighborhood we thronged to welcome him as soon as he entered the alleyway chanting kids jiddu is here he would repeat the chant after us with indescribable joy and an ever present smile despite his weariness from standing on his feet for hours then he would spread his arms to embrace us and march us home my grandfather may he rest in peace told me stories about when i was very young among them certain grown up fears and premonitions in 1958 the year after i was born during the crisis in lebanon that was called a revolution my great aunt was visiting our house and before she sat down she asked my one year old self what s the news ta boooom was my reply and she fled immediately because as soon as i said it we heard the sound of gunfire and armed skirmishes many times that year my father returned from work on his hands and knees my parents were like lovebirds the passion between ahmad and fatima was beyond words he used to call her piece of chocolate because of her brown skin and on weekends they wore matching clothes my father s jacket shirt and trousers were matched with my mother s suit or shirt and skirt even his shoes her shoes and her handbag were color coordinated he stood tall at 195 centimeters whereas she passed on to me her shortness of stature all eyes would be on them as they traversed the alley to visit the arus al bahr café in beirut or the bardawni restaurant in zahleh but my father also took an interest in us children and we went out together for many enjoyable excursions many evenings he returned late from work with delicious treats grilled meats pastries or fruits and would ask my mother to wake us up to share them not heeding her protests that it was too late in those moments he just wanted to be surrounded by us before my mother became ill my father dedicated his life to work night and day in order to secure the family s livelihood her illness devastated him and he sought refuge in alcohol trying to forget the tragedy that had befallen him at the age of thirty five he had been deprived of the pleasure of life with his soul mate one day he returned at dawn in a drunken state to the apartment he had rented for my mother after her operation when the doctors had recommended she be housed in a specially equipped residence that day my brother muhsin was on duty with my mother and he greeted my father by saying what are you doing to yourself and to us is this what my mother would have done if something similar had happened to you god forbid muhsin cried and so did my father then he went to the bathroom and washed himself as though he were cleansing himself of a sin he had committed after that he hugged my brother and promised never to do it again and he never did my father was a single parent to six boys two girls and a wife who was more like a newborn child she lived among us though she didn t know us and we meant nothing to her she received treatment in the form of electric shock therapy twice a week we would observe her closely looking at her intently and it would bring us to tears but we never once gave up hope that she would return to us as long as she lived among us my father was unable to manage the affairs of his family since he had spent most of his life working long hours to secure life s necessities for his large brood my mother had been the one responsible for our care and upbringing and for all matters of the household my two older brothers zuhayr and muhsin like many young men spent most of their time outside the house when they returned late at night they would climb the wall of our neighbors house and jump onto our roof then they would slip into my uncle s room who would cover for them by saying that they had stayed up with him for the night i was in the middle of the pack shy to the point of seclusion afraid of mixing with people and diffident i was always charged with caring for my younger brother jamal since he suffered from rheumatism which affected his heart and caused us all great distress as a result he was forbidden from all sports and was not supposed to exert any physical effort most doctors thought it was not advisable to operate on him at that time but they warned us that he would need surgery in the future and sure enough six years ago he was given an artificial heart valve replacement jamal was obsessed with football and i would have to reluctantly deny his pleas to join his friends when they played incapable of resisting his wishes for long i sometimes relented and allowed him to play for a short time the next day he would wake up unwell with swollen feet and i would be punished for being remiss in caring for him to compensate us for the loss of maternal affection my father started spending more time with us we would stay up with him in the evenings and he would tell us about his true love jaffa he told us stories of his life in the city and the hardships he endured in childhood when he was merely a boy he was sent to work in a restaurant serving ful leaving home in the early dawn and returning in the afternoon the alleys of jaffa knew him well since he would stroll along them throughout the night until daybreak in those days people told tales of the jinn stories that terrified a boy who walked the streets of the old city at night he told us about the haunted well and the abandoned house and about the female jinn who appeared to him one day sending him running in fright while muttering verses from the qur an one evening he told us a story that may have been the product of his imagination or an allegory he had heard from others or a result of what he saw when he made deliveries from the restaurant to the houses of ladies of the evening at dawn he related a young man wanted to get married and sought his father s advice his father told him that if he wanted to marry he should seek out his bride in the early morning as soon she woke up he would then see her true beauty unadorned with cosmetics my older sister bakiza took over the tasks of cooking washing caring for the little ones and household chores i was happy to help her out when one of my cousins who lived in kuwait asked for her hand in marriage it was as though destiny was putting me on trial testing my ability to take on responsibility it had barely been two years since my mother s affliction at first my father opposed the marriage but after relatives intervened and upon considering the struggles that my sister had endured he agreed to a one year engagement followed by marriage my mother had prepared the bridal trousseau of her younger sisters but she couldn t do the same for her own daughter my cousin prepared my sister s trousseau the day that bakiza left to join her husband was a difficult one my sister hugged me and we squeezed each other very tightly she was the closest of my siblings to me a true partner in mind and spirit she held me in her eyes as if to say i know that it s a large and demanding responsibility my brother but it s up to you to take care of the family and i m sure that you ll rise to the challenge fortunately i had learned a lot from her my challenging journey began with meal preparation which was something that baffled me for my first attempt at making rice the measurements were all off and the result was a kind of rice pudding but everyone had to eat it anyway afterward i had some cooking sessions with my grandmother who taught me all the measurements and eventually the family ate their meals with greater confidence and satisfaction we left da uq during the armed conflict between the palestinian resistance forces and the lebanese army in 1973 we sought refuge with friends before moving to the quarter of al basta al fawqa which was near to where my mother was being treated our dire circumstances did not prevent us from pursuing our education i was always near the top of my class and my artistic talent grew with time i studied at the ya bad school for girls and boys run by unrwa in the dana neighborhood one day in the fourth grade i was bent over my desk focused on a drawing of a multicolored bird and i didn t notice the teacher standing over me i only became aware of her presence when she stopped explaining the lesson and fell silent i raised my head to find her right there in front of me she looked at me and said finish the drawing and give it to me she didn t punish me because i excelled in my studies that was a kind gesture on the part of my beloved teacher lutfiyah sakhnini whose glowing and beautiful features i still remember well i left school after the intermediate or middle school stage like many others of my generation i was swept up in the turmoil of political ideological and social transformations as well as the successive armed conflicts i found myself caught in both private and public struggles i had never been religious but as a child i prayed and fasted just as my parents had done as i got older i experienced personal strife and entertained a series of different convictions i never became an atheist but i did relinquish prayer and fasting i had a succession of occupations and found employment as a carpenter painter and photographer as well as at a printing press a journalistic institution and a research center i am married with a family and have become a grandfather my mother eventually regained some of her memory and it was as though she had returned from the past she was able to recall more distant memories but had trouble with more recent ones with time her children had grown up and married and they rejoiced in having her back among them joking with her grandchildren and telling them whatever stories she managed to remember but as though to deprive us of our joy destiny played a cruel trick on us my brother muhsin a husband and father of two young children went to work on the morning of october 14 1988 with his fiveyear old son shadi trailing after him baba his son called out to him are you coming back today of course i m coming back muhsin replied but he didn t come back that day since he died a martyr in a massive explosion that killed many people in the dana neighborhood my uncle and i both set off to break the news to my mother my uncle arrived first having taken the mission upon himself and i followed him within minutes i found him sitting beside her while she cried mother i said god did not want him to suffer so he relieved him of suffering the news hit her like a thunderbolt and she sprang up crying he diiiiiied she ran out of the house in her house clothes with her head bare my uncle had not dared tell her that muhsin had died and had instead said that he was in hospital what had i done to my poor mother the news came as a violent shock to my mother and acted as a jolt to her brain which had defied all treatment suddenly it seemed as though her memory was completely restored in 2005 though our journey of suffering continued it sometimes seemed as though we were a magnet for hardship my mother had a stroke that paralyzed her and made her lose the power of speech we had to mash up her food and pass it through a feeding tube that went from her nose to her stomach even medicine had to be ground up to pass through the tube it was excruciatingly difficult to lose her in this way bit by bit she had once been the center of our lives and we were now powerless to alleviate her pain and agony finally she seemed to want to relieve us from the suffering and put an end to the tragedy my mother died my father fatima s lover never drank coffee or ate food when offering his condolences to her friends and relatives perhaps for fear of death or in awe of the momentous event after my mother s burial he asked me to bring him her mattress and set it on his bed for him to sleep on he said to me her mattress is tender son we used to eavesdrop at his bedroom door listening to him singing songs with familiar tunes whose lyrics he had rewritten for my mother later i learned that he had recorded these songs on tapes which my brother found in his bedside table the story of fatima and ahmad lives on and we can tell it to our children and grandchildren their love story is cited by everyone who knew them for some it s seen as a revival of the classic tale of qays and layla because of my father s intense loyalty devotion and attachment to her in life illness and even after her death my father wanted his death to be the end of his misfortunes he died crossing the street with my younger brother sa d as they went to offer their condolences for the death of a relative a motorcycle driver ran into my father at an insane speed he was thrown several meters into the air and fell on his head shattering his skull the last time i saw my father was the evening before the accident when i visited him on father s day i will never forget that evening my brothers were teasing him and talking about my mother whose picture was in front of him he pointed to the picture and talked to it that s enough i m coming to join you he had made a rendezvous with her my uncle was imam and muezzin of the salah al din mosque into his old age and he would head off there every morning leaning on his cane the mosque was only meters from his home even after his death they still broadcast a recording of the adhan in his voice from the minaret five times a day to honor his memory and his voice my brother muhsin the don juan of the neighborhood passed away without being able to share in the joys of his children s weddings or relish the sight of his grandchildren we also miss my brother khalid the seventh child with his ready smile good natured character and simplicity the alleys that he played in grieve for him he succumbed to a muscular disease and after fighting it for two years passed away last year i stand today before the main entrance to da uq to find that it is no longer as it was gone is abu muhammad and the sound of umm kulthum gone is subhi al batal all those faces have disappeared many young people left their families in da uq for a new diaspora after the series of tumultuous events that unfolded there there were the battles between the lebanese army and palestinian resistance forces in 1973 followed by the lebanese civil war in 1975 1976 the israeli invasion of lebanon in 1982 and the sabra and shatila massacre the perpetrators of the massacre entered da uq from the direction of gaza hospital and called on people to come forward my brother in law was one of them but he escaped in the direction of dana station and managed to save his life the most difficult and painful events were those associated with the war of the camps in 1985 which pitted the amal movement against the palestinian resistance da uq was besieged and houses were destroyed on top of their inhabitants many people were killed and the stories told by former residents sound like figments of the imagination they tell of a small area whose narrow alleyways could hardly hold its inhabitants before it was destroyed transformed into a mound of rubble covering human remains a man called abu abd left his mother behind because she was semi paralyzed and immobile she said to him son i have a feeling that the end is near you ve tried to lift me and you couldn t you won t be able to carry me away from here get away while you can i don t want to cause you any inconvenience or be the cause of your family losing you they re out already and they have a greater right to you they re the future go my son may god be content with you there s life and then there s the afterlife just leave the water bottle next to me with the last loaf of bread i don t even know if i can finish it go my son and don t look back abu abd crawled out through the debris found his family and embraced them and cried like a child when he later returned and the debris had been removed he cradled his mother s body they had bulldozed the rubble which was mixed in with furniture valuable possessions and the human remains of the martyrs a man named bilal had stayed alone in da uq once the siege began after his family had been evacuated to a safe area hours before the militias entered the ruins of da uq shooting in all directions in search of fighters bilal escaped to a house adjacent to da uq belonging to a friendly lebanese family they hid him in the attic of their house in anticipation of a door to door search soon enough an armed group from the amal movement forced their way into the house in search of those who had fled from their infernal fire bilal was infuriated because of his concern for the family that had taken him in his ammunition had run out he was powerless and he bit his finger so hard that he cut off a piece without feeling any pain today bilal is in denmark the alleys and passageways of da uq are no longer a playground for memories and longing the houses that now stand in da uq rebuilt after a long struggle with the authorities to get materials in are not the same nor are their inhabitants there are open areas that were never there before some faces have vanished and others have replaced them i search in vain for my father worshipping at the shrine of my mother new shops have opened selling new varieties of fruits and exotic foods after many migrant workers from bangladesh and sri lanka settled in the vicinity of da uq the islamic seniors home that safe haven is still there we used to talk to the residents when we were little and were entertained by the beautiful singing voices wafting out of its windows in the evenings we were sometimes frightened by the cries of pain during the israeli invasion many artillery shells fell in the perimeter of the building and all the patients nurses and administrators were crowded into the ground floor which resembled a dark tunnel the administration of the seniors home issued a call to all those who had relatives there asking them to evacuate them quickly as they could no longer ensure their safety or take responsibility for keeping them there under bombardment my wife s brother s mother in law worked at the seniors home so my brother in law and i set off together from our house in the basta neighborhood without telling our families under cover of night we managed to flag down a passing truck belonging to the palestinian resistance which we took all the way to the dana neighborhood there was destruction everywhere an outpost belonging to the palestinian armed struggle had been decimated by israeli aircraft machine guns which made the plot of land around it look like a plowed agricultural field the sky was lit up with incandescent flares there were fires blazing in homes on both sides of the road from dana to sabra square the buildings surrounding the seniors home were ablaze my brother in law and i entered the tunnel like hallway where everyone in the building had sought refuge a man in his seventies sprang up in front of me in his blue undergarments his face was pale and his hair disheveled and he cried where are we going to sleep i sidestepped him only to be accosted by an eighty year old woman who held onto my arm and implored me take me with you even though i had just dodged missiles and fire without fear i couldn t take any more and felt utterly powerless what could i offer them what form of protection could i provide when all the humanitarian and international organizations had failed my brother in law called out to me where to now i wanted to go outside standing outside in the open air under the shelling was easier for me than standing powerless before those poor wretches the seniors home has now expanded but its windows are still covered by screens behind which shadows dance some of them belonging to residents who have been there all along and others to new arrivals the residents shout sing cry call out in pain and wave their arms as though no years have passed and as if time was still expecting their return to someplace a return to a homeland that lives inside us in our diaspora wherever we are i offer my apologies to all those people in da uq with whom i spent my life and whom i have not mentioned and to all the shopkeepers whose shops i was happy to frequent but whose memories i have not recalled they are all in my heart and mind and i hope to be reunited with them on the soil of our beloved palestine upon our return shorter and longer than a winter s cold spell yafa talal el masri b beirut 1990 your memory is everything your only weapon without a recording device you re at the mercy of time you approach the edge of the cliff without so much as a safety net everything in life is momentary we re all honest and we all mean what we say in that moment alone there s no such thing as lying there are just some things that are true for a very short period of time things that are true in a specific place and time that s all a man has no duplicity in him when he tells a woman he loves her between her skin and his sweat a wine drenched gorgeous passion emerges and when his feet hit the marble floor that passion dies a martyr s death he didn t lie to her at all but passion s lifespan is exceedingly short it can be measured by the better part of a night or longer or the layer of frost on a tent but passion my dear however much it alters remains passion no other name fits it and the same goes for love of the homeland we all mean what we say when we tell a lie and we ve all traded a noble cause for a brief period of happiness whether it lasted moments or days or even years we will never in our lifetimes know how much exactly they sold palestine for my grandfather always said though i never met him they sold it without anyone recording anything at all nobody wrote about their feelings when they took one last look at their houses no one made a record for me of the appearance of the tiled roof of our house in jaffa or of the names of the flowers that grew in our garden here i m going to simply record everything i ve felt even if those feelings only lasted for a few moments don t short lived things also deserve to be celebrated doesn t exile deserve to be spoken of my short lived lie i m going to confess something to you i remember my childhood well even those details that my parents think i don t remember i remember the whole story from the beginning it began when my father a patriotic fighter in the ranks of the popular front named me after his birthplace yafa jaffa he called me yafa simply because palestinian refugees assume many habits that are beyond their control notably the tendency to reopen old wounds with their nails each day to prevent them from healing it s an entrenched habit and there s no use trying to convince a refugee to refrain like all those who left palestine as children my father wanted to shout out his hometown s name every morning and he wanted his hometown to respond with a smile when i was born my four brothers were already young men they gathered around and the eldest one said did you just now give us a sister she hasn t even arrived in time to iron our shirts he was right i had barely begun my journey by the time they had moved on to another exile i grew up in burj al barajneh south of beirut for yafa to live in beirut is a kind of struggle in its own right i began to understand this struggle when i turned sixteen after which for the next ten years i didn t age a single season every night in bed i would hug a stuffed bear and recount what i saw in the camp that morning i would tell him stories about a child whose idea of beauty went no further than her own braids who happily swam through the muddy alleyways of the camp and about another child who devoured ice cream voraciously after tasting it for the first time after my ten year period of seclusion in which i remained a prisoner of adolescence i decided to follow the herd again and i proceeded to age ten years each year maybe i was trying to make up for lost time or maybe i was preparing to live a short life and save myself from wrinkles bitterness and memories or the absence thereof i indulge in all kinds of risk and recklessness there are many things i need to experience in the short life that i ve been granted a life that seems no longer than a winter s cold spell i engage in all types of deception i take on a different personality in a dark costume that i wear in spite of myself in an office that puts me in a box i try to advance professionally with false ambition however as a refugee i need to evade the lebanese labor laws that prevent me from pursuing my profession but my name always betrays me and exposes the deception how unjust are the laws that transform our love for our homeland into shame and how ashamed i am to think that one day my father may read about what the name he chose for me has caused and what the blue colored travel document i inherited from him has wrought the dream that could ignite a civil war like every girl i dreamed since childhood about my wedding day i didn t do so in my zeal to silence the women of the camp who were plagued by spinster phobia nor because the idea of marriage seemed romantic my interest was purely in the wedding itself i was always planning the day in my head i wanted it to be a traditional palestinian wedding with a hand embroidered abaya instead of a white dress and maybe instead of a veil i would wear a kufiyah attached carefully with two braids of hair we wouldn t listen to any of the singers from the television or radio we would sway in style to the songs of palestinian villages taught to daughters by their mothers tell his mother to rejoice and celebrate and sprinkle the pillows with perfume and scent the home is blessed and the house is built the party is ours and the couple will prosper i was no more than ten years old when i hatched the grand plan for my wedding since weddings in palestine are usually celebrated in town squares and there was no suitable square in beirut my imagination settled on the one place that would serve the purpose it was a spot my father often took us the main square in the town of dayr al qamar being raised by an arabic teacher and a former militant in the popular front has some inevitable consequences for one thing you re exposed to many lectures about history and language from an early age and you hear many unique stories about the struggle that you would never come across in a documentary film or read in a journalist s report on our spring and summer outings every single time we passed through dayr al qamar we would be regaled with the same lecture my father would tell us that it was once the capital of the ma ni princes of lebanon that it was an archetypal christian town with six famous churches and that in the middle of the town there was a mosque built by fakhr al din the first the main square in dayr al qamar always cast a spell on me i would sit alongside my parents at the edge of the square in the evening while they admired its proximity to the sky and observed the way it embraced nightfall they watched the water pouring playfully out of the fountain meanwhile i would picture myself in a red and white thawb from jaffa while a hundred young men and women danced the dabkeh around me twirling their kufiyahs to a tune playing loudly in my head you re tall and cute let me tell you something you re going away but your homeland is better i m afraid my dears that he ll settle down befriending others and forgetting me the town square in dayr al qamar was my only choice for a wedding location and i wouldn t settle for anything else it virtually exuded tradition with its cool water fountain that quenched the summer heat its arches and its stage the stones that had witnessed eons of history and the trees that ringed the monastery and welcomed you into their shade i had no inkling of lebanese politics at that time and therefore no idea that the realization of my dream would have ignited a civil war i was completely unaware then of the magnitude of civil sensitivities that decades of war had burdened us with on one of our trips we stopped at the town square as usual and carried our plastic water jugs to fill up at the fountain i pointed to three commemorative plaques in the square and asked my father about them he explained that the first honored the restoration of the square the second was in memory of assassinated leader dany chamoun and the third marked the end of renovations in 1991 even though my father would have liked to narrate the entire history of the world if time allowed he avoided telling me about dany chamoun and the war in the mountains of lebanon but the histories of wars are contained in thousands of books and old newspapers even if no one wants to talk about them that day everything changed i understood for the first time what it meant to live in a nation devoured by civil war extinguishing every last smile dayr al qamar whose sight was always a pleasure for me which i was instinctively attached to was once attacked by the palestinians during the war of the mountains i hadn t known that a single kufiyah could lead to a sea of blood i hadn t known the depths of hatred we generated and inherited even our celebrations could aggravate others and their aggravation could be a cause for our celebration dear friends it was just a child s dream that day i understood the meaning of politics for the first time politics had killed the small child that lived inside me for a little longer than she should have i don t blame the disruption of my dream on politics alone there was another problem an important detail that my fantasy omitted i completely forgot that the wedding would require a partner who was willing to put up with my childish naivete and replace his suit with a kufiyah and baggy pants the possibility of finding such a man was a mission no less difficult than liberation of the land a task more arduous than celebrating a palestinian wedding in dayr al qamar but to this day when i pass through the main square in dayr al qamar i allow myself to fantasize about songs among the stones of the ma ni princes nothing can dissuade me from imagining since imagination is free and the wedding will never happen anyway living in the republic of fingers dear reader if you re well versed in politics then you re no doubt consumed by laughter right now amused by the naivete of my dream we re all funny in childhood carefree in our habits and fantasies that transcend the boring realities of maturity many of us name things as children we assign names to dolls and objects and sometimes those names stick over time nasri however named his fingers i would see nasri every time we visited relatives in tripoli and he aroused my curiosity more than all the young men in beirut nasri lived in nahr al barid camp situated along the sea as i remember it the camp was always sunny and on each visit nasri s smile eclipsed the sun nasri didn t call me by a special nickname as my other friends did but he had very special names for his fingers the names weren t random but were carefully chosen like the names of eagerly awaited newborn children that are dutifully recorded on food ration cards he started inevitably with his thumbs which represented our gateway to palestine calling them ramallah from there we proceed stealthily to the rest the pointer finger he called jerusalem the middle finger was abu mazin the next was struggle and the pinky return the rest of us used our fingers to count our remaining vacation days and the coins in our pocket checking to see if we had enough to buy a supply of candy but nasri used the fingers of his right hand to count the number of newborns in nahr al barid who were given the names of palestinian towns he would repeatedly measure the distance between return and jerusalem sometimes he found himself in a real predicament for example when the west bank rose up in anger he found that struggle gravitated toward ramallah instead of lining up with the other fingers at other times he would look at his fingers and bend them so as to try to separate struggle from abu mazin as much as he could just so that everything was spaced logically but his hand remained a single unit despite his efforts anyway how could the one in the middle let the other fingers fight on their own i have already confided in you my secret ignorance of politics i was never able to follow nasri s discussions of the dialectic between truth and falsehood i couldn t keep up with his attempts to intervene in the conflicts between the five digits for governing the republic of fingers is far more difficult than you might imagine for a long time i wasn t sure that i wanted to be a citizen in the republic of fingers it seemed crowded enough with its five residents in 2008 when we were in secondary school the battle of the camp of nahr al barid broke out in northern lebanon where nasri and his fingers resided nasri who would always say that the nahr river neighborhood where he lived was the most beautiful and calmest neighborhood in the camp found himself occupied with pulling bodies out of the river when he found them they had usually been lying there for several days for fallen martyrs are also calm from that time onward caught between those who justified a second palestinian nakba and those who claimed to know what really happened in the camp i sank ever deeper into the gap that separated lebanese citizens and the palestinian refugees who had lived in lebanon temporarily for sixty eight years i checked my principles at the door and walked alongside everyone else down the alley of prejudice nasri meanwhile lost everything but his principles the battle of the camp did not just cost him his memories of before it also cost him his house in the nahr neighborhood four friends in the massacre of the bread truck and one of his fingers on one of the last nights of the battle nasri alongside many other camp residents who had been unable to leave decided to seek refuge in a shelter at the samed community center as shelling intensified from the warships offshore and rained down on the community center all the surrendered souls perished in silence nasri didn t die but he witnessed the death of everyone else he emerged with a hand wound and they had to amputate ramallah any human being would be psychologically and physically traumatized by the amputation of a finger so you can imagine the effect on an extraordinary young man who used to name his fingers it seemed to me that nasri had lost a son of his own flesh and blood in addition to the homeland that he often dreamt of seeing on my first visit after the battle i didn t go with a bouquet of roses that wasn t nasri s style he would have been happier with a dozen falafel or a new music album i went carrying murid barghouti s novel i saw ramallah his prominent teeth gleamed when he saw it in my hand he reached out his four remaining fingers and motioned excitedly for me to hand him the book he caressed the book s cover with his republic of fingers now missing one member and flipped the pages quickly until he settled on a random sentence that was chosen for him by return he read it out our people who moved out of necessity from one part of the homeland to another and took up residence in our mountainous towns and villages we called them refugees we called them migrants who will apologize to them who will apologize to us who will explain to whom this great confusion he read it with bated breath like someone wrestling with fear under gunfire then he raised his face slowly and wearily to meet my glistening eyes and said with a smile i wish they d taken abu mazin and left ramallah the prick of a needle we lost contact with nasri for several years he disappeared into a mystical trance while he tried to forgive himself then on my twenty second birthday nasri emerged from his hermitage to make an appearance at my raucous party bringing a gift of a kufiyah it was no ordinary kufiyah it had been brought by a friend from ramallah to beirut when she found out that it was to be a birthday present she said really nasri you re going to give her a kufiyah what kind of a present is that our friend whom we envied for living in palestine didn t understand the value of earth and threads from palestine for a refugee who thought that palestine was a myth she never understood why we hugged her at such length whenever she came to visit she was never convinced that the air felt and smelled differently in palestine and lebanon or rather in palestine and the rest of the world i unfolded and spread out the kufiyah as nasri s eyes met mine waiting expectantly for my surprise to be reflected in my facial features as i draped it across my lap i noticed that it was teeming with unusual embroidery like the pattern found on a thawb it reminded me of the embroidered wedding dress that i had folded and stashed away in the closet of my dreams i ran my fingers gently along the edges of the kufiyah as my mind played the screenplay for my pre wedding arrangements i would put the final touches on the kohl around my eyes and slowly attach my bridal veil with a pin the pin would lightly prick my finger and the drops of blood would stain my white dress just a minute what s this blood the veil was just a daydream but the pain was real and so were the drops of blood on my hand where had they come from i had pricked my finger on a real needle that had broken off and been left in the kufiyah by the tailor who had worked on it i held the needle in a daze suddenly forgetting time and space and noticed that between the broken needle and the thread were clustered a few fine hairs i forgot all about nasri who was waiting expectantly for my reaction to his gift my head was filled with a multitude of images this needle had been used by a lady in palestine to sew hundreds of kufiyahs and this one was the most important of them all that was her hair and this cluster testified to the sweat of her brow as she worked the hairs had got tangled between the thread and the needle this lady has long black hair and i hope she has the time to comb it every day and let it hang over her shoulders without a scarf on her head i think she has dark skin and i m sure she s extremely beautiful i imagine she s in her thirties she learned embroidery at an early age from her grandmother and she lives in umm al sharayit in ramallah at least i d like her to live in that neighborhood i would describe her house but i don t know what houses in palestine look like i don t know how people walk in the streets nor how people talk there i m reluctant to misdescribe things and provoke ridicule dear lady i don t know who you are and i don t know if you left a strand of your hair and your needle on purpose or whether you did so accidentally because you were engrossed in your work but whoever you are you ve awakened my dream your simple act may have been the reason for my leaving beirut to find a hidden part of myself or maybe i had many other reasons but your strand of hair is the one i remember because it was the straw that broke the camel s back and maybe that camel was the one that carried my grandmother from her village al kabri in northern palestine to lebanon i don t know if nasri the main source of all this madness will consent to leaving with me he might just prefer to stay near his new camp guarding its indigenous inhabitants from the colonial powers that were on this land before him it doesn t matter i might start a series of investigations a search mission for you that will take me to palestine you might just be my excuse to travel to palestine i may find you there at the margin or i might draw the margin and find myself where i always thought i would a small house in canada margins lines white sheets of paper that is how the noisy interference started in my head i was filled with questions about the point of my existence in exile and my head teemed with thoughts of the covert enmity between palestinians and lebanese i withdrew from the society that was hosting us confined to a box that shuttled between home the camp and the unrwa school i barely saw anyone but palestinians in lebanon even as the lebanese population passed close to me every day as a result of being confined to that box if you had stripped me naked you would have found that i was wearing torn socks and that i stank of the camp that i inhabited in their nightmares as for the point of a life of refuge that was a puzzle for which the only solution i could find was to leave to abandon refuge for citizenship by way of emigration today i poise my oud on my thigh i try to control the tremor in my fingers and attempt to play my national anthem flawlessly as i prepare for the trip to canada it s not a new beginning there s no such thing there are just a series of endings as the egyptian novel hepta says the time has come for yafa to write a happy ending to this journey of refuge but first to inhabit yafa i must swear an oath to an english queen in a cold land in the continent of north america i must become someone else to be myself around twenty years ago one of my brothers took the same path at that time beirut s spaces had crowded him out and i asked him at the age of six why go because we re refugees they don t want us here and they don t like us why don t they like us what did we do to them not necessarily for any reason they don t even like each other so why should they like us the story of a palestinian is truly farcical if you are palestinian you can t live in palestine but if you take on a western identity you can however the question remains will you continue to be palestinian that s not what your papers say that s my final source of melancholy could their foreign papers distract me from my goal what do i care about papers paper and ink are the greatest deceivers that a refugee might encounter they re used to write international charters and they pen our illegitimate refuge on paper that s as blue as the sea that was taken from us fairuz can sing all she wants about a small house in canada today i don t love canada and i don t hate beirut i know for certain that beirut doesn t hate me but i m leaving regardless because i love yafa i was a dreamer when i was younger and i thought that i would one day walk barefoot to my country from ras al naqura in southern lebanon to the shore of akka in northern palestine but in reality the road can only pass through foreign countries countries from which the children in their little hats flock to my country they settle there and are annoyed by talk of palestinian refugees in the camps of the diaspora the forty day cold spell i think that today is my birthday happy birthday uncle wait did you say i think yes indeed uncle you don t know your own birthday palestinians don t have specific birthdates my dear haven t you ever examined your identity card or any of your personal documents yes i have uncle and you re right they just list the year of birth no day not even the month i always wondered about that so no one in the family remembers your birthdate let me tell you like you i remember the details of my childhood well even things that happened before i was born your grandmother was pregnant with me when the attack began on the village of al kabri but my mother who was carrying me as well as the burden of their nakba was overloaded and couldn t walk any longer she had to wait for her relatives to arrive in lebanon and send back the donkey that had carried them there so that she could ride it to the village of qana when palestinians arrived in lebanon they set up tents and collapsed them repeatedly moving from one area to another they were so caught up in the whirlwind of days that they stopped measuring time they had no calendars that could tell them the date and the men were not free to register births and deaths there were events more important than the children of the nakba so none of us knows when exactly we were born all i know is that the weather was very stormy when i was born with the strongest winds of any day that year they were so strong that they pulled out the stakes holding down our tent that s how the tent flew over my mother as she gave birth to me and the whole camp could watch her in labor the women rushed in with sheets to cover up what the heavens wanted to expose that s how i was born i don t know when it was but they call that part of the year the forty day cold spell of course my dear the iciness of the nakba can t compare with the iciness of canada about the mug and the planet when my brother and i left beirut in the direction of the frigid land my mother cried all night we were replaying the same scenario that our three brothers had acted out before us we were the last children to leave her and she was struck with a painful case of déjà vu her only solace was that it would be the last farewell and that none further would be necessary my brother and i didn t carry much we didn t want to be burdened with heavy memories we decided on separating from the stigma of refuge that we would leave beirut and its sorrows to its people that day i wore a dark sweater that said palestine in pretty ornate script in english and arabic still the iraqi immigrants who were on the same flight insisted that we were iraqi immigrants like them i put that down to the similarity between the palestinian refugee travel document and the passport provided by the united nations to asylum seekers like them i remember the little iraqi christian girl anna who had cancer and captivated us throughout the flight i often wonder what happened to her did the disease defeat her or did she conquer it with that smile of hers i dreaded the answer and so i never found a way to contact her i prefer to think that anna was treated in canada recovered beautifully and is playing hide and seek with little blond friends in the school playground in our stopover in the cairo airport i remember how you my brother accompanied me to every single shop in the duty free zone in search of a mug to add to my collection you were the only one who never made fun of my obsession with collecting trifles like mugs stamped with the names of countries the palestine supplement of as safir newspaper commemorative buttons and bottles filled with colored sand we went to every store in that airport but we couldn t find a single mug with the word egypt so before we left we had to buy a cone shaped mug with a pharaonic motif for eleven dollars later on we bought a mug from the renowned niagara falls in canada for a mere three dollars do you remember those strange isolated working class cafés in the cairo airport with names like lady s café and planet café we walked into the planet café and almost died from the fumes of cigarettes and water pipes and from the damp emanating from the old wooden chairs it was your first visit to canada and more importantly the first time in fourteen years that you would see our brothers living half your life without seeing your brother is not easy but the real difficulty was enduring the overwhelming emotions in the first moments of reunion all the lounges of the toronto airport were not spacious enough to hold our first four way hug everything about that trip was strange for us from the calmness of the towns to the intensity of luxury the cold winter spell that lasted forty days for us stretched nine months for them exactly one year ago to the day i was the one who backtracked despite the identity cards that forgot our dates of birth despite the blackness of my dark suit despite the loss of ramallah and my nonexistent wedding i was the one who backtracked i retraced my steps back to beirut alone without you on my return trip to beirut i didn t stroll around the transit area i didn t buy a mug and i didn t drink anything at the planet café i haven t spoken to you since i came back i haven t asked you how you re doing in that cold land why should i i m certain you re living a better life than the life of refuge but i miss you we miss you me my mother the mug and the planet clutter my mother like every other palestinian mother measures her status in society by the level of tidiness of her household every time we brought what she classified as unnecessary new stuff into the house she would make the same comment we don t need more clutter i don t know whether barabish clutter is a palestinian expression or whether my mother invented it out of nowhere to express her dread of the copious quantities of books newspapers papers photographs and other stuff that we couldn t quite stash away tidily in compartments but my mom always had solutions she would steal the newspapers and use them to wipe the glass or to line the trash bin she d say there are hundreds of newspapers they ll never notice that one is missing she d tear up photographs digital photography is an undervalued blessing you only appreciate it when like me you re unable to close your drawers because of the stacks of pictures albums and negative prints anyway most of the pictures my mother tore up are ones of old friends whom she d like to tear up in person but of course she hangs on to pictures of her engagement and wedding as well as those of herself and my father in the presence of the the wise one george habash which are stored in a sacred album that no one dares touch each time i came home my mother would inspect the bags i was carrying and would lose her temper when she discovered all kinds of scraps i had collected from the city a car license plate that i found in the trash a board made of cork that i stealthily took from the bookstore window or even a ticket discarded on the side of the road i still remember the day my father brought home an encyclopedia that he had seen advertised in a trade magazine he was practically jumping for joy because it had been such a good deal my mother blew up because she didn t need more books she never knew what to do with the three bookshelves we had in different parts of the house at one point she stacked all the old worn out and warped books in one bookshelf and put it on the eastern balcony out of sight as for the really damaged books with torn covers and missing pages she put them in a box and threw them out with the trash fortunately my father saw the box outside the apartment door before the trash was collected and saved it from oblivion after that he didn t speak to my mother for five nights but that didn t stop her from throwing out books and other things she just did it without our knowing i was never strong enough to defy my mother s orders i threw stacks of memories into the trash i would not look too long at each paper before breaking my emotional tie to it that s how i could coldly part with twenty five years however when fadi crossed my path he presented me with a solution to life s accumulations of clutter that defied every logical thing that i had ever considered fadi entered my head from a narrow door and proceeded to construct his cabinets inside it a process that overturned all my thoughts or perhaps just organized them khazaaen cabinets is the name of a project centered in jerusalem that seeks to build a societal archive out of virtual cabinets that gather the ephemera of people s daily lives these cabinets bear our names and contain our stories by holding copies of all the papers and documents every advertisement invitation business card or poster that we ve ever come across your cabinet is your own possession as well as being the property of everyone else so that they can know your story and you can read theirs history will write of war and peace it will describe the throwing of rice and the shooting of bullets but it won t speak of abdullah lama the doctor who attended to poor people in burj al barajneh refugee camp and didn t collect a fee it won t write about the students at galilee school who printed manifestos outlining their demand to return to palestine and distributed them in unrwa schools and who were then expelled and it won t tell of how monsters began to infiltrate our refugee camps a long time ago without arousing anyone s attention khazaaen is an effort to redirect that writer of history who omitted us who never attended to us when we bade him to slow down it will recount things to him that others won t fadi s cabinets paved the road to return in my head he said even if the refugees don t return their things will i wasn t able to return to palestine to jaffa but my stuff my papers and my stories are now in a cabinet bearing my name in jerusalem one day someone will wander around this digital archive in jerusalem searching for truth in every corner and as he opens a cabinet he ll say so that s how the palestinians lived and one day i ll return to jerusalem open my cabinet and read all of the stories it contains from the life that i lived in lebanon i ll tell my dearest one how i lived far from her in exile that s the sign that i once held in a protest march here s the one thousand lira ticket i used to ride the no 12 bus each day to university this is the invitation card for my graduation ceremony and there s the poster that they hung in the camp the day that abu ammar yasir arafat died nowadays i regret every piece of paper that i ever threw away voluntarily what s wrong with clutter clutter turns out to have a home mama hanin longing hanin mohammad rashid b burj al shimali tyre 1993 you may encounter it in your heart in spite of yourself after it has made its way to your ears as you listen to a random song chosen by the taxi driver it may take you unintentionally to a destination further than your own but closer to yourself you might come across it at the beginning of a poem that someone wrote after parting without intending to revive old wounds yours his or anyone else s who happens to read it you might see it clearly teetering on the face of a grieving mother whose face has been colored by the flag shrouding a tired body it might have been a stupid bullet that pierced her pure heart before it could touch her son s chest and make him a martyr that is longing hanin the word the feeling and the constant companion obviously we don t have the freedom to choose our own names and nor do we generally possess the courage to change them later we become attached to our name with its few letters and it possesses us in turn it imbues us with a great deal of self assurance and self indulgence our name precedes us everywhere and is the first thing we introduce ourselves with when meeting others it s the first thing we write on the exam papers that can determine our futures it s the word we love to hear most when uttered by our loved ones i ve always been fascinated by the strange relationship that develops inadvertently between some of my acquaintances and their names they transform a name into a path that must be taken no matter the cost amal hope for example goes to bed every night confident that reality will take her hopes more seriously with every passing day while amani dreams carries in her flowery heart many of the desires that she yearns to fulfill and works diligently to achieve them whereas halima patience is always waiting tolerantly in expectation of a better future that would be deserving of her smile as for me i admit with overwhelming joy and some satisfaction that my name has been my lot in life bringing me love power and pain this has pleased me since childhood and it pleases me even more to think that my name now shares so much of what i ve lived through and what has lived in me i ll try to write some of this down if words don t fail me each one of us has whether we like it or not a special longing hanin that occupies one or two sections of our heart this longing sometimes pierces the isolation of night without prior invitation leaping like a gazelle into a distracted consciousness making matters worse and evoking painful memories it s a longing that comes over and transforms you into a dumb icon because of it you might weaken considerably in a place where only the strong exist or you might forgive excessively in a place where you won t find someone who would ignore your most minor lapse nevertheless i laugh spontaneously whenever i relate the reason for my name my sister who is six years and one month older than me was a huge fan of a certain cartoon character when she was a little girl so she decided when i was born at the end of a gentle september to give me the name of the girlfriend of her cartoon hero thank god she didn t go overboard and call me rami which was the name of the superhero himself that s how longing came to live with me due to no fault of my own thanks to my sister i was fated to have that name ever since the first encounter between a man and woman who knew love at an early age and chose to be united by it it was such a great passion that my mother is incapable of uttering a word about it whenever we ask her for details she just makes do with a shy smile that i ll never understand longing adhered to me even though my mother had five children who preceded me into life each of whom has left me with a small memory which i searched for and collected during the period of nearly nine months i spent in my mother s kind and caring womb i later wished that that womb had held me and carried me longer as long as possible i was barely alive when my ears first picked up the scattered notes of a voice that was suitable for anything but singing that voice was my father s and he never tired of making us listen to a song whose lyrics never fail to instill in any solid citizen a mixture of pride enthusiasm and surprise it was a song that my father had learned by heart by mind and by soul and we learned it too my siblings and i without making any effort or exerting ourselves in any way there was no greater mystery for me than this song and others like it when i was young and i tried my utmost later on to discover the secret behind it it took some time and knowledge and many late nights imbued with intimate memories when my father transported us back to a time of contentment determination and sacrifice in that time my father s most fervent aim was to come home bringing a good omen for his mother who had pinned all her hopes on her second son she was the one who gave him the responsibility of achieving that aim so it was that i took my first steps in a special world of longing a permanent longing for the homeland the notes of my father s favorite song used to echo through our small house and from there to the modest neighborhood in the small camp and from there to the villages of southern lebanon that we visited each month the front and back seats of the car vibrating to the sounds of countless vocal concerts there we would find fields of green spread out to meet the blueness of the sky creating a beautiful hope inspiring tableau in a single unwavering voice we would sing i will confront you my enemy from every house neighborhood and street we would let our voices loose and my father would unleash a stream of memories that refused to die or be reborn i don t remember ever asking about the meaning of those words sometimes a little girl might not do the expected thing she may refrain from bothering anyone with her curiosity and inquisitiveness who was she to ask what her father wanted to confront maybe the longing that my father harbored in his heart for the days when he was known as a fida i didn t hide for very long and made its appearance in broad daylight our destination on those regular trips was not arbitrary but responded to that longing reanimating the memory of the years he had spent in those parts my father seemed to live in the recesses of his memory more than he did in the present and his dream to fulfill his mother s dream which was the whole universe in his eyes still overtook him from time to time my father took nothing from the rugged mountains where he encamped for many long hard years except a certain hardness he took nothing from the nights he kept a lone vigil and uttered a prayer that could have been his last except a terrible stillness when that stillness settled over the features of his tan face which betrayed his age my siblings and i knew at once that something had certainly happened he was the righteous son the second son of a modest family that had settled in their beloved burj al shimali refugee camp a refuge that they assumed to be temporary and we inherited that assumption from them he was not lucky enough to have the name of his village recorded as his birthplace on his blue identity card the most prized possession of every refugee a label whose honor and anguish are acquired without any personal effort everyone who knows my father knows that his journey of struggle and his repeated long absences in 1969 would not have been possible were it not for certain dawn prayers that protected him a pure heart that gave him abundant love and attention and an astute mind that realized the grave dangers that surrounded him his mother chose to give to palestine a piece of her heart and body in the hope that the occupation would be deterred by a revolution of young people protected by the eye of god and the hearts of their mothers my father s pulse never lost the rhythm given by those he loved and was loved by and by the warm home within whose walls he spent so many evenings and transitioned from a troubled childhood to a hardly less troubled adolescence but his greatest longing was always reserved for the only woman who was irreplaceable for him my grandmother may she rest in peace it was a sacred relationship to a woman whose features some say i share with her pale cheeks and warm smile she wasn t a woman who rocked the cradle as the saying goes for the simple reason that she never owned one but she shook the earth with her strength and insight and she shook hearts with her gentle speech and the generosity she showed to strangers her prayers she transformed into a steady bridge that my father could cross to fulfill her dream of victory and liberation of the homeland she was unwavering in her support and encouragement patting the shoulders that carried burdens and responsibilities exceeding the capacity of a lifetime until she left us for good without anyone having informed her of the date of victory and return she in turn told no one how painful it had been for her and her heart which was small in size and large in love to endure the lack of return i can recall all of the times my father paused during our evening talks to wipe away a stinging tear and to dampen the fervor of a longing evoked unintentionally by memories when we asked him about my grandmother my father once told us after a moment s silence to catch his breath that one night in 1976 he had gone back to his house in the camp to say what might be a last farewell and to commit to memory the faces of his loved ones he and his comrades had been recruited for an important military mission on the hills overlooking palestine he remembered well how he hugged my grandmother and kissed her hand while trying to hide the tears that were flowing spontaneously my grandmother was in turn trying to give my father some comfort and hope with faint smiles while her heart writhed in pain all the while assuring him that the liberation of the land could only come about by the efforts of the young people from the camp she followed him outside wiping his brow with her palm and repeating a prayer may god bring you victory my son i don t know why it was so hard for my father to relate such details from his love story with his homeland which he lived with his whole body his heart just broke when he did maybe the pain of memories was so great that it imposed silence there s no power greater than the power of memory it has a way of awakening dormant pains down to the very last there s no blaming the silent killer who doesn t take your leave when he kills but who accompanies you wherever you may be whom you bear like a tattoo on your skin it s a longing that never shrinks but deepens despite our best efforts my father continues his story ignoring for once the tears from his honey colored eyes i envy him when he speaks proudly about the numerous victories he registered in his youth which turned him into a tireless and loyal lover of the homeland and the cause until his last breath it carved into his memory many scenes that he struggled to put behind him when they were over scenes that we found hard to imagine how can my imagination which i ve worked diligently to nurture and enrich conjure up the image of my grandmother whom i never really knew as she gave him her blessing before he left to report to a military camp in the south he describes her voice which he misses sorely as one that skillfully hid her sadness and apprehension my grandmother said son please tell them not to hang your picture in front of our house if you die a martyr i don t want to see your picture torn on the walls i want it to remain pristine in my eyes and my heart how can i explain what lies behind such fortitude and power which just grew with every goodbye how did my grandmother summon all that affection mixed with strength to transform my father the indefatigable fida i into a glorious man who only weakened before her and never broke except when she was mentioned nothing could stop his heart except my grandmother s departure thirty years ago my grandmother s longing for her birthplace grew to the point that she was unable to hide it any longer and she became incapable of living out the rest of her days longing took her from us and harshly wrested her hand away from my father s leaving his fingers holding emptiness they were both victims of loneliness seeking something to fill the spaces between them my grandmother departed leaving all those who knew her searching for someone to console them as her last kisses her warmth still enveloped them from every direction halima may she rest in peace was my grandfather s first love my father s deepest love and the love in whose memory i was raised i never had a share of it in her presence but i learned all those years to gaze at her hanging picture and to pronounce the word sitti without hesitation or pain death refuses to be gentle and leaves us crying for our weak selves not for those who ve left us training ourselves to cope with inescapable loss and the sudden memories that longing awakens death whose destructive and unexpected impact i was never aware of until i experienced it a little over a year ago i awoke from a beloved sleep to a yet more beloved voice except that voice was weeping and wailing my mother had just heard the news of her elder sister s death and had begun to mourn in the way that befits a great love and a deep relationship my darling aunt had received more than her share of my strange longing attachment and sympathy there are two scenes that come most readily to mind featuring my aunt and myself as the heroines in which everyone else was just an extra and everything around us just pretty scenery the first scene occurred in april 1996 when i was just three years old and the spoiled baby of the household playing and enjoying the company of my elder siblings in typical fashion who loved me as i loved them my aunt and her family which was a large one sought refuge in our house in the camp when they fled from the israeli assault on southern lebanon known as the grapes of wrath but the real grapes of wrath burst inside me for reasons i still can t explain i was overcome with feelings of jealousy and confinement a child like me couldn t accept the presence of long term guests in a small house that was her only arena for playing frolicking dancing and chasing the ants in the corners my senseless antics made me laugh when they were related to me later by my siblings and mother i was humiliated when they told me about my chronic stomachache and unexplained constipation it was as though i had pledged to my intestines not to enter a toilet for as long as my aunt and her children were in our house this was confirmed when i ran like lightning to the bathroom at the very moment that our dear guests left even though the second scene contradicts the first it was also one in which my aunt me and war were the principal characters it was july 2006 and once again my aunt and her family sheltered in our house from the shelling that was following them everywhere even in the refugee camp but this time whenever i heard sounds of bombardment whether near or far i would search frantically for my aunt whose presence i had rejected so strenuously when i was younger i sought her out all over the house held tightly to her arm and buried my terrified face in her lap while she writhed not due to fear but to the discomfort i gave her by clinging so tightly to her with every tug of her arm she would try to calm me down all the while whispering hanin my dear my shoulder my shoulder my dear i have no idea how my initial rebuff turned into affection over the years or how her face and slightly hoarse voice turned into fragments of memory that will haunt my heart forever my search for a shoulder to lean on will likely continue throughout my life with death being the surest reminder that the shoulders and hands we manage to find are bound to disappear talk of longing can seem so tedious when it is joined with absence and parting but it can be just the opposite spreading hope and light laughter when it is connected with your first steps toward a world of deep sentiment a world in which there is no will except the will of love praise the lord a heart the size of your fist composed of flesh and blood can hold enough passion to supply the entire planet if it happens to be inhabited by longing even if you re strong enough to withstand emotion you will likely not be able to resist attaching yourself intensely to everything related to whoever is responsible for that upheaval of the heart you automatically lose the ability to control the present that is lived for the sake of one person and the future that doesn t seem beautiful or even desirable except in that person s presence out of nowhere a soul that you meet and befriend transports you from one place to another without your moving at all it embraces you in a way that a thousand hugs are unable to do and renders the rest of the world entirely superfluous it alone is capable of cracking the code of your special universe and it is uniquely able to occupy everything within you at every time and in every place when the owner of that soul becomes a cherished guest they add longing to longing and ignite your spirit with fondness i m a little ashamed to admit the sense of strangeness and warmth that settled over me when i discovered that with each encounter i took a step forward in life and with each parting i took two steps backward i felt it when i saw that same face in the faces of passersby in the early morning or when i heard that same voice in a song i chanced to listen to at night that feeling is the harbinger of a looming storm of longing i never cared about the aftermath that i would ordinarily have dreaded but my constant certainty that it would eventually pass fade away and that the clamor would subside was what softened the ordeal it also allowed whoever had ignited the flame inside me to cross effortlessly toward me as though there were no obstacles in the way at one time i felt as though it was too late for me to experience and live all this passionate chaos beautiful things had lost their way and would never approach me but then they collided with me all at once without causing any pain after longing took up residence in hanin a thousand sentiments in one heart at long last someone arrived to spread calm and serenity my affections developed in much the same way as any creature in this world without any effort on my part they developed in the pupils of the eyes under the eyelids and among the lashes each one of which i memorized in the grip of fingers that i always loved to embrace and in the polish of nails whose colors he admired in the heart of a small child we dreamed of bringing together into the world who would grow up with us among the pages of a book we both read and loved on a pillow that i replaced every now and then my affections grew and my longing increased beyond what my friends had expected or my mother had hoped even beyond my own rosiest dreams a crazy longing accompanies me now too and it has done so for days as i collect missing pieces of myself that have been scattered for too long i gather them up and string them into a beautiful necklace around my neck to remind me of the faithfulness of our two hearts a string of jasmine flowers that persists despite the vagaries of the seasons i m sustained by my great faith in the mercy of god that encompasses our weak hearts and by a saying that i repeat whenever i need some special solace everything happens for a reason and there is no room for coincidence in our destiny i m now capable of accepting any ending and living with fragments of memories i can tolerate the bitter taste of loneliness along with a sip of the coffee that i ve lately become addicted to longing always presides over everything else it visits me suddenly when i innocently shut my eyes like a child and let my frail memory take me back to a recurring scene i used to take a narrow road from our neighborhood to the girls school in the camp this road witnessed many scenes in the life of hanin the child the adolescent and even the adult my sisters and friends and i would pause in the middle of an alleyway when we overheard a conversation among members of a family in one of the narrow houses whose walls were indistinguishable from those of the house next door this eavesdropping a nasty habit was one of our many special morning rituals mornings in the camp were disturbed only by the smells of food being prepared early or the cries of a newborn baby puddles of water adorned our path in all seasons not just winter and we were accustomed to hopping over them gracefully despite the weight of our backpacks to avoid getting soaked and humiliated we never felt the distance blissfully unaware of our slow pace until the school bell rang out announcing the imminent locking of the big blue metal door at that point we d start running as though a starting gun had sounded for a race we fell in line hurriedly as we expelled the cold air from our lungs along with the words that had gone unspoken and the laughter that had to be suppressed until the end of the school day like bees in a hive or soldiers on parade we d begin to sing the national anthem in loud strong voices as our teacher used to say i want the sound to shake the earth at that point our school could have been the hallowed ground of a battlefield and we a bunch of sleepy schoolgirls might have been a group of resurgent fida is years passed as i replayed the same scene in my head that is where i was born and that is how i grew up and everything grew up with me just so in the beginning longing for me was restricted to the members of my family a family that i enjoyed being the youngest member of then longing extended to a homeland to which i dreamt of returning and from there to dear ones who had been taken by death leaving only a picture or two to kiss whenever i missed them then longing extended to a small refugee camp inhabited by simple people a place that was the origin of all beginnings and that made me what i am now and then longing developed and i became enmeshed in it when my heart was touched by a soul mate and a partner in dream and reality at that point longing outgrew all description and love outpaced all happiness i came to love life through him and myself and planted flowers in his image wherever i went i imagine longing lurking in the shadows contemplating the finishing touches on a story of the reawakening of an old wound one of many stories that takes so much time and so many sleepless nights to create longing is always revealing its skill at locating the sites of wounds that don t heal and choosing the most difficult times to accept loss longing scatters some salt on the wound and proceeds on its way leaving behind the traces of love or something similar which remain with us for life we ache while longing laughs at the end of every night relishing the victory and revealing a smiling countenance didn t i say at the beginning that longing resides in your heart in spite of yourself it lives in the love of each of us for ourselves in the details of life that leave deep traces upon us it lives in our love of the past and of those who dwelt in the past in those who left us without saying goodbye and took parts of us with them it lives in the love of a mother for her son in her fear for him and her anticipation of his return it lives in a son s undying love for a mother who is long gone and whose shining face accompanies him wherever he goes it lives in the homeland you grew up in even though you never set foot there and in the love for a road in the camp that is only wide enough for two friends it lives in the love that you make sure to express to whoever inhabits your heart longing alone always increases and never diminishes it can persist and endure after everything else has ended my heart hangs from a mulberry tree wedad taha b libya 1991 large raindrops are reflected on the dashboard of the car and i mistake them for insects that must have crept in when i wasn t looking i try to wipe the shiny black dots with my hand shivering in the december chill and succeed in wiping nothingness i shake my head ashamed at myself at the delusions that overcome me i m cowardly to the point of being mortally afraid of an insect and always so alienated from my surroundings let me be clear i ve always been at arm s length from everything around me and also from myself i don t really know myself maybe because i haven t searched for myself but nor have i attached myself to a place or a person i ve never been enthusiastic about anything or been driven to seek reasons i just walk with my head to the ground i never knew that palestine was my homeland until i came to lebanon maybe i realized that i was palestinian late in life or maybe i didn t fully appreciate what it meant to be palestinian until i wandered from where they lived in south lebanon my family went in search of life in the farthest reaches of the earth after my parents got married they went to libya where i was born from there we went to the united arab emirates where we lived until i was twelve i don t remember my parents mentioning palestine once instead in our house all the talk was about the refugee camp i didn t understand the word and i wasn t interested enough to ask i was too caught up in my childhood school field trips my green velvet dress my lost canteen and the gold ring that i took from my mother s jewelry box to give to my teacher which she returned when she saw my father s initials written on it in tiny turquoise stones i don t recall my father ever sticking to one job so we lived a simple basic life in the uae when he worked we would eat and live comfortably and when he lost his job my mother would shed tears and sell some of her gold jewelry we didn t come back to lebanon every summer as immigrants do nowadays i don t know if my parents wanted to distance themselves or if their limited means prevented them from going all i know is that i was a stubborn child who loved dancing and my sudanese friend mahira who was separated from me forever and without a goodbye when we left i m not sure if the first gulf war was the reason my father lost his job abu ammar yasir arafat exposed thousands of palestinians to expulsion and displacement from countries that sought to punish him for his position in favor of saddam hussein thousands were deported and driven out callously at that time and that s when we returned to lebanon i understood the meaning of displacement loss and longing for the first time when my mother said goodbye to me at the door of my grandfather s house in the al raml neighborhood in the southern lebanese city of tyre my heart ached that day i didn t realize that she would only be returning at distant and intermittent intervals i didn t know whether the need for me not to miss out on school was the only reason i had to be separated from her and from my siblings for a whole year or whether it was my uncle mahmud s death of a sudden heart attack in germany at the age of twenty eight that broke her to the point that she forgot me there my mother is a woman constructed out of fear it s a fear that i came to resent as i grew older i never understood the reason for it and she wasn t self aware enough to explain her phobias to me all she knew was that the traditions she inherited dictated that i obey her and that her being my mother gave her the right to fence me in with her thoughts i never forgave her for that i never accepted the inane habits whose only goal as far as i could tell was to make me stupid but my rebellion was purely passive i sought refuge in my heart though i don t know whether this rescued me from my mother s traditions and her distant refugee camp or whether it somehow succeeded in entrenching them in me more deeply in lebanon i went to school with my cousins with whom i shared a room in my grandfather s house even though my two aunts considered me to be their guest and set aside space for me in their cold bedroom their room overlooked the yunis hair salon and i would look out furtively from their small secret window to satisfy my curiosity about what went on there amidst all the mirrors that covered the walls i ve always been drawn to tight mysterious spaces and fascinated by every crevice in every place i ve visited always searching for signs of life in them i was attracted to passageways like the narrow alley that we took daily to and from the nimrin school in al buss refugee camp as i stumbled through that mud covered alleyway all winter long i would be overcome with many fears i yearned for school yet was anxious that i might encounter a cat that would brush up against my leg along the way to school we passed buildings other schools small rosebushes and reddish rusty iron gates leading to dark houses which opened in the mornings to let women out into the alleyway the women would greet one another say goodbye to their children and sweep the rainwater away from their low thresholds toward the gutter that flowed very close by open gutters were everywhere in the camp and we would skip over them as they emanated fetid smells of coffee grounds and the mulberry leaves that fell from the giant trees nearby they called it the mulberry camp on the way to school i would meet up with my relative ikram with her fair hair turquoise colored eyes and raspy voice we d recite yesterday s lesson together as we admired the spring flowers or braved the december wind pushing past throngs of schoolkids who crowded the alleyways of al buss camp i never knew how she managed to find shortcuts that brought us to school earlier than anyone else that gave me a chance to observe the school silently before it echoed to the sounds of shouting children and the ringing of the golden bell wielded by the principal i ve retained the habit as an adult arriving to work an hour before the start of the school day i read drink coffee and take in the morning and my dreams the black school gate was huge we entered through a narrow side door and i would lower my head to clear it as the principal looked on with a paternal smile his hair was always carefully combed to the side the part placed a good deal too close to his ear that s all i remember about him apart from his short leather jacket a picture comes to mind now from the recesses of my memory the principal is presenting me with a prize for academic excellence with his usual smile as everyone looks on with evident satisfaction i don t remember the experience itself or my feelings in the moment but i will never forget my grandfather s face at home his white beard was glistening and his pink gums peeked out from under his bushy mustache he teased me as i squirmed gullible and clueless he tapped his cane with glee saying what have you done at school today darling he asked that alarming question and allowed the silence to linger between us just to torment me then he said i saw mr muhammad today why didn t you tell me you came first in school a few moments passed i still didn t understand that he was trying to make me happy and revel in my success the full significance of my achievement didn t sink in until i got beaten up by my younger cousin who was my grandfather s favorite and who was driven crazy by all the attention and indulgence that i was receiving from him my grandfather then called the whole family over yusra come my dear maha taha where are you kids mustafa s daughter has made me proud today come get some bonbon he rolled the last word on his tongue in a way that prompted us to laugh and imitate him behind his back then he grabbed his precious bag of goodies and poured the contents over our heads the colored candy nuggets flew everywhere as i reached upward to grab as much as i could i don t know where i acquired a curiosity about place names when i learned that my school was named after a village in palestine i pestered my grandfather with questions about nimrin but i never thought to ask him about the blue flag hanging from the pole outside or about the blue windows cold seats and dark rooms of our school which was considered a model compared to other unrwa schools my love of reading first surfaced in the uae my mother would buy us copies of a children s magazine majid which i read with excitement rereading them over and over without ever tiring of the repetition in tyre i started reading my schoolbooks for pleasure i especially loved history and craved the praise of my history teacher who used to say bravo every time i showed signs of prowess i once asked my grandfather what the word meant and he chuckled loudly his full firm belly shaking until the white hattah fell from his head and he had to pick it up and rearrange it with the black iqal i followed the movement of his hands waiting for him to explain the meaning of the word but he never responded my question remained hanging when my beloved teacher kamil passed on a few years later i couldn t comprehend how someone so tall could die his mysterious and frightening death along with that of my uncle may have prompted my first questions about death i realized that death could be trivial sometimes yet permanent god is ingenious at creating pretexts to draw us closer to him he can make death sudden in a scary perplexing and devastating way that s how i felt anyway when my mother said goodbye to another brother who was handsome kind and full of life he visited us one last time in a coffin carried all the way from his cold exile mama i want to be veiled i said to my mother absentmindedly when she came to visit me as i buried my little head in her lap i shut my eyes and took in the scent from her long black dress it was my mother s scent and lap she hadn t visited me in a month and a half leaving me to toss and turn at night yearning and longing for her i missed her dear spirit and missed playing with my siblings i was the middle child but i always behaved like a mother to them i cried for an hour as i buried myself in her lap and held on to her as though i was trying to plant her in my soul so that i could have my fill of her my mother was and has always been my comfort and the soul of my soul i m not sure whether being deprived of her made me more attached to her or whether it was her short stories or her sweet singing that mingled with the steam and smell of soap when she bathed us i held her head with my hand and told her not to leave me there to take me with her wherever that might be i couldn t stop crying i didn t know where i stood or how to make sense of what was happening to me i wasn t fully conscious of the significance of what i had lived through one of the clearest images that i had came from my dreams like most palestinian families mine was pious following traditions inspired by the face of god and his power over hearts minds and practices did i just say the face of god it was a face that i saw through thick high white clouds an ethereal face that visited me in a dream and i spoke to it i don t remember what he said but he spoke to me too yes i spoke to god when i was asleep and in the same dream i saw the prophet when i woke up in a muddled state and said mama i want to be veiled my mother refused she feared that i would take off the veil after a while and she wanted me to be sure of the first free decision that i would make did i say free decision i don t know how free my decision was nor do i know the meaning of that idea now i don t even know if it was a decision or just the outcome of the traditions speaking to me in a dream all the women around me were veiled my grandmother was veiled despite the fact that she continued to flirt with my grandfather into her seventies my mother was veiled covering the most beautiful hair of any woman apart perhaps from the hair of nymphs if they exist with its waves and thick locks that fell in layers and its magical saturated color i always contrasted it with the thin and wiry hair of my paternal aunts and i thanked god that i didn t inherit theirs all four of my aunts and all the women of the neighborhood were veiled even umm sulayman in her dark cramped hole in the wall wore a headscarf though she never went out and was hardly capable of walking she had barely any visitors except me my grandmother her daily plate of food the ravages of winter her grinding poverty and the memories of her children for my first veiled photograph i smiled before the lens of ibrahim al susi posing in front of a white background i sent the picture to my father along with a keychain engraved with the words if hearts could be gifted i would have given you mine i didn t expect much of a reply but one sunny winter s day the school principal summoned me as soon as i crossed the threshold of his office i saw my father perched giantlike on the black leather couch i threw myself at him and was pricked by his thick black mustache he and the principal chuckled at how long i cried then he kissed me i felt special because my father had come to pick me up before the end of the school day it was a rare and strange event when we got home my grandfather was resplendent in his usual chair in the living room there was a lunch in honor of my father who then took me to our new house we arrived there exhausted after a long car ride on a road full of potholes my insides rattled by all the vibrations the road had gone on and on scenes of fruit orchards rushing past fleetingly as my heart raced gleefully soaking up the exhilaration of the day as soon as the car stopped i ran toward the house and took in the aroma of the lentil dish that my mother was preparing especially for me in between two refugee camps and in the face of an impossible return my grandfather had bought a small plot of land with the money transfers that my father had sent back while he was working in the gulf on it he d built a two story house which he only managed to enjoy in his final years the bloody events that had consumed lebanon including the palestinians rendered the house hostage to a variety of factions militias and groups some of them turned it into a sniper s nest because of its location on a main artery between the camps of ayn al hilweh and al miyeh wa miyeh and it also served as a lebanese army barracks and a main hospital of the palestinian red crescent others turned it into an ammunition depot our neighbors even told us that during some periods of the war it had become a makeshift prison my mother was the first to see our new home in that building she says she almost fainted when she went inside i can only imagine her crushing disappointment and sense of loss as she saw her years of life in the gulf devastated by the greed of the militias and others who had plundered our property my grandfather had registered the house in his name and it was to be inherited by my father and paternal uncles after his death the bizarre thing is that the house is still being held hostage during rafiq hariri s term as prime minister the lebanese parliament passed a property law prohibiting palestinians from owning land in lebanon so when my grandfather died none of his children were able to inherit the property or register the house in their names that building where we spent over twenty years until i convinced my father of the need for change now seems cursed to me after completing intermediate school i enrolled in the girls public high school in saida now called yumna al id school i joined a group of unusually intelligent and determined students i never understood why in my second year of high school i was made to share the prize for academic excellence with a lebanese schoolmate of mine when i felt that i was the one who d earned it when i received the award the principal insisted that the modest prize money be split between me and my schoolmate hiba my mother was nevertheless delighted with my success and used the small sum to enroll my sister at the unrwa beisan school which had suddenly started charging fees it wasn t the first time that i felt that god somehow wanted us to be educated despite our dire circumstances many palestinians took scholarships from the political factions but we never sought their help i m not sure if this was because of my parents sense of pride or simply their determination to keep us as far from that scene as possible i often felt that my sense of identity had been suspended i never grasped the value of attending a meeting of the palestinian students association at university or becoming a member of an organization or marching in a protest or pledging allegiance to a leader perhaps it s just that my sense of belonging to palestine was a private thing my love of my homeland was a little like my prayers to god which i would even hide from my own self if i could but i ve always had a sense of unexplainable alienation and unsettling isolation this has followed me my whole life and been compounded with each trial i ve experienced it was no different when i went to work for an unrwa school after i graduated from university for some reason i always had an overwhelming conviction that i would never work in an unrwa school the very existence of the agency felt like a source of shame to me i refused to benefit from any of its services it might have been my sense of superiority or my patriotism or it might have been my denial of reality the facts of palestinian futility destitution and dispersal and the utter dependence on a job a bag of flour or a blanket that revealed our nakedness and the ills of the world but this very same rejection of neediness is what led me to accept a job as a substitute teacher at an agency that views us through the prism of deprivation perhaps i didn t have a better alternative at the time or perhaps i couldn t bear to disappoint my parents anymore the job seemed to offer material and moral compensation for the many small tragedies that defined their lives and our lives together our house and my identity weren t the only things that were suspended and liminal in my life my experience of war was also virtual i never lived war in the true sense my mother never led us down to the bomb shelters as did many other palestinian women with their families no one ever died right next to me and i was never forced to walk over dead bodies as had the people of tal al za tar refugee camp but war dwelled in me through the stories of my mother who was traumatized by its horrors my mother never ceased to mention war and she had no shortage of stories about it my only close contact with war was during operation grapes of wrath the israeli war on lebanon in 1996 when our house filled up with refugees fleeing from tyre to sidon to escape the israeli assaults we all piled into the large bedroom that was my parents we children giggled and squabbled as children do and the adults feared hunger as adults do once i heard the adults haggle with the young men distributing rations they claimed that their numbers warranted more loaves of bread while the men said that they were just trying to exploit the war like everyone else pleading refugee status to claim more than their fair share that s when i heard my uncle s widow cry out with evident frustration have you ever seen me here before longing is the song of the downtrodden my grandmother used to sing she sang to everything to the pillow and the sea to long roads and forgotten threshing floors to henna and weddings but i was never aware that she sang to palestine i never asked her i d hear her humming and listen closely and when she choked on her own longing she would trail off and i would stop perhaps her fluent singing and her silent tears taught me restraint perhaps her gentle voice introduced me to my homeland perhaps she gave me a conflicted image of palestinians meek and mild but cursed it s true i blamed palestinians for their complicity with the occupation if only they hadn t left palestine for the israelis to take if they hadn t surrendered and weakened we wouldn t have been displaced we paid a heavy price for displacement our dignity degraded by time and compromises we ve made desperate attempts to assert our existence without realizing the magnitude of the concessions betrayal and treachery that constantly and repeatedly expose us generation after generation to humiliation these feelings became further entrenched when i worked for unrwa a palestinian in lebanon is not considered a human being worthy of life which has led palestinians to revere unrwa as worshippers believe in prayers simply because it provides them with some basic services it was there that i first got the idea in my head that palestinians are their own worst enemies that they re masochists full of pathologies that they suffer from mental disorders including a kind of emotional stinginess i put this down to the horrors that afflicted our collective consciousness and spread to our culture stinginess is a result of deprivation and fear of want and a miser is first and foremost stingy with their feelings and emotions in the teachers lounges at unrwa schools all you hear about are salaries and compensation in the classrooms all you see are curses and punishment if you don t use corporal punishment you re considered stupid that s where i first felt a rift developing between myself and my palestinian surroundings they had grim faces the unrwa teachers and some of them had been my teachers in middle school but the schools are also where i got to know the hearts of the children and took a measure of their suffering despite my rage at daily life in the schools they also taught me empathy and appreciation for everything i raged against and all that pained me in palestinian society for a million reasons my society was fragmented and incoherent not least because it lacked a clear and tangible image of the homeland and a solid sense of citizenship our image of palestine is vague to the point of vanishing our sense of belonging is toxic to the point of deadly conflict exclusion and rejection factions loom large and leaders are mythologized while the homeland recedes behind disguises and our trivial daily realities i mentioned the hearts of the children their little hands shoot upward with excitement as though toward god as they shout out to you me miss me me me i would look at them and resent the teachers who could bring themselves to strike those delicate little petals that would prompt me to ask myself a series of sisyphean questions like who am i who are we and what is our destiny that would send my head spinning i didn t know who i was who god was or even what it meant to be palestinian except that it meant tasting bitterness and being marginalized it meant being ashamed of being human being weak and expelled from your homeland it meant accepting the achievements of leaders who only existed to commit idiocies who confirmed your loss and squandered your rights it meant feeling an uncomfortable satisfaction about burdening others with your tragedy and making them pay the price of your exile to them you re a blight on the conscience of the world a world that witnessed your tragedy and remained silent i really felt that palestinians had burdened the world with their plight a plight that they sometimes participated in creating and other times did not when i saw myself surrounded by colleagues whose only concerns were money and political factions and when i found that palestine as a nation was completely absent from their discussions it made me think that our intifada uprising should really be against ourselves our attempts to blackmail a world that consecrated our loss with indifference and complicity made us more like the israelis who glorify themselves despite our victimhood we haven t asked the world for material compensation for our dispersal or for the quotidian massacres that have been committed against us for more than half a century still our attempts at blackmail only succeed in making the homeland more distant they consecrate our humanitarian reality to the point that we forget ourselves and the nation and we re left with no vision of what is to come i won t deny that i was overly idealistic i was harsh on myself and my people demanding of us a high level of awareness and neglecting to realize that we re all only human i demanded change while everyday reality was sealing our fate maybe i failed at times to see that we had a right to live far from lofty goals maybe i failed to see that those whom i criticized were fighting their own small battles in life they were just employees given instruction by more senior employees in the name of serving the community of nations maybe i failed to ask myself whether it was possible for us palestinians after all the arab and international treachery and the internal betrayal to live free whether it was possible for us to overcome our fear ignorance and disorientation whether we didn t have to wait for some twist of fate to give us the right to lead normal lives preoccupied only with complaints about roads and infrastructure or bureaucracy and red tape or better telephone service water and electricity i don t know whether it s possible after sixty nine years of dispersal to choose anything but whatever is available or possible i don t know whether we re able to climb down from our cross of suffering to become a people but some sincere efforts here and there by a driver who was once a prisoner or a child learning or a wedding or birth made me realize that our resistance to israel and our struggle for existence begin and end in our hearts this line of thought brings me to respect anew my instinct that we as palestinians are excessively loyal ordinary and also godlike we might even be god s chosen people we have a duty to exist i spent years going back and forth teaching at various unrwa schools i don t know why i wasn t able to stay at any one of them for more than a year when i eventually went to work at one of lebanon s most exclusive private schools the looks of surprise and disdain were very obvious on the faces of my acquaintances colleagues and even some of my relatives lebanese society couldn t understand how a palestinian could work there without having some connections and palestinian society couldn t fathom how a child of palestine could decline to contribute the fruits of her labor to the offspring of her own people they conveniently overlooked the fact that the corruption of palestinian society if a people living outside of their homeland can be considered a society and political factionalism had deprived me of a job even though i had excelled in my studies as for members of my extended family who asked about the salary vacations benefits and car none of them seemed to notice that their little girl had obtained a master s degree and published three novels thus qualifying her to be anywhere while they were sipping coffee and gossiping about her long absences when i observe the fabric of palestinian society closely i am often appalled to discover that it s actually threadbare i recall one episode in particular from my days teaching at unrwa schools when another teacher tried to get close to me and i didn t understand what he wanted i didn t give his attention much thought because i didn t reciprocate his admiration he was constantly trying to endear himself to me over a period of a couple of months sometimes flirting with me openly in front of everyone else in an offensive and repulsive way that just made me nauseous apparently he thought i had a permanent teaching position and when he found out that i was on a daily contract he stopped saying hello in fact after that i don t even think we saw each other again in the teachers lounge this interpretation of events would never have occurred to me had one of my friends not told me that it was well known that he was a bachelor looking for a single woman with a steady job once upon a time i was idealistic and thought that palestinians should be pioneers and heroes i thought that since they had sacrificed their lives for palestine materialism wouldn t enslave them i wanted to believe that we were a people chosen by god to live as demigods or saints when i participated in a summer camp for palestinian children i realized that we were stuck at the bottom of the glass bottle of life i couldn t comprehend how the palestinian organizer a son of the refugee camp no less could steal in the name of the children of palestine and then generously give them the crumbs that resulted from his criminal behavior i used to assume that pain would bring us together and that those who had suffered as children would certainly want the children of the refugee camps to emerge from their dank and gloomy dwellings later it occurred to me to wonder about israeli responsibility for some of the crimes perpetrated by palestinians as a result of their mental pathologies which they were bound to inherit as a result of the subjugation denial and humiliation endured by their forebears some years later i forgave them their pursuit of mendacity as a way of life then the july 2006 war happened despite the pain it inflicted and the many sleepless nights it caused as a palestinian who had grown tired of hope i saw it as an opening in the wall of history through which we might escape to palestine interest in the topic of resistance grew as many drew comparisons with historical palestinian struggles the lebanese resistance forces professed palestine to be their destination and the liberation of palestine to be their paramount goal for me this talk carried some hope comfort or a certain feeling of vindication of my existence after so many years of palestinians being denounced and vilified in lebanon and deprived of so many basic rights palestine and its people in that moment became the destination of all free people in the consciousness of the arab public i won t get the various repercussions and political complications of this consciousness i just want to bask in the memory of the sweet hopeful feeling it brought me i began to feel that palestine was just around the corner if we say it it will return and we will return by our own efforts into some of my family actually managed to go back to visit when both of my paternal uncles experienced kidney failure my grandfather somehow arranged through the international red cross to take them to palestine for treatment they came back full of stories about the israeli doctors and our relatives in palestine my grandmother brought back secret supplies of raisins dried figs and colorful ceramics which she stashed away only for us to discover after some insistence she also kept some soil from jerusalem which she dispensed in jars to bless her favorite children and grandchildren i can vividly recall receiving mine though at the time i had no concern about how it was acquired and didn t keep a close eye on it at home thereafter much later my maternal grandmother and my uncle were able to go to palestine i remember asking my grandmother aminah why didn t you stay there teta she cried and wiped her beautiful face with her wrinkled palms she didn t reply or maybe she muttered a few words that i didn t understand and didn t bother to try to decipher but after some time had passed she told me about the mulberry tree that belonged to her father al hajj mar i in the village of mi ar in northern palestine the people of mi ar go there every year from their respective exiles to pick the fruit and be photographed by the cameras of the world khadijeh my mother s mother intisar hajaj b sidon 1959 my grandmother khadijeh and her sewing machine were inseparable twins her story began in the village of qantara in southern lebanon and unfolded through successive exiles ending in the refugee camp of ayn al hilweh where she died she was buried in the nearby city of sidon despite her constant entreaties to be buried in her village she died during the israeli occupation of southern lebanon after the invasion of 1982 no one was allowed to return to her village even in a coffin the roads were blocked and the checkpoints impassable my grandmother khadijeh though she lived in palestine and took refuge in ayn al hilweh never lost her southern lebanese accent which was so beautiful and dear to my heart the south remained in her heart and mind until her death with every dress she sewed and every stitch she embroidered she weaved a story of pain joy and love each thread was spun into a dress of sadness agony deprivation treachery and incessant migration my grandmother never ceased to tell her story in detail especially when she grew old and frail as though she could restore her youth and beauty by regaling her listeners with the minutest details i was the youngest grandchild and was enamored with her i was very influenced by her strong and singular character as well as her fearlessness bravery was in her nature and it guided her behavior she was very affectionate toward me and my siblings and taught us so many things about life an expert at sewing she loved her sewing machine which became part of her bent frame and animated her once she set to work overflowing with stories and love as the machine moved at her command and worked the cloth her spirit soared over the hills and valleys of southern lebanon and the plains of the galilee in palestine the memories of her life unfurling before her when i sat with her i was always entranced and excited curious and inquisitive i was never happier than when i was cutting cloth for her handing her needles or spools of thread or threading the needle we would sit on the floor and roll out the cloth sometimes my mother would help too since she learned to sew from my grandmother she had an old fashioned manual machine when we sat down the wheel would make that jarring noise as it began to stitch the cloth while my grandmother s voice animated her stories she would continue to create until evening fell at which point she would finally relax and we would too before settling down for the night i loved her stories and her lightheartedness especially when she was at work when she didn t hold back and unleashed all the details i was an attentive and persistent listener following intently as she told stories about the women of her village and of palestine and then relaying them back to her she d laugh and say it s as if you were there may you bury me my grandmother khadijeh s story hasn t ended yet she repeated her tales to anyone who would listen to our friends and neighbors in ayn al hilweh until they memorized them maybe because she sensed the importance of her life story and unrepeatable experiences she didn t want her memories to disappear and die as so many people and things had disappeared from her life my grandmother loved to drink arabic coffee with a hand rolled cigarette she used only pure southern tobacco as she put it and would sit back and enjoy a few puffs with her morning and evening coffee she hailed from the beautiful village of al qantara had rosy cheeks until her dying day and a fair skinned well proportioned body her sinewy braid was covered by a white headscarf and her honey colored eyes radiated intelligence strength love and longing she was a woman born for love to love and be loved and that s how she actually lived she began her life as the village seamstress living under the protection of her brother qasim and his wife hajar who came from ba albak and was also their cousin my grandmother khadijeh was stubborn and contrary and that provoked my great uncle they would argue until she either left without bending to his will or was beaten by him until she did she often blamed him for her stomach pains which started after a blow from his ever present walking stick he would laugh it off and say that s because you re stubborn khadijeh and won t listen to what i say when she was young she was married to a man from the village for some time but didn t conceive a child it was a time of massive immigration and the man wanted to discover america so he immigrated there on the promise that she would follow once he had settled two years passed the man forgot about my grandmother and his village and then he sent her the divorce papers she didn t lament his loss too much she went on with her life sewing at her machine and helping her brother and his wife plant crops take care of livestock and raise children because of the proximity of southern lebanon and northern palestine my grandmother would go regularly to the market in the palestinian village of al khalisa every tuesday accompanied by some of her relatives to buy cloth thread and other items once she went even farther to buy a new sewing machine in the town of safad which she had ordered in advance from one of the merchants and that machine still sits in our house in ayn al hilweh awaiting my grandmother s stories commerce at the tuesday market was brisk and merchants would come from all over lebanon and syria to sell their goods and crops they would stay at the house of the village mukhtar or with one of their acquaintances my grandmother had built up a large group of friends there as a result of her frequent visits and was a dear and valued guest they loved her and she loved them all she bought everything she needed there and would return laden with gifts and cloth but the time she came back with a modern sewing machine her happiness was indescribable her frequent travels to northern palestine and her love of the people as well as her sense that there was a demand for a seamstress who could sew and teach others to sew led her to consider moving there my strong grandmother obstinate and opinionated never stopped arguing with my great uncle he was a few years older than her but she contended fiercely with him she compelled him to let her go but only after she promised that she d come back during the harvest season and when my great aunt hajar was due to give birth after making many promises my grandmother took her sewing machine and her essential belongings and set out one morning on the back of a mule in the company of other travelers from her village she was tired by the time she got to her destination the home of the mukhtar of al khalisa she was friends with his wife for whom she made clothes she told him her story and chose him to be her guardian among all the people whom she loved and who loved her after a few days as his guest she found a place to live settled down and reveled in her independence women began to flock to her asking her to sew undergarments and other clothes she got creative with new styles which made her happy and kept her clients happy too she was a persuasive talker but she was also bossy and could impose her ideas though she always did so with love and without harshness or ridicule she passed her days between the south and the galilee dividing her time between the two places from time to time my great uncle would check up on her to make sure she was well then he d do some shopping and go back to his home village in al khalisa my grandmother met isa al hamad a handsome man from a large family who was educated and enlightened he had been chosen by kamil al husayn one of the leaders in al hula region to be his companion and right hand man she fell in love with isa and isa became enamored with her he loved this strange strong woman above all the women of his village what magical secrets did this strange woman conceal which a lover could only discover by setting foot in her land and exploring her landscape his love for her still echoes among the elderly people of the village who were alive at the time despite the opposition of both families to the marriage it took place after the intervention of the village elders and the acceptance of all my great uncle s preconditions my grandmother married the love of her life and not a day of my life went by without her mentioning him in ayn al hilweh when the memories overflowed from her heart but she didn t overflow with pining longing and love she exuded anger hatred and resentment for some reason that i as a little girl couldn t comprehend she lived happily with him she was pampered and ruled as the empress of his heart and life but as the saying goes happiness is never complete and her happiness wasn t fulfilled because she discovered that she couldn t conceive a child she visited midwives one by one and she went to safad to see doctors to no avail her only concern was to make isa al hamad happy and that her heart be gladdened by a child that she bore with him but her womb remained an infertile field without sign of so much as a single green sprout she was beset by sorrow though she kept trying without success his family began to pressure him to remarry but he adamantly refused and put his faith in god my great uncle qasim and great aunt hajar had many children boys and girls and their last two were beautiful twin girls spring blossomed in their faces the sun s rays mingled with their hair and green wheat kernels gleamed in their eyes my grandmother adored those two little girls fatima and maryam and she reserved a special strange love for fatima she yearned for little fatima whenever they were apart and cuddled and embraced her whenever they were together my great aunt hajar was carrying a heavy burden she had a large family and the expanse of land she had to work contained many livestock the nights were hardly long enough to rest her tired eyes and body my grandmother khadijeh used to help her for several days at a time on her many visits one day in a flash it occurred to her that she could take her beloved fatima who by this time had weaned and begun to walk with her to palestine where she could raise her as her own daughter that way she would lighten the burden on hajar and become a mother with a little girl who was her flesh and blood after talking it over with qasim and hajar she got her heart s desire maryam stayed with hajar and fatima became her aunt khadijeh s daughter my grandmother khadijeh took fatima and returned to al khalisa where she told isa about her desire to adopt her brother s daughter and raise her isa was delighted and had no objection because of his love for her isa loved fatima a great deal and became very attached to her he hoped that she could be the fair stalk of wheat in a house made of wood they played with her and bought her presents and sweets she got everything she wanted my grandmother never loved anyone the way she loved fatima who stirred her soul and awakened her lifeless womb enabling her heart to conquer her infertility meanwhile of course there were regular visits between fatima and her parents but despite the happiness that the beautiful calm fatima had brought to their lives isa al hamad and his family never gave up on the idea of bringing his own children into the world the conflict wouldn t come to an end and my grandmother just wanted to be at peace and to clear her conscience of the burden that continued to weigh on her so she stipulated that she would find him a suitable wife herself someone to live side by side with her so that isa would not leave her sight isa al hamad grudgingly accepted her condition and my grandmother searched for a woman to fit her specifications not his above all she sought assurances for herself i knew this whole story by heart having heard it thousands of times under the corrugated metal roof of our house in ayn al hilweh refugee camp where stories were spun over and over during our sewing sessions as soon as the wheel began to turn the cabinet of my grandmother s memories would open up the words didn t stop until the end of her lifetime we all became caught up in her misfortune and i found myself crying every time i saw tears in her eyes i worried about all the tears she shed her sorrow was incomprehensible to me until i grew older i learned then that a love killed by one s loved one never expires is never forgotten and can t be left behind her heart was taken over by loathing and rage and she never ceased to love her husband though she denied it frequently she was most incensed when my mother fatima asked her to forgive and forget telling her that time had passed and there was no point to all that she reminded her that displacement and exile were greater than her own personal sorrow and burden she would say that an entire country had been lost so she shouldn t be dwelling on her own sorrows which were better forgotten this would only make my grandmother irate and she would stop speaking to my mother for several days my grandmother chose a wife for her husband a woman who used to come and sew with her from hawran in southern syria she was tall tan broad and calm the woman looked as though she had been born to bear strong healthy children my grandmother agreed to the terms with the woman and her parents with isa s consent and she arranged for them to be married in the same house they lived in one room while she and fatima lived in the other every time a new life would come into being in the womb of her rival my grandmother s spirit would agonize and experience great sadness the fire of jealousy was ignited and conflict simmered between the two women isa was stuck between two fires the fire of love and that of fatherhood and it seems that fatherhood won out with the passage of time the ardor of love abated and the man was overcome by confusion finally he resolved to find a separate house for the wife who was mother of his children and that was what transpired the wife chosen by my grandmother above all other women to be her partner had become her enemy my grandmother s sorrows multiplied and if it weren t for fatima she would have been crushed by her lot in life isa began to spend most of his time at the other house and my grandmother decided to leave him my mother fatima was ten years old when khadijeh decided they would move packing her belongings against her husband s wishes they settled in the neighboring village al na ima which was where my father lived khadijeh knew my father s family and went to live among them and they were very good to her there she returned to her sewing machine sewing to make her living among good people who embraced her and her daughter fatima grew more and more beautiful over the next few years as she approached adolescence my father was a handsome tan young man he was tall educated and worked as a teacher in safad and al khalisa he didn t come home much due to duties at work and the distance to his village one day he returned to his village at the end of the school day to find a young girl strolling along with the other girls of the village and he vowed he would marry her my father introduced himself to her mother khadijeh having heard her story and having gathered that she had a good reputation with his family my mother fatima was thirteen and my father was twenty five when he asked for her hand in marriage my grandmother balked due to her young age and she consulted her own family in the village who objected strongly but my father insisted and offered a large dowry befitting the beautiful girl after some give and take including the intervention of the village elders he got what he wanted in 1946 my father married my mother fatima daughter of khadijeh and daughter of hajar and qasim and they lived in the same neighborhood as his parents my father s mother wasn t happy that he had married the outsider since according to her the girls in his extended family were more worthy however my father s resolve and his great love for fatima caused him to circumvent his mother s objections along with the customs and rituals of the era my father loved fatima who was his darling wife and his precious favorite he called her flower of the south and they spent a beautiful year together amidst the green meadows and clear ponds where they would go fishing toward the end of 1947 at fourteen years old my mother gave birth to my eldest brother in al na ima he was only a few months old when the zionist haganah forces attacked the villages of the galilee and massacred the civilian populations precipitating mass migration from the region they left in a hurry gathering some belongings and departing as one large clan led by the elders toward south lebanon they went on foot and left behind their thriving houses and precious livestock they left their paradise and walked all night toward my mother s village al qantara they arrived at dawn overwhelmed by fear hunger and exhaustion they lived there for some time among relatives but my father s family was divided some wanted to remain in lebanon while others preferred to go to syria where they planned to make war against the israelis and regain their land but my father didn t want to venture farther they would stay with the house keys at the ready for whenever they heard of some victory here or battle there in the beginning the promise was that they would return in a mere ten days but the days stretched into years and the keys remained without doors guests are burdensome in every time and place no less so when those guests are a large family staying with their extended family just waiting to go home the villagers of al qantara were exceptionally gracious and hospitable to them my great uncle qasim in particular was very solicitous but after a few months my father was fed up and decided to follow other family members who had settled in various other parts of lebanon at that time the united nations relief and works agency unrwa had begun assisting people and finding temporary shelters for them until things were settled my father decided they should migrate to the town of nabatiyeh so my grandmother gathered their things together and they all left the extended family split up and spread out settling in different areas of south lebanon my father rented a stone house in the village of kfar rumman which is still standing today my father was an educated man who knew english as a result of having done compulsory service in the british army before he had become a schoolteacher in al khalisa he applied for a job at unrwa and worked there distributing food rations also known as subsistence rations to the refugees living in the camp of nabatiyeh in kfar rumman my mother now sixteen had a daughter if my grandmother had not been with her constantly she would not have been able to carry that burden life became harder people were dispersed they walked the streets and slept in the orchards under olive trees life was catastrophically upended for a people who had been living peaceably in their homeland they suddenly found themselves homeless whose wrath had they incurred to deserve such a fate without work people would congregate anywhere to follow developments in palestine and to hear about the prospects for return a return that they continue to await there was an old wooden radio after a couple of years many refugees had gathered near sidon and my father decided to join them he left his job packed his belongings and went with his family and some relatives to the eternal capital of refuge ayn al hilweh tents had been pitched there in a flat area surrounded by small hills and lemon orchards the tents were arrayed in neat rows like ghosts floating in the air with feet planted in the ground their corners fixed with rocks these ghosts just added to the nightmares that have haunted those families ever since most tents sheltered more than one family refugees had no privacy a refugee is just barely a human being there was nothing they could do a refugee is a human without rights destined to wait everyone surrendered to the sight of a country being swallowed up before their eyes waiting for the arabs to be victorious just waiting for a miracle and they ve been waiting ever since the nakba at that point my mother was pregnant with her third child in early september 1951 heavy rains fell and flooded the camp including my mother s tent where she had just had her third child everything was afloat including the foam mattress and people rushed to help my mother grandmother and the three children my mother and grandmother never forgot those exceedingly difficult days a few months later ayn al hilweh began to be built up with small houses with corrugated metal roofs my father rented a wooden shed that consisted of one large room where my mother bore three more children several years later he built a house of stone in another neighborhood and the large family moved there my father s burdens had increased and he found himself in straitened circumstances as the nakba went on so he decided to travel to saudi arabia to work as a teacher that was in 1958 the growing family was left in the charge of my grandmother and mother two mothers who raised the children and presided over the household my grandmother now had her own room in a house consisting of three bedrooms a kitchen and a bathroom she resumed her sewing and built up a new set of customers in addition to her household duties my grandmother khadijeh used to compete with my mother in playing the maternal role she intervened in every detail large and small to the point that she even named most of the children the camp is a small space constructed in a hurry by people from all over palestine and its neighborhoods came to be called after the names of towns and villages in palestine the camp knows nothing of urban planning the term doesn t even appear in its lexicon the people in the camp are united by the fact that they are all treated indiscriminately as though they lacked faces and names or as though a special law had been made for them alone among all humans winter for them has a song of its own that isn t heard anywhere else in summer the heat overpowers the human bodies crammed together in overcrowded rooms under corrugated metal roofs which are usually riddled with holes as soon as your feet touch the threshold of the house in the morning you re greeted by the odious stench of the sewers narrow alleys winding roads twisty paths dirty in the summer and muddy in the winter making plastic boots your constant companion yet joy and contentment were present in our lives we thought that the camp was our eternal world and didn t complain much or aspire to anything more as long as we were surrounded by kind faces that smiled despite the adversity and harshness of life the houses around us multiplied and we came to have neighbors from a variety of palestinian towns and villages it was a fortunate coincidence that one of the distinctive features of our neighborhood was that it included many women from south lebanon who were married to palestinian men that was a great source of comfort to my mother and grandmother they were indescribably glad to have neighbors like umm musa faydah from mays al jabal and umm salah nahla mansur from aynatha but the woman closest to my mother s heart was umm musa al ghul who was my grandmother s good friend and close to her in age during their visits around cups of coffee and hand rolled cigarettes they would tell stories about their lives from their villages to the camp in ayn al hilweh the south was always in our house and palestine was always present in south lebanon we were proud of this hybrid in the midst of a community that was predominantly palestinian and we never felt any difference between those who came from over here and those who hailed from over there our neighborhood also had syrians kurds jordanians and others it was a joyous mixture from all over the levant joined together in a space called a camp taking responsibility for six children in the absence of their father was a tall order my mother had to be affectionate and stern at one and the same time our only contact with our father was by means of the mail letters would arrive at the shop of abu kamil al safsaf in the lower main road of the camp that led to our house we could hardly contain our happiness when my grandmother or one of my siblings arrived with a letter from him we would gather around to listen to my father s news and hear about his longing for my mother and for us since my father would return once a year in the 1960s my mother had two more children for a total of eight four boys and four girls my grandmother kept her sewing machine in her bedroom as her customers increased her stories spread ever farther to listeners from other neighborhoods she sewed darned and mended clothes both new and tattered sealing up the holes so that they could be worn again my grandmother never grumbled and worked for meagre coins but didn t haggle as the years passed more seamstresses began to appear in other neighborhoods and my grandmother s customers decreased but the poorest of them kept coming because they could afford her despite their limited means as for isa al hamad he settled with his family in the refugee camp of nabatiyeh making his living by running a grocery store he regretted having abandoned my grandmother who would gather his news from his sister who came to visit her from time to time in ayn al hilweh my grandmother never tried to see him she was content to hear his news secondhand nor did he try to see her as though the love and passion had dried up forever isa was preoccupied with his own family s concerns living with a woman whom he never loved and minding a store where he received no visitors my mother tells us that she never understood why my grandmother left her husband despite knowing the familiar story she couldn t grasp how she managed to put that great love behind her it was as though she had poured concrete over her heart and it had turned to stone but in truth my grandmother never recovered from the anguish of separation and rejection and she constantly prayed that he would die before her she often reminisced about the days of happiness and plenty in palestine and griped about life in the camp and its miseries in spite of her strong affection for it in 1974 isa al hamad was killed when nabatiyeh refugee camp was destroyed in its entirety in an israeli attack my grandmother had no reaction she didn t even shed a tear at least not that we saw she remained silent and kept to her room until the following day my shy discreet beautiful mother was my grandmother s jewel and ours too she loved my father deeply she was brought up by him from the time she was a child and learned many things from him such as the love of poetry and knowledge even though she couldn t read or write she loved to listen to fairuz in the morning and umm kulthum and abdul wahab at night and we imbibed her aesthetic taste sometimes she would get carried away by the music and sing along with her warm voice that expressed emotions older than her youthful age my mother is a reasonable woman with a transparent soul like a clear spring of water she was also a dutiful wife to an absent husband and resisted being swept up by my grandmother s strong will which she imposed imperiously every step of the way that led to many conflicts between them which could end in several days of estrangement before relations were eventually restored my grandmother was strongly attached to my mother and couldn t endure a long rift their love was always imbued with peace and forgiveness as it should be between mother and daughter we all grew older my grandmother and mother included and my father aged alone in the distant desert he would visit us only in the summer the rest of the year only being in touch through letters this went on until 1981 when he finally decided to return to lebanon ending twenty five years of scorching exile for these twenty five years he didn t see us grow in front of his eyes his only means of seeing us being the black and white photos we sent him meanwhile my mother spent her life in the exile of the refugee camp like a fresh flower with petals surrounding its stem dreaming of the summer she was content with her lot and felt grateful for the presence of my grandmother who was her biggest helper we were well off relative to the other camp dwellers with most men in the camp doing agricultural work in the orchards of sidon and its vicinity my grandmother witnessed all of israel s wars from the nakba to the israeli invasion of 1982 she grew frail and her eyesight and hearing weakened so that sewing eventually became too difficult full of regrets she retired and passed her sewing machine on to my mother the mirror became her only friend she would talk to it tug on her sagging cheeks and lament her lost beauty she would touch her fingers to her lips which were no longer able to hold a cigarette then slap her infirm thighs and say is this what s become of you khadijeh alas my sisters and i would listen and tease her saying that her beauty was long gone and she would respond testily with curses when i was blossoming in my prime where were you you brute then we d all giggle loudly and hug her apologizing for our obnoxiousness time seems to take people by surprise they wake up one day to find that old age has overtaken them faster than the wind as for us life led us down various paths in different directions while my grandmother remained with my mother and father in the camp at 103 years old unable to stand on her own she seemed diminutive and childlike at the end she abstained from food and drink and asked frequently about the village her family and about each one of us one day in march 1986 she released her soul while lying alone in bed far from the soil of her birthplace which had nurtured her like a majestic oak tree and where she had wanted to be buried she was as giving as the fig tree that she had brought from al qantara and transplanted to our house in ayn al hilweh and the dream goes on ruba rahme b damascus 1986 yearning overcomes me every night before i sleep when i close my eyes i feel her small hands touching my cheek i wish i could hug her one last time and feel her curly hair which is so soft to the touch the walls of our house long for her laughter and her gentle footsteps amidst all the dreadful memories that haunt us her toys are still strewn around the floor i m loath to pick them up in case my memories of her vanish they ve lain there ever since she left maybe in germany she ll get to know her father who left her when she was only six months old maybe it s time that they met my mother left one year ago for holland and my father three years ago to turkey and then greece my brothers following him so i became mother and father to my brother salih and my sister hazar who stayed with me here in lebanon and i became a grandmother to farah hazar s daughter who made me happy every time i came home she would hug me and tell me long stories about what happened that day stories i couldn t understand she used to ask me about bilal dal and khalo salih halo talih and our conversation would always end like this ok buba ruba ok apple of buba s eye buba i wub love you i love you too you were the joy of the entire household when you arrived we couldn t decide on a name for you but when your grandmother chose your name everyone was persuaded we ll call her farah joy maybe joy will return to this household you were right mother but you couldn t have foreseen that when she left she would steal the joy away from our hearts once and for all i wasn t sure she d remember me after she left but her german doctor told my sister hazar that her sudden wakeups during the night were due to psychological trauma from being separated from me and salih how surprising that a girl scarcely older than two could know the meaning of love and yearning but maybe not she used to call me mama since i was her second mother mothers aren t just the ones who give birth but also those who nurture and love a mother s sister is a half mother farah was my little girl whose every day i observed i noticed when she began to walk her mischievousness the way she disturbed my papers she imitated my every move how i sat or held my cell phone my sister woke up so many times at night terrified to find her child s bed empty only to find her lying in mine i wouldn t have believed her if she hadn t sent me a picture that makes me tear up whenever i look at it a tiny body sleeping soundly on top of my blanket i never felt her weight because i was always in a deep sleep after a long day of strenuous work her birth was a source of joy at a time when sadness had enveloped the household after my brother in law her father had been imprisoned in her ninth month my sister hazar lost her husband who couldn t be there with her when she gave birth when she came we had a long list of names for her but my mother s choice made us all realize that that s what we needed in our family farah is her name and with her arrival joys started pouring into our household when she was two months old her father was released and met her for the first time and was able to embrace his wife again while he was imprisoned my sister never stopped looking for some means to legalize his status and to have her childbirth recognized on lebanese soil the never ending complications to register new births were among the worst bureaucratic hurdles for palestinian and syrian refugees in lebanon farah lived with both parents for less than a year before her father could no longer bear the humiliation his official documents had been stamped with the word departure and that constituted a constant threat to his presence in lebanon so he decided to leave westward by sea with the aim of going to germany when hazar said goodbye to him she didn t know if they would ever meet again so she resigned herself to being both mother and father again when farah was a year and a half old my mother also left by sea leaving the three of us with the little girl farah hugged me every night before going to sleep and imprinted a wet kiss on my cheek her fingers told me that i was the dearest to her heart and that she would transport me with her childish dreams to a place of eternal happiness once i was away from home for five days and every day her mother told me farah would stand at the door of our house and cry out buba oh buba on my return when i opened the door of the house she saw me and started to cry and shout in a very bizarre way she approached me hugged me then turned away she placed her tiny hands on my face and hugged me again crying ceaselessly she had never welcomed me with tears before after we celebrated her second birthday there was some movement on hazar s family reunification application and one day she announced that she had been granted an appointment at the german embassy i told her that i didn t like it when she pulled my leg but several days later she showed me her travel document and farah s passport with the visas stamped inside them i looked closely to make sure it was true and not another bad joke the countdown began for a new departure every night i looked out at the stars from my balcony i would count them carefully but each time i would make a mistake and a monstrous airplane would take shape before my eyes it would crash into my body and tear me into shreds as it transported my loved ones to a place where i could see them only through a phone screen depending on the speed of the internet connection and its vagaries i said goodbye so many times that i worried that there would be no one left to say goodbye to me i thought that i would get used to their absence after a while as was my habit but farah lived in the nooks of the house her scent lingered in the corners and her innocent voice continued to ring in my ears buba come here after they left salih and i no longer had hazar to ask after us in her maternal way whenever we were late coming back home and we had to take on the responsibilities of cooking and housework it was generally accepted that she was strong and could always take care of herself but she was constantly evading the bad luck that dogged her and the envious eyes that followed her a smile ever present on her face as if to indicate that good times were always ahead she was my friend before she was my sister maybe because she was the family member with whom i lived longest and we rarely quarreled or fought as siblings do she could tell what i was thinking before i said a word after salih and i returned from the airport i went to my closet to change my clothes and found that she had covered the inside of the door with stickers on which she d written the various pieces of advice she often gave me take care of yourself don t be late be patient with your brother salih i don t know what divine wisdom arranged for me to remain alone with my youngest brother salih who was then nineteen he was fond of karate and break dancing but his acrobatics and walking on walls made me worry about him at the same time i was proud of him because he always stood out among his peers he d been the ringleader of the kids in our neighborhood ever since he was a child when we lived in yarmuk refugee camp in syria he d made money by selling cactus fruit candied apples and milk pudding made by my mother advertising his wares by calling out in a loud voice through the neighborhood sometimes our neighbor abla would hear him and buy the whole batch and he would return with a smile on his small face he used to make the most of my aunt s presence during summer vacations when she would visit from the emirates she would offer him an enticing sum for the whole lot but his childlike morals would compel him to return the correct change with a shy smile then she d insist that she wasn t taking it leaving him with a large profit for the day in the evenings he would count his earnings and get ready for the following day once my father went to check on a supply of aluminum sheeting that he was storing in my late grandfather s house only to discover that his insolent son had arranged to sell some of it for less than five syrian pounds salih wasn t a spoiled youngest child my eldest brother was the one most indulged by my father especially since he had come after four girls salih was the defiant one who wouldn t rest until he got what he wanted by whatever means when salih was a little older he made my parents promise that if he graduated from intermediate school they would get him his own computer but as soon as salih graduated and was getting ready to enter secondary school the war in syria began once we reached lebanon it wasn t easy for him to continue his schooling because the supporting documents that he needed to enroll were elusive and the curriculum was in english rather than arabic despair began to set in for the boy barely fifteen who scarcely knew what had happened to him he didn t understand why he had to start looking for a job while other boys of his age had smartphones and nice clothes and were playing pranks on their teachers to make matters worse his parents abandoned him in the bloom of youth one after the other he never got his computer sometimes i think i hear him yawning when i wake up in the middle of the night but i get up only to find that he s crying i go back to bed agonizing over what has happened to us my mother s decision to emigrate to holland braving the sea wilderness and other dangers was taken mainly for his sake after hazar left he stayed in bed for three days mourning her loss i stifled my sadness and made him think that i was happy for her but i cried in secret for our loss of a second loving mother salih also began to have erratic ideas that confused and jarred me one day he would say that he wanted a tattoo on his chest and the next that he wanted to adopt a dog sometimes he would discover that he was a communist at heart and at other times he would report that he was embracing islam then he would tell me he was going back to syria or accuse me of failing him or of caring more about my students than about him often he would show great remorse over his behavior and resolve that it was his duty not mine to be the main income earner then he would show up with a broken foot or nose or other bodily injury from playing football i generally remained silent in these situations i d just stand there flabbergasted at his behavior and his unrealistic expectations then i would retire to my room to gather my composure before returning with carefully chosen words to preserve what remained of my family in fact there was no one i loved more than him and i tried as much as i could to get him everything he desired but his unruly behavior made me resent my father for leaving us behind and abandoning us at the same time i felt as though god knew that i was the one most tolerant of his immature adolescence when i heard his voice reciting the qur an while praying it reminded me of the voice of my father who always urged us not to neglect our prayers especially the dawn prayer in yarmuk camp he would lead us in prayer by reciting the sura of the cave or yasin from the qur an while we contended with the chill of the ablution water in winter we didn t really understand the meaning of piety then not until we were older we would remain quiet and look over at our mother who had memorized all the verses our house had been warm in winter thanks to the kerosene heater in the middle of the living room the family would gather around it my father mother five girls and two boys and the aroma of toasted bread would mingle with that of roasted onions my father s rich voice would break out in song and we would giggle when our parents competed over who was more popular with the opposite sex in their youth we always took my mother s side since my father usually managed to make her jealous but he d always end by exclaiming come my bride do you think that i could live without you my father still thinks about his shop which was so well located with its two entrances one on the main street of yarmuk camp and the other opening out onto our neighborhood the fida iyin quarter he had meticulously chosen the style of the tiles and had handpicked his employees the range of pastries and ice cream flavors were carefully chosen to attract customers it gladdened his heart after twenty years of travel toil and drudgery to be able to set up his own business it had only been in operation for a year and a half when fear began to infiltrate the depths of the camp and my father left for beirut taking my brother muhammad with him to spare him compulsory military service no doubt he thinks that his shop is still standing we always prayed that he wouldn t see the clips on youtube that showed it completely destroyed maybe he knows but we humans have the capacity to live off the remnants of hope yarmuk camp wasn t an ordinary camp like ayn al hilweh or the other refugee camps in lebanon it was a city with impressive buildings and wide streets all the main stores in damascus even the most renowned and oldest establishments had branches in yarmuk yarmuk was a safe haven for palestinians as well as for a good number of syrians though no one ever asked whether you were syrian or palestinian sunni or alawi the words that united the residents of yarmuk were brother and sister and we all worked as one at the beginning of the syrian events many people tried to get the palestinians involved in the mayhem as our parents tell it but we young people kept our opinions to ourselves not out of fear but to preserve our dignity amidst the gossip and accusations from evildoers that s how things remained until the day of our second nakba december 16 2012 when warplanes of the syrian regime bombed the mosque of abdul qadir al husayni and we started talking about evacuating the camp in anticipation of another bombing i wasn t there at the time of the bombing i was in the mezzeh quarter of damascus completing my first day at a hairdressing training course we heard the news about the assault on the camp and hurried back when we arrived it was a shock to see the area known as watermelon square crowded like the day of judgment the side adjoining the camp was eerily empty i rushed in that direction but a rifle blocked my path and someone shouted at me where to i want to go home i need to see my family can t you see that the street is being shot at we re here to protect you what are you talking about protect us i need to enter the camp the soldiers orders were to allow no one to cross the square into the camp but all i could think of was my mother s voice and the cries of my siblings i pushed the rifle out of the way and walked ahead and soon noticed that one of the soldiers was trailing me he ordered me to run past the deserted area to get to my neighborhood on the other side there we met a neighbor who stopped the soldier from entering our neighborhood so as not to give the opposition a pretext to enter from the other side the people of our quarter tried to remain neutral i found my mother as i imagined her i kissed her hands and when i lifted my eyes to meet hers she told me that my cousins had insisted that we leave our apartment but her response had been reminiscent of my late grandfather abu ali s the biggest mistake we made in our lives was to leave palestine on the grounds that we d be back in a few days and here we remain since 1948 those few days are yet to end we had no choice but to leave yarmuk was held in captivity like gaza and israel lived in the hearts of the evildoers there my camp was splintered into fragments and our childhood stories were scattered everywhere every day i wake up in sidon dreaming of yarmuk and of my mother going about her daily chores after returning from work at the elementary school as though the war had never occurred and the walls of our house had not been demolished i go back to sleep hoping not to wake up for i wake up only to find that the houses we live in are not ours they belong to people who demand rent electricity charges and water fees at the start of each month i need to work to pay even for the air that i breathe lebanon is the only country to admit palestinians from syria although under lebanese law we are recognized neither as palestinian refugees nor as syrians we are not residents but nor are we tourists refugees nor even migrants we are some special category as checkpoint officials choose to remind us frequently what s your name ruba where are you from ruba from tiberias how come you say you re from tiberias yet it says here damascus sorry but you asked me where i was from and i answered so you mean you re not satisfied with syria which did you a favor and took you in all those years ago we weren t condescending to the lebanese when they came to damascus during their civil war we shared our homes and blankets and divided the relief tasks among ourselves to help them now the tables have turned and we re the ones who are displaced our lives gone awry what are we supposed to dream about now should i dream of a return to syria and yarmuk camp or to tiberias which i ve only seen reflected in the tears of my grandfather or should i dream of emigration across the sea to europe where my family is now when i express my fears and sorrows to the sea it becomes enraged and beckons me to dive into it and escape but i deflect its efforts to entice me i recount the stories about the smugglers who traffic in people the children mothers and fathers who drown in the merciless sea then i recall that the sea took pity on my mother and brother refraining from swallowing them up when they made their way to holland by way of turkey sometimes i thank the sea or cry in its lap and it splatters its waves on my face so that no one can see my tears i think of my grandfather abu ali al tabrani who when i was young would fold me into the blanket that covered his back and shoulders so that my small head would poke out he told me stories about the net that he used to fish with in lake tiberias and showed me the key to his house in palestine he would laugh when he told me how my grandmother gave birth to my father in hawran in syria after they were displaced from palestine in 1948 he gave me some of his old photographs saying keep these pictures so that when i die you ll remember me i m going to give your mother the key my prayer beads and my small penknife so that when you return to palestine you ll be prepared they ll be safest with her i took the photos and ran up the stairs to our house on the second floor excited to tell my mother what he had just confided but it just made her angry and she made me go back downstairs and tell him may you live a long life jiddi i never knew what death meant until i lost him i would ask my mother when he would return and she would respond only by crying and hugging me silently time passes quickly and the sea and i start talking about the land beyond the mountains where our departed loved ones have gone and now the sun is also announcing its departure the sunset gladdens my heart and the sparkling threads of light on the surface of the water show me that there s beauty in life and that after every setting sun sorrow and yearning there s hope love and a new encounter my sister salam had a tendency to rebel against reality and noticing it i felt enamored of our palestinian ness at eighteen she filled our house in ayn al hilweh with children from the camp and taught them how to dance dabkeh to palestinian tunes i was full of wonder at her loving eyes and her stirring voice these were the beginnings of the laji refugee performing arts group whose first show left the audience in tears when salam recited the poem visa she motioned toward each of the distinguished guests in the first row i couldn t restrain myself from crying too i was so moved by her reproach of our political officials at secondary school in syria salam had devised ways of solving math problems that astonished her teachers her ambition then was to study atomic or high energy physics at university but when she got to lebanon tears and depression became her constant companions until it was time for her to leave by sea she wasn t like the character she played on stage umm talal who said goodbye to her son talal before he died at sea she was stronger and she made it to holland in 2015 without ever giving up at that time i was teaching the syrian school curriculum to the third intermediate and secondary classes the students would go to syria to take the official exams then return to their families in lebanon but sometimes their luck would run out and they would get stuck between the syrian and lebanese borders at al masna just because they were palestinian so they were forced to work at the mercy of tyrants for daily wages not exceeding ten thousand lebanese liras or around seven us dollars bilal was one of the children who was stuck he couldn t return to syria to take the exam so he worked for his father in construction in lebanon he d wait for me every day his clothes splattered with plaster and covered in dust with sweat drenching his tan face and his eyes sparkling with joy when i walked past the construction site where he worked he was fourteen when i taught him arabic he loved me as students sometimes love their teachers knowing what adolescents are like i always chose my words carefully with my students but i couldn t resist openly expressing my affection for bilal he introduced me to his whole family and his sister became a close friend of mine he even started calling me mama i was thrilled to feel as though i had a loving obedient child but it alarmed me that he didn t take his mother s feelings into account though she just laughed it off bilal volunteered to help with dabkeh training after salam left as he was very skilled in movement and choreography the group s numbers grew comprising syrians and lebanese as well as palestinians and we soon had separate trainers for theater dabkeh break dance and singing we began to gain fame performing shows all over lebanon laji became my family after my real family had immigrated consuming all my time and love i became a mother to every member of the group especially bilal when bilal left his construction job we thought hard about how he could resume his education after a hiatus of two years the technical school in sidon was the only option since it accepted all students even palestinians he now puts on a school uniform carries a backpack and like all students complains about getting up early and celebrates on holidays when i go to pick him up from school he brags to his friends about his young new mom i m delighted when his teachers tell me how well behaved he is in class and how he s excelling academically one of the hardest wars we fought was the war to break free of the past to find ourselves a place of joy to separate from a world in which the right of return was imagined to be inside a box of rations to act out albeit on a stage our rapidly evaporating dreams no one can appreciate the ties that bind unless they ve tasted what it s like to have a family that takes care of you reveling in your joys and lamenting your sorrows they worry about me walking alone at night along the coastal road after an evening of training they introduce me to their mothers and sisters they celebrate one another s birthdays with surprises they bicker and quarrel but then they make up with loving messages on whatsapp and we all bask in the glow of reconciliation i remain certain that i ll see my family again but i ve become a mother to others who are now a part of me how could i leave them as my mother left me how is a mother to leave her children her darlings to return to the misery of ayn al hilweh or the tyranny of employers or the gossip of villains or a life of loitering in cafés because we re refugees we need to endure we need to avoid roads with lebanese military checkpoints that never stop demanding that we renew our residency permits so i submit my documents and pay the 200 fee for a three month extension of residency but the application is rejected mockingly they tell me to leave lebanon and return to syria how can i go back the last time i visited syria in 2013 i was so eager to leave i should have listened to my parents and stayed with them in lebanon but i returned with hazar to our great paradise syria and took in the scent of our house in yarmuk the sight of rubble strewn all over the streets and the new checkpoint erected by the syrian regime to monitor the entrance of the camp our old neighborhood had become a flashpoint in the conflict between the regime and the opposition but still we lined up in the long queue to enter the camp before it was our turn to enter an elderly woman whispered in my ear would you carry a bag of bread for me my dear the military checkpoint prevented anyone from taking in more than a single bag of bread we couldn t get to our house along the old route from the main entrance but we managed to approach from the far end severed electricity lines were strewn about on the ground and damaged water cisterns were leaking out onto the walls pockmarked with bullet holes at one point i turned around to confront a man whose face was entirely covered apart from two glowering eyes pointing a rifle toward me your identity card what are you doing here who are you i m going to my house you can t go in the area is dangerous go back where you came from the fighting had started again and it wasn t going to stop for us a child of no more than fifteen carrying a rifle that was almost taller than he was led us through narrow streets to palestine street which was echoing to the sounds of armed clashes and the shrieks of sniper fire the body of an elderly man lay in the street we ducked behind a refrigerator containing soda bottles there we met a woman in her thirties wearing stiletto high heeled shoes and an expression of fear but not of death it was of something else she was hiding why was she dressed so strangely she held my hand tightly but hazar was not so keen on her accompanying us would it be all right for you to take your shoes off and run no i can t the ground is covered with glass and metal ok we ll count to three and make a run for it with moments separating us from death we held each other s hands tight recited the islamic shahada and ran i left that woman in the middle of the street because she was moving so slowly in her shoes my sister was right why should i die to save that bizarrely dressed woman but we waited for her before making the final crossing to the side of life we fell silent after we emerged from the camp our hearts were heavy with the sight of dead bodies on the ground the holes in the walls of our houses and the broken stem of a jasmine bush lying in the middle of the street on the day we were to leave syria we stood in line at the exit point at the border hazar was right in front of me and i watched as her passport received the exit stamp then it was my turn i handed my passport to the border official and he pressed some keys on his computer then he looked up with a worried expression and asked me to wait where i stood that prompted me to contact one of my relatives and give him my location as he was preparing to come to my aid i told my sister to take all my belongings and go to lebanon so that my mother wouldn t lose two daughters at once as we were arguing the soldier returned and asked me to accompany him he led me behind the counter to a room teeming with men with fierce expressions on their faces and stars on their shoulders i gathered up the courage to ask him why i was being detained and was startled by sneering laughter from behind me a large square faced ogre with bloodshot eyes growled your sentence is death overwhelmed i collapsed on the bench behind me at that moment a strong blow reverberated through the room and landed on the face of an elegantly dressed pale young man he looked about twenty years old and his clothes suggested an affluent lifestyle how dare you chew gum in my presence throw it out now yessir are you dealing drugs at university what me yes you the exchange didn t go on much longer they put his few personal belongings in a brown envelope took his luggage and recorded his personal details i lost track of what happened next because a uniformed young man had just opened a large folder next to me he found what he was looking for and started interrogating me where were you living in the yarmuk camp and after you left where did you go to my aunt s house in damascus what were you doing i was a university student have you ever been to ma adamiyya no i haven t i don t even know where that is as my fears began to escalate i heard him murmur to the ogre it seems she s not the one we re looking for an hour passed during which i felt as though the venom of a snake was slowly infiltrating every vein in my body i couldn t think of anything but my mother and how she would receive the news my train of thought was interrupted by the sound of hazar shouting at the soldiers she was demanding to be let in to see me and to talk to the officer in charge my sister the troublemaker she wouldn t leave me even when i asked her to the ogre told them to let her in and she then had the temerity to ask him to speak to our relative on the phone who had good connections in the syrian regime she smiled at me as if to assure me of her protection even though she was three years younger her courage made me tearful as i waited for the ogre to take the phone instead his tone changed as he replied to her i don t talk to anyone in an unofficial capacity anyway i m going to release her in half an hour then he turned to me come here he said did we hit you no did we touch you no so why are you crying are we so scary ha the soldier who had interrogated me then gave me a scrap of paper on which was written a long number a date and the instruction refer to division of political security damascus outskirts i made sure that my sister crossed the syrian border giving her my luggage and promising that i would follow in a matter of days i stood and watched the bus carrying her away to lebanon before returning to my aunt s house would i really go to that division to figure out why they were preventing me from leaving for the next three months i was holed up in my aunt s house eventually i got sick of hearing they ve got nothing on you it s just a matter of someone with a similar name but don t go to inquire no one leaves that place the house was designed in the traditional arabic style with rooms surrounding a central hall from that time i recall the aroma of jasmine flowers the cat that would clamber in every day to explore the empty rooms the plaintive strains of songs about distant lovers and every night my never ending tears i would hear my aunt s footsteps climbing the stairs to my room coming to embrace me and reassure me that i would soon be reunited with my family one day i got tired of hiding and decided to venture out to discover what they were charging me with somehow without my telling her my mother must have known for she unexpectedly contacted me she asked me to turn back and to be patient until there was some opening shortly afterward my parents sent me some money with a taxi driver who also gave me two oranges that he had brought for his family he asked if there was anything i needed from lebanon i teared up and said what i need is for you to take me to my mother i told him what had happened in detail though i have no idea why i trusted him once i finished my story he told me to be ready when he contacted me around ten days later my phone alerted me that it was time for me to meet with the driver i didn t tell anyone except my grandfather who happened to be visiting my aunt s house my sister hazar and my cousin my cousin was my companion during this period of separation he was exquisitely good at choosing the right words to set my mind at ease and make me believe that i would be reunited with my family despite what others were saying i said goodbye to them urging them not to tell anyone that i had left until i had arrived in lebanon i had no idea what my fate was going to be nor whether this driver merited my confidence five hours separated me from the border checkpoint my heart beat faster with every passing mile as i tried to convince myself that i had made the right decision and that there was no turning back at each of the numerous checkpoints that stopped us my terror increased and my conviction grew that i was going to meet my destiny i tried to calm down by telling myself that god was with me and that he would never let me be harmed because i hadn t harmed anyone and hadn t done anything wrong at one point i ventured to ask the driver whether he had arranged for me to be smuggled in by someone his answer hit me like a thunderbolt just leave it to god i emitted a long laugh as i suddenly realized that he hadn t made any arrangements with the authorities but was just planning to leave it to luck my thoughts raced and images took shape in front of me as i heard my mother s sobs when she found out that they had detained me again my heartbeat quickens my body alternately heats up and cools down my level of anxiety increases as i recall the place where the ogre resides i urgently need to go to the bathroom but my fear and curiosity make me control myself and attend to my unfolding fate second by second the soldier peers at me through the car window but he soon tells us to proceed without asking me a single question i don t know if i was saved by the qur anic verses i recited in the hope that he d avert his eyes from me or if the driver who motioned to him with his head had given him money all i remember next are successive pairs of eyes glaring at me until i hear praise god for your safe arrival i need to go to the bathroom i tell the driver where am i supposed to find a toilet now he responds we find a rest stop on the first stretch of road on the lebanese side of the border and then finally the countdown begins for my reunion with my family i m lost in thought and reverie until i arrive in nijmeh square in sidon where i catch sight of my father crying out god is great he s in tears as he wraps his arms around me all the cab drivers there congratulate me as though they know the whole story we go with a neighbor to the sharhabil quarter where my tearful mother is waiting in the street with a group of women from the neighborhood who are trying to calm her nerves my ordeal didn t end after i d safely returned to lebanon it was transformed into an ever present nightmare the dreadful face of the ogre would cause me to wake up sobbing in the night i lurched between the present and the past sometimes passing out and losing consciousness without warning but my parents nursed me back to life and then i started teaching i was able to overcome my fears and put my ordeal in perspective when i listened to all the disasters that my colleagues students and acquaintances had faced years passed in teaching and i became universally known as miss ruba my students saw me as their savior and they always told me that i could do the impossible little did they know that i was not even able to fix my legal status on lebanese soil i never stopped wondering what would happen to them and where they would go if i left and disappeared from their lives would they wait for me to return i conversed with the sea we traded opinions and eventually i decided to reveal my decision to it i said we re going to announce a truce you and me you ll allow us to reach safety me my brother my son and my new family in the summer of 2017 you ll introduce me to a people trafficker whom you ve dealt with previously and who was loyal to his charges delivering people safely across you to the coast opposite arab lands i ll reunite there with my real family under one roof and we ll obtain legitimate residency as non arabs and we ll renounce the supposed right of return yes i ll endorse my renunciation of you palestine but i ll keep you in my heart even though you gave me dispersal oppression and separation in addition to my identity i adore being palestinian and having been born in syria i adore my arabness my land and my camp yarmuk i ll ride the sea to you mother i ll relish the taste of fear dread and turmoil among the waves of the stormy raging sea i ll come to you father in greece carrying a diploma in life experience i ll meet you my sister to assemble a performing arts group composed of the refugees of the diaspora i ll come to you my niece in germany to caress you and absorb the scent of yearning and longing from your mother i ll come to you europe so that you can issue me a document that states that i m a human being and then i ll return i ll return to lebanon or syria or palestine i ll return to my self or perhaps i won t a migration in two exiles a diary of the israeli invasion of lebanon 1982 mahmoud mohammad zeidan b ayn al hilweh refugee camp sidon 1969 exodus from the camp the camp was blessed with long periods of calm and quiet that could last for hours and days or sometimes even for months these were torn to shreds when israeli warplanes shattered the skies they would carry out airstrikes breaking the sound barrier and tracing ominous white contrails on the camp s horizon or they would bomb a fida iyin military base on the outskirts of the camp setting off explosions that would take lives and disturb the camp s tranquility we were used to these upheavals which resembled the impact of a rock thrown into a still pool of water the vibrations break the water s surface which reflects the blueness of the sky but the rock is ultimately swallowed by the pool which returns to its former calm and clarity but the israeli invasion of 1982 which i lived through and the accompanying destruction death and devastation of the ayn al hilweh refugee camp had a gigantic impact which shattered the surface and clouded the water an impact which is still being felt at this moment one sunday morning my mother was boiling the laundry in a metal pot on a fire in front of our house in the camp the fire was contained by three large rocks which surrounded some burning tree branches and held up the metal pot whose sides were charred from frequent use the wood let off gentle popping noises nothing like the sound of bullets and the scent of fire conjured up warm thoughts even in the middle of summer the smell of the laundry soaking in the nileh1 tablets was carried by the steam rising from the boiling water which mingled with the aroma of the smoke from the burning wood and infiltrated all corners of the house these sensations arrived at my nose and ears as i sat in the living room studying for end of year school exams suddenly the sounds of an israeli air raid took over more powerful than those we d heard on other occasions we knew to seek cover in the kitchen since it was the safest room in the house being surrounded by other rooms and protected from above by a small attic moments later the sound of a rocket shook the house exploding shrapnel and strewing debris everywhere my siblings and their friends scurried down from the roof falling over each other as they ran for cover i jumped up from my seat in the living room and ran to the hallway to find out what had happened it had damaged our house as well as the houses of some of our neighbors my father went out to the alleyway where my mother was while my sister escaped to the bedroom calling out to me and my siblings my mother ran inside since we were little we d learned that whenever we heard a rocket s whistle we were safe since it meant that it had passed over us dust mixed with smoke filled the neighborhood and a fine white powder settled over the furniture and everything in the hallway we hadn t heard a whistle but we were all safe we thought that it must have fallen in jabal al halib 2 where there were fida iyin bases often targeted by israeli planes or at the bases scattered over tallit sayrub 3 on previous occasions we would watch the massive planes attacking at low altitude and see them release their rockets before hearing the terrible sounds of the explosions directly after the bombing we would go and check out the destruction and the huge holes that the rockets made in the ground near the fida iyin bases on the outskirts of the camp some of those holes would soon fill with water making swimming holes for the camp children to play in i used to think that the holes were so deep that they struck the groundwater which had poured in to create the pools i didn t realize that the water came from burst pipes i never swam in those holes but i did go with friends from the neighborhood to watch the swimmers this time though for three successive days we just watched the planes from the rooftops as they launched their air strikes and we observed the smoke rising from afar our neighbors voices could soon be heard that was a close one go to the shelters everyone rushed to see if there were any casualties the sounds of the low flying planes could still be heard hovering over the camp the rocket had struck my aunt tamam s house which was separated from our house by the house of my uncle muhammad part of the ceiling had caved in in the room where tariq my aunt s newborn grandson was sleeping but he was unhurt because a closet had tipped onto his crib and protected him from the collapsed ceiling there are no injuries praise god for your safety let s get out take the women and small children to the shelters the whispers of relatives and neighbors were tinged by terror as we made our way to the shelter of the al balad mosque which was located fifty meters from our house that shelter had only been built several months previously during a spate of shelter building undertaken by the palestinian resistance forces my maternal uncle qasim and abu fu ad yunis had taken the initiative to form a committee together with some men from neighboring villages including salah al khatib from al ras al ahmar and abu isam mi ari from akbara they contacted a well known engineer to help them construct a basement and main hall for a mosque replacing the old one that was constructed out of corrugated metal that structure had itself replaced the tent that people from our village al safsaf in palestine used to pray in when they first arrived in 1948 the plo contributed ten thousand lebanese liras toward building the new mosque and my uncle offered to collect the rest from emigrants from our village and other camp dwellers the construction project comprised a mosque and a hall for wedding receptions and funerals in addition to the basement shelter work was completed toward the end of 1981 we had never entered the shelter before that day we normally sought refuge in the kitchen where my mother would embrace us and instruct us say o kind god have mercy and we would repeat the prayer after her previous air raids didn t warrant going to the shelters since they never lasted more than ten minutes the plane would dive down two or three times each time accompanied by the sounds of anti aircraft fire we sometimes went and stood by the mobile anti aircraft units that defied the planes just to observe the aim of the operator and try to gauge the distance of the exploding rounds we experienced those moments vividly and didn t hold back our emotions groaning or clapping depending on the distance of the anti aircraft fire from the dive bombing planes the gunmen must have found our reactions a source of encouragement since they never tried to dissuade us or chase us away after the planes had released their rockets into their targets they would fly off again and we would resume our normal routine but that day nothing seemed normal the atmosphere was dark and clammy in the shelter and it smelled like drying clay the shelter was six meters deep with a thick roof and heavy walls and no windows or air vents a concrete ledge ran along the sides around forty centimeters high and sixty wide some of the camp dwellers spread blankets on the floor and sat in the area in the middle of the hall the shelter was too small and square to contain our boyish games which had been shaped by the twists and turns of the camp s alleyways and its random open spaces we sat among the adults and some of the elderly people who were annoyed by our constant whispering in the shelter all movement was prohibited as was all talking adults would listen to the news discuss and analyze i heard something then that i didn t understand but i remember well to this day which was that the aerial attacks were a response to an attempt to assassinate the israeli ambassador in london and that israel was going to invade lebanon we never listened to the news it wasn t our concern all we needed was to be released from the grip of the grown ups we wanted to make ourselves forget the damp atmosphere of the shelter the heat of the rockets and everything going on around us but they wanted us to just sit there with arms folded as if we were sitting by a grave or in a classroom no school tomorrow a simple announcement like that could ignite a wave of happiness and bring elation to our hearts who doesn t like a vacation it s the fond wish of teacher and student alike whether in the depth of winter or the height of summer mothers were the only ones who abhorred vacations because they reminded them how tight their houses were and how difficult it was to do their household chores with three or four unruly children sleeping on the floor but for refugee children vacations meant we could go wherever we pleased and have whatever we wanted vacations opened a space for us in which to release our dreams to take flight in all corners of the universe when we let our imaginations run wild we could just cancel out whatever we wanted to not least the sound of those attacking airplanes but the dank shelter restricted our movement and made us feel dead inside that s why my brother ahmad and i accompanied by our cousin majid and our neighbors jamal and hasan managed to break free of its atmosphere and escape to a room on the ground floor where we could delight in the open and well lit space it was an orderly room with rows of chairs neatly arranged throughout we huddled together in one of the corners across from another older group of boys where we could finally play talk and better observe what was going on but fear began to intrude on our little gathering as the bombing intensified and we began to ask questions that we didn t have the answers to why are they trying to kill the israeli ambassador some of us felt glad that militants had tried to kill one of our enemies even though we didn t understand the word ambassador i remember asking what does my aunt tamam s house have to do with an assassination attempt in london time passed slowly in the large hall where we sat the sound of each plane would get louder and louder until it seemed as though it was brushing the tops of the houses and then came an ear splitting explosion the bombing didn t stop you could hear the bombs in two waves once deep as though far away and then an explosion that rocked our houses and the camp around us they said that we were being bombarded by naval vessels we went back home around noon to have lunch which my mother prepared while my sisters took turns wringing out the washing and hanging it on the line in the central hallway of our house since they didn t dare go up to the roof the alley in front of our house was crowded with unfamiliar passersby i rarely saw strangers in the alleys of the camp which were extensions of the houses and spaces for neighbors to socialize cook wash laundry meet and hang out in the evenings that day inexplicable commotion broke the calm of those alleyways while the constant sound of planes near and far explosions and the anti aircraft guns that defied the planes filled the air above them i had no idea what was going on around me suddenly the bombing got closer and the roar of the planes and the sound of the rockets was deafening it felt as though we were in the thick of the battle the air filled with dust and smoke and we no longer heard the whistle of the rockets people were rushing around my uncle came in and said people are leaving the camp israel is now at ghaziyyeh 4 i heard some women whispering the israelis want to enter the camp others said that the israelis had arrived at the awwali river 5 someone else said that they were at al kinayat 6 my uncle told my father make sure that each of you has a knife to defend yourself in case you encounter israelis the people of our village were recalling the memory of something that they had experienced thirty four years earlier when zionist gangs had attacked the village of al safsaf in palestine and killed nearly seventy men and women and raped a number of women after that the entire population of the village was displaced the people of the surrounding villages also fled when they heard about the massacre of al safsaf the decision of the villagers was unanimous they fled under the devastating impact of the killings they went to the border village of rumaysh in southern lebanon after their villages fell and the israelis occupied the entire galilee region then the lebanese government sent trucks to rumaysh to carry the people from our village and others to the various camps from that day onward my relatives weren t able to return to al safsaf so my father motioned to my mother whose memory was imprinted with the events of al safsaf asking her to take me and my sisters and leave with the other people departing the camp he repeated a well known saying among palestinian peasants save the women and children my grandfather shihadeh refused to leave his room in the camp despite my uncle qasim s entreaties my brother ahmad had gone to get a falafel sandwich from al balawi grocery store when the bombing intensified he saw a group of men running hysterically as though they were going into battle he heard them say that the israelis were at the entrances of the camp so he followed them and ended up at the imam ali mosque and we had no idea where he went from there every family was trying to find a safe place outside the camp where they could seek refuge we didn t know where our neighbors or our cousins went i didn t know where my close friends were the ones i had just been playing with in the neighborhood and the shelter i didn t know where we were going it was usually the father who made decisions to leave the camp based on his work relationships or other contacts outside that determined the places people went the father would convey his decision to other adults occasionally discussing it with them but we the children and the women never had the right to participate in such fateful decisions we were like valuable household possessions carried by the family my mother was very scared she had prepared a stew made of gundelia but we weren t able to enjoy it she left it behind gathering us children up and rushing us through the alleyways chased by the raiding planes the bombs from the naval vessels and the bursts of cannon fire from the tanks positioned on the hills overlooking the camp we left my older brothers behind with the young men who were defending the neighborhood though they were weaponless and lacked any training cats don t eat spoiled meat we took the road opposite the al balawi grocery store passing houses whose sequence i had memorized and could locate even blindfolded the house of abu fayiz shraydi then the house of abu al abd farhud followed by the house of the teacher fawzi shraydi and then the houses of hani kraydiyeh fatima al thaljeh abu nabil kraydiyeh abu al shawq abu isam kraydiyeh and the barber ahmad musa al taytabani whose house was on the dividing line between the neighborhood of the people from al safsaf and the people from akbara we went by the akbara spring 7 and walked up toward the neighborhood of the people from taytaba passing by the house of abu taha dahsheh and abu nasir al khayyat all the way to the house of the mukhtar where his widow still lived those alleyways are imprinted in my memory i made my way through them every evening in the company of my brother ahmad when we used to sell lupini beans during our summer vacations we would call out get some lupini beans and would hear a voice from one of the houses shout over here pinpointing their location quickly and with precision we d head over to the right door or window to sell our beans sometimes a furtive voice would call out from a window or a rooftop your grandmother is dancing we d just ignore them and continue to make our way through the alleys refusing to be deterred from our daily mission we used to make a handsome sum that we d give to our mother for safekeeping and she would give it back to us on holidays so that we could buy new clothes leaving some to spend as we liked during the month of ramadan we took the same route through those alleyways to wake people up for the suhur predawn meal we d pass by the windows and call out get up for suhur abu fayiz family praise god abu husayn people get up for suhur ramadan has come to visit we d keep repeating the chant until someone turned on the light or cried out we re awake and then we d carry on some doors were firmly locked while others were wide open signifying to me that the inhabitants were hiding inside either because they dreaded leaving or had no place to go or maybe they had left them open like that to welcome in anyone who might want to seek refuge in their houses the roar of planes was growing louder and the whistle of rockets was increasingly shrill i still felt safe in those familiar alleys though that didn t stop me from being startled by the sound of rockets every few moments during our trek i looked around me several times to make sure that we were all still alive and that death hadn t claimed one of us when i wasn t paying attention i was terrified that one of my family members would be hurt i felt as though the rockets were following us on other occasions we used to be able to see the raiding planes and observe the aim and fire of the mobile anti aircraft units as though they were trying to defend us with everything in their power this time i felt as though the planes were targeting us specifically especially since they were flying at very low altitudes and the sound of anti aircraft guns was beginning to fade like the faint echo of a groan every now and then we d seek cover against a wall or under an awning waiting for the planes to fly a little higher the alleys were crowded with people rushing about frantically some of whom were carrying simple items suggested by previous experiences of migration such as mattresses pillows blankets or kitchen pots we emerged from the alleyways to the street of the villas joining hundreds of other people around us the street was wide and open lined with low houses whose doorways didn t open right on to the street i didn t know these houses or their inhabitants and it was at that point that i began to feel fear i felt like someone who had been stripped of a blanket in the bitter cold we walked to the imam ali mosque where many before us had already arrived to seek shelter we found my brother ahmad there opposite the mosque was a church where many others had gathered my father had followed us carrying some papers and identity cards from the house which he handed to my mother he knew to do this from their previous experience when they had to leave al safsaf during the nakba that time they had left with nothing before long there was an altercation among the people sheltering in the mosque some of the men from our neighborhood began cursing the young men who had stayed behind to fight in the camp and objected to anyone carrying a gun my father bristled at their views and countered them vehemently but he was unable to stop their grumbling and their disaffected stares at that moment he decided to leave the place and as we were making ready to go we heard that the israelis had reached sayrub my father decided that we should all go to a relative s house nearby while others decided to go to the public hospital we walked behind my father as we passed behind the american school heading downhill along the only street leading to our relatives house the wide street had no houses on it and no pedestrians were walking there since it had a clear line of sight to the hills of miyeh wa miyeh and mar elias the suffocating silence was broken only by the sounds of the low flying planes accompanied occasionally by timid bursts of anti aircraft fire we kept to the edge of the street until we found ourselves in front of a two story white structure the home of my father s second cousin yusuf was on the first floor my father left us there and went to join my older brothers the house was calm and still not like the houses in the camp when you entered the front door you found yourself in a living room that was almost ten meters long with a high ceiling stylish plush furniture and tasteful paintings on the wall at the eastern end was a window and in the middle was a door leading to the kitchen opposite that was another door that led to the bedrooms and on the western side was a door that opened onto a balcony that looked out over the playing field of the american school i really loved that playing field two years earlier i had played there in the final soccer match between our neighborhood team and that of the adjacent neighborhood the camp s alleyways weren t wide enough to have proper soccer matches and the one playing field on the northeast edge of the camp near the public hospital was a modest dirt pitch which had that day been reserved for a match between abu ali iyad s team the official team of adults from our village and the aylabun team the official team of ayn al hilweh camp the captain of our neighborhood team rabah who was five years older than me told us that he d reserved a proper pitch for our final game with green grass and stands for spectators i had no idea how rabah managed to secure that pitch i d never seen it before that day or even heard of its existence i d never even set eyes on a green pitch outside of the stadiums whose pictures i d seen in the illustrated guides to the 1978 world cup that day after school had let out i walked to the pitch with my brother and the other players followed by dozens of kids from our neighborhood who came to cheer us on we approached it from the street behind the american school at that time the imam ali mosque hadn t yet been built and entered the field from the rear clambering in through a hole in the chain link fence i was full of pride and joy that day as i slipped through the gap in the fence it didn t occur to me that this wasn t the main entrance since i d never been in a proper playing field in my life i was quite taken by the sight of the green grassy field and the sensation of my footsteps on it it felt like the first time i slept on a foam mattress instead of the woolen ones that we usually slept on which never yielded to the weight of our bodies less than five minutes after the match began i was surprised to see a pack of spectators running out from behind the goal into the center of the field while others swarmed out of the stands kids were shouting and i thought at first that the invaders were trying to disrupt the match because they had been excluded from playing but then i heard my brother muhammad calling out to me and others began shouting run away quick i ran along with everyone else not knowing why the scene of kids scattering resembled an exploding shell fragmenting to fill every available space we ran as though we were in a race to see who could reach the gap in the fence first some climbed over the fence and jumped into the street beyond while others disappeared behind a row of trees at the end of the field as i stood waiting for my turn to pass through the hole i managed to look back at those still hurtling toward me and saw a man running after them with keys dangling from his waist carrying a stick in one hand and a pile of clothes in the other the pitch looked like a battlefield some kids were carrying their clothes and shoes some had stumbled to the ground others were crying and the field itself was full of pieces of clothing and stray shoes abandoned or dropped by their owners and now i found myself again looking out on that cherished playing field with no custodian to chase me away yusuf s house was spacious and his family welcomed us in along with his own siblings their families and other relatives a total of over thirty people we didn t feel like strangers just one pair of green eyes gave us a puzzled looked from the corner of the living room those of their cat who wandered around the room checking each one of us out as if to say where did all these strange faces come from and why have they come to occupy my house some of us were sitting on the couches and others had made space on the floor while yet others had found refuge in the kitchen the cat had no space to roam and its place on the couch had been taken over there weren t enough seats for all of us and anyone who moved from their seat lost it immediately the cat startled us whenever it brushed past us i m skittish when it comes to cats i don t hate them i like them so long as they keep their distance our neighbor nazmiyeh had over ten cats which she fed and coddled and most of the cats in the neighborhood congregated at her house i would see them from afar and never paid them much attention but now i found myself displaced in the company of a cat or rather at a cat s house and so i was obliged to accept the proximity and try not to disturb it the bombing resumed and the rockets whistles got shorter the building shook but we had no idea where the bombs were falling we tuned in to the news on the radio but the radio was not interested in our news or in what was going on around us we heard the news about distant air raids and battles in beaufort castle al shaqif and in khaldeh on the radio station of the revolution the voice of palestine that station and the voice of arab lebanon covered events and transmitted coded messages we heard that the syrians had entered the battle and that libya had sent airplanes that encouraged us and allayed our fears it made us feel as though we weren t alone in the battle but then we d hear a sudden news flash that israeli planes had downed syrian aircraft before the station resumed playing revolutionary songs that we d memorized and whose rhythms stirred our patriotic sentiments when i listened to those songs i felt as though we were in a real war that might end with israel s defeat and our return to palestine even though what was happening around us gave no sign of that at all on that first night the women all slept in one room while the children and some of yusuf s relatives slept in the living room the second night we didn t sleep a wink the bombing intensified while loudspeakers from the imam ali mosque announced that the mosque didn t contain any combatants so that it wouldn t be bombed by israel all the displaced people were asked to leave and some of those seeking refuge in the mosque went to miyeh wa miyeh refugee camp while others headed to the nearby hamshari hospital which was still under construction more of yusuf s relatives joined us and we all gathered in the living room women men and children as the bombing reached a terrifying pitch each time i felt the space closing in on me i d think of the cat and wonder where she went when she disappeared for hours it became increasingly difficult to stay in that room since the eastern and western sides were both exposed and the adults prevented us from approaching the window and the balcony that overlooked the playing field i felt a heat inside of me emanating from the blazing rockets the roar of the planes and the june sun which was more intense than usual at the same time the musty air of the shelter filled my nostrils and the cat was behaving very strangely curling itself up in a ball then spreading itself along the floor and extending its tail this was no shelter in the living room there was a giant ceramic or stone urn which my older brother had once painted with decorative drawings as a present to yusuf the urn was placed near the entrance to the corridor leading to the bedrooms i liked to admire its green hills clear blue skies and flowers when the shelling intensified we d all cluster around it and i could no longer see the hills and sky at night we didn t dare turn the lights on for fear of becoming a target for the planes but the power soon went out followed by the water supply and we started to eat and drink less to avoid going to the toilet the first day we ate labneh and cheese sandwiches and after that we just ate rice the sound of bombing blasted the sleep from our eyes the cat seemed to feel the air raids coming before we did i noticed that it would glare at us before we heard the sound of the airstrike and sometimes would take shelter by the urn before we got there cowering there in that small space led me to imagine strange things i imagined that a rocket would kill us all or that the building would collapse on us i thought that taking cover beside a closet or door might prevent me from suffocating under the rubble in that space all you can think of is death we held our breath and stopped talking and my sensitivity to cats disappeared when the bombing stopped we d return to our usual spots scanning the house to make sure that things were still in place and we would once again dare to speak or get something to eat there was some leftover meat in the fridge and our relative nina decided to cook it with rice for some variety my sister was worried that the meat had spoiled because of the power cut so nina said we should test it my sister asked how and nina said if the cat eats it we can and if it doesn t then it must be spoiled so nina offered a piece of meat to the cat who ate it and after that she and my sister added it to the rice without any qualms that meal was a special one it seemed luxurious after our meatless diet we didn t dwell long on our delicious meal because immediately after lunch a rocket hit the ground floor of the building injuring one of the neighbors we were all struck with fright my mother decided we should go to the dahduli building nearby where my uncle aunt and their families were staying and which had a basement shelter we ran in that direction but soon discovered that the shelter was already crowded with people so we went back to yusuf s house returning felt like going to meet our death but the bombing had become so intense that we were grateful to have any roof over our heads an hour later a rocket hit the dahduli building a woman was injured and lost her arm and the daughter of the building s owner was killed on the spot the bombardment prevented them from taking her to the cemetery so they buried her in the courtyard of the building at around eleven o clock on the fourth day another shell fell in the corner of the playing field of the american school it shattered the glass door of the balcony so we were forced to seek refuge on the ground floor a few hours later another shell hit the eastern side of the ground floor so we scrambled back upstairs the bombardment was closing in on us from all sides we crouched down with our hands on our heads and our heads between our knees to stifle the sound of the low airstrikes and the noise of the rockets exploding all around us we had new visions of death we felt that we could neither stay nor go the adults decided that we should leave the place so we gathered ourselves up and went back down to the entrance to the building we heard a low flying plane followed by a softer blast than the sound of the rockets that we d been hearing the sky was filled with what looked like shiny droplets sparkling on the horizon and the adults exclaimed leaflets soon i managed to see them from where i was standing at the entrance to the building i hadn t seen aerial leaflets before we followed them with our eyes as they fell slowly toward us littering the school playing field some also fell near the entrance of the building where we were standing a few men picked up some of the pieces of paper and started reading the israeli defense forces appeal to the people of sidon not to shelter terrorists whoever wants to surrender should carry a white flag and head toward the sea or miyeh wa miyeh just then the bombardment subsided and we stood there bewildered unsure what to do a few minutes later the silence was broken by the sound of loudspeakers ordering people to head toward the seashore there was no point deliberating any longer we organized ourselves to evacuate the premises my older sister held my hand and the hand of my younger sister and we went out into the street the white sheet we joined a powerful current of people individuals and groups from all over all heading toward the main road leading to the seashore the sky was clear and blue the sun was in the middle of the sky directly overhead burning our faces and bodies and it felt as though our brains were being fried the street was teeming with people the elderly women children all rushing in a frenzy where did all these people come from where had they been sheltering all this time were there enough houses to take them in they were looking around periodically to make sure they hadn t left anyone behind some of them were carrying clothes mattresses blankets and pillows some were holding the hands of their children as my sister was holding mine clutching it tightly i never experienced the nakba and had never been able to imagine it based on my father s many stories but i felt that i was living it that day people were running without knowing where they were going or for how long no one was talking to anyone else some were talking to themselves or crying or wailing my father was stonily silent and my siblings were too the adults had warned us repeatedly if you see the israelis don t talk to them i walked as though i were in search of something i d never seen an israeli in my life and i was filled with a mixture of curiosity and fear i wanted to know what he looked like this person who was trying to kill us whom we weren t supposed to talk to the road from the american school to the convent school was paved with asphalt and it seemed darker than usual it was covered with dirt and soot and there were stretches where it had been stripped away by the shelling and others where it had been torn up by the tracks of military tanks in some places you could see dark oil stains it looked as though some small battles had been fought there along the sides of the road were many burnt out cars some of them still smoldering electricity poles had been downed and the severed cables crisscrossed our path making it harder to walk we saw some dead bodies by the side of the road i remember one body by the roundabout near the american school and another near a bakery some were lying in the large open gutter that ran alongside the musalli mosque we arrived at the post office building which had been looted and ransacked the cabinets had been forced open and thrown out of the building letters and packages littered the courtyard in front of the building and some were scattered in the street outside the building and were being trampled what if some of those letters were ours maybe there were letters from friends trying to make sure we were all right or from my eldest brother who was studying in sudan some people might be waiting patiently for these letters maybe some of them would have changed the destinies of their recipients some of them might be old and no longer deliverable based on the addresses but all of them now lay underfoot certainly not where they were supposed to be they had all been stepped on by the feet of those fleeing bombardment and heading toward the sea we loved that post office and would race to retrieve letters and telegrams to deliver them to their addressees anyone who delivered a telegram that specified the arrival date of a loved one or another piece of joyful news would get a treat from the addressee we would avoid delivering telegrams bearing sad news like the death of someone telegrams weren t private and didn t come in envelopes we would read their few words which were tersely significant and then speed off to carry the news to their targets we competed over who would knock on the door and deliver the news it was no problem if we startled them the contents of the telegram would soon bring them joy they always gave us treats sometimes to the whole group and sometimes to whoever was carrying the telegram but we always split the treat among us the address of the people from our village was ayn al hilweh sayrub intersection abu kamil yunus shop all the letters went to that shop from there anyone could pick them up from abu kamil who would sort the mail then deliver the letters or give them to someone he trusted to deliver them telegrams got special treatment they wouldn t wait like letters they were more expensive so they usually didn t go to abu kamil s shop whenever we passed by the post office we d check for telegrams and deliver them straight to relatives or our fellow villagers to get our treats the letters that were being trampled now would never be read and the telegrams that had arrived would never be delivered there might be people waiting at the airport right now who weren t being greeted by anyone people were walking as though in a silent demonstration with faces contorted by fear and anxiety i was surprised to see men carrying white sheets draped over their backs and shoulders they looked different from the people who were carrying mattresses and blankets to use wherever they sought refuge but i wasn t sure why they were different after seeing several unfurled white sheets i asked my sister to explain and she replied it s a symbol of surrender they were responding to the leaflets that the planes had dumped on us then i also began to notice some men carrying women s white veils on the ends of sticks we continued walking toward sidon the gutter by the side of the road was blocked by cars and dead bodies as i walked i was surveying the scene taking everything in sometimes i saw more than what was in front of me when i saw a body i tried to imagine what that person had been doing before falling then i would notice the tracks made by the tanks and try to guess which way they had gone and wonder whether the fida iyin had confronted them on the side streets my mind was full of vivid scenes i felt like i was in a dream or watching a war on a movie screen was this the sidon i knew was this the same street that we walked along one night joking loudly breaking the silence of the night and drowning out the buzz of the insects why was i feeling such a mixture of fear and sadness my relationship to the city of sidon was not strong but it was romantic and intimate we went there during holidays visiting the holiday carnival and the sea fortress we walked the alleyways of the old city buying kanafeh falafel wild cucumber pickles and toys my eldest brother would take us to the cinema on summer nights to watch kung fu movies and indian films then we d walk back to the camp along this very street which would echo with our raucous excitement sometimes we would visit my uncle awad s house on holidays or when someone was sick on those occasions we would wear our best clothes hoping to match sidon s wide paved avenues its tall buildings and elegant houses we crossed the railroad opposite the arab bakery and found that the tracks had been wrecked no train would pass there again and no stories would unfold on those trains sometimes we waited by the tracks to watch the trains i yearned to take the train one day i had no idea that it was only for cargo i sometimes saw the conductor riding in the front and he sometimes stopped the train and ran after kids who hung on to the rear cars or tried to clamber onto them no one from our neighborhood embarked on such risky pranks we placed nails on the tracks which would be flattened by the train and become sharpened like knives we competed over who could walk longer on the tracks without losing their balance and falling we spent long hours near the tracks playing on the grass as though we were in some forlorn and distant forest there no one stopped us from running and shouting sometimes we d go there to study that was a habit we picked up from older kids who positioned themselves along the tracks to study for end of theyear exams in the spring in their bright clothes they looked like colored flowers against the tall green grass i suddenly caught sight of the soldiers from the occupation army heading along the train tracks to the north but i couldn t see them clearly they were camouflaged and were the same color as the ground my heart started beating faster and i didn t tell anyone what i saw we kept walking until we got to the gray dandashli building located at the crossroads of dala ah and saraya streets which was the tallest building in the area my brother said look at the israelis on the rooftop i looked over and saw that one of the soldiers was looking through large binoculars as soon as i took my gaze away from the roof of the building i was surprised to see two israeli soldiers standing right in front of me like green robots i was very scared they didn t look human they looked like man shaped objects with metal helmets black glasses bulletproof vests black boots on their backs they had what looked like the spray pumps that sanitation workers from unrwa used to spray pesticides on garbage but these backpacks had two aerial antennas for their wireless devices i soon noticed that there were many soldiers behind and around these two and that we had to pass in front of them to continue my sister pressed my hand and told me not to look at them i tried to look away but noticed a soldier extending his hand as though offering us something i couldn t see what he was holding and clung more tightly to my sister he said in broken arabic no be afraid biscuits tugging me toward her and pressing my hand my older sister replied you kill us then you give us biscuits i didn t take any nor did my younger sister and we continued on our way to the sea the procession slowed down as it reached what is now known as martyrs square the square was packed with people some standing and others sitting there were two craters in the square which had been made either by bombs or by bulldozers there were many bodies wrapped in plastic bags lying beside the craters someone said that they were burying the bodies of those who had been killed in the government hospital we hadn t heard that there had been a massacre at the hospital we didn t have time to wonder whether people we knew had died we were too busy thinking about our journey whose destination was still unknown we passed through the square and continued toward the convent school i didn t know why we were walking in that direction we were following my father and he appeared to be following those in front of him we walked past the convent school and made our way toward the dawha school run by the maqasid association it felt as though we were in a crowded market with no vendors each of us was looking for something but no one knew where to find it a mother was looking for her children a father was looking for his sons another mother was looking for a room where she could stash away her little ones someone else was looking for a loaf of bread for his family you were met with questions everywhere you looked and no one had any answers if you happened to ask someone you would be answered with another question some people asked about my brother who stayed in the camp others said they saw him there and yet others claimed to have seen him leaving some even said they saw him martyred and others that they saw the israelis capture him my father mother siblings and i entered the schoolyard of the dawha school and were met by a heap of trash in the middle of it there were women who were bedded down along the edges of the schoolyard and others who were washing their clothes and their children s clothes in the drinking fountains on another side of the yard some people were standing at the classroom windows overlooking the school yard clean laundry was hanging from the classroom windows and the noise in that space was louder and more jarring than during recess on a normal school day i asked my sister why we were there and she replied that we were looking for a classroom to sleep in soon we resumed our journey following my father out of the school i didn t hear a word from him maybe he wasn t talking i mostly asked my siblings but sometimes i figured out the answers to my questions by myself there are no empty classrooms i was overjoyed it didn t occur to me to ask where we would spend the night i couldn t conceive that i could sleep in a classroom in that school or that i would go to the bathroom there or put up with the deafening noise or breathe the stale air amid that throng of humanity it wasn t hard to pick up the same sentiments from the eyes of all my siblings and deduce it from my father s silence my father led us through a narrow road opposite the dawha school then he took a path behind the houses and we ended up in a backyard where we came across my maternal uncle and his children as well as my maternal aunt s family the land belonged to an old deserted house with a ground floor porch overlooking an empty lot with a few small trees on the other side of the yard from the house was a patch of dry grass that had been scorched by the flaming june sun and beyond that was a small cemetery my uncle s family had already claimed the porch of the house so we planted ourselves by a small tree whose shade provided some relief from the heat of the day my father left us in that shady spot and went off somewhere he was always preoccupied with my brothers two of whom were still missing we didn t know where they were or anything else about them that place was not crowded like the school only a few families there were no men among us just us children and women spread out under the trees israeli soldiers were gathering together the older boys and men by the seashore where they were forced to sleep at night to make sure that no one undertook military operations against the occupation i went to sit among them on the burning sand when my brother and i went back to join my mother and other siblings the night sky was clear and the stars were visible through the leaves of the trees that we were sleeping under from time to time we could hear helicopters and the searchlight beams would periodically light up the yard like sunlight then vanish again some of our neighbors had hung blankets from the trees to create partitions between the families that didn t know each other that first night we slept calmly without the sounds of air raids or bombing by the next day we had eaten all the bread we were able to carry from our relative yusuf s house and we went the whole day without everyone was mobilized one woman promised to give my sister and cousin some bread so they followed her to the old town of sidon traveling through old alleyways that they had never seen before my sister began to worry that the woman was going to do them harm but she finally gave them a few loaves which they took in a hurry as they made their way back they couldn t see the bread in the dark alleys and when they arrived we realized that the bread was all moldy we had to throw it away on the third day my sisters and cousins prepared some milk and rice pudding we didn t have spoons or bowls so we took turns eating with the same spoon straight out of the pot that afternoon i went with my cousin majid who is two years older than me to buy some bread from town we met some people carrying loaves of bread who pointed us in the direction of the old town which the people of sidon call al zawarib the alleys or al balad the town we made our way uphill toward the maqasid school in the direction of al zawarib our usual route to the old town which we took on holidays went from the akkawi falafel shop at shakiriya past the town hall and down to the seashore where the carnival was set up for the holiday this time we had to approach the old town from the direction of the men s café past the maqasid school and we entered unknown alleyways we saw plenty of military boots and uniforms abandoned by the wayside left there by their owners who had fled eventually our lungs were filled with the aroma of freshly baked bread and we came upon a long line of people queued up in front of the abu nahleh mosque there i saw older boys and men in greater numbers than had been on the seashore as if all the males of the city had come to buy bread there were no women there at all they were all jostling and squabbling in front of the bakery the owner of the bakery and the workers were refusing to sell anyone more than just one loaf of arabic bread we waited more than an hour for our loaf but we returned empty handed raising our arms in surrender there was nothing for it but to spend another day without bread we didn t have a change of clothes so my cousin and sister went to the house of another cousin who was in abu dhabi to bring some clothes and flour his house was near where we were staying when they got there they were confronted by the neighbors who said we ve been putting up with you palestinians for thirty years now the israelis are going to step on your necks so they came back without entering the house we had no bread no clothes and no toilets i don t remember using a toilet during that time but i saw some of the others going to the nearest part of the cemetery groups of girls accompanied one another to answer the call of nature the owners of the house arrived and began to curse and insult us we didn t answer and my uncle s family didn t move away from their spot on the porch they just made way for them to access the door we had nowhere else to go anyway they weren t insulting us personally but palestinians in general they went into their house took some of their personal belongings and went on their way on the fourth day the israelis allowed people to go to back to their houses in sidon so my sisters and female cousins went to my uncle awad s whose house we used to visit on holidays which was close to the ghassan hammoud hospital when they got there they baked nearly a hundred loaves of bread the smell of baking bread drew my uncle s neighbor who was so overwhelmed he said you palestinians have always been our pride you re good people so my sister gave him ten loaves and distributed the rest among our relatives all this time we d been trying to entertain the little ones to distract them from their hunger but once the bread arrived everyone fell silent and was entranced by its magnificence that afternoon we were able to go buy some necessities from the stores that had been spared from looting and whose owners were able to open them up on the fifth day early in the morning the occupation army announced over loudspeakers that everyone was to congregate near the entrance to the dawha school the soldiers who were speaking had a distinctive accent which sounded yemeni or druze we saw many military vehicles carrying heavily armed soldiers after they had gathered all the men in front of the school gate they began parading them in front of informers hidden in half track armored vehicles the likes of which i d never seen before the informers had covered their heads with white masks with two holes for the eyes even though i was watching from a distance i was filled with fear each man would pass in front of the informer if he gave a sign they would pull the man aside and if he didn t they would let him go i remember that the workers from sri lanka were all brought up together and the informer pointed at one of them after the other the soldiers took them all aside a joke went around that when they were asked where they worked they answered fateh company after that trucks came to take away all those who had been pulled aside to an unknown destination the israelis branded the identity cards of people who were cleared by making an incision on the side where the picture was and stamping them in hebrew new people arrived at the seashore every day and were subject to the same treatment everyone was instructed to go to the shore i went to witness the operation every day i thought of myself as a young man which is why i went but i didn t look old enough which is why i was never passed in front of the informers the israelis ordered everyone over fifteen to go to the shore and they detained many of our friends one of them was suhail abul kull even though he was only fourteen and small of stature he died later in the ansar internment camp after one of the protests organized by the prisoners on the sixth day my sisters went back to my uncle s house to check on the extended family and wash some clothes my uncle told them that he had found an apartment that we could stay in so we went with my aunt s family as well as my two cousins and their families one of my cousins had come from kuwait to spend the summer vacation and had been trapped with us there were around twenty of us and the new apartment was practically palatial the living room was ten meters long with high ceilings and paintings on the wall it had three bedrooms and two bathrooms all we needed was four walls but god had granted us much more the men and children spread themselves out in the living room while the women shared the bedrooms the israelis patrolled the city all night we heard the constant rumble of the armored vehicles and saw the searchlight beams lighting up the balconies during the day they announced through the loudspeakers that everyone was to gather in the squares that night the men were instructed to come to the large square at sitt nafiseh and line up in the street the israelis were going to search all houses for terrorists and kill anyone who stayed behind people were gripped by fear deep inside i wanted to go down to the square near our new apartment to prove that i was no longer a child and to join my friends and neighbors who had been captured and taken to the ansar internment camp but my sisters were unpersuaded and stubbornly prevented me from going saying you re not fifteen yet they even stopped my sixteen year old brother from going while my eldest brother just refused on his own every morning we would find energa anti tank rifles or kalashnikov ak 47 rounds piled up in front of the entrances to some of the buildings people were dumping them furtively at night holding or possessing a weapon was a serious charge and some people began to tell the israelis about the presence of weapons in their buildings i was surprised by the number of weapons caches and offices of the palestinian resistance in sidon some of the offices had distributed relief supplies while others served other purposes the underground shelter of the building that we were living in had a depot filled with blankets military uniforms and a few small arms almost every building in our neighborhood had some sign of the resistance as we came to realize watching israeli military trucks park outside each one to seize their contents the depots were full of new and unused supplies and confiscating all the property took many hours it was a sad and shameful sight the israelis soon propagated the use of the term terrorist mukharrib to describe the palestinian resistance fighters fida iyin they commanded civilians not to shelter terrorists and then raided their houses forcing doors open with their boots brandishing their rifles and illuminating their surroundings with glaring lights they would ask are there any terrorists here the term became so widespread that some lebanese started using it to describe palestinians even palestinians would reply to the israelis saying there are no terrorists here rather than calling them fida iyin or fighters early one morning as we were asleep in the living room there was a loud knock on the door to our new apartment my aunt opened the door and engaged in a dialogue the voices echoed in the empty apartment building but we couldn t understand what was going on she returned and said israelis then she went to the bedrooms and woke up the women and girls saying don t be afraid the israelis want to search the house don t panic my sister threw some bedclothes over my eldest brother who had not gone to get his identity card stamped and sat on top of him on the bed moments later five heavily armed soldiers entered accompanied by the neighbor to whom we had given some bread when they got to the bedroom where my brother was my sister called out we re all women and children here the soldier retreated they proceeded to search the rest of the house entering each of the other rooms in turn one of them turned to our neighbor and said who says there s a terrorist here there are no terrorists the soldiers apologized and offered candy to the children but we refused to take it between two exiles the camp still held some fighters who refused to surrender and leave israel sent some of the elders to negotiate with them at al kifah school to get them to surrender but the fighters responded by saying victory or martyrdom after eleven days of intense bombardment ayn al hilweh camp fell the number eleven has a special meaning that many palestinian refugees might not be aware of even those who live in the camp and its surroundings let alone those who live outside that circle but some of us refugees along with the israeli occupation army are highly attuned to that number and will never forget it it s common knowledge among those who follow such things that the israeli occupation army arrived at bhamdun in the shuf mountains of lebanon while ayn al hilweh was still resisting and it s common knowledge among those who follow such things that the israelis ran into trouble in the camp for eleven days straight those who put up the fight and gave them such trouble were eleven men ranging in age from sixteen to forty three we found this out from one of the fighters who confided in us the whole story saying there were just eleven of us the israelis never found out the number of fighters they were eleven planets orbiting not the sun but fire and gunpowder they would come up from behind the safsaf mosque to face the maelstrom of fire a giant merkava tank unleashed its barrage on the houses of the camp reducing them to scattered rubble the men attacked it from behind destroying it and preventing other armored vehicles from advancing by engaging with the enemy at close range they also prevented the air force from being effective for eleven days the day the men withdrew the fighting stopped and the inhabitants of the camp were permitted to inspect their homes the directive from the occupation army said enter at 7 00 a m and leave before 9 00 a m at which point bombardment will resume anyone remaining in the camp would be considered a terrorist we followed my father to the camp along with thousands of others most people entered in a hurry and left in even more of a hurry carrying mattresses and household items salvaged from the ruins of their homes i found myself torn between my fearful impulse to leave and my longing to stay cradled in my birthplace fear and longing i d never been away from the camp for such a long time i yearned for our little neighborhood and the alley that we played in for our house and the grapevine that we sat under to study or just to relax i wanted my things the toys and storybooks my eldest brother had bought for us but the anxiety and fear that the bombing could resume at any time crowded out my yearning we walked along the main street which was broader than it had been now that the houses and shops that once lined it had been razed to the ground the wreckage piled at either end of the street now served as a barrier that protected the tanks and armored vehicles of the occupation army we arrived at a vast open square the likes of which had never existed before in our camp we were dumbfounded as we compared the scene to the topography of the site that was stored in our memories that was where you took the road to sayrub an intersection we knew well which led to our neighborhood a fierce battle had clearly taken place there a burnt out merkava tank was still smoldering and there were signs that soldiers had been killed there later i learned that it had been the most ferocious battle of the war and one in which the young men had taught the occupation army a lesson it was the sayrub intersection after all but there was hardly any sign left of the people who had lived there or the stores that had marked the spot i could make out the ruins of the safsaf mosque which had collapsed onto the underground shelter where people had gathered and where people used to congregate on somber occasions to pay condolences the elderly people and those who were with them who had sought refuge in the mosque s underground shelter had all perished from that time onward it was renamed the martyrs mosque and there too i saw what remained of abu hamad s coffee shop which used to sell thick arabic coffee whose aroma roused the nose of every passerby and stirred all nearby sleepers it was the site where people had spun so many stories of youthful heroics and told memories of a lost homeland abu marwan was a hakawati storyteller who never tired of relating accounts of his exploits in the final battle for safsaf during the nakba or telling exotic tales that would keep the customers riveted and the coffee flowing coffee cups had been shattered and companions scattered and the dark brown liquid that had been held delicately in the cups had no place among the ruins next door were the remnants of muhammad dib s shop where we bought falafel and ful and ice cream in the summer and next to that the ruins of abu kamil yunus shop our mailing address abu kamil was a gentle soul with a slow robotic walk who gave us sugar coated almonds while we played we couldn t figure out why he walked like that some said the israelis had shot him but we weren t able to find out how or why we finally gathered that he was the only survivor of the dreadful safsaf massacre at the time abu kamil was on his way back from the flour mill in bint jubayl in southern lebanon not realizing that safsaf had fallen to zionist militias and that the fighters in the village had been forced to retreat when he arrived at his house he was startled by two israeli soldiers who grabbed his arms and held him back he had been distracted by the sight of his son kamil running toward him to get the candy that he always brought back from his trips to the flour mill as the israeli soldier restrained him he managed to throw the candy saying take this son the last gift from your father he had no idea that he d survive that day the zionist militiamen took around fifty young men from the village who had been hiding in the houses of the village elder and isma il al nasir lined them up against the wall and sprayed them with bullets abu kamil was injured and fell to the ground while another man holding a child fell onto him he had only been lightly wounded in the arm later he attempted to get up and join the women but he glimpsed the soldiers returning and lay back down pretending to be dead he had learned hebrew from having worked in haifa and he heard the soldiers say finish off anyone who s still alive he held his breath and froze more bullets penetrated his shoulder and thigh that s how he survived the massacre of safsaf in 1948 though he continued to walk with a limp because of the injuries he had sustained and he always distributed candy to the children just as he had done with his son kamil had the israelis now finally tracked him down and killed him had they really destroyed his shop the candy warehouse for us kids there for sure was where the shop had been and that s where our mail went the israelis had sent us a clear message you won t get your mail here anymore we were now without an address this was where i was from but it was no longer what it was and i was over there now in sidon where i had no roots or memories there was no sign of our neighborhood apart from the mosque which we could make out because of the wreckage of the main hall and the remains of the minaret the landmarks had all been wiped out and we lost all sense of direction we climbed over the ruins of the house behind the mosque and headed eastward across a wide expanse of rubble to get to my aunt s house from there perched on the debris we could see the dark blue sea we could never see it before because of the houses trees and grapevines now it sparkled clearly in front of us appearing very close we made our way through the neighborhood until we arrived at our house which still stood even though the walls were pockmarked and full of holes from the rockets the surrounding houses were partially destroyed and coated with a fine layer of white dust like flour the neighborhood was still there but it was demolished the alley near our house where we used to play was blocked by rubble and fragments from nearby houses our neighbor abu salih would scold us every time we played football there the doors of his house were blown out and we didn t know if he was dead or alive he would never scold us again because no one would be able to disturb his peace ever again the neighborhood seemed ghostly stripped of the sounds of children playing and mothers yelling of kerosene stoves and revolutionary music from the 1970s my weapon springs from my wounds all those sounds had fallen silent but they still echoed in my head now and then as i trod on the rubble i froze when i heard what sounded like a death rattle that echoed in the neighborhood and drowned out the other sounds reverberating in my head suddenly i heard a loud crash and stopped in my tracks in terror thinking that the israelis were attacking us it was just one of our neighbor nazmiyeh s cats it had stepped on some debris sending a rock clattering down on to a piece of tin metal roofing the cats were wandering around the neighborhood apparently looking for nazmiyeh meanwhile my father was absorbed inside the living room of our house hurriedly sorting through the books putting some of them in large flour sacks so that we could take them with us and hiding those about the palestinian cause to prevent the israelis from discovering them he had lit the stove and was burning some papers and other effects that i knew nothing about as my sister and i inspected the rubble of houses we found a simonov rifle abandoned in the wreckage we carried it to our house my father told me and my sister to bring some old clothes then he proceeded with great speed to lock the house door and dig a hole in the flower planter he said that we were going to bury the rifle right there my sister and i wrapped the rifle with the rags and plastic and buried it then we replanted the flowers and other plants on top of it we did all that with record speed as though it was something that we did all the time but only my father knew what he was doing and why i felt his reluctance to discard the weapon and saw the apprehension in his eyes for what the future would bring he had understood the value of weapons ever since he and his four cousins had pitched in to buy a rifle in his village of safsaf to protect themselves against the same occupier we wiped our hands and my father went back to filling the bags of books which we carried out making sure to leave before 9 00 a m other people were carrying all sorts of necessities rescued from their houses that they needed for their daily lives me my brother sister father and mother were all carrying books from my brother s extensive library people were giving us strange looks maybe they were bemused by the sight of us sneaking books out of our house one of our relatives said take something that might be useful we kept up our book rescue operations for three consecutive days on the second day i was accompanied by my cousin majid we wandered alone while my father was sorting the books and other things majid was carrying a camera at the time so i said let s take pictures of ourselves i took a picture of him standing on the ruins of his house then he took a picture of me on the same spot their house was really three houses in one there was my uncle awad s old house and my aunt s original house as well as a house that my cousin muhammad who worked in saudi arabia had built twenty years ago but never lived in we managed to clamber to the top of the heap of rubble the view wasn t panoramic or beautiful in any way all we could see were the ruins of smaller houses they had all been levelled to the ground all the way to the dark blue sea but we could already glimpse the sea from below without needing to scale the rubble since the horizon was totally open there was an eerie silence in the neighborhood but as we walked on toward our house to help my father sort the books the sounds of a hubbub gradually reached our ears at first we thought it was nazmiyeh s cats again but the sound kept getting nearer and louder and soon we were startled to see a group of occupation soldiers standing in the doorway of our house they shouted at my father hey you yes my father replied from inside what you doing added the soldier in broken arabic my father responded in a similar idiom me clean house the soldiers entered the house with the barrels of their guns pointed at my father and motioned to him to show them the bedrooms he went first and they followed him then they led him outside and we thought they were going to arrest him so we walked behind them they took him to our neighbor abu salih s house and told him to go down to the basement shelter he took the steps down and they followed after that they just said enough go home my father returned and asked us to help him carry the books and leave on the third day one of our relatives asked me and my brother ahmad to go to one of the underground shelters in the samiriyeh neighborhood to fetch a pair of night vision binoculars that he and some fighters had taken from one of the tanks that they had disabled before the invasion i knew samiriyeh s alleys by heart we passed through the neighborhood on our way to the lower mosque to perform the five daily prayers for the dawn prayers my eldest brother would wake us up and walk with us we d hang on to him as we passed the khraybi house where there was a swing and a big dog when the dog heard our footsteps he would start barking and keep at it until after we d passed my brother would tell us not to be afraid and not to run he d say that if the dog knows you re scared he ll run after you and bite you if he manages to catch you we couldn t contain our fear but we trusted our elder brother and followed his advice we maintained an outward calm while inside we were anything but every time we walked past my knees rattled like an electric sewing machine and my teeth chattered loudly but as my brother promised the dog would tire of barking as we walked by without looking at him or picking up the pace and he would then retreat allowing us to continue on our way we went to that place now as our relative had instructed us without fearing the dog but we couldn t find any trace of the shelter we searched in that wide expanse of rubble but found ourselves going around in circles we d walk back toward the houses that were still standing to find our bearings then retrace our steps we hiked along a path by the ravine that we used to take to the lower mosque the ravine was full of discarded weapons we slipped down to a shelter in the ravine but it was empty save for some discarded kalashnikov rifles and empty jars of honey that appeared to have been consumed by the fighters we walked back over the ruins of levelled houses to look for another shelter where could that place be we couldn t even find the house with the swing and the dog other people passed by us as my brother and i kept going around in circles after some time we found an opening in the ground leading to a shelter which had been covered by a flat piece of metal there were broken doors and pieces of rubble blocking the entrance ahmad and i looked around to see if anyone could see us but the passersby were looking straight ahead with my brother leading the way we decided to go down into that shelter we lifted the metal cover to find a very dimly lit space the only light filtering in from the opening we crept into the underground shelter treading carefully not knowing what we were stepping on slowly we began to make out some shadows we saw rocket propelled grenades and kalashnikovs leaning against the walls cans of food and other supplies finally we found a small pair of binoculars we didn t think it matched the description but we took it anyway and left in a hurry without bothering to investigate or search the place any further we just wanted to complete the mission and demonstrate that we had been there my brother hid the binoculars in his clothes and we climbed out of the shelter we ran all the way to our house in the camp and concealed them in one of the book bags and then returned to the place we were staying at in sidon the next day we gave the binoculars to our relative who confirmed that they were not the right ones the israeli occupation army was preoccupied with the battle for beirut and was worn out by the fighting meanwhile life began to return to sidon gradually and things started to seem normal we felt that it was time for us to return to the camp but we weren t allowed to so we became residents of sidon our apartment there was nice and large but crowded and we rarely emerged from it israeli forces regularly patrolled with loudspeakers calling on people to gather in the street or announcing a curfew we only ventured outside to visit the camp bring necessities or fetch books i experienced a harsh exile in sidon i had no friends there and i didn t know the neighbors their doors were always shut and we never greeted each other on the stairs i felt like a stranger in the same sidon streets that i had loved as a child our trips to the camp grew more frequent and we started hearing reports that unrwa was distributing building materials to people so they could rebuild their houses there some people began to go back to the camp especially those who were staying in schools orchards and garages we decided to return too but this decision wasn t like our decision to leave because it wasn t unanimous my eldest sisters my mother and my middle brother decided to stay in the apartment with our relatives while my father elder brother other sister and i wanted to go back to the camp the camp was like a wasteland most of the youths and men were at ansar internment camp as for my brother and i we were no longer children we saw ourselves as men although our mustaches hadn t sprouted yet during those first days we slept on the roof of our house with my paternal uncle s family my maternal aunt s family and the neighborhood kids an assortment of men women boys and girls we all spread out in the open air counting the stars we burned cow dung to fend off the mosquitoes and other bugs the insects proliferated because of the wreckage and garbage the burst water pipes and damaged sewers and maybe because there were human and animal bodies buried under the rubble in the early days informants roamed through the camp wearing masks and raiding houses during the daytime later they began to move around without masks but they didn t dare enter the camp s alleyways alone at night one day a group of kids was playing in a burnt out jeep that had belonged to the fida iyin it was in a nearby orchard that was once called the jewish orchard and later renamed the jerusalem orchard they were playing across from a jeep full of israeli soldiers one of the soldiers began to ridicule the kids so one of the kids picked up a rock and threw it at him hitting him in the head and drawing blood the kids scattered in all directions but the soldiers were incensed they gave chase and began to shoot in all directions then they encircled the vicinity and launched a search for the boy who had thrown the rock the neighborhood emptied of children as the soldiers began breaking into houses they found ayham son of the teacher ata du aybis eating lunch with his mother in their house and tried to arrest him but his mother kept crying and imploring them not to take him until they left him alone we dared not stir from the attic where we were hiding until nightfall we spent our days clearing out the rubble from the neighborhood and at night we stayed up and kept company with the adults every two or three days we went to sidon to check on the rest of the family and friends as well as to get food and bathe when word came to us that the municipality of sidon was hiring people to paint the city walls paying five lebanese liras per day i was eager to sign up my school had been destroyed and i needed a way to fill my time so i got myself hired along with some of the neighborhood kids and began painting the walls that bordered the main streets of sidon when i collected my first week s wages i bought a grown up bike it was a hercules brand bike and i was smitten with it i also bought new clothes for the id holiday with the money i earned from that job but the whole thing ended badly for me one day we were painting the walls of an orchard alongside the road that joins the sitt nafisa and sabbagh neighborhoods near the olive oil press a bmw car pulled up nearby and the driver a man in his late twenties called out loudly to us we began walking toward him thinking that he had lost his way and needed directions but when we approached he pointed an m 16 rifle at us and shouted get in the car quick why what have we done we answered nervously get in you dogs fast he replied we began to panic but just at that moment another car approached from behind and the man sped away we fled in the opposite direction not pausing for breath until we reached the house of the municipal engineer jad sha ban who was supervising our work he reassured us and told us that he would inform the mayor s office but we jumped on our bikes and raced back to the camp never to return to that job that day marked a souring in my relationship to the city of sidon i spent most of my days thereafter in the camp two masks and a darkness the camp became a haven and a place of solace there we could meet and feel secure despite the fear provoked in us by the informants despite the exodus of the palestinian resistance movement and the absence of the men being held in the ansar internment camp and despite the omnipresent darkness there was still no electricity in the camp so we relied on candles and kerosene lamps neighbors would gather at night often at our house to reminisce about the days before the war and to exchange analyses of the current political situation and what might become of the refugees the comfort of staying up late sharing stories helped us to overcome the darkness and our trepidations about the future each time one of our relatives or neighbors returned to live in the camp we rejoiced in their arrival and our ties of affection and solidarity were strengthened the camp became a magnet for displaced people one day we were wandering through the alleyways and caught a glimpse of a cousin who had been in bulgaria on a training course someone said that s adnan we couldn t believe it why would adnan come back from bulgaria at this time we had seen him slip by like a ghost moving very quickly so we sped off to the house of my uncle his father and scanned the ruins but there was no sign of anyone adnan had managed to slink away so stealthily that it made us doubt our own senses later we realized that many young men had returned from abroad to mobilize and fight only to find that the war was over by the time they arrived the fida iyin had already departed for new unfamiliar exiles i can still picture the scene of the resistance fighters departing from beirut in 1982 it was the end of an era and the beginning of the unknown thousands of fighters were transported in trucks belonging to the lebanese army waving palestinian and lebanese flags it was a poignant moment women were tearing up as were men on television we watched as lebanese politician walid junblatt fired a gun in the air to lament the exit of the fighters bursts of gunfire erupted here and there in mourning or in celebration while the fighters flashed victory signs in our home as in our neighbors homes a deep sadness enveloped us all the men knitted their brows we couldn t comprehend what had happened just days earlier we were following reports of fierce battles in beirut and its surroundings monitoring the radio broadcasts daily the battles in the southern suburb of khaldeh at the beirut airport at the lebanese museum we d heard that the occupying army hadn t managed to advance past the front lines in beirut and we d watched as israeli convoys of supplies and reinforcements traveled northward past sidon toward beirut warplanes roaring overhead as they ran support missions and carried soldiers to and from the city but now that was all over the fida iyin had left abu ammar yasir arafat had left i used to dream that when i grew up i would join the revolution we had been steeped in the conviction that the fida iyin would liberate palestine but now i watched as they left us just when we needed them most to protect us palestine receded from my consciousness at that moment all i could think about thereafter were the terrifying nights in the camp the informants the phalangist forces and the militia of sa d haddad i ll never forget the front cover of the lebanese newsmagazine al hawadith the week that the fighters withdrew from beirut it showed young men carrying their weapons aboard military trucks stranded in a throng of thousands of mothers sisters relatives and friends who were seeing them off it was a strange picture and it generated in me intense emotions of sadness and fear i hadn t witnessed the fighters battling over ayn al hilweh camp and the thought of that didn t particularly sadden me but i was devastated by the sight of their departure from beirut later i painted the scene in oil that event completed a tragic picture that had taken shape in my mind the real fida iyin were either martyred or imprisoned and the last remaining fighters were exiting the country and leaving us behind i had no use for the traditional leaders who fled or those who later became collaborators with the occupation army israel succeeded in destroying beirut while arafat assumed a position of epic steadfastness which ended in mid august 1982 as a result of the negotiations that arranged for italian and french ships to evacuate the palestinian fighters to tunisia algeria yemen and sudan my pride triumphed over my sense of dread when i heard that italian ships were involved like most people in the camp i had been following the world cup soccer tournament that summer and when the italian team won the cup they d dedicated their victory to the palestine liberation organization to express their support for the steadfastness of the palestinian people and their resistance to the israeli offensive from then onward my love for the italian football team grew by leaps and bounds life in ayn al hilweh camp had begun to lean toward the normal people were restoring the houses that could be saved later on we learned that when the occupation army was unable to storm the camp and gain complete control it had begun to raze houses to the ground with a huge military bulldozer on the assumption that removing the houses would prevent fighters from hiding in them and mounting ambushes those who could afford to do so refurbished their houses without waiting for assistance from unrwa or the international organizations and ngos that proliferated in the camp some modest economic activities began to return and my family set up a small stand selling candy and household items but our hope was crushed when we heard that in the absence of resistance the occupying army had infiltrated beirut and occupied the city they rounded up anyone who was deemed to be related to the resistance in any way lebanese or palestinian then we heard about the massacre of refugees at sabra and shatila that struck fear in our hearts we worried that we would be next urgently we felt the need to have the fighters at our side we began hearing about the growing presence of phalangist militias in sidon and to the east of the city we also received reports of incursions by sa d haddad s militia who abducted people from their homes or detained them at random checkpoints once we heard that the phalangists were going to attack our camp so the people living in the houses along the main street near the camp s entrance took refuge in our neighborhood and stayed in our houses we didn t dare shut our eyes that whole night or for several nights after anxiety generated endless discussions that dragged on until the first rays of dawn we couldn t keep quiet since silence only heightened the fear our neighbors slept alongside us on the roof of our house for a long time our bedrooms and living room were on the ground floor but we avoided sleeping there so as not to be easy prey for attackers the living room had three windows one looking out on the courtyard another on our neighbor abu salih s backyard and the third on the backyard of my aunt s house these windows ordinarily stayed open but we began closing them at all times my sister and i were terrified of being massacred i wasn t afraid of bombardment which led to a sudden and painless death but death by massacre took time that was a whole different painful matter it brought up memories of the slaughter of sheep or chickens on feast days and other occasions the slaughtered animals wriggled and twisted and the blood spattered all over the thought made my hair stand on end we slept with knives under our pillows and the distances between us melted away fear was our daily obsession it marked the beginning and end of every day we feared being massacred and we feared the informants who raided houses at night accompanied by israeli patrols they did this whenever they caught wind of the presence of a young man aged eighteen or older in the camp whenever we heard the rumble of israeli military vehicles approaching at night we rushed to hide in one of the rooms we locked the doors and blew out the candles before we used to go to the rooftop to watch airplanes bombing from the sky but now we just stayed hidden in the dark holding our breath fear narrowed the scope of our lives the growing presence of informants and spies made our lives even more constricted and controlled some camp residents began to appeal to the informants to ask for the release of their sons or to inquire about them in the ansar detention camp their assistance was also sought in securing building supplies or travel permits that s how they came to have influence over our daily lives and in providing basic services the occupation army chose thugs addicts and people with bad reputations to be their eyes and ears but many people refused to deal with the informants rejected their growing role and despised them some began to organize to confront the informants they wore masks and moved around at night transporting weapons and hiding them we didn t know their names but suspected that some of them were our friends and neighbors particularly those who weren t present at our evening gatherings or didn t sleep alongside us one day the masked men beat up someone from the neighborhood whom they suspected of collaborating with the informants we feared the sight of the masks we were used to the fida iyin whose faces we saw but not to people in masks that covered their faces the first time i had seen someone with a mask on had been that day at the seashore when the masked collaborators were picking out the fida iyin from inside israeli military vehicles this phenomenon puzzled me it was as though the informants had now taken off their masks and given them to the resistance fighters the unmasked informants controlled our lives during the daytime and the masked men controlled them at night and we feared both we slept on the rooftops men and women children and young adults there was nothing separating us from the starlit sky unless the israelis overpowered the faint light from the stars with their search beams that happened whenever those in masks fired on the informants and sometimes for no reason some of the masked men were fighters who had managed to sneak back into the camp covertly they gradually gained influence in the camp appearing in other neighborhoods and then they began killing ordinary people without adequate reason people began speculating and arguing as to whether their victims were collaborators with israel some were keen to indict the victims as though these unknown masked individuals were impartial judges passing just verdicts the masked men began to move around in the camp s alleyways in broad daylight which made the atmosphere more tense since there was a greater chance of running into them as we went about our daily lives they could just kill us and get away with it since their identities were unknown once my uncle qasim approached one of them and said i m an old man and even i m afraid of you if the children see you they might pee their pants my uncle urged the masked man not to circulate during the day but he just patted my uncle on the shoulder saying move along hajj the masked men started to harass the neighborhood kids they would hit one of them for no reason or scare one because he said something that wasn t to their liking or take one in for interrogation in the middle of the night and then release him it was hard to know who was with us and who against us the camp now harbored factions with leaders and members some of those who had left beirut with the resistance were paying young people to join them we could hear clashes at night but we couldn t tell who was fighting who it was chaos and i felt as though i was always in the dark we went back to sleeping on the lower level but always made sure to lock the doors tight in fall it was time for us to return to school unrwa set up tents to serve as classrooms but some of them were burned down by the camp s inhabitants including some students as a way of signaling their refusal to return to the early days of being refugees and staying in tents that were blown away by storms we weren t too sad about that because we weren t in a hurry to go back to school the truth is that we had forgotten that we were students my parents enrolled me in a private school in sidon and so i bid farewell to the camp but the sidon that i once loved had changed the israelis had altered its landmarks they had bulldozed the orchards that once sheltered fida iyin and had served as launchpads for some of their heroic operations they had dug wide roads and imposed curfews there was no longer any space or time to play in the city and we had been too anxious to walk the streets ever since the kidnap attempt by the man in the bmw at home we no longer gathered at mealtimes as we always had growing up now some of my siblings were in sidon while others had returned to the camp and still others had moved to beirut the family had been destabilized and remains so to this day sidon transformed us gradually but the upheaval of the invasion disturbed our lives abruptly and profoundly the place that had united us was devastated and many families had been dispersed the camp was full of outsiders before each neighborhood had brought together people from the same village and their relatives our doors were always wide open and the gates to houses were unlocked all that had changed at the time we had no idea of the extent of the fragmentation in the camp we only knew that the invasion had stolen our childhood it killed our desire to play we no longer felt like children life in the camp was no longer calm and tranquil like a pool of water reflecting the blueness of the sky the ripples that broke its surface now led to powerful currents i felt dizzy like a lurching wrestler who was about to keel over when wrestlers fall they hit the floor but i felt as though there was no ground under my feet i left the camp that i adored to live in a city that seemed unfamiliar to me everything changed from that day onward everything 1 blue tablets that camp dwellers used to place in the water when boiling laundry because it made the colors of the clothes look shinier they also mixed them with lime when painting houses blue 2 the name of a hill scarcely fifty meters high to the southeast of the camp but outside its perimeter containing some buildings and fida iyin bases 3 another hill which lies to the east of the camp many fida iyin bases are located on its barren 4 the closest town to sidon to the south separated from the camp by a few orchards 5 the river located at the northern entrance of sidon 6 an area within the camp at the southern edge located in the neighborhood of the village of lubiya slopes in palestine 7 a water source provided by unrwa in each neighborhood glossary abaya traditional robe like garment worn in many parts of the arab world abdul wahab muhammad abdul wahab renowned egyptian composer performer and singer 1900 1991 who composed songs for umm kulthum and other artists abu ammar yasir arafat longtime head of the plo from 1969 to his death in 2004 abu hasan salameh ali hasan salameh senior plo official who was assassinated by israel in beirut in 1979 abu jihad khalil al wazir senior plo official who was assassinated by israel in tunis in 1988 abu mazin mahmud abbas senior plo official who was elected president of the palestinian authority in 2005 ain al rummaneh bus a bus carrying armed palestinian fighters through the beirut suburb of ain al rummaneh on april 13 1975 which was attacked by phalangist militiamen an event that served as the spark that ignited the lebanese civil war al asifa armed wing of the palestinian political party fateh ansar an internment camp set up by israel during its 1982 invasion of lebanon near the village of ansar in southern lebanon to hold captured combatants and civilians arab front arab liberation front political party within the plo affiliated with the iraqi regime armed struggle al kifah al musallah security arm of responsible for coordinating military action the plo dany chamoun lebanese right wing politician assassinated in 1990 by rival lebanese factions dabkeh traditional folk dance of palestine as well as of lebanon syria and other parts of the levant deuxième bureau a division of lebanese military intelligence which played an important role in surveillance and repression of palestinian refugees in the 1950s and 1960s fairuz prominent lebanese singer 1934 famous among palestinians for having sung a number of songs for and about jerusalem and palestine fateh fatah main political party within the plo established in 1959 and led until his death by yasir arafat fida i pl fida iyin fedayeen literally self sacrificer a term often used for a member of the palestinian resistance usually an armed fighter ful foul savoury dish with fava beans in lemon and garlic eaten in various parts of the middle east gundelia arabic aqqub thistle like plant native to the middle east used in palestine in stews and other dishes george habash founder and leader of the popular front for the liberation of palestine pflp nicknamed al hakim wise one or physician trained as a medical doctor before joining the palestinian resistance sa d haddad lebanese army officer who created a pro israeli militia south lebanon army that was active in the israeli occupied zone in southern lebanon from 1979 to 2000 hajjeh f hajj m literally someone who has performed the pilgrimage to mecca often used as a respectful epithet to address elders hakawati traditional storyteller in palestine and other parts of the middle east often entertaining audiences in cafés or teahouses hanzala character created by the palestinian political cartoonist naji al ali now a symbol of palestinian steadfastness whose image is widely reproduced in palestinian iconography hattah traditional arab scarf consisting of a white or patterned cloth worn over the head and sometimes held in place by iqal iqal circle of cord or rope holding in place hatta or kufiyah headdress around the crown of the head walid junblatt lebanese politician allied with the palestinian resistance movement during the lebanese civil war ka k one of a variety of sweet or savory crusty breads or baked goods often topped with sesame seeds popular in palestine lebanon and other parts of the middle east kanafeh pastry made with semolina and cheese often served at breakfast or as dessert in palestine lebanon syria and other parts of the levant khalo term of endearment used for a maternal uncle khal kufiyah keffiyeh traditional arab scarf often in a red andwhite or black and white pattern worn over the head or across the shoulders often as a symbol of affiliation with palestinian liberation movements labneh strained yogurt often eaten with bread at breakfast in palestine and other parts of the levant mukhtar headman of a village or town nakba literally catastrophe term designating the dispossession and displacement of the people of palestine in 1948 and the establishment of the state of israel naksa literally setback term designating the defeat of arab armies by israel in the june 1967 war aka the six day war oud ud musical instrument with strings shaped like a lute used in most parts of the middle east and north africa people of the cave protagonists of a qur anic tale about a group of pious people who hid in a cave to evade their persecutors and awoke hundreds of years later thinking that they had slept for just one night based on the tale of the cave sleepers of ephesus phalangists right wing lebanese political party espousing a lebanese nationalist ideology also known as kata ib kataeb popular front for the liberation of palestine pflp political party within the plo espousing a marxist leninist ideology al sa iqa political party within the plo affiliated with the syrian regime shaykh imam a popular egyptian folk singer and composer 1918 1995 remembered for his radical leftist songs championing the poor and satirizing the egyptian political class sitti term of endearment for a grandmother suhur predawn meal during the month of ramadan a time of fasting from sunrise to sundown teta term of endearment for a grandmother thawb thobe palestinian gown often embroidered with traditional patterns and worn on special occasions umm kulthum renowned egyptian singer and songwriter 1904 1975 widely popular all over the arab world unrwa united nations relief and works agency un agency established in 1949 to provide relief to palestinian refugees which continues to provide rations education and other services in the refugee camps this file was downloaded from z library project your gateway to knowledge and culture accessible for everyone z library se singlelogin re go to zlibrary se single login ru official telegram channel z access https wikipedia org wiki z 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nakba law amendment no 40 to the budgets foundations law theme civil and political rights status active year 2011 description the nakba law authorizes the minister of finance to withdraw state funds from any institution or body that commemorates israel s independence day or the day on which the state was established as a day of mourning or that denies the existence of israel as a jewish and democratic state according to this law any institution that receives financial support from the state and engages in activities be it academic political intellectual cultural or artistic that deny israel s definition as a jewish and democratic state or observe palestinian nakba day as a day of mourning could have their funding reduced or cut for instance if an institution advocates that israel become a single bi national state in the area between the mediterranean and jordan could have this support cut or reduced the law places severe and unjustifiable restrictions on freedom of expression and is aimed expressly at palestinians the law entrenches jewish supremacy in important public spaces by withdrawing state funding from institutions that challenge the definition of the state as a jewish state the law further aims to prevent palestinians from speaking about the nakba a seminal event in palestinian history critical to the palestinian collective national identity in a variety of contexts including the field of education it has a chilling effect on educators and organizations that prevents them from speaking openly about palestinian history and culture and from voicing legitimate criticisms of the state main provisions 3 b if the minister of finance sees that an entity has made an expenditure that in essence constitutes one of those specified below in this section an unsupported expenditure he is entitled with the authorization of the minister responsible for the budget item under which this entity is budgeted or supported after hearing the entity to reduce the sums earmarked to be transferred from the state budget to this entity under any law 1 denying the existence of the state of israel as a jewish and democratic state 2 incitement to racism violence or terrorism 3 support for an armed struggle or act of terror by an enemy state or a terrorist organization against the state of israel 4 commemorating independence day or the day of the establishment of the state as a day of mourning 5 an act of vandalism or physical desecration that dishonors the state s flag or symbol context nakba day commemorates the dispossession and displacement of more than 750 000 palestinians in 1948 in the nakba catastrophe in arabic it is an integral element of the palestinian collective history and identity on 15 may each year palestinians and solidarity activists participate in marches vigils lectures and other events in israel the occupied palestinian territories and around the world both to recognize and preserve palestinian history and culture and to demonstrate the continued resilience of palestinians the arab vision documents drafted by prominent palestinian leaders in israel make clear that for palestinians the nakba is not just the tragedy of refugees the loss of a homeland and the founding of israel on the remnants of a nation and nor is it just the destruction of hundreds of arab villages and the transformation of the cultural landscape but it is also the experience of oppression and discrimination that continues to this day against those who remained in their homeland including many who were internally displaced during and after 1948 and are now palestinian citizens of israel in 2011 mk alex miller of the yisrael beiteinu party initiated the nakba law which originally proposed to criminalize participation in nakba day events and acts of mourning of israel s independence day with up to three years imprisonment the law passed in march 2011 by a vote of 37 to 25 without an imprisonment penalty prior to its enactment numerous israeli academics and public figures criticized and publicly opposed the bill along with local non governmental organizations which noted that the legislation serve s primarily to stigmatize and to silence the human rights concerns of the palestinian arab minority 1 why is it discriminatory the law violates the rights of palestinian citizens of israel to freedom of expression in several spheres including the political academic intellectual cultural artistic and academic spheres and specifically the rights to education and freedom of expression and occupation and discriminates based on nationality the purpose of the nakba law is to prevent palestinians from exercising their democratic right to commemorate a seminal event related to their collective history given the centrality of nakba to the palestinian people the law infringes upon their individual and collective dignity in marking and upholding their cultural heritage and history not only does the law explicitly privilege israeli jewish history but it also penalizes palestinians for acknowledging their own displacement and dispossession the law seeks to prevent the development of a cultural discourse around the nakba and to inhibit intellectual challenges to the constitutional definition of the state of israel because of the nakba law s broad and vague formulation particularly regarding the conditions for revoking funding such as desecrating state symbols the law has a significant chilling effect on the operations of entities receiving state funds many institutions engage in self censorship to avoid risking financial sanctions the law acts as a deterrent to activities that may fall within its compass and result in budgetary sanctions potential recipients of services of such affected organizations will therefore also be negatively affected by the chilling effect of the law the provisions of the law violate the right to education palestinian educational institutions and schools that fall under the definition of an entity whose funding can be revoked under the law will be prevented from incorporating discussions on palestinian history and identity with the nakba as a central event this exacerbates the pre existing discrimination in the state curriculum between palestinian and jewish schools as recognized by human rights watch which noted that the overarching aims of education remain based on the transmission of jewish values and culture and zionist thought this type of education may be appropriate for jewish children but it is inappropriate for children belonging to the palestinian arab minority within israel it also violates the rights of palestinian parents who wish for their children to learn about palestinian history and collective identity by denying them the freedom to choose an educational institution that aligns with their views and educational approach additionally it infringes upon the right to freedom of expression of those who engage in critical examination of the character of israel as a jewish state within the framework of their work this law stifles legitimate opposition and protest against the state of israel as a jewish and democratic state the law therefore undermines the legitimacy and status of palestinian citizens their collective memory and their national identity the law seeks to shape the values views and even the behavior of palestinians through the use of budget allocations that are conditioned upon the nature of an activity and its political and moral content legal challenges to law petition hcj 3429 11 alumni association of the arab orthodox school in haifa et al v minister of finance and knesset english excerpts hebrew adalah submitted a joint petition with acri representing parents of jewish and palestinian children and an alumni association arguing that the nakba law is unconstitutional in january 2012 the supreme court issued its decision see english hebrew the court declined to rule on the constitutionality of the law and instead rejected the petition in a 3 0 decision on the basis of ripeness finding that the case was premature for decision without addressing the merits of the arguments international criticism human rights watch 30 march 2011 noted that t he predictable result of the law s severe penalties and the vagueness of the acts and institutions that could be penalized is that it will broadly chill freedom of expression by preventing various institutions from commemorating the nakba at all in a report the special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression 11 june 2012 stated the special rapporteur is deeply concerned that this law is inherently discriminatory towards palestinian citizens of israel who refer to israeli independence day as the nakba meaning catastrophe or tragedy to commemorate those who died and were displaced following the israeli declaration of independence in 1948 the law severely undermines their right to freely express their opinion preserve their history and culture and to their right to commemorate the nakba which is an integral part of their history the special rapporteur also expresses his regret that on 5 january 2012 the high court in response to a petition challenging the constitutionality of the law avoided ruling on the matter until a concrete case arises given that the mere existence of the law itself encourages self censorship and that the law itself is incompatible with the international obligations of israel to fully guarantee the right to freedom of opinion and expression of all individuals the special rapporteur strongly urges that the law be annulled emphasis added committee on the elimination of discrimination against women in its 2017 concluding observations noted that the committee is concerned that following the adoption of the so called boycott and nakbah laws in 2011 human rights defenders including israeli and palestinian women have been subjected to severe restrictions on their activities including through limitations on their financing in its 2023 report the independent international commission of inquiry on the occupied palestinian territory including east jerusalem and israel noted that israeli authorities have passed laws to reduce and restrict civil society activities these include amendment no 40 to the budgets foundations law 2011 the 2011 anti boycott law the 2016 amendment to the law of associations the 2016 counter terrorism law and amendment no 28 of march 2017 to the law on entry into israel

on saturday december 9 bds youth australia and jeeran social club hosted a screening of the 2022 documentary tantura directed by alon schwarz tantura was a palestinian village in the south of haifa it was considered a relatively wealthy area with a fishing and agriculture based economy and a population of approximately 1500 palestinians it is now known by the name of kibbutz nahsholim and is the site of recreational facilities when you google nahsholim the links are of websites promoting the nahsholim seaside resort holiday hotels and kibbutz tours in contrast when you google tantura the massacre dominates the search results pages between may 22 and 23 1948 it is estimated that a figure anywhere between 150 280 palestinians were killed in tantura being buried in mass graves after the war of independence ended the documentary frames this massacre within the context of the 1947 un partition plan of palestine and the conflictual framing of 1948 as a war of independence to israelis and a catastrophe nakba to palestinians it is important to note here that palestinians were not actively centred in the documentary in the dialogue between interviewee and camera they were relegated to the role of silent victim with their faces visible in footage of 1948 events most of the interviewees were veterans of the alexandroni brigade of the israel defense forces who captured tantura and later formed the kibbutz in addition to a few palestinians speaking to what they witnessed teddy katz is the focus subject due to the events that transpired after he published his master s thesis in 1998 he conducted two years worth of interviews with both arabs and jews compiling over 140 hours of tapes affirming that the tantura massacre had indeed occurred once a ma ariv journalist discovered the paper the discussion was moved beyond the academic space and into israeli society where controversy ensued those who were interviewed by katz and had admitted to the massacre later denied it and brought forth a defamation trial against katz this was the first legal case to deal with the nakba katz told schwarz in the documentary if you want to make a movie about tantura you will be hunted down like me his university degree and teaching post were revoked and his work removed from shelves before his eventual ostracisation from israeli society this was the price to pay for challenging the formal national memory katz did sign an apology letter retracting his claims but later attempted to withdraw his apology and resume the trial the judge overseeing the trial also interviewed in the documentary refused during the documentary the judge listened to katz s tapes for the first time as they were never heard in court she responded if it s true it s a shame and as her dog writhed next to her she said calm down it happened a long time ago many heinous details of the nakba were described to schwarz including the torture of palestinian prisoners genital mutilation murder within enclosures of barbed wire looting of homes use of flamethrowers and grenades and rape allegations many more details were withheld with one man saying he is forbidden to tell more according to alessandra tanesini s 2018 chapter collective amnesia and epistemic injustice within socially extended epistemology collective amnesia is often imposed by the most powerful within a group and they shape the conversation by deliberately or involuntarily obfuscating and rejecting memories that are deemed incongruent to their self identity it remains stigmatised in israeli society not only to address tantura but the wider repercussions of the nakba as it threatens the core beliefs surrounding the formation of the state of israel the documentary referred to the release of idf archives in 1988 as an example where censorship was enacted material that could harm the military s image including behaviour that is devoid of moral standards was withheld from public access it was new israeli historians including ilan pappé who used their access to official archives to uncover evidence that challenges nakba denialism these historians questioned israel s historical narrative which views the declaration of a jewish state as having been achieved through victory in a war against arabs who in turn willingly fled the historians who were interviewed confirmed a tendency for societies to avoid addressing their grave pasts they applied this line of inquiry to the creation of a nation at the expense of another population by way of expulsion from their lands religion and culture in an interview with pov magazine schwarz observed while watching the interviewees when somebody says nothing happened i see how he looks to the side body language is deeper than any transcript some of the alexandroni brigade members refused to refer to their actions as killing as others claimed the killing happened here and there and that they were 17 or 18 year olds who were turned into murderers it reiterates the long standing belief that arab deaths in 1948 are casualties and a natural by product of a righteous war as opposed to a systematic and orchestrated massacre of civilians other veterans spoke to their internal dilemmas lamenting why can t i tell whilst many said they don t really remember and i made myself forget the palestinian witnesses who were interviewed stated that they remember everything including recognising family members amongst the piles of bodies in another act of denial one academic dismissed and laughed off the testimonies of tantura being a massacre due to the research being dependent upon oral testimony he continued by stating i don t believe witnesses schwarz cited the idf archive itself use of aerial photography and historical maps as well as documentation pertaining to the department of arab affairs to back up katz s claims proving the legitimacy and grave reality of the massacre of palestinians in tantura in a case against the argument from collective amnesia and forgetting melanie altanian posits that while the terms amnesia and forgetting are useful they indicate passivity she found that people choose to engage in distortion or suppression of memory and testimony as to rehabilitate the national self image this is addressed in the documentary with critique pertaining to a manufactured moral superiority attributed to israel s army and its preservation of a pure status as a nation state schwarz also confronted israel s focus on preventing its citizens from knowing the realities of its history as this documentary was made by israeli filmmakers it is primarily intended to convey to an israeli audience that mass graves lie beneath them more specifically under the parking lot of dor beach and how this has been concealed schwarz s interspersing imagery of a young girl digging in the sand of the beach needed no explanation these mass graves were confirmed by geographical experts to take the form of a trench and have been opened at least once one interviewee attested to having seen the bones himself and was told that they are from the days of napoleon bonaparte at one point there was a discussion between two women over whether a memorialisation or monument is needed for recognition one argument being put forth was in favour of adopting a similar model to australia s recognition of aboriginal people as first nations however the other argument was that tantura is history and that they palestinians can remember quietly while the documentary would have benefited from playing more of the revelations of the tapes as well as asking interviewees further questions when they refused to talk schwarz presented to the audience how the suppression of memory and more importantly oral accounts all contribute to an active project of denialism in israel after the screening a trauma informed therapist led a healing circle in relation to the ongoing genocide in palestine many attendees spoke to their heartbreak grief anger helplessness despair and frustration the documentary itself elicited disbelief over how individuals could freely admit to violence or deny they ever committed anything that amounted to a massacre furthermore it led many attendees to remember what their ancestors experienced and ascertain the difficulty between choosing to stay in one s homeland or fleeing for safety it was also determined that in such times of despair hope can be gathered from courageous palestinians in gaza who continue to exist with unwavering faith attendees cited the increasing number of non palestinians who stand in solidarity turning up to protests and are educating themselves on the 75 year history of oppression as another source of hope despite being buried beneath nahsholim the village name tantura will forever hold the weight of a history that is ingrained within the memories of all those who witnessed the massacre whilst some have the luxury to forget or at least attempt to others pass it down through intergenerational trauma because they cannot and will not forget

foreign the palestinian fishing village of planturo with around 1 500 inhabitants was one of the last remaining arab communities along the coast when the state of israel was established on the 15th of may 1948 by the 23rd of may torah was occupied and depopulated by israeli forces foreign witnesses spoke of fierce palestinian resistance and systematic israeli massacres after the occupation of the village by analyzing ground level photographs memories catches drawn by refugees village surveys and aerial images and by listening to the testimonies of palestinian witnesses with located sites of mass graves previously unidentified using an immersive 3d model of the village who further undertook situated testimony with adnan yahya a survivor the massacre is music foreign british mandated aerial images from 1946 and 1947 shotontura before its invasion and the subsequent ethnic cleansing was a living village vegetation extended on roads regularly used israeli aerial images from 1949 show concentrated destruction in three prominent areas in the north of the village near the main cemetery along by the beach and in the southern part of the village these cars correspond to military maps and testimonies regarding the directions of the israeli invasion aerial images from 1952 further a document the village being gradually howled out following its foresty population and the jewish settlements of nashulim and door being built on its lands by 1956 the village was almost fully demolished oh music adam smith foreign the systematic gathering and separation of men and women and children is often the first step of mass executions multiple archival images show israeli forces separating villagers women and children were gathered by israeli forces and placed on trucks and forced out of the village many were displaced to the nearby village of ridis later pushed out of palestine and rendered refugees according to the testimonies of survivors series of executions of disarmed fighters and civilians were conducted by israeli forces accounts of the numbers of those murdered very greatly between 20 and 280 mainly men with testimonies suggesting that women were also amongst the victims foreign foreign foreign shows a large human made rectangular mound that didn t exist in previous images using shadow analysis we model this earthwork it is 33 meters long three meters wide and approximately one meter high depending on how the bodies were buried the size of the grave could contain between 60 and 160 bodies north of the mound is a shallow rectangular patch the very minor depths this patch has semi regular edges and a lighter earth color than its surroundings this lighter color could be attributed to a scar with the bulldozer scraping the surface north of the mound potentially to pile more earth over the original grave we also observed a short road that leads to a small building with a domed roof likely added by the israeli army this earth mound is visible in the aerial image from 1952 by 1956 it was overgrown by vegetation and by 1957 the mound was flattened the only trace is the score of the bulldozer scraping the ground it is possible that some human remains are spread across the area leveled for a parking lot foreign identifies the properties of different families prior to the occupation of the village we geolocated the family properties the 1947 aerial image using key markers such as main roads the village square and the mosque of these plot 6 contains an orchard and the largest field owned by the dusuri family in 1948 when overlaying the 1947 aerial image with a 1949 image a human made earth mound is visible in this field importantly the second mound is similar in form and dimensions to the one we saw near the cemetery both are long and thin earth features of a similar width and height oriented along a similar east west axis and are parallel to a line of high vegetation and an otherwise open field it is our assessment that this is very likely a second mass grave with a dimension that could contain between 40 to 80 bodies foreign traces of this mass grave are visible in the 1952 aerial image the location of this mass grave was previously unidentified multiple testimonies refer to executions and burial behind ahmad s house by the beach in an interview tantura survivor mustafa al mastri pointed to the southern part of a two meter wall behind the home of hajiyah is foreign finding human bones in the same area a large crown disturbance is visible approximately 25 meters south of the site we believe this is possibly the side of a mass grave testified to by survivors between music i don t know music music like adnan multiple other witness testimonies also speak of the existence of further mass graves inside the cemetery foreign we observed ground disturbances corresponding to the location and dimensions of the mass grave described in these testimonies it is possible that one or more of these cars are remnants of those creeps foreign and he is still living what shall i do or to look through him foreign i don t i don t forget that at all over the past 75 years the stones from tantura have been used in the construction and landscaping with the two jewish settlements and tourist resorts that were built over its ruins only three original buildings from the village of tantura remain along the traces of original roads and trees the mass graved by the cemetery is today a parking lot serving the tourist resort the mass craved by the soccer field is the beginning of a pedestrian prominent bleeding out of the parking lot the size of the graves testified to by witnesses are located within the holiday camps the mass craves and tantura have since been desecrated but the testimony of the land stands alongside the memory of its survivors thank you it is like a dream like it d be maybe a very bad dream

hello my dear viewers welcome to another episode of el daheeh imagine with me for a moment that you are a seagull flying over the mediterranean sea heading east until you reach somewhere on the coast between tel aviv and haifa there you will find a charming and beautiful place known today as dor an ideal resort not less wonderful than the beaches of greece cyprus and sicily soft sand nice atmosphere coral reefs greenery around and beyond the beach a museum and some archaeological sites that date back to the bronze age and many houses that when you see them you feel as though they came from florida and were stationed here of course there are many resorts around with various services and facilities since you re still a seagull who knows nothing about the place you ll see a modern resort from the sky called nahsholim and a few meters away from it there s a small building of a style different from that of the surrounding place and it doesn t really fit in with the harmony of it a house built in an old arab style standing in the heart of many western and modern styled buildings in 1991 a resident of that place decided to build a diving center next to this house and indeed he brought workers and equipment and started the drilling but they suddenly stopped when they found the remains of human bones buried at a shallow depth so they back filled the site left and never came back again this was seen by a fisherman named fouad hasadiyeh who lives in a nearby arab village called al faradis when he went to the project owner and asked him why they left the project manager told him we found bones and remains from napoleon s age but fouad said no these are the remains of palestinians who were killed in 1948 and were buried there his father and grandfather told him about the massacre committed by israeli soldiers in this place and that the dead were buried in mass graves one of these graves lies beneath the parking lot of that nahsholim resort all of this happened before the resort was built and before the place was even renamed as dor it happened when it was a palestinian fishing village called tantura tantura was a small palestinian village located at the south of haifa on the map until 1948 its population was about 1 500 palestinians who depended on fishing and farming it was a very quiet very small and very very beautiful village after the nakba and for 50 years until approximately the year 2000 nothing was said about tantura in israel other than being a village that witnessed a battle in the war of independence between the israelis and arabs and the israelis won and these arabs immigrated from the village and went to the nearby village of al faradis and then the settlers established kibbutz nahsholim there that remained the situation until 1998 when an israeli student at the university of haifa published his master s thesis this student was called teddy katz while preparing his research he sat with a number of old soldiers soldiers from a military brigade of the israeli army called the alexandroni brigade they were the ones responsible for entering tantura on may 22 1948 with their testimonies katz discovered that the battle was not actually a real battle that invasion wasn t a battle between two armies or two armed parties because despite the villagers attempts to resist they were poorly armed and had little experience in fighting so the battle ended before it even started the families surrender after their defeat wasn t an escape from death it was in fact the beginning of a massacre on the night of may 22nd and the morning of the 23rd israeli soldiers invaded the village of tantura at first they separated men and women women were stripped of their money gold and anything of value they were forcibly expelled from the village wandering in the unknown with no place to go as for the village s men the soldiers forced them to gather at the shore near the arab house i was just telling you about don t think this only applied to real grown up men but any boy who looked over the age of 13 was considered an adult man by the arab house the witness of these events the execution began the testimonies that teddy katz heard from the soldiers were terrifying and were later shown combined in a movie called tantura by an israeli director named alon schwarz one of the soldiers said they placed individuals in barrels and shot them and that he still remembers how the blood looked in these barrels someone else said a soldier who would become a prominent figure in the defense ministry took out his pistol and started killing the hostages by the beach one after another a third soldier named amitzur cohen said literally while laughing i was a murderer i didn t take prisoners how many do you think he killed actually he doesn t know and neither do we he says while laughing i didn t count i had a machine gun with 250 bullets and i finished them i can t say how many what i am telling you is not the testimonies of the victims but those of the killers these are the ones who are supposed to try and tone down the severity of their actions so imagine it s this horrific after being toned down the victims testimonies are far more horrific than this you can read them in detail in the sources below most of the victims who escaped murder were expelled as refugees in camps some in syria and some still live today in the village of al faradis this means that they went to live in a village a few kilometers away from where they lived and their families were killed and buried they don t even know where they re buried it s all just guesses until may 2023 a research agency called forensic architecture published the results of an investigation conducted to answer this question where were these people buried they brought air shot photographs of the tantura village between the years 1946 and 1949 pictures before and after the massacre they did an analysis of these images and compared it with current maps of the place and recent satellite images they did 3d modeling of the changes that occurred and also collected testimonies from people who survived the massacre they produced a report that accurately identifies the locations of mass graves the largest two of them one is located next to the cemeteries of the old village and the second one is located under the parking lot serving a beach and resort if you go to google now and search for these places the first thing you will encounter is hotel reservations and places for activities that is all despite the fact that all of this is built literally on top of execution fields and mass graves as if tantura is a metaphor for all of israel which is a very thin and fragile layer of western urbanization and only meter below that fragile layer is evidence of killing ethnic cleansing and genocide my dear everything i told you so far is from israeli sources not western but israeli the arab sources contain much uglier details but i have a reason for choosing these sources i want to showcase some examples for the few israeli voices voices that tried to dig into the roots of the nakba and tell you what happened to them on the hands of the only democracy in the middle east these people were punished exemplarily teddy katz for example who held interviews with soldiers had a defamation case raised against him by war criminals his master s thesis was withdrawn from the university library he was forced to retract everything he said and his academic career was completely destroyed eyal weizman who founded forensic architecture that you saw their picture a while ago he faced a lighter punishment his books were banned in israel especially hollow land because this book is considered a book of conviction where he explains the israeli occupation s method in building settlements in a way that strangles and expels palestinians these aren t individual cases there are many examples of those who tried talking about nakba in israel and how they were silenced so much so that in 2011 the knesset approved a law known by the nakba law granting the right to the ministry of finance to suspend government funding and official support from any institution that talks about the nakba meaning in a university or a research institution if a professor there will give a lecture about the nakba the government has the right to suspend its support and funding for the university because of this law many books weren t published many articles weren t issued films weren t shot and so on this is all to ensure that no one messes with the made up narrative that israel is trying so hard to tell about itself especially if that person is jewish and not zionist this is strange to them to the point that these anti zionist jews self hating jews a humiliating name one of the most popular self hating jews is ilan pappé who was basically expelled from the university of haiffa also the author of 10 myths about israel these are the fictional legends israel is feeding to the world especially the western imagination founding myths the narrative that israel tells about itself the national narrative dictated to children in schools can be seen in two ways either a bunch of lies in layers that we d skip or as a bunch of lies in layers that we need to understand to know why the world believes them so bad this myth like narrative begins with the jewish kingdoms on the land of palestine that fell apart and the temple of solomon was destroyed along with it and since 70 a d jews were dispersed throughout the world and for 2000 years they were subjected to discrimination and oppression that peaked at the holocaust as a survival attempt the remaining jews decided to escape and return to the land of ancestors that s the first part of the narrative where israel presents itself in the weak moment of birth earning sympathy making it easier for people to buy their story later on the rest of the story can be seen in the sixth grade geography book in israeli schools describing the return of the brave settler jews who bought the land and built it by using all and every means of modern technology if i stopped here that s not enough i need to add more details to paint the perfect picture in your mind so we d see the book saying that the settlers arrived and found a land of ruins and swamps so they began digging wells to provide fresh water and using fertilizers so that the land could be farmed developed technologies and cleared the swamps and filled them in so they were able to eliminate the malaria that was killing them they also established cities like tel aviv the first port in the region adding in the detail that the sea there in tel aviv is shallow with little depth so it was hard to built a port but the settlers managed to do it anyway if you reflect on this with me you d see this part is meant to entice admiration and paint a picture of the weak people who once sought a chance they thrived in a way that reminds us of the white settler who arrived at north america to build the united states of america until this part of the story they achieved two things sympathy and admiration any story needs an important element a conflict and the conflict needs a villain the first villain in the israel story surprisingly is the british mandate that s not a typical villain but one who hinders the jews migrations and tries to abort their dream in building a state imagine a villain who s trying to stop jews from escaping the holocaust in europe and resorting to the safety of their new home so in turn you as someone listening to the story will hate that villain and you re waiting for the moment when the hero will defeat the villain the israeli fictional narrative gives you multiple heroes not just one heroes like menachem begin yitzhak rabin ariel sharon and shimon peres who joined military organizations such as haganah irgun and lehi if you focused you ll see these named smartly chosen lehi meant fighters for the freedom of israel so i m giving you a story with an organization called freedom fighters of course you ll sympathize with me and believe the jewish bravery and sacrifice that succeeded in forcing britain out of the land and you ll also be happy for me that with britain s exit it d be an independence from mandate and the jews freedom from historical diaspora you ll also be happy for me when the un announces resolution 181 in november 1947 that partitioned palestine into an arab state and a jewish state all what i said now my friend you know it s a big fat lie but what i m trying to crystallize is that it s a well made big lie that s highly believable imagine saying all this to someone who knows nothing then after all this tell him that on 14th may 1948 israel became a country with a prime minister called david ben gurion and then tell him that only one day after the state is formed a second villain attacked that dream it feels like an american film s plot where as the hero just won after defeating the first villain and the film is almost over a second villain shows up whoever s watching the film will never believe that this second villain isn t actually a villain the second villain was us according to israel s fictional narrative one day after announcing their state seven arab armies decided to unite and attack this newborn state to exterminate the jews egypt jordan syria lebanon ksa iraq and forces from palestine all those are up against just one does the story stop there no the israeli narrative continues with a story from the israelites the story of david and goliath david the young weak man who one day will fight the giant goliath the strong and mighty and for david s faith and courage he ll defeat goliath in this story israel is david and the seven arab armies are goliath when i put the story in that context who d you sympathize with you ll also believe me when i tell you a more insolent thing when i tell you that the palestinian arabs left their lands to give the chance to the seven armies to annihilate the jews and you ll believe me when i tell you that israel tried its very best in all ways to convince palestinians to return to their lands but they refused and preferred to live as refugees this is a story that tries to convince me that there are people who refused returning to their lands it s hard to believe but they know how to tell the story well so apparently some people do believe it some people even still believe to this day that israel is doing nothing but trying to make peace with its neighbors that hate it the story ends with stating that israel s only dream is peace but at the same time always ready to defend itself as a proof of that its army is called the defense army and definitely after the odyssey i just told you when i say that the idf is the most noble army you ll believe me this is an entirely fake story my friend filled with tons of lies and half truths but it shows israel as the underdog and apparently that s what made it easy to sympathize with i know that the story is as fake as it gets and you know it too but apparently the average white citizen with little to no knowledge of the world around him and only lives for the ice coffee like abod btah said the best press reporter in the world it appears so that this citizen doesn t know that it s fake because for many decades israel invested in invading the western mind with this story in a way that assures the burial of the real story beneath i m here today to tell you about the real story the nakba first myth one people my dear audience the first myth is that there s something called the jews all of them as an entity since the beginning of history one people one race same hopes oppressed for 2000 years not individuals but one entity while if we took a look at jewish communities in europe and compare them to jewish communities in arab countries by the end of the 19th century a quick look will tell us that this isn t real jews in morocco for example were 150 000 in egypt 80 000 by the beginning of the 20th century jews in baghdad iraq were 50 000 that s 25 of baghdad s population these jewish communities were part of the arab countries they lived in jewish arabs whose life and properties were safe they have their own schools and worship places there s no doubt they faced issues faced by any minority but they were a part of the fabric of our society all these countries belonged to the ottoman empire that was tolerant with the jews there on the other side in europe jews faced a different reality a reality created by the changed europe was going under at the time if we looked at europe s map in the beginning of the 19th century europe was changing from grand empires into nation states these empires spread over huge lands containing different people races and religions kings take heirs from each other while the minorities are second degree citizens sometimes with good conditions and other times not jewish communities in european empires were a minority a self enclosed minority living in what s called ghettos their communication with the outer world was limited they saw themselves as different but the new idea of the nation states that replaced empires changed that situation germany turned from a few scattered small kingdoms into a unified german state same goes for italy and poland i m confused abo hmeed what s the difference between them just the names never mind dr fawzy el bedwy professor of jewish studies in universite de la manouba says that nation states offered a promise of a new reality no more minorities or majorities just citizens we re all german or italian or polish we all have an identity that binds us which is the nation even if we have differences in religion or race we re all citizens and integrated in one nation the jewish reaction to this ideology was different some of the jewish communities refused the idea they saw that the one way they can still be jews and not to integrate and forget their origins and history is to isolate themselves and refuse this new reality and differentiate themselves from the new identities formed this fear was moved by the violence that many european jewish communities faced especially in russia and poland so much so that the name pogrom appeared which is a russian word meaning killing the jews destroying their properties and burning their houses on the other hand some other european jewish communities saw that this violence was temporary and would disappear over time and that integration is the solution they saw a chance to learn and benefit from the modern fast changing european knowledge and melting into the society when they get modern jobs doctors poets and bank clerks they believed their culture won t vanish because religion and language will preserve their culture in both cases whether those in favor or oppose this new reality saw themselves as european citizens in european countries all what i said denies the existence of a separate entity called jews at the end of it all jews are individuals in communities with their conditions changing from best to worst or vice versa according to the historical age and geographical place they lived in the zionist ideology is trying to do the opposite to picture jews as a unique condition in history and that aggression against them is fixed and fateful it s to the extent that a zionist thinker called leon pinker says about antisemitism that it s a 2000 year old incurable genetic disease and infection second myth zionism is judaism the anti zionism israeli historian ilan pappé said that the worst thing zionism did was manipulating judaism to use religion as a justification for implementing an originally colonial ideology abo hmeed please break it down i don t get it i know you you like stories you want a story with a conflict and a villain right i told you a while ago some jews accepted integration and others didn t from those who accepted integration was an austrian journalist called theodor herzl he grew up in a very rich jewish family well educated with german education only knows the word shalom in hebrew his relationship with religion is almost non existent some people say he was on the verge of atheism wait abo hmeed herzl the father of zionism and israel had a non existent relationship with religion and wanted to integrate in europe that s the dramatic plot it s the coming of age the genre in 1894 herzl went to paris to cover an important case for a jewish french officer called alfred dreyfus this man was accused of leaking classified information to the germans this case had shaken france the people divided some advocated for his innocence while others accuse him of treason till here everything is okay a case and a court with some acclaims all news but what wasn t normal that some demonstration against dreyfus were cheering with death to the jews that s where again in paris the beating heart of modernism it s true that some sources say herzl over exaggerated and that the cheer was death to the traitor but what s sure is that in both cases herzl saw this as a turning point this made him lose his faith in integrating in societies so he was now prone to isolation honestly he let go of the whole integration vs isolation ordeal he went to a third option that s wasn t known at the time nor had an audience in the jewish european communities an idea called zionism so jews weren t zionists to begin with nope zionism is an ideology that appeared in the 16th century it appeared between christians and especially protestants and even more precisely in britain the idea is simply that jews go to jerusalem and build the temple in preparation for the second coming of jesus the idea stayed the same until the 19th century a normal idea that exists and no one cares for jews used to hear this and not give it much thought you don t want us to be citizens and want us to leave so you can be citizens alone we get it all jewish zionism in the 19th century however was different than this especially herzl s zionism it wasn t as simple as taking jews back to jerusalem the egyptian writer al sayed yassin in his book dissecting israeli mind he tries to give us a clearer and more detailed picture on the jewish zionism the jewish zionism is a racist ideology it sees that all humans everywhere in all times have deep hatred for jews if you get a four year old who just learnt how to talk and asked him if he loves jews he ll say yes no biggie then a jewish zionist would reply he s just saying that but deep inside he doesn t zionism opposes the other who s not jewish and sees that this hatred is deep inside this other for no alternative reason other than he s not jewish so the only solution for jews to be safe to create a state purely for them without those others all jews no integration or isolation or communication a state for only them no one lives with them or at least they d be the vast majority that rules this ideology will be documented by herzl in his book the jewish state abo hmeed now who exactly are the jews i don t have an answer to this question but i can tell you the zionist definition of it the zionist definition is that jews are one pure race from the beginning of times till the last of it and that they don t just represent a religion judaism isn t a proselyte religion they don t seek inviting others to their faith or marry inside their faith so zionism sees jews as a pure people or race which is also a racist ideology not just that but according to the researcher badiaa amin she says that one of the zionist principles that jews are only oppressed by others but there could never be a jew who oppresses another jew remember the thing about the self hating jew zionism gets shaky when a jewish criticizes it in short zionism is based on a belief that the whole world hates jews that the entire world is antisemitic and those who aren t are prone to herzl saw that oppression hatred and antisemitism were the power that will lead jews to the solution and in his words we are one people our enemies have made us one i find this idea a little scary my friend that the unification of some people is based on the hatred of others towards them so you re defined by the people who hate you indeed without antisemitism zionism wouldn t have existed can you imagine that there s an ideology that s based on people rejecting it and once everyone accepts it it ll fall apart herzl saw that antisemitism would be the power that d enable the jews to build their state in short after all this zionism was an idea that reacted to discrimination against jews with discrimination against everything that s not jewish so the solution is for jews to live in a state by themselves herzl kept thinking where would this state be there were suggestions like argentina uganda madagascar russia because like i told you it had nothing to do with religion all what mattered was to establish a state for protection from the hatred of jewish that s deep within the non jewish let me tell you a surprise that most jewish communities whom herzl suggested to the zionism and state solution they completely swept it aside you go and we ll come later those were the oppressed themselves they were questioning why emigrate from the places they had been living in rather than demanding their rights even if we emigrate we will emigrate to the new world america it was already the first destination for european jews transforming new york in the late 19th century to the most important jewish city in the world the first zionist congress was set to be held in munich but interestingly enough the german jewish refused so much so that many hakhams saw zionism a challenge against the divine fate of diaspora for the jews that s when herzl thought of the idea we spoke about earlier which is to convince all these people i need a really nice story even if it s not real i need a legend for people to believe in in her book a short history of myth karen armstrong says that a myth is true because it s effective not because it s fact herzl understood that european were afraid of traveling to a place they did not know what would we do in uganda too hot what would we do in russia too cold imagine being oppressed and also cold but what if the destination was known guaranteed and holy a happy ending to a sad story this was the only way he managed to convince them we won t immigrate to a new place we ll go back home at that time in the first zionist congress in basel in 1897 the zionist movement announced its destination palestine according to the argentinian sociologist pedro bridger herzl turned the biblical idea of diaspora this epic story into a modern ownership document to own palestine for the immigration to be seen as not a political solution but a religious duty that s when the mix up started between zionism and judaism that s what created the fallacy that judaism equals zionism and that anti zionism is the same as anti judaism third myth a land without people a land without people is the most famous zionist idea that s despite the fact that palestine during late 19th and early 20th centuries was a fully integrated society with muslim majority christians and jewish minority a society despite its religious diversity still was culturally homogenous jaffa the biggest city on the east coast had more than 60 thousand palestinians it had cinemas theaters and a port that was hundreds of years older than tel aviv s new port the british delegate that came to palestine between 1871 and 1877 wrote about palestine an encyclopedia of 12 parts where it wrote the names of 13 thousand places this leaves us with two possibilities for the meaning of sentence land without people the first possible meaning is interpreted by pedro brieger that the leaders of the zionist movements demanding going to the promised land the holy land where their dreams would come true they knew nothing about because to them the world was just europe their entire knowledge about palestine was from adventurers and travelers if you re a traveler you won t go tell people in europe that in your adventure to jaffa you saw things we have like cinemas or theaters it s not exotic enough you ve been to the east paint them a picture of the primitive east with tents camels and the thousand nights and one night stories and an empty land that awaits the return of the jews this is the first interpretation for land without people the second interpretation is proposed by the palestinian historian salman abu senna who said that a land without people was the zionist intention to get the land to be without people and let me explain until the end of 19th century the percentage of immigrants did not exceed 3 that was at the time under the ottoman rule herzl s attempts to get the ottoman sultan to specify a land for the jews the sultan refused but left the immigration going because ottomans and arabs didn t have a problem with jews for being jews if you re a jew and want to live with us in peace our pleasure but if you re a zionist the immigration continued and in 1907 the zionist chaim weizmann established a land development company in jaffa chaim weizmann is an extremely important character in the zionist history a jewish whose relationship with religion is almost non existent what s with all the non god fearing people abo hmeed this company s goal was to purchase land in an organized manner from palestinians but according to the american professor walter lehn in a farming society like this landlords refused to give up their land for money because it was the base of their lives and livelihood especially the deal conditioning expelling arab farmers from the land to make it a land without people so we can get our own people that s why the zionists will only succeed in purchasing lands from so called people who own many land but don t live there like one of the lebanese families living in europe who in 1910 sold 200 km 2 in marj ibn amer to jewish entities till this point it seems innocent jews immigrating from europe to live and farm in a new place but the structure of the farms they built didn t really insinuate this what the zionists did since the beginning and continued doing with every land they took was to refuse palestinian workers on the land you re not there to work with them you re there to replace them remember a land without people so this means all workers have to be jewish to the point where marj ibn amer witnessed the displacement of 60 thousand palestinians and were replaced by immigrant jews the second thing was land guards jewish security troops were formed called hashomer its goal was to protect these lands because they always thought about anything outside this land as an enemy this guard strengthened relations between jews and the new land the third condition was boycotting we ll economically boycott palestinians i m not here to make business with them i m here to make jewish products and work with jews this way of handling the land was a zionist strategy it probably wasn t as clear at that time but it hasn t changed much since the beginning of the 20th century although this strategy wasn t so clear at the beginning it aroused concern with some palestinians it started appearing in some newspapers like al karmel issued in 1909 that publicly warned against the jewish settlement movement but the immigrations continued before world war i the number of jews in palestine increased from 24 000 to 50 000 the number was doubled but still wasn t big enough this made the zionist settler movement feel it d take them a hundred years what would we do with 50k we need to pace things up and like anyone who wants to pace the project s growth up we need an investor and who was the perfect candidate in that case britain fourth myth britain the enemy in the normal fictional israeli narrative britain is an enemy that tries to hinder establishing the israeli state while if you look at history you ll see it s exactly the opposite and that without britain the zionist project wouldn t have worked until before world war i in 1914 and years after the immigration of european jews to palestine their number didn t exceed 50 thousand while the palestinians were 500 000 like i told you in the zionist belief if the jews are a minority anywhere they ll be oppressed we d escape from being a minority in europe to be a minority in a new land that s when chaim weizmann makes a move and leans into the uk don t you want to help us leave you and go to palestine we re all europeans we ll be your arms and legs there for your interests in the region the truth is britain did agree it helped zionism and eased the european jews immigrations to palestine one would ask why britain would so willingly offer help that question is a shame if you focused in the episodes you wouldn t have asked i ll tell you britain in world war i was fighting germany and who was germany s ally the ottoman sultan s empire it was falling apart at that time was it poorly no like really collapse britain as a colonial power in its prime had its eyes on some ottoman states or actually many states one of these states was palestine britain had intense fear that germany would invade palestine during war hence it would be close to the suez canal which for britain represents its route to its colonies in india you want to be as close to palestine and suez canal so you d close it up and deny my access to my colonies in india of course not not just that palestine s geographical location is close to mediterranean and red seas and between the two most important arab capitals at the time cairo and damascus so if you as britain laid your hands on it and allow some european settlers there they ll be loyal to you because you helped them here the jewish zionism found its interest with britain s colonial dreams damn colonialism in 1915 the british zionist minister herbert samuel submitted a secret document to the british cabinet titled the future of palestine where he says that the idea of establishing a state for jews in palestine is perfect but it can t be done without a full british mandate over the land this mandate would ease the immigration and increases jews to 4 million jews then in 1917 this suggestive document turned into british declaration known as the balfour declaration a letter written by the british exterior minister arthur balfour who was a zionist antisemitic christian what how abo hmeed i just told you there s no zionism without antisemitism again again the zionist idea owe it to the antisemitic idea anyway the balfour declaration promised establishing a national state for jews but there s a trick here what s a national state for jews does it mean that europe s jews would live in palestine which is under the british mandate or does it mean establishing an actual jewish state with only jewish population and ruled by them what this exactly meant wasn t even clear to the british themselves but at that time no one cared enough to clarify britain continued its plan to support jews immigration in the same year the british general allenby will enter jerusalem he entered jerusalem with a jewish military corps and with this crops a man called david ben gurion you may think that they went in like a hot knife through butter but no in 1918 jews were about 50 000 while palestinians were around half a million 85 of these palestinians rejected the idea of a jewish state in fact a committee sent by us president wilson to examine the situation said that in order to achieve mr balfour s declaration it will require a military force of 50 000 soldiers however despite all that britain didn t give up and they went on with their plan especially as world war i ended with britain s victory against the ottoman empire in 1920 the league of nations which is the un s former organization name granted britain the mandate over palestine that s when britain appoints herbert samuel as the first high commissioner this guy made everything so easy from 1919 to 1921 the jewish migrations would greatly increase where 185 000 jewish immigrants arrived while the jewish national fund bought 240 000 acres from jezreel valley northern of palestine with the idea of settlement turning into a full scale european project violent demonstrations spread across palestine starting from jaffa where 95 jewish and 64 arabs died then churchill announced in june 1922 the churchill white paper this white paper by churchill says why are you worried guys don t be so angry i see no reason for you to be worried now you know why we were worried let me tell you that some sources indicate that churchill was also antisemitic so churchill tried to calm the arabs down and tell them guys the jews won t occupy palestine they will just create a society in it with what works for the nature of the country its economy and its population don t misjudge them the truth is that the reality and future will beg to differ with churchill jews were creating closed communities ones that didn t blend with palestinians but were made to replace them it was to the extent that some jewish towns were granted local autonomy like tel aviv which developed separate ministries of works energy and water education in a different language and universities like the hebrew university which balfour attended its opening himself things will stay that way for a while until in 1929 when jewish immigrant numbers started to double not only that but in 1929 a jewish prayer was organized in jerusalem calling for the revival of the temple and claims their historical right in the wailing wall which is called buraq wall by muslims and the jewish day of mourning the temples destruction coincided with the muslim mawlid so palestinians got angry that s the revolution we know as buraq uprising in 1929 that s when palestinians were dismayed by the violent oppression led by the british they didn t only arrest hundreds of rebels they executed the uprising leaders the british treated palestinians as if they were the red indians or the black australians these are british colonizer terms given by the british to who they deem as barbaric people meanwhile the immigrant jews are not that they are civilized white europeans white on the outside white on the inside the israeli historian ilan pappé says that the people of palestine were described in the letters between balfour churchill and herbert samuel using words like arabs or mohammedans the word arab at the time wasn t like the one we know now at the time arab meant nomadic or primitive the picture of camels and tents and mohammedans didn t mean muslims it meant the followers of mohammed last time i heard followers of mohammed was in the fajr al islam movie but seriously these letters reflect a point of view where the white colonizer see palestinians as a part of primitive groups who don t have an identity or privacy as if they were primitive tribes that unfortunately happen to be living there winston churchill will later bluntly say to explain my friend since i didn t know what a manger was this means that a dog being in a farmhouse or a barn doesn t give him the right to own the barn even if he has been there for a while do you know who he meant by that he meant the natives of america australia and palestine but who has the right to rule these lands according to churchill the civilized europeans whether they are british or jewish and according to that the jewish immigrations continue until they reach 27 of the population in 1935 from 3 to 27 and revolutions against them never stopped revolutions against the unfair british colonization and one of the major revolutionists was a syrian guy from al azhar university who turned from a preacher at the istiqlal mosque in haifa to a leader of an armed movement against the british his name is izz al din al qassam he was joined by thousands of volunteers who gave him ammunition and weapons but the occupation succeeded in killing izz al din al qassam in an unfair battle al qassam s funeral will turn into the heart of the people s movement in palestine this movement turned later into a complete revolt from april to october of 1936 it was the spark of the great arab revolt the british were disoriented by the revolt they probably were surprised that the dog in the manger was resisting between 1936 and 1937 the british killed a thousand palestinian and arrested anyone who took part in the revolution and then they would blow up his home and destroy it in jaffa only more than 200 houses were demolished britain gave the jewish settlers everything my friend they facilitated their immigration created areas with tight jewish communities with organizations and infrastructures fought palestinian revolutions and killed their leaders and went on with their oppression to the extent that 10 of palestinian men in 1940 10 were either killed exiled or arrested in addition britain planted racist ideas against the natives of the occupied land the british taught jews all the bad things but there was one thing left they got them into smoking abo hmeed the thing that the jews would learn from the british was the whole colonization thing it s nice why not and indeed the zionist colonial ambition rises more the other thing that the british helped the zionists with was developing the necessary military force to achieve that ambition in 1937 a commission was created called the peel commission they would suggest dividing the land between a million arabs and 400 000 jews one third for the jews and two thirds for the arabs the thing is that palestinians were literally everywhere so they would be a majority even in the jewish areas churchill in front of that committee would call palestinians dogs in a manger we can kick them out britain didn t go through with the committee s suggestion they wanted to but they retracted however the professor of history at oxford university eugene rogan says that the peel commission were the first to suggest the idea of expulsion you shouldn t just buy lands and create closed communities you should force the people out of their land and create religiously and ethnically unified places for other people do you think it stops here the point is that the colonial ambition of the zionist movement started to develop ben gurion and the zionist leaders sat down and thought to be honest the expulsion idea was nice but what if instead of forcing them out of one third of the palestinian land we force them out of palestine entirely later on the director of the jewish agency josef weitz said and you should listen carefully there will be no land for two peoples the settlers ambitions grew so far past the british themselves the second thing that the jewish settlers learned form the british was the necessary violent power needed to achieve that ambition it all took place gradually from 1937 to 1939 the jews would and hear this they would do exceptional terrorist acts abo hmeed you must mean terrorism metaphorically right i mean it in a literal way my friend like the terrorism we hear about on tv they sent bombed cars to haifa and jerusalem markets that killed more than 70 palestinians all that was under the supervision of the british again please go check the sources i m not saying all that because i m an arab or a nationalist or for my people please check the sources because this episode specifically heavily depended on israeli sources anyway you know what britain did while watching all that happen they increased the number of soldiers in palestine to 25 000 soldiers they killed 5 000 palestinians and arrested another 9 000 in conditions described by eugene rogan as concentration camps however despite all that british spoiling britain was just like any other empire it won t be there forever for the jews to protect their interests they had to have an independent army to avoid having their fate linked to britain forever especially with a conflict of interest wavering at the horizon because with the beginning of world war ii in 1939 britain hear this out would limit the jewish immigrations to palestine shame on them and they put the limit of 15 000 immigrant yearly to try and reduce the tension in the arab region to stay focused on their war with hitler world war ii was already in full swing and real oppression against the jews was taking place in europe at its time you might think that this moment created a conflict between the parties but with the beginning of the war 15 000 jewish soldiers join the british army and participate in world war ii i m telling you this information because that s where they gain great experience you joined the champions league you are training with the british army against german army you have experience now later on the jewish militia groups that used to do terrorist these acts would slowly turn into organized military structures like their most famous one which i mentioned before haganah and other groups like stern and irgun the haganah would transform from a gang to an army that owns an air force according to the historian ilan pappé with the zionist movement owning an organized military force it will start to ask themselves why do expulsion when they can annihilate why expel arabs let s exterminate them palestinians have proved that they wouldn t stop revolting or fighting back even if we managed to expel them they would always come back sorry but this land is just for us just for jews that s why while the british army was fighting systematically the jewish zionist gangs were training on a different kind of war the british general orde wingate was the first one to train jews on the occupation of villages and on something called the guerilla warfare according to ilan pappé orde was the first to implant in zionists consciousness the idea of ethnic cleansing to the point that moshe dayan would describe wingate as the first master at that time the zionist gangs would start studying the geography of every palestinian village and knowing its entrances and exits in preparation for storming it later to be able to purify it that s what ilan pappé calls the village file project the european jewish immigrants grew up learned things and had a trained military that can put plans and there was a feeling that britain is indeed an ally but the war was hindering their interests in palestine imagine they limited the number of jewish immigrants shame zionists witnessed some disunion across themselves an opinion was led by david ben gurion who saw that he was against limiting the immigrations but britain was still an ally to zionist plans oppositely an opinion was led by the gangs of argon and stern that britain under the pressure of war and fear of tension in the arab region became an obstacle in the way of the zionist project the tension reached its peak when the french patria ship decked near haifa port and it had more than 1 800 jewish immigrant without britain s approval that s when the zionists gangs blew up one side of the ship and sacrificed 240 jewish passengers to force british authorities to let the remaining 1560 jewish passengers in someone will ask so they blew up the ship and murdered some of the people they want to bring in to force britain to let the rest in my dear viewer let me tell you that a negotiation took place between stern and the nazis who went and met in lebanon to form an alliance imagine that the nazis the nazis who made concentration camps holocausts and a jewish eradication in europe the zionist stern militia was trying to form an alliance with them and they actually met in lebanon just because they thought it would meet their interests again these aren t my words these are eugene rogan s words the history and middle east professor in oxford university the zionist movement realized that britain after world war ii even if they won would never be a great empire again in her book western crime viviane forrester says that all of europe was in crisis during war to the point that each country reduced the number of jews refugees displaced to it and created what she called the hitler trap hear that european countries refused to give refuge to the jews outright leaving them to the holocaust the zionist movement was aware of that situation and realized if it needed a trustworthy ally a new ally instead of britain then that ally has to be outside of europe specifically the united states of america in 1942 zionists held the baltimore conference to gather supporters of zionism in the us among its recommendations was that the new world born after the war would have the jewish state as a part of it which had its arms wide open to all the jews of the world that s when the zionist movement was trying to have a role in the interests of the world s greatest empires it presented itself as an ideal solution for the surplus of jews in europe it also presented itself as a new ally to the single power that wasn t affected by war that s when we ask while the us was in the midst of the second world war why did it accept the role of the new sponsor honestly like i told you before the us is country that can understand the zionist dream the most in her diary hard choices the former presidential candidate hillary clinton says that the american people are mostly immigrants who fled their countries to a dream in a far away country hillary says in israel s story we see our own it s true that the americans won t be the holy and chosen people but at least they will be its allies who will help that people fulfill the dream they once achieved before that s in addition to america s interests in having an ally like israel in a region like the middle east so we can say it s a win win situation and indeed the new alliance was forged between the zionist movement and the us who started to fund them generously to the point that the haganah would have its own armament factories of course the british saw that and were shocked they realized that the historic agreement between the british and zionists was one sided it was like a one sided love a toxic relationship britain kept on giving giving and giving then you dump me for the us even when i needed you during world war ii and asked you to please limit the jewish immigrations because the arabs keep nagging me what did you do and what about stern who met the nazis what s going on britain broke down my friend britain was investing a lot in the zionist project to have an entity that serves their interests in the region only to realize later that this wasn t an option in the zionist plans britain was raising a monster nurturing it and making it stronger thinking that it has the monster s shackles in its hands but when britain checked on the chain it didn t find its monster the monster of its own creation was leading at the time some of the most violent waves of terrorism against who the british themselves in 1946 the irgun gang blew up the king david hotel the british administration headquarters they bombed it with almost 200 kgs of explosives and killed 91 british person in 1947 the irgun bombed the british officers club in jerusalem then a ship named exodus would arrive in palestine carrying 4 500 holocaust survivors who wanted to enter palestine but the british refused to let them in saying guys this exceeds the allowed limit then they deported the ship back to france this ignited riots resulting in the execution of three of the irgun members so the irgun kidnapped two british soldiers and hung them dead in groves near netanya for that to be a clear message to the british leave we no longer need you the paradox is that the irgun leader who was listed as wanted by the british police who do you think that was he was menachem begin the irony here is that menachem begin who would later be israel s prime minister and who was awarded the nobel prize for peace used to be considered a terrorist by britain just casually like that imagine a guy classified by britain as a terrorist became years later a nobel laureate for peace during the final years of the british mandate 500 terrorist attacks by the zionists in palestine were documented killing more than 169 british soldiers targeting banks and infrastructure and using methods of terrorism that were new to the world like what like parcel bombs putting a bomb in a parcel sending it to someone then it blows him up terrorism delivery that s the innovation in terrorism my dear viewer these attacks impacted britain in a form of a retaliatory attack on 300 jewish facilities in england and even more than that raising the nazi swastika that urges the extermination of jews we are talking about england only two years post world war ii against nazis the british raised nazi flags and slogans guys calm down you shouldn t do that you might think that the paradoxes are over but no the british forces of 75 000 soldiers in palestine at the time won t take any action against the zionist gangs they actually arrested over 300 palestinians on charges of carrying a weapon guys are you blind it wasn t us the israeli historian avi shlaim pointed at this paradox and said that the british mandate bears the moral burden of opposing and precluding the establishment of a palestinian state till the very last minute until 1947 when britain decides that this is it they won t lose another soldier in the conflict so they tossed it to the united nations and said you solve this issue i ve had enough eugene rogan an english historian says something very surreal that the country that says it fights terrorism the most ousted the british using terrorism again i m not the one saying that it s mr eugene fifth myth david and goliath the united nations issued the partition resolution 181 dividing it into 6 regions 3 arab regions and 3 jewish ones with jerusalem under international supervision 56 of the land would go to the jewish country most of the land would go to the jews even though the palestinian population was double that of the jews in 1947 palestinian population was one million and 200 thousand and jewish population was 600 000 palestinians legally owned and note this 94 of the land and 80 of the agricultural land so larger population more land ownership yet eventually 56 of the land was given to the minority after this partition who before that partition only owned 6 of the land the partition gave zionists bigger areas but it couldn t give them ethnically homogeneous cities it gave them cities like jaffa and haifa which were mostly populated by arabs the historian ilan pappé said that no one in the world could have imagined that a national liberation movement in palestine would share the land with its settlers however remember that the main goal of zionism was for the jews to not live with others with others that differ from them and remember that the zionist dream grew from a country in a part of palestine to the entirety of palestine when general d arcy was asked about the land situation in palestine he said that after britain s withdrawal the jewish agency controlled all of palestine the haganah was an organized military group of 35 000 soldiers the palmach commands were more than 10 000 soldiers irgun and stern were big and organized military groups with experience meanwhile the arab front was far from being systematic or organized the arab countries had just survived war and an occupation that they hadn t recovered from yet with exhausted armies and conflicted interests the arab countries opened the doors for volunteering to save palestine to have an improvised army of 4 000 volunteers that army was called the arab liberation army despite the loyalty of its members it still was an unorganized army even in palestine ilan pappé said that efforts were scattered instead of united between leaders like abdul qader al husseini fawzi al qawji and hassan salama who carried out separate operations that wouldn t have that much of an effect all of these were arab and palestinian attempts to reject the division but on the zionist side a more dangerous matter was taking place remember the declaration of israel hasn t been announced yet neither has the 198 war taken place we are currently at the end of 1947 where haganah meetings were held intensifying their operations do you remember the villages project the one where they collected information about all palestinian villages this project transformed into the famous plan called plan dalet a complete ethnic cleansing plan on paper ready to go however it needs a real trial a rehearsal the rehearsal takes place on february 15th in 1948 when the palmach leader yitzhak rabin who was awarded a nobel prize for peace by the way led an attack on the village of caesarea in haifa district expelling 1500 of its inhabitants the zionists attacked 5 villages to insure the efficiency of their fighters and to make sure that the remaining of the british soldiers who haven t left yet won t intervene the gangs start an organized attack on the villages surrounding jerusalem someone asks wasn t jerusalem not a part of the partitioned areas i just saw that map you showed me you know my friend david ben gurion was once asked about israel s borders he then said the the best definition for israel s borders is the farthest place that the israeli soldiers can get to since the beginning of the zionist movement it was movement that takes a piece of land and keeps expanding i mean why commit to borders that weren t set when we arrived we re the ones who set those borders and those borders are created and changed everyday we previously had 6 now we have 55 and if we move a bit who knows what s next either way with the right force the world will accept it as a fact this ideology controlled the zionist movement from its birth till this very moment in the beginning the strategy was besieging every village they encounter from 3 sides leaving only one exit for the villagers to leave and become refugees elsewhere where would they refuge it s their problem however sometimes these gangs would need to show off their power by leaving no exit for escape like what happened in deir yassin on april 9th 1948 deir yassin was a tranquil village inhabited by 700 residents it had farmers merchants a mosque two schools and a sports club in only one day 250 people were murdered almost third of the village each person would see his family die in front of his eyes knowing that he s next despite the fact that the british police office was only 3 km away none of them did anything a terrorist demonstration this demonstration would forcibly push 75 000 palestinians to leave their homes in jaffa haifa and jerusalem and run away the ethnic cleansing doesn t stop at expulsion and eradication but also as we have seen in the first story it means erasing any memory of that place as if those victims were never here one kilometer away from deir yassin the yad vashem was built for the paradox of it what did that turn out to be it s a holocaust museum proving the famous words by emile habibi your holocaust our catastrophe while gangs were seizing villages by force and terrorism the british mandate handed over the ports to the jews as it left they also handed them over around 2 700 government building 50 train stations 3000 kms of roads and 37 camps equipped with weapons and their spare parts the british literally built the zionists a country and left according to the zionist narrative the crisis of the palestinian refugees was caused by arab armies calling citizens to move in preparation for armies to enter however the historian ilan pappé says that half the palestinian refugees were expelled from homes before the war started they were expelled before may 1948 before the arab armies even sat foot among the 530 villages destroyed in the nakba half of them were ethnically cleansed again all that was before may 1948 the historian avi shlaim confirms that the refugee crisis commenced during the first half of 1948 but was not caused by the war itself on may 14th 1948 the establishment of the state of israel was announced as part of the narrative it announced itself as a young david in front of a giant goliath in a time when all the giants of the world its great powers recognized it very quickly so much that for a country like america president harry truman recognized israel after only 11 minutes the very next day on may 15th 1948 arab armies would announce going to war and the new york times published a headline of jews in grave danger in all muslim lands if you reflected on that title it takes advantage of the holocaust it was a rising state with a ready to go propaganda one day after it was announced one of the biggest newspapers published such title and while the headline implies a jewish minority facing a huge tide of muslims if we look a bit closer we would find that the entire seven arab armies were very small in number they had only around 25 000 soldiers let me remind you that these armies weren t as regular as we think these were armies of countries that some of them were still under occupation one the other side the jewish army started the war with 35 000 soldiers by the end of the war they became 100 000 soldiers anyone who hasn t watched the episode might think that the arab countries were regular armies that lost in front of a group of gangs however after watching this entire episode now you know that these weren t just some gangs these groups were trained by the british participated in world war ii have been in operations have funding have been fighting for years and were handed fully weaponized military camps by the western countries in addition to that arab armies still had the idea these were just gangs and didn t consider all the other factors that s why arabs were shocked by defeat how was a group of regular armies defeated by a bunch of gangs but like we have said they weren t just gangs they were armed forces who did massacres during war like bombing lyd and ramla and the tantura massacre that we talked about according to ilan pappé massacres were no longer committed when there was a need or even as a part of a certain strategy they took place simply for the sake of them happening or as pappé described zionists can no longer see that they are killing humans in august 1948 after the defeat of the arab armies and expulsion of hundreds of thousands of palestinian refugees to surrounding countries count bernadotte the un ambassador visited palestine and refugee camps in jordan he was terrified by what he saw he said it would be an insult to the principles of justice to deprive these innocent victims of the right to return to their homes yes finally the un talks the international law unfortunately a plot twist the count will die a car accident abo hmeed no an assassination the stern gang assassinated him with the participation of yitzhak shamir who will become as usual the prime minister of israel it s like a requirement for the position by december 1948 the jews will occupy 85 of jerusalem outside the old city in front of the eyes of the un the israeli historian hillel cohen said that thousands of refugees from sepphoris and the surrounding villages took shelter in the christian city of nazareth which ben gurion feared of destroying knowing its importance in the christian world it s the city of jesus thanks i guess these thousands of refugees made a nucleus for the 1948 arabs the palestinians inside the new state to be established the jewish zionist gangs tried to attract the christians of villages like al bassa to return but without the muslims why to establish the existence of safe christian villages and affirm that they were in a defensive war with the muslim arabs but the palestinian christians of al bassa refused to return without the palestinian muslims on december 11th the un issued resolution 194 guaranteeing the right of return for every refugee who was expelled how many refugees were they abo hmeed how many were expelled in the nakba 750 000 refugees and that was in 1948 75 years later the refugees number went up to 5 million refugees the argentinian researcher pedro brieger during his visit to refugee camps decades after the nakba found that all children introduce themselves with names of the villages that their ancestors were expelled from this child knows nothing about the village except its name he never visited nor saw it yet still calls himself after its name he still has the key of his grandparents house that they were kicked from generations would still pass on these keys one to another the right of return that the un granted the palestinians in 1949 as you know was never implemented but on the other hand in 1950 israel announced the legendary right of return that any jew has the right to return to israel israel that represents the extension of the jewish state after the roman invasion in 70 b c 2000 years ago it s actually ironic why would someone who never lived on this land has the right to return to it while someone who actually lived on the land doesn t have the right to return the only condition for israel s return law is to have a jewish mother imagine a jewish russian his grandparents for 20 generations lived died and got buried in russia he would get the right to return go to israel get the citizenship a passport and all his rights once he steps off that plane on the other hand at the west bank there s the jordan river that has palestine to its left and jordan to its right there s a palestinian refugee in jordan standing on the side of the river looking at palestine s land on the other side his and his grandparents land but can t cross the river to it the law of return of the jews is a culmination of a herzl originated idea freeing the jews from all their diaspora and creating a pure race society a society just for them they create its boundaries and cancel the others whether by avoidance expulsion or genocide by the time of the peace treaty in july 1949 the zionist forces didn t just take over 55 of the land according to the partition resolution no they took 78 from the land the un acknowledged these new borders and called them the green line the israeli historian theodore katz whom we spoke of early on the one with the masters and tantura said that the morality of the idf lives on an eternal fallacy because they didn t come to a land without people but to a land with 1 3 million palestinians there but they weren t humans in the eyes of the israeli army this is probably the way that new generations in israel will inherit the fictional legend a group of psychological defense mechanisms denial and justification to help them sleep at night and forget that buried in this land just a meter down all the possible evidence on the killing genocide and ethnic cleansing what happened in tantura happened in all palestinian land last myth the only democracy in the middle east in 1948 ben gurion the immigrant who spent his youth in poland said that not only did he achieve the dream but he s also its founder or how the jews named him the state s main founder a dream described as a 100 jewish country without arabs a completely pure society for jews only and if any palestinian tried to disturb the dream he would face the fate of jerusalem and haifa destroyed villages ports bombed off streets filled with thousands of palestinian corpses those who were lucky were expelled and lived as refugees all their lives the slogan raised by the zionist movement a land without a people for a people without a land for the entirety of our tale was an absolute slogan that doesn t accept bargaining or any presence of the other it s either us or them a slogan that the zionists adhered to even when arabs represented 70 of the population and 90 of the land 75 years after ben gurion s declaring the achievement of the dream the jewish community still maintains its purity equation no matter the consequence the community includes israeli jews who have the privileges and palestinians who suffer from discrimination on all levels a society summed up by its current leader benjamin netanyahu israel is not a state of all its citizens but rather the nation state of the jewish people and only it if you are an arab living on the historical land of palestine your life will be determined early on by where you are which is partitioned into 3 categories the 48 palestinians west bank palestinians and palestinians of gaza the 48 palestinians are 2 million palestinians with the israeli citizenship they alone constitute 20 of the country but they are second class citizens 1948 palestinians get fewer years of education than their fellow israeli citizens because the arabic spoken by those 2 million palestinians is not officially recognized no matter how high of a rank they get at work their monthly income stays less than the average israeli citizen if they decided it doesn t matter i ll focus only on my life and my family unfortunately they aren t allowed to request citizenship for their families living outside israel even if they decided to forget all about their origin and become a jewish according to the israeli law they re not allowed to do that or at least they ll face many obstacles to make sure it s nearly impossible a hard life huh let me tell you that this is considered a luckier life than palestinians in the west bank there are 2 7 million palestinians living in the west bank under the direct israeli occupation but they live in a prison like structure with sectors of locked gates and moving from a sector or a prison to another requires passing through numerous military checkpoints on the one street you live in there could be tens of checkpoints turning a 5 minute walk to an hours long inspection with all that you re surrounded by more than 130 settlements illegal of course these settlements are housed by 500 000 settlers between 2017 and 2021 the israeli army gave 33 permits for the palestinians to build houses while on the other hand the israeli army demolished over 1150 homes and gave the illegal settlers 1100 building permits the palestinian whose home is demolished with no where to go can t even put up a tent without getting a permit from the israeli army that he certainly doesn t get where do we go we don t know figure it out they really tightened the tap on them the truth is they didn t just tighten it metaphorically they did it literally water which is a basic right for any human gets delivered to the settler with a capacity of 300 liters per day while the palestinian waits for water to fill his tank every 15 days from the israeli government and companies and his daily capacity doesn t exceed 80 liters per day which is less than the 100 liters specified by the who that s not a water shortage but an intended discrimination in distribution between the palestinian and israeli if you live in gaza your response would be wait you guys have water in gaza 2 million people live on an area of 360 km 2 no barriers no gates as the entire strip is fully besieged it is not connected to the world by a port an airport or even a train nothing can get in or out without permission of the israeli army some sources say that the israeli army controls the amount of calories that enter to the citizens inside the strip they calculate the amount of food entering to the number of people for the calories intake most of the strip s land is not suitable for farming its groundwater is polluted 90 of it is not suitable for human consumption or even to grow food 80 of the population s food depends on international aid there s not even constant electricity to help you see the wretched conditions gaza s need for electricity is 560 megawatts and it only receives no more than 200 megawatts in an environment like this the unemployment rate stands at 50 although children make up the majority of the population in gaza most of the strip s schools were destroyed even though israel doesn t militarily occupy gaza it turned it into a large open air prison whose key is only in the hands of israel the international committee of the red cross considers the situation to be a complete violation of the geneva conventions according to the israeli academic oren yiftachel israel is an ethnocracy a country that only serves jews a system that works for the jewish majority with a goal to harm the arab minority a system to confirm its purity and identity this won t happen without inflicting severe damage to others living with it israel is an apartheid state these aren t my words but those of naom chomsky human rights watch amnesty international and the israeli minister of education himself israel is an apartheid state all what i said through out the episode since zionism was just an idea until this moment here and now says that apartheid is the expected development of the original idea that identity will determine people s rights and that because of the palestinians identity they d be robbed of their rights a world that we wish it ends soon and that palestinians would get their rights as humans and palestinians we tried together to understand the roots of this reality and understand how the story originated developed and got complexed maybe when we understand this dreadful reality we d have the imagination to paint a picture of a better reality that s what makes us human at the end

erasing palestine free speech and palestinian freedom rebecca ruth gould first published by verso 2023 rebecca ruth gould 2023 all rights reserved the moral rights of the author have been asserted 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 verso uk 6 meard street london w1f 0eg us 388 atlantic avenue brooklyn ny 11217 versobooks com verso is the imprint of new left books isbn 13 978 1 83976 902 3 isbn 13 978 1 83976 903 0 uk ebk isbn 13 978 1 83976 904 7 us ebk british library cataloguing in publication data a catalogue record for this book is available from the british library library of congress cataloging in publication data names gould rebecca ruth author title erasing palestine free speech and palestinian freedom rebecca ruth gould other titles free speech and palestinian freedom description london new york verso 2023 includes bibliographical references and index identifiers lccn 2023007043 print lccn 2023007044 ebook isbn 9781839769023 trade paperback isbn 9781839769047 ebook subjects lcsh antisemitism government policy great britain antisemitism history jews identity zionism arab israeli conflict freedom of speech palestine politics and government 1948 great britain foreign relations israel israel foreign relation great britain classification lcc ds146 g7 g68 2023 print lcc ds146 g7 ebook ddc 305 892 40410904 dc23 eng 20230321 lc record available at https lccn loc gov 2023007043 lc ebook record available at https lccn loc gov 2023007044 typeset in sabon by biblichor ltd scotland printed and bound by cpi group uk ltd croydon cr0 4yy for christopher joseph gould 1949 2022 lover of free inquiry i am a jew by force of my unconditional solidarity with the persecuted and exterminated isaac deutscher who is a jew 1966 contents prologue on being accused of antisemitism 1 erasing palestine 2 anti zionism before israel 3 a materialist critique of antisemitism introducing abram leon 4 free speech and palestinian freedom epilogue who is a jew personal reflections on jewish questions appreciation notes about the author prologue on being accused of antisemitism february 2017 marked a turning point in the history of palestinian activism within the uk in this tumultuous month palestinians and pro palestine activists were overwhelmed by an unprecedented flurry of event cancellations and attacks on their right to protest against the occupation february 2017 also marked a turning point in my own involvement with palestine and free speech i had arrived in the uk in the summer of 2015 to begin teaching at the university of bristol my peripatetic academic career had carried me from damascus to berlin and finally to palestine and israel from 2010 to 2011 i commuted between palestine and israel several times a week i lived in bethlehem in the west bank across from the apartheid wall along which i walked on my way to the van leer institute where i was a postdoctoral fellow 1 the van leer institute is centrally located in the historic talbia district of west jerusalem in another era thirteen years before the founding of the state of israel in 1948 palestinian american critic edward said was born in this neighbourhood his cousin abandoned the family home in 1948 just after it fell to the zionist paramilitary haganah cutting said s ties to his homeland for ever 2 now many decades later the van leer institute has played a pivotal role in debates around definitions of antisemitism in 2020 it served as the virtual and physical venue for the drafting of the jerusalem declaration on antisemitism jda and hosted many events to support its dissemination 3 although the van leer institute was located just a few kilometres from where i lived the commute from bethlehem took several hours every morning when i had to travel into jerusalem i waited in line with restless and sleep deprived palestinian workers at the infamous checkpoint 300 while standing in line i would often observe the preferential treatment that i as a foreigner experienced from the israel defense forces idf soldiers guarding the checkpoint the contrast between their treatment of me and natives of palestine was impossible to ignore israeli soldiers allowed me and other foreign passport holders to pass quickly through the metal detectors behind which palestinian workers often had to stand for hours on end causing them to be late for work and to lose out on vital income double standards were everywhere on display the metal barricades behind which we waited had separate rows for foreigners and palestinians different policies applied to each row during certain hours only foreigners could stand in line it should not be hard to guess which rows required the longest wait rarely had i seen discrimination so blatantly on display i evoked these scenes in a few stanzas i wrote at the time workers greet the dawn behind the bars of checkpoint 300 waiting to build settlers homes with stolen limestone 4 i called this poem stolen limestone referring to the alabaster facades of the many buildings that gleamed across the hills of bethlehem and the neighbouring town of beit jala on my way to jerusalem these buildings had been constructed by badly remunerated palestinian labourers who had to stand in line for hours at checkpoints just to reach the buses that would take them to work 5 stolen limestone dwells on my complicity within the apartheid system that was developing at the time of my residence in bethlehem and which has become even more entrenched in the years since my departure my salary was funded by a fellowship established by an israeli philanthropist in accepting the fellowship i was in violation of the boycott of israeli academic institutions in which many of my friends and colleagues were involved before accepting it i debated the ethics of the decision with friends i wanted to see palestine and to live there first hand a five year fellowship in jerusalem would make it possible for me to live in palestine specifically in nearby bethlehem in the west bank just a few kilometres away a close friend of mine had recently returned from bethlehem and she arranged for an apartment where i could stay it was potentially a life changing opportunity to live in palestine for the long term i was sympathetic to the boycott but also felt that i could best contribute to these issues by witnessing the occupation first hand and by living it even if only temporarily when it awarded me the fellowship the van leer institute had no idea that i was planning to live outside israel and commute into jerusalem by the time i arrived in jerusalem and told them that i would be living in palestine it was too late for them to refuse my request unlike israelis i was legally permitted to reside in the occupied territories unlike palestinians i could enter jerusalem without seeking special permission these frequent commutes through congested checkpoints and the exposure to two radically different geographies that abutted each other led me to view the occupation in an entirely different way this firsthand experience of the occupation intensified and justified my support for the boycott until i arrived in palestine my support had been based on second hand information it was while living in bethlehem in the summer of 2011 that i ended up writing a polemical article that condensed all of my frustration with everything i had witnessed in israel commuting between bethlehem and jerusalem speaking with israelis who had never visited the occupied territories which israeli law prevented them from doing both observing and inhabiting the bubble in which israelis live while their palestinian neighbours experience infinitely greater levels of economic deprivation unemployment and violence due to israeli policies and prejudices i lived just blocks from the wall that was being constructed by israel on a security pretext even though it ran directly through palestinian territory homes had been cut in two by this stone edifice commemorative plaques were erected over the rubble a few years after i left bethlehem these bisecting walls would be memorialized in the walled off hotel an edifice initially set up by england based street artist banksy as a temporary exhibition eventually becoming a permanent fixture of the occupation i witnessed heavily armed idf patrols in the streets filling palestinians with fear i could no longer justify living in and receiving a livelihood from this corrupt and discriminatory system although i had witnessed the carnage of war first hand i had visited grozny soon after the city was flattened by russian airstrikes in 2004 the daily insults and humiliations of palestinians that i witnessed in the occupied territories made me sick i decided to end my fellowship for the sake of my own sanity it was during this time that i wrote a provocatively titled short polemic called beyond antisemitism the work would come back to haunt me many years later when it propelled me into circumstances that led to the writing of this book i was furious at myself among others for not being able to stop the abuses of history that had normalized the silencing of palestinian voices i sent it to the radical left wing magazine counterpunch i received a response within hours from the journalist and editor alexander cockburn who passed away the following year cockburn liked it and said that he would feature it in the print edition 6 a few weeks later i received a cheque in my mailbox at the van leer institute for 100 with a short note appended thanking me for my contribution we had never discussed payment terms and i had never shared my address with cockburn so the money came as a surprise in retrospect i can see how the title beyond antisemitism might have appeared incendiary especially when taken out of context it was calculated to provoke the title was also chosen to critique the political deployment of the discourse around antisemitism to silence discussion of the occupation of palestine i wrote about what i had witnessed first hand during my residency in palestine and regular commutes into israel i would not have used such a title had i been living anywhere in europe where the sites of the twentieth century s greatest atrocity forms a perpetual subtext to every discussion of antisemitism today but i was not writing from europe or indeed anywhere in the uk i had never even set foot in england at that point in my life i was writing from palestine after having worked for a year in israel and in frustration at my complicity with the unjust system in which i lived and worked what one might wonder does antisemitism have to do with that indirectly if not explicitly antisemitism was the pretext for the injustices i witnessed every day against palestinians fear of being accused of antisemitism makes it difficult to speak out and it is why so many of us who witness anti palestinian discrimination israelis and non israelis alike keep silent our silence is complicity this complicity also silences palestinians keeping their experiences hidden from public view beyond antisemitism argued that the long history of antisemitism and of the holocaust forms the background against which palestinian lives are being sacrificed the idea did not occur to me when i was living in berlin before accepting the fellowship from jerusalem i discovered this dynamic embedded in the everyday life of israelis while commuting between my office in israel and my palestinian home the amnesia in which israelis live reminded me greatly of my own education in the united states the genocide of indigenous americans was thoroughly suppressed in our school curriculums and slavery was a delicate topic that our teachers avoided discussing directly the traumas of jewish history and the understandable fear that this history might someday repeat itself had similarly led to distortions and suppressions of the past traumatic memories and the fear of their repetition haunted my conversations with israelis these fears fill the airwaves of israeli radio and shape the cultural memory of the israeli people the israeli state does everything it can to keep the focus on the historical trauma of the jews yet as isaac deutscher remarked in 1967 even when israel s leaders over exploit auschwitz and treblinka we should not allow even invocations of auschwitz to blackmail us into supporting the wrong cause 7 beyond antisemitism was a polemic against the forced silences imposed by twentieth century the occupation of palestinian lands and the dispossession of the palestinian people after a year of residing on the border between israel and the west bank i was certain that there was no justification for the discriminatory checkpoints and segregated bus system or for the arcane system of passes and regulations that greatly restrict palestinians access to employment and keep them in poverty traumas which deflect attention away from while the collateral damage that these memories and fears cause for palestinians was not forbidden from being discussed in israeli public spaces it was treated as secondary as an afterthought to the more important themes of jewish history meanwhile alibis for and justifications of the occupation became increasingly untenable as deutscher insisted even invocations of auschwitz do not legitimate oppression even the jews long history of antisemitism in which palestinians were not directly implicated yet which nonetheless shape the horizons of their political existence is no excuse that is why i argued in 2011 we needed to move beyond antisemitism among the most controversial parts of the article was the ending which argued that as the situation stands today the holocaust persists and its primary victims are the palestinian people 8 this is admittedly a rather grandiose claim that only works at the polemic level i think it could be defended in certain ways but i am less invested in rhetorical triumphs now than i was when writing the piece it is hardly controversial to insist that historical catastrophes have long term consequences stretching across many generations it is less useful to attempt to claim who is a greater or lesser victim of a specific atrocity generations after the event the critique of these words that a senior jewish studies scholar shared with me continues to resonate for me there is no silver lining to the holocaust he said no way of putting a positive spin on it i m not quite sure how he construed my words as looking for silver linings but i agree with his critique foregrounding palestinian suffering does not work when it seems to make light of jewish wounds 9 this was never my intention and i don t think the text supports that reading but i respect the right of readers to draw their own conclusions so i grant that i would have written it differently now but i stand by the appropriateness of those words for that time and place occupied palestine amid an increasingly brutal conflict and an aggressive state backed mandate to silence dissent i stand by the outrage that led me to engage in such polemics and by the right of everyone to do so be they palestinian israeli or american another point that concerned some readers was my use of the word privilege to describe the status of the holocaust narrative within israel this verb is used heavily in academic discourse to describe how certain ideas are validated over others one reader suggested that given the antisemitic stereotype of jews as privileged the use of privilege as a verb with reference to the holocaust was potentially antisemitic read in context this seems to me far fetched given that i was using the verb in its traditional academic sense of setting one viewpoint over another it was not an ideal choice on aesthetic grounds but this dry and abstract verb has no specific relationship to jews soon after completing the article i resigned from my fellowship and left israel never to return having vented my rage i did not give that brief article further thought it was a polemic not a work of scholarship a work of its time and of my indignation first and foremost at myself writing it was an act of self denunciation an attempt to purify myself of my complicity in the occupation and to purge my guilt at crossing checkpoints using the special lines designated for foreigners at witnessing racism and discrimination against the palestinian population while biting my tongue having purged my anger i moved on to other things i took up a position with a new liberal arts college called yale nus initially it was based on yale university s campus in new haven connecticut and then at the national university of singapore i took up another fellowship at central european university then located in budapest finally four years after composing that brief polemic i moved to the uk to take up a position at the university of bristol in south west england where i taught a standard fare of courses in modern languages translation theory fourth year dissertation seminar postcolonial theory two years into my position at bristol i received a call in my office from the head of school this was a rare occasion indeed she had never called me directly before she asked me to meet her in her office as soon as i possibly could she informed me that a student had discovered my 2011 article online on a database called social science research network where i uploaded my work among my hundreds of scholarly articles this short polemic touched a nerve for the student who identified as a zionist she told me that the university had been informed that the student was planning to publish an anonymous letter in the student newspaper epigram denouncing my article and me as antisemitic the university administration had been informed of this by the newspaper editor the university s first reaction was to hope that the story would be quickly buried under other news and would not be picked up by the national media back in 2017 accusations of antisemitism linked to israel critical speech were still relatively unusual in the uk they have since become routine we however were operating in uncharted territory hopes that the controversy would soon pass were misplaced a few weeks later a reporter at the daily telegraph who had made her reputation on clickbait stories accusing various academics of antisemitism featured the student s discovery of my article in a piece that bore the headline bristol university investigates claims of anti semitism after lecturer claims that jews should stop privileging the holocaust 10 one thing i learned from this experience is that when it comes to reporting headlines sometimes matter more than substance i was sitting in my university office when the phone rang the reporter camilla turner asked if i had any comment about beyond antisemitism which had been the subject of an anonymous letter in the student newspaper i requested that she give me a day to respond she refused saying that the article was to be posted that evening so i conferred with the same friend who had found me a place to live in bethlehem together we combed through the writings of edward said who had long been a guiding light for me in search of words that could represent what i learned and saw while living in palestine my first port of call was said s classic essay zionism from the standpoint of its victims 1979 although the quote i provided to turner was butchered at least the core part of said s message made it into print denying claims of anti semitism dr gould quoted edward w said turner wrote and then went on to quote me quoting said to oppose zionism in palestine has never meant and does not now mean being anti semitic a tempest followed in the telegraph article about me conservative mp and the newly appointed special envoy for post holocaust issues eric pickles accused me of holocaust denial he went so far as to claim that the author of beyond antisemitism should consider her position at the university which was a polite british way of saying i should either resign or be fired even more astonishingly he described my article as one of the worst cases of holocaust denial that he had seen in recent years while the newly created campaign against antisemitism had been the first organization to call for my dismissal and indeed had initiated its campaign against me prior to the telegraph and probably collaborated with turner on the article the more established board of deputies of british jews joined the chorus the board of deputies wrote to the vice chancellor about me claiming in a letter concealed from me by the university for many years that my views were incompatible with the role of a teacher at a reputable british university and insisting that i should no longer remain in post 11 ironically one hundred years earlier in a radically different era this same board of deputies that now called for my dismissal had been among the signatories to express concerns about the british government s increasing support for zionism in a controversial letter to the times dated 24 may 1917 the board of deputies together with the anglo jewish association objected to the zionist theory which regards all the jewish communities of the world as constituting one homeless nationality incapable of complete social and political identification with the nations among whom they dwelt 12 the signatories worried about the implications of conceiving of all jews as members of a single homeless nationality since this in itself might create a political center and an always available homeland in palestine protesting strongly and earnestly against this theory that letter from 1917 was to mark the end of the board of deputies acceptance of anti zionism as a legitimate position for jews by 2017 the board of deputies had completely shed its past scepticism towards the zionist project and wholeheartedly embraced a nationalist conception of the jewish people even lobbying for the dismissal of those who did not agree with them it was only a few weeks later that the identity of the student who had accused me of antisemitism was revealed in an interview he gave to the huffington post the way in which he turned himself into the hero of the fiasco suggested something about his motivations from the beginning in the interview he said he did not want to see me fired he speculated that i had only represented israel in such a negative way because i had never before encountered a zionist jew like him he expressed satisfaction at having played a role in my enlightenment i had worked in israel for a year and the article in question was written while i was living in palestine yet the student seemed oblivious or indifferent to these details in this respect his reaction correlated with that of nearly every other uk observer while the student was busy claiming the limelight for what he perceived as his heroic defence of academic freedom no one asked for my perspective on these events media commentators showed little interest in learning about the palestinians who were most severely silenced by the crackdown on israel critical dissent time and again reporters presented me with binary questions did i or did i not retract my article did i accept the right of the state of israel to exist did i acknowledge the legitimacy of zionism as to the first there was nothing for me to retract what i witnessed while living in palestine and commuting into israel was no illusion and my words were not fiction i had to stand by them anti zionism is the opposition to a certain kind of nationalism that has resulted in the dispossession of palestinians antisemitism is animosity towards jews as jews there is no causal link between the two positions and neither implies the other yet precisely because there is no causal link it is also true that neither excludes the other they can coexist just like sets any of unrelated ideas and prejudices exasperated by the sloganeering in both directions i chose silence this book chronicles the destructive forces that the pressure to adopt the so called ihra definition of antisemitism has unleashed within british society since so many aspects of the definition have been misrepresented and misreported it is necessary to dwell on the circumstances of its genesis and adoption before resuming the story of my first encounter with it in 2017 the politics of a name the ihra definition of antisemitism the politics of naming partly explain the widespread acceptance of the twenty first century definition of antisemitism that has reframed and constrained the debate around israel in recent years a few of the key acronyms that recur throughout this story should be introduced at this juncture first the european monitoring centre on racism and xenophobia eumc an early incarnation of the european union s agency for fundamental rights second the international holocaust remembrance alliance ihra from which the ihra definition takes its name anyone following the fortunes of the labour party since 2015 will have heard many times of the ihra definition although they may not know why it is referred to in that way 13 a number of other acronyms also feature less prominently in this story the conjoint foreign committee cfc the american jewish committee ajc the uk based community security trust cst and the simon wiesenthal center swc although the proliferation of acronyms suggests a story of bewildering complexity the main thread of this narrative is simple the definition of antisemitism that was adopted by the eumc in 2005 is identical to the version that was adopted by the ihra in 2016 with a few caveats the most significant difference between these two the perceived relation between the definition and the supporting examples relates less to the definition s content than to its formal applications the difference pertains to the eumc and ihra definitions perceived purpose legitimacy and hence power more than the eumc definition the ihra definition targets what is referred to as the new antisemitism by which is meant antisemitic criticism focused on israel dating roughly to the start of the second palestinian intifada in 2000 the accuracy of this label has been widely disputed by scholars such as brian klug who pithily writes that it is not necessary to consult a logic manual to see that the inference that hostility to zionism must be antisemitic involves a fallacy 14 notwithstanding the logical flaws the assumption that hostility to zionism is antisemitic is the distinguishing feature of this definition which has been associated with many different institutions including the eumc the ihra and the us state department 15 yet all of these definitions that target the new antisemitism are essentially different names for the same censorious content the only thing that separates them from each other is their names why has the same definition appeared under so many different names the shifting nomenclature is a key to its success in the early years of the twenty first century the american jewish committee convened a group of lawyers and academics to formulate a more comprehensive robust and institutionally relevant definition of antisemitism than any that had existed to that date the absence of a widely recognized definition of antisemitism in public policy and policing was in the view of these drafters one reason why antisemitic crimes were not being classified as hate crimes the group that drafted the new definition included several ajc employees ken stern program specialist on antisemitism and extremism rabbi andrew baker director of international jewish affairs deidre berger senior european affairs advisor and felice gaer director of the ajc s jacob blaustein institute for the advancement of human rights other members of the group included dina porat professor of modern jewish history at tel aviv university and chief historian at yad vashem the jewish holocaust museum michael whine the director of government and international affairs at the community security trust cst michael berenbaum of the us holocaust memorial museum yehuda bauer of hebrew university and ronnie stauber of tel aviv university 16 the group was a mix of academic and policy advocates the definition drafted by this committee during 2004 was the first to draw a formal link between criticism of israel and antisemitism this linkage was partly a reaction against a current in international geopolitics that denominated zionism as a form of racism and israel as an apartheid state this perspective on zionism is often associated with the united nations world conference against racism which took place in durban south africa in 2001 at the durban conference a number of formerly colonized countries agreed to define zionism as a form of racism they reiterated their position at a follow up conference also in durban in 2009 it was in this climate that the new definition of antisemitism gained traction the first paragraph of the new antisemitism definition opened with a straightforward assertion antisemitism is hatred towards jews because they are jews and is directed towards the jewish religion and jews individually or collectively so far there is nothing hugely objectionable even though the text fails as a definition of anything yet it was the next qualification that was to prove most controversial most recently antisemitism has been manifested in the demonization of the state of israel 17 this last sentence was an innovation the israeli government recognized this noting in a report from 2017 the main innovation in the working definition is that it also includes expressions of antisemitism directed against the state of israel 18 the added clause about israel which is by far the most controversial aspect of the definition fit with the wider agenda of the advocacy groups that had been involved in crafting the new definition since its inception the explicit invocation of anti israel discourse as a form of antisemitism was removed from the draft of the definition that came to be associated with though never adopted by the eumc that version which was briefly posted on the eumc website and later removed read anti semitism is a certain perception of jews which may be expressed as hatred towards jews rhetorical and physical manifestations of anti semitism are directed toward jewish or non jewish individuals and or their property toward jewish community institutions and religious facilities this altered text is considerably vaguer as a definition it shifts from anti semitism is hatred to anti semitism is a certain perception which may be expressed as hatred 19 both certain perception and may make this formulation less usable in the task of identifying what antisemitism is since a definition should be concerned with what something is rather than with what it may be but the main difference between the first and second formulations is with regard to israel which is mentioned in the version proposed by the ajc but is missing from the version that was associated with the eumc the story of the association between israel and this new definition of antisemitism does not end here it was through the eumc definition that the association between the new antisemitism and the critique of israel would come to shape the policies and practices of governments and public institutions ultimately leading them to censor speech critical of israel the association with israel was retained even after it was excised from the definition itself its placement simply changed instead of being invoked in the definition proper israel was invoked in the first of the supporting examples which read such manifestations could also target the state of israel conceived as a jewish collectivity in an open letter addressed to the secretary general of the ihra and the european commission coordinator on combating antisemitism and fostering jewish life members of the collective who had drafted the original definition noted that it was not meant to be a tool for academic researchers but for those who would put it to use 20 by this point the group had parted ways with ken stern the author of the core definition who would later become one of the most prominent critics of its misapplications 21 a 2011 report commemorating the six year anniversary of the drafting of the definition made the same point the working definition state dina porat and esther webman is not a theoretical academic definition rather it aims at being a practical guide for identifying antisemitism 22 the implied distinction between academic and practical is not clear to me at least but if it is intended as a blunt political instrument rather than an accurate description of reality the new definition of antisemitism has served its purpose well ignoring the historically contingent nature of antisemitism the definition avoids inquiring into the reasons and developments from which antisemitism originates in order to focus instead on how to identify and prevent it once the definition was drafted baker approached the eumc director beate winkler in the hope of securing institutional backing for it according to some reports the eumc agreed to have the definition associated with its name in order to avoid negative publicity from a leaked antisemitism report that had placed unwelcome emphasis on anti jewish hate crimes perpetrated by muslims 23 for a period of nine years the definition was loosely affiliated with this eu agency and appeared on its website when eumc officials were queried however they insisted that the definition had not been officially adopted indeed the very idea of institutional adoption belongs to a later phase in the definition s trajectory after the eumc definition was renamed the ihra definition so long as the definition was associated with the eumc the concept of adoption which would require the definition to be applied to specific statements or utterances in order to determine whether they fell outside the pale of legitimate expression had yet to be codified when the eumc removed the definition from its website the break was clear 24 the definition needed a new institutional home and a new name the international holocaust remembrance alliance an organization founded in 1998 by former swedish prime minister göran persson with the aim of promoting the memory of the holocaust and finding ways to prevent its reoccurrence was to fill that gap conveniently mark weitzman director of government affairs at an israel advocacy organization called the simon wiesenthal center was also chair of the ihra s committee on antisemitism and holocaust denial in 2014 he used his position to advocate for the adoption of what had until then been called the eumc definition although the exact meaning of adoption was still ambiguous it was pursued by the entire ihra including eventually most of its thirty one member countries ranging across europe and the americas rather disingenuously given the history of the definition that preceded him and in which he was not directly involved the swc credits weitzman as the architect of the ihra definition and one of the principal figures in shaping and introducing this definition of antisemitism 25 the text of the eumc definition was proposed to the ihra in 2015 and adopted soon after in may 2016 it was under this new guise but with hardly any alteration that the ihra definition assumed the form in which we know it today ihra a name that ought to be associated with holocaust memory is an odd fit for a definition that focuses in practice on criminalizing anti israel speech the ihra was not founded for the purpose of israel advocacy but ever since weitzman acquired a leadership position within this organization it appears to have been hijacked by an israel advocacy agenda the ihra has played a significant role in obscuring from public view key details about the relationship between the definition and the examples 26 the uk was the first country in the world to adopt the newly branded ihra definition the adoption was announced on 12 december 2016 by conservative party leader and prime minister theresa may the mainstream media barely took notice professor david feldman director of birkbeck university s pears institute for the study of antisemitism was one of the few who made a public statement on the occasion of the adoption 27 his words turned out to be prophetic the greatest flaw of the ihra definition feldman wrote just weeks after the adoption is its failure to make any ethical and political connections between the struggle against antisemitism and other sorts of prejudice on behalf of jews it dares to spurn solidarity with other groups who are the targets of bigotry and hatred 28 feldman s was the best and certainly the most prescient analysis of the definition to date yet it fell on deaf ears four years later feldman would become one of the drafters and most articulate supporters of the jerusalem declaration on antisemitism which was proposed as a corrective to the ihra definition on 25 march 2021 within months of the uk government s adoption of the ihra definition the swc along with other uk based organizations such as the campaign against antisemitism began campaigning against anti israel protests such as israel apartheid week claiming that the adoption of the ihra definition mandated their cancellation pro palestine advocates were caught by surprise many sudden cancellations of israel critical events occurred across uk campuses during the spring of 2017 when an event on palestine was cancelled at the university of central lancashire in february 2017 the simon wiesenthal center immediately claimed credit arguing that all other universities should likewise use the definition to get anti israel events cancelled in the aftermath of this crackdown politicians such as labour mp john mann and other defenders of the ihra definition claimed that these crackdowns on pro palestinian activism were examples of the misuse of the ihra when properly implemented they claimed the ihra definition posed no threat to freedom of expression these proponents were on shaky ground given that the simon wiesenthal center the very organization that had spearheaded the definition s adoption promoted its use precisely to cancel anti israel protests let us now turn to the ihra definition s content the elaborate four letter acronym is already obscure to many outsiders to the debate and masks what is actually at stake in this term the fact that ihra stands for international holocaust remembrance alliance and that this organization agreed to promote the definition in 2015 tells us almost nothing about how it emerged what it is or why it matters the association of this definition with late development in its history which took place just before i was briefly at the epicentre of the uk debate around criticism of israel and palestine the international holocaust remembrance alliance is a advocacy 29 while the association of the definition with the ihra was politically instrumental in facilitating its widespread adoption by a number of countries and government agencies intellectually it is of negligible significance because the definition had existed decades earlier under various names simply put the ihra definition is a two part construction consisting of a simple if not particularly illuminating rendition of what antisemitism is a certain perception of jews which may be expressed as hatred toward jews and a much more controversial set of eleven examples of how antisemitism manifests itself in society and public discourse of these eleven examples seven refer to israel and feature contentious elements such as denying the jewish people their right to self determination e g by claiming that the existence of a state of israel is a racist endeavor it is the second part of this two part construction which is not strictly part of the definition but is often incorrectly referred to as such that has proved so problematic and has been invoked during the past decade to justify firing critics of israel censoring their work and denying them the right to express their views in this book i refer to the ihra definition as nominalist alternatively idealist by which i mean that it reduces antisemitism to a phenomenon that exists in the realm of mental abstraction rather than in material conditions the opening phrase a certain perception of jews demonstrates this point by suggesting that antisemitism begins in the mind and is only later expressed in material reality by calling the ihra definition nominalist i highlight the wider problem with its understanding of antisemitism a problem that is also found in other idealist approaches to racism the label nominalist moves us beyond the critique of specific examples which is important but inadequate for dislodging its toxic influence as we work to develop a more effective framework for combating antisemitism and other forms of racism at least as problematic as the ihra definition s examples is the tendency of its supporters to understand antisemitism as a discourse that originates in speech rather than in material conditions in this respect the ihra definition is hardly alone idealism besets the definitional mentality which has taken root more generally in uk government circles amid increasing calls for group specific definitions of racism in place of this definitional nominalism i advocate a materialist critique of antisemitism and of other racisms that is attentive to class histories of discrimination and the political economy this materialist critique of antisemitism explored particularly in chapter 3 is critical of dominant economic interests and respectful of freedom of speech from chaos to bureaucracy on 19 april 2017 two months after i was accused of antisemitism in the student newspaper a university panel comprising three professors convened to assess the claim that my article was antisemitic despite my lawyer s protests the committee s composition was kept secret from me i was told only that these professors were guided by the university lawyer i was also informed in a rather absurd formulation that at least one professor would represent the jewish perspective while another would represent the human rights perspective the implied opposition between these two perspectives was jarring since i was not accustomed to thinking of them as opposed to each other but i kept that objection to myself when i asked the university s legal counsel what about the palestinian perspective she responded that it would be folded into the human rights perspective as so often happens in university contexts where palestinians are rarely seen on campus palestinian voices and perspectives were neatly elided by rhetorical erasure a process we will see repeated time and again in the context of the struggle for palestinian freedom the remit of the panel was to consider both the text of the article and the wider social and political contexts relevant to that evaluation 30 for the panel this meant the uk in 2017 not the palestinian and israeli context in 2011 in which it had been written the panel produced a four page assessment of my article which was longer than the piece itself the report was issued less than six months after the uk government s adoption of the ihra definition to which in deference to the government mandate the panellists announced their intention to give detailed and close attention as this commitment indicates bristol university deferred to the definition before it had been widely adopted on uk campuses to the best of my knowledge the panel report on my article was the first formal invocation of the ihra definition on any uk university campus and possibly on any campus anywhere the world in 2020 uk parliamentarian john mann would claim that the ihra definition doesn t in restrict free speech 31 his argument had already been disproved three years earlier by this 2017 report the shadow that the ihra definition cast over the panel report set a precedent for many further incidents of censorship event cancellations and violations of academic freedom and freedom of speech that followed as a participant in these proceedings indeed as their object what struck me most was that even those who invoked the definition in order to protect themselves and their position could perceive its flaws when they invoked the definition they were not acting out of conviction or belief they were thinking strategically about what the government wanted not about what the fight against antisemitism required they knew better than to trust the definition as a barometer for gauging actual antisemitism and yet they applied it nonetheless because it felt politically necessary i say this not in order to indict specific individuals but because i believe that the bureaucratic application of this definition in a way that severs it from any meaningful ethical context is likely to be repeated in any heavily regulated institutional environment it is in the nature of speech codes that they tend to be bureaucratized to the point where the impulse behind their genesis the initial intention of opposing racism is lost and their function becomes merely to demonstrate compliance with a government mandate among other official documents the appendix to the panel report referenced a letter to universities uk from jo johnson the minister of state for universities science research and innovation 32 in that letter which would turn out to be the first among many ministerial interventions on the subject of the ihra definition johnson informed the chief executive of universities uk nicola dandridge that the uk government had recently adopted the ihra definition of antisemitism on the face of it there is nothing particularly alarming about johnson s statement it reads as a neutral letter citing only the ihra definition and omitting the examples the tone of neutrality holds until the fifth paragraph when johnson singles out events that might take place under the banner of israel apartheid as calling for a special kind of scrutiny he does not directly insist that universities adopt the definition but rather notes that the definition is intended to help front line services better understand and recognise instances of anti semitism it is easy to see in retrospect why johnson s letter did not attract the scrutiny it merited when it was first circulated its tone is muted and bureaucratic almost as if the goal was to suppress dissent through boredom rather than public denunciation the full implications of johnson s ministerial letter only became clear three years and many ministers later when gavin williamson secretary of state for education under boris johnson wrote to the vice chancellor of every uk university threatening to withdraw their funding if they refused to adopt the ihra definition 33 four months later williamson followed up on this threat by requesting that the office of students a new public body that had recently been created to regulate the higher education sector identify providers which are reluctant to adopt the definition institutions that had not yet adopted the definition should be closely monitored and potentially fined 34 the office of students then published a list of institutions that had adopted the definition on its website presumably with the aim of pressuring any institutions which had not yet done so 35 when he took these drastic steps williamson was building on a tradition of silencing pro palestinian activism that had been pioneered by a long series of conservative ministers from johnson to chris skidmore michelle donelan and nadhim zahawi although williamson placed himself on the moral high ground as a proponent of the ihra definition and sought to shame universities into adopting it his letter did not register the fact that adopting a definition by itself would do nothing to prevent antisemitism rather the application of pressure through threats of withdrawing funding was the government s way of exerting control over what can and cannot be said on uk university campuses even the corporate law firm shakespeare martineau known for representing institutions of higher education in their legal disputes with employees called williamson s to withdraw funding from universities that failed to adopt the definition straight out of trump s playbook 36 threat five years of witnessing the uk government s weaponization of free speech rhetoric designed to create the illusion that it was combating antisemitism have taught me not to take at face value any official statement about combating antisemitism or any kind of racism it is hardly unsurprising that governments fail to take free speech seriously given that the most important function of free speech is to enable dissent from government mandates the deception manipulation and antidemocratic coercion with which the ihra definition of antisemitism has come to be associated in the uk has deprived the definition of any credibility it might otherwise have retained it has called into question the entire project of defining racism for governmental and in university contexts disciplinary ends finally the widespread adoption of the ihra definition and the internalization of its norms has set in motion a simplistic definitional logic for dealing with social problems that has impoverished discussions of racism and prejudice more generally across the uk and beyond it has encouraged a focus on words over substance on censorship over freedom of speech and intellectual honesty every time a pro palestine event is cancelled or an activist is censored under the guise of compliance with the ihra definition and hence with governmental aims we are taught not to trust what the state says about itself and its commitment to our freedoms under the ihra definition fighting antisemitism has become an empty performance undertaken for political gain in this book i tell the story of how this has happened with a focus on internal politics within the uk over the course of the past several years in order to tell that story i also have to engage with a much longer one about the history of antisemitism since the beginning of the twentieth century i also have to tell a story about palestine even though the story reads like a chronicle of erasure more than a narrative history finally i have to tell a story about free speech and why it matters to palestinian freedom in other words i have to do more than any single book can do rather than trying to be comprehensive i have chosen to tell my story through snapshots and scenes as fragments of suppressed histories that we collectively have to connect stylistically and aesthetically i have had to break with the scholarly traditions in which i have been trained i have not cited every single source that might be relevant to these issues and have opted for narrative rather than argument when it helped to get my point across i have tried to write in such a way as to give you dear reader a visceral sense of what is at stake in these sometimes abstract and remote debates and why they actually matter now and in the future the very book you hold in your hands attests to the ongoing costs that are extracted from such accusations long after the person accused has been formally vindicated this book could not be published without legal review and no matter how positive the outcome such procedures are costly both to the author and publisher there are many even more troubling examples too including the case of palestinian scholar shahd abusalama who left sheffield hallam university after she was cleared by the university because she was exposed to repeated investigations on the same charges while the university fostered an unwelcome environment 37 in the censorious environment created by the ihra definition even those who do not lose their jobs and who are widely recognized to have been wrongly accused are by no means protected like everyone i am limited in my ability to represent what is beyond my immediate experience including the suffering of palestinians within palestine and of other peoples who find themselves on the wrong side of history i write from the perspective of multiple kinds of privilege of a white middle class migrant from the us to the uk who has had the luxury of more or less being able to dedicate herself to ideas that have struck her as most central to our collective freedom my privileges of race class and nationality as well as simple luck have no doubt blinded me in certain ways and predetermined my preoccupations it is in the places where my various privileges as an american resident in the uk as a middle class white person as a university professor broke down that my interest has been most sustained i wrote this book because for a brief episode in my life i learned that my privileges did not protect me from being summarily dismissed from my position for no other reason than that i had given voice to controversial views and spoken out against apartheid of course there are people in palestine in iran in china in russia indeed in most authoritarian states who live without these protections not just on rare occasions but consistently over the course of their entire lives they cannot assume that human rights will protect them from prison injustice or discrimination there is no higher tribunal to which they can appeal no international court of human rights that has genuine legal force many of them suffer economic deprivation due to the unjust circumstances in which they find themselves many others are imprisoned and some even die due to their refusal to self censor or to compromise on their convictions i by contrast emerged relatively unscathed from what was nonetheless a harrowing and surreal experience that was fraught with fear but one experience i share in common with these brave individuals who have endured much more than i have is that i understand the value and purpose of free speech that understanding was stamped on my consciousness when i was threatened with dismissal from my position at the university of bristol my commitment to free speech did not come through ideology it was not a belief that i was born with rather free speech was something i took for granted like many europeans and north americans prior to being accused of antisemitism i believed that as a society we had moved beyond the 1960s when free speech was a battle cry on the left in other words i thought that free speech had already been achieved and that the struggle for its realization belonged to the past i believed that we should instead focus on racial social and economic equality and leave free speech issues to conservatives who preferred to debate cancel culture i still believe that racial social and economic equality should take priority if the state cannot achieve equality of opportunity for everyone then it has no right to exist in my view but i no longer see free speech as peripheral to the achievement of equality to the defeat of racism or to any other aspect of social justice i now see how free speech by its very nature undermines authoritarianism and i see this not because i read it in a book on the subject but because i lived and i continue to live in a society that is in the grip of authoritarianism on matters relating to palestine and israel in other spheres the uk and the us are far ahead of authoritarian regimes in terms of how they treat dissidents but on this specific issue there is a great deal more parity having seen up close how systematically free speech is suppressed by those in power i can now see more clearly how essential it is in resistance against tyranny however privileged or disenfranchised one happens to be in the pages that follow i examine the uses that jews and palestinians engaged in the struggle for freedom have made of their right to dissent in the process developing a ruthless criticism of all that exists to quote karl marx 38 i introduce their views and sometimes delve deep into the past in order to illuminate their relevance to our political present this prologue has narrated the beginning of my engagement with the critique of antisemitism chapter 1 documents the erasure of palestine that has coincided with the widespread adoption of a new understanding of antisemitism during the past two decades chapter 2 traces how the critique of antisemitism has developed in relation to the idea of palestine and has increasingly been incorporated into a zionist narrative since the balfour declaration of 1917 chapter 3 draws on anti zionist critiques of antisemitism in particular the groundbreaking yet forgotten analysis of leon abram to develop a materialist approach to antisemitism that i believe is better suited to our political present than the definition based approaches that dominate discourse today chapter 4 examines the relationship between free speech and palestinian freedom focusing in particular on north american and british universities during the past few decades in the epilogue i conclude by returning to my personal biography reflecting on how being accused of antisemitism led me to confront my family s suppressed jewish past to the that we make inadvertent contributions i hope that these snapshots of my intellectual journey to understand the histories that entangled me in the ongoing erasure of palestine will lead to different ways of thinking about the rights and privileges we tend to take for granted within liberal democracies these include our freedoms and civil liberties and their suppression both at home and abroad including within palestine this book is partly a story of my conversion to free speech as a discourse central to my own humanity but also as a value that is inextricably linked to palestinian freedom it is a polemic for free speech in places and contexts from which it is gradually disappearing as well as an attempt to outline how activists on the left can reclaim free speech as our birthright finally it is a call for a materialist approach to antisemitism and other racisms that is less susceptible to being hijacked by government bureaucracies than its idealist counterparts although the story takes place within a university it reaches well beyond the walls of the academy and the reader will see that i am in general quite sceptical of the potential of any institution including institutions of higher education to bring about political liberation if you have the misfortune to be targeted for expressing your convictions i hope this book will remind you that you are not alone in being singled out and persecuted may the histories chronicled in these pages give you the resources to connect your struggles with those of the activists and writers who preceded us often under circumstances even more challenging than those we face today may the conjuncture of past and present create new paths for palestinian liberation and may we learn to use the lessons of free speech struggles in times past to advance the liberation of all oppressed peoples 1 erasing palestine while the redefinition of antisemitism has transformed the conversation around israel during the twenty first century palestine itself has been gradually erased from the map its territory continually annexed by israel palestinian artist sliman mansour b 1947 depicts this process graphically in his artwork from 1996 entitled shrinking object which is depicted on the cover of this book the technique used in this work of art which is made of mud on wood was developed during the first intifada 1987 93 at a time when palestinian artists were boycotting art supplies from israel as part of a wider boycott of israeli goods since their boycott prevented them from using traditional paint palestinian artists turned to their natural environment and started creating art with materials at hand such as mud wood leather and found objects the reliance on materials from nature serves this work well bringing into relief how the shrinking of palestine appears on palestinian land far from maps that are manufactured to conceal the shrinkage and to create the illusion of peace the earthy materials in this work of art tell a different story which belies the narrative of international law and diplomacy that continues to invest in an illusory two state solution the map of palestine is being redrawn often in ways rendered more lucidly by palestinian artists than in geopolitical cartography yet even as it is abstracted from its territory the dismemberment of palestine is taking place in full view of the world palestine is perpetually being reconfigured and reassembled to accommodate external agendas whenever israel attacks gaza or there is an act of resistance in the occupied territories palestine features in the headlines of the world s newspapers and news networks these inclusions are more often than not pejorative and used to legitimate israel s settler colonial enterprise often within the framework of the war on terror 1 erasure does not equate with disappearance however palestine remains present even ubiquitous while palestinians undergo deformation defamation and systematic manipulation palestine s erasure is taking place in three ways first this erasure takes place through acts of renaming as when the united states relocated its embassy to jerusalem thereby recognizing israel s sovereignty over the city and denying palestinians deep links to it other acts of renaming include the labelling of palestinians as arabs thereby denying their national heritage and claims on the lands that have been taken from them renaming also happens when peacefully protesting palestinians are redefined as terrorists second erasure takes the form of the fragmentation of space as exemplified by the wall built by the israeli state that bisects palestinian cities and homes cutting off families and communities from each other a third erasure happens in the domain of speech and expression and it encompasses not just palestinians but all advocates of the palestinian cause it is the dark side of the ihra definition which not only censors israel critical speech but also causes palestinian perspectives to be viewed as presumptively antisemitic palestine is erased in the domain of speech when certain forms of palestinian advocacy are forbidden banned or deemed illegitimate this linguistic reconfiguration is increasingly accomplished through the redefinition of antisemitism which is conflated with criticism of israel and advocacy for palestine the physical erasure of palestine coincides with its erasure through language once palestinian identity has been successfully suppressed it becomes that much easier to erase palestinian claims on israeli occupied land since erasure takes place through languages the work of resistance must also be carried out through language by resisting censorship and reframing free speech to make it better serve the cause of palestinian freedom but analytical reframing is only a small part of the work that needs to be done in this chapter i make the connection between the definition of antisemitism and the politics of free speech by means of a brief journey to contemporary palestine i look at how the reshaping of the physical geography of palestine correlates with the worldwide redefinition of antisemitism and with the rewriting of jewish history so as to boost israel s territorial claims 2 as in my discussions of antisemitism and free speech i am concerned here with representations in this case representations of palestinians through their own artistic productions especially in film and literature while these pages cannot represent the palestinian experience or its erasure in depth or detail this discussion may serve like mansour s shrinking object as a reminder of what is happening on the ground within palestine while civil liberties are being violated in the so called western world as a result of the occupation of palestine lives are being lost within palestine itself on 6 december 2017 less than a year after the uk s adoption of the ihra definition donald trump s announcement that the united states would be moving its embassy to jerusalem stirred outrage around the world in practice trump s proposal was simply a continuation of a policy to which the us congress had committed itself in 1995 when it passed the jerusalem embassy act 3 this act committed the united states to relocating its embassy to jerusalem at an undefined future date ever since the passage of the act us presidents have promised to implement it although it shocked the world trump s approach was more a fulfilment of well established us foreign policy than an departure from it from this vantage point the embassy move activates a status quo that has prevailed since the founding of israel in 1948 and which has become even more normalized since 1967 some have even argued that the move merely makes more apparent an apartheid system that had been operating de facto for decades in understanding the significance of the embassy move what goes unstated by us policymakers is just as important as what is spoken out loud while the announcement dramatically heralds the us intention to regard jerusalem as the israeli capital notes mick dumper it did not specify what geographical areas constituted that capital 4 not unlike the global redefinition of antisemitism encapsulated in the ihra definition the movement of the us embassy to jerusalem was first and foremost a symbolic act while us states are actively incorporating variations on the ihra definition into their legal documents and outlawing support for the bds movement us foreign policy is solidifying israel s territorial claims on the newly reconfigured jerusalem remain undelineated in spatial terms in announcing the embassy move the office of the president claimed that the united states international stage meanwhile the borders of the was not taking any position on borders or boundaries with respect to israel 5 perhaps the plan was first to make the rhetorical transformation into a reality and then only then to allow the facts on the ground to change executed in this way the erasure could be made to appear as a nonviolent act and the opportunity to protest its outcome in the long term would be greatly reduced through such modes of censorship and vaguely symbolic border reconfigurations and by means of evasions that mirror on the ground the work of the ihra definition in language the erasure of palestine is made to appear like an irrevocable and even natural process impervious to human intervention erasing time palestinian checkpoints on an average day a palestinian who works in jerusalem and resides in the west bank must wake up at four in the morning in order to arrive at work by nine the reason is not the distance between workplace and home with the construction of the separation wall that began in 2002 and is still underway as of 2022 the israeli state entered into a new stage of encroachment on palestinian territory 6 the palestinian worker has to wait in line for hours at checkpoints staffed by soldiers who are incentivized to make the line move as slowly as possible most of these border crossers have a long day ahead of them in various kinds of construction work after crossing into israel they must spend hours every day passing through checkpoints to get to work even though they often have only a few kilometres to travel the short distance traversed by palestinian workers who commute from the west bank into israel for work encompasses one of the most humiliating and dangerous journeys that can be undertaken by any human being recent films by palestinian filmmakers shed light on the ongoing paradoxes of occupation in 200 meters 2020 ameen nayfeh chronicles the short but dangerous journey of the protagonist mustafa as he travels a mere 200 metres in the boot of a car the film is set in the palestinian city of tulkaram which was one of the first cities to be bisected by the israeli separation barrier mustafa needs to cross the israel palestine border in order to see his son who has been hospitalized by a car crash he has to pay a smuggler to get him across the border and nearly dies of suffocation on the way he ends up journeying hundreds of kilometres scaling walls going undercover and risking his life simply to get to the other side of the nearby border unlike in many comparable films the protagonist s journey is not far the challenge he faces is how to cross a border a few miles away from september 2011 to june 2012 i lived in bethlehem just around the corner from checkpoint 300 also known as the gilo checkpoint after the name of a nearby jewish settlement this checkpoint is classified in hebrew as a machsom seger closure checkpoint or terminal because it traverses an official boundary between israel and the west bank i decided to live near this checkpoint since my fellowship at the van leer institute required me to commute several times a week from bethlehem to jerusalem although as an american i remained shielded from much of the brutality that palestinian workers regularly face this experience did introduce me to their arduous commute to the arbitrary detentions that made their lives hell and to the pain of waiting for hours on end not knowing whether you would ever reach your destination hundreds of envelope checkpoints machsom keder bisect palestinian territory 7 these are also known as flying checkpoints since they can be set up at any time and in just about any place without warning from january 2017 to june 2018 israeli forces set up 4 924 flying checkpoints 8 while there are eleven terminal checkpoints in the occupied palestinian territories like checkpoint 300 flying checkpoints populate most roads linking major palestinian cities often skirting the wall checkpoint 300 is an advanced and semi high tech checkpoint that creates the illusion of the occupation s end while maximizing and stabilizing its techniques and effects 9 dividing jerusalem from bethlehem this terminal checkpoint resembles a warehouse made of corrugated steel during peak hours the terminal is filled with thousands of palestinians waiting to get to work during non peak hours when fewer palestinians are permitted to cross the border its wide swaths of empty space are punctured by an atmosphere of endless waiting although the terminal is large enough to house many thousands of passers through checkpoint 300 s most desirable aisles are closed to palestinians even during the busiest hours special lanes are reserved for foreign visitors exiting the occupied palestinian territories a feature that makes legible the racial and ethnic distinctions that undergird the occupation the checkpoint edifice itself crafted from corrugated steel and topped by a watchtower that overlooks the building is a model of purpose built efficiency the shadows of the watchtower eerily evoke the classical panopticon structure developed by utilitarian philosopher jeremy bentham bentham conceived of the panopticon as a means of enabling the observer to surveil an enclosed population without that population being able to see who is watching them this eerie ubiquity of the jailor s gaze is reproduced everywhere in the architecture of occupation a atmosphere of while obstructing movement the checkpoint s turnstiles also convey rigidly organized occupation however the notwithstanding the semblance of order that prevails in such terminals which began to be constructed towards the end of 2005 there is little evidence that the checkpoints serve the purpose for which they were ostensibly built that of minimizing the damage to palestinian life 10 terminal checkpoints are built for display partly to intimidate but also to normalize the occupation and expand the mechanisms of surveillance introducing a new technology of governance the terminal asserts the absolute power of the occupier over the occupied its architectural form epitomizes the permanent state of emergency through which the israeli state justifies the occupation at checkpoints like the gilo terminal dividing bethlehem from jerusalem foreigners are allowed to pass seamlessly and without close scrutiny meanwhile palestinians are often detained and interrogated this inverts the usual practice at international borders which typically grant to natives and permanent residents privileges denied to foreign visitors 11 at the checkpoint the foreigner not the native benefits from a halo of immunity meanwhile palestinians are denied basic rights as the state attempts to reduce them to mere bearers of life as michael foucault would say they become biopolitical subjects through which the state attempts to put into place the conditions needed to perpetuate biological life without securing human freedom foucault s description of biopolitical power as that which aims to ensure sustain and multiply life to put this life in order captures a key dynamic of israeli settler colonial rule 12 the israeli state seeks to keep palestinians alive at least provisionally in order to maintain some semblance of compliance with international legal norms even as it entrenches laws and systems that prevent palestinians from flourishing and achieving their full potential this is how biopolitical governance works by controlling and commodifying human life soldiers are typically only given brief assignments in any particular location to ensure that they do not form connections or build relationships with the native population when palestinians refuse to internalize the unwritten norms of israeli governmentality at the checkpoint they become a target population subject to perpetual surveillance and discipline that builds on perceptions of racialized difference from time to time this intolerable status quo implodes and the normalization of violence leads to war as israeli soldiers shoot to kill most of the time the damage inflicted is less dramatic and becomes apparent only over time including through the theft of time palestinian british filmmaker farah nabulsi s short film the present 2020 memorably illustrates the impact of the checkpoint regime on palestinians everyday lives the film tells the story of a palestinian man named yusuf who resides in the west bank not far from a checkpoint yusuf decides to give his wife a new refrigerator as a gift for their wedding anniversary the film opens on the day of their anniversary which falls on a day when yusuf does not have to go to work however in order to get the refrigerator for his wife he still has to go to jerusalem refrigerators are not sold anywhere in palestine in an instance of life imitating art the film was shot on the premises of checkpoint 300 through which yusuf must pass in order to get to jerusalem in shooting the film palestinian actor salah bakri had to enter the checkpoint at 3 a m just as palestinian workers must do every day in order to make it to jerusalem by the start of the work day nabulsi did not seek permission from the israeli army to film their activities or checkpoints as she reasoned later if you are asking the idf for permission to film that you are asking an illegal occupier to film its illegal occupation 13 yusuf passes much of the day waiting at checkpoints with his daughter on his journey to jerusalem his efforts to bring the refrigerator home and the many barriers he faces to this seemingly simple act produce a stark narrative about human dignity under occupation since the refrigerator cannot fit through the turnstiles palestinians are required to use when they pass through the checkpoint yusuf must ask permission from an israeli soldier standing by to push it through the wide road created for the exclusive use of settlers and foreigners the soldier refuses and insults yusuf refusing to bend the rules finally yusuf loses his temper and yells at the soldier which puts his own life in danger the soldier points a gun at him ready to shoot then suddenly the camera shifts yusuf s daughter who had been quietly observing the escalation into violence calmly pushes the refrigerator across the border using the road that is forbidden for palestinians to use the soldier threatens to report the young girl to the authorities ultimately father and daughter go on their way exhausted by a long and arduous day which should have been a simple shopping trip nabulsi s short but moving story of everyday dignity in a context of systematic humiliation under occupation was awarded the 2021 bafta british academy of film and television arts award for best british short film and was nominated for an oscar for best live action short film in the same year like 200 meters the present powerfully communicates the total immiseration within which many palestinians are forced to pass their lives a third film blacklisted 2021 directed by mohammed almughanni originally of gaza conveys the same sense of claustrophobia 14 an unnamed palestinian man based in the west bank learns that his beloved girlfriend will be moving to jerusalem for work and to be closer to her family her move in effect spells the end to their relationship as he will not be able to obtain permission from the israeli authorities to leave the west bank he is devastated the rest of the film revolves around the extreme steps he takes in order to see her again since he cannot obtain a permit to exit the west bank legally he attempts to scale a wall in order to escape he is discovered by the israeli border guards who arrest him confiscate his phone and interrogate him under the assumption that he is a terrorist the man s silence throughout the interrogation is astonishing he refuses to defend himself to explain he is not a terrorist or to state what really drove him to scale the wall and risk his life his refusal to speak is the ultimate expression of the toll the occupation has taken on his humanity silence is one of the few means at his disposal for preserving his dignity even if it increases the chances that he will be identified as a terrorist by the israeli authorities omar 2013 by nazareth born palestinian dutch film director hany abu assad mirrors the plot of blacklisted in certain crucial respects in both films a young palestinian man finds his life horizons cut short by the israeli occupation whereas in blacklisted the palestinian man ends up in prison due to his despair over lost love in omar the protagonist takes part in the assassination of an israeli soldier he refuses to confess his crime to his jailors however and is tortured in each of these four films freedom for palestinians is restricted through the mechanisms of bureaucratic regulation these restrictions are assertions of power dictating who has the prerogative to speak and who is forced to remain silent at the same time each of these films radiates a sense of palestinian agency giving a central role to characters who refuse to give up they remind us that the erasure of palestine will never be accepted without resistance at checkpoint 300 workers wait patiently but with ever mounting frustration the lines of waiting workers multiply exponentially while the aisles remain closed workers are often late for work for reasons beyond their control and yet they are punished by their employers for lateness as if it were their fault that they cannot predict when they will reach their workplaces over the course of a year of commuting back and forth between bethlehem and jerusalem i observed the beginnings of a riot as the workers tired of waiting in a queue that had remained motionless for the past hour began to shout israeli soldiers mounted the platforms perched high above the ground pointed their guns at the crowd and yelled at them to shut up curiously these orders were delivered in english a language in which neither the majority of palestinians waiting in line nor the majority of soldiers tasked to police them were fluent given the lack of any other shared language between israelis and palestinians their use of english should not have surprised me 15 yet from my vantage point this recourse to a foreign yet global language also attested to the way in which this conflict is entangled in international geopolitics the use of an alien tongue in place of a local one as a medium of communication between soldiers and civilians reinforced the uncanny atmosphere of occupation at least from my outsider point of view although no one was killed or injured during this particular protest palestinian workers are regularly crushed to death while waiting at this and other checkpoints 16 during one particularly fraught morning rush hour a vendor who collected meagre wages by selling tea and coffee near the checkpoint from dawn until early afternoon reminisced with me on the vagaries of his economic life the days that are bad for the workers are good for my business he said as we conversed in front of a motionless queue when the workers have to wait for three four and five hours then business booms nigel parsons and mark salter have observed similar dynamics during their fieldwork at checkpoints in the west bank local traders profit economically from the long lines of tired and frustrated palestinian workers documenting the stalls offering clothes kitchen equipment toys and kebabs taxi ranks organised on either side of a barrier medical tents ministering to the old and infirm just outside checkpoint terminals the authors transcribe a revealing comment from one local palestinian in the rest of the world civilization developed around water here in the west bank it grows around checkpoints 17 the expanding borders of the settler colonies bisecting the west bank have generated a new political economy that keeps palestinians in confinement while expanding the control of the israeli state palestinians who cannot leave the west bank survive economically by selling goods at the borders of checkpoints such entrepreneurial trends are a means of resistance to the occupation yet as palestinian media theorist helga tawil souri notes they also have serious political limitations 18 although they help palestinians survive in the short term checkpoint economies normalize the checkpoint s coercive modes of surveillance further away from the jerusalem border deep within the occupied palestinian territories israel continues to rely on so called flying checkpoints to act as a buffer around the settlements these are provisional structures that are easily erected and rapidly erased far removed from the radar of official representation they facilitate forms of corruption that more permanent and visible racializing checkpoints such as checkpoint 300 cannot openly permit checkpoints on the road from nablus to hebron for example are relocated on a daily basis at these checkpoints the targets are broader than workers who have to queue to reach their destinations palestinian children headed for schools students bound for universities people seeking medical help and even family members hoping to visit their relatives clamber up and down sand embankments or across ditches to circumvent concrete slabs and soldiers who sometimes shoot at them as israeli journalist amira hass has observed 19 as the only israeli journalist to live in the occupied territories hass is one of the few israelis who have written about checkpoints from a vantage point that foregrounds their impact on palestinians the welcome signs fronting major checkpoints across the west bank whitewash the occupation with upbeat slogans directed at foreigners and settlers passing by such as peace be with you some of these are in varnished pastels and include photographs of idyllic places and greetings in arabic and hebrew block letters others have a neon glow each sign rewrites the occupation as a tourist s idyll anthropologists hagar kotef and merav amir interpret such insignia of settler colonial governmentality as demonstrations by the occupying regime that palestinians passing through are visitors and not people who need to cross the checkpoint in order to reach their homes 20 these signs are directly aimed at tourists as a welcoming gesture and indirectly at palestinians as an alienating gesture such amnesiac settler colonial narratives are characteristic of racializing checkpoints the high tech roads bisecting the west bank and built with the intention of facilitating movement between israel and the settlements are closed to palestinians due to these multiple kinds of closure and enclosure journeys that would be completed within half an hour under normal conditions extend from morning until afternoon and from afternoon until evening the topography introduced by the wall imposes on those who live behind it the requirement to seek a permit from the israeli military in order to reach the other side of their town even to visit friends and family this makes recreational travel impossible and necessary travel increasingly difficult and subject to israeli bureaucratic whim while the theft of palestinian land has been widely documented the theft of palestinians time by the checkpoint regime has been less thoroughly addressed time is more difficult to partition than space but its removal is no less consequential and the ability to control one s time is just as essential to human dignity the theft of palestinian time has occurred simultaneously with the israeli state s revisions of palestinian pasts the nakba the catastrophic displacement of 700 000 palestinians that made possible the founding of the state of israel in 1948 has been made eternally recurrent narratives of displacement from the 1940s and afterwards are folded into the present as hass notes unlike land which can be restored and replaced and rehabilitated time lost through the policy of closure is lost forever 21 the theft of palestinians time by the checkpoint regime erases local memories even more thoroughly than does the physical usurpation of its territories even if confiscated palestinians lands are eventually restored to their original owners the time that has been squandered over the course of palestinians cross generational struggles to survive and to remember cannot be recuperated the accumulated years lost to waiting at checkpoints on their way to work school and friends permanently shape consciousness ghassan kanafani s novella men in the sun 1962 chronicles these acts of erasure in visceral form the novella tells of three palestinian refugees who travel to kuwait in search of work they arrange to be smuggled into kuwait by a palestinian truck driver since they lack the permits and other papers that would enable them to travel publicly they must do so in secret hiding in the truck s empty water tank whenever they approach a border crossing their journey is fraught with danger at the last crossing just before they reach kuwait the driver is delayed at the checkpoint by a state bureaucrat with a penchant for joking the refugees suffocate in the overheated water tank while they await the driver s return after he crosses the border into kuwait and opens the tank the driver discovers the corpses of the refugees whom he was transporting suffocated in the heat while the official cracked jokes at the checkpoint the concluding moments of the men s lives are rendered in oblique detail the narrative focuses on the desert conditions that led to their death inside the empty water tank with the lucidity of a poet immersed in desert landscapes kanafani writes the lorry a small world black as night made its way across the desert like a heavy drop of oil on a burning sheet of tin 22 like an engine of death the lorry travels over the burning earth its engine roaring remorselessly this cluster of words recurs four times during the course of the journey like an ominous refrain eventually the palestinian refugees die in silence suffocated by the sun overcome by passivity and helplessness they are literally roasted alive while the men inside silently perish the bureaucrats at the checkpoint joke among themselves the death of these three refugees is a parable for the fate of the palestinian people kanafani s story was adapted for film in 1972 as the dupes a title underscoring the sense of betrayal and abandonment at the heart of the story unsurprisingly the egyptian director tawfiq saleh decided that he could not let the palestinians die in silence he needed to end the film with more dramatic tension than kanafani s narrative contained so the camera pans back and forth between the bureaucrats at the checkpoint who tease the driver with innuendoes about his sex life and the palestinian men locked in the water tank and banging for help the contrast between the desperate pounding of the dying men seeking release from the water tank and the careless bantering of the checkpoint bureaucrats makes even more palpable the fact that their deaths could have been avoided if the israeli state had not been given free rein to make hundreds of thousands of palestinians into refugees or if their labour rights had been respected with kanafani s story as a literary and cinematic precedent the scene in 200 meters in which mustafa and his fellow palestinians hide in the boot of a car while they are smuggled across the border into israel acquires even greater resonance in both cases the border is a miniscule construction that only appears menacing when viewed from the perspective of palestinians who are denied passage across it fifty years after kanafani introduced the image of the smuggled refugees into palestinian literature shockingly little has changed palestinian territory continues to undergo forced erasure by the state of israel with the complicity of international foreign policy and international law palestinian film and literature amply attest that this erasure has not accomplished its goal of silencing palestinian voices yet the damage inflicted in the process of suppression is substantial and cannot be compensated for as this chapter has suggested checkpoints are among the most effective instruments of occupation as a mode of governance and a tool of population control they are used with increasing frequency by states that aim to subjugate resistant populations yet it is not only in israel and other settler colonial regimes that checkpoints suppress the population s freedom the role played by checkpoints in the realm of geopolitics is echoed in the realm of political debate by the ihra definition of antisemitism both dictate what can and cannot be said not according to what is right or wrong but according to who happens to be in power like checkpoints on the ground separating families and destroying lives with layers of obstruction checkpoints on free expression require our resistance and vigilance the next time a person or institution advocates for banning certain expressions of solidarity or implies that criticisms should not be made out of fear of causing offence we who are on the outside of this or any other conflict must refuse imposed silence our refusal is a way of resisting the physical barriers that stand in the way of palestinian freedom at present our assent to censorship strengthens the state that keep these barriers in place 2 anti zionism before israel in 1967 an eventful year in israel s relationship with the wider middle east jewish marxist isaac deutscher ominously described the role played by antisemitism in defining jewish identity it is a tragic and macabre truth that the greatest re definer of the jewish identity has been hitler deutscher wrote auschwitz was the terrible cradle of the new jewish consciousness and of the new jewish nation 1 these words are taken from deutscher s essay who is a jew begun in 1963 published posthumously in 1968 in this work deutscher both questions and asserts his jewish identity he acknowledges that as an internationalist and atheist he does not fit most conventional definitions of what makes a jew and yet there is another arguably more fundamental sense in which deutscher lays claim to being jewish i am however a jew he writes by force of my unconditional solidarity with the persecuted and exterminated as someone who experienced the jewish tragedy as his own deutscher wished to do all he could to assure the real not spurious security and self respect of the jews for deutscher being a jew is an exercise in negation it is an identity that is formed against and in spite of the forces one opposes as perhaps all identities are deutscher describes himself and all twentieth century jews as members of the negative community comprising those who repeatedly throughout history have for persecution and extermination the negativity of jewish identity is part of the fateful legacy it imposes on the life trajectory of every individual jew although deutscher s jewish identity is negative in the sense that it is framed in been singled out opposition to something else the negative force of the jewish tradition that includes such luminaries as spinoza marx rosa luxembourg trotsky and freud is also part of its creative offering to say that jewish identity is negative is not to criticize or condemn it but to account for its persistence in historical terms for non jewish jews like deutscher who operate within a jewish intellectual tradition while rejecting the jewish religion jewish identity exists only in the form of a negation as someone whose father died in auschwitz deutscher was sympathetic to the concept of israel a state that he hoped would be a safe haven for jews in the aftermath of the holocaust he disavowed his own anti zionism in 1954 which he said had been based on a confidence in the european labour movement or more broadly in european society and civilisation which that society and civilisation have not justified 2 yet as the occupation of palestine persisted and displaced palestinians continued to be barred from returning to their homes deutscher became more critical of the israeli state his harsh words for israel are often suppressed by those eager to incorporate his legacy into a zionist narrative deutscher s late essays powerfully condemn all nationalisms for jews and for humanity in general in his last interview given to the new left review in 1967 just a few months before his death deutscher was sharply critical of israel s policies towards its palestinian population the arabs he notes were made to pay the price for the crimes the west committed towards the jews they are still made to pay it for the guilty conscience of the west is of course pro israeli and anti arab 3 deutscher predicted that the 1967 war israel had recently won prevailing over egypt and the rest of the arab world with disastrous consequences for palestinians would someday be seen in a not very remote future to have been a disaster in the first instance for israel itself 4 as for israeli jews in the wake of the 1967 war they had become agents of the late over ripe imperialist capitalism of our days 5 we will see that deutscher s warnings were to prove prescient deutscher grasped the depth and horror of antisemitism while also refusing to sentimentalize it or use it as a pretext for other injustices in the past as in the present the search for jewish identity is inseparable from antisemitism s legacy the space for debating the issues deutscher raised has shrunk dramatically during the past few decades many factors have contributed to this narrowing including the ongoing dispossession of the palestinian people and israel s efforts to conceal these processes from the world the promotion of new definitions of antisemitism that stigmatize and in some cases criminalize criticism of israel has been a major part of this strategy in this chapter i show how the longer tradition of jewish radicalism which long pre dates zionism can help to reframe the debate around antisemitism and contextualize it within a wider ranging critique of capitalism that also compels us to rethink the relationship between the freedom to dissent and social equality when it comes to fighting antisemitism or any other racism definitions are of limited use the binary logic of definitions reduces all positions to either x or y according to this logic either one is a zionist x or an anti zionist y there is no space in between xy does not exist anti zionism is either the worst kind of antisemitism if you are x or the highest ethical duty of every human being if you are y there is no room for ambiguity and very little space for recognizing or accommodating the hybrid identities that so many of us inhabit the binary logic of the discourse around antisemitism is a feature of our contemporary moment and it has caused great harm to jews and palestinians it is a symptom of the occupation of palestine and the perpetual erasure of this political reality rather than a step towards a solution although the binary logic of definitions has not been helpful in eradicating antisemitism it has been useful for those who seek to suppress criticism of israel definition based logic has a unique propensity to stifle freedom of expression since labelling a certain view or statement antisemitic is a convenient way of stigmatizing it this definition based approach has contributed to the silencing of points of view that are critical of israel the censorship of pro palestinian voices and the redirection of the world s attention away from israel s occupation of palestine instead of focusing on palestinian rights the media has been sucked into a toxic debate around antisemitism s competing definitions trapping viewers in defensive postures and encouraging the application of double standards around israel the binary logic of definitions has been interrogated from many angles during the past fifteen years but all of its manifestations have resulted in the same paralysis the impact of this definitional logic and the way out of our present paralysis is the main focus of this chapter whether it is the ihra definition that we oppose or the more open ended jerusalem declaration that we advocate all of these attempts to name antisemitism are susceptible to abuse and misappropriation although twenty first century debates around the definition of antisemitism have been contentious they belong to a much longer tradition of controversy around the history of jewish identity and jew hatred antisemitism has never been stable or singular in its operations when the term antisemitismus was popularized in 1879 with the publication of the triumph of judaism over germanism by german publicist wilhelm marr as a way of codifying different forms of jew hatred it had been around as a concept for much longer 6 marr was of the view that antisemitism was a good thing he wanted to encourage his fellow jew haters to identify themselves openly and to celebrate their animosity towards the jewish minority whom he saw as a stain on bourgeois germany far from being a source of shame being an antisemite was for marr and many of his compatriots a badge of pride marr popularized antisemitism as a term but he did not invent it try comparing the christian jew hatred that predominated in the european middle ages with the blood libel myth of the nineteenth century or the pogroms that followed when jews throughout russia and eastern europe were accused of killing and eating children for the religious rituals such juxtapositions show us that although certain motifs and themes persist over time they rapidly adopt new forms and guises every new manifestation of antisemitism inevitably bears the imprint of its times the diversity of jew hatred across time and space has imposed a huge burden on any effort to organize these manifestations of hate within a single framework or rubric let alone to encompass them in a single term to borrow a phrase from philosopher walter bryce gallie antisemitism is an essentially contested term like judaism itself if in a different sense attempts to ascribe to it a single meaning flounder against the reality of its multiplicity since antisemitism has never been stable we should not be surprised to see its definition shift yet again in the twenty first century as it absorbs the changed circumstances of jews and of israel what is more surprising is how uncritically and rapidly twenty first century definitions that focus predominantly on israel and anti zionism as manifestations of antisemitism have been accepted and internalized within liberal euro american consciousness these definitions have been remarkably successful at shutting down debate rather than opening it to wider horizons few of those with the authority and power to determine which definitions are adopted and how they are implemented have seriously reflected on the consequences of their choices never has deutscher s observation that palestinians have been made to pay for the guilty conscience of the west been more applicable how were antisemitism and anti zionism conceived and debated before the founding of the state of israel the remainder of this chapter addresses this question by considering how jews conceived of their predicament before the founding of israel shifted political alliances and brought us to our current impasse to notwithstanding efforts by contemporary supporters of israel to associate anti zionism with antisemitism scepticism towards the idea of a jewish nation state has a long history within judaism and not only on the left an opinion piece published in 1916 in the london based yiddish radical newspaper worker s friend arbeter fraynd warned of the dangers that establishing a homeland would present for jews around the world and insisted on a different approach the problem of antisemitism antisemitism would only cease to exist the authors argued in a society in which the oppressed are united against the oppressors 7 the worker s friend was the mouthpiece of a yiddish speaking anarchist collective based in london s east end that organized lectures and classes in history sociology and literature this group was also involved in a number of garment workers strikes including one that lasted for three weeks in 1906 the circle that read and contributed to worker s friend was opposed to the establishment of a single state for the jewish people because as the editorial continued the struggle for jewish national rights even if successful will only lead to the establishment of a jewish state under the domination of the jewish bourgeoisie unfortunately for the anti zionist movement worker s friend was suppressed by the british government amid the tensions of world war i although members of this collective would later influence communist movements around the world their impact on the cultural and intellectual life of british jewry was cut short by the war as well as by internal shifts within the british jewish community towards zionism when rudolf rocker the non jewish german anarchist editor of worker s friend was arrested in 1918 for opposing both sides in the war and deported to the netherlands this effectively meant the end of worker s friend as a venue for the expression of anti zionist points of view although british anti zionism persisted among left leaning jews the closure of such newspapers inaugurated a demographic shift both within british jewry and on the left in 1917 after years of internal deliberation and negotiations between the british cabinet and the zionist organization foreign secretary lord arthur james balfour penned the famous letter that came to be called the balfour declaration speaking on behalf of the british government balfour announced that it favoured the establishment in palestine of a national home for the jewish people and would use its best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object balfour s second clause noting that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non jewish communities in palestine has been forgotten in theory and neglected in practice although the sixty seven word sentence that comprises the balfour declaration of 1917 was even more consequential than the thirty eight words of the ihra definition adopted by the british government one hundred years later the parallels between the two documents are striking both adoptions reflect a dangerous tendency on the part of an imperial power to homogenize a heterogenous constituency to ignore dissenting voices within that homogenized collective and to subordinate minority rights to political exigency finally both documents acquired popularity and even a certain kind of authority less as a way of fighting antisemitism than of displacing it in the case of the first document the rights of an entire people the palestinians were erased in order to accommodate britain s wartime strategy in the case of the second document the accusation of antisemitism was used as a weapon to conceal more than a century of imperial complicity it has been argued that the entire balfour declaration was based on a misunderstanding or rather on a series of miscalculations historian mark levene has identified three mistakes made by the british foreign office at the outbreak of world war i which caused them to commit to creating a jewish homeland in palestine 1 2 3 the jews were a collective entity the jews were powerful the jews were pro german 8 among the primary strategic objectives of the war cabinet during world war i was to ensure that jews sided with the entente the alliance comprising britain and its wartime ally russia against germany showing support for zionism appeared to be the surest way of gaining political leverage with jews around the world redrawing the map of a middle eastern geography seemed like a small price to pay if it ensured that jews would support britain during the war these calculations were based on an exaggerated view of jews political power and an unrealistic perception of their loyalty to germany in his own words then prime minister david lloyd george believed that promising the fulfilment of zionist aims in palestine would bring russian jewry to the cause of the entente 9 to responses among britain s jewish community the balfour declaration were divided but it definitely marked a sea change in british jewish relations as well as internally within british jewry in the pages of the jewish chronicle zionist leaders chaim weizmann nachum sokolow and yechiel tschlenow published a joint zionist manifesto under the aegis of the london bureau of the zionist organization 10 their manifesto set the tone for how the balfour declaration would be interpreted by subsequent generations including which parts would be remembered and which parts forgotten even though the british government did not accede to their every wish the zionist negotiators embraced the balfour declaration wholeheartedly needless to say they recast the declaration in terms of their own political goals which included the erasure of palestinians boldly addressing their manifesto to the jewish people the authors called the balfour declaration an important milestone on the road to our national future 11 in their celebratory analysis they reframed the way in which the balfour declaration would be read by subsequent generations they used the occasion to call on all jews to join the zionist organization in order to take advantage of this new opportunity to build a homeland in palestine from now on they insisted every gathering of jews must have a practical aim every speech must deal with a project every thought must be a brick with which to build the national home the authors of the jewish chronicle manifesto naively hoped that the balfour declaration would put an end to internal jewish dissent around palestine and jewish emigration yet dissent around the establishment of the state of israel never disappeared the objections of early twentieth century anti zionist jews resonate to this day in keeping with their directive to turn every speech into a political project the authors politicized the balfour declaration even beyond its original content their interpretation omits balfour s caveat that in recognizing palestine as the jewish homeland nothing should be done to endanger the civil and religious rights of existing non jewish communities in palestine this caveat had been secured by anti zionist jews with connections to the government who had expressed concern over the proposal to give to the jews of palestine privileges not shared by the rest of the population of that country 12 balfour proceeded regardless of their fears but he did offer the concession of promising not to infringe on the rights of non jewish communities this was not quite the same as recognizing palestinian rights but under different circumstances and given different geopolitical alignments it might have made a difference like the ihra definition the document was instrumentalized in the most cynical way predictably the authors of the zionist manifesto had nothing to say about balfour s caveat they saw in the text only an official promise of support and help in the realization of our ideal of liberty in palestine and forgot about the rest lord balfour s caveat about not undermining the rights of existing non jewish communities was a concession to the conjoint foreign committee cfc whose outspoken opposition to zionism was already noted this organization was founded in 1878 with the aim of representing jewish interests in international politics led by diplomat and journalist lucian wolf the cfc s influence persisted during the negotiations that culminated in the balfour declaration even though their aims were overridden by the zionist faction they were regarded as a shadow foreign office of anglo jewry 13 while leaders of the zionist organization were busy lobbying the british government to set up a homeland for the jews in palestine the cfc focused on bringing about legal equality for the world s jewry particularly in russia where until recently jews had been legally segregated from the rest of the population and compelled to reside in the pale of settlement as a foreign office record of a meeting with wolf noted more stress was laid on the emancipation of russian jews than on the palestine question 14 wolf and the cfc expressed at most qualified support for the idea of a jewish homeland specifically they pointed to the need to protect the rights of the local arab population in palestine 15 but the most significant and strenuous objections to the balfour declaration came from another source edwin montagu british secretary of state for india from 1917 to 1922 and the third practising jew ever to serve in the british cabinet montagu was openly hostile to the british government s attempt to placate zionists by creating a homeland for the jews in palestine when a draft copy of what would become the balfour declaration fell into montagu s hands he drafted a five page memo provocatively entitled the anti semitism of the present government at the time this document was among the most powerful diagnoses and indictments of the settler colonial mentality that continues to link the contemporary state of israel to britain s imperial legacy montagu s prediction of the impact of the balfour declaration was prescient when the jew has a national home surely it follows that the impetus to deprive him of the rights of british citizenship must be enormously increased he wrote palestine will become the world s ghetto 16 while the first part of this prediction has arguably not come to pass montagu s foreboding that palestine would become the world s ghetto has been realized in ways that even montagu may not have expected how he asked the government could he negotiate for british government interests in india if that very government regarded him as a transitory resident whose actual homeland was in palestine when he was informed by the government that the declaration had been finalized montagu recorded in his diary the government has dealt an irreparable blow to jewish britons and they have endeavoured to set up a people which does not exist from a contemporary perspective montagu s statements are open to criticism at moments he appears to accept antisemitism as reasonable he states for instance that he has no desire to deny that anti semitism can be held by rational men such outmoded sentiments were expressed by all sides including the zionist organization reflecting on these proceedings several decades later harry sachar a board member of the world zionist organization wrote of the british political class of the time that it had a residual belief in the power and the unity of jewry 17 this prejudice he added causes jews its compensations in a troubling statement that portends israel s subsequent role in world politics sachar notes that this prejudice plays consciously or is not wholly without to suffer but it unconsciously its part in the calculations and the decisions of statesmen to exploit it delicately and deftly belongs to the art of the jewish diplomat as we have seen the conflicts between zionists and anti zionists during the years leading up to and immediately following the issuance of the balfour declaration in 1917 bear uncanny similarities to the controversies around the ihra definition during the first decades of the twenty first century in both historical junctures jewish interests were often reduced to political instruments and jews became proxies for achieving other agendas governments and public institutions favoured certain demands at certain times in order to advance political goals unrelated to jewish equality in both moments too political exigency trumped moral probity just as right wing christian fundamentalists are among the most vocal supporters of the state of israel during the twenty first century so were many non jewish politicians who aligned with the zionist cause themselves antisemites anti zionist intellectual claude joseph montefiore who headed the anglo jewish committee and was also involved the cfc understood this well as he wrote in 1916 in the fortnightly review all anti semites are enthusiastic zionists 18 the origins of the balfour declaration should be traced not to the wartime policies and strategies of britain in the middle east but rather to the murky waters of modern anti semitism 19 this analysis can also be applied to the political climate that led to the adoption of the ihra definition one hundred years later by the same country that had ceded palestine to zionist jews through the balfour declaration an event that british historian elizabeth monroe has judged one of the greatest mistakes in our imperial history 20 among the countries that were the first to adopt the definition was hungary which would chair the ihra in 2015 and 2016 when the momentum behind the ihra definition was at its peak although nearly all european countries have a dark and entangled relationship with antisemitism hungary is distinct for its persistent denial of its role in the holocaust and for the ongoing popularity of its antisemitic right wing political parties such as jobbik these antisemitic links did not prevent hungary from playing a leading role in disseminating the ihra definition and proposing its adoption nor did similar issues prevent romania well known for its role in the romani genocide of 1935 45 from also assuming a prominent position within this organization the examples of hungary and romania are notable not simply for their histories of antisemitism and ethnic cleansing they are also relevant for understanding the political uses of antisemitism today these histories continue to be suppressed and unacknowledged in the countries where they occurred even while those countries are allowed to chair the ihra hence becoming honorary stewards of the ihra definition lord balfour s cousin robert cecil a diplomat best known as one of the main architects of the league of nations offered an antisemitic assessment on a foreign office document that speaks for the overall attitude of the government he represented i do not think it is possible to exaggerate the international power of the jews 21 this same cecil argued for rapprochement with the jews on distinctively antisemitic grounds it is most regrettable that in view of the vast financial influence of the jews the russians make so little effort to conciliate them he wrote in 1916 while parliamentary under secretary at the foreign office 22 antisemitism like cecil s was a significant factor in british politics including in the decision to support zionist jews in their efforts to claim palestine as their homeland british politicians feared that if they did not support the zionist cause jews would align with the germans during world war i 23 montefiore s assessment of the relation between zionism and antisemitism applies to the current political landscape just as much as it did to the zionist movement of the early twentieth century the twentieth century antisemites who drafted the balfour declaration did so at least partly because of their exaggerated fears of jewish influence in world politics like their compatriots in the following century the protagonists of the balfour declaration heard only what they wanted to hear 24 their embrace of zionism did not mitigate or undermine their deeply rooted antisemitism nor did it prevent other branches of that same government from seeking to deport all russian jews of military age who had refused to fight in the war it was even proposed in 1918 a year after the balfour declaration that these dissenting jews be sent to concentration camps prior to their deportation 25 the words concentration camps had rather different and less sinister connotations in 1918 than they would in 1938 but the brutality of british colonialism those perceived as civilizationally inferior was on full display by this date the british government s willingness to hand over palestine to zionist jews thus hardly seems like an act of solidarity or friendship it was a crude political towards calculation and a mistaken one at that what is most tragic is that the same political mistakes that were made in 1917 continue to be made one hundred years later in connection with the ihra definition and the international community s willingness to accommodate it to israel s annexation of palestinian lands the weaponization of fundamental rights that we witness today in connection with the ihra definition combined with obliviousness and indifference to palestinian prerogatives is in many respects a continuation of nineteenth century european colonial power relations then as now dissenters were suppressed when the expansionist aims of the state such is the lesson of the balfour declaration today their criticisms undermined european antisemitism has had impacts on communities that played no part in its creation most notably palestinians the history of anti zionism before the establishment of the state of israel illuminates dynamics that emerged after 1948 from this vantage point the ihra definition itself appears as simply the latest realignment of imperial rule with geopolitics these imperial legacies also underwrite israeli settler colonialism yet whereas during the nineteenth century the british empire had no qualms about broadcasting its imperial designs on the holy land and aligning with zionism in the twenty first century multicultural liberal states attempt to maintain a pretence of neutrality when arbitrating between israel and palestine the right wing weaponization of free speech further exacerbates this situation making unsayable the common sense of prior eras the balance of power continues to be aligned against jews and palestinians alike the ihra definition like the balfour declaration before it has thereby become a means of papering over the entrenched structural inequalities that underwrite contemporary imperialism instead of inducing despair this historical legacy can become a resource for resistance we can also probe the untapped potential of radical socialist approaches to the liberation of jews and palestinians within a broader framework of human emancipation around the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century jews began to develop powerful critiques of colonialism the history of antisemitism into their understanding of power incorporated that although the zionist account of antisemitism that is opposed to jewish assimilation is most prevalent today the economic critique of antisemitism has uncovered many aspects of jewish history that remain relevant both in the struggle against antisemitism and in efforts to resist the weaponization of this struggle by pro israel advocates this economic critique can be traced to the early writings of karl marx but it by no means ended with him over the course of a century marxist jewish thought developed and refined marx s controversial initial insights into the relationship between jews and capitalism this book has been written in the belief that there is a way out of our present censorious malaise much of the path for that exit and the prospects for a better future was furnished by jewish marxists from prior decades who were critical of zionism nor did they stop with a critique of the zionist project early twentieth century revolutionaries like leon trotsky 1879 1940 and abram leon 1918 44 situated the persecution of the jewish people within a longer history of capitalist exploitation arguing that as trotsky wrote in 1940 the salvation of the jewish people is bound up inseparably with the overthrow of the capitalist system 26 in pursuit of an alternative approach to the critique of antisemitism the next chapter explores mid twentieth century radical jewish thinkers like trotsky and leon whose critiques of antisemitism focused on political economy and economic history having so far considered the various diplomatic manoeuvres among early twentieth century jews who were sceptical of zionism it is time to examine more closely the ideas that underwrote those activities as enzo traverso one of the most important contemporary chroniclers of radical jewish thought has argued since jewish socialism has been erased from the map of europe it is our responsibility to prevent it from being erased from history 27 3 a materialist critique of antisemitism introducing abram leon among the outstanding contributors to the jewish marxist critique of antisemitism are the russian revolutionary leon trotsky and his follower from belgium abram leon as trotsky s main biographer in english isaac deutscher whose literary legacy spans the period between world war ii and the israeli six day war of 1967 belongs to this same tradition the lives of each of these thinkers were profoundly shaped by wartime conditions which tested and refined their convictions many other left leaning jewish thinkers wrote about antisemitism during these same years hannah arendt 1906 75 whose early work in german on antisemitism makes an important if underexamined contribution to the debate also belongs to this group as does walter benjamin 1892 1940 who developed a messianic materialism that both engaged with and transcended the marxist critique 1 i focus here on leon and trotsky because they were specifically concerned with the critique of antisemitism from a radical marxist perspective and incorporated this critique into their anti capitalist worldviews for leon and trotsky the critique of antisemitism was an extension of the marxist critique of capitalism s political economy adapted for a fascist age leon s and trotsky s critiques of antisemitism were developed during the nazi assault on europe at a time when the jewish people were faced with the existential threat of genocide these circumstances meant that their ideas were tested under extreme conditions stripped of any illusions about human nature remarkably the extraordinary pressures under which they laboured did not lead them to compromise their positions far from rendering it obsolete the genocide of the jewish people sharpened their analysis and deepened their critiques of zionism their approaches to antisemitism remain as intersectional as cosmopolitan as grounded in political economy and ultimately as relevant to our political present as they were in their inception the materialist critique of antisemitism has been overshadowed by other approaches and has fallen out of fashion along with many other marxist critiques yet the materialist critique has a great deal to offer those who wish to reframe the debate around the ihra definition and to move beyond clashes over nominalist definitions is best revealed that also entailed a detailed understanding of leon developed trotsky s scattered insights into a full fledged theory of the antisemitism socioeconomic role of the jewish people throughout history according to leon following trotsky who took his cue from marx the origin of anti jewish racism through a materialist account of transformations in the political economy the religious identity of the jewish people masked their even more salient economic roles as merchants tradespeople and brokers between the ruling class and the peasantry engaging with this history leon developed a sociological theory of jews as a people class somewhat analogous to weber s account of jews as a pariah people leon s theory of the people class has been criticized by later scholars as an oversimplification but the term itself is not central to his argument 2 it is entirely possible to reject the label of people class while still benefiting from leon s socioeconomic insights and concurring with his visionary understanding of antisemitism as the dialectical product of western civilization 3 leon has also been criticized for his economic determinism and his inaccurate assumption that jews were in all times and places throughout history primarily or even exclusively involved in mercantile activity yet as david ruben has argued leon s thesis could be stated in such a way as to make it compatible with almost unlimited evidence about occupational difference within jewries as long as one could always find evidence of some group of jews engaging in exchange related occupations within each jewry 4 in other words it is enough to establish that some even if not most jews were consistently engaged in exchange related occupations throughout history to demonstrate the relevance of leon s arguments about jews in relation to capitalism leon certainly overstates the empirical evidence that supports his theory but his impassioned tone which can easily be read as a product of his fraught environment and of the everyday stress imposed by the nazi occupation does not require that we reject the theory itself sympathetic readers of leon like john rose have suggested the term merchant class in lieu of people class as the category by which we should understand the socioeconomic role of the jews throughout history 5 merchant class may well be an improvement on people class because it is more concretely rooted in a recognizable form of economic activity what remains of value is leon s insistence on interrogating antisemitism through the lens of the political economy this approach was revolutionary in 1942 when the book was written and remains so today the key shift that contributed to the rise of modern antisemitism was away from feudalism under which jews financed the lavish lifestyles of the nobility and made possible the military expeditions of kings towards capitalism which made traditional jewish social functions obsolete by engaging with leon s account of the origins of antisemitism and delving deep into the socioeconomic origins of antisemitism we can generate a materialist framework for the critique of antisemitism that will render obsolete nominalist definitions like that of the ihra as well as provisional and necessarily incomplete solutions like that of the jda leon s jewish questions on 2 november 1917 the british foreign secretary arthur balfour penned a public letter to lord rothschild an entrepreneur who regarded himself as a leader of the anglo jewish community as publicized by the press a week later the letter proclaimed that the british government would support the establishment in palestine of a national home for the jewish people the significance of the ihra definition of antisemitism in the twenty first century much like that of the balfour declaration is difficult to perceive from the document itself the importance of the balfour declaration for palestinian and jewish history derives from the ways in which the promises made by balfour on no authority other than that granted by his colonial mentality were implemented in subsequent decades the resistance to the balfour declaration among early twentieth century british jews set the stage for subsequent anti zionist initiatives which were often led by jews who had come of age within a revolutionary leftist tradition that viewed zionism as a progressive movement for national liberation from an imperial yoke abram leon isaac deutscher and hannah arendt all fit this biographical trajectory each began their intellectual journeys as committed zionists even though they eventually broke with this tradition and became zionism s harshest critics as a result of their early involvement with the zionist movement each understood zionism from within while the circle around the yiddish worker s friend was among the earliest manifestations of jewish anti zionism this opposition persisted through the most difficult years of persecution for jews under nazi occupation and even in the wake of the holocaust to develop into a robust philosophical creed leon was the torchbearer of marxist anti zionism during world war ii although he managed in his brief life to offer a strikingly original account of how capitalist economies fostered antisemitism he was unable to see his work through to publication as he did not survive the nazi genocide nonetheless he managed to do what no one else had adequately done before him develop marx s insights concerning the relationship between jews and capitalism while also significantly revising the flawed conflation of jews with capitalism that we find in the early marx in its place we find a more compelling and nuanced account of how the decline of jewry and the rise of antisemitism were fostered by the capitalist world economy leon was born in warsaw under the traditional jewish name abraham wejnstok in the absence of extant biographical material about abram leon to explain why he chose the name by which he is better known we can speculate that it was in homage to trotsky that abraham wejnstok chose to adopt the name leon once he became politically active 6 zionist sentiment among his middle class family was so intense that they briefly migrated to palestine when leon was still a child in grammar school the family returned to europe within a year and moved to belgium in 1926 where leon grew up he briefly became a prominent member of the local left wing zionist organization the young guard hashomer hatzair however leon soon detected two fatal flaws in the zionist project which made it incompatible with his revolutionary ambitions the first was the nationalism that underwrote the zionist agenda which it had internalized from european history the second was its uncritical embrace of capitalist ideology which ultimately contributed to the destruction of jewry as he explains in his book having rejected zionism leon embraced trotsky s version of marxism after hearing the fiery speeches of political activist walter dauge founder of the revolutionary socialist party to belgian coalminers leon consistently distinguished between the marxist movement to which he committed all of his energies and the soviet state that had in his view perverted and undermined marxist values with its own brand of fascism the clarity of his political vision combined with the arduous conditions he faced enabled him to see through the hypocrisies and limitations of his contemporaries and to develop an incisive account of the relation between capitalism and antisemitism in jewish history leon s political talents became evident to the world when following trotsky s assassination in mexico in 1940 by stalin s henchmen he founded belgium s first trotskyist political party he also became editor in chief of lenin s way la voie de lénine 1941 45 and the primary contributor to this newspaper which he managed to publish during even the most difficult days of the nazi occupation lenin s way was distributed through underground networks as it could not legally be published in occupied belgium the physical format of the newspaper s issues from 1941 to 1945 reveals a gradual deterioration of working conditions 7 paper grew scarcer with every issue and professional printers were forced to shut down the newspaper was issued in increasingly brief instalments using widely varying typefaces and page design in spite of all the challenges he faced leon never ceased his work as an editor writer and activist up until the day of his arrest the revolutionary movement to which leon belonged was hopeful that the defeat of benito mussolini during 1943 44 augured the defeat of fascism when the allies landed in normandy the war seemed to be over and the defeat of fascism seemed certain hopeful of peace leon emerged from his underground existence and travelled openly to the belgian city of charleroi where he hoped to settle permanently charleroi had become a centre for miners who were active in the revolutionary workers movement and leon wanted to support their organizing activities he was arrested by the gestapo on the very night of his arrival in charleroi and taken to prison where he was tortured leon s skills in underground organizing served him well during his imprisonment he smuggled out letters and managed to establish contact with the party leadership although his magnum opus survived in the notebooks that he had left behind at the time of his arrest and was published two years after his death leon himself died in the gas chambers of auschwitz at the young age of twenty six the notebooks in which he had composed the jewish question were miraculously preserved by leon s friends who managed to publish the book in france soon after the war this first edition was accompanied by a biographical sketch from leon s friend comrade and fellow revolutionary ernest mandel writing under the pseudonym e germain although the first edition was translated into portuguese english and spanish during the 1940s and 1950s the book was forgotten soon thereafter the work s thorough critique of zionism which included an indictment of antisemitism before hitler was too visionary for its time the book only attained the fame it deserved during the 1960s following the six day war during which israel annexed east jerusalem and the very existence of the jewish state became a defining question in leftist debates during these years the jewish question was published in spanish arabic swedish german and japanese as well as in thirteen different english language editions what made leon s book so exceptional ever since antisemitism had become a focus of inquiry and critique in modern europe there had been a tendency to conflate jews with capitalism the class interests represented and promoted by these jewish capitalists were seen as hostile to the interests of the working class and the peasantry marx himself fell victim to this prejudice in his early essay on the jewish question 1843 for which he has been criticized by later scholars of antisemitism 8 only occasionally is it recognized that marx was arguing in this work against the even more demeaning associations between jews and capitalists made by german philosopher bruno bauer the trope of the jew as the archetypal capitalist acquired even more grotesque form in werner sombart s the jews and modern capitalism 1911 a popular work of socialist economic history leon criticizes sombart for inverting the causal relationship between religion and class consciousness and for allowing religion to function as an explanatory factor specifically in the case of the jews 9 as a leading socialist sombart would certainly have rejected the charge of antisemitism had it been directed towards him yet sombart is not alone among left leaning thinkers in producing analyses of capitalism that turned jews into symbols of capitalist accumulation while ignoring the ways in which capitalists have exploited jews banishing them to the margins of the social order 10 leon intervened in this tradition by blowing apart the traditional association between jews and the capitalist world order in his view this association had fuelled much antisemitism past and present in the process leon developed a materialist critique of capitalist exploitation that was wholly within the marxian tradition the perception that anti capitalism and antisemitism are intertwined continues to shape the politics around the ihra definition and often drives attacks on leftist elements within the labour party this has generated an atmosphere in which the critique of capitalism is sometimes dismissed as presumptively antisemitic even those who challenge the stereotypes generated by the intertwining of jews and capitalism rarely contest it on empirical grounds leon s critique of the supposed alignment between capitalism and jews undermined an entire strain of leftist antisemitism thereby also undoing an entire tradition of right wing attacks on socialism as inherently antisemitic both antisemites and their opponents generally assume that jews were beneficiaries of the capitalist system as a result the critique of antisemitism all too often becomes insulated from or even hostile to the critique of capitalism while the critique of capitalism sometimes verges on antisemitism leon approaches jews relation to capitalism from a new angle inverting the causal relation between the two he translates into historical terms trotsky s insistence that the jewish question could never be resolved within the framework of rotting capitalism and under the control of british imperialism 11 on his account jewry entered a period of decline with the advent of the capitalist world order and antisemitism was one of the symptoms of this decline hence far from being implicated in antisemitism the critique of capitalism constitutes a first step in overcoming the economic exploitation of jews and other oppressed and marginalized peoples although leon s argument gained a following on the left during pivotal moments in israeli and palestinian history his work has proved too radical to have received a coherent response or even been properly absorbed within mainstream jewish studies 12 meanwhile notwithstanding their many important critiques of zionism as settler colonialism contemporary leftists have by and large failed to assess the history of the debate on the jewish question inside the left 13 the jewish question a marxist interpretation is the title by which leon s major work is known in many languages including german spanish and english yet the original french title reveals the author s methodology more effectively than do these translations la conception matérialiste de la question juive can be translated as the materialist interpretation of the jewish question while diverging from the original the english version rightly emphasizes the link between leon s work and its arguably most influential predecessor marx s essay on the jewish question 1843 while marx s early essay inaugurated a tradition in which jewish history and the history of antisemitism were understood in light of their material conditions leon took marx s methodology further than marx himself did making the method of materialist critique that he had learned from marx serve genuinely anti racist ends as tom navon observes marxist jewish historians like leon share in common an unannounced rejection of young marx s identification of jews with modern capitalism even as they develop and elaborate the incipient arguments of marx s later work in relation to jews and capitalist exploitation 14 leon emulates marx s method of combining sociological with political and economic analysis and his citations from marx s capital shed new light on marx s work placing it in a distinctively jewish framework although he does not name trotsky as a source of inspiration anywhere in his book readers familiar with trotsky s approach to the jewish question will instantly recognize his imprint trotsky s statement that capitalism took the jewish people out of the ghetto and utilized them as an instrument in its commercial expansion could have been written by leon 15 but preoccupied as he was with the russian revolution trotsky never offered a full fledged account of the origins of antisemitism that task was left to leon leon also brought a deeper and more nuanced engagement with history to trotsky s streamlined political analysis trotsky s example encouraged leon to step out from under marx s shadow and to challenge the premises in marx s early work leon grafted onto this powerful set of influences insights from more recent advances in the sociology of knowledge including those of german sociologist max weber to develop further the untapped potential of marx s materialist paradigm marx influenced leon with his imagery as well as his argument while explaining the fetishism of the commodity form marx remarked in capital that trading nations properly so called exist in the ancient world only in its interstices like the gods of epicurus in the intermundia or like jews in the pores of polish society 16 this reference to the cosmology of the ancient greek materialist philosopher epicurus on whom marx had written his phd thesis was not fortuitous 17 epicurus held that the gods existed in the space between different cosmological systems in a realm called intermundia literally in between worlds and were unable to intervene in human affairs this nod to theism aside epicurus much like marx rejected the possibility of divine intervention while this allusion to classical greek mythology attested to marx s erudition it was also a covert and given that it came a quarter century after his first encounter with it perhaps unconscious reference to a similar comparison proposed by bruno bauer in the book that marx had polemicized against in on the jewish question in his controversial antisemitic pamphlet the jewish question 1843 bauer had written just as the gods of epicurus live in the interstices of the world where they are relieved of specific work so the jews have fixed themselves outside specific class and corporate interests 18 the antisemitic victim blaming implicit in bauer s imagery the jews have fixed themselves contrasts with the materialist sociology of marx and ultimately of trotsky and leon which grounds racism and racial difference in the political economy the unfolding of the metaphor through which the social status of the jews is imagined is as instructive as is the different political valence attached to their social status while the epicurean cosmology belongs to bauer the bodily metaphor of jews as pores on the surface of the skin begins with marx while introducing a mixed metaphor grafting onto epicurus the comparison of jews to the pores of polish society marx portrayed the jewish people not as symbols of modern capitalism but rather as representatives of the pre capitalist market economy 19 over the course of his book leon works wonders with marx s dense but obscure comparison of jews in polish society to pores on skin he may have been inspired to develop the pore metaphor by trotsky who in 1940 wrote that the decaying capitalist society is striving to squeeze the jewish people from all its pores 20 in the most common usage a pore is an opening in the skin or body surface of an animal biologically it marks the opening of the duct of a sweat gland or sebaceous gland 21 the word derives from greek via latin middle english and old french the greek poros refers to a passage or opening the comparison of jews to pores captivated leon s imagination since marx had given it a specifically polish twist leon s fascination was understandable in light of his polish background and yet leon developed marx s metaphor even further making it the foundation of his undeclared critique of the early marx s account of the relation between jews and capitalism in leon s expanded version of marx s metaphor the dissolution of feudalism involved the expulsion of the elements which were at one and the same time foreign to it and indispensable to it pores cover the skin s surface enabling essential gases liquids and particles to pass into the body they are both extrinsic to the body and necessary for its survival this parallels the role of jews within feudal society a role that persisted in modified form under capitalism the metaphor of jew as pore enabled leon both to challenge the implicit antisemitism of socialists like sombart and to ground his critique of capitalism in its constriction of jews economic horizons while the marx of capital more closely prefigures leon s book leon goes further even than the late marx in outlining the role of the political economy in the development of the jews as a people and in their subsequent ostracization likewise he goes further than trotsky in grounding his scattered reflections on antisemitism in a deeply grounded account of jewish history although leon wrote under the most difficult conditions imaginable he managed to assemble an impressive if eclectic array of sources ranging from french german and english historians including fustel de coulanges and henri pirenne to obscure yiddish studies of the mountaineers of daghestan given that it was the israeli conflict that stimulated interest in his work during the 1960s it is ironic that leon says little in his book about israel or zionism as such instead he develops a materialist critique of the social and economic role of the jews throughout history from the roman conquest to the renaissance in keeping with his marxist and trotskyist framework class and socioeconomic status are the primary movers in his analysis only a study of the economic role played by the jews he wrote can contribute to elucidating the causes for the miracle of the jew by which he means the jewish people s survival amid millennia of persecution 22 leon channelled and internalized marx s insight that judaism has preserved itself not despite history but by means of history 23 indeed he took marx s insight one step further it is not the loyalty of the jews to their faith which explains their preservation as a distinct social group leon wrote on the contrary it is their preservation as a distinct social group which explains their attachment to their faith 24 by contrast christians and muslims had been united through their beliefs even more than through their membership in a social group while leon acknowledged the role of christianity in creating modern antisemitism he pointed out that systematic hatred of jews was older than christianity itself the roman statesman seneca regarded jews as a criminal race the satirical playwright juvenal believed that jews existed only to cause evil for other people for the roman rhetorician quintilian the jews were a curse for other people 25 for ancient romans as for medieval christians antisemitism originates in class ideology and in the disdain of the ruling class towards all forms of economic activity other than those deriving from agriculture 26 leon quotes aristotle to provocative effect money was intended to be used in exchange but not to increase at interest 27 in short antisemitism arose in the ancient world out of the contempt of the ruling class for the changes money had introduced into the social structure aristotle called usury which was integral to money s new social function as a medium of exchange the birth of money from money and considered it the most unnatural use for money while earning interest from cash may have violated the natural order from aristotle s point of view it was to become central to the emergent mercantile social order this concept of money as a form of exchange was fundamental to the jewish way of life as it was for other emergent merchant classes as anarchist david graeber has argued in his magisterial study of debt from the earliest periods of recorded history compound interest has functioned as the glue that binds people together 28 much like pores on the surface of society s skin jews had to be expelled from time to time but could never wholly be dispensed with while recognizing that antisemitism pre dated christianity leon concentrated on the impact of the medieval political economy in determining the social and economic role of the jews pithily summarizing the role of jews within the medieval european political economy leon stated the jews despoiled the lords and the kings fleeced the jews 29 jewish moneylenders were useful to the king because they kept in check the power of the nobility and enabled the king to exert power indirectly over the lords of the land in an era before cash was the ultimate source of economic value the king was able to use the financial capital of the jews to entrench his sovereign power across his dominion he consolidated his economic reserves by imposing high taxes on the profits made by jews during the course of their moneylending activities the result was a political equilibrium that granted a measure of peace and security to the jews yet which would be undone by capitalism once workers were able to generate their own surplus value to buy and sell whatever they needed on the market without the mediation of a moneylender jews came to be seen as what sociologist max weber would call a pariah people 30 while weber s interpretation of judaism has been criticized for assuming that the jews consented to their marginalization and economic disenfranchisement his account contains the seeds of later critiques of antisemitism as italian jewish historian arnaldo momigliano notes weber s sympathetic understanding of the rabbis against the entire tradition of german scholarship is perhaps the most remarkable feature of weber s interpretation of judaism 31 like marx and trotsky leon took from weber the insights that best served his historical materialist critique while dispensing with those aspects of weber s interpretation that denied jewish agency leon acknowledges many parallels between the economic activity of the jewish merchant class and the gradual rise of capitalism yet he also emphasizes the differences between the economic impact of the european bourgeoisie on the development of capitalism and traditional jewish mercantilism which did not generate surplus value for leon the key difference between the bourgeoisie and the jews is that jews did not introduce a new mode of production into the sociopolitical order instead they adapted their economic activities to existing social structures just as they had done in prior eras contrary to the widespread view that jewish mercantile activity ushered in capitalist accumulation or that jews directly profited from capitalism leon insists that capitalism assimilated jews and incorporated them into its socioeconomic structure with the inevitable consequence of their disappearance according to this view judaism flourished more in eastern europe than in western europe precisely because eastern europe was further removed from capitalist modes of production in its convulsions leon writes capitalism cast out even those jewish elements which it has not yet completely assimilated 32 in line with the impoverishment of the jews as a social class that accompanied the rise of capitalism jewish banks were no longer anything but pawnshops where it is poverty which is the borrower 33 throughout the book leon s focus is on the role of capitalism in enabling the marginalization of the jews capitalism has posed the jewish problem that is to say has destroyed the social basis upon which judaism maintained itself for centuries he writes but capitalism has not resolved the jewish problem for it has been unable to absorb the jew liberated from his social shell 34 with marx leon recognizes the benefits of modern industrialization but also the fact that those benefits could not be experienced by jews due to their prior marginalization whereas before capitalism jews were located within the pores of mainstream society now they are frozen in limbo the decline of capitalism has suspended the jews between heaven and earth the jewish mercantile class had largely disappeared by the time of leon s writing yet the next generation has found no place in modern production leon draws a dramatic conclusion from this social economic evolution there is no solution to the jewish problem under capitalism just as there is no solution to the other problems posed before humanity without profound social upheavals 35 the two concluding chapters of leon s book devoted to antisemitism after world war i are particularly relevant to our political moment for the light they shed on debates around antisemitism after the widespread adoption of the ihra defintion in these chapters leon applies his historical sociological mode of analysis to his contemporary environment this leads to a penetrating diagnosis of the fate of capitalism in a post marxian age in his own words jews are the first to be eliminated by decaying feudalism and also the first to be rejected by the convulsions of dying capitalism they are wedged between the anvil of decaying feudalism and the hammer of rotting capitalism 36 developing the marxist insight that ideology is a form of false consciousness that masks the material factors that truly motivate action leon aligns his materialist critique of antisemitism with the critique of other forms of racism he begins by noting how hitler created a homogenous enemy from a multitude of non germanic peoples in order to mobilize hatred against it without this illusion of homogeneity demagogues like hitler understood that the masses will start thinking too much about the differences which exist among those enemies their hatred would dissipate making political action against so called enemies more difficult in short leon understands racism as a myth that demands faith and which fears reason like the plague leon s analysis of racism is consistent with the internationalism of trotsky and other marxists but develops these ideas in a more historically grounded way given his insight that forced homogeneity fosters racism leon s opposition to zionism a movement that seeks to homogenize jews into a single nation makes sense among the most perceptive observations leon makes is that of all the many forms of race hatred antisemitism contributes the most to cementing the different elements of racism 37 in nazi germany antisemitism was the glue that united various non germanic peoples and social outcasts including the roma and homosexuals into a common enemy antisemitism functioned in this way after the holocaust as well as frantz fanon recognized when he quoted his teacher from the antilles when you hear someone insulting the jews pay attention he is talking about you only later did fanon understand that his teacher s point was specifically connected to the nature of antisemitism which incorporates many different kinds of racism alternatively we could say that racism based on skin colour incorporates the specific strand of antisemitism as fanon noted his teacher simply meant that the anti semite is inevitably a negrophobe 38 fanon wrote these words in 1952 a decade after leon had touched on the same intersection of racism and antisemitism from occupied belgium like fanon leon understood capitalism in the context of imperialism rather than treating antisemitism as a phenomenon distinct unto itself his discussion of antisemitism in the concluding chapters to his book is entirely enfolded within a discussion of racism racism leon writes is first and foremost the ideological disguise of modern imperialism that is internal to the capitalist world order 39 elsewhere leon alludes to the role of british imperialism in helping zionist settlers gain a foothold in palestine and fight the arab resistance 40 the support of british imperialism is harmful to jews in the long run leon insists indirectly challenging montagu s insights but in a more politically attenuated context he refers specifically to hitler s concept of lebensraum the race struggling for its living space which was used to justify the third reich s territorial expansion into eastern europe as an example of the permanent necessity for expansion which characterizes finance or monopoly capitalism 41 the monopoly capitalism of big business is contrasted to the speculative commercial capital that had accounted for the bulk of jewish economic activity for millennia until it was subsumed by capitalism during the industrial revolution from lenin to trotsky many early twentieth century leftist commentators on the jewish question tended to reduce judaism to a religious creed on that basis they have underestimated the need for the collective liberation of the jewish people specifically as jews leon takes a different approach which is at once more nuanced and more consistent with the experience of jewish history he recognizes judaism as a religion while insisting on its secular dimensions before modernity which in his view were destroyed by capitalism contrary to the dominant model judaism according to leon was not secularized by modernity rather judaism was deprived of its intrinsic secularity by modern capitalism and by its dependence on mercantile exchange 42 while jews before modernity dominated the popular imagination as moneylenders leon offers a much more variegated account of jews social roles before modernity precisely because he looks beyond european history alongside his intersectional framing of antisemitism leon offers a wide ranging critique of zionism that is all the more persuasive in light of his prominent role within the zionist movement prior to his departure from it leon frames his critique of zionism by contrasting his materialist critique of antisemitism with the zionist approach to this same problem leon s materialism compels him to make a complete and continuous circuit from reality to theoretical scheme and the reverse 43 this movement between the economic base and the ideological superstructure makes leon s critique of antisemitism dialectical this dialectical dimension sets it apart from the nominalist obsessions with definitions that are dominant today and that underwrite the political deployment of the ihra definition unlike leon s dialectical materialism zionism has no use for history leon argues that zionism saves itself the trouble of studying various forms of antisemitism and their evolution instead of such study zionist ideology transposes modern antisemitism to all of history offering a monocausal explanation which leads to an oversimplified solution that is too abstract to represent an effective challenge to everyday racism although an account of the fate of the jewish people undertaken while a genocide was underway might be expected to be a darkly pessimistic book in fact leon ends his work with hope while recognizing that the fate of the jews has never been so tragic he also insists that it has never been so close to ceasing to be that in other words the antisemitism of previous eras which was rooted in socioeconomic factors has by the time he was writing lost all contact with the material conditions that fostered it whereas jews as a social class had historically been unable to make common cause with other oppressed peoples in the new revolutionary era that framed leon s horizons and inspired his activism the interests of the jewish classes are closely bound up with the interests of the popular masses of the entire world 44 a materialist afterlife when leon was murdered in auschwitz at the age of twenty six the life of his magnum opus had only just begun a pivotal moment in the book s trajectory took place during a meeting between the lebanese intellectual imad nuwayhid and his teacher french jewish marxist scholar and professor maxim rodinson at a paris cafe in 1968 nuwayhid had travelled to france in search of education and professional training although he mostly dedicated his residence in europe to training in his chosen career of hospitality management nuwayhid also took the time to study with rodinson who was then france s pre eminent marxist orientalist during one of their sessions rodinson advised nuwayhid to take up a new translation project leon s book on the jewish question at the time when rodinson recommended it for translation leon s book had been forgotten in addition to facilitating its translation into arabic rodinson was heavily involved in giving the original french version of leon s book a second life he was the main editor of the second edition of the book which was released in 1968 as rodinson explained in the essay that edition he had corrected many typographical errors and bibliographic mistakes from the previous edition that accompanied he also authored the most important critique of leon s thesis concerning jews as a people class to date but that did not stop him from also being one of the book s most important champions 45 since it was the second edition from which translations were made into other languages leon s work benefited greatly from rodinson s editorial labour it was in the midst of these editorial activities that rodinson suggested to nuwayhid that he translate leon s book from french into arabic nuwayhid followed his teacher s advice working frantically within thirty days he had produced the first ever arabic translation of leon s book this was one of the few translations to render the french title accurately as the materialist concept of the jewish question al mafhum al maddi li l masalat al yahudiyyah thereby however inadvertently recalling the epicurean materialism that marx developed into a dialectical materialist movement towards political liberation the translation was published the following year in beirut 46 six years later nuwayhid would himself be dead at the young age of thirty one 47 during the eventful final years of his life he joined the lebanese communist party received military training to defend palestinians and was assassinated during the lebanese civil war at the time of his death nuwayhid had been fighting for the lebanese national movement which was fighting israel alongside the palestinian liberation organization by 1969 in the aftermath of the six day war nuwayhid s translation had become a foundational text among leftists for the critique of israel and the refutation of zionism it is easy to understand the appeal of leon s account of jewish history and his critique of zionism for an arab audience even though the majority of the book is less concerned with zionism than with the relationship between antisemitism and capitalism although leon s book went through many further editions during the 1960s and 1970s it has by and large been relegated to a footnote within mainstream jewish studies when i asked a well known scholar of antisemitism about the reasons for this neglect he responded as follows although the scope of the book is impressive its utility today is hobbled by leon s economic reductionism both with regard to antisemitism and the persistence of jews as a social group he then suggested that leon s materialist approach explained why the book is more read within trotskyite groups than among academic historians this criticism is valid as is the analysis of its consequences yet i hope i have shown how much leon s materialist critique offers our polarized environment in which nominalist definition based logics have suppressed materially grounded and intersectional accounts of anti jewish racism our contemporary understanding of antisemitism has been impoverished by the suppression of materialist approaches like leon s and this accounts in part for the peculiar power that definitions have had in recent years to frame our understanding of antisemitism simplistic definitions like the one promoted by the ihra replace the materiality of antisemitism including its role in racialization and discrimination with abstract polemics relating to attitudes to israel a materialist approach to antisemitism by contrast focuses on the lived experience of discrimination and marginalization while de emphasizing alignment with a political position since politics itself is historically contingent the experience of exploitation matters more to a materialist agenda than any abstract position by the time that the ihra definition was introduced the marxian tradition of jewish historiography that had flourished from the beginning of the twentieth century until the 1970s had almost entirely vanished when a hebrew translation of leon s foundational work was finally published for the first time in 2016 a commentator correctly remarked that the marxist stream had simply been eradicated from jewish historiography 48 while that eradication is partly a result of the decimation of the revolutionary socialist jewish communities of eastern europe during the holocaust the process was accelerated by the state of israel s promotion of zionism over other ideologies rooted in jewish history liberation grounded from the 1920s to the 1940s the most radical currents of marxism itself notably those affiliated with trotsky were often inflected with a jewish orientation by this i mean an attentiveness to the reality of the persecution of the jews throughout history and a commitment to forging a path towards collective and universal the experience of antisemitism leon s book on the jewish question is an embodiment of that ethos that world is now gone it has been replaced by a toxic and dangerous hostility between zionists who claim to represent the only jewish perspective on antisemitism and leftists who are intrinsically hostile to everything linked to zionism while there are good reasons for opposing zionism as greek economist and politician yanis varoufakis once wisely said while warning against the tendency of anti capitalism to merge with antisemitism hatred is not a good guide criticism is what we need and in too much of criticism requires depth and not epidermic simple interpretations 49 indeed far today suffers from oversimplification and superficiality the widespread influence of the ihra definition and of related efforts to crack down on speech critical of israel results directly from this stagnation the debate around zionism meanwhile the eradication of the marxian critique of antisemitism has obscured from view one of the most important resources in fighting antisemitism dialectical materialism leon lucidly reveals the dialectical dimension of his argument when he explains that the emergent science of sociology then being formulated by weber tönnies and simmel calls for a new orientation from reality to theoretical scheme and the reverse 50 as for the materialism that he sees as embodied in marx s claim that judaism has preserved itself not despite history but by means of history leon insists on it from the opening pages of his book indeed leon s complaint that jewish history is one of the few fields of history where idealist prejudices have succeeded in entrenching and maintaining themselves resonates to this day particularly in the aftermath of the adoption of the ihra definition 51 among the idealist prejudices criticized by leon is messianic zionism which he rejects because it postulates an unalienable jewish right to a specific territory against such idealism leon insists that only a study of the economic role played by the jews can contribute to elucidating the causes for the miracle of the jew 52 leon s insistence that economic analysis can account for the persistence of jews throughout history may seem excessively dogmatic but it is a useful counterweight to the abstract nominalism which dominates the study of antisemitism to this day and which has contributed to the entrenchment of the ihra definition the idealistic approach to jewish history that leon criticizes has articulated contingent definitions as transhistorical dogma rendering them impervious to change what if instead of trying to define antisemitism once and for all we took seriously the dialectical materialism of jewish marxists like leon deutscher and trotsky and developed an approach to anti jewish racism that is rooted in socioeconomic history like other kinds of xenophobia and racism antisemitism is best understood as a conflagration of illusions and hatred ignited by a failure to grasp one s socioeconomic condition accurately materialism furnishes the means to interrogate and obliterate such racism more effectively than any definition can achieve why materialism now what do these reflections on the historical trajectory of the jewish question mean for the fight against antisemitism in the twenty first century an era dominated by abstract definitions that conceive of antisemitism as a problem that is manifested in belief speech and words rather than material conditions and entrenched hierarchies there are three specific advantages that the materialist approach has over the nominalism of a priori definitions of racism first historical materialism provides a foundation for a genuinely intersectional approach to racism leon s account of capitalist exploitation as expressed in his insight that racism is in the first place the ideological disguise of modern imperialism shares much in common with the work of later theorists of racial capitalism that focused on histories of slavery in the african diaspora 53 he was able to foresee many of the insights that would later be articulated by key theorists of racial capitalism such as cedric robinson and c l r james because his materialist approach to ideas including antisemitic ideas showed him that they should not be taken at face value materialism avoids the exceptionalism inculcated by zionism instead attending to the social and economic conditions that generate xenophobic prejudice and which are experienced by many groups in different times and places whereas definitions like that of the ihra do not allow for thinking of antisemitism as a kind of racism the materialist sees antisemitism within the wider framework of racism recognizing that both originate in economic inequality of course this does not mean that ideas are ever entirely irrelevant but a materialist approach recognizes that the views that we consciously hold may not tell the full story and must be assessed alongside their material context secondly in contrast to the nominalism of definition based approaches to racism the materialist approach is attentive to historical change and contingency it is less interested in defining a concept once and for all than in attending to how it is modified and reconfigured over time as political and economic conditions change the materialist understands that racism is bound up with changing historical norms and cannot be grasped apart from those norms a corollary of this is that if racism is the product of historical and socioeconomic conditions to the extent that these conditions can be changed racism can eventually be abolished in the context of finally and perhaps most distinctively the contemporary debate around antisemitism a materialist approach never loses sight of the wider framework within which the struggle against antisemitism takes place it does not consider antisemitism in isolation from other factors particularly free speech and economic exploitation when an academic or writer finds their livelihood threatened due to accusations of antisemitism a materialist will situate the accusations in a wider conceptual framework taking account of the dangers of allowing even legitimate criticisms of antisemitism to undermine civil liberties due process and freedom of expression this is in specific and direct contrast not just to nominalist definitions of antisemitism but even to more progressive approaches such as the reservoir theory of antisemitism which i discuss in chapter 4 whereas other approaches to antisemitism that reject the ihra definition also emphasize intersectionality and historical contingency the materialist approach is unique in enabling us to view antisemitism within the broader framework of the political economy and thereby suggests how the struggle against antisemitism might also advance the struggle for collective liberation due to its broad sociological view of antisemitism a materialist foundation for anti racist mobilization is best suited to protecting freedom of speech trotsky leon and deutscher understood antisemitism dialectically as a means of keeping in place an established social order that normalized jewish suffering they understood antisemitism as the product of socioeconomic conditions rather than as a clash of beliefs or religious ideologies or as a set of words and tropes that ought to be banned they understood that the socioeconomic medium through which social and cultural differences are experienced can never be neutral their approach has significant implications for how we ought to think about antisemitism in the twenty first century after the widespread adoption of the ihra definition in order to demonstrate the potential of a materialist critique of antisemitism in an era dominated by nominal definitions we must first distinguish between the idealist approach criticised by leon which holds that things cannot exist until they are named and materialism which holds that being determines and precedes consciousness the latter position is well captured in marx s famous dictum being determines consciousness das sein bestimmt das bewusstsein stated otherwise this means that the conditions into which we are born shape the most basic aspects of how we think about others our material conditions determine how we experience racism leon demonstrates throughout his work that the prevalence of antisemitism the socioeconomic status of jews within that era this does not mean antisemitism is justified but simply that the conditions that give rise to it have an empirical basis and our critique should therefore by directed at that empirical foundation in successive historical epochs is correlated to the idealist approach to antisemitism exemplified by the ihra definition occupies the opposite pole of this spectrum whereas the materialist recognizes that racism originates in social conditions the idealist seeks to resolve antisemitism by defining it but defining is not understanding every definition recreates the object being defined in its own image in philosophy this is called reification the formulaic insistence that in order to oppose antisemitism we must first define it is one of the most recurrent slogans used by those who promote the adoption of the ihra definition 54 the materialist approach advocated by leon a definitional approach to racism assumes that the act of naming determines the reality to which the name refers rather than the other way around hence in naming antisemitism proponents of the ihra definition exert control over the narrative around it the power to name antisemitism morphs into control over jewish identity itself and other issues tangentially related to this conflict israel palestine the scope range and legitimacy of leftist activism are swept up into this monolithic narrative idealism unhelpfully inverts the problem with the idealist approach to antisemitism is that it leads to political stagnation and simplifies the challenge of combating racism in addition it silences those who do not agree or consent to the idealist position when the fight against antisemitism becomes restricted to the act of naming it we are bound to lose sight of the conditions that create it but it is the conditions that generate racism rather than the words associated with it that must be overturned in order to bring antisemitism to an end when words are elevated over material conditions the fight against antisemitism is reduced to a battle for control over the right to name any effort to overturn the conditions of antisemitism s genesis is thereby undermined the illusion of action that nominalist and idealist definitions facilitate obscures the ways in which antisemitism continues to flourish in places where proponents of the ihra definition are least likely to look government policies that are favourable to israel and laws that ban criticism of israel the great advantage that the materialist critique of antisemitism has over the idealist approach is that it is politically actionable materialism supports free speech by virtue of the wide lens through which it views antisemitism and through its rejection of an isolated approach to individual instances of antisemitism its intersectionality also strengths the free speech position by creating solidarity across divisions of time space and history following marx materialism aims not merely to rename the world for political ends but to change it a materialist critique of antisemitism intervenes in the conditions that give rise to racism rather than merely redefining or reifying a certain pattern of prejudice far from being deterministic materialism recognizes that the economic exploitation that generated antisemitism is contingent in its own way and is therefore subject to change and ultimately obliteration while it realistically recognizes the depth and breadth of antisemitism it opposes antisemitism dialectically by resisting the conditions that generate it rather than through the deployment of definitional abstractions only within a materialistic framework could a jew such as leon soon to be annihilated in the nazi genocide find common ground for solidarity between an antisemitic peasant and a jewish usurer as he states somewhat shockingly given the circumstances in which he was writing of a hypothetical european peasant who was overcome by hatred of a hypothetical jewish usurer who was exploiting him it is easy to understand the hatred that the man of the people must have felt for the jew in whom he saw the direct cause of his ruin 55 in the act of making sense of antisemitism within medieval european society leon paradoxically dissolves the idealist foundations of racialized hate the moment when two people whose political interests are pitted against each other are brought into relation by the materialist who observes at a distance centuries later is the moment when the power of racializing stereotypes fades away and class based solidarity rooted in material conditions triumphs of course this solidarity is forged within leon s materialist imagination and is not necessarily present in the medieval historical record yet it remains an historical fact that in nazi occupied belgium a courageous jewish intellectual fought antisemitism through a materialist critique of economic inequality his critique his courage integrity and refusal to derive consolation from false consciousness or jewish exceptionalism remains an inspiration to this day leon s critique of antisemitism holds out hope for the future through its ambitious and radical if somewhat underdeveloped materialist historiography yet nothing remotely resembling the eradication of antisemitism has happened following the adoption of the ihra or of any other definition of antisemitism definitions are not the solution to the problem of antisemitism or to any other racism and it is simplistic to posit any definition as a progressive act the adoption of the ihra definition by government agencies and their proxies merely entails a nominal switch from one name eumc to another ihra no fundamental reworking of the social order has transpired or will do so as a result of such adoptions instead of definitions we need a radical materialist critique of antisemitism that perceives its connection with other racisms refuses to abstract it from the socioeconomic foundations that make antisemitism possible and prioritizes rather than simply balances freedom of expression although the alliances between the struggle against antisemitism and radical leftist materialism have not been as strong in recent years as they might have been leon s detailed critique shows us that materialism provides a much more effective toolkit for resisting antisemitism and other racisms than does definition based idealism the latter leaves its proponents feeling like they have accomplished something while in fact they have only achieved the suppression of free speech the idealist approach to combating antisemitism is a legitimate target for david feldman s critical insight that antisemitism is too often seen as a political problem to be faced down rather than an ethical problem to be confronted 56 as feldman and marc volovici write elsewhere definitions present themselves with a spurious objectivity they hide the different political purposes to which frequently they are tied 57 no doubt the low maintenance approach to fighting antisemitism that the definitional fixation involves explains its appeal for the politicians and other public figures who threaten those who resist its adoption with punishment while ignoring the consequences of their suppression of the right to protest i recognize that this position might in turn seem idealistic given that we are no longer operating in a world of revolutionary hope or expectation the communist dream has a very different status in 2022 than it did in 1942 let alone 1917 but you do not have to be a communist or wish for a communist revolution in order to perceive the value and utility of the materialist critique of antisemitism today all that is necessary is that you recognize the many deceptions and sleights of hand the outright violations of free speech and the countless undocumented instances of self censorship that the definitional approach to antisemitism has underwritten during the past several years if you recognize that the definitional approach is wrong you will likely also long for a perspective that views jewish history from the perspective of the longue durée that resonates as true because it is attentive to historical change and that can see through the lies we tell ourselves and others about why we believe certain things this is what leon offers us today 4 free speech and palestinian freedom on 1 october 2021 the unthinkable happened the university of bristol announced that it had terminated the employment of david miller miller was a professor of political sociology who specialized in exposing the networks of influence exerted on british and global politics by right wing pressure groups this was the first time a faculty member had ever been sacked in a british university specifically as a result of his public criticisms of israel the contentious process that led to the termination of miller s position is of interest to this inquiry into the future of free speech and the critique of antisemitism because of the deep divisions it created within the scholarly world and the hypocrisies it exposed the firing of david miller was unusual in that the statements that led to miller s termination were made outside a university venue and during a non work related online meeting another unprecedented detail of miller s case is that the university terminated his employment even before he had exercised his right to appeal the decision the university was either already certain of what the outcome of the appeal would be or was pressured by external parties to act quickly perhaps most paradoxically the termination occurred after a queen s counsel qc a senior trial lawyer hired by the university had determined that miller s comments did not constitute unlawful speech 1 since miller was fired by the very same university that had deliberated over calls to fire me in 2017 it is worth asking what specifically it is about the university of bristol with its overwhelmingly white and upper class demographic that attracts this kind of censorship miller moved to the university of bristol from a professorial position at the university of bath in 2018 a year after my departure i knew of his work and recall being surprised that the university had been willing to hire such a controversial thinker who was well known for his criticisms of israel all i had witnessed and experienced first hand regarding the university s unwillingness to engage with palestinian and other non eurocentric points of view led me to expect that miller would have been greeted with a hostile reception but when miller s appointment as professor was approved by the board university administrators found nothing problematic in his statements or views this only began to change once external groups began to complain a similar pattern of administrative response can be detected in the case of steven salaita see below and indeed my own it did not take long after his move to bristol before controversy began to surround miller particularly in connection with his lectures on the role of zionism in british politics in these lectures miller purported to identify a key networks of zionist influence within the uk many of the organizations miller named in his lectures such as the board of deputies of british jews the community security trust the britain israel communications and research centre bicom and the jewish leadership council were outraged at being identified as agents of the israeli state allegations of antisemitism soon followed in 2019 the community security trust lodged a complaint with the university of bristol which the university dismissed that same year in its initial response to external pressure the university appropriately kept its distance from the controversy refusing to undertake disciplinary action meanwhile the momentum against miller grew a student group the jewish students society jsoc took the lead in blacklisting miller by 2021 as controversies multiplied and indignation spread miller persisted in asserting the dangers of zionism two events in february of that year sealed the case against him the first was an online meeting organized by the campaign group labour against the witchhunt when the conversation turned to the attacks miller was facing at bristol he made a number of controversial comments among these were the claim that the zionist movement was engaged in deliberately fostering islamophobia and that zionism encourages islamophobia and anti arab racism too 2 miller also stated during the meeting that the head of jsoc along with the president of the union of jewish students had made an official complaint about him to the university a fact that the complainants themselves had already made public miller s reference to this complaint during a non work related meeting would provide the foundation for later claims that he had engaged in harassment of jewish students specifically university authorities informed miller that his description of the complaint against him as an attack was an act of harassment and grounds for his termination 3 but as miller pointed out far from targeting individuals he was merely repeating information that had been placed in the public domain by the complainants themselves the second incident followed from the first reporters from the bristol tab and the jewish chronicle wrote to miller after the online meeting asking for his comments on the controversy they had caused miller doubled down on his previous statements writing to the bristol tab this is on the record zionism is and always has been a racist violent imperialist ideology premised on ethnic cleansing it is an endemically anti arab and islamophobic ideology it has no place in any society 4 although these statements were certainly within the bounds of free speech they were problematic for other reasons miller s dogmatic insistence that zionism has no place in any society ironically mirrored in its absolutism the rhetoric of those who advocated firing him both sides reverted to an a priori and notably non materialist ideal of how the world ought to be insisting on either side that there was no place for zionism or for racism rather than how it actually was neither side was willing to listen to the other declaring that racism has no place in any society is a turn of phrase commonly resorted to by politicians keen to brandish the purity of their politics this technique operates at the opposite end of the political spectrum as for example in conservative prime minster theresa may s declaration in 2018 that antisemitism and misogyny have no place in this country 5 performative dismissals like these often function as substitutes for meaningful engagement by declaring that a given ideology has no place in any society the speaker showcases their opposition to it they purify themselves of its taint without achieving anything concrete meanwhile the political need to recognize that the tainted ideology is in fact an intrinsic part of our society is perpetually deferred blame is shifted onto something else be it zionism racism or the perpetual spectre of antisemitism such blame shifting rhetoric prevents us from properly interrogating the problems within our societies and within ourselves we become distracted and preoccupied with the mandate to seek purification from a taint in which we are already implicated i was and remain opposed to miller s termination not because i supported his views miller s work on syria is to my mind even more troubling than his statements about zionism 6 his sociological method sometimes reduces humans to the systems in which they are enmeshed evacuating them of nuance and complexity in light of this tendency many have perceived parallels between miller s approach to politics and the conspiratorial thinking that undergirds antisemitism in its most recognizable forms for example miller consistently refers to israel as a hostile foreign power without registering the more nuanced aspects of israel s influence on european and american public discourse which is very much one of fraternity and connection rather than hostility this does not make israel s influence any less harmful just more rooted in actual geopolitics even more problematically all foreign influence is treated within miller s system as though it were inherently evil without recognizing how much the world has benefited from international exchange including government sponsored initiatives while israel has had a negative influence on euro american public debate it does not follow that foreign influence as such is malevolent indeed it is disorientating to a hear a committed anti racist such as miller implicitly endorse a nationalist ideology that treats israel as the archenemy as a hostile foreign entity as if the integrity of the british state was worth defending without mentioning british complicity in settler colonial projects for example in his critical commentary on miller s dismissal political theorist alex callinicos points out that the geopolitical alignment between western states and israel isn t a product of the lobby s influence but a convergence of interests 7 to blame israel exclusively for the suppression of dissent against israel and pro palestinian activism in european and north american democracies is in fact to understate the extent of the problem which is rooted in the erosion of civil liberties broadly rather than in the influence of a single lobby group miller is also critical of british imperialism but he nonetheless chooses to fixate on israel leaving aside the accusation of antisemitism this approach is analytically problematic because it blinds us to our own more proximate complicity whatever miller s views however he has an absolute right to speak the truth as he sees it no matter how misguided simplified or even offensive his perceptions are to some that nothing miller said or did amounted to a fireable offense was confirmed by a report from the qc hired by the university to investigate the charges against him while the university chose not to make this report public an earlier report which the university had commissioned following the complaints of 2019 was leaked to the media soon after miller s termination 8 in this report the lawyer concluded there is no case to answer against professor miller in connection with any of the matters i have investigated thereby sealing the contradiction between private exoneration and public punishment after the report was leaked two lecturers at the university circulated five questions addressed to the administration 9 they wanted to know how academic freedom would be upheld by the university after such a monumental decision pertinently they asked whether the administration s decisions and policies could be guaranteed to remain independent of political lobbying given the ample evidence that it had caved in to pressure from mps in its decision to fire miller finally given that miller s most controversial statements occurred outside any university context or workplace environment they wanted to know when are we as academics representing the university and when are we not at the time of writing every one of these urgent questions remains unanswered by the university although miller was a longstanding member of the university and college union ucu the ucu itself failed to support him publicly at the national level when my article was under fire i similarly witnessed the ucu s hesitation to take academic freedom seriously although the ucu did provide casework support which consisted of advice and guidance by branch members i only genuinely began to feel supported when i hired a lawyer from the law firm bindmans to support me directly miller s local branch the bristol ucu did issue a motion in march 2021 when the investigation was just beginning and called it a test case for the interpretation of statutes that affects everyone at the university 10 but the union was conspicuously silent after he was dismissed he did receive legal representation through ucu but as a bristol branch ucu member and departmental colleague of miller commented ucu seem strangely reluctant to link to a wider campaign for academic freedom the branch resolved in early summer to ensure that uob followed due process in the investigation but the union has not taken a position on subsequent dismissal so far bristol ucu have not responded to our departmental rep s questions 11 as noted by this colleague no statement was issued and no protest followed from the branch britain s professional association of scholars of the middle east the british society for middle eastern studies did write to the university on multiple occasions each time its letters were ignored the controversy around the termination of miller s employment proved what many have always known so much of the discussion that claims to be about free speech is actually about something else cambridge student talal hangari who had recently been removed from his position within a student labour club for his criticism of the ihra definition has condemned the tendency of the contemporary left to refrain from defending anyone s right to speak unless it can defend their each and every utterance where this is difficult you often find silence hence miller has not seen support for his free speech rights across much of the left 12 this is exactly true in the case miller many of his ideas cannot reasonably be defended some are simply wrong in this respect however he resembles most provocative thinkers from the vantage point of free speech there is nothing wrong with being wrong what is wrong in the sense that it distracts us from political freedom is the prevalent notion that we should only defend those with whom we agree in all respects the basis for our solidarity with miller need not be agreement and it my view it is better that it not be miller should be defended along with every other activist who has faced bad faith accusations because the liberty that we defend when we insist on miller s right to speak the truth as he sees it is the same liberty that palestinians themselves deserve and rightly demand under the conditions of occupation in order to grasp fully what happened to miller and to understand why the university community looked the other way while his academic freedom was violated we need to situate it alongside the cases of other violations of academic freedom as it happens at the time of miller s firing there were at least two other campaigns underway at uk universities to get academics fired one was against steven greer another professor at the university of bristol another targeted kathleen stock a philosopher and gender critical feminist at the university of sussex comparing these three cases reveals a double or triple standard when it comes to complaints of antisemitism in the contemporary political environment particularly when these complaints are tied to criticisms of israel further across each of these cases the comparison exposes a systematic neglect of both the grievances that motivate complaints and the free speech issues that they raise far from being in tension with each other the same universities that violate their employees and students free speech rights also fail to take seriously their complaints of harassment and discrimination simultaneously with the university s proceedings against miller a parallel investigation was underway at bristol into a complaint made by the president of the university s islamic society brisoc against greer a long time professor of human rights in the university of bristol law school the brisoc president complained that greer s module islam china and the far east was riddled with islamophobia he also objected to greer s defence of the controversial uk counter terrorism legislation known as prevent which targets muslims for state surveillance and encourages teachers nurses and social workers to report students deemed at risk to the authorities 13 the complaint against greer was lodged on october 2020 between the exoneration of miller by the university for his controversial teaching and his more controversial statements of february 2021 out of frustration at the university s inaction brisoc made its complaint public while it was still pending on 20 february 2021 within a week of miller s controversial comments about zionism the publication of the brisoc complaint during this period strongly suggests that the students opposition to greer was influenced by the proceedings against miller and the islamophobic atmosphere they had fostered the complaint claimed that the islamophobic tendencies of greer s lectures revealed an institutional failing to understand how this kind of rhetoric will cause harm not only to muslim students in his classes but also in the way these ideas will deepen divisions between muslims and the wider society in a symptom of the censorious atmosphere that has overtaken university campuses the complaint demanded that disciplinary action be taken against greer including suspension and or dismissal while such demands are themselves injurious to free speech and academic freedom the perspectives voiced in this document attest to a widespread sense among bristol s muslim students that they were being ignored even as extra vigilance was applied to statements deemed too critical of israel or too supportive of palestinian rights the university took drastic punitive action in response to the accusations of antisemitism against miller yet muslim students experiences of disenfranchisement were passed over the university s wider lack of support for scholarly research related to the islamic world which i tried without success to change while i was employed there reinforced muslim students sense of marginalization although the campaign to fire or punish greer was damaging to academic freedom its wider point concerning the university s implicit institutional islamophobia was borne out by the university s response on 8 october 2021 exactly one week after it had announced the termination of miller the university officially dismissed the complaint against greer and formally concluded its investigation of the charge of islamophobia that had been made by the brisoc president whereas the university announced it was terminating miller before he had exercised his right of appeal greer s exoneration was announced only after a university panel had invalidated the complaint and there was no chance of further appeal the different treatment accorded to the targets of the complaints illustrates a broader divergence between the two cases also striking was the sympathy that was explicitly extended to greer by the university but denied to those who complained against him the motion passed by the bristol branch of the ucu while the investigation into miller was ongoing referred to the abuse harassment and targeted intimidation of staff who have demonstrated publicly whether on social media or as signatories of open letters their defence of david miller his academic freedom and employment rights while the university said nothing about how miller and his colleagues were affected by his termination they diligently noted in their statement on greer s exoneration that he had been the target of abuse after brisoc released details of the complaint on social media 14 it was a strange spectacle of duplicity which seemed targeted to send a message to muslim students that their views and perspectives did not matter as much as those of the jewish complainants just as i do not defend miller s writings neither do i defend greer s accusers both academics were unfairly targeted the timing chosen for the complaint against greer indicates that it was retaliation for the attacks on miller yet this unjust targeting was also an inevitable result of the university s bias a retaliatory atmosphere festers when grievances cannot be freely aired and free speech is suppressed by choosing secrecy over transparency the university created a toxic environment for all students instead of turning the controversy around miller s words into a teaching moment the university engaged in double standards and caved in to external pressures greer should not have been punished for inequalities that long preceded him but the university is culpable for not heeding the students complaint about the university s historically entrenched ignorance and hostility with regard to islamic culture and identity ultimately the story that needs to be told here is not about the university of bristol many universities would have acted the same way in its place particularly those without a large contingent of muslim students the issue we need to focus on is how universities manage conflict and bury opportunities for debate that could potentially expand students horizons in legal formulas and abstractions definitions like the ihra s greatly contribute to the bureaucratization of debate but there are other forces at work as well including the government s micro managerial approach to higher education and legal threats from external organizations from a managerial point of view the university of bristol no doubt knew what it was doing when it shrouded the miller controversy in veils of secrecy but the damage it inflicted on free speech in british universities in doing so is permanent and irrevocable structural divergences between the treatment of antisemitism and islamophobia are manifested time and again in our universities as they are in society at large academics are regularly punished harshly for statements deemed antisemitic while statements that are experienced as islamophobic or racist are treated as protected speech the number of academics in north american and european universities fired due to charges of antisemitism grows every year while not a single academic has been fired following an accusation of islamophobia although free speech today is often aligned with right wing movements historically it has been the decisive factor in leftist political victories even today leftist struggles are debilitated by a failure to consistently use free speech to their advantage professors like greer whose views align with the state s existing practices may find their lectures cancelled an outcome that is unfortunate and harmful to academic freedom but more often than not they keep their jobs other conservative professors such as geophysicist dorian s abbot of the university of chicago and jordan peterson of the university of toronto may be de platformed for statements perceived as hostile to women and minorities controversies stirred by their work may lead them to reschedule or relocate their talks meanwhile professors who advocate agendas that challenge existing power arrangements face more severe risks their livelihoods come under threat as they are more likely to be permanently removed from their posts while having a lecture cancelled and losing a job can both be frustrating experiences we should distinguish between the severity of these outcomes some free speech violations are more heinous than others right wing politicians often build momentum in the culture wars around minor inconveniences to freedom of expression while ignoring the higher stakes involved in the loss of livelihood that their policies bring about this trivialization of free speech is one reason why the issue is often made to appear relevant only to affluent demographics and privileged classes nonetheless it is the disenfranchised and the underrepresented who are most in need of the protections afforded by freedom of speech having lost faith in the protections afforded by free speech certain sections of the left are gradually abandoning this principle the titles of recent books such as p e moskowitz s the case against free speech the first amendment fascism and the future of dissent 2019 and gavin titley s is free speech racist 2020 attest to a growing sense of apathy and cynicism towards freedom of speech within leftist political mobilization when cancel culture merely leads to a forced rescheduling or the relocation of an event to a different venue the impact is not as pernicious or dangerous as the loss of livelihood in order to gauge the real state of free speech in liberal democracies we must reasonably evaluate the harms of censorship according to their real world impact on peoples lives we also need to keep alive the original meaning of free speech and its roots in the meaning of freedom as such for any democratic existence freedom is the core political value and a precondition for all other political acts speaking freely as a political citizen means exercising the right to criticize and challenge the state marc lamont hill and mitchell plitnick have shown that speaking out on palestine carries far greater risks than speaking out on other issues particularly those that align with existing institutional and governmental practices and policies 15 the list of writers and academics who have lost their jobs as a result of their advocacy for palestine grows longer every year in the united states this trend famously began with steven salaita who was de hired by the university of illinois in 2013 in the midst of an israeli attack on gaza 16 in 2021 during another israeli attack on gaza emily wilder was fired by the associated press for anti israel comments she had made while still a university student in 2020 an offer made by the university of toronto to dr valentina azarova to head the university s international human rights program at the faculty of law was later retracted it was subsequently revealed that the retraction was linked to concerns expressed by a university donor who was also a sitting judge regarding azarova s scholarly critiques of israel s human rights record 17 many more palestine advocates from a remarkably wide range of backgrounds and affiliations have been subjected to censorship in the short term philosopher achille mbembe gender theorist judith butler human rights advocate kenneth roth and palestinian german journalist nemi el hassan have all come under attack in various ways for their support of palestine indeed in the current climate it would be highly unusual for an ardent pro palestine campaigner not to be accused of antisemitism at some point in the course of their work the jerusalem declaration acknowledges this danger and specifically states that supporting the palestinian demand for justice is not antisemitism yet as we will see this caveat is inadequate either to protect against the misuse of allegations of antisemitism to suppress pro palestinian activism or to ensure that due process rights and free speech prerogatives are not violated in the context of this debate although it is a more recent development the list of activists and scholars who have come under attack as a result of their support for palestinian rights in the united kingdom since 2016 is growing at an exponential rate in 2016 newly elected president of the national union of students malia bouattia was targeted for her pro palestinian statements by groups campaigning against antisemitism 18 in 2017 malaka mohammad was attacked by a well known group that ostensibly campaigns against antisemitism 19 in 2021 university of cambridge student talal hangari was forcibly removed from his position as publicity officer of the cambridge university labour club 20 in 2022 palestinian scholar and activist shahd abusalama of sheffield hallam university was temporarily barred from teaching following a complaint about old social media posts 21 although she was fully exonerated by her university the same group accused her again after the third investigation during which the university apparently engaged in covert communications with her accusers she decided that she had to leave 22 alistair hudson head of the university of manchester s art museum was asked to leave his position following his efforts to resist censorship by the university which preferred to yield to the pro israel uk lawyers for israel s request to remove a pro palestinian statement from its exhibition walls the previous year 23 taken together these cases of censorship demonstrate why the widespread tendency to trivialize free speech should be resisted the stakes are much higher than the date and location of a controversial lecture someone who is denied the right to speak in a particular venue can still find a place to speak elsewhere by contrast those who are dismissed from employment are thereby rendered permanently unemployable take the case of steven salaita after losing his job at the university of illinois for posting tweets critical of israel salaita obtained a visiting position at the american university in beirut aub as edward w said chair of american studies he accepted an offer that would have made this position permanent that offer was abruptly rescinded by aub president fadlo khuri who alleged that procedural violations had made it necessary to cancel the search salaita emphasized that he left aub against his will two years later after an extended search for an academic position salaita announced that he was leaving academia permanently he changed careers and became a bus driver in a suburb of washington dc one unexpected side effect of this career transition is that salaita s writing flourished he began reaching a much wider public with reflections on life outside the academy on his blog the fact that salaita s most compelling reflections on academic freedom belong to the period after he severed his links to the academy is relevant to how we understand the role of universities in promoting free inquiry soon after david miller s comments became headlines various governmental groups including the all party parliamentary group against antisemitism began calling for his dismissal more than one hundred mps signed a letter organized by this group speaking across party lines in a rare show of unity these mps collectively informed the vice chancellor that professor miller had brought your university into disrepute they ended with the demand that the vice chancellor act now before any further damage is done 24 miller s case rapidly became an international cause hundreds of academics signed a letter praising miller as an eminent scholar who was internationally known for his work on exposing the role that powerful actors and well resourced co ordinated networks play in manipulating and stage managing public debates including on racism 25 soon thereafter another letter circulated partly in response to the first condemning miller s comments as the latest manifestation of a long and ignoble tradition of conspiracy theories concerning jewish individuals and institutions 26 while this second letter did not call for miller s dismissal it made no mention of academic freedom yet surely the signatories knew that in the absence of an explicit recognition of miller s right to his views the letter would be used to support calls for him to be fired the university finally issued a statement on 16 march 2021 confirming that an investigation was underway and refusing to comment further two jewish professors at the university of bristol tom sperlinger and gene feder wrote to the senior management as the investigation approached its end they acknowledged the offence that had been caused while expressing concern that the university might cave in to external pressures miller s dismissal they argued would create an extraordinarily dangerous precedent if a campaign of this kind can lead to an academic one of uob s highest profile anti racist scholars being sacked for legitimate work they have undertaken and for their defence of it under duress 27 these words proved prophetic three weeks later the university announced that it was terminating miller s employment on the grounds that he did not meet the standards of behaviour we expect from our staff this assessment relied on an unfortunate but familiar reframing of speech as behaviour which is often used to evade the charge that academic freedom is being violated when the termination was announced many speculated about the reference in the university statement to an independent report from a leading queen s counsel whose name was withheld according to the university statement the qc report determined that professor miller s comments did not constitute unlawful speech miller commented to the media that the report went further clearing him of all charges of antisemitism 28 his supporters asked why he had been terminated if the report had found no evidence of unlawful speech his detractors wondered why the university statement made no reference to antisemitism as the reason for miller s dismissal in both cases the reason was simple the statement was not commissioned either to defend academic freedom or to combat antisemitism like every action taken by the university during these and related disputes the report was commissioned in order to protect the institution in case of litigation and especially judicial review this bureaucratization of debate which is commonplace rather than exceptional in such circumstances and is entirely in keeping with my own experience illustrates why we cannot trust universities or any other institution to protect free speech without a doubt universities have a role to play but a wider social transformation is needed as i followed these debates i was struck that both sides seemed to regard the university s statement as a transparent reflection of what had in fact occurred rather than as a political act in its own right what was missed was how the university s statement was itself deeply political the very way in which terms and concepts were formulated exerted institutional power over free speech with the effect of undermining it the statement opened by invoking the common law concept of duty of care as the principle that needed to be balanced against miller s academic freedom those who are disturbed by the university s decision rightly wonder what is the value of a duty of care when it becomes the means by which free discussion is suppressed in a context where free speech is suppressed duty of care is merely another tool in the armoury of power for crushing dissent my own experience in negotiating with the university four years earlier taught me to read university statements through a sceptical lens i came to understand how university statements are worded not to ensure accuracy or out of a naive desire to represent the truth but to minimize the risk to the university in case of litigation exposure to the judicial process taught me that in such circumstances universities tend to fear litigation more than anything else indeed fear of judicial review seems to have been the primary motivation behind such investigations in my case since the university had already informed me that they did not consider further action necessary and this position changed only when its legal exposure became evident a similar dynamic was likely at work in the case of the complaints against miller while a disgruntled employee can challenge any university decision at an employment tribunal with a minimum of expense and without even hiring a lawyer costly litigation such as judicial review is affordable only for groups with large cash reserves universities are well aware of this economic calculus in the case of miller they conducted a cost benefit analysis and decided in favour of miller s complainants and in deference to the legal threat they posed in both my case and miller s the most influential external organization was the campaign against antisemitism i observed first hand the impact of the caa s activities on the university s approach to my article initially i was told that my article did not require any kind of investigation and even the university s lawyer told me that she had found nothing unacceptable in what i had written but once the caa made a complaint threatening legal action a formal inquiry was a fait accompli in miller s case the university commissioned a qc to inquire into the allegations against miller this was clearly designed to forestall further litigation by the caa the university aimed to show the world as well as a potential court that they had not harboured an antisemite on campus since 2018 in august 2021 as the university investigation into miller s comments dragged on the caa publicly announced that it was initiating legal proceedings against the university it issued a public call to jewish students at bristol university to join its lawsuit against the university two months later bristol university officially terminated miller s position even before he had a chance to appeal although the university claimed not to have had any knowledge of the lawsuit when the bristol tab solicited a statement from it in august its prior exchanges with the caa in connection with my article make this doubtful the university would certainly have factored the caa response into their proceedings such pressures would also have encouraged them to hire a qc to produce an independent report so that the university could show that it had shown due diligence if the case came to trial this sequence of events suggests that the university s insistence that miller s words were not unlawful was motivated not by a desire to defend miller or record the truth but rather to protect itself from litigation by outside organizations in line with these calculations miller s sacking was simply the collateral damage imposed by the university s need to protect itself from allegations of institutional antisemitism a charge the caa had reinforced in connection with evidence submitted to the equality and human rights commission in 2020 all of this evidence suggests that the university did not perceive firing miller as posing a legal risk comparable to that posed by external organizations or by government threats the ease with which his position was terminated demonstrates the weakness of legal protections for free speech within liberal democracies a weak framework for free speech the uk has a weak legal framework when it comes to the defence of free speech and this framework becomes more fragile with every violation of academic freedom a measure of this weakness can be gleaned by the university of birmingham s free speech code of practice which mirrors that of many other universities across the uk 29 although the document recognizes that freedom of speech is a key part of the higher education experience and respectful debate enables us to challenge discrimination intolerance and harmful attitudes this nominal recognition has minimal value when measured against the work the document does in practice like many such documents the university s free speech code of practice is in fact a tool for suppressing freedom of speech rather than enhancing it 30 it exists in order to ensure that the university avoids risky topics and thoroughly complies with government regulations the speech code mandates that anyone hoping to organize an event whether online or in the classroom from management it was invoked in 2022 when i proposed to deliver an inaugural lecture on the topic of free speech and the outcome of the risk assessment was a recommendation that i include a chair with a perspective different from mine to avoid the perception of bias i was also asked to demonstrate that a balanced range of views would be shared 31 such procedural requirements considerably limit academics freedom to arrange talks spontaneously with external speakers since permission for any events they organize may be withheld by the university administration internal procedures and obtain approval follow one of the key examples in the equality and human rights commission s misleadingly titled handbook freedom of expression a guide for higher education providers and students unions in england and wales 2019 is a hypothetical scenario involving a high risk speaker who is said to have a history of associating with violent extremists and making statements that could risk drawing people into terrorism 32 predictably and in line with the institutional islamophobia that has cast its spell over british universities this high risk speaker who associates with violent extremists is cast implicitly as muslim in the hypothetical scenario in such cases we are told the prevent coordinator who is tasked with implementing prevent legislation on uk university campuses must be consulted the extremist speaker is given permission to speak on campus provided they agree to appear alongside another speaker with an alternative viewpoint in order to provide a balanced perspective on whatever issues happen to be addressed notably these calls for censorship occur in a government sponsored document that is explicitly dedicated to the principle of free speech and is posted as an authoritative guide to the subject on uk university websites let us leave aside for a moment the logical fallacy entailed in the idea that balance needs to be observed when implementing free speech that point is taken up later in this chapter for now we can simply note how the ehrc s morality tale of a muslim radical whose views must be balanced by a british speaker illustrates a broader problem in the understanding of academic freedom across uk universities and of freedom of speech more generally within british society the demand that university academics treat controversial speakers as if they were guilty until proved innocent by actively soliciting other speakers to provide alternative viewpoints reveals how entrenched islamophobia has become within british universities it also exposes a tendency within the uk to refuse to take free speech seriously on its own terms far from being havens for the expression of critical and dissenting views universities police speech even more heavily than it is it is policed outside their walls the administrative requirement to install chairs to counter controversial views reached a peak of absurdity in 2017 when cambridge university s director of communications was installed as a neutral chair in order to counter the presumed bias of palestinian academic dr ruba salih the occasion was the event bds and the globalised struggle for human rights co hosted by cambridge university s palestine society and its middle east society salih had no record of making controversial statements she was of palestinian origin and had extensive research experience relating to palestinian refugees one would think that this background would have made her an ideal person to chair a panel discussing palestine the university s prevent referral group thought otherwise presumably alerted to the event by someone unhappy with its anticipated criticism of israel this group which was formed in line with uk anti terrorism legislation and is chaired by cambridge university president stephen toope convened a meeting just a day prior to the event and determined that salih should not be permitted to chair it the group of non experts unilaterally decided that the role of chair should go to someone else who could be relied on to neutralize the event s political undertones cambridge university apologized the following year after a lengthy inquiry into its handling of the affair and acknowledged that there was no evidence to support the view that salih would not ensure a democratic debate allowing all views to be expressed 33 but the damage was done the presumption of guilt lingers for the many who never saw this belated apology complaints can be taken seriously without violating free speech internal complaints only compromise freedom of expression within a university context when they are handled badly all complaints that originate with members of the university community deserve a fair and impartial hearing members of the university community with grievances should be allowed to disrupt everyday routines on their campus as scholar activists like sara ahmed have argued space and attention must be given to such grievances in order to challenge entrenched racism and sexism 34 i have already argued that the historic failure on the part of universities to attend to the grievances of vulnerable members of the community has fostered inequality resentment and fear far from suppressing free speech complaints and grievances are ways in which students and staff activate the potential of free speech to undo forced silences and expose suppressed histories as the examples of the suppression of pro palestinian speech and activism detailed throughout this book demonstrate the greatest risk to free speech in university contexts comes not from internal debate dissent and complaint but rather from external organizations and pressure groups that turn individuals into targets of proxy conflicts firing miller was the university s response to this risk we have every reason to expect that universities will cave in to pressure again just as we can expect brave acts of resistance and non compliance such as occurred when the university of aberdeen refused to adopt the ihra definition and expressed concern over the recent high profile cases which had resulted in academics losing their jobs which suggested that the definition had become weaponised in the sector 35 while miller s supporters blame what happened to him on the israel lobby we should not ignore the more local and internal weaknesses that underlie free speech violations at best existing free speech regulations fail to safeguard free speech and academic freedom at worst they significantly undermine it if the stories of suppression and censorship documented in this book have anything to teach us it is that in their bureaucratic affairs including in their management of conflict universities easily succumb to external pressures to suppress academic freedom in liberal democracies every institution embraces the banner of free speech but few consistently implement it most frequently free speech is balanced out of existence although universities are often idealized as places of free inquiry the sordid history of the ihra definition s implementation illustrates that universities all too often become the battleground of the proxy wars waged by the states that fund them regardless of what you think of free speech as a means of achieving global solidarity in the fight against inequality it is impossible to deny that when it comes to defending those under fire for their views leftist mobilization often fails to achieve its end in recent years the response of traditionally leftist organizations to crackdowns on free speech has sometimes done more harm than good this is partly because unlike socialists from earlier generations contemporary leftists tend not to regard free speech as a value in itself the honourable mandate of protecting and promote minority rights has become conflated with the view that it is legitimate even necessary to suppress offensive views my experience of being attacked for my criticism of israel has taught me that free speech must be defended in its absence we cannot credibly or seriously support the struggles of oppressed peoples around the world as hangari noted the contemporary left is often only willing to defend the right of others to speak out in the rare cases in which it can defend their each and every utterance no one on earth is so immune to error that every word they say ought to be defended we should not need to defend the content of a person s words in order to defend their right to express them those who disagree with the statements of david miller should understand that far from being a case where the free speech argument falls apart the controversy around miller demonstrates the importance of free speech precisely because his views are controversial not least among the dangers of suppressing even reprehensible views is that it makes it easier for our opponents to use those same tactics against us like freedom itself free speech is a slippery concept no single person institution or party has control over it in the struggle to make palestine visible we must not surrender freedom of expression we must learn to deploy it in ways that promote an egalitarian agenda and that serve the ends of palestinian liberation most urgently we need to learn how to use free speech as a tactic against those who seek to silence us when my writings came under attack and outside groups began to call for my dismissal i was advised to reframe the narrative that these groups were foisting on me as an attack on my academic freedom at first i resisted free speech i believed was for racists surely my ideas should be defended on their own terms not according to free speech principles the more i tried to argue my case however the more clearly i came to perceive the intractability of disagreements over israel and zionism i came to understand that while the historical record unambiguously indicates that the history of zionism is deeply entangled with the racism that besets many kinds of nationalism it does not follow that every person who considers themselves zionist is evil or even racist i learned that there is such a thing as irreconcilable disagreement and that no amount of rational debate or human decency is going to resolve such conflicts as i began to revisit my own understanding of jewish history and antisemitism i came across an opinion piece by a woman who was a holocaust survivor she explained that from her perspective anti zionism was necessarily antisemitic because the denial of a jewish homeland brought about the annihilation of her ancestors from an objective perspective the position seems logically indefensible for no individual s story alone is enough to support such a dogmatic claim yet from a subjective perspective it is hard not to empathize with her point of view just as i am haunted by leon s sympathy for the medieval antisemite while he wrote underground in nazi occupied belgium so did i feel it necessary to understand why a holocaust survivor might believe that anti zionism is intrinsically antisemitic without accepting their logic i want to see the matter from their perspective empathy does not equal agreement all it requires is the recognition of another person s right to exist on their own terms as a thinking human being all too often we deny our fellow humans this recognition at the time when i was accused of antisemitism i was accustomed to associating free speech mobilization with right wing and white nationalist movements i saw these prejudices compounded in the response to my article palestinian perspectives were systematically side lined in the reactions against it since the erasure of palestinians and of palestine seemed to me like the greatest harm i concluded that my counter mobilization should centre palestinian perspectives at the same time i had to think strategically why was it necessary to cede the freedoms that right wing movements had appropriated for themselves which they were using to harm the palestinian cause why not reclaim these as well why surrender to my accusers the right to define the boundaries of my permissible speech the inhumanity of academic freedom steven salaita the palestinian american professor best known for his abrupt dehiring from the university of illinois due to his outspoken criticisms of israel is also the author of a remarkable essay on academic freedom and its limits entitled the inhumanity of academic freedom 36 appropriately given the twinned history of israeli and south african apartheid the essay was first presented as the 2019 t b davie memorial lecture on academic freedom at the university of cape town this lecture series has a long history of inspiring scholars and activists such as kenan malik wole soyinka noam chomsky and edward said to reflect on the scope and purpose of free speech the parallel histories of apartheid and political struggle within palestinian and south african universities are living testimony to the stakes of free speech within these respective societies struggles for freedom salaita does not aim with his provocative title to denigrate academic freedom as such rather he situates the freedom specific to universities as a necessary condition for their flourishing within a wider context of freedoms that are just as important or even more so salaita s point is that an exclusive focus on academic freedom that fails to recognize the barriers to achieving other freedoms cannot liberate silenced voices as he writes academic freedom is always conditional on a corresponding politics the same holds for free speech in general in a world that has normalized white nationalism and global inequality free speech is bound to come up short when it comes to protecting individuals who face systematic discrimination so far so good but why stop with this critique can we imagine another world in which the freedom to speak is understood to be intrinsic to anti racist liberation i want to persuade you so that you can persuade others that resisting definition based approaches to antisemitism and centring palestinian voices requires us to take free speech seriously and not just when we happen to agree with the person under attack it means rejecting the approach to freedom of expression that has been internalized within the uk and is gaining traction within the united states even though it undermines the first amendment as if by default when academics speak they are understood to represent the university every once in a while an academic or their employer will come out and say that their views do not represent those of their university but this only reinforces the assumption that the opposite holds if it is not explicitly stated otherwise as a result it is accepted that the speech of academics is regulated by the universities that employ them by contrast with this established approach my experience with free speech suggests that it is necessary to distinguish between workplace specific utterances such as those uttered in a classroom context and utterances made outside the workplace which the employer has no right to monitor let alone punish whether the employee in question is a university professor or a bus driver what they do and say on their own time outside workplace contexts is their own business 37 the ihra definition of antisemitism has taken hold of uk universities with such disastrous consequences partly because workplace protections for free speech are underdeveloped in british culture society and legal discourse generally at the end of his essay salaita insists that we must look beyond academic freedom to focus instead on simply freedom unadorned unmediated unmodified i agree free speech should always be situated within this broader understanding of freedom it is with salaita s critique in mind that i want to probe the progressive potential of free speech to bring about political freedom academic freedom can only be meaningful in a society that protects the free speech of all its citizens when it is used only to shore up professional privilege and stifle the voices of those who are silenced by abuses of power academic freedom loses its value in society at large such a devaluation of academic freedom what salaita calls its inhumanity happened when a number of harvard university professors circulated a letter defending harvard anthropologist john comaroff when he was accused of sexual harassment in 2022 38 comaroff subsequently resumed teaching at harvard making the letter unnecessary but not before this troubling use of academic freedom to protect abuses of power was exposed as salaita notes in its current form academic freedom is incapable of preventing unsanctioned forms of punishment regulation of the job market according to docility or the increasing contingency of labor these incapacities limit the utility of academic freedom as a value in itself instead of celebrating academic freedom in isolation from other forms of social justice academic free speech should be woven into a wider conception of the freedoms that are central to our collective emancipation before i say more about the intersections of free speech and academic freedom with the wider pursuit of justice it is necessary to dwell on the political significance of an even more basic value for democratic mobilization freedom itself who better to guide us on such a journey than karl marx marx s life and writings demonstrate his commitment to freedom of thought he began his journalism career as the founder and editor of the rheinische zeitung 1842 43 a radical newspaper that was shut down by the prussian state censor just over a year after its initial publication the suppressed newspaper was revived by marx and engels six years later as the neue rheinische zeitung 1848 49 until it too was shut down by the censors during its brief existence the neue rheinische zeitung was among the most influential radical newspapers in western europe like his political theory marx s concept of press freedom and hence of freedom of speech was more radical than that of his liberal contemporary with whom the concept of free speech is most often associated today utilitarian philosopher john stuart mill mill s on liberty 1859 is perhaps the single most widely cited work on free speech in the world today but mill did not diagnose as perceptively as marx or even salaita the manifold ways in which free speech so often comes to be manipulated and turned into a handmaiden of power marx criticises the liberal rights framework adopted by mill on the grounds of its excessive focus on the individual by contrast with the liberals of his era marx conceived of freedom of speech and freedom of the press as rights that were collective in substance and intersectional in their politics for marx freedom of speech was under no obligation to be neutral rather the point of free speech and the reason why it had to be defended was to undermine existing regimes of power marx anticipates salaita s complaint that rights pretend to be neutral entitlements disbursed according to need when they are in actuality commodities managed by bureaucrats paid handsomely to indulge the ruling class under the guise of collective values also like salaita marx recognizes that free speech can mask unequal distributions of power and that by itself it cannot rectify these inequities because marx places power at the centre of his analysis he is able to account for freedom of speech as a way of resisting state power more persuasively than can the conventional liberal separation between the public and private spheres free speech for marx is not about balancing different points of view it does not culminate in a celebration of individual autonomy or the restoration of private rights which separate us from our wider communities rather free speech for marx like freedom itself is collective marx s controversial early essay on the jewish question 1843 critically examines the ideology of private liberal rights that in his view undermine genuine freedom of the press criticizing the clampdown on press freedom during the french revolution marx wrote that under this new revolutionary regime so often associated with progress freedom of the press is completely destroyed 39 he criticized the french revolution s subordination of human freedom to public freedom because it meant in practice the curtailment of press freedom whenever the press challenged political power within the constitution established by the french revolution the human right of freedom ceases to be a right as soon as it conflicts with political life yet according to the liberal tradition political life is merely the guarantee of human rights the rights of the individual man to such limited perspectives marx juxtaposes a vision of human freedom that is collective in that it demands justice and equality and cherishes rather than suppresses the disagreements that inevitably arise between citizens marx also objects to the separation of the social good from the rights of the individual unlike the leaders of the french revolution and many who would later undertake revolution in his name marx is consistent in his defence of freedom including freedom of speech as a collective project intrinsic to revolutionary activity as he writes in on the jewish question only when the individual no longer separates the social force from himself is human emancipation completed 40 marx s belief that the cultural substratum of jewish identity would eventually fade away is both objectionable and erroneous but his early efforts at thinking through the relation between rights and identity remain relevant for a leftist approach to free speech such an approach protecting minority rights in a world dominated by censorious and coercive definitions must conceive of the social and the political as one his materialist understanding of free speech as intrinsic to the struggle for power inspired the journalistic and editorial endeavours of later materialists such as abram leon while marx exposed the hypocrisy of liberal rights regimes he explicitly argued for free speech in his journalism perhaps anticipating the closure of his newspaper by the censors marx asserted in his first published article the real radical cure for censorship would be its abolition 41 the fact that this radical premise has never been taken up by any socialist government including those that acted in marx s name means that free speech has yet to be formally implemented from a marxist perspective a leftist history of free speech has yet to be lived let alone written whereas the last decades of the twentieth century witnessed a gradual bifurcation between free speech as a value and leftist politics the twenty first century may yet witness their realignment 42 in his insistence on the foundational status of free speech marx shares common ground with liberals like mill his departures from the liberal conception of free speech are exactly what make his work relevant to leftist politics the concept of free speech that marx defends does not rely on the marketplace of ideas that heavily informs mill s thinking which is the focus of salaita s critique marx does not entrust the regulation of free speech to the marketplace or wager his commitment to equality on the naive hope that the best views will naturally prevail but marx is just as categorically opposed to imposing his convictions on others by force during his editorship of the rheinische zeitung marx instructed his contributors that they should avoid anything that might be read as propaganda i regard it as inappropriate indeed even immoral he wrote to smuggle communist and socialist doctrines hence a new world outlook into incidental theatre criticisms i demand a quite different and more thorough discussion of communism if it should be discussed at all 43 the world s best known communist believed that it should not be smuggled in through the back door by undermining free speech marx believed that ideas had to be argued for rationally and dialectically not imposed by fiat if they were to bring about collective liberation he placed his faith in the power of critique rather than the demands of the market salaita correctly notes that the ideological defence of free speech falls short when it obscures actual relations of power although they are packaged by their proponents as neutral entitlements disbursed according to need rights are often in practice commodities managed by bureaucrats palestinians know better than most how a people s collective rights can be denied for decades through bureaucratic manipulations and liberal justifications sleights of hand analogous to those documented above at the university of bristol and across the uk have occurred in many north american and european universities the rhetoric around free speech and cancel culture circulated by the uk s conservative government since the adoption of the ihra definition illustrates just how contingent and subject to manipulation rights discourses can be when politicians bemoan cancel culture on free speech grounds they often paper over differentials of power between those who are silenced by campaigns to de platform a speaker and by liberal bureaucrats who either enforce or reject cancellation yet anyone familiar with palestinian activism in europe and north america knows that it is singled out for censorship far more frequently than any other form of dissent this singling out points to the need to develop an approach to free speech that is specifically suited to advancing palestinian freedom and working for the liberation of other marginalized peoples against balance indian philosopher akeel bilgrami has dedicated his energies to carving out a space for palestinian activism within the free speech tradition it is no accident that bilgrami s thinking about free speech was developed at columbia university in new york city an educational institution that has at various times been the target of crackdowns on freedom to dissent in relation to palestine bilgrami developed his critique of mill s notion of free speech at a time when the lives and careers of political scientist norman finkelstein and anthropologist nadia abu el haj as well as steven salaita were coming under intense attack from israel advocacy groups in each case due to their writings about israel while el haj was eventually granted tenure finkelstein was banished from the academy forever alongside his academic pursuits bilgrami has been outspoken in defence of finkelstein 44 bilgrami s defence of wilful imbalance begins with a critique of mill mill presents several arguments as to why democratic states should tolerate ideas that we abhor focusing on the most influential among them mill s proposal to tolerate dissenting opinions just in case our current opinions are wrong and these dissenting opinions are right continues to dominate liberal understandings of academic freedom 45 as bilgrami notes this argument which relies on the notion of balance as a hedge against the possibility of being wrong is incoherent even on its own terms it is premised on the belief that there is an archimedean point from which we can accurately assess intractable conflicts and on a denial of the role of human subjectivity in constituting our most basic beliefs yet no matter how incoherent it is this fiction is influential in our political present because imbalance is frequently the basis on which university teachers and palestine activists are smeared as antisemitic more generally balance is a staple of university free speech codes and i have myself been encouraged by university administrators to display balance in my engagements with this issue the call for balance is also a means of silencing dissident voices and marginalizing non majoritarian views consider the case of ruba salih an anthropologist who was presumed to lack balance because she was palestinian salih was removed as chair of a bds event at cambridge university the solution to such imbalance this argument tends to run is to artificially impose a more evenhanded paradigm so that students will be exposed to both the israeli and palestinian sides the problem with such approaches is that they assume an unerring capacity to locate the middle ground often without leaving the matter open to debate as bilgrami rightly argues few topics in the humanities are well served by such artificial balancing acts here is why any classroom instructor ought to make an effort not just to be reasonably informed about the subjects they plan to teach but also to decide among an overwhelming mass of materials evidence and claims which narratives are most persuasive and which details most worth presenting to students selectivity can generate bias but it is also epistemologically necessary and not in itself problematic provided that the material has been judiciously selected it would be silly to insist that all sides of a given issue be given equal treatment do we demand that proponents of the hypothesis that the earth is flat have a place in a classroom context not at all so too with those who whitewash israel s crimes or suppress key facts about the nakba the holocaust or related atrocities for political ends all ideas and arguments are not equally valid and no responsible teacher or scholar would pretend they are balance is not the most important criterion of selection especially in cases where the middle ground is itself contested rather criteria such as accuracy and depth should guide us a good instructor will be humble open minded and honest in recognizing areas of confusion and doubt but she will also have reached certain conclusions based on evidence available to her her responsibility as a teacher is to communicate those conclusions and the point of view that informs them as effectively as possible not to seek to represent all sides and all points of view being able to exercise the principle of selectivity is part of good teaching research and thinking if we cannot venture at least a tentative conclusion regarding the issue at hand that goes beyond the mechanical requirement for balance then bilgrami asks what business do we have being in a classroom in the first place instructors are obliged to be informed about the subjects they teach but it would be foolish to expect them to have no opinion whatsoever bilgrami attributes the constant demand that we always present both sides of a disagreement to a conception of education as a sort of chronic dithering 46 far from being objective or neutral the instructor who is beholden to a mechanical concept of balance on any issue including israel palestine undermines her own credibility in the classroom teaching well requires conviction and conviction requires taking sides bilgrami goes even further than these claims in pursuit of a more expansive foundation for academic freedom he acknowledges the absolute value of a diversity of viewpoints perspectives and backgrounds in the university environment for bilgrami this is the most compelling argument for academic freedom but intellectual diversity by itself is inadequate in clarifying the responsibility of the intellectual which is to speak truth to power sometimes at great personal risk the intellectual who speaks truth to power must consider not only the content of what needs to be said but the context in which it will be heard and potentially acted upon free speech only acquires meaning in relation to an audience which in turn implies a political community and context far from catering to what that audience may wish to hear the committed intellectual activist and disinterested scholar should focus their criticism precisely on what those in power are least likely to want to hear in this sense academic freedom is inseparable from freedom in general isaac deutscher the self described non jewish jew insisted that his identity obliged him to adhere to a certain kind of partiality in deutscher s own words i am a jew by force of my unconditional solidarity with the persecuted and exterminated what bilgrami sees as the task of the intellectual is what deutscher connects with his identity as a jew it is impossible to legislate how this solidarity with the persecuted ought to be justified at the individual level those who impose a phantom notion of objectivity onto what bilgrami calls wilful imbalance often conceal political motivations beneath the cloak of impartiality instead of ceding to their demands we should focus on how we can use wilful imbalance what deutscher calls unconditional solidarity with the persecuted to advance the freedom of all oppressed peoples bilgrami s critique of mill brings us full circle salaita s criticisms of the concept of academic freedom are justified as a critique of historical and contemporary liberalism including john stuart mill and the anglo american approach to free speech that he inspired leftists who see beyond the liberal emphasis on balance can contemplate different more democratic and more radical foundations for free speech this concept of free speech is an extension of freedom itself applied to the sphere of language and no leftist politics can do without it marx luxemburg and trotsky each developed different leftist approaches to and justifications for free speech for each thinker the marxian dream of abolishing censorship was foundational to the struggle for equality whatever viewpoint one takes it is important to recognize that the need for free speech is as instinctual as it is intellectual it is necessary not just to democratic flourishing but more fundamentally to human existence free speech gives voice to views that political authorities would like to supress for those who practice and encourage it it helps us come to terms with ourselves in our relation to others when my own voice was silenced and my views were censored i felt that my ability to exist as a human being was also under threat in the scheme of things the censorship i experienced was minor many worse instances of suppression particularly of palestinians have been documented in this chapter classical justifications of free speech drawn from the liberal tradition obscure what it really means to silence another person s voice it is a denial through the language of moderation and balance of their right to exist materialism and the reservoir theory i will end this chapter where it began with the case of david miller we can now explore it from the much broader context opened up by a materialist approach to free speech that i have endeavoured to outline david feldman is perhaps the most frequently cited scholar of contemporary antisemitism in this book feldman has been a major participant in the debate around the ihra definition and a major influence on me personally his approach to understanding antisemitism illuminates many aspects of the issue among his most important insights is that we can be antisemitic without intending to be and without knowing that we are seemingly neutral stereotypes about jews and money can for example become the foundation for insidious conspiracies 47 such stereotypes may be mixed with philosemitism and promoted by jews themselves this does not make them any less pernicious but it does clarify how antisemitism can be normalized and pass unquestioned on feldman s account culpability is social before it is individual antisemitism does not require conscious or deliberate hatred of any specific group it is absorbed by osmosis and permeates our cultural reservoirs 48 within this framework antisemitism can be understood as a reservoir of prejudice we inherit by virtue of membership in modern society antisemitic prejudice is as fluid as malleable as subject to change and as ubiquitous as water another advantage of feldman s approach and of his scholarship on antisemitism generally is what for lack of a better term might be called its methodological objectivity in a polemical atmosphere where most commentators tend to sort themselves into anti and pro zionist factions feldman consistently positions his interventions above the fray with a single exception discussed below as a result his reflections and insights must be reckoned with regardless of one s political position feldman s ability to navigate highly contentious political issues without compromising on the objectivity of his insights generating work that no participant in this debate can afford to ignore calls to mind the work of another similarly gifted historian of a very different period arnaldo momigliano known primarily as an historian of antiquity who migrated first to the uk and then to the united states amid the nazi genocide that killed both of his parents momigliano was gifted with an ability to distil in scintillating prose lessons from the distant past for use in the present the pasts that most engaged momigliano were those of jews ancient romans and greeks but eventually his expertise expanded to encompass the entire world 49 i discovered momigliano s work in 2008 when i was a phd student at columbia university while momigliano s research had nothing directly to teach me on the subject of my phd research his way of relating to the past shook me to the core during those heady years under momigliano s influence i drafted a manuscript on antiquarian philology which i hope will eventually see the light of day although i could not find a way to connect momigliano s historiography to my own research i distilled the inspiration i took from his method and style into an article exploring the ongoing relevance of his historical method 50 these reflections have a similar relationship to the work of feldman as those earlier pages from my graduate school years did to the work of momigliano i write as someone from an empirically distant world from that of feldman with a different kind of expertise who from time to time finds herself moving in directions that would have been alien to the source of her inspiration and yet who nonetheless turns to that scholar as a compass for orientating her own views i trust the direction in which feldman is travelling even when there are certain detours that i have been compelled to make from his path like momigliano s work feldman s writing on antisemitism is marked by integrity even when his polemical pieces lead him to conclusions i find problematic to its credit the conceptualization of antisemitism and other forms of prejudice as a deep reservoir of stereotypes and narratives replenished over time and from which people can draw with ease whether they intend to or not awakens us to its ubiquity across time and space and reveals how many of us are complicit in propagating this prejudice in our thinking and in our lives 51 yet when we try to use the reservoir theory as a guide to inform what we do about specific cases of antisemitism that involve controversial anti zionists who have been persecuted for their views its limits become evident anti zionism today is entangled in many different political agendas consensus will never be reached with regard to when the border into antisemitism is crossed as much as i contest how israel s advocates have drawn this border i do not think any honest person could deny that there is at least an occasional association which is far from being causal between anti zionism and antisemitism the two sometimes occur together just as antisemitism has accompanied a wide range of other tropes throughout time and space even though analytically they are completely distinct in short the reservoir theory leaves matters of agency and culpability unresolved the famous question first posed by russian revolutionary nikolai chernyshevsky and subsequently by lenin what is to be done is one that the reservoir theory of antisemitism by itself does not answer to say that the practical implications of the reservoir theory are unclear is less a criticism of the theory than a commentary on the near impossibility of defining antisemitism once and for all feldman refers to the need for education and this is a goal that i share but educational institutions are as i have shown often implicated in supressing freedom and preventing debate a rigorous commitment to free speech by contrast offers a clear programme which is to permit offensive and problematic speech even especially when we are opposed to its contents one implication of taking free speech seriously is that it enables us to distinguish between words and actions 52 another implication is that it prevents us from advocating the punishment of anyone for what they say in their own private capacity whether on social media or elsewhere these proposals will not appeal to many but at least they have a degree of transparency that can be applied anywhere they offer a way out of the dead end of silence and suppression to which the ihra definition like other group specific definitions of racism leads the absence of a clear programme within the reservoir theory of antisemitism or in most of the recent attempts to control the damage wrought by the ihra definition opens up a gap that is further exposed in feldman s writings about the case of david miller in my view the utility of the reservoir theory is not to be found in the calls to terminate miller s employment instead i think the reservoir theory is most useful as a means of recognizing and understanding the ubiquity of antisemitism not litigating against it when it comes to political implementation the materialism of abram leon offers a necessary supplement to the reservoir theory s descriptive role specifically leon s dialectical materialism provides us with a framework for intersectional solidarity that the reservoir theory arguably lacks like the reservoir theory it recognizes the contingency of human prejudice but it also locates specific instances of antisemitism within a wider socioeconomic framework had the reservoir theory been able to incorporate a materialist analysis into its framework the dangers of terminating miller s employment would have been clear feldman describes antisemitism as a reservoir of prejudices from which discourses flood in from time to time depending on the narratives most active in a specific political juncture 53 in its discursive orientation the reservoir theory has limited political purchase it does not tell us what we should do about this inheritance aside from educating ourselves and others it tells us that antisemitism is everywhere and sensitizes us to its ubiquity but does not give us the political tools to eradicate it at worst recognizing the ubiquity of antisemitism might even serve as an impediment to action the difficulty of the reservoir argument is intrinsic to its discursive orientation antisemitism is not going to go away anytime soon no matter how many definitions we formulate to describe it how much we legislate against it or how many professors we fire or activists we ban in order to keep it on the margins of society discursive change alone cannot form a solution to dealing with any kind of racism meanwhile the collateral damage done when the struggle against antisemitism is appropriated by xenophobic and islamophobic political agendas that also undermine freedom of speech may contribute to a net increase in antisemitism around the world as well as racism more broadly such substitutions whereby xenophobic political agendas islamophobic policies and anti palestinian sentiment are wrapped up into right wing crusades against antisemitism have the effect of suppressing pro palestinian speech and freedom of inquiry in general a case in point is the recent claim of right wing commentator and former new york times columnist bari weiss that a growing muslim population makes it dangerous to be a jew in europe 54 in this passage weiss omits the more direct impact of europe s long history of antisemitism on contemporary jews such dichotomies are not good for jews or indeed for anyone yet many pro israel advocates are willing to subordinate legitimate concerns about the suppression of human rights and civil liberties that are entailed in their crusades against antisemitism in order to promote their political agendas this is no better and of course no worse than left wing anti zionists who propagate antisemitic stereotypes in the name of supporting palestinian types of misappropriation must be contested in the strongest possible terms rights needless say both to the limits of the reservoir approach are exposed when we try to use it to construct a plan for shifting the cultural foundations of antisemitic prejudice at that point it becomes apparent that the political implications of acknowledging antisemitism s ubiquity have not been accounted for this is not to say that the reservoir approach excludes politics but simply that left to fend for itself in a politically fraught environment an approach to antisemitic discourse that sees it simply as a reservoir of society s prejudice may fall into errors of political judgement when its political stance is inconsistent or unarticulated the use of the jerusalem declaration on antisemitism jda to justify the termination of miller s employment see below is arguably one such error 55 after demonstrating the ubiquity of antisemitism the reservoir theory inclines in one of two directions on one hand a kind of fatalism whereby antisemitism s ubiquity may lead to apathy concerning the possibility of overcoming it on the other a moralism that suppresses the political lessons of this ubiquity and mistakes effects for causes if combined with a materialist approach the reservoir theory could more effectively advance the struggle for equality and social justice but such a meeting of methods has yet to happen recent history has shown that definitions of antisemitism set in motion political processes that subsequently acquire a will of their own becoming mixed up in issues that have nothing to do with fighting racism and everything to do with amassing political capital government adoption of any definition of antisemitism has political not intellectual consequences managing these issues well requires more than simply getting antisemitism right we also need to reckon with ourselves we need to grasp the political context within which antisemitism is adjudicated and forged including within our minds and hearts we need to ask questions not only about what statements perceptions and actions we consider just antisemitic but also what we consider to be the appropriate response to it we need to figure out what our position really is not what we tell ourselves we believe but what we actually believe in the deepest chambers of our minds and hearts on the legitimate scope of human freedom the firing of david miller brings into focus the political stakes in our approach to antisemitism and its eradication it matters not because so many academics are outraged but precisely because they are not many cannot bring themselves to oppose the firing of someone whose ideas they find abhorrent although he has commented on the matter extensively feldman has not publicly recognized bristol s firing of miller as a violation of academic freedom at the same time both feldman and yair wallach have cogently shown how miller s work perpetuates antisemitic stereotypes 56 i fully accept their critiques but i fear that free speech falls by the wayside in their analysis particularly concerning is their use of the jda in support of their case against miller as it lends weight to the argument that the jda could become as troublesome as the ihra definition in suppressing free speech by contrast a materialist approach to antisemitism may be more effective than the reservoir theory in reconciling the conflicting claims of free speech and antisemitism because it focuses on the wider context within which academics and other workers are vulnerable to exploitation and censorship under capitalism this context to understanding bristol s firing of miller but the reservoir theory takes no account of it is relevant too my reservations about the reservoir theory or rather my desire to supplement it with leon s dialectical materialism stem not from disagreement with its approach to the concept of antisemitism or its presence in our society but rather from a different understanding of the legitimate place of free speech in a democratic society since these divergences correlate with differences between british and american approaches to free speech generally they likely also reflect the differences of the cultures that have formed me as an american who migrated the uk the biggest difference between those who support miller s firing and my own is the first amendment of the us constitution not the definition of antisemitism according to the first amendment all speech that does not directly foster crime is protected speech importantly this protection extends to racist speech a standard that seems unthinkable in the uk why protect racist speech we tend to assume that free speech exists in order to protect the views of those we agree with since few people are consciously racist by their own admission the prevalent view is that obviously misguided speech including racist speech ought to be censured rather than protected as first amendment jurisprudence recognizes definitions of racism are subjective not all definitions of racism are created equal some are better and some are worse although racism has not adequately been defined for legal purposes since any legal definition would need to be cognizant of its implementation and this has not occurred this does not mean it cannot be defined at all while definitions can be debated endlessly there is no reason to expect that the conflict among different definitions will ever be resolved in a context of debates that do not lead to resolution the only approach consistent with human freedom is to reserve judgement from the point of view of the law and let people decide on their own this is one reason why even racist speech is protected under the first amendment but it is not necessarily the most important one a more important reason for including racist speech within the category of speech protected under the first amendment is that any speech based regulation inevitably augments the power of the state and therefore of bureaucrats who implement the state s regulations since states are known to abuse their power it should not be granted lightly further a thought is not the same as an act thankfully institutionalized racism has long been established as illegal within both uk and us jurisprudence and it is worth looking into ways to develop this legislation further but thought cannot be policed not even by the self as freud well understood in no case should a thought in itself be conflated with culpability racist speech is and should be protected by free speech laws not because it is valid in any way but because policing it cannot be made consistent with democratic governance 57 this doesn t mean that there shouldn t be any consequences for racist speech rather it means that the standard for criminal punishment such as imprisonment is not met by racist speech alone there are however numerous ways to counter and resist racist speech that do not violate human freedom quoting the 2010 equality act feldman states that miller s criticisms of jewish students at the university of bristol which amounted to criticism of their attacks on him constituted unwanted conduct that has the purpose or effect of creating an intimidating hostile degrading or offensive environment that violated the dignity of jewish students the evidence in the public domain which miller has personally corroborated as the reason for his dismissal makes the accusation of harassment seem far fetched 58 the claim that miller s case does not involve academic freedom because he was accused of harassing students either misses or rejects the necessity of protecting racist speech within a free speech framework in addition feldman s implicit defence of the campaign to get miller fired evades this movement s political intent miller s firing illustrates the stakes of free speech not because his views are beyond criticism but precisely because few are willing to defend them this important aspect of the free speech case against miller s firing has been missed by most participants in the debate the axiom attributed to voltaire i disapprove of what you say but i will defend to the death your right to say it captures the attitude that is needed even though few have been willing to adopt it 59 defenders of free speech and academic freedom ought not to be in the business of defending only ideas they like and yet the controversy around miller has overwhelmingly taken the form of two sides battling against each other one side defending miller s ideas while the other condemns them whatever happened to the imperative to defend someone s right to say what we in fact condemn when someone claims that a controversy around an idea that they rightly or wrongly despise has no bearing on academic freedom that claim should be examined closely changing the conversation from academic freedom to harassment in the analysis of miller s firing distracts us from the wider political context of administrative power and employment precarity that has overdetermined the outcome of these events it is not persuasive to claim that complaining about someone else s criticisms even if that someone else happens to be a student is in itself a form of harassment further this deflection does little to advance our understanding of either antisemitism or academic freedom it also fails to take account of the arguments made by the anonymous qc who was tasked to provide an opinion on miller s case and determine whether he had been guilty of harassment in that report which feldman later criticized the qc argued that according to the equality act 2010 miller could only be guilty of harassment or discrimination in a case in which he is acting as an employee of the university importantly the qc insisted that acting as an employee of a university would not readily extend to participation in a conference the writing of articles or the provision of quotes to journalists 60 the position is further clarified in terms that ought to resonate with anyone who cares about protecting the autonomy and integrity of intellectual inquiry from political interference there is an element to the role of academics as public intellectuals that sits uneasily in my view with the idea that outward facing work of the sort at issue here is performed for the university as employer the protection of academic freedom must entail that academics are not to be seen as the mouthpieces of the institutions by which they are employed 61 feldman s analysis does not distinguish between the public intellectual speaking in their own capacity and the academic speaking as a university employee yet academics must like workers anywhere be allowed to function as private individuals not as representatives of their employer even when they make public statements present their research in public fora outside the university and publish articles with their university affiliations teaching is different it is addressed to a specific group of students not to the general public what is said in the classroom is subject to different standards than what is said in the public sphere academics require the freedom not to represent their universities outside classroom contexts because the only valid charge ever made against miller pertained to his extramural statements in non university contexts his firing in effect denies this freedom to all academics setting a dangerous precedent in the end the university acted against miller and contrary to the conclusions of the report it had commissioned hence the rejection of the employee s right not to be treated as a representative of their university is enshrined in the university s decision this outcome undermines the freedom of all academics as well as the integrity of the profession to which they belong while it can substantiate the argument that miller s work is embedded in numerous conspiracy theories that are antisemitic in their exposition if not in their intent the reservoir theory does not confront the paradox that follows from this analysis the body of work that was found to be problematic in 2021 was vetted by numerous scholarly associations journals and even funders including the uk government funded economic and social research council esrc over the course of many years such a long list of approvals does not make miller s work immune to feldman s critique it does however mean that to the extent that it is problematic any problems were embedded within the entire academic culture that had supported it for decades due process matters and even anti racism does not justify its violation it matters that miller was hired into a permanent position at the university of bristol even when the work that feldman and others have found problematic was already published whatever one s views on the validity of the hiring committee s assessment it should have been regarded as irreversible on speech related grounds feldman implicitly acknowledges that miller s problematic work long pre dates the moment when he began to be accused of antisemitism 62 miller did not undergo a sudden antisemitic transformation on his arrival at the university of bristol in 2019 his work was consistently problematic in precisely the ways feldman describes any charge of antisemitism directed against miller would also need to be directed against the academic institutions that supported miller s work including the esrc and perhaps this is exactly where the reservoir theory leads us in the realm of ideas given its aim to reveal how antisemitic prejudice permeates an entire society in more or less unconscious ways at its best such an approach has its merits it shares the contextual emphasis of materialism and reminds us that as we know from decades of critical race theory racism is first and foremost structural understood contextually it could even limit the impulse to make individuals like miller into targets when they merely illustrate a wider phenomenon even legitimate critiques cannot target someone for their beliefs without violating freedom of speech in short we require a much more nuanced account of agency and culpability than most critiques of miller have allowed for the dialectical materialism of leftist thinkers like abram leon is well suited to address this gap even when the critique of certain instances of antisemitism makes sense firing every single person who ever spoke favourably about miller signed a letter in support of him or decided to fund miller s and his colleagues research cannot be a solution being implicated in antisemitism is not a sufficient reason to have one s fundamental rights violated assuming reasonable and well informed critics of antisemitism would not support taking drastic action against all people who may be complicit in reservoir style antisemitism then what relevant distinction might legitimate a different approach to miller in particular the borderlines between the problematically antisemitic and the unacceptably antisemitic are intrinsically subjective the existence of a fluid border does not mean that antisemitism cannot be challenged it simply means that we should be wary of what institutions and which individuals we empower to draw such distinctions and of the consequences that follow from them we should recognize that the way in which these distinctions are drawn in any given context often has a great deal more to do with the political alliances of those empowered to judge than with the presence or absence of antisemitism while the critique of antisemitism is a permanent imperative it is impossible to fully or satisfactorily abstract this mandate from the critique of other cultural and social prejudices hate crime legislation and laws against harassment exist in order to adjudicate situations in which antisemitic sentiment reaches beyond speech and becomes action in the realm of ideas however the distinction between the problematically antisemitic which can be resolved through education and debate and the unacceptably antisemitic at which point the guilty parties must be dismissed from their positions and otherwise silenced is impossible to make in legally valid terms within a democratic society the state or state funded the reservoir theory of antisemitism provides a useful set of tools for discerning the ubiquity of antisemitism in our everyday lives particularly when it is complemented with a dialectical materialist approach that takes account of wider social and political issues but we endanger ourselves when we entrust including universities to engage equally with varieties of antisemitism which should be discredited through argument and the unacceptably antisemitic which merits punishment such as termination of employment states and other public institutions that routinely collapse this distinction are often more invested justice their judgements are driven less by a pursuit of accuracy and accountability than by political expediency in accumulating power than administering institutions i see no prospect for this situation to change under current political conditions until we adopt a wider understanding of and appreciation for free speech that would bring it into alignment with the struggle against antisemitism and enhance our commitment to palestinian freedom this means rejecting all group specific definitions of racism whether that of the ihra the jda or the many definitions of islamophobia in circulation 63 the most effective way of combating racism is by eliminating through the force of law as well as through education institutional discrimination group specific definitions of racism by contrast are weak instruments for administering justice while the state must suppress and punish violent acts driven by racist intent reservoir style racism in individuals is most effectively combated outside the coercive apparatus of the state the measures taken by the state and non governmental entities to reduce reservoir style racism ought to focus on expanding the horizons of those who unwittingly propagate prejudice rather than on punishment and suppression to insist that the state should focus on preventing antisemitic violence and institutional discrimination is not to argue that there is nothing we can do to resist cultural or reservoir style antisemitism it is simply to recognize that the agency for fighting the reservoir of antisemitism that is an inherited part of our culture must come from people and institutions that are not likely to compromise for the sake of political gain as all politicians inevitably are education can help to dispel antisemitism but people must be allowed to decide for themselves and draw their own conclusions if critical thought and democratic deliberation are to be encouraged putting such checks and balances in place precludes firing individuals simply for expressing views that may be complicit in antisemitic conspiracy theories anti racism does not justify the violation of due process if it is acceptable to fire a professor for the encouragement his work gives to reservoir style antisemitism or other forms of racism then when and where will the purges end is everyone who ever participated in this most ancient of prejudices to be banished from the commonwealth it should not be necessary to agree with miller in order to be disturbed by his termination a more effective and more materialist way of fighting antisemitism is to change the political and sociological conditions that allow racism to flourish epilogue who is a jew personal reflections on jewish questions i am not a specialist in jewish studies let alone in the study of antisemitism nor according to most conventional definitions am i a jew what led me to write a book that follows in a tradition pioneered by karl marx leon trotsky abram leon and isaac deutscher what qualifies me to comment on this matter as if the fate of being jewish could be chosen and discarded at will just who do i think i am what right do i have to speak at all i am merely someone who was accused at a significant juncture in her life of being an antisemite and whose personal and professional life was transformed by that accusation paradoxically this accusation put pressure on me to clarify my relationship to the jewish traditions that have formed me intellectually as well as to the jewish histories that occupy the margins of my family history and shaped the fates of ancestors i never knew for most of my childhood my family s jewish origins were an open secret at best they were a source of exotic anecdotes that no one wanted to reckon with the antisemitism that underlies this long tradition of suppression had gone unremarked for my entire life many of those who knew about my family s suppressed history are no longer alive i bring this history to light without the benefit of their insights as if relating the story of someone other than myself even further invalidating my perspective on the jewish question in the eyes of some i am an ardent opponent of nation state formations in general and of settler colonialism in palestine specifically i lived in palestine while working in jerusalem but after a year of such a life my complicity with the occupation became untenable a complicity which much of my subsequent work has been an attempt to reckon with my connection to the jewish question is in the eyes of my accusers more that of the antisemite than of the jew in 2019 the same groups that accused me of antisemitism alleged that i had falsified my jewish identity by signing a letter addressed to the german parliament in which i added my voice to those of hundreds of jewish scholars and activists expressing concern over the way in which antisemitism was being used to suppress criticism of israel 1 in fact i had only signed the letter because its authors had asked me to whether they considered me jewish or not i do not know but i welcomed the opportunity to identify as a jew or with jews and to associate myself with the search for a better approach to antisemitism whether or not advocates of the ihra definition accepted that ascription the accusation that i had falsified my judaism although i had merely aligned myself with the signatories who identified as jews not intentionally claimed that i was jewish set me on a path i wanted to understand what it meant to identify as a jew in my own sense and on my own terms identifying as a jew or more precisely identifying with jews means having a concept of antisemitism and concepts of antisemitism are as various as jewish identity itself the ways in which we perceive and do not perceive antisemitism determine how we perceive or do not perceive ourselves as jews this in turn shapes what we think should be done about antisemitism and its persistence in our social worlds in the nineteenth century the jewish question referred to the emancipation of jews within modern europe in the second half of the twentieth century the jewish question meant in practice if not in theory jews relationship to the state of israel and the occupation of palestine in the twenty first century this third iteration of the jewish question has been dominated by definitions of antisemitism and debates around how they impinge on the struggle for palestinian freedom my reflections on the twenty first century jewish question begin with intertwined narratives of jews from across eastern europe that shaped my family s history but were subsequently suppressed if there is one thing i have learned through my study of antisemitism past and present it is that personal experience overwhelmingly shapes jewish identity generating its irreconcilable contradictions and predetermining the political alliances forged in the struggle against antisemitism i never thought seriously about my family s suppressed jewish histories until i was accused of antisemitism like many people of european origin my ancestry begins in the shtetls of poland and the jewish settlements of southern germany among jews who were forced for their economic as well as physical survival to migrate across the world in search of peace and prosperity the jewish link is on both sides of my father s family his grandmother was descended from a line of wealthy western european jews who settled in england germany the netherlands and ultimately the united states they belonged to an eminent merchant diaspora and established themselves elegantly wherever they went eighteenth and nineteenth century england was full of jews who bore the name levy my great great grandfather john jonah levy was among them john jonah levy was the son of joseph levy who emigrated with his seven children and wife to the united states where he died in 1908 by the beginning of the nineteenth century the levy family had already made it to the united states prior to that the family can be found in amsterdam among a long lineage of captains who made a living and perhaps a fortune trading goods between the new world of america and the old world these ancestors blended well into european society their names captain hendrikus arnoldus blankman captain gerrit gerritsz and gerrit pieterszoon blankman are not markedly jewish one wonders how public these captains were about their ancestry the levy name creeps up every other generation within this family line as if every generation that was determined to suppress its jewish heritage was followed by another that was equally determined to celebrate it ironically it was the poor side of my grandfather s family that came from the shtetls of poland not the wealthier branch that came from western europe that created wealth for generations to come my grandfather s father leon goldstone came from much humbler jewish origins than did his grandmother leon was the son of jacob goldstein the wealth that these jewish migrants created made my father and his seven siblings the beneficiaries of an inheritance that ended with his generation born in an unidentified part of poland extant documents are opaque jacob goldstein changed his name to goldstone probably when he arrived in america having changed from goldstein to goldstone by the next generation it had already become gould the jewish origins of the name entirely obliterated herein lies a partial mystery newspapers from the time report that jacob goldstone was a proud jew and his wife was descended from a family of orthodox polish rabbis the evidence of concealed jewish origins is impossible to deny the profile of jacob goldstone in the san francisco examiner as the oldest member of the congregation sherith israel in san francisco s oldest synagogue is not suggestive of someone who would easily renounce his faith or change his name in order to hide his jewish origins and yet jacob was also a talented and committed businessman he was keenly interested in establishing himself in american commerce presumably he made the choices he made such as concealing certain parts of his history and identity because he thought doing so was a necessary condition for financial success and upward economic mobility jacob in america soon after arriving founded goldstone manufacturers a firm that specialized in pants overalls and the crucial element of workers uniforms that would later be called blue jeans the family business flourished throughout the late nineteenth century and into the early twentieth century when jacob s sons took charge of what then became goldstone brothers manufacturers credit for introducing blue jeans into the american economy would go to another entrepreneur levi strauss a german manufacturer of ashkenazi jewish origin who migrated to america around the same time as my great great grandfather jacob and started his own manufacturing company both firms clothed the miners of california s gold rush during the 1840s and 1850s ultimately the profits and success of levi jeans would entirely eclipse the revenues generated by goldstone manufacturers no one has heard of goldstone s overalls today but in its heyday the company was among the leading clothing manufacturers in the western united states a 1920 issue of the san francisco examiner advertised the goldstone brothers slogan union made overalls pants working clothing alongside an announcement stating that they were among the progressive firms who are backing the movement to make san francisco the wholesale center of the pacific coast in 1925 jacob goldstone was remembered in his obituary in the san francisco examiner as a pioneer clothing manufacturer of san francisco the label pioneer resonated in more ways than one the goldstone family settled permanently like the levys on the west coast while the gold rush was in full swing they were proud ambitious and soon to be wealthy pioneers unlike the jews of the tenements whose stories and demographics dominate early twentieth century american history and yet behind the goldstones story of success and economic prosperity lies a longer history of persecution and poverty which my father s ancestors share in common with most jews from the pale of settlement the ancestors of luxemburg leon deutscher and other polish jews clustered into communities called shtetls there is a break in the family history between jacob gold stone born in an unnamed village in poland and his father moses david cohn born in 1817 in klepno poland to rabbi salomon kohn when he was buried in 1887 in san francisco moses tombstone recorded that he had germanized his name as kempen and described him as a native of kempen prussia jacob goldstein born in 1832 was moses first son by the time of my father s birth the family s jewish histories had been thoroughly suppressed i do not know exactly what my father knew about his ancestors jewish past because he rarely spoke about it my own reconstructions are based more on newspaper clippings and genealogical records than on the words of anyone i personally knew all that i recall being told as a child was that mabel levy goldstone my father s grandmother and the descendent of the wealthy german jewish strand of our family vowed in her will that anyone among her descendants who rejected the jewish faith and converted to catholicism would be barred from inheriting her wealth prohibitions notwithstanding my grandfather did convert to catholicism when he married my father s mother and his conversion did not prevent him from inheriting the family s wealth my father grew up in a conservative catholic household in which the faith of his irish mother dominated over that of his jewish polish father i never met his father and only knew his mother from a distance the family was wealthy far above the social class into which i was born and raised hence i never thought of my family as jewish in even the remotest sense of the term had i been pressed i would have described my father s family as catholic born to wealth and entitlement and oblivious with respect to their own past what does my family s history and my efforts to recover it have to do with the study of antisemitism in relationship to israel palestine or with the persistence of the jewish question in the twenty first century by demonstrating the ubiquity of antisemitism in modern society this history confirms feldman s account of antisemitism as a reservoir that is replenished over time with every new generation and every new prejudice 2 yet most of those who replenish the reservoir of antisemitism do not see themselves as antisemites feldman s understanding of antisemitism as an everyday phenomenon has illuminated my efforts to trace my own complicity and entanglement with this form of prejudice it has also helped me to see how my family s history is in part a result of a deep cultural legacy of jew hatred among many other factors most importantly it has awakened me to the antisemitic sentiments that underwrite the most banal and routine social interactions within my everyday social milieu including in my interactions with anti racist leftists i will limit myself to just one example which i choose because i would not have perceived the antisemitic dimensions of this incident prior to being accused of antisemitism myself and embarking on a journey of self exploration which included learning from feldman s work in the summer of 2018 i was invited to a dinner party with a group of fellow academics at a university i was visiting in the north eastern united states after dinner the conversation turned to gossip about university administrators and the politics of our professions many of us had attended a public discussion earlier that day of jasbir puar s the right to maim debility capacity disability 2017 a book on the israeli assault on gaza and its maiming of palestinians a newly hired assistant professor of history had joined the discussion while we spoke about palestinians who had been maimed by idf bombings and attacks she referred to her time in israel during which she had interviewed israeli veterans maimed by war at the time when she made the remark nothing struck me as unusual about her reference to israeli victims of war but now at dinner as we rehearsed the key points of that discussion the host s animus came to the fore now among like minded leftists who could be presumed to be hostile to israel she felt free to speak her mind what did you think of that little miss zionist the host asked the reduction of the new colleague s comments about israel to mere propaganda for the zionist side was a slight surprise but the transformation of this person into little miss zionist was the real shock i had interpreted the new colleague s comments as a reasonable attempt to add historical context to the conversation by reporting her experience of the war on the israeli side and drawing on her own research everyone suffers from war even when the balance of suffering is unequal and even when one side bears the blame much more than the other while i could easily see why we might want to turn away from the perpetrators in order to focus on the real victims of the war in gaza the shift to zionism as the primary discursive space seemed to come from a different kind of reservoir one full of animosity towards jews or at least israelis zionism was not under discussion during that meeting yet my leftist friend turned the event into a referendum on that very subject and even worse an attempt to vindicate a zionist position clearly her remarks did not engage with this new colleague s actual words zionism was projected onto her by her antagonist the new colleague had never said a word about zionism or indeed about israeli politics indeed this new colleague s jewish name apparently predisposed her to being perceived as a zionist shill in the eyes of my colleague even before she opened her mouth as i reflected on the after dinner conversation on my way home the antisemitic undertone of an exchange i would not have regarded as problematic years earlier came into focus i came to see how antisemitism can masquerade as anti zionism or as devotion to the palestinian cause what i had witnessed was reservoir style antisemitism to use feldman s metaphor at work during my time in the west bank i had repeatedly witnessed overt racism towards palestinians in israel of a much more explicit nature than what i encountered at the new england dinner table when i was living in bethlehem i met a taxi driver at checkpoint 300 who offered to take me to what he promised was an important historical site it turned out to be herodion jabal al firdous mountain of paradise a cone shaped hill located between the palestinian villages of za atara and jannatah it was here that over two thousand years ago king herod built a site to commemorate his life and work the site was conquered by romans in the year 71 ce many centuries later the crusaders fought salah al din when he reclaimed jerusalem or so the story goes more recently in 1993 herodium was incorporated into area c of the oslo accords placed under the israeli civil administration and managed by the israel nature and parks authority although located in the west bank the site is staffed entirely by israelis entry to the site was blocked by a makeshift kiosk the ticket seller inside refused point blank to allow entry to my palestinian driver palestinians not allowed he said simply the driver backed away and i was filled with shame the control of this moment returns to me whenever israeli apartheid is mentioned never in my life had i witnessed a more direct expression of racism the manifestation of antisemitism that i observed in this small new england university community was more subtle in this respect it was not unlike the wasp antisemitism of the united states during the 1950s full of upper class elitism and self righteousness which animates the fictions of writers like john cheever my anti racist colleagues who discoursed against zionism would of course be horrified by this comparison for those like me who are not accustomed to perceiving racism in this sublimated form its discernment requires a special kind of training and experience i had to unlearn the cultural norms i had taken for granted for much of my life it seemed clear to me that the host herself had a kind of false consciousness about her own attitudes she had no antisemitic intent and presumably no conscious hostility to jews as jews yet the labelling of this new colleague as little miss zionist was nonetheless antisemitic in its unwarranted reduction of a human being to a political symbol the new colleague was unfairly reduced to a political discourse that she did not deliberately evoke or openly embrace like any other racism antisemitism can exist in the absence of intent like islamophobia it can simply involve the automatic and evidence free ascription of a specific ideology to another person i would not have perceived this reductive discourse as antisemitic a year earlier yet it seemed obvious to me now even though my opposition to zionism was the same as before and my support for palestinian rights had not changed as i mulled over the epithet on my way home a shockwave travelled through me although i was troubled by the quick rush to judgement i did not say anything it was hard for me to face the fact that this new friend whose company i enjoyed and whose intellect i respected was comfortable airing uncritical antisemitic prejudices rightly or wrongly i kept my silence i dwell on this incident because i would not have been disturbed by this offhand description of a political antagonist as little miss zionist prior to being accused of antisemitism myself that accusation motivated me to seek to understand why and how a purely political remark might be experienced as antisemitic being accused of antisemitism awakened me to the prevalence and extent of antisemitism in my own midst it showed me that my own culture including the leftist circles of which i was a part was steeped in antisemitism not in the sense of outright animus but in the sense of feldman s cultural reservoir from time to time this reservoir bursts and water overflows most of the time the water flows calmly onwards sometimes the reservoir is just a stagnant pool of tepid water without foolishly trying to predict what the future holds we know that historical wounds inflicted by millennia of persecution will not simply heal and be forgotten no definition can replace the difficult work of self recognition that challenging racism and antisemitism in all its forms requires the materials left behind in archives newspapers and the stories passed from generation to generation suggest that my ancestors participated in the antisemitic reservoirs of german polish australian and american society while also being their target the shame of being jewish and his indifference to the faith of his ancestors prompted my grandfather to change the family name from goldstone to gould inadvertently echoing the earlier transformation of goldstein into goldstone and to raise his eight children as catholic the jewish traditions that my best known jewish ancestor rabbi meschullam salomon kohn of krotoszyn rawicz and fürth passed on to his children which those children passed onto their children ended with my grandfather richard stanley gould who died many years before i was born although richard had been raised in a jewish household he chose to raise his children in the catholic faith the secure social status that came with passing as catholic prevailed over the shame of being a jew having chronicled the fates of my obscure ancestors i will end by contrasting them with those of the much more famous polish and russian jews who have shaped my understanding of antisemitism these individuals have a tremendous contribution to make to the contemporary effort to bring the fight against antisemitism into alignment with palestinian freedom leon abram and isaac deutscher are among the most outstanding figures in the jewish marxist tradition that insists on the necessary interdependency of jewish and palestinian rights but they are not the only ones like jacob goldstone these jews grew up in the shtetls of poland amid intense poverty as non jewish jews in deutscher s sense they used their exposure to the rigorous traditions of jewish learning to develop philosophies that prioritized human equality and collective freedom above all else including religion they applied their learning mainly to non jewish domains of learning and political activism most notably marxism and zionism by contrast among my ancestors the tradition of jewish learning seems to have ended with rabbi meschullam salomon kohn towards the beginning of the nineteenth century rabbi kohn died in the southern german city of fürth known as franconian jerusalem because of its large jewish population prior to world war ii he was buried in one of germany s largest jewish cemeteries and his tombstone remains untarnished to this day even after the desecration of jewish gravestones by the nazis the traces left by these ancestors are scarce as a polish archivist remarked to me the obligation to keep jewish vital records in this area was first introduced in 1794 3 whatever records did exist have not made it to the present aside from rabbi meschullam salomon kohn my ancestors were traders merchants and businessmen not scholars keeping the jewish faith alive their pragmatism may have contributed to their willingness to convert to catholicism when success seemed to demand this sacrifice their relative indifference to the faith of their ancestors which increased with every generation meant that i was not raised in the jewish tradition until i was accused of being an antisemite i had no consciousness of being affected by antisemitism antisemitism had little meaning for me personally either as a prejudice of which i was a victim or as a phenomenon in which i was implicated it was at this juncture in my life that david feldman s argument about antisemitism as a reservoir that is replenished over time and which we all inherit to a greater or lesser degree acquired a special kind of meaning for me during my journey through the history of antisemitism and the debate around its definitions i have encountered only one voice in the debate about the ihra definition and the wider controversy around defining antisemitism that is consistently and uncompromisingly devoted to free speech without caveats or self deceptions it belongs to ken stern author of the important account of the campus politics pertaining to this definition the conflict over the conflict 2020 stern is unique in that he has never in any way known to me misrepresented the positions of his opponents due to political blindness nor has he sought to deflect good faith debates around free speech and antisemitism in directions more suited to his political agenda even scholars of free speech who have written about antisemitism have not maintained his high standards ever since acquiring a reputation in leftist circles for his opposition to the abusive application of the ihra definition which he authored stern has displayed a capacity for self critique and objective judgement in this debate that strengthens the free speech argument more broadly 4 if all participants in this debate had his intellectual honesty there might be no conflict at all or at least people would be honest about their disagreement however in this case virtue is the fatal flaw stern s approach cannot be generally applied because he is the only participant in the debate whose track record suggests a serious concern for free speech and it is impossible to build a lasting paradigm for free speech around a single individual who among us is ready to grant the right of our political antagonists to disagree and yet continue to exist in opposition to us i have seen leading scholars of free speech engage in self deception time and again whether by disproportionately favouring causes that suit their political disposition or by implicitly supporting the censorship of views they oppose 5 i have no reason to consider myself exempt from such self deception at the risk of self incrimination i will suggest that part of the problem with academic work on free speech is that the authors in question are all university based academics and the very structure of academic life encourages a strong bifurcation between theory and practice academics are rarely if ever forced to confront the actual contexts in which their ideas are implemented when they do confront contemporary contexts it is by choice rather than necessity and therefore they do so selectively this severance from practice means that the sophisticated body of academic scholarship that has developed around free speech in the past several decades is often out of touch with the everyday scenarios in which free speech is undermined and contested and its proponents are rarely called on to confront the contradictions in their arguments or commitments their theoretical defences of free speech thus end up existing independently of the world in which they should be implemented i have searched throughout this book for ways of fighting antisemitism while also preventing this necessary fight from suppressing and constraining pro palestinian activism i have not been so naive as to believe that i could develop a straightforward path for eradicating antisemitism that has any hope of achieving a consensus in the current polarized environment and yet i do believe that the materialist critique of antisemitism developed in the preceding century by leon trotsky and deutscher can be of use today in showing how the struggle for palestinian freedom and the fight against antisemitism demand each other if unconditional solidarity with the persecuted and exterminated is what made isaac deutscher a jew in his own estimation then fidelity to judaism mandates a future for jews that incorporates into itself the quest for palestinian freedom appreciation tremendous thanks to kayvan tahmasebian for being the first reader of this book and for accompanying me on my journey away from purely academic writing to addressing a wider audience my mother brenda gould was immensely generous with her time and careful reading kate and beth gould helped with framing the book in a wider context i am very grateful to the society of authors for awarding this book a work in progress grant at an early stage at verso i am indebted to rosie warren for her wonderful edits charles peyton for brilliant copyediting jeanne tao for overseeing the production process and tariq ali and sebastian budgen for inviting me to write the book i also want to express my gratitude to lynn wadding who went out of her way to make it possible for me to attend all screenings of the bristol palestine film festival in 2021 her extraordinary care and concern have been inspiring in their own right thanks to tariq modood tom sperlinger gene feder the members of the british committee for the universities of palestine and their solidarity with me from 2017 when i first became entangled in these issues while at the university of bristol thanks to eric heinze whose work on academic freedom and freedom of speech has long been an inspiration to me other scholars friends and colleagues to whom i owe significant debts include seth anziska sue blackwell mona baker mohammad el khatib kate gould talal hangari bilal hamamra javed majeed malaka mohammad shwaikh riz mokal yossi rappaport yana shabana jonathan rosenhead kenneth stern marc volovici and yair wallach jamie potter at the law firm bindmans llp was an extraordinary lawyer and source of inspiration his example provided a much needed reminder that the law can be used to advance social justice in expressing my gratitude to these individuals which in some cases is due to their honest and eye opening disagreements with me i do not of course imply any agreement on their part with my views this book is dedicated to the memory of my father christopher joseph gould who passed away unexpectedly before it was completed i wish he could have lived to see it i am grateful to be able to honour his lifelong commitment to freedom of speech notes prologue on being accused of antisemitism 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 i have described this bifurcated existence in rebecca ruth gould the materiality of resistance israel s apartheid wall in an age of globalization social text 118 2014 pp 1 22 edward said out of place a memoir new york vintage 1999 p 134 the online version of this document identifies the van leer institute as the place where a group of scholars came together to address key challenges in identifying and confronting antisemitism jerusalemdeclaration org rebecca ruth gould stolen limestone beautiful english scotland dreich p 22 the stories behind these limestone deposits are told in andrew ross stone men the palestinians who built israel london verso 2019 the article was published as rebecca gould beyond anti semitism counterpunch 18 19 pp 1 3 this was before counterpunch was an exclusively online publication isaac deutscher interview with isaac deutscher on the israeli arab war new left review i 44 july august 1967 p 43 gould beyond anti semitism p 3 by contrast the holocaust and the nakba a new grammar of trauma and history ed bashir bashir and amos goldberg new york columbia university press 2018 develops a nuanced methodology for placing palestinian and jewish trauma in comparison camilla turner bristol university investigates claims of anti semitism after lecturer claims that jews should stop privileging the holocaust daily telegraph 20 february 2017 letter from marie van der zyl vice president of the board of deputies of british jews to vice chancellor hugh brady 22 february 2017 on file with the author cited in paul mendes flohr and jehuda reinharz eds the jew in the modern world a documentary history oxford oxford university press 1995 p 580 for background on the conflict around the ihra definition within the labour party see jamie stern weiner ed antisemitism and the labour party london verso 2019 the text for the ihra definition is posted on the website of the international holocaust remembrance alliance at holocaustremembrance com my quotations from the definition refer to this source brian klug interrogating new anti semitism ethnic and racial studies 36 3 2013 p 470 office to monitor and combat anti semitism working definition of anti semitism 8 february 2007 at 2001 2009 state gov kenneth s stern the conflict over the conflict the israel palestine campus debate toronto new jewish press 2020 p 151 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 kenneth s stern antisemitism today how it is the same how it is different and how to fight it american jewish committee 2006 p 192 antisemitism in 2016 overview trends and events jerusalem ministry of diaspora affairs 2017 p 52 stern antisemitism today p 102 my emphases rabbi andrew baker deidre berger and michael whine mbe letter to kathrin meyer and katharina von schnurbein 19 january 2021 ecaj org au wordpress wp content uploads baker berger whine letter on origins of the wd pdf baker berger and whine identify themselves along with stern as joint authors of the original definition in 2004 05 the history of these events in documented in stern conflict over the conflict dina porat and esther webman compilation booklet of the proceedings of the working definition of antisemitism six years after tel aviv the stephen roth institute for the study of contemporary antisemitism and racism tel aviv university 2010 p 4 antony lerman weapons in the labour antisemitism wars the ihra working definition and the accusation of institutional antisemitism in greg philo et al bad news for labour antisemitism the party and public belief london pluto 2019 p 122 jamie stern weiner the politics of a definition how the ihra working definition of antisemitism is being misrepresented free speech on israel april 2021 pp 14ff pdf available at free speechonisrael org uk ben white discredited definition of anti semitism no longer in use says bbc electronic intifada 30 october 2013 swc contributes to new eu handbook for the practical use of the ihra working definition of antisemitism 8 january 2021 simon wiesenthal center wiesenthal com see stern weiner politics of a definition the pears foundation later withdrew its name from the center apparently due to the stance feldman had taken against the ihra definition david feldman will britain s new definition of antisemitism help jewish people i m sceptical guardian 28 december 2016 detailed accounts of the process through which this association took place are offered in stern weiner politics of a definition and anthony lerman whatever happened to antisemitism redefinition and the myth of the collective jew london pluto 2022 all quotations are from this report entitled report to the deputy vice chancellor 17 april 2017 on file with the author anti semitism expert and uk government advisor clash over ihra definition middle east monitor 30 december 2020 jo johnson tackling anti semitism on campus 13 february 2017 in the university of bristol s report on file with the author the letter is incorrectly dated as being from 2016 gavin williamson international holocaust remembrance alliance ihra working definition of antisemitism 9 october 2020 guidance to the office for students ofs secretary of state s strategic priorities 8 february 2021 p 7 providers that have adopted the ihra working definition of antisemitism office for students officeforstudents org uk media 5920824e b9e9 44ba aec5 8aec0d6000b6 providers that have adopted the ihra working definition of antisemitism_05 07 2022 pdf last updated 5 july 2022 smita jamdar gavin williamson s letter to vice chancellors on the ihra definition of antisemitism shakespeare martineau blog 13 october 2020 shma co uk shahd abusalama interviewed on not the andrew marr show 10 january 2023 starting at 2 minutes 38 karl marx letters from the deutsch französische jahrbücher marx to ruge kreuznach september 1843 at marxists org 1 erasing palestine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 on this process as reflected in the israeli media see yana shabana terrorism frames and indigenous elimination in news translation the times of israel as a case study phd dissertation university of birmingham 2022 this link was first pursued in the pioneering work of nadia abou el haj facts on the ground archaeological practice and territorial self fashioning in israeli society chicago university of chicago press 2001 jerusalem embassy act of 1995 104th us congress 1st session s 1322 mick dumper the us embassy move to jerusalem mixed messages and mixed blessings for israel review of middle east studies 53 1 2019 p 37 the president of the united states of america recognizing jerusalem as the capital of the state of israel and relocating the united states embassy to israel to jerusalem federal register 82 236 11 december 2017 the history of the wall and the art that has been created on it is discussed in gerhard wolf and avinoam shalem facing the wall the palestinian israeli barriers köln könig 2011 and rebecca ruth gould the materiality of resistance israel s apartheid wall in an age of globalization social text 118 march 2014 eyal weizman hollow land israel s architecture of occupation new york verso 2007 p 149 united nations office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs over 700 road obstacles control palestinian movement within the west bank 8 october 2018 at ochaopt org hagar kotef and merav amir between imaginary lines violence and its justifications at the military checkpoints in occupied palestine theory culture society 28 1 2011 p 73 alexandra rijke and claudio minca inside checkpoint 300 checkpoint regimes as spatial political technologies in the occupied palestinian territories antipode 51 3 2019 p 968 nigel parsons and mark salter governmentality geopolitics 13 4 2008 p 709 michel foucault the history of sexuality volume 1 an introduction transl robert hurley new york vintage 1976 p 138 nirit anderman why should we ask israel permission to film its illegal activity haaretz 12 may 2021 i saw both of these films at bristol s palestine film festival in 2021 by contrast in some terminals israeli soldiers use arabic kotef and amir between imaginary lines p 59 palestinian worker suffocates while waiting at crowded israeli military checkpoint palestine chronicle blog post 7 march 2018 parsons and salter israeli biopolitics p 710 helga tawil souri new palestinian centers an ethnography of the checkpoint economy journal of cultural studies 12 2009 p 232 amira hass israel s closure policy an ineffective strategy of containment and repression journal of palestine studies 31 3 2002 p 6 kotef and amir between imaginary lines p 73 israeli biopolitics closure territorialisation and 21 22 hass israel s closure policy p 10 ghassan kanafani men in the sun and other palestinian stories transl hilary kilpatrick boulder co lynne rienner 1999 p 63 2 anti zionism before israel 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 isaac deutscher the non jewish jew london verso 2017 1968 p 48 isaac deutscher the reporter 27 april and 11 may 1954 marxists org isaac deutscher interview with isaac deutscher on the israeli arab war new left review i 44 july august 1967 p 36 deutscher non jewish jew p 107 deutscher non jewish jew p 126 see didier musiedlak wilhelm marr 1819 1904 and the left in germany the birth of modern antisemitism in the european left and the jewish question 1848 1992 ed allesandra tarquini cham switzerland palgrave macmillan 2021 der arbayter fraynd 9 15 and 30 june 1916 cited in stuart cohen english zionists and british jews the communal politics of anglo jewry 1895 1920 princeton princeton university press 1982 p 252 mark levene the balfour declaration a case of mistaken identity english historical review cvii ccccxxii 1992 p 58 david lloyd george war memoirs london weidenfeld watson 1933 36 vol 2 p 721 the analysis here is informed by brian klug zionism binationalism antisemitism three contemporary jewish readings of the balfour declaration journal of levantine studies 8 1 2018 i quote from the manifesto as reproduced in nahum sokolow history of zionism 1600 1918 london longmans green co 1919 pp 124 8 jonathan schneer the balfour declaration the origins of the arab israeli conflict london bloomsbury 2010 p 307 levene the balfour declaration p 63 levene the balfour declaration p 67 schneer the balfour declaration p 336 edwin s montagu the anti semitism of the present government 23 august 1917 at commons wikimedia org harry sacher zionist portraits london anthony blond 1959 p 37 c g montefiore an englishman of jewish faith fortnightly review november 1916 p 823 levene balfour declaration p 76 elizabeth monroe britain s moment in the middle east london chatto windus 1981 p 43 cited in schneer the balfour declaration p 343 cited in levene the balfour declaration p 59 as documented in schneer the balfour declaration pp 342 4 levene the balfour declaration p 75 levene the balfour declaration p 77 quoted in leon trotsky on the jewish question new york pathfinder 1970 p 20 enzo traverso the jewish question history of a marxist debate leiden brill 2018 p 10 i quote here from the revised second edition of traverso s classic work which was first published in 1990 3 a materialist critique of antisemitism introducing abram leon 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 see in particular hannah arendt antisemitism in arendt the jewish writings ed jerome kohn and ron h feldman new york schocken 2007 pp 46 121 the most developed critique is that of maxime rodinson from the jewish nation to the jewish problem in rodinson cult ghetto and state the persistence of the jewish question london saqi 1983 enzo traverso the jewish question history of a marxist debate leiden brill 2018 p 193 david ruben marxism and the jewish question socialist register 1982 p 210 see john rose liberating jewish history from its zionist stranglehold rediscovering abram leon holy land studies a multidisciplinary journal 5 1 2006 p 3n3 in this connection it is worth noting that trotsky s own name was a replacement for the more visibly jewish lev davidovich bronstein the most extensive biographical account of leon is by his friend and fellow activist ernest mandel 1923 95 whose memoir of his friendship with leon appears as the preface to the 1968 french edition and which is reprinted in abram leon the jewish question a marxist interpretation london pathfinder 1970 1946 the full print run of the newspaper has been digitized by the belgian war press project at warpress cegesoma be see for example robert fine and philip spencer marx s defence of jewish emancipation and critique of the jewish question in fine and spencer antisemitism and the left on the return of the jewish question manchester manchester university press 2017 leon the jewish question p 77n15 another example j a hobson imperialism london allen unwin 1949 1902 david feldman has noted hobson s antisemitic in commerce capitalism and antisemitism jews money myth jewish museum london 2019 and jeremy corbyn imperialism and labour s antisemitism problem history workshop online 2019 historyworkshop org uk leon trotsky interview with jewish correspondents in mexico in leon trotsky on the jewish question new york pathfinder 1970 p 34 in the only article to discuss leon s contribution to jewish studies thoroughly john rose notes that leon wrote the first pioneering study of jewish mercantilism yet remains largely unrecognized by modern scholarship liberating jewish history p 3 other scholars for example tal elmaliach in the revival of abram leon the jewish question and the american new left left history 21 2 2017 18 have examined leon s book from more contemporary perspectives such as its reception after the six day war traverso the jewish question p 10 for leon s revision of marx see tom navon marx and jewish history paper delivered at marx200 politics theory socialism rosa luxemburg stiftung congress in berlin 4 may 2018 leon trotsky imperialism and anti semitism in trotsky on the jewish question p 50 karl marx capital vol 1 transl ben fowkes london penguin 1976 p 173 marx s dissertation was epikureischen differenz der demokritischen und naturphilosophie the difference between the democritean and epicurean philosophy of tendencies titled nature university of jena 1841 bruno bauer die judenfrage braunschweig f otto 1843 p 9 traverso the jewish question p 20 trotsky imperialism and anti semitism p 51 oxford english dictionary pore n 1 oed com december 2022 leon the jewish question p 72 karl marx on the jewish question in marx early political writings ed joseph j o malley cambridge cambridge university press 1994 p 54 leon the jewish question p 79 leon the jewish question p 77 henri laurent religion et affaires cahiers du libre examen brussels 1938 cited in leon the jewish question p 77 see scott meikle aristotle on money phronesis 39 1 1994 david graeber debt the first 5 000 years new york melville house 2011 leon the jewish question p 154 max weber ancient judaism transl h h girth and don martindale new york free press 1967 1917 9 p 8 weber also expands on these ideas in weber the sociology of religion transl ephraim fischoff boston beacon 1963 1920 arnaldo momigliano a note on max weber s definition of judaism as a pariah religion history and theory 19 3 1980 leon the jewish question p 91 leon the jewish question p 154 leon the jewish question p 251 leon the jewish question p 252 leon the jewish question p 220 leon the jewish question p 232 frantz fanon black skin white masks london pluto 1986 p 92 leon the jewish question p 229 leon the jewish question p 244 leon the jewish question p 229 leon the jewish question p 250 leon the jewish question p 205 leon the jewish question p 254 rodinson from the jewish nation to the jewish problem abram leon al mafhum al maddi li l masalat al yahudiyya transl imad nuwayhid beirut daral tali alil taba awaal nashr 1969 nuwayhid s biography is discussed in dylan baun claiming an individual party family and the politics of memorialization in the lebanese civil war middle east critique 30 4 2021 tom navon a materialist approach to jewish history the case of abram leon unpublished manuscript p 2 yanis varoufakis the global minotaur the crash of 2008 and the euro zone crisis in historical perspective 9 november 2011 columbia university youtube video at 55 mins leon the jewish question p 205 leon the jewish question p 71 leon the jewish question p 72 leon the jewish question p 229 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 op eds and letters relying on this argument can be found in venues such as the miami herald 11 july 2020 the guardian 15 june 2018 and jewish news syndicate 21 january 2020 those who disagree on the ihra definition often agree on this point leon the jewish question p 171 feldman jeremy corbyn imperialism and labour s antisemitism problem david feldman and marc volovici the pure essence of things contingency controversy and the struggle to define antisemitism and islamophobia in antisemitism islamophobia and the politics of definition ed david feldman and marc volovici london palgrave 2023 pp 3 18 4 free speech and palestinian freedom 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 the identity of the qc has not been released or made known to the relevant parties the university defended its decision to preserve the qc s anonymity as well as the cost of the legal proceedings on the grounds that revealing the amount would likely prejudice both the commercial interests of the university and the qc quoted in steerpike bristol refuse to declare david miller probe costs spectator 6 january 2022 quoted from bristol hate off campus pattern of behaviour ujs the voice of jewish students website ujs org uk personal conversation with david miller 4 december 2021 quoted in chris york jewish students intimidated by professor s comments as williamson defends free speech huffington post 20 february 2021 pm speech at antisemitism reception 27 november 2018 gov uk see the working paper co authored by david miller paul mckeigue and piers robinson assessment by the engineering sub team of the opcw fact finding mission investigating the alleged chemical attack in douma in april 2018 working group on syria propaganda and media 13 may 2019 as indicated by the title this work calls into question the evidence that syrian president bashar al assad used chemical weapons against a civilian population alex callinicos defend david miller and academic freedom socialist worker 5 october 2021 excerpts from the report are shared in the electronic intifada david miller was cleared of anti semitism leaked document shows 22 october 2021 which misleadingly fails to clarify that it refers to the complaint of 2019 rather than the incidents of 2021 victoria canning vicky _ canning a ucu member david miller has been cleared of unlawful actions and antisemitism in light of recent developments berglund_oscar and i are asking the university twitter 23 october 2021 motion academic freedom and professor david miller bristol ucu notes march 2021 bristolucu files wordpress com 2021 03 motion academic freedom and professor david miller pdf eldin fahmy via email 21 october 2021 talal hangari via email 29 jan 2022 for the persecution experienced by hangari see p 102 peter ramsay offers a critical introduction to this legislation in is prevent a safe space education citizenship and social justice 12 2 march 2017 university statement regarding complaint against professor steven greer university of bristol 8 october 2021 bristol ac uk 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 for labour 10 january 2023 marc lamont hill and mitchell plitnick except for palestine the limits of progressive politics new york new press 2020 see salaita s autobiographical account uncivil rites palestine and the limits of academic freedom chicago haymarket 2015 syd waters the interaction of academic freedom and state sovereignty in normative tensions academic freedom in international education ed kevin w gray rowman littlefield 2022 pp 63 4 malia bouattia i m the new nus president and no i m not an antisemitic isis sympathiser guardian 24 april 2016 these campaigns are detailed in malaka shwaikh and rebecca ruth gould the palestine exception to academic freedom intertwined stories from the frontlines of uk based palestine activism biography an interdisciplinary quarterly 42 4 2020 the article that triggered the controversy is talal hangari why we should drop the ihra definition of antisemitism cambridge student 7 may 2021 hangari has documented his experience in i was expelled from my labour club for disagreeing with the ihra tribune magazine 9 june 2021 malia bouattia what we should learn from shahd abusalama s victory against the hasbara brigades new arab 4 february 2022 solidarity with shahd abusalama jewish voice jewishvoiceforlabour org uk gareth harris manchester gallery director forced out over palestine statement in exhibition art newspaper 23 february 2022 100 mps and peers write to bristol university over professor david miller jewish news 5 march 2021 educators and researchers in support of professor miller support david miller 26 february 2021 supportmiller org response to recent comments by prof david miller joint letter 1 march 2021 wordpress com correspondence on file with author dated 7 september 2021 asa winstanley professor david miller fired after israel lobby smear campaign electronic intifada 1 october 2021 guide to freedom of speech university of birmingham intranet birmingham ac uk these dynamics are explored in detail in rebecca ruth gould legal form and legal legitimacy the ihra definition of antisemitism as a case study in censored speech law culture and the humanities 18 1 2018 i explain on pp 121 5 why the insistence on balance by university free speech codes undermines academic freedom equality and human rights commission freedom of expression a guide for higher education in england and wales february 2019 p 25 providers and students unions equalityhumanrights com university statement on palsoc event of 8 november 2017 university of cambridge 2 february 2018 sara ahmed complaint durham duke university press 2021 university of aberdeen votes against using ihra definition of anti semitism national 9 october 2022 thenational scot the university senate voted against the advice of the university administration to adopt the jda instead of the ihra this essay was published in a shorter version as my life as a cautionary tale probing the limits of academic freedom chronicle review 28 august 2019 the more substantive version 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 from which i quote here is found on the author s website stevesalaita com see virginia mantouvalou i lost my job over a facebook post was that fair discipline and dismissal for social media activity international journal of comparative labour law and industrial relations 35 1 2019 isabella b cho and ariel h kim 38 harvard faculty sign open letter questioning results of misconduct investigations into prof john comaroff harvard crimson 4 february 2022 most of the signatories subsequently retracted their signatures but with only a few exceptions they did not apologize for signing in the first place or shed light on their thought process karl marx on the jewish question in marx early political writings ed joseph j o malley cambridge cambridge university press 1994 p 47 marx on the jewish question p 50 karl marx comments on the latest prussian censorship instruction 1842 at marxists org emphasis in original laura weinrib documents the gradual bifurcation between free speech and leftist politics within the us labour movement in the taming of free speech america s civil liberties compromise cambridge ma harvard university press 2016 karl marx to arnold ruge 30 november 1842 at marxists org together with columbia university s former provost jonathan cole bilgrami also co edited a major volume on the philosophical foundations for academic freedom in the contemporary academy see akeel bilgrami and jonathan r cole who s afraid of academic freedom new york columbia university press 2015 akeel bilgrami liberalism and the academy in bilgrami secularism identity and enchantment cambridge ma harvard university press 2014 p 78 bilgrami liberalism and the academy 87 david feldman commerce capitalism and antisemitism in feldman jews money myth jewish museum london 2019 p 87 the most detailed account of the reservoir theory of antisemitism is in ben gidley brendan mcgeever and david feldman labour and antisemitism a crisis misunderstood political quarterly 91 2 2020 feldman s authorship is a common denominator in the co authored works pertaining to the reservoir theory which makes it possible to associate this theory chiefly with him see late works such as arnaldo momigliano alien wisdom the limits of hellenization cambridge cambridge university press 1990 rebecca ruth gould antiquarianism as genealogy arnaldo momigliano s method history theory 53 2 2014 david feldman labour can expel antisemites but that won t root out antisemitism in our culture guardian 8 april 2020 this argument is developed further in rebecca ruth gould is the hate in hate speech the hate in hate crime waldron and dworkin on political legitimacy jurisprudence 10 2 2019 feldman labour can expel antisemites bari weiss how to fight anti semitism london allen lane 2020 p 146 see david feldman and yair wallach zionist pawns old prejudices and pop star cabals inside the uk s big antisemitism blind spot haaretz 9 december 2021 in which the jda is invoked in an apparent justification of miller s termination in zionist pawns written after miller s termination feldman and wallach criticize the way in which the jda was used to argue against termination the authors seem to imply that an accurate application of the jda would have resulted in miller s termination feldman makes clear in his public writings that he considers miller and his supporters to be engaged in uncritically promoting antisemitic tropes what is less clear is what kind of action feldman thinks should be taken in response to that in david feldman the david miller case a textbook example of anti zionism becoming vicious antisemitism haaretz 4 march 2021 he acknowledges miller s right to academic freedom without actually defending that freedom this argument is developed in detail by free speech theorist eric heinze in articles such as viewpoint absolutism and hate speech modern law review 69 4 2006 author s conversation with david miller 4 december 2021 as has been established this dictum which first appeared in s g tallentyre helvétius the contradiction the friends of voltaire london smith elder co 1906 p 199 actually originated with voltaire s biographer evelyn beatrice hall who wrote under the pseudonym s g tallentyre investigation carried out under the university of bristol s ordinance by redacted qc paragraph 31 this document was leaked by the electronic intifada second bristol report exonerated david miller of anti semitism 26 november 2021 following the disclosure of parts of the first report authored by the same qc investigation carried out under the university of bristol s ordinance paragraph 31 at tinyurl com 3nd636wa emphasis in the original in the david miller case feldman refers to a 2013 paper co authored by miller which speculated that zionist donors had suborned labour s foreign policy under tony blair s leadership feldman states that there was no evidence to support this suggestion he conceded but this didn t inhibit his conjecture hence feldman acknowledges the long history of miller s views and implicitly accepts that the problem is not limited to miller this is the approach suggested in rebecca ruth gould the limits of liberal inclusivity how defining islamophobia normalises anti muslim racism journal of law and religion 35 2 august 2020 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 epilogue who is a jew personal reflections on jewish questions 1 2 3 4 5 a call to german parties not to equate bds with anti semitism joint letter haaretz 3 june 2019 at haaretz com david feldman the real reason corbyn s anti racist labour just can t deal with anti semitism haaretz 27 november 2019 author s correspondence with maciej wzorek coordinator for the genealogical database dissemination department muzeum historii żydów polskich polin 5 january 2022 some of stern s writings in this vein include i drafted the definition of antisemitism rightwing jews are weaponizing it guardian 12 december 2019 written testimony of kenneth s stern hearing on examining anti semitism on college campuses 7 november 2017 docs house gov meetings ju ju00 20171107 106610 hhrg 115 ju00 wstate sternk 20171107 pdf and will campuscriticism of israel violate federal law new york times 12 december 2016 for a critical review of his book the conflict over the conflict see tom sperlinger is there a crisis of antisemitism in higher edu cation times literary supplement 6 129 18 september 2020 important scholarly works that are notably silent on this issue include keith e whittington speak freely why universities must defend free speech princeton princeton university press 2018 nadine strossen hate why we should resist it with free speech not censorship oxford oxford university press 2018 and eric heinze hate speech and democratic citizenship oxford oxford university press 2016 about the author rebecca ruth gould is the author of numerous works at the intersection of aesthetics and politics including writers and rebels 2016 and the persian prison poem 2021 with malaka shwaikh she is the author of prison hunger strikes in palestine 2023 she has written for the general public in the london review of books globe and mail and world policy journal and her writing has been translated into eleven languages this file was downloaded from z library project your gateway to knowledge and culture accessible for everyone z library se singlelogin re go to zlibrary se single login ru official telegram channel z access https wikipedia org wiki z library

this dynamic online report aims at exposing the various ways in which israeli and international corporations have been complicit in the israeli perpetrated forced displacement the report presents five main themes of corporate involvement in the israeli forced displacement of the palestinian people 1 construction of israeli settlements 2 provision of infrastructure for israeli settlements 3 supplying raw materials for the construction of israeli settlements 4 demolitions of palestinian homes 5 exploitation of palestinian natural resources forced displacement march 2018 1918 jewishsraell settlement palestinan land the israeli practices of forced displacement of the indigenous palestinian population has been a systematic policy taking different forms over the past century the year of 1948 marked the first major mass transfer of palestinians the effects of which are still ongoing today with more than 7 4 million palestinian refugees representing over 66 per cent of the global palestinian population 1 this process was further accelerated from 1967 onwards as hundreds of thousands of palestinian were displaced through israel s land plans military laws and at times settler state based violence by supporting and facilitating the activities outlined in the categories mentioned above israeli and international corporations have been reaping profit on the expense of palestinian lives and resources and acting in grave breach of international law through israeli and international corporations israel is provided with construction machinery raw material bulldozers and excavators with which it constructs on palestinian land to strengthen its hold over the palestinian territory and its resources by establishing facts on the ground excavators and loaders were and still are reshaping the landscape building the infrastructure for the illegal israeli settlement project separating palestinian communities from each other by creating roadblocks barriers and segregation roads and demolishing thousands of palestinian houses public buildings and commercial properties in order to restrict the development of towns and villages israeli corporations have been playing a central role in the israeli construction industry in the occupied palestinian territory as many new and expansionist projects were carried out by and through them inevitably the profit made from these projects has many times been contingent upon land grab forced displacement and at times even settler or state violence the major israeli construction corporations include housing group and minrav group many of these corporations and more are featured in this report s latest updates on current construction projects in existing and new israeli settlements in the palestinian occupied territory africa israel investments danya cebus electra and construction construction arison international corporations are also heavily involved in the israeli forced displacement for example since there is no significant israeli industry that meets the local demand of construction and demolition equipment the israeli heavy machinery market is based on import thus most of the construction machinery sold in israel is manufactured in western europe primarily in the united kingdom sweden and germany the united states japan south korea and turkey the major multinational corporations in the israeli market industries to public and private israeli construction companies jcb liebherr terex and volvo all of these companies generate their revenues mainly from sales in conclusion whether through house demolitions construction of settlements roads infrastructure or the separation wall these corporations are all active parties in the israeli forced displacement project the forcibility component in the term forcible displacement is interpreted broadly under international law as it is not restricted to physical force but may include threat of force or coercion such as that caused by fear of violence duress detention psychological oppression or abuse of power against such person or persons or another person or by taking advantage of a coercive environment in contextualizing forced displaced under the international treaty based law many important frameworks come into play article 49 of the fourth geneva convention explicitly states that an occupying power is prohibited from forcibly transferring the civilian population of an occupied territory in addition article 147 of the same convention categorizes the extensive destruction and appropriation of property not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly as a grave breach of international law moreover the rome statute of the international criminal court 2 clearly states that forced displacement a systematic attack on a civilian population can also be considered a war crime giving rise to individual accountability 3 when it comes to businesses while there is no international binding instrument that specifically prohibits their complicity in arbitrary displacement of persons peoples corporations do have the responsibility to refrain from investing and or operating in a way that could potentially lead to forced displacement in fact the 6th principle of the guiding principles on internal displacement states that the prohibition of arbitrary displacement applies to both states and non governmental bodies 4 furthermore corporations are generally obliged to take all actions to remedy their human rights violations that might occur in their regular businesses ventures 1 badil 2012 survey of palestinian refugees and internally displaced persons 2010 2012 available at http www badil org en press releases 142 2012 3638 press eng 53 2 forcible transfer pertains to the forced displacement of individuals of communities within a de jure or de facto national border article 49 also covers situations of deportation characterized by the forced displacement of individuals across such borders 3 international criminal court rome statute of the international criminal court 1998 article 8 2 a vii 4 guiding principles on internal forced displacement introduction scope and purpose 2004 article 3

p r a i s e f o r g a z a israelis sometimes soul shriveling this is the voice i listen for when i want to learn the deepest reality about jews zionists and palestinians norman finkelstein is surely one of the forty honest humans the scripture alludes to who can save sodom our earth by pointing out again and again the but unavoidable truth there is no one like him today but in my bones i know this incredible warrior for humanity and justice is an archetype that has always been and will always be small comfort in these dark times perhaps but a comfort i am deeply grateful for alice walker winner of the pulitzer prize and national book award for the color purple up hill the boulder as a modern day sisyphus rolling the heavy of disinformation norman finkelstein does not waver in his determination to take it to the crest although a non lawyer he masters the legal issues the geneva conventions icj advisory opinions un resolutions and commission reports weaving compelling narrative an articulate appeal for justice a protest against the moral cop out of the them into a international community finkelstein refutes the big lie and many arcane little lies about gaza and palestine a scholarly manual for every politician and every person concerned with human rights alfred de zayas professor of law geneva school of diplomacy and un independent expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order norman finkelstein probably the most serious scholar on the conflict in the middle east has written an excellent book on israel s invasions of gaza its comprehensive examination of both the facts and the law of these assaults provides the most authoritative account of this brutal history john dugard emeritus professor of public international law leiden university special rapporteur to the un human rights council on human rights in the occupied palestinian territory 2001 2008 former and no scholar has done more to shed light on israel s ruthless treatment of the palestinians than norman finkelstein in gaza he meticulously details israel s massacres of the palestinians in that tiny enclave during operations cast lead and protective edge while demolishing the myths israel and its supporters have invented to disguise these shocking events john j mearsheimer r wendell service science distinguished political of harrison professor university of chicago this is an exceptional singular work that will stand as a vital contribution to the literature on the israeli palestinian conflict and middle east politics while also securing an essential place in the fields of international and human rights law gaza is an indispensable resource for scholars jurists policy makers and diplomats alike a landmark sara roy center for middle eastern studies harvard university gaza gaza an inquest into its martyrdom norman g finkelstein u n i v e r s i t y o f c a l i f o r n i a p r e s s university of california press one of the most distinguished university presses in the united states enriches lives around the world by advancing scholarship in the humanities social sciences and natural sciences its activities are supported by the uc press foundation and by philanthropic contributions from individuals and institutions for more information visit www ucpress edu university of california press oakland california 2018 by norman g finkelstein library of congress cataloging in publication data names finkelstein norman g author title gaza an inquest into its martyrdom norman g finkelstein description oakland california university of california press 2018 includes bibliographical references and index identifiers lccn 2017015719 print lccn 2017028116 ebook isbn 9780520968387 ebook isbn 9780520295711 cloth alk paper subjects lcsh human rights gaza strip palestinian arabs crimes against gaza strip arab israeli conflict 1993 gaza strip history 21st century classification lcc jc599 g26 ebook lcc jc599 g26 f55 2018 print ddc 953 1 dc23 lc record available at https lccn loc gov 2017015719 manufactured in the united states of america 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 to gaza the truth the massacre of innocent people is a serious matter it is not a thing to be easily forgotten it is our duty to cherish their memory mahatma gandhi contents preface acknowledgments part one operation cast lead 1 self defense 2 deterring arabs deterring peace 3 spin control 4 human shields part two the goldstone report 5 a zionist bears witness 6 the star witness recants part three the mavi marmara 7 murder on the high seas 8 whitewash i the turkel report 9 whitewash ii the un panel report part four operation protective edge 10 stalled juggernaut 11 israel has the right to defend itself 12 betrayal i amnesty international 13 betrayal ii un human rights council conclusion appendix is the occupation legal notes index preface this book is not about gaza it is about what has been done to gaza it is fashionable nowadays to speak of a victim s agency but one must be realistic about the constraints imposed on such agency by objective circumstance frederick douglass could reclaim his manhood by striking back at a slave master who viciously abused him nelson mandela could retain his dignity in jail despite conditions calibrated to humiliate and degrade him still these were exceptional individuals and exceptional circumstances and anyhow even if he acquits himself with honor the elemental decisions affecting the daily life of a man held in bondage and the power to effect these decisions remain outside his control gaza as former british prime minister david cameron observed is an open air prison 1 the israeli warden is in charge in the popular imagination confected by state propaganda and dutifully echoed by everyone else in authority israel is almost always reacting to or retaliating against terrorism but neither the inhuman and illegal blockade israel imposed on gaza nor the periodic murderous operations israel has unleashed against it trace back to hamas rocket fire these were israeli political decisions springing from israeli political calculations in which hamas military actions figured as a null factor in fact israel more often than not reacted to hamas inaction the islamic movement refused to provide the terrorist pretext israel sought in order to launch an operation the predicate of which was political not military self defense of course if gaza would just sink into the sea nobel peace prize laureate yitzhak rabin 2 or if it unilaterally surrendered its destiny to israeli caprice israel wouldn t brutalize it but short of these options gaza could only exercise as much that is as little agency as is allocated to any people held in bondage the notion that enhanced fireworks emanating from an anthill could in and of themselves inflect state policy of one of the world s most formidable military powers is laughable or would be were it not for that power s formidable disinformation apparatus is the politics of gaza s martyrdom its economic dimension has already been exhaustively and competently dissected 3 an observer cannot but be struck by the reams of paper that have been expended on analyses of and prescriptions for gaza s the focus of this book economy even though its economy is more notional than real the world bank reported in 2015 16 that gaza is now dependent for about 90 per cent of its gdp on expenditures by the palestinian government the united nations and other external remittances and donor projects 4 no doubt those who compiled these economic reports were spurred by a desire to do good although in the end most of them capitulated to israeli diktat 5 but if gaza survives it s because of foreign subventions delivered in synchrony with the occasional loosening to sycophantic international fanfare of an israeli screw indeed the paradox is that as each new economic report is churned out the day of gaza s complete de development draws nearer it is also hard to resist the thought that gaza would have benefited more if the time energy and expense invested in these meticulous reports replete with mind numbing minutiae had simply been channeled into an open air swimming pool inside the open air prison for gaza s bereft children still they constitute an ineffaceable record of and testament to the horror that has been inflicted on gaza they are an eternal monument to the martyrs and an eternal accusation against their tormenters the human rights reportage on gaza which forms the primary subject matter of this book mirrors the content and has suffered the fate of these economic reports the sheer number of human rights reports could by now fill a medium sized library they have generally upheld exacting standards of accuracy and they record a ghastly tale of suffering and misery on the one hand and criminal excess and heartlessness on the other but they have been largely ignored outside a narrow cadre of specialists and in the end the human rights community itself succumbed to the israeli juggernaut all the same the reports constitute the essential resource for those who care about truth and for whom truth is precious while even if mostly underutilized they are the most potent weapon in the arsenal of those who hope against hope to mobilize public opinion so as to salvage a modicum of justice what has befallen gaza is a human made human disaster in its protractedness and in its starkness in its unfolding not in the fog of war or in the obscurity of remoteness but in broad daylight and in full sight in the complicity of so many not just via acts of commission but also and especially of omission it is moreover a distinctively evil crime readers will be able to judge for themselves whether this depiction is naïve or whether the documentary record bears it out whether this writer is partisan to gaza or whether the facts are partisan to it whether gaza poses the challenge of competing narratives or whether it poses the challenge of disengaging its innocence from the skein of lies concealing it it might be politically prudent to expatiate on the complexity of gaza but it would also be a moral cop out for gaza is about a big lie composed of a thousand often seemingly abstruse and arcane little lies the objective of this book is to refute that big lie by exposing each of the little lies it has not been a labor of love on the contrary it has been a painstaking fastidious undertaking born of a visceral detestation of falsehood in particular when it is put in the service of power and human life hangs in the balance if the evil is in the detail it can only be confronted and disposed of in methodical parsing of logic and evidence the reader s forbearance must in advance be begged as perusing this book will require infinite patience norman g finkelstein 31 december 2016 new york city acknowledgments i wish to thank for their assistance and cooperation usama antar rudolph baldeo kayvan beklik alex davis lawrence john dugard marilyn garson jason gordon maren hackmann mahajan jens ole bach hansen siham faidoli hansen abdalla hassan ria julien sana kassem yarden katz philip luther deborah maccoby sanjeev mahajan alex nunns mouin rabbani sara roy rana shubair jamie stern weiner desmond travers and jeff wyneken i wish also to acknowledge a un spokesperson who prefers to remain anonymous earlier drafts of parts of this manuscript have appeared in prior publications of mine this book has richly benefited from the absence of support from any institution or foundation if he who pays the piper calls the tune then no one paid this piper so he was free to call his own tune pa rt o n e operation cast lead f i g u r e 1 white phosphorus attack unrwa 2009 o n e self defense on 29 november 1947 the un general assembly approved a resolution partitioning british mandated palestine into a jewish state incorporating 56 percent of palestine and an arab state incorporating the remaining 44 percent 1 in the war that ensued after passage of the resolution the newly born state of israel expanded its borders to incorporate nearly 80 percent of palestine the only areas of palestine not conquered comprised the west bank which the kingdom of jordan subsequently annexed and the gaza strip which came under egypt s administrative control the panhandle of the sinai peninsula gaza is bordered by israel on the north and east egypt on the south and the mediterranean sea on the west approximately 250 000 palestinians driven out of their homes during the 1948 war fled to gaza and overwhelmed the indigenous population of some 80 000 today more than 70 percent of gaza s inhabitants consist of expellees from the 1948 war and this their descendants and more than half of overwhelmingly refugee population is under 18 years of age gaza has the second highest share of people aged 0 to 14 worldwide its current 1 8 million inhabitants are squeezed into a sliver of land 25 miles long and 5 miles wide it is among the most densely populated areas in the world more crowded than even tokyo between 1967 when the israeli occupation began and 2005 when prime minister ariel sharon redeployed israeli troops from inside gaza to its perimeter israel imposed on gaza a uniquely exploitive regime of de development in the words of harvard political economist sara roy it deprived the native population of its most important economic resources land water and labor as well as the internal capacity and potential for developing those resources 2 the road to modern gaza s desperate plight is strewn with multiple atrocities most long forgotten or unknown outside palestine after the cessation of battlefield hostilities in 1949 egypt kept a tight rein on the activity of fedayeen palestinian guerrillas in gaza but in early 1955 israeli leaders plotted to lure egypt into war in order to topple president gamal abdel nasser they launched a bloody cross border raid into gaza killing 40 egyptian soldiers the gaza raid proved a near perfect provocation as armed border clashes escalated in october 1956 israel in collusion with great britain and france invaded the egyptian sinai and occupied gaza which it had long coveted the prominent israeli historian benny morris described what happened next many fedayeen and an estimated 4 000 egyptian and palestinian regulars were trapped in the strip identified and rounded up by the idf israel defense forces gss general security service and police dozens of these fedayeen appear to have been summarily executed without trial some were probably killed during two massacres by the idf troops soon after the occupation of the strip on 3 november the day khan yunis was conquered idf troops shot dead hundreds of palestinian refugees and local inhabitants in the town one un report speaks of some 135 local residents and 140 refugees killed as idf troops moved through the town and its refugee camp searching for people in possession of arms in rafah which fell to the idf on 1 2 november israeli troops killed between forty eight and one hundred refugees and several local residents and wounded another sixty one during a massive screening operation on 12 november in which they sought to identify former egyptian and palestinian soldiers and fedayeen hiding among the local population another sixty six palestinians probably fedayeen were executed in a number of other incidents during screening operations in the gaza strip between 2 and 20 november the united nations estimated that all told israeli troops killed between 447 and 550 arab civilians in the first three weeks of the occupation of the strip 3 in march 1957 israel was forced to withdraw from gaza after us president dwight eisenhower exerted heavy diplomatic pressure and threatened economic sanctions by the operation s end more than a thousand gazans had been killed the human cost of the four month israeli occupation of the gaza strip was alarmingly high a historian recently observed if the figures for those wounded imprisoned and tortured are added to the number who lost their lives it would seem that one inhabitant in 100 had been physically harmed by the violence of the invaders 4 the etiology of gaza s current afflictions traces back to the israeli conquest in the course of the 1967 war israel reoccupied the gaza strip along with the west bank and has remained the occupying power ever since as morris narrated the story the overwhelming majority of west bank and gaza arabs from the first hated the occupation israel intended to stay and its rule would not be overthrown or ended through civil disobedience and civil resistance which were easily crushed the only real option was armed struggle like all occupations israel s was founded on brute force repression and fear collaboration and treachery beatings and torture chambers and daily intimidation the occupation was always a brutal and mortifying experience for the occupied 5 and manipulation humiliation from the start palestinians fought back against the israeli occupation gazans put up particularly stiff unarmed and armed resistance while israeli repression proved equally unremitting in 1969 ariel sharon became chief of the idf southern command and not long after embarked on a campaign to crush the resistance in gaza a leading american academic specialist on gaza recalled how sharon placed refugee camps under twenty four hour curfews during which troops conducted house to house searches and mustered all the men in the central square for questioning many men were forced to stand waist deep in the mediterranean sea for hours during the searches in addition some twelve thousand members of families of suspected guerrillas were deported to detention camps in sinai within a few weeks the israeli press began to criticize the soldiers and border police for beating people shooting into crowds smashing belongings in houses and imposing extreme restrictions during curfews in july 1971 sharon added the tactic of thinning out the refugee camps the military uprooted more than thirteen thousand residents by the end of august the army bulldozed wide roads through the camps and through some citrus groves thus making it easier for mechanized units to operate and for the infantry to control the camps the army crackdown broke the back of the resistance 6 in december 1987 a traffic accident on the gaza israel border that left four palestinians dead triggered a mass rebellion or intifada against israeli rule throughout the occupied territories it was not an armed rebellion morris recalled but a massive persistent campaign of civil resistance with strikes and commercial shutdowns accompanied by violent though unarmed demonstrations against the occupying forces the stone and occasionally the molotov cocktail and knife were its symbols and weapons not guns and bombs it cannot be said however that israel reacted in kind morris continued almost everything was tried shooting to kill shooting to injure beatings mass arrests torture trials administrative detention and economic sanctions a large proportion of the palestinian dead were not shot in life threatening situations and a great many of these were children only a small minority of idf malefactors were brought to book by the army s legal machinery and were almost always let off with ludicrously light sentences 7 by the early 1990s israel had successfully repressed the first intifada it subsequently entered into an agreement struggle democratic secretly negotiated in oslo norway with the palestine liberation organization plo and ratified in september 1993 on the white house lawn israel intended via the oslo accord to streamline the occupation by removing its troops from direct contact with palestinians and supplanting them with palestinian subcontractors one of the meanings of oslo former israeli foreign minister shlomo ben ami observed was that the plo was israel s collaborator in the task of stifling the intifada and cutting short an authentically palestinian independence 8 in particular israel contrived to reassign to palestinian surrogates the sordid tasks of occupation the idea of oslo former israeli minister natan sharansky acknowledged was to find a strong dictator to keep the palestinians under control 9 the palestinians will be better at establishing internal security than we were israeli prime minister yitzhak rabin told skeptics in his ranks because they will not allow appeals to the supreme court and will prevent the association for civil rights in israel from criticizing the conditions there they will rule by their own methods freeing and this is most important the israeli soldiers from having to do what they will do 10 for in july 2000 plo head yasser arafat and israeli prime minister ehud barak joined us president bill clinton at camp david to negotiate a final settlement of the conflict the summit collapsed in mutual recrimination but which side bore primary culpability for the aborted talks if i were a palestinian ben ami one of israel s chief negotiators at camp david later commented i would have rejected camp david as well while israeli strategic analyst zeev maoz concluded that the substantial concessions israel demanded of palestinians at camp david were not acceptable and could not be acceptable 11 subsequent negotiations also failed to achieve a breakthrough in december 2000 president clinton unfurled his parameters for resolving the conflict both sides accepted them with reservations 12 in january 2001 parleys resumed in taba egypt although both parties affirmed that significant progress had been made and they had never been closer to agreement prime minister barak unilaterally called a halt to these negotiations and as a result the israeli palestinian peace process had ground to an indefinite halt 13 in september 2000 amid the diplomatic stalemate and after israeli provocation palestinians in the occupied territories once again entered into open revolt like its 1987 precursor this second intifada was at its inception overwhelmingly nonviolent however in ben ami s words israel s disproportionate response to what had started as a popular uprising with young unarmed men confronting israeli soldiers armed with lethal weapons fueled the second intifada beyond control and turned it into an all out war 14 it is forgotten that the first deadly hamas suicide bombing of the second intifada did not occur until five months into israel s relentless bloodletting israeli forces had fired one million rounds of ammunition in just the first few days of the uprising while the ratio of palestinians to israelis killed during the first weeks was 20 1 15 in the course of the spiraling violence triggered by its disproportionate response israel struck gaza with special vengeance in a cruel reworking of ecclesiastes each turn of season presaged yet another israeli attack on gaza that left scores dead and fragile infrastructure destroyed operation rainbow 2004 operation days of penitence 2004 operation summer rains 2006 operation autumn clouds 2006 operation hot winter 2008 16 in the warped memory of israeli president and nobel peace prize laureate shimon peres however this period was another mistake we restrained ourselves for eight years and allowed gazans to shoot thousands of rockets at us restraint was a mistake 17 despite continual israeli assaults gaza continued to roil already at the time of the oslo accord its intractability caused israel to sour on the strip if only it would just sink into the sea rabin despaired 18 in april 2004 prime minister sharon announced that israel would disengage from gaza and by september 2005 both israeli troops and jewish settlers had been pulled out dov weisglass a key advisor to sharon laid out the rationale behind the disengagement it would relieve international in particular american pressure on israel in turn freezing the political process and when you freeze that process you prevent the establishment of a palestinian state 19 israel subsequently purported that it was no longer the occupying power in gaza however human rights organizations and international institutions rejected this contention the fact was in myriad ways israel still preserved near total dominance of the strip whether the israeli army is inside gaza or redeployed around its periphery human rights watch concluded it remains in control 20 israel s own leading authority on international law yoram dinstein aligned himself with the prevalent opinion that the israeli occupation of gaza was not over 21 the received wisdom is that the process initiated at oslo must be reckoned a failure because it did not yield a lasting peace but such a verdict misconstrues its actual objective if israel s goal was as ben ami pointed out to groom a class of palestinian collaborators then oslo was a stunning success for israelis indeed not just for them a look at the oslo ii accord signed in september 1995 and spelling out in detail the mutual rights and duties of the contracting parties to the 1993 agreement suggests what loomed largest in the minds of palestinian negotiators whereas four full pages are devoted to passage of palestinian vips the section is subdivided into category 1 vips category 2 vips category 3 vips and secondary vips less than one page the very last is devoted to release of palestinian prisoners and detainees who numbered in the many thousands 22 in a telling anomaly the oslo accord stipulated a five year interim period for so called confidence building between the former foes contrariwise when and where israel genuinely sought peace the reconciliation process unfolded at a rapid clip thus for decades egypt was israel s chief nemesis in the arab world and it was egypt that launched a surprise attack in 1973 in the course of which thousands of israeli soldiers perished nevertheless only a half year separated the 1978 camp david summit convened by us president jimmy carter which produced the israeli egyptian framework for peace and the 1979 treaty of peace which formally terminated hostilities and only three more years elapsed before israel evacuated in 1982 the whole of the egyptian sinai 23 a half decade of confidence building did not insert itself in the israeli egyptian negotiations the barely disguised purpose of oslo s protracted interim period was not confidence building to facilitate an israeli palestinian peace but collaboration building to facilitate a burden free israeli occupation the operative premise was that after growing accustomed to the emoluments of power and privilege the stratum of palestinian beneficiaries would be averse to parting with them however reluctantly they would do the bidding of the power that meted out the largesse and afforded them significant perquisites 24 the transition period also enabled israel to gauge the dependability of these palestinian subcontractors as crises periodically erupted that tested their loyalty by the end of the oslo peace process israel could count among its many blessings that the number of israeli troops serving in the occupied palestinian territories was at the lowest level since the start of the first intifada 25 the only holdout in the palestinian leadership was its chairman notwithstanding his legendary opportunism arafat carried in him a residue of his nationalist past and would not settle for presiding over a south africa like bantustan once he passed from the scene in 2004 however all the pieces were in place for the palestinian authority implanted in the occupied territories to reach a modus vivendi with israel except that it was too late in 2006 disgusted by years of official corruption and fruitless negotiations palestinians voted into office the islamic movement hamas in an election that was widely heralded as completely honest and fair jimmy carter 26 privately senator hillary clinton rued that the united states didn t rig the outcome we should have made sure that we did something to determine who was going to win 27 since its establishment in 1988 hamas had formally rejected the internationally endorsed terms for its resolving participation the possibility that the islamic movement was evolving and could evolve still more 28 but immediately tightened its siege and economic activity in gaza came to a standstill moving into survival mode 29 the united states and european union followed suit as they inflicted devastating financial sanctions 30 if the noose was israel palestine conflict however the electoral contest signaled israel the in tightened around hamas alongside the people of gaza it was because they did as told they participated in democratic elections the unstated subtext ignorance of which cost gaza dearly was that hamas was obliged to lose the un special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied palestinian territories noted other anomalies of this punitive response in effect the palestinian people have been subjected to economic sanctions the first time an occupied people have been so treated this is difficult to understand israel is in violation of major security council and general assembly resolutions dealing with unlawful territorial change and the violation of human rights and has failed to implement the 2004 advisory opinion of the international court of justice yet it escapes the imposition of sanctions instead the palestinian people have been subjected to possibly the most rigorous form of international sanctions imposed in modern times 31 the impetus behind this ruthless economic warfare targeting a freely elected government of a people under occupation was to ensure hamas s failure so as to discredit it as a governing body 32 the islamic movement was called upon simultaneously by washington and brussels to renounce violence and recognize israel as well as these preconditions engagement were unilateral israel wasn t compelled to renounce violence israel wasn t compelled to recognize the reciprocal palestinian right to statehood along the 1967 border and to recognize prior whereas hamas was compelled agreements 33 israeli palestinian international prior for agreements such as the oslo accord which legitimated the occupation and enabled israel to vastly increase its illegal settlements israel was free to eviscerate prior agreements such as the bush administration s 2003 road map 34 in effect western powers were setting unattainable preconditions for dialogue with the islamic movement 35 hamas s success in the palestinian elections of january 2006 a 2014 study concludes could have augured a peaceful political evolution but only if the active interference of the united states and the passivity of the european union had not sabotaged this experiment in government 36 in 2007 hamas consolidated its control of gaza after foiling a coup attempt orchestrated by washington in league with israel and elements of the palestinian old guard 37 when hamas preempts a putsch a senior israeli intelligence figure later scoffed everyone cries foul claiming it s a military putsch by hamas but who did the putsch 38 although reviling hamas as cruel disgusting and hate filled an editor of israel s largest circulation newspaper echoed this heterodox take on what had transpired hamas did not seize control of gaza it took the action needed to enforce its authority disarming and destroying a militia that refused to bow to its authority 39 the united states and israel reacted this democracy promptly further promotion bid i e the coup attempt by to hamas s rejection of tightening the screws on gaza 40 in june 2008 hamas and israel entered into a cease fire brokered by egypt but in november of that year israel violated the cease fire it carried out a lethal border raid on gaza reminiscent of its 1955 cross border attack then and now the objective was to provoke retaliation and thus provide the pretext for a massive assault indeed the border raid proved to be the preamble to a bloody invasion on 27 december 2008 israel launched operation cast lead 41 it began with an aerial blitz that was followed by a combined aerial and ground assault piloting the most advanced combat aircraft in the world the israeli air force flew nearly three thousand sorties over gaza and dropped one thousand tons of explosives while the israeli army deployed several brigades equipped with sophisticated intelligence gathering systems and weaponry such as robotic and tv aided remote controlled guns on the other side hamas42 launched several hundred rudimentary rockets and mortar shells into israel on 18 january 2009 israel declared a unilateral cease fire apparently at the behest of barack obama whose presidential investiture was to take place two days later 43 however the siege of gaza persisted the bush administration and the us congress lent israel unqualified support during the attack a resolution full culpability on hamas for the ensuing death and destruction passed unanimously in the senate and 390 to 5 in the house 44 but overwhelmingly international public opinion laying including wide swaths of jewish public opinion recoiled at israel s assault on a defenseless civilian population 45 in 2009 a united nations human rights council fact finding mission chaired by the respected south african jurist richard goldstone report documenting israel s commission of massive war crimes and possible crimes against humanity the report accused hamas of committing cognate crimes but on a scale that paled by comparison it was clear that in the words of israeli columnist gideon levy this time we went too far 46 released a voluminous israel officially justified operation cast lead on the grounds of self defense against hamas rocket attacks 47 such a rationale did not however withstand even superficial scrutiny if israel wanted to avert hamas rocket attacks it would not have triggered them by breaching the 2008 cease fire 48 it could also have opted for renewing and for a change honoring the cease fire in fact as a former israeli intelligence officer told the crisis group the cease fire options on the table after the war were in place there before it 49 if the goal of cast lead was to destroy the infrastructure of terrorism then israel s alibi of self defense appeared even less credible after the invasion overwhelmingly israel targeted not hamas strongholds but decidedly non terrorist non hamas sites 50 the human rights context further undermined israel s claim of self defense the 2008 annual report of b tselem israeli information center for human rights in the occupied territories documented that between 1 january and 26 december 2008 israeli security forces killed 455 palestinians of whom at least 175 were civilians while palestinians killed 31 israelis of whom 21 were civilians hence on the eve of israel s so called war of self defense the ratio of total palestinians to israelis killed stood at almost 15 1 while the ratio of palestinian civilians to israeli civilians killed was at least 8 1 in gaza alone israel killed at least 158 noncombatants in 2008 while hamas rocket attacks killed 7 israeli civilians a ratio of more than 22 1 israel deplored the detention by hamas of one israeli combatant captured in 2006 yet israel detained some 8 000 palestinian political prisoners including 60 women and 390 children of whom 548 were held in administrative detention without charge or trial 42 of them for more than two years 51 its ever tightening noose around gaza compounded israel s disproportionate breach of palestinian human rights the blockade amounted to collective punishment international humanitarian law 52 in september 2008 the world bank described gaza as starkly transform ed from a potential trade route to a walled hub of humanitarian donations 53 in mid december the united nations office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs ocha reported that israel s 18 month long blockade has created a profound human dignity crisis leading to a widespread erosion of livelihoods and a significant deterioration in infrastructure violation serious of a and essential services 54 if gazans lacked electricity for as many as 16 hours each day if gazans received water only once a week for a few hours and 80 percent of the water was unfit for human consumption if one of every two gazans was unemployed and food insecure if 20 percent of essential drugs in gaza were at zero level and more than 20 percent of patients suffering from cancer heart disease and other severe conditions were unable to get permits for medical care abroad if gazans clung to life by the thinnest of threads it traced back ultimately to the israeli siege the people of gaza ocha concluded felt a growing sense of being trapped physically intellectually and emotionally to judge by the human rights balance sheet at the end of 2008 and setting aside that the cease fire was broken by israel didn t palestinians have a much stronger case than israel for resorting to armed self defense t w o deterring arabs deterring peace operation cast lead proved to be a public relations debacle for israel however much they might have preferred otherwise western media pundits and diplomats could not ignore the massive death and destruction in gaza if it wasn t self defense what then impelled israel to prosecute a campaign against a civilian population that was bound to elicit stinging rebukes abroad early speculation focused on the jockeying for votes in the upcoming 2009 election polls during the invasion showed that 80 90 percent of israeli jews supported it in the context of almost unanimous support of the operation by the israeli public the association for civil rights in israel subsequently noted tolerance of any dissent was minimal 1 but as veteran israeli journalist gideon levy pointed out israel went through a very similar war two and a half years ago in lebanon when there were no elections 2 in fact israeli leaders recoil at jeopardizing critical state interests such as by launching a war simply for electoral gain even in recent decades when the israeli political scene has become more squalid one would be hard pressed to name a major military campaign set in motion for partisan political ends 3 the principal motives behind the gaza invasion traced back not to the election cycle but to the dual necessity of restoring israel s deterrence capacity and scotching the threat posed by a new palestinian peace offensive israel s larger concern in cast lead new york times middle east correspondent ethan bronner reported quoting israeli sources was to re establish israeli deterrence because its enemies are less afraid of it than they once were or should be 4 preserving its deterrence capacity looms large in israeli strategic doctrine indeed this consideration was a major impetus behind israel s first strike against egypt in june 1967 which resulted in israel s occupation of gaza and the west bank to justify cast lead israeli historian benny morris recalled that many israelis feel that the walls are closing in much as they felt in early june 1967 5 but although ordinary israelis were filled with foreboding before the june war israel did not face an existential threat at the time as morris knows6 and israeli leaders did not doubt they would emerge victorious in the event of war after israel threatened and then laid plans to attack syria in may 1967 7 egyptian president gamal abdel nasser deployed egyptian troops in the sinai and announced that the straits of tiran would be closed to israeli shipping egypt had entered into a military pact with syria a few months earlier israeli foreign minister abba eban emotively declared that because of the blockade israel could only breathe with a single lung but except for the passage of oil of which it then had ample stocks israel made practically no use of the straits besides nasser did not enforce the blockade vessels were passing freely through the straits within days of his announcement what then of the military threat posed by egypt multiple us intelligence agencies had concluded that egypt did not intend to attack israel and that in the improbable case that it did alone or in concert with other arab countries israel would in president lyndon johnson s words whip the hell out of them 8 meanwhile the head of the mossad told senior american officials on 1 june 1967 that there were no differences between the us and the israelis on the military intelligence picture or its interpretation 9 so israel itself must have been aware that nasser did not intend to attack and that the egyptian army would be trounced if he did the real predicament facing israel was the growing perception in the arab world spurred by nasser s radical nationalism and climaxing in his defiant gestures in may 1967 that it no longer needed to fear the jewish state divisional commander ariel sharon admonished cabinet members hesitating to launch a first strike that israel was losing its deterrence capability our main weapon the fear of us 10 in effect deterrence capacity denoted not warding off an imminent existential threat but putting rivals on notice that any future challenge to israeli power would be met with decisive force the israeli army command was not too worried about an egyptian surprise attack israeli strategic analyst zeev maoz concluded rather the key question was how to restore the credibility of israeli deterrence 11 the ejection of the israeli occupying army from lebanon in 2000 by hezbollah posed a new challenge to israel s deterrence capacity the fact that it suffered a humiliating defeat and that hezbollah s victory was celebrated throughout the arab world made another war well nigh inevitable israel immediately began planning for the next round 12 it found a plausible pretext in 2006 when hezbollah killed several israeli soldiers and captured two and then demanded in exchange the release of lebanese prisoners held in israeli jails although it unleashed the full fury of its air force and geared up for a ground invasion israel suffered a second ignominious defeat in the summer 2006 war the iaf israeli air force the arm of the israeli military that had once destroyed whole air forces in a few days a respected us military analyst concluded not only proved unable to stop hezbollah rocket strikes but even to do enough damage to prevent hezbollah s rapid recovery while israeli ground forces were badly shaken and bogged down by a well equipped and capable foe 13 the the juxtaposition of several figures highlights magnitude of the israeli setback israel deployed 30 000 troops against 2 000 regular hezbollah fighters and 4 000 irregular hezbollah and non hezbollah fighters israel delivered and fired 162 000 weapons whereas hezbollah fired 5 000 weapons 4 000 rockets and projectiles at israel and 1 000 antitank missiles inside lebanon 14 what s more the vast majority of the fighters israeli troops did battle with were not regular hezbollah fighters and in some cases were not even members of hezbollah and many of hezbollah s best and most skilled fighters never saw action lying in wait along the litani river with the expectation that the idf israel defense forces assault would be much deeper and arrive much faster than it did 15 on the political front it was indicative of israel s reversal of fortune that for the first time it fought not in defiance of a un cease fire resolution but instead in the hope that such a resolution would rescue it from a quagmire frustration with the conduct and outcome of the second 2006 lebanon war an influential israeli think tank later reported led israel to initiate a thorough internal examination on the order of 63 different commissions of inquiry 16 after the 2006 war israel was itching to reengage hezbollah but wasn t yet confident it would emerge triumphant from the battlefield in mid 2008 israel sought to conscript the united states for a joint attack on iran which perforce would also decapitate hezbollah iran s junior partner and consequently neuter the principal rivals to its regional hegemony israel and its quasi emissaries such as benny morris warned that if the united states did not go along then nonconventional weaponry will have to be used and many innocent iranians will die 17 to israel s chagrin and mortification washington vetoed an attack and iran went its merry way the credibility of israel s capacity to terrorize had slipped another notch the time had come to find a different target tiny gaza poorly defended but proudly defiant fitted the bill although feebly armed hamas had resisted israeli diktat it even crowed that it had forced israel to withdraw from gaza in 2005 and had compelled israel to acquiesce in a cease fire in 2008 if gaza was where israel would restore its deterrence capacity one theater of the 2006 war hinted at how it might be done in the course of its attack israel flattened the southern suburb of beirut known as the dahiya which was home to hezbollah s poor shiite constituents after the war israeli military officers gestured to the dahiya doctrine as they formulated contingency plans we will wield disproportionate power against every village from which shots are fired on israel and cause immense damage and destruction this isn t a suggestion this is a plan that has already been authorized head of idf northern command gadi eisenkot the next war will lead to the elimination of the lebanese military the destruction of the national infrastructure and intense suffering among the population serious damage to the republic of lebanon the destruction of homes and infrastructure and the suffering of hundreds of thousands of people are consequences that can influence hezbollah s behavior more than anything else head of israeli national security council giora eiland with an outbreak of hostilities israel will need to act immediately decisively and with force that is disproportionate such a response aims at inflicting damage and meting out punishment to an extent that will demand long and expensive reconstruction processes reserve colonel gabriel siboni 18 the use of disproportionate force and targeting civilian infrastructure constitute war crimes under international law although the dahiya doctrine was formulated with all of israel s rivals in mind gaza was singled out as the prime target too bad it did not take hold immediately after the 2005 disengagement from gaza and the first rocket barrages a respected israeli pundit lamented in october 2008 had we immediately adopted the dahiya strategy we would have likely spared ourselves much trouble if and when palestinians launched another rocket attack israeli interior minister meir sheetrit exhorted a month before the idf should decide on a neighborhood in gaza and level it 19 the operative plan for cast lead could be gleaned from authoritative israeli statements as the assault got under way what we have to do is act systematically with the organizations that are firing the rockets and mortars as well as the civilians who are enabling them to fire and hide reserve major general amiram levin after this operation there will not be one hamas building left standing in gaza deputy idf chief of staff dan harel anything affiliated with hamas is a legitimate target idf sheer spokesperson major avital leibowitz for the aim of punishing all brazenness and brutality however it would be hard to beat deputy prime minister eli yishai it should be possible to destroy gaza so that they will understand not to mess with us it is a great opportunity to demolish thousands of houses of all the terrorists so they will think twice before they launch rockets i hope the operation will come to an end with the complete destruction of terrorism and hamas t hey should be razed to the ground so thousands of houses tunnels and industries will be demolished the military correspondent for israel s channel 10 news observed that israel isn t trying to hide the fact that it reacts disproportionately 20 israeli media exulted at the shock and awe maariv of the opening air campaign that was designed to engender a sense of dread 21 no doubt it was mission accomplished whereas israel killed 55 lebanese during the first two days of the 2006 war it killed as many as 300 gazans in just four minutes on the first day of cast lead the majority of targets were located in densely populated residential areas while the bombardments began at around 11 30 a m when the streets were full of civilians including school children leaving classes at the end of the morning shift and those going to school for the second shift 22 a respected israeli strategic analyst observed several days into the slaughter the idf which planned to attack buildings and sites populated by hundreds of people did not warn them in advance to leave but intended to kill a great many of them and succeeded 23 in the meantime benny morris praised israel s highly efficient air assault on hamas and a us military analyst marveled at the masterful precision of the attack 24 but veteran israeli columnist b michael was less impressed by the dispatch of helicopter gunships and jet planes over a giant prison and firing at its people 25 on just the first day israeli aerial strikes killed or fatally injured at least 16 children while an israeli drone launched precision missile killed nine college students two of them young women who were waiting for a un bus to take them home human rights watch hrw found that no palestinian fighters were active on the street or in the immediate area just prior to or at the time of the attack on the collegians 26 as cast lead proceeded apace prominent israelis dropped all pretense that its purpose was to stop hamas rocket fire remember israeli defense minister ehud barak s real foe is not hamas a former israeli minister told the crisis group it is the memory of 2006 27 others gloated that gaza is to lebanon as the second sitting for an exam is to the first a second chance to get it right and that israel had hurled back gaza not just 20 years as in lebanon but into the 1940s that if israel regained its deterrence capabilities it was because the war in gaza has compensated for the shortcomings of the lebanon war that there is no doubt that hezbollah leader hassan nasrallah is upset these days there will no longer be anyone in the arab world who can claim that israel is weak looking back a year later an israeli military correspondent recalled that the israeli assault was considered to be an effective remedy to the failures of the 2006 second lebanon war 28 thomas friedman new york times foreign affairs expert joined in the chorus of hallelujahs during cast lead israel actually won the 2006 lebanon war according to friedman because it had administered an education to hezbollah by inflicting substantial property damage and collateral casualties on lebanon fearing the lebanese people s wrath hezbollah would think three times next time before defying israel he also expressed hope that israel would educate hamas by inflicting a heavy death toll on hamas militants and heavy pain on the gaza population to justify its targeting of lebanon s civilian population during the 2006 war friedman alleged that israel had no choice hezbollah created a very flat military network deeply embedded in the local towns and villages and insofar as hezbollah nested among civilians the only long term source of deterrence was to exact enough pain on the civilians to restrain hezbollah in the future 29 if for argument s sake friedman s hollow coinage is set aside what does flat mean and if it is also set aside that he not only alleged that killing of civilians was unavoidable but also advocated targeting civilians as a deterrence strategy still the question remains was hezbollah embedded in nested among and intertwined with the civilian population an exhaustive that overwhelmingly it was not we found strong evidence that investigation by hrw concluded hezbollah stored most of its rockets in bunkers and weapon storage facilities located in uninhabited fields and valleys that in the vast majority of cases hezbollah fighters left populated civilian areas as soon as the fighting started and that hezbollah fired the vast majority of its rockets from pre prepared positions outside villages in all but a few of the cases of civilian deaths we investigated hezbollah fighters had not mixed with the civilian population or taken other actions to contribute to the targeting of a particular home or vehicle by israeli forces israel s own firing patterns in lebanon support the conclusion that hezbollah fired large numbers of its rockets from tobacco fields banana olive and citrus groves and more remote unpopulated valleys 30 a us army war college study based largely on interviews with israeli soldiers who fought in the 2006 lebanon war echoed hrw s conclusions the key battlefields in the land campaign south of the litani river were mostly devoid of civilians and idf participants consistently report little or no meaningful intermingling of hezbollah fighters and noncombatants nor is there any systematic reporting of hezbollah using civilians in the combat zone as shields 31 rather than confronting israel s army head on friedman went on to assert hezbollah targeted israel s civilian population so as to provoke israeli retaliatory strikes that would unavoidably kill lebanese civilians and inflame the arab muslim street but numerous studies have shown 32 and israeli officials themselves have conceded 33 that during the guerrilla war it waged against the israeli occupying army hezbollah targeted israeli civilians only after israel targeted lebanese civilians in the 2006 war hezbollah again targeted israeli civilian concentrations after israel inflicted heavy casualties on lebanese civilians and hezbollah leader sayyed hassan nasrallah avowed that it would target israeli civilians only as long as the enemy undertakes its aggression without limits or red lines 34 if israel targeted the lebanese civilian population during the 2006 war it was not because another option didn t present itself and not because hezbollah had provoked it rather it was because terrorizing lebanese civilians appeared to be a low cost method of education such a strategy was clearly preferable to tangling with a determined foe and enduring heavy combatant casualties it didn t work out quite as planned however hezbollah s unexpectedly fierce resistance prevented israel from claiming victory still israel did successfully educate the lebanese people hezbollah was accordingly chastened not to provide israel a casus belli two years later during cast lead 35 israel s pedagogy scored a yet more smashing success in gaza it was hard to convince gazans whose homes were demolished and family and friends killed and injured the crisis group observed after cast lead that this amounted to victory as hamas boasted 36 in the case of gaza israel could also lay claim to a military victory but only because in the words of gideon levy a large broad army is fighting against a helpless population and a weak ragged organization that has fled the conflict zones and is barely putting up a fight 37 in subsequent armed hostilities the rationale for cast lead advanced by friedman in the pages of the new york times amounted to apologetics for state terrorism 38 indeed israel s evolving modus operandi for restoring its deterrence capacity described a curve steadily regressing into barbarism israel won its victory in 1967 primarily on the battlefield albeit in a turkey shoot 39 while it endeavored both to achieve a battlefield victory and to bombard the civilian population into abjection but israel targeted gaza to restore its deterrence capacity because it eschewed any of the risks of a conventional war it targeted gaza because it was largely defenseless its resort to unalloyed terror in turn revealed the idf s relative decline as a fighting force while the celebration of israel s military prowess during and after cast lead by the likes of benny morris registered the growing detachment of israeli intellectuals and a good share of the public as well from reality 40 a supplementary benefit of the high tech cost free deterrence strategy targeting civilians was that it restored israel s domestic morale a 2009 internal un document found that one significant achievement of cast lead was that it dispelled doubts among israelis about their ability and the power of the idf to issue a blow to its enemies the use of excessive force proves israel is the landlord the pictures of destruction were intended more for israeli eyes than those of israel s enemies eyes starved of revenge and national pride 41 beyond restoring its deterrence capacity israel s principal objective in operation cast lead was to fend off the latest threat posed by palestinian pragmatism the palestinian leadership was aligning itself too closely with global opinion for israel s comfort the international community has consistently supported a settlement of the israel palestine conflict that calls for two states based on a full israeli withdrawal to its pre june 1967 borders and a just resolution of the refugee question based on the right of return and compensation 42 the two notable exceptions to this broad consensus have been israel and the united states consider the annual un general assembly unga vote on the resolution titled peaceful settlement of the question of palestine the resolution incorporates these tenets for achieving a two state solution of israel and palestine 1 affirming the principle of the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war 2 reaffirming the illegality of the israeli settlements in the palestinian territory occupied since 1967 including east jerusalem 3 stresses the need for a the withdrawal of israel from the palestinian territory occupied since 1967 including east jerusalem b the realization of the inalienable rights of the palestinian people primarily the right their independent state and 4 also stresses the need for to self determination and the right to justly resolving the problem of palestine refugees in conformity with its resolution 194 iii of 11 december 1948 43 table 1 records the vote on this resolution in the years preceding cast lead at the regional level a 2002 arab league summit in beirut unanimously put forth a peace initiative echoing the un consensus while all 57 members of the organization of the islamic conference oic including the islamic republic of iran adopted the arab peace initiative to resolve the issue of palestine and the middle east and decided to use all possible means in order to explain and clarify the full implications of this initiative and win international support for its implementation 44 the arab league initiative commits it not just to recognize israel but also to establish normal relations once israel implements the consensus terms for a comprehensive peace israel began construction in 2002 of a physical barrier that encroached deeply into the west bank and took a sinuous path incorporating the large settlement blocs the un general assembly requested that the international court of justice icj clarify the legal consequences arising from the construction of the wall being built by israel in 2004 the court rendered its landmark advisory opinion 45 in the process of ruling that the wall was illegal the icj also reiterated key elements of the juridical framework for resolving the israel palestine conflict 46 it inventoried these rules and principles of international law which are relevant in assessing the legality of the measures taken by israel 1 no territorial acquisition resulting from the threat or use of force shall be recognized as legal and 2 the policy and practices of israel in establishing settlements in the palestinian and other arab territories occupied since 1967 have no legal validity in its subsequent deliberations on whether the construction of the wall has breached these rules and principles the icj found that b oth the general assembly and the security council have referred with regard to palestine to the customary rule of the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war it is on this same basis that the security council has several times condemned the measures taken by israel to change the status of jerusalem as regards the principle of the right of peoples to self determination the existence of a palestinian people is no longer in issue its rights include the right to self determination the court concludes that the israeli settlements in the occupied palestinian territory including east jerusalem have been established in breach of international law not one of the 15 judges sitting on the icj registered dissent from these basic principles and findings it can scarcely be argued however that they evinced prejudice against israel or that it was a kangaroo court as harvard law professor alan dershowitz alleged 47 several of the judges although voting with the majority expressed profound sympathy for israel s plight in their respective separate opinions if the judges were nearly of one mind in their final determination this consensus sprang not from collective prejudice but from the factual situation the uncontroversial nature of the legal principles at stake and israel s unambiguous violation of them even the one judge who voted against the 14 person majority condemning israel s construction of the wall thomas buergenthal from the us was at pains to stress that there was much in the advisory opinion with which i agree on the critical question of israeli settlements he stated paragraph 6 of article 49 of the fourth geneva convention does not admit for exception on grounds of military or security exigencies it provides that the occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population in the territory it occupies i agree that this provision applies to the israeli settlements in the west bank and that their existence violates article 49 paragraph 6 a broad international consensus has also crystallized upholding the palestinian right of return the annual un resolution supported overwhelmingly by member states calls for a settlement of the refugee question on the basis of unga resolution 194 this latter resolution resolves that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date and that compensation should be paid for property of those choosing not to return in addition respected human rights organizations urge israel to recognize the right to return for those palestinians and their descendants who fled from territory that is now within the state of israel and who have maintained appropriate links with that territory hrw and call for palestinians who fled or were expelled from israel the west bank or gaza strip along with those of their descendants who have maintained genuine links with the area to be able to exercise their right to return amnesty international 48 the upshot is that a broad consensus has long existed on the full spectrum of purportedly vexed final status issues borders settlements east jerusalem refugees while israel s stance on each of these issues has been overwhelmingly rejected by the most representative political body international community as well as by the most authoritative judicial body and human rights organizations in the world the in the palestinian authority not only acquiesced in the terms of the global consensus before cast lead but also made significant concessions going beyond it 49 but what about the hamas authorities in gaza a 2009 study by a us government agency concluded that hamas had been carefully and consciously adjusting its political program for years and had sent repeated signals that it is ready to begin a process of coexisting with israel 50 just a few months before cast lead khalid mishal the head of hamas s politburo stated in an interview that most palestinian forces including hamas accept a state on the 1967 borders 51 even right after the devastation wreaked by the invasion mishal reiterated that the objective remains the constitution of a palestinian state with east jerusalem as its capital the return of the israelis to the pre 67 borders and the right of return of our refugees 52 in a complementary formula mishal told former us president jimmy carter in 2006 that hamas agreed to accept any peace agreement negotiated between the leaders of the plo palestine liberation organization and israel provided it is subsequently approved by palestinians in a referendum or by a democratically elected government 53 but what about hamas s notoriously anti semitic charter in fact from the mid 1990s onward hamas rarely if at all invoked its charter to the point that it no longer cites or refers to it 54 israeli officials knew full well before they launched cast lead that a diplomatic settlement could have been reached with hamas despite the charter the hamas leadership has recognized that its ideological goal is not attainable and will not be in the foreseeable future former mossad head ephraim levy observed in 2008 they are ready and willing to see the establishment of a palestinian state in the temporary borders of 1967 they know that the moment a palestinian state is established with their cooperation t hey will have to adopt a path that could lead them far from their original ideological goals 55 the flagrant pragmatism of palestinian leaders figured as a critical factor in israel s decision to attack after rejecting hamas s cease fire proposals for months israel finally agreed to them in june 2008 56 it s instructive to recall what happened next hamas was careful to maintain the cease fire a semiofficial israeli publication conceded despite the fact that israel reneged on the crucial quid pro quo to substantially relax the siege of gaza the lull was sporadically violated by rocket and mortar shell fire carried out by rogue terrorist organizations the israeli source continued at the same time the hamas movement tried to enforce the terms of the arrangement on the other terrorist organizations and to prevent them from violating it 57 the islamic movement had on this occasion honored its word and consequently made itself a credible negotiating partner hamas s acceptance of the two state settlement on the one hand and the cease fire on the other put israel on the diplomatic defensive it could no longer justify shunning hamas and it was only a matter of time before europeans renewed dialogue and relations with the islamic movement the prospect of an incoming us administration negotiating with iran and hamas and inching closer to the international consensus for settling the israel palestine conflict which some centrist us policy makers now advocated58 threatened to cast a yet more piercing light on israeli intransigence in its 2008 annual assessment the jewish people policy planning institute headquartered in jerusalem and chaired by the redoubtable dennis ross cautioned the advent of the new administration in the us could be accompanied by an overall political reassessment the iran issue could come to be viewed as the key to the stabilization of the middle east and a strategy seeking a comprehensive regional deal may be devised which would include a relatively aggressive effort to resolve the israeli arab conflict 59 in an alternate scenario speculated on later by hezbollah s nasrallah the incoming us administration planned to convene an international peace conference of americans israelis europeans and so called arab moderates to impose a settlement the one obstacle was palestinian resistance and the hamas government in gaza getting rid of this stumbling block is the true goal of cast lead 60 in either case israel needed to provoke hamas into resuming its attacks if hamas rose to the bait and armed hostilities ensued it would be disqualified as a legitimate negotiating partner as intransigents got the upper hand in internal struggles or it would be physically wiped out so as to make way for a settlement on israel s terms in a this was not the first time israel had confronted such a triple threat arab league peace initiative palestinian acquiescence two state settlement palestinian acceptance of a cease fire and it was also not the first time israel had embarked on provocation and war to nip it in the bud by the late 1970s a pair of israeli scholars recalled the two state solution had won the support of the palestinian leadership in the occupied territories as well as that of most arab states and other members of the international community 61 in addition plo leaders headquartered in lebanon had strictly adhered to a cease fire with israel negotiated in 1981 62 while saudi arabia unveiled in 1981 and the arab league subsequently approved a peace plan based on two state settlement 63 mindful of these ominous developments israel stepped up preparations in late 1981 to destroy the plo 64 in his analysis of the buildup to israel s 1982 invasion of lebanon israeli strategic analyst avner yaniv reported that plo leader yasser arafat was contemplating a historic compromise with the zionist state whereas all israeli cabinets since 1967 as well as leading mainstream doves opposed a palestinian state fearing diplomatic pressure israel maneuvered to sabotage the two state the settlement by eliminating the plo as a potential negotiating partner it conducted punitive military raids deliberately out of proportion that targeted palestinian and lebanese civilians in order to weaken plo moderates strengthen the hand of arafat s radical rivals and guarantee the plo s inflexibility ultimately however israel had to choose between two stark options a political move leading to a historic compromise with the plo or preemptive military action against it to fend off arafat s peace offensive yaniv s telling phrase israel embarked on military action in june 1982 the israeli invasion had been preceded by more than a year of effective cease fire with the plo but after murderous israeli provocations the last of which left as many as 200 civilians dead including 60 occupants of a palestinian children s hospital the plo finally retaliated causing a single israeli casualty although israel exploited the plo s resumption of rocket attacks on northern israel to justify its invasion the galilee yaniv concluded that the raison d être of the entire operation was destroying the plo as a political force capable of claiming a palestinian state on the west bank 65 operation peace in fast forward to the eve of cast lead in early december 2008 israeli foreign minister tzipi livni posited that although israel could benefit from a temporary period of calm with hamas an extended truce harms the israeli strategic goal empowers hamas and gives the impression that israel recognizes the movement 66 translation a protracted cease fire that spotlighted hamas s pragmatism in word and deed and that consequently increased public pressure on israel to lift the siege and negotiate a diplomatic settlement would undercut israel s strategic goal of entrenching the occupation in fact israel had already resolved to attack hamas as far back as early 2007 and only acquiesced in the 2008 truce because the israeli army needed time to prepare 67 once the pieces were in place israel still required a pretext to abort the pestiferous cease fire on 4 november 2008 while americans were riveted to the historic election day returns barack obama was elected president israel broke the cease fire with hamas68 by killing palestinian militants on the spurious pretext of preempting a hamas raid 69 it hoped that the murderous breach would provoke hamas and the prayers were answered a cease fire agreed in june between israel and palestinian armed groups in gaza held for four and a half months amnesty observed in its annual report but broke down after israeli forces killed six palestinian militants in air strikes and other attacks on 4 november 70 the israeli attack predictably triggered a resumption of hamas rocket attacks in retaliation the quoted phrase is from the semiofficial israeli publication 71 still hamas was interested in renewing the relative calm with israel according to israeli internal security chief yuval diskin and it was prepared to accept a bargain in which it would halt the fire in exchange for easing of israeli policies that have kept a choke hold on the economy of the strip according to former idf gaza commander shmuel zakai 72 but israel tightened the suffocating blockade another notch while demanding a unilateral and unconditional cease fire by hamas even before israel intensified the blockade former un high commissioner for human rights mary robinson decried its effects gaza s whole civilization has been destroyed i m not exaggerating 73 by late 2008 israel had brought gaza s infrastructure to the brink of collapse according rights organization 74 food medicine fuel parts for water and sanitation systems fertilizer plastic sheeting phones paper glue shoes and even teacups are no longer getting through in sufficient quantities or at all harvard political economist sara roy reported the breakdown of an entire society is happening in front of us but there is little international response beyond un warnings which are ignored 75 israeli human to an if hamas had not reacted after the 4 november killings israel would almost certainly have ratcheted up its provocations just as it did in the lead up to the 1982 lebanon war until restraint became politically untenable for hamas in any event faced with the prospect of an asphyxiating israeli blockade even if it ceased firing rockets to choose between starvation and fighting 76 hamas opted for resistance albeit largely symbolic you cannot the palestinians in gaza in the economic distress they re in land blows forced leave just and expect that hamas will just sit around and do nothing the former israeli commander in gaza observed 77 our modest home made rockets hamas leader khalid mishal wrote in an open letter during the invasion are our cry of protest to the world 78 but israel could now enter a plea of self defense to its willfully gullible western patrons as it embarked on yet another brutal invasion to foil yet another palestinian peace offensive apart from minor adaptations in the script the bogey was not plo terrorism but hamas terrorism the pretext was not shelling in the north but rocket fire in the south the 2008 reprise stayed remarkably faithful to the 1982 original as it derailed a functioning cease fire and preempted a diplomatic settlement of the conflict 79 t h r e e spin control distressed by the images of carnage coming out of gaza and flooding the international media israel and its supporters set out to restore the jewish state s tarnished reputation shortly after operation cast lead ended on 18 january 2009 anthony cordesman published a report titled the gaza war a strategic analysis 1 it warrants close scrutiny both because cordesman has been an influential military analyst 2 and because report neatly synthesized and systematized israel s makeshift rebuttals as criticism of the invasion mounted the cordesman s report overwhelmingly exculpated israel of wrongdoing and he explicitly concluded that israel did not violate the laws of war 3 however cordesman also entered the key caveat that he was not passing a legal or moral judgment on israel s conduct and that analysts without training in the complex laws of war should not render such judgments his full blooded exoneration on the one hand and cautious caveat on the other did not the issue of proportionality 4 easily hang together he asserted that neither the laws of war nor historical precedents barred israel s use of massive amounts of force while he also and at the same time refrained from venturing a legal or moral judgment on in essence he categorically absolved israel of criminal guilt even as he went on to plead agnosticism he also alleged that the laws of war were often difficult or impossible to apply 5 if that s the case whence his conclusion that israel did not violate the laws of war he additionally purported that the laws of war were biased against israel because they do not bind or restrain non state actors like hamas 6 as a practical matter it is not immediately apparent that the laws of war have bound or restrained israel either that said the laws of war according to harvard law professor duncan kennedy actually favor conventional over unconventional forces in asymmetric warfare 7 the analysis presented by cordesman was based entirely on briefings in israel made possible by a visit sponsored by project interchange and using day to day reporting issued by the israeli defense spokesman 8 shouldn t he have mentioned that project interchange is an affiliate of the reflexively apologetic american jewish committee in the course of his junket cordesman put full faith israeli officialdom contrariwise respected israeli commentators have grown skeptical of israeli government sources the state authorities including the defense establishment and its the pronouncements of in branches uzi benziman observed in haaretz have acquired for themselves a shady reputation when it comes to their credibility the official communiqués published by the idf israel defense forces have progressively liberated themselves from the constraints of truth b michael wrote in yediot ahronot and the heart of the power structure that is the police army and intelligence has been infected by a culture of lying 9 during cast lead israel was repeatedly caught misrepresenting among many other things its deployment of white phosphorus 10 as the invasion got under way an idf spokesman informed cnn i can tell you with certainty that white phosphorus is absolutely not being used while idf chief of staff gabi ashkenazi told the knesset foreign affairs and defense committee the idf acts only in accordance with what is permitted by international law and does not use white phosphorus 11 even after numerous human rights organizations conclusively documented israel s illegal use of white phosphorus an israeli military inquiry persisted in these prevarications 12 a former senior pentagon analyst and senior military analyst with human rights watch hrw recalling israel s train of lies during both the 2006 lebanon war and cast lead rhetorically asked how can anyone trust the israeli military 13 a chunk of cordesman s strategic analysis consisted of reproducing verbatim the daily press releases of the israeli air force and army spokespersons he obligingly dubbed them chronologies of the war alleged that they offer considerable insight into what happened 14 and recycled them multiple times for example he repeatedly peppered his text with each of these statements or versions thereof the idf will continue operating against terror operatives and anyone involved including those sponsoring and hosting terrorists in addition to those that send innocent women and children to be used as human shields the idf will not hesitate to strike those involved both directly and indirectly in attacks against the citizens of the state of israel the idf will continue to operate against hamas terror infrastructure in the gaza strip according to plans in order to reduce the rocket fire on the south of israel idf infantry corps armored corps engineering corps artillery corps and intelligence corps forces continued to operate during terrorist infrastructure throughout the gaza strip 15 much of cordesman s report in other words simply reiterated ad nauseam the israeli military s generic pr materials meanwhile on a specific point of contention he reproduced an israeli press release claiming that israel hit a vehicle transporting a stockpile of grad missiles 16 but an investigation by b tselem israeli information center for human rights in the occupied territories at the time found and the idf eventually conceded that they were almost certainly oxygen canisters 17 the vehicle was targeted in a precision drone missile attack that left eight civilians dead although according to hrw the drone s the night against hamas advanced imaging equipment should have enabled the drone operator to determine the nature of the objects under surveillance 18 it would appear that the israeli drone operator premeditatedly targeted a civilian vehicle carrying noncombatants cordesman also alleged that official israeli data were far more credible than non israeli data such as from un sources he based this conclusion on among other things the fact that many israelis feel that such un sources are strongly biased in favor of the palestinians 19 should the israeli figure that hamas fighters comprised two thirds of the casualties in gaza be credited 20 even as it was belied by every reputable independent source 21 cordesman trumpeted in particular the exceptional care that israel took during cast lead to limit civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure he alleged that every aspect of the israeli air force s targeting plan was based on a detailed target analysis that explicitly evaluated the risk to civilians and the location of sensitive sites like schools hospitals mosques churches and other holy sites that israel used the smallest possible weapon coupled with precision intelligence and guidance systems to deconflict military targeting from damage to civilian facilities that israel did plan its air and air land campaigns in ways that clearly discriminated between military and civilian targets and that were intended to limit civilian casualties and collateral damage 22 if he confidently attested to these precautions that s because his israeli interlocutors and israeli press releases repeatedly attested to them israel had to cope not only with adverse media coverage during cast lead but also with an avalanche of postwar human rights reports condemning its prosecution of the invasion because of the sheer number of them the broad array of reputable organizations issuing them and the uniformity of their principal conclusions these reports could not easily be dismissed as anti israel propaganda 23 although the reports made extensive use of palestinian eyewitnesses these testimonies also could not easily be dismissed as hamas inspired or tainted by hamas intimidation delegates who visited gaza during and after operation cast lead amnesty international observed were able to carry out their investigations unhindered and people often voiced criticisms of hamas s conduct including rocket attacks 24 the widespread censure by human rights professionals compelled israel in 2009 to issue a factual and legal brief in its defense the operation in gaza 25 it alleged that these critical human rights reports too often amounted to a rush to judgment inasmuch as they were published within a matter of hours days or weeks after cast lead 26 in fact most of the reports came out months later the critical evidence adduced in the israeli brief consisted largely of testimonies extracted from palestinian detainees during interrogation the circumstances surrounding these alleged confessions cast doubt on their evidentiary value the goldstone report found that palestinian detainees rounded up during cast lead were subjected to cruel inhuman and degrading treatment throughout their ordeal in order to terrorize intimidate and humiliate them the men were made to strip sometimes naked at different stages of their detention all the men were handcuffed in a most painful manner and blindfolded increasing their sense of fear and helplessness men women and children were held close to artillery and tank positions where constant shelling and firing was taking place thus not only exposing them to danger but increasing their fear and terror palestinian detainees were subjected to beatings and other physical abuse that amounts to torture were used as human shields and were subjected to methods of that amounted not only to torture but also to physical and moral coercion of civilians to obtain information 27 it would appear then that the confessions of these palestinian detainees should be taken with a boulder of salt interrogation parrying the censorious thrust of these human rights reports israel s brief declared that it took extensive measures to comply with its obligations under international law and that the idf s mode of operation reflected the extensive training of idf soldiers to respect the obligations imposed under international law 28 in particular it alleged that israeli forces fired only on legitimate targets and exercised maximum feasible caution the idf directed based on what attacks solely against military objectives and endeavored to ensure that civilians and civilian objects would not be harmed where incidental damage to civilians or civilian property could not be avoided the idf made extraordinary efforts to ensure that it would not be excessive the idf used the least destructive munitions possible to achieve legitimate military objectives as well as sophisticated precision weapons to minimize the harm to civilians the idf carefully checked and cross checked targets to make sure they were being used for combat or terrorist activities and not instead solely for civilian use 29 journalists and human rights organizations found and what israeli soldiers in the field later testified however a radically different picture of cast lead comes into relief we re going to war a company commander told his soldiers before the attack i want aggressiveness if there s someone suspicious on the upper floor of a house we ll shell it if we have suspicions about a house we ll take there will be no hesitation 30 a combatant remembered a meeting with his brigade commander and others where the rules of engagement were essentially conveyed as if you see any signs of movement at all you shoot 31 other soldiers recalled if the deputy battalion commander thought a house looked suspect we d blow it away if the infantrymen didn t that house we d shoot unidentified soldier if you face an area that is hidden by a building you take down the building questions such as looks of it down like the who lives in that building are not asked soldier recalling his brigade commander s order as for rules of engagement the army s working assumption was that the whole area would be devoid of civilians anyone there as far as the army was concerned was to be killed unidentified soldier we were told any sign of danger open up with massive fire member of a reconnaissance company we shot at anything that moved golani brigade fighter despite the fact that no one fired on us the firing and demolitions continued incessantly gunner in a tank crew 32 essentially a person only need ed to be in a problematic location a haaretz reporter found in circumstances that can broadly be seen as suspicious for him to be incriminated and in effect sentenced to death 33 although the israeli brief purported that the protection of idf troops did not override all other factors 34 both journalistic investigations and the testimonies of israeli combatants suggested otherwise israelis would have trouble accepting heavy israel defense forces losses haaretz reported in its reconstruction of the invasion s planning stage so the army resorted to overwhelming firepower the lives of our soldiers take precedence the commanders were told in briefings the idf general staff anticipated before the onslaught that 600 800 palestinian civilians would be killed 35 it was an atmosphere one idf soldier lives of less palestinians remembered let s say is something very very in which the important than the lives of our soldiers another combatant recalled the order of his battalion commander not a hair will fall off a soldier of mine and i am not willing to allow a soldier of mine to risk himself by hesitating if you are not sure shoot while a squad commander recollected how the idf used a huge amount of firepower and killed a huge number of people along the way so that we wouldn t get hurt and they wouldn t fire on us 36 when we suspect that a palestinian fighter is hiding in a house we shoot it with a missile and then with two tank shells and then a bulldozer hits the wall a senior idf officer told haaretz it causes damage but it prevents the loss of life among soldiers 37 an officer who served at a brigade headquarters recalled a year after the invasion that idf policy amounted to ensuring literally zero risk to the soldiers 38 still didn t israel try to protect civilians by forewarning them of imminent attacks israel distributed hundreds of thousands of leaflets cordesman touted and used its intelligence on cell phone networks in gaza to issue warnings to civilians 39 the israeli brief pointed up its extraordinary steps to avoid harming civilians in its gaza operation and significant efforts to minimize harm to civilians such as dropping leaflets warning occupants to stay away from hamas strongholds and leave buildings that hamas was using to launch attacks and contacting occupants by telephone to warn of impending attacks on particular buildings 40 but the leaflets and phone calls failed to give details of the areas to be targeted according to human rights reports and conversely which areas were safe moreover because the entirety of gaza came under attack on the one hand and its borders with israel and egypt were sealed on the other there was nowhere for the civilian population to have gone the inevitable and foreseeable consequence of these so called warnings amid the indiscriminate and sustained bombing and shelling of this tightly sealed territory was according to a fact finding committee led by south african jurist john dugard a state of terror confusion and panic among the local population 41 indeed israeli interior minister meir sheetrit alleged that the army called sic 250 000 telephone calls to the people to leave their houses nonplussed amnesty rejoined there are barely 250 000 households in gaza if indeed the israeli army called that many families to tell them to leave their homes this would mean that virtually every family was told to do so 42 how could pandemonium and mayhem not have ensued nonetheless deeply impressed by the quantity of israeli warnings an american legal scholar contended in a novel interpretative twist that these warnings should be credited even as palestinians could not heed them the law contains no requirement that the civilian population be able to act on the warnings in order to find them effective 43 is it effective to post signs warning in case of fire use emergency exit if the building doesn t have an emergency exit israel s brief not only foregrounded its prior warnings during cast lead but also played up its relief efforts it alleged that israel sought to provide and facilitate humanitarian assistance and implemented a far reaching effort to ensure that the humanitarian needs of the civilian in gaza were met 44 if this solicitude population occasioned skepticism cordesman laid it to rest he brandished israeli press releases as well as israeli ministry of defense claims affirming it and even cited no lesser a personage than defense minister ehud barak we are well aware of the humanitarian concerns we are doing and will continue to do everything possible to provide all humanitarian needs to the residents of gaza 45 the facts on the ground looked rather different however un agencies and humanitarian ngos continued to carry out operations despite extreme insecurity the united nations office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs ocha observed in the course of the three weeks of hostilities five unrwa united nations relief and works agency staff and three of its contractors were killed while on duty and another 11 staff and four contractors were injured four incidents of aid convoys being shot at have been reported at least 53 united nations buildings sustained damage 46 foreign minister tzipi livni audaciously declared in the midst of cast lead that no humanitarian crisis existed in gaza but unrwa s director of operations fired back we have a catastrophe unfolding in gaza for the civilian population they re trapped they re traumatized they re terrorized 47 although entering some generic caveats acknowledging israel s delays and mistakes in its relief efforts and although citing countless israeli press releases cordesman could not find the space to quote this or numerous other critical statements by relief organizations and un officials 48 the goldstone report concluded that israel violated its obligation to allow free passage of all consignments of medical and hospital objects food and clothing that the amounts and types of food medical and hospital items and clothing allowed in were wholly insufficient to meet the humanitarian needs of the population and that from its tightening of the blockade in 2007 to the end of the invasion israel impeded passage of sufficient goods to meet the needs of the population 49 even after the january 2009 cease fire went into effect israel persisted in blocking humanitarian assistance including shipments of chickpeas dates tea macaroni sweets jam biscuits tomato paste children s puzzles and plastic bags to distribute food 50 little of the extensive damage israel caused to homes civilian infrastructure public services farms and businesses has been repaired 16 respected humanitarian and human rights organizations reported in a comprehensive study released one year after the invasion this is not an accident it is a matter of policy the israeli government s blockade not only forbids most gazans from leaving or exporting anything to the outside world but also only permits the import of a narrowly restricted number of basic humanitarian goods the study found that as a direct result of the continuing israeli blockade all kinds of construction materials cement gravel wood pipes glass steel bars aluminum tar and spare parts are in desperately short supply or completely unavailable 90 percent of the people of gaza continue to suffer power cuts of four to eight hours a day while the rest still have no power at all thousands were left to an existence without piped water and there were long delays in or denial of entry of basic educational supplies such as textbooks and paper while children already traumatized by the military offensive cannot learn and develop in these unsafe and unsanitary conditions 51 israel s interference with humanitarian relief efforts during cast lead was of a piece with its broader assault on un agencies and gazan medical facilities after israel fired white phosphorus shells at an unrwa installation setting it ablaze un secretary general ban ki moon gave public vent to his anger i am just appalled it is an outrageous and totally unacceptable attack against the united nations 52 a un commissioned board of inquiry that investigated assaults on multiple un sites during cast lead found israel culpable inter alia for a direct and intentional strike that killed three young men at an unrwa school sheltering some four hundred civilians firing a series of mortar shells that struck the immediate vicinity of an unrwa school killing and injuring scores of civilians a grossly negligent white phosphorus attack amounting to recklessness on the hub and nerve center for all unrwa operations in gaza and a highly negligent white phosphorus attack amounting to reckless disregard on an unrwa school sheltering some 2 000 civilians killing 2 children and injuring 13 it also found that in one incident a un warehouse was damaged by a qassam type rocket that had most likely been fired from inside gaza by hamas or another palestinian faction the board of inquiry concluded that no military activity was carried out from within united nations premises in any of the incidents that israel must have expected that palestinians would respond to the ongoing attacks by seeking refuge within unrwa premises and that israel continued to make false allegations that hamas militants had been firing from un premises even after it ought to have been known that they were untrue 53 still denigrating the un report as unfair and one sided israeli president shimon peres declared we will never accept it it s outrageous the defense ministry alleged that an internal idf investigation irrefutably belied the board s findings yet again demonstrating if further vindication were still needed that we have the most moral army in the world 54 the humanitarian crisis was exacerbated as israel s assault targeted and took a heavy toll on gaza s medical facilities already before cast lead israel had deprived ailing gazans of access to medical care abroad and held them hostage to collaborating with israeli intelligence in exchange for an exit permit 55 the israeli brief crowed that during the invasion it facilitated the transfer abroad of many gazan patients requiring treatment 56 but human rights organizations reported that israel created nearly insuperable obstacles preventing injured gazans from accessing such treatment 57 the medical disaster caused by israel s denial of access abroad was complemented and compounded by israel s assault on medical facilities inside gaza in the course of cast lead direct or indirect israeli attacks damaged or destroyed 29 ambulances and almost half of gaza s 122 health facilities including 15 hospitals fully 16 medical personnel were killed and a further 25 injured while on duty 58 cordesman faithfully echoed israel s claim that it coordinated the movement of ambulances and the israeli brief spotlighted a special medical coordination center set up by it to handle the evacuation of the wounded and dead from areas of hostilities 59 but according to b tselem even where coordination was arranged soldiers reportedly fired at ambulances 60 a physicians for human rights israel report documented israeli attacks on medical crews and ambulances as well as countless israeli obstacles blocking the path of rescue teams in the field that attempted to evacuate trapped and injured persons 61 a supplementary report by an independent team of medical experts commissioned by physicians for human rights israel and the palestinian medical relief society found that israel prohibited wounded gazans from being evacuated by ambulances and that it targeted ambulances and their crews it concluded that the underlying meaning of the attack on the gaza strip appears to be one of creating terror without mercy to anyone 62 the normally discreet international committee of the red cross issued a public rebuke of israel after a shocking incident in which israeli soldiers turned back a red cross rescue team dispatched to aid injured civilians leaving them to die 63 the al mezan center for human rights tallied that israel s systematic obstruction of medical access during the invasion caused the deaths of at least 258 gazans 64 but didn t hamas commandeer and make nefarious use of ambulances cordesman alleged that hamas used ambulances to mobilize terrorists but he adduced no evidence 65 the israeli brief contended that hamas made extensive use of ambulances bearing the protective emblems of the red cross and red crescent to transport operatives and weaponry and use of ambulances to evacuate terrorists from the battlefield the only independent proof it could muster however didn t exactly overwhelm a fabulating italian reporter on the one hand and a gazan ambulance driver who recounted how hamas militants sought unsuccessfully to commandeer his vehicle on the other 66 the israeli brief goes so far as to allege that the idf refrained from attacking medical vehicles even in cases where hamas and other terrorist organizations were using them for military purposes 67 but if the idf didn t target ambulances commandeered by hamas for military purposes and if there is absolutely no doubt that the idf targeted a large number of ambulances 68 then the ambulances it targeted must not have been used for military purposes the argument that palestinians abused ambulances has been raised numerous times by israeli officials b tselem recalled although israel has almost never presented evidence to prove it 69 indeed israel had targeted clearly marked lebanese ambulances with missile fire during the 2006 war even though according to hrw there was no basis for concluding that hezbollah was making use of the ambulances for a military purpose 70 but what about cast lead the goldstone report did not find any evidence to support the allegations that ambulances were used to transport combatants or for other military purposes if doubts lingered on this score they were squelched by magen david adom israel s national emergency medical disaster ambulance and blood bank it unequivocally attested that there was no use of prcs palestinian red crescent society ambulances for the transport of weapons or ammunition 71 still didn t hamas militants fire from and take refuge in hospitals vast amounts of information from both intelligence sources and reports from idf forces on the ground israel contended show that hamas did in fact make extensive military use of hospitals and other medical facilities 72 but according to amnesty israeli officials did not provide service evidence for even one such case amnesty itself found no evidence during its on the ground investigation that such practices if they did occur were widespread physicians for human rights israel did not find any evidence supporting israel s official claim that hospitals were used to conceal political or military personnel the goldstone report did not find any evidence to support the allegations that hospital facilities were used by the gaza authorities or by palestinian armed groups to shield military activities 73 the israeli brief further contended that the idf refrained from attacking shifa hospital in gaza city despite hamas s use of an entire ground floor wing as its headquarters out of concern for the inevitable harm to civilians also present in the hospital toeing the party line israeli historian benny morris also declared hamas leaders sat out the campaign in the basement of gaza s shifa hospital gambling correctly that israel would not bomb or storm a hospital except for the ubiquitous italian reporter who hopped from one journalistic coup to another the sole source in the israeli brief was the confession of a palestinian detainee during his interrogation 74 if israel didn t target this hospital where hamas s senior leadership was allegedly ensconced then it is cause for wonder why it did target many other palestinian hospitals the two top floors of al quds hospital along with its adjacent administrative building and warehouse were completely destroyed al wafa hospital sustained direct hits from eight tank shells two missiles and thousands of bullets the european hospital of khan yunis sustained artillery damage to its walls water mains and electricity the emergency room of al dorah hospital was hit twice al awda hospital sustained damage from two artillery shells that landed near the emergency room 75 it might be argued that the idf was returning enemy fire when these hospitals were hit except that israel also proclaimed it did not target terrorists who launched attacks in the vicinity of a hospital 76 israel did not just attack gaza s civilian population and its humanitarian support system it also systematically targeted gaza s civilian infrastructure in the course of cast lead israel destroyed or damaged 58 000 homes 6 300 were completely destroyed or sustained severe damage 280 schools and kindergartens 18 schools were completely destroyed and 6 university buildings were razed to the ground 1 500 factories and workshops including 22 of gaza s 29 ready mix concrete factories several buildings housing palestinian and foreign media two journalists were killed while working four others were also killed electrical water and sewage installations more than one million gazans were left without power during the invasion and a half million were cut off from running water 190 greenhouse complexes 80 percent of agricultural crops and nearly one fifth of cultivated land 77 the israeli brief nonetheless contended that israel took every precaution not to damage civilian objects indeed it cordesman when who can doubt that the idf carefully checked and cross checked targets to make sure they were being used for combat or terrorist activities when according to the goldstone report it launched an intentional and precise attack destroying the only one of gaza s three flour mills still operating the report concluded that the only purpose of this attack was to put an end to the production of flour in the gaza strip and destroy the local capacity to produce flour 78 who can doubt that the idf clearly discriminated between military and civilian targets systematically and deliberately flattened a large chicken farm that supplied 10 percent of the gaza egg market the goldstone report concluded that this constituted a deliberate act of wanton destruction not justified by any military necessity 79 the united nations development program reported that over 4 000 cattle sheep and goats and more than one million birds and chickens broilers and egg layers were killed during operation cast lead with evidence of livestock being the direct target of israeli machine guns 80 if the death and destruction appeared to be indefensible israel alleged after the invasion it was only because of the limit to the amount of intelligence it can share with commissions of inquiry without compromising operational capabilities and intelligence sources 81 if the world only knew what was in those chickens 82 the total direct cost of the damage to gaza s civilian infrastructure during cast lead was estimated at 660 900 million while total losses from the destruction and disruption of economic life were put at 3 3 5 billion 83 some 600 000 tons of rubble were left behind after israel s mega display of military might idf general staff officer 84 eager for round two a member of israel s regional council adjoining gaza exhorted the military that next time they should flatten gaza into a parking lot destroy them 85 a juxtaposition of the destruction inflicted by israel and on israel in and of itself tells a story hamas rocket attacks on israel damaged several civilian homes and other structures one was almost completely destroyed 86 while israeli damages came to just 15 million 87 total in postinvasion testimonies idf soldiers recalled the macabre scenes of destruction in gaza we didn t see a single house that remained intact nothing much was left in our designated area it looked awful like in those world war ii films where nothing remained a totally destroyed city we demolished a lot there were people who had been in gaza for two days constantly demolishing one house after the other and we re talking about a whole battalion one night they saw a terrorist and he disappeared so they decided he d gone into a tunnel so they brought a d 9 bulldozer and razed the whole orchard the amount of destruction there was incredible you drive around those neighborhoods and can t identify a thing not one stone left standing over another you see plenty of fields hothouses orchards everything devastated totally ruined it s terrible it s surreal there was a point where d 9s were razing areas it was amazing at first you go in and see lots of houses a week later after the razing you see the horizon further away almost to the sea 88 one veteran of the invasion designed a t shirt depicting a king kong like soldier clenching a mosque while glowering over a city under attack the shirt bearing the slogan if you believe it can be fixed then believe it can be destroyed i was in gaza he told haaretz and they kept emphasizing that the object of the operation was to wreak destruction on the infrastructure 89 the only reported penalty israel imposed for unlawful property destruction during cast lead was an unknown disciplinary measure taken against one soldier 90 the israeli brief alleged that its overall use of force against hamas during the gaza operation was proportional to the threat posed by hamas 91 the postinvasion testimonies of israeli soldiers vividly depicted what such proportional use of force felt like this was firepower such as i had never known there were blasts all the time the earth was constantly shaking on the ground you hear these thunderous blasts all day long i mean not just tank shelling which was a tune we d long gotten used to but blasts that actually rock the outpost to the extent that some of us were ordered out of the house we were quartered in for fear it would collapse 92 indeed one soldier after another after another testified that israel deployed insane amounts of firepower during the invasion we are hitting innocents and our artillery fire there was insane fire power was insane he said we were going to exercise insane firepower with artillery and the air force this was the general attitude in the army go in with insane firepower because this is our only advantage over them 93 the israeli brief also alleged that idf orders and directions stressed that all demolition operations should be carried out in a manner that would minimize to the greatest extent possible the damage caused to any property not used by hamas and other terrorist organizations in the fighting 94 but human rights organizations painted an altogether different picture amnesty found that much of the destruction of civilian buildings and infrastructure was wanton and resulted from deliberate and unnecessary demolition of property direct attacks on civilian objects and indiscriminate attacks that failed to distinguish between legitimate military targets and civilian objects 95 the timing location and pace of the devastation buttressed amnesty s finding and undercut official israeli claims as much as 90 percent of the destruction of civilian buildings and infrastructure including juice ice cream biscuit and pepsi cola factories took place in the last days of cast lead according to the dugard report in areas fully pacified by the idf and much of this destruction was wreaked by israeli troops as they withdrew 96 an hrw study found that virtually every home factory and orchard had been destroyed within certain areas apparently indicating that a plan of systematic destruction was carried out in these locations using satellite imagery taken at intervals during the conflict hrw documented numerous cases in which israeli forces caused extensive destruction of homes factories farms and greenhouses in areas under idf control without any evident military purpose these cases occurred when there was no fighting in these areas in many cases the destruction was carried out during the final days of the campaign when an israeli withdrawal was imminent in the izbt abd rabbo neighborhood for example the vast majority of the wholesale destruction of entire blocks of buildings took place after the idf exercised control 97 an expanse in eastern gaza embracing farms factories and homes was virtually flattened according to the crisis group while israel s deliberate and systematic destruction of that sector through a combination of bulldozers and antitank mines according to a military expert took at least two days of hard labor 98 it might be contended that if israel targeted so many homes it was because hamas is booby trapping every home that is abandoned by its residents idf spokesman quoted by cordesman 99 but this prima facie implausible argument was fatally undermined after the invasion when the idf itself conceded that the scale of destruction was legally indefensible 100 still an israeli security official beamed with pride that by flattening buildings believed to be booby trapped israel had broken the dna of urban guerrilla fighting while deputy prime minister eli yishai declared after the cease fire had come into effect even if the hamas rockets fall in an open air sic or to the sea we should hit their infrastructure and destroy 100 homes for every rocket fired 101 it appears that the ratio of 6 300 gazan homes destroyed to one israeli home almost completely destroyed did not yet quench his thirst for destruction israel targeted not only civilian buildings and infrastructure but also gaza s cultural inheritance fully 30 mosques were destroyed and 15 more damaged during the israeli assault if cordesman concluded that idf forces almost certainly were correct in reporting that hamas used mosques and other sensitive sites in combat that s because his chronologies based on idf press releases purported this 102 initially israel alleged that secondary explosions ensued after mosques had been struck thus confirming that weapons had been stored in them but it subsequently dropped this defense altogether even as it continued to target mosques 103 the goldstone report documented an intentional israeli missile attack on a mosque that killed at least 15 people attending prayers it found no evidence that this mosque was used for the storage of weapons or any military activity by palestinian armed groups 104 israel did not even attempt to refute this particular finding of the goldstone report105 until it came under withering criticism then belatedly discovered that who could have guessed the missile was directed at two terrorist operatives standing near the entrance to the mosque 106 in general the case israel it mounted to justify its targeting of mosques did not persuade it alleged that hamas used mosques to stash weapons but as the goldstone report s military expert observed with abundant hideaways in the labyrinthine alleyways of gaza hamas would have been foolhardy to store anything in an open building like a mosque which had been pre targeted and pre registered by israeli intelligence 107 israel also alleged that hamas stored weapons in mosques as hamas assumed on the basis of past experience that the idf would not attack them but to the contrary israel had damaged or destroyed fully 55 mosques in gaza between 2001 and 2008 108 going one step further harvard law professor alan dershowitz alleged that hamas leaders boast of having stored weapons in mosques 109 but per usual he adduced no evidence and apparently none exists israel s various explanations also could not account for its systematic targeting of minarets which being too narrow for snipers to ascend possessed no apparent military value the dugard report concluded that mosques and more particularly the minarets had been deliberately targeted islam 110 on postinvasion idf testimony confirmed the indiscriminate targeting of mosques 111 israel justified its targeting of educational institutions by claiming that hamas did in fact make use of them 112 however when challenged in a specific instance to provide proof of its allegations israel conceded from its photographic evidence was they symbolized the grounds that that 2007 113 to extenuate its attack on the islamic university in gaza israel alleged that it was the nerve center of hamas s weapons research and development and military terrorist activities one searched in vain however for evidence to corroborate this claim 114 if israel targeted the islamic university because it was a terrorist hub it might nonetheless be wondered why virtually all universities sustained damages 115 the goldstone report did not find any information confirming the use of educational institutions as a military facility or their contribution to a military effort 116 the israeli brief alleged that after his arrest a palestinian detainee admitted under interrogation that hamas operatives frequently carried out rocket fire from schools precisely because they knew that israeli jets would not fire on schools 117 but why would he make such a confession if over and over again that s precisely what israel did the havoc wrought by cast lead might have been wanton but a method incontestably informed this madness if israel possessed fine grid maps of gaza and an intelligence gathering capacity that remained extremely effective and if it made extensive use of state of the art precision weaponry and if 99 percent of the firing that was carried out by the air force hit targets accurately and if it only once targeted a building erroneously indeed if israel itself provided most of the data just cited then as the goldstone report logically concluded the massive destruction israel inflicted on gaza s civilian infrastructure must have been premeditated it resulted from deliberate planning and policy decisions throughout the chain of command down to the standard operating procedures and instructions given to the troops on the ground 118 in other words if israel was able to pinpoint its targets and if by its own acknowledgment it could and did hit these designated targets with pinpoint accuracy then it cannot be contended that the criminal wreckage resulted from mishap or a break in the chain of command what happened in gaza was intended to happen by everyone from the soldiers who executed the orders to the officers who issued them to the politicians who approved them the wholesale destruction was large extent deliberate amnesty concluded and an integral part of a strategy at different levels of the command chain from high ranking officials to soldiers in the field 119 to a to justify the magnitude of the devastation it wreaked israel endeavored to depict the gaza invasion as a genuine military contest cordesman delineated in ominous detail enhanced by tables graphs and figures the vast arsenal of rockets mortars and other weapons that hamas allegedly manufactured and smuggled in through tunnels including iranian made rockets that could strike at much of southern israel and hit key infrastructure as well as the spider web of prepared strong points underground and hidden shelters and ambush points hamas allegedly constructed 120 he reported that according to israeli senior officials hamas mustered 6 000 10 000 core fighters 121 he juxtaposed the gaza war with the 1967 war the 1973 war and the 2006 war as if they belonged on the same plane 122 he expatiated on israel s complex war plans and preparations and he purported that israel s victory was partly owing to its high levels of secrecy as if the outcome would have been different had israel not benefited from the element of surprise 123 the israeli brief alleged that hamas had amassed an extensive armed force of more than 20 000 armed operatives in gaza obtained military supplies through a vast network of tunnels and clandestine arms shipments from iran and syria and acquired advanced weaponry developed weapons of their own and increased the range and lethality of their rockets 124 forced nonetheless even cordesman was to acknowledge if obliquely that what israel fought was scarcely a war he conceded that hamas was a weak non state actor whereas israel possessed a massive armory of state of the art weaponry that the israeli air force faced limited threats from hamas s primitive land based air defense that sustained ground fighting was limited that the israeli army avoided engagements where it would be likely to suffer significant casualties and that the idf used night warfare for most combat operations because hamas did not have the technology or training to fight at night 125 however overwhelmingly cordesman persisted in his dubious depiction of cast lead israel had demonstrated that it could fight an air campaign successfully in crowded urban areas according to him as well as an extended land battle against a non state actor 126 in fact its air campaign was not a fight any more than shooting fish in a barrel is a fight as if however unwittingly to bring home this analogy cordesman quoted a senior israeli air force officer who boasted the iaf had flown some 3 000 successful sorties over a small dense area during three weeks of fighting without a single accident or loss but how could it be otherwise if the planes operated in an environment free of air defenses enjoying complete aerial superiority 127 depicting cast lead as a protracted land war was no less detached from reality hamas was barely equipped barely present in the conflict zones and barely engaged by israeli forces except when it could not fight back not all israelis celebrated their country s triumph in this non war it is very dangerous for the israel defense forces to believe it won the war when there was no war a respected israeli strategic analyst warned in reality not a single battle was fought during the 22 days of fighting 128 the crisis group reported that hamas for the most part avoided direct confrontations with israeli troops and consequently only a limited number of fighters were killed a former israeli foreign ministry official scoffed there was no war hamas sat in its bunkers and came out when it was all over while an israeli officer derisively noted not even light firearms were directed at us one testimonies of doesn t see hamas that much they mostly hide 129 the postinvasion idf soldiers repeatedly confirmed the near absence of an enemy in the field there was nothing there ghost towns except for some livestock nothing moved most of the time it was boring there were not really too many events some explosives are found in a house weapons significant stuff like that but no real resistance i did not see one single arab the whole time we were there that whole week everyone was disappointed about not engaging anyone usually we did not see a living soul except for our soldiers of course not a soul go ahead and ask soldiers how often they encountered combatants in gaza nothing there was supposed to be a tiny resistance force upon entry but there just wasn t nearly no one ran into the enemy i know of two encounters during the whole operation the soldiers too were disappointed for not having had any encounters with terrorists 130 the goldstone report noted that it had received relatively few reports of actual crossfire between the israeli armed forces and palestinian armed groups 131 hamas did not even manage to fully disable a single israeli tank 132 in his defense of idf conduct and the ensuing civilian deaths a hebrew university philosopher pointed up the challenge facing an israeli soldier he had to decide whether the individual standing before him in jeans and sneakers is a combatant or not and he found himself fighting on an extremely densely populated terrain 133 still judging by all the available evidence the truly daunting challenge in gaza was not differentiating between civilians and militants but on the contrary encountering any militant no battles occurred in densely populated or for that matter sparsely populated areas simply put there was no heat of battle no fog of war the death and destruction wreaked by cast lead clearly went beyond israel s declared mission of eliminating terrorists and terrorist infrastructure or even collective punishment of palestinian civilians the systematic destruction of homes and schools factories and farms hospitals and mosques the purpose of which seemed to be to make gaza literally unlivable ineluctably posed the question what was israel really trying to accomplish in fact the murder and mayhem were both critical and integral to the success of the operation its purpose according to cordesman and here the evidence for a change supported him was to restore israeli deterrence and show the hezbollah iran and syria that it was too dangerous to challenge israel 134 but if israel sought to restore its deterrence capacity it couldn t attain this end by inflicting a military defeat because hamas was manifestly not a military power it is not clear cordesman observed that any opponent of israel felt hamas was really strong enough to be a serious test of israeli ground forces 135 consequently israel could reinstate the region s fear of it only by demonstrating the amount of sheer devastation it was prepared to inflict it had to make its enemies feel it was crazy israeli official and was ready to cause wreckage on a scale that is unpredictable and heedless of world opinion cordesman 136 in other words and contradicting israel s official pretense that the use of force in gaza was proportional and discriminate the idf deliberately escalated the level of destruction to a degree that was disproportional and indiscriminate even insane in less guarded moments israeli officials acknowledged the real objective of cast lead as the invasion wound down foreign minister livni declared that it had restored israel s deterrence hamas now understands that when you fire on israel s citizens it responds by going wild and this is a good thing the day after the cease fire went into effect she bragged that israel demonstrated real hooliganism during the course of the recent operation which i demanded 137 later livni declared that she was proud of her decisions during the gaza invasion and would repeat every one of them because they were meant to restore israel s deterrence and did restore israel s deterrence 138 a former israeli defense official told the crisis group that israel decided to play the role of a mad dog for the sake of future deterrence while a former senior israeli security official gloated to the crisis group that israel had regained its deterrence because it has shown hamas iran and the region that it can be as lunatic as any of them 139 the goldstone report which claimed that israel goes crazy when it is being attacked caused us some damage a prominent israeli pundit observed yet it was a blessing in our region if israel goes crazy and destroys everything in its way when it s being attacked one should be careful no need to mess with crazy people 140 the after invasion israeli and american jewish philosophers engaged the subtle moral quandaries of israel s conduct hawkish philosopher a posited that israel should favor the lives of its own soldiers over the lives of the neighbors of a terrorist while dovish philosophers b and c rejoined that it did not suffice that israel was not intending to kill civilians in the war against terrorism the idf must intend not to kill civilians 141 it appears that both sides in this learned disputation on the morally correct balance between preserving the life of a soldier on the one hand and the life of an enemy civilian on the other somehow missed the crux of what happened during cast lead upon entering gaza the idf blasted everyone and everything in sight basing itself not on the gaseous lucubrations of a philosophy seminar but on the actual facts the goldstone report found that a nuanced analysis of whether or not israel properly calibrated the principle of proportionality was beside the point deeds by the israeli armed forces and words of military and political leaders prior to and during the operations indicate that as a whole they were premised on a deliberate policy of disproportionate force aimed not at the enemy but at the civilian population it also concluded that subtle parsing of whether or not israel properly applied the principle of distinction between combatants and civilians was beside the point the effective rules of engagement standard operating procedures and instructions to the troops on the ground appear to have been framed in order to create an environment in which due regard for civilian lives and basic human dignity was replaced with disregard for basic international humanitarian law and human rights norms 142 while the erudite philosophers debated the correct interpretation of the laws of war and both sides tacitly imputed to israel the elevated motive of wanting to obey them the actual premise of cast lead and the essential precondition for its success was the wholesale breach of these laws f o u r human shields some 1 400 palestinians were killed during operation cast lead of whom up to four fifths were civilians and 350 children 1 on the other side total israeli casualties amounted to ten combatants four killed by friendly fire and three civilians 2 the ratio of total palestinians to israelis killed was more than 100 1 and of palestinian to israeli civilians killed as high as 400 1 3 when a bbc reporter confronted interior minister meir sheetrit with the fact that israel imposed 100 times more casualties on gaza in three weeks than they did on you he shot back that s the idea of the operation what do you think 4 a poll taken shortly after the invasion ended found that two thirds of israeli jews believed that cast lead should have gone on until hamas surrendered 5 if israelis rued that the invasion didn t achieve the subtext according to haaretz journalist gideon levy was that we didn t kill enough 6 its objectives to deflect its culpability for the loss of life israel alleged that if many gazan civilians were killed it was because hamas used them as human shields hamas chose to base its operations in civilian areas not in spite of but because of the likelihood of substantial harm to civilians an israeli factual and legal brief purported and hamas operatives took pride in endangering the lives of civilians but these charges were not borne out by human rights investigations in one of the most extensive postinvasion human rights reports amnesty international did find that hamas breached certain laws of war it launched rockets and located military equipment and positions near civilian homes endangering the inhabitants by exposing them to the risk of israeli attacks they also used empty homes and properties as combat positions during armed confrontations with israeli forces exposing the inhabitants of nearby houses to the danger of attacks or of being caught in the crossfire the amnesty report proceeded however to enter critical caveats there was no evidence that rockets were launched from residential houses or buildings while civilians were in these buildings palestinian militants often used empty houses but did not forcibly take over inhabited houses hamas mixed with the civilian population although this would be difficult to avoid in the small and overcrowded gaza strip palestinian fighters like israeli soldiers engaged in armed confrontations around residential homes where civilians were present endangering them the locations of these lives of the confrontations were mostly determined by israeli forces who entered gaza with tanks and armored personnel carriers and inside residential neighborhoods on the most explosive charge amnesty categorically exonerated hamas took positions deep contrary to repeated allegations by israeli officials of the use of human shields amnesty international found no evidence that hamas or other palestinian fighters directed the movement of civilians to shield military objectives from attacks it found no evidence that hamas or other armed groups forced residents to stay in or around buildings used by fighters nor that fighters prevented residents from leaving buildings or areas which had been commandeered by militants amnesty international delegates interviewed many palestinians who complained about hamas s conduct and especially about hamas s repression and attacks against their opponents including killings torture and arbitrary detentions but did not receive any accounts of hamas fighters having used them as human shields in the cases investigated by amnesty international of civilians killed in israeli attacks the deaths could not be explained as resulting from the presence of fighters shielding among civilians as the israeli army generally contends in all of the cases investigated by amnesty international of families killed when their homes were bombed from the air by israeli forces for example none of the houses struck was being used by armed groups for military activities similarly in the cases of precision missiles or tank shells which killed civilians in their homes no fighters were present in the houses that were struck and amnesty international delegates found no indication that there had been any armed confrontations or other military activity in the immediate vicinity at the time of the attack if it found no evidence that hamas used human shields amnesty did however find ample evidence that israel used them the the rules of engagement of the israel defense forces idf strictly israeli brief avowed that forbade the use of civilians as human shields and that the idf took a variety of measures to teach and instill awareness of these rules of engagement in commanders and soldiers but in fact israeli soldiers used civilians including children as human shields endangering their lives by forcing them to remain in or near houses which they took over and used as military positions some were forced to carry out dangerous tasks such as inspecting properties or objects suspected of being booby trapped soldiers also took position and launched attacks from and around inhabited houses exposing local residents to the danger of attacks or of being caught in the crossfire other human rights investigations in particular the graphic accounts in the goldstone report and the postinvasion testimony of israeli soldiers corroborated the idf s use of human shields 7 that whereas still it was axiomatic for philosophers avishai margalit israel s enemies and michael walzer intentionally put civilians at risk by using them as cover israel condemns those practices 8 in a book that explores the myths and illusions about the middle east senior us diplomat dennis ross inveighed against hamas because it used the civilian population as human shields and made extensive use of human shields 9 british colonel richard kemp who was commander of british forces in afghanistan variously alleged that hamas deliberately positioned itself behind the human shield of the civilian population ordered forced when necessary men women and children from their own population to stay put in places they knew were about to be attacked by the idf deliberately lured israel into killing their own innocent civilians and of course deployed women and children as suicide bombers the nexus of these allegations with terrestrial reality was as tenuous as his peroration ubiquitously quoted by israel s apologists that during operation cast lead the idf did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare 10 implausible as this assertion is it does evoke pity for the civilian population caught in kemp s theater of operations the circumstances surrounding the deaths of many palestinians underscored the frailty of israel s human shields alibi the attacks that caused the greatest number of fatalities and injuries amnesty found were carried out with long range high precision munitions fired from combat aircraft helicopters and drones or from tanks stationed up to several kilometers away often against pre selected targets a process that would normally require approval from up the chain of command the victims of these attacks were not caught in the crossfire of battles between palestinian militants and israeli forces nor were they shielding militants or other legitimate targets many were killed when their homes were bombed while they slept others were going about their daily activities in their homes sitting in their yard hanging the laundry on the roof when they were targeted in air strikes or tank shelling children were studying or playing in their bedrooms or on the roof or outside their homes when they were struck by missiles or tank shells 11 palestinian civilians including women and children were shot at short range when posing no threat to the lives of the israeli soldiers amnesty further found and there was no fighting going on in their vicinity when they were shot 12 a human rights watch hrw study documented israel s killing of palestinian civilians who were trying to convey their non combatant status by waving a white flag israeli forces had control of the areas in question no fighting was taking place there at the time and palestinian fighters were not hiding among the civilians who were shot in a typical incident two women and three children from the abd rabbo family were standing for a few minutes outside their home at least three of them holding pieces of white cloth when an israeli soldier opened fire killing two girls aged two and seven and wounding the grandmother and third girl 13 the goldstone report concluded that the israeli armed forces repeatedly opened fire on civilians who were not taking part in the hostilities and who posed no threat to them and that israeli armed forces had carried out direct intentional strikes against civilians absent any grounds which could have reasonably induced the israeli armed forces to assume that the civilians attacked were in the hostilities 14 postinvasion idf testimonies corroborated the wanton killing of palestinian civilians you see people more or less running their life routine taking a walk stuff like that definitely not terrorists i hear from other crews that they fired at people there tried to kill them people in fact taking a direct part didn t seem to be too upset about taking human lives everyone there is considered a terrorist we were allowed to do anything we wanted who s to tell us not to i understood that conduct there had been somewhat savage if you sight it shoot it you are allowed to do anything you want for no reason other than it s cool even firing white phosphorus because it s fun cool 15 the absurdly lopsided palestinian israeli casualty ratio attested that cast lead was in reality not a war but a massacre it was typical of a particular kind of police action harvard law professor duncan kennedy observed that western colonial powers have historically undertaken to convince resisting native populations that unless they stop resisting they will suffer unbearable death and deprivation 16 indeed the specter of a massacre kept creeping into postinvasion idf testimonies one soldier recollected how cast lead was largely conducted by remote control it feels like hunting season has begun he mused sometimes it reminds me of a playstation video game you feel like a child playing around with a magnifying glass another soldier remembered burning up ants 17 most casualties were inflicted on palestinians by air strikes artillery fire and snipers from afar a pair of soldiers recalled a year after the invasion combat victory shooting fish in a barrel is more like it 18 to invoke the phrase pulverization of gazans new republic literary editor leon wieseltier nonetheless protested was calculatedly indifferent to the wrenching moral and they wrestled with strategic perplexities that are contained in the awful reality of asymmetrical war 19 indeed shouldn t we pity the poor israelis as the perplexities of incinerating ants and shooting fish in a barrel in the meantime israeli philosopher asa kasher declared i am deeply impressed with the courage displayed by each and every one of the soldiers who participated in operation cast lead and their commanders 20 eight israeli soldiers received medals for heroism 21 the modus operandi of cast lead pointed up the appositeness of the soldiers imagery an hrw study of israel s unlawful use of white phosphorus fleshed out the burning ants metaphor causing horrific burns sometimes to the bone white phosphorus reaches a temperature of 1 500 degrees fahrenheit 816 degrees celsius 22 hrw reported that israel repeatedly exploded white phosphorus munitions in the air over populated areas killing and injuring civilians and damaging civilian structures including a school a market a humanitarian aid warehouse and a hospital the idf fired white phosphorus at the unrwa headquarters in gaza city despite repeated warnings from un personnel about the danger to civilians at the un school in beit lahiya even as the un had provided the idf with the gps coordinates of the school prior to military operations and at al quds hospital although it was clearly marked and there does not appear to have been fighting in that immediate area hrw also noted that all of the white phosphorus shells recovered by it in gaza were manufactured in the united states 23 the playstation like nature of cast lead was underscored in another hrw study that documented israel s high tech assaults on gaza s population israel s drone launched missiles are incredibly precise it reported in addition to the high resolution cameras and other sensors on the drones themselves the missile fired from a drone has its own cameras that allow the operator to observe the target from the moment of firing if a last second doubt arises about a target the drone operator can use the missile s remote guidance system to divert the fired missile steering the missile away from the target with a joystick hrw investigated six drone attacks that killed 29 civilians 8 of them children it found that no palestinian fighters were present in the immediate area of the attack at the time and that five of the six attacks took place during the day when civilians were shopping returning from school or engaged in other ordinary activities which they most likely would not have done had palestinian fighters been in the area at the time 24 unabashed and undeterred the israeli brief still sang paeans to the idf s unique respect for the paramount values of human life and purity of arms as it did not use weapons and force to harm human beings who were not combatants or prisoners of war 25 kasher lauded the impeccable values of the idf among them protecting the human dignity of every human being even the most vile terrorist and the uniquely israeli value of the sanctity of human life 26 harvard law professor alan dershowitz averred that israel went to great lengths to protect civilians while human rights watch founder robert bernstein proposed that the press might consider praising israel for its successful attempts to minimize civilian casualties 27 in a new yorker cover story on what really happened journalist lawrence wright reported that the israeli military adopted painstaking efforts to spare civilian lives in gaza 28 which should trouble more that they did or didn t believe these fantasies israel s human shields alibi was symptomatic of its endeavors to obfuscate what actually happened during the invasion in fact israel began its hasbara propaganda preparations six months before cast lead was launched and a centralized body in the prime minister s office the national information directorate was specifically tasked with coordinating the pr campaign 29 still after world public opinion turned against israel anthony cordesman blamed its isolation on a failure to invest in the war of perceptions israel did little to explain the steps it was taking to minimize civilian casualties and collateral damage on the world stage it certainly could and should have done far more to show its level of military restraint and make it credible 30 in the opinion of haaretz com senior editor bradley burston the problem was that israelis are execrable at public relations while according to israeli political scientist shlomo avineri if the world took a dim view of cast lead it was because of the name given to the operation which greatly affects the way in which it will be perceived 31 but if the micromanaged hasbara blitz ultimately did not convince the explanation lay neither in israel s failure to convey its humanitarian ethos nor in the world s misapprehension of what happened rather the scope of the massacre was so appalling that ultimately no amount of propaganda could disguise it it did take time however before the true picture emerged israel had imposed the most draconian press controls in the history of modern warfare 32 the foreign press association denounced the media clampdown as putting the state of israel in the company of a handful of regimes around the world which regularly keep journalists from doing their jobs while reporters without borders protested that it was outrageous and should be condemned by the international community 33 but the challenge of filtering images coming out of gaza proved more intractable after the cease fire went into effect israel could no longer bar foreign it had concocted during the assault still more than a half year after cast lead ended israel obstructed the passage into gaza of human rights organizations such as amnesty hrw and b tselem israeli information center for human rights in the occupied territories if israel has nothing to hide hrw asked rhetorically why is it refusing to allow us journalists on the specious pretexts in 34 the silence israeli organization breaking israel s hasbara campaign suffered a major setback when several israeli media outlets circulated the postinvasion testimonies of combat pilots and infantry soldiers who either committed war crimes or witnessed them in gaza the then published a large compilation of damning idf testimonies the israeli brief reassured readers that israel is an open and democratic society which fully respects the freedom of speech information on possible misconduct of soldiers reaches the idf authorities in various ways 35 but after publication of the damning idf testimonies the israeli foreign ministry pressed european governments that funded breaking the silence to cease their subsidies 36 the official refutations of these damning idf testimonies carried little credibility after all what possible motive could have induced the combatants to lie 37 the other responses oscillated between feigned disbelief and rotten apple minimization 38 like the film character captain louis renault who was shocked shocked to discover that people were gambling in casablanca some officials expressed grief stricken incredulity that israeli soldiers could have engaged in criminal conduct but such behavior was the natural continuation of the last nine years when soldiers killed nearly 5 000 palestinians at least half of them innocent civilians nearly 1 000 of them children and teenagers gideon levy retorted mocking the sham consternation everything the soldiers described from gaza everything occurred during these blood soaked years as if they were routine events 39 israeli officials also sought to downplay these confessions by alleging that it was much ado about a few rotten apples or as alan dershowitz spun it rogue soldiers are a fact of war 40 but the criminal behavior of individual soldiers was the ineluctable outcome of cast lead s overarching criminal objective to restore israel s deterrence capacity by inflicting massive lethal violence on a civilian population these are not instances of errant fire levy continued but of deliberate fire resulting from an order 41 the stories of this publication prove that we are not dealing with the failures of individual soldiers and attest instead to failures primarily on a systemic level breaking the silence editorialized 42 hundreds of civilians were not killed by mistake or by a handful of rotten apples the public committee against torture in israel found after an extensive investigation 43 declarations made by officials together with accumulating data the association for civil rights in israel noted in its annual report reveal that the strikes on civilians and civilian structures were generally not the result of a spontaneous low level decision but rather of decisions and directives made by senior echelons in the government and the idf 44 basing itself in part on the idf testimonies the goldstone report concluded that the repeated failure to distinguish between combatants and civilians appears to have been the result of deliberate guidance issued to soldiers and not the result of occasional lapses 45 no doubt some idf soldiers exploited the occasion of the unfolding massacre to sate their sadistic impulses while others were brutalized by the mayhem that was unleashed idf testimonies recalled the hatred and the joy and fun and delight of killing gazans the wreaking of destruction for kicks and to make oneself happy other testimonies captured degenerate soldier banter such as i killed a terrorist whoa we blew his head off fortunately the hospitals are full to capacity already so people are dying more quickly he just couldn t finish this operation without killing someone 46 still it was the barbaric essence of cast lead that enabled these excesses homing in on idf sadism or for that matter rowdy and uncouth behavior eclipsed the fundamental truth that the most egregious crimes during cast lead were executed in a disciplined routine fashion one israeli soldiers expressed disgust that they did not restore order and cleanliness in the gazan homes they had occupied that s simply behaving like animals you are describing an army with very low value norms that s the truth 47 but he evinced much the 6 300 homes methodically razed to the ground by the idf in a bid to direct culpability for cast lead away from the heartland of israeli society and jewish fundamentalist excrescence the hasbara campaign harped on the bigoted less unease over the confessing interlocutor of toward its expressions and incendiary exhortations of idf rabbis and recruits from religious schools the criminality was the handiwork of religious nationalists the new york times s ethan bronner suggested they have moved into more and more positions of military responsibility and displaced the secular western and educated kibbutzniks who in israel s glory days commanded and staffed the idf 48 but such an explanation conveniently overlooked on the one hand that cast lead was the brainchild of an eminently secular triumvirate prime minister ehud olmert defense minister ehud barak and foreign minister tzipi livni and on the other hand that the idf had committed many brutal excesses long before religious zealots infiltrated its ranks 49 after the first round of soldier testimonies the idf promised an investigation but it abruptly closed its probe some ten days later when it concluded that these accounts of wanton killing and destruction were just rumors 50 a subsequent idf internal investigation found that no civilians were purposefully harmed by idf troops during operation cast lead barak lauded the probe as it once again proves that the idf is one of the most moral armies in the world the israeli brief purported that israel s legal and judicial apparatus is fully equipped and motivated to address alleged violations of national or international law by its commanders and soldiers but the results of the idf s internal investigation caused human rights groups to conclude otherwise the israeli military will not objectively in an impartial investigations monitor itself hrw the army s claims appear to be more an attempt to shirk its responsibilities than a genuine process to establish the truth amnesty there are serious doubts about the willingness of israel to carry out genuine independent prompt and effective way goldstone report 51 the docket on cast lead appeared to vindicate this skepticism only four israelis were convicted of wrongdoing only three of them were expected to serve jail time the severest sentence meted out was seven and a half months for the theft of a gazan s credit card two soldiers convicted of using a nine year old child as a human shield received three month suspended sentences 52 in a touching gesture of atonement israeli information minister yuli edelstein declared i am ashamed of the soldier who stole some credit cards 53 the proliferation of human rights reports condemning cast lead suggested that israel had not managed to spin public perceptions indeed its hasbara campaign had backfired the brutality of the israeli attack on the one hand and the brazenness of its denials on the other jolted the human rights community into action consider the amnesty report fueling conflict foreign arms supplies to israel gaza 54 which recommended a comprehensive arms embargo amnesty international is calling on the un notably the security council to impose an immediate comprehensive arms embargo on all parties to the conflict and on all states to take action individually to impose national embargoes on any arms or weapons transfers to the parties to the conflict until there is no longer a substantial risk that such arms or weapons could be used to commit serious violations of international law it went on to inventory foreign made weapons deployed by israel during cast lead such as us manufactured white phosphorus shells tank ammunition and guided missiles putting israel s chief enabler on the spot amnesty reported that the usa has been by far the major supplier of conventional arms to israel that the usa has provided large funding each year for israel to procure arms despite us legislation that restricts such aid to consistently gross human rights violators and that israel s military intervention in the gaza strip has been equipped to a large extent by us supplied weapons munitions and military equipment paid for with us taxpayers money the report also briefly inventoried the supply of foreign made weapons to palestinian armed groups on a very small scale compared to israel amnesty s call for a comprehensive arms embargo on israel and palestinian armed groups marked a milestone in the conflict human rights organizations had in the past pressed washington to restrict both military assistance to israel and israel s use of specific weapons so long as it systematically violated the law 55 but no prominent human rights group had ever published such a precise tabulation of foreign weapons suppliers to israel or called so aggressively for a comprehensive arms embargo by these suppliers predictably the us administration rejected amnesty s call 56 and amnesty itself came under withering attack from the likes of the anti defamation league for its pernicious and biased report that is doing nothing short of denying israel the right to self defense 57 the biggest blow to israeli hasbara was not delivered however by established human rights organizations it came from a direction that caught israel off guard and ill prepared the un human rights council had mandated an investigation of human rights violations during cast lead to be led by richard goldstone when the goldstone mission published its devastating findings israel erupted in shock and rage not least because on top of being a distinguished jurist goldstone was also a committed zionist what would gandhi say palestinians are often taken to task for not embracing a gandhian strategy that repudiates violent resistance if the palestinians would adopt the ways of gandhi us deputy secretary of defense paul wolfowitz told a georgetown university audience in 2003 i think they could in fact make enormous change very very quickly he might well be right but still the ways of gandhi do not oblige palestinians to set down their makeshift weapons gandhi classified forceful resistance in the face of impossible odds a woman fending off a rapist with slaps and scratches an unarmed man physically resisting torture by a gang or polish armed self defense to the nazi aggression as almost nonviolence it was in essence symbolic less violence than a fillip to the spirit to overcome fear and allow for a dignified death it registered a refusal to bend before overwhelming might in the full knowledge that it means certain death in the face of israel s infernal high tech slaughter in gaza didn t the desultory hamas projectiles fall into the category of token violence that gandhi was loath to condemn even if the projectile attacks did constitute full fledged violence it s still not certain that gandhi would have disapproved fight violence with nonviolence if you can he exhorted and if you can t do that fight violence by any means even if it means your utter extinction but in no case should you leave your hearths and homes to be looted and burnt isn t this what hamas did as it resolved to fight violence by any means even if it meant utter extinction after israel broke the cease fire and refused to lift the illegal siege that was destroying gaza s whole civilization mary robinson and causing the breakdown of an entire society sara roy hungry like the wolfowitz georgetown voice 6 november 2003 what women should do in a difficult situation 4 september 1932 in the collected works of mahatma gandhi ahmedabad vol 51 pp 18 19 discussion with mahadev desai 4 september 1932 in ibid vol 51 pp 24 25 discussion with b g kher and others 15 august 1940 in ibid vol 72 p 388 discussion with bharatanand 2 september 1940 in ibid vol 72 p 434 message to states people 1 october 1941 in ibid vol 74 p 368 speech at prayer meeting 5 november 1947 in ibid vol 89 p 481 speech at goalundo 6 november 1946 in ibid vol 86 p 86 see chapter 2 pa rt t w o the goldstone report f i g u r e 2 ferré richard goldstone un photo jean marc f i v e a zionist bears witness rights international human in april 2009 the president of the un human rights council appointed a fact finding mission to investigate all violations of law and international humanitarian law during operation cast lead 1 richard goldstone ex judge of the constitutional court of south africa and ex prosecutor of the international criminal tribunals for the former yugoslavia and rwanda was named head of the mission its original mandate was to scrutinize only israeli violations of human rights during cast lead but goldstone conditioned his acceptance of the job on broadening the mandate to include violations on all sides the council president invited goldstone to write the mandate himself which he proceeded to do and which the president then accepted it was very difficult to refuse a mandate that i d written for myself goldstone later observed still israel refused to cooperate with the mission on the grounds that it was biased 2 in september 2009 the the goldstone mission was long awaited report of released 3 it proved to be a searing indictment not just of cast lead but also of the ongoing israeli occupation it was designed to have the goldstone report found that much of the devastation israel inflicted during cast lead was premeditated it also found that the operation was anchored in a military doctrine that views disproportionate destruction and creating maximum disruption in the lives of many people as a legitimate means to achieve military and political goals and that inevitably dire consequences for the non combatants in gaza 4 the disproportionate destruction and violence against civilians sprang from a deliberate policy as did the humiliation and dehumanization of the palestinian population 5 although israel justified the attack on grounds of self defense against hamas6 rocket attacks the report pointed to a different motive the primary purpose of the israeli blockade was to bring about a situation in which the civilian population would find life so intolerable that they would leave if that were possible or turn hamas out of office as well as to collectively punish the civilian population while cast lead itself was aimed at punishing the gaza population for its resilience and for its apparent support for hamas and possibly with the intent of forcing a change in such support 7 the report concluded israeli assault constituted a deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish humiliate and terrorize a civilian population radically diminish its local economic capacity both to work and to that the provide for itself and to force upon it an ever increasing sense of dependency and vulnerability 8 it also paid tribute to the resilience and dignity of the gazan people in the face of dire circumstances 9 in its legal determinations the goldstone report found that israel had committed numerous violations of customary and conventional international law it also ticked off a considerable list of war crimes committed by israel including willful killing torture or inhuman treatment willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health extensive destruction of property not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly and use of human shields 10 it further determined that israeli actions that deprive palestinians in the gaza strip of their means of sustenance employment housing and water that deny their freedom of movement and their right to leave and enter their own country that limit their access to courts of law and effective remedies might justify a competent court finding that crimes against humanity have been committed 11 the report pinned primary culpability for these criminal offenses on israel s political and military elites the systematic and deliberate nature of the activities leaves the mission in no doubt that responsibility lies in the first place with those who designed planned ordered and oversaw the operations 12 the report also determined that the fatalities property damage and psychological trauma resulting from hamas s indiscriminate and deliberate rocket attacks on israel s civilian population constituted war crimes and may amount to crimes against humanity 13 a charge of bias was leveled against the report because only a small fraction of it was devoted to hamas rocket attacks the accusation of bias was valid but the bias ran in the reverse direction if the ratio of palestinian to israeli deaths stood at more than 100 1 and of homes destroyed at more than 6 000 1 then the proportion of the report devoted to hamas s crimes was much greater than the objective data warranted 14 when it was subsequently put to goldstone that the report disproportionately israeli breaches of international law he replied it s difficult to deal equally with a state party with a sophisticated army with an air force and a navy and the most sophisticated weapons that are not only in the arsenal of israel but manufactured and exported by israel on the one hand with hamas using really improvised imprecise armaments 15 focused on the goldstone report did not limit itself strictly to cast lead it broadened out into a comprehensive full blown indictment of israel s treatment of palestinians during the long years of occupation the report condemned israel s fragmentation of its restrictions on palestinian freedom of movement 17 its institutionalized discrimination against palestinians both in the occupied palestinian territories and in israel 18 its violent repression of palestinian as well as israeli demonstrators opposing the occupation and the violent the palestinian people 16 and torture and attacks on palestinian civilians in the west bank by israeli soldiers and jewish settlers enjoying legal impunity 19 its wholesale detention ill treatment of palestinians including hundreds of children and the lack of due process 20 its silent transfer of palestinians in east jerusalem in order to ethnically cleanse it 21 its de facto annexation of 10 percent of the west bank on the israeli side of the wall which amount s to the acquisition of territory by force contrary to the charter of the united nations 22 and its settlement expansion land expropriation and demolition of palestinian homes and villages 23 the report determined that certain of these policies constituted war crimes 24 and also violated the palestinians fundamental jus cogens right to self determination 25 although it didn t draw a bright line distinction between the perpetrators and victims of a brutal occupation the report did eschew equating the position of israel as the occupying power with that of the occupied palestinian population or entities representing it the differences with regard to the power and capacity to inflict harm or to protect including by securing justice when violations occur are obvious 26 the goldstone report proposed several remedies to hold israel and hamas accountable for their respective breaches of international law individual states in the international community were exhorted to start criminal investigations in national courts using universal jurisdiction where there is sufficient evidence of the commission of grave breaches of the geneva conventions of 1949 where so warranted following investigation alleged perpetrators should be arrested and prosecuted in accordance with internationally recognized standards of justice 27 it also called on the un security council to monitor the readiness of israel and hamas to launch appropriate investigations that are independent and in conformity with international standards into the serious violations of international humanitarian and international human rights law should either party fail to undertake good faith investigations the report urged that the security council refer the situation in gaza to the prosecutor of the international criminal court 28 it also recommended that israel pay compensation for damages through a un general assembly escrow fund 29 more broadly the report recommended that the high contracting parties to the fourth geneva convention enforce the convention and ensure its respect in the occupied palestinian territories it also called on israel to immediately its blockade of gaza and strangulation of gaza s economy its violence against palestinian civilians its destruction and affronts on human dignity its impingement on palestinian political life and repression of political dissent and its restrictions on freedom of movement the report reciprocally called on hamas to renounc e attacks on israeli civilians and civilian objects release the israeli soldier gilad shalit terminate held in captivity release political detainees and respect human rights 30 justice a the israeli reaction to the goldstone report came fast and furious apart from a few honorable if predictable exceptions it was subjected for months to a torrent of abuse across the israeli political spectrum and at all levels of society 31 indeed it was almost impossible to locate the actual report on the web amid the avalanche of vicious attacks after dismissing the report as a mockery of history and goldstone himself as a small man devoid of any sense of technocrat with no real understanding of jurisprudence israeli president shimon peres proceeded to set the record straight idf israel defense forces operations enabled economic prosperity in the west bank relieved southern lebanese citizens from the terror of hezbollah and have enabled gazans to have normal lives again 32 prime minister benjamin netanyahu purported that the report was a kangaroo court against israel 33 while defense minister ehud barak inveighed that it was a lie distorted biased and supports terror 34 netanyahu subsequently proposed an initiative to amend the rules of war in order to facilitate the battle against terrorists in the future what is it that israel wants israeli historian zeev sternhell shot back permission to fearlessly attack defenseless population centers with planes tanks and artillery 35 knesset speaker reuven rivlin warned that the report s new and crooked morality will usher in a new era in western civilization similar to the one that we remember from the 1938 munich agreement 36 before the hate fest was over almost every prominent political figure in and out of office had chimed in former foreign minister tzipi livni declared that the goldstone report was born in sin 37 foreign minister avigdor lieberman declared that it had no legal factual or moral value and deputy foreign minister danny ayalon warned that it provides legitimacy to terrorism and risks turning international law into a circus 38 dan gillerman former israeli ambassador to the united nations ripped the report for blatant one sided anti israel lies and dore gold former israeli ambassador to the united nations derided it as one of the most potent weapons in the arsenal of international terrorist organizations while gabriela shalev israeli ambassador to the united nations castigated it as biased one sided and political 39 michael oren israeli ambassador to the united states won the triple crown for venomous spewings he alleged in an address to the american jewish committee that hezbollah was one of the report s principal beneficiaries intoned in the boston globe that the report must be rebuffed by all those who care about peace and reckoned in the new republic that the report was even worse than iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad and the holocaust deniers 40 idf chief of staff gabi ashkenazi ridiculed the report as biased and unbalanced while idf senior legal advisor avichai mendelblit mocked it as biased astonishingly extreme lack ing any basis in reality 41 nongovernmental institutions and public figures also weighed in the jerusalem post editorialized that the report was a feat of cynical superficiality and was born in bias and matured into a full fledged miscarriage of justice former haaretz editor in chief david landau lamented that the report s fundamental premise that the israelis went after civilians eliminated any possibility of honest debate 42 far from its premise that was the report s conclusion after scrutinizing mountains of evidence israel harel a leader of the settler movement scoffed at the report as destructive toxic even worse than the protocols of the elders of zion and misdirected against precisely that country which protects human and military ethics more than the world has ever seen residents of an israeli town abutting gaza picketed un offices in jerusalem with placards declaring goldstone apologize and we re sick of anti semites 43 a tel aviv university center for the study of anti semitism and racism purported that the report was responsible for a global surge in hate crimes against jews and the equation of the war in gaza with the holocaust 44 alleging that goldstone s accusations against israel echoed those leveled against alfred dreyfus professor gerald steinberg of bar ilan university declared that israel had the moral right to flatten all of gaza 45 steinberg founded the university s program on conflict resolution and management fully 94 percent of those israeli jews familiar with the report held it to be biased against israel and 79 percent rejected its accusation that the idf committed war crimes 46 even after cast lead and the ensuing lies and cover ups by the military fully 90 percent of israeli jews ranked the idf as the state institution they most trusted 47 inasmuch as the report s findings were beyond the pale the only issue deemed worthy of public deliberation in israel was whether or not israel should have cooperated with the goldstone mission 48 but as veteran peace activist uri avnery pointed out the real answer why israel chose not to cooperate is quite simple they knew full well that the mission any mission would have to reach the conclusions it did reach 49 in a telling departure from past histrionics israelis dispensed after cast lead with those emotive outpourings of angst shooting and crying that cheerleaders abroad used to tout as proof of the uniquely sensitive jewish soul brutalized and calloused israelis no longer even bothered to feign remorse although calling for a cease fire after the initial air assault the icons of israel s peace camp amos oz a b yehoshua and david grossman still alleged that hamas was responsible for the unfolding horror and that the israeli ground and air attack was necessary because hamas leaders refused every israeli and egyptian attempt to reach a compromise to prevent this latest flare up 50 in a secondary blast of hot air the usual suspects in the united states rose or sunk to the occasion by lambasting the message and slandering the messenger max boot dismissed the goldstone report on commentary s website as a risible series of findings while john bolton former us ambassador to the united nations opined in the wall street journal that the logical response to this debacle is to withdraw from and defund the human rights council 51 elie wiesel condemned the report not only as a crime against the jewish people but also as being unnecessary i can t believe that israeli soldiers murdered people or shot children it just can t be 52 heading up the domestic witch hunt harvard law school s alan dershowitz alleged that the report is so filled with lies distortions and blood libels that it could have been drafted by hamas extremists that it echoed the protocols of the elders of zion and was biased and bigoted that every serious student of human rights should be appalled at this anti human rights and highly politicized report that it made findings of fact nearly all wrong stated conclusions of law nearly all questionable and made specific recommendations nearly all one sided that goldstone himself was a traitor to the jewish people an evil evil man and he proclaimed on israeli television on a par with auschwitz angel of death josef mengele 53 the essence and central conclusion of the report according to dershowitz was that israel had a carefully planned and executed policy of deliberately targeting innocent civilians for mass murder israel s real purpose was to target innocent palestinian civilians children women and the elderly for death he repeated this characterization of the report on nearly every page often multiple times on a single page of his lengthy study in evidentiary bias and then proceeded to handily refute the accusation 54 but dershowitz conjured a straw man the report never stated or suggested that the principal objective of cast lead was to murder palestinians otherwise it would have had to charge israel with genocide it is a commonplace that the more frequently a lie is repeated the more credible it becomes the novelty of dershowitz s study was that it kept repeating a falsehood the more easily to discredit its alleged purveyor goldstone bashers in the united states also claimed that hamas had coached and intimidated palestinian witnesses disguised its militants fed goldstone uncorroborated information 55 however none of these detractors adduced a shred of evidence while goldstone himself rejoined by offering every assurance that it didn t happen 56 communal jewish organizations predictably joined in the gang up the american israel public affairs committee aipac called the goldstone mission rigged and the report deeply flawed 57 the american jewish committee deplored it as a deeply distorted document 58 abraham foxman of the anti defamation league was shocked and distressed that the united states would not unilaterally dismiss it 59 as witnesses and the obama administration quickly fell into lockstep with the israel lobby however it probably did not need much prodding one of israel s talking points in washington was that the goldstone report s recommendation to prosecute its 47 page entry soldiers for war crimes should worry every country fighting terror 60 state department spokesman ian kelly alleged that whereas the report makes overly sweeping conclusions of fact and law with respect to israel its conclusions regarding hamas s deplorable conduct are more general assistant us secretary of state for democracy michael posner condemned it as deeply flawed and deputy us ambassador to the united nations alejandro wolff faulted its unbalanced focus on israel 61 in for israel and the occupied territories the us state department s 2009 human rights report devoted all of three sentences to cast lead then touched on the report s findings and disparagingly concluded the goldstone report was widely criticized for methodological factual errors falsehoods and for devoting insufficient attention to the asymmetrical nature of the conflict and the fact that hamas and other palestinian militants were deliberately operating in heavily populated urban areas of gaza 62 congressman gary ackerman chair of the house subcommittee on the middle east and south asia mocked goldstone as inhabiting a self righteous fantasyland and the report as a pompous tendentious one sided political diatribe 63 the probability that any of these critics actually read the report approaches zero after mutely absorbing this relentless barrage of attacks goldstone finally dared the obama administration its criticisms 64 meanwhile human rights watch hrw took substantively legal and failings justify to to task the us government for calling the report unbalanced and deeply flawed but providing no real facts to support those assertions 65 the us house of representatives passed by a vote of 344 to 36 a nonbinding resolution that condemned the report as irredeemably biased and unworthy of further consideration or legitimacy 66 before the vote was taken goldstone submitted a point by point rebuttal demonstrating that the house resolution was vitiated by serious factual inaccuracies and information and statements are taken grossly out of context 67 instances where the obama administration worked behind the scenes in concert with israel to foreclose consideration of the report in international forums and privately gloated at the successes it had scored 68 hillary clinton later bragged that while secretary of state in the obama administration she had defended israel from isolation and attacks at the united nations and other international settings including opposing the biased goldstone report 69 pressure was also exerted on the palestinian authority pa to drop its support of the report s recommendations the pa has reached the point where it has to decide a senior israeli defense official declared whether it is working with us or against us 70 the answer was not long in coming acting at the behest of president mahmoud abbas the pa representative on the un human rights council effectively acquiesced in killing consideration of the report his decision provoked such outrage among palestinians however that the pa had to reverse itself and the council convened to deliberate on the report 71 it approved a resolution condemning all targeting of civilians and stressing the urgent need to ensure accountability for all violations of international law endorsed the report s recommendations and urged the united nations to act on them 72 in november 2009 the un general assembly passed by a vote of 114 to 18 44 abstentions a resolution condemning all targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure and calling on both israel and hamas to undertake investigations that are independent credible and in conformity with international standards into the serious violations of international law reported by the fact finding mission 73 denouncing the resolution as completely detached from realities and a mockery of reality israel proclaimed that the vote proves that israel is succeeding in getting across the message that the report is one sided and not serious and that the democratic premier israel s position among them the marshall islands micronesia and palau 74 in february 2010 un secretary general ban ki moon reported back to the general assembly that still no determination can be made on the implementation of its november 2009 resolution calling for credible investigations 75 later that month the general assembly passed another resolution by a vote of 98 to 7 31 abstentions reiterating its call on israel and hamas to conduct investigations that are independent credible and league states voted line with in in conformity with international standards and requesting that the secretary general report back within five months implementation of the resolution 76 despite on the intensive lobbying by european jewish groups in march 2010 the european parliament passed 335 to 287 a resolution demanding implementation of the report s recommendations and accountability for all violations of international law including alleged war crimes the spokesman for the israeli mission to the european union deplored and counterproductive 77 resolution flawed the as results overwhelmingly exonerated in january and july 2010 israel released updates on its investigations 78 although the pair of updates own indicated that scores of investigations had been conducted the israelis of wrongdoing a handful of soldiers suffered disciplinary sanctions such as an officer who was severely reprimanded the harshest sentence meted out was a seven and a half month prison term to a soldier who had stolen a credit card 79 still even these token punishments caused the idf to inveigh against the shackles allegedly being placed on it 80 the israeli investigations could not however be faulted for lack of creativity one soldier who killed a woman carrying a white flag was exonerated on the grounds that the bullet was actually a warning shot that ricocheted off a cloud 81 despite its vindication by these investigations israel magnanimously adopted important new written procedures and doctrine designed to to civilian damage property enhance the protection of civilians and to limit unnecessary and infrastructure in future conflicts 82 the tacit conceit was that if israel bore a small measure of responsibility for the death and destruction in gaza it had resulted from operational deficits and not as the goldstone report concluded from an assault designed to punish humiliate and terrorize a civilian population after the first update haaretz editorialized that the israeli investigations were not persuasive that enough has been done to reach the truth but in a subsequent editorial it validated the second round of investigations and implied that it was time to close the book on the report 83 both amnesty and hrw wholly dismissed the first round of israeli investigations while hrw stated after the second update that although some results had been achieved the israeli investigations still fall far short of addressing the widespread and serious allegations of unlawful conduct during the fighting 84 the un high commissioner for human rights announced in june 2010 the formation of an independent committee to ensure accountability for all violations of international humanitarian and international human rights laws during the gaza conflict 85 the committee s report issued in september 2010 86 found that whereas certain positive steps have resulted from israel s investigations the bottom line was that the military investigations thus far appear to have produced very little 87 indeed while the committee cannot conclude that credible and genuine investigations have been carried out by the de facto authorities in the gaza strip 88 at the time of the report s issuance hamas had apparently convicted and sentenced to prison time more individuals than israel 89 after release of the committee s report amnesty urged the un human rights council the investigations conducted by israel and the hamas de facto administration and to call on the icc international criminal court prosecutor urgently a determination whether the icc has jurisdiction over the gaza conflict 90 to recognize failure of seek the to intelligence forces israeli in march 2010 the semiofficial israeli intelligence and terrorism information center itic released a voluminous response to the goldstone report 91 it was based largely on interrogations of terrorist operatives reports from idf information and unverifiable and indecipherable photographic evidence ignoring copious evidence amassed by human rights organizations the itic publication denied that gaza was facing a humanitarian crisis before cast lead it blamed hamas for the shortages that did arise 92 it denied that israel s 4 november 2008 raid on gaza caused the breakdown of the cease fire with hamas 93 and it denied that israel used gazans as human shields 94 in addition it falsely alleged that the goldstone report made almost no mention of the brutal means of repression used by hamas against its opponents 95 it falsely alleged that the report devoted just three paragraphs to hamas s rocket and mortar fire during operation cast lead and downplayed israeli civilian deaths 96 it falsely alleged that the report absolved hamas of all responsibility for war crimes 97 it falsely alleged that the report gave superficial treatment to the terrorist organizations use of civilians as human shields 98 and it falsely alleged that the report depended on the unreliable casualty statistics provided by hamas 99 on more than one occasion the itic publication tested the limits of chutzpah and credulity it rebuked not israel but hamas for unwillingness to cooperate with the goldstone mission 100 and it purported that hamas operatives would position innocent civilians near idf tanks to prevent idf soldiers from shooting at them 101 in other words hamas dragged palestinian civilians to israeli tank positions ordered them to stay put and then beat a swift retreat it is not revealed whether the civilians did stay put it might be cause for perplexity why the goldstone report provoked so much vituperation in israel and set in motion a diplomatic blitz to contain the fallout 102 it was after all just one of hundreds of human rights reports condemning cast lead its findings did not measurably differ from the others and israel had never paid heed to un bodies 103 the answer however was not hard to find goldstone was not only jewish but also a self declared zionist who worked for israel all of my adult life fully support s israel s right to exist and was a firm believer in the absolute right of the jewish people to have their home there he headed up a jewish organization that managed vocational schools in israel and he sat on the board of governors of the hebrew university in jerusalem from which he had received an honorary doctorate his mother was an activist in the women s branch of the zionist movement while his daughter had emigrated to israel and was an ardent zionist 104 goldstone had also singled out the nazi holocaust as the seminal inspiration for the international law and human rights agenda of which he was a leading exponent 105 in light of his jewish zionist bona fides israel could not credibly play its usual cards anti semite self hating jew holocaust denier against goldstone in effect his persona neutralized the ideological weapons israel had honed over many decades to ward off criticism this time in gideon levy s telling phrase the messenger is propaganda proof 106 to be sure some desperadoes did try to discredit goldstone as an anti semite israeli finance minister yuval steinitz and the report as partially motivated by anti semitic views of israel philosophy professor asa kasher and the type of anti semitism israeli information minister yuli edelstein 107 a google search for the words goldstone anti semite gaza one week after the report s publication brought up over 75 000 websites still the slanders collapsed under the weight of their manifest absurdity goldstone s detractors then speculated the holocaust that led to these easily withstood that the report was a product of goldstone s overweening ambition he was said to be angling for a nobel peace prize or to head the united nations but goldstone s impeccable reputation imputations of opportunism 108 however in interviews and statements after the report was published and as a harbinger of things to come goldstone did appear to backpedal from its more damning conclusions and to downplay the extent of israeli crimes 109 it was then alleged that goldstone had been suckered into lending his good name to a half baked report 110 but in multiple international war crimes tribunals was plainly nobody s dupe the chief prosecutor if goldstone was not an anti semite a self hating jew or a holocaust denier if he had never evinced animus toward israel but on the contrary had manifested an abiding affection for it if he was reputed to be a man of integrity who put truth and justice above self aggrandizement and partisanship if he was neither an incompetent nor a fool if goldstone could credibly claim all this and more then the only plausible explanation for the devastating content of the document he chiefly authored was that it faithfully recorded the damning facts as they unfolded during cast lead the only thing they can be afraid of goldstone later observed of his detractors is the truth and i think this is why they re attacking the messenger and not the message 111 compelled to face the facts and their consequences disarmed and exposed israel went into panic mode israeli pundits expressed alarm that the report might impede israel s ability to launch military attacks in the future 112 while prime minister netanyahu ranked the goldstone threat one of the major strategic challenges confronting israel 113 in the meantime israeli officials fretted that prosecutors might hound israelis traveling abroad 114 indeed shortly after the report was published the icc announced that it was contemplating an investigation of an israeli officer implicated in war crimes during cast lead 115 then in december 2009 tzipi livni was forced to cancel a trip to london after a british court issued an arrest warrant for her role in the commission of war crimes while serving as foreign minister during cast lead and in june 2010 two belgian lawyers representing a group of palestinians charged 14 israeli politicians including livni and ehud barak with committing crimes against humanity and war crimes during the attack 116 unable to exorcise his ghost goldstone s assailants escalated the meanness of their ad hominem attacks south african communal jewish leaders plotted to bar goldstone from attending his grandson s bar mitzvah but after a wave of embarrassing publicity abroad they reversed themselves 117 goldstone s judicial tenure under apartheid rule in south africa was then dredged up by israel and dutifully disseminated in the american media by hack journalists such as jeffrey goldberg in atlantic magazine and jonathan chait in the new republic 118 goldstone was tagged a hanging judge for his blemished record of service with an entirely illegitimate and barbaric regime dershowitz 119 but as sasha polakow suransky a senior editor at foreign affairs magazine and the author of the unspoken alliance israel s secret relationship with apartheid south africa pointed out by serving as south africa s primary and most reliable arms supplier during a period of violent internal repression and external aggression israel s government did far more to aid the apartheid regime than goldstone ever did 120 indeed just as south african repression of the black majority peaked defense minister shimon peres confided to its leadership that israeli cooperation with the apartheid regime was based not only on common interests but also on the unshakeable foundations of our common hatred of injustice and prime minister yitzhak rabin toasted the ideals shared by israel and south africa the hopes for justice and peaceful coexistence while sanctimoniously denouncing apartheid in public peres had forged and then nurtured at critical junctures the israeli alliance with south africa and both he and rabin supported this collaboration right through the last years of the apartheid regime 121 in last desperate gambits to crucify goldstone the hebrew university s board of governors ousted him 122 and former aipac executive director neal sher urged american officials to bar former judge richard goldstone from entering the country over his rulings during south africa s apartheid regime the moral case sher mounted was somewhat tainted however by the fact that he himself had been disbarred after squandering holocaust compensation monies on his vacation sprees 123 the symbolism indeed pathos of goldstone s charge sheet against israel was hard to miss a lover of zion was now calling for zion to be hauled before the icc for an array of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity in effect goldstone s entry on the stage of the israel palestine conflict signaled the implosion of that unstable alloy some would say oxymoron called liberal zionism on the one hand he was the quintessential liberal jew a revered defender of the rule of law and human rights on the other hand he had nurtured a profound bond with israel goldstone was now compelled by the circumstance of his appointment to make a choice even if disposed by family and faith to do so he still could not defend cast lead his judicial temperament public reputation and personal pride stood in his way he was constrained by the parameters of the in good conscience could not be stretched beyond certain limits he functioned within a human rights milieu that had already rendered a devastating verdict on cast lead he could not ignore it and still preserve his credibility in that community the fact was he had a choice in theory only if goldstone had elected to defend israel against the indefensible he would have committed professional suicide and irrevocably soiled his personal reputation that far in his defense of israel goldstone was not prepared to go if consulted law which in the meanwhile as israel struggled to retain the allegiance of the jewish diaspora the report s publication threw a new spanner in the works it had become increasingly difficult for self described liberal jews in the diaspora to defend israel s ever more brazen crimes 124 cast lead marked the nadir of israel s incremental descent into barbarism or as the report euphemistically put it the operation signaled a qualitative shift by israel from relatively focused operations to massive and deliberate destruction 125 if even a jew zionist and liberal with goldstone s immaculate credentials confirmed this shift how could it be ignored jews broadly of goldstone s temper which was to say the overwhelming majority of american jews who identify their long term interests with liberal policies 126 would hereafter find it well nigh impossible to brush aside even the harshest criticism of israel while israel s defenders would have a harder time deflecting groups who unquestioningly attack the report s veracity a british friend and supporter of israel wrote in the guardian find themselves further alienated from significant swaths of the younger generation 127 the reaction in the bastions of american jewish liberalism to the report was as notable for what was not said as for what was said if newspaper editorials and liberal commentary did not come out in goldstone s defense they also did not defend israel against him 128 the report appeared to herald the end of one era and the jewish opinion especially among criticism those such emergence of another the end of an apologetic jewish liberalism that denied or extenuated israel s crimes and the emergence of a jewish liberalism that returned to its inspirational heyday when if only as an ideal imperfectly realized all malefactors non jews as well as jews would be held accountable as they strayed from the path of justice the vicious personal attacks on judge goldstone are profoundly disturbing rabbi brant rosen observed what is perhaps more interesting however is the fact that so many in the american jewish community are refusing to join the chorus american jews are working to hold israel to a set of jewish values that are more important than any political ideology 129 even if tempted diaspora jews could not bury the goldstone report because it had resonated most in the milieus where they worked and socialized western governments may ignore this damning report an israeli commentator prophesied but it will now serve as a basis of criticism against israel in public opinion the media on campuses and in think tanks places where un documents are still taken seriously 130 an israeli reserve officer who did double duty as an emissary for israel on us college campuses lamented that protesting students quote the goldstone report it s become their bible 131 among jews professing to be enlightened it could hardly be a close call choosing between the credibility of israel s cheerleaders and the likes of goldstone does it then come down to a matter of whose reputation you trust antony lerman rhetorically asked if so would it be critics of human rights agencies like alan dershowitz the prominent american lawyer who thinks torture could be legalized or melanie phillips a columnist who calls jewish critics of israel jews for genocide or richard goldstone former chief prosecutor of the international criminal tribunals for the former yugoslavia and rwanda who is putting his considerable reputation on the line in taking the unhrc un human rights council assignment frankly i don t think there is a contest 132 the goldstone report also heralded the dawn of a new era in which the human rights dimension of the israel palestine conflict moved center stage alongside and even temporarily displacing the fatuous peace process during the first decades of israel s occupation advocates of palestinian human rights perforce leaned on the research and testimony of a handful of courageous but politically marginal israelis 133 take the case of torture in recent times respected human rights organizations and israeli historians have acknowledged that israel routinely tortured palestinian detainees from the onset of the occupation 134 however until the 1990s and despite a wealth of corroborative evidence progressive opinion treated reports of israeli torture gingerly and prudently steered clear of the locution torture when referencing these reports 135 a sea change set in during the first intifada 1987 93 when palestinians engaged in mass nonviolent civil resistance on the one hand torture of palestinian detainees reached epidemic proportions and on the other the newly minted israeli human rights organization b tselem israeli information center for human rights in the occupied territories irrefutably documented israel s pervasive use of torture no longer able to turn a blind eye but also morally and politically shielded by the escutcheon of reputable israeli groups the human rights community in the west began to systematically document israel s egregious practice of torture and its many other human rights abuses 136 however most of these publications just collected dust as the establishment media scrupulously ignored them and instead feigned despair at ferreting out the truth between palestinian accusation and israeli denial the novelty of the goldstone report was that in one stroke it catapulted israel s human rights record squarely into the court of public opinion closed the gap between jewish and palestinian narratives on israel s human rights record and charged with political consequence the damning findings of human rights organizations the potential political costs having escalated hysteria over the goldstone report unsurprisingly coincided with a vicious campaign in israel and the united states to discredit human rights organizations we are going to dedicate time and manpower to combating these groups the director of policy planning in the israeli prime minister s office declared 137 for the first time the director of hrw s middle east division rued the israeli government is taking an active role in the smearing of human rights groups 138 these groups and one of their legally incriminating benefactors new israel fund came under virulent attack in israel for allegedly providing the data used by the report to blacken israel s name a knesset subcommittee was established to examine the sources of funding of israel based human rights groups 139 and a succession of knesset bills proposed respectively to outlaw ngos that provided information to foreign bodies and to compel members of israeli ngos to declare their foreign funders at all public functions 140 an israel democracy institute poll found that half the general public agree with the statement that human and civil rights organizations like the association for civil rights in israel and b tselem cause harm to the state while a tel aviv university poll found that nearly 60 percent of respondents agreed that human rights organizations exposing immoral conduct by israel should not be allowed to operate freely 141 faced with these unsettling headwinds israeli human rights groups noticeably trimmed their sails in its annual report b tselem devoted more lines to palestinian than israeli breaches of international law during cast lead devoted twice as much space to hamas s grave breach or war crime of taking israeli soldier gilad shalit hostage as to all israeli breaches none of which it denoted as grave or a war crime during cast lead and disputed key findings of the goldstone report but adduced no counterevidence 142 in a parallel line of attack the us based israel lobby mobilized against what it dubbed lawfare 143 the term denoted isolating israel law through the language of human rights 144 in other words lawfare signaled the outrageous notion that israel should be held legally accountable for its crimes under the auspices of major schools and professional organizations pseudoacademic symposia convened on topics such as the goldstone report lawfare and the threat to israeli and american national security in the age of terrorism fordham university school of law 145 and lawfare the use of the law as a weapon of war new york county lawyers association 146 incensed by the scandal of the goldstone report one learned opponent of lawfare thusly corrected for its bias no armies in the history of warfare have devoted greater attention or energy than those of israel and the united states to distinguishing and protecting civilians in warfare and ensuring that the force they use in armed conflict is proportional to the threat faced 147 of course this rather large claim was presented evidence free as in religion you were either a believer or you weren t simultaneously perennial apologists for the holy state such as alan dershowitz and elie wiesel orchestrated a witch hunt against hrw 148 i really hesitate to use words like conspiracy but there is a feeling that there is an organized campaign hrw s program director observed we have been under enormous pressure and tremendous attacks some of them very personal 149 hrw founder robert bernstein who had for years muzzled hrw s criticism of israel from inside the organization jumped ship and leapt into the fray after release of the report and in a highly public defection bernstein published an op ed in the new york times denouncing hrw s allegedly biased reporting on israel alas the only testimony he could summon forth in israel s defense was the ubiquitous colonel richard kemp who lauded israel for its unparalleled devotion to humanitarian law during cast lead 150 bernstein s broadside was followed a half year later by a gossipy new republic exposé of discontent within hrw over the group s supposedly anti israel tilt 151 the piece failed to explore the only substantive question prompted by its content why did pro israel wealthy jewish donors with no expertise in either human rights or the middle east a legendary hollywood mogul a 48 year old who formerly worked on wall street a former stockbroker exercise power and influence over hrw s middle east division regrettably hrw proved unable to weather the storm of vilification fully intact its 2010 world report stated for instance that reports by news media and a nongovernmental organization indicate that in some cases palestinian armed groups intentionally hid behind civilians to unlawfully use them as shields to deter israeli counter attacks 152 it neglected to mention that neither the fact finding missions nor human rights organizations not even hrw itself found evidence that palestinian armed groups engaged in human shielding during cast lead then in a transparently desperate gesture to placate the israel lobby and while israel persisted in its inhuman and illegal siege of gaza s 1 5 million residents hrw reduced itself to publicly condemning a jordanian restaurant owner who refused to serve two israelis a meal 153 the backpedaling by hrw was symptomatic of the fact that israel s coordinated and relentless attack on the goldstone report had taken its toll a year after its publication the report was not yet dead in the water but some of the wind had been taken out of its sails after denying any wrongdoing and lashing out at the report and after the targets of its vilification had been softened israel deftly changed tack it administered a handful of token punishments and promising to mend its ways professed that in future wars it would heed the report s lessons 154 anxious to rejoin the israeli consensus goldstone s original supporters such as haaretz then claimed vindication and praised for self criticism 155 defense minister barak confidently predicted that he was in the process of dispatching the remnants of the goldstone from washington un secretary general ban ki moon praised israel s significant progress investigating allegations of misconduct by the idf even though these so called investigations had yielded derisory results 157 indeed its significant progress and substantive reply the goldstone report were showcased in late 2010 when the commander of cast lead was promoted to idf chief of staff 158 the un human rights council continued to defer action on goldstone s findings as the pa and the arab report 156 taking his cues israel s capacity albeit belated to league preferring that the report quietly expire let it languish in the un bureaucracy a september 2010 human rights council resolution which passed by a vote of 27 in favor 1 against united states and 19 abstentions called on its committee of independent experts to submit yet another progress report for the council s sixteenth session in march 2011 159 the pa and arab states jointly sponsored this contemptible stalling tactic while the united states voted against it on the grounds that because israel had the ability to conduct credible investigations and serious self scrutiny further follow up of the goldstone report by united nations bodies was unnecessary and unwarranted 160 palestinian human rights groups denounced the pa for extending impunity to israeli military and political leaders an amnesty statement criticized the council s seriously flawed resolution that fails to establish a clear process for justice and amounts to a betrayal of the victims and called on the council to refer the matter to the international criminal court for consideration a representative of human rights watch deemed the resolution a step backward and the start of a slow death of the report 161 in order to discredit or at least undercut the goldstone report israel had plunged into the utter depths of its state and society harnessing and concentrating their full forces and had simultaneously mobilized the jewish state s faithful apparatchiks abroad but although it had managed to take left some sting out of the report israel was still dangerously exposed the devastating accumulation of evidence endured as a standing indictment of its criminal behavior the report s international resonance still hampered israel s ability to launch another full scale attack the human rights community still needed to be put on notice not to pull another such stunt even months after it was published an israeli columnist rued the goldstone report still holds the top spot in the bestseller list of israel s headaches 162 s i x the star witness recants israel s biggest headache went away on 1 april 2011 dropping a bombshell on the op ed page of the washington post 1 richard goldstone effectively disowned the devastating un report of israeli crimes carrying his name 2 israel waxed euphoric everything that we said proved to be true prime minister benjamin netanyahu gloated we always said that the idf israel defense forces is a moral army that acted according to international law defense minister ehud barak declared we had no doubt that the truth would come out eventually foreign minister avigdor lieberman proclaimed 3 the obama administration used the occasion of goldstone s recantation to reiterate that israel had not engaged in any war crimes during operation cast lead while the us senate unanimously called on the united nations to rescind the goldstone report 4 in short goldstone s recantation was a black day for for human rights and a red letter day their transgressors might had yet again brought right to its knees those in search of a silver lining in the cloud parsed goldstone s words to prove that he did not actually recant 5 while it might technically be true such a rhetorical strategy did not wash goldstone was a distinguished jurist he knew how to craft precise language if he did not want to repudiate the report this wordsmith could simply have written i am not recanting my original report by which i still stand he did not say this or anything like it he was surely aware exactly how his intervention would be spun and it was this predictable fallout not his parsed words that would be his legacy the inescapable fact was that he killed the report and simultaneously lowered the curtain on his own career in one fell swoop goldstone inflicted irreparable damage on the cause of truth and justice and the rule of law despite the passage of time his dashing of hope still rankles as these lines are written he poisoned jewish palestinian relations undermined the courageous work of israeli dissenters and most unforgivably increased the risk of another merciless idf assault 6 it did not take long before israel gave proof to this prediction there was much speculation on why goldstone recanted was he blackmailed did he finally succumb to the relentless hate campaign targeting him did he decide to put his tribe ahead of truth these questions remain open to this day what can however be asserted with certainty is that his stated rationales cannot account for his decision to reverse himself the gist of goldstone s recantation was that israel did not commit war crimes during cast lead and that it was fully capable on its own of investigating violations of international law that did occur the critical passage read our report found evidence of potential war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity by both israel and hamas the allegations of intentionality by israel were based on the deaths of and injuries to civilians in situations where our fact finding mission had no evidence on which to draw any other reasonable conclusion t he investigations published by the israeli military indicate that civilians were not intentionally targeted as a matter of policy it was unclear how to interpret this mea culpa if he was saying that israel didn t systematically target gaza s civilian population for murder his recantation was gratuitous the report never entertained let alone leveled such a charge which would have been tantamount to accusing israel of genocide basing itself on voluminous evidence the report did accuse israel of deliberately deploying disproportionate and indiscriminate force in order to punish humiliate and terrorize a civilian population 7 in his recantation goldstone did not take exception to the report s evidence substantiating this charge indeed how could he senior israeli officials informed analysts and combatants didn t themselves shy away from acknowledging in fact more often than not they bragged that the idf unleashed insane amounts of firepower went wild demonstrated real hooliganism carried on like a mad dog acted lunatic and crazy and destroyed everything in its way during cast lead 8 the bottom line was goldstone either disavowed what he didn t avow in the first place or disavowed a pivotal conclusion of the report but did not and could not dispute the mass of evidence on the basis of which that conclusion was reached if and foreseeable consequences 9 still if as goldstone alleged israel s deliberate resort to disproportionate and indiscriminate firepower did not intentionally target civilians did it as he further suggested qualitatively differ from a deliberate attack on civilians and not rise to a war crime it is a tenet of law that the doer of an act must be taken to have intended its natural an indiscriminate disproportionate attack inevitably and predictably results in the injury and death of civilians then it is legally indistinguishable from a deliberate attack on them there is no genuine difference between a premeditated attack against civilians and a reckless disregard of the principle of distinction 10 according to yoram dinstein israel s leading authority on international law they are equally forbidden 11 if goldstone was contending that israel s insane firepower during cast lead did not constitute a war crime because it did not intentionally target civilians and that it was not criminal behavior for an invading army to go wild demonstrate real hooliganism carry on like a mad dog act lunatic and crazy and destroy everything in its way if he truly believed this then he needed to brush up on the law in fact he had no business practicing law an indiscriminate disproportionate attack on civilian areas is in and of itself a war crime and no less criminal than a deliberately targeted attack to absolve israel of criminal culpability goldstone revisited the single most notorious incident during cast lead in which at least 21 members of the al samouni family perished the goldstone report found that israel had launched a deliberate attack on civilians 12 in his recantation however goldstone credited media stories of an israeli investigation that attributed the deaths to a misread drone image it happened that goldstone had also commented on this israeli investigation just a couple of months earlier at stanford university 13 in addition amnesty international14 and a un committee that goldstone himself cited approvingly15 also presented updated findings on the incident table 2 juxtaposes these various testimonies goldstone s critical omissions in his recantation are boldfaced in his recantation goldstone excised all the evidence casting doubt on the new israeli alibi whereas at stanford he judiciously laid out the arguments on both sides and suspended judgment just two months later he pinned all his faith on secondhand reports of an israeli investigation that hadn t even been completed what is more both amnesty and the un committee contested the plausibility of the new israeli alibi goldstone s tendentious depiction of the facts in his recantation might have been appropriate if he were israel s defense attorney but it hardly befitted the head of a mission that was mandated to ferret out the truth goldstone justified his volte face on the grounds that we know a lot more today it was indeed true that new information on cast lead entered the public record after the release of his report but the vast preponderance of it sustained and even extended the report s findings consider these examples a new clutch of israeli soldiers refuting official propaganda stepped forward an officer who served at a brigade headquarters recalled that idf policy amounted to ensuring literally zero risk to the soldiers while a combatant remembered a meeting with his brigade commander where it was conveyed if you see any signs of movement at all you shoot this is essentially the rules of engagement 16 although goldstone could have cited these new testimonies to buttress his report he opted instead to ignore them in 2010 human rights watch published a study based on satellite imagery documenting numerous cases in which israeli forces caused extensive destruction of homes factories farms and greenhouses in areas under idf control without any evident military purpose these cases occurred when there was no fighting in these areas in many cases the destruction was carried out during the final days of the campaign when an israeli withdrawal was imminent 17 although goldstone could have cited this new study to buttress his report he elected instead to ignore it if he scrupulously ignored all new evidence confirming the report s findings it was hard to avoid the conclusion that goldstone s recitation of a lot more information was tainted by partisanship it was also telling that as new evidence came to light confirming the goldstone report s findings israel s renewed attempts to refute these findings repeatedly fell flat after publication of the report israel responded with a barrage of denials the most voluminous of these was a 350 page compilation hamas and the terrorist threat from the gaza strip by the israeli intelligence and terrorism information center but on inspection it turned out to be a mélange of dubious interpretations flagrant misrepresentations and outright falsehoods 18 if israel s most ambitious refutation of the report itself wholly lacked in substance how did goldstone manage to unearth a lot more new information that fatally undercut the report how did he manage to invalidate a document critical of israel that try as it may israel itself could not invalidate full they resulted in fact the additional information that goldstone touted did not exactly overwhelm he gestured to the findings of israeli military investigations but what did we know today about these in camera hearings shrouded in secrecy except what israel revealed about them israel supplied almost no information on which to independently assess the evidence presented or the proceedings fairness it was not known how many were complete and how many still ongoing 19 even when in criminal indictments the investigations were often inaccessible to the public apart from the indicted soldiers supporters and transcripts were not subsequently made available 20 the centerpiece of goldstone s revelatory new information was the drone image in the al samouni case the misreading of it israel alleged and goldstone tentatively concurred caused an officer to erroneously target an extended family of civilians if as humanitarian and human rights organizations declared right after the attack it was among the gravest and most shocking incidents during cast lead 21 and if as goldstone himself stated the attack was the single most serious incident documented in his report then why didn t israel hasten to restore its bruised reputation but instead let elapse 22 months before coming forth with so simple an explanation in order to defend itself against goldstone s findings israel disseminated numerous aerial photographs taken during cast lead why didn t israel make publicly available this drone image that allegedly exonerated it of criminal culpability in the most egregious incident haunting it it was also cause for perplexity why goldstone credited this israeli evidence sight unseen yet ignored other pertinent and highly credible new evidence after his report s publication journalist amira hass revealed in the pages of haaretz that a givati force set up outposts and bases in at least six houses in the samouni compound before the attack 22 didn t the givati commander who ordered the aerial assault check with his soldiers on the ground before unleashing the deadly fire to ascertain that they were out of harm s way didn t he ask them to confirm the blurry drone image of men seemingly carrying rocket launchers and didn t they set him straight israel might have been able to provide plausible answers but goldstone did not even bother to pose these obvious questions because we know today that it was just a simple mistake after release of the goldstone report israeli authorities had a ready made if evidence free explanation for many of the other documented war crimes as well they alleged that the al bader flour mill was destroyed in order to neutralize immediate threats to idf forces 23 that the sawafeary chicken farm had been destroyed for reasons of military necessity 24 and that the al maqadmah mosque was targeted because two terrorist operatives were standing near the entrance 25 was the staggering evidence of criminality assembled in the report supplemented by thousands of pages of other human rights reports all false if israel said so when israel was accused of firing white phosphorus into civilian areas during cast lead did we also know it didn t happen because israel emphatically denied it the only other scrap of novel evidence goldstone adduced in his recantation was a casualty figure belatedly reckoned by a hamas official on the basis of this revised death toll goldstone observed the number of hamas combatants killed during cast lead turned out to be similar to the official israeli figure the upshot was that hamas s number appeared to confirm israel s contention that combatants not civilians comprised the majority of gazans killed but then goldstone parenthetically noted that hamas may have reason to inflate its figure indeed firm grounds did exist for doubting the new figure s authenticity to prove that it defeated israel on the battlefield hamas originally alleged that only 48 of its fighters had been killed but as the full breadth of israel s destruction came into relief after its withdrawal hamas s boasts of a battlefield victory rang hollow in the face of accusations that the people of gaza had shouldered the cost of its reckless decisions 26 hamas abruptly upped the figure by several hundred in order to demonstrate that it too had suffered major losses 27 as goldstone himself put it at stanford just two months before his recantation the new hamas figure was intended to bolster the reputation of hamas with the people of gaza 28 whereas goldstone and israeli human palestinian of which the each investigated independently aggregate deferred in his recantation to this politically inflated hamas figure his report had relied on numbers provided by respected rights organizations and meticulously and civilian combatant breakdown of gazan deaths belying the israeli claim that only 300 civilians were killed these human rights organizations put the figure at some 800 1 200 29 and also convincingly demonstrated that official israeli figures couldn t be trusted even the largely apologetic 2009 human rights report by the us state department put the number of dead at close to 1 400 palestinians including more than 1 000 civilians 30 but because a politically manipulated israeli figure chimed with a politically manipulated hamas figure goldstone discarded the much larger figure for palestinian civilian deaths documented by human rights organizations and validated by the us state department his hope that hamas would investigate itself after cast in his recantation had been lead goldstone rued unrealistic israel in contrast he went on to assert had already carried out investigations transparently and in good faith to a significant degree and he was confident these inquiries would eventually bring all lawbreakers to justice one wonders on what basis he could have formed this optimistic prognosis 31 none of the available evidence old or new vindicated it consider first israel s judicial track record prior to cast lead some 1 300 palestinians were killed in the decade following the outbreak of the first intifada 1987 97 yet only 19 israeli soldiers were convicted of homicide and not one served prison time some 2 300 palestinian civilians were killed during the second intifada 2000 2003 yet only 5 israeli soldiers were held criminally liable for these civilian deaths and not one was convicted on a murder or manslaughter charge between 2006 and 2009 a soldier who killed a palestinian not taking part in hostilities was according to b tselem israeli information center for human rights in the occupied territories almost never brought to justice for his act jewish settlers who committed acts of violence against palestinians enjoyed comparable impunity throughout these decades human rights organizations repeatedly condemned israel s use of disproportionate indiscriminate and targeted firepower against palestinian civilians as well as israel s failure to prosecute the perpetrators of these crimes 32 if goldstone s expectation that hamas would investigate itself after cast lead was unrealistic how much more realistic was the hope that israel would carry out bona fide investigations after cast lead in fact israel s ensuing performance was exactly what one might have predicted in the course of cast lead israel had damaged or destroyed everything in its way and not in its way including 58 000 homes 1 500 factories and workshops 280 schools and kindergartens electrical water and installations 190 greenhouse complexes 80 percent of agricultural crops and nearly sewage one fifth of cultivated land whole neighborhoods were laid waste it also damaged or destroyed 29 ambulances almost half of gaza s 122 health facilities including 15 hospitals and 45 mosques by the time it withdrew the idf had left behind fully 600 000 tons of rubble and 1 400 corpses 350 of them children fact finding missions as well as respected international israeli and palestinian human rights organizations all concluded that much of this destruction and death resulted from israel s commission of war crimes but the only penalty israel imposed for unlawful property destruction during cast lead was a disciplinary measure punishing one soldier at time of goldstone s recantation the only israeli soldier who had done jail time served seven and a half months for credit card theft after his recantation one other soldier was ordered to serve a 45 day sentence after killing two women waving a white flag he was convicted of illegal use of weapons 33 the pitiful results of these judicial proceedings perfectly aligned with israel s track record nonetheless according to goldstone investigations transparently and in good faith to a significant degree and had demonstrated resolve to achieve justice in the few outstanding cases the fact was goldstone was speaking in tongues or with a forked tongue israel had carried out the whereas he could barely contain his praise for israel goldstone could barely contain his contempt for hamas its criminal intent goes without saying its rockets were purposefully and indiscriminately aimed at civilian targets intent israel was for criminal indict hamas the case against the goldstone report had based this finding on a couple of public statements by hamas leaders on the one hand and on hamas s targeting of civilian areas with its projectiles on the other but israeli officials issued comparably incriminating public statements while its incomparably more lethal firepower was also purposefully and indiscriminately aimed at civilian targets why then did goldstone in his recantation but absolve israel of it in fact judging by his report s relevant findings none of which goldstone repudiated far more compelling its bluster notwithstanding hamas couldn t more than wishfully target civilian areas with its arsenal of rudimentary projectiles only a single israeli home was partially damaged during cast lead but if israel possessed fine grid maps of gaza and an extremely effective intelligence gathering capacity if it made extensive use of state of the art precision weaponry and if 99 percent of the israeli air force s combat missions hit targets accurately and if it only once targeted a building erroneously indeed if israel itself attested to these facts then as the goldstone report the massive death and destruction israel inflicted on gaza must have resulted from deliberate planning and policy decisions throughout the chain of command 34 hamas had done nothing goldstone recalled in disgust to investigate the criminal conduct of gazans during cast lead how could he not be outraged hamas killed three israeli civilians and rendered logically concluded one israeli home unlivable whereas israel killed as many as 1 200 gazan civilians and rendered more than 6 000 gazan homes unlivable but hamas had done nothing to prosecute wrongdoers whereas israel locked up a soldier for stealing a credit card wasn t it blazingly obvious how much more evil hamas was in the forums adjudicating he had agreed to chair the fact finding mission goldstone professed in order to inaugurate a new era of evenhandedness israel palestine conflict however noble this objective its realization was prejudiced by the shameless and shameful double standards riddling his recantation he also claimed credit for numerous lessons learned by israel and concomitant policy changes including the adoption of new israel defense forces procedures for protecting civilians in cases of urban warfare 35 israel delivered a full court press of these lessons learned and procedural changes just a few years later during operation protective edge 2014 instead of killing 350 children it killed 550 children instead of destroying 6 300 homes it destroyed 18 000 homes 36 the one lesson israel truly learned from the goldstone report was that it was never too late to rupture the spine of human rights advocates and resume its killing spree indeed the singular distinction of goldstone s recantation was that it renewed israel s license to kill richard goldstone plainly did not recant because we know a lot more today what he presented as new information consisted entirely of unverifiable assertions by parties with vested interests the fact that he couldn t cite any genuinely new evidence to justify his volte face was the most telling proof that none existed what then happened ever since publication of his report goldstone had been the object of a relentless smear campaign 37 he was not however the only one who came under attack the un human rights council appointed eminent international jurist christian tomuschat as chair of a follow up committee mandated to determine whether israel and hamas were conscientiously investigating the report s allegations deciding that tomuschat was insufficiently pliant israel s lobby hounded and defamed him until he had no choice but to step down 38 he was replaced by new york state judge mary mcgowan davis who would later head the un human rights council fact finding mission on operation protective edge 39 in order to neutralize the report s impact israel was clearly prepared to pull out all the stops many facets of goldstone s recantation perplexed goldstone was reputed to be highly ambitious 40 since israel had already ostracized itself in public opinion by the time goldstone agreed to head the fact finding mission he no doubt felt secure in the knowledge that the assignment would not mar his career and might even prove to be a boon as he upheld the rule of law despite the personal cost although goldstone nonetheless came under savage waves of attack right after publication of his report the tide did eventually begin to turn in his favor haaretz editorialized that it was time to thank the critics for forcing the idf to examine itself and amend its procedures even if not all of richard goldstone s 32 charges were solid and valid some of them certainly were 41 the american jewish magazine tikkun honored goldstone at a gala 25th anniversary celebration in south africa distinguished personalities such as judge dennis davis formerly of the jewish board of deputies publicly denounced a visit by harvard law professor alan dershowitz because among other things he had grossly misrepresented the judicial record of judge richard goldstone 42 it was puzzling then why an ambitious jurist at the peak of a long and distinguished career would court professional suicide by an erratic public recantation alienating his colleagues in the human rights community and throwing doubt on his judicial temperament just as his star was after a brief waning on the rise again throughout his professional career goldstone functioned in bureaucracies and perforce internalized their norms but in a shocking break with bureaucratic protocol he dropped his bombshell without first notifying his three colleagues on the fact finding mission or anyone at the united nations if goldstone did not confide in them beforehand wasn t it because he couldn t credibly defend but didn t want to be shaken from his resolve to recant if he was apprehensive that his colleagues wouldn t back him his intuition proved sound shortly after publication of his recantation the three other members of the goldstone mission christine chinkin hina jilani and desmond travers issued a joint statement unequivocally affirming the report s original findings we concur is no justification for reconsideration of the report as nothing of substance has appeared that would in any way change the context findings or conclusions of that report 43 for any demand or expectation in our view that there goldstone alleged that it was new evidence apropos israel s deadly assault on the al samouni family and the revised hamas casualty figure that induced him to reverse himself but just two months earlier at stanford university he had matter of factly addressed these very same points without drawing dramatic new conclusions no other evidence surfaced in the interim goldstone also referenced a un document so that he could issue israel a clean bill of health on its internal investigations but this document was much more critical of israeli investigations than he let on 44 it was as if goldstone was desperately clutching at any shred of evidence however problematic to justify his predetermined decision to recant indeed he rushed to acquit israel of criminal culpability in the al samouni deaths even before the israeli military had completed its investigation a few days before submitting his recantation to the washington post goldstone had submitted another version of it to the new york times 45 the times rejected the submission apparently because it did not repudiate the report it was as if goldstone was being pressed against his will to publicly recant to avoid tarnishing his reputation and because his heart was not in it goldstone initially submitted a wishy washy recantation to the times after the times rejected it as not newsworthy and in a race against the clock he hurriedly slipped in wording that could be construed as a full blown repudiation to ensure that the post would run what was now a bombshell the exertion of outside pressure on goldstone would explain the slapdash composition opaque formulations and overarching murkiness in which he seemed to be simultaneously recanting and not recanting the report it would also explain his embarrassing inclusion of irrelevances such as his call on the human rights council to condemn the slaughter of an israeli settler family two years after cast lead in an incident unrelated to the gaza strip by unknown perpetrators the eminent south african jurist john dugard was a colleague of goldstone s he had headed a cognate fact finding mission that investigated cast lead the findings of his report which contained a finer legal analysis while the goldstone report was broader in scope largely overlapped with goldstone s it concluded that the purpose of israel s action was to punish the people of gaza and that israel was responsible for the commission of internationally wrongful acts by reason of the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity 46 in a devastating dissection of goldstone s recantation dugard adjudged there are no new facts that exonerate israel and that could possibly have led goldstone to change his mind what made him change his mind therefore remains a closely guarded secret 47 although goldstone s secret will perhaps never be revealed and his recantation has caused irreparable damage is still possible by patient reconstruction of the factual record to know the truth about what happened in gaza out of respect for the memory of those who perished during operation cast lead this truth must be preserved and protected from its assassins it pa rt t h r e e the mavi marmara f i g u r e 3 kahana afp getty images mavi marmara on right menahem s e v e n murder on the high seas the devastation inflicted on gaza during operation cast lead 2008 9 was designed to exacerbate the effects of the ongoing illegal blockade i fully expected to see serious damage but i have to say i was really shocked when i saw the extent and precision of the destruction the world food program director for the strip observed after the assault it was precisely the strategic economic areas that gaza depends on to relieve its dependency on aid that were wiped out 1 the israel defense forces idf destroyed critical civilian infrastructure such as the only operative flour mill and nearly all of the cement factories in the hope and expectation that after a cease fire went into effect gazans would be reduced to abject dependency and couldn t rebuild their lives unless and until they bowed to israeli diktat 2 a year and a half after cast lead major humanitarian and human rights organizations uniformly attested that gaza continued to suffer a humanitarian crisis on account of the siege contrary to what the israeli government states the humanitarian aid allowed into gaza is only a fraction of what is needed to answer the enormous needs of an exhausted people oxfam the blockade has severely damaged the economy leaving 70 to 80 percent of gazans in poverty human rights watch israel is blocking vital medical supplies from entering the gaza strip world health organization the closure is having a devastating impact on the 1 5 million people living in gaza international committee of the red cross 3 still israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu proclaimed that there was no humanitarian crisis and no lack of medicines or other essential items in gaza 4 we mustn t tire of reminding others parisian media philosopher bernard henri lévy chimed in that the blockade concerns only arms and the material needed to manufacture them 5 mocking the reports of a humanitarian crisis deputy foreign minister danny ayalon gestured to gaza s sparkling new shopping mall new olympic sized swimming pool five star hotels and restaurants 6 to assuage public opinion israel disseminated photographs of these lavish scenes on the internet 7 tiny pockets of gaza did in fact prosper harvard political economist sara roy noted the emergence of a thin economic stratum that had grown extremely wealthy the black market from economy and the almost perverse consumerism in restaurants and shops that are the domain of the wealthy 8 however appalling such a juxtaposition should scarcely come as a shock at any rate to students of jewish history the sword of the nazi extermination policy hung over all jews equally a survivor of the warsaw ghetto recalled but a social differentiation arose in the ghetto setting apart substantial groups who had the means even under those infernal conditions to lead a comparatively full well fed life and enjoy some kinds of pleasures on the same streets where daily you could see scenes of horror amid the swarms of tubercular children dying like flies you would come upon stores full of fine foods restaurants and cafés which served the most expensive dishes and drinks the clientele of these places consisted principally of jewish gestapo agents jewish police officials rich merchants who did business with the germans smugglers dealers in foreign exchange and similar kinds of people he went on to note the nazis made moving pictures of such festive orgies to show the world how well the jews lived in the ghetto 9 the consensus among human rights and humanitarian organizations was that the israeli blockade of gaza constituted a form of collective punishment in flagrant violation of international law 10 a misplaced controversy unfolded between israel s critics and supporters as to whether the blockade had put gazans on a starvation critics or starvation plus supporters regimen the terms of this debate diverted attention from and obscured the fundamental point what right did israel have to put the people of gaza on any diet even critics of the siege for in the resolving if palestinians acquiesced terms seconded israel s right to prevent weapons from entering gaza but legally the conflict 11 did mandated international law in fact debar them from using armed force or acquiring weapons to end the occupation the salient points of law were these first in a 2004 advisory opinion the international court of justice stated that as regards the principle of the right of peoples to self determination the court observes that the existence of a palestinian people is no longer in issue that the palestinian people s rights include the right to self determination and that israel is bound to comply with its obligation to respect the right of the palestinian people to self determination 12 second the territorial unit within which this palestinian right of self determination was to be exercised clearly includes the west bank east jerusalem and gaza 13 third international law prohibited use of military force by an administering power to suppress widespread popular insurrection in a self determination unit while the use of force by a non state entity in exercise of a right of self determination is legally neutral that is not regulated by international law at all and assistance by states to in a self determination unit may be permissible 14 fourth it might be contended that the legal situation in the occupied palestinian territories was regulated not by the right of self determination but instead by the law of belligerent occupation 15 that belligerent occupation is not designed insurgents local law from which no derogation to win the hearts and minds of the local inhabitants it has military or security objectives and its foundation is the power of the bayonet 16 that consequently the civilian population in an occupied territory did not have the right to forcibly resist an occupying power however even if israel did legally qualify as a belligerent occupier the israel palestine conflict would nonetheless be one of those situations in which belligerent occupation and wars of national liberation overlap 17 and the right of national is a peremptory norm of liberation self determination international is permissible 18 this peremptory right would thus limit the ambit of the law of belligerent occupation in particular its strictures on use of force in hybrid or overlapping situations the upshot was that the palestinian right to self determination trumped whatever rights israel might have accrued as a belligerent occupier fifth in fact however by refusing to negotiate in good faith an end to the conflict israel had forfeited any rights it might have invoked under the law of belligerent occupation it could then legally lay claim to one and only one right to withdraw while no law debarred palestinians from using force or acquiring weapons from friendly states to effect that withdrawal 19 it was a measure of how degraded international law had become that rights and obligations were inverted the tacit premise of public discourse was that israel had a right to use armed force while palestinians had an obligation to disarm even if for argument s sake international law did prohibit the palestinian people from resort to armed resistance the fact still remained that as amnesty international urged if on different grounds an arms embargo should have been imposed on both hamas and israel 20 it would be a curious conception of justice that denied the victims the wherewithal to resist even as they supported the legally mandated norms for achieving peace but enabled the perpetrators to replenish their arsenal of repression even as they rejected these norms and rode roughshod over them on 31 may 2010 a humanitarian flotilla en route to gaza and carrying seven hundred passengers came under attack in international waters by israeli commandos the flotilla s six vessels were delivering ten thousand tons of badly needed supplies to gaza s beleaguered population by the end of the israeli assault in the middle of the night nine passengers aboard the flagship mavi marmara had been shot to death 21 if cast lead was a turning point in the attitude of the world towards us haaretz columnist gideon levy rued this operation is the second horror film of the apparently ongoing series 22 still ever the public relations maestro israel managed to spin the commandos as the victims of the attack 23 in a solipsistic paroxysm of indignation and with nary a peep of dissent israeli officials and media across the political spectrum proclaimed that the commandos were initially armed only with paintball rifles and resorted to aggressive tactics as a last resort in self defense they had been provoked ambushed in an duped lynched and lured into a trap set by a phalanx of radical anti western machete wielding bloodthirsty jihadists and mercenaries linked with al qaeda and other terrorist organizations israeli vilification zeroed in on mavi marmara passengers belonging to i nsani yardım vakfı ihh the turkish group that sponsored the vessel ihh was branded a terrorist or terrorist affiliated organization 24 but israeli information packet distributed just before the commando raid ihh had been benignly depicted as a turkish pro palestinian human rights organization with a strong muslim orientation which provides humanitarian relief into areas of war and conflict 25 the soldiers were beaten nobel peace prize laureate and israeli president shimon peres solemnly intoned just because they did not want to kill anyone you fought morally and showed valor in your acts he then told the commandos i salute you and admire your courage and restraint even in the face of danger to your own lives 26 israel s ambassador to spain likened the mavi marmara passengers to islamic terrorists who had killed scores of commuters on madrid trains in 2004 while bracketing the nine civilians killed aboard the vessel with the twenty three spaniards who died on the roads this weekend 27 some 90 percent of israeli jews supported the decision to stop the flotilla and believed that israel used the right amount or not enough force while only 16 percent supported lifting the siege of gaza 28 one of for killing multiple the commandos responsible passengers was reportedly in line for a medal of valor while deputy prime minister eli yishai exhorted defense minister ehud barak to award medals to all the commandos the warrior s sic courage is exemplary and they deserve a citation 29 the exact sequence of events on that fateful night will probably never be known for certain 30 but even if it were it wouldn t materially affect the assignation of blame if israel sought to justify its attack on the mavi marmara on the grounds of self defense it came up against the tenet of law that no legal benefit or right could be derived from an illegal act ex injuria non oritur jus in the instant case israel couldn t claim a right of self defense if its resort to violent force was triggered by its enforcement of the illegal blockade the passengers aboard a convoy in international waters carrying humanitarian relief to a desperate population did however have every right to use force in self defense against a pirate like raid 31 what s more when israel attacked the flotilla it did not harbor a fear that illegal contraband was on board the flotilla leadership offered to let a neutral body such as the international red cross verify beforehand the humanitarian nature of the cargo it appears that the contents had already been rigorously inspected at departure while israeli officials neither evinced interest in searching the flotilla s cargo nor even pretended that the ships were transporting weapons to gaza 32 a provocation took place off the coast of gaza but the provocateurs were not the peace activists veteran israeli dissident uri avnery declared the provocation was carried out by navy ships and commandos blocking the way of the aid boats and using deadly force if israeli officials proclaimed after cast lead that they had acted lunatic in order to deter their enemies then it was cause for concern after the commando raid whether they had in fact become lunatic only a crazy government that has lost all restraint and all connection to reality avnery went on to say could do something like that consider ships carrying humanitarian aid and peace activists from around the world as an enemy and send massive military force to international waters to attack them shoot and kill 33 even as some points of contention remained murky insofar as the facts could be ascertained the vast preponderance of israeli allegations did not hold up to scrutiny 34 the attacking force did not initially use only paintball guns on the contrary israeli combatants in zodiacs abutting the mavi marmara opened fire with tear gas smoke and stun grenades and maybe plastic bullets and then helicopters hovering above the vessel opened fire with live ammunition before any commando had rappelled on deck 35 the passengers did not belong to terrorist organizations 36 nor did they lay a lethal trap on the contrary they did not even prepare for injuries 37 did not possess firearms or discharge captured ones 38 and did not carry on them monies paid to murder israelis 39 the israeli commandos held by passengers did not endure a lynching on the contrary they were provided medical care and then escorted for release 40 the israeli commandos did not fire with restraint and only in self defense on the contrary they killed the nine passengers by shooting all but one of them multiple times five were shot in the head and at least six of the nine were killed in a manner consistent with an extralegal arbitrary and summary execution 41 the conduct of the israeli military and other personnel towards the flotilla passengers was not only disproportionate to the occasion a prestigious un fact finding mission concluded but demonstrated levels of totally unnecessary and incredible violence it betrayed an unacceptable level of brutality 42 shortly after release of the un report however prime minister netanyahu praised the crucial essential important and legal assault and saluted the israeli commandos who acted courageously morally and with restraint against those who came to kill you and tried to kill you there is no one better than you 43 to be sure israeli officials did acknowledge room for operational improvement when the next flotilla is boarded by the navy attack dogs will be the first to board the decks to prevent harm to soldiers they are strong and merciless 44 it was unclear whether contingency plans had been put in place should passengers dupe and lynch the semiofficial israeli intelligence and terrorism information center noted in apparent extenuation of the killings that as many as seven of the nine dead passengers might have the canines meanwhile sought martyrdom the last diary entry of one of them for example expressed a willingness to die for a noble cause 45 before being hung by the british in 1775 american revolutionary nathan hale famously regretted having but one life to lose for my country gandhi exhorted his followers to actively court martyrdom it would exhilarate me to hear that a co worker was shot dead or that another co worker had had his skull broken 46 does a man s preparedness to make the ultimate sacrifice for a greater good justify killing him if so many westerners initially swallowed the topsy turvy israeli story line it was because the hasbara propaganda campaign had been so carefully rehearsed and adeptly executed 47 while the western media lapped up the israeli spin in an operation reminiscent of the first week or so of operation cast lead antony lerman observed in the british guardian the israeli pr machine succeeded in getting the major news outlets to focus on its version of events and to use the israeli authorities discourse for a crucial 48 hours 48 the only witnesses able to contest the official israeli account had been imprisoned and their photographic evidence confiscated but israeli propaganda offensive eventually began to unravel and international opinion including wide swaths of jewish opinion swung sharply in the reverse direction 49 israel then contended that if some people saw things differently it traced back to the eternal war against the jewish people 50 and the fact that israeli officialdom had dropped the that the ball on the pr front 51 the international community turned hostile according to the influential reut institute because of successful efforts to brand israel as an occupying and aggressive entity ignores and undermines human rights and international law whereas the flotillas were branded in the context of resistance to occupation and oppression the promotion of peace and human rights a moral response to gaza s humanitarian crisis and in the spirit of international law 52 in other words if israel s image had suffered yet another blow its cause was not the sordid underlying reality but instead the distorted branding of it despite the groundswell of public outrage the united states lent israel blind support throughout its latest diplomatic imbroglio president barack obama merely expressed deep regret at the loss of life 53 while his administration shielded israel from accountability at international forums vice president joseph biden defended the commando raid on the grounds that if the flotilla had just unloaded the cargo at an israeli port israel would have been ready willing and able to transfer it to gaza in a bizarre sequence of non sequiturs biden alternately asserted that israel was blocking passage of supplies such as building materials and that the flotilla could have easily brought the us representative at an emergency session of the un security council shamelessly denied that israel had prevented vital goods from reaching gaza mechanisms exist for the in 54 meanwhile them transfer of humanitarian assistance to gaza by member states and groups that want to do so 55 eighty seven of the us senate s one hundred members signed a letter to obama declaring that they fully support israel s right of self defense after the israeli commandos arrived on the mavi marmara and were brutally attacked the us house of representatives followed suit as 338 of its 435 members signed a letter expressing strong support for israel s right to defend itself after passengers on the ship attacked israeli soldiers with clubs metal rods and iron bars 56 congressional leaders acting at the behest of jewish groups moved to officially designate not the perpetrators but the victims of the attack as terrorists and the sponsors of the humanitarian mission as a terrorist organization they also sought to bar survivors of the bloodbath entry into the united states on the grounds that they should not be allowed to come and spill their propaganda and hatred and terrorist rhetoric 57 since the palestinians in gaza elected hamas new york senator chuck schumer told a meeting of orthodox jews after the attack it made sense to strangle them economically until they see that s not the way to go 58 on the other hand us secretary of state hillary clinton and other western officials alongside the un security council as a whole experienced an epiphany on the morning after the flotilla horror they proclaimed that israel s siege of gaza was unsustainable and had to be lifted 59 still as the crisis group pointedly observed international condemnation and calls for an inquiry will come easily but many who will issue them must acknowledge their own role in the deplorable treatment of gaza that formed the backdrop to the israeli raid 60 fully three quarters of the damage and destruction israel wreaked during cast lead had not yet been repaired or rebuilt when the flotilla embarked on its humanitarian mission 61 although israel promised after the flotilla carnage and attendant international outcry to ease restrictions on some goods bound for gaza it still banned items necessary to restore gaza s manufacturing sector and put onerous conditions on the entry of critical building materials 62 the burdens on the entrance of construction materials an israeli human rights organization warned could turn the promise of allowing reconstruction into a dead letter 63 un officials estimated that under israeli restrictions still in place it would take 75 years to rebuild gaza 64 in late 2010 nearly a half year after israel s publicized commitment to relax the siege a consortium of more than 20 respected human rights and humanitarian organizations operating in gaza grimly reported that there are few signs of real improvement on the ground as the ease has left foundations of the illegal blockade policy intact gaza requires 670 000 truckloads of construction material while only an average of 715 of these truckloads have been received per month the private sector is excluded from the possibility to import construction materials including concrete steel and gravel hampering efforts of people in gaza to rebuild their homes businesses and other property exports remain banned and except for the humanitarian activity of exporting a small amount of strawberries not a single truck has left gaza since the easing many humanitarian items including vital water equipment that are not on the israeli restricted list continue to receive no permits ordinary gaza residents are still denied access to their friends and family and to educational opportunities in the west bank east jerusalem and abroad access to around 35 percent of gaza s farmland and 85 percent of maritime areas for fishing remains restricted by the israeli buffer zone with devastating impact on the economy and people s rights and livelihoods 39 percent of gaza residents remain unemployed while 80 percent of the population remain dependent upon international aid there cannot be a just and durable resolution of the israeli palestinian conflict the authoritative report concluded without an end to the isolation and punishment of people in gaza 65 israel curtly dismissed the report as biased and distorted 66 even if for argument s sake israel s right to block the passage of the flotilla were credited it still wouldn t explain why on a supposedly peaceful interception its commandos chose to board the ship by rappelling from a military helicopter in the dark in international waters 67 indeed israel elected a modus operandi practically guaranteed to induce panic and mayhem it could easily have chosen as israeli officials conceded from an array of relatively benign options such as disabling the propeller rudder or engine of the vessel and towing it to the israeli port at ashdod or physically blocking the vessel s passage 68 passengers aboard the flotilla anticipated that if we fail to stop they will probably knock out our propellers or rudders then tow us somewhere for repair 69 to go by israel s own official alibi a commando raid was a bizarre choice it purported after the bloodletting that it hadn t foreseen violent resistance it was expecting mild violence and mostly curses shoves and spitting in the face a sit down a linking of arms passive resistance perhaps verbal resistance or to engage with the passengers in conversation 70 but if israel didn t expect a violent reception why didn t it intercept the mavi marmara in broad daylight with a full complement of journalists in tow to show the world its peaceful it disable the vessel s communications beforehand preventing transmissions to the outside world why did it initiate contact by using tear gas smoke and stun grenades and possibly plastic bullets if it anticipated chitchatting with passengers why did it deploy a commando unit trained to kill and not a police unit accustomed to handling civil resisters to judge by its preplanning the reasonable inference is that israel sought a bloody confrontation although probably not on the scale that ensued it couldn t foresee that the commandos would panic at the passengers determined resistance and then exact several more vengeful murders what did the intentions why did commandos expect pro palestinian activists to do once they boarded the ships the british guardian editorialized invite them aboard for a cup of tea with the captain on the bridge 71 its still the mystery remains why did israel launch a violent assault in fact multiple factors converged to make a commando raid the optimal operational plan prior to the flotilla attack israel had conducted a succession of bungled operations it suffered a major military setback in 2006 when it invaded lebanon and tangled with hezbollah it undertook to restore its deterrence capacity in 2008 9 when it invaded gaza yet the attack evoked not awe at israel s martial prowess but outrage at lethal cowardice 72 it dispatched in 2010 a commando team to assassinate a hamas leader in dubai but even as it accomplished its mission the unit ended up seeding a diplomatic storm on account of its amateurish execution israel was desperate to restore the idf s derring do image of bygone years what better way than an entebbe like commando raid 73 the decision to launch the assault on the mavi marmara was taken jointly by prime minister netanyahu and defense minister barak both had belonged to a commando unit in their youth barak was netanyahu s commander and mentor in the unit 74 a commando raid in 1973 made barak s reputation 75 while netanyahu basked in the reflected glory of his brother jonathan who was the only israeli casualty on the entebbe raid their intersecting personal histories primed barak and netanyahu to opt for a violent commando assault in order to burnish the idf s and not incidentally their own reputation the both of them were dyed in the wool creatures of military operations a haaretz columnist noted after the flotilla raid steeped in the instant heroism mentality and the commando spirit in which a military force shows up at the height of a crisis like a deus ex machina and in a single stroke slices through the gordian knot and couldn t a commando operation redeem the ever elusive promise of political salvation although decades have passed since the moral high of such operations was injected into our veins our leaders have never stopped trying to recreate it to atone for their ineffectiveness as statesmen the greater the number of successive failed missions the greater the longing for the next redemptive mission that will heal the trauma and the bad trip of its predecessor they are the responses of addicts who are repeatedly denied their fix the perfect idf operation or the decisive war which will untangle all complexities and will put to rest all doubts and any need for statesmanship 76 unsurprisingly of the six ships in the flotilla israel targeted the mavi marmara for special treatment some two thirds of its six hundred passengers were turkish citizens the vessel s core group was alleged to be a front for a radical islamist organization probably with links to the ruling party in turkey which made it a yet more tempting target 77 in recent times turkish prime minister recep tayyip erdoğan had become increasingly determined to carve out an independent foreign policy and had been outspoken in his criticism of israel a diplomatic tit for tat ensued erdoğan publicly dressed down president peres at the world economic forum right after cast lead when it comes to killing you know well how to kill 78 deputy foreign minister ayalon publicly humiliated the turkish ambassador in early 2010 by refusing to shake his hand in front of israeli television cameras and seating him in a sofa over which the israeli minister towered 79 erdoğan then seized the initiative in concert with brazil to resolve diplomatically the impasse with iran over its nuclear program 80 israel bridled at the turkish démarche as it was hell bent on a military solution just days before the flotilla attack netanyahu would later recall turkey had strengthened its identification and cooperation with iran when ankara ignored tel aviv s counsel to preempt the mavi marmara it was the last straw the turkish government did however actively discourage ihh from undertaking the mission 81 it was long past time to cut the turkish upstart down to size and a sleek if sanguinary commando raid was just the reminder erdoğan needed of who was in charge in that corner of the world if israel eschewed less violent options to halt the flotilla an israeli strategic analyst elucidated it was because it needed to tell the islamizing turkey no more the forces of the ottoman empire who aspire to again rule the middle east as they did almost 500 years ago will be stopped at gaza s shores 82 the rift that opened up with israel s historic ally appeared to belie such speculation why would it risk such a steep diplomatic price but israel had grown accustomed to arab muslim leaders meekly absorbing its humiliating blows if israeli commandos had killed nine egyptians on a humanitarian convoy egyptian president hosni mubarak would almost certainly have turned a blind eye even syrian president bashar al assad stayed mute after an israeli air assault in 2007 destroyed an alleged syrian nuclear reactor i am certain the turkish reaction took the zionist leaders by surprise hezbollah secretary general sayyed hassan nasrallah shrewdly observed 83 the commando raid was additionally designed to stem the rising tide of humanitarian vessels destined for gaza israel initially allowed ships carrying supplies to quietly pass through the blockade hoping that the spirits of the organizers would peter out as public interest flagged when the organizers persisted the israeli navy rammed and intercepted vessels en route to gaza 84 but more ships kept coming after israel blocked a humanitarian vessel from reaching gaza in 2009 a british led delegation worried out loud to us embassy officials in beirut that the israeli government would not be as lenient in the future should similar incidents occur 85 if the assault on the flotilla couldn t have shocked those inside the diplomatic loop it didn t shock seasoned observers of the israeli scene either the violent interception of civilian vessels carrying humanitarian aid israeli novelist amos oz reflected was the rank product of the israeli mantra that what can t be done by force can be done with even greater force 86 to fortify its claim that the commandos violence was spontaneous israel gestured to the fact that it had merely expected resistance like we encounter in bil in 87 but israel had often resorted to deliberate lethal force in order to suppress such civil resistance what happened aboard the mavi marmara a haaretz columnist observed was very similar to what israel has been doing every week for the past four years in bil in injuring and killing unarmed civilian protesters who are demanding their basic rights 88 the assault on the mavi marmara turned into yet another bungled operation as the once vaunted idf seemed increasingly to resemble the gang that cannot shoot straight 89 the mishandling of this latest military operation could not be swept under the rug although israeli hasbara desperately spun the raid as an operational success 90 and the commandos as untarnished heroes few were taken in the pundit class deplored this disgraceful fiasco and national humiliation in which deterrence took a bad blow 91 the magic evaporated long ago the most moral army in the world that was once the best army in the world failed again gideon levy ironically observed more and more the impression that nearly everything it touches causes harm to israel 92 indeed the naval commandos constituted israel s best fighting unit 93 and had rehearsed the there is lynching a attack for weeks even constructing a model of the mavi marmara 94 nonetheless when 30 of these commandos faced off against an equal number of civilian passengers95 with only makeshift weapons in hand three of them allowed themselves to be captured and photographs of them being nursed circulated throughout cyberspace israeli soldiers let alone elite commandos were not supposed to be taken alive the last thing israel needed was a gilad shalit redux 96 the claim made by the idf spokesman that the soldiers lives were in danger and they feared a respected military analyst understatedly opined is hardly complimentary to the men of the elite naval units 97 the images of a cowering and inept fighting force could not have comforted the domestic population either would it grow jittery about the idf s ability after so many fiascos to fend off a seemingly endless list of ever more potent enemies it s one thing for people to think you re crazy an israeli general rued but it s bad when they think you re incompetent and crazy and that s the way we look 98 a 2010 poll of the arab world which showed that only 12 percent of the arab public believed israel was very powerful while fully 44 percent believed it was weaker than it looks couldn t have allayed israeli anxieties 99 each disastrous mission upped the stakes of the next throw of the dice it appeared as if israel would sooner rather than later have to launch a yet more spectacular mission to compensate for the long string of failures an israeli general declared after cast lead that the idf would continue to apply the so called dahiya doctrine of directing massive force against civilian infrastructure in the future 100 the essence of israeli strategic doctrine the idf deputy chief of staff elaborated was that each new round of fighting brings worse results than the last to israel s enemies 101 lebanon loomed at the time as israel s next target 102 but hezbollah had amassed a deterrence capacity of its own israel was unwilling to risk the massive civilian casualties that would ensue in the event of an attack at the end of the day defenseless gaza would continue to be israel s preferred punching bag the nine passengers killed aboard the mavi marmara were the first casualties of the goldstone report s interment if it had not been effectively vetoed palestinian human rights lawyer raji sourani observed if the international community had fulfilled its obligation to enforce international humanitarian law and if the rule of law were respected is almost certain that the unjustifiable bloodshed in the mediterranean could have been prevented 103 however although israel managed to clear the goldstone hurdle it now had to contend with the new international outcry after the commando raid not for the first time it decided to appoint a commission of inquiry to investigate the incident the expectation was that by blending judicial gravitas with craven subservience to the state such an investigation would placate international it opinion or at any rate those portions of it that counted 104 the commission did not disappoint e i g h t whitewash i the turkel report in june 2010 israel established an independent public commission to investigate the maritime incident of 31 may 2010 in january 2011 the commission chaired by former israeli supreme court justice jacob turkel released its findings 1 the turkel report running to nearly three hundred pages exonerated israel of culpability for the carnage aboard the mavi marmara and instead pinned blame on a cadre of passengers who had allegedly plotted and armed themselves to kill the israeli commandos the report divided into two principal sections a legal analysis of the israeli blockade and a factual reconstruction of the events that climaxed in the violence it began however by recounting the historical context of the israeli blockade these passages of the report provided instructive insight into its objectivity the report stated that in october 2000 violent incidents broke out in the west bank and the gaza that lethal firepower to quell strip which were given the name the second intifada in these suicide attacks were restarted in cities in israeli territory 2 its capsule description of the second intifada omitted mention israel had used massive indiscriminate and largely nonviolent demonstrations and that palestinians endured five months of bloodletting before they resorted to suicide attacks 3 the report began by highlighting that since the beginning of 2001 thousands of mortars and rockets of various kinds have been fired in ever growing numbers from the gaza strip 4 but this depiction ignored that israel directed far more lethal firepower at gaza during the same period 5 although the report did concede that human rights and humanitarian organizations as well as a leading israeli jurist had concluded that gaza remained occupied after israel s 2005 disengagement it nevertheless sustained the contrary position of the israeli government 6 the report asserted that the june 2008 cease fire between israel and hamas collapsed in december 2008 when the rocket and mortar attacks against israel recommenced 7 in fact as amnesty international observed at the time the lull broke down after israeli forces killed six palestinian militants in air strikes and other attacks on 4 november 2008 8 the report thus skewed the critical historical context wholly in israel s favor the turkel report upheld the legality of the israeli blockade of gaza on dual grounds 1 the people of gaza didn t experience starvation and their physical survival wasn t at risk and 2 whatever hardship gaza s civilian population did endure was collateral and proportional damage of a blockade targeting hamas s military capabilities the 1 if gazans weren t starving and their essential needs were met then the blockade was legal the turkel report juxtaposed the consensus opinion of human rights and humanitarian organizations that israel s siege of gaza had caused a humanitarian crisis9 with israel s denial of such a crisis 10 it resolved these two very different perceptions of reality 11 by concluding for example that even if 60 percent of gazans did experience food insecurity 12 still israel met its legal obligations inasmuch as the people weren t dying of starvation but were merely hungry the report approvingly quoted israeli officials to the effect that no one has ever stated that the population of the gaza strip is starving it went on to defend the siege s legality on the grounds that food insecurity does not equate to starvation 13 prima facie it would be odd if current international law which accords so many safeguards to civilians in times of war and under occupation sanctioned a just shy of genocidal policy 14 indeed seemingly cognizant that such a legal standard was too lax not to mention cruel coming from an esteemed former supreme court justice 15 the report simultaneously purported that even if the law kicked in not just for starvation but also for the less exigent condition of hunger and even if the siege did induce hunger still israel wasn t deliberately inducing hunger and if it wasn t a willful policy israel wasn t legally culpable the commission found no evidence that israel is trying to deprive the population of the gaza strip of food 16 but if the foreseeable and inevitable effect of barring foodstuffs from entering gaza was to cause hunger it is hard to make out how the punitive outcome was mere intention 17 or put happenstance and not otherwise for want of trying to induce hunger israel was awfully good at it israel s just as it exonerated israel of denying gazans food so the turkel report exonerated israel of denying gazans other objects essential for the survival of the civilian population it acknowledged that israel blocked entry of construction materials but rationalized this policy on the grounds that according to intelligence information hamas might use them for military purposes the report made short shrift of the possibility that the motive behind this ban was to punish the people of gaza it is clear that the restrictions were not imposed in order to prevent the use of these materials by the civilian population 18 one searched in vain however for proof of this confident assertion what s more the report contended both that israel denied entry of essential objects such as construction materials but only on security grounds and that there was no evidence israel denied entry of such essential objects 19 the report further stated that no evidence was presented that israel prevents the passage of medical supplies apart from those included in the list of materials whose entry into the gaza strip is prohibited for security reasons 20 yet that israeli list included vital medical supplies according to the world health organization such as x ray machines electronic imaging scanners laboratory equipment and basic items such as elevators for hospitals 21 if israel was depriving gazans of vital medical supplies then it was denying them objects essential to their survival the report also inconsistently alleged both that israel had denied entry of essential objects on security grounds and that israel allowed entry of many of these same objects apparently without jeopardizing its security after the flotilla attack evoked international outrage 22 the report finally never attended to the obvious question why did so many respected human rights and humanitarian organizations sound the alarm of a humanitarian crisis in gaza if none existed the upshot was the turkel report alleged that israel s blockade did not breach humanitarian law on the bizarre ground that gazans weren t literally starving to death that if the legal threshold was causing hunger then israel didn t deliberately cause hunger even if hunger was the inevitable and predictable result of its blockade that israel did prevent entry of essential construction materials and that it categorically did not prevent entry of essential construction materials and that israel did not prevent entry of vital medical supplies even if it did prevent entry of vital medical supplies if the report managed to prove the blockade was legal it was alas at the price of sacrificing logic consistency and fact to 2 if the harm to gaza s civilian population was proportional and collateral then the blockade was legal the turkel report applied a proportionality test to the blockade 23 it found that if gazans did endure hardship as a result of the israeli siege it constituted collateral the security objective of damage proportional degrading hamas s military capabilities although it occasionally suggested that the blockade was more than just a security measure 24 the report was emphatic that it did not target the civilian population in one of its various formulations the report depicted the siege as having two goals a security goal of preventing the entry of weapons ammunition and military supplies into the gaza strip and a broader strategic goal of indirect economic warfare whose purpose is to restrict the hamas s economic ability as the body in control of the gaza strip to take military action against israel 25 the report further found that israel was not guilty of inflicting collective punishment because there is nothing in the evidence that suggest s that israel is intentionally placing restrictions on goods for the sole or primary purpose of denying them to the population of gaza emphasis in original 26 but if the intent of the israeli siege was to degrade hamas s military capacity not to harm gaza s civilian population surely it was cause for wonder why israel severely restricted entry of goods not considered essential for the basic subsistence of the population and why it allowed passage of only a humanitarian minimum of civilian goods 27 it was also cause for puzzlement why israeli officials kept repeating privately that they intended to keep the gazan economy on the brink of collapse without quite pushing it over the edge 28 in other words why was the blockade calibrated so as to keep gaza s civilian population teetering on the precipice if the civilian population was not being targeted although tediously repetitive and replete with minutiae on arcane points of law the report was notably silent on exactly what items israel interdicted to thwart hamas s offensive capabilities it omitted that the seemingly endless list of verboten items included sage coriander ginger jam halva vinegar nutmeg chocolate fruit preserves seeds and nuts biscuits potato chips musical instruments notebooks writing implements toys chicks and goats 29 the purpose of the economic warfare in the gaza strip the report asseverated was to undermine the hamas s ability to attack israel and its citizens the non security related restrictions on the passage of goods such as the restrictions upon certain food products are a part of this strategy 30 who could doubt the offensive potential of chocolate chips and chicks 31 neither the facts nor the legal reasoning presented in the turkel report refuted the consensus opinion that gaza was experiencing a humanitarian crisis that the israeli siege was causing the humanitarian crisis that israel was deliberately causing this humanitarian crisis that the israeli siege consequently constituted an illegal form of collective punishment and that the use of force against the humanitarian flotilla insofar as it was designed to prolong the illegal siege was also illegal the second half of the turkel report reconstructed the events that climaxed in the killing of nine passengers aboard the mavi marmara by israeli commandos 32 the report cleared israel of legal culpability for the violence and deaths and instead pinned responsibility on a cadre of passengers who allegedly plotted and armed themselves in advance to kill israelis it also determined that the lethal use of force by the israeli commandos constituted justifiable self defense the turkel report s major conclusions diametrically opposed those of an eminent un fact finding mission 33 without access to the evidence on which each side based its conclusions a third party would be hard pressed to definitively decide between them nonetheless on the basis of their internal coherence and judged against uncontested facts it is possible to render a judgment on which of the findings are more persuasive on a preliminary point the sources on which the turkel report leaned prompt skepticism the government resolution mandating the turkel commission excused idf israel defense forces it 34 the report soldiers testifying before from trustworthy because accordingly had to depend on soldiers statements that were only documented in writing and submitted to the commission 35 the report deemed the commando testimonies credible and the soldiers gave detailed information used natural language and did not appear to have coordinated their versions 36 it puzzled what evidentiary value should be attached to the written submissions natural language did it enhance the commandos credibility that they reflexively called everyone who crossed their paths on the mavi marmara a terrorist 37 it was also unclear how the commission could determine whether or not the commandos coordinated beforehand their written submissions the report stated that the soldiers accounts were examined meticulously cross referenced against each other 38 was it so the soldiers also examined meticulously cross referenced each other s statements before submitting them it was not even clear that prescribed protocol barred such prior coordination indeed the soldiers could infer prior to giving testimony that they would not suffer judicial penalties for perjury or even undergo rigorous interrogation the soldiers were not put on notice that their rights were implicated when giving their statements and they did not undergo cross examination 39 in general the commission invested enormous faith in the testimony of israeli civilian and military officials even as respected israeli commentators had ridiculed their record of truth telling 40 far fetched that to that due except for the oral testimony of two israeli palestinians sketchy and mostly unsigned statements extracted by israeli jailers and military intelligence from the flotilla detainees before their release and a book publication by one of the turks on board the mavi marmara 41 the turkel report did not benefit from the input of the passengers and crew upon their release former captives asserted that the statements and signatures were given under extreme physical and emotional duress while the secretly filmed footage of their interrogations had been distorted by editing 42 the report alleged the noncooperation of other witnesses it was compelled to rely mainly on testimonies and reports of israeli parties 43 amnesty reported that although the commission invited flotilla participants to testify it appeared to make only half hearted attempts to secure their testimony 44 the report did not explain however why unsworn testimonies of israeli commandos constituted credible evidence whereas eyewitness testimonies of numerous passengers accessible in the public domain did not 45 on a cognate point although the un fact finding mission failed to secure the cooperation of the israeli government it did make extensive use of the available public testimony before the turkel commission whereas the turkel report made no effort to utilize the extensive eyewitness testimony collected by the international fact finding mission 46 the juxtaposition suggested judicial temperaments at play of which only one appeared to be two very different seeking truth let us now examine the major points of contention between the un fact finding mission and the turkel report which party initiated the violence the un fact finding mission concluded that as israeli speedboats approached the mavi marmara they were firing non lethal weaponry onto the ship including smoke and stun grenades tear gas and paintballs and possibly plastic bullets and that minutes after this initial israeli assault was repelled by passengers israeli helicopters moved in opening fire with live ammunition onto the top deck prior to the descent of the soldiers 47 the turkel report presented an altogether different picture it did acknowledge that the israeli rules of engagement allowed for use of force required to fulfill the mission i e stopping the vessels albeit it must be minimal and might be considered only as a last resort it also acknowledged that operational orders allowed that before the stage of taking control of the vessels the force commander was permitted to employ various measures to stop the vessels including firing skunk bombs forcing the vessels to change their course or stop by means of firing warning shots into the air and white lighting blinding by using a large projector at the very least then israeli operational planning did not outright prohibit initiating force but on the basis of closed door testimony of the chief of staff the report concluded that in practice no use was made of these measures 48 the report found that israeli commandos in speedboats approached the mavi marmara peacefully and resorted to paintball guns and stun grenades only after they encountered resistance 49 besides israeli testimonies the report cited video recordings it is impossible sight unseen to evaluate the video evidence although it can t but be wondered why israel didn t make it available after release of the un fact finding mission s conclusions if israel had in its possession compelling evidence that refuted the un mission why would it keep this proof the release of which couldn t pose a security threat under wraps the report recorded the precise times when passengers resorted to force against the commandos in speedboats 50 it did not however record the times when these commandos resorted to supposedly retaliatory force in a typical non sequitur the report attempting to refute suggestions that the ihh i nsani yardım vakfı activists were acting in self defense stated in seeking to capture and board the ship the israeli forces had to respond to the violence offered first by the ihh this is evident from the magnetic media that shows the extreme levels of violence used against the idf s soldiers 51 but footage of passengers resorting to extreme levels of violence does not corroborate that they initiated the violence the report also concluded that live ammunition was not fired from israeli helicopters that subsequently moved in it did acknowledge however that stun grenades were thrown down from the helicopters before the commandos hit the deck it stated that the helicopters did not use live ammunition because the accurate use of firearms from a helicopter requires both specific equipment and specially trained personnel with which the helicopters were not equipped 52 but if on the one hand the purpose of the firepower had been like the stun grenades to terrorize the passengers and clear the deck before the commandos precision marksmanship wasn t even required while on the other hand it perplexes that trained marksmen were in short supply among israel s elite fighting unit rappelled board then on the decision to intercept the flotilla in the dead of night appeared to belie the turkel report s sequencing of what unfolded the report stated that if israel launched its operation at 4 26 a m it was because during such an operation there is a great advantage to operating under the cover of darkness quoting the israeli chief of staff 53 but it isn t self evident why a commando raid in the dead of night would be israel s advantage the report repeatedly emphasized that throughout the planning process israeli authorities at all levels anticipated that the participants in the flotilla were all peaceful civilians and they seem not to have believed that the use of force would be necessary they had expected the commandos to meet at most verbal resistance pushing or punching relatively minor civil disobedience some pushing and limited physical contact the report quoted the commandos themselves testifying we were expected to to encounter activists who would try to hurt us emotionally by creating provocations on the level of curses spitting but we did not expect a difficult physical confrontation we were expected to encounter peace activists and therefore the prospect that we would have to use weapons or other means was nearly zero probability 54 but if it didn t expect forceful resistance why didn t israel launch the operation in broad daylight indeed bringing along journalists who could vouch for its nonviolent intentions an operation launched in the blackness of night did make sense if israel wanted to sow panic and confusion as a prelude to and retrospectively to justify a violent assault as well as to obscure from potential witnesses its violent mode of attack in the planning of such an operation that is an operation predicated on the use of violent force there clearly was great advantage to operating under the cover of darkness a premeditated decision to violently assault the mavi marmara would also account for the scope and nature of the planning it would reconcile why israel undertook intricate and ramified preparations that engaged the gamut of israel s political military and intelligence apparatuses including the prime minister and the minister of defense the senior political security echelon and persons with experience in these fields the ministry of foreign affairs the ministry of the interior the ministry of public security the ministry of justice idf officers and public relations personnel 55 why it decided that the including the command level would be very senior commander of the navy himself 56 why it imposed a communications blackout on the flotilla 57 and why it deployed the elite special forces unit shayetet 13 which was trained for lethal combat instead of a routine police unit trained to quell civil resistance the report stated that special forces trained teams are often used when a boarding non compliant 58 but surely apprehending passengers predisposed to curses spitting didn t require deployment of israel s elite fighting unit it also stated that special forces were used because of the specialized training needed for fast roping onto the deck of a ship at night 59 however that still leaves unanswered the question why the assault was launched at night is anticipated opposed or to be it might be wondered why israel was at pains to emphasize that it didn t anticipate violent resistance couldn t it just as easily have alleged that although committed to a peaceful resolution of the crisis it did expect violence which was why the operation was launched before daybreak and so much military like planning went into it the reason however was not hard to find if the commandos had been primed for a violent confrontation then what ensued aboard the mavi marmara truly was as israeli pundits rued a disgraceful fiasco and national humiliation 60 the only alibi israel could fabricate to preserve the commandos aura was that they were taken off guard by the violence if the elite unit performed so poorly it was because it hadn t prepared for armed resistance indeed one of the turkel report s more comical aspects was the commandos tales of derring do plainly designed to restore the idf s heroic image and boost national morale soldier no 161 recalled that ten people jumped onto me and began brutally beating me from every direction using clubs metal rods and fists that a number of attackers grabbed me by my legs and my torso and threw me over the side to the deck below that i fractured my arm and a mob of dozens of people attacked me and basically lynched me including pulling off my helmet strangling me sticking fingers into my eyes to gouge them out of their sockets pulling my limbs in every direction striking me in an extremely harsh manner with clubs and metal rods mostly on my head that i took an extremely harsh blow directly to my head from a metal rod a lot of blood began streaming down my face from the wounds to my head that after his capture by passengers the only thing the ship s medic did was to wipe the blood from my forehead although he had a very deep scalp wound and a fractured skull it later allegedly required 14 stitches and that despite excruciating blows and gushing blood fractured arm and fractured skull he managed to break free of one of the guards i jabbed my elbow into his ribs and jumped into the water as soon as i reached the water i dove underneath so that they would not be able to hit me from the ship i took off my shirt while diving and swimming and i intended to swim and dive rapidly in a zigzag to escape from the enemy on the ship after my first dive i rose to the water s surface and i saw a speedboat which rescued him after he swam rapidly toward it and then i picked up an m 16 rifle and i began shooting because i was concerned that the mob on the ship wanted to abduct soldier no 4 back into the ship and i wanted to deter them 62 soldier no 3 recalled that i was struck with metal poles and rocks i fel t a very strong blow to the neck from behind that people hit me with full force with poles and clubs that a mob of people around me are hitting me with many blows mainly towards my head that i continue to take very strong blows to the abdomen that i am fighting with all my strength until a certain stage when they manage to get me over the side of the boat i am holding onto the side with my hands and hanging from the side t he people from above me are hitting my hands and a second group of people is pulling me from below by grabbing my legs that i am lying on the deck there are many people above me one of the people jumps on me and i feel a sharp pain in the lower abdomen and i realize that i ve been stabbed during this stage i m taking many blows including from clubs that after his capture by passengers the only assistance he received from the ship s medic was a gauze pad although i am bleeding massively that is i am losing a lot of blood and i can tell that part of my intestines are protruding i also notice a deep cut in my left arm from which i m also losing a great quantity of blood i also feel blood flowing from my nose into my mouth that they tied my hands and feet with rope they station a person above me who is holding a wooden pole he beats me with the wooden pole that as a result of the loss of blood i started to become groggy and that despite excruciating blows fracturing his nose and tearing a tendon in his finger and gushing blood stab wounds and protruding intestines he managed to escape i run to the side of the ship jump into the water from a height of 12 meters and start swimming toward our boats 63 is it ungenerous to wonder whether these commandos had watched a few too many rambo flicks did islamic activists plot and arm themselves to murder israelis the turkel report found that passengers aboard the mavi marmara the hardcore group of which comprised about 40 ihh activists 64 had plotted before embarkation to resist with force 65 even to commit murder and had sought out martyrdom i have no doubt an israeli commander of the operation testified that the terrorists on the vessel planned organized foresaw the events and planned to kill a soldier 66 it is evident the for what report concluded that the ihh organized and planned for a violent confrontation with the israeli military forces the ihh had a preexisting plan to violently oppose the israeli boarding and a number of ihh activists took part in hostilities from a planning and logistical perspective well before the arrival of the israeli armed forces 67 the report alleged that as against the overwhelming majority of relatively moderate 68 passengers ihh activists boarded the mavi marmara separately and without any security checks and thus were able to smuggle on an arsenal of weapons to execute their murderous plot 69 contrariwise and it s worth the turkish government protested that not just once but twice all crew members and passengers were subjected to stringent x ray checks as well as customs and passport controls all personal belongings and cargo were also thoroughly inspected and cleared t he cargo contained no arms munitions or other material that would constitute a threat 70 the report s the combat equipment apparently brought on board by the flotilla participants included 150 protective ceramic vests 300 gas masks communication devices optical devices several night vision goggles and a few binoculars slingshots of various kinds 200 knives 20 axes thousands of ball bearings and stones disk saws pepper sprays and smoke flares 71 this cache of combat equipment concentration of weaponry extensive equipment which was brought on board to implement the plot72 appeared inventory of in a somewhat less sinister light when juxtaposed with the report s itemization that kitchens and the cafeterias on the ship contained a total of about 200 knives and the ship s fire extinguishing equipment included about 20 axes 73 it flabbergasts that the obvious correlations escaped or did they the commission s notice the report did not find that the evidence point s conclusively to the fact that the ihh activists brought firearms aboard the mavi marmara 74 but if they plotted a violent confrontation with one of the world s most formidable military powers and if they could freely carry on board the weapons of their choosing it perplexes why the most lethal implements they thought to bring along were slingshots and glass marbles truly these shaheeds were meshugge the report noted that just before the israeli operation began the islamic extremists improvised weapons such iron rods and wooden clubs 75 the commission as apparently never pondered the obvious question if they were hell bent on committing bloody murder well before the arrival of the israeli armed forces why didn t the islamists bring on board firearms and why did they wait until the last minute before producing makeshift weapons the un fact finding mission found no evidence that any of the passengers used firearms at any stage 76 but whereas the turkel report found no proof that the passengers brought along firearms it still concluded that members of the ihh activists used firearms against israeli forces 77 which the they presumably seized from commandos before wounding two of them the report stated that it consulted medical documents regarding the injuries to the soldiers 78 but it did not cite hospital records documenting the commandos alleged bullet wounds instead it cited a statement submitted by the idf and the oral testimony of the chief of staff 79 in the case of non bullet wounds incurred by the commandos the report did cite hospital records 80 since the report failed to cite hospital records attesting to the alleged bullet wounds it is doubtful they existed but even if they did they could just as easily have been inflicted by other israeli commandos the report itself acknowledged that the melee on board the mavi marmara especially during the initial stages on the roof was a situation of considerable confusion 81 in fact one of the commandos allegedly hit by a bullet initially thought his wound resulted from the israeli forces 82 the report enumerated three grounds for its conclusion that passengers used firearms physical evidence of gunshot wounds which didn t speak to the point of origin of the gunshots statements of numerous soldiers which were as credible as their rambo fantasies and the fact that ihh activists had access to captured idf weapons which proved nothing 83 still why would the report conclude on the basis of such flimsy evidence that passengers used itself firearms against the commandos the report provided the commandos resort to lethal force would have been justified the answer while it contended that even if the passengers did not shoot at them 84 the report went on to say that the use of firearms by ihh activists is an important factor because it significantly heightened the risk posed to the soldiers and their perception of that risk and establishing the level of threat that the israeli soldiers believed they were facing is a factor in the assessment response was proportionate 85 if the report wanted to definitively conclude that the commandos resort to lethal force was legally it had to find evidence that the passengers used firearms against them the predetermined exoneration dictated the evidentiary finding to whether justifiable their as the the turkel report quoted the harrowing accounts by the captured commandos of islamists murderous ambitions soldier no 1 testified that the terrorist group wanted to attack me and kill me soldier no 3 testified that they were crazed and very eager to kill us they tried to strangle me and soldier no 4 the hate in their eyes was just burning this attempt to strangle me was made several times 86 the report also highlighted that the cadre of islamic killers were very large and strong men approximately ages 20 40 very big and heavy 87 and that some of those activists also expressed their wish to be shaheeds 88 the obvious question was why didn t this mob of burly homicidal shaheeds manage to kill any of the captured commandos quoting the commandos the report s unfazed response was that the peaceniks on board older men and women who showed restraint non violent peace activists came to the commandos rescue the terrorist group wanted to attack me and kill me while the moderate group tried to protect me there were two groups there the one which tried to kill us and the ones who prevented the extreme group from killing us 89 in other words the crazed jihadists were stopped dead in their tracks by grannies for peace and the birkenstock brigade did the israeli commandos use lethal force only as a last resort the conduct of the israeli military and other personnel towards the flotilla passengers was not only disproportionate to the occasion the un fact finding mission concluded but demonstrated levels of totally unnecessary and incredible violence it betrayed an unacceptable level of brutality 90 the turkel report concluded that on the contrary the commandos exercised maximum restraint and used lethal force only as a last resort it stated that during israeli preparations for the interception special attention was paid to the value of human life and all of the persons involved evinced a high level of awareness of the need to carry out the operation without any injuries to the participants of the flotilla that either the rules of engagement or operational orders or both of them stipulated that if force had to be used it had to be exercised gradually and in proportion to the resistance met and only after examining alternatives to prevent deterioration of the situation the only case in which use of lethal weapons was permitted was in self defense to remove a real and imminent danger to life when the danger cannot be removed by less harmful means there should be no use of force at a person who has surrendered or has ceased to constitute a threat that the training and preparation of the soldiers leading up to the operation was very thorough with a particular emphasis on the use of less lethal weapons the default position was to use less lethal weapons until an opposing threat forced the use of the lethal options that it was stated at an operational briefing opening fire should only take place in a life threatening situation to neutralize the person presenting the danger but nonetheless where possible the benefit of doubt should be given that even after shooting could be heard on the mavi marmara the shayetet 13 commander refused to give approval for shooting in order to prevent deaths among the participants of the flotilla and that the idf soldiers made considerable use of graduated force that is firing at the legs and feet of a person during the operation with soldiers switching repeatedly between less lethal and lethal weapons even after passengers had allegedly used firearms against them 91 the israeli commandos were so solicitous of the passengers well being according to the report that following the bloody confrontation some idf wounded only received treatment after the treatment of wounded flotilla participants the commander of the takeover force testified that he risked danger to my people aboard the vessel in order to evacuate the wounded passengers from the vessel despite their lack of desire to be evacuated in order to save their lives 92 the report concluded that the idf personnel acted professionally in the face of extensive and unanticipated violence and did not overreact 93 the manner of death of the nine passengers aboard the mavi marmara appeared to belie the turkel report s rendition the un fact finding mission found that the circumstances of the killing of at least six of the passengers were in a manner consistent with an extra legal arbitrary and summary execution 94 the report itself recounted the findings of an external examination by israeli doctors according to which all of the dead passengers suffered multiple bullet wounds and five were shot in the neck or head for example quoting the israeli examination body no 2 contained bullet wounds on the right side of the head on the right side of the back of the neck on the right cheek underneath the chin on the right side of the back on the thigh a bullet was palpated on the left side of the chest while body no 9 contained bullet wounds in the area of the right temple back of the neck bullet wound in the left nipple bullet wound in the area of the scalp forehead on the left side bullet wound on the face nose bullet wound on the left torso bullet wound on the right side of the back two bullet wounds in the left thigh two bullet wounds as a result of the bullet passing through toes four and five on the left foot 95 the report did not attempt to square the gruesome facts of these passengers deaths with its sublime finding that the commandos exercised maximum restraint the closest it came was brief mention in another context and not referring specifically to the dead passengers that in some instances numerous rounds were fired either by one soldier or by more than one soldier to stop an ihh activist who was a threat to the lives of themselves or other soldiers 96 what s more the report was curiously uncurious about the passengers deaths which were blandly dispatched in just two of the report s nearly three hundred pages 97 the report cited the chilling testimony of israeli commandos on every scratch they incurred yet it expended not a single word on how it came to pass that despite taking every possible precaution and exercising every conceivable restraint the commandos ended up killing nine passengers shooting nearly all of the commission specific information on their deaths 99 or the commandos forgot forgot to mention the killings in their statements neither possibility speaks very highly to the report s credibility the report stated that the commission has examined each instance of the use of force reported by the idf soldiers in their testimonies but it didn t bother to mention whether any of these testimonies recounted the killings of the nine passengers 100 it also stated that the commission examined 133 incidents in which force was used which were described by over 40 soldiers and also includes a few incidents that were depicted on them multiple forgot forgot to times 98 perhaps request the available relevant magnetic media and that did not correspond to the soldiers testimonies 101 but it didn t bother to mention whether the magnetic media captured the killings of any of the passengers in addition whereas the un fact finding mission requested the turkish autopsy reports the turkel commission apparently did not 102 the bottom line was that although the killings of the nine passengers aboard the mavi marmara sparked an international outcry the report contained not a single syllable on how any of them died the nearest it came was a vague allusion buried in a footnote quoting a commando that he fired 2 3 rounds to the center of mass and below and one round to the head the soldier testified that after firing the last round the ihh personal sic fell and he ceased fire 103 the report was so intent on demonizing the dead passengers yet so unconcerned with how they came to die that it took no notice of an odd paradox lodged in its conclusions the shaheeds plotted and armed themselves to kill israelis but didn t manage to kill even those in their custody whereas the israelis took every precaution and exercised every restraint not to kill anyone but ended up killing nine people lest it be thought that israel was wholly unmoved by the passengers ordeal the report did duly record that a military court sentenced a corporal to five months in prison for stealing a laptop computer two camera lenses and a compass 104 in the preface to the report the members of the turkel commission including a former supreme court justice a impartial and transparent and former director general of the ministry of foreign affairs a former president of a distinguished scientific institute a respected professor of law and a foreign observer who won the nobel peace prize stated that we took upon ourselves jointly and as individuals the difficult and agonizing task of ascertaining the truth the us department of state praised the investigation that culminated in the report as credible and the document itself as independent 105 regrettably neither the factual information nor the legal analysis in the report cast light on what happened on the fateful night of 31 may 2010 the sole reflection stimulated by the report was how could any self respecting individual have signed off on such rubbish but beyond this sordid spectacle of moral degradation looms albeit inversely an inspiring testament to the majesty of austere truth oh what a tangled web we weave walter scott observed when first we practice to deceive if the turkel commission tied itself in a thousand mortifying knots that s because it set out not to find truth but to vindicate israel whatever the cost n i n e whitewash ii the un panel report in relent its demand israel s deadly assault on the mavi marmara refused to go away turkey wouldn t for accountability and as a state of some standing in the international community it appeared better poised than gaza to gain satisfaction the president of the un security council issued a statement on 1 june 2010 the day after the incident calling for a prompt impartial credible and transparent international standards 1 it was initially a standoff as israel opposed an international investigation no doubt because a truly independent inquiry would perforce reach the damning conclusions of the un human rights council fact finding mission 2 but ban ki moon ever attuned to the signals emanating from the white house came to israel s rescue he negotiated the creation of a panel of inquiry hereafter un panel with an eviscerated mandate it was tasked not investigation conforming to to conduct an impartial credible and transparent investigation but merely to review reports of national investigations into the incident 3 leaving nothing to fortune ban appointed singularly corrupt and criminal colombian ex president álvaro uribe who was also an outspoken proponent of closer military ties between colombia and israel as vice chair of the panel 4 a former prime minister of new zealand was designated the chair israel then reversed itself acquiescing in the secretary general s proposal as it proclaimed that it had nothing to hide 5 it was predictable and predicted at the time that the panel would produce a whitewash 6 still israeli opposition leader tzipi livni deplored the creation of a un panel because international in military operations carried out by israel is unacceptable israel is investigating the events of the flotilla itself and that is enough 7 indeed who could doubt that israel s killing of foreign nationals in international waters was an internal israeli affair the report of the secretary general s panel of inquiry on the 31 may 2010 flotilla incident was released in july 2011 basing itself on israel s turkel report8 and a reciprocal national report submitted by turkey the un panel set forth the facts circumstances and context of the incident and recommended ways of avoiding similar incidents in the future 9 although it did find that israel s killing of the nine passengers aboard the mavi marmara could not be justified the panel vindicated intervention israel s central contention that the naval blockade of gaza was legal if the people of gaza had not suffered enough the secretary general now lent the un s imprimatur to the prime instrument of their ongoing torture the report itself was probably the most mendacious and debased document ever issued under the un s aegis the un panel alleged that israel had a right to impose a naval blockade on gaza in order to defend itself against hamas rocket and mortar attacks the historical background sketched in by the panel was as skewed as that presented by israel s own inquiry 10 israel has faced and continues to face a real threat to its security from militant groups in gaza the panel observed rockets missiles and mortar bombs have been launched from gaza towards israel since 2001 such attacks have caused more than 25 deaths and hundreds of injuries 11 the panel devoted not a single syllable to israeli attacks on gaza since 2001 or during the same period israeli assaults killed some 4 500 gazans overwhelmingly civilians 12 according to the panel the purpose of these hamas acts of violence which have been the international community has been to do damage to the population of israel 13 but a study published in the journal of the national academy of sciences found that palestinian israel reveals a pattern of violence directed at retaliation 14 that palestinian violence might be reactive that s because by its reckoning the initial israeli assaults didn t happen only the panel couldn t conceive repeatedly condemned by if gazans fired rockets missiles the panel was apparently unaware that israel s attacks on gaza also have been repeatedly condemned by the international community the panel stated that it seems obvious enough that stopping these violent hamas acts was a necessary step for israel to take in order to protect its people and to defend itself 15 if the panel had noticed palestinian deaths it would perhaps also have been obvious enough that hamas had a right to impose a naval blockade on israel in order to protect its people and to defend itself amnesty international pointed out that it is illegal under international law to transfer weapons to a consistent violator of human rights and that accordingly an immediate comprehensive arms embargo should be imposed on both hamas and israel 16 if the panel ignored this obvious enough fact it s maybe because vice chair uribe in one of his periodic rants against human rights organizations denounced the blindness and fanaticism of amnesty 17 the un panel found that the israeli naval blockade of gaza constituted a legitimate security measure and its implementation complied with the requirements of law 18 but the panel also repeatedly international stressed that it was not asked to make determinations of the legal issues and was not asked to determine the legality or otherwise of the events 19 if it nonetheless made such a legal determination it could only have been to gratuitously validate israel s throttling of gaza the panel stated that it will not add value for the united nations by arguing endlessly about the applicable law 20 yet it devoted the vast preponderance of its report including a 25 page appendix to a legal analysis of the blockade that vindicated israel the panel s exoneration of israel was the sole legal verdict it delivered in the report it found that israel s land blockade of gaza and its killing of nine passengers aboard the mavi marmara were both unacceptable but it did not determine that these constituted illegal let alone criminal acts 21 the panel stated that it couldn t render definitive findings of fact or law because it couldn t compel witnesses to provide evidence and couldn t conduct criminal investigations however it went on to state that it can give its view 22 but if it could give its view of the legality of the naval blockade absent these judicial powers it could surely also have rendered an opinion on the legality of the land blockade and the killings of the nine passengers in other words the one and only potentially consequential verdict the panel reached was favorable to israel whereas its unfavorable judgments of israel amounted to little more than rhetorical slaps on the wrist in contrast amnesty deemed the israeli blockade a flagrant violation of international law 23 while the un human rights council s fact finding mission on the flotilla assault found that the circumstances of the killing of at least six of the passengers were in a manner consistent with an extra legal arbitrary and summary execution 24 the panel also undid the law when it suited israel s purposes thus it referred to the uncertain legal status of gaza under international law although the legal consensus was that even after israel s 2005 occupied territory 25 disengagement gaza remained the argument contrived by the un panel to justify the israeli naval blockade comprised a sequence of interrelated propositions 1 the israeli naval blockade of gaza was unrelated to the israeli land blockade 2 israel confronted a novel security threat from gaza s coastal waters when it imposed the naval blockade 3 israel imposed the naval blockade in response to this security threat 4 the naval blockade was the only means israel had at its disposal to meet this security threat and 5 the israeli naval blockade achieved its security objective without causing disproportionate harm to gaza s civilian population to pronounce the naval blockade legal the panel had to sustain each and every one of these propositions if even one were false its defense of the blockade collapsed the astonishing thing was they were all false each proposition will be addressed in turn spurious proposition no 1 the israeli naval blockade of gaza was unrelated to the israeli land blockade the dual objective of israel s blockade was to prevent weapons from reaching gaza and to destabilize the hamas regime by blocking passage of vital civilian goods the land and naval prongs of the blockade constituted in conception as well as execution complementary halves of israel s strategy while the efficacy of each prong depended on the efficacy of the other but the critical premise of the un panel was that the israeli naval blockade was distinct from the land blockade it posited that whereas the land blockade subserved the dual objective the naval blockade was a mere security measure and therefore legal the panel contrived this bifurcation it had no basis in reality indeed the israeli government itself denied such a distinction the panel invented it in order to avoid passing legal judgment on israel s collective punishment of gaza s civilian population it set as its mandate to assess only the legality of the allegedly separate and distinct naval blockade but the panel simultaneously upheld israel s right to inflict such collective punishment by purporting that israel was acting in self defense against arms smuggling when it blocked the flotillas since the inception of its occupation in 1967 israel had regulated passage of goods and persons along gaza s land and coastal borders after hamas consolidated its control of gaza in 2007 israel imposed a yet more stringent blockade on it 26 the motive behind the blockade was twofold a security objective of preventing weapons from reaching gaza and a political objective of bringing gaza s economy to the brink of collapse as israeli officials repeatedly put it in private in order to punish gazans for electing hamas and to turn them against it the list of items israel barred from entering gaza such as chocolate chips and chicks pointed up the irreducibly political aspect of the blockade 27 the un panel citing israel s turkel report did acknowledge that the israeli blockade was designed to weaken the economy of gaza but it then immediately qualified in order to undermine hamas s ability to attack israel 28 one could only shiver at the potency of hamas s military arsenal if israel had allowed bonbons to enter gaza in fact although israel s turkel report vindicated israel on all key points regarding the flotilla assault even albeit circumspectly the dual objective of the naval blockade consider the testimony it cited by tzipi livni who was foreign minister when the naval blockade was imposed and the document it cited by major general res amos gilad head of the political military and policy affairs bureau at the ministry of defense which delineated the purposes of the blockade to concede it had tzipi livni said that the imposition of the naval blockade was done in a wider context as part of israel s comprehensive strategy which she referred to as a dual strategy of delegitimizing hamas on the one hand and strengthening the status of the palestinian authority vis à vis the gaza strip on the other according to her approach the attempts to transfer humanitarian goods to the gaza strip by sea give legitimacy to the hamas regime in the gaza strip livni also stated that it would be a mistake to examine the circumstances of imposing the naval blockade from a narrow security perspective only the document by gilad contains two considerations behind the blockade one is to prevent any military strengthening of the hamas the other is to isolate and weaken hamas in this context major general res gilad stated that the significance of opening a maritime route to the gaza strip was that the hamas s status would be strengthened significantly from economic and political viewpoints he further stated that opening a maritime route to the gaza strip particularly while it is under hamas control would be tantamount of sic a very significant achievement for hamas major general res gilad concluded in summary the need to impose a naval blockade on the gaza strip arises from security and military considerations and also to prevent any legitimization and economic and political strengthening of hamas and strengthening it in the internal palestinian arena vis à vis the palestinian authority in the west bank it would therefore appear the turkel report concluded that even though the purpose of the naval blockade was fundamentally a security one in response to military needs its imposition was also regarded by the decision makers as legitimate within the concept of israel s comprehensive dual strategy against the hamas in the gaza strip 29 the turkel report also did not dispute that the naval blockade was integral to the global strategy of achieving the twin objectives on the contrary it was emphatic that the land and sea blockade must be treated as a seamless whole both the naval blockade and the land crossings policy were imposed and implemented because of the prolonged international armed conflict between israel and the hamas o n the strategic level the naval blockade is regarded by the government as part of israel s wider effort not to give legitimacy to the hamas s rule over the gaza strip to isolate it in the international arena and to strengthen the palestinian authority the turkel report further pointed out that the naval blockade is also connected to the land crossings policy on a tactical level whenever cargo aboard vessels headed for gaza was rerouted through the land crossings it was subject to the land restrictions barring passage of critical goods such as iron and cement it continued in other words as long as the land crossings are subject to israeli control there is prima facie a possibility that the opening of an additional route to the gaza strip such as a maritime route that is not controlled by the state of israel will affect the humanitarian situation in the gaza strip 30 put simply if the flotillas pried open a sea route to gaza essential civilian goods currently blocked by israel at the land crossings could reach it therefore the turkel report concluded it is possible that the enforcement of the naval blockade in addition to the implementation of the land crossings policy has a humanitarian impact on the population at least in principle the approach of the israeli government created a connection regarding the humanitarian effect on the gaza strip between the naval blockade and the land crossings policy 31 the long and short of it was that even the turkel report which israel submitted to the panel and to which the panel otherwise reflexively deferred depicted the naval blockade as no less critical than the land blockade to achieving israel s political objective of bringing gaza s economy to the brink of collapse 32 if the turkel report held that the land and naval blockades both in principle and as a tactical practical matter constituted a single unified whole it could defend the propriety of the israeli naval blockade only by simultaneously defending the propriety of the land blockade and treating each in conjunction 33 with the other to separate them out to pretend that the naval blockade differed in kind from the land blockade would have been an exercise in casuistry given the turkel commission s approach that regarded the naval blockade and the land restrictions as inter linked a pair of israeli scholars observed it could only justify the former by defending the legality of the latter 34 in the event the turkel report found if only by tortuous reasoning and factual elision that the unified land naval blockade passed legal muster 35 the un panel was consequently confronted with a dilemma if it retraced the turkel report s line of argument it would have to pass judgment on israel s blockade policy as a whole but if it passed such a comprehensive judgment the panel could vindicate israel only by blatantly contradicting near unanimous legal opinion which declared the israeli blockade of gaza a form of collective punishment in flagrant violation of international law 36 to meet the challenge of upholding the legality of the siege while not offending international to the panel s final report opinion the panel resolved on an altogether singular strategy it artificially pried the land blockade from the naval blockade relegated the land blockade to a secondary and side issue and proceeded to home in on the naval blockade as if it were a thing apart 37 it cannot be overstressed just how radical a surgical procedure the panel performed for all its apologetics not even the turkel report conceived such a divorce in his dissenting letter appended the turkish representative justly took the panel to task because it fully associated itself with israel s legal analysis justifying the blockade whereas the turkish report s assessment that the blockade was illegal found support among the vast majority of the international community 38 he missed however the most telling point in order to vindicate israel the panel ventured on a bizarre legal terrain that was alien even to israel s own turkel report once embarked on this path the panel did not even recoil at flagrant distortion it stated international organizations and institutions including the un high commissioner for human rights and the icrc international committee of the red cross have declared that the land restrictions constitute collective punishments 39 however these organizations declared not just the land restrictions but the whole of israel s border policy the land and naval blockade illegal it was the panel that cooked up the idea that the naval blockade existed apart from and independent of the land restrictions indeed the turkel report itself that several that human various acknowledged and humanitarian organizations conclude that the collapse of the economy of the gaza strip derives from the naval blockade imposed by israel and its land crossings policy 40 if the gazan economy was imploding it was not due just to land restrictions rights treatment and analysis the un panel purported that the israeli land blockade and naval blockade constituted two distinct concepts which require different it therefore treat ed the naval blockade as separate and distinct from the controls at the land crossings which are not directly related to the naval blockade 41 in order to sustain this anomalous contention the panel pointed to the facts that chronologically imposition of the land blockade in 2007 preceded imposition of the naval blockade in 2009 that the intensity of the land blockade fluctuated over time whereas the naval blockade has not been altered since its imposition and that the naval blockade was imposed primarily to enable israel to exert control over ships attempting to reach gaza with weapons and related goods 42 this series of affirmations confused and conflated the strategic objectives of the israeli blockade with the tactical modalities of its enforcement although israel periodically adjusted to accommodate new political contingencies the dual security political objective stayed constant the premise effectively underpinning the panel s legal analysis that as against the security and political functions of the land siege policies its testimony israel s own just contradict blockade the purpose of the coastal blockade was exclusively to prevent weapons from reaching gaza did not it also overstepped the panel s terms of reference the panel was mandated only to review the israeli and turkish national reports but neither of these reports disputed the dual objective of the unified land naval blockade neither alleged that the naval blockade differed in kind from the land blockade neither alleged that the naval blockade was designed only to interdict weapons the panel conjured a distinction to resolve a nonexistent controversy the bottom line was that the panel sought to sidestep the legality of laying economic siege to a civilian population to avoid rendering judgment on whether israel was legally within its right to block the passage of essential civilian goods as well as chocolate chips and chicks if the panel upheld the legality of such a siege it risked provoking an outcry from the human rights community but if it declared the blockade illegal it infringed on israel s inalienable right to torment gaza that it couldn t do it extricated itself from this impasse by artificially splitting the land from the naval blockade and focusing exclusively on the naval blockade while pretending that the naval blockade did not interdict civilian goods only weapons to be sure a legal assessment of respectively the land and naval blockades did require a differentiated analysis because the relevant bodies of law do not fully overlap 43 but until the panel came along it was never suggested not even by israel s turkel report that the broad purposes of the naval blockade fundamentally differed from those of the land blockade only the panel dared to purport that the naval blockade had no political dimension that it didn t crucially figure in israel s strategy of destabilizing hamas by punishing gaza s civilian population the ultimate irony was that sensu stricto the naval blockade did serve only one of the two purposes but it was not the military one its purpose was narrowly political the panel was thus doubly wrong the naval blockade was not distinct from the land blockade and the purpose of the naval blockade was not primarily security spurious proposition no 2 israel confronted a novel security threat from gaza s coastal waters when it imposed the naval blockade the fundamental principle of the freedom of navigation on the high seas the un panel observed is subject to only certain limited exceptions under international law 44 a state attempting to restrict this freedom accordingly bears a heavy legal burden of justification it follows from these tenets that the greater the impediment a state places on freedom of navigation the greater the legal onus it must bear if a fundamental freedom is at stake then infringements on it must be graduated an extreme restriction would not be justified if a lesser restriction would intercept the perceived threat in the instant case if the visit and search of a vessel where reasonable grounds existed for suspicion was an effective means of preventing contraband45 from reaching gaza then it couldn t be justified to impose the more stringent measure of a naval blockade that indiscriminately barred passage of all goods military and nonmilitary and consequently inflicted harm on the civilian population 46 for argument s sake it will be set aside that not just the blockade but also israel s visit and search procedure was illegal 47 the un panel purported that israel confronted a novel security threat from gaza s coastal waters that could be met only by a naval blockade however the evidence it adduced in support of this contention underwhelmed it cited on the basis of the turkel report three alleged instances of attempted weapons smuggling into gaza from the sea the last of which in 2003 had occurred six years before israel s imposition of the naval blockade 48 it further alleged citing the turkel report that after its 2005 gaza disengagement israel had to establish a new legal basis if it still sought to prevent weapons from reaching gaza even if this were true it still wouldn t explain why the visit and search procedure proved effective from 2005 until mid 2008 when according to the panel echoing the turkel report implementation abruptly posed practical difficulties 49 it was not as if nor did the turkel report allege that israel was suddenly overwhelmed by a large number of weapons smuggling operations such that visit and search had become too cumbersome a procedure the panel citing the turkel report also alleged that only a naval blockade provided a legal basis for preventing hamas its from smuggling weapons out of gaza to launch attacks on israel from the sea 50 however the panel cited no instances none apparently existed of hamas attempting such a maneuver it did cite israeli concerns that hamas might attempt such a maneuver in the unbounded future but insofar as it had not been attempted in the past and insofar as israel apparently did not harbor any such fear before 2009 otherwise it would have imposed the naval blockade earlier and insofar as israel cited no evidentiary basis for its claim that such a maneuver might be attempted by hamas at some point in the nebulous future insofar then as israel did not materially ground this alleged fear it was a palpably flimsy justification for so restrictive a curb on freedom of navigation the upshot was that the panel adduced zero evidence that israel confronted a novel security threat from gaza s coastal waters when it escalated its infringement on the freedom of navigation principle by imposing an indiscriminate naval blockade spurious proposition no 3 israel imposed the naval blockade in response to this security threat the un panel alleged on the basis of the turkel report that israel imposed the naval blockade in order to prevent weapons terrorists and money from entering or exiting the gaza strip by sea 51 but although israel formally gestured to this threat the panel did not present a persuasive case for crediting this official israeli testimony in its legal analysis of the naval blockade the panel s point of departure was if israel says so it must be true the israeli report to the panel makes it clear that the naval blockade was adopted for the purpose of defending its territory and population and the panel accepts that was the case i t is evident that israel had a military objective the stated primary objective of the naval blockade was for security it was to prevent weapons ammunition military supplies and people from entering gaza and to stop hamas operatives sailing away from gaza with vessels filled with explosives 52 still the perplexity remains if it wasn t to prevent weapons smuggling why did israel impose the naval blockade in fact the explanation was right there in the turkel report beginning in mid 2008 the turkel report observed various flotillas whose stated destination was the gaza strip were organized in view of the fact that the ships concerned were neutral the idf israel defense forces had relatively limited options which mainly included the power of visit and search a power that can be used inter alia on condition that there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that a ship is subject to capture that is that it was carrying contraband the quandary confronting israel however was that the flotillas did not carry weapons hence it lacked a legal basis for blocking their passage into gaza initially israel let a succession of vessels pass without even bothering to search them in the hope that the flotilla phenomenon would peter out between august and december 2008 israel let six vessels pass into gaza 53 when the ships kept coming israel responded with escalating violence but still they kept coming it was in these circumstances on january 3 2009 the turkel report continued that the minister of defense ordered a naval blockade the significance of imposing a naval blockade according to the rules of international law is that it allows a party to an armed conflict to prevent entry into the prohibited area of any vessel that attempts to breach the blockade even without it being established that the vessel is assisting terrorist activity 54 in testimony quoted by the turkel report which the panel once again prudently overlooked israel s military advocate general stated that the naval blockade was the humanitarian flotillas from reaching gaza imposed specifically to prevent in order the military advocate general testified before the commission that the idf was compelled to find a suitable operational solution for the maritime zone in view of the increase in the phenomenon of flotillas a naval blockade was regarded as the best operational method of dealing with the phenomenon because other solutions such as the use of the right of visit and search were proved to be problematic and other sources of authority were regarded as weaker t he military advocate general apprised the chief of staff that he had spoken with the attorney general who also expressed the position that the declaration of a naval blockade on the gaza strip gave the optimal legal operational solution to preventing the entry of foreign shipping vessels into the gaza strip and gave the navy all of the tools and powers required to prevent the passage of shipping vessels the sources of authority that allow action to be taken against shipping vessels in the absence of a declaration of a naval blockade are weaker and their practicability is doubtful on december 30 2008 the military advocate general once again contacted the chief of staff and said that in the early hours of the morning the navy forces were required to contend with the yacht dignity one of the earlier humanitarian ships that left cyprus for the gaza strip and that the incident highlighted the legal difficulty of dealing with foreign civilian shipping vessels trying to reach the coast of the gaza strip he once again asked the chief of staff to bring his recommendation of a naval blockade before the political echelon on january 3 2009 after the security establishment s legal advisor gave his opinion on the subject the minister of defense signed an order to impose the blockade 55 posed versus military naval that it was evidently not the type of vessel civilian a commercial complication for israel it already possessed the legal authority under visit and search to stop a civilian vessel and prevent passage of weapons and the procedure had proven practicable indeed israel neither bothered to search humanitarian vessels headed for gaza it was presumably privy to the fact that they weren t stashing weapons nor did it suddenly have to cope with a rash of arms smuggling further if weapons were to be smuggled in they almost certainly would be secreted in a civilian commercial vessel the advent of the flotillas then did not alter the legal situation before as well as after israel s principal legal preoccupation officially must have been civilian ships the actual challenge facing israel was that it lacked legal authority to bar humanitarian cargo unless it imposed a naval blockade in the panel s disingenuously opaque language the blockade was imposed not because of weapons smuggling but in reaction to certain incidents when vessels had reached gaza via sea 56 the certain incidents gestured to the determination of the flotilla passengers come what may to deliver essential humanitarian goods to gaza s besieged population what israel dreaded was not arms transfers but the political defeat it would suffer if a maritime route were opened allowing humanitarian vessels to reach gaza and that in the course of opening such a route these flotillas would spotlight israel s illegal immoral and inhuman siege the irony was that the panel falsely separated out the land from the naval blockade in order to justify the naval blockade on security grounds whereas even senior israeli officials conceded that the naval blockade was imposed to meet not a security threat but the increase in the phenomenon of flotillas the entry of foreign civilian vessels indeed it was because israel did not confront a security threat that it replaced visit and search with a naval blockade if it had stuck to the former procedure it could legally seize only contraband but would otherwise have to let vessels pass 57 while if it imposed a naval blockade it could legally interdict strictly humanitarian vessels from reaching gaza but it might be argued if a succession of humanitarian flotillas opened a maritime route to gaza wouldn t it eventually create a security threat to israel as vessels smuggling weapons could pass even if such a contingency were real however it still remained that the blockade was not imposed because of an actual security threat to israel it would be difficult to justify so restrictive a curb on the fundamental right to freedom of navigation on the basis of a threat that might but also might not materialize in a nebulous future the imposition of a draconian blockade on the basis of a speculative future contingency would be yet more difficult to justify in the face of the humanitarian harm it entailed in the here and now spurious proposition no 4 the naval blockade was the only means israel had at its disposal to meet this security threat the purpose of the naval blockade was not to meet a security threat but to preempt the political fallout if the siege of hamas controlled gaza were breached even if for argument s sake the claim were credited that as a practical matter and setting aside the law no country at war would permit a convoy of ships even a declared humanitarian convoy that had been vetted beforehand to pass freely into enemy territory under its control israel still had at its disposal another option the un panel itself alluded to it if only in passing and in another context at a briefing immediately after the 31 may 2010 incident the panel reported a senior united nations official noted that the loss of life could have been avoided if israel had responded to repeated calls to end its closure of gaza 58 if israel wanted to put a stop to the humanitarian convoys headed for gaza then obviously all it needed to do was to lift the illegal economic blockade that was causing the humanitarian crisis in the first place and yet so averse was the panel to dropping the charade that the naval blockade was designed to interdict weapons and thus exposing israel to the charge of collective punishment that it completely ignored this option in its analysis of the blockade s legality its security objective without spurious proposition no 5 the israeli naval blockade achieved causing disproportionate harm to gaza s civilian population whereas the turkel report defended the legality of the siege as a whole the un panel endeavored to preempt the scandal of such a broad legal writ by redefining the naval siege as a thing apart the legality of which rose and fell on its own merits thus according to the panel even if the land blockade was designed to prevent humanitarian goods from reaching gaza it did not necessarily make the naval blockade illegal the panel s audacious surgical procedure did not however salvage israel s case in fact it rendered israel s case yet more untenable the panel contended that in the absence of significant port facilities in gaza the harm caused by the naval blockade to gaza s civilian population was not disproportionate to the military gain 59 but if as the evidence unambiguously showed the israeli naval blockade did not serve the purpose of self defense against an armed attack but was imposed to achieve a political objective then the proportionality test was wholly irrelevant as the panel itself observed the imposition of a blockade must have a lawful military objective 60 put otherwise even if the humanitarian value of the maritime point of entry were minimal cause proportionally greater harm because its military value was the naval blockade would consequently slight and still nil it was not put in place to deter weapons smuggling or achieve any other legitimate military objective while the visit and search procedure which did not hinder the passage of humanitarian goods could have neutralized the speculative threat of such smuggling in addition even if the naval blockade did subserve an actual military objective it would still have been hasty to conclude that it did not cause disproportionate damage the turkel report itself cautioned against being too dismissive of gaza s potential for maritime traffic not least because it undercut israel s rationale for imposing a blockade if goods could just barely enter gaza by sea then weapons too could just barely enter but in that case a naval blockade would be redundant and any justification for it unsustainable the absence of a commercial port is not a decisive factor since it is clear that it is possible to find other ways of transporting goods arriving by sea such as by means of unloading the goods with the help of fishing boats moreover the assumption that goods cannot be transported into the gaza strip in the absence of a commercial port inherently contradicts the main purpose of the blockade i e preventing the passage of weapons to the gaza strip since according to the same logic it would not be at all possible to transport weapons to the gaza strip by sea 61 the furthest the turkel report would venture was that in the absence of information and records it is difficult to determine the effect of the naval blockade alone on the humanitarian situation in the gaza strip 62 it cannot but the likelihood of perplex how the panel ascertained that the potential harm of the naval blockade was slight when even the egregiously apologetic turkel report pleaded agnosticism in fact if a humanitarian crisis existed in gaza and if the maritime passageway was the last and only remaining point of entry to gaza s besieged population then the collateral damage of the naval blockade would have to be reckoned severe while israel passing a proportionality test would be drastically reduced the panel rejected this calculation of proportionality as it downplayed the humanitarian potential of a maritime passageway to gaza smuggling weapons by sea is one thing delivering bulky food and other goods to supply a population of approximately 1 5 million people is another 63 but the reverse could just as easily be said smuggling bulky weapons by sea is one thing delivering desperately needed medicines and other basic portable goods to supply a population 64 the upshot was that if the panel s proportionality test vindicated israel that s because it was based on false premises while the blockade almost certainly couldn t have passed a proportionality test anchored squarely in the factual situation lest it be forgotten the panel s spurious proportionality test did not just vindicate israel it also condemned gaza s civilian population to a stringent blockade not only from land but also from sea as it suffered a humanitarian crisis to be sure however large a breach in the naval blockade it could not have solved gaza s humanitarian disaster the overarching objective of the flotillas was in fact not to deliver humanitarian cargo but rather to shine a bright light on the illegality and inhumanity of the blockade the panel found this last objective if not legally then still morally culpable the un panel presented a sequence of interrelated propositions to legally justify israel s naval blockade of gaza if any of these propositions proved to be false the panel could not have sustained its defense of the siege it turns out that each and every one of the propositions proves on close inspection to be spurious the israeli naval blockade was related to the israeli land blockade israel did not confront a novel security threat from gaza s coastal waters when it imposed the naval blockade israel did not impose the naval blockade in response to a security threat the naval blockade was not the only means israel had at its disposal to meet the alleged security threat and the israeli naval blockade could achieve its alleged security objective only by causing disproportionate harm to gaza s civilian population 65 it would be hard to exaggerate the sheer mendacity of the multiplex rationale contrived by the panel to justify the naval blockade but the panel did not just shamelessly immoral and inhuman siege it also denounced the dangerous and reckless act of the flotilla passengers as they attempted to breach this blockade 66 it went on to exhort states to actively intervene so as to prevent these irresponsible legitimize israel s illegal lawfully to breach a undertakings in the future it is important that such events are not repeated it is important that states make every effort to avoid a repetition of the incident it is in the interests of the international community to actively discourage attempts imposed blockade 67 the fate and future of the people of gaza the panel suggested would be better served by and should be the exclusive preserve of states not ordinary citizens consider however what transpired when the international community of states did control gaza s fate and future in 2007 israel imposed a blockade on gaza that as a form of collective punishment constituted a flagrant violation of international law the international community did not lift a finger journeying to gaza around this time former high commissioner for human rights mary robinson declared that gaza s whole civilization has been destroyed i m not exaggerating the international community still did not lift a finger in 2008 israel tightened the blockade bringing gaza s infrastructure in the words of an israeli human rights organization to the brink of collapse the international community still did not lift a finger the breakdown of an entire society is happening in front of us harvard political economist sara roy publicly anguished but there is little international response beyond un warnings which are ignored in late 2008 israel invaded gaza and in the course of what amnesty called 22 days of death and destruction massacred the civilian population and laid waste the civilian infrastructure 68 in early 2009 in at israel persisted in gaza and called treatment 69 but the un security council finally reacted to global outrage at israel s crimes by passing a resolution 1860 that expressed grave concern the deepening humanitarian crisis for the unimpeded provision and distribution throughout gaza of including of food fuel and humanitarian assistance medical its strangulating blockade and the international community still did not lift a finger it was only after the martyrdom of the mavi marmara passengers as the panel itself effectively conceded 70 that the world s leaders suddenly experienced the epiphany that the israeli blockade was unsustainable 71 and some albeit grossly insufficient relief was granted to gaza s desperate civilian population but if the panel had its way and the freedom flotilla had not committed a dangerous and reckless act that infringed on the prerogatives of states israel would have been left undisturbed and the people of gaza left to languish and expire the achievements of the flotilla may have ultimately proved marginal 72 but in the kingdom of justice it could hardly be faulted the passengers put their lives at risk and several were martyred so that the people of gaza could breathe what did the community of states do except saturate the atmosphere with continuous emissions of hot air whereas the un panel did deem the deaths caused by israeli the mavi marmara unacceptable it strove hard to balance this criticism by commandos aboard also casting doubt on the passengers motive the turkel report had alleged that the organizers of the mavi marmara were jihadis hell bent on killing israelis it had some difficulty sustaining this charge however as the most lethal weapons smuggled on board by these alleged jihadis according to the turkel report itself were slingshots and glass marbles while it was hard to explain why these young burly fanatical men did not manage to kill anyone not even the three commandos who were being held captive by them 73 just as the panel adopted a novel strategy to prove the legality of the blockade so it also conjured a creative proof to vindicate the turkel report s traducing of these alleged jihadis the panel gravely observed that it seriously questions the true nature and objectives of the flotilla organizers why because it discovered to deliver humanitarian relief but also to generate publicity about the situation in gaza to clinch its indictment the panel reproduced with a great flourish this document prepared by the organizers intended not only they that purpose purposes of this journey are to create an awareness amongst world public and international organizations on the inhumane and unjust embargo on palestine and to contribute to end this embargo which clearly violates human rights and delivering humanitarian relief to the palestinians 74 if this statement of intent weren t incriminating enough the panel laid out yet more evidence of the sinister and nefarious plot the number of journalists embarked on the ships gives further power to the conclusion that the flotilla s primary purpose was to generate publicity 75 it must be a first and surely marks a nadir in the annals of the united nations that a report bearing its imprimatur vilified the victims of a murderous assault because they sought to cast light on an ongoing crime against humanity 76 pa rt f o u r operation protective edge f i g u r e 4 o reilly gaza august 2014 reuters finbarr t e n stalled juggernaut on 14 november 2012 israel launched operation pillar of defense it lasted only eight days and inflicted much less death and destruction than operation cast lead 2008 9 or operation protective edge 2014 its modus operandi and outcome pointed up constraints on israel s freedom to launch deadly military operations the official israeli account followed a familiar story line it only reacted after stoically absorbing hundreds of hamas rockets israel does not want war defense minister ehud barak declaimed but hamas s incessant rounds of artillery rockets and mortars forced our hand into acting 1 the facts however suggested otherwise from 1 january until 11 november 2012 one israeli had been killed as a result of attacks from gaza whereas 78 gazans had been killed by israeli strikes 2 if israel s objective was to restore calm on its southern border why did it trigger the new round of violence by assassinating hamas military chief ahmed jabari who was israel s principal interlocutor in gaza or timing of as haaretz s security analyst put it the subcontractor in charge of maintaining israel s security in gaza 3 the precise the assassination was yet more incriminating jabari was in the process of advancing a permanent cease fire agreement when israel liquidated him 4 although it was alleged that hamas had been itching for a fight when israel launched pillar of defense in fact the islamic government had mostly avoided armed confrontations with israel it did however recoil at becoming a clone of the palestinian authority pa by engaging in security cooperation with israel hence it could turn a blind eye or joined in if only to prevent an escalation when israeli provocations triggered retaliatory strikes by hamas s militarized rivals 5 the rationale behind hamas s pursuit of a long term cease fire was straightforward it had been on a roll prior to the outbreak of hostilities its ideological bedfellow the muslim brotherhood had won egypt s first democratic election in june 2012 the emir of qatar had journeyed to gaza in october 2012 carrying the promise of 400 million in aid while turkish prime minister recep tayyip erdoğan was scheduled to arrive soon 6 in the meantime gaza had witnessed an enormous building boom it boasted a stunning 23 percent gdp growth rate in 2011 alone unemployment fell rapidly and saudi arabia had promised to double its investment in gaza 7 on still another front gaza s islamic university had pulled off a diplomatic coup of its own in october 2012 as it convened an academic conference attended by renowned linguist noam chomsky 8 hamas s star was slowly but surely on the rise at the expense of the hapless pa the very last thing it needed was an armed confrontation with israel that undercut these hard won steadily accreting gains a clutch of skeptical israeli pundits speculated that prime minister benjamin netanyahu launched pillar of defense to boost his prospects in the upcoming election 9 as a general rule however israeli leaders have not undertaken major military operations or jeopardized critical state interests for the sake of partisan electoral gain 10 it was also purported that israel s governing coalition felt compelled to appease popular indignation at the hamas projectiles but they had barely registered on israel s political radar public opinion was focused on the islamic republic of iran and sundry domestic issues why then did israel attack it wanted to restore at one level israel was transparent in its motive it kept repeating that its deterrence capacity the puzzle was the nature of the threat it hoped to quash or exactly what it sought to deter israel s decision to launch pillar of defense emerged out of a succession of foreign policy setbacks netanyahu had endeavored to rally the international community around an attack on iran he ended up looking the fool however as he held up to the un general assembly in september 2012 a cartoonish depiction of the iranian bomb 11 a couple of weeks later hezbollah boasted that a drone launched by it had penetrated israeli airspace and passed over like a terrorist organization and sensitive sites 12 meanwhile its terrorist twin upstart in gaza was entrenching its own credibility as regional powers thumbed their collective nose at israel on its doorstep the ultimate outrage was that hamas refused to carry on instead acquitted itself as a responsible legitimate sovereign power a long term cease fire would only enhance its bona fides it was time to remind the natives who was in charge put otherwise and in israel s preferred metaphor it was time to mow the lawn again in gaza at the heart of operation pillar of defense the crisis group shrewdly observed lay an effort to demonstrate that hamas s newfound confidence was altogether premature and that the islamist awakening notwithstanding changes in the middle east would not change much at all 13 still israel needed an alibi to justify yet another murderous gaza invasion when israel needed a pretext to launch cast lead it broke the cease fire by killing six militants in order to provoke a retaliatory attack by hamas 14 four years later it killed the cease fire maker to provoke hamas the actual operation however differed in kind from its less precursor pillar of defense was qualitatively destructive than cast lead the pundit class postulated that israel had mastered the art of avoiding civilian casualties the idf used precision weaponry during the operation while the lessons of cast lead the goldstone report had been learned and internalized 15 but 99 percent of its air strikes during cast lead had hit targets accurately while israel s manifest objective had been to punish humiliate and terrorize gaza s civilian population goldstone report 16 if cast lead had proved so murderous it was not due to errors in planning or execution and if pillar of defense proved less lethal it was not because israel was careful to avoid such errors indeed when the constellation of political forces realigned in israel s favor in 2014 as it unleashed protective edge the idf reflexively discarded all the lessons it had supposedly learned 17 israel s decision to ratchet down its violent force in 2012 traced back to the unique political matrix in which pillar of defense unfolded first turkey and egypt had made abundantly clear that they would not sit idly by if israel launched a repeat performance of cast lead and they explicitly drew a red line at an israeli ground assault 18 in an unprecedented display of solidarity the egyptian prime minister and turkish foreign minister journeyed to gaza amid the israeli assault cairo also recalled its ambassador to israel put on notice by these regional power brokers the white house counseled israel not to invade second the prospect of a mega goldstone 19 hung over israel after cast lead israeli officials had legal accountability but if it committed yet another massacre and if cairo where hamas s progenitor currently held power and ankara still smarting from the mavi marmara attack20 pressed gaza s case in the international arena israel might not again be so fortunate third gaza was just barely managed to elude swarming with foreign journalists israel had sealed gaza off from the outside world in collaboration with hosni mubarak s egypt before cast lead in the initial phase of that operation israel had enjoyed a near total monopoly on media coverage but this time around journalists could freely enter gaza via egypt israel didn t bother to block entry from its side and credibly report israeli atrocities in real time on account of this trio of factors israel mostly targeted legitimate sites during pillar of defense at the same time the death and destruction inflicted by israel although on a diminished scale received in depth graphic news coverage when israel tested the limits of the laws of war trouble loomed after it flattened civilian governmental structures in gaza the headline on the new york times website read israel targets civilian buildings a few hours later it metamorphosed into government buildings presumably after a complaint filed by israel s minions but the writing was on the wall israeli conduct was being scrutinized abroad so it had better tread carefully true some 100 gazan civilians were killed including 35 children and israel did in fact commit multiple war crimes 126 homes were completely destroyed 21 but in the court of public opinion they could plausibly be chalked up to collateral damage the precipitous escalation of attacks on civilians coincided with the start of diplomatic negotiations 22 as the hostilities wound to a close israel reverted to its standard operating procedure of targeting or indiscriminately firing on civilians in order to extract the best possible terms in a final agreement four times as many gazan civilians were killed in the last four days as in the first four days of the assault israel also targeted journalists in the last four days to block transmission of these terror attacks and preemptively in the event talks broke down and the idf had after all to embark on a murderous ground invasion 23 hamas too stood accused of committing war crimes such as launching hundreds of rockets toward population centers in israel four israeli civilians were killed in addition human rights watch reported damage to civilian israeli property for example a rocket tore the roof off a school 24 israel celebrated the armed resistance hamas put up during the eight day israeli assault was largely nominal the lopsidedness of the war was suggested by defense minister barak as he boasted that hamas only succeeded in hitting israeli targets with a single ton of explosives while targets in gaza were hit with a thousand tons 25 on the other hand although its deployment of iron dome 26 the antimissile defense system did not save countless israeli lives and perhaps did not save any lives 27 compare civilian casualties before and after israel s antimissile defense system became operative see table 3 the bottom line was iron dome effectively made no difference it was unlikely that in the main and allowing for the occasional aberration hamas used more sophisticated projectiles during pillar of defense through its army of state of the art aerial informers and surveillance israel would have been privy to any large quantities of technically sophisticated hamas weapons and would have destroyed these stashes before or at the start of the attack israel announced on the first day of the operation that the idf seriously damaged hamas long range missile capabilities 40 km 25 mi range and underground weapons storage facilities and on the third day that the idf has destroyed a significant portion of the hamas fajr 5 arsenal many of them in underground launch sites 28 it was also improbable that netanyahu would have risked an attack just on the eve of an election if hamas possessed weapons capable of inflicting heavy casualties a handful of hamas projectiles did reach deeper inside israel than previously but these lacked explosives an israeli official derisively dismissed them as pipes basically 29 if israel hailed iron dome it was because it sought to salvage something redemptive from its otherwise failed operation shortly after pillar of defense ended mit missile defense expert theodore postol voiced doubts initially i drank the kool aid on iron dome he admitted i m skeptical now i suspect it is not working as well as the israelis are saying a senior israeli rocket scientist subsequently rated the claims made for iron dome exaggerated at best 30 the denouement of pillar of defense set in as israel hit up against a tactical cul de sac it had struck all preplanned military targets in gaza and couldn t resort to sustained terror bombing yet hamas adapting hezbollah s strategy kept up its projectile volleys into israel the psychological upshot was that netanyahu wasn t able to declare victory forcing on him the prospect of a ground invasion to stop the projectile attacks however he could avoid heavy combatant losses only if the idf blasted everyone and everything in and out of sight as it cleared a path into gaza but in the novel political context of pillar of defense powerful regional actors dead set against an israeli invasion the threat of a goldstone redux a foreign press corps embedded not in the israeli troops but among the people of gaza israel recoiled at launching a murderous cast lead style ground assault the israeli prime minister was caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place he couldn t subdue hamas without a ground invasion but he couldn t unleash a ground invasion without incurring either a domestically unacceptable cost that is too many combatant casualties on the israeli side or a diplomatically unacceptable cost that is too many civilian casualties on the palestinian side 31 it was possible to pinpoint the exact moment when pillar of defense collapsed at a 19 november press conference hamas leader khalid mishal in effect told netanyahu go ahead invade if you wanted to launch it he taunted you would have done it 32 the israeli prime minister panicked his bluff had been called what happened next was a repeat of israel s 2006 assault on lebanon unable to stop the hezbollah rocket attacks yet fearful of a full blown ground invasion entailing hand to hand combat israel had called in us secretary of state condoleezza rice to negotiate a cease fire this time around us secretary of state hillary clinton was hauled in to bail israel out even a 21 november bomb attack on a tel aviv bus injuring 28 civilians which normally would have triggered a negotiating freeze and massive israeli retaliation did not shake netanyahu from his resolve to end pillar of defense posthaste before hamas resumed its verbal digs 33 the formal terms of the agreement ending pillar of defense34 marked a stunning reversal for israel it called for a mutual cease fire not one as israel demanded unilaterally incorporated language implying that the siege of gaza would be lifted and notably omitted the precondition that hamas must terminate its smuggling or manufacture of weapons the imposed on hamas it also reason why was not hard to find under international law peoples resisting foreign occupation are not debarred from using armed force 35 egypt which brokered the cease fire was not about to barter away hamas s legal prerogative 36 israel undoubtedly anticipated that washington would use its political muscle to extract better cease fire terms from cairo throughout the attack the united states had lent israel unstinting public support 37 but president obama hoping to bring the new egypt under the us s wing backed away from lording it over the muslim brotherhood and brought all his weight to bear on israel 38 if any doubt remained as to who won and who lost the latest round it was quickly dispelled israel launched pillar of defense to restore gaza s fear of it but after the cease fire and its terms were announced palestinians flooded the streets of gaza in a celebratory mood as if at a wedding party 39 in a cnn interview with christiane amanpour hamas s mishal cut the figure and exuded the confidence of a world leader 40 meanwhile at the israeli press conference announcing ruling triumvirate netanyahu barak and foreign minister avigdor lieberman resembled grade schoolers called down to the principal s office counting the seconds until the humiliation was over loyal israeli pundits tried to spin pillar of defense as a swift military success an impressive success or more cautiously successful up to a point 41 but only the willfully gullible would swallow cease fire the the it still it could already be safely predicted back then that israel wouldn t fulfill the terms of the final agreement to lift the siege of gaza 42 during israeli cabinet deliberations on whether or not to accept the cease fire defense minister barak cynically dismissed the fine print scoffing a day after the cease fire no one will remember what is written in that draft 43 the distance egypt and turkey would be willing to go in support of gaza was also exaggerated 44 many palestinians inferred from the resounding setback israel suffered that only armed resistance could and would end the israeli occupation in fact hamas s resistance operated for the most part only at the level of perceptions the projectiles heading toward tel aviv did unsettle the city s residents there was precious little evidence however that palestinians could ever muster sufficient military might to compel a full israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories but gaza s steadfastness until the final hour of operation pillar of defense did demonstrate the indomitable will of the people of palestine if this potential force could be harnessed in a campaign of mass civil resistance and supporters of palestinian rights abroad in tandem mobilized international public opinion then israel might be coerced into ending the occupation while fewer palestinian lives would be lost than in futile armed resistance e l e v e n israel has the right to defend itself on 8 july 2014 israel launched operation protective edge it marked the longest and most destructive of israel s recent attacks on gaza indeed it was the most devastating round of hostilities in gaza since the beginning of the israeli occupation in 1967 1 operation cast lead 2008 9 lasted 22 days whereas protective edge lasted fully 51 days it ended on 26 august some 350 children were killed and 6 000 homes destroyed during cast lead whereas fully 550 children were killed and 18 000 homes destroyed during protective edge israel left behind 600 000 tons of rubble in cast lead whereas it left behind 2 5 million tons of rubble in protective edge what s more protective edge impacted an already paralyzed economy at a time when socioeconomic conditions were at their lowest since 1967 this operation therefore had a more severe impact on socioeconomic conditions compared to the previous two military operations in 2008 and 2012 2 but in contrast to cast lead and the 2006 lebanon war protective edge was not preplanned long in advance the decision to attack resulted from contingent factors 3 israeli officialdom also thought twice during protective edge before making those brazen incriminating statements that got it in legal hot water in the past on the morrow of cast lead foreign minister tzipi livni publicly bragged about the criminal orders she issued but she then found herself the target of criminal prosecution 4 sobered by this brush with the law livni sang a different tune as minister of justice after protective edge when the fire stops the legal fire directed at israel its leaders its soldiers and its commanders will begin i intend to stand at the frontlines in this battle and will give each soldier and each commander in the idf israel defense forces a legal bulletproof vest 5 still many of tactics provocations massive force conformed to a decades old pattern protective edge also ended on a familiar note israel was unable to claim decisive military victory while hamas was unable to extract concrete political gain israel s protective edge traced back to yet another reckless display of hamas pragmatism at the end of april 2014 the islamic movement and its secular palestinian rival fatah formed a consensus government the united states and the european union did not suspend engagement but instead cautiously welcomed the palestinian initiative adopting a wait and see approach 6 it was evidently reiterated his support trio of preconditions recognition of payback time as israel had aborted the 2013 14 peace initiative of us secretary of state john kerry 7 if only through a back door hamas had won unprecedented legitimacy but it also made an unprecedented concession the united states and the european union had long predicated diplomatic engagement with palestinian leaders on a israel renunciation of violence and recognition of past agreements 8 hamas did not object when palestinian president mahmoud abbas speaking on behalf of the new unity government the preconditions as these developments unfolded israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu erupted in a rage 9 the prospect of palestinian unity was a red line for netanyahu and israeli leaders in general so he reflexively sought to sabotage it 10 in the event that the palestinian consensus held he could no longer invoke standard israeli alibis abbas represented only one palestinian faction hamas was a terrorist organization bent on israel s destruction to evade a settlement of the conflict 11 the prime minister s ire was yet more aroused as the united states and the european union had already ignored his premonition that iran was intending to visit a second holocaust on israel instead they had entered into diplomatic talks with tehran to obtain an agreement on its nuclear weapons program for in june 2014 a gift dropped into netanyahu s lap a rogue hamas cell abducted and killed three israeli teenagers in the west bank netanyahu was aware early on that the teenagers had been killed not captured for a future prisoner swap and that hamas s leadership wasn t responsible 12 the government had known almost from the beginning that the boys were dead j j goldberg the former editor in chief of the jewish forward observed there was no doubt 13 but never one to pass up an exploitable moment netanyahu parlayed this macabre boon 14 to break up the palestinian unity government feigning a rescue mission israel launched operation brother s keeper in mid june at least five west bank palestinians were killed homes were demolished and businesses ransacked and seven hundred palestinians mostly hamas members were arrested including many who had been released in a 2011 prisoner exchange 15 the rampage was patently tailored to elicit a violent response from hamas so as to prove it was a terrorist organization netanyahu could then and in fact later did rebuke washington to never second guess me again 16 hamas at first resisted the israeli provocations although other gaza factions did fire projectiles but in the ensuing tit for tat hamas entered the fray and the violence spun out of control 17 once hostilities broke out israel faced a now familiar dilemma short range projectiles of the kind hamas18 possessed couldn t be disabled from the air they had to be taken out at ground level but a ground invasion would cost if internationally israeli soldiers netanyahu either too much domestically if many israeli soldiers were killed fighting hamas street by street or too much immunized themselves from attack by indiscriminately targeting the civilian population and infrastructure as they advanced 19 unable to carve out a safe path through the thicket of political unknowns netanyahu initially held back from launching a ground invasion but then two more gifts dropped into his lap first former british prime minister tony blair apparently contrived while egyptian strongman abdel fattah el sisi20 formally presented a cease fire deal on 14 july according to which hamas would stop firing projectiles into israel and israel would ease the blockade of gaza when the security situation stabilizes 21 the prior cease fire agreements hamas had entered into with israel did not contain such a security caveat 22 insofar as israel designated hamas a terrorist organization the security situation in gaza could stabilize only when hamas either was defeated or disarmed itself in the absence of which the siege would continue it surely didn t come as a shock when hamas rejected these cease fire terms whereas el sisi s proposal did not bring a halt to armed hostilities it did hand israel a credible pretext for a brutal ground invasion what choice did it have israel could protest in the face of hamas s intransigence second on 17 july a malaysian airliner flying over ukraine was downed 23 the politically charged incident instantly displaced gaza as the headline news story ever the consummate and cynical politician netanyahu seized on this golden opportunity shortly after the tiananmen square massacre in 1989 netanyahu reportedly declared that israel had committed a major blunder when it didn t expel five 50 or 500 palestinian inciters of the first intifada while the media was riveted on china 24 the downed malaysian airliner was netanyahu s tiananmen moment freed up by the diversion to unleash a no holds barred attack netanyahu launched the ground invasion hours later on the night of that very day 25 the new regional constellation as the arab spring degenerated into the arab winter further emboldened him hamas was left out in the cold without any states willing to go to bat for it and many rooting for its defeat fate had lined up netanyahu s ducks the perfect pretext the perfect decoy the perfect alignment of earthly bodies politic he could finally settle scores with hamas and incidentally exact sweet revenge for the humiliation he suffered in operation pillar of defense 2012 26 as ground troops crossed into the strip israel let loose its explosive arsenal gaza s civilian with abandon population and infrastructure homes and businesses schools and mosques hospitals and ambulances power stations and sewage plants civilian shelters and civilians fleeing in panic came under relentless indiscriminate disproportionate and deliberate attack israel reportedly fired 20 000 high explosive artillery shells 14 500 tank shells 6 000 missiles and 3 500 naval shells into the enclave 27 this breakdown did not yet include bomb tonnage over 100 one ton bombs were dropped on the shuja iya neighborhood alone more than 1 500 gazan civilians were killed during protective edge in israel six civilians were killed 28 in a 2014 global ranking of the number of civilian casualties resulting from explosive weapons tiny gaza placed third below iraq and syria but ahead of afghanistan pakistan and ukraine 29 large swaths of gaza were reduced to rubble gaza s economy effectively collapsed while recovery was expected to take decades 30 the overwhelming violent force israel unleashed was designed to limit idf combat casualties by blasting everything and everyone within sight of the invading army and to subvert gaza s will to resist by terrorizing the civilian population and pulverizing the civilian infrastructure but it also indexed the sadism and brutalized indifference permeating the ranks of the idf the goldstone report had concluded that the israeli objective in cast lead was to punish humiliate and terrorize a civilian population 31 protective edge was a repeat israeli performance but on a vastly greater scale peter maurer president of the international committee of the red cross observed after touring the ravaged strip i ve never seen such massive destruction ever before while the un special coordinator for the middle east peace process observed no human being who visits can remain untouched by the terrible devastation that one sees 32 it was a wild war of revenge haaretz journalist zvi bar el recalled that turned the entire gaza population into an infrastructure to be destroyed 33 in the 30 years that i have spent researching and writing about gaza and her people sara roy of harvard university reflected after protective edge i can say without hesitation that i have never seen the kind of human physical and psychological destruction that i see there today 34 even un secretary general ban ki moon who habitually took his cues from washington was moved or felt compelled to tell the un general assembly during the operation the massive death and destruction in gaza have shocked and shamed the world while a few months later he told a press conference after visiting gaza the destruction i have seen coming here is beyond description 35 meanwhile the consensus opinion inside israel was that protective edge constituted a limited military operation 36 to sustain found no evidence to extenuate gaza s civilian death toll israel per usual accused hamas of using civilians as human shields 37 but reputable human rights organizations and journalists per usual israel s allegation 38 in a comprehensive defense of its conduct during protective edge israel professed that the idf sought to achieve the goals set by the government of israel while adhering to the law of armed conflict and in certain legal obligations 39 as if reading from the official israeli script an international high level military group sponsored and selected by the friends of israel initiative and including idf went beyond respects the its perennial israel pom pom colonel richard kemp proclaimed the idf not only met its obligations under the law of armed conflict but often exceeded them indeed it purported that the idf showed significant restraint and that a life preserving ethos is propagated throughout its ranks it even went so far as to express strong concerns that the actions and practices of the idf to prevent collateral damage were so extensive that they would curtail the effectiveness of our own militaries were they to become constraining norms of warfare enacted in customary law 40 the credibility of these attestations however crashed up against the testimonies of israeli soldiers who actually saw combat during protective edge in contrast the assessment of the high level military group largely consisted of a stenographic transcription of what senior israeli officials told it the idf eyewitness accounts were compiled by breaking the silence an israeli nongovernmental organization comprising former israeli soldiers none of the hundreds of testimonies collected by this organization over more than a decade has ever been proven false and all of them were approved for publication by the idf censor the politics of breaking the silence were not aberrantly leftist it did not support the boycott divestment and sanctions movement and opposed criminal prosecution of israeli officers while most of the soldier witnesses did not even appear contrite 41 the criminal dimensions of protective edge could be gleaned from these idf eyewitness accounts see table 4 although israel flinches at juxtapositions of its own conduct with that of the nazis one of the breaking the silence testimonies no 83 breached this taboo there s that famous photo that they always show on trips to poland in which israeli youths visit holocaust memorial sites that shows warsaw before the war and warsaw after the second world war the photo shows the heart of warsaw and it s this classy european city and then they show it at the end of the war they show the exact same neighborhood only it has just one house left standing and the rest is just ruins that s what it looked like to avoid mind numbing redundancy table 4 omits the succession of combatants who testified that the idf s modus operandi during the operation was shoot to kill anything that moves often on explicit orders but also because it was cool 42 if the high level military group peremptorily dismissed all these combatant testimonies it was because senior israeli commanders as well as those leading the fight on the ground contradicted them 43 who could quarrel with such disinterested authority the last testimony no 111 in the breaking the silence collection provided insight into the society that nurtured the most moral army in the world you leave the gaza strip and the most obvious question is did you kill anybody an idf infantry sergeant rued even if you meet the most left wing girl in the world eventually she ll start thinking did you ever kill somebody or not and what can you do about it most people in our society consider that to be a badge of honor so everyone wants to come out of there with that feeling of satisfaction israel fared both better and worse than it could have predicted going into the operation on one side of the ledger despite the murder and mayhem that israel was daily inflicting on gaza the white house signaled it the green light to proceed human rights organizations reported from fairly early on that israel was probably targeting or firing indiscriminately at civilians and civilian infrastructure 44 but notwithstanding some behind the scenes friction 45 the united states did not publicly pressure israel to desist on the contrary president barack obama or his spokespersons dutifully invoked israel s right to self defense while turning a blind eye to idf atrocities and a deaf ear to gaza s wails 46 the inescapable fact was that obama did not just facilitate this latest israeli massacre in gaza he was its enabler in chief it might be wondered why he supported the assault if he had earlier supported negotiations with the hamas fatah unity government the simple answer was that once hamas projectiles started flying over israel and israel s domestic lobby lined up wall to wall congressional support 47 it would have required spine which obama conspicuously lacked to defy it still did realpolitik compel him to reaffirm israel s right to defend itself day in and day out even as human rights organizations documented israeli atrocities in addition israel hugely profited and gaza hugely lost from a dramatic regional reconfiguration both egypt and saudi arabia openly longed for hamas s eviction from power 48 while the arab league in its sole meeting on gaza backed el sisi s cynical cease fire ultimatum 49 only iran turkey and qatar among middle eastern powers opposed the israeli onslaught if israel showed relative restraint during operation pillar of defense this was because of the red lines drawn by egypt and turkey in support of hamas 50 but after the july 2013 coup egypt turned on hamas with a vengeance while turkey was preoccupied with and bogged down in syria convulsed by its own internal conflicts and humanitarian crises the so called street across large swaths of the arab world fell mute during protective edge arab despots accordingly paid no domestic price for egging on israel meanwhile the european union also gave israel a free pass as it dreaded militant islam which was spreading like wildfire under the isis banner and to which hamas was reflexively assimilated the redemptive global exception was the latin american bloc in an exemplary display of selfless solidarity with beleaguered gaza the governments of argentina bolivia brazil chile el salvador peru uruguay and israeli actions 51 venezuela nonetheless amid the slaughter gaza was effectively on its own alone and abandoned registered disgust at on the opposite side of the ledger israel was taken off guard by the robust and ramified network of tunnels that hamas had adapting hezbollah s strategy during the 2006 lebanon war hamas used projectiles to lure israel into a ground invasion it then emerged from tunnels that withstood israeli aerial constructed adopting and bombardment and inflicted an exceptional number of combatant casualties 52 only ten israeli soldiers had been killed in cast lead four by friendly fire many israeli soldiers had testified to not having even seen a hamas fighter 53 this time around however fully 62 israeli soldiers were killed by militants 54 in the face of this surprisingly stiff resistance the idf marked time once having crossed into gaza not venturing more than two to three kilometers beyond the border 55 as it launched the ground invasion israel abruptly recalibrated its mission from destroying hamas s rockets to destroying hamas s cross border terror tunnels yet of the 32 tunnels israel reportedly discovered and detonated only 12 14 actually passed under the border 56 it was cause for perplexity why israel couldn t have sealed them from its side just as egypt after the july 2013 coup sealed some 1 500 commercial tunnels passing from gaza into the sinai later when egypt flooded the still extant tunnels allegedly to preempt weapons smuggling israeli energy minister yuval steinitz praised it as a good solution 57 why was it a good solution for egypt but not a good solution for israel perhaps israel couldn t on technical grounds duplicate egypt s modus operandi still the question was not even posed why israel was ravaging gaza to eliminate terror tunnels if it seemingly had less destructive options at hand once the idf breached gaza s border and met fierce resistance it sought to destroy the tunnel network inside gaza so that hamas couldn t inflict heavy casualties when israel next set out to mow the lawn if israel asserted a right to destroy the tunnels a prerogative endorsed by much of official public opinion around the world it was declaring that gaza had no right to defend itself against israel s periodic massacres even were it true that israel sought to destroy only the cross border tunnels it would still be hard to figure out why this was a legitimate preemptive goal inveterate israel propagandist colonel richard kemp compared these tunnels to no less than auschwitz the purpose of both of those things was to kill jews 58 samantha power us representative at the united nations scolded the security council for saying nothing of the resources diverted from helping gaza s residents to dig tunnels into israeli territory so that terrorists can attack israelis these cross border catacombs were only used to conduct attacks directed at idf positions in israel in the vicinity of the green line which are legitimate military targets 60 do the laws of war prescribe that planes artillery shells and tanks get to breach gaza s border at israel s will and whim but hamas tunnels targeting combatants must not transgress israel s sacred space their homes 59 but in israel misrepresented not only the threat posed by hamas terror tunnels it also inflated the performance of its antimissile defense system and the threat posed by hamas rockets hamas reportedly fired five thousand rockets and two thousand mortar shells at israel during the operation 61 to reconcile the vast discrepancy between the israeli thousands of potential many thousands of projectiles hamas unleashed on the one hand and the minimal death and destruction they inflicted on the other israel motioned to its wondrous iron dome antimissile defense system a leading israeli military correspondent posited that were it not for iron dome the israeli casualty count would have been infinitely higher while an israeli diplomat purported that iron dome prevented civilian casualties 62 but this explanation does not persuade whereas israel alleged that iron dome intercepted 740 rockets the un department of safety and security put the number at closer to 240 63 however the most skeptical reckoning came from one of the world s leading authorities on antimissile defense theodore postol of mit 64 postol had previously debunked claims hyping the patriot antimissile defense system in the 1991 gulf war 65 he concluded that iron dome successfully intercepted 5 percent of incoming hamas rockets or on the basis of israel s raw data an underwhelming 40 of them 66 even accepting for argument s sake the official israeli tally of 740 successful interceptions it still perplexed why the thousands of hamas projectiles that iron dome did not intercept caused so little damage indeed even before israel first deployed iron dome during pillar of defense in 2012 the material consequences of hamas projectiles barely registered consider these figures whereas hamas fired some 13 000 rockets and mortar shells at israel between 2001 and 2012 a total of 23 israeli civilians were in their home communities during killed or one civilian killed per 500 projectiles fired 67 in the course of cast lead israel s most violent confrontation with gaza prior to protective edge and before iron dome was deployed hamas fired some 900 projectiles yet a total of only 3 civilians were killed 68 even during protective edge fully 2 800 hamas projectiles or 40 percent of the total number landed in israel s border region69 where iron dome was not deployed yet only one israeli civilian was killed by a rocket 70 most israelis in the border region remained the operation 71 and most of the hamas projectiles struck built up areas there 72 postol ascribed the fewness of israeli civilian casualties in protective edge primarily but not exclusively to israel s early warning shelter system 73 which had been significantly upgraded in recent years 74 but that still couldn t fully account for the fewness of civilian casualties before israel overhauled its civil defense system what s yet more telling it couldn t account for the minimal israeli property damage during protective edge the israel ministry of foreign affairs website tracked on a daily basis the damage caused by hamas rockets to civilian infrastructure 75 table 5 summarizes its entries the official israeli postmortem on protective edge alleged that several residential communities on the border with the gaza strip were battered by rocket and mortar fire 76 yet even allowing that a certain percentage landed in open areas how could the thousands upon thousands of hamas rockets have inflicted so little damage how could only one israeli house have been destroyed and 11 others hit or damaged by a mega barrage of rockets 77 the obvious and most plausible answer was that the preponderance of these so called rockets amounted to enhanced fireworks or bottle rockets 78 in the triad of media takeaways from protective edge hamas rockets terror tunnels and iron dome in actuality constituted meta props israel s hasbara propaganda campaign israel initially inflated the threat posed by hamas s projectiles to justify its insane and crazy assault on gaza s civilian population and infrastructure however the pretext backfired as the projectiles kept coming and israel s tourism industry took a big hit 79 when a hamas projectile landed in the vicinity of ben gurion airport prompting international airlines to suspend flights destined for israel former new york city mayor michael bloomberg obligingly flew over in order to reassure prospective travelers 80 but if tranquility reigned in the promised land then why was israel pulverizing gaza not missing a beat israel conjured a new rationale quickly aped by credulous journalists hamas terror tunnels which have the sole purpose of annihilating our citizens and killing our children netanyahu 81 this newly minted alibi also backfired however as israeli evacuees recoiled at the prospect of returning to their border communities it was then widely conceded in israel that hamas fighters infiltrating via tunnels targeted the idf not civilians 82 in a retrospective marking the first anniversary of protective edge a senior israeli military correspondent flatly stated these tunnels allowed hamas to move commando forces under the border and into israel without warning to carry out attacks on soldiers 83 israel touted the technical wizardry of iron dome after pillar of defense in order to compensate for the operation s meager returns 84 it hyped it again during protective edge in order to soothe the jittery nerves of both its indoctrinated domestic population and would be israel s flourishing arms trade also stood to reap rich dividends from the iron dome fanfare but in its official postmortem on protective edge israel reversed itself in order to rationalize the death and destruction it wreaked in gaza it downplayed iron dome s efficacy and instead magnified the vulnerability of israel s home front 85 spewing forth one lie after another israel kept catching itself in the tangled web of its deceits if its misrepresentations and contradictions went unnoticed it was testament to the competence of israeli hasbara on the one hand and the bias of western media on the other tourists when israel hit civilians who took refuge in un schools leaving scores dead and hundreds wounded it crossed a red line 86 a un board of inquiry later found that israel had in its possession up to date gps coordinates of all the un shelters it targeted and that it used indiscriminate weapons such as artillery in densely populated areas where these shelters were situated as well as precision weapons such as guided missiles the board did not credit israel s various justifications for these attacks 87 as the international community reacted in shock 88 the diplomatic dominoes began to fall in israel s direction feeling the heat from inside the un bureaucracy ban ki moon denounced on 3 august one of these atrocities as a moral outrage and criminal act 89 left isolated on the world stage and unwilling to bear the onus of this latest string of israeli atrocities the white house joined on 3 august in the chorus of condemnation while israel s cheerleaders in the us congress fell silent once the united states declared that it was appalled by israel s disgraceful lethal shelling in proximity of a un shelter 90 it sunk in on israel that it was time to wind down the operation on 2 august netanyahu had nipped in the bud rumors of an impending israeli troop withdrawal we will take as much time as necessary and will exert as much force as is needed 91 but disabled by his chief enabler in the white house netanyahu announced on that same 3 august that israeli troops were withdrawing 92 to cover up for its failure to destroy hamas s catacombs israel entered the discreet qualifier that it had detonated nearly all of hamas s known tunnels 93 the operation dragged on for another three weeks however as israel sought to extract the best possible terms in the final diplomatic phase and still harbored hopes of inflicting a decisive military defeat on hamas by attrition it resorted to indiscriminate aerial bombardments killing and wounding many civilians and assassinated senior hamas military leaders 94 after the beheading of an american journalist on 19 august 95 media attention shifted to isis and the gaza massacre entered the ho hum more of the same phase of the news cycle israel was able to resume the precision terror strikes with unprecedented abandon flattening high rise apartment buildings as if playing a video game and with barely a pretense legitimate military objectives 96 but the hamas projectiles and mortar shells kept coming causing israeli civilian casualties to mount on 26 august a cease fire agreement went into effect its essential terms stipulated that israel and egypt would ease the blockade of gaza while the palestinian authority pa would administer the border crossings coordinate the international reconstruction effort and prevent weapons from entering gaza the agreement deferred to future talks other points of contention such as a prisoner release and construction of an airport and seaport in gaza 97 they constituted that at a news conference after the cease fire was reached netanyahu boasted of israel s great military and political achievement 98 but israel did not attain its avowed goals initially netanyahu hoped to fracture the palestinian unity government by provoking a violent reaction from hamas and then redemonizing it as a terrorist organization but the unity government held together even as president abbas probably longed for israel to deliver hamas a that terrorist organization deathblow if israel hoped to show that hamas was an unreconstructed it ended up persuading many more people israel was an unrepentant terrorist state if israel hoped to convince the united states and european union not to negotiate with a unity government that included hamas it ended up itself negotiating with the unity government and indirectly with hamas effectively an influential israeli columnist observed israel has recognized hamas 99 if the unity government ultimately yielded no fruit it was because of infighting not protective edge 100 once factional hostilities escalated netanyahu s avowed objective was to destroy hamas rockets and terror tunnels but both these aims proved beyond his reach hamas kept firing projectiles killing two israelis in the last hour before the cease fire while an unknown number of tunnels remained intact israel s larger goal of inflicting a comprehensive military and political defeat on hamas also went unfulfilled although israel had made any concessions contingent on hamas s disarmament the cease fire agreement did not oblige the islamic resistance to lay down its weapons and only a vague promise was extracted from the pa to stem the flow of arms into gaza the cease fire s terms didn t include any statement not even a hint regarding israel s security demands an israeli diplomatic correspondent groused there was nothing about the demilitarization of the strip the rearming or the issue of the tunnels 101 although it was the regional powerhouse israel failed to impose its will on an isolated enemy operating in a besieged territory without advanced weaponry 102 the chief beneficiary of this latest gaza massacre was lebanon after its military fiasco israel would think twice before attacking hezbollah as it possessed a formidable arsenal of real sophisticated rockets 103 reducing iron dome s potential efficacy quotient from single digit percentages to near zero it also possessed a tunnel network dug deep inside mountains in a replay of the last act last scene of pillar of defense the israeli prime minister defense minister and chief of staff cut sorry figures at the news conference proclaiming israel s victory in protective edge 104 still netanyahu could exult in a pair of complementary triumphs he satiated the bloodlust of israeli society that he himself had whipped up it could now savor the prospect of gazans confronting once the soot had settled the massive death and destruction israel had visited on them the latest military operation a comprehensive un has effectively eliminated what was left of the middle class sending almost all of into destitution and dependence on international humanitarian aid 105 israel had concomitantly battered if not yet completely broken the spirits of the people of gaza the ever escalating violence the wreckage left in its wake the futureless future had finally taken a toll nine months after protective edge not a single totally destroyed home had been rebuilt 106 fully half of gazans polled after protective the population found report edge expressed a desire to leave in extreme but still indicative instances they boarded rickety vessels to escape hundreds drowned crossed into israel illegally in search of work or the comfort of a jail cell and in unprecedented numbers committed suicide 107 if israel s tacit goal in its recent major operations had been to punish humiliate and goldstone report then this time around it could take pride in a job well done it also put the lie to the bromide that violence doesn t work it does and did terrorize gaza s civilian population hamas also flourished the v sign for victory 108 indeed its popularity among palestinians surged after fighting israel to a stalemate 109 but the uptick proved ephemeral when armed hostilities broke out hamas s primary goal was to end the blockade of gaza whereas the original egyptian cease fire proposal stipulated that the siege would be lifted only after the security situation stabilizes in gaza the final cease fire agreement omitted this precondition however it called only for the blockade to be eased not include an external enforcement mechanism which hamas had earlier demanded 110 in effect it reinstated the cease fire terms ending pillar of defense which israel had back then proceeded to scrap 111 hamas settled for less than its bottom line because of israel s relentless bombardment our demands were just hamas leader khalid mishal told a news conference but in the end we had the palestinian demands on the one hand and the pain of gaza s civilian lifted and did not population on the other we agreed to the cease fire mishal continued in the knowledge that the siege will be lifted 112 but it was already clear at the time113 that this was wishful thinking until and unless hamas disarmed two years after protective edge defense minister avigdor lieberman still maintained that only if hamas stops digging tunnels rearming and firing rockets we will lift the blockade 114 as islamic movement wouldn t capitulate the siege showed no signs of abating the virtual ban on exports from gaza has not been lifted while at the volume of truck traffic israel allowed it would take 174 years to return gaza to where it was in may 2014 115 if gazans flocked into the streets after the cease fire was declared it was to proclaim firstly to themselves and then to the world that however enormous the toll however bottomless the sacrifice the people of palestine still lived we were we are we will be the an official consensus crystallized during protective edge according to which israel had the right to defend itself even though it had initiated the armed hostilities and hamas would have to disarm even though it had acted in self defense in july 2014 the european union called on hamas to immediately put an end to these acts and to renounce violence all terrorist groups in gaza must disarm at the same time it recognized israel s legitimate right to defend itself against any attacks with the throwaway caveat that the israeli military operation must in line with international be proportionate and law 116 this allocation of rights and humanitarian obligations did not just contradict the circumstantial facts of the operation it also contradicted the overarching legal framework of the occupation whereas international law prohibits an occupying power from using force to suppress a struggle for self determination it does not debar a people struggling for self determination from using force israel consequently has no legal mandate to use force against the palestinian self determination struggle 117 it might be argued that insofar as this self determination struggle has been unfolding within the framework of a belligerent occupation israel has the legal right as the occupying power to enforce the occupation so long as it endures 118 but the international court of justice icj ruled in 1971 that since south africa had refused to carry out good faith negotiations to terminate its occupation of namibia the occupation had eventually become illegal in light of the namibia precedent israel s failure to carry out good faith negotiations based on international law has delegitimized its occupation as well 119 if israel can lay title to any right it is in the exhortation of the united states at the time its administration immediately and thus put an end to its occupation whereas it proclaims the right of self defense against hamas projectiles israel is in effect promulgating a right to use force to perpetuate the occupation were israel to cease its violent repression the occupation would end the namibia debate to withdraw of and ideally the projectile attacks would also stop as palestinians went about the business of consolidating their own independent state the right to self defense could justly be invoked by israel only if the attacks continued regardless on the one hand israel cannot pretend to a right of self defense if the exercise of this right traces back to the wrong of an illegal occupation denial of self determination ex injuria non oritur jus120 on the other hand israel would not need to invoke the right if it ceased inflicting the wrong in 2016 the european union issued a statement calling for all parties to produce a fundamental change to the situation in the gaza strip including the end of the closure and a full opening of the crossing points while addressing legitimate security concerns 121 but israel cannot lay claim to legitimate security concerns vis à vis gaza so long as the is designed to entrench an force it deploys there illegitimate regime the legally correct position was enunciated by the un human rights council mission on protective edge which called on israel to lift immediately and unconditionally the blockade on gaza 122 the refrain that israel has a right to defend itself is a red herring the real question is does israel have the right to use force to perpetuate an illegal occupation the answer is no israel s but it might be contended even granting that unlike israel palestinians can legally resort to force doesn t hamas s use of indiscriminate projectiles and its targeting of israeli civilians still constitute war crimes the situation and is more equivocal than is often acknowledged first what constitutes an indiscriminate weapon isn t clear while the implicit standard isn t just a class of weapons apparently passes legal muster if its probability of hitting a target is relatively high this legal threshold is keyed to and correlates with cutting edge technology the couplets advanced primitive discriminate indiscriminate overlap a high tech weapon can whereas a low tech weapon cannot discriminate between targets but then only a people sufficiently endowed to purchase high tech weaponry can defend itself against a high tech aerial assault if it lacks material resources if compelled by circumstance to use rudimentary weapons a people engaging in a war of self defense or a struggle for self determination cannot prevail except by breaching the laws of war if it obeys the laws of war it will almost certainly suffer defeat if this be the law it is a most peculiar law for it negates a raison d être of law the substitution of might by right as it enshrines might or the rich and powerful above right second it was asserted that even if the civilian population of one party to a conflict comes under relentless attack it does not have the legal right to carry out belligerent reprisals that is to deliberately target civilians of the opposing party until that party desists from its initial illegal attacks regardless of who started this latest round attacks targeting civilians violate basic humanitarian norms human rights watch stated right after protective edge began all attacks including reprisal the attacks that target or indiscriminately harm civilians are prohibited under the laws of war period 123 but was that true in fact international law does not at any rate not yet prohibit belligerent reprisals 124 the united states and united kingdom have even defended the right to deploy nuclear weapons in belligerent reprisals 125 the people of gaza surely then had the right to use makeshift projectiles to end an illegal merciless seven year long israeli blockade targeting a civilian population and to end israel s criminal bombardment of a civilian population indeed in its landmark 1996 advisory opinion on the legality of nuclear weapons that international law was not settled on the right of a state to use nuclear weapons when its survival was in jeopardy but if that elusive abstraction called a state might legally use nuclear weapons when its survival is at stake then a people surely has the right to use makeshift projectiles when its survival is at stake the political prudence of hamas s strategy could be legitimately questioned but the law is not unambiguously against it while the scales of morality tilt in its favor israel has imposed a brutal siege on gaza that halved its already de developed gdp as a result of the blockade and recurrent military assaults gaza s population has been denied a human standard of living while some 95 percent of its water is unfit for human consumption innocent human beings most of them young sara roy bewailed are slowly being poisoned by the water they drink they were not only icj stated consigned but also literally confined to a slow death when a place becomes unlivable people move the united nations relief and works agency has observed this is the case for environmental disasters such as droughts or for conflicts such as in syria yet this last resort is denied to the people in gaza they cannot move beyond their 365 square kilometers territory they cannot escape neither the devastating poverty nor the fear of another conflict its highly educated youth do not have the option to travel to seek education outside gaza or to find work anywhere else beyond the perimeter fence and the two tightly controlled border checkpoints in the north and south of the gaza strip with the rafah crossing between egypt and gaza almost entirely closed except for a few days per year and with israel often denying exit even for severe humanitarian cases or staff of international organizations the vast majority of the people have no chance of getting one of the highly sought after permits they can also not leave across the sea without the risk of being arrested or shot at by the israeli or egyptian navies and they cannot climb over the heavily guarded perimeter fence between israel and gaza without the same risks 126 the people of palestine embraced hamas as it launched belligerent reprisals against israel in the climacteric of their martyrdom gazans chose to die resisting rather than to live expiring under an inhuman blockade 127 the resistance was mostly notional as the rudimentary projectiles caused little damage so the ultimate question is do palestinians have the right to symbolically resist slow death punctuated by periodic massacres or is it incumbent upon them to lie down and die t w e lv e betrayal i amnesty international although operation protective edge 2014 proved to be the most destructive of israel s recent assaults on gaza it elicited a muted response from human rights organizations it would be only a slight exaggeration to say that they sat it out in the aftermath of operation cast lead 2008 9 as many as three hundred human rights reports were issued 1 human rights watch hrw alone released five substantial studies 2 but hrw just barely issued one report on protective edge 3 the outlier appeared to be amnesty international which published a series of reports yet far from being the exception that proved the rule amnesty actually constituted a variant of the rule instead of falling silent on israeli crimes during protective edge amnesty whitewashed its comprehensive indictment of hamas 4 unlawful and deadly rocket and mortar attacks by palestinian armed groups during the in particular them 2014 gaza israel conflict 5 amounted to an abdication of its professional mandate and a betrayal of the people of gaza a human rights assessment of protective edge necessarily begins with the civilian death and destruction it entailed table 6 summarizes the raw data on both sides amnesty observed in unlawful and deadly civilians once again bore the brunt of the third full scale war in less than six years although arguably true 6 this assessment obscured the yawning gap separating the magnitude of suffering inflicted on gazan as compared to israeli civilians 7 it would be hard to come up with a more palpable instance of a quantitative difference turning into a qualitative one than the single israeli child versus the 550 gazan children killed and it doesn t diminish the sanctity of every human life to take note that if the death of one israeli child was terrible then on the same calculus the child deaths in gaza were 550 times as terrible an international medical fact finding mission assembled by the israeli branch of physicians for human rights and composed of eminent medical practitioners concluded its report on protective edge with this caveat while not wishing to devalue in any way the traumatic effects of the war on israeli civilians these pale in comparison with the consequences of the massive destruction wreaked on gaza 8 even un secretary general ban ki moon who disgraced his office with apologetics on israel s behalf 9 carefully discriminated between israel s lethal attacks on un facilities during protective edge which i deplore and hamas s misuse of un facilities about which i am dismayed 10 one searched unlawful and deadly in vain for comparable acknowledgment or nuance by amnesty in keeping with its pretense to evenhandedness amnesty conveyed the impression that israel and hamas were equally guilty of breaching the laws of war during a crucial period when it could still inflect public policy amnesty issued a pair of reports documenting israel s crimes and a pair of reports documenting hamas s crimes four altogether while amazingly it devoted all told many more pages to indicting hamas 107 than israel 78 11 it was not so wide of the mark in the past in operation cast lead israel bore the brunt of amnesty s indictment its space allocations 60 pages to israeli crimes versus 13 pages to hamas crimes were more if still far from fully commensurate with the relative death and destruction inflicted by each side 12 the introduction to each of amnesty s four reports on protective edge cautiously balanced the distribution of guilt as if that weren t problematic enough unlawful and deadly detailed the death of the single israeli child killed by a hamas attack across more than two pages were it truly committed to effecting as against affecting balance shouldn t amnesty have devoted 1 100 pages to the 550 children in gaza who were killed amnesty even intimated that hamas was the more manifestly culpable party to the conflict thus unlawful and deadly s conclusion unequivocally deplored hamas s flagrant disregard for international humanitarian law whereas one of amnesty s reciprocal reports families under the rubble israeli attacks on inhabited homes gingerly concluded that the havoc wrought 18 000 gazan homes were destroyed or rendered uninhabitable 13 and 110 000 people were left homeless raise s difficult questions for the israeli government which they have so far failed to answer 14 it is of course conceivable that hamas committed as many war crimes as israel if not more during protective edge but prima facie that would be a most anomalous conclusion in both absolute and relative terms the scales of guilt appeared to tilt heavily to the israeli side hamas killed 73 israelis of whom only 8 percent were civilians whereas israel killed 2 200 gazans of whom fully 70 percent were civilians the damage inflicted on gaza s civilian infrastructure 4 billion exceeded by a factor of 70 the damage inflicted on israel s infrastructure 55 million while the ratio of civilian dwellings destroyed by israel versus hamas stood at 18 000 1 the intriguing question is how did amnesty manage to turn this wildly imbalanced balance sheet into a balanced indictment of both parties to the conflict to justify the massive violence it unleashed on gaza israel harped on the arsenal of deadly rockets hamas had allegedly amassed echoing israeli hasbara propaganda unlawful and deadly reported that as far back as 2001 hamas had been stockpiling short range rockets that it then developed longer range qassam rockets that in more recent years armed groups in gaza have produced in upgraded or smuggled in thousands of bm 21 grad rockets of different types with ranges varying from 20km to 48km and acquired or produced smaller numbers of medium and long range rockets including the iranian fajr 5 and locally produced m 75 both with a range of 75km and the locally produced j 80 rockets with a range of 80km the majority of israel s 8 3 million people and all 2 8 million palestinians the occupied west bank amnesty ominously concluded are now within range of at least some of the rockets held by palestinian armed groups in the gaza strip t he circle of fear has widened although amnesty didn t cite the basis for these data 15 they almost certainly emanated from official israeli sources and it is hard not to be skeptical of them israel s official postmortem on protective edge alleged that on the eve of operation pillar of defense 2012 hamas had stockpiled over 7 000 rockets and mortars while on the eve of protective edge it had acquired more than 10 000 rockets and mortars it also provided a precise breakdown of these projectiles 6 700 rockets with a range of up to 20km 2 300 rockets with a range of up to 40km etc 16 it is anyone s guess how israel came by such detailed information and why if possessing it israel didn t militarily preempt hamas s use of this terrifying weaponry if it could ascertain the quantity and quality of these projectiles it must also have been privy to where hamas stockpiled them while israel has never shied away from launching a preemptive attack to nip in the bud an existential threat to this miracle real or contrived if it didn t launch such an attack it was almost certainly because either hamas didn t possess such an arsenal or if it did israel was in the dark about it in either case israel must have plucked its published data on which amnesty and others leaned from thin air if hamas had indeed amassed a humungous arsenal of lethal weapons the wonder would be that it inflicted so little death and destruction stealing another page from israeli hasbara amnesty ascribed israel s antimissile batteries israel s iron dome missile defense system helped limit civilian casualties in many areas and was used to protect civilian areas from projectiles launched from the gaza strip in fact it was perfectly obvious from public sources that hamas s stockpile consisted of enhanced fireworks or bottle rockets while iron dome saved few if any israeli lives 17 in its hyperbolic inventory of hamas s arsenal amnesty also cited the israeli allegation that it had intercepted a vessel carrying iranian rockets bound for gaza it omitted the widely reported finding of a un expert panel that the iranian weapons were bound not for gaza but the sudan 18 by adopting israel s story line of a lethal hamas rocket arsenal amnesty became wittingly or not a purveyor of state propaganda its depiction of the hamas catacombs was no less tendentious amnesty repeated the official israeli allegation that the ground invasion was launched to destroy the tunnel system particularly those with shafts discovered near residential areas located in israel and that israeli troops repeatedly preempted hamas infiltrators from targeting civilian communities it ignored evidence from unimpeachable israeli sources that hamas fighters exiting the tunnels targeted israeli soldiers not civilians 19 even as israel s official postmortem on protective edge portentously reported that hamas tunnels exited in or close to residential communities 20 its actual breakdown too showed that every instance of hamas infiltration climaxed not in a headlong assault on civilians but instead in an armed engagement with israeli combatants 21 and other human the upshot of amnesty s reliance on official israeli sources was that it magnified hamas s and diminished israel s criminal culpability this distortion resulted in part from another of amnesty s strategic balancing acts israel barred amnesty rights organizations from entering gaza during22 and after protective edge consequently except for at most a couple of its fieldworkers based in gaza amnesty had to carry out its research from the outside as a practical matter this israeli imposed constraint repeatedly prevented amnesty from assessing the veracity of official israeli exculpations how did amnesty resolve this forensic challenge it typically reported the allegation of an israeli war crime then the israeli denial and then neutrally proceeded to call investigation an investigation that as amnesty knew full well israel would never allow the reader was thus left in perfect and permanent limbo as to where the truth lay when assessing for a proper on the ground allegations that hamas violated international law during protective edge amnesty gestured to prior hamas its guilt 23 misconduct as corroborative evidence of shouldn t amnesty also have contextualized israeli denials of guilt with the caveat that prior israeli denials regularly proved on inspection to be flagrant falsehoods indeed the un board of inquiry investigation of israeli attacks on un facilities during protective edge repeatedly put the lie to israel s pleas of innocence 24 in its press release deploring israel s refusal to grant it entry human rights watch pointedly observed if israel is confident in its claim that hamas is responsible for civilian deaths in gaza it shouldn t be blocking human rights organizations from carrying out on site itself observed that governments who wish to hide their violations of human rights from the outside world have frequently banned amnesty international from accessing the places in which they have been committed 25 so if israel blocked access to gaza after protective edge shouldn t amnesty s working assumption have been that israel s counterclaims would not withstand an on site investigation if a suspect denies eminently impartial investigators access to a crime scene then the inexorable inference is that he or she has something to hide true to justify its refusal israel has repeatedly alleged that amnesty is biased against it but it would be odd indeed if amnesty itself credited this accusation as compelling grounds for it to suspend judgment the relevant principle investigations amnesty incentivized at play is not whether israel is innocent until proven guilty it s whether israel s plea of not guilty should carry probative weight even as it refuses to prove its innocence before a nonpartisan third party in the face of credible charges based on a mass of incriminating evidence ultimately amnesty s neutrality israeli noncooperation for if granting human rights groups entry into gaza would enable them to document israeli crimes then prudent state policy would be to bar these organizations altogether and settle for an agnostic verdict in the event that s what israel did and that s the verdict amnesty delivered finally one egregious lacuna as amnesty pretended to balance deserves special notice it cited in abundance the junk claims of israeli hasbara but not once did it report the pertinent findings of gaza s respected human rights organizations such as the al mezan center for human rights and the palestinian center for human rights 26 the methodology section of unlawful and deadly stated amnesty international studied relevant documentation produced by un agencies the israeli military and israeli governmental bodies israeli and palestinian ngos palestinian armed groups and media reports amongst other sources and consulted with relevant experts and practitioners before writing the report amnesty international would like to thank the israeli ngos and other israeli bodies that provided assistance to its researchers 27 whereas the report amply represented the claims of israeli military and governmental bodies it did not contain a single reference to any palestinian ngo amnesty s problematic evidentiary standards in unlawful and deadly subtly shifted to hamas a portion of culpability for israel s most egregious crimes during protective edge consider these examples hospitals israel destroyed or damaged 17 hospitals and 56 primary healthcare centers during protective edge 28 unlawful and deadly pointed to hamas s alleged misuse of three of these facilities 1 al wafa israel repeatedly attacked and then reduced to rubble al wafa hospital the sole rehabilitation facility in gaza it wasn t the first time israel targeted the hospital during cast lead al wafa sustained direct hits from eight tank shells two missiles and thousands of bullets even as israel publicly avowed that it did not target terrorists who launched attacks in the vicinity of a hospital 29 this time around amnesty cited the israeli allegation that al wafa was a command center it could have noted that command center was israel s default alibi for targeting civilian objects during protective edge 30 and that in other contexts amnesty itself treated this allegation as baseless 31 displaying an aerial photograph the israeli military alleged that hamas fired a rocket from al wafa s immediate vicinity amnesty found however that the image tweeted by the israeli military does not match satellite images of the al wafa hospital and appears to depict a different location this finding seemed to dispose of israel s pretext except that ever so evenhandedly amnesty concluded that it has not been able to verify israeli assertions that the hospital was used to launch rockets and that the israeli claim should be independently investigated in other words even if the single piece of evidence adduced by israel was demonstrably false it still remained an open question whether or not the alibi was true on this evidentiary standard amnesty couldn t find that israel had committed a war crime unless and until israel acknowledged its commission as it happened israel itself eventually dropped the rocket allegation 32 amnesty further noted that according to media reports an anti tank missile was fired from al wafa the media reports cited by amnesty turn out to be little more than an official israeli press handout dutifully reprinted by the jerusalem post 33 it s as instructive what amnesty elected not to cite if it adduced israeli hasbara as credible evidence shouldn t it also have cited al wafa s director who told haaretz that israeli claims were false and misleading or the representative of the world health organization in gaza who forthrightly acknowledged the probable presence of a rocket launching site in the vicinity of al wafa but contended that it was more than 200 meters away from the hospital 34 israeli forces contest having directly and intentionally targeted al wafa hospital claiming that they sought to neutralize rocket fire originating in the vicinity of the hospital an international federation for human rights fidh delegation observed after entering gaza and sifting through the evidence however various elements indicate that the hospital was in fact the target of a direct and intentional attack on the part of israeli armed forces 35 opting instead to quell doubts of israel s innocence amnesty reported an internal investigation by the israeli military into its attacks on al wafa found that the attacks had been carried out in accordance with international law shouldn t it also have mentioned that all major human rights organizations amnesty included have dismissed the results of israeli internal investigations as worthless 36 2 al shifa on the basis of credible evidence that hamas fired a rocket from behind al shifa hospital amnesty called for an independent investigation it then proceeded to call for an investigation of other reports and claims that hamas leaders and security forces used facilities within the hospital for military purposes and interrogations during the hostilities israel leveled cognate allegations during cast lead but the evidence it adduced in support of them was razor thin 37 this time around amnesty cited many sources of varying quality 38 what it flagrantly did not do however was cite sources that disputed the allegation it ignored the compelling and nuanced testimony of two respected norwegian surgeons who volunteered in al shifa during protective edge although able to roam freely at the hospital they came across no indication that it was a command center for hamas 39 at this author s request one of the world s leading academic specialists on gaza sara roy of harvard university consulted a clutch of her own gaza based sources whose personal and professional integrity she attested to the consensus among them was that although rockets had been fired in the vicinity of al shifa but not from hospital grounds it was highly improbable that hamas made military use of the hospital building 40 amnesty either chose to ignore or didn t bother to solicit such contrary opinions from impeccable easily accessible sources it also reported the supposedly incriminating tidbit that a palestinian journalist was interrogated by officers from hamas internal security in an abandoned section of the hospital al shifa was filled to the brim with as many as 13 000 homeless people during protective edge because it enabled access to satellite news gathering equipment the hospital also served as a hub for the media political spokespeople un officials human rights organizations and other ngos it is cause for wonder why amnesty would consider it sinister or even noteworthy if a besieged party fending off a murderous foreign invasion questioned not physically abused or intimidated just questioned someone in a facility packed with a throng of random people some among them presumably spies saboteurs and provocateurs 41 was gaza s governing body not even allowed to carry out routine security functions in its report strangling necks abductions torture and summary killings of palestinians by hamas forces during the 2014 gaza israel conflict amnesty flatly stated hamas forces used the abandoned areas of al shifa hospital in gaza city including the outpatients clinic area to detain interrogate torture and otherwise ill treat suspects the evidence amnesty adduced for the most incendiary of these asseverations that is hamas systematically tortured suspects at al shifa underwhelmed 42 how incidentally did this torture chamber escape the notice of swarms of journalists un officials and ngos ensconced at al shifa until amnesty s solitary fieldworker in gaza came along to scoop all of them even israel s official postmortem on protective edge although replete with the most egregious propaganda and falsehoods didn t go beyond alleging that hamas used al shifa for security service interrogations 43 was amnesty bending over backward to the point of coming out from under itself in order to demonstrate its nonpartisanship 3 shuhada al aqsa israel shelled shuhada al aqsa hospital killing at least four people and wounding dozens noting that israel alleged it had targeted a cache of antitank missiles stored in the immediate vicinity of the hospital amnesty stated that it has not been able to confirm this incident and called for it to be independently investigated insofar as it obligingly reported israel s pretext for this atrocity shouldn t amnesty also have cited the eyewitness account of a nurse at her station she testified that after four palestinians were killed in vehicles parked outside the hospital was then hit 15 times in quick succession by tank strikes whereas in amnesty s assessment hamas and israel might have been equally culpable of violating international law 44 the medical fact finding mission concluded what is important here is that al aqsa was attacked by the israeli military while patients were admitted health professionals were at work and civilians were seeking refuge from attacks in the surrounding area 45 4 ambulances fully 45 ambulances were either damaged or destroyed as a result of direct israeli attacks or collateral damage during protective edge amnesty reported that israel released video footage which it claimed showed palestinian fighters entering an ambulance this 24 second video clip was the one and only piece of evidence israel adduced to justify its repeated targeting of ambulances during protective edge 46 in fact the evidentiary value of the video could be precisely calculated at zero it captured a pair of unarmed hamas militants on an unknown date at an unknown place entering an ambulance belonging to the emergency medical unit of hamas s armed wing al qassam brigades for all anyone could tell from the clip they were participating in a routine medical rescue mission it merits parenthetical notice that the health ministry had instructed ambulance crews not to allow any weapons on board not even pistols since it referenced this vacuous video why didn t amnesty also note that israel repeatedly targeted palestinian ambulances in prior operations 47 that notwithstanding its high tech surveillance technology israel adduced evidence justifying such a criminal attack on an ambulance in only one single incident way back in 2002 and that in this sole instance amnesty itself found the evidence dubious 48 in fact amnesty the medical fact finding mission and the fidh delegation extensively documented premeditated and unprovoked attacks by israel on palestinian ambulances during protective edge 49 schools israel destroyed 22 schools and damaged 118 others during protective edge 50 the israeli military has stated that rockets or mortars were launched from within several schools in the gaza strip during the hostilities amnesty reported and that at least 89 rockets and mortar shells were launched within 30m of un schools after professing its inability to verify any of these specific claims amnesty recommended that they should be independently investigated but why did unlawful and deadly cite only and ad nauseam israel ministry of foreign affairs and israel defense forces idf press handouts 51 surely it could have cross checked the official israeli alibis by consulting palestinian human rights groups un officials and relevant ngos based in gaza the un board of inquiry investigated seven israeli attacks many deadly on un schools all but one of which had been converted into emergency shelters the board found no evidence to sustain but copious evidence including security guard and other witness testimony to refute boilerplate israeli allegations that hamas launched rockets from within or in the vicinity of those un schools attacked by israel 52 mosques israel destroyed 73 mosques and damaged 130 others during protective edge amnesty reported that according to israel s ministry of foreign affairs at least 83 rockets and mortars were launched from within 25m of mosques during the hostilities in some cases from directly within the mosque compounds no other source was cited by amnesty it was not the first time israel targeted mosques in gaza it destroyed 30 mosques and damaged 15 more during cast lead back then the un human rights council mission headed by richard goldstone investigated an intentional israeli missile attack on a mosque that killed at least 15 people attending prayers it found no evidence that this mosque was used for the storage of weapons or any military activity by palestinian armed groups 53 if it quoted official israeli justifications for the wholesale indeed kristallnacht like assault on islamic houses of worship shouldn t amnesty at least have noted that in the past these justifications had proven to be spurious 54 power plant israel repeatedly attacked gaza s only power plant during protective edge the attacks exacerbated already severe electricity blackouts and devastated water sanitation and medical services it was not the first time that israel had attacked gaza s only power plant in 2006 israel launched multiple missile strikes precisely targeting the plant s transformers b tselem israeli information center for human rights in the occupied territories deemed the 2006 attack a war crime 55 amnesty stated that the attack on gaza s power plant during protective edge could amount to a war crime 56 but then hastened to enter this qualification an israeli brigadier general denied the power plant intentionally but did not rule out the possibility that it was hit by mistake if amnesty quoted the brigadier general s predictable denial shouldn t it also have taken note that israel had intentionally targeted the very same power plant in the past the power plant s location was well known the fidh delegation visiting gaza after protective edge noted repeated strikes and the refusal by israel to israel had targeted that guarantee the security of the plant do not support the assertion that these strikes were accidental 57 it is remarkable how out of step amnesty was with human rights delegations that did manage to enter gaza to amnesty s biased rules of evidence also tainted its report on israeli aerial attacks targeting civilian residences during protective edge the report families under the rubble did conclude that the eight attacks amnesty investigated were on various grounds unlawful and possibly war crimes in particular it found that the loss of civilian lives injury to civilians and damage civilian objects appear disproportionate that is out of proportion to the likely military advantage of carrying out the attack israel itself made no statement about who or what was being targeted or even acknowledged that it carried out these particular attacks but although amnesty properly asserted that the onus is on israel to provide information concerning the attacks and their intended targets bizarrely it took upon itself the burden of ferreting out pretexts that could justify them the result hovered between satire and scandal see table 7 first amnesty repeatedly speculated often on the flimsiest of grounds that israel targeted a home because a hamas militant might have been hiding inside second it didn t ask the obvious question how would israel even have been privy to the militant s alleged presence if most neighbors appeared to be in the dark 58 third it detected in each and every attack a possible gazan militant targeted by israel but even israel s harshest critic would concede that one or another of the civilian homes might have been hit not intentionally but due to an operational mishap amnesty was so determined to provide israel with alibis that it ended up going overboard as its apologetics preempted even the plausible excuse of human error 59 the thrust of amnesty s report families under the rubble conveyed the impression that israel overwhelmingly targeted hamas militants in its attacks on civilian homes it exonerated israel of the charge that would most appall in the court of public opinion that the idf was deliberately targeting civilians and civilian objects by supplying israel with pretexts for atrocities that were among the most heinous it committed during protective edge amnesty to the numberless caveats attached conveniently eased the burdens of israeli hasbara it is much easier to rebut the nebulous subjective and relative charge of a disproportionate attack than the charge of a deliberate attack on the civilian population indeed the official israeli postmortem on protective edge repeatedly invoked the proportionality principle which in effect demonstrated the near impossibility of nailing down a conviction based on it 60 but the bigger scandal is this the impression left by families under the rubble was flat out false and amnesty must have known it in a state of inflamed madness but also in a sober calculation of its pedagogical value israel inflicted a grotesque form of collective punishment as it indiscriminately or leveled a staggering number of gazan dwellings it initially targeted the hearths of hamas militants 61 then as the ground invasion got under way embarked on a wild wrecking spree and then in protective edge s denouement pulverized four multistory landmark edifices in gaza in its report nothing is immune israel s destruction of landmark buildings in gaza amnesty acknowledged that the destruction of these landmark buildings was a form of collective punishment but it also bracketed off israel s climactic act as the exception to the rule t he attacks are of great significance because they are examples of what appears to have been deliberate destruction and targeting of civilian buildings and property on a large scale carried out without military necessity in fact the vast preponderance of intentionally israeli destruction throughout protective edge consisted of collective punishment on a lunatic scale and devoid of military purpose let alone military necessity if situated in the full scope of this systematic wreckage israel s specific targeting of hamas militants occupying or deploying from civilian homes amounted at most to the equivalent of statistical error could amnesty have possibly believed that a hamas militant was secreted in all or even most of the 18 000 homes israel destroyed in gaza the ghastly truth of what unfolded in gaza was captured not in amnesty s effective whitewash but instead in the breaking the silence collection of testimonies of idf soldiers who served in protective edge see table 8 62 in its introduction to families under the rubble amnesty exhorted israel to learn the lessons of this and previous conflicts and change its military doctrine and tactics for fighting in densely populated areas such as gaza so as to ensure strict compliance with international humanitarian law but israel had already learned the lessons of fighting in gaza its military doctrine had already incorporated these lessons and the idf brilliantly executed them in this last operation it required exceptional mental discipline not to notice compliance with international law wasn t an israeli consideration let alone a priority on the contrary the whole point of protective edge was to leave families under the rubble 63 that ensuring strict the pretense that not just israel but hamas as well committed massive egregious violations of international law underpinned amnesty s balanced indictment its accusation that hamas was guilty of flagrant violations of international law that is war crimes fell under two heads 1 hamas s use of indiscriminate weapons and 2 its indiscriminate or deliberate targeting of israeli civilians and civilian objects in addition amnesty accused hamas of violating the rule of international law that required it to take all feasible precautions in order to protect civilians in the combat zone each of these will be analyzed in turn 64 inherently indiscriminate weapons amnesty asserted that all the rockets in hamas s arsenal constituted unguided projectiles which cannot be accurately directed at specific in targets located indiscriminate attacks targets furthermore although acknowledging that hamas did appear to have aimed some mortars at military objectives amnesty entered the critical caveat that mortars are still an imprecise weapon and must therefore never be used to target military objectives located amidst civilians or civilian objects in a second iteration the legal standard was set yet higher even in the hands of a highly experienced and trained operator a mortar round can never be accurate enough to hit a specific point target hence when mortars are used with the intent of striking military the vicinity of civilian concentrations but strike civilians or civilian objects they constitute emphasis added except for handheld weapons such as pistols antitank missiles and ieds amnesty effectively declared illegal the whole of hamas s mostly archaic military arsenal indeed according to amnesty international humanitarian law prohibits the use of weapons that are by nature indiscriminate using prohibited weapons is a war crime firing the rocket was a war crime emphases added thus in amnesty s bookkeeping each time hamas fired a rocket or mortar shell it committed a war crime regardless of whether the weapon struck a civilian or civilian object insofar as hamas fired seven thousand rockets and mortar shells at israel it would have on amnesty s reckoning committed perhaps as many as seven thousand war crimes 65 even if only six civilians in israel were killed and only one israeli house was destroyed such a calculation might appear to go some distance toward vindicating amnesty s balanced indictment but only at the price of turning international law or at any rate amnesty s construal and application of it into an object deserving of derision if hamas s mere use of these weapons constituted war crimes it s also cause for wonder why amnesty took the trouble to investigate the ensuing civilian death and destruction one might think that after a bill of indictment already tallying thousands of war crimes supplementary documentation of war crimes would be redundant akin to beating a dead horse but there s another anomaly as well amnesty alluded in passing to the fact that israeli violations of international law during protective edge included attacks using munitions such as artillery which cannot be precisely targeted on very densely populated residential areas in fact had amnesty bothered to pursue this line of inquiry it would have discovered that israel fired no less than 20 000 unguided high explosive artillery shells into gaza an estimated 95 percent into or near populated civilian areas the israeli artillery shells were doubly indiscriminate they couldn t be directed at and their blast and fragmentation effects couldn t be limited to a specific target thus on the one hand an attack with a 155mm doher howitzer was technically reckoned a hit if the shell landed within 46 meters of the target a far cry from amnesty s specific point target threshold and anyhow as the breaking the silence testimonies confirmed the artillery was frequently israel must have deliberately fired fired with abandon while on the other hand the expected casualty producing radius of each 155mm artillery shell was about 300 meters 66 the official israeli postmortem on protective edge purported that in the overwhelming majority of cases israel fired high explosive artillery shells into open areas devoid of civilian presence 67 but it also stated that rather than utilizing the less populated areas of the gaza strip where they operate during lulls in hostilities hamas had relocated its assets and operations to built up civilian areas in order to shield them from idf attack 68 if this authoritative israeli publication was to be believed the overwhelming majority of 20 000 high explosive artillery shells into empty spaces devoid of military value meanwhile to go by amnesty s bookkeeping wherein each use of an indiscriminate weapon constitutes a war crime israel committed nearly three times as many war crimes as hamas just in its use of artillery shells although one would never know it from amnesty s reports 69 it was symptomatic of amnesty s extreme bias that whereas it meticulously inventoried hamas s military arsenal the reader was left utterly clueless about the quantity and quality of firepower israel visited on gaza how many bombs and how much tonnage did israel drop how many missile attacks did israel launch how many tank and artillery shells did it expend one searched amnesty s reports on protective edge in vain for answers to these basic questions even though these data were publicly accessible 70 a juxtaposition of the arsenals each side deployed would have made mockery of amnesty s pretensions to balance if war connotes an armed conflict between more or less evenly matched belligerents then what unfolded during protective edge did not remotely rise to threshold hamas s oh so criminal primitive projectiles vanished to negative invisibility beside israel s ever so legal high tech killing machine this indiscriminate and deliberate targeting of civilians and civilian objects amnesty did not criminally indict hamas just for deploying indiscriminate weapons it also and as a discrete line in its ledger criminally indicted hamas for deploying these indiscriminate weapons in order to launch indiscriminate attacks and attacks targeting civilians put otherwise hamas stood charged with deploying indiscriminate weapons and also for deploying these weapons in order to launch intentionally indiscriminate and targeted attacks on civilians and civilian objects article 51 of the additional protocols to the geneva conventions prohibits indiscriminate attacks it defines such attacks inter alia as those which are not directed at a specific military objective or those which employ a method or means of combat which cannot be directed at a specific military objective thus both these prohibitions are subsumed under the single rubric indiscriminate attacks if an indiscriminate weapon is used or if a weapon is fired indiscriminately or if an indiscriminate weapon is fired indiscriminately it constitutes one and the same war crime of an indiscriminate attack 71 amnesty however cleft it into separate and distinct crimes it exhorted hamas to end the use of inherently indiscriminate weapons such as unguided rockets denounce attacks targeting civilians and indiscriminate attacks the value of each hamas projectile in amnesty s bill of indictment accordingly doubled hamas committed a war crime each time it made use of an indiscriminate weapon and also each time it launched an attack either indiscriminate or targeting civilians with an indiscriminate weapon that neat linguistic subtlety would have enabled amnesty to boost its indictment of hamas to as many as 14 000 war crimes for those who were still counting even if still only six civilians in israel were killed and only one israeli house was destroyed consider further amnesty s criminal indictment of hamas for targeting civilian areas it reported that in many cases hamas was or declared it was directing its projectiles towards israeli civilians and civilian objects that it directed them at specific israeli communities if amnesty determined that hamas breached the laws of war by deploying rockets that cannot be accurately targeted at specific targets it s hard to make out how amnesty could also charge hamas with targeting civilian communities when it fired them how does one target an inherently untargetable weapon if hamas publicly declared its intention to target a civilian community it might be guilty of bluster but not of a deliberate attack it was on incapable of amnesty s own evidence launching a deliberate attack still it might be contended weren t hamas rockets sufficiently accurate to target a large civilian community if not a specific object within it but then it puzzles why so many hamas rockets landed in vacant areas away from israeli conurbations of the five thousand hamas rockets fired at israel well under one thousand came within range of iron dome which was deployed around israel s major population centers it s not very persuasive that hamas was targeting empty space if so many hamas rockets landed in empty space it s because they couldn t be targeted what s more amnesty accused hamas of deliberately israeli civilian community not only when that was its declared intention but also when its declared target was a military object located in or around the community these hamas statements most of which specified the time of each attack the community or in rarer cases the military base targeted and the munition used indicate that these attacks were directed at civilians or civilian objects emphasis added if according to amnesty a hamas press release served as proof of intent it perplexes how it proved intent to target civilians even when it manifestly eschewed such an intent 72 in one instance hamas verged on scoring a trifecta of war crimes as amnesty indicted it for firing mortar shells at a kibbutz the mortar was an imprecise weapon and it was a direct attack on civilians or civilian objects and even if the attack had targeted idf troops or targeting an still have been equipment in the vicinity of the kibbutz the attack would indiscriminate the most extravagant entry in amnesty s charge sheet however zeroed in on a rocket misfire that killed 13 gazan civilians hamas was saddled with a foursome of war crimes it was an indiscriminate attack using a prohibited weapon which may well have been fired from a residential area within the gaza strip and may have been intended to strike civilians in israel emphases added it would unduly tax the forbearance of the reader to parse the incongruities of this ejaculation for one indiscriminate attack against whom in any case however many multipliers amnesty applied to hamas s war crimes the sum total would still pale beside the horror israel inflicted failure to take all feasible precautions international humanitarian law obliges parties to a conflict to take all feasible precautions or precautions to the maximum feasible extent in order to protect civilians and civilian objects under their control against the dangers resulting from military operations one such precaution is to avoid locating military objectives within or near densely populated areas the critical caveat of course is feasible the inclusion of this adjectival qualifier in binding law reflected the concern of small and densely populated countries which would find it difficult to separate civilians and civilian objects from military objectives these countries stressed the fact that the principle to the time ruling at circumstances avoid locating military objectives within or near densely populated areas was difficult to apply the provision has generally been construed to mandate precautions which are practicable or practically possible taking into account all including humanitarian and military considerations 73 therefore to plausibly indict hamas for violating the precautions provision it was incumbent upon amnesty to demonstrate at a minimum one of two things either 1 in each specific combat situation hamas had a feasible alternative taking into account all circumstances ruling at the time but as amnesty itself noted israeli authorities denial of access to the gaza strip has made documenting and verifying specific violations by hamas more difficult indeed it would be difficult to assess from a remote venue whether in the circumstances ruling at the time of each alleged breach of the precautions principle hamas did have another option or 2 even if general circumstances ruling at the precautions provision gaza is among the most densely populated places on earth 74 hamas still put civilians and civilian objects at gratuitous risk how did amnesty negotiate these evidentiary hurdles it purported that there is substantial evidence that some of the military operations and conduct by hamas violated their obligation to take all feasible precautions to avoid and minimize harm it did not however adduce such evidence instead it simply discarded the critical feasibility caveat time rendered it difficult to apply the it will be recalled that in one incident after another amnesty conscientiously searched out often to the point of absurdity an alibi that effectively exonerated israel of the charge of targeting civilians and civilian dwellings in the case of hamas however it did precisely the reverse instead of investigating whether or not in each alleged violation of the precautions principle hamas had a feasible alternative amnesty found prima facie evidence of a violation of the precautions principle whenever and wherever it could be shown however tenuously that hamas was fighting in proximity to civilians see table 9 75 but such a proof in and of itself proved nothing fighting in proximity to civilians is not the standard of illegality set by international law in each particular incident one would have to determine whether other practicable or practically possible options for resisting existed and what were the circumstances ruling at the time in its previous report on operation cast lead amnesty did take into account these factors and as a result a nuanced genuinely balanced picture emerged 76 but in its assessment of hamas s military tactics during protective edge amnesty jettisoned its surgical kit in favor of a sledgehammer it would be the wonder of wonders if hamas wasn t resisting much of the time during protective edge in proximity to the civilian population it was gaza after all and in fact amnesty was not indifferent to this dilemma yet the solution it proposed in unlawful and deadly cannot but bewilder it should be noted that even though the overall population density in the gaza strip is very high particularly in and around gaza city significant areas within the 365km2 of territory are not residential and conducting hostilities or launching munitions from these areas presents a lower risk of endangering palestinian laying out this as civilians in it were feasible alternative amnesty omitted the critical factual and legal context open areas are relatively scarce in gaza 77 fighting in urban areas per se is not a violation of international humanitarian law 78 a party to the conflict cannot be expected to arrange its armed forces and installations in such a way as to make them conspicuous to the benefit of the adversary 79 but even setting aside these far from trivial considerations amnesty s feasible alternative would still invite ridicule on the one hand since 2005 israel had maintained its occupation of gaza largely by remote control modern technology now permits effective control from outside the occupied territory and this is what israel has established distinguished international jurist john dugard observes before israel s physical withdrawal from gaza in 2005 palestinian acts of violent resistance were directed at israeli forces within the territory this was during the second intifada since then palestinian militants have been obliged to take their resistance to the occupation and the illegal siege of gaza to israel itself the alternative is to do nothing a course no occupied people in history has ever taken it is unusual for an occupied people to take its resistance outside the occupied territory but it is also unusual for an occupying power to maintain a brutal occupation from outside the territory 80 on the other hand amnesty declared nearly all projectiles in hamas s arsenal if israel established its control of gaza from afar and if hamas s then hamas couldn t be projectiles were illegal it follows that illegal conducting hostilities or launching munitions to end the occupation and still pass legal muster the long and short of amnesty s counsel was this in order to resist israel s inhuman and illegal occupation 81 compounded by its illegal and inhuman blockade and punctuated periodically by its large scale massacres hamas militants should have gathered en masse and unarmed in an open field still to facilitate and expedite matters shouldn t they also have lined up like ducks but there s more just as it applied a multiplier to indiscriminate attacks by hamas so amnesty also verbally inflated hamas s violations of the precautions provision what began in unlawful and deadly as some and certain cases in which hamas breached this provision morphed into far from isolated and not infrequent violations until in the report s conclusion hamas stood accused of routinely violating the precautions provision and a consistent failure to abide by it meanwhile it was no less instructive what amnesty elected to pass over in silence in ashkelon sderot be er sheva and other cities in the south of israel as well as elsewhere in the country military bases and other installations are located in or around residential areas including kibbutzim and villages amnesty breezily reported during operation protective edge there were more israeli military positions and activities than usual close to civilian areas in the south of israel and israeli forces launched daily artillery and other attacks into gaza from these areas along gaza s perimeter but according to the precautions provision governments should endeavor to find places away from densely populated areas to site fixed military objectives such as military bases and as regards mobile objectives care should be taken in particular during the conflict to avoid placing troops equipment or transports in densely populated areas 82 israel was far from lacking in empty spaces it could also choose from a dazzling spectrum of weapons which could be launched from virtually any terrain altitude and distance didn t the precautions provision apparently not according to amnesty which uttered not a word of criticism then flagrantly violate israel the point at issue is not whether hamas breached international law during protective edge some fighters probably did seek out the protection of civilian objects such as dwellings and mosques in gaza 83 although by the time israel blasted the ten thousandth civilian edifice it must have been brought home that they provided no deterrence on the contrary israel would have relished the prospect of so to speak targeting two birds with one stone a hamas fighter and a civilian object the pertinent question however is whether hamas s violations were remotely on the same scale as the violations by israel the subtext of amnesty s presentation which carefully balanced the death and destruction inflicted as well as the criminal culpability of both parties conveyed that it was but the pretense that the pitiable spree of bottle rockets directed at israel compared to the hecatomb that incriminated visited on gaza is materially ludicrous and morally a travesty the question then becomes how did amnesty manage to prove the unprovable it did so by acting less as a neutral arbiter and more as the defense counsel for israel it made the best case for israel by obscuring factual evidence it adducing speculative evidence that exonerated it and applying a lax legal standard that gave israel the benefit of a doubt when it didn t deserve it it made the worst case for hamas by obscuring factual evidence that vindicated it adducing speculative evidence that incriminated it and applying an over the top its criminal culpability and left it no other military option if it wanted to stay within the law save to lie down and die if amnesty sustained its case for a balanced verdict that s because the case was rigged in advance legal standard that inflated after the un human rights council issued its report on operation protective edge 84 amnesty international released another report of its own black friday carnage in rafah during 2014 israel gaza conflict its belated publication85 precluded it from having an impact on the critical un report still this fifth and final amnesty installment was unusually ambitious and on this ground alone merits close inspection black friday homed in on israel s resort to massive violence against the civilian population of rafah between 1 and 4 august 2014 the assault occurred after an israeli officer lieutenant hadar goldin was reportedly captured alive by hamas fighters in conjunction with forensic architecture a research team based at the university of london amnesty made use of sundry cutting edge technologies to reconstruct with striking visual effect the sequence of events on the ground this analysis however will focus only on amnesty s written text this author s analysis of the packaging of black friday set it off from amnesty s prior quartet of reports on protective edge for the record before it issued black friday amnesty had already read its earlier publications it is not known if and how this critique influenced amnesty s presentation in its last report 86 amnesty no longer pretended to an illusive balance in the background section of this report the death and destruction in gaza during protective edge fills five times as much space as the death and destruction in israel 87 a pair of incendiary subtitles carnage in rafah during 2014 israel gaza conflict on the cover page and israel s mass killing of civilians in rafah during 2014 gaza conflict on the table of contents page likewise registered a palpable shift in tone moreover black friday repeatedly gestured to the input of gaza s major human rights organizations naming in particular and conspicuously the palestinian center for human rights and al mezan center for human rights 88 nonetheless the core of black friday comprising a factual presentation and legal assessment of israel s violations of international law carried over the apologetic analytical framework of amnesty s prior reports if the offense grated more deeply this time around it was because of the density of the crimes committed in rafah all the same it should be noted straightaway that whereas amnesty conveyed the least by the extraordinary investment it made in chronicling what happened that the bloodbath in rafah marked a sharp departure from protective edge as a whole in fact as the breaking the silence testimonies confirmed although the wanton destruction there might have been quantitatively worse 89 it did not differ in kind from what unfolded elsewhere in gaza 90 impression not the israeli bombardment of rafah commenced after a firefight in which hamas apparently captured alive lieutenant hadar goldin israeli political culture does not abide its combatants being held in captivity but it also recoils at prisoner exchanges which invariably entail the release of many palestinians held in israeli jails to reconcile these conflicting impulses israel codified a macabre military doctrine dubbed the hannibal directive that effectively sanctioned the killing of its own combatants if they fell into enemy hands and could not be rescued on the tacit principle that the death of captured soldiers is preferable to them being taken alive it could hardly be doubted that the idf intended not to rescue goldin but to kill him it didn t launch a pinpoint commando raid instead it turned the area which it believed to be the location of lieutenant goldin into an inferno 91 as an aside it s hard to fathom the ethos of a nation that goes into deep mourning when one of its soldiers is held in captivity yet prefers that he be killed rather than captured alive in any event when goldin was taken prisoner by hamas on the morning of 1 august and his whereabouts could not be tracked israel unleashed maximum firepower in rafah s densely populated civilian areas in order to kill him even after it became clear from forensic evidence that goldin was dead however the murderous assault continued although at a somewhat diminished intensity as an act of revenge and to administer a lesson the assault on rafah unfolded in the near absence of armed resistance hardly any return fire was reported amnesty found and the idf suffered no casualties 92 as jets drones helicopters and artillery were raining fire at pedestrians and vehicles at the intersections indiscriminately hitting cars ambulances motorbikes and pedestrians while civilians attempting to flee the inferno were hit by missiles and artillery 93 more than two thousand bombs including one ton bombs missiles and artillery shells were fired on the first day one thousand shells within three hours of goldin s capture by the end of the attack on 4 august at least two hundred civilians had been killed and 2 600 homes completely or partially destroyed in the lucid idiom of law israel committed a crime against humanity in rafah except that whereas the factual record just recapitulated was culled it directly from black friday amnesty s legal assessment veered in an altogether different direction it indicted israel for 1 indiscriminate attacks that is for recklessly hitting civilians or civilian objects as targeted military objectives 94 2 disproportionate attacks that is for causing excessive collateral damage to civilians or civilian objects as it targeted military objectives 95 and 3 a failure to take all feasible precautions in order to minimize incidental harm to the civilian population in the course of military operations 96 it was only in the rarest of instances that amnesty indicted israel if gingerly for targeting civilians and civilian objects even as its own evidence attested that the murderous assault on rafah unfolded in the near total absence of a legitimate military objective but it might be contended whereas hamas returned hardly any fire still in the initial phase of the rafah assault liquidating goldin constituted a legitimate military objective couldn t that goal justify a portion if not the full magnitude of the firepower israel unleashed for an objective to qualify as legitimate however its achievement must confer a concrete and direct military advantage 97 it would be a most bizarre linguistic usage to construe israel s calculated killing of its own soldier as conferring on it a military advantage the un human rights council report on protective edge dispatched the notion that abstract political and long term strategic considerations such as a potential prisoner swap in the future could legitimately be factored into the calculus of military advantage the advantage it underscored must be concrete and direct 98 it follows that the inferno israel created in rafah in order to kill goldin could not be legally comprehended in the ambit of an indiscriminate attack a disproportionate attack or a failure to take all feasible precautions each of which presupposes the existence of a legitimate military target inasmuch as rafah s densely populated civilian neighborhoods were the object of saturation bombardment during the manhunt phase and inasmuch as this bombardment occurred amid only scattered return fire which wasn t even the object of the bombardment the dispositive legal principle was the deliberate targeting of civilians and civilian objects still it might also be contended israel s intention was to kill goldin not to inflict death and destruction on rafah s civilian population but in law the doer of an act must be its natural and foreseeable taken to have consequences 99 natural foreseeable consequences civilian bombarding neighborhoods were massive death of civilians and massive destruction of civilian objects even if israel s avowed goal was to kill goldin the bombardment still constituted as a matter of law an intentional attack on civilians and civilian objects categorizing the rafah massacre as a disproportionate attack an indiscriminate attack or a failure to take all feasible precautions on account of israel s intent to kill goldin amounted to legitimizing the wholly illegitimate goal of launching an armed attack on a intended the and rafah s of civilian population in order to preempt a future prisoner swap it is true that to depict the rafah inferno as an intentional attack on a civilian population although correct as a matter of law does not yet encapsulate the full reality of the manhunt phase the correct formulation would then go something like an intentional targeted attack on a civilian population in pursuit of an illegitimate military objective if the phrasing is ungainly that s because the reality it endeavors to capture is so deviant it s not every day that a state carries out a massacre in order to kill its own soldier in order to preempt a future prisoner exchange but what difference does it make how amnesty categorized and depicted the rafah massacre if it still found that israel committed war crimes 100 the answer is this distilled to its essence protective edge was designed as the goldstone report put it in the context of operation cast lead 2008 9 to punish humiliate and terrorize a civilian population the other major atrocities during protective edge khuza a shuja iya manifestly lacked a military rationale 101 the rafah massacre appeared to be different as it purportedly traced back to a military objective the fact that amnesty s most ambitious report focused on the israeli intention to kill goldin and its concomitant the hannibal directive that triggered the bloody manhunt conveyed the distinct impression that protective edge was a military operation gone awry wrong even criminal but still understandable in military terms but in fact not even the initial manhunt phase of the rafah massacre properly understood could be regarded as a military operation even as goldin s death was confirmed probably by the end of the third hour of the first day 102 the israeli military continued its attacks in rafah not in pursuit of a so called military objective but to show them settle accounts and extract sic a price amnesty quoting israeli soldiers if as israeli officers maintain there were no serious fire fights amnesty ultracautiously speculated the question arises as to whether the army s use of massive firepower was in fact intended to take revenge on rafah 103 in other words the rafah assault emerged after the manhunt phase as a straight up massacre the premeditated carnage in rafah and mass killing of civilians in rafah comprised in its parts including the initial manhunt phase and as a totality an incontrovertible war crime as israel targeted civilians and civilian objects in the absence of a legitimate military objective apart from desultory return fire and also a crime against humanity as it launched a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population rome statute article 7 but instead of stating the obvious amnesty chose to systematically occlude the terroristic essence of the rafah massacre by churning out one israeli alibi after another it stated that after goldin was officially pronounced dead the israeli army continued the destruction of greenhouses and homes apparently as part of the search for lieutenant goldin or his remains 104 it did not adduce a smidgen of evidence in support of this speculation while the report itself documented that israel sought via its wanton destruction to exact revenge and administer a lesson indeed did it forget that these idf tactics constituted standard operating procedure across gaza throughout protective edge independent of goldin s fate amnesty then went on to observe the military did not manage to retrieve the remains of lieutenant goldin s body heavy bombing of tunnel areas reduced the likelihood of finding him 105 but if heavy bombing reduced the likelihood of finding goldin s remains then maybe retrieving his remains wasn t the bombing s objective while taking revenge was what s more amnesty parsed the hannibal directive which underpinned the four day assault under the subhead shift in proportionality 106 but inasmuch as killing goldin wasn t a legitimate military objective and neither revenge nor deter future capture attempts amnesty s phrases could be construed as a legitimate military objective of what possible relevance was the proportionality principle which presupposes such an objective black friday further noted in this shift in proportionality section post conflict briefings to soldiers and public statements of israeli officers suggest that the high death toll and massive destruction were not seen as regrettable side effects but achievements or accomplishments that would keep gaza quiet for five years an intelligence corps soldier quoted senior army officers saying 2 000 dead and 11 000 wounded half a million refugees decades worth of destruction harm to lots of senior hamas members and to their homes to their families these were stated as accomplishments so that no one would doubt that what we did during this period was meaningful another israeli soldier told breaking the silence that the aim in bombings was to deter them scare them wear them down psychologically these statements indicate an intention to generate material damage as deterrent if the professed purpose of the assault on rafah was to achieve a high death toll and massive destruction in order to shatter the will of gaza to resist it wasn t a disproportionate attack but unambiguously a terror assault on the civilian population black friday assembled 15 case studies in which civilians were killed during the four day assault on rafah these case studies far from shedding light on amnesty s perverse conclusions bewilder and appall in their resort to legalistic gymnastics that evade and obscure the obvious however tedious it might appear in order to expose amnesty s disingenuousness each case study must be individually examined see table 10 the israeli massacre in rafah constituted in its parts and as a totality an intentional attack on a civilian population in order to achieve a dual objective 1 to kill a captured israeli soldier so as to preempt a future prisoner swap which wasn t a legitimate military objective and 2 a desire for revenge to teach a lesson to or to punish the population of rafah for the capture of lieutenant goldin black friday conclusion which a fortiori wasn t a legitimate military objective 107 yet amnesty found that israel directly targeted civilians and civilian objects in only two of the fifteen cases it investigated 108 in the report s comprehensive factual conclusion the maximum amnesty would allow was that in some cases there are indications that israeli military forces directly fired at and killed civilians including some who were fleeing in some cases they warned civilians to stay in their homes which were then bombarded 109 in the other thirteen incidents amnesty neither reported return fire nor adduced creditable evidence of a legitimate military target instead it conjured wildly speculative scenarios that enabled it to invoke legal principles distinction between civilians and combatants proportionality precautions presupposing a military objective or legal principles presupposing a military objective without even bothering to speculate on the objective it might be argued that amnesty entertained so many of israel s premises or premises favorable to israel in order to show that even if one were to accept those premises israel would still be legally culpable the upshot however of such a preemptive strategy if preemptive strategy it was was that it winded invoked it up misrepresenting what happened and letting israel off the hook on the more serious legal charges the ghastly heartrending stories assembled in amnesty s case studies leave little room for doubt that far from being a military operation the inferno israel created in rafah was a terror assault on a defenseless people and yet in its report s comprehensive legal conclusion the maximum amnesty would allow was that to the extent that some of the violations committed by the israeli army in rafah may have been carried out as part of a widespread or systematic attack on the civilian population in furtherance of a state policy they may also constitute a crime against humanity 110 however the evidence collected in black friday points ineluctably to the conclusion that not just some instances may but the whole of this murderous assault did constitute a crime against humanity although it invested considerable resources in black friday amnesty ultimately and to its eternal shame recoiled from its own factual findings and delivered up a legal whitewash it cannot be seriously doubted that amnesty international s reports on operation protective edge lacked objectivity and professionalism they betrayed a systematic bias against hamas and in favor of israel they also registered a steep regression from the exacting standard amnesty set in its reports spanning the past two decades on the israel palestine conflict amnesty might be tempted to respond if an acknowledged supporter of palestinian human rights such as this writer criticizes its pro israel bias while israel criticizes its pro palestinian bias then it must be doing something right but that s as if to say if one gets attacked by the flat earthers at one extreme and the round earthers at the other then it proves the oblong earthers must be telling the truth the only valid criterion is what the facts themselves show the imputed bias of the bearer of those facts is beside the point judging by this standard and the mass of evidence assembled in this chapter of its dereliction of duty amnesty would have been hard pressed to defend its performance after protective edge when it did accept the challenge what most impressed was the feebleness of amnesty s reply 111 there is a separate but still critical question what happened in the absence of a smoking gun one can only speculate on the springs of amnesty s abrupt change of course it can probably better be understood if located in a broader political context in recent years israel has been slowly but steadily losing the battle for public opinion in the west 112 the proactive and principled stance of credible human rights organizations in exposing israeli violations of palestinian human rights has played a catalytic role in this historic shift the high water mark was set after operation cast lead when scores of human rights reports meticulously documented israeli crimes during the assault and it appeared as if finally israel might be held legally judge with jewish zionist accountable for its crimes confronted by this grave palpable threat israel and its powerful international lobby set out to reverse the tide by combatting what was dubbed lawfare that is isolating israel through the language of human rights 113 a furious and ruthless campaign was mounted replete with smears slanders and strong arm tactics targeting critics of israel s human rights record the most notorious casualty of this juggernaut was richard goldstone a impeccable professional credentials was forced to deliver a humiliating highly public mea culpa that damaged his career and tarnished his reputation for life 114 goldstone s fate served as a cautionary tale for the human rights community none of israel s critics was beyond its reach none was safe from its retribution in short order respected jurists christian tomuschat115 and william schabas116 were devoured by the israeli maw if any doubts lingered after goldstone s fall from grace the handwriting was now on the wall if you or someone close to you had skeletons in the closet the prudent move was not to go too hard on israel or wiser still to cross israel off your agenda undeniably other factors came into play the human rights reports on cast lead ultimately died a slow death in the un bureaucracy as the united states israel and the palestinian authority colluded to kill them 117 it appeared pointless to churn out more human rights reports if they too would be consigned to oblivion not least by the victims themselves or at any rate by their official representatives by the time israel to israel s the palestine question but launched protective edge public opinion had also grown inured periodic massacres minutely documenting the carnage seemed less urgent as fewer people any longer harbored doubt that israel was capable of such brutality in the meantime as the arab spring metamorphosed into the arab winter the ensuing regional upheaval and attendant human rights catastrophe dwarfed and marginalized the intimidation factor was almost certainly the overriding one in amnesty s volte face indeed israel lobby groups such as ngo monitor had openly set their crosshairs on amnesty 118 besides the flawed reports it issued on protective edge a vote on anti semitism by amnesty s uk branch registered the heat it was feeling all the available evidence pointed to the conclusion that anti semitism was at most a marginal phenomenon in british life according to survey results well under 10 percent of the population held a negative opinion of jews whereas 60 percent held a negative opinion of roma gypsies and 40 percent a negative opinion of muslims 119 the manifest purpose of the periodic campaigns bewailing a new anti semitism has been to stifle criticism of israel s atrocious human rights record 120 yet amnesty s uk board signed on to while the membership narrowly defeated 468 to 461 a 2015 resolution calling for an amnesty uk campaign against resurgent anti semitism 121 if amnesty capitulated to political blackmail it also reflected the fact that for the first time it was forced to fend for itself in the jungle of israel palestine politics up until protective edge amnesty and human rights watch hrw typically issued corroborative or complementary reports position papers on potentially explosive issues each had the back of the other each could count on the other for moral political support both organizations issued reports documenting israel s pervasive practice of torture during the first intifada both issued statements supporting the right of palestinian refugees to return to their homes in israel both documented israeli war crimes during operation defensive shield 2002 both issued damning reports on cast lead 122 but hrw basically sat on the sidelines after protective edge it was missing in action if amnesty hadn t published five reports on protective edge this chapter couldn t have documented its multitudinous transgressions if this chapter was silent on hrw that s because hrw was effectively silent on protective edge 123 it will be left to moralists to decide which was worse amnesty s sin of commission or hrw s sin of omission it would be hard to exaggerate the damage wreaked by amnesty s reversal supporters of palestinian human rights and a just and lasting peace have come to depend on amnesty as a credible corrective to israeli hasbara and pro israel media bias the abdication of its professional mandate could not but dismay and dishearten amnesty s worst sin however ran much deeper its abandonment of a forsaken people suffering under an illegal and inhuman ever escalating blockade punctuated by recurrent massacres its open invitation to israel to commit new and worse massacres in the sure knowledge that human rights organizations have been cowed into reticence if only for the sake of the people of gaza one hopes that amnesty as well as hrw will yet find its way once israel successfully browbeat the international into submission the only human rights community remaining chink in its armor was domestic human rights organizations of these breaking the silence most aroused israel s wrath 124 the soldier eyewitness testimonies it had compiled after each of israel s massacres in gaza were as unimpeachable as they were devastating israel consequently set out in a very public way to destroy breaking the silence 125 in the united states the slander campaign was spearheaded by law professor alan dershowitz who accused the group of doing tremendous damage to israel because they are not telling the truth 126 should it neutralize breaking the silence israel will have cleared the last obstacle on its path to committing future massacres in gaza henceforth no one will be around to compellingly document its crimes for a western audience however reputable and reliable palestinian human rights organizations might be unfortunately and unfairly they lack credibility among the broad public in the west in the operations to come israel will be able to carry on as it pleases emboldened in the knowledge that it can do so with guaranteed impunity it s a new sequence of catastrophes waiting to happen former harvard israel in gaza and it wasn t just reputable human rights organizations that failed gaza the statements issued by unicef during protective edge by and large disingenuously balanced the operation s impact on gazan and israeli children the escalating violence threatens devastating harm for children on all sides children are bearing the brunt of the worsening violence in gaza and israel t he violence in gaza claims even more young lives and its toll on children on both sides deepens another school in gaza has come under fire c hildren in israel have lived with the threat of indiscriminate attacks the deaths of children on all sides constitute further tragic evidence of the terrible impact the conflict is having on children and their families on all sides 127 then despite the pleas of save the children war child and even unicef as well as a dozen palestinian human rights organizations and b tselem israel was crossed off a 2015 un list of grave violators of children s rights after top un officials buckled under political pressure from israel 128 one by one a phalanx of humanitarian institutions melted like butter after protective edge as israel turned up the heat in the midst of protective edge venerable british medical journal the lancet had published an open letter signed by a score of medical professionals that decried israel s aggression and massacre in gaza the letter provoked a firestorm of protest charge and countercharge that was played out in the journal s pages over the next four months although he had to endure a barrage of ad hominems editor in chief richard horton initially stood his ground as the journal ran an editorial describing gaza as a prison cataloging the carnage that attended israel s assault and defending the decision to publish the letter but as israel s far flung network of apparatchiks escalated the smear campaign and threatened a boycott horton succumbed what ensued was a strange echo of paul on the road to damascus combined with mao s cultural revolution in a goldstone style ritual of self abasement horton embarked on a trip to israel that was a turning point for me a revelatory experience he reached the epiphany that he had been badly misinformed the israeli reality as he now experienced it was an inspiring model of partnership between jews and arabs a vision for a peaceful and productive future between peoples and then delivered a public self criticism pledging inter alia that he would never publish a letter like that again he apparently uttered not a single word critical of israel during his stay or afterward but he did additionally find time to attend a lecture by and personally converse with israeli philosopher asa kasher who wrote israel s code of military ethics and had earlier been deeply impressed with the courage of israeli soldiers in cast lead horton proceeded to express immense respect for the point of view that israeli combatants took extreme precautions to prevent civilian casualties and put themselves at personal risk to this end during israel s latest operation he went on to ponder in that situation the o t how would i behave it s very easy from an armchair in london to be critical and much more difficult when you re in a combat zone to live out your ideals isn t that every war criminal s defense it s hard to decide whether this cringeworthy profile in pusillanimity disgusts more in its unctuousness or its banality 129 shortly thereafter jacques de maio international committee of the red cross icrc representative in israel and the occupied palestinian territories gave a speech in jerusalem on humanitarian law he not only didn t criticize protective edge but instead singled out israel for praise h umanitarian access in israel and in a comparative sense outstandingly good in fact i can think of no other context where the icrc operates where the access for humanitarian organizations is as good as it is here de maio sang this groveling paean to his host even as israel repeatedly blocked access by humanitarian organizations it mercilessly targeted first responders on rescue missions and even as the red cross had itself firmly condemn ed this extremely alarming series of attacks against humanitarian workers ambulances and hospitals during israel s latest operation 130 it would not be the last time de maio plumbed the depths of moral depravity as he whitewashed israeli crimes including the red cross even as territories occupied is meanwhile former international criminal court chief prosecutor luis moreno ocampo has in recent years reinvented himself as israel s chief counsel on his periodic exactly where trafficking to israel he heaped praise on its respect for the rule of law purported that the legal status of israeli settlements in the occupied palestinian territories was a completely new and open question even as the 15 judges on the international court of justice unanimously declared them illegal more than a decade ago131 and alleged that as a matter of law protective edge was highly complicated 132 the it s unclear complication lay was it when israel dropped more than one hundred one ton bombs on shuja iya or when it indiscriminately fired 20 000 high explosive artillery shells in densely populated civilian areas was it when israel methodically razed to the ground thousands of civilian homes or when it fired on civilians carrying white flags was it when israel targeted clearly marked ambulances or when it targeted clearly marked civilian shelters even after explicitly promising not to target them his israeli audiences no doubt warmed up to moreno ocampo s soothing words whereas the informed reader cannot but shudder in revulsion at these wanton acts of criminal prostitution 133 lancet red cross international criminal court the capitulation was as pervasive as it was pathetic in yet another abject spectacle of professional dereliction even the un human rights council betrayed gaza after protective edge addendum in this chapter was the critique of black friday submitted to amnesty international for comment this addendum includes a slightly edited version of amnesty s response which is reprinted with its gracious consent and this author s rejoinder rejoinder to amnesty s response the crux of this chapter s argument with amnesty international boils down to a single question did israel primarily set out to target gaza s civilian population or legitimate military objectives during operation protective edge whereas amnesty s factual evidence overwhelmingly affirmed the former its legal analysis of this evidence consistently presumed the latter in other words its legal analysis repeatedly contradicted its own evidentiary findings and effectively exonerated israel of the most explosive charge leveled against it amnesty s multiple reports on protective edge analyzed the assault at three discrete levels individual incidents e g a single home major attacks e g rafah and the operation as a whole at each of these levels amnesty s legal analysis reached a similar conclusion israel might have committed war crimes in the course of pursuing legitimate military objectives but it almost never intentionally targeted civilians for example in families under the rubble which analyzed gazan homes targeted by israel that resulted in large numbers of civilian deaths amnesty divined a possible military objective in each and every attack in black friday which investigated israel s assault on rafah when its insane and crazy use of firepower peaked amnesty still divined a possible military objective in all but two of the fifteen separate incidents it analyzed black friday accordingly concluded that israel may have targeted civilians and committed crimes against humanity in at most some instances but the evidence assembled by amnesty in black friday pointed ineluctably to a very different conclusion at the micro and macro levels the assault on rafah was a premeditated and deliberate attack on a civilian population it constituted a crime against humanity instead of engaging this chapter s specific criticisms of black friday amnesty s response for the most part lapses into broad and often at best tangential generalities it is consequently inadequate to the task at hand the devil is in the details and by evading the details the response cannot convince this brief rejoinder will focus on the few substantive arguments amnesty does endeavor to make the italicized text is culled from its response 1 presuming that a particular attack was premeditated or that an entire lengthy military operation such as israel s operation protective edge was designed to punish humiliate and terrorize a civilian population is not an option for judges or juries in courts that adhere to international standards amnesty appears to invert the criticism leveled at it a juxtaposition of the factual evidence amnesty gathered in black friday against the legal analysis it rendered demonstrates that in incident after incident amnesty itself kept presuming israeli attack did not premeditatedly target civilians notwithstanding its own factual evidence clearly showing that it did amnesty itself was presuming against its own evidence and in favor of israel for a typical example see table 11 adapted from table 10 above that the the legal analysis amnesty presented was premised on a hypothetical scenario divorced from the actual facts that shielded israel from the politically explosive charge of targeting civilians it is instructive to compare amnesty s chain of deductions in another of its regional reports issued contemporaneously in bombs fall from the sky day and night civilians under fire in northern yemen 2015 amnesty stated the evidence from attacks on military objectives infrastructure government buildings moving vehicles and other targets elsewhere in yemen indicates that coalition forces are capable of striking their chosen targets with a certain degree of accuracy in investigations into airstrikes in other parts of the country amnesty international found that huthi saleh loyalist controlled military bases or other military objectives had been repeatedly targeted by coalition airstrikes yet researchers found civilian objects in sa da governorate which had been struck more than once suggesting that they were in fact the intended target of the attack for example in at least four of the airstrikes investigated by amnesty international houses were struck more than once suggesting that they were the intended targets amnesty international also visited six markets in and around sa da city that were struck by airstrikes and analyzed video footage of the aftermath of airstrikes on a number of markets in other nearby towns and villages some markets were attacked repeatedly on separate occasions at times of day when many civilians were present amnesty international found no evidence indicating that the markets had been used for military purposes the evidentiary standard used by amnesty in the yemeni case was this if a belligerent possesses weapons capable of striking chosen targets with a certain degree of accuracy and if civilian objects were attacked repeatedly on separate occasions at times of day when many civilians were present and if amnesty found no evidence indicating that the civilian objects had been used for military purposes then it suggests that the civilian population was in fact the intended target of the attack but then didn t israel s saturation bombing precision missile attacks and intensive artillery shelling of rafah s densely populated civilian neighborhoods stretching nonstop over a four day period and in the near total absence of a legitimate military target suggest that the civilian population was the intended target of the attack put otherwise why didn t amnesty enter the weasel caveat in the case of yemen amnesty international found no evidence indicating that the markets had been used for military purposes even if there had been a military target the distortions that set in from amnesty s modus operandi became yet more painfully and nauseatingly apparent in a document it issued two years after protective edge which deplored the lack of accountability for atrocities committed during the operation 135 it recalled the details of a notorious incident in which four palestinian children aged 10 14 were killed while they played hide and seek on the beach the attack took place in full view of international journalists they could see clearly that the people running across the beach were children an israeli military spokesman announced that the attack was targeting a hamas naval forces compound which journalists described as a small broken down fisherman s hut none of the journalists reported seeing military operatives in the vicinity of the hut what did amnesty conclude from this accumulation of damning evidence at the very failed to take required precautions to protect civilians including to ensure that least the attack targets are of military nature before proceeding with an attack is it the mandate of a human rights organization to report what at the very least happened or based on all the available evidence what probably happened amnesty noted that an israeli investigation absolving the military of responsibility for the killings did not explain why the army had not identified the children as such it couldn t even conceive or wouldn t let itself conceive that the idf had identified four children frolicking on a beach as such and then proceeded to murder them 136 the response alleges that bodies bound by international law do not have the option of concluding that the carnage in rafah was designed to punish humiliate and terrorize a civilian population but the internal quote comes from the goldstone report on operation cast lead 2008 9 137 it is a depressing commentary that amnesty now distances itself from goldstone although it previously issued no the report 138 for example one of these amnesty statements declared than 15 statements embracing less all relevant un bodies must act promptly and in coordination to implement the recommendations of the un mandated goldstone report on violations of international law the report s findings are consistent with those of amnesty international s own field investigation key findings of the goldstone report include israeli forces committed violations of human rights and international humanitarian law amounting to war crimes and some possibly amounting to crimes against humanity notably investigations into numerous instances of lethal attacks on civilians and civilian objects revealed that the attacks were intentional that some were launched with the intention of spreading terror among the civilian population and with no justifiable military objective 139 instances yet although the bigger point however is this in its objectives and modus operandi protective edge did not substantively differ from cast lead except that the devastation wreaked by protective edge was on a vastly greater scale on the basis of the evidence collected by it the goldstone report concluded and amnesty s own findings corroborated that israel deliberately targeted gaza s civilian population in numerous the evidence assembled by amnesty s protective edge reports in general and black friday in particular pointed to the same conclusion amnesty s legal analysis inferred hypothesized or speculated to the contrary that israel almost without exception targeted not the civilian population but instead legitimate military objects it is also unclear why amnesty did not as a matter of law have the option of concluding that israel sought to punish humiliate and terrorize gaza s civilian population in protective edge indeed black friday itself found that israel committed carnage in gaza in a desire for revenge to teach a lesson to or to punish the population barely a flea s hop separates this factual description of the rafah massacre from the phrase punish humiliate and terrorize that amnesty alleges it did not have the option to utilize the real problem would appear to be that in its legal findings amnesty took flight from its own factual findings of what happened in its response amnesty reprimands this author as he allegedly fails to consider the body of evidence we made publicly available but isn t it amnesty that failed to consider this that is its own body of evidence 2 w e cannot necessarily assume that there was no legitimate military target for each specific israeli attack just because we did not uncover information pointing to one since the israeli military used targeted munitions such as drone fired missiles during the assault on rafah in addition obviously to the use of massive amounts of artillery and other area weapons and since palestinian fighters and military installations were present in at least some parts of rafah during the hostilities we have to entertain the possibility that each israeli attack had a legitimate military target the most we can say is that after various types of research we have not been able to discover a legitimate military target for a particular attack this does not mean we necessarily believe there was one the essence of this statement is whenever israel uses precision weapons amnesty cannot necessarily assume that there was no legitimate military target indeed it must entertain the possibility that there was one even if all the available evidence points to the conclusion that israel was targeting civilians this acknowledgment intrigues on multiple counts first whereas it earlier argued against presuming that israel targeted civilians here amnesty itself argues in favor of presuming that israel targeted a military objective whenever it used precision weapons and even if all the available evidence demonstrates otherwise second amnesty reverses the intuitive presumption that if precision weapons are used in an attack that results in civilian deaths and no evidence exists of a military objective then precisely because precision weapons were used the attack on civilians must have been deliberate instead amnesty declares that if precision weapons were used the presumption must be that israel did not target civilians even as all the evidence points to the conclusion that it did amnesty provides no basis for its poignant presumption that israel would not use precision weapons to target civilians although voluminous evidence exists that israel has repeatedly and brazenly targeted civilians including children and civilian objects much of it collected by amnesty itself third if it is incumbent upon amnesty to entertain the possibility that israel s objective was a legitimate military target when it used precision weapons then amnesty by definition cannot find that israel targeted civilians when it used precision weapons unless israel itself confesses because the possibility will always exist that its objective was a legitimate military target in other words if amnesty did not find that israel was targeting civilians it was not for a deficit of evidence indeed it was despite overwhelming evidence much of it emanating from israelis themselves but because it was an epistemological impossibility on the one hand its working presumption was that israel did not target civilians when it used precision weapons while on the other hand the logic of its reasoning was such that no amount of evidence could persuade it otherwise indiscriminate it s worth pausing for a moment to ponder amnesty s astonishing assertions a typical human rights report includes a section on international law that cites the relevant provisions of international humanitarian and human rights law for example the legal chapter of black friday includes these subheadings prohibition on direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects the principle of distinction and prohibition on disproportionate attacks in attack precautions precautions in defense collective punishment investigation and international human rights law all these sections cite from standard sources such as the 1949 geneva conventions and additional protocols i and ii adopted its readers amnesty interposes between its factual findings and legal analysis a phantom special presumption for israel let s call it sp4i according to which whenever israel deploys precision weapons the operative presumption must be that it is targeting a military objective and even if all the evidence demonstrates otherwise the possibility must still be entertained that a military objective was targeted it ought to be obvious that sp4i is not anchored in any extant provision of law that this extenuating dispensation is applied only to israel would amnesty invoke such a presumption for the syrian regime and that no basis exists for it in israel s extant record of in 1977 but unbeknownst to international conducting armed hostilities if nothing else comes of this exchange it s surely worthwhile that sp4i hitherto invisible in amnesty s legal analysis has now been dredged to the surface 3 legally there is no hierarchy among different types of war crimes or between war crimes and crimes against humanity all are considered the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole which must not go unpunished in terms of war crimes legally speaking intentionally launching an attack in the knowledge that the attack will cause civilian casualties or damage to civilian objects that would clearly be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated i e a disproportionate attack is just as criminal as intentionally launching a direct attack on civilians or civilian objects or an attack which strikes military objectives and civilians or civilian objects without distinction or which treats as a single military objective a number of distinct military objectives located in a civilian city or town all are prohibited by ihl and all are war crimes if a hierarchy does not exist among war crimes it is cause for wonder why amnesty is so cautious not to accuse israel of intentionally targeting civilians and why it starts from the presumption that israel was not targeting civilians and why it persists in this presumption even if all the evidence it gathered showed that israel was targeting them and why a contrario in a press release for the amnesty report deploring lack of accountability two years after protective edge it chose to highlight several attacks that clearly targeted civilians in violation of international humanitarian law 140 but of course a hierarchy does exist if not in a strictly legal sense then as a political matter the public s threshold of tolerance is much higher for civilian deaths in an operation that targets legitimate military objectives than for civilian deaths in an operation calculated to punish humiliate and terrorize the civilian population a 2016 international committee of the red cross survey found that only half of public opinion among the five permanent members of the un security council and switzerland believed it was wrong to target enemy combatants in populated areas knowing that many civilians would be killed whereas fully 80 percent believed it was wrong to target hospitals ambulances and health care workers in order to weaken the enemy 141 what s more if civilians are killed in the absence of a military objective it s a straightforward grave breach of international law akin to rape or the coercive use of human shields however the killing of civilians in the context of a military objective which indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks presuppose diminishes the probability of a conviction as it introduces an element of murkiness and opens up wide latitude for judgment the international court of justice couldn t even reach consensus the use of nuclear weapons was disproportionate or indiscriminate in all circumstances or is what that the otherwise categories proportionate put and discriminate are so elastic that they can even accommodate the use of nuclear weapons 142 amnesty accuses israel of committing disproportionate and indiscriminate attacks during its assault on rafah while it scrupulously avoids accusing israel of premeditated attacks on the civilian population despite overwhelming evidence this was clearly a political decision amnesty calibrated its legal findings so as not to incur the full force of israel s wrath the political decision however came at a heavy price it shielded israel from the full force of justified public outrage by whitewashing the ugliest truth about the rafah inferno it resulted not from the excesses of a legitimate military operation gone awry but from an operation that ab initio intentionally targeted the civilian population the remainder of amnesty s response consists of self congratulatory bromides or unargued counterclaims response to norman g finkelstein s critique of amnesty international s black friday report134 we consider that your critique misrepresents our work on the israel gaza 2014 conflict and our legal analysis disregards our efforts to campaign for justice for the victims of crimes committed during the conflict and fails to consider the body of evidence we made publicly available from our joint investigation with forensic architecture while we welcome substantive engagement with our work including critical engagement we reject entirely your conclusion that our black friday report represents a whitewash the amount relevant information amnesty international together with forensic architecture chose to focus on investigating israel s assault on rafah from 1 to 4 august 2014 for a number of reasons these include the ability of fieldworkers in the gaza strip contracted by amnesty international to obtain eyewitness testimonies and other of photographic and video material posted on media and social media in real time which enabled analysts to reconstruct specific attacks and locate them in time and space the availability of high resolution satellite images of rafah including from 11 39 a m on 1 august 2014 when some of the heaviest attacks were being launched and the fact that the hannibal directive had been invoked this combination of factors led amnesty international and forensic architecture to conclude that in spite of israel s continued denial of access to the gaza strip to amnesty international researchers during and after the 2014 war strong evidence that israeli forces committed crimes during the assault on rafah could be obtained international humanitarian law ihl and crimes during operation israel s violations of protective edge were certainly not confined to rafah amnesty international has not implied that they were in black friday or any of its other publications on the 2014 war and the organization has documented israeli attacks in many areas of the gaza strip that it believes should be investigated as possible war crimes in particular israel s massive use of artillery and other firepower on residential areas such as shuja iya and khuza a bear many similarities to its assault on rafah amnesty international uses international law as its framework to push state and non state actors around the world to uphold human rights and protect civilians including in situations of armed conflict and to press for justice truth and reparation when rights are violated and crimes are committed as part of that work we rigorously gather evidence of violations and based on our findings analyze what occurred in light of the relevant international standards primarily but not exclusively ihl in situations of armed conflict we use our findings and legal analysis to campaign publicly to governments international bodies and others in an effort to stop further violations and ensure redress for those already committed we also engage with national and international investigatory mechanisms and judicial bodies where appropriate however amnesty international is not a judicial body our legal recommendations to make and analysis is therefore neither an indictment nor a final judgment instead it is presented in light of the information we have collected and in order to support the recommendations we are making to governments international bodies and others in conducting our legal analysis on specific cases particularly those that may amount to crimes under international law we are mindful of the standards of evidence and the burden of proof that would be necessary to make such an argument before a competent court which are far higher than those used to make a particular argument in an academic or journalistic article we are also mindful of the fact that even in cases when crimes under international law are committed anyone prosecuted for committing or ordering such crimes has a right to fair trial proceedings including the presumption of innocence until proven guilty on specific charges presuming that a particular attack was premeditated or that an entire lengthy military operation such as israel s operation protective edge was designed to punish humiliate and terrorize a civilian population is not an option for judges or juries in courts that adhere to international standards our remit is to rigorously gather assess and publicize information documenting violations and to campaign for justice and reparation for victims and their families all tasks that we have undertaken during and after the israel gaza war in 2014 our outputs have consistently been widely reported on by the media keeping justice for victims firmly on the agenda and have been noted by governments and judicial bodies including the office of the prosecutor of the international criminal court icc which is conducting a preliminary examination on palestine our efforts to end impunity for those responsible for war crimes and other violations of ihl in israel and the occupied palestinian territories opt including but not limited to those committed during the 2014 israel gaza war will continue within our limited resources and other constraints we do our best to conduct this work in a way that is strategic and will contribute to achieving genuine long term human rights change this rather than criticism of our work on israel and the opt from various standpoints is what guides us in situations of armed conflict where a military force possesses and uses sophisticated weaponry part of the factual and legal analysis amnesty international must conduct is indeed trying to understand and evaluate the premises used by the military planners and decision makers which is not the same as condoning them in other words we need to consider whether there was or could have been a genuine military objective for each israeli attack analyzed even when the attack occurred in a context like the assault on rafah during 1 4 august 2014 where the scale and toll of the israeli attacks cannot possibly be justified by the objective of preventing the capture of one israeli soldier in the time the military targets could include palestinian fighters and military objectives such as installations or structures used for military purposes weapons and ammunition stores other objects which are not necessarily military in nature including tunnels and civilian homes or other buildings may become military objectives when they are used at the time of the attack to make an effective contribution to military action and if their destruction or capture offers a definite military advantage the circumstances ruling at israeli authorities do not release sufficient information on targets and specific objectives to enable a full assessment of their legality a fact for which we have consistently criticized them nevertheless in the context of the hostilities in rafah on 1 4 august 2014 and more generally during the israel gaza 2014 war we cannot necessarily assume that there was no legitimate military target for each specific israeli attack just because we did not uncover information pointing to one since the israeli military used targeted munitions such as drone fired missiles during the assault on rafah in addition obviously to the use of massive amounts of artillery and other area weapons and since palestinian fighters and military installations were present in at least some parts of rafah during the hostilities we have to entertain the possibility that each israeli attack had a legitimate military target the most we can say is that after various types of research we have not been able to discover a legitimate military target for a particular attack this does not mean we necessarily believe there was one it is even harder to determine the intent of a particular attack based on the available information since even when targeted weaponry is used ihl allows for the possibility that a reasonable commander bases a decision on the information available to him her at the time and makes a mistake basically we have to analyze each case and present our conclusions in a deliberately cautious and considered manner which often means stating the minimum that could be concluded about the case rather than the maximum with the cases in the black friday report we believe we have indeed made a strong argument that even when they are considered from the standpoint of a reasonable commander the cases should be independently investigated as war crimes and individuals should be held criminally liable in other words the strategy is in fact similar to what you surmise when you stated amnesty entertained so many of israel s premises or premises favorable to israel in order to show that even if one were to accept those premises israel would still be legally culpable emphasis in original we believe this strategy is the correct one to employ if we want to move closer to israeli military or political personnel being prosecuted for their responsibility for war crimes consequently we reject your criticism that this strategy winds up misrepresenting what happened and letting israel off the hook on the more serious legal charges legally there is no hierarchy among different types of war crimes or between war crimes and crimes against humanity all are considered the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole which must not go unpunished when sufficient admissible evidence exists all states are permitted and sometimes obliged to bring to justice any person responsible for committing or ordering these crimes regardless of which category of war crime was committed or whether it was an act committed as part of a crime against humanity crimes against humanity are defined in article 7 of the rome statute of the icc and include acts such as murder when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population with knowledge of the attack in terms of war crimes legally speaking intentionally launching an attack in the knowledge that the attack will cause civilian casualties or damage to civilian objects that would clearly be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated i e a disproportionate attack is just as criminal as intentionally launching a direct attack on civilians or civilian objects or an attack which strikes military objectives and civilians or civilian objects without distinction or which treats as a single military objective a number of distinct military objectives located in a civilian city or town all are prohibited by ihl and all are war crimes in cases where amnesty international was unable to determine whether an attack which killed or injured civilians was aimed at a military objective we stated depending on the particular circumstances that the particular attack was disproportionate or otherwise indiscriminate if not a direct attack on civilians or civilian objects it is simply incorrect to argue that the organization was somehow seeking to minimize israeli crimes or ignoring the fact that the attack was committed as part of a four day military assault seemingly motivated by a desire to extract exact revenge or punish the civilian population of rafah you appear to confuse our analysis of specific attacks within the israeli assault on rafah with our analysis of the overall israeli assault we are not categorizing a disproportionate attack an indiscriminate attack or a failure to take all feasible precautions on account of rafah massacre the as israel s intent to kill goldin as described above each attack must be analyzed individually and then conclusions can be drawn about the four day assault in which the attacks took place nevertheless we strongly disagree that our analysis amounts to legitimizing the wholly illegitimate goal of launching an armed attack in order to preempt a future prisoner swap nor does using language such as shift in proportionality to refer to the logic of the hannibal directive and the logic of the israeli military in implementing it imply that we are somehow endorsing that logic in our report we considered what we know about the hannibal directive since the actual directive is classified and the way it was implemented in rafah from 1 4 august 2014 we absolutely did not endorse in any way either the directive or the way it was implemented arguing that we did so would misrepresent our report t h i rt e e n betrayal ii un human rights council in august 2014 the un human rights council appointed a fact finding mission to investigate purported violations of international humanitarian and human rights law during operation protective edge 2014 1 william schabas a respected international jurist was named chair of the mission israel immediately jumped into high gear to oust him as he had previously uttered sacrileges such as why are we going after the president of sudan at the international criminal court for darfur and not the president of israel for gaza foreign minister avigdor lieberman weirdly analogized schabas s recruitment to appointing cain to investigate who killed abel unable to withstand the juggernaut schabas duly resigned and was replaced as chair by a us judge mary mcgowan davis who hailed from new york state 2 the outcome at this point was as predictable as when un secretary general ban ki moon appointed álvaro uribe vice chair of the panel of inquiry after israel s assault on the mavi marmara 3 the betrayal had begun in june 2015 the un human rights council unhrc its report 4 it predictably accused mission released hamas5 of having committed war crimes but a close reading of the un report could not have pleased israel either in its discrete analyses of numerous incidents during the assault the report s factual findings repeatedly suggested that israel might also have committed war crimes a reader unfamiliar with the facts would perhaps be impressed at the report s evenhanded presentation whereas a reader familiar with them would probably recoil in outrage at this spurious balance the odd thing about the report was that it did chronicle often in harrowing detail the horrors that israel inflicted on gaza however it then proceeded to render legal analyses that methodically and in many instances comically buffered the gravity of israel s crimes in other words it precisely replicated the apologetic modus operandi of the amnesty international reports on protective edge 6 the upshot was that the un report conveyed a wholly misleading distorted picture of what happened it suggested that legitimate military campaign protective edge was a lamentably marred by sundry excesses in fact the assault was a terror campaign designed if not to break then at any rate to temper gaza s will to resist in order to convincingly demonstrate the report s bias there s no in gaza whereas alternative except to sift through its findings piecemeal fashion it is to be hoped that by the time readers complete this chapter they will be persuaded that if this writer has reached a harsh conclusion it springs neither from malice nor prejudice but was arrived at only after scrupulously parsing the evidence albeit also amid his mounting feelings of despair commingled with indignation that even at this late date when a seemingly endless river of blood has passed under the bridge in the course of israel s numberless operations targeting the martyred people of gaza a document bearing the imprimatur of the human rights council should still so want in courage and integrity the un report on protective edge did not lack in redemptive features it confirmed previous authoritative statements of law on a number of critical points thus it reiterated that the occupied palestinian territory is comprised of the west bank including east jerusalem and the gaza strip 7 it also concluded after painstaking analysis that despite its ballyhooed 2005 redeployment israel has maintained effective control of the gaza strip gaza continues to be occupied by israel 8 the report went on to state that the blockade of gaza by israel has been strangling the economy in gaza that the dire situation in gaza since the end of protective edge cannot be assessed separately from the blockade imposed by israel and that current international relief efforts are not a substitute for lifting the blockade 9 the most resonant pronouncement in the whole of the report called on israel to lift immediately and unconditionally the blockade on gaza 10 on another charged legal point the report rejected israel s contention that if it could avert the capture of one of its soldiers resort to otherwise disproportionate the proportionality test israel had argued must take into account the strategic consideration of denying the armed groups the leverage they could obtain over israel in negotiations for the release of the captured soldier the report persuasively rejoined that this line of reasoning constituted an erroneous interpretation of international humanitarian law force would legitimate be the leverage that armed groups may obtain in negotiations does not depend solely on the capture of a soldier but on how the government of israel decides to react to the capture in the aftermath the strategic military or political advantage sought is therefore not a concrete and direct military advantage as required by international humanitarian law indeed the proposed interpretation of the anticipated military advantage which would allow for abstract political and long term strategic considerations in carrying out the proportionality analysis would have the consequence of emptying the proportionality principle of any protective element 11 still these various legal determinations contained in the report although to be welcomed did not remotely vindicate times outrageous findings its numerous problematic and at the un report s mandate formally covered only jus in bello rules governing the conduct of armed conflict and not jus ad bellum rules governing the resort to armed conflict however its pronouncements on the triggers of protective edge effectively justified the israeli offensive it neutrally began the hostilities of 2014 erupted in the context of the protracted occupation of the west bank including east jerusalem and the gaza strip and of the increasing number of rocket attacks on israel 12 but then crossing into the juridical terrain of jus ad bellum the report cited without caveat israel s public rationales for launching the initial air assault and subsequent ground invasion 13 on 7 july 2014 the israel defense forces commenced operation protective edge in the gaza strip with the stated objective of stopping the rocket attacks by hamas and destroying its capabilities to conduct operations against israel o n 17 july 2014 the idf launched a ground operation into gaza official israeli sources indicated that they did so to degrade terror organizations military infrastructure and neutralize their network of cross border assault tunnels 14 but as a matter of law israel couldn t resort to armed self defense unless it had exhausted nonviolent options and hence was driven by necessity to launch an attack 15 in the event israel did have at hand an effective nonviolent remedy even egregious that hamas s objective from the inception of hostilities was to reopen gaza s borders 16 the world bank reported at the time that access to gaza remains highly controlled while amnesty had deemed the siege a form of collective punishment and the un report itself called on israel to israeli propagandists acknowledged lift immediately and unconditionally the blockade on gaza 17 it follows that if the cessation of hamas rocket attacks was israel s objective then it only had to terminate its suffocating siege of gaza which would have put israel on the right side of the law and preempted its necessity of armed self defense while sparing gazans a murderous assault and allowing them finally to breathe but what about hamas s cross border assault tunnels for argument s sake let s say that they posed a lethal threat what prevented israel from sealing the tunnels from its side of the border as egypt did to block cross border tunnel traffic and raids between gaza and the sinai 18 indeed in mid 2016 israel declared plans to build a concrete wall tens of meters deep underground and aboveground to counter the threat of hamas attack tunnels 19 earlier in the year the defense ministry announced that a solution for the tunnels would cost several hundred million dollars but that such funding has not been earmarked in the defense budget for the coming years which would seem to indicate that israeli leaders didn t attach special urgency to the danger posed 20 it speaks to the report s deep seated bias that it didn t even ponder israel s options short of armed force but instead blithely repeated israeli hasbara propaganda the un report perfectly balanced its overall verdicts on protective edge t he high incidence of loss of human life and injury during the 2014 hostilities is heartbreaking palestinians and israelis were profoundly shaken by the the findings events of the summer of 2014 the 2014 hostilities have had an enormous impact on the lives of palestinians and israelis the scale of the devastation was unprecedented and the death toll and suffering from injuries and trauma speak volumes the commission was deeply moved by the immense suffering of palestinian and israeli victims who have been subjected to repeated rounds of violence 21 in general balance is an admirable quality it connotes nonpartisanship and objectivity but balancing out a wildly imbalanced balance sheet amounts to a partisan act of misrepresentation of un appointed commissions in other situations do take note of grossly lopsided balance sheets 22 to be sure the report s space allocations were not quite so evenly distributed the ratio of paragraphs devoted to breaches of international law by israel versus hamas came to 4 1 23 while the ratio of paragraphs in the chapter devoted to the human and material toll on gaza versus israel stood at 4 3 24 still although favorable to gaza these ratios didn t remotely approach the relative magnitudes of death and destruction during protective edge indeed as the report itself documented israel killed as many palestinian children in the west bank which wasn t even a theater of war as the total number of israelis killed during protective edge and israel destroyed more palestinian homes in the west bank than the total number of israeli homes destroyed 25 whichever metric one zeroes in on the colossal imbalance emerges in full view see table 12 the gross inequity registered in these ratios was barely perceptible in the report for example whereas raw data such as total casualty figures typically occupy a salient place in human rights documents and accordingly the number of israeli fatalities showed up early in the report 26 the figure for palestinian casualties was buried deep inside its pages 27 however much it played with these data to credibly preserve its pretense to balance the report nevertheless had to pour substantive content into its many paragraphs devoted life devastation and immense suffering but callous as it might sound the fact is there just wasn t all that much to say how many lines could the report invest in the death of one israeli child and the destruction of one israeli home it resolved this dilemma by effectively upgrading into a breach of the laws of war even a quasi war crime hamas s infliction of psychological emotional distress on israelis heartbreaking loss of israel s to in armed conflicts human rights investigations properly focus on violations of the laws of war in particular intentional indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks on civilians and civilian objects thus the gaza section of the un report s impact chapter overwhelmingly chronicled the massive death and destruction inflicted by israel on gaza s civilian population just three paragraphs at the tail end gestured to pervasive trauma and hopelessness in the strip 28 however the impact chapter s israel section reversed these proportions it prudently passed over in silence total israeli civilian casualties and consigned the economic damage hamas wreaked to three concluding paragraphs 29 to exemplify this damage it spotlighted a kibbutz member whose photography business in beer sheva stopped during the war as she was too afraid to take public transport which made her run into debt together with many other members of the kibbutz instead the report opened the israel section with a profile of protective edge s psychological impact and then proceeded to describe these effects with mind numbing repetition piling one anecdote of distress upon another of anxiety as if even after contriving this unorthodox rubric to balance out the gaza section it still strained to fill space see table 13 international law forbids acts or threats of violence the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population 30 however the laws of war do not prohibit acts of violence that might induce some degree of is an unavoidable terror among civilians which accompaniment and consequence of any substantial resort to armed force 31 otherwise the laws of war would effectively outlaw major armed conflict their purpose however is not to eliminate war a utopian goal at any rate at this juncture in time but rather to minimize its destructiveness the various anxieties stresses fears and traumas experienced by israeli civilians during protective edge appeared to fall into this category of states of being that unpleasant and disorienting as they might be normally and inevitably attend armed conflict to tacitly put civilian stress and trauma on a par with civilian death and destruction undercuts the critical legal distinction between those acts of war that humanity has resolved to abolish or contain and those that to date it hasn t so resolved if an israeli civil defense siren set off by a rocket attack from gaza caused anxiety among israelis it doesn t follow that hamas breached the laws of war in effect the report overreached legal mandate by stretching and consequently mangling the laws of armed conflict moreover by equating conditions of suffering that these laws have endeavored to differentiate it has homogenized situations that by common consent and as a point of law qualitatively differ if israelis experienced the distress of not being able their homes palestinians experienced the distress of no longer having a home to which they could return the report likewise failed to distinguish between situations so radically different in degree as to make them qualitatively incomparable if leave its to israelis experienced fear and incurred injuries en route to a shelter then gazans experienced fear of having nowhere to run in the midst of an inferno and then coming under deliberate attack or if fortunate enough to find refuge in that rare shelter of being slaughtered by israeli precision weapons targeting it if israelis had to endure the concussive effects of bottle rockets then gazans had to endure the concussive effects of one ton bombs it cannot be doubted that the drafters of the report were cognizant of these elementary distinctions they elected however to collapse them not because of a high minded sensitivity to the full gamut of human suffering or an enlightened refusal to rank human suffering but almost certainly because otherwise the report s pretense to balance could not be sustained if the report had properly fulfilled its essential mandate to investigate violations of the laws of war during protective edge the whole of the israel section in the impact chapter could have been reduced to one sentence six civilians were killed and one house was destroyed the un report s elevation of fear inducement into a breach of the laws of war similarly marred its treatment of the hamas tunnel network it did acknowledge that the tunnels were only used to conduct attacks directed at idf israel defense forces positions in israel in the vicinity of the green line which are legitimate military targets 32 but still it harped on the sense of insecurity and panic attacks trauma and persistent fear great anxiety and so on that the tunnels engendered among israelis 33 it then proceeded to imply that the fear induced by these tunnels amounted to a violation of the laws of war in its concluding observations the report bracketed together these serious concerns regarding hamas the inherently indiscriminate nature of most of the projectiles directed towards israel and the targeting of israeli civilians which violate international humanitarian law and may amount to a war crime the increased level of fear among israeli civilians resulting from the use of tunnels was palpable 34 its final recommendations correlatively called upon hamas t o respect the principles of distinction proportionality and precaution including by ending all attacks on israeli civilians and civilian objects and stopping all rocket attacks and other actions that may spread terror among the civilian population in israel emphasis added the only other actions chronicled in the report were hamas tunnel excavations infiltrations but if hamas must desist from these belowground excavations infiltrations which target only combatants because they induce fear among israelis shouldn t israel have to desist from aboveground attacks with bombs missiles and shells which overwhelmingly target civilians because they induce fear among gazans in addition international law does not debar a people fighting for self determination from resorting to arms whereas it does prohibit a state suppressing such a struggle from deploying violent force 35 israel has deprived the people of gaza of their right to self determination via an externally imposed occupation 36 surely then hamas has the right to target via tunnels israeli combatants enforcing this occupation from without however much anxiety these tunnel attacks might induce among the civilian population or are palestinians permitted to use armed force only if it doesn t rattle israelis however ingenious the rhetorical strategies deployed by the un report to even out hamas s and israel s breaches of international law see table 14 for another illustration they still couldn t bridge the chasm separating the devastation inflicted respectively by each party it is of course possible that even if it caused less death and destruction hamas might have committed as many war crimes as israel but it s also true that once the proportion reached an order of magnitude of say 550 1 children killed by israel versus hamas or 18 000 1 homes destroyed by israel versus hamas such a claim not only lacks plausibility but also appears positively ridiculous how then did the report resolve this dilemma it in part misrepresented the relevant facts but more significantly it mangled the relevant law by repeatedly invoking irrelevant law this disingenuousness permeated the report s treatment of hamas and israeli war crimes hamas war crimes the un report set the stage for its indictment of hamas by citing directly or indirectly official israeli sources depicting a formidable hamas weapons arsenal 37 but the battlefield performance of these weapons strongly suggested that the bulk of them consisted of little more than enhanced fireworks 38 the report also dutifully regurgitated israeli claims regarding the dazzling performance of the iron dome antimissile defense system 39 even though recognized experts and the facts on the ground refuted them 40 in an unusual acknowledgment the report did observe that according to security experts hamas s declared official policy during protective edge was to focus on military or semi military targets and to avoid other targets especially civilians 41 it went on to document instances in which hamas appeared to be targeting israeli combatants and military objects while israel itself acknowledged that hamas mortar shells killed ten idf combatants positioned on the israeli side of the border 42 the report also observed that hamas attempted in a few instances to warn israeli civilians of impending attacks and in fact these hamas alerts were more effective than those issued by israel because unlike in gaza residents could flee to other areas of israel less exposed to threats 43 however the report found that the vast majority of hamas projectiles targeted population centers in israel 44 it devoted fully 15 paragraphs to depicting in graphic detail the effects of these hamas attacks even though only six civilians in israel were killed and property damage was negligible it is often suggested although not by the report that if so few civilians died it was only on account of iron dome and a proper calculation would reckon the probable number of civilian deaths in its absence the argument is factually false iron dome probably didn t save many and perhaps not any lives and even were it true irrelevant if additional civilians would have been killed absent israel s civil defense shelter system and structurally sound edifices should the casualty count then tally how many israelis would have died if they lived in substandard gaza like conditions if a calculation were to be based on all things being equal it abstracts from the root injustice that israel and palestine are not equal the un report found that hamas s projectile attacks may have constituted war crimes hamas rocket attacks rockets cannot be directed at a specific military objective and therefore strikes employing these weapons constitute indiscriminate attacks statements indicate intent to direct those attacks against civilians hamas mortar attacks statements indicate in some cases intent to target civilian communities if they were used to target civilians or civilian objects this would be a violation of the principle of distinction i n the cases in which attacks were directed at military objectives located amidst or in close vicinity to civilians or civilian objects mortars are not the most appropriate weapons the imprecise nature of mortars makes it difficult for an attacking party using this weapon in an area in which there is a concentration of civilians to distinguish between civilians and civilian objects and the military objective of the attack 45 is against weapons attacks self evident indiscriminate in its defense hamas pleaded that palestinian rockets are primitive and not very technologically advanced but nevertheless the factions attempted to direct their rockets at military targets in israel 46 the report curtly and coldly rejoined the military capacity of the parties to a conflict is irrelevant to their obligation to respect the prohibition the humanitarian rationale behind prohibiting use of indiscriminate but in discriminateness is a relative notion it varies according to the most sophisticated guidance system currently available for a particular line of weaponry so it is equally self evident that the prohibition against indiscriminate weapons discriminates against poor states or nonstate actors that cannot afford cutting edge technology in the instant case the report effectively criminalized nearly the whole of hamas s primitive arsenal and thereby it denied gaza the inherent right anchored in the un charter of armed self defense and the right effectively sanctioned by international its self determination struggle even is admitted that notwithstanding its discriminatory effects cogent reasons might be adduced to preserve intact the prohibition still it law of armed resistance in it if jeopardize hardly befits a human rights document to peremptorily dismiss as irrelevant a wholly reasonable if debatable objection it also warrants attention how much more sensitive the report was to israeli concerns for example the report recognizes the dilemma that israel faces in releasing information that would disclose in detail the targets of military strikes given that such information may intelligence sources 47 be classified and although it still placed the onus on israel to provide sufficient details on its targeting decisions to allow an independent assessment of the legality of the attacks the report not only evinced a sensitivity absent in its high handed dismissal of hamas but it also credited the israeli alibi that information was withheld out of security concerns and not because its release might undercut official lies the report proceeded to infer a sinister motive lurking behind hamas rocket attacks if these projectiles couldn t accurately target military objectives then the report the indiscriminate rocket attacks may constitute acts of violence whose primary purpose is to spread terror amongst the civilian population 48 spreading terror might have been hamas s motive but other possible motives also leap to mind the rocket attacks could have been belligerent reprisals which international law does not forbid49 to compel israel to cease and desist from its terroristic assault on gazan society the report itself noted that hamas issued a statement confirming its intention cannot exclude the possibility that to target israeli civilians in response to israel s targeting of palestinian civilians in their homes and shelters 50 or consider the motive professed by hamas leader khalid mishal during operation cast lead 2008 9 our modest home made rockets are our cry of protest to the world 51 one wonders why the report did not entertain these more benign possibilities impediments to international law requires all parties to a conflict to take all feasible precautions in the choice of means and methods of attack with a view to avoiding injury to civilians and damage to civilian objects 52 the un report alleged that despite substantial its investigation it was able to divine patterns of behavior by hamas that breached this legal obligation 53 it cited a quartet of incidents where hamas fired rockets in close proximity to civilians 54 as it happens amnesty pointed to the identical four incidents in its indictment of hamas 55 the duplication suggests a paucity of corroborative evidence the report also cited a handful of instances where hamas conducted military operations within or in close proximity to sites benefiting from special protection under international law in particular the environs of two to three schools and a church these incidents were also cited in earlier investigations 56 the report further noted that official israeli sources repeatedly accused hamas of violating the feasible precautions obligation but it was not able to independently verify these allegations 57 the to international the relevant report acknowledged that the feasible precautions obligation is not absolute that even if there are areas that are not residential gaza s small size and its population density makes it particularly difficult for armed groups always to comply with the obligation and that several signatories instrument stipulated that for densely populated countries the requirement to avoid locating military objectives within densely populated areas would be difficult to apply 58 still the report concluded that in light of the number of cases in which hamas carried out military operations within or in the immediate vicinity of civilian objects and specifically protected objects it does not appear that this behavior was simply a consequence of the normal course of military operations and therefore the law was not always complied with 59 although this was a cautious and qualified finding the question must nonetheless be posed did the report substantiate it it would have to show that the instances it documented gave proof of a deliberate hamas choice not to avoid civilian and protected objects and were not just random events consequent on the normal course of military operations in a densely populated civilian terrain but the handful of incidents recycled by the report during a 51 day armed conflict in which hamas fired seven thousand projectiles and engaged an invading army with unprecedented combat losses on both sides does not appear to reach the evidentiary threshold of a pattern 60 the report not only failed to substantiate its qualified assertion but also indulged in groundless speculation for example it stated that if it is confirmed that in using locations to conduct military operations armed groups did so with the intent to use the presence of civilians or persons hors de combat to prevent their military assets from being attacked this would constitute a violation of the customary law prohibition to use human shields and would amount to a war crime 61 but the report didn t provide a scintilla of evidence demonstrating such intent what was the point of such baseless conjecture of which this is just one example 62 except to plant a false image in the reader s mind or to appease israel which repeatedly accused hamas of human shielding or both in its most audacious or outrageous speculation the report verged on criminalizing nonviolent civil resistance as it posited that hamas might wrongly exploit it in one case of the bombing of a residential building examined by the commission information gathered indicates that following a specific warning by the idf that the house was to be targeted several people went to the roof of the house in order to protect the house should they have been directed to do so by members of palestinian armed groups this would amount to the use of the presence of civilians in an attempt to shield a military objective from attack in violation of the customary law prohibition to use human shields with regard to this incident the commission is disturbed by the reported call by the spokesperson of hamas to the people in gaza to adopt the practice of shielding their homes from attack by going up on their roofs although the call is directed to residents of gaza it can be seen and understood as an encouragement to palestinian armed groups to use human shields 63 instead of showing compassion for gazans as they risked life and limb to protect their and their neighbors family homes the report zeroed in on hamas in order to deny it on purely conjectural grounds one of the few means of nonviolent resistance available to it in the midst of an annihilative attack even going so far as to brand the islamic movement s encouragement of such self willed heartrending acts whose spiritual lineage traces back to gandhi 64 an embryonic war crime it is also cause for sheer bewilderment why the report designated an unambiguously civilian dwelling as a military objective did it automatically lose its protected status once israel decided to target it or did the report start from the premise that everyone and everything in gaza was if not aligned then alloyed with terrorism for finally indicted hamas the un report its extrajudicial executions of suspected collaborators during protective edge the fact that the majority of the victims had been arrested and detained before the conflict it observed prompts concerns that they were executed in order to increase pressure on gaza s population with a view to preventing others from spying 65 most executions occurred a day after three hamas commanders were killed by the idf the report also noted that because of the stigma attached to collaboration these executions had devastating effects on family members who had to cope with indelible stains on their reputation and honor inasmuch as the report expressed sympathy for an on releasing israeli quandary alleged classified information it might have paused to contemplate hamas s quandary of resisting a brutal invasion while plagued by internal collaborators directly or indirectly on the payroll of the enemy the russian revolutionist leon trotsky cogently argued that in the midst of a foreign invasion the threat of incarceration will not deter potential collaborators because the very premise of aligning with the enemy is that its victory impends t hey cannot be terrorized by the threat of imprisonment as they do not believe in its duration it is just this simple but decisive fact that explains the widespread recourse to shooting 66 it is in no way to extenuate hamas executions to pose the inescapable question how else was hamas supposed to deter collaborators the prohibition on executing collaborators would appear to fall into the same category as the prohibition on insoluble dilemma it might be recalled that a leader of the warsaw ghetto uprising expressed as our great guilt that immediately from the first day we didn t kill the jewish collaborators if a few of them had been killed others would have been afraid to join the police they should have been hanged on lamp poles to threaten them i m sure that whenever there is internal treason war must begin by destroying it 67 the report determined that these hamas executions not may but unquestionably did amount to a war crime and it exhorted whoever is responsible for the killings must be brought to justice 68 nowhere in indiscriminate weapons an faced by the stigma its indictment of israel did the report use such unequivocal and emphatic language it also called upon hamas to combat families of alleged collaborators 69 although it acknowledged that hamas had already undertaken to support the families of persons accused of collaboration the report concluded that the far reaching effects of stigma call for a stronger response 70 was hamas legally required to organize a collaborator pride parade israeli war crimes the un report divided allegations of israeli war crimes into multiple somewhat arbitrary and frequently overlapping categories if it had let the evidence speak for itself the report would have compiled a devastating dossier on israel s prosecution of protective edge but it didn t instead between its factual findings on the one hand and its conclusions on the other it interpolated contorted legal analyses the report asserted that t he factual conclusions formed the basis for the legal analysis of the individual incidents 71 in reality its legal analyses watered down the ghastly reality the upshot of its intercession as interpreter and arbiter of the law was a dossier that although it might not have satisfied israel except for a full throated apologia what would failed to meet the most exiguous standards of justice in its parts and as a totality the report was simply put a cover up in order to bring home this truth there s no alternative except to juxtapose the facts presented in each incident or group of incidents with the report s tendentious legal interpretation of them 1 air strikes the un report observed that as a result of israeli air strikes targeting residential and other buildings at least 142 palestinian families had three or more members killed in the same incident for a total of 742 fatalities 72 two survivors of such attacks recalled respectively these scenes i found the decapitated bodies of my uncle and daughter my cousin was alive but died on the way to the hospital another cousin s body was found sliced in two we had ten corpses in the first ambulances no other survivors were found after having removed the cement i identified my cousin dina s body what i witnessed was horrible she was nine months pregnant and she had come from her home to her parents house to have her baby we could not imagine that she had passed away her stomach was ripped open and the unborn baby was lying there with the skull shattered we kept searching for other corpses and found my uncle s wife we had great difficulty removing all the pieces of cement from her body 73 i had a close look at the bodies only the upper part of my nine year old daughter s body was left my son mohamed had his intestines coming out my 16 year old cousin had lost his two legs my son mustapha who was five meters away from me had received shrapnel that almost completely severed his neck my 16 year old nephew lost both his legs and arms he asked for my help i just really wanted him to die quickly i didn t want him to go through so much suffering there was also my one year old daughter who was in her mother s arms we found her body on a tree i myself lost my left arm 74 the report was unable to find a possible military target in six of the fifteen air assaults it investigated 75 in one such lethal attack absent a military objective a precision guided 500 pound bomb targeted children on a roof who had gone there to feed the birds killing three of them and injuring two others 76 the report s tabulation which pointed to a possibly legitimate military target in 60 percent 9 15 of the incidents cast the israeli attacks in a more favorable light than the established facts warranted consider the evidentiary basis of its calculations the semiofficial israeli intelligence and terrorism information center itic posted the name date location and combatant terrorist operative civilian noninvolved status of gazans killed during protective edge 77 if this hasbara outfit listed a person killed during one of the israeli air strikes on a residential home as a terrorist operative the report automatically denoted him a possible military target 78 but setting aside its dubious determination of a victim s status where and how did it get this information itic never asserted that the building was targeted because of the terrorist operative s presence or for that matter that israel was even aware of his presence when it attacked the building in addition the report itself observed that the presence of a hamas member did not in itself transform the residence into a military object the mere fact of being a member of the political wing of hamas or any other organization in gaza or working for the authorities is not sufficient in and of itself to render a person a legitimate military target 79 taking all these factors into account it s possible that the israeli air strikes investigated by the report targeted combatants or military objects in only a small minority of cases the un report documented that in many of the incidents it chronicled israel launched the air strike at a time of day when a large number of civilians was likely to be present for example the family was preparing for the iftar meal the breaking of the fast at sunset it was only a few minutes after they got up to have suhhur the last meal of the day during ramadan until the breaking of the fast in the evening all 12 members of the family were at home preparing to break the ramadan fast the family had just finished a long meal in honor of the second day of the eid and most of the family members were taking a nap they were gathered for iftar 80 the report also found that israel did not give warnings in at least 11 of the 15 incidents while among some of the warnings that israel did give only a few minutes between 3 and 5 elapsed between them and the actual attack 81 the report additionally israel used precision guided missiles or precision guided 500 2 000 pound bombs in all 15 incidents here s how weapons experts described the impact of the gbu 31 which israel used in several of the air strikes investigated by the report found that the explosion creates a shock wave exerting thousands of pounds of pressure per square inch psi by comparison a shock wave of 12 psi will knock a person down and the injury threshold is 15 pounds psi the pressure from the explosion of a device such as the mark 84 jdam82 can rupture lungs burst sinus cavities and tear off limbs hundreds of feet from the blast site according to trauma physicians when it hits the jdam generates an 8 500 degree fireball gouges a 20 foot crater as it displaces 10 000 pounds of dirt and rock and generates enough wind to knock down walls blocks away and hurl metal fragments a mile or more there is a very great concussive effect damage to any human beings in the vicinity would be pretty nasty 83 in regard to israel s use of inter alia the gbu 31 mk 84 2000 pound bomb the report concluded regardless how precise the bomb is it remains extremely questionable whether a weapon with such a wide impact area allows its operators to adequately distinguish between civilians and civilian objects and the military objective of the attack when used in densely populated areas 84 on this last point recall that the report denoted hamas s deployment of primitive rockets carrying 10 20 pounds of explosives inherently indiscriminate attacks because they cannot be directed at a specific military objective it perplexes then why it s not also an inherently indiscriminate attack when israel unloads in a precision strike in the heart of a densely populated civilian neighborhood a 2 000 pound bomb fahrenheit fireball gouges a 20 foot crater as it displaces 10 000 pounds of dirt and rock and generates enough wind to knock down walls blocks away and hurl metal fragments a mile or more instead the report deemed israel s use of such a weapon in such circumstances extremely questionable pray tell what questions remained 85 that generates an 8 500 degree the bigger point however is this the un report failed to adduce credible evidence that israel mostly targeted military objectives in these air strikes on civilian buildings even if in a handful of incidents hamas militants were present still judging by the timing of the attacks i e as large numbers of civilians predictably assembled the paucity and inefficacy of the warnings issued the use of high explosive precision weapons in densely populated civilian areas and the wholesale destruction of civilian buildings that had already been abandoned86 judging by the accumulation and compounding of these factors the israeli air strikes constituted neither disproportionate attacks nor even indiscriminate attacks but on the contrary targeted attacks on gaza s civilian population and infrastructure in which the occasional presence of a hamas militant was less a target than a pretext the objective of these air strikes almost certainly being beyond the exaction of crude revenge to terrorize the people of gaza into submission by causing sufficient death and destruction as to break their will or turn them against hamas the report however did not reach this conclusion it did find that the six targeted israeli air strikes where a military objective wasn t discernible as well as most cases reported by nongovernmental organizations may constitute a direct attack against civilian objects or civilians a war crime while the other nine incidents where a possible military objective was discernible could be disproportionate and therefore amount to a war crime 87 but although it did not recoil from speculating that hamas fired rockets to spread terror the report fell silent despite an abundance of circumstantial evidence on the possibility that israel s overarching purpose in these air strikes might have been to spread terror it acknowledged that the attacks were carried out when it could be expected that most family members would be at home in the evening or at dawn when families gathered for iftar and suhhur the ramadan meals or during the night when people were asleep 88 and that large weapons apparently meant to raze buildings were used 89 but it scrupulously avoided posing the question why did israel choose these times of day and these types of weapons the report acknowledged that in the handful of instances where israel did provide a few minutes notice of an impending air strike by giving a warning the idf accepted that the attack did not require the element of surprise accordingly there appears to be no reason why more time was not granted to the residents of the house to evacuate 90 but it did not pose the obvious next question why did israel leave the occupants so little time to vacate their homes the report acknowledged that regarding the destruction of high rise buildings during the last week of protective edge a statement by an idf general seems to suggest that the objective of these strikes was to exercise pressure on the social elite of gaza by destroying the high rises 91 but if it sought to exert political pressure on civilians via targeted air strikes on civilian objects wasn t israel s goal to spread terror the report acknowledged that an air strike using precision weapons which international humanitarian indicates that specific objectives were targeted 92 killed children playing on a roof it then went on to suggest that israel may have breached its obligations to take all feasible measures to avoid or at least to minimize incidental harm to civilians but wasn t the relevant point of law that israel took all feasible measures to maximize harm to civilians including children that is that it targeted these children with precision weapons the report observed that the massive scale of destruction and the number of homes and civilian buildings attacked raise concerns that israel s interpretation of what constitutes a military objective is broader than the definition provided by law and also raises concerns that these strikes may have constituted military tactics reflective of a broader policy that prioritized the perceived military objective over other considerations disregarding to minimize effects on civilians 93 it strenuously circumvented concerns that massive devastation was israel s military objective in order to maximize effects on civilians by terrorizing them that its military tactics were reflective of this broader policy and that its premeditated preplanned military tactics and military objective were not merely broader than the definition provided by but conceived in shocking willful breach of international humanitarian law 2 ground operations the section of the un report devoted to israeli ground operations focused on idf atrocities in shuja iya 19 20 july khuza a 20 july 1 the obligation august rafah 1 3 august and shuja iya market 30 july it stated that the combined impact of these ground operations has had a devastating impact on the population of gaza both in terms of human suffering as well as in terms of damage to the infrastructure at least 150 civilians were killed and more than two thousand homes were completely destroyed 94 the report scrutinized these operations individually and then presented a synoptic analysis of them then israel intensified a shuja iya located near the green line shuja iya is among the most densely populated neighborhoods in gaza although israel issued warnings before the ground operation most residents elected to stay put on 20 july 13 idf soldiers in shuja iya were killed by hamas militants in firefights its bombardment ostensibly to rescue injured soldiers at which point about half the residents fled 95 the un report noted that israel fired six hundred artillery shells into shuja iya in less than an hour on 20 july the shelling continued for more than six hours and dropped over 100 one ton bombs in a short period of time an idf eyewitness testimony cited by the report recalled the artillery corps and the air force really cleaned that place up while another testimony recalled one of the most senior officials in the idf just marked off houses on an aerial photo of shuja iya to be taken down by the operation s end shuja iya was a razed area and likely levelled as a result of focused idf demolitions efforts fully 1 300 buildings were completely for the that indications exist destroyed or seriously damaged and many civilians were killed or injured 96 the report s legal analysis found that the methods and means employed by the idf in shuja iya raise questions and raise serious concerns as to its laws of war distinction the respect overwhelming firepower could not in such a small and densely populated area be directed at a specific military target and also violated the prohibition of treating several distinct individual military objectives in a densely populated area as one single military objective therefore strong the operation was conducted in violation of the prohibition of indiscriminate attacks and may amount to a war crime feasible precautions it is questionable whether the use of such immense firepower in such a short period would have allowed the idf to respect its obligation to do everything feasible to verify that the targets were military objectives while the fact that the idf persisted in this intensive shelling long after it must have known of the dire impact on civilians and civilian objects evidences the commander s failure to comply with his obligation to do everything feasible to suspend an attack if it becomes apparent that it does not conform to the principle of proportionality and proportionality the objective of the shelling and heavy bombardment appears mainly to have been force protection g iven the means and methods used by the idf in shuja iya it is possible to conclude that a reasonable commander would be aware of the potential for such an intense attack to result in the death of a high number of civilians as such it is highly likely that a reasonable commander would therefore conclude that the expected incidental loss to civilian life and damage and destruction of civilian objects would be excessive in relation to the anticipated military advantage of this attack 97 before assessing the report s legal findings it s useful to take a step back after enduring an unusual number of idf casualties israel fired probably thousands of high explosive artillery shells and dropped scores of one ton bombs on shuja iya israel alleged that it deployed such massive firepower in order to rescue injured combatants 98 the report didn t even try to demonstrate a logical nexus between such massive indiscriminate force on the one hand and a rescue operation on the other instead it faithfully echoed israeli hasbara the objective of the shelling and heavy bombardment appears mainly to have been force protection how on earth does one rescue injured soldiers by firing with abandon thousands of indiscriminate artillery shells and dropping scores of one ton bombs in a densely populated civilian neighborhood how does one rescue injured soldiers by methodically demolishing hundreds upon hundreds of civilian homes the report noted that hamas accused the idf of taking revenge on the civilian population for its military defeat in the battleground 99 but it brushed aside this explanation although prima facie it s surely the more plausible one indeed idf testimonies themselves recalled the targeting it the treated of random civilian homes in revenge after a soldier s death 100 the report stated that the idf may have committed indiscriminate attacks but in dropping one ton bombs on and firing high explosive artillery shells into a densely populated civilian neighborhood absent a credible military objective didn t idf conduct discriminate attacks on civilians was the essence of israel s crime that it treated several distinct individual military objectives as one single military objective or that the entire civilian population and infrastructure as its military objective the report faulted israel for not doing everything feasible to verify that the targets were military objectives and persisting in the operation long after it must have been aware of its dire impact on civilians but wasn t the manifest purpose of the operation to target not military objectives but civilians and civilian objects didn t israel persist not despite but because of the operation s dire impact on the civilian population the report stated that israel didn t properly balance incidental loss of civilian life and destruction of civilian objects against military advantage but what military advantage could israel possibly have reaped by deploying such massive firepower in a densely populated civilian neighborhood how could the devastation have been incidental to the operation when it was its very essence the report observed that in spite of the significant destruction and credible allegations of civilian in shuja iya there wasn t any on going casualties investigation into the events by israel 101 but if the operation s objective was to inflict significant civilian death and destruction wouldn t such an investigation be superfluous instead of illuminating via the idiom of law the nature of israel s crimes in shuja iya the report occluded them the crux of its legal analysis that is that israel was pursuing a military objective and was seeking a military advantage was a whitewash and a sham it also cannot but bewilder that whereas the report expressed certainty that hamas s executions of alleged collaborators amount to a war crime israel s saturation bombing of a densely populated civilian neighborhood may amount to a war crime b khuza a on 21 july the village of khuza a located near the israeli border came under israeli air assault and on 22 july the idf physically isolated it from the outside world fragmented it internally cut off the electricity and shot up the water supply the village then came under intense fire from the air and the ground the report stated that khuza a became a zone of active fighting and everything in it was turned into a target but it s unclear why the report used the phrase zone of active fighting neither it nor other sources102 documented any firefights or idf casualties by the operation s end some 70 gazans including at least 14 civilians were dead and 740 buildings were damaged or destroyed 103 the report homed in on several incidents during the assault on khuza a among them civilians holding a white flag and attempting to leave khuza a were confronted by a group of idf soldiers who opened fire on them 11 people were seriously injured khuza a s only clinic was struck by repeated israeli air strikes an ambulance found a 6 year old boy who was critically injured he was taken to an idf checkpoint in order to be transferred to the closest ambulance the ambulance was kept waiting for at least 20 minutes in spite of the evident seriousness of the victim s injuries and his being a child the boy died a family fled in a state of complete panic leaving behind one of the family members a woman aged about 70 in a wheelchair when a family member returned home a few days later he found her dead body she had a bullet mark in her head and blood on her face the doctor who later examined the body stated that she had been shot from close range from a distance of about two meters s ome days or weeks later an israeli soldier posted on twitter a picture of another idf soldier offering water to her 104 the un report s legal analysis found that the intensity of the shelling which decimated khuza a s civilian infrastructure and the bulldozing of buildings throughout the ground operation raise concerns that the idf shelling and airstrikes were not exclusively directed at military objectives that it appears highly unlikely that the 740 buildings either destroyed or damaged all made an effective contribution to military action and that the complete razing of some areas of khuza a indicates that the idf may have treated several distinct individual military objectives in a densely populated area as one single military objective and also indicates that the idf carried out destructions that were not required by military necessity the report concluded that strong indications exist that these elements of the idf assault on khuza a may qualify as direct attacks against civilians or civilian objects and may thus amount to a war crime 105 it went on to find that by refusing to allow civilians to flee despite the intense shelling and aerial bombardment and full knowledge of their presence the idf very likely committed indiscriminate or disproportional attacks and it also raises concern that not all feasible precautions to minimize danger to civilians were taken by the idf in its attack against the town of khuza a 106 it additionally observed the extent of the destruction combined with the statements made during the operation by the commander of the brigade responsible for the khuza a operation to the effect that palestinians have to understand that this does not pay off are indicative of a punitive and may constitute collective punishment 107 the report s legal analysis was as revealing in what it did not say as in what it did say it registered concern that israel s massive shelling and air strikes which leveled khuza a s civilian infrastructure were not exclusively directed at military objectives but although it didn t identify a single firefight or idf casualty and although it didn t identify a single military objective the report never broached the possibility that israel s intent firepower overwhelmingly targeted civilians and civilian objects the report deemed it highly unlikely that israel s systematic demolition of civilian buildings made an effective contribution to military action but even as it concluded that the devastation may qualify as direct attacks against civilians and civilian objects it steered clear of the possibility that if israel was engaged in a military action its military objective was to destroy civilian buildings it posited the scenario that by effacing parts of khuza a from the map the idf may have treated several distinct individual military objectives in a densely populated area as one single military objective and may have carried out destructions that were not required by military necessity but it didn t consider the possibility that israel s objective was not military but wholly civilian while military necessity didn t even figure as an element in its calculation how could it in the absence of a military objective the report reckoned it very likely that trapping civilians in a village and then bombarding it constitutes an indiscriminate and disproportionate attack it would appear to be even more likely that it constituted a targeted attack on civilians especially as the report didn t identify any fighting military objective idf casualties or military value against which to weigh the loss of civilian life the report did acknowledge in a single paragraph that the impetus behind the operation may also have therefore constituted collective punishment but the death and included a punitive element and destruction israel visited on khuza a were not merely incidental to or a subordinate component of an otherwise military operation they were the natural and foreseeable result that is the intention108 of an operation that primarily targeted and was primarily designed to punish and terrorize the civilian population c rafah 109 after hamas killed two idf combatants in rafah and apparently captured a third soldier alive israel launched a major military operation black friday on 1 august the report stated that the idf sealed off rafah fired over 1000 shells against rafah within three hours and dropped at least 40 bombs launched intense attacks against inhabitants in their homes and in the streets fired on ambulances and private vehicles trying to evacuate civilians and demolished dozens of homes the ferocity of black friday traced back to israel s dread of a replay of the gilad shalit affair 110 in which hamas s capture of an idf soldier eventually led to the release of more than one thousand palestinian detainees in a prisoner exchange the report focused on several egregious incidents for example a hospital that was struck by two missiles and dozens of shells it quoted leaked audio recordings of idf radio communications indicating israel s unrestrained use of firepower and concluded that virtually every person or building in rafah became a potential military target 111 the report s legal analysis stated that information of attacks on all vehicles in the area including ambulances as well as incidents in which groups of to have violated the assault appears civilians appear to have been targeted by tank fire raises serious concerns as to the respect by the idf of the principle of distinction this amounts to a deliberate attack against civilians and civilian objects and may amount to a war crime it went on to state that in light of the massive unrestrained use of firepower in a densely populated and built up area over the period of a few hours the prohibition of indiscriminate attacks of the massacres profiled in the report rafah was the only instance in which israel appeared to have an identifiable quasi military objective that is to kill the captured israeli soldier so as to preempt a future prisoner exchange although as the report made clear this objective could not legitimize what ensued 112 the report stated unequivocally that israel s attacks on all vehicles and its targeting of groups of citizens amount to a deliberate attack against civilians and civilian objects but it then inserted the caveat and may amount to a war crime emphasis added even as the report dared utter the unutterable that israel targeted civilians it recoiled at the legal complement how can a deliberate attack against civilians and civilian objects not be a war crime d shuja iya market on 30 july israel announced a four hour unilateral truce but it qualified that the cease fire would not apply to the areas in which idf soldiers are currently operating the report homed in on a bloody sequence of incidents in a shuja iya neighborhood the roof later just as three ambulances and of a home was hit by high explosive mortar shells that killed eight family members including seven children aged between three and nine who were playing there and their grandfather aged seventy israel purported that the attack was in response to an anti tank missile and a burst of mortar fired from the neighborhood that injured one soldier the idf then fired another round of shells ten minutes the paramedics arrived at the scene which also hit many of the people who had gathered around the family house to try and help survivors the report cited a journalist eyewitness who was stunned by the apparent targeting of ambulances and journalists who had rushed to provide assistance to the injured and cover the incident it further noted that eyewitness accounts are corroborated by two video recordings one of which showed a dying cameraman continuing to film and the ambulances being hit by a rocket the report found as a result of the second round of shelling 23 persons were killed including 3 journalists 1 paramedic and 2 firemen in addition 178 others were injured among them 33 children 14 women 1 journalist and 1 paramedic four are reported to have died as a result of the injuries they sustained in this attack although israel subsequently alleged that it did not have real time surveillance of the lethal assault the report didn t buy this alibi the commission finds it hard to believe that the idf had no knowledge of the presence of ambulances in the area in the aftermath of the initial strike especially when the rescue crews a fire truck and three ambulances arrived at the scene with sirens blazing loudly 113 the report s legal analysis faulted israel for using indiscriminate mortars in a built up densely populated area it consequently found that the attack may have violated the prohibition of indiscriminate attacks and the obligation to take all feasible precautions to choose means to spare civilians 114 try as one may it is most difficult to make sense of this legal analysis for argument s sake let it be granted that the seven children playing on the rooftop and their 70 year old grandfather were killed in an indiscriminate attack although as the itself and previous human rights reports115 report documented this wouldn t have been the first time that israel targeted children playing on a roof but what about the second attack ten minutes later the assault began just as neighbors ambulances rescue crews and a fire truck arrived at the family s home a journalist testified to the targeting of ambulances and journalists emphasis added while a video recording captured ambulances being hit by a rocket the report itself dismissed the possibility that israel was unaware of the bloodbath especially when the rescue crews a fire truck and three ambulances arrived at the scene with sirens blazing loudly to classify this focused artillery and rocket barrage on a civilian medical rescue operation absent any discernible military objective as an indiscriminate attack in which israel didn t take sufficient precautions to protect civilians with the afterthought that it may qualify as a direct attack against civilians and not as a clear cut targeted attack directed at civilians makes mockery of language law and human suffering the un report also undertook a synoptic analysis of protective edge s ground operations under several heads 1 protection of civilians force protection the report found that israel prioritized the safety of its combatants over humanitarian concern for gaza s civilian population the protection of idf soldiers was a major consideration for the idf overruling and at times eliminating any concern for the impact of its conduct on civilians w hen soldiers lives were at stake or there was a risk of capture the idf disregarded basic principles of the laws of war 116 2 warning and the continued protected status of civilians the report found that israeli warnings yielded equivocal results the idf sought to warn the population in advance by means of leaflets loudspeaker announcements telephone and text messages and radio broadcasts which led to the successful evacuation of some areas while these general warnings appear to have saved the lives of many people who heeded them in other cases inhabitants did not leave home for a number of reasons on the last point the report observed that gaza lacked secure places of refuge where civilians could flee 44 per cent is either a no go area or has been the object of evacuation warnings that a ll areas in gaza including those towards which the population was directed had been or were likely to be hit by air strikes and that the generalized and often unspecific warnings sometimes resulted in panic and mass displacement indeed the spokesperson for the major refugee relief organization in gaza chris gunness of the united nations relief and works agency unrwa painfully reflected in the midst of the israeli assault gaza is a conflict with a fence around it it is unique in the annals of contemporary warfare there s nowhere safe to run and now there s nowhere safe to hide the report further observed that on the one hand the effective rules of engagement treated civilians who stayed put as enemy combatants even though the idf should have been well aware that civilians had remained behind and that on the other hand the prior alerts could be construed as an attempt to use warnings to justify attacks against individual civilians who didn t flee 117 3 use of artillery and other explosive weapons in built up areas the report found that israel made significant use of explosive weapons with wide area effects in densely populated areas which resulted in a large number of civilian casualties and widespread destruction of civilian objects it further noted that israel persisted in its use of such indiscriminate weapons in densely populated civilian areas even after they resulted in significant civilian casualties 118 4 destruction the report found that the firepower used in shuja iya rafah and khuza a resulted in significant destruction some areas were virtually razed completely obliterated it also quoted israeli soldiers testifying that every house we passed on our way into the gaza strip got hit by a shell and houses farther away too it was methodical and the damage to palestinian property was not a consideration when determining the scope and force of fire the report went on to say that the vast scale of destruction may have been adopted as tactics of war that the idf followed a pre calculated pattern of wide spread razing of neighbourhoods in certain areas and that this razing of entire areas may not have been strictly required by military necessity 119 and 5 targeting of civilians in a brief treatment just one paragraph the report noted a number of cases in which civilians who were clearly not participating in the hostilities appear to have been attacked in the street it pointed to a couple of incidents in which civilians including children allegedly carrying white flags were fired upon by soldiers and a third incident in which a wounded man lying on the ground was shot again two times and killed 120 the report found that israel deliberately killed just two civilians during the whole of the ground operation in essence the picture presented by the un report looked something like this israel launched protective edge in order to achieve a pair of unimpeachable military objectives end hamas s projectile attacks dismantle hamas s tunnel network in the course of the assault it resorted to indiscriminate and disproportionate force primarily because it attached a higher priority to the lives injured and killed israel of its own combatants than to gaza s civilian population still on the one hand israel did issue warnings that although not always effective saved the lives of many people the report didn t provide a basis for this calculation 121 and on the other hand although many civilians were intentionally targeted only a handful of them put simply protective edge was a legitimate military operation that alas often went awry but only exceptionally crossed the red line of targeting gaza s civilian infrastructure and next to never crossed the red line of targeting its civilian population the report s overarching conceit could not however accommodate many of its own findings and conclusions if the warnings were designed to save lives why were so few issued why was so little advance notice given when they were issued and why were so many of them such as the roof knock ineffective by the report s own account 122 if the areas toward which israel directed the civilian population were likely to be hit by air strikes then those fleeing after an alert found safe haven more as a result of serendipity than anything else in fact israel almost certainly issued these warnings in order to embroider its hasbara campaign and to provide itself with legal cover in the event of postwar prosecutions or in the report s own words to justify attacks against individual civilians who didn t flee after the alerts they also served to foment panic and mass displacement which the report depicted as collateral effects but which to judge by prior israeli operations were a premeditated objective 123 the denouement of protective edge provided the most compelling proof that overwhelmingly israeli warnings were contrived not to save lives but with these other goals in mind although it had been forced to terminate the ground invasion in early august after international outrage peaked israel still sought to gain leverage in the ongoing negotiations by launching air strikes in late august on four high rise buildings occupied by gaza s social elite 124 however fearful of evoking renewed condemnation israel was at pains not to kill civilians particularly influential civilians so it issued effective warnings that enabled all the buildings residents to evacuate safely 125 the fact that no gazans died in these air strikes pointed up that if israel were so inclined it could have issued truly effective warnings the report praised these late august warnings as a good practice through which israel attempted to minimize civilian casualties 126 wasn t it a tad unseemly to congratulate israel on its good practice to minimize civilian casualties when in this last scene of the last act of a terror assault on a defenseless civilian population that had already left more than a thousand civilians dead and tens of thousands homeless israel proceeded to level yet more homes in particular as this good practice was proof positive that except when it was politically advantageous israel issued warnings only to grease its pr machine and sow panic not to save lives while israel s primordial objective made manifest by its use of one ton bombs in to resort israel s indiscriminate densely populated civilian neighborhoods was so far as diplomatic constraints would allow it to maximize civilian casualties if as the report inferred the principal impetus behind and disproportionate force was to protect its combatants that might explain why it adopted a criminal shoot to kill anything that moves policy in areas where ground troops were operating but why did israel indiscriminately fire from afar tens of thousands of indiscriminate high explosive artillery shells into densely populated civilian neighborhoods which resulted in a large number of civilian casualties and widespread destruction of civilian objects and why did it persist in its use of such indiscriminate high explosive weapons in densely populated civilian areas even after it was clear that they resulted in significant civilian casualties why did it drop hundreds of one ton bombs over densely populated civilian neighborhoods why did it raze to the ground and obliterate entire civilian neighborhoods in the total absence as idf eyewitness accounts repeatedly attested of military activity the report did acknowledge that israel perhaps inflicted this pre calculated devastation as tactics of war that weren t strictly required by military necessity it was to be sure an odd way to describe a destruction process in which overwhelmingly neither military necessity nor that matter military considerations of any kind figured as even a factor the report didn t pose let alone answer the question begging for to be asked if not from military necessity then why did israel in a pre calculated fashion adopt tactics of war that wreaked massive death and destruction in gaza in fact if safeguarding the lives of israeli combatants at any cost was the modus operandi of protective edge then punishing and terrorizing the civilian population into submission was its overarching objective the report itself copiously documented that israel fired tens of thousands of high explosive artillery shells into and dropped hundreds of one ton bombs over densely populated civilian neighborhoods targeted hospitals ambulances rescue teams civilian vehicles and groups of citizens and pursued a shoot to kill anything that moves policy in pacified areas that still contained civilians but nonetheless it was the finding of this cynical craven document that of the 1 600 gazan civilians killed by israel during the 51 day terror onslaught only two were killed deliberately the un report included a miscellany section that analyzed israeli attacks on 1 civilian shelters 2 gaza s only power plant and 3 ambulances 1 civilian shelters the un report noted that israel attacked multiple civilian shelters and it investigated the attacks on three of them beit hanoun coeducational a and d school beit hanoun school jabalia elementary girls a and b school jabalia school and rafah preparatory boys a school rafah school that resulted in the deaths of some 45 persons including 14 children beit hanoun school the report stated that unrwa was in regular contact with israeli officials had given them the school s coordinates on twelve occasions and had informed them that the school was being used as a designated emergency shelter it further stated that beit hanoun was witness at the time of the incident to heavy fighting including daily shelling in the vicinity of the school as the fighting intensified the shelter s occupants were persuaded to leave and a time slot for their evacuation was synchronized between the idf and unrwa an idf commander subsequently conveyed his intention to target other schools in the area allegedly because a hamas arsenal was hidden among them but had reconfirmed at least twice that the designated emergency shelter would not be targeted however as families gathered their belongings and assembled in the school courtyard on 24 july to await bus transportation the building was suddenly attacked by at least two 120 mm high explosive he mortar projectiles one hitting the middle of the schoolyard and a second the steps in front of the school s entrance israel variously alleged that hamas prevented the shelter s occupants from leaving at the assigned time that the attacks had been caused by hamas rockets misfiring and that soldiers returned fire at locations from which palestinian missiles had been fired at them the report found no evidence supporting these official israeli alibis on the contrary it noted that witnesses consistently affirmed that there had been no rocket fire from the school nor militants operating in its vicinity nor any suspicious activity the report concluded the fact that the attack occurred before implementation of an evacuation agreement indicates that the advance warning communicated to unwra sic by the idf was not effective 127 jabalia school the report stated that p rior to 30 july israeli agencies were notified 28 times in 14 days about the site s use as an unrwa shelter and that israel had confirmed receipt of this information in addition unrwa was in steady contact with the relevant israeli agencies by e mail and telephone but on 30 july without advance warning the school was hit by a barrage of four 155 mm high explosive he projectiles an artillery indirect fire weapon eighteen people were killed including three children the idf alleged that hamas had fired at israeli armed forces from the vicinity of the school the report however found no evidence corroborating the israeli allegation 128 rafah school the report stated that on 3 august a precision guided missile hit the street in front of the school killing fifteen people including at least seven children israel alleged that the idf had fired an aerial launched missile at a motorcycle which had been carrying three militants from palestinian islamic jihad the report didn t adduce evidence either supporting or belying the official israeli version of what happened 129 a subsequent investigation by the al mezan center for human rights found that two not three gazans were riding the motorcycle and both were civilians 130 the un report s legal analysis of the first two incidents beit hanoun and jabalia 131 stated that israel must have been aware that by deploying relatively indiscriminate weapons such as artillery or mortars to strike a target located in a densely populated area and adjacent to unrwa schools used as a shelter it might also hit civilian objects it went on to express serious concerns that israel s choice of means for the attack did not take into account the requirement to avoid incidental loss of civilian life did not take all feasible precautions to choose means with a view to avoiding casualties hence these assaults are highly likely to constitute an indiscriminate attack and may amount to a war crime the explicit premise underlying the report s legal analysis was that israel targeted military objects in these attacks but the report didn t adduce a jot of evidence to sustain this premise on the contrary the mass of evidence assembled by it dictated the conclusion that israel intentionally targeted civilians taking shelter the report s own factual summary in the beit hanoun incident pinpointed that the attack occurred not during an exchange of fire but before implementation of an evacuation agreement how else is one to interpret this contextualization except that the assault was timed with or geared to the scheduled evacuation and that the object of the attack was the shelter grounds the undisputed facts that an agreement had been reached with the idf for a peaceful orderly exodus and that the idf commander twice expressly promised not to target this particular shelter compounded the crime as an appalling act of perfidy the report s contention that these incidents constituted indiscriminate attacks flew in the face of its own factual findings while its depiction of the ensuing civilian deaths as incidental begs the question incidental to what the report didn t point to a military objective in either incident while as it itself documented israel s official story kept shifting as each of its successive alibis kept unraveling the report reckoned it a critical finding of fact that israel s advance warning was not effective even though the warning proved to be a most effective instrument of criminal perfidy while the report reckoned it a critical finding of law that israel did not take all feasible precautions to protect civilians even though it did take all feasible precautions to set them up for a bloodbath it was as if the report were playing a victorian parlor game who can contrive the most absurd factual or legal description of a manifestly criminal act in another contrived iteration to facilitate communication the report stated that whereas israel relied on its civilian agencies between international organizations and the israeli military and there seem to have been attempts to notify unrwa about possible attacks in the case of beit hanoun the incident suggests that communication between unrwa and the idf was not effective but the report itself documented that even though the idf coordinated the evacuation with unrwa and even though the idf commander made repeated explicit promises not to target the shelter the idf launched an attack on the shelter grounds just before the agreed upon time slot while families started gathering their belongings in the courtyard so as to be ready when the buses arrived the upshot was not a communications breakdown but criminal bad faith indeed not even israel in its various official justifications blamed the attack on a lapse in communications the report created this alibi out of whole cloth the report s legal analysis additionally observed even though the attack against the unrwa schools may not have been deliberate the idf is bound by the obligation of precautionary measures and verification of targets to avoid attacks directed by negligence at civilians or civilian objects the choice of phraseology even though the attack may not have been deliberate was twice over peculiar on the one hand the report s legal findings never even hinted that the attacks were deliberate to the contrary it studiously avoided this conclusion while on the other hand the factual evidence assembled in the report left little doubt that they in fact were deliberate the report also considered it a relevant legal point that israel didn t take sufficient precautions to avoid attacks directed by negligence at civilians or civilian objects whereas it was hard not to conclude from the report s own rehearsal of the factual record that israel far from being negligent took every precaution and acted with full premeditation to target civilians and civilian objects 132 even ever cautious un secretary general ban ki moon finally blurted out after the israeli attack on rafah school the seventh civilian shelter to be targeted that it was a moral outrage and criminal act 133 2 gaza s only power plant the un report noted that israel s repeated shelling of the only power plant in gaza at the end of july caused severe damage the last shelling on 29 july caused one of the plant s fuel tanks to explode which eventually destroyed almost an entire section of the plant and damaged other parts it also noted that a s a result of that attack and of damage to the electricity infrastructure more generally gaza experienced power outages of 22 hours a day during the hostilities which forced hospitals to operate at limited capacity led to a drastic reduction in the pumping of water to households and affected desalination plants and sewage treatment a year shells had unfortunately missed their intended target although the report pleaded agnosticism the commission is unable to israel purported later that its verify this account it also observed that israel had already hit the power plant back in 2006 as well as during operation cast lead that at the inception of protective edge a senior israeli official had called on the government immediately to cut off fuel and electricity supplies to the gaza strip and also exhorted the government to use all of the levers of pressure at its disposal in order to coerce hamas to accept a cease fire and that the plant had been hit three times in the days just prior to the climactic 29 july strike the report s legal analysis reiterated that o wing to the limited evidence available it is unable to determine whether the power plant suffered incidental damage from an attack directed elsewhere or whether it was the object of a deliberate attack still it went on to speculate if the strike against the power plant was accidental as israel claims there remain nonetheless questions as to whether all appropriate precautions were taken by the idf to avoid damage to a civilian object 134 noticeably it didn t ponder the possibility that the attack was deliberate and the attendant legal consequences if it was but the larger point is this the report s avowed legal mandate was not to reach a definitive determination but instead to use a less stringent reasonable ground standard in its assessment of incidents investigated and patterns is what a reasonable and ordinarily prudent person would have reason to believe happened it appears a safe bet that a reasonable and ordinarily prudent person would have found to have occurred that in light of concluded something along these lines in light of the pattern of targeted israeli attacks on the power plant in previous years135 and multiple shellings of the plant in the days preceding the 29 july attack and in light of the minatory statements by a senior israeli official before the attack and the only counterevidence consisted of boilerplate israeli denial that has rarely withstood scrutiny in the past in light of this compelling and cumulative circumstantial evidence the attack on gaza s only power plant which exacerbated its already dire shortage of electricity was most likely deliberate and amounted to a war crime if the report didn t reach this conclusion that s because it construed the better part of prudence to be pusillanimity that fact the 3 ambulances the un report noted that protective edge resulted in damage to 16 ambulances and the death of 23 health personnel it focused on a trio of incidents that it had already dissected in shuja iya shuja iya market and rafah and on a pair of cognate incidents in al qarara village and beit hanoun in which ambulances came under israeli attack and 35 medical personnel and other civilians were killed and many more injured it presented a condensed version of the first three incidents and a more detailed account of the two others shuja iya a military medical aid ambulance was directly hit twice while attempting to provide first aid to victims shuja iya market in a context of intense fire a shell struck the ground close to three ambulances in the proximity of a house that had been attacked rafah eight people burned to death in an ambulance that was hit al qarara mohammed hassan al abadla an ambulance driver came under fire while evacuating an injured person w hen al abadla s ambulance arrived at the location the idf instructed the crew to exit the vehicle and continue on foot mohammed hassan al abadla and one of two volunteers got out of the ambulance and approached the patient with a flashlight on as directed they had walked about twelve meters when they came under fire and mohammed hassan al abadla was hit in the chest and thigh two ambulance teams that arrived a little later to rescue their wounded colleague also came under fire despite earlier icrc international committee of the red cross information that the idf had approved their entry to the area a third team was finally allowed to take al abadla to nasser hospital in khan younis where he died shortly upon arrival the ambulances movements were at all times coordinated with the idf through the icrc beit hanoun a missile appears to have hit the back of a prcs palestine red crescent society ambulance during a rescue operation in beit hanoun as a result an ambulance volunteer was killed and two other rescuers inside the ambulance were injured when another ambulance team was dispatched to respond a missile hit the rear part of this vehicle which caught fire the ambulance had its siren and flashing red light on and at the time of the strike the street was deserted the report did not discover in any of the five incidents any information or receive any allegations indicating that the ambulances involved were used for a purpose other than their humanitarian function it went on to observe that reports of repeated strikes on ambulances that came to the rescue of injured staff suggest that the ambulances and personnel may have been specifically targeted that many if not most of the reported strikes on ambulances appear to have occurred without there having been any obvious threat or military activity in the area and that ambulances were marked with emblems health workers wore uniforms and the idf had been notified repeatedly of their movements the report s legal analysis found that some of the incidents constitute a violation by the idf of the prohibition of attacks on medical transports and medical personnel and may amount to war crimes in particular if the vehicles or personnel attacked used the geneva conventions 136 although they appear reasonable at any rate by the dismally low standard set by the report one distinctive emblems the of can still quarrel at points with this factual presentation and legal finding it stated that ambulances in shuja iya market came under attack in a context of intense fire but if none of the witnesses reported return fire by palestinians shouldn t it have said in a context of intense fire by israel it stated that some of the incidents violated the laws of war which of the five shocking incidents it might be wondered didn t if the report unequivocally found that hamas s executions of alleged collaborators amount to a war crime it might also be wondered why even though the report compiled a mass as well as a pattern of damning evidence it could find only that israel s repeated targeting of clearly marked ambulances in the absence of any military justification may amount to a war crime if the report could exhort that whoever is responsible for the executions of alleged collaborators in gaza must be brought to justice it might also be wondered why it wasn t equally emphatic that whoever was responsible for the targeting of medical personnel and rescue crews must be brought to justice the report s legal finding stated that israel may have committed a war crime because it violated the prohibition against attacks on medical transports and personnel but wouldn t it also be a war crime if they weren t medics but simply civilians this prompts the most perplexing and serious question of all the report found convincing evidence that israel specifically targeted these medical personnel civilians absent any military rationale and in the full knowledge of their noncombatant status it tallied 35 deaths as a result of the five ambulance attacks it investigated but why then did the report calculate under its rubric targeting of civilians that israel had committed only two targeted killings of civilians during protective edge indeed israel s targeting of ambulances medical personnel and rescue crews absent a discernible military objective itself did not deviate from but merely shone a brighter light on the actual strategic goal of protective edge to punish humiliate and terrorize gaza s civilian population part and parcel of which was the infliction of massive civilian casualties finally a glaring omission in the un report s inventory of israeli war crimes warrants notice israel destroyed 70 mosques and damaged 130 more during protective edge it is a war crime under international law to target places of worship which constitute the cultural or spiritual heritage of people 137 the report made precisely four passing allusions to attacks on gaza s mosques of which three repeat israeli hasbara that hamas hid weapons inside or fired from them and one is a sentence fragment that a mosque had been hit 138 the report devoted many paragraphs to the psychic distress israelis suffered during protective edge but it had not a single word to say about the psychic impact in a deeply religious society of israel s assault on gaza s mosques if hamas had destroyed scores of israeli synagogues is it conceivable that the report would have ignored it the issue isn t whether or not israel deliberately targeted gaza s mosques without military although justification evidence overwhelmingly suggests that it did 139 the telling point is this the report didn t deem the mass destruction of mosques worthy of attention let alone investigation available the the un report s penultimate chapter analyzed steps taken by each party to hold accountable violators of the laws of war during protective edge the section on palestine consisting of nine paragraphs essentially pleaded that little information was available and then concluded that palestinian authorities have consistently failed to ensure that perpetrators of violations of the laws of war are brought to justice 140 the heart of this chapter running to judicial response 141 the sheer amount of space devoted by the report to this undertaking conveyed the impression that israel s system of legal accountability was a worthy object of investigation the facts however reveal that this system is a farce fully 45 paragraphs parsed israel s the un report observed that israel has in the past failed to hold accountable those responsible for alleged grave violations of the laws of war for example during cast lead 1 400 gazans were killed up to 1 200 of them civilians while much of gaza s civilian infrastructure was laid waste but only four israelis were convicted of wrongdoing and only three of them were sentenced to jail the maximum sentence was seven and a half months for theft of a palestinian s credit card 142 the report further noted that israel hadn t launched a single criminal investigation regarding operation pillar of defense 2012 it concluded that the track record of israel s judicial system raise s serious questions regarding the effectiveness of the current mechanisms to hold to account those responsible for the most serious alleged crimes it then went on to observe that the picture is equally bleak when reviewing other data whether they pertained to the many killings of palestinians in the west bank only two indictments and one conviction or the many allegations of torture and ill treatment of palestinians not a single criminal investigation was opened still the report espied a silver lining in the cloud it purported that israel has in recent years significantly upgraded its system of legal accountability in 2010 israeli commandos launched an assault on the gaza freedom flotilla killing nine passengers aboard the flagship mavi marmara 143 the international outrage after these deaths compelled israel to appoint an investigative commission chaired by former supreme court justice jacob turkel the findings of the turkel commission comprised two volumes published separately the first volume 2011 which pretended to examine the circumstances surrounding the commando raid on the flotilla although replete with scholarly footnotes and erudite references proved on close inspection to be a whitewash 144 the second volume israel s 2013 was mandated to assess whether it also mechanism for prosecuting violators of the laws of war met international standards unsurprisingly the turkel commission found that the israeli mechanism generally passed muster but recommended several improvements the un report heaped praise on the turkel commission s recommendations as they lent momentum to the noteworthy significant welcome reforms that israel subsequently instituted the un report also delineated the remaining procedural structural and substantive flaws already adumbrated by the turkel commission and kept repeating mantra style that if israel remedied them its judicial system would come close to ensuring full legal accountability a typical passage melding the bleak past with the roseate future went like this the un report is concerned that impunity prevails across the board for violations of international humanitarian and human rights law allegedly committed by israeli forces whether it be in the context of active hostilities in gaza or killings torture and ill treatment in the west bank israel must break with its recent lamentable track record in holding wrong doers accountable those responsible for suspected violations of international law at all levels of the political and military establishments must be brought to justice an important factor in enabling such a process will be the implementation of the turkel commission s recommendations 145 the un report s analysis zeroed in on israel s legal mechanism as the critical locus in need of repair just a mite more tweaking it anticipated and everything would be hunky dory but the rational basis of its pollyannaish optimism perplexes consider this chronology the report highlighted that israel had already implemented several of it and these edge praised reforms before the turkel commission s proposed protective as noteworthy significant welcome initiatives but it also noted that after protective edge and notwithstanding these touted reforms b tselem israeli information center for human rights in the occupied territories and yesh din the premier guardians of palestinian human rights in israel refused to cooperate with official israeli inquiries into the operation the existing investigation mechanism they jointly declared precluded serious investigations and is marred by severe structural flaws that render it incapable of conducting professional investigations 146 it would appear that these israel based human rights organizations were rather less sanguine than the report about the alleged israeli reforms furthermore if these indeed constituted noteworthy significant welcome improvements how did it come to pass that the material results of israeli investigations into protective edge read like a carbon copy of operation cast lead as of 2015 the report noted israel had issued three indictments two soldiers were accused of looting nis 2 420 over usd 600 from a palestinian home in shuja iya gaza city a third soldier was accused of assisting them unless the report was of the opinion that an indictment for stealing cash instead of for stealing a credit card registered a civilizational leap a wide chasm separated the report s brimming enthusiasms from these measurable outcomes a year after publication of the un report b tselem issued a report of its own the occupation s fig leaf israel s military law enforcement system as a whitewash mechanism 147 it announced that henceforth it would cease cooperating with israel s military law enforcement system inter alia it commented on the turkel commission which so impressed the un report the commission recommended a number of improvements to the military law enforcement system the implementation of these recommendations which has already begun may improve appearances of the current system but it will not remedy the substantive flaws the b tselem report concluded t he semblance of a functioning justice system allows israeli officials to deny claims made both in israel and abroad that israel does not enforce the law on soldiers who harm palestinians these appearances also help grant legitimacy to the continuation of the occupation it makes it easier to reject criticism about the injustices of the occupation thanks to the military s outward pretense that even it considers some acts unacceptable and backs up the claim by saying that it is already investigating these actions b tselem s cooperation with the military investigation and enforcement system has not achieved justice instead lending legitimacy to the occupation regime and aiding to whitewash it t here is no longer any point in pursuing justice and defending human rights by working with a system whose real function is measured by its ability to continue to successfully cover up unlawful acts and protect perpetrators the purpose of israeli pseudo investigations undertaken after protective edge b tselem further observed in a complementary publication whitewash protocol the so called investigation of operation protective edge was to prevent the international criminal court icc in the hague from addressing the issue itself 148 if only the un report had summoned up such courage candor and principle instead it lent its good offices to the whitewash as it waxed the occupation s fig leaf the un report s assessment of israel s accountability mechanism included a case study of four palestinian children killed by israeli missiles 149 the children were playing hide and seek around a small dilapidated fisherman s hut which was in plain sight of nearby hotels housing international journalists none of whom described seeing militants in the area at the time of the attack british guardian 150 the report noted that the boys were aged between 9 and 11 years and were therefore small in stature in comparison to the size of an average adult while amnesty noted that video footage quickly emerged in which individuals targeted were clearly visible as children 151 but the official israeli investigation concluded that the children had been mistaken for militants and that the attack process accorded with israeli domestic law and international law requirements if the report s legal assessment differed from israel s it was only on the narrowest of grounds it found strong indications that the idf failed in its obligations to take all feasible measures to avoid or at least minimize incidental harm to civilians it is unclear why the report ruled out the possibility that the israeli missile strikes intentionally targeted the children it s not as if the idf had never before targeted palestinian children or for that matter tortured them152 and used them as human shields 153 or its all in keeping with that israeli settlers many of whom at some point pass through the idf hadn t committed the most heinous atrocities against palestinian children such as burning them to death 154 the report just barely and only indirectly paused to reflect on the plausibility of the claim that the idf confused four children small in stature in comparison to the size of an average adult with hamas militants thus feasible precautions line of analysis the report criticized the idf as it could have more exhaustively verified whether those being targeted were taking a direct part in the hostilities what hostilities the report itself stated there were no idf soldiers in the area as the ground operations had not commenced nor were there any other persons in imminent danger wasn t the report s tacit premise that the idf believed the children were taking a direct part in the hostilities leap of bad faith unargued unsubstantiated and in light of a gory israeli track record of killing and torturing palestinian children wholly unwarranted the report continued t he compound was located in the centre of a city of almost 550 000 residents between a public beach and an area regularly used by fishermen it could therefore not be ruled out that civilians including children might be present these factual elements suggest that by assuming that the individuals were members of armed groups merely on the basis of their presence in a particular location the idf reversed the presumption of civilian status this passage a puzzles on several counts first the report took for granted that the target of the israeli missile strike was a hamas compound even though journalist eyewitnesses attested that it was a beaten shack second it itself acknowledged that the targeted area was a densely populated civilian locale third it was most improbable that children small of stature would be confused with hamas militants why then did the report infer that the idf had been assuming that the individuals were members of armed groups on the basis of the circumstantial evidence which the report itself assembled it would seem much more probable that the idf deliberately targeted innocent children indeed except for pro forma israeli denials no basis existed for inferring otherwise by starting from the assumption that the children were militants not civilians instead of the reverse the report concluded israel appears to have validated international humanitarian law the irony entirely lost on this wretched document was that by starting from the highly dubious premise that the idf had been assuming the dilapidated shack was a hamas compound and the diminutive children were an armed group the report itself validated an incorrect application of international humanitarian law the applicable legal principle was not all feasible precautions but plainly the deliberate targeting of civilians 155 incorrect application of an the un report s analysis of israeli legal accountability was embedded in and went awry because of a chain of false if anodyne and convenient premises to wit israel has periodically launched military operations in gaza with legitimate conventional military objectives and targets in the course of these operations the idf has alas committed excesses which army hasn t sometimes spilling over into war crimes if israel has been remiss in prosecuting these breaches of the laws of war it s on account of a still flawed legal administrative mechanism but fortunately it requires just a little tinkering if israel would only implement a couple more turkel commission recommendations to eliminate the glitches and enable the wheels of justice to turn smoothly the picture looks radically different however if protective edge is viewed through the optic of the goldstone report issued by the un human rights council after cast lead 156 the goldstone report found that the death and destruction israel visited on gaza s civilian population were not incidental or the result of a failure to take all feasible precautions but on the contrary calculated and deliberate designed to punish humiliate and terrorize a civilian population 157 the military doctrine driving protective edge was carried over from cast lead it was a repeat performance but writ larger the factual evidence collected in the un report left little space for doubt that israel was deliberately targeting gaza s civilian population and infrastructure during protective edge if the report s it willfully repeatedly and unforgivably legal analysis concluded otherwise it was due not to a deficit of material evidence but to a deficit of moral integrity the report deployed the idiom of law not to shed light on the criminal nature of israel s undertaking but to sanitize it true the report at multiple junctures raises concerns that israel may have committed war crimes but ignored dispositive evidence that these israeli crimes far from being collateral to or springing from tactical excesses in the pursuit of a bona fide military objective were integral to and inherent in a criminal strategy targeting gaza s civilian population whether it traced back to careerism cowardice or cynicism the bottom line was that the report transparently and shamelessly fled from the damning conclusions that flowed inexorably from its own factual findings did it not border on the absurd indeed was it not squarely in absurdist terrain when the report indicted israel for not taking all feasible precautions to avoid incidental harm to civilians after israeli missiles targeted and killed four children playing hide and seek in an open civilian area absent any military activity in broad daylight in the presence of numerous credible eyewitnesses who contradicted israel s pro forma denials on each and every point in two places the report pondered whether israel s massive and destructive force was approved at least tacitly by decision makers at the highest levels of the government and gingerly touched on the role of senior officials who set military policy individual soldiers may if the that have been following agreed military policy it also posed the tantalizing question why did the political and military leadership not revise their policies or change their course of action despite considerable information regarding massive death and destruction in gaza it further noted that the relevant israeli bodies had not initiated judicial proceedings against the military and civilian leadership but still the report chased after the will o the wisp turkel commission recommendations were fully implemented israel s judicial system would hold to account individuals who may have played a role in wrong doing regardless of their position in the hierarchy 158 in reality if senior israeli officials willfully persisted in a course of action causing murder and mayhem in gaza and if none of them was subsequently indicted let alone convicted it was no mystery at all as to why the operation unfolded according to plan and the plan enjoyed near universal support if the report s authors didn t see this that s because they didn t want to see it and didn t want anyone who read their findings and conclusions to see it the report was a monument to sophistry obfuscation and deflection it conjured up the absurd panacea of comprehensive and effective accountability mechanisms 159 when in fact nearly the whole of jewish israeli society from top to bottom and across the board was united in the dual conviction on full display in the breaking the silence testimonies that arab life was worthless and jewish life worth its weight in gold that too the report pretended not to see and didn t want others to see 160 for were this sordid reality to be acknowledged its fateful implication would have to be confronted that the obstacle to achieving justice was not localized but systemic israel will not reform itself because it cannot reform itself it is contaminated at every level not least the judiciary by a virulent brew of racism and arrogance freely circulating in a body politic whose immune system has collapsed by fostering the illusion that if israel incorporated a handful of internal administrative reforms it would heal itself the report conveyed and validated the utterly counterfeit image that israel was essentially a healthy society but a state that every couple of years launches with overwhelming popular support and without a hint of remorse yet another high tech blitzkrieg against a defenseless trapped civilian population is profoundly sick if another protective edge is to be avoided and the people of gaza are to be spared another massacre it requires pressure to be exerted from without not meaningless irrelevant tinkering from within the betrayal of gaza by human rights organizations chronicled in these pages constitutes a harsh truth still it must be brought to light the beginning of wisdom confucius said is to call things by their proper name conclusion f i g u r e 5 luther amnesty international kenneth roth human rights from left to right starting at top left philip watch luis moreno ocampo international criminal court mary mcgowan davis un independent commission of inquiry jacques de maio international committee of the red cross richard horton the lancet photo credits karen hatch photography harald dettenborn estonian foreign ministry jean marc ferré icrc audiovisual archives bluerasberry a 2012 un report posed the poignant question will gaza be a liveable place in 2020 its response based on current trends was just barely while it would require herculean efforts to reverse these trends 1 the prognosis appeared yet bleaker a few years later three israeli military operations in the past six years in addition to eight years of economic blockade a 2015 united nations conference on trade and development unctad report found have ravaged the already debilitated infrastructure of gaza shattered its productive base left no time for meaningful reconstruction or economic recovery and impoverished the palestinian population in gaza at the time of writing some 50 percent of gaza s population is unemployed while 70 percent is food insecure and dependent on humanitarian aid 70 percent of the nearly 20 000 homes destroyed during protective edge have still not been rebuilt 70 percent of gazans have piped water supplies for only 6 8 hours every two to four days while nearly all gazans suffer from power outages lasting 16 18 hours each day for the first time in a half century a team of health researchers found mortality rates have increased among palestine refugee newborns in gaza in answer to the question posed by the 2012 un report the 2015 unctad report forecast that on the present trajectory gaza will be unliveable in 2020 2 it s possible that this projection which gave gaza a five year window of opportunity was too sanguine another war with gaza was inevitable senior israeli officials ominously observed in 2016 we cannot conduct a constant war of attrition therefore the next conflict has to be the last conflict 3 the proximate cause of gaza s desperate plight is the siege the 2015 unctad report observed that the complete and immediate lifting of israel s blockade is more urgent than ever if gaza is to have a chance to avoid further damage and develop into a liveable place in a follow up report a year later unctad again sounded the alarm the population of gaza is locked in denied access to the west bank and the rest of the world even people in need of medical treatment are not allowed to travel to obtain essential health care full recovery of the gaza strip is challenging without a lifting of the blockade which collectively negatively affects the entire 1 8 million population of gaza and deprives them of their economic civil social and cultural rights as well as the right to development 4 the siege which constitutes a form of collective punishment is a flagrant violation of international law the un human rights council report on israel s operation protective edge although a whitewash and a sham nonetheless called on israel to lift the blockade immediately and unconditionally 5 severe restrictions on exports from the gaza strip sara roy of harvard university concluded have little or anything to do with security t heir purpose clearly is to maintain the separation of gaza and the west bank 6 its severe travel restrictions according to gisha the israeli legal center for freedom of movement result more from israel s minimalist approach to its obligations toward the 1 8 million palestinians living in the gaza strip than from its obligation to protect the security of israeli citizens the benefits to israeli security are hard to identify 7 even israel s prestigious newspaper haaretz scoffed at the notion that the blockade provided security and called for it to be lifted there is no justification for the closure of gaza it hasn t prevented missiles from being fired at israel it hasn t caused the hoped for public uprising against the hamas government and it constitutes an incubator for the development of despair and cycles of violence that have made the lives of residents of southern israel intolerable the israeli government must immediately end its blockade of gaza this palestinian ghetto must be opened 8 in all likelihood the lethal trends prefiguring gaza s exhaustion as a viable habitat won t be checked the political muscle needed to reverse israeli policy vis à vis gaza is sorely lacking in the newly emerging constellation of regional and global political alignments israel s star is waxing as it has made significant diplomatic inroads among key state actors 9 meanwhile palestine s star is on the wane whereas it benefited from a unique salience on the world stage this past half century the cause of palestine has now been eclipsed by the numberless humanitarian crises wracking the middle east even if and when the dust settles it s improbable that palestine will regain its former moral resonance inexorably it will be reduced to the minuscule geopolitical weight of its demography and territory and come more closely to resemble the self determination struggles in east timor and western sahara if it was an uphill battle before the path henceforth will be immeasurably steeper a cascade of recent developments impinging on gaza flesh out this forbidding picture at worst regional players such as egypt turn the screws on gaza tighter than even israel would counsel 10 at best regional players such as saudi arabia try to score points with arab public opinion and purchase local patronage by earmarking aid packages in the event mostly unfulfilled for gaza 11 none of the regional powers however is about to expend political capital on gaza s behalf on the contrary both egypt and saudi arabia are forging a long term strategic alliance with israel 12 after the mavi marmara incident turkey conditioned a resumption of normal relations with israel on an end to the blockade 13 but in 2016 president recep tayyip erdoğan capitulated he reestablished diplomatic its territory the ties after derisory israeli concessions enabling him to save face 14 in the meantime the middle east quartet the us eu un and russia issued in 2016 a long awaited statement on the peace process it pinned primary culpability for the deterioration in israeli gazan relations on the illicit arms buildup and militant activity by hamas and it determined that preventing the use of territory for attacks against israel is a key commitment that is essential for long term peace and security its only direct mention of the horror that unfolded during protective edge read in the course of the 2014 conflict israel discovered 14 tunnels penetrating report did acknowledge in passing that the dire humanitarian situation in gaza was exacerbated by the closures of the crossings and that israeli restrictions on external trade and access to fishing waters contribute to food insecurity and humanitarian aid dependency but the quartet called on israel not to end but only to accelerate the lifting of movement and access restrictions to and from gaza and then due consideration should be given to israel s need to protect its citizens from terrorist attacks 15 thus so long as israel purports that sealing off gaza from the outside world is necessary to protect itself from hamas terrorism or in other words until and unless gaza surrenders its fate to israel the siege will continue with the quartet s blessing of the complementary international reconstruction plans for gaza roy observes they read more like security plans interpolated escape clause that the carefully laying out israeli concerns and the ways in which the united nations will accommodate them israel must approve all projects and their locations and will be able to veto any aspect of the process on security grounds n ot only will the blockade of gaza be maintained but responsibility for maintaining it will in effect be transferred to the un which is tasked with monitoring the entire process of which israel retains full control 16 true after a visit to gaza in 2016 un secretary general ban ki moon told a news conference the closure of gaza suffocates its people stifles its economy and impedes reconstruction efforts it is a collective punishment for which there must be accountability 17 alas he only reached this epiphany six months before the end of his ten year term of office in the instant case late was not better than never it was never gaza has not yet crossed the threshold of no return to be sure one would have to be blinder than king lear to believe that diplomatic negotiations in and of themselves might yet yield fruit when the current phase of the peace process was inaugurated in 1993 250 000 illegal jewish settlers resided in the occupied palestinian territory by 2016 600 000 settlers resided in the west bank including east jerusalem the bitter fruit it yielded in gaza requires no further comment if the essence of a phenomenon is to be grasped not in its packaging but in its content then palestine has borne witness not to a peace process but to an annexation cum despoliation process the quartet for the report called resumption of meaningful negotiations but it isn t possible to resume what never began still it is no more likely that hamas s strategy of armed resistance can achieve substantive results however legally and morally defensible firing bottle rockets at one of the world s most formidable military powers will not bring it to its knees it merely provides israel with a convenient alibi when it periodically decides in pursuit of objectives wholly divorced rockets to annihilate gaza these from a strategy of mass nonviolent resistance by contrast might yet turn the tide gaza s richest resources are its people the truth and public opinion time and again and come what may the people of gaza have evinced a granite will born of a sheer indomitable dignity unrwa spokesperson chris gunness not to be held in bondage 18 protective edge battered that will but it appears did not yet shatter it truth is on the side of gaza if this book rises to a crescendo of anger and indignation it s because the endless lies about gaza by those who know better cause one s innards to writhe gandhi called his doctrine of nonviolence satyagraha which he translated as hold on to the truth if the people of gaza in their multitudes hold on to the truth it s possible which is not to say probable let alone certain just possible and not without immense personal sacrifice up to and including death that israel can be forced to lift the suffocating blockade what iron dome or what tunnel detection system can stop them an israeli observer rhetorically asked if one day a few tens of thousands or maybe a few hundreds of thousands decide to climb the fence or hold a hunger strike next to it 19 the cause of palestine still inspires and can draw from huge reserves of international public support including in recent years wide swaths of jewish opinion estranged from israel s lurch rightward and leap into the moral abyss 20 at the core of this mass of sympathetic opinion stands an international solidarity movement ready willing and able when the moment of reckoning is upon it to give its all for gaza if the people of gaza on the one hand and global public opinion on the other are mobilized galvanized and organized and if a cause guided by truth fortified by law animated by righteousness and bending toward justice can unleash as history is testament an irresistible moral power able to defeat disarm and diffuse brute force then a small miracle might yet come to pass the people of gaza will be able at least at last to breathe again and ultimately if they if we all persevere to end the occupation in a century of dishonor written at the end of the 19th century helen hunt jackson chronicled the destruction of the native american population by conscious willful government policy the book was largely ignored then forgotten and finally rediscovered by later generations ready to hear and bear the truth speaking to the fate of the cherokee nation which was expelled from one tribal homeland after another and finally stripped of its tribal holdings by the us government jackson wrote there is no record so black as the record of its perfidy to this nation 21 the present volume was modeled after her searing requiem the author holds out faint hope that it will find an audience among his contemporaries still the truth should be preserved it is the least that s owed the victims perhaps one day in the remote future when the tenor of the times is more receptive someone will stumble across this book collecting dust on a library shelf blow off the cobwebs and be stung by outrage at the lot of a people if not forsaken by god then betrayed by the cupidity and corruption careerism and cynicism cravenness and cowardice of mortal man there will come a time jackson anticipated when to the student of american history it will seem well nigh incredible what was done to the cherokee is it not certain that one day the black record of gaza s martyrdom will in retrospect also seem well nigh incredible a p p e n d i x is the occupation legal a b s t r a c t a broad consensus exists among representative and authoritative bodies that under international law the israeli blockade of the gaza strip is illegal and even after its 2005 redeployment israel remains the occupying power in gaza but what is the legal status of the israeli occupation itself the essence of an occupation under international law is that it is a temporary situation an occupation that does not and cannot end is de facto an irreversible annexation inasmuch as the acquisition of territory by war is illegal under international law an occupation that morphs into an irreversible annexation must also be illegal in light of the international court of justice s jurisprudence in the namibia case on the one hand and israel s persistent refusal to negotiate an end to the occupation on the basis of international law on the other it is submitted that the israeli occupation of the west bank including east jerusalem and the gaza strip has become illegal under international law as such israel has forfeited its rights as an occupying power the one and only right still accruing to it is to execute a full withdrawal from the palestinian territories that it illegally occupies 1 0 t h e i n t e r n at i o n a l l aw o f o c c u pat i o n 1 1 does the legal status of an occupation depend on how it originated 1 1 1 the broad consensus is that international law does not distinguish between a military occupation that results from a war of self defense and a military occupation that results from a war of aggression the same rights and obligations codified in the hague regulations 1907 and the fourth geneva convention 1949 accrue to the occupying power in either case 1 it thus resembles the laws of war which apply equally to both parties in a conflict regardless of which side initiated it and which acted in self defense 1 1 2 a dissenting view based on more recent developments in international law holds that military occupation is intrinsically illegal as it results from illegal use of force and violates the customary law of self determination the sole exception would be an occupation that both ensues from lawful use of force and is of limited duration 2 1 1 2 1 even if one subscribes to the novel contention that a military occupation is inherently illegal and even if the israeli occupation did not qualify as an exception it still could not circumvent the fact that un security council resolution 242 which endures as the recognized basis for resolving the israel palestine conflict made israel s withdrawal conditional on a negotiated agreement however it originated israel s occupation cannot then be illegal by virtue of it being an occupation the declaration on 1 1 2 2 the preambular paragraph of a december 1975 general assembly resolution implementation of the granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples 3481 recited that any military occupation however temporary constituted an act of aggression and an operative paragraph accordingly condemn ed israel s occupation of arab territories in violation of the charter of the united nations the principles of international law and repeated united nations resolutions 3 but this isolated resolution does not appear to have had political consequence or diplomatic resonance 1 1 3 in the early years of the occupation it was alleged by israel s supporters that insofar as israel came to administer the arab territories while fighting a defensive war it was a lawful entrant that has a right of occupation pending conclusion of a peace treaty 4 if the israeli occupation was legal it was allegedly because it sprang from a war of self defense 1 1 3 1 this contention was anchored in the two pronged claim that israel believed it faced an imminent egyptian attack when it struck in 1967 and that israel s resort to force was subsequently validated by the united nations a careful reading of the documentary record shows however that an egyptian attack was not impending israeli leaders did not fear such an attack and the international community did not ex post facto embrace israel s narrative of the chain of events climaxing in its first strike 5 1 1 4 even though the international community did not embrace israel s narrative of how it came to occupy arab lands it did not call on israel to unilaterally withdraw after protracted debate first in the general assembly and then in the security council 6 the united nations resolved in 242 to make an israeli withdrawal from occupied arab territory in accordance with the customary rule of the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war conditional upon the termination of all claims or states of belligerency by neighboring arab countries in accordance with the principle of international law barring threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state 1 1 5 the essential picture then is that the legality of israel s occupation does not hinge on how it originated whether the occupation resulted from a war of self defense or a war of aggression is beside the point even if israel s claim of self defense could be shown to be false still israel was not legally bound to withdraw so long as neighboring arab countries did not recognize its reciprocal rights as a state the israeli occupation had no time limit and could from the legal point of view continue indefinitely former israeli chief justice meir shamgar inferred pending an alternative political or military solution 7 1 2 the legal status of a recalcitrant occupier 1 2 1 but could the israeli occupation from the legal point of view continue indefinitely if israel balked at withdrawal even after arab states expressed a readiness to recognize it shamgar entered the critical caveat pending an alternative political solution what if israel were offered such a solution but rejected it 1 2 2 this question first arose in the context of israel s occupation following the 1967 war of the egyptian sinai in the course of un mandated mediation the jarring mission egypt had agreed to a full peace treaty with israel but israel still refused to withdraw from the sinai once these negotiations broke down and all avenues toward a diplomatic settlement were thwarted by israeli intransigence egypt repeatedly warned that it would go to war in order to recover the occupied sinai it made good on this threat in 1973 8 1 2 2 1 just before egypt launched its offensive the un security council convened to deliberate on the diplomatic impasse israel purported that per resolution 242 it was not obliged to withdraw until and unless a mutually agreed upon resolution of the conflict was reached the kingdom of jordan cogently rejoined however that disputing axiomatic legal principles did not constitute negotiations but instead was tantamount to evading a settlement while agreement has a necessary and proper place in the peace making efforts it should not be allowed to be employed as a subversive tactic and pretext one cannot reopen every established and fundamental principle of the un charter and its logical consequences at every juncture at which a party to a dispute deems it serviceable to its illegitimate interest to veto the application of the principles we wish that complete withdrawal should occur through agreement but if the party in occupation and in objective opposition to a just settlement insists on placing its non agreement as a barrier to both withdrawal and peace what are we to do 9 1 2 2 2 a draft resolution tabled at this council session strongly deplore d israel s continuing occupation of the territories occupied as a result of the 1967 war 10 in his gloss on the resolution the indian drafter stated w e totally reject any claim that either resolution 242 1967 or the cease fire agreement in any way gives tolerance much less authority direct or indirect tacit or implicit or explicit for israeli forces to continue to occupy arab territories 11 the united states vetoed the resolution on the grounds that condemning the israeli occupation bears no relationship to the provisions and principles of resolution 242 1967 12 but the consensus opinion minus the american delegate was that once israel refused to negotiate a peaceful settlement based on international law it effectively forfeited its right to be an occupant in keeping with this determination after egypt crossed the suez canal in october 1973 in order to eject the israeli occupier and recover the sinai not a single government accused egypt of aggression as abba eban later rued in his memoir not even the united states 13 1 2 3 the scholarly literature on the law of occupation makes scant mention of the legal status of a recalcitrant occupier the most comprehensive study to date yutaka arai takahashi s the law of occupation continuity and change of international humanitarian law and its interaction with international human rights law 14 doesn t contemplate such a scenario yoram dinstein s the international law of belligerent occupation disposes of the myth that an occupation becomes in time inherently illegal under international law in one curt unenlightening paragraph 15 1 2 3 1 an article by orna ben naftali aeyal gross and keren michaeli illegal occupation framing the occupied palestinian territory 16 is often cited by writers who assert that israel s occupation is illegal it argues albeit in occasionally opaque language that the infrastructure israel has entrenched in the west bank settlements bypass roads the wall etc constitutes a de facto annexation in violation of the basic principle of temporariness that defines an occupation and that israel has also committed gross violations of humanitarian and human rights norms in the annexation process the cumulative effect of these illegal israeli actions the authors conclude has been to render the occupation illegal the force of this thesis is that israel has been pursuing policies that will eventually and inexorably make the occupation irreversible in breach of its obligations as an occupier on the one hand and the palestinian right to self determination on the other but inasmuch as israeli settlements etc have not yet made the occupation irreversible it appears legally more nuanced and in keeping with precedent to discretely condemn the illegal israeli practices without however declaring the occupation as such illegal 1 2 3 1 1 the un security council has designated israel s settlement policy and annexation of east jerusalem illegal 17 and the general assembly has referred to israel s de facto annexation of large areas of territory 18 1 2 3 1 2 in its 2004 landmark advisory opinion legal consequences of the construction of a wall in the occupied palestinian territory the international court of justice icj more tentatively stated the construction of the wall and its associated régime create a fait accompli on the ground that could well become permanent formal characterization of the wall by israel it would be tantamount to de facto annexation 19 in a separate opinion however judge koroma concluded without qualification that the construction of the wall has involved the annexation of parts of the occupied territory by israel 20 in which case and notwithstanding the 1 2 3 1 3 eminent international law specialist james crawford has observed that the israeli settlements constitute a de facto annexation of west bank territory that has prevented the palestinian people from exercising their right to self determination 21 1 2 3 1 4 however neither the security council nor the general assembly neither judge koroma nor crawford determined that israel s annexation of palestinian territory perforce rendered the occupation itself illegal the prudent determination would appear to be that even if an occupier s recalcitrance has over time resulted in a de facto or in the case of east jerusalem de jure annexation it doesn t yet illegalize the occupation as such 1 2 3 1 5 for the record israel s official position is that the jewish settlements and the wall running along the periphery of the major settlement blocs are inherently temporary israel high court of justice 22 and do not annex territories to the state of israel 23 in the course of the wall s construction however senior israeli government officials including former justice minister tzipi livni former prime minister ariel sharon and former defense minister ehud barak publicly conceded that the wall marked off israel s future border 24 1 2 3 2 israeli legal scholar eyal benvenisti tackles the legal challenge posed by a recalcitrant occupier from a different angle in the international law of occupation he begins like shamgar by asserting that international law neither limits the duration of the occupation n or requires the occupant to restore the territories to the sovereign before a peace treaty is signed however benvenisti then enters this caveat an occupation regime that refuses to earnestly contribute to efforts to reach a peaceful solution should be considered illegal indeed such a refusal should be considered outright annexation the occupant has a duty under international law to conduct negotiations in good faith for a peaceful solution it would seem that an occupant who proposes unreasonable conditions or otherwise obstructs negotiations for peace for the purpose of retaining control over the occupied territory could be considered a violator of international law he goes on to observe that an occupant that in bad faith stalls efforts for a peaceful ending to its rule would be considered an aggressor and its rule be tainted with illegality 25 1 2 4 the determination that if an occupier negotiates in bad faith then it has tainted the occupation with illegality was in fact already arrived at in the namibia case after protracted fruitless negotiations the un general assembly followed by the security council passed resolutions declaring south africa s occupation of namibia illegal and subsequently the icj upheld the validity of these un decisions the namibia case bears strong resemblances to the israeli occupation of palestinian territory its unfolding and denouement provide a road map for the international community as it confronts another recalcitrant occupier 2 0 t h e n a m i b i a c a s e 2 1 historical context 2 1 1 although largely forgotten today in the mid 20th century the namibia mandate of south africa prompted more resolutions promoted more committees and produced more judicial decisions recalled leading authority john dugard than any other matter to come before the organs of the united nations it was in dugard s words the international cause célèbre 26 or as one of the icj judges hearing the case put it the most explosive international issue of the post war world 27 in later years it was displaced on the international agenda by the larger question of south african apartheid of which namibia was henceforth a subsidiary issue and by the palestine question which was the other gaping wound lingering from the mandates era 2 1 2 after seizing power in russia the bolsheviks denounced world war i as imperialistic and trumpeted their support for the principle of self determination of oppressed nations largely in reaction and as a result us president woodrow wilson himself championed the right of self determination and imposed on the allied powers the principle of nonannexation of the colonies of the defeated central powers 28 2 1 3 a mandates system was created at war s end and codified in article 22 of the league of nations covenant each of the former colonies of the central powers allegedly not yet able to stand by themselves under the strenuous conditions of the modern world came under the tutelage of an advanced nation that was mandated to prepare it for the exercise of self determination the tutelary role of the mandatory power acting on behalf of the league to promote the ex colony s well being and development was denoted a sacred trust of civilization 2 1 4 the mandate over the former german colony of namibia south west africa was conferred on his britannic majesty to be exercised on his behalf by the government of the union of south africa under the mandate s terms and subject to oversight by the league and ultimately the permanent court of international justice south africa was obliged to promote to the utmost the material and moral well being and the social progress of the inhabitants 2 1 5 after the league s dissolution in 1946 it was clearly contemplated 29 that the namibia mandate would be converted into a un trusteeship en route to statehood 30 south africa envisaged a different future however as it was intent on annexing namibia or the most desirable parts thereof 31 2 1 6 thence ensued a protracted political and legal tug of war the united nations led by a contingent of african states demanded that south africa recognize the general assembly s supervisory powers and namibia s right to independence while in the face of pretoria s persistent stonewalling it simultaneously kept referring the namibia question to the icj in order to clarify and certify south africa s legal obligations 2 1 7 a sequence of contentious and divisive proceedings unfolded at the hague 2 1 7 1 in a 1950 advisory opinion international status of south west africa the icj concluded that even after dissolution of the league of nations south africa was still duty bound to promote the material and moral well being and the social progress of the inhabitants that the league s supervisory powers over south africa s mandate had been transferred to the general assembly and controversially that although it was expected that the mandatory states would follow the normal course indicated by the charter namely conclude trusteeship agreements still south africa was not legally obligated to convert its mandate into a un trusteeship but it also couldn t unilaterally modify south west africa s international status 2 1 7 1 1 in a cluster of dissents on this last point judge álvarez asserted that the union of south africa has the legal obligation to negotiate and conclude an agreement with the united nations to place south west africa under trusteeship judge de visscher supported by vice president guerrero judge zoričić and judge badawi pasha opined that south africa incurred a legal obligation to be ready to take part in negotiations and to conduct them in good faith with a view to concluding a trusteeship agreement and judge krylov maintained that south africa was under the legal obligation to negotiate with a view to concluding a trusteeship agreement 32 2 1 7 2 a 1955 advisory opinion south west africa voting procedure hinged on a technical point regarding the substance and procedure of general assembly oversight of south africa s namibia mandate the court upheld the assembly s prerogatives 33 2 1 7 3 in a 1956 advisory opinion admissibility of hearings of petitioners by the committee on south west africa the court upheld the general assembly s right to make use of supplementary procedures such as oral testimonies by namibian petitioners before a un subcommittee to facilitate its supervisory function in the face of south african intransigence 34 2 1 8 the proceedings at the hague reached a tempestuous denouement in a pair of complementary yet contradictory court decisions in 1962 and 1966 2 1 8 1 ethiopia and liberia both formerly belonging to the league of nations invoked a clause of the league mandate enabling then member states to contest via court adjudication a mandatory s conduct they requested from the icj not an advisory opinion but an enforceable judgment35 on inter alia their contention that south africa had breached its obligations to promote to the utmost the material and moral well being and social progress of the inhabitants of namibia and instead practiced apartheid i e it has distinguished as to race color national or tribal origin in establishing the rights and duties of the inhabitants 2 1 8 2 the in famous case divided into two theoretically discrete phases jurisdiction and merits in its 1962 judgment the court answered affirmatively that it had jurisdiction to render a decision 36 but then in the 1966 judgment when it was due to decide on the merits of the case against south africa 37 the icj effectively reversed itself 38 declaring in the most controversial judgment in its history 39 that it in fact lacked jurisdiction as the applicant states could not demonstrate any legal right or interest appertaining to them in the subject matter of their brief against south africa 40 2 1 8 3 whereas both phases of the case formally turned on technical linguistic and historical arcana what judge forster in his dissent rightly ridiculed as an arid scrutiny and relentless analysis 41 and whereas it was subsequently purported by judges in the case and by legal commentators alike that it was conflicting judicial philosophies teleologists versus positivists that rent the court a disinterested observer cannot but conclude that each side was able to marshal compelling evidence 42 that the case each side mounted at the hague was tendentious and that the schism on the court was at its core and however crude and reductionist it might sound political the old world colonial powers straining to rein in the non western upstarts albeit with the curious anomaly that whereas the old world was predictably represented by a tenacious and learned if frankly obnoxious brit on the court judge fitzmaurice his archnemesis who was also every bit his athletic and intellectual match happened to be an american judge jessup 43 in a rare departure from judicial etiquette which sustains the illusion of law standing above the political fray judge de castro in a later separate opinion baldly but still accurately depicted the icj proceedings on namibia as in their essence the struggle between the colonialists and progressives 44 2 2 south africa s failure to negotiate in good faith un deliberations 2 2 1 appalled by the icj s dismissal by deflection of the case against south africa and the attendant squandering of years of time and resources invested in legal proceedings 45 the united nations took a series of dramatic and drastic steps to right the court s wrong a 1966 general assembly resolution 2145 terminated south africa s mandate over namibia a 1967 resolution 2325 declared that the continued presence of south african authorities in south west africa is a flagrant violation of its territorial integrity and a 1968 resolution 2372 condemned the action of south africa to consolidate its illegal control over namibia and called upon all states to desist from those dealings with the government of south africa which would have the effect of perpetuating south africa s illegal occupation 2 2 2 emphasizing the inalienable right of the namibian people to freedom and independence and the legitimacy of their struggle against foreign occupation the general assembly justified its resolve in 2145 to terminate south africa s illegal occupation under three heads breach of international obligations south africa s administration in namibia violated the mandate the charter of the united nations and the universal declaration of human rights imposition of apartheid the policies of apartheid and racial discrimination practiced by the government of south africa in south west africa constituted a crime against humanity and failure to negotiate in good faith the efforts of the united nations to induce the government of south africa to fulfill its obligations in respect of namibia have been of no avail 2 2 3 for the purposes of the argument presented here the focus in this text will be on the last of these rationales 2 2 4 the failure of south africa to negotiate in good faith had already been mooted in the icj deliberations on namibia prior to the general assembly resolutions 2 2 4 1 in a dissenting opinion 1950 judge álvarez stated it would not be possible to admit that an agreement which is intended to fix an important international status cannot be established solely because of the opposition the negligence or the bad faith of one of the parties if it is impossible to reach such an agreement the united nations must then take the appropriate measures 46 in a cognate dissenting opinion 1950 judge de visscher albeit more restrainedly stated the mandatory power while remaining free to reject the particular terms of a proposed agreement has the legal obligation to be ready to take part in negotiations and to conduct them in good faith with a view to concluding an agreement 47 2 2 4 2 in a separate opinion 1962 judge bustamante pointed to the overwhelming proof not only of the fact that repeated and reiterated negotiations took place but also that all the efforts made to find a conciliatory solution resulted in failure for fifteen consecutive years this fundamental opposition of points of view this unyielding opposition of the mandatory in the face of the virtual unanimity of member states as to the limits and obligations flowing from the mandate have maintained a situation of permanent deadlock he proceeded to conclude that no negotiation is possible and that any further negotiation would be ineffective to settle the dispute counseling instead resort to judicial decision at the hague in order to re establish the harmonious functioning of the system 48 2 2 4 3 in a separate opinion 1962 judge jessup observed that although there certainly is no absolute litmus test which would enable a court to assert in all situations at just what moment settlement by negotiation becomes impossible it seems clear on the face of the record that the condition is fulfilled in this case states he pithily concluded are not eternally bound by the old adage if at first you don t succeed try try again 49 2 2 5 the general assembly debates that culminated in a cascade of resolutions terminating south africa s mandate and condemning its illegal occupation of namibia zeroed in on south africa s obduracy during negotiations while also ridiculing south africa s appeal to guard against the shutting of doors to further dialogue which is so necessary for better understanding and co operation 50 2 2 5 1 whereas the member states contended that the objective of negotiations was to secure namibia s eventual independence south africa insisted on negotiations without set preconditions or a predetermined outcome technically leaving open all possibilities but in reality excluding real independence 51 2 2 5 2 the ethiopian delegate gestured to the fact that all avenues of peaceful negotiations have already been exhausted 52 while the norwegian delegate noted after twenty years of futile discussions about the south african administration of south west africa the consensus has arisen that south africa has lost its right to administer the territory and that its mandate is terminated 53 2 2 5 3 in the face of the unbelievable intransigence of the government of south africa the uruguayan delegate recollected we find a whole slew of general assembly resolutions covering a period of twenty years and urging pretoria to fulfill its duties and assume its responsibilities before the international community w e see an accumulation of acts of insubordination violation of disregard of authority abuse of rights disobedience mockery and defiance committed by south africa against the united nations we have waited over twenty years let us hope that moderation will not become the vice of weakness we are supported by law by rights by morality by the will of the whole world the time has come to put an end to this struggle between law and arrogance the organ of the international community must end the mandate on the grounds of repeated and malicious non fulfillment of the obligations and duties inherent in it 54 2 2 5 4 after recalling that f or over 15 years we have waited for the south african government to comply with its clear obligations and that r epeated attempts by the general assembly to persuade the south african government to adopt a policy of co operation have been unsuccessful the british delegate lord caradon who would later craft un security council resolution 242 declared that south africa has in effect forfeited its title to administer the mandate 55 2 2 5 5 the israeli delegate joining the majority observed that the assembly had turned to the icj in 1966 for a binding decision only after a deadlock had been reached in negotiations with south africa to secure implementation of the 1950 icj advisory opinion on namibia that after the icj shied away from deciding the case in 1966 the decision now falls clearly on the shoulders of the general assembly and that south africa was in breach of its major obligations because it did not prepare namibia for independence in a passage worth quoting at length the israeli delegate concluded nearly fifty years after the mandate was conferred on and accepted by the mandatory power south west africa seems no nearer independence than it ever was it is an ironic reflection that nearly all the other african peoples live under their own national sovereignty while in the case of south west africa and only in that case the sacred trust of civilization remains not only unfulfilled but also not even within sight of fulfillment it is a fact that all efforts to reach a mutually acceptable and reasonable settlement have been exhausted since the mandatory power is failing to fulfill its essential obligations under the mandate it follows that the united nations is free to take appropriate action w e believe that the general assembly is now entitled to terminate the mandate the general assembly should take decisions on the future of the mandated territory on the assumption that the mandate may be lawfully and properly terminated by the general assembly if the time frame is enlarged to nearly 100 years after the mandate and if the statement that south west africa was the only mandate where independence had not been within sight of fulfillment is amended by interpolating that the statehood of the indigenous population under the palestine mandate also was and continues to be placed on hold 56 then the pertinence and unique resonance of the israeli ambassador s observations both as to diagnosis all efforts to reach a mutually acceptable and reasonable settlement have been exhausted and as to proposed remedy the general assembly is now entitled to terminate the mandate can hardly escape notice 57 2 2 5 5 1 a few months later the israeli delegate told the assembly the problem of south west africa which has developed into an intolerable situation has been before the united nations since its very first meetings over twenty one years ago every conceivable approach to reaching a solution which would conform to the principles of the charter and assure the people of that land of their fundamental rights has been thwarted the united nations has shown patience and even leniency in the face of the stubborn stand persisted in by the government of south africa in utter disregard of the clearly expressed position of the united nations 58 in an earlier address israeli foreign minister abba eban exhorted the assembly to insist that a mandatory power forfeits its mandate when it flagrantly and constantly violates the central aims for which the trust was conferred 59 2 2 5 6 the us delegate also standing with the assembly majority in the deliberations declared that by virtue of the breach of its obligations south africa forfeits all right to continue to administer namibia 60 despite the walls of censorship and propaganda with which their own government has surrounded them he prognosticated the people of south africa must soon realize that the system they are trying to entrench in namibia will not work that it will neither satisfy the wants and needs of the non white population nor by some conjuring trick conveniently make them disappear 61 2 2 5 6 1 the united states condemned south africa as well for its imposition in south west africa of its universally condemned policy of apartheid and for its clear defiance of the general assembly s wise injunction that south africa refrain and desist from any action constitutional administrative political or otherwise which will in any manner whatsoever alter or tend to alter the present international status of south west africa 62 2 2 5 6 2 what s more the united states opined that if some namibians living under occupation resorted to force it was at root a reaction to south africa s repressive tactics that bred desperation and in that desperation some have found no alternative to violence as an expression of the determination to be free the united states does not condone violence the united states does condemn the brutality of a government whose official policies have bred violence by closing avenues of peaceful dissent in south west africa thereby generating the very behavior it seeks to punish 63 2 2 5 6 3 the actions of the united states did not however rise to its lofty rhetoric the united states of america is economically and militarily the strongest among us a caribbean delegate observed if it wished it could i have no doubt reduce the government of south africa single handedly and indeed it could do this even if the rest of us were to raise our voices against it but even as we have heard the representative of the united states regret abhor and condemn the behavior of south africa in this very chamber he went on to rue the existence of a domestic lobby that is sufficiently influential may cause even the most determined government to pause 64 plus ça change plus c est la même chose 2 2 6 although lagging behind the security council eventually echoed the resolve of the general assembly 2 2 6 1 the council was first seized of the namibia question in early 1968 when a resolution 245 took note of the assembly s termination of the mandate and expressed grave concern over south africa s illegal repression in namibia while another resolution 246 later that year censured the government of south africa for its flagrant defiance of the security council 2 2 6 2 a 1969 resolution 264 took note of the grave consequences of south africa s continued occupation of namibia affirmed that the continued presence of south africa in namibia is illegal and called upon the government of south africa to immediately withdraw its administration from the territory a follow up resolution 269 later in the year declared that the continued occupation of the territory of namibia by the south african authorities constitutes an aggressive encroachment on the authority of the united nations recognized the legitimacy of the struggle of the people of namibia against the illegal presence of the south african authorities in the territory and called upon south africa to withdraw its administration from the territory immediately 2 2 6 3 faced with pretoria s refusal to either negotiate in good faith or withdraw the security council in a 1970 resolution 276 declared that the united nations decided that the mandate for south west africa was terminated that the continued presence of the south african authorities in namibia is illegal and that consequently all acts taken by the government of south africa on behalf of or concerning namibia after the termination of the mandate are illegal and invalid it also called for the creation of a subcommittee to study ways and means of implementing the relevant un resolutions in the light of the flagrant refusal of south africa to withdraw from namibia a few months later the subcommittee recommended that the united nations seek another icj advisory opinion 2 3 south africa s failure to negotiate in good faith back to the hague 2 3 1 pursuant to the subcommittee s recommendation the security council adopted in 1970 a pair of complementary resolutions the first of these 283 reaffirmed its recognition of the decision of the general assembly to terminate the mandate of south africa noted with great concern the continued flagrant refusal of the government of south africa to comply with the decisions of the security council demanding immediate withdrawal and called upon all states maintaining diplomatic or consular relations with south africa to issue a formal declaration to the effect that they consider south africa s presence in namibia illegal the succeeding resolution 284 referred the namibia question back to the icj 2 3 1 1 defending this course of action against skeptics still smarting from the court s 1966 snub see supra 2 1 8 2 the finnish delegate on the security council stressed that an advisory opinion of the international court of justice could underline the fact that south africa has forfeited its mandate over south west africa because south africa has acted contrary to international law it is important to expose the false front of legality which south african authorities attempt to present to the world this would help mobilize public opinion especially in those countries which have the power to influence events in southern africa in a decisive way 65 2 3 1 2 during the security council debate the american delegate excoriated the callous behavior of the illegitimate occupying authority although south africa has cloaked itself in a mantle of seeming legality he declared in another council meeting the legal justifications for its actions are spurious not only do these actions run contrary to actions by the political organs of the united nations but in addition the international court of justice has also made clear the international responsibility of south africa with respect to the territory i ts authority was conditioned by the obligation to look to the welfare of the inhabitants surely by applying its apartheid laws in the territory it did not honor but rather breached that obligation in still a third intervention the united states denounced south africa for not only attempting to annex namibia but also extending its heinous policy of apartheid to that territory and in a fourth council meeting it deplored south africa s policy of virtual annexation it has compounded this evil by applying to the international territory the odious practice of apartheid with all the miserable human consequences that that practice entails nonetheless the united states opposed international sanctions allegedly because they would likely prove ineffective and would far from improving the lot of the namibians run the risk of making their situation even worse than it is today 66 2 3 2 the security council requested of the icj an advisory opinion on the legal consequences for states of the continued presence of south africa in namibia south west africa notwithstanding security council resolution 276 1970 2 3 3 the court s opinion delivered in 1971 67 divided for the purposes here into two sections the rationale behind the general assembly resolution terminating the mandate and the competence power of the assembly to terminate the mandate 68 2 3 3 1 the advisory opinion first sketched in the background to the general assembly s decision to terminate and declare illegal south africa s occupation it noted that throughout a period of twenty years the general assembly called upon the south african government to perform its obligations arising out of the mandate that the assembly passed a succession of resolutions beginning in 1946 reminding south africa of its obligations and urging it to comply with them that the united nations undoubtedly conducted the negotiations in good faith yet even the compromise proposals mooted by it were rejected by south africa and that further fruitless negotiations were held the court then concluded in practice the actual length of negotiations is no test of whether the possibilities of agreement have been exhausted it may be sufficient to show that an early deadlock was reached and that one side adamantly refused compromise in the case of namibia south west africa this stage had patently been reached long before the united nations finally abandoned its efforts to reach agreement even so for so long as south africa was the mandatory power the way was still open for it to seek an arrangement but that chapter came to an end with the termination of the mandate 69 2 3 3 1 1 in his separate opinion judge dillard of the us pointedly observed that negotiations become a mockery if the core assumptions of the contending parties cannot be reconciled it is apparent that no negotiating process can be successful if the parties are at odds as to the fundamental basis on which the process rests quite obviously negotiations based on conflicting premises qualify at best as an empty time consuming pageant and at worst as a mere dialogue of the deaf 2 3 3 1 1 1 in the passage preceding these remarks dillard rebuked south africa for its disingenuous negotiating posture the dilemma is focused on the negotiating process consequent upon the dissolution of the league of nations although south africa was under no duty to submit to the trusteeship system or to negotiate a specific trusteeship agreement yet as a member of the united nations she was surely under a duty to negotiate in good faith with the united nations concerning a viable alternative either within the trusteeship or outside it in the corresponding footnote dillard contested a fellow judge s opinion that even if a member state of the united nations is bound to consider in good faith an assembly resolution it does not entail a true legal obligation i cannot agree with this conclusion the use of discretion and freedom to bargain which the system may confer does not imply the right to exercise an attitude of uninhibited freedom of action which would be tantamount to operating outside the system 70 2 3 3 1 2 in his dissenting opinion judge gros although gainsaying that either the general assembly or the security council had the power of revocation of the mandate nonetheless concurred that south africa was under legal obligation to negotiate in good faith the relevant passage merits lengthy quotation as it lends unexpected support from a dissenting judge to the majority opinion on the decisive point of good faith the conflict of standpoints can be roughly summarized as follows the aim of the united nations was to arrive at the negotiation of a trusteeship agreement whereas south africa did not want to convert the mandate into a trusteeship it is necessary to determine which party has been misusing its legal position in this controversy on the extent of the obligation to negotiate if negotiations had begun in good faith and if at a given juncture it had been found impossible to reach agreement on certain precise objectively debatable points then it might be argued that the opinion of 1950 finding as it had that there was no obligation to place the territory under trusteeship prevented taking the matter inasmuch as the mandatory s refusal to accept a draft trusteeship agreement could in that case reasonably be deemed justified no party can impose its terms on the other party quoting the 1950 icj advisory opinion see supra 2 1 7 1 but the facts are otherwise negotiations for the conclusion of a trusteeship agreement never began and for that south africa was responsible the rule of law infringed herein is the obligation to negotiate in good faith to assert that the united nations ought to have accepted the negotiation of anything other than a trusteeship agreement on bases proposed by south africa that coming from the government of south africa is to interpret the 1950 advisory opinion contrary to its meaning in seeking to impose on the united nations its own conception of the object of the negotiations for the modification and transformation of the mandate south africa has failed to comply with the obligation established by the 1950 opinion to observe a further incompatible with the mandate régime or certain line of conduct the united nations on the other hand was by no means misusing its legal position when it refused to negotiate with any other end in view than the conclusion of a trusteeship agreement for such indeed was the goal acknowledged by the 1950 opinion it would have been legitimate for the united nations to have taken note of the deadlock and demanded south africa s compliance with its obligation to negotiate this view is reinforced by south africa s consistent interpretation of its own powers whether it be its pretension to the incorporation of the territory something essentially its contentions with regard to its legal titles apart from the mandate the legal position of mandatory formally recognized by the court in 1950 gave south africa the right to negotiate the conditions for the transformation of the mandate into a trusteeship since 1950 that position has been used to obstruct the very principle of such transformation an analysis on these lines if carried out by the court and based on a judicial finding that there had been a breach of the obligation to transform the mandate by negotiation as the 1950 opinion prescribed would have had legal consequences in respect of the continued presence of south africa in the mandated territory i consider that in that context the legal consequences concerned would have been founded upon solid legal reasons 71 however insofar as gros denied that the united nations could revoke the mandate it is unclear what legal consequences in respect of the continued presence of south africa in the mandated territory he had in mind 2 3 3 2 after delineating the deadlock caused by south africa s refusal to conduct good faith negotiations the court next considered whether the general assembly had the competence to terminate the mandate or whether it had acted ultra vires beyond its legal powers the court decided that it was within the assembly s province 2 3 3 2 1 as a general rule assembly resolutions are only recommendations 2 3 3 2 2 the court found however that the league of nations relationship with the south african mandatory included a treaty contract component 72 that it is inherent in a treaty agreement that if one party materially breaches its obligations the other party has a right to terminate it and that consequently once the league s powers had been transferred to the assembly and south africa had deliberately and persistently breached its obligations under the the assembly s competence extended beyond making a mandate recommendation to making a binding legal decision 2 3 3 2 3 in sum the court concluded that it would not be correct to assume that because the general assembly is in principle vested with recommendatory powers it is debarred from adopting in specific cases within the framework of its competence resolutions which make determinations or have operative design 73 2 3 3 2 4 in his separate opinion judge nervo enlarged on the assembly s competence beyond breach of a treaty to make legally binding decisions the fact that broadly speaking the general assembly s activities are mainly of a recommendatory character does not mean that the general assembly cannot act in a situation in which it is a party to a contractual relationship in its capacity as such a party nor does it mean that in regard to a territory which is an international responsibility and in regard to which no state sovereignty intervenes between the general assembly and the territory the general assembly should not be able to act as it did t he general assembly is the competent organ of the united nations to act in the name of the latter in a wide range of matters and in these instances it is the united nations itself which is acting this is especially so concerning trusteeship matters non self governing territories south africa has in reality and to all effects annexed as its own the territory of namibia this behavior is sufficient grounds for the revocation of the mandate so is the racial discrimination practiced as an official policy in namibia with the enforcement there of the system of apartheid racial discrimination as a matter of official government policy is a violation of a norm or rule or standard of the international community 74 2 3 3 3 in an editorial the morning after the icj handed down legal consequences for states the new york times hailed the historic thirteen to two verdict that has cleared away the legal and political fog that for years obscured the status of namibia 75 2 3 4 later that same year the security council accepted the key findings of the court 76 the us delegate at the council meeting registered washington s backing for the conclusions which declare that south africa is under obligation to withdraw its administration from namibia immediately and thus put an end to its occupation and it also observed that the us position was consistent with our support of practical and peaceful means to achieve self determination and end racial discrimination 77 2 4 it remains to consider if the namibia precedent can dispel the legal and political fog that has for years shrouded israel s occupation of palestinian territory and in particular shed light on the means to achieve self determination and end racial discrimination there 3 0 n a m i b i a a n d pa l e s t i n e j u x ta p o s e d 3 1 in 2002 un secretary general kofi annan conveyed to the security council that israel must end its illegal occupation of the west bank and gaza 78 his characterization triggered a swift response from israel s defenders who asserted that the occupation was legal until israel was able to negotiate a successful peace treaty 79 3 1 1 in a palpable retreat the spokesman for the secretary general issued a clarification stating that annan had indicted not the israeli occupation as such but rather israel s breach of its various obligations as an occupying power 80 3 2 bearing in mind the sage counsel of judge dillard that analogies are always to be indulged with caution 81 it is nonetheless submitted that in light of the namibia precedent israel s occupation of palestinian territory is now illegal as it has persistently refused to negotiate in good faith on the basis of international law an end to the occupation 3 3 overlapping historical political context 3 3 1 a common matrix molded the namibia and palestine questions both originated in the postwar mandates system and together they constituted the salient vestiges of that era as the only mandated territories that survived dissolution of the league of nations without being converted into un trusteeships 3 3 2 the un general assembly asserted its authority over both lingering mandates it passed the partition resolution 181 in 1947 paving the way to israel s creation and it set out after the 1967 war to complete the unfinished business of creating a reciprocal palestinian state in the case of namibia the general assembly early on rejected south africa s bid to annex it then claimed title to supervise south africa s administration of it then terminated south africa s mandate and declared its occupation illegal and finally shepherded namibia to independence 3 4 overlapping legal context 3 4 1 the namibia and palestine questions are juridically homologous 3 4 1 1 if palestine is perceived through the optic of the mandates system then its rights carry over as a lingering mandate in its 2004 wall opinion the icj recalled the genesis of the palestine question in the mandates system and the permanent responsibility quoting a general assembly resolution that consequently falls on the international community 82 3 4 1 2 if the palestine question is perceived as it reemerged after 1967 then palestine s rights derive from its status as a territory under occupation the icj s 2004 opinion which deliberated on the legal consequences of building a wall in occupied palestinian territory is shot through with references to the namibia precedent 83 3 4 2 whether the mandates system or the status of a territory under occupation served as the point of reference the selfsame principles of sacred trust and non annexation governed the namibia and palestine situations 3 4 2 1 the icj underscored on multiple occasions that the twin principles of sacred trust that is the paramount importance of the well being and development of the mandate population and non annexation that is the mandatory does not acquire any rights of sovereignty over a mandate constituted the essence of the mandates system 84 3 4 2 1 1 judges koroma al khasawneh and elaraby in their respective opinions in the wall case located the obligations of sacred trust and non annexation in palestine s former status as a mandate 85 3 4 2 2 the principles of sacred trust and non annexation also figure as legal hallmarks of a territory under occupation 3 4 2 2 1 under international law a classic text notes enemy territories in the occupation of armed forces of another country constitute a sacred trust which must be administered in the interests of the inhabitants 86 in the namibia case the court recalled that in the un charter the concept of the sacred trust was confirmed and expanded to all territories whose peoples have not yet attained a full measure of self government article 73 and that a further important stage in this development was the 1960 declaration on the granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples general assembly resolution 1514 which embraces all peoples and territories which have not yet attained independence 87 these precedents although invoked in the namibia jurisprudence apply with comparable force to the occupied palestinian territory as it is subject to alien subjugation in the language of 1514 and therefore qualifies as a quasicolonial situation 3 4 2 2 2 it has also been observed by commentators that the foundation upon which the entire law of occupation is based is the principle of inalienability of sovereignty through the actual or threatened use of force effective control by foreign military force can never bring about by itself a valid transfer of sovereignty 88 judge koroma in his separate opinion in the wall case pinpointed the essence of occupation as inter alia its being only of a temporary nature 89 3 4 3 beyond the principles of sacred trust and non annexation the nonderogable right to self determination also inhered in the legal standing of namibia and later the occupied palestinian territory 3 4 3 1 this right derives from the former status of each as a mandate as well as from the rules governing decolonization after world war ii which ratified the prerogative of colonial peoples and peoples subject to foreign occupation to be independent 3 4 3 1 1 a prominent commentator observed already decades ago that the security council has begun to deal with the israeli occupied territories as if they were colonies while a prominent contemporary commentator places both namibia and palestine under military occupation 90 the same rubric of illegal 3 4 3 2 the icj observed in the namibia case that the decolonization process after world war ii left little doubt that the ultimate objective of the sacred trust in article 22 of the league covenant was the self determination and independence of the peoples concerned while in the wall case the court observed after contextualizing its findings in the namibia precedent that the existence of a palestinian people is no longer in issue and that the legitimate rights of the palestinian people include the right to self determination 91 3 5 if south africa s occupation of namibia was illegal then is israel s occupation of palestinian territory also illegal 3 5 1 whereas per dillard analogies must be approached with caution from the standpoints of history law and politics it would be hard to conceive a closer fit than namibia and palestine both situations emerged historically from the mandates system both situations are governed by the foundational legal principles of sacred trust and non annexation and both situations fall within the integral political and legal paradigms of decolonization and self determination 92 3 5 2 but does the israeli occupation of palestine reach the namibian threshold of illegality 3 5 3 the general assembly terminated south africa s mandate over namibia and declared its occupation illegal on three counts breach of international obligations imposition of apartheid and failure to negotiate in good faith an equally compelling charge sheet can be drawn up against israel s occupation of palestinian territory 3 5 3 1 breach of international obligations 3 5 3 1 1 the political organs of the united nations leading human rights organizations and respected legal commentators have repeatedly deplored israel s violations of international law in the occupied palestinian territory including excessive and disproportionate use of force deliberate targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure torture settlement construction and collective punishment 93 many of these breaches amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity 3 5 3 1 2 these condemnations culminated in the wall opinion wherein the icj found that israeli settlements in the occupied palestinian territory including east jerusalem have been established in breach of international law the rome statute of the international criminal court defines t he transfer directly or indirectly by the occupying power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies as a war crime the icj also observed in its opinion that the route chosen for the wall severely impedes the exercise by the palestinian people of its right to self determination and is therefore a breach of israel s obligation to respect that right 94 the right to self determination is widely regarded as a peremptory norm of international law from which no derogation is permissible 95 3 5 3 2 imposition of apartheid 3 5 3 2 1 a growing consensus has emerged embracing authoritative legal political and moral personalities among them many israelis that israel has established an apartheid regime in the occupied palestinian territory the lengthy roster of those making the apartheid analogy in the context of israel s occupation includes former us president and nobel peace prize laureate jimmy carter south african archbishop and nobel peace prize laureate desmond tutu and distinguished south african jurist john dugard former israeli deputy prime minister dan meridor likud former israeli attorney general michael ben yair former israeli ministers of education shulamit aloni and yossi sarid former deputy mayor of jerusalem meron benvenisti former israeli ambassador to south africa alon liel veteran israeli journalist danny rubinstein the israeli information center for human rights in the occupied territories b tselem the association for civil rights in israel and the haaretz editorial board 96 a monograph by south african international law experts found that israel has introduced a system of apartheid in the opt occupied palestinian territory in violation of a peremptory norm of international law while an article published in the prestigious european journal of international law concluded that a system of apartheid has developed in the occupied palestinian territory that is not only reminiscent of but also in some cases worse than apartheid as it existed in south africa 97 3 5 3 2 2 the reference point of the apartheid analogy is most often the dual system of law that israel has established within the occupied palestinian territory that privileges jewish settlers but even in the absence of jewish settlements the occupation itself would by now constitute an apartheid regime vis à vis israel proper some three decades ago noted international law expert adam roberts speculated israel may see some advantage in the continuation of the status of the occupied territory because this arrangement provides a legal basis for treating the arab inhabitants of the territories entirely separately from the citizens of israel if a prolonged occupation in which israel refuse d to negotiate a peace treaty came to pass he continued it would pave the way for a kind of apartheid 98 3 5 3 2 3 after his notorious recantation and fall from grace 99 jurist richard goldstone reinvented himself as israel s agitprop impresario in this capacity he deplored the apartheid analogy on the grounds that there is no intent by israel to maintain this regime 100 but if israel has persistently refused to terminate the occupation in accordance with international law and if it has sustained the occupation for a half century which also comprises the largest part of its total existence as a state 101 and if it has entrenched an infrastructure designed to make the occupation irreversible then israel has on the contrary made manifest that it is intent on maintaining the occupation while sufficient time has elapsed such that roberts s premonition of an apartheid in the making has become a full blown reality 102 3 5 3 3 failure to negotiate in good faith 3 5 3 3 1 an overwhelming consensus exists on anchoring a solution to the israel palestine conflict in international law on the applicable general legal principles and rules of law such as the right of both peoples to self determination on how to apply these general principles and rules so as to concretely adjudicate the permanent status issues of borders east jerusalem settlements and albeit with less precision refugees 103 3 5 3 3 2 in the course of the middle east peace process palestinian negotiators have consistently embraced international law as the framework for resolving the conflict while submitting concrete proposals that protect palestinian rights under the law but also make allowance for political expediency 104 such as a land swap that would enable the bulk of israeli settlers to remain in place 105 contrariwise israel has rejected not only the consensus interpretation of international law for resolving the conflict 106 but also international law itself as a baseline for negotiations i was the minister of justice i am a lawyer foreign minister tzipi livni told her palestinian interlocutors during a critical round of the peace process in 2007 but i am against law international law in particular 107 3 5 3 3 3 in the namibia case the united nations declared the occupation illegal on inter alia two intertwined grounds 1 south africa refused to negotiate namibia s eventual independence in good faith that is on the basis of international law as delineated by un resolutions and the international court of justice and 2 the premises of south africa s negotiating posture radically diverged from consensus opinion on how to resolve the conflict that is pretoria was determined to annex the whole of namibia or the prime real estate therein occupied by white settlers negotiations had thus become in judge dillard s words at best an empty time consuming pageant and at worst a mere dialogue of the deaf see supra 2 3 3 1 1 108 one would be hard pressed to find a closer parallel to and precursor of israel s recalcitrance in the peace process or to improve upon dillard s phraseology to describe the resulting diplomatic impasse 3 5 3 3 4 in other cases adjudicated by it the icj also emphasized the critical role of good faith negotiations 3 5 3 3 4 1 in north sea continental shelf the court spoke in its judgment of an obligation to enter into negotiations with a view to arriving at an agreement and not merely to go through a formal process of negotiation the parties are under an obligation to act in such a way that in the particular case and taking all the circumstances into account equitable principles are applied 109 3 5 3 3 4 2 in case concerning delimitation of the maritime boundary in the gulf of maine area the court pointed up in its judgment the duty to negotiate with a view to reaching agreement and to do so in good faith with a genuine intention to achieve a positive result 110 3 5 3 3 4 3 in its advisory opinion legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons the court underscored that good faith comprised not only the conduct process of negotiations but also an obligation to achieve a precise result 111 3 5 3 3 5 it follows from this sampling of the court s jurisprudence that israel s intermittent participation in the peace process does not in and of itself demonstrate it is carrying out good faith negotiations to pass legal muster it must also not thwart discernible progress toward achieving its legally mandated obligation to withdraw the premises however of israel s negotiating posture which reject not only the consensus application of international law but even international law itself have blocked and preempt any future prospect of real movement toward an end to the occupation 3 5 3 3 6 the principle of good faith is objective in nature as it is registered in palpable acts or failures to act the principle of good faith is essentially objective in application good faith looks to the effects of state actions rather than to the subjective intent or motivation if any of the state itself its violation may be demonstrated by acts and failures to act which taken together render the fulfillment of specific treaty obligations remote or impossible or which defeat the object and purpose of the treaty moreover the principle of good faith cannot but apply also to customary norms having equal status with treaty norms thus states are under an obligation to refrain both from acts defeating the object and purpose of a rule and from any other acts preventing its implementation 112 3 5 3 3 6 1 israel s ongoing settlement enterprise constitutes a case study of bad faith in negotiations as these ever multiplying objective facts on the ground are defeating the object and purpose of negotiations which under treaties 113 norms 114 and principles115 of international law requires israel s withdrawal from the occupied palestinian territory the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu publicly supports a two state solution but his current coalition is the most right wing in israeli history with an agenda driven by its most extreme elements us secretary of state john kerry observed in his last major address on the israel palestine conflict the result is that policies of this government which the prime minister himself just described as more committed to settlements than any in israel s history are leading in the opposite direction towards one state 116 3 6 is the un general assembly competent to declare the israeli occupation illegal 3 6 1 israel has violated its international obligations in the occupied palestinian territory imposed an apartheid regime there and failed to negotiate in good faith an end to the occupation it has consequently breached its primordial responsibilities as an occupying power vis à vis palestine of sacred trust and non annexation and denied the palestinian people its nonderogable right to self determination 3 6 2 if viewed through the lens of the namibia precedent the israeli occupation has become illegal but does the un general assembly have the competence to make such a determination in the case of the israeli occupation 3 6 3 the general assembly has the authority to debate and pass resolutions on the israeli occupation of palestinian territory as well as on the status and contours of the palestinian right to self determination this competence derives from a trio of both general and particular sources article 10 of the un charter stipulates that the assembly may discuss any questions or any matters falling within the purview of the united nations and may make recommendations to the members of the united nations or to the security council or to both on any such questions or matters the assembly is the inheritor of the supervisory powers exercised by the league of nations over the mandates system of which the palestine question constitutes unfinished business in its wall opinion the icj grounded the palestinian people s right of self determination in the league covenant the ultimate objective of the sacred trust referred to in article 22 paragraph 1 of the covenant of the league of nations was the self determination of the peoples concerned 117 it is therefore within the province of the assembly to supervise palestine s quest for independence the assembly presided over fleshed out the principles and rules of and played the clinching administrative role in the decolonization self determination process that unfolded after world war ii which included ending the subjection of peoples to alien subjugation 118 in its wall opinion the court recalled in particular the un s responsibility vis à vis the palestine question which has been manifested by the adoption of many security council and general assembly resolutions and by the creation of several subsidiary bodies specifically established to assist in the realization of the inalienable rights of the palestinian people 119 3 6 4 it remains to inquire whether a general assembly resolution which is ordinarily a recommendation the assembly is not a legislature 120 would in these circumstances also be legally binding on all member states 3 6 4 1 in the namibia case it was principally argued that the supervisory powers of the league of nations over south africa s mandate had a treaty aspect that a right of revocation inheres in a treaty and that consequently the assembly which inherited the league s supervisory role could make a binding legal decision to terminate the mandate after south africa s breach of its terms 3 6 4 2 this tortuous reasoning already at the time tested the limits of plausibility 121 while writers seeking in retrospect to defend the assembly s competence lines of argumentation 122 the namibia case have developed other in 3 6 4 3 in the palestine instance such a rationale would constitute an even less persuasive legal contrivance not least because israel never entered into a treaty obligation with the general assembly comparable to south africa s going back to the league 123 3 6 5 the legally binding nature of a general assembly resolution terminating and declaring illegal israel s occupation can however be firmly established on different foundations 3 6 6 judge nervo in a separate opinion in the namibia case contended that the assembly s legally binding competence obtained not only in a situation in which it is a party to a contractual relationship in its capacity as such a party but also and more generally in regard to a territory which is an international responsibility and in regard to which no state sovereignty intervenes between the general assembly and the territory he went on to observe that south africa s annexation in reality and to all effects of namibia and its policy there of racial discrimination enforced by the system of apartheid constituted sufficient grounds for the revocation of the mandate see supra 2 3 3 2 4 on all these bases separately and a fortiori combined the assembly would also be competent to terminate israel s occupation of palestinian territory 3 6 7 the legally binding competence of the assembly to terminate israel s occupation is also implied and inherent in the supervisory function performed by it in the decolonization self determination process of which palestine as a territory under alien subjugation forms a constituent part if the assembly lacked such legal competence it could not effectively fulfill its assigned role of safeguarding the rights of peoples entitled to but not yet exercising self determination isn t a supervisory function bereft of sanctioning powers a contradiction in terms 3 6 7 1 the cumulative effect of the serial icj opinions in the namibia case supports these contentions in international status of south west africa the court found that safeguarding the rights of peoples under mandates had required a supervisory organ and that the general assembly was henceforth the appropriate organ to fulfill this necessity for supervision originally performed by the league council 124 in admissibility of hearings of petitioners the court stated that the paramount purpose of the general assembly s supervisory function was to safeguard the sacred trust of civilization 125 in south west africa cases first phase preliminary objections the court found that international supervision constituted the very essence of the mandate 126 in legal consequences for states the court found that the assembly s competence to terminate the mandate inhered in its supervisory powers otherwise the assembly would be impotent in the face of egregious violations by south africa of its responsibilities to deny to a political organ of the united nations which is a successor of the league in this respect i e its supervisory role the right to act on the argument that it lacks competence to render what is described as a judicial decision would not only be inconsistent but would amount to a complete denial of the remedies available against fundamental breaches of an international undertaking 127 3 6 7 2 the upshot of these court opinions is 1 protection of the rights of peoples not yet self governing required a supervisory organ 2 the general assembly was the competent organ to safeguard this sacred trust 3 absent the power of revocation the assembly could not effectively perform its critical supervisory role ergo 4 the assembly s power of revocation necessarily inheres in the supervisory function delegated to it 3 6 7 3 judge de castro in a separate opinion in the namibia case forcefully laid out the internal logic linking this chain of arguments he elucidated that insofar as legal concepts such as a trust essentially contemplate the protection of persons in this case peoples who cannot govern themselves the necessary consequence is the exercise of supervision over the person entrusted with guardianship supervision of the guardian and in case of serious breaches of his duties fides fracta the loss or forfeiture of guardianship t here was no need to mention revocation in the mandate the essential nature of this concept of trust implies clearly and evidently the possibility of putting an end to the mandate a mandate which could not be revoked in such a case would not be a mandate but a cession of territory or a disguised annexation it is difficult to believe that on the one hand the working of the mandates system was organized to include a permanent commission to control the mandatory s administration and that on the other hand the mandatory was left free to do what he thought fit even if it were to run counter to the very nature of the mandate that one should put him in possession of the territory without any obligation on his part any interpretation which denied the possibility of putting an end to the mandate in the case of flagrant violation by a mandatory of its obligations would reduce article 22 to a flatus vocis empty words or rather to a damnable mockery by giving some color of legality to the annexation of mandated territories 128 3 6 7 3 1 judge nervo in a separate opinion in the namibia case also derived the assembly s competence from the functions delegated to it the general assembly has had under the relevant international instruments several distinct roles in regard to namibia and the action which it took in this instance i e termination of the mandate finds its bases in all these roles taken either individually or together the general assembly acted in its capacity as the supervisory authority for the mandate for south west africa as the sole organ of the international community responsible for ensuring the fulfillment of the obligations and sacred trust assumed in respect of the people and territory of namibia and as the organ primarily concerned with non self governing and trust territories 129 3 6 8 the general assembly s competence to terminate and declare illegal the israeli occupation springs from on the one hand its locus as the institution designated by the united nations to perform the supervisory function and on the other hand the prerogative to sanction that inheres in this function in the absence of a revocatory power the assembly could not substantively monitor the decolonization self determination process of which palestine is an integral component both as a former mandate and as a self determination unit under alien subjugation 130 3 6 9 it cannot be credibly rejoined that the necessary power to terminate a mandate does exist but resides in the security council and not the general assembly on the one hand such a division of labor of the supervisory function was nowhere envisaged while on the other if the assembly lacks such competence then so does the council 131 it also cannot be contended that unless the un charter explicitly allocated a power of termination to it the assembly would be acting ultra vires in case concerning the northern cameroons the icj found that the assembly had the competence to terminate trusteeships but it did not ground this competence in an explicit allocation of such power in the trusteeship chapters of the un charter instead the court grounded it in the general supervisory functions of the general assembly in the decolonization self determination process 132 3 6 10 in light of its past pronouncements israel would be poorly placed to contest the binding legal power of the general assembly to terminate the occupation when the assembly debated the partition resolution 181 in 1947 the political body representing the nascent jewish state posited that in regard to the future of a territory that did not touch the national sovereignty of the members of the united nations but instead was subject to an international trust only the assembly was competent to determine the future of the territory and its decision therefore had a binding force after its creation israel described the partition resolution as the only internationally valid adjudication on the question of the future government of palestine in a security council debate israeli representative abba eban gesturing to the partition resolution boasted that israel possesses the only international birth certificate in a world of unproven virtue and that this juridical status arises out of the action of the general assembly 133 3 6 11 on the same juridical basis that it issued israel s birth certificate the assembly is empowered to issue simultaneously a death certificate for israel s occupation and a birth certificate for palestine judge dillard in a separate opinion in the namibia case noted that precedents exist for the exercise of such power of termination by the assembly and pointed in particular to the general assembly action with respect to the palestine mandate 134 3 7 the potency of a resolution declaring the israeli occupation illegal could be fortified if the general assembly requested in accordance with article 96 of the un charter an icj advisory opinion responding to the question what are the legal consequences of an occupying power s failure to negotiate in good faith on the basis of international law an end to the occupation 3 7 1 the proposed question has been crafted in generic language along the lines of the question posed to the court in 1996 is the threat or use of nuclear weapons in any circumstances permitted under international law if the assembly requested from the court an opinion specifically on the legal consequences of israel s failure to negotiate in good faith on the basis of international law an end to the occupation it could touch on the issue of judicial propriety that is an advisory opinion by the court should not be given if it has the effect of circumventing the principle that a state is not obliged to allow its disputes to be submitted to judicial settlement without its consent 135 the prudent course would be to avoid such a risk even though the court has only once declined to adjudicate a case due to an implicated party s lack of consent 136 and even though a compelling brief could be filed supporting a court opinion on a question explicitly naming israel 137 3 7 2 should the court entertain the proposed question and israel recycle its preliminary objection in the wall case to wit that a court opinion could impede a political negotiated solution to the israeli palestinian conflict 138 this objection would almost certainly gain little traction not least because the proposed question s very premise is the absence of real negotiations 3 8 it might still be wondered what useful purpose would be served by a general assembly resolution declaring israel s occupation illegal even coupled with a complementary icj opinion if an action by the assembly can be enforced only by a security council resolution that now and for the foreseeable future will almost certainly not be spared a us veto while an icj advisory opinion is altogether unenforceable 139 3 8 1 an assembly resolution compounded by a court opinion would constitute a pair of formidable weapons in the battle to win over public opinion they would perform the same role but with potentially greater persuasive power as the partition resolution 181 played in the zionist struggle for legitimacy and statehood 140 3 8 2 military and political disputes especially in the world today michla pomerance observed in the context of the namibia debate are never devoid of the dimension of legitimacy as an important component of the conflict 141 an assembly resolution combined with an icj advisory opinion would constitute an important step toward delegitimizing israel s occupation 3 8 3 the finnish delegate exhorted a jaded united nations to obtain in support of its namibia resolutions an icj advisory opinion he persuasively argued that it would expose the false front of legality which south african authorities attempt to present to the world and would thereby help mobilize public opinion especially in those countries which have the power to influence events in southern africa in a decisive way see supra 2 3 1 1 3 8 4 to highlight the salutary effects of an advisory opinion judge weeramantry in his magisterial separate opinion in legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons harkened back to the namibia case the court s decision on the illegality of the apartheid regime had little prospect of compliance by the offending government but helped create the climate of opinion which dismantled the structure of apartheid when the law is clear there in obscurity 142 indeed the joint action by the un s political and judicial organs in the early 1970s had little direct impact on namibia s self determination struggle it did not attain statehood until some two decades later and only after a massive loss of namibian life and protracted negotiations but wouldn t it be perverse to then conclude that the combined efforts of the assembly and the court were irrelevant 143 is greater chance of compliance than when is shrouded it 3 8 5 jurist james crawford representing in legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons several south pacific states devastated by nuclear testing likewise pointed to the contribution international law could play in achieving a humane outcome no one is naive enough to suggest that international law is a sovereign antidote to the risks and dangers presented by the threat or use of nuclear weapons but neither is international law merely a charlady a femme de ménage called in to clean up after the event is over and all the participants have gone home it can be part of the solution to the problem but it can only be part of the solution if it is brought to bear on the problem while it and we are still around for the court to declare that the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is unlawful in all conceivable circumstances would contribute to a solution to one of our greatest modern problems 144 couldn t international law also be part of the solution to another one of our greatest modern problems and if it is to be brought to bear on this problem isn t now the time for the international community to act while palestine is still around and before it is effaced from the world s map 4 0 c o n c lu d i n g r e m a r k s 4 1 deeming it premature to recognize a state of palestine the selfsame james crawford observed a while back the essential point is that a process of negotiation towards is still however precariously in place he then posed as the central challenge to change the status quo in favor of a comprehensive settlement accepted by all parties concerned a situation that seems as remote as ever 145 identified and acceptable ends 4 2 but what if the process of negotiation is just a façade if there s no agreement on ends if a comprehensive settlement accepted by all parties is not just remote but unattainable because in judge dillard s words the parties are at odds as to the fundamental basis on which the process rests and if this protracted impasse springs entirely from the occupying power s comprehensive repudiation of international law 4 3 as it happens crawford does address albeit obliquely such a contingency a state he opined cannot rely on its own wrongful conduct to avoid the consequences of its international obligations 146 isn t this a precise description of the peace process by refusing to negotiate in good faith on the basis of international law an end to the occupation israel has evaded its dual obligations to withdraw from occupied palestinian territory and from a legal and moral standpoint what s most critical to allow the palestinian people to exercise at long last and after so much agony its right to self determination 147 4 4 it is high time to put an end to a so called peace process that in reality is an avoidance cum annexation process states judge jessup said in the namibia case are not eternally bound by the old adage if at first you don t succeed try try again see supra 2 2 4 3 the moment of truth is once again upon the united nations in the uruguayan delegate s words to put an end to this struggle between law and arrogance see supra 2 2 5 3 4 5 the un general assembly can and must declare finally and conclusively that the israeli occupation not just this or that constituent of it but in its essence and totality is illegal and that a full israeli withdrawal will no longer be held hostage to an interminable negotiating process the manifest purpose of which after decades of trying and trying again can no longer be in doubt except to those willfully blind that purpose being to make the occupation irreversible and to consign to oblivion the people of palestine notes p r e fa c e 2010 1 david cameron describes blockaded gaza as a prison bbc 27 july 2 amira hass drinking the sea at gaza days and nights in a land under siege new york 1999 p 9 3 sara roy the gaza strip the political economy of de development expanded third edition washington dc 2016 4 united nations general assembly situation of human rights in the palestinian territories occupied since 1967 19 october 2016 para 46 5 see the conclusion c h a p t e r o n e s e l f d e f e n s e 1 less than one percent of palestine was set aside for an international zone corpus separatum incorporating jerusalem 2 sara roy the gaza strip the political economy of de development expanded third edition washington dc 2016 pp xxxii 3 5 for the distinctiveness of israel s economic policy in gaza see ibid pp 117 34 united nations country team in the occupied palestinian territory gaza in 2020 a liveable place 2012 second highest share 3 benny morris israel s border wars 1949 1956 oxford 1993 pp 407 9 morris documents that until the 1955 israeli raid on gaza the overriding concern of egypt in its relations with israel was to avoid sparking idf attacks egypt generally sought tranquility along its border with israel however from some point in 1954 idf chief of staff moshe dayan wanted war and periodically he hoped that a given retaliatory strike would embarrass or provoke the arab state attacked into itself retaliating giving israel cause to escalate the shooting until war resulted the policy of trapping nasser into war was hammered out between david ben gurion and dayan the predicate of their indirect strategy of provocation was that because israel could not afford to be branded an aggressor war would have to be reached by a process of gradual escalation to be achieved through periodic large scale israeli retaliatory attacks in response to egyptian infractions of the armistice when egypt refused to fall into the successive traps set by dayan israel colluded with great britain and france to attack egypt outright ibid pp 85 178 79 229 30 271 72 279 80 427 428 4 jean pierre filiu gaza a history new york 2014 p 105 5 benny morris righteous victims a history of the zionist arab conflict 1881 2001 new york 2001 pp 340 43 568 see also zeev schiff and ehud ya ari intifada the palestinian uprising israel s third front new york 1990 6 ann mosely lesch gaza history and politics in ann mosely lesch and mark tessler israel egypt and the palestinians from camp david to intifada bloomington 1989 pp 230 32 7 morris righteous victims pp 561 580 587 591 599 8 shlomo ben ami scars of war wounds of peace the israeli arab tragedy new york 2006 pp 191 211 9 andy levy ajzenkopf sharansky on tour promoting identity freedom canadian jewish news 1 july 2008 sharansky held several ministerial positions between 1996 and 2005 10 graham usher the politics of internal security the pa s new intelligence services journal of palestine studies winter 1996 p 28 the b tselem human rights report spring 1994 11 shlomo ben ami interview on democracy now 14 february 2006 zeev maoz defending the holy land a critical analysis of israel s security and foreign policy ann arbor 2006 p 476 see also p 493 12 yossi beilin the path to geneva the quest for a permanent agreement 1996 2004 new york 2004 pp 52 53 219 26 clayton e swisher the truth about camp david new york 2004 p 402 for detailed analysis of the various phases in the 2000 2001 negotiations see norman g finkelstein knowing too much why the american jewish romance with israel is coming to an end new york 2012 pp 229 48 13 morris righteous victims p 671 14 ben ami scars of war p 267 see also idith zertal and akiva eldar lords of the land the war over israel s settlements in the occupied territories 1967 2007 new york 2007 pp 412 15 15 norman g finkelstein beyond chutzpah on the misuse of anti semitism and the abuse of history expanded paperback edition berkeley 2008 ch 4 the first suicide attack during the second intifada occurred in march 2001 16 more than 400 palestinians including 85 children were killed while five israeli soldiers were killed during summer rains and autumn clouds fully 33 palestinian children were killed while one israeli civilian was killed in just five days during hot winter al mezan center for human rights bearing the brunt again child rights violations during operation cast lead september 2009 pp 8 18 19 17 benny morris israeli president shimon peres reflects on his mentor his peace partner and whether the state of israel will survive tablet 26 july 2010 18 amira hass drinking the sea at gaza days and nights in a land under siege new york 1996 p 9 19 sara roy failing peace gaza and the palestinian israeli conflict london 2007 pp 327 28 see also roy gaza strip pp xxiii xxv and galia golan israel and palestine peace plans from oslo to disengagement princeton 2007 20 human rights watch disengagement will not end gaza occupation 29 october 2004 hrw s world report 2006 reiterated this position in august and september 2005 israel unilaterally withdrew approximately eight thousand settlers along with military personnel and installations from the gaza strip and four small settlements in the northern west bank near jenin while israel has since declared the gaza strip a foreign territory and the crossings between gaza and israel international borders under international humanitarian law ihl gaza remains occupied and israel retains its responsibilities for the welfare of gaza residents israel maintains effective control over gaza by regulating movement in and out of the strip as well as the airspace sea space public utilities and population registry in addition israel declared the right to re enter gaza militarily at any time in its disengagement plan since the withdrawal israel has carried out aerial bombardments including targeted killings and has fired artillery into the northeastern corner of gaza for detailed legal analysis see gisha legal center for freedom of movement disengaged occupiers the legal status of gaza tel aviv january 2007 21 yoram dinstein the international law of belligerent occupation cambridge 2009 p 277 22 israeli palestinian interim agreement on the west bank and the gaza strip washington dc 1995 pp 92 96 314 for analysis of oslo ii see norman g finkelstein image and reality of the israel palestine conflict expanded second paperback edition new york 2003 pp 172 83 23 a border dispute over a tiny triangle of land was resolved later in egypt s favor by international arbitration a new strategy april 2010 p 2 france presse 28 november 2010 24 international crisis group tipping point palestinians and the search for 25 israel army s west bank presence lowest in 20 years agence 26 opening remarks by former us president jimmy carter to the 2006 human rights defenders policy forum 23 may 2006 see also pamela scholey palestine hamas s unfinished transformation in jeroen de zeeuw ed from soldiers to politicians transforming rebel movements after civil war boulder co 2008 which describes the election as a model of democratic reform p 138 27 ken kurson 2006 audio emerges of hillary clinton proposing rigging palestine election observer 28 october 2016 28 álvaro de soto end of mission report 2007 para 44 de soto was united nations special coordinator for the middle east peace process and personal representative of the secretary general to the palestine liberation organization and the palestinian authority envoy to the quartet between 2005 and 2007 his report is the single most authoritative and revealing document on the period running from israel s redeployment in gaza to hamas s electoral victory and its aftermath on hamas s political trajectory prior to the 2006 elections toward acceptance of the state of israel see international crisis group enter hamas the challenges of political integration january 2006 pp 2 19 22 29 de soto end of mission report paras 25 52 30 ibid para 51 31 john dugard report of the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the palestinian territories occupied since 1967 a hrc 2 5 5 september 2006 the special rapporteur continued it is interesting to recall that the western states refused to impose meaningful economic sanctions on south africa to compel it to abandon apartheid on the grounds that this would harm the black people of south africa no such sympathy is extended to the palestinian people or their human rights 32 de soto end of mission report paras 50 53 33 although many of the hostile initiatives against hamas formally emanated from the middle east quartet us eu russia un secretary general in reality this grouping was the plaything of the united states often in concert with the european union ibid paras 63 69 78 79 34 jimmy carter palestine peace not apartheid new york 2006 pp 159 60 golan israel and palestine p 90 de soto end of mission report paras 30 81n6 131 35 de soto end of mission report para 50 36 filiu gaza p 306 see also de soto end of mission report paras 50 52 37 david rose the gaza bombshell vanity fair april 2008 international institute for strategic studies hamas coup in gaza 2007 björn brenner gaza under hamas from islamic democracy to islamist governance london 2017 pp 35 40 the preemptive strike was launched by hamas s military wing and subsequently endorsed by hamas political leaders for washington s machinations to foment a civil war in gaza prior to the coup attempt and the complicity of senior officials in the palestinian authority see de soto end of mission report paras 55 57 123 127 38 paul mcgeough kill khalid the failed mossad assassination of khalid mishal and the rise of hamas new york 2009 p 377 39 ed o loughlin hopeless in gaza sydney morning herald 23 june 40 the ballyhooed centerpiece of bush s foreign policy was democracy 2007 promotion 41 cast lead referred to a line in a hanukkah song 42 when referring to palestinian military actions and capabilities hamas is used as shorthand for all palestinian armed groups operating in gaza 43 filiu gaza p 316 44 stephen zunes virtually the entire dem controlled congress supports israel s war crimes in gaza alternet 13 january 2009 45 norman g finkelstein this time we went too far truth and consequences of the gaza invasion expanded paperback edition new york 2011 pp 107 29 46 gideon levy goldstone s gaza probe did israel a favor haaretz 2 october 2009 online 7 january 2009 47 mouin rabbani birth pangs of a new palestine middle east report 48 see chapter 2 49 international crisis group gaza s unfinished business april 2009 p 21 see ibid pp 27 28 for the postinvasion cease fire terms see also israeli leaders to topple hamas bbc news 22 december 2008 zvi bar el delusions of victory in gaza haaretz 28 december 2008 50 report of the independent fact finding committee on gaza no safe place presented to the league of arab states 2009 para 411 3 the committee was chaired by eminent south african jurist john dugard on a related note the committee observed had the idf wanted to completely destroy the tunnels under the southern border of gaza this would have been relatively easy to achieve they are easily discernible and given the idf s aerial surveillance capability they must have been aware of the exact location of the tunnels however it was clear to the committee they had not all been destroyed during the conflict in the committee s view this raises questions about the israeli claim that it acted in self defense against the smuggling of weapons through the tunnels ibid para 394 51 b tselem israeli information center for human rights in the occupied territories human rights in the occupied territories 2008 annual report jerusalem 2009 march 2009 52 human rights watch donors should press israel to end blockade 1 53 roy gaza strip p xxxi 54 united nations office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs ocha gaza humanitarian situation report the impact of the blockade on the gaza strip a human dignity crisis 15 december 2008 c h a p t e r t w o d e t e r r i n g a r a b s d e t e r r i n g p e a c e 1 ethan bronner in israel a consensus that gaza war is a just one new york times 13 january 2009 association for civil rights in israel the state of human rights in israel and the occupied territories 2009 report jerusalem december 2009 p 6 2 gideon levy democracy now 29 december 2008 democracynow org 2008 12 29 israeli_attacks_ kill_over_310_in 3 whereas it is arguable that prime minister menachem begin s decision to bomb the iraqi osirak reactor in 1981 was an electoral ploy the facile operation didn t jeopardize state interests indeed the alleged existential threat posed to israel by saddam hussein was unfounded he hadn t embarked on a nuclear weapons program prior to the bombing richard wilson incomplete or inaccurate information can lead to tragically incorrect decisions to preempt the example of osirak paper presented at erice sicily 18 may 2007 updated 9 february 2008 users physics harvard edu wilson publications pp896 html richard wilson a visit to the bombed nuclear reactor at tuwaitha iraq nature 31 march 1983 wayne white former deputy director near east and south asia office state department in fifty third in the capitol hill conference series on us middle east policy 20 june 2008 4 ethan bronner israel reminds foes that it has teeth new york times 29 december 2008 5 benny morris why israel feels threatened new york times 30 december 2008 gideon levy mocked israel s incessant fearmongering as the devil s refuge that explains and justifies everything waiting for the all clear haaretz 30 april 2009 6 benny morris righteous victims a history of the zionist arab conflict 1881 2001 new york 2001 p 686 7 ami gluska the israeli military and the origins of the 1967 war government armed forces and defence policy 1963 1967 new york 2007 pp 74 76 80 94 100 103 6 114 18 8 norman g finkelstein image and reality of the israel palestine conflict expanded second paperback edition new york 2003 pp 134 40 johnson quote at p 135 eban quote at p 139 9 memorandum for the record 1 june 1967 foreign relations of the united states 1964 1968 vol 19 arab israeli crisis and war 1967 washington dc 2004 10 tom segev 1967 israel the war and the year that transformed the middle east new york 2007 p 293 emphasis added 11 zeev maoz defending the holy land a critical analysis of israel s security and foreign policy ann arbor 2006 p 89 12 benjamin s lambeth air operations in israel s war against hezbollah learning from lebanon and getting it right in gaza arlington va 2011 p 97 matthew kalman israel set war plan more than a year ago san francisco chronicle 21 july 2006 13 william arkin divining victory airpower in the 2006 israel hezbollah war maxwell air force base al 2007 pp xxv xxvi 54 135 147 48 14 ibid pp xxi 25 64 15 andrew exum hizballah at war a military assessment washington dc 2006 pp 9 11 12 16 reut institute building a political firewall against israel s delegitimization tel aviv 2010 para 35 17 benny morris a second holocaust the threat to israel 2 may 2008 mideast freedomforum org de node 66 when israel again threatened to attack iran in late 2009 and early 2010 morris did reprises of his signature 2008 performance by conjuring apocalyptic scenarios if the united states did not back an israeli attack benny morris obama s nuclear spring guardian 24 november 2009 benny morris when armageddon lives next door los angeles times 16 april 2010 18 yaron london the dahiya strategy ynetnews com 6 october 2008 giora eiland the third lebanon war target lebanon strategic assessment november 2008 gabriel siboni disproportionate force israel s concept of response in light of the second lebanon war institute for national security studies 2 october 2008 amos harel analysis idf plans to use disproportionate force in next war haaretz 5 october 2007 joseph nasr israel warns hezbollah war would invite destruction reuters 2 october 2008 jean loup samaan the dahya concept and israeli military posture vis à vis hezbollah since 2006 comparative strategy 2013 19 london dahiya strategy attila somfalvi sheetrit we should level gaza neighborhoods ynetnews com 2 october 2008 20 israeli general says hamas must not be the only target in gaza idf radio tel aviv 26 december 2008 bbc monitoring middle east tova dadon deputy chief of staff worst still ahead ynetnews com 29 december 2008 b tselem to attorney general mazuz concern over israel targeting civilian objects in the gaza strip 31 december 2008 report of the united nations fact finding mission on the gaza conflict 25 september 2009 para 1204 hereafter goldstone report see also public committee against torture in israel pcati no second thoughts the changes in the israeli defense forces combat doctrine in light of operation cast lead jerusalem 2009 pp 20 28 21 seumas milne israel s onslaught on gaza is a crime that cannot succeed guardian 30 december 2008 shay fogelman shock and awe haaretz 31 december 2010 22 amnesty international operation cast lead 22 days of death and destruction london 2009 p 47 23 reuven pedatzur the mistakes of cast lead haaretz 8 january 2009 24 morris why israel feels threatened matt m matthews the israeli defense forces response to the 2006 war with hezbollah military review july august 2009 p 45 25 b michael déjà vu in gaza ynetnews com 29 december 2008 26 al mezan center for human rights bearing the brunt again child rights violations during operation cast lead 2009 p 28 human rights watch precisely wrong gaza civilians killed by israeli drone launched missiles 2009 pp 14 17 27 international crisis group ending the war in gaza 2009 p 18 defending cast lead while willfully oblivious to its actual objective israeli philosopher asa kasher opined that a democratic state cannot use human beings as mere tools to create deterrence because human beings are not tools to be used and killing for the sake of deterrence is something akin to terrorism asa kasher operation cast lead and just war theory azure summer 2009 p 51 asa kasher a moral evaluation of the gaza war jerusalem post 7 february 2010 28 amos harel and avi issacharoff israel and hamas are both paying a steep price in gaza haaretz 10 january 2009 ari shavit israel s victories in gaza make up for its failures in lebanon haaretz 12 january 2009 guy bechor a dangerous victory ynetnews com 12 january 2009 amos harel israel stuck in the mud on internal gaza probe haaretz 30 january 2010 29 thomas l friedman israel s goals in gaza new york times 14 january 2009 see also thomas l friedman war timeout war time new york times 26 june 2010 30 human rights watch why they died civilian casualties in lebanon during the 2006 war new york 2007 pp 5 14 40 41 45 46 48 51 53 31 stephen biddle and jeffrey a friedman the 2006 lebanon campaign and the future of warfare implications for army and defense policy carlisle pa 2008 pp 43 45 on a related note the study found that the great majority of hezbollah s fighters wore uniforms in fact their equipment and clothing were remarkably similar to many state militaries desert or green fatigues helmets web vests body armor dog tags and rank insignia 32 human rights watch civilian pawns laws of war violations and the use of weapons on the israel lebanon border new york 1996 maoz defending the holy land pp 213 14 224 25 252 augustus richard norton hezbollah a short history princeton 2007 pp 77 86 33 judith palmer harik hezbollah the changing face of terrorism london 2004 pp 167 68 34 human rights watch civilians under assault hezbollah s rocket attacks on israel in the 2006 war new york 2007 p 100 hrw asserts that hezbollah rocket attacks on israeli civilians were not retaliatory but it adduces no supporting evidence 35 yair evron deterrence the campaign against hamas strategic assessment february 2009 p 81 international crisis group gaza s unfinished business 2009 p 19n198 36 international crisis group gaza s unfinished business pp 7 8 37 gideon levy the idf has no mercy for the children in gaza nursery schools haaretz 15 january 2009 38 glenn greenwald tom friedman offers a perfect definition of terrorism salon com 14 january 2009 39 memorandum for the record 17 november 1968 n 13 foreign relations of the united states 1964 1968 the quoted phrase is from w w rostow a senior advisor to president johnson 40 amir kulick lebanon lite lessons from the operation in gaza and the next round against hizbollah military and strategic affairs april 2009 pp 57 59 41 international crisis group gaza s unfinished business p 19 42 noam chomsky the fateful triangle the united states israel and the palestinians boston 1983 ch 3 norman g finkelstein knowing too much why the american jewish romance with israel is coming to an end new york 2012 pp 203 21 43 the wording of this section of the resolution varies slightly from year to year 44 final communiqué of the twenty ninth session of the islamic conference of foreign ministers session of solidarity and dialogue khartoum republic of the sudan 25 27 june 2002 in the hands of israel s propagandists this fact got transmuted into all 57 members of the oic are virulently hostile to israel robin shepherd a state beyond the pale europe s problem with israel london 2009 p 205 the oic was subsequently renamed the organization of islamic cooperation iran also consistently voted with the unga majority on the peaceful settlement resolution 45 international court of justice advisory opinion legal consequences of the construction of a wall in the occupied palestinian territory 9 july 2004 46 for detailed analysis see finkelstein knowing too much pp 307 53 47 andrew c esensten dershowitz advises israel on wall dispute harvard crimson 24 february 2004 48 human rights watch urges attention to future of palestinian refugees 21 december 2000 hrw org en news 2000 12 21 human rights watch urges attention future palestinian refugees israel palestinian leaders should guarantee right of return as part of comprehensive refugee solution 21 december 2000 hrw org en news 2000 12 21 israel palestinian leaders should guarantee right return part comprehensive refugee amnesty international the right to return the case of the palestinians policy statement london 29 march 2001 49 finkelstein knowing too much pp 229 48 50 paul scham and osama abu irshaid hamas ideological rigidity and political flexibility united states institute of peace special report washington dc 2009 pp 2 4 see also khaled hroub a new hamas through its new documents journal of palestine studies summer 2006 and jeroen gunning hamas in politics democracy religion violence new york 2008 pp 205 6 236 37 hamas s political evolution retraced the plo s in which the call for a state in the whole of palestine was superseded first by a strategy of phased liberation starting with a state in the west bank and gaza and then by acquiescence in a two state settlement shaul mishal and avraham sela the palestinian hamas vision violence and coexistence new york 2006 pp 108 10 51 mouin rabbani a hamas perspective on the movement s evolving role an interview with khalid mishal part ii journal of palestine studies summer 2008 52 gianni perrelli con israele non sarà mai pace interview with khalid mishal l espresso 26 february 2009 53 jimmy carter we can have peace in the holy land a plan that will work new york 2009 pp 137 177 see also nidal al mughrabi hamas would honor referendum on peace with israel reuters 1 december 2010 54 khaled hroub hamas political thought and practice washington dc 2000 p 44 see also p 254 sherifa zuhur hamas and israel conflicting strategies of group based politics carlisle pa 2008 pp 29 31 this study was published by the strategic studies institute of the us army war college see also gunning hamas in politics pp 19 20 55 what hamas wants mideast mirror 22 december 2008 56 zuhur hamas and israel pp ix 14 57 intelligence and terrorism information center at the israel intelligence heritage and commemoration center the six months of the lull arrangement december 2008 pp 2 6 7 see also point 3 of defense minister barak s discussions 29 august 2008 wikileaks according to egyptians who brokered the 2008 cease fire it provided for an immediate cessation of armed hostilities a gradual lifting of the economic blockade that after ten days would allow for the passage of all products except materials used in the manufacture of projectiles and explosives and negotiations after three weeks for a prisoner exchange and the opening of rafah crossing international crisis group ending the war in gaza p 3 carter we can have peace pp 137 38 after the abortive coup attempt in 2007 which led to hamas s consolidation of power in gaza see chapter 1 israel severely restricted entry of goods not considered essential for the basic subsistence of the population it permitted passage of only a humanitarian minimum a benchmark that was arbitrarily determined not sanctioned by international law and in fact fell below gaza s minimal humanitarian needs when the 2008 cease fire went into effect israel allowed only a slightly increased movement of supplies into gaza gisha legal center for freedom of movement red lines crossed destruction of gaza s infrastructure 2009 pp 11 13 41 42 45 46 50 see also oxfam et al the middle east quartet a progress report 25 september 2008 pp 14 15 unicef humanitarian action update 23 october 2008 amnesty international gaza ceasefire at risk 5 november 2008 gisha israel reveals documents related to the gaza closure policy 21 october 2010 58 richard n haass and martin indyk beyond iraq a new us strategy for the middle east and walter russell mead change they can believe in to make israel safe give palestinians their due in foreign affairs january february 2009 59 the jewish people policy planning institute annual assessment 2008 jerusalem 2008 p 27 ross has been a chief architect of us policy in the israel palestine conflict 60 hezbollah secretary general sayyed hassan nasrallah s speech delivered at the central ashura council 31 december 2008 61 mishal and sela palestinian hamas p 14 62 chomsky fateful triangle chs 3 5 63 yehuda lukacs ed the israeli palestinian conflict a documentary record 1967 1990 cambridge 1992 pp 477 79 64 yehoshaphat harkabi israel s fateful hour new york 1988 p 101 65 avner yaniv dilemmas of security politics strategy and the israeli experience in lebanon oxford 1987 pp 20 23 50 54 67 70 87 89 100 101 105 6 113 143 294n46 robert fisk pity the nation the abduction of lebanon new york 1990 pp 197 232 in his history of the peace process martin indyk former us ambassador to israel contrived this capsule summary of the sequence of events just narrated in 1982 arafat s terrorist activities eventually provoked the israeli government of menachem begin and ariel sharon into a full scale invasion of lebanon martin indyk innocent abroad an intimate account of american peace diplomacy in the middle east new york 2009 p 75 66 saed bannoura livni calls for a large scale military offensive in gaza imemc 8 december 2008 livni ashamed of state of gaza truce jerusalem post 9 december 2008 67 uri blau idf sources conditions not yet optimal for gaza exit haaretz 8 january 2009 barak ravid disinformation secrecy and lies how the gaza offensive came about haaretz 28 december 2008 68 a careful study covering the period 2000 2008 demonstrated that overwhelmingly it was israel that kills first after a pause in the conflict nancy kanwisher johannes haushofer and anat biletzki reigniting violence how do ceasefires end huffington post 6 january 2009 see also johannes haushofer anat biletzki and nancy kanwisher both sides retaliate in the israeli palestinian conflict proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states 4 october 2010 which found that palestinian violence far from being random and senseless reveals a pattern of retaliation on a related point it was israel not hamas that broke the de facto truce after the gaza redeployment in late 2005 fully 30 palestinians were killed in the three months following the redeployment without the death of a single israeli israel also persisted in its illegal practice of targeted assassinations despite hamas s unilateral cease fire after winning the 2006 election and its concurrent diplomatic démarche to achieve a peace in stages with israel jerome slater a perfect moral catastrophe just war philosophy and the israeli attack on gaza tikkun march april 2009 jean pierre filiu gaza a history new york 2014 pp 288 91 to demonstrate that hamas is driven not by pragmatism and legitimate grievance but instead by murderous ideology a pair of veteran israel apologists pointed to its rocket attacks after israel s 2005 gaza redeployment during hamas s rise to power january 2006 to april 2008 more than 2 500 rockets were launched from gaza landing in israeli cities and villages israel no longer occupies gaza but the rockets have largely continued under hamas s control some say that the rockets are a response to israeli retaliation but it is easy to disprove this if there were no rockets the odds are very high that israel would have no reason to retaliate even during periods without retaliation the rocket fire has continued dennis ross and david makovsky myths illusions and peace finding a new direction for america in the middle east new york 2009 p 255 see also ibid pp 138 39 243 252 once the factual record is restored it s child s play to disprove their so called proof leaving aside that israel continued to occupy gaza and then imposed an illegal blockade it was israel not hamas that overwhelmingly broke the cease fires 69 zvi bar el crushing the tahadiyeh haaretz 16 november 2008 uri avnery the calculations behind israel s slaughter of palestinians in gaza redress cc 2 january 2009 70 amnesty international report 2009 the state of the world s human rights 2009 entry for israel and the occupied palestinian territories pp 182 83 see also human rights watch rockets from gaza harm to civilians from palestinian armed groups rocket attacks new york 2009 p 2 71 intelligence and terrorism information center six months p 3 72 hamas wants better terms for truce jerusalem post 21 december 2008 bradley burston can the first gaza war be stopped before it starts haaretz 22 december 2008 diskin told the israeli cabinet that hamas would renew the truce if israel lifted the siege of gaza stopped military attacks and extended the truce to the west bank robert pastor senior middle east advisor with the carter center testified that in december 2008 he personally presented the israeli government with an offer from khalid mishal to renew the june 2008 cease fire if israel ended the blockade as stipulated in the june cease fire agreement israel balked the conclusion pastor reported seems inescapable israel had the option to open the crossings and if it had done so the rockets would have stopped robert pastor memorandum to the un fact finding mission on the gaza conflict operation cast lead and the right of self defense 6 december 2009 robert pastor email israeli invasion of gaza december 2008 8 december 2013 copies on file with this writer 73 gaza residents terribly trapped bbc news 4 november 2008 74 gisha red lines pp 5 26 33 75 sara roy if gaza falls london review of books 1 january 2009 for a comprehensive description of the blockade in its various phases and crippling long term impact see sara roy the gaza strip the political economy of de development expanded third edition washington dc 2016 pp xxx lxix 76 international crisis group ending the war in gaza pp 3 10 11 77 burston can the first gaza war 78 khalid mishal this brutality will never break our will to be free guardian 6 january 2009 79 it was incidentally not the first time israel sought to provoke hamas after it mooted a modus vivendi in september 1997 just days before an abortive israeli assassination attempt on khalid mishal jordan s king hussein delivered a message from the hamas leadership to israel s prime minister benjamin netanyahu in it hamas suggested opening an indirect dialogue with the israeli government to be mediated by the king toward achieving a cessation of violence as well as a discussion of all matters but the message was ignored or missed and in any case became irrelevant following the attempt on the hamas leader s life mishal and sela palestinian hamas p 72 see also paul mcgeough kill khalid the failed mossad assassination of khalid mishal and the rise of hamas new york 2009 esp pp 141 146 226 c h a p t e r t h r e e s p i n c o n t r o l 1 anthony h cordesman the gaza war a strategic analysis 2009 2 at the time cordesman held the arleigh a burke chair in strategy at the center for strategic and international studies and was a national security analyst for abc news 3 he allowed only that israel might have unjustifiably hit some civilian targets like an unrwa school where 42 palestinians died these atrocities rated a two sentence mention in his 92 page report there is no evidence that any abuses of the other narrow limits imposed by laws of war occurred he continued aside from a few limited cases and the only significant incident that had as yet emerged was the possible misuse of 20 phosphorus shells in built up areas in beit lahiya cordesman gaza war pp ii 1 3 63 64 4 ibid pp 1 10 5 ibid p 2 6 ibid 7 duncan kennedy a context for gaza harvard crimson 2 february 8 cordesman gaza war p ii 9 uzi benziman until proved otherwise haaretz 18 june 2006 b michael of liars and hunters yediot ahronot 3 september 2005 b michael stop the lying yediot ahronot 5 september 2008 see also gideon levy israel where the media will blindly buy what the ruling authorities dictate haaretz 27 august 2016 10 kenneth roth the incendiary idf human rights watch 22 january 2009 2009 11 ben wedeman group accuses israel of firing white phosphorus into gaza cnn 12 january 2009 robert marquand and nicholas blanford gaza israel under fire for alleged white phosphorus use christian science monitor 14 january 2009 12 b tselem israeli information center for human rights in the occupied territories military rejects horrific results of use of white phosphorus in operation cast lead 21 may 2009 see also dinah pokempner valuing the goldstone report global governance 16 2010 p 149 13 amira hass in the rockets red glare haaretz 15 january 2009 14 cordesman gaza war pp 20 27 15 ibid pp 20 27 passim 42 57 passim 16 ibid p 22 17 b tselem israeli information center for human rights in the occupied territories suspicion bombed truck carried oxygen tanks and not grad rockets 31 december 2008 israel ministry of foreign affairs conclusions of investigations into central claims and issues in operation cast lead part 2 22 april 2009 18 human rights watch precisely wrong gaza civilians killed by israeli drone launched missiles 2009 pp 17 21 19 cordesman gaza war pp 58 62 20 ibid p 58 amos harel israel two thirds of palestinians killed in gaza fighting were terrorists haaretz 13 february 2009 yaakov katz idf world duped by hamas s false civilian death toll figures jerusalem post 15 february 2009 21 israel s inflationary tally of enemy combatant deaths during cast lead fit a familiar pattern whereas it alleged after the 2006 war that 60 percent of lebanese casualties were hezbollah fighters all independent sources put the figure at closer to 20 percent william arkin divining victory airpower in the 2006 israel hezbollah war maxwell air force base al 2007 p 74 human rights watch why they died civilian casualties in lebanon during the 2006 war 2007 pp 76 79 mitchell prothero hizbollah builds up covert army for a new assault against israel observer 27 april 2008 alastair crooke and mark perry how hezbollah defeated israel part 2 winning the ground war asia times 13 october 2006 22 cordesman gaza war pp 16 17 63 23 the ensuing exposition focuses on violations of international humanitarian and human rights law resulting directly from cast lead some human rights reports also documented indirect violations such as hamas repression of fatah members in gaza and reciprocal palestinian authority repression of hamas members in the west bank as well as israel s repression of dissent in israel and the west bank and its failure to provide air raid shelters for bedouins in southern israel 24 amnesty international operation cast lead 22 days of death and destruction 2009 p 4 the goldstone report noted that it was faced with a certain reluctance by the persons it interviewed in gaza to discuss the activities of the armed groups it nonetheless found that palestinian testimonies could be vetted for accuracy taking into account the demeanor of witnesses the plausibility of their accounts and the consistency of these accounts with the circumstances observed by it and with other testimonies the mission was able to determine the credibility and reliability of those people it heard the final conclusions on the reliability of the information received were made taking all of these matters into consideration cross referencing the relevant material and information and assessing whether in all the circumstances there was sufficient information of a credible and reliable nature for the mission to make a finding in fact report of the united nations fact finding mission on the gaza conflict 25 september 2009 paras 35 170 71 440 hereafter goldstone report the somewhat discrepant experiences of amnesty and the goldstone mission might be accounted for by the higher profile of the mission which prompted greater intrusion by hamas and concomitantly greater circumspection by the population 25 the state of israel the operation in gaza 27 december 2008 18 january 2009 factual and legal aspects 2009 26 ibid para 34 to be sure israel was not wholly dismissive of these human rights reports it did affirmatively cite one that condemned hamas suicide bombings ibid p 52n139 27 goldstone report paras 1107 64 passim 28 state of israel operation in gaza paras 22 25 29 ibid paras 6 8 84 115 222 23 30 amos harel testimonies on idf misconduct in gaza keep rolling in haaretz 22 march 2009 31 donald macintyre israeli commander we rewrote the rules of war for gaza independent 3 february 2010 32 anshel pfeffer gaza soldiers speak out jewish chronicle 5 march 2009 breaking the silence soldiers testimonies from operation cast lead gaza 2009 jerusalem 2009 pp 24 testimony 9 29 testimony 10 62 testimony 26 the goldstone report disputed the idf s premise that palestinian civilians would already have fled areas under israeli attack para 522 on this point see also public committee against torture in israel pcati no second thoughts the changes in the israeli defense forces combat doctrine in light of operation cast lead 2009 pp 18 19 33 amos harel what did the idf think would happen in gaza haaretz 27 march 2009 34 state of israel operation in gaza para 232 35 harel what did the idf think 36 breaking the silence soldiers testimonies p 20 testimony 7 amos harel idf in gaza killing civilians vandalism and lax rules of engagement haaretz 18 march 2009 amos harel shooting and crying haaretz 19 march 2009 37 amos harel idf officer it will take many years to restore bombwracked gaza haaretz 7 january 2009 38 macintyre israeli commander 39 cordesman gaza war p 17 40 state of israel operation in gaza paras 8 17 24 138 141 154 262 65 41 report of the independent fact finding committee on gaza no safe place presented to the league of arab states 30 april 2009 para 13 of executive summary paras 283 99 467 68 483 490 hereafter dugard report on a related note the report observed in order to provide a meaningful warning by telephone the idf would have to be aware not only of the telephone numbers of the residents of gaza but more importantly of the numbers of the residents in a particular building or area the committee is not aware of how the idf managed to obtain and confirm this information when the majority of telephones in gaza are mobile or cell phones and are not associated with a particular address or location and when the utility of advising someone to vacate on their mobile phone requires knowledge of their actual location ibid para 293 see also ibid para 467 for a clearly documented and large scale case reported in real time that the idf only paid lip service regarding the warnings to civilians to minimize damage see pcati no second thoughts pp 17 18 see also human rights watch white flag deaths killings of palestinian civilians during operation cast lead new york august 2009 p 5 goldstone report paras 37 501 2 511 515 531 42 the report allowed that warnings might have been effective in some instances and pokempner valuing the goldstone report p 152 42 jeremy bowen gaza stories israeli minister interview with meir sheetrit bbc news 9 february 2009 amnesty international operation cast lead pp 3 50 51 the israeli brief reported more than 165 000 phone calls warning civilians to distance themselves from military targets while the idf s senior legal advisor alleged that more than 250 000 calls were made state of israel operation in gaza paras 8 264 yaakov katz security and defense waging war on the legal front jerusalem post 18 september 2009 43 laurie r blank the application of ihl in the goldstone report a critical commentary yearbook of international law 12 2009 pp 47 48 44 state of israel operation in gaza paras 86 266 45 cordesman gaza war pp 37 64 46 united nations office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs ocha humanitarian monitor january 2009 see also amnesty international operation cast lead pp 51 53 47 hazem balousha and chris mcgreal tanks rockets death and terror a civilian catastrophe unfolding guardian 5 january 2009 48 cordesman gaza war p 64 49 goldstone report paras 72 317 1297 1315 see also para 1299 for israeli misrepresentation of the amounts and types of humanitarian provisions it allowed into gaza 50 human rights watch choking gaza harms civilians 18 february 2009 ocha field update on gaza from the humanitarian coordinator 10 16 march 2009 see also amira hass israel bans books music and clothes from entering gaza haaretz 17 may 2009 51 amnesty international et al failing gaza no rebuilding no recovery no more excuses 2009 pp 3 6 10 12 52 un news center opening remarks at press conference 20 january 2009 53 un general assembly letter dated 4 may 2009 from the secretary general addressed to the president of the security council summary by the secretary general of the report of the united nations headquarters board of inquiry into certain incidents in the gaza strip between 27 december 2008 and 19 january 2009 2009 a 63 855 s 2009 250 paras 10 28 46 67 77 84 97 100 107 opting or pressured to shield the report from public scrutiny ban ki moon released only a summary of it he was arm twisted by the obama administration to reject in his cover letter to the report the board of inquiry s recommendation that the incidents be further investigated see jamie stern weiner ban ki moon stars in live puppet show 22 june 2015 jamiesternweiner wordpress com 2015 06 22 ban ki moon stars in live puppet show 54 barak ravid peres tells ban israel will never accept un gaza probe haaretz 7 may 2009 barak ravid barak idf did not mean to shoot at un facilities in gaza haaretz 5 may 2009 55 physicians for human rights israel holding health to ransom gss interrogation and extortion of palestinian patients at erez crossing 2008 56 state of israel operation in gaza para 274 57 between 2006 and the end of cast lead nearly 300 gazans seeking health care abroad died because of the border closure al mezan center for human rights yet another child casualty due to israel s closure policies 2009 on a related note cordesman credited the israeli accusation that hamas prevent ed medical evacuation of palestinians to israel although in fact hamas had no control over such medical referrals after the cease fire came into effect on 18 january israel opened a humanitarian clinic at the erez crossing but by this time the medical emergency had passed and palestinian officials ignored it the facility was widely perceived including by physicians for human rights israel as an israeli public relations stunt on 28 january israel announced the closure of the clinic due to the absence of patients cordesman gaza war p 66 physicians for human rights israel ill morals grave violations of the right to health during the israeli assault on gaza 2009 pp 18 20 23 51 58 jan mcgirk gaza s health and humanitarian situation remains fragile lancet 4 february 2009 amnesty international et al failing gaza p 11 59 cordesman gaza war p 64 state of israel operation in gaza para 274 60 b tselem israeli information center for human rights in the occupied territories guidelines for israel s investigation into operation cast lead 27 december 2008 18 january 2009 jerusalem 2009 p 14 61 physicians for human rights israel ill morals p 35 62 sebastian van as et al final report independent fact finding mission into violations of human rights in the gaza strip during the period 27 12 2008 18 01 2009 brussels 2009 p 77 63 gaza icrc demands urgent access to wounded as israeli army fails to assist wounded palestinians press release 8 january 2009 64 al mezan center for human rights bearing the brunt again child rights violations during operation cast lead 2009 p 32 65 cordesman gaza war p 65 66 state of israel operation in gaza paras 7 23 141 171 174 176 177 79 371 72 377 80 see also intelligence and terrorism information center hamas and the terrorist threat from the gaza strip the main findings of the goldstone report versus the factual findings 2010 pp v 173 77 this document also cited evidence gleaned from a fatah affiliated website the israeli brief is dotted with references to the dubious reportage of italian journalist lorenzo cremonesi it prudently did not however cite cremonesi s sensational finding that altogether not more than 500 600 gazans perished during cast lead if that figure were accurate then not only did human rights organizations exaggerate the palestinian death toll but israel itself also inflated it lorenzo cremonesi così i ragazzini di hamas ci hanno utilizzato come bersagli corriere della sera 21 january 2009 palestinians confirm hamas war crimes refute gaza death toll israel today 22 january 2009 67 state of israel operation in gaza para 371 emphasis in original 68 sebastian van as et al final report p 77 69 b tselem guidelines p 16 see also norman g finkelstein beyond chutzpah on the misuse of anti semitism and the abuse of history expanded paperback edition berkeley 2008 pp 128 30 and ed o loughlin israel withdraws disputed footage age 8 october 2004 70 human rights watch why they died p 160 71 goldstone report paras 36 468 73 magen david adom testimony at para 473 485 72 intelligence and terrorism information center hamas and the terrorist threat p 164 see also state of israel operation in gaza paras 7 23 141 171 72 175 73 amnesty international operation cast lead p 43 see also amnesty international report 2010 the state of the world s human rights 2010 entry for israel and the occupied palestinian territories p 183 physicians for human rights israel ill morals p 41 goldstone report paras 36 466 67 485 74 state of israel operation in gaza paras 172 175 see also intelligence and terrorism information center hamas and the terrorist threat pp v 163 77 benny morris derisionist history new republic 28 november 2009 75 united nations development program gaza early recovery and reconstruction needs assessment one year after 2010 p 20 76 state of israel gaza operation investigations second update 2010 para 69 77 margaret coker gaza s isolation slows rebuilding efforts wall street journal 5 february 2009 ocha the humanitarian monitor ethan bronner amid the destruction a return to life in gaza new york times 25 january 2009 united nations office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs ocha tough times for university students in gaza 26 march 2009 reporters without borders operation cast lead news control as military objective 2009 al mezan bearing the brunt pp 10 62 81 amnesty international et al failing gaza p 9 united nations institute for training and research satellite image analysis in support to the united nations fact finding mission on the gaza conflict 2009 p ii gisha legal center for freedom of movement red lines crossed destruction of gaza s infrastructure 2009 pp 5 6 19 27 between the destruction inflicted during cast lead and israel s expansion of its buffer zone in gaza after the invasion nearly half of gaza s agricultural land was out of production a year later for the most comprehensive analysis of the destruction wreaked by the israeli attack and its enduring consequences see united nations development program gaza early recovery 78 goldstone report paras 50 913 41 the flour mill produced the most basic staple ingredient of the local diet israel subsequently sought to defend its attack on the flour mill state of israel gaza operation investigations an update january 2010 pp 41 44 but compelling evidence belied the israeli version of what had transpired anshel pfeffer un insists israel bombed flour mill during cast lead haaretz 4 february 2010 human rights watch i lost everything israel s unlawful destruction of property during operation cast lead new york january 2010 pp 5 83 86 still israel stuck to its original story gaza operation investigations second update july 2010 paras 141 45 one year after the invasion israel continued to block cement deliveries to rebuild the flour mill amnesty international et al failing gaza p 6 79 as a result of this single israeli strike 65 000 chickens were crushed to death or buried alive amnesty international operation cast lead p 62 goldstone report paras 51 942 61 80 united nations development program gaza early recovery p 67 81 amir mizroch analysis grappling with goldstone jerusalem post 18 september 2009 see also israel ministry of foreign affairs israel gaza faq goldstone mission n d 82 in a report issued a year and a half after cast lead israel alleged predictably that the chicken coops were destroyed for reasons of military necessity gaza operation investigations second update paras 122 29 83 amnesty international et al failing gaza p 7 united nations conference on trade and development report on unctad assistance to the palestinian people developments in the economy of the occupied palestinian territory august 2009 para 20 84 amnesty international et al failing gaza p 7 barbara opall rome israel s new hard line on hizbollah defensenews 31 may 2010 85 international crisis group gaza s unfinished business 2009 p 21 86 amnesty international operation cast lead p 66 see also human rights watch rockets from gaza harm to civilians from palestinian armed groups rocket attacks 2009 pp 2 20 reporting damage to a synagogue school and kindergarten and goldstone report paras 1659 61 87 state of israel operation in gaza p 17n27 88 breaking the silence soldiers testimonies pp 26 testimony 10 59 testimony 24 60 testimony 25 85 testimony 38 101 testimony 47 89 uri blau dead palestinian babies and bombed mosques idf fashion 2009 haaretz 20 march 2009 90 human rights watch i lost everything p 7 91 state of israel operation in gaza para 71 92 breaking the silence soldiers testimonies pp 69 testimony 29 83 testimony 37 93 breaking the silence soldiers testimonies pp 18 testimony 6 20 testimony 7 46 testimony 18 60 testimony 25 85 testimony 38 see also ibid pp 47 massive fire testimony 19 48 fired like crazy testimony 20 67 i never knew such firepower they were using every weapon i know testimony 29 76 in general everything that could fire did testimony 33 94 state of israel operation in gaza para 445 95 amnesty international operation cast lead p 55 96 dugard report paras 300 372 87 see also goldstone report paras 53 351 1004 1207 1319 97 human rights watch i lost everything pp 1 4 41 44 98 international crisis group gaza s unfinished business p 2 apparently referring to this same zone amnesty reported that it looked as if it had been wrecked by an earthquake operation cast lead p 61 99 cordesman gaza war p 49 100 amos harel idf probe cannot defend destruction of gaza homes haaretz 15 february 2009 apropos the razing of palestinian homes amnesty observed many of the houses destroyed during operation cast lead had been raided or temporarily taken over by israeli soldiers during incursions in recent years it is unlikely that hamas or other palestinian groups would have located their command centers rocket manufacturing workshops or weapons stores in the areas most accessible to and most easily overrun by israeli troops the fact that the soldiers used antitank mines which required them to leave their tanks walk between buildings and enter houses in order to place the explosive charges inside the houses along the supporting walls indicates that they felt extremely confident that there were no palestinian gunmen inside or around the houses it also indicates their confidence that there were no tunnels under the houses which gunmen could use to capture them and that the houses were not booby trapped operation cast lead p 56 the goldstone report subdivided the house destruction into chronologically discrete phases a first phase of extensive destruction of housing for the operational necessity of the advancing israeli forces in these areas was followed by a period of relative idleness on the part of the israeli bulldozers and explosives engineers but during the last three days aware of their imminent withdrawal the israeli armed forces engaged in another wave of systematic destruction of civilian buildings paras 990 1004 1323 the al mezan center for human rights reported that at least 1 732 shelters were destroyed after the end of hostilities when they had come under israel s effective control which indicates that they could no longer be military objectives or near any other legitimate military targets and should therefore have been respected as civilian objects al mezan bearing the brunt pp 80 94 on a related point hrw noted the absence of any evidence that explosive booby traps planted by palestinian armed groups or secondary explosions caused by weapons stored by these armed groups were responsible for any significant amount of the damage seen in gaza human rights watch i lost everything p 18 101 international crisis group gaza s unfinished business p 19 goldstone report para 1201 102 cordesman gaza war pp 18 24 26 103 both the israeli press releases cited by cordesman gaza war pp 24 26 and state of israel operation in gaza p 61n161 para 234 alleged secondary explosions only in the cases of two mosques targeted respectively on 31 december 2008 and 1 january 2009 in a rebuttal issued long after the gaza assault ended israel conjured a secondary explosion in a mosque attacked on 13 january 2009 intelligence and terrorism information center hamas and the terrorist threat p 157 104 the goldstone report cautiously concluded although the situations investigated by the mission did not establish the use of mosques for military purposes or to shield military activities the mission cannot exclude that this might have occurred in other cases paras 36 464 65 486 497 822 43 1953 in a pair of newspaper articles b tselem executive director jessica montell alleged that the goldstone report was insufficiently critical of hamas because it ignored evidence contradicting this tentative conclusion however despite repeated requests by this writer montell was unable to substantiate her allegation that hamas had misused mosques jessica montell a time for soul searching jerusalem post 30 september 2009 jessica montell the goldstone report on gaza huffington post 1 october 2009 105 intelligence and terrorism information center hamas and the terrorist threat pp 143 44 106 state of israel gaza operation investigations second update para 69 107 hanan chehata exclusive memo interview with colonel desmond travers middle east monitor 23 january 2010 in addition since the targeted mosques were frequented by senior hamas officials intelligence and terrorism information center hamas and the terrorist threat pp 147 48 they were likely under israeli surveillance 108 intelligence and terrorism information center hamas and the terrorist threat p 146 al mezan center for human rights database it might also be hypothesized that hamas stored weapons in mosques because hamas wanted to demonize israel by luring it to target them but such speculation would be hard to square with the fact that hamas was also said to have hidden the weapons in mosques intelligence and terrorism information center hamas and the terrorist threat pp 147 152 158 109 alan dershowitz the case against the goldstone report a study in evidentiary bias www alandershowitz com goldstone pdf pp 4 39 41 110 dugard report paras 349 53 498 502 see also amnesty international operation cast lead p 15 111 breaking the silence soldiers testimonies p 70 112 intelligence and terrorism information center hamas and the terrorist threat p 179 threat pp v 193 94 113 dugard report para 347 114 intelligence and terrorism information center hamas and the terrorist 115 united nations development program gaza early recovery p 26 116 goldstone report para 1273 117 state of israel operation in gaza para 158 see also intelligence and terrorism information center hamas and the terrorist threat p 185 118 goldstone report paras 54 61 1180 1182 1185 91 1891 cordesman gaza war p 18 119 amnesty international operation cast lead p 55 120 cordesman gaza war pp 8 9 121 ibid p 27 122 ibid pp ii 1 15 16 18 19 28 38 40 57 123 ibid pp 15ff 124 state of israel operation in gaza paras 4 59 73 82 see also intelligence and terrorism information center hamas and the terrorist threat pp 6 7 45 55 76 78 125 cordesman gaza war pp 10 16 28 39 42 126 ibid pp 27 57 127 ibid p 41 reuven pedatzur the war that wasn t haaretz 25 january 2009 128 pedatzur war that wasn t 129 international crisis group gaza s unfinished business pp 2 21 see also ibid pp 8n82 19 amnesty international operation cast lead p 56 130 breaking the silence soldiers testimonies pp 25 testimony 9 36 testimony 13 47 testimony 19 54 testimony 23 60 testimony 25 68 testimony 29 77 and 80 testimony 34 90 testimony 41 131 goldstone report para 459 132 dugard report para 214 in light of this operational failure israel s allegation that hamas had amassed thousands of advanced anti tank rockets appears far fetched intelligence and terrorism information center hamas and the terrorist threat pp 7 52 104 133 moshe halbertal the goldstone illusion what the un report gets wrong about gaza and war new republic 6 november 2009 134 cordesman gaza war p 11 135 ibid p 68 136 ibid pp 11 32 137 kim sengupta and donald macintyre israeli cabinet divided over fresh gaza surge independent 13 january 2009 pcati no second thoughts p 28 138 adrian blomfield israeli opposition leader tzipi livni cancels london visit over prosecution fears daily telegraph 14 december 2009 herb keinon miliband shocked at livni s warrant jerusalem post 15 december 2009 daniel edelson livni we must do what s right for us ynetnews com 15 december 2009 139 international crisis group ending the war in gaza 2009 p 19 international crisis group gaza s unfinished business p 19 140 guy bechor israel is back ynetnews com 19 february 2010 in postinvasion testimony an idf soldier mused that there was no need for such intense fire no need to use mortars phosphorus ammunition the army was looking for the opportunity to hold a spectacular maneuver in order to show its muscle breaking the silence soldiers testimonies pp 68 69 testimony 29 141 asa kasher operation cast lead and just war theory azure summer 2009 pp 64 67 avishai margalit and michael walzer israel civilians combatants new york review of books 14 may 2009 emphasis in original 142 goldstone report paras 1886 87 c h a p t e r f o u r h u m a n s h i e l d s 1 palestinian center for human rights confirmed figures reveal the true extent of the destruction inflicted upon the gaza strip 12 march 2009 al mezan center for human rights cast lead offensive in numbers 2 august 2009 b tselem s investigation of fatalities in operation cast lead 9 september 2009 b tselem israeli information center for human rights in the occupied territories human rights review 1 january 2009 30 april 2010 jerusalem 2010 p 5 al mezan center for human rights bearing the brunt again child rights violations during operation cast lead 2009 p 16 amnesty international et al failing gaza no rebuilding no recovery no more excuses 2009 p 7 united nations office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs ocha field update on gaza from the humanitarian coordinator 3 5 february 2009 israeli officials alleged that total palestinian deaths came to 1 166 of whom at least 60 percent were terrorists the discrepancy in the ratio of palestinian combatant to civilian deaths partly resulted from disagreement on the proper classification of gazan police see shay fogelman shock and awe haaretz 31 december 2010 the broad consensus among human rights organizations was that these police should overwhelmingly be classified as civilians because they did not take a direct part in hostilities and were not members of palestinian armed groups the veracity of the under 16 subclassification whereas israel alleged that 89 palestinians under age 16 were killed b tselem reported that 252 palestinians under 16 were killed and that it had copies of birth certificates and death certificates along with other documents regarding the vast majority of the minors who were killed for critical analysis of israeli casualty figures see public committee against torture in israel pcati no second thoughts the changes in the israeli defense forces combat doctrine in light of operation cast lead 2009 pp 9 11 this study showed that israel abruptly altered the figures it tabulated for palestinian deaths and concluded that the casualty estimates provided by other sources around 1 400 killed are more credible than those provided by the idf spokesperson even the largely apologetic us department of state 2009 human rights report put the number of dead at close to 1 400 palestinians including more than 1 000 civilians hamas originally alleged that only 48 of its fighters had been killed during cast lead but then upped the figure to several hundred in the face of accusations that the people of gaza israeli figures could be tested by scrutinizing had paid the price of its reckless decisions prime minister benjamin netanyahu seized on hamas s politically inflated death toll as vindication of the israeli allegation that a high percentage of gazan casualties were hamas terrorists hamas confirms losses in cast lead for first time jerusalem post 1 november 2010 israel ministry of foreign affairs pm netanyahu addresses the general assembly of the jewish federation of north america 8 november 2010 2 human rights watch rockets from gaza harm to civilians from palestinian armed groups rocket attacks 2009 3 israel alleged that were it not for its sophisticated warning and shelter system the human casualties from hamas s bombardment undoubtedly would have been substantially greater state of israel the operation in gaza 27 december 2008 18 january 2009 factual and legal aspects 2009 paras 42 46 but were it not for the heroism of unrwa employees palestinian casualties would also have been much higher hundreds of palestinians taking shelter in the unrwa headquarters compound would almost certainly have perished if employees had not prevented the white phosphorus that israel dropped on it from reaching the fuel tanks report of the united nations fact finding mission on the gaza conflict 25 september 2009 para 545 hereafter goldstone report for unrwa spokesperson chris gunness s gripping theatrical reenactment of this incident see building understanding epitaph for a warehouse 28 october 2014 unrwa org newsroom videos building understanding epitaph warehouse for the background to and fate of this production see un makes a drama out of gaza crisis independent 25 october 2009 4 jeremy bowen gaza stories israeli minister interview with meir sheetrit bbc news 9 february 2009 5 tami steinmetz center for peace research war and peace index 6 gideon levy everyone agrees war in gaza was a failure haaretz 12 february 2009 march 2009 7 state of israel operation in gaza paras 23 119 154 emphasis in original 170 186 89 223 28 anthony h cordesman the gaza war a strategic analysis washington dc 2009 pp 10 18 23 passim 36 42 44 63 66 passim intelligence and terrorism information center hamas and the terrorist threat pp 110 42 195 261 amnesty international operation cast lead 22 days of death and destruction london 2009 pp 3 4 47 50 64 74 77 for human rights investigations echoing amnesty s finding that some hamas militants fought in built up areas but did not use palestinian civilians as human shields see human rights watch letter to eu foreign ministers to address violations between israel and hamas 16 march 2009 human rights watch rockets from gaza pp 22 24 goldstone report paras 35 452 475 482 88 494 1953 for human rights organizations and idf testimony corroborating israel s use of human shields see national lawyers guild onslaught israel s attack on gaza the rule of law 2009 pp 14 15 human rights watch white flag deaths killings of palestinian civilians during operation cast lead 2009 pp 11 12 breaking the silence soldiers testimonies from operation cast lead gaza 2009 2009 pp 7 8 testimony 1 107 testimony 51 goldstone report paras 55 1032 1106 al mezan bearing the brunt pp 52 59 in a pair of newspaper articles b tselem executive director jessica montell alleged that hamas did engage in human shielding but she was unable to provide any corroborative evidence despite repeated requests by this writer jessica montell a time for soul searching jerusalem post 30 september 2009 jessica montell the goldstone report on gaza huffington post 1 october 2009 8 avishai margalit and michael walzer israel civilians combatants new york review of books 14 may 2009 9 ross also reported in his reality based assessment that hamas rejects the very idea of a two state solution excising hamas s diplomatic initiatives in recent years that hamas chose to end the june 2008 cease fire excising israel s deadly 4 november 2008 border raid and that an uneasy quiet was restored only after the idf had destroyed nearly all hamas military targets excising israel s wholesale assault on gaza s civilian population dennis ross and david makovsky myths illusions and peace finding a new direction for america in the middle east new york 2009 pp 7 128 137 153 54 244 247 252 10 colonel richard kemp cbe international law and military operations in practice jerusalem center for public affairs 18 june 2009 11 amnesty international operation cast lead p 7 for details see ibid pp 11ff see also goldstone report paras 459 653 703 12 amnesty international operation cast lead pp 1 24 for details see ibid esp pp 24 27 see also goldstone report paras 704 885 13 human rights watch white flag deaths pp 2 4 10 15 14 goldstone report paras 802 810 11 15 amos harel shooting and crying haaretz 19 march 2009 amos harel testimonies on idf misconduct in gaza keep rolling in haaretz 22 march 2009 breaking the silence soldiers testimonies pp 21 23 testimony 8 75 testimony 32 88 testimony 39 89 testimony 40 16 duncan kennedy a context for gaza harvard crimson 2 february 17 harel what did the idf think breaking the silence soldiers testimonies p 88 testimony 40 18 arik diamant and david zonsheine talk to hamas guardian 15 19 leon wieseltier something much darker new republic 8 february 2010 the offending phrase pulverization came from former new republic editor andrew sullivan in his denunciation of cast lead 20 asa kasher operation cast lead and just war theory azure summer 2009 february 2010 2009 p 70 2009 21 8 cast lead idf heroes get decorated jerusalem post 16 december 22 white phosphorus ignites and burns on contact with oxygen generating a dense white smoke it is used primarily to camouflage military operations on the ground in the instant case however hrw found that if israel wanted an obscurant for its troops it could have used smoke shells manufactured by an israeli company and that its persistent firing of white phosphorus where no israeli forces were present on the ground indicated that it did in fact serve as an incendiary weapon 23 human rights watch rain of fire israel s unlawful use of white phosphorus in gaza 2009 pp 1 6 39 60 see also al mezan bearing the brunt pp 42 45 24 human rights watch precisely wrong gaza civilians killed by israeli drone launched missiles 2009 pp 4 6 12 israeli drones killed at least 513 persons including 116 children al mezan bearing the brunt pp 37 42 25 state of israel operation in gaza para 213 26 asa kasher a moral evaluation of the gaza war jerusalem post 7 february 2010 27 alan dershowitz the case against the goldstone report a study in evidentiary bias www alandershowitz com goldstone pdf pp 7 11 21 22 robert l bernstein human rights in the middle east un watch 10 november 2010 28 lawrence wright captives a report on the israeli attacks new yorker 9 november 2009 during his sojourn in gaza wright divined that the local population felt a special affinity with an israeli soldier captured by hamas gilad shalit s pale features and meek expression haunt the imagination of gazans though it may seem perverse a powerful sense of identification has arisen between the shy soldier and the people whose government holds him hostage gazans see themselves as like shalit confined mistreated and despairing this resolved the mystery as to why one gazan family after another had christened their newborn gilad 29 anshel pfeffer israel claims success in the pr war jewish chronicle 31 december 2008 hirsh goodman the effective public diplomacy ended with operation cast lead jerusalem post 5 february 2009 30 cordesman gaza war pp 31 32 68 31 bradley burston why does the world media love to hate israel haaretz 23 march 2009 shlomo avineri what was the computer thinking haaretz 18 march 2009 heeding such counsel israel in its official brief avoided mentioning operation cast lead except for a parenthetical reference to the gaza operation also known as operation cast lead operation in gaza para 16 32 dominic waghorn they kept us out and israeli officials spun the war independent 25 january 2009 lisa goldman eyeless in gaza forward 16 january 2009 33 ethan bronner israel puts media clamp on gaza new york times 6 january 2009 reporters without borders operation cast lead news control as military objective 2009 34 human rights watch israel end ban on human rights monitors 22 february 2009 human rights watch white flag deaths p 7 35 state of israel operation in gaza para 288 36 barak ravid group that exposed idf crimes in gaza slams israel bid to choke off its funds haaretz 26 july 2009 barak ravid israel targets uk funding of group that exposed idf crimes in gaza haaretz 29 july 2009 barak ravid israel asks spain to stop funding group that reported idf crimes in gaza haaretz 2 august 2009 37 amos harel can israel dismiss its own troops stories from gaza 38 amira hass time to believe gaza war crimes allegations haaretz 24 39 gideon levy idf ceased long ago being most moral army in the haaretz 19 march 2009 march 2009 world haaretz 22 march 2009 40 dershowitz the case p 27 41 levy idf ceased 42 breaking the silence soldiers testimonies p 5 43 pcati no second thoughts p 29 44 association for civil rights in israel the state of human rights in israel and the occupied territories 2009 report jerusalem 2009 p 52 see also ibid p 50 israel intentionally and deliberately bombed government buildings and civilian institutions in gaza 45 goldstone report para 1889 46 breaking the silence soldiers testimonies pp 16 testimony 5 55 testimony 23 56 57 testimony 24 73 testimony 31 86 testimony 38 92 testimony 41 93 testimony 43 47 harel shooting and crying 48 ethan bronner a religious war in israel s army new york times 22 march 2009 49 norman g finkelstein beyond chutzpah on the misuse of anti semitism and the abuse of history expanded paperback edition berkeley 2008 pp 316 19 50 anshel pfeffer and amos harel idf ends gaza probe says misconduct claims are rumors haaretz 30 march 2009 51 anshel pfeffer barak gaza probe shows idf among world s most moral armies haaretz 23 april 2009 state of israel operation in gaza para 284 human rights watch israeli military investigation not credible 23 april 2009 amnesty international israeli army probe lacks credibility and is no substitute for independent investigation 23 april 2009 goldstone report paras 1832 1961 52 b tselem israeli information center for human rights in the occupied territories israeli authorities have proven they cannot investigate suspected violations of international humanitarian law by israel in the gaza strip 5 september 2014 human rights watch israel soldiers punishment for using boy as human shield inadequate 26 november 2010 53 uk officer slams pavlovian criticism of idf after gaza war haaretz 22 february 2010 israel gaza 2009 54 amnesty international fueling conflict foreign arms supplies to 55 amnesty international broken lives a year of intifada london 2001 human rights watch razing rafah mass home demolitions in the gaza strip 2004 56 stephen zunes obama and israel s military still arm in arm foreign policy in focus 4 march 2009 as obama s term of office wound down in 2016 amnesty noting that us military assistance to israel has been used to commit violations of international human rights and humanitarian law renewed its call on him to cancel the recently announced 33 billion in military aid via foreign military financing for israel that was included in the new 10 year agreement with the government of israel amnesty international letter to president barack obama 12 october 2016 57 anti defamation league amnesty international report on gaza conflict pernicious and biased 23 february 2009 c h a p t e r f i v e a z i o n i s t b e a r s w i t n e ss 1 report of the united nations fact finding mission on the gaza conflict 25 september 2009 paras 1 151 hereafter goldstone report for a chilling retrospective on the goldstone report written by a member of the mission five years after the israeli assault see desmond travers s unpublished manuscript gaza for the day after 2014 2 goldstone report paras 144 162 bill moyers journal 23 october 2009 pbs org moyers journal 10232009 transcript1 html for the extended correspondence between goldstone and the government of israel see goldstone report annex ii pp 434 50 3 for a critical but ultimately favorable assessment of the goldstone report by recognized experts in the relevant bodies of international law see report of an expert meeting which assessed procedural criticisms made of the un fact finding mission on the gaza conflict the goldstone report 2009 the experts concluded that the goldstone report was very far from being invalidated by the criticisms directed at it the report raised extremely serious issues which had to be addressed it contained compelling evidence on some incidents 4 goldstone report paras 63 1213 14 5 ibid paras 1215 1892 6 here as elsewhere in the book hamas will be used to denote all palestinian armed factions in gaza 7 goldstone report paras 1208 1884 8 ibid para 1893 9 ibid para 1898 goldstone afterward recalled that although initially chary of journeying to gaza i had nightmares about being kidnapped you know it was very difficult especially for a jew to go into an area controlled by hamas he was struck by the warmth of the people that we met and who we dealt with in gaza moyers journal 10 goldstone report paras 46 50 60 937 961 987 1006 1171 75 1935 11 ibid paras 75 1334 35 1936 a fact finding committee chaired by goldstone s distinguished south african colleague john dugard went somewhat further in its legal conclusions it determined that in the course of a heinous and inhuman attack israel had committed war crimes such as indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks on civilians killing wounding and terrorizing civilians wanton destruction of property and the bombing and shelling of hospitals and ambulances and obstructing the evacuation of the wounded it further determined that israel was guilty of crimes against humanity including the intentional and reckless killing of civilians mass killings extermination in certain cases and persecution it did not however hold israel culpable for the crime of genocide the main reason for the operation was not to destroy a group as required for the crime of genocide but to engage in a vicious exercise of collective punishment designed either to compel the population to reject hamas as the governing authority of gaza or to subdue the population into a state of submission still it determined that individual soldiers may well have had such an intent and might therefore be prosecuted for this crime report of the independent fact finding committee on gaza no safe place presented to the league of arab states 30 april 2009 paras 20 22 23 25 30 of executive summary paras 405 485 91 496 98 500 504 506 10 519 20 526 29 540 47 554 58 572 73 hereafter dugard report 12 goldstone report para 1895 13 ibid paras 108 1691 1953 the dugard committee held hamas culpable for war crimes such as indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks on civilians and killing wounding and terrorizing civilians however it entered the caveat that a number of factors reduce their moral blameworthiness but not them palestinians have been denied their right to self determination by israel and have long been subjected to a cruel siege by israel the scale of israel s action and the great difference in both the weapons capability of the opposing sides and the use of their respective weaponry dugard report paras 21 24 35 of executive summary paras 457 484 495 499 575 77 their criminal responsibility among 14 dinah pokempner general counsel of human rights watch additionally noted that it was hardly surprising that the space given over to hamas was fairly brief because there is little factual dispute about whether the gaza authorities tolerated firing of rockets onto israel s civilian areas and no legal ambiguity to discuss valuing the goldstone report global governance 16 2010 p 153 15 moyers journal 16 israel has bureaucratically and logistically effectively split and separated not only palestinians in the occupied territories and their families in israel but also palestinian residents of jerusalem and those in the rest of the territory and between gazans and west bankers jerusalemites goldstone report para 205 17 the report makes passing reference in this context to the right of return for refugees ibid paras 92 1509 18 ibid paras 206 7 19 in the opinion of the mission a line has been crossed what is fallaciously considered acceptable wartime behavior has become the norm public support for a more hard line attitude towards palestinians generally lack of public censure and lack of accountability all combine to increase the already critical level of violence against the protected population ibid para 1440 20 the mission notes the very high number of palestinians who have been detained since the beginning of the occupation amounting to 40 percent of the adult male population according to a practice that appears to aim at exercising control humiliating instilling fear deterring political activity and serving political interests ibid para 1503 the mission is concerned by the reports of coercion and torture during interrogations trials based on coerced confessions or secret evidence and the reportedly systematic and institutionalized ill treatment in prisons the mission is particularly alarmed at the arrest and detention of hundreds of young children and the rise in child detention during and following the israeli military operations in gaza the ill treatment of children and adults described to the mission is disturbing in its seemingly deliberate cruelty ibid paras 1504 5 21 ibid paras 1535 37 the mission explicitly stated that it considers east jerusalem part of the occupied palestinian territories ibid p 369n1062 22 ibid para 1546 23 ibid 24 the extensive destruction and appropriation of property including land confiscation and house demolitions in the west bank including east jerusalem not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly amounts to a grave breach of the fourth geneva convention ibid para 1946 25 insofar as movement and access restrictions the settlements and their infrastructure demographic policies vis à vis jerusalem and area c of the west bank as well as the separation of gaza from the west bank prevent a viable contiguous and sovereign palestinian state from arising they are in violation of the jus cogens right to self determination ibid para 1947 26 ibid para 1876 27 ibid paras 127 1857 1975 28 ibid para 1969 29 ibid paras 128 1873 1971 b 30 ibid paras 1971 74 the report also explicitly called on israel to release palestinians who are detained in israeli prisons in connection with the occupation 31 the exceptions included amira hass the one thing worse than denying the gaza report haaretz 17 september 2009 gideon levy disgrace in the hague haaretz 17 september 2009 gideon levy goldstone s gaza probe did israel a favor haaretz 1 october 2009 yitzhak laor the national choir haaretz 22 september 2009 yitzhak laor turning off the lights haaretz 7 october 2009 zeev sternhell a permanent moral stain haaretz 25 september 2009 larry derfner a wake up call from judge goldstone jerusalem post 16 september 2009 larry derfner our exclusive right to self defense jerusalem post 7 october 2009 larry derfner some victims we are jerusalem post 28 october 2009 the leader of the dovish meretz party and haaretz editorials called on the israeli government to set up a commission of inquiry gil hoffman and haviv rettig gur oron calls for israeli cast lead probe jerusalem post 18 september 2009 a committee of inquiry is needed haaretz 18 september 2009 only an external probe will do haaretz 3 october 2009 israel s whitewash haaretz 28 january 2010 of 32 statement by president shimon peres goldstone mission report is a 2009 mockery mfa gov il mfa pressroom 2009 pages president peres reply to the goldstone commission report 16 sep 2009 aspx shuki sadeh peres goldstone is a small man out to hurt israel haaretz 12 november 2009 september history 16 33 barak ravid and natasha mozgovaya netanyahu calls un gaza probe a kangaroo court against israel haaretz 16 september 2009 34 rights council to debate gaza war al jazeera 15 october 2009 aljazeera com news europe 2009 10 2009101521222102631 html barak ravid israel slams goldstone misrepresentations of internal probes into gaza war haaretz 7 february 2010 35 barak ravid israel prepares to fight war crimes trials after goldstone gaza report haaretz 20 october 2009 barak ravid israel to set up team to review gaza war probe haaretz 26 october 2009 zeev sternhell with a conscience that is always clear haaretz 30 october 2009 apropos netanyahu s proposal goldstone observed it seems to me to contain an implicit acceptance that they broke the law that now is and that s why it needs to be changed moyers journal 36 rebecca anna stoil and tovah lazaroff eu to debate goldstone report jerusalem post 24 february 2010 37 dershowitz goldstone is a traitor jerusalem post 31 january 2010 38 hoffman and gur oron calls donald macintyre israelis hit back at un report alleging war crimes in gaza independent 17 september 2009 ravid and mozgovaya netanyahu calls 39 shalhevet zohar peres goldstone report mocks history jerusalem post 16 september 2009 dore gold the dangerous bias of the united nations goldstone report us news world report 24 march 2010 40 michael oren un report a victory for terror boston globe 24 september 2009 michael oren address to ajc 28 april 2010 ajc org site apps nlnet content2 aspx c ijiti2phkog b 5970663 ct 8222031 michael b oren deep denial why the holocaust still matters new republic 6 october 2009 journalist gideon levy dubbed oren the ambassador propagandist gideon levy israel s attacks will lead to its isolation haaretz 22 october 2009 for critical analysis of oren s scholarship see norman g finkelstein knowing too much why the american jewish romance with israel is coming to an end new york 2012 pp 221 48 41 we ll defend ourselves by any means jerusalem post 21 september 2009 yaakov katz security and defense waging war on the legal front jerusalem post 18 september 2009 amos harel idf un gaza report biased radical and groundless haaretz 20 september 2009 42 goldstoned jerusalem post 16 september 2009 the goldstoning of israel jerusalem post 2 february 2010 david landau the gaza report s wasted opportunity new york times 20 september 2009 43 israel harel venom and destruction haaretz 18 september 2009 israel harel don t establish an investigative panel haaretz 1 october 2009 jack khoury goldstone tells obama show me flaws in gaza report haaretz 22 october 2009 44 stephen roth institute for the study of contemporary antisemitism and racism antisemitism worldwide 2009 2010 www tau ac il anti semitism pp 29 37 39 45 gerald steinberg from dreyfus to goldstone canadian jewish news 19 november 2009 ynetnews com 18 october 2009 46 israel s jewish public goldstone report biased against idf 47 asher arian et al auditing israeli democracy democratic values in practice jerusalem 2010 pp 88 133 173 48 yehezkel dror why israel should have cooperated with goldstone on gaza haaretz 21 september 2009 49 uri avnery um shmum um boom gush shalom 19 september 2009 zope gush shalom org home en channels avnery 1253361627 50 maya sela amos oz hamas responsible for outbreak of gaza violence haaretz 30 december 2008 david grossman is israel too imprisoned in the familiar ceremony of war haaretz 30 december 2008 51 max boot the goldstone report commentary blog contentions 16 september 2009 john bolton israel the us and the goldstone report wall street journal 20 october 2009 52 wiesel if ahmadinejad were assassinated i wouldn t shed a tear haaretz 9 february 2010 i wouldn t cry if he was killed jerusalem post 9 february 2010 53 alan m dershowitz goldstone investigation undercuts human rights jerusalem post blog double standard watch 17 september 2009 alan dershowitz goldstone criticizes un council on human rights huffington post 22 october 2009 alan m dershowitz goldstone backs away from report the two faces of an international poseur jerusalem post blog double standard watch 15 october 2009 dershowitz goldstone is a traitor jerusalem post josh nathan kazis dershowitz explains critical goldstone remark forward 3 february 2010 tehiya barak judge goldstone s dark past ynetnews com 6 may 2010 54 alan dershowitz the case against the goldstone report a study in evidentiary bias www alandershowitz com goldstone pdf 55 jeffrey goldberg j street down the rabbit hole atlantic blog 30 september 2010 joshua muravchik goldstone an exegesis world affairs may june 2010 muravchik also conjured the astonishing claim that goldstone never asked gazan witnesses to israeli attacks whether a palestinian gunman was nearby see also bernard henri lévy it s time to stop demonizing israel haaretz 8 june 2010 56 moyers journal 57 eric fingerhut aipac condemns goldstone report jewish telegraphic agency 17 september 2009 58 american jewish committee letter to secretary clinton urges condemnation of goldstone report 23 september 2009 59 rice serious concerns about the goldstone report jewish telegraphic agency 17 september 2009 60 nathan guttman israel us working to limit damage of goldstone report haaretz 27 september 2009 61 laura rozen state on goldstone report deeply concerned politico 18 september 2009 barak ravid and shlomo shamir pa pushing for un to act on goldstone war crime findings haaretz 1 october 2009 shlomo shamir un human rights chief endorses goldstone gaza report haaretz 23 october 2009 62 us department of state 2009 human rights report 63 house subcommittee on the middle east and south asia ackerman pompous tendentious one sided political blasts goldstone report as diatribe 16 september 2009 64 khoury goldstone tells obama goldstone dares us on gaza report al jazeera 22 october 2009 1 october 2009 65 human rights watch un us eu undermine justice for gaza conflict 66 h res 867 111th congress 23 october 2009 natasha mozgovaya and barak ravid us house backs resolution to condemn goldstone gaza report haaretz 5 november 2009 nima shirazi goldstonewalled us congress endorses israeli war crimes mrzine 12 november 2009 67 goldstone sends letter to berman ros lehtinen correcting factual errors in hr 867 which opposes un fact finding report on gaza uruknet info 29 october 2009 after goldstone submitted his rebuttal one of the resolution s sponsors entered some cosmetic revisions in it spencer ackerman berman puts new language into anti goldstone resolution washingtonindependent com 3 november 2009 the liberal jewish lobby group j street called for a better balanced resolution than the house draft but one that would still urge the united states to make clear that it will use its veto to prevent any referral of this matter to the international criminal court j street position on h res 867 30 october 2009 68 an administration official initially stated off the record that the united states would block un action on the report but the white house subsequently repudiated the statement us pledges to quash goldstone recommendations jewish telegraphic agency 22 september 2009 white house official misspoke on goldstone report jewish telegraphic agency 23 september 2009 however it later came out that washington had been quietly applying pressure to contain the report s fallout jared flanery and ben norton deferring justice clinton emails show how state dept undermined un action on israeli war crimes salon 19 november 2015 69 hillary clinton how i would reaffirm unbreakable bond with israel and benjamin netanyahu forward 4 november 2015 70 amos harel and avi issacharoff israel demands pa drop war crimes suit at the hague haaretz 27 september 2009 71 howard schneider and colum mynch un panel defers vote on gaza report washington post 3 october 2009 amira hass pa move to thwart goldstone gaza report shocks palestinian public haaretz 4 october 2009 72 the human rights situation in the occupied palestinian territory including east jerusalem a hrc res s 12 1 16 october 2009 it was gleefully reported by goldstone s critics that he opposed the council s resolution the rumor was a half baked truth and a full blown lie goldstone disapproved of the first draft version but it was modified after he expressed reservations and he approved of the final version that was put to a vote moyers journal 73 united nations general assembly follow up to the report of the united nations fact finding mission on the gaza conflict a 64 l 11 2 november 2009 shlomo shamir un general assembly adopts goldstone report haaretz 6 november 2009 74 shlomo shamir israel un detached from reality for adopting goldstone report haaretz 6 november 2009 fm unga vote shows israel has moral majority jerusalem post 6 november 2009 75 united nations general assembly follow up to the report of the united nations fact finding mission on the gaza conflict report of the secretary general a 64 651 4 february 2010 76 united nations general assembly follow up to the report of the united nations fact finding mission on the gaza conflict ii a 64 l 48 23 february 2010 the low vote count was probably due to a massive snowstorm that day the goldstone 77 european parliament resolution of 10 march 2010 on implementation of israel palestine p7_taprov 2010 0054 leigh phillips despite heavy lobbying eu parliament endorses goldstone report euobserver com 10 march 2010 euobserver com 9 29650 eu parliament backs goldstone report jerusalem post 10 march 2010 recommendations on 78 state of israel gaza operation investigations an update january 2010 state of israel gaza operation investigations second update july 2010 79 state of israel gaza operation investigations an update paras 100 108 137 state of israel gaza operation investigations second update paras 10 11 37 46 60 73 74 94 102 80 amos harel mess report gaza war probes are changing israel s defiant ways haaretz 22 july 2010 81 state of israel gaza operation investigations second update para 105 82 ibid paras 150 56 83 israel is being evasive again haaretz 1 february 2010 thanks to the critics haaretz 27 july 2010 84 amnesty international latest israeli response to gaza investigations totally inadequate 2 february 2010 human rights watch military investigations fail gaza war victims 7 february 2010 human rights watch wartime inquiries fall short 10 august 2010 85 un news service un rights chief unveils members of independent probe into gaza conflict 14 june 2010 86 report of the committee of independent experts in international humanitarian and human rights laws to monitor and assess any domestic legal or other proceedings undertaken by both the government of israel and the palestinian side in the light of general assembly resolution 64 254 of these including investigations and their conformity with international standards 21 september 2010 independence effectiveness genuineness the 87 report of the committee paras 42 55 88 ibid para 101 89 ibid paras 40 83 the committee reported that israel had convicted one soldier for the crime of looting while a hamas submission gave examples of criminal proceedings including a case where a number of defendants were convicted and imprisoned 90 amnesty international time for international justice solution for gaza conflict victims 23 september 2010 91 intelligence and terrorism information center hamas and the terrorist threat from the gaza strip the main findings of the goldstone report versus the factual findings 2010 92 ibid p 69 93 ibid pp iv 8 73 80 whereas a prior itic publication had reported that hamas was careful to maintain the cease fire and sought to enforce the terms of the arrangement on the other terrorist organizations see chapter 2 this new publication alleged that the cease fire was systematically and repeatedly violated by hamas and hamas made no effective effort to impose the lull on the other terrorist organizations still the new publication s own graphs showed that just one rocket and one mortar shell were fired at israel in october 2008 and it conceded that the first five months of the lull were relatively quiet ibid pp 74 79 94 ibid p iv 95 ibid pp 3 35 but see goldstone report paras 1345 72 96 ibid pp 95 97 but see goldstone report paras 1604 6 1610 36 1647 74 1682 91 the report stated that the impact on israeli communities is greater than the numbers of fatalities and injuries actually sustained 97 ibid pp viii 57 but see goldstone report paras 1687 91 the itic publication also faulted the report for referring to palestinian armed groups instead of explicitly implicating hamas but the report reciprocally referred to israeli armed forces 98 ibid p 120 but see goldstone report paras 475 98 99 ibid pp 315 321 22 but see goldstone report paras 352 63 the itic publication also indulged the baseless speculation that palestinian families seeking financial compensation might have reported deaths from natural causes as invasion related ibid p 322 100 ibid p 318 but see goldstone report para 144 whereas israel refused to cooperate with the goldstone mission senior members of the gaza authorities extended their full cooperation and support to the mission 101 ibid p 196 102 hoffman and gur oron calls eitan haber in wake of goldstone report israel must launch battle for its image ynetnews com 17 september 2009 103 richard falk the goldstone report ordinary text extraordinary event global governance 16 2010 p 173 a member of the goldstone mission tallied some 300 human rights investigations of cast lead which were remarkable in the unanimity of their findings against the idf actions desmond travers operation cast lead legal and doctrinal asymmetries in a military operation irish defense forces an cosantóir 2010 p 10 some critics alleged that the report was more vicious than the others ethan bronner israel poised to challenge a un report on gaza new york times 23 january 2010 but the contention did not withstand scrutiny in critical respects the report was actually among the more cautious and conservative whereas hrw explicitly denoted israel s use of white phosphorus in civilian areas a war crime the report did not whereas the dugard report concluded that individual soldiers might have been guilty of genocide the report did not and whereas amnesty recommended a comprehensive arms embargo on israel and hamas the report did not 104 moyers journal the forward and claudia braude will goldstone s gaza report prove him just a naïve idealist haaretz 23 september 2009 my father is a zionist loves israel jerusalem post 16 september 2009 goldstone s daughter my father s participation softened un gaza report haaretz 16 september 2009 tikkun interview with judge richard goldstone 2 october 2009 105 anshel pfeffer goldstone holocaust shaped view on war crimes haaretz 18 september 2009 106 levy disgrace 107 guttman israel us working yaakov katz mandelblit israel right not to cooperate with goldstone jerusalem post 16 september 2009 herb keinon and tovah lazaroff unhrc vote may affect moscow parley jerusalem post 19 october 2009 roni sofer minister edelstein goldstone report anti semitic ynetnews com 25 january 2010 uk officer slams pavlovian criticism of idf after gaza war haaretz 22 february 2010 108 amir mizroch grappling with goldstone jerusalem post 18 september 2009 amir mizroch what south african jews think of richard goldstone jerusalem post 1 october 2009 r w johnson who is richard goldstone radio free europe radio liberty 20 october 2009 ashley rindsberg un s goldstone sent 13 year old boy to prison for protesting apartheid huffington post 19 november 2009 dershowitz goldstone investigation 109 richard goldstone justice in gaza new york times 17 september 2009 richard goldstone who s being unfair jerusalem post 21 september 2009 gal beckerman goldstone if this was a court of law there would have been nothing proven forward 16 october 2009 tikkun interview with judge richard goldstone 110 harold evans a moral atrocity guardian 20 october 2009 111 moyers journal 112 aluf benn in wake of un gaza probe how can israel go to war again haaretz 16 september 2009 ari shavit watch out for the goldstoners haaretz 8 october 2009 see also gideon levy peres not goldstone is the small man haaretz 15 november 2009 and reut institute building a political firewall against israel s delegitimization tel aviv 2010 paras 40 106 113 pm israel faces the goldstone threat jerusalem post 23 december 2009 114 barak ravid and anshel pfeffer israel seeks obama backing on gaza probe haaretz 26 september 2009 115 yotam feldman icc may try idf officer in wake of goldstone gaza report haaretz 24 september 2009 raphael ahren israeli soldiers from south africa feel heat of prosecution drive in old country haaretz 22 november 2009 116 livni reportedly cancels uk visit fearing arrest haaretz 16 december 2009 danna harman belgian lawyers to charge barak and livni for war crimes haaretz 23 june 2010 for a belated echo of these episodes see barak ravid in unprecedented move british police summoned tzipi livni over suspected gaza war crimes haaretz 3 july 2016 and yonah jeremy bob scotland yard summons livni for cast lead war crimes questioning jerusalem post 3 july 2016 117 larry derfner yasher koah judge goldstone jerusalem post 22 april 2010 to justify this abortive attempt at ostracizing him the chairman of the south african zionist federation chastised goldstone for failing to demand of hamas the unconditional release of gilad shalit or at least to demand that they recognize his status as a prisoner of war but the report did recommend that palestinian armed groups who hold israeli soldier gilad shalit in detention should release him on humanitarian grounds pending such release they should recognize his status as prisoner of war treat him as such and allow him icrc visits ironically israel criticized the report s recommendation that shalit be classified a pow opening statement by avrom krengel chairman of the safr zionist fed delivered at meeting with judge richard goldstone 4 may 2010 goldstone report para 1973 b intelligence and terrorism information center hamas and the terrorist threat p 66n49 118 tom gross goldstone s death sentences for blacks just following orders mideast dispatch archive 10 may 2010 m j rosenberg the get goldstone campaign mediamatters action network 10 may 2010 119 alan dershowitz legitimating bigotry the legacy of richard goldstone hudson new york 7 may 2010 see also ilan evyatar and david horowitz we are not done with goldstone jerusalem post 21 may 2010 where dershowitz labeled him an opportunist reminiscent of nazi war criminals many of them served as judges 120 sasha polakow suransky gold stones glass houses foreign policy 10 may 2010 121 sasha polakow suransky the unspoken alliance israel s secret relationship with apartheid south africa new york 2010 pp 80 92 122 abe selig goldstone stripped of honorary hebrew u governorship jerusalem post 5 june 2010 123 e b solomont attorney seeks to bar goldstone from us jerusalem post 14 may 2010 nacha cattan restitution leader disbarred by court after investigation of job misconduct forward 5 september 2003 124 finkelstein knowing too much pp 5 89 125 goldstone report para 1193 an accompanying footnote entered the caveat the reference to relatively focused operations here should not be misunderstood as an indication that all such actions were acceptable in terms of distinction and proportionality it is merely a comparative reference 126 jewish people policy planning institute annual assessment 2008 127 daniel levy israel must now heal itself guardian 18 september jerusalem 2008 p 33 2009 128 roane carey the goldstone report on gaza nation blog the notion 25 september 2009 an occasional word both critical of israel and supportive of goldstone could be found see james carroll a time of reckoning boston globe 21 september 2009 although not jewish himself carroll often wrote on jewish themes from a philo semitic perspective 129 rabbi brant rosen alan dershowitz and the politics of desperation huffington post 28 may 2010 130 benn in wake of un gaza probe 131 amos harel idf vs goldstone pr commando explains war against hamas to americans haaretz 13 november 2009 132 antony lerman judge goldstone and the pollution of argument guardian 15 september 2009 lerman was former director of the london based institute for jewish policy research 133 among others left wing israeli lawyers felicia langer and lea tsemel and hebrew university chemistry professor israel shahak 134 amnesty international combating torture london 2003 section 2 2 benny morris righteous victims a history of the zionist arab conflict 1881 2001 new york 2001 pp 341 43 568 587 600 601 tom segev 1967 israel the war and the year that transformed the middle east new york 2007 pp 475 517 135 in its 1979 report and recommendations to the government of the state of israel 1980 amnesty merely stated that there is sufficient prima facie evidence of ill treatment of security suspects in the occupied territories to warrant the establishment of a public inquiry while in its influential study torture in the eighties london 1984 amnesty cautiously noted that it continued to receive reports of ill treatment in israeli prisons of some palestinians from the occupied territories arrested for security reasons pp 233 34 136 norman g finkelstein beyond chutzpah on the misuse of anti semitism and the abuse of history expanded paperback edition berkeley 2008 part ii 137 chris mcgreal israel personally attacking human rights group after gaza war criticism guardian 13 november 2009 138 adam horowitz and philip weiss israel vs human rights nation 30 september 2009 139 ngo monitor institute for zionist strategies trojan horse the impact of european government funding for israeli ngos 2009 140 joshua mitnick rights groups under fire for scrutiny of israel s conduct of gaza war christian science monitor 3 february 2010 dan izenberg cabinet backs bill to register ngos funded by foreign states jerusalem post 15 february 2010 donald macintyre the new mccarthyism sweeping israel independent 13 february 2010 abe selig goldstone report was our smoking gun jerusalem post 18 february 2010 141 asher arian et al auditing israeli democracy democratic values in practice jerusalem 2010 p 128 nathan jeffrey kadima bill ngos that assist in war crime accusations should be illegal forward 12 may 2010 142 b tselem israeli information center for human rights in the occupied territories human rights review 1 january 2009 30 april 2010 pp 5 7 11 12 143 barbara plett legal row over gaza report intensifies bbc news 6 november 2009 144 gerald steinberg isolating israel through language of human rights jerusalem post 30 august 2009 145 27 april 2010 jewishlawyers org comment asp x_id 134 top 146 11 march 2010 anti democracy agenda blogspot com 2010 02 lawfare use of law as weapon of war html review august september 2010 147 peter berkowitz the goldstone report and international law policy 148 ngo monitor s international advisory board calls for review of hrw ngo monitor org 14 october 2009 wiesel dershowitz human rights watch reform needed ynetnews com 29 september 2009 ngo monitor experts or ideologues a systematic analysis of human rights watch s focus on israel 2009 149 mcgreal israel personally attacking 150 robert l bernstein rights watchdog lost in the mideast new york times 20 october 2009 for human rights watch s reply see kenneth roth human rights watch applies same standards to israel hamas haaretz 27 october 2009 see also scott macleod bashing human rights watch los angeles times 30 october 2009 for kemp see chapter 4 151 benjamin birnbaum human rights watch fights a civil war over israel new republic 27 april 2010 152 human rights watch world report 2010 2010 p 511 153 human rights watch jordan restaurant owner ousts israelis 7 december 2010 146 57 july 2010 154 state of israel gaza operation investigations second update paras 155 thanks to the critics haaretz 27 july 2010 156 q a with israeli defense minister ehud barak washington post 26 157 united nations general assembly second follow up to the report of the united nations fact finding mission on the gaza conflict report of the secretary general a 64 890 11 august 2010 158 charly wegman israel picks gaza war commander as new military chief agence france presse 5 september 2010 159 a hrc 15 l 34 160 human rights council takes up human rights situation in palestine and other occupied arab territories press release 27 september 2010 161 jared malsin whither goldstone did the pa kill the un s goldstone report foreign policy 27 october 2010 amnesty international human rights council fails victims of gaza conflict 30 september 2010 162 assaf gefen are we hiding something ynetnews com 8 february 2010 c h a p t e r s i x t h e s ta r w i t n e ss r e c a n t s 1 richard goldstone reconsidering the goldstone report on israel and war crimes washington post 1 april 2011 2 report of the united nations fact finding mission on the gaza conflict 25 september 2009 hereafter goldstone report 3 barak ravid netanyahu to un retract gaza war report in wake of goldstone s comments haaretz 2 april 2011 lieberman praises goldstone for vindicating israel jerusalem post 2 april 2011 4 us agrees israel did not commit cast lead war crimes jerusalem post 5 april 2011 natasha mozgovaya us senate urges un to rescind goldstone s gaza report haaretz 15 april 2011 5 jerry haber judge goldstone s washington post op ed jeremiahhaber com 2 april 2011 6 norman g finkelstein goldstone recants richard goldstone renews israel s license to kill new york 2011 p 8 7 goldstone report para 1893 8 see chapter 3 9 international court of justice advisory opinion legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons 8 july 1996 dissenting opinion of judge weeramantry ch iii humanitarian law sec 10 specific rules of the humanitarian law of war a the prohibition against causing unnecessary suffering emphasis in original 10 the principle of distinction requires the parties to the conflict must at all times distinguish between civilians and combatants attacks may only be directed against combatants attacks must not be directed against civilians indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks breach this principle international committee of the red cross customary international humanitarian law volume i rules cambridge 2005 part i 11 yoram dinstein conduct of hostilities under the law of international armed conflict cambridge 2004 p 117 12 goldstone report paras 706 35 13 judge goldstone s notes for the panel on civilians in war zones paras 29 35 maurice ostroff tripod com id315 html 14 amnesty international amnesty international s updated assessment of israeli and palestinian investigations into the gaza conflict 18 march 2011 15 report of the committee of independent experts in international humanitarian and human rights law established pursuant to council resolution 13 9 18 march 2011 16 donald macintyre israeli commander we rewrote the rules of war for gaza independent 3 february 2010 anshel pfeffer idf officer gaza civilians risked to protect israel troops during war haaretz 3 february 2010 17 human rights watch i lost everything israel s unlawful destruction of property during operation cast lead 2010 see chapter 3 for extensive citations from this study 18 see chapter 5 19 amnesty international amnesty international s updated assessment b tselem israeli information center for human rights in the occupied territories goldstone then and now 5 april 2011 20 amnesty international amnesty international s updated assessment 21 un office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs protection of civilians weekly report 1 8 january 2009 amnesty international operation cast lead 22 days of death and destruction 2009 p 20 22 amira hass what led to idf bombing house full of civilians during gaza war haaretz 24 october 2010 23 state of israel gaza operation investigations an update january 2010 pp 41 44 although critical evidence belied the israeli version of what happened israel stuck to its original story see chapter 3 for references 24 state of israel gaza operation investigations second update para 123 25 ibid para 68 26 jean pierre filiu gaza a history new york 2014 p 318 27 hamas confirms losses in cast lead for first time jerusalem post 1 november 2010 28 judge goldstone s notes para 24 29 palestinian center for human rights confirmed figures reveal the true extent of the destruction inflicted upon the gaza strip 12 march 2009 al mezan center for human rights cast lead offensive in numbers 2 august 2009 b tselem s investigation of fatalities in operation cast lead 9 september 2009 30 see chapter 4 for full references 31 although he referenced the un committee of independent experts chaired by mary mcgowan davis it ultimately concluded that the military investigations thus far appear to have produced very little see chapter 5 32 martin van creveld the sword and the olive a critical history of the israeli defense force new york 1998 p 349 norman g finkelstein beyond chutzpah on the misuse of anti semitism and the abuse of history expanded paperback edition berkeley 2008 pp 96 130 yesh din a semblance of law law enforcement upon israeli civilians in the west bank 2006 pp 6 26 91 93 yesh din exceptions prosecution of idf soldiers during and after the second intifada 2008 pp 19 20 b tselem void of responsibility israel military policy not to investigate killings of palestinians by soldiers 2010 pp 7 8 53 33 see chapter 3 and chapter 4 for full references and gili cohen idf soldier sentenced to 45 days for death of mother daughter in gaza war haaretz 12 august 2012 34 see chapter 3 for full references 35 goldstone also took full credit for limiting the use by israel of white phosphorus in civilian areas israel did cease firing white phosphorus in civilian areas after cast lead but israel s use of it had evoked universal outrage while the decision was probably taken in washington which supplied israel with the white phosphorus shells 36 see chapter 11 for full references 37 see chapter 5 38 dershowitz goldstone follow up commission head a bigot jerusalem post 2 november 2010 benjamin weinthal tomuschat head of goldstone follow up committee resigns jerusalem post 3 december 2010 39 although her follow up report on cast lead wasn t a whitewash mcgowan davis still bent over backward to appease israel she even gave guarded praise to the preposterous turkel report which exonerated israel of any wrongdoing in its assault on the gaza freedom flotilla report of the committee of independent experts para 39 for detailed analysis of the turkel report see chapter 8 40 ethan bronner and jennifer medina past holds clue to goldstone s shift on the gaza war new york times 19 april 2011 41 thanks to the critics haaretz 27 july 2010 42 dershowitz is not welcome here cape times 24 march 2011 43 hina jilani christine chinkin and desmond travers goldstone report statement issued by members of un mission on gaza war guardian 14 april 2011 44 roger cohen the goldstone chronicles new york times 7 april 2011 akiva eldar what exactly did goldstone retract from his report on gaza haaretz 12 april 2011 haaretz 5 april 2011 45 ny times we turned down a different version of goldstone retraction 46 report of the independent fact finding committee on gaza no safe place presented to the league of arab states 30 april 2009 paras 556 573 47 john dugard where now for the goldstone report new statesman 6 april 2011 c h a p t e r s e v e n m u r d e r o n t h e h i g h s e a s 1 the rubble that was gaza world food program news 25 january 2009 see also european commission damage assessment and needs identification in the gaza strip final report 2009 pp xv 93 2 desmond travers operation cast lead legal and doctrinal asymmetries in a military operation irish defense forces an cosantóir 2010 pp 10 12 3 oxfam gaza weekly update 30 may 5 june 2010 human rights watch israel full impartial investigation of flotilla killings essential 31 may 2010 world health organization medical supplies blocked from entering gaza 1 june 2010 international committee of the red cross gaza closure not another year 14 june 2010 4 israel ministry of foreign affairs statement by prime minister netanyahu no love boat 2 june 2010 israel ministry of foreign affairs pm netanyahu s statement before the turkel commission 9 august 2010 5 bernard henri lévy it s time to stop demonizing israel haaretz 8 june 2010 see also gideon levy in response to bernard henri lévy haaretz 10 june 2010 6 danny ayalon the flotilla farce wall street journal 29 july 2010 7 tom gross a nice new shopping mall opened today in gaza will the media report on it mideast dispatch archive 17 july 2010 8 sara roy gaza treading on shards nation 1 march 2010 see also sara roy the gaza strip the political economy of de development expanded third edition washington dc 2016 pp xliii xlv 9 bernard goldstein five years in the warsaw ghetto edinburgh 2005 pp 77 78 10 the most authoritative legal analysis was crafted by a un human rights council fact finding mission chaired by a retired judge of the international criminal court and including the former chief prosecutor of the un backed special court for sierra leone it found that 1 the blockade was inflicting disproportionate damage upon the civilian population in the gaza strip and as such the interception by israel could not be justified and therefore has to be considered illegal and 2 one of the principal motives behind the imposition of the blockade was a desire to punish the people of the gaza strip for having elected hamas the combination of this motive and the effect of the restrictions on the gaza strip leave no doubt that israel s actions and policies amount to collective punishment as defined by international law un human rights council report of the international fact finding mission to investigate violations of international law including international humanitarian and human rights law resulting from the israeli attacks on the flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian assistance 27 september 2010 paras 53 54 hereafter report of the fact finding mission one of the report s central conclusions is suggestive of its balance judiciousness and humanity the mission is not alone in finding that a deplorable situation exists in gaza it has been characterized as unsustainable this is totally intolerable and unacceptable in the 21st century it is amazing that anyone could characterize the condition of the people there as satisfying the most basic of acceptable standards the parties and the international community are urged to find the solution that will address all legitimate security concern s of both israel and the people of palestine both of whom are equally entitled to their place under the heavens the apparent dichotomy in this case between the competing right of security and the right to a decent living can only be resolved if old antagonisms are subordinated to a sense of justice and fair play one has to find the strength to pluck from the memory rooted sorrows and to move on para 275 the un human rights council voted to endorse the conclusions contained in the report by 30 in favor 1 against and 15 abstentions a hrc 15 l 33 29 september 2010 although the united states cast the sole negative vote in its oral explanation the american representative did not dispute the report s findings 11 see chapter 2 12 international court of justice advisory opinion legal consequences of the construction of a wall in the occupied palestinian territory 9 july 2004 paras 118 149 13 john dugard report of the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the palestinian territories occupied since 1967 a hrc 7 17 21 january 2008 para 49 14 james crawford the creation of states in international law second edition oxford 2006 pp 135 37 147 see also heather a wilson international law and the use of force by national liberation movements oxford 1988 pp 135 36 the law is still not agreed upon as to the right of national liberation movements to use force although the trend since 1960 has been toward the extension of the authority to use force to national liberation movements while the use of force to deny the free exercise of a people s right to self determination is contrary to the principles of international law a rigo sureda the evolution of the right to self determination a study of united nations practice leiden 1973 pp 331 343 44 354 since 1965 the general assembly has started to call upon states to help dependent peoples to achieve self determination with moral and material assistance and the fact that the security council has never expressly condemned the guerrilla activities of the palestinians can be interpreted as an implied recognition of their right to recover at least the territories from which they were displaced in the june 1967 hostilities and to do so by the use of force if necessary 15 belligerent occupation referred to the fact that israel came to occupy the west bank including east jerusalem and the gaza strip in the course of a war 16 yoram dinstein the international law of belligerent occupation cambridge 2009 paras 80 218 17 wilson international law p 20 18 crawford creation pp 99 102 sureda evolution p 353 see also international court of justice legal consequences of the construction of a wall paras 88 156 19 see chapter 11 and appendix 20 see chapter 4 21 one passenger fell into a coma as a result of the injuries he sustained and died four years later 22 gideon levy operation mini cast lead haaretz 1 june 2010 23 arun gupta how the us corporate media got the israel flotilla catastrophe so wrong alternet 16 june 2010 24 intelligence and terrorism information center conspicuous among the passengers and organizations aboard the mavi marmara were turkish and arab islamic extremists led by ihh 26 september 2010 paras 2 9 11 25 military strategic international military cooperation department strategic division israel defense forces free gaza flotilla 27 may 2010 information section 26 ahiya raved peres soldiers were beaten for being humane ynetnews com 1 june 2010 ronen medzini peres world always against us ynetnews com 3 june 2010 27 giles tremlett gaza flotilla attack israeli ambassador to madrid tries to play down deaths guardian 4 june 2010 28 maayana miskin poll israelis support flotilla raid gaza blockade pm and idf arutz sheva 11 june 2010 see also the articles by amira hass neve gordon and ilan pappé in moustafa bayoumi ed midnight on the mavi marmara the attack on the gaza freedom flotilla and how it changed the course of the israel palestine conflict new york 2010 29 hana levi julian medal for israeli commando for valor on mavi marmara arutz sheva 6 june 2010 30 the most comprehensive collection and analysis of media accounts is richard lightbown s unpublished manuscript the israeli raid of the freedom flotilla 31 may 2010 a review of media sources 31 august 2010 for a turkish reconstruction of the incident see i nsani yardım vakfı ihh palestine our route humanitarian aid our load flotilla campaign summary report n d see also friends of charities association timeline inconsistencies report relating to the gaza bound freedom flotilla attack may 31 2010 washington dc 2010 31 the passengers initially used water hoses to repel the israeli assault which the international maritime organization has recommended as a means to prevent an attempted boarding by pirates and armed robbers report of the fact finding mission p 25n68 32 international crisis group turkey s crises over israel and iran 2010 p 6 ron friedman idf flotilla supplies unnecessary jerusalem post 2 june 2010 report of the fact finding mission paras 55 58 88 89 109 33 uri avnery a crime perpetrated by order of the government of israel and the idf command gush shalom 31 may 2010 see also david grossman the gaza flotilla attack shows how far israel has declined guardian 1 june 2010 34 the evidence adduced by israel in its internal investigation will be parsed in chapter 8 35 report of the fact finding mission paras 112 14 a semiofficial israeli publication did not contest that gas stun and smoke grenades were fired from the israeli boats immediately as they approached the mavi marmara while a largely apologetic new york times reconstruction conceded that the crack of an israeli sound grenade and a hail of rubber bullets from above were supposed to disperse activists before the commandos hit the deck of the mavi marmara intelligence and terrorism information center preparations made by ihh for confrontation with the idf and the violence exercised by that organization s operatives 15 september 2010 para 11 sabrina tavernise and ethan bronner days of planning led to flotilla s hour of chaos new york times 4 june 2010 36 one passenger on the mavi marmara had apparently in the past been convicted and served prison time for his involvement in the 1996 hijacking of a russian ferryboat the hijackers were demanding the release of chechen prisoners 37 hugh pope erdogan is not the bogeyman haaretz 18 june 2010 international crisis group turkey s crises p 7 report of the fact finding mission para 129 the passengers had to break into medical supplies earmarked for gaza in order to treat the wounded 38 report of the fact finding mission paras 101 116 165 israel did not produce any evidence substantiating its claim that passengers fired live ammunition at the commandos while its public statements on this point were riddled with contradictions ibid p 26n70 39 is it really conceivable henry siegman rhetorically queried in haaretz that turkish activists who were supposedly paid ten thousand dollars each would bring that money with them on board the ship knowing they would be taken into custody by israeli authorities israel s greatest loss its moral imagination haaretz 11 june 2010 40 report of the fact finding mission paras 125 26 41 ibid paras 118 120 170 robert booth gaza flotilla activists were shot in head at close range guardian 4 june 2010 about fifty passengers suffered injuries while israel reported nine commandos injured three seriously 42 report of the fact finding mission paras 264 65 see also paras 167 72 26 october 2010 43 netanyahu salutes commandos who raided gaza flotilla haaretz 44 hanan greenberg dogs to be used in next flotilla raid ynetnews com 7 october 2010 45 intelligence and terrorism information center according to well documented information seven of the nine turks killed in the violent confrontation aboard the mavi marmara had previously declared their desire to become martyr s shaheeds 13 july 2010 46 speech at bulsar 29 april 1930 in the collected works of mahatma gandhi ahmedabad vol 43 pp 327 28 47 danny ayalon public relations battle is a marathon not a sprint jerusalem post 8 june 2010 48 antony lerman israeli pr machine won gaza flotilla media battle guardian 4 june 2010 49 norman g finkelstein this time we went too far truth and consequences of the gaza invasion expanded paperback edition new york 2011 pp 168 80 50 caroline glick ending israel s losing streak jerusalem post 1 june 2010 51 zvi mazel peace activists more like peace militants jerusalem post 1 june 2010 hirsh goodman the source of failure israel s public diplomacy and the intelligence community institute for national security studies 9 june 2010 alex fishman israel losing the war ynetnews com 20 june 2010 52 reut institute the gaza flotilla a collapse of israel s political firewall august 2010 para 27 america gov 1 june 2010 53 obama supports un call for investigation of flotilla incident 54 natasha mozgovaya biden israel right to stop gaza flotilla from breaking blockade haaretz 2 june 2010 richard adams gaza flotilla raid joe biden asks so what s the big deal here guardian blog 2 june 2010 55 united states mission to the united nations remarks by ambassador alejandro wolff deputy permanent us representative to the united nations at an emergency session of the security council 31 may 2010 56 bipartisan group of 87 senators led by reid and mcconnell send letter to president obama in support of israel s right to self defense democrats senate gov 23 june 2010 congress of the united states house of representatives dear mr president 29 june 2010 see also congress shows israel support jerusalem post 9 june 2010 57 nathan guttman push to sanction backers of gaza flotilla gains steam in us forward 16 june 2010 58 chuck schumer strangle them economically huffington post 11 june 2010 see also juan cole schumer s sippenhaftung informed comment blog 12 june 2010 59 jonathan ferziger and calev ben david gaza situation unsustainable clinton says as ship approaches bloomberg businessweek 1 june 2010 united nations department of public information security council condemns acts resulting in civilian deaths during israeli operation against gaza bound aid convoy calls for investigation in presidential statement 31 may 2010 see also bernard kouchner franco frattini and miguel angel moratinos averting another gaza new york times 10 june 2010 eu strongly condemns gaza flotilla attack euractiv com june 2010 yossi lempkowicz gaza flotilla eu parliament calls for international inquiry and end to blockade european jewish press 17 june 2010 2 60 international crisis group flotilla attack the deadly symptom of a failed policy 31 may 2010 61 robert h serry un special coordinator for the middle east peace process briefing to the security council on the situation in the middle east 15 june 2010 citing a united nations development program survey 62 state of israel the civilian policy towards the gaza strip june 2010 appendix b state of israel briefing israel s new policy towards gaza 5 july 2010 63 gisha legal center for freedom of movement unraveling the closure of gaza 7 july 2010 64 united nations office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs ocha the humanitarian monitor july 2010 p 8 for a contemporary report on the history impact and legal ramifications of israel s closure policy in gaza see palestinian center for human rights the illegal closure of the gaza strip collective punishment of the civilian population 2010 65 amnesty international et al dashed hopes continuation of the gaza blockade 30 november 2010 see also gisha legal center for freedom of movement facts behind mfa report on easing of gaza closure 2010 gisha reported in late december 2010 that apart from narrow exceptions israel continued to ban the entrance of steel gravel and cement to gaza while small limited export has begun in the past weeks reconstructing the closure december 2010 66 dan izenberg int l groups say israel not living up to gaza promises jerusalem post 30 november 2010 67 ben knight claim and counterclaim after deadly flotilla raid abc news 1 june 2010 68 nahum barnea the test of the result yediot ahronot 1 june 2010 ben kaspit it s not enough to be right maariv 1 june 2010 amos harel straight into the trap haaretz 1 june 2010 mordechai kedar a war for world s future ynetnews com 31 may 2010 mickey bergman the idf soldiers were sent on a mission that defies logic huffington post 1 june 2010 yaakov katz duped jerusalem post 4 june 2010 69 henning mankell flotilla raid diary in bayoumi midnight p 22 70 katz duped ahiya raved 20 people threw me from deck ynetnews com 1 june 2010 israel navy s gaza flotilla probe finds planning intel flaws haaretz 20 june 2010 army inquiry slams flotilla raid s planning ynetnews com 8 july 2010 tavernise and bronner days of planning 71 gaza from blockade to bloodshed guardian 1 june 2010 72 see chapter 2 and chapter 4 73 the entebbe raid was a hostage rescue operation carried out by elite israeli commandos at entebbe airport in uganda on 4 july 1976 74 uzi mahnaimi and gareth jenkins operation calamity sunday times 6 june 2010 the two reportedly still communicated with each other in the coded language of their commando stint 75 he led an assassination team that killed three senior plo leaders based 76 doron rosenblum israel s commando complex haaretz 4 june in lebanon 2010 77 scott wilson israel says free gaza movement poses threat to jewish state washington post 1 june 2010 quoting itamar rabinovich former israeli ambassador to the united states eiland flotilla was preventable jerusalem post 23 july 2010 78 katrin bennhold leaders of turkey and israel clash at davos panel new york times 29 january 2009 79 israel snubs turkish ambassador in public bbc 12 january 2010 80 alexei barrionuevo brazil and turkey near nuclear deal with iran new york times 16 may 2010 81 pm netanyahu s statement international crisis group turkey s crises p 6 82 kedar a war 83 speech of secretary general nasrallah on freedom flotilla attack 4 june 2010 but the breadth of turkey s ensuing rift with israel was also overblown it didn t affect the extensive commercial ties between them turkey was israel s biggest commercial partner in the region israeli trade with turkey in fact increased by almost one third during the first seven months of 2010 the diplomatic crisis also did not deter ankara from purchasing israeli drones by late 2010 senior turkish officials expressed a commitment to preserving warm relations with israel james melik gaza flotilla israeli turkish trade unaffected bbc news 2 june 2010 david wainer and ben holland turks in tel aviv show business binds israel to muslim ally in gaza crisis bloomberg news 14 july 2010 dan bilefsky turkey and israel do a brisk business new york times 4 august 2010 israel exports to turkey up 32 pct despite tensions agence france presse 19 august 2010 turkish officials we re committed to preserving friendly israel ties haaretz 26 august 2010 84 report of the fact finding mission paras 76 77 85 o9beirut177 date13 02 2009 05 56 origin embassy beirut classification secret noform wikileaks 86 amos oz israeli force adrift on the sea new york times 1 june 2010 87 that is during the demonstrations against the wall israel has been building in the west bank israel navy s gaza flotilla probe ron ben yishai a brutal ambush at sea ynetnews com 31 may 2010 88 merav michaeli nothing to investigate everyone knows what was wrong about the flotilla attack haaretz 3 june 2010 for israel s use of armed force elsewhere in the west bank even when no violence on the part of the demonstrators preceded the idf actions see association for civil rights in israel the state of human rights in israel and the occupied territories 2009 report jerusalem 2009 p 13 between 2002 and 2010 fully 27 palestinian protesters had been killed by israeli security forces no member of the security forces had been killed international crisis group tipping point palestinians and the search for a new strategy 2010 p 28n226 89 john j mearsheimer sinking ship american conservative 1 august 2010 90 katz duped 91 kaspit it s not enough david horowitz the flotilla fiasco jerusalem post 1 june 2010 harel straight into the trap charles levinson and jay solomon israel s isolation deepens wall street journal 3 june 2010 92 levy operation mini 93 kaspit it s not enough 94 mahnaimi and jenkins operation calamity 95 barnea test of the result 96 noam sheizaf flotilla new mavi marmara pictures raise more questions regarding idf attack promised land 6 june 2010 97 reuven pedatzur a failure any way you slice it haaretz 1 june 2010 98 jeffrey goldberg says one israeli general everybody thinks we re bananas theatlantic com 1 june 2010 99 university of maryland in conjunction with zogby international 2010 arab public opinion poll forty one percent responded that israel s power has its strengths and weaknesses 100 yaakov katz the dahiya doctrine fighting dirty or a knock out punch jerusalem post 28 january 2010 jeffrey white if war comes israel vs hizballah and its allies washington dc 2010 pp 10 12 35 40 see chapter 2 for the dahiya doctrine 101 barbara opall rome israel s new hard line on hizbollah defensenews 31 may 2010 102 finkelstein this time pp 184 97 103 raji sourani 1 000 days in bayoumi midnight p 147 104 the classic precedent was israel s appointment of the kahan commission of inquiry after the sabra and shatila massacre evoked an international outcry for the commission s whitewash of the massacre see noam chomsky the fateful triangle the united states israel and the palestinians boston 1983 pp 397 409 and amnon kapeliouk sabra and shatila inquiry into a massacre 1982 c h a p t e r e i g h t w h i t e wa s h i t h e t u r k e l r e p o rt 1 public commission to examine the maritime incident of 31 may 2010 the turkel commission report part one january 2011 hereafter turkel report the second part of this report israel s mechanism for examining and investigating complaints and claims of violations of the laws of armed conflict was published in february 2013 it didn t directly address the events of 31 may 2010 and so will not be considered here but see chapter 13 shortly after publication of the turkel report the turkish government released the findings of its own investigation turkish national commission of inquiry report on the israeli attack on the humanitarian aid convoy to gaza on 31 may 2010 february 2011 hereafter turkish report 2 turkel report para 16 3 see chapter 1 4 turkel report para 1 5 the turkel report did mention israeli strikes against gaza further on paras 16 18 but deemed them retaliatory israel responded whereas in actuality conflict pauses between the palestinians were overwhelmingly broken by israel see chapter 1 and chapter 2 israel and 6 turkel report p 48n143 paras 45 47 7 ibid para 19 8 see chapter 2 9 turkel report para 72 10 ibid para 73 11 ibid para 71 12 ibid paras 72 76 the report cited the definition of food insecurity used by the un office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs people lack sustainable physical or economic access to adequate safe nutritious and socially acceptable food to maintain a healthy and productive life 13 ibid paras 76 77 14 see douglas guilfoyle the mavi marmara incident and blockade in armed conflict british yearbook of international law 2011 pp 197 204 which contends that international law doesn t prohibit only literal starvation or sustain israel s ban on foodstuffs entering gaza as its population suffered from hunger 15 for murky acknowledgment that international law prohibited sieges causing not only starvation hunger blockade but also less extreme instances of suffering see turkel report para 90 see also ibid p 102n363 16 ibid para 76 emphasis added 17 on this point see also guilfoyle mavi marmara incident p 200 18 turkel report para 79 19 ibid paras 80 there is no evidence that israel is denying objects essential for the survival of the civilian population 90 israel has not prevented the passage of objects essential for the survival of the civilian population 20 ibid para 82 21 lisa schlein who medical supplies blocked from entering gaza voice of america 31 may 2010 22 turkel report paras 19 68 97 the report also repeatedly stated that breaching the blockade was unnecessary as israel conveyed beforehand to the flotilla its willingness to deliver humanitarian supplies on board the vessels to gaza but the report also made clear that humanitarian supplies did not include prohibited items on board the flotilla such as cement and other construction materials see ibid paras 3 27 110 113 149 198 23 under international humanitarian law proportionality in attack is defined as a prohibition against launching an attack which may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life injury to civilians damage to civilian objects or a combination thereof which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated international committee of the red cross customary international humanitarian law volume i rules cambridge 2005 rule 14 24 turkel report paras 50 63 for a detailed analysis see chapter 9 25 turkel report para 67 26 ibid para 106 27 see chapter 2 28 cashless in gaza wikileaks 3 november 2008 29 gisha legal center for freedom of movement partial list of items prohibited permitted in the gaza strip may 2010 30 turkel report para 91 31 at one point the report seemed to concede that israel restricted passage of foodstuffs used solely for civilian needs but then justified this policy albeit with caveats by invoking the us uk genocidal sanctions on iraq ibid paras 91 93 for the iraqi sanctions see joy gordon invisible war the united states and the iraq sanctions cambridge 2010 32 see chapter 7 33 un human rights council report of the international fact finding mission to investigate violations of international law including international humanitarian and human rights law resulting from the israeli attacks on the flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian assistance 27 september 2010 hereafter report of the fact finding mission see chapter 7 for the un report s findings 34 israel ministry of foreign affairs government establishes independent public commission 14 june 2010 35 turkel report para 237 36 ibid para 236 37 the turkel report expressly noted the exception of one commando who called his assailants activists ibid p 157n533 38 ibid para 236 39 ibid para 237 40 see chapter 3 41 turkel report paras 9 237 pp 211n736 212n737 it cited the testimony of one israeli palestinian but only to discredit it by citing the testimony of another israeli palestinian it also cited crucial testimony of the mavi marmara s captain during interrogation but only to peremptorily dismiss it on the basis of contrary testimony by an israeli aerial lookout ibid paras 144 125 203 42 turkish report pp 40 42 44 47 108 43 turkel report paras 9 237 44 amnesty international israeli inquiry into flotilla deaths no more than whitewash 28 january 2011 45 for a sampling of these testimonies see moustafa bayoumi ed midnight on the mavi marmara the attack on the gaza freedom flotilla and how it changed the course of the israel palestine conflict new york 2010 part 1 exceptionally the report made passing reference at the end of a long footnote to a haaretz interview with one of the passengers turkel report pp 202 3n703 46 amnesty israeli inquiry 47 report of the fact finding mission paras 112 14 the mission referred to the israeli speedboats as zodiacs whereas the turkel report called them morenas 48 turkel report para 121 49 ibid para 128 50 ibid para 130 51 ibid para 200 52 ibid para 230 53 ibid para 174 54 ibid paras 132 180 213 243 244 p 149n518 the report states that in the strategic discussions prior to the operation the possibility that firearms might be present was mentioned but it had no practical consequences ibid p 247n863 para 243 55 ibid paras 115 22 56 ibid para 121 57 ibid 58 ibid para 182 59 ibid para 242 60 see chapter 7 61 the numerical designations are used in the report 62 turkel report paras 133 135 140 63 ibid paras 133 135 140 p 250n871 64 ibid paras 165 192 65 ibid para 169 66 ibid para 167 67 ibid paras 196 199 201 220 68 ibid para 136 69 ibid paras 165 196 70 turkish report pp 15 16 56 113 71 turkel report para 165 the turkel report stated that four bullet casings not used by the idf were found on board but it cannot be said with complete certainty that these were bullets fired from a non idf weapon since it cannot be ruled out that these bullets somehow made their way into the idf ammunition the report also cited but appeared not to credit the testimony of one idf officer that he saw molotov cocktails which had been placed in orderly stacks ibid p 207n718 para 145 72 ibid p 211nn735 736 para 169 73 ibid para 167 74 ibid para 221 75 ibid para 167 76 report of the fact finding mission paras 116 165 77 turkel report para 222 78 ibid para 236 79 ibid pp 155n529 157n531 para 221 80 ibid p 250nn871 873 81 ibid para 222 82 ibid para 221 it might be recalled that almost half the israeli combat fatalities during operation cast lead were caused by friendly fire see chapter 4 83 turkel report para 222 84 ibid paras 217 19 85 ibid paras 220 223 86 ibid paras 135 136 140 87 ibid paras 136 167 88 ibid paras 166 168 197 89 ibid paras 135 136 167 190 90 report of the fact finding mission para 264 see also ibid paras 167 169 172 91 turkel report paras 119 121 140 206 223 228 229 245 92 ibid paras 141 142 93 ibid paras 239 246 94 report of the fact finding mission para 170 95 turkel report para 155 96 ibid para 230 97 ibid para 155 the report contained two other references to the nine deaths ibid paras 143 168 98 the turkish report stated pp 27 28 that two passengers were killed by a single gunshot wound it perhaps omitted mention of their nonlethal bullet wounds the un fact finding mission stated that all but one of the nine deceased suffered multiple bullet wounds 99 in the section devoted to analyzing the use of force by idf soldiers during the takeover operations the report stated that the commission furnished written requests to idf authorities seven times in order to deepen and expand the inquiries that were conducted turkel report para 236 100 ibid para 233 it noted that the detailed testimonies of the soldiers as well as their analysis can be found in an annex to the report ibid para 235 this annex was apparently never released to the public 101 ibid para 239 102 the report stated only that the commission did not have access to autopsy reports because of the turkish government s request immediately after the event that the israeli government would not perform autopsies on the bodies of the deceased para 237 the turkish autopsy reports concluded that five of the deceased were shot in the head at close range turkish report pp 26 85 114 103 turkel report p 261n929 104 ibid para 160 105 us department of state daily press briefing 24 january 2011 c h a p t e r n i n e w h i t e wa s h i i t h e u n pa n e l r e p o rt 1 statement by the president of the security council 1 june 2010 s prst 2010 9 2 see chapter 7 and chapter 8 3 report of the secretary general s panel of inquiry on the 31 may 2010 flotilla incident july 2011 para 3 hereafter un panel the un panel was also empowered to request such clarifications and information as it may require from relevant national authorities ibid 4 international federation for human rights fidh deeply concerned by the composition of un panel of inquiry into the flotilla events 6 august 2010 álvaro uribe el más investigado en la comisión de acusaciones elpais com co 8 november 2013 5 israel ministry of foreign affairs israel to participate in un panel on flotilla events 2 august 2010 6 norman g finkelstein this time we went too far truth and consequences of the gaza invasion expanded paperback edition new york 2011 pp 195 96 7 shlomo shamir livni tells un to mind its own business over flotilla probe haaretz 6 october 2010 8 public commission to examine the maritime incident of 31 may 2010 the turkel commission report part one january 2011 hereafter turkel report see chapter 8 9 un panel para 3 10 see chapter 8 11 un panel para 71 see also ibid para 78 12 b tselem israeli center for human rights in the occupied territories statistics btselem org statistics 13 un panel para 71 14 johannes haushofer anat biletzki and nancy kanwisher both sides retaliate in the israeli palestinian conflict proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states 4 october 2010 15 un panel para 71 16 see chapter 4 17 amnesty international colombian president should stop false accusations against human rights group 28 november 2008 18 un panel para 82 19 ibid paras 5 67 20 ibid para 15 21 ibid p 4 viii paras 134 151 22 ibid para 6 23 amnesty international suffocating gaza the israeli blockade s effects on palestinians 1 june 2010 24 un human rights council report of the international fact finding mission to investigate violations of international law resulting from the israeli attacks on the flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian assistance 27 september 2010 para 170 25 see chapter 1 26 israel s closure policy in gaza was first imposed in 1991 and was incrementally tightened as time elapsed see gisha legal center for freedom of movement a guide to the gaza closure in israel s own words tel aviv 2011 27 see chapter 8 28 un panel para 153 29 turkel report para 50 emphases added 30 ibid para 63 31 ibid 32 quoted phrase from wikileaks see chapter 8 33 turkel report para 107 34 amichai cohen and yuval shany the turkel commission s flotilla report part one some critical remarks ejil talk 28 january 2011 35 see chapter 8 36 for a contemporary restatement of this consensus opinion see flotillas and the gaza blockade diakonia 2011 37 the un panel s legal strategy recalled the approach of the israel high court in the wall case in 2004 the international court of justice icj delivered an advisory opinion that found israel s construction of a wall inside occupied palestinian territory illegal when the israel high court subsequently heard the case it sought to avoid a ruling that frontally contradicted the icj instead the high court taking issue with the icj s comprehensive finding proposed that the legality of the wall should be assessed on a segment by segment basis for a juxtaposition of the icj advisory opinion and israel high court rulings see norman g finkelstein knowing too much why the american jewish romance with israel is coming to an end new york 2012 pp 307 53 38 un panel p 105 39 ibid p 43n274 40 turkel report para 72 41 un panel paras 70 77 42 ibid 43 for the legality of a naval blockade see especially the san remo manual on international law applicable to armed conflicts at sea 1994 44 un panel para 82 45 contraband denotes goods which are ultimately destined for territory under the control of the enemy and which may be susceptible for use in armed conflict uk ministry of defense the manual of the law of armed conflict oxford 2005 p 350 46 the turkel report was at pains to argue that the visit and search procedure did not meet the challenge israel confronted and was replaced by a naval blockade only as a last resort still the report alleged without authoritative citation and against common sense that during an armed conflict it is lawful to impose a naval blockade without considering alternatives para 51 emphasis added 47 douglas guilfoyle the mavi marmara incident and blockade in armed conflict british yearbook of international law 2011 pp 204 7 48 un panel para 72 citing turkel report para 22 the three named attempts occurred in respectively 2001 santorini 2002 karine a and 2003 abu hassan the 2002 attempt has been disputed the turkel report also alleged para 27 a fourth attempt in 2009 tali but the un panel did not cite it while not even the israeli ministry of foreign affairs alleged that this vessel was carrying weapons cargo boat attempting illegal entry to gaza intercepted israel ministry of foreign affairs 5 february 2009 49 un panel paras 72 74 citing turkel report para 49 the turkel report alleged that visit and search was impracticable because of the virtual certainty that consent for search would not be granted by the masters of the ships bent on reaching gaza and it was not certain that the consent of the flag state would actually be obtained para 52 however it adduced no evidentiary basis none existed for its virtual certainty in another iteration the turkel report alleged that a key requirement is that such a right of visit and search cannot be arbitrarily exercised the challenge that confronted the israeli authorities was to obtain sufficient information regarding the cargo and or personnel on board the vessels in order to find a ground for suspicion that the vessel is engaged in transporting contraband enemy combatants para 54 but the turkel report did not cite a single incident in which visit and search was hindered by this requirement other countries have exercised the right of visit and search on the basis of reasonable suspicion in wartime why did it work elsewhere the turkel report also alleged that if israel could not resort to the lesser measure of declaring gaza s coastal waters an exclusion zone it was because there is a lack of clarity in the law as to whether such a zone provides an authority to only search for contraband para 53 emphasis added in other words the difficulty was that declaring an exclusion zone did not explicitly allow israel to turn back vessels not carrying contraband but only civilian goods 50 un panel para 72 citing turkel report para 48 see also turkel report paras 55 89 turkel report para 89 51 un panel para 46 citing turkel report paras 48 50 112 see also 52 un panel paras 72 77 the panel also appeared to allege copying from the turkel report that a decrease in hamas rocket and mortar attacks on israel was somehow related to the naval blockade para 72 citing turkel report para 89 the basis for this claim was to put it most charitably thin not least because the panel adduced no evidence that weapons ever reached gaza by sea 53 turkel report paras 25 53 54 ibid para 26 emphasis added 55 ibid para 49 emphasis added 56 un panel para 70 57 san remo manual section ii visit and search of merchant vessels 58 un panel para 151 59 ibid para 78 see also ibid para 72 60 ibid para 33 emphasis added see also international committee of the red cross customary international humanitarian law volume i rules cambridge 2005 rule 53 61 turkel report para 62 62 ibid 63 un panel para 78 64 on this point see also guilfoyle mavi marmara incident p 203 65 elizabeth spelman the legality of the israeli naval blockade of the gaza strip european journal of current legal issues 2013 accepts that the naval blockade was imposed on the gaza strip alongside but separate to the land and air closures and accepts that the israeli naval blockade of the gaza strip is part of an israeli military dual strategy against hamas the author provides no evidentiary basis for this acceptance none exists 66 un panel para 92 67 ibid paras 96 148 149 159 68 see chapter 2 69 un security council resolution 1860 s res 1860 8 january 2009 70 un panel paras 151 154 71 see chapter 7 72 see chapter 7 73 see chapter 8 74 un panel paras 86 87 75 ibid para 89 whereas the turkel report did take note that passengers sought to publicize the blockade s dire impact not even it dared impugn their integrity on this account it just flatly stated the goal of the flotilla was obviously not just to break the blockade but also to bring international pressure to bear in a bid to end the land based restrictions para 62 76 compounding obscenity by imbecility the un panel paras 88 93 also condemned this alleged cabal of publicity seekers for not sufficiently alerting the other passengers to the dangers that lurked in the event that they attempted to breach the blockade as if the other dedicated activists who joined the flotilla hadn t a clue that israel was capable of committing murder c h a p t e r t e n s ta l l e d j u g g e r n a u t 1 israel ministry of foreign affairs pillar of defense statement of dm ehud barak 14 november 2012 2 gaza abacus economist 19 november 2012 3 aluf benn israel killed its subcontractor in gaza haaretz 14 november 2012 benn notes that jabari was also israel s partner in the negotiations for the release of gilad shalit it was he who ensured the captive soldier s welfare and safety and it was he who saw to shalit s return home last fall 4 reuven pedatzur why did israel kill jabari haaretz 4 december 2012 gershon baskin assassinating the chance for calm daily beast 15 november 2012 nir hasson israeli peace activist hamas leader jabari killed amid talks on long term peace haaretz 15 november 2012 crispian balmer and nidal al mughrabi gaza militants signal truce with israel after rockets reuters 12 november 2012 5 baskin assassinating see also international crisis group fire and ceasefire in a new middle east 2012 pp 1 4 6 jodi rudoren qatar s emir visits gaza pledging 400 million to hamas new york times 23 october 2012 jodi rudoren turkish leader says he plans a visit to gaza soon new york times 2 november 2012 7 sara roy the gaza strip the political economy of de development expanded third edition washington dc 2016 pp xxxviii xxxix for qualifications to this upbeat picture see ibid pp xli xlvi lxii 8 chomsky in first visit to gaza end the blockade haaretz 19 october 2012 2012 9 benn israel killed pedatzur why did israel 10 see chapter 2 11 harriet sherwood netanyahu s bomb diagram succeeds but not in the way the pm wanted guardian 27 september 2012 12 hezbollah admits launching drone over israel bbc 11 october 13 crisis group fire and ceasefire p 8 14 see chapter 2 15 nathan jeffay israel learned the lessons of the last gaza war forward 26 november 2012 ari shavit end the war while you re ahead haaretz 19 november 2012 16 see chapter 3 and chapter 5 17 see chapter 11 18 crisis group fire and ceasefire p 17n117 19 ben dror yemini ceasefire now nrg ma ariv 18 november 2012 20 see chapter 7 21 one year following the israeli offensive on gaza palestinian center for human rights 14 november 2013 ocha escalation in hostilities gaza and southern israel 26 november 2012 22 julian borger and harriet sherwood israeli envoy arrives in egypt for gaza ceasefire talks guardian 18 november 2012 ibrahim barzak and karin lamb israel intensifies attacks despite truce talks associated press 20 november 2012 b tselem israeli information center for human rights in the occupied territories human rights violations during operation pillar of defense 2013 23 human rights watch unlawful israeli attacks on palestinian media 20 december 2012 reporters without borders rwb condemns air strikes on news media in gaza city 18 november 2012 committee to protect journalists three journalists killed in airstrikes in gaza 20 november 2012 24 human rights watch palestinian rockets unlawfully targeted israeli civilians 24 december 2012 25 elie leshem israel dealt hamas a heavy blow and is prepared to resume offensive if need be netanyahu says times of israel 22 november 2012 26 inbal orpaz how does the iron dome work haaretz 19 november 2012 charles levinson and adam entous israel s iron dome battled to get off the ground wall street journal 26 november 2012 27 norman g finkelstein iron dome or swiss cheese 23 november 2012 normanfinkelstein com 2012 11 23 iron dome or swiss cheese israel defense forces 2012 operation pillar of defense n d idfblog com about the idf history of the idf 2012 operation pillar of defense countless quoted from this source 28 mfa gov il mfa foreignpolicy terrorism palestinian pages operation_pillar_of_ defense_nov_2012 idf_updates aspx idfblog com blog 2012 11 17 hamas fajr 5 missiles uav targets damaged 29 dan williams some gaza rockets stripped of explosives to fly further reuters 18 november 2012 30 paul koring success of israel s iron dome effectiveness questioned globe and mail 29 november 2012 reuven pedatzur the fallibility of iron dome missile defense haaretz 11 november 2013 see also chapter 11 31 norman g finkelstein i still say no invasion 19 november 2012 normanfinkelstein com 2012 11 19 norman finkelstein i still say no invasion 32 fares akram jodi rudoren and alan cowell hamas leader dares israel to invade amid gaza airstrikes new york times 19 november 2012 33 harriet sherwood tel aviv bus bombing hardens israeli public opinion against gaza ceasefire guardian 21 november 2012 barak ravid during gaza operation netanyahu and obama finally learned to work together haaretz 26 november 2012 the bus attack was eventually traced back to a palestinian citizen of israel 34 ceasefire agreement between israel and gaza s palestinians reuters 21 november 2012 35 see chapter 11 36 in a diplomatic sidenote to netanyahu us president barack obama vaguely promised to help israel address its security needs especially the issue of smuggling of weapons and explosives into gaza office of the press secretary the white house 21 november 2012 37 us department of state gaza rocket attacks 14 november 2012 white house remarks by president obama and prime minister shinawatra in a joint press conference 18 november 2012 38 matthew kalman and kim sengupta fragile truce deal hailed as a victory on both sides independent 21 november 2012 39 crispian balmer relief at gaza ceasefire can t mask its frailty reuters 21 november 2012 40 christiane amanpour israel hamas cease fire interview with hamas political leader khaled meshaal cnn 21 november 2012 41 anshel pfeffer winners and losers of israel hamas cease fire haaretz 22 november 2012 ari shavit operation rectification haaretz 22 november 2012 amos harel bullet points from israel s home front haaretz 30 november 2012 42 norman g finkelstein israel s latest assault on gaza new left 43 barak ravid behind the scenes of israel s decision to accept gaza project 28 november 2012 truce haaretz 22 november 2012 44 this writer observed back then egypt will probably not pressure the us to enforce the cease fire terms on israel the respective interests of the new egypt and hamas mostly diverge not converge egypt desperately needs us subventions and is currently negotiating a 5 billion loan from the international monetary fund where washington s vote is decisive the popularity of president mohammed morsi s muslim brotherhood government will ultimately hinge on what it delivers to egyptians not gazans us political elites are lauding morsi to high heaven stroking his ego and speculating on the special relationship he has cultivated with obama those familiar with the psychological manipulations of washington when it comes to arab leaders in particular mediocre ones such as anwar sadat will not be surprised by the current us romancing of morsi it s also improbable that turkey will exert itself on hamas s behalf right now ankara is smarting from obama s rebuff of designating not itself but cairo as prime interlocutor in brokering the cease fire turkey was apparently disqualified because it labeled israel a terrorist state during pillar of defense still aspiring to be the us s preeminent regional partner and calculating that the road to washington passes through tel aviv turkey has resumed negotiations with israel to break the diplomatic logjam after israel s lethal assault on the mavi marmara in 2010 meanwhile its recent operation has brought home to israel that alienating both its historic allies in the region egypt and turkey is not prudent policy so a face saving reconciliation between ankara and tel aviv the turkish government is formally demanding an apology monetary compensation and an end to the gaza siege is probably in the offing the long and the short of it is that even in the new era that has opened up definite limits exist on how much regional support the palestinians can realistically hope to garner finkelstein israel s latest assault c h a p t e r e l e v e n i s r a e l h a s t h e r i g h t t o d e f e n d i t s e l f 1 united nations country team in the state of palestine gaza two years after 2016 2 united nations conference on trade and development report on unctad assistance to the palestinian people developments in the economy of the occupied palestinian territory july 2015 paras 27 42 2 5 million tons 3 julia amalia heyer ex israeli security chief diskin all the conditions are there for an explosion spiegel online international 24 july 2014 on the preplanning for cast lead see chapter 2 on lebanon in 2006 see benjamin s lambeth air operations in israel s war against hezbollah learning from lebanon and getting it right in gaza arlington va 2011 p 97 4 see chapter 3 and chapter 5 5 b tselem israeli information center for human rights in the occupied territories whitewash protocol the so called investigation of operation protective edge 2016 pp 4 5 6 peter beaumont palestinian unity government of fatah and hamas sworn in guardian 2 june 2014 why hamas fires those rockets economist 19 july 2014 7 nahum barnea inside the talks failure us officials open up ynetnews com 2 may 2014 8 see chapter 1 9 jack khoury abbas palestinian unity government will recognize israel condemn terrorism haaretz 26 april 2014 jeffrey heller netanyahu urges world not to recognize palestinian unity government reuters 1 june 2014 arab center for research and policy studies the us stance on the palestinian unity government doha 19 june 2014 10 the imminence of a palestinian unity government in 2006 precipitated the identical israeli response jean pierre filiu gaza a history new york 2014 p 295 11 idan landau the unfolding lie of operation protective edge 972 15 july 2014 avi issacharoff pm palestinian unity government would kill off the peace process haaretz 18 march 2011 12 amos harel and yaniv kubovich revealed behind the scenes on the hunt to find kidnapped teens haaretz 1 july 2014 katie zavadski it turns out hamas may not have kidnapped and killed the 3 israeli teens after all new york 25 july 2014 hamas we wouldn t target civilians if we had better weapons haaretz 23 august 2014 amos harel notes from an interrogation how the shin beth gets the lowdown on terror haaretz 2 september 2014 13 j j goldberg how politics and lies triggered an unintended war in gaza forward 10 july 2014 14 landau unfolding lie 15 human rights watch serious violations in west bank operations 3 16 netanyahu to us don t ever second guess me again ynetnews com july 2014 2 august 2014 17 christa case bryant ending détente hamas takes responsibility for today s spike in rocket fire christian science monitor 7 july 2014 david c hendrickson the thrasybulus syndrome national interest 29 july 2014 nathan thrall hamas s chances london review of books 21 august 2014 assaf sharon failure in gaza new york review of books 25 september 2014 18 here as elsewhere hamas is used as shorthand for all palestinian armed groups in gaza when referring to palestinian military actions and capabilities 19 see chapter 10 20 in july 2013 el sisi had replaced egypt s democratically elected government led by the muslim brotherhood in a bloody coup 21 the full text of the egyptian ceasefire proposal haaretz 15 july 2014 barak ravid secret call between netanyahu al sissi led to abortive cease fire haaretz 16 july 2014 22 israel and hamas ceasefire begins bbc 19 june 2008 ceasefire agreement between israel and gaza s palestinians reuters 21 november 2012 23 sabrina tavernise eric schmitt and rick gladstone jetliner explodes over ukraine struck by missile officials say new york times 17 july 2014 24 menachem shalev netanyahu recommends large scale expulsions jerusalem post 19 november 1989 the first intifada began in 1987 and was still going strong in 1989 25 in a retrospective one year after protective edge haaretz observed that one of the external factors operating in israel s favor during protective edge was the july 17 downing of malaysian airlines flight 17 chemi shalev israel s deceptive diplomatic success haaretz n d for a rigorous study demonstrating that israeli authorities may choose the timing of their attacks strategically to minimize negative international publicity see ruben durante and ekaterina zuravskaya attack when the world is not watching international media and the israeli palestinian conflict becker friedman institute for research in economics 2015 26 see chapter 10 27 united nations office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs ocha humanitarian bulletin monthly report june august 2014 taking stock bayabasha ground forces journal october 2014 p 47 hebrew 28 see chapter 12 for sources 29 action on armed violence aoav explosive states monitoring explosive violence in 2014 2015 the ranking was based on gazan casualties throughout 2014 not just during protective edge 30 sara roy the gaza strip the political economy of de development expanded third edition washington dc 2016 p 401 expected to take quoted from united nations special coordinator for the middle east peace process 31 see chapter 5 32 sudarsan raghavan month long war in gaza has left a humanitarian and environmental crisis washington post 9 august 2014 arriving for talks in gaza new un envoy urges palestinian unity end to israeli blockade un news centre 30 april 2015 33 zvi bar el israeli security assessments are reality built on a lie haaretz 19 april 2016 34 roy gaza strip p 395 35 raghavan month long war peter beaumont and hazem balousha ban ki moon gaza is a source of shame to the international community guardian 14 october 2014 36 meron rapoport the coup against israel s army middle east eye 21 may 2016 37 state of israel the 2014 gaza conflict 7 july 26 august 2014 factual and legal aspects 2015 paras 161 65 38 amnesty international israel gaza conflict questions and answers 25 july 2014 jeremy bowen s gaza notebook i saw no evidence of hamas using palestinians as human shields new statesman 25 july 2014 kim sengupta the myth of hamas s human shields independent 21 july 2014 for hamas s alleged human shielding in operation cast lead see chapter 4 for protective edge see also chapter 12 and chapter 13 39 state of israel 2014 gaza conflict para 15 40 high level military group an assessment of the 2014 gaza conflict 2015 paras 7 59 119 216 207 see also paras 12 24 30 54 63 103 113 169 180 205 the group described itself as top level practitioners from democratic nations whose expertise covers the entire gamut of the conduct of warfare its strategic tactical operational and legal frameworks paras 1 201 kemp alleged that if the high level military group s findings were the diametric opposite of those of the un human rights council human rights groups it was because these groups analyze the situation based on human rights law not the laws of armed conflict the most charitable thing one can say is that kemp didn t read a single word in any of these critical reports which of course based their analyses overwhelmingly on the laws of armed conflict richard kemp we put our reputations on the line this is why jewish chronicle 16 december 2015 for kemp see chapter 4 and chapter 5 41 haggai matar why do so many israelis hate breaking the silence 972 14 december 2015 42 curious readers should consult numbered testimonies 2 3 16 17 22 24 28 40 51 52 55 56 63 75 81 reference at table 4 43 high level military group assessment para 115 44 amnesty international un must impose arms embargo and mandate an international investigation as civilian death toll rises 11 july 2014 human rights watch gaza airstrike deaths raise concerns on ground offensive 22 july 2014 to be sure human rights watch hrw was ultracautious in its criticism of israel at the inception of protective edge see indiscriminate palestinian rocket attacks 9 july 2014 for hrw s equivocating record on israel see norman g finkelstein knowing too much why the american jewish romance with israel is coming to an end new york 2012 pp 123 54 45 marissa newman israeli official confirms us nixed arms shipment times of israel 14 august 2014 inter press service 12 august 2014 46 gareth porter us avoided threat to act on israel s civilian targeting 47 ramsey cox senate passes resolution in support of israel the hill 17 july 2014 connie bruck friends of israel new yorker 1 september 2014 48 david hearst saudi crocodile tears over gaza huffington post 28 49 arab league urges all parties to back egypt s gaza truce plan arab july 2014 news 15 july 2014 50 see chapter 10 51 robert kozak israel faces latin american backlash wall street journal 30 july 2014 52 high level military group assessment para 110 nahum barnea tumbling into gaza and climbing out again ynetnews com 29 july 2014 nidal al mughrabi hamas fighters show defiance in gaza tunnel tour reuters 19 august 2014 gili cohen tunnel vision on gazan border haaretz 17 july 2014 mark perry why israel s bombardment of gaza s neighborhood left us officers stunned al jazeera america 27 august 2014 amos harel israel and hamas are in an underground race in gaza haaretz 31 january 2016 shlomi eldar is hamas on the offensive or defensive al monitor 18 april 2016 53 see chapter 3 and chapter 4 54 three other israeli soldiers were killed by friendly fire and a fourth was killed in an operational accident 55 amos harel using gaza lessons to prepare for next hezbollah war haaretz 7 august 2014 haaretz 5 august 2014 presse 8 february 2016 march 2015 56 amos harel gaza war taught israel time to rethink strategies 57 egypt flooded gaza s tunnels at israel s request agence france 58 kemp hamas tunnels like auschwitz australian jewish news 16 59 us ambassador to the un samantha power s full speech at the security council haaretz 24 december 2016 the ever righteous power also condemned the security council for failing to muster the will to adopt the simplest of resolutions calling for a seven day pause in the savage bombardment of innocent civilians hospitals and schools in aleppo even as she and the obama administration had blocked any un action against israel s savage bombardment of innocent civilians hospitals and schools in gaza 60 un human rights council report of the detailed findings of the independent commission of inquiry established pursuant to human rights council resolution s 21 1 2015 para 108 emphasis added 61 un department of safety and security undss cited in addendum to report of the united nations high commissioner for human rights a hrc 28 80 add 1 26 december 2014 p 8 62 hirsh goodman israel s narrative an overview and alan baker the limits of the diplomatic arena in hirsh goodman and dore gold eds the gaza war the war israel did not want and the disaster it averted 2015 pp 12 70 63 un office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs humanitarian bulletin june august 2014 p 19 64 theodore postol the evidence that shows iron dome is not working bulletin of the atomic scientists 19 july 2014 iron dome or iron sieve democracy 2014 democracynow org 2014 7 31 iron_dome_or_iron_sieve_evidence democracynow org blog 2014 7 31 part_two_theodore_postol_asks_is now july 31 65 theodore a postol lessons of the gulf war patriot experience international security winter 1991 92 66 israel alleged that iron dome intercepted 740 or 90 percent of incoming hamas rockets in populated areas where it was deployed which would put the total number of incoming rockets in these areas at 820 yoav zitun iron dome idf intercepted 90 percent of rockets ynetnews com 15 august 2014 67 state of israel 2014 gaza conflict paras 44 51 p 58n174 b tselem israeli information center for human rights in the occupied territories attacks on israeli civilians by palestinians btselem org topic israeli_civilians the first hamas rocket attack to cause israeli civilian casualties didn t occur until 2004 after so many rockets that had caused only material damage or slight wounds filiu gaza p 274 68 see chapter 10 69 state of israel 2014 gaza conflict para 114 p 122n361 it stated that more than 60 percent of hamas projectiles landed in the border areas but it put the total number of hamas projectiles fired during protective edge at 4 000 ibid paras 103 112 whereas the more reliable undss figure was 7 000 70 the other five civilian deaths in israel resulted from mortar shells state of israel 2014 gaza conflict pp 112 13nn328 32 71 ibid para 210 72 report of the detailed findings of the independent commission of inquiry established pursuant to human rights council resolution s 21 1 22 june 2015 para 90 73 the circumstantial evidence lent credence to postol s contention although hamas rocket attacks killed only one civilian in two of the israeli border regions unprotected by iron dome mortar shells killed four others the differential result was perhaps due to the fact that israel s warning system provided a lead time to those seeking shelter of 15 seconds in the case of a rocket but only 3 5 seconds in the case of a mortar attack postol also mentioned the modest size of hamas rocket warheads as a factor 74 state of israel 2014 gaza conflict para 183 p 111n327 itay hod the israeli app red alert saves lives daily beast 14 july 2014 75 mfa gov il mfa foreignpolicy terrorism pages israel under fire july 2014 a diary aspx 76 state of israel 2014 gaza conflict p 65 caption 77 this tally jibed with the established pattern all of one israeli home was almost completely destroyed during cast lead see chapter 3 for minimal property damage prior to cast lead see human rights watch indiscriminate fire palestinian rocket attacks on israel and israeli artillery shelling in the gaza strip 2007 pp 24 28 78 mark perry gaza s bottle rockets foreign affairs 3 august 2014 79 israel visitor numbers nosedive during gaza offensive agence france presse 11 august 2014 mistake cnn com 22 july 2014 80 in cnn interview combative bloomberg says us flight ban a 81 tamer el ghobashy and joshua mitnick israel says it is escalating gaza campaign wall street journal 29 july 2014 82 aaron j klein and mitch ginsburg could israeli soldiers not civilians be the target of the attack tunnels times of israel 29 july 2014 emanual yelin were gaza tunnels built to harm israeli civilians 972 11 august 2014 can complete the destruction of tunnels within 24 hours galei tzahal 14 august 2014 hebrew 83 amos harel the last gaza war and the next haaretz 1 july 2015 emphasis added see also ron ben yishai ten years of lessons learned ynetnews com 19 june 2016 84 see chapter 10 85 state of israel 2014 gaza conflict paras 189 90 see also paras 4 113 190 the report which was issued in 2015 to preempt the anticipated critical findings of a un human rights council inquiry see chapter 13 devoted just 2 of 460 paragraphs to iron dome and emphasized not its brilliant performance but instead that it was fallible and couldn t prevent extensive harm to civilian life and property 86 human rights watch in depth look at gaza school attacks new york 2014 hrw determined these attacks to be war crimes 87 summary by the secretary general of the report of the united nations headquarters board of inquiry into certain incidents that occurred in the gaza strip between 8 july 2014 and 26 august 2014 2014 88 pierre krähenbühl in the eye of a man made storm foreign policy 26 september 2014 89 gaza ban condemns latest deadly attack near un school as moral outrage and criminal act un news centre 3 august 2014 90 donna chiacu us slams disgraceful shelling of un school in gaza haaretz 3 august 2014 91 griff witte and sudarsan raghavan netanyahu says israeli military will take as much time as necessary in gaza washington post 2 august 2014 92 a tactical consideration also figured in the withdrawal decision israel could proceed with the ground invasion only if it ventured into gaza s built up areas to avoid street by street fighting and attendant combatant casualties israel would have to blast everything in sight causing many thousands of civilian deaths which international public opinion would not abide and even then israel would still suffer heavy combatant losses as hamas fighters popped out of the tunnels amos harel operation protective edge advances with no exit strategy haaretz 20 july 2014 amos harel as bulldozers destroy hamas underground network idf sees light at end of tunnel haaretz 1 august 2014 amos harel idf wary of new gaza ground op even as diplomacy lags haaretz 25 august 2014 93 gili cohen senior officer hamas still able to carry out tunnel attacks against israel haaretz 31 july 2014 operation protective edge in numbers ynetnews com 27 august 2014 94 nidal al mughrabi and maayan lubell israeli air strike kills three hamas commanders in gaza reuters 21 august 2014 95 james foley islamic state militants behead reporter bbc 20 august 2014 96 alessandria masi israeli airstrikes on gaza collapse apartment building international business times 23 august 2014 see also chapter 12 97 nidal al mughrabi and luke baker what s in the gaza peace deal reuters 26 august 2014 ilene prusher israel and palestinians reach open ended cease fire deal time 26 august 2014 98 barak ravid netanyahu gaza op was great military political achievement haaretz 28 august 2014 99 zvi bar el with truce israel talks to hamas and islamic jihad haaretz 27 august 2014 100 amira hass tensions between hamas and fatah overshadow reconciliation government haaretz 6 september 2014 101 barak ravid netanyahu saw his chance to run away from gaza and he took it haaretz 26 august 2014 102 mouin rabbani israel s operation status quo norwegian peace building resource center 25 august 2014 103 jassem al salami rockets and iron dome the case of lebanon offiziere ch 5 august 2014 offiziere ch p 17519 israel preparing for very violent war against hezbollah tv report says times of israel 6 september 2014 104 yossi verter netanyahu after the war less popular but still unchallenged haaretz 29 august 2014 105 united nations conference on trade and development report on unctad assistance 2015 para 30 106 united nations relief and works agency gaza situation report no 93 22 may 2015 107 roy gaza strip pp 405 6 jack khoury thousands of gazans fleeing to europe via tunnels traffickers and boats haaretz 17 september 2014 shlomi eldar escaping gaza hundreds of palestinians drown al monitor 19 september 2014 mohammed othman suicide rates on rise in gaza al monitor 9 february 2015 jodi rudoren and majd al waheidi desperation drives gazans over a fence and into prison new york times 17 february 2015 mohammed omer the smell of death hangs everywhere blockade drives gazans to suicide middle east eye 11 april 2016 sanaa kamal and hunter stuart palestinians paying thousands in bribes to leave gaza al jazeera 5 september 2016 108 khaled abu toameh ismail haniyeh makes first appearance since start of gaza operation jerusalem post 27 august 2014 109 palestinian center for policy and survey research special gaza war poll 2 september 2014 110 ehab zahriyeh citing past failures hamas demands an enforceable cease fire al jazeera america 16 july 2014 111 mohammed daraghmeh and karin laub hamas claims victory for the resistance as long term truce is agreed with israel independent 26 august 2014 112 jack khoury meshal hamas will go back to war against israel if upcoming truce talks fail haaretz 28 august 2014 amira hass hamas trying to sell victory to gazans haaretz 27 august 2014 113 norman g finkelstein method and madness the hidden story of israel s assaults on gaza new york 2014 pp 159 60 114 jack khoury israel will help rebuild gaza if hamas disarms lieberman says haaretz 24 october 2016 115 roy gaza strip pp xxxi 406 citing the humanitarian relief organization oxfam 116 council of the european union 22 july 2014 117 see chapter 7 118 ibid 119 see appendix 120 no legal benefit or right can be derived from an illegal act 121 council conclusions on the middle east peace process 18 january 2016 consilium europa eu en press press releases 2016 01 18 fac conclusions mepp emphasis added 122 see chapter 13 123 human rights watch indiscriminate palestinian rocket attacks 9 july 2014 124 international committee of the red cross customary international humanitarian law volume i rules cambridge 2005 rule 146 the united nations human rights council cites this study as authoritative on the current state of customary law report of the detailed findings of the independent commission of inquiry established pursuant to human rights council resolution s 21 1 22 june 2015 para 33 see also a p v rogers law on the battlefield second edition manchester 2004 p 235 125 legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons 8 july 1996 letter dated 16 june 1995 from the legal adviser to the foreign and commonwealth office of the united kingdom of great britain and northern ireland together with written comments of the united kingdom letter dated 20 june 1995 from the acting legal adviser to the department of state together with written statement of the government of the united states of america oral statement of us representative 15 november 1995 dissenting opinion of vice president schwebel the icj itself elected not to rule on the legality of belligerent reprisals para 46 126 b tselem israeli information center for human rights in the occupied territories over 90 percent of water in gaza strip unfit for consumption 9 february 2014 united nations relief and works agency denied a human standard of living the gaza blockade has entered its tenth year 21 october 2016 roy gaza strip pp lii lvii lxviii 402 3 127 amira hass hamas s rejection of the cease fire deal was a foregone conclusion haaretz 16 july 2014 c h a p t e r t w e lv e b e t r aya l i a m n e s t y i n t e r n at i o n a l most of the israel data in this chapter draw from state of israel the 2014 gaza conflict 7 july 26 august 2014 factual and legal aspects 2015 1 see chapter 5 2 rain of fire israel s unlawful use of white phosphorus in gaza 2009 precisely wrong gaza civilians killed by israeli drone launched missiles 2009 rockets from gaza harm to civilians from palestinian armed groups rocket attacks 2009 white flag deaths killings of palestinian civilians during operation cast lead 2009 i lost everything israel s unlawful destruction of property during operation cast lead 2009 these reports ranged in length from 25 to 115 pages 3 in depth look at gaza school attacks 2014 it ran to only 15 pages and inasmuch as un secretary general ban ki moon and the obama administration had already deplored the attacks see chapter 11 it was not especially notable 4 hamas is here used to denote all armed groups in gaza 5 amnesty international unlawful and deadly rocket and mortar attacks by palestinian armed groups during the 2014 gaza israel conflict 2015 6 on the other hand only 8 percent of total israeli fatalities were civilians 7 however in its report strangling necks abductions torture and summary killings of palestinians by hamas forces during the 2014 gaza israel conflict 2015 amnesty did briefly mention that the extent of the casualties and destruction in gaza wrought by israeli forces far exceeded those caused by palestinian attacks on israel reflecting israel s far greater firepower among other factors 8 jutta bachmann et al gaza 2014 findings of an independent medical fact finding mission 2015 p 101 hereafter medical fact finding mission 9 see chapter 5 and chapter 9 10 ban ki moon s remarks were appended to the summary of the final report of a un board of inquiry he commissioned to investigate certain incidents that occurred in the gaza strip between 8 july 2014 and 26 august 2014 for the un board of inquiry report see chapter 11 hereafter un board of inquiry 11 in addition to unlawful and deadly and strangling necks amnesty issued families under the rubble israeli attacks on inhabited homes 2014 and nothing is immune israel s destruction of landmark buildings in gaza 2014 these four reports were released during the critical window of opportunity before the un human rights council released its own report in june 2015 the un report cited extensively from amnesty s quartet of publications see chapter 13 amnesty issued another report on protective edge more on which presently but this was after publication of the un report when it was too late to influence it 12 this report was cited extensively in part one a precise juxtaposition cast an even darker shadow on amnesty s space allocations in its protective edge reports in absolute numbers the scale of civilian death and destruction inflicted by israel during protective edge was much more massive than during cast lead whereas in the case of hamas it was roughly the same 13 gisha where s the housing boom 2015 14 to be sure strangling necks did categorically state israeli military forces committed war crimes and other grave violations of international law during operation protective edge 15 it also didn t provide a basis for its perverse inclusion of west bank palestinians in the circle of fear did they really fear hamas rockets 16 state of israel 2014 gaza conflict paras 51 54 17 mark perry gaza s bottle rockets foreign affairs 3 august 2014 see chapter 11 for details 18 louis charbonneau un panel arms ship seized by idf came from iran but not bound for gaza haaretz 28 june 2014 19 see chapter 11 20 state of israel 2014 gaza conflict paras 91 109 119 see also paras 56 85 91 220 and p 42n130 21 ibid paras 96 119 22 amnesty international israel playing games as human rights organizations denied access 20 august 2014 human rights watch provide rights groups access to gaza 20 august 2014 23 t he numerous specific incidents of attacks launched in close proximity to civilian buildings reported by the israeli authorities together with accounts of journalists in gaza during the conflict and the findings of amnesty international researchers documenting previous rounds of hostilities indicate that attacks by armed groups in gaza launched from within residential areas were far from isolated occurrences unlawful and deadly emphasis added 24 more on which presently see also chapter 11 25 amnesty international families under the rubble 26 the medical fact finding mission paid tribute to the independence and credibility of local civil society groups such as al mezan pchr p 100 27 the list of specific israeli organizations assisting amnesty is omitted here 28 al mezan center for human rights et al no more impunity gaza s health sector under attack 2015 29 see chapter 3 30 state of israel 2014 gaza conflict paras 54 129 145 151 153 254 275 277 278 280 31 amnesty international nothing is immune 32 state of israel 2014 gaza conflict para 129 incidentally this report depicted israel s obliteration of al wafa as having returned fire in a precise and discriminate manner para 285 33 terrorists in gaza fired an anti tank missile at the idf from the al wafa hospital on thursday using the structure as an attack base despite israel s air strike on the structure on wednesday following previous gunfire and missiles fired from it by hamas the idf fired back killing two terrorists and the air force later struck the building from which the missile was fired the air force also struck a structure near the al wafa hospital used to store weapons and as a command and control center yaakov lappin terrorists fire anti tank missile from al wafa hospital in gaza jerusalem post 25 july 2014 34 gili cohen et al israel bombs empty gaza hospital calling it hamas command center haaretz 23 july 2014 medical fact finding mission p 50 in another context of unlawful and deadly amnesty did quote a senior hamas official to the effect that rockets were fired 200 or 300 meters away from schools or hospitals and also that there were some mistakes made and they were quickly dealt with the evidentiary value of a self interested statement by a senior hamas official is of course equal to that of an israeli foreign ministry press release i e zero 35 international federation for human rights fidh trapped and punished the gaza civilian population under operation protective edge april 2015 p 40 36 see e g b tselem israeli information center for human rights in the occupied territories israeli authorities have proven they cannot investigate suspected violations of international humanitarian law by israel in the gaza strip 2014 btselem org accountability 20140905_failure_to_investigate september 5 37 see chapter 3 38 both amnesty and israeli hasbara leaned on the journalistic scoops of washington post foreign correspondent william booth for the more sensational charges against hamas state of israel 2014 gaza conflict pp 76n234 91n269 214n496 booth s creative journalism had earlier caught up with him when he was suspended by the post for plagiarism paul farhi washington post to suspend william booth over panama canal story washington post 18 january 2013 39 i have been able to roam freely at the hospital and take the pictures that i wanted and talk to whomever i wanted i can of course not say that i have been in every corner of the hospital but concerning what i and dr erik fosse have seen then none of us have seen that it is a command center for hamas norwegian surgeon mads gilbert cited in en wikipedia org wiki al shifa_hospital 40 e mail correspondence dated 15 17 april 2015 forwarded by dr roy from three of her contacts 41 hamas alleged that the palestinian authority provided israel with targeting information collected via its agents in gaza elhanan miller hamas pa gave israel nearly a third of its gaza targets times of israel 5 february 2015 42 of the 17 cases documented in the report of hamas human rights violations the relevant ones mentioning al shifa were these the hamas officers took saleh swelim to their jabalia detention facility known as the al sisi centre and then to the outpatients clinic at al shifa hospital in gaza city which hamas forces were using to detain and interrogate suspects m s a younger brother of saleh swelim told amnesty international that internal security officers also detained him that day and that he saw saleh swelim both at the al sisi facility and at al shifa hospital and that internal security officers tortured both of them a lengthy testimony by m s follows describing his torture but it ends on this note we were both made to confess by being beaten we remained in the al sisi camp until the following day then were transferred to the al shifa hospital we were received respectfully there in the outpatients clinic they did not beat us and treated us with respect especially after they saw the burns on my body and the marks from the beatings they applied ointment to my wounds and gave me medical treatment the three hamas men took both ali da alsa and m d away in a black hyundai car but after about 10 minutes during which they assaulted him the three let m d go dropping him near al quds open university the next day m d went to the part of al shifa hospital used by internal security to inquire about ali da alsa he told amnesty international i went to al shifa hospital outpatients clinic where the internal security had a room i knocked on the door and nobody answered i kept on knocking on the door until they internal security finally arrived they grabbed me and hit me and insulted me and treated me harshly and increased their beatings of me a h 43 a member of fatah activist and former pa senior officer told amnesty international that members of hamas s internal security force detained him as he left a mosque in the eastern area of gaza city on 17 august 2014 and took him to the outpatients clinic at al shifa hospital there he said they tortured him for about two hours by tying his hands behind his back blindfolding him and beating him including with a hammer and plastic pipes causing him to lose consciousness several times and verbally abused him before asking him about his links to the pa s security forces it was not really questioning just a torture session the second of these three testimonies doesn t appear to rise to the practice of torture at any rate as human rights organizations have defined it otherwise every israeli soldier who roughed up a palestinian in the west bank would be guilty of torture a charge amnesty has wisely never leveled thus only the third testimony would appear to be evidence of torture at al shifa but it came from a member of fatah activist and former pa senior officer not necessarily the most reliable of sources 43 state of israel 2014 gaza conflict para 129 44 if palestinian armed groups violated international humanitarian law by storing munitions near the hospital and this was what israel was targeting when it struck the hospital and killed civilians serious concerns about the manner and execution of israel s attack would remain 45 medical fact finding mission pp 50 51 see also fidh trapped and punished p 44 46 state of israel 2014 gaza conflict para 129 47 see chapter 3 48 norman g finkelstein beyond chutzpah on the misuse of anti semitism and the abuse of history expanded paperback edition berkeley 2008 pp 128 30 49 amnesty international evidence of medical workers and facilities being targeted by israeli forces in gaza 7 august 2014 medical fact finding mission pp 44 49 fidh trapped and punished pp 32 38 50 an israeli document reprinted in its official postmortem brazenly purported that up until the last two days of protective edge the idf has refrained from causing damage to schools while the report itself stated that israel targeted schools in only a very few cases state of israel 2014 gaza conflict p 176 paras 281 404 51 herewith is the totality of sources cited by amnesty israel ministry of foreign affairs hamas violations of the law pp 20 23 israel ministry of foreign affairs hamas violations of the law p 25 idf declassified report exposes hamas human shield policy slide 13 israel ministry of foreign affairs hamas violations of the law pp 20 22 idf declassified report exposes hamas human shield policy slide 14 israel ministry of foreign affairs hamas violations of the law pp 20 21 israel ministry of foreign affairs hamas violations of the law pp 20 26 52 on a related note basing itself on un press releases amnesty recounted hamas s misuse of other un schools not targeted by israel palestinian armed groups stored rockets and other munitions in un schools unrwa united nations relief and works agency discovered palestinian munitions in three of its vacant schools in the gaza strip specifically 20 rockets in an elementary school in gaza city rockets in an elementary school in jabalia another cache of rockets at a school in nuseirat the board of inquiry later found however that the weapons stored in these empty schools they were closed for summer recess were not rocket caches but rather one mortar and twenty shells in the gaza city elementary school an object seemingly a weapon in the jabalia school and one mortar and three shells on one occasion and one mortar and twenty shells on a second occasion at the nuseirat school unrwa itself acknowledged that it had overstated the case because of misreporting and a lack of technical expertise on the part of the unrwa gaza field office the official israeli postmortem on protective edge falsely stated that according to the un board of inquiry at the time the weapons were found in one of the three schools it sheltered approximately 300 gazans state of israel 2014 gaza conflict p 82 caption para 280 53 see chapter 3 54 the case israel has mounted over the years to justify its targeting of gaza s mosques lacks coherence see chapter 3 55 b tselem israeli information center for human rights in the occupied territories act of vengeance israel s bombing of the gaza power plant and its effects jerusalem 2006 56 in a press release it issued during protective edge amnesty stated that the attack very likely amounted to a war crime gaza attacks on un school and power plant are likely war crimes 30 july 2014 57 fidh trapped and punished pp 48 52 58 on another incongruous note amnesty repeatedly faulted israel for not issuing alerts before its attacks but if the intended target was a hamas militant wouldn t it have defeated the purpose to warn him in advance 59 contrariwise and as implausibly israel purported that even if many civilians did die when it targeted hamas militants in civilian dwellings still these deaths resulted from operational errors in particular the idf had been caught unawares that noncombatants were present b tselem israeli information center for human rights in the occupied territories whitewash protocol the so called investigation of operation protective edge 2016 p 21 but if it was real time intelligence that alerted it to the sudden appearance of a hamas militant in a civilian dwelling it was almost certainly a gazan informer who tipped off israel didn t the informer mention that civilians were also present or did israeli minders not even bother to ask 60 state of israel 2014 gaza conflict paras 49 317 33 401 2 452 456 annex paras 6 8 see also b tselem whitewash protocol p 23 on a related note when hamas fired mortar shells in a populated area amnesty accused it of a straightforward indiscriminate attack whereas when israel dropped a 2 000 pound bomb and fired artillery shells in a densely populated area killing large numbers of civilians amnesty accused it of committing a disproportionate attack an accusation that israel was then invited to rebut the onus is on israel to provide information relating to why it targeted see families under the rubble al dali building al louh family home 61 b tselem israeli information center for human rights in the occupied territories black flag the legal and moral implications of the policy of attacking residential buildings in the gaza strip summer 2014 2015 pp 37 41 62 breaking the silence this is how we fought in gaza soldiers testimonies and photographs from operation protective edge 2014 63 for israel s indiscriminate destruction of homes which must have entailed approval from top level decision makers in the israeli military and or government see also medical fact finding mission pp 35 37 98 64 in strangling necks amnesty also accused hamas of having committed war crimes its torture and summary extrajudicial executions of at least 23 alleged collaborators in gaza this subject matter will be considered in chapter 13 in 65 each of the 5 000 rockets fired would automatically constitute a war crime as would each of the 2 000 mortar shells fired in the vicinity of a civilian concentration 66 action on armed violence under fire israel s artillery policies scrutinized 2014 67 state of israel 2014 gaza conflict para 347 see also paras 354 57 68 ibid para 123 see also p 152n417 69 in unlawful and deadly s précis of international humanitarian law amnesty stated that parties to the conflict must choose appropriate means and methods of attack when military targets are located within residential areas this requirement rules out the use of certain types of weapons and tactics the use of weapons that are inherently indiscriminate such as unguided rockets is prohibited and the use in densely populated areas of imprecise weapons that cannot be directed at a military objective with sufficient precision such as mortars is likely to result in indiscriminate attacks and is also prohibited setting aside that unlike israel hamas didn t enjoy the luxury to choose its means and methods of attack it was telling that amnesty alluded to hamas s unguided rockets as prohibited weapons and its use of mortars in densely populated areas as prohibited but didn t allude to israel s illegal use of artillery shells on a far larger scale in populated civilian areas it might be supposed that the omission was owing to the fact that unlawful and deadly focused on hamas war crimes but in the respective précis of international humanitarian law complementing amnesty s two reports on israeli crimes the inherent criminality of israel s artillery barrages in populated civilian areas also went unnoticed 70 see chapter 11 71 international committee of the red cross icrc commentary on the additional protocols of 8 june 1977 to the geneva conventions of 12 august 1949 geneva 1987 article 51 amnesty correctly cited this provision in unlawful and deadly s précis of international humanitarian law 72 according to amnesty hamas also claimed that its attacks on civilian areas were committed in reprisal for israeli abuses or aggression for the legal status of these belligerent reprisals see chapter 11 73 international committee of the red cross customary international humanitarian law volume i rules cambridge 2005 rules 22 23 icrc commentary on the additional protocols article 58 74 human rights watch indiscriminate fire palestinian rocket attacks on israel and israeli artillery shelling in the gaza strip 2007 p 19 75 in fairness to amnesty it did absolve hamas if just barely of the widely reported charge of human shielding the official israeli postmortem on protective edge alleged that hamas had engaged in coercive human shielding on the dubious basis of eyewitness testimony from a number of idf officers state of israel 2014 gaza conflict paras 161 64 but just as in cast lead it turned out that it was not hamas but israel that practiced human shielding in protective edge see chapter 4 chapter 11 and medical fact finding mission pp 91 94 76 see chapter 4 77 human rights watch indiscriminate fire p 7 78 amnesty international operation cast lead 22 days of death and destruction london 2009 p 75 79 icrc commentary on the additional protocols article 58 80 john dugard debunking israel s self defense argument al jazeera america 31 july 2014 america aljazeera com opinions 2014 7 gaza israel internationalpoliticsunicc html 81 on the illegality of the occupation see appendix 82 icrc commentary on the additional protocols article 58 83 these exceptions it ought to go without saying couldn t justify israel s indiscriminate systematic targeting of civilian let alone religious objects it is also possible that some mosques had an underground tunnel not to stash weapons hamas stored them in open spaces away from civilians but to serve as an escape route in the event of an israeli attack and that some minarets had cameras installed to monitor israeli troop movements 84 see chapter 13 85 2015 86 a draft had been forwarded to philip luther director of amnesty international s middle east and north africa division and parts of it were serialized on www byline com has amnesty international lost its way 9 13 17 july 2015 87 amnesty international black friday pp 16 18 684 versus 131 words 88 ibid pp 13 22 39 53 78 their omission in earlier amnesty reports on protective edge had been noted by this author in his critique 89 ibid p 44 90 black friday itself noted that even before the israeli assault on rafah began the idf was ordered at the start of a cease fire to fire indiscriminately so as to make a big boom quoting an israeli soldier and as it set out to destroy a tunnel to demolish every house and agricultural structure in the area purposelessly destroy stuff quoting another israeli soldier while it was standard idf procedure throughout protective edge to fire missiles or tank shells at buildings before approaching them ibid pp 23 26 91 ibid pp 19 20 29 31 34 92 ibid p 37 93 ibid p 27 94 icrc customary international humanitarian law rule 12 icrc commentary on the additional protocols article 51 95 icrc customary international humanitarian law rule 14 icrc commentary on the additional protocols article 51 96 icrc customary international humanitarian law rule 15 icrc commentary on the additional protocols article 57 97 icrc customary international humanitarian law rules 8 14 icrc commentary on the additional protocols articles 51 52 57 98 report of the detailed findings of the independent commission of inquiry established pursuant to human rights council resolution s 21 1 22 june 2015 paras 369 70 black friday pp 91 92 took note of this finding by the un commission if lieutenant goldin had been targeted because he was in possession of plans for an imminent attack on the enemy it would of course pose different questions 99 international court of justice advisory opinion legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons 8 july 1996 dissenting opinion of judge weeramantry ch iii humanitarian law sec 10 specific rules of the humanitarian law of war a the prohibition against causing unnecessary suffering emphasis in original 100 amnesty international black friday p 91 conclusion and recommendations 101 see chapter 13 102 amnesty international black friday p 30 goldin was officially declared dead on the night of 2 august 103 ibid pp 36 37 42 43 104 ibid p 42 emphasis added 105 ibid 106 ibid pp 43 44 107 ibid p 91 108 case 1 direct attacks on civilians and case 10 targeting of ambulances and medical personnel 109 amnesty international black friday p 91 emphases added 110 ibid emphases added 111 see addendum to this chapter 112 norman g finkelstein knowing too much why the american jewish romance with israel is coming to an end new york 2012 pp 5 95 113 see chapter 5 114 see chapter 6 115 ibid 116 see chapter 13 117 see chapter 5 118 ngo monitor amnesty international failed methodology corruption and anti israel bias 2015 for the israel lobby targeting human rights watch see chapter 5 for the israel lobby targeting kindred human rights groups such as unrwa see alex delmar morgan pro israel ngo puts pressure on unrwa for aiding palestinian refugees middle east eye 7 march 2016 see also sarah marusek and david miller how israel attempts to mislead the united nations deconstructing israel s campaign against the palestinian return centre spinwatch org 2015 119 pew research center faith in european project reviving 2015 yougov roma people and muslims are the least tolerated minorities in europe 2015 120 finkelstein beyond chutzpah part 1 in the united kingdom the anti semitism bogey was additionally conjured in 2016 to discredit the elected insurgent leadership of the labour party despite the paucity of substantiating evidence the allegations against labour received ubiquitous and uncritical media coverage see jamie stern weiner jeremy corbyn hasn t got an antisemitism problem his opponents do opendemocracy 27 april 2016 norman g finkelstein and jamie stern weiner the american jewish scholar behind labour s antisemitism scandal breaks his silence opendemocracy 3 may 2016 jamie stern weiner labour antisemitism witch hunt turns on leading anti racist campaigner jamiesternweiner wordpress com 9 may 2016 121 amnesty international uk section board meeting draft minutes of the meeting held on saturday 21 march 2015 mb 39 15 amnesty org uk webfm_send 1287 rosa doherty amnesty rejects call to campaign against anti semitism jewish chronicle 21 april 2015 122 finkelstein beyond chutzpah pp 102 3 155 56 349 51 see also part one 123 by contrast hrw was dogged and unequivocal in its condemnation of the syrian government and russia for having deliberately targeted civilians and civilian institutions in aleppo which was a blatant war crime to support this allegation executive director kenneth roth adduced the evidence that assad putin repeatedly attacked hospitals or markets and the like using precision weapons when so inclined hrw was quite able to connect the dots slaughter or liberation a debate on russia s role in the syrian war and the fall of aleppo democracynow org 14 december 2016 hrw might also want to excuse its inaction on the grounds that it couldn t gain access to gaza during or after protective edge however it did issue one if measly report the other major human rights organizations managed despite the same onerous conditions to issue substantial reports and such an excuse effectively incentivizes israel to seal off the scene of the crime hrw always had the option of reaching provisional conclusions on the basis of available evidence or partnering with reputable local human rights organizations that did have easy access 124 b tselem the most prominent israeli human rights organization monitoring the occupied palestinian territories acquitted itself without distinction in its reporting on gaza it had little to say and of this little a portion would have been better left unsaid its research director yael stein told the new york times after cast lead i do not accept the goldstone conclusion of a systematic attack on civilian infrastructure it is not convincing ethan bronner israel poised to challenge a un report on gaza new york times 23 january 2010 in the face of a mountain of evidence pointing to such a systematic israeli attack it was her denial that wasn t convincing b tselem has always been careful to situate itself within the israeli national consensus as that consensus drifted inexorably rightward it was no longer tenable for b tselem to gain a hearing among the israeli public if it appeared to be defending terrorists in gaza it accordingly vacillated between near silence and gross apologetics see also chapter 3 and chapter 4 125 ben sales breaking the silence comes under withering attack after questioning israel s military forward 18 december 2015 126 paul miller controversy erupts over anti israel group at columbia university hillel observer 1 april 2016 127 unicef escalating violence in the gaza strip and israel threatens devastating harm for children 10 july 2014 unicef children are bearing the brunt of the worsening violence in gaza and israel 13 july 2014 unicef basic services for children under assault in gaza 18 july 2014 unicef outrage has become commonplace 30 july 2014 unicef statement on latest deaths of children in israel and gaza 23 august 2014 128 harriet sherwood un officials accused of bowing to israeli pressure over children s rights list guardian 17 march 2015 129 during the cultural revolution chinese who had dissented from mao s correct political line in the past were made to publicly confess the error of their ways an open letter for the people in gaza lancet 2 august 2014 gaza an urgent call to protect civilian life and health lancet 9 august 2014 judy siegel itzkovich the lancet editor relents on medical journal s unbalanced attacks on israel jerusalem post 2 october 2014 andrew tobin lancet editor sees positive side of israel in visit times of israel 13 october 2014 ben white lobbying the lancet how israel s apologists smeared doctors for terrorism middle east monitor 15 october 2014 richard horton offline people to people lancet 11 october 2014 richard horton geopolitical issues and responsibilities of medical and scientific journals rambam maimonides medical journal january 2015 for kasher see chapter 4 130 jacques de maio opening address ninth annual minerva icrc international conference on humanitarian law 3 4 november 2014 report of the detailed findings paras 330 32 355 378 79 456 65 521 131 see chapter 2 132 anshel pfeffer israel has little to fear from the international criminal court haaretz 20 may 2014 yonah jeremy bob former icc prosecutor high court approval could save settlements from war crime label jerusalem post 10 december 2015 133 even honorable international civil servants from whom one would expect better disappointed the distinguished diplomat álvaro de soto penned a scathing report documenting us and israeli highhandedness on the one side and un supineness on the other during his stint as un envoy for the middle east peace process still he reserved his harshest language for hamas which he repeatedly accused of initiating the violence to which israel retaliates indeed de soto himself confessed there is a seeming reflex in any given situation where the un is to take a position to ask first how israel or washington will react rather than what is the right position to take i confess that i am not entirely exempt from that reflex and i regret it álvaro de soto end of mission report may 2007 paras 25 74 76 134 but to his credit de soto did make the point in telling detail that hamas was never given a chance to govern and to evolve into a responsible political actor see chapter 1 134 september 2015 135 amnesty international time to address impunity two years after the gaza israel war 8 july 2016 136 see also chapter 13 on this incident 137 see chapter 5 138 ngo monitor amnesty international s goldstone campaign with a review of statements from other ngo s 22 october 2009 ngo monitor org article amnesty_international_goldstone_s_cheat_sheet_ amnesty inquiry international un must ensure goldstone 139 amnesty recommendations are implemented 15 september 2009 emphasis added 140 amnesty international time to address impunity emphasis added 141 international committee of the red cross people on war perspectives from 16 countries geneva 2016 pp 7 9 142 international court of justice advisory opinion legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons 8 july 1996 paras 95 97 c h a p t e r t h i rt e e n b e t r aya l i i u n h u m a n r i g h t s c o u n c i l 1 un rights council appoints members of commission to investigate purported gaza violations un news centre 11 august 2014 2 tovah lazaroff unhrc investigator schabas stays mum on hamas as terror group jerusalem post 12 august 2014 stuart winer un gaza probe head says he s not anti israel will be impartial times of israel 12 august 2014 raphael ahren watchdog group demands that schabas quit un gaza inquiry over anti israel bias times of israel 4 september 2014 head of un inquiry into gaza conflict to quit ynetnews com 2 february 2015 barak ravid and jack khoury netanyahu after gaza inquiry head quit un should shelve report haaretz 3 february 2015 barak ravid new head of un inquiry into gaza war expected to be more balanced toward israel haaretz 3 february 2015 the immediate impetus of schabas s resignation was the revelation that he once did a routine paid consultancy for the palestine liberation organization but didn t mention it in the résumé he submitted had schabas reported it he perhaps would have survived the witch hunt 3 see chapter 9 4 report of the detailed findings of the independent commission of inquiry established pursuant to human rights council resolution s 21 1 22 june 2015 hereafter un report 5 hamas is here used to denote all armed groups in gaza 6 see chapter 12 7 un report para 26 8 ibid paras 26 30 9 ibid paras 54 598 599 10 ibid para 681 d the report implicitly distanced itself on this point from the un panel of inquiry appointed by secretary general ban ki moon which determined the coastal blockade of gaza to be legal see chapter 9 11 ibid paras 369 70 12 ibid para 53 13 the report also uncritically repeated israel s rationale for launching operation brother s keeper which directly preceded protective edge on 12 june 2014 19 year old eyal yifrah and 16 year olds gilad sha er and naftali frenkel were abducted and brutally murdered in response to their kidnapping from 12 to 30 june 2014 israel launched operation brother s keeper which the idf stated aimed to find the three youths and simultaneously weaken hamas terror ibid para 503 however in an apparently botched operation their abductors immediately killed the israeli teenagers the israeli government which was almost certainly privy to this turn of events before launching brother s keeper exploited the killings in the service of a larger political agenda see chapter 11 14 un report paras 58 246 the ground invasion it continued followed what israel described as a militant attack inside israel on 17 july carried out through a tunnel from inside gaza the launch of an unmanned aerial vehicle uav into israeli airspace an attempted infiltration by sea into israel by hamas naval commandos continued rocket fire from gaza and hamas s refusal to accept a cease fire ibid para 246 but the more likely impetus behind israel s decision to launch the ground invasion on 17 july was the downing of the malaysian airliner over ukraine on that same day see chapter 11 15 yoram dinstein war aggression and self defence fourth edition cambridge 2005 pp 209 10 16 gaza conflict task force 2014 gaza war assessment the new face of conflict jewish institute for national security affairs jinsa 2015 p 8 see also pp 16 19 the task force was commissioned by jinsa 17 sara roy the gaza strip the political economy of de development expanded third edition washington dc 2016 p xxx amnesty international report 2015 16 the state of the world s human rights 2016 p 201 18 see chapter 11 19 nahum barnea israel to build underground wall around gaza strip ynetnews com 16 june 2016 20 amos harel israel doesn t intend to strike gaza over hamas tunnels haaretz 2 february 2016 it was subsequently reported that although work on the wall had begun it is at risk of being defunded as no money has been allocated to the project for fiscal years 2017 2018 the ministry of finance insisted however that there is in fact a budget for the project matan tzuri building starts on underground gaza barrier ynetnews com 7 september 2016 21 un report paras 16 555 597 668 the only false note in this litany of evenhandedness was a passing one sided recognition that palestinians have demonstrated extraordinary resilience in recent years para 54 22 see e g report of the international commission of inquiry on darfur to the united nations secretary general 25 january 2005 paras 190 271 285 23 un report paras 110 465 503 50 israel paras 59 109 466 502 hamas 24 ibid paras 573 96 gaza paras 556 72 israel 25 ibid paras 526 46 26 ibid para 66 27 ibid para 574 28 ibid paras 593 95 29 ibid paras 569 71 30 international committee of the red cross icrc commentary on the additional protocols of 8 june 1977 to the geneva conventions of 12 august 1949 geneva 1987 article 51 31 ibid commentary para 1940 32 un report para 108 33 ibid paras 55 74 104 106 108 558 561 34 ibid para 673 35 see chapter 7 and chapter 11 36 see chapter 12 37 un report paras 63 64 38 see chapter 11 and chapter 12 39 un report paras 78 95 556 565 566 40 see chapter 11 41 un report para 60 see also para 89 42 ibid paras 78 80 91 43 ibid paras 92 95 44 ibid para 90 45 un report paras 97 102 it also noted ibid paras 484 86 that rockets fired by palestinian armed groups in several cases appear to have malfunctioned or were fired carelessly and fell short in some cases in densely populated areas of gaza causing deaths and injuries in one particularly tragic incident eleven gazan children and two adults were killed although it did call on hamas to conduct a thorough investigation of the case to determine the origin and circumstances of the attack the report treated this incident with decidedly less malice than amnesty did see chapter 12 46 ibid para 85 47 ibid para 669 see also para 215 48 ibid para 99 49 see chapter 11 50 un report para 90 51 see chapter 2 52 icrc commentary on the additional protocols article 59 53 un report paras 466 69 54 ibid para 471 55 see chapter 12 56 un report para 475 57 ibid paras 472 476 77 58 ibid para 473 59 ibid para 478 60 in a subsequent paragraph ibid para 482 the report adduced one if underwhelming proof it cited several hamas public declarations exhorting gazans on the eve of israel s threatened ground invasion to stand steadfast and not to heed the warnings issued by the idf instructing residents to evacuate t he declarations are a clear indication that the authorities in gaza did not take all the necessary precautions to protect the civilian population if hamas didn t physically prevent gazans from evacuating and if gazans chose as an act of their own volition and fully conscious of the impending dangers to remain in place and if the active agent endangering the civilian population was israel not hamas then hamas s only documented violation of the precautions obligation would appear to be fairly trivial 61 ibid para 479 emphases added 62 see also ibid para 480 63 ibid para 483 see also para 177 emphases added in 2006 human rights watch leveled a nearly identical charge but after it came under public pressure retracted it norman g finkelstein knowing too much why the american jewish romance with israel is coming to an end new york 2012 p 126 64 norman g finkelstein what gandhi says about nonviolence resistance and courage new york 2012 pp 72 73 65 un report paras 492 502 66 leon trotsky terrorism and communism ann arbor 1972 p 58 67 yitzhak zuckerman a surplus of memory chronicle of the warsaw ghetto uprising berkeley 1993 pp 192 209 68 un report paras 502 673 69 ibid para 683 b 70 ibid para 499 71 ibid para 20 72 ibid para 111 73 ibid para 134 case 4 abu jabr 74 ibid para 190 case 13 al sayam and abu sanimah 75 ibid para 220 76 ibid paras 193 200 case 14 shuheibar 77 preliminary partial examination of the names of palestinians killed in operation protective edge and analysis of the ratio between terrorist operatives and noninvolved civilians killed in error 28 july 2014 terrorism info org il data articles art_20687 e_124_14b_472268844 pdf 78 un report para 119 case 1 al hajj para 160 case 8 al batsh para 185 case 12 dheir family para 191 case 13 al sayam and abu sanimah in one instance although a militant was apparently present in the building israel justified its attack on altogether different grounds ibid paras 178 79 case 11 kaware the report s determination of possible military targets also leaned on questionable data supplied by amnesty see chapter 12 79 un report para 220 see also para 222 80 ibid para 122 case 2 qassas para 128 case 3 al najjar para 141 case 5 al hallaq and ammar para 147 case 6 balatah para 170 case 10 al salam tower al kilani and derbass 81 ibid paras 233 237 82 the gbu 31 and mark 84 jdam belong to the same family of weapons 83 un report para 225 84 ibid para 226 emphasis added 85 the report s determination regarding use of high explosive artillery shells by the idf in densely populated areas of gaza also perplexes beyond the explosive power of these shells the report observed that indirect fire systems such as 155mm artillery are considered statistical weapons the wide area dispersal of their shells is an expected outcome as this is how these weapons were designed to work nearly 20 000 of these doubly indiscriminate high explosive artillery shells were fired with reckless abandon as the breaking the silence compilation shows 95 percent in or near densely populated civilian areas making israel s use of them triply indiscriminate a high explosive shell with a wide area dispersal was fired blindly into densely populated areas the report bizarrely concluded that the use of such artillery is not appropriate in densely populated areas regardless of the legality of resorting to such weapons it s hard to figure out which appalls more the report s use of the emily post like locution not appropriate or its unmistakable implication that israel s use of this artillery in gaza was legal but six paragraphs later the report seemed to reverse itself the use of weapons with wide area effects by the idf in the densely populated built up areas of gaza and the significant likelihood of lethal indiscriminate effects resulting from such weapons are highly likely to constitute a violation of the prohibition of indiscriminate attacks and may amount to a war crime ibid paras 408 9 415 see also chapter 12 86 un report para 208 87 ibid paras 219 21 88 ibid para 221 see also para 232 89 ibid para 221 90 ibid para 237 91 ibid para 222 for israel s attacks on the high rise buildings see chapter 11 92 un report paras 227 28 230 241 93 ibid paras 223 243 emphasis in original 94 ibid paras 248 250 95 ibid paras 257 60 96 ibid paras 262 78 283 85 292 93 97 ibid paras 293 96 98 israel never alleged that it was attempting to prevent hamas from capturing an injured soldier as in rafah when the hannibal directive was invoked 99 un report para 286 100 see e g chapter 12 table 8 testimony 51 and testimony 71 101 un report para 299 102 human rights watch gaza israeli soldiers shoot and kill fleeing civilians 4 august 2014 103 un report paras 308 13 104 ibid paras 329 33 105 ibid paras 337 340 emphasis in original 106 ibid para 339 107 ibid para 341 the report noted in this context that article 33 of geneva convention iv establishes that collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited but it limited the charge directed at israel to collective punishment 108 see chapter 12 109 for a detailed treatment of the rafah massacre see chapter 12 110 un report para 359 111 ibid paras 352 57 112 ibid paras 365 66 emphasis added see chapter 12 113 un report paras 376 85 114 ibid paras 386 88 115 human rights watch precisely wrong gaza civilians killed by israeli drone launched missiles 2009 116 un report para 392 117 ibid paras 396 405 charlotte alfred the present is tragic but the future is unthinkable in gaza huffington post 31 july 2014 gunness b tselem israeli information center for human rights in the occupied territories whitewash protocol the so called investigation of operation protective edge 2016 pp 22 23 118 un report paras 406 15 119 ibid paras 416 19 120 ibid para 420 121 the report also asserted without a source that attacks on more than 200 residential buildings by air strikes resulted in no civilian casualties ibid para 234 122 ibid paras 235 39 jutta bachmann et al gaza 2014 findings of an independent medical fact finding mission 2015 assembled by physicians for human rights israel pp 39 44 123 see chapter 3 124 see chapter 11 un report paras 210 11 233 34 125 un report paras 211 234 126 ibid para 234 127 ibid paras 425 30 128 ibid paras 433 38 129 ibid paras 439 43 130 al mezan center for human rights israeli military refuses to investigate attack near unrwa school in rafah gaza that killed 14 civilians 31 august 2016 131 un report paras 445 49 132 ibid paras 446 48 the report s legal analysis did not directly assess the third incident at rafah school 133 see chapter 11 134 un report paras 450 55 581 83 135 b tselem israeli information center for human rights in the occupied territories deemed the 2006 attack a war crime see chapter 12 136 un report paras 456 65 137 icrc commentary on the additional protocols article 53 138 un report paras 247 355 474 476 139 see chapter 12 140 un report paras 652 61 666 141 ibid paras 607 51 see also ibid para 681 b 142 see chapter 4 b tselem israeli information center for human rights in the occupied territories israeli authorities have proven they cannot investigate suspected violations of international humanitarian law by israel in the gaza strip 5 september 2014 143 see chapter 7 144 see chapter 8 145 un report para 664 146 ibid para 609 147 b tselem israeli information center for human rights in the occupied territories the occupation s fig leaf israel s military law enforcement system as a whitewash mechanism 2016 148 b tselem whitewash protocol p 25 for israel s failure to investigate violations of international law after protective edge see also al mezan center for human rights gaza two years on impunity over accountability 28 august 2016 149 un report paras 630 33 150 tyler hicks through lens 4 boys dead by gaza shore new york times 16 july 2014 peter beaumont israel exonerates itself over gaza beach killings last year guardian 11 june 2015 peter beaumont gaza beach killings no justice in israeli exoneration says victim s father guardian 13 june 2015 151 amnesty international black friday p 77 for this report see chapter 12 152 un committee against torture concluding observations on the fifth periodic report of israel 3 june 2016 para 28 amnesty international report 2015 16 it also reported that children appeared to be victims of unlawful killings pp 201 2 un report para 517 153 see chapter 4 israel s use of gazan children as human shields has a long history see jean pierre filiu gaza a history new york 2014 p 98 154 jodi rudoren autopsy suggests palestinian teenager was burned to death after abduction new york times 5 july 2015 jack khoury palestinian infant burned to death in west bank arson attack haaretz 31 july 2015 155 it depresses that israel s preeminent human rights organization b tselem also sustained the official fiction that israel targeted a hamas compound and that the child killings resulted from imperfect surveillance equipment b tselem whitewash protocol pp 17 21 on the latter point were it true that israel couldn t distinguish between ten year olds playing hide and seek in broad daylight in a civilian area on the one hand and hamas militants about to launch a lethal attack on the other then it s hard to fathom israel s generic claim that it was careful not to target civilians how would it even know whether it was targeting civilians or combatants 156 see chapter 5 157 ibid 158 un report paras 243 640 43 671 72 159 ibid paras 667 675 160 to the contrary it quoted wholly unrepresentative expressions of israeli solicitude for gazans ibid paras 75 77 c o n c lu s i o n 1 united nations country team in the occupied palestinian territory gaza in 2020 a liveable place 2012 p 16 2 united nations conference on trade and development report on unctad assistance to the palestinian people developments in the economy of the occupied palestinian territory july 2015 paras 25 60 united nations country team in the state of palestine gaza two years after 2016 pp 4 5 9 maartje m van den berg et al increasing neonatal mortality among palestine refugees in the gaza strip plos one 4 august 2015 3 amos harel israel s defense ministry takes harsher tone and idf better prepare haaretz 15 june 2016 nahum barnea israel to build underground wall around gaza strip ynetnews com 16 june 2016 4 united nations conference on trade and development report on unctad assistance 2015 para 55 united nations conference on trade and development report on unctad assistance to the palestinian people developments in the economy of the occupied palestinian territory september 2016 paras 22 28 5 see chapter 13 6 sara roy the gaza strip the political economy of de development expanded third edition washington dc 2016 p xxxi a un report concretized the impact of the export ban in the five year period from 2000 2004 the average annual number of truckloads exported from gaza stood at almost 11 500 in the first five years following the blockade this figure dropped by 7000 to 162 truckloads per year while there has been a recent increase 621 truckloads exported in 2015 and almost 500 truckloads so far this year the scale of exports from gaza is still only 5 of pre 2007 levels united nations country team gaza two years after p 11 7 gisha legal center for freedom of movement split apart 2016 p 1 for israel s travel restrictions on gaza see also amira hass israel clamps down on palestinians seeking to leave gaza cites security concerns haaretz 15 july 2016 8 it s been a decade open gaza the palestinian ghetto haaretz 17 may 2016 reuters 5 july 2016 9 luke baker diplomatic ties help israel defang international criticism 10 the enemy of my enemies economist 23 july 2016 11 association of international development agencies charting a new course overcoming the stalemate in gaza 2015 p 16 table b annie slemrod 18 months on gaza donors still falling way short irin 18 april 2016 12 ben caspit is israel forming an alliance with saudi arabia and egypt al monitor 13 april 2016 zena tahhan egypt israel relations at highest level in history al jazeera 20 november 2016 13 see part three 14 turkey was permitted to deliver humanitarian aid and build a hospital power station and desalination plant in gaza if israel made these concessions prime minister benjamin netanyahu declared it was because israel would also stand to benefit from them barak ravid israel and turkey officially announce rapprochement deal ending diplomatic crisis haaretz 27 june 2016 see also raphael ahren taking up post turkish envoy hails new start with friend israel times of israel 12 december 2016 15 report of the middle east quartet 1 july 2016 the report vaguely alluded to the destruction wreaked by protective edge 16 roy gaza strip pp 407 9 17 united nations relief and works agency unrwa remarks by un secretary general ban ki moon at press encounter in gaza 28 june 2016 18 sara roy interview chris gunness middle east policy spring 2016 p 146 unrwa is the major refugee relief organization in gaza 19 zvi bar el israeli security assessments are reality built on a lie haaretz 19 april 2016 20 norman g finkelstein this time we went too far truth and consequences of the gaza invasion expanded paperback edition new york 2011 pp 107 29 norman g finkelstein knowing too much why the american jewish romance with israel is coming to an end new york 2012 21 helen hunt jackson a century of dishonor a sketch of the united states government s dealings with some of the indian tribes boston 1889 p 270 a p p e n d i x i s t h e o c c u pat i o n l e g a l 1 adam roberts what is a military occupation 1985 pp 293 94 bybil oxfordjournals org content 55 1 249 full pdf 2 antonio cassese self determination of peoples a legal reappraisal cambridge 1995 pp 55 90 99 335 3 i am grateful to professor john quigley for this reference 4 allan gerson israel the west bank and international law london 1978 pp 75 76 5 norman g finkelstein knowing too much why the american jewish romance with israel is coming to an end new york 2012 pp 170 75 205 8 israel s leading authority on international law yoram dinstein has consistently maintained that israel s first strike was lawful but he simultaneously maintains that international law permits use of force in self defense only in response to an armed attack or in his various formulations the imminence of an armed attack as soon as it becomes evident to the victim state on the basis of hard intelligence evidence at the time that the attack is in the process of being mounted after the other side has committed itself to an armed attack in an ostensibly irrevocable way in order to reconcile israel s resort to armed force in 1967 with the stringent criteria he sets forth dinstein asserts that the israeli campaign amounted to an interceptive self defense in response to an incipient armed attack by egypt it seemed to be crystal clear that egypt was bent on an armed attack and the sole question was not whether war would materialize but when the single piece of evidence dinstein adduces in support of this pivotal point however consists of an article he published 40 years ago he willfully ignores the voluminous record that has since become available showing that egypt was not poised to attack and israeli leaders did not believe an attack was imminent when they struck incidentally if except for an armed attack the only situation allowing for resort to force in self defense is the imminence of a strike wouldn t the sole question of when egypt was planning to attack be critical yoram dinstein war aggression and self defence fourth edition cambridge 2005 pp 182 92 for misrepresentations of the 1967 war in legal scholarship see especially john quigley the six day war and israeli self defense questioning the legal basis for preventive war cambridge 2013 6 finkelstein knowing too much pp 209 16 7 meir shamgar legal concepts and problems of the israeli military government the initial stage in meir shamgar ed military government in the territories administered by israel 1967 1980 the legal aspects vol 1 jerusalem 1982 p 43 see also p 46 8 norman g finkelstein image and reality of the israel palestine conflict expanded second paperback edition new york 2003 pp 150 71 9 united nations security council official records s pv 1735 26 july 1973 paras 46 47 hereafter unscor 10 security council draft res s 10974 reproduced in m cherif bassiouni ed documents of the arab israeli conflict emergence of conflict in palestine and the arab israeli wars and peace process vol 1 ardsley ny 2005 pp 631 32 11 unscor s pv 1735 26 july 1973 para 86 emphasis added 12 ibid para 129 13 abba eban personal witness israel through my eyes new york 1992 p 541 william b quandt peace process american diplomacy and the arab israeli conflict since 1967 berkeley 1993 p 152 14 leiden 2009 15 cambridge 2009 p 2 para 5 16 berkeley journal of international law 2005 see also aeyal gross a temporary place of permanence haaretz 27 october 2015 17 united nations security council unsc resolution 446 22 march 1979 unsc resolution 478 20 august 1980 18 united nations general assembly resolution es 10 14 8 december 2003 19 legal consequences of the construction of a wall in the occupied palestinian territory advisory opinion i c j reports 2004 p 184 para 121 emphases added 20 judge koroma separate opinion ibid p 204 para 2 21 james crawford sc third party obligations with respect to israeli settlements in the occupied palestinian territories july 2012 copy on file with this writer 22 hcj 7957 04 zaharan yunis muhammad mara abe v the prime minister of israel 15 september 2005 para 100 23 unscor s pv 4841 14 october 2003 p 10 24 b tselem israeli information center for human rights in the occupied territories arrested development the long term impact of israel s separation barrier in the west bank october 2012 pp 5 75 25 eyal benvenisti the international law of occupation princeton 1993 pp 145 46 214 16 26 john dugard ed the south west africa namibia dispute documents and scholarly writings on the controversy between south africa and the united nations berkeley 1973 p xi 27 judge nervo dissenting opinion south west africa cases ethiopia v south africa liberia v south africa second phase judgment i c j reports 1966 p 452 28 the soviet union was also the driving force behind decolonization and self determination in the international arena after world war ii james crawford the creation of states in international law second edition oxford 2006 p 108 cassese self determination pp 19 38 44 52 71 321 david raič statehood and the law of self determination the hague 2002 pp 200 204 for the wilson lenin relationship see erez manela the wilsonian moment self determination and the international origins of anticolonial nationalism oxford 2007 p 41 besides hoping to steal the bolsheviks thunder wilson pressed the principle of self determination in order to preempt japan s acquisition of strategic pacific islands 29 legal consequences for states i c j reports 1971 p 33 para 56 30 the trusteeship system established under chapters xii xiii of the un charter had essentially the same goal as the mandates system namely of preparing territories under its aegis for self government 31 solomon slonim south west africa and the united nations an international mandate in dispute baltimore 1973 pp 75 109 by the early 1950s south africa had effectively annexed namibia in the late 1950s south africa mooted the partition and its annexation of a part of south west africa but was overwhelmingly rebuffed by the united nations a handful of countries notably the us and uk initially supported the south african démarche during later general assembly debates the delegate from ghana distilled the south african objective thusly t he indigenous african population was to be uprooted in order to constitute twelve artificial territorial and ethnic groupings or homelands in the homelands they would develop separately each group according to its own racial talents and resources the bulk of the habitable land in south west africa together with all its diamond mines and most of its other mines would become the exclusive reserve for the white settler descendants of the boers germans and english by a clever gerrymandering maneuver the demarcations of the settlers homelands are carefully drawn around mineral deposits seaports transportation and communication facilities and urban areas the us delegate represented the south african plan as plainly designed to fragment the territory on apartheid principles as allocating over one half the territory including the farms mines and towns of the heartland to the 16 percent of the population who are white with the non white majority consigned to less desirable and fractionalized units cut off from the sea and without hope of independent economic development and as a denial of self determination and a means of perpetuating white supremacy general assembly official records hereafter gaor a pv 1635 16 december 1967 para 72 gaor a pv 1658 20 may 1968 para 57 gaor a pv 1737 10 december 1968 para 118 32 international status of south west africa advisory opinion i c j reports 1950 pp 133 45 judge álvarez dissenting opinion ibid p 184 judge de visscher dissenting opinion ibid p 188 judge krylov dissenting opinion ibid p 191 33 south west africa voting procedure advisory opinion i c j reports 1955 pp 67 78 this case is probably best remembered for judge lauterpacht s elegant if elusive parsing in his separate opinion of the legal status of general assembly resolutions ibid pp 118 20 34 admissibility of hearings of petitioners by the committee on south west africa advisory opinion i c j reports 1956 pp 26 32 35 according to article 94 of the un charter each member of the united nations undertakes to comply with the decision of the international court of justice in any case to which it is a party and if any party to a case fails to perform the obligations incumbent upon it under a judgment rendered by the court the other party may have recourse to the security council which may if it deems necessary make recommendations or decide upon measures to be taken to give effect to the judgment 36 south west africa cases ethiopia v south africa liberia v south africa first phase preliminary objections i c j reports 1962 37 south west africa cases second phase judgment i c j reports 1966 38 between 1962 and 1966 the composition of the court had changed shifting its ideological balance to the right 39 dugard south west africa namibia p 292 40 south west africa cases second phase judgment i c j reports 1966 p 51 although concurring with the court majority s finding in its 1966 judgment slonim nonetheless concedes despite the disclaimer of the court it is quite clear that the 1966 decision in fact if not in technical form represents a reversal of the 1962 judgment south west africa p 284 he defends the court s volte face on the grounds that in the course of the protracted pleadings it became apparent that south africa s apartheid policy in namibia the heart of the entire proceedings ibid p 224 was nonjusticiable i e not susceptible to judicial supervision pp 297 98 and that therefore the court had to dismiss the applicants submission that south africa had breached the mandate s terms this thesis falls on multiple counts 1 the court itself did not make such a determination in its 1966 judgment but instead in the mandate s adjudicatory compromissory clause 2 although slonim persuasively argues that counsel for the applicants dreadfully botched the case in particular the standard or norm it proposed for condemning south africa was untenable it would also appear and slonim himself implicitly acknowledges ibid pp 300 301 305 6 that a competent counsel could have mounted a credible case on the basis of which the court might have found in favor of the applicants and 3 in its 1971 opinion the court did find essentially relying on the theory mooted by counsel for the applicants in 1966 that south africa s apartheid policy in namibia constituted a flagrant violation of the purposes and principles of the un charter legal consequences for states i c j reports 1971 p 57 paras 129 31 whether the court decided correctly is beside the point the fact is it did not find the apartheid policy inherently nonjusticiable but see also slonim south west africa p 338n132 leaned on an alleged technical distinction 41 judge forster dissenting opinion south west africa cases second phase judgment i c j reports 1966 p 482 42 it was probably true that the mandatory powers which were never truly committed to nonannexation had tacitly acquiesced in south africa s eventual incorporation of south west africa but it was equally true that the letter of the mandate barred such annexation see susan pedersen the guardians the league of nations and the crisis of empire oxford 2015 43 in the preliminary phase judge jessup submitted a 50 page concurring separate opinion and judge fitzmaurice alongside judge spender an australian submitted a 100 page dissenting opinion while in the merits phase the main opinion apparently drafted by fitzmaurice he had a distinctive literary style ran to 50 pages and jessup s dissenting opinion came to over 100 pages 44 judge de castro separate opinion legal consequences for states i c j reports 1971 p 211 45 the merits phase of the proceedings lasted some three years while both phases combined lasted five years and produced nearly seven thousand pages of printed record covering both the written and oral pleadings from a judicial perspective the real tragedy of the icj s decision not to weigh the merits of the case against south africa was that it missed a unique opportunity to capture in the idiom of law exactly what made the system of apartheid reprehensible the fact is prima facie south africa did mount a credible defense to wit apartheid in particular its finished form of separate development in independent homelands merely constituted an application of the self determination principle to culturally distinct tribes while the tribal conflicts plaguing the african continent attested to the folly of enclosing heterogeneous groups within one and the same border south africa s brief could be effectively rejoined only by patient and subtle forensic analysis not capsule formulas still less hortatory slogans the icj s passing attempts in the namibia case to define apartheid s evil see especially judge tanaka s 1966 dissenting opinion but see also legal consequences for states however laudable did not rise to the judicial challenge in his 1971 dissenting opinion judge fitzmaurice fairly chastised the court for treating apartheid as self evidently detrimental to the welfare of the inhabitants of the mandated territory without providing or even being open to argument still it must be said that fitzmaurice s reprimand of the court verged on the outrageous inasmuch as he himself played the pivotal role in preempting the court s judicial parsing of apartheid in 1966 judge tanaka dissenting opinion south west africa cases second phase judgment i c j reports 1966 pp 310 13 legal consequences for states i c j reports 1971 p 57 paras 129 31 judge fitzmaurice dissenting opinion ibid pp 222 23 46 judge álvarez dissenting opinion international status of south west africa advisory opinion i c j reports 1950 pp 183 85 47 judge de visscher dissenting opinion ibid p 188 48 judge bustamante separate opinion south west africa cases first phase preliminary objections i c j reports 1962 pp 385 86 49 judge jessup separate opinion ibid p 435 50 gaor a pv 1451 26 october 1966 para 21 51 slonim south west africa p 181 see also p 134 quite obviously the essential prerequisite to the success of any negotiations viz agreement on the purpose of the negotiations was totally absent 52 gaor a pv 1414 23 september 1966 para 30 53 gaor a pv 1453 27 october 1966 para 40 54 gaor a pv 1448 19 october 1966 paras 126 142 in a subsequent general assembly meeting the exceptionally expressive uruguayan delegate exhorted so let us then set to work let us face the difficulties it is regrettable that south africa persists in its attitude of rebelliousness against the united nations but this cannot paralyze our action the time for warnings is past the truth is in fact that the torrents of eloquence uttered over the past twenty two years in the united nations have been of no avail vox clamantis in deserto the south africans have been deaf to our warnings perhaps the character in one of the plays of benavente the great spanish playwright was right when he said i do not believe that sermons have any effect they are like the road signs on dangerous curves useless for those who drive carefully and even more useless for those who are determined to crash gaor a pv 1515 5 may 1967 para 96 55 gaor a pv 1448 19 october 1966 paras 41 43 in the event great britain which had extensive investments in south africa ended up opposing usually by abstention un resolutions condemning it 56 except for arguably palestine there are currently no territories under the mandate or trusteeship systems 57 gaor a pv 1439 12 october 1966 paras 98 101 58 gaor a pv 1515 5 may 1967 59 gaor a pv 1662 24 may 1968 para 17 israeli delegate quoting 60 gaor a pv 1439 12 october 1966 para 73 a pv 1453 27 october eban s assembly speech 1966 para 5 61 gaor a pv 1737 10 december 1968 para 122 62 gaor a pv 1632 14 december 1967 para 4 63 gaor a pv 1632 14 december 1967 paras 12 13 64 gaor a pv 1449 19 october 1966 paras 19 22 in the instant case the lobby to which the delegate was referring comprised american business interests in the south african economy in subsequent assembly debates the united states persisted in preaching the virtues of dialogue and diplomacy although also purporting that it did not thereby suggest or in any way condone indefinite delay gaor a pv 1505 26 april 1967 paras 24 25 65 unscor s pv 1550 29 july 1970 para 41 66 unscor s pv 1391 16 february 1968 para 67 unscor s pv 1465 20 march 1969 paras 10 15 unscor s pv 1496 11 august 1969 paras 20 24 26 67 the composition of the court changed in the interim period between the 1966 and 1971 judgments tilting it ideologically in the opposite progressive direction the court was also under tremendous international pressure to redeem itself after the 1966 fiasco judge fitzmaurice submitted a one hundred page dissenting opinion in which he blasted nearly the whole of the court s jurisprudence from the inception of the namibia case in 1950 indeed by this point he had effectively shed his judicial robe and functioned as lead counsel for south africa already at the time of the 1966 judgment judge jessup had observed in his dissent that the court under fitzmaurice s intellectual stewardship reached its determination that the court lacked jurisdiction on a theory not advanced even by south africa itself judge jessup dissenting opinion south west africa cases second phase judgment i c j reports 1966 p 328 emphasis in original but see also slonim south west africa pp 219n15 291 92 if the vocation of lawyering is to prove or pretend that words do not mean what they plainly do mean then fitzmaurice must be said to have been a virtuoso practitioner of his craft he even denied in 1971 the plain meaning of his own words in 1966 dugard south west africa namibia pp 486 87 the gist of his 1971 dissent was that none of the un political bodies not the general assembly not even the security council had any legitimate say over south africa s administration of namibia and that although south africa could not legally annex namibia if it embarked on such a course the united nations could not revoke the mandate until and unless this sanction was imposed by lawful means but on the last point if fitzmaurice contested the whole of the court s jurisprudence in the namibia case except the 1966 decision denying the court s jurisdiction then de facto he signaled in his 1971 dissent that south africa was free to do whatever it pleased it was a measure of his bias that fitzmaurice chastised the general assembly for 1 being unsympathetic by nature to south africa whereas he himself fell mute on the assembly s disposition toward namibia which after all was its prime responsibility sacred trust under the mandates system and 2 fostering a permanent state of tension with south africa by promoting namibian independence whereas he did not even mention the tension fomented by south africa s aspiration to illegally annex namibia and leaving aside whether the tension engendered by each of the parties was equally culpable the upshot of fitzmaurice s dissent was that he construed not namibia but south africa as the sacred trust and protecting its sovereignty as the preeminent object of judicial notice it is indicative of the moral universe he inhabited that in depicting the opposed jurisdictional claims of the united nations and south africa over namibia s fate and future fitzmaurice fastened onto this cretinous metaphor the united nations backed the wrong horse judge fitzmaurice dissenting opinion legal consequences for states i c j reports 1971 pp 226 232 33 252 in commentaries on the namibia litigation fitzmaurice proved to be a political touchstone thus between the two leading scholars on the namibia case dugard who was more sympathetic to the progressives on the court ridiculed fitzmaurice s anarchic suggestion that the court overthrow all its previous decisions on south west africa whereas slonim who was more sympathetic to the court s conservatives praised his vigorous and powerful dissent and formidable challenge to the majority opinion dugard south west africa namibia p 485 slonim south west africa pp 340 342 68 a significant section of the advisory opinion also focused on the legal obligations of un member states after the security council affirmed the assembly action insofar as a security council resolution affirming the illegality of israel s occupation will not now or in the foreseeable future be spared an american veto this section of the opinion will not be analyzed here 69 legal consequences for states i c j reports 1971 pp 43 45 paras 84 86 70 judge dillard separate opinion legal consequences for states i c j reports 1971 pp 159 60 emphasis in original 71 judge gros dissenting opinion legal consequences for states i c j reports 1971 pp 344 45 paras 43 45 72 slonim south west africa pp 192 96 73 legal consequences for states i c j reports 1971 pp 45 50 paras 87 105 quote at para 105 it bears passing notice that the court was less than lucid or consistent on this point according to judge nervo the general assembly resolution did not become fully effective until after security council resolutions affirmed it and as a result of the combined effect of the resolutions of these two principal organs of the united nations while according to judge dillard the assembly had the power in this sui generis case to revoke the mandate but also could do so as a general principle in conjunction with the security council judge nervo separate opinion legal consequences for states i c j reports 1971 p 114 judge dillard separate opinion ibid pp 163 65 74 judge nervo separate opinion legal consequences for states i c j reports 1971 pp 113 123 emphases added 75 clear verdict on namibia new york times 22 june 1971 76 unsc resolution 301 1971 77 unscor s pv 1598 20 october 1971 paras 17 18 78 secretary general tells security council middle east crisis worst in ten years calls on palestinians israelis to lead your people away from disaster un org press en 2002 sgsm8159 doc htm 12 march 2002 79 george p fletcher annan s careless language new york times 21 march 2002 march 2002 reports 1971 p 158 80 frederic eckhard a delicate word in the mideast new york times 23 81 judge dillard separate opinion legal consequences for states i c j 82 legal consequences of the construction of a wall i c j reports 2004 pp 158 59 para 49 p 165 para 70 the danger lurking behind invocation of the mandate is that israel s apologists can then seize on it to justify all manner of settlements policy see eugene rostow correspondence american journal of international law 1990 pp 718 20 such as things its 83 legal consequences of the construction of a wall i c j reports 2004 p 165 para 70 pp 171 72 para 88 judge elaraby separate opinion ibid pp 250 52 paras 2 2 2 3 judge owada separate opinion ibid pp 263 64 para 10 to be sure in a couple of the separate opinions the inaptness of the analogy was asserted see judge kooijmans separate opinion ibid p 219 para i 1 p 226 paras iv 23 iv 25 p 229 para v 33 p 231 para vi 39 judge higgins separate opinion ibid pp 207 8 paras 2 3 5 84 international status of south west africa i c j reports 1950 p 131 legal consequences for states i c j reports 1971 pp 28 43 legal consequences of the construction of a wall i c j reports 2004 p 165 para 70 85 judge koroma separate opinion legal consequences of the construction of a wall i c j reports 2004 p 205 para 7 judge al khasawneh separate opinion ibid p 237 para 9 judge elaraby separate opinion ibid pp 250 51 para 2 2 86 arnold wilson the laws of war in occupied territory transactions of the grotius society 1932 p 38 see also p 29 87 legal consequences for states i c j reports 1971 p 31 para 52 88 benvenisti international law p 5 see also ben naftali et al illegal occupation pp 592 97 89 judge koroma separate opinion legal consequences of the construction of a wall i c j reports 2004 p 204 para 2 90 a rigo sureda the evolution of the right of self determination a study of united nations practice leiden 1973 pp 260 61 cassese self determination pp 90 94 95 230 240 see also judge higgins separate opinion legal consequences of the construction of a wall i c j reports 2004 p 214 para 29 91 legal consequences for states i c j reports 1971 p 31 para 53 legal consequences of the construction of a wall i c j reports 2004 pp 171 72 para 88 pp 182 83 para 118 92 noted jurist antonio cassese disputes the parallel he maintains that whereas the legal issues pertaining to a south african withdrawal from namibia had early on been resolved the parameters of an israeli withdrawal remain in dispute such as legal uncertainty about who is the holder of sovereign rights over the territories even granting for argument s sake that cassese s opinion contained some measure of truth at the time of his writing 1995 it plainly is no longer tenable in light of the numerous general assembly resolutions passed by overwhelming majorities and the icj s 2004 advisory opinion which designated the whole of the west bank including east jerusalem and gaza as occupied palestinian territory in her separate opinion in the wall case judge higgins also disputes the analogy in the namibia case she contends all legal obligations as adjudicated by the icj fell on south africa whereas in the israel palestine conflict the larger intractable problem cannot be regarded as one in which one party alone has been already classified by a court as the legal wrongdoer where it is for it alone to act to restore a situation of legality and where from the perspective of legal obligation there is nothing remaining for the other party to do but insofar as palestinian interlocutors have long expressed willingness to make peace on terms prescribed by international law and endorsed by the overwhelming majority of the general assembly there is nothing remaining for palestinians to do and the full onus of legal obligations does fall on israel cassese self determination pp 130 31 147 50 240 42 judge higgins separate opinion legal consequences of the construction of a wall i c j reports 2004 pp 207 8 paras 2 3 see also p 211 para 18 pp 214 15 paras 30 31 93 see the main body of this book for references 94 legal consequences of the construction of a wall i c j reports 2004 pp 183 84 paras 120 22 95 dugard recognition pp 158 61 96 jimmy carter palestine peace not apartheid new york 2006 chris mcgreal worlds apart israel palestine and apartheid and brothers in arms israel s secret pact with pretoria guardian 6 february 2006 7 february 2006 tutu john dugard apartheid and occupation under international law hisham b sharabi memorial lecture 30 march 2009 michael ben yair the war s seventh day haaretz 2 march 2002 shulamit aloni indeed there is apartheid in israel ynet co il 5 january 2006 roee nahmias israeli terror is worse yediot ahronot 29 july 2005 aloni yossi sarid yes it is apartheid haaretz 24 april 2008 meron benvenisti founding a binational state haaretz 22 april 2004 dinah a spritzer british zionists drop haaretz columnist jewish telegraphic agency 8 august 2007 rubinstein ezra halevi haaretz editor refuses to retract israel apartheid statements july 2008 rubinstein b tselem israeli information center for human rights in the occupied territories forbidden roads israel s discriminatory road regime in the west bank august 2004 p 3 association for civil rights in israel the state of human rights in israel and the occupied territories 2008 report p 17 the problem that disappeared haaretz 11 september 2006 where is the occupation haaretz 7 october 2007 our debt to jimmy carter haaretz 15 april 2008 amos schocken citizenship law makes israel an apartheid state haaretz 28 june 2008 the price of deception and apartheid haaretz 27 november 2013 meridor compares likud policies to apartheid times of israel 19 november 2013 israelnationalnews com 30 97 virginia tilley ed beyond occupation apartheid colonialism and international law in the occupied palestinian territories london 2012 p 215 john dugard and john reynolds apartheid international law and the occupied palestinian territory european journal of international law 24 2013 p 912 98 roberts what is pp 272 73 99 see chapter 6 100 richard j goldstone israel and the apartheid slander new york times 31 october 2011 101 this bald fact alone points up the obtuseness of israel s boast that it is the only democracy in the middle east however one assesses the situation inside the green line israel has for the largest part of its existence presided in the occupied palestinian territory over a helot population comprising nearly 40 percent of the total population on both sides of the green line that lacks any rights of citizenship 102 it might also be noted that when the united nations condemned the apartheid regime installed in namibia it was regardless of the south african offer to annex only the parts of namibia populated by white settlers on this point see also dugard and reynolds apartheid p 910 103 see chapter 2 104 in his 1966 dissenting opinion judge tanaka usefully elucidated the distinction between law and politics the essential difference between law and politics or administration lies in the fact that law distinguishes in a categorical way what is right and just from what is wrong and unjust while politics and administration being the means to attain specific purposes and dominated by considerations of expediency make a distinction between the practical and the unpractical the efficient and the inefficient consequently in the judgment of law there is no possibility apart from what is just or unjust tertium non datur in the case of politics and administration there are many possibilities or choices from the viewpoint of expediency and efficiency politics are susceptible of gradation in contrast to law which is categorical and absolute judge tanaka dissenting opinion south west africa cases second phase judgment i c j reports 1966 p 282 105 see e g the verbatim record of the annapolis negotiations collected in papers palestine the http transparency aljazeera net services search default aspx esp preliminary assessment of the israeli proposal on territory 15 august 2008 meeting minutes on borders 4 may 2008 106 see finkelstein knowing too much pp 203 48 107 palestine papers minutes from 8th negotiation team meeting 13 november 2007 108 in his approving depiction of the oslo accord cassese observes that palestinian self determination will be the subject of negotiations between the democratically elected palestinians and the israeli authorities everything is left to the agreement of these two parties cassese self determination pp 244 45 emphasis added but as dillard perceptively noted in the namibia case if everything is subject to negotiations including the fundamental basis on which the process rests see supra 2 3 3 1 1 the negotiations are predestined to fail 109 majority judgment north sea continental shelf i c j reports 1969 pp 45 47 110 majority opinion case concerning delimitation of the maritime boundary in the gulf of maine area i c j reports 1984 p 299 111 main opinion legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons i c j reports 1996 pp 263 64 see also judge al khasawneh s separate opinion in the wall case whilst there is nothing wrong in calling on protagonists to negotiate in good faith with the aim of implementing security council resolutions no one should be oblivious that negotiations are a means to an end and cannot in themselves replace that end i t is of the utmost importance if these negotiations are not to produce non principled solutions that they be grounded in law and that the requirement of good faith be translated into concrete steps by abstaining from creating faits accomplis on the ground which cannot but prejudice the outcome of these negotiations judge al khasawneh separate opinion legal consequences of the construction of a wall i c j reports 2004 pp 238 39 para 13 emphases added 112 guy s goodwin gill state responsibility and the good faith obligation in international law in malgosia fitzmaurice and dan sarooshi eds issues of state responsibility before international judicial institutions oxford 2004 pp 84 89 95 emphases in original 113 for instance the fourth geneva convention prohibiting the transfer of an occupier s population to occupied territory 114 for instance the inadmissibility of acquiring territory by war 115 for instance the right of peoples to self determination 116 us department of state remarks on middle east peace 28 december 2016 117 legal consequences of the construction of a wall i c j reports 2004 pp 171 72 para 88 the second internal quote is from legal consequences for states 118 the original general assembly resolution setting the process in motion for trust and non self governing territories and all other territories which have not yet attained independence was 1514 declaration on the granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples 1960 it stated that the subjection of peoples to alien subjugation domination and exploitation constitutes a denial of fundamental rights is contrary to the charter of the united nations and is an impediment to the promotion of world peace and co operation 119 legal consequences of the construction of a wall i c j reports 2004 pp 158 59 para 49 120 the principal exception pertains to matters of internal management such as budget assessments where general assembly resolutions are binding but the assembly also admits new members thereby binding existing members to treat the newly admitted entity as a state while in the course of the decolonization self determination process it was the assembly that determined which territories qualified as non self governing thereby deciding which ones had a right to self determination see rosalyn higgins the development of international law through the political organs of the united nations new york 1963 pp 112 13 sureda evolution pp 65 66 crawford creation pp 607 8 121 judge fitzmaurice dissenting opinion legal consequences for states i c j reports 1971 p 267 para 69 122 crawford purports that the general assembly revoked south africa s mandate not in the capacity of a political organ possessing such competence but rather in a declaratory mode of simply spelling out or confirming the juridical consequences of south africa s illegal conduct judge nervo in a separate opinion in the namibia case likewise contended that the assembly s termination of the mandate was of a declaratory nature whereby it declare d what in fact and in law was manifest crawford creation pp 441 588 593 95 judge nervo separate opinion legal consequences for states i c j reports 1971 p 113 123 judge elaraby in his separate opinion in the wall case dubiously invokes the palestine mandate to ground the existence of what he alleges to be a legal nexus that makes general assembly resolutions pertaining to a palestinian state binding on all member states as having legal force and legal consequences and endows the assembly with special legal responsibility until the achievement of this objective judge elaraby separate opinion legal consequences of the construction of a wall i c j reports 2004 pp 251 52 para 2 3 124 international status of south west africa i c j reports 1950 pp 136 37 see also voting procedure i c j reports 1955 p 76 125 admissibility of hearings of petitioners i c j reports 1956 p 28 126 south west africa cases first phase preliminary objections i c j reports 1962 p 334 127 legal consequences for states i c j reports 1971 p 49 para 102 128 judge de castro separate opinion legal consequences for states i c j reports 1971 pp 214 15 reports 1971 p 112 129 judge nervo separate opinion legal consequences for states i c j 130 for this principle of effectiveness in the context of the icj s namibia jurisprudence see slonim south west africa pp 162 210 131 judge fitzmaurice dissenting opinion legal consequences for states i c j reports 1971 pp 291 94 132 in finding that general assembly resolution 1608 terminating the trusteeship agreement over the british cameroons had definitive legal effect the court specified that the termination was a legal effect of the conclusions in paragraphs 2 and 3 of 1608 the text of which endorsed the results of a un supervised plebiscite and called immediate implementation case concerning the northern cameroons cameroon v the united kingdom first phase preliminary objections i c j reports 1963 p 32 but see crawford creation p 614 for a caveat for its 133 sureda evolution pp 39 40 45 47 48 gaor a 648 part 1 p 46 para 4 1 letter dated 5 july 1948 addressed to the united nations mediator by the minister for foreign affairs of the provisional government of israel unscor 3rd meeting 27 july 1948 pp 27 33 emphasis added the context of eban s pronouncement was a proposal by the syrian government to refer the palestine question to the hague for an advisory opinion rebuffing this initiative eban asserted that israel s existence as a state is not a legal question but a question of fact a matter to be established not by judgment but by observation but he went on to observe if legitimate origin were relevant which it is not in determining statehood then israel was in the unique position of having had its legitimacy certified by the general assembly 134 judge dillard separate opinion legal consequences for states i c j reports 1971 p 163 135 western sahara advisory opinion i c j reports 1975 p 12 136 eastern carelia opinion 1923 137 for relevant court precedent see also legal consequences for states i c j reports 1971 pp 23 24 para 31 legal consequences of the construction of a wall i c j reports 2004 pp 157 59 paras 46 50 judge owada separate opinion ibid p 265 paras 13 14 judge koroma separate opinion ibid pp 204 5 para 3 judge kooijmans separate opinion ibid p 227 para iv 27 judge higgins separate opinion ibid pp 209 10 paras 10 11 138 legal consequences of the construction of a wall i c j reports 2004 pp 159 60 para 51 139 the security council can enforce under article 94 of the charter the judgment of the court only in a contentious decision 140 norman g finkelstein and mouin rabbani with the assistance of jamie stern weiner how to solve the israel palestine conflict forthcoming 141 michla pomerance the icj and south west africa namibia a retrospective legal political assessment leiden journal of international law 1999 p 432 142 judge weeramantry dissenting opinion legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons i c j reports 1996 p 550 143 see also south african jurist john dugard s judicious weighing of the factors that led to the demise of apartheid in south africa it is not idealism and altruism that have brought the national party to the negotiating table but rather a combination of international pressure and internal unrest while economic sanctions have been the most important of the international weapons employed against apartheid the others should not be discounted political and moral isolation have also played their part the non recognition of the bantustan states has destroyed the viability of the territorial fragmentation of south africa into a collection of ethnic states as an acceptable political solution and the repeated denunciation of apartheid as morally unacceptable to the international community has undermined the moral basis for apartheid that its early ideological architects fought so hard to establish john dugard the role of international law in the struggle for liberation in south africa social justice 1991 p 91 for other relevant commentary see k srimad bhagavad geeta role of the united nations in namibian independence international studies 1993 pp 33 34 and julio faundez namibia the relevance of international law third world quarterly 1986 pp 540 41 557 144 james crawford representing samoa the marshall islands and solomon islands public sitting held on tuesday 14 november 1995 in legality of the use by a state of nuclear weapons in armed conflict 145 crawford creation pp 446 447 146 ibid p 448 147 for the staggering economic costs to the palestinian people of israel s occupation see united nations conference on trade and development report on unctad assistance to the palestinian people developments in the economy of the occupied palestinian territory 1 september 2016 paras 29 53 index page numbers in italics refer to figures boxes and tables abbas mahmoud 100 212 213 230 ackerman gary 98 agriculture fishing blockade s impact on 37 49 149 162 193 362 cast lead and 55 59 65 123 125 127 137 greenhouses 55 57 58 123 127 259 276 livestock 55 56 125 162 orchards 6 57 58 260 protective edge and 259 260 272n90 276 restricted access to 4 55n77 149 362 álvarez alejandro judge 375 379 amanpour christiane 209 ambulances during 2006 lebanon war 53 during cast lead 51 53 89n11 127 during occupation 53 281 during protective edge 215 250 251 273 277n108 278 280 281 290 291 316 324 332 334 336 340 341 345 347 see also medical facilities services american israel public affairs committee aipac 97 108 american jewish committee 40 94 97 98 amnesty international 358 access to gaza denied 78 243 245 under attack 83 179 284 287 on blockade 49 55n78 149 150 180 309 and call for arms embargo 82 83 105n103 141 179 on cease fire 36 158 on civilian deaths 23 70 73 120 121 122 195 220n44 239 241 273 277 284 296 304 on civilian infrastructure 56n79 58 59n98 63 195 240 241 245 253 273 on defensive shield 287 finkelstein s rejoinder to 296 304 on flotilla 164 on hamas s arsenal conduct 70 72 241 243 257 262 271 318n45 320 on homes 59n98 59n100 70 72 240 241 253 257 273 and human rights watch 30 102 287 on human shields 70 72 217 on israel s objectives 63 257 273 277 294 296 304 and legal accountability 81 102 103 116 244 245 292 304 on medical facilities 53 245 251 on protective edge 238 257 262 284 287 291 304 306 352 on rafah assault 271 284 292 304 on refugees 30 287 response to finkelstein 292 296 sources of 43 241 247 251 on torture 111n135 287 and un human rights council report 240n11 271 306 318n45 320 325n78 on warnings 47 on yemen 298 299 annan kofi 390 anti defamation league 83 98 anti semitism 32 95 96 105 106 146 222 286 apartheid evil of 378n45 406n143 and goldstone 107 108 and israeli occupation 394 396 399 401 and israeli relations with south africa during 108 and namibia case 373 379 383 385 389 394 396n102 401 406 and sanctions 12n31 arab league 28 29 34 115 221 see also dugard report arab spring 215 286 arab world 5n3 19 24 25 33 116 153 155 202 209 210n44 221 361 362 368 371 arafat yasser 7 11 34 35n65 arai takahashi yutaka 371 ashkenazi gabi 40 94 assad bashar al 153 287n123 association for civil rights in israel acri 7 17 80 113 154n88 394 395 asymmetry of conflict 26 27 40 63 67 73 74 76 90 91 98 141 235 237 262 264 311 314 315 319 363 auschwitz 97 222 avineri shlomo 77 avnery uri 96 144 ayalon danny 94 138 152 ban ki moon on blockade 363 and cast lead 49 50n53 100 101 115 and flotilla 177 305 307n10 and protective edge 216 217 228 229 238n3 239 344 372 barak ehud 7 8 23 48 81 93 107 115 117 143 151 152 201 206 209 bar el zvi 216 begin menachem 17n3 35n65 ben ami shlomo 7 8 10 ben gurion david 5n3 ben naftali orna 371 benvenisti eyal 372 373 benziman uzi 40 bernstein robert 77 114 biden joseph 147 blair tony 214 blockade easing of 32n57 149 150n65 214 230 232 362 efforts to end 32n57 37 92 137 138 139n10 141 156 195 197 232 237 269 307 309 360 361 363 364 and exit permits 16 50 51 236 and export ban 49 149 150n65 233 360 impact of 15 16 37 48 49 137 138 149 150 195 196 236 237 287 307 359 361 import restrictions of 32 33n57 49 149 158 162 imposition tightening of 11 13 32 33n57 37 49 181 182 195 israeli justifications for xi 138 157 162 178 195 233 items banned restricted 37 48 49 55n78 150n65 160 162 183 196 legal assessment of 15 88 139 149 150 157 162 178 195 197 307n10 309 360 363 objective of xi 88 137 139n10 360 361 perpetuation of 234 362 363 psychological toll of 15 16 49 232 bloomberg michael 227 bolton john 96 boot max 96 booth william 247n38 breaking the silence under attack 78 79 288 on cast lead 45n32 46n36 57n88 57n92 58n93 61n111 65n130 67n140 71n7 73n15 74n17 78 79 80n46 politics of 218 on protective edge 218 220 257 258 261 263 272 276 317 327n85 355 britain xi 72 110 146 151 154 162n31 214 289 351 404n132 anti semitism debate in 286 arrest warrant for livni in 107 and namibia case 374 375n31 378 381 and nuclear weapons 235 palestine mandate of 3 and sinai invasion 4 5n3 bronner ethan 18 81 b tselem israeli information center for human rights in the occupied territories access to gaza denied to 78 on ambulances 51 53 on apartheid 394 apologetics of 60n104 71n7 113 288n124 353n155 under attack 113 casualty figures compiled by 15 68n1 179n12 224n67 240 on child killings 353n155 and children s rights 289 on goldstone report 60n104 113 288n124 on human shields 71n7 on israel s justice system 126 350 351 on killings 41 42 126 353n155 on mosques 60n104 on palestinian prisoners 15 on palestinian vs israeli violations 113 on perpetuation of occupation 350 351 on power plant 252 on shalit 113 on torture 111 112 on turkel report 350 351 buergenthal thomas 30 burston bradley 77 bush george w administration of 12 13n40 14 bustamante y rivero josé luis judge 379 cameron david xi caradon lord 381 carter jimmy 10 11 31 394 carter center 36n72 cassese antonio 393n92 397n108 cast lead operation 2008 9 142 146 152 156 238 252 285 299 300 350 354 death toll of 23 68 69 125 126 129 204 207 211 222 224 destructiveness of 13 22 27 45 63 65 67 119 129 137 148 149 204 211 israeli justification for launching xi 14 16 41 88 israeli spin on 39 83 204 lead up to 13 16 203 211 legal accountability for 348 objectives of 17 38 62 63 65 67 79 80 88 89 118 119 128 137 144 151 212 216 see also dugard report goldstone report see also under amnesty international b tselem human rights watch castro federico de judge 378 402 casualty ratios 8 15 35n68 68 69 73 90 128 201 216 224 239 241 310 311 315 cease fires and cast lead 13 16 21 32 38 49 60 66 137 and pillar of defense 201 203 208 209 232 and protective edge 214 215 221 230 233 259 308n14 344 chait jonathan 108 cherokee nation 365 children xii 8n16 34 79 289 attacked while feeding birds 325 attacked while playing studying 72 328 335 336 351 354 babies 280 324 359 and blockade 49 162 359 and cast lead 23 41 44 49 50 68 71 73 75 82 91n20 96 97 120 121 127 129 imprisoned 15 91n20 and pillar of defense 205 and protective edge 211 239 240 241 268 279 283 288 289 298 299 301 310 311 315 318n45 324 325 328 329 332 338 341 342 see also under israelis chinkin christine 130 chomsky noam 202 churches 42 320 clinton bill 7 clinton hillary 11 99 148 208 collaborators 5 6 7 10 11 51 202 257n64 322 323 332 347 cordesman anthony 39 42 46 48 51 52 55 59 60 63 66 77 crawford james 372 400n122 407 408 crimes against humanity blockade as 197 during cast lead 14 89 107 109 118 132 300 definition of 295 during occupation 394 political impact of charge 302 304 during protective edge 273 275 284 297 and south africa 379 crisis group 14 23 26 59 64 66 148 203 davis dennis 130 dayan moshe 5n3 demographics 3 dershowitz alan 30 61 77 79 96 97 108 111 114 130 288 dillard hardy cross judge 387 389n73 390 393 397 404 407 dinstein yoram 9 119 368 369n5 371 disengagement 2005 3 9 11n28 21 22 35 36n68 158 180 188 268 269 307 367 diskin yuval 36 drones cameras mounted on missiles and 42 75 hezbollah and 203 israeli export of 153n83 strikes 23 42 72 75 273 278 279 281 294 301 and surveillance 120 121 122 124 dugard john 12n31 47 131 132 269 373 386n67 394 406n143 dugard report on cast lead 15n50 47 58 61 89n11 89 90n13 105n103 131 132 eban abba 18 371 382 404 economy xii blockade s impact on 11 12 15 36 37 92 137 139 148 149 161 162 182 186 192 195 236 359 360 363 and cast lead 56 88 137 211 during occupation 3 4 6 408n147 before pillar of defense 202 potential of 15 149 360 362 and protective edge 211 216 231 307 unemployment 16 89 149 202 359 edelstein yuli 82 105 education institutions attacked 54 55 62 65 75 127 215 223n59 251 289 opportunities 149 202 236 students under siege assault 23 49 72 supplies 37 49 162 egypt 3 4 7 153 209 361 362 and 1956 invasion 4 5 and 1967 war 18 19 368 369n5 and 1973 war 10 370 371 and 1978 peace deal 10 2013 coup in 214n20 221 222 and gaza border 47 204 222 230 236 237 309 and hamas israel cease fires 13 32n57 96 208 209n44 214 230 232 and israeli operations 204 221 muslim brotherhood in 202 208 209 210n44 214n20 221 eiland giora 21 eisenhower dwight 5 eisenkot gadi 21 elaraby nabil judge 391 401n123 electricity installations destroyed 54 55 127 215 252 253 344 345 short supply 16 49 55 252 332 344 359 erdoğan recep tayyip 152 153 202 362 european union and breaking the silence 79 and goldstone report 101 and hamas 11 13 33 212 213 221 230 233 234 and iran 213 on israel s right to self defense 233 234 and middle east quartet 12n33 and militant islam 221 fatah 43n23 52n66 212 220 249n42 fitzmaurice gerald gray judge 378 385 386n67 flotilla 2010 137 197 349 israeli spin on assault 142 147 150 151 162 176 killings 142 145 146 173 176 178 180 mavi marmara 134 142 157 162 178 180 196 204 210n44 305 349 362 objective of assault 150 155 precursors of 153 154 190 see also turkel report un panel report see also under un human rights council food insecurity 16 37 49 55 124 125 137 139 158 160 162 359 362 forster isaac judge 377 fosse erik 248n39 foxman abraham 98 freedom of movement 6 9n20 10 49 52 55n77 89 90 91n25 92 149 181 182 232 236 237 309 360 363 border crossings 32n57 37n72 51 194 230 234 362 see also blockade freedom of navigation 187 189 192 friedman thomas 24 26 fuel 37 196 344 gandhi mahatma vii 76 146 322 364 gaza strip beit hanoun 261 341 343 345 346 beit lahiya 39n3 75 bureij al 258 259 gaza city 54 75 248 252n52 268 jabalia 249n42 252n52 268 341 342 khan yunis 4 54 254 346 khuza a 275 292 329 332 334 338 nuseirat 252n52 as prison ghetto trap xi xii 23 47 48 231 232 289 361 qarara al 345 346 shuja iya 216 261 275 291 292 329 332 338 345 350 shuja iya market 329 335 337 345 347 see also rafah geneva conventions 30 91n24 92 264 280 281 302 333n107 346 367 germany and namibia 374 375n31 nazi era 76 97 105 108n119 138 139 399n113 218 222 gilad amos 182 183 gilbert mads 248n39 gillerman dan 94 gisha legal center for freedom of movement 150n65 360 361 gold dore 94 goldberg jeffrey 107 goldberg j j 213 goldin hadar 271 277 278 280 296 goldstone richard 84 under attack 93 99 105 108 110 personal professional background of 83 87 105 111 recantation of report and aftermath 117 132 285 289 396 on report 88n9 90 100n72 goldstone report on cast lead on blockade 48 49 88 92 on civilian deaths 45n32 73 80 on crimes against humanity 14 89 criticism of 60n104 87 88n3 89 90 92 117 288n124 299 300 on destruction 53 56 59n100 60 62 89 252 failure to heed 115 116 118 129 156 on hamas 65 89 91 92 104 on human rights abuses 44 71 88 89 impact of 66 83 104 116 on israeli objectives 62 65 67 80 88 89 204 216 232 275 354 on legal accountability 81 91 92 mandate of 87 members of mission behind 61 87n1 104n103 130 on occupation 87 90 92 perceived as threat 93n35 106 107 204 207 on shalit 107n117 on war crimes 14 88 89 91 on warnings 47 on witnesses 43n24 gros andré judge 387 388 gross aeyal 371 gunness chris 69n3 337 363 364 hamas and booby traps 59 60 71 charter of 32 coup attempt against 13 32n57 election of 11 13 35 36n68 139n10 148 182 executions by 257n64 322 323 332 347 legal accountability of 87 92 100 103 126 129 235 239 248 249 257 262 271 306 309 323 347 348 military capability of xii 14 26 27 37 63 65n132 90 128 158 178 189n52 201 206 210 222 228 235 237 241 243 256n60 257 262 271 299 308 321 326 327 363 and other palestinian factions 11 13 31 34 43n23 100 182 183 202 212 214 220 230 248 249 285 and other regional actors 202 204 207 209 209 210n44 221 pragmatism of 11 31 38 212 213 230 qassam brigades al 250 254 317 rockets rockets 76 128 206 207 223 228 235 241 243 257 262 271 308 309 315 317 320 363 tunnels 15n50 59n100 221 233 243 308 309 314 315 and weapons smuggling 15n50 63 181 187 194 208 222 242 see also collaborators resistance hannibal directive 272 277 292 296 331n98 harel dan 22 harel israel 95 hass amira 124 hezbollah 19 21 24 26 42n21 53 65 93 94 151 156 203 207 208 221 231 higgins rosalyn judge 393n92 holocaust 94 95 105 106 108 213 218 312 see also auschwitz warsaw ghetto see also under germany homes defended 321 322 destroyed during cast lead 22 26 45 46 54 57 60 65 70 73 80 90 120 121 123 127 129 211 destroyed during occupation 91 destroyed during pillar of defense 205 destroyed during protective edge 211 215 218 240 241 248 253 261 267 272n90 273 276 277 278 280 283 291 297 298 311 313 315 320 322 324 341 destroyed in the west bank 213 310 gandhi on defending 76 israeli warnings to gazan occupants of 46 48 283 321 326 329 337 340 rebuilding of 49 149 231 232 359 see also human shields refugees see also under israel horton richard 289 290 358 human rights watch hrw 220n44 358 and amnesty international 287 apologetics of 114 115 235 287 under attack 112 115 on blockade 137 on cast lead 23 42 58 59n100 73 75 78 81 102 105n103 123 238 287 on defensive shield 287 founder of 77 114 and goldstone report 90n14 99 105n103 116 on human shielding 322n63 on lebanon 25 26n34 53 on occupation 9 on pillar of defense 205 on protective edge 220n44 228n86 238 244 287 on refugees 30 287 on reprisals 235 on syria 287n123 on torture 287 human shields children used as 44 71 82 hamas accused of using 41 53 54 69 72 104 114 115 217 251n51 263 267n75 321 322 hezbollah accused of using 24 25 israel s use of 44 71 82 89 103 352 humiliation 5 44 88 91n20 102 119 204 216 232 275 293 297 299 300 303 347 354 indyk martin 35n65 infrastructure civilian airport 230 flour mill 55 124 125 137 industries 22 49 55 58 59 65 123 127 137 149 215 seaport 193 194 230 water sanitation systems 37 49 54 55 127 149 215 252 332 344 359 see also agriculture fishing education electricity medical facilities services i nsani yardım vakfı ihh 142 153 165 169 172 174 175 intelligence and terrorism information center 32 36 103 104 123 145 146 325 international court of justice icj 376n35 on good faith negotiations 397 399 405 406 namibia case 234 367 373 375 379 381 384 389 391 393 397 401 402 406 on nuclear weapons 236 303 398 405 407 and reprisals 236n125 and un charter 376n35 405n139 on un general assembly powers 403 404 wall case 12 29 31 140 184 185n37 291 372 391 393 394 399 400 405 international criminal court icc 92 99n67 103 107 109 116 290 291 293 295 305 351 358 394 international federation for human rights fidh 247 251 253 intifadas first 6 7 11 111 126 215 287 second 8 126 157 269 see also resistance iran 20 21 28 29n44 33 63 65 66 94 152 153 203 213 221 242 243 iraq 17n3 216 sanctions on 162n31 iron dome 206 207 223 225 228 231 242 243 265 315 318 364 isis 221 229 islam 61 221 252 286 347 348 ramadan 326 328 see also mosques islamic jihad 255 342 israel civil defense system of 43n23 69n3 225 312 313 318 credibility of state authorities in 40 42 95 163 deterrence strategy of 18 27 56 65 67 79 144 151 155 156 203 276 and goldstone report 87 132 hasbara pr efforts of 39 83 146 154 222 228 256 287 317 houses civilian infrastructure damaged destroyed by hamas 56 60 128 205 225 227 262 265 240 310 311 314 315 348 image of 5n3 17 77 78 117 147 154 156 167 169 197 209 231 intelligence services of 14 19 32 38n79 40 42 46 51 53 56 62 103 128 159 164 167 255n59 259 260 276 319 intransigence 3 38 363 364 367 373 390 408 knesset 40 93 112 lawfare against 113 285 legal accountability of 57 81 82 87 92 100 103 107 109 132 147 156 157 176 177 180 197 204 211 212 243 245 255 257 277 284 285 296 306 323 356 363 lobby of 98 101 107n117 113 115 129 220 285 286 magen david adom 53 media clampdown by 78 146 204 military installations in 269 270 on namibia case 381 382 and palestinian subcontractors 6 7 10 11 201 right to self defense invoked by xi 14 16 38 88 142 144 181 189 193 234 235 308 309 368 rightward drift of 288n124 364 399 state of democracy in 23n27 78 79 112 113 396n101 and strategic timing of attacks 35 215 suicide attacks against 8 44n26 72 157 158 supreme high court 7 176 184 185n37 372 israel defense forces idf and bulldozers 6 46 57 59 258 259 333 casualties among 15 68 69 171n82 221 222 240 272 315 334 commandos 141 157 162 176 196 272 349 dahiya doctrine 21 22 156 entebbe raid 151 esteem of 95 executions by 4 145 174 180 firepower of 46 57 58 119 126 128 157 158 215 216 219 257 264 272 275 278 297 325 327 330 331 333 335 338 purity of arms 50 75 77 81 95 113 117 155 217 220 290 soldier testimonies on cast lead 45 46 57 58 61 64 65 67n140 71 73 74 78 81 121 122 123 222 288 soldier testimonies on protective edge 218 219 220 257 258 261 263 272 288 317 330 331 338 355 strategy of provocation xi 4 5n3 8 13 33 38 144 202 203 212 214 230 warnings issued by 46 48 283 321 326 329 337 340 zero risk policy 46 207 216 272 337 338 340 see also drones goldin human shields shalit israelis children 213 226 227 239 241 288 289 308n13 311 312 315 dissent among 6 17 43n23 90 93 111 118 394 395 kibbutzniks 81 killed 8 15 69 104 205 207 223 225 230 235 241 242 309 311 318 peace camp 96 society 17 27 42 46 69 74 78 81 90n19 92 96 112 116 142 143 216 217 220 231 272 288n124 355 356 364 trauma anxiety of 18 89 155 210 228 239 242 309 315 348 361 see also settlements settlers jabari ahmed 201 202 jackson helen hunt 364 365 jerusalem 3n1 27 29 31 90n16 91nn24 25 149 307 308 363 367 371 372 393n92 394 396 ethnic cleansing of 91 jessup philip judge 378 380 385n67 408 jilani hina 130 johnson lyndon 19 26n39 jordan 3 38n79 115 370 j street 99n67 kasher asa 23 24n27 67 74 75 105 289 290 kelly ian 98 kemp richard 72 114 217 218n40 222 kennedy duncan 40 73 74 kerry john 212 399 khasawneh awn shawkat al judge 391 398n111 koroma abdul judge 372 391 392 krylov sergei borisovitch judge 376 lancet the 289 291 358 landau david 95 league of nations 374 376 387 390 393 399 402 lebanon 1982 war 34 35 37 38 156n104 2006 war 17 19 21 23 26 41 42n21 53 63 151 208 211 221 israeli occupation of 25 possibility of third war 21 156 231 leibowitz avital 22 lerman antony 111 146 levin amiram 22 lévy bernard henri 138 levy ephraim 32 levy gideon 14 17 18n5 26 69 79 94n40 105 142 155 lieberman avigdor 94 117 209 233 305 livni tzipi 35 48 66 81 94 107 178 182 212 372 397 luther philip 271n86 358 maio jacques de 290 358 mandates system 374 386n67 390 391 393 399 403 maoz zeev 7 19 margalit avishai 67 71 maurer peter 216 mcgowan davis mary 126n31 129 305 358 medical facilities services blockade s impact on 16 37 48 54 137 138 160 194 196 360 during cast lead 50 54 65 80 89n11 127 hospitals 54 75 245 250 280 316 during protective edge 215 223n59 245 252 277n108 280 281 290 311 316 335 337 340 344 347 public opinion regarding attacks on 303 see also ambulances mendelblit avichai 94 mezan center for human rights al 52 59n100 245 271 272 342 michael b 23 40 michaeli keren 371 mishal khalid 31 37 38n79 207 209 232 233 320 moreno ocampo luis 290 291 358 morris benny 4 6 18 20 21n17 23 27 54 mosques 42 57 60 61 65 125 127 215 249n42 252 270 281 311 347 348 mubarak hosni 153 204 namibia 234 367 408 nasrallah sayyed hassan 24 26 33 153 nasser gamal abdel 4 5n3 18 19 nervo luis padilla judge 389 401 403 netanyahu benjamin on blockade 138 brother of 151 and flotilla 145 151 153 362n14 and goldstone 93 106 107 117 and hamas 38n79 69n1 227 230 and iran 153 203 and israeli society 231 and palestinian unity 212 213 230 and pillar of defense 202 203 206 209 215 and protective edge 212 215 227 229 231 and tiananmen square massacre 215 and turkey 153 362n14 and two state settlement 399 new israel fund 112 ngo monitor 286 nuclear weapons 17n3 20 21 152 213 235 236 303 405 407 obama administration 50n53 98 99 117 147 223n59 238n3 obama barack 14 35 83n56 147 208 209 210n44 220 221 occupation goldstone report on 87 90 92 legal status of 234 235 367 408 ongoing 9 180 306 308 351 by remote control 268 269 314 315 strategy to end xiii 363 364 streamlining of 6 7 see also resistance olmert ehud 81 operations israeli xi 8 59n100 61 93 109 178 288 306 353 356 360 psychological toll of 231 232 see also cast lead pillar of defense protective edge see also under lebanon west bank oren michael 94 organization of the islamic conference oic 28 29 oxfam 137 oz amos 96 154 palestine liberation organization plo 6 7 31 34 35 305n2 palestinian authority pa 11 13n37 31 43n23 100 115 116 182 183 202 230 231 248n41 249n42 285 palestinian center for human rights 240 245 271 palestinian medical relief society 52 pastor robert 36 37n72 peace offensives 18 34 38 peace process 8 11 13 27 38 111 362 363 396 398 408 annapolis 397n105 arab league initiative 28 29 34 camp david 7 kerry initiative 212 middle east quartet 12n33 362 363 oslo accord 6 7 9 12 397n108 road map 12 taba 7 peres shimon 8 50 93 108 142 152 phillips melanie 111 physicians for human rights israel 51 53 239 pillar of defense operation 2012 215 228 232 242 death toll of 205 224 denouement of 207 208 231 destructiveness of 203 205 221 224 israeli justification for 201 israeli spin on 206 207 209 lead up to 201 203 legal accountability for 349 objective of 203 polakow suransky sasha 108 pomerance michla 406 posner michael 98 postol theodore 206 207 224 225 power samantha 223 precision weapons 62 128 166 204 229 287n123 destroying vital civilian infrastructure 55 137 252 killing civilians 23 42 70 72 75 228 299 301 302 313 325 329 342 touted by israel 42 44 246n32 see also drones prisoners detainees 6 10 15 32n57 44 54 62 91n20 92 111 213 230 248 272 322 334 protective edge operation 2014 access to gaza denied to human rights organizations 243 245 death toll of 129 211 219 220 222 224 239 241 278 283 311 323 348 destructiveness of 129 211 215 219 231 239 241 245 257 258 261 262 264 272 277 311 323 348 israeli spin on 217 222 230 241 243 245 253 308 lead up to 211 215 308n14 objectives of 212 213 215 216 230 232 255 257 272 277 296 304 308 309 339 347 psychological toll of 231 232 364 see also un report on protective edge see also under amnesty international b tselem human rights watch rafah public committee against torture in israel pcati 79 qatar 202 221 rabin yitzhak xi 7 9 108 rafah 4 crossing 32n57 236 assault on 271 284 292 304 329 334 335 reconstruction 21 49 55n78 137 148 149 150n65 159 160 183 216 230 338 341 342 344 346 232 359 360 363 358 27 31 90n17 287 396 red crescent prcs 52 53 346 red cross icrc 52 107n117 137 138 143 185 216 290 291 303 346 refugees 3 4 6 27 31 90n17 276 282 287 337 359 396 right of return resistance armed 5 139 141 208 233 237 257 262 271 308 323 363 nonviolent 5 8 76 90 111 147 154 157 210 321 322 363 364 and reprisals 235 237 265n72 319 reut institute 147 rice condoleezza 208 rivlin reuven 93 roberts adam 395 396 robinson mary 37 76 195 rosen rabbi brant 110 ross dennis 33 36n68 72 roth kenneth 287n123 358 roy sara 3 4 37 76 138 195 216 236 248 360 363 russia 12n33 144n36 287n123 323 362 374 saudi arabia 34 202 221 361 362 schabas william 285 305 schumer chuck 148 self determination statehood 9 12 27 35 38 72n9 89n13 90 91 139 141 233 235 314 319 360 364 368 371 372 374 375n31 378 390 394 396 397n108 399 401 404 408 settlements settlers 9 12 27 29 31 90 91 95 126 131 291 352 363 371 372 391n82 394 399 shalev gabriela 94 shalit gilad 15 77n28 92 107n117 113 155 201n3 334 shamgar meir 369 370 372 sharansky natan 7 sharon ariel 3 5 6 9 19 35n65 372 sheetrit meir 22 47 69 shelters 50 59n100 69n3 120 121 215 228 229 251 252n52 291 313 320 341 344 shepherd robin 29n44 sher neal 108 siboni gabriel 21 siegman henry 145n39 sisi abdel fattah el 214 221 slonim solomon 377n40 380n51 386n67 soto álvaro de 11n28 291n133 sourani raji 156 south africa and bantustans 11 and goldstone 107 108 130 israeli relations with 108 and occupation of namibia 234 373 408 and sanctions 12n31 see also apartheid steinberg gerald 95 steinitz yuval 105 222 sternhell zeev 93 syria 18 63 65 153 216 221 223n59 236 287n123 302 404n133 tanaka kotaro judge 396n104 tomuschat christian 129 285 torture 5 6 44 70 76 88 90 91n20 111 112 178 248 249 257n64 287 349 352 394 travers desmond 87 104n103 130 turkel jacob 157 159 176 349 turkel report vol i on flotilla blockade 129n39 157 176 178 182 194 196 349 vol ii on legal accountability 157n1 349 350 354 355 turkey on blockade 185 and cast lead 152 and flotilla 145n39 152 153 157n1 170 175 177 178 185 186 and iran 152 153 and pillar of defense 202 204 209 and protective edge 221 and relations with israel 152 153 210n44 362 un human rights council unhrc 87 96 100 103 111 115 129 131 218n40 235n124 291 305 306 354 360 fact finding mission on flotilla blockade 139n10 143n31 145 162 164 177 180 see also goldstone report on cast lead un report on protective edge united nations and blockade 139n10 177 197 363 and cast lead 48 50 75 82 92 95 99 103 115 117 120 122 129 131 and flotilla 139n10 145 147 162 164 197 and israeli occupation 27 28 368 372 386n68 390 408 ocha 15 16 48 158n12 240 and protective edge 216 217 223 228 229 231 234 239 244 249 251 289 305 306 and refugees 28 30 unctad 359 360 unicef 288 289 see also goldstone report un human rights council un panel report on 2010 flotilla un report on protective edge un resolutions unrwa united states and 1967 war 19 and 1973 war 370 371 and blockade 11 12 139n10 147 148 and cast lead 82 college campuses in 110 113 congress 14 98 99 117 147 148 220 229 and flotilla 139n10 147 148 177 and goldstone report 96 99 110 117 126 130 and hamas 11 14 33 and iran 20 21 33 on israeli occupation 27 28 370 371 386n68 405 and israel s right to self defense 83 147 220 221 jewish liberalism in 109 111 130 and military aid to israel 82 83 and namibia case 234 375n31 378 382 383 385 389 390 and native americans 364 365 and pillar of defense 204 208 209 210n44 pressure on israel by 5 9 208 209 and protective edge 212 214 220 221 223 and sanctions 11 12 162n31 385 state department 68 69n1 98 126 176 un panel report on 2010 flotilla 305 307n10 denouncing flotilla organizers 195 197 justifying blockade 178 195 mandate of 177 179 180 un report on protective edge 129 228n85 240n11 271 274 on blockade 234 307 309 360 on death toll 310 on hamas s crimes 311 323 on human shields 321 322 on israel s crimes 323 347 on israel s objective 308 on legal accountability 348 356 mandate of 305 on mosques 347 348 un resolutions 242 368 370 381 partition resolution 3 390 404 406 peaceful settlement 27 28 29n44 30 on refugees 30 unrwa attacked during cast lead xvi 39n3 48 50 69n3 75 attacked during protective edge 251 252n52 341 344 on blockade 236 237 heroism of 69n3 paying tribute to gazan resilience 363 364 registering protest 48 236 237 337 targeted by israel lobby 286n118 uribe álvaro 177 179 305 see also un panel report visscher charles de judge 375 379 walzer michael 67 71 wars 1948 war 3 404 1956 sinai invasion 4 5 1967 war 3 5 18 19 26 63 140n14 181 211 369n5 370 390 391 1973 war 10 63 370 371 1991 gulf war 224 world war i 374 world war ii 57 218 374n28 392 393 400 see also lebanon operations israeli warsaw ghetto 138 139 323 water 4 16 37 49 55 89 127 149 236 252 332 344 359 weeramantry christopher judge 406 weisglass dov 9 west bank 3 5 18 30 31 35 36n72 43n23 90 91 93 140 149 157 183 242 249n42 307 310 349 360 367 390 393 bil in 154 operation brother s keeper 2014 213 308n13 operation defensive shield 2002 287 settlements settlers in 9n20 90 363 371 372 394 wall 29 30 91 154n87 184 185n37 371 372 391 see also jerusalem white phosphorus common use of 74n22 effects of 74 75 goldstone and 105n103 128n35 human rights watch on 74 75 105n103 idf s fascination with 67n140 73 israel denying use of 40 41 125 un facilities attacked with xvi 49 50 69n3 75 us manufactured 75 82 128n35 wiesel elie 96 114 wieseltier leon 74 wilson woodrow 374 wolff alejandro 98 wolfowitz paul 76 world bank xii 15 309 world food program 137 world health organization 137 160 246 wright lawrence 77 yaniv avner 34 35 yesh din 350 yishai eli 22 60 143 zakai shmuel 36 37 zionism 83 105 109 111 406 this file was downloaded from z library project your gateway to knowledge and culture accessible for everyone z library se singlelogin re go to zlibrary se single login ru official telegram channel z access https wikipedia org wiki z library

contents introduction the ten mythologies of israel myth 1 palestine was a land without people myth 2 palestinians resorted to acts of terror myth 3 myths around the creation of israel myth 3a palestinians are to be blamed for what happened myth 3b palestinians left their homes voluntarily myth 3c israel was a david fighting an arab goliath myth 3d after its war of creation israel extended its hand myth 4 israel was a benign democratic state myth 5 the palestinian struggle has no aim myth 6 israel was forced to occupy the west bank and gaza myth 7 israel occupied the west bank and gaza with benevolent intentions myth 8 the oslo accords reflected a desire on both sides to reach a solution myth 9 the second intifada was a mass terror attack myth 10 a solution in israel and palestine is just around the corner the fate of palestine an interview with noam chomsky clusters of history u s involvement in the palestine question the blackstone scofield legacy the king crane legacy the laguardia and kenen legacy the five sisters legacy the morgenthau and waltz legacy conclusion state of denial the nakbah in israeli history and today the erased chapters of evil professional remembering and the nakbah nakbah memory in the public eye the struggle against nakbah denial nakbah denial and the palestine israel peace process future prospects exterminate all the brutes gaza 2009 blueprint for a one state movement a troubled history a troubled history reselling the past deconstructing the peace process preparing for the future the modular model reframing the israel palestine conflict israel is not a democracy the ghettoization of palestine a dialogue with ilan pappé and noam chomsky the killing fields of gaza 2004 2009 moving to a new strategy 2000 2005 2004 the dummy city 2005 first rains 2006 summer rains and autumn clouds 2007 2008 the policy becomes a strategy a genocidal policy a middle east peace that could happen but won t interview with noam chomsky acknowledgments a note on the text notes about the contributors 2010 noam chomsky and ilan pappé first published by haymarket books in 2010 this edition published by haymarket books in 2013 p o box 180165 chicago il 60618 773 583 7884 www haymarketbooks org info haymarketbooks org isbn 997 81 60846 3 541 trade distribution in the u s consortium book sales www cbsd com in canada publishers group canada www pgcbooks ca in the uk turnaround publisher services www turnaround uk com in australia palgrave macmillan www palgravemacmillan com au all other countries publishers group worldwide www pgw com cover design by josh on cover photo of a palestinian woman standing on the rubble of her home in the aftermath of israeli bombing in january 2009 by patrick baz afp getty images this book was published with the generous support of lannan foundation and the wallace global fund library of congress cataloging in publication data is available 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 dedicated to juliano mer khamis 1958 2011 introduction when noam chomsky first answered my email in december 2005 i would never have imagined that five years later i would be working on a book with him since then chomsky has continued to reply to my emails and questions and we have slowly developed a steady written relationship a few years after that first email thinking about how to raise awareness and reach a wider audience on the palestine question i asked him if he would agree to an interview he did and a few months later sent me his answers which as usual were more detailed and researched than i could have expected the interview was well received and published on various web sites and in periodicals prompting me to consider the format an excellent way to inform and educate a public that too often has to rely on information from a corporate and profit driven media system the idea of another interview slowly made its way into my head but this time i wanted something different something more interactive i decided to ask the renowned israeli historian ilan pappé if he would participate in a joint interview dialogue with professor chomsky pappé agreed and during the next few months i worked with both of them on various questions and key topics of what is usually referred to as the israel palestine conflict when that interview came out probably because it was the first chomsky pappé interview ever conducted it appeared in even more publications and web sites than the first one and came to the attention of a belgian publisher gilles martin who consequently published the interview as a booklet entitled le champ du possible aden editions november 2008 then came an offer to create an english version of that booklet but it needed more work i started to think about what type of book i wanted what its goal and its substance would be the last thing i wanted was to publish a book merely for the sake of it hundreds of books on the israel palestine conflict already exist some exceptional so how would this one be different to answer this i asked myself why has this conflict lasted for so long who can stop it and how ignorance the people and by popular resistance and a refusal to remain silent were the first answers that came to mind i sincerely believe that what is happening in palestine would never have lasted this long if the public were properly informed about what has really taking place in this part of the middle east noam ilan and i worked again on the dialogue now titled the ghettoization of palestine gave it more insight edited some questions and added new ones ilan additionally contributed several articles addressing various crucial aspects of the israel palestine question and noam reworked his astonishing piece exterminate all the brutes gaza 2009 combining interviews and essays was important on one hand the interactive joint interview dialogue form is a means to express and explore researched analysis and opinions in an accessible way it also offers a more flexible and lively vehicle to share expert knowledge the joint interview with two of the most respected people in this field of study one an american professor and one an israeli historian could fill in gaps of understanding and reach a wider audience both interviews address multiple topics related to the israel palestine question as well as the recent israeli army attack on the freedom flotilla and i hope allow readers to draw their own conclusions from two compatible yet different views on the other hand the solely authored essays give the book a more in depth analysis scrutinizing specific periods and events in history in a new light challenging even well versed readers in the process selected articles by ilan pappé give the necessary historical background that is key to understanding palestine today in this second edition we have added a very important piece by ilan called the ten mythologies of israel ilan wrote this exclusive piece for the new york session of the russell tribunal on palestine in which he testified as a witness he addresses key points in this piece and starts to reframe the palestine question from a palestinian point of view dismantling israeli early propaganda attempts such as the myth of a land without people for a people without a land this piece sets the tone perfectly for the rest of the book in chapters two and three ilan pappé traces the historical development of u s involvement in the question of palestine and the importance of nakbah catastrophe in arabic denial for israel understanding the nakbah is crucial to understanding palestinian israeli history chapter four is the updated and superb essay exterminate all the brutes gaza 2009 by chomsky this groundbreaking piece focuses primarily on the december 2008 january 2009 israeli assault on gaza but also gives a thorough analysis of israel s relations with the united states and europe and the role of social and military resistance in arab countries we return to pappé in chapters six through nine where he charts the progress of the movement for one state puts the idea of a jewish and democratic state into context and perspective in a new piece called reframing the israel palestine conflict and focuses on the israeli defense forces massacres in gaza these articles offer an alternative narrative to that presented by the israeli government and that i am sure will help people to reframe the conflict the book closes with chomsky giving us his latest reflections on the peace process in an interview i conducted with him in london i gave a few personalities including ken loach alice walker chris hedges and john berger the opportunity to ask noam one question each it is a fitting end to the book that puts palestine into a much broader context focusing on our democracies in the western world my hope is that this book can be used as a guide in excavating the past for the benefit of a clearer sighted present and a justice centered future in which human rights are universal and justice restored i also hope that by dismantling some myths about the palestine question and putting this issue into a much broader and wider context that includes all of us the book will help to foment the idea of a global struggle in which palestine is only one piece of a much bigger issue frank barat brussels july 2013 the ten mythologies of israel one ilan pappé any attempt to solve a conflict has to touch upon its very core the core more often than not lies in its history a distorted or manipulated history can explain quite well a failure to end a conflict whereas a truthful and comprehensive look at the past can facilitate a lasting peace and solution a distorted history can in fact do more harm as the particular case study of israel and palestine shows it can protect oppression colonization and occupation the wide acceptance in the world of the zionist narrative is based on a cluster of mythologies that in the end cast doubt on the palestinians moral right ethical behavior and the chances for any just peace in the future the reason is that these mythologies are accepted by the mainstream media in the west and by the political elites there as truth once accepted as a truth these mythologies become a justification not so much for the israeli actions but for the west s inclination to interfere listed below are ten common myths that have provided an immunity and a shield for impunity and inhumanity in the land of palestine myth 1 palestine was a land without people waiting for the people without land the first myth is that palestine was a land without people waiting for the people without land its first part was successfully proved to be false by a number of excellent historians who showed that before the arrival of the early zionists palestine had a thriving society mostly rural but with a very vibrant urban center it was a society like all the other arab societies around it held under ottoman rule and part of the empire but nonetheless one which witnessed the emergence of a nascent national movement the movement would probably have turned palestine into a nation state like iraq or syria had zionism not arrived on its shores the second part of this mythology is also doubtful but less significant several scholars among them israelis doubted the genetic connection between the zionist settlers and the jews who lived during roman times in palestine or who were exiled at the time this is really less important as many national movements create artificially their story of birth and plant it in the distant past the important issue however is what you do in the name of this narrative do you justify colonization expulsion and killing in the name of that story or do you seek peace and reconciliation on its basis it does not matter whether the narrative is true or not what matters is that it is vile if in its name you colonize dispossess and in some cases even commit acts of genocide against indigenous and native people myth 2 palestinians resorted to acts of terror against jewish settlers prior to the creation of israel the second foundational mythology was that the palestinians from early on resorted to an anti semitic campaign of terror when the first settlers arrived and until the creation of the state of israel as the diaries of the early zionists show they were well received by the palestinians who offered them abode and taught them in many cases how to cultivate the land it was only when it became clear that these settlers did not come to live next to or with the native population but instead of it that the palestinian resistance began and when that resistance started it was no different from any other anti colonialist struggle myth 3 myths around the creation of israel myth 3a palestinians are to be blamed for what happened to them because they rejected the un partition plan of 1947 myth 3b palestinians left their homes voluntarily or as a result of a call by their leaders myth 3c israel was a david fighting an arab goliath myth 3d after its war of creation israel extended its hand for peace to its palestinian and arab neighbors the third myth is set of israeli fables about the 1948 war there are four foundational mythologies connected to this year the first was that the palestinians are to be blamed for what occurred to them since they rejected the un partition plan of november 1947 this allegation ignores the colonialist nature of the zionist movement it would have been unlikely that the algerians for instance would have accepted the partition of algeria by the french settlers and such a refusal would not be deemed unreasonable or irrational what is morally clear is that such an objection in the case of any other arab country should not have justified the ethnic cleansing of the palestinians as a punishment for rejecting a un peace plan devised without any consultation with them similarly absurd is the myth that the palestinians left their homes voluntarily or as a result of a call by their leaders and those of the neighboring arab states supposedly to make way for the invading arab armies that would come to liberate palestine there was no such call this myth was invented by the israeli foreign minister in the early 1950s later israeli historians changed the mythology and claimed that the palestinians left or fled because of the war but the truth of the matter is that half of those who became refugees in 1948 had already been expelled before the war commenced on may 15 1948 two other mythologies associated with 1948 are that israel was a david fighting an arab goliath and that israel after the war extended its hand for peace to no avail as the palestinians and the arab rejected this gesture the research on the first proved that the palestinians had no military power whatsoever on the second point the arab states sent only a relatively small contingent of troops to palestine and they were smaller in size and far less equipped and trained than the jewish forces moreover and highly significant is the fact that these troops were sent into palestine after may 15 1948 when israel had already been declared a state as a response to an ethnic cleansing operation that the zionist forces had begun in february 1948 as for the myth of the extended hand of peace the documents show clearly an intransigent israeli leadership that refused to open up negotiations over the future of post mandatory palestine or consider the return of the people who had been expelled or fled while arab governments and palestinian leaders were willing to participate in a new and more reasonable un peace initiative in 1948 the israelis assassinated the un peace mediator count bernadotte and rejected the suggestion of the palestine conciliation commission pcc a un body to reopen negotiations this intransigent view would continue avi shlaim has shown in the iron wall that contrary to the myth that the palestinians never missed an opportunity to miss peace it was israel that constantly rejected the peace offers that were on the table myth 4 israel was a benign democratic state prior to 1967 the fourth mythology is that israel was a benign democratic state seeing peace with its neighbors and offering equality to all its citizens before the june 1967 war this is a myth propagated alas by some notable palestinian and pro palestinian scholars but it has no historical foundation in facts one fifth of the israeli citizenry was subjected to ruthless military rule based on draconian british mandatory emergency regulations that denied them any basic human and civil rights within this period more than fifty palestinian citizens were killed by the israeli security forces at the same time israel pursued aggressive policies towards its arab neighbors attacking them for allowing refugees to try to return or at least to retrieve their lost property and husbandry in collusion with britain and france israel also tried to topple gamal abdel nasser s legitimate regime in egypt myth 5 the palestinian struggle has no aim other than terror the fifth myth is that the palestinian struggle is that of terrorism and nothing more the struggle led by the plo was a liberation struggle against a colonialist project somehow the world finds it difficult to grant legitimacy to anti colonialist struggle when most of the oppressed are muslims and the oppressor is jewish myth 6 israel was forced to occupy the west bank and gaza in 1967 and must hold these territories until others are ready for peace the sixth myth is that the 1967 war forced israel to occupy the west bank and the gaza strip and keep them in custody until the arab world or the palestinians are willing to make peace with the jewish state the israeli political and military elite regarded the 1948 war as a missed opportunity a historical moment in which israel could have occupied the whole of historical palestine from the river jordan to the mediterranean sea the only reason they did not do it was because of a tacit agreement with the hashemite kingdom of jordan in return for jordan s limited participation in the general arab war effort jordan would be allowed to annex the west bank following 1948 the israeli elite were looking for an opportunity and planned carefully from the mid 1960s how to implement a plan to have it all there were several historical junctures at which the israelis nearly did it but held back at the last moment the most famous instances were in 1958 and 1960 in 1958 the leader of the state and its first prime minister david ben gurion aborted plans at the last moment due to fears of international reaction in 1960 ben gurion held back because of his demographic fears thinking that israel could not incorporate such a large number of palestinians the best opportunity came in 1967 regardless of the israeli mythology of not wishing to go to war against jordan but being forced to react to jordanian aggression there was no need for israel to remain in the west bank if this was just another round of tension between the two states incorporating the west bank and the gaza strip within israel had been an israeli plan since 1948 and was implemented in 1967 myth 7 israel occupied the west bank and gaza with benevolent intentions but was forced to respond to palestinian violence the seventh myth was that israel intended to conduct a benevolent occupation but was forced to take a tougher attitude because of palestinian violence israel regarded from the very beginning any wish to end the occupation whether expressed peacefully or through struggle as terrorism from the beginning it reacted brutally by collectively punishing the population for any demonstration of resistance the palestinians were offered two options 1 to accept life in an israeli open prison and enjoy limited autonomy and the right to work as underpaid laborers in israel bereft of any workers rights or 2 resist even mildly and risk living in a maximum security prison subjected to instruments of collective punishment including house demolitions arrests without trial expulsions and in severe cases assassinations and murder the major reality change that palestinians had to accept or risk enduring punishment was that israel would unilaterally decide which parts of the west bank and the gaza strip would be taken from them forever and annexed to israel today more than half of the west bank has been annexed in one way or another while the gaza strip has been left alone eventually as an area over which israel wishes to exercise direct rule part of this myth related to assertions about the palestinian liberation organization plo assertions promoted by liberal zionists in both the us and israel and shared with the rest of the political forces in israel the allegation is that the plo inside and outside of palestine was conducting a war of terror for the sake of terror unfortunately this demonization is still very prevalent in the west and has been accentuated after 2001 by the attempt to equate islam terrorism and palestine the plo was in fact recognized as the sole and legitimate representative of the palestinian people by more states than have recognized israel it is noteworthy that this demonization continued even after the oslo accords of 1993 through which israel supposedly recognized the plo as a legitimate partner even the palestinian authority is still depicted by israel as an outfit that supports terror the worst kind of demonization which convinced the western world to resort to political boycott was directed at hamas while international civil society continues to question such a characterization mainstream media and politicians still fall foul to this slander myth 8 the oslo accords reflected a desire on both sides to reach a solution the eighth myth is that the oslo accords were a peace process born out of the wish of both sides to reach a solution the idea of partitioning palestine was already a zionist concept back in the 1930s the palestinians refused to cave in to it until the late 1980s in the meantime the share of the land the israelis were willing to offer the palestinians went down from half of the land to 15 percent of it the willingness to call this 15 percent a state could not hide the fact that the oslo process devised solely by israelis offered only a fragmented bantustan for the palestinians and no right of return or other solution for the millions of palestinian refugees oslo was the result of a matrix of events that disempowered the plo and its leader yasser arafat to such an extent that against the advice of his best friends he went into this process hoping to gain independence in at least part of palestine the end result was the almost total destruction of palestine and the palestinians myth 9 the second intifada was a mass terror attack orchestrated by arafat the ninth myth is that the second intifada was a mega terrorist attack sponsored and in a way planned by arafat the truth is it was a mass demonstration of dissatisfaction with the betrayal of oslo compounded by the provocative action of ariel sharon and his like around the islamic holy places in palestine this nonviolent protest was crushed with brutal force by israel which led to a more desperate palestinian response the expanded use of suicide bombs as a last resort against israel s overwhelming military power there is telling evidence by israeli newspaper correspondents that their reporting on the early stages of the intifada as a nonviolent movement that was crushed violently was shelved by editors so as to fit the narrative of the government that narrative of the palestinians aborting the peace process by force and thus reaffirming what israel has always said about them i e that they do not miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity for peace and that there is no one to talk to on the palestinian side is particularly cynical the israeli government and army tried by force to impose their own version of oslo one meant to perpetuate the occupation forever but with palestinian consent and even a feeble arafat could not accept it he and so many other leaders who could have led the palestinians to reconciliation were targeted by the israelis most of them perhaps even arafat as well were assassinated myth 10 a solution in israel and palestine is just around the corner the last and tenth myth is that there is a solution in israel and palestine just around the corner the two state solution will fall into place and the conflict will be nearly over that corner is definitely not upon this earth maybe it exists somewhere in the universe the reality on the ground that of a massive colonization and direct annexation of vast part of the west bank to israel would render any resulting state a sad bantustan without any proper sovereignty even worse palestine would be defined as only 20 percent of what it actually is and the palestinians would be defined only as those who live in the west bank significantly the gaza strip seems to have been excluded from discussions of a future state and many parts of jerusalem are also not included in the envisaged state the two state solution as mentioned above is an israeli invention meant to allow it to square a circle to include the west bank within israel s control without incorporating the population that lives there thus it was suggested that part of the west bank would be autonomous and maybe even a state in return for the palestinians giving up all their hopes hopes for the return of refugees for equal rights for the palestinians in israel for the fate of jerusalem and for a normal life as human beings in their homeland any criticism to this mythology is branded as anti semitism but in fact this policy and mythology are the main reasons why anti semitism still exists israel insists that what it does it does in the name of judaism hence it creates an association between zionist colonization and the jewish religion in the minds of twisted people this association should be rejected in the name of judaism indeed for the sake of universal values the rights of everyone who lives in palestine or was expelled should be respected the right for all peoples in israel and palestine to live as equals should top the agenda of all efforts for peace and reconciliation in the region the fate of palestine an interview with noam chomsky 2007 two what is your view of the situation in gaza today could it mark the beginning of the end for the palestinian authority some background is necessary let s begin with january 2006 when palestinians voted in a carefully monitored election pronounced to be free and fair by international observers despite u s efforts to swing the election toward their favorite mahmoud abbas and his fatah party but palestinians committed a grave crime by western standards they voted the wrong way the united states instantly joined israel in punishing palestinians for their misconduct with europe toddling along behind as usual there is nothing novel about the reaction to these palestinian misdeeds though it is obligatory to hail our leaders for their sincere dedication to bringing democracy to a suffering world perhaps in an excess of idealism the more serious scholar advocates of the mission of democracy promotion recognize that there is a strong line of continuity running through all administrations the united states supports democracy if and only if it conforms to u s strategic and economic interests in short the project is pure cynicism if viewed honestly and quite commonly the u s project should be described as one of blocking democracy not promoting it dramatically so in the case of palestine 1 the punishment of palestinians for the crime of voting the wrong way was severe with constant u s backing israel increased its violence in gaza withheld funds that it was legally obligated to transmit to the palestinian authority tightened its siege and in a gratuitous act of cruelty even cut off the flow of water to the arid gaza strip the israeli attacks became far more severe after the capture of corporal gilad shalit on june 25 2006 which the west portrayed as a terrible crime again pure cynicism just one day before israel kidnapped two civilians in gaza a far worse crime than capturing a soldier and transported them to israel in violation of international law but that is routine where they presumably joined the roughly one thousand prisoners held by israel without charges hence kidnapped none of this merits more than a yawn in the west 2 there is no need here to run through the ugly details but the u s israel made sure that hamas would not have a chance to govern and of course the two leaders of the rejectionist camp flatly rejected hamas s call for a long term cease fire to allow for negotiations in terms of the international consensus on a two state settlement which the united states and israel reject as they have done in virtual isolation for over thirty years with rare and temporary departures meanwhile israel stepped up its programs of annexation dismemberment and imprisonment of shrinking palestinian cantons in the west bank always with decisive u s backing despite occasional minor complaints accompanied by the wink of an eye and munificent funding the programs were formalized in prime minister ehud olmert s convergence program which spells the end of any viable palestinian state his program was greeted in the west with much acclaim as moderate because it did not satisfy the demands of greater israel extremists it was soon abandoned as too moderate again with understanding if mild notes of disapproval by western hypocrites there is a standard operating procedure for overthrowing an unwanted government arm the military to prepare for a military coup the u s israel adopted this conventional plan arming and training fatah to win by force what it lost at the ballot box the united states also encouraged mahmoud abbas to amass power in his own hands steps that are quite appropriate in the eyes of bush administration advocates of presidential dictatorship as for the rest of the quartet russia has no principled objection to such steps the un is powerless to defy the master and europe is too timid to do so egypt and jordan supported the effort consistent with their own programs of internal repression and barring of democracy with u s backing the strategy backfired despite the flow of military aid fatah forces in gaza were defeated in a vicious and brutal conflict which many close observers describe as a preemptive strike targeting primarily the security forces of the brutal fatah strongman muhammad dahlan however those with overwhelming power can often snatch victory from the jaws of defeat and the u s israel quickly moved to turn the outcome to their benefit they now have a pretext for tightening the stranglehold on the people of gaza cheerfully pursuing policies that the prominent international law scholar richard falk describes as a prelude to genocide that should remind the 4 world of the famous post nazi pledge of never again 3 the u s and israel can pursue the project with international backing unless hamas meets the three conditions imposed by the international community a technical term referring to the u s government and whoever goes along with it for palestinians to be permitted to peek out of the walls of their gaza dungeon hamas must 1 recognize israel or in a more extreme form israel s right to exist that is the legitimacy of palestinians expulsion from their homes 2 renounce violence 3 accept past agreements in particular the road map of the quartet the hypocrisy again is stunning no such conditions are imposed on those who wear the jackboots 1 israel does not recognize palestine in fact is devoting extensive efforts to ensure that there will be no viable palestine ever always with decisive u s support 2 israel does not renounce violence and it is ridiculous even to raise the question with regard to the united states 3 israel firmly rejects past agreements in particular the road map with u s support the first two points are obvious the third is correct but scarcely known while israel formally accepted the road map it attached fourteen reservations that completely eviscerate it to take just the first israel demanded that for the process to commence and continue the palestinians must ensure full quiet education for peace cessation of incitement dismantling of hamas and other organizations and other conditions and even if they were to satisfy this virtually impossible demand the israeli cabinet proclaimed that the road map will not state that israel must cease violence and incitement against the palestinians the other reservations continue in the same vein 5 israel s instant rejection of the road map with u s support is unacceptable to the western self image so it has been suppressed the facts did finally break into the mainstream with the publication of jimmy carter s palestine peace not apartheid the book elicited a torrent of abuse and desperate efforts to discredit it but these sections the only part of the book that would have been new to readers with some familiarity with the topic were scrupulously avoided it would rightly be considered utterly ludicrous to demand that a political party in the united states or israel meet such conditions though it would be fair to ask that the two states with overwhelming power meet them but the imperial mentality is so deeply embedded in western culture that this travesty passes without criticism even notice while now in a position to crush gaza with even greater cruelty israel can also proceed with u s backing to implement its plans in the west bank expecting to have the tacit cooperation of fatah leaders who will be amply rewarded for their capitulation among other steps israel began to release the funds estimated at 600 million that it had stolen in reaction to the january 2006 election and is making a few other gestures the programs of undermining democracy are proceeding with shameless self righteousness and ill concealed pleasure with gestures to keep the natives contented at least those who play along while israel continues its merciless repression and violence and of course its immense projects to ensure that it will take over whatever is of value to it in the west bank all thanks to the benevolence of the gracious rich uncle to turn finally to your question the end of the palestinian authority might not be a bad idea for palestinians in the light of u s israeli programs of rendering it nothing more than a quisling regime to oversee their extreme rejectionist designs what should concern us much more is that u s israeli triumphalism and european cowardice might be the prelude to the death of a nation a rare and somber event do you think that there are any conditions under which the united states might change its policy of unconditional support to israel a large majority of americans oppose u s government policy and support the international consensus on a two state settlement in recent polls it s called the saudi plan referring to the position of the arab league supported by virtually the entire world apart from the united states and israel furthermore a large majority think that the united states should deny aid to either of the contending parties israel and the palestinians if they do not negotiate in good faith toward this settlement this is one of a great many illustrations of a huge gap between public opinion and public policy on critical issues it should be added that few people are likely to be aware that their preferences would lead to cutting off all aid to israel to understand this consequence one would have to escape the grip of the powerful and largely uniform doctrinal system which labors to project an image of u s benevolence israeli righteousness and palestinian terror and obstructionism whatever the facts to answer your question u s policy might well change if the united states became a functioning democratic society in which an informed public has a meaningful voice in policy formation that s the task for activists and organizers not just in this case one can think of other possible conditions that might lead to a change in u s policy but none that holds anywhere near as much promise as this one al jazeera reported that tony blair could soon be appointed the middle east quartet s envoy what message do you think this will send to the palestinians and others around the region perhaps the most apt comment was by the fine lebanese political analyst rami khouri he said that appointing tony blair as special envoy for arab israeli peace is something like appointing the emperor nero to be the chief fireman of rome blair was indeed appointed as an envoy but not as the quartet s envoy except in name the bush administration made it very clear at once that he is washington s envoy with a very limited mandate it announced in no uncertain terms that secretary of state rice and the president would retain unilateral control over the important issues while blair would be permitted to deal only with problems of institution building an impossible task as long as washington maintains its extreme 6 rejectionist policies europe had no noticeable reaction to yet another slap in the face washington evidently assumes that blair will continue to be the spear carrier for the pax americana as his role was described in the 7 journal of britain s royal institute of international affairs do you think that the corporate media in the united states should worry about its lies and fantasies being exposed in online independent media znet counterpunch etc or is there a finite limit on how far these alternative media can ever penetrate the consciousness of a population like that in the united states for the present the media and the intellectual community need not be too concerned about the exposure of lies and fantasies the limit is determined by the strength and commitment of popular movements they certainly face barriers but there is no reason to think they are insurmountable ones due to constant pressure and lobbying by professor alan dershowitz professor norman finkelstein was recently denied tenure at depaul why does someone like dershowitz have so much influence that he can make an institution break its own rules dershowitz has been repeatedly exposed as a dedicated liar charlatan and opponent of elementary civil rights and he is uncontroversially an extreme apologist for the crimes and violence of the state of israel but he is taken seriously by the media and the academic world that tells us quite a lot about the reigning intellectual culture as to why institutions succumb few are willing to endure the deluge of slanders lies and defamation poured out by dershowitz the anti defamation league and other apologists for the crimes of their favored state who are granted free rein with little concern about response merely to illustrate dershowitz s books are treated with reverence by the boston globe probably the most liberal paper in the country but they refuse even to review norman finkelstein s carefully documented demonstration that they are an absurd collection of fabrication and deceit authentic scholarship knows better as the record clearly shows but it receives little attention for the late edward w said the solution was one state where all the citizens arabs jews christians etc would have the same democratic rights do you think that because of the situation in gaza and the ever spreading settlements the pendulum will now swing toward a one state solution as being the only possible end point to the conflict two points of clarification are necessary first there is a crucial difference between a one state solution and a binational state in general nation states have been imposed with substantial violence and repression for one reason because they seek to force varied and complex populations into a single mold one of the more healthy developments in europe today is the revival of some degree of regional autonomy and cultural identity reflecting somewhat more closely the nature of the populations in the case of israel palestine a one state solution will arise only on the u s model with extermination or expulsion of the indigenous population a sensible approach would be advocacy of a binational solution recognizing that the territory now includes two fairly distinct societies the second point is that edward said an old and close friend was one of the earliest and most outspoken supporters of a two state solution by the 1990s he felt that the opportunity had been lost and he proposed without much specification a unitary state by which i am sure he would have meant a binational state i purposely use the word propose not advocate the distinction is crucial we can propose that everyone should live in peace and harmony the proposal rises to the level of advocacy when we sketch a path from here to there in the case of a unitary binational solution the only advocacy i know of passes through a number of stages first a two state settlement in terms of the international consensus that the united states and israel have prevented followed by moves toward binational federation and finally closer integration perhaps to a binational democratic state as circumstances allow it is of some interest that when binationalist federation opening the way to closer integration was feasible from 1967 to the mid 1970s suggestions to this effect my own writings for example elicited near hysteria today when they are completely unfeasible they are treated with respect in the mainstream new york times new york review of books etc the reason i suspect is that a call today for a one state settlement is a gift to the jingoist right who can then wail that they are trying to destroy us so we must destroy them in self defense but true advocacy of a binational state seems to me just as appropriate as it has always been that has been my unchanged opinion since the 1940s advocacy that is not mere proposal looking ahead what do you consider to be the best case worst case and most likely scenarios for the boundaries and control of occupied palestine in the next ten years the worst case would be the destruction of palestine the best case in the short term would be a two state settlement in terms of the international consensus that is by no means impossible it is supported by virtually the entire world including the majority of the u s population it has come rather close once during the last month of clinton s presidency the sole u s departure from extreme rejectionism in the past thirty years the united states lent its support to the negotiations in taba egypt in january 2001 which came very close to a settlement in the general terms of the international consensus before they were called off prematurely by israeli prime minister ehud barak in their final press conference the negotiators expressed some hope that if they had been permitted to continue their joint work a settlement could have been reached the years since have seen many horrors but the possibility remains as for the most likely scenario it looks unpleasantly close to the worst case but human affairs are not predictable too much depends on will and choice would you agree with edward said when he said the most demoralising aspect of the zionist palestinian conflict is the almost total opposition between the mainstream israeli and palestinian points of view might it not make sense for a group of universally respected historians and intellectuals composed equally of palestinians and israelis to hold a series of meetings to try to agree to a modicum of truth about where this conflict actually lies for them to agree on a body of facts who took what from whom who did what to whom 8 something like a historical truth and political justice committee who are the respected historians and intellectuals edward had much more faith in the importance and the integrity of respected intellectuals than i do that aside i do not think there is very much dispute about the bare facts except for fringe liars disputes have to do with selection and interpretation the university and college union in britain voted in favor of considering an academic boycott of israeli universities do you think that this and other types of boycotts of israeli products for example are appropriate measures and could have a positive effect on israeli policies i have always been skeptical about academic boycotts there may be overriding reasons but in general i think that those channels should be kept open as for boycotts in general they are a tactic not a principle like other tactics we have to evaluate them in terms of their likely consequences that is a matter of prime importance at least for those who care about the fate of the victims and circumstances have to be considered with care let s consider south africa and israel which are often compared in this context in the case of south africa boycotts had some impact but it is worth remembering that they were implemented after a long period of education and organizing which had led to widespread condemnation of apartheid even within mainstream opinion and powerful institutions that included the u s corporate sector which has an overwhelming influence on policy formation transparently at that stage boycott became an effective instrument the case of israel is radically different the preparatory educational and organizing work has scarcely been done the result is that calls for boycott can easily turn out to be weapons for the hard right and in fact that has regularly and predictably happened those who care about the fate of palestinians will not undertake actions that harm them nevertheless carefully targeted boycotts which are comprehensible to the public in the current state of understanding can be effective instruments one example is calls for university divestment from corporations that are involved in u s israeli repression and violence and denial of elementary human rights in europe a sensible move would be to call for an end to preferential treatment for israeli exports until israel stops its systematic destruction of palestinian agriculture and its barring of economic development in the united states it would make good sense to call for reducing u s aid to israel by the estimated 600 million that israel has stolen by refusing to transmit funds to the elected government and the cynicism of funneling aid to the faction it supports should be exposed as just another exercise in undermining democracy looking farther ahead a sensible project would be to support the stand of the majority of americans that all aid to israel should be canceled until it agrees to negotiate seriously for a peaceful diplomatic settlement instead of continuing to act vigorously to undermine the possibility of realizing the international consensus on a two state settlement that however will require serious educational and organizational efforts readers of the mainstream press were well aware of the shocking nature of apartheid but they are presented daily with the picture of israel desperately seeking peace but under constant attack by palestinian terrorists who want to destroy it that is not just the media incidentally just to illustrate harvard university s kennedy school of government published a research paper on the 2006 lebanon war that has to be read to be believed but is not atypical it s by marvin kalb a highly respected figure in journalism head of the kennedy school s media program according to his account the media were almost totally controlled by hezbollah and failed to recognize that israel was engaged in an existential struggle for survival fighting a two front war of self defense against attacks in lebanon and gaza the attack on the pathetic victim from the south was the capture of corporal shalit the kidnapping of gazan civilians the day before and innumerable other crimes like it are more self defense the attack from the north was the hezbollah capture of two soldiers on july 12 more cynicism for decades israel has been kidnapping and killing civilians in lebanon or on the high seas between lebanon and cyprus holding many for long periods as 9 hostages while unknown numbers of others were sent to secret prison 10 torture chambers like facility 1391 not reported in the united states one has ever condemned israel for aggression or called for massive terror attacks in retaliation as always the cynicism reeks to the skies illustrating imperial mentality so deeply rooted as to be imperceptible no continuing with the kennedy school version of the war it demonstrates the extreme bias of the arab press with the horrified revelation that it portrayed lebanese to israeli casualties in the ratio of 22 to 1 whereas objective western journalism would of course be neutral the actual ratio was about 25 to 1 kalb quotes new york times correspondent steven erlanger who was greatly disturbed that photos of destruction in south beirut lacked context they did not show that the rest of beirut was not destroyed by the same logic photos of the world trade center on 9 11 revealed the extreme bias of western journalism by failing to show that the rest of new york was untouched the falsification and deceit of which these examples are a small sample would be startling if they were not so familiar until that is overcome punitive actions that are well merited are likely to backfire all this raises another point for the most part israel can act only within the framework established by the great power on which it has chosen to rely ever since it made the fateful decision in 1971 to prefer expansion to peace rejecting egyptian president anwar sadat s proposal for a full israel egyptian peace treaty in favor of settlement in the egyptian sinai we can debate the extent to which israel relies on u s support but there can be little doubt that its crushing of palestinians and other violent crimes are possible only because the united states provides it with unprecedented economic military diplomatic and ideological support so if there are to be boycotts why not of the united states whose support of israel is the least of its crimes or of the uk or other criminal states we know the answer and it is not an attractive one undermining the integrity of the call for boycott 11 finally in april 2003 gilbert achcar wrote a letter to a slightly depressed antiwar activist which ended with this movement s spectacular growth has only been possible because it rested on the foundations of three years of progress by the global movement against neoliberal globalization born in seattle these two dimensions will continue to fuel each other to strengthen people s awareness that neoliberalism and war are two faces of the same system of domination which must be overthrown what would be your message today to antiwar and human rights activists around the world about their role in this worldwide struggle gilbert achcar is quite right though we should recognize as he surely does that the north is a latecomer to the very promising global justice movements they originated in the south which is why the meetings of the world social forum have been held in brazil india venezuela kenya also of great significance are the solidarity movements that developed primarily in the united states in the 1980s something quite new in the hundreds of years of western imperialism and have since proliferated in many ways the lesson to activists is stark and simple the future lies in their hands including the question of the fate of palestine clusters of history u s involvement in the three palestine question ilan pappé a thought provoking article was published by john mearsheimer and stephen walt based on extended research it discussed the power of the american israel public affairs committee aipac the israeli lobby in washington in shaping american policy in the middle east in general and toward israel in particular their basic argument was that the lobby directs american policy in a way that undermines the united states national interest not since the 1960s would one have come across such a harsh criticism of either zionism or u s policy from within the heart of american academia or the media 1 the role of the lobby in shaping u s policy in the middle east is undoubtedly crucial but american policy in the middle east like any regional policy of a great power in the past is the outcome of more than one factor for those like myself for whom the analysis of such a policy is not just academic but a matter of life and death an expanded analysis is called for not only for the sake of understanding that policy more clearly but also as a way of coping with its dangerous outcomes as a historian by profession i hope that seeing the development of this policy in a wider historical spectrum may help those of us who live in the area and in palestine to better comprehend what one may or may not do vis à vis such a powerful factor in our daily lives one that is likely to remain so for the foreseeable future a scholarly narrative of chaotic historical processes such as the development of a particular foreign policy requires an organizational method that might raise suspicions about a considerable gap between the structured representation of the policy and its actual implementation on the ground this gap stems from the modern historiographical impulse to in the words of hayden white organize reality with the same clarity as a novelist seeking to construct a lucid world in which a plot has a clear beginning and an end historiography is a constructive effort that is meant to expose the past as it really was if we believe in such a possibility or for the sake of making a contemporary point if we doubt that possibility but anyone who dares to dive into the ocean of words to be found in the political and diplomatic documents in the various national archives understands how precarious is the story extracted from these heaps of documents left behind by the chattering classes that shaped our lives over the last two centuries technically mapping a clear narrative out of the paperwork requires reliance on only a very small number of documents chosen according to the subjective preference of the historian and not according to any objective criterion a middle ground between relativist and positivist views of foreign policy historiography consists of providing readers interested in a particular chapter of such policy with clusters of facts and evidence from the past each providing a certain insight into the phenomenon being researched in this article which follows the history of the american involvement in the middle east in general and in palestine in particular the clusters when fused together can supply an expanded explanation for this policy any attempt to focus on one cluster alone is problematic as mearsheimer and walt learned from criticism directed at them by friends and foes alike in what follows there is an attempt to expand the historical panorama and present five clusters of facts and contexts these are actually five legacies that feed into american policy in the middle east today at first these processes developed discretely but at a certain historical juncture they met and fused into one powerful impulse that formulated american policy in this area the blackstone scofield legacy if you ignore a no entry sign on your right when you ascend toward the jaffa gate in the old city of jerusalem and take the forbidden turn alongside the old ottoman wall driving through the citadel you will reach one of jerusalem s hidden gems on the mountain s slope looking west lies the old gobat school samuel gobat was an anglican bishop who built a boys school there in the mid nineteenth century that became the main preparatory school for the palestinian elite today it is an american college and among the beautiful buildings left behind by the anglicans the modern day americans have planted posters supporting the great israel idea and a zionist jerusalem which would not have shamed the most ultra right zionist settler movement in israel gobat came to palestine as the americans do today because he believed that the return of the jews would precipitate the second coming of the messiah and the unfolding apocalypse of the end times but unlike his contemporary successors he fell in love with the local population and helped tie them into the global educational system in a way he forsook his missionary task for the sake of granting them a more universal education his efforts helped the embryonic palestinian national movement to emerge gobat was in many ways a student of the irishman john nelson darby and the scot edward irving the fathers of pre millenarianist dogma at the beginning of the nineteenth century theirs was a doomsday vision that included the return of the jews to their biblical homeland followed by their conversion to christianity on the way to a full realization of the apocalyptic 2 prophecies the source as of so many of these judeo christian dogmas was jewish and its origins can be found in the apocalyptic jewish thought that evolved around the coming of the messiah these irish and scottish visions emerged in an even more zealous form in the united states they seem to have rooted themselves in newton massachusetts once a city of its own today part of greater boston newton is a circular suburb and at its center in a typical new england wood lies the theological seminary of andover in its early days it hosted a presbyterian brotherhood that wished to bring the word of god to the heathen two hundred and fifty enthusiastic boys were enlisted for the purpose a decade later they were in palestine and the surrounding area trying to convert a society that had already encountered the jesuits and the greek orthodox missionaries who had arrived years before the andoverians built institutes that in time would become the american universities of cairo and beirut the alma maters of the arab national movement s first generation of leaders the gospel they brought was thus not only that of jesus but also that of the youngest state in the world just liberated from the british colonialist yoke the historian george antonious author of the famous arab awakening and a senior clerk in the british mandate government in palestine asserted that these missionaries were the principal agents of modernization and nationalization in the formative period of the modern middle east with the advent of a more complex theoretical view of how nations are born the role of the presbyterian missionaries was diminished but they are still 4 regarded as a meaningful factor in this story 3 this ambivalence in the american theological view between a millenarianist vision and identification with the awakening arab peoples continued until the first world war we find at the end of the nineteenth century a debate between the two positions on one side stood the preacher 5 william blackstone who in the famous protestant convention of 1891 demanded of president benjamin harrison that the united states should consider the condition of the israelites and their claims to palestine as their ancient home on the other side stood the american consul in jerusalem selah merrill who attempted to counterbalance the growing influence of the return of the jews notion merrill wrote to the president that in his view which was shared by his friends the muslim notables of jerusalem zionism was neither a holy nor a religious phenomenon but rather a colonialist project that he predicted would not last because it pertained to the jewish eastern european world while the definition is apt the 6 prediction seems in hindsight to be wrong the millenarianists seemed to gain the upper hand as the years went by within the american evangelical scene the voices of the merrills weakened and were almost silenced by the vociferous sermons of the blackstones whose numbers increased enormously in the twentieth century their positive view of zionism was reinforced by the growing tension between the missionaries and the islamic religious establishments in the eastern mediterranean the missionaries who once preached for liberation from european colonialism hoped that american christianity and not the islamic tradition would become the leading light of the new nations as indeed would become the case in many ways the second and third generations of missionaries became the first orientalists in the full negative meaning of the term but even before edward said attracted our attention to this group another edward was warning forty years before said s orientalism appeared of the dubious impact of the orientalist missionary this was edward earle who like said also taught at columbia university and who wrote in foreign affairs in 1929 that for almost a century american public opinion concerning the near east was formed by missionaries if american opinion has been uninformed misinformed and prejudiced the missionaries are largely to blame interpreting history in terms of the advance of christianity they have given an inadequate distorted and occasionally a grotesque picture 7 of moslems and islam the missionaries presented an even more distorted picture when they focused on palestine their biased and negative descriptions faithfully echoed their immense disappointment at their first physical encounters with the holy land like mark twain they found it difficult to digest the gap between what they discovered and the vision that the holy scriptures had led them to imagine like the zionists who would follow them as well as the british and germans who came with them they did not perceive the locals as a people or a group with rights or claims to the country but rather as at best an exotic specter and at worst an ecological nuisance the zionist movement having developed a similar view immediately won their support although it would take years before this link became a solid alliance between christian fundamentalism and the state of israel an alliance that would greatly affect american policy in the middle east as a whole that alliance was forged when israel was established in 1948 in the eyes of the messianic christians in america the creation of the state of israel was the final and decisive proof that the divine apocalyptic schemes were about to materialize in front of their eyes the return of the jews their conversion to christianity and the second coming of the messiah cyrus scofield a preacher from dallas texas was another link in the chain that connected missionary theology on both sides of the atlantic this violent priest produced an annotated fundamentalist version of the bible that was published by oxford university press in 1909 it was in a way the most explicit sketch of the three prongs that form the basis for u s policy today the return of the jews the decline of islam and the rising fortunes of the united states as a world power parts of scofield s sermons sound like 8 contemporary speeches by george w bush the zionist movement could not have asked for more the enthusiasm that now gripped protestants in britain and the united states was what it most needed to push forward an idea that had before the second world war failed to enthuse most jews texas was indeed an important hub for this activity it became a spouting fountain of fundamentalist hallucinations that today have turned into the policies of another texan george w bush as the twentieth century marched on the southern preachers pushed aside their eastern colleagues and wrote and prophesied like the famous hal lindsey that after armageddon millions of jews would kneel before the returning christ this sermon reappears in the ceremonies conducted by christian zionists who flock every year to the ancient ruins of tel megiddo where the final battle between good and evil is supposed to be played out the delegations are received in israel as the state s new saviors lindsey s book the late great planet earth is today a hit an apocalyptic bestseller and the bible of the average christian zionist in it unconditional support for an aggressive and destructive israel is a divine law what israel wants is what god wants is the statement that guided at its onset the fundamentalist pilgrimage to jerusalem in the mid 1980s 9 and thus in september 2001 a century after scofield s bible appeared his phantasm became a real policy when the u s administration faced a small group of terrorists who came from saudi arabia and egypt and were trained in afghanistan the american leadership did not send forces to seek or arrest the terrorists but instead waged a total war against islam using destructive military force substantial aid to and fortification of israel was conceived as the most significant part of the war on terror the ideological infrastructure of this bush policy is very much the legacy of scofield and his fundamentalist friends it is possible that the hidden but staunch anti semitic element within millenarian dogma deterred the pro israeli lobby at first from associating too strongly with the expanding network of christian fundamentalist organizations but in the 1970s all this changed the israeli government could not resist the temptation menachem begin led the way with the help of an enthusiastic young likudnik binyamin netanyahu in 1978 the likud government declared its intention of strengthening the connection with the christian fundamentalists it allowed them to open a tv station in southern lebanon when it was occupied by israel in operation litani more important was the consent of the government for the opening in 1980 of the international christian embassy in jerusalem the stronghold of fundamentalism in israel today it was built in what must have been the best seat in town an excellent location overlooking the valley in which the prophesied resurrection would take place in 1985 netanyahu then israel s ambassador to the un declared to the annual convention of christian zionists that the latter s support for israel was a superior moral deed that night he became the blue eyed boy for all those who wished to burn the jews in hell unless they converted to christianity on judgment day the churches were not content with words alone and established a special outfit that focused on helping israel inside the united states which netanyahu made effective use of when he became prime minister 10 while the pro israeli lobby see below concentrated its efforts on wooing the democratic party toward israel these christians turned the republican party into a sympathizer at the very least and one should not underrate this achievement for the businessmen linked to the republican party were more inclined to accept the arabists point of view on which more later and support a pro american axis in the middle east built on friendly arab regimes but this position was neutralized toward the end of the twentieth century due to the immense power accumulated by the fundamentalists who by then were officially dubbed christian zionists it is noteworthy that the pro israeli lobby was established according to the declared aims of its founder to eliminate pro arab influence in the state department this particular mission was accomplished it seems not so much by the lobby s effort as by the successful endeavors of the christian zionists history quite often is an explosive fusion of discrete processes that produce events later considered to be formative and significant the reaganite foreign policy of the 1980s and the historical narrative that accompanied it which claimed that this american president and his uk colleague margaret thatcher were leading a hawkish west into decisive victory over the great satan in moscow reinforced christian zionism even more it was also fed by a tv revolution that bowdlerized the american value system and collapsed fundamentalist christianity into the dimensions of the small screen flamboyant men appeared as preachers and succeeded in the typical discourse of this shallow medium in conveying even more simplified messages from the christian zionist pulpit thus the transformations in a bipolar world the communications revolution and the rise of the right to power in israel turned the jewish state s influence in the united states into a formidable if not undefeatable fact of life jerry falwell s shows on tv epitomize this latest transformation in the fundamentalist experience in 1981 he said on one of his shows he who stands against israel stands against god in the same year he received the jabotinsky prize from menachem begin the various groups that fell within the category of christian zionism won an unprecedented place in the israeli political system so despite vigorous opposition from the ultra orthodox jews in jerusalem to any missionary work in the city falwell and his friends shifted the focus of christian zionist activity to jerusalem ever since every few years the city has hosted the main convention of american christian zionists a body that has adopted a host of resolutions calling upon israel to pursue an expansionist policy in the occupied territories and encouraging the united states to wage continuous war against islam and the arab world these positions were taken long before the united states was attacked by al qaeda 11 the outcome is that today tens of millions probably around 40 million of americans support israel unreservedly even expecting it to pursue a maximalist policy against the arab world and the palestinians this body of people brings with it the money that helped install george w bush in the white house its members are represented in all the important committees on capitol hill and in the american media ever since the outbreak of the second intifada most of the churches of this persuasion consider volunteering in israel as mandatory as if this were not enough since september 2001 this theology has also adopted a clear anti islamic line in his important work on the subject stephen sizer has revealed how christian zionists have constructed a historical narrative that describes the muslim attitude to christianity throughout the ages as a kind of a genocidal campaign first against the jews and then against the christians hence what were once hailed as moments of human triumph in the middle east the islamic renaissance of the middle ages the golden era of the ottomans the emergence of arab independence and the end of european colonialism were recast as the satanic anti christian acts of heathens in the new historical view the united states became st george israel his shield and spear and islam their dragon 12 the king crane legacy in the heart of ohio lies the town of oberlin at the beginning of the nineteenth century it was still a typical midwest american village surrounded by infinite cornfields away from the ivy towers of the east and west coasts a pastoral part of the world it would have escaped a place in the collective american memory had it not been for a unique theological college that was established there in 1833 oberlin college was opened by a clergy very different from those already discussed its members were motivated by a commitment to peace and equality both in the united states and in the world at large in its early years the college fought against racial segregation and discrimination against women in american academia there in the gothic like building of the college henry king taught for many years but as was common for researchers then he did not specialize in one particular area at first king was attracted to theological education then mathematics and finally philosophy in 1902 he became the college s president then during the first world war he left this comfortable position to become the head of the ymca in paris in the photo gallery of the college one can see a tall man with a groucho like moustache decorating his long face sitting next to a table made fit lean and long to the man s proportions this was taken at the paris ymca it was while there that king was asked by his good friend president woodrow wilson to become involved in world politics the american president wished to exploit the results of the war by disintegrating the big colonial empires in the name of the right to independence and self determination in the wilsonian vision the arab peoples too were entitled to the national liberation denied them during four hundred years of ottoman rule wilson suspected that britain and france wanted to replace turkish imperialism with european colonialism he therefore asked the peace conference in versailles to send a commission of inquiry to the arab world to ascertain the people s aspirations there the survey included palestine and king was his favored candidate to head the mission 13 king s partner for the mission came from a very different place in the 14 northeastern part of istanbul the university of boˇgaziçi overlooks the straits of the bosphorus its buildings clinging to the hill slopes that descend to the straits bank resemble those of oberlin college which is no surprise as they were built by american clergymen too this campus was it survived the opened in 1839 and was first named roberts college great war which positioned the united states and turkey as enemies remaining an american cultural center at the heart of istanbul charles crane a businessman from chicago and a diplomat of sorts was the campus s main trustee he was about to invest more time in it as part of his plan to expand an all american campus system in the arab world when he too was called on by president wilson to assist king in his middle east peace mission crane gladly agreed to take part in what was an effort to enhance the independence of the arab peoples according to the principle of self determination as articulated by the president in his famous 1914 speech at mount vermont 15 when king and crane arrived at the offices of the peace conference they found that their mission was to be much more modest most of the arab world had already been divided into new nation states by the colonialist powers even before versailles had been convened only one area remained without clear definition the levant the british and french had already carved it out between themselves in the sykes picot agreement of 1916 however president wilson hoped to calm colonialist hunger by peppering the dish with a bit of liberalism it was still necessary to know what were the real ambitions of the people living in the areas that britain and france coveted and thus despite demonstrable hostility from britain and france the peace conference agreed to delay the establishment of mandate regimes in syria lebanon and palestine king and crane enlisted seven experts in different fields and set out for the area on june 10 1919 staying there for forty two days they visited more than 1 500 locations an amazing achievement for such a small delegation they met urban elites jewish settlers and christian missionaries they were in jaffa rishon le zion jerusalem ramallah nablus jenin nazareth haifa and acre until they returned to turkey on board the u s navy destroyer hazelwood they were surprised by the sincerity of the urban and rural inhabitants of palestine they discovered that most of them were happy to be part of an all syrian arab state although quite a few of the urban inhabitants hoped that an independent palestine would eventually be established they mainly knew what they did not want a zionist presence the balfour declaration and a british or french mandate king and crane s final report was undecided except on one point the negative impact the balfour declaration would have on the people of palestine 16 their report troubled the governments in paris and london ever since 1912 both had toiled over a network of secret agreements that divided up the greater syria area palestine lebanon syria and jordan between themselves the balfour declaration was thrown into the deal granting the establishment of a jewish homeland in palestine as well as the creation of a hashemite kingdom in jordan the members of the king crane commission discovered that the people who were themselves living in greater syria had a different dream and innocently believed that it would fit with the wider vision of president wilson no wonder then that the reports were shelved when president wilson fell seriously ill and collapsed that summer the energetic american involvement in the middle east petered out and with it disappeared the only american scheme in modern times that attempted to build a new middle east according to the aspirations of the local population rather than those of washington and its allies sparks of this positive energy would reappear now and again among the more pro arab american diplomats and officials of the state department this was particularly true in the mandate period of palestine when such experts were asked by president franklin roosevelt to provide an assessment of the zionist movement they wrote it has never been considered by the u s government that the realization of a jewish national home was connected with safeguarding american rights and interests but they mainly recommended pursuing a neutral policy and clandestinely assisting the british this line held until 1942 when the zionist leadership in palestine succeeded for the first time in eliciting overwhelming support from the american jewish community this was immediately translated into pressure on the white house to change its position on palestine and refuse to contemplate ideas such as those proposed by king and crane 17 it did not happen in a day king and crane s heirs were a professional group of university graduates who manned the state department sections dealing with the near east as they called the area they were the famous arabists their last significant impact on u s policy which came toward the end of the british mandate in palestine 1948 can tell us something about potential changes to american policy in the near and more distant future the scene for the last success of the arabists was the town of lake success on long island contrary to what its name suggests it is an ancient arena of defeat that of the native american montauketts who were destroyed in the u s genocide like so many other locations in the united states this too is named after the chief of the defeated tribe sacut since the end of colonization the area has been a military industrial complex which armed u s forces in both world wars in 1946 the fledgling united nations addressed quite unexpectedly the mayor of the little town of lake success and asked to rent some of the industrial areas including huge hangars as a temporary home in one of them in november 1947 the un general assembly announced the establishment of a jewish state but these pleasant zionist memories disappeared into thin air when a few months later in the very same hangar a different spectacle took place on february 24 1948 the american delegate to the un warren austin declared that his government wished to annul the partition resolution which included the declaration of the jewish state as it wrought havoc and destruction instead of enhancing peace austin suggested imposing an international trusteeship over palestine pending a better solution this was a step that ended a long process of rethinking in the state department in the face of the new reality unfolding in palestine the arabists saw how under the umbrella of the un partition resolution the zionist movement had begun ethnically cleansing palestine of its native population and so on that day in february within a week of the first significant israeli ethnic cleansing operation focusing on 18 five coastal villages and a massacre in the north austin gave his speech president harry truman knew very well what was in store for him he had already developed an antipathy toward the zionist leaders in his country such as aba hillel silver whom his jewish advisers invited into his chambers every now and then to complain about the state department this troubling activity was part of the new pro zionist campaign that jews in the united states had initiated after david ben gurion visited them in 1942 in that year the zionist leader convened a meeting in the biltmore hotel in new york that was meant to institutionalize the pro zionist lobby in the united states and indeed the zionist retaliation was not long in coming aba hillel silver arrived followed by chaim weizmann and although the president told his advisers that he would not be shouted at anymore the ploy worked well it had after all been an election year the united states retracted its policy and israeli ethnic cleansing raged on however the state department continued to refer to the 1948 ethnic 19 cleansing of palestine as the root cause of the conflict under its guidance the palestinian right of return was the backbone of a new un peace initiative attempted throughout 1949 then as they had in february 1948 the white house and other bodies involved in formulating u s policy on the question of palestine at first accepted the department s lead one month was noteworthy may 1949 in that month the united states demanded that israel allow the repatriation of hundreds of thousands of palestinian refugees regardless of the cause of their flight and not even pending the conclusion of a final settlement on may 29 1949 the u s ambassador to israel james mcdonald conveyed a very sharp letter from president truman to david ben gurion which made an explicit threat of severe sanctions if israel did not adjust its polices this was accompanied by the suspension of a promised loan in june 1949 israel succeeded in conveying the impression that it was about to heed the pressure but asked for time to deal with some technical aspects of the request in the meantime conflicts broke out in different parts of the globe as the cold war began to heat up hence until the end of truman s administration that pressure was never attempted again one could argue though that to this day there has been no official u s retraction from the palestinian right of return the arabist legacy seemed also to influence truman s successor dwight eisenhower but this proved too much for both israel and the jewish community they retaliated with the establishment of aipac this was the arabists swan song here and there criticism popped out demanding recognition of the palestinian people and their claims especially during george h w bush s term in the white house today the arabists hold only very junior positions and play no role in the decision making process of u s middle east policy in 2003 the veterans among the arabists dispatched an impressive petition that accused george w bush of severely damaging the american national interest by occupying iraq and uncritically backing israeli policies but even michael moore has more influence on american policy than they do despite the long service they underwent in the area their knowledge of its languages and their solidarity with the people s basic aspirations there since that summer in 1919 when king and crane tried to translate these qualifications into policy america s arab and palestine policies have become confined to the narrow route efficiently delineated for them by aipac as the years have gone by the laguardia and kenen legacy fiorello h laguardia was born in the bronx new york in 1882 his father emigrated from italy and his mother was a hungarian jew this double ethnicity became a useful political tool during laguardia s career in the american labor party culminating in his becoming a member of the house of representatives and mayor of new york at every stage of his political career until he died in 1947 he drew on his ethnic identity card italian or jewish to enhance his chances of being elected to coveted positions he mastered italian and yiddish and some claim his hebrew was not at all bad his legacy was such that those who followed him understood how useful were the politics of identity in the overall political scene laguardia unhesitatingly accused opponents of trying to undermine the position of ethnic groups he happened to represent at the time first the italians in new york in east harlem then the jews in brooklyn and even later the irish wherever they were politicians focused on the three i s israel italy and ireland as the safe bets in local electoral races from this angle american foreign policy seems often a reflection of the domestic ethnic balance of power and within this framework the pro israeli lobby was born in the 1950s the next generation of 20 the use that political aspirants in an immigrant society make of their group identity as a career launchpad connects to another phenomenon in american politics lobbying the original lobby was the foyer leading to the congress hall in 1830 for the first time it became packed with people trying physically to influence their representatives hence the term that is today associated with slickly run outfits doing much the same from 1830 onward many congressmen and congresswomen have spent time talking with lobbyists lobbying produced inevitable corruption which in turn prodded lawmakers to find ways of limiting such crookedness the first law passed in 1946 stipulated clear regulations for lobbying which a few years later would be violated one by one by aipac the most important 21 of them was the absolute prohibition on representing a foreign country in january 1953 it seemed that for a moment eisenhower wanted to renew american activism over the palestinian refugee issue he was heard more than once talking about the need to allow their repatriation moreover unlike his predecessor truman eisenhower distinguished between the american need to provide humanitarian aid to the refugees in their camps and adherence to principled american support for the right of return his secretary of state john foster dulles visited the area and reported that allowing the return of refugees was still physically possible even in congress the possibilities of resettlement on both sides of the river jordan were discussed in earnest president eisenhower judged that the problem of three hundred thousand refugees could be solved in such a way but the arab world did not endorse the plan and israel rejected it both because of its element of return and more importantly because it conflicted with the aim of exploiting the jordan river for the national carrier project of supplying water to israel the work on the national carrier project led to an angry response by the american president who suspended aid to israel pending an end to the diversion of water from the jordan river that israel had begun in september 1953 israel waited for a friendlier administration 22 this somewhat critical stance was maintained by the united states and the suez crisis in 1956 led yet again to a threat of sanctions in response to an aggressive israeli policy thus in a matter of seven years israel was thrice threatened with american sanctions the americans forced the israelis out of the sinai which was a traumatic lesson for the local leadership the prospects of such an american position expanding and deepening constituted in the eyes of the israeli policy makers a real existential threat this was definitely the opinion of israel s ambassador to the un abba eban as part of his efforts to sabotage such a development he enlisted an official of canadian origin who worked in the un s public relations office isaiah l si kenen kenen s first assignment was to write an article alerting the public to the dangers incurred by the anti israeli orientation of u s policy in the middle east the same message was forcefully conveyed in a series of articles kenen published in a new journal near east policy which became the pro israeli lobby s mouthpiece funded partly by israel kenen began organizing jewish support first in local trade unions and then in communities across the country the washington institute for near east policy was founded around the journal as aipac s think tank the first visible result of kenen s activity was by jewish members of the dockers union who boycotted arab ships in u s harbors in order to prevent u s aid reaching arab states that did not recognize israel then came around 1960 the first of many jewish initiatives on capitol hill for anti arab legislation 23 the pro israel lobby worked uninterrupted until 1963 when the famous senator william fulbright became intrigued by its activities and demanded a congressional investigation of its financial sources the three hundred pages produced by the investigating body revealed that over four years the lobby had raised 5 million exempted from tax from the jewish community in the united states this was done by the purchase of bonds clandestinely made over to the state of israel american law forbade lobbying for the interests of a foreign country in order to overcome the legal prohibition it was stated that the bonds were procured only for welfare purposes in israel however the investigating committee found that none of the money was ever delivered to the deprived citizens of israel the money went to the israeli state and from there immediately back to the united states directly into aipac s account in newsweek august 12 1963 it was written that the investigation exposed the aipac lobby as one of the most effective networks of foreign influence fulbright became the pro israel lobby s greatest enemy and had to be deposed by all means possible the campaign against him became an aipac model everything was done to ensure that he would not be reelected anyone standing against him was financed and supported from that time to this the road to the capitol has been scattered with candidates from the elite of american politics whose careers have been similarly torpedoed by aipac in this manner aipac impacted on congress policy with such successful results that very few have since dared to follow in fulbright s footsteps 24 kenen was not taken with eisenhower s successor john kennedy either but did not dare say so publicly because of the latter s immense popularity kennedy disappointed because he did not introduce any significant change to his predecessor s policy but kennedy s vice president lyndon johnson was a different story altogether he was attentive to israel and its needs when kennedy was assassinated and johnson became president kenen said we lost a good friend but we found a better one by 1969 on the twenty first anniversary of israel s founding the game had come out in the open over a huge advertisement published in the new york times scores of senators and members of the house of representatives vowed allegiance to israel s national agenda jewish immigration to israel from the soviet union unlimited arms from the united states and tough anti palestinian policies by the un 25 if johnson was a true friend richard nixon and his secretary of state henry kissinger were the pro israel lobby s undeniable heroes when nixon spelled out his doctrine for safeguarding the american national interest it included a total reliance on israel as the main pillar of u s policy in the middle east aipac s mission on the face of it had been accomplished the state department had been neutralized and it looked as if only the jewish electoral voice would be heard when crucial decisions were taken pertaining to israel s fate or even to the future of the arab world in general the reality however would be somewhat different during the administrations of ford reagan and the elder bush aipac lost out at crucial junctures in the history of the region the reason was that the well oiled mechanism which included a membership of more than thirty thousand had invested so much effort in terrorizing potential anti zionist candidates that it allowed some of the actual policy making in congress to pass unnoticed senators such as charles percy of the republican party who were suspected of being unwilling to provide unconditional support to israel were deposed one can in fact pick any year since 1963 and find similar victims of aipac s campaign in 1983 aipac succeeded in ending the political career of paul findley a member of the house since 1961 and one of the few critics of israel s policy in the occupied territories more recently the african american members earl hilliard and cynthia mckinney of the democrats have been targeted 26 other sticks were wedged through the wheels of aipac s carriage every now and then when the lobby was overdoing its business some of its members were engaged in real espionage work for israel jonathan pollard was convicted of doing so in 1986 and in 2004 the fbi investigated others who were charged with spying inside the pentagon larry franklin a former senior analyst on the pentagon s iran desk received a prison sentence of nearly thirteen years for passing top secret information to steve rosen and keith weissman who worked for aipac at the time 27 these debacles have not as yet changed the overall picture the senior members of the bush administration who are involved in formulating policy toward israel and the middle east are all in one way or another connected to aipac and particularly to its think tank the institute for near east policy the most conspicuous among them are donald rumsfeld and dick cheney they have been present every year at the most glamorous event in the american capital the aipac convention each such meeting expresses unconditional support for israel s policy toward the palestinians and anyone opposing this policy is immediately considered by aipac to be its enemy 28 29 the anti semitism that feeds on among other things the in the united states today one cannot ignore the level of integration of jews into the heights of american financial cultural and academic power this has of course many positive implications the jews in america do not in hannah arendt s words live outside the society as they did in germany alienation of the jewish experience did not take root in the united states on the other hand the exploitation of the fruits of successful integration into american society for the benefit of a foreign country could itself be the pretext for a new surge of anti semitism in the future ever since chaim weizmann wrote angrily in 1949 of the rich jews who did not do enough for zionism israel s satisfaction at the affluence of american jewry testifies that much of its capital is intended to maintain american policy in its pro israeli tracks 30 the five sisters legacy there have been those who have argued that if the principal natural resource of the middle east had been bananas the region would not have attracted the interest of various american administrations but it is oil not bananas and this cannot be changed the americans began to be interested in the oilfields of the arab world in the 1920s and four companies four of the sisters standard oil of california standard oil of new jersey standard oil of new york and texaco won the first concessions to look for oil in saudi arabia in the first half of the twentieth century in 1938 they discovered it there and in bahrain a fifth company gulf oil found oil a few months later in kuwait since then the oil wells have become a principal source for financing the american way of life the electrification and air conditioning of all life systems at unprecedented and unmatched levels of energy waste controlling the oil flow on the one hand and extracting earnings from its production on the other became the double goal of american policy in the arab world the emergence of arab nationalism in the middle east foiled the second goal it was iranians who first nationalized oil production and even a successful american attempt to topple the iranian government with the help of the cia did not stop the trend the next in line was iraq which nationalized its oil in 1958 in the arabian peninsula oil royalties gushed more into the local banks than the bank accounts of the five sisters but oil flowed to the united states even if the dividends were now more evenly divided between arab regimes and owners of the american oil companies the pro oil lobby in america lost its impact when in 1973 the arab oil producing states declared their famous embargo but when it transpired that this step was not as declared meant to assist the palestinians but rather to bring up oil prices the embargo became a fleeting episode after all such aggressive tactics in the world of business are the bread and butter of the capitalist system and when prices stabilized to the satisfaction of all concerned the oil producing arab states began formulating a definite pro american policy the lesson was clear american administrations found they could ensure oil flow from saudi arabia and at the same time categorically reject any sensible peace proposals made by the saudi crown for solving the arab israeli conflict this was the case for example in 1981 when king fahd offered a peace proposal that included recognition of the right of israel to exist alongside an independent palestinian state saddam hussein too seemed to be content with warlike anti israeli rhetoric while shipping oil to the united states only the iranian revolution made life difficult for the americans but to confront the new regime in tehran the americans did not need israel they preferred to have saddam hussein as a bulwark arming and financing him accordingly saddam was also led to believe that all his obsessions including the return of lost kuwait to iraq would be supported in october 1989 after the eight year long iran iraq war april gillespie the american ambassador in baghdad recommended that bush issue a presidential decree ordering a significant improvement in the bilateral trade and oil relationship between the two countries so the united states purchased one billion dollars worth of iraqi crude oil annually 31 in 1990 the arabist tradition and oil considerations were juxtaposed with pressure from the pro israel lobby in the arab world the iraqi ruler was perceived as a pan arabist hero due to his army s steadfastness against iranian plans and iraqi foreign minister tariq aziz took an active role in regional politics again briefly discrete interests produced a turn in policy the downfall of the soviet union the saudi and iraqi peace initiatives and the first palestinian intifada attracted in a rare and unique historical moment washington s attention to the palestinian point of view israel had at the time one of its most right wing governments hence bush engaged in a real dialogue with representatives of two palestinian power bases the plo in tunis and the palestinian leadership in east jerusalem seated in orient house the two bases were perceived as moderate not only by arabists but also by members of the white house it was the first time since 1948 that any palestinian group had been treated in such a way this was a rare moment of all arab consensus on how to solve the conflict on the basis of the two state solution and how to pursue the normalization of the oil supply to the united states everyone was happy apart from israel and aipac it was in particular the pragmatic stance of the palestinian leadership in orient house that troubled israel its government reacted with a policy of harassment and the extensive construction of illegal settlements inside east jerusalem official america responded angrily including a public rebuke from secretary of state james baker to the israeli government 32 iraq s invasion of kuwait helped enormously on the road to the pro israel lobby reacted on two levels on capitol hill it demonized the jerusalemite palestinian leadership and at the same time it undermined the alliance with iraq aided by its think tank the institute for near east policy accomplishing the second goal but it should be noted that the united states had not hesitated to condone such invasions when they served its policy around that time its army invaded grenada and panama aipac created an anti iraq atmosphere long before saddam hussein s army invaded kuwait but the u s ambassador in baghdad concealed this from hussein even hinting that the united states would not oppose the invasion when iraq did invade kuwait the option of sanctions was not even brought forward the president had been led to this uncompromising policy by a number of experts in the national security council and the pentagon who had known links to the washington institute for near east policy the first goal of demonizing the moderate palestinians proved to be tougher there are always exceptions to the rules of history and it so happened that george h w bush was ready to tackle iraq he accepted secretary of state baker s preference for an arab coalition as the best means of protecting american interests in the middle east even if the price was a peace conference in madrid that was categorically rejected by israel at the madrid peace conference bush and his secretary of state were highly impressed by the palestinian delegation and the leadership evolving around orient house even before madrid the beginning of an american dialogue with the plo in 1988 through the mediation of some american palestinians including the late edward said and ibrahim abu lughod contributed to the continued improvement in the attitude toward the palestinians after twelve years of aggressive republican pro israeli policy in that period with a continuous license to kill from america israel invaded four arab states and left behind 1 500 dead citizens who knows where it would have ended had not bush and later bill clinton tamed israel thus for the first time in years state department officials were in close contact with a palestinian group the teams of the orient house in jerusalem inducing them to believe that the world s superpower was even willing to chastise israel for its occupation and lack of flexibility a palestinian willingness to accept a ministate was to be rewarded with pressure on israel but the madrid conference and the critical reprimand for israeli brutality in the occupied territories did not last long at the end of the day bill clinton proved to be easier prey than aipac suspected a typical democrat he was of the opinion that without the jewish vote he could not win presidential elections the victory of the peace camp in the israeli elections in 1992 enabled clinton to pursue an explicit pro israeli policy that ostensibly did not neglect the palestinian interest indeed clinton invested much time and energy in the question of palestine but the people he appointed to produce a road map for peace were mostly jewish the remaining arabists who had a foothold in these issues were pushed out without the arabists it was easy to advance on june 30 1993 a policy paper that stated that israel should have a free hand in developing read uprooting and colonizing east jerusalem so the illegal settlements of the past became the integral neighborhoods of the present the door was opened for the settlement of two hundred thousand jews in the eastern part of the city and the commencement of the transfer of its two hundred thousand palestinian inhabitants 33 if there were an opposing lobby to aipac during clinton s years it came from the republican camp it was more of a front that included not only oil businessmen but also the tycoons who invested in the arms industry and infrastructure in the arab world this military industrial nexus had representatives in high positions in the administration a secretary of state here and a national security advisor there some of the captains of the arms industry of course benefited from military aid to israel but others did not fail to see the prospective financial heaven that the arab world held for them it was a formidable and powerful front and yet it failed totally to redirect american policy no wonder mearsheimer and walt were so deeply frustrated when they saw such a front with its own impressive think tanks and presence in the ivy league retreating helplessly in the face of aipac s charge forward no wonder they attributed in their london review of books piece such mystical powers and forces to the jewish lobby this frustration only grew after the election of george w bush the bush family and the influence of the military industrial complex should have led to a greater say for those who represented oil cement and weapons at first indeed it looked as if these were the leading considerations bush showed no inclination to be involved where his predecessor had failed even the outbreak of the second intifada was described as the fruit of clinton s failed policies and did not bother the agenda of the new president but then came the 9 11 attacks and bush s divine christian and zionist interventions the graduates of the institute for near east policy vice president cheney secretary of defense rumsfeld his deputy wolfowitz and chairman of the defense policy board advisory committee perle sidelined the more moderate colin powell and pressured for a military attack in iraq at the same time a more reasonable assault on al qaeda was contemplated in afghanistan as mearsheimer and walt clearly and convincingly argue the invasion of iraq was presented uninhibitedly as first and foremost an action to defend israel against weapons of mass destruction allegedly developed by saddam hussein today this same entourage tries to push for a similar policy toward iran a plan that is postponed because of the iraq quagmire in 2005 a senior official of the administration testified to one of the senate committees on american policy toward middle eastern oil he enumerated several facts first the united states still does not possess an alternative energy source and therefore its policy ought to aim at safeguarding the flow of middle eastern oil at all costs second an unstable middle east undermines such a flow third global and in particular regional trends are anti american thus the u s economy faces a real danger due to its dependence on arab oil there again through the prism of black gold israel appears as a liability and not an asset a message that arabist policy makers have been trying to convey since 1948 time will tell if the five sisters legacy is eventually successful in balancing the zionist and christian lobbies in the united states 34 the morgenthau and waltz legacy in 1943 the german refugee hans morgenthau became naturalized as a u s citizen he had arrived in 1937 taught at the university of kansas and then moved to the university of chicago no other refugee apart from the austrian henry kissinger affected american foreign policy as he did his book politics among nations published in 1947 provided the clue to his future influence morgenthau likened foreign policy to policy in the business world that is decision making free of sentiments or values and entirely based on cost benefit considerations and balances of power the young state of israel was one of the first to take up his approach throughout october 1948 at the height of israel s ethnic cleansing of palestine morgenthau advised david ben gurion on a host of political issues the first prime minister of israel decided to reward the academic guru by naming a destroyed and evicted palestinian village after him the village of khirbet beit far became tal shahar a translation of morgenthau to hebrew most of his teaching years at berkeley california twenty years later kenneth waltz followed suit he spent 35 he is still today the doyen of international relations as an academic discipline his claim to fame was a book theory of international politics published in 1979 which challenged some of the basic assumptions of morgenthau s realist approach hence while morgenthau is referred to as the father of realism in international relations waltz is the father of neorealism waltz argued that in the field of international relations there are no clear patterns of conduct because of the absence of a point of gravity and authority although he later asserted that u s policy could nevertheless be based on the cost benefit considerations that had been sketched by morgenthau his is still the ideological infrastructure of most studies in international relations research centers in america from these centers graduated the american diplomats who were selected to conduct the peace process in the middle east the first administration to appoint such a team was that of richard nixon though it was not until the first bush administration that the existence of such a group became public knowledge various experts some from the state department and others from the national security council and academia translated the realist and neorealist theories into actual policies the end result can be summarized as policy based on three principal guidelines the first and most important is that a peace process has to be based on the local balance of power in the conflictual area thus when a search begins for the components of a prospective solution these have to be adapted more to the perception of the stronger party and less to that of the weaker party we can clearly see from the very beginnings of the attempt to construct a pax americana in palestine more or less since 1969 that what the americans marketed as a peace plan was a formula meant to satisfy the israeli point of view the result was a constant and curious disregard of the palestinian point of view and more importantly of what american experts had themselves earlier defined as the heart of the problem the refugee issue today because the process is in essence an american show the refugee issue is still written out of the peace script it is hard to think of a similar concentrated diplomatic effort in modern times that has evaded the root problem of a given conflict the inevitable collapse of peace efforts at subsequent stages has not altered the basic american position the second guideline stemming directly from the first is that only the stronger party in the conflict should be consulted when the features of a prospective solution are looked for but within that stronger party the mediators should seek the peace camp its perception is the most flexible element within that stronger party and its perception has to be imposed on the weaker party the essence of peacemaking thus became first to detect a peace camp in israel in every given historical moment and then to attempt to force the view of that camp on the palestinians until 1977 the israeli labor party was that camp then until 1984 the moderate wing of the likud won the title while it was in power in the days of israeli unity governments which lasted with a few breaks until 1992 it was not so much a party as a collection of political figures that in the eyes of the american experts represented the political center in israel in this century ariel sharon has embodied this camp for the americans as today does the party he established kadima the latter is a dream party for any american mediator who wishes to implement the second guideline in peacemaking and the management of conflicts management according to the neorealists means maintaining the conflict as a low intensity confrontation which means the loss of local human lives without any damage to the mediating superpower the debate inside israel over the future of the areas it occupied in 1967 helped of course to consolidate this guideline it created the false impression of a genuine debate between a peace camp willing to withdraw fully from the occupied areas and a war camp favoring a greater israel since the realist approach did not allow engagements with marginal groups it focused on the israeli labor party so when the latter selected the jordanians as the only partners for negotiations over the future of the west bank and the gaza strip the american peace plan was exclusively based on the jordanian option henry kissinger was sent to convince the jordanians to accept the israeli peace plans but these offered too little space for the hashemite leader to be induced to take part in the process yet these plans which offered to leave a sizeable part of the west bank in israel and enclave the gaza strip as an open air prison have remained the basis of any peace plan conceived by successive israeli peace camps or american road maps to peace as long as the plo was too weak to prevent a jordanian monopoly over the peace plan american diplomats followed kissinger and tried to build an israeli hashemite alliance at the expense of the palestinians but in 1976 the people of the west bank and the gaza strip deposed the pro hashemite leadership in democratic elections and replaced it with one that identified with the plo the americans still refused to include the plo as a legitimate partner in peace and accepted israel s image of the organization as a terrorist outfit in the service of the ussr rather than a liberation movement thus the realist approach connected with the perceptions of the american christian right israel s image as the frontline fighter in the holy war against the soviet antichrist continued to dominate american policy in the area later the antichrist was substituted and became the muslim but israel retained its special position defending the realm at the very front of the battlefield this approach distanced the americans even further from the palestinian point of view and from the historical un attempt to solve the conflict the palestinians insisted that the conflict with israel did not break out in 1967 but stemmed from the ethnic cleansing that israel committed in 1948 they also tried with little success to convey to the americans a different narrative of the plo s origins and essence an organization built by the refugees in order to facilitate their return there seemed also little point in highlighting for american policy makers the transformation of fatah s position in 1974 this was when the movement consented to the creation of a palestinian ministate on the territories israel occupied in 1967 22 percent of historical palestine provided the right of return would be retained and peace would reign the basic misunderstanding of palestinian conditions surrounding the two state solution led to the fatal course taken later within the framework of the oslo accord and the shaky peace proposals that followed in the wake of its demise the third guideline is that the peace process has no history every attempt begins afresh from a starting point that assumes that there have never been such attempts in the past such an approach disables a process of learning crucial for anyone facing complex human problems of ethnic and national conflicts this approach fit well with the interests of those who led the zionist peace camp in israel thus when the united states returned to the politics of palestine in 1969 the zionist peace camp s understanding that 1967 was the day the conflict broke out became rooted in the american conscience and due to the second guideline their position became seen as the outline for the whole peace process therefore the peace process became an effort to find a solution to the question of the areas israel occupied in 1967 the year 1948 was excluded from the peace agenda and with it the palestinians were pushed out as claimants to be replaced by the hashemites of jordan only in 1988 when the hashemite dynasty seemed to have had enough of waiting for a deal and had probably also noticed the strengthening of a collective palestinian identity in the occupied territories which unequivocally supported the plo was a new realist approach called for thus in 1988 when king hussein declared the cession of the west bank from jordan a new israeli and in turn new american approach developed the collapse of the soviet union weakened in any case the image of the plo as a soviet agent and eased the onset of plo american negotiations these started in tunis that year the israeli peace movement declared that it was now willing to enter negotiations with the plo again there was a fusion of discrete historical processes which matured during the clinton administration never before had international relations academics been given such a free hand in engineering a peace process as dennis ross and his friends during the clinton days the disastrous fruits of the theoretical games they played with our lives here in palestine and israel are still with us the three guidelines were put to the test the peace camp was now the rabin labor government the bargain was the same israel was willing to withdraw from only part of the occupied territories the sole change was a new weak recipient the plo it was asked to accept not only part of the territories but also only part of the authority in them in addition it was asked to give up the refugees right of return or a claim to jerusalem meanwhile the reality in the occupied territories changed as well the settlement project expanded to such proportions that it simply accentuated the humiliating nature of the new israeli proposal for peace it is true that in the very same period the 1980s and 1990s american peacemakers could have listed a number of achievements in the realm of israeli bilateral relations with jordan and egypt ironically these peace treaties were concluded because of minimal american involvement in the negotiations the formula for their success if the cold peace between israel and its two neighbors can be described as such was that the treaties did not relate to the palestine question the oslo accord although it began in a similar way namely with minimal american involvement did become an american show in fact for the troubled president clinton it was the only show in town and at first it looked likely to work since the israelis and the americans found a palestinian leader who was willing to succumb to pressure so completing the process a plan for peace conceived in the israeli peace camp dictated to and accepted by the palestinians as we know now it was possible because the palestinian leader yasser arafat believed that this state of affairs was temporary he believed that the israeli peace camp would dominate the scene for five years before the commencement of final status negotiations which would bring into consideration the basic palestinian position when did arafat realize he was cheated we do not know was it in cairo in 1994 when he had to be almost physically coerced by president hosni mubarak to sign the oslo b agreement and when the vague ideas of the september 1993 declaration of principles were being translated by israeli generals into an impossible reality the expansion of israeli settlements the enclaving of palestinian autonomous areas within the settlements military bases and highways were not combined with any solution for jerusalem or the refugee problem or did he feel it during the grotesque show clinton staged much later in 2000 when he was again physically pushed into a hut in camp david to sign the palestinian letter of submission to neorealist logic the submission text included a final solution that consisted of a palestinian bantustan in part of the occupied territories and peace for israel even for the fragile arafat this was too much he resisted and the rest as we know is indeed history a sterile version of this outline was repeated after the second intifada broke out american mediators attempted in vain to revive their mechanism in the framework of the road map that led to nowhere the zionist colonization deepened and produced a particularly desperate resistance which in turn produced the barbaric retaliation so familiar to us today and thus instead of dennis ross and his team asking themselves as a possible explanation for the lack of progress who in israel benefits economically from the occupation came 9 11 the ensuing narrative was easily plotted primitive islamic fanaticism explained the inability of the palestinians to take part in a reasonable and sensible pax americana ariel sharon and after him ehud olmert composed another israeli version of peace disengagement from gaza while leaving the palestinians even less territory than was promised to them in oslo in 1993 and camp david in 2000 the new prescription was a lasting peace based on a palestinian state stretching over 12 percent of historical palestine with no real sovereignty or economic independence and of course with no solution to the fate of jerusalem or the refugee problem again the developing reality on the ground was grimmer than the words on the pages gaza became a huge prison camp bombarded and starved with american official and civil society alike blindly standing by but who knows they may still find a palestinian who will call it an acceptable solution conclusion of all these historical clusters it is the bottom line that is definitive displayed in great strength at the aipac annual convention of 2005 in the washington congress center 26 000 kosher meals were prepared decorated with 32 640 hors d oeuvres 5 tons of salmon 2 5 tons of turkey 1 ton of poultry and 1 ton of hummos it was enough to feed the 5 000 participants this culinary feast is only matched by one other event in washington the annual joint meeting of the two houses of congress the list of guests is similar at both events another bottom line can be shown not in tons but in dollars since 1949 the united states has passed to israel more than 100 billion in grants and 10 billion in special loans other bodies not part of the administration annually transfer to israel 1 billion this is larger than the amount of money transferred by the united states to north africa south america and the caribbean put together their joint population amounts to over one billion people israel s population is seven million over the last twenty years 5 5 billion has been given to israel for military purchases there is no precedent for such bilateral relations and one does not have to overstate the implications of such a policy for the palestinians and for the chances of peace in the middle east but in this historical narrative there are also rays of hope in the complex reality that formulates the american policy there are factors and processes that in the past directed it on a more positive track and it may be that history as michel foucault tried to convince us is a list of discrete disconnected processes whose joint impact is not linked to any one of them but to their 37 36 fusion into one big explosion in that case history is not just a linear movement of endless american support for israel against and at the expense of the palestinian cause but a more distorted curved line of ups and downs that indicate possible changes in the future moreover a concerted effort to bring about such a change is a worthy goal inside and outside the united states but what we have this year is the ominous call at the 2006 aipac convention for the united states to attack and invade iran 38 state of denial the nakbah in israeli history four and today ilan pappé for israelis 1948 is a year in which two things happened that contradict each other on one hand zionism the jewish national movement claimed it fulfilled an ancient dream of returning to a homeland after two thousand years of exile from this perspective 1948 was a miraculous event in the collective israeli jewish memory it constitutes a chapter in history that not only proclaims triumph and the realization of dreams but also carries associations with moral purity and absolute justice this is why anything that happened in that year is wedded to the most basic values of present israeli society hence the military conduct of the jewish soldiers on the battlefield in 1948 became a model for generations to come and the leadership s statesmanship in those years is still a paragon for future political elites the leaders are described as people devoted to the zionist ideals and as men who disregarded their private interests and good for the sake of the common cause nineteen forty eight then is a sacred year revered in more than one way as the formative source of all that is good in the jewish society of israel on the other hand 1948 also marked the worst chapter in jewish history in that year jews did in palestine what jews had not done anywhere else in the previous two thousand years even if one puts aside the historical debate about why what happened in 1948 in fact transpired no one seems to question the enormity of the tragedy that befell the indigenous population of palestine as a result of the emergence and success of the zionist movement jews expelled massacred destroyed and raped in that year and generally behaved like all the other colonialist movements operating in the middle east and africa since the beginning of the nineteenth century 1 in normal circumstances as edward said recommended in his seminal culture and imperialism painful dialogue with the past should enable a given society to digest both the most evil and the most glorious moments of its nation s history but this could not work in a case where a moral self image is considered to be the principal asset in the battle for public opinion and thus the best means of surviving in a hostile environment the way out for the jewish society in the newly founded state was to erase in the collective memory the unpleasant chapters of the past and leave intact the gratifying ones it was a conscious mechanism put in place and motion in order to solve the impossible tension arising from the two contradictory messages of the past moreover the fact that so many of the people in israel today lived through the 1948 period has made the task all the more difficult nineteen forty eight is not a distant memory and the crimes committed then are still visible in the landscape around for the present generation of israelis to behold and comprehend on the palestinian side there are still victims living who can tell their story and when they are gone their descendents who have heard the tales of the 1948 horrors over and over again are likely to represent their point of view for generations to come and of course there are people in israel who know exactly what they did and there are even more who know what others did nevertheless the israeli authorities continue to succeed in eliminating these deeds totally from the society s collective memory while struggling vigorously against anyone trying to shed light on the repulsive chapters of the 1948 history whether inside or outside israel when one examines israeli textbooks curricula media and political discourse one notices that this chapter in jewish history the chapter of expulsion colonization massacres rape and the burning of villages is totally absent in its stead one finds chapters of heroism glorious campaigns and amazing tales of moral courage and military competence unheard of in any other history of a people s liberation in the twentieth century let us then begin with a brief overview of the denied chapters of the history of 1948 some of these chapters are also missing thus far from the palestinian collective memory the two forms of amnesia stem of course from two very different ways of dealing with the past jewish israelis are unwilling to acknowledge or be accountable for what happened in 1948 whereas the palestinians as a community of victims have little appetite to revisit the traumas of the past for such distinct reasons popular memory on both sides and the failure or unwillingness of professional historians to provide a true representation of the past have left us without a clear picture of the events of 1948 the erased chapters of evil the 1948 war s diplomatic maneuvers and military campaigns are well engraved in israeli jewish historiography what is missing is the chapter on the ethnic cleansing carried out by the jews in 1948 as a result of that campaign five hundred palestinian villages and eleven urban neighborhoods were destroyed seven hundred thousand palestinians were expelled and several thousand were massacred even today it is hard to find a succinct summary of the planning execution and repercussions of these tragic results 2 in november 1947 the un proposed to partition palestine into a jewish and an arab state as the best solution to the conflict that scheme was very problematic from its inception for two major reasons first it was presented to the two contending parties not as a basis for negotiation but as a fait accompli even though the total palestinian rejection of the principles underpinning the plan was well known to the un the alternative course as proposed by a number of un member states and later recognized by the american state department as the better option was to begin in 1948 negotiations under the auspices of the un that would last for several years the scheme proposed by the un in contrast faithfully represented the zionist strategy and policy imposing the will of one side through the agencies of the un could not have been a recipe for peace but rather for war the palestinian side viewed the zionist movement much as the algerians did the french colonialists just as it was unthinkable for the algerians to agree to share their land with the french settlers it was unacceptable for the palestinians to divide palestine with the zionist movement the palestinians recognized however that the cases were different and consequently a longer period of negotiations was needed but was not granted second the jewish minority 660 000 out of two million was offered the larger portion of the land 56 percent the imposed partition then would begin with an unjust proposal thirdly because of the demographic distributions of the two communities the palestinians and the jews the 56 percent of the land offered to the jews as a state included an equal number of jews and palestinians living there all the zionist leaders from left to right concurred on the need to maintain a considerable jewish majority in palestine in fact the absence of such a solid majority was regarded as heralding the demise of zionism even a cursory knowledge of zionist ideology and strategy should have indicated to the un peace architects that this demographic reality would lead to the near total cleansing of the local population from the future jewish state on march 10 1948 the haganah the main jewish underground in palestine issued a military blueprint preparing the community for the expected british evacuation of palestine scheduled for may 15 1948 the total arab and palestinian rejection had led the jewish leadership to declare the un resolution dead for all intents and purposes already in may 1947 the jewish agency had drawn up a map that designated most of palestine as a jewish state apart from the west bank of today which was granted to the transjordanians thus a plan was devised on march 10 1948 to take over palestine apart from those areas promised to transjordan the plan was called plan d plans a b and c had been similar blueprints in the past formulating zionist strategy vis à vis an unfolding and changing reality plan d or dalet in hebrew instructed the jewish forces to cleanse the palestinian areas falling under their control the haganah had several brigades at its disposal and each one of them received a list of villages it had to occupy and destroy most of the villages were destined to be destroyed and only in very exceptional cases were the forces ordered to 3 leave them intact the ethnic cleansing operation beginning in december 1947 continued well into the 1950s villages were surrounded on three flanks and the fourth one was left open for flight and evacuation in some cases the tactic did not work and many villagers remained in their houses it was then that the massacres took place this was the principal strategy of the judaization of palestine ethnic cleansing took place in three stages the first one was from december 1947 until the end of the summer of 1948 when the coastal and inner plains were destroyed and their population evicted by force the second one took place in the autumn and winter of 1948 49 and included the galilee and the naqab negev by the winter of 1949 the guns in the land of palestine were silent the second phase of the war had ended and with it the second stage of the cleansing had terminated nevertheless the expulsion continued long after the noise of war had subsided the third phase of the ethnic cleansing would extend beyond the war until 1954 in fact when dozens of additional villages were destroyed and their inhabitants expelled of the approximately nine hundred thousand palestinians living in the territories designated by the un as a jewish state only one hundred thousand remained on or near their lands and homes those who remained became the palestinian minority in israel the rest were expelled or fled under the threat of expulsion and a few thousand died in massacres the landscape of the countryside the rural heartland of palestine with its thousand colorful and picturesque villages was ruined half the villages were erased from the face of the earth run over by israeli bulldozers that set to work in august 1948 when the government decided either to convert the villages into cultivated land or to build new jewish settlements on their ruins a special committee was established to give hebraized versions of the original arab names to the new settlements thus lubya became lavi and safuria was turned into zipori david ben gurion the first prime minister of israel explained that this was part of an attempt to prevent future claims to these villages this process was supported also by the israeli archeologists who authorized the names not so much as a takeover of a title but rather as a form of poetic justice that restored to ancient israel its ancestral map place names were taken from the bible and attached to the destroyed villages urban palestine was torn apart and crushed in a similar way the palestinian neighborhoods in mixed towns were wrecked apart from a few quarters that were left empty waiting to be populated later by incoming jewish immigrants from arab countries the palestinian refugees spent the winter of 1948 in tent camps provided by volunteer agencies most of these locations were to become their permanent residences the tents were replaced by clay huts that became a familiar feature of palestinian existence in the middle east the only hope for these refugees at the time was the one offered by un resolution 194 december 11 1948 promising them a speedy return to their homes this is one of many pledges made by the international community to the palestinians that remains unfulfilled to this day the catastrophe that befell the palestinians would be remembered in the collective national memory as the nakbah the disaster kindling the fire that would restore the palestinians as a national movement the self image of this national movement would be that of an indigenous population led by a guerrilla movement striving to turn the clock back with as it transpired very little success the israelis collective memory on the other hand would depict the war as an act of a national liberation movement fighting both british colonialism and arab hostility and ultimately triumphing against all the odds the loss of 1 percent of the jewish population of course would cast a cloud over the joy of having achieved independence but would not deter the will and determination of the zionists to judaize palestine and turn it into the future haven for world jewry in any event israel would turn out to be the most dangerous place for jews to live in the second half of the twentieth century moreover most jews have preferred to live outside israel and quite a few did not identify with the jewish project in palestine and did not wish to be associated with its dire consequences nevertheless a vociferous minority of jews in the united states continues to give the impression that world jewry in general condones the uprooting of the palestinians and the other events of 1948 the illusion that the majority of jews have legitimized whatever israel did in 1948 and thereafter has dangerously compromised the relationship between jewish minorities and the rest of society in the western world particularly in places where public opinion since 1987 has become increasingly hostile to israel s policies toward the palestinians professional remembering and the nakbah until very recently the israeli zionist representation of the 1948 war has dominated the academic world and probably because of that also the more general public s perception of the nakbah a consequence of this is that the events of 1948 have been consistently portrayed as primarily a war between two armies such an assumption calls on the expertise of military historians who can analyze the military strategy and tactics of both sides in such a manner all activities including even atrocities are portrayed as part of the theater of war wherein things are judged on a moral basis in a manner very different from the way they would be treated in a noncombat situation for instance it is within this context that the death of civilians during a battle is accepted as an integral part of the battle and condoned as an action deemed necessary as part of the overall attempt to win a war although even within a war of course there are exceptional atrocities that are not accepted but rather treated as illegitimate in the military historiography portraying a conflict as a war entails also the presumption of parity in questions of moral responsibility for the unfolding events on the ground including in our case the massive expulsion of an indigenous population in such a fashion the paradigm of balancing between the two sides was deemed to be academic and objective while any palestinian narrative claiming that there were in 1948 not two equally equipped armies but rather an expeller and an expelled an offender and its victims was dismissed as sheer propaganda i suggest however that the events that unfolded after may 1948 in israel and palestine should be reviewed from within the paradigm of ethnic cleansing rather than as part of military history historiographically this would mean then that the deeds perpetrated were part of the domestic policies implemented by a regime vis à vis civilians in many cases given the fact that the ethnic cleansing took place within the designated un jewish state these were operations conducted by a regime against its own citizens a palestinian resident of the village of tantura has described this new reality better than any historian his village situated thirty kilometers south of haifa on the coast became on may 15 1948 part of the jewish state by virtue of un partition resolution 181 november 29 1947 on may 23 this person like many others found himself in a prison camp in um khaled thirty kilometers to the south of his village and after being there for a year and a half was expelled to the west bank a few days after my new state occupied my village i became a prisoner of war rather than a citizen he was a young boy not an enemy soldier at the time he was however luckier than others of his age who were massacred in his village indeed his village tantura was not a battlefield between two armies but rather a civilian space invaded by military troops ethnic ideology settlement policy and demographic strategy were the decisive factors here not military plans massacres whether premeditated or not were an integral not exceptional part of the ethnic cleansing even though history has taught us that in most cases expulsion was preferred to killing for historians the evidence in the archive of the regime committing the ethnic cleansing prevents a clear picture from emerging since the aim of the regime from the beginning was to obscure its intentions and this is manifested in the language of the orders and that of the post event reports this is why evidence of victims and victimizers is so vital in the case of the tantura venture for example it was possible to reconstruct what happened mainly through the bridging of the evidence provided by the collective and individual memories of victim and victimizer alike the ethnic cleansing paradigm also explains why expulsions rather than massacres were of the essence of such crimes as emerges from the evidence of the balkan wars of the 1990s within the general pattern of ethnic cleansing the sporadic massacres perpetrated were more motivated by revenge than the acting out of a clear cut plan however the scheme to create new ethnic realities was facilitated by these massacres no less than if they had been the result of a policy of systematic expulsion the jewish operation in 1948 fits the definitions of ethnic cleansing contained in the un reports on the balkan wars of the 1990s the un human rights council linked the wish to impose ethnic rule on a mixed area the making of greater serbia with acts of expulsion and with other violent mechanisms the report defines acts of ethnic cleansing as including the separation of men from women the detention of men and the destruction of houses and their repopulation by another ethnic group later on this was precisely the repertoire of the jewish soldiers in the 1948 war nakbah memory in the public eye ethnic cleansing was perpetrated in 1948 and later altogether denied both in and by israel the mechanism of denial is so forceful in israel and among its ardent supporters in the united states that the perspective in this essay provokes much deeper questions the most important question is the relevance of the zionist ideology in general to the crimes committed in 1948 others have shown already that the massive expulsion was the 4 inevitable outcome of a strategy dating back to the late nineteenth century the ideology of transfer emerged the moment the leaders of the zionist movement realized that the making of a jewish state in palestine could not be achieved as long as the indigenous people of palestine remained on the land the presence of a local society and culture had been known to the founding fathers of zionism even before the first settlers set foot on the land theodor herzl the founding father of zionism already predicted that his dream of a jewish homeland in palestine would necessitate expulsion of the indigenous population as evidenced in one of his diary entries for june 12 1895 moving on from his comments on constituting a jewish society in the land he got down to the question of forming a state for jews he wrote that having occupied the land and expropriated the private property we shall endeavour to expel the poor population across the border unnoticed procuring employment for it in the transit countries but denying it any employment in our own country herzl added that both the process of expropriation and the removal of the poor must be carried out discreetly and circumspectly ethnic cleansing was also on the minds of the leaders of the second aliya a kind of a zionist 6 mayflower generation 5 two means were used to alter the demographic and ethnic reality of palestine and impose the zionist program on the local reality the dispossession of the indigenous population from the land and its repopulation with newcomers i e expulsion and settlement the colonization effort was pushed forward by a movement that had not yet won regional or international legitimacy and therefore had to buy land and create enclaves within the indigenous population the british empire was very helpful in bringing this scheme into reality yet from the very beginning of the zionist strategy the leaders of zionism knew that settlement was a very long and measured process which might not be sufficient to realize the revolutionary dreams of the movement and its desire to alter the realities on the ground and to impose its own interpretation on the land s past present and future to achieve that the movement needed to resort to more telling means such as ethnic cleansing and transfer as means of judaizing palestine transfer and ethnic cleansing which would be possible to achieve as suitable historical opportunities presented themselves had been closely associated in zionist thought and practice appropriate circumstances could include the indifference of the international community or the presence of such revolutionary conditions as war would provide the link between purpose and timing was elucidated very clearly in a letter david ben gurion wrote to his son amos on october 5 1937 we must expel arabs and take their places and if we have to use force not to dispossess the arabs of the negev and transjordan but to guarantee our own right to settle in those places then we have force at our 7 disposal this notion reappeared ever after in ben gurion s addresses to his mapai party members throughout the mandatory period right up to the moment when such an opportune moment arose in 1948 8 it is not surprising to read in the israeli press today then that ariel sharon considers himself to be the new ben gurion about to settle the palestine question once and for all while the media in the west may be misled into believing that this is part of a newly adopted discourse of peace on the part of a past warmonger it is in fact an ever loyal contemporary representation of a ben gurionist s search for yet another revolutionary moment that would enable him to further if not to complete the process which had already begun in 1882 of de arabizing palestine and judaizing it the struggle against nakbah denial nakbah denial in israel and the west was helped by the overall negation of the palestinians as a people the by now infamous denial of the palestinian people by israeli prime minister golda meir in 1970 epitomized this attitude toward the end of the 1980s as a result of the first intifada the situation improved somewhat with the humanization of the palestinians in the western media and the result that they could be introduced into the field of middle eastern studies as a legitimate subject matter in israel itself even in those years palestinian affairs academically or publicly were discussed only by academics who were former intelligence experts on the subject and who still had close ties with the security services and the idf israel defense forces this israeli academic perspective effectively erased the nakbah as a historical event and prevented local scholars and academics from challenging the overall denial and suppression of the catastrophe in the world outside the ivory towers of the universities the mechanisms of denial in israel are very effective because they are a comprehensive means of indoctrination covering the whole of a citizen s life from the cradle to the grave it ensures the state that its people do not get confused by facts and reality or at least that they view reality in such a way that it does not create any moral problems nevertheless already in the 1980s cracks were beginning to appear in the wall of denial even in israel and the west the wide exposure in the world media of israeli war crimes since 1982 raised troubling questions about israel s self image as the only democracy in the middle east or as a community belonging to the world of human and civil rights and universal values but it was the emergence of critical historiography in israel in the early 1990s the so called new history which relocated the nakbah at the center of the academic and public debate about the conflict this new history in effect legitimized the palestinian narrative after it had been portrayed for years as sheer propaganda by western journalists politicians and academics the challenge to the hitherto hegemonic zionist presentation of the 1948 war appeared in various areas of cultural expression in the media academia and popular arts it affected the discourse both in the united states and israel but it never entered the political arena the celebrated new history in fact was no more than a few books on 1948 written in english by professionals e g flapan in 1979 and 1987 kimmerling in 1983 masalha in 1992 morris in 1987 1990 and 1993 pappé in 1988 and 1992 segev in 1986 and 1993 shahak in 1975 shapira in 1992 shlaim in 1988 only some of which were translated into hebrew these nevertheless made it possible for anyone wishing to do so to learn how the jewish state had been built on the ruins of the indigenous people of palestine whose livelihood houses culture and land had been systematically destroyed 9 public response in israel at the time moved between indifference and the total rejection of the findings of the new historians it was only through elements of the media and the educational system that people were stimulated somewhat hesitantly to take a new look at the past meanwhile however from above the establishment did everything it could to quash these early buds of israeli self awareness and recognition of israel s role in the palestinian catastrophe a recognition in any event that would have helped israelis considerably to understand better the continued deadlock in the peace process outside the academic world in the west in general and in the united states and israel in particular this shift in academic perception had very little impact on the mainstream media and the political scene in both america and in jewish israel terms such as ethnic cleansing and expulsion are still today totally alien to politicians journalists and common people alike the relevant chapters of the past that would justify categorically the application of such terms to israeli origins are either distorted in the recollection of people or are totally absent a brief look at western public opinion is illuminating one notes that new initiatives were taken in several european countries in the course of the 1990s to relocate the historic and future refugees it is too early yet to judge how much such efforts undertaken in the main by pro palestinian ngos would affect the policies of the various governments even in the united states there were signs of movement in a similar direction when in april 2000 the first ever american right of return conference was convened with about a thousand representatives from all over the country in attendance but before september 11 2001 such efforts failed to impinge upon capitol hill the new york times or the white house irrespective of who was in office over the last fifteen years however the events of september 11 2001 have put an end to the new trend and have promoted the revival of anti palestinianism in the united states 10 nakbah denial and the palestine israel peace process even before the u turn in american public opinion after september 11 2001 the movement of academic critique in israel and the west with its fresh view on the 1948 ethnic cleansing was not a particularly impressive player on the stage it made no impact whatsoever on the palestine israel peace agenda even though palestine was the focus of peace efforts precisely at the time when the fresh voices were heard at the center of these peace efforts was the oslo accord that began to roll forward in september 1993 the concept behind this process as in all previous peace endeavors in palestine was a zionist one hence the oslo accord was conducted according to the israeli perception of peace from which of course the nakbah was totally absent the oslo formula was designed by israeli thinkers from the jewish peace camp people who since 1967 had played an important role in the israeli public scene they were institutionalized in an extra parliamentary movement peace now and had several parties on their side in the israeli parliament in all their previous discourses and plans these peace now people had totally evaded the 1948 issue and had sidelined the refugee question they did the same in 1993 and this time with the dire consequences of raising hopes of peace as they seemed to find a palestinian partner to embrace a concept of peace that altogether buried 1948 and its victims with the final stages approaching the palestinians realized that in addition to the absence of a genuine israeli withdrawal from the occupied west bank and gaza strip there was no proposed solution to the refugee question on offer in frustration they rebelled the climax of the oslo negotiations at camp david the summit meeting between then prime minister of israel ehud barak and yasser arafat in the summer of 2000 gave the false impression that nothing less than the end of the conflict was on offer the somewhat naive palestinian negotiators put the nakbah and israel s responsibility for it at the top of the palestinian list of demands this of course was totally rejected by the israeli team which succeeded in enforcing its point of view on the summit but to the palestinian side s credit we can acknowledge that at least for a while the catastrophe of 1948 was brought to the attention of a local regional and to a certain extent global audience yet it is clear that the continued denial of the nakbah in the peace process was the main explanation for the failure of the camp david summit the consequence of which was the second uprising in the occupied territories clearly it was necessary to remind those concerned with the palestine question not only in israel but also in the united states and even in europe that the palestine israel conflict involved more than the future of the occupied territories it also had to contend with the fate of the palestinian refugees who had been forced from their homes in 1948 the israelis had succeeded earlier in sidelining the issue of the refugees rights from the oslo accord an aim facilitated by ill managed palestinian diplomacy and strategy indeed the nakbah had been so efficiently kept off the agenda of the peace process that when it suddenly appeared on it the israelis felt as if a pandora s box had been pried open in front of them the worst fear of the israeli negotiators was that there was a possibility that israel s responsibility for the 1948 catastrophe would now become a negotiable issue and this danger was accordingly immediately confronted in the israeli media and parliament knesset a consensual position was formulated no israeli negotiator would be allowed even to discuss the right of return of the palestinian refugees to the homes they had occupied before 1948 the knesset passed a law to this effect and barak made a public commitment to it on the stairs of the plane taking him to camp david it can be seen then that a public debate on the issue of the nakbah whether conducted in israel itself or in the united states its imperial protector could open up questions concerning the moral legitimacy of the zionist project as a whole the mechanism of denial therefore was crucial not only for defeating the counter claims made by palestinians in the peace process but far more importantly for disallowing any significant debate on the very essence and moral foundations of zionism but after the horrid events of september 11 2001 and the outbreak of the second intifada with its waves of suicide bombers the cracks that had already appeared in academia and were beginning to break into public discourse began immediately to close up soon the practice of past denials reemerged in israel with added strength and conviction in the united states an unholy coalition of neoconservatives christian zionists and aipac have had since 2001 in particular a firm hold over the american media s presentation of the conflict in palestine that coalition s portrayal of the conflict an altogether innocent civilized society under siege by terrorists enables israel to get away with both its past behavior and its present policies which if perpetrated by any other state would surely merit for it the designation pariah state future prospects as i review the attempts i have made i have been involved personally in the struggle against nakbah denial in israel and together with others have attempted to bring the nakbah onto the israeli public agenda a very mixed picture emerges i detect serious cracks in the wall of denial and repression that surrounds the issue of the nakbah in israel which have come about as a result of the debate on the new history in israel and of the new political agenda of the palestinians in israel the new atmosphere has also been helped by a clarification of the palestinian position on the refugee issue toward the end of the oslo peace process as a result notwithstanding more than fifty years of systemic government suppression it is becoming more and more difficult in israel to deny the expulsion and destruction of the palestinians in 1948 however this relative success has also brought with it two negative reactions which were formulated after the outbreak of the al aqsa intifada the israeli political establishment was the first to react the sharon government through its minister of education has undertaken the systematic removal of any textbook or school syllabus that refers to the nakbah even marginally similar instructions have been given to the public broadcasting authorities the second reaction has been even more disturbing and has encompassed wider sections of the public although a very considerable number of israeli politicians journalists and academics have ceased to deny what happened in 1948 they have nonetheless also been willing to justify it publicly not only in retrospect but also as a prescription for the future thus the idea of transfer has entered israeli political discourse openly for the first time portraying population transfer as legitimate being the most effective means of dealing with the palestinian problem indeed if i were asked to sum up what best characterizes the current israeli response to the nakbah i would stress the growing popularity of the transfer option in the israeli public mood and thought the nakbah the expulsion of the palestinians from palestine now seems to many in the center of the political map as an inevitable and justifiable consequence of the zionist project in palestine if there is any lament it is that the expulsion was not completed the fact that even an israeli new historian such as benny morris now subscribes to the view that the expulsion was inevitable and should have been more comprehensive in 1948 helps to legitimize future israeli plans for further ethnic cleansing population transfer is now the official moral option recommended by one of israel s most prestigious academic centers the centre for interdisciplinary studies in herzliya which advises the government it has appeared as a policy proposal in papers presented to their government by senior labor party ministers it is openly advocated by university professors and media commentators and very few now dare to condemn it such as the beer sheba historian professor benny morris and the haifa historian professor yoav gelber and haifa university geography professor arnon sofer in a direct manner and in an indirect manner by professor shlomo avineri of the hebrew university and ephraim sneh of the labor party who suggest the annexation of the palestinian parts of israel to a palestinian state and lately even the leader of the majority in the u s house of representatives has openly endorsed it 11 as this book is written there is a new president in the white house so far the american policy has not produced any changes in previous approaches the political scene in israel has also remained much the same transferists such as avigdor liberman hold key positions such as foreign minister and frequent censuses indicate a growing support for transfer of arabs from any part deemed jewish thus the circle is being closed almost before our very eyes when israel took almost 80 percent of palestine in 1948 it did so through settlement and the ethnic cleansing of the original palestinian population the country now has a consensual government that enjoys wide public support and wants to determine by force the future of the remaining 20 percent it has as have all its predecessors from labor and likud alike resorted to settlement as the best means for doing this this entails the destruction of an independent palestinian infrastructure these politicians sense and they may not be wrong in this that the public mood in israel would allow them to go even further should they wish to do so they could emulate the ethnic cleansing of 1948 this time not only by driving the palestinians out of the occupied territories but if necessary also driving out the one million palestinians living within the pre 1967 borders of israel in such an atmosphere then the nakbah is not so much denied in israel as cherished nevertheless the full story of 1948 needs to be told to the israelis as there may still be some among that state s population who are sensitive about their country s past and present conduct this segment of the population should be alerted to the fact that horrific deeds were concealed from them about israeli actions in 1948 and they should be told too that such deeds could easily now be repeated if they and others do not act to stop them before it is too late the struggle against the denial of the nakbah in israel is now the focus of the agenda of certain palestinian groups both inside and outside israel they are joined by the committed and impressive jewish ngo zochrot struggling against nakbah denial in israel since the fortieth anniversary of the nakbah in 1988 the palestinian minority in israel has associated in a way that it never did previously its collective and individual memories of the catastrophe with the general palestinian situation and with their predicament in particular this association has been manifested through an array of symbolic gestures such as memorial services during nakbah commemoration day organized tours to deserted or formerly palestinian villages in israel seminars on the past and extensive interviews with nakbah survivors in the press in israel itself through its political leaders ngos and the media the palestinian minority has been able to force the wider public to take notice of the nakbah this reemergence of the nakbah as a topic for public debate will also disable any future peace plans that will be built on nakbah denial including of course the various plans and initiatives that have emerged since 2003 exterminate all the brutes gaza 2009 five noam chomsky on saturday december 27 2008 the latest u s israeli attack on helpless palestinians was launched the attack had been meticulously planned for over six months according to the israeli press the planning had two components military and propaganda it was based on the lessons of israel s 2006 invasion of lebanon which was considered to be poorly planned and badly advertised we may therefore be fairly confident that most of what has been done and said was pre planned and intended that surely includes the timing of the assault shortly before noon when children were returning from school and crowds were milling in the streets of densely populated gaza city it took only a few minutes to kill over two hundred people and wound seven hundred an auspicious opening to the mass slaughter of defenseless civilians trapped in a tiny cage with nowhere 1 to flee the attack specifically targeted the closing ceremony of a police academy killing dozens of policemen the international law division of the israeli army idf israel defense forces had criticized the plans for months but under army pressure its director colonel pnina sharvit baruch gave the department s approval also under pressure haaretz reports sharvit baruch and the division also legitimized the attack on hamas government buildings and the relaxing of the rules of engagement resulting in numerous palestinian casualties the international law division adopts permissive positions so as to remain relevant and influential the article continues sharvit baruch then joined the law faculty at tel aviv university over protests by the director of the university s human rights center and other faculty the legal division s decision was based on the army s categorization of the police as a resistance force in the event of an israeli incursion into the gaza strip hebrew university law professor yuval shany observed adding that the principle scarcely differentiates them from israeli reservists or even from 16 year olds who will be drafted in two years 2 hence taking much of israel s population to be legitimate targets of terror to take a different analogy the idf rules of engagement justify the terrorist attack on police cadets in lahore in march 2009 killing at least eight rightly condemned as barbaric pakistani elite forces could however respond in this case killing or capturing the terrorists an option not available to gazans the narrow scope of the idf concept of protected civilian is explained further by a senior figure in its international law division the people who go into a house despite a warning do not have to be taken into account in terms of injury to civilians because they are voluntary human shields from the legal point of view i do not have to show consideration for them in the case of people who return to their home 3 in order to protect it they are taking part in the fighting in his retrospective analysis entitled parsing gains of gaza war new york times correspondent ethan bronner cited the first day s achievement as one of the most significant of the war s gains israel calculated that it would be advantageous to appear to go crazy causing vastly disproportionate terror a doctrine that traces back to the 1950s the palestinians in gaza got the message on the first day bronner wrote when israeli warplanes struck numerous targets simultaneously in the middle of a saturday morning some 200 were killed instantly shocking hamas and indeed all of gaza the tactic of going crazy appears to have been successful bronner concluded there are limited indications that the people of gaza felt such pain from this war that they will seek to rein in hamas the elected government inflicting pain on civilians for political ends is another long standing doctrine of state terror in fact its guiding principle i do not incidentally recall the times retrospective parsing gains of chechnya war though the gains were great 4 the meticulous planning also presumably included the termination of the assault it ended just before the inauguration thus minimizing the remote threat that president obama might have to say some words critical of these vicious u s supported crimes two weeks after the sabbath opening of the assault with much of gaza already pounded to rubble and the death toll approaching a thousand the un agency unrwa the united nations relief and works agency for palestine refugees in the near east on which most gazans depend for survival announced that the israeli military refused to allow aid shipments to gaza saying that the crossings were closed for the sabbath to honor the holy day palestinians at the edge of survival must be denied food and medicine while hundreds can be slaughtered on the sabbath by u s jet bombers and helicopters 5 the rigorous observance of the sabbath in this dual fashion attracted little if any notice that makes sense in the annals of u s israeli criminality such cruelty and cynicism scarcely merit more than a footnote they are too familiar to cite one relevant parallel in june 1982 the u s backed israeli invasion of lebanon opened with the bombing of the palestinian refugee camps of sabra and shatila later to become famous as the site of terrible massacres supervised by the idf the bombing hit the local hospital the gaza hospital and killed over two hundred people according to the eyewitness account of an american middle east academic specialist the massacre was the opening act in an invasion that slaughtered some fifteen thousand to twenty thousand people and destroyed much of southern lebanon and beirut proceeding with crucial u s military and diplomatic support that included vetoes of security council resolutions seeking to halt the criminal aggression that was undertaken scarcely concealed to defend israel from the threat of peaceful political settlement this was contrary to useful fabrications about israelis suffering under 6 intense rocketing a fantasy of apologists all of this is normal and quite frankly discussed by high israeli officials 7 8 thirty years ago chief of staff mordechai gur observed that since 1948 we have been fighting against a population that lives in villages and cities as israel s most prominent military analyst ze ev schiff summarized his remarks the israeli army has always struck civilian populations purposely and consciously the army he said has never distinguished civilian from military targets but purposely attacked civilian targets the reasons were explained by the distinguished statesman abba eban there was a rational prospect ultimately fulfilled that affected populations would exert pressure for the cessation of hostilities the effect as eban well understood would be to allow israel to implement undisturbed its programs of illegal expansion and harsh repression eban was commenting on a review of labor government attacks against civilians by prime minister begin presenting a picture eban said of an israel wantonly inflicting every possible measure of death and anguish on civilian populations in a mood reminiscent of regimes which neither mr begin nor i would dare to mention by name eban did not contest the facts that begin reviewed but criticized him for stating them publicly nor did it concern eban or his admirers that his advocacy of 9 massive state terror is also reminiscent of regimes he would not dare to mention by name eban s justification for state terror is regarded as persuasive by respected 10 authorities as the current u s israel assault raged new york times columnist thomas friedman explained that israel s tactics in the current attack as in its invasion of lebanon in 2006 are based on the sound principle of trying to educate hamas by inflicting a heavy death toll on hamas militants and heavy pain on the gaza population that makes sense on pragmatic grounds as it did in lebanon where the only long term source of deterrence was to exact enough pain on the civilians the families and employers of the militants to restrain hezbollah in the future and by similar logic bin laden s effort to educate americans on 9 11 was highly praiseworthy as were the nazi attacks on lidice and oradour putin s destruction of grozny and other notable educational exercises new york times correspondent steven erlanger reports that israeli human rights groups are troubled by israel s strikes on buildings they believe should be classified as civilian like the parliament police stations and the presidential palace and we may add villages homes densely populated refugee camps water and sewage systems hospitals schools and universities mosques un relief facilities ambulances and indeed anything that might relieve the pain of the unworthy victims a senior israeli intelligence officer explained that the idf attacked both aspects of hamas its resistance or military wing and its dawa or social wing the latter a euphemism for the civilian society he argued that hamas was all of a piece erlanger continues and in a war its instruments of political and social control were as legitimate a target as its rocket caches erlanger and his editors add no comment about the open advocacy and practice of massive terrorism targeting civilians though correspondents and columnists signal their tolerance or even explicit advocacy of such crimes as noted but keeping to the norm erlanger does not fail to stress that unlike u s israeli actions hamas rocketing is an obvious violation of the principle of discrimination and fits the classic definition of terrorism 11 like others familiar with the region middle east specialist fawaz gerges observes what israeli officials and their american allies do not appreciate is that hamas is not merely an armed militia but a social movement with a large popular base that is deeply entrenched in society hence when they carry out their plans to destroy hamas s social wing they are aiming to destroy palestinian society 12 gerges may be too generous it is highly unlikely that israeli and american officials or the media and other commentators do not appreciate these facts rather they implicitly adopt the traditional perspective of those who virtually monopolize the means of violence our mailed fist can crush any opposition and if our furious assault has a heavy civilian toll that s all to the good perhaps the remnants will be properly educated idf officers clearly understand that they are crushing the civilian society ethan bronner quotes an israeli colonel who says that he and his men are not much impressed with the hamas fighters they are villagers with guns said a gunner on an armored personnel carrier they resemble the victims of the murderous idf iron fist operations in occupied southern lebanon in 1985 directed by shimon peres one of the great terrorist commanders of the era of reagan s war on terror during these operations israeli commanders and strategic analysts explained that the victims were terrorist villagers difficult to eradicate because these terrorists operate with the support of most of the local population an israeli commander complained that the terrorist has many eyes here because he lives here while the military correspondent of the jerusalem post described the problems israeli forces faced in combating the terrorist mercenary fanatics all of whom are sufficiently dedicated to their causes to go on running the risk of being killed while operating against the idf which must maintain order and security in occupied southern lebanon despite the price the inhabitants will have to pay the problem has been familiar to americans in south vietnam russians in afghanistan germans in occupied europe and others who find themselves righteously implementing the gur eban friedman doctrine 13 gerges believes that u s israeli state terror will fail hamas he writes cannot be wiped out without massacring half a million palestinians if israel succeeds in killing hamas s senior leaders a new generation more radical than the present will swiftly replace them hamas is a fact of life it is not going away and it will not raise the white flag regardless of how many casualties it suffers 14 perhaps but there is often a tendency to underestimate the efficacy of violence it is particularly odd that such a belief should be held in the united states why are we here hamas is regularly described as iranian backed hamas which is dedicated to the destruction of israel one will be hard put to find something like democratically elected hamas which has long been calling for a two state settlement in accord with the international consensus blocked for more than thirty years by the united states and israel all true but not a useful contribution to the party line hence dispensable such details as those mentioned earlier though minor in context nevertheless teach us something about ourselves and our clients so do others to mention another one as the latest u s israeli assault on gaza began a small boat the dignity was on its way from cyprus to gaza the doctors and human rights activists aboard intended to violate israel s criminal blockade and to bring medical supplies to the trapped population the ship was intercepted in international waters by israeli naval vessels which rammed it severely almost sinking it though it managed to limp to lebanon israel issued the routine lies refuted by the journalists and passengers aboard including cnn correspondent karl penhaul and former u s representative and green party presidential candidate cynthia mckinney hijacking boats off the coast of somalia it passed with little notice the tacit acceptance of such crimes reflects the understanding that gaza is occupied territory and that israel is entitled to maintain its siege and is even authorized by the guardians of international order to carry out crimes on the high seas to implement its programs of punishing the civilian population for disobedience to its commands under pretexts to which we return almost universally accepted but clearly untenable that is a serious crime much worse for example than 15 the lack of attention again makes sense for decades israel had been hijacking boats in international waters between cyprus and lebanon killing or kidnapping passengers sometimes bringing them to prisons in israel including secret prison torture chambers to hold as hostages for since the practices are routine why treat the new crime with many years more than a yawn cyprus and lebanon reacted quite differently but who are they in the scheme of things 16 who cares for example if the editors of lebanon s daily star generally pro western write some 1 5 million people in gaza are being subjected to the murderous ministrations of one of the world s most technologically advanced but morally regressive military machines it is often suggested that the palestinians have become to the arab world what the jews were to pre world war ii europe and there is some truth to this interpretation how sickeningly appropriate then that just as europeans and north americans looked the other way when the nazis were perpetrating the holocaust the arabs are finding a way to do nothing as the israelis slaughter palestinian children perhaps the most shameful of the arab regimes is the brutal egyptian 17 dictatorship the beneficiary of the most u s military aid apart from israel according to lebanese scholar amal saad ghorayeb israel still routinely abducts lebanese civilians from the lebanese side of the blue line the international border most recently in december 2008 and of course israeli planes violate lebanese airspace on a daily basis in violation of un resolution 1701 that too has been happening for a long time in condemning israel s double standards after its invasion of lebanon in 2006 israeli strategic analyst ze ev maoz wrote that israel has violated lebanese airspace by carrying out aerial reconnaissance missions virtually every day since its withdrawal from southern lebanon six years ago true these aerial overflights did not cause any lebanese casualties but a border violation is a border violation here too israel does not hold a higher moral ground and in general there is no basis for the wall to wall consensus in israel that the war against the hezbollah in lebanon is a just and moral war a consensus based on selective and short term memory on an introvert world view and on double standards this is not a just war the use 18 of force is excessive and indiscriminate and its ultimate aim is extortion maoz also reminds his israeli readers that overflights with sonic booms to terrorize lebanese are the least of israeli crimes in lebanon even apart from its five invasions since 1978 on july 28 1988 israeli special forces abducted sheikh obeid and on may 21 1994 israel abducted mustafa dirani who was responsible for capturing the israeli pilot ron arad when he was bombing lebanon in 1986 israel held these and 20 other lebanese who were captured under undisclosed circumstances in prison for prolonged periods without trial they were held as human bargaining chips apparently abduction of israelis for the purpose of prisoners exchange is morally reprehensible and militarily punishable when it is the hezbollah who does the abducting but not if israel is doing the very same thing 19 and on a far grander scale and over many years israel s regular practices are significant even apart from what they reveal about israeli criminality and western support for it as maoz indicates these practices underscore the utter hypocrisy of the standard claim that israel had the right to invade lebanon once again in 2006 when israeli soldiers were captured at the border the first cross border action by hezbollah in the six years since israel s withdrawal from southern lebanon which it occupied in violation of security council orders going back twenty two years yet during these six years after withdrawal israel violated the border almost daily with impunity and is met only with silence here the hypocrisy is again routine thus thomas friedman while instructing us on how the lesser breeds are to be educated by terrorist violence writes that israel s invasion of lebanon in 2006 once again destroying much of southern lebanon and beirut while killing another thousand civilians was a just act of self defense responding to hezbollah s crime of launching an unprovoked war across the u n recognized israel lebanon border after israel had unilaterally withdrawn from lebanon similarly senate foreign relations committee chair john kerry speaking at the brookings institution laments the failure of israel s unilateral disengagements from southern lebanon and gaza to bring peace we will return to its disengagement from gaza putting aside the deceit by the same logic terrorist attacks against israelis that are far more destructive and murderous than any that have taken place would be fully justified in response to israel s criminal practices in lebanon and on the high seas which vastly exceed hezbollah s crime of capturing two soldiers at the border the veteran middle east specialist of the new york times surely knows about these crimes at least if he reads his own newspaper for example the eighteenth paragraph of a story on prisoner exchange observes casually that thirty seven of the arab prisoners had been seized recently by the israeli navy as they tried to make their way from cyprus to tripoli north of beirut 20 of course all such conclusions about appropriate actions against the rich and powerful are based on a fundamental flaw this is us and that is them this crucial principle deeply embedded in western culture suffices to undermine even the most precise analogy and the most impeccable reasoning the new crimes that the united states and israel were committing in gaza as 2009 opened do not fit easily into any standard category except for the category of familiarity i have just mentioned several examples and will return to others literally the crimes fall under the official u s government definition of terrorism but that designation does not capture their enormity they cannot be called aggression because they are being conducted in occupied territory as the united states tacitly concedes and as serious scholarship recognizes in their comprehensive history of israeli settlement in the occupied territories idith zertal and akiva eldar point out that after israel withdrew its forces from gaza in august 2005 the ruined territory was not released for even a single day from israel s military grip or from the price of the occupation that the inhabitants pay every day they write israel left behind scorched earth devastated services and people with neither a present nor a future the settlements were destroyed in an ungenerous move by an unenlightened occupier which in fact continues to control the territory and kill and harass its inhabitants by means of its formidable military might which can be exercised with extreme savagery thanks to firm u s support and participation 21 the u s israeli assault on gaza escalated in january 2006 a few months after the formal withdrawal when palestinians committed a truly heinous crime they voted the wrong way in a free election like others palestinians learned that one does not disobey with impunity the commands of the master who never ceases to orate about his yearning for democracy without eliciting ridicule from the educated classes another impressive achievement since the terms aggression and terrorism are inadequate some new term is needed for the sadistic and cowardly torture of people caged with no possibility of escape while they are being pounded to dust by the most sophisticated products of u s military technology that technology is used in violation of international and even u s law but for self declared outlaw states that is just another minor technicality also a minor technicality is the fact that on december 31 2008 while terrorized gazans were desperately seeking shelter from the ruthless assault washington hired a german merchant ship to transport from greece to israel three thousand tons of unidentified ammunition the new shipment follows the hiring of a commercial ship to carry a much larger consignment of ordnance in december from the united states to israel ahead of air strikes in the gaza strip reuters reported intervention in the gaza strip has been fueled largely by u s supplied weapons paid for with u s tax dollars said a briefing by the new america foundation which monitors the arms trade the new shipment was hampered by the decision of the greek government to bar the use of any port in greece for the supplying of the israeli army israel s 23 24 22 all of this is separate from the more than 21 billion in u s military aid provided by the bush administration to israel almost all grants obama intends to ensure that the largesse extends far into the future whatever circumstances might be down the road he calls for sending up to 30 billion in unconditional military aid to israel over the next 10 years foreign policy analyst stephen zunes reports a 25 percent increase over the bush administration and a bonanza for u s arms manufacturers who contribute to candidates several times what the pro israel pacs contribute and tirelessly promote massive arms transfers to the middle east and elsewhere 25 greece s response to u s backed israeli crimes is rather different from the craven performance of the leaders of most of europe the distinction reveals that washington may have been quite realistic in regarding greece as part of the near east not europe until 1974 perhaps greece is just too civilized to be part of europe for anyone who might find the timing of the new arms deliveries to 26 that is quite plausible one of the many services that israel israel curious the pentagon has an answer the shipment would arrive too late to escalate the gaza attack and the military equipment whatever it may be is to be pre positioned in israel for eventual use by the u s military performs for its patron is to provide it with a valuable military base at the periphery of the world s major energy resources it can therefore serve as a forward base for u s aggression or to use the technical terms to defend the gulf and ensure stability the huge flow of arms to israel serves many subsidiary purposes middle east policy analyst mouin rabbani observes that israel can test newly developed weapons systems against defenseless targets this is of value to israel and the united states twice over in fact because less effective versions of these same weapons systems are subsequently sold at hugely inflated prices to arab states which effectively subsidizes the u s weapons industry and u s military grants to israel these are additional functions of israel in the u s dominated middle east system and among the reasons why israel is so favored by the state authorities along with a 27 wide range of u s high tech corporations and of course military industry and intelligence apart from israel the united states is by far the world s major arms supplier the recent new america foundation report concludes that u s arms and military training played a role in 20 of the world s 27 major wars in 2007 earning the united states 23 billion in receipts increasing to 32 billion in 2008 small wonder that among the numerous un resolutions that the united states opposed in the december 2008 un session was one calling for regulation of the arms trade in 2006 the united states was alone in voting against the treaty but in november 2008 it was joined by a partner zimbabwe 28 there were other notable votes at the december un session a resolution on the right of the palestinian people to self determination was adopted by 173 to 5 united states israel pacific island dependencies the united states and israel added evasive pretexts the vote reaffirms u s israeli rejectionism in international isolation similarly a resolution on universal freedom of travel and the vital importance of family reunification was adopted over the opposition of the united states israel and pacific island dependencies presumably with palestinians in mind israel bars entry to palestinians from the occupied territories who wish to join their israeli spouses in voting against the right to development the united states lost israel but gained ukraine in voting against the right to food the united states was alone a particularly striking fact in the face of the enormous global food crisis dwarfing the financial crisis that threatens western economies it is easy to understand why the un voting record is consistently unreported and dispatched deep into the memory hole by the media and conformist intellectuals it would not be wise to reveal to the public what the record implies about their elected representatives one of the heroic volunteers in gaza norwegian doctor mads gilbert described the scene of horror as an all out war against the civilian population of gaza he estimated that half the casualties were women and children gilbert reported that he had scarcely seen a military casualty among the hundreds of bodies that is not too surprising hamas made a point of fighting at a distance or not at all ethan bronner reports while parsing the gains of the u s israeli assault so hamas s manpower remains intact and it was mostly civilians who suffered pain a positive outcome according to widely held doctrine 29 these estimates were confirmed by un humanitarian chief john holmes who informed reporters that it is a fair presumption that most of the civilians killed were women and children in a humanitarian crisis that is worsening day by day as the violence continues but we could be comforted by the words of israeli foreign minister tzipi livni the leading dove in the ongoing electoral campaign who assured the world that there is no humanitarian crisis in gaza thanks to israeli benevolence 30 like others who care about human beings and their fate gilbert and holmes pleaded for a cease fire but not yet at the united nations the united states blocked the security council from issuing a formal statement on saturday night calling for an immediate cease fire the new york times mentioned in passing the official reason was that there was no indication hamas would abide by any agreement in the annals of justifications for slaughter this pretext must rank among the more cynical that of course was bush and rice soon to be displaced by obama who compassionately repeated if somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night i m going to do everything in my power to stop 31 that he was referring to israeli children not the many hundreds being torn to shreds in gaza by u s arms beyond that obama maintained his silence 32 a few days later on january 8 the security council passed a resolution calling for a durable cease fire the vote was 14 to 0 united states abstaining israel and u s hawks were angered that the united states did not veto the resolution as usual the abstention however sufficed to give israel at least a yellow light to escalate the violence as it did virtually right up to the moment of the inauguration as had been predicted as the cease fire theoretically went into effect the palestinian center for human rights released its figures for the final day of the assault 54 palestinians killed including 43 unarmed civilians 17 of them children while the idf continued to bombard civilian homes and un schools the death toll they estimated mounted to 1 184 including 844 civilians 281 of them children the idf continued to use incendiary bombs across the gaza strip and to destroy houses and agricultural land forcing civilians to flee their homes a few hours later reuters reported more than 1 300 killed the staff of the al mezan center which carefully monitors casualties and destruction visited areas that had previously been inaccessible because of incessant heavy bombardment they discovered dozens of civilian corpses decomposing under the rubble of destroyed houses or rubble removed by israeli bulldozers entire urban blocks had disappeared 33 the figures for killed and wounded are surely an underestimate and it is unlikely that there will be any serious investigation of these atrocities despite calls for an inquiry into war crimes by amnesty international human rights watch and the israeli human rights organization b tselem crimes of official enemies are subjected to rigorous investigation but our own are systematically ignored general practice again and understandable on the part of the masters who rigorously adhere to a variant of the too big to fail insurance policy granted to major financial institutions by washington which provides them with great competitive advantages in a form of protectionism that is protected from the usage of the unfavorable term protectionism the united states is just too big to hold to account whether by judicial inquiry boycott and sanctions or other means the january 8 security council resolution called for stopping the flow of arms into gaza the united states and israel rice livni soon reached an agreement on measures to ensure this result concentrating on iranian arms there is no need to stop smuggling of u s arms into israel because there is no smuggling the huge flow of arms is quite public even when not reported as in the case of the arms shipment announced as the slaughter in gaza was proceeding it was later learned that shortly after the end of its military attack on gaza israel apparently also bombed sudan killing dozens of people and sinking a ship in the red sea the targets were suspected to be arms shipments intended for gaza so there was no reaction an iranian effort to impede the flow of u s arms to the aggressor would have been regarded as a horrendous terrorist atrocity which might well have led to nuclear war 34 the resolution also called for ensur ing the sustained re opening of the crossing points on the basis of the 2005 agreement on movement and access between the palestinian authority and israel that agreement determined that crossings to gaza would be operated on a continuous basis and that israel would also allow the crossing of goods and people between the west bank and the gaza strip the rice livni agreement had nothing to say about this aspect of the security council resolution the united states and israel had abandoned the 2005 agreement as part of their punishment of palestinians for voting the wrong way in the january 2006 election rice s press conference after the 2009 rice livni agreement emphasized washington s continuing efforts to undermine the results of the one free election in the arab world there is much that can be done she said to bring gaza out of the dark of hamas s reign and into the light of the very good governance the palestinian authority can bring at least that it can bring as long as it remains a loyal client rife with corruption and willing to carry out harsh repression but obedient 35 returning from a visit to the arab world fawaz gerges strongly affirmed what others on the scene had reported the effect of the u s israeli offensive in gaza has been to infuriate the populations and to arouse bitter hatred of the aggressors and their collaborators suffice it to say that the so called moderate arab states that is those that take their orders from washington are on the defensive and that the resistance front led by iran and syria is the main beneficiary once again israel and the bush administration have handed the iranian leadership a sweet victory furthermore hamas will likely emerge as a more powerful political force than before and will likely top fatah the ruling apparatus of president mahmoud abbas s palestinian authority washington s current favorite that conclusion was reinforced by a poll by the independent jerusalem media and communications center jmcc which found that support for hamas in the west bank rose from 19 percent the preceding april to 29 percent after the gaza attack while support for fatah dropped from 34 percent to 30 percent far from weakening militant islamist groups and their sponsors the jmcc concluded the war weakened and undermined to a very large extent the moderates not only in palestine but also in the region fifty three percent of west bank palestinians felt that hamas had won the war only 10 percent overall saw it as an israeli victory 36 37 it is worth bearing in mind that the arab world was not scrupulously protected from the only regular live tv coverage of what was happening in gaza namely the calm and balanced analysis of the chaos and destruction provided by the outstanding correspondents of al jazeera offering a stark alternative to terrestrial israeli channels as reported by the london financial times in the 105 countries lacking our efficient modalities of self censorship people could see what was happening hourly and the impact is said to be very great in the united states the new york times reports the near total blackout is no doubt related to the sharp criticism al jazeera received from the united states government during the initial stages of the war in iraq for its coverage of the american invasion cheney and rumsfeld objected so obviously the independent media could only obey 38 there is much sober debate about what the attackers hoped to achieve some of objectives are commonly discussed among them restoring what is called the deterrent capacity that israel lost as a result of its failures in lebanon in 2006 that is the capacity to terrorize any potential opponent into submission there are however more fundamental objectives that tend to be ignored though they seem fairly obvious when we take a look at recent history israel abandoned gaza in september 2005 rational israeli hard liners like ariel sharon the patron saint of the settlers movement understood that it was senseless to subsidize a few thousand illegal israeli settlers in the ruins of gaza protected by a large part of the idf while they used much of the land and scarce resources it made more sense to turn all of gaza into the world s largest prison and to transfer settlers to the west bank much more valuable territory where israel is quite explicit about its intentions in word and more importantly in deed one goal is to annex the arable land water supplies and pleasant suburbs of jerusalem and tel aviv that lie within the separation wall irrelevantly declared illegal by the world court that includes a vastly expanded jerusalem in violation of security council orders that go back forty years also irrelevant israel has also been taking over the jordan valley about one third of the west bank what remains is therefore imprisoned and furthermore broken into fragments by salients of jewish settlement that trisect the territory one to the east of greater jerusalem through the town of ma aleh adumim developed through the clinton years to split the west bank and two to the north through the towns of ariel and kedumim what remains to palestinians is segregated by hundreds of mostly arbitrary checkpoints the checkpoints have no relation to security of israel nor does the wall 39 in reality their major goal is to harass the and if intended to safeguard settlers they are flatly illegal as the world court ruled definitively palestinian population and to fortify what israeli peace activist jeff halper calls the matrix of control designed to make life unbearable for the drugged roaches scurrying around in a bottle who seek to remain in their homes and land all of that is fair enough because they are like grasshoppers compared to us so that their heads can be smashed against the boulders and walls the terminology is from the highest israeli political and military leaders in this case the revered princes chief of staff rafael eitan and prime minister yitzhak shamir and similar attitudes even if more discreetly expressed shape policies 40 the racist rhetoric of political and military leaders is mild as compared to the preaching of rabbinical authorities they are not marginal figures on the contrary they are highly influential in the army and in the settler movement which zertal and eldar describe for good reason as the lords of the land with enormous impact on policy one of the memorable photographs from the gaza war showed three orthodox jews in traditional black garb with the caption israelis like these men have come to hills near gaza to watch their forces pound the palestinian enclave in an attempt to stop hamas rocket attacks an attempt to which we return the story in the wall street journal describes how israelis orthodox and secular come to the hilltops that have become the war s peanut gallery some with sack lunches and portable radios tuned to the latest reports of the battle raging in front of them some to egg on friends and family members in the fight some shouting bravo bravo as they watch the exploding bombs hardly able to contain their glee some with their binoculars and lawn chairs criticizing the israeli attackers for hitting the wrong targets much like fans at sporting events who criticize the coach 41 soldiers fighting in northern gaza were afforded an inspirational visit from two leading rabbis who explained to them that there are no innocents in gaza so everyone there is a legitimate target quoting a famous passage from psalms calling on the lord to seize the infants of israel s oppressors and dash them against the rocks the rabbis were breaking no new ground a year earlier the former chief sephardic rabbi wrote to prime minister olmert informing him that all civilians in gaza are collectively guilty for rocket attacks so that there is absolutely no moral prohibition against the indiscriminate killing of civilians during a potential massive military offensive on gaza aimed at stopping the rocket launchings as the jerusalem post reported his ruling his son chief rabbi of safed elaborated if they don t stop after we kill 100 then we must kill a thousand and if they do not stop after 1 000 then we must kill 10 000 if they still don t stop we must kill 100 000 even a million whatever it takes to make them stop 42 similar views are expressed by prominent american intellectuals when israel invaded lebanon in 2006 harvard law school professor alan dershowitz explained in the liberal online journal huffington post that all lebanese are legitimate targets of israeli violence lebanon s citizens pay the price for supporting terrorism that is for supporting resistance to israel s invasion accordingly the vast majority of lebanese civilians are no more immune to attack than austrians who supported the nazis the fatwa of the sephardic rabbi applies to them in a video on the jerusalem post website dershowitz went on to ridicule talk of excessive kill ratios of palestinians to israelis they should be increased to a thousand to one he said or even a thusand to zero meaning that the brutes should be completely exterminated of course he is referring to terrorists a broad category that includes the victims of israeli power since israel never targets civilians he emphatically declared it follows that palestinians lebanese tunisians in fact anyone who gets in the way of the ruthless armies of the holy state is a terrorist or an accidental victim of their just crimes 43 it is not easy to find historical counterparts to these performances it is perhaps of some interest that they elicit virtually no censure and are thus apparently considered entirely appropriate in the reigning intellectual and moral culture when they are produced on our side that is from the mouths of official enemies such words would elicit righteous outrage and calls for massive preemptive violence to punish the villains the claim that our side never targets civilians is familiar doctrine in violent states and there is some truth to it powerful states like the united states do not generally try to kill particular civilians rather they carry out murderous actions that they and their educated classes know will slaughter many civilians but without specific intent to kill particular ones in law the routine practices might fall under the category of depraved indifference but that is not an adequate designation for standard imperial practice and doctrine it is more similar to walking down a street knowing that we might kill ants but without intent to do so because they rank so low that it just doesn t matter thus clinton s bombing of the main pharmaceutical plant in a poor african country sudan might be expected to lead to the deaths of tens of thousands of people as it apparently did but since we did not aim at particular ones there is no guilt western moralists assure us and the same holds in much more extreme cases which are all too easy to enumerate the same is true when israel carries out actions that it knows will kill the grasshoppers and drugged roaches who happen to infest the lands it liberates there is no good term for this form of moral depravity arguably worse than deliberate slaughter and all too familiar in the former palestine the rightful owners by divine decree according 44 to the lords of the land may decide to grant the drugged roaches a few scattered parcels not by right however i believed and to this day still believe in our people s eternal and historic right to this entire land prime minister olmert informed a joint session of congress in may 2006 to rousing applause at the same time he announced his convergence program for taking over what is valuable in the west bank as outlined earlier leaving the palestinians to rot in isolated cantons he was not specific about the borders of the entire land but then the zionist enterprise never has been for good reasons permanent expansion is an important internal dynamic if olmert was still faithful to his origins in likud he might have meant both sides of the jordan including the current state of jordan at least valuable parts of it though the 1999 likud electoral platform the program of current prime minister binyamin netanyahu is ambiguous it declares the jordan valley and the territories that dominate it shall be under israeli sovereignty what dominates the jordan valley is not defined but it certainly includes everything to the west of the jordan the former palestine to remain under israeli sovereignty within that territory there can never be a palestinian state and settlement must be unconstrained the platform declares since settlement of the land is a clear expression of the unassailable right of the jewish people to the land of israel 45 for olmert and his likud successor our people s eternal and historic right to this entire land contrasts dramatically with the lack of any right of self determination for the temporary visitors the palestinians as noted earlier the lack of any such right was reiterated by israel and its patron in washington in december 2008 in their usual isolation and accompanied by the usual resounding silence 46 the plans that olmert sketched in 2006 were later abandoned as not sufficiently extreme but what replaces the convergence program and the actions that proceed daily to implement it are approximately the same in general conception in 2008 west bank settlement construction rose by 60 percent according to a report by peace now which monitors settlement housing starts in west bank settlements rose by 46 percent over the previous year while they declined in tel aviv by 29 percent and in jerusalem by 14 percent peace now reported further that some six thousand new units had been approved with fifty eight thousand waiting approval if all the plans are realized the report said the number of settlers in the territories will be doubled there are many ways to expand the settlement project without eliciting protest from the paymasters in washington for example setting up an outpost that is later linked to the national electricity and water grids and over time slowly becomes a settlement or a town or simply by expanding the rings of land around a settlement for alleged security reasons seizing palestinian lands all processes that continue 47 these devices which have roots in the pre state period trace back to the earliest days of the occupation when the basic idea was formulated poetically by defense minister moshe dayan who was in charge of the occupied territories the situation today resembles the complex relationship between a bedouin man and the girl he kidnaps against his will you palestinians as a nation don t want us today but we ll change your attitude by forcing our presence on you you will live like dogs and whoever will leave will leave while we take what we want 48 that these programs are criminal has never been in doubt immediately after the 1967 war the israeli government was informed by its highest legal authority teodor meron that civilian settlement in the administered territories contravenes the explicit provisions of the fourth geneva convention the foundation of international humanitarian law israel s justice minister concurred dayan conceded that settling israelis in occupied territories contravenes as is known international conventions but there is nothing essentially new in that so the issue can be dismissed the world court unanimously endorsed meron s conclusion in 2004 and the israeli high court technically agreed while disagreeing in practice in its usual style 49 in the west bank israel can pursue its criminal programs with u s support and no disturbance thanks to its effective military control and by now the cooperation of the collaborationist palestinian security forces armed and trained by the united states and allied dictatorships it can also carry out regular assassinations and other crimes while settlers rampage under idf protection but while the west bank has been effectively subdued by terror there is still resistance in the other half of palestine the gaza strip that too must be quelled for the u s israeli programs of annexation and destruction of palestine to proceed undisturbed hence the invasion of gaza the timing of the invasion was widely assumed to be influenced by the coming israeli election defense minister ehud barak of the centrist labor party who was lagging badly in the polls gained one parliamentary seat for every forty arabs killed in the early days of the slaughter israeli commentator ran hacohen calculated 50 that changed however the israeli far right gained substantially from the invasion though as the crimes passed beyond what the carefully honed israeli propaganda campaign was able to suppress even confirmed supporters of the invasion became concerned about the way the outside world was perceiving israel s just war the highly regarded political scientist and historian shlomo avineri offered an analysis of these critical differences of opinion between israel and outsiders among the causes he explained were the harsh images a consequence of the firepower israel used as magnified by the media as well as disinformation and undoubtedly plain old hatred of israel but he discerned a deeper reason the name given to the operation which greatly affects the way in which it will be perceived israelis associate the hebrew for cast lead as the operation was called with a line written by poet haim nahman bialik that is part of a hanukkah song typically sung by cute little children the fact that the operation began around hanukkah sharpened that association abroad however it was seen differently in english not to mention german cast lead has a whole other association lead is cast into bullets bombs and mortar shells when the world reported on cast lead it sounded militaristic brutal and aggressive it was associated with death and destruction rather than spinning dreidels even before the first shot was fired or the first speech explaining israel s case was made the operation had already acquired an image of belligerence a terrible failure of israeli hasbara perhaps it should have been called something more gentle avineri felt like the gates of gaza which also has a historical ring to it 51 other war supporters warned that the carnage is destroying israel s soul and its image destroying it on world television screens in the living rooms of the international community and most importantly in obama s america ari shavit shavit was particularly concerned about israel s shelling a united nations facility on the day when the un secretary general is visiting jerusalem an act that is beyond lunacy he felt 52 adding a few details the facility was the un compound in gaza city which contained the unrwa warehouse the shelling destroyed hundreds of tons of emergency food and medicines set for distribution today to shelters hospitals and feeding centres according to unrwa director john ging military strikes at the same time destroyed two floors of the al quds hospital setting it ablaze and also a second warehouse run by the palestinian red crescent society the hospital in the densely populated tal hawa neighborhood was destroyed by israeli tanks after hundreds of frightened gazans had taken shelter inside as israeli ground forces pushed into the neighbourhood al jazeera reported there was nothing left to salvage inside the smoldering ruins of the hospital they shelled the building the hospital building paramedic ahmad al haz told the associated press it caught fire we tried to evacuate the sick people and the injured and the people who were there firefighters arrived and put out the fire which burst into flames again and they put it out again and it came back for the third time it was suspected that the blaze might have been set by white phosphorus also suspected in numerous other fires and serious burn injuries 53 the suspicions were confirmed by amnesty international ai after the cessation of the intense bombardment made inquiry possible israel had sensibly barred all journalists even israeli while its crimes were proceeding in full fury israel s use of white phosphorus against gaza civilians is clear and undeniable ai reported condemning its repeated use in densely populated civilian areas as a war crime ai investigators found white phosphorus edges scattered around residential buildings still burning further endangering the residents and their property particularly children drawn to the detritus of war and often unaware of the danger primary targets they report were the unrwa compound where the israeli white phosphorus landed next to some fuel trucks and caused a large fire which destroyed tons of humanitarian aid after israeli authorities had given assurance that no further strikes would be launched on the compound on the same day a white phosphorus shell landed in the al quds hospital in gaza city also causing a fire which forced hospital staff to evacuate the patients white phosphorus landing on skin can burn deep through muscle and into the bone continuing to burn unless deprived of oxygen whether purposely intended or beyond depraved indifference such crimes are inevitable when the weapon is used in attacks on civilians 54 the white phosphorus shells were u s made ai reported in a report reviewing use of weapons in gaza ai concluded that israel used u s supplied weapons in serious violations of international humanitarian law and called on the u n security council to impose an immediate and comprehensive arms embargo on the jewish state though conscious u s complicity is hardly in doubt it is excluded from the call for punishment by the analogue of the too big to fail doctrine 55 it is however a mistake to concentrate too much on israel s severe violations of jus in bello the laws designed to bar wartime practices that are too savage the invasion itself is a far more serious crime and if israel had inflicted horrendous damage by bows and arrows it would still be a criminal act of extreme depravity it is also a mistake to focus attention on specific targets the campaign was far more ambitious in scope its goal was the destruction of all means of life officials warned a large part of the agricultural land was destroyed some perhaps permanently along with poultry livestock greenhouses and orchards creating a major food crisis the world food program reported the idf also targeted the ministry of agriculture and the offices of the palestinian agricultural relief committees in zaitoun which provides cheap food for the poor ransacked and vandalised by soldiers who left abusive graffiti large areas were flattened by bulldozers beyond the physical damage done by israeli bulldozers bombing and shelling land has been contaminated by munitions including white phosphorus burst sewerage pipes animal carcasses and even asbestos used in roofing in many places the damage is extreme in jabal al rayas once a thriving farming community every building has been knocked down and even the cattle killed and left to lie rotting in the fields leaders of gaza s business community generally apolitical say that much of the 3 per cent of industry still operating after the 18 month shutdown caused by israel s economic siege has now been destroyed by israeli forces using aerial bombing tank shelling and armoured bulldozers to eliminate the productive capacity of some of gaza s most important manufacturing plants destroying or severely damaging 219 factories according to palestinian industrialists 56 to impede potential recovery the idf attacked universities largely destroying the agriculture faculty at al azhar university considered pro fatah washington s favored faction al da wa college for humanities in rafah and the gaza college for security sciences six university buildings in gaza were razed to the ground and sixteen damaged two of those destroyed housed the science and engineering laboratories of the islamic university in gaza military activities by the same principle israeli and u s universities are legitimate targets of large scale terror the pretext was that they contributed to hamas 57 there were occasional reports of the israeli navy firing on fishing boats but these conceal what appears to be a systematic campaign in recent years to drive the fishing industry toward shore thereby destroying it because the vast pollution caused by israel s destruction of power stations and sewage facilities makes fishing impossible near shore citing recent incidents the al mezan center for human rights in gaza which has been a highly reliable source strongly condemn ed the continuous escalation of the iof israeli occupation forces offensive against palestinian civilians including fishermen international human rights observers report regular attacks on fishing vessels in gazan territorial waters accompanying palestinian fishers they report having witnessed countless acts of israeli military aggression against them whilst in gazan territorial waters despite a six month cease fire agreement holding at the time and now again after the january cease fire gaza s 40 000 fishermen have been deprived of their livelihood by israel naval attacks gideon levy reported from the bedside of a nineteen year old gaza fisherman severely wounded by israeli gunboats who attacked his boat without warning near the gaza shore on october 5 a month before the cease fire was broken by israel s invasion of gaza events to which we return every few days the international solidarity movement ism publishes reports from its volunteers in gaza about attacks on fishermen sometimes the naval boats ram the wretched craft sometimes the sailors use high pressure water hoses on the fishermen hurtling them into the sea and sometimes they open lethal fire on them levy reported 58 the international observers report that attacks on fishing boats began after the discovery of quite promising natural gas fields by the bg group in 2000 in gaza s territorial waters the regular attacks gradually drove fishing boats toward shore not by official order but by threat and violence oil industry journals and the israeli business press report that israel s state owned israel electric corp is negotiating for as much as 1 5 billion cubic meters of natural gas from the marine field located off the mediterranean coast of the palestinian controlled gaza strip it is hard to suppress the thought that the gaza invasion may be related to the project of stealing these valuable resources from palestine which cannot take part in the negotiations 59 aggression always has a pretext in this case that israel s patience had run out in the face of hamas rocket attacks as ehud barak put it the mantra that is endlessly repeated is that israel has the right to use force to defend itself the thesis is partially defensible the rocketing is criminal and it is true that a state has the right to defend itself against criminal attacks but it does not follow that it has a right to defend itself by force that goes far beyond any principle that we would or should accept putin had no right to use force in response to chechen terror and his resort to force is not justified by the fact that he achieved results so far beyond what the united states achieved in iraq that if general petraeus had approached them he might have been crowned king nazi germany had no right to use force to defend itself against the terrorism of the partisans kristallnacht 60 was not justified by herschel grynszpan s assassination of a german embassy official in paris the british were not justified in using force to defend themselves against the very real terror of the american colonists seeking independence or to terrorize irish catholics in response to ira terror and when they finally turned to the sensible policy of addressing legitimate grievances the terror virtually ended it is not a matter of proportionality but of choice of action in the first place is there an alternative to violence in all these cases there plainly was so the resort to force had no justification whatsoever any resort to force carries a heavy burden of proof and we have to ask whether it can be met in the case of israel s effort to quell any resistance to its daily criminal actions in gaza and in the west bank where they still continue relentlessly after more than forty years perhaps i may quote myself in an interview in the israeli press on the legitimacy of palestinian resistance we should recall that gaza and the west bank are recognized to be a unit so that if resistance to israel s destructive and illegal programs is legitimate within the west bank and it would be interesting to see a rational argument to the contrary then it is legitimate in gaza as well 61 palestinian american journalist ali abunimah observed that there are no rockets launched at israel from the west bank and yet israel s extrajudicial killings land theft settler pogroms and kidnappings never stopped for a day during the truce the western backed palestinian authority of mahmoud abbas has acceded to all israel s demands under the proud eye of united states military advisors abbas has assembled security forces to fight the resistance on israel s behalf none of that has spared a single palestinian in the west bank from israel s relentless colonization thanks to firm u s backing the respected palestinian parliamentarian dr mustapha barghouti adds that after bush s annapolis extravaganza in november 2007 with much uplifting rhetoric about dedication to peace and justice israeli attacks on palestinians escalated in the west bank along with a sharp increase in settlements and israeli checkpoints obviously these criminal actions are not a response to rockets from gaza though the converse may well be the case 62 the actions of people resisting brutal occupation can be condemned as criminal and politically foolish but those who offer no alternative have no moral standing to issue such judgments the conclusion holds with particular force for americans who choose to be directly implicated in israel s ongoing crimes by their words their actions or their silence all the more so because there are very clear nonviolent alternatives which however have the disadvantage that they bar the programs of illegal expansion that the united states strongly supports in practice while 63 occasionally issuing a mild admonition that they are unhelpful israel has straightforward means to defend itself put an end to its criminal actions in the occupied territories and accept the long standing international consensus on a two state settlement that has been blocked by the united states and israel for over thirty years since the united states first vetoed a security council resolution calling for a political settlement in these terms in 1976 i will not once again run through the inglorious record but it is important to be aware that u s israeli rejectionism today is even more blatant than in the past the arab league has gone even beyond the consensus calling for full normalization of relations with israel hamas has repeatedly called for a two state settlement in terms of the international consensus iran and hezbollah have made it clear that they will abide by any agreement that palestinians accept 64 one can seek ambiguities and incompleteness but not in the case of the united states and israel which remain in splendid isolation not only in words the more detailed record is informative the palestinian national council formally accepted the international consensus in 1988 the response of the shamir peres coalition government affirmed by james baker s state department was that there cannot be an additional palestinian state between israel and jordan the latter already a palestinian state by u s israeli dictate the oslo accord that followed explicitly put to the side potential palestinian national rights the declaration of principles signed with much fanfare on the white house lawn in september 1993 referred only to un resolution 242 which grants nothing to the palestinians while pointedly ignoring subsequent un declarations all blocked by washington which respect palestinian national rights the threat that these rights might be realized in some meaningful form was systematically undermined throughout the oslo years by israel s steady expansion of illegal settlements with u s support settlement accelerated in 2000 president clinton s and prime minister barak s final year when negotiations took place at camp david against that background after blaming yasser arafat for the breakdown of the camp david negotiations clinton backtracked and recognized that the u s israeli proposals were too extreme to be acceptable to any palestinian in december 2000 he presented his parameters vague but more forthcoming he then announced that both sides had accepted the parameters while both expressed reservations the two sides met in taba egypt in january 2001 four months after the outbreak of the intifada and came very close to an agreement they would have been able to do so in a few more days they said in their final press conference but the negotiations were canceled prematurely by israeli prime minister ehud barak that week in taba is the one break in over thirty years of u s israeli rejectionism there is no reason why that one break in the record cannot be resumed 65 the preferred version reiterated by ethan bronner is that many abroad recall mr barak as the prime minister who in 2000 went further than any israeli leader in peace offers to the palestinians only to see the deal fail and explode in a violent palestinian uprising the intifada that drove him from power it is quite true that many abroad believe this deceitful fairy tale 66 thanks to what bronner and too many of his colleagues call journalism it is commonly claimed that a two state solution is now unattainable because if the idf tried to remove settlers it would lead to a civil war that may be true but much more argument is needed without resorting to force to expel illegal settlers the idf could simply withdraw to whatever boundaries are established by negotiations the settlers beyond those boundaries would have the choice of leaving their subsidized homes to return to subsidized homes in israel or to remain under palestinian authority the same was true of the carefully staged national trauma in gaza in 2005 so transparently fraudulent that it was ridiculed by israeli commentators it would have sufficed for israel to announce that the idf would withdraw and the settlers who were subsidized to enjoy their life in gaza would have quietly climbed into the trucks provided to them and traveled to their new subsidized residences in the other occupied territories but that would not have produced tragic photos of agonized children and passionate calls of never again thus providing a welcome propaganda cover for the real purpose of the partial disengagement expansion of illegal settlement in the rest of the occupied territories 67 to summarize contrary to the claim that is constantly reiterated israel has no right to use force to defend itself against rockets from gaza even if they are regarded as terrorist crimes furthermore the reasons are transparent the pretext for launching the attack is without merit there is also a narrower question does israel have peaceful short term alternatives to the use of force in response to rockets from gaza one such alternative would be to accept a cease fire sometimes israel has formally done so while quickly violating it the most recent and currently relevant case is june 2008 the cease fire called for opening the border crossings to allow the transfer of all goods that were banned and restricted to go into gaza israel formally agreed but immediately announced that it would not abide by the agreement and open the borders until hamas released gilad shalit an israeli soldier captured by hamas in june 2006 68 after the gaza invasion israel continued to reject hamas proposals of a long term truce again citing the capture of shalit partly on the same grounds it refused to permit any reconstruction even the import of macaroni crayons tomato paste lentils soap toilet paper and other such weapons of mass destruction eliciting some polite queries from washington 69 the steady drumbeat of accusations about the capture of shalit is again blatant hypocrisy even putting aside israel s long history of kidnapping in this case the hypocrisy could not be more glaring one day before hamas captured shalit israeli soldiers entered gaza city and kidnapped two civilians the muamar brothers bringing them to israel to join the thousands of other prisoners held there hundreds reportedly without charge kidnapping civilians is a far more serious crime than capturing a soldier of an attacking army but as is the norm it was barely reported in contrast to the furor over shalit and all that remains in memory blocking peace is the capture of shalit another illustration of the depth of imperial mentality in the west shalit should be returned in a fair prisoner exchange 70 it was after the capture of shalit that israel s unrelenting military attack against gaza passed from merely vicious to truly sadistic but it is well to recall that even before his capture israel had fired more than 7 700 shells at northern gaza after its september withdrawal eliciting virtually no comment 71 after immediately rejecting the june 2008 cease fire it had formally accepted israel maintained its siege we may recall that a siege is an act of war in fact israel has always insisted on an even stronger principle hampering access to the outside world even well short of a siege is an act of war justifying massive violence in response interference with israel s passage through the straits of tiran was a large part of the justification offered for israel s invasion of egypt with france and england in 1956 and for its launching of the june 1967 war the siege of gaza is total not partial apart from occasional willingness of the occupiers to relax it slightly and it is vastly more harmful to gazans than closing the straits of tiran was to israel supporters of israeli doctrines and actions should therefore have no problem justifying rocket attacks on israeli territory from the gaza strip of course again we run into the nullifying principle this is us that is them israel not only maintained the siege after june 2008 but did so with extreme rigor it even prevented unrwa from replenishing its stores so when the ceasefire broke down we ran out of food for the 750 000 who depend on us unrwa director john ging informed the bbc 72 despite the israeli siege rocketing sharply reduced according to the spokesperson for the prime minister mark regev there was not a single hamas rocket among the few that were launched from the onset of the june 2008 cease fire until november 4 when israel violated it still more egregiously with a raid into gaza leading to the death of six palestinians and a retaliatory barrage of rockets with no injuries the raid was on the evening of the u s presidential elections when attention was focused elsewhere the pretext for the raid was that israel had detected a tunnel in gaza that might have been intended for use to capture another israeli soldier a ticking tunnel in official communiques the pretext was transparently absurd as a number of commentators noted if such a tunnel existed and reached the border israel could easily have barred it right there but as usual the ludicrous israeli pretext was deemed credible and the timing was overlooked 73 what was the reason for the israeli raid we have no internal evidence about israeli planning but we do know that the raid came shortly before scheduled hamas fatah talks in cairo aimed at reconciling their differences and creating a single unified government british correspondent rory mccarthy reported that was to be the first fatah hamas meeting since the june 2007 civil war that left hamas in control of gaza and would have been a significant step toward advancing diplomatic efforts there is a long history of israel provocations to deter the threat of 74 diplomacy some already mentioned this may have been another one the civil war that left hamas in control of gaza is commonly described as a hamas military coup demonstrating again their evil nature the real world was a little different the civil war was incited by the united states and israel in a crude attempt at a military coup to overturn the free elections that brought hamas to power that has been public knowledge at least since april 2008 when david rose published a detailed and documented account of how bush rice and deputy national security adviser elliott abrams backed an armed force under fatah strongman muhammad dahlan touching off a bloody civil war in gaza and leaving hamas stronger than ever the account was corroborated by norman olsen who served for twenty six years in the foreign service including four years working in the gaza strip and four years at the u s embassy in tel aviv and then moved on to become associate coordinator for counterterrorism at the department of state olsen and his son detail the state department shenanigans intended to ensure that their candidate abbas would win in the january 2006 elections in which case it would have been hailed as a triumph of democracy after the election fixing failed the united states and israel turned to the punishment of palestinians for voting the wrong way and began arming a militia run by dahlan but dahlan s thugs moved too soon the olsens write and a hamas pre emptive strike undermined the coup attempt 75 the party line is more convenient the u s israel responded to the failed coup attempt by introducing far harsher measures to punish the people of gaza and to ensure that the plague of disobedience would not spread to the rest of palestine together with jordan the united states undertook to arm and train a more efficient palestinian security force to maintain order in the west bank under the direction of u s general keith dayton israeli military officers participate as well ethan bronner reported in the new york times describing how an israeli officer inaugurated the firing range here shooting a palestinian weapon to test it and give his seal of approval the major achievement of the new paramilitary force bronner elaborated was to have maintained tight order to prevent any kind of uprising that is significant show of sympathy and support while israel slaughtered palestinians in gaza and reduced much of it to rubble the effective performance of these forces also impressed senate foreign relations committee chair john kerry in his address to the brookings institution he spoke eloquently of the need to give the israelis a legitimate partner for peace which they evidently lacked during the decades of unilateral u s israeli rejection of the international consensus on a peace settlement which the palestine liberation organization supported along with the arab states and the world outside the u s and israel we must overcome this failure kerry explained suggesting several ways to weaken the elected government and strengthen our man mahmoud abbas most importantly kerry went on this means strengthening general dayton s efforts to train palestinian security forces that can keep order and fight terror recent developments have been extremely encouraging during the invasion of gaza palestinian security forces largely succeeded in maintaining calm in the west bank amidst widespread expectations of civil unrest obviously more remains to be done but we can help do it 76 so we can the united states has had a century of rich experience in developing paramilitary and police forces to pacify conquered populations and to impose the structure of a long lasting coercive security state that undermines nationalist and popular aspirations and sustains obedience to the wealthy classes and their foreign associates 77 after israel broke the june 2008 cease fire such as it was in november the siege was tightened further with even more disastrous consequences for the population according to sara roy the leading academic specialist on gaza on nov 5 israel sealed all crossing points into gaza vastly reducing and at times denying food supplies medicines fuel cooking gas and parts for water and sanitation systems during november an average of 4 6 trucks of food per day entered gaza from israel compared with an average of 123 trucks per day in october spare parts for the repair and maintenance of water related equipment have been denied entry for over a year the world health organization just reported that half of gaza s ambulances are now out of order and the rest soon became targets for israeli attack gaza s only power station was forced to suspend operation for lack of fuel and could not be started up again because it needed spare parts which had been sitting in the israeli port of ashdod for eight months shortage of electricity led to a 300 percent increase in burn cases at shifaa hospital in the gaza strip resulting from efforts to light wood fires israel barred shipment of chlorine so that by mid december in gaza city and the north access to water was limited to six hours every three days the human 78 consequences are not counted among palestinian victims of israeli terror after the november 4 israeli attack both sides escalated violence all deaths were palestinian until the cease fire formally ended on december 19 and prime minister olmert authorized the full scale invasion a few days earlier hamas had proposed to return to the original july cease fire agreement which israel had not observed historian and former carter administration high official robert pastor passed the proposal to a senior official in the idf but israel did not respond the head of shin bet israel s internal security agency was quoted in israeli sources on december 21 as saying that hamas is interested in continuing the calm with israel while its military wing is continuing preparations for conflict there clearly was an alternative to the military approach to stopping the rockets pastor said keeping to the narrow issue of gaza there was also a more far reaching alternative which is rarely discussed namely accepting a political settlement including all of the occupied territories 79 israeli senior diplomatic correspondent akiva eldar reports that shortly before israel launched its full scale invasion on saturday december 27 hamas politburo chief khaled meshal announced on the iz al din al qassam web site that he was prepared not only for a cessation of aggression he proposed going back to the arrangement at the rafah crossing as of 2005 before hamas won the elections and later took over the region that arrangement was for the crossing to be managed jointly by egypt the european union the palestinian authority presidency and hamas and as noted earlier called for opening of the crossings to desperately needed supplies 80 a standard claim of the more vulgar apologists for israeli violence is that in the case of the current assault as in so many instances in the past half century the lebanon war of 1982 the iron fist response to the 1988 intifada the lebanon war of 2006 the israelis have reacted to intolerable acts of terror with a determination to inflict terrible pain to teach the enemy a lesson the civilian suffering and deaths are inevitable the lessons less so new yorker editor david remnick justified only on the grounds of appalling cynicism as already discussed the reference to the vicious response to the 1988 intifada is too depraved even to discuss a sympathetic interpretation might be that it reflects astonishing ignorance but remnick s claim about the 1982 invasion is quite common a remarkable feat of incessant propaganda which merits a few reminders the lessons particularly about american intellectuals are all too easy to recognize though hardly inevitable the 2006 invasion can be 81 uncontroversially the israel lebanon border was quiet for a year before the israeli invasion at least from lebanon to israel north to south through the year the plo scrupulously observed a u s initiated cease fire despite constant israeli provocations including bombing with many civilian casualties presumably intended to elicit some reaction that could be used to justify israel s planned invasion the best israel could achieve was two light symbolic responses it then invaded with a pretext too absurd to be taken seriously the invasion had nothing to do with intolerable acts of terror though it did have to do with intolerable acts of diplomacy that has never been obscure shortly after the u s backed invasion began israel s leading academic specialist on the palestinians yehoshua porath no dove wrote that arafat s success in maintaining the cease fire constituted a veritable catastrophe in the eyes of the israeli government since it opened the way to a political settlement the government hoped that the plo would resort to terrorism undermining the threat that it would be a legitimate negotiating partner for future political accommodations the facts were well understood in israel and not concealed prime minister yitzhak shamir stated that israel went to war because there was a terrible danger not so much a military one as a political one prompting the fine israeli satirist b michael to write that the lame excuse of a military danger or a danger to the galilee is dead we have removed the political danger by striking first in time now thank god there is no one to talk to historian benny morris recognized that the plo had observed the cease fire and explained that the war s inevitability rested on the plo as a political threat to israel and to israel s hold on the occupied 82 territories others have frankly acknowledged the unchallenged facts in a front page think piece on the latest gaza invasion new york times correspondent steven lee meyers writes that in some ways the gaza attacks were reminiscent of the gamble israel took and largely lost in lebanon in 1982 when it invaded to eliminate the threat of yasser arafat s forces correct but not in the sense he has in mind in 1982 as in 2008 it was necessary to eliminate the threat of political settlement 83 the hope of israeli propagandists has been that western intellectuals and media would buy the tale that israel reacted to rockets raining on the galilee intolerable acts of terror and they have not been disappointed it is not that israel does not want peace everyone wants peace even hitler the question is on what terms from its origins the zionist movement has understood that to achieve its goals the best strategy would be to delay political settlement meanwhile slowly building facts on the ground even the occasional agreements as in 1947 were regarded by the leadership as temporary steps toward further expansion lebanon war was a dramatic example of the desperate fear of diplomacy it was followed by israeli support for hamas so as to undermine the secular plo and its irritating peace initiatives another case that should be familiar is israeli provocations before the 1967 war designed to elicit a syrian response that could be used as a pretext for violence and takeover of more land at least 80 percent of the incidents according to defense minister moshe dayan the 1982 85 84 the story goes far back the official history of the haganah the pre state jewish military force describes the assassination of the religious jewish poet jacob de haan in 1924 accused of conspiring for an accommodation between the traditional jewish community the old yishuv and the arab higher committee and there have been numerous examples since 86 the effort to delay political accommodation has always made perfect sense as do the accompanying lies about how there is no partner for peace it is hard to think of another way to take over land where you are not wanted similar reasons underlie israel s preference for expansion over security its violation of the cease fire on november 4 2008 is one of many recent examples when israel broke the june 2008 cease fire on november 4 amnesty international reported that the cease fire has brought enormous improvements in the quality of life in sderot and other israeli villages near gaza where before the ceasefire residents lived in fear of the next palestinian rocket strike however nearby in the gaza strip the israeli blockade remains in place and the population has so far seen few dividends from the cease fire since june 2007 the entire population of 1 5 million palestinians has been trapped in gaza with dwindling resources and an economy in ruins some 80 percent of the population now depend on the trickle of international aid that the israeli army allows in but the gains in security for israeli towns near gaza were evidently 87 outweighed by the felt need to deter diplomatic moves that might impede west bank expansion and to crush any remaining resistance within palestine the preference for expansion over security has been particularly evident since israel s fateful decision in 1971 backed by henry kissinger to reject the offer of a full peace treaty by president sadat of egypt offering nothing to the palestinians an agreement that the united states and israel were compelled to accept at camp david eight years later after a major war that was a near disaster for israel a peace treaty with egypt would have ended any significant security threat but there was an unacceptable quid pro quo israel would have had to abandon its extensive settlement programs in the northeastern sinai security was a lower priority than expansion as it still is 88 today israel could have security normalization of relations and integration into the region but it very clearly prefers illegal expansion conflict and repeated exercise of violence actions that are not only criminal murderous and destructive but are also eroding its own long term security u s military and middle east specialist andrew cordesman writes that while israel military force can surely crush defenseless gaza neither israel nor the us can gain from a war that produces a bitter reaction from one of the wisest and most moderate voices in the arab world prince turki al faisal of saudi arabia who said on january 6 that the bush administration has left obama a disgusting legacy and a reckless position towards the massacres and bloodshed of innocents in gaza enough is enough today we are all palestinians and we seek martyrdom for god and for palestine following those who died in gaza 89 one of the wisest voices in israel uri avnery writes that after an israeli military victory what will be seared into the consciousness of the world will be the image of israel as a blood stained monster ready at any moment to commit war crimes and not prepared to abide by any moral restraints this will have severe consequences for our long term future our standing in the world our chance of achieving peace and quiet in the end this war is a crime against ourselves too a crime against the state of israel 90 there is good reason to believe that he is right israel is deliberately turning itself into one of the most hated countries in the world and is also losing the allegiance of the population of the west including younger american jews who are unlikely to tolerate its persistent shocking crimes for long decades ago i wrote that those who call themselves supporters of israel are in reality supporters of its moral degeneration and probable ultimate destruction regrettably that judgment looks more and more plausible meanwhile we are quietly observing a rare event in history what the late israeli sociologist baruch kimmerling called politicide the murder of a nation at our hands 91 blueprint for a one state movement a six troubled history ilan pappé the demise of the oslo accord at the very beginning of the twenty first century gave special impetus to the old new idea of a one state solution it seems to be with us again and the interest in it grows by the day and yet it does not appear as an item on the agenda of any actor of significance on the palestine chessboard neither major powers nor small political factions endorse it as a vision or strategy let alone as a tactic for the future its attractiveness however is undeniable given the failure of the alternative solutions this seems to be the appropriate moment to ponder its past history and its future trajectory this essay does not wish to recap the faults of the two state solution nor does it strive to argue for the advantages of the one state solution the purpose here is first to remind readers that although the idea today is hypothetical theoretical and quite abstract it used be a concrete plan strategy and vision second based on this historical recognition this chapter argues that it is time to transform the idea once more into a real political plan that would be carried out by a popular movement for change in israel and palestine one cannot doubt that there is a new impulse inside and outside of palestine for a regime change there is now a constant quest to change the realities in the present republic of israel which is a one state solution by itself ethnically and racially oppressive toward its palestinian citizens and subjects it is by and large a nonviolent impulse for equality and a craving for normality that should be translated into a powerful agent of change for the sake of palestinians and israelis alike a troubled history the one state solution has a troubled history it began as a soft zionist concept of jewish settlers some of whom were leading intellectuals in their community who wished to reconcile colonialism and humanism they were looking for a way that would not require the settlers either to return to their homelands or to give up the idea of a new jewish life in the redeemed ancient homeland they were also moved by more practical considerations such as the relatively small number of jewish settlers within a solid palestinian majority they offered binationalism within one modern state they found some palestinian partners when the settlers arrived in the 1920s but were soon manipulated by the zionist leadership to serve that movement s strategy and then disappeared into the margins of history in the 1930s notable members among them such as yehuda magnes were appointed as emissaries by the zionist leadership for talks with the arab higher committee magnes and his colleagues genuinely believed then and in retrospect that they served as harbingers of peace but in fact they were sent to gauge the impulses and aspirations on the other side so as to defeat it in due course they existed in one form or another until the end of the mandate their only potential ally the palestine communist party for a while endorsed their idea of bination alism but in the crucial final years of the mandate adopted the principle of partition as the only solution admittedly due to orders from moscow rather than out of a natural growth of its ideology so by 1947 there was no significant support for the idea on either the zionist or palestinian side moreover it seems that there was no genuine desire locally or regionally to look for a local solution and it was left to the international community to propose one 1 the appearance in 1947 of the one state solution as an international option is a chapter of history very few know about or bother to revisit the scope of this article does not allow me to expand on it but it is worth remembering that at one given point during the discussions and deliberations of unscop the united nations special committee on palestine february to november 1947 those members of the un who were not under the influence of either the united states or the ussr and they were not many regarded the idea of one state in palestine as the best solution for the conflict they defined it as a democratic unitary state where citizenship would be equal and not determined on the basis of ethnicity or nationality the indigenous population was defined as those who were in palestine at that time nearly two million people who were mostly palestinians when their idea was put in a minority report of unscop the majority report was the basis for the famous or infamous resolution 181 of november 29 1947 half of the then members of the un general assembly supported it before succumbing to pressure by the superpowers to vote in favor of the partition resolution it is not surprising in hindsight that people around the world who did not feel like the western powers did that the creation of a jewish state at the expense of the palestinians was the best compensation for the horrors of the holocaust would support the unitary state after all the jewish community in palestine was made of newcomers and settlers and were only one third of the overall population but common decency and sense were not allowed to play a role 3 where palestine was concerned 2 so palestine was partitioned between israel jordan and egypt but the idea was kept alive when the palestine liberation organization plo came into being its version of one state was a secular and democratic one although unsympathetic toward the possible presence of jewish settlers who arrived after 1948 and was attractive enough even to inspire a small anti zionist group in israel matzpen to accept it for a while the arab world in words and through the arab league seemed to stand behind the idea this was the vision of the liberation movement until the 1970s when lack of success pragmatism and a growing realization of how powerful israel had become due to unconditional american support which was not equaled by the limited aid the ussr gave the plo led to new ideas about the future thus came to the world fatah s stages program this was a willingness to consider a two state solution initially the plan was presented as a temporary means for bringing peace and justice to palestine but later on it was portrayed as a strategy and perhaps even a vision the idea of a two state solution however did not germinate on the palestinian side it was always the preferred solution of pragmatic zionism pragmatic zionism or mainstream zionism led the jewish community in palestine since the late nineteenth century and its basic ideas still guide the israeli political system today the power of the two state solution depends largely on the power of pragmatic zionism those who are presently regarded as pragmatic zionists are defined as such due to their support for the two state solution since the support only has to be verbal and noncommittal even right wing parties in israel despite their declared ideology of a greater israel a one state solution with exclusive jewish presence and rights can endorse it this was recently demonstrated by binyamin netanyahu s pledge to such a solution made only in order to allow the continued strategic alliance between an allegedly more critical american administration and a more hawkish israeli government but because the two state solution is so closely connected to the fortunes of pragmatic zionism it is important to recap the historical record of this mainstream zionist force the leaders and movements who represented pragmatic zionism were responsible for the 1948 ethnic cleansing of palestine the military rule imposed on the palestinians inside israel for almost twenty years the colonization of the west bank in the last forty years and the repertoire of oppressive and brutal policies against the people of gaza in the last eight years and the list of course is longer and new chapters of oppression and dispossession are added to it by the day and yet the total identification of pragmatic zionism with the two state solution and before it with territorial compromise with jordan the jordanian option equated it in the eyes of the world with peace and reconciliation as transpired clearly during the days of the oslo accord the discourse of two states and peace provided a shield that enabled the pragmatic zionist governments to expand the settlement project in the west bank and escalate the oppressive policies against the gaza strip looked at from a different angle pragmatic zionism was the only actor on the ground that gave substance to the idea of two states whereas the plo even when it endorsed the idea had to accept the zionist interpretation of it the relevant international actors and the united states in particular followed this zionist interpretation as they still do today this interpretation meant that the two state solution is based on total israeli control of the whole of what used to be mandatory palestine its airspace territorial waters and external borders it includes a limited measure of palestinian sovereignty within those parts of palestine that israel is not interested in the gaza strip and less than half of the west bank this sovereignty would also be limited in essence a demilitarized government would have little say in defense foreign and financial policies it seems that even a fragile yasser arafat realized twice what this hegemonic interpretation of the two state solution meant this occurred first before the signing in cairo of the oslo b agreement and then for the second time during the camp david summit of 2000 in the first instance it was too late literally minutes before the ceremony and there was no way out on the second occasion he had time to ponder more profoundly and refused to accept this israeli dictate that at the end of the day probably cost him his life one would think that this fate is partly behind his successor s consent hesitant as it is to continue with this idea and accept the pragmatic zionist interpretation as long as he can but the potency of this zionist interpretation of the two state solution which remains to this very moment the only interpretation is waning this is the main reason for the reemergence of the one state solution the latter was kept alive by those who always believed in it as the only moral not just political settlement that contains and answers all the outstanding problems involved in the ongoing conflict issues such as the refugees right of return the colonialist nature of zionism and the need to accommodate the multireligious and multicultural fabric of society seem to have no room in the two state solution the first group of one state supporters were joined by the desperadoes those who reluctantly endorse the one state solution since they despair of any hope of implementing a two state solution they regard the new geopolitical realities israel created on the ground as irreversible and they recognize there is no will on the israeli side to accept a truly independent and sovereign palestinian state alongside israel thus despite its troubled history the one state idea is still with us today and yet it remains on the margins and attributed to naive daydreamers from this very brief and admittedly somewhat esoteric description it is clear that only a significant erosion of the validity of the two state solution can revert attention to the concept of a one state solution in whatever form however it is important to stress early on that the idea was kept alive not by those who despaired of the possibilities of a two state solution but rather by those who did not lose faith in the moral validity of the concept and its political feasibility these very few feel vindicated in the last decade by the many that joined them as new converts as the demise of the two state solution becomes clearer by the day as these words are being written it is mainly a large number of individuals and not even ngos who stand firmly behind the idea they are visible and have advanced the case of the one state solution significantly in recent years by structuring the discussion and airing the outstanding issues beyond slogans and ideals the final boost to this intellectual and public activity was the appearance of several coherent books whose authors along with other writers joined efforts to disseminate the concept and root it deeply in the public discourse and mind but as mentioned there are no political parties upholding this idea and although an intuitive survey of the scores of ngos working on the ground in israel palestine and the exilic communities indicates wide support in palestinian civil society for this idea none of the present governmental and nongovernmental actors have officially taken a stance of support 4 a political movement has first and foremost to clarify its position vis à vis those in power or put differently decide whether it wishes to substitute for the powers that be or to influence them in the former case the one state movement can only act by becoming a party a faction or whatever term one uses these days in the abnormal reality on the ground in palestine where a sovereign state exists alongside an occupied stateless enclaved and imprisoned community but there is another option that may be a necessary and preliminary stage before a clearer decision on strategy is taken for this one has to adopt a more fluid definition of the concept of a movement than the one usually appearing in the professional literature the movement we are looking for is a vehicle that represents certain impulses and hopes and a vision as such its main task is to translate popular or bottom up demands in the political realm that are ignored by the political and media elites in a given society in our particular case it wants those in power to urgently examine new options for salvaging an escalating catastrophe there are two paradoxes that would have to be dealt with early on one is that it takes a long time to build a movement and the reality on the ground demands from every activist urgency and immediate activism to thwart the continued oppression the second is that quite often the popular demand from the political elite is engendered and propelled by growing suspicion of and total lack of confidence in that very political elite without necessarily showing enthusiasm for replacing it these are given constraints and i do not suggest that we can reconcile the paradoxes just be aware of them there is a way around it as another similar effort to create a movement has shown us this is the bds boycott divestment and sanctions for palestine movement it is a call for using very drastic nonviolent action against israel in order to stop the present criminal policies on the ground such as the gaza massacre in january 2009 but also at the same time engender a general discussion about the nature of the regime and its international legitimacy it also relates to the second paradox i mentioned by not wishing to play a role in the political elite but forcing that same elite to take a stance on the issue given the failure of all the other strategies of the struggle it began a few years ago as the brainchild of a small number of individuals and grew into significant proportions when it was fully endorsed by the civil society in the occupied territories and thence supported widely by palestinians around the world 5 and inside israel before remarking further on the two options for the one state movement whether to build a political movement per se or to engage in establishing a broad following for the one state idea there is a preliminary issue that has to be addressed this refers to the problems arising from the formation of the new coalition that now pushes the idea forward as mentioned it is made of longtime believers in the idea and desperadoes joining late in the day due to their frustration regarding the inability to implement the two state solution this is not the healthiest of coalitions to advance a concept that is still utopian and rejected by the political elites and mainstream media motivation and inspiration are not likely to be found among the desperadoes this was very clear for instance in the contribution to the march 2009 conference of meron benvenisti but his valuable deconstruction and explication and others like it of what is wrong with the two state solution and their engagements with realpolitik can benefit the one state movement enormously 6 if a minimal basis for cooperation can be found and again judging from the evidence so far this is not something one can take for granted the next stage is to direct the efforts of persuasion toward state skeptics who although not oblivious to the chaotic reality produced by a constant adherence of the international community to the two state solution still do not find the courage to support the one state solution it is really a question of how to enlarge both the core group of the movement and its base of support the effort should be to elasticize the concept so as to increase its attraction to its maximal optimum i think we are more or less there at that stage after the boston march 2009 conference as noted before it is from here that we should weigh the two possible options playing by the rules the political elites set or working through the popular networks to change public discourse and the political elites orientations the nature of politics especially in the west has been since the second world war evolutionary and not revolutionary sticking to formulas is thus in the nature of such political systems and unless catastrophe proves such formulas to be dead for all intents and purposes political elites are not likely to deviate from them let alone when the issue is not the highest on their agenda even when it is prominent among their concerns it is so only for a very short span of time thus even very visible indicators of the impossibility of implementing a two state solution of any kind or one that can only be unilaterally accepted by israel are not likely to produce a dramatic change of orientation or policy this means that the first option explored above of impacting a change of policy toward a one state solution from among the political elites is premature and is likely to result at this stage in total disappointment and a dangerous transformation of the one state movement into a quixotic voyage into oblivion therefore the more viable option is the one that does not play a part yet in the political elite game but prepares the ground for the inevitable earthquake that would also force the politicians and principal actors to take a different stance a movement in this respect is literally an attempt to move people s mindsets attentions and recognitions this can be seen as a three pronged effort reintroduce the past into the equation deconstruct the essence of the present peace process and prepare projects that translate the concept of one state into a tangible reality in the future reselling the past the struggle over memory in the case of palestine seems to be the most important task in this century for anyone committed to the palestine cause the convergence of industrious palestinian historiography with the new revelations made by revisionist historians in israel transformed not only the research agenda of academia but also the public discourse among activists it was in many ways the exposure to the full picture of what occurred in 1948 that expanded the spectrum of peace activists and members of palestinian solidarity committees so that it included the 1948 nakbah even president obama in his june 2009 cairo speech acknowledged a palestinian suffering that spans over sixty years the struggle over historic memory is highly relevant to the debate about a one state solution only the historical perspective reveals the reductionist nature of the two state solution the fact that palestine refers to only one fifth of the land and about one third of the palestinians a deeper historical recognition exposes the colonialist nature of the zionist movement it does not only show that palestinians were ethnically cleansed in 1948 and were never allowed to return but also that the ideology that produced that policy is still operative today a brave italian journalist and writer compared the narrative employed hitherto as the raison d être of a two state solution to a historical narrative that explains the french revolution as a violent juncture that has no origins 7 or any background information the unified palestinian experience from the late nineteenth century up to 1948 has been replaced by discrete experiences due to the fragmentation of the people and the bisection of the land but these new disjointed experiences all without exception relate to what happened in 1948 in other words whether you live in ramallah london yarmouk or nazareth your present predicament is a direct result of what occurred in 1948 moreover the ideology that produced the 1948 ethnic cleansing is the one that keeps refugees in their camps today discriminates against palestinians inside israel and oppresses those under occupation in the west bank and imprisonment in the gaza strip seen from that perspective a two state solution is a small lid trying to cover a huge boiling pot and whenever it is put on it drowns the resolution of a conflict can only occur when such a lid can be put firmly on the past and bring its horrors and evils to a close at the academic and civil society level this realization is solid and has created fertile ground for the discussion about a one state solution however this is unfortunately not the case with the mainstream media and political arena in the west or in the arab world there is a better chance to debate the historical narrative that to propagate the one state solution at this stage in the struggle mainstream media and politicians reject out of hand the one state solution but may be willing to accept that their historical narrative so far was distorted and wrong and that they should view the conflict as a process that began in 1948 even in 1882 and not in 1967 in other words what should be hammered in is that what the desperadoes call the facts on the ground that gradually made the desired two state solution impossible were not an accident they are the outcome of a strategy aiming at granting the state of israel control over all of mandatory palestine this strategy was and is the cornerstone of pragmatic zionism and it divided the land into two territories the one that israel rules directly and in it wishes to implement what shimon peres coined maximum territory and minimum arabs and the other territory is the one that israel controls indirectly of through proxies such as a collaborationist palestinian authority what was and still is presented by western journalists and politicians as a fundamental debate inside israel about peace and war of retaining the territories or withdrawing from them is in effect a debate about what maximum territory is and what are the means of achieving it as well as how one attains the target of minimum arabs 8 unmasking the paradigm of parity the charade of a genuine debate in the israeli society and revealing the strategy behind israeli policy in the last forty years is a task the one state movement should take upon itself in the near future deconstructing the peace process the biggest contemporary obstacle for putting forward the one state solution as a viable option is that the raison d être of the peace process of the last forty years is firmly based on the vision of two states it is so powerful that even some of the bravest and most committed colleagues in the struggle for palestine endorse it in the name of realpolitik in order to confront it successfully with the modest means that a one state movement has and will have it is important to recognize the premises that underlie the raison d être of the peace process as today they are still governing the obama administration the palestine authority the so called peace camp in israel and large sections of the political and media elite in the west the peace process began immediately after the june 1967 war ended and while the early initiators were french british and russians it soon became an attempt to impose a pax americana the basic american assumption underlying the peace effort was an absolute reliance on the balance of power as the principal prism through which the possibility of solutions should be examined as israeli superiority was unquestioned after the war it meant that whatever israeli politicians and generals devised as a peace plan soon became the basis for the process as a whole thus the israeli political elite constantly produced the common wisdom of the peace process and formulated its guidelines according to its own concerns these american israeli guidelines were drafted in the first years after the 1967 occupation and crystallized as a vision for a new geopolitical map for historical palestine pragmatic zionism dictated that the country would roughly be divided into two spheres one that israel controls directly as a sovereign state and the other that israel rules indirectly while giving palestinians limited autonomy the principal american role was to present to the world these dictates in 9 a positive manner as israeli concessions reasonable behavior and flexible positions to this day either out of ignorance or interest successive american administrations adopted a perception of the conflict that caters solely to the internal israeli scene and one that disregards totally the palestinian perspective of whatever nature or inclination this hegemonic american israeli presence produced five guidelines that so far have not been challenged politically and diplomatically by the quartet and whoever manages the peace process and all the histrionics around it the first guideline relates directly to the struggle over historic memory mentioned above it states that the conflict began in 1967 and hence the essence of its solution is an agreement that would determine only the future status of the west bank and the gaza strip such a perspective confines a settlement to 78 percent of palestine the second guideline is that everything visible in those areas is divisible and that such divisibility is the key for peace so even the remaining 22 percent of palestine has to be divided for the sake of peace moreover the peace agenda meant that not only the 1967 occupied areas should be divided but also its people and natural resources the third guideline is that anything that happened until 1967 including the consequences of the nakbah and its ethnic cleansing are not negotiable this pushed the refugee issue off the agenda where it remains to this very day the fourth guideline is an equation between the end of the israeli occupation and the end of the conflict namely once some kind of eviction or control were agreed upon the conflict would be resolved for all intents and purposes the last guideline is that israel is not committed to any concession until the palestinian armed struggle ends in 1993 these five guidelines were translated into the oslo accord when a palestinian partner seemed to accept them in principle they were repackaged again in camp david 2000 and in both cases after trials and tribulations rejected by the plo and the palestinian authority pa but these are still the agreed upon principles for the peace process the task here is twofold the first is to associate in the public mind the present reality which is accepted by international observers as representing a human catastrophe of unimaginable dimensions as the inevitable outcome of this peace process and its principles thus exposing it as a political act that provides international immunity for a policy of colonization and dispossession it is true that this policy has escalated dramatically since 2000 but it is not true that the escalation is the result of the collapse of the peace process it is the result of the process s raison d être the one state movement has the academics journalists and activists who possess the means of disseminating this knowledge through books journals and public meetings whenever the current affairs of palestine and israel are discussed a media monitor of sorts is already working but not in a professional or systematic way although one has to admit that it is much more timidity than ignorance that prevents intelligent and knowledgeable journalists and politicians from exposing the peace process shielding a well structured israeli plan devised already in 1967 to enclave the palestinians in bantustans pragmatic zionism did not wish to directly control the populated palestinian areas in the west bank and the gaza strip did not dare to expel them and did not wish to give them more than limited autonomy the second task is to bring to the fore the palestinian voices that were directly victimized by this israeli policy in the last forty years within a paradigm of analysis that highlights the connection between their sufferings and the charade of peace in other words the debate is not only about the question whether the road taken so far was right but an accusation of those who led us on that road as contributing directly to the continued oppression of the palestinians in the occupied territories this would mean challenging the very agenda of the palestinian authority that claims that peace with israel under the old premises will bring an end to the suffering of the occupied people while the counterargument should be that it is having precisely the opposite effect deepening the occupation and perpetuating the oppression this deconstruction of the peace process should not remain an academic exercise it should have some immediate practical implications the first was already mentioned a systematic challenge of the media coverage of the peace process in the west second it should help to transform the nature of the peace activity in western civil societies and for that matter among the peace groups still active in israel as well these activists until recently were loyal to both the paradigm of parity and the logic of the two state solution as the vision of peace thus peace activity for years was based as was the peace process itself on the paradigm of two equal narratives that needed mediation and bridging hence both the eu and the major funding bodies in the west were financing and encouraging the phenomenon of kissing cousins meetings similarly western activists believed their main mission was to bring the two sides together on a neutral namely western ground this noble impulse gave unintentional support for the official peace process and presented it as a reflection of a wider desire among western societies the one state movement can be the pinnacle of a new orientation and effort of this impulse of western civil societies to transform the reality in palestine instead of facilitating futile encounters unnecessary at any rate as they can take place at any given moment on the ground they can provide venues for strategizing around the campaign for changing the policies of western governments and for pondering a more genuine and comprehensive solution for the conflict desegregating the activity of civil society in the west as well as inside israel illustrates the very essence of a one state solution when the one state movement is still in its embryonic stage an activity around themes and not according to national religious or ethnic identity can be the unique contribution of the one state movement but again themes can sound too abstract and fluid for a movement that seeks desperately to change the public mind after years of being conditioned by a distorted historical narrative manipulated media coverage and a lethal futuristic vision thus the themes should be closely connected to tangible results the last part of this essay explores some of these themes and results preparing for the future the modular model in its present form the one state movement is made of individuals from all walks of life who can bring to the fore their activism and professionalism before the vision is taken up more systematically by ngos and political parties it is time to expand the activity beyond the big conferences that have so far successfully heralded the idea and exposed the fallacies of the two state solution model there are more areas of investigation that the one state movement can focus on the first is a survey of attitudes toward the one state idea so far no one has attempted such a survey and despite the obvious weakness of such an instrument this is a precondition for any future campaign of disseminating the idea and recruiting others for it the second is the formation of working teams very much on the basis of the tawaqim professional teams that were preparing in earnest but in vain for the creation of an independent state in the orient house during the madrid conference days these teams should prepare the practical products emanating from a future political outfit for palestine and israel in whatever form it will appear a constitution an educational system curricula and textbooks basic guidelines for an economic system the practical implications within a state of a multicultural and multireligious society and so on for some of these aspects of statehood there is no need to reinvent the wheel as the tawaqim were quite good in covering them for others inspiration should be found elsewhere in history other geographies and human thought a particular project that would have to be considered is a serious contemplation about the future of the israeli jewish colonies for the tawaqim it was clear that a future palestinian state meant one without these colonies in the case of the one state solution this is a different matter i do not propose here a solution but only point out to the need to discuss it now and not later constructing in the most practical way these end products such as a prototype constitution an educational curriculum laws of citizenships for all indigenous returnees and new immigrants land and property ownership regulations including compensations and absentee properties and similar projects can give substance to the idea of one state beyond slogans and the deconstruction of the two state solution the last project for the one state movement before it hopefully becomes a potent popular and political movement is to focus on small teams and later in front of larger audiences on how to disseminate the idea and educate people about it palestinian ngos domestic and abroad the few ngos in israel that are still engaged in the struggle against the occupation the palestine solidarity campaigns and committees and all the other ngos in western societies and around the arab and muslim worlds can be all recruited to take a firmer stand on the issue the struggle for one state cannot be had without close cooperation with official plo hamas and pa representatives nor without adoption of the discourse or dictionary of these groups on the ground this would allow the one state movement to envision peace and reconciliation in a less limited more inclusive way one doubts whether arab regimes would help apart from heads of state who are already openly in support of the idea on the other hand the south african government and ngos have already shown greater enthusiasm for the idea than any other state actor on the international scene with these limitations in mind and with these potential partners the voice of the one state movement should be heard at all times this can be accomplished despite the profound knowledge that popular support for the idea depends crucially on a total disintegration of the two state solution and this scenario in turn is beyond the influence of the one state movement while waiting for developments beyond our control and influence we should prepare as if this moment is around the corner and assume that millions of desperate palestinians israelis and whoever cares about them in the world would quickly seek an alternative to the paradigm that so disastrously informed the peace process in palestine and israel activism scholarship dissemination of information persuasion protest and solidarity are the most powerful weapons powerless people have let us use them wisely reframing the israel palestine conflict israel is not a democracy seven ilan pappé the united states recently vetoed a un security council resolution calling all israeli settlements illegal and an obstacle to peace saying that the resolution harmed chances for peace talks interestingly all other countries voted for it and the united states faced criticism from its european allies the us seems more and more isolated when it comes to israel what is israel s strategic importance for the us nowadays and has it changed since 1967 i think that israel s importance to the united states is still the same as it always has been we have to wait and see whether the arab revolutions will change it but at the time that that veto was given i think that even if there was a fundamental impact of what happened in the arab world on american thinking on israel it s too early for it to be shown in american policy so my guess is and we ve seen it throughout the barack obama administration policy towards israel that the same pressures that worked and formulated american policy towards israel in the bush administration are still at work in the obama administration so nobody should have been surprised by the fact that obama vetoed this resolution and if there would be another one they would veto it again although i do think that the fact that the european member states did not join the americans on this is a sign of the overall trend that we can see you call it isolation of the united states i would call it the beginning of an internal process of rethinking american policy which will take quite a while to mature but is definitely happening it was reported in haaretz and the guardian that angela merkel had a very tough telephone call with netanyahu about the peace process telling him you are the one who has disappointed us you haven t made a single step to advance peace coming from germany europe s number one supporter of israel with poland this is quite extraordinary could we witness a change in europe s stance towards israel soon more importantly could europe play a more balanced role than the us in the palestine question we have to be careful here it s true about angela merkel as much as it is true about barack obama what they want instead of the netanyahu government which is definitely a kind of government they don t like to deal with is a central zionist government the kadima government which i will remind you according to the al jazeera leaks refused even to accept the most generous and stupid offer the palestinian leadership has ever made to the israelis under olmert so when angela merkel is angry with netanyahu she wants to see tzipi livni as a prime minister which will not constitute any change in the israeli policy or in any way ease the oppression of the palestinians so that s one point so this is not that much of good news in the fact that they are angry with netanyahu time will tell whether this may represent something more profound which is the undemocratic situation in europe by which you have a public opinion which is anti israeli and pro palestinian but this is not reflected in the policies of the political elite it s possible that this also reflects a wish by politicians such as merkel to represent more faithfully the basic impulse and positions of the european public towards israel but i think we have to wait and see whether this moment of transformation is really taking place in front of our eyes the recent palestine papers have confirmed that israel and the united states were the two main rejectionists in the israel palestine conflict instead of using the papers to expose israel rejectionism the palestinian authority has attacked al jazeera the messenger how do you explain this and how long do you think the pa will be able to play the collaborator part before a new type of intifada will erupt it s very easy to understand why the pa attacked al jazeera it came at a very unpleasant moment where all around the arab world people were asking for more democracy transparency and fair representation and what the al jazeera leaks revealed was that the pa was the exact opposite of all these things so i m not surprised that they d rather attack al jazeera than israel as far as the longevity of the pa is concerned this really can only be connected to more general transformations i don t think that there would be an internal palestinian transformation without several things happening beforehand one is the successful continuation of the kind of transformations we have seen in the arab world a democratization process in action rather than democracies as a kind of final outcome even a continued process of democratization in the arab world is one thing which will encourage people to get rid of the pa second the movement of the civil society campaign against israel into the sphere of political elite and political power third and most importantly you still need to find a solution for the question of palestinian representation because it s very clear that the pa is not the plo but it s not very clear who is the plo only the palestinians in almost an impossibly fragmented reality have to find the way of reawakening the process of representation if you have palestinian representation and you have a change in the arab world and you have a political elite in the west that is willing to do something that its public wants it to do i think that the pa will disappear and this will be a first station in the trip for more fundamental transformations on the ground altogether some extraordinary events have taken place in the arab world in the last few months the scenes on tahrir square in cairo for example will stay in people s minds for years people in egypt tunisia morocco yemen took the streets and protested about lack of jobs access to education repression corruption and got rid of their western backed dictator a friend of mine called this the second step of the decolonization process what is your view on this and also on the libya situation where sanctions have been voted in at the un and where nato has talked about a military intervention right first of all i would agree with the term the second phase of decolonization or second phase of postcolonialism it s a very accurate term to describe what we are seeing there i think it s a very important moment for all of us not only people who live in the middle east but also people who engage with the arab world and think that they understood what is going on there usually through tools that misrepresent the arab world and actually portray it in a very negative way so i think the first thing to say about what s happening is that there is not only the assertion of dignity in the arab world it s a defining moment for the west and its rather colonialist attitude towards the arab world second of course we are talking about a process in motion we see libya as a painful reminder that it will not be as easy as it has been in egypt everywhere nor is it clear that the egyptian story is over but i do think it brings a lot of hope it s the first time i remember in my lifetime that there is good news coming from the arab world and by this very sheer sort of sense of positivity or positive energy that comes from there it s a moment of no return as a historian i keep reminding myself that a moment of no return does not mean that immediately you will have the kind of better reality that you want to happen it means that you have to be alert that there will be a lot of powers and a lot of actors including israel who will do the best they can to make this moment disappear so you cannot even be passive about it you have to be active each one of us in our own way to help these revolutions to take place and like in the case of palestine there has to be a clear distribution of labor about what everyone can do for this but it is a dramatic and fantastic moment which i think also in the long run will affect palestine in a very very positive way what is the more global implication of the arab world revolutions are israel and the united states right to feel threatened yes there are two different issues here the global implication is that whether these are academics journalists or politicians the schematic way in which they describe society and divide it into actors or factors that are active and can change reality and those that are recipients and can t change reality has been dismantled has collapsed so i think that the global implication is that while you can have as much as economic and political and military power as you can there are processes which you cannot control maybe it is because of the internet maybe it s because of impulses that push the younger generation around the world but there is a kind of unanimity between students protesting in london and paris and those protesting in tunisia algiers and cairo that sort of teaches us that the way the world is represented through the eyes of its western elite has been dealt a serious blow which is good news as for the united states and israel i think the us is a bit more complex than israel so to make it a short answer instead of a long one i would say that those in america and there are so very many important people in america who relied on israel in order to guide them in the politics of the middle east they and israel are panicking this is a moment of panic i have been to israel many times since the revolutions have started and israel is in a real panic they understand that the usual arsenal of power and diplomacy is useless in the face of what s happening in the arab world they panic because they feel that if indeed democracy would appear on their footsteps and around them they could not sell the fable that they are the only democracy in the middle east they would be in fact painted as another arab dictatorial regime that could lead to new american thinking and a new american thinking in the eyes of many israelis is tantamount to the end of israel as we know it as coordinator of the russell tribunal on palestine i am now preparing the next session of the tribunal which is going to take place in south africa and will talk about the crime of apartheid in relation to israel for many israel is a democracy because everyone is able to vote and arabs are represented in the knesset so is israel a democracy no israel is definitely not a democracy a country that occupies another people for more than forty years and disallows them the most elementary civic and human rights cannot be a democracy a country that pursues a discriminatory policy against a fifth of its palestinian citizens inside the 67 borders cannot be a democracy in fact israel is what we used to call in political science a herrenvolk democracy it s democracy only for the masters the fact that you allow people to participate in the formal side of democracy namely to vote or to be elected is useless and meaningless if you don t give them any share in the common good or in the common resources of the state or if you discriminate against them despite the fact that you allow them to participate in the elections on almost every level from official legislation through governmental practices and social and cultural attitudes israel is only a democracy for one group one ethnic group that given the space that israel now controls is not even a majority group anymore so i think that you ll find it very hard to use any known definition of democracy which will be applicable for the israeli case what is your nationality ilan i don t have a clear nationality i have a citizenship an israeli citizenship funnily enough i also have a european nationality because as second generation european jews we are entitled to have a european passport which is not equivalent to nationality but obfuscates the question of nationality i would like to think myself as a member of a potential new nation that would emerge in the secular democratic state of israel a combined society made of the third generation of settler colonists who came to palestine in the late nineteenth century and the indigenous native population whether at the time that this would happen people would still define themselves in national terms or not i don t care and i don t know but i feel that i am part of a settler colonialist community which pretends to be a national community by itself and is recognized as such like the australians and the new zealanders but i think that if this is the only kind of national identity open to me i reject it and would like to work towards something much better for me and for others for many people the israel palestine conflict is about the holocaust and the fact that the jews of europe had to find a place to live where they felt safe once the jews arrived in palestine a dispute started about the land between them and the indigenous inhabitants the palestinians the dispute has now been going on for more than sixty years both parties finding it impossible to reach a peace settlement is this what the conflict is about in your opinion no no definitely not the conflict is not about the holocaust the holocaust is manipulated by the israelis in order to maintain the conflict for their own interests the conflict is a simple story of european settlers coming in the late nineteenth century motivated by all kinds of ideas the dominating idea was that they needed a haven because europe was not safe and that this was their ancient homeland it has happened before this is not the only place where people have the weird idea that they can come after two thousand years and reclaim something which was supposedly theirs because there were enough imperial powers willing to support this colonization project they succeeded in gaining a foothold and started purchasing land they exploited a certain land regime by which you could buy land from people who did not really own it and expel the people who really cultivated it but even that was not really successful as you probably know by the time the british mandate ended the zionist movement had succeeded in purchasing less than 7 percent of palestine and bringing in a number of refugees including after the holocaust which was not really impressive all in all the world jewish community preferred to go to britain or the united states or stay in europe in spite of the holocaust a very tiny minority came to israel and that s why contrary to their earlier wishes the zionist movement decided to bring in jews from the arab world and de arabize them so they would become jewish and not identify with the arab population so the conflict is about a colonialist movement that because of the holocaust succeeds in not appearing colonialist in a world that does not like colonialism anymore and is using all kinds of means and alliances to continue to colonize ethnically cleanse and occupy it s an incomplete atrocity zionism is an incomplete atrocity against the palestinian people had it been completed as the whites did in australia and new zealand you probably would not have had a conflict today it s good to understand why it s incomplete that s because of palestinian steadfastness and resistance there you have it in a nutshell a colonialist project trying to complete its plan indigenous people resisting it that would be a conflict unless you decolonize palestine and move towards a postcolonialist stage in the history of this place you have been a human rights activists for many years now fighting on all fronts to help the palestinians with unfortunately very few results more lands is being stolen every day more people die more houses are destroyed and the international community rewards israel for this so what is the way forward for the palestinians and their supporters the first thing to say is that we need to have a more comprehensive historical view of successes and failures i don t think it is all failure the present palestinian community in the west bank and the gaza strip the present palestinian community inside israel will not crack it s very clear whatever its policies are israel cannot that easily contemplate another ethnic cleansing and that s very important to understand second i think that something has changed in public opinion granted it has not been translated into policies but we may be in the defining moment for palestine without yet knowing it so i would like to have a more balanced view about failure and success for all of us i think it s important to understand it s not all failure however i do agree that we need a clear strategy forward there are three things that i would very shortly and very briefly point out one is that we need a better understanding of the distribution of labor between outside and inside namely the palestinian political system needs to get its act together in terms of representation unification and so on and the solidarity movement should not try to replace it on questions of representation but should concentrate in turning israel into a pariah state which i think is very important in order to get things moving so one is distribution of labor second i think we have to change the dictionary we should stop talking about the peace process we should give up the idea of a two state solution in my mind we should talk about colonialism again anti colonialism change of regime ethnic cleansing reparations in the long term all kinds of known phrases are very applicable to the situation of palestine but because of israeli propaganda and american support for that propaganda we did not dare to use them we have to make sure that even the mainstream media and academia and definitely the politicians are going to use them the third thing we have to do is to accept the analysis that change from within is not likely to happen and that brings forward the question of what kind of strategy you adopt if you want to bring the change from outside luckily we have a very good example most people are now pushing the nonviolent strategy instead of the violent strategy for a change this is good because i think a new reality that is going to be born out of the nonviolent struggle will create a much better relationship at the time of reconciliation if you win liberation through violence we know from other historical cases you become a violent society yourself so i think there is a lot to be done and the good thing about this age of ours is that there is a lot you can do as an individual but never forget the organizations and the old organizations as well especially in the case of palestinian representation you don t always you have to invent the wheel sometimes you have to oil it and make sure that it works again as well as it did in the past this interview took place on several occasions in 2009 and 2010 the ghettoization of palestine a dialogue with ilan pappé and noam chomsky eight first are you working on something at the moment that you would like to let us know about ilan pappé i am completing several books the first is a concise history of the israeli occupation of the west bank and the gaza strip with a particular focus on the key israeli decisions taken in the early years which i claim have not been deviated from until today the other is on the palestinian minority in israel and one on the arab jews i am also completing an edited volume comparing the south african situation to that of palestine noam chomsky the usual range of articles talks et cetera no time for major projects right now a british mp recently said that he had felt a change in the last five years regarding israel british mps nowadays sign edms early day motions condemning israel in bigger numbers than ever before and he told me that it was now easier to express criticism toward israel even when speaking on u s campuses also in the last few weeks john dugard independent investigator on the israeli palestinian conflict for the un human rights council said that palestinian terror is an inevitable result of occupation the european parliament adopted a resolution saying that the policy of isolation of the gaza strip has failed at both the political and humanitarian level and the un has condemned israel s use of excessive and disproportionate force in the 1 gaza strip could we interpret that as a general shift in attitude toward israel pappé the two examples indicate a significant shift in public opinion and in the civil society however the problem remains what it has been in the last sixty years these impulses and energies are not translated and are not likely to be translated in the near future into actual policies on the ground and thus the only way of enhancing this transition from support from below to actual policies is by developing the idea of sanctions and boycott this can give a clear orientation and direction to the many individuals and ngos that have for years shown solidarity with the palestine cause chomsky there has been a very clear shift in recent years on u s campuses and with general audiences as well it was not long ago that police protection was a standard feature of talks at all critical of israeli policies meetings were broken up audiences very hostile and abusive now it is sharply different with scattered exceptions apologists for israeli violence now tend often to be defensive and desperate rather than arrogant and overbearing but the critique of israeli actions is thin because the basic facts are systematically suppressed that is particularly true of the decisive u s role in barring diplomatic options undermining democracy and supporting israel s systematic program of undermining the possibility for an eventual political settlement but portrayal of the united states as an honest broker somehow unable to pursue its benign objectives is characteristic not only in this domain the word apartheid is more and more often used by ngos to describe israel s actions toward the palestinians in gaza the occupied palestinian territories opt and also in israel itself is the situation in palestine and israel comparable to apartheid south africa pappé there are similarities and dissimilarities the colonialist history has many chapters in common and some of the features of the apartheid system can be found in the israeli policies toward its own palestinian minority and toward those in the opt some aspects of the occupation however are worse than the apartheid reality of south africa and some aspects in the lives of palestinian citizens in israel are not as bad as they were in the heyday of apartheid the main point of comparison to my mind is political inspiration the anti apartheid movement the anc the solidarity networks developed throughout the years in the west should inspire a more focused and effective pro palestinian campaign this is why there is a need to learn the history of the struggle against apartheid much more than dwell too long on comparing the zionist and apartheid systems an additional point which is both historical and ideological is the critical analysis of many of us today who realize change will not come from within israel chomsky there can be no definite answer to such questions there are similarities and differences within israel itself there is serious discrimination but it s very far from south african apartheid within the occupied territories it s a different story in 1997 i gave the keynote address at ben gurion university for a conference on the anniversary of the 1967 war i read a paragraph from a standard history of south africa no comment was necessary looking more closely the situation in the opt differs in many ways from apartheid in some respects south african apartheid was more vicious than israeli practices and in some respects the opposite is true to mention one example white south africa depended on black labor the large majority of the population could not be expelled at one time israel relied on cheap and easily exploited palestinian laborers but they have long ago been replaced by the miserable of the earth from asia eastern europe and 2 elsewhere israelis would mostly breathe a sigh of relief if palestinians were to disappear and it is no secret that the policies that have taken shape accord well with the recommendations of moshe dayan right after the 1967 war palestinians will continue to live like dogs and whoever wishes may leave more extreme recommendations have been made by highly regarded left humanists in the united states for example michael walzer of the institute for advanced studies in princeton and editor of the democratic socialist journal dissent advised thirty five years ago that since 3 palestinians are marginal to the nation they should be helped to leave he was referring to palestinian citizens of israel itself a position made familiar more recently by the ultra right avigdor liberman and now being picked up in the israeli mainstream i put aside the real fanatics like harvard law professor alan dershowitz who declares that israel never kills civilians only terrorists so that the definition of terrorist is killed 4 by israel and israel should aim for a kill ratio of one thousand to zero which means exterminate the brutes completely it is of no small significance that advocates of these views are regarded with respect in enlightened circles in the united states indeed the west one can imagine the reaction if such comments were made about jews on the query to repeat there can be no clear answer as to whether the analogy is appropriate israel has recently said that it will boycott the un conference on human rights in durban because it will be impossible to prevent the conference from turning into a festival of anti israeli attacks and has also canceled a meeting with costa rican officials over the central american nation s decision to formally recognize a palestinian state is 6 5 israel s refusal to accept any sort of criticism toward its policies likely to eventually backfire pappé one hopes it will backfire one day however this depends on the global and regional balances of power not only on the israelis overreacting the two namely the balance of power and israel intransigence may be interconnected in the future if there is a change in america s policy or in its hegemonic role in the politics of the region then a continued israeli inflexibility can encourage the international community to adopt a more critical position against israel and exert pressure on the jewish state to end the occupation and dispossession of palestine chomsky israel s refusal to accept criticism is already backfiring in a recent international poll taken before the invasion of gaza nineteen out of twenty one countries regarded israel as having a negative influence in the world the exceptions were the united states where slightly more were positive and russia where opinion was divided israel ranked last along with iran and pakistan after the invasion of gaza attitudes are surely more sharply negative that has been increasing over time 7 how can israel reach a settlement with an organization that declares it will never recognize israel and whose charter calls for the destruction of the jewish state if hamas really wants a settlement why won t it recognize israel pappé peace is made between enemies not lovers the end result of the peace process can be a political islamic recognition of the place of the jews in palestine and in the middle east as a whole whether in a separate state or a joint state the plo entered negotiations with israel without changing its charter which is not that different as far as the attitude to israel is concerned so the search should be for a text solution and political structure that is inclusive enabling all the national ethnic religious and ideological groups to coexist chomsky hamas cannot recognize israel any more than kadima can recognize palestine or than the democratic party in the united states can recognize england one could ask whether a government led by hamas should recognize israel or whether a government led by kadima or the democratic party should recognize palestine so far they have all refused to do so though hamas has at least called for a two state settlement in accord with the long standing international consensus while kadima and the democratic party refuse to go that far keeping to the rejectionist stance that the united states and israel have maintained for over thirty years in international isolation as for words when prime minister olmert declares to a joint session of the u s congress that he believes in our people s eternal and historic right to this entire land to rousing applause he is denying any meaningful rights to palestinians often that rejection is explicit government policy as in 1989 in response to formal palestinian acceptance of a two state settlement when the coalition peres shamir government declared that there can be no additional palestinian state between jordan and israel jordan already being a palestinian state by israeli decision backed explicitly by the united states but far more important than words are actions israel s settlement and development programs in the occupied territories all illegal as israel was informed in 1967 by its highest legal authorities and affirmed recently by the world court are designed to undermine the possibility of a viable palestinian state by providing decisive support for these policies throughout the united states is taking the same stand in comparison to this rejection of palestinian rights words are insignificant 8 on hamas i think it should abandon those provisions of its charter and should move from acceptance of a two state settlement to mutual recognition though we must bear in mind that its positions are more forthcoming than those of the united states and israel during the last few months israel has accentuated its attacks on gaza and is talking of an imminent ground invasion there is also a strong possibility that it is involved in the killing of the hezbollah leader imad mughniyeh and it is pushing for stronger sanctions including military on iran do you believe that israel s appetite for war could eventually lead to its self destruction pappé yes i think that the aggressiveness is increasing and israel antagonizes not only the palestinian world but also the arab and islamic ones the military balance of power at present is in israel s favor but this can change at any given moment especially if the united states were to withdraw its support chomsky i wrote decades ago that those who call themselves supporters of israel are in reality supporters of its moral degeneration and probable ultimate destruction i have also believed for many years that israel s very clear choice of expansion over security ever since it turned down sadat s offer of a full peace treaty in 1971 may well lead to that consequence does it also mean that the only language israel understands from its enemy is force pappé it does in many ways although successful military operations such as the ones conducted by hezbollah beget even fiercer and more callous military responses from israel so we are better off believing that nonviolent pressure such as bds boycott divestment and sanctions is more effective while building on the ground on both sides a peace movement of reconciliation chomsky what israel understands most clearly is orders from washington 9 the boss man called partner as israeli analyst amir oren wrote when the united states insists that israel abandon programs and policies as has happened repeatedly israel regularly obeys it has no real choice what would it take for the united states to withdraw its unconditional support to israel pappé externally a collapse of its middle east policy mainly through the downfall of one of its allies alternatively but less likely the emergence of a counter european policy internally a major economic crisis and the success of the present coalition of forces working within the civil society to impact such a change two additional points should be made first that historically the american position was not always embarrassingly pro israel until kennedy s term in office which is also the time of the emergence of an effective aipac american israel public affairs committee the pro israel lobbying group the two previous administrations that of truman and particularly that of eisenhower were seriously considering decisions that were in palestine s favor although of course they eventually retracted under pressure truman considered retreat from the partition plan in march 1948 and eisenhower seriously contemplated a peace plan that included the return of the refugees so we should not take a teleological stance on this second the triangle of the u s israeli relationship has three equal legs aipac the military industrial complex and the christian zionists and if one of them collapses the whole structure crumbles chomsky to answer that we have to consider the sources of the support the corporate sector in the united states which dominates policy formation appears to be quite satisfied with the current situation one indication is the increasing flow of investment to israel by intel hewlett packard microsoft and other leading elements of the high tech economy military and intelligence relations remain very strong since 1967 u s intellectuals have had a virtual love affair with israel for reasons that relate more to the united states than to israel in my opinion that strongly affects portrayal of events and history in media and journals palestinians are weak dispersed friendless and offer nothing to concentrations of power in the united states a large majority of americans supports the international consensus on a two state settlement and even calls for equalizing aid to israel and the palestinians in this as in many other respects both political parties are well to the right of the population ninety five percent of the u s population thinks that the government should pay attention to the views of the population a position rejected across the elite spectrum sometimes quite explicitly at other times tacitly hence one step toward a more evenhanded stance would be democracy promotion within the united states apart from that eventuality what it would take is events that lead to a recalculation of interests among elite sectors could the current economic crisis be this major crisis pappé the current crisis is working in a different direction than implied in your question it stresses the marginality of the palestine issue in the overall global view of the new administration the gaza operation created the illusion that palestine is on obama s top priority list but when george mitchell the american special envoy to the middle east for the obama administration comes back empty handed as it seems most likely the economic crisis would marginalize the palestine issue however there is one scenario in which the crisis is so deep and taxpayer expenses incurred in maintaining israel so high and both are interconnected in the public mind so as to limit american commitment to the jewish state but this could be rather a long term process chomsky the economic crisis is very severe and its outcome cannot be predicted with confidence but there is no indication that it is influencing policies toward israel palestine and no particular reason to expect that during the last u s presidential election something telling happened it seemed that the winning candidate would be the one showing that he and only he was israel s best friend both obama and mccain went to aipac s annual dinner and gave amazing speeches in support of israel does this show that the pro israel lobby in the states now has more power than ever pappé i think it does it was very clear that at least at the campaign level no one dare take aipac head on and there is a known ritual and discourse one has to adhere to but the important issue is what happens after elections it is important to remember that obama s first thank you speech was to aipac i think there is a misunderstanding not only about the power of aipac but also about its aims what it demands from a new administration is not necessarily to toe the line of a current israeli government say the netanyahu one the demand is not to deviate from the israeli zionist consensus namely not to adopt policies that run contrary to those of either the likud the labor party or kadima in many ways the direction obama s policy took since his election testify to this commitment the white house would rather see tzipi livni in power than netanyahu but such a hope is outside the lines of policy allowed by aipac so in order to have proof for any decline in the lobby s power we need to witness a new readiness by the american administration to challenge and confront fundamental issues which lie at the heart of the israeli zionist consensus the second point about this issue that is noteworthy is that one cannot single out aipac as the constitutive element defining american foreign policy there are other factors such as the military industrial complex christian zionism neoconservatism and more aipac s role is to fuse these many influences together and channel them effectively on israel s behalf chomsky it is not the lobby that induces major u s high tech corporations to increase their investments in israel or that leads the u s military and intelligence to strengthen their relations with israel and to pre position weapons in israel for u s intervention in the region the lobby indeed has influence but typically when it pursues goals that are of little concern to u s elite opinion and concentrations of power like crushing palestinians when u s power rejects its goals the lobby disappears in fact an important example occurred just at the time when obama and mccain were disgracing themselves by their odes to israel aipac was strongly supporting a congressional resolution h r 362 calling for a virtual blockade of iran an act of war they had mustered considerable congressional support but the resolution vanished when the administration made it clear quietly that it opposed the resolution antiwar lobbyists also had some effect a minor illustration of the same understandable phenomenon was obama s speech to aipac when he declared that jerusalem must be the eternal and indivisible capital of israel to the great enthusiasm of the lobby when his advisers recognized that such outlandish positions harm u s state interests his campaign explained that his words didn t mean what they said 10 barack obama has announced his new team of secretaries and advisors on economic and foreign policy issues how much do we know about these people and do their nominations fulfill obama s promise of change pappé i think that between them the vice president the secretary of state and the chief of the white house staff are a zionist dream team will they be deprogrammed to such an extent that they will become proponents of the opposite view hard to see how this could happen leaving aside unforeseen developments of such a magnitude that we all would be unable to maintain our conventional way of thinking and acting chomsky i have reviewed the choices and will not repeat them choices were old time washington insiders mostly representing the financial institutions that provided the major financial support for his candidacy including those who had primary responsibility for creating the financial crisis on foreign policy the advisers are mostly toward the hawkish end on israel palestine they are drawn almost exclusively from long term opponents of the international consensus on political settlement more important obama s few pronouncements reject the consensus his 12 11 counterpunch had an interesting debate on the one state versus two state solution in march 2008 it started with a michael neumann article stating that the one state solution was an illusion and was followed by articles by assaf kfoury entitled one state or two state a sterile debate on false alternatives and jonathan cook entitled one state or two neither the issue is zionism what s your opinion on this and do you think that in view of the facts on the ground settlements bypass roads created by israel a two state solution is still possible pappé the facts on the ground rendered a two state solution impossible a long time ago the facts indicated that there was never and will never be israeli consent to a palestinian state apart from a stateless state within two bantustans in the west bank and gaza totally under israeli control there is already one state and the struggle is to change its nature and regime whether the new regime and constitutional basis would be binational or democratic or maybe even both is less significant at this point any political outfit that would replace the present racist state of affairs is welcome any such outfit should also enable the refugees to return and even the most recent immigrants to remain but let me add two points one is that the country as a whole is on the verge of a civil war that could engulf the palestinians inside israel this would be a terrible development but might hasten the final burial of the two state solution and its distorted logic and justice two the principle to which all should adhere is not imposing an ideal model at this point as a litmus test for loyalty to the cause or commitment to peace rather one should seek out an inclusive approach that would bring to the fore the significant common agenda that exists between various camps that are now part of the struggle for palestine it is better to hammer out these divergences of opinion now than to leave it for a future battle chomsky today there are two options for palestinians one is u s israeli abandonment of their rejectionist stance and a settlement roughly along the lines of what was being approached at taba the other option is continuation of current policies which lead inexorably to incorporation into israel of what it wants at least greater jerusalem the areas within the separation wall now an annexation wall the jordan valley and the salients through ma aleh adumim and ariel and beyond that effectively trisect what remains which will be broken up into unviable cantons by huge infrastructure projects hundreds of checkpoints and other devices to ensure that palestinians live like dogs there are those who believe that palestinians should simply let israel take over the west bank completely and then carry out a civil rights antiapartheid style struggle that is an illusion however there is no reason why the u s israel would accept the premises of this proposal they will simply proceed along the lines now being implemented and will not accept any responsibility for palestinians who are scattered outside the regions they intend to incorporate into israel could you both expand on this and tell us what in your opinion would be an acceptable and manageable step by step road map pappé it s probably too early to talk about steps but i will use the term step to depict what is in practice a rough map forward the first step is to try and stop the escalation of israeli next steps the hamas style of resistance only determines the pace of this israeli policy not its direction or its ferocity the massive killings will expand the occupation deepen and the next stages of palestine s ethnic cleansing continue therefore there is no point in moving forward with any peace effort without an immediate end to the israeli military presence in the west bank and the end of the gaza blockade this could only be achieved by strong external pressure on israel in the form of sanctions and other drastic measures in the second step the civil society has to find ways to prepare for that moment by conducting a fruitful dialogue about the future political structure that will accommodate all the outstanding questions the peace process hitherto ignored the right of the refugees to return the construction of a political system of equality for all and mutual respect for collective religious and cultural identities if successful it can be fed back into the political system and inspire a more valuable peace process in a long and contracted process chomsky the crucial step would be for the united states to join the overwhelming international consensus to call for an agreement in those terms and to put an end to all support to israel that is used to undermine those possibilities israel will have no choice but to accede to such demands there are those who claim that for israel to forcibly remove settlers would lead to civil war that is true but irrelevant if israel is compelled to abandon its rejectionism it can simply announce that the idf will leave the occupied territories on such and such a date the great mass of settlers will pack up and return to israel and those who refuse can remain within a palestinian state the few thousand israelis subsidized illegally to settle in gaza could have been removed the same way with no violence or conflict but the staged national trauma was useful for propaganda purposes to gain support for increased settlement in the west bank no national trauma would have to be staged if the united states and israel agree to the kind of settlement that was rather close at taba egypt and that is supported by virtually the entire world during my recent trip to israel palestine it became obvious talking to people reading newspapers watching the news that something scared israel a lot a boycott are you in favor of this type of action and do you think that it could bear fruit pappé yes i am and i do think it has a chance of triggering processes of change on the ground for me supporting a boycott was not easy and as a decision only matured after a long process of deliberation but it seems now to be the best way forward and there are already signs that there are already considerable achievements on the ground indicating this is an effective way to impact pubic opinion in the future there are three good reasons for us to think about a boycott campaign positively 1 there are no dynamics of change from within israel the few that are there cannot effect change unless empowered and enhanced from the outside by a powerful voice that legitimizes these internal forces readiness to challenge the most basic truisms of their society 2 this is the only nonviolent strategy open for the palestinians at this stage that does not question or delegitimize the struggles of the past but rather complements them it gives some hope for a modus operandi that is not desperate and self destructive 3 it has a track record in the past of some success in the struggle against apartheid in south africa chomsky boycotts sometimes make sense for example such actions against south africa were effective even though the reagan administration evaded congressional sanctions while declaring mandela s anc to be one of the more notorious terrorist groups in the world in 1988 the actions were effective because the groundwork had been laid in many years of education and activism by the time they were implemented they received substantial support in the united states within the political system the media and even the corporate sector and there was no support for apartheid nothing remotely like that has been achieved in this case as a result calls for boycott almost invariably backfire reinforcing the harshest and most brutal policies toward palestinians selective boycotts carefully formulated might have some effect for example boycotts of military producers who provide arms to israel or of the caterpillar corporation which provides the equipment for destroying palestine all of their actions are strictly illegal and boycotts could be made understandable to the general public so that they could be effective if enough support could be mobilized for a south african style boycott and divestment effort it would be unnecessary because that very same support could impel washington to abandon the rejectionist policies that bar a peaceful settlement selective boycotts could also be effective against states with a far worse record of violence and terror than israel such as the united states and of course without its decisive support and participation israel could not carry out illegal expansion and other crimes there are no calls for boycotting the united states not for reasons of principle but because it is simply too powerful facts that raise some obvious questions about the moral legitimacy of actions targeting its clients coming back from israel palestine a few weeks ago the director of icahd the israeli committee against house demolitions uk told me that in spite of annapolis not one thing on the ground has improved witnessing israel s judaization of the country left me feeling cold and angry seeing this could palestinian resistance which has mainly been nonviolent so far revert to armed struggle and start a third intifada pappé it is difficult to understand the could theoretically they can and they may the question is whether it is going to produce different results from the previous two uprisings the feeling is that it is not likely chomsky my opinion all along has been that the palestinian leadership is offering israel and its u s backers a great gift by resorting to violence and posturing about revolution quite apart from the fact that tactical considerations aside resort to violence carries a very heavy burden of justification today for example nothing is more welcome to israeli and u s hawks than qassam rockets which enable them to shriek joyously about how the ratio of deaths should be increased to infinity all victims being defined as terrorists i have also agreed all along with personal friends who had contacts with the palestinian leadership in particular edward said and eqbal ahmad that a nonviolent struggle would have had considerable prospects for success and i think it still does in fact the only prospects for success where is the palestinian voice and what is its vision for the future pappé a heavy responsibility lies on the shoulders of the palestinian leadership and activists in two respects first there is the need to unite and form a consensual point of gravity that can serve as a compass and conscience for the struggle as a whole second there is a need for a more elaborate and expanded post conflict vision on the palestinian side especially with regard to israeli society as individuals and as a collective group this is a process of decolonization in many ways that in so many places went sour for lack of planning and proper preparation for the day after chomsky it is remarkable that palestinian society has managed to remain steadfast even to survive in the face of crushing blows and unremitting cruelty and hostility and abandonment from all sides one consequence is that it is hard to identify the palestinian voice and its vision at least hard for me to do so and apart from lack of competence it is also not my right the choices will have to come from within palestinian society from outside all we can try honestly to do is to remove the constraints alleviate the suffering and help free the victims to find their own way in peace and with the opportunities they so richly deserve what should ngos and charities working for justice in palestine be focusing on pappé they know best and i hesitate to advise them i think they gave us guidance with their call for a boycott and if they continue with initiatives like this it can be very helpful but most importantly it would be great if they could continue to work for reconciliation and unity in the palestinian camp chomsky the daily and urgent task is to focus on the terrible ongoing violations of the most elementary human rights and the illegal u s backed settlement and development projects that are designed to undermine a diplomatic settlement a more general task is to try to lay the basis for a successful struggle for a settlement that takes into account the just demands of contesting parties the kind of hard dedicated persistent educational and organizational work that has provided the underpinnings for other advances toward peace and justice i have already indicated what i think that entails not least effective democracy promotion in the reigning superpower on may 31 2010 in the early hours israeli commandos boarded six freedom flotilla ships carrying humanitarian help in international waters to stop them entering gaza fighting ensued and at least nine people were killed what do you make of this event pappé more than anything else this is a criminal act of piracy it is twice illegal it was meant to protect an illegal blockade of the gaza strip and it was violation of the international laws of navigation by storming a turkish ship in international waters what is however most significant about this event is the gap between the israeli jewish perception of the event and the vast majority of people in the world when one reads the israeli responses of politicians and citizens alike one is reminded of the various interviews given by south african leaders in the 1970s the gist of those interviews was we know that the world condemns us but we do not care apartheid is the best system for all of us while the civil society in the west and one should say for the first time quite prominent politicians as well viewed the attack on the flotilla as unprecedented violation of international law and standards the reaction in israel was diametrically opposed and while in the west the illegality of the blockade was stressed as being at the heart of the problem the reactions of israel were to strengthen the support for the blockade and similar policies of strangulation this difference is manifested in the adjectives used by the israeli media and political elite this was not a peaceful flotilla this was a unit of fanatic pro al qaeda terrorists wishing to destroy the state of israel what followed was that if palestinians in israel for instance chose to support this flotilla as did sheikh raid salah or the mk member of knesset hanin zu ubi then they are collaborating with the terrorists the event trigged an already murky and dangerous wave of legislations and acts of persecution meant to delegitimize the palestinian citizens in israel and exclude them from citizenship in israel it is also not surprising that this was followed by legislations against israeli jews supporting the flotilla and the bds movement so while the world s attention is focused on the act itself it should in fact revisit its basic attitude to israel as an obstacle for peace below is an attempt to understand that basic position through the process of decision making in israel on the gaza peace flotilla at the top of israel s political and military systems stand two men ehud barak and binyamin netanyahu who are behind the brutal attack on the gaza flotilla that shocked the world but seemed to be hailed as a pure act of self defense by the israeli public although they come from the left defense minister barak from the labor party and the right prime minister netanyahu from the likkud of israeli politics their thinking on gaza in general and on the flotilla in particular is informed by the same history and identical world view at one time ehud barak was binyamin netanyahu s commanding officer in the israeli equivalent of the british sas or american navy seals more precisely they served in a unit similar to the one sent to assault the turkish ship their perception of the reality in the gaza strip is shared by other leading members of the israeli political and military elite and is widely supported by the jewish electorate at home and it is a simple take on reality hamas although the only government in the arab world that was elected democratically by the people has to be eliminated as a political as well as a military force this is not only because it continues the struggle against the forty year israeli occupation of the west bank and the gaza strip by launching primitive missiles into israel more often than not in retaliation to an israeli killing of its activists in the west bank but it is mainly due to its political opposition to the kind of peace israel wants to impose on the palestinians the forced peace is not negotiable as far as the israeli political elite is concerned and it offers the palestinians a limited control and sovereignty in the gaza strip and in parts of the west bank the palestinians are asked to give up their struggle for self determination and liberation in return for the establishment of three small bantustans under tight israeli control and supervision the official thinking in israel therefore is that hamas is a formidable obstacle to the imposition of such a peace and thus the declared strategy is straightforward starving and strangulating the million and a half palestinians living in the densest space in the world the blockade that was imposed in 2006 is supposed to lead the gazans to replace the current palestinian government with one that would accept israel s dictate or at least would be part of the more dormant palestinian authority in the west bank in the meantime hamas captured an israeli soldier gilad shalit and so the blockade became tighter it included a ban of the most elementary commodities without which human beings find it difficult to survive from want of food to medicine to want of cement and petrol the people of gaza live in conditions that international bodies and agencies have described as catastrophic and criminal as in the case of the flotilla there are alternative ways for releasing the captive soldier such as swapping with shalit the thousands of political prisoners israel is holding many of them are children and quite a few are being held without a trial the israelis have dragged their feet in negotiations over such a swap which are not likely to bear fruit in the foreseeable future but barak and netanyhau and those around them know too well that the blockade of gaza is not going to produce any change in the position of hamas and one should give credit to the british prime minister david cameron who remarked in prime minister s questions in parliament that the israeli policy in fact strengthens rather than weakens hamas s hold on gaza but this strategy despite its declared aim is not meant to succeed or at least no one is worried in jerusalem if it continues to be fruitless and futile one would have thought that israel s drastic decline in international reputation would prompt new thinking by its leaders but the responses to the attack on the flotilla have clearly indicated that there is no hope for any significant shift in the official position a firm commitment to continue the blockade and a heroes welcome to the soldiers who pirated the ship in the mediterranean show that the same politics will continue for a long time and this is not surprising the barak liberman netanyahu government does not know any other way of responding to the reality in palestine and israel the use of brutal force to impose your will and a hectic domestic and foreign propaganda machine that describes it as self defense while demonizing as terrorists the half starved people in gaza and those who come to their aid is the only possible course for these politicians the terrible consequences in human death and suffering of this determination do not concern them nor does international condemnation the real unlike the declared strategy is to continue this state of affairs as long as the international community is complacent the arab world impotent and gaza contained israel can still have a thriving economy and an electorate that regards the dominance of the army in its life the continued conflict and the oppression of the palestinians as the exclusive past present and future reality of life in israel the u s vice president joe biden was humiliated by the israelis recently when they announced the building of 1 600 new homes in the disputed ramat shlomo district of jerusalem on the day he arrived to try to freeze the settlement policy but his unconditional support now for the latest israeli action makes the leaders and their electorate feel vindicated it would be wrong however to assume that american support and a feeble european response to israeli criminal policies such as those pursued in gaza are the main reasons for the protracted blockade and strangulation of gaza what is probably most difficult to explain to readers around the world is how deeply these perceptions and attitudes are grounded in the israeli psyche and mentality and it is indeed difficult to comprehend how diametrically opposed are the common reactions in the uk for instance to such events to the emotions they trigger inside the israeli jewish society the international response is based on the assumption that more forthcoming palestinian concessions and a continued dialogue with the israeli political elite will produce a new reality on the ground the official discourse in the west is that a very reasonable and attainable solution is just around the corner if all sides would make one final effort the two state solution nothing is further from the truth than this optimistic scenario the only version of this solution that is acceptable to israel is the one that both the tamed palestine authority in ramallah and the more assertive hamas in gaza could never ever accept it is an offer to imprison the palestinians in stateless enclaves in return for ending their struggle thus even before one discusses either an alternative solution a single democratic state for all which i support or explores a more plausible two state settlement one has to transform fundamentally the israeli official and public mindset this mentality is the principal barrier for a peaceful reconciliation in the torn land of israel and palestine chomsky hijacking boats in international waters and killing passengers is of course a serious crime the editors of the london guardian are quite right to say that if an armed group of somali pirates had yesterday boarded six vessels on the high seas killing at least 10 passengers and injuring many more a nato taskforce would today be heading for the somali coast it is worth bearing in mind that the crime is nothing new 13 for decades israel has been hijacking boats in international waters between cyprus and lebanon killing or kidnapping passengers sometimes bringing them to prisons in israel including secret prison torture chambers sometimes holding them as hostages for many years israel assumes that it can carry out such crimes with impunity because the united states tolerates them and europe generally follows the u s lead much the same is true of israel s pretext for its latest crime that the freedom flotilla was bringing materials that could be used for bunkers for rockets putting aside the absurdity if israel were interested in stopping hamas rockets it knows exactly how to proceed accept hamas offers for a cease fire in june 2008 israel and hamas reached a cease fire agreement the israeli government formally acknowledges that until israel broke the agreeement on november 4 invading gaza and killing half a dozen hamas activists hamas did not fire a single rocket hamas offered to renew the cease fire the israeli cabinet considered the offer and rejected it preferring to launch its murderous and destructive operation cast lead on december 27 evidently there is no justification for the use of force in self defense unless peaceful means have been exhausted in this case they were not even tried although or perhaps because there was every reason to suppose that they would succeed operation cast lead is therefore sheer criminal aggression with no credible pretext and the same is true of israel s current resort to force the siege of gaza itself does not have the slightest credible pretext it was imposed by the united states and israel in january 2006 to punish palestinians because they voted the wrong way in a free election and it was sharply intensified in july 2007 when hamas blocked a u s israeli attempt to overthrow the elected government in a military coup installing fatah strongman muhammad dahlan the siege is savage and cruel designed to keep the caged animals barely alive so as to fend off international protest but hardly more than that it is the latest stage of long standing israeli plans backed by the united states to separate gaza from the west bank these are only the bare outlines of very ugly policies in which egypt is complicit as well the killing fields of gaza 2004 2009 nine ilan pappé preface the gaza strip is a little bit more than 2 percent of palestine this small detail is never mentioned whenever the strip is in the news nor has it been mentioned during the israeli onslaught on gaza in january 2009 indeed it is such a small part of the country that it never existed as a separate region in the past gaza s history before the zionization of palestine was not unique and it was always connected administratively and politically to the rest of palestine it was until 1948 an integral and natural part of the country as one of palestine s principal land and sea gates to the rest of the world it tended to develop a more flexible and cosmopolitan way of life not dissimilar to other gateways societies in the eastern mediterranean in the modern era this location near the sea and on the via maris to egypt and lebanon brought with it prosperity and stability until this life was disrupted and nearly destroyed by the israeli ethnic cleansing of palestine in 1948 between 1948 and 1967 gaza became a huge refugee camp restricted severely by the respective israeli and egyptian policies both states disallowed any movement out of the strip living conditions were already harsh then as the victims of the 1948 israeli politics of dispossession doubled the number of the inhabitants who had lived there for centuries on the eve of the israeli occupation in 1967 the catastrophic nature of this enforced demographic transformation was evident all over the strip this once pastoral coastal part of southern palestine became within two decades one of the world s densest areas of habitation without any adequate economic infrastructure to support it the first twenty years of israeli occupation allowed at least some movement outside an area that was closed off as a war zone in the years 1948 to 1967 tens of thousands of palestinians were permitted to join the israeli labor market as unskilled and underpaid workers the price israel demanded for this slave market was a total surrender of any national struggle or agenda when this was not complied with the gift of laborers movement was denied and abolished all these years leading to the oslo accord in 1993 were marked by an israeli attempt to construct the strip as an enclave which the israeli peace camp hoped would be either autonomous or part of egypt and the nationalist camp wished to include in the greater eretz israel they dreamed of establishing instead of palestine the oslo agreement enabled the israelis to reaffirm the strip s status as a separate geopolitical entity not just outside of palestine as a whole but also cut off from the west bank ostensibly both the gaza strip and the west bank were under the palestinian authority but any human movement between them depended on israel s good will a rare israeli trait that almost disappeared when binyamin netanyahu came to power in 1996 moreover israel held as it still does today the water and electricity infrastructure since 1993 it has used or rather abused this possession in order to ensure on the one hand the well being of the jewish settler community and on the other to blackmail the palestinian population into submission and surrender the people of the gaza strip thus vacillated in the last sixty years between being internees hostages or prisoners in an impossible human space it is within this historical context that we should view the massacre that took place in january 2009 and the violence raging in gaza in the preceding five years the violence was not only meted out by israeli forces there was a fair share of inter palestinian fighting for a short while although one should say that given the nature of the israeli occupation and policy this internal violence was far less than would be expected under such circumstances but this internal phase is a minor aspect of a far more important issue israeli violence against the gaza strip when we look back from our current vantage point we see more clearly than ever before the fallacy of the israeli discourse and justification for its actions in gaza its politicians and diplomats defined the policies against gaza as a war against terror directed against a local branch of al qaeda and one that was meant to fend off a seditious iranian penetration into this part of the world its academics preferred to depict gaza as another arena in the dreaded clash of civilizations however the origins of the particular violent history of the gaza strip lie elsewhere the recent history of the strip sixty years of dispossession occupation and imprisonment inevitably produced internal violence such as we witnessed in the last few years as it produced other unbearable features of life lived under such impossible conditions in fact if we take even a closer look at the five years preceding the cast lead operation we can provide a sure analysis of the motivation for the violence directed against the palestinians in 2009 there are two historical contexts for what happened in gaza in january that year one takes us back to the foundation of the state of israel through the occupation of the strip by israel in 1967 and up to the failed oslo accord of 1993 the second is the one presented here an escalation of an israeli policy that culminated with the events of 2009 the ideology of ethnic cleansing adopted in 1948 as the main tool for implementing the dream of a safe and democratic jewish state led to the occupation of the gaza strip in 1967 which lasted until 2005 when israel allegedly withdrew the gaza strip was already encircled with an electric fence in 1994 as part of the preparation for peace with the palestinians and became a ghetto in 2000 when the peace process was declared dead the decision of the people of gaza to resist this closure by violent and nonviolent means confronted the israeli military and political elite with a new dilemma they assumed that locking gazans in a huge prison would settle the problem for a long while but this turned out to be wrong so they were looking for a new strategy the bitter fruits of this strategy were revealed in january 2009 and the international community reacted furiously but ineffectively the main byproduct of this international fury was the goldstone report it summarizes well although in a very cautious and limited way the scope of the carnage left by israel after hostilities subsided the international community however did not inquire why such a ruthless policy was pursued and what were its immediate origins moving to a new strategy 2000 2005 ever since 2000 the israeli military has escalated its actions against the palestinians and the anti israeli forces in lebanon it began with military operations in the west bank in reaction to the second intifada which also included the construction of the apartheid or segregation wall and culminated in the attack on lebanon in 2006 and the assault on gaza in 2009 this was accompanied by an equally ruthless policy of dispossession and incremental transfer of palestinians from the greater jerusalem area in the same years one pretext for action all over the country was the increasing political power by islamic groups such as hamas in the occupied territories hezbollah in lebanon and the islamic movement inside israel the reasons for these draconian policies go back to the formative years of zionism and the conception of an ideology that moved successive israeli governments to seek unchallenged domination in palestine and beyond all over the eastern mediterranean the number of regional states and local palestinian movements willing to confront this domination seemed to have gradually decreased before 2006 and israeli policy makers sensed that their overall strategy was winning the day they were particularly satisfied with the situation in the occupied west bank and gaza strip after the second intifada subsided around the year 2005 the matrix of walls fences checkpoints colonial settlements israeli only bypass roads and military bases israel has spread all over the west bank turned it in their eyes into a pacified territory however the situation in gaza was different there the israelis were facing determined resistance as the hamas movement like hezbollah in lebanon before it refused to succumb to israel s will for the then israeli prime minister ariel sharon and the main political class of those days which remains even more at the center of israeli politics today ehud barak shimon peres tzipi livni and binyamin netanyahu controlling the gaza strip from the outside while carving the west bank into manageable bantustans seemed the best solution for the palestine problem the new strategy was conceived on the training grounds of the israeli army in the dummy city built by the army in the negev 2004 the dummy city in 2004 the israeli army began building a dummy arab city in the negev desert it was the size of a real city with streets all of them given names mosques public buildings and cars built at a cost of 45 million this phantom city became a dummy gaza in the winter of 2006 after hezbollah fought israel to a draw in the north so that the idf could prepare to fight an improved war against hamas in the south after the fiasco in the north 1 when the israeli chief of general staff dan halutz visited the site after the lebanon war he told the press that soldiers were preparing for the scenario that will unfold in the dense neighbourhood of gaza city a week into the bombardment of gaza ehud barak attended a rehearsal for the ground war foreign television crews filmed him as he watched ground troops conquer the dummy city storming the empty houses and no doubt 3 killing the terrorists hiding in them 2 more often than not such maneuvers ended in the destruction of the enemy base the israeli ngo breaking the silence shoverim shetika published in 2009 a report about its members mostly reserve soldiers experiences in operation cast lead the gist of the evidence was that the soldiers had orders to attack gaza as if they were assaulting a massive and fortified enemy line this transpired from the firepower and troops formation employed the absence of any orders or procedures about acting within a civilian space and the synchronized effort from the land sea and air conventional armies employed against huge armadas of tanks armored cars and hundred of thousands of ground troops among the worst were the senseless demolition of houses the spraying of civilians with phosphorus shells the killing of innocent civilians by light weaponry and orders by the commanders to act without moral inhibitions you feel like an infantile child with a magnifying glass that torments ants you burn them testified one soldier in short as they were trained in practice to deal with the dummy city they enacted the total destruction of the real city 4 2005 first rains the militarization of israeli policy toward the gaza strip began in 2005 gaza became in that year a military target in the official israeli view as if it were a huge enemy base and not a civilian and human space gaza is a city as any other city in the world and yet for the israelis it became a dummy city on which soldiers experimented with the most recent and updated weapons this policy was enabled by the israeli government s decision to evict the jewish settlers who colonized the gaza strip since 1967 the settlers were moved allegedly as part of what the government described as a unilateral policy of disengagement the argument was that since there was no progress in the peace talks with the palestinians it was up to israel to determine what its final borders with the palestinian areas would look like but things did not turn out the way they were expected to the eviction was followed by a hamas takeover first in democratic elections then in a preemptive coup staged to avert an american and israeli backed seizure by fatah the immediate israeli response was to impose an economic blockade on the strip to which hamas retaliated by firing missiles at the nearest town to the strip sderot this gave israel a pretext to use its air force artillery and gunships israel claimed to be shooting at the launching areas of the missiles but in practice this meant anywhere and everywhere in gaza creating the prison and throwing the key into the sea as un special 5 rapporteur john dugard has put it was an option the palestinians in gaza reacted against with force already in september 2005 they were determined to show at the very least that they were still part of the west bank and palestine in that month they launched the first significant in number not quality barrage of missiles into the western negev as often these resulted in damage to some property but very rarely in human casualties the events of that month deserve a detailed mention because the early hamas response before september was a trickle of sporadic missiles the launch in september 2005 was in response to an israeli campaign of mass arrests of hamas and islamic jihad activists in the tul karem area one could not escape the impression at the time that the army was looking to trigger a hamas reaction that would allow israel to escalate its attacks and indeed israeli retaliation came in the form of a harsh policy of massive killing the first of its kind code named first rains it is worth dwelling for a moment on the nature of that operation the discourse that accompanied it was that of punishment and it resembled punitive measures inflicted in the more distant past by colonialist powers and more recently by dictatorships against rebellious imprisoned or banished communities a frightening show of the oppressors might end with a large number of dead and wounded among the victims in first rains supersonic planes were flown over gaza to terrorize the entire population succeeded by the heavy bombardment of vast areas from the sea sky and land the logic the israeli army explained was to create pressure so as to weaken the gaza community s support for the rocket launchers as was expected by the israelis as well the operation only increased the support for the rocket launchers and gave impetus to their next attempts in hindsight and especially given the israeli military commanders explanation that the army had long been preparing the cast lead operation it is possible that the real purpose of that particular operation was experimental and if the israeli generals wished to know how such operations would be received at home in the region and in the world it seems that instantly the answer was very well namely no one took an interest in the scores of dead and hundreds of wounded 8 palestinians left behind after first rains subsided 7 6 and hence since first rains and until june 2006 all the following operations were similarly modeled the difference was in their escalation more firepower more casualties and more collateral damage and as to be expected more qassam missiles in response accompanying measures in 2006 were more sinister means of ensuring the full imprisonment of the people of gaza through boycott and blockade while the world at large kept silent 2006 summer rains and autumn clouds the eviction of the settlers from the strip in 2005 and the victory of hamas there in early 2006 seemed to transform this region into a battlefield no longer under the authority of the pa and without the presence of vulnerable settlers it became a purely military problem however 2006 was not such a good year for the israeli army it failed to deter and defeat hezbollah in southern lebanon in a war israel initiated this coincided with the capture of an israeli soldier in a daring military operation by hamas israeli actions were motivated by the dual sense of humiliation on the one hand and a sense of immunity at least from the society at home to react vehemently to any show of palestinian resistance in gaza with the help of an inciting media and jingoistic public mood the events in the summer of 2006 allowed the policy makers to use brutal military power as a short term reaction to a problem they had no idea how to solve politically the frustration that propelled the strongest army in the middle east against civilians in gaza could only end in a disastrous way as indeed it did let us analyze closely these three elements that led to further escalation in the operations against gaza and to the barbarization of this front in an unprecedented way these elements were frustration the search for a pretext and the absence of a political strategy israeli experts and pundits were the first to make the point that the escalation of firepower and military action in 2006 was a direct response to the frustration of the army due to its relative defeat in the north the army needed to demonstrate its superiority and deterrence capability still 9 broadcast by its chiefs as the main safeguards for the jewish state s survival in a hostile world the islamist character of both hamas and hezbollah and an alleged and totally fabricated association of both with al qaeda enabled the army to imagine israel spearheading a global war against jihadism in gaza while george w bush was in power the killing of women and babies in gaza could be justified by the american administration as being part of a holy war against islam a practice not alien to the american forces in iraq and afghanistan under the banner of fighting terrorism the humiliation did not end with the debacle in lebanon but continued with the capture by the hamas of an israeli soldier gilad shalit in the summer of 2006 one humiliation too many cried haaretz after the abduction the paper reported furious generals demanding brutal reaction to both hezbollah and hamas 10 the ruthless israeli reaction was also due to the absence of a clear policy the israeli leadership in september 2006 seemed to be at a loss for what to do with the gaza strip reading its statements at the time one gathers the government of that year was quite confident about its policy toward the west bank but not toward the strip the israeli official line is that the final delineation of israel s eastern border has nearly been completed this is probably why the west bank or the occupation as issues have been removed from the domestic agenda and ceased to be a divisive factor in israel s political life as it had been for a while after 1967 the unilateral policy of annexing about half of the west bank continued with extra zeal in 2007 and was fully supported by the jewish electorate it was somewhat delayed by the promises israel made under the road map to stop building new settlements israel found two ways of circumventing this impediment first it defined a third of the west bank as greater jerusalem which allowed it to build towns and community centers within this new annexed area second it expanded old settlements to such proportions that there was no need to build new ones this trend was given an additional push in 2006 hundreds of caravans in outposts mitzpim in hebrew were installed to delineate the boundaries of the jewish sphere within the palestinian territories the master plans for the new towns and neighborhoods were finalized and the apartheid bypass roads and highway system were completed in all the settlements army bases roads and wall prepared the ground for the final stages in this strategy within the territories informally annexed to israel and those that might still be incorporated in the jewish state there is still a considerable number of palestinians against whom at the end of 2006 the israeli authorities began pursuing a policy of a creeping transfer very little international attention has been paid to this de arabization of jerusalem too boring a subject for the western media to bother with and too elusive for human rights organizations to make a general point about there was no rush as far as the israelis were concerned they felt in the beginning of 2007 that they had the upper hand there the daily abusive and dehumanizing heavy military and bureaucratic hands of the regime were as effective as ever in furthering the process of dispossessing palestine this strategy was first conceived by ariel sharon in 2001 and became the cornerstone of all the successive governments policies it won the day and international immunity in particular since the only other meaningful political alternative the israeli political scene offered was a crude transferist policy advocated by the popular israeli beitenu party and its leader avigdor liberman and by a coalition of right wing parties in 2005 prime minister ehud olmert named this strategy ingathering this was a self justification for pursuing unilateral action in the west bank 11 since there was no progress in the peace process in practice it meant that the 2006 israeli government wished to annex the parts it coveted more or less half of the west bank and try and push out or at least enclave within it the native population while allowing the other half of the west bank to develop in a way that would not endanger israeli interests either by being ruled by a submissive palestinian authority or by associating directly with jordan this was a fallacy but nonetheless it won the enthusiastic vote of most of the jews in the country when olmert turned it into an essential part of his election campaign the clear policy toward the west bank highlighted the confusion about the gaza strip the gaza strip in the eyes of the israelis was a very different geopolitical entity from the west bank hamas had already controlled the gaza strip for almost a year while the leader of the fatah faction abu mazin was running the fragmented west bank with israeli and american blessing unlike in the west bank there was no chunk of land in gaza that israel coveted and there was no hinterland like jordan to which the palestinians of gaza could be expelled egypt unlike jordan succeeded in persuading the israelis already in 1967 that for them the gaza strip was a liability and would never form part of egypt so a million and a half palestinians remained an israeli problem and responsibility although geographically the strip is located on the margins of the state of israel psychologically it was still in 2006 very much in its midst the israeli tactics as different from strategy were clearer should the people in gaza reconcile with the imprisonment until either the pa retook the strip or israel found a better solution then the area could be managed the way palestinians are treated in the west bank should they resist as indeed they did ghettoization and strangulation then the policy of punitive actions would continue the inhuman living conditions in the strip disabled the people who lived there from reconciling with the imprisonment israel had imposed on them ever since 1967 there were relative better periods when movement to the west bank and into israel for work was allowed but these better times were gone by 2006 harsher realities were in place since 1987 some access to the outside world was allowed as long as there were jewish settlers in the strip but once they were removed the strip was hermetically closed ironically most israelis according to 2006 polls looked at gaza as an independent palestinian state that israel has graciously allowed to emerge the leadership and particularly the army saw it as a prison with the most dangerous community of inmates which had to be managed ruthlessly one way or another 12 thus the ghettoization of the palestinians in gaza did not reap any dividends the ghettoized community continued to express its will for life by firing primitive missiles into israel ghettoizing or quarantining unwanted communities even if they were regarded as dangerous has never worked in history as a solution the jews know it best from their own history the final strategy was not articulated and in its stead it seemed that the daily military activity began to emerge as the new strategy itself and thus the punitive tactics turned into genocidal strategy in 2006 what was missing for a significant escalation was a pretext the history of the most brutal israeli actions against the palestinians is loaded with such pretexts ever since 1948 the israeli army and government searched for adequate pretext for any massive operations against the palestinians this was the case in 1947 and 1948 the actual ethnic cleansing began only after the palestinians reacted angrily against the un partition resolution of november 1947 and attacked isolated jewish settlements and assaulted jewish transport on palestine s roads this spontaneous reaction subsided after a short while but was enough to provide the pretext for a massive operation of ethnic cleansing conceived as an option already in the 1930s 13 similarly the invasion of lebanon in 1982 was presented as retaliation for the plo struggle against israel a very late in the day and limited palestinian resistance in the occupied territories after twenty years of oppression these pretexts were never convincing to the international community yet they never led to any actions against israel this is the lesson the israelis learned in 1982 the international community did not then accept the israeli justification for the third invasion of its northern neighbor the previous two invasions were in 1948 and 1978 an international commission of six jurists headed by sean macbride described that attack as would judge goldstone a quarter of a century later when reporting on gaza as a series of war crimes however the macbride committee was much more explicit it accused israel of genocide of the palestinian communities in lebanon although two members of the commission asked to differ on this conclusion but not on the facts it accused israel of using forbidden weapons against civilians and the indiscriminate and reckless bombing of civilian targets schools and hospitals as well as cities villages and refugee camps and it culminated in the sabra and shatila massacre which for a while focused world public opinion on the nature of israeli policy 14 it took a while for the palestinian national movement to recover but the next attempt to shake off intifada in arabic the israeli occupation also failed and triggered escalated israeli reactions one uprising in 1987 was easily crushed while the other of 2000 took more time to control but also provided the pretext for the renewal of ruthless policies the pretext for the operations in 2006 was the capture of gilad shalit one should not venture too much in any kind of counter factual history but it is quite probable that had shalit not been captured by hamas any of that organization s military operations against israeli policies of strangulation would have served as a pretext for expanded israeli assaults on the gaza strip the reaction or rather the initiation of the next stage was code named operation summer rains which commenced on june 28 2006 and ended in november that year the employment of such names by the israeli army reveals the sinister nature of its intentions and attitudes the previous operation as mentioned was code named first rains which turned into summer rains autumn clouds would later follow in a country where there is no rain in the summer the only precipitation that one can expect are showers of f 16 bombs and artillery shells hitting the people of gaza it was the most brutal attack on gaza since 1967 in the past the punitive israeli actions against the 1 5 million palestinians entrapped in the strip were limited to massive bombardment from outside the strip from the land the sea and the air this time the army invaded the strip on the ground and added the firepower of its tanks to the overall bombardment of the most densely populated civilian center on the globe it was the first israeli land incursion after the eviction of the settlers a year before the worst part of it was the israeli actions in september 2006 when the nature of the israeli escalation revealed itself more clearly on an almost daily basis civilians were killed by the israeli army september 2 was a typical day in this horror show three citizens were killed and a whole family was wounded in beit hanoun this was the morning harvest before the end of day many more were killed in september an average of eight palestinians died daily in the israeli attacks on the strip many of them were children hundreds were maimed wounded and paralyzed the systematic slaughter more than anything else had the appearance of an inertia killing when the continued employment of massive power is done as daily routine and not as the implementation of a policy 15 on december 28 2006 the israeli human rights organization b tselem published its annual report about the israeli atrocities in the occupied territories in that year israeli forces killed six hundred and sixty citizens the number of palestinians killed by israel in 2006 tripled in comparison to the previous year around two hundred according to b tselem the israelis killed 141 children in 2006 most of the dead were from the gaza strip where the israeli forces demolished almost three hundred houses and slew entire families this means that since 2000 israeli forces killed almost four thousand palestinians a large number of them children more than twenty thousand were wounded 16 the land invasion enabled the army to kill citizens even more effectively and to present it as a result of heavy fighting within densely populated areas an inevitable result the army spokespersons claimed of the circumstances but not of israeli policies a month and a half later the operation autumn clouds was launched and proved to be even more lethal on november 1 2006 in less than forty eight hours the israelis killed seventy civilians by the end of that month with additional mini operations accompanying it almost two hundred were killed half of them children and women 17 from first rains to autumn clouds one could see escalation in every aspect the first was the disappearance of the distinction between civilian and non civilian targets the senseless killing turned the population at large into a legitimate military target the second was the escalation in military means employment of every possible killing machine the israeli army possessed third the escalation was conspicuous in the number of casualties with each operation and each future operation a much larger number of people were killed and wounded finally and most importantly the operations became a strategy this was now clearly the way israel intended to solve the problem of the gaza strip 18 2007 2008 the policy becomes a strategy a creeping transfer in the west bank and a measured policy of systematic killings in the gaza strip were the two strategies israel continued to employ in 2007 as well from an electoral point of view the one in gaza was more problematic as it did not reap any tangible results while the west bank under abu mazin was yielding to israeli pressure and there seemed to be no significant force that could arrest the israeli strategy of annexation and dispossession but gaza continued to fire back on the one hand this enabled the israeli army to initiate more massive operations but there was also the great danger on the other that as happened in 1948 the army would demand a more drastic and systematic punitive and collateral action against the besieged people of the gaza strip the casualties were rising in 2007 three hundred people were killed in gaza dozens of them children but even under bush and definitely in the post bush era the myth of fighting the world jihad in gaza was losing its credibility so a new mythology was proposed in 2007 gaza was a terrorist base determined to destroy israel the only way the palestinians could be de terrorized so to speak was to consent to live in a strip encircled by barbed wire and walls flour cement medicine dairy products and rice were barred and movement in and out of the strip restricted as a result of the political choices made by gazans should they persist in supporting hamas they would be strangled and starved until they changed their ideological inclination should they succumb to the kind of politics israel wished them to adopt they would have the same fate as that of the west bank life without basic civil and human rights they could either be inmates in the open prison of the west bank or incarcerated in the maximum security one of the gaza strip if they resisted they were likely to be imprisoned without trial or killed this was israel s message in 2007 and the people of gaza were given a year to make up their minds in the summer of 2008 an official bilateral cease fire was declared brokered by egypt the israeli government did not achieve its goals it needed to prepare more seriously for the next step and that year was used for such preparations its strategy depended not only on silencing hamas in the gaza strip but consisted of a desperate attempt to prove to the quartet the un the eu the united states and russia and the palestinian authority that the situation in the strip was under its control to the extent that its solution could be incorporated in an israeli vision of the future peace the summer of 2008 was two years after the humiliation of lebanon there was no wish in a government which was subjected to an aggressive inquiry and damning report by an official commission into its failure in the north to allow the israeli public to dwell on this open wound for too long there were also winds of change blowing from washington where it was feared a new administration would not be as sympathetic to the israeli strategy and all in all world public opinion at least from the bottom up as it had been since 2000 seemed restive and antagonistic the old method of waiting for the right pretext to move ahead and escalate the struggle against the only resistance still intact was at work again once the pretext was found the army strategists we now know intended to upgrade the reaction the talk in the idf was now of a new doctrine vis à vis gaza the dahiyya doctrine in october 2008 haaretz referred for the first time to the doctrine the gist of it was the comprehensive destruction of areas in their entirety and the employment of disproportional force in response to the launch of missiles when haaretz reported the doctrine the paper referred to it as a future strategy toward lebanon hence the dahiyya reference the shi ite quarter that was bombarded to dust in the 2006 israeli air attack on beirut gadi eizenkot the then chief of the northern command said for us villages are military bases he talked about total destruction of villages as a punitive action but his colleague colonel gabi siboni told an academic conference at the institute for national security in tel aviv university that this would apply to the gaza strip as well he added that this is meant to inflict damage that would take ages to recover from 19 the evidence the ngo breaking the silence found corroborates this description of the doctrine in a press conference these soldiers convened after the events of january 2009 they explained that the gaza strip was tackled as an armed outpost that had to be hammered and wiped out with all the might that the israeli army could muster 20 it seems that the doctrine was not just about employing military might but also achieving the same desired result by other means in 2008 the israeli army tightened the blockade on gaza this tactical move if analyzed in detail is far more than a punitive action it is a policy that produced given the demographic circumstances in the gaza strip genocidal realities lack of basic food absence of elementary medicine and no source of employment to this one can add a massive claustrophobic traumatization of a million and a half people who were not allowed to move about and lacked essential commodities and building material which left them without shelter in summer or winter and if this were not enough the israelis cut off the water and electricity supplies 21 hamas did not budge and refused to disappear in return for the lifting of the blockade so another pretext was sought israel violated the cease fire on a daily basis in june 2008 with several attacks from the air and incursions on the ground groups that were not affiliated with hamas retaliated with several rockets and public opinion in israel was now ready for a larger operation and yet this was not enough in november 2008 the israeli army attacked a tunnel one of many dug in order to survive the blockade and claimed that it was a marxist strike against a future hamas operation this time hamas fired the rockets it lost six people in the attack and launched a foray of more than thirty rockets at the end of the month hamas declared that such israeli actions which became a daily occurrence terminated the cease fire on november 18 2008 hamas declared the end of the cease fire and on the 24th intensified the barrage of missiles for a short while as a response to the previous israeli action and ceased soon after as before there were hardly any casualties on the israeli side although houses and flats were damaged and the afflicted citizens traumatized the november 24 missile attack was the one the israeli army had waited for from november 25 until january 21 2009 the israeli army bombarded the million and a half people of gaza from the air land and sea hamas responded with missiles that ended with three casualties and another ten israeli soldiers were killed some by friendly fire a genocidal policy 22 but when the israeli army bombarded the civilian population the evidence collected by israeli based human rights organizations international agencies and media although the israelis barred the media from entering the strip was perceived by many to be far more serious than just war crimes some referred to it as genocide it is not often that the president of the un general assembly would accuse a member state of genocide of gaza invoking the right of self defense against terrorists launching missiles into civilian targets miguel d escoto brockmann did not hesitate to describe such actions as genocide as a former roman catholic priest and nicaragua s foreign minister his views carry considerable weight needless to say these remarks were promptly dismissed by the israelis as anti semitic the standard reaction to such accusations had his voice been a lonely one in the wilderness it would have had little resonance but it was joined by similar expressions of outrage by other senior politicians especially outside the western corridors of power who chose the term genocide as the only way to describe the tragedy visited upon the people of gaza d escoto brockmann s reaction came before the full scale destruction of homes schools and hospitals in many parts of gaza a week later the turkish columnist and author oktay akbal described the israeli actions as the real genocide the israeli daily haaretz reported on december 29 2008 that government and opposition leaders across the globe but mainly in southeast asia africa and south america referred to the atrocities even before they fully transpired as genocide 23 there were strong criticisms from the west as well but these sources were more cautious in using the term genocide nonetheless the g word frequently surfaced in the commentaries conveyed through alternative media bloggers and web sites even before the gaza operations in january 2009 occasional references were made to israeli armed forces committing acts of genocide some 1 4 million people mostly children are piled up in one of the most densely populated regions of the world with no freedom of movement no place to run and no space to hide un relief official jan egeland and swedish foreign minister jan eliasson noted of the israeli forays into gaza writing in le figaro journalist john pilger wrote in the new statesman a genocide is engulfing the people of gaza while silence engulfs its bystanders in that same month repeated israeli actions against the children in gaza prompted similar expressions of concern from some unlikely sources the internationally renowned jurist and princeton professor of law richard falk wrote in that year that it is especially painful for me as an american jew to feel compelled to portray the ongoing and intensifying abuse of the palestinian people by israel through a reliance on such an inflammatory metaphor as holocaust 24 25 the january 2009 events were referred to in similar terms by the pro western arab media organs one such source was the dubai based satellite network al arabia on december 28 2008 when the massive israeli killing had just begun although already resulting in unprecedented numbers of dead children and women the network reported the popular protests around the world against the israeli actions the headline was world stands united against genocide in gaza it reported that protestors from denmark turkey pakistan cyprus bahrain kuwait iran sudan and even israel all called for an end to what most demonstrators termed as genocide in gaza 26 this was not the mainstream media s opinion in the west nor was it voiced in such a manner by any members of the political elite in north america or europe but within the balance of power between hegemonic and counterhegemonic voices the latter included senior politicians in the rest of the world the widest coalitions of the political left and of human rights organizations in the west coupled with some influential voices from within the western media the journalist john pilger referred to the events in gaza as genocide in the new statesman again on january 21 2009 in the aftermath of the event more voices joined in participants in the main demonstration in london on january 19 2009 carried placards about the genocide in gaza similar banners were raised in a massive demonstration in copenhagen elsewhere the malaysian foreign minister in april 2009 described the attack on gaza as genocide 27 one can understand why judge goldstone refrained from such language his report as noted corroborates the evidence collected by those who described these policies as genocidal but sums them up as war crimes that require further investigation goldstone s report also uses the same language for the hamas missile attack on israel this seems to be more lip service than a genuine point the imbalance of the aggressors power and destruction and the victims pathetic military response deserves different language moreover when one reads the thorough and brave report of judge goldstone one should remember that the 1 500 killed thousands of wounded and tens of thousands who lost their homes do not tell the whole story it is the decision to employ such fierce military force in a civilian space that should be discussed this kind of firepower can only produce the kind of horrific destruction we have seen in gaza it was used for this purpose the nature of the military operations also displayed an israeli military wish to experiment with new weapons all intended to kill civilians as part of what the former chief of the army s general staff moshe ya alon termed as the need to brand in the palestinian consciousness the fearsome might of the israeli army 28 a middle east peace that could happen but ten won t noam chomsky the fact that the israel palestine conflict grinds on without resolution might appear to be rather strange for many of the world s conflicts it is difficult even to conjure up a feasible settlement in this case it is not only possible but there is near universal agreement on its basic contours a two state settlement along the internationally recognized pre june 1967 borders with minor and mutual modifications to adopt official u s terminology before washington departed from the international community in the mid 1970s the basic principles have been accepted by virtually the entire world including the arab states who go on to call for full normalization of relations the organization of islamic states including iran and relevant non state actors including hamas a settlement along these lines was first proposed at the un security council in january 1976 by the major arab states israel refused to attend the session the united states vetoed the resolution and did so again in 1980 the record at the general assembly since is similar there was one important and revealing break in u s israeli rejectionism after the failed camp david agreements in 2000 president clinton recognized that the terms he and israel had proposed were unacceptable to any palestinians that december he proposed his parameters imprecise but more forthcoming he then stated that both sides had accepted the parameters while expressing reservations israeli and palestinian negotiators met in taba egypt in january 2001 to resolve the differences and were making considerable progress in their final press conference they reported that with a little more time they could probably have reached full agreement israel called off the negotiations prematurely however and official progress then terminated though informal discussions at a high level continued leading to the geneva accord rejected by israel and ignored by the united states a good deal has happened since but a settlement along those lines is still not out of reach if of course washington is once again willing to accept it unfortunately there is little sign of that substantial mythology has been created about the entire record but the basic facts are clear enough and quite well documented the united states and israel have been acting in tandem to extend and deepen the occupation in 2005 recognizing that it was pointless to subsidize a few thousand israeli settlers in gaza who were appropriating substantial resources and protected by a large part of the israeli army the government of ariel sharon decided to move them to the much more valuable west bank and golan heights instead of carrying out the operation straightforwardly as would have been easy enough the government decided to stage a national trauma which virtually duplicated the farce accompanying the withdrawal from the sinai desert after the camp david agreements of 1978 79 in each case the withdrawal permitted the cry of never again which meant in practice we cannot abandon an inch of the palestinian territories that we want to take in violation of international law this farce played very well in the west though it was ridiculed by more astute israeli commentators among them that country s prominent sociologist the late baruch kimmerling after its formal withdrawal from the gaza strip israel never actually relinquished its total control over the territory often described realistically as the world s largest prison in january 2006 a few months after the withdrawal palestine had an election that was recognized as free and fair by international observers palestinians however voted the wrong way electing hamas instantly the united states and israel intensified their assault against gazans as punishment for this misdeed the facts and the reasoning were not concealed rather they were openly published alongside reverential commentary on washington s sincere dedication to democracy the u s backed israeli assault against the gazans has only been intensified since thanks to violence and economic strangulation increasingly savage meanwhile in the west bank always with firm u s backing israel has been carrying forward long standing programs to take the valuable land and resources of the palestinians and leave them in unviable cantons mostly out of sight israeli commentators frankly refer to these goals as neocolonial ariel sharon the main architect of the settlement programs called these cantons bantustans though the term is misleading south africa needed the majority black work force while israel would be happy if the palestinians disappeared and its policies are directed to that end one step toward cantonization and the undermining of hopes for palestinian national survival is the separation of gaza from the west bank these hopes have been almost entirely consigned to oblivion an atrocity to which we should not contribute by tacit consent israeli journalist amira hass one of the leading specialists on gaza writes that the restrictions on palestinian movement that israel introduced in january 1991 reversed a process that had been initiated in june 1967 back then and for the first time since 1948 a large portion of the palestinian people again lived in the open territory of a single country to be sure one that was occupied but was nevertheless whole the total separation of the gaza strip from the west bank is one of the greatest achievements of israeli politics whose overarching objective is to prevent a solution based on international decisions and understandings and instead dictate an arrangement based on israel s military superiority since january 1991 israel has bureaucratically and logistically merely perfected the split and the separation not only between palestinians in the occupied territories and their brothers in israel but also between the palestinian residents of jerusalem and those in the rest of the territories and between gazans and west bankers jerusalemites jews live in this same piece of land within a superior and separate system of privileges laws services 1 physical infrastructure and freedom of movement the leading academic specialist on gaza harvard scholar sara roy adds gaza is an example of a society that has been deliberately reduced to a state of abject destitution its once productive population transformed into one of aid dependent paupers gaza s subjection began long before israel s recent war against it december 2008 the israeli occupation now largely forgotten or denied by the international community has devastated gaza s economy and people especially since 2006 after israel s december 2008 assault gaza s already compromised conditions have become virtually unlivable livelihoods homes and public infrastructure have been damaged or destroyed on a scale that even the israel defense forces admitted was indefensible in gaza today there is no private sector to speak of and no industry 80 percent of gaza s agricultural crops were destroyed and israel continues to snipe at farmers attempting to plant and tend fields near the well fenced and patrolled border most productive activity has been extinguished today 96 percent of gaza s population of 1 4 million is dependent on humanitarian aid for basic needs according to the world food programme the gaza strip requires a minimum of 400 trucks of food every day just to meet the basic nutritional needs of the population yet despite a march 22 2009 decision by the israeli cabinet to lift all restrictions on foodstuffs entering gaza only 653 trucks of food and other supplies were allowed entry during the week of may 10 at best meeting 23 percent of required need israel now allows only 30 to 40 commercial items to enter gaza compared to 4 000 approved products prior 2 to june 2006 it cannot be too often stressed that israel had no credible pretext for its 2008 2009 attack on gaza with full u s support and illegally using u s weapons near universal opinion asserts the contrary claiming that israel was acting in self defense that is utterly unsustainable in light of israel s flat rejection of peaceful means that were readily available as israel and its u s partner in crime knew very well that aside israel s siege of gaza is itself an act of war as israel of all countries certainly recognizes having repeatedly justified launching major wars on grounds of partial restrictions 3 on its access to the outside world though nothing remotely like what it has long imposed on gaza one crucial element of israel s criminal siege little reported is the naval 4 blockade peter beaumont reports from gaza that on its coastal littoral gaza s limitations are marked by a different fence where the bars are israeli gunboats with their huge wakes scurrying beyond the palestinian fishing boats and preventing them from going outside a zone imposed by the warships according to reports from the scene the naval siege has been tightened steadily since 2000 fishing boats have been driven steadily out of gaza s territorial waters and toward the shore by israeli gunboats often violently without warning and with many casualties as a result of these naval actions gaza s fishing industry has virtually collapsed fishing is impossible near shore because of the contamination caused by israel s regular attacks including the destruction of power plants and sewage facilities these israeli naval attacks began shortly after the discovery by the bg british gas group of what appear to be quite sizeable natural gas fields in gaza s territorial waters industry journals report that israel is already appropriating these gazan resources for its own use part of its commitment to shift its economy to natural gas the standard industry source reports israel s finance ministry has given the israel electric corp iec approval to purchase larger quantities of natural gas from bg than originally agreed upon according to israeli government sources which said the state owned utility would be able to negotiate for as much as 1 5 billion cubic meters of natural gas from the marine field located off the mediterranean coast of the palestinian controlled gaza strip last year the israeli government approved the purchase of 800 million cubic meters of gas from the field by the iec recently the israeli government changed its policy and decided the state owned utility could buy the entire quantity of gas from the gaza marine field previously the government had said the iec could buy half the total amount and the 5 remainder would be bought by private power producers the pillage of what could become a major source of income for gaza is surely known to u s authorities it is only reasonable to suppose that the intention to appropriate these limited resources either by israel alone or together with the collaborationist palestinian authority is the motive for preventing gazan fishing boats from entering gaza s territorial waters there are some instructive precedents in 1989 australian foreign minister gareth evans signed a treaty with his indonesian counterpart ali alatas granting australia rights to the substantial oil reserves in the indonesian province of east timor the indonesia australia timor gap treaty which offered not a crumb to the people whose oil was being stolen is the only legal agreement anywhere in the world that effectively recognises indonesia s right to rule east timor the australian press reported asked about his willingness to recognize the indonesian conquest and to rob the sole resource of the conquered territory which had been subjected to near genocidal slaughter by the indonesian invader with the strong support of australia along with the united states the united kingdom and some others evans explained that there is no binding legal obligation not to recognise the acquisition of territory that was acquired by force adding that the world is a pretty unfair place littered with examples of 6 acquisition by force it should then be unproblematic for israel to follow suit in gaza a few years later evans became the leading figure in the campaign to introduce the concept responsibility to protect known as r2p into international law r2p is intended to establish an international obligation to protect populations from grave crimes evans is the author of a major book on the subject and was co chair of the international commission on intervention and state sovereignty which issued what is considered the basic document on r2p in an article devoted to this idealistic effort to establish a new humanitarian principle the london economist featured evans and his bold but passionate claim on behalf of a three word expression which in quite large part thanks to his efforts now belongs to the language of diplomacy the responsibility to protect the article is accompanied by a picture of evans with the caption evans a lifelong passion to protect his hand is pressed to his forehead in despair over the difficulties faced by his idealistic effort the magazine chose not to run a different photo that circulated in australia depicting evans and alatas exuberantly clasping their hands together as they toast the timor gap treaty that they had just 7 signed though a protected population under international law gazans do not fall under the jurisdiction of the responsibility to protect joining other unfortunates in accord with the maxim of thucydides that the strong do as they wish and the weak suffer as they must which holds with its customary precision the kinds of restrictions on movement used to destroy gaza have long been in force in the west bank as well less cruelly but with grim effects on life and the economy the world bank reports that israel has established a complex closure regime that restricts palestinian access to large areas of the west bank the palestinian economy has remained stagnant largely because of the sharp downturn in gaza and israel s continued restrictions on palestinian trade and movement in the west bank the world bank cited israeli roadblocks and checkpoints hindering trade and travel as well as restrictions on palestinian building in the west bank where the western backed government of palestinian president 8 mahmoud abbas holds sway israel does permit indeed encourage a privileged existence for elites in ramallah and sometimes elsewhere largely relying on european funding a traditional feature of colonial and neocolonial practice all this constitutes what israeli activist jeff halper calls a matrix of control to subdue the colonized population these systematic programs over more than forty years aim to establish defense minister moshe dayan s recommendation to his colleagues shortly after israel s 1967 conquests that we must tell the palestinians in the territories we have no solution you shall continue to live like dogs and whoever wishes may 9 leave and we will see where this process leads turning to the second bone of contention settlements there is indeed a confrontation but it is rather less dramatic than portrayed washington s position was presented most strongly in secretary of state hillary clinton s much quoted statement rejecting natural growth exceptions to the policy opposing new settlements prime minister binyamin netanyahu along with president shimon peres and in fact virtually the whole israeli political spectrum insists on permitting natural growth within the areas that israel intends to annex complaining that the united states is backing down on george w bush s authorization of such expansion within his vision of a palestinian state senior netanyahu cabinet members have gone further transportation minister yisrael katz announced that the current israeli government will not accept in any way the freezing of legal settlement activity in judea and samaria the term legal in u s israeli parlance means illegal but authorized by the government of israel with a wink from washington in this usage unauthorized outposts are termed illegal though apart from 10 the dictates of the powerful they are no more illegal than the settlements granted to israel under bush s vision and obama s scrupulous omission the obama clinton hardball formulation is not new it repeats the wording of the bush administration draft of the 2003 road map which stipulates that in phase i israel freezes all settlement activity including natural growth of settlements all sides formally accept the road map modified to drop the phrase natural growth consistently overlooking the fact that israel with u s support at once added fourteen reservations that render it inoperable 11 if obama were at all serious about opposing settlement expansion he could easily proceed with concrete measures by for example reducing u s aid by the amount devoted to this purpose that would hardly be a radical or courageous move the bush i administration did so reducing loan guarantees but after the oslo accord in 1993 president clinton left calculations to the government of israel unsurprisingly there was no change in the expenditures flowing to the settlements the israeli press reported prime minister rabin will continue not to dry out the settlements the report concludes and the americans they will understand 12 obama administration officials informed the press that the bush i measures are not under discussion and that pressures will be largely symbolic in short obama understands just as clinton and bush ii did 13 at best settlement expansion is a side issue rather like the issue of illegal outposts namely those that the government of israel has not authorized concentration on these issues diverts attention from the fact that there are no legal outposts and that it is the existing settlements that are the primary problem to be faced the u s press reports that a partial freeze has been in place for several years but settlers have found ways around the strictures c onstruction in the settlements has slowed but never stopped continuing at an annual rate of about 1 500 to 2 000 units over the past three years if building continues at the 2008 rate the 46 500 units already approved will be completed in about 20 years if israel built all the housing units already approved in the nation s overall master plan for settlements it would almost double the number of settler homes in the west bank peace now which monitors settlement activities estimates further that 14 the two largest settlements would double in size ariel and ma aleh adumim built mainly during the oslo years in the salients that subdivide the west bank into cantons natural population growth is largely a myth israel s leading diplomatic correspondent akiva eldar points out citing demographic studies by colonel res shaul arieli deputy military secretary to former prime minister and incumbent defense minister ehud barak settlement growth consists largely of israeli immigrants in violation of the geneva conventions assisted with generous subsidies much of it is in direct violation of formal government decisions but carried out with the authorization of the government specifically barak considered a dove in the israeli spectrum 15 correspondent jackson diehl derides the long dormant palestinian fantasy revived by president abbas that the united states will simply force israel to make critical concessions whether or not its democratic government agrees he does not explain why refusal to participate in israel s illegal expansion which if serious would force israel to make critical concessions would be improper interference in israel s democracy 16 returning to reality all these discussions about settlement expansion evade the most crucial issue about settlements what the united states and israel have already established in the west bank the evasion tacitly concedes that the illegal settlement programs already in place are somehow acceptable putting aside the golan heights annexed in violation of security council orders though the bush vision apparently accepted by obama moves from tacit to explicit support for these violations of law what is in place already suffices to ensure that there can be no viable palestinian self determination hence there is every indication that even on the unlikely assumption that natural growth will be ended u s israeli rejectionism will persist blocking the international consensus as before subsequently prime minister netanyahu declared a ten month suspension of new construction with many exemptions and entirely excluding greater jerusalem where expropriation in arab areas and construction for jewish settlers continues at a rapid pace hillary clinton praised these unprecedented concessions on illegal construction eliciting anger and ridicule in much of the world 17 it might be different if a legitimate land swap were under consideration a solution approached at taba and spelled out more fully in the geneva accords reached in informal high level israel palestine negotiations the accord was presented in geneva in october 2003 welcomed by much of the world rejected by israel and ignored by the united states 18 barack obama s june 4 2009 cairo address to the muslim world kept pretty much to his well honed blank slate style with little of substance but presented in a personable manner that allows listeners to write on the slate what they want to hear cnn captured its spirit by headlining a report obama looks to reach the soul of the muslim world obama had announced the goals of his address in an interview with new york times columnist thomas friedman we have a joke around the white house the president said we re just going to keep on telling the truth until it stops working and nowhere is truth telling more important than the middle east the white house commitment is most welcome but it is useful to see how it translates into practice 19 obama admonished his audience that it is easy to point fingers but if we see this conflict only from one side or the other then we will be blind to the truth the only resolution is for the aspirations of both sides to be met through two states where israelis and palestinians each live in peace and security turning from obama friedman truth to truth there is a third side with a decisive role throughout the united states but that participant in the conflict obama omitted the omission is understood to be normal and appropriate hence unmentioned friedman s column is headlined obama speech aimed at both arabs and israelis the front page wall street journal report on obama s speech appears under the heading obama chides israel arabs in his overture to muslims other reports are the same the convention is understandable on the doctrinal principle that though the u s government sometimes makes mistakes its intentions are by definition benign even noble in the world of attractive imagery washington has always sought desperately to be an honest broker yearning to advance peace and justice the doctrine trumps truth of which there is little hint in the speech or the mainstream coverage of it obama once again echoed bush s vision of two states without saying what he meant by the phrase palestinian state his intentions were clarified not only by the crucial omissions discussed elsewhere but also by his one explicit criticism of israel the united states does not accept the legitimacy of continued israeli settlements this construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace it is time for these settlements to stop that is israel should live up to phase i of the 2003 road map rejected at once by israel with tacit u s support as noted though the truth is that obama has ruled out even steps of the bush i variety to withdraw from participation in these crimes the operative words are legitimacy and continued it is useful to recall that it was netanyahu s 1996 government that was the first in israel to use the phrase palestinian state it agreed that palestinians can call whatever fragments of palestine are left to them a state if they like or they can call them fried chicken by omission obama indicates that he accepts bush s vision the vast existing settlement and infrastructure projects are legitimate thus ensuring that the phrase palestinian state means fried chicken 20 always evenhanded obama also had an admonition for the arab states they must recognize that the arab peace initiative was an important beginning but not the end of their responsibilities plainly however it cannot be a meaningful beginning if obama continues to reject its core principles implementation of the international consensus to do so however is evidently not washington s responsibility in obama s vision no explanation given no notice taken on democracy obama said that we would not presume to pick the outcome of a peaceful election as in january 2006 when washington picked the outcome with a vengeance turning at once to severe punishment of the palestinians because it did not like the outcome of a peaceful election all with obama s apparent approval judging by his words before and actions since taking office obama politely refrained from comment about his host president mubarak one of the most brutal dictators in the region though he has had some illuminating words about him as he was about to board a plane to saudi arabia and egypt the two moderate arab states mr obama signaled that while he would mention american concerns about human rights in egypt he would not challenge mr mubarak too sharply because he is a force for stability and good in the middle east mr obama said he did not regard mr mubarak as an authoritarian leader no i tend not to use labels for folks mr obama said the president noted that there had been criticism of the manner in which politics operates in egypt but he also said that mr mubarak had been a stalwart ally in many respects to the united states when a politician uses the word folks we should brace ourselves for 21 the deceit or worse that is coming outside of this context there are people or often villains and using labels for them is highly meritorious obama is right however not to have used the word authoritarian which is far too mild a label for his friend just as in the past support for democracy and for human rights as well keeps to the pattern that scholarship has repeatedly discovered correlating closely with strategic and economic objectives there should be little difficulty in understanding why those whose eyes are not closed tight shut by rigid doctrine dismiss obama s yearning for human rights and democracy as a joke in bad taste interview with noam chomsky eleven for my second interview in less than a year with professor chomsky i decided to ask well known artists and journalists to send me one question each that they d like to ask noam the following six people kindly answered it made for an interesting forty five minutes john berger political practice often surprises political vocabulary for example the recent revolution in the middle east is said to demand democracy can we find more adequate words isn t the use of the old and frequently betrayed words a way of absorbing the shock instead of welcoming it and transmitting it further just to begin i think the word revolution is a bit of an exaggeration maybe it will turn into a revolution but for the moment it s a call for moderate reform there are elements in it like the workers movement that have tried to move beyond that but what that will lead to remains to be seen the observation about terminology is correct but there is no way out of that it s not the just the word democracy it s just about every word that is involved in discussion of political affairs each has two meanings it has its literal meaning and it has the meaning that s assigned to it for political welfare for ideology for doctrine so either we stop talking or we try to use the words in a sensible way and it s not just about democracy take a simple word like person it sounds simple take a look at it the united states is quite interesting the united states has guarantees of personal rights that go beyond maybe any other country but have a look at them the amendments to the constitution state very explicitly that no person can be deprived of rights without due process of law it reappears in the fourteenth amendment it was in the fifth amendment intended to apply to freed slaves but it wasn t applied to them the courts narrowed the meaning and broadened the meaning crucially they broadened the meaning to include corporations fictitious legal entities established by a state power so they were given the rights of persons by now rights way beyond persons and they were the ones who enjoyed the rights granted by the fourteenth amendment on the other hand it was also narrowed because the term person you might think would apply to those creatures walking around to do the dirty work in society who don t happen to have documents and that wouldn t do because they must be deprived of rights so the courts in their wisdom decided they re not persons the only persons are people with citizenship so now non humans corporate entities like the barclays bank they are persons with rights way beyond persons humans and the people sweeping the streets are not persons they don t have rights and the same is true of every important term you look at so take free trade agreements for example there s a north american free trade agreement canada the united states and mexico the only accurate term in that is north american it s certainly not an agreement at least if human beings are part of their societies because the populations of the three countries were against it so it s not an agreement it s not about free trade it s highly protectionist monopoly pricing rights for pharmaceutical corporations and so on a lot of it is not about trade at all in fact what we call trade is a kind of a joke for example in the old soviet union if parts were manufactured in leningrad and shipped to warsaw for assembly and then sold in moscow we didn t call that trade although it did cross national borders it was interactions within a single command economy and exactly the same is true if general motors manufactures parts in indiana sends them to mexico for assembly and sells them in los angeles we call that trade both ways in fact if you look at the trade that s estimated to be about 50 percent of it and a lot of the agreement is just about investor rights granting general motors the rights of national companies in mexico for example which mexican humans of course don t get in the united states pick the term you want you are going to find exactly the same thing so yes that s a problem and we get around it by trying to be clear about the way we use the distorted terminology chris hedges julien benda in the treason of intellectuals argued that it is only when intellectuals are not in the pursuit of practical aims or material advantages that they can serve as a conscience and a corrective can you address the loss of philosophers religious leaders writers journalists artists and scholars whose lives were once lived in direct opposition to the realism of the multitudes and what this has meant for our intellectual and moral life i may understand his feelings and share them but i don t know what the loss was when was it ever true at no time that i can remember the term intellectual came into pretty common use in its general modern sense at the time of the dreyfusards they were a small minority a small vilified minority the mass of intellectuals supported state power during the first world war shortly afterward the intellectuals in every one of the countries passionately supported their own states and their own violence there were a handful of exceptions like bertrand russell in england or rosa luxemburg and karl liebknecht in germany or eugene debs in the united states they were all in jail they were a marginal group and they were all in prison in the us the progressive john dewey circle the liberal intellectuals in the united states were passionately pro war there was one member randolph bourne who did not go along with it he was not put in jail the united states is a pretty free country though not for labor leaders like debs but he was just thrown out of the journals intellectually exiled and so on that is the way it has always been during the sixties the big activist period take a careful look intellectuals were very supportive of martin luther king and the civil rights movement as long as he was attacking somebody else as long as the civil rights movement was going after racist sheriffs in alabama that was wonderful everybody praised it as soon as it turned to class issues it was marginalised and suppressed people tend to forget that he was killed when he was taking part in a sanitation workers strike and on his way to washington to help organize a poor people s movement well that crosses a boundary that goes after us it goes after privilege and the north and so on so the intellectuals disappeared with regard to the vietnam war it is exactly the same thing there was almost no principled opposition to the war among known intellectuals there were of course people on the fringes they were mostly young people and so on but among well known intellectuals practically nothing at the very end after the tet offensive in 1968 when the business community turned against the war then you started getting lots of people saying yes i was always a longtime antiwar activist no trace of it in the record in fact you can take this back to the earliest history go back to classical greece who drank the hemlock the guy accused of corrupting the youth of athens with false gods take biblical records they don t have the term intellectual but they have a term which meant roughly what we mean by intellectual the term prophet it is a dubious translation of an obscure hebrew word there were so called prophets intellectuals who carried out geopolitical critique condemned the king for bringing about disaster condemned the king s crimes called for mercy for widows and orphans and so on well we would call these intellectuals how were they treated they were denounced as haters of israel that is the exact phrase that was used that is the origin of the phrase self hating jew in the modern period and they were imprisoned driven into the desert and so on now there were intellectuals who were praised the flatterers at the court centuries later they were called false prophets but not at the time at that is almost the entire history since there are a few exceptions in the modern period the one major exception i know of is actually turkey it is the only country i know where leading prominent artists academics journalists publishers a very broad range of intellectuals not only condemn the crimes of the state but are involved in constant civil disobedience against it facing often enduring pretty severe punishment i have to laugh when i come to europe and hear people complaining about how the turks are not civilized enough to join their advanced society they can learn some lessons from turkey and that is pretty unusual in fact it is so unusual that it is barely known you can t bring it up but aside from the word loss i think chris hedges s comments are accurate but i just can t perceive any loss i think it is about the same as it has always been and in fact the way that critical intellectuals are treated of course does vary so in the united states let s say maybe they are vilified or something in the old soviet union let s say in czechoslovakia in the sixties and seventies they could be imprisoned like havel was imprisoned if you were in american domains at that time like el salvador you d get your brains blown out by an elite battalion fresh from renewed training in the jfk special warfare school so yes people are treated differently depending on the country amira hass have the uprisings in the arab states made you change or revise some of your past evaluations have they and how affected your notions of for example the masses hope facebook poverty western intervention surprise actually amira and i met in turkey a couple of month ago we had a couple of hours a chance to talk and neither of us anticipated it maybe she did but if so it didn t come up in our conversations i certainly didn t anticipate anything like that in the arab world so yes it changed my opinion in that respect that it was unexpected on the other hand when you look back at it it s not that different from what s happened before except that in the past the uprisings were brutally suppressed and indeed they were this time too so the first of the uprisings was actually in november and that was in the western sahara which is occupied by morocco twenty five years ago morocco invaded violated un resolutions and it is a brutal occupation in november there was a nonviolent protest in which moroccan troops came in and crushed it violently which is something they ve been doing for twenty five years it was serious enough that it was brought to the un for a potential enquiry but france intervened france is the primary protector of atrocities and crimes in western africa it is the old french possessions so they blocked the un enquiry that was the first the next one was in tunisia again more or less a french area there were scandals as you know the minister of tourism or one of the ministers went for vacation in tunisia right in the middle of the uprising and it got some bad publicity but that one was successful it threw out the dictator and then came egypt which is the most important because of its significance in the arab world and that was pretty remarkable a remarkable display of courage dedication and commitment it did succeed in getting rid of the dictator though it hasn t yet changed the regime yet maybe it will but the regime is pretty much in place different names but the uprising is not entirely new that uprising the january 25th uprising was led by young people who called themselves the april 6th movement well the choice of april 6th was for a reason they picked that name because it was the date of a major strike action a couple of years earlier at the mahalla textile complex the industrial complex it was supposed to be a major strike support activities and so on well they were crushed by violence that s april 6th and that is only one of a series incidentally shortly after the crushing of the april 6th uprising president obama came to egypt to deliver his famous address the outreach to the muslim world and so on on his way he was asked at a press conference whether he would say anything about the authoritarian government of president mubarak and he said no he wouldn t he said mubarak is a good man he is doing good things keeping stability like crushing the april 6th strike and so on and that is just fine then the uprisings went beyond the most sensitive case is bahrain that is frightening to the west first of all because bahrain hosts the fifth fleet the major military force in the region a us fleet and second because it is largely shia and it is right across a causeway from eastern saudi arabia which is majority shiite and happens to be where most of the oil is and that gets frightening for years western planners have been concerned about a kind of geographical and historical accident most of the world s oil is in the shiite areas right around that part of the gulf iran southern iraq eastern saudi arabia if the uprising in bahrain spreads to saudi arabia then western power is really in trouble and in fact obama has changed the rhetoric that he used officially to talk about the uprisings for a while it was regime change that is after the uprisings succeeded and he moved to try to accommodate them but with bahrain it was regime alteration we don t want it to change it is too valuable to have a dictator to run things actually a rather striking fact about all of this is that take a look at the wikileaks exposures it s pretty interesting the ones that got the most exposure in the west the big headlines and euphoric commentary were the leaks from the ambassadors who said that the arab world supports us against iran one thing was missing in that reaction in the newspapers by the columnists and others namely arab opinion what they meant was that the arab dictators support us but what about arab opinion there is no comment it s not reported in the united states zero i think there is one reporter in england jonathan steele who reported it probably nothing in france i don t know but it is well known from polls by us polling agencies released by very prestigious institutions it turns out that some arabs think that iran is a threat about 10 percent the majority the vast majority think that the major threats are the united states and israel in egypt about 80 percent say that israel and the united states are the major threat in fact opposition to us policy is so strong that in egypt close to 70 percent think that the region would be better off if iran had nuclear weapons over the whole region it is the majority well who cares you know coming back to john berger s term democracy western intellectuals contempt for democracy is so profound and deep seated that it doesn t even occur to anyone to ask what the arabs think when we are euphoric that the arabs support us it doesn t matter as long as they are quiet and subdued and controlled as long as there is what s called stability it doesn t matter what they think the dictators support us period we re euphoric well that kind of ties together a number of these questions but going back to amira hass s comment what has happened does and should lead us to think about what has been happening not only in the arab world but elsewhere there have been popular uprisings which have often been subdued by violence and that has been true for a century i mean the british were suppressing democracy movements in iran over a century ago in iraq there was a shiite uprising as soon as the british cobbled the country together after the first world war big uprisings violently suppressed one of the first uses of aircraft to attack civilians britain was very proud of that britain succeeded in blocking a disarmament conference in 1932 they prevented it from barring use of aircraft against civilians lloyd george the famous lloyd george wrote in his diary that this was a great thing because we have to reserve the right to bomb niggers so therefore it was a very good thing what the british government did and that continued in 1953 the united states and britain combined to throw out the parliamentary government in iran in 1936 to 1939 there was an arab uprising in palestine against the british violently crushed the first intifada was again a very significant popular uprising it was almost entirely nonviolent and a real popular movement women s groups protesting against the feudal structure and trying to dismantle it and so on it was crushed by violence so sure things like this happen a lot of times they re just crushed what is unusual this time is that it has been strong enough in most of the countries to be able to sustain itself what will happen in saudi arabia and bahrain we don t know in fact we really don t know what will happen in egypt the military has so far retained control and the top military command at least is deeply embedded in the old oppressive regime they own a lot of the economy they were the beneficiaries of the mubarak dictatorship they are not going to give it up easily so it remains to be seen what happens there ken loach how do we overcome sectarianism on the left i don t think we will ever overcome it for one thing one form of sectarianism should be welcomed namely disagreement a lot of things are quite unclear we ought to have discussion and disagreement pursue different options and so on but what he means by sectarianism and what is generally meant by it is initiatives that sometimes attempt to and often succeed in breaking up popular movements individuals or political groups that have their own agenda and want to take control become little lenins and so on and so forth that kind of sectarianism i don t think is ever going to be suppressed it can be marginalized so for example during the uprisings in the arab world say egypt tahrir square there was surprisingly little sectarianism and there were many different points of view you know but there was unity and a common goal that is beginning to fall apart unfortunately so just yesterday there was a women s demonstration calling for women s rights it was attacked it s a very sexist society and the women were attacked ok that s sectarianism there is now also religious sectarianism developing when a common goal is no longer uniting people in a struggle then you do get sectarianism a common goal is the way to bring people together for example in the labor movement say in the united states labor has often been extremely racist not necessarily just against blacks for example irish in the late nineteenth century were treated very much like blacks i mean you could walk around boston and see signs no dogs or irish allowed and so on others were called huns that means anybody from eastern europe there was bitter racism against the huns and against the italians it goes all the way back but when the strike waves began in the late nineteenth century and they really became significant in places like the coal and steel centers in western pennsylvania where people took over cities and ran them at that point the sectarianism disappeared the racism disappeared there was unity to achieve something the same is true when cio organizing began in the 1930s it overcame racism against blacks they worked together that s the only way to do it that i know same happened in the civil rights movement if you ve got a common goal and you can combine and try to achieve it then sectarian efforts are marginalized they don t disappear there are still people hanging around the periphery and maybe if the motives and commitment decline they may begin to try to take over as we are beginning to see in egypt but i don t know any other way to do it paul laverty there has probably never been a time where there has been such concentration of wealth and power in so few hands the powerful are sophisticated in maintaining this state of affairs but perhaps we use this too as an excuse to hide our shortcomings on the left what do you think has been lacking in our imaginative effort to build a mass international campaign to democratize resources and challenge corporate power can you imagine a time where we can organize our lives and economies successfully on a cooperative basis rather than a competitive one certainly i can imagine it and in fact there have been successful experiments with it some of them right now none of them utopian none of them that i or you or others will aspire to in the longer term but they are not insignificant take say the mondragón system in spain it s not worker managed but it is worker owned it s a form of cooperative quite successful very broad if you look around the united states there are probably hundreds of self managed enterprises not huge some of them are pretty large but they are successful take say egypt right now one of the interesting things that is happening in egypt is that the labor movement which has been really militant for years as i mentioned this is not an uprising out of nothing they are now apparently it is hard to get information because it s not covered very well but i think amira hass has been reporting on this in some of the industrial centers like the mahalla industrial center apparently workers have taken over enterprises and have been managing them themselves if that s true that would be the beginning of a revolution to go back to berger s words so yes it s certainly feasible the comment about inequality is very real i don t know the detailed statistics for the other countries but in the us right now inequality is back to the highest level it s been in history since the 1920s but that s misleading because wealth in the us is highly concentrated the sharp inequality results mostly from the top fraction of 1 percent of the population take a look at the income distribution it goes very sharply up towards the high end and is enormous in literally one tenth of 1 percent of the population now that s extraordinary wealth in fact that s driving the inequality if you take that part away it s unequal but not totally out of sight who are they they are hedge fund managers ceos bankers and so on something quite significant has been happening since the 1970s the economy has changed significantly it s been financialized go back to say 1970 financial institutions banks investment firms were a small percentage of corporate profits now in 2007 for example they reached 40 percent they don t benefit the economy in fact they probably harm the economy there is no social utility to much of what they do but they are powerful with economic power comes political power pretty obvious reasons so they have gained extensive political power for example those financial institutions have put obama into office pretty much that s where the bulk of his funding came from with political power comes the opportunity to modify the legislative system and they have been doing it so since the 1980s mainly fiscal policies have been changed tax policies to ensure a very high concentration of wealth rules of corporate governance have been changed they allow for example the ceo of a corporation to select the board that determines his salary well you can imagine what the consequences of that are actually you read about them in the front pages of newspapers every day about the huge bonuses that have been given to management that s where that comes from the regulatory system has collapsed with very striking effects this generalizes to the rest of the world i am talking about the us because i know it better new deal regulation prevented any financial crisis up until the 1980s really since the 1980s crisis after crisis several during the reagan years pretty serious ones in fact reagan left office with the worst financial crisis since the depression the saving and loans associations then came clinton and the tech bubble that burst then this huge housing crisis eight trillion dollars of fake money disappeared devastating the economy well all of these are political decisions meanwhile the cost of campaigning went way up and that compelled the parties to climb pretty deep into the pockets of the corporate sectors where the money is the next election in 2012 is expected to cost about two billion dollars take a look at the obama administration you notice he is staffing the government right now with executives they are the ones who have the access to corporate funding that is going to buy the elections elections are just becoming farces run by the public relations industry it s a marketing effort they are saying it quite openly in fact obama won the award from the advertising industry for the best marketing campaign of 2008 they know exactly what s going on all of this is a kind of a vicious circle it increases concentration of wealth it increases political power which acts to further concentration of wealth why is there no reaction actually there is a reaction right now for the first time what s going on in wisconsin is a very significant reaction there are tens of thousands of people in the streets day after day with a lot of popular support maybe two thirds of the population supporting them they are trying to defend labor rights the right of collective bargaining which is under attack i mean the business world understands very well that the one barrier to corporate tyranny is the organized workers movement so that s got to be destroyed labor history in the us has been extremely violent more so than in europe and there has been effort after effort to wipe out the unions but they keep reviving now there is a major one going on but it s being resisted it s being resisted by large popular movements but where is the left actually what s happened to the left is interesting since the 1960s when there was a big revival there is quite an activist left there are more young activists now i suppose than there were in the 1960s but the issues have changed the issues are called sometimes post materialist they are important issues i don t denigrate them gay rights environmental rights women s rights they are all important things but they don t reach to the concerns of the people who are living under depression level unemployment they don t reach to the 20 percent of the population roughly who qualify for food stamps there has not been that kind of outreach and organizing so when the protest started in wisconsin a couple of weeks ago there was practically no left initiative a couple of well known figures came to give talks but it was not organized by the left groups who ought to be right at the heart of it it s there and it d better come or else we are in bad trouble while left activism is significant very significant it s pretty much divorced from the daily struggle for survival and decent life of most of the population and that s a gap that has to be overcome somehow alice walker i believe that a one state solution to the palestine israel impasse is inevitable and more just than a two state solution could ever be this is because i don t believe israel will ever give up trying to control palestinians whether citizens of israel or those living in the occupied territories under a two state solution there would be israel and a palestinian bantustan i have been struck by your dismissal of the one state idea as something almost absurd and would like to understand why you see it this way is there no hope that israelis and palestinians might live together as white and black people do after the fall of apartheid in south africa it s an interesting question she is a wonderful woman she does fine work she s really committed to the palestinian cause but the question tells you something about the recent palestine solidarity movement i mean if i had asked her let s say why do you think it is absurd to try to advocate for civil rights for blacks in the united states she d be nonplussed she s devoted a lot of her life to that in fact the only possible response would be what planet are you coming from same here that s what i ve been doing all my life it s now about seventy years that i have been advocating for what in the recent reincarnation is called the one state settlement one state settlement notice not solution a one state settlement used to be called a bi national settlement and if you think about it yes it ll have to be a bi national settlement so that s what i was doing when i was a young activist in the 1940s opposed to a jewish state that s what we were struggling for a bi national state a one state settlement that s continued without a break and it s kind of hard to miss since the late 1960s a series of books huge numbers of articles constant talks all the time thousands of them interviews all the same trying to work for a bi national settlement in opposition to a jewish state i ve done a ton of work on this activist work writing and so on but it s not just a slogan and i think that s why somebody like alice walker does not know about it it s not just a slogan let s all live together happily it s trying to look at the problem seriously if you re serious about it you ask how do we get there you ask what are the steps that will take us there not just wouldn t it be nice if we had peace that s easy how do we get there well that depends on circumstances like all tactical choices so in the pre 1948 period this was straightforward we do not want a jewish state let s have a bi national state from 1948 to 67 you could not sensibly pick that position you were talking to yourself in 1967 it opened up again there was an opportunity in 1967 to move towards some kind of a federal system which could then proceed further to closer integration maybe become a true bi national secular state and in fact at that time from 1967 on i was writing about it all over the place like i said books articles interviews and so on up till about 1975 by 1975 palestinian nationalism had crystallized and appeared on the international agenda and the plo turned to a two state settlement which was the huge overwhelming international consensus that developed from that time for a two state settlement in the form that everyone knows from 1967 to 1975 it was possible to advocate for closer integration directly and it was anathema hated denounced because it was threatening it was threatening because it could be fulfilled and that would harm policy formation so if it was noticed at all it was denounced vilified from 1975 on you could still maintain this position but you have to face reality it is going to have to be achieved in stages there is only one proposal that i have ever heard other than let s all live in peace together the one proposal that i know is begin with the international consensus the two state settlement it will reduce the level of violence the cycle of violence it will open up possibilities for a closer interaction which already to some extent takes place even in today s circumstances in commercial cultural and other forms of interaction that could lead to erosion of boundaries that could move on to closer integration and maybe something like the old concept of a bi national state now i call it a settlement because i don t think this is the end of the road i don t see any particular reason to worship imperialist boundaries so when my wife and i back when we were students almost sixty years ago we were backpacking in northern israel and happened to cross into lebanon because there was no marked border somebody finally yelled at us and told us to get back why should there be a border there it was imposed by british and french violence you should move towards closer integration for the whole region a no state settlement if you want a word there are plenty of things wrong with states anyway why should we worship state structures they should be eroded now it s a series of steps if someone can think of another way to get there then they ought to tell us we could listen to it and talk about it but i don t know of any other way so what you end up with at least what i end up with what i ve been writing and speaking about is something that is too complex to put on a twitter message in this age that means it does not exist we should support both the two state and the one state settlement not solution we should support both of them because one of them is the path to getting to the other if you don t make the first move you re not going to get anywhere now alice walker says that israel won t accept a two state settlement if she is right then surely it s not going to accept the one state settlement either so if her argument has any force her proposal is out of the window mine too by the same argument you can show that there could never be an end to apartheid white nationalists would never accept an end to apartheid which was true at one time okay therefore let s give up the anti apartheid struggle indonesia will never give up east timor in fact the generals said so this loudly it s our province we re going to keep it that would have been true if actions were taken in a vacuum but they are not taken in a vacuum there are other factors involved one factor which is always significant and in fact in these cases is decisive is us policy well that s not graven in stone when us policy shifted on indonesia and east timor it literally took one phrase from president clinton to get the indonesian generals out at one point he said it s over they withdrew in the case of apartheid it s a little more complicated cuba played a big role cuba drove the south africans out of namibia for example and protected angola that had a big impact but it was when the us changed policy around 1990 there was a change of policy it was at that point that apartheid collapsed now in the case of israel the us is decisive israel can t do anything except what the us supports it gives diplomatic military economic ideological support if that prop is pulled out they ll do what the us says in fact that s happened over and over so yes it s true that if they were acting in a vacuum they d never accept anything but what they are now doing ruling the gaza prison taking over as much of the territories as they want they ll continue but they are not acting in a vacuum there are things we can do as in other cases to change it and in that case i think you can consider and even lay out a plan for a move towards a one state settlement as a step towards something even better you can go on as far as i can see the only way to do that is by supporting the international consensus as a first step a step a prelude to further steps that means very concrete actions we don t have to have a seminar in which we discuss abstract possibilities there are very concrete moves that can be made for example withdraw the israeli army from the west bank that s a concrete proposal and there are steps that can be taken to implement it for example amnesty international which is hardly a revolutionary organization has called for an arms embargo on israel if in the us and britain france others if the public could compel the governments to accept that proposal that is there will be an arms embargo unless you pull your army out of the west bank that would have an effect other actions can too if the army pulled out of the west bank the settlers would go with them they would climb into the trucks provided to them and move from their subsidized homes in the west bank to their subsidized homes in israel just like they did in gaza when they got the order some will probably remain but that s ok if they want to remain in a palestinian state that s their business so there are quite concrete things that can be done i mean it s not going to be like snapping your fingers but it s not beyond the kinds of things that have happened elsewhere when policies of the great powers changed primarily the united states acknowledgments this book would not have been possible without the help and support of the following people noam chomsky who answered my first email many years ago and has continued to do so throughout the years in spite of their number i still do not know how you do it thank you ilan pappé thank you for being approachable an amazing speaker and also for answering my numerous emails you are both true inspirations for being incredibly professional sticking to your ethics and talking the talk walking the walk thanks to anthony arnove for helping me making the book what it is today thank you to mikki smith and jessie kindig who spent many hours helping with research on endnotes many thanks to dao tran at haymarket for turning a manuscript into a book and making the editing smooth and easy thanks to caroline luft for her detailed copyediting my brother florent for being my loyal companion throughout the years and without whom this book might never have existed my friend herve landecker for making me laugh always and being a great manager i wish i had met you earlier but as the saying goes mieux vaut tard que jamais maria thanks for your help with the interviews and for always having remained so enthusiastic about this project thanks to members of lambeth and wandsworth palestine solidarity campaign for their contribution in the 2007 chomsky interview huge thanks to uhti ewa jasiewicz for her very constructive and helpful comments on the introduction and for everything she taught me in the last few months mae mum dad and fay thanks for being there always i love you jeanne if god existed i would kneel down and ask him not to intervene when it came to you not to touch a hair on your head to leave you as you are finally thanks to the people of palestine for their steadfastness and thanks to all the international human rights activists supporting their universal struggle you are the real heroes of this world a note on the text clusters of history u s involvement in the palestine question was previously published in race class 48 no 3 2007 1 28 institute of race relations exterminate all the brutes gaza 2009 is based on a talk given at the center for international studies at mit january 19 2009 earlier versions appeared on znet and in the spokesman england 103 2009 a middle east peace that could happen but won t was previously published by tomdispatch april 27 2010 and is a revised excerpt of hopes and prospects chicago haymarket books 2010 notes chapter two 2007 interview with chomsky 1 thomas carothers critical mission essays on democracy promotion washington d c carnegie endowment for international peace 2004 introduction and p 7 2 see gilbert achcar noam chomsky and stephen shalom perilous power boulder co paradigm publishers 2007 epilogue note 29 for review 3 see alistair crooke our second biggest mistake in the middle east london review of books 29 no 13 july 5 2007 3 6 and jonathan steele hamas acted on a very real fear of a us sponsored coup guardian june 22 2007 37 see also david rose the gaza bombshell vanity fair april 2008 norman olsen an inside story of how the us magnified palestinian suffering christian science monitor january 12 2009 4 richard falk slouching toward a palestinian holocaust znet july 5 2007 www zcommunications org slouching toward a palestinian holocaust by richard falk 5 israel s road map reservations haaretz may 27 2003 www haaretz com hasen pages shart jhtml itemno 297230 6 quoted in helene cooper blair to tackle economics but not peace efforts a task reserved for rice new york times june 28 2007 7 michael mccgwire the rise and fall of the npt an opportunity for britain international affairs 81 no 1 2005 115 40 8 edward said palestinians under siege london review of books 22 no 24 december 14 2000 9 marvin kalb and carol saivetz the israeli hezbollah war of 2006 the media as a weapon in asymmetrical conflict harvard international journal of press politics 12 no 3 2007 43 66 quote on p 44 10 see for example aviv lavie inside israel s secret prison haaretz august 23 2003 11 gilbert achcar eastern cauldron islam afghanistan and palestine in the mirror of marxism london pluto 2004 264 chapter three clusters of history u s involvement in the question of palestine 1 john mearsheimer and stephen walt the israel lobby london review of books 28 no 6 march 23 2006 2 quoted in lawrence davidson america s palestine popular and official perceptions from balfour to israel s statehood gainesville university press of florida 2001 2 3 george antonious the arab awakening beirut khayats 1945 4 see ilan pappé arab nationalism in gerard delanty and krishan kumar eds the sage handbook of nations and nationalism london sage 2006 500 3 5 davidson america s palestine 8 n 25 6 see ruth kark american consular reports as a source for the study of nineteenth century palestine cathedra 50 1989 133 9 7 davidson america s palestine 4 n 13 8 joseph m canfield the incredible scofield and his book vallecito ca ross 9 stephen sizer christian zionism road map to armageddon new york house books 1988 intervarsity press 2005 10 this whole episode can be read in a new light in max blumenthal birth pangs of a new christian zionism nation august 8 2006 www thenation com article birth pangs new christian zionism 11 quotation in jerry falwell future word an agenda for the eighties in the fundamentalist phenomenon the resurgence of conservative christianity ed jerry falwell with ed dobson and ed hindson garden city ny doubleday 1981 186 223 quote p 215 for the political and theological program of christian zionism see the proclamation of the third international christian zionist conference held in jerusalem from february 25 29 2006 which called for israeli defense of itself an unpartitioned jerusalem and seizure of the golan heights http christianactionforisrael org congress html for more on christian zionism falwell s central role in its promotion in america and the combination of faith with israeli security and expansion see merril simon jerry falwell and the jews middle village ny jonathan david publishers 1984 and stephen spector evangelicals and israel the story of american christian zionism new york oxford university press 2009 12 sizer christian zionism 13 donald m love henry churchill king of oberlin new haven ct yale university press 1956 14 davidson america s palestine 6 15 david hapgood charles r crane the man who bet on people new york 16 harry n howard the king crane commission an american inquiry into the xlibris publications 2000 56 63 middle east beirut khayats 1963 17 davidson america s palestine 146 n 27 18 ilan pappé the making of the arab israeli conflict 1947 1951 london and new york i b tauris 1994 36 19 marc lee raphael abba hillel silver a profile of american judaism new york 20 h paul jeffers the napoleon of new york mayor fiorello laguardia toronto holmes and meier 1989 john wiley and sons 2002 21 w brooke graves administration of the lobby registration provision of the th legislation reorganization act of 1946 an analysis of experience during the 80 congress washington d c u s government printing office 1949 22 abraham ben zvi eisenhower kennedy and the origins of the american israeli alliance new york columbia university press 1998 23 cheryl rubenberg israel and the american national interest a critical examination chicago university of illinois press 1989 329 77 24 alfred lilienthal j william fulbright a giant passes washington report on middle eastern affairs april may 1995 92 3 25 douglas little the making of a special relationship the united states and israel 1957 1968 international journal of middle east studies 25 no 4 november 1993 563 85 26 joel beinin pro israeli hawks and the second gulf war middle east report online april 6 2003 www merip org mero mero040603 html 27 andrew i killgore according to indictment aipac has been under investigation since 1999 washington report on middle east affairs november 2005 www washington report org archives november_2005 0511019 html 28 juan cole aipac s overt and covert ops antiwar com august 30 2004 www antiwar com cole articleid 3467 29 hannah arendt the jew as pariah jewish identity and politics in the modern age new york grove 1978 30 seymor martin lipset and earl raab jews and the new american scene cambridge ma harvard university press 1995 26 7 31 full report in william river pitt and scott ritter war on iraq new york context books 2003 32 naseer aruri dishonest broker the us role in israel and palestine cambridge ma south end press 2003 127 48 33 ibid 34 senate committee on foreign relations high costs of crude the new currency of foreign policy 109 cong 1 sess november 16 2005 washington d c u s government printing office 2006 th st 35 david ben gurion diary october 27 1948 36 dana milbank aipac s big bigger biggest moment washington post may 24 2005 14 37 aruri dishonest broker 37 38 gary leupp an american strike on iran is essential for our existence aipac demands action on iran counterpunch february 24 25 2007 www counterpunch org leupp02242007 html chapter four state of denial 1 edward said culture and imperialism new york alfred k knopf inc 1993 2 the scope of the tragedy is well described in a collection of articles in ghada karmi and eugene cortran eds the palestinian exodus 1948 1988 london ithaca press 1999 3 pappé making of the arab israeli conflict 124 43 4 see in particular nur masalha s expulsion of the palestinians the concept of transfer in zionist political thought 1882 1948 and his a land without a people israel transfer and the palestinians 1949 96 london faber and faber 1997 masalha s later book imperial israel and the palestinians the politics of expansion 1967 2000 london pluto press 2000 is a comprehensive treatment of the imperial imperative within herzlian zionism his recent book the politics of denial israel and the palestinian refugee problem london pluto press 2003 exposes israel s pretense to innocence on the question of the expelled palestinians 5 this is michael prior s translation in zionism and the state of israel a moral inquiry london and new york routledge 1999 9 of die arme bevölkerung trachten wir unbemerkt über die grenze zu schaffen indem wir in den durchzugsländern arbeit verschaffen aber in unserem eigenen lande jederlei arbeit verweigern theodor herzl briefe und autobiographische notizen 1886 1895 vol ii eds johannes wachten et al berlin propylaen verlag 1983 117 18 6 masalha expulsion of the palestinians 93 141 7 shabtai teveth ben gurion and the palestinian arabs oxford oxford university press 1985 189 8 see for example masalha expulsion of the palestinians 9 simha flapan zionism and the palestinians 1917 1947 london croom helm 1979 simha flapan the birth of israel myths and realities london croom helm 1987 baruch kimmerling zionism and territory the socio territorial dimensions of zionist politics los angeles and berkeley university of california institute of international studies research series no 51 1983 benny morris the birth of the palestinian refugee problem 1947 1949 cambridge cambridge university press 1987 benny morris 1948 and after israel and the palestinians oxford oxford university press 1990 benny morris israel s border wars oxford oxford university press 1993 ilan pappé britain and the arab israeli conflict 1948 1951 london macmillan 1988 pappé making of the arab israeli conflict tom segev the first israelis english language ed arlen n weinstein new york the free press london collier macmillan 1986 tom segev the seventh million the israelis and the holocaust trans haim watzan new york hill and wang 1993 israel shahak report arab villages destroyed in israel 2nd ed jerusalem shahak 1975 anita shapira land and power the zionist resort to force oxford oxford university press 1992 avi shlaim collusion across the jordan king abdullah the zionist movement and the partition of palestine new york columbia university press 1988 10 the conference papers with a number of additional invited papers were published in naseer aruri ed palestinian refugees and their right of return london and sterling va pluto press 2001 11 matthew engel senior republican calls on israel to expel west bank arabs guardian may 4 2002 chapter five exterminate all the brutes gaza 2009 1 mouin rabbani birth pangs of a new palestine middle east report online january 7 2009 www merip org mero mero010709 html 2 uri blau and yotam feldman how idf legal experts legitimized strikes involving gaza civilians haaretz january 22 2009 yotam feldman and uri blau consent and advise haaretz january 29 2009 3 sabrina tavernise rampage shows reach of militants in pakistan new york times march 31 2009 feldman and blau consent and advise 4 ethan bronner parsing gains of gaza war new york times january 19 2009 on the 1950s concept we will go crazy nishtagea if crossed see chomsky fateful triangle the united states israel and the palestinians cambridge ma south end press 1999 467f 5 craig whitlock and reyham abdel kareem combat may escalate in gaza israel warns operation in densely packed city camps weighed washington post january 11 2009 6 for sources and details see fateful triangle and cheryl rubenberg journal of palestine studies special issue the war in lebanon vol 11 no 4 vol 12 no 1 summer autumn 1982 62 68 7 interview with general mordechai gur al hamishmar may 10 1978 quoted in noam chomsky towards a new cold war new york pantheon 1982 320 8 ze ev schiff haaretz may 15 1978 9 eban quoted in jerusalem post august 16 1981 see also meiron benvinisti sacred landscape the buried history of the holy land since 1948 berkeley university of california press 2000 and ehud sprinzak the ascendance of israel s radical right new york oxford university press 1991 10 thomas friedman israel s goals in gaza new york times op ed january 14 11 steven erlanger weighing crimes and ethics in the fog of urban warfare new 2009 york times january 17 2009 12 fawaz gerges gaza notebook nation january 16 2009 13 ethan bronner israel lets reporters see devastated gaza site and image of a confident military new york times january 16 2009 chomsky pirates and emperors old and new new york claremont research and publications 1986 extended version boston south end press 2002 44f 14 gerges gaza notebook 15 gaza relief boat damaged in encounter with israeli vessel cnn com december 30 2008 www cnn com 2008 world meast 12 30 gaza aid boat index html mckinney on boat in gaza crash video cnn com www cnn com 2008 world meast 12 30 gaza aid boat index html cnnstcvideo israeli patrol boat collides with aid ship off gaza agence france presse december 30 2008 zeina karam gaza protest boat sails into lebanon associated press 30 december 2008 israel accused of ramming gaza aid ship guardian unlimited 30 december 2008 and stefanos evripidou gaza mercy mission rammed by israeli navy cyprus mail december 31 2008 16 see note 20 below see also gilbert achcar noam chomsky and stephen shalom perilous power boulder co paradigm 2007 239 17 arabs fiddle and squabble again as palestine bleeds and burns again editorial daily star lebanon january 14 2009 18 amal saad ghorayeb will hizbullah intervene in the gaza conflict daily star lebanon january 13 2009 and zeev maoz the war of double standards july 24 2006 http psfaculty ucdavis edu zmaoz the 20war 20of 20double 20standards pdf 19 ibid 20 friedman israel s goals in gaza senator kerry s speech on the middle east to the brookings institution senator kerry s online office release http kerry senate gov cfm record cfm id 309250 march 9 2009 and pirates and emperors 63 citing david shipler palestinians and israelis welcome their prisoners freed in exchange new york times november 25 1983 21 idith zertal and akiva eldar lords of the land new york nation books 2007 xii 450 22 stefano ambrogi u s seeks ship to move arms to israel reuters alertnet january 9 2009 www alertnet org thenews newsdesk l9736369 htm 23 cited in thalif deen u s weaponry facilitates killings in gaza inter press service january 8 2009 http ipsnews net news asp idnews 45337 24 cited in nikos d a arvanites u s resupplying israel from port in greece ekonom east media group january 13 2009 www emg rs en news region 75403 html 25 stephen zunes obama and israel s military still arm in arm foreign policy in focus march 4 2009 www fpif org articles obama_and_israels _military_still_arm in arm 26 us cancels israel arms shipment over greek objections agence france 27 quoted in thalif deen u s weaponry facilitates killings in gaza inter press presse january 13 2009 service january 8 2009 28 william hartung and frida berrigan u s weapons at war 2008 beyond the bush legacy newamerica net www newamerica net publications policy u_s_weapons_war_2008_0 ali gharib u s arms deployed in wars around the globe inter press service december 11 2008 jim wolf u s arms sales seen booming in 2009 reuters december 15 2008 and geraldine baum u s opposes arms trade treaty los angeles times november 1 2008 29 mads gilbert doctor decries israeli attacks video youtube com www youtube com watch v ev6ojm62qwa and bronner parsing gains of war in gaza 30 john heilprin un contradicts israel over depth of crisis in gaza associated 31 ethan bronner israeli attack splits gaza truce calls are rebuffed new york press january 6 2009 times january 4 2009 32 quoted in steven lee myers and helene cooper gaza crisis is another challenge for obama who defers to bush for now new york times december 29 2008 33 22nd day of continuous iof attacks on the gaza strip press release palestinian centre for human rights january 17 2009 a later careful count revealed higher figures israeli troops head out of devastated gaza reuters january 19 2009 iof unilaterally ceases fire redeploys inside gaza dozens of decomposed bodies found under houses rubble and enormous destruction in neighborhoods press release al mezan center for human rights january 18 2009 34 yoav stern and yossi melman abc iaf attacked 3 times in sudan haaretz march 29 charles levinson and jay solomon u s egypt push sudan about arms wall street journal march 29 2009 35 akiva eldar israeli rejection of gaza deal may topple abbas haaretz com january 9 2009 www haaretz com hasen spages 1054143 html quoted in mark landler u s pact seen as step toward gaza cease fire new york times january 16 2009 36 gerges gaza notebook 37 tobias buck gaza offensive boosted hamas poll concludes financial times february 6 2009 38 andrew england al jazeera journalists become the faces of the frontline financial times january 14 2009 noam cohen few in u s see jazeera s coverage of gaza war new york times january 12 2009 39 if security of israel were the concern then the wall could be built at the green line the internationally recognized border and there would be no objections except from israelis whose free access to occupied territory would be impeded 40 quotes are from chief of staff rafael eitan and prime minister yitzhak shamir see fateful triangle for these and other examples 41 charles levinson israelis watch the fighting in gaza from a hilly vantage point wall street journal january 8 2009 see also the photograph of orthodox jews dancing on a hilltop with the caption from a hill just outside the gaza strip israelis watch the air assaults on gaza and dance in celebration of the attacks january 8 2009 newscom at http electronicintifada net v2 article10215 shtml 42 anshil pfeffer haaretz com january 9 2009 www haaretz co il hasite spages 1056116 html hebrew matthew wagner rabbis order soldiers and police to refuse to dismantle outposts but major insubordination seen as unlikely jerusalem post may 27 2009 on the role of the religious nationalist rabbis see zertal and eldar lords of the land one of their most revered figures rabbi tzvi yehudah kook said we are in the middle of redemption and the state is entirely sacred and without blemish extending over the entire land of israel quoted in gershom gorenberg the accidental empire new york times books 2006 275 43 alan dershowitz lebanon is not a victim huffington post august 7 2006 www huffingtonpost com alan dershowitz lebanon is not a victim _b_26715 html view print alan dershowitz video www youtube com watch v hcshwgo6m1m 44 ehud olmert speech to joint session of u s congress may 24 2006 for full transcript see address by prime minister ehud olmert to joint meeting of us congress embassy of israel web site www israelnewsagency com israelolmertcongress48480524 html 45 likud party platform see the knesset website www knesset gov il elections knesset15 elikud_m htm 46 in an interview in israel as he was resigning under corruption charges olmert withdrew all his previous positions accepting the international consensus for the first time ethan bronner olmert says israel should pull out of west bank new york times september 30 2008 it is hard to know what to make of this since his subsequent actions continued to conform to his illegal expansionist programs 47 report on israeli settlements foundation for middle east peace january february 2009 ghassan bannoura report peace now annual settlement report shows an increase of constructions international middle east media center january 28 2009 mark landler clinton expresses doubts about an iran u s thaw new york times march 3 2009 a6 sara miller peace now israel planning 73 300 new homes in west bank haaretz march 2 2009 miller notes knesset member yaakov katz of the right wing national union party who is expected to join netanyahu s cabinet in april 2009 told army radio we will make every effort to realize the plans outlined by peace now official yariv oppenheimer i expect that with god s help this will all happen in the next few years and there will be one state here what is critical as always is how much help he can expect from washington on the modes of settlement expansion see zertal and eldar lords of the land on expanding rings of land see b tselem access denied israeli measures to deny palestinians access to land around settlements september 2008 www btselem org english publications summaries 200809_access_denied asp 48 quoted in gorenberg accidental empire 82 yossi beilin mehiro shel ihud tel aviv revivim 1985 42 an important review of cabinet records under the labor governments that held power until 1977 49 quoted in gorenberg accidental empire 99f 110 1 173 for careful analysis of the court decisions see norman finkelstein beyond chutzpah berkeley and los angeles university of california press 2008 expanded paperback edition postscript 227 70 50 ran hacohen pacifying gaza antiwar com december 31 2008 http antiwar com hacohen articleid 13970 51 shlomo avineri haaretz march 18 2003 perhaps this was intended as irony though it seems not it is often hard to tell the term in hebrew for israeli propaganda is hasbara explanation since whatever israel does is necessarily right and just it is only necessary to explain it to confused outsiders 52 ari shavit gaza op may be squeezing hamas but it s destroying israel s soul haaretz january 16 2009 53 un press conference on gaza humanitarian situation united nations january 15 2009 www un org news briefings docs 2009 090115_gaza doc htm tobias buck andrew england and heba saleh assault kills top hamas leader financial times january 15 2009 al jazeera gazans count the cost of war january 16 2009 http english aljazeera net news middleeast 2009 01 2009116144139351463 html tamer saliba and patrick quinn un says gaza faces humanitarian catastrophe associated press january 16 2009 54 amnesty international israel occupied palestinian territories israel s use of white phosphorus against gaza civilians clear and undeniable january 19 2009 www amnesty org en for media press releases israeloccupied palestinian territories israel039s use white phosphorus a and foreign supplied weapons used against civilians by israel and hamas february 20 2009 www amnesty org en news and updates foreign supplied weapons used against civilians israel and hamas 20090220 ai also called for an embargo on hamas but that is clearly meaningless 55 sheera frenkel amnesty international gaza white phosphorus shells were us made times london online february 24 2009 www timesonline co uk tol news world middle_east article5792182 ece amnesty international says israel misused us supplied weapons in gaza voa news february 23 2009 www voanews com english 2009 02 23 voa17 cfm 56 peter beaumont gaza desperately short of food after israel destroys farmland observer february 1 2009 donald macintyre an assault on the peace process independent january 26 2009 57 irin un office for coordination of humanitarian affairs tough times for university students in gaza march 26 2009 www irinnews org printreport aspx reportid 83655 58 gideon levy the ebb the tide the sighs haaretz november 16 2008 al mezan center condemns the escalation of israeli violations against palestinian fishers and calls on the international community to act and civil society to intensify its solidarity campaigns al mezan center for human rights press release march 25 2009 www mezan org en details php id 8594 ddname fishermen id_dept 9 id2 9 p center international solidarity movement gazan coast becoming a no go zone february 16 2009 gaza marine project and who owns it video www youtube com watch v cyptd6qklve feature channel_page 59 platts commodity news february 3 2000 see also platts commodity news december 3 2008 israel power firm sends top team to london for talks with bg platt s commodity news february 16 2009 reporting that iec is sending a high level delegation to london for talks with bg on purchase of natural gas from the marine gaza field economist intelligence unit january 20 amotz asa el gas discovery tempers israeli recession blues market watch jerusalem january 27 2009 steve hawkes and sonia verma jerusalem bg group at centre of 4bn deal to supply gaza gas to israel times london may 23 2007 michel chossudovsky war and natural gas the israeli invasion and gaza s offshore gas fields center for research on globalization january 8 2009 www globalresearch ca index php context va aid 11680 also martin barillas massive natural gas deposits found off israel january 19 2009 speronews www speroforum com a 17732 massive natural gas deposits found off isr 60 see good news iraq and beyond chap 5 in hopes and prospects chicago haymarket 2010 61 apocalypse near noam chomsky interview by merav yudilovitch ynet august 4 2006 www ynetnews com articles 0 7340 l 3286204 00 html 62 ali abunimah we have no words left guardian december 29 2008 mustapha barghouti palestine s guernica and the myths of israeli victimhood http palestinethinktank com 2008 12 29 mustafa barghouti palestines guernica and the myths of israeli victimhood december 29 2008 63 hillary clinton s stern admonition when israel demolished eighty more arab homes in east jerusalem in sue pleming and mohammed assadi clinton criticises israel over e jerusalem demolition reuters march 4 2009 64 among others on hamas see ismail haniyeh aggression under false pretenses washington post july 11 2006 khalid mish al our unity can now pave the way for peace and justice guardian february 13 2007 guy dinmore and najmeh bozorgmehr iran accepts two state answer in mideast financial times september 2 2006 leader attends memorial ceremony marking the 17th departure anniversary of imam khomeini the center for preserving and publishing the works of grand ayatollah sayyid ali khamenei june 4 2006 http english khamenei ir index php option com_content task view id 442 itemid 2 see also iran scholar ervand abrahamian khamenei has said iran would agree to whatever the palestinians decide in david barsamian ed targeting iran san francisco city lights 2007 112 hassan nasrallah has repeatedly expressed the same position 65 for brief review of the record and sources see failed states see further norman finkelstein image and reality of the israel palestine conflict london verso 1996 new edition 2003 for a detailed critical analysis of israel s security strategy from the outset revealing clearly the preference for expansion over security and diplomatic settlement see zeev maoz defending the holy land ann arbor university of michigan press 2006 66 ethan bronner gaza war role is political lift for ex premier new york times january 8 2009 67 see failed states 193ff 68 gareth porter israel rejected hamas ceasefire offer in december inter press service january 9 2009 www ipsnews net print asp idnews 45350 for detailed analysis of the record of violation of cease fires in the past decade see nancy kanwisher johannes haushofer and anat biletzki reigniting violence how do ceasefires end huffington post january 6 2009 www huffingtonpost com nancy kanwisher reigniting violence how d _b_155611 html their analysis shows that it is overwhelmingly israel that kills first after a pause in the conflict indeed it is virtually always israel that kills first after a lull lasting more than a week 69 dion nissenbaum israeli ban on sending pasta to gaza illustrates frictions mcclatchy newspapers february 25 2009 joshua mitnick and charles levinson world news peace holds in gaza u n chief blasts israel wall street journal january 21 2009 and many others on hamas post invasion truce offers reiterating those rejected by israel before the attack see khaled abu toameh haniyeh hamas will consider cease fire initiatives fatah official says leader in hiding has raised the white flag jerusalem post january 13 2009 stephen gutkin hamas officials signal willingness to negotiate associated press january 29 2009 on israel s rejection of truce offers shortly before the attack see porter israel rejected hamas ceasefire peter beaumont israel pm s family link to hamas peace bid olmert rejected palestinian attempts to set up talks through go between before gaza invasion observer march 1 2009 33 70 amos harel and avi issacharoff idf carries out first arrest in gaza strip since pullout haaretz june 24 2006 www haaretz com news idf carries out first arrest in gaza strip since pullout 1 191233 caleb carr a war of escalating errors los angeles times august 12 2006 noam chomsky interventions san francisco city lights 2007 188 71 howard friel and richard falk israel palestine on record new york verso 2007 136 citing human rights watch june 30 2006 72 quoted in jeremy bowen bowen diary the days before war bbc news january 10 2009 http news bbc co uk 2 hi middle_east 7822048 stm 73 regev interviewed by david fuller channel 4 uk video www youtube com watch v n6e elrgyl0 editorial the other israel holon israel december 2008 january 2009 74 rory mccarthy gaza truce broken as israeli raid kills six hamas gunmen guardian november 5 2008 75 david rose the gaza bombshell vanity fair april 2008 norman olsen an inside story of how the us magnified palestinian suffering christian science monitor january 12 2009 76 ethan bronner u s helps palestinians build force for security new york times february 27 2009 kerry speech on the middle east 77 on the origins of these methods in the philippines after the u s invading army destroyed the popular forces that had effectively liberated the country from spanish rule slaughtering hundreds of thousands of filipinos in the process and the ways in which these new methods fed back to imposing surveillance and population control at home see alfred mccoy policing america s empire the united states the philippines and the rise of the surveillance state madison wi university of wisconsin press 2009 among other studies see martha huggins political policing the united states and central america chapel hill nc duke university press 1998 patrice mcsherry predatory states operation condor and covert war in latin america lanham md rowman littlefield 2005 78 sara roy if gaza falls london review of books january 1 2009 26 sara roy israel s victories in gaza come at a steep price christian science monitor january 2 2009 physicians for human rights israel emergency gaza update 28 12 2008 www phr org il default asp pageid 190 itemid 430 79 porter israel rejected hamas beaumont israel pm s family link to hamas peace bid observer uk march 1 2009 80 akiva eldar white flag black flag haaretz january 5 2009 www haaretz com hasen spages 1052621 html 81 david remnick homelands new yorker january 12 2009 82 see fateful triangle 201ff pirates and emperors 56f 83 stephen lee myers the new meaning of an old battle new york times january 4 2009 84 david ben gurion the strongman of the yishuv accepted the un partition plan but he did not accept as final the borders it laid down for the jewish state expecting them to be established by a clear cut jewish military victory avi shlaim the iron wall new york w w norton 2000 28 9 in internal discussion ben gurion made it clear that there are no final arrangements in history there are no eternal borders and there are no ultimate political claims changes and transformations will still occur in the world we accepted the loss of trans jordan jordan but we have the right to the whole of western palestine and we want the land of israel in its entirety uri ben eliezer the making of israeli militarism bloomington indiana university press 1998 150 1 85 maoz defending the holy land 103 86 chomsky towards a new cold war 461 462n citing toldot hahaganah vol 2 251f he was accused of pathological behavior for referring correctly to the opposition of native born jews to zionism and for homosexuality 87 amnesty international gaza ceasefire at risk november 5 2008 www amnesty org en news and updates news gaza ceasefire at risk 20081105 88 fateful triangle 64f for substantial evidence supporting this conclusion see maoz defending the holy land 89 andrew cordesman the war in gaza tactical gains strategic defeat center for strategic and international studies january 9 2009 http csis org publication war gaza for turki al faisal s own words see saudi arabia s patience is running out financial times january 23 2009 90 uri avnery how many divisions gush shalom israeli peace bloc january 10 2009 http zope gush shalom org home en channels avnery 1231625457 91 baruch kimmerling politicide ariel sharon s war against the palestinians london verso 2003 chapter six blueprint for a one state movement a troubled history 1 see ilan pappé a history of modern palestine one country two peoples 2nd ed cambridge cambridge university press 2006 115 16 2 i have written on the minority report in ilan pappé the making of the arab israeli conflict 1947 1951 london and new york i b tauris 2001 16 46 3 united nations archives unscop verbatim report in united nations general assembly files second session august november 1947 4 see ali abuminah one country a bold proposal to end the israeli palestinian impasse new york holt mcdougal 2007 ghada karmi married to another man israel s dilemma in palestine london pluto press 2007 joel kovel overcoming zionism creating a single democratic state in israel palestine london pluto press 2007 and jamil hilal ed where now for palestine the demise of the two state solution london zed books 2007 5 the web site of that campaign is the palestinian campaign for the academic cultural boycott of israel www pacbi org 6 see meron benvisiti the binationalism vogue haaretz april 30 2009 this was written as a response to the march 2009 boston conference declaration 7 the italian journalist and writer paolo barnard is the senior political correspondent of rai and he posted seven short clips titled palestine israel the missing narratives on youtube in may 2009 8 shimon peres now and tomorrow tel aviv mabat books 1978 20 9 see david landau maximum jews minimum arabs haaretz november 13 2003 chapter eight the ghettoization of palestine 1 un expert palestinian terror inevitable result of occupation associated press november 15 2009 www haaretz com hasen spages 958358 html situation in the gaza strip policy of isolation has failed say meps february 21 2008 united nations information system on the question of palestine http unispal un org unispal nsf 0 7b4d40f e41cdcb91852573fb0057f9f0 palestinians suspend contact with israel sky news online march 2 2008 http news sky com skynews home sky news archive article 20080641307601 2 yossi beilin mehiro shel ihud revivim 1985 3 michael walzer on arabs and jews the chimera of a binational state dissent xix no 3 summer 1972 492 99 quote page 497 4 alan dershowitz video www youtube com watch v hcshwgo6m1m 5 barak ravid israel to boycott durban ii anti racism conference november 21 2008 haaretz com www haaretz com hasen spages 1038984 html 6 israeli diplomat postpones meeting after costa rica recognizes palestinian state associated press february 27 2008 www haaretz com hasen spages 958208 html 7 views of china and russia decline in global poll bbc world service february 6 2009 www worldpublicopinion org pipa pdf feb09 bbcevals_feb09 _rpt pdf 8 israeli pm olmert addresses congress address transcript from cq transcriptions inc printed in washington post may 24 2006 www washingtonpost com wp dyn content article 2006 05 24 ar2006052401420 html the applause levels are recorded in the transcript 9 amir oren who s the boss haaretz november 29 2002 www haaretz com print edition features who s the boss 1 26841 10 see glenn kessler the trail blog washingtonpost com june 5 2008 http blog washingtonpost com 44 2008 06 05 obama_backtracks_on_jerusalem html 11 see z magazine february 2008 see also my hopes and prospects chicago haymarket books 2010 12 see obama on israel palestine znet january 25 2009 www zcommunications org obama on israel palestine by noam chomsky 1 see also my hopes and prospects chicago haymarket books 2010 13 gaza from blockade to bloodshed editorial guardian june 1 2010 www guardian co uk commentisfree 2010 jun 01 gaza blockade bloodshed editorial chapter nine the killing fields of gaza 2004 2009 1 on the plans to establish the dummy city see the daily globes in hebrew may 20 2002 planning actually began in 2002 there is also an interesting report of a soldier who participated in the training on the blog on november 7 2009 www dacho co il showtheread php see also the idf s own announcement on its website an article by ido elazar www 1 idf il elram 2 see ilan pappé responses to gaza london review of books 21 no 2 january 29 2009 5 6 3 ibid 4 breaking the silence report on gaza july 15 2009 the ngo has a web site www shovrimshtika org where this report is available and has also published a ninety six page booklet entitled soldiers testimonies from operation cast lead gaza 2009 5 john dugard report of the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the palestinian territories occupied by israel since 1967 un commission on human rights geneva united nations march 3 2005 6 see yediot ahronoth for an analysis by the israeli journalist roni sofer on september 27 2005 7 avi isaacharoff and amos harel analysis gaza gains have softened israel stance on shalit deal haaretz january 25 2009 www haaretz com print edition news analysis gaza gains have softened israel stance on shalit deal 1 268774 8 see the report by amir buhbut and uri glickman the idf had attacked in gaza maariv september 25 2005 9 several generals and ex generals expressed this view in a collection of articles in a strategic journal published by the israeli institute for national security studies adkan estrategi strategic update 11 no 4 february 2009 10 amos harel and avi issacharoff one humilation too many haaretz july 13 2006 11 ilan pappé ingathering london review of books 28 no 8 april 20 2006 15 12 yehuda ben meir and daphna shaked public opinion and national security adkan estrategi 10 no 1 june 2007 25 8 13 see ilan pappé the ethnic cleansing of palestine oxford oneworld publications 2006 14 sean mcbride et al israel in lebanon the report of the international commission to enquire into reported violations of international law by israel during its invasion of lebanon london ithaca press 1983 15 see the united nations office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs ocha special report of august 2007 16 b tselem 683 people killed in the conflict in 2006 press release december 28 2006 www btselem org english press_releases 20061228 asp 17 ibid 18 see operation autumn clouds has ended maariv s summary of the operation on november 7 2006 19 gabi siboni the third threat haaretz september 30 2009 20 breaking the silence report on cast lead operation july 15 2009 21 b tselem gaza power and water cuts and bread shortage press release november 27 2008 www btselem org english gaza_strip 20081127_more _sanctions_on_gaza asp and b tselem b tselem to attorney general mazuz concern over israel targeting civilian objects in the gaza strip press release december 31 2008 www btselem org english gaza_strip 20081231_gaza_letter_to_mazuz asp 22 israel accused of gaza genocide al jazeera january 14 2009 http english aljazeera net news americas 2009 01 200911321467988347 html 23 quoted in nurgul bulbul oktay akbal israel commits genocide in gaza turkish weekly january 5 2009 24 egeland and eliasson quoted in john pilger terror and starvation in gaza new statesman january 22 2007 www newstatesman com media 2007 01 pilger genocide gaza palestine 25 richard falk slouching towards a palestinian holocaust transnational foundation for peace and future research june 29 2007 www transnational org area_middleeast 2007 falk_palestinegenocide html 26 world stands united against genocide in gaza al arabiya december 28 2008 www alarabiya net articles 2008 12 28 62977 html 27 ibid 28 quoted in several places see for instance morton a klein ya alon we need chuchills not chamberlains jewishpress may 17 2006 www jewishpress com printarticle cfm contentid 17947 chapter ten a middle east peace that could happen but won t 1 amira hass an israeli achievement bitterlemons org april 20 2009 www bitterlemons org previous bl200409ed15 html isr2 2 sara roy harvard crimson june 2 2009 for extensive review of the ugly details see roy s before gaza after gaza examining the new reality in israel palestine to appear in palestine the palestinians today center for contemporary arab studies georgetown university abbreviated version of introduction to third edition of roy gaza strip 3 see hopes and prospects chicago haymarket books 2010 pp 150f and sources 4 peter beaumont gazans look for a place to breathe by the sea guardian may cited in note 16 chap 6 27 2009 5 israel lets power firm seek more gaza gas to diversify supplies platt s commodity news february 3 2009 israeli power firm sends top team to london for gas talks with bg platt s commodity news february 16 2009 6 for sources and more on evans s role in this regard see year 501 new york south end press 1999 chap 4 powers and prospects new york south end press 1999 chaps 7 and 8 also australian southeast asian specialist and former intelligence officer clinton fernandes s review of evans s record 2009 ms 7 international commission on intervention and state sovereignty gareth evans and mohamed sahnoun co chairs the responsibility to protect report of the iciss ottawa canada idrc books december 2001 gareth evans an idea whose time has come and gone economist july 23 2009 see human rights in the new millennium talk at london school of economics october 29 2009 www chomsky info talks 20091029 htm z magazine january 2010 www chomsky info evans alatas photo there and at edward herman and david peterson the responsibility to protest the international criminal court and foreign policy in focus mrzine august 24 2009 http mrzine monthlyreview org hp240809 html 8 avi issacharoff world bank aid isn t enough to spark palestinian growth haaretz may 6 2009 associated press may 6 2009 reuters may 7 2009 for analysis of the harsh and deterioriating conditions see nadim kawach international solidarity movement january 17 2010 http palsolidarity org 2010 01 10761 9 beilin mehiro shel ihud 42 3 10 quoted in barak ravid israeli ministers no west bank settlement freeze haaretz may 31 2009 11 the first revelation to the general public of israel s u s backed rejection of the road map it was known and discussed in activist circles is in jimmy carter s book palestine peace not apartheid new york simon schuster 2006 the reservations are given in an appendix the book aroused a storm of protest as far as i could determine this important section the one revelation new to the general informed public was not mentioned there were great efforts to find trivial errors but the one serious error was also ignored carter s repetition of the 29 1993 june 1 2009 times june 2 2009 may 29 2009 conventional myth that israel s 1982 invasion of lebanon was in defense against plo rockets already discussed see hopes and prospects 153 54 and note 21 chap 6 12 quoted in hadashot october 8 1993 yair fidel hadashot supplement october 13 helene cooper u s weighs tactics on israeli settlement new york times 14 isabel kershner israel and u s can t close split on settlements new york 15 akiva eldar border control nothing natural about it haaretz june 2 2009 16 jackson diehl abbas s waiting game on peace with israel washington post 17 karen deyoung and howard schneider israel putting forth unprecedented concessions clinton says washington post november 1 2009 18 geneva accord october 31 2003 electronic intifada historical documents see also menachem klein a possible peace between israel and palestine an insider s account of the geneva initiative new york columbia university press 2007 19 ed hornick obama looks to reach the soul of the muslim world cnn june 3 2009 http edition cnn com 2009 politics 06 03 obama muslim outreach thomas friedman obama speech aimed at both arabs and israelis new york times june 3 2009 20 david bar illan director of communications and policy planning in the office of the prime minister interview palestine israel journal summer autumn 1996 21 jeff zeleny and michael slackman as obama begins trip arabs want israeli gesture new york times june 4 2009 about the contributors ilan pappé is a professor of history at the university of exeter and is the author of the ethnic cleansing of palestine a history of modern palestine and the israel palestine question noam chomsky is institute professor emeritus of linguistics and philosophy at the massachusetts institute of technology he is the author of numerous books including the new york times bestsellers hegemony or survival failed states and hopes and prospects frank barat is a human rights activist he lives in london he is the coordinator of the russell tribunal on palestine he has written for electronic intifada counterpunch zmagazine the new internationalist the palestine chronicle state of nature and other web sites and publications this file was downloaded from z library project your gateway to knowledge and culture accessible for everyone z library se singlelogin re go to zlibrary se single login ru official telegram channel z access https wikipedia org wiki z library

israel s occupation israel s occupation neve gordon university of california press berkeley los angeles london university of california press one of the most distinguished university presses in the united states enriches lives around the world by advancing scholarship in the humanities social sciences and natural sciences its activities are supported by the uc press foundation and by philanthropic contributions from individuals and institutions for more information visit www ucpress edu university of california press berkeley and los angeles california university of california press ltd london england 2008 by th e regents of the university of california library of congress cataloging in publication data gordon neve 1965 israel s occupation neve gordon p cm includes bibliographical references and index isbn 978 0 520 25530 2 cloth alk paper isbn 978 0 520 25531 9 pbk alk paper 1 arab israeli confl ict occupied territories 2 jews colonization government policy west bank 3 jews colonization government policy gaza strip 4 israel politics and government 1993 5 west bank politics and government 6 gaza strip politics and government 7 palestinian arabs politics and government 8 military occupation social aspects west bank 9 military occupation social aspects gaza strip 10 arab israeli confl ict i title ds119 7 g646 2008 956 9405 4 dc22 2007052239 manufactured in the united states of america 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 th is book is printed on natures book which contains 50 post consumer waste and meets the minimum requirements of ansi niso z39 48 1992 r 1997 permanence of paper for my parents rachella and haim contents list of illustrations ix list of abbreviations xi acknowledgments xiii preface xv introduction of dowries and brides 1 1 th e infrastructure of control 23 2 th e invisible occupation 48 3 of horses and riders 70 4 identifi cation trouble 93 5 civilian control 116 6 th e intifada 147 7 outsourcing the occupation 169 8 th e separation principle 197 epilogue 223 appendix 1 structure of the civil branch of the west bank s military government 227 appendix 2 west bank settlements according to year established 229 notes 233 index 291 illustrations maps 1 areas occupied by israel during the 1967 war xii 2 west bank settlements according to year established 3 areas controlled by settlements 4 areas a b and c of the west bank 5 jewish settlements and outposts 6 west bank separation barriers checkpoints and roadblocks 126 178 134 195 210 figures 1972 81 67 1 percentage of gaza strip households with selected appliances 2 aerial photo of beitar illit showing municipal boundaries 3 aerial photo of beitar illit closer view showing jewish houses built 135 outside the municipal boundaries 136 4 number of palestinians killed during the fi rst intifada and the oslo years 182 i x 5 changes in israeli and palestinian per capita gdp during the oslo 6 increase in number of new jewish settlers in the west bank 7 appendix 1 overview of the structure of the west bank s military years 184 1967 2000 194 government 228 tables 1 number of palestinians killed since 1967 2 appendix 2 west bank settlements according to year xvii established 229 x l i s t o f i l l u s t r at i o n s abbreviations democratic front for the liberation of palestine general security services human rights watch israeli lira old currency military order nongovernmental organization occupied territories palestinian authority popular front for the liberation of palestine palestinian liberation organization palestinian national front dflp gss hrw il mo ngo ot pa pflp plo pnf unrwa united nations relief and work agency x i map 1 areas occupied by israel during the 1967 war source peace now acknowledgments th is book could not have been written without the insights and support of numerous people yinon cohen ariel handel niels hooper adi ophir catherine rottenberg and eyal weizman read the whole manu script and off ered useful comments as did the anonymous reviewers from the uni versity of california press lynne alvarez efrat ben ze ev nitza berkovitch robert blecher wendy brown roane carey hillel cohen dani filc shira robinson james ron gina rucavado jacinda swanson and yuval yonay read diff erent chapters and their insightful suggestions helped me reshape my ideas as i revised the book yehezkel lien from b tselem was an invaluable resource as i was writing hagit ofran from peace now helped prepare the maps and my research assistants dan gurfi nkel ohad ivri and erela portugaly gathered useful material th e idea for the book emerged as a result of my participation in the humanitarian action in catastrophe group at van leer institute in jerusalem where tal arbel sari hanafi ariel handel michal givoni shir hever ruthie ginsburg adi ophir and several others underscored the urgent need to theorize israel s occupation and helped me to formu late some of my thoughts about the operation of power in the west bank and gaza strip conversations with gadi al gazi yigal bronner fred dallmayr salomka dunievitz irit eshet farid ghanem haim gordon rivca gordon ruchama marton yoram meital ann pettifer uri x i i i rosenwaks amnon sadovsky peter walshe oren yift achel as well as many of those mentioned above forced me to think critically about the occupation others have simply been there over the years supporting me and my work among them are muhammad abu humus amnon agmi barak atzmon mor dechai gordon nitsan gordon galila spharim tal yagil niza yanay ariel van straten and gil winraob members of the department of politics and government at ben gurion university have always stood by me even in times of fi erce attacks and i would like to use this venue to express my deep gratitude to lauren basson dani filc fred lazin becky kook david newman sharon pardo renee poznanski ahmad sa di and haim yacobi as well as to nurit klein and anat segal i began writing the book in 2004 during a sabbatical at the university of california berkeley where nezar alsayyad from the center for middle eastern studies and eric stover from the human rights center welcomed me and provided me with the necessary resources to write i also want to take this opportunity to thank wendy brown and judith butler for making berkeley a home away from home and to express my gratitude to beshara doumani and salim tamari who wittingly or unwittingly helped me gain a better perspective about the occupation s history th e herzog center for middle east studies at ben gurion university provided me with the neces sary resources to complete the work once i returned to israel finally this book would not have been written without catherine ariel and aviv the three most important people in my life x i v ac k n ow l e d g m e n t s preface it took me a moment before i understood why my story about a few relatively inconsequential incidents which occurred years ago at my high school had such an eff ect on the undergraduates taking my course in the fall semester of 2006 one of the anecdotes was about my classmates who lived in the jewish settlements located in the northern tip of the sinai peninsula it was 1981 and the following year they would be forced to leave their homes as part of israel s peace agreement with egypt but at the time i told my students the evacuation did not seem imminent at least not in the minds of many teenagers for whom each year stretches without end a particular issue that did occupy us i continued was learning to drive i described to my students how my friends from the farming communities located in the sinai and the small town of yamit took their lessons in the palestinian town of rafah and were among the fi rst to pass their driving tests my students found this story incomprehensible th ey simply could not imagine israeli teenagers taking driving lessons in the middle of rafah which in their minds is no more than a terrorist nest riddled with tunnels used to smuggle weapons from egypt weapons that are subsequently used against israeli targets th e average age diff erence between me and my students is only 15 years but our perspectives are radically diff erent most of my students have never talked with palestinians from the occupied territories ot except perhaps as soldiers during their military service x v x v th eir acquaintance with palestinians is consequently limited to three minute news bites that almost always report on palestinian attacks on israeli targets or israeli military assaults on palestinian towns when i was a high school student by contrast i frequently hitched a ride back from school with palestinian taxis on their way from gaza to beer sheva within the current context of the israeli palestinian confl ict this act is unfathomable no taxis from the ot are allowed to enter israel and even if they had somehow managed to obtain an entry permit israeli jews would be afraid to use them palestinians who not so long ago were an integral part of the israeli landscape primarily as low wage laborers who built houses cleaned streets and worked in agriculture have literally disap peared if in 1981 most israelis and palestinians could travel freely between the ot and israel the pre 1967 borders and in many respects felt safe doing so currently palestinians are locked up in the gaza strip and israelis are not permitted to enter the region palestinians from the west bank are also confi ned to their villages and towns however within this region jews and particularly jewish settlers are allowed to come and go as they please th e students reaction to my teenage experiences brought to the fore a crucial issue that is oft en overlooked namely that israel s occupation has dramatically changed over the past four decades yet the obviousness of this observation does not in any way suggest that one can easily explain the causes leading to the transformation what one might ask distinguishes the occu pation of the late 1960s 1970s and 1980s from the current occupation repertoires of violence while the changes in the ot have manifested themselves in all areas of life they are particularly conspicuous when counting bodies see table 1 during the six year period between 2001 and 2007 israel has on average killed more palestinians per year than it killed during the fi rst twenty years of occupation moreover since the eruption of the second intifada israelis have killed almost twice as many palestinians as they killed in the preceding thirty four years how can one make sense of the increasing violence israel has used to uphold the occupation of the west bank and gaza strip and why did the israeli military government radically alter the forms of control it deployed to manage the palestinian residents of the ot insert table 1 about here th ose who help manufacture public opinion within israel claim that the x v i p r e fac e table 1 number of palestinians killed since 1967 years june 1967 december 1987 december 1987 september 2000 september 2000 december 2006 total palestinians killed 650 1 491 4 046 6 187 annual average 32 106 674 sources th e numbers in this table are taken from several sources b tselem th e israeli information center for human rights in the occupied territories has documented the number of palestinians killed since the eruption of the fi rst intifada in december 1987 th e number of palestinians killed during the fi rst two decades of the occupation was gathered from diff erent sources according to the palestinian organization of families of the deceased an estimated four hundred gazans were killed during the fi rst twenty years of occupation ha aretz august 23 2005 david ronen claims that 87 palestinians were killed in the west bank from the end of the war until december 1967 see his th e year of the shabak tel aviv ministry of defence 1990 57 in hebrew meron benvenisti notes that between 1968 and 1983 92 palestinians were killed in the west bank see th e west bank data project 1986 report demographic economic legal social and political developments in the west bank washington dc american enterprise institute for public policy research 1986 63 in 1986 and 1987 another 30 were killed see meron benvenisti th e west bank data project 1987 report demographic economic legal social and political developments in the west bank washington dc american enterprise institute for public policy research 1987 42 al haq notes that in 1984 11 palestinians were killed see al haq s response to the chapter on israel and the occupied territories in the u s s state department al haq country reports on human rights practices for 1984 ramallah al haq 1985 5 th us the total number is 620 while there is missing data for the year 1985 in the west bank dramatic increase in palestinian deaths is due to the fact that the palestinians have changed the methods of violence they employ against israel and that israel in turn has had to begin using more violent means to defend itself and indeed the number of israelis killed has dramatically increased over the years during the thirteen year period between december 1987 and september 2000 422 israeli were killed by palestinians but during the six year period from the eruption of the second intifada until the end of 2006 1 019 israelis were killed 1 palestinians however might invert this argument claiming that they have altered their methods of resistance in response to israel s use of more lethal violence even though the steady increase in deaths is striking and no doubt an important factor that must be refl ected upon such explanations are symptomatic and do little to reveal the root causes underlying the processes leading to the substantial increase in fatalities th ey are not very helpful for those interested in making sense p r e f a c e x v i i of what has been going on in the west bank and gaza strip because they are merely an eff ect of other signifi cant changes that have taken place over the years also worth noting is that the number of palestinians who have been killed is relatively small in comparison with those killed during other military occupations during the military occupation of iraq by the united states for example on average more civilians have been killed per day than were killed during a whole year in the west bank and gaza strip between the years 1967 and 1987 moreover the united nations reports that during the four month period of may through august 2006 12 417 iraqi civilians were killed many more than the number of palestinians killed during four decades of israeli military rule 2 th e civilian death tolls in chechnya east timor and other areas that have been under military occupation tend to resemble the death toll in iraq and in certain instances are much higher 3 what is common to these places is that they are part of what derek gregory has called the colonial present which is characterized among other things by two cartographic performances 4 th e fi rst is a performance of sovereignty through which the ruptured spaces of afghanistan iraq and the occupied territories aft er oslo are simulated as coherent states even though none of these entities is in fact a real state sovereignty has to be conjured to render the categories of political action meaningful th e second is a performance of territory through which fl uid networks like al qaeda are fi xed into a bounded space that can then be legitimately bombed and occupied indeed the artifi cial ascription of a fi xed and well delineated space to al qaeda and other similar networks justifi es the subsequent bombing and military seizing of space th us while gregory tries to outline the features common to the colonial present my objective is to focus on the diff erences between contemporary colonial regimes and the changes they undergo over time in this book i concentrate on the changes in the west bank and gaza strip it is i believe important to try to understand why in comparison with other military occupations a relatively small number of palestinians have been killed particularly during the fi rst thirty four years of occupation th e basic assumption in this book is that there is an inverse correlation between sheer violence which is used primarily to suppress resistance and to create endemic uncertainty and insecurity and forms of control that aim to normalize military occupations by harnessing and directing the energies of x v i i i p r e fac e the inhabitants toward activities that coincide with the occupier s interests th us the increase in the number of palestinians killed is a sign that israel s eff orts to normalize the occupation have failed showing that there was indeed a change in the way israel has controlled the ot does not however explain what propelled this shift hence over and above the historical portrayal of israel s occupation the aim of this book is to uncover the causes leading to the transformations that have taken place in west bank and gaza strip th e book s central thesis is that certain elements in the occupation s structure rather than the decisions made by a particular politician or military offi cer altered the forms of control for many years i maintain the occupation operated according to the colonization principle by which i mean the attempt to administer the lives of the people and normalize the colonization while exploiting the territory s resources in this case land water and labor over time a series of structural contradictions undermined this principle and gave way in the mid 1990s to another guiding principle namely the separation principle by separation i mean the abandonment of eff orts to administer the lives of the colonized population except for the people living in the seam zones or going through checkpoints while insisting on the continued exploitation of nonhuman resources land and water th e lack of interest in or indif ference to the lives of the colonized population that is characteristic of the separation principle accounts for the recent surge in lethal violence th us by underscoring the structural dimension of israel s military rule i hope to explain why for many years israel s occupation was much less violent than other military occupations and why it has radically changed however before i turn to the introduction which outlines the book s major argu ments two crucial points about the book s historical and spatial framework need to be stressed as is well known the confl ict between israelis and palestinians com menced much before 1967 and has to a large extent been shaped by the struggles that began toward the end of the nineteenth century th ese struggles reached their peak in the 1948 war which jewish israelis refer to as the war of independence and which palestinians call the nakbah or catastrophe i fi rmly believe that one cannot understand the current dis putes informing the israeli palestinian confl ict without taking into account the ethnic cleansing that took place during and aft er the 1948 war 5 so long as decision makers continue to relate to the confl ict as if it can be resolved p r e f a c e x i x by addressing the wrongs committed in 1967 while ignoring 1948 and the palestinian refugee problem there will be no lasting political solution in the region i accentuate this point to underscore that my decision to concentrate on 1967 and its aft ermath does not intend in any way to suggest that the israeli palestinian confl ict can be reduced to the military occupation of the west bank gaza strip and east jerusalem many of my liberal allies in israel including some who are prominent members of the peace camp are still unwilling to face up to this long history i decided nonetheless to concentrate on the post 1967 period because i am interested in interrogating how the israeli military occupation has operated rather than examining the root causes of and possible solutions to the confl ict by concentrating on the west bank and gaza strip israel s occupation also makes a spatial distinction that is analytically very useful for the purposes of this book but at the same time helps obscure the de facto connection that has been established between the west bank and israel 6 israel has been ambivalent about emphasizing either the de jure distinction or the de facto bond between the regions because in each case an acute contradiction emerges imagine for example the minister of housing or the secretary of state living permanently outside the united states th is might sound absurd but if one takes the de jure distinction between israel and the ot seriously and ignores the de facto connection between the regions this is exactly the situation in israel several israeli legislators and government ministers live in the ot and therefore do not reside within the internationally recognized borders of the country that they were elected to lead and represent along similar lines the jewish settlers who comprise about 7 percent of the israeli citizenry live permanently abroad they vote and pay taxes and for all practical purposes are extraterritorial citizens who like diplomats carry the israeli law on their backs in order to resolve these paradoxes one might stress the de facto connection between the regions but then the inaccuracy of describing israel as the only democracy in the middle east would be exposed th e de jure distinction helps eclipse the fact that for the past four decades about 30 percent of the people living within the territory controlled by the israeli government are not citizens cannot vote and are denied the most basic rights while an analysis based on the de facto situation provides in many respects a more accurate depiction of reality my decision to treat the territories that israel occupied in 1967 as a separate unit even though x x p r e fac e such an interrogation helps mask certain historical and spatial truths was determined by the book s primary objective i am interested in trying to understand how israel s military occupation ticks th e goal is to uncover the daily practices through which the palestinian inhabitants within the ot have been managed and to explain why israel s mechanisms of control were altered over the years in this way i not only wish to unravel some of the major processes leading to the terminal shift s in israel s occupation but also to underscore the structural causes leading to the escalation of violence as well the dangerous implications of israel s insistence on continuing to control palestinian land readers who are uninterested in my theoretical argument can skip the introduction and go directly to the fi rst chapter where i begin the historical portrayal by outlining the infrastructure of control p r e f a c e x x i introduction of dowries and brides when i asked eshkol what are we going to do with a million arabs he said i get it you want the dowry but you don t like the bride exchange between levi eshkol and golda meir during a mapai party meeting september 1967 on june 8 1967 just a few hours aft er the israeli military captured jerusalem s temple mount harem al sharif defense minister moshe dayan visited the site noticing that troops had hung an israeli fl ag on the cap of the al aqsa shrine dayan asked one of the soldiers to remove it adding that displaying the israeli national symbol for all to see was an unnecessarily provocative act 1 th ose who visited the occupied territories ot in the 1980s and 1990s no doubt noticed israeli fl ags fl uttering over almost every building israel occupied as well as above every jewish settlement moreover most military jeeps and armored vehicles had fl ags attached to one of their antennas as they patrolled palestinian villages towns and cities ariel sharon s highly publicized visit to the al aqsa compound in september 2000 an act deemed by many to be intentionally provocative and that served as the trigger for the second intifada could be considered the fi nal step in a process that has ultimately undone dayan s strategic legacy of trying to normalize the occupation by concealing israel s presence don t rule them he once said let them lead their own lives 2 another signifi cant change that has transpired over the years involves the israeli government s relationship to trees the symbol of life if in 1968 israel helped palestinians in the gaza strip plant some 618 000 trees and provided farmers with improved varieties of seeds for vegetables and fi eld crops during the fi rst three years of the second intifada israel destroyed more than 1 1 10 percent of gaza s agricultural land and uprooted more than 226 000 trees 3 th e appearance and proliferation of the fl ag on the one hand and the razing of trees on the other signify a fundamental transformation in israel s attempts to control the occupied palestinian inhabitants and point to a profound modifi cation in the modes of power employed in the ter ritories it appears as if israel decided to alter its methods of upholding the occupation replacing a politics of life which aimed to secure the existence and livelihood of the palestinian inhabitants with a politics of death military documents newspaper articles and a series of reports indeed indicate that the occupation in the late 1960s and 1970s was very diff erent from the occupation in the 1980s and 1990s the 1980s and 1990s in turn witnessed an occupation quite diff erent from the one of the past several years what spurred israel to change so dramatically the way it man ages the palestinian population how did israel administer the palestinian inhabitants during the occupation s fi rst years why did it modify the methods it employed to manage the lives of the residents and what is the relationship between the changing forms of control and the changes taking place in the political arena th e fact that i could not fi nd satisfactory answers to these questions is due i believe to the kind of scholarly investiga tion that has thus far dominated the fi eld nearly all of the commentators who have written about the occupation have chosen one of three focal points 1 the diff erent diplomatic and peace initiatives between israelis and palestinians as well as the eff ects of international and global processes on the occupation such as the 1973 1982 2006 wars the revolution in iran the 1987 amman summit the two gulf wars and the demise of the soviet union 4 2 israel s diff erent policies toward the occupied palestinians and jewish settlers as well as the impact its political institutions have had on the occupation 5 or 3 palestinian resistance most notably the two palestinian uprisings 6 while these studies are crucial for understanding certain features of the occupation many of them portray israel s military rule as static as if the occupation had remained stable for thirty or forty years scholars who do discuss the changes that have come to pass in the ot attribute them to israel s policy choices palestinian resistance or global processes although such explanations are certainly helpful some of them depict the israeli state as a free agent issuing policies unhindered by contingen cies or portray palestinian resistance as if it were led by people who stand 2 i n t r o d u c t i o n in some free zone and whose beliefs and actions have not been shaped by the occupation and israel s controlling apparatuses taking into account timothy mitchell s criticism of such statist approaches in the following pages i claim that many of the changes in the west bank and gaza strip were and continue to be an outcome of the daily practices characterizing life under occupation 7 even though the israeli state appears to be a free actor from which a series of policies originates a closer investigation reveals that its policies and more particularly the modifi cation of its policies over the years have been shaped by the diff erent mechanisms of control operating in the ot th e same is true of the policy choices of resistance groups like fatah hamas and the popular front for the liberation of palestine and other nonstate actors such as the united nations relief and work agency and the red cross more specifi cally i maintain that the interactions excesses and contradictions produced by the means of control that have been applied in the ot help explain the dramatic changes that have taken place over the years in the west bank and gaza strip and why we are currently witnessing a macabre politics characterized by an increasing number of deaths by means of control i do not only mean the coercive mechanisms used to prohibit exclude and repress people but rather the entire array of institutions legal devices bureaucratic apparatuses social practices and physical edifi ces that operate both on the individual and the population in order to produce new modes of behavior habits interests tastes and aspirations whereas some of the civil institutions like the education and medical systems oper ate as controlling apparatuses in their own right frequently attempting to further the project of normalization they are simultaneously sites through which a variety of other minute controlling practices are introduced and circulated th e purpose and function of controlling mechanisms are oft en determined by the context so that at times certain practices harness and direct human beings in ways that expand the possibilities available to them while in other instances the same practices are deployed to dramatically limit possibilities 8 moreover as the controlling mechanisms circumscribe and infl uence people s behavior these same mechanisms not only presuppose but also help produce the resistance of the people they are employed to manage in the following pages i accordingly aim to complicate and problematize the pervasive misreading of israel s means of control as the straightforward eff ects of its policy choices and palestinian resistance far from simply deter mining which mechanisms of control would be deployed the policies and i n t r o d u c t i o n 3 resistance have themselves been shaped by the interactions excesses and contradictions within and among the apparatuses and practices of control in order to substantiate this claim i off er a historical overview of the occupation that draws attention to the way in which the palestinian inhabitants have been managed by doing this i hope to expose how israel s means of control have actually helped to mold the israeli palestinian confl ict th us israel s occupation fi lls a lacuna in the existing literature not only because it off ers an overview of the occupation something surprisingly that has not yet been done but also because it is the fi rst attempt to make sense of israel s poli cies in the west bank and gaza strip by means of a detailed analysis of the controlling apparatuses and practices 9 finally an interrogation of this kind is advantageous because it helps us see beyond the smoke screen of political proclamations and statements and sheds new light on the way power people and place have been shaped in this bitter ongoing confl ict background perhaps the most signifi cant consequence of the june 1967 war was that it reignited the palestinian problem 10 for the fi rst time since the 1948 war one sovereign power ruled all of mandatory palestine the area administered by the british mandate from 1920 until 1948 and thus the two peoples one land problem returned to the fore 11 in addition to the west bank gaza strip and east jerusalem which had been part of palestine under british rule the israeli military captured the golan heights and sinai peninsula even before the war had ended israel began setting up military administrations in the territories it had occupied yet the levi eshkol government treated the captured regions diff erently suggesting that from the outset israel had distinct intentions regarding each area 12 th e west bank gaza strip and sinai peninsula were placed under a military government and to facilitate the administration of these regions israel reimposed the ottoman british mandatory egyptian and jordanian laws that had been in place prior to the war while adding an array of mili tary orders published by military commanders th ere was no intention of incorporating the residents of these areas into israel the internationally recognized pre 1967 borders east jerusalem as well as an additional 64 square kilometers surrounding the city which had belonged to twenty eight palestinian villages in the west bank were annexed on june 27 just 4 i n t r o d u c t i o n over two weeks aft er the war ended and israel extended its own laws to this entire area for the price of annexing this territory east jerusalemites were partially integrated into israeli society 13 th e golan heights was defi ned as occupied territory the region was only annexed in 1981 but in sharp contrast to the west bank gaza strip and sinai peninsula from the very beginning israeli law was applied in this region by means of decrees published by the military commander 14 during the war most of the golan s residents either fl ed or were expelled thus rendering about one hundred thousand inhabit ants refugees despite the resistance of the sixty fi ve hundred residents who remained they were subsequently made israeli citizens 15 because israel treated each region and its inhabitants diff erently this book concentrates on the west bank and gaza strip the areas where most of the palestinians who were occupied in 1967 reside 16 israel was from the beginning unwilling to withdraw from these two regions and hoped to integrate the land or at least parts of it into its own territory at some future date th is desire can be traced back to two strains of political thought mili taristic and messianic from a militaristic perspective the newly secured ter ritories were seen as necessary for defending israel s borders against external attacks while the water reservoirs in the west bank were considered a vital security resource because of israel s scant water supplies from a messianic perspective the captured regions were seen as part of the biblical land of israel and therefore as belonging to the jews th ese strains of thought oft en converged to create a united front 17 for example immediately aft er israel s independence the right wing political parties the religious zionists and part of labor all agreed that the 1949 armistice borders should be considered temporary and that in the future israel should try to expand its territories for some this desire was informed by a militaristic vision for others by a messianic one and for still others by both th e problem was that the land captured in 1967 had a considerable number of people living on it if in 1948 israel led a campaign that today would be termed ethnic cleansing whereby approximately seven hundred and fi ft y thousand palestinians out of a population of nine hundred thousand in the region that became israel either were forcefully expelled or fl ed across inter national borders in 1967 israel only cleansed two west bank areas of their palestinian inhabitants the jordan valley excluding jericho and the latrun enclave 18 th e jordan valley was partially cleansed because israel wanted to secure the border with jordan th e latrun enclave was depopulated of i n t r o d u c t i o n 5 palestinians because the israeli military did not want any palestinian villages to be in a position to threaten the highway leading to jerusalem 19 all in all between two hundred thousand and two hundred and fi ft y thousand people more than 30 percent of the west bank s inhabitants fl ed to jordan during the war and its direct aft ermath and only about seventeen thousand were ulti mately allowed to return 20 however an estimated one million palestinians remained in the gaza strip and west bank and israel quickly realized that it had to install a system of internal governance within these two regions th e unwillingness to off er the palestinian inhabitants of the west bank and gaza strip citizenship has been informed by the militaristic and mes sianic ideologies mentioned above and involves demographic concerns th e diff erent israeli governments have always contended that israel is the homeland for the jews and therefore jews must retain a clear majority within its territory aft er all israel is a jewish state if israeli citizenship had been granted to the occupied palestinians within a couple of decades the country s jewish population would no longer have been the majority 21 th us from the very beginning israel governed the territories by making a clear distinction between the land it had occupied and the people who inhabited it or as levi eshkol told golda meir in the epigraph to this chapter between the dowry and the bride 22 a series of mechanisms were thus developed to expropriate the occupied land without fully annexing it 23 while numerous apparatuses and practices were introduced to regulate and manage the lives of the palestinians without integrating them into israeli society th e ongoing attempt to separate the occupied land and its inhabitants which is in fact an eff ort to incorporate the west bank and gaza strip into israel s territory without integrating the palestinian population into israeli society refl ects moshe dayan s func tional compromise which was formulated in opposition to labor minister yigal allon s territorial compromise 24 allon s compromise advocated the redrawing of state borders in order to gain maximum security and maxi mum territory for israel with a minimum number of arabs while dayan was in no hurry to make any territorial concessions and instead proposed granting the palestinians some form of self rule israel s unwillingness to incorporate the occupied palestinians and the distinction it made between the inhabitants and their land swift ly became the overarching logic inform ing the occupation a logic that has been only slightly altered over the years while many aspects of israel s military rule have changed dramatically 6 i n t r o d u c t i o n managing the jewish population in israel israel s control focused on two principal sites the occupiers and the occu pied th e fi rst site the one i do not discuss in this book but which is analyzed in ian lustick s unsettled states disputed lands is the jewish population living inside israel proper 25 a historical examination of this site reveals an array of controlling devices that have aimed to naturalize and render the occupation invisible concealing the political violence and exploitation that have upheld it on the one hand the morality and the temporary nature of the occupation were incessantly reiterated while on the other hand a series of apparatuses and practices attempted to alter the citizenry s conception of its borders by erasing the green line the internationally recognized pre 1967 border based on the 1949 armistice agreements th e overall objective was to weaken internal resistance to the occupation and since rhetoric does not always have to avoid contradiction the occupation was presented as simultaneously temporary moral and nonexistent in the eff ort to obfuscate the occupation and incorporate the captured territories into israel numerous erasure practices were introduced within israel less than six months aft er the war on december 17 the israeli government began referring to the west bank as judea and samaria thus drawing a connection between the state of israel and the biblical land of israel 26 gradually the green line was erased from all atlases maps and textbooks published by the israeli government making it nearly impossible for israeli school children to learn that israel s recognized international borders actually pass along the line of the 1949 armistice agreements 27 not unlike the palestinian maps that depict all of mandatory palestine as palestine israeli maps depict all of mandatory palestine as israel leading many school children to believe that the recognized borders are south of rafah and pass through the jordan valley 28 to reify the erasure of borders israel also connected the physical infra structure between its territory and the regions it had captured it linked the transport and communication networks of the west bank and gaza to israel proper making it easy for the increasing number of jewish settlers and palestinian laborers to reach tel aviv and jerusalem 29 rapidly almost all of the obstacles characterizing an international border were removed any israeli could drive to the west bank or gaza as if he or she were going to visit an adjacent district several israeli fi eld schools were opened in the i n t r o d u c t i o n 7 west bank and the israeli public regularly hiked and picnicked throughout this region th ousands of shoppers went on weekend excursions to buy cheap produce in the territories most of the customs tariff s and barriers that typify the exchange of commodities across international borders did not exist moreover at a certain point the distinction between govern ment expenditures within israel proper and expenditures in the ot was expunged from the annual budget in eff ect transforming the entire area from the jordan valley to the mediterranean sea into one economic unit along the same lines jewish settlers who moved to the west bank and gaza strip were subjected to israeli law rather than to the law of the land in which they actually resided th is act served among other things to erase the green line in their own minds as well as in the minds of the citizens within israel th ese and several other eff orts bore their intended fruit and for many years the ot became indistinguishable from the state from the point of view of most jews 30 at the same time israel s actions in the ot were presented as moral th e resources israel allocated to improve the palestinian inhabitants living conditions in the ot were continuously highlighted and publicized and investments in health care education social services and religious aff airs was underscored th e jewish population was constantly reminded that enormous sums were being spent on laying water and electricity lines paving roads and expanding transport and communication lines and that favorable conditions were being created for industrial development while agriculture was being advanced and modernized beyond recogni tion 31 th us israel portrayed itself as bringing progress to the uncivilized palestinians while emphasizing both the purity of arms of its military and the temporariness of the occupation th e palestinians or so the line went were the ones preventing israel s withdrawal from the ot because they continued to demand all of mandatory palestine while this perception was altered in many respects aft er the eruption of the fi rst intifada in 1987 and the signing of the oslo peace accords in 1993 32 it was ironically the second intifada 2000 which left thousands of palestinians and israelis dead that managed to reintroduce the diff erence between israel and the ot today for most israelis a conceptual border does exist between the two entities especially given israel s dismantlement of the settlements in the gaza strip and the redeployment of its forces and the fact that hardly any jews other than the settlers travel to the west bank 8 i n t r o d u c t i o n yet currently the west bank s border does not run along the internation ally recognized green line instead the separation barrier which israel is constructing deep inside palestinian territory is conceived by the majority of israelis as their country s border setting up the means of control in the occupied territories th is book focuses on the second site toward which the means of control were directed the palestinian population under occupation following the cessation of hostilities a variety of surveillance mechanisms were rapidly set up monitoring every aspect of palestinian life 33 televisions refrigerators and gas stoves were counted as were the livestock orchards and tractors letters sent to and from the diff erent regions were checked registered and examined school textbooks novels movies newspapers and political leaf lets were inspected and frequently censored th ere were detailed inventories of palestinian workshops for furniture soap textiles olive products and sweets even eating habits were scrutinized as was the nutritional value of the palestinian food basket israel also assumed control over all major resources such as water and electricity and took over the welfare health care judiciary and educational systems the most prominent institutions through which modern societies are managed during the occupation s fi rst two decades these institutions were used to normalize the occupation and to shape palestinian behavior by modifying daily practices both on the level of the individual and the population at large in the health fi eld practices were introduced to encourage women to give birth at hospitals a means of decreasing infant mortality rates and monitoring population growth and to promote vaccinations in order to decrease the incidence of contagious and noncontagious diseases palestinian teachers were sent to seminars in jerusalem where they were instructed in methods of correct teaching a series of vocational schools were established to prepare palestinians who wished to join the israeli workforce and model plots were created to train farmers many of these controlling devices aimed to increase the economic productivity of the palestinian inhabitants and to secure the well being of the population simultaneously juridical forms of control were adopted to restrict free dom of movement and association and to forbid all types of political activ i n t r o d u c t i o n 9 ity an intricate permit regime was introduced requiring licenses to build houses open businesses sell produce practice law and medicine or work in the public sector military decrees even regulated access to grazing grounds for sheep the use of donkey carts to transfer goods the kinds of vegetables and fruits one could plant and the picking of wildfl owers in deserted fi elds while criminal sanctions were imposed for breaches and violations in addi tion to all these forms of control there was the sword which shaped daily practices through the threat and execution of a series of coercive sanctions ranging from house demolitions and deportations to curfews and arrests an analysis of the way palestinian society was managed suggests both that the diff erent forms of control operated simultaneously and that all spheres of life were meddled with and acted upon 34 th e relative swift ness with which the diff erent mechanisms of control were put in place was not coincidental rather it was a result of historical cir cumstances first prior to the 1967 war the west bank had been annexed to jordan and the gaza strip had been under egyptian administrative rule israel simply reactivated certain institutions and practices that had been employed previously by the two neighboring countries second several years before the war erupted israel had begun preparing contingency plans for the military administration of the west bank and gaza strip on the occasion that these territories fell into israeli hands 35 in the early 1960s the military carried out seminars simulating problems that could arise if an israeli military government were to be installed in these territories moreover a comprehensive manual which included instructions and guide lines for setting up the legal and administrative apparatuses of a military government had been prepared in advance and was distributed to the troops before the war ended 36 some of the plans and the logic informing them facilitated the establishment of an elaborate administrative appara tus within the territories once the two regions had actually been occupied by israel finally the military learned from its experience of managing the palestinian population within israel as well as from the brief period of gaza s occupation in 1956 and early 1957 37 while several apparatuses and practices used during the internal military government 1948 66 were reproduced in the ot the dissimilar political and social circumstances of the two regions as well as israel s diff erent objectives meant that the model created inside israel would serve more oft en as a prototype for comparison rather than for emulation indeed as we will see the forms of management 1 0 i n t r o d u c t i o n adopted in the west bank and gaza strip were oft en very diff erent from the ones used inside israel proper th e introduction of diff erent controlling apparatuses in the ot was aft er all to be expected if only because all modern societies regardless of whether they are democratic or authoritarian are managed through the application of numerous mechanisms and practices that operate both on the individual and the population at large to be sure the actual controlling apparatuses employed diff er dramatically from place to place and they both shape and are shaped by among other things the regime type and the makeup of the population toward which they are directed citizens migrant minorities refugees occupied inhabitants etc th ey take on numerous forms coercive and noncoercive legalistic and extralegalistic overt and covert interestingly though my examination of israel s forms of control reveals that most of the coercive measures used in the west bank and gaza strip during the fi rst years of the occupation were still in use four decades later th e military in other words imposed curfews deported leaders demol ished homes carried out arrests tortured detainees and restricted move ment both immediately aft er the 1967 war and in the wake of the new millennium 38 th e fact that the vast majority of these practices are still used today while very few new ones have been introduced in the intervening years is worth stressing 39 th is suggests that the dramatic transformation that has occurred in the ot in terms of the way israel controls the region is not attributable to a radical modifi cation of the means of control i e the replacement of old forms of control with new ones but is i maintain the result of a shift in emphasis of the modes of power informing the diff erent controlling apparatuses and practices modes of power my claim then is that the diff erent controlling apparatuses and practices that have been employed in the ot have been informed by the three funda mental modes of power disciplinary bio and sovereign which michel foucault describes and that it is the shift ing emphasis on one or the other modes of power rather than the introduction of new forms of control that helps explain the extensive transformation in israel s occupation during the occupation s fi rst years israel emphasized disciplinary power and biopower disciplinary power is continuous and spread out operating i n t r o d u c t i o n 11 on the minutest parts of daily interactions in order to produce and dis seminate an array of norms and social practices discipline operates from below as it attempts to impose homogeneity on the inhabitants both in thought and comportment thus striving to render people docile but at the same time the forms of control informed by this mode of power endeavor to individualize the inhabitants by making it possible to detect diff erences among the members of society and to determine each person s abilities and specialties as well as abnormal activities 40 th ink about exams given to children at school th ey produce a certain type of homogeneity by ensuring that everyone studies the same material and they also allow teachers to diff erentiate and arrange students according to abilities class rank and so forth even though discipline aims to engender normalization through the regimentation of daily life frequently by increasing the inhabitants productivity in terms of economic utility while diminishing their political astuteness it is important to emphasize that disciplinary forms of control are oft en incoherent 41 for instance while israel encouraged palestinian farmers to grow certain crops during a given period during later years it limited the export of these crops outside the ot a fact that hurt the farm ers income and thus created a fair amount of bitterness th us disciplines as mitchell indicates and as i demonstrate in this book can counteract one another break down or overreach they create spaces for maneuver and resistance and can be turned to counter hegemonic purposes 42 biopower deals with the population as opposed to the individual as a political problem it does not oppose the deployment of disciplinary power but integrates and modifi es it operating on a diff erent scale while applying a series of distinct instruments it too is continuous and spread out but if discipline seeks to administer the individual subject biopower manages the individual only insofar as he or she is a member of a population biopower deploys an array of institutions that coordinate and regulate medical care welfare services the economy and so forth while confi guring and cir cumscribing the political sphere and normalizing knowledge in order to administer the population biopower uses statistical devices and scientifi c methods as well as mechanisms of surveillance it measures and intervenes in a set of processes relating to mortality rate longevity the fertility of the population hygiene vaccinations prevalent illnesses in a population birth rates unemployment rates and the distribution of labor in terms of age gender and sectors of occupation per capita income and so on 43 israel s 1 2 i n t r o d u c t i o n eff ort to increase the rate of births in palestinian hospitals is an instance of this kind of power like those of disciplinary power the mechanisms used by biopower are designed to maximize and extract forces from individual subjects but they do not work at the level of the individual instead of disciplining the individual biopower regularizes the population 44 th e objectives of the diff erent forms of control deployed in the ot and informed by both disciplinary power and biopower were however diff erent from what they are elsewhere in the world in most countries discipline and biopower regu late people through processes of incorporation into the state constituting them as citizens because there was never an intention of fully integrating the palestinian inhabitants and making them part of the israeli citizenry discipline was never employed to incorporate the palestinian inhabitants into israeli society rather it was used to constitute them as subjects of the occupying power th is as we will see is crucial and it is one of the reasons the forms of control employed to manage the palestinian population within israel proper were so diff erent from those used in the ot during the fi rst years following the war biopower like disciplinary forms of control was emphasized and used to normalize the occupation by boost ing the economy and producing prosperity in the west bank and gaza and a great deal of energy was invested in reshaping the collective identity of the population and suppressing palestinian nationalism concurrently though israel never refrained from utilizing the more traditional mode of sovereign power by which i mean the imposition of a legal system and the employ ment of the state s police and military to either enforce the rule of law or to suspend it th is kind of power is exercised through juridical and executive arms of the state it tends to operate from the top down and it is oft en intermittent appearing only when the law has been breached by members of society or when it has been suspended by the sovereign 45 in our case this has meant the introduction and implementation of a legal apparatus that views all forms of palestinian resistance as terror and that employs israeli security forces to ensure that all terrorism is suppressed simultaneously the same legal system has become a mechanism of dispossession through which israel has expropriated palestinian land and property proclamation two published by the military commander and enacted on june 7 1967 the day in which the military government was established is a paradigmatic example of this kind of power it declares that all powers i n t r o d u c t i o n 13 of government legislation appointment and administration in relation to the region and its inhabitants shall henceforth vest in me alone and shall be exercised by me or by such other person appointed by me or to act on my behalf 46 th is proclamation goes on to state that the military com mander has the power to enact any law cancel or suspend an existing law or make legislative changes thus underscoring the fact that israel would use sovereign power not only to pass and enforce laws but also to withdraw and suspend them 47 following the consolidation of israel s rule sovereign power was for a while de emphasized so that for more than a decade most of the controlling apparatuses and practices were informed by disciplinary power and biopower all three modes of power it is important to stress tend to operate concur rently and are part and parcel of the modern form of governing governing in this sense does not only denote institutions and practices that can be traced back to the state but refers to any apparatus practice or action that aims to shape the conduct of conduct 48 it concerns not only practices of governmental religious fi nancial and other institutions but also ways through which each individual governs him or herself 49 governing the west bank and gaza strip has entailed regulating and managing its economic medical educational and political institutions as well as the inclinations identity and comportment of each inhabitant a primary objective of this modern form of governing is security but not merely in the narrow sense of deploying military police and secret services security in its broad sense includes the management of the economy as well as the health education and social welfare of the population it thus encompasses those institutions and practices concerned with defending and maintaining the demographic economic and social processes that regulate the population 50 my claim is that even though the three modes of power tend to be simulta neously deployed the specifi c form of governing is shaped by their particu lar confi guration one form of governing might emphasize disciplinary and bio modes of power and put relatively little emphasis on sovereign power while another form of governing may accentuate bio and sovereign modes of power and pay less attention to discipline 51 th e particularity of each confi guration determines how individuals and the population are managed while no confi guration is fi xed so that certain processes modify the relation and emphasis among the diff erent modes of power and consequently change the way society is governed and controlled 52 1 4 i n t r o d u c t i o n th e changing confi guration of these modes of power had two primary eff ects qualitative and quantitative from a qualitative perspective the israeli case exemplifi es that a change in the emphasis on one or another mode of power does not necessarily lead to the replacement of the control ling apparatuses and practices that are used to govern the inhabitants rather it alters the way they operate so for example if a school was initially used to transmit certain knowledge to children in an attempt to normalize the occupation but children resisted this knowledge and on their way back from school threw stones at the military government offi ces the military could decide to shut down the school in this way the school would be trans formed from an institution whose role was to encourage the internalization of certain norms and a fi eld of knowledge to an instrument of collective punishment 53 th e palestinian inhabitants were in other words frequently punished when they did not embrace the norms israel established and the same form of control that was used to encourage the appropriation of the norm could easily be turned into an instrument of punishment from a quantitative perspective although almost all of the existing forms of control were employed from the beginning of the occupation some were used more oft en when a sovereign mode of power was emphasized others when biopower was prominent and still others when a disciplinary mode was accentuated excesses and contradictions my argument though is not only that the shift ing emphasis on one mode of power rather than another helps account for the changing nature of the occupation but also that the interactions excesses and contradictions within and among the controlling practices and apparatuses modifi ed the confi guration of the modes of power th is is where i diverge most radically from the statist approach a genealogy of israel s forms of control and an analysis of how they interacted suggest that the excesses and contradic tions engendered by the controlling apparatuses helped shift the emphasis among the modes of power and shape israel s policy choices and palestinian resistance th is is the book s central claim by excesses i mean eff ects that are not part of the initial objective of the means of control a curfew restricts and confi nes the population but also produces antagonism the establishment of a jewish settlement on a hilltop i n t r o d u c t i o n 1 5 is used to confi scate land partition space and monitor the palestinian villages below but also underscores that the occupation is not temporary by 1987 israel had managed to confi scate about 40 percent of the land in the west bank and gaza strip it had also established 125 settlements dispersed throughout these two regions that were home to some sixty thou sand settlers 54 how did this aff ect the palestinian inhabitants who on the one hand witnessed the expropriation of their land and the movement of thousands of jewish citizens from israel into the west bank and gaza and on the other hand were told that the occupation would soon end in addition the interactions among the controlling apparatuses and practices have produced two diff erent types of contradictions one type is created within the controlling apparatus itself perhaps the most appar ent internal contradiction is the one created by the settlement project by confi scating more and more land and transferring hundreds of thousands of jews to the ot the settlement project rendered the one state solution in which jews do not have a majority between the jordan valley and the mediterranean sea increasingly probable another type of contradiction emerges in the interaction among diff erent forms of control during the 1970s israel for example allowed the palestinians to open several uni versities as a way of normalizing the occupation within a relatively short period these universities produced a fairly large professional class made up of college graduates yet due to a series of restrictions and constraints imposed on the palestinian economy the industry and service sector could not be developed and the employment opportunities open to professional palestinians within the ot were very limited consequently many of the graduates could not fi nd jobs that refl ected or made use of their skills th e lack of jobs created a fair amount of bitterness among the graduates who according to ze ev schiff and ehud ya ari were a major oppositional force by the time the fi rst intifada erupted 55 such excesses and contradictions helped shape the political arena and cre ated distinct modalities of control 56 th ey triggered palestinian resistance which in turn helped form israel s policy choices th is suggests that the forms of control themselves have had a major impact on the local political processes and on the changing character of the occupation to better under stand the occupation it is therefore crucial to examine the means of control uncovering how they engendered their own modifi cations and how they helped defi ne the occupation s diverse and changing structure 57 th us in 1 6 i n t r o d u c t i o n the following pages i aim to off er a genealogy of the controlling apparatuses and practices that stimulated political change whether by shaping israel s policy choices or by molding palestinian resistance and although i hardly touch upon the international realm i would venture to say that the means of control have even had their eff ect on global processes it is important to emphasize that even though my focus is on the diff erent forms of control and the modes of power informing their usage i do not want to suggest that one should ignore or dismiss the agency of political actors indeed any attempt to portray both israelis and palestinians as objects rather than subjects of history would be misleading israelis are responsible for creating and maintaining the occupation as well as its con sequences while palestinians are responsible for their resistance and its eff ects and yet the very interests and desires of israelis and palestinians as well as their comportment are constituted at least in part by a multiplicity of controlling apparatuses th us even though certain forms of control gen erate excesses and contradictions and in this way force israeli policymakers to alter the methods used to manage the population these policymakers have a number of possibilities from which they can choose th e choice of one possibility over another however is also shaped in specifi c ways by the controlling practices themselves 58 a genealogy of control what does the phrase genealogy of control actually mean in the present book i use it to denote a history that traces the institutions mechanisms apparatuses and more generally the means of control used to manage the population by shaping people s daily practices it refers to a certain kind of history from below which includes an analysis of the power relations informing the forms of control as well as the eff ects they have produced in the ot the controlling apparatuses have manifested themselves in legal regulations and permits military procedures and practices spatial divisions and architectural edifi ces as well as bureaucratic edicts and nor mative fi ats dictating forms of correct conduct in homes schools medical centers workshops agricultural fi elds and so forth a single book does not suffi ce to create an inventory of these apparatuses considering that the military orders issued over the years in the west bank and gaza strip alone fi ll thousands of pages and deal with anything and everything i n t r o d u c t i o n 17 from business transactions involving land or property and the installation of water pumps to the planting of citrus trees and the structure of the governing body each one of these orders can be analyzed in depth so as to uncover both the processes that led to its creation as well as the eff ects that it generated why for example did israel prevent palestinians from installing water pumps which practices did the military introduce to enforce this regulation and how did the lack of water pumps aff ect the inhabitants daily lives instead of off ering a meticulous interrogation of a single controlling apparatus as some commentators have done 59 israel s occupation provides a bird s eye view of the means of control so as to explain the changes that have taken place over the past four decades in the west bank and gaza strip it uses the information published by a variety of israeli governmental institutions ranging from the civil administration and the ministry of agriculture to the bank of israel and the central bureau of statistics scholarly studies that have examined diff erent aspects of the occupation as well as reports published by human rights and development ngos the world bank and several united nations agencies that have monitored the ot over the years although most of the reports and studies that i examine seldom refer to their objects of study as controlling apparatuses they actu ally describe in great detail the mechanisms deployed to manage the lives of residents in the occupied regions th ey thus provide the information needed to outline and clarify precisely how the diff erent forms of control operated how they interacted with each other and how they produced certain eff ects even though the following pages do not always advance chronologically in order to trace the means of control that israel employed i divide the occupation into fi ve periods the military government 1967 1980 civil administration 1981 1987 the fi rst intifada 1988 93 the oslo years 1994 2000 and the second intifada 2001 present th ese periods are to be sure organically linked and overlap to a considerable extent while some of them can be divided into subperiods although they coincide with political events and therefore appear to endorse a statist approach a careful examination reveals that each period is distinguished by a particular emphasis on one or another mode of power and the concurrent accentuation of distinct forms of control th e underlying claim then is that the policies and resistance that characterize each period were actually shaped by the 1 8 i n t r o d u c t i o n controlling apparatuses and practices that were employed their excesses and their contradictions for those more acquainted with the occupation today the most striking feature of the fi rst period is the large number of practices introduced to improve the population s standard of living and increase individual pros perity palestinian farmers were given fertilizers and pesticides for their agricultural crops and israel distributed vaccines against diseases that could compromise livestock th ese controlling practices were not informed by altruism but by a desire to normalize the occupation and they were bal anced against other practices aimed primarily at undermining palestinian attempts to create a self suffi cient and independent economy and to estab lish a national movement along with numerous forms of control informed by disciplinary power and biopower sovereign modes of power were also employed th e external borders of both the west bank and gaza strip were sealed and israeli security forces crushed internal resistance th e military imposed curfews deported leaders demolished homes carried out arrests restricted move ment and shut down schools and businesses 60 in later years particularly aft er 1971 however the use of such coercive measures was not as prevalent overall a politics of life informed the administration and management of the palestinian residents during the occupation s fi rst period and when a politics of life reigns both a disciplinary power that is concerned with the production and maintenance of correct behavior and a biopower concerned with the population s welfare are emphasized during the second intifada a series of controlling apparatuses were employed to kill thou sands of palestinians destroy the infrastructure of their existence and thus engender grinding poverty but in the occupation s fi rst years numerous practices were put in place to do away with unemployment to help save the livestock and to assist farmers in increasing their production 61 th e move from a military government to a civil administration 1981 was ironically a move from a system that had been operated by both israeli civil institutions and security forces to a system dependent solely on the military and other security forces on the one hand the creation of the civil administration symbolized israel s admission that the occupation was not temporary and underscored its desire to continue normalizing and perpetuating it on the other hand it represented israel s recognition that the methods it had hitherto employed to normalize the occupation and i n t r o d u c t i o n 19 suppress the nationalist drive were not working th is period is characterized by an emphasis on sovereign power but at this point it was still directed primarily against the palestinian leadership inside the ot rather than the palestinian masses th e eruption of the fi rst intifada in december 1987 was a clear reaction to the excesses of israel s means of control as well as to a series of contradictions engendered by the interaction among diff erent controlling practices and apparatuses most prominent among these were the discrepancies between israel s insistence that the palestinians manage themselves through some kind of self rule and its ongoing eff orts to repress all manifestations of palestinian nationalism in addition the economic subjugation of the territories as well as the continuing confi scation of land did not fi t well with the mechanisms that aimed to secure the population s livelihood th e iron fi st policy which was implemented in reaction to the mass unrest and which emphasized sovereign power through the deployment of a large number of troops and the incursion of armored vehicles into palestinian cities towns and villages was paradoxically a sign of the failure of existing forms of control indeed the daily skirmishes with the israeli military should be considered as a crisis of control an indication that israel was losing ground since power is toler able only insofar as it manages to hide part of itself and the intifada made the occupying power and the means of control it deployed visible for all to see gradually it became apparent to israel that it would have to continue deploying troops in order to sustain the occupation and would be unable to normalize the occupation using the same strategies it had used in the past th e ingenious idea as several commentators have noted was to out source the responsibility for the population 62 th is is where the palestinian authority pa enters the picture instead of conceiving it as an autonomous body with an external existence that in some way transcends the occupa tion one can tenably claim that the pa is a product of the occupation and more precisely the controlling apparatuses that failed to uphold the occupa tion it is an eff ect produced by a series of legal bureaucratic mechanisms the reorganization of the economy and the repartitioning of space less than a year aft er rabin and arafat signed the oslo accords september 1993 all of the civil institutions including education health and welfare were passed from israel to the hands of the fl edgling authority without renouncing its sovereign authority over the two regions israel transferred responsibility for the occupied inhabitants and in this way dramatically 2 0 i n t r o d u c t i o n reduced the occupation s political and economic cost while continuing to hold on to most of the territory not unlike the fi rst palestinian uprising the second intifada which erupted in september 2000 was an eff ect of the excesses and contradic tions informing the controlling apparatuses used during the oslo years however as it redeployed troops in the west bank and gaza and disabled the pa israel did not reinstate any disciplinary forms of control and refused to reassume the role of managing the population s lives instead israel emphasized a series of controlling practices informed by a type of sovereign power which have functioned less through the instatement of the law and more through the law s suspension israel now operates primarily by destroying the most vital social securities and by reducing members of palestinian society to what georgio agamben has called homo sacer people whose lives can be taken with impunity 63 th is helps explain for example israel s widespread use of extrajudicial executions and the use of palestinians as human shields th ese extralegal actions stand in sharp contrast to the approach israel adopted during the fi rst intifada which was in many ways characterized by a proliferation of trials and legal interventions 64 th us if up until september 2000 israel controlled the occupied inhabitants primarily through the application of the law including to be sure the enforcement of draconian laws that legalized both the incarceration and torture of thou sands of political prisoners and permitted deportations house demolitions extended curfews and other forms of collective punishment perhaps the most striking characteristic of the second intifada is the extensive suspension of the law in the fi rst intifada any suspension of the law was still considered an exception to the rule in the second one it became the norm th e culminating eff ect of the second uprising has been devastating for palestinians in the west bank and gaza strip a large percentage of palestinians are now dependent on aid off ered by international humanitarian organizations and islamic charities and this aid alone ensures that the ongo ing crisis does not develop into a full blown catastrophe so if in 1994 the pa replaced israel as the authority responsible for disciplining the inhabitants and guaranteeing their welfare following the eruption of the second inti fada charity organizations have taken over many of the responsibilities for sustaining palestinian life th us in the fi rst two decades israel attempted to manage the population by sustaining some form of security while currently it controls the occupied inhabitants by producing endemic insecurity i n t r o d u c t i o n 21 the book s trajectory th is thumbnail sketch serves to suggest that a genealogy of control can help explain how and why the occupation has changed over the years while the book aims to advance in chronological order the chapters are actually orga nized around specifi c themes th e fi rst chapter is diff erent from all the rest since it lays out the infrastructure of control namely the legal mechanisms institutions and surveillance devices that enabled the diff erent controlling apparatuses and practices to operate it is interesting to note that even though the occupation has dramatically changed over the years most of the components making up the infrastructure of control have undergone only cosmetic modifi cations in the second chapter i show that during the fi rst decade following the 1967 war israel emphasized both disciplinary and bio modes of power in order to normalize the occupation th e third chap ter examines economic forms of control showing how they rapidly began producing excesses and contradictions that empowered the palestinian nationalist movement using the palestinian municipalities as a case study the fourth chapter focuses on the attempt to manage the occupied residents through forms of control that aimed to erase national identifi cation it also discusses israel s ultimate inability to suppress palestinian national ism and some of the strategies it adopted to deal with this failure th e fi ft h chapter analyzes spatial control suggesting that settlements bypass roads and the jewish settlers should be thought of as civilian controlling mechanisms th e excesses and contradictions engendered by the controlling apparatuses discussed in chapters 3 4 and 5 help explain the eruption of the fi rst palestinian uprising and the subsequent emphasis on sovereign power which is described in chapter 6 th is chapter analyzes the crisis of control in the west bank and gaza strip arguing that the ineff ectiveness of apparatuses and practices informed by sovereign power helped produce the oslo agreements chapter 7 reads the diff erent oslo agreements which the two parties signed over a period of six years not as part of a peace process or a withdrawal of power but rather as texts that outline the reorganization of israeli power in the ot it then goes on to analyze the changes on the ground showing how the oslo accords precipitated the second intifada th e last chapter analyzes the means of control that have been employed during the second intifada and maintains that israel has lost all interest in the palestinian population as an object of control in the epilogue i briefl y discuss what might lie ahead 2 2 i n t r o d u c t i o n chapter 1 the infrastructure of control organizational norms and working procedures in the territories were formulated a short while aft er the end of the fi ghting th e major elements took shape that fi rst month the many and frequent changes instituted since then have mostly been of marginal importance shlomo gazit fi rst coordinator of government activities in the administered territories th e landscapes and populations of the two regions israel occupied in 1967 were quite diff erent th e west bank which had been under jordanian rule is about seventy miles long and thirty miles wide an area the size of delaware it is an arable mountainous region that spreads from north to south and is circumscribed on the east by a barren plateau and on the west by the 1949 armistice agreement border known as the green line following the war close to six hundred thousand palestinians were living in 12 urban centers and about 527 rural communities including 19 refugee camps about 70 percent of the population lived off agriculture in rural villages while the remaining 30 percent were concentrated in the urban centers and refugee camps 18 percent of the inhabitants were refugees 1 by contrast the gaza strip which had been under egyptian rule is a fl at narrow and arid region that extends some twenty miles along the mediterranean coast and totals 135 square miles in 1967 385 000 palestinians lived in the strip in 23 communities 4 cities 8 refugee camps and 11 villages about 70 percent of the inhabitants were refugees who had either fl ed to or had been expelled to the region during the 1948 war approximately 45 percent of the gaza strip s population lived in the cities 15 percent in villages and the remaining 40 percent lived in the crowded refugee camps that had been set up by the united nations 2 even before the 1967 war ended israel had adopted a series of strategies 2 3 2 3 to govern the population living within these two regions it began oversee ing many of the administrative institutions that had been utilized by the jordanians and egyptians using for example the already existing palestinian municipalities and mayors to help govern urban residents and the village muhktars to manage those living in the rural areas simultaneously how ever israel introduced some crucial changes the modifi cation of the legal system being perhaps the most signifi cant obviously israel also deployed its own military to enforce law and order and immediately set up a bureaucracy that was charged with running all of the civil institutions in addition israel s general secret services gss dramatically expanded its operations in the territories as it was given the task of undermining all palestinian insurgency th ese and a few other key institutions and practices like the permit regime and surveillance apparatuses served as the basic mechanisms by and through which the inhabitants were managed for years to come by serving as the infrastructure of control they also functioned as the vehicles through which all of the other controlling apparatuses operated it is important to add here that the infrastructure of control as well as the diff erent apparatuses and practices that have emerged from the infra structure have been governed by a number of modalities of control by modality of control i mean an underlying principal that informs the way the forms of control have operated in the ot unlike the three modes of power mentioned in the introduction which inform power relations in an array of political contexts and in diff erent countries the modalities of control characterize israel s occupation and do not necessarily exist in other places a modality of control in other words is the logic that shapes the operation of numerous controlling practices within a specifi c historical and geographical context 3 two modalities are worth mentioning at the outset temporariness and arbitrariness since both have facilitated the management of the palestinian population throughout israel s military rule th e use of the provisional term occupation in order to describe the political status of the west bank and gaza strip as opposed for instance to colonization is a prominent example of the temporary modality of control 4 as we will see numerous administrative arrangements legal orders and policies were con stantly modifi ed to conceal the permanent nature of israel s control israel continuously imposed temporary curfews and closures set up temporary checkpoints and roadblocks and continuously issued and revoked permits 2 4 t h e i n f r a s t r u c t u r e o f c o n t r o l thus trying to create the illusion that entrenched practices were provisional along similar lines the suspended status of palestinian refugees within the west bank and gaza strip not unlike the temporary status of the jewish settlements and by pass roads was deployed to elide the occupation s permanent nature and to facilitate the management of both palestinians and israelis temporariness was in other words used to prevent opposition and to thwart palestinian resistance even when the lie concerning the provisional nature of certain practices was exposed the temporary logic was immediately redeployed in new spheres and in new ways following oslo for example temporary outposts have replaced jewish settlements since the latter are no longer conceived as transitory many controlling apparatuses and practices were also informed by an arbitrary logic that concealed the consistent nature of israel s military rule th roughout the occupation not a single plan about the number of jewish settlements to be built or where they were to be located was ever approved by the israeli government rendering the settlements enterprise arbitrary that is something that is much more diffi cult to classify and oppose 5 a structural arbitrariness informed the very operation of the permit regime which was part and parcel of the colossal juridical bureaucratic apparatus that upheld the occupation 6 numerous rights like freedom of movement were transformed into privileges that were handed out in the form of a permit that could be revoked at any moment for an array of known and unknown reasons th e total absence of transparency in the way decisions were reached regarding permits ranging from family reunifi cation to open ing businesses and traveling abroad helped produce a form of uncertainty that was used to manage the population in diff erent ways th e lack of plans and clear procedures alongside the absence of clear and transparent regula tions forced the palestinians to constantly second guess what the israeli authorities considered correct behavior while even those who became docile were oft en denied permits for no apparent reason my claim then is that one cannot really understand how the occupation ticked without examining even if very briefl y the major systems and insti tutions that enabled all the other forms of control to work as well as the underlying principles that informed their eff ective operation 7 th us before turning to describe the historical development of israel s occupation and the diff erent ways the inhabitants were managed i outline in this chapter the infrastructure of control t h e i n f r a s t r u c t u r e o f c o n t r o l 2 5 the legal system on june 5 1967 the day the fi ghting erupted the military advocate general colonel meir shamgar issued a letter reminding the military s command ing offi cers of the principles of international law as well as the operative measures allowed during armed confl ict 8 immediately following the war however this same shamgar advised israel to rethink its position vis à vis international law together with a number of other offi cials he formu lated a policy that rejected the applicability of the 1949 fourth geneva convention the most important humanitarian law pertaining to the occupation of conquered territories and their civilian population to the ot shamgar s rationale was that the west bank and gaza strip should not be considered occupied territories because the two regions had been seized by jordan and egypt during the 1948 war and thus had never been an integral part of a sovereign state consequently he maintained that the west bank and gaza strip should be considered disputed rather than occupied areas they were he claimed sui generis 9 shamgar s focus on the status of the land regarding it as sui generis rather than the population with national rights to self determination was as lisa hajjar cogently observes a strategic legal maneuver to separate the land from its inhabitants 10 shamgar further advised the government to abide by the geneva convention on a de facto rather than de jure basis by respecting its humanitarian provisions but he never specifi ed when these provisions should actually be respected 11 th us although the land was not subjected to the geneva convention its palestinian inhabitants were but their rights remained ambiguously and one could add arbitrarily defi ned in this way israel hoped to continue a process that actually began in 1948 whereby it ignored the palestinian national right to statehood 12 although the international community has overwhelmingly rejected this interpreta tion and has regarded the west bank and gaza strip as occupied territories israel adopted shamgar s construal of the geneva convention and over the years has fi rmly maintained this position shamgar also insisted that the eshkol government accept the 1907 hague convention which stipulates that the occupying power should recognize the laws that were in force before the occupation 13 by june 7 1967 the military commander had already issued proclamation two a declaration dealing with the governance and legal arrangements in the territories th e 2 6 t h e i n f r a s t r u c t u r e o f c o n t r o l laws existing in the territories prior to the occupation were declared valid provided they did not contradict any legislation issued by the military com mander 14 accordingly a complex legal system was put in place composed of ottoman british mandatory particularly the emergency regulations of 1945 jordanian and egyptian law depending on the region and israeli military orders military orders are decrees issued by the military com mander that immediately become law for all palestinians living in the area 15 over the years the military commanders have used their legislative powers extensively issuing more than 2 500 orders which have dealt with a wide range of topics from military judiciary and fi scal matters to admin istrative aff airs including education welfare health and even the status of jewish settlements 16 th e orders codifi ed israel s control of the ot far beyond the concern for security of its military forces already in 1967 one fi nds orders that reveal how israel s concerns far exceeded those of a temporary occupying power as formally understood by international law 17 for example alongside orders concerning the restriction of movement and the imposition of curfews one fi nds orders regarding the use of public parks currency exchange rates duties on tobacco and alcoholic beverages postal laws and the transportation of agricultural products th e implementation of this complex and comprehensive legal system has not only enabled israel to enact any law it wishes but also to change or cancel local laws that were in place prior to the occupation th ose parts of the jordanian or egyptian law that advanced israel s political objectives were maintained while other parts that hindered these objectives were altered or annulled 18 not unlike its interpretation of the fourth geneva convention israel opted for a partial adoption of the pertinent clauses of the hague convention ones that corresponded to its needs 19 israel s idiosyncratic interpretation of international humanitarian law has had an immense impact on the occupation its ingenuity lies on the one hand in its eff ective distinction between the people and the land and on the other hand in the fact that it does not reject the law outright but embraces a selective approach toward the law shamgar seems to have recog nized that even as israel suspended signifi cant elements of international law and bestowed on the military commander the authority to cancel and enact domestic laws according to immediate political objectives it was also crucial to espouse a rule of law approach adopting laws that had existed before t h e i n f r a s t r u c t u r e o f c o n t r o l 2 7 the occupation while making room for the enactment of military orders that could cancel these laws actually enabled israel to argue that the rule of law reigned in the west bank and gaza strip in this way israel managed to defl ect criticism of despotic rule for many years to strengthen the conception of enlightened rule israel established a whole institutional apparatus which consisted of military courts and aft er 1989 courts of appeal it appointed military judges and prosecutors and even employed translators who were responsible for ensuring that palestinian defendants understood the court proceedings 20 th e creation of judiciary institutions was crucial since as raja shehadeh has convinc ingly observed israel aspired to project an image of itself as a community committed to and ruled by principles of justice 21 indeed the complex legal system and institutions israel established served in many important ways to sanction the legality legitimacy and morality of the occupation yet the conception of the law as an instrument that protects the indi vidual from the sovereign which can be traced all the way back to the magna carta 1215 and more recently to the french declaration of the rights of man and citizen and post world war ii international law was totally foreign to the legal system israel set up in the ot it is therefore no coincidence that this system was never applied to the jewish settlers who moved into the west bank and gaza strip th ese settlers as well as residents of israel who traveled to the territories were subjected to israeli civilian law which was granted an extraterritorial status by transforming jewish citizens into turtles of sorts i e creatures that are entitled to personal jurisdiction i e laws that follow people israel managed to create a situa tion whereby two ethnic groups sharing the same space have actually been subjected to radically diff erent legal systems 22 without establishing this comprehensive legal system israel could never have eff ectively administered the occupied regions th e law served as the foundation for almost all of the other controlling apparatuses and practices and in many ways shaped their operations th e legal system established the institutional framework of and for the occupation determined the military government s mandate and defi ned the powers of the military commander as well as the responsibilities of the diff erent civil institutions yet the legal system itself once established also became a means of control in its own right it established rules and disseminated a substantive and procedural legal discourse th is apparatus produced a series of norms which the inhab 2 8 t h e i n f r a s t r u c t u r e o f c o n t r o l itants were simultaneously encouraged and compelled to emulate and was used to authorize and legalize administrative detention house demolitions land confi scation and other daily forms of control 23 th e legal system was also informed by the temporary and arbitrary modali ties of control th e fact that the military commander had the authority to issue decrees according to what he considered to be israel s interests and needs not only enabled him to cancel existing laws and introduce new ones but also ended up rendering many of the legal arrangements both temporary and arbitrary new decrees were constantly issued revising and annulling older ones th e temporary nature of the decrees always left open the pos sibility that they could be altered for the better or for the worse the way they would be modifi ed supposedly depended on the inhabitants behavior thus helping to shape palestinian comportment 24 simultaneously the adoption of several legal frameworks enabled israel to exploit the gaps and contradictions engendered by their interaction and to use both the laws and the exceptions that the gaps and contradictions made possible in order to control the inhabitants th e legal system s struc ture also left a tremendous range of issues at the discretion of the military commander and even at the discretion of offi cers who were in charge of subregions within the ot or of specifi c fi elds like health care and education th e lack of procedural transparency rendered the criteria for obtaining a referral to a hospital in israel receiving a permit to build a store or approval of family reunifi cation unclear th e arbitrariness created both by the lack of transparency and the gaps among the diff erent legal frameworks was used to secure the services of certain individuals and to manage the population through the production of endemic uncertainty the military forces and administrative bureaucracy two days aft er the war erupted israel used the newly established legal system to set up a military government so that it in turn could actively administer the population in the west bank and gaza strip and sinai peninsula with the issuing of proclamation two the military commander became both the legislator and the executive authority in the region th ere were actually two military governments one in the west bank and the other in the gaza strip and both were manned by military personnel both conscripted and reserve whose responsibilities were divided between two t h e i n f r a s t r u c t u r e o f c o n t r o l 2 9 branches security and civil th e offi cers in both branches had to report to the regional military governor th e security branch made up of israeli military forces was responsible for maintaining law and order in the territories and for guaranteeing the safety of israel s citizenry it established military bases in the ot deployed troops who were in charge of policing both regions and when deemed nec essary punished palestinian residents by imposing curfews closing schools demolishing houses and deporting leaders 25 th e civil branch was divided into two sub branches the economic and service departments see appendix 1 th e former oversaw industry com merce agriculture labor and fi nancial activities in the ot th e service department dealt with education welfare health care postal matters and so on and together with the economic department it was used as the scaff old ing for almost all the apparatuses that aimed to normalize the occupation th ese two branches served as the infrastructure for an intricate network of controlling practices that were rapidly deployed while the people who ran these branches and who served as the heads of the diff erent civil institu tions were israelis who worked for the military government thousands of palestinians school principals and teachers social workers doctors and nurses policemen and postal clerks as well as bureaucrats constituting well over 90 percent of the military government s employees and ran the daily operation of the diff erent civil institutions th us most residents day to day contact with the civil institutions entailed encounters with other palestinians rather than israelis whereas the military government served as the executive branch in the ot the israeli cabinet was in charge of introducing policies 26 a ministerial committee for the aff airs of the administered territories and two inter ministerial committees dealing with practical political economic and security issues met regularly for more than a decade to determine policy 27 because the interministerial committees had a hands on approach and since the coordinator of activities in the territories reported to the minister of defense rather than to the military s chief of staff during the fi rst years of occupation some form of separation between the civil and security branches existed it is precisely this separation that diff erentiates the fi rst period of occupation from the ones following it when the interministerial commit tees no longer functioned and the coordinator of activities in the territories was asked to report directly to the chief of staff 28 3 0 t h e i n f r a s t r u c t u r e o f c o n t r o l the general security services in addition to the military government s security and civil branches the gss also known by its hebrew acronyms shabak or shin bet played a central role in the ot rapidly becoming the most infl uential israeli author ity in the west bank and gaza strip 29 according to one offi cer aft er the 1967 war the gss began to set the pace methods and timing in the ot th e big change was that we were no longer just collecting intelligence we went operational in our own right 30 and indeed the security services had a major impact on the palestinian inhabitants shaping as it were a signifi cant part of their daily lives th e gss infl uenced decisions about if when and where to impose curfews who to arrest who to deport and which houses would be demolished it was involved in the hiring and fi ring of principals and teachers as well as doctors and clerks and decided when to open or shut down schools universities and charitable organizations th e military government required the gss s approval before allowing a resident to travel abroad giving out licenses to open a business or providing a permit to establish a medical clinic swift ly it became the king of the land operating like the mythological indian character ravana the ten headed king who has twenty hands paradoxically the gss worked as a legal specter until the so called shabak law was passed in 2002 not one israeli law dealt specifi cally with the gss and as avigdor feldman has pointed out the organization had little more legal authority than a parking lot attendant it had no author ity to conduct searches to carry out arrests or to launch an independent investigation 31 th e secret organization s existence actions and power were consequently the result of unwritten agreements between it and other state authorities 32 while at times it used the legal system israel created in the ot unlike all of the other organizations and institutions israel established the gss existed and commonly operated outside the law th e gss was accordingly an omnipresent exception operating through the suspension of the law rather than its implementation and enforcement as we will see toward the end of the book following the eruption of the second intifada the suspension of the law became part of the norm for the military as well feldman stresses that the gss s ambiguous status both within israeli legal space and within the occupied one is actually the key for under standing its vast powers th e gss benefi ted from its extralegal status in t h e i n f r a s t r u c t u r e o f c o n t r o l 31 two intricately connected ways on the one hand because it had no legal authority it became a body snatcher of sorts it used the military police prison services and even the attorney general s offi ce to carry out tasks for it in feldman s words the gss penetrated and assumed control of these state bodies like a parasite that supports itself by feeding on the powers of the institutions in whose gut it has settled on the other hand its extralegal status allowed it to maintain an invisible existence and its invis ibility enabled it to perpetrate numerous illegal activities not the least of which was torture 33 th us israel not only set up a dual legal system in the ot one for jews and the other for palestinians but the legal system that was used by the military and civil bureaucracies to manage the palestinians was itself also regularly ignored by the gss which operated extralegally without oversight th e palestinians were continuously managed through the simultaneous application and suspension of a legal system th e new shabak law has changed some of this since it purports to regulate the gss s legal status defi ning how the head of the organization is elected as well as the organization s role and authority th e gss can now legally carry out searches and interrogate suspects yet the law s wording is vague and formulated in such a way that the secret organization actually continues to maintain its vast powers 34 the high court of justice th e role played by the israeli supreme court which acts as a high court of justice responsible for reviewing the policies and actions of government institutions has surely been very diff erent from the one played by the sys tems and institutions just described 35 th e court did not serve as a channel through which the means of control directly operated and unlike the other institutions it was never physically present in the territories i therefore consider it an auxiliary element it existed before the 1967 war and in contrast to the gss it did not change its structure or receive more operating funds following the war so that it could attend to issues directly relating to the occupation nonetheless one cannot understand israel s occupation without taking into account the crucial role performed by the high court by lending its symbolic capital to the military occupation it legitimized the deployment of many of the controlling apparatuses and practices 36 since israel never applied its own legal system to the population in the 3 2 t h e i n f r a s t r u c t u r e o f c o n t r o l west bank and gaza strip it was not obvious that the court s authority would extend to the palestinian inhabitants nonetheless following a peti tion fi led by a palestinian from the west bank two weeks aft er the war the high court decided that it did have jurisdiction over the areas and people israel had occupied and in this way set a precedent in international practice israeli sociologist baruch kimmerling points out that by hearing cases brought by inhabitants of the ot the court not only bestowed on the occupation an enlightened face and a kind of legitimacy anchored in the modern concept of law and order but committed a judicial annexation of the territories producing an image of legality 37 over the years israel s highest tribunal has been asked to review liter ally thousands of petitions dealing primarily with the legality of coercive measures employed in the territories such as house demolitions extended curfews harsh restrictions of movement administrative detention depor tations torture and extrajudicial executions and it has almost always con cluded that the military commander exercised his powers in conformity with international humanitarian law without exceeding his authority in his book th e occupation of justice david kretzmer reveals that in almost all of its judgments relating to the ot especially those dealing with ques tions of principle the court has decided in favor of the authorities oft en on the basis of dubious legal arguments 38 th us the high court fulfi lled four important functions that are relevant to us here first it carried out a judicial annexation of the territories second it rationalized israel s inter pretation of international humanitarian law and its applicability to the territories giving credence to shamgar s initial construal th ird through its rulings it sanctioned and legitimated many forms of control that israel has deployed in the territories most notably the coercive ones finally as the major authority on issues of justice within israel it helped produce the morality of the occupation the permit regime th e permit regime and the networks of surveillance also deserve to be considered as part of the infrastructure of control as with other forms of control israel began introducing an elaborate permit regime in the west bank and gaza strip before the armed confl ict had ended 39 th is regime was created by a complex fabric of military orders and included licenses t h e i n f r a s t r u c t u r e o f c o n t r o l 3 3 such as car registration and driving licenses as well as permits for engaging in certain fi nancial activities like registering a business or exporting and importing goods building homes or any other kind of edifi ce also required permits permits also had to be obtained for less obvious reasons such as traveling abroad for medical treatment or in order to study live outside the village town or city where one was registered or grow certain kinds of fruits and vegetables th e procurement of a permit oft en entailed a long process that included fi lling out forms paying fees and frequently being interviewed i e a recruitment attempt by a gss offi cer 40 th e permit regime managed to transform the most basic rights ranging from the right to livelihood shelter and health to the right to freedom of movement speech and association into privileges that could be taken away at any moment without the revocation being considered a viola tion th e temporary and arbitrary nature of many permits served the two modalities of control mentioned above th e regime can be characterized by its ubiquitous nature creating a grid that extended across every part of palestinian society indeed during the past four decades it has contin ued to expand and has constantly colonized new domains while it has functioned through restrictions prohibitions and exclusions it has also aimed to shape the comportment of both palestinian individuals and the population in general through the dissemination of a series of norms that if approximated seemingly increase the probability of receiving the desired permit for instance if one does not participate in protests or any other kind of political activity one has a higher chance of receiving an entry permit into israel all social relations including the way people relate to their fellow citi zens their occupiers and to the surrounding environment as well as the way they govern themselves have been shaped by the permit regime in order to illustrate just how deeply the regime has permeated the occupation how it was used both to constrain and harness the inhabitants energies i briefl y review some of the permits issued during the occupation s fi rst decade dividing them into three categories according to the predominant fi eld they strove to regulate livelihood space and knowledge while each permit can be analyzed on its own in order to show how it controlled a specifi c sphere by noting examples of several permits from each category i hope to provide a glimpse of how the permit regime operated to shape practically every aspect of palestinian life 3 4 t h e i n f r a s t r u c t u r e o f c o n t r o l permits relating to palestinian livelihood many of the military orders published during the fi rst years dealt with work and commerce by june 18 1967 a week aft er the war israel had issued a military order that made it illegal to conduct business transactions involving land or property without a permit on the same day it published an order notifying all palestinians possessing foreign currency that they would either need to exchange it or acquire a permit violations of this regulation could result in fi ve years of imprisonment or a 1 500 jordanian dinar fi ne all merchants who wanted to import or export goods had to obtain a permit while banks and credit institutions were not allowed to operate without permission residents needed permits to work in the public sector whereas those who were not offi cial residents of the two regions had to obtain permits to work in any sector 41 other permits relating to livelihood involved basic resources th e mili tary commander was given full control over all water resources and any person or entity wishing to install a water device such as a pump irrigation equipment etc had to obtain a permit along similar lines it was forbid den to carry out any kind of electricity work or connect a generator without a permit it was even prohibited to harm nature although the authorities did preserve the right to permit people to pick fl owers or tamper with nature in the course of research studies reclamation of one s own land if it involved bulldozing a piece of property in order to remove rocks boulders or any other obstructive material to make it cultivable was forbidden unless the farmer obtained a permit from the military authority military orders rendered it illegal to plant new citrus trees replace old nonproductive ones or plant fruit trees without permission 42 th e military commander also prohibited the transport of any plant animal produce and commodity in or out of the ot without a permit all forms of transportation for the transfer of goods needed a license including donkey carts farmers needed permits to obtain and operate tractors and permits were required for graz ing livestock in certain areas 43 permits relating to palestinian space in order to monitor the inhabitants in march 1968 israel also began issuing identity cards to every male over the age of sixteen registering the residents as wards of the military 44 th e cards had to be carried at all times thus allow ing the military to keep track of the movements of individuals although the t h e i n f r a s t r u c t u r e o f c o n t r o l 3 5 restrictions on movement during the fi rst years were not nearly as harsh as in later years movement both within the ot and to and from the two regions was always limited a cursory examination of the military orders from the fi rst decade reveals that entire areas such as the jordan valley were declared closed zones and anyone wishing to enter or exit them required a permit whoever entered closed areas without a permit or remained in such areas aft er their permit expired was regarded as an infi ltrator in some areas that were otherwise open to palestinians those who wished to travel within them had to follow specifi c routes and enter during specifi c hours in addition it was prohibited to transfer or change one s place of residence either perma nently or temporarily without a permit and if one wished to visit friends in another city for more than forty eight hours one had to obtain a permit 45 it is interesting to note here that during the fi rst two decades movement restrictions in the ot were not as strict as they had been for palestinian citi zens living inside israel proper during the military government 1948 1966 moreover many of the permits relating to movement were not enforced during the fi rst years even though israel s ability to monitor regulate and restrict movement served as one of its most prominent and eff ective forms of control th is is not surprising given that almost every aspect of daily life is dependent on the ability to move within space permits relating to knowledge th e permit regime was also employed to control the fi elds of knowledge accessible to the occupied population and indeed to help israel create new knowledge this occurred primarily through censorship and the regulation and dissemination of information th is part of the regime was based on the 1945 british emergency regulations part 8 articles 86 101 article 88 for example states that the censor may by order prohibit the importation or expropriation or the printing or publishing of any publication which in his opinion would be or is likely to be or become prejudicial for the defense of palestine or to the public safety or to public order clause two of the same article states that any person who contravenes any order under this regulation and the proprietor and editor of the publication in relation to which the contravention occurs and any person who has in his posses sion or his control or in premises of which he is the occupier any publication prohibited under this regulation or who posts delivers or receives any such prohibition shall be guilty of an off ense against these regulations 46 3 6 t h e i n f r a s t r u c t u r e o f c o n t r o l military order 50 from july 1967 reiterated these regulations forbidding the distribution or publication of newspapers without the permission of the military authorities th e order defi nes newspapers as including any pamphlet containing news information events occurrences or explana tions relating to news items stories or any other item of public interest th ose newspapers that did receive authorization were subjected to strict censorship while the permit itself had to be renewed every three months 47 news articles describing events taking place in the west bank and gaza frequently had the details expunged articles reporting on curfews strikes protests and israeli seizure of land and water were typically reduced to a single paragraph simply pointing out that an event took place 48 th e ultimate goal was to create a regime of truth that did not threaten israeli military rule and that would actually help normalize the occupation so for example the israeli communist paper al itihad was outlawed in the ot while simultaneously an arabic paper published by the governing mapai party was distributed in the west bank when israel realized that hardly any palestinian bothered to purchase the latter paper it increased its arabic radio news programs and added a few other programs in an eff ort to reach some of the inhabitants 49 printing publishing or distributing political leafl ets and articles as well as pictures posters fl ags and artwork with political signifi cance without obtaining a permit from the military commander was also strictly prohib ited 50 th e word printing is defi ned in the military order as lithography typing on a type writer copying photographing or any other manner of representation or of communicating expressions numbers symbols pic tures maps painting decorations or any other similar material as virgil falloon points out the term publishing denotes a wide array of practices thus allowing the authorities to convict a librarian from ramallah for publishing illegal material aft er he had purchased what he thought was a permitted publication and made it available to the larger public 51 falloon underscores that the military order s key concept political signifi cance is left undefi ned and shows that the censor considered political signifi cance to be any suggestion that west bank inhabitants are suff ering under occu pation any talk of love and loyalty to the homeland or any representation of national aspirations common examples of illicit political content have included pictorial representations of israeli soldiers assaulting palestinian civilians schools surrounded by barbed wire and the use of the colors of the t h e i n f r a s t r u c t u r e o f c o n t r o l 3 7 palestinian fl ag together red green black and white th e employment of words like homeland return or plo in the newspapers were also declared illegal 52 as i show in the following chapter one of the sites in which israel attempted to control knowledge was the education system school text books were censored as were hundreds of other books including classi cal poetry plays and novels 53 in addition it was forbidden to protest or associate in groups any group of ten or more people who wished to meet in order to discuss issues concerning or related to politics broadly defi ned had to acquire a permit from the military commander finally all attempts to infl uence public opinion in a way detrimental to public order were rendered illegal th ese examples illustrate how the permit regime attempted to manage the population by repressing certain fi elds of knowledge that were circulating in the public sphere while concomitantly introducing and disseminating others permits and control even this cursory overview suggests that the permit regime infi ltrated almost every aspect of palestinian society creating an intricate web through which the population was managed indeed revealing the way the permit regime spread across the entire social terrain and the way it shaped the minutest daily practices sheds light on the vast resources and energy put into admin istering the occupied inhabitants both on the level of the population as well as on the level of the individual palestinian th e permit regime functioned simultaneously as the scaff olding for many other forms of control and thus as part of the infrastructure of control as well as a controlling apparatus in its own right as a controlling apparatus permits obviously function as restrictive fi ats producing and enforcing prohibited zones but the permit regime was never informed solely by a sovereign mode of power which uses the regulations in a negative way through the imposition of restrictions and exclusions just as importantly the permit regime has always operated in the service of disciplinary and bio modes of power since it has created and promulgated norms of correct behavior and thus has helped shape the interests and comportment of the inhabitants in a productive way th e permits deter mined which crops could be planted how they could be transported and where they could be sold all of which helped shape the behavior and habits 3 8 t h e i n f r a s t r u c t u r e o f c o n t r o l of the palestinian farmer as well as form the palestinian economy as a whole moreover by determining who would be allowed to move freely conduct business transactions obtain a job or acquire university training it helped certain people improve or maintain their position on the social ladder thereby infl uencing the economic and political hierarchy of palestinian society within the territories 54 as part of the infrastructure of control the permit regime was instru mental in shaping the palestinian economy space politics and civilian life it helped constrain the development of an independent palestinian industry and agriculture and it restricted palestinian construction it operated in complex ways to ensure that the palestinian workforce would consist mostly of unskilled labor it enabled israeli offi cials to determine the curriculum in schools and thus helped promote a certain history while suppressing another history it determined the licensed medical fi elds that could be practiced in the ot and the whereabouts of hospitals and clinics yet again it is important to reiterate that the regime shaped not only the economy and the civil infrastructure but the comportment of palestinian inhabitants as well it also enabled the gss to recruit thousands of collaborators who not only relayed information to their operators but also fragmented palestinian society on a diff erent level of analysis the permit regime was informed by the modalities of control mentioned above first the regime itself helped gener ate reproduce and exploit the gaps and fi ssures among the diff erent legal frameworks and in this way helped transform the law into an instrument of control devoid of any force to protect the rights of the palestinian inhabit ants second in addition to facilitating the production of a colossal bureau cratic apparatus the ever changing character of the regime and the lack of transparency relating to how it operated helped engender the ostensibly temporary and arbitrary character of the occupation it was instrumental in introducing an uncertain even aleatory dimension that was utilized in turn to manage the palestinian population through the constant play of security and insecurity israel for example issued permits that secured jobs for tens of thousands of palestinians and in this way helped secure the liveli hood of hundreds of thousands of people yet the fact that their livelihood depended on a permit that could be revoked produced a profound sense of insecurity which during certain periods was merely a hovering threat and during other periods became a reality finally the permit regime also served t h e i n f r a s t r u c t u r e o f c o n t r o l 3 9 to defi ne the contours of the surveillance apparatuses determining as it were which domains needed to be monitored in order to assess whether the inhabitants were following the rules of correct behavior at the same time though the effi cient operation of the permit regime relied on the ubiquitous surveillance of palestinian society since without the ability to monitor the population the regime was in many respects useless surveillance considering that almost all forms of control depend for their successful operation on the collection and analysis of data pertaining to the popula tion it is not surprising that within months of the occupation almost every aspect of palestinian life was surveyed examined and registered th e seem ingly endless number of tables charts and fi gures published by the military government israel s central bureau of statistics and the bank of israel s research department as well as diff erent government ministries reveals the extent to which the population was monitored and provides a sense of the vast amount of resources israel invested in ensuring that nothing escaped its observation indeed what comes across very prominently in the reports published during the fi rst years following the war is both the swift ness with which the surveillance apparatus was set up and the degree of surveillance and scrutiny to which the population was subjected in order to ensure the effi cient working of israeli control information from several diff erent fi elds ranging from population characteristics employment and public health to education infrastructure and bureau cracy was aggregated data was collected about the number of palestinians israel had to manage and how they were distributed across space in terms of regions urban versus rural habitation as well as refugee versus permanent residents population surveys attempted to ascertain the exact distribution of gender age and religion among palestinian workers in the diff erent sec tors of occupation th e military authorities examined the infant mortality rate the population s growth rate poverty levels per capita income and the size and makeup of the labor force in terms of age gender and fi eld of occu pation th e scale and type of industry in the territories was also surveyed as was the amount of arable land and the kinds of crops planted even the cattle and poultry were counted satellite and aerial images were used to monitor the construction of homes public buildings and private businesses 4 0 t h e i n f r a s t r u c t u r e o f c o n t r o l each cluster of data dealt with specifi c issues several tables and charts appearing in early reports underscore israel s eff ort to survey the popula tion s lifestyle th e bank of israel s research department documented for instance a series of social indicators such as the number of households with electricity private kitchens toilets bathrooms and the number of people per room it monitored furniture and household maintenance keeping track of the per household percentage of gas cookers electric refrigerators televi sion sets telephones sewing machines and private cars israel was accord ingly able to track the changing rate of private consumption the energy and nutritional value of the food basket and the proportion of household expenditure allocated to services like health education transportation and entertainment 55 such surveillance is common among modern states since the knowledge it produces is necessary for the effi cient management of the population but the rapid establishment of such an extensive surveillance apparatus and the huge expenditure that it no doubt incurred raises the question of whether israel ever had the intention of withdrawing from the ot or conceived the occupation as temporary moreover this massive investment soon became as james ron has observed a double edged sword since by inscribing palestinian lives and assets into israel s bureaucratic reg istries those entities were transformed into objects of state responsibility 56 th e fact that in the late 1990s israel ceased to monitor most of the practices it had so carefully inspected during the occupation s fi rst three decades accordingly suggests that it no longer considered itself responsible for the lives of the palestinian inhabitants several other domains were also constantly monitored such as the forms of communication among palestinians one fi nds tables enumerating the amount and destination of phone calls made during the calendar year 1969 1970 90 298 inside the gaza strip 13 554 from the strip to the west bank 66 899 from the strip to israel and 666 from the strip to other countries the amount of incoming and outgoing letters sent to and by palestinians 254 624 and 232 046 respectively the amount of incoming and outgoing red cross dispatches 147 506 and 134 383 respectively the number of stamps sold 45 000 and the amount of incoming and outgoing parcels telegrams and cables 2 297 and 2 343 respectively 57 such tables intimate how quickly israel managed to set up mechanisms that could monitor the diff erent forms of association among the occupied inhabit ants as the years passed these mechanisms were constantly updated and t h e i n f r a s t r u c t u r e o f c o n t r o l 4 1 expanded in order to deepen the degree of surveillance and to keep up with the development of new communication technologies while most forms of surveillance operate through their invisibility like keeping track of the communication among palestinians the use of land and the movement of individuals some actually function through their perpetual visibility particularly salient among these are buildings israel seems to have been aware of this and early on relocated some of its mili tary training bases to the ot 58 th e mere existence of the military bases within close proximity to palestinian villages and towns helped create the impression that the inhabitants were constantly being observed th e israeli military was accordingly not only used as a mechanism that enforced law and order through coercive measures but also as a panoptical tower of sorts imposing a compulsory visibility on the population as we will see in chapter 5 the jewish settlements built on hilltops overlooking palestinian villages aimed to achieve a similar end th e idea was to use military bases settlements and bypass roads in order to strengthen israel s control over the population 59 palestinian collaborators as part of the surveillance technology th e seemingly endless amount of data gathered and the construction of buildings could not however ensure the perpetual visibility of the palestinian inhabitants to further enhance its surveillance of the popula tion israel began recruiting a massive number of collaborators 60 it did not discriminate among palestinians and enlisted both adults and children the rich and the poor urban professionals and rural farmers 61 th ere were two main methods used to enlist collaborators one operated through the permit regime th e permits as mentioned transformed many rights into privileges that were bestowed according to the discretion of the occupying authorities frequently a person requesting a permit had to go through the gss offi ces and was interviewed by one of the offi cers a positive response to a request for a permit ranging from access to medical treatment and family unifi cation to building a home or opening a business was at times conditional upon the applicant s willingness to collaborate 62 without the permit regime it would have been extremely diffi cult to recruit so many collaborators th e second recruitment method involved palestinians sus pected accused or convicted of security or criminal off enses oft en they were recruited by promising to withdraw charges lighten sentences or 4 2 t h e i n f r a s t r u c t u r e o f c o n t r o l improve their imprisonment conditions 63 th e theory was that if a suf fi ciently large number of people were approached some simply by the law of statistical averages would likely turn out to be useful sources 64 before long thousands of collaborators were operating in the ot 65 formally collaborators have had fi ve principal roles 1 to infi ltrate into the ranks of diff erent organizations and institutions newspaper staff politi cal groups and so on so as to relay information to israeli authorities about the organization and the whereabouts of its leaders 2 to extract confes sions from political prisoners and to intimidate them 3 to recruit new palestinian agents 4 to help israel gain control of palestinian land and 5 to carry out paramilitary activities such as capturing wanted suspects and at times even killing them 66 th ey are accordingly part of an apparatus that enforces by for example carrying out arrests and suspends by carrying out extrajudicial executions the law on a deeper and informal level though the collaborators have assumed a few other roles th ey have been used as a surveillance apparatus that moni tors palestinian society at large as opposed to a military base or a jewish settlement which is like a panoptic tower whose gaze is centralized and visible the collaborators are much more effi cient since they are dispersed throughout society for the most part invisible and operate from the bottom up th e uncertainty regarding the collaborator s identity renders the surveil lance apparatus omnipresent and therefore much more effi cient almost anyone anywhere at anytime could potentially be a collaborator th is suggests in turn that collaborators serve two additional roles that are probably more consequential than their more formal roles th ey func tion as a means of control that encourages correct conduct th e mere possibility that someone could be a collaborator and practically anyone can be a collaborator becomes an extremely eff ective tool for encourag ing people to act and even think in a certain way from a slightly diff erent perspective the extensive employment of collaborators has helped to create new social hierarchies since some of the incentives off ered to collaborators by their operators have allowed them to climb the social ladder while harsh restrictions are frequently imposed on those who refuse to cooperate simultaneously collaborators also facilitate the fragmentation of society undermining the basic trust needed to create alliances promote solidarity and spur political resistance by destroying trust they also individualize and depoliticize society 67 t h e i n f r a s t r u c t u r e o f c o n t r o l 4 3 surveillance and control not unlike the permit regime the surveillance apparatus that israel set up served both as part of the infrastructure of control as well as a form of control in its own right th e effi cient operation of almost all the control ling apparatuses or practices deployed to manage the palestinian popula tion depended on the ongoing collection of data if for example israel wanted to increase agricultural productivity in the ot it fi rst needed to determine the amount of arable and cultivated land and the kinds of crops being planted subsequently it would have to determine whether the introduction of new kinds of crops and improved seeds as well as the training it off ered farmers had helped achieve its intended objectives th us without the ongoing surveillance of palestinian society israel could not test the effi ciency of the measures it introduced along similar lines ongoing surveillance was necessary for monitoring palestinian behavior so as to keep track of transgressive activities ranging from building illegal homes and planting prohibited crops to joining an underground political cell 68 in these and several other ways surveillance operated as part of the infrastructure of control as a form of control in its own right surveillance encourages each indi vidual to govern him or herself th e notion that someone is always monitor ing one s behavior and activities propels forms of self governing 69 th e gaze emanating from the military government civil institutions palestinian collaborators and jewish settlers oft en penetrates the individual encourag ing him or her to act in accordance with some of the existing rules codes and mores set by the occupying authorities yet at times it also encourages subversive acts moving beyond the carrot and the stick th e swift ness with which israel set up the infrastructure of control is worth reemphasizing within days of the war s end the basic rationale informing the complex legal system was established and the high court of justice accepted the role of supreme arbitrator between the occupied inhabitants and the military commander just a few weeks later the civil bureaucracies were operating and the military and gss were policing and managing the population moreover the permit regime was created and many of the surveillance apparatuses were installed within months one cannot under 4 4 t h e i n f r a s t r u c t u r e o f c o n t r o l stand israel s occupation without taking into account this infrastructure of control since its diff erent components have informed every aspect of palestinian life from the inception of the occupation until this day th e legal system civil and security institutions permit regime and sur veillance apparatuses continued to develop until the mid 1990s but the changes introduced were relatively minor since all forms of control both depend on and are shaped by the infrastructure of control the fact that the infrastructural modifi cations were not substantial helps explain why the means of control did not change dramatically over the years th e signifi cant changes taking place in the west bank and gaza strip over the past four decades are thus a result of the way the means of control were used their function as mentioned earlier was adjusted according to the modes of power that were emphasized during each period in other words the way the palestinian population was managed changed dramatically not so much because the occupying power introduced new forms of control but primar ily because the emphasis on the modes of power shift ed and the alteration in the modes of power was propelled by the excesses and contradictions produced by the controlling apparatuses and practices in the following chapters i trace some of the excesses and contradictions that helped modify the modes of power showing how they shaped both palestinian resistance and israel s policy choices but before turning to analyze the historical developments in the west bank and gaza strip it is important to underscore the inadequacy of the pervasive carrot and stick metaphor which has been repeatedly invoked by commentators of all stripes in order to explain how the palestinian inhabitants were administered 70 th is metaphor was introduced by dayan immediately aft er the war to inti mate that israel could and would manage the palestinian population in the ot through appeasement and pacifi cation on the one hand and coercive punitive measures on the other th e pervasive invocation of the metaphor is unfortunate since it both reinscribes the statist approach which under stands the state to be a free agent that determines policies according to the whims of its leaders and assumes a very limited conception of power it therefore fails to capture the vast majority of controlling apparatuses and practices deployed in the west bank and gaza strip and ends up concealing rather than revealing most of the methods employed to manage the occu pied population it also obscures or fails to account for many of the reasons why the occupation has changed so dramatically over the years t h e i n f r a s t r u c t u r e o f c o n t r o l 4 5 shlomo gazit the fi rst coordinator of government activities in the administered territories who wrote a book about the occupation called th e carrot and the stick maintains that israel did not really have a pre meditated philosophy regarding how it wanted to govern the population th us in stark contrast to the statist approach that informs the carrot and stick metaphor he claims that many of the policies were actually shaped from below 71 dayan and several other people certainly implemented policies based on their strategic intuition and the interministerial gov ernment committee met every other week to determine policy but their decisions were shaped by concrete local political social and economic developments that arose from the ground th e overall strategy of control in the ot in other words did not exist before the occupation or come into being out of nowhere once the territories were captured rather it was partially molded by the interactions among the diff erent forms of control that were adopted on the local and regional level in order to manage the population th e metaphor s major inadequacy however results from the fact that it assumes a space indeed a fairly large space devoid of all power rela tions israel according to this metaphor enabled palestinians to live their lives without interference so long as they behaved well th e carrot and the stick were used only when israel wanted to either encourage or discourage the palestinians from acting in certain ways power accord ing to the metaphor is reduced to visible acts of intervention in reality however the grid of controlling apparatuses and practices employed to manage the population was so widespread that it saturated every aspect of palestinian life leaving no space untouched all facets of daily life within the territories were continuously meddled with acted upon and shaped oft en in order to produce and channel the energy of the inhabitants in directions that israel considered conducive to its own interests israel s attempt to increase hospital deliveries its distribution of improved seeds for agricultural crops and its vaccination of livestock are not considered forms of control or eff ects of power according to the metaphor of the carrot and the stick in sum this metaphor presupposes that most daily practices are uncon taminated by power and therefore considers only the most visible intermit tent interventions as the workings of power thus ignoring the apparatuses that ceaselessly operate on the minutest parts of daily life in order to pro 4 6 t h e i n f r a s t r u c t u r e o f c o n t r o l duce and disseminate an array of norms and social practices referring back to the distinction discussed in the introduction among the three modes of power the carrot and stick metaphor recognizes only sovereign power considering that most forms of social control cannot really be captured by this conception of power the carrot and stick metaphor has actually served to cover up the more subtle means by which the palestinians were managed and controlled t h e i n f r a s t r u c t u r e o f c o n t r o l 4 7 chapter 2 the invisible occupation one might say in principle that the aims of the military government were that an arab resident of the area might be born in the hospital receive his birth certifi cate grow up and receive his education be married and raise his children and grandchildren to a ripe old age all this without the help of an israeli government employee or clerk and without even setting eyes on him shlomo gazit coordinator of government activities in the administered territories 1970 immediately following the 1967 war the head of israel s gss yosef harmelin submitted a proposal to defense minister moshe dayan elabo rating on how he thought the population in the west bank and gaza strip should be governed harmelin suggested that the same framework that had been used to manage the palestinians inside israel during the period of the internal military government 1948 1966 should be adopted in the west bank and gaza strip 1 dayan disagreed maintaining that given the very diff erent social and political situations of the palestinians inside israel aft er 1948 and the newly occupied inhabitants the form of military government established inside israel should not be emulated a relatively small percentage of palestinians had remained in what became israel aft er 1948 th e vast majority of leaders and intelligentsia had fl ed the urban centers leaving them practically empty while the inhabitants who did not leave were mostly rural dwellers who were not organized under a unifi ed political umbrella th is alongside the fact that not long aft er the war israel decided to off er these palestinians citizenship and incorporate them at least partially into the israeli demos shaped the forms of control adopted by the internal military government in the ot by contrast most of the inhabitants were not displaced during the 1967 war both the urban and rural leadership had to a large extent stayed put and israel had no intention of integrating these palestinians into its own citizenry from 4 8 4 8 israel s perspective then these social and political diff erences called for a diff erent form of government and dayan decided to adopt a more open and less interventionist policy than the one that had been used to manage the palestinians inside israel 2 israel s intention according to military reports published aft er the war was to implement a policy of normalization through the encouragement of self rule which would allow the population of the areas to carry on their life and activities just as they had been used to until the 5th of june 1967 3 or as dayan once put it the goal was to make the occupation invisible 4 to accomplish this objective israel set up the infrastructure of control discussed in the previous chapter it also preserved most of the civil institutions that had existed in the ot before the war and continued to employ the vast majority of civil servants who had held public offi ce 5 don t set up an israeli administration dayan is quoted as saying to his subordinates use the existing jordanian administrative apparatus don t make the same mistake that the americans made in vietnam 6 israel accordingly extended the tenure of most of the palestinian mayors and councilmen and recognized the village mukhtars as the local repre sentatives of the occupied inhabitants thus bestowing both administra tive and political powers on them by retaining the civil servants and local representatives israel wished to convey a sense of continuity while simultaneously hoping that a relatively strong local political presence would undermine palestinian eff orts to create a national leadership in the territories 7 in order to reduce some of its responsibility for the local inhabitants undercut the emergence of a palestinian nationalist movement and nor malize the occupation israel also established an informal power sharing agreement with jordan 8 it preserved the jordanian dinar as one of the legal tenders permitted jordan to maintain some of its prewar functions and allowed the hashemite regime to continue paying the salaries of civil servants teachers health professionals and bureaucrats who were employed in government institutions while jordan used the salaries as well as other arrangements to prolong its authority in the territories israel not only benefi ted fi nancially but also administratively from this undeclared pact moreover the power sharing agreement as meron benvenisti points out was also compatible with israel s attempt to distinguish between the palestinian population and its land since jordan s readiness to help israel t h e i n v i s i b l e o c c u p at i o n 4 9 manage the population was not premised on an israeli promise to refrain from confi scating land 9 in the days following the armed confl ict israel also adopted a three pronged policy non presence non interference open bridges 10 th is proclaimed policy however has to be taken with a grain of salt first the notions of nonpresence and noninterference invoked by the authorities who formulated the policy were very limited and referred only to visibly coercive measures while altogether ignoring the forms of control that aimed to shape the daily practices of palestinians in noncoercive ways second a wide gap existed between israel s declarations and its actual practices on the ground th e military was frequently present and both the security and bureaucratic apparatuses constantly interfered in the lives of the occupied inhabitants moreover the bridges between the west bank and jordan were not always open and surely not to everyone and oft en they were only open in one direction 11 yet in comparison to the methods used to manage the palestinians inside israel during the eighteen years of military government and the restrictions imposed in later years in the west bank and gaza strip the forms of intervention adopted aft er the 1967 war were much less overt it is fair to say that the defi ning feature characterizing the occupation s fi rst period 1967 80 and part of the second 1981 87 was israel s attempt to stabilize its rule in the territories by emphasizing disciplinary and bio modes of power to be sure israel employed coercive measures against the population in the west bank and gaza strip particularly during the fi rst four years of the occupation but by the end of 1971 aft er israel had succeeded in crushing the armed resistance in gaza the application of brute force was dramatically reduced th us even though sovereign power has always been present there was during the fi rst decade a clear if not altogether even shift of emphasis from sovereign power and coercive mea sures to disciplinary and bio modes of power th e logic so it seems was to render the occupied inhabitants docile not so much by the deployment of military forces as by raising their standard of living and transforming the population s lifestyle indeed the general mood in the ot during the fi rst two decades was very diff erent than it is today for several years the israeli military government published annual reports entitled accountability din veheshbon sug gesting that israel both considered itself responsible for the population and 5 0 t h e i n v i s i b l e o c c u p at i o n felt a need to provide an account of the social and economic developments taking place in the regions that it had captured 12 two central points stand out in these reports first israel adopted the colonial discourse of the civi lizing mission and portrayed itself as bringing progress to the uncivilized palestinians th e underlying claim in these reports can be summed up in the following way due to our interventions the palestinian economy industry education health care and civilian infrastructure have signifi cantly developed as we will see in later chapters the notion that israel was responsible for the occupied inhabitants changed over the years second the immense amount of data presented in such reports which provide detailed information about life in the ot aims to create the impression that the occupation is transparent that the occupying power is telling everything and has nothing to hide concentrating on three sites this chapter illustrates how israel consoli dated its military rule in the ot by increasing the inhabitants economic productivity while diminishing their political capabilities i begin by briefl y describing the coercive measures israel employed to crush all oppositional forces and then discuss some of the changes introduced in the education system in order to suppress both national identifi cation and political aspi rations finally i describe how alongside its eff orts to quell the popula tion s desire for emancipation israel encouraged economic practices that promoted palestinian prosperity and in this manner hoped to normalize the occupation coercive measures and the logic of restraint despite the initial shock at israel s swift success in capturing the west bank and gaza strip within less than a month the palestinian inhabitants began mobilizing against the occupying power organizing strikes and demonstra tions israel s response was to issue military orders categorizing all forms of resistance as insurgency including protests and political meetings raising fl ags or other national symbols publishing or distributing articles or pictures with political connotations and even singing or listening to nationalist songs and deployed security forces to suppress opposition 13 it was clear to both sides that the fi rst months were crucial and each camp aspired to shape the rules of the game interestingly fewer than one hundred palestinians were killed in the west bank in the fi rst six months aft er the t h e i n v i s i b l e o c c u p at i o n 51 cessation of hostilities a relatively small number particularly when com pared to periods of consolidation of other military occupations 14 like most coercive measures the ones used by the israeli military were centralized visible operated from the top down and utilized the complex legal system israel had installed a brief overview of the coercive methods employed right aft er the war reveals that many if not most of them continue to be operative today it is important to underscore though that during the fi rst period and particularly aft er 1971 the coercive methods were only intermittently enforced and when they were employed they were imple mented with less intensity 15 one of the fi rst measures israel adopted in order to suppress opposi tion was the removal of all leaders and activists who showed any signs of uncompromising opposition to the occupation already in july 1967 four palestinian leaders who protested israel s annexation of east jerusalem had been deported to other parts of the country for a period of several months by september of that year however the israeli military commander decided that this form of punishment was inadequate and issued a permanent deportation order against abdel hamid a sayegh the chief kadi of the west bank s muslim population and when nadim al zaro the mayor of ramallah was suspected of supporting acts of resistance he too was deported not only because there was not enough evidence to convict him but also because the military commander was afraid that his administra tive arrest might provoke further protests 16 rapidly deportations became ubiquitous 17 by the end of 1971 israel had deported 1 009 palestinians from the west bank and gaza strip 18 while these deportations depended on the suspension of international humanitarian law they were carried out in accordance with local law specifi cally the british mandatory s 1945 emergency regulations 19 th e military government continued using depor tations in the following years but much less frequently 20 along with the deportations israel also used administrative detentions i e incarceration without trial to separate leaders from their communi ties in 1970 1 261 palestinians were held in administrative detention in 1971 the number dropped to 445 and between 1973 and 1977 only about 40 people per year were held in this way 21 th e deportation and detention of leaders and activists were no doubt crucial for hindering widespread mobi lization but they did not manage to contain the palestinian emancipatory drive in september 1967 the occupied inhabitants launched a widespread 5 2 t h e i n v i s i b l e o c c u p at i o n school strike in the west bank teachers did not show up for work children took to the streets to protest the occupation and many shopkeepers did not open their stores 22 in response israel enforced severe police style measures ranging from nightly curfews and other restrictions of movement to cutting off telephone lines detaining leaders and increasing the harassment of the population th is in many ways became israel s modus operandi when deal ing with palestinian resistance th e message was clear any act of resistance would result in a disproportionate response which would make the popula tion suff er to such a degree that resistance would appear pointless 23 following commercial strikes that lasted several hours or entire days the military government would shut down dozens of shops until fur ther notice when west bankers tried to emulate martin luther king s transportation strike the security forces completely immobilized the local fl eet of buses in addition punitive measures were introduced that were unrelated to any acts carried out by the residents pharmacies and restau rants were closed on the pretext of public welfare or sanitation searching for terrorists became an excuse for blocking off agricultural fi elds during harvest 24 moreover any sign of opposition led to arrests at times mass arrests while israeli security forces routinely tortured the political suspects it detained and demolished the homes of palestinians who were suspected of being part of the resistance movement 25 even though these measures may appear uncannily familiar to those who have followed israel s activities in the ot during later years it is important to stress once again that they were not nearly as intense or frequent during the occupation s fi rst two decades th eir purpose though was the same to repress the inhabitants political aspirations and undermine their ability to bring about political change in the gaza strip palestinian opposition to israeli rule was in many ways diff erent from the acts of civil disobedience staged in the west bank assuming a more violent character 26 in 1971 general ariel sharon the head of the southern command was asked to suppress armed resistance in the strip s refugee camps fatah and pflp cadres had been using the camps as bases from which they carried out military operations against the occupy ing forces as well as terror attacks against israeli civilians and palestinians suspected of collaboration in order to uncover and crush the insurgency a fence was erected which surrounded parts of the region as israeli troops the gss and palestinian collaborators combed the area with a list of wanted men th e families of these men were also rounded up and approximately t h e i n v i s i b l e o c c u p at i o n 5 3 twelve thousand inhabitants were sent to the remote abu zneima detention center on the coast of the sinai peninsula an estimated two thousand houses were demolished in refugee camps like shati and jabalya in order to make it easier for the military to patrol the camps th ese demolitions displaced again more than fi ft een thousand refugees 27 simultaneously curfews were imposed on the camps adult males were randomly stopped and searched and several palestinians were shot and killed for failing to halt for routine searches 28 aft er the armed resistance was crushed however israel changed the repertoires of violence it employed in the strip and used measures similar to those utilized in the west bank 29 one of the most telling fi gures relating to this period and the one follow ing it 1981 87 is that during the fi rst twenty years of occupation no more than 650 palestinians were killed by the israeli military in the west bank and gaza strip 30 th is relatively small number stands out not only when compared to the thousands of civilians killed annually in other military occupations such as east timor afghanistan and iraq but also when considering the number of palestinians killed by the israeli military in later years in 2002 for example 989 palestinians were killed by israeli security forces many more than the 650 people killed during the fi rst two decades of the occupation th is suggests that during the early years death or even the threat of death which serves as the paradigmatic manifestation of forms of control operating under the sway of sovereign power was not nearly as prevalent as it could have been th e particular way israel exercised force in the ot reveals yet another modality of control not mentioned in the previous chapter which informs the deployment of coercive measures and can be referred to as the logic of restraint restraint as eyal weizman cogently observes is what allows for the possibility of further escalation 31 th at is in the ot force has con tinuously been exercised through the maintenance of gaps between on the one hand the destruction the military can potentially infl ict when it applies its full destructive capacity or alternatively the level of lethal violence it can potentially deploy and on the other hand the actual destruction it infl icts and the actual repertoires of violence it employs th e actual force israel has exercised in the ot has in other words always been less oft en much less than the force that it could have potentially employed it is important to stress that in order to become a modality of control the logic of restraint that is the gap between actual and potential violence must 5 4 t h e i n v i s i b l e o c c u p at i o n be discernable regardless of how lethal israel s military attacks are the palestinian population must recognize that potentially they can become more deadly and brutal th is guarantees that violence both when it is and is not deployed remains an ever lurking threat and as such a modal ity of control that can be exploited in order to facilitate the population s management while the gap between the possible and actual deployment of violence has been sustained throughout the occupation as a rule all visible palestinian opposition was confronted with visibly coercive measures even though invisible measures were always employed as well in general the more visible the resistance the more visible and destructive the coercive measures used to suppress it and the more israel used destructive coercive measures the less emphasis it put on forms of control informed by disciplinary and bio modes of power th is suggests that resistance actually unmasks the occupa tion since it exposes the occupier s fangs for all to see th is process in turn weakens the occupier since power s success is in proportion to its ability to hide its own mechanisms 32 dayan seemed to have realized this and as mentioned his announced goal was to make the occupation invisible while israeli troops did not hesitate to employ harsh coercive measures there was a concerted attempt during this period and especially post 1971 to emphasize the role of the military government s civil branches th us within the fi rst decade one can identify a shift from an initial emphasis on sovereign power to its de emphasis alongside a concurrent ongoing accen tuation of disciplinary and bio modes of power israel it is clear tried to rule the palestinians through a politics of life th e idea as the passage cited at the beginning of this chapter states was to create a situation whereby the inhabitants could carry on with their lives without the help of an israeli government employee or clerk education israel used the various civil institutions to accomplish this objective th e educational system complimented the coercive measures in the sense that it too was used to suppress opposition and more precisely palestinian national resistance th is is not surprising given that modern educational systems are expected to engender and reinforce a national identity in mandatory palestine for example the salience of nationalist indoctrination in the t h e i n v i s i b l e o c c u p at i o n 5 5 palestinian educational system was noted by the peel commission report of 1937 which claimed that teachers had turned the government schools into seminaries of arab nationalism according to rashid khalidi the system fostered a specifi cally palestinian national consciousness even though the teaching of history normally the most potent and eff ective entry point for nationalist ideas was closely monitored by the british to prevent the spread of such subversive thinking 33 israel was well aware of the educational system s potential impact and used its authority to alter the curricula in order to repress all forms of iden tifi cation with palestinian nationalism however unlike coercive measures that operate mostly through restrictions and repression the practices of control employed in the educational system operated through the repression and subjugation of certain knowledge and the simultaneous creation and dissemination of alternative knowledge employing as it were all three modes of power to accomplish this task prior to israel s occupation the jordanians and egyptians administered the educational systems in the west bank and gaza strip respectively determining their curriculum th e west bank schools had used jordanian textbooks while those in gaza had used egyptian ones and although these textbooks could be characterized as having been culturally relevant to the local population the jordanians and egyptians did not encourage palestinian national identity thus there was hardly any reference in the textbooks to palestinian history 34 israeli authorities took over the educational system immediately aft er the war establishing an offi ce for educational aff airs in each region that was manned by military personnel th e israeli offi cers in charge were directly responsible for the management and pedagogical supervision of the govern mental educational system th e system was highly centralized and left all administrative and decision making powers including decisions to build or expand schools and the hiring and fi ring of teachers entirely in the hands of the offi cers in the educational aff airs offi ce th ese offi cers also provided licenses for all of the nongovernmental educational institutions and oversaw the fi nances and curricula of private schools as well as the pedagogy of the united nations relief and work agency schools which provided services to all the refugees 35 examining the way israel consolidated its control over the educational system during the occupation s fi rst six months helps reveal how this civil 5 6 t h e i n v i s i b l e o c c u p at i o n institution was deployed to manage the palestinian residents as opposed to the military government inside israel which for several years employed jewish teachers of iraqi descent to teach the palestinian citizenry in the west bank and gaza strip almost all teachers principals and administra tive staff who had been employed by the jordanians and egyptians before the war continued teaching in this way israel hoped to weaken the sense that the 1967 war constituted a dramatic break it was also the easiest and most convenient solution considering that it would have been practi cally impossible to replace all of the teachers and still open the schools in september problems emerged though when offi cials from the ministry of education began inspecting the jordanian and egyptian teaching material since sev eral textbooks had anti israeli and anti jewish passages 36 in a seventh grade textbook for example the children were asked to respond to the following assignment israel was born in order to die prove this statement in a ninth grade textbook the students were told that the european jews were annihilated because of their corruption wretchedness and deception 37 and while most books did not really mention palestinians one textbook in the west bank had a chapter about palestinian history th e offi cials from the ministry of education who were apparently unaware of dayan s non interventionist policy and modeled their response on the 1948 66 military government within israel proposed introducing totally new texts in the ot using the ones that had been written for the arab schools within israel 38 th ese texts adopted the zionist historical narrative erasing for example all traces of the palestinian nakbah the 1948 catastrophe that led to the displacement of the vast majority of palestinians in an attempt to integrate the palestinians living inside israel into dominant jewish society th e eff orts to disqualify the existing textbooks and introduce new ones created an uproar in the west bank and east jerusalem and the inhabit ants threatened to launch a general strike at the beginning of the 1967 68 school year aft er a few weeks of pressure the military took the reigns from the ministry of education and partially conceded to the demands of the palestinian leadership announcing that israeli textbooks would only be used in the government schools located in annexed east jerusalem and not in the west bank and gaza strip 39 th e distinction israel made between east jerusalem and the two other regions suggests that from the very beginning t h e i n v i s i b l e o c c u p at i o n 5 7 israel had no intention of integrating the palestinians residing in the west bank and gaza strip while it did intend to incorporate the inhabitants of east jerusalem th is solution however did not satisfy the palestinian lead ers who rejected the distinction israel made between the west bank and east jerusalem as well as the decision to replace about half the textbooks that had been used in the west bank 40 at the beginning of september 1967 a general school strike was launched th e israeli authorities once again examined the palestinian textbooks and this time decided to disqualify only two out of the 120 and to erase pas sages in an additional 20 books about one hundred textbooks were found entirely acceptable 41 since this move did not solve the problem of east jerusalem the palestinians continued with the strike israel in turn began a punitive campaign focusing on nablus which was the strike s primary instigator aft er a few weeks of harsh measures including nightly curfews barring the use of public transportation cutting off the telephone system detaining leaders and increasing the level of harassment and searches israel managed to break the strike 42 th e strikers succeeded in preserving almost all of the jordanian and egyptian textbooks in the west bank and gaza but not in east jerusalem but these textbooks did not seriously threaten the israeli authorities since they did not touch upon issues relating to palestinian national identity or to their nation building aspirations th e strike did nothing to alter military order 101 issued in august 1967 which specifi ed that the military censor must approve all reading materials books and periodicals it did not change the fact that any reference to palestinian nationalism and identity was systematically erased 43 th e israeli authorities continued to subject school books brought in from egypt and jordan each year to strict censorship words paragraphs and entire chapters were erased and at times whole books were disqualifi ed for discussing palestinian roots cultural heritage or national identity 44 th e censorship applied not only to history and geog raphy books but also to literature and poetry over the years more than 1 700 titles were banned including such books as christopher marlow s th e jew of malta and shakespeare s merchant of venice presumably for the way they depict jews as well as books by israeli political leader yigal allon and ha aretz correspondent ze ev schiff 45 th rough censorship israel strove to create a specifi c fi eld of knowledge which benedict anderson has called an imagined community in his 5 8 t h e i n v i s i b l e o c c u p at i o n study of indonesia anderson shows that nothing nurtured the bondage among the diff erent peoples more than the colonial school system t he government schools formed a colossal highly rationalized tightly cen tralized hierarchy structurally analogous to the state bureaucracy itself uniform textbooks standardized diplomas and teaching certifi cates a strictly regulated gradation of age groups classes and instructional materi als in themselves created a self contained coherent universe of experi ence 46 israel to be sure recognized the importance of producing a form of knowledge that creates an artifi cial unity among disparate peoples when it put together its own textbooks for the diverse immigrant jewish population and for the palestinians who remained in the region that became israel aft er the 1948 war in sharp contrast to the textbooks used inside israel proper and those used in the colonial educational systems however in the newly occupied territories israel strove to undermine national unity by censoring all mention of a common palestinian past directives were introduced to ensure that teachers would not teach their students extracurricular material for fear that they might adopt a histori cal narrative depicting a shared palestinian past intertwined with heroic tales of victory as well as stories of loss and defeat it is well known that narratives of the nation have the capacity to transform an otherwise het erogeneous population into a homogenous one a shared past postulates a collective destiny which helps in turn to assure the cohesion of the popula tion conversely preventing the appearance of such a past helps promote fragmentation and division within society and consequently attenuates attempts to form a coherent opposition since the nation is always consti tuted through territory e g blood and soil the attempt to erase the nation is also an attempt to undermine the connection between the people and their land and the right of the people to self determination one could also say that wittingly or unwittingly the massive censorship enterprise aimed to facilitate the expropriation of land israel s eff orts to monitor and control the palestinian curriculum should however be distinguished from what paulo freire has called cultural inva sion by denying the palestinians the right to teach and learn about their own national identity israel indeed attempted to produce the cultural inauthenticity of those who are invaded freire was also correct when he noted that the more the invaded people mimic the invaders the more stable the position of the latter becomes but the occupied palestinians as t h e i n v i s i b l e o c c u p at i o n 5 9 opposed to those living inside israel proper were not encouraged to mimic israelis israel did not strive to transform the palestinian schools into places that would compel and encourage the occupied population to see reality from the perspective of the invaders as it had done in the arab educational system inside israel since it did not intend to incorporate the palestinians into the israeli demos 47 israel s unwillingness to incorporate the occupied palestinians on the one hand and the distinction it made between the inhabitants and their land on the other created a sui generis objective which was as mentioned diff erent from the objectives it had with respect to the palestinians inside israel and the objectives of the colonists of old in the latter cases students were taught to mimic the invaders while in the ot students were nei ther encouraged to identify with or as israelis nor were they permitted to identify as palestinians rather israel wanted them to identify as arabs shabtai teveth recounts that the israeli military allowed students to protest so long as they cheered for nasser namely pan arabism but when the students publicly identifi ed with the palestinian nationalist group fatah the military clamped down on the demonstrators even more telling the censor instructed all the editors of newspapers distributed in the ot to use the word arab rather than palestinian when referring to palestinians along similar lines israel censored the lyrical play th e returners which consists of a dialogue between an arab and palestinian where the latter expresses his aspiration for palestinian liberation and revenge 48 th e objec tive from israel s perspective was to weaken the palestinians claim to nationhood and strengthen their connection with other arab countries it accordingly promoted a mythic pan arab past that only vaguely includes the palestinians and erases palestinian particularity and palestinian claims th is approach fi ts well with the pervasive israeli view at the time which strove to collapse all arab countries into one homogeneous unit th ere are twenty two arab states israelis oft en argued but only one jewish state censorship of textbooks was not enough however although palestinian district directors were the ones who nominated new staff the new recruits had to be approved by the israeli security authorities once hired teachers did not immediately become civil servants but were required to pass a probationary period probationary periods are according to said assaf common features of teacher recruitment practices in other countries where the interlude is used to provide further classroom based training and to 6 0 t h e i n v i s i b l e o c c u p at i o n allow for professional assessment of new teachers before fi nal appointment yet the purpose of implementing a probationary period in this case was for the gss to approve or refuse appointments 49 th us the forms of control that operated on the teachers in the west bank and gaza were diff er ent from the ones operating on teachers in western liberal democracies whereas in liberal democracies teachers must conform to certain profes sional norms in the ot they were also expected to repress any expression relating to palestinian national aspirations israel forbade palestinian teach ers from engaging in political activity from joining a political party or even from expressing support for one participation in strikes or sit ins was prohibited as was writing articles for the press without prior approval 50 in 1982 for example more than one hundred teachers were fi red because they were either politically active or were unwilling to bow down to the civil administration s demands 51 in the classroom as mentioned teachers were not allowed to use any supplementary material to enhance the curriculum which was narrowly defi ned to mean the preapproved textbook material israel also strove to control all of the teacher training programs in many cases teachers and principals were instructed to attend courses at the hebrew university in jerusalem but they were never allowed to take similar courses at local universities even on the rare occasions when teachers found the resources to study outside the country an exit permit was not easy to obtain 52 th e goal was to root out anyone who might stir the children against israeli rule while dissuading those who intended to seek a post in the public educational system or any other public institution at some future point from taking part in any political activities in the present since those who did would most likely not be hired while israel did not succeed in preventing the emergence of palestinian nationalism in schools the forms of control it adopted made it practically impossible to create a unifi ed and homogeneous historical narrative the kind of narrative that is needed during processes of nation building th e total absence of a formal curriculum that taught palestinian history no doubt contributed to the continuing fragmentation of palestinian society and yet israel failed to normalize the situation which is in many respects the litmus test for determining the success of controlling apparatuses oper ating in the service of disciplinary and bio modes of power it could not expel national politics from the classroom not least because the attempt to control the curriculum how it was taught and who would teach it actually t h e i n v i s i b l e o c c u p at i o n 61 accentuated the relevance of politics to education and helped sensitize the student population to many of the issues israel was attempting to repress 53 israel s attempt to implement an alternative regime of truth in order to pre vent the revitalization of a palestinian national identity ultimately failed though because schools are not islands cut off from daily reality but are fi rmly connected to the sociopolitical environment in which they exist th e idea that palestine was an occupied land that needed to be liberated con tinuously infi ltrated into the educational system from the nursery rhymes taught in kindergartens all the way to the classes off ered in the universi ties palestinian children and students were constantly exposed to a highly politicized reality that managed to penetrate despite the censor s eff orts and was very diff erent from the offi cial reality israel strove to create 54 israel s conspicuous eff orts to impose a regime of truth within the educational system encountered the most vigorous opposition immedi ately aft er the war since resistance frequently surfaces when the means of control are set up when they are seen as a break from the past and are therefore visible aft er the initial struggle the emphasis on sovereign power slowly receded even though it was always present particularly in relation to the hiring and fi ring of teachers and israel began emphasiz ing the two other modes of power it was only in the early 1980s when palestinian children regularly demonstrated against the occupation that sovereign power reemerged to the fore and israel began shutting down schools and universities promoting prosperity th e coercive measures adopted aft er the war as well as some forms of control used in the educational system continued to play a role in managing the palestinian population for years to come th e one feature that stands out as almost completely unique when comparing the occupation s fi rst decade with those that followed is israel s attempt to manage the palestinian population through the promotion of prosperity a series of practices were introduced to increase the economic utility of the palestinian inhabitants both as a way of harnessing the energies of palestinian society to advance israel s economic interests but also as a way of raising the standard of living in the ot th e hope was that prosperity would help repress the inhabitants political aspirations prevent social unrest in the ot and help normalize the 6 2 t h e i n v i s i b l e o c c u p at i o n occupation unlike the coercive measures and even certain forms of control employed in the educational system most of israel s eff orts to promote prosperity were carried out by forms of control that operated in the service of disciplinary and bio modes of power according to a 1970 military report the six day war erased the green line that used to separate israel from the areas now administered and it is quite unavoidable and natural that these areas now depend on israel in all economic matters and services th e only way to avoid a potential outburst of social forces is to strive continuously for the improvement of the standard of living and the services of this underprivileged society 55 given these assumptions it is not altogether surprising that already in the midst of the war israel provided services to palestinian farmers in order to save crops and to prevent the death of livestock and when the fi ghting subsided israel established a series of programs whose goals were to improve economic productivity consider for a moment a telling passage taken from a 1969 military report in the course of a veterinary action all cattle herds about 30 000 heads were marked and immunization shots against mouth and hoof disease administered th e cattle is examined for tuberculosis and sick cows are purchased by the military government for slaughtering without loss to the farmer th e entire poultry stock about half a million heads received shots against the new castle disease th ere has been a radical decline in the mortality of poultry as a result of these injections to a very small number this year in comparison with a 60 loss in the past th ousands of dogs were destroyed to prevent the spread of rabies 56 th is passage exposes that israel immediately put to use up to date forms of surveillance monitoring the number of cattle and poultry and keeping track of diseases to which the livestock had been subjected and how many had died due to infection to be sure it had a vested interest in monitoring and preventing any epidemic from developing since viruses and diseases do not stop at the green line but it also had an interest in increasing the economic utility of the palestinian farmers the introduction of an immunization program had a huge impact on the mortality rate of livestock and substantially raised the productivity of palestinian farmers moreover israel s policy of purchasing sick cows from the farmers suggests that it t h e i n v i s i b l e o c c u p at i o n 6 3 was also genuinely concerned with guaranteeing the livelihood of the local population in the same report quoted above one reads that the area of tobacco cultivation has been increased from 1 500 dunams to 8 000 dunams the area of pulses from 20 000 dunams to 40 000 dunams and the area cultivated with sesame likewise from 20 000 dunams to 40 000 as a result of agricultural instruction improved varieties of seeds for vegetables and fi eld crop were introduced approximately 400 model plots scattered all over the area under review were cultivated in collaboration with local farmers about 80 fi eld days were held during the fi rst year the fi eld days were attended by 12 000 farmers and during the second their number went up to 18 000 persons in the course of a campaign of pest control the whole area of citrus groves was sprayed with pesticides against the mediterranean fl y and several thousands of dunams planted with olive trees were likewise sprayed against olive fl ies 57 passages like these highlight the dramatic diff erence between the occupa tion in the late 1960s and the occupation today israel not only implemented a vaccination program for livestock but also increased some of the culti vated areas and introduced improved varieties of seeds for vegetables and fi eld crops it planted hundreds of thousands of trees and created model plots where palestinian farmers could be trained in the use of modern equipment and technology 58 th e central bureau of statistics conducted a survey of thirty thousand farms in about 50 percent of west bank villages examining the utilization of farm areas including the age of orchards which vegetables were grown and the yield rate per plot size 59 since most of the population particularly in the west bank was dependent on farming israel was interested in increasing the yields in an early study conducted by the israeli agriculture ministry one fi nds tables enumerating the annual increase of the monetary value of production according to agricultural sector the growth of produce yields and the amounts spent on raw materi als including the amount of pesticides bought and the cost of buying young chickens 60 up until 1976 israel also off ered the occupied inhabitants development loans to purchase tractors agricultural equipment and machinery 61 not surprisingly between 1968 and 1972 the agricultural productivity in the territories increased annually by 16 percent from 1973 to 1976 the growth 6 4 t h e i n v i s i b l e o c c u p at i o n stabilized and between 1977 and 1980 it increased annually by 11 percent 62 what comes across most forcefully when examining such programs is not only the stark contrast in which they stand vis à vis actions carried out by israel in later years but also israel s emphasis on one of the features characterizing a politics of life which foucault has called modern pastoral power th is power does not aim to assure individual salvation in the next world but is oriented toward the population s salvation in this world by ensuring its health well being and security 63 for instance less than three years aft er the war the gaza strip was connected to the israeli electrical grid so that in gaza city alone twenty four thousand homes had electricity as compared to fi ve thousand before the war 64 while in later years israel would shut down the electricity to punish the population see chapter 8 transforming the grid into a controlling apparatus in the service of sovereign power in the fi rst period it was used to alter the lifestyle and increase the economic utility of the inhabitants as well as to erase the border between the gaza strip and israel as part of its strategy to manage the population through a politics of life israel used the bank of israel research department and the central bureau of statistics to continuously scrutinize and analyze the palestinian labor force one fi nds tables depicting the age and gender of laborers the number of workers according to their occupation and the sector in which they were employed and the number of local businesses as well as their size and loca tion 65 one also encounters ongoing discussions within military documents and the protocols of the interministerial committee concerning strategies for reducing the unemployment rate which was considered by the military government to be a potential cause for social unrest and opposition vocational courses and new deal style relief work were introduced both in gaza and the west bank whereas during the nineteen year period that the two regions were under jordanian and egyptian rule only one vocational training program was opened in each region by 1980 israel had established a total of twenty six vocational training programs in a number of fi elds including carpentry draft smanship metal working welding and sewing 66 along similar lines the inter ministerial committee decided to invest il 7 5 million in gaza s development while also providing palestinian inves tors low interest rate loans with even better rates than the ones off ered to israelis between 1967 and 1969 approximately one hundred workshops were established in the region and several thousand workers were employed 67 t h e i n v i s i b l e o c c u p at i o n 6 5 while all these eff orts helped produce prosperity the incorporation of palestinian laborers into the israeli workforce had the greatest impact on the population s standard of living it was according to the bank of israel the chief factor behind the vigorous development in the ot of the early years 68 th e swift ness of this incorporation is worth noting in 1968 just one year aft er the war 6 percent of the palestinian labor force had found jobs in israel by 1974 69 400 palestinians worked in israel making up one third of the workforce 69 th e palestinians who worked in israel earned anywhere from 10 to 100 percent more than they would have if they worked in the territories depending on their occupations as a result the average daily wages of all employees from the west bank rose by 35 percent in the period 1970 74 and by 13 percent during the period 1974 79 in the gaza strip wages rose by 50 and 18 4 percent respectively 70 th e income of palestinians who worked inside israel added considerable and badly needed resources to the west bank and gaza strip accordingly the ot experienced rapid economic growth between 1968 and 1972 gnp increased annually by 16 and 20 percent in the west bank and gaza strip respectively during these years there was an 8 to 9 percent annual increase in the palestinian labor force due to the incorporation of laborers into the israeli workforce while the estimated annual population growth was about 2 percent consequently the offi cial unemployment rate dropped from 11 to 1 percent in the west bank and from 17 to 2 percent in the gaza strip from 1973 to 1980 the economic growth continued albeit at a slower but nonetheless very impressive rate with a 9 and 6 percent annual increase of gnp in the west bank and gaza strip respectively 71 th e change in palestinian lifestyle becomes apparent in reports published by the bank of israel which also monitored the standard of living in both regions showing that parallel to the swift economic growth there was a rapid increase in private consumption an annual average rate of 13 percent in the west bank and 15 percent in gaza 72 if in 1968 per capita private consumption expenditure in the west bank was il 517 and il 222 in gaza by 1974 it had risen to il 1 033 in the west bank and il 474 in the gaza strip in 1986 prices 73 in the west bank for instance the proportion of households with gas cookers increased from 23 9 to 75 3 percent between 1972 and 1981 while in the gaza strip it increased from 6 5 to 70 9 percent th ere was similar increase in the proportion of households with electric refrigerators and television sets and about a 20 percent increase in the 6 6 t h e i n v i s i b l e o c c u p at i o n refrigerators televisions cooking ranges l s d o h e s u o h f o e g a t n e c r e p 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 figure 1 percentage of gaza strip households with selected appliances 1972 81 central bureau of statistics national accountability 172 for cooking ranges there is data miss ing for the fi rst two years number of private kitchens and toilets see fi gure 1 74 th e fast increase in per capita private consumption especially in the fi rst half of the decade 1970s and the high share of food in total household consumption the bank reported are well refl ected in the continuous improvement in nutri tional standards 75 th us not only was there an increase in the population s consumption of commodities but there was also a change for the better in the palestinian food basket a public relations report about the vocational training programs israel had set up states that the occupied residents were able to carve out a new way of life for themselves and their families not only has their standard of living risen beyond recognition but far more important past attitudes and previously accepted standards have undergone basic changes economic conceptions and perhaps even more signifi cant social reaction and habits have undergone profound transformation and entirely new outlooks have emerged 76 several palestinians who took part in the training programs are cited in the report in order to corroborate this claim a palestinian woman from tul karem maintains that arab girls are not ashamed to go out to work th e young woman in the west bank is free today she has begun t h e i n v i s i b l e o c c u p at i o n 6 7 to make great progress she trains for a brighter future and looks ahead with confi dence and self assurance another woman from beita says that learning a profession is no longer a shameful thing for an arab girl it does not confl ict with happiness in marriage and a locksmith from assirah conveys a message to his palestinian brethren if you are unable to complete your education learn a vocation and come back to serve your native village which needs your help to develop 77 th e testimonies of these palestinians no doubt refl ect the attitudes of israeli offi cials as much as they refl ect the views of those interviewed th e report clearly reveals that changing the norms habits and comportment of the palestinians was considered crucial for increasing the population s eco nomic utility th e emphasis on disciplinary power and biopower seemed to be producing the results israel had desired docile but economically useful subjects israel accordingly did not need to deploy many troops in the ot and for a while it even seemed that the moderately tranquil state of aff airs could continue for years because of the partial economic integration of the ot th e rapid economic growth and the change in consumption habits did succeed in transforming the inhabitants lifestyle and daily practices and while there were localized confrontations with the israeli military throughout the fi rst period the degree of resistance to israel s occupation was relatively low according to one fatah leader who was imprisoned in the late 1960s the possibility of working in israel and earning a relatively high salary undermined their eff orts to recruit cadres to the resistance 78 ultimately though israel s eff orts to create in geoff rey aronson s words an economic foundation for palestinian participation in the status quo did not produce normalization 79 th e notion that by raising the standard of living israel could in some way suppress the palestinian aspirations for self determination rapidly turned out to be little more than a fantasy ironically it was the racist leader of the jewish defense league rabbi meir kahane who clearly exposed israel s myopic stance when he rhetorically pondered what kind of jew believes that he can buy the national pride of an arab sic at the price of a toilet with running water 80 but there was also some thing else going on as the forms of control informed by disciplinary and bio power increased palestinian prosperity other controlling apparatuses operating in the service of sovereign power were also put to use in order to hinder the development of an independent palestinian economy because 6 8 t h e i n v i s i b l e o c c u p at i o n the economic growth was so impressive it took a while before these appa ratuses began undoing the eff ects of the prosperity that had been created yet as we will see in the following three chapters the interactions among diff erent controlling apparatuses and practices not least those used in the economic fi eld rapidly produced a series of contradictions that engendered widespread resistance to israeli military rule t h e i n v i s i b l e o c c u p at i o n 6 9 chapter 3 of horses and riders th e six day war abolished to all intents and purposes the green line that in the past demarcated the israeli sector from the administered territories naturally and unavoidably these areas are becoming dependent upon israel for all their economic and service needs shlomo gazit coordinator of government activities in the administered territories 1971 israel s attempts to create prosperity in the west bank and gaza strip and to normalize the occupation were simultaneously marked by a series of constraints and restrictions that hindered the development of an inde pendent palestinian economy military orders were constantly issued in order to hamper local economic expansion and to transform the palestinian economy into a captive market for israeli producers 1 complex tax and custom laws restrictive marketing arrangements and a slew of bewildering decrees and regulations were in the words of ze ev schiff and ehud ya ari used as weapons to hold the territories hostage to the israeli economy as far as the palestinian inhabitants could see the symbiosis between palestinians and israelis was in the words of these two commentators more accurately described as the relationship between a horse and its rider 2 sara roy corroborates this claim in her extensive analysis of the gaza strip s economy israel she shows undermined the two primary conditions needed for development the progressive expansion of a productive capacity which would allow for capital accumulation and the formation of vital and sustainable political and economic alliances between the dependent economy and other economies as well as with the international fi nancial system 3 th us roy s analysis reveals that alongside israel s eff orts to boost prosperity in the ot through the emphasis on disciplinary and bio modes of power controlling apparatuses informed by sovereign power were also 7 0 extensively deployed to subject the palestinian economy to israel s own eco nomic interests and needs th e remarkable economic growth the dramatic rise in the standard of living and the individual prosperity experienced for more than a decade in the ot served to conceal the communal stagnation that israel was creating in the economic fi eld and managed for several years to suspend the devastating eff ects of israel s restrictive policies 4 put diff er ently for a number of years the eff ects of the means of control informed by disciplinary and bio modes of power overshadowed the restrictive policies operating in the service of sovereign power as a way of beginning to explain some of the changes that have transpired in the ot in this chapter i examine more closely the economic fi eld th e assumption is that the policies in the economic fi eld not only aimed to sat isfy israel s economic interests which is the way they are usually presented by economists but that they also served a crucial role in the administra tion of the ot for example in the previous chapter i claimed that israel encouraged the economic productivity of the palestinian inhabitants while repressing their political aspirations here i show that by hindering the development of an independent palestinian economy based on industry and sophisticated agriculture israel encouraged the palestinian inhabitants to become unskilled laborers and thus directed the economic utility of the palestinians in a very specifi c way th e diff erent forms of control that were utilized in the economic fi eld produced excesses and contradictions that ultimately spurred palestinian resistance and helped shape israel s policy choices controlling the economy economists of diff erent stripes tend to agree that had the israeli government decided to maintain the economic separation of the west bank and gaza strip from israel proper as was the case before 1967 there would have been a rapid deterioration of economic life and a sharp drop in the standard of living in the ot th ese kinds of economic consequences were unacceptable to both the israeli government and the military because they would have likely engendered social upheaval 5 accordingly during the occupation s fi rst two decades the occupied economy was integrated into israel proper this integration was never meant to be complete whereby the two econo mies would eventually become a single unit i e the total erasure of the o f h o r s e s a n d r i d e r s 71 green line and was in fact used to render the palestinian inhabitants economically and socially dependent on israel what comes across very clearly when examining the economic fi eld is that no part of palestinian economic life was left untouched th e military introduced numerous regulations and restrictions that specifi cally aimed to shape the occupied economy according to the require ments of israel s interests one of the fi rst actions taken aft er the war was the closure of the arab fi nancial and monetary institutions including all of the banks while bestowing authority over all monetary matters upon the bank of israel 6 th e israeli currency became the legal tender along with the jordanian dinar and israeli foreign exchange controls were enforced in the two regions th ese actions had profound eff ects on real savings and on investments in physical capital and growth and ultimately led to distorted fi nancial development 7 we saw in the previous chapter that around the same time that israel took over all the fi nancial institutions and imposed monetary regulations it helped palestinians plant thousands of fruit trees off ered growers improved seeds for vegetables and trained farmers in modern technologies i did not mention however that it also began controlling the types of fruits and vegetables that could be planted and distributed and introduced an array of planning regulations that determined where crops could and mostly could not be planted although constraints on planting are common in other countries the objectives of those imposed in the ot were to create dependency to undermine development and competition and to facilitate the confi scation of land israel limited the reclamation of lands in order to make them arable it also restricted the population s access to land and water seizing no less than 40 percent of the land by 1987 and appropriating the major water resources 8 simultaneously it rendered the planting of new citrus trees replacing old nonproductive ones or planting other fruit trees without permission illegal and acquiring permits for such actions frequently took fi ve years or more of the fruits and vegetables that the palestinian farmers were permitted to grow many types could not be legally marketed in israel a measure designed to protect israeli producers th e israeli farmers by contrast had unlimited access to the markets in the ot and managed to provide some products at prices with which their palestinian counterparts could not compete leading to a reduction in the variety of produce grown in the territories 9 th e fact that the access was unlimited in only one direction 7 2 o f h o r s e s a n d r i d e r s also created an absurd situation whereby the prices of certain products were higher in the ot than they were in israel in the industrial sector the strategy was similar to the one used in agricul ture initially israel off ered some support for industry because the military authorities were concerned that unemployment could destabilize the ot in the late 1960s and early 1970s small loans were given to existing factories so that they could expand and retool by 1980 however the development budget in the territories amounted to zero 10 th e absence of intermediary fi nancial institutions development banks and credit sources of various kinds hindered industrial development simultaneously israel introduced a series of constraints to obstruct the development of capital intensive indus try government assistance in the form of tax breaks export subsidies subsidized credit and surety bonds was not extended to the palestinians 11 external trade was strictly controlled by numerous military orders and complicated certifi cation procedures separated the territories from neigh boring arab countries israel also imposed restrictions on the type and amount of raw materials that could be imported into the ot palestinians rapidly became dependent on israeli fi rms for electricity fuel gas and communications th e same was true for basic commodities such as fl our rice and sugar 12 israel also required licenses for all industrial activities and used the licenses to restructure industries in line with israel s needs while suppress ing all competition so while textile factories off ering services to israeli producers were given licenses fruit processing factories were denied permits because they could potentially compete with israeli producers in other words creating labor intensive subsidiaries and outsourcing labor intensive work to palestinian workshops was israel s major source of industrial invest ment in the palestinian economy in this way palestinian industry was integrated with israel s industry and became totally dependent on israeli demand which in eff ect transformed the industrial base in the ot into a de facto free zone operating in sara roy s words for the benefi t of israeli producers 13 in addition israel issued numerous military orders pertaining to company registration trademarks and trade names and determined the conditions of trade and the kind and amount of taxes customs and duties to be paid it levied a series of taxes on palestinian manufacturers who ended up paying between 35 and 40 percent more taxes than israeli manufacturers 14 one o f h o r s e s a n d r i d e r s 7 3 should keep in mind that a large percentage of these taxes was not reinvested in the territories but transferred directly to israel s coff ers up until 1993 israel imposed a one way system of tariff s and duties on the importation of goods so that there were no tariff s or other regulations on merchandise leav ing israel to the ot according to some estimates such policies deprived the ot of signifi cant customs revenue estimated to be somewhere between 118 and 176 million in 1986 alone 15 according to other estimates the loss of revenue due to the commercial and monetary integration averaged 13 percent or one eighth of palestinian gnp over the period 1970 87 th e total revenue loss would range between a low estimate of 6 billion to a high estimate of 11 billion in 1990 prices 16 th eoretically this money could have been invested in the creation of an independent industry israel also hindered the development of a palestinian economy in several other ways in stark contrast to the british mandatory power which had performed or permitted private parties to carry out a series of development projects haifa s seaport the lydda today ben gurion airport and a series of railway lines that played a crucial role in the future economic growth of palestine and later israel the military government not only refrained from investing its own funds in the civil infrastructure needed for the economic development of the ot but also prevented others from doing so 17 all in all these and several other restrictions created structural constraints on the industrialization process such constraints help explain why the industrial sector s contribution to the west bank s gdp actually fell from 9 percent in 1968 to 8 2 percent in 1975 and 6 5 percent in 1980 18 by 1989 the industrial sector s share in the ot s gdp ranked among the lowest in the world with 7 percent in the west bank and 12 percent in the gaza strip 19 th e average industrial complex in the strip employed only fi ve people and by 1991 the total revenue from industry in gaza was less than 1 percent of what it was in israel 20 it is therefore no surprise that as the years passed the economic dependency deepened and the palestinian trade defi cit with israel grew in 1968 the defi cit was 11 4 million and by 1987 it had grown to 237 3 million comprising 93 percent of the total defi cit for that year in 1993 prices 21 what is amazing and at times confusing is that despite all of these constraints and restrictions during the fi rst decade of the occupation the palestinians experienced impressive economic growth and the standard of living in the ot which is measured by food consumption levels hous 7 4 o f h o r s e s a n d r i d e r s ing density household items and health standards defi nitely improved we now know that it was the palestinian laborers remittances coming from israel and the gulf states and not domestic resources that served to satisfy consumption demand 22 roy points out that the reorientation of the palestinian workforce to labor intensive work in israel as well as work in the gulf states created a situation whereby the ot s income was disproportion ate to the region s productive capabilities as a result such production linked indicators as gnp are inappropriate measures for evaluating the strength and effi ciency of the ot s economy because they are largely based on transferred resources 23 th is was refl ected in the gap between gdp and gnp gnp equals gdp plus the net factor payments from palestinian laborers who commuted to israel or worked abroad which was among the highest in the world so that the 1985 gdp represented only 68 percent of the gnp 24 israel s decision to allow the free movement of unorganized labor across the borders served in other words as a dominant factor in the erosion of the productive capacity of the west bank and gaza strip th us even though the palestinian economy experienced impressive growth the actual resource base of the economy was steadily eroding as local invest ment and development remained stagnant 25 roy shows that most of the regulations and constraints operated through processes of integration and externalization she highlights fi ve major acts of commission and omission that were adopted by the occupying authori ties 1 the reorientation of the labor force away from domestic agricul ture and industry and its integration into the israeli workforce 2 the reshaping of local agriculture toward export production and reliance on israeli inputs 3 the realignment of industry according to israel s needs through subcontracting and trade 4 the redirection of trade to israel and 5 restriction of the development of a viable institutional infrastructure capable of stimulating development and supporting structural reform in this way roy concludes local resources were transferred to israel and the ot s own productive capacity was diminished 26 th e dire eff ects of israel s controlling apparatuses in the economic fi eld were not felt during the fi rst years of occupation because the integration of the labor force into the israeli economy as well as several other interventions like planting thousands of trees and introducing improved seeds and new agricultural technologies managed to compensate for the structural ramifi cations of the integration and externalization processes 27 o f h o r s e s a n d r i d e r s 7 5 what comes across forcefully when examining the diff erent forms of control operating in the economic fi eld is that from the beginning they were not only utilized to subject the occupied economy to israel s eco nomic interests but were also used as central instruments for managing the palestinian population at a certain point though the means of control informed by sovereign power began undoing the controlling apparatuses and practices that operated in the service of disciplinary and bio modes of power thus rendering the exploitative character of the occupation visible a brief description of israel s relation to the palestinian worker a key site of control reveals how the diff erent forms of control began producing excesses and contradictions palestinian labor th e integration of palestinian laborers into the israeli workforce was not an obvious choice it entailed putting an end to a zionist policy which had been under pressure for many years of refusing to use native namely palestinian labor th is long standing policy had distinguished the zionist enterprise from colonial experiences for it had fl outed the profi t principle in employment jewish labor was more expensive than palestinian in order to advance national objectives aimed at attracting and keeping jewish immigrants who were used to a european standard of living and levels of consumption jewish laborers in other words were hired and paid a decent wage in order to attract them to and keep them in israel 28 by 1967 however israel s national goals had changed and integration of palestinian labor into the israeli economy was considered a priority th e war had helped set the israeli economy back on track aft er two years of recession and a new situation evolved whereby israel needed cheap unskilled labor to fi ll in shortages 29 joost hiltermann clearly describes the economic changes lead ing to the integration of palestinian laborers with the infl ux of international capital in the aft ermath of the war especially united states economic and military aid which increased dramatically investments were redirected toward services and industry revitalizing these sectors especially the armaments industry th ese changes were accompanied by a continuing drop in jewish participation in the wage labor force by a low rate of jewish immigration to israel and by a strong pull for jewish labor emanating from those industries either designated 7 6 o f h o r s e s a n d r i d e r s as strategic thus excluding non jews or requiring a high level of technical competence at the same time other high growth sectors such as food processing textiles tourism and most important construction were faced with an increasing shortage of unskilled labor a major result there fore of the post 1967 boom was the new and high demand for a cheap mobile unskilled and unorganized labor force th is israel found in the population of the newly occupied west bank and gaza strip 30 th e palestinian laborers who commuted to israel commanded much lower wages than their israeli counterparts particularly in the early years in mid 1971 israeli workers earned six times more than palestinians from the west bank and eight times more than those who commuted from the gaza strip 31 yet the signifi cant point is that israel s internal economic needs following the war coincided with its strategic approach to managing the occupied population particularly its determination to ensure the liveli hood of the palestinian residents and to raise their standard of living th e palestinian economy had been severely hurt as a result of the war and israel was adamant about preventing the transformation of the economic crisis into a political one 32 indeed it understood that economic growth would most likely help attain political stability and normalization during the early years one accordingly encounters ongoing discussions concerning strategies of reducing the unemployment rate but even as israel considered the creation of jobs vital for managing the population it imposed constraints that hindered the possibility of creating a sound economic base that could absorb workers in the ot th us unemploy ment was curbed primarily through the incorporation of laborers into israel as we will see aft er the eruption of the fi rst intifada israel began introducing policies that produced massive unemployment and used this unemployment as a form of control th e reduction of unemployment rates during one phase and their intensifi cation during another underscores how during diff erent periods the same means of control was used to accomplish diff erent political goals but to this i return later here it is important to stress that in order to decrease unemployment during the years following the war israel allowed free movement of palestinian labor across its borders established vocational training programs and created new deal style public work projects while all of these initiatives can be analyzed from a strictly economic point of view they can and should o f h o r s e s a n d r i d e r s 7 7 also be considered as forms of control that were adopted to manage the occupied population new deal projects new deal style public work projects or relief work as the israeli military authorities called them were used primarily right aft er the war and were eventually terminated once the occupied economy had stabilized though they were renewed briefl y during the fi rst intifada during the occupation s fi rst nine months israel had spent almost il 8 million on such projects in the west bank in order to reduce unemployment 33 while in 1968 44 percent of the palestinians who were hired through the israeli ministry of labor s employment offi ces were off ered relief work inside the west bank by 1971 only 1 percent of palestinians were assigned work in the ot 34 one of the public work projects which the government implemented in 1968 is worth mentioning because it exposes the multifaceted dimensions of israel s job creation policy th is project was the construction of a security road along the west bank of the dead sea connecting the israeli kibbutz ein gedi with a newly established jewish settlement called kalya and the jericho jerusalem road minister of labor yigal allon initiated the project as a way of advancing the allon plan which aimed to redraw israel s borders by annexing about one third of the west bank from the mountain range to the jordan valley as well as a large portion of the gaza strip according to his plan the more densely populated parts of the ot were to become demilitarized regions of a single jordanian palestinian entity 35 th e security road project which employed hundreds of palestinians for several months was part and parcel of this annexation plan allon s road project reveals how the employment of palestinians in relief work was used to accomplish numerous objectives simultaneously in this case as in several other public work projects israel wanted to ensure the inhabitants livelihood in order to prevent despair and thus avert the pos sibility of social upheaval but as it created jobs to improve the fi nancial circumstances of palestinians israel used the laborers to advance so called security projects at about the same time palestinians began building jewish settlements which were inimical to palestinian interests because their ultimate objective was the annexation of palestinian land finally the road work was meant to serve as an impetus for gazans to leave the region in 7 8 o f h o r s e s a n d r i d e r s which they resided and relocate to the west bank th e israeli military had hired only palestinians from the gaza strip for this particular west bank project hoping that the prolonged sojourn in the vicinity of jericho would induce some of them to take up residence in the west bank 36 th is latter objective is particularly interesting since it highlights how israel s strategic thinking and the methods it uses have changed over the years today israel would prefer to transfer palestinians from the west bank to the gaza strip and instead of encouraging the residents to relocate by off ering them employment opportunities in the other region disciplinary power it uses military decrees to deport them sovereign power th e public work projects lasted for a very short period since the incorpo ration of laborers into the israeli workforce both solved the unemployment problem and was actually advantageous to israel s economy in other words the effi ciency of incorporating laborers rendered relief work unnecessary thus suggesting that the success of one controlling practice determined the policy decision to cancel another during the fi rst intifada as the borders between the ot and israel proper were fi rst sealed the civil administration reintroduced relief work once again creating short term public service jobs for some of those who had lost their jobs in israel th ese projects like the ones implemented twenty years earlier aimed to alleviate some of the excesses of the economic crisis this time the one produced by the uprising and the restrictions of movement however israel s investment in public works in the late 1980s and early 1990s was very limited when compared to the investment immediately aft er the war and its objectives were diff erent in the second instance it was implemented to ensure that people did not go hungry and was not part of a strategy that aimed to produce normalization by propelling prosperity or raising the standard of living during the second intifada when the economic situation in the ot was much worse than it had ever been israel did not even consider introducing relief work projects th is as we will see sheds some light on how israel s approach changed during the four decades of military rule vocational courses during the nineteen years that the west bank and gaza strip were under jordanian and egyptian rule only one vocational training program was opened in each region 37 by contrast within a decade israel had established o f h o r s e s a n d r i d e r s 7 9 a total of twenty six vocational training programs in several fi elds includ ing carpentry draft smanship metal working welding and sewing 38 th e palestinians who participated in training programs were given a small salary salaries in courses like construction for which there was an acute need of laborers inside israel were somewhat higher and thus served as a pull factor not surprisingly of the 1 260 palestinians who had completed courses in 1969 700 had studied construction military authorities frankly admitted that the vocational schools were designed to cater to israel s market needs and were not set up to help develop an independent palestinian economy 39 at least during the fi rst years all of the graduates were absorbed by the israeli labor market 40 while the vocational programs functioned as training schools that served the interests of israeli employers they also were useful for harnessing the energies of palestinians and directing these energies toward increasing their economic utility th is entailed the participants induction into a series of normative fi ats relating to correct behavior at the workplace which included complete abstinence from any kind of political activity it also entailed the introduction of regulatory ideals that at times were in opposi tion to traditional norms like the notion that woman should seek work in the public sphere 41 th us the vocational schools aimed to manage the occu pied inhabitants by developing their economic capabilities encouraging correct conduct suppressing national aspirations and raising the standard of living all of which were intended to enhance israel s normalization project the incorporation of palestinian laborers into the israeli workforce th e overall impact of the relief work projects and vocational training pro grams was however not great and certainly pales when compared to the incorporation of palestinians into the israeli workforce by the early 1970s israel had opened at least twenty employment offi ces in the west bank in order to recruit workers who would satisfy israel s growing needs 42 th e meager wages paid to the palestinian laborers who commuted to israel were still much higher than the wages they could have earned in the ot and therefore their integration injected capital into the ot producing rapid economic growth while dramatically raising the standard of living since 8 0 o f h o r s e s a n d r i d e r s well over 30 percent of the ot s gnp was generated from these laborers income their absorption into the israeli economy also refl ected the level of palestinian dependency on israel if in 1970 the total palestinian workforce amounted to 173 300 people of whom 20 600 worked in israel 11 8 percent on the eve of the fi rst intifada 1987 the palestinian workforce was 277 700 of which 108 900 were employed in israel 39 2 percent 43 th ese fi gures are widely regarded as understated because they only take into account those who found work through formal channels and do not include unregistered workers th e number of unregistered workers fl uctuated over the years and has been estimated to be an additional 40 70 percent of the total number of workers just cited as entering israel 44 registered workers were recruited through state agencies such as the ministry of labor and social welfare and the civil administration th ese workers received pay slips paid the required deductions and received a limited amount of social benefi ts th ey were also relatively better protected from arbitrary detention fi nes and violence by security forces than were unregistered workers by contrast unregistered workers were recruited directly by israeli employers and while they usually received a higher net wage than registered workers since their employers did not deduct social benefi ts their jobs were oft en seasonal and they were more likely to be exposed to violence degradation imprisonment and fi nes 45 even if one does not take into account the unregistered workers the phenomenon whereby almost 40 percent of the workforce is employed outside the local market has no parallel in the world in order to outline some of the ways by which the incorporation of the palestinian laborers helped the occupying power manage and control the population during the fi rst two periods 1967 87 and how it produced a series of excesses and contradictions one can diff erentiate among three levels of analysis the individual the regional and the national the individual level as the fi gures cited above suggest a large percentage of palestinian laborers rapidly became dependent on israeli employers for their sources of revenue and indeed for their livelihood surveys conducted indicate that their incor poration into the israeli workforce had a dramatic impact on private con sumption in the ot a 100 percent increase in seven years which attests o f h o r s e s a n d r i d e r s 8 1 in turn that the standard of living and lifestyles also rapidly changed 46 th e integration of the palestinian laborers into the israeli workforce was however always partial not only were they paid lower salaries but the palestinian workers were not permitted to join any of the existing unions within israel and were not allowed to form their own unions for laborers who worked inside israel 47 th e truncated economic integration and the consequent perpetual job insecurity refl ected the fact that palestinians were not integrated politically and therefore could not enjoy the rights and status of israeli workers 48 th eir incorporation was as michael mann suggests in a diff erent context without legitimization 49 th e lack of legitimization and the absence of job security can be concep tualized as another manifestation of the temporary and arbitrary modalities of control that israel deployed in the ot not unlike the notion concerning the temporary nature of the occupation or the temporary and arbitrary facet of the legal system the temporary nature of the labor market helped shape palestinian behavior th e palestinian workers were defenseless when con fronting the whims of their employers and they were much more vulnerable when market forces underwent a change for the worse when the israeli economy experienced a crisis as it did in the mid 1980s the eff ects were felt immediately in the ot since the palestinian laborer had no job security and was therefore oft en the fi rst to get laid off accordingly in times of economic crisis palestinians had to be even more careful th is meant that in addition to emulating codes of comportment relating to correct work conduct like diligence punctuality and obedience which were expected of all workers the palestinian laborers also had to follow a series of codes relating to correct political conduct not least of which was the suppression of national aspira tions put diff erently in exchange for their partial economic incorporation the palestinians had to contain their political desires th is form of control is less conscious and functions primarily in a productive way by disseminating norms aimed at structuring both the conduct and the possible fi eld of action of the palestinian individual one should keep in mind that during the fi rst two decades of occupation the borders between the ot and israel were generally speaking open except for short periods during the 1971 military campaign in gaza and the 1973 october war and almost any palestinian who wanted to could look for work in israel work permits were granted more or less automatically and were used for monitoring and taxation purposes only 50 th is suggests that the 8 2 o f h o r s e s a n d r i d e r s employer employee relationship was considered suffi cient for producing the correct conduct of the palestinian laborers and indicates that a disciplinary mode of power was the primary form of control aft er the eruption of the fi rst intifada in december 1987 israel s long standing policy of allowing palestinian laborers free access across the pre 1967 borders was modifi ed and a working permit regime aimed at monitoring and restricting their entry was introduced th e permit regime refl ects a shift in the confi guration of power and the primacy of controlling methods informed by sovereign and bio modes of power by limiting the number of palestinians who were allowed to pass the green line the israeli government hoped to prevent the entrance of palestinians who sought to attack its citizenry to appease the majority of the jewish inhabitants who did not want the palestinians to enter israel and to collectively punish the palestinian population so that it in turn would oppose the resistance movement work was consequently transformed from an individual right to a privi lege something that could be taken away if one did not conform to the requirements of correct conduct aft er 1987 the employer was no longer the sole arbiter of correct conduct since the gss civil administration police and military regularly intervened in order to determine who could and who could not go to work th eir power was more extensive than the employer s because they could ban the laborer from entering israel whereas the employer could only fi re the laborer who could then search for another job with the introduction of the working permit regime palestinian labor ers had to watch how they behaved and what they said more closely and not only at the workplace but during every moment of the day even at home th ose who participated in a protest distributed leafl ets or belonged to a political party could lose their permits and thus their livelihood for an analysis of this permit regime see chapter 7 from a slightly diff erent perspective the demands of the israeli market which were predominantly oriented towards unskilled menial labor in con struction industry agriculture and services did not encourage palestinians to broaden their professional skills or to acquire higher education th e israeli demand for unskilled laborers not only infl uenced the individual workers but also had long term detrimental eff ects on the palestinian economy because the pull factor of unskilled labor helped maintain the underdeveloped economic conditions in the ot and hindered the process of professionalization o f h o r s e s a n d r i d e r s 8 3 simultaneously however israel adopted a liberal policy that provided the occupied inhabitants with permits to open universities 51 within a relatively short period of time several universities were opened rapidly producing a fairly large professional class made up of college graduates th e problem was that the employment opportunities open to professional palestinians were very limited and many of the graduates could not fi nd jobs that refl ected their skills not only was the labor market in israel hiring only unskilled laborers but as illustrated above israel also hindered practi cally all palestinian attempts to establish an independent industrial sector and an up to date service sector consequently most professionals had to look for employment overseas frequently in the gulf states 52 th e lack of professional jobs created a fair amount of bitterness among the unem ployed and underemployed graduates who totaled about fi ft een thousand at the outbreak of the fi rst intifada and they were instrumental in helping consolidate the resistance to israeli rule 53 put diff erently the restriction of integration to unskilled laborers alongside the constraints and restrictions imposed on developing a local economy based on industry and services ended up contradicting the liberal policy of opening universities th is is but one contradiction arising from what i term the partial inte gration of palestinian laborers into the israeli workforce th e fact that the integration was only partial ended up generating widespread resentment among palestinians which stimulated opposition to israeli rule spurring in turn a series of modifi cations in israel s policy within the ot th is becomes obvious in chapter 6 which deals with the fi rst intifada th e same forms of control that helped produce normalization during the fi rst few years engendered contradictions during later periods and thus helped spur changes in israel s policies the regional level west bank th e incorporation of laborers into israel had a diff erent impact in the west bank and gaza strip due to the social makeup of the laborers coming from each region most of the laborers from the west bank came from rural villages which are still home to 70 percent of this region s population while the majority of gaza workers came from refugee camps th e physical proximity of the two regions to the work centers allowed the laborers to commute and therefore to continue their relationship with their home environment 54 th e increasing number of young palestinians who worked 8 4 o f h o r s e s a n d r i d e r s in israel as well as the above average salaries earned by these laborers altered the social stratifi cation within the west bank s rural areas and had numer ous consequences relating to the management of the population according to joel migdal the incorporation of the workers created two major social cleavages in the west bank which were characterized by gen erational and income gaps and which ultimately weakened the traditional village leadership 55 th ose who worked in israel became economically inde pendent and were demanding a say in local politics so while the palestinian laborers became dependent on israel for their livelihood a fact that was used by israel to expand its control over them the process of incorporation simultaneously weakened the control of the traditional elites over these workers and by extension also weakened israel s control over them because one of the ways israel controlled the population was through these elites 56 in other words israel s attempt to control the population by providing benefi ts to the traditional elite failed not least because the incorporation of young men into the israeli workforce empowered many workers who were looking for ways of translating their economic achievements into political power hence the integration of workers which had been used as a way to manage the population helped undo another means of control namely the use of traditional elites to administer the area th e growing number of palestinians entering israel to fi nd work also resulted in a substantial drop in the number of laborers who remained in the territories to cultivate palestinian land in 1970 42 500 palestinians worked in agriculture in the west bank by 1980 that number had dropped by about 30 percent with only 28 900 agriculture workers 57 migdal s fi eldwork in the early 1970s suggests that in certain areas farmers were cultivating only 20 percent of the land that had previously been plowed and sowed 58 according to a report published by the israeli communist party in 1969 238 000 dunams of agricultural lands were left untilled while in 1970 the fi gure had grown to 354 000 dunams th e report explains that since laborers and even owners of small farms earned more money by working in israel agricultural land was not cultivated 59 a prominent west bank economist corroborates these fi ndings in a 1977 interview he notes that it no longer pays to attend to one s olive trees or rocky piece of land th e farmer chooses the more sensible course of action to seek work elsewhere west bank farmers have increasingly fallowed their land and totally neglected the maintenance of their terraces 60 th e failure o f h o r s e s a n d r i d e r s 8 5 to cultivate more land was aggravated both by the fi xed water quotas set in the early 1970s which were not changed for over a decade and by the fact that palestinian farmers were paying four times as much for the water as israeli farmers 61 th us it is not totally surprising that in 1984 less land was cultivated than in 1968 although the population had increased by some 30 percent 62 th is however did not lead to reduced production until 1982 productivity actually increased due to changes in cultivation methods increased machinization improvement of agricultural technology and the replacement of some low value crops with high value cash crops only aft er 1982 does the share of agriculture in the west bank gdp show a continuous decline as a result of decreased productivity an analysis of the labor movement in the west bank reveals how during the occupation s fi rst years some controlling practices complemented each other and thus served two primary objectives managing the inhabitants without integrating them into israeli society and seizing palestinian land i have already underscored that the incorporation of laborers into the israeli market served the latter s economic interests by providing the local markets with cheap laborers and also improved the palestinian inhabitants stan dard of living thus helping to normalize the occupation and suppress resis tance 63 most analysts fail to acknowledge however that the incorporation of palestinian laborers from the west bank s rural areas vacated agricultural land making it more susceptible to confi scation th is claim gains credence particularly when one takes into account that from 1980 onward the leading legal mechanism israel used to expropriate land was an ottoman law that allows the sovereign to appropriate property that had not been farmed for three consecutive years 64 th is example underscores how forms of control that were ostensibly utilized to increase the economic utility of the palestinian residents also assisted material confi scations although bureaucratic legal mechanisms were the predominant tools employed to advance israel s expro priation project the legal mechanisms were supported by the eff ects of several seemingly unrelated practices in other words israel s management of the population facilitated the expropriation of land and as i show in chapter 5 seizure of land also helped manage the occupied population it was only during the fi rst years however that forms of control informed by disciplinary and bio modes of power complemented the mechanisms employed to expropriate the land later such controls began producing a series of contradictions one condensed example relating to the agrarian 8 6 o f h o r s e s a n d r i d e r s character of the west bank will have to suffi ce here as mentioned for twenty years palestinian laborers were encouraged to fi nd work in israel yet other than the incorporation of laborers into the israeli workforce and israel s support of palestinian workers emigration to other countries israel actually increased palestinian dependency on the land by not allowing them to develop a self suffi cient industry simultaneously though israel seized large quantities of land and severely limited the water resources available for agriculture 65 it is not surprising therefore that the amount of cultivated land actually decreased over the years 66 th e constraints on establishing a self suffi cient industry and the mechanisms used to appropriate land did not so to speak clash until the late 1980s when israel introduced the entry permit regime that imposed harsh restrictions on the movement of palestinian laborers who wished to enter israel at this point numerous forms of control that had been producing seemingly unrelated eff ects began creating serious excesses and contradictions and engendered signifi cant social unrest the regional level gaza strip th e incorporation of palestinian laborers into israel served an additional objective in the gaza strip where according to a 1981 census the total population was 470 535 of whom 278 708 were refugees 67 th e majority of gazans seeking jobs in israel were refugees it is crucial to keep in mind that following the 1967 war palestinian armed resistance was concen trated in the gaza strip and originated in the refugee camps from which most of the armed cadres came th e camps inhabitants not only lived in extreme poverty but also in what had become the place with the highest population density in the world israel realized that the inhumane living conditions the absence of running water a sewage system and electric ity alongside overcrowded living quarters rendered the camps perfect breeding grounds for resistance th erefore it hoped that the integration of gaza s laborers would change the living conditions in the camps and thus undermine some of the forces that encouraged opposition to israeli rule in 1973 dayan proposed moving the refugees out of the camps in order to create normal life in new towns in apartments with water in the faucets education and services for the children 68 israel eyal weizman suggests intended to stimulate a process of forced embourgoisement in order to pro duce certain sentiments among the refugees and a sense that they had o f h o r s e s a n d r i d e r s 8 7 something concrete to lose 69 in this way it hoped to reduce their motivation to support active resistance it also wished to sidestep the refugee problem as long as the refugees remain in their camps dayan explained their children will say they come from jaff a or haifa if they move out of the camps the hope is that they will feel an attachment to their new land 70 th e palestinians to be sure were well aware of israel s intentions and the unwillingness of most people to leave the camps and relocate to apartment buildings became a form of resistance nonetheless the relative prosperity that was created through the integration of many refugees into the israeli workforce alongside sharon s 1971 military campaign in the camps did help weaken the resistance for a short period of time th is strategy of controlling the refugee population stands in stark con trast to the one israel adopted in later years if in the 1970s and early 1980s israel tried to normalize the refugee problem by drawing the camp s residents into the israeli proletariat following the outbreak of the fi rst intifada israel started restricting the movement of refugees into israel 71 aft er the eruption of the second intifada it periodically stopped the water and electricity supply to several refugee camps and destroyed much of the scant infrastructure that had been built in the camps over the years th us while in the fi rst two decades israel sought to manage the refugees by raising their standard of living later it tried to control them through a politics of dearth and repression the national level on the national level the swift incorporation of laborers into the israeli workforce was the leading factor in reducing the unemployment rate and increasing the economic utility of the occupied population it was also the leading cause for the boost in the standard of living in the ot particularly among the rural sectors in the west bank and the refugees in the gaza strip th e partial integration of laborers helped prevent social upheaval and contributed to israel s attempt to undermine palestinian resistance under cutting as it were some of the criticisms voiced by the emerging nationalist camp however as the years passed the integration of palestinian laborers into israel produced a series of eff ects that israel had neither planned nor wished for some of which actually helped consolidate palestinian resis tance in the next chapter we will see that another means israel used to manage the palestinian population was the production and reinforcement 8 8 o f h o r s e s a n d r i d e r s of fragmentation yet here we can already note that the increasing exploita tion of palestinian workers and the ongoing indignities that they had to undergo created bitterness and antagonism while the lack of local economic development became a structural force that diminished class diff erences in the ot and facilitated the creation of national alliances th e fact that palestinians from diff erent segments of society and not just the lower classes were integrated into the israeli workforce and that all the workers were treated with equal contempt helped alter social stratifi cation within palestinian society th e work experience inside israel alongside the realities of their daily lives in the ot produced a common sense among workers that they were being exploited and were destined according to the existing economic system to remain at the bottom of israel s economic ladder 72 it precipitated the transformation of the village class structure in the west bank producing class homogeneity among diff erent clans and among those who owned land and those who did not 73 along similar lines the incorporation of laborers into israel blurred the distinction between the refugees and the indigenous residents in the gaza strip economic actors who otherwise were in confl ict with one another such as landowners and laborers were at least partially united due to israel s economic policies th e nationalists realized this and in the early 1970s the palestinian trade unions in the west bank decided to freeze the class struggle and to engage in a national alliance of classes with the palestinian managerial sector in order to create the requisite environment for collective struggle against the common enemy 74 but to achieve this objective was not easy and as we will see a number of other social processes had to develop before cross class alliances could be formed in a similar fashion one of the eff ects of incorporating palestinians into the israeli workforce and relegating them to menial jobs without benefi ts and security was the emphasis rather than the erasure of the green line even though israel wanted to erase the internationally recognized border in order to integrate the captured land into its own territory the labor market guaranteed that the green line was never totally expunged th e ongoing exploitation and humiliation of the palestinian workers produced an us versus them perception between the employees and their employ ers between the ot and israel 75 th is suggests that although the partial incorporation of laborers into israel helped blur one kind of border their exploitation accentuated others o f h o r s e s a n d r i d e r s 8 9 from a slightly diff erent perspective for many years the integration of unskilled laborers into the israeli workforce complemented the constraints israel imposed on the creation of an independent palestinian industry th e lack of jobs inside the ot was compensated by the employment opportuni ties inside israel and one might surmise that israel intentionally obstructed the development of an independent palestinian industry in order to guar antee the regular supply of cheap labor 76 but once israel began restricting the movement of palestinian laborers not allowing many workers to enter israel a contradiction emerged between the two forms of control since many of the palestinians who could no longer enter israel found it impos sible to fi nd a job in the ot infrastructural effects th e excesses and contradictions just mentioned were produced for the most part by the incorporation of the palestinian laborers into the israeli work force which as i have claimed can also be conceived of as a form of control operating in the service of disciplinary and biopower another site where these excesses manifested themselves was in the physical infrastructure of the ot if one were to jump for a moment to the early 1990s a quarter of a century aft er the occupation began one would be amazed at the stark contrast between the civil infrastructures in the ot and within israel whereas the roads sewage water network electricity educational and health care systems in the west bank and gaza strip resembled those of a th ird world country just across the green line and in the adjacent jewish settlements the infrastructure was not very diff erent from that in western industrialized countries on the eve of the oslo agreements 1993 right before responsibility for the infrastructure was transferred from israeli hands to the palestinian authority 5 percent of gaza s residents and about 26 percent of the rural inhabitants in the west bank did not have access to running water less than 10 percent of the west bank s rural population had access to piped sewage networks and just 50 percent had access to garbage collection in gaza 38 percent of the population did not have access to a sewage system and while almost the entire population had access to some form of garbage collection the service was usually inadequate and heaps of garbage lay in the streets only 69 percent of the west bank s rural population had 9 0 o f h o r s e s a n d r i d e r s twenty four hour access to electricity while as much as 39 percent of the rural communities received electricity from generators rather than a grid 77 even though almost all of the inhabitants in gaza are connected to an electricity grid the power oft en appeared in concentrated bursts for several hours and then stopped in 1991 each resident in the strip received on average 400 kilowatt hours of electricity while each israeli received an average of 3 500 kilowatt hours 78 more than two and a half decades aft er israel occupied the palestinian territories only 9 percent of the west bank s rural population had twenty four hour access to electricity piped water garbage disposal services and piped sewage networks services that were considered basic within israel even before 1967 79 th ese fi gures reveal once again that the individual prosperity characterizing the occupation s fi rst years had nothing to do with communal prosperity and development th e decrepit infrastructure in the ot generated deep alienation many of the laborers from rural villages in the west bank or refugee camps in the gaza strip left a house in the morning that had no electricity running water or sewage and worked all day in an environment where these utilities were taken for granted th e dilapidated infrastructure also served to high light the distinction israel made between the palestinians and their land since israel did invest in infrastructure within the ot but only insofar as the infrastructure served the jewish settlers unlike other political contexts where such stark disparities also exist the distinction between the haves and have nots was based on national identity rather than on class th e dispari ties no doubt reminded the palestinians that they were an occupied people and that the situation was not normal hence the lack of investment in infrastructure served to underscore their status as oppressed people while the inadequate infrastructure in the villages towns and refugee camps was an eff ect of the retarded economy the lack of investment in infrastructure also further hindered the development of the economy th is is apparent when examining the educational system a crucial fi eld that serves as the infrastructure for the development of a vibrant and indepen dent economy a cursory examination of classroom density for instance reveals the dire straits of the educational infrastructure instead of building new classrooms to address the population s growing needs israel imposed a double shift teaching day so that some students studied from the early morning hours until noon and others studied in the aft ernoon even with the double shift s on the eve of the fi rst intifada gaza had an average of 43 6 o f h o r s e s a n d r i d e r s 91 elementary students 44 junior high students and 37 1 high school students per classroom fift y percent of gaza and west bank students dropped out by the time they reached ninth grade the majority dropping out between the ages thirteen and sixteen in fact student dropouts constituted 40 percent of all palestinian laborers in israel in 1986 80 th is situation had detrimental ramifi cations for the development of a palestinian economy while some economic forms of control spurred growth in order to nor malize the occupation and contain social unrest other forms of control or even the same ones produced infrastructural eff ects that redrew the green line and underscored the diff erence between the occupied palestinian inhabitants and their israeli occupiers th e deepening disparity between the palestinian and israeli infrastructure which was a direct product of the regulations and constraints imposed on the palestinian economy had a series of eff ects many of which helped engender unity among the palestinian population and opposition to israeli rule and in turn a change in israel s policy choices even though the economic fi eld was only rarely intentionally used as a weapon of social repression to collectively punish the palestinian popula tion during the fi rst twenty years of occupation as it was in subsequent years the economic dependency on israel and the disparity between palestinians and israelis began stimulating opposition to israeli rule many years before the fi rst intifada erupted th e opposition was engendered by the personal experience of the exploited worker the lack of opportuni ties within the ot the absence of basic infrastructure and the structural eff ects that changed the stratifi cation of palestinian society and produced conditions that enabled the creation of cross class alliances all of these stimulated national sentiments an issue to which we now turn 9 2 o f h o r s e s a n d r i d e r s chapter 4 identification trouble th e climate of normalcy has been carefully nurtured by the israeli administration which has aimed as any responsible administration should at encouraging solutions to practical problems and making further advances possible th e administration has stressed local participation and control at every level oft en to a greater degree than the previous jordanian and egyptian rulers binyamin ben eliezer coordinator of government activities in judea samaria and the gaza district 1983 in 1981 menahem milson a professor from hebrew university and a gov ernment advisor on arab aff airs was chosen to be the fi rst head of the newly established civil administration in the west bank 1 before taking on this role milson argued that a more interventionist approach was needed in order to free the palestinian population from the grip of the plo 2 as a historian he was most likely aware that nationalist movements particularly in the context of an occupation could easily become a potent political force national identifi cation has the power to override other forms of identifi ca tion and in this way to unite and facilitate the mobilization of an otherwise disparate population in addition being a member of a recognized nation particularly aft er world war ii guaranteed a series of rights beginning with the right to self determination in algeria and india for example the struggle for self determination was intricately tied to and informed by the colonized inhabitants identifi cation as algerians and indians and the emergence of national movements although scholars disagree about when exactly palestinian national iden tity evolved whether it already existed with the demise of the ottoman empire whether it was formed as a result of the interaction with the zionist movement or whether it emerged only aft er the british mandate was in place they tend to concur that by the mid 1920s and 1930s it had became a central form of identifi cation among the arab inhabitants of palestine 3 9 3 as rashid khalidi points out the growth of the educational system in palestine between the two world wars and the attendant spread of national ist concepts by and through this system greatly facilitated the politicization of the countryside becoming a conveyer belt for nationalist ideas and thus empowering the national movement 4 all this changed however following the 1948 war which prompted a process of de palestinization th e name palestine disappeared geographically and politically and the palestinian people were scattered throughout numerous countries including egypt jordan lebanon and syria with a minority remaining within the territory that had become israel 5 khalidi confi rms that aft er1948 the palestinians as independent actors and indeed as a people seemed to have vanished from the political map 6 th e palestinians living in the west bank found themselves under jordanian rule th ey were off ered jordanian citizenship and their absorp tion into the hashemite regime also served to encourage them to identify as jordanians although most of the population continued to identify as palestinians this form of identifi cation did not threaten the hashemite kingdom since israel rather than jordan was considered to be the obstacle for achieving self determination indeed in the months leading up to the 1967 war several israeli decision makers expressed their hesitation about occupying the west bank because they realized that such a move would strengthen palestinian national identity and threaten israel s eff orts to erase the palestinian question 7 during the same period 1948 67 egypt controlled the gaza strip but unlike their brethren in the west bank the palestinians living in this region were not off ered egyptian citizenship and were not encouraged to identify as egyptians instead they were urged to identify as part of the pan arab movement or as palestinians whose national rights had been usurped by the zionist state 8 th e total defeat of the arab armies in 1967 and the loss of credibility for arab regimes in the eyes of many palestinians as well as the geographi cal unity of mandatory palestine under israeli rule helped pave the way for the re emergence of palestinian national identity for its part israel decided not to absorb the population living in the two captured regions into its own society because it feared that such a move would undermine the jewish character of the state it therefore did not encourage the palestinians to identify with israel or as israelis simultaneously though it did not allow the occupied inhabitants to identify as palestinians with national 9 4 i d e n t i f i c at i o n t r o u b l e aspirations and rights since this form of identifi cation entailed among other things a relationship with and a claim to a certain piece of land the same land israel wanted to keep for itself all expressions or manifesta tions of palestinian nationalism were accordingly prohibited punished and suppressed we have already seen in chapters 1 and 2 that all palestinian national symbols were outlawed palestinian history was banned and erased and any attempt to produce a national narrative that could unite and help mobilize palestinian society was censored it therefore took several years before a new leadership could begin forming a national movement out of the palestinian montage created in 1948 9 while israel repressed palestinian national identity it encouraged alterna tive forms of identifi cation that created divisions within palestinian society which in turn facilitated the military government s attempt to manage the population israel did not invent or introduce new kinds of identifi cation in the ot but tried to strengthen some of the existing ones in order to counter the re emergence of a national movement identifi cation with the hamula the extended family or clan was accordingly encouraged israel granted the authority to reinforce traditional institutions and forms of identifi cation to the heads of the hamula 10 it also encouraged religious identifi cation providing support for religious institutions and leaders in order both to accentuate diff erences between muslim and christian palestinians thus creating friction between the religious devotees and to off set the national ist movement which was predominantly secular 11 indeed for many years israeli offi cers maintained that the rise of muslim fundamentalism in the ot could neutralize the plo israel consequently allowed the muslim brotherhood to take over the waqf religious trust which controls about 10 percent of the real estate in the gaza strip and a considerable amount of property in the west bank and employs hundreds of workers between 1967 and 1987 the number of mosques in the gaza strip more than doubled from 77 to 160 and in the west bank new ones were being built at a rate of 40 per year 12 finally israel also encouraged identifi cation with the local geographical space that the palestinians occupied and in this way hoped to set the rural inhabitants against the urban residents or the indigenous population against the refugees while israel tended to encourage only those forms of identifi cation that helped split palestinian society it did not discourage identifi cation with arabness ostensibly the category arab encompasses and supersedes i d e n t i f i c at i o n t r o u b l e 9 5 nationality and can become a unifying form of identifi cation from israel s perspective its role however was not to produce palestinian unity but rather to connect palestinians with non palestinian arabs particularly jordanians but also egyptians syrians iraqis and lebanese and in this way to undermine palestinian nationalism which laid claim to palestine and to numerous rights of which self determination was the most promi nent th is is another reason why israel did not obstruct jordan s eff orts to recover its infl uence in the ot and to maintain its political presence in the west bank and gaza strip following the 1967 war 13 despite israel s ongoing eff ort to undermine the nationalistic drive palestinian national identifi cation slowly but consistently strengthened fol lowing the 1967 war not unlike zionism which as some scholars claim precipitated the appearance and development of palestinian national identity at the turn of the twentieth century israel s occupation of the west bank and gaza strip helped generate the reemergence of palestinian nationalism in this chapter i argue that many of the controlling apparatuses employed to manage the inhabitants aff ected the palestinian population as a whole thus highlighting the similarities among the residents of the two regions rather than their diff erences so while israel deployed several controlling practices to repress palestinian nationalism and to encourage other forms of identifi cation the contradictions and excesses of its controlling apparatuses actually reinforced the sense of a shared predicament which strengthened national identifi cation in hindsight it is not surprising that israel failed to suppress the rise of national identity but in order to better understand how palestinian nationalism reemerged and how it in turn led israel to emphasize sovereign power and de emphasize disciplinary and biopower it is useful to look back if only briefl y at one of the sites where the struggle over national identifi cation manifested itself most forcefully the municipal elections in the west bank municipalities as apparatuses of control as i mentioned in the second chapter following the war israel allowed the municipal leaders in the west bank to remain in offi ce hoping that they would assist the military government in administering the population during jordanian rule the mayors were not expected to represent or express the political aspirations or identity of the population but to perform the 9 6 i d e n t i f i c at i o n t r o u b l e role of intermediaries between the population living within their jurisdic tion and the central authorities in amman in exchange they obtained rewards for themselves and their associates th e municipal leaders had attained their position either through their prominent economic status or through the general social status enjoyed by their families th e jordanian government for its part entrusted the leadership to one family or a group of families within a circumscribed area thus reducing the infl uence wielded by any leader beyond his immediate locality th is issa al shuaibi points out was the background that helped shape israel s attitude towards local leadership in the ot 14 th e military government preserved this structure of local leadership reinforcing the authority of the village mukhtars in the rural areas and the municipal councils and the members of the chambers of commerce in the urban centers not surprisingly it is precisely these institutions that perse vered while other administrative institutions from the jordanian era were dismantled following the occupation al shuaibi concludes it can thus be said that israel maintained the inherited local leadership and carefully delineated the limits of the socio economic role it was to play for members of it to go further and engage in political activity usually meant expulsion to jordan 15 th e idea was to ensure that the palestinian leadership would limit itself to local issues and not try to articulate national demands moshe dayan was clear about this matter when he declared that the west bank would not have a central arab authority above the municipal level until its status was determined 16 th us the municipalities were eff ectively the only political bodies in the territories that were allowed to operate they rapidly became the one recog nized link between the military government and the inhabitants in all mat ters relating to daily life and since their offi cial role was to represent and assist the local residents they also served as an institution through which israel managed the population th e mayors and municipal councils were certifi ed just aft er the war by the military government and within one year israel was able to report that all of the towns had provided municipal services in a satisfactory fashion 17 th is was crucial because israel regarded the municipal system as one of the major instruments for achieving normalization 18 concurrently though a series of military orders limiting the authority of the municipalities was issued 19 th ese orders authorized the military commander to appoint and dismiss mayors and council members thus i d e n t i f i c at i o n t r o u b l e 9 7 guaranteeing israeli control over the local leadership and eff ectively curbing the authority bestowed upon them by the 1934 municipal corporation ordinance enacted under the british mandate according to the ordi nance the municipalities were responsible for among other things plan ning zoning granting building permits water and electricity usage and allocation public health institutions and more all of these responsibilities were transferred to the military government under israeli rule the func tions of the municipalities were restricted to collecting garbage maintain ing and improving the town s infrastructure including roads and sewage and at times building new schools and classrooms markets and medical clinics 20 swift ly it became both common and expected that the mayor would serve as a mediator between the residents and the military government in the words of one israeli colonel who served in the military government in the early 1970s th e mayor became an authoritative power to whom all began to turn for advice and favors 21 during the early years many of the permit applications relating to a variety of issues ranging from building to traveling permits were submitted to the municipality which in turn passed the request on to the military government with its recommendations mayors frequently asked the military government to lighten the sentences of political prisoners they helped families fi le requests for reunifi cation with members who had fl ed to jordan in 1967 and they appealed on behalf of those who were deported 22 such activities suggest that despite the extensive curtailment of their responsibilities the municipalities still assumed a crucial role within the occupation s civil bureaucracy and assisted israel in managing the popula tion th ey also served as a buff er between the population and the occupying power and in this way helped conceal the workings of the latter indeed the municipalities were probably the single most important institution israel utilized in order to advance its announced goal of creating a situation whereby the occupied inhabitants could go through life without setting eyes on an israeli government employee in this chapter however i am less interested in exposing exactly how the municipalities served as an apparatus of control and more interested in understanding how they became a site where one of the central contradictions informing the occupation played itself out although the contradiction only became evident in the 1976 west bank elections in order to make sense of these elections one has to go 9 8 i d e n t i f i c at i o n t r o u b l e back to the fi rst municipal elections which took place in 1972 23 but before we do this let us fi rst briefl y look at the municipalities in the gaza strip if only to get a sense of some of the similarities and diff erences between the two regions the gaza strip s municipalities in the gaza strip the situation was very diff erent from the one in the west bank since israel implemented a policy of appointments rather than elec tions in the region s four municipalities gaza city rafah dir el balah and khan younis 24 in 1970 israel dismissed ragheb al alami who had served as the mayor of gaza during egyptian rule aft er he contested israel s decision to connect the gaza strip to israel s electricity grid for a while an israeli offi cer replaced him but in 1971 rashad shawa a leading citrus merchant and landowner was appointed mayor of gaza shawa selected a municipal council from gaza s elites and initially played a role similar to the one played by the jordanian appointed mayors in the west bank he sup ported the hashemite proposal of creating a united arab kingdom a federation between the gaza strip the west bank and jordan in this way he created close ties with the latter which enabled him in turn to serve as an intermediary between jordan and israel th e gaza municipality helped the military government manage the local population not only by taking on various municipal responsibilities but also by assuming responsibility for the dispensation of such things as exit per mits which allowed inhabitants to leave the region and came to be known as the shawa passports during his fi rst year in offi ce shawa survived a number of assassination attempts carried out by plo members in 1972 aft er ongoing pressure from the plo to resign and a confrontation with the military government over the israeli decision to connect the al shati refugee camp to the gaza municipality in an attempt to elide the refugee problem he decided to quit 25 in 1973 the military government tried to form local legislative committees in the strip s towns and refugee camps but aft er one committee head was assassinated and others were threatened the remaining members resigned 26 from 1973 until 1975 when shawa was reappointed mayor the military government took on all municipal responsibilities in gaza city th is was not an unusual situation in the region since all the other major towns were managed by military offi cers i d e n t i f i c at i o n t r o u b l e 9 9 th us in contrast to the west bank where the municipalities were run by local palestinian leaders who had been elected by the population or at least part of it in the gaza strip the municipalities were run by israeli offi cers or by palestinians chosen by them th e municipalities had no control over procedures relating to economic development e g zoning planning licensing infrastructural resources critical to economic development e g water electricity transportation or fi nance all of which were controlled by the head of the military government 27 the 1972 municipal elections even though israel was certainly not the fi rst country to stage democratic elections in an occupied context it was the fi rst power to reintroduce this practice in a postcolonial age th e goal was to transfer a limited amount of authority to the palestinian people and thus to legitimize the occupation while continuing to control the resources in this case low wage labor land and water paradoxically both jordan and the plo called on the west bank inhabitants to boycott the elections jordan had nominated the existing mayors who for the most part remained loyal to the hashemite regime and was afraid that a change of personnel would threaten its infl uence th e plo leadership believed that the emergence of any local leadership in the ot would be detrimental to its long term goals since it could undermine the cohesiveness of the palestinian problem creating two separate problems one for the palestinians living under occupation and the other for those who were refugees and in exile 28 consequently during the fi rst years aft er the war jordan and even the plo had a vested interest in ensuring that the mayors not be replaced precisely because the existing ones generally refrained from political activity and limited their business to municipal aff airs israel on the other hand had a lot to gain by staging elections according to shlomo gazit the fi rst coordinator of government activities in the admin istered territories it was important to hold elections in the west bank for three reasons 1 elections were considered an expression of normalization and a successful return to routine life in the west bank 2 the move was an israeli challenge to jordan and the plo both of which opposed the elections and 3 the elections could considerably strengthen the mandate of the municipal councils and their leaders granting them legitimacy and 1 0 0 i d e n t i f i c at i o n t r o u b l e thus allowing them to cooperate with the military administration more closely 29 using a 1955 jordanian law israel held elections in two stages on march 28 in the northern west bank and on may 2 in the southern part altogether council members for twenty one municipalities were elected while in two additional towns hebron and salfi t an agreed list of representatives was settled on in advance 30 th e population did not vote for political par ties or individuals with a political platform but for the representatives of leading hamulas only 5 percent of the inhabitants could take part in the elections because a jordanian law restricted the vote to men who owned property were over 21 and had paid their property taxes 31 about 85 percent of those who had a right to vote participated and the traditional elite won the majority of the vote which from israel s standpoint was a victory th e elected offi cials were not only considered tractable allies but since their power was based on traditional social divisions israel was sure that they would not hurry to bridge these divisions 32 as ian lustick shows in his analysis of the methods of control used vis à vis the palestinian citizens within israel so long as the traditional social structure of society was still very strong as it was in the territories at this point the state could manage the population through the cooptation of the hamula notables th e type of political arrangements off ered to the patriarchic leaders on the local level by the israeli regime conformed to long standing traditions concerning power relations between the popu lation local elites and the central government lustick reveals how the cooptation of the elites was achieved by means of a careful distribution of favors privileges and special dispensations th ese side payments he writes were made not only to secure the loyalty and services of individual patriarchs qadis religious judges sheiks or notables but also as part of a general eff ort to strengthen the traditional social structural forms which made cooptation such a convenient inexpensive and eff ective technique of gaining access to the arab population 33 israel adopted similar strategies in the ot favoring the traditional landed families over the new group of urban traders at least in israel s eyes the 1972 west bank elections helped provide the elected offi cials with some form of legitimacy which allowed them to cooperate with the military government th e elections as dayan noted had invested the nominees with political authority by which one way or another they can speak for i d e n t i f i c at i o n t r o u b l e 1 0 1 the arab public who elected them 34 in the context of our discussion it is important to emphasize that the contradictions relating to palestinian nationalism had not yet manifested themselves and that during these elec tions other more traditional types of identity actually took precedent over national identifi cation accordingly the elections themselves reinforced the divisions within palestinian society and thus helped undermine if only for a short while the nationalistic drive the reemergence of palestinian nationalism at the time of the 1972 elections the plo was still extremely weak having been crushed by the jordanian military in september 1970 35 by 1973 how ever the mood in the ot had changed and palestinian nationalism was rapidly gaining ground among the population th ere were several factors leading to this change including the strengthening of local nationalists and the rise of the plo abroad following israel s assassination of three plo leaders in beirut a year aft er the elections april 1973 demonstrations with a nationalist overtone erupted in the west bank th e military government was shocked by the anti israeli sentiments expressed in these demonstra tions since it had assumed that the population had become reconciled to the benign occupation 36 a few months later the palestinian national front pnf was established th e fl edgling organization regarded itself as the plo s arm within the ot and aimed in the words of two of its leaders to organize mass struggle in the west bank and gaza strip its activities included armed resistance and the mobilization of labor unions student federations and women s associations to strike and protest against the occupying power 37 th e 1973 october war also contributed to the rise of palestinian national ism because it helped undermine the notion that israel was invincible and thus encouraged a resurgence of nationalist protests at around the same time the israeli newspaper ma ariv conducted a survey in the west bank which suggested that popular support for the plo was rapidly growing and that a large percentage of the population was in favor of establishing a palestinian state th e israeli daily claimed that the ideological changes were extensive and alarming 38 th e plo gained further recognition when in 1974 it was declared the sole legitimate representative of the palestinian people at the arab summit conference in rabat recognition that was only 1 0 2 i d e n t i f i c at i o n t r o u b l e strengthened a couple of months later when yasser arafat was given the opportunity to address the united nations general assembly 39 although israel had managed to prevent the infi ltration of plo fedayeen literally people who are willing to sacrifi ce themselves into the region it could not prevent the penetration of the organization s ideology into the west bank and gaza strip th e plo s success in spreading its ideology was also due to the fact that no solution had been found for the palestinian refugees whose very existence had become in ibrahim dakkak s words israel s achilles heel simply put the failure of palestinian refugees to assimilate in arab countries or even to agree to a permanent solution within the ot was extremely benefi cial to the palestinian national movement which promised the refugees some kind of future remedy for their plight 40 but the rise of palestinian nationalism in the ot was not only the result of processes taking place on the international level or the outcome of the work of individuals or social movements promoting it within the territo ries several controlling practices also precipitated the reemergence of the national movement not least of which were the excesses resulting from the confi scation of land and the changes in social stratifi cation following from the incorporation of palestinian laborers into the israeli workforce by 1976 no less than 20 percent of the land in the west bank had been expropriated and a similar amount in the gaza strip and israel had already built twenty seven jewish settlements in the two regions 41 israel took land from everyone making no distinctions between wealthy landowners and subsistence cultivators 42 in the west bank alone 70 percent of the popula tion lived in rural areas and depended on the land for their livelihood and many of these people were either hurt directly by the confi scations or knew people who were hurt th e confi scation of land and the establishment of settlements created the sense of a shared predicament among diff erent social groups helping to unify an otherwise divided population while the land confi scations had a cohering eff ect that helped undermine israel s eff orts to reinforce the traditional stratifi cations within palestinian society the incorporation of palestinian laborers into the israeli workforce as we have already seen also altered the social stratifi cation in the ot and played a crucial role in weakening the infl uence of the traditional elites by securing the fi nancial independence of a large portion of the labor force 43 it is also important to keep in mind that these laborers were in daily contact with israeli society and culture which was highly invested in a hyperactive i d e n t i f i c at i o n t r o u b l e 1 0 3 nationalist ideology and they began using national discourse to challenge the traditional village leadership 44 in short although the land confi scations and incorporation of palestinian laborers into israel s workforce were used by the occupying power to manage the population they simultaneously created favorable conditions for the emergence of a national consciousness and thus helped unify the disparate elements of palestinian society while weakening the traditional leadership the 1976 municipal elections israel hoped to use the 1976 elections as a means of undermining the plo which had gained considerable ground in the ot during the four year interval although the israeli intelligence services were aware that new elections might lead to undesirable results defense minister shimon peres decided to carry out the elections as planned he met with notables and existing mayors in order to advance a self administration plan that would expand the authority of the local town councils bestowing upon them more responsibility for administering daily life in the west bank 45 peres also realized that a decision not to conduct the elections as scheduled according to jordanian law elections were to be called every four years would be seen as a deliberate act of intervention and would thus hamper israel s eff orts to normalize the occupation 46 he hoped that the traditional elite would maintain its standing and could be used as a counter force to the plo 47 but while israel attempted to use the 1976 elections in the ot to block the infl uence of plo elements the major factions within the plo considered the elections to be an opportunity for assuming control of the municipal councils before the elections israel amended the jordanian law extending the franchise to women and to every resident who paid municipal sewage taxes the number of eligible voters thus almost tripled israel mistakenly thought that by extending the vote in this way it would weaken the plo it did not however lower the voting age from twenty one to eighteen for fear that such a change would increase the number of young extremist voters and there fore threaten the stability of the area 48 th e elections were held on april 12 in twenty two out of twenty fi ve west bank towns 49 th e venture proved counterproductive despite israel s intervention in the elections 50 of the 205 newly elected council members three quarters were neophytes many of 1 0 4 i d e n t i f i c at i o n t r o u b l e them nationalists th e mayors of the northern and southern capitals of the west bank ma azouz al masri from nablus and muhammad al jabari from hebron were ousted along with the councilmen who supported them a similar takeover occurred in towns like al bireh birzeit beit jalla and jericho people who had cooperated with the israeli authorities had been replaced by nationalists some of whom had served time in israeli prisons 51 according to moshe ma oz a professor of middle east studies at hebrew university who later served as advisor to defense minister ezer weizman th e elections results came as a shocking surprise and a bitter disappoint ment to the israeli military government in the west bank as well as to the policy makers in the cabinet th ey demonstrated that most of the west bank s population had developed strong nationalist feelings under israeli rule that they supported the plo as their sole legitimate leader that they rejected jordan s policies regarding the west bank and that they opposed israeli occupation and its 1975 self administration plan 52 instead of helping to promote peres s self rule program the elections bore witness to the population s profound solidarity with the plo indeed accord ing to ma oz the amount of hamula infi ghting among council members in the diff erent municipalities dramatically decreased aft er the 1976 elec tions 53 just as importantly the 1976 elections represented the beginning of the de jordanization process jordanian infl uence was in decline and the hashemite regime could no longer play a signifi cant role in managing the occupied population the municipalities as a site of resistance it did not take long before an increase in palestinian opposition to the occu pation became noticeable 54 within weeks of the elections the palestinians began staging a series of protests and demonstrations against land expro priation and the establishment of jewish settlements during a may 15 dem onstration commemorating the palestinian 1948 nakbah catastrophe lina nabulsi a teenage girl from nablus was killed by israeli soldiers and a teenage boy mahmud al kurd was killed in east jerusalem in response the recently elected mayors led a series of protests and demonstrations and in this way established themselves as national leaders and representatives of the west bank community when asked by the military government to i d e n t i f i c at i o n t r o u b l e 1 0 5 restore order and peace they fi rst demanded the withdrawal of israeli troops from the towns the abolition of the curfews and the release of detained demonstrators th eir conditions were partly met which only served to reinforce their status in society 55 th e new mayors also began working together th ey met regularly and coordinated their political positions and goals using the pnf as their insti tutional base 56 th ey created welfare institutions and special committees to address the harsh conditions in which political prisoners were held th ey strategized about how to confront the establishment of new jewish settle ments and how to address the closure of schools and universities by the late 1970s one notices the intensifi cation of palestinian opposition precipi tated in part by the likud victory in israel and the israeli egyptian peace agreement which proposed the creation of a palestinian autonomy rather than the establishment of an independent state 57 th e national guidance committee was established in 1978 to confront these developments by facilitating the emergence of a more cohesive national political community even rashad shawa who had been reappointed as gaza s mayor a few years earlier joined the committee shift ing his political alliances to the plo aft er adopting the fatah party line he rejected president anwar sadat s gaza first initiative as well as prime minister menachem begin s autonomy plan 58 hence a site that had been used to manage the population and to normal ize the occupation was transformed into a major site of resistance in order to deal with the increasingly unyielding civilian population in the ot israel decided to break the palestinian leadership in october 1979 it outlawed the pnf while in november it briefl y imprisoned mayor bassam shak a of nablus six months later on may 2 1980 israel deported the mayors of hebron and halhul and the qadi of hebron in june of that year a settler terrorist group planted bombs in the cars of several west bank mayors and the mayors of nablus and ramallah were critically maimed at around the same time the military government prohibited the distribution of the east jerusalem newspapers al fajr and al shaab in the west bank because of their nationalist overtones 59 despite these and other eff orts palestinian opposition to israeli rule did not stop moshe dayan himself the architect of israel s non intervention policies acknowledged that now more than ever before there is a general and mass opposition to israel to the presence of israel and to its policy in the ot 60 1 0 6 i d e n t i f i c at i o n t r o u b l e the civil administration in 1981 israel decided to transform the governing body in the ot replacing the military government with the civil administration commentators tend to link this move to two developments on the one hand the creation of the civil administration has been understood as a unilateral attempt to implement prime minister menachem begin s autonomy plan 61 begin the leader of the right wing likud party had adopted a plan that in many respects resembled dayan s functional compromise 62 like his predeces sors begin distinguished between the palestinians and their land off er ing the inhabitants a limited form of self rule within the ot th e civil administration was to begin executing the autonomy plan transforming what had been regarded as a temporary occupation into a permanent one on the other hand the establishment of the civil administration has also been considered a manifestation of ariel sharon s iron fi st policy sharon had been appointed defense minister a mere three months before the civil administration was created and he intended to use the new governing body to tighten the belt of control in the ot ironically the new scheme was presented as a separation of the civil from the military administration th ese two explanations are not mutually exclusive and certainly appear to be accurate however they completely ignore the eff ects of israel s con trolling apparatuses even though begin and sharon seem to have been the originators of the new governing body using it in order to advance certain policies their decisions can actually be conceived of as eff ects of the contradictions and excesses discussed in the previous chapter as well as the next one th ese contradictions helped trigger oppositional forces within the west bank and gaza strip that the existing controlling practices could not contain and the civil administration was an israeli attempt to alter some of the methods of control in order to make them more eff ective one of the modifi cations that preceded the establishment of the civil administration was a change in the chain of command th e coordinator of government activities in the territories the person in charge of civil aff airs in the west bank and gaza strip was instructed to report to the chief of staff instead of reporting directly to the minister of defense as he had done in the past 63 in this way all powers were consolidated within the military a few months later military order 947 was issued legally constituting the civil administration 64 unlike most of the orders preceding this one mo i d e n t i f i c at i o n t r o u b l e 1 0 7 947 did not merely aff ect a specifi c area of life in the ot or alter a specifi c law rather it created a new governing body which was ostensibly sup posed to transfer more power to the local inhabitants it would aft er all seem logical that with the creation of the civil administration civil aff airs would be separated from the military yet this was not the case all of the civil branches were from this point on managed by the civil administration and did not have to report to the military commanders and the heads of the civil administration were given the authority to appoint staff offi cers and palestinian workers in each region in reality however the civil administration was subordinate to the israeli military and gss th is was true not only regarding appointments but also in all matters relating to licenses and permits the civil administration could either grant or with hold a license but the gss made the decisions behind the scene or at the very least had the authority to trump all decisions made by the administration s staff legislative powers to set policies continued to be held by the military while the civil administration became a front for dispensing patronage selectively among the occupied population 65 so although the creation of the civil administration was presented as the withdrawal of the military government and the establishment of an autonomous body responsible for the civil aff airs among the occupied population it was actually used to further integrate the military government within palestinian society and to transfer all powers to the military th e new governing body was designed in other words to create the impression that israel was terminating the occu pation without actually granting the palestinian inhabitants meaningful political authority and without hindering the ongoing confi scation of land or the establishment of new jewish settlements 66 emphasizing sovereign power menahem milson as mentioned was appointed to be the fi rst head of the civil administration in the west bank precisely because he supported a more interventionist approach th is amounted to an emphasis on sovereign power so as to advance a two pronged strategy sanctions were imposed on mayors and their municipalities in order to weaken the nationalist movement and the village leagues were created to counter the urban leadership that was promoting a nationalist agenda 67 hence the civil administration which was ostensibly established to promote self rule was 1 0 8 i d e n t i f i c at i o n t r o u b l e deployed as an instrument to curtail the limited authority that was still vested in the municipalities village councils and chambers of commerce simultaneously israel also banned the transfer of funds from arab states which had passed through a joint plo jordanian committee in amman thus dramatically cutting the fi nancial resources available to the leaders and undermining the jordanian infl uence that had been a crucial component of israel s strategy of control until this point 68 israel in other words focused during this period on undermining the leadership rather than on changing the attitude of the population at large substituting in a sense the symp toms for the cause some of the nationalist mayors decided not to cooperate with the new governing body on march 12 1982 the mayor of al bireh ibrahim tawil was dismissed and his council was dissolved for refusing to meet with milson an israeli military offi cer was immediately appointed to head the al bireh municipality a week later following widespread protests in other west bank towns the mayors of nablus and ramallah bassam shak a and karim khalaf were also discharged and replaced by military offi cers 69 ultimately the civil administration dismissed nine west bank mayors as well as gaza s mayor rashad shawa 70 th at spring the national guidance committee which aimed to consolidate plo loyalists in the west bank and gaza and had become the leading organ of the palestinian national leadership aft er israel had banned the pnf was also outlawed 71 th ese moves suggest that as long as palestinian leaders and institutions served as vehicles of articulation for israel s policies then israel vested powers in them once they attempted to advance a national agenda the leaders were dismissed and the institutions shut down th e dismissal of the mayors marks the end of a six year period during which israel turned a blind eye to individuals and organizations that tried despite ongoing israeli suppression to advocate a nationalist cause albeit in a low key manner by mid 1982 most of the major towns in the ot were run by israeli military offi cers while all nationalist eff orts to organize opposition had to go underground and operate solely through front groups like educational associations medical institutions and charities strict cen sorship was imposed on newspapers published in east jerusalem which operate under israeli law and therefore are not subjected to the military commander and their distribution to the west bank and gaza was pro hibited th e military authorities imposed harsh restrictions of movement i d e n t i f i c at i o n t r o u b l e 1 0 9 on the palestinian leadership and military decrees were used to dismiss the palestinian leaders disband the nationalist institutions and obstruct the dissemination of information when the palestinian inhabitants protested troops were brought in to clamp down on the demonstrators 72 th us a sovereign mode of power was emphasized in an eff ort to contain the grow ing opposition israel also began imposing curfews on the population living in the ter ritories and put several cities under a partial blockade central region commander general ori or acknowledged that blocking towns with road blocks was a collective punishment but riots were also a collective act and people who threw stones now realized that this caused them discom fort 73 house demolitions were used more extensively than they had been for several years 74 th e intensifi cation of such measures underscores the fact that israel began emphasizing sovereign power which in turn led to a quantitative change in the coercive forms of control deployed in the ot confrontations between israel and the occupied palestinians reached a high point in the spring of 1982 75 all protests were confronted with extensive force and scores of schools were shut down for weeks on end both in order to prevent social unrest and as a means of collective punish ment 76 during 1982 the israeli military killed an estimated 31 palestinians and wounded 365 more most of them at protests in what was subsequently called the spring uprising 77 although during the fi rst intifada there were periods in which more palestinians were killed in a single day such levels of violence had not been seen in the ot since the 1971 excursion into gaza simultaneously israel was less prone to restrict punishment to those who carried out the transgressive acts and began extending it to those around them using collective punishment more pervasively th e military s response seemed from israel s point of view to be eff ective because for a short while it managed to contain the population it is important to note though that the deployment of harsh coercive measures in 1981 and 1982 did not refl ect a dramatic change in the means of control used to manage the population th e contradictions and excesses of the controlling apparatuses and practices had helped propel palestinian resistance which then spurred israel to accentuate a sovereign mode of power but the means of control it used curfews house demolitions arrests and torture were similar to the ones it had used until then th us the civil administration did not lead to the introduction of new forms of 1 1 0 i d e n t i f i c at i o n t r o u b l e control it only changed they way they were deployed th e major diff erence then between the fi rst and second period is that during the latter period israel accentuated sovereign power which operated more intermittently and was oft en directed toward the leaders and the people whom israel believed were the instigators of social unrest as opposed to a power that is continuous and whose target is society at large the village leagues th e only new apparatus of control that israel introduced during the fi rst twenty years of occupation was the village leagues a few months aft er the 1976 west bank municipal elections the same milson who later became the head of the west bank s civil administration was appointed to be the advisor on arab aff airs for the military government milson believed that palestinian society in the territories had for centuries functioned accord ing to a traditional system of patronage whereby local notables acted as intermediaries between their protégés and the central authority he maintained that israel had not exploited the patronage system to its advan tage and had replaced it with objective administrative rules 78 milson thus conveniently ignored the patronage relations that israel had in fact fostered during the early years of the occupation and focused on the crisis engendered by the 1976 elections 79 he advocated the creation of the village leagues which were a direct extension of the peasant based collaborative organization called the farmers party which the jewish agency had set up in the 1920s to counter the nationalist goals of haj amin al husseini and his supporters 80 th e idea was to exploit the urban elite s discrimination against villagers in the allocation of resources and services in order to emulate the pre state experience th e logic was simple although 70 percent of the west bank inhabitants were villagers with special needs and desires power was concentrated within the 30 percent of the population who were urban residents whose representatives dominated the palestinian political realm hence it would be only rational to set the rural population against the urban nationalists by creating an organization that would represent the villagers and serve to counter the nationalist mayors and their followers 81 in salim tamari s words milson wanted to storm the radical towns with the reactionary peasants 82 on the one hand this strategy diverged from the i d e n t i f i c at i o n t r o u b l e 111 eff orts to render the involvement of the israeli authorities in the everyday lives of the residents invisible on the other hand it was consistent with israel s approach since the 1967 war to favor the traditional landed families over the urban traders from the outset the military authorities banked on the former for support through patronage and by off ering them truncated leadership roles which helped push the nouveau rich into the nationalist camp this helps account for the strong showing of the plo in the munici pal elections of 1976 83 th e fi rst village leagues had already been created in accordance with military order 752 in 1978 three years before the civil administration was set up th e military government chose mustafa dudin to lead the organization dudin had returned in 1975 to his home in dura a village in the hebron district aft er having held several posts in the jordanian government in the following four years the organization was extended to fi ve additional districts bethlehem ramallah jenin tul karem and nablus and while each district had its own leader dudin was consid ered the supreme leader th e leagues received a budget of tens of millions of shekels each year from the israeli government not including fees the organization collected from the palestinian inhabitants for services they off ered 84 for instance the operation of bus companies in bani naim and hebron was made subject to permission by the hebron village league and villagers had to pay an annual operation tax of 2 500 jordanian dinars directly to the league 85 with the establishment of the civil administration the leagues powers were extended in an attempt to reinsert the patronage system that had existed before the rise of the nationalist mayors th ey facilitated the process of obtaining traveling permits to jordan and were given right of recommen dation regarding family reunifi cation requests enabling family members from jordan to return to the west bank and the release of political prison ers th ey helped determine who would get appointed to an array of public posts ensuring that people who supported the leagues would be given a position at a certain point the civil administration required the rural population to obtain the endorsement of the village leagues functionaries before their requests would be considered 86 th e leagues also served as a conduit through which israel channeled money for development projects th e idea was to create the impression that the leagues were the ones that funded the construction of schools and roads and the installation of electric 1 1 2 i d e n t i f i c at i o n t r o u b l e generators th ey sold fertilizers which were given to them by the israeli military at a price that undercut market rates at times league leaders even managed to cancel house demolition orders and provided building permits to local residents simultaneously the civil administration gradually halted development projects for villages that refused to seek aid through the leagues e g al daharia surif haris and replaced some of the noncooperative vil lage mukhtars it also as mentioned banned the activity of the national guidance committee and closed universities which were considered nationalist hotbeds for extended periods 87 th us many of the responsi bilities pertaining to the administration of the population were delegated from the civil administration to the leagues in an attempt to create a new patronage system 88 in the early 1980s israel also provided guns to league members and employed them to help carry out arrests and interrogations in the spring of 1982 while the military was clamping down on protesters israel began providing combat training to the members of the leagues and helped to create small militias in each district th us the leagues were not only used to provide an alternative leadership meant to weaken the nationalists but also as subcontractors of the israeli military whose role was to police the population and forcefully suppress all forms of opposition in march 1982 league members arrested a faculty member from birzeit university they patrolled the ramallah region searching and arresting people scores of villagers from dir amar near hebron were taken from their homes at night and frightened by league militias and elias freij bethlehem s mayor was threatened because he expressed opposition to the leagues 89 israel initially thought that jordan would support the leagues because they were created to undermine the plo but since it had dissolved the last important governmental institution that had been supported by the jordanian regime the municipalities and transferred its powers to the civil administration jordan was not keen to back the newly estab lished leadership 90 th us at around the same time that israel dismissed the palestinian mayors the hashemite regime publicly characterized the leagues members as collaborators and as people who were committing treason th is served as a blow to the leagues creating divisions within the puppet organization and spurring the resignation of some members while inhibiting the ability to recruit new ones consequently the leagues began i d e n t i f i c at i o n t r o u b l e 113 to wane and by 1984 israel realized that this controlling apparatus was failing to produce results and changed its approach toward its constituents arresting a few prominent members and convicting them for murder and corruption israel nonetheless continued to provide protection to a small number of league leaders like mustafa dudin and jamil al amala until the eruption of the fi rst intifada conclusion if in the early 1970s israel used the municipalities in the west bank to manage the population by the late 1970s these same municipalities became organs of palestinian resistance th e change can be traced to the rise of nationalism within the territories and to the replacement of leaders who represented traditional hierarchies and in this way reinforced the frag mentation of palestinian society with leaders who promoted a national agenda and national unity th ere were many factors that precipitated this change yet my claim is that the excesses and contradictions that resulted from the interactions among the diff erent forms of control were a central force on the one hand israel deployed an array of controlling practices to repress palestinian national identity whether by censoring any mention of a palestinian history in the educational system or by strengthening the traditional elites on the other hand other forms of control helped rein force national identity such as the incorporation of laborers into the israeli workforce and the indiscriminate confi scation of land from both the rich and the poor so although israel was wary of palestinian nationalism and tried to suppress it the means of control ended up empowering it even though the 1976 elections signify a watershed in the ot it took about fi ve years until israel changed the governing body in the territories and another six months before it dismissed all of the nationalist mayors while it is obvious that israel established the civil administration for a number of reasons by the time the new governing body was founded it had become apparent that in order to contain the oppositional social forces that had been awakened and were rapidly gaining ground israel had to change the way it managed the population instead of introducing new forms of control it used the existing ones as vehicles for sovereign rather than dis ciplinary or bio modes of power instead of targeting the population as a whole in an eff ort to alter the worldview and comportment of the inhabit 1 1 4 i d e n t i f i c at i o n t r o u b l e ants it focused on changing the palestinian leadership one could say that israeli decision makers strove to do away with the resistance movement s head while failing to invest new energy in taming its recalcitrant body th us three central changes occurred during the late 1970s and early 1980s first israel began modifying the emphasis on the modes of power accentuating sovereign power in order to suppress palestinian opposition second israel founded the village leagues a proxy of sorts which were supposed to replace the nationalist leadership th e underlying assump tions that informed the leagues creation were simplistic and did not take into account the changes that palestinian society had undergone follow ing israel s occupation particularly the emergence of a new social stratum due to the incorporation of laborers into the israeli workforce finally israel established a new governing body in the west bank and gaza strip banning all political associations and dismissing most of the mayors its objective was not only to obstruct the increasing popularity of the plo by clamping down on its representatives and institutions within the ot but to prevent the development of institutions that could serve as a basis for an independent palestinian state while israel succeeded in hindering the development of such institutions and in removing many of the palestinian leaders who advocated a nationalist agenda the emphasis on sovereign power did not manage to suppress the nationalist spirit that was mounting among the occupied population and this spirit would continue haunting the occupying power for years to come i d e n t i f i c at i o n t r o u b l e 11 5 chapter 5 civilian control i told them don t build fences around your settlements if you put up a fence you put a limit to your expansion we should place the fences around the palestinians and not around our places ariel sharon on june 27 1967 the day east jerusalem was annexed a group of israeli archaeologists were appointed as the supervisors of the archaeological and historical sites in the west bank in a press release issued by the military these sites were defi ned as israel s national and cultural property 1 th is act which may appear relatively benign reveals nonetheless that the ideology of a greater israel namely that the west bank and gaza strip are part of the biblical land of israel and should therefore be integrated into the state informed israel s policies immediately following the war 2 alongside this messianic ideology a militaristic ideology that considers the west bank to be a defensive corridor against invasion from the east also gained ground aft er the fi ghting had subsided th e spatial signifi cance of the region was emphasized by the proponents of both these ideologies while the connec tion between the indigenous inhabitants and their land was conveniently ignored by september 1967 jews had already begun settling in the west bank receiving support from the israeli government as well as the military initially only one jewish settlement was established but soon a number of military outposts housing civilians were erected and eventually large swathes of land were confi scated on which new villages towns roads and electricity grids were built while more and more jews relocated from israel to the ot th e developments on the ground stood in stark contrast to 1 1 6 israel s declarations that in exchange for peace it would withdraw from the land it had captured taking into account the dissonance between the peace discourse and the massive settlement enterprise whose ultimate objective has been to block the possibility of creating a palestinian state in the territories israel occupied in 1967 it is not surprising that israel s explicit policies vis à vis the territories remained vague for many years not one israeli government ever formally adopted the numerous proposed plans to annex the west bank and gaza strip or parts of these regions including the allon plan the ra anan weitz plan the dayan plan the sharon wachman plan or the drobles plan 3 indeed as one commentator has pointed out the governments deliberately fostered an anti planning ethos 4 th is vagueness concerning israel s ter ritorial objectives was both instrumentally convenient and genuine and can be seen as serving the temporary and arbitrary modalities of control instrumentally the ambiguity was advantageous because a substantial proportion of the israeli public and the international community consid ered the settlement project undesirable not least because it contravened international law and obstructed the possibility of reaching a peaceful solution in the region 5 a declaration that israel intended to annex the two regions or even the issuing of a clear plan regarding how it intended to settle them with jews would no doubt have triggered international con demnation as well as massive palestinian resistance both of which would have undermined the normalization eff orts th is was one of the reasons the israeli government frequently depicted the jewish settlers as defi ant citizens even as it transferred millions of dollars to support their recal citrant behavior th e appearance of being unable to control the settlers allowed the state when criticized to absolve itself of responsibility by attributing the confi scations to illegal initiatives carried out by ideological citizen groups 6 finally a publicly authorized plan would have undercut the occupa tion s ostensible temporariness and exposed israel s territorial aspirations as being permanent an approved plan would have rendered it easier to resist the settlement project because the arbitrary process by which settlements were established namely the establishment of one settlement here and another there according to political circumstance and opportunity as well as the lack of information about the construction of settlements created a structural diffi culty that served to hinder the mobilization of a forceful c i v i l i a n c o n t r o l 117 opposition it is aft er all much easier to resist an offi cial plan th us it was politically benefi cial to portray the occupation as temporary and the establishment of settlements as arbitrary but there was also something authentic about this vagueness even though the ideology of a greater israel and the notion of the west bank as a security corridor circulated in the israeli public arena before the war it took some time for these ideologies to become dominant within formal political institutions at least until the second likud government in 1981 th e actual practices on the ground that is the legal and bureaucratic mechanisms the seizure of palestinian land the construction of military bases settlements and bypass roads and the transfer of thousands of jewish citizens to the ot were all crucial for consolidating and normalizing these ideas th ese practices whose primary goals were initially to seize land and later to manage the occupied population actually helped shape israel s policy decisions what may in other words have been vague and contested immediately aft er the war became common sense in later years precisely because of the eff ects of numerous mechanisms of dispossession that were put into place right aft er the territories were captured th e daily practices of seizing palestinian land and property and obstructing palestinian develop ment created in other words a certain dynamic that helped shape israel s policy choices over the years simultaneously the same practices that strengthened israel s hold on the land engendered several excesses and contradictions which hindered its attempts to normalize the occupation and helped modify policy deci sions what interests us here however is that the mechanisms which israel used in order to appropriate palestinian land also served as forms of social control th e creation of suburban homes industrial zones infrastructure and roads was designed to bisect palestinian communities restrict their development and movement into and out of them and keep them under constant surveillance while the settler population was utilized to police the local population just like plain clothes security personnel 7 as means of social control the jewish settlements have operated in three major ways 1 they have restricted palestinian movement and develop ment 2 they have been used as tools for surveillance and 3 they have served as an ethnic policing mechanism th us in this chapter i draw the connection between the seizure of palestinian land and israel s attempt to manage the occupied population showing how the mechanisms that were 1 1 8 c i v i l i a n c o n t r o l used to dispossess the palestinians were also employed to police them but fi rst i describe the bureaucratic legal mechanisms used both to appropriate palestinian land and to hold on to it once it had been confi scated appropriating land in the introduction i compared the confi scation of parts of the west bank and gaza strip with the annexation of east jerusalem claiming that the latter was annexed and the former remained occupied territory th e distinction between jerusalem and these regions is however more complicated th e diff erence is that israel used its own legal system to annex east jerusalem taking over the territory in one fell swoop while off ering citizenship or residency to its palestinian inhabitants in the west bank and gaza strip by contrast it carried out a piecemeal confi scation by employing ottoman and british mandatory law regulations from the jordanian and egyptian legal systems and military orders issued by israeli commanders for many years israel desisted from applying its own laws in the ot as it had done in east jerusalem because it did not want to incorporate the palestinian inhabitants into the israeli demos in other words the objective of the legal mechanisms employed in the ot has been to confi scate as much land as possible without integrating the population th e outcome has been that many palestinians have been cut off from their land th e mechanisms of dispossession were modifi ed over the years but they were always characterized by a dual movement bureaucratic legal mecha nisms were used to seize land legally by converting it into state property and then settlements and bypass roads were built on the land in order to translate the de jure confi scation into a de facto annexation oft en this process oper ated in the opposite direction whereby the de facto confi scation preceded the de jure appropriation applying as it were a pre state zionist ploy called wall and tower homa ve migdal in the 1930s the zionist leadership in palestine took advantage of an ottoman law that forbid the demolition of a house whose roof had been built and used this law in order to grab and hold on to land that it considered important relatively small groups of jewish settlers were sent to strategic sites and within a period of twenty four hours they would build a settlement comprised of a small number of shacks and a watch tower all of which were surrounded by a wall thus the name wall c i v i l i a n c o n t r o l 119 and tower 8 th e rationale informing this pre state campaign was plainly articulated in a well known zionist slogan where the ploughshare stops the border starts th e diff erence between the pre state campaign and the one in the ot was that israel rather than the british controlled the region and could shape the legal system according to its interests legally however the situation in the gaza strip was somewhat diff erent from the one in the west bank in gaza large portions of the land had already been appropriated by the state during egypt s rule and israel did not therefore need to create legal mechanisms to convert private land into state land while some of this land was set aside for refugee housing projects during both egyptian and israeli rule following the war most of the state lands were used for the construction of jewish settlements in the west bank by contrast israel had to introduce a series of bureaucratic legal mechanisms in order to convert private land into state property 9 by and large israel has used seven complementary methods to seize land 1 declaring land to be absentee property 2 declaring land to be the property of a hostile state or agent 3 confi scating land for public needs 4 declaring land to be part of nature reserves 5 requisitioning land for military needs 6 declaring land to be state property 7 helping jewish citizens to purchase land on the free market each method resting on a spe cifi c aspect of the legal system 10 some of these mechanisms were modifi ed or replaced over time in order to address the changing legal circumstances from 1967 to 1980 israel employed the fi rst fi ve methods and between 1981 and 1987 the fi rst two were replaced by the sixth method namely declaring that the land was state property and the seventh was added in 1988 israel began imposing its own civilian laws on land in the ot but not on the palestinian residents in addition to the bureaucratic legal mechanisms six other methods were used both in the west bank and gaza strip to guarantee the de facto confi scation 1 the construction of military bases 2 the establishment of jewish settlements 3 the establishment of jewish outposts 4 the construction of bypass roads 5 the transfer of jewish citizenry across the green line into the ot 6 the construction of the separation barrier only in the west bank except for the separation barrier whose construction began in 2002 and is continuing deep inside palestinian territory all the other methods were adopted immediately aft er the war 1 2 0 c i v i l i a n c o n t r o l the bureaucratic legal mechanisms 1967 1980 even though international humanitarian law obliges the occupying power to protect the occupied inhabitants property prohibiting its expropria tion israel employed several legal mechanisms to seize large parts of the west bank and gaza strip 11 most of the land israel sequestered during the fi rst period was appropriated by declaring it either absentee property or property belonging to a hostile state or agent military order 58 which had already been issued on july 23 1967 defi nes absentee property as property whose legal owner or whoever is granted the power to control it by law left the area prior to 7 june 1967 or subsequently th e military com mander also appointed a custodian who was responsible for overseeing the absentee property bestowing on him the authority to negotiate contracts manage maintain or develop the property or dispose of it in whichever way he deem ed necessary a report by israel s state comptroller shows that during the fi rst few years of the occupation the israeli authorities registered approximately four hundred and thirty thousand dunams or 7 5 percent of the west bank as absentee property 12 while this property is not legally speaking annexed to israel it is under the authority of the custodian and can no longer be used by palestinians military order 59 issued on july 31 1967 declares that any land or prop erty belonging to a hostile state or to any arbitration body connected with a hostile state becomes state property on october 23 another military order was issued drawing a connection between property owned by a hostile state and absentee property so that property belonging to a resident of a hostile state or to a corporation controlled by people residing in a hostile state automatically becomes absentee property by 1979 687 000 dunams con stituting some 13 percent of the west bank were confi scated using this military order th e labor led governments used some of this land to estab lish fi ft een settlements in the jordan valley 13 a third method of confi scation was the expropriation of land for public needs as eyal weizman cogently observes the use of the term public revealed more than anything else the government s political bias the public on which expropriations were imposed always comprised palestinians the public that enjoyed the fruits of the expropriation was always exclusively composed of jews 14 th is method was applied in the west bank alone and used the provisions of a jordanian law while the precise amount of land seized by applying this law is diffi cult to estimate israel has used it exten c i v i l i a n c o n t r o l 121 sively to seize land for the purpose of constructing the extensive network of bypass roads serving the settlements th ese expropriations were upheld by israel s high court of justice which accepted the state s argument that the roads also met the transportation needs of the palestinian population an argument that has proven to be completely spurious 15 military order 363 december 1969 imposes severe restrictions on the use of land for agriculture and grazing in areas defi ned as nature reserves even though the declaration of land as a nature reserve was ostensibly designed to protect the environment it was considered by the authorities to be an integral part of the land seizure program while it is unclear how many dunams were confi scated using this method during the fi rst period by 1985 two hundred and fi ft y thousand dunams or 5 percent of the land had been declared part of nature reserves 16 finally the fi ft h method used during the fi rst period was the confi scation of land for military needs th e hague regulations allow an occupying power to take temporary possession of privately owned land and buildings belonging to the residents of the occupied area in order to house its military forces and administrative units b tselem points out that on the basis of this exception almost forty seven thousand dunams were confi scated in the west bank between 1968 and 1979 while the state argued that this land was required for essential and urgent military needs several jewish settlements established during this period were built on land that was expropriated in this manner 17 when these confi scations were appealed the state s response was that the settlements were planned for military reasons and accordingly the requisi tion orders were lawful th e high court accepted the state s response 18 de facto confiscation th e israeli government knew that the frontier as golda meir once put it is where jews live and not where a line is drawn on a map 19 so imme diately following the war it began moving military bases into the west bank and gaza strip while some of these bases were used for training others were nahal outposts nahal is the hebrew acronym for noar halutzi lohem fighting pioneer youth and refers to military brigades that combine active military service with civilian service well before the occupation began the nahal introduced a practice whereby it erected military outposts on israel s frontiers and gradually converted these out posts into civlian agricultural communities following the 1967 war most 1 2 2 c i v i l i a n c o n t r o l nahal outposts were built in the territories that had been occupied the west bank gaza strip golan heights and sinai peninsula and in due course many of these were converted into civilian settlements 20 th ree mili tary outposts of this kind were already established in the jordan valley in 1968 argaman kalya and mehola and later these outposts just like several others became civilian communities it is important to note that the majority of the soldiers making up the nahal brigade were from kib butzim and moshavim communal farms within israel and were affi liated with the left wing youth movements it is precisely these young secular men and women most of whom were aligned with the labor party or parties to the left of labor and not right wing jews who believed in a messianic ideol ogy who established the majority of settlements during the fi rst period simultaneously the labor government allowed religious jews whose desires and interests were shaped by the messianic ideology of a greater israel to establish a few settlements on september 24 1967 just three months aft er the occupation began it approved the establishment of kfar etzion located south of jerusalem on the road to hebron 21 a few months later a group of religious jews occupied a building in hebron s park hotel in an attempt to establish a settlement in the midst of the palestinian city although aft er several weeks the government removed them from the hotel the settlers were given weapons and allowed to reside in a military compound just outside the city where they stayed until 1970 when a gov ernmental committee decided to allow them to build the settlement kiryat arba on hebron s outskirts which is right in the center of the southern part of the west bank 22 on august 30 1973 the jerusalem post reported that the housing ministry would make land available without restrictions to public housing companies and private contractors willing to build in kiryat arba under a government assisted housing program emphasizing that the ministry would set up a loan fund for settlers wishing to build their own houses th e post added that a commercial site that would serve a thousand families was being planned 23 two points need to be emphasized here first even though the government presented the religious settlers as contrarians in practically every single case the two opposing camps ended up cooperating with the government actu ally providing assistance to the settlers second from the very beginning settlements were established not only according to military strategic logic but also according to a national religious one by the mid 1970s a suburban c i v i l i a n c o n t r o l 12 3 logic was also deployed and as i explain below it was precisely this logic that attracted the masses to move from israel to the ot 24 many of the religious israelis who established the early settlements con sidered israel s victory in the 1967 war as the beginning of redemption and as an opportunity to realize the vision of a greater israel a group of them founded the messianic movement gush emunim bloc of the faithful in 1974 th e movement s immediate goal was to force the govern ment to establish as many settlements as possible throughout the west bank and gaza strip 25 th e sabastia aff air which took place between july 1974 and december 1975 was the movement s fi rst major initiative members of gush emunim made seven attempts to establish a settlement without legal authorization eight miles northwest of nablus and near the archeo logical site of sabastia th e eighth attempt led to a compromise between the activists and defense minister shimon peres th e settlers were allowed to stay at a military base called qadum to the west of nablus and two years later the base was offi cially transformed into the settlement of qedumim even though sabastia is usually portrayed as a watershed that is a con frontation between the settlers to be and the israeli government it was in many respects a repeat performance 26 th e members of gush emunim were simply following a pattern that had been established in kfar etzion and the park hotel in hebron th e main problem with the narrative which describes the fl edgling set tlers movement as establishing settlements against all odds is that if the government had really wanted to it could have prevented the settlers from reaching sabastia or from establishing kfar etzion and it could have done this without investing much energy and without losing an enormous amount of political credit in lords of the land idith zartal and akiva eldar show that labor leaders like shimon peres yitzhak rabin yigal allon and moshe dayan were for the most part in favor of the settlement project th us the notion that the labor government and the settlers belonged to opposing ideological camps is true only if one is interested in tactical diff erences th e fact is that members of both camps shared principal components of the messianic and militaristic ideologies and the distance between the diff erent views was not all that great sabastia for instance was considered by both the government and settlers as national and cultural property yet each camp for its own reasons wanted to present the interaction as a confronta tion between forces holding diametrically opposing views 1 2 4 c i v i l i a n c o n t r o l all in all twenty seven settlements were founded during the occu pation s fi rst decade and about fi ft een more were underway when the labor party lost the elections to the likud in may 1977 27 i emphasize this number for three reasons first it is oft en assumed that the right wing likud government began the settlement project in order to preclude the possibility of withdrawing from the ot actually though one fourth of the settlements that currently exist were established within the fi rst decade of the occupation and if one counts those that were being planned almost one third of the settlements existing today were initiated by labor before it lost the 1977 elections second most of the narratives tend to present the settlement project as an extra governmental enterprise carried out by the settler movement in direct opposition to government policy in reality the diff erent israeli governments established the vast majority of settlements and even those that were ostensibly erected against the government s will by religious jewish circles ultimately received both a green light from the government and its fi nancial support finally just over half of the settle ments built by the labor government were located in the west bank s jordan valley the government also established two settlements in gaza two in samaria one just east of jerusalem and six others south of the city in the gush etzion and hebron areas see map 2 and appendix 2 it does not seem likely that a government intending to withdraw from the ter ritories it had captured would invest such vast resources to build so many civilian settlements and transfer its citizenry to these settlements shlomo gazit the fi rst coordinator for government activities in the occupied ter ritories corroborates this claim from the fi rst days of israeli rule in the west bank and the gaza strip it was clear the israeli settlements in the territories in general and especially in the densely populated areas had far reaching political implications th ese settlements were designed to establish a new reality that would infl uence the future political solution it was clear that building civilian israeli settle ments was a political statement comparable to the knesset decision in june 1967 to annex east jerusalem the settlements were built in places from which israel had no intention of withdrawing 28 so although they were presented by politicians and military personnel alike as a means of satisfying security needs during the fi rst decade following c i v i l i a n c o n t r o l 12 5 map 2 west bank settlements according to year established source peace now see appendix 2 for settlement names and dates of establishment the war the settlements actually served as a de facto element in the confi sca tion process and can be perceived as a direct continuation of the pre state wall and tower strategy but in contrast to the pre state strategy whereby the jewish settlers carried out clandestine operations in opposition to the policies of the british authorities the fi rst settlements in the ot received authorization from the government and military offi cials even though a clear policy regarding these authorizations did not always exist th erefore it is not surprising that by the end of the fi rst period 1980 israel had seized more than 20 percent of the west bank and close to 40 percent of the gaza strip and had built fi ft y seven settlements which comprise half of the recognized settlements today see map 2 and appendix 2 29 appropriating water during the occupation s fi rst two decades israel also appropriated the ot s water resources eighty percent of the mountain aquifers the regions largest reservoirs are located under the west bank with the remaining 20 percent under israel realizing the signifi cance of this vital resource which currently supplies 40 percent of israel s agricultural needs and almost 50 percent of its drinking water israel began modifying the legal and insti tutional status of the water rights in the occupied regions aft er the war 30 th e changes were made in two main stages corresponding to the occupation s fi rst two periods in august 1967 israel transferred all decision making powers regarding water in the west bank to the military authorities and made a similar move in the gaza strip in december 1974 31 th e major eff ect of this transfer of powers was a severe restriction on drilling new wells to meet the palestinian inhabitant s needs along with the appropriation of water to meet the needs of israel s citizenry 32 during the second stage many of the powers held by the occupation authorities among them the control of water supply to the urban centers were transferred to israel s water commis sioner and the ministry of agriculture as a result the west bank and gaza strip s water resources were integrated with israel s and were controlled by a single centralized system 33 th e appropriation of palestinian water is yet another example of israeli eff orts to exploit the ot s resources and further illustrates how israel erased the green line every time it was in its interest to do so but the appropria tion of the water is also part of what eyal weizman has called israel s politics of verticality namely israel s simultaneous attempt to control three spatial c i v i l i a n c o n t r o l 12 7 levels the ground the air and even the subterranean level in order to manage the palestinian population 34 th us as we will see the appropriation of water not only served israeli economic and security needs but was also used to administer the occupied inhabitants the bureaucratic legal mechanisms 1981 1987 in june 1979 several residents of rujeib a village southeast of nablus petitioned the high court of justice asking it to nullify a military order that was about to confi scate some fi ve thousand dunams of their land th e land aff ected by the seizure order was slated for the establishment of a settle ment called elon moreh th e state s response as had been customary until this point was that the settlement was planned for military reasons and accordingly the requisition orders were lawful but in contrast to previous cases a number of former military generals joined the petitioners while settlers who intended to live in elon moreh joined as respondents to the petition as b tselem points out what is so interesting and important about this particular case is that both the generals and the settlers challenged the military needs argument in their affi davits th e generals claimed that the settlement would not serve israel s security and might become a liability while the settlers stressed the right jews had to settle in this land regardless of so called military needs one settler argued that basing the requisition orders on security grounds in their narrow technical sense rather than their comprehensive sense can be construed only in one way the settlement is temporary and replaceable we reject this frightening conclusion outright it is also inconsistent with the government s deci sion regarding our settling on this site since affi davits from both sides undermined the argument of military necessity which had been used until then as the legal justifi cation for expropriation of private lands the high court ordered the israeli military to dismantle the settlement and return the seized land to its owners th e immediate result of this ruling was the establishment of elon moreh on an alternative site but since it became clear that building a settlement on land appropriated for ideological or other nonmilitary needs would no longer be upheld by the high court the government adopted a new method for seizing land 35 invoking two articles from the 1907 hague regulations one that requires the occupying power to respect the laws that existed prior to the occupation article 43 and another that permits 1 2 8 c i v i l i a n c o n t r o l an occupying power to manage the properties in the occupied territory and to derive profi ts from them article 55 israel began applying an ottoman land law from 1858 in order to convert private palestinian land into state land according to the ottoman law if a landowner fails to farm his or her land for three consecutive years for reasons other than those recognized by the law e g the landowner is draft ed into the military the land is then known as makhlul land which the sovereign may take possession of or transfer to another person th e ottoman law also stipulates that land that is more than half an hour s walking distance from the person s settlement or is located at a distance such that the loudest noise made by a person in the closest place of settlement cannot be heard should remain empty and not be used by any person regarding this latter land the sovereign is responsible for ensuring that no unlawful activities take place on it and in fact controls it 36 th e acrobatics israel was willing to perform aft er the elon moreh petition in order to legally seize land reveal just how important it was for the government to portray its actions not as the suspension of law but as acts that abide by and follow the rule of law using aerial surveillance and satellite images the israeli authorities mapped all of the land that had not been farmed for at least three consecu tive years land that had been farmed for less than ten years the period of limitation and land that was according to the law too far from the nearest village within a number of years 2 15 million dunams 39 percent of west bank land that could potentially be seized using this law were identifi ed th is fi gure includes land that had already been confi scated using other legal bureaucratic mechanisms so that about 1 5 million dunams was actu ally new land by mid 1984 eight hundred thousand dunams of this new land about 14 percent of the west bank were seized using the ottoman law 37 in sum the two state branches judicial and executive worked side by side to rationalize and legitimize the confi scation of palestinian land as the judicial branch restricted the methods of confi scation the executive branch modifi ed and thus expanded them receiving a green light from high court to do so th e eff ect was the confi scation of much more land than otherwise would have been possible an analysis of the ottoman law also reveals how israel used the forms of governing it had developed during the fi rst years of occupation in order to gain control of land during the second period as mentioned in previous chapters the integration of palestinian laborers into the israeli workforce as c i v i l i a n c o n t r o l 12 9 well as the harsh restrictions israel imposed on water usage and the produc tion of certain crops facilitated the use of this law in 1987 eight years aft er israel fi rst began employing the ottoman law to appropriate palestinian land 39 2 percent of the palestinian workforce was employed in israel while only 13 8 percent worked in agriculture within the ot a dramatic drop from the 34 2 percent who worked in agriculture in 1970 38 th ese statistics help explain why despite the more than 40 percent increase in the size of the population the cultivated land in the west bank decreased from an estimated 2 435 sq km to 1 735 sq km between the years 1965 and 1985 in other words the decrease in cultivated land enabled the confi scation of more land 39 since a large percentage of the workforce was earning salaries in israel the expropriation of land did not immediately lead to an economic crisis and could initially be implemented with little resistance th is example serves to show how certain forms of control like the integration of laborers into the israeli workforce and the regulation of water and crops served at a certain stage of the occupation to advance the confi scation of land th e last method that was employed to seize palestinian land was private acquisition th e labor led governments preferred to limit the confi scation of land to governmental bodies and pre state jewish institutions already in june 1967 the state had issued a military order rendering it illegal to conduct business transactions involving land and property without a permit from the military authorities 40 accordingly until the late 1970s the only nongovernmental body involved in the purchase of land from palestinian residents was the jewish agency s settlement department 41 th is policy was reversed in the 1980s and private acquisition of palestinian land began to be encouraged jews now purchased land and settled throughout the west bank including areas that could not be declared state land to help israeli entrepreneurs several military orders were issued to amend the jordanian land laws and facilitate the acquisition process b tselem explains that because palestinians considered the sale of land to israeli jews to be an act of treason an order was issued to enable such land transactions while postponing registration for many years in order to circumvent the potential dangers created by exposing the identity of the palestinian seller 42 although it is unclear how much land was purchased by israeli entrepre neurs this land was bought specifi cally for real estate projects i e settle ments and was mostly near the green line th is is one of many examples of how israel s civilian population was used to advance the expropriation 1 3 0 c i v i l i a n c o n t r o l project by 1987 palestinians were restricted to an area that comprised less than 60 percent of the area israel had occupied in 1967 43 in the gaza strip the land was divided between jews and palestinians in such a way that there were conservatively speaking 115 jews per square mile as opposed to 7 905 palestinians per square mile due to the expropriation of land population density in gaza was among the highest in the world and ten times higher than in israel 44 more settlements and bypass roads while the land was seized primarily through the employment of mecha nisms informed by a sovereign power the confi scated terrain was controlled through the construction of buildings and the transfer of a civilian popula tion to inhabit it during the second period the expansion of the settlement project was much swift er by 1987 israel had established 110 settlements in the west bank and an additional 15 in the gaza strip comprising about 85 percent of all the settlements that existed in 2005 before the withdrawal from gaza th e estimated amount of money invested in these settlements was more than 8 billion 45 th us during the fi rst twenty years of occupa tion israel had already built most of the settlements seized over 40 percent of palestinian land and had managed to transfer about sixty thousand jewish citizens to the ot th e new settlements controlled most of the seashore in the gaza strip and were scattered throughout the west bank oft en located on hilltops overlooking a number of palestinian villages few areas were left without some kind of jewish presence th e settlements had a threefold objective first they were part and parcel of the mechanism of dispossession and helped transform the legal confi scation of land into a concrete reality second as i describe below the settlements and settlers within them served as a civilian apparatus to monitor and police the palestinian population finally the settlements in the west bank were part of israel s defense line against external enemies deployed in order to help the military guard the border secure roads and ensure internal communications 46 th e establishment of the settlements entailed the construction of access roads if in the late 1960s and 1970s israel justifi ed the settlement project by claiming that it served the country s military needs by the 1980s and 1990s it justifi ed the construction of bypass roads by claiming that they c i v i l i a n c o n t r o l 131 secured the safety of the civilians who lived in the settlements moreover according to the settlement master plan for 1983 1986 which was never formally adopted by the government it was assumed that the construc tion of roads would motivate israeli citizens to move to the ot and would enhance the development of the settlement project 47 th us these new roads were not part of an attempt to improve palestinian infrastructure they were built to serve and perpetuate the settlements by creating a grid that connected the ot to israel th ese objectives were clearly spelled out in a ministry of defense report which noted that the system of bypass roads being built would meet four key needs to permit israelis to travel in the ot without passing through palestinian population centers to permit israelis to travel across the green line by the shortest route to maintain an internal fabric of life within the israeli settlement blocs and to ensure that palestinian traffi c did not pass through the settle ments 48 to achieve these objectives israel built a vast network of bypass roads extending over hundreds of kilometers and criss crossing both the west bank and gaza strip 49 th e settlements and bypass roads not only served as physical apparatuses that operated in tandem with the legal bureaucratic mechanisms in order to secure the confi scation of palestinian land but also functioned as part of the apparatuses that were deployed to manage the occupied population through restriction of movement and development surveillance and ethnic policing the restriction of movement and development th e settlement enterprise was used to inhibit palestinian movement and development in and of themselves the jewish settlement s physical edifi ces only partially restrict the occupied inhabitants movement and develop ment since the built up areas of all of the settlements put together and not only those that existed in the 1970s and 1980s comprise less than 2 percent of the west bank 50 but the settlements built up area is not the only area palestinians are not allowed to enter th ere are the municipal boundar ies that currently comprise 6 9 percent of the west bank and toward the end of the fi rst period 1980 the military commanders used their authority to incorporate all of the lands that israel had declared state lands within the regional as opposed to municipal boundaries of the settlements and to 1 3 2 c i v i l i a n c o n t r o l restrict palestinian use of this land for agriculture grazing and construc tion th e regional boundaries comprise 35 percent of the west bank a fi gure that does not include the municipal boundaries indicating that palestinians were denied access to almost 42 percent of the west bank 51 map 3 shows that the territory incorporated into the west bank s six jewish regional councils and jewish municipalities separates clusters of palestinian villages and towns from their urban centers th e entire area incorporated into the regional councils was categorized as closed for mili tary reasons however entry permission has been granted to israeli citizens jews from anywhere in the world and anyone who visits israel as a tourist with a valid entry visa only local palestinian residents require special autho rization from the region s military commander to enter the closed areas an authorization they receive only if they are hired by settlers as cheap laborers in this way israel has succeeded in dramatically diminishing the areas acces sible to palestinian economic and agricultural development 52 examining the map one also begins to appreciate how even a small percentage of confi scated land can be used to slice the west bank into several parts th e 0 25 percent of land included within the ariel settlement s jurisdiction has enabled israel to control a long corridor the trans samaria highway leading to the settlement th is corridor as b tselem points out severs the contiguity of the northern west bank similarly while the area of jurisdiction of ma ale adummim occupies just 0 8 percent of the west bank it nonetheless succeeds in slicing the west bank into two parts that are almost completely separated 53 our control of a region is a function not only of the size of the population which resides within the region but also of the size of the area in which this population exercises its infl uence gush emunim explained in 1980 54 th e aerial photos of the jewish settlement beitar illit exemplify the terri torial diff erence between the built up area of the settlements and the munici pal boundaries th e black lines mark the municipal borders while the areas covered by a gray shade are palestinian the dotted line is the internationally recognized border known as the green line th e photo in fi gure 2 shows that there are two clusters of built up areas each one on a separate hill with an additional cluster still without any houses on it th e lower cluster was built fi rst but in order to gain control of the rest of the land allotted to the settlement another neighborhood was built on the eastern side of the middle cluster and still another is in the process of being built on the c i v i l i a n c o n t r o l 13 3 map 3 areas controlled by settlements source yehezkel lein land grab israel s settlement policy in the west bank jerusalem b tselem 2002 figure 2 aerial photo of beitar illit showing municipal boundaries source peace now western side of that cluster thus revealing how the settlement s boundaries and planning are used to gain control of as much land as possible beitar illit also overlooks the palestinian villages wadi fuchin from the north husan on the east and nahalin on the south demonstrating how israel establishes settlements very close to palestinian villages to restrict palestinian develop ment and to break their communities up into clusters th e lower part of fi gure 3 which provides a closer view of beitar illit illustrates how jewish houses are being built outside the municipal boundaries it also shows how plots of palestinian land that the israeli government could not legally con fi scate are totally surrounded by the settlement thus restricting palestinian farmers access to their land without actually confi scating it th e settlements and their municipal and regional boundaries have not been the only mechanisms used for confi scating palestinian land surround ing villages and transforming the west bank into a space made up of small enclaves zoning restrictions were also put to use instead of allowing the palestinians to extend the areas of their villages and urban centers so that the needs of the growing population could be addressed the civil c i v i l i a n c o n t r o l 13 5 figure 3 aerial photo of beitar illit a closer view showing jewish houses built outside the municipal boundaries source peace now administration adopted the completely outdated village and municipal plans prepared in the 1940s by the british mandatory powers according to the size of the population at the time all areas not included in the 1940 plans were designated as agricultural areas or nature reserves so that nothing could be built on them 55 in the early 1990s when the civil administration prepared special partial outline plans for some four hun dred villages in the west bank aerial photographs were taken of each village and a schematic line was then added on the photo around the settled area construction was prohibited on land outside this line and could legally take place only by the infi ll method that is the fi lling of vacant areas within the demarcated area through high rise construction and an increase in the population density 56 israel also used roads to circumscribe palestinian space 57 while in most places around the world roads are used to connect people in the ot they have had two additional functions to seize land and to serve as barriers that separate or circumscribe the palestinian inhabitants and restrict their move 1 3 6 c i v i l i a n c o n t r o l ment 58 th e fi rst function enabled israel to use roads as a way of limiting palestinian development by confi scating agricultural land and limiting the construction of residences and businesses th e security highways are mas sive in scale at times 50 meters wide with an additional 100 150 meters of margins on each side totaling the width of three to four football fi elds 59 to restrict palestinian movement israel introduced a forbidden road regime that limited the inhabitants access to major traffi c arteries in the west bank not only to the bypass roads b tselem has classifi ed the roads subjected to this regime under three main categories based on the severity of the restrictions complete prohibition partial prohibition and restricted use th e fi rst category includes 120 kilometers of roads intended for the sole use of israeli citizens some of these roads are labeled by the army as sterile roads th e second category includes 245 kilometers of roads on which palestinians may travel if they hold permits issued by the civil administration or if their identity cards indicate that they live in a village that can only be accessed using the road th e third category includes 365 kilometers of roads on which palestinian vehicles are allowed to travel without a special permit but access to these roads is frequently blocked by military checkpoints and physical barriers th us during the second intifada limitations were placed on palestinian use of approximately 730 kilometers of west bank roads just by employing a permit regime 60 th e major diff erence between this road regime and the one institutionalized in south africa during apartheid is that in the west bank no legislation was introduced to support this practice and no offi cial government deci sion was taken to put such legislation into eff ect indeed it was never put on paper th e whole regime is based on verbal orders given to security forces 61 on the one hand the forbidden road regime has forced the palestinian population to use alternate routes some of which pass through densely populated urban areas while others involve using unpaved dirt roads run ning along agricultural fi elds and mountain valleys th e distance one has to travel using these routes is much greater as is the time it takes to go from one place to another being forced to travel on these alternate roads has aff ected all aspects of daily life in the west bank including the economy and the health and educational systems 62 on the other hand such roads are also used as boundaries checking development and cutting off villages from urban centers while undermining contiguity in the palestinian areas c i v i l i a n c o n t r o l 13 7 of the ot taken together the distribution of settlements the areas of jurisdiction the bypass roads and the permit regime eff ectively fragment the terrain thus hindering the establishment of an independent and viable palestinian state 63 surveillance planning in the ot was almost always subjected to military agendas and was as eyal weizman maintains the handmaiden of politics and control th e settlements are a case in point even though their built up area com prises less than 2 percent of the land they were usually built on hilltops and have thus provided three strategic assets greater tactical strength protec tion and a wider view 64 th e distribution layout and architectural design of the settlements were determined by strategic military principles so that the simple act of domesticity a single family home shrouded in the cosmetic façade of red tiles and green lawns conforms to the aims of territorial and social control 65 th e settlements strategic function was integrated into their distribution and topographical location so that they created a network of observation that overlooks the main traffi c arteries of the west bank 66 weizman and rafi segal point out that the desire to maximize the visibility of the occupied space and the palestinians inhabiting it dictated the mode of design of the settlements down to the positioning of windows in houses th e two israeli architects conclude that settlements become in eff ect optical devices designed to exercise control through supervision and surveillance 67 th e settlements are accordingly disciplinary artifacts that aim to render the occupied inhabitants visible and docile th ey are used to monitor the palestinians who work in the fi elds below or travel on the adjacent roads and in this way function as panoptic towers that encourage the inhabit ants to adopt certain norms and practices not a single settler needs to be in the settlement since the mere possibility that a settler is standing within one of the overarching buildings and watching is oft en suffi cient to ensure that certain restrictions and prohibitions are observed and spe cifi c modes of behavior and comportment are followed th e settlements substantiate foucault s idea that a cleverly designed edifi ce has the capacity to control people ironically though the settlements are in many ways a more exact model of foucault s notion of surveillance than the panoptic 1 3 8 c i v i l i a n c o n t r o l tower the example he uses because their gaze is not centralized like foucauldian power they are not located in one identifi able site but are scattered throughout the terrain supervising the local inhabitants from numerous spots th e settlers themselves also serve as part of the surveillance apparatus th ey are a markedly diff erent group of people than the occupied inhabit ants th ey dress diff erently speak a diff erent language drive cars that are identifi ably diff erent oft en carry weapons and many of them have acquired the reputation of being violent and lawless while they wear plain clothes in the eyes of many palestinians they are no diff erent from the security person nel moreover they are everywhere in 1980 there were 13 500 settlers in the ot by 1987 there were about 60 000 on the eve of the oslo agreements about 100 000 and currently there are 267 000 residing in the west bank excluding east jerusalem one should keep in mind that most of the settlers did not move to the ot for ideological reasons th ey were simply looking for a suburban home at an aff ordable price and the israeli government handed out economic perks to anyone who was willing to relocate in 1986 subsidies for housing in the west bank were almost 50 percent higher than in depressed areas within israel all west bank settlements were eligible for a 7 percent income tax reduction and all settlement industrial parks were granted the a status for industrial development the highest incentive which includes a 40 percent grant for the purchase of equipment low taxation and subsidized infrastructure 68 th ese as well as several other fi nancial benefi ts off ered by the government served as a push factor to encourage citizens to move from israel to the ot settlers are constantly traveling both within the ot and to israel com muting to work taking children to school going shopping and visiting friends while these private trips are no doubt part of the settler s daily routine simply by traveling within the ot the settlers fulfi ll several func tions th ey patrol the region monitor vital strategic sites and help the state guarantee its control of the occupied inhabitants whether a settler moved to the ot for ideological reasons and was interested in dispossessing the palestinians or whether he or she was encouraged to leave israel and to relocate to the west bank and gaza strip in order to buy an aff ordable single family home is beside the point in both cases the settlers have been mobilized to serve the purpose of military domination 69 c i v i l i a n c o n t r o l 13 9 ethnic policing in addition to the predominantly noninteractive role of surveillance the settlers have also been deployed as a coercive form of control that uses violence to police the palestinian population while max weber claimed that a central feature of the modern state is the successful expropriation of the means of violence from individuals so that states have a monopoly on the legitimate use of violence it is important to stress that frequently states license other actors to carry out violence in their stead ever since the occupation began settlers in the west bank and gaza strip have fulfi lled this role for the israeli government it would therefore be a mistake to conceive the jewish settlers as the originators of a power that seizes land dis possesses palestinians and determines government policy since the settlers themselves were more an eff ect of this power and its medium of articulation than its instigator th ey are a product of material and ideological forces that informed the pre state zionist movement and they have been utilized by the state as a crucial component of the dispossessing and policing appara tuses th is is not to say that the settlers are not responsible or lack agency even while they are an eff ect of certain forces they play an instrumental role in consolidating the messianic and militaristic ideological strains in israel and became a self perpetuating tool that helps shape government decisions pertaining to the ot major acts of settler violence have included the attempted assassination of three west bank mayors in 1980 the raid on the islamic college in hebron in july 1983 in which three students were killed and many others wounded and the 1994 massacre in the cave of the patriarchs in which twenty nine palestinians were killed during friday prayer 70 but these are merely the more visible incidents that received widespread media attention th e accentuation of these acts and the de emphasis of others have served to create the impression that settler violence is an exception to the rule carried out by extremists or fanatics when in fact it is the norm not much was written about the night when residents of kiryat arba vandalized dozens of cars in the nearby palestinian town of halhul or when more than a hundred car windows were shattered and some houses damaged in el bireh very little was said about the day six armed settlers entered a palestinian girls school shot in the air and systematically smashed all the windowpanes and damaged the science laboratories or about the two 1 4 0 c i v i l i a n c o n t r o l hundred settlers who entered the dheisha refugee camp fi ring guns and throwing tear gas grenades 71 yet it is precisely these kinds of settler attacks that interest me here as they have been part of the daily routine in the ot since the 1970s th e united nations recorded 772 instances of settler violence in the west bank during the year 2001 alone an average of two assaults every day 72 such attacks are oft en carried out with weapons provided by the israeli military in 1987 it was estimated that the settler population around sixty thousand at the time possessed no fewer than ten thousand fi rearms of all types as well as other types of military equipment such as wireless communica tion devices and armed vehicles 73 in january 2007 the settlers numbered 267 000 and it is unclear how many weapons they possess from the very beginning jewish settlements in the ot were granted the status of border communities authorizing them to receive military weapons for self defense by law the settlers are compelled to guard their settlements and educational institutions th ey are authorized to detain people who refuse to provide identifi cation and to arrest those who try to hide and cannot reasonably explain their behavior 74 accordingly each settlement has an ammunition depot and a state paid security coordinator who is responsible for organizing the settlement s defense adult inhabitants are given semiautomatic rifl es and handguns and the coordinator schedules patrols on the settlement s borders it is important to remember that all of this is offi cial at a certain point though moetzet yesha the council of jewish settlements in judea samaria and gaza began to organize militias to guard the small settlements that did not have suffi cient manpower as james ron points out during the 1980s these militias extended their operations from the settlement perimeters to fi elds access roads and palestinian villages using the weapons and ammunition given to them by the military between 1980 and 1984 they attacked palestinians 384 times killing 23 and injuring 191 75 th us the offi cial role of securing the settlements was expanded by the settlers who organized groups of men whose role was to police their palestinian neighbors yesha spokesperson yehoshua mor yosef explained the long standing rationale for creat ing these militias we act in coordination with the army if something exceptional happens and the situation worsens we are also ready to act on our own 76 translated into plain english this means that when the c i v i l i a n c o n t r o l 14 1 israeli military s policing of palestinians does not meet the standards set by the settlers they do what they believe is necessary to control the palestinians 77 in the mid 1980s the militias were incorporated into the israeli military as territorial defense auxiliaries th ey were given military issue personnel carriers weapons and communications equipment and were asked to patrol locally which in practice oft en meant policing nearby palestinian villages at least one of these auxiliaries earned a reputation for brutality 78 in other words the offi cial role of securing the settlement s borders was expanded by militias to include the policing of palestinians living in the settlement s vicinity and these militias were reincorporated into the state apparatus where they continued their abuse this time wearing military uniforms th is process underscores one aspect of the close relation between israel s offi cial law enforcement institutions and the settler population 79 in addition to the formal relationship between the settlers and the military unoffi cial settler groups and individuals frequently police the palestinian population settlers have set ambushes for palestinians hiding near the road and shooting or throwing stones at palestinian vehicles that pass by th ey have fi red from their own vehicles at palestinians walking along the roads palestinians have admitted that aft er several such incidents they have stopped traveling along the roads where these kinds of attacks have taken place 80 settlers have frequently fi red at palestinian shepherds and farmers or beaten them in order to forcefully prevent them from reaching their grazing grounds and agricultural fi elds particularly during times of harvest 81 in the fourteen year period between 1987 and 2001 124 palestinians among them 23 minors were killed by jewish settlers and other israeli civilians in addition the settlers have injured hundreds of palestinians burnt mosques harmed medical teams attacked journalists and damaged property in scores of villages 82 th ey have stolen palestinian herds uprooted thousands of olive trees and destroyed greenhouses as well as agricultural crops thus depriving many palestinians of their source of livelihood th ey have entered palestinian residential areas shot at houses damaged property and committed other acts of vandalism such as burning cars breaking windows and shooting solar heating devices th e objective of many of the attacks is to intimidate and terrorize the palestinians in order to deter them from resisting acts of dispossession and at times to persuade them to abandon their lands and homes 83 1 4 2 c i v i l i a n c o n t r o l what is important to emphasize here is that the settlers carry out these acts with impunity in a survey conducted in 2006 an israeli human rights group found that only 10 percent of the complaints involving settler vio lence against palestinians have made it to the courts while only 4 percent of the complaints involving settler trespassing and the destruction of olive trees and other property have led to prosecution 84 according to b tselem an analysis of the response of the israeli authorities to settler attacks on palestinians reveals a blatant disregard for palestinian lives and property th is disregard is refl ected not only in the lack of preparation to handle incidents the failure to intervene when settlers attack palestinians and the incomplete and feeble investigations but also in the total disregard for the criticism and recommendations of state bodies and offi cials regarding the law enforcement system 85 in another report the israeli rights organiza tion maintains that the law enforcement system including the military the police the state attorney s offi ce and the judiciary have treated violent off enses in the ot with contempt toward palestinian complaints and leniency toward the off enders whereas a palestinian who kills an israeli is punished to the full extent of the law and sometimes his family as well it is extremely likely that an israeli who kills a palestinian will not be punished or will receive only a light sentence 86 th e message that comes across is that settler violence is not only tolerated by the state but is actually sanctioned th us even though settler violence is oft en presented as an individual act carried out by extremists it is actually a state sanctioned form of control that operates in two distinct ways 1 settlers are hired as offi cial guardians of the law and 2 they are given a green light by the diff erent law enforce ment bodies to act as hooligans oft en the distinction between the two is not clear and in both cases the settlers serve as auxiliaries or subcontrac tors of sorts who help the israeli security forces police the palestinian population the ethnic distinction from the occupation s very beginning the ethnicity of the individual deter mined both the legal system to which a person would be subjected as well as whether the letter of the law would be enforced at all whereas both the land and its palestinian inhabitants have been subjected to military rule c i v i l i a n c o n t r o l 14 3 the jewish settlers who took over the expropriated land have been subjected to israeli civilian law 87 a mere three weeks aft er the 1967 war and three months before the fi rst settlement was established the knesset enacted a law that ensured the application of a dual legal system in the ot th e law guaranteed that israeli citizens would not be subject to the military and emergency laws that were used to govern the palestinians and provided an alternative venue to try israeli citizens accused of off ences in the ot 88 th us from a legal perspective the citizens who settled in the ot were extra territorialized enabling them among other things to be tried under the israeli penal code in civil courts within israel unlike their palestinian neighbors they continue to participate in knesset elections pay israeli taxes receive social security and health insurance and enjoy all the rights granted by israel to its citizens even though they do not reside in israel 89 for all practical purposes the extension of israeli domestic law to the set tlers erased the green line in both their eyes and in the eyes of many other israeli citizens although the ethnicity of the individual has determined the legal system to which a person is subjected it is actually the extralegal privileges that come with being a jew and not the vast number of legal rights that set tlers in contrast to palestinians enjoy that allow them to carry out crimes with impunity th e crux of the matter is that the ethnic distinction jew versus palestinian trumps the legal distinction criminal versus law abiding case aft er case documented by human rights organizations such as b tselem and al haq reveal that jews who have committed crimes against palestinians in the ot are not usually tried for reasons such as lack of suffi cient evidence and if they are tried the large majority are either acquitted or receive very light sentences examining 119 cases where palestinians were killed by israeli civilians b tselem found that only six israelis were convicted of murder and only one sentenced to life imprison ment an additional seven israelis were convicted of manslaughter and while one was sentenced to seven and a half years imprisonment for killing a palestinian child the rest received much lighter sentences some even got off with community service b tselem s fi ndings reveal that a total of 13 israelis were imprisoned and only one for life 90 in this way the state sends an unequivocal message to the settlers th ey can continue terrorizing and policing the palestinians and the state will ensure that they are treated with great leniency 1 4 4 c i v i l i a n c o n t r o l excesses and contradictions we have already seen how forms of control that were employed to manage the population such as the incorporation of palestinian laborers into the israeli workforce facilitated the expropriation of land and how the confi s cation of land was utilized for managing the population th e settlements settlers bypass roads and bureaucratic legal mechanisms were all employed to shape the occupied inhabitants comportment ironically the diff erent forms of control which have played a central role not only in managing the population but also in blocking the possibility of creating a palestinian state in the ot produced excesses and contradictions that undid israel s eff orts to normalize the occupation thus fomenting nationalist sentiment among the occupied palestinians and creating fertile ground for the mobilization of the inhabitants against israel s rule th is in turn led israel to emphasize a sovereign power and to de emphasize disciplinary power thus modifying the way many controlling apparatuses and practices operated which also coincided with the alteration of policies in order to seize the land and manage the population the settlement proj ect helped consolidate and perpetuate two major distinctions one between palestinians and jews and a second between the palestinians and their land th e fi rst distinction was created because the settlers were rendered lords of the land and were used as a form of control that helped the state manage the palestinian population yet simultaneously the privileged status of the settler emphasized the ethnic distinction between palestinians and jews which served to unite palestinian society 91 th e settler owned estates and the violent attacks against palestinians and their property aff ected not only the rural class but also the wage laborers and the widespread hatred of the jewish settlers helped unravel some of the prominent divi sions that fragmented palestinian society th e ethnic distinction in other words strengthened the us versus them sentiments and helped create the grounds for the fi rst palestinian intifada along similar lines one of the eff ects of the distinction israel made between the palestinians and their land was the regulation and at times the destruction of the palestinian infrastructure of existence aft er all people s existence particularly but not solely in a rural context is dependent on their ability to develop expand and cultivate their land and to move freely within the space they occupy and the settlement enterprise severely c i v i l i a n c o n t r o l 14 5 restricted the palestinian capacity to do just that on the eve of the fi rst intifada israel had seized more than 40 percent of the land in the ot had built 125 settlements and numerous bypass roads and had transferred about sixty thousand jewish settlers to the two regions th e settlements and set tlers even more than the military and civil administration rendered the distinction between people and land perpetually visible as the settlement project exposed at least to the local inhabitants the lie concerning the tem porariness of the occupation it also created a new spatial reality for the dis possessed palestinians whose living space was dramatically circumscribed what in other words is the point of prosperity if one is dispossessed does not dispossession undermine normalization but the dispossession and settler violence not only undercut israel s nor malization eff orts the ongoing and rapid expansion of the settlement enter prise underscored that if the enterprise was not stopped it would in due course jeopardize the very possibility of creating a palestinian state since the land was indiscriminately expropriated the confi scation also helped fuse the interests of rival hamulas as well as the poor and the rich urban and rural and muslims and christians thus weakening clan class regional and religious fragmentation by threatening the palestinian national project the settlements helped widen and deepen the national awareness among the population in this sense the settlement project s excesses actually served to aggravate many of the excesses produced by completely diff erent con trolling practices in other words as israel introduced a series of practices to reinforce fragmentation in palestinian society e g strengthening the traditional elite and censoring the nationalist discourse it also introduced forms of control that strengthened and empowered the national movement because they helped construct a shared perception of the situation among the population and broke up traditional hierarchies both of which are among the most basic conditions for collective action 92 1 4 6 c i v i l i a n c o n t r o l chapter 6 the intifada all of the achievements of the past twenty years could not have come about without the devoted work of the staff both civilians and military of the civil administration to them we extend our deepest gratitude i am sure the population in the areas join me in thanking them shmuel goren coordinator of government activities in judea samaria and gaza district 1987 on december 8 1987 a tank transporter leaving the gaza strip crashed into a line of cars taking palestinian laborers from gaza into israel four workers three of whom were from the jabalya refugee camp were crushed to death and seven others were seriously wounded rumor rapidly spread throughout the gaza strip that the truck driver was a relative of an israeli merchant who had been stabbed to death in downtown gaza the day before th e driver so the rumor intimated had intentionally crashed into the cars th at night thousands of people joined the funeral processions in the overly crowded refugee camp and very quickly the memorial marches turned into massive demonstrations against the occupation by dawn most of the alleys in the refugee camp had been blocked by heavy rocks and piles of garbage two military jeeps which patrolled the camp in the early morning hours were met by hundreds of residents curses were followed by stones and it took some time before the israeli soldiers managed to retreat back to the base another patrol which tried to arrest a palestinian youth not far away was also surrounded by protesters only this time the soldiers opened fi re at the demonstrators before they withdrew th ey wounded two youths and killed seventeen year old hatem a sisi the fi rst casualty of what in due course would be known as the intifada 1 th e intifada spread like wildfi re from jabalya refugee camp to other parts of the gaza strip and west bank every day thousands of men women 14 7 and children fi lled the streets of palestinian cities towns villages and refugee camps access routes were blocked off with big rocks garbage and burning tires in an attempt to obstruct the movement of the israeli military and in this way liberate parts of palestine from the occupying power th e military s response was swift and decisive within two weeks eight hundred palestinians were incarcerated in ansar prison within the gaza strip and an additional four hundred were sent to jails inside israel 2 th e wholesale arrests did not however produce the desired calm and as the days passed the number of palestinians taking part in the demonstrations grew despite the developments on the streets the israeli military and political establish ments failed to recognize the intifada for what it was and for the fi rst two months claimed that the demonstrations were part of local outbursts that would soon subside th ere were two central reasons why it took israel so long to realize that it was facing a popular uprising on the one hand the political and military establishments had constructed a colonial fantasy convincing themselves that the indigenous palestinians were grateful to the israeli military govern ment for improving their living conditions in the book judea samaria and the gaza district 1967 1987 which was published a few months before the intifada erupted the civil administration used glossy pictures diagrams and graphs to describe the great advancements experienced by palestinians in the ot during two decades of israeli rule indeed the book presents the israeli occupation as enlightened as if israel was introducing civilization to the natives shmuel goren the coordinator of government activities in the west bank and gaza strip and the israeli offi cial most familiar with the ot at the time seems to have been totally oblivious to the true sentiments of the palestinian inhabitants as cited in the epigraph above he believed that the occupied population was grateful to the employees of the civil administration for their achievements during the past twenty years 3 on the other hand the israeli authorities did not realize they were con fronting an uprising because protests and confrontations were not altogether unusual and therefore did not really entail a break from the past th e large number of cases approximately fi ve thousand brought forth annually to the israeli military courts provides a good indication of the general unrest in the ot during the years preceding the intifada 4 th e occupied population had been clashing with the military on a regular basis since 1982 and while the location and the number of participants in each protest diff ered and 1 4 8 t h e i n t i fa da although there were periods of relative quiet resistance to israel s military rule was both manifest and mounting 5 during the years 1977 1981 the annual rate of palestinian disturbances amounted to 500 but between 1982 and 1987 the annual rate of disturbances remained above the 3 000 mark on average almost 10 every day in the year leading to the intifada april 1986 to may 1987 3 150 protests were documented of which 1 870 included rock throwing 600 included the placement of stone roadblocks and burning tires and 665 incidents involved fl ag hoisting leafl et distri bution and slogan painting all of which were illegal during the same period 1986 87 there were 65 incidents involving fi rearms explosives or stabbings and 150 incidents involving molotov cocktails twenty two palestinians seven during demonstrations were killed 67 were injured and almost 3 000 demonstrators were detained including 1 550 who were accused of terrorism and 109 who were held in administrative detention without trial 6 th ere was no particular reason why the december 9 dem onstrations in jabalya triggered the intifada palestinian youths had been throwing stones at israeli soldiers practically every day and the fact that the intifada broke out on a specifi c day in jabalya rather than on another day in khan yunis el arub or balata was in many respects a matter of chance th e intifada itself however was not accidental th e steam had been gathering for a long time and the deadly car accident followed by the protests in jabalya merely served as a catalyst which dramatically intensifi ed the resistance that had been going on for several years th is intensifi cation refl ected not only a quantitative change in the number of confrontations with the israeli military but a qualitative one as well a national leader ship immediately emerged to coordinate and organize the struggle against israeli rule and new oppositional strategies were developed palestinian resistance which had been intermittent and local became continuous spreading out geographically throughout the ot and incorporating more and more people as it turned out the intifada became the fi rst of many global mass based challenges to nondemocratic governing structures 7 it was also the fi rst struggle for independence that the palestinians took on by themselves in this chapter i briefl y discuss the processes leading up to the eruption of the fi rst intifada claiming that the excesses and contradictions produced by israel s controlling apparatuses and practices helped spur palestinian resistance and led israel in turn to alter the modes of power it employed to t h e i n t i f a d a 14 9 manage the population aft er describing the diff erent forms of palestinian resistance that developed during the uprising as well as israel s initial response to them i go on to show that israel s attempt to quell the uprising by emphasizing sovereign modes of power failed gradually it became clear that israel could not manage the population by using forms of control that operated in the service of sovereign power the political social and eco nomic cost was just too high th e oslo accords can therefore be considered an eff ect of israel s realization that it had to fi nd a new way to manage the lives of the palestinian inhabitants in order to continue holding on to the occupied land or at least parts of it excesses and contradictions th e intifada was a result of numerous social processes and events com mentators such as ze ev schiff and ehud ya ari have argued that israel s economic policies were the driving force behind the radicalization of the palestinian public and that the uprising was an economic outburst caused by unemployment heavy taxation and the exploitation of palestinian laborers inside israel 8 others agree that the december 1987 explosion was caused by economic distress pent up despair and humiliation which only deepened over the years but suggest that these sentiments were due to an array of changes in israeli politics and policies in the ot which cannot be reduced to the economic fi eld ian lustick notes that one cannot fully understand the intifada without considering how palestinian humiliation was utilized by the local plo leadership to ignite and sustain the struggle for palestinian national liberation a struggle that was infl uenced in part by grass roots organizations that had been active in the territories during the preceding decade 9 indeed the plo s defeat in the 1982 lebanon war underscored that the struggle had to be political rather than military and that the arena of struggle needed to shift from outside the ot to the west bank and gaza strip rashid khalidi adds that without the nation building work organizational foundations and political experience gained from twenty years of plo activity the palestinians of the west bank and gaza would not have had the political maturity or the organizational density to sustain their struggle beyond an initial outburst 10 while these and other explanations underscore many of the key processes leading to the intifada and are crucial for understanding why it erupted and how it was sustained 1 5 0 t h e i n t i fa da they fail to consider how the excesses and contradictions produced by israel s means of control helped consolidate palestinian opposition although israel managed to create a relative calm during the fi rst years following the 1967 war emphasizing disciplinary and bio modes of power and de emphasizing sovereign power it ultimately failed to normalize the occupation its unwillingness to incorporate the palestinians into its own citizenry along with the distinction it made between the occupied inhabit ants and their land produced several major contradictions that created wide gaps both within the forms of control and among them within these gaps israel oft en reasserted itself through the emphasis of sovereign power in order to contain opposition a move that undid its eff orts to normalize the occupation helped spur opposition and led the government to alter the way it deployed the forms of control by the time the intifada erupted the exploitative and oppressive forces that upheld the occupation were clearly evident to the population in the ot th is process was described in the preceding chapters through the exami nation of israel s deployment of diff erent means of control in four central sites the political arena the civilian and geographical spheres and the economic fi eld i showed how the apparatuses and practices employed within each site produced their own internal excesses and contradictions while the interaction among apparatuses deployed within the diff erent sites generated others th is was evident for example in the way certain forms of control undid the discourse of temporariness exposing the occupation s permanent nature th e excesses and contradictions facilitated the awaken ing of a palestinian national consciousness altered the population s social stratifi cation undermined the claim that the occupation was temporary and would end in the near future revealed the logic behind the so called arbitrary processes and decrees and helped bind together an otherwise fragmented society they also led israel to modify its emphasis on the modes of power slowly increasing its use of sovereign power in chapter 2 for example we saw that by introducing a series of practices that operated in the service of disciplinary and bio modes of power israel managed to raise the standard of living in the territories hoping in this way to normalize the occupation chapter 3 however underscored that despite years of economic growth israel introduced a series of constraints and restrictions in the economic fi eld so that the palestinian farmers would be unable to compete with israeli producers and so that the palestinian t h e i n t i f a d a 1 51 economy would become dependent on israel while the lack of jobs both in industry and agriculture in the ot created a push factor for palestinian laborers which helped increase individual prosperity in the short term the structural weakness of the palestinian economy produced by the constraints and restrictions that israel imposed created communal stagnation already in the early 1980s the communal economic stagnation began to become apparent as the palestinians experienced a 7 percent per capita drop in the value of agricultural products th e industrial and construction sectors also grew at a slower rate than the population thus pointing to a negative per capita growth only the service sector showed a real increase 11 th e economic decline had concrete manifestations th e growth of private consumption in the ot lagged behind israel s 2 5 percent versus 3 5 percent constituting a reversal of the situation in the 1970s 12 schiff and ya ari add that every night tens of thousands of laborers who had left their homes before dawn to eke out a living in israel returned with an ever greater burden of repressed anger against the country that mocked their right to equality and ravaged their dignity 13 th ese two israeli authors were given access to gss records which revealed that the common denomi nator of almost all the detainees during the intifada s fi rst months was their having worked in israel when they were asked during interrogation to explain their motives for joining the protests the detainees responded that they felt they were discriminated against at their workplaces and humili ated each prisoner had his own story to tell but the gist of their experience was similar at one time or another they had been subjected to verbal and even physical abuse cheated out of their wages set to work under inhuman conditions and exposed to the sweep of the dragnet that followed every act of terrorism all complained of the insult and humiliation repeatedly suff ered at army roadblocks and checkpoints 14 in chapter 3 i showed that the daily indignities and systematic repression experienced by the palestinian laborers resulted from their partial integra tion into the israeli workforce one tenth of the ot s population and almost 50 percent of the labor force were directly involved in work in israel but the number of people with experience in israel was actually much higher because there was a constant turnover of laborers it is not surprising then that by 1987 the eff ects ensuing from this partial integration had helped galvanize a mass base in the ot that opposed israeli rule by discriminating against palestinians collectively as a nation the economic policies pursued 1 5 2 t h e i n t i fa da by the israeli authorities helped make it possible as joost hiltermann points out for the various social actors in palestinian society to unite in a common front against the occupation 15 in addition to the economic excesses and contradictions that helped sabo tage israel s eff orts to normalize the occupation we saw that the controlling apparatuses and practices deployed in the political civilian and geographi cal spheres produced cross class solidarities that helped engender unity and broad based mobilization all of which strengthened the nationalist drive and undermined israel s eff orts to render the occupation invisible th e growing palestinian national consciousness and the empowerment of the national movement did not however necessarily entail widespread and sus tained mobilization since such mobilization requires institutional support in the years leading to the intifada israel outlawed all palestinian political organizations and dismissed mayors while deporting and arresting many of the nationalist leaders this made it diffi cult to develop an institutional base that could mobilize the population against the occupying power khalidi is certainly correct when he states that without the nation building work and organizational foundations the intifada could not have been sustained but how did the palestinians manage to create these foundations amid israeli restrictions and repression a single example relating to palestinian ngos will have to suffi ce here 16 th e civil administration initially permitted the establishment of ngos particularly educational and medical organizations because they helped the israeli authorities fi ll in some of the growing gaps between the population s needs and the actual services that the occupying power pro vided th e diff erent political parties took advantage of this and used ngos to build hospitals medical clinics kindergartens and other educational and social welfare facilities throughout the ot thus helping israel to provide for the inhabitants basic needs in this way the ngos actually facilitated israel s eff orts to normalize the occupation because they mitigated some of its excesses simultaneously though some of these ngos out administered the israeli administration off ering better and more reliable services to the population and thus exposing the inadequacy of the civil administration moreover they became a central site of resistance serving both as a model for nonviolent opposition and civil disobedience as well as an institutional support mechanism for the struggle against the occupation th us even though the political parties had to operate underground they managed to t h e i n t i f a d a 1 5 3 create trade unions women s committees and ngos that worked together to cement the otherwise fragmented population and to build a vibrant institutional apparatus that could coordinate oppositional activities when the time came the networks these organizations had created over the years allowed them to transform local resistance into national resistance the uprising immediately aft er the intifada s eruption a national leadership emerged that was made up of representatives from all of the secular political fac tions th e role of the leadership which was called the unifi ed national leadership of the palestinian uprising in the ot was to determine the intifada s objectives outline the strategies for achieving them and coordi nate the activities among the diff erent political parties th e instructions were communicated to the public through a series of communiqués that were clandestinely printed and distributed throughout the west bank and gaza and simultaneously broadcasted through radio stations in baghdad and damascus 17 th e role of these communiqués was to unify the resistance consolidate the values informing it and determine the population s daily routine th rough the dissemination of political ideas symbols and ideolo gies the communiqués raised the inhabitants morale and propagated the struggle s underlying objectives 18 in every village town and refugee camp local popular committees were established and they took on the responsi bility of ensuring that the instructions were carried out every day protesters fi lled the streets demonstrating against the occupy ing power they blocked the major arteries with burning tires and big rocks and threw stones at military patrols preservation of law and order in the ot had come to be perceived among the general palestinian public as serv ing the interests of an illegitimate government indicating that violation of the law and disrespect for israel s authority were considered to be acts of patriotism loyalty and heroism initially the strategic objective of the palestinian organizations was to create liberated zones that the israelis could not enter rapidly though the leadership realized they did not have the military capability to recapture any of the areas that israel had occupied in 1967 and decided to focus instead on bringing about the collapse of the civil administration not only were the civil administration workers encouraged to resign early on the palestinian policemen were forced amid 1 5 4 t h e i n t i fa da ongoing threats to quit their jobs but the public was entreated to stop paying taxes and to defy all israeli directives louai abdo one of the leading fatah members in nablus during the intifada describes the objectives of the uprising as an attempt to transform what had been primarily a bureaucratic rule into a military one th e goal was to drive israel to replace the rule of law its administrative maneuvers and its controlling bureaucracies with soldiers and in this way to undercut all attempts to present the occupation as normal israeli rule in other words would apply only where soldiers were present to enforce it 19 th e objective was in other words to undo all israel s eff orts to normalize the occupation th e overall strategy was to move from active attempts to strengthen the tsumud namely palestinian steadfastness to the land to coordinated resistance characterized by massive civil disobedience including merchant strikes boycotting israeli goods a tax revolt and daily protests against the occupying forces th e palestinians hoped to transform the occupation from a profi table enterprise into a costly project which would have a high political economic and moral price communiqué number 19 from june 6 1988 provides a detailed plan for two weeks of activities and thus reveals some of the principal forms of resistance that were utilized during the intifada in the communiqué the national leadership calls upon the public to impose a general strike to mark the beginning of the uprising s seventh month first the public is entreated to participate in sit ins marches and demonstrations in solidarity with political detainees th e following day was dedicated to storing food fuel medical supplies and other essentials on june 18 an intensive mass escalation of the struggle was planned under the slogans of repatriation self determination and a nation state th e call for escalation ends with a message to those who do not comply with the general will noting that they would be punished th e next day was devoted to a complete boycott of the civil administration and an attempt to boost the resignation of its palestinian employees another general strike was to be imposed on june 22 and the population was asked to spend the day working the land as well as destroying and burning the enemy s industrial and agricultural property finally fridays and sundays were dedicated to prayers for the martyrs alongside tumultuous marches th e communiqué concludes with a general call for further escalation and confrontation instructing the population to resort to all methods of popular resistance including the sacred stones and incendiary molotov cocktail victory t h e i n t i f a d a 1 5 5 the writers of the communiqué promise is near together along the path of liberating land and man 20 th e islamist groups put out communiqués similar to those published by the unifi ed national leadership calling on their followers to resist the occupation mostly through forms of civil disobedience 21 from time to time the israeli secret services also disseminated fake communiqués in an attempt to sow confusion among the public 22 generally the directives published in all the real communiqués were followed by the public for a period ranging over fi ve years not a day passed without protests strikes and clashes with the israeli military school children threw stones at military patrols shopkeepers closed their stores and some towns and villages refused to pay taxes from time to time palestinian militants would attack israeli targets with molotov cocktails and automatic weapons but these kinds of attacks were the exception during the fi rst intifada israel responds despite the seemingly endless number of demonstrations and confron tations it took several months before israel acknowledged that it was confronting a well orchestrated national uprising and not just a series of sporadic protests from the outset israel decided not to meet any of the demands formulated by the national leadership in the ot and tried to quell the uprising and reestablish order by employing more and more force it emphasized a sovereign mode of power which led to an exponential growth in certain forms of control that already existed but were not used very oft en and altered the function of other forms that had been operating in the service of disciplinary and bio modes of power israel for example killed more people tortured more detainees demolished more houses implemented more curfews and simultaneously changed the function of the educational and health systems transforming them into instruments of collective punishment within a short period the number of troops deployed in the ot was doubled then tripled and eventually it increased to fi ve times the size it had been before the intifada 23 yitzhak rabin who was israel s defense minister at the time initiated an iron fi st policy soldiers were given special clubs and permission to use them th e idea was that beatings were not as lethal as live ammunition and therefore would serve as a more appropriate response 1 5 6 t h e i n t i fa da to the popular demonstrations and protests ze ev schiff and ehud ya ari describe the ensuing events in the following manner t he extent of the injuries caused by the new policy was harrowing considering that whole corps of soldiers were engaged in battering away at defenseless civilians it is hardly surprising that thousands of palestinians many of them innocent of any wrongdoing were badly injured some to the point of being handicapped th ere were countless instances in which young arabs were dragged behind walls or deserted buildings and systematically beaten all but senseless th e clubs descended on limbs joints and ribs until they could be heard to crack especially as rabin let slip a break their bones remark in a television interview that many soldiers took as a recommendation if not exactly an order 24 beatings however were not the only way israel dealt with the uprising by the end of 1992 aft er fi ve years of intifada 1 042 palestinians had been killed mostly by israeli security forces but also by jewish settlers and other citizens 25 as the years passed the military soft ened its open fi re regulations allowing soldiers to shoot in situations where they were not experiencing a clear and present danger to their own lives at a certain point the israeli military even created a number of undercover death squads that shot to kill palestinians who were wanted by the gss or who were caught in activities like writing slogans on walls within cities and refugee camps 26 notwithstanding the fact that more palestinians were killed in those fi ve years than in the previous twenty it is important to emphasize that israel adopted police style methods to confront the palestinian protesters and did not utilize its overwhelming fi repower to quell the uprising in his groundbreaking book frontiers and ghettos james ron employs these two spatial metaphors to explain why israel did not employ more vio lent means to suppress the intifada he claims that the repertoires of violence are determined by the institutional settings established by the controlling state in a given territory ghettos are densely institutionalized areas that are within the legal and bureaucratic sphere of infl uence of the core state while frontiers are distinguished from the core state by clear boundaries and are only thinly institutionalized areas whereas ghettos are characterized by ethnic policing mass incarceration and ongoing harassment frontiers are t h e i n t i f a d a 1 5 7 more prone to brutal and lawless violence 27 employing our terminology the major diff erence between ghettos and frontiers is that in frontiers the core state does not really attempt to shape the individual s behavior by contrast in ghettos regardless of the forms of control employed the occupying power is always interested in controlling the lives of the inhabitants and harnessing their energies so as to shape both the individual s and population s comport ment th is i maintain was part of israel s approach until the eruption of the second intifada thus suggesting that even though israel modifi ed its forms of control during the fi rst intifada de emphasizing disciplinary and bio modes of power while accentuating sovereign power it was still interested in shaping the behavior of the palestinian population ron s distinction between ghettos and frontiers only goes so far since it does not address the fact that within so called ghettos there can be wide variations in terms of repertoires of violence and forms of control simply put even though the west bank and gaza strip were according to ron s parlance an israeli ghetto from 1967 until at least 2000 the way israel controlled the palestinians in the late 1960s was very diff erent from the way it controlled them in the late 1980s and 1990s a brief description of some of the more prominent forms of control that israel deployed during the uprising reveals how the occupation had changed following the intifada s outbreak and the accentuation of sovereign power along with the beatings and killings israel introduced a policy of massive incarceration between december 9 1987 and december 9 1990 about 45 000 indictments against palestinians were submitted to the military courts while thousands of palestinians were arrested and held in jail at any given moment th e rules for holding people for lengthy periods in adminis trative detention without trial were changed in order to ease the process for the military and gss 28 by 1989 about 13 000 palestinians were imprisoned 1 794 of whom were held in administrative detention 29 israeli prisons were fi lled not only with people caught during demonstrations but with anyone who was a known member of one of the palestinian political factions fatah pflp dflp islamic jihad etc except for hamas which during the fi rst year was still legal 30 not surprisingly many of the palestinians who had assumed leadership roles when the intifada erupted were behind bars by the end of its fi rst year yet others quickly took their place thus undermining israel s attempt to create a leadership vacuum a large percentage of those who were imprisoned underwent torture 1 5 8 t h e i n t i fa da according to b tselem between 1987 and 1994 the gss interrogated more than twenty three thousand palestinians one out of every hundred people living in the ot many of them were tortured even rabin during his tenure as prime minister admitted that israel had tortured some eight thousand detainees prior to mid 1995 31 th e ticking bomb scenario was repeatedly cited to justify the use of torture th e logic of this justifi ca tion is straightforward the security services assume that there is a ticking bomb somewhere and therefore torture is warranted in order to extract vital information the immediate procurement of which would help save human lives and prevent serious terrorist attacks in israel however the actual number of palestinians tortured undermines the logic even accord ing to the israeli security services during the fi rst intifada there could not possibly have been eight thousand ticking bombs th is suggests that the torture s major function was not to procure information but to advance other perhaps more important objectives examining the use of torture in other historical and geographical contexts proves revealing because it underscores that frequently the major reason behind the use of torture is to silence and control the population rather than extract information when galileo proved the motion of the earth he was declared a heretic by an assembly of cardinals hauled before the inquisition and compelled to recant under pain of torture th e church was determined to stifl e any view that threatened its orthodoxy and more signifi cantly its authority israel used torture for similar reasons yet torture is not only about controlling the individual victim who is oft en unable to speak out for the rest of his or her life th e sheer numbers of palestinians tortured suggest that it was also used to manage the population as a whole as an imminent threat torture intimidates groups or individuals who oppose the existing order it was employed in this way to contain peasants in mexico protesters in south africa under apartheid members of the islamic front in algeria when one analyzes the history of torture where it was practiced and why it becomes clear that torture is not simply or even predominantly about compelling a person to speak rather it is about silence ensuring that particular activists are broken and popular opposition remains suppressed 32 th is appears to have been the primary reason why israel opted to torture so many palestinians nonetheless wholesale imprisonment and torture did not restrain the uprising so israel deployed several other forms of control it reintroduced its t h e i n t i f a d a 1 5 9 deportation policy expelling 415 palestinians for their alleged membership in the hamas in december 1992 thus bringing the total number of intifada related deportees to 481 th is number however is inaccurate while the hamas deportation was widely publicized what is less known is that israel also deported hundreds of palestinian women mostly from jordan who had married residents from the west bank and gaza strip and had lived in the territories with their newborn children th e intifada was used as a pretense to deport both women and children who had stayed in the ot without a valid visitor s permit thus tearing families apart 33 whereas many of the strategies just mentioned can certainly be seen as targeting individuals they were also used to sow fear among the population as a whole israel employed a variety of other controlling practices that did not in any way diff erentiate among individuals and served as forms of col lective punishment house demolitions targeted the family of a particular individual who had somehow defi ed israeli law actual proof was not always needed the mere suspicion that a teenager had torched an empty car in a parking lot could lead to the demolition of his parents house during the intifada israeli security forces demolished an estimated 447 houses and sealed off 294 others and these numbers do not include the at least 62 houses that were partially demolished and 118 that were partially sealed 34 th ousands were left homeless th e most common form of collective punishment however was the restriction of movement within the uprising s fi rst year for example no less than 1 600 curfews were imposed so that by late 1988 more than 60 percent of the population had been confi ned to their homes for extended periods of time in addition the military imposed a permanent night curfew from may 1988 to may 1994 in the gaza strip everything was shut down before sunset and no one was allowed out until the early hours of the morning 35 alongside the curfews israel introduced two new forms of control during the intifada the entry permit regime and the closure whereas the entry permit regime was systematically employed from 1988 the closure was fi rst introduced in 1991 although formally palestinians had always needed a permit to work in israel most of those who were actually employed in israel never fi led a request for a permit and those who did received permits more or less auto matically until the eruption of the fi rst intifada th e fi rst major amendment took place in 1988 when israel introduced green identity cards the regular 1 6 0 t h e i n t i fa da ones were either red or orange which were given to palestinians who did not have security clearance people who had been arrested in the past were known to be active members of a political party or had a record with the gss for some other reason anyone who possessed a green id could not leave the west bank and gaza strip a year later a magnetic card regime was introduced for workers entering israel from the gaza strip th is card which had to be renewed annually contained coded information about the person s security background tax payment electric and water bills and so on and was constantly updated all palestinian laborers from the gaza strip had to swipe the card through an electronic device at the check post each morning and if any unfavorable data had been entered into the military computer the worker was denied entry 36 th e entry permit regime served both to monitor and limit the access of palestinians entering israel as well as to recruit collaborators for the gss 37 every person who wanted a permit had to apply at the civil administration offi ces and many were interviewed by the gss during the application process and asked to collaborate in exchange for freedom of movement th is strategy was used mostly in the gaza strip where the gss exploited the fact that the borders were more diffi cult to pass and literally thousands of work ers had to pass through the checkpoints to enter israel for their livelihood 38 th us the integration of palestinian laborers into the israeli economy and their ensuing dependency on israel was crucial for the transformation of hundreds if not thousands of residents into collaborators which became in turn a means of control in their own right in 1988 the permit regime applied individual mechanisms of diff erentia tion so that people were denied a permit due to their personal background e g membership in a political party participation in protests being a friend of people who actively resisted the occupation etc th is kind of diff erentiation can be seen as an attempt to secure and uphold the correct conduct promulgated by disciplinary forms of control in other words work was transformed from a right to a privilege something that could be revoked at any time if the worker did not conform to certain standards of behavior many palestinians internalized israel s message and were extremely careful not to participate in any political activities for fear of tarnishing their security records and in this way jeopardizing their family s livelihood toward the end of the intifada israel changed the permit regime to include an array of criteria that were social rather than individual and t h e i n t i f a d a 161 adopted a policy that required the permit s renewal every three months in addition to individual clearance restrictions based on profi les of palestinian terrorists that the gss created were introduced so that a worker s age marital status and the number of children he or she had determined whether an entry permit would be issued in addition quotas according to the needs of the diff erent israeli economic sectors like agriculture construction and industry were set limiting the number of palestinians who were allowed to enter israel 39 th us the disciplinary modes of control were de emphasized and biopower was accentuated overall the new permit regime reduced the number of palestinians who could work in israel while rendering any attempt to cross the green line without a permit illegal th ose who were caught were imprisoned and given heft y fi nes th e entry permit regime became feasible partly due to the fact that a year earlier the civil administration began creating a computerized database which became operational in august 1987 personal informa tion pertaining to property real estate family ties political attitudes involvement in political activities licensing profession consumption patterns taxes and so forth was entered into the database according to civil administration offi cials the computer program enabled them to gain complete control in real time of all information on the territories which ensure d strategic control and improvement of services by pressing a key on a computer meron benvenisti observes any offi cial could gain access to name lists of positives and hostiles and decide on the fate of their applications from car licensing to water quotas import permits and travel documents 40 during the fi rst gulf war august 1990 february 1991 israel intro duced yet another from of control one that targets the population as a whole rather than the individual the hermetic closure th e imposition of a closure entails sealing off all of the borders between the ot and israel for extended periods and not allowing palestinians to cross the green line while the closure was only implemented during the fi rst intifada on a number of occasions and was at the time the exception to the rule as we will see in the next chapters it eventually became the norm it was the fi rst indication that israel was moving from forms of control that managed both individuals and the population to forms of control that focused solely on the population in any case both the permit regime and the closure directly aff ected every 1 6 2 t h e i n t i fa da palestinian who sought to enter israel and served as a fi nal break from the policy of open borders that dayan had implemented right aft er the 1967 war freedom of movement between the ot and israel was in other words replaced by a policy that confi ned the palestinians to the west bank and gaza strip th is policy had two direct results first it helped redemarcate the green line separating israel from the areas it had occupied in 1967 second it dealt a harsh blow to the palestinian economy in chapter 3 i argued that due to israeli constraints the palestinian econ omy was unable to develop independent productive forces even an israeli committee appointed in 1991 by the ministry of defense to determine the economic situation in gaza noted that no priority had been given to the promotion of local entrepreneurship and the business sector in the gaza strip th e committee admitted that over the years the authorities had discouraged such initiatives whenever they threatened to compete in the israeli market with existing israeli fi rms 41 th e palestinian economy lacked any viable institutional infrastructure capable of stimulating development and supporting structural reform it accordingly relied on the wages of palestinian laborers working in israel and remittances sent from the gulf states and did not have the capacity to absorb new workers th e restriction of movement alongside the inability of the local economy to provide jobs transformed unemployment into a structural eff ect of the occupation 42 so if in the late 1960s and early 1970s israel introduced forms of control that aimed to increase prosperity and decrease unemployment by the early 1990s israel s controlling practices were producing an economic crisis as well as high unemployment th e permit regime and closures that restricted thousands of workers were not only used as a form of collective punishment however they were also a divisive controlling mechanism aimed at fragmenting palestinian society israel hoped that many of the palestinians who were dependent on crossing the green line for their livelihood would channel their anger against the palestinian resistance movement and not only against israel in chapter 3 when discussing the forms of control used in the economic sphere i mentioned how job insecurity was manipulated in order to ensure the worker s correct conduct here it is important to emphasize that from the occupation s very beginning israel manipulated the laborers sense of security and insecurity in order to manage the population th e temporary and arbitrary modalities of control allowed israel to do this t h e i n t i f a d a 16 3 at the same time following the eruption of the intifada many of the institutions that had been used to normalize the occupation like medical and educational institutions were used to collectively punish the popula tion although this was not altogether new the emphasis of a sovereign mode of power did change the function of many institutions we saw for example that in the 1970s israel adopted a liberal policy that provided the occupied inhabitants with permits to open universities in the early 1980s it began shutting down specifi c schools and universities for limited periods but when the uprising began it indiscriminately closed down all 1 194 west bank schools and universities it seems to have realized that trying to infl uence the way students and teachers perceive the occupation by monitoring and regulating the curriculum had little if any positive eff ect th e educational institutions had become sites of opposition and so israel shut down schools and universities indefi nitely thus preventing approximately three hundred thousand children and eighteen thousand university students from entering their educational institutions birzeit university for instance was practically closed year round from 1988 to 1992 while all the other universities were also closed for lengthy periods 43 israel eff ectively rendered higher education in the territories illegal th e upshot though was that students had plenty of time on their hands and utilized it to confront the occupying power 44 israel used a similar strategy with respect to the health care system until the intifada s eruption many cancer and kidney patients who could not be treated by the ot s underdeveloped health system were referred to medical facilities within israel but following the uprising the referral quotas dropped by 65 percent in 1988 israeli hospitals admitted 650 patients from the west bank almost 1 200 fewer than the year before 45 not unlike the educational system which was transformed from a controlling apparatus that aimed to normalize the occupation into an instrument that collectively punished the population the health system was used to punish palestinian society as a whole yet other than the two new forms of control deployed to monitor and restrict movement all the other controlling apparatuses and practices employed during the intifada had already been employed during the occupation s fi rst two decades th e major diff erence is that fol lowing the uprising s outbreak israel de emphasized disciplinary power and thus altered the way the forms of control operated both quantitatively and qualitatively 1 6 4 t h e i n t i fa da controlling the palestinian individual examining the way israel modifi ed its relation to the palestinian individual can help us understand how the forms of management were altered during the occupation s early years israel set up a series of controlling apparatuses and practices that aimed to harness the energy of palestinians so as to increase the individual s economic utility we saw that israel monitored the palestinian food basket and introduced programs to increase the value of its nutritional energy in one study the israeli agriculture ministry boasts that in 1966 the per capita consumption of a palestinian amounted to 2 430 calories per day and that due to a series of israeli interventions by 1973 the per capita consumption had increased to 2 719 calories 46 during the fi rst intifada israel did not lose interest in individual pales tinians as it did in the second intifada rather it modifi ed the forms of control used to shape their behavior while the population was initially managed by deploying practices aimed at highlighting the individual s economic capabilities these practices were now eclipsed and the inhabit ants political energies were repressed with more brutal force th is comes across very clearly when one considers the massive number of people beaten tortured and incarcerated but at the same time israel was still interested in molding palestinian behavior in order to render the population docile 47 in one of the military regulations describing how a soldier is allowed to beat a palestinian it is written that force is not to be used against sensitive parts of the body that may endanger life 48 indeed israeli decision makers considered every palestinian death as having detrimental ramifi cations th us one notices a continuing interest in individual behavior even as israel slowly abandoned the use of disciplinary power to manage such behavior th e continued interest in the palestinian individual is also apparent when one takes into account such practices as the introduction of the entry permit regime for the most part movement was not arrested altogether but put under a very stringent system of regulations if before the intifada the employer was the major arbiter of correct conduct from 1988 on the israeli security forces monitored how each palestinian behaved not only at the workplace but during every moment of the day th ose who were caught participating in a protest distributing leafl ets or affi liating with a politi cal party lost their permits and thus their livelihood what the beatings torture and permit regime all suggest is that israel still hoped to infl u t h e i n t i f a d a 16 5 ence individuals so that they would abide by the rules of correct conduct following the eruption of the second intifada israel s approach changed and it lost all interest in infl uencing the individual focusing almost solely on the population as a whole the intifada s consequences th e emphasis of coercive measures undid many of the disciplinary forms of control that had been functioning until the eve of the intifada th e palestinian struggle for self determination helped denaturalize the occupa tion if only because israel had to deploy military forces for an extensive period just in order to keep its administrative apparatus intact th e empha sis on sovereign power through the deployment of a large number of troops and the incursion of tanks and armored vehicles into palestinian cities towns and villages was paradoxically a sign that israeli control was in decline since power s success is in proportion to its ability to hide its own mechanisms 49 not a day passed without mention in the local and interna tional media of the coercive measures deployed ranging from deportations house demolitions and curfews to beatings administrative detention and torture in many respects then the intifada s most signifi cant outcome was its success in undermining the normalcy of the occupation and exposing some of israel s forms of control for all to see th e uprising led to the mobilization of the palestinian masses and their integration into a relatively unifi ed national liberation movement while the israeli military continued to control the land it could not manage the population importantly the intifada also began altering the power rela tions within the plo propelling a shift of some power from the diaspora to the leadership living in the ot th e external leadership s long standing failure to cope with the real needs of the people under occupation and to produce a plan capable of halting israel s de facto annexation of the land enabled the palestinians inside the territories to develop their own organizational structures and to take on a leadership role it also pushed the palestine national council to formally embrace the two state solution during its november 1988 meeting in algiers th e uprising however did not only render the occupation a political liability it also succeeded in transforming the occupation into a fi nan cial burden 50 in fact the uprising s economic consequences aff ected both 1 6 6 t h e i n t i fa da sides in the ot per capita income dropped by 13 percent within two years of intifada while the situation only worsened during the gulf war on the one hand israel limited the number of palestinian workers who were permitted to cross the green line on the other hand following yasser arafat s decision to side with iraq palestinians working in the gulf states were deported and consequently could not send remittances to their families in the ot while countries like kuwait and saudi arabia stopped their fi nancial support to the palestinian people ultimately palestinians experienced a 30 40 percent decline in their standard of living during these years 51 for israel the intifada transformed the occupation into an economic burden it had to deploy seven brigades in order to police the population simultaneously there was a sharp decline in foreign investment in and tourism to israel both because the palestinians lost some of their buying power and because of the economic boycott they imposed israel s exports to the territories dropped from 961 million in 1987 to 521 mil lion in 1989 52 th us from a situation whereby it produced great profi ts the occupation suddenly became a signifi cant fi nancial burden moreover the intifada revealed israel s occupation as a colonial project that was sustained through political violence a fact that had been obfus cated before the intifada erupted to the world th e uprising also broad ened the struggle that had been defi ned almost purely in nationalistic terms to one that was also about basic human rights th is change coincided with some of the transformative events taking place in the international arena at the time th e fall of the berlin wall the bloody clampdown on students in tiananmen square the velvet revolution the fi rst free elections in poland and the soviet union s decision to withdraw from afghanistan all seemed to point to the dawn of a new era and were usually conceived and portrayed as the collapse or retreat of brutal and oppressive regimes and the triumph of western liberalism which represents at least ostensibly a culture that values human rights th e palestinians managed to draw a connection between their struggle and the struggle of some of the liberation movements around the world thus altering to some degree the representa tion and image of the palestinian in the international media 53 just as importantly the large number of soldiers deployed to protect the jewish settlers changed how the latter were perceived in israeli society from an asset to their country s security to a burden th e possible danger of traveling in the west bank and gaza strip kept many citizens away and t h e i n t i f a d a 16 7 despite the state s huge investments in infrastructure and the provision of inexpensive land and houses for a while fewer israelis chose to move to the ot consequently as mentioned the intifada redemarcated the green line which had been erased for many if not most israelis 54 in sum the uprising managed to unmask and politicize the occupation th e use of punitive measures that had had a powerful impact before the intifada s eruption such as deportation torture house demolition and curfews proved largely ineff ectual and it became apparent to israel that it could no longer count on disciplinary power to produce some sense of normalcy as it had done in the past 55 th e palestinian national movement was strong and was not about to collapse and israel realized that it would have to continue deploying thousands of soldiers just to sustain its control of the land all of this underscored the need to change strategies and this is precisely where oslo enters the picture 1 6 8 t h e i n t i fa da chapter 7 outsourcing the occupation th e plo had struck a political bargain with the israeli government in return for recognition and permission to return to the occupied territories the palestinians would police the local population and refrain from insisting that israel cease its settlement activities raja shehadeh th e great irony of the oslo accord is that it brought to power in palestine an outside political elite that did not lead the revolution the 1987 93 intifada but rather promised to end it glenn e robinson as the years passed the fact that israel would be unable to quell the popular uprising began registering among larger segments of the israeli public many israelis believed that the economic political and moral cost of upholding the occupation was too high and that israel had to modify its policies in the ot it became clear that the existing forms of control were not producing the desired calm and that another strategy was needed th e ingenious idea was to outsource the responsibility for the population to a subcontractor a palestinian authority was established to take on the task of managing the occupied inhabitants in exchange for providing israel an array of services israel off ered the new authority some sort of autonomous self rule israel however continued to control most of the occupied land employing the term outsourcing to describe the oslo process is help ful because it facilitates the conceptualization of the new way israel hoped to manage the palestinian inhabitants 1 th eoretically outsourcing should be considered a technique employed by power to conceal its own mechanisms it is not motivated by power s decision to retreat but on the contrary by its unwavering eff ort to endure and remain in control indeed power adopts outsourcing in the political or economic realm in 16 9 order to sustain itself th us the oslo accords which were the direct result of the fi rst intifada as well as the changing political and economic circumstances in the international realm signifi ed the reorganization of power rather than its withdrawal and should be understood as the continuation of the occupation by other means aft er the emphasis on sovereign power failed to produce the desired results israel realized that the only way to bring about calm while continuing to hold on to the land was by employing a subcontractor that could normalize the situa tion as one commentator observed early on oslo was a form of occupa tion by remote control 2 th us the historical reading advanced here suggests that the intifada which was spurred in part by the excesses and contradictions informing israel s forms of control drove israel to emphasize a sovereign mode of power and to the modify the ways its controlling apparatuses operated th e oslo process was to a large extent the result of israel s failure to crush the intifada and israel s major goal in the process was to fi nd a way of managing the palestinian population while continuing to hold on to their land as edward said noam chomsky and several others pointed out from the outset oslo was not an instrument of decolonization but rather a framework that changed the means of israel s control in order to perpetuate the occupation 3 it constituted a move from direct military rule over the palestinians in the ot to a more indirect or neocolonial form of domina tion 4 while interpreting events in this way goes against the proclaimed goals of the oslo process the interpretation is actually based on the nuts and bolts of the agreements themselves to be sure the use of subcontractors even in the israeli palestinian con text was not new and can be traced back to the creation of the palestinian farmers party by the jewish agency in the 1920s 5 as we saw in chapter 2 israel also opted for an informal power sharing agreement with jordan and for many years used the hashemite monarchy as a subcontractor of sorts th e creation of the village leagues in the late 1970s should also be understood as a futile attempt to establish a puppet leadership to counter the urban nationalists and in 1978 israel adopted a similar policy in lebanon and established the south lebanese army which was employed to advance israeli interests and administer the lives of lebanese inhabit ants 6 finally in the mid 1980s there was another botched attempt to renew the israeli jordanian power sharing agreement in order to under 1 7 0 o u t s o u r c i n g t h e o c c u p at i o n mine the plo s rising infl uence in the west bank and gaza strip with the eruption of the fi rst intifada however this arrangement was also annulled 7 aft er the fi rst intifada however the outsourcing technique was recon structed in a much more refi ned way in 1994 israel s long standing enemy yasser arafat was allowed to return to the ot along with his comrades and palestinian combatants following his arrival in gaza arafat did not take orders from the israeli authorities in the same way as mustafa dudin the head of the village leagues or sla commander general antoine lahad had in contrast to the organizations these two men headed which were considered to be israeli proxies and enjoyed overt support from the israeli government the newly established palestinian authority pa was perceived to be an autonomous entity both politically and legally by local and international parties alike indeed it was frequently depicted and at times even acted as israel s rival and opponent th e pa s depiction as totally autonomous was advantageous because it managed to obfuscate israel s connection to the occupation and made it diffi cult to hold israel legally politically economically or morally account able for the violations and repression in the ot former prime minister yitzchak rabin said as much when he explained why oslo was good for israel palestinian forces he noted in an interview will be able to con trol the population without all the diffi culties arising from supreme court appeals human rights organizations like b tselem and all kinds of left ist fathers and mothers 8 so if prior to the oslo years israel could not have denied its obligations as an occupying power following the oslo agree ments the israeli government contended that it had transferred all responsibility to the pa and therefore no longer had any obligations towards the palestinian population th is portrayal of oslo was widely accepted so that by and large the oslo process was understood as the withdrawal of israeli power and the demise of its controlling apparatuses th e outsourcing strategy in other words worked th e notion that israel outsourced some of its responsibilities should not be mistaken for a conspiracy theory nor should it be understood as promot ing a statist interpretation of events rather it should be read as a structural analysis israel s inability to manage the occupied population produced a rupture in the controlling structure and oslo is in many respects the eff ect of this rupture and should be conceived as israel s attempt to seal it th e o u t s o u r c i n g t h e o c c u p at i o n 171 idea was not simply to give the palestinians symbols of sovereignty while withholding real sovereignty oslo was not an ideological camoufl age but to actually use the palestinian authority pa as an instrument to manage the inhabitants daily lives oslo according to this interpretation was not a process of phased devolution of israeli rule over the west bank and gaza strip the transfer of authority to the pa and the implementation of the two state solution but the extension of israeli rule through a subcontractor that was created to manage the population th e pa however was never an independent agent that israel as it were hired in order to perform a number of services rather it too is a product of the occupation and more precisely the forms of control that failed to normalize it th e pa is an eff ect pro duced by the reorganization of israeli power a series of newly constructed legal bureaucratic mechanisms the restructuring of the economy and the repartitioning of space th e purpose of this chapter is to describe how the reorganization of power was implemented and why it too failed to normalize the occu pation if one reads the eight diff erent oslo agreements the israelis and palestinians signed over the years not as part of a peace process i e the way they were presented to the public but rather as texts that depict the modifi cation or replacement of existing forms of control then the strategy israel adopted becomes clear 9 instead of reaching a settlement regarding the withdrawal of israeli power the oslo agreements actually stipulate how israel s power would be reorganized and palestinian space would be restructured one of the surprising facts is that these changes were never left ambiguous but were as i show in the following pages spelled out in the agreements th e reorganization of power and space i go on to argue actually produced a situation in which the pa could not generate economic growth and development and hindered its ability to introduce new forms of control informed by disciplinary and bio modes of power th is in turn undermined the pa and led both to a crisis of legitimacy of the palestinian governing body and to popular rejection of remote israeli rule palestinian resistance was engendered once again by a series of excesses and contradic tions most of which were produced as a result of the division israel made between the administration of the population on the one hand and the control of space on the other simply put how can one manage a popula tion without controlling the space it occupies and the resources within this space 1 7 2 o u t s o u r c i n g t h e o c c u p at i o n the reorganization of power th e reorganization of power was carried out in three distinct spheres the civil institutions economy and law enforcement and was intricately tied to the restructuring of palestinian space th e overarching logic informing the diff erent agreements is straightforward transfer all responsibilities but not all authority relating to the management of the population to the palestinians themselves while preserving control of palestinian space according to the 1993 oslo declaration of principles the palestinians were to assume responsibility for education culture health social welfare direct taxation and tourism in addition the pa would establish a strong police force in order to ensure law enforcement while israel would con tinue to be responsible for defense against external threats as well as the responsibility for overall security of israelis for the purpose of safeguarding their internal security and public order 10 th e changes on the ground were rapid by august 1994 the pa had taken upon itself full responsibility for the palestinian educational system and all health institutions as well as governmental and nongovernmental social welfare organizations and institutions it also began regulating licensing supervising and developing the tourist industry and started to collect income tax from this point in time onward the salaries of all public servants were paid by the pa as a result there was much less direct contact between the occupied inhabitants and the israeli occupying establishment whether it was the military or the civil administration moreover if the inhabitants were dissatisfi ed with the services they received they could fi le their complaints with the pa which was now offi cially in charge full responsibility however does not necessarily entail full authority or autonomy even though israel transferred all responsibility over the civil spheres to the pa it did not give the latter full autonomy to administer them as it wished in education for example israel continued to have a say about the palestinian curriculum and could veto the inclusion of certain topics particularly in disciplines such as history and geography th e representation of jerusalem is a case in point although jerusalem is presented in israeli textbooks as israel s indivisible and eternal capital if palestinians were to depict jerusalem in a similar manner it would be considered incitement along similar lines many of the acts that palestinians consider heroic the israeli government regards as terrorism israel has therefore not permitted o u t s o u r c i n g t h e o c c u p at i o n 17 3 any mention of these acts in the palestinian curriculum th us even in the civil institutions that were handed over to the palestinians israel main tained a level of remote control in the economic fi eld the palestinians had even less autonomy during the fi rst couple of years aft er the signing of oslo there was optimism in the ot and word on the street had it that the gaza strip would be transformed into the middle east s singapore aid would come pouring in a thriving industry would be established and the palestinians would enjoy the fruits of peace yet as we now know this did not happen th ere were several reasons why this fantasy did not materialize one can gain insight into why the optimism was to be short lived however just by looking at the major economic agreement signed by the two parties th e paris protocol on economic relations april 1994 presented the economic relations between israel and the palestinians as if these relations were between two equal parties yet it actually reproduced many of the unequal rela tions that had existed throughout the occupation it established a customs union between the two entities based totally on israeli trade regulations it ensured israeli control of labor fl ows and denied the palestinians the right to introduce their own currency all of which imposed severe limitations on the latter s sovereignty 11 although the pa did assume responsibility for collecting income tax it could not choose its own trade regime or adopt trade policies according to palestinian interests in eff ect the paris protocol managed to replicate many of the colonial dynamics that had existed since 1967 th us in contrast to the civil institutions which were actually handed over to the pa enabling the new leadership to assume a limited indepen dence the paris protocol guaranteed that israel would preserve its control in the economic sphere th is as we will see has had far reaching implica tions since the economy is one of the primary instruments through which modern societies are managed not only does the economy directly regulate the population while inscribing on individuals forms of usefulness it also serves as the source of revenue for all the civil institutions employed to manage and administer the population like the health care educational and welfare systems th e proper operation of these institutions is in other words dependent on the economy s proper performance as we will see momentarily the specifi cities of the economic agreement alongside the harsh restrictions on movement that were imposed during 1 7 4 o u t s o u r c i n g t h e o c c u p at i o n the oslo years had dire ramifi cations here it is important to stress that the dilapidated institutional infrastructure that the palestinians inher ited could not stand on its own two feet palestinian institutions and the economy had been prevented from developing and their dependency on israel had been fostered and this was how the pa inherited them in 1993 for example the israeli government spent an average of 44 shekels on devel opment for each palestinian in gaza compared to an average of 2 100 shekels that it spent on every israeli in 1991 12 in the gaza strip children were study ing in a two shift system because of the lack of classrooms and even then the number of pupils per classroom was oft en more than forty th e health system did not have the capacity to provide some of the most basic services so when responsibilities were transferred from israel to the palestinians there was not one certifi ed oncologist in the gaza strip which was home to eight hundred thousand people in addition none of the hospitals in the region had a ct scanner 13 anyone who was diagnosed with cancer or needed a ct scan had to be transferred to hospitals outside the strip to this day medical treatments involving pediatric cardiology or neurosurgery heart bypass mouth and jaw surgery and several other surgical procedures as well as radiology therapy eye operations mri scans and bone marrow tests cannot be provided in the gaza strip 14 israel s instant abdication of all responsibility for the history of the occupation along with the palestinian leadership s willingness to take on responsibility without investing suf fi cient thought in what such a course would entail sowed the seeds for the next series of contradictions th e way the oslo process was carried out in turn suggests that while israel helped create the pa as a means of managing the palestinian inhabitants it does not seem to have cared whether or not the pa succeeded in carrying out this task th e agreement on preparatory transfer of powers and responsibilities august 1994 outlined the reorganization of power in two additional spheres the judicial fi eld and the security forces regarding the former two issues are worth mentioning first the agreement specifi ed that the pa could confi rm only secondary legislation which had to be consistent with the agreements and existing law while the procedure for enacting the leg islation gave the israeli authorities an eff ective veto power th us in reality the pa s legislative power was totally confi ned second the legal stipulations did not give the pa any authority over israeli citizens th is was a direct continuation of a pre oslo policy whereby any israeli civilian and indeed o u t s o u r c i n g t h e o c c u p at i o n 17 5 any non palestinian residing or traveling within the west bank and gaza strip was subjected to israeli civilian law th e existing situation was simply perpetuated in the agreement th e pa was denied any legal power over israelis or jews residing in or traveling through the ot and this included israelis entering the areas that according to the agreements were under the pa s jurisdiction all of this underscores that the agreement ensured the subordinate judicial position of the pa in relation to israel th e preparatory agreement also announced the creation of a strong police force which was to consist of nine thousand policemen whose respon sibility was to ensure public order and internal security within the jurisdiction of the palestinian authority th e palestinians were also given seven thousand light personal weapons 120 machine guns forty fi ve armored vehicles communication systems and distinctive uniforms iden tifi cation badges and vehicle markings th e jurisdiction of the police force was however limited to the city of jericho and to the gaza strip excluding 40 percent of the land that was controlled by the jewish settlers and israeli military israel maintained monopoly over the legitimate use of violence in the ot since it only gave the pa sole authority to police the palestinian population in certain areas th e israeli palestinian interim agreement on the west bank and the gaza strip september 1995 also known as oslo ii introduced three new issues pertinent to the palestinian security forces first both the job descrip tion and makeup of the police were changed in addition to maintaining internal security and public order the police also took on responsibility for combating terrorism and violence and preventing incitement to vio lence in other words they were not only responsible for ensuring order within palestinian society but also for combating paramilitary groups that threatened israeli citizens second the structure of the police force was also expanded from four branches to six thus making it even more diffi cult to coordinate activities and increasing internal competition among the secu rity apparatuses finally the number of policemen grew from nine thou sand to thirty thousand th e west bank and gaza strip were accordingly transformed into zones where the ratio of police to civilians was among the highest in the world about ten policemen per thousand civilians three times higher than in most countries where the ratio is about 3 4 policemen per thousand civilians th e creation of a strong palestinian police force was crucial not only 1 7 6 o u t s o u r c i n g t h e o c c u p at i o n because it allowed the israeli military to shed many of its former policing responsibilities but also because such a force empowered the new governing body which had taken upon itself a huge amount of civil responsibility with very few of the tools necessary to provide the services it promised to supply th e pa received weak civil institutions a nonfunctioning economy and was not allowed to introduce new legislation that could in any way alter the power relations between the new governing body and israel regardless of how the pa itself functioned the oslo accords themselves created the grounds for a crisis of legitimization th e loss of legitimacy in the public s eye led the pa to strengthen its police force even further this time not so much to advance direct israeli interests as to repress internal opposition restructuring palestinian space one cannot fully understand the reorganization of power in the ot with out considering the way the oslo accords restructured palestinian space as mentioned the oslo accords preserved israel s distinction between the palestinians and their land so while israel transferred many of the responsibilities for managing the population to the pa it retained direct control both over palestinian space and over what john torpey has called the legitimate means of movement 15 in order to accomplish this goal without being obvious israel restructured palestinian space oslo divided the west bank into areas a b and c and designated areas h1 and h2 in hebron and yellow and white areas in gaza 16 areas a b and c determined the distribution of powers in the west bank by creating internal boundaries see map 4 th ese boundaries produced a series of new insides and outsides within the ot each one with its own specifi c laws and regulations while in all three areas the pa assumed full responsibility for the civil institutions in area a which in 1995 amounted to 3 percent of the west bank s land and 26 percent of its population the pa was given full responsibility for maintaining law and order in area b which amounted to 24 percent of the land and 70 percent of the population the pa was given responsibility for public order but israel maintained overriding responsibil ity for security and in area c which comprised 73 percent of the land and 4 percent of the population israel retained full responsibility for security and public order as well as for civil issues relating to territory planning and zoning archeology etc th us in 1995 the pa was responsible for o u t s o u r c i n g t h e o c c u p at i o n 17 7 map 4 areas a b and c of the west bank source peace now managing all of the palestinian inhabitants but had full control of only 3 percent of the west bank s land i e the cities jenin nablus tulkarem qalqilya ramallah bethlehem and jericho by 2000 following a series of agreements the relative distribution of the areas had changed so that area a comprised 17 2 percent of the land area b 23 8 percent and area c 59 percent 17 yet area a was divided into 11 separate clusters area b was made up of 120 clusters while the 59 percent that constituted area c was contiguous 18 th e areas in which the palestinians had full control were like an archipelago while the areas controlled by israel were strategic corridors that interrupted the territorial contiguity of the west bank 1 7 8 o u t s o u r c i n g t h e o c c u p at i o n israeli anthropologist and political activist jeff halper characterizes oslo s spatial division as a matrix of control whereby israel has employed several apparatuses only a few of which require physical occupation of territory to control every aspect of palestinian life in the ot th e matrix he writes works like the japanese game of go instead of defeating your opponent through ongoing confrontations as in chess in go you win by immobilizing your opponent by gaining control of key points of a matrix so that every time the opponent moves she or he encounters an obstacle of some kind 19 accordingly israel created jewish only spaces in the form of settlements industrial parks and military bases which were strategi cally dispersed throughout the ot and connected by a massive network of highways and bypass roads it also erected road blocks and checkpoints to slice the gaza strip into two and at times three or four parts hindering when it wished the legitimate movement of the palestinian inhabitants from one part to the other in the west bank israel took advantage of the division of the region into three kinds of areas and the fact that areas a and b where the large majority of palestinians reside were not contigu ous during certain periods the west bank was split into more than two hundred enclaves making it extremely diffi cult for the palestinian residents to travel from one enclave to another israel s control of space allowed it to maintain its monopoly over the legitimate means of movement th is included controlling the movement of the occupied inhabitants who wished to exit the ot as well as those who wished to move from the west bank to the gaza strip and vice versa and through the introduction of the internal closure the movement of palestinians inside each region was also restricted in order to maintain its monopoly over the means of movement inside the ot israel relied on subtle and not so subtle bureaucratic and legal mechanisms that operated primarily through a series of permits and decrees backed by checkpoints patrols and the threat of violence 20 in the midst of the oslo process israel built a fence around the gaza strip to ensure that all gazans would be sub jected to the closure and permit regime during those years many workers succeeded in infi ltrating into israel from the west bank despite closures within a relatively short period a patrol road and a series of fences fi ft y four kilometers long closed off the border between the strip and israel leaving only four passageways connecting the two regions two of which operate in one direction only from israel to gaza and one more connecting gaza o u t s o u r c i n g t h e o c c u p at i o n 17 9 with egypt 21 th e green line was accordingly converted from a normally open border into a normally closed one 22 only a very small number of palestinian political leaders and businessmen whom israel wanted to sup port and promote received permits to travel during closures th e partition of space and the reorganization of power were intricately tied th e division of space within the ot not only determined the distribu tion of certain powers but also allowed israel to maintain the distinction between the palestinian population and their land for all practical purposes the internal borders dividing areas a b and c did not exist with respect to the operation of civil institutions providing health care education and welfare since the pa took on full responsibility for the civil institutions serving the palestinian population as a whole regardless of where people lived in the ot 23 th us from 1994 onward the pa relieved israel of the most diffi cult aspect of the occupation while israel in turn kept most of the land and all of the water under its control th e specifi c organization of space and the transfer of authority over civil institutions to the pa refl ects the beginning of a transformation from the principle of colonization to the principle of separation where the latter does not mean the termination of control but rather its alteration from a system based on managing the lives of the occupied inhabitants to a system that is no longer interested in the lives of the palestinian residents a democratic occupation in addition to the reorganization of power and restructuring of space the oslo agreements refl ect the signifi cance that both parties attributed to the illusion of establishing full palestinian sovereignty i say illusion because it was clear that the traditional link between sovereign power and the notion of supreme authority over a given territory was not part of oslo s agenda and the creation of such a link was actually precluded by the agreements themselves th e reorganization of power and the division of the occupied space into small archipelagoes whose external borders were controlled by israel ensured that the pa would not be sovereign in the sense of having a monopoly over the legitimate use of violence within a given territory or a monopoly over the legitimate means of movement or in fact in any other sense th is is precisely the performance of sovereignty that derek gregory discusses the ruptured space of the ot was simulated as a coherent state 24 1 8 0 o u t s o u r c i n g t h e o c c u p at i o n even though the west bank and the gaza strip did not become a real state sovereignty had to be conjured to render the categories of political action meaningful moreover if israel continued to be conceived as the sovereign power then people would realize that the occupation had never actually ended th is problem was dealt with in the interim agreement september 1995 which discusses at length the plan for democratic elec tions in the ot th e important point in the context of our discussion is that the january 1996 elections whereby the palestinians chose both a president and legislative council were also part and parcel of oslo s controlling apparatuses one of the elections roles was to produce the impression that the palestinians were electing a government that would have the powers to administer the population and that israeli power was retreating th eir goal in other words was to create among palestinians israelis and outside spectators a sense that the ot had been freed from foreign rule and that consequently the palestinians could determine their own destiny but as we have seen on the ground the oslo agreements created mechanism aft er mechanism that allowed israel to preserve its sovereignty suggesting that the elections served among other things to mask israeli involvement and infl uence in the ot and to conceal the reorganization of power and space the immediate effects initially the reorganization of power and space produced the desired eff ects a general quiet replaced the social unrest in the ot permitting a sense of normalcy to take over th e nightly curfews in the gaza strip ended children played in the streets schools and universities were opened as were coff ee shops restaurants and new hotels many of those who had invested much time in the struggle against the israeli military turned to securing a stable income for their families for a while the ot experienced a construction boom particularly in gaza and ramallah and money was invested in infrastructure while numerous cooperation projects between palestinian and israeli businesses helped produce an atmosphere of peace and although three thousand palestinians remained in jails the majority of the political prisoners were released by 1996 25 th ere was also a sharp decline in the number of palestinians killed by israeli security forces see fi gure 4 in 1996 for example 18 palestinians o u t s o u r c i n g t h e o c c u p at i o n 1 8 1 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 s e c r o f y t i r u c e s i l e a r s i y b d e l l i i k s n a n i t s e a p l 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 sept 2000 figure 4 number of palestinians killed during fi rst intifada and the oslo years source b tselem were killed in the ot in comparison to 155 in 1993 th e number of children killed also dropped dramatically during the three year period 1994 96 35 children were killed while in 1993 alone 40 children were killed and in 1989 78 children were killed 26 th e change in the lives of the palestinians had quite a bit to do with the redeployment of the israeli military which in turn reduced the price israel had to pay for the occupation both politically and economically oslo it is important to stress managed to undo the intifada s most impor tant achievements if the intifada undermined almost all forms of normal ization and exposed the occupation for what it was that is military rule upheld through violence and violation oslo succeeded in normalizing the occupation once again moreover the creation of the pa led to the disappearance of vigorous popular and civil movements that had been the mainstay of the fi rst intifada as reema hamami and salim tamari point out popular committees neighborhood committees mass organizations and most of the political movements that sustained them began to collapse toward the end of the intifada due to israeli anti insurgency methods and their recovery was preempted by the oslo agreements and the ostensible state formation process 27 1 8 2 o u t s o u r c i n g t h e o c c u p at i o n the political economy of outsourcing one of the interesting aspects concerning the reorganization of power and the restructuring of space is that it aff ected the israeli and palestinian populations very diff erently as israel redeployed its troops and shed its responsibility for managing the lives of the occupied palestinians its economy received a boost th e israeli tourist industry was revitalized large investments began pouring in and new international markets that had been closed due to the confl ict gradually opened to israeli commodities and services between 1994 and 2000 per capita gdp rose from 16 076 to 18 363 see fi gure 5 it is therefore not surprising that israeli economists of all stripes constantly praised the oslo process underscoring the substantial dividends that israel gained by investing in peace 28 even though the general prosperity was occasionally disturbed by attacks on israeli targets particularly in 1995 and 1996 when several suicide bombers exploded them selves on public buses and in shopping malls killing scores of israelis and wounding hundreds more in general the israeli citizenry considered the oslo agreements advantageous oslo was regarded as the beginning of true peace on the other side of the green line oslo s fruits had a very diff er ent taste th e reorganization of power and space had repercussions that totally transformed the regimentation of daily life instead of prosperity the palestinians experienced poverty and instead of freedom they experienced new restrictions both of which ultimately rendered them weaker and more vulnerable some of these eff ects were a direct consequence of the agreements themselves while others were a result of the contradictions precipitated by the agreements in sharp contrast to the optimistic forecasts regarding oslo s economic benefi ts as well as the developments taking place within israel the palestinian economy shrank dramatically following the transfer of authority to the pa whereas israel s gnp rapidly rose in the west bank and gaza the per capita gnp fell by 37 percent from the end of 1992 to the end of 1997 while per capita gdp shrank from 1 625 in 1994 to 1 563 in 2000 see fi gure 5 29 in chapter 3 i described how israel had prevented the creation of an internal economic base with its own productive capacity showing how the economic growth experienced by the palestinians in the ot between 1967 o u t s o u r c i n g t h e o c c u p at i o n 1 8 3 120 100 16 076 1 625 s u n i a t i p a c r e p p d g 80 1994 17 138 1 542 18 363 israel west bank and gaza strip 1 563 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 figure 5 changes in israeli and palestinian per capita gdp during the oslo years 1994 100 source world bank data and 1980 was a consequence of the remittances sent from palestinian work ers abroad and the salaries of laborers who commuted to israel th e expecta tion that the ot would experience economic growth following oslo was therefore based on the assumption that there would be large investments in infrastructure and industry and that the palestinians would enjoy freedom of movement for themselves and their goods it was also assumed that palestinian laborers would continue to work in israel and pump money into the ot while an independent productive economy would slowly be established th ese expectations never materialized th e backward march had begun even before oslo in 1991 as mentioned many palestinians working in the gulf states lost their jobs due to yasser arafat s support for saddam hussein a development that further increased the ot s dependency on the laborers who commuted to israel in addition a couple of years earlier the entry permit regime had been introduced and during oslo it was not only preserved but tightened severely limiting the number of workers who could enter israel more importantly the closure that had begun as a sporadic form of control in 1991 became more frequent and comprehensive over the years and justifi ed as a legitimate response to terrorist attacks carried out by palestinian militants who opposed the oslo accords 30 in 1994 the occupied territories were under closure for 43 days in 1996 the territories were closed off for 104 days and in 1997 for 87 days 31 th e internal closures had dire results ngos estimated that for the duration 1 8 4 o u t s o u r c i n g t h e o c c u p at i o n of each internal closure about two hundred thousand palestinians i e 80 percent of the labor force were prevented from reaching their workplaces 32 th e fact that the palestinian economy was dependent on laborers who commuted to israel and that these laborers in turn were dependent on the occupying power s readiness to allow them to enter israel was exploited by israel during the early 1990s to advance numerous objectives during oslo the restriction of movement and particularly israel s control over the fl ow of palestinian labor became its most prominent form of control overshadowing as it were the torture beatings and incarceration israel used its ability to restrict the fl ow of laborers to collectively punish the palestinian public hoping that such measures would turn the public against the armed resistance it used its ability to restrict palestinian movement to pressure the pa to clamp down on hamas islamic jihad the pflp and other groups that opposed oslo as well as to incarcerate people whom israel characterized as terrorists it also exploited its capacity to regulate the fl ow of laborers into israel as a way of bending the pa s arm during negotiations so that the pa would comply with numerous israeli demands like signing the paris protocol which was inimical to palestinian interests th e restriction of movement engendered however a series of excesses that had far reaching implications for the oslo process for instance it immediately led to an exponential rise in unemployment whereas in 1992 some 30 percent of the palestinian workforce was employed in israel in 1996 that fi gure had fallen to 7 percent and the average rate of unemployment in the territories reached 32 6 percent rising twelvefold from the 3 percent unemployment rate in 1992 during periods of comprehensive closures unemployment reached a peak of 70 percent in the gaza strip and 50 per cent in the west bank with people from the refugee camps suff ering most because the large majority of them depended on work in israel 33 in addition to its direct eff ect on the workforce the closure policy also impeded palestinian exports to israel and other countries dealing a death blow to the more lucrative agricultural exports such as fl owers and to new that is oslo made factories that produced goods intended for european markets simply put the new palestinian industrialists could not commit themselves to providing the goods on time and the con tracts they had signed with foreign companies and markets were rapidly annulled th e closure policy also created a severance between the gaza strip and the west bank greatly reducing trade between the two regions and o u t s o u r c i n g t h e o c c u p at i o n 1 8 5 harming palestinian agriculture and industry by preventing palestinians from exploiting the relative advantages of each area whereas prior to the imposition of the closures approximately 50 percent of goods produced in gaza were marketed in the west bank in 1995 that fi gure stood at only 8 percent 34 th e entry permit regime and closures also aff ected patients who required medical treatment in israel and students from gaza who studied in the west bank as well as residents who needed to exit the region for a variety of other reasons 35 th e economic decline however was not only a result of israel s restric tion of palestinian movement th e paris protocol enabled israel to control the economy in several other ways for instance due to the customs union created between israel and the pa the israeli government collected taxes on merchandise destined for gaza and the west bank and only aft er the tax money went through a clearance mechanism was it transferred to the pa according to the world bank these taxes represented up to two thirds of total palestinian revenue a sum amounting to some us 740 million in 2005 or approximately 13 percent of gross disposable income 36 th e continued control of these funds enabled israel to use them as political leverage following a wave of violent attacks in the summer of 1997 the israeli government decided in contradiction to the paris protocol to withhold the taxes 37 th e idea was to engender internal pressure by targeting the pa s hundred and fi ft y thousand workers whose salaries depended on this money th is included the salaries of the security forces which employed well over thirty thousand people as well as the salaries of the workers in the diff erent civil institutions over which the pa had assumed responsibility including the health educational and social welfare systems the munici palities and the diff erent government ministries th e number of public employees is in itself an issue worth emphasizing th e pa employed almost nine times more people than the eighteen thousand palestinians who worked for the civil administration before the transfer of authority in 1993 even though many of these hundred and fi ft y thou sand workers off ered important services the vast majority of them did not contribute directly to palestinian productive capacity more importantly in the context of our discussion they owed their jobs to the pa which like jordan in the early 1970s utilized its prerogative to employ people as a way of producing allegiances through patronage salaries and prestige yet with the benefi ts of employing many people also comes the responsibility 1 8 6 o u t s o u r c i n g t h e o c c u p at i o n of paying their salaries before oslo the civil administration was rela tively consistent about paying salaries even during times of strife knowing that withholding salaries would create more social unrest aft er oslo the palestinian public servants no longer worked for the civil administration but israel continued to control their salaries albeit in a roundabout way by controlling the pa s cash fl ow th e threat of withholding money was oft en used to pressure the pa to act according to israeli demands th e fact that israel controlled the salaries of a hundred and fi ft y thousand people rather than eighteen thousand gave it more leverage th e restriction of movement during the oslo years along with the custom union agreement established in the paris protocol led to the deterioration of the palestinian economy to be sure the pa s corruption had a detrimental impact on the economic situation but its eff ect was minor when compared to the impact of the restrictions israel imposed on the ot th e economic deterioration directly aff ected the occupied population s standard of living and the consumption of basic products such as food clothing and educa tion declined dramatically by the end of 1998 more than 25 percent of the palestinians in the ot were living under the international 2 10 a day poverty line in the gaza strip where a signifi cantly larger percentage of the population had worked in israel the poverty rate rose from 36 percent at the end of 1995 to 41 percent at the end of 1997 38 th us one of the eff ects of the harsh restrictions on movement employed during oslo as well as the economic agreements was the strangulation of the economy which transformed in turn a large percentage of palestinians into paupers abandoning the individual it is important to stress that while israel used both the entry permit regime and the closures during oslo the two forms of control operate diff erently and it is not coincidental that the closures ultimately replaced the entry permit regime as the more prominent form of movement control while the entry permit regime impeded the movement of the vast majority of the population those who did apply for the permit had to measure up to ostensibly neutral exclusionary demographic criteria age marital status number of children etc as well as criteria that assessed each person s indi vidual comportment and excluded all those who had participated in some form of resistance against israeli rule or had links to people who were part o u t s o u r c i n g t h e o c c u p at i o n 1 8 7 of the resistance th ose who fell within the parameters of the demographic profi le and behaved according to israel s rules could receive permits while those who were in any way politically active could not th e closure by contrast did not attempt to manage the individual but was used solely as a mechanism of collective punishment and as leverage for pressuring the population as well as the pa although it was justifi ed as a measure against palestinian terrorism in reality it was not a response to a particular event or threat but a sweeping restriction largely permanent and according to the israeli rights group b tselem only marginally aff ected by the security establishment s assessment of the level of security threats at any given time 39 it also ignored the permit regime so that even workers who had received a permit to enter israel could not cross the checkpoints when the closure was imposed quickly a new situation emerged whereby the number of permits issued did not in any way refl ect the number of people who actually entered israel since all movement was arrested by the closure th us the closure marks israel s abandonment of any attempt to discipline palestinians as individuals indeed the eff ort to inscribe usefulness onto the palestinian body which is characteristic of all forms of management in modern societies and was part of the strategy employed by israel in the ot for many years was gradually abandoned during oslo th is as i show in the next chapter prepared the ground for the politics of death israel adopted during the second intifada israel s indiff erence towards the individual inhabitants is intricately tied to and informed by the way israel modifi ed its use of the palestinian economy as a form of control undoubtedly the occupying power was always acutely aware of the impact an economic catastrophe would have on the management of the popula tion at the beginning of the occupation israeli decision makers considered economic deterioration in the ot to be a certain ingredient for social unrest and accordingly attempted to produce economic prosperity through a series of techniques that aimed to normalize the occupation yet instead of con tinuing its approach of guaranteeing some kind of livelihood in the ot as it had done in the past israel exploited the palestinian dependency to create an economic crisis knowing full well that this would engender social unrest th e social unrest however was not directed solely toward israel as it would have been before oslo it was also directed against the new pa which had assumed responsibility for the population and was therefore in the public s eyes also responsible for the sharp decline in the standard of living 1 8 8 o u t s o u r c i n g t h e o c c u p at i o n managing the occupied population while israel outsourced responsibility to the pa so that the pa could manage the palestinian population in israel s stead it continued to control palestinian space and resources ultimately however the eff ects of israel s strategy produced an internal contradiction that helped undermine the pa s legitimacy in the eyes of the palestinian public we saw that oslo entailed the creation of a strong palestinian security apparatus th e armed forces main task was not to guarantee the security of the occupied inhabitants from external attacks or from the occupying power but to maintain law and order within the west bank and the gaza strip and to protect israel s citizens from palestinian militants prime minister yitzchak rabin made this blatantly clear when he noted that pa security personnel operated throughout the west bank with israel s knowledge and in cooperation with israel s security forces to safeguard israel s security interests 40 israel accordingly implemented a policy of security coopera tion with the pa working closely with the palestinian armed forces both directly and through the cia th e latter provided instruction training and a regular supply of security equipment to the preventative security organs in both the west bank and gaza strip headed by jibril rajoub and mohammed dahlan respectively and to the general intelligence under the leadership of amin el hindi 41 th e security forces shared information and oft en assisted each other in the daily routine of achieving law and order over the years the palestinian security forces grew in size and their numbers soared well above the thirty thousand mark specifi ed in the agree ments israel did not veto or condemn such developments because the dif ferent security apparatuses were at least ostensibly serving its interests as graham usher points out under oslo the pa s security forces were obligated to arrest and prosecute palestinians suspected of perpetuating acts of violence and terror and cooperate in the exchange of information as well as coordinate policies and activities with the israeli security services 42 already in 1994 israeli military offi cers reported that they had received orders to allow palestinian security personal to carry weapons in a refugee camp that was under israeli authority th ese offi cers were told that the palestinian security services were friendly forces and they were directed to allow the armed palestinians to operate in the camp put diff erently even o u t s o u r c i n g t h e o c c u p at i o n 1 8 9 in areas where israel was according to the offi cial agreements responsible for security it permitted palestinian forces to police the population and to ensure public order 43 th e cooperation between the israeli and palestinian security forces was spelled out in the 1998 wye memorandum agreement which stated that the collaboration between the services was to be informed by the notion of zero tolerance for terror th e agreement proclaimed that the palestinian side will apprehend the specifi c individuals suspected of perpetrating acts of violence and terror for the purpose of further investi gation and prosecution and punishment of all persons involved in acts of violence and terror 44 according to b tselem the security provisions made at wye created a framework allowing for torture arbitrary arrests and unfair trials th is the rights group claims has resulted in increased human rights violations by diff erent organs of the pa 45 wye institutionalized the pressure exerted by israel and the united states on the pa to fi ght palestinian opposition relentlessly more than once israel conditioned the resumption of peace negotiations the opening of borders and the implementation of troop redeployment upon proof of concrete actions taken by the pa th ese actions included mass and arbitrary deten tions imprisonment without trial torture and the denial of the right to due process so while the international media concentrated on the revolv ing door practice whereby palestinian security forces caught residents suspected of assaulting israeli targets and then released them the press had very little to say about the fact that palestinians were tortured by the pa and imprisoned without fair trial th e security forces were mainly criticized by palestinians from the west bank and gaza who saw no reason to create such a large security apparatus surely not one whose sole role was to police the population clamp down on all forms of resistance to the occupation and abuse the inhabitants rights simultaneously the restriction of movement and economic deterioration also helped undermine the pa because the civil institutions that it now operated could not off er adequate services to the population consider for a moment the palestinian health care system in 1993 right before the transfer of authority to palestinian hands the civil administration s annual per capita expenditure on health was 33 80 in 1996 due to a large amount of foreign aid per capita governmental expenditure on health had risen by almost 25 percent to 42 70 yet by 2000 it had declined to 30 40 much lower than the expenditure in 1996 and even 10 percent lower than 1 9 0 o u t s o u r c i n g t h e o c c u p at i o n the amount spent when the civil administration was still responsible for providing health services 46 th is clearly suggests that the services off ered in 2000 the year in which the second intifada erupted were even poorer than those off ered in 1993 by the civil administration and intimates that the civil institutions through which modern societies are managed in this case the health care system were actually weakened during oslo even though the pa dramatically increased the number of public servants it did not improve the services it off ered palestinian society moreover the total per capita health expenditure governmental and nongovernmental in 2000 was 121 indicating that governmental expen diture comprised only about 25 percent of the money spent on health by comparison in israel per capita expenditure on health in 2000 was 1 609 of which 70 percent was government funded 47 not only were the funds spent on health care totally inadequate thus compromising the quality of services off ered to the population but as opposed to the israeli health system the palestinian one was totally dependent on the nongovernmental sector th is was surely part of the inheritance of the fi rst twenty seven years of occupation since during that period the nongovernmental sector was developed by palestinians in order to fi ll acute needs that were not being met by the civil administration th e situation did not change however following oslo because under the auspices of the world bank the pa initiated an aggressive policy of rapid privatization 48 th e fact that almost 75 percent of the expenditure on health came from the nongovernmental sector underscores the frailty of government institutions th us one of the consequences of the economic crisis in the ot which was due mainly to israel s ongoing control of space and the restriction of movement was the reduction of the pa s capacity to administer the population through forms of control informed by disciplinary and biopower as we will see the absence of a sturdy governmental structure also made it relatively easy for competing forces to take over once the second intifada erupted accordingly the analysis of how israel outsourced its forms of control reveals three processes 1 israel transferred full responsibility for managing the lives of the occupied inhabitants to the pa 2 it put to work forms of control that undermined the pa s eff orts to fulfi ll its responsibilities toward the inhabitants and 3 it armed the pa so that its security forces could preserve law and order by confronting attempts to resist the new political order th is is not to say that the pa was untainted there is concrete evidence o u t s o u r c i n g t h e o c c u p at i o n 191 pertaining to the embezzlement of funds nepotism mismanagement and general corruption however israel s unwillingness to take responsibility for the legacy of the occupation along with the restrictions of movement the paris protocol and the pressure to privatize basic government services pressure exerted by the world bank and other international institutions all made it practically impossible for the palestinian leadership to adequately operate the civil institutions needed in order to achieve normalization a picture of control emerges whereby israel s subcontractor was drained of any real capacity to operate the civil institutions through which modern societies are administered while it was simultaneously armed to police the occupied population paradoxically then the pa itself as a governing body could not pro vide many basic services to its citizenry and within a short period it too began emphasizing forms of control informed by sovereign power th e pa s deployment of coercive measures against palestinian inhabitants alongside looming allegations of corruption led to its de legitimization th e loss of legitimacy had two important implications fi rst it further increased the pa s need or willingness to employ the sword second the reduction of its power as an independent political actor rendered it more susceptible to making concessions when negotiating with israel in other words israel created the conditions whereby the pa would bow down to its demands but the very same conditions undermined its ability to manage the population which had been the original reason for its creation as the pa began experiencing a legitimization crisis it further expanded its security forces both as a way of increasing patronage and in order to protect itself from the frustrated population all of which augmented the crisis of legitimization and further deepened the contradictions th e general eff ect of israel s strategy was that the pa was disempowered th is in many respects serves as the backdrop for the second intifada and for the rise of hamas and yet a vital part of the puzzle is still missing in order to better understand why the palestinians fi lled the streets in september 2000 one also needs to consider how oslo aff ected israel s settlement project settlements settlers and bypass roads along with the processes just described in the seven year period leading to the eruption of the second intifada israel also fortifi ed its settlement 1 9 2 o u t s o u r c i n g t h e o c c u p at i o n project it is both ironic and telling that even as the jewish settlers rejected oslo the oslo years were by far the best years for the settlement enterprise th e jewish population living in the west bank increased during oslo from about a hundred and ten thousand in 1993 to a hundred and ninety fi ve thousand in 2000 th e graph fi gure 6 depicts the increase in the number of jewish settlers in the west bank during four periods during the fi rst thirteen years 12 500 settlers moved to the west bank th is number was augmented by 45 400 in the seven year period from 1980 to 1986 and by an additional 53 000 settlers during the following seven years during oslo s seven years the west bank s settler population grew by 80 700 much more than in any of the previous periods together with the popu lation in the gaza strip excluding east jerusalem the number reached 195 000 49 to house the new settlers about twenty thousand apartments were built almost doubling the number of jewish housing units that had been built during the fi rst twenty six years of occupation 50 in addition israel dramatically expanded the network of bypass roads in order to connect these new settlers both to israel proper and to other settlements approximately four hundred kilometers of roads were paved across the west bank during oslo 51 in 1995 the construction of new west bank roads peaked constituting more than 20 percent of all road construction in israel for that year it is oft en said that during oslo israel only fortifi ed old settlements and did not build new ones but this too was not the case actually from late 1992 until 2001 between 71 and 102 new jewish outposts were established in the west bank see map 5 52 th us during the oslo years the israeli government was not only transferring thousands of citizens to the ot but was also continuously creating new settlements th e outposts are a con crete manifestation of the temporary and arbitrary modalities of control th ere is no master plan that determines where they are to be established they are erected according to local initiatives based on circumstances and opportunity and while the tents and prefabricated homes serve as weizman points out the needs of immediacy mobility and fl exibility since they can be quickly erected under cover of night these same features also create the impression that the outposts are provisional and random 53 th e temporary outposts which are now dispersed throughout the west bank should be understood as a straightforward modifi cation of a previ ous strategy o u t s o u r c i n g t h e o c c u p at i o n 19 3 80 700 45 400 53 000 l n o i t a u p o p n i e g n a h c 90000 80000 70000 60000 50000 40000 30000 20000 10000 0 12 500 1967 1979 1980 1986 1987 1993 1994 2000 figure 6 increase in the number of jewish settlers in the west bank during four periods between 1967 and 2000 source yehezkel lein land grab israel s settlement policy in the west bank jerusalem b tselem 2002 in a 2005 report written for the israeli government talia sasson describes in great detail how the illegal outposts were established with the support of several government agencies including a number of ministries and the civil administration even though these settlements were continually presented in the media as if they were the creations of individual settlers who were defying both the rule of law and the wishes of the israeli govern ment the report reveals many of the intricate forms of cooperation between government agencies and the settlers showing that the presentation of the latter as recalcitrant actors who disregard the government and operate against israeli policy continues to be a fabrication th is suggests in turn that as the military redeployed its troops during the oslo years the settlers took on an ever increasing policing role th e expansion of the settlement project is revealing on the one hand it counters the dominant description of the oslo years if the basis of the agreements between israel and the palestinians was indeed the with drawal of israeli sovereignty and the creation of a palestinian state or as some would have it land for peace then one would have expected israel to stop settling more jews and building new settlements in the ot since oslo was a process based on phases the ongoing fortifi cation of the settlement project is illogical on the other hand if oslo is not conceived as the withdrawal of israeli power but rather as the reorganiza tion of power then the expansion of the settlement project makes perfect sense 1 9 4 o u t s o u r c i n g t h e o c c u p at i o n map 5 jewish settlements and outposts source peace now conclusion even though the oslo process was portrayed as the beginning of the end of the occupation the preceding analysis underscores that the oslo frame work actually preserved one of the central contradictions informing the occupation the distinction between the palestinian inhabitants and their land th e palestinians were given responsibility for all the modern civil institutions through which populations are managed administered and disciplined while israel continued to control most of the territory it had occupied in 1967 as we saw israel also maintained its monopoly over the legitimate use of violence and the legitimate means of movement in the ot while granting the pa authority to use violence in order to fulfi ll the task of securing law and order among the palestinian population th e changes on the ground signify two major modifi cations in israel s strategy first during the oslo years israel began moving from direct control to remote control using the pa as an apparatus to manage the population as we will see in the following chapter israel constantly devel oped the forms of indirect control using sophisticated technology both to monitor and strike at palestinian society 54 second israel s withdrawal from a politics of life whereby it considered itself responsible for admin istering the lives of the occupied inhabitants to a politics that focuses on the population at large and disregards individual life has had far reaching implications it means among other things the development of strategies that produce vulnerabilities or crises in order to control the palestinian population and its leadership 55 th ese changes point to a deeper modifi ca tion whereby the colonial project in which the palestinian population is managed and exploited its land confi scated and its water expropriated was being replaced by the principle of separation where control is still crucial but it no longer entails the economic exploitation of the population and the direct administration of each individual s life instead of reconnecting the inhabitants to their land oslo engendered further fi ssures and instead of empowerment oslo came to symbolize a gradual reduction of popular power palestinians began to understand that their ability to infl uence the decisions that most aff ected them actually diminished during oslo as the contradictory eff ects arising from israel s forms of control became more and more manifest oslo s contradictions in other words were the impetus and propelling force underlying the second intifada 1 9 6 o u t s o u r c i n g t h e o c c u p at i o n chapter 8 the separation principle us here them there prime minister ehud barak people who do not move in a container of some sort are diffi cult to constrain and the eff ort to restrict them may entail turning the area to be controlled itself into a container john torpey in an attempt to affi rm israeli sovereignty over jerusalem s temple mount haram al sharif ariel sharon strode into the al aqsa compound on september 28 2000 guarded by an armed entourage right aft er the pro vocative visit palestinian demonstrators hurled stones at israeli police who fi red back tear gas and rubber coated metal bullets twenty fi ve policemen and three palestinians were injured in the confrontations th e next day demonstrations erupted at the temple mount following the friday prayers rapidly they spread to the west bank and gaza strip within two days fi ft een palestinians had been killed sharon s visit to the al aqsa compound had served as a trigger for the outbreak of the second much bloodier intifada six years later 3 808 palestinians and 1 010 israelis have been killed many of them children 1 in the west yasser arafat was blamed for instigating the uprising many people claimed that the palestinian president was attempt ing to gain by force what he had not managed to accomplish by peaceful means at the camp david negotiations which had ended just two months earlier july 25 2000 2 while israel no doubt made an unprecedented off er to the palestinians at camp david it neglected several elements essential to any comprehensive settlement including the contiguity of the palestinian state in the west bank full sovereignty in arab parts of east jerusalem and a compromise resolution on the right of return of palestinian refugees 3 19 7 arafat rejected the off er and according to the narrative concocted by israel and the clinton administration he decided to send his people to war and they like a herd obediently complied such a position not only fails to take into account camp david s shortcomings but conveniently disre gards the second intifada s structural backdrop and advances a paternalistic interpretation of events it ignores the inherent contradictions character izing the oslo agreements and the eff ects of israel s continuing occupation including the economic crisis in the ot the establishment of more jewish settlements the severe restriction of movement and daily humiliations th e previous chapter helped uncover some of the central processes leading to the eruption of the second intifada and suggested that the pent up anger and despair were directed not only toward israel but also toward the palestinian authority pa th e second popular uprising turned out however to be very diff erent from the one that took place during the late 1980s and early 1990s simply put it was much more violent and consequently involved less popular participation many commentators placed the blame for the violence on the palestinians asserting that israel made the fatal error of providing the palestinians with weapons and the palestinians made the mistake of using these weapons against israel to be sure during the second intifada the palestinians used fi rearms and suicide bombers increased the level of violence but the diff erent forms of palestinian resistance however ruthless only partially explain the diff erences between the two intifadas as it turns out israel was to a large extent responsible for transforming the intifada which began as a popular uprising into a violent resistance carried out by small groups that oft en adopted methods of terror in june 2004 almost four years aft er the intifada erupted ha aretz journalist akiva eldar revealed that the top israeli security echelons had decided to fan the fl ames during the uprising s fi rst weeks he cites amos malka who was the military general in charge of intelligence at the time saying that during the intifada s fi rst month when the uprising was still mostly character ized by nonviolent popular protests the military fi red 1 3 million bullets in the west bank and gaza strip th e idea was to intensify the levels of violence thinking that this would lead to a swift and decisive military vic tory and the successful suppression of the rebellion 4 israel s armed forces did not however manage to contain the uprising but they did kill more than 270 palestinians within the uprising s fi rst three months almost the 1 9 8 t h e s e p a r at i o n p r i n c i p l e same amount as those killed during the fi rst intifada s most intensive year of confrontations 5 th e use of lethal force by the israeli military should not however be considered as an isolated tactic aimed at achieving a particular objective i e quelling the uprising rather israel s lethal response merely refl ects a much wider shift that began taking root during the oslo years it under scores that by the turn of the new millennium israel had almost totally abandoned forms of control whose goal was to manage the lives of the palestinian inhabitants residing in the west bank and gaza strip and was also reluctant to allow the pa to continue administering the occupied population th e diff erence between israel s decision to distribute clubs and rabin s break their bones policy from the fi rst intifada and the fi ring of a million bullets during the second uprising s fi rst month signifi es a change in the primary principle informing israel s occupation that is a shift from the principle of colonization to the principle of separation while i describe these two principles as one following the other it is crucial to remember that they actually contaminate each other so that there is always a trace of one in the other from colonization to separation by colonization principle i mean a form of government whereby the colonizer attempts to manage the lives of the colonized inhabitants while exploiting the captured territory s resources in this case land water and labor 6 colonial powers do not conquer for the sake of imposing admin istrative rule on the indigenous population but they end up managing the conquered inhabitants in order to facilitate the extraction of resources aft er the 1967 war israel assumed responsibility for the palestinian residents and tried to normalize the occupation by undertaking the admin istration of the major civil institutions through which modern societies are managed education health care welfare and the fi nancial and legal systems th e palestinian inhabitants were considered to be extremely important objects of management and control and during the fi rst two decades of occupation israel attempted to rule the population in primar ily nonviolent ways simultaneously it began exploiting the labor force and expropriating palestinian land and water the most important natural resources in the region my claim is that at a certain point during the fi rst t h e s e p a r at i o n p r i n c i p l e 19 9 intifada israel realized that the colonization principle could no longer be used as the basic logic informing its control of the west bank and gaza strip and began looking for a new principle that would allow it to uphold the occupation th e desire to normalize the occupation and successfully annihilate the palestinian national movement through a series of disci plinary forms of control that were supported when need be by the sword proved to be unrealistic it took a few years before a clear policy took shape but eventually the separation principle was adopted as opposed to the colonization principle which was rarely discussed the separation principle has been talked about incessantly th e paradigmatic sentence describing this principle is we are here they are there th e we refers to israelis and the they to palestinians if the colonization principle refl ects the logic of the occupation the separation principle ostensibly off ers a solution to the occupation this is the way it is oft en conceived in israeli public discourse th e key word here is ostensibly if truth be told then the second principle does not aim to solve the occupation but rather to alter its logic in other words we are here they are there does not signify a withdrawal of israeli power from the ot but is used to blur the fact that israel has been reorganizing its power in the territories in order to continue its control over their resources 7 as i argued in the previous chapter the oslo accords which were the direct result of the fi rst intifada as well as the changing political and economic circumstances in the international realm signifi ed the reorganization of power rather than its withdrawal and should be understood as the continuation of the occupation by other means th e diff erence then between the colonization and separation principles is that while the fi rst is interested in both the people and their resources even though it treats them as separate entities the second is only interested in the resources and does not in any way assume responsibility for the people insofar as this is the case the primary contradiction i e the attempt to separate the people and their land remains intact under the separation principle since this principle does not entail severing the link between power and the occupied space but only modifi es the relation between the two as well as the relation between power and the occupied inhabitants as the separation principle took over israel began to lose all interest in the palestinians living under occupation except for those in the seam zones and along borders and changed the forms of violence it used and the meth 2 0 0 t h e s e p a r at i o n p r i n c i p l e ods of controlling palestinian space th is entailed a radical de emphasis of disciplinary power and the accentuation of a particular kind of sovereign power which in many respects disregards the law while these changes may appear to be unconnected and arbitrary an internal logic informed by the principle of separation was governing them violence a few weeks aft er the intifada broke out israeli journalist amira hass published a chilling interview with an israeli sniper every day before we go out they defi ne the regulations for opening fi re the sniper told hass th e regulations change from place to place and it was not coincidental that aft er a palestinian mob hacked and burned two israeli reservists to death in ramallah the orders for opening fi re were far more lenient than they had been the day before the sniper said th e sniper s commanders oft en held back trigger happy conscripts particularly aft er the outpouring of condem nation for the killing of mohammed al dura a gazan boy shot dead in his father s arms in front of tv cameras 8 you don t shoot at a child who is twelve or younger he said while adding that twelve and up is allowed he is not a child anymore he is already aft er his bar mitzvah 9 th e sniper s account highlights the change in israel s open fi re regu lations a change that would be well documented by the israeli human rights organization b tselem a couple of years later 10 until the outbreak of the second intifada the open fi re regulations in the ot were based on israel s penal code which indicated that soldiers were allowed to fi re live ammunition in only two situations when they were in real and immediate life threatening danger and during the apprehension of a suspect to be sure during the fi rst intifada israeli soldiers at times fi red live ammunition when they were not threatened but the extent of the phenomenon was restricted and the number of palestinians killed in this way was relatively limited 11 when the second intifada began the military defi ned the events in the ot as an armed confl ict short of war and thus expanded the range of situations in which soldiers are permitted to open fi re th e new version of the open fi re regulations has been kept secret yet b tselem suggests that the regulations permit at least in some instances the fi ring of live ammunition even in cases when there is no immediate life threatening danger to members of the security forces or civilians as we will see later in t h e s e p a r at i o n p r i n c i p l e 2 0 1 this chapter the military also granted immunity to virtually every soldier who opened fi re regardless of the circumstances 12 b tselem concludes that the new open fi re policy has unavoidably resulted in a situation in which shooting at innocent palestinians has practically become a routine 13 but the vague open fi re regulations disclose only one facet of the change in the methods of violence israel began using aft er september 2000 another feature of the change has involved the use of extrajudicial execu tions on november 9 six weeks aft er the intifada s eruption an israeli military helicopter hovered over the village of beit sahur near bethlehem as hussein abayat a local fatah militant was driving his jeep in the vil lage s main street suddenly the helicopter fi red an anti tank missile at the jeep th e enormous explosion killed hussein abayat as well as two other women who were passing by and injured three others th e particular way this extrajudicial execution was carried out marked the beginning of a new strategy up until august 2006 the assassination policy has led to the death of 335 palestinians more than 200 of whom were children women and men who were according to israel s own assessment bystanders 14 israel in other words has transformed the west bank and gaza strip into the international military complex s lab for aerial assassinations israel created a data bank made up of palestinians it considers to be terrorists or political leaders of certain organizations and every time it has had an opportunity to kill someone on the list and regards the timing as politically advantageous it has done so while the assassination policy is in fact the continuation of a long established practice this was the fi rst time that israel had offi cially acknowledged its use of extrajudicial execu tions 15 th e assassinated palestinians are killed without trial and without a fair legal process which presumes innocence until guilt is proven rather they are sentenced to death with no opportunity to defend themselves or to appeal the sentence 16 a legal analysis of the assassinations indeed suggests that in most cases israel did not abide by either international human rights law or humanitarian law 17 th is in turn reveals a transformation in israel s relation to the law following the outbreak of the second intifada namely its readiness to openly disregard it th e assassinations represent another major change in israel s approach which one israeli commentator has referred to as aerially enforced occupa tion 18 while israel had used airplanes and unmanned drones for recon naissance missions in the ot many years earlier the air now became a key 2 0 2 t h e s e p a r at i o n p r i n c i p l e arena through which the palestinian population was controlled unmanned balloons zeppelins early warning hawkeye planes and military satellites were deployed to monitor the population and gather information about it while apache helicopters and f 16 fi ghter jets were converted into conven tional weapons of occupation until the eruption of the second intifada the ground was the major sphere in which control was exercised but following the redeployment of israeli troops the air and the underground became prominent spheres of both control and resistance 19 th is is most appar ent in the gaza strip where israel enforces closures by dropping leafl ets on villages and refugee camps from airplanes declaring diff erent areas off limits and then using fi ghter jets and unmanned armed drones to target whoever tries to enter these areas 20 one should note that israel s decision to enforce the occupation through the air that is to introduce a new form of control was to a large extent determined by the separation principle which in turn came into being due to the numerous developments on the ground in the military operation dubbed defensive shield still other changes in israel s repertoires of violence became apparent th e massive attack was launched in the west bank on march 29 2002 in response to a suicide attack in which a palestinian blew himself up during a passover meal in a hotel dining room killing twenty eight people th is was the culmination of a bloody month for israel perhaps the bloodiest one in the history of modern israel in terms of civilian deaths with eighty one israelis killed in daily attacks call up notices for twenty thousand reserve soldiers were issued the largest draft since the 1982 lebanon war tanks rolled into palestinian cities and towns throughout the west bank as population centers were placed under prolonged curfews 21 in march and april alone close to fi ve hundred palestinians were killed th e most lethal raid was the one in the jenin refugee camp where for nearly two weeks israel made use of aerial shelling tanks armored bulldozers and infantry to quell palestinian resistance according to human rights watch hrw a total of 140 buildings were completely destroyed in the camp and an additional 200 houses sustained major damage considering that many of the buildings were multifamily homes hrw estimates that as many as four thousand residents representing more than a quarter of the camp s inhabitants became homeless 22 th e prolonged blanket curfews in jenin and several other cities and t h e s e p a r at i o n p r i n c i p l e 2 0 3 towns drastically restricted basic movement entailed the denial of access to medical treatment and caused a severe shortage of food water and medi cal supplies while i return to the restriction of movement momentarily here it is important to stress that during operation defensive shield israel modifi ed its controlling mechanisms in three key ways first defensive shield represented a change in the means of violence 23 before the operation israel primarily used its infantry to police the population during defensive shield both air force squadrons and tank battalions assumed a central role th us the operation alongside the extrajudicial executions carried out from the air denotes a move to more remote and lethal methods of military engagement second the violence was directed not only toward the palestinian inhab itants as it had been in the past but also against the material means used to administer and manage the population in israel s attack on the ministry of education for example the computer network as well as televisions and fi le cabinets full of records were destroyed th is same destruction was repeated in offi ce aft er offi ce including the ministry of civil aff airs the palestinian legislative council the central bureau of statistics the al bireh municipal library and so forth th e offi ces of palestinian civil society organizations such as human rights groups social service and welfare organizations and radio and television stations received similar treatment 24 th ird israel also targeted the palestinian infrastructure roads electric ity grids water pipelines and buildings throughout the west bank were severely damaged or destroyed during the operation thus erasing the few signs of the pa s achievements during the oslo years according to assess ments carried out by the world bank defensive shield resulted in damages of 361 million to palestinian infrastructure and institutions 25 th e united nations economic and social commission calculated that by may 2002 a total of 385 808 fruit and olive trees had been uprooted while several wells and agricultural constructions had been destroyed 26 in addition israel destroyed thousands of houses leaving more than twenty four thousand people homeless during the fi rst four years of the intifada th is type of vio lence was unheard of before oslo primarily because israel considered itself responsible for palestinian infrastructure accordingly it would never have considered wreaking such destruction or undermining civil institutions but since it was now operating under the logic of the separation principle it did not hesitate to do so 2 0 4 t h e s e p a r at i o n p r i n c i p l e defensive shield became the paradigm for israel s new forms of control th e occupying power adopted more intense and remote mechanisms of violence while discarding and destroying the institutions through which disciplinary forms of control are articulated exactly those it had transferred to the pa just a few years earlier not only was israel no longer interested in managing the population it also ensured that the pa would be unable to do so by attacking the means through which the population is adminis tered israel rendered its own subcontractor totally dysfunctional creating an institutional vacuum which as we will see constituted yet another contradiction the rule of law along with the change in the repertoires of violence and the sites targeted israel also altered its relation to the law if up until september 2000 israel controlled the occupied inhabitants primarily through the application of the law including to be sure the enforcement of draconian laws that both legalized the incarceration of thousands of political prisoners and permitted deportations house demolitions torture extended curfews and other forms of collective punishment one of the most striking characteristics of the second intifada is the extensive suspension of the law in the fi rst thirty three years of occupation any suspension of the law was still considered an exception to the rule even though the law s actual application did not entail any meaningful administration of justice in the second intifada the suspension of the law became the norm one example of this suspension is israel s pervasive employment of extrajudicial executions th e fact that not one israeli soldier has been tried for these killings that no legal inquiry followed the executions and that they are part of an overt policy suggests that some of the occupied inhabitants have been reduced to what the italian political philosopher giorgio agamben has called homo sacer that is people who can be killed without it being considered a crime 27 examining the application of law to israeli soldiers corroborates this claim and helps uncover the character of the change in israel s relation to the law following the outbreak of the second uprising during the intifada s fi rst four and a half years 3 161 palestinians were killed 636 of them minors moreover of the 751 palestinians who were killed in 2004 two thirds had not participated in any kind of fi ghting and yet the military prosecutor t h e s e p a r at i o n p r i n c i p l e 2 0 5 opened only 104 investigations concerning unlawful shootings during this period and of these 28 were actually prosecuted and 18 found guilty one of the soldiers found guilty of killing a 95 year old palestinian woman was sentenced to sixty fi ve days in prison 28 th e fi rst intifada was very diff erent in this respect since most military off enses were subjected to legal scrutiny from 1987 to 1990 israel killed 743 palestinians fewer than it killed in 2004 alone of whom 154 were minors th e military however carried out an investigation of every single killing and initiated a total of 1 256 inves tigations against soldiers who were suspected of breaching the regulations although only forty soldiers were prosecuted for unlawful killings the soldiers actions were nonetheless constantly investigated by the judicial authorities th us if a defi ning feature of the fi rst intifada was ongoing legal scrutiny albeit a very superfi cial and slanted scrutiny the second intifada can be characterized by the extensive withdrawal of the law 29 during the fi rst intifada law was still needed as a form of legitimization during the second intifada the law has in many respects become redundant the politics of death as i pointed out in previous chapters during the occupation s fi rst two decades israel emphasized both disciplinary and bio modes of power and employed numerous forms of control to craft an economically useful palestinian society while reducing the inhabitants political aptitude following the outbreak of the fi rst intifada a sovereign mode of power began to be emphasized over the other modes most notably through the implementation of the entry permit regime and the pervasive practice of incarceration torture and beatings in order to repress the population s political aspirations even though israel s treatment of palestinians was fre quently brutal civilian deaths were considered inimical to israel s interests and the military was instructed to avoid killing the occupied inhabitants 30 th e realization that it could no longer discipline the residents eventually led israel to transfer responsibility for managing the population to the pa rapidly israel lost interest in the individual palestinian and emphasized forms of control informed by sovereign and bio modes of power th erefore it is not altogether surprising that with the eruption of the second intifada israel adopted a new approach toward the palestinians which rendered them in many respects expendable th e fact that the aver 2 0 6 t h e s e p a r at i o n p r i n c i p l e age number of palestinians killed each year during the second intifada has been more than the number of those killed during the fi rst twenty years of occupation is extremely telling if before the second uprising israel tried to avoid killing palestinians from september 2000 the fi nger pulling the trig ger confronted fewer obstacles unlike the soldiers of the fi rst intifada those in the second were not given clubs and beatings were not part of the daily routine in the ot in place of the politics of life that had characterized the ot until the second intifada a politics of death slowly emerged th e para digmatic practice of this new politics is the extrajudicial execution which in contrast to incarcerations or even torture does not intend to shape or alter palestinian behavior but to do away with recalcitrant individuals another example of the radical shift in israel s relation to the occupied inhabitants is the adoption of a military protocol that allows soldiers to use palestinians as human shields soldiers have ordered palestinians to enter buildings to check if they are booby trapped th ey have instructed residents to remove suspicious objects from roads used by the military th ey have made civilians stand inside houses where soldiers have set up military positions so that palestinians will not fi re at the soldiers and they have forced palestinians to walk in front of soldiers to shield them from gunfi re while the soldiers hold guns behind their backs and sometimes fi re over their shoulders 31 although this practice was outlawed by the high court of justice in 2005 there have been documented incidents in which soldiers have continued using palestinians as human shields 32 moreover the practice underscores that palestinians are conceived by the military as dispensable shields not unlike the fl ack jackets that soldiers wear every time they enter the ot th e far reaching change in israel s methods of control becomes even more striking once one compares israel s approach to the inhabitants during this period with the one it adopted following the 1967 war for example in the late 1960s and early 1970s israel monitored the calorie intake of the palestinian inhabitants and boasted that during the fi rst seven years of occu pation the average calorie intake of the occupied residents had increased from 2 430 1966 to 2 719 1973 while the protein intake had increased from 67 1 to 79 4 33 in 1980 the bank of israel proudly noted that the level of palestinian food consumption was continuing to rise and the nutritional standards had improved 34 th us during the fi rst period israel invested considerable resources in closely monitoring the nutritional value of the t h e s e p a r at i o n p r i n c i p l e 2 0 7 palestinian food basket in order to ensure that its policies were decreasing palestinian susceptibility to disease and making inhabitants more useful in economic terms by contrast during the second intifada israel has adopted practices that have dramatically decreased the food basket s nutritional value weakening as it were the palestinian body and reducing its energies for instance the world bank reports that acute malnutrition has aff ected more than 9 per cent of palestinian children in the territories and the food and agriculture organization of the united nations estimated that almost 40 percent of the palestinians in the ot suff er from food insecurity 35 almost half of the children between six and fi ft y nine months and women of child bearing age are anemic due to a lack of iron in their diet th ere has been a 58 percent increase in the number of stillbirths due to poor prenatal care and child mortality increased substantially in 2002 to become the leading cause of death for children under fi ve and the second leading cause of death over all 36 moreover israel does not monitor the eff ects its policies have on the inhabitants indicating that it no longer considers them as sites that need to be managed ariella azoulay and adi ophir convincingly argue that since the erup tion of the second intifada israel has held the west bank and gaza strip on the verge of catastrophe in order to uphold and preserve the occupation 37 both normalcy and full blown catastrophe would signify the end of the occupation while the intermediate situation of ongoing crisis serves as a modality of control whereby the situation can always get better if you behave or worse if you misbehave th e production of a permanent crisis along with israel s changing relation to the occupied inhabitants refl ects a shift from the colonization to the separation principle whereby there is little if any interest in managing the palestinian population residing in the ot palestinian space one cannot fully understand the replacement of the colonization with the separation principle without examining palestinian space historically the withdrawal of colonial powers from their colonies has entailed the abdica tion of control over the means of legitimate movement within and from the colonies following their withdrawal the former colony s borders became porous while movement within the country was no longer monitored and 2 0 8 t h e s e p a r at i o n p r i n c i p l e controlled by the colonial power by contrast in both the gaza strip and west bank israel has maintained its control over movement even aft er its troops have pulled out from certain regions most notably the gaza strip th e withdrawal of troops may have produced the impression that israel transferred sovereignty to the palestinians but in reality it continues to con trol both the space that the palestinians occupy and the legitimate means of movement ironically as the israeli government adopted the separation discourse it implemented strategies that further contracted palestinian space th is was accomplished primarily through the imposition of internal and external closures and the construction of the separation barrier in some respects israel simply continued a strategy it had adopted during the oslo years however its actions and their consequences were more severe with the outbreak of the second intifada many west bank cities towns and villages were transformed into restricted military zones and their residents were held under sustained oft en twenty four hour curfew for days on end on occasion nearly 900 000 west bank residents in 74 communities were held under curfew so that for example during the six and a half month period between june 17 and december 31 2002 547 000 people in 37 localities were on average confi ned to their homes 38 israel also developed a dense network of both fi xed and movable military checkpoints numbering some 140 in the west bank and 25 30 in the gaza strip see map 6 it also set up literally hundreds of unmanned physical obstacles in the form of concrete blocks piles of dirt or trenches which were used to prevent access to and from towns and villages during the latter half of 2002 israel reintroduced permit requirements for internal west bank movement so that palestinians who wanted to travel within the west bank also had to obtain a permit 39 hence movement was confi ned to a small space oft en no larger than the household or village in which the palestinian resided according to the union of palestinian medical relief committees 85 percent of people in the west bank did not leave their villages during the intifada s fi rst three years due to curfews and closures 40 th e seemingly endless number of physical barriers has not only violated the rights of palestinians by impeding their access to work education and medical facilities but on a deeper level these barriers have distorted basic conceptions of time and space in the ot there is no longer any way to calculate the time it will take to travel from point a to b a fact that helps produce widespread uncertainty and disorientation 41 t h e s e p a r at i o n p r i n c i p l e 2 0 9 barrier constructed by march 2007 barrier under construction in march 2007 barrier planned route checkpoints tunnels and underpasses areas inaccessible to palestinians or subject to restrictions map 6 west bank separation barriers checkpoints and road blocks source offi ce for the coordination of humanitarian aff airs occupied palestinian territory along with the internal closure israel tightened the external border dramatically limiting the permits granted to palestinians wishing to enter or travel through israel following palestinian attacks on israeli targets the israeli media oft en reported that the military had imposed a total closure on the ot and a siege on cities in the west bank such routine reports paint a misleading picture since they depict the severe restrictions on the movement of palestinians as a response to a particular event or threat th e reality however has been altogether diff erent since the sweeping restric tions have been continuous as b tselem notes and are only marginally aff ected by the military s assessment of the level of security threats 42 th e so called safe passage route designed during oslo to allow palestinians to move relatively freely between the west bank and gaza was closed by the israeli authorities days aft er the uprising erupted and was never reopened along the same lines israel restricted passenger and commercial traffi c to neighboring countries 43 permits were frequently cancelled and border crossings were oft en sealed greatly reducing employment in israel as well as commercial transactions with or through israel while all of these forms of control were used prior to the outbreak of the second intifada they were employed with much less intensity and following the uprising s eruption the function of some was altered th e transformation of how the border operated as a form of control is a case in point instead of a permeable border deployed to monitor and regulate palestinian movement the green line was converted into an impermeable border vis à vis the ot s palestinian inhabitants though settlers could always pass through unhindered according to 1999 fi gures collected by the israel airports authority which is responsible for operating the rafah crossing the only border through which palestinians can leave the gaza strip in order to travel abroad approximately fourteen hundred people per day passed through the border 44 by contrast the year aft er israel withdrew from gaza the number of people exiting the region fell to 453 per day or 32 percent of the 1999 crossings a similar pattern emerges when one examines the movement of palestinians from gaza into israel in 2004 a comprehen sive closure was imposed for 149 days more than half the workdays that year moreover if on the eve of the intifada the third quarter of 2000 an average of 26 500 palestinians from the gaza strip entered israel daily during the third quarter of 2004 the number was 1 000 per day a drop of 96 percent during the year aft er the withdrawal from gaza on average t h e s e p a r at i o n p r i n c i p l e 211 723 palestinian laborers entered israel each day 45 th us with the adoption of the separation principle palestinian space was contracted and the green line that had enabled some form of movement was closed and sealed thus transforming the ot into a container of sorts th e crucial point is that with the adoption of the separation principle israel loses interest in the lives of the palestinians and focuses almost solely on the occupied resources th e checkpoints seam zones and borders are the exception since at these locations israel continues to monitor the palestinians closely and to disseminate a series of norms through disciplin ary practices that aim to teach those who wish to move the requirements of correct conduct israel in other words is no longer attempting to nor malize the occupation by striving to shape the behavior of the palestinian population rather it aims to shape and administer only the moving subject following the adoption of the separation principle only those palestinians who want to move within the ot or to leave the region are subjected to israel s disciplinary practices and must in order to become moving subjects adopt a series of normative fi ats palestinians who do not want any contact with israel must remain within the confi nes of their refugee camp village town or city the separation barrier in the midst of the second intifada israel introduced a new controlling apparatus 46 on april 14 2002 the israeli cabinet decided to establish a permanent barrier in the west bank made up of a series of electronic fences deep trenches wide patrol roads and in certain places nine meter concrete slabs 47 although the barrier has been presented as a temporary security apparatus aimed at stopping suicide bombers the israeli government has constructed parts of the barrier deep inside the west bank using it as a political weapon to confi scate land and thus to contract palestinian space th e barrier is being built east of as many jewish settlements as possible to make it easier to annex them into israel in the future its primary objective as azoulay and ophir have convincingly claimed is to extend and repro duce domination and reinscribe it in space 48 palestinian land was confi scated in order to encircle jewish settlement blocs from the east and in this way to incorporate them into israel proper th e ariel fi nger for instance penetrates 22 km into the west bank cutting 2 1 2 t h e s e p a r at i o n p r i n c i p l e inside 42 percent of the region s width see map 6 th e ma ale adummim section will extend 14 km east across the most narrow section of the west bank thus cutting off all of the major traffi c arteries between the northern and southern parts of the west bank and in eff ect slicing the region in two 49 israel also built sixteen internal enclaves where palestinian villages towns or cities are either totally surrounded by the barrier or surrounded on three sides all in all israel has destroyed and confi scated thousands of dunams of fi elds and olive groves th e barrier has cut off farmers from their lands patients from hospitals and children from their schools th us instead of separating israelis from palestinians in many areas the barrier actually separates palestinians from palestinians due to the enclaves and the barrier s penetration into the west bank the planned route is more than twice the length of the green line approxi mately 680 km long and although the very essence and presence of the barrier is as weizman notes the obvious solid material embodiment of state interests the route should not be understood as the direct product of top down government planning rather the repeated modifi cations in the route s trajectory indeed the route was changed several times and in numerous cases a portion of the barrier was destroyed once an alternative route was adopted are a result of a multiplicity of technical legal and political confl icts over issues of territory demography water archaeology and real estate as well as over political issues relating to sovereignty security and identity th e route s course in other words is an eff ect of numerous developments on the ground and not a policy emanating from above 50 th e barrier is the largest real estate project in israel s history and by the time it is complete an estimated 3 5 billion will have been spent 51 although it infl uences practically every aspect of palestinian life its det rimental eff ects can be divided into two broad categories it contravenes individual and collective rights while creating facts on the ground whose aim is to undercut the palestinian state building project it is the paradig matic example of the separation principle once the construction is complete about 12 percent of palestinian land will be located between the barrier and the green line not including large segments of land that may be confi scated if a barrier is erected in the jordan valley 52 th e appropriated territory includes some of the most fertile land in the west bank and is currently home to about 27 250 palestinians excluding east jerusalem life for these people has changed dramatically t h e s e p a r at i o n p r i n c i p l e 213 as they now live on islands of sorts entering and exiting their homes and plots of land has become a recurrent nightmare th ere are gates between these villages and towns and the rest of the west bank yet these gates are oft en closed when they are opened a strict permit regime is imposed making it impossible for many people who live in the area to pass an additional 247 800 palestinians reside in fi ft y four communities east of the barrier that are completely or partially surrounded enclaves which have one or two entrances through which the residents must pass in order to work their lands or travel to other parts of the west bank 53 in cities like tulkarem and qalqilya where the barrier separates the metropolis from the neighboring villages both urban and rural communities have been hard hit since the fragmentation and isolation of the populations have undercut social support networks th e economic ramifi cations of the barrier have been serious infl icting further suff ering on a society already plagued by extreme poverty th e barrier epitomizes the idea that physical forms of control have a life of their own and through a series of eff ects shape palestinian comportment th e barrier has for example produced a whole bureaucratic apparatus that includes among other things a permit regime determining who can con tinue living in the areas closed by the wall as well as who can pass through the gates connecting between diff erent parts of the west bank th is permit regime not only determines who can attend schools farm agricultural fi elds or access medical institutions using categories such as gender and age to discriminate among the palestinians but also determines which gate each person can pass through and at what time people who were used to com muting to work are suddenly confi ned to their villages women who had for years tended the olive groves can no longer reach their land and teach ers cannot reach schools located in adjacent villages th e barrier in other words creates a permit regime that helps shape the comportment of the people living in its vicinity while slowly altering the social stratifi cation of palestinian society th e barrier is a good example of a bio mode of power in the sense of oper ating on the population as opposed to the individual yet unlike biopower it is uninterested in life th is claim can be appreciated once one considers how it shapes the behavior of israeli soldiers most notably those who are positioned to guard it the barrier transforms the soldiers into an eff ect of its own logic even though the military has been unwilling to publish 2 1 4 t h e s e p a r at i o n p r i n c i p l e its open fi re regulations an array of incidents suggests that any suspect who approaches or touches the barrier can be legitimately shot 54 th us the soldier standing guard on the panoptic tower or patrolling the barrier becomes in a sense an automatic weapon in the service of a concrete wall and a series of trenches and fences from geography to demography by focusing on the violation of rights however one misses the overall objective of the reorganization of space th e fact that the barrier is not being built on the internationally recognized border underscores that its major objective is to redraw the border between israel and the west bank th e chosen route aims to mitigate the consequences of israel s massive settle ment project whose goal has been to colonize the land without incorporat ing the occupied inhabitants into the israeli demos ironically though as the settlement project deepened its hold on the ot the very idea of israel as a jewish state where jews are the majority has been undermined put diff erently the fact that the majority of people living between the jordan valley and the mediterranean sea are not jewish has underscored the inher ent contradiction resulting from the separation between the dowry and the bride and has highlighted the diffi culty of achieving the vision of a greater israel while maintaining a jewish state th e barrier should be considered both as an eff ect of this contradiction and as a new form of control that aims to overcome it not unlike israel s withdrawal from the gaza strip the barrier aims to resolve the contradiction between israel s geographic and demographic aspirations for years the demographic threat was kept at bay by denying the occupied palestinians israeli citizenship and subjecting them to military rule israel created a colonial regime in the west bank and gaza in order to sustain the jewish majority within its borders installing a dual legal system within a single territory one system for jews the other for palestinians but the contradictions arising from the israeli system had by 2002 made it clear to many israeli decision makers even those on the far right that the incongruence between israel s geographic and demographic ambitions had led to a political juncture whereby it seemed that israel would have to choose between one of two options continue maintaining a colonial regime or conversely give up the idea of a jewish state t h e s e p a r at i o n p r i n c i p l e 21 5 th e barrier served as a third option by annexing several parts of the west bank israel aims to radically alter the region s demographic and geographic reality demographically the barrier will surround about fi ft y six jewish settlements from the east annexing the land that they now occupy so that 171 000 of the west bank s settlers will be incorporated into israel s new borders and thus legitimized th e wall being built in east jerusalem is meant to reinforce the 1967 annexation of this part of the city and to further legitimize the 183 800 settlers living there th us if the barrier does become the new border it will solve the problem of about 87 percent of israel s illegal settlers th e remaining 13 percent or 52 500 settlers will have to be evacuated as jewish settlers were forcibly evacuated from the gaza strip 55 it is unlikely that israel will use guns to expel the 27 250 palestinians who are now living between the barrier and the green line rather the barrier will encourage these communities to voluntarily move to its eastern side by destroying the infrastructure of their existence th is is already happening on an individual level and if nothing changes one will likely see entire populations of villages and towns uprooted from their ancestral homes 56 geographically and politically the barrier does not resemble either one of the two traditional visions for peace two national states side by side or one bi national secular polity 57 instead its objective is to enlarge israel s internationally recognized territory by annexing west bank land while creating self governing enclaves for the palestinians aside from the sixteen small enclaves mentioned above the barrier s route cuts the palestinian ter ritory up into and at least two north south wb and perhaps four larger enclaves the north is divided into three parts north of ariel south of ariel and jericho taking the gaza strip into account it becomes clear that the future palestinian state to be will be made up of three if not fi ve main regions each of these regions will be closed off almost completely from each other israel will continue to eff ectively control all of the borders so that it will be able to implement a hermetic closure whenever it wishes and in this way continue controlling the legitimate means of movement what is new about the barrier is not the attempt to create closed enclaves in the ot but the eff ort to transform these enclaves into quasi independent entities that will ostensibly form a palestinian state th e gaza strip provides a good indication of what will happen in the west bank if israel goes ahead and unilaterally withdraws from parts of the west bank oren yift achel 2 1 6 t h e s e p a r at i o n p r i n c i p l e makes this point strikingly clear when he argues that israel has entered a new phase in which it is restraining its expansionist impulse instead it consolidates territorial gains by further judaizing areas with a substantial jewish presence while ridding itself of the responsibility for the densely populated palestinian areas and isolated jewish settlements despite the important precedent of evacuating the gaza settlements the emerging political geography continues to be characterized by violent jewish domina tion strict separation and ethnic inequality 58 of frontiers and ghettos james ron s analysis of state violence helps explain why there has been a modifi cation in the repertoires of violence a suspension of the law and an alteration in israel s approach to the palestinian inhabitants but his model does not explain israel s changing relation to palestinian space ron as mentioned in chapter 6 poses two spatial metaphors ghettos and fron tiers suggesting that until the early 1990s the west bank and gaza strip were israel s ghettos since they were densely institutionalized by israel were within its legal sphere of infl uence and served as repositories for unwanted and marginalized populations lebanon by contrast was israel s frontier since it was not institutionalized by israel and was distinguished from it by clear boundaries th e crucial point is that the diff erent institutional settings determined the kind of violence israel employed in each region whereas in its ghetto israel used ethnic policing mass incarceration and harassment at its frontiers it employed unruly lethal violence 59 th e thinning of israeli institutions in the ot following oslo and par ticularly aft er israel s withdrawal from the gaza strip in august 2005 helps explain the unruly destruction of infrastructure and the adoption of remote and more lethal forms of violence ron also notes that with the institutional dilution comes the abdication of moral responsibility toward the population a process that also manifested itself in the ot as israel became indiff erent to the management of the population and to the life of the inhabitants th e west bank and the gaza strip to an even greater degree have indeed become israel s lebanon th is became patently clear in june 2006 when israel bombed the electric grid in gaza thus cutting off seven hundred thousand people at once from electricity it bombed all major traffi c arteries connecting the northern part of the gaza strip with the south and used t h e s e p a r at i o n p r i n c i p l e 217 f 16 jets apache helicopters and rocket launchers to continuously shell towns and villages this attack killed scores of palestinians including many women and children in the future repertoires of violence of this kind will likely characterize israel s assaults in the west bank as well even though ron s insights are extremely important the dichotomy that he poses between ghettos and frontiers cannot be directly applied to the ot while israel has in the past years substantially diluted its institutional presence in the territories it has also placed hundreds of thousands of palestinians in enclaves by surrounding the gaza strip and parts of the west bank with fences and walls th ere appears to be direct correlation between the de institutionalization and the ghettoization of the two regions th e gaza strip one of the most densely populated areas on earth with four thousand people per square kilometer has been transformed into one big prison 60 so while israel has withdrawn its troops from the gaza strip and dismantled the jewish settlements the palestinians in this region are even further limited in terms of resources mobility and decision making not least because they are held in a ghetto and have no control over their own borders whether they involve land borders air space or access to the sea gaza it seems will serve as the model for the west bank th e methods of control israel now uses are similar to the ones used on its frontier they are more lethal remote and technologically sophisticated instead of deploying soldiers to patrol city streets israel now employs biometrics and surveillance aircraft backed up by f 16 fi ghter jets apache helicopters and ground to ground missile launchers and the rule of law has been for the most part suspended spatially both regions have been transformed into hermetic ghettos while institutionally they have been transformed into a frontier th is point is crucial because it underscores the unique form of control that israel introduced in the ot following the adoption of the separation principle the rise of hamas th e excesses and contradictions produced by israel s controlling appara tuses and practices can also help explain the increasing popular support for hamas in 1995 public opinion polls showed hamas with 10 percent support as opposed to fatah s 55 percent but by 2003 21 percent supported hamas while fatah s support had shrunk to 28 percent 61 hamas s gradual 2 1 8 t h e s e p a r at i o n p r i n c i p l e climb culminated in the organization s landslide victory in the democratic elections of january 25 2006 an analysis of its ascendancy suggests that hamas was empowered by israel a development that corroborates susan buck morss s theoretical claim concerning the dialectic of power the notion that power produces its own vulnerability 62 while such a claim might be obvious to some in the literature on hamas it has not been discussed khaled hroub for example contends that the organization s popularity stems from its being seen as the voice of palestinian dignity and the symbol of the defense of palestinian rights at a time of unprecedented hardship humiliation and despair which have followed the historic concessions made by the pa he underscores the relative success of izzeddin al qassam hamas s military wing in attacking israeli targets stating that this has also increased the organization s popularity as has hamas s reputation for clean conduct modesty and honesty which have been pointedly contrasted with the conduct and corruption of many pa offi cials 63 shaul mishal and avraham sela add that hamas s success in winning over the masses has to do with its increasingly pragmatic approach one characterized by support for the short term objective of a palestinian state in the west bank and gaza strip while still maintaining the long term goal of establishing an islamic state that would eventually replace israel th ey propose that hamas s decision making processes have been markedly balanced combining real istic considerations with traditional beliefs and arguments emphasizing visionary goals but also immediate needs 64 most commentators stress that hamas has also benefi ted from the extensive welfare services it off ers to all palestinians regardless of their religious belief or political affi liation 65 while these insights undoubtedly help explain why hamas has gained massive popular support in the ot they all relate to hamas as if it were some kind of free fl oating actor from which a series of policies and actions originate th ey do not address the structural eff ects of the occupation and how these eff ects have helped shape hamas th e writers of a report on hamas s social welfare activism conclude for example that the organiza tion s positive image is signifi cantly related to the effi ciency of its social services particularly when compared with the pa s weaknesses 66 taking into account both the scope of services hamas off ers and the sense of solidarity it provides this conclusion is surely accurate yet it substitutes the symptoms for the causes th e question is not whether hamas s social t h e s e p a r at i o n p r i n c i p l e 219 welfare organizations have helped it garner popular support but rather what the conditions were that shaped hamas s practices and enabled it to become so popular in the previous chapter we saw how throughout the oslo period israel allowed the pa to fortify its security forces while generating an economic crisis and undermining the operation of palestinian civil institutions th is situation further deteriorated aft er the intifada s eruption according to the world bank following the outbreak of the intifada the economic crisis in the west bank and gaza strip seriously compromised household welfare if in 1999 per capita gross national income was 1 850 by 2003 it had fallen to 1 110 th us due to the various restrictions placed on the movement of people labor and goods and on the transfer of revenues collected by the israeli government on the pa s behalf the palestinians have experienced a contraction in real personal incomes of almost 40 percent despite the more than doubling of annual donor disbursements in the same period using a 2 10 per day poverty line an estimated 60 percent of the population was poor by december 2002 three times the amount documented on the eve of the intifada th e number of poor accordingly tripled from 650 000 to 1 9 million and the poor have gotten even poorer 67 th e economic and social calamity has produced new populations that need assistance just in order to sustain life as one member of an islamic charity stated t he novelty of this uprising is that it has engendered new types of need which has increased the number of eligible benefi ciaries and diversifi ed the social groups requiring such assistance 68 th ese new groups currently include landowners shopkeepers and those whose homes have been demolished by israeli bulldozers in other words these new groups are not just the traditionally poor 69 th e rapid decline in the standard of living has only served to deepen the de legitimization of the palestinian governing body since by the end of 2002 many of the civil institutions were only partially functioning and the services they were off ering were less adequate than those off ered by israel in 1993 th is is not surprising considering that a decade aft er israel created the pa to manage the palestinian population the fl edgling governing body was undermined thus producing an institutional vacuum in the ot th e signifi cant point is that these dire developments and particularly the institutional vacuum israel created were transformed into an opportu nity and hamas knew how to benefi t from the situation th e movement s 2 2 0 2 2 0 t h e s e p a r at i o n p r i n c i p l e ascendancy is in other words not only due to its reaction to israel s colo nial project it is also an eff ect of this project practically the organization strengthened its policy of providing assistance on the basis of socioeconomic need rather than religious or political criteria so that families in economic distress did not need to be hamas members or even practicing muslims in order to qualify for aid as a chairman of an islamic charity noted t he increase in poverty has vastly increased the pressure upon our organization because we are receiving many more applications than before 70 hence the claim that hamas s popularity has resulted from its charity and welfare network conceals the fact that israel has produced a situation where on the one hand there is desperate need for charity institutions while on the other hand the state institutions cannot off er the required services th e culminating eff ect of the second uprising has been devastating for the occupied inhabitants a large percentage of palestinians are now dependent on aid off ered by international humanitarian organizations and islamic charities and this aid ensures that the ongoing crisis does not develop into a full blown catastrophe so if in 1994 the pa replaced israel as the authority responsible for disciplining the population following the eruption of the second intifada charity organizations took over many of the responsibilities for sustaining palestinian life if in the fi rst decade of the occupation israel aimed to manage the population by producing a certain kind of security in the past decade it has controlled the population by producing insecurity th is insecurity has no doubt benefi ted hamas not only because of its ability to fi ll in the institutional vacuum but also because of its ideological convic tion simply put within a context of widespread destruction and absolute uncertainty a worldview that accentuates the importance of faith fate and divine ordinance gains ground 71 yet it was not only the institutional vacuum and despondency of palestinian society that enabled hamas to win the day but the specifi c kind of postmodern fundamentalism that the group had adopted 72 hamas s worldview and actions are shaped both by its opposition to modernity and colonialism as well as by its incorporation of certain elements integral to modernity th is postmodern fundamentalism combines its religious appeals with an unwavering attempt to intervene in the political system mobilize the palestinian inhabitants and create a vibrant organization for assuming and retaining political power 73 th us hamas s critique of postcolonial western domination and cultural imperialism is also tied to t h e s e p a r at i o n p r i n c i p l e 2 21 diff erent modern phenomena such as the expansion of higher education urbanization the emergence of vast markets for inexpensive islamic books and newspapers and the proliferation of religious radio and television programs along similar lines hamas like other islamist movements has been shaped through its interaction with globalization th e deconstruction of the universal pretensions of european civilization haldun gülalp convinc ingly claims in a slightly diff erent context has led to a growing recognition that the west too is a provincial culture with its own hegemonic project th is recognition has allowed alternative visions of civilization to gain cur rency th erefore it is no surprise that anti western islamist themes that champion the periphery against the center found enthusiastic audiences among a new generation of students and other intellectuals who conceive religious culture not as a return to the past but as a site of social innovation 74 many of hamas s leaders fi t this description perfectly as they are doctors engineers lawyers and other professionals whose religious sense of justice is in several respects postnationalist and postsocialist and represents an answer to modernity s unaccomplished promises so while they contest the absolute certainties and unfulfi lled promises propagated by the west they adopt many aspects of modernity using them to increase their infl uence and garner popular support having said this let me emphasize that hamas aspires to establish a theocratic regime one that is extremely oppressive toward women and several other segments of society th e successful consoli dation of its control will be extremely tragic for all those who have fought for the establishment of a secular democracy in palestine 2 2 2 t h e s e p a r at i o n p r i n c i p l e epilogue th e sectarian clashes that erupted in 2006 between hamas and fatah as well as between diff erent hamulas in the gaza strip have introduced a totally new dimension into the israeli palestinian confl ict most pundits have understood these latter clashes as either a struggle over who will con trol the palestinian government and resources or as a local manifestation of a much broader international confl ict between fundamentalist and secular forces in the islamic world while such interpretations no doubt capture some of the most important recent developments they also obscure the central role that israel and the united states have played in producing the internal palestinian violence by wreaking havoc on the palestinian economy and destroying the state institutions that had managed somehow to survive throughout the second intifada the closure and economic sanctions imposed on the west bank and gaza strip have helped precipitate the violent clashes among the fac tions indeed the idea behind the economic sanctions which both israel and the united states have pressured other countries to enforce is to shape the power relations within palestinian society by adopting a scheme that for clarity s sake one could call the somalia plan 1 for months the palestinian authority was unable to pay the salaries of its one hundred and sixty thousand employees th ese workers provide the livelihood for more than one million people almost a third of the popula tion some seventy thousand of these unpaid employees work for one of the numerous security organizations most of which are linked to political factions like their brethren who are employed by civil institutions such as the education and health ministries the security personnel are deeply 2 2 3 frustrated and angry because they cannot feed their families but unlike the civilian workers they are armed under conditions of scarce resources and uncertainty it is not surprising that a power struggle erupted among the armed palestinians inadequate resources economic sanctions thousands of armed men in distress and foreign support of certain factions are aft er all the ingredients from which warlordism à la somalia is made th e result is that palestinian society which for years struggled against social disintegration has been divided th is is a tragic development par ticularly considering that for two decades israel deployed numerous forms of control informed by disciplinary power to engender and strengthen fragmentation within palestinian society but ultimately had failed to accomplish its objective th e failure was i have claimed due in large part to the unifying eff ect of palestinian nationalism produced inter alia by the excesses and contradictions of the mechanisms of control as well as the occupied population s perseverance th e current divide characterizing palestinian society does not however signify the disappearance of such contradictions or a lack of determination on behalf of the occupied inhabit ants rather it is a result of numerous processes and political circumstances among which is the rise of islamic fundamentalism th is fundamentalism as i showed in the previous chapter is intricately tied to the demise of certain kinds of disciplinary and bio modes of power and to the ascendancy of a sovereign power that does not hesitate to suspend the law as it attempts to control palestinian society through the destruction of the infrastructure of existence ironically israel s so called success in fragmenting palestinian society is inimical to its own interests th e rise of islamic fundamentalism is only one part of the problem one has to be extremely short sighted not to see how the absence of a united palestinian leadership will undermine all eff orts to bring about local and regional peace but even if the palestinians overcome the internal feuds the confl ict with israel still has to be resolved in order for any kind of peace agreement to emerge according to the preceding analysis the israeli palestinian confl ict can move ahead in one of two ways on the one hand the key to solving the confl ict is by addressing the structural incongruities of the occupation the most important of which is the distinc tion israel has made between the palestinians and their land once israel relates to the two as one inseparable unit a just and peaceful solution can evolve if on the other hand israel maintains the distinction between the 2 2 4 e p i l o g u e people and their land numerous contradictions will continue to emerge the palestinians will accordingly resist israeli control insofar as this is the case the only tenable way to solve the confl ict is by addressing the occupation s structural contradictions any attempt to reach or impose a solution to the confl ict without reuniting the palestinian people and their land and off ering them full sovereignty over the land including a monopoly over legitimate violence and the means of movement will ultimately lead to more contradictions and the cycle of violence will surely resume e p i l o g u e 2 2 5 appendix 1 th is diagram provides an overview of the structure of the civil branch of the west bank s military government each department was directed by an israeli offi cer while almost all of the staff and employees were palestinians 2 2 7 2 2 7 h c n a r b s e c v r e s i d a e h i h c n a r b c m o n o c e d a e h r o i r e t n i h t l a e h n o i t a c u d e r e w o p t s o p e n o h p e e t l l a t s o p r e e n g n e i l e n n o s r e p r o b a l l y o p m e t n e m i r g a e r u t l u c s n a r t t r o p r e t a w s a e r t y r u s m o t s u c m m o c y r t s u d n i l a n o i t a n s k r a p e r u t a n s e v r e s e r s n o g i i l e r e r a f l e w s t r u o c s n o s i r p s e i t i u q i t n a s c i t s i t a t s m s i r u o t l e u f i n a d o t s u c g n i s u o h s e i r r a u q u s n i e c n a r t i d u a l a n r e t n i r e d n a m m o c a e r a n o s i a l i h t i w s e i t i r o h t u a r o f o s c i l b u p s r i a f f a l a g e l r o s i v d a e c i l o p n o s i a l i e c i f f o i n g e r o f r e t s i n m i r o s i v d a b a r a s r i a f f a r o s i v d a o s n o i t a g i t i l n o r b e h t c i r t s i d m e h e h t e b l t c i r t s i d h a l l a m a r t c i r t s i d l s u b a n t c i r t s i d m r a k u t l t c i r t s i d i n n e j t c i r t s i d n a d r o j t c i r t s i d appendix 2 th e following table lists west bank settlements according to the year they were established numbers in parentheses indicate the order of establish ment and correspond to map 2 page 126 year established settlement year established settlement kefar ezyon 1 argaman 2 mehola 3 kalya 4 rosh zurim 5 allon shevut 6 mevo horon 7 gilgal 8 yitav 9 ma ale efrayim 10 massu a 11 hamra 12 mizpe shalem 13 beqa ot 14 har gillo 15 kiryat arba 16 gittit 17 1973 1975 1975 1975 1975 1976 1976 1977 1977 1977 1977 1977 1977 1977 1977 1977 1977 1967 1968 1968 1968 1969 1970 1970 1970 1970 1970 1970 1971 1971 1972 1972 1972 1973 mekhora 18 el azar 19 ma ale adummim 20 ofra 21 peza el 22 netiv hagedud 23 ro i 24 almog 25 elqana 26 bet el 27 bet horon 28 migdal oz 29 hallamish 30 kokhav hashahar 31 niran 32 sal it 33 qedumim 34 continued 2 2 9 year established settlement year established settlement 1977 1977 1977 1977 1978 1978 1978 1978 1978 1978 1979 1979 1979 1979 1980 1980 1980 1980 1980 1980 1980 1980 1981 1981 1981 1981 1981 1981 1981 1981 1981 1981 rehan 35 rimmonim 36 shaveshomeron 37 teqoa 38 ari el 39 kefar tappuah 40 mevo dotan 41 mizpe yeriho 42 qarne shomeron 43 tomer 44 elon moreh 45 shadmot mehola 46 kefar adummim 47 shilo 48 efrata 49 bet haarava 50 giv on hahadasha 51 wered yeriho 52 homesh 53 hemdat 54 yafi t 55 ma ale shomeron 56 bet arye 57 barqan 58 karmel 59 hinnanit 60 yaqir 61 ma on 62 ma ale mikhmas 63 ma ale amos 64 mattityahu 65 nili 66 1981 1981 1981 1981 1982 1982 1982 1982 1982 1982 1982 1982 1982 1982 1983 1983 1983 1983 1983 1983 1983 1983 1983 1983 1983 1983 1983 1983 1983 1983 1983 1984 ateret 67 enav 68 pesagot 69 shaqed 70 eshkolot 71 hermesh 72 newe daniyyel 73 noqedim 74 no omi 75 ale zahav 76 almon 77 pene hever 78 sa nur 79 telem 80 alfe menashe 81 asfar 82 berakha 83 giv at ze ev 84 migdalim 85 gannim 86 dolev 87 tene 88 yizhar 89 kaddim 90 ma ale levona 91 mezadot yehuda 92 suseya 93 immanu el 94 otni el 95 qiryat netafi m 96 sha are tiqwa 97 adora 98 continued 2 3 0 a p p e n d i x 2 year established settlement year established settlement 1984 1984 1984 1984 1984 1984 1984 1985 1985 1985 1985 1985 1985 itamar 99 geva binyamin 100 karme zur 101 haggay 102 nahali el 103 eli 104 pedu el 105 oranit 106 beitar illit 107 hashmona im 108 kokhav ya aqov 109 ez efrayim 110 qedar 111 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1989 1989 1989 1990 1991 1996 1998 1999 shim a 112 har adar 113 nofi m 114 na ale 115 bat ayin 116 talmon 117 ofarim 118 zufi m 119 avne hefez 120 revava 121 modi in illit 122 kefar haoranim 123 negohot 124 source foundation for middle east peace available online at www fmep org note four settlements were dismantled in august 2005 a p p e n d i x 2 2 31 notes preface 1 th e numbers are taken from b tselem s website www btselem org 2 associated press u n iraq civilian deaths hit a record cbs news september 21 2006 in addition to the 6 187 palestinians who were killed by israelis fewer than 1 500 palestinians were killed by other pales tinians consult www btselem org and www iraqbodycount org for up to date information 3 in east timor for example an estimated two hundred thousand people were killed out of a population of seven hundred thousand see mathew jardine east timor genocide in paradise tucson az odonian press 1995 4 derek gregory th e colonial present afghanistan palestine iraq oxford blackwell publishing 2004 5 benny morris th e birth of the palestinian refugee problem 2nd ed cambridge cambridge university press 2003 ilan pappe th e ethnic cleansing of palestine oxford oneworld 2006 6 oren yift achel ethnocracy land and identity politics in israel palestine philadelphia university of pennsylvania press 2006 introduction epigraph cited in shlomo gazit th e carrot and the stick israel s policy in judea and samaria 1967 1969 washington dc b nai brith books 1995 135 levi eshkol was israel s prime minister at the time and golda meir was the general secretary of the mapai party see also lev 2 3 3 grinberg th e unwanted bride th e troubled discourse of the occupa tion s resistance th eoria and bikoret 27 fall 2005 187 96 in hebrew 1 shlomo gazit trapped fools th irty years of israeli policy in the ter ritories london frank cass 2003 162 2 shabtai teveth th e cursed blessing th e story of israel s occupation of the west bank london weidenfeld and nicolson 1970 179 3 state of israel ministry of defense unit for coordination of activi ties in the territories two years of military government 1967 1969 fig ures on civilian activity in judea samaria the gaza strip and northern sinai tel aviv ministry of defense may 1969 39 amnesty interna tional under the rubble house demolition and destruction of land and property london amnesty international may 18 2004 in the west bank israel planted one million trees in 1968 see jewish national fund archives fi le 31235 kkl5 letter dated march 28 1969 and by 2002 it had uprooted literally hundreds of thousands of trees see amnesty interna tional under the rubble 4 among the important books that have analyzed these issues see noam chomsky fateful triangle th e united states israel and the pales tinians boston south end press 1999 benny morris righteous victims a history of the zionist arab confl ict 1881 2001 new york vintage 2001 edward said th e question of palestine new york vintage 1992 avra ham sela th e decline of the arab israeli confl ict middle east politics and the quest for regional order new york state university of new york press 1997 avi shlaim th e iron wall israel and the arab world new york w w norton 2001 mark tessler a history of the israeli palestin ian confl ict bloomington in indiana university press 1994 5 th ese studies include geoff rey aronson creating facts israel pales tinians and the west bank washington dc institute for palestine stud ies 1987 naseer hasan aruri ed occupation israel over palestine london zed books 1984 alan dowty th e jewish state a century later berkeley and los angeles university of california press 2001 gershon shafi r and yoav peled th e new israel peacemaking and liberal ization boulder co westview press 2001 raja shehadeh occupier s law israel and the west bank washington dc institute for palestine studies 1985 raja shehadeh and jonathan kuttab th e west bank and the rule of law ramallah international commission of lawyers 1980 idith zertal and akiva eldar lords of the land th e settlers and the state 2 3 4 n ot e s to pag e s 1 2 of israel 1967 2004 tel aviv kinneret zmora beitan dvir 2004 in hebrew 6 for studies that have emphasized the agency of palestinians see joost r hiltermann behind the intifada labor and women s movements in the occupied territories princeton nj princeton university press 1991 baruch kimmerling and joel s migdal th e palestinian people a history cambridge ma harvard university press 2003 zachary lockman and joel beinin eds intifada th e palestinian uprising against israeli occupa tion boston south end press 1989 julie peteet gender in crisis women and the palestinian resistance movement new york columbia university press 1991 ze ev schiff and ehud ya ari intifada tel aviv schoken books 1990 in hebrew roane carey ed th e new intifada resisting israel s apartheid london verso books 2001 7 timothy mitchell th e limits of the state beyond statist approaches and th eir critics american political science review 85 1 1991 77 96 8 michel foucault discipline and punish new york vintage 1979 and th e history of sexuality vol 1 new york vintage 1990 9 aronson s creating facts is an exception but it was published in 1987 more than twenty years ago 10 although fatah had been created a number of years earlier and pal estinian refugees had been infi ltrating into israel since the 1948 war the fact that israel was now sole sovereign over mandatory palestine sharpened confl icting claims and rekindled the palestinian struggle see kimmerling and migdal palestinian people 240 59 11 alan dowty and alvin s rubenstein eds arab israeli confl ict perspectives new york harpercollins 1990 ian black and benny morris israel s secret wars th e untold history of israeli intelligence london hamish manilton 1991 206 35 12 according to the theoretical framework employed here these inten tions were an eff ect of prior practices 13 th e annexation applied to the territory itself whereas its inhabitants were given the option to become israeli citizens but in order to do so they had to relinquish their jordanian citizenship only a small number com plied nonetheless all of the inhabitants were made permanent jerusalem residents and could vote in municipal elections see eitan felner a policy of discrimination land expropriation planning and building in east n o t e s t o p a g e s 2 5 2 3 5 jerusalem jerusalem b tselem 1995 yael stein th e quiet deportation revocation of residency of east jerusalem palestinians jerusalem hamoked and b tselem 1997 14 sasson levi local government in the administered territories in judea samaria and gaza views on the present and future ed daniel j elazar washington american enterprise institute for public policy and research 1982 15 about one hundred thousand muslim and a few christian inhabit ants became refugees while israel allowed only 5 875 druze 385 alawis and 300 kuneitra residents mostly circassans to stay see w w harris war and settlement change the golan heights and the jordan rift 1967 1977 in settlement and confl ict in the mediterranean world special issue transactions of the institute of british geographers n s 3 no 3 1978 309 30 harris shows that a disproportionate number of inhabit ants fl ed or were expelled during the 1967 war from two regions the golan heights and the jordan valley it appears that this was not coinci dental and that israel was interested in emptying both these regions of their populations in order to create a vacant buff er against jordan and syria 16 israel withdrew from the sinai peninsula following the 1979 camp david peace agreement with egypt 17 see michael feige one space two places gush emunim peace now and the construction of israeli space jerusalem hebrew university magnes press 2002 41 in hebrew neve gordon th e militarist and messianic ideologies middle east report july 2004 online edition 18 on june 10 1967 israel also destroyed the entire magharbia north african quarter which was located immediately in front of the wailing wall it was home to thousands of people see eyal weizman hollow land israel s architecture of occupation new york verso books 2007 37 38 19 for the demographic eff ects of the 1948 war see morris th e birth of the palestinian refugee problem for the policy in the jordan valley see harris war and settlement change and for the decision regarding the latrun enclave see gazit carrot and the stick 45 an estimated seventy thousand palestinians fl ed from the jordan valley during the war due to air bombardment of the villages and refugee camps while the residents of four villages in the latrun enclave were expelled from their homes and the vil 2 3 6 n ot e s to pag e s 5 6 lages were bulldozed in addition israel also annexed to its territory a strip of land parallel to the 1949 armistice line i e the green line along a few kilometers north and south of the latrun area th is strip of land had been known as no man s land because from 1948 to 1967 it was not subject to the control of either the israeli or jordanian side during the war israel expelled the residents of the villages of imwas yalu and bayt nuba and destroyed their homes over the years israel established four communities in this area two in the ot and two on the border shilat lapid kfar reuth and maccabim see yehezkel lein land grab israel s settlement policy in the west bank jerusalem b tselem 2002 12 20 gazit carrot and the stick 45 21 th ere are numerous books underscoring this view one prominent example is benjamin netanyahu a place among the nations new york bantam 1993 22 zertal and eldar show how the israeli government approved the confi scation of land immediately aft er the war in lords of the land 13 81 see also aronson creating facts 9 31 23 full annexation would mean the application of israeli law to the land 14 16 31 24 for a basic outline of the allon plan see aronson creating facts 25 ian lustick unsettled states disputed lands new york cornell university press 1993 32 37 351 62 26 raja shehadeh and jonathan kuttab th e west bank and the rule of law ramallah international commission of lawyers 1980 10 accord ing to teveth the names were altered in march 1968 cursed blessing 258 59 27 th ere is one interesting exception th e annual reports published by the central bureau of statistics include a map that demarcates the west bank and gaza strip all the areas not formally annexed by israel see yinon cohen sum th ing for everyone th e annual abstract put out by the central bureau of statistics is much much more th an a dry collec tion of statistics ha aretz november 29 2002 28 nathan brown democracy history and the contest over the palestinian curriculum paper prepared for the adam institute novem ber 2001 available online at http www geocities com nathanbrown1 adam_institute_palestinian_textbooks htm n o t e s t o p a g e s 6 7 2 3 7 29 salim tamari what the uprising means in lockman and beinin intifada 128 30 th e media played a central role in managing israel s population see moti neiger eyal zandberg and assam abu ra iyeh civil or ethnic media an evaluation of the coverage of the october 2000 violent clashes between the police and israeli arab citizens tel aviv keshev 2000 daniel dor newspapers under the infl uence tel aviv babel 2001 in hebrew and neve gordon rationalising extra judicial executions th e israeli press and the legitimization of abuse international journal of human rights 8 no 3 autumn 2004 305 24 31 yitzhak zaccai judea samaria and the gaza district 1967 1987 twenty years of civil administration jerusalem carta books 1987 6 7 32 lustick unsettled states 385 438 33 similar surveillance mechanisms were employed in palestinian vil lages even before israel s establishment see pappe th e ethnic cleansing of palestine 19 21 34 gilles deleuze postscript on the societies of control october winter 1992 3 7 35 for documentation of the contingency plans including the so called granite plan regarding use of the israeli military to establish a military government in the west bank and gaza strip see gazit carrot and the stick 3 31 from 1956 the military actively discussed the prospect of occu pying the west bank and slowly it became a common assumption that this might happen shlomo ahronson chief of staff yitzhak rabin s security doctrine and the road to the six day war ha aretz november 2 2005 in hebrew in 1958 chief of staff haim laskov submitted a proposal to occupy the west bank but david ben gurion did not approve it see moshe zak th e shift in ben gurion s attitude toward the kingdom of jordan israel studies 1 no 2 fall 1996 147 48 36 meir shamgar who was the military advocate general from 1961 to 1968 prepared the comprehensive manual for the military advocate in military government see meir shamgar legal concepts and problems of the israeli military government th e initial stage in military govern ment in the territories administered by israel 1967 1980 th e legal aspects ed meir shamgar jerusalem harry sacher institute for legislative research and comparative law 1982 for a short description of the semi 2 3 8 n ot e s to pag e s 7 1 0 nars see david ronen th e year of the shabak tel aviv ministry of defence 1989 18 in hebrew 37 between 1948 and 1966 the palestinians who had remained in israel and had become citizens were subjected to a military government for a description of the controlling mechanisms used inside israel proper con sult ian lustick arabs in the jewish state israel s control of a national minority austin university of texas press 1980 and elia zureik th e palestinians in israel a study in internal colonialism london routledge and kegan paul 1979 in the second chapter i briefl y discuss the major diff erence between the forms of control used in israel proper and those used in the ot finally both sara roy and shabtai teveth suggest that some of the controlling apparatuses were informed by israel s brief occupa tion of the gaza strip in 1956 see sara roy th e gaza strip th e political economy of de development washington dc institute for palestinian studies 1995 and teveth cursed blessing 10 11 38 black and morris israel s secret wars 261 62 see also felicia langer with my own eyes israel and the occupied territories 1967 1973 london ithaca press 1975 39 only aft er the eruption of the second intifada in september 2000 did israel stop deploying certain forms of control that had been used for some time 40 see foucault discipline and punish as well as neve gordon on power and visibility an arendtian corrective of foucault human stud ies 25 no 2 2002 125 45 41 foucault history of sexuality 1 88 97 42 mitchell th e limits of the state 93 43 michel foucault society must be defended new york penguin books 2003 242 47 44 ibid 246 47 45 carl schmitt political th eology four chapters on the concept of sovereignty chicago university of chicago press 2006 see also michel foucault power knowledge ed colin gordon new york vintage 1980 46 proclamation two june 7 1967 clause 3 a see chief military command orders and proclamations judea and samaria 1968 1972 tel aviv israeli defense ministry 1972 in hebrew n o t e s t o p a g e s 1 0 14 2 3 9 47 employing some of carl schmitt s insights giorgio agamben has turned the foucauldian characterization of sovereign power on its head suggesting that sovereignty is actually defi ned through the state of excep tion namely the power to withdraw and suspend the law see giorgio agamben homo sacer sovereign power and bare life stanford ca stanford university press 1998 and georgio agamben state of exception chicago university of chicago press 2005 48 michel foucault governmentality in foucault eff ect studies in governmentality ed graham burchell colin gordon and peter miller london harvester wheatsheaf 1991 87 104 49 th us governing in modern societies is undertaken by a multiplicity of authorities and agencies employing a variety of techniques and forms of knowledge that seek to shape conduct by working through our desires aspirations interests and beliefs for defi nite but shift ing ends and with a diverse set of relatively unpredictable consequences eff ects and outcomes mitchell dean governmentality power and rule in modern society sage publications 1999 11 50 ibid 19 20 51 my analysis intimates however that we cannot make a rigid distinc tion among sovereign disciplinary and biopower for instance controlling apparatuses and practices operating by and through sovereign power retain a disciplinary component within them while there is almost always a trace of sovereign violence within practices that operate by disciplining the inhabitants 52 despite the diffi culty of sustaining the distinction among sovereign disciplinary and bio power the emphasis of one mode of power and the de emphasis of the other refl ect important diff erences in the methods used to manage a population and therefore the distinction is crucial a politics of life is ultimately very diff erent from a politics of death and must neces sarily be maintained through forms of control operating in the service of disciplinary and biopower 53 over the years schools and particularly universities were sites of palestinian resistance and israel did not hesitate to shut down educational institutions for extended periods see sarah graham brown education repression liberation palestinians london world university service 1984 54 meron benvenisti and shlomo khayat th e west bank and gaza 2 4 0 n ot e s to pag e s 1 4 1 6 atlas jerusalem jerusalem post 1987 112 13 roy gaza strip 175 81 lein land grab 18 55 schiff and ya ari intifada 91 56 i discuss the distinct modalities of control in the next chapter 57 th e term structure is not used here in its rigid totalizing sense th e structure of the occupation is not external to the everyday reality in the west bank and gaza strip and is therefore tenuous diverse and changing by highlighting a number of its components however i hope to uncover the way power has been organized in the territories while simultaneously showing that power creates its own vulnerabilities 58 th e notion of intentionality here and throughout the text is employed in the foucauldian sense whereby power relations are both intentional and nonsubjective th ey are a consequence of a series of aims objectives and calculations but these cannot be traced to the decision of a free agent particularly if the latter is identifi ed with free consciousness see foucault history of sexuality vol 2 94 59 for instance see jonathan kuttab and raja shehadeh civil admin istration in the occupied west bank analysis of israeli military government order no 947 ramallah al haq 1982 60 black and morris israel s secret wars 261 62 61 state of israel two years 10 11 62 meron benvenisti intimate enemies jews and arabs in a shared land berkeley and los angeles university of california press 1995 see also in this context amira hass drinking the sea at gaza days and nights in a land under siege new york metropolitan books 1996 edward said peace and its discontents new york vintage 1996 graham usher dispatches fr om palestine th e rise and fall of the oslo peace process london pluto press 1999 neve gordon outsourcing violations th e israeli case journal of human rights 1 no 3 2002 321 37 63 agamben homo sacer 81 86 64 amnon straschnov justice under fire tel aviv yedioth ahronoth books 1994 in hebrew 1 the infrastructure of control epigraph gazit carrot and the stick 51 1 mustafa barghouthi and ibrahim diabes infr astructure and health n o t e s t o p a g e s 16 2 3 2 4 1 services in the west bank guidelines for health care planning ramallah health development information and policy institute 1993 xi 2 some two hundred thousand refugees fl ed to the gaza strip in 1948 49 whose original inhabitants numbered only eighty thousand see ibrahim diabes and mustafa barghouthi infr astructure and health ser vices in the gaza strip th e gaza strip primary health care survey ramal lah health development information and policy institute 1996 5 3 to uncover the modalities of control one has to deduce the underly ing principle or logic that informs the operation of numerous controlling practices 4 adi ophir discusses the ostensibly temporary nature of the occupa tion but does not conceptualize it as a modality of control see adi ophir a time of occupation in th e other israel ed roane carey and jona than shainin new york new press 2003 51 67 5 weizman hollow land 57 86 see intro n 18 6 for a glimpse into the arbitrary nature of the bureaucratic apparatus consult hadaz ziv th e bureaucracy of occupation th e district civil liai son offi ces tel aviv machsom watch and physicians for human rights israel 2004 7 th e research departments in the bank of israel the central bureau of statistics as well as several other government ministries set up surveillance apparatuses and thus were also instrumental in the management of the population 8 gazit carrot and the stick 33 9 jordan had actually annexed the west bank but only england and pakistan recognized the annexation see shamgar legal concepts and problems 35 36 intro n 36 10 lisa hajjar courting confl ict th e israeli military court system in the west bank and gaza berkeley and los angeles university of califor nia press 2005 56 for a detailed description of the construction of the legal doctrine in the ot as well as shamgar s role consult chapter 2 not surprisingly as chief justice shamgar supported israel s policy of suspend ing the geneva convention on every occasion rights advocates petitioned against this policy in the high court of justice th us one can gain a glimpse of how israel s judiciary system supported the occupying power on all principal matters see also david kretzmer th e occupation of justice 2 4 2 n ot e s to pag e s 2 3 2 6 th e supreme court of israel and the occupied territories albany state university of new york press 2002 11 shamgar legal concepts and problems 31 43 12 ibrahim dakkak back to square one a study of the reemergence of the palestinian identity in the west bank 1967 1980 in palestinians over the green line studies on the relations between palestinians on both sides of the 1949 armistice line since 1967 ed alexander scholch london ithaca press 1983 67 13 th e hague convention also states that the occupying power will only be the temporary manager and benefi ciary of land and other proper ties in the occupied territories and is not permitted to create permanent facts on the ground that will remain in the area aft er the occupation 14 in the gaza strip egyptian law and ordinances continued to be valid while in the west bank jordanian law and ordinances continued to be valid th e jordanian and egyptian laws were based on the laws of the british mandate period see chief military command orders and procla mations judea and samaria 1968 1972 tel aviv israeli defence minis try 1972 in hebrew 15 for a discussion of the military orders see kretzmer occupation of justice 27 29 16 many of these orders undercut international legal provisions that ensured the rights of occupied populations see raja shedadah occupier s law israel and the west bank washington dc institute for palestine studies 1985 17 aronson creating facts 218 intro n 5 18 for an analysis of the jordanian laws that israel invoked and those that it changed to advance its political objectives see shehadeh and kuttab west bank and the rule of law 15 25 intro n 26 19 israel for example was not the one to legalize house demolitions demolitions were rendered legal by british mandatory emergency regula tions and according to the hague convention it was israel s obligation to apply the laws that existed in the area before it was occupied 20 hajjar courting confl ict 132 54 21 raja shehadeh th e changing juridical status of palestinian areas under occupation in occupation israel over palestine ed naseer hasan aruri london zed books 1984 97 n o t e s t o p a g e s 2 6 2 8 2 4 3 22 israeli law was imposed not only on israelis resident in the ot but also on jews who moved to the settlements even if they did not have israeli citizenship see eyal benvenisti legal dualism th e absorption of the occu pied territories into israel boulder co westview press 1990 23 hajjar courting confl ict 35 36 24 th e september 2000 regulation banning palestinians in the occu pied regions from living with their spouses who are foreign residents is a case in point it is presented as a temporary law and yet it has been extended each year so that in reality it has become permanent a more recent exam ple is the nationality and entry into israel law from 2003 that prohibits the granting of any residency or citizenship status to palestinians from the ot who are married to israeli citizens it too is presented as a temporary law but extended each year 25 state of israel ministry of defense unit for coordination of activi ties in the territories th ree years of military government 1967 1970 figures on civilian activity in judea samaria the gaza strip and north ern sinai tel aviv ministry of defense 1970 2 26 th roughout the occupation the offi ce of the legal advisor sup ported the bureaucratic institutions while the operations performed by the military government were all subject to the supervision of the state comp troller similar to those of all other government bodies see state of israel two years 1 3 intro n 3 27 summary of the meetings held by the general directors to discuss the civilian issues of the areas administered by the idf vols 1 and 2 tel aviv israel s defense ministry 1967 71 and 1971 77 in hebrew see also state of israel two years 1 3 28 with the creation of the civil administration in 1981 the civil branches in the west bank and gaza strip no longer had to report to the military governor and were from then on subordinate to the new governing body which was under the direct command of the coordinator of activities in the territories and yet as mentioned the coordinator of activities had to report to the military s chief of staff th e responsibility of the military governors in turn was diminished and they were in charge solely of secu rity in their regions 29 because of the nature of the organization it is diffi cult to fi nd infor mation about the precise way it operated in the west bank and gaza strip in this part of the chapter i use the memoirs of three leading fi gures from 2 4 4 n ot e s to pag e s 2 8 3 1 the gss as well as a number of commentaries by military and intelligence historians some of the claims are based on personal experience through my work with physicians for human rights israel and the gaza team for human rights where i had the opportunity to interview scores of pales tinians who had had some contact with the gss see yaakov perry strike first tel aviv keshet 1999 in hebrew carmi gillon shin beth between the schisms tel aviv yedioth ahronoth books and chemed books 2000 in hebrew yossi melman and dan raviv th e imperfect spies london sidgwick and jackson 1989 black and morris israel s secret wars intro n 11 ronen year of the shabak intro n 36 30 black and morris israel s secret wars 243 31 avigdor feldman th e modern inquisition state in torture human rights medical ethics and the case of israel ed neve gordon and ruchama marton london zed books 1995 85 32 th e gss is mentioned in only four israeli laws the protection of privacy law the phone tap law the criminal procedures regulations and another law that concerns income and tax relief for gss person nel which grants it powers to invade privacy tap telephones and post pone meetings between a detainee and a lawyer for up to two weeks th ese laws create a paradoxical situation since the legislative branch has actually granted powers to a body that does not exist within the legal system see feldman modern inquisition state 86 33 ibid 86 34 th e law states for example that the gss s role is to secure the interests of national security but since national security is not defi ned the law actually bestows upon the gss an almost unlimited amount of power th e gss is supposed to frustrate and uproot subversive activities which like national security are left undefi ned one of the law s clauses orders a total blackout on the way the organization operates while another clause stipulates the punishment for disclosing any information about the gss moreover the law provides for no external mechanism responsible for monitoring the organization s operations so although the gss has been legalized the law was formulated so as to ensure that the gss will be able to operate in more or less the same way that it did before the legislation 35 for a comprehensive discussion of the high court of justice and its role in the ot see kretzmer occupation of justice n o t e s t o p a g e s 3 1 3 2 2 4 5 36 pierre bourdieu in other words essays towards a refl exive sociol ogy cambridge polity press 1990 135 37 baruch kimmerling jurisdiction in an immigrant settler society th e jewish and democratic state comparative political studies 35 no 10 december 2002 1130 31 38 kretzmer occupation of justice 3 39 on june 7 for example a military order mo was issued proclaim ing that any military commander may halt work impose curfews close off an area deny movement restrict and regulate the usage of roads and censor anything in the interests of security and order mo 3 in such a situation any person who wished to work travel or distribute information had to receive a permit th e military orders were published in hebrew in two journals put out by the israeli defense forces one for the west bank and the other for the gaza strip and north sinai see israel defense forces proclamations regulations rules orders and notices of idf command for the gaza strip and north sinai 1968 in hebrew and israel defense forces proclamations regulations rules orders and notices of the idf command for judea and samaria 1968 in hebrew in 1967 195 orders appeared and approximately another hundred orders appeared in 1968 a list of many of the orders is available on the web at http www israellaw resourcecenter org th ese are subsequently cited as military orders mo 40 th e fees one had to pay in order to obtain a permit were continu ously raised over the years considering that almost every aspect of life needed a permit the permit regime was also an important source of income for the occupying powers 41 military orders 25 26 229 255 88 and 65 42 roy gaza strip 230 31 intro n 54 43 military orders 92 375 427 602 239 47 49 96 134 544 44 military order 234 45 military orders 151 200 201 202 203 204 190 unnumbered mo december 1 1969 unnumbered mo september 1 1970 unnumbered mo november 30 1968 unnumbered mo may 14 1968 46 cited in virgil falloon excessive secrecy lack of guidelines a report on the military censorship in the west bank ramallah al haq 1986 5 47 military order 379 which was published in april 1970 expanded military order 50 to include a provision that grants the person responsible 2 4 6 n ot e s to pag e s 3 2 3 7 the power to confi scate any publication that does not have a permit in august 1980 at the very end of the fi rst period military order 862 was issued redefi ning the word newspaper to include any publication making it illegal to import and distribute any publication in the west bank with out a permit see falloon excessive secrecy 10 11 48 ibid 7 for a discussion of palestinian newspapers during the fi rst years of occupation see daniel rubenstein th e arab newspapers in the administered territories in journalists yearbook tel aviv 1975 182 89 in hebrew 49 michael shashar th e seventh day war th e diary of the military government in judea and samaria june december 1967 tel aviv sifriat poalim 1997 73 in hebrew 50 military order 101 51 falloon excessive secrecy 12 52 ibid 13 see also report of the special committee to investigate israeli practices aff ecting the human rights of the population of the occupied ter ritories new york united nations 1982 10 20 1982 a 37 486 th ese reports are published annually and are available on the web at http domino un org unispal nsf 53 for a partial list consult military order 1079 october 14 1983 54 for example one person whom israel helped to maintain his status by allowing him to operate his business was rashad shawa who also served as the mayor of gaza for several years see ann m lesch gaza forgot ten corner of palestine journal of palestine studies 15 no 1 1985 43 61 55 raphael meron economic development in judea samaria and the gaza district economic growth and structural change 1970 1980 jeru salem bank of israel research department 1983 18 25 56 james ron frontiers and ghettos state violence in serbia and israel berkeley and los angeles university of california press 2003 132 57 state of israel th ree years 82 131 all numbers refer to the gaza strip during 1969 unless otherwise stated 58 th is was part of dayan s strategic plan of control see weizman hollow land 93 94 according to michael shashar s diary on september 10 1967 israel decided to confi scate 100 000 dunams 25 000 acres in order to build fi ve military bases in the west bank see shashar seventh day war 175 n o t e s t o p a g e s 3 7 4 2 2 4 7 59 foucault discipline and punish 187 intro n 8 60 th e israeli authorities usually refer to collaborators as sayanim a hebrew word that comes from the root assist or abet palestinian col laborators can be divided into diff erent groups according to their function most prominent are the informers a category that includes people who infi ltrate diff erent palestinian organizations as well as the birds or asafi r who relay information from political prisoners palestinian land brokers who sell property to israelis are also considered collaborators by their co patriots as are several other palestinian functionaries who have served as intermediaries between the israeli authorities and residents in need of cer tain services th is latter category has included several mukhtars former policemen members and heads of appointed municipal or village councils workers in the tax and licensing system of the military government and in later years the members of the village leagues for a discussion of the use of asafi rs see salim tamari eyeless in judea israel s strategy of collabo rators and forgeries middle east report may august 1990 39 44 see also hillel cohen an army of shadows palestinian collaborators in the service of zionism jerusalem ivrit hebrew publishing house 2004 in hebrew and hillel cohen good arabs th e israeli security services and the israeli arabs jerusalem ivrit hebrew publishing house 2006 in hebrew 61 yizhar be er and saleh abdel jawad collaborators in the occupied territories human rights abuses and violations jerusalem b tselem 1994 1 perry strike first 52 62 th e granting of requests for various permits directed to the civil administration is conditional upon the approval of the gss which is not obliged to substantiate its decisions nor to adhere to any criteria in its deci sion making th e interests of the gss such as recruitment of collaborators or pressuring families to turn wanted family members over to the authori ties displace the pertinent considerations and legitimate needs of those requesting services see be er and abdel jawad collaborators in the occu pied territories 12 16 perry strike first 49 yehezkel lein builders of zion human rights violations of palestinians fr om the occupied territories working in israel and the settlements jerusalem b tselem 1999 27 33 63 be er and abdel jawad collaborators in the occupied territories 16 22 64 black and morris israel s secret wars 248 2 4 8 n ot e s to pag e s 4 2 4 3 65 according to the new york times september 24 1989 roughly eighteen intelligence agents worked in each village in the ot 66 for the major functions of palestinian collaborators inside israel see cohen good arabs 153 67 in order for palestinian collaborators to become part of the control ling apparatus they must be subjected to the technologies of the self col laborators must work on themselves in order to become elements of the occupation s web of control 68 it is also important to keep in mind that violent measures did not necessarily rely on the permit regime or on surveillance since israel also used such measures as a deterrent and not only as a reaction to palestinian defi ance 69 th ere is no need for arms physical violence material constraints foucault asserts j ust a gaze an inspecting gaze a gaze which each indi vidual under its weight will end by interiorizing to the point that he is his own overseer each individual thus exercising this surveillance over and against himself foucault power knowledge 155 intro n 45 70 see for example gazit carrot and the stick meron benvenisti th e west bank data project a survey of israel s policies washington dc american enterprise institute for public policy research 1984 schiff and ya ari intifada intro n 6 and salim tamari israel s search for a native pillar th e village leagues in aruri occupation israel over palestine 377 90 71 shlomo gazit lecture tel aviv university june 10 2006 2 the invisible occupation epigraph state of israel th ree years 4 see chap 1 n 25 1 black and morris israel s secret wars 239 intro n 11 2 shlomo gazit lecture june 10 2006 tel aviv university 3 state of israel th ree years 4 4 gazit trapped fools 163 intro n 1 5 in 1968 for example israel employed 6 838 palestinians in the civil institutions within the west bank and gaza as opposed to 349 israeli civilian staff who worked in these institutions in 1969 8 israelis were added to the civil branch s payroll and an additional 595 palestinians th e civil branch allocated about 20 percent of its budget for agricultural devel n o t e s t o p a g e s 4 3 4 9 2 4 9 opment water systems transportation and communication more than 50 percent was designated for social services including health education religion welfare and employment while the remainder was used for administrative judicial and police services state of israel two years 9 intro n 3 6 teveth cursed blessing 32 intro n 2 7 schiff and ya ari claim that this was moshe dayan s explicit policy intifada 42 intro n 6 moreover it oft en tried to set one mayor against the others so that the palestinian mayors would not unite see teveth cursed blessing 283 96 8 meron benvenisti th e west bank data project survey of israel s poli cies 1984 report washington dc american enterprise institute for public policy research 1984 44 45 for a historical account of the rela tions between zionist leaders and jordan consult avi shlaim th e politics of partition king abdullah the zionists and palestine 1921 1951 oxford oxford university press 1990 9 th e informal power sharing agreement between israel and jordan deepened aft er the 1970 71 showdown and expulsion of the plo from jordan and lasted until approximately 1978 in september 1970 king hus sein of jordan decided to have a showdown with the plo which was undermining his authority armed confl ict lasted until july 1971 ending with the expulsion of the plo and thousands of palestinians to lebanon see benvenisti west bank data project 1984 report 45 10 gazit carrot and the stick 176 80 intro epigraph note schiff and ya ari intifada 42 in hebrew 11 sara roy contends that the objective of the open bridges policy was primarily economic since jordan was used as a trading outlet for the vast surplus of agricultural goods in the west bank and gaza strip while elimi nating the possibility that palestinian goods would fl ood the israeli market and engender a decrease in prices see roy gaza strip 145 intro n 37 see also b tselem restrictions on travel abroad jerusalem b tselem 1989 association of civil rights in israel restrictions on the right of free dom of movement in the administered territories jerusalem acri 1989 hamoked restrictions on travel abroad for east jerusalem and west bank palestinians jerusalem hamoked 1992 12 judah and samaria command din veheshbon th e administra tion s fourteenth year jerusalem idf 1981 in hebrew civil adminis 2 5 0 n ot e s to pag e s 4 9 5 1 tration of the gaza strip din veheshbon th e administration s fift eenth year jerusalem ministry of defence 1982 in hebrew 13 military order 101 august 27 1967 see chap 1 n 39 14 ronen year of the shabak 57 intro n 36 15 for documentation of many of the coercive measures used by israel during this period see the annual report of the special committee to inves tigate israeli practices aff ecting the human rights of the population of the occupied territories 05 10 1971 a 8389 09 10 1972 a 8828 25 10 1973 a 9148 04 11 1974 a 9817 27 10 1975 a 10272 01 10 1976 a 31 218 27 10 1977 a 32 284 13 11 1978 a 33 356 13 11 1979 a 34 631 06 10 1980 a 35 425 see chap 1 n 52 16 gazit carrot and the stick 244 46 17 th e offi cial reasons for deportations were spelled out by colonel joel singer the military s attorney general in the early 1980s and appear in joost r hiltermann israel s deportation policy in the occupied west bank and gaza ramallah al haq 1986 66 69 18 ann m lesch israeli deportation of palestinians from the west bank and gaza strip 1967 1978 journal of palestine studies 8 no 2 winter 1979 101 31 19 for an analysis of the deportation vis à vis international humanitar ian law see hiltermann israel s deportation policy 29 40 20 th e military government expelled for example eight palestinian national front leaders in december 1973 while birzeit university s presi dent together with four other people were deported in 1974 and the mayors of halhul and hebron in 1980 see aruri ed occupation israel over pal estine 11 19 310 chap 1 n 21 also see report of the special committee october 5 1971 a 8389 21 daphna golan detained without trial administrative detention in the occupied territories since the beginning of the intifada jerusalem b tselem 1992 22 22 another important strike was launched in 1967 by the west bank lawyers th e jordanian government paid the lawyers so long as they banned the israeli legal system and even though in 1971 a group of lawyers began appearing in the military courts many continued striking until the late 1980s see george bisharat palestinian lawyers and israeli rule law and disorder in the west bank austin university of texas 1989 23 gazit carrot and the stick 246 48 n o t e s t o p a g e s 51 5 3 2 51 24 ibid 246 48 see also hajjar courting confl ict 171 chap 1 n 10 25 see report of the special working group of experts established under resolution 6 xxv of the commission on human rights e cn 4 1016 add 1 11 february 1970 available online at http domino un org unispal nsf and report of the special committee october 5 1970 a 8089 see also israel tortures arab prisoners sunday times june 19 1977 th e reports cite the following practices 1 suspension of the detainee by the hands and the simultaneous traction of his other members for hours at a time until he loses consciousness 2 burns with cigarette stubs 3 blows by rods on the genitals 4 tying up and blindfolding for days in one case for seven days 5 bites by dogs 6 electric shocks at the temples the mouth the chest and testicles 26 lesch gaza forgotten corner of palestine 43 61 chap 1 n 54 joan mandell gaza israel s soweto middle east report october december 1985 10 11 27 roy gaza strip 105 weizman hollow land 70 intro n 18 28 fedayeen was the name of the palestinian guerillas it means self sacrifi ce in arabic see black and morris israel s secret wars 262 29 eyal weizman hollow land 70 points out that as part of his counter insurgency campaign in gaza sharon wanted to sever the strip from the sinai desert and thereby from the plo guerrilla supply lines that supposedly traversed it during the winter of 1971 72 sharon ordered the destruction of the area south of gaza known as the rafah salient which was settled by a fi ve thousand strong bedouin tribe he drew a line on the map where the encampment was located and ordered bulldozers to drive along it carving a swath several dozen meters wide that ran over all obsta cles in its path 30 see table 1 in the preface for how the data was gathered 31 weizman hollow land 253 32 foucault history of sexuality 1 86 intro n 8 33 rashid khalidi palestinian identity new york columbia univer sity press 1998 174 see also in this context adnan abu ghazaleh arab cultural nationalism in palestine during the british mandate journal of palestine studies 1 no 3 spring 1972 37 63 34 khalidi palestinian identity 174 graham brown education repression liberation 66 67 intro n 53 2 5 2 n ot e s to pag e s 5 3 5 6 35 state of israel two years 13 in the west bank israel inherited a total of 840 schools 654 of them governmental 95 private and 91 united nations relief and work agency unrwa schools while in gaza it took over 78 governmental schools 118 operated before the war and over saw all the unrwa schools by 1980 the end of the fi rst period of occupa tion there were a total of 1 413 educational institutions 498 of which were nongovernmental thus indicating that the rate of increase during those years was much higher in the nongovernmental sector see state of israel two years 15 43 coordinator of government activities in judea samaria gaza strip district sinai a fourteen year survey 1967 1981 tel aviv ministry of defence 1982 19 36 th e books are listed in military order 107 from august 27 1967 which states that this lists 55 books which are banned from being taught in schools th ese include arabic language books history geography sociol ogy and philosophy books 37 as cited in shashar seventh day war 220 chap 1 n 49 38 for more information about the disagreement between the ministry of education and ministry of defense consult teveth cursed blessing 178 88 39 following the introduction of israeli textbooks in east jerusalem many parents opted to send their children to private schools by 1979 the ministry of education allowed the government schools to revert to the jorda nian curriculum see graham brown education repression liberation 70 40 in the gaza strip only 24 textbooks were approved out of the 160 used during egypt s rule see state of israel two years 43 see also military order 107 from august 29 1967 41 th e books listed in military order 107 may now be used in schools in their new editions military order 183 december 4 1967 42 for an account of the strike from israel s perspective as well as a detailed list of the diff erent sanctions israel used to stop it see gazit carrot and the stick 273 90 th e unfolding events are signifi cant in the context of our discussion of controlling technologies since they reveal how tech nologies informed by sovereign power are frequently needed to implement disciplinary forms of control 43 said assaf educational destruction and recovery in palestine in education destruction and reconstruction in disrupted societies ed s tawil geneva switzerland unesco 1997 53 n o t e s t o p a g e s 5 6 5 8 2 5 3 44 assaf educational destruction and recovery in palestine 53 45 virgil falloon excessive secrecy 10 chap 1 n 46 agustín velloso de santisteban palestinian education a national curriculum against all odds international journal of educational development 22 no 2 march 2002 145 54 46 benedict anderson imagined communities refl ections on the ori gin and spread of nationalism london verso 1991 122 47 paulo friere pedagogy of the oppressed london continuum inter national publishing group 1995 134 for an interesting discussion of how palestinian citizens inside israel were encouraged to mimic jewish israelis see catherine rottenberg dancing arabs and spaces of desire topia canadian journal of cultural studies 19 spring 2008 109 26 48 teveth cursed blessing 331 32 188 daniel rubenstein th e arab newspapers in the administered territories journalists yearbook 43 tel aviv journalist union 1984 102 4 49 assaf educational destruction and recovery in palestine 52 53 50 graham brown education repression liberation 77 51 dedi zucker et al report on human rights in the areas held by the idf 1979 1983 tel aviv international center for peace in the middle east 1983 57 52 assaf educational destruction and recovery in palestine 53 53 graham brown education repression liberation 73 54 nafez nazzal and leila nazzal th e politicization of palestinian children an analysis of nursery rhymes palestine israel journal of politics economics and culture 3 no 1 1996 26 33 velloso de santiste ban palestinian education 149 55 state of israel th ree years 4 56 state of israel two years 11 57 ibid 10 11 58 it is important to stress that hundreds of thousands of nonfruit trees were planted as a way of guaranteeing that the palestinians would not expand construction on their land see jewish national fund archives fi le 31235 kkl5 letter dated march 28 1969 i want to thank ariel handel for alerting me to these fi les 59 central bureau of statistics monthly statistics of the administered territories 1 no 8 august 1971 14 16 2 5 4 n ot e s to pag e s 5 8 6 4 60 shmuel fohorils th e development of agriculture in the adminis tered territories patterns of economic acceleration and growth tel aviv agriculture ministry 1976 2 13 in hebrew 61 roy gaza strip 222 62 central bureau of statistics national accountability judea sama ria and the gaza strip 1968 1993 publication 1012 tel aviv central bureau of statistics 1996 20 in hebrew 63 michel foucault aft erword th e subject and power in michel foucault beyond structuralism and hermeneutics ed hubert l dreyfus and paul rabinow chicago university of chicago press 1982 208 26 64 roy th e gaza strip 148 65 bank of israel research department th e economy of the adminis tered areas 1969 jerusalem bank of israel research department 1971 and th e economy of the administered areas 1971 jerusalem bank of israel research department 1972 uri litvin th e economy of the administered areas 1976 1977 jerusalem bank of israel research department 1980 raphael meron th e economy of the administered areas 1977 1978 jeru salem bank of israel research department 1980 raphael meron eco nomic development chap 1 n 55 66 gideon weigert training for a brighter future th e story of voca tional training in the west bank and gaza jerusalem jerusalem post press 1976 1 coordinator of government activities fourteen year survey 7 67 state of israel two years 13 roy gaza strip 142 68 meron economic development 6 69 central bureau of statistics national accountability 125 70 united nations report of the secretary general development and international economic co operation living conditions of the palestinian people in the occupied arab territories a 35 533 october 17 1980 71 central bureau of statistics national accountability 18 72 central bureau of statistics national accountability 17 see also arie bergman economic growth in the administered territories 1968 1972 jerusalem bank of israel 1974 in hebrew yaacov liphschitz economic development in the administered territories 1967 1969 tel aviv ma archot 1970 in hebrew 73 central bureau of statistics national accountability 86 105 74 ibid 24 75 meron economic development 22 n o t e s t o p a g e s 6 4 6 7 2 5 5 76 weigert training for a brighter future 2 77 ibid 8 12 17 78 mandell gaza israel s soweto 11 79 aronson creating facts 24 intro n 5 80 cited in aronson creating facts 25 3 of horses and riders epigraph ministry of defence four years of military administration 1967 1971 tel aviv offi ce of the coordinator of government activities in the administered territories 1971 8 1 ironically the incorporation of palestinian workers into israel was in some respects detrimental to the israeli economy since the availability of cheap labor allowed employers to refrain from investing in machinery technology and vocational upgrading which it may be argued could have enhanced the productivity of the israeli economy see shlomo swirski th e price of occupation th e cost of the occupation to israeli society tel aviv adva center 2005 16 13 2 schiff and ya ari intifada 91 intro n 6 3 roy gaza strip 4 128 intro n 37 4 according the bank of israel average annual gnp growth in the west bank and gaza was 14 percent between 1970 and 1975 7 percent between 1976 and 1980 and 0 percent 1981 and 1982 see dan zakai eco nomic development in judea samaria and the gaza district 1981 1982 jerusalem bank of israel research department 1985 11 5 arie arnon and jimmy weinblatt sovereignty and economic development th e case of israel and palestine economic journal 111 june 2001 291 308 6 military orders 7 june 8 1967 21 june 18 1967 45 july 9 1967 see chap 1 n 39 7 laurence harris money and finance with undeveloped banking in the occupied territories in th e palestinian economy ed george t abed new york routledge 1989 191 222 8 see for example mo 59 july 1967 control of land mo 92 august 1967 control of water mo 375 february 1970 control of electricity see also benvenisti and khayat west bank and gaza atlas 112 13 intro n 54 roy gaza strip 175 81 2 5 6 n ot e s to pag e s 6 7 7 2 9 united nations conference on trade and development palestinian external trade under israeli occupation new york united nations unctad rdp seu 1 1989 10 bakir abu kishk industrial development and policies in the west bank and gaza in abed palestinian economy 168 11 roy gaza strip 239 12 swirski price of occupation 15 13 roy gaza strip 238 14 mohammed k shadid israeli policy towards economic develop ment in the west bank and gaza in abed palestinian economy 125 for example it introduced a 15 percent production tax on palestinian manufac turers which was not applied to israeli manufacturers both inside the green line and in the ot as well as a special tax on every palestinian truck transporting produce to jordan averaging 2 000 per season until 1987 which in the context of the ot is a substantial fi nancial burden and considerably decreased the profi ts from exports see also roy gaza strip 230 32 15 ibid 237 42 16 osama a hamed and radwan a shaban one sided customs and monetary union th e case of the west bank and gaza strip under israeli occupation in th e economics of middle east peace views fr om the region ed stanley fischer dani rodrik and elias tuma cambridge ma mit press 1993 143 17 swirski price of occupation 11 18 shadid israeli policy towards economic development 124 19 arie arnon israel luski avia spivak and jimmy weinblat th e palestinian economy new york brill 1997 19 20 from 1967 to 1987 government investment accounted for close to 50 percent of gross capital formation in israeli industry but close to 0 percent in gaza s industry roy gaza strip 241 21 arnon et al palestinian economy 99 th e trade defi cit was covered by external remittances from palestinians working in neighboring arab states and wages earned by palestinians working in israel 22 roy gaza strip 245 23 ibid 210 217 222 24 meron benvenisti th e west bank data project 1987 report demo graphic economic legal social and political developments in the west n o t e s t o p a g e s 7 2 7 5 2 5 7 bank washington dc american enterprise institute for public policy research 1987 6 25 salim tamari building other people s homes th e palestinian peasant s household and work in israel journal of palestine studies 11 no 1 autumn 1981 56 26 roy gaza strip 252 27 per capita consumption in the gaza strip rose from 379 8 in 1968 to 1 008 10 in 1987 and from 607 20 to 1 476 50 in the west bank see arnon et al palestinian economy 49 28 anita shapira futile struggle th e jewish labor controversy 1929 1939 tel aviv tel aviv university press and hakibbutz hameuchad 1977 gershon shafi r land labor and the origins of the israeli palestin ian confl ict 1882 1914 cambridge cambridge university press 1989 sheila ryan israeli economic policy in the occupied areas foundations of a new imperialism middle east report no 24 january 1974 3 24 29 emanuel farjoun palestinian workers in israel a reserve army of labor khamsin 7 1980 107 43 see especially 110 13 30 hiltermann behind the intifada 17 18 intro n 6 31 by 1988 the disparity had diminished but was still high with pales tinian workers earning 35 50 percent less than israelis swirski price of occupation 22 32 teveth cursed blessing 90 96 intro n 2 33 state of israel two years 13 intro n 3 34 ryan israeli economic policy in the occupied areas 13 35 for more on the allon plan see benvenisti and khayat west bank and gaza atlas aronson creating facts 14 16 intro n 5 sheila ryan plans to regularize the occupation in aruri ed occupation israel over palestine 340 chap 1 n 21 36 gazit carrot and the stick 222 37 weigert training for a brighter future 1 chap 2 n 66 38 coordinator of government activities fourteen year survey 7 chap 2 n 35 39 ryan israeli economic policy in the occupied areas 18 40 state of israel two years 42 41 weigert training for a brighter future 12 42 ryan israeli economic policy in the occupied areas 13 2 5 8 n ot e s to pag e s 7 5 8 0 43 central bureau of statistics national accountability 125 chap 2 n 62 44 lein builders of zion 8 chap 1 n 62 45 ryan israeli economic policy in the occupied areas 13 46 central bureau of statistics national accountability 86 105 47 lev grinberg hahistadrut meal hakol th e histadrut above all jerusalem nevo 1993 48 th e palestinian laborers also did not receive the same benefi ts granted to israelis such as bonuses for seniority and were not incorporated into the israeli social safety net which off ers israeli citizens a variety of social security allowances see farjoun palestinian workers in israel 111 18 49 michael mann th e dark side of democracy th e modern tradi tion of ethnic and political cleansing new left review 235 may june 1999 18 45 50 lein builders of zion 27 51 birzeit which had been a two year college became a university in 1972 bethlehem university opened its gates in 1973 an najah was trans formed from a college to a university in 1977 at around the same time hebron university which had been a college since 1971 became an accred ited institution and the islamic university in gaza opened in 1978 52 between 1975 and 1982 102 000 palestinians left the west bank to fi nd jobs in the gulf states see maya rosenfeld confr onting the occupa tion stanford ca stanford university press 2004 41 see also hamed and shaban one sided customs and monetary union 118 ishac diwan and radwan a shaban introduction and background in development under adversity th e palestinian economy in transition ed ishac diwan and radwan a shaban washington dc world bank 1999 3 4 53 schiff and ya ari intifada 91 54 tamari building other people s homes 33 55 joel s migdal palestinian society and politics princeton nj prince ton university press 1980 62 56 on july 19 1967 israel organized a conference for the mukhtars in nablus where they were warned that they would be punished if foreigners or terrorists would be found in their villages and if they distributed the communist party s paper al itihad each village mukhtar was paid 75 n o t e s t o p a g e s 8 1 8 5 2 5 9 israeli pounds a month while the second mukhtar in the same village was paid 50 see shashar seventh day war 105 and 161 respectively see also mo 176 which authorizes the military commander to dismiss any mukhtar 57 central bureau of statistics national accountability 135 58 migdal palestinian society and politics 67 59 ryan israeli economic policy in the occupied areas 13 60 israel restructures west bank economy interview with a r husseini middle east report 60 september 1977 21 23 61 meron benvenisti th e west bank data base project 1986 report demographic economic legal social and political developments in the west bank boulder co westview press 1986 10 62 ibid 8 9 63 arnon and weinblatt sovereignty and economic development 308 n 52 64 for an analysis of this law see chapter 4 65 yehezkel lein disputed waters israel s responsibility for the water shortage in the occupied territories jerusalem b tselem 1998 66 benvenisti and khayat west bank and gaza atlas 45 67 report of the special committee 10 20 1982 a 37 486 chap 1 68 ma ariv february 9 1973 cited in ryan israeli economic policy in the occupied areas 17 69 weizman hollow land 229 intro n 18 70 cited in weizman hollow land 230 weizman adds that between 1972 and 1979 four new neighborhoods for refugees were constructed th ey included israeli style dense housing schemes simply replicating existing plans provided by the israeli ministry of housing constructed by palestin ian developers th e israeli government took foreign visitors on tours to show the new housing schemes claiming that they demonstrated their enlightened rule and attempts to solve the refugee problem by providing decent housing in 1974 another approach for the resettlement of refugees was implemented refugees were provided with plots of 250 square meters and with the means to build their own homes financial assistance was handed out on condition that refugees physically demolished their older homes in the camps methods used by israeli occupation authorities to convince reluctant refugees included threats and random demolitions 2 6 0 n ot e s to pag e s 8 5 8 8 within the camps as well as visits by palestinian collaborators to refugee households th e plo forbade refugees to accept these israeli off ers and killed some of those who did as well as many of the palestinian collabora tors th e program failed to subdue palestinian resistance and some of the newly populated housing areas became themselves centers of resistance 71 ryan israeli economic policy in the occupied areas 17 72 hiltermann behind the intifada 33 73 tamari building other people s homes 60 74 hiltermann behind the intifada 8 75 ibid 25 76 let me stress once again that my use of the term intentional does not presuppose a free agent or a statist approach but a nonsubjective intention ality whereby the policies are a consequence of a series of aims objectives and calculations that do not originate in the decision of a free actor th e state is more a vehicle of articulation than the source of the policies 77 barghouthi and diabes infr astructure and health services in the west bank xii xvi chap 1 n 1 diabes and barghouthi infr astructure and health services in the gaza strip x xv chap 1 n 2 78 roy gaza strip 268 79 barghouthi and diabes infr astructure and health services in the west bank xii xvi diabes and barghouthi infr astructure and health services in the gaza strip x xv in israel the unrecognized bedouin vil lages which are home to some 75 000 israeli citizens do not have access to these basic services 80 roy gaza strip 276 4 identification trouble epigraph coordinator of government operations in judea samaria and the gaza district judea samaria and the gaza district a sixteen year survey 1967 1983 tel aviv ministry of defense 1983 1 brigade general yosef lunz who had served as the military governor of the west bank was appointed to be the fi rst head of the civil adminis tration in the gaza strip 2 menachem milson how to make peace with the palestinians commentary 71 no 5 1981 31 35 3 yehoshua porath th e emergence of the palestinian arab national n o t e s t o p a g e s 8 8 9 3 2 61 movement 1918 1929 london frank cass 1974 william b quandt fuad jabber and ann mosely lesch th e politics of palestinian national ism berkeley and los angeles university of california press 1973 israel gershoni and james jankowski eds rethinking nationalism in the arab middle east new york columbia university press 1997 khalidi pales tinian identity chap 2 n 33 and cohen army of shadows chap 1 n 60 4 khalidi palestinian identity 173 5 for an insider s exposition of the development of the national move ment in the ot following the 1967 war see dakkak back to square one 66 chap 1 n 12 6 khalidi palestinian identity 178 th e same claim is made in issa al shuaibi th e development of palestinian entity consciousness part 2 journal of palestine studies 9 no 2 winter 1980 50 70 7 tom segev arabs more th an arabs ha aretz june 8 2005 in hebrew 8 don peretz palestinian social stratifi cation th e political implica tions journal of palestine studies 7 no 1 autumn 1977 48 74 63 9 dakkak back to square one 69 10 see moshe ma oz palestinian leadership on the west bank th e changing role of the arab mayors under jordan and israel london frank cass 1984 72 11 th e support of religious leaders in order to off set the nationalist drive was used by the security establishment also inside israel in the 1950s and 1960s see cohen good arabs 98 chap 1 n 60 12 schiff and ya ari intifada 223 225 intro n 6 for other attempts to create religious divisions see tamari eyeless in judea 39 44 chap 1 n 60 13 al shuaibi palestinian entity consciousness part 2 58 14 ibid 61 15 ibid 62 16 cited in ma oz palestinian leadership on the west bank 89 17 ibid 64 18 al shuaibi palestinian entity consciousness part 2 64 65 19 for instance mo 194 236 312 394 see chap 1 n 39 20 ma oz palestinian leadership on the west bank 80 81 2 6 2 n ot e s to pag e s 9 4 9 8 21 levi local government in the administered territories 110 intro n 14 22 teveth cursed blessing 229 287 23 for a discussion of the legal aspects of the municipal elections see moshe drori local government in judea and samaria in shamgar military government in the territories administered by israel 237 84 intro n 36 24 th e appointments were based on a 1934 british municipal law that gave the person in charge of the region the authority to appoint and dismiss the municipal council and the power to decide who could vote or be eligible for nomination see muhammad al khaas municipal legal structure in gaza in a palestinian agenda for the west bank and gaza ed emile a nakhleh washington dc american enterprise institute for public policy research 1980 103 25 al khaas municipal legal structure in gaza 104 26 mandell gaza israel s soweto 14 chap 2 n 26 27 roy gaza strip 267 28 al shuaibi palestinian entity consciousness part 2 60 al shuaibi adds that jordan also called on the west bank inhabitants to boy cott the elections because of its continued insistence that it was the legiti mate sovereign of the region and represented its inhabitants accordingly it was no surprise that jordan was against the election of a local leadership that might undermine its claims 29 gazit trapped fools 167 68 intro n 1 30 drori local government in judea and samaria 265 31 th e jordanian municipality law grants the right to vote to every male born in the city registered as a resident of the city on the condition that he pay at least one dinar yearly in property or business tax someone who paid two hundred dinars in taxes could obtain for himself two hundred votes by recording the names of two hundred people in the voter registries as tax payers th is is how the wealthy landowners secured their political power see levi local government in the administered territories 106 32 ma oz notes that although 50 percent of the elected council men were new the election results did not create a qualitative change in the makeup of the municipal elites except for a number of mayors and council members who belonged to the intelligentsia and to the middle class the n o t e s t o p a g e s 9 8 1 0 1 2 6 3 elected council members represented the large hamulas and the economic elites not the workers stratum whose recent fi nancial gains from work in israel were not yet translated into political power th ere was a high correla tion between socioeconomic status expressed in landholding and business ownership and political offi ce see ma oz palestinian leadership on the west bank 105 see also gazit trapped fools 179 82 33 lustick arabs in the jewish state 203 intro n 37 34 ma oz palestinian leadership on the west bank 105 35 following two airplane hijackings carried out in early september 1970 by the pflp in which the planes were ordered to land on jordanian soil king hussein imposed martial law in the country and ordered the palestinian fedayeen to lay down their weapons his decision to disarm the plo derived from his sense that the plo was trying take over the country ten days of clashes between the plo and the jordanian military ensued with an estimated thirty fi ve hundred casualties on both sides th e inci dents referred to as black september ended with the plo s forceful expul sion from jordan 36 benvenisti west bank data project 1984 report 45 chap 1 n 70 37 th e pnf united the underground political organizations and lead ing fi gures who were considered nationalist personalities see resistance in the occupied territories journal of palestine studies 3 no 4 summer 1974 164 66 and issa al shuaibi th e development of palestinian entity consciousness part 3 journal of palestine studies 9 no 3 spring 1980 99 124 for israel s response to the demonstrations see report of the special committee 04 11 1974 a 9817 38 ma ariv november 23 1973 as cited in al shuaibi palestinian entity consciousness part 3 116 39 th e arab summit took place on october 29 1974 on november 13 arafat gave his historic address to the united nations united nations resolutions 3236 and 3237 of 22 november 1974 acknowledged the plo as the representative of the palestinian people and invited it to participate as an observer in the general assembly and un sponsored international conferences 40 dakkak back to square one 69 41 benvenisti west bank data project 1986 report 25 29 zertal and eldar lords of the land 570 intro n 5 42 hiltermann behind the intifada 6 intro n 6 2 6 4 n ot e s to pag e s 1 0 1 1 0 3 43 surely other social processes weakened the traditional elite some of which began before israel s occupation of the west bank and gaza th ese include greater emphasis on the importance of education for both men and women the impact of social displacement and the need to make economic readjustments see peretz palestinian social stratifi cation 44 hiltermann behind the intifada 8 45 ma oz palestinian leadership on the west bank 134 al shuaibi palestinian entity consciousness part 3 122 46 gazit trapped fools 179 82 47 paradoxically at this point the israeli authorities were still less invasive in the ot than they had been in israel during the military admin istration until 1966 the military administration determined the list of representatives from each hamula to the regional councils as well as the chairmen of the councils see lustick arabs in the jewish state 205 48 gazit trapped fools 179 49 in two towns an agreed list was presented and in a third elections had been held in 1974 and were not due to be held until later see drori local government in judea and samaria 283 50 not long before the elections israel deported the mayors of al bireh and ramallah because they supported the plo and on march 28 1976 two weeks before the elections it deported two leading candidates from hebron and al bireh see palestinian resistance th reatens israeli occu pation middle east report no 46 april 1976 18 19 51 gazit trapped fools 182 52 ma oz palestinian leadership on the west bank 151 139 53 ibid 73 54 for a list of events in the ot where palestinians resisted the occupying power see report of the special committee 05 10 1971 a 8389 09 10 1972 a 8828 25 10 1973 a 9148 04 11 1974 a 9817 27 10 1975 a 10272 01 10 1976 a 31 218 27 10 1977 a 32 284 13 11 1978 a 33 356 13 11 1979 a 34 631 06 10 1980 a 35 425 see chap 1 n 52 55 ma oz palestinian leadership on the west bank 155 56 th e members of the pnf had been persecuted in 1974 75 and the organization ceased to function for a while aft er the camp david accords of 1977 it was revived and operated mainly underground against the accords and the occupation see ma oz palestinian leadership on the west bank 155 n o t e s t o p a g e s 1 0 3 1 0 6 2 6 5 57 in reaction to land confi scations palestinians from halhoul blocked the highway from jerusalem to hebron on december 16 1978 threw rocks at israeli vehicles on february 2 1979 and clashed with armed settlers and the israeli military on march 15 1979 in nablus strikes and protests were held at the end of january 1979 following the establishment of the elon moreh settlement 58 faced with a deadlock in the self rule talks president sadat attempted to revive the negotiations in aswan january 1980 by dividing the advancement of begin s autonomy initiative fi rst to gaza and only later in the west bank see autonomy for the gaza strip journal of palestine studies 9 no 3 spring 1980 176 80 59 th e high court lift ed the restriction following an appeal 60 cited in aronson creating facts 205 intro n 5 61 although the camp david accords between israel and egypt were the basis for the peace agreement between the two countries a relatively large portion of the accords was dedicated to resolving the palestinian problem th e accords specify that there should be a transitional period not exceeding fi ve years in which full autonomy will be given to the palestinian inhabitants and the israeli military government and its civilian administra tion will be withdrawn begin considered the autonomy to be the last stage and was unwilling to withdraw the military government or civil adminis tration for the wording of the accords and related correspondence see http www jimmycarterlibrary gov 62 dayan defected from labor aft er the 1977 electoral defeat and became foreign minister in menachem begin s likud government 63 following the resignation of defense minister ezer weizman in may 1981 and before the appointment of ariel sharon chief of staff raphael eitan seized the opportunity to alter the existing chain of com mand compelling the coordinator of activities in the territories to report to him see benvenisti west bank data project 1984 report 45 64 military order 947 november 8 1981 see chap 1 n 39 65 kuttab and shehadeh civil administration in the occupied west bank 12 intro n 59 66 ibid 20 9 67 tamari israel s search for a native pillar 377 90 chap 1 n 70 68 trudy rubin occupied territories israel s alternative leader ship plan christian science monitor august 28 1981 2 6 6 n ot e s to pag e s 1 0 6 1 0 9 69 ma oz palestinian leadership on the west bank 199 70 benvenisti west bank handbook a political lexicon boulder co westview press 1988 118 71 yehuda litani leaders by proxy ha aretz november 30 1981 in hebrew ma oz palestinian leadership on the west bank 199 72 for instance ibrahim dakkak chairman of the west bank engi neers union jiryis khoury chairman of the west bank lawyers union and abd abu diab head of the jerusalem district electricity company s employees committee were prevented from leaving the jerusalem munici pal area without prior authorization and hassan bargouthi general secre tary of the restaurant and cafe workers union was informed that his town arrest order had been extended for a period of six months th e editors of al fajr newspaper who had been under house arrest for eighteen months were not allowed to leave their towns of residence ramallah and el bireh while orders restricting the movement of dr amin al khatib chairman of the charitable societies faisal husseini director of the arab studies centre and riyad agha president of the islamic institute were also issued to mention only a few of those whose movement was confi ned see report of the special committee 10 20 1982 a 37 486 73 for instance at the funeral procession for eighteen year old ibrahim aly darwish from al bireh who had been fatally shot in the abdo men during a protest soldiers threw dozens of tear gas grenades at the demon strators wounding a fi ft y fi ve year old woman during a clash with demonstrators at the dir amar refugee camp northwest of ramallah muham med hamad dib seventeen was killed and two others were seri ously wounded a thirteen year old boy bassam mazoul al najar was shot in the head during a demonstration south of rafah while in jenin fadhi kanouh twenty one who had stabbed a border policeman was shot at close range by another policeman see report of the special committee 10 20 1982 a 37 486 74 security forces demolished the houses belonging to the families of mahmoud farhi hasuna eighteen and abram abed asibi seventeen suspected of participation in the stabbing of david kopelsky in hebron the house of a third suspect reportedly the instigator of the attack was sealed th e israeli military also demolished the houses of the shumaly family in beit sahur because their son allegedly had thrown incendiary bottles while four other houses were blown up in connection with the n o t e s t o p a g e s 1 0 9 11 0 2 6 7 same incidents in beit sahur in salfi t and qabalan two houses were destroyed because they had been built illegally while the high court of justice ordered hassan khalil al abassi from silwan to destroy his house because it had been constructed without a building license failure to comply meant a fi ne of il 25 000 and a one and a half year prison term see report of the special committee 10 20 1982 a 37 486 75 for a list of daily events from september 1 1981 until july 25 1982 see report of the special committee 10 20 1982 a 37 486 76 zucker report on human rights 58 chap 2 n 51 77 report of the special committee 10 20 1982 a 37 486 78 in such a system milson maintained the most valuable prize for a public personality is access to those who hold central power to deny this privilege is to undercut a leader s position within his constituency and to deprive him of his infl uence if a notable or local politician cannot act as an intermediary between the central authority and his constituents family town or tribe a service absolutely crucial in that social and political structure they will inevitably turn to somebody else see milson how to make peace 31 79 salim tamari in league with zion israel s search for a native pillar journal of palestine studies 12 no 4 summer 1983 41 56 44 litani leaders by proxy david ronen underscores the close relationship between hebron s mayor jabari and the gss in th e year of the shabak 131 40 intro n 36 80 cohen an army of shadows 22 chap 1 n 60 81 litani leaders by proxy 82 salim tamari cogently argues that the leagues creators displayed an astonishing ideological misconception of the relationship between town and village th e idea of mobilizing the dispossessed peasantry to rise against the privileged towns overlooked the radical changes in social structure that took place during the previous decades in the rural areas the most signifi cant of which was the complex integration of rural laborers into the israeli workforce with tens of thousands of villagers commuting each morning to work in israel a new stratum evolved whose standards of living lifestyle and political perceptions bore little resemblance to the situation prevailing in the 1920s when the fi rst zionist strategy towards palestinian peasants was formulated see tamari in league with zion 44 55 83 hiltermann behind the intifada 9 2 6 8 n ot e s to pag e s 1 1 0 1 1 2 84 zucker report on human rights 89 in fi scal year 1983 84 the leagues received 113 million shekels 85 report of the special committee 10 20 1982 a 37 486 86 kuttab and shehadeh civil administration in the occupied west bank 14 87 litani leaders by proxy 88 tamari in league with zion 46 89 zucker report on human rights 91 92 90 benvenisti west bank data project 1984 report 44 5 civilian control epigraph cited in weizman hollow land 133 intro n 18 and taken from avi mograbi producer how i learned to overcome my fear and love arik sharon a documentary fi lm 1997 1 shashar seventh day war 47 chap 1 n 49 2 for the use of archaeology to advance israel s claims to the land see nadia abu el haj facts on the ground archaeological practice and terri torial self fashioning in israeli society chicago university of chicago press 2002 3 gazit trapped fools 241 88 intro n 1 weizman hollow land 80 82 4 weizman hollow land 93 5 for the status of settlements vis à vis international law see lein land grab 37 46 intro n 19 amnesty international israel and the occu pied territories th e issue of settlements must be addressed according to international law 2003 available online at http web amnesty org 6 weizman hollow land 95 7 rafi segal and eyal weizman a civilian occupation th e politics of israeli architecture london verso 2003 24 8 th e structure of the settlement was designed to provide defense against the potential attacks of local inhabitants who may have been disgruntled by the new neighbors and in some cases the appropriation of their land th e swift ness of the construction process was motivated by the ottoman law which guaranteed that the british mandatory forces could not destroy the settlement aft er it was built see elisha efrat geography of occupation judea samaria and the gaza strip jerusalem carmel 2002 68 69 n o t e s t o p a g e s 112 12 0 2 6 9 9 some of these methods were also used in the gaza strip 10 most of these mechanisms are discussed at length in lein land grab 47 63 11 see for example article 46 of the regulations annexed to the hague convention on the laws of war on land october 18 1907 12 lein land grab 58 59 13 ibid 52 53 14 weizman hollow land 46 15 lein land grab 61 th e jordanian law specifi cally states that the expropriation of land is permitted only when it is for a public purpose so israel has not used this law extensively to confi scate land intended for the establishment of settlements an exception to this generalization is the case of ma ale adummim established in 1975 on an area of some thirty thou sand dunams expropriated from palestinians 16 benvenisti and khayat west bank and gaza atlas 60 intro n 54 17 lein land grab 49 among those established on this land were matitiyahu neve zuf rimonim shilo bet el kokhav hashahar alon shvut el azar efrat har gilo migdal oz gittit yitav and kiryat arba 18 kretzmer occupation of justice 75 100 chap 1 n 10 19 cited in aronson creating facts 14 intro n 5 20 for the use of military bases for civilian settlements and a historical account of the nahal outposts see zertal and eldar lords of the land 374 82 intro n 5 21 th e justifi cation for this settlement which was the fi rst one is that prior to 1948 jews lived in kfar etzion and were massacred by the jorda nian legion 22 gazit trapped fools 251 54 23 cited in report of the special committee a 9148 25 october 1973 chap 1 n 52 24 consider the establishment of ma ale adummim the second largest settlement in the ot today and the fi rst suburban settlement on novem ber 25 1974 the jerusalem post reported that the government had decided to build an industrial center fourteen kilometers east of jerusalem on the road to jericho on march 3 1975 a group of israelis tried to settle at the industrial center and were evacuated by the military a month later the military government seized several thousand dunams of land located near 2 7 0 n ot e s to pag e s 1 2 0 1 2 4 the industrial area and on may 21 construction began at the site on july 9 the military government expropriated an additional thirty thousand dunams of land and on september 22 1975 the jerusalem post reported that the government had given permission for sixty settlers to move into the newly established settlement ma ale adummim see report of the spe cial committee a 10272 27 october 1975 25 david newman jewish settlement in the west bank th e role of gush emunim durham england centre for middle eastern and islamic studies 1982 40 43 26 it is presented as a watershed in zertal and eldar lords of the land 66 81 newman jewish settlement in the west bank 42 43 27 on april 20 1977 ha aretz reported on a decision by the labor government s ministerial committee on settlements to allocate il 225 million for the establishment of twenty fi ve new settlements including seventeen in the occupied territories 28 gazit trapped fools 241 see also zertal and eldar lords of the land 376 29 th e data about gaza is from 1983 and not 1980 benvenisti and khayat west bank and gaza atlas 32 62 63 benvenisti west bank data project 1984 report 21 chap 1 n 70 30 eyal weizman th e politics of verticality chap 7 published by open democracy at www opendemocracy net 31 see military orders mo 92 and 498 see chap 1 n 39 32 th e military orders required a permit for drilling entailing a lengthy and complicated bureaucratic process as b tselem points out the vast majority of applications submitted during the occupation were denied and the few that were granted were solely for domestic use th e number of wells in the territories rapidly declined since permits for new wells were few and far apart about thirteen wells from 1967 to 1996 while some of the exist ing wells ceased to function due to maintenance problems or because they had dried up also in 1975 israel set quotas for extracting water from exist ing wells and installed meters to enforce them th e quotas as b tselem suggests were inadequate to meet the population s needs see yehezkel lein th irsty for a solution th e water crisis in the occupied territories and its resolution in the final status agreement jerusalem b tselem 2000 29 33 ibid 29 34 weizman politics of verticality chap 7 n o t e s t o p a g e s 12 4 12 8 2 71 35 cited in lein land grab 49 50 see hcj 390 79 dweikat et al v government of israel et al piskei din 34 1 36 th e essential elements of the land law were adopted fi rst by british mandate legislation and later by jordanian legislation and accordingly continued to apply at the time of the israeli occupation in 1967 see lein land grab 51 58 37 benvenisti and khayat west bank and gaza atlas 61 it is now known that about 30 percent of the land that was defi ned as state land fol lowing the elon moreh trial did not fi t the criteria set by the ottoman law while 69 percent of the settlements were actually built on private palestin ian land that was never appropriated and made state property before the confi scations lecture given by talia sasson at van leer march 17 2006 see also talia sasson sasson report on illegal outposts report presented to the prime minister jerusalem 2005 81 in hebrew available online at http www fmep org reports vol15 no2 05 sasson_report html dror etkes and hagit ofran construction of settlements upon private land tel aviv peace now 2006 38 central bureau of statistics national accountability 125 chap 2 n 62 39 central bureau of statistics national accountability 133 see also david butterfi eld jad isaac atif kubursi and steven spencer impacts of water and export market restrictions on palestinian agriculture paper prepared by mcmaster university and econometric research limited and the applied research institute of jerusalem january 2000 available online at http socserv mcmaster ca kubursi ebooks water htm 40 military order 25 41 for a discussion of the world zionist organization s role in ensur ing that the newly built settlements would be exclusively for jews see lein land grab 21 22 42 ibid 63 43 almost 50 percent of the west bank s land and close to 40 percent of the land in the gaza strip had been appropriated see benvenisti and khayat west bank and gaza atlas 112 13 roy gaza strip 175 81 intro n 37 44 roy gaza strip 178 79 45 al haq punishing a nation human rights violations during the palestinian uprising december 1987 december 1988 ramallah al haq 1990 114 2 7 2 n ot e s to pag e s 1 2 8 1 3 1 46 weizman hollow land 57 86 47 ministry of agriculture and the settlement division of the world zionist organization master plan for settlement for judea and samaria development plan for the region for 1983 1986 jerusalem ministry of agriculture 1983 27 48 state comptroller annual report 48 jerusalem state comptrol ler 1998 1032 33 in hebrew cited in lein land grab 50 49 yehezkel lein forbidden roads th e discriminatory west bank road regime jerusalem b tselem 2004 50 lein land grab 116 51 th e municipal and regional boundaries of the local authorities were marked on maps signed by the military commander consult mo 783 from march 1979 and mo 892 from march 1981 see lein land grab 116 th is includes the area of east jerusalem that was annexed in 1967 52 ibid 115 116 53 ibid 115 54 gush emunim master plan for settlement in judea and samaria jerusalem gush emunim 1978 15 in hebrew 55 lein land grab 86 56 applications fi led in the past by palestinian residents to the civil administration and still fi led in the case of area c for building on pri vate land outside the area of these plans are almost always rejected th e reasons for the rejections are based both on the demarcation plans the land is outside the plan area and on the mandatory outline plans the area is zoned for agriculture or a nature reserve for example between 1996 and 1999 the civil administration issued just seventy nine building permits see lein land grab 87 see also yuval ginbar demolishing peace israel s policy of mass demolition of palestinian houses in the west bank jerusa lem b tselem 1997 57 almost all the bypass roads run across privately owned palestinian land and israel used two legal means to confi scate this land requisition for military needs and expropriation for public use see lein forbidden roads 6 58 jeff halper th e 94 percent solution a matrix of control middle east report 216 fall 2000 14 19 59 ibid 60 lein forbidden roads 11 19 61 ibid 3 n o t e s t o p a g e s 13 1 13 7 2 7 3 62 ibid 36 63 lein land grab 115 64 weizman politics of verticality chap 5 65 ibid 66 segal and weizman civilian occupation 85 86 67 ibid 24 68 benvenisti west bank data project 1987 report 59 61 chap 3 n 24 69 segal and weizman civilian occupation 24 70 yael stein tacit consent israeli policy on law enforcement toward settlers in the occupied territories jerusalem b tselem 2001 2 71 aronson creating facts 198 al haq punishing a nation 115 ben venisti west bank data project 1984 report 42 for documentation of literally hundreds of incidents of settler violence consult the annual reports of the special committee to investigate israeli practices aff ecting the human rights of the population of the occupied territories http domino un org unispal nsf as well as reports published by b tselem on the topic 72 united nations economic and social repercussions of the israeli occupation on the living conditions of the palestinian people in the occupied palestinian territory including jerusalem and of the arab population in the occupied syrian golan a 57 63 e 2002 21 new york united nations may 17 2002 73 benvenisti west bank data project 1987 report 41 74 benvenisti legal dualism 16 chap 1 n 22 consult mo 432 and mo 817 in 1988 the knesset empowered the government to impose its laws on the settlements in territorial terms rather than merely on the set tlers as individuals as had been the case previously in recent years the knesset has adopted several laws relating to local authorities and elec tions for these authorities that apply directly to the settlements see lein land grab 66 75 ron frontiers and ghettos 169 chap 1 n 56 stein tacit consent 28 30 76 settlers idf acting in subdued manner ynet 2 october 2000 in hebrew cited in stein tacit consent 7 77 for a description of the creation of settler militias see also ze ev schiff and ehud ya ari intifada 166 intro n 6 2 7 4 n ot e s to pag e s 1 3 7 1 4 2 78 ron frontiers and ghettos 169 79 in the second intifada however non incorporated militias reap peared on the scene 80 stein tacit consent 9 19 ron dudai free rein vigilante settlers and israel s non enforcement of the law jerusalem b tselem 2001 2 18 81 stein tacit consent 20 dudai free rein 2 82 stein tacit consent 3 14 dudai free rein 2 83 gadi algazi and azmi badir transfer s real nightmare ha aretz november 16 2002 84 avi issacharoff report 90 of palestinian complaints to police unsolved ha aretz september 10 2006 85 dudai free rein 24 86 stein tacit consent 45 87 it is crucial to keep in mind that this is not only a nationalist policy but also a racist one israeli law is imposed not only on israelis resident in the occupied territories but also on jews who move to the settlements even if they do not have israeli citizenship see lein land grab 66 88 hajjar courting confl ict 58 chap 1 n 10 89 eitan felner and roley rozen law enforcement on israeli civilians in the occupied territories jerusalem b tselem 1994 85 89 90 stein tacit consent 47 49 91 hiltermann behind the intifada 6 intro n 6 92 ibid 10 6 the intifada epigraph yitzhak zaccai judea samaria and the gaza district 1967 1987 twenty years of civil administration jerusalem carta books 1987 7 1 literally intifada means shaking off but in this context it meant popular uprising see schiff and ya ari intifada 17 21 intro n 6 anita vitullo uprising in gaza in lockman and beinin intifada 44 46 intro n 6 2 vitullo uprising in gaza 48 3 for the mirage that israel created see zaccai judea samaria and the gaza district 1967 1987 6 7 4 straschnov justice under fire 50 intro n 64 n o t e s t o p a g e s 14 2 14 8 2 7 5 5 according to al haq during the three year period 1984 86 israel deported 37 palestinians held 168 in administrative detention and demol ished or sealed 107 homes cited in benvenisti west bank data project 1987 report 40 chap 3 n 24 6 al haq twenty years of israel occupation of the west bank and gaza strip 24 30 ramallah al haq 1987 benvenisti west bank data proj ect 1987 report 40 7 ian s lustick writing the intifada collective action in the occu pied territories world politics 45 no 4 july 1993 560 94 561 8 schiff and ya ari intifada 87 95 9 lustick writing the intifada 567 10 rashid khalidi th e palestinian people twenty two years aft er 1967 in lockman and beinin intifada 113 26 11 benvenisti west bank data project 1987 report 8 12 ibid 12 13 schiff and ya ari intifada 84 14 ibid 82 83 15 hiltermann behind the intifada 37 intro n 6 16 another example could be israel s support of the muslim brother hood in its struggle against the plo israel in other words helped build the institutional apparatus that was later transformed into hamas 17 shaul mishal and reuven aharoni stones are not all th e intifada and the communiqués tel aviv hakibbutz hameuchad 1989 in hebrew 18 amikam nahmani th e intifada 1987 1993 on the symbol ritual and myth in the national struggle alpayim 29 2005 82 in hebrew 19 schiff and ya ari intifada 255 20 lockman and beinin intifada 361 63 21 while the islamic jihad had been operating in the territories since the 1970s hamas was founded by sheik ahmad yasin at the outbreak of the intifada see shaul mishal and reuben aharoni speaking stones com muniques fr om the intifada underground syracuse ny syracuse univer sity press 1994 22 for an example of a fake communiqué see lockman and beinin intifada 386 2 7 6 n ot e s to pag e s 1 4 9 1 5 6 23 vitullo uprising in gaza 48 24 schiff and ya ari intifada 150 25 noga kadman 1987 1997 a decade of human rights violations jerusalem b tselem 1998 3 6 during the same period 118 israelis were killed by palestinians 26 james ron a license to kill israeli undercover operations against wanted and masked palestinians new york human rights watch 1993 27 ron frontiers and ghettos 1 24 chap 1 n 56 28 straschnov justice under fire 50 67 as a result of the high incar ceration rate thousands of palestinian women became single mothers for extended periods and had to bear total responsibility for the family 29 kadman human rights violations 9 10 30 israel initially wanted to use hamas in order to undermine the nationalist political factions aft er a year israel realized that hamas was not merely an islamic organization but had a nationalist agenda and there fore it too was outlawed 31 former prime minister yitzchak rabin used the word shaken rather than tortured when he discussed the methods used by the gss during interrogations however according to international covenants to shake constitutes torture see kadman human rights violations 13 32 neve gordon silent reminders th e purpose of torture in repres sive regimes humanist march april 1997 33 kadman human rights violations 18 34 ibid 14 35 ibid 19 36 lein builders of zion 9 10 chap 1 n 62 37 yehezkel lein one big prison freedom of movement to and fr om the gaza strip on the eve of the disengagement plan jerusalem b tselem 2005 57 38 lein builders of zion 27 33 39 ibid 9 10 40 benvenisti west bank data project 1987 report 34 35 41 conclusions of the sadan committee cited in arnon and wein blatt sovereignty and economic development 294 chap 3 n 5 42 roy gaza strip 212 213 n o t e s t o p a g e s 1 5 6 16 3 2 7 7 43 helen murray barriers to education th e israeli military obstruc tion of access to schools and universities in the west bank and gaza strip birzeit west bank birzeit university 2004 3 44 al haq punishing a nation 274 chap 5 n 45 45 eleanor shapiro a bitter pill health care cuts in the territo ries jerusalem post february 1 1989 46 fohorils development of agriculture 21 22 chap 2 n 60 47 schiff and ya ari intifada 28 48 cited in schiff and ya ari intifada 152 49 foucault history of sexuality 1 86 intro n 8 50 see respectively khalidi palestinian people tamari what the uprising means intro n 29 for an overview of several books written about the fi rst intifada see lustick writing the intifada 51 schiff and ya ari intifada 263 52 swirski price of occupation 16 chap 3 n 1 53 neve gordon and nitza berkovitch human rights discourse in domestic settings how does it emerge political studies 55 no 1 2007 243 66 54 ze ev schiff and ehud ya ari intifada 167 68 55 aryeh shalev th e intifada causes and eff ects boulder co west view press 1991 3 7 outsourcing the occupation epigraphs raja shedadeh strangers in the house coming of age in occupied palestine new york penguin books 2003 236 glenn e rob inson th e peace of the powerful in carey th e new intifada 115 intro n 6 1 th e term oft en used in this context is proxy which the oxford dic tionary defi nes as a person appointed or authorized to act instead of another an attorney substitute representative agent as i show below outsourcing seems to be a more accurate term 2 benvenisti intimate enemies see also in this context hass drinking the sea at gaza edward said peace and its discontents usher dispatches fr om palestine gordon outsourcing violations all full citations appear in intro n 62 3 said th e end of the peace process chomsky th e fateful triangle 2 7 8 n ot e s to pag e s 1 6 4 1 7 0 intro n 4 mouin rabbani th e smorgasbord of failure oslo and the al aqsa intifada in carey new intifada 4 usher dispatches fr om palestine 9 5 cohen an army of shadows 22 28 chap 1 n 60 6 th e sla was created following israel s invasion in 1978 in what israel called operation litani 7 benvenisti west bank data project 1987 report 47 49 chap 3 n 24 8 cited in noam chomsky powers and prospects refl ections on human nature and social order boston south end press 1996 198 9 th e eight agreements in chronological order are 1 declaration of principles on interim self government arrangements september 13 1993 2 the paris protocol on economic relations april 29 1994 3 agreement on the gaza strip and the jericho area may 4 1994 4 agreement on preparatory transfer of powers and responsibilities between israel and the plo august 29 1994 5 th e israeli palestinian interim agreement on the west bank and the gaza strip also known as oslo ii september 28 1995 6 hebron protocol january 17 1997 7 th e wye river memorandum october 23 1998 8 th e sharem el sheikh memorandum september 4 1999 10 declaration of principles article 6 article 8 see also agreement on preparatory transfer of powers and responsibilities august 29 1994 par ticularly annexes 1 6 available online at www palestinefacts org 11 arnon and weinblatt sovereignty and economic development 304 chap 3 n 5 12 roy gaza strip 198 intro n 37 13 rela mazali noga ofer and neve gordon th e occupied health care system tel aviv physicians for human rights 1993 14 maskit bendel th e disengagement plan and its repercussions on the right to health in the gaza strip tel aviv physicians for human rights 2005 58 15 john torpey th e invention of the passport cambridge cambridge university press 2000 4 16 in 1997 hebron was divided into two parts h1 under nominal con trol of the pa and the smaller h2 section under the control of the israeli military area h2 is home to about thirty fi ve thousand palestinians and fi ve hundred israeli settlers th e old city and the tomb of the patriarchs n o t e s t o p a g e s 17 0 17 7 2 7 9 are also located in h2 yellow areas in the gaza strip are more or less equivalent to area b in the west bank and comprise 23 percent of the strip while white areas are equivalent to area a and comprise a little less than 10 percent of the strip 17 geoff rey aronson recapitulating the redeployments th e israel plo interim agreements available online at http www palestine center org cpap pubs 20000427ib html th e agreements were wye i ii and iii and sharam i 18 lein forbidden roads 4 chap 5 n 49 19 halper th e 94 percent solution chap 5 n 58 20 jewish settlers could continue moving freely across the green line while aft er oslo a very small number of palestinians received vip cards and could travel even in times of closure 21 th e palestinians did not oppose the construction of this fence because it was erected on the green line see lein one big prison 60 chap 6 n 37 22 th e normally open and closed character of the border relates of course only to the occupied palestinians for israelis the green line con tinued to be permeable and in many respects invisible 23 annex 3 article 4 of the interim agreement states that in area c in the fi rst phase of redeployment powers and responsibilities not related to territory as set out in appendix 1 will be transferred to and assumed by the palestinian council in accordance with the provisions of that appendix th is indicates that even though israel had full authority over all matters in area c the pa took over responsibilities not related to territory 24 derek gregory th e colonial present afghanistan palestine iraq oxford blackwell publishing 2004 25 kadman human rights violations 10 chap 6 n 25 26 ibid 10 11 27 rema hammami and salim tamari anatomy of another rebel lion middle east report no 217 winter 2000 2 5 28 shir hever th e economy th rough the eyes of israeli economists jerusalem alternative information center 2006 29 in 1999 and 2000 years in which israel did not impose any pro longed comprehensive closures palestinian gnp grew at around 4 percent a year however this growth did not compensate for the sharp decline that had occurred during the previous four years see sara roy decline 2 8 0 n ot e s to pag e s 1 7 8 1 8 3 and disfi gurement th e palestinian economy aft er oslo in carey new intifada 91 110 30 for a list of the attacks and the number of people killed consult the israeli ministry of foreign aff airs website http www mfa gov il mfa 31 lein builders of zion 9 10 chap 1 n 62 32 usher dispatches fr om palestine 97 33 b tselem th e palestinian economy during the period of the oslo accords 1994 2000 available online at www btselem org 34 b tselem palestinian economy 35 kadman human rights violations 19 36 world bank west bank and gaza update report published by the world bank group april 2006 4 37 swirsky price of occupation 19 chap 3 n 1 38 diwan and shaban development under adversity 21 chap 3 n 52 39 lein forbidden roads 3 40 cited in usher dispatches fr om palestine 73 41 shlomo shapiro th e cia as middle east broker survival 45 no 2 2003 91 112 see also shlomi eldar eyeless in gaza tel aviv yedioth ahronoth books sifrei hemed 2005 in hebrew 42 usher dispatches fr om palestine 67 43 bassem eid and eitan felner neither law nor justice extrajudicial punishment abduction unlawful arrest torture of palestinian residents of the west bank by the palestinian preventive security service jerusalem b tselem 1995 33 44 wye memorandum of october 23 1998 security actions article 2 clause 1a 45 yehezkel lein and renata capella cooperating against justice human rights violations by israel and palestine national authority fol lowing the murders in wadi quelt jerusalem b tselem 1999 3 46 neve gordon and dani filc hamas and the destruction of risk society constellations 12 no 4 2005 548 47 gordon and filc hamas and the destruction of risk society 48 efraim davidi globalization and economy in the middle east palestine israel journal 7 2000 33 38 th e crucial point though is that even if the world bank had not encouraged privatization and the pa had not 548 n o t e s t o p a g e s 1 8 4 191 2 8 1 been infested with nepotism and corruption it still could not have off ered adequate services to the population because of the acute defi cit in funds 49 in the past seven years the west bank s settler population has con tinued to grow and in june 2007 it amounted to 267 000 but even this growth rate is lower than the one during the oslo years 50 carey new intifada 76 51 roy decline and disfi gurement 95 52 sasson sasson report on illegal outposts chap 5 n 37 see also peace now th e west bank facts and figures june 2006 online at http www peacenow org il 53 weizman hollow land 83 84 intro n 18 54 th e separation between the functions of direct discipline and indi rect control complicates as eyal weizman points out the narrative that presupposes the evolution of disciplinary societies to control societies and makes these two systems of domination coexistent as two components of a vertically layered sovereignty see deleuze postscript on the societies of control 3 7 intro n 34 weizman hollow land 145 55 on the intentional production and maintenance of crises see ariella azoulay and adi ophir th e monster s tail in against the wall ed michael sorkin new york new press 2005 2 27 8 the separation principle epigraphs ehud barak s slogan for the 1999 campaign for prime minis ter john torpey th e invention of the passport 22 1 see statistics at www btselem org th e numbers pertain to killings until september 15 2006 2 at the camp david summit israel off ered to establish a palestinian state encompassing the gaza strip 92 percent of the west bank and some parts of arab east jerusalem in return it proposed the annexation of jewish neighborhoods settlements in east jerusalem israel also asked for several security measures including early warning stations in the west bank and an israeli presence at palestinian border crossings in addition it would accept no more than a token return of palestinian refugees under a family reunifi cation program th e israelis maintain that palestinian lead ers rejected barak s off er and the diplomatic route to a peaceful settlement of the arab israeli confl ict instead they tried to destroy israel by pressing 2 8 2 n ot e s to pag e s 1 9 3 1 9 7 throughout the israeli palestinian talks for the return of millions of pales tinian refugees to israel and by launching the second intifada or uprising in september 2000 see jeremy pressman visions in collision what happened at camp david and taba international security 28 no 2 fall 2003 5 43 3 according to jeremy pressman despite israeli contentions palestin ian negotiators and much of the palestinian nationalist movement favored a genuine two state solution and did not seek to destroy israel either by insisting on the right of return or through the second intifada pressman concludes that the israeli belief that the palestinians did not want to reach an agreement is based on fi ve contentions that do not hold up when assessed in light of the evidence from 2000 01 israel s off er at the camp david summit was not as generous or complete as israeli and u s offi cials have claimed th e palestinian authority negotiated and made notable conces sions on the fi nal status issues many palestinians favor a two state solution not the destruction of israel th e second intifada was not a premeditated palestinian authority eff ort to destroy israel th e palestinian authority recognized israel s existential concerns about the palestinian right of return and discussed policies to address those concerns visions in collision 7 42 see also clayton e swisher th e truth about camp david th e untold story about the collapse of the middle east peace process new york nation books 2004 4 akiva eldar popular misconceptions ha aretz june 11 2004 in hebrew see also reuven pedatzur more th an a million bullets ha aretz june 30 2004 in hebrew 5 see statistics at www btselem org 6 th e colonial enterprise is to be sure a multifaceted and complex phenomenon that cannot be defi ned in one sentence or passage for an analysis of diff erent dimensions and types of the colonial project see timo thy mitchell colonizing egypt new york cambridge university press 1991 partha chatterjee th e nation and its fragments colonial and post colonial histories princeton nj princeton university press 1993 mah mood mamdani citizen and subject contemporary afr ica and the legacy of late colonialism princeton nj princeton university press 1996 and shafi r land labor and the origins of the israeli palestinian confl ict chap 3 n 28 mamdani for example shows how diff erent native populations e g urban vs rural sectors were governed entirely diff erently n o t e s t o p a g e s 1 9 7 19 9 2 8 3 7 weizman adds that the israeli fantasy of separation seeks to create a defensible and homogeneous israeli political space that will guarantee if not protection from palestinian attacks a space of jewish demographic majority and control hollow land 178 intro n 18 8 for a discussion about who actually shot mohammed al dura see james fallows who shot mohammed al dura atlantic monthly june 2003 9 amira hass don t shoot till you can see th ey re over the age of 12 ha aretz november 20 2000 10 ron dudai trigger happy unjustifi ed shooting and violation of the open fire regulations during the al aqsa intifada jerusalem b tselem 2002 11 ron a license to kill chap 6 n 26 12 b tselem for example documented the killing of 168 palestinians during arrests in the west bank between january 2004 and june 2006 at least 40 of those killed were civilians who were not connected in any way to the military operation and another 54 were defi ned as wanted but were unarmed or otherwise hors de combat at the time they were shot and killed none of these cases was investigated by the military police conse quently none of the soldiers was charged with unlawful shooting or any other off ense see ronen shnayderman take no prisoners th e fatal shooting of palestinians by israeli security forces during arrest operations jerusalem b tselem 2005 13 dudai trigger happy 14 th e numbers are taken from b tselem s website www btselem org 15 aft er the terrorist attack at the munich olympics golda meir authorized the mossad to assassinate all those who were involved in the bloody assault on israeli targets see gordon rationalizing extra judicial executions 314 intro n 30 16 renata capella and michael sfard th e assassination policy of the state of israel jerusalem public committee against torture in israel 2002 17 david kretzmer targeted killing of suspected terrorists extra judicial executions or legitimate means of defence european journal of international law 16 no 2 2005 171 212 18 weizman hollow land 239 19 th is is the point made by weizman fi rst in th e politics of verticality chap 5 n 30 and later in hollow land 2 8 4 n ot e s to pag e s 2 0 0 2 0 3 20 weizman hollow land 240 21 jessica montell operation defensive shield tikkun magazine july august 2002 22 peter bouckaert miranda sissons and johanna bjorken jenin idf military operations new york human rights watch 2002 4 23 to be sure israel began altering the means of violence before defen sive shield in a variety of ways but the operation underscores the paradig matic shift 24 montell operation defensive shield 25 amira hass th e real disaster is the closure ha aretz may 21 2002 26 economic and social repercussions of the israeli occupation on the living conditions of the palestinian people in the occupied palestin ian territory including jerusalem and of the arab population in the occupied syrian golan united nations a 57 63 e 2002 21 new york united nations 17 may 2002 27 another example of how the law has been suspended involves the massive destruction of palestinian homes during the fi rst four years of the intifada the israeli military demolished more than twenty fi ve hun dred palestinian houses in the gaza strip according to hrw nearly two thirds of these homes were in rafah a densely populated town and refugee camp located on the border with egypt as a result sixteen thousand people more than 10 percent of rafah s population lost their homes most of them refugees who were dispossessed for a second or third time to stop these demolitions a few groups petitioned the israeli high court which had consistently legitimized demolitions for decades but had devel oped a limited jurisprudence regarding the owner s right to be heard in advance of demolitions during the second intifada the high court expanded the scope of the military s discretion to dispense with the right to a hearing th e court ruled that the right to due process could be revoked in three instances if destruction is absolutely necessary for military opera tions if providing advance notice would endanger the lives of soldiers and if providing advance notice would endanger the success of the demolition th us even though before the uprising there were instances whereby demo litions could go ahead without a hearing and although the hearing itself rarely stopped the demolition according to hrw the cumulative eff ect of the three exceptions rule has been to give the military discretion to cir n o t e s t o p a g e s 2 0 3 2 0 5 2 8 5 cumvent the already limited role of the court and to avoid having to justify demolitions in the fi rst place both the extrajudicial executions and the house demolitions accordingly indicate that in the ot the rule of law became superfl uous see fred abrahams marc garlasco and darryl li razing rafah mass home demolitions in the gaza strip new york human rights watch 2004 127 28 kretzmer occupation of justice 145 64 chap 1 n 10 28 for palestinian fatalities and soldier indictments see www btselem org the indictments appear only in hebrew see also gideon alon mili tary prosecutor 672 investigations were opened during the second inti fada ha aretz february 23 2005 in hebrew 29 straschnov justice under fire 157 intro n 65 30 schiff and ya ari intifada 28 intro n 6 31 yael stein human shield use of palestinian civilians as human shields in violation of high court of justice order jerusalem b tselem 2002 32 for the high court decision see h c 3799 02 adalah et al v yitzhak eitan commander of the israeli army in the west bank et al for the ongoing use of human shields see 20 july 2006 israeli soldiers use civilians as human shields in beit hanun at www btselem org 33 fohorils development of agriculture in the administered territories 22 chap 2 n 60 34 meron economic development 22 chap 1 n 55 35 world bank supplemental trust fund grant to the second emer gency services support project human development group middle east and north africa region report no 27199 62 2003 research shows that malnutrition is a contributing factor in nearly 60 percent of deaths in chil dren for which infectious disease is an underlying cause bahn maharj bhandari nita and bahl rajiv management of the severely malnourished child perspective from developing countries british medical journal 326 2003 146 per capita food consumption has declined by a quarter since 1998 world bank emergency services support project 2 36 gro harlem brundtland health situation of palestinian people living in the occupied palestinian territory world health organiza tion 2002 available online at http www who int mediacentre news statements statement04 en print html 37 azoulay and ophir th e monster s tail 2 27 chap 7 n 55 2 8 6 n ot e s to pag e s 2 0 6 2 0 8 38 world bank twenty seven months intifada closures and pales tinian economic crisis jerusalem world bank 2003 1 see also palestin ian red crescent society curfew tracking june july 2002 online at http www palestinercs org presentation 20powerpoint 20curfew 20 tracking 20july 202002_fi les frame htm 39 world bank twenty seven months 4 40 alice rothchild pitching in for health on the west bank boston globe march 6 2004 41 for a discussion of time and space in the territories and its impact on the palestinian political scene see gordon and filc hamas and the destruction of risk society chap 7 n 46 42 lein forbidden roads 2 chap 5 n 49 43 world bank twenty seven months 3 44 lein one big prison 31 chap 6 n 37 data compiled by the united nations offi ce for the coordination of humanitarian aff airs ocha and sent to the author 45 lein one big prison 57 data compiled by ocha and sent to the author 46 for an analysis of the separation barrier including a description of its historical roots see neve gordon th e barrier in encyclopedia of the israeli palestinian confl ict ed cheryl rubenberg boulder co lynne rienner 2008 47 united nations offi ce for coordination of humanitarian aff airs ocha th e humanitarian impact of the west bank barrier on palestin ian communities jerusalem united nations 2005 48 azoulay and ophir monster s tail 21 49 ocha humanitarian impact of the west bank barrier 3 5 see also b tselem s website http www btselem org english separation_ barrier statistics asp december 26 2005 3 5 34 in numerous areas the barrier is used to appropriate the lands of nearby palestinian villages so as to expand jewish settlements for example the lands of the village bilein are being used to build apartment complexes for the jewish settlement modiein eilit 50 weizman hollow land 161 84 meron rapoport th e spirit of the commander prevails ha aretz may 21 2007 51 ocha humanitarian impact of the west bank barrier 3 5 see also yehezkel lein and alon cohen lifshitz under the guise of security n o t e s t o p a g e s 2 0 9 213 2 8 7 routing the separation barrier to enable the expansion of israel s settle ments in the west bank jerusalem b tselem and bimkon 2005 52 israel is trying to push us out of the jordan valley jerusalem post december 30 2005 53 ocha humanitarian impact of the west bank barrier 3 5 54 in a letter to prime minister ehud olmert dated june 6 2006 a group of israeli human rights organizations underscore the vagueness of israel s open fi re regulation pointing out that nine unarmed palestinian civilians have been killed in close proximity to the barrier of whom fi ve were minors and one an eight year old girl see also peter hermann shooting of protester sparks debate in israel baltimore sun december 29 2003 55 ocha humanitarian impact of the west bank barrier 56 yehezkel lein nu man east jerusalem life under the th reat of expulsion jerusalem b tselem 2003 57 oren yift achel and haim yacobi barriers walls and dialectics th e shaping of creeping apartheid in israel palestine in against the wall ed michael sorkin 138 58 chap 7 n 55 58 yift achel ethnocracy 9 preface n 6 59 ron frontiers and ghettos 15 chap 1 n 56 60 lein one big prison 6 in comparison the population density in israel is 305 people per square kilometer 61 public opinion polls can be found online at palestinian center for policy and survey research www pcpsr org 62 susan buck morss th inking past terror new york verso 2003 63 hroub khaled hamas aft er shaykh yasin and rantisi journal of palestine studies 33 no 4 summer 2004 21 38 64 shaul mishal and avraham sela th e palestinian hamas vision vio lence and coexistence new york university of columbia press 2000 3 65 see also sara roy hamas and the transformation s of political islam in palestine current history 102 2003 13 20 international crisis group islamic social welfare activism in the occupied palestinian ter ritories a legitimate target middle east report no 13 2 april 2003 online at http www crisisweb org home index cfm id 1662 1 1 according to the international crisis group hamas devotes between 85 and 95 percent of its estimated us 70 million annual budget to an exten sive social services network islamic social welfare activism 13 66 international crisis group islamic social welfare activism 25 2 8 8 n ot e s to pag e s 2 1 3 2 1 9 67 in 1998 the average daily consumption of a poor person was equiva lent to 1 47 per day by 2003 it had slipped to 1 32 world bank emer gency services support project 2 3 world bank west bank and gaza update 3 4 chap 7 n 36 68 international crisis group islamic social welfare activism 15 69 due to worsening conditions the needs of the palestinian popula tion grew exponentially focusing on health one fi nds that the population s well being deteriorated both as a result of direct violence and of the general decline in living conditions according to the palestinian red crescent society six years of intifada left one out of every hundred or more than thirty thousand palestinians injured th us the already dilapidated pales tinian health services had to cope with a massive infl ux of additional patients whose medical needs were directly related to the confl ict simulta neously the exponential growth in unemployment and poverty the wide spread and rampant destruction of infrastructure as well as severe disrup tions in water supply and problems with sanitation have had a signifi cant and detrimental eff ect on the health of the occupied palestinians and on their ability to purchase services moreover the ongoing curtailment of movement along with the economic crisis and direct destruction of facili ties have hindered access to health care services and reduced the number of services supplied consult http www palestinercs org and palestinian central bureau of statistics impact of the israeli measures on the eco nomic conditions of palestinian households ramallah pcbs april june 2004 70 international crisis group islamic social welfare activism 15 71 th is claim is explored in gordon and filc hamas and the destruc tion of risk society 72 although hamas espouses a grand narrative and in this sense rejects a key postmodern edict the organization is very critical of the enlightenment project the assumption of universal progress based on reason and the modern promethean myth of humanity s mastery of its destiny and its capacity to resolve all of its problems see jeff haynes ed religion globalization and political culture in the th ird world hamp shire u k macmillan press 1999 248 73 for a similar claim made in a diff erent context see fred halliday th e politics of islam a second look british journal of political science 25 no 3 1995 399 417 n o t e s t o p a g e s 2 2 0 2 21 2 8 9 74 haldun gülalp globalization and political islam th e social bases of turkey s welfare party international journal of middle east studies 33 no 3 2001 433 48 see also in this context faribah adelkah transfor mations of mass religious culture in the islamic republic of iran in haynes religion globalization and political culture epilogue 1 neve gordon uneasy calm in palestine nation march 12 2007 2 9 0 n ot e s to pag e s 2 2 2 2 2 3 index page references in italics refer to fi gures and tables accountability din veheshbon agricultural practices confi scation of abayat hussein 202 abu zneima detention center 54 the accords 197 98 266n61 282 83n2 283n3 reports 50 51 administration of ot carrot and stick metaphor and 45 47 contin gency plans for 10 238n35 238 39n36 infrastructure of control created by 22 23 24 29 30 invis ible occupation policy and 48 local leadership controlled by 97 98 101 259 60n56 263n31 263 64n32 means of control used by 9 11 operation of military in xx strategies for military 23 24 transformation of rule by xvi xix xxi see also institutions for opera tions in ot specifi c administration periods administrative detention 28 29 52 53 54 81 149 158 276n5 afghanistan 54 agamben giorgio 21 205 240n47 agreement on preparatory transfer of powers 175 76 279n9 agreement on the gaza strip and the jericho area 279n9 land policy and 130 controlling apparatuses and 46 63 65 72 73 85 87 165 export production and 75 labor force integration and 75 85 130 water appropriation policy and 85 87 130 in west bank 85 86 al alami ragheb 99 al amala jamil 114 al aqsa 1 197 al bireh 105 109 140 204 265n50 267nn72 73 al fajr newspaper 106 267n72 al haq xvii 144 276n5 al husseini haj amin 111 al itihad newspaper 37 259n56 al jabari muhammad 105 268n79 allon yigal 6 58 78 allon plan 78 117 al masri ma azouz 105 2 91 al qaeda xviii al shaab newspaper 106 al shuaibi issa 97 262n6 263n28 al zaro nadim 52 anderson benedict 58 59 ansar prison 148 annexation vs occupation of land 4 5 6 33 57 116 235 36n13 237n23 appropriation of land see confi sca tion of land appropriation of water see water appropriation policy arab israeli confl ict see israeli palestinian confl ict arabs arabic vs palestinian termi nology 60 arabness 95 96 killed during military occupations xvii xviii 51 52 54 233n3 233nn2 3 pan arabism 60 arafat yasser 103 167 171 184 264n39 arbitrary modality of control excesses contradictions and 151 international law and 27 labor force and 82 163 184 legal system and 29 permit regime and 25 34 39 settlements and 25 archaeological sites 115 116 213 areas a b and c 177 78 areas h1 and h2 177 279 80n16 argaman 123 229 aronson geoff rey 68 asafi r birds use of term 248n60 a sayegh abdel hamid 52 assaf said 60 61 assassination policy 21 202 204 balata refugee camp 149 bani naim 112 bank of israel s research depart ment 40 41 66 242n7 256n4 barak ehud 197 282n2 barrier separation 3 9 168 209 210 bassam shak a 106 109 beatings policy 156 57 165 166 185 212 15 206 bedouin villages 252n29 261n79 begin menachem 106 107 266n58 beita 68 beitar illit 133 135 136 231 beit jalla 105 beit sahur 202 267 68n74 ben eliezer binyamin 93 ben gurion david 238n35 benvenisti meron xvii 49 162 bethlehem 112 113 178 202 228 biopower health fi eld and 9 labor force and 90 legal system and 13 for management of population 12 13 national identity movement and 96 pa and 191 permit regime and 162 statist approach and 12 transformation of occupation and 11 15 19 68 240n52 birzeit 105 birzeit university 113 164 251n20 block of the faithful gush emunim 259n51 124 133 borders policy xvi 8 9 82 83 161 63 211 12 see also green line the british emergency regulations 36 52 243n19 284n15 assirah 68 autonomy plan 106 107 266nn58 61 azoulay ariella 208 212 british mandate period demolition of houses policy during 243n19 land held under 4 laws during 243n14 local leaders appointed 2 9 2 i n d e x during 99 263n24 municipal corporation ordinance of 1934 98 national identity movement during 93 private development projects during 74 village and municipal plans during 136 b tselem areas controlled by settle ments and 134 on closure policy 188 on confi scation of land policy 122 128 130 on ethnic policing 143 144 on forbidden road re gime 137 on gss interrogations 159 on human rights violations 190 on incarceration of israelis 159 on long corridor 133 move ment restriction policies and 133 211 on open fi re policy 201 2 284n12 on oslo accords 171 palestinians killed and xvii 182 on permits for water wells 271n32 west bank settlements and 194 buck morss susan 219 bureaucratic legal mechanisms by pass roads and 118 121 22 132 179 270n15 for confi scation of land policy 118 119 27 126 132 for dispossession mechanisms 119 for establishment of settlements 118 as means of control 3 for military base construction 118 for water appropriation policy 127 31 bypass roads bureaucratic legal mechanisms and 118 121 22 132 179 270n15 confi scation of land for 122 136 273n57 as disposses sion mechanism 119 economic fi eld and 132 137 ethnic policing and 132 history of 131 32 man agement of population and 22 131 38 132 movement restrictions and 132 38 179 during oslo accord period 193 outsourcing the occupation 194 security needs and 137 as surveillance appara tuses 132 west bank and 193 camp david accords 197 98 266n61 282 83n2 283n3 th e carrot and the stick gazit 46 carrot and stick metaphor 45 47 cave of the patriarchs the 140 279 80n16 censorship 57 58 60 109 253nn36 39 central bureau of statistics 18 40 64 67 204 237n27 242n7 chechnya xviii checkpoints closure and 188 fi xed and movable 209 humiliation discrimination and 152 labor force and 161 for movement restriction 137 179 188 normalization of occupation and 212 during second intifada period 209 210 212 as temporary modality of control 24 209 see also road blocks children palestinian as collabora tors 42 deportation policy and 160 entry permits determined by family s number of 162 187 killed in ot 182 197 202 218 malnutri tion and 208 mortality rates 208 in protests demonstrations 53 62 148 156 see also education system chomsky noam 170 citizenship for palestinians in east jerusalem 119 235 36n13 in egypt 94 geography demography contra diction and 4 6 16 215 17 235n10 in israel 48 239n37 in jordan 94 235 36n13 marriages to israeli citi zens and 244n24 nationality and entry into israel law and 244n24 i n d e x 2 9 3 civil administration period appear ance of termination of occupation 108 autonomy plan and 107 civil branch of 107 108 244n28 266n61 local leadership and 20 108 10 109 114 115 267n72 military branch of 107 224n28 266n61 special partial outline plans for west bank 136 273n56 civil administration period 1981 1987 coercive forms of control during 110 collective punishments during 110 colonial fantasy dur ing 147 148 confi scation of land during 108 131 controlling appa ratuses during 107 8 111 266n63 elections during 104 employees salaries during 186 87 fi rst inti fada and government in 153 54 genealogy of control during 18 19 20 gss s role during 108 health fi eld during 190 91 knowl edge regulations during 109 10 labor force integration during 81 leadership during 93 261n1 means of control during 110 11 nongov ernmental sector during 153 54 253n35 normalization of occupa tion during 19 20 50 palestin ians killed during xvii 54 110 perpetuation of occupation during 19 personal information database created during 162 power modes used during 50 108 11 115 pro tests demonstrations during 110 267n73 security needs during 21 settlements established during 108 131 social relations shaped during 115 268n82 travel permits during 137 village leagues role during 108 111 14 115 170 268nn78 82 civil employees palestinian 30 48 49 55 173 186 87 249 50n5 civilian control mechanism see man agement of population closure policy 163 179 180 184 86 188 209 280nn20 22 289n69 coercive forms of control 10 11 19 33 51 55 110 collaborators palestinian children as 42 criminals as 42 43 frag mentation of society and 43 gss recruitment of 39 161 indepen dent palestinian state and 249n67 individual control and recruit ment of 42 43 insecurity of individuals and 43 legal system and 43 modalities of control and 43 44 161 249n67 in ot 43 249n65 permit regime and 39 42 refugee camps and 260 61n70 role of 43 249n65 self rule and 249n67 social hierarchies and 43 types of 248n60 village leagues and seen as 113 collective punishment during civil administration period 110 cur fews as 21 30 110 156 160 203 4 demolition of houses as 53 54 160 205 fear of terrorists as justifi ca tion for 53 colonization principle defi ned 199 283n6 education system and 59 islamic fundamentalism and xviii 221 22 289n72 israel s occupation and 50 51 63 167 military gov ernment period and 50 51 as operating force in ot xix 199 200 resource extraction and 9 2 9 4 i n d e x 127 28 199 territory artifi cially defi ned for modern xviii confi scation of land by egypt 120 confi scation of land policy agricul ture policy and 130 biopower and 13 bureaucratic legal mechanisms for 72 118 119 27 126 132 for bypass roads 122 136 273n57 during civil administration period 108 as controlling apparatuses 28 29 de facto element in 120 122 27 126 described 16 119 20 dispossession mechanism and 13 119 during fi rst intifada period 20 under hague convention 122 129 land reclamation restrictions and 72 legal system and 86 121 22 129 237n22 makhlul land confi s cated by sovereign 129 manage ment of population and 86 118 19 national identity movement and 103 104 for nature preserves 122 policy choices shaped by 118 private acquisition policy and 130 31 reactions to 266n57 separation barrier and 212 13 287n49 for settlements 122 123 270n17 287n49 sovereign power and 131 in the strip 120 121 131 270n9 272n43 summary of methods used for 120 controlling apparatuses agricultural practice and 46 63 65 72 73 85 87 165 civilian life and 46 47 daily life and 46 47 educa tion system as 9 during fi rst inti fada period 166 global processes and 17 of hamas 3 219 220 221 health fi eld as 46 164 165 207 8 historical precedent for 238n35 238 39n36 239n37 individual behavior and 206 7 israeli palestinian confl ict and 13 legal system and 28 29 livestock pro tection as 46 63 municipalities and 96 99 114 outsourcing the occupation and 171 72 policies and resistance shaped by 92 relo cation of palestinians in ot as 78 79 resources and 9 127 28 during second intifada period 19 199 217 18 spatial control as 46 117 surveillance as 9 238n33 transformation of xix unemploy ment rates 77 variations in popu lations and 11 see also excesses contradictions of controlling apparatuses means of control specifi c controlling apparatuses council of jewish settlements in judea samaria and gaza 141 country reports on human rights practices for 1984 al haq xvii criminal procedures regulations 245n32 cross class alliances 89 92 curfews abolishment of 106 181 as coercive form of control 10 11 19 as collective punishment 21 30 110 156 160 203 4 extended 209 gss and 31 management of popu lation and 15 police style mea sures 53 in refugee camps 54 reports on 37 strikes by civilians and 58 as temporary modality of control 24 27 daharia 113 dahlan mohammed 189 dakkak ibrahim 103 i n d e x 2 9 5 database personal information 40 dflp democratic front for the declaration of principles 173 131 146 41 162 dayan moshe carrot and stick meta phor and 45 dayan plan 117 as foreign minister 266n62 on func tional compromise plan 6 107 117 on governing ot 46 48 247n58 intifada and 250n7 on invisible occupation policy 1 49 55 250n7 labor party defection of 266n62 nonintervention policies of 57 106 open borders policy and 163 on refugees and self identity issue 87 88 relocation program of 87 on resistance 106 on role of local leadership 97 101 2 settlement project of 124 death of palestinians see palestinians killed in ot 279nn9 10 203 5 defensive shield military operation demolition of houses during british mandate period 243n19 as coer cive form of control 10 as collec tive punishment 53 54 160 205 legal system and 21 29 33 243n19 285 86n27 public information about 166 sealed houses 160 267 276n5 sovereign power and 110 267 68n74 statistics 276n5 wall and tower homa ve migdal ploy and 119 20 demonstrations see protests demonstrations deportation policy 52 53 160 251n20 276n5 detention administrative 28 29 52 53 54 81 149 158 276n5 liberation of palestine 158 dheisa refugee camp 141 din veheshbon accountability reports 50 51 dir amar refugee camp 113 267n73 dir el balah 99 disciplinary power for control of individuals 11 12 19 38 61 68 206 224 240n52 individual pros perity and 63 68 69 151 normal ization of occupation using 22 151 212 pa and 172 191 relocation program and 79 restrictive poli cies overshadowed by 70 71 transformation of occupation and 50 164 206 see also labor force palestinian dispossession mechanisms 118 119 drobles plan 117 dudin mustafa 112 114 171 east jerusalem annexation of 4 5 57 116 235 36n13 censorship used in 57 58 109 253n39 citizenship in 119 235 36n13 legal system in 109 magharbia quarter in 236n18 partial integration in 5 settlements near 125 sovereignty in 197 east timor xviii 54 233n3 economic fi eld bypass roads and 132 137 communal stagnation in 71 75 91 152 256n4 disparity in prices of products and 73 eco nomic growth and 74 75 80 expansion in ot 70 fi nancial institutions and 72 incomes and 66 management of population in 2 9 6 i n d e x 72 76 151 52 monetary regula tions and 72 and pa limited control of 172 173 174 75 177 223 poverty and 19 183 187 214 220 21 289n67 power modes and 63 68 69 76 productivity and 9 resistance and policies in 150 155 166 67 standard of living and 74 75 80 88 151 167 wages and 80 water appropriation policy and 128 economy palestinian average annual gnp 74 75 81 183 256n4 280 81n29 closure policy and 184 85 contradictions that engendered resistance in 69 92 control of 71 76 development restrictions and 74 75 83 90 92 118 163 175 empowered palestinian nationalist movement 22 71 92 excesses contradictions and 22 71 84 92 export import goods policies and 74 75 257n21 gdp 74 75 183 184 gulf states employment op portunities and 75 163 167 184 257n21 integration of labor force and 66 71 72 75 investment and reinvestment in 73 74 257n20 israel s economy and integration with 62 66 71 72 76 256n1 lifestyle changes due to improve ments in 66 67 67 68 74 75 82 local leadership and improved 85 259 60n56 management of popu lation and 188 markets in israel and 72 73 81 83 means of control and 70 71 movement restrictions and 163 185 new deal style proj ects and 65 77 79 80 normaliza tion of occupation through im provements in 62 63 71 77 78 80 88 92 open bridges policy and 250n11 outsourcing the occupation and 183 87 184 palestinian labor force and 76 77 planting regula tions 72 political stability and 71 77 78 80 85 88 poverty and 87 productivity and 62 63 64 65 68 80 professionalization and 83 84 reorientation of labor force away from agriculture and industry 75 130 resistance and restrictive mea sures on 71 sanctions against 223 24 sovereign power and 68 71 student dropout rate and 92 unemployment rates 66 77 163 185 violence and 223 24 vocational courses 65 67 68 77 79 80 education system artifi cial unity in israel through 59 bitterness and 16 84 censorship and 57 58 253nn36 39 closing schools as form of punishment and 62 110 164 175 closure policy and 186 egyp tian curriculum and 56 253n40 entry permit regime and 186 excesses contradictions and 16 fragmentation of society and 61 infrastructure for 91 92 jorda nian curriculum 56 57 58 253n39 knowledge regulations and 38 39 55 62 management of population and 59 mandatory palestine and 55 56 national identity movement and 56 57 59 94 palestinian history and 56 57 58 61 173 74 for palestinian population within israel 56 57 politics and 61 62 separation barrier and 213 214 i n d e x 2 9 7 education system continued sovereign power emphasis in 62 strikes by civilians and 57 58 253n42 teachers and 12 30 31 49 53 56 57 59 62 164 teacher training programs in 61 truth regime in 62 university education and 84 259n51 egypt citizenship for palestinians in 94 confi scation of land by 120 education system and 56 253n40 government policy in the strip and 243n14 institutions and 4 10 24 26 243n14 national identity move ment in 93 occupation and laws of 4 5 6 33 57 116 235 36n13 237n23 see also gaza strip the ein gedi kibbutz 78 eitan raphael 266n63 el arub refugee camp 149 eldar akiva 124 198 elections during civil administration period 104 fragmentation of society and 102 national identity movement and 104 5 265n49 during oslo accord period 181 plo and 100 104 5 112 265n50 in west bank 100 105 263nn28 31 263 64n32 265nn47 50 electrical power grid 65 99 116 204 217 el hindi amin 189 elite traditional see local leadership elon moreh 128 230 272n37 emancipation see independent pales tinian state national identity movement and 162 187 health fi eld and 186 289n69 labor force and 184 85 management of population and 162 63 165 66 nationality and entry into israel law and 244n24 eshkol levi 1 ethnic policing mechanism xix xx 118 132 140 44 143 44 275n87 excesses contradictions of controlling apparatuses contradictions de fi ned 16 economy and 22 71 84 92 education system and 16 ex cesses defi ned 15 16 during fi rst intifada period 20 22 149 150 54 fragmentation of society and 151 153 genealogy of control and 19 geography demography con tradiction and 4 6 16 215 17 235n10 individual prosperity and 22 71 israel s policies and 15 16 92 labor force and 81 90 in legal system 28 29 management of population and 22 145 46 means of control and 3 45 national identity movement and 96 151 during oslo accord period 185 194 196 in ot 15 17 outsourcing the occupation and 20 21 196 palestinian deaths due to 3 power modes and 15 17 resistance and 15 16 during second intifada pe riod 205 settlements and 15 16 sovereign power and 150 51 spatial control and 22 statist approach vs 15 extrajudicial executions 21 43 202 entry permit regime control of indi 204 284n15 vidual and 161 62 187 88 de scribed 87 education system and 186 family s number of children falloon virgil 37 farmers party 111 170 2 9 8 i n d e x fatah 3 53 68 219 235n10 fedayeen 103 252n28 264n35 see also palestinian liberation organization feldman avigdor 31 32 245nn31 32 fencing policy 3 179 80 280nn21 22 see also separation barrier food and agriculture organization of the united nations 208 forbidden road regime 137 foucault michel 11 65 138 39 241n58 249n69 fourth geneva convention 26 242 43n10 fragmentation of palestinian society closure policy and 163 collabora tors and 43 education system and 61 elections and 102 excesses contradictions and 151 153 forbid den road regime and 137 38 gss activities and 39 42 161 248n62 local and regional peace and 224 management of population and 88 89 146 permit regime and 39 42 161 163 248n62 separation barrier and 214 settlements and 146 freij elias 113 freire paulo 59 frontiers and ghettos ron 157 fundamentalism islamic xviii 95 221 22 289n72 gaza city 65 99 gaza strip the basic services in 90 checkpoints in 209 confi scation of land policy in 120 121 131 270n9 272n43 economy of 70 education system in 56 175 253nn35 40 259n51 fencing policy and 179 80 280nn21 22 gdp in 74 government policy in 4 10 24 26 243n14 health fi eld and 175 infrastructure conditions in 90 91 integration of labor force and 6 58 66 84 87 88 inten tions for 4 116 israelis and travel to xvi landscape of 23 local lead ership and 99 100 263n24 means of control in 10 239n37 movement restrictions in xvi municipal responsibilities in 99 100 na tional identity movement in 93 newspapers prohibited in 109 1971 military campaign in 53 82 88 252n29 during oslo accord pe riod 177 279 80n16 palestinians killed in xviii per capita consump tion statistics for 258n27 plo activities in 99 population statis tics for 23 87 131 218 242n2 poverty rate in 87 187 220 refu gee camps in 87 99 242n2 260 61n70 security road project 78 79 settlements in 125 271n29 spatial control and 177 279 80n16 strikes by civilians in 53 54 trade agreements between west bank and 185 86 tree policies and 1 2 64 waqf religious trust in 95 white areas 177 279 80n16 yellow areas 177 279 80n16 gazit shlomo 23 46 48 70 100 125 genealogy of control 16 17 21 general security services civil administration period and 108 collaborators and 39 161 curfews under control of 31 fragmentation of society and 39 42 161 infra structure of control and 24 31 32 44 interrogations by 159 legal system and 31 32 245n32 permit i n d e x 2 9 9 general security services continued hamulas extended families clans 95 regime and 39 42 161 248n62 recruitment of collaborators 39 42 161 248n62 shabak law of 31 32 245n34 terrorist profi les created by 162 geography demography contradic tion 4 6 16 215 17 235n10 ghettos frontiers metaphor 157 58 217 18 golan heights 5 236n15 goren shmuel 147 8 governing modern 14 15 240nn49 51 53 granite plan 238n35 greater israel ideology 5 6 115 116 124 140 213 215 green identity cards 160 61 green line the accentuation of 9 89 168 211 12 erasure of 7 8 63 70 71 72 127 144 238n30 fenc ing policy on 179 80 280nn21 22 separation barrier and 213 216 gregory derek xviii 180 gss see general security services gülalp haldun 222 gulf states jobs 75 84 163 167 184 gush emunim block of the faith 257n21 259n52 ful 124 133 h1 and h2 hebron 177 279 80n16 ha aretz xvii hague convention 26 27 122 128 29 243nn13 19 halhul 106 140 251n20 halper jeff 179 hamami reema 182 hamas 3 158 219 22 276nn16 21 277n30 288n65 289n72 101 105 263n31 263 64n32 265n47 harem al sharif 1 197 haris 113 harmelin yosef 48 hashemite regime see jordan hass amira 201 health fi eld biopower and 9 during civil administration period 190 91 closure policy and 186 289n69 as controlling apparatuses 9 46 164 165 207 8 control of indi vidual and 9 46 entry permit regime and 186 289n69 mal nutrition and 208 220 286n35 289nn67 69 morality of actions by israel and 9 nongovernmental sector and 191 normalization of occupation and 9 164 nutrition monitoring and 165 207 8 orga nizations and 153 during oslo accord period 175 pa and 173 175 190 91 281 82n48 permit regime and 39 during second intifada period 220 286n35 289n69 the strip and 175 hebron areas h1 and h2 177 279 80n16 demolition of houses in 267 68n74 deportations from 106 251n20 265n50 elections in 101 105 during oslo accord pe riod 177 178 279 80n16 settle ments in 123 124 spatial control in 177 178 279 80n16 village leagues and 112 hebron protocol 279n9 hebron university 259n51 high court of justice on confi sca tion of land policy 122 128 demo 3 0 0 i n d e x lition of houses and 267 68n74 geneva convention suspended by 242 43n10 human shields and 207 infrastructure of control and 32 33 44 judicial annexation of ot and 33 knowledge regulations and 266n59 morality of actions by israel and 33 hiltermann joost 76 153 historical sites 116 140 279 80n16 hollow land weizman 252n29 260 61n70 homa ve migdal wall and tower 119 20 127 269n8 homo sacer 21 205 240n47 house demolitions see demolition of hroub khaled 219 human rights 25 34 39 143 144 167 houses 190 243n16 285 86n27 human rights watch hrw 203 human shields palestinians used as 21 207 husan 135 identity 277n28 identity national see national identity cards green 160 61 incarceration policy 158 59 165 independent palestinian state bypass roads and 138 collaborators and 249n67 contiguity of 197 educa tion system and 59 fi rst intifada period and 20 functional com promise plan for 6 107 117 ge neva convention and 26 geogra phy demography contradiction and 4 6 16 215 17 235n10 greater israel ideology vs 5 6 115 116 124 213 215 infrastructure conditions and 91 palestinian rights and 26 permit regime and 138 power sharing agreement between israel and jordan in west bank and 49 50 170 71 250n9 right of return and 283n3 separa tion barrier and 213 separation principle and 216 17 spatial control and 106 107 266nn58 61 surveillance apparatuses and 249nn67 69 west bank and interests in 96 individual control of closure policy and 188 disciplinary power and 11 12 education system and 9 during fi rst intifada period 165 66 health fi eld and 9 46 inte gration of labor force and 9 65 81 84 lack of transparency in regulations and 29 means of control used for 3 permit regime and 34 35 38 161 62 187 88 power modes and 14 surveillance and 42 43 44 249n69 torture policy and 159 violence and 157 58 217 18 individual insecurity see insecurity of individuals individual prosperity concealed communal stagnation 71 75 91 152 256n4 disciplinary power and 63 68 69 151 excesses contradictions and 22 71 inte gration of labor force and 9 national identity movement and 22 71 normalization of occupa tion and 13 during second inti fada period 19 i n d e x 3 0 1 individuals correct behavior of 25 38 40 80 161 disregard for and loss of interest in lives of 22 166 187 88 196 and eff ects of integra tion into israeli workforce 81 84 88 89 modes and modifi cation of behavior 3 9 29 38 39 82 138 158 165 prosperity of 9 71 91 152 settlers as 274n74 social relations shaped during occupation and 4 usefulness of 165 174 industrial sector 73 74 75 90 130 139 179 257n14 infrastructure conditions 19 90 91 145 46 see also bypass roads infrastructure of control administra tion of ot and 22 23 24 29 30 carrot and stick metaphor for 44 47 gss and 24 31 32 44 high court of justice and 32 33 44 legal system and 22 26 29 mos and 246n39 ottoman law and 4 27 permit regime and 25 33 40 44 surveillance appara tuses and 22 33 40 44 242n7 see also specifi c policies insecurity of individuals collabora tors and 43 hamas and 221 legal system and 29 management of population and 21 permit regime and 39 161 during second intifada period 21 209 institutions for operations in ot egyptian 4 10 24 26 243n14 fi nancial 72 jordanian 4 10 24 49 243n14 263n31 judicial 9 10 13 28 as means of control 3 politi cal 2 3 169 see also specifi c institu tions specifi c policies integration of labor force into israel s economy agricultural practices and 85 86 during civil adminis tration period 81 control of indi vidual and 9 65 81 84 economy of palestinians and 62 66 71 72 75 76 256n1 individuals and 9 81 84 88 89 israel s economy and 62 66 71 72 75 76 256n1 local leadership and 103 4 111 12 265n43 268n82 management of population and 81 during military government period 48 57 58 60 81 national identity movement and 65 68 82 103 4 152 non integration vs 86 partial 48 68 82 84 152 resistance and 71 social relations and 81 89 115 268n82 the strip and 6 58 66 84 87 88 west bank and 66 84 87 85 intentional acts vs statist approach 261n76 internal military government period 1948 1966 48 50 international aid 21 221 international law 25 26 27 32 33 34 52 167 243n16 intifada use of term 275n1 intifada period fi rst 1988 1993 border status during 8 161 63 communiqués issued during 154 155 confi scation of land during 20 consequences of 166 68 control of individuals during 165 66 economic fi eld during 150 155 166 67 eruptions at beginning of 147 48 excesses contradictions during 20 22 149 150 54 geneal ogy of control during 16 infra structure conditions during 90 iron fi st policy during 20 156 israelis killed during 277n25 3 0 2 i n d e x military response during 148 156 64 new deal style projects dur ing 65 77 79 80 normalization of occupation and 166 palestin ians killed during xvii 110 149 157 182 199 204 5 permit regime during 160 62 plo leadership and 150 166 power modes used during 21 149 50 protests dem onstrations during 147 48 154 56 resistance during 84 149 150 155 166 67 self rule interests during 20 settlers and 167 68 sovereign power and 158 166 170 torture policy during 11 158 59 165 277n31 underemployment during 77 84 intifada period second 2001 pres ent border status during 8 211 12 controlling apparatuses during 19 199 217 18 destruction of offi cial buildings during 204 eruptions at beginning of 197 98 282 83n2 283n3 excesses contra dictions during 205 genealogy of control during 16 health fi eld during 220 289n69 human shields used during 21 207 infra structure conditions during 19 204 insecurity of individuals during 21 209 legal system dur ing 285 86n27 malnutrition during 208 220 286n35 289n67 management of population during 21 209 means of control employed during 22 palestinians killed during xvii 19 54 197 198 203 282n1 permanent crisis production during 208 permit regime during 137 184 88 politics of death policy during 88 188 207 8 popular participation in eruptions during 198 poverty during 19 220 289n67 spatial control during 208 12 suspension of legal system during 21 31 202 205 6 violence by israel during 198 99 204 217 invisible occupation policy dayan on 1 49 55 250n7 defi ned 49 local leadership and 49 97 98 113 250n7 military government and 48 palestinian civil employees and 30 48 49 55 249 50n5 power modes tolerated under 20 resistance and 55 sovereign power and 50 55 76 surveillance appara tuses and 42 247n58 iraq xviii 54 iron fi st policy 20 107 156 islamic fundamentalism xviii 95 221 22 289n72 islamic university in gaza 259n51 israel colonization principle and 51 conceptual border between ot and 8 9 diplomatic and peace initiatives and 2 executive branch of government in 13 focal points of occupation by 2 hamas and empowerment by 158 219 277n30 historic relations between palestin ians and xv xvi 108 111 112 268n79 israelis killed by palestin ians 183 198 203 212 277n25 israeli workforce 48 76 80 man agement of palestinian population within 10 11 13 48 239n37 man datory palestine designation of land by 7 militaristic ideology of 5 116 122 23 125 127 131 139 40 270n17 morality of actions by 7 9 27 28 33 population density of 288n60 power sharing agreement i n d e x 3 0 3 israel continued between jordan and 49 50 170 71 250n9 tree policies and 1 2 64 234n3 254n58 violence against citizens in xvii 203 277n25 see also integration of labor force into israel s economy israel airports authority 211 israeli communist party 85 israeli information center for human rights see b tselem israeli palestinian confl ict distinc tion between land and people by israel and 6 224 25 geography demography contradiction and 4 6 16 215 17 235n10 history of xix xx 175 tsumud concept and 154 see also independent palestin ian state israeli palestinian interim agree ment 176 181 279n9 israel s economy economy of pales tinians and integration with 62 66 71 72 75 76 256n1 labor force integration and 66 71 72 75 markets in ot for produce from israel and 72 167 outsourcing the occupation and 183 184 six day war and 76 77 unskilled labor ers and 83 izzeddin al qassam 219 jabalya refugee camp 54 147 149 jenin 112 178 203 228 267n73 jenin refugee camp 203 jericho 5 79 105 176 178 216 270n24 279n9 jewish agency 111 170 jewish settlements see settlements jewish jews geography demography con tradiction and 4 6 16 215 17 235n10 legal system and 143 44 175 76 275n87 jordan citizenship for palestinians in 94 235 36n13 jordanian law in ot 121 22 130 270n15 lawyers strike in 251n22 municipal elec tions and 100 105 263n28 national identity movement in 93 plo and 102 250n9 264n35 power sharing agreement between israel and 49 50 170 71 250n9 village leagues and 113 see also west bank jordan valley 5 58 236n15 236 37n19 see also west bank judah 7 see also messianic ideology west bank judea samaria and the gaza district 1967 1987 civil administration 148 judicial institutions 9 10 13 28 see also high court of justice kahane meir 68 kalya kibbutz settlement 78 123 229 kfar etzion 123 124 270n21 khalaf karim 109 khalidi rashid 94 150 153 khan younis 99 149 kimmerling baruch 33 kiryat arba 123 140 229 270n17 knowledge regulations during civil administration period 109 10 curfew reports and 37 education system and 38 39 55 62 high court of justice and 266n59 media and 37 106 109 246 3 0 4 i n d e x 47n47 266n59 permit regime and 34 36 38 246 47n47 population control measures and 9 38 46 publications and 37 109 lebanon 170 279n6 legal and bureaucratic mechanisms see bureaucratic legal mechanisms legal system settlements and 28 141 kretzmer david 33 labor force palestinian administra tive detention and 81 arbitrary modality of control and 82 163 184 bitterness and 12 84 89 confi scation of land and 86 em ployer employee relationship and 83 entry permit regime and 184 85 excesses contradictions and 81 90 history of xvi labor intensive work for 73 75 management of population and 82 normalization of occupation and 82 86 open borders policy and 82 83 recruit ment of 80 81 restrictions on 82 83 259n48 separation barrier and 214 standard of living and 82 86 88 statistics 81 as temporary modality of control 82 unregis tered workers in 81 wages and 77 80 82 258n31 work as privilege for 83 work permits for 82 zionist policy and 76 268n82 see also integration of labor force labor party government 123 124 125 271n27 lahad antoine 171 land confi scated by sovereign makhlul 129 land confi scation see confi scation of land laskov haim 238n35 latrun enclave 5 6 236 37n19 lawyers strike 251n22 leadership local see local leadership 244n22 274n74 legal system in ot annexation vs occupation and 4 5 6 33 57 116 235 36n13 237n23 assassination policy and 202 284n15 biopower and 13 collaborators and 43 contradictions in 28 29 control ling apparatuses and 28 29 east jerusalem and 109 erasure of the green line and 144 ethnic polic ing and 143 44 275n87 forbid den road regime and 137 infra structure of control and 22 26 29 insecurity of individuals and 29 investigations into palestinians killed and 204 5 jews and 120 143 44 175 76 275n87 lack of transparency in 25 29 as means of control 3 29 during second intifada period 21 31 202 205 6 settlements and 28 141 274n74 settlers violence and 143 sover eign power and 14 240n47 sus pension of 202 205 6 285 86n27 as temporary modality of control 29 244n24 likud party government 106 107 125 266n62 local leadership during civil adminis tration period 108 10 contradic tions informing occupation and 98 deportation policy and 52 53 160 251n20 265n50 276n5 invis ible occupation and 49 97 98 113 248n60 labor force integration and 103 4 111 12 265n43 i n d e x 3 0 5 local leadership continued 268n82 management of popula tion and 4 5 6 46 96 97 98 114 15 237n23 mayors and 98 99 109 114 military government s control over 97 98 101 259 60n56 263n31 263 64n32 pro tests demonstrations and 105 6 sanctions against 108 social pro cesses and 265n43 the strip and 99 100 263n24 west bank and 96 99 100 104 265n47 see also collaborators palestinian lords of the land zartal and eldar 124 237n22 271n26 lunz yosef 261n1 lustick ian 7 101 150 ma ale adummim 133 213 270 71n24 270n15 ma ariv 102 magharbia quarter 236n18 magna carta 28 magnetic card regime 161 makhlul land confi scated by sovereign 129 malka amos 198 mamdani mahmood 283n6 management of population aerial enforcement policy for 202 3 biopower for 12 13 bypass roads and 22 131 32 carrot and stick metaphor and 47 closure policy and 188 coercive forms of control for 51 55 confi scation of land policy and 86 118 19 curfews and 15 development restrictions and 132 38 economic fi eld and 72 76 151 52 economy and 188 education system and 59 entry permit regime and 162 63 165 66 ethnic policing for 118 140 44 excesses contradictions and 22 145 46 fragmentation of soci ety and 88 89 146 geneva con vention and 26 infrastructure conditions and 91 145 46 204 insecurity of individuals and 21 labor force integration and 81 82 lack of transparency in regulations and 29 116 19 local leadership used for 4 5 6 46 96 97 98 114 15 237n23 means of control and 3 movement restrictions and 132 38 135 136 160 63 196 216 273n51 municipal boundaries and 135 national identity movement and 22 145 non labor force inte gration and 86 normalization of occupation and 117 118 during oslo accord period 20 21 150 170 outsourcing the occupation and 20 21 170 171 172 191 of palestinians within israel 10 11 13 48 239n37 permit regime and 34 38 40 83 160 62 179 popula tion control measures and 9 12 13 38 46 power modes and 14 145 power sharing agreement and 49 50 170 71 250n9 remote control apparatus for 170 174 196 204 during second intifada pe riod 21 209 self rule and 106 107 266nn58 61 separation barrier and 213 settlers and 22 131 32 134 140 43 surveillance and 138 39 torture policy and 159 verticality policy and 127 28 202 3 282n54 violence and 157 58 225 water appropriation policy and 72 127 3 0 6 i n d e x 31 see also settlements jewish society palestinian spatial control of ot mandatory palestine 4 7 8 94 235 ma oz moshe 105 263 64n32 mapai party 1 37 marriage restrictions 160 244n24 matrix of control 179 means of control defi ned 3 educa tion system as 9 excesses contra dictions and 3 45 global processes and 17 historical precedent for 10 11 238n35 238 39n36 239n37 judicial institutions as 9 10 management of population and 3 policies shaped by 3 4 92 protests demonstrations shaped by 92 relocation of palestinians as 78 79 resistance shaped by 3 4 resources and 9 127 28 during second intifada period 22 surveil lance as 9 40 238n33 through executive branch of state 13 unem ployment threat as 77 variations in 11 see also controlling appara tuses specifi c means of control media knowledge regulations 37 106 109 246 47n47 266n59 ot and exposure in 166 167 mehola 123 229 meir golda 1 122 messianic ideology 5 6 115 116 124 140 213 215 migdal joel 85 militaristic ideology of israel 5 116 122 23 125 127 131 139 40 270n17 military bases confi scation of land policy and 122 during military government period 30 53 outposts and 25 193 spatial control and 118 179 as surveillance appara tuses 42 247n58 wall and tower ploy and 120 military government period 1967 1980 civil branch of 30 227 28 228 civil employees during 30 48 49 55 249 50n5 coercive forms of control during 51 55 colonial principle and 50 51 deportations during 52 251n20 described 19 29 30 265n47 economic growth during 74 75 80 education sys tem during 51 55 62 forms of intervention during 50 genealogy of control during 18 19 israeli cabinet and 30 244n26 labor force integration during 48 57 58 60 81 management of population during 30 national identity move ment during 51 normalization of occupation during 19 30 nutri tion monitoring during 165 207 8 palestinians killed during xvii 54 politics during 51 power modes used during 19 50 115 promotion of economic prosperity during 19 51 62 69 punitive measures during 30 53 54 252nn25 29 regional boundaries 132 33 273n51 security needs during 30 standard of living during 74 75 80 88 water appro priation during 127 271n32 military occupations statistics on arabs killed during worldwide xvii xviii 51 52 54 233nn2 3 see also specifi c countries military orders 33 34 246n39 militias settlement 141 43 275n79 i n d e x 3 0 7 milson menahem 93 108 9 111 268n78 ministerial committee for the aff airs of the administered territories 30 mishal shaul 219 mitchell timothy 3 modalities of control 24 54 55 242n3 see also specifi c modalities of control modiein eilit 287n49 moetzet yesha 141 morality of actions by israel 7 9 27 28 33 mor yosef yehoshua 141 mos military orders 33 34 246n39 movement restrictions as arbitrary modality of control 25 bypass roads and 132 38 179 manage ment of population and 132 38 135 136 160 63 196 216 273n51 municipal boundaries and 132 135 136 273n51 separation barrier and 213 14 settlers and 132 280n20 mukhtars village leaders 49 97 113 248n60 259 60n56 see also col laborators palestinian local leadership municipal corporation ordinance 98 municipalities during british man date period 98 136 controlling apparatuses and 96 99 114 cur fews and 106 elections in 100 104 5 263n28 265n49 movement restrictions and boundaries of 132 135 136 273n51 national identity movement and 104 5 114 265n49 resistance and 105 6 the strip and 99 100 muslim brotherhood 95 276n16 muslim fundamentalism xviii 95 221 22 289n72 nablus 58 105 106 109 112 124 128 155 228 259n56 266n57 nahal noar halutzi lohem fighting pioneer youth 122 23 nahalin 135 nakbah the xix 57 105 national guidance committee 106 109 national identity movement about 93 96 administrative detentions and 52 53 alternative forms of identifi cation vs 95 arabness and 95 96 biopower and 96 during british mandate period 93 during civil administration period 107 8 conclusion summary 114 15 confi scation of land policy and 103 104 controlling apparatuses and 96 114 de palestination period and 94 deportations and 52 53 education system and 56 57 94 in egypt 93 elections and 104 5 265n49 excesses contradic tions and 96 151 haves vs have nots mentality and 89 91 92 145 history of 93 103 109 individual prosperity and 22 71 institutions as foundations for building 153 integration of labor force and 65 68 103 4 152 in jordan 93 lead ership for 158 local leadership and proscribed role of not promoting 97 used to undermine national identity movement under 49 250n7 management of population and 22 96 145 during military 3 0 8 i n d e x government period 51 municipali ties and 104 5 114 265n49 1973 october war and 102 nongovern mental sector and 153 54 normal ization of occupation and 13 pan arabism vs 60 plo and 102 3 115 power modes and 96 productivity and 68 racism and 118 143 44 152 217 275n87 re emergence of 94 96 102 4 re pression by israel 88 95 sanctions against local leadership and 108 settlements and 103 146 six day war and 94 95 spatial control and 95 111 14 in the strip 93 teachers and 61 unifying eff ect of 224 village leagues and 111 14 in west bank 26 56 57 59 93 94 96 103 146 155 166 zionist policy and 96 see also indepen dent palestinian state nationality and entry into israel law 244n24 neocolonial 170 see also colonization principle ngos nongovernmental sector 95 153 191 253n35 276n16 see also specifi c nongovernmental organizations 1948 war xix xx 94 1949 armistice agreements see green line the 1973 october war 82 102 1967 arab israeli war see six day war noar halutzi lohem fighting pioneer youth see nahal no man s land 236 37n19 noncoercive forms of control 11 50 non interference policy 50 non presence policy 50 see also invis ible occupation policy normalization of occupation check points and 212 during civil ad ministration period 19 20 50 control over resources and 9 127 28 disciplinary power and 22 151 212 dispossession mechanisms and 146 economic fi eld and 74 75 80 88 151 167 economy and 62 63 71 77 78 80 88 92 education system used for 8 15 240n53 during fi rst intifada pe riod 153 54 166 health fi eld and 9 164 individual prosperity and 13 labor force integration and 82 86 management of population and 117 118 during military gov ernment period 50 national iden tity movement and 13 during oslo accord period 182 in ot xvii xix 1 3 power modes used for 15 22 240n53 standard of living and 74 75 80 88 151 167 nutrition monitoring 165 207 8 th e occupation of justice kretzmer 33 occupied territories and occupation vs annexation 4 5 6 33 57 116 235 36n13 october war 1973 82 102 offi ce of the legal advisor 244n26 old city the 279n16 see also east open bridges policy 50 250n11 open fi re regulations 157 201 2 215 jerusalem 288n54 operation defensive shield 203 5 operation litani 279n6 i n d e x 3 0 9 ophir adi 208 212 242n4 or ori 110 oslo accord period 1994 2000 agreements 172 279n9 bypass roads expansion during 193 con trol of land during 169 170 cur fews abolished during 181 deaths during 181 82 182 democratic occupation illusion during 180 81 elections during 181 excesses contradictions during 185 194 196 genealogy of control during 16 goals of 170 health fi eld dur ing 175 immediate eff ects of 181 82 182 infrastructure condi tions during 90 management of population during 20 21 150 170 movement restrictions during 177 79 187 280n20 neocolonial rule during 170 normalization of occupation during 182 palestin ians killed during xvii 182 peace process presentation of accords 170 171 172 power reorganization during 22 170 171 72 173 77 180 181 183 194 200 safe passage route during 211 settlement growth during 192 94 194 195 sovereign power and 180 181 spatial control during 172 177 80 280n23 see also palestinian au thority pa oslo ii september 1995 176 181 279n9 ot occupied territories and oc cupation vs annexation 4 5 6 33 57 116 235 36n13 ottoman law confi scation of land policy under 86 129 30 272n37 infrastructure of control and 4 27 wall and tower homa ve migdal ploy and 119 20 127 269n8 outposts 25 193 outsourcing the occupation bypass roads and 194 195 eff ects of 181 82 182 excesses contradictions in 20 21 196 management of popu lation and 20 21 170 171 172 191 outsource use of term 169 70 278n1 political economy of 183 87 184 proxy use of term 278n1 spatial control and 169 178 see also palestinian authority pa palestine national council 166 palestinian authority pa authority of 173 175 bitterness directed at 198 camp david accords and 197 98 266n61 282 83n2 283n3 civil institutions and 173 174 177 corruption and 187 192 219 281 82n48 crisis of legitimacy of 172 177 192 220 customs union and 174 186 development restrictions and 172 175 177 economic fi eld and 172 173 174 75 177 223 education system and 173 175 employees salaries under 173 186 87 health fi eld and 173 175 190 91 281 82n48 history of 171 human rights violations under 190 income taxes and 173 174 israeli government and relation ship with 171 177 203 judicial fi eld and 175 76 177 manage ment of population and 20 21 171 172 movement restrictions under 174 75 police force and 173 176 77 189 191 192 power 3 1 0 i n d e x reorganization under 172 173 77 responsibilities of 173 175 177 188 196 separation principle under 180 social unrest insurrection against 188 sovereign power and 192 spatial control restrictions and 172 180 280n23 trade regime and 174 violence used by 196 palestinian liberation organization plo assassination of leaders of 102 elections in west bank and 100 104 5 112 265n50 fi rst inti fada period and 150 166 govern ment agreement with 169 islamic fundamentalism and 95 national identity movement and 102 3 115 150 political elite and 169 recog nition of 102 3 264n39 refugee camps and 260 61n70 palestinian national front pnf 102 106 251n20 264n37 265n56 palestinian organization of families of the deceased xvii palestinian population within israel management of 10 11 13 48 239n37 palestinians killed in ot during civil administration period xvii 54 110 during fi rst intifada period xvii 110 149 157 182 199 204 5 investigations into 204 5 during military government period xvii 54 during oslo accord period xvii 182 by palestinians xviii 233n2 during second intifada period xvii 19 54 197 198 203 282n1 statistics on xvii 182 in the strip xviii in west bank xviii palestinian state see independent palestinian state pan arabism 60 paris protocol on economic rela tions 174 185 186 187 192 279n9 park hotel 123 24 pastoral power 65 patrols patrolling policy fences 179 israeli fl ags marking vehicles for 1 refugee camps and 54 147 separa tion barrier 212 215 settlers and 139 141 142 urban 218 village league and 113 patronage system 108 111 13 186 192 268nn78 79 peace now xii peel commission report 56 peres shimon 104 124 permit regime as arbitrary modality of control 25 34 39 building permits 136 273n56 civilian life and 39 collaborators palestinian 39 42 economy of palestinians and 38 39 education system and 38 39 fees for permits 34 246n40 during fi rst intifada pe riod 160 62 gss recruitment of collaborators and 39 42 161 248n62 health fi eld and 39 human rights and 34 39 infra structure of control and 25 33 40 44 internal movement in west bank and 209 knowledge regula tions and 34 36 38 246 47n47 lack of transparency in regulations and 39 livelihood regulations and 34 35 161 management of popula tion and 34 38 40 83 160 62 179 mos created for 33 34 poli tics and 37 38 39 83 247n54 power modes in 82 83 during second intifada period 137 184 88 i n d e x 311 permit regime continued separation barrier and 214 shawa passports exit permits 99 social relations and 34 38 spatial control and 34 35 36 39 as surveillance apparatuses 39 as temporary modality of control 34 39 water well drilling and 271n32 working permit regime 82 83 160 61 see also entry permit regime phone tap law 245n32 physical edifi ces 3 204 see also specifi c edifi ces place see spatial control of ot plo see palestinian liberation organization pnf see palestinian national front police style measures 53 157 politics education system and 61 62 during military government period 51 outsourcing the occupa tion and 183 87 184 palestinian economy and 71 77 78 80 85 88 permit regime and 37 38 39 83 247n54 plo elite and 169 politi cal institutions 2 3 169 politics of death policy 88 188 207 8 popular front for the liberation of palestine pflp 3 53 264n35 population control see management of population postmodern fundamentalism 221 22 289n72 289n67 poverty 19 87 183 187 214 220 21 power modes during civil adminis tration period 50 108 11 115 control of individual and 14 economic fi eld and 63 68 69 76 education system and 15 240n53 excesses contradictions and 15 17 fi rst intifada period and 21 149 50 for governing ot 2 10 11 14 15 45 240n49 management of population and 14 145 during military government period 19 50 115 in modern governing 4 14 15 240nn49 51 53 national identity movement and 96 normalization of occupation and 9 15 22 240n53 pa and 172 permit regime and 82 83 toleration of 20 see also specifi c types of power power sharing agreement 49 50 170 71 250n9 pressman jeremy 283n3 proclamation two 13 14 26 27 29 prosperity individual see individual prosperity protection of privacy law 245n32 protests demonstrations assassina tion of plo leaders in west bank and 102 during civil administra tion period 110 267n73 civil disobedience activities 53 153 155 156 curfews as punishments for 58 during fi rst intifada period 147 48 154 56 local leadership and 105 6 police style methods and 157 rate of 148 49 276n5 in refugee camps 87 sovereign power and 115 145 strikes by civilians and 53 57 58 publication regulations 37 109 qabalan 267 68n74 qadi of hebron 106 qalqilya 178 214 qedumuim 124 229 ra anan weitz plan 117 rabat summit 102 264n39 3 1 2 i n d e x rabin yitzchak 156 171 189 277n31 racism 118 143 44 152 217 275n87 rafah xv 7 99 211 285 86n7 rafah salient 252n29 rajoub jibril 189 ramallah 52 106 109 112 113 265n50 refugee camps attacks on 203 bal ata 149 collaborators and 260 61n70 curfews in 54 dir amar 113 267n73 dheisha 141 el arub 149 jabalya 54 147 149 jenin 203 patrolling policy in 54 147 plo and 260 61n70 protests demonstrations in 87 shati 54 in the strip 87 99 242n2 260 61n70 refugees palestinian xix xx 5 6 87 88 103 236n15 260 61n70 regional boundaries 132 33 134 273n51 see also municipalities relief work projects 65 77 79 80 religious identifi cation 95 262n11 religious trust waqf 95 repression 88 95 resistance palestinian biopower exercised against terror as mani fested in 13 disproportionate responses to 53 252n25 economic forms of control and 68 educa tion system and 15 240n53 excesses contradictions and 15 16 invisible occupation policy and 55 israeli occupation and 2 3 55 leaders in 17 municipali ties as site of 105 6 relocation of refugees and 260 61n70 resources control over major 9 127 28 response to the chapter on israel al haq xvii restraint and modalities of control right of return 197 282 83n2 283n3 rights human see human rights road blocks 24 137 149 152 179 209 54 55 210 robinson glenn e 169 ron james 41 157 217 ronen david xvii roy sara 70 73 75 239n37 250n11 rujeib village 128 ruptured space xviii 171 180 rural vs urban population strategies 95 111 14 sabastia 124 sadat anwar 106 266n58 safe passage route 211 said edward 170 salfi t 101 267 68n74 samaria 7 see also messianic ideol ogy west bank sasson talia 194 sayanim 248n60 see also collabora tors palestinian schiff ze ev 16 58 70 150 152 157 sealed houses 160 267 276n5 see also demolition of houses security needs 21 30 137 security road project 78 segal rafi 138 seizure of land see confi scation of sela avraham 219 self rule see independent palestinian separation barrier 9 168 209 210 land state 212 15 separation principle aerial enforce ment policy under 203 from colo nization to use of xix 200 201 i n d e x 313 separation principle continued fantasy element in 200 284n7 of frontiers and ghettos 217 18 geography demography contradic tion and 215 17 hamas rise and 218 22 politics of death 88 188 207 8 rule of law 205 6 spatial control and 208 12 210 transition to control using 180 196 violence and 201 5 settlement master plan for 1983 1986 132 settlements jewish on areas con trolled by 134 confi scation of land for 122 123 270n17 287n49 devel opment restrictions and 118 as dispossession mechanisms 119 131 established during civil administra tion period 118 131 established during oslo accord period 192 94 194 195 excesses contradictions and 15 16 as extra governmental enterprise 125 243n13 extraterrito rial status of 28 fragmentation of society and 146 jordanian law and 270n15 legal system and 28 141 244n22 274n74 messianic ideology and 123 24 270n21 270 71n24 militaristic ideology and 5 116 122 23 125 127 131 139 40 270n17 militias 141 43 275n79 national identity move ment and 103 146 number of 25 outposts and 25 spatial control and 146 179 in the strip 125 271n29 as surveillance apparatuses 131 in west bank 103 116 17 123 26 126 146 194 270n21 settlers confrontations between government and 117 123 124 ethnic policing and 118 140 44 fi rst intifada period and 167 68 as individuals 274n74 management of population and 22 131 32 134 140 43 messianic ideology and 140 militias and 141 43 move ment restrictions and 132 280n20 during oslo accords period 193 194 patrols and 139 141 142 policing role of 194 relocation to ot and 131 139 surveillance and 42 118 138 39 violent activities of 106 140 43 144 shabak see general security services shabak law 31 32 245n34 shamgar meir 26 27 33 238 39n36 sharem el sheikh memorandum 242 43n10 279n9 sharon ariel 1 53 88 106 197 252n29 266n63 sharon wachman plan 117 shati refugee camp 54 shawa rashad 99 106 109 247n54 shehadeh raja 28 169 shin bet see general security services silwan 267 68n74 sinai peninsula xv 4 54 123 236n16 six day war areas occupied during xii geography demography contra diction and 4 235n10 the green line and 7 63 70 intentions for land captured during 4 5 10 235n12 236n15 international law and 26 israeli economy and 76 77 national identity move ment and 94 95 social control of population see management of population 3 1 4 i n d e x social welfare organizations 173 219 21 288n65 society palestinian economic sanc tions and 224 forbidden road regime and 137 38 islamic funda mentalism and 222 means of control and 3 social cleavages in west bank 85 86 social depen dence on israel and 72 social relations and 4 34 38 43 81 89 115 268n82 see also fragmentation of palestinian society somalia plan 223 south lebanese army 170 171 279n6 sovereign power carrot and stick metaphor and 47 during civil administration period 108 11 confi scation of land policy and 131 demolition of houses and 110 267 68n74 described 11 in east jerusalem 197 economy and 68 71 education system and 62 excesses contradictions and 150 51 fi rst intifada period and 158 166 170 invisible occupation policy and 50 55 76 iron fi st policy and 20 107 156 islamic fundamentalism and 224 legal system and 14 240n47 oslo accord period and 22 180 181 pa and 192 politics of death and 54 protests demonstrations and 115 145 relocation program and 79 transformation of israel s occupa tion and 11 15 space control of see spatial control of ot spatial control of ot controlling apparatuses and 46 117 education system support for 59 excesses contradictions in 22 geneva convention and 26 ghettos frontiers metaphor and 157 58 217 18 infrastructure conditions and 91 matrix of control for 179 messianic ideology support of 116 militaristic ideology and 5 116 131 140 national identity movement and 95 111 14 outsourcing the occupation and 172 177 80 178 permit regime and 34 35 36 39 place shaped in ongoing confl icts and 4 power sharing agreement and 49 50 170 71 250n9 rup tured space and xviii 171 180 during second intifada period 208 12 self rule and 106 107 266nn58 61 separation barrier and 212 separation principle and 208 12 210 settlements and 146 179 verticality policy and 127 28 202 3 282n54 see also manage ment of population special partial outline plans for west bank 136 273n56 statist approach 2 3 12 15 16 18 45 46 171 261n76 steadfastness to land tsumud 154 strikes by civilians 53 57 58 251n22 see also protests demonstrations strip the see gaza strip supreme court see high court of justice surif 113 surveillance apparatuses bypass roads 132 collaborators as 42 43 248n60 collection and analysis of data using 40 41 communication and 41 42 247n57 infrastructure i n d e x 31 5 surveillance apparatuses continued of control and 22 33 40 44 242n7 invisibility visibilty of 42 247n58 management of popula tion and 138 39 military bases as 42 247n58 responsibility for lives and 41 self rule and 249nn67 69 settlements as 131 settlers as 42 118 138 39 as temporary modality of control 41 violence and 140 43 144 249nn68 69 tamari salim 111 182 268n82 tawil ibrahim 109 teachers 12 30 31 49 53 56 57 59 62 164 teacher training programs 9 61 temple mount harem al sharif 1 197 genealogy of control and 21 high court of justice and 33 manage ment of population and 159 as means of control 11 165 during military government period 32 53 252n25 of pa 190 strikes by civil ians and 53 252n25 tourist industry 173 183 traditional elite see local leadership transparency of regulations lack of 25 29 39 116 19 tree policies 1 2 64 234n3 254n58 tsumud steadfastness to land 155 tul karem 67 112 178 214 228 two state solution 166 283n3 unifi ed national leadership of the palestinian uprising 154 union of palestinian medical relief temporary modality of control con committees 209 trolling apparatuses as 151 curfews as 24 27 employment as 82 163 legal system as 29 244n24 in ot 7 9 146 outposts as 25 193 per mit regime as 34 separation bar rier as 212 united arab kingdom 99 united nations economic and social commission 204 united nations general assembly 103 264n39 united nations relief and work terrorists collective punishment and agency 3 56 253n35 53 extrajudicial executions and 202 284n15 gss profi les for 162 incarceration of 184 185 mukhtar policing for 259 60n56 in rafah xv settlers as 106 torture policy and 159 teveth shabtai 60 239n37 ticking bomb scenario 159 tomb of the patriarchs the 140 279 80n16 torpey john 177 197 torture policy during fi rst intifada period 11 158 59 165 277n31 united nations resolutions 264n39 unrwa see united nations relief and work agency unsettled states disputed lands lustick 7 usher graham 189 verticality policy 127 28 202 3 282n54 village leagues 108 111 14 115 170 268nn78 82 village offi cials mukhtars 49 97 113 248n60 259 60n56 see also 3 1 6 i n d e x collaborators palestinian local leadership violence violent activities economic sanctions due to 223 24 during fi rst intifada period 148 156 64 ghetto frontier theory and 157 58 217 18 against israeli citizens xvii 183 198 203 212 277n25 israel s role in 223 israel s use of 143 156 60 176 179 196 198 99 204 management of population and 157 58 225 means of control and xviii xix xxi permit regime and 249n68 during second intifada period xvi xviii xvii 198 99 204 217 settlers and 106 140 43 144 vocational courses 9 65 67 68 79 80 wadi fuchin 135 wall and tower homa ve migdal ploy 119 20 127 269n8 waqf religious trust 95 water appropriation policy 72 85 87 127 31 128 130 271n32 weber max 140 weizman eyal 54 87 88 121 138 193 213 252n29 260 61n70 282n54 weizman ezer 105 266n63 west bank agricultural production in 85 86 areas a b and c desig nations in 177 78 areas h1 and h2 177 279 80n16 assassination of plo leaders in 102 basic ser vices in 90 91 bypass roads in 193 checkpoints in 209 citizen ship in 94 during civil adminis tration period 136 273n56 civil branch of military government in 227 28 228 confi scation of land policy in 86 103 120 121 27 126 131 272n43 controlling appara tuses and practices in 4 de facto connection with xx education system in 56 57 58 253n35 253n39 elections in 100 105 263nn28 31 263 64n32 265nn47 50 gdp 74 infrastructure conditions in 90 91 intentions for 4 6 58 78 116 236n15 jordanian administrative institutions in 4 10 24 49 101 243n14 263n31 labor force integra tion and 66 84 87 85 landscape of 23 local leadership and 96 99 100 104 265n47 movement re strictions in xvi 132 33 134 273n51 municipal boundaries 132 135 136 273n51 national identity movement in 26 56 57 59 93 94 96 103 146 155 166 newspapers prohibited in 109 during oslo accord period 177 78 178 279 80n16 palestinians killed in xviii peace in exchange for withdrawal from 116 17 permit regime in 209 population of 23 power sharing agreement between israel and jordan in 49 50 170 71 250n9 regional boundaries 132 33 134 273n51 security road project in 78 self rule interests in 96 separation barrier in 212 15 settle ments in 103 116 17 123 26 126 146 192 94 194 195 229 31 270n21 282n49 social cleavages in 85 86 spatial control and 177 78 178 279 80n16 status under jor dan 26 242n9 strikes by civilians i n d e x 317 west bank continued in 53 251n22 trade agreements between the strip and 185 86 travel by israeli s to xvi 8 tree policies and 64 234n3 water regulations in 85 87 130 th e west bank data project 1987 report benvenisti xvii white areas 177 279 80n16 women health fi eld and 9 46 incar ceration rate for men and 277n28 islamic fundamentalism and 222 killed in ot 202 218 living with spouses in ot 160 244n24 mal nutrition and 208 vocational training courses and 67 68 world bank 18 186 191 192 204 208 220 wye river memorandum 190 279n9 ya ari ehud 16 70 150 152 157 yamit xv yasin sheik ahmad 276n21 th e year of the shabak ronen xvii yellow areas 177 279 80n16 yift achel oren 216 17 zartal idith 124 zionist policy 76 96 119 20 127 268n82 269n8 zoning restrictions 135 36 3 1 8 i n d e x text 11 14 adobe garamond display adobe garamond gill sans compositor bookmatters berkeley indexer j naomi linzer illustrator bill nelson printer and binder maple vail book manufacturing group

justice for some this page intentionally left blank j u s t i c e f o r s o m e law and the question of palestine n o u r a e r a k a t s ta n f o r d u n i v e r s i t y p r e s s stanford california stanford university press stanford california 2019 by the board of trustees of the leland stanford junior university all rights reserved no part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical including photocopying and recording or in any information storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission of stanford university press printed in the united states of america on acid free archival quality paper library of congress cataloging in publication data names erakat noura author title justice for some law and the question of palestine noura erakat description stanford california stanford university press 2019 includes bibliographical references and index identifiers lccn 2018054406 print lccn 2018055966 ebook isbn 9781503608832 electronic isbn 9780804798259 cloth alk paper subjects lcsh palestine international status history palestinian arabs legal status laws etc history israel arab war 1967 occupied territories arab israeli conflict history classification lcc kz4282 ebook lcc kz4282 e73 2019 print ddc 956 04 dc23 lc record available at https lccn loc gov 2018054406 designed by kevin barrett kane typeset at stanford university press in 10 15 adobe caslon cover design by kevin barrett kane cover art the balfour declaration 1917 for my parents nahla saleh and asmahan this page intentionally left blank contents maps preface introduction 1 colonial erasures 2 permanent occupation 3 pragmatic revolutionaries 4 the oslo peace process 5 from occupation to warfare conclusion acknowledgments notes index ix xi 1 23 61 95 135 175 211 243 247 313 this page intentionally left blank maps league of nations mandate system 1922 plan of partition 1947 armistice lines 1949 occupied territories june 1967 allon plan 1967 oslo accord west bank areas a b and c 2000 access restrictions 2017 36 47 53 66 89 169 212 this page intentionally left blank preface this book is a culmination of fifteen years of advocacy struggle disappointment and enlightenment as a human rights attorney and scholar my advocacy for palestinian rights quickly confronted political obstacles which in turn inspired deeper questions about knowledge and practice originally my research for this book focused on bias in u s federal courts the limits of human rights advocacy at the united nations and the political incapacitation of international tribunals like the international criminal court with time and experience new questions expanded the scope of this research as a result this book examines the relationship between international law and politics in the question of palestine over the course of a century it explores the role and the potential of law in the pursuit of palestinian freedom more specifically justice for some law and the question of palestine surveys how occupation law the body of international law that addresses enemy oc cupation of a territory has failed to regulate israel s settlement enterprise the incongruence between the united nations attention to the question of pal estine and its inability to deliver any meaningful change and finally how the oslo peace process ensured the failure of a two state solution it also addresses how israel s devastating register of death and destruction in the gaza strip became permissible within the language of law none of the conditions on the ground today in israel and israel palestine have been inevitable the law has the capacity to dominate as well as to resist using international law to advance the palestinian cause for freedom requires a praxis of movement lawyering where lawyers follow the lead of political movements to buttress their collective xii efforts at most the law can be a tool and even then its efficacy will depend on multiple factors these include geopolitical power national and international interests personnel capacity strategic cohesion effective leadership and most significantly political vision there is no lack of good palestinian lawyers there is a lack of a robust political movement to inform their legal advocacy and to leverage their tactical gains justice for some builds on a rich literature on the relationship between in ternational law and palestine these works include victor kattan s from co existence to conquest international law and the origins of the arab israeli conflict 1891 1949 and john quigley s the case for palestine an international law per spective i build on these texts by scrutinizing israel s legal and political strategy following the 1967 war analyzing the palestine liberation organization s legal advocacy at the united nations during the 1970s tracing the peace talks in madrid washington and oslo between 1991 and 1993 and examining how israel s legal interventions shifted the legal framework from occupation to war fare between 2001 and 2017 the formative literature on international law and the question of palestine also includes the essays in beyond occupation apartheid colonialism and inter national law in the occupied palestinian territories edited by virginia tilley and international law and the israeli palestinian conflict a rights based approach to middle east peace edited by susan m akram michael dumper michael lynk and ian scobbie these texts pay meticulous attention to the law either to advance a legal argument or to suggest practical approaches for resolving the conflict the works of george bisharat palestinian lawyers and israeli rule law and disorder in the west bank and lisa hajjar courting conflict the israeli military court system in the west bank and gaza examine how israel s legal regimes and palestinian legal advocacy have shaped palestinian subjectivity and social life they highlight the simultaneous durability and vulnerability of israeli structures of domination over palestinians this book does not advance legal prescriptions nor make exhaustive legal arguments it reveals how the law is working during consequential historical moments it shows how the law s ability to oppress is evidence not of its failure but rather of the fact that it can be strategically deployed this cynicism about the law is also found in volume four of raja shehadeh s from occupation to preface xiii interim accords israel and the palestinian territories which traces israel s deploy ment of law to successfully consolidate its land takings and sanctify its system of domination in the negotiated peace agreement between israel and the palestine liberation organization plo more recent titles such as lori allen s the rise and fall of human rights cynicism and politics in occupied palestine and neve gordon and nicola periguini s the human right to dominate similarly examine the limitations of human rights law and the risks posed by invoking it finally justice for some benefits from researchers resurgent use of a settler colonial framework to understand the question of palestine the return of this analytical approach has made it possible for this book to delve into the settler colonial nature of the palestinian struggle ongoing struggles in the united states canada hawai i and australia also offer instructive lessons on decolo nization similarly u s based movements protesting state violence and the dehumanization of black communities in particular inform my optimism among the many lessons that black radical protest and knowledge production have offered is that there is no return to an optimal past there are only optimal futures to shape while i build on and advance a skeptical analysis of the law s utility i am not pessimistic change is possible our present is the culmination of people s triumphs this work is intended to contribute to ongoing scholarly endeavors about the role of the law on behalf of progressive causes it also intends to em power future advocates legal and otherwise to be more strategic in their efforts tempering their faith in the law s capacity to do what only a critical mass of people are capable of achieving preface this page intentionally left blank justice for some this page intentionally left blank introduction on 23 december 2016 the united nations security council met to consider yet again an agenda centered on the situation in the middle east including the palestinian question 1 the specific topic was resolution 2334 which un equivocally condemned israel s settlements in the palestinian territories these settlements the resolution reaffirmed including those in east jerusalem lack legal validity and constitute a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the achievement of the two state solution 2 the palestinian delegation to the united nations un had been lobbying the security council s fifteen members nearly all year 3 when it came time for a vote 14 members voted in favor zero members voted against and the united states abstained the resolution passed this was no small feat the security council had reached some sort of formal decision on these settlements only twice before this moment and the last time was nearly four decades before in 1980 4 since the passage of un security council resolution 242 u s administrations from the johnson administration on have systemati cally undermined nearly all palestinian efforts to internationalize its conflict with israel between 1972 and 2017 the united states used its security council veto forty three times to shield israel from international censure 5 in 2011 for example the obama administration had vetoed an anti settlement resolution similar to resolution 2334 6 in 2012 the united states had opposed the palestinian national author ity s bid for statehood 7 in 2014 it tried and failed to prevent the palestinian 2 authority from seeking the jurisdiction of the international criminal court 8 and in late 2014 it quietly crushed an effort to have the security council set a deadline for ending israeli occupation of palestinian territories 9 so in 2016 the united states choice to refrain from using its veto to obstruct resolution 2334 was remarkable for the first time in nearly four decades it removed a primary impediment to the application of international law and this should have in theory signaled a shift in the diplomatic treatment and international regulation of israel s settlement enterprise two weeks later in mid january 2017 representatives from seventy countries convened in paris for the middle east peace conference part of an ongoing effort to negotiate peace between israel and palestine this marked the first op portunity the parties would have to leverage the newly established international consensus on the illegality of the settlements israel condemned the meeting and resolution 2334 as threats to peace 10 it argued that both efforts failed to fully appreciate israel s position israel had not occupied east jerusalem in 1967 the israeli representative claimed it liberated it 11 the conference closed with a commitment to the two state solution and a reversion from an international and legal framework to a political one 12 not even three months later and in accordance with the resolution s reporting require ment the un special coordinator for the middle east peace process briefed the security council on israel s intention to build thousands more housing units in the settlements 13 the council noted the development and did little more the juxtaposition of the extraordinary passage of resolution 2334 alongside the failure of an international conference to leverage it as well as an increase in the number of settlement units in the resolution s direct aftermath tells a familiar story throughout the course of the palestinian struggle for freedom international law has seemed futile if not irrelevant since the first world war serious legal controversies including the disputes over the settlements have characterized the question of palestine yet it has been the use of force and the balance of power not judicial decisions that have fundamentally shaped the realities on the ground given how history has unfolded does this mean that the law is indeed irrelevant israel s founding story and palestinians dispossession seem to indicate as much introduction 3 time and time again we see evidence of the law s assumed insignificance in the dispossession of palestinians great britain remained committed to es tablishing a jewish national home in palestine despite its legal duties as the mandatory power to shepherd local arab peoples to independence 14 the per manent mandates commission remained committed to the incorporation of the balfour declaration into the mandate for palestine in contravention of the covenant of the league of nations which in discussing the disposition of the communities formerly belonging to the turkish empire stated that the wishes of these communities must be a primary consideration 15 the united nations proposed partition of palestine without legal consultation and in disregard of the existing population s well being and development which the same covenant had declared to be a sacred trust of civilisation 16 zionist militias established israel by force without regard to the partition plan s stipulated borders 17 the united nations accepted israel as a member despite that state s violation of the nondiscrimination clauses of the partition plan and of the un s own condition that israel permit the return of forcibly displaced palestinian refugees 18 the very origins of the palestinian israel conflict suggest that it is charac terized by outright lawlessness and yet few conflicts have been as defined by astute attention to law and legal controversy as this one do jews have a right to self determination in a territory in which they did not reside but settled are palestinians a nation with the right to self determination or are they merely a heterogeneous polity of arabs eligible for minority rights did the united nations have the authority to propose partition in contravention of the will of the local population are the west bank including east jerusalem and the gaza strip occupied as a matter of law that is are they recognized as such by the law does israel have the right in law to self defense against palestinians living in the occupied palestinian territories do palestinians have the right to use armed force against israel is the route of israel s separation barrier built predominantly in the west bank illegal is israel an apartheid regime enumerating a comprehensive list of the legal questions surrounding this conflict could span the pages of an entire book indeed concern with them has produced several specialized legal journals 19 significantly however none of these issues has been resolved by legal fiat even as all parties have availed themselves of the law s moral political and intellectual logic what explains this introduction 4 conundrum of excessive attention to law in the conflict and the law s seeming irrelevance in resolving it what function is the law serving if not the expected one as an authoritative referee this book s inquiry begins here with the desire to better understand both the present conditions of the palestinian struggle for liberation and the role that law has played in furthering and in stunting the realization of that liberation i argue that the law is politics its meaning and application are contingent on the strategy that legal actors deploy as well as on the historical context in which that strategy is deployed this does not mean that the law is a political fiction to the contrary it has a life of its own and the capacity to influence though not command the behavior of state and non state actors while the imbrication of law and politics in the case of palestine is exemplary of a global system the sovereign exception that produced the question of palestine de mands particular attention to the potential risks and benefits of appealing to international law in order to serve an emancipatory function the law must be wielded in the sophisticated service of a political movement that can both give meaning to the law and also directly challenge the structure of power that has placed palestinians outside the law this book explores five critical junctures in the history of the palestinian struggle for freedom the first of these explorations is unique in its breadth and purpose it spans five decades in the twentieth century and provides a historical overview critical for understanding the subsequent four junctures not coinci dentally each of these subsequent junctures has followed some confrontation that recalibrated the regional and international balance of power creating key moments of principled opportunism or instances when actors were able to use international law as a tool i refer to these moments as legal opportunities 20 each juncture demonstrates how legal work shaped the meaning of law as a site of resistance or oppression and how law thereafter structured the political framework regulating the question of palestine the junctures are organized chronologically over a century long arc rather than thematically by legal norms such as self determination occupation law and laws of war for two reasons first the chronological narration demonstrates how the meaning of law is responsive to the legal work of state and non state actors and also to the historical context in which that work is being done 21 looking introduction 5 at sequential episodes reveals that while the content of the relevant legal norms did not change across time and space their meaning changed significantly this variation can be attributed to the strategy of the actors doing the legal work as well as to the balance of military economic and normative considerations during each historical moment it is for this reason that the book pays much closer attention to the details of these historical turns than to the content of the legal norms second the chronological narration helps to explain a history of the present of the palestinian question the legal work deployed during each juncture has had an enduring impact on how the international community diagnoses the conflict and imagines its proper remedy these episodes demonstrate legal work s impact in shaping the normative conceptions and diplomatic treatment of the question of palestine overall this approach enables us to trace how legal work has facilitated these junctures leading up to the present day against the law the casual observer may attribute injustice to a failure of law or to its nonexistence and thus prescribe more law better law and or stricter adherence to law as the requisite corrective the law s malleability however undermines any such promise and should make us wary of legal prescriptions nazi germany and apartheid south africa for example were both based on meticulous adherence to self referential legalistic regimes yet were unequivocally oppressive the rule of law is not synony mous with justice for this reason i have not sought to provide an alternative legal framework as a solution to the conflict nor reform existing laws nor suggest a better model for compliance instead this book urges all involved to use critical analysis and strategic intelligence in the service of the palestinian struggle for freedom international law is not always a site of contestation even strong states desire it to regulate some spheres of their relations like economic trade dip lomatic immunity maritime passage and consular relations in these spheres international law engenders predictability and a mutually beneficial reciprocity that benefit weak and strong states alike this logic of reciprocity and voluntary compliance fails however when discussing geopolitical conflicts for example state sovereignty territoriality war and peace where interests and preferences diverge as they do in the question of palestine introduction 6 there are at least two reasons to be skeptical that international law has the capacity to overcome geopolitical realities and advance the palestinian struggle for freedom one is the sordid origin of international law as a derivative of a colonial order and therefore as a body of law that reifies rather than unsettles an asymmetry of rights and duties among international actors the other is the fact that the international system lacks a global sovereign thereby politicizing enforcement by leaving it to the discretion of states to decide when how and whom to punish together these critiques regarding the content and the form of international law respectively suggest that international law can be used as a tool against the least powerful international actors but is toothless when it comes to regulating the behavior of the most powerful ones specifically in regard to geopolitical conflicts the following two sections address each critique in turn to show first that the content of international law does not determine its final meaning and second that challenging the structural conditions giving rise to asymmetry in power requires political action it cannot be accomplished by legal strategies alone my purpose here is not to defend international law as it is but to illuminate how its relationship with politics shapes its function in counterintuitive ways content international law is derivative of a colonial order doctrinally the term international law refers to treaties customs and general principles that define the rights of states regulate states behavior towards one another and establish states duties and responsibilities towards organizations and individuals within their jurisdiction 22 the history of international law s development makes that law primarily a tool for powerful states 23 interna tional law as it exists today began in europe among states that were colonial powers 24 positioned as universal in appeal and application international law is the codification of exclusively european traditions as spain encountered the indigenous societies of the western hemisphere a spanish theologian and jurist francis de vitoria articulated a body of law that made the rights of indigenous nations contingent on their society s resemblance to european society 25 after establishing and projecting europe s particular norms as uni versal spain then used these norms to justify the plunder and conquest of indigenous peoples and their lands 26 the first seeds of international law were introduction 7 thus planted during a violent conquest to afford that conquest a veneer of objective legality these sordid origins continue to characterize international law it has never been rewritten by an international community of the present instead former colonial powers newly independent states and also movements and peoples have incrementally developed international law based on its first articulation moreover since the sixteenth century former colonial powers have been the principle progenitors of the international legal regimes governing trade 27 refu gees 28 human rights 29 and warfare 30 international law can be accurately and fairly described as a derivative of a colonial order and therefore structurally detrimental to former colonies peoples still under colonial domination and individuals who lack nationality or who like refugees have been forcibly re moved from their state and can no longer invoke its protection 31 it is inaccurate however to conclude that this law serves the interests only of the powerful and then only as a tool of oppression the belief that the law can be used only as a tool of oppression rests in some part on the false assumption that a legal statute or norm including those devel oped by former colonial powers has a fixed meaning impervious to interpretive manipulation under this assumption once facts are established a law will apply itself and produce a predictable outcome 32 but the law is contingent and does not predetermine an outcome it only promises the possibility of a contest over one a legal norm is inherently contradictory and has no demonstrable meaning until it is applied when it comes time to apply the law it must be mediated first by an adversarial process and ultimately by the vast discretionary powers of judicial interpretation 33 in that process there is little to limit the ways in which the law can be framed deployed interpreted or suspended to produce a particu lar effect the operative variable determining a law s particular meaning is not necessarily its content though that is relevant 34 rather it is what legal scholar duncan kennedy describes as legal work or the work that the legal actor per forms to achieve a desired outcome 35 legal work is undertaken strategically to transform an initial apprehension of what the system of norms requires given the facts so that a new apprehension of the system as it applies to the case will correspond to the extralegal preferences of the worker 36 the same law can have a different meaning depending on the historical context the balance of power introduction 8 and the strategy of the legal worker the legal work s success is a function of time strategy skill and of the intrinsic attributes of the rule that one is trying to change as these appear in the context of the facts presented 37 legal work embodies and evidences the imbrication of law and politics for someone who believes that the law has an invulnerable core meaning the idea that a jurist would deploy a legal norm in strategic pursuit of an ideological agenda is absolutely unfitting 38 such strategic work is better suited for a legislature which can create the law but not the judiciary which can only interpret it this conclusion rests on a fidelity to the law that it does not merit the ways in which powerful states for example have deployed international law to achieve their policy objectives demonstrate as much the most vivid examples in recent his tory include the bush administration s legal argument that neither international humanitarian law nor u s constitutional law applied to the treatment of foreign detainees at the guantanamo bay military prison 39 the bush administration sought to evade external regulation of its treatment of the detainees so that it could in the name of national security hold them indefinitely without charge or trial and subject them to what amounted to torture for the purpose of extracting information 40 the u s supreme court ultimately rejected this national security line of argumentation but the u s attorneys legal memos and adjudication advancing it were tantamount to legal work in pursuit of an ideological agenda and a particular outcome while we may agree that those objectives were pure evil it does not diminish the legal nature of the work performed or the possibil ity that under different historical circumstances the supreme court could have agreed with the bush administration lawyers to realize those objectives 41 this does not mean that any outcome of legal work is legitimate but that legitimacy is a function of political effect it depends on the prevailing outcome and whether a political society accepts or rejects that outcome 42 states engage in legal work as a matter of fact 43 this book will demon strate for example how israel s most enduring legal frameworks regarding the regulation of the occupied palestinian territories and the conduct of hostili ties towards them especially in the gaza strip are the products of legal work non state actors engage in legal work as well while states remain the most significant and effective actors in international law subaltern studies that is the study of non elite and hegemonic cultures histories and societies have introduction 9 demonstrated how nongovernmental organizations ngos and social move ments have also critically shaped international law from the bottom up 44 these subaltern movements mobilize various forms of coercive pressure including crude violence massive uprisings civil disobedience and boycott to shape the content purpose and development of international law 45 the power of non state actors in the international realm is especially relevant to the question of palestine and to this book since it is precisely the lack of a pal estinian state that has animated palestinians struggle for self determination and the conflict more generally 46 in fact palestinian organizations and movements have been pioneers in developing international law and applying it in the arab world 47 as this book will show for example the palestine liberation organization s legal work during the 1970s successfully altered the international status of palestinians from a nondescript polity to a juridical people inscribed in international legal instruments and institutions if we were to accept that only states could deploy law to achieve their desired objectives this book would have no purpose it is pre cisely because individuals and organizations can recalibrate and have historically recalibrated an international balance of power and can shape the content and application of international law that there is a story to be told notwithstanding the universal engagement in legal work since the early 2000s and even in the midst of the u s led war on terror the united states and israel have framed legal challenges to their conduct of hostilities as illegitimate legal warfare or lawfare 48 their contention is that the use of law by relatively weak u s and israeli adversaries is disingenuous and manipulative for its at tempt to achieve an ideologically driven outcome 49 israeli leaders have described palestinian legal strategies at the un human rights council at the hague and at the un security council as tantamount to political and legal warfare 50 the ngo monitor an organization dedicated to defunding ngos that chal lenge israel s domination describes organizations engaging in legal advocacy on behalf of palestinians such as the center for constitutional rights and defense for children international palestine section as the leading culprits in such lawfare 51 there is of course a blatant contradiction in the lawfare accusation it does not condemn the practice of legal work in general it takes issue with it only when it is directed at powerful states 52 as put by one military lawyer the introduction 10 reaction against lawfare turns out to be less about the law itself than with the broader question of the political and moral reaction to the application of forces that has the capacity to undermine military effectiveness 53 in this way lawfare seen as a framework that delegitimizes legal work functions much like terror ism seen as a framework that delegitimizes political violence its applicability is based on the identity of the perpetrator rather than the act in question 54 both frameworks accept the tactics of the strong and neither is instructive in discerning legitimate violence or legitimate legal work israel s legal opposition to un security council resolution 2334 is exemplary of legal work as the following chapters will closely examine israel has insisted that the lack of a sovereign in the west bank and the gaza strip in 1967 means that those territories cannot be considered occupied as a matter of law in this view the body of international law known as occupation law which includes a prohibition on civilian settlement in militarily occupied lands does not strictly regulate israel s ad ministration of the west bank and the gaza strip given this view israel has applied a modified legal framework it deems more appropriate the discrepancy between the two legal frameworks is not one between law and no law but reflects a contest over whose law 55 occupation law cannot apply itself its meaning and application has to be mediated by interpretation leading in this case to two distinct accounts and a legal contradiction that cannot be solved by judicial resolution alone resolution 2334 established an international consensus over the applicability of occupation law and rejected israel s legal framework notwithstanding the international consensus israel s legal work has enabled it to advance its political goals of settlement in the territories under the veneer of law and the legitimacy that veneer affords meir shamgar the architect of israel s legal regime in the west bank and the gaza strip boasted about it in 1982 since those early days in the beginning of june 1967 the israeli military government became a governmental system applying the norms of inter national law pertaining to the administration of territory taken over from hostile military forces more extensively and more diversely than most if not all military administrations in this century with regard to both the frequency and intensity of the application of these norms and the duration of time which passed since it was first established 56 introduction 11 this potential for international law s strategic deployment does not necessarily make the law good or bad but it does make its invocation a risk this risk together with the fact that the law is biased towards the most powerful states has led some critical scholars to decry the law as central to the problem itself it can be and have prescribed that it be abandoned altogether 57 this prescription incorrectly assumes that the law is avoidable in the century long arc traced by this book international law has forced itself upon the question of palestine first in the form of the mandate system then in the regulation of the occupation later in the affirmation of the right to self determination and the legitimacy of violence then in the form of binding treaties and finally in the return to the question of political violence in this way legality is like all other structural asymmetries that is military economic and political brutally unfair and inescapable overcoming these obstacles requires strategic and tactical ingenuity to leverage weaknesses into strengths and the adversaries strengths into weaknesses think of the law as like the sail of a boat the sail or the law guarantees motion but not direction legal work together with political mobilization by individuals organizations and states is the wind that determines direction the law is not loyal to any outcome or player despite its bias towards the most powerful states the only promise it makes is to change and serve the interests of the most effective actors in some cases the sail is set in such a way that it cannot possibly produce a beneficial direction and the conditions demand ei ther an entirely new sail or no sail at all it is this indeterminacy in law and its utility as a means to dominate as well as to fight that makes it at once a site of oppression and of resistance at once a source of legitimacy and a legitimating veneer for bare violence and at once the target of protest and a tool for protest form anarchy characterizes the international system even if relatively weaker international actors can sometimes shape the meaning of the law the structure of the international system with its lack of a reliable enforce ment model and characterized by a material inequality among states makes it nearly impossible to punish a powerful state and or command its behavior in the face of a geopolitical conflict this raises two questions first is international law meaningless if it fails to punish and command and second what does the question of palestine s particular history tell us about the law s potential and limitations introduction 12 to the casual observer the law is a known quantity namely a set of rules that must be observed and whose violation is met with punishment 58 that makes some though not complete sense in the domestic sphere where there exists a hierarchical regime a supreme court lower courts branches of government and law enforcement authorities that can pass binding judicial decisions and impose punishment when necessary 59 however it makes much less sense for the international community where there is no global police no hierarchical judicial system nor a single lawmaking authority some would argue that if there is no punishment there is no law there is only a state of anarchy wherein might means right 60 this pessimist framework understands power as the ultimate determinant of both legitimacy and legality its adherents argue that the political framework regulating the use of coercive pressure by and against states renders international law a political fiction meant to maintain the privileges and supremacy of the most powerful states 61 this ar gument is compelling since a state s behavior is only subject to external regulation by voluntary submission treaties are only binding on the states that ratify them and customary norms are only binding on the states that do not consistently violate or object to them 62 even in the case of a state s violation of an overriding principle from which no derogation is permitted like slavery torture and geno cide punishment by the application of force or sanctions is still contingent on the political will of other states when their interests sufficiently converge 63 the only case when a state can legally use force against another state is in individual or collective self defense while the question of whether force is defensive or not is a legal one political exigencies rather than judicial adjudication usually settle that question the un security council is the ultimate arbiter of that inquiry and its five permanent members have the authority to single handedly oppose the will of the international community in order to protect themselves as well as their closest allies these realities have given rise to a potent critique of international law in regard to conflict as a purely instrumental tool of foreign policy to mobilize support for policies at home and especially as a legal club with which to bash adversaries 64 while this pessimist approach makes a lot of sense for its matter of fact simplicity it risks bludgeoning the complexity of state behavior sacrificing a nuanced understanding of power and worse standing in as an apology for it 65 introduction 13 the belief that law is subservient to geopolitics rests on an assumption that anarchy as a structure characterizing our global system causally leads to com petition between states wherein self help is a guiding principle 66 accordingly states produce international law to further their interests but international law is incapable of either regulating state behavior or shaping state interests 67 what this pessimist framework fails to consider however is the ways in which state interests and international law are mutually constituted a claim advanced by constructivists 68 constructivism s adherents consider international behavior a function of social interactions among states rather than a function of power and interests 69 any particular state interest reflects a process rather than an attribute that existed prior to contact with other international actors 70 constructivists contend that international legal norms can be internalized by states in the course of relational processes thus influencing their choices and preferences an internalized norm indirectly shapes state behavior in response to a state s inner logic in contrast to a norm that directly regulates state behavior as a result of an external command 71 additionally legal norms can indirectly shape state behavior by providing a discursive framework 72 a legal framework has the ability to shape how policymakers and states understand a conflict as well as imagine its proper remedies thus ordering their diplomatic agendas international law and norms may also be critical in justifying organizing and constraining a policymaker s decisions even though the law and related norms may not be directing an outcome 73 international law can be doing a lot of work even as it explicitly fails to exact punishment or command state behavior it is not merely at the instrumentalist disposal of the most powerful states for furthering their interests though it certainly does that too an illustrative example of international law s counterintuitive utility is found in the story of resolution 2334 while this resolution s inability to stem settlement construction suggests its futility a closer examination reveals a quiet and lasting impact resolution 2334 includes a clause calling on states to distinguish in their dealings with israel between the state of israel and the territories it occupies this established an obligation among states to alter their national policies in regard to israel s settlement enterprise 74 this clause mirrors and enshrines a european union policy 75 the eu does not recognize the legality of israeli settlements and is in theory obligated to put this non recognition policy into practice 76 it has done introduction 14 this with a mix of incentives and disincentives captured in a policy of differentia tion that obligates the eu and its member states to exclude settlement linked entities and activities from bilateral relations with israel 77 differentiation is a policy under which states maintain relations with israel while delegitimizing its settlement enterprise 78 unlike a boycott strategy differen tiation is inward looking in that it seeks to protect the integrity and effectiveness of the eu s own legal orders by ensuring that they are not giving legal effect to internationally unlawful acts 79 it is concerned with the eu s compliance with its own laws and less concerned with enforcing international law abroad in this case upon israel upon the mere publication of a 2015 report endorsing differ entiation as a coherent policy in europe tel aviv s banking index dropped 2 46 points 80 as of october 2016 eighteen eu member states had formally adopted advisories warning businesses against the legal repercussions of engaging with israeli settlements 81 this eu clause stipulating differentiation together with resolution 2334 s quarterly reporting requirement represents a tangible policy with the capacity to indirectly punish israel for settlement expansion by directly taking issue with and targeting the policies of european states at a more abstract level the resolution also reified the question of palestine as a conflict within a peace process paradigm by focusing solely on israel s viola tions of occupation law as an impediment to the establishment of a palestinian state this is significant because the facts on the ground indicate that the two state solution has been long dead and that israel is overseeing a singular regime based on racial and ethnic discrimination characterized by spatial and political separation or apartheid an international crime against humanity 82 in fact several months after the un security council passed resolution 2334 the un eco nomic and social commission for western asia escwa published a report concluding that israel has established an apartheid regime that dominates the palestinian people as a whole that is both the palestinian citizens of israel and the stateless palestinians in the occupied territories 83 escwa s report recom mended that the united nations and national governments adopt appropriate measures to prevent and punish this crime of apartheid including prosecuting israeli officials and endorsing the tactics of boycott divestment and sanction against israel 84 whereas resolution 2334 frames the problem as an intractable conflict between two parties thus demanding that un member states prod both introduction 15 sides to compromise the escwa report frames the problem as one of palestin ian subjugation and demands that states exert pressure upon israel to upend its regime of domination the escwa report caused a diplomatic maelstrom the un ultimately shelved it and maintained the primacy of resolution 2334 and the occupation law framework 85 while neither the resolution nor the report changed the reality on the ground the fact that the international community upheld resolution 2334 and maligned a un agency report indicates the capac ity of legal frameworks to shape diplomatic understandings of and remedies to a conflict the story of resolution 2334 highlights how international law can perform legal work even when on the face of it it appears irrelevant this leads to the second question how does the international structure bear upon the law s potential and limitations in regard to the question of palestine this international structure encompasses both the historical conditions that trans formed palestine into a question and the present day balance of power character izing the ongoing struggle for freedom the law s counterintuitive utility does not diminish the relevance of the asymmetries distinguishing strong and relatively weak international actors power remains determinative in regard to the law s enforcement and especially the ability to declare a sovereign exception the ability to suspend international law s application is a sovereign exception and it falls within the scope of enforcement authority only a sovereign has the ability to declare an exception and that decision is based on the sovereign s un encumbered assessment of what is necessary to preserve itself or its interests 86 it is a moral or political conclusion that is undecidable in fact and law and therefore cannot be legally challenged or externally regulated 87 it outlines a zone of exceptional lawmaking wherein political necessity determines applicable law examples include the domestic application of martial law during times of national emergency or the expanded executive authority to detain civilians without charge or trial during wartime 88 while some would argue that an exception is a zone of lawlessness and therefore not law at all 89 legal doctrine views an exceptional fact pattern as sui generis latin for of its own kind 90 if a fact pattern is sui generis or unlike anything else then there is no applicable precedent or analogy thus creating the need to establish new law declaring a sui generis fact pattern produces a lawmaking authority that empowers the sovereign to establish new law wherein its claims of exception are legally regulated and internally coherent introduction 16 what would otherwise be a suspension of applicable law becomes a distinct modality of governance and compliance with a sui generis regime is in appear ance and function lawful not lawless the ability to declare an exception in the international system is predicated upon the strength of the sovereign to withstand censure and punishment this means that relatively weaker actors can be subject to a sovereign exception but are rarely able to declare one 91 overcoming this condition is not merely a matter of insistence on applicable legal norms and is certainly not about compliance but requires instead a direct confrontation with the geopolitical structure that maintains the framework of exception in the case of palestine britain s decision to support the establishment of a jewish national home in a territory where a native arab population sought to govern itself constituted a sovereign exception the 1917 balfour declaration was predicated on britain s finding that the condition of the global jewry and the history of palestine rendered palestine unique and distinct from all other former territories of the ottoman empire this fact based conclusion produced a lawmaking authority for the colonial power to establish a special regime in palestine 92 the balfour declaration enabled britain together with the allied powers of the first world war to legislate a unique framework for palestine s regulation in the international proceedings following the close of that war and culminated in the 1922 british mandate for palestine 93 this mandate incorpo rated the balfour declaration and declared the purpose of british tutelage in pal estine to be the establishment of a jewish national home in that territory even though the native community there 90 percent of the population was seeking to govern itself this mandatory regime was by definition sui generis distinct from all the other class a mandates where non self governing territories comprising the existing local communities would be ushered to independence the exception however engendered its own rules and according to these rules the suppression of palestinian self determination constituted an international legal obligation even though it required palestinians juridical erasure to achieve the self determination of a settler population in their place the sovereign excep tion and the rules it produced were co constitutive the exception authorized the creation of new rules and the new rules sustained the exception 94 thereaf ter all palestinian protest against britain s colonial decision became a struggle against established international law and the international community seeking introduction 17 to uphold it palestinians have literally fought against their state of exception since this defining moment in 1922 95 moreover palestinians are not unique in this regard while the suppression of palestinian self determination and the erasure of palestinians juridical peoplehood their status as a legally recognized polity is indeed the outcome of a sovereign exception it is not an exception to the norm at work for other former colonies seeking their independence and especially as regards other cases of settler colonialism 96 since israel s establishment in 1948 the sovereign exception that denied palestinians their status as a juridical people and established the right to jewish self determination in mandate palestine has underscored israel s claims that the facts of the palestinian case are sui generis and not subject to strict legal regula tion by any existing body of law israel has used its military and economic power as well as its alliances to global superpowers in the past and present to advance its claims so that it can create alternative legal models for regulating palestinian life 97 these legal models predicated on claims of sui generis fact patterns rep resent continuations of colonial era practices and they have placed palestinian natives outside the normal state of law this book will demonstrate how these alternative models have permitted the ongoing settler colonial elimination of palestinians through removal dispossession assimilation and containment within israel as well as the territories by making them nonexistent in the lan guage of the law 98 palestinian legal protest alone has been futile in altering this condition since it was being designated an exception that rendered palestinians ineligible for normal rights in the first place any possible recourse for chal lenging this exclusion has been and must be based on challenging the political structure that declared and has sustained the sovereign exception as will be shown in the 1970s and 1980s the plo had managed through unconventional warfare political mobilization civil uprisings and legal advocacy to successfully challenge this exception upon entering the middle east peace process in 1991 it willingly relinquished its political claims which had with great effort been enshrined in un resolutions as well as international treaties and entered the interior of u s and israeli governance that position has neutralized its capacity to challenge the political structure that sustains an oppressive status quo thereby diminishing the emancipatory potential of its most strident legal strategies the story of resolution 2334 is illuminating in this regard as well introduction 18 in the case of that resolution the palestinian interpretation that occupation law applied to israel s governance of the west bank triumphed over israel s in sistence that occupation law cannot regulate that territory because of its disputed status the resolution passed because the united states did not use its veto to shield israel from legal accountability a break with the united states decades long policy nevertheless the passage of resolution 2334 failed to stem settlement expansion this suggests that the previous u s provision of diplomatic immunity is an insuf ficient explanation for the law s historical inability to restrain israel the political context helps to resolve this conundrum only weeks before the successful passage of resolution 2334 the obama administration increased u s military aid to israel from us 3 billion annually to 3 8 billion annually for a ten year period it did not condition this aid on israel s compliance with occupation law 99 moreover the united states did not alter its long standing commitment inaugurated in the aftermath of the 1967 war to maintain israel s qualitative military edge over all other middle eastern countries individually or collectively ensuring that it is not at risk of a military challenge finally the administration abstained from taking a position on the resolution when it had only two weeks left in office and thus could not enforce its decision before the ascendance of the trump administration the incoming administration indicated its opposition to resolution 2334 and its intention to go much further than any other u s administration to insulate israel from international censure and facilitate its territorial ambitions 100 the balance of power thus ensured by the united states posed no threat to israel s settlement policy moreover the resolution itself contemplated the viability of israel s settlement enterprise if the two parties agreed to changes to the 4 june 1967 lines including with regard to jerusalem in the course of negotiations 101 this context represents a structural challenge that a legal strategy could ostensibly aim to unsettle but according to the u s ambassador to the united nations at the time the palestinians legal strategy was to appease rather than challenge the united states in order to ensure the resolution s success 102 outside the legal strategy palestinians made no indication of challenging the united states po litically or taking any steps that would displace them from the interior of the u s sphere of influence 103 simply put palestinians did not mobilize a political strategy aimed at challenging u s policy i contend that without such a strategy the law s utility is at best limited and at worst harmful in addition even though introduction 19 resolution 2334 has the potential to alter eu policies towards dealing with israel and the settlements the eu as evidenced by the resolution s content as well as the paris peace conference proceedings remains deferential to political negotiations indicating the tenuous impact of the resolution s differentiation policy worse palestinian commitment to bilateral negotiations with israel brokered by the united states implicitly enables israel s settlement expansion it also sustains a false parity between israel and palestinians that lessens the potential for applying more coercive pressure upon israel structural transformation is the purview of the strong on its own the law can neither undo the conditions that engendered the violation nor recalibrate the bal ance of power that sustains it it can be used only as a tool in support of a political strategy that aims for this transformation 104 altering an oppressive structure re quires coercive pressure most effectively embodied by but not limited to military force 105 economic coercion deployed through the promise of various forms of aid incentives as well as the threat of sanctions and boycotts disincentives is also effective other forms of coercion are not material at all but are normative claims that target legitimacy these can be marshaled through mass demonstra tions civil disobedience literature films music knowledge production media work and legal challenges 106 the language of law should not displace direct or supplant politics because it does possess a determinate meaning nor guarantee a particular outcome politics aimed at shifting the structure of an oppressive status quo should provide a strategic compass when in the course of that political endeavor an opportunity arises to use the law to further those political goals then law should be used as a matter of principled legal opportunism 107 recalling the analogy of the law as a sail politics are the forceful winds that mobilize change and the law can be used in the service of those efforts raise the sail when useful drop it when harmful and stitch together a new one when possible the junctures explored in this book indicate that israel has appreciated this logic much better than palestinians have that together with israel s economic political and military prowess has made international law on balance more ben eficial to israeli interests than it has been to palestinian ones though stateless and lacking a standing army and modern weapons technologies palestinians have intermittently used the law in the service of their cause when they have failed to introduction 20 do so it has not simply been a tale of the oppressive force of law but one of political blunders foreign intervention and or personal aggrandizement as well as plain and serious misfortune those factors are critical to understanding the relationship between law and politics as well as how that relationship has helped to shape the present day conditions and horizons of the palestinian liberation struggle self determination and freedom in 2017 the palestinian demand remains the same as it was in 1917 to achieve national self determination in all of its many iterations in those intervening decades that demand has appeared as some form of a state be it truncated bi national or the wholesale return of palestinian sovereignty from the mediterranean sea to the river jordan statehood has promised self rule equal access to the rule of law security and stability as well as an international personality among other sovereign nations 108 this particular articulation of the palestine question as a search for national independence and sovereignty squarely implies a turn to international law because statehood is a juridical invention in contrast to freedom which is not yet the call for self determination among palestinians has increasingly ceased to refer to the desired national state alone and has come to encompass a more abstract demand for freedom it is a call that implicates an attachment to the land as a means of memory existence and dignity it upends the eliminatory logic that for so long has marked the palestinian body as a site of expendability palestinian self determination has come to signify an ability to pursue a future collectively and individually as a natural condition of possibility and not as a form of resistance to the condition of social death statehood and freedom are two distinct strands of palestinian self determination though they can and often do intersect one strand is legal and highly regulated while the other is expressive and refers to a metaphysical aspiration the distinction between freedom and statehood in the case of palestine and palestinians is similar to the distinction between a life long partnership and marriage two people can enter a life long union without a state s recognition but without such recognition they remain individuals in the eyes of the state and can be denied the right to both be listed on birth certificates to inherit property from each other to benefit from certain forms of tax relief to enjoy hospital visitations with each other and even to have the right to some forms of privacy 109 introduction 21 conversely as a legal institution marriage has the exclusive authority to confer state benefits and protections to committed couples but it is not equivalent to partnership in other ways and is even a lesser guarantor of love the rights to independence sovereignty territorial integrity and juridical recognition as a people are positive rights inscribed by international law and reg ulated by a state centric international legal order these rights are not equivalent to freedom but do represent an aspirational guarantee against the brutality and violence of foreign and colonial domination indeed so many of the challenges palestinians have encountered and which this book will explore have revolved around their contested status as a nation their political existence as an embryonic sovereign and all the attendant rights that flow therefrom statehood continues to offer palestinians permanent freedom from these violent negations becoming a state with meaningful sovereignty would effectively remove israel s brutal rule and trigger the legal and political mechanisms available only to states it would unequivocally establish palestinian nationhood and would protect against israeli settler colonial encroachment and erasure arbitrary arrest systemic war siege and institutionalized deprivation based on palestinian identity alone a state however is not the only path to freedom it may not even be the optimal path regardless of scope and viability a state does not promise palestin ians emancipation from the oppressive throes of exploitation and insecurity nor from premature and arbitrary death a nation has the capacity to cannibalize itself as well as the ingenuity to construct social racial and economic hierarchies that rationalize and legitimate such self inflicted violence palestinians are not exceptional in this regard statehood can incapacitate an external threat but alone does not adequately treat the conditions of unfreedom in 1963 in his prescient and insightful writings on the algerian war of liberation against french settler colonization the philosopher and revolutionary frantz fanon highlighted this unsatisfactory promise of nation statehood he appealed to his comrades in this struggle saying let us not pay tribute to europe by creating states institutions and societies which draw their inspiration from her humanity is waiting for something other from us than such an imitation which would be almost an obscene caricature if we want to turn africa into a new europe and america into introduction 22 a new europe then let us leave the destiny of our countries to europeans they will know how to do it better than the most gifted among us but if we want humanity to advance a step farther if we want to bring it up to a different level than that which europe has shown it then we must invent and we must make discoveries if we wish to live up to our peoples expectations we must seek the response elsewhere than in europe 110 perhaps offering humanity a better model than it has been able to produce is the current chapter of the palestinian struggle but the first chapter so to speak of the palestine question was much more typical of its time when a native people sought to steward their own future in an independent state on a land that a eu ropean colonial power designated for settlement by another people one hundred years of settler colonial erasure and resistance to it have dramatically transformed the conditions on the ground today and urge us to look beyond the mainstream understandings of this conflict in order to better appreciate how economics 111 labor 112 gender 113 and race114 inform the struggle for freedom and its horizons however insofar as we choose to frame the struggle as a nation lost to be restored only by the reestablishment of native sovereignty the palestine question remains deeply informed by the mainstream narrative of two peoples fighting for one land international law significantly informs this particular approach while we may no longer choose to understand the palestine question exclusively in this way it is how the story begins in the early twentieth century in the context of the first world war the disintegration of imperial rule and the crystallization of national self determination as a legal norm in that context international law mediates the first set of exceptions and deployments of violence leading up to the establishment of mandate palestine in 1922 and continuing through the end of israel s martial law regime imposed on palestinian citizens of israel in 1966 introduction chapter 1 colonial erasures there was no such thing as palestinians when was there an independent palestinian people with a palestinian state it was either southern syria before the first world war and then it was a palestine including jordan it was not as though there was a palestinian people in palestine considering itself as a palestinian people and we came and threw them out and took their country away from them they did not exist golda meir golda meir scorns soviets washington post 16 june 1969 in april 1936 palestinians launched an open ended general strike to protest britain s designation of palestine as a site of jewish settlement the strike fol lowed nearly two decades of unsuccessful legal protest highlighting britain s failure to fulfill its legal obligations as a mandatory power to render admin istrative advice and assistance to the native population until it was able to stand alone and practice self governance 1 the specialized legal regime en shrined in the mandate for palestine had trumped all palestinian efforts to overturn a policy that negated palestinian peoplehood and their attendant right to self determination ever since the turn of the twentieth century british imperial policy had fostered a steady rise in jewish immigration to palestine growing tensions between native palestinians and jewish settlers had culminated in repeated riots most notably in jerusalem in 1920 in jaffa in 1921 and near jerusalem s western wall in 1929 2 in europe the genocidal nazi policies institutional ized following the rise of the third reich in germany in 1933 led to jewish 24 flight on an unprecedented scale after the first world war palestine s jew ish population tripled in less than two decades going from one tenth of the population at the end of 1918 some 66 000 out of 639 000 inhabitants to almost one third by 1936 3 palestinian protests rose in parallel and so did british repression in oc tober 1933 british officials shot and killed twenty six palestinians including women demonstrating against british immigration and land sale policies that facilitated jewish settlement 4 but demonstrations riots and national self organization did little to stem colonial determination to transform palestine into a jewish national home by 1935 when british forces killed the nationalist rebel leader sheikh izz il din al qassam in a firefight palestine had become a tinderbox al qassam s death was the catalyst for direct mass resistance to british rule 30 000 people attended the funeral foreshadowing the national strike and uprising to come 5 syrian in origin al qassam began his revolutionary career leading an insur gency against french colonial rule in the former ottoman province of syria like the palestinians the inhabitants of syria had been denied the self determination promised them in the league of nations covenant in 1919 after french troops defeated that insurgency in 1920 al qassam fled to northern palestine where he began organizing rebel forces against the british the nationalist strike in syria which later transformed into a revolt inspired a palestinian general strike and marked the beginning of the great revolt 1936 1939 in palestine 6 in support of this effort dignitaries from notable palestinian families formed the arab higher committee ahc serving as an umbrella organization for six palestinian political parties the ahc was headed by the mufti of jerusalem haj amin al husseini and it established several committees charged with organiz ing and mobilizing the population with this consolidation of political power the palestinians presented a more or less unified front against british efforts to prevent palestinian self determination the general strike lasted for six months and resulted in a complete halt in commercial agricultural industrial and transporta tion activities as well as a boycott of foreign goods and eventually of taxation the palestinian press which became the nationalists bullhorn helped to keep the movement accountable 7 the twenty six year old popular leader akram zu aytir used his platform at the newspaper al difa to hold the elite ahc to the revolutionary standards of the strike and revolt in one appeal he wrote colonial erasures 25 we want the arab higher committee to act as gandhi acted in india when he called for civil disobedience we want the committee members to be an example to the sons of their nation in the battle for the homeland 8 the mass strike prompted britain to establish the palestine royal com mission headed by lord peel to investigate the unrest eight months later the six member panel released its report now commonly known as the peel commission report towards the end of the four hundred page document the commission recommended partitioning palestine into a jewish state and an arab state with several british administered areas 9 zionists rejected the peel commission s proposal for partition but not the concept of partition itself palestinians unequivocally rejected partition not least because it designated transjordan as the sovereign of the proposed arab state and demanded full independence the partition proposal breathed new life into the revolt by the summer of 1937 the general strike had become an armed uprising a develop ment zu aytir had predicted the decision to stop paying taxes is the second step in the struggle while the prolonged strike was the first step the time has now come to realize the third step which is the violent stage the dangerous outcome of which we cannot foresee 10 the nationwide uprising lasted until 1939 when british troops succeeded in crushing the movement using inordinate and brutal force britain commissioned yet another study the resulting 1939 white paper concluded that unfettered jewish immigration and land acquisition with a view to the establishment of a national home for the jews was a mistaken policy 11 it recommended against partition and urged that jewish immigration be severely restricted thus the three year strike and armed uprising had yielded what two decades of legal and diplomatic advocacy had failed to do a reassessment of britain s commitment to jewish that is zionist settlement in palestine the great revolt s achievement was short lived however and the sovereign exception justifying the elision of palestinians juridical status as a nation endured first articulated in the 1917 balfour declaration and later in the 1922 mandate for palestine the privileging of jewish zionist settler sovereignty over colonial erasures 26 palestinian peoplehood remained dominant in international deliberations through 1939 and until israel s establishment in 1948 the fallout from the revolt helps to illustrate the entwinement of law and politics with particular reference to settler colonial settlement the closest palestinians came to real izing their right to self determination during the mandatory period was when they revolted against the geopolitical structure that rendered them nonexistent in the language of law the severity of the british response to the revolt also definitively under mined palestinian capacity to resist the zionist militias that would establish israel by force less than a decade later the uprising ushered in britain s mar tial law regime an exception to normal order that was predicated upon the existence of a state of emergency so as to justify the extraordinary amount of force deployed to quash the rebellion upon its establishment as a state and for eighteen years afterwards israel institutionalized this emergency regime under the thinly veiled pretext of security in order to dispossess remove and concentrate palestinian populations that remained in israel 12 from its incep tion israel securitized the presence of palestinian natives and perpetuated the legacy of repression established by britain in mandate palestine the discursive frameworks racial tropes and legal controversies deployed in the half century between britain s issuance of the balfour declaration in 1917 and the end of israel s first martial law regime in 1966 continue to shape the question of pal estine today this chapter provides a survey of these formative five decades and serves as a foundation to the rest of the chapters which cover the subsequent fifty year period from 1967 to 2017 13 colonial erasures the balfour declaration in 1917 the british foreign secretary lord balfour committed britain to establishing a jewish national home in palestine without consultation with or regard for the wishes of its native inhabitants as balfour would comment in 1919 it did not matter what the natives thought because zionism be it right or wrong good or bad is rooted in age long traditions in present needs in future hopes of far profounder import than the desires and prejudices of the 700 000 arabs who now inhabit that ancient land 14 colonial erasures 27 britain s zionist commitment represented the culmination of efforts led by theodor herzl an austrian jew to secure territory for the purpose of establishing a jewish state in addition to articulating a vision for jewish nationalism herzl led the political movement towards its realization in late nineteenth and early twentieth century europe he was convinced that jews would never successfully assimilate into europe or be accepted as european indeed it would seem that european enlightenment ideals agreed with him the european enlightenment interrupted traditional social relations based on religious doctrine advancing instead an ethnographic science that produced hierarchies of human existence based on secularism while the enlightenment s universal pronouncement of humans as bearers of reason opened the doors for jews to pursue assimilation it also conditioned their acceptance by european societies on the erasure of their difference the process of assimilation was thus an effort to de orientalize the jews understood to have asiatic origins this discourse expressed revulsion at jewish poverty their dark disorderly ghettos and their yiddish language which was too under developed to support high powered thoughts 15 essentially the enlightenment removed both christian and jewish polemics from the debate about the status of jews in european society only to reformulate that status in orientalist terms 16 herzl became convinced that jewish assimilation in europe had failed after witnessing how violently the dreyfus affair unfolded in france 17 this led him to argue that only an independent state for jews could guarantee them freedom from institutionalized violence both political and physical but rather than challenge the disfiguring tropes that excluded and subjugated jews in europe political zionism the movement whose genesis herzl oversaw internalized and reproduced them herzl came to believe that only the establishment of a jewish state would transform the exilic jew and render him eligible for accep tance within europe 18 the problem with herzl s conception was that judaism both a religion and an ethno national identity did not constitute a political community existing as a single polity in a bounded territory in europe jews lived across several territories either as stateless persons or in possession of various nationalities in order to establish a state zionists needed to do two things first transform many kinds of jews into a homogenized national category so that civil law and colonial erasures 28 not religious doctrine would define who was a jew and second obtain from a colonial power a territory to settle for herzl and other european zionists this necessity was not controversial nor particularly cruel as colonialism had yet to be discredited as an oppressive and immoral system of governance the modus operandi of the time whereby europeans subjugated non europeans was fundamental in shaping zionist ambitions 19 at the turn of the twentieth century and at the height of herzl s efforts fewer than forty sovereign states existed and imperial powers governed the majority of the world s population ottoman british french dutch russian german portuguese italian and austrian dominion spanned the globe even in europe a quarter of the population approximately one hundred million people lacked a nationality and lived under imperial rule 20 during and after the first world war nations everywhere demanded self determination conceived as the end of foreign domination and the right to self government and national independence 21 such demands however only began to coalesce more than a decade after herzl s death in 1904 thus under his leadership zionists sought to collude with rather than resist colonial domination in order to establish a jewish state herzl considered argentina uganda and el arish in the egyptian sinai peninsula as possible sites of settlement each of them fell under some form of european administration and could thus be marked for jewish settlement by colonial fiat 22 however the great majority of jewish zionists in europe coveted palestine because of its religious and historical significance as they would not settle for an alternative herzl appealed to german turkish and english of ficials in an impassioned effort to secure palestine he framed jewish settlement in palestine as beneficial to imperial powers explaining that zionists would form a portion of a rampart of europe against asia an outpost of civilization as opposed to barbarism 23 when herzl approached cecil rhodes the british businessman who infamously settled the south african territory named after him rhodesia he wrote you are being invited to help make history it doesn t involve africa but a piece of asia minor not englishmen but jews how then do i happen to turn to you since this is an out of the way matter for you how indeed because it is something colonial 24 colonial erasures 29 herzl did not live to witness the culmination of his efforts thirteen years after his death and one month before britain captured jerusalem from the ottomans the british government committed itself to establishing a jewish national home in palestine in a letter to the head of the zionist federation in britain in november 1917 lord balfour wrote his majesty s government view with favour the establishment in palestine of a national home for the jewish people and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non jewish communities in palestine or the rights and political status enjoyed by jews in any other country 25 this statement which became known as the balfour declaration referred to palestine s native inhabitants who constituted 90 percent of the population simply as non jewish and limited the rights they would enjoy to civil and religious liberties it effectively negated their status as a political community and dismissed their demands for self determination 26 in contrast to palestine s population which naturally includes everyone the palestinian nation as a con cept references an exclusionary entity whose members are bound by a common sense of history language culture and solidarity 27 denying palestinians status as a legally recognized political community was tantamount to rejecting their sovereignty claims this elision of palestinian peoplehood flew in the face of the reality of a national consciousness among arabs in palestine it also violated a promise to support arab aspirations to national independence that the british empire had made two years earlier in 1915 upon learning that the ottoman empire spanning an area from north africa to southeastern europe and across the near east to the arabian peninsula would join the war effort against the allied powers the sherif of mecca hussein bin ali exchanged a series of letters with britain s colonial secretary in egypt sir henry mcmahon sherif hussein offered the allied powers arab support in the war effort in exchange for britain s support of arab aspirations for national independence mcmahon responded favorably but insisted that some of the arab territories in question should be excluded from the promise of colonial erasures 30 independence 28 the hussein mcmahon correspondence never specified the scope of these exempt territories nor settled the disagreement over them although the correspondence was carried out secretly and ended abruptly the arabs joined the allied side against the ottomans on the grounds of their understanding of its contents britain provided them with materiel and logistical support the ottomans were defeated and the british empire emerged as the single most powerful force in the region able to deliver on mcmahon s promise of independence however the great powers namely britain and france had no intention of relinquishing their newly established authority over former ottoman territory 29 the arabs who sought and expected independence began to organize them selves immediately prince faysal the son of sherif hussein emerged as a leader of this effort and eventually established a constitutional monarchy known as the syrian arab kingdom that set out to demonstrate arab readiness for independence and the irrelevance of european tutelage 30 while all of the formerly ottoman territories were denied self determination right after the end of the war and the dissolution of the ottoman empire the struggle in palestine would be distinct and more difficult by november 1917 britain had effectively promised palestine both to its native arab population who sought to govern themselves and to zionist leaders in europe as a place to establish a national home for the jews britain s primary interest at this time was to maintain dominance in the middle east in order to protect oil and trade routes and also to counter french influence in the region 31 recognizing palestinians as a people would extend the right to eventual independence to them which contravened britain s regional interests 32 in contrast zionist settlement of palestine promoted these interests the colonial office did not envision the jewish national home as a state but rather as a cultural mecca which did not necessarily summon the specter of independence 33 moreover zionist settlement afforded britain a pretext for its sustained presence and intervention in the region to support the self determi nation of the european settlers and to mediate the conflict that resulted as the settlers attempted to acquire palestinian lands 34 britain s colonial logic was in line with a well established practice since the late nineteenth century whereby european powers including britain russia france and austria had justified their interventions across the ottoman empire on the grounds that they were protecting various christian and jewish minorities 35 colonial erasures 31 given its general disregard for non european populations and faced with in tense zionist lobbying in europe britain not only ignored palestinian demands for independence it suspended the principle that entitled native populations to self determination in a letter he penned to the british prime minister in 1919 lord balfour explained that in the case of palestine we deliberately and rightly decline to accept the principle of self determination our justification for our policy is that we regard palestine as being absolutely exceptional that we consider the question of jews outside palestine as one of world importance and that we conceive the jews to have historic claim to a home in their ancient land provided that home can be given to them without either dispossessing or oppressing the present inhabitants 36 balfour s conclusion was arbitrary it was not based on a legal inquiry find ing that palestinians did not constitute a political community to the extent that a legal inquiry existed its rules established by enlightenment ideals regarding nationalism rendered palestinians ineligible because they failed to assume a natural and neat fit between identity and territory 37 the earliest expressions of palestinian nationalism reflected a broad arab nationalist consciousness whose vi sion of freedom from ottoman rule took the form of a greater syria 38 although palestinians established a congress to express their nationalist ambitions in 1919 it would be another year until they articulated their claims as palestinians rather than as arabs 39 talking about the nonexistence of a palestinian people flies in the face of what was the regional reality at the time the parallel pursuit of a greater syria among levantine arab populations in what are today lebanon syria and jordan did not similarly entail the negation of their existence as political com munities nor make them ineligible for self determination palestinians did not lack a particular attribute disqualifying them from being a juridical people simply put british policy demanded that palestinians not exist as a people in order to pave the way for britain s colonial ambitions in the middle east 40 british cabinet members understood the potential and dismal consequences of their decision but rested it in part on a conception of palestinians as a back ward oriental inert mass 41 further britain justified its policy by insisting that colonial erasures 32 palestine was uniquely distinct and unlike any other former ottoman territory seeking independence in june 1923 lord milner put this view to the house of lords in the following words palestine can never be regarded as a country on the same footing as the other arab countries you cannot ignore all history and tradition in the matter you cannot ignore the fact that this is the cradle of two of the great religions of the world it is a sacred land to the arabs but it is also a sacred land to the jew and the christian and the future of palestine cannot possibly be left to be determined by the temporary impressions and feelings of the arab majority in the country of the present day 42 palestine s exceptional nature as defined by britain would enable the co lonial power to establish a specialized or sui generis regime for the territory s administration unlike populations in other former ottoman territories pal estine s native population would neither be groomed for self governance nor forcibly removed instead to balance its dual commitment to zionist policy and to the mandatory system britain would protect the civil and religious rights of native palestinians while fostering the growth of the settler jewish population both through immigration and by conferring economic and politi cal advantages on the settlers 43 at an unspecified point a new arrangement yet to be conceived could be established to govern all of palestine s inhabitants this regime was as experimental as it was unique 44 its impact was nevertheless real and consequential britain s zionist policy justified the juridical erasure of native palestinians and no amount of legal argument could overcome the framework of exception that made it possible 45 palestinians became ineligible for self determination as a matter of british law as well as policy rendering their protest cumbersome but nonetheless immaterial 46 this result was borne out by the fate of the king crane commission s findings which supported palestinian demands but were essentially ignored in preparation for the 1919 paris peace conference which effectively carved up the territories of imperial powers defeated in the first world war between the allies u s president woodrow wilson had charged a commission of en quiry known as the king crane commission with the task of inquiring into colonial erasures 33 the wishes of the peoples of the middle east this consultation reflected the principle later included in the league of nations covenant that native popu lations were to be consulted in regard to their mandatory administration this marked the first opportunity for palestinians to express their nationalist ambi tions to an international audience in preparation for the commission s visit political associations in palestine worked diligently to present a united front and they mobilized with various petitions and campaigns 47 the core demand that palestinian representatives brought before the commission was a definitive and absolute rejection of zionism when drafting its findings for review the commission commented to subject a people so minded to unlimited jewish immigration and to steady financial and social pressure to surrender the land would be a gross violation of self determination it concluded in view of all these considerations and with a deep sense of sympathy for the jewish cause the commissioners feel bound to recommend that only a greatly reduced zionist program be attempted by the peace conference this would have to mean that jewish immigration should be definitely limited and that the project for making palestine a distinctly jewish commonwealth should be given up 48 the commission s report was never given serious consideration and its findings were not made public until 1922 49 by then wilson was no longer president the great powers had already divvied up the former ottoman empire among them selves french troops had crushed the arab constitutional experiment in syria and the sovereign exception justifying the erasure of palestinian peoplehood had been enshrined in international law and policy by being incorporated into the league of nations mandate system that emerged from the conference enshrining erasure in international law and policy the mandate for palestine the paris peace conference convened with the intention of deciding the fate of the ottoman and german empires and that of the millions of people who constituted their former subjects and who were demanding independence the victors acknowledged that they could not forcefully suppress the demand for the colonial erasures 34 right to self rule by a majority of the world s population but they also did not want to relinquish control of former ottoman and german territories at that juncture peoples under colonial domination understood self determination as a promise of independence but european powers viewed it otherwise for them it was a potential mechanism of control 50 the indeterminacy of the concept of self determination made it susceptible to legal work and therefore potentially effective for achieving european aims more specifically from the time of the principle s earliest iteration there existed a gap between the concept of self determination and its attachment to colonized peoples as rights bearing agents 51 it would take four more decades of direct revolt for that principle to become a claim to national independence as a matter of legal right 52 in 1919 however it was merely an emerging norm with out a basis in law u s president woodrow wilson the individual most closely associated with the idea that self determination was tantamount to national liberation never used that term in his fourteen points speech which articulated a basis for reconciliation and global interdependence after the first world war instead he explained the allied powers had fought that war for the principle of equality among nations and for their right to determine their own futures and be free from aggression 53 for wilson then the concept of self determination meant the right to autonomy in a civic sense and had nothing to do with the tradition of collective or ethnic nationalism 54 wilson himself later admitted that he had made his visionary speech without a knowledge that nationalities existed and he expressed anxiety about the possibility that he had raised the hopes of millions of people 55 for the rest of the great powers with the exception of the union of soviet socialist republics ussr 56 national self determination was tolerable only insofar as it converged with their strategic and geopolitical interests 57 the mandate system the international institution created to shepherd colonies to independence advanced these interests the league of nations established the mandate system to lead the peoples of vanquished empires to stand on their own with help from the resources and experiences of advanced nations 58 a people would become eligible for self rule once their system of governance became more like that of european nation states thus creating a fiction of sovereignty arising along a linear continuum that european experience had charted 59 moreover colonial powers would have colonial erasures 35 to penetrate the interior of the mandates physically and administratively in order to ensure this linear development in effect european powers deployed self determination as a mechanism reflecting the consent of the governed in order to shift the cost and responsibility of governance onto peoples seeking independence without disrupting colonial penetration in or access to those territories and their resources 60 the mandate system provided the infrastructure for this arrangement 61 far from facilitating a movement toward self governance based on local and particular ideals customs demands or traditions the mandate system continued the task of ensuring that the western model of law and behavior would be seen as natural inevitable and inescapable 62 it thus created a hierarchy wherein former colonies were tasked with the elusive challenge of replicating the social political and economic development of their former colonial overseers under their tutelage world powers enshrined this hierarchy in their enumeration of three mandate classes a b and c that reflected the proximity of each society to european ideals the league of nations designated palestine along with the other territories of the former ottoman empire as class a mandates see the league of nations mandate system map these societies enjoyed provisional recognition of the right to independence because of their advanced state of development despite the fact that self determination had yet to crystallize as a customary right 63 in accordance with british and french preferences outlined in the 1916 sykes picot agreement britain became the mandatory power for palestine transjordan and iraq while france became the mandatory power in syria and lebanon the league of nations covenant authorized britain and france to provide these embryonic sovereigns with administrative advice and assistance until such time as they are able to stand alone and join the international system 64 as a matter of international law and in the name of self determination british and french forces occupied the mandates established self governing institutions comprised of natives and steered the development of national law and policy to suit their colonial interests 65 prince faysal appealed to the great powers at the paris peace conference to grant arab states immediate independence 66 upon returning to damascus in may 1919 he organized elections to the syrian arab general congress and colonial erasures erekat justice for some map 1 1st proof bill nelson 9 27 18 36 authorized its one hundred members to draft a constitution after british forces withdrew from syria in exchange for french approval of the british mandate for palestine the assembly of arab elite men declared a constitutional monarchy in march 1920 the short lived syrian arab kingdom which included lebanon syria jordan and part of palestine and featured a monarch as well as elected representatives was meant to highlight the level of local political sophistication and capacity for self governance however french troops entered syria and defeated the newly established syrian arab army at the battle of maysalun swiftly ending the constitutional experiment syria egypt and iraq would not enjoy unfettered independence for decades to come still and despite the general denial of self determination to all arab peoples the mandate system s treatment of palestinians remained a matter of exception british mandate french mandate independent t u r k e y caspian sea n british control persian gulf s y r i a s y r i a damascus damascus lebanon beirut mediterranean sea palestine jerusalem amman i r a n baghdad i r a q cairo e g y p t transjordan transjordan s a u d i a r a b i a s a u d i a r a b i a red sea 0 0 0 0 100 100 200 200 300 mi 300 mi 100 100 200 300 400 500 km 200 300 400 500 km league of nations mandate system 1922 after the first world war the great powers convened at the paris peace conference and established the league of nations mandate system to shepherd former ottoman and german colonial territories to statehood and independence the former ottoman territories fell under british and french authority turkey iran and saudi arabia became independent colonial erasures 37 britain led the effort to establish a specialized legal regime in palestine that would regulate and enable the establishment of a jewish national home while suppressing palestinian self governance the ability to establish this regime was not merely a function of imperial power rather britain s efforts were fully within the scope of law and its internal logics britain saw palestine as distinct because of its significance to the three monotheistic religions and especially because of the imperative to establish a jewish national home the insistence on unique distinction in fact engendered the lawmaking authority to create a specialized regime a sui generis mandate and in turn the specialized regime validated and sustained the unique fact pattern 67 the 1920 treaty of sèvres for example which delineated the fate of the former ottoman territories set palestine apart from the others with the spe cific intent of realizing the balfour declaration s goals while its stipulations regarding iraq and syria recognized their provisional independence it did not recognize the provisional independence of palestine even though this concept was enshrined by the league of nations covenant as one of the characteristics of class a mandates in order for a jewish national home to be established there when palestinians protested that this violated paragraph 4 of article 22 under the covenant requiring consultation with local populations the british secretary of state for the colonies explained there is no question of treating the people of palestine as less advanced than their neighbors in iraq and syria the position is that his majesty s government are bound by a pledge which is antecedent to the covenant of the league of nations and they cannot allow a constitutional position to develop which may make it impracticable to carry into effect a solemn undertaking given by themselves and their allies 68 the colonial office acknowledged the similarity in status between palestinians and the arabs of nascent neighboring states marked for independence it simply insisted that such facts were secondary if relevant at all in the establishment of self governing institutions because britain s commitment to the establishment of a jewish national home in palestine engendered a special regime what at colonial erasures 38 first appears to be a violation of the law becomes a firm commitment to it under this sui generis framework similarly britain s 1922 proposal for the government in palestine stipu lated the establishment of a legislative council that was not representative with only ten or eleven of its twenty seven voting members representing the palestinian population 69 britain understood that an overwhelming majority of palestinians opposed the balfour declaration and that a representative national government would impede its realization but britain s specialized legal regime for palestine rendered this transgression irrelevant and misplaced therefore when a palestinian delegation protested the unrepresentative nature of the proposal to britain s secretary of state for the colonies highlighting its contravention of the covenant the colonial office forthrightly responded that the balfour declaration mandated a somewhat different interpretation of the law in palestine the ideal path forward for palestine argued the colonial office would be combining a large measure of popular representation with the necessary degree of control to ensure that the policy of the government is not thereby stultified 70 britain s hybrid model of governance sought to include palestinians in form only to justify their exclusion in substance 71 palestin ians understood this as the strongest proof that the jewish national home undertaking is the cause of depriving us of our national right of establishing an independent government the same as mesopotamia and hedjaz 72 the logic of unique distinction paved the path to the mandate for palestine during the international deliberations leading to its adoption lord balfour together with british zionists including his confidant and president of the world zionist organization chaim weizmann made a concerted effort to incorporate britain s zionist policy in the language of the document balfour s influence was pivotal in drafting the mandate 73 other great powers strongly opposed his effort for fear it would hurt their regional interests and or undermine the standing of palestine s christian population upon repeated assurances that zionist policy would do no harm and after four and half years featuring multiple interventions within the league balfour succeeded 74 the final text of the man date for palestine adopted by the league of nations in july 1922 incorporated the balfour declaration verbatim in its preamble thereby transforming british colonial prerogative into international law and policy colonial erasures 39 the mandate explicitly mentioned jewish national rights and a national home six times it affirmed that jews had a historical connection with pal estine and it committed to establishing a jewish national home as a matter of legal obligation it made no mention whatsoever of palestinian national rights or the right to self determination of the native arab palestinians arab palestinians appear by association only as non jewish and sections of the population even though they constituted the overwhelming majority some 90 percent of the total 75 the mandate never describes palestinians as a com munity nor affirms their presence in or connection to palestine as a matter of right 76 they do not even appear as natives of the land 77 the world zion ist organization successfully lobbied the league to refrain from referring to palestinians as natives by insisting that zionist jews not yet settled in palestine be regarded as natives as well 78 with the stroke of a pen a na scent international community institutionalized the framework of exception justifying the elision of palestinians juridical status as a people in its capacity as the mandatory power britain thereby suppressed the palestinians right to self governance and self determination in order to fulfill the self determination of a settler population in their place mandate palestine became an exception to the rest of the class a mandates by design every other class a mandate had a parallel native governing authority alongside the high commissioner of that tutelary state an individual appointed by the mandatory power in palestine however there were no responsible arab officials nor a recognized representative body or cabinet 79 all british proposals for self governing institutions were predicated on palestinian acceptance of the mandate s self effacing terms meanwhile britain recognized and supported the jewish agency a zionist self governing institution within mandate palestine moreover whereas organic laws were prepared for other class a mandates no such authority was delegated in relation to palestine 80 the only similar exceptions in the middle east and north africa region algeria and libya at that time under the control of france and italy respectively were also sites of european ambition for colonial settlement the mandate system had thus come to recognize the existence of nations with the eventual right to independence except where a predominantly european settler community coveted that right for itself 81 colonial erasures 40 in response to colonial erasure palestinians demanded their rights as a nation pointing to the promises of self governance in president wilson s four teen points and the allied guarantees to the arabs during first world war as articulated in the hussein mcmahon correspondence 82 they argued that based on their numerical majority and the fact that their presence preceded that of the jewish minority they were entitled to establish a national govern ment 83 they pointed to iraq transjordan greece serbia montenegro and poland where peoples were realizing their right to self governance and insisted that they were no less worthy they highlighted their existing representative institutions and their impressive literacy rates as well as the numbers of pal estinians who had completed advanced degrees in medicine law engineering and agriculture all in an effort to demonstrate their proximity to european standards for statehood 84 britain was intransigent it would grant palestinians their right to self governing institutions although not independence but only on condition that they accepted the mandate for palestine this was the crux of the issue to realize their national rights the palestinians had to formally accept their own legally subordinate position to the jewish community indeed their nonex istence as a people as laid out by the mandatory legal regime 85 rejecting this premise palestinians insisted that the mandate itself was invalid they made an astute legal argument pointing to article 20 of the league of nations cov enant which stipulated that if a mandatory power took on an obligation such as the balfour declaration that ran counter to an obligation in the covenant such as shepherding the mandatory land to independence it must free itself of those contradictory obligations british officials retorted that there existed a special situation in palestine recognized by all the allied powers that made acting on this contravention inapposite 86 britain was in compliance with the sui generis regime regulating the administration of palestine legal argument alone would be insufficient to overcome the framework of exception embodied in the mandate for palestine undeterred palestinians petitioned the permanent mandates commission pmc created by the league of nations to oversee the mandate system and argued that the mandate for palestine contradicted article 22 stipulating that a mandatory power must consult the local population in establishing policy colonial erasures 41 britain insisted that the pmc did not have the authority to alter the zionist project the commission itself was split on this issue one contingent insisted that the zionist commitment enshrined in the mandate for palestine was supreme while another insisted that it was secondary to ensuring the welfare of native inhabitants the commission resolved this tension by distinguishing between the mandate s long term goals namely establishing a jewish national home and self governing institutions and the immediate objective of creating the condi tions that could facilitate those outcomes in practice that meant prioritizing jewish immigration as an immediate obligation and relegating the question of self government to a more ambiguous gradual project thereafter the pmc on behalf of the international community subordinated the national rights and needs of the palestinian population in order to successfully establish a jewish national home in palestine 87 the great revolt redefines british colonial policy palestinians launched the great revolt in 1936 nearly a decade and a half after the mandate for palestine institutionalized the state of exception that rendered their legal claims non justiciable that is not open to legal redress this armed uprising was massive and it signaled the first direct challenge to the geopolitical structure marking palestinians for exclusion there were several periods during the rebellion when britain lost control of palestine including many major towns and for about five days in october 1938 the old city of jerusalem 88 enraged by the challenge to their rule the british mandatory authorities responded brutally they imposed martial law which allowed the use of an extraordinary amount of force to achieve their policy objectives 89 martial law was a tried and true british colonial tactic it had been imple mented as early as 1835 in south africa and it was predicated on the idea that the suspension of normal governance was acceptable in order to respond to a state of emergency 90 however since the meaning of emergency is subject to the sole discretion of the sovereign who alone can decide what is a threat to its existence declaring an emergency does not constitute an objective evaluation and thus remains beyond external and or strict regulation 91 nevertheless the concept of a state of emergency is embedded in a rule of law framework even when the rule itself is by definition outside a normal state of law 92 as such colonial erasures 42 an emergency can be indefinite despite its exceptional basis and can come to constitute a permanent structure of political management 93 this exceptional legal regime would also become central to israel s governance of palestinians which would begin within a decade s time the 1937 palestine defence order in council bestowed on the manda tory power the authority to establish military courts arbitrarily exclude persons from reentering palestine deport and exile palestinian leaders impose harsh punishments including death or life imprisonment for the possession of fire arms destroy homes as a form of collective punishment detain persons without charge or trial impose curfews on entire villages and towns and commandeer civil institutions such as the press suspending newspapers viewed as agitating against the mandate 94 in the early days of the revolt the british arrested so many palestinians that they ran out of space in the camps where the detainees were held akram zu aytir a prominent figure in the revolt wrote in his diary that he was moved from the desert detention camp in awja al hafir to sarafand because the former could no longer accommodate the ever increasing number of detainees which had doubled in a matter of weeks 95 other palestinian accounts relate the deaths of detainees among them women and children held outdoors for days at the height of summer and denied food or water restriction on palestinian movement was a hallmark of the martial law regime physical barriers such as checkpoints and roadblocks were common as were curfews and the military occupation of individual villages dubbed closures in one instance the brit ish military placed safad a town in northern palestine under a dusk to dawn curfew for 140 days and would regularly subject villages to twenty two hour curfews for days at a time at the height of the palestinian uprising in 1938 the british deployed some 25 000 servicemen 96 the following year british forces were able to quash the great revolt and gut the palestinian national movement which had the effect of ensuring that it would not have the capacity to rekindle the revolt or to avert the wholesale dispossession caused by the 1948 war in three years british forces had killed 5 000 palestinians wounded 10 000 and detained 5 679 oth ers they blew up nearly 2 000 homes destroyed agricultural lands and exiled a significant portion of the palestinian national leadership 97 it is estimated that colonial erasures 43 british forces killed wounded detained and or exiled 10 percent of the adult male population at the time 98 despite its devastating outcome the great revolt made clear that partition of palestine would have to be imposed by force something that was anathema to the british empire as malcolm macdonald britain s secretary of state for the colonies explained to the pmc in 1939 the mandatory power could not just slay large numbers of arabs indefinitely especially when the covenant s terms for the mandate clearly outlined its temporary nature and the global call for self government had become a steady one 99 over the course of the revolt palestinians had established their own self governing body the arab higher committee without regard for the preconditions set by the british and had further emphasized the imperative of self governance more significantly the second world war was on the horizon and britain could not risk antipathy from arab states 100 having agreed to withdraw its troops from egypt it now sought to secure an unlimited presence in palestine to ensure its foothold in the region 101 in the looming shadow of war and at the height of the great revolt in march 1938 britain established yet another commission of inquiry to examine the viability of partition as articulated in the peel commission report eight months later the british government re assessed its zionist commitment and issued a white paper setting out a new policy for palestine the 1939 white paper repudiated partition and opposed continued unregu lated jewish immigration it set forth a proposal to limit jewish immigration over the next five years to regulate land sales more stringently and to establish an independent palestine government within ten years albeit without the guarantee that self government would amount to statehood 102 the government would be neither fully arab nor jewish notwithstanding the presence of arab jews or jews who identified as palestinians moreover the white paper conditioned palestin ian statehood on a jewish referendum and the future of jewish immigration on an arab referendum while the white paper was hotly debated and left much to be desired the withdrawal of the partition option came in direct response to the revolt and as such was treated by the palestinian and arab publics as a major victory the bullets of rebel palestine have torn up the royal commis sion s partition decision wrote zu aytir in his diary 103 colonial erasures 44 the great revolt directly targeted britain s military regime and stretched its personnel to the breaking point at a time of impending war palestinians forced britain to reevaluate its zionist policy not by the use of moral and legal persuasion but by changing the material conditions on the ground in fact during its deliberations leading up to the white paper the royal commission declassified the hussein macmahon correspondence in order to revisit and unsettle a legal analysis that the colonial office had used to justify the suspen sion of palestinian self determination 104 the conditions on the ground directly impacted the interpretation of the law in this instance in addition to taking up armed resistance palestinians also created self governing institutions on their own terms they effectively challenged their exclusion from the promise of self determination and the negation of their status as a political community by undermining the structure that upheld the framework of exception in so doing palestinians also helped to further shape self determination as a legal right tantamount to national independence though a significant policy shift the white paper failed to definitively resolve the contest over national self determination created by britain s cata strophic policy 105 palestinians refused to compromise their demands for inde pendence zionists felt betrayed by the british and vowed never to come under arab governance 106 the jewish agency began to mobilize its military wing the haganah to confront the british and the irgun a jewish underground militia began a series of bombing campaigns targeting palestinian civilians 107 in 1940 winston churchill assumed power in britain as the prime minister and resolved to postpone the establishment of a palestinian government until the war with germany and the axis powers was over by then however so much had changed that none of the white paper s terms was ever fulfilled the palestinian victory in tearing up the partition plan was short lived normalizing the exception israel establishes itself by force in 1947 two years after the end of the war britain referred the question of palestine to the united nations the multilateral body established in 1945 that ultimately supplanted the league of nations by the end of the second world war the british empire was waning and mandate palestine was an embarrass ment to an exhausted britain the atrocities perpetrated by the third reich in colonial erasures 45 europe beginning with the denationalization of jews and culminating in their mass annihilation using modern weapons technologies were by now widely known the jewish refugee crisis was massive and yet western governments including the united states and britain were averse to absorbing the refugees and were refusing them entry to further advance its cause the jewish agency entwined the refugee crisis with zionism and did not lobby western govern ments to accept the refugees in some cases it encouraged those governments to do just the opposite 108 indeed britain and the pmc as well as the countries of eastern europe came to see the issue of mandate palestine as an opportunity to resolve the refugee crisis and more generally europe s jewish question 109 in its referral britain explicitly asked the united nations to incorporate the condi tion of the jewish refugees into its deliberations on solutions to the problem of mandate palestine 110 the united nations established the special committee on palestine un scop and charged it to prepare proposals for consideration in its september 1947 report the committee recognized that the principle of self determination had not been applied to palestine obviously because of the intention to make possible the creation of the jewish national home there the committee rec ognized that the sui generis mandate for palestine might in fact have been a violation of that principle but it went on to justify the legal lapse by citing the co constitutive relationship between the exception and the specialized regime it engendered drawing on the peel commission report it explained that article 22 of the league of nations covenant did not command the recognition of certain communities formerly belonging to the turkish empire as independent nations but only permitted such recognition should the league choose to confer it and in the case of palestine it had chosen not to do so in order to fulfill the terms of the balfour declaration 111 unscop concluded its report by outlining three possible solutions a unitary state with strong protections for minorities a unitary bi national state or partition into two states for two peoples the eleven member committee was divided in particular iran india and yugoslavia highlighted that the mandate for palestine and partition violated palestinian self determination and they recommended a unitary state but a majority of the committee concluded that two states one for jews and one for arabs was the optimal choice 112 colonial erasures 46 unscop s partition proposal vexed the general assembly one of the subcommittees charged with reviewing it preferred a unitary federal state and pointed out that the partition proposal raised several legal issues the subcommittee recommended placing the question of the legality of partition and the general assembly s authority to recommend it before the international court of justice icj it was to no avail the broader committee defeated the request for an icj advisory opinion 113 the political imperative to use the mandate for palestine as a means to resolve the jewish refugee crisis overrode the questions of law on 29 november 1947 the general assembly after intense pressure and some cajoling by the united states endorsed the unscop proposal for the partition of palestine see the plan of partition map it passed resolution 181 with a vote of 33 in favor 13 against and 10 abstentions 114 much like the unscop proposal resolution 181 did not consider the will of the local popula tion nor the legality of the un s authority to propose partition nor the legality of partition itself it was unabashedly a political solution 115 although jews comprised only 30 percent of the population and owned 6 percent of the land at this point resolution 181 apportioned the jewish com munity 55 percent of palestine it allocated 45 percent of the territory to native palestinians who constituted 70 percent of the population and owned the vast majority of the land 116 the resolution designated jerusalem an international zone under international trusteeship and envisaged that neither state would be purely jewish or arab stipulating religious and minority rights in each it mandated that individuals be given the right to become citizens of the state in which they are resident and enjoy full civil and political rights upon inde pendence with a choice to opt for citizenship of the other state resolution 181 prohibited discrimination on grounds of race religion language or sex it entitled all persons within the jurisdiction of the state to equal protection of the laws and prohibited land expropriation 117 the un partition plan required a radical territorial redistribution in favor of zionists yet did not articulate the means of its implementation 118 the sta tus quo favored the palestinians who together with the arab states rejected the resolution they argued that such an arbitrary redistribution of land and the suppression of the native majority s right to self governance violated the principle of self determination but internal palestinian rivalries undermined a unified strategy moderate leaders urged restraint while others vied for control colonial erasures n acre haifa m e d i t e r r a n e an s ea leb anon s y r ia nazareth r e v i r n a d r jo tel aviv jaffa jericho amman gaza hebron dead sea jerusalem bethlehem beersheba j o r d a n e g y pt 0 0 10 20 20 30 40 40 60 50 mi 80 km 1947 un partition proposed arab state proposed jewish state proposed international zone plan of partition 1947 in 1947 the united nations proposed the partition of palestine into a jewish and an arab state its plan did not envision that either state would be exclusively arab or jewish it allotted 55 percent of the land to jews who constituted 30 percent of the population and owned 6 percent of the land and 45 percent to arab palestinians who constituted 70 percent of the population and owned the majority of the land jerusalem was to be placed under an international regime 48 and authority to lead a military confrontation in order to prevent partition 119 the jewish agency was not pleased with resolution 181 either it desired more territory than was allotted but accepted the resolution knowing that arab rejec tion diminished the chances of its realization 120 the zionist leadership superior in both quality and organization also prepared for a confrontation to establish a jewish state by force 121 they understood that violence would be necessary to implement partition especially in light of the hesitation exhibited by the united nations and individual member states to impose it by force 122 initial zionist plans laid out in their plan gimmel plan c aimed to sup press a palestinian offensive as well as to establish contiguity between jewish settlements that were located in areas of the proposed arab state 123 though framed in defensive terms the plan instructed zionist paramilitaries to inflict forceful and severe blows against not only militants but also those who pro vide them with assistance and shelter the attacks must affect large areas and include both warning and strike operations the plan stated targets were to include clubs cafes meetings assemblies and the like execution of plan c featured explosions in palestinian residential areas and raids against communities in the middle of the night to induce them to flee 124 in february 1948 david ben gurion the head of the jewish agency and the first prime minister of the state of israel traveled to the emptied and destroyed village of lifta a suburb of jerusalem and reported to the mapai council a major israeli labour party that same evening when i come now to jerusalem i feel i am in a hebrew ivrit city it is true that not all of jerusalem is jewish but it has in it already a huge jewish bloc when you enter the city through lifta and romema through mahaneh yeuda king george street and mea shearim there are no ar abs one hundred percent jews ever since jerusalem was destroyed by the romans the city was not as jewish as it is now and what happened in jerusalem and in haifa can happen in large parts of the country if we persist it is quite possible that in the next six or eight months there will be considerable changes in the country very considerable and to our advantage there will certainly be considerable changes in the demographic composi tion of the country 125 colonial erasures 49 ben gurion s satisfaction with the demographic shifts reflected his conviction that only a state with at least 80 percent jews is a viable and stable state 126 zionist leaders admitted that increased immigration alone would never coun terbalance the palestinian majority resident in the proposed jewish state 127 one way to achieve a jewish demographic majority ben gurion suggested was to transfer or expel palestinians 128 in a letter he penned to his son in october 1937 he justified this as follows we must expel arabs and take their places and if we have to use force not to dispossess the arabs of the negev and transjordan but to guarantee our own right to settle in those places then we have force at our disposal 129 the concept of transfer had been embedded in mainstream zionist thought for at least a decade it also appeared in u s and british proposals for resolving the challenges posed by the mandate for palestine at the end of the second world war 130 while there is no single smoking gun indicating that ben gurion gave zionist troops an explicit order to forcibly expel palestinians as a comprehensive plan with some notable exceptions131 this was the outcome of the zionist military campaigns in practice 132 by early 1948 the level of violence and the specter of foreclosing palestin ian self determination were such as to move the united states to abandon its support for resolution 181 thus when the question of partition came up for reconsideration at the security council in march 1948 the united states suggested that the general assembly establish a trusteeship over palestine to shepherd its transition from a british mandate to independence 133 the u s policy shift considered a betrayal by zionists proved a turning point in the war and precipitated the launch of plan dalet plan d 134 this plan was more aggressive and ambitious than its predecessor plan c its geographic scope exceeded the parameters of the proposed jewish state and if fully implemented would have extended jewish zionist sovereignty across the whole of mandate palestine 135 like plan c plan dalet also took direct aim at palestinians under the pretext of military necessity it authorized targeting palestinian villages that provided assistance to palestinian militants or could be used as bases for at tacks in the name of achieving a defensive system it authorized colonial erasures 50 destruction of villages setting fire to them by blowing up and planting mines in the debris especially those population centers which are difficult to control continuously mounting combing and control operations accord ing to the following guidelines encirclement of the village and conducting a search inside of it in the event of resistance the armed forces must be wiped out and the population expelled outside the borders of the state 136 this military strategy featuring both excessive use of force and the logic of collective punishment was not unfamiliar to zionist forces during the great revolt britain had recruited thousands of troops from the jewish community to help put down the palestinian armed uprising 137 these men became the nucleus of zionist paramilitary forces and adopted british colonial military technologies and tactics 138 in possession of significant armaments they used devastating violence against palestinians even in cases where they posed no military threat 139 in one notable operation in early april 1948 palestinian forces cut off much needed supplies to zionist forces by capturing the road connecting jeru salem to tel aviv to recapture the passage the zionists targeted deir yassin a village located on this road village leaders had entered into a nonaggression agreement with the haganah signaling that they had no capacity to be a threat and that should have protected these palestinian civilians yet when the irgun attacked the village the operation not only had the support of the haganah s commander in jerusalem but he provided them with rifles and ammunition 140 over the course of one night zionist paramilitary forces killed at least one hundred unarmed villagers fahim zaydan was twelve years old at the time of the massacre and recalls that night they took us out one after the other shot an old man and when one of his daughters cried she was shot too then they called my brother muham mad and shot him in front of us and when my mother yelled bending over him carrying my little sister hudra in her hands still breastfeeding her they shot her too 141 zaydan was also shot while standing in a row of children whom the soldiers had lined up against a wall the zionist paramilitaries sprayed them with bullets just colonial erasures 51 for the fun of it before they left 142 as the news of the deir yassin massacre spread in part through a whispering campaign initiated by zionist leaders many palestinians fled from other localities in order to escape a similar fate 143 by early may 1948 the zionists had launched thirteen full scale military operations resulting in the forced displacement of 250 000 palestinians from their homes 144 on 14 may israel declared its independence on 15 may great britain relinquished its mandate and seven arab armies declared war on the state of israel the arab armies were no match for the newly established state 145 israel s troops outnumbered arab ones both regular and irregular and in the wake of the first truce and consequent break in fighting israel was able to increase its firepower decisively that was not all the arab armies failed to coordinate their efforts as each country pursued its own interests in the war king abdullah of jordan who had been given nominal command of the arab forces in palestine was more concerned about annexing the partitioned arab state than he was with preventing partition before the war he had been in direct contact with the jewish agency in an effort to reach agreement on dividing palestine upon ter mination of the mandate under abdullah s command arab forces made every effort to avert a head on collision and with the exception of one of two minor incidents made no attempt to encroach on the territory allocated to the jewish state by the un cartographers 146 more significantly there was no coordinated military or diplomatic arab plan of action israel roundly prevailed in the war israeli forces continued the forced transfer of palestinians throughout the hostilities spiro munayar recounts their attack on al lydd in july 1948 during the night the soldiers began going into the houses in areas they had occupied rounding up the population and expelling them from the city some were told to go to kharruba and barfilyya while other soldiers said go to king abdullah to ramallah the streets filled with people setting out for indeterminate destinations 147 the palestinians both those forcibly expelled and those who fled voluntarily took refuge in lebanon syria and jordan as well as in the areas of mandate palestine not conquered by israel between the start of hostilities in december 1947 and colonial erasures 52 the end of the first arab israeli war in march 1949 zionist paramilitary and later conventional israeli forces had reduced the palestinian population from 1 million to 160 000 and destroyed and or depopulated more than 400 palestin ian villages 148 the newly established state had realized ben gurion s vision of a decisive jewish demographic majority palestine was lost within six months of its declaration of independence israel applied for mem bership at the united nations the security council rejected its first application over concerns that it had not declared its borders remained at war with arab states and refused to allow palestinian refugees to return to their homes 149 in response israel established armistice agreements with egypt jordan and lebanon it began talks with syria and it declared temporary borders and a truce by 1949 see the armistice lines map seventy eight percent of mandatory palestine was now formally under israel s control and the remaining 22 percent of palestine that israel did not conquer the west bank including east jerusalem and the gaza strip came under the control of jordan and egypt respectively in march 1949 israel resubmitted its application for un membership it had not resolved the palestine refugee crisis nor established permanent borders with a vote of 37 in favor 12 against and 9 abstentions the general assembly endorsed the security council s referral of israel s membership 150 although the newly passed resolution 273 noted the earlier conditions that had been set for israel s membership namely resolving the palestinian refugee problem in accordance with un general assembly resolution 194 and the international ization of jerusalem in accordance with resolution 181 151 it recognized israel s declarations and explanations in regard to those conditions 152 the new state was delighted that it had reduced the palestinian population to less than one fifth of its original size and it had no intention of disrupting its jewish majority by permitting refugees to return it rebuffed responsibility for the mass exodus of palestinians and insisted that their return should be predicated on permanent peace with the arab states 153 but prime minister ben gurion had already rejected peace overtures from jordan egypt and syria he believed that the return of the newly created refugee population and the relinquishment of territory acquired by war were too high a price to pay for the permanent peace they offered 154 israel s establishment in 1948 realized jewish zionist settler sovereignty in palestine and its acceptance as a un member state normalized the sovereign colonial erasures leb anon s y r ia n acre haifa m e d i t e r r a n e an s ea nazareth r e v i r n a d r jo jericho tel aviv jaffa west west bank bank amman gaza gaza strip jerusalem bethlehem hebron beersheba j o r d a n e g y pt 0 0 10 20 20 30 40 40 60 50 mi 80 km 1947 un partition proposed palestinian state proposed jewish state egyptian control jordanian control 1949 boundaries of israel armistice lines 1949 in march 1949 israel established armistice agreements with syria egypt jordan and lebanon the agreements ended the arab israeli war that began on 15 may 1948 but did not establish permanent peace israel established itself on 78 percent of the land that had constituted mandate palestine 23 percent more of the territory than the partition plan had allotted for the establishment of a jewish state 54 exception justifying the erasure of palestinian peoplehood the 1948 war and the demographic and territorial shifts it engendered were the culmination of a process that had begun at least three decades before the transformation of palestine into is rael helps illustrate international law s utility in advancing settler colonial ambitions and in consolidating their gains what began as british prerogative establishing a jewish national home in palestine and was later enshrined into international law and policy in the mandate for palestine now became embodied in the legitimacy and legal standing of the israeli state in a state centric global order the territorial integrity of a state its domestic governance and its right to be free from external interference are sacrosanct 155 the state s establishment retroactively legitimated israel s founding violence because not only was the violence used in the service of a public interest defined by the nascent settler sovereign it also embodied a claim of new lawmaking authority 156 therefore once diplomatic recognition was extended to israel its actions in pursuance of its statehood become beyond legal and diplomatic challenge and what it does to preserve its national interests however it defines them becomes a matter of state sovereignty 157 statehood as a juridical invention erected these fault lines and produced these claims israel has availed itself of this sovereignty framework as well as the legal fiction of palestinian nonexistence to pursue its settler colonial ambitions to the present day permanent emergency racialized exception as a system of governance after the 1948 war an estimated 160 000 native palestinians who had not fled or been expelled during the war remained either in their homes or internally displaced within the new state though small in number they posed an existential and demographic challenge to jewish zionist settler sovereignty 158 israel thus sought to remove dispossess or contain them it incorporated the structure of exception into its everyday system of governance placing them outside the law by racializing their presence as a threat physically in terms of demographics and metaphysically to for instance the claim of jewish temporal and spatial continuity thus justifying their exceptional and distinct treatment in law under the pretext of emergency 159 upon its first convening israel s provisional national council its first leg islative body and the precursor to the knesset declared a state of emergency and adopted the defense emergency regulations ders the same emergency colonial erasures 55 provisions the british had introduced to crush the great revolt 160 the new israeli government maintained the british mandatory legislation regarding emergency with limited adjustments 161 the national council s declaration of a state of emergency served to legitimize the adoption of the martial law regime 162 the government justified the policy on security grounds but israel maintained the emergency regulations for seventeen years after the armistice that brought to an end hostilities with arab states in march 1949 163 shortly after establishing the 1949 truce with the arab states ben gurion commissioned a review of military rule to determine when it should end the review concluded that military rule was the state s optimal mechanism for prevent ing the return of palestinian refugees and forcibly removing remaining population concentrations expropriating their lands and replacing them with jewish settlers in addition the israeli government wanted to be prepared to seize the opportunity to forcibly remove the remaining palestinian population in the event of renewed war with neighboring arab states regulating the population under an exceptional legal framework not subject to the rules of normal procedure would facilitate such a massive population transfer 164 ben gurion plainly explained that the military regime came into existence to protect the right of jewish settlement in all parts of the state 165 with this israel institutionalized the emergency regime to advance its settler colonial ambitions still further in december 1948 the national council laid the groundwork for mass pal estinian dispossession with the passage of the emergency regulations regarding absentees properties law 166 this legislation authorized the israeli government to confiscate land under a temporary framework it marked the advent of a legal process that would effectively transform palestinian lands into israeli lands for jewish settlement within a span of twelve years 167 the second phase of this transformative process began in 1950 when the government passed a new law making the expropriation of palestinian lands and properties permanent the absentees property law of 1950 established four categories of so called absentee individuals and rendered absentee property eligible for confis cation and possession by a custodian of state land 168 ironically the absentees included approximately 750 000 palestinian refugees to whom israel had de nied the right of reentry to claim their lands 169 as well as those who remained in israel as internally displaced persons israel legislated the latter group as colonial erasures 56 present absentees palestinians in israel existed insofar as they constituted a physical and metaphysical threat but did not exist as far as legal rights were concerned they could harm but not be harmed 170 the law thus normalized the removal of the native population and enabled the confiscation of palestinian lands without compensation to their owners the third phase of the legal transformation process aimed to seize the prop erties of non absent palestinians it included a tactic whereby under the emer gency powers certain palestinian lands could be declared closed areas at the discretion of military commanders this arbitrary edict prevented palestinians from cultivating their agricultural holdings rendering those areas waste lands which were liable to seizure under another emergency regulation cultivation of waste lands 1948 in 1953 the land acquisition law retroactively legalized these land seizures 171 from 1948 to 1953 the five years following the establish ment of the state 350 out of a total of 370 new jewish settlements were built on land owned by palestinians by 1954 more than one third of israel s jewish population lived or worked on arab absentee property 172 the power to declare entire villages and towns closed areas bolstered the legal framework reifying palestinian displacement often the original residents were only miles from their homes this was the case of the inhabitants of iqrit and kufr bir im in the galilee for example israel forcibly removed the villag ers in the fall of 1948 and declared them present absentees the localities were then declared closed areas and the lands seized and given to jewish settlers the palestinian villagers used the israeli legal system to file for the right to return to their homes iqrit s villagers won their case and the israeli supreme court issued a return order in their favor to the minister of defense who promptly refused to enforce it and ordered the israeli army to demolish the village the army destroyed the village on christmas day in 1951 173 in 1953 as kufr bir im s case remained pending the israeli army leveled that locality also in order to prevent its inhabitants from returning as the palestinian residents proceeded with both a legal challenge and popular campaign the military re peatedly extended the closure orders for the two villages making an example of them as ben gurion explained these are not the only villagers living a long way from their home villages we do not want to create a precedent for the repatriation of refugees 174 colonial erasures 57 between 1953 and 1960 israel embarked on the final phase of the process to transform the legal status of palestinian lands now appropriated palestin ian lands were consolidated into a new category designated as national lands along with other state holdings with legislation it passed in late july 1960 the knesset established a unified land administration department that successfully dispossessed palestinians and transferred their property rights to the state ex cluding them as a matter of law and policy the legislation prohibited palestinians from owning leasing or working on 97 percent of state held land 175 these measures together with a series of other regulations dispossessed palestinians of their homes businesses and approximately two million acres of cultivable land without discrimination whether they were refugees who had fled or those who had remained inside israel 176 israel s racialized deployment of martial law enabled the new state to dis possess displace and above all contain its native population the martial law regime aimed to terrorize the palestinian politically and economically to kill the will to resist to prevent the formation of political parties and to prevent free literary activities 177 mistreatment and violation of human rights was an endemic feature of the martial legal regime in dayr hanna located in central galilee for example residents lodged a complaint about ill treatment at the hands of two military governors including beating extortion theft urinating on residents and compelling residents to sign documents that threatened their legal status as well as the legal status of others 178 the emergency regulations did not fully achieve the permanent exile of palestinian refugees however nor did they adequately preserve the right to im migration and permanent residence as a privilege for jews only after the close of hostilities in 1949 it was not uncommon for palestinian refugees to make their way back to their homes across the patrolled but unsealed border this was a dangerous endeavor in june 1948 chief of staff yigal yadin gave orders to prevent return of refugees by every means 179 and thus in the span of twelve years an estimated 3 000 to 5 000 palestinian returnees were killed by israeli troops along the 1949 armistice lines still many palestinian refugees did manage to return to their homes and lands the state of israel considered the return ees infiltrators and initiated sweeps through palestinian villages suspected of harboring them israel had distributed ids to palestinians who remained after colonial erasures 58 1948 and it used these to identify which village inhabitants were returnees it conducted id sweeps to flush out so called infiltrators the id system was not foolproof and israel needed a more systematic way to distinguish those palestinian natives who had never left from those who had left and returned extending universal citizenship to all israel s inhabitants would immediately mark out palestinian returnees but would fail to treat jewish israelis with distinct privilege to achieve that distinction israel adopted the law of return 1950 and the nationality law 1952 180 the law of return created a juridical category of jewish nationality entitling jews the world over to immediate israeli citizenship as well as some financial benefits upon immigration 181 it also consecrated palestinians forced exile by dismissing even an attenuated commitment to resolving the palestinian refugee crisis through the combination of un mediation and a political solution 182 the nationality law repealed the palestinian citizenship order of 24 july 1925 a mandatory regulation that had granted both native palestinians and jewish immigrants the status of citizens and nationals of palestine resulting in the de facto denationalization of this entire population 183 under the 1952 nationality law becoming a citizen of israel was possible only for palestinians and their descendants who were present in israel between 1948 and 1952 effectively excluding all those who were expelled and or who fled between december 1947 and march 1949 184 palestinians who could not meet the criteria of the 1952 nationality law were consequently rendered stateless the nationality law together with the law of return differentiated be tween jewish and palestinian israelis by bifurcating jewish nationality from israeli citizenship although titled the nationality law there is no such thing as israeli nationality or an israeli national established by it instead national ity came to be based on religious affiliation the law of return bestowed the automatic right of jewish nationality on every jewish person in the world and defined a jewish national as someone who is born of a jewish mother or has become converted to judaism and who is not a member of another religion the law provided that the rights for acquiring nationality and citizenship were also vested in a child and a grandchild of a jew the spouse of a jew the spouse of a child of a jew and the spouse of a grandchild of a jew except for a person who has been a jew and has voluntarily changed his religion 185 colonial erasures 59 under this legal framework palestinian muslims and christians were ex cluded from becoming nationals of israel because they were not jewish palestin ians obtained the right to be juridical citizens of the state but never members of the nation a bifurcation between citizen only and national citizen that enabled the state to provide basic rights to land residency housing movement and employment on a discriminatory basis with the explicit purpose of privileging israel s jewish population 186 the legal matrix rendered the citizen of israel the citizen only a category of second class citizenship it also enabled the state to maintain a jewish majority facilitated the ongoing forced population transfer of palestinians and enshrined palestinians subordination within a civil law framework 187 together the law of return and the nationality law effectively placed palestinians inside the law only to ensure their exclusion one manifestation of the palestinians subordination was their forced partici pation in the very national celebrations that symbolized their erasure fathiyya awaysa was forcibly displaced from her town of saffuriyya near nazareth and remained internally displaced within the state of israel she recounts the pre cariousness of being palestinian during this time the military regime was still there and no one dared to speak out i remember as a girl how we were told never to take down the israeli flag or we would be arrested and taken to prison the mukhtars said that we had to carry out the government s orders 188 the martial law regime subjected palestinian citizens of israel to severe physical and psychological violence for eighteen years in 1966 the israeli gov ernment lifted martial law viewing the palestinian population as sufficiently controlled by then israel was keen to remove the taint of racism with which it had become associated as anticolonial liberation movements worldwide had brought into disrepute policies of unabashed racial segregation and domination by this time also israel had established an ethno religious hierarchy that could facilitate continued palestinian dispossession and removal entirely within a civil law framework and it could afford to abandon the military regime the martial law regime had established a stark native settler binary articu lated in security terms the palestinian native presence constituted an active colonial erasures 60 frontier of and challenge to jewish zionist settler sovereignty israel s structure of permanent emergency securitized palestinian natives because their existence negated the spatial and temporal continuity of jewish dominion in palestine similarly palestinian refugees claiming the right to return threatened to dis rupt israel s jewish demographic majority as well as the jewish zionist settler mythology that justified the conquest of palestine and recast it as redemption refugee claims thus constituted an existential threat this condition was not objectively a military threat however as established by british imperial practice the ability to define a national threat and declare an emergency is within a sov ereign s exclusive purview in effect israel successfully declared an eighteen year national emergency and oversaw a military legal regime that ensured the forced exile of refugees and removed dispossessed and contained the palestinians that remained in situ upon ending its state of emergency israel internalized this racialized structure within a civil law framework that entrenched palestinian exclusion within the state one year after dismantling the military regime that subjugated palestinian citizens of the state israel applied it to another set of palestinians those resid ing in territories that israel had not conquered during the 1948 war but would overrun in 1967 however the challenge of establishing a permanent emergency proved much more difficult beyond israel s then undeclared borders where it could not claim sovereign jurisdiction it overcame this challenge through po litical evasion and the strategic deployment of law using the framework of permanent emergency together with the legal fiction of palestinian nonexistence israel would continue to pursue its settler colonial ambitions in the west bank including east jerusalem and the gaza strip colonial erasures chapter 2 permanent occupation history has taught us all that seeds of past wars were sown in every unjust peace imposed by force a lasting peace cannot be imposed by force one does not open the way for it by seizing another s property and demanding certain concessions before that property is given back to its legal lawful owner syrian representative speaking to the un security council 22 november 1967 when in mid september of 1967 israeli prime minister levi eshkol sought to establish a civilian settlement in the west bank near bethlehem he was aware of international law s proscriptions on such settlements in occupied territory he thus asked theodor meron then legal adviser to the ministry of foreign affairs whether occupation law a military legal regime meant to regulate the governance of an occupied territory on a temporary basis until civilian authority can be restored applied to the west bank although israel did not say so publically yet its position was that the territories it had occupied as a result of the 1967 war were not normal 1 as far as the israeli govern ment was concerned palestinians were not a juridical people and therefore did not constitute the rightful sovereign of the west bank in 1967 moreover only britain and pakistan had recognized jordan s unilateral annexation of the west bank in 1950 rendering jordan s sovereign claims invalid the resulting sovereign void in the territory in israel s view nullified the application of occupation law and freed israel from the law s strict regulation in a top secret legal memo submitted to eshkol meron rejected this argument and concluded that article 49 of the fourth geneva convention 62 categorically prohibited the establishment of permanent civilian settlements in the west bank and the gaza strip 2 meron pointed out that israel s own ac tions contradicted its claims that the territories were not subject to occupation law because military proclamation number 3 issued on 6 july 1967 instructed israeli military courts in the west bank to apply the fourth geneva convention under which occupation law is subsumed 3 meron also reminded eshkol that international policy rejected israel s expansionist ambitions meron advised that any legal arguments that we shall try to find will not counteract the heavy international pressures that will be exerted upon us even by friendly countries which will base themselves on the fourth geneva convention 4 meron s legal findings did not derail eshkol in fact they gave him a way forward in his memo meron had indicated that occupation law permits tem porary encampments established by the occupying power to meet a pressing military need therefore should israel choose to build a civilian settlement meron advised it should be built in the framework of camps and should be on the face of it of a temporary rather than permanent nature 5 heeding meron s advice eshkol instructed the army to establish paramili tary outposts to create the veneer of temporality when settlers arrived in the west bank at the end of september the government publicly referred to them as soldiers despite their civilian status 6 this afforded israel the appearance of being law abiding sparing it diplomatic censure while not hampering its ex pansionist ambitions israel s strategic deployment of law enabled it to success fully expand its territorial holdings while maintaining its jewish demographic majority under a rule of law framework its ability to mobilize the law to fulfill its settler colonial ambitions in the west bank and the gaza strip is exemplary of effective legal work israel planned from the outset to hold onto the palestinian territories it had occupied during the 1967 war there was one problem however it wanted the land but not its palestinian inhabitants if it annexed the territories it would have to absorb the palestinian population thereby disrupting the demographic majority it had achieved as a result of the 1948 war and transforming israel into a bi national state it preferred to empty the territories of their palestinian permanent occupation 63 natives and to replace these palestinians with jewish nationals 7 however by 1967 colonialism and conquest had become delegitimized and the principle of self determination had crystallized into positive law guaranteeing independence and self rule israel s settler colonial ambitions were now anachronistic and controversial consequently israel constructed a legal and political machinery to overcome these obstacles predicating its argument upon the fiction of palestinian nonexistence en shrined by britain s mandate for palestine and normalized by israel s estab lishment israel claimed that the lack of a sovereign in the west bank and the gaza strip made the territories sui generis or exceptional as a matter of law whereas occupation law requires maintaining the status quo ante until the establishment of peace enables the reversion of a displaced sovereign s author ity israel insisted that there was no sovereign to restore in the west bank and gaza and that it would apply the humanitarian provisions of occupation law as a matter of discretion this was not a benevolent scheme applying only the humanitarian provisions of occupation law and none of those pertaining to national rights conferred sovereign authority in the territories upon israel while relieving it of occupation law s obligations to respect the sovereignty of the displaced power finding themselves under this specialized legal regime the palestinians would be suspended in limbo as non citizens of israel and as non sovereigns under occupation completely subject to israel s discretion ary whims under the pretext of achieving security recognized as a military necessity under occupation law israel could incrementally remove dispossess and contain palestinian natives in the west bank and the gaza strip while implanting jewish nationals in their place this legal framework represents a colonial continuity israel s martial law regime had enabled it to similarly dispossess remove and contain palestinian natives within the 1949 armistice lines from the time of its establishment in 1948 until 1966 whereas israel had used sovereign authority within its own undeclared borders to proclaim an emergency in the west bank and gaza it now used the veneer of occupation law to establish an exceptional regime based on security the fact that israel now sought to incrementally expropriate land outside its putative borders however presented significant obstacles as a matter of law and policy permanent occupation 64 in particular israel had to overcome the political will of the international community which quickly moved to resolve the conflict at the united nations the outcome was security council resolution 242 mandating israel s with drawal from arab lands in exchange for permanent peace rather than stem israel s territorial ambitions however the resolution proved instrumental to fulfilling them resolution 242 s final text provided israel with a legal loophole that it has since strategically deployed to legitimate its colonial takings by itself however the legal argument would have been ineffective had the united states not aggressively intervened on israel s behalf ever since the june 1967 war the united states has used its political economic and military prowess to systematically shield israel from international legal accountability helping it to normalize its legal arguments into a tenable political framework this u s political intervention completed a legal and political machinery that has enabled israel to poach palestinian lands without serious consequences international law did not just fail to regulate the occupation of palestinian lands it provided the legal framework for their incremental colonization it is precisely law s susceptibility to legal work that made such a perverse outcome possible and it was the power politics shaping the middle east that gave occupation law and resolution 242 the meaning they assumed under israel s interpretive model this outcome would not have been possible without the legal opportunity that the 1967 war engendered the 1967 war creates a legal opportunity in april 1967 cross border disputes had escalated on the syrian israeli border established under israel s 1949 armistice agreement with syria the border proved tenuous israel insisted its sovereignty extended over the demilitarized zone that fell on its side of the border 8 syria protested that any sovereign claims violated the temporary nature of the armistice agreement meant to facilitate a permanent peace yet to be established 9 the un security council agreed with syria but israel continued to build up its presence in the contested zone 10 syria attacked israeli installations and israel responded at the request of syria and with the encouragement of the soviet union egypt prepared itself for war were israel to attack syria egypt s president gamal abdel nasser who at the time was aware of his own military s weakness after a war in yemen was concerned permanent occupation 65 that israel would make good on its threats to overthrow the regime in damascus for the sake of its security 11 nasser who championed the cause of nationalist socialism across what came to be known as the global south closed the straits of tiran a significant sea route for israel and mobilized egyptian forces on the egyptian israeli border in the sinai israel insisted that egypt was preparing to attack first but cairo demonstrated restraint formal and informal intelligence reports to u s presi dent lyndon b johnson s administration confirmed that egypt was not prepared to go to war against israel and that its actions were aimed at garnering political concessions from the united states as well as enhancing nasser s standing in the arab world 12 convinced it could resolve the tensions politically the johnson administration urged israel to refrain from war 13 the united states had sup ported israel s decision to go to war but on condition that israel not fire the first shot 14 to its consternation israel attacked egypt on 5 june 1967 without warning 15 seizing an opportunity to undermine egypt s vulnerable military position israel launched an air strike and destroyed egypt s entire arsenal of air power which lay bare and exposed in the sinai peninsula 16 it completed the attack in less than two hours and the rest of the war was expedited equally swiftly 17 it lasted only six days and indelibly changed the balance of power in the middle east israel emerged as the unequivocal victor it established itself as a formidable military power the most strategic ally for the united states in its cold war struggle for hegemonic influence in the middle east and as the military occu pier of sovereign arab land its military jurisdiction now extended across egypt s sinai peninsula and syria s golan heights as well as the west bank and the gaza strip see the occupied territories map in a gesture that transpired to be only symbolic nasser resigned from the presidency in humiliation for the nineteen years since 1948 arab states had regarded israel as a foreign colony established thanks to the collusion of imperial powers in the anticolonial fervor that animated much of the global south at the time these states had refused to recognize israel they demanded that palestinian refugees be allowed to return to what had been mandate palestine until israel s establishment on 15 may 1948 and be given the right to govern themselves as promised by britain the league of nations mandate system and also the united nations charter permanent occupation occupied territories june 1967 by the end of the june 1967 war israel occupied the west bank including east jerusalem formerly under jordanian control the gaza strip formerly under egyptian control the golan heights of syria and the sinai peninsula of egypt p e r m a n e n t o c c u p at i o n 67 th e 1967 war not only blunted these demands it also created new claims of arab dispossession israel s most recent occupation of arab territory obscured and helped to further normalize its establishment by war on 78 percent of what had been mandate palestine th e 1967 war jolted the entire world within two days the international community began to organize itself to draft a resolution to establish peace and justice within the area 18 th e un general assembly convened in an emergency special session to draft a resolution but could not come to an agreement even after four weeks of deliberation th e debate revolved around whether israel should immediately withdraw from occupied arab territories without precon ditions or instead should withdraw in exchange for permanent peace with egypt syria and jordan th is debate could have been settled by resolving a legal question if israel had not launched the war in self defense then it would have to withdraw its forces immediately because of the illegality of its use of force if by contrast it had acted in self defense then it could legitimately set up a military occupation regime until a permanent peace could be established legally speaking whether the attack was preemptively defensive or an act of aggression can be debated 19 but as a policy matter historiography has settled that israel s attack was not a measure of fi nal resort 20 israel much preferred to have no resolution at all 21 intoxicated by its over whelming victory it now sought to keep the territories for a variety of rea sons religious military and political and was fully prepared to do so israel had contemplated the scope of its military jurisdiction ever since its four month occupation of the gaza strip a little over a decade before the 1967 war in 1956 nasser had nationalized the suez canal company and israel joined britain and france in launching a military attack and occupying egyptian territory which at the time extended to the gaza strip in the context of the cold war u s president dwight d eisenhower urged the occupying powers to withdraw in an eff ort to mitigate the impression of western aggression against the arab world as well as to avoid a direct military confrontation with the soviet union 22 th e occupying forces withdrew without concession lyndon b johnson then the u s senate majority leader believed that israel should have been able to retain the territories as leverage for establishing peace with egypt in 1967 with johnson now u s president the israelis were ada mant they would not withdraw from arab territory without reliable guarantees 68 that their frontiers would be protected only hours after the 1967 war ended president johnson s envoy in tel aviv cabled washington saying we would have to push the israelis back by military force in my opinion to accomplish a repeat of 1956 the cut off of aid would not do it 23 for the mass majority of israelis however security was incidental although israel framed its action as a defensive one it became clear that in the weeks preceding the war and in the subsequent policy of aggressive attacks that followed israel had welcomed hostilities in its efforts to obtain more territory 24 notwithstanding such ambitions even israel was surprised by the extent of the territory it was able to capture initially the cabinet had only approved conquest of the west bank s high grounds and minor border modifications for strategic military purposes 25 upon discovering the weakness of jordan s armed forces however the army rolled forward all the way to the dead sea and the jordan river taking the entire west bank 26 defense minister moshe dayan who oversaw the military operation considered the territory part of the flesh and bones indeed the very spirit of the land of israel 27 dayan s attachment to the whole land of israel or greater israel a vision of israeli jurisdiction extending over all of mandate palestine as well as parts of jordan similarly motivated a majority of israelis when the war ended and the dust settled revealing israel s expanded holdings 90 percent of those israelis polled supported the retention of the west bank and the gaza strip 28 israel s political establishment did not need much cajoling although it gave repeated assurances to the united states that it had no territorial ambitions israel began planning for its permanent settlement of the newly occupied territories on the fourth day of the war 29 this was no simple task as its claims of jewish sovereignty over the territories had no legal or political legitimacy 30 for israel to acquire these lands without provoking formidable international censure required overcoming the international legal prohibitions on conquest and colonialism that had coalesced in the aftermath of the second world war occupation conquest and international law international law had recognized a victor s right to territorial conquest into the late nineteenth century 31 the right was diminished and ultimately extinguished as the dual international norms of self determination and the prohibition on the use of force crystallized and were enshrined in the first two articles of the permanent occupation 69 un charter drawn up in 1945 32 in the years following the second world war international law continued to develop in ways that challenged israel s colonial aspirations in the west bank and the gaza strip the second world war had exposed the inadequacy of existing law to pro tect civilians and guard against colonial conquest 33 after the end of hostilities state plenipotentiaries convened in geneva in 1949 and drafted four conventions international agreements in an attempt to fill that legal lacuna the convention relative to the protection of civilian persons in time of war commonly known as the fourth geneva convention in particular enhanced protections for civil ians by classifying them as protected persons under international humanitarian law thus shifting attention from the rights of the ousted sovereign to the rights of the civilian population under occupation 34 article 49 of the fourth geneva convention proscribed the individual or mass forcible transfer of protected persons from an occupied territory regardless of the occupying power s motive 35 it also forbade an occupying power from transferring or deporting civilian populations into the territory that it occupies the plenipotentiaries drafted article 49 in response to nazi atrocities during the second world war when germany s third reich had forcibly removed local populations from lands it occupied primarily jews who were sent into exile or to labor and concentration camps 36 the third reich had also transferred its own nationals into the territories it occupied in pursuit of non military ambi tions including settlement the international committee of the red cross commentary on article 49 indicates that states sought to prevent a practice adopted by certain powers which transferred portions of their own population to occupied territory for political and racial reasons or in order as they claimed to colonize those territories 37 the fourth geneva convention the hague regulations 1907 and customary law together constitute the broader body of law known as occupation law whose purpose is to facilitate the transition from wartime to peacetime occupation law vests temporary authority in an occupying power pending a political solution 38 it also imposes a duty upon the occupying power to protect the local population and maintain the territory s political and geographic integrity in fulfillment of permanent occupation 70 these goals occupation law empowers an occupier to exercise law enforcement authority until such time as it withdraws from the territory and authority reverts to the rightful sovereign 39 in such a framework occupation is viewed as short term and utilitarian the law considers the occupying power a trustee and thus forbids it from altering the territorial legal and demographic status quo in place before the onset of the occupation the only exception to this prohibition is in limited circumstances of military necessity in no circumstances can the occupying power acquire legal ownership or sovereignty of the territory over which its military ju risdiction extends since that would be tantamount to conquest 40 occupation law together with articles 1 and 2 of the un charter affirmed a global consensus that the conquest of territories by war was no longer to be tolerated alongside these legal developments national liberation and decolonizing movements also helped to shape customary and treaty law regarding self determi nation and the sovereignty of colonized peoples the mandate system established after the first world war to advance colonial interests under the veneer of pro tectionism continued to unravel during the mid twentieth century as colonized peoples used force to demand national independence 41 by 1955 sixteen newly independent nations had joined the ranks of the united nations bringing the total number of member states to seventy six 42 five years later another nineteen followed suit in mid december 1960 the un general assembly passed the declaration on the granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples and established self determination as a customary norm equivalent to indepen dence 43 still colonial domination endured as did resistance to it algeria did not gain independence from france until 1962 after 132 years of settler colonization and that event breathed new life into the anticolonial movement inspiring ongo ing struggles in mauritius mozambique guinea cape verde rhodesia now zimbabwe namibia and south africa by 1967 when israel occupied the west bank and the gaza strip colonial ism had become both passé and illegal israel knew it faced a serious challenge to its territorial aspirations it could not legally annex these territories nor could it remove the palestinian population from nor implant its own civilians into the west bank and the gaza strip not only were israel s goals out of step with global developments but its argument that it was restoring jewish sovereignty over the territories had no political value moreover the un security council permanent occupation 71 which happened to be in session during the 1967 war immediately turned its attention to israel s occupation of arab territories the council had the authority to mandate israel s withdrawal thereby eliminating any prospects israel might have had of retaining the territories legal strategies and political evasion enabled israel to overcome the first significant hurdle within the security council and to embark on its campaign to acquire the land without the people deliberating un security council resolution 242 as the security council deliberated resolution 242 which would not pass until several months later israel pursued its settlement enterprise by septem ber 1967 it had unilaterally annexed east jerusalem established two civilian settlements in the west bank and the golan heights respectively and passed a secret measure in the cabinet declaring the gaza strip as falling within its territorial boundaries 44 cognizant of the security council resolution s potential to undermine its expansionist objectives israel diligently worked to ensure that if it did pass the measure would not be unequivocally prohibitive the leading figure in this effort was abba eban israel s foreign minister 45 although eban failed to thwart the resolution altogether his work yielded a positive outcome for israel the final text provided israel with enough wiggle room to pursue its territorial ambitions in disregard of the policy objectives of its two primary allies britain and the united states a scholar and a politician eban established close relationships with central figures in the johnson administration which staunchly supported israel s posi tion throughout the un deliberations during the middle east hostilities the united states was embroiled in vietnam a hot war in the cold war against the soviet union like eisenhower truman and kennedy before him johnson believed that communist victory in the vietnam war would be a watershed for the spread of communism throughout the region 46 his administration drew up u s middle east policy within this cold war context thus the united states had continued a 1950s policy of competing with the soviet union as they both sought to fill the power vacuum created by diminishing european colonial influence in the middle east johnson s primary concern was to contain communism and to this end his support for israel aligned with his support for pro western middle eastern states including jordan saudi arabia lebanon permanent occupation 72 and iran this dualistic stance constituted the logic of washington s stalemate policy arming both israel and the conservative arab regimes in order to stave off soviet influence 47 the 1967 war revealed the futility of this approach and informed the revision of johnson s middle east policy in two ways first israel s overwhelming victory in the war demonstrated its ability to secure its interests without u s intervention and vindicated johnson s valua tion of the country as a cold war asset going forward u s policy would aim at ensuring that israel maintained a qualitative military edge over neighboring militaries this would guarantee that israel had the ability to counter and defeat any credible conventional military threat from any individual state or possible coalition of states or from non state actors while sustaining minimal damage and casualties through the use of superior military means 48 second johnson sought to provide israel with negotiating leverage to nor malize its relations in the middle east without alienating pro western middle eastern allies in an address to the u s state department on 19 june 1967 the president articulated five principles for peace in the middle east the recog nized right of national life justice for the refugees innocent maritime passage limits on the wasteful and destructive arms race and political territorial integrity for all 49 in line with his stance during the suez crisis johnson believed that israel should not be made to withdraw as a matter of legal obligation from arab lands it had occupied but should instead be able to use those lands as leverage to establish peace with egypt syria and jordan thus what johnson proposed was that israel return arab lands in exchange for the promise of peace and not because international norms required it his quid pro quo framework clashed head on with arab demands for the restoration of the occupied territories with out precondition thereby vexing and prolonging un deliberations the soviet union the arab states and the non aligned movement nam mostly former european colonies in asia and africa that had joined forces to resist western domination50 pressed for a resolution that condemned the war as an act of aggression and an unjustified use of force demanding israel s im mediate withdrawal from the territories it had occupied without precondition if the united nations framed israel s initial attack on egypt as an act of aggression israel was legally obligated to immediately withdraw from the territories it had occupied 51 while omitting language of aggression would not sanction israeli permanent occupation 73 conquest it would permit israel s occupation of the territories the united states together with britain lobbied for the latter endorsing a text that framed israel s use of force as legitimate in order to enable israel to maintain the territories as consideration as something of value to be exchanged for permanent peace in ad dition the united states believed that the parties should negotiate minor border modifications to rectify what it considered tenuous truce arrangements established in 1949 52 all the competing parties with the exception of israel agreed that israel should withdraw from all the territories it occupied in 1967 they just disagreed on the precise terms of the withdrawal this monumental legal debate took for granted the circumstances surround ing israel s establishment namely the removal and forced exile of nearly 80 per cent of palestine s native population from the territory that became israel during the period surrounding that nation s establishment in 1948 53 there was a lot at stake as the un debate raged but with the political separation of the events of 1967 from those leading up to 1948 palestinians could not possibly redress their juridical erasure and as yet unfulfilled demands for self determination according to johnson s five principles palestinians were refugees necessitating humanitarian concern but not a dispossessed people in need of a political solution 54 palestinians themselves had very little say in the debate as the palestine liberation organization plo which had been formed in 1964 was not yet empowered to represent their national interests egypt s nasser had helped to establish the plo as a way to control the rising influence of palestinian led groups in exile the early plo deliberately excluded those groups including the arab national movement established in 1951 in beirut and fatah established in 1958 in kuwait 55 the defeat of the arab armies in 1967 came as a rude awak ening to palestinian popular and organized forces and made evident that alone the arab armies would not liberate palestinian lands the war catalyzed a process resulting in the ascendance of palestinian led groups and their takeover of the plo in 1969 during the un deliberations in 1967 however arab interlocu tors continued to represent palestinian interests and speak on their behalf as a result the war and the debate surrounding resolution 242 further normalized israel s establishment and indelibly reconfigured legal claims and political griev ances regarding the conflict the main issue in 1967 was whether israel would withdraw from arab territories with or without precondition permanent occupation 74 the united states and the soviet union each proposed a resolution and their drafts starkly articulated the two competing positions 56 aware that their drafts would not garner majority support neither state submitted its resolution for a vote subsequent draft resolutions reflected these competing stands albeit less starkly in late june 1967 a latin american bloc submitted a resolution emphasizing israeli withdrawal from all the territories occupied 57 the latin american text also mandated the establishment of permanent peace but did not specify the sequence that is whether withdrawal would precede or follow a peace agreement the relevant text urgently requested a israel to withdraw all its forces from all the territories occupied by it as a result of the recent conflict b the parties in conflict to end the state of belligerency to endeavor to establish conditions of coexistence based on good neighborliness and to have recourse in all cases to the procedures for peaceful settlement indicated in the charter of the united nations 58 the ambiguity on the sequence tempered arab and soviet support for the latin american resolution and divided the general assembly in contrast the united states voted for it 59 while the vote reflected the controversy over the terms of a permanent peace it expressed unequivocally that israel s withdrawal had to be to the 1949 armistice lines following the failed latin american resolution arthur goldberg the u s ambassador to the united nations and andrei gromyko the soviet foreign minister proffered a compromise text arab states rejected it because it required recognizing israel s right to exist without addressing the national rights of pal estinians or the right of refugees to return israel rejected it because it mandated the return of all the territories eban described the proposal as a terrifying mo ment and argued that the inadmissibility of territory by conquest was a doubtful principle 60 no one agreed with him not even israel s staunchest allies in late june 1967 and just before israel s unilateral annexation of east jerusa lem british foreign secretary george brown warned israel that if the israelis purport to annex the old city or legislate for its annexation they will be taking a permanent occupation 75 step which will not only isolate them from world opinion but will also lose them the sympathy that they have 61 brown added that any peace settlement must be based upon un charter principles particularly article 2 which prohibits the use of force against the territorial integrity of other states he explained here the words territorial integrity have a direct bearing on the question of withdrawal on which much has been said in previous speeches i see no two ways about this and i can state our position very clearly in my view it follows from the words in the charter that war should not lead to territorial aggrandizement 62 the johnson administration for its part contemplated minor border adjust ments to the 1949 armistice lines to rectify what johnson considered as only fragile and violated truce lines for 20 years 63 johnson also gave credence to re peated israeli assurances that it would withdraw from the territories in exchange for peace 64 it was on this basis that the united states vehemently opposed soviet and arab demands for a comprehensive withdrawal from the territories as a matter of fiat in security council negotiations although the united states received several early indications that israel would retain the territories johnson believed that israel would become more moderate and flexible once the euphoria of victory had worn off 65 when israel annexed east jerusalem on 28 june 1967 in full daylight and in the midst of international deliberations the general assembly unanimously passed two resolutions condemning the annexation and demanding that israel rescind all actions taken to alter the status of jerusalem 66 britain voted for both resolutions and the united states abstained indicating opposition to territorial expansion in protest both the united states and britain refused to move their embassies from tel aviv to jerusalem eban tried to deflect criticism by claiming that israel s actions did not amount to annexation but were merely administrative measures to ensure the smooth functioning of municipal services 67 as to britain s harsh warnings and the biting general assembly resolutions israel simply ignored them in november 1967 britain introduced a new draft resolution in the secu rity council that sought to achieve a compromise 68 lord caradon then brit ain s ambassador to the united nations described it as a balanced formulation permanent occupation 76 that was both fair and clear 69 it sought to restore arab lands to their rightful people and to ensure israel s existence in the middle east based on negotia tions to be overseen by a un envoy un member states responded positively to the draft resolution although controversy persisted on the question of israel s withdrawal the draft mandated that israel withdraw from territories occu pied in the recent conflict excluding the definite article the or the phrase all the to describe the scope of the territories in question the omission was deliberate and reflected u s and british support for minor rectifications to the 1949 armistice lines with a view to establishing viable borders to ensure that the omission not be read as sanction for israeli territorial expansion and in order to achieve arab support lord caradon emphasized the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war in the resolution preamble 70 caradon also added the qualifying words in the recent conflict after territories oc cupied to specify the scope of the territories referenced 71 this concerned eban who lamented in a diplomatic cable the qualifying words convert the principle of eliminating occupation into a mathematically precise formula for restoring the june 4 map which he explained israel would not do under any circumstance 72 during the final stage of security council proceedings a considerable num ber of states clarified their support for the british resolution as being predicated on their understanding of it as a quid pro quo formula that mandated israeli withdrawal from all the territories in exchange for peace the proceedings in dicate the noncontroversial nature of the definite article s omission the french ambassador highlighted the french text of the resolution explaining that it is equally authentic with the english and leaves no room for any ambigu ity since it speaks of withdrawal des territoires occupés which indisputably corresponds to the expression occupied territories we were likewise gratified to hear the united kingdom representative stress the link between this paragraph of his resolution and the principle of inadmissibility of the acquisition of territories by force 73 in french an official language of the united nations the definite article is included france s insistence on the comprehensive scope of withdrawal was permanent occupation 77 not exceptional state after state repeated the same point india which along with mali and nigeria had proposed its own draft resolution explained that its delegation has studied the united kingdom draft resolution in the light of these two policy statements of the british foreign secretary it is our understanding that the draft resolution if approved by the council will commit to the application of the principle of total withdrawal of israel forces from the territories i repeat all territories occupied by israel as a result of the conflict which began on 5 june 1967 74 israel eager to evade strict legal regulation made its position known from the beginning and responded to the critiques forthrightly for us the resolution says what it says it does not say that which it has specifically and consciously avoided saying 75 israel s legal work aimed at using the ambiguity of the english text to achieve that state s expansionist ambitions was not lost on the state parties syria particularly expressed vehement opposition the syrian delegate explained it is inconceivable to syria that this draft resolution be accepted because it ignores the roots of the problem the various resolutions adopted by the united nations on the palestine question and the right of the palestinian people to self determination and goes farther than that it crowns all those failures by offering to the aggressors solid recognition of the illegitimate truths of their wanton aggression when it speaks of secure and recognized boundaries while the arabs are being asked to surrender the israelis who ought to withdraw their forces on the contrary are consolidating their grip more and more on the occupied territories 76 the omission of the definite article in britain s draft resolution did not split the security council with the exception of israel the parties understood it as providing negotiating room to modify the 1949 armistice lines not to establish entirely new borders in fact four days after britain had introduced its text the soviet union submitted another draft resolution that did include the defi nite article 77 the addition made little difference to the voting states president permanent occupation 78 johnson eager to pass a resolution favorable to both israel and the united states pro western arab allies successfully solicited soviet support for the british draft 78 at the arab summit held in khartoum in september 1967 arab states had adopted the position no peace with israel no recognition of israel and no negotiation with israel indicating an aversion to the land for peace frame work 79 however egypt s president nasser and jordan s king hussein felt that israel was there to stay and were ready to support a draft resolution that ensured their interests 80 confident that the british text guaranteed complete withdrawal with minor border modifications they lent their support to the initiative the resolution passed by unanimous vote on 22 november 1967 81 palestinians rejected the resolution the ambiguity of the terms of with drawal and the nonreciprocal terms of recognition made it unacceptable worse the resolution did nothing to rectify the elision of palestinian peoplehood set in motion by the mandate for palestine and normalized by israel s establishment in line with president johnson s formulation resolution 242 referred to pales tinians merely as the refugee problem 82 walid khalidi palestinian historian and adviser to the iraqi delegation during the un proceedings explained that the dictates of power were already being displayed palestinians had no input of any kind and the resolution gave israel a free hand and allowed it to dictate the terms of withdrawal at the pace that it wanted it made the fate of the occupied territories whether the golan heights or the west bank a hostage to the balance of power the plo could not accept it because it even allowed for the occupation of jerusalem after its passage we clung to the preamble that prohibited the acquisition of territories by force like a drowning person we clung onto it and exaggerated that 83 palestinian insight proved correct israel would soon justify its settler colo nial expansion into the west bank and gaza on the basis of the definite article s absence from the english text in a significant example of legal work it would strategically exploit this semantic loophole to achieve its territorial interests notwithstanding the resolution s compelling drafting history which documents the noncontroversial omission of the definite article the in the resolution s final permanent occupation 79 english text resolution 242 provided israel with a way forward enabling it to formalize its legal argument regarding the sui generis status of the west bank and gaza and turn it into a viable and specialized legal regime sui generis annexing the land without the people in 1968 hebrew university law professor yehuda zvi blum articulated israel s sui generis legal argument in a scholarly article consecrating what the govern ment of israel had hitherto established albeit informally in the article blum went to great lengths to demonstrate that jordan which had annexed the west bank in 1950 was not a rightful sovereign in the west bank he concluded the legal standing of israel in the territories in question is thus that of a state which is lawfully in control of territory in respect of which no other state can show better title he continued the rules protecting the reversionary rights of the legitimate sovereign find no application 84 thus relieving israel of the duty to maintain the sovereign rights of a nation under occupation blum argued that the west bank and gaza were not occupied as a matter of law accordingly israel only had a legal obligation to apply the humanitarian provisions of occupation law such as access to food water and sanitation but none of the law s provisions intended to protect a sovereign s rights such as the preservation of the territorial legal and demographic status quo in place prior to the 1967 war 85 however since according to blum there was no sovereign and no one could show better title than israel why apply occupation law at all because without it israel could not lawfully fulfill its territorial ambitions and maintain its demographic objectives blum s argument was based on the following logic absent occupation israel as the nominal sovereign in the west bank and gaza would need to extend its civil authority to all of the territories inhabitants granting them citizenship which would then disrupt its jewish demographic majority whereas if there were an occupation israel would be obligated to maintain the status quo ante in the territory for a limited time until the establishment of peace and the restora tion of sovereign authority which would nullify its expansionist goals if however the status of the territories was sui generis one of a kind or unlike any other israel could exercise its authority therein without either preserving the sovereign rights of its inhabitants or absorbing them under its civil jurisdiction as for the permanent occupation 80 palestinians under this specialized legal regime they become suspended in a legal vacuum with only attenuated legal claims to humanitarian relief blum s conclusion stood in marked contrast to theodor meron s earlier findings but israel had classified its legal adviser s memo which prevented its release to the public when the likud party s menachem begin assumed the premiership almost a decade later he adopted blum s argument as official policy and appointed him to be israel s ambassador to the united nations where blum assiduously propagated this legal framework during his tenure from 1978 to 1984 israel s sui generis argument represents the epitome of legal work shaping the meaning of law to suit a client s needs as a legal matter however the argument has not withstood analytical scrutiny to start with blum s argument does not consider that sovereign rights in the west bank vest in the palestinians themselves the sovereign void argument rests on the assumption that when in 1947 palestinians rejected un general assembly resolution 181 the partition plan stipulating the establishment of an arab and a jewish state they forfeited their right to national self determination 86 this conclu sion disregards empirical and legal evidence demonstrating palestinian sovereignty claims as discussed in chapter 1 under ottoman rule palestinians had an effective system of governance featuring taxation as well as a system of land registration political parties a judicial system hospitals and a railway not to mention national newspapers and schools 87 the mandate system designated palestine as a class a mandate owing to its advanced level of social political and economic development in a classificatory scheme that reserved this top level for colonial territories with the highest capacity for self governance 88 all other class a mandates had become independent by 1946 only palestine had not although it lacked formal statehood palestine had all the attributes of a state and palestinians the attributes of a juridical nation the mandate system denied them independence in order to facilitate the establishment of a national home for jews in palestine not because palestinians lacked any objective features qualifying them for self determination 89 moreover palestinians had successfully inscribed their right to self deter mination in the white paper of 1939 in the un partition plan 1947 and in the un draft trusteeship agreement 1948 thus when the british mandate for palestine expired in may 1948 sovereignty vested in the people of pales tine 90 arguing otherwise would make the territory vulnerable to conquest by permanent occupation 81 whoever could invade it first and thus contradict the whole raison d être of the mandates system 91 to argue that palestinians were merely a polity of arabs who happened to be in a territory to which no sufficient title could be shown and not a nation with a right to self determination because they rejected parti tion belied this evidence even if palestinian sovereignty claims had no legal validity international hu manitarian law protected the rights of civilians under occupation the drafters of the geneva conventions were well aware of historical attempts made by invading armies to negate a territory s sovereignty and justify their conquest these pleni potentiaries deliberately aimed to close that loophole during the drafting process by stating that the conventions should apply in all circumstances regardless of a territory s status 92 the conventions regulate conflict arising between two or more high contracting parties and apply to any territory occupied in the course of conflict accordingly since israel jordan and egypt were parties to the geneva conventions during the 1967 war convention provisions applied to their respective territories 93 the purpose of the fourth geneva convention is to protect civilian populations caught in conflict 94 even before the adoption of the geneva convention in 1949 the drafters of the 1907 hague regula tions had defined occupation in a way that did not condition the application of the military legal regime on de jure title precisely in order to stem territorial acquisition by force 95 blum also made an argument for defensive conquest but that concept has no basis in modern international law 96 beyond the legal arguments israel s policies are also rife with contradictions in the egyptian sinai and the syrian golan heights where sovereignty was not in question israel also ignored occupation law in the case of those territories israel made no attempt to rebut the relevance of the geneva conventions because its ambitions for civilian settlement there were less pronounced at the time had this been merely a legal matter it would have had no consequence leading international and multilateral legal institutions including the un secu rity council the un general assembly the international court of justice and the international committee of the red cross as well as several international human rights organizations have all rebuffed israel s argument and repeatedly affirmed the de jure applicability of occupation law to the west bank and the gaza strip as explained by george washington university law school permanent occupation 82 professor w t mallison at a u s congressional hearing on the settlements in 1977 the thesis developed by dr blum and acted upon by mr begin is defective in law although no one can doubt its effectiveness thus far as a matter of power politics as a substantive matter it does not merit serious consideration but because it has been acted upon by the government of israel it will now be considered 97 mallison s observation highlights the significance of state action in inter national law there is no general enforcement mechanism in the international sphere there is no hierarchical order and no international police force dis sociated from the state system state compliance is almost always voluntary and noncompliance is met with sanctions as a result of political will not legal obligation collective enforcement lies within the limited purview of the un security council chapter vi of the un charter allows the security coun cil to impose sanctions on a state and chapter vii empowers states to use force as a measure of coercion strong states chiefly the security council s five permanent members will not allow such remedies to be used against themselves or their allies in effect enforcement of occupation law reflects the measure of political will and the prevailing balance of geopolitical power in the case at hand the balance has been settled largely by u s intervention on israel s behalf while the united states has remained opposed to israeli settlement ex pansion as a matter of law and policy it has remained simultaneously com mitted to maintaining israel s qualitative military edge and to achieving a negotiated settlement this dual commitment has driven it to shield israel from meaningful international censure on the grounds that the imposition of external legal obligations would diminish israel s negotiating hand in a land for peace framework additionally the u s commitment to israel s military superiority in the region has impeded the application of any meaningful pressure on this u s ally 98 within this framework if israel makes a legal argument that is rejected by international consensus the international community s opposition does not permanent occupation 83 change the political value of israel s claims so long as it faces no meaningful censure israel can wage a long lasting challenge to the law and simultaneously deploy its own legal framework to advance its political goals it has done precisely that in its own domestic courts with great efficacy israeli courts provide legal reasoning for colonization during his tenure as israel s military advocate general between 1961 and 1968 meir shamgar fleshed out yehuda zvi blum s argument making it an expedient legal regime as the israeli army s top lawyer in 1963 shamgar had overseen a process inside the military s legal establishment to formulate a proposal in the event that israel were to find itself in control of a civilian population the military lawyers he supervised created a comprehensive occupation framework that left nothing to chance according to shamgar everything was done with foresight and thus in 1967 the army pulled out the plans for military occupa tion that it had prepared four years earlier 99 while shamgar endorsed blum s sui generis framework unlike the legal scholar he believed that the customary provisions of occupation law should also regulate the territories 100 by this logic israel should have applied the fourth geneva convention which enjoyed customary status moreover israel ratified all four geneva conventions in 1951 indicating its support for them and in 1971 before the state s sui generis argument had fully crystallized the israeli su preme court ruled that the fourth geneva convention applied to the occupied territories as a matter of custom 101 but shamgar repudiated this application and argued that the convention was not binding on the state because israel s legislature had never incorporated the geneva conventions into domestic law 102 this is however an inaccurate assessment of customary law s binding force custom is a form of tacit consent and is binding irrespective of a state s taking domestic legislative action 103 insisting that conventions are not binding because they lack domestic incorporation is simply a legal tactic 104 in contrast shamgar concluded that the hague regulations did apply as a matter of custom like the fourth geneva convention the hague regulations clearly stipulate that an occupying power must maintain the status quo that pre vailed before the onset of hostilities prohibit the confiscation of private property and impose limits on the use of public property 105 unlike the convention however permanent occupation 84 the hague regulations are silent on the issue of civilian settlement therefore they posed no impediment to israel s expansionist goals 106 although it constituted a blatant contradiction observing the hague regulations allowed israel to technically adhere to customary occupation law and appear law abiding while circumventing the convention s absolute prohibition on civilian settlements in 1975 shamgar became israel s chief supreme court justice and served on the court for two decades under his leadership the court developed in piecemeal fashion the legal framework for regulating israel s presence in the west bank and gaza it opposed the state in several instances thus demon strating judicial independence and enhancing the law s legitimating force 107 notably however it has refused to rule on the legality of civilian settlements in the occupied territories 108 when presented with a case challenging the entire settlement enterprise shamgar concluded that this was a political not a legal question better suited for other branches of government 109 in the majority of cases however the court has addressed difficult legal questions and in the majority of those cases it has interpreted the law in ways that have facilitated the state s interests including its expansionist ambitions in order to retain the veneer of legality and to avoid having to absorb the palestinian population the legal system was careful to never treat the territories as israel s holdings instead the supreme court insisted that israel was admin istering the territories until such time as a political settlement was reached at that point the state would remove its settlers where demanded by the political agreement 110 but what limits were there on achieving a political resolution whereas under occupation law occupation is seen as being short term shamgar claimed that the law did not speak to that question he argued that factual conditions determined the length of the occupation and that absent a political resolution there was no end to the occupation but also no territorial annexation the occupation could be indefinite so long as it was not permanent 111 a situa tion without a definite end does not have to end in contrast with a temporary situation which must end 112 this legal fiction has allowed israel to continue its civilian settlement under the auspices of temporality demonstrating intent not to annex the land without imposing on the state any duty to withdraw occupation law has provided a further legal basis for israel to claim that it could acquire land for civilian settlements military necessity 113 occupation law permanent occupation 85 permits an occupying power to alter the status quo ante where military neces sity requires thus the phrase required for essential and urgent military needs became a recurring refrain the israeli military used to justify the requisition of land in the west bank between 1968 and 1979 114 the supreme court acted as a steady force in the creation of the legal fiction of military necessity while simultaneously blocking any palestinian efforts to challenge the contradictions posed by the requirements of humanitarian law 115 this was the case until 1979 when the supreme court ruled that the elon moreh settlement did not en hance the state s security objectives and established a precedent prohibiting the confiscation of private palestinian lands 116 however this ruling proved not to be an insurmountable challenge a primary mechanism facilitating confiscation of private palestinian prop erty was the change in the meaning of the term non registered property under the ottoman land regime non registered property was a broad category refer ring to lands held by villagers communally and or for future use a condition that eliminated the need to register them in contrast state land belonged to the government for public use this was the case under ottoman british and jordanian rule in the territories in 1967 israel s military administration passed order 59 which empowered a military commander to assume control of state property in the west bank and gaza for use at his exclusive discretion origi nally the order had conferred authority on israel s military to manage jordanian government property during the occupation but in 1979 the military adminis tration amended this order to declare non registered property state land and to transfer it to the exclusive use of jewish settlers 117 israel amended the definition of non registered property the same year that the israeli supreme court ruled that private palestinian land could not be seized the amendment made non registered land claimed by palestinians as their own commons equivalent to state land in order to facilitate its confiscation under a military pretext order 59 was one of an avalanche of orders that transformed otherwise private property into state land in the language of israel s military law 118 the order regarding abandoned property of 1967 for example expanded the concept of state land to include lands that were lying fallow and or whose claimants were absent 119 similar to the legal tactics employed by israel with the palestinian natives inside its undeclared borders this order prohibited palestinian permanent occupation 86 landowners who had fled the 1967 war from returning to establish their pres ence and thus their title 120 it then authorized the commissioner of abandoned property to regulate and manage the absentee owned land including for the purpose of establishing civilian settlements 121 israel s land scheme successfully removed contained and dispossessed palestinians in the west bank and gaza as a similar scheme had previously done with the palestinian natives who remained inside israel after 1948 israel s judiciary was integral in advancing these ambitions 122 the supreme court explicitly ruled that jewish israeli settlers should be considered part of the public to whom the israeli military owed a duty to protect 123 this was a radical proposition because under occupation law a military power is obligated to balance its security needs against the humanitarian concerns of the occupied population also known as protected persons the court s legal finding contravened the fourth geneva convention which explicitly excludes an occupying power s own nationals from the category of protected persons 124 israel could circumvent this prohibition however because shamgar s legal framework gave the military regime the discretion to cherry pick applicable provisions of the convention thus judicial aversion and innovative legal argumentation together paved the path for a series of decisions that have justified the expropriation of palestinian lands to construct roads connecting settlers to the state s interior 125 the deporta tion of palestinians from the occupied territories 126 and even the extraction of natural resources that should have been reserved for palestinian national benefit 127 under a rule of law framework israel s supreme court has enabled the state to achieve colonial expansion while the judicial branch has justified israel s actions in the territory based on occupation law it has simultaneously invoked the sui generis argument to block palestinian legal redress under the same framework as a result israel has enjoyed both the powers of an occupant and a sovereign in the west bank and gaza while palestinians enjoy neither the rights of an occupied people nor the rights of citizenship 128 the court and also other branches of israel s government have insisted that all such measures which have steadily dispossessed palestinians confiscated their lands and concentrated them in fragmented land clusters while implant ing jewish israeli settlers in their place have not amounted to creeping an nexation this condition could be reversed or endorsed by a political solution permanent occupation 87 under resolution 242 s land for peace framework they have argued 129 in effect israel was not a colonial power taking the land it was merely an administrator of disputed lands that belonged to no sovereign until such time as israel could enter into a political agreement to resolve the conflict this was a legal strategy deployed in the pursuit of a political objective retooling unsc 242 retroactive cover for colonial takings in addition to the legal fiction of temporality and military necessity that allowed israel to steadily poach palestinian lands under the sui generis framework israel strategically deployed resolution 242 to justify its territorial encroachments the logic was that if jordan or the palestinians ceded any part of the territories in a peace agreement then israel had never acquired title to that land through conquest the countries would simply be exchanging some of the land for peace as mandated by the resolution rather than shepherding peace however israel has retooled the resolution to retroactively legitimate its colonial takings despite the international consensus on withdrawal expressed throughout the drafting of security council resolution 242 israel used the text s lack of the definite article to justify its settlement expansion arguing that the omission left open to interpretation and political negotiation which territories were to be exchanged for peace israel took the position that it was under no obligation to return all of the west bank and the gaza strip but could theoretically return a fraction of them moreover its security needs should dictate the scope of the territory to be returned yigal allon who was the israeli deputy prime minister during the 1967 war developed the doctrine of defensible borders to justify israel s expansionist posture in security terms in a 1967 article published in the u s journal foreign affairs he described the development of his approach building on resolution 242 s deliberate lack of specificity to allow for minor border rectifications as discussed above allon explained that t he purpose of defensible borders is to provide israel with the requisite minimal strategic depth as well as lines which have topographical strategic significance this necessitated absolute israeli control over the strategic zone that lies between the jordan river to the east and the eastern chain of the samarian and judean permanent occupation 88 mountains to the west as well as retention of the golan heights and full control of the strategic desert zone from the southern part of the gaza strip to the dunes on the eastern approaches of the town of el arish which itself would be returned to egypt 130 israel s defensible borders amounted to control over almost the entire west bank and the gaza strip as well as the golan heights see the allon plan map adherence to the allon doctrine ipso facto undermined the land for peace framework assuming for the sake of argument that israel retained those territories as an incentive to negotiate a peace agreement the proliferation of civilian settlements belied its claim that its presence in the territories served a temporary and military function not only do civilian settlements suggest permanency but the use of civilians to achieve a military goal amounts to human shielding an outright prohibition under humanitarian law 131 nonetheless israel effectively deployed this security framework even in the face of direct opposition from its primary patron the united states in july 1977 upon prime minister begin s return from washington israel s ministerial committee on settlements conferred legal status on three settle ments 132 the carter administration immediately expressed its disappointment and stated in unequivocal terms that the establishment of settlements in the occupied territories is not only con trary to the fourth geneva convention but also constitutes an obstacle to progress in the peace making process 133 in response begin delivered an address at the knesset denouncing the u s charge saying jewish settlement does not in any way or under any circumstances do harm to the arabs of eretz yisrael we have not dispossessed and will not dispos sess any arab from his land 134 using the cover of occupation law begin justified the presence of the settle ments as temporary and therefore not a seizure of land rather than combat permanent occupation israeli link road jordanian link road areas to be annexed by israel areas to be ceded to jordan main arab towns settlements a e s n a e n a r r e t i d e m tel aviv jaffa i s r a e l n 0 0 5 5 10 10 mi 15 km jenin jenin nablus nablus jordan valley r e v i r n a jord w e s t b a n k w e s t b a n k ma ale ephraim ramallah ramallah jordan jericho jericho jerusalem ma ale adumim gush etzion bethlehem bethlehem hebron hebron kiryat arba dead sea allon plan 1967 in july 1967 yigal allon israeli deputy prime minister proposed a scheme for defensible borders in the west bank and gaza the allon plan created an israeli corridor from the mediterranean sea through jerusalem and to the jordan river it divided the west bank into two parts and allocated territories within the west bank for jewish settlement 90 these maneuvers as altogether illegitimate the united states engaged in a narrow legal inquiry about israel s compliance with occupation law reducing the debate to detailed technicalities that lost the forest in the face of a single tree indeed at a press conference two days after begin s remarks president carter reiterated the illegal nature of the settlements and characterized them as an obstacle to peace adding however that they were not an insurmountable problem carter went so far as to defend begin and furthered israel s legal framework by insisting the israeli government has never claimed that these settlements are permanent what they have done is to say that they are legal at the present time 135 resolution 242 s drafting history unravels israel s legal work but the law is only as meaningful as the political will underpinning its enforcement the backing of the united states whether diplomatically through the provision of near total immunity inside the security council or materially through the unequivocal provision of financial and military aid has impeded any significant action to hold israel accountable 136 still successive u s administrations begin ning with that of lyndon b johnson in 1967 have insisted that israel withdraw from all of the territories with minor border adjustments following the end of hostilities in 1967 war the united states felt par ticularly obligated to its ally king hussein of jordan who had laid claim to the west bank and repeatedly pressured israel to enter into talks with him the johnson administration went so far as to promise the king that he would regain the west bank in a matter of six months israel had no such intent however at most it would return noncontiguous arab population blocs sur rounded by israeli military and civilian jurisdictions still because it had be come exclusively dependent on the united states for military aid after the war israel could not be so blatantly dismissive of u s demands instead it embarked on what historian avi raz has described as a consistent policy of deception raz describes it as a series of cabinet resolutions and ad hoc government decisions and actions the aim of which was to mislead the international community first and foremost the us into thinking that israel was seriously seeking a peaceful settlement with its arab neighbors 137 permanent occupation 91 immediately following the war and for several years thereafter king hus sein made repeated overtures to establish peace with israel in response israel maintained what eban described as a futile discussion with him in 1969 eban explained that israel s political strategy was to insert a sufficient number of obstacles into any american document about an arab israeli settlement so that arabs could not accept it 138 israel also rebuffed palestinian peace advances made by self organized pal estinian elites in the territories within days after the close of the 1967 war fifty elite palestinians in the west bank requested that the israeli government recognize them as representatives of the palestinian people and enter into ne gotiations with them to establish a palestinian state along the outlines of the 1947 partition plan prime minister eshkol s office rejected this offer outright 139 israel could reject palestinian peace overtures with much greater ease than jor dan s similar requests because the united states had not yet endorsed the idea of a palestinian state and the plo had not yet accepted resolution 242 but israel nevertheless maintained the appearance of weighing a palestinian option propagating the idea that it remained in compliance with the security council s mandate to return the territory in exchange for peace 140 in 1969 as israel s ambitions to retain the west bank and the gaza strip became undeniable the united states confronted israel about its repeated dis avowal of territorial ambitions eban shrugged his shoulders and simply told his baffled u s counterparts we changed our minds 141 the johnson admin istration did not take this lightly but was constrained at the time by its deep involvement in the vietnam war it did not have the capacity to pursue a vigorous middle east policy president johnson s personal commitment to protect israel the soviet union s mounting penetration in the region and the rise of palestinian guerilla attacks resulted in the united states doing little more at that juncture than issuing a series of empty condemnations and frustrated diplomatic cables 142 when subsequent u s presidential administrations sought to take israel to task the u s congress proved to be a critical impediment 143 but the united states did not just stand on the sidelines as we shall see it remained an active and critical element in israel s setter colonial expansion whose role cannot be overstated 144 aggressive u s intervention has been a cornerstone of israel s legal work enabling israel to deploy international law to fulfill its territorial ambitions permanent occupation 92 shifting tides the rise of the plo and the 1973 war in the aftermath of the devastating outcome of the 1967 war and the lack of meaningful protest from the international community that followed palestinians emerged as a force to represent themselves the defeat of the arab armies together with egypt s and jordan s endorsement of resolution 242 emboldened palestinian revolutionary groups to take their fate into their own hands by way of a national liberation movement they saw the displacement of jordanian and egyptian ju risdiction over the west bank and the gaza strip as an opportunity to set up a revolutionary authority and base in these territories fatah began to transfer cadres and operatives to the territories in the hope that a new undisputed national leader ship could emerge on palestinian soil free from arab control 145 in december 1967 fatah the arab national movement the general union of palestinian students and several other palestinian groups protested against the plo leadership for its lack of accountability forcing its then chairman ap pointed by egypt s nasser to resign yahya hammuda a left leaning lawyer and a member of the plo s executive committee took over in his place in january 1968 fatah convened a conference in cairo alongside seven out of the eleven existing palestinian guerilla groups with the goal of either taking control of the plo or dissolving it altogether fatah s efforts would yield tangible results only two months later when it helped lead the battle of karama 146 the karama refugee camp located in the jordan valley had become a site of increased palestinian guerilla activity in march 1968 the israeli army attacked the camp and although it militarily defeated the guerillas who were supported by the jordanian army it also suffered significant losses the battle turned overnight into a resounding political and psychological victory in arab eyes although credit for the tactical victory was owed to jordan s armed forces it was the guerillas whose reputation soared their decision to stand and fight militarily disastrous catapulted them into a position of political pre eminence in a televised speech jordan s king hussein reinforced this perception saying we are all guerillas fida iyyun 147 the battle was the sea change that consecrated the idea of guerilla warfare against israel as a legitimate tactic and it transformed fatah s status the group named yasser arafat as its leader and official spokesman offering an identifiable public figure after years of clandestinity 148 one year later in 1969 fatah gained control of the plo and arafat became the plo s chairman 149 permanent occupation 93 major transformations of power in the arab world in the subsequent four years would redirect the region as a whole in 1970 king hussein consolidated his power in jordan by administering a crushing defeat to the plo which had threatened to wrest control of the kingdom black september as the operation came to be known forced the plo to relocate to beirut in lebanon that same year egypt s president gamal abdel nasser died and was replaced by anwar al sadat and hafez al assad became president of syria in 1971 150 sadat was determined to regain the egyptian territory taken in the 1967 war either by force or by diplomacy president assad wanted to recover the golan heights as well 151 egypt and syria took the israeli army by surprise when they attacked israel on yom kippur in october 1973 which allowed them to score important victories in the first days of hostilities 152 the arab armies were so successful that israeli defense minister moshe dayan concluded that the existence of israel itself was endangered the israelis were soon able to block the threat on both fronts and conduct counterattacks 153 the united states provided israel with critical assis tance enabling its army to go on the offensive and win several decisive battles 154 the israeli army crossed the suez canal creeping towards cairo and also captured mt hermon coming within 40 kilometers of damascus 155 the parties agreed to a ceasefire after a few weeks although israel had come close to losing in the initial days of the war it ultimately emerged as the military victor the 1973 war demonstrated that arabs could work together when needed and that israel was not as invincible as it had believed the war left its scars on israel which suffered over 2 500 dead us 4 billion in direct monetary losses and deflated confidence although the arabs technically lost the war they won psy chologically and diplomatically as the world once again focused on the ongoing conflict 156 in 1973 the un security council passed resolution 338 affirming the land for peace framework enshrined in resolution 242 and setting into motion what was to become known as the middle east peace process palestin ian control of the plo and the rise of guerilla warfare together with the shift ushered in by the 1973 war would lay the groundwork for the plo s political agenda and aggressive legal strategy throughout the decade that followed permanent occupation this page intentionally left blank chapter 3 pragmatic revolutionaries if racial discrimination against the inferior natives was the motto of race supremacist european settler regimes in asia and africa the motto of the race supremacist zionist settler regime in palestine was racial elimination fayez a sayegh 1965 on 14 november 1974 yasser arafat chairman of the palestine liberation organization plo stood at the podium in the united nations general as sembly before an audience of nearly every member state the u s and israeli ambassadors were conspicuously absent this was a tremendous victory for the palestinian cause and for the global anticolonial movement more generally this international rostrum had been historically reserved for member states as a matter of privilege and right un rules of procedures mandated that non state organizations including liberation movements address specialized commit tees the passage of general assembly resolution 3210 1974 extending an invitation to the plo signaled a remarkable precedent and demonstrated the potential of the global south as a united voting bloc and thus as a source of international lawmaking in 1974 formerly colonized nations and nations still seeking liberation constituted a critical mass in the united nations and threatened to unravel the hegemony of former and existing colonial powers between the establish ment of the united nations in 1945 and arafat s visit in 1974 the number of un member states had increased from 51 to 138 1 the new states were mostly former colonies and many had achieved their independence through wars of 96 liberation meanwhile several liberation movements continued armed struggles with the goal of independence newly independent states and national liberation movements had consolidated their interests in the non aligned movement nam and were now closely collaborating in an effort to usher in a new world order both within and beyond the united nations they considered the plo s militancy necessary and justified in the course of arafat s five years at the helm of the plo and since the battle of karama in 1968 the plo had unified the most active palestinian movements and parties it served as a political umbrella for various armed factions each of which oversaw and launched its own military activities these groups included fatah the dominant party in the plo and led by arafat and the popular front for the liberation of palestine pflp the leading opposition party led by dr george habash between 1967 and 1970 fatah and the pflp took jordan as their main base of operations they subsequently became centered in lebanon where the plo had established a firm base after jordan expelled it in 1970 and from where it was launching cross border reconnaissance and armed operations 2 israel breached the lebanese border frequently in both offensive and reprisal attacks on plo positions as well as on lebanese civilian targets these attacks included kidnappings assassina tions and disproportionate use of force that intensified tensions between the palestinian fighters and some sectors of lebanon s ruling elite armed resistance defined the plo and resonated with similar national liberation struggles across the african continent and east asia this did not reflect an international consensus however several powerful states and colonial powers condemned all use of non state force as criminal and terroristic this group included the united states which was mired in war in vietnam along with portugal which was fighting to maintain its colonial domination of mozambique and angola it also included israel which clung to its occupied arab territories and denied the palestinians right to self determination as well as south africa which obstinately main tained its apartheid regime in south and southwest africa in 1974 these powers constituted a minority and were losing the battle to define what constituted legitimate violence their failure to delegitimize the plo and to thwart the plo chairman s address to the united nations was a significant blow to the pragmatic revolutionaries 97 united states and israel in particular 3 the general assembly s invitation to the plo represented a victory for the nam that same year in another nam victory the general assembly unani mously elected algeria s foreign minister abdelaziz bouteflika to be its president during the course of its liberation from 132 years of french colo nization achieved in 1962 algeria had established several diplomatic and military milestones making it an unequivocal reference for all other liberation movements 4 bouteflika paid homage to this anticolonial sentiment when he introduced arafat to the united nations as the general commander of the palestinian revolution 5 arafat began his address by recognizing the signifi cance of the plo s presence at the un and its commitment to the nam s political aspiration to end racism and imperialism and achieve freedom and self determination 6 he spoke on behalf of all nations seeking liberation from enduring colonial domination and the fulfillment of the league of nation s long ago promise of independence arafat s appearance marked one of the most meaningful junctures for the palestinian liberation movement as well though hailed as a victory the plo s presence at the united nations was full of ambiguity on the one hand it em bodied the culmination of a struggle to achieve recognition as a people entitled to self determination thereby reversing the juridical erasures first enacted by the balfour declaration 1917 and later by the mandate for palestine 1922 israel s establishment 1948 and most recently security council resolution 242 1967 arafat captured this strategic interest when he explained the value of recounting the story of palestine beginning before the onset of the israeli occupation in 1967 if we return now to the historical roots of our cause we do so because pres ent at this very moment in our midst are those who while they occupy our homes as their cattle graze in our pastures and as their hands pluck the fruit of our trees claim at the same time that we are disembodied spirits fictions without presence without traditions or future we speak of our roots also because until recently some people have regarded and continued to regard our problem as merely a problem of refugees they have portrayed the middle east question as little more than a border dispute between the pragmatic revolutionaries 98 arab states and the zionist entity they have imagined that our people claims rights not rightfully its own and fights neither with logic nor valid motive with a simple wish only to disturb the peace and to terrorize wantonly 7 the plo s efforts at the united nations represented a strategic effort to inscribe the juridical status of the palestinian people in international legal instruments and institutions this legal strategy complemented a political one aimed at chal lenging the hegemonic control that former colonial powers maintained over the majority of the globe using this approach the plo contested the order shaped by the united states and israel who together had sustained the sovereign exception regulating the question of palestine the plo s strategic deployment of the law during the 1970s marked an apex in its legal advocacy and yielded a series of fundamental legal achievements the value of affirming the status of palestinians as a nation possessing an international legal personality rather than a motley bunch of arab refugees could not be overstated indeed this was tantamount to a proclamation of existence on the other hand the plo s inscription of palestinian nationhood sug gested the acceptance of a state centric global order and a bid to establish a palestinian state in fact for arafat as well as for official leadership organiza tions belonging to the plo such as fatah the democratic front for the lib eration of palestine and al sa iqa the move to the united nations enhanced the possibility of establishing a state and joining the international club 8 this embodied a significant risk for the palestinian struggle in 1968 the palestinian national council pnc plo s parliament in exile had defined the political purpose of the movement as the liberation of the whole land of palestine and the establishment of the society which the palestinians aim for on that land 9 in line with this position the pnc rejected un security council resolu tion 242 as a framework because it necessitated accepting israeli control over 78 percent of historic palestine and then trying to regain the remaining 22 percent through negotiations it also failed to articulate clear principles for resolving the forced exile of palestinian refugees the pnc affirmed that armed struggle was the only means by which to achieve liberation as to the possibility of establish ing a palestinian state in the west bank and the gaza strip the pnc explicitly pragmatic revolutionaries 99 rejected imperialist and zionist plans for establishing a false palestinian entity on the territories occupied in the june war of 1967 10 by articulating its demands for peoplehood in the framework of international law and pursuing this goal at the united nations the plo drew upon the same legal and institutional norms that legitimated israel s establishment naturalized its existence and protected its territorial and political sovereignty a turn to international law included the possibility of establishing a truncated palestinian state in the west bank and the gaza strip and normalizing israel s zionist settler sovereignty the regional and international balance of power following the october 1973 war made this possibility even more acute this reality catalyzed a schism within the plo between a pragmatic camp that sought a state as an interim or even final step to full liberation and the rejection front led by the pflp that insisted upon revolution in order to upend zionist settler sovereignty arafat s appearance before the united na tions did not resolve these issues his momentous speech was a revolutionary call for liberation imbued with pragmatic ambitions for a statist solution 11 he articulated a demand for a single democratic state for all peoples on the land while pursuing a direct channel with the united states in order to be brought into the fold of the middle east peace talks the united states however took a rejectionist line obstinately opposing the plo s participation and foreclosing the diplomatic possibility of negotiat ing a state this left the plo s pragmatists with nothing to lose by pursuing a revolutionary course of action 12 moreover the rejection camp within the plo blocked any attempts to dilute the demands for revolutionary liberation to bypass rejectionist opposition and to create leverage to enter into peace negotiations the so called pragmatists strategically amended the plo s mandate thereafter the plo embarked on a program of liberation diplomacy within the united nations to cement its legal status as a national liberation movement the plo s legal work at the un throughout the 1970s would successfully transform the palestinian question from a humanitarian crisis punctuated by the overwhelming presence of an exiled refugee population across the arab world into a political crisis marked by the failure of current and former colonial powers to deliver sovereignty and independence to a colonized people the plo s legal work left open to question whether a palestinian state would be established in pragmatic revolutionaries 100 place of israel or alongside it in the occupied territory 13 the tension between the competing agendas embodied by the plo the revolutionary movement for national liberation of all palestine and the establishment of a state in the west bank and the gaza strip as an interim or final step towards liberation would not be resolved until nearly a decade and a half after arafat s un address the october 1973 war provided the impetus for this series of shifts the october 1973 war creates a legal opportunity in early september 1973 egyptian president anwar sadat summoned senior fatah leaders including plo chairman arafat to inform them of his plans for a limited war against israel 14 he intended to participate in a postwar peace conference to recoup the territories occupied in 1967 15 egyptian and syrian plans for a limited war dashed palestinian hopes for a war of liberation palestin ian guerilla fighters understood that while their military contributions enhanced the efforts of arab conventional armies on their own they were insufficient to militarily defeat israel 16 the 1973 war ended the six year status quo of no peace no war following the 1967 war and upon its cessation presented new diplomatic possibilities in the region the un security council passed resolution 338 under the binding authority of chapter vii of the un charter and laid the groundwork for the first arab israeli peace conference 17 this resolution introduced hastily by the united states and the soviet union called for the implementation of security council resolution 242 and emphasized its clause stipulating peace negotia tions 18 on its face the diplomatic process was a joint soviet u s initiative but in practice it was designed to preserve u s dominance in the region 19 henry kissinger u s president richard nixon s national security adviser and secretary of state saw the 1973 war as an opportunity to diminish soviet in fluence and ensure that israel could retain as much of the palestinian territories as it had captured in 1967 20 kissinger believed that compelling israel s withdrawal necessitated a more confrontational u s policy that in his view would threaten the country s very existence 21 he sought to shield israel while steadily currying favor with each of the arab states for the sake of undermining their coalescence as well as to demonstrate the limitations of soviet influence 22 he was careful not to portray the u s position in such hardened terms and objected to full scale pragmatic revolutionaries 101 withdrawal on procedural grounds it should be achieved through negotiations not compulsion thus maintaining the image of the united states as a credible broker sadat welcomed u s involvement even at such great risk he believed that while europe had provided diplomatic support and the soviet union had provided arms only the united states could create the political momentum for a return of arab territory 23 sadat insisted that the plo participate in the nascent peace process on behalf of palestinians to negotiate the return of the occupied west bank in cluding east jerusalem and gaza 24 he sought to moderate the palestinian demand for the liberation of all of palestine in order to make the plo a more tenable negotiating partner at least to the united states egypt was not alone in its entreaty in the war s aftermath the soviet ambassador in beirut handed the palestinian leaders a memo urging them to adopt a realistic and construc tive attitude which consists in claiming the recovery of the territories lost in 1967 25 in mid november 1973 moscow issued its first public endorsement of a palestinian state in the occupied palestinian territories and urged the plo to phase its struggle into stages towards liberation 26 that same month the arab league convened in a summit meeting in algiers and quietly endorsed the plo as the sole and legitimate representative of the palestinian people the summit did not make its endorsement official in consideration of jordan s position the kingdom of jordan maintained its territorial claims over the west bank as well as representational rights over palestinians on both banks of the jordan river these diplomatic gestures gen erated a momentum within the plo and among an international community aimed at instating the plo as an authoritative body capable of representing palestinian interests in negotiations palestinians in the west bank organiz ing themselves under the banner of the palestinian national front urged the plo to participate in the negotiations for fear that if it did not jordan would take its place 27 the pragmatists within the plo were amenable to this strategic course during the 1973 war leaders of fatah and sa iqa a syrian affiliated political and military formation indicated their willingness to cease their guerilla activi ties if israel publically recognized the palestinian right to self determination 28 fatah had been signaling its eagerness to enter the u s sphere of influence since pragmatic revolutionaries 102 early 1970 29 these gestures were all made in secret however as they contravened the plo s official position of liberating the whole land of palestine through armed struggle despite the pragmatists flexible position as well as ardent advice from his national security advisers kissinger adamantly refused to involve the plo in the peace negotiations to exclude the plo and diminish arab leverage in negotia tions kissinger sought to initiate bilateral negotiations between israel jordan syria and egypt respectively and to disaggregate an arab bloc he wanted to establish peace with each of the arab regimes and then bring in the plo at the very end in order to impose a peace settlement upon the palestinians 30 in november 1973 the regional and international balance of power con strained the plo s strategic options its parliament opposed any negotiations and any settlement short of complete liberation egypt and syria with two of the most significant arab armies had made it clear that they had no intention of entering a war of liberation against israel the plo s arab and superpower allies urged it to modify and moderate its political position in order to recoup the occupied territory in accordance with security council resolutions 242 and 338 meanwhile sadat s egypt was marching towards bilateral negotiations with israel brokered by the united states and the united states remained intent on excluding the plo and instead had recognized jordan as the sovereign to which the west bank should be returned when the peace conference on the middle east commonly known as the geneva peace conference convened in december 1973 only egypt and israel attended syria declined the invitation and the plo was not invited though it lasted only two hours the conference planted the seeds of a regional peace process the pnc convened its eleventh summit and its first meeting since the 1973 war the following month in january 1974 it reiterated palestinian opposi tion to resolution 242 to a negotiated settlement and to recognition of israel as well as the palestinian commitment to revolutionary armed struggle despite the pnc s institutional resolve leaders of the most significant palestinian political and military groups continued to deliberate the import of the new balance of power upon the plo s strategy they could not agree ultimately the pragmatist camp would find a way to appease the rejectionists and establish a legal mandate to pursue a diplomatic strategy this was the outcome of legal work pragmatic revolutionaries 103 internal shifts within the plo following the palestinian national council s summit the plo publication palestine affairs together with the palestine research center convened a public roundtable in beirut moderated by palestinian poet and icon mahmoud dar wish shafiq al hout the director general of the plo s beirut office and a self proclaimed independent urged the plo to take a clearer position because standing aside after a military battle is an approach reserved for a historian not a revolutionary political militant 31 al hout appealed for moderation explaining when man begins to struggle out of oppression he will of course be com pelled to pronounce unrealizable slogans but when he in concert with others begins to apply pressure to influence events it is bound to result in willingness by the other side to amend its position 32 pflp leader george habash cautioned that while the october war had altered the balance of power it did not ensure that palestinians could establish a demo cratic authority over historic palestine establishing a mini state in the occupied territories would simply make palestinians hostage to the whims of american hashemite zionist control habash was mindful of the political costs associated with rebuffing soviet and arab appeals for moderation and urged the plo to stra tegically dodge moderation in a way which does not harm our mutual friendship the soviets ask us to take our own position they have theirs and are not prepared to compromise he insisted that political struggle alone will not be sufficient as demonstrated by the inability to force israel s withdrawal from arab territories between 1967 and 1973 fighting habash explained is the only way 33 nayef hawatmeh secretary general of the popular democratic front for the liberation of palestine a splinter group of the pflp agreed with habash that fighting was necessary because all forms of negotiated settlement are prod ucts of the sword s edge 34 nevertheless hawatmeh urged the plo to modify its strategy and adopt a phased approach that began with a national authority and culminated in a single democratic state now we are beginning to deal with our problem out of a belief in our ability to effect changes rather than out of incapacity to accomplish anything pragmatic revolutionaries 104 what is demanded under conditions of defeat of course incites fear and sarcasm after the war we are more than ever before in a position to con tinue the struggle and to change the balance of power in our favor planning a strategy based on successive stages has become very realistic 35 habash seemed to be in the minority as salah khalaf of fatah also endorsed a phased approach like the rest of the leaders he remained committed rhe torically to the complete liberation of palestine but insisted that the october war brought us face to face with the necessity of devising a policy that would be oriented in terms of stages and that palestinian leaders of the past made a mistake in adhering to our people s historical rights without adopting stage by stage programs of struggle under the obtaining conditions 36 in private khalaf and the pragmatists within fatah were much more con ciliatory to a compromise agreement 37 according to khalaf s memoirs fatah s central committee first contemplated a phased program as early as july 1967 38 in 1973 fatah continued to receive arms from the soviet union and more than any other political party tied its fate to egypt 39 according to william buffum then u s ambassador to lebanon leaders of fatah and other plo factions were prepared to participate in peace talks and settle for a rump palestinian entity 40 arafat personally endorsed the concept of a two state solution but despite his position as the plo chairman he could not act unilaterally on its behalf 41 the popular democratic front for the liberation of palestine and sa iqa joined fatah in the quest to modify their strategic approach and enter the peace conference meanwhile the popular front for the liberation of pal estine the popular front for the liberation of palestine general command the arab liberation front the general union of palestinian students and the general union of writers and journalists remained opposed to participating in the peace process 42 in february 1974 fatah sa iqa and the popular democratic front for the liberation of palestine submitted a working paper to the plo central com mittee that outlined a compromise position between the plo and the parties that opposed negotiations the document reiterated the plo s key positions but added that it should adopt a phased approach to liberation by ending the occupation and forc ing the enemy to withdraw unconditionally from the west pragmatic revolutionaries 105 bank and the gaza sector without making any political concessions to him in return 43 this would be an intermediate stage wherein the plo would estab lish its authority on any liberated palestinian lands in the long term effort for the complete liberation of palestine the popular front for the liberation of palestine responded by submitting its own proposal that reaffirmed its rejection of any national authority framework based on resolution 242 and a commit ment to sabotage any ensuing peace conference having reached an impasse the plo central committee convened a national dialogue among the leaders of the armed organizations in may 1974 they reached an agreement about a phased approach but did not agree on the details 44 the pnc commenced its twelfth meeting in cairo in order to flesh out and finalize the agreement proposed by the palestinian leaders shortly thereafter in june 1974 in a vote of 187 to 183 the pnc adopted the ten point program also known as the phased political program it provided the pragmatists the wiggle room to participate in the middle east peace process without relinquishing the vision of liberating all of palestine this program would spark a serious rupture within the plo its second point stipulated the palestine liberation organization will employ all means first and fore most armed struggle to liberate palestinian territory and to establish the independent combatant national authority for the people over every part of palestinian territory that is liberated 45 point two signaled a significant departure it was the first time the plo had affirmed the liberation of palestinian territory rather than the liberation of palestine on the day of the ten point plan s adoption the pnc separately issued a recommendation to the plo executive committee endorsing the committee s participation in negotiations as long as it did so in a framework other than that of resolution 242 46 although habash participated in the pnc s twelfth meet ing and endorsed the ten point program he believed that the final outcome involved deception the popular front for the liberation of palestine argued that point two authorizing an authority on any liberated land was meant to be read together with point three which rejected recognition of israel concili ation and secure borders the pflp claimed it had assumed that point three pragmatic revolutionaries 106 also stipulated a rejection of entering the peace conference and that its exclusion from the final text was a tactic aimed at misleading fellow comrades and the masses rather than the enemy 47 it issued a statement explaining that it had reached the profound certain and unshakable conviction that the settlement which is being prepared for the area can only be an imperialist liquidation settlement its only consequence could be on the one hand the expansion and extension of american imperialist influence in the area and on the other the establishment of israel s legality and the safeguarding of her future and her security 48 the pflp stepped down from the plo s executive committee in protest and established the rejection front along with the popular front for the liberation of palestine general command the arab liberation front and the popular struggle front to oppose the plo s participation in the negotiation process rejectionist opposition was formidable but still left room for maneuver the ten point program afforded arafat together with the plo s pragmatist forces the right to establish a national authority on palestinian territory recouped through diplomacy they had to do so however without recognizing or negotiating with israel on a basis other than resolution 242 and in a framework of a phased strategy towards the complete liberation of palestine the plo remained committed to revolutionary struggle while also pursuing a diplomatic track diplomacy itself was not controversial rather the plo s lack of clear diplomatic objectives imbued its strategic course with uncertainty and conflict on its face the plo sought to establish a base for itself in the west bank and gaza as an interim phase towards the liberation of all of palestine through armed struggle the framework for ending israel s occupation however was based on the formula achieved in 1967 and captured in security council resolution 242 which limited the horizon of palestinian liberation to the occu pied territory the land for peace framework allowed for supporting palestinian self determination and opposing israel s 1967 occupation but it did not clearly object to israel s zionist settler sovereignty it at once provided the plo with its political advantage but also constituted the primary challenge to its vision for liberation the plo sought to shift the international balance reflected in pragmatic revolutionaries 107 this framework through a combination of guerilla warfare on the ground and legal work on the international stage including at the united nations it did this primarily by pursuing every opportunity to establish the juridical status of the palestinian nation as well as to demonstrate and exercise its embryonic sovereignty embryonic sovereignty and the right to fight the plo s pursuit of diplomatic recognition as the sole and legitimate represen tative of the palestinian people directly challenged the elision of a palestinian people and their characterization as a nondescript refugee population this tactical approach edified the status of palestinian peoplehood as a matter of law while armed resistance worked to achieve the same goal as a matter of fact 49 in september 1973 the non aligned movement recognized the plo and invited it to join nam as an observer organization along with other african liberation movements in february 1974 the organization of islamic cooperation com prising fifty seven states similarly recognized the plo and the organization of african unity followed suit after the pnc s twelfth summit around this same time the plo was also making a different kind of diplomatic bid one that aimed to legitimate its use of armed force and reify its status as a nation in the early seventies only states could legally participate in war however between the second world war and the early seventies the primary forms of armed conflict were nonconventional wars that is wars between non state ac tors and states i e wars of liberation or within states i e civil wars these wars had concerned the international community and yet the legal framework available to regulate them was limited to a single article common to the four geneva conventions of 1949 it was demonstrably insufficient 50 in march 1974 an international conference was convened to review two additional protocols to the geneva conventions that sought to expand the legal lexicon regulating nonconventional armed conflicts and by extension legitimating the use of force by non state actors or guerilla fighters the united states and israel led the march to delegitimize such armed force on the grounds that it was terrorism in 1972 the united states attempted to achieve a un declaration condemning terrorism but faced significant opposition especially from african states which supported national liberation movements pragmatic revolutionaries 108 within the african continent and especially in namibia and south africa the apartheid government in south africa had recently condemned nelson man dela a member of the african national congress and co founder of umkhonto we sizwe an organization committed to using revolutionary violence to life imprisonment during his 1964 trial mandela explained this organization s resort to arms as critical precisely to avoid terroristic violence firstly we believed that as a result of government policy violence by the african people had become inevitable and that unless responsible leadership was given to canalize and control the feelings of our people there would be outbreaks of terrorism which would produce an intensity of bitterness and hostility between the various races of this country which is not produced even by war secondly we felt that without violence there would be no way open to the african people to succeed in their struggle against the principle of white supremacy all lawful modes of expressing opposition to this principle had been closed by legislation and we were placed in a position in which we had either to accept a permanent state of inferiority or to defy the government we chose to defy the law we first broke the law in a way which avoided any recourse to violence when this form was legislated against and then the government resorted to a show of force to crush opposition to its policies only then did we decide to answer violence with violence 51 the united states did not want to alienate the african bloc for fear of enhancing a soviet sphere of influence still it could not endorse the use of force by liberation groups in turn african states could not accept a blanket condemnation of the use of force because violence was considered a primary and necessary element for political transformation 52 the outcome was a docu ment that explored the underlying causes of terroristic violence 53 this marked an achievement for the liberation movements which insisted that their non conventional tactics were symptomatic of broader structural violence in no vember 1973 the un general assembly passed a more pointed resolution that reaffirmed the legitimacy of the peoples struggle for liberation from colonial and foreign domination and alien subjugation by all available means including armed struggle 54 pragmatic revolutionaries 109 the effort to enshrine the right to fight for non state actors had begun in early 1969 when the un secretary general published a report examining the applicability and relevance of humanitarian law in these new contexts 55 georges abi saab an international law scholar who prepared the report for the secretary general explained that the international committee of the red cross red cross an independent organization responsible for ensuring hu manitarian protections during armed conflict did not like the un dabbling in their expertise so they took up the banner themselves 56 the red cross in consultation with government experts drafted two additional protocols that it now sought to review at the diplomatic conference on the reaffirmation and application of international humanitarian law applicable in armed conflicts diplomatic conference the first additional protocol sought to elevate the status of wars of national liberation to international armed conflicts thus rec ognizing the embryonic sovereignty of the liberation movements and affording them the right to use armed force 57 the first diplomatic conference meeting lasted for three months and proved contentious because it wanted to admit liberation movements as participant observers 58 abi saab who was now representing the group of 77 g77 a coalition of seventy seven third world actors who proposed a different model for economic development 59 has explained how admittance of national libera tion movements into the diplomatic conference meetings is tantamount to recognition of their embryonic sovereignty whereas individuals and unaffili ated groups use force for a private purpose the definition of sovereignty is the exclusive use of legitimate force and legitimate force is the force used in the name of the community as a source of order not disorder 60 the plo was among the movements seeking admittance into the confer ence it had established an irregular army in 1966 and its various political factions also had their own military wings its campaign to bring its guerilla warfare against israel within the regulatory scope of international law sought to achieve two things first to challenge the criminalization of its armed struggle as criminal and terroristic by creating new law to accommodate wars of their the combatants own making 61 and second to establish itself as an embryonic sovereign with the ability to exercise a monopoly on violence and a right to use it on behalf of an entire people pragmatic revolutionaries 110 while the plo s bid to join the diplomatic conference was beneficial to palestinian interests it also embodied a risk the additional protocols stood to disadvantage national liberation armed struggles by entrenching the asymmetries of power between a state which has significant military technological capabili ties and guerilla formations which depend on irregular combat tactics to achieve a military advantage 62 western states that supported the initiative saw it as a way to better restrain the use of force by non state actors opponents to it like the united states and israel rejected it because they insisted it would restrain only the states engaged in nonconventional warfare while failing to discipline the military engagement of non state actors the plo was cognizant of these legal impositions 63 daoud barakat who represented the plo s delegation to the conference explains that there was no contradiction for the organization the plo had a formal army with a clear chain of command according to barakat its position was very clear that palestinians were moving towards a state and there was a will ingness to comply with the laws of war 64 nabil shaath a strategic consultant to the plo chairman at this time cautions that in reality the plo did not have a team of experts to handle all these efforts its strategy was to enter into every available space in order to enhance its international standing 65 abi saab agrees with shaath and adds at that time the plo s primary concern was achieving legitimacy of their organization and their cause rather than the technical aspects of it 66 by the close of the first diplomatic conference in june 1974 the plo had succeeded in gaining admittance as a participant observer over the next three years of proceedings the narrow applicability of the additional protocols to nascent states resisting colonialism as opposed to libera tion movements in general became increasingly clear 67 abi saab explains that the original draft of the protocols referred to foreign domination rather than occupation in order to avoid redundancy with the geneva conventions the fourth geneva convention in particular had already contemplated military occupation as a continuation of an international armed conflict and thus had triggered the application of the laws of war in that situation referring to military occupation in the additional protocols could create a legal loophole allowing a combatant to evade the application of the laws of war to situations of occupa tion by rebuffing the supplementary proceedings to the geneva conventions pragmatic revolutionaries 111 but latin american and arab members of the g77 were concerned that the additional protocols would provide legal sanction for dissidents to take up arms against the state in the name of fighting any foreign domination including excessive foreign influence for example the united states which participated in the conference proceedings and simultaneously aimed to undermine them capitalized on this concern and argued that it would ultimately threaten the sovereignty of newly independent states 68 abi saab tried to assuage the fears of reticent states by changing the draft language to make clear that the domination must be there forcefully his efforts failed and the final text of protocol i refers to armed conflicts in which peoples are fighting against colonial domination and alien occupation and against racist regimes in the exercise of their right of self determination 69 the final text of the additional protocols i and ii expanded the applicable scope of the laws of war to those armed conflicts not of an international char acter 70 characterized wars of national liberation as international in character reduced the stringent standards requisite upon combatants to distinguish them selves from civilians 71 and expanded those violations considered war crimes 72 by 1977 a sufficient number of states had ratified the protocols the united states and israel refused to do so and continued to characterize such force as criminal and terroristic 73 the adoption of the additional protocols successfully created new law where none existed in order to legitimate the resort to arms by national liberation movements including the plo this legal work at once legitimated the plo s revolutionary violence against israel and further affirmed the existence of a palestinian nation with the right to self determination it thus exacerbated the tension between its vision for revolution and vision for statehood if a state does not yet exist diplomatic recognition builds the political momentum to bring it into existence 74 and by 1974 the plo possessed several critical elements of sovereign governance it had a parliament national portfolios a national budget armed forces and dip lomatic representatives across the world including western european capitals 75 the move to affirm its juridical status and embryonic sovereignty indicated the plo s ambitions to establish a state even as it insisted on liberation of palestine through armed struggle at the outset of its diplomatic efforts these ambi tions did not appear to be in controversy since the plo sought to establish a pragmatic revolutionaries 112 palestinian state over all of palestine wherein jews could remain as enfranchised citizens rather than settler sovereigns the plo had deliberately avoided establishing a government in exile and declaring itself a state under foreign domination for fear that such a declara tion would delimit its territorial authority and undermine its quest for a single and democratic state 76 demanding a state would also risk signaling de facto recognition of israel and make the plo more vulnerable to political demands by its allies 77 strategically the organization considered a government in exile to be a negotiating chip and did not want to squander it prematurely arafat who supported the concept of a state for example saw the establishment of a government as linked to a political solution 78 to circumvent this challenge the plo did not include a state as part of its diplomatic appeals it could not however unilaterally contain nor define the significance of its formal recognition by states and regional organizations the campaign to obtain an international personality thus remained filled with strategic uncertainty this suited the pragmatists ambitions for a state in the west bank and gaza arafat could not pursue those ambitions because he understood that the political consensus within the plo was against him 79 the ambiguity that inhered in a turn to international law and diplomacy therefore served the pragmatists vision because it implied the creation of a state without specifying its borders the means of its establishment or its relationship to israel it was a grey area that authorized the plo s pragmatists to pursue a political rather than military settlement to the conflict without conceding the plo s hardline position of nonrecognition and nonconciliation however the united states which continued to lead the diplomatic effort had no intention of including the plo in the peace process in an effort to earn a seat at the negotiating table and as a secondary option arafat set his eyes on the united nations 80 the plo goes to the united nations a feda i operation arafat considered un recognition as providing two tangible benefits first it would further consecrate the representative status of the plo and second rec ognition would generate the requisite political pressure for the plo to join the negotiations on its own terms nabil shaath arafat s strategic consultant and a professor at the american university in beirut as well as the director general pragmatic revolutionaries 113 of the palestine planning center a strategic think tank for the plo explains that no one in the plo s top leadership agreed 81 they believed that the un was the source of palestinians problems after all it had proposed partition of palestine failed to realize palestinian self determination normalized israel s jewish zionist settler sovereignty failed to compel israel to allow palestin ian refugees to return and then reified palestinian erasure in security council resolution 242 the un seemed unable to politically resolve the very obstacles to palestinian self determination that it had engendered still and despite its political failures the united nations had managed to deliver humanitarian aid and relief to palestinian refugees through the un relief and works agency unrwa undeterred arafat called shaath to discuss his diplomatic ambitions shaath was reluctant he believed that while the un had the capacity to feed refugees it could not ensure their return moreover he thought the cost of entering negotiations was too high for what could be achieved through diplomacy ac cording to shaath arafat insisted telling him you are a feda i guerilla and i demand you go to the united nations you will get me an invitation and you will join me when i go there this is a feda i operation 82 in august 1974 shaath traveled to new york to lobby the united nations his goal to obtain an invitation for the plo to participate in un meetings though he diverged with arafat on the question of negotiations he believed the un provided a platform where the plo could establish a record that could enhance the palestinian cause globally 83 the plo s new york information of fice having been recently closed after zionist vigilantes physically assaulted its representative sa adat hasan shaath set up shop in the arab league s new york office from there for the next two months he curried support for this brief but pointed resolution the general assembly considering that the palestinian people is the principal party to the question of palestine invites the palestine liberation organization the representative of the pal estinian people to participate in the deliberations of the general assembly on the question of palestine in plenary meetings 84 pragmatic revolutionaries 114 though only one sentence long the proposed resolution introduced several unprecedented elements it affirmed the palestinian people and not arab refu gees as central to the question of palestine it also established the plo and not jordan or the arab league as the representative of the palestinian people the resolution put the question of palestine as opposed to the middle east on the un general assembly s agenda for the first time in that body s history 85 this effectively shifted the conflict from one about tenuous armistice lines between israel and arab states to one about the colonial condition afflicting a palestinian people finally it invited the plo to address the assembly in a plenary meet ing a right reserved only for states in fact the invitation represented an explicit attempt to change the un s procedural rules each week shaath met with an arab ambassador to discuss strategy he used well established relationships to obtain more difficult endorsements fiji for example did not usually attend unga meetings because travel to new york was a prohibitive expenditure knowing that a robust yemeni community existed in fiji shaath convinced the yemeni ambassador to invite fiji s un diplomatic representatives to the assembly and to pay for their travels simi larly shaath worked with iraq to bring bhutan and nepal on board and with lebanon to bring on brazil and argentina where the lebanese diaspora had a significant presence he kept track of his progress with a map of the world and indicated yes votes with a green thumbtack no votes with a red one and undecided states with orange shaath describes his efforts as the most effective lobbying in my life 86 his efficacy had much to do with the balance of power at the united nations in 1974 when algerian foreign minister abdelaziz bouteflika assumed the presi dency of the twenty ninth general assembly he presided over an automatic majority of nonaligned states in a global context of ongoing armed liberation struggles these included wars of liberation in namibia south africa mozam bique angola and cape verde as well as the proxy war between the soviet union and the united states in vietnam algeria emerged as a leader of the global south during and after its own struggle for independence in 1964 the newly independent state succeeded in establishing a development oriented agency in the un three years later it convened the first major meeting of the g77 the g77 as well as the non aligned movement unabashedly criticized pragmatic revolutionaries 115 western powers exploitation of the third world which these powers had pil laged and to which they owed their exceptional wealth 87 algeria strove to lead the nonaligned bloc in the movement to establish a new world order bouteflika carried the flag of this mandate and found resonance within the general assembly karma nabulsi a plo cadre who later represented that organization at the un explained that the nonaligned ambassadors to the multilateral body were leadership cadres who had been trained in their national battles and were now at the un they weren t diplomats and lawyers they were fighters they considered the united nations as another locus of battle 88 the ascendance of the nonaligned bloc within the general assembly threatened to unravel western hegemonic control the plo entered the diplomatic fray in this context the nonaligned bloc had consistently endorsed palestinian self determi nation since the bandung conference in 1955 where it established the non aligned movement 89 the plo itself had allied with revolutionary movements in vietnam and cambodia as well as across africa 90 nabulsi explains that this bloc embraced the plo and guided its cadre on how to approach the un as a battleground 91 in contrast israel allied itself with the west particularly the united states concerned that the united states would drag them into a war in the middle east european states had begun to shift to a position of neutrality this left the united states which waged war on vietnam stymied the fall of apartheid and vied for hegemonic control of southwest africa as israel s sole ally 92 on its own israel had entrenched economic military and diplomatic relations with south africa and portugal israel s alliances with imperial powers helped to consecrate african arab solidarity as early as 1973 the general assembly condemned the unholy alliance between portuguese colonialism south african racism zionism and israeli imperialism 93 when shaath lobbied to pass his bold resolution more than half of the un s member states had no diplomatic relations with israel on 14 october 1974 the general assembly deliberated the resolution which had successfully garnered seventy two co sponsors member states overwhelm ingly supported extending an invitation to the plo and affirming the centrality of the palestinian people to the conflict although some supportive states remained pragmatic revolutionaries 116 reticent and insisted that the plo should address the first committee in order to comply with un procedures 94 their protest was minimal and resolution 3210 passed with 105 votes in favor 20 abstentions and 4 votes against from israel bolivia the dominican republic and the united states 95 with unga resolution 3210 in hand shaath returned to lebanon where arafat appointed him to lead the committee to draft his un speech the com mittee included mahmoud darwish salah khalaf farouq kaddoumi and shafiq al hout among others together they reviewed several drafts before finalizing the text simultaneously the plo continued its efforts to obtain recognition it was particularly concerned about the arab league 96 the national liberation movement had yet to achieve official recognition from the regional body where jordan sustained its challenge to the plo s rep resentational mandate jordan thought it should be responsible for returning the west bank and that the plo should be brought in later to negotiate the rights of the refugees as for representation it wanted to put that question in the form of a referendum to the palestinians on both banks and let them decide after liberation the plo had enhanced its political edge on this question in september 1974 when the head of its political department together with the egyptian and syrian foreign ministers convened in cairo these three parties had issued a tripartite communiqué affirming that an independent palestinian authority is to be established in the palestinian territory that is liberated by political or military means and the parties to this statement agree to continue to support the palestine liberation organization as being the sole legitimate representative of the palestine people and to help it to ensure steadfastness in the occupied territories 97 the terms set out in this communiqué represented a victory over jordan s op position and laid the groundwork for the arab league s summit in rabat in late october 1974 there the arab states now with jordan s acquiescence recognized the plo as the sole legitimate representative of the palestinian people in any palestinian territory that is liberated and reaffirmed the right of the palestin ian people under the plo s command to establish an independent national authority 98 pragmatic revolutionaries 117 the league s endorsement crowned the plo s international campaign for recognition and equipped plo to represent the palestine question on the inter national stage together with the endorsements of the diplomatic conference the non aligned movement and the organization of islamic cooperation as well as the organization of african unity it meant that arafat could go to the united nations to address the international community on behalf of the palestinian people the dream of a single democratic state the un general assembly hall brimmed with energy arafat s address to a ple nary session marked the first time a non state actor had taken the international podium he captured this unique moment by placing the palestine question within a global framework and on behalf of all struggles against imperialism colonialism and economic exploitation he opened with words of welcome and reverence for newly established states in the name of the people of palestine i take this opportunity to congratulate three states that have recently been admitted to membership in the united nations after obtaining their national independence guinea bissau ban gladesh and grenada i extend our best wishes to the leadership of those member states and wish them progress and success 99 arafat then used his un platform to rehearse the history of palestine and to directly address the removal of its native inhabitants and their attendant erasure as a people in doing so he also set up an argument that palestine should be a home to all faiths and not just to judaism he primed the audience for the concept of a single democratic state it pains our people greatly to witness the propagation of the myth that its homeland was a desert until it was made to bloom by the toil of foreign settlers that it was a land without a people and that the colonialist entity caused no harm to any human being no such lies must be exposed from this rostrum for the world must know that palestine was the cradle of the most ancient cultures and civilizations our people continued to pursue pragmatic revolutionaries 118 this enlightened policy until the establishment of the state of israel and their dispersion our people cannot but maintain the heritage of their ances tors in resisting the invaders in assuming the privileged task of defending their native land their arab nationhood their culture and civilization and in safeguarding the cradle of monotheistic religion he then asked the audience why therefore should i not dream and hope for is not revolution the mak ing real of dreams and hopes so let us work together that my dream may be fulfilled that i may return with my people out of exile there in palestine to live with this jewish freedom fighter and his partners this arab priest and his brothers in one democratic state where christian jew and muslim live in justice equality and fraternity 100 fayez abdullah sayegh a palestinian scholar who earned his phd degree at georgetown university in 1949 had inspired the use of dream in this speech to describe the vision of a single state 101 sayegh who had taught at yale oxford the american university and stanford moved to lebanon and established the palestine research center in beirut in 1965 he was deeply affected by the u s civil rights movement and developed a series of analytical texts exploring the settler colonial and racial dimensions of zionism 102 he encouraged the drafting committee to use dr martin luther king jr s framework of a dream for racial justice and equality in the united states to frame the palestinian dream and better appeal to a u s based audience 103 arafat drove this point home directly when he said let us remember that the jews of europe and the united states have been known to lead the struggles for secularism and the separation of church and state they have also been known to fight against discrimination on religious grounds how then can they continue to support the most fanatic discriminatory and closed of nations in its policy 104 arafat brilliantly made the appeal for a secular democracy but according to shaath this was a compromise for the chairman who believed the two state pragmatic revolutionaries 119 solution while not optimal was more pragmatic 105 in some ways arafat laid the groundwork for that option as well arafat framed the emancipatory vision for palestine as the legal right to national self determination that has been consecrated in the united nations charter and has been repeatedly confirmed in resolutions adopted by this au gust body since the drafting of the charter 106 arafat s invocation of the un charter also implied israel s right to enjoy territorial integrity and freedom from external intervention as captured in the charter s first two articles by going to the united nations and turning to international law the plo sought to leverage the very same legal framework and principles that also enshrined and protected israel s sovereignty placing the dream of a single state in the framework of un principles created enough ambiguity for the plo to pursue its ambitions without alienating potential allies or defying the pnc s mandate for the liberation of palestine international legal norms regarding self determination and state sovereignty at once embodied the rights of palestinian freedom and the competing rights of israel s viability and on its own legal doctrine could not resolve this conflict the question would have to be settled politically salah salah a political leader of the popular front for the liberation of palestine had cautioned that the plo should approach the united nations only if it was willing to fight more and militarily resist otherwise the law will be used against us palestinians 107 in november 1974 that military context existed both among palestinian guerilla fighters based in lebanon as well as other fighters throughout the globe in armed liberation movements 108 accordingly arafat ended his rousing speech by emphasizing his role as a militant and the threat of the use of force today i have come bearing an olive branch and a freedom fighter s gun do not let the olive branch fall from my hand i repeat do not let the olive branch fall from my hand war flares up in palestine and yet it is in palestine that peace will be born 109 the general assembly erupted in thunderous applause arafat s reception un settled the united states and israel henry kissinger was furious and warned that the energy curried by the plo chairman was pragmatic revolutionaries 120 likely to turn into a massive onslaught on the united states in another year or two that is totally wrong of the united nations to treat the head of the liberation movement with so much respect 110 israel was in an even worse position the general assembly had voted to limit its ambassador s right of reply to arafat s speech to a single intervention at the end of the day with 75 votes in favor to 23 against and 18 abstentions 111 arafat flew to cuba on that same day leaving shaath and farouq kaddoumi to reap the rewards of the momentum he generated 112 together they laid the groundwork for two additional fundamental un resolutions that edified the juridical status of palestinian peoplehood and affirmed palestinians right to self determination resolution 3236 was a remarkable piece of legal work it established an alter native legal framework for achieving a diplomatic settlement for the palestinian question thus circumventing the constraints imposed earlier by security council resolution 242 general assembly resolution 3236 affirmed the palestinian right to self determination and to national independence and sovereignty as well as the right of refugees to return to their homes and property 113 whereas resolution 242 had negated the existence of a palestinian nation and predicated israeli withdrawal from arab territories on arab nations establishing permanent peace with israel resolution 3236 affirmed palestinian self determination with out preconditions it also left the geographic scope of that self determination vague in order to achieve legal sanction for restoring palestinian sovereignty over the entirety of what had been mandate palestine and not just the west bank and the gaza strip this legal tactic was not lost on other states some supporters of palestinian self determination clarified that their vote did not negate israel s sovereign rights liberia for example voted for the reso lution but its ambassador explained that the basic principles in security council resolutions 242 1967 and 338 1973 still stand we believe the draft resolution lays the groundwork for self determination or independence for the palestinian people with a view to both the state of israel and a palestinian state existing within recognized and secure boundaries in the area 114 pragmatic revolutionaries 121 the norwegian ambassador began by affirming palestinian aspirations and their centrality to resolving the conflict but explained that resolution 242 must be the point of departure for a peace settlement it is essential he explained because it contained the principle of respect for and acknowledgment of the sovereignty territorial integrity and political independence of every state and its right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force which applies to every state including israel 115 norway voted against the resolution the ambassador representing barbados understood that the palestinian people exist but raised concerns about whether palestine referred to the west bank and jordan or to the geopolitical area which is now occupied by the state of israel jamil murad baroody the saudi arabian ambassador raised a point of order reflecting the position of many afro asian countries he explained that palestine refers to that geographical entity which was defined by the league of nations in the covenant and placed under a british mandate 116 baroody s remarks contradicted claims that resolution 3236 designated the occupied territories as the site of palestinian self determination the general assembly never resolved this ambiguity it passed the resolution with 89 votes in favor 8 against and 37 abstentions whereas resolution 3236 provided a legal route for the plo to pursue a diplomatic resolution on its own terms resolution 3237 definitively settled the question of palestinian peoplehood and representation it invited the plo to be a nonmember observer in the united nations and authorized it to participate in all work and sessions of the general assembly 117 this resolution afforded the plo all rights of a member state with the exception of the right to vote such a status had hitherto been limited to nonmember states like the vatican and to certain regional organizations like the organization of african unity as such resolution 3237 also espoused the tension between the plo s revolutionary mandate and its pursuit of a state the united kingdom protested because the plo is not the government of an existing state it has not been recognized by anybody as the government of a state it does not purport to be one and yet the plo is being treated as though it were a member state of the united nations 118 pragmatic revolutionaries 122 the british ambassador cautioned that the precedent would bring into question the nature of the united nations as it has hitherto been accepted 119 the over whelming majority of the general assembly disagreed as put most succinctly by the philippines delegation un recognition of the plo followed a series of significant precedents these included the plo s participation as an observer delegation to the un conference on the law of the sea in august 1974 and its recognition by the league of arab states as the sole and legitimate representative of the palestinian people 120 the assembly passed resolution 3237 demonstrat ing once again the lawmaking authority of the global south the plo successfully created new law to establish its legal status as a nation entitled to self determination without specifying whether it would be realized in place of israel or in the territories it occupied together resolutions 3236 and 3237 provided the plo and particularly its pragmatic elements the legal framework to participate in a peace process without having to recognize or negotiate with israel and on a basis other than security council resolution 242 south african legacies zionism is a form of racism following its momentous achievements in 1974 the plo embarked on a mul tifaceted strategy that sustained its policy of revolutionary struggle and statist appeals mcmurtrie godley then the u s ambassador to lebanon described the plo s approach as borrowing from the north vietnamese model of talk ing while fight ing 121 on the diplomatic plane the plo continued to establish its presence in all un specialized agencies as well as multilateral organizations including the international telecommunications union the world health or ganization the international labor organization the universal postal union the international civil aviation organization and the un economic and social council ecosoc 122 it also embarked on a campaign to exclude israel on the heels of the plo s strong showing at the united nations the united nations educational scientific and cultural organization unesco voted to withhold aid from israel and to exclude that state from its european regional group 123 exclusion as a strategic tactic imbued resolutions 3236 and 3237 with substantive meaning as a bid to supplant rather than complement israeli sovereignty the united states withheld its funding of the un agency in protest but failed to reverse the decision the plo s move within unesco was the pragmatic revolutionaries 123 beginning of a much bolder campaign to unseat israel from the general as sembly following the south african model in november of 1974 under abdelaziz bouteflika s leadership the general assembly had suspended south africa as a member state doing so required changing the rules of the united nations since 1965 the general assembly led by african states had rejected south africa s un credentials owing to that state s violation of un charter principles failure to represent the majority of south africans and institutionalized racial discrimination 124 the general assembly could not however expel south africa from the un as questions of member ship are within the exclusive purview of the security council 125 in 1974 the security council considered expelling south africa from the un at eleven of its meetings but the united states the united kingdom and france opposed the initiative arguing that expulsion should be an absolute last resort to overcome the council s intransigence bouteflika put forward the interpretation that the rejection of a state s credentials effectively suspended its membership western states protested that this decision violated the un charter the general assembly led by a coalition of african asian and arab states sustained bouteflika s deci sion by vote of 91 to 22 with 10 abstentions in effect bouteflika established a precedent that the general assembly could suspend a member state by an unga presidential ruling without a recommendation from the security council 126 daniel moynihan then u s ambassador noted that while the general assembly decision contravened un law no one wanted to defend apartheid and so the other member states accepted the defeat 127 the plo took inspiration from south africa s suspension and began to mobilize a similar move against israel in july 1975 it developed the momentum for this campaign at the islamic conference of foreign ministers in jeddah with thirty nine heads of state in attendence 128 the organization of islamic cooperation endorsed the move the plo next set its sights on the organiza tion of african unity summit that was to be held in kampala uganda in early august the issue proved extremely contentious egypt which had raised no objections to the proposal in jeddah emerged as the primary force of opposition within the organization of african unity meeting egypt had entered into its first interim peace agreement with is rael negotiated by the united states in early 1975 it feared that an arab led pragmatic revolutionaries 124 initiative to unseat israel would undermine its ability to recoup the sinai through diplomacy and more generally would sour its relations with the united states 129 in addition to egyptian opposition several black african states withheld their support in protest of limited arab aid to the continent s poorest countries whose financial crisis had deepened as a result of the quadrupling of oil prices 130 as a compromise position the organization of african unity adopted a resolu tion to reinforce the pressure exerted on israel at the united nations and its specialized agencies including the possibility of eventually depriving it of its membership 131 the expulsion of israel nevertheless remained a real possibility as the non aligned movement planned to address it at its conference in lima peru in late august 132 in peru the ministerial meeting of eighty developing states granted full membership to the plo and welcomed it to the nam coordinating commit tee peru s president who was chairing the nam meeting told three hundred cheering delegates that he hoped the palestinians would soon have their own state 133 despite this enthusiasm the body failed to endorse a resolution to expel israel in addition to internal conflicts egypt once again emerged as the primary force of opposition the plo s pragmatist camp viewed the expulsion initiative as enhancing its chances of being invited to negotiate for the return of palestinian lands to that end the mere threat of israel s expulsion was beneficial the problem according to anis fawzi kassem a legal scholar and later adviser to the plo was that no one could answer the question of how the plo should translate its legal achievements into diplomatic victories 134 the plo s pragmatists tried to do just that by indicating the movement s readiness for a compromise and its eagerness to open a direct channel with the united states 135 in a may 1975 meeting with democratic senator howard baker arafat tried to assuage u s concerns about the plo by explaining that the goal for a single democratic state for jews and arabs was not a short term dream and that palestinians would be willing to establish a state on any land israel can be gotten to give up even gaza 136 u s state department and national security council officials urged the gerald ford administration to enter into negotiations with the plo but kissinger remained firmly opposed to its inclusion pragmatic revolutionaries 125 in september 1975 kissinger entered into an agreement with israel that directly rebuffed the threats embodied by resolution 3236 in preparation for the second egyptian israeli interim peace agreement kissinger oversaw the establishment of the memorandum of understanding mou between israel and the united states the mou conditioned negotiations with the plo on the plo s acceptance of three demands recognition of israel renunciation of armed violence and acceptance of resolutions 242 and 338 moreover the united states conditioned the participation of any possible additional state group or organization on the acquiescence of the initial participants effectively giving israel veto power over the plo s participation should it accept the terms of the 1975 mou 137 on the same day egypt and israel signed their second interim peace agree ment or sinai ii it reaffirmed a commitment to a comprehensive ceasefire and stipulated that neither side would resort to military force the threat of the use of force or a military blockade against the other side 138 the agreement effectively neutralized egypt as a potential military threat the following month egypt entered into a large scale economic aid package with the united states that cemented its shift from moscow to washington egypt s military neutralization and pivot towards u s tutelage indelibly transformed the geopolitical balance of power and further reduced pressure on israel to deal with the plo 139 the regional euphoria evident in the aftermath of the 1973 war was quickly fading in the year since the triumphant passage of resolution 3236 israel contractually secured u s assurances to maintain its regional prowess and sig nificantly diminished its regional military threats in an effort to recalibrate the balance of power the plo together with the nonaligned bloc intensified their un activities when the general assembly reconvened in september 1975 in response to intransigent u s opposition to the plo s participation in negotia tions the general assembly passed resolution 3375 calling for plo inclusion in all efforts deliberations and conferences on the middle east which are held under the auspices of the united nations on an equal footing with other parties on the basis of resolution 3236 140 gravely concerned that no progress had been achieved to fulfill palestinian rights in the intervening year the as sembly also established the un committee on the inalienable rights of the palestinian people 141 pragmatic revolutionaries 126 within a year the committee submitted a proposal of implementation to the un security council it included a two phase plan for the return and restitution of palestinian refugees displaced in 1948 and 1967 a timetable for the withdrawal of israeli forces from the west bank and gaza the presence of a temporary peacekeeping force to protect palestinian civilians the temporary stewardship of the west bank and gaza by the un and the arab league until these territories could be handed over to the plo the cessation of all israeli settlement activity the recognition by israel of the applicability of the fourth geneva convention to the occupied territories and the creation of all means necessary to establish the self determination and independence of the palestin ian people the united states would exercise its security council veto to quash this resolution in june 1976 142 all of the nam s collective power and all the momentum of the global anticolonial movement failed to alter the geopolitical realities that the united states engendered and sustained the nam did not relent during a un general assembly session in 1975 cuba south yemen libya somalia and syria jointly introduced an amend ment to a resolution regarding the decade for action to combat racism and racial discrimination decade against racism in a meeting of the third committee african states had initiated the decade against racism to further delegitimize the apartheid regime in south african and namibia other efforts included the drafting of the convention on the suppression and punishment of the crime of apartheid which was approved by the un general assem bly in 1973 and came into force in 1976 143 the nonaligned coalition sought to amend the decade against racism so that wherever the terms apartheid racism colonialism racial discrimination and alien domination appeared the word zionism would be inserted into the text as well they also proposed to add a new operative paragraph that considered zionism as a form of racial discrimination to be included in the decade 144 having failed to achieve the requisite support to unseat israel from the united nations the nonaligned bloc strove to delegitimize israel s constitutive ideology and expel it by other means this would lead to tabling resolution 3379 declaring that zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination the plo did not lead this initiative but did approve it 145 palestine research center founder fayez sayegh who now represented kuwait to the united na tions suggested the idea to the kuwaiti foreign minister sheikh sabah al pragmatic revolutionaries 127 ahmad the minister encouraged him and pledged full support 146 as part of his scholarly pursuits sayegh had developed a rigorous racial analysis and legal argument demonstrating the applicability of the 1965 un international convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination to israeli policies and more generally zionism 147 sayegh participated in the committee deliberations on the resolution making his case in these words zionism essentially vests certain rights very important rights in some people and denies them to others for example it says that a jew simply by virtue of being a jew has a right to return to the palestinian ter ritories occupied by israel even if he had never been there before but it also says that his compatriot a non jew has no such right and that the indigenous palestinian arab dislodged in 1948 or 1967 also has no such right because he is not a jew here we have a clear cut case of distinctions preferences exclusions and restrictions that is to say of discrimina tion based solely on the basis of whether a person is or is not a jew and jewishness all zionists would agree is a national ethnic bond it is under israeli law determined for the vast majority of the persons involved by birth and ancestry therefore in accordance with the authoritative united nations definition the discrimination which is inherent in zionism is in contestably a form of racial discrimination for it is based on descent or national origin or ethnic origin all of which are subsumed under the generic concept of race 148 sayegh did not limit his racial analysis of zionism to the distinctions between jews and non jews but explored how zionism produced racial stratification among jews themselves he explained like a cancer racism has a propensity for expansion it defies containment having adopted a racist approach towards non jews zionism soon came to draw a color line or a racial line among the jews themselves the zionist myth of one jewish people was exploded as soon as jews from different cultural ethnic and racial backgrounds were assembled together oriental jews and black jews found themselves subject to discrimination by other jews i e by the jews of the white jewish establishment 149 pragmatic revolutionaries 128 the proposed resolution caused a tremendous uproar declaring zionism to be a form of racism would reconfigure the arab israeli conflict from a peace making imperative aimed at reconciling israel s establishment and palestinian national self determination to an antisubjugation imperative wrought by zion ist settler colonization as a structure in the latter case it would no longer be sufficient to reform israel and call upon it to withdraw from arab territories instead zionist laws policies and institutions would have to be dismantled resolution 3379 sought to dismantle jewish national supremacy as a political structure predicated upon the removal forced exile dispossession second class status and elision of the palestinian people unlike resolution 3236 which was ambiguous as to the future of jewish zionist settler sovereignty resolution 3379 unequivocally rejected it western states saw this move as unnecessarily aggressive and divisive 150 livid the uk ambassador exclaimed it risks bringing this whole organization into disrepute it is exactly the wrong issue raised in the wrong way and at the wrong time and we will have none of it at all 151 of the thirty eight black african un member states five opposed the reso lution and twelve abstained they espoused reasonable concerns that the resolu tion undermined global support for the decade against racism the resolution on zionism was a single part of a three part proposal part one condemned the apartheid regime in south africa and part two supported a world conference against racism to be convened in ghana introduction of part three which condemned zionism as racism dramatically diminished western support for the entire resolution western states were prepared to condemn antiblack rac ism especially in south africa and namibia but were reticent in regard to the question of zionist domination of palestinian arabs in fact inclusion of the question of palestine in the decade against racism provided a useful pretext for western states to withdraw their support entirely this concerned african states especially for example zambia had no diplomatic relations with israel and condemned its expansionist policies and the racial overtones of its ac tivities in the occupied arab territories despite its support of the resolution s substance zambia abstained on the resolution because of its dedication to the total success of the decade and does not therefore welcome anything that would detract from this 152 pragmatic revolutionaries 129 the general assembly passed resolution 3379 with a vote of 72 for includ ing egypt 35 against and 32 abstentions the united states and israel were shaken members of the u s congress introduced dozens of bills to reduce u s financial contributions to the united nations 153 the nonaligned bloc s interven tion in the multilateral institution on behalf of palestinians was so successful that the jewish telegraph agency commented for israel 1975 could not have ended too soon 154 the resolution on zionism was a hard won victory but in the shadows of a failed attempt to unseat israel from the united nations it demonstrated the potential as well as the limits of un advocacy the limits of un advocacy at the end of 1975 the plo continued its precedent setting strides and became the first non state entity to formally participate in a un security council dis cussion the security council invited it to participate after israel launched an aerial bombing campaign against palestinian refugee camps in southern leba non that killed over fifty civilians 155 the plo s participation contravened un charter procedures demonstrating yet again the nonaligned bloc s ability to rewrite un rules 156 the move infuriated western powers which considered that bloc s lawmaking capacity a destabilizing threat to their dominance kiss inger alleged that ideological confrontation bloc voting and new attempts to manipulate the charter to achieve unilateral ends threaten to turn the united nations into a weapon of political warfare 157 nonetheless the plo and its allies failed to leverage these gains to their ultimate advantage because of geo political developments matters had become worse for the plo upon syria s intervention in the lebanese civil war in april 1975 tensions between some sectors of the lebanese government together with its christian militias on the one hand and the radical left lebanese national movement and the plo on the other reached a head the plo had succeeded in pushing the lebanese army out of the palestinian refugee camps in 1969 and in 1975 the lebanese national movement seemed to be on the cusp of grasping control of the state 158 its success had the potential to significantly enhance palestinian efforts to militarily confront israel and or apply the requisite pressure to enter negotiations then syria intervened to crush the radical insurgency syrian president hafez asad was intent on leveraging syria s pragmatic revolutionaries 130 control over various forces within lebanon in the service of his broader goal of a comprehensive strategic balance with israel 159 asad s control ensured that neither the lebanese right nor the left would enhance the risk posed by israel in the former scenario the right wing alliance risked paving a path for an israeli offensive in the latter uncalculated moves by a radical militant lebanese and palestinian coalition allied with iraq and libya could drag syria into a premature and costly confrontation with israel 160 acting with u s and arab approval syria launched a military campaign that reestablished the rule of a delegitimized lebanese state 161 the syrian intervention compounded the fracturing of arab solidarity that was already a reality with such events as egypt s turn to the united states and jordan s expulsion of the plo in 1970 arafat was personally disturbed and signaled an even greater willingness to compromise than in the past 162 the thirteenth session of the palestinian national council convened in march 1977 and formally endorsed the plo s participation in negotiations based on resolution 3236 this signaled a victory for the plo s pragmatist camp which sought to achieve a diplomatic resolution 163 in june 1977 things appeared more hopeful for the plo as u s president jimmy carter s administration affirmed the right to a homeland for the palestinians in a brief diplomatic détente the united states and the plo agreed to enter into negotiations based on se curity council resolution 242 so long as it was amended to reflect palestinian national rights the carter administration proposed that rather than amend the resolution the plo should accept it with reservations the plo insisted on an amendment and arafat instructed a committee to draft various formulations 164 anwar sadat s surprise visit to jerusalem in november 1977 would abruptly halt this diplomatic breakthrough without securing a resolution to the palestin ian question in his negotiations with israel sadat directly addressed the israeli knesset and told its members we really and truly welcome you to live among us in peace and security 165 arab states reacted severely they convened in tripoli and established a diplomatic and economic boycott of egypt 166 the regional backlash placed intense pressure on the plo to align itself with an arab coalition opposed to egypt and limited its ability to pursue an independent diplomatic resolution these shifting tides signaled a retreat from the pragmatist platform and a win for the rejectionist front 167 at the united nations in response to yet another pragmatic revolutionaries 131 u s veto in the security council the general assembly established a permanent secretariat for palestinian rights 168 thus the tug of war between the nonaligned bloc and the west at the united nations continued but failed to alter the regional balance of power that sustained palestinian subjugation the camp david ac cords reached in 1978 and 1979 which established a permanent peace between egypt and israel cemented this political impasse the egyptian israeli peace process fleshed out an autonomy framework for limited palestinian self rule in the west bank and the gaza strip the first part of the accords the framework for peace in the middle east 1978 proposed a five year interim phase in which to establish a self governing authority and a permanent status phase to be inaugurated by the third year of the interim ar rangement the final status agreement would be consecrated in a peace treaty between israel and jordan 169 the stipulation of establishing a treaty with jordan acting as the palestinians representative reflected israel s enduring denial of palestinian claims of a right to national self determination in its agreement with egypt israel contemplated dealing with palestin ians but not a palestinian people the latter would imply the establishment of an independent state whereas the former implied dealings with a scattered polity with whom a host of arrangements could be conceived including a self governing authority in line with this logic the framework for peace deliberately excluded reference to palestinians in the diaspora and to the plo in particular instead it refers to representatives of the inhabitants of the west bank and gaza 170 resolutions 3236 3237 and 3379 were seemingly impotent in the face of egyptian israeli bilateral arrangements menachem begin the israeli prime minister negotiating this peace with egypt was not coy about his intentions he made it known that he did not be lieve palestinians were a people rather they were just palestinian arabs residing in judea samaria and the gaza district 171 moreover should the framework for peace be implemented he planned to announce israeli sovereignty over the west bank and the gaza strip at the end of the five year transition period and to refuse a return of east jerusalem a return to the 1967 borders and the establishment of a palestinian state in a speech to jewish leaders in new york in september 1978 begin repeated israel s legal argument for rejecting resolu tion 242 s prohibition on the acquisition of territory by force he explained that pragmatic revolutionaries 132 because the prohibition is found in the resolution s preamble it has no binding force moreover in a war of self defense begin continued it is the golden rule under international law that territorial changes are not only permissible but necessary 172 in october 1978 in response to the framework for peace palestinians in the west bank and the gaza strip convened national congresses in their respective territories both congresses deploying the slogan no to self government yes to the plo formally rejected and condemned the camp david agreement 173 in november 1978 the plo along with the participants at that year s arab league summit in baghdad also categorically rejected the framework for peace while rejecting the autonomy framework the summit participants did gesture positively towards conciliation with israel they endorsed israeli withdrawal from the west bank and the gaza strip and the establishment of a palestinian state thereby signaling de facto recognition of israel 174 nothing came of the summit s conciliatory overtures or of the camp david agreement sadat signed the peace treaty without exacting assurances regarding the west bank and the gaza strip though he demanded them in an exchange of letters with begin 175 shortly thereafter an egyptian member of the islamic jihad assassinated sadat leaving israel to implement its version of autonomy in the territories the begin government was determined to establish limited palestinian au tonomy in order to mute palestinian claims of a right to self determination and to undermine the plo it embarked on plans to establish a civilian administra tion in the occupied territories menachem milson who was an adviser on arab affairs to the israeli military government in the west bank and gaza and later headed the civil administration of judea and samaria headed these efforts and offered local palestinian leaders the responsibility of assuming all civil functions of the administration hanan ashrawi a comparative literature scholar who had established the department of english at birzeit university in the west bank and was a prominent activist was among the leaders milson approached she recalls rejecting his invitation by explaining we are perfectly capable of running our lives you can leave and we can run our lives we want to be free and not under the employment of the pragmatic revolutionaries 133 occupation what we want is for you to leave us alone we are not col laborators we are not going to accept any functional responsibilities while you maintain the power 176 in addition to appointing moderate local leaders to lead these adminis trative bodies the begin government established village leagues palestinian local councils empowered by israel to govern and suppress palestinian protests alongside the israeli army palestinians in the territories revolted against the village leagues and the civil administration leading to violent and deadly con frontations between march and april of 1982 begin s efforts to install limited autonomy led by a moderate and collaborator class of palestinian local leaders had failed 177 in june 1982 israel invaded lebanon with the aim of destroying and routing the plo 178 israeli forces marching from southern lebanon arrived at beirut within eight days and established a peace treaty with syria ending the hostili ties israel then remained in lebanon however and laid siege to beirut in areas where the plo and lebanese national paramilitary forces remained and where they withstood a concerted attack for nearly three months israel did not succeed in crushing the plo but did force its withdrawal by 30 august 1982 arafat and approximately 4 000 palestinians were evacuated from beirut under the supervision of a multinational force and taken to athens greece the plo eventually established a new headquarters in tunis tunisia the impact of this juncture cannot be overstated several palestinian political parties and primarily the popular front for the liberation of palestine believed that the evacuation from beirut was merely a setback that did not require a reevaluation of strategy however the mainstream plo leadership considered it a more decisive blow to its banner of armed struggle 179 the evacuation from lebanon deprived the plo of its territorial base and with it a vast sociopolitical structure this included the 300 000 to 400 000 palestinian refugees who had fulfilled the plo s military and administrative demands and had constituted a vibrant political base that animated the national liberation movement 180 forced removal from beirut gutted the organization of its structure fractured its base and spread its leadership across nine countries 181 additionally despite several notable exceptions armed struggle fell into abeyance egypt syria and jordan pragmatic revolutionaries 134 posed no risk of a conventional war against israel and with the plo removed to tunis its ability to launch cross border attacks was all but extinguished significantly weakened the mainstream plo leadership began to pivot towards arab governments that enjoyed friendly relations with the united states in an effort to establish their own direct contacts from late 1982 onwards the plo s primary activity led by arafat himself became diplomatic in nature with the goal of negotiations the beginning of the first palestinian uprising or intifada in december 1987 would consolidate the resolve of the plo s mainstream leadership to establish a diplomatic resolution this massive civil uprising shifted the locus of palestinian authority from the diaspora to the west bank and gaza and threatened the relevance of the plo a series of other developments in the late eighties and early nineties would increasingly unravel the plo s authority and diminish its leverage within less than four years of the start of the intifada the united states and the soviet union presented an almost identical version of the failed autonomy framework originally proposed by begin and sadat to the palestinians again this time the palestinians agreed to entertain the proposal thus planting the seeds for the oslo peace process and finally resolving the uncertainty and tension regarding the plo s strategic vision and the geographic scope of palestinian self determination pragmatic revolutionaries chapter 4 the oslo peace process so first of all let us call the agreement by its real name an instrument of palestinian surrender a palestinian versailles what makes it worse is that for at least the past fifteen years the plo could have negotiated a better arrangement than this modified allon plan one not requiring so many unilateral concessions to israel edward said the morning after october 1993 on 8 december 1987 an israeli driver of an israeli tractor trailer ploughed head on into two vans transporting palestinian workers on their way back from israel to gaza killing four palestinians 1 the next day israeli forces shot dead hatem abu sisi a seventeen year old protestor among the crowd of palestin ians mourning the dead and protesting the arbitrary nature of their killing 2 these lethal confrontations unfolded in the twentieth year of israel s military occupation and in the context of mounting confrontations between palestinians and the israeli army across the gaza strip and the west bank israel s attempts to forcefully quell the protests backfired the clashes across both territories escalated culminating in a sustained grassroots uprising known as the intifada civil disobedience strategies including the boycott of israeli economic goods and institutions characterized the broad based protest movement though seem ingly spontaneous the eruption of the uprising came on the heels of a decade of mass based organizing students women professionals in many areas and laborers responded to palestinian ambitions for independence by combining national and social liberation the palestinian civilians under occupation made 136 themselves ungovernable decentralized popular and national committees orga nized communities to meet their own needs from creating alternative economies schooling day care centers and ways of ensuring food security to promoting social and political consciousness to sustain the intifada 3 broad based and inclusive the uprising featured boys and girls as well as young men and women throwing stones burning tires and hurling molotov cocktails the israeli army responded forcefully yitzhak rabin then israel s defense minister instructed soldiers to break the bones of children caught throwing stones 4 the swedish branch of save the children documented that by 1989 nearly 30 000 children had required medical treatment 5 israel s response to palestinian resistance highlighted the asymmetry of power and violence between the state and the people under its occupation and this response took place before the watchful gaze of international news cameras and reporters the intifada proved to be a watershed in the palestinian struggle for freedom israel s systematic and decades long domination of palestinians was revealed as not viable this shift compelled israel and the united states to reevaluate their trenchant opposition to negotiations with palestinians in the midst of the uprising u s secretary of state george shultz developed a proposal for a short timetable for negotiations based on un security council resolutions 242 and 338 6 shultz made repeated appeals to palestinian leaders in the ter ritories who consistently responded that the proper channel for discussion was the palestine liberation organization 7 in his capacity as defense minister rabin s mandate was to find ways to end the intifada his attempts to use brute force and offer palestinians limited autonomy as opposed to national liberation failed his inability to squash the uprising brutally together with diminished army morale eventually softened rabin s harsh stance towards direct negotia tions with palestinians and he proposed entering into talks with a palestinian delegation to be determined by local elections in may 1989 israel subsequently amended and adopted this plan marking the first time israel had recognized that the future of the territories had to be determined with palestinians and not other arab states 8 initial israeli and u s overtures resulted in track two negotiations between palestinian and israeli representatives the meetings at this informal level re vealed the vast gap between the parties palestinians demanded recognition of the oslo peace process 137 their right to self determination and independence the most israel was willing to concede was the establishment of limited self rule and truncated political and economic rights the 1990 gulf war helped break this impasse and catalyzed the middle east peace conference in early august 1990 iraqi president saddam hussein led his country s inva sion and occupation of kuwait claiming that the mandate system had arbitrarily separated this territory from the rest of iraq 9 the united states established an international coalition to defend kuwait with thirty nine countries including egypt bahrain morocco oman qatar saudi arabia syria and the united arab emirates taking part 10 believing that the international coalition would not intervene arafat supported iraq the u s led coalition s swift defeat of iraqi forces and the liberation of kuwait left the plo financially vulnerable and politically isolated kuwait expelled 400 000 palestinians in retaliation for their leadership s support of the iraqi occupation diminishing a significant source of remittances to palestinians in the territories as well as to the plo 11 the coali tion s victory in the gulf war also enhanced u s status in the middle east although it left the united states with a diplomatic debt owed to those arab states that had joined the coalition against iraq 12 the united states sought to leverage this heightened influence and pay its debt by embarking on a regional peace process by the end of the war the u s navy had come to directly control the persian gulf thus diminishing israel s value as a military force and a u s proxy in the region 13 the soviet union had also collapsed and israel s prime minister at the time yitzhak shamir sought u s support to absorb nearly one million russian jews 14 the bush administration threatened to withhold 10 billion usd in loan guarantees to support israel s absorption of russian jews if israel did not initiate a settlement freeze it would be the only time the united states applied pres sure on israel throughout the peace process believing that it stood to lose more than it could gain if it opposed u s efforts shamir signaled his willingness to participate in the peace process 15 the united states together with the soviet union formally initiated the middle east peace conference with a letter of invitation to the parties to convene in madrid in late october 1991 the objective of the process was real peace between israel syria lebanon jordan and the palestinians just the oslo peace process 138 as henry kissinger had disaggregated the arab israeli talks in 1978 intend ing to establish separate treaties between each country and israel in order to then impose a peace agreement on the palestinians none of these negotiations between israel and each of the other countries would be linked moreover palestinians would be allowed to join the proceedings only as part of a joint jordanian palestinian delegation 16 according to the madrid letter of invita tion the process with the palestinians would proceed in two stages the first would establish interim self government arrangements in the occupied terri tory over the course of five years the second would commence no later than the beginning of the third year of autonomous self governance and would decide the permanent status of more controversial issues such as palestinian refugees israeli settlements and jerusalem these terms were disadvantageous to palestinian interests indeed the con tours for palestinian israeli peace talks articulated by the united states in 1991 reflected nearly verbatim the 1978 framework for peace in the middle east agreed at camp david between egypt and israel including the two stage process consisting of an interim agreement followed by permanent peace more significantly the renewed overtures for peace did not correct the fundamental elision of palestinian peoplehood like the framework it excluded the plo as the national representative body and sought to enter into negotiations with palestinians from the west bank and gaza but only as a derivative of a jordanian delegation in addition despite israel s repeated and repeatedly failed attempts since the late seventies to establish local self governing palestinian institutions at the height of the intifada the united states once again offered this arrange ment to palestinians via the peace talks in madrid palestinians accepted the invitation to madrid as did israel the united states sent each party a letter of assurances establishing the terms of the peace talks the terms exacerbated the structural imbalance of power that encumbered the palestinian people although they stipulated that the talks be based on un security council resolutions 242 and 338 this was no guarantee of palestinian independence recall that since 1967 israel had insisted that resolution 242 did not mandate complete withdrawal from the territories to the 1949 armistice lines instead based on a legal loophole in the text israel had claimed it could establish new borders based on its security interests and withdraw from a mere the oslo peace process 139 fraction of the territories so long as its negotiating partner agreed the united states accepted israel s interpretation as legitimate now in its 1991 letter to israel the united states explained that in accordance with its traditional policy the united states does not support the creation of an independent palestin ian state neither does it support the continuation of the israeli rule or annexation of the occupied territories 17 in its letter to the palestinians the united states put this issue another way stating that it believed the israeli occupation should end and that palestinians should gain control over political economic and other decisions that affect their lives and fate 18 in both iterations the united states sought an end to israeli domination that did not necessarily result in the establishment of a palestinian state it sought to establish palestinian autonomy the limited horizon of u s peace efforts was not lost on the palestinian people or on their formal leadership still the palestinian national council pnc the body responsible for decision making on behalf of the plo voted to participate in the negotiations at its twentieth session in september 1991 why would the pnc endorse a dismal autonomy framework it had fervently rejected since the late seventies simply put by the late eighties the plo had become relatively weak the rise of alternative palestinian leadership in the west bank and gaza together with several regional shifts had severely diminished the plo s authority the decision to enter into the negotiations represented the vulnerability of the national body but not necessarily of the palestinians or their cause the plo strove to save itself over the course of these negotiations it managed to do that but at a very high cost the intifada provided the plo with a legal opportunity to leverage international law and norms including those it had helped to establish in its pursuit of palestinian self determination it could have used those legal instru ments to demand better negotiating terms and or as a defensive tool to resist israel s demands it did neither due to a lack of appreciation for the law s utility and risk as well as a general political miscalculation the plo failed to take advantage of this juncture and surrendered some of its most significant legal achievements attained throughout the 1970s instead israel successfully used the peace process to consolidate its control of the west bank and the gaza strip with palestinian acquiescence the oslo peace process 140 the plo s steady decline the expulsion of the plo from lebanon in 1982 marked the beginning of the organization s steady decline this monumental juncture geographically frag mented its leadership gutted its sociopolitical apparatus in lebanon and limited its ability to launch cross border raids into israel the advent of the intifada then shifted the nucleus of palestinian authority to the site of the mass civil uprisings in the west bank and gaza and this further diluted the plo s relevance pal estinian leaders in the territories included hanan ashrawi a prominent activist and scholar who established the department of english at birzeit university faisal husseini the son of abd al qadr al husseini who had led palestinian armed forces until his death in 1948 and had established himself as a leader in his own right in jerusalem and haidar abdelshafi a physician based in the gaza strip and a highly revered national leader eager to diminish the plo s role israel the united states and now several gulf monarchies sought to cre ate an alternative leadership structure that these individuals and others in the occupied territories would head 19 in addition several arab regimes sought to diplomatically isolate and exclude the liberation movement in response to its support for iraq s occupation of kuwait 20 mounting external overtures to supplant the plo troubled its mainstream leadership 21 individual leaders in the west bank and gaza were not the only palestinians who threatened the plo s authority in early december 1987 shortly after the beginning of the intifada leaders of the muslim brotherhood in gaza includ ing sheikh ahmed yasin who took the brotherhood s helm in 1965 and abdel aziz al rantisi who led its islamic center held an emergency meeting at which they established harakat al muqawama al islamiyya better known by its acronym hamas in order to join the intifada 22 this decision marked a dramatic break for the islamic organization between its establishment in 1946 and up until that evening in december 1987 the brotherhood in gaza had explicitly avoided entering the national liberation movement and had instead committed itself wholly to nurturing an islamic spiritual revival 23 when fathi shaqaqi a former member of the brotherhood established the palestinian islamic jihad in the early 1980s he directly challenged the brother hood s apolitical program while shaqaqi knew he could not compete against the brotherhood for adherents he sought to embarrass and outdo them where they the oslo peace process 141 had no agenda at all the resistance of israel s occupation regime islamic jihad and plo armed attacks against israeli military installations inspired the young members of the brotherhood and the islamic center in particular in response to their entreaties to adopt a resistance platform sheikh yasin insisted it was premature and that all attempts would be doomed to failure 24 instead during this time the islamic center the embryonic organization of hamas competed with secular and nationalist palestinian parties to control the palestinian political scene in gaza and the west bank the brotherhood s focus remained internally centered until 1986 by then the number of mosques that the islamic center controlled had doubled from 77 in 1967 to 150 25 in response to pressures resulting from islamic jihad s mounting attacks sheikh yasin began to build a security apparatus to enhance the brotherhood s domestic standing as well as to directly confront israel the beginning of the palestinian intifada in 1987 became the opportunity for the islamic center to launch its military campaign under the auspices of hamas 26 its entry into the political fray in the context of the intifada was swift and resolute taking aim at israel as well as the plo in august 1988 hamas adopted a national charter and committed itself to a holy war or jihad against israel for the sake of recovering custodianship of palestine which it described as an islamic waqf consecrated for future moslem generations until judgment day 27 hamas made no secret of its aversion for the plo which it refused to join in its charter it acknowledged the national structure but criticized the plo for its secular character the day the palestinian liberation organization adopts islam as its way of life we will become its soldiers and fuel for its fire that will burn the en emies until such a day and we pray to allah that it will be soon the islamic resistance movement s stand towards the plo is that of the son towards his father the brother towards his brother and the relative to relative suffers his pain and supports him in confronting the enemies wishing him to be wise and well guided 28 meanwhile the ongoing intifada and the asymmetries of power on display between israel and the palestinian people forced the united states and israel to reconsider their obstinate position on the palestinian question in the summer the oslo peace process 142 of 1988 u s secretary of state shultz finally relented and began an indirect dialogue with the plo on the possibility of a peace conference he again em phasized the united states three preconditions for embarking on negotiations established in the 1975 memorandum of understanding with israel recogni tion of israel negotiations with israel and a renunciation of armed violence 29 this u s overture represented a new and welcome opportunity to demon strate the plo s relevance in november 1988 the pnc convened its nineteenth summit in algiers where it conceded to all three preconditions it disavowed armed struggle accepted israel as geopolitical reality and endorsed negotia tions with israel this endorsement was one in a series of similar decisions that reflected a profound transformation in palestinian thinking 30 in the same week the pnc also adopted the palestinian declaration of independence authored by the palestinian poet mahmoud darwish endorsing the establishment of a palestinian state in the west bank and the gaza strip with east jerusalem as its capital 31 the declaration drew on two elements of international law article 22 of the league of nations covenant 1919 prom ising independence to the palestinian people and un resolution 181 1947 recommending the partition of palestine into a jewish and an arab state 32 from 1947 until that moment palestinians and the plo had rejected the partition plan as an injustice more significant than this pnc endorsement of a truncated palestinian state based on resolution 181 was the pnc s endorsement of resolution 242 as discussed earlier the plo had consistently rejected this resolution since its adoption in 1967 because of its elision of palestinian peoplehood and its normalization of israel s existence in 1974 the plo had adeptly legislated an alternative legal framework captured by resolution 3236 specifically to avoid resolution 242 s conditions and to legitimate plo participation in negotia tions as recently as april 1987 when the pnc convened its eighteenth ses sion its political committee had reiterated the plo s rejection of resolution 242 commenting that it was not a good basis for a settlement of the palestine question because it deals with it as if it were an issue of refugees and ignores the palestinian people s national inalienable rights 33 now the pnc s endorse ment of resolution 242 marked a victory for the plo s pragmatic elements and a culmination of their efforts following the october 1973 war the plo the oslo peace process 143 had embodied a revolutionary agenda committed to the liberation of palestine through armed struggle as well as a self described pragmatic position aimed at establishing a truncated palestinian state in the west bank and gaza as an intermediate or final step towards liberation the plo s decision at its algiers summit together with the palestinian declaration of independence definitively resolved this tension however not all palestinians supported this shift including hamas which remained outside the plo s structure in 1989 hamas launched its first military operation and captured and killed two israeli soldiers whose bodies were found buried such operations increased hamas s influence among palestinians and the movement used that growing support to challenge the plo s representative authority and more specifically fatah s dominance in the territories in january 1990 arafat invited hamas to join the plo and to attend the forthcoming pnc meeting hamas was willing to join so long as the pnc leadership could be chosen through an election al ternatively if an election was not feasible hamas proposed it should be allotted 40 percent of the pnc s seats equal to the cross section of palestinian support for the movement the most arafat and the plo were willing to offer hamas however was about 5 percent of the seats twenty four seats in all 34 hamas also insisted on disavowing the political platform endorsing resolution 242 and the two state solution that the pnc had adopted in november 1988 hamas s rapid rise and bold demands threatened to undermine the achieve ments of arafat and the plo s pragmatic elements arafat did not take this lightly he responded in a lengthy tirade in fatah s publication filastin al thawra he admonished hamas for attempting to sidestep the plo structure and present itself as an alternative to a broad section of the palestinian nation the gulf war both diminished this internecine rivalry and enhanced hamas s political and financial position relative to the plo even before the gulf war the plo had revealed that it had received only 30 percent of the amount pledged by arab states in the previous year and very few funds appeared to be forthcoming traditional plo donors had begun to divert their funds to other palestinian institutions most notably among them hamas the gulf war exacerbated this trend as arab states financially cut off the plo and rewarded hamas with continued financial assistance for its cautious support of kuwait s independence 35 the oslo peace process 144 by 1991 the deleterious terms of the autonomy framework outlined in the letter of invitation to madrid as well as the letter of assurance to the palestin ians paled in significance to the opportunity of salvaging the plo itself with its financial crisis its geographic isolation in tunisia the challenge to its primacy by individual leaders the rise of hamas and the limited strategic options available to it the plo was vulnerable and weak as explained by camille mansour a legal scholar and an adviser to the palestinian negotiating team in washington though the u s terms were bleak staying out of the peace process risked end ing the post 1965 palestinian national movement itself 36 negotiators go to madrid and washington the plo accepted the u s terms based on the 1978 autonomy framework but it also tried to strategically leverage those grim conditions its first challenge was to overcome the enduring negation of palestinian peoplehood israel did not recognize the general assembly resolutions legislated by the plo during the seventies including resolution 3237 affirming its status as the sole and le gitimate representative of the palestinian people with backing from the bush administration israel excluded the plo palestinians from east jerusalem and also palestinians in the diaspora from the negotiations this exclusion entrenched israel s geographic legal and social fragmentation of palestinians and the denial of their legal status as a people israel insisted that the palestinian delegation to the peace talks could include only palestinians from the west bank and gaza and only those who had no explicit ties to the plo and that the delegation itself must be part of a jordanian palestinian negotiating team 37 to overcome this hurdle the palestinians established the palestinian steering committee made up of palestinians from east jerusalem and the diaspora who would accompany the palestinian delegates but who would not formally participate in the talks in his capacity as plo chairman arafat handpicked this committee which was led by faisal al husseini and included hanan ashrawi camille mansour yezid sayigh and anis fawzi kassem u s secretary of state james baker implicitly accepted this arrangement when he officially welcomed the palestinian delegation headed by haidar abdelshafi to madrid on 31 october 1991 baker warned the palestinians however that they should make no explicit mention of the plo because it the oslo peace process 145 would risk compelling israeli prime minister yitzhak shamir to walk out and abandon the process 38 ashrawi the committee spokesperson responded shamir can walk out but we cannot give a speech without mentioning the plo 39 in his opening remarks abdelshafi who was only permitted to attend the opening ceremony as part of the joint jordanian palestinian delegation boldly asserted the plo s central role in the negotiating process when he reminded the audience that the palestine liberation organization launched its peace initiative based on secu rity council resolutions 242 and 338 and declared palestinian independence based on resolution 181 of the united nations which gave birth to two states in 1948 israel and palestine 40 shamir remained seated 41 the steering committee s fidelity to the plo reflected an overall understand ing that attempts to undermine its authority and divide the palestinian polity amounted to an attack on the palestinian right to self determination ashrawi explains they were trying to turn the palestinian people into inhabitants and orphans and we wanted to insist on keeping a leadership because there was a history and a people 42 mansour adds a people without a leadership is not a people 43 the palestinians achieved their first victory and overcame a fundamental hurdle when in coordination with the jordanian delegation they established that negotiations in washington would proceed on two fronts a palestinian israeli one and a jordanian israeli one this did not elevate the status of the palestinian delegation as representative of a nascent state but it did distinguish palestinian national interests from israel s relations with jordan 44 the issue of representation continued to dominate the talks when they commenced in washington in december 1991 the israeli team was chaired by elyakim rubinstein a legal adviser and diplomat who had participated in earlier peace talks and the palestinian team continued to be led by haidar ab delshafi the israelis arrived with a desire to revert to the original arrangement of a jordanian palestinian delegation whereby subcommittees would address either palestinian related issues or jordanian related issues 45 after seven days of discussions disagreement persisted the representation issue was not resolved until the next round of talks the parties then resumed negotiations on a two front approach delineating palestinian interests and began deliberating an agenda the oslo peace process 146 the palestinian delegation now embarked on a strategy to deal with the second and related challenge to overcome the autonomy framework laid out in the letter of assurances and ensure that the negotiations would result in palestinian independence the negotiators sought to deploy resolution 242 to ensure israel s complete withdrawal from the territories and the dismantlement of its settlement enterprise palestinians engaged in legal work to restore the resolution only recently condemned as a tool of dispossession into a tool of resistance the negotiators also insisted on the immediate halt of settlement ac tivities and the application of the fourth geneva convention to the territories 46 the palestinian team preferred to present these issues as preconditions but was in no place to do so palestinian demands contravened the original conception of a two stage process that relegated the question of settlements jerusalem and final borders to the second stage of negotiations after a first two year interim stage 47 moreover the palestinian team lacked an overall strategy for overcoming the severe power imbalance that plagued the negtiations 48 in an attempt to circumvent these challenges raja shehadeh a jerusalem based attorney and co founder of al haq one of the largest and most significant palestinian human rights organizations suggested that the delegation pursue a piecemeal strategy shehadeh proposed embedding the delegation s demands as part of a plan to elect an interim self government 49 the delegation thus proposed that the interim government would have legislative executive and judiciary powers and its jurisdiction would extend to the opt occupied palestinian territories in their entirety including its land water and natural resources and that the israeli military govern ment and its civil administration would be abolished and their powers trans ferred to the palestinian interim self government arrangement pisga 50 mere discussion of palestinian self government even without any israeli com mitments prompted the resignation of several ministers from shamir s cabinet undermining his majority government in the knesset 51 when the negotiations resumed once again in late february 1992 the ne gotiating teams exchanged position documents israel s new position marked a significant retreat it did not mention the election of a palestinian authority to the oslo peace process 147 replace israel s military government it no longer referred to resolution 242 at all or even to the initiation of final status talks during the interim period israel would retain jurisdiction over the territories and delegate specific powers and responsibilities to organs of the interim self government isga arrange ments across twelve administrative bodies the isga would only have juris diction over some palestinians in the gaza strip and the west bank excluding jerusalem and no territorial jurisdiction israel would retain all responsibilities not delegated retain control over internal and external security and have the right to reside in and settle the territories 52 israel s new approach sought to ensure its enduring control of the west bank and gaza and let palestinians govern themselves in limited areas the palestinian delegation refused to enumerate the spheres of operation that would fall within isga s authority for fear of falling into the trap of limited autonomy without the promise of sovereignty palestinian obstinacy infuriated both the israelis and the americans u s interlocutors wanted the palestinians to take whatever the israelis were offering 53 according to rashid khalidi then a university of chicago professor and an adviser to the palestinian delegation the united states essentially told us you are allowed to decide on the decoration of your prison cell 54 this fourth round ended without resolution the fifth round began in late april 1992 just before the israeli elections at this time the israelis attempted to further dilute palestinian demands whereas palestinians sought to establish elections across the west bank and the gaza strip israeli negotiators proposed a plan for municipal elections as well as the transfer of authority over all health services in the territory 55 the palestin ians perceived this proposal as a substitute for an interim self government and responded with a series of written questions and requests shehadeh explains that the palestinian team employed a legal strategy in order to bring the ne gotiations to focus on the issues of land and water and consequently the israeli settlements their requests included calls to abolish particular laws like the 1982 authorization allowing the israeli national water company to control all water in the west bank they also requested access to public records like land registration records land use planning documents and the israeli budget for its civil administration in the territories after the israeli team responded abdelshafi tasked shehadeh with rebutting their arguments but the israeli the oslo peace process 148 delegation refused shehadeh s participation he could advise but not participate in the negotiations because of his east jerusalemite status israelis adamantly refused to recognize the holistic national character of a palestinian people and palestinians from east jerusalem exceeded the narrow bounds of what israelis accepted as palestinian the united states did not intervene the self proclaimed honest broker stood by and allowed the palestinian delegation to proceed with out adequate legal representation thus exacerbating the asymmetries between the parties and reifying israel s overall framework 56 between the fifth and sixth rounds yitzhak rabin replaced yitzhak shamir as israel s prime minister and shimon peres became rabin s foreign minister rabin took full responsibility for bilateral negotiations and peres for multilat eral ones and they would meet regularly to discuss them moreover the israeli center left parties established a majority in the knesset affording rabin greater latitude in the negotiations 57 while rabin was more inclined than other israeli leaders to achieve an agreement he remained opposed to palestinian indepen dence and continued to pursue an autonomy agreement with the palestinian leadership within the territories accordingly rabin and peres maintained the preexisting israeli negotiating team 58 to appear flexible rabin agreed to entertain proposals for limited plo involvement yair hirschfield an israeli scholar at haifa university and mem ber of israel s negotiating team was instructed to work with ashrawi to draft a proposal on the plo s role hirschfield and ashrawi proposed that palestinians living in the diaspora and supported by the plo could officially participate in multilateral working groups established to discuss specific issues like economics refugees land and water arafat initially rejected the proposal for plo par ticipation in multilateral working groups he preferred that israel talk directly to the plo according to hirschfield it was also clear that if arafat were allowed to control the negotiations the positions he would offer would be more forthcoming 59 in early may 1992 the plo central council an intermediary body re sponsible for making decisions when the palestinian national council is not in session convened and for the first time included the palestinian negotiators from the territories in an official capacity the central council endorsed continuing the negotiations and approved plo participation in the multilateral working the oslo peace process 149 groups this decision made it explicit that the plo was not merely advising the palestinian team but instructing them 60 though the central council s meeting made this dynamic official it had existed from the beginning of the negotiating process arafat and the plo leadership in tunis were kept abreast of all developments through daily reports arafat would respond with directives to the delegation via telephone and fax yet this was not enough to alleviate arafat s concerns he regarded the palestinian delegation and faisal al husseini in particular as a threat to his authority the plo chairman did not trust anyone from the west bank and gaza strip lead ership because he feared external plans to supplant the plo arafat considered the entire palestinian delegation to washington contaminated 61 at one point he lamented to several plo leaders in tunis that negotiations had entered the stage of cancelling out the plo and liquidating this leadership faisal and the delegation are the trojan horse beyond arafat s personal concerns the plo leadership in general wanted to take control of the negotiations they deliberately intervened to ensure that the washington delegation appeared inflexible so that the plo in tunis is viewed as more flexible and thus could succeed in its efforts to achieve recognition as a full partner in the negotiations 62 during the middle of the sixth round in late august 1992 rabin announced an amendment to the settlement freeze that would permit the development of up to 2 000 settlement units to account for natural growth 63 the palestinian delegation understood this as a clear provocation demonstrating the futility of palestinian demands together with concerns that israel was buying time with the palestinians in order to achieve an agreement with syria the palestinian team shifted its strategy it returned to negotiations with a simple priority to establish the application of resolution 242 to the interim process and not just the final status agreement this was a legal strategy that sought to link the interim and final stages of the process to immediately address the question of settlements and jerusalem applying resolution 242 from the outset of the negotiations would imbue it with a prescriptive function to legally mandate withdrawal in exchange for peace in contrast applying resolution 242 only to the final status agreement would afford israel room for maneuver by insisting that the factual terms of the final agreement would fulfill the resolution s legal mandate in this latter scenario the resolution the oslo peace process 150 would have a descriptive rather than a prescriptive function 64 for the palestinians the two stages were linked and facilitated an incremental but inevitable israeli withdrawal and palestinian state sovereignty for the israelis the two stages did the exact opposite in order to definitively achieve autonomy in the first stage and to enshrine the indeterminacy of the final status issues the palestinians had a useful precedent to draw on israel had accepted an understanding of resolution 242 as mandating its withdrawal and the restora tion of egypt s sovereignty during the israeli egyptian negotiations 65 later it would establish a similar understanding with jordan during their peace talks 66 in stark contrast israel rejected the palestinian demand and insisted it was willing to apply resolution 242 only during permanent status negotiations which would necessarily involve jordan because 242 deals with states 67 it had no intention of withdrawing to the 1967 borders the refusal to establish an understanding of resolution 242 and apply it to the interim agreement was a deliberate effort to retain as much of the west bank and gaza strip as possible yitzhak rabin declared i ll never i ll never agree to any peace if it will be preconditioned on withdrawal to the pre 67 lines 68 if there was to be a palestinian state it would be in a series of self governing territories that did not exercise meaningful sovereignty to achieve israel s goals israeli negotiators pursued a strategy that permitted maneuvering around international law and human rights norms regarding the palestine question rather than derive a settlement refracted through established international law the israeli delegation crafted political solutions that could be reconciled with legal principles as explained by daniel reisner a legal adviser to the israeli army between 1995 and 2004 and an israeli negotiator in the peace process one school of thought believes that we should begin by establishing legal principles before discussing substance another school of thought says let s solve the problem in practical ways and then couch it in the law it s a matter of substance and form 69 israel s negotiating team sought to legalize those existing arrangements it had unilaterally imposed on palestinians and their lands since 1967 70 it had the oslo peace process 151 achieved that policy through state practice legal work and obstinate disregard of international censure it was now attempting to achieve this arrangement through contractual agreement with the palestinians themselves the bush administration supported the israeli approach it acknowledged that resolution 242 applied to both stages of the agreement but accepted israel s demands that in practice it only be applied to the final status stage the united states adopted this approach of limiting the application of law in 1967 when the lyndon b johnson administration introduced the land for peace framework since then it had shielded israel from the law s prescriptive demands in order to facilitate an unencumbered political resolution the bush administration s dis avowal of international law as a negotiating framework departed from the u s approach to all other peace talks including the israeli egyptian negotiations in the late seventies and those with syria lebanon and jordan in the current phase of middle east peace talks the united states had applied relevant law in every negotiating context other than israel s negotiations with the palestinians in response to palestinian appeals to apply international law as a framework secretary of state baker and his staffers insisted the palestinians avoid discussing the law according to khalidi baker told the delegation to stay within the con fines which you voluntarily accepted in the letter of assurances the limitations of the negotiations were clear the existing balance of power would dictate the terms of agreement without the recalibrating potential of established law and the united states would reify that imbalance by supporting israel s positions not only could the palestinians not challenge israel s jewish zionist settler sovereignty over 78 percent of former mandate palestine they were now being forced to negoti ate the remaining 22 percent that israel had not conquered in 1948 ultimately khalidi explains the palestinians understood that what was israeli belonged to israelis and what was palestinian would be negotiated 71 the palestinian delegation was unsettled ashrawi protested to secretary baker saying everything you are asking to do is illegal because you are forcing a people under occupation to negotiate with their occupiers this is duress 72 the plo leadership in tunis did not agree as the palestinian delegation in washington struggled to expand the framework established in the letter of assurances through legal tactics the plo leadership adopted a narrow political strategy that mirrored israel s approach it insisted on achieving the best possible the oslo peace process 152 agreement within the existing confines dictated by the united states and israel shehadeh one of the three legal advisers on the steering committee resigned at the conclusion of this round of negotiations he saw no role for a legal adviser or indeed legal strategies 73 by the end of the seventh round of negotiations in late november 1992 there was a deadlock the israelis wanted to negotiate details of the arrangements for interim self government while the palestinians insisted on obtaining assurances on the applicability of resolution 242 the palestinian delegation sent a letter to the israeli negotiators that described the israeli model as complicated impractical unworkable likely to create more problems than it would solve to keep alive the sources of friction and conflict and the continuation of violations of human rights and to result in a self government whose authority would be unable to pass the test of time and ultimately devoid of legitimacy 74 during the eighth round which ran through december 1992 and was the last one to be convened during the bush administration the israeli negotiators clarified and entrenched their position they insisted that there existed only a time frame interlock between the two stages of negotiations this meant that final status agreements would inevitably follow interim ones but the interim stage would not predetermine or in any way impact the final status israeli negotiators also clarified that while israel s military jurisdiction covered all of the territories without distinction as to nationality or geography the palestinian interim gov ernment would be responsible for a patchwork of palestinian constituents and lands moreover palestinian governance of those select populations would be contingent on coordination with israel the settlements fragmenting palestin ian lands and communities as well as the settlers living within them would be beyond palestinian control israel would maintain jurisdiction over the settle ments and jerusalem including sovereign legal jurisdiction over criminal cases involving israelis in the territories 75 the eighth round ended more abruptly than israel s revised position threat ened in mid december 1992 a hamas cell captured an israeli policeman and sought to exchange him for sheikh ahmed yasin held in israeli captivity for the oslo peace process 153 his suspected involvement in the intifada hamas s condition for the release of the israeli hostage included broadcasting that release on television and estab lishing an international presence to ensure that yasin would not be rearrested in an effort to compel hamas to release the policeman without concessions israel television interviewed yasin providing him his first opportunity to speak directly to the world and to the israeli public when asked about the threat of death posed to the policeman yasin responded the killing of the policeman the killing of the palestinian and the killing of the soldier are all part of a cycle created by the occupation when the causes are removed all these problems will be solved 76 in his interview yasin indicated that hamas s increasing visibility reflected broader agreement among palestinians that the islamic solution is the alterna tive prompting a question about the utility of the ongoing peace negotiations yasin emphasized that palestinians desire peace but criticized the negotiations thus far they have achieved nothing i expected right from the start that they would be unable to achieve anything because of the lack of balance 77 israel refused to release yasin and hamas executed the israeli policeman within a few days israeli forces arrested nearly 2 000 palestinians including 415 suspected leaders of hamas and islamic jihad israeli armed forces handcuffed and blindfolded these 415 detainees and drove them to the lebanese border where they dumped them in the middle of a freezing night and relinquished any responsibility for them the international community responded swiftly and harshly the un security council with u s support condemned the mass forcible deportation as a breach of international law 78 israel s reprisal against hamas turned into an unexpected boon for the movement which received international media attention for the first time in order to protest israel s ac tions the palestinian negotiating team with the plo s backing suspended its participation in the negotiations the palestinian delegation in washington understood what was at stake in the negotiations and avoided the traps erected by israel s negotiating team it both resisted israel s legal tactics and deployed its own none of this was enough to overcome the severe power imbalance that afflicted the negotiations worse the plo leadership in tunis did not appreciate the risks posed by israel s pro posed terms upon its formal inclusion in the peace talks the plo would fail to the oslo peace process 154 consolidate its historic achievements including the moral authority palestinians had cultivated in the course of the intifada and thus would lose the opportu nity to enhance its negotiating leverage it would also fail to wield the law as a defensive tool to resist israel s demands in secret negotiations conducted later in norway the plo would fall into the very trap of autonomy the palestinian delegation in washington had so resolutely dodged opening a back channel in norway the decision to deport palestinians in flagrant violation of humanitarian law and in the face of diplomatic protest came at an especially awkward time in early december 1992 rabin and peres had indicated a greater willingness to negotiate directly with the plo they wanted to open a direct channel with the liberation movement but had every interest in playing this card carefully making israel s quid pro quo for recognizing the plo the conclusion of a peace agreement 79 they preferred to open a back channel track that would afford them full deniability to facilitate a direct channel with the plo ashrawi and husseini urged yair hirschfield the israeli negotiating team member who had met previously with ashrawi to begin track two negotiations with ahmed qurei a senior plo leader heading the palestinian delegation in the multilateral working groups 80 hirschfield and qurei agreed to meet in london in early december 1992 81 hirschfield came to the meeting with ron pundak his co founding partner in the economic cooperation foundation and an israeli scholar and journalist yossi beilin the deputy minister of foreign affairs to shimon peres gave hirschfield and pundak the green light in spite of israeli law prohibiting contact with the plo 82 despite this governmental approval hirschfield and pundak attended the meeting in their capacity as scholars and peace activists without any semblance of officialdom this concerned the plo representatives and shaped their participation in the back channel talks qurei attended the meeting with afif safieh a plo representative and the general delegate to the united kingdom they had the backing of arafat and mahmoud abbas a deputy to arafat responsible for the plo s overall administrative function the initial meeting in london led to a series of meetings in sarpsborg norway facilitated by terje larsen a sociologist heading the fafo institute in oslo the oslo peace process 155 qurei attended the subsequent meetings with hasan asfour a plo of ficial and agricultural engineer who did not speak fluent english the language in which all the negotiations took place hirschfield and pundak continued to represent israel at first qurei submitted positions that reiterated the palestinian delegation s demands and unyielding position in washington but the israelis presented a new element that created space for maneuver in january 1993 peres suggested to rabin that israel offer arafat the op portunity to return to the gaza strip where the plo could stand for elections and if successful could negotiate directly with israel 83 qurei s interest in the gaza first approach as well as an economic development plan created a break through in the meetings although qurei feared that the framework could mean withdrawal from gaza first and last he accepted the formula in principle as a preliminary first step on the condition that it would also be applied at a later stage to one or more cities in the west bank once withdrawal from gaza had become acceptable to the israeli public 84 the outcome of these meetings in march 1993 was a document known as the sarpsborg principles the palestinian positions had departed significantly from the ones established in washington indeed within three months the plo had relented on several of the key issues for which the palestinian delegation fought so hard these included relinquishing the demands that resolution 242 apply to both stages of negotiations and that palestinian jurisdiction cover all lands across the west bank and the gaza strip 85 hirschfield explains that the sarpsborg principles maintained all the necessary control mechanisms for israel the source of authority and all residual power remained with israel and there was no need for any immediate withdrawal of the military government and or the civil administration for a redeployment of the israeli defense forces 86 the negotiators in norway adopted the sarpsborg principles in secret and without consulting the palestinian delegation in washington during this time the palestinian delegation was refusing to resume talks in washington unless the return of the palestinian deportees could be negotiated rabin rejected this condition the united states together with russia invited the parties to return the oslo peace process 156 to negotiations in late april 1993 the palestinian delegation refused this cre ated an obstacle for the back channel process as well the israelis wanted to incorporate the outcomes of the norway talks into the bilateral channel in washington and thus conditioned resumption of the back channel process on resumption of the washington talks moreover rabin wanted to test whether arafat was willing to act in clear opposition to hamas which like the steer ing committee opposed resumption of the talks until the deportee issue was resolved according to hirschfield arafat forced the palestinian team to return to washington in order to allow the back channel talks to continue 87 israeli delegation leader elyakim rubinstein then resumed the ninth round of talks in washington by presenting terms very similar to those in the sarpsborg agreement this frustrated qurei who wanted to maintain control and secrecy of the back channel process 88 in washington the palestinian delegation con tinued to insist on clear terms of reference as the parties attempted to negotiate a declaration of principles the team paid astute attention to details and the possible legal manipulation of the proposed language for example in a may 1993 meeting with u s state department officials aaron miller and dan kurtzer who represented the president bill clinton s ad ministration the palestinian delegation highlighted that there was no guarantee against an israeli interpretation of resolution 242 that permitted annexation kurtzer insisted that this could not be guaranteed if you are trying to lock in your interpretation of 242 in this document it won t work you can protect but not lock it in exasperated miller chastised the palestinian delegation saying it is illogical to expect the united states to give its preferred position on 242 you are thinking in idealized positions you didn t address it for 30 years you discovered 242 89 the palestinian delegation did not relent they emphasized that israel evaded the resolution in order to remain in the west bank and gaza the negotiating team continued to highlight legal loopholes that could harm them including insisting that every mention of territories in the document be preceded by the adjective occupied 90 despite being outflanked in terms of expertise public records and relative power the palestinian team demonstrated adept negotiating skills ultimately none of that mattered the entire process in washington frustrated arafat he the oslo peace process 157 considered the palestinian delegation s determination and staunch positions an impediment to reaching an agreement camille mansour recalls one furious encounter when arafat berated the team when it presented him with a draft document on agreed principles exclaiming what do you want me to do with this piece of paper frame and mount it on my wall i want action 91 meanwhile the back channel talks had also resumed and had been moved to oslo the plo regarded this a legitimation phase it sought to make the norway channel official rather than informal which meant obtaining israeli endorsement from the highest levels of government until may 1993 the plo leadership had no assurances that the norway back channel had any official endorsement qurei and the plo leadership believed this was the most pressing issue qurei explained this later involvement of an official israeli representative in the talks had in fact been one of our original objectives even before our arrival in oslo we felt it was of the highest importance to induce israel to abandon its long held policy of refusing to deal with the plo sooner or later israel had to accept that the plo was in practical control of all aspects of the palestinian israeli conflict both inside and outside the territories we knew if we could achieve this it would be a significant victory 92 in mid may the plo leaders got what they wanted 93 rabin authorized uri savir the director general of the ministry of foreign affairs to lead the israeli delegation in oslo the teams began to discuss plans for initial withdrawal as a result of talks with egypt s president hosni mubarak peres agreed to include jericho in the gaza first plan to demonstrate incremental change in the west bank and not just in gaza although located in the jordan valley the eastern most border of the west bank coveted by israel for security purposes jericho was negotiable because it lacked settlements this transformed the concept of gaza first to gaza and jericho first qurei insisted that control over jericho include control over the allenby crossing which connects the west bank and jordan the israelis rejected this out of hand for contradicting their fundamental position that israel retain power over all external security and that palestinians have only limited internal security 94 qurei consistently made demands and just the oslo peace process 158 as consistently retreated to the confines of the autonomy framework to establish an interim government for example in june 1993 qurei insisted that an international trusteeship be established over gaza to ensure its successful transition from military oc cupation to independence peres strongly rejected this because according to a legal memo submitted by an israeli adviser un trusteeship was a formal step to independence equivalent to the process of decolonization in cases such as namibia 95 this contradicted israel s outstanding policy against palestinian statehood hirschfield asked for five minutes to convince qurei to drop the demand for trusteeship and he explains that in practice it took one minute i simply asked qurei if it would be bet ter if the plo obtained direct control over gaza instead of handing it to a trusteeship managed by foreign actors he asked me if this was what israel wanted and after i answered in the affirmative he consented and the concept that peres so fervently opposed was eliminated from the equation 96 in july 1993 rabin added yoel singer a legal adviser to the israeli army for nearly two decades and an attorney in a washington dc law firm to the negotiating team to strengthen the oslo channel and achieve an agreement that solidified israel s interests singer was very aggressive and subjected the plo representatives to no less than 200 questions 97 at first qurei was upset about the hostile approach but took comfort upon learning that rabin had instructed singer to pose the questions 98 in that case according to qurei singer s hostil ity was an examination to test the plo s readiness to consent to the terms of the agreement and coordinate with israel the plo responded with demands for further concessions including expanding the understanding of the jericho district to include the jordan valley and to delegate authority of the west bank immediately to the palestinians israel had established these as red lines and abruptly broke off the negotiations the talks resumed within a month after the palestinians informed the israeli negotiators that they have reviewed their demands and wanted to adjust them according to israel s needs 99 even rabin was surprised by how much the plo was willing to concede 100 the oslo peace process 159 the plo delegation also threatened to quit the negotiations and on sev eral occasions refused to agree on points in the draft declaration of principles however their power to shape the declaration was negligible relative to that of the israeli negotiators as qurei recalled the israelis seemed to believe that it was for palestinians to accept or not the documents which they produced but they did not see any reason why they should be expected to look seriously at our ideas i felt they should remember that while we were seeking land they were just as eagerly seeking peace 101 indeed despite the plo s relative weakness palestinians and their cause possessed significant negotiating leverage in 1993 images of the intifada engen dered unprecedented global awareness that palestinians endured an oppressive regime moreover in 1988 the united states negotiated south africa s with drawal from namibia and in 1990 south africa released nelson mandela from prison generating significant momentum against racist and colonial domina tion 102 ultimately this leverage may have been insufficient to recalibrate the severe asymmetry of power between israel backed by the united states and the plo but that organization also failed to effectively wield it 103 instead its leadership exacerbated the asymmetry by accepting the autonomy framework in part the plo s failure reflected its leadership s lack of appreciation for the law and particularly for the law s strategic malleability it also reflected the plo s lack of other options most significantly the leadership s single minded goal of obtaining de jure recognition for the liberation movement blinded it to the deleterious terms of the agreement it was drafting israel used these weaknesses to secure its territorial ambitions with pales tinian consent shehadeh observed that for israel the negotiations were the culmination of a legal process that began at the end of the 1970s and that they sought through them to consolidate the arrangements made as a consequence of this process 104 singer successfully lobbied rabin to recognize the plo israel and the plo agreed to conclude the declaration of principles first then to negotiate mutual recognition afterward while qurei feared that accepting official recognition as the principal gain in the negotiations was giving away too much for too little the plo leadership in tunis saw it as an exceptional the oslo peace process 160 victory since recognition of a national liberation movement by their enemy is a great achievement 105 lingering disagreements over the exact details of the declaration of prin ciples concerning issues such as control of the crossing points security and movement of the settlers the timetable for israel s withdrawal and the transfer of authority from the israeli military government threatened to unravel the entire back channel process peres who saw the peace process as his legacy traveled to the swedish ministry of foreign affairs in stockholm in mid august 1993 to salvage it himself the israeli prime minister flanked by singer as well as his assistant avi gil joined swedish foreign minister johan joergen holst mona juul from the ministry and terje larsen in holst s office they asked holst to phone chairman arafat to finalize the agreement on the principles rabin and savir were on the line from jerusalem holst called arafat and that night qurei led the discussion on behalf of the plo with an audience that included mah moud abbas and hasan asfour listening in from plo headquarters as well the mediated discussion lasted for six hours until four in the morning in tunis 106 at the end of it the parties agreed on the declaration of principles dop only after reaching an agreement did the plo leadership consult a legal expert to review the documents they consulted taher shash an egyptian dip lomat and lawyer who was involved in the camp david negotiations according to shash qurei and asfour were both surprised by how long it was taking him to review the agreement he then realized that his arrival in oslo was one day too late and there was nothing more for him to do but make a quick reading of the project which is now in its final form there was no possibility of making any amendments to it 107 shortly thereafter on 19 august 1993 qurei and savir initialed the docu ment in oslo in complete secrecy 108 the plo would finally obtain israel s recognition of its juridical status in exchange it accepted ghettoized sovereignty across the west bank and gaza without any guarantee of independence plo gains recognition in exchange for palestinian independence the final document was an agreement to agree it reified israel s control and did not guarantee a single national right for palestinians it did not mention the right to palestinian self determination nor the possibility of establishing a the oslo peace process 161 palestinian state the only mention of eventual israeli withdrawal from the ter ritories in the dop was a vague commitment that the transitional period shall lead to a permanent settlement based on security council resolutions 242 and 338 109 the plo considered this language a victory because israel wanted to decide on particular terms for withdrawal later however israeli negotiators in washington had agreed that the resolutions would apply in the permanent status negotiations so long as they neither defined the scope of the interim agree ment nor created more than a time frame interlock between the two stages the israelis had succeeded in limiting resolution 242 s function to being descriptive and not prescriptive the final terms mirrored the very ones that the palestinian negotiating team had rejected in the bilateral talks in washington the palestinian team had also insisted on extending pales tinian territorial jurisdiction over all of the west bank and the gaza strip 110 this would give the interim palestinian government authority over the land and everything on it including israeli settlers however the final dop stipulated jurisdiction of the council will cover west bank and gaza strip territory ex cept for issues that will be negotiated in the permanent status negotiations 111 the permanent status issues referenced in the clause are enumerated elsewhere and include jerusalem israel s military installations and israel s settlements in the west bank and gaza accordingly palestinian jurisdiction extended over land that israel did not already claim or intend to claim read together with the explicit rejection of resolution 242 as a legal mandate as well as reference to palestinian self determination the dop placed no outer boundaries on israel s existing or future territorial ambitions the dop paved the way for the de facto legitimacy of israel s settlement enterprise nabil shaath who headed the bilateral negotiations on behalf of the plo disagrees he insists that the dop s clause stipulating that the two sides view the west bank and the gaza strip as a single territorial unit whose integrity will be preserved during the interim period was meant to cease settlement expansion according to shaath the clause proved ineffective because of the lack of adequate enforcement the united states was meant to oversee the agreement but shaath explains it could not adequately enforce these terms because it acted as israel s lawyer 112 as a legal matter however the clause was poorly written and displayed excessive faith in the united states ability to fulfill the arbitration role the oslo peace process 162 the clause could be read as referring to either of two things one the in tegrity of the territorial unity of the west bank and the gaza strip or two the integrity of the territorial status quo the former meaning simply guaranteed that the two territories would not be disaggregated while the latter suggested that neither party namely israel would unilaterally alter the territory without greater specificity and attention to legal detail israel could expand its settlement enterprise in the territories while maintaining the integrity of the unity between them and claim to be in compliance with the clause stipulating integrity moreover and assuming for the sake of argument that the plo is right in its assessment that the lack of adequate enforcement rather than inadequate treaty terms is what allowed settlement expansion to continue the clause s arbitration mechanism bears closer scrutiny the plo agreed to place the peace process under the sole trusteeship of the united states in spite of that country s explicit bias which was manifested dur ing the bilateral talks rather than ameliorate this severe power imbalance the dop further entrenched it in a dispute resolution clause stipulating that t he parties may agree to submit to arbitration disputes relating to the interim period which cannot be settled through conciliation 113 the clause also gave the parties veto power over the arbitration mechanism thereby giving israel latitude to reject the potential role of third parties in contrast in its peace treaty with egypt in 1979 and with jordan in 1994 israel agreed to a dispute resolution clause without deference to the negotiating parties wishes 114 notably none of the treaties have an arbitration mechanism referring the dispute to the international court of justice thereby diminishing the ability of weaker parties to enforce each treaty in the face of intransigence this omission was most detrimental to palestinian interests and reflected their willingness to make significant concessions for the sake of entering into an agreement daniel reisner an israeli negotiator explains that the discrepancy in the agreement with the palestinians is due to the fact that egyptians and jordanians did not want to take us to arbitration every morn ing 115 the israelis ensured that they would be able to control enforcement of the agreement on their own terms and without interference moreover while the palestinian negotiators in washington refused to ac cept a framework of delegated scopes of authority or functional jurisdiction the plo agreed to that very arrangement the dop established that authority the oslo peace process 163 would be transferred to the palestinians only in a select number of enumerated spheres including education and culture health social welfare direct taxation and tourism the dop also established that even after withdrawal from jericho and gaza israel would maintain responsibility for external security and for internal security and public order of settlements and israelis meaning that the palestinians would be left to police only themselves in coordination with the israeli army in effect palestinians could not protect themselves from settlers or israeli military offensives they would never be able to prosecute israelis and they would have no control over their own movement into and out of the terri tory 116 by agreeing to these terms the plo accepted a patchwork arrangement over palestinian civil affairs and natural resources thus in 1993 the palestinian liberation organization signed onto the au tonomy framework it had rejected for fifteen years ever since menachem begin and anwar sadat introduced it in negotiating the camp david framework there are only two differences between the dop and the 1978 framework for peace first whereas the framework stipulated that the palestinians will have jurisdiction over individuals only the dop expanded that to include some fragmented lands as well 117 second in 1978 israel sought to co opt palestinian individuals to take the helm of this autonomy framework but in 1993 the plo itself assumed that responsibility in response to israel s negotiating demands the plo also agreed to amend its national charter to remove the commitment to armed struggle it also rescinded the 1975 resolution finding that zionism is a form of racism in addition to these concessions the plo accepted israel s preference to exclude reference to any international law or norms not just resolution 242 but also resolutions 181 and 194 the fourth geneva convention concerning occupation and all of the plo s remarkable legal achievements at the united nations during the 1970s besides the cursory reference to resolutions 242 and 338 the dop only vaguely mentions law in its preamble as recognition of the mutual legitimate and political rights of both parties 118 this was the cost of entering the u s sphere of influence it meant uncritically accepting the u s understanding of the law as an impediment to a political agreement as well as israel s understanding that the law should fulfill a descriptive rather than a prescriptive function by accepting the u s and israeli approach to the law s relationship to the conflict the plo inadvertently endorsed the oslo peace process 164 a new exception in the question of palestine like the sovereign exception in the mandate for palestine which was seen as justifying the elision of palestinian self determination thus rendering irrelevant the consultation of the native popula tion in establishing the mandate as well as the legality of partition deliberated by the united nations this exception engendered a specialized legal framework in effect it suspended all applicable international law and norms in order to achieve an unfettered political resolution the plo willingly abandoned the law as one of its primary tools of struggle more generally it surrendered a politics of resistance while that makes sense upon establishing peace it made no sense in this case where the dop stipulated derivative palestinian sovereignty contingent on israeli prerogatives without any guarantees that the interim stage would culminate in independence according to the plo the negotiators accepted this arrangement on faith that the united states would usher in palestinian independence and israel would withdraw from the west bank and gaza 119 however without a resistance framework palestinians would not be able to recalibrate the balance of power to compel israel to relinquish its control the palestinian negotiating team had met for the last time in washington in june 1993 two months before the secret signing in oslo they were deliberately kept in the dark the entire time upon seeing the final document rashid khalidi was disgusted every pitfall every trap every israeli scheme we had avoided they walked blindly into they made every single mistake they made every single one 120 haidar abdelshafi was furious in a final meeting with u s state depart ment officials ed djerdian and dennis ross he said you have taken advantage of our leadership you allowed them to negotiate in secret while we were negotiating here in good faith the state department officials implored him to attend the signing ceremony in washington and attempted to woo him with front row seats george salem a washington dc based attorney and legal adviser to the palestinian delegation who was taking notes at the meeting recalls that abdelshafi told them i am going home to gaza and when salem looked up from his notes all he saw was the back of the delegation chairperson as he walked out the door 121 hanan ashrawi was similarly disappointed despite her initial disappoint ment however ashrawi continued to support the outcome because it salvaged the plo s status 122 her contradictory position was not unique aside from a handful of advisers and negotiators who resigned from the negotiating team the oslo peace process 165 because of the oslo agreement most of the participants remained a part of the peace process at the top levels there was no revolt within the plo despite the fact that the dop fell far short of the plo s 1988 declaration of indepen dence the central council of the plo convened in tunis in october 1993 and endorsed the dop by a vote of 63 to 8 with 9 abstentions of the 107 council members only 25 did not attend in protest 123 several key palestinian figures did protest their concern was not the ac ceptance of a truncated palestinian state but the dop s dismal terms that did not guarantee that state mahmoud darwish the author of the declaration of independence resigned from the plo executive committee explaining that there was no clear link between the interim period and the final status and no clear commitment to withdraw from the occupied territories i felt oslo would pave the way for escalation 124 edward said the renowned columbia university professor of comparative literature who had translated the declaration into eng lish wrote a series of scathing articles denouncing the dop as an instrument of palestinian surrender a palestinian versailles said s commentary also used as a fitting epigraph for this chapter continues what makes it worse is that for at least the past fifteen years the plo could have negotiated a better arrangement than this modified allon plan one not requiring so many unilateral concessions to israel for reasons best known to the leadership it refused all previous overtures 125 but for the plo this was not a decision made between a good and a bad agree ment but one made between an agreement and no agreement at all the plo calculated that the most it could obtain was de jure recognition and a foothold in palestine the agreement made possible the return of the plo s exiled leadership as well as 9 000 palestinians who would become part of the territory s police force this was more than the plo had been able to achieve through armed resistance and legal advocacy alone moreover arafat did not fully appreciate the legal and binding consequences of the dop he believed that once inside the palestinian territories he could resuscitate the plo and begin a new chapter of the palestinian struggle 126 according to rashid khalidi he also believed that he would be able to outsmart the israelis 127 on several occasions arafat did exactly that the oslo peace process 166 israel and the plo signed letters of mutual recognition on 9 september 1993 a month after signing the dop the parties had agreed to sign an identi cal copy of the dop on the white house on 13 september 1993 wherein the parties are shown as the government of the state of israel and the palestin ian team in the jordanian palestinian delegation to the middle east peace conference the palestinian delegation before the signing ceremony arafat demanded that the text be changed to refer to the plo as the official negotiat ing partner he prevailed the move infuriated rabin who considered canceling the ceremony but ultimately he and arafat shook hands 128 upon entering the gaza strip in june 1994 arafat smuggled in his confidante mamdouh nofal to whom israel had denied entry 129 on another occasion rabin instructed the palestinian interim government to arrest muhammad deif a hamas operative accused of terrorist activity by israel although israeli intelligence indicated that deif and arafat had been together arafat refused to arrest him and denied he had seen him at all 130 these maneuvers yielded little more than occasional and tangential victories still arafat believed that if he were inside the territories with the palestinian people emerging from a momentous popular uprising together with international support that the plo would be able to build the momentum to establish better terms in the permanent status agreement mahmoud abbas a leading advocate of the dop believed that it was the only possible outcome neither of them believed that the interim stage of the agreement would in fact be interminable shaath comments that they thought with the collapse of the soviet union and the ascendance of the clinton administration and a democratic party in the united states supportive of peace that this was a changing world but their assumption was wrong 131 the permanence of interim status fundamentally this 1993 peace agreement which became known as the oslo i accord shifted global perceptions and diplomatic understandings of the pal estinian struggle from at least 1974 to 1991 the plo had successfully framed its struggle as one against settler colonial subjugation necessitating pressure on israel to cease its expansionist and eliminatory project in coalition with the non aligned movement the plo established new law on behalf of colonized people the oslo peace process 167 and marginalized israel globally by emphasizing that nation s alignment with imperial powers including portugal south africa and the united states that sought to maintain their domination the peace process reframed the struggle as a conflict between two equal parties that required compromise by both sides to achieve a resolution yet the framework of peacemaking also obfuscated the power imbalance that continued to characterize the relationship between israel a state with exceptional military and economic power and the palestinians a stateless people in effect this diminished pressure on israel and enhanced its global standing hirschfield explains that the declaration of principles paved the way for much more intense u s israeli security cooperating and the upgrading of israel s technological capacities it also contributed largely to the opening of worldwide markets enabling a substantial increase in israeli gross national product per capita in only a few years 132 the agreement also eased israel s relations with other arab states with whom it normalized its economic relations these new relationships diminished any incli nations among these states to aggressively intervene on behalf of palestinians 133 the plo benefited as well in addition to achieving juridical status and the right of return to the territories for nearly 9 000 exiled palestinians it also acquired a governance authority it did not previously enjoy this included ju risdiction over culture social welfare tourism education and health 134 the palestinian economic elite finally achieved some territorial stability enabling their free market enterprises to flourish and providing them with access to foreign investment 135 together these benefits constituted significant incentives for a palestinian political and economic elite to exalt and perpetuate the oslo framework 136 in addition the terms of the dop shaped the framework of subsequent negotiations this was particularly true in regard to the interim agreement on the west bank and the gaza strip signed on 28 september 1995 also known as the oslo ii accord whereas the dop had fleshed out an agreement to agree oslo ii fleshed out the agreement terms in detail like the dop oslo ii made no mention of a future palestinian state addressing only the legitimate rights of the palestinian people and their just requirements as well as the the oslo peace process 168 establishment of palestinian institutions 137 the agreement stipulates that upon establishment of a palestinian council which would later come to be called the national authority the israeli civil administration shall be dissolved and israel s military shall be withdrawn but oslo ii did not ensure the dissolution of israel s military government instead that government would remain intact and retain all responsibilities not delegated to the palestinian authority 138 among the agreement s most significant consequences was the division of the west bank into three areas of jurisdiction areas a b and c israel would transfer all civil and security authority to the palestinian authority in area a which amounted to 18 percent of the west bank in area b 22 percent of the territory it would transfer civil powers and retain security authority see the oslo accord west bank areas map finally israel would retain full civil and security authority over area c or 60 percent of the west bank the parties agreed that israel would gradually transfer civil and security author ity over all territory to the palestinian authority within eighteen months of its establishment except for issues that will be negotiated in the permanent status negotiations an exception that preserved israel s exclusive control over settlements jerusalem borders and the question of refugees additionally the palestinian authority s police force would only be responsible for incidents involving palestinians thus limiting palestinians ability to protect themselves from israeli settlers who remained in the territories under israel s jurisdiction israel would maintain the responsibility for defense against external threats including the responsi bility for protecting the egyptian and jordanian borders and for the defense against external threats from the sea and from the air as well as overall security of israelis and settlements for the purpose of safeguarding their internal security and public order and will have all the powers to take the steps necessary to meet this responsibility 139 in short rather than improve the terms outlined in the dop oslo ii rei fied the patchwork authority delegated to palestinians enshrined israel as the sole source of all authority and did not enhance the prospect of palestinian independence the oslo peace process palestinian authority control joint israeli palestinian control israeli control n jenin jenin tulkarm tulkarm nablus nablus a e s n a e n a r r e t i d e m tel aviv tel aviv i s r a el ramallah ramallah jericho jericho 0 0 5 10 10 15 mi 20 km jerusalem jerusalem bethlehem bethlehem hebron hebron r e v n ri jord a n a d r o j dead sea oslo accord west bank areas a b and c 2000 the 1995 oslo ii accord carved the west bank and gaza into three areas of jurisdiction area a came under full palestinian control area b was under joint israeli and palestinian control and area c the largest jurisdiction came under full israeli civil and political control 170 despite this favorable outcome for israel the interim agreement infuriated the israeli right which sought to establish jewish sovereignty over the territories in its pursuit of a greater israel in november 1995 and amid the right wing likud party s incitement to protest a twenty five year old israeli law student yigal amir assassinated yitzhak rabin 140 rabin never supported palestinian statehood but his pragmatic calculus led him to believe that israel s domination was not sustainable unlike his hard line counterparts and predecessors who believed in a greater israel rabin saw the settlements as a security not an ideological issue palestinian and israeli analysts alike believed that rabin was necessary to the further progress of the peace process and that his assassination marked its end 141 several attempts were made to resuscitate the process and move on to a permanent status agreement none of them yielded meaningful outcomes mean while hostilities between palestinians and israel and its vigilantes intensified in february 1994 an israeli settler killed twenty nine palestinians as they were praying in the ibrahimi mosque in hebron at dawn 142 hamas responded with its first suicide attack in april 1994 killing eight israelis in afula 143 these at tacks set off an escalation of violent confrontations and further entrenchment of israeli control under the leadership of prime minister benjamin netanyahu elected to that top office for the first time in 1996 the peace process effectively stopped and israel s settlement activity including jewish settler takeovers of palestinian homes in east jerusalem increased 144 ehud barak considered a moderate in support of peace succeeded netan yahu in 1999 and continued to expand settlements and delay israeli withdrawal from the palestinian territories by 2000 likud and labor israeli governments had increased the number of settlements in the west bank by 100 percent unlike his predecessors however barak endorsed a two state solution mark ing the first official israeli mention of the prospect of a palestinian state 145 at the urging of u s president bill clinton arafat and barak convened at camp david in july 2000 for negotiations over final status issues including statehood jerusalem and borders the peace process collapses a new palestinian intifada begins israeli prime minister ehud barak broke with long standing israeli policy by endorsing a palestinian state but stayed in line with the right s hawkish vision of preserving the largest settlement blocs in the west bank controlling the the oslo peace process 171 territory s eastern most border and consolidating israeli jurisdiction over east jerusalem israeli and u s officials mythologized barak s negotiating position at camp david as israel s most generous offer indeed relative to previous israeli offers that offered truncated self autonomy it was but in light of established international policy law and certainly palestinian demands it fell severely short of being adequate let alone generous at camp david israeli negotiators sought to maintain israel s unilateral annexation of east jerusalem and to offer palestinians nominal control over the city s arab parts amounting to what barak himself described as a symbolic foothold in jerusalem 146 they also refused to return to the 1949 armistice lines because they wanted to annex 10 percent of the west bank in order to retain its most significant settlement blocs home to 150 000 settlers 147 worse the settle ment blocs would divide the west bank into several cantons and the gaza strip would form its own canton rendering a nascent palestinian state unviable 148 the guardian s ewen macaskill explained that the proposed palestinian state would have been in about half a dozen chunks with huge jewish settlements in between a middle east bantustan the israeli army would also have retained the proposed palestinian state s eastern border the jordan valley for six to 10 years and more significantly another strip along the dead sea coast for an unspecified period so much for being an independent state 149 in addition to making this territorial proposal for ghettoized sovereignty barak refused to accept any israeli responsibility for the creation of the palestinian refugee problem and refused to acknowledge the principle of the right of return enshrined in general assembly resolution 194 and upon which the un had conditioned israel s membership in 1949 instead israeli negotiators offered to support and contribute to an international fund to compensate palestinian refugees and also to accept a limited number of refugees for repatriation as the camp david talks were intended to definitively resolve final status issues acqui escence to these terms would have left no room for modification at a later date arafat who already conceded so much in the oslo i and ii accords and had realized how little room there was for maneuver in their aftermath could not polit ically afford to accept these terms he refused to sign the agreement and the camp david peace talks collapsed in late july 2000 150 palestinians celebrated arafat s the oslo peace process 172 resistance to israeli and u s pressure but the collapse of the talks exacerbated palestinian frustration with the failure of the dop to ease israeli domination in the seven years of the peace process the number of settlements had doubled while conditions wrought by military domination did not yield the oslo framework had curtailed palestinian movement further fragmented palestinian society into a series of discontiguous areas and did not show any promise of resolving the most vexing final status issues as nabil shaath put it the israelis used the interim state to steal the land and quadruple the number of colonial settlers all of what we know since oslo is more israeli control of our land 151 during this time violence also significantly increased israel viewed its in cremental withdrawal from the occupied territories and the transfer of limited control to the palestinian authority stipulated by oslo ii as a security matter the redeployment of israeli troops from area a of the west bank was ac companied by a perception that once no longer governed by the heavy hand of israel s martial law palestinian civilians had become a military threat for every inch the state relinquished it bolstered its military capacity to respond to that perceived increased threat israeli forces operationalized this by encircling the palestinian towns now enjoying nominal sovereignty and preparing detailed contingency plans for rapid intervention involving heavy machinery should palestinian hostility indeed erupt 152 barak had approached the camp david negotiations with the anticipation that a conflict with palestinians was on the horizon 153 he had prepared the is raeli public for a more intense military confrontation by presenting camp david as a moment of truth that would show that the palestinians never wanted peace during the negotiations barak explained to israelis that only by exhausting all diplomatic options could we look the parents of our soldiers in the eye and tell them we did everything in our power to search for peace before we sent their children to battle israel s withdrawal from southern lebanon in july 2000 further complicated this calculus concerned that the army s withdrawal would be seen as a sign of military vulnerability the members of the israeli political right sought to reassert israel s authority they got that opportunity in the only active military frontier still available for them the occupied territories 154 the oslo peace process 173 on 20 september 2000 israeli defense minister ariel sharon flanked by 1 000 israeli troops entered haram al sharif the third holiest muslim site in a demonstration of power intended to lay jewish claim to all of jerusalem 155 the provocation sparked a heated response from palestinians who clashed with armed soldiers injuring one soldier and three palestinians following friday prayers the next day clashes erupted again israeli troops responded with live fire and tear gas killing five palestinians what ensued was a series of confrontations that culminated in sustained clashes between palestinians and israeli forces and marked the beginning of the second palestinian uprising also known as the al aqsa intifada less than six weeks into the renewed uprising and before palestinian mili tary force became a more salient factor israel dramatically increased its use of force against palestinians in doing so it began a process that would affect the substance and meaning of international law regulating a state s use of force against non state actors and indelibly shift israel s relationship to palestinians in the occupied territories the oslo peace process this page intentionally left blank chapter 5 from occupation to warfare i am not the one who initiated the violence i am not the one who is attacking israelis my tanks are not be sieging israeli towns i did not order my tanks my air force my artillery my heavy weapons my navy we are a nation with one airplane yasser arafat november 2000 on 9 november 2000 hussein abayat and khalid salahat were visiting the seven homes partially damaged or completely demolished by israeli airstrikes the night before in beit sahour a predominantly christian suburb of bethlehem thirty four year old abayat was a member of fatah s youth movement and an officer in the palestinian authority s general intelligence service these political formations constituted the leading political and military force behind the al aqsa intifada and comprised a new palestinian young guard 1 these rising leaders saw this second intifada as an opportunity to undermine the traditional palestinian leadership which they viewed as corrupt and inept for their stewardship of the negotiations that led to the binding and deleterious terms of the oslo accords 2 though committed to the two state solution this new cadre opposed negotiations and sought to militarily force israel to withdraw from the occupied territories 3 over the years since the signing of the declaration of principles they had gained domination of the al aqsa intifada and enabled its militarization in the wake of the oslo accords the plo s leadership had returned from exile to the occupied territories where they constituted the new palestinian national authority supplanting the organic leaders and structures that had 176 emerged during the first popular uprising the transition to self autonomy under the oslo framework for peace marked a shift from the informal politics of mass mobilization to the formal politics of state building where an elite leadership derived its symbolic legitimacy from the people without being directly ac countable to them 4 together these shifts marginalized palestinian civil society and meant that public space in the transitional era was virtually monopolized by the authority and particularly by its security services 5 the security forces included 40 000 men who carried light arms provided to them to police the palestinian population under oslo s security coordination terms 6 the reorganization of public space also contributed to the militarization of the renewed uprising after israel departed from area a it classified the palestinians there as latent threats and securitized the area s population it also redefined the frontiers of confrontation between israeli forces and palestinians see the oslo accord west bank areas a b and c map in chapter 4 whereas in the first intifada the site of struggle was the community its streets neighbor hoods and homes in the second intifada the struggle became confined to the area frontiers rendering the majority of palestinian society men and women alike spectators of military clashes rather than participants in a mass uprising 7 the confluence of these elements worked to sustain an intense and violent confrontation ultimately characterized by israeli airstrikes palestinian suicide attacks and armed clashes between israeli soldiers and palestinian militants by early november when abayat and salahat visited beit sahour the intifada had entered its sixth week and had claimed the lives of 180 people 90 percent of whom were palestinian 8 less than a minute after the two men left one of the damaged homes an israeli helicopter gunship launched four antitank missiles at abayat s mitsubishi pickup truck as he and salahat drove along a residential road in broad daylight one of the missiles struck the vehicle catapulting its blazing parts into the air the attack killed abayat and injured salahat two women in their fifties who were standing nearby died from shrapnel wounds caused by the explosion and six other bystanders were critically wounded israel took responsibility for the attack explaining that the action was based on intelligence information 9 israel had targeted abayat for his role in armed attacks on army posts and israeli settlements in the bethlehem district in from occupation to warfare 177 the course of the nascent uprising 10 on the same day abayat was assassinated yasser arafat was in a meeting with u s president bill clinton in washington and he took the opportunity to describe the attack as a very dangerous devel opment 11 although israeli armed forces and palestinian militants had been engaging in intense clashes for several weeks israel s use of aerial snipers in the occupied territories signaled a deliberate escalation in hostilities palestinian gunfire suicide attacks and rocket fire had not yet become a salient feature of the struggle additionally this assassination was the first israeli public attack against a known leader and the first time israel had launched an airstrike without warning 12 fatah declared revenge marwan barghouti a senior fatah official and a political prisoner since 2002 described the assassination as a cowardly aggres sion and vowed that israel would be held responsible for any response from palestinian forces 13 israel understood this as well lieutenant general shaul mofaz told israeli radio that although the military establishment expected a wave of palestinian violence to follow the assassination in the long run everyone who wants to harm israeli army soldiers and citizens of israel must know that he won t be spared 14 while the public nature of israel s assassinations was new the assassinations themselves were not israeli forces had engaged in covert assassinations of pal estinian political and military leaders since the early seventies 15 in one attack ehud barak who was later to approve the strike on abayat in his capacity as prime minister dressed as a woman and led a group of israeli commandos into beirut to assassinate a group of senior members of fatah 16 in the late eight ies moshe ya alon assassinated khalil al wazir abu jihad the leader of the plo s military wing in tunis israel s assassination policy continued into the nineties even after the return of palestine s exiled leadership to the occupied territories until november 2000 however israeli officials had vehemently denied responsibility for the willful killings in 1992 for example a government spokesman claimed there is no policy and there will never be a policy or a reality of willful killing of suspects the principle of the sanctity of life is a fundamental principle of the idf there is no change and there will not be a change in this respect 17 from occupation to warfare 178 the fact that israel took full responsibility for its assassination of abayat and vowed to assassinate others it deemed a threat was novel and proved to be a game changer for the conflict as well as for international law in authorizing military force against palestinians and the deployment of assassinations and other prohibited tactics israel s legal institutions embarked on two fundamental and interlocking shifts the first was to unsettle the applicable legal framework regu lating the israeli state s relationship to palestinians the second was to change the laws of war that regulated a belligerent s right to use force more generally together these shifts achieved through legal work enabled israel to expand its use of force against palestinians and to extinguish the specter of palestin ian military resistance israel literally created new law for colonial dominance international law that in the past had been contemplated and rejected 18 regulating almost war in late 2000 when israel publicly embraced its assassination policy it argued that it could use lethal force as a first resort against individuals it deemed terrorists when it did so however it was challenging existing international law which regarded ter rorism as a criminal issue of domestic concern the proper response to such criminal activity is law enforcement authority meaning a criminal suspect is entitled to a trial and can be executed only after a conviction of guilt under this framework israel cannot shoot to kill palestinians suspected of terrorism such killings constitute extralegal arbitrary and summary executions which are prohibited in law 19 similar prohibitions are operative under the framework of occupation law military occupation may be part of an international armed conflict dur ing a military occupation the occupying power assumes a sovereign s authority and retains effective control of the territory and its population only one state possesses jurisdiction and therefore the power to control the inhabitants and all their means of survival 20 since the occupied population does not have the means to protect or police itself the occupying power must limit its force to law enforcement 21 it cannot wage war or invoke self defense against a population over whom it exercises effective control and can use lethal violence only as a measure of last resort when israel assassinated abayat it laid claim to a broader use of force unavailable to it as an occupying power citing the militarized nature of the second intifada the israeli government argued that it from occupation to warfare 179 is engaged in an armed conflict short of war his is not a civilian disturbance or a demonstration or a riot it is characterized by live fire attacks on a significant scale both quantitatively and geographically the attacks are carried out by a well armed and organized militia under the command of the palestin ian political establishment operating from areas outside israeli control 22 israel asserted its right to use lethal force but refused to classify the conflict as war neither a civil war non international armed conflict niac nor a war against a liberation movement international armed conflict iac states national liberation movements and regional organizations had contemplated both scenarios during the diplomatic conferences held between 1974 and 1977 and developed legal frameworks to regulate them as captured in additional protocols i and ii to the geneva conventions israel never ratified those trea ties recognizing the confrontation as a niac or an iac would recognize the palestinian use of force as legitimate if deployed within the bounds of applicable law so instead israel claimed it could wage almost war against a population palestinians that had no legal right to fight back israel refused to recognize its confrontation with palestinians as a civil war or niac because that would unravel the false partition separating israel from the occupied territories such recognition would acknowledge israel s maintenance of a singular discriminatory government thus exposing it to more pointed claims of pursuing a policy of creeping annexation and overseeing an apartheid regime while israel has denied that palestinians are part of israel s civilian jurisdiction it simultaneously continues to insist they are not sufficiently outside it to be recognized as sovereign and independent 23 in a case where a state is fighting irregular forces that claim to be part of a state under colonial domination or occupation as palestinians have historically claimed the conflict is known as an iac in these cases colonized peoples have the right to use force in pursuit of their self determination 24 the laws of armed conflict recognize the embryonic sovereignty of these irregular forces and treat them as being nearly the same as a state if israel recognized the conflict as an iac that would confer belligerent status on palestinian militants and palestinian fighters would have the right under an international legal regime to use lethal force against israeli military from occupation to warfare 180 targets and installations the israeli civilian casualties of those attacks would be considered collateral damage and if captured palestinian fighters would be held as prisoners of war to be returned at the end of hostilities or swapped in negotiations this status would also permit other states to legally intervene with military and or financial assistance upon a request by the palestinian leader ship israel has rejected any palestinian claims of having the right to use force whether through the defunct palestine liberation army or any other organized apparatus it does not recognize palestinian claims to statehood in any part of what was mandate palestine and rejects the idea that palestinians as a people constitute an embryonic sovereign with the right to use armed force israel insists that any palestinian use of force is terroristic and criminal it is important to recognize that neither of the legal frameworks regulating irregular wars would adequately protect palestinians or decisively enhance their ability to confront a technologically advanced state although the law would regulate israel s conduct of hostilities and legitimate the palestinian resort to arms it would not be a game changer in fact the palestine liberation orga nization rejected israel s claim of engaging in an armed conflict short of war and emphasized that there was no armed conflict at all 25 the plo insisted that palestinian militancy was erratic and unorganized and did not constitute collective armed resistance it also demanded that israel revert to an occupation law framework that would limit its use of force to law enforcement 26 the point is that by avoiding available legal frameworks for armed conflict israel deliber ately exceptionalized its in fact nonexceptional confrontations with palestinians in order to expand its right to use force and delegitimize any responsive force israeli officials and military lawyers understood that israel s assassination policy contravened existing law first these assassinations constituted a dis proportionate use of force against an occupied population people who should only be policed with law enforcement authority second extrajudicial assas sinations are illegal under any circumstances except for warfare in which case the targets also have a belligerent privilege to kill 27 israel wanted to use lethal force against the population it had a duty to protect under occupation law and which it claimed could not use lethal force in any circumstances to overcome these legal hurdles israeli leaders charged the international law division ild in the military advocate general s office with the task of developing a legal from occupation to warfare 181 framework that would sanction the assassination of palestinians in the occupied territories colonel daniel reisner who headed this division at the start of the second intifada explained effectively the question was whether we could treat terrorists like an army and use our force against them openly we wrote a revolutionary opinion stating that above a certain level fighting terrorism is analogous to war and that subject to very specific rules we will authorize such attacks 28 reisner s definition of the battle as analogous to war was no mistake the state could not declare war against suspected criminals and it did not want to acknowl edge the juridical status of palestinians either as an oppressed minority or as a people struggling for self determination israel also understood that as an occupying power it maintained jurisdiction over the territories wherefrom palestinian threats emerged and was therefore responsible for order within them 29 to get around this circumstances israel argued that its military no longer had effective control where administrative authority had been transferred to the palestinian interim government as a result of oslo ii 30 specifically it was referring to area a the 18 percent of the west bank and gaza strip that had come under the full civil and military control of the palestinian authority after the peace process israel was trying to make the case that it could maintain an occupation in 82 percent of the occupied territories and simultaneously be in an armed conflict against its occupied population in the remaining 18 percent where its control had been diminished these arguments were absolutely novel in existing law working with its legal advisors israel had devised the new category armed conflict short of war out of necessity but this category did not have a coherent framework israel developed it in piecemeal fashion in a 2005 interview with the jerusalem post shavit matias then director of the department for international agreements and international litigation captured the ambiguity and rashness of the new legal category when she commented clearly the situation between the palestinians and us during the intifada was almost a state of war or a state of war or whatever term you want to use 31 menachem finkelstein then head of the military advocate general an office supplying legal expertise to the armed forces from occupation to warfare 182 explained that while the scale and intensity of the events justifies the classifica tion as an armed conflict the condition that war be fought between the military organizations of two or more states was not met in this scenario 32 israel s high court of justice moved in lockstep with the state s military and political establishment in a series of decisions beginning in 2001 the israeli high court began to implicitly recognize the existence of a conflict short of war 33 by early 2002 the court held that israel was exercising its right to self defense as defined by the un charter 34 later in 2002 it explicitly held that this is not po lice activity it is an armed struggle 35 in 2004 in beit sourik village council v the government of israel the high court described the situation as an armed conflict effectively recognizing the application of the laws of armed conflict to territories where israel continued to exercise its military authority 36 israel scrambled to find legal justification for its use of force against palestin ians in avoiding available legal frameworks israel also claimed that no existing body of law had adequately contemplated the conflict between states and ter rorists therefore existing laws of armed conflict codified in treaties and custom were outdated and insufficient to regulate this new form of warfare it argued that the situation was sui generis or unlike anything else and thus not subject to strict legal regulation instead it said that its army and political establish ment should have greater latitude to decide the appropriate course of action in combat on an ad hoc basis 37 israel would make these decisions for itself using the law as a clear reference but not as a strict guide and it claimed the right to do so because its challenges were unique and unprecedented this was not the first time nor would it be the last that israel would claim its circumstances to be sui generis in order to achieve policy goals arguably prohibited in law as described earlier upon its establishment in 1948 and for eighteen years thereafter it applied a martial law regime almost exclusively to its native pales tinian population to facilitate their removal and dispossession and since 1967 it has insisted that the west bank and gaza do not have a rightful sovereign thereby negating the de jure application of occupation law in order to facilitate its settler colonial encroachments israel could achieve its policy goals by mere reliance on its military prowess but as a liberal settler state it has sought the legitimating force of the law as well 38 sui generis is a category of exception like necessity and martial law and affords israel room for maneuvering 39 israel deploys from occupation to warfare 183 the sui generis framework as a sovereign act compelled by a unique circumstance and thus insists it is within the bounds of law in doing so israel is not merely claiming that it is justified in violating the law in this one instance but also as serting that its unprecedented conditions authorize it to create new law for itself and everyone else a sui generis framework maintains the veneer of legality while producing a violence that shed s every relation to law 40 israel s sui generis claims were not without significant controversy as they belied a rich history of international legal regulation of its occupation of palestinian territories and its relationship to palestinians more generally when israel began applying its assassination policy the united states as well as the united nations responded with harsh disapproval the question then is how did israel s radical propositions and legal transgressions lead to change rather than disapprobation and sanction the answer is found in the nature of international law as a living instrument that is continually made implemented broken and remade the malleability of law a violation can also be a proposition customary law is one of three primary sources of international law 41 unlike treaties which are a form of explicit consent customary law is not written and is therefore tacit it is made up of state behavior literally what states do and opinio juris what states believe is legal when deciding what the law is the interna tional court of justice icj considers judicial decisions and the teachings of the most highly qualified publicists of the various nations as subsidiary means for the determination of rules of law 42 that means that national jurisprudence as well as the production of knowledge among legal scholars shapes the content of international law treaties mean what they say and can be changed only by the establishment of a new treaty or the explicit rescindment of the existing treaty in contrast custom ary law changes consistently sometimes overnight sometimes over a number of decades and reflects state behavior norms and circumstances there is no single scientific approach to determining custom instead there are diverging approaches that reflect different beliefs regarding the nature of law traditionalists place greater emphasis on state practice and believe that custom reflects law s descriptive accuracy and that it corresponds to reality 43 in contrast those taking from occupation to warfare 184 a more modern approach place greater emphasis on what states say or believe even absent actual facts and practice this includes considering the attitudes of states as found in multilateral treaties general assembly resolutions and state declarations the comparative utility of each approach remains an outstanding debate and even the icj does not strictly adhere to only one approach 44 given this reality in war the law is also a battlefield and the contest is to define what is legal and what is not 45 when a state does not want to comply with international law it can either contest the applicability of a treaty and or argue that a custom has not crystallized states that disagree can push back and argue for the application of a treaty and or insist that the law has been estab lished as custom there is no easy way to settle this contest unlike domestic law international law lacks a hierarchal enforcement model that means there is no international supreme court and no single body that has a monopoly on violence so as to enforce judicial decisions therefore there was no authoritative way to determine whether a state s behavior is in violation of the law instead there are specialized areas of law such as environmental business maritime refugee human rights and humanitarian law and each has its own institutions and mechanisms with varying degrees of enforcement authority 46 moreover these institutions and mechanisms are inflected with competing national interests and the balance of power among states as concerns the laws of war these enforcement mechanisms and institutions include the international criminal court icc the icj regional institutions and above all the un security council unsc the icc is a product of a multilateral treaty the rome statute 1998 and membership is voluntary state parties must ratify the treaty to be bound by its terms and subject to its jurisdiction the icj is a subsidiary organ of the united nations and thus all un member states are party to it however the icj has enforcement author ity only when state parties voluntarily submit to it and when they do not the icj can only issue a nonbinding advisory opinion declaring what the law is in a certain conflict chapter vii of the un charter empowers the unsc to use force when necessary to restore international peace and security 47 security council members can activate chapter vii authority to enforce a judicial deci sion but this rarely happens because of the veto power afforded to the council s permanent members from occupation to warfare 185 this mosaic of fragmented legal regimes the distribution of power and the nature of each existing international tribunal means that the enforceability of the laws of war largely depends on voluntary state consent and compliance or on robust state protest against a noncomplying state in cases where there is no political will to compel a state to comply with the law violations can become the norm rather than the exception israel understood this and deliberately worked to change the laws of armed conflict in order to accommodate its confrontations with palestinians during the al aqsa intifada israel argued that it would have to develop new law based on its operational state practice because it was fighting a war no one had fought before it insisted that its violations of existing laws were propositions for how the war should be fought the nature of the laws of armed conflict made them susceptible to this legal work as part of international law the laws of armed conflict are made up of treaty law and custom and reflect both when a state can initiate a war jus ad bellum and how a state should conduct itself in war once it is initiated jus in bello jus in bello includes the geneva conventions and their additional protocols which define how classes of people should be treated in conflict while the hague regulations 1907 regulate the overall means and methods of warfare throughout the development of international law both preceding and follow ing its codification in the nineteenth century it has failed to adequately limit wartime atrocities 48 this failure reflects inherent flaws and limitations in the laws of war in order to achieve voluntary state buy in these laws must be adaptable to state needs that very adaptability that makes legal regulation of warfare possible also makes the law an inadequate vehicle for constraining state behavior first the laws are established by the most powerful states which are most interested in protecting their national interests thus they will limit their use of force only insofar as they deem force unnecessary to achieving their goals 49 second and as a result of this reality new forms of warfare have been allowed to develop without the restraint of law 50 together with the fact that customary law is based on state practice and what they deem to be legal if enough states adopt a particular prac tice and there is no significant protest in response that practice can become an accepted norm in contrast if a state does something that is harshly condemned from occupation to warfare 186 by other states that behavior faces the specter of being found illegal the global response to israeli and u s force against iraq in 1982 and 2003 respectively demonstrates this point in 1982 israel struck and destroyed the osirak nuclear reactor in bagh dad before it was complete but when it was close to operational israel justi fied its attack as a measure of preemptive self defense the security council unanimously condemn ed the military attack by israel in clear violation of the charter of the united nations and the norms of international con duct 51 as a result of the global protest and a security council rebuke the argument of preemptive self defense was rejected by other nations and such actions remained illegal in 2003 the united states invaded iraq preempting saddam hussein s use of supposed weapons of mass destruction despite popular and national protest no significant consensus emerged thus bringing preemptive self defense out of the realm of the categorically illegal and into a grey area of dispute then in the context of the al aqsa intifada israel attempted to move the question of preemptive self defense further into the realm of legality this process was described by ild head daniel reisner what we are seeing now is a revision of international law if you do some thing for long enough the world will accept it the whole of international law is now based on the notion that an act that is forbidden today becomes permissible if executed by enough countries if the same process occurred in private law the legal speed limit would be 115 kilometers an hour and we would pay income tax of 4 percent so there is no connection between the question will it be sanctioned and the act s legality international law progresses through violations we invented the targeted assassination thesis and we had to push it at first there were protrusions that made it hard to insert easily into the legal moulds eight years later it is in the center of the bounds of legitimacy 52 this shift was not inevitable instead a confluence of factors militated in favor of israel s attempts to change the applicable legal framework and existing laws of war from occupation to warfare 187 the united states from opposition to collaboration at the advent of israel s assassination policy in november 2000 the united states responded with condemnation describing israel s behavior as too ag gressive 53 this amounted to a state protest that put israel s legal claims and military policies into dispute as a matter of law also in late 2000 the united states in consultation with the united nations as well as israeli and palestin ian leaders established the sharm el sheikh fact finding committee aimed at ending the clashes that characterized the al aqsa intifada and resuming peace negotiations u s president bill clinton appointed senator george mitchell to chair the committee the committee published its report com monly known as the mitchell report in april 2001 only a few months after president george w bush had assumed office and one month after palestinian groups had launched the first palestinian mortar attack from gaza into israel striking an army base 54 in its final recommendations the committee rejected israel s characterization of the second intifada as a sui generis one it recommended that israel abandon the blanket characterization of the current uprising as an armed conflict short of war for failing to discriminate between terrorism and protest 55 the report concluded that israel s characterization was overly broad for it does not ad equately describe the variety of incidents reported since late september 2000 56 the committee explicitly recommended that israel revert to the concept of law enforcement 57 it also recommended that israel reinstate as a matter of course military police investigations into palestinian deaths resulting from idf ac tions in the palestinian territories in incidents not involving terrorism 58 the mitchell report unequivocally rejected israel s attempts to change the nature of the conflict as well as the heightened use of military force against palestinians the committee s conclusions and recommendations reflected the plo s analysis of the applicable legal framework as captured in the plo s submissions to the committee the committee s adoption of the plo s legal analysis demonstrates law s utility as a defensive tool 59 in june 2001 under a directive from the bush administration cia direc tor george tenet published a plan for establishing a ceasefire and renewed security arrangements between israel and the palestinians 60 widely known as the tenet plan the document affirmed the mitchell report s findings as well from occupation to warfare 188 as its insistence that israel abandon its militarized approach to the occupied palestinian territories 61 notwithstanding these high level u s objections is rael continued its assassination policy and with that decision its defiance of existing law less than two months after the release of the tenet plan in august 2001 israel assassinated two hamas leaders in the west bank city of nablus jamal mansour and jamal salim damouni also killing four bystanders u s secretary of state colin powell speaking on cnn condemned the attack as too aggres sive and reminded viewers that this was a targeted killing of the kind we have spoken out and condemned in the past and we did so yesterday both at the white house and in the state department 62 the state department issued its own statement and described the attack as excessive and highly provocative 63 the following day u s vice president dick cheney appeared on fox news where he was asked about israel s assassination policy cheney s response signaled quiet consent in contradiction of the state department s position as well as that of the mitchell report and the tenet plan while he did not defend israel s policies cheney commented if you ve got an organization that has plotted or is plotting some kind of suicide bomber attack for example and they have evidence of who it is and where they re located i think there s some justification in their trying to protect themselves by preempting 64 cheney s remarks revealed a still nascent policy within the bush administra tion that would come to full bloom in the course of its war on iraq in 2003 as well as in its update of the national security strategy in 2006 both this docu ment and the war itself embodied the concept of preemptive self defense the central legal argument upon which targeted killing is based whereas state force is justified in response to an armed attack the concept of preemptive self defense claims that a state can use force against a latent but certain threat 65 however in august 2001 none of that thinking was in play and cheney s contradictory remarks caused a media maelstrom the white house attempted to address the embarrassing schism during its daily press briefing white house spokesperson ari fleischer emphasized u s opposition to israel s assassination policy he from occupation to warfare 189 framed cheney s remarks as speculation about the way israel might justify its actions but not reflective of the u s position upon incessant grilling from one journalist fleischer doubled down on his comments to put the controversy to rest by reiterating u s disapproval q do you stand by your statement when you said that the administration at all levels deplore the violence there and that includes the targeted killings mr fleischer there is no doubt that is the position of the administra tion and is shared by all members of it 66 this stalwart u s resistance began to dissipate after 11 september 2001 al qaeda s attacks on the united states brought the once unacceptable within the realm of possibility and marked a significant juncture in states understanding of non state force following al qaeda s attacks the un security council passed resolutions 1368 2001 and 1373 2001 declaring the operation against the united states tantamount to an armed attack thus triggering article 51 of the un charter permitting the use of force in self defense prior to this moment only states were recognized as capable of launching an armed attack in effect the un was now sanctioning war against a non state entity as well as the state that harbored that entity israel immediately attempted to co opt the legal framework arising from the u s war against al qaeda to justify israel s own use of military force against palestinians it tried to frame palestinian attacks as tantamount to an armed at tack within the purview of unsc resolutions 1368 and 1373 and as triggering its right to use force in self defense 67 this was not the first time israel had appealed to the security council to justify its use of force against palestinians throughout the late sixties and sev enties israel had insisted that its attacks against lebanon and jordan sites the plo was using to launch its attacks were an exercise of self defense 68 in 1968 1969 and 1970 the security council disagreed it condemned israel s attacks as flagrant violation s of the united nations charter 69 and rejected its pleas of self defense because under the law it could not defend territories it illegally oc cupied 70 israel s attempts now to frame the second intifada as an unprecedented from occupation to warfare 190 war against terrorism were less new than they were a return to something very old the critical difference was that whereas palestinians launched their attacks from other states in the sixties and seventies in 2001 their attacks emerged from territories where israel exercised exclusive jurisdiction this also distinguished israel s claims from those of the united states the international court of justice highlighted this distinction when it rejected israel s claims to self defense in a 2004 advisory opinion on the legal consequences of the construction of a wall in the occupied palestinian terri tories the court reasoned that article 51 contemplates an armed attack by one state against another state and israel does not claim that the attacks against it are imputable to a foreign state moreover the court held that because the threat to israel originates within and not outside the occupied west bank the situation is different from that contemplated by security council resolutions 1368 and 1373 authorizing the united states to use force against afghanistan 71 by emphasizing israel s effective control of the opt the icj made clear that the law of self defense and the use of military force were unavailable to israel in its dealings with palestinians the icj s decision amounted to a protest about israel s attempts to change the law icj advisory opinions however are not bind ing they constitute a significant intervention in the production of knowledge by jurists yet are a single element of customary law that traditionalists would argue is not as significant as state practice plenty of other jurists published responses to the icj s decision arguing both for and against it in effect the question whether israel had a right to self defense against palestinians remained unsettled and contested several years before the icj issued this opinion the high contracting par ties of the geneva conventions literally all the member states of the united nations convened to reaffirm the applicability of the conventions to the opt they rejected israel s attempt to shift the legal framework and called on israel to abstain from exposing the civilian population to military operations 72 sepa rately the european union and the european parliament also rebuffed israel s attempts to shift from occupation law to the law of war 73 these statements reflected the opinio juris of states and added to the register of protest rejecting israel s claims of exceptionalism israel s persistent practice conducted without legal accountability also shaped customary law from occupation to warfare 191 yet the likelihood of accountability dimmed further as the bush adminis tration sought to move aggressively against al qaeda and adopted an assassina tion policy in its so called global war on terror 74 in 2002 the administration launched a hellfire missile from an unmanned predator drone at a car carrying qaed salim sinan al harethi while it was in motion in yemen killing him and the other passengers 75 al harethi was known as the mastermind of the bomb ing of the u s navy guided missile destroyer uss cole and an active member of al qaeda swedish foreign secretary anna lindh described the attack as a summary execution that violates human rights putting the tactic into dispute 76 the adoption of an assassination policy by the united states was helping to ease criticism of israel s practices but the collapse of the position that there was a difference between the u s and israeli wars was not immediate initially the united states attempted to distinguish israel s assassination policy from its own for example u s state department spokesperson richard boucher responding to questions about the bush administration s killing of al harethi in light of its previous condemnation of israel s practices said our policy on targeted killings in the israeli palestinian context has not changed q well so you have one rule for one conflict and another rule for an other conflict mr boucher i would say that if you look back at what we have said about targeted killings in the israeli palestinian context you will find that the reasons we have given do not necessarily apply in other circumstances 77 a rising and robust counterterrorism industry soon eviscerated these nuances and steadily subsumed palestinian militancy u s opposition transformed into ex plicit collaborations with israel in the production of knowledge on and state practice of counterterrorism these collaborations shaped the customary law regulating use of force against terrorism without regard to the previous consequential distinctions between the u s and israeli battlefronts by may 2002 bush administration of ficials had begun high profile meetings aimed at joint counterterrorism operations from occupation to warfare 192 douglas feith the hawkish u s under secretary of defense for policy traveled to tel aviv to meet with then prime minister ariel sharon and defense minister binyamin ben eliezer where they discussed war games intelligence sharing and other cooperation 78 the administration continued its bilateral collaboration in the u s israel joint counterterrorism group that meets annually to formally review the full range of counterterrorism issues for both countries 79 even in the face of this increasing synergy high level diplomatic protest against israel s practice continued upon the march 2004 assassination of sheikh ahmed yasin hamas s founding member and political leader the european union the un secretary general the united kingdom and norway among others condemned the operation as an extrajudicial assassination undeterred one month later in april 2004 israel assassinated abdel aziz al rantisi who had succeeded yasin in response the security council convened a meeting to condemn the attack and more broadly extrajudicial assassinations nearly all council members agreed that while israel had a right to protect its citizens such operations as these assassinations exceeded the bounds of international law 80 this opposition was meaningful and constituted protest of israel s attempts to change the law but it was not enough to stem the israeli practice whatever protest existed against targeted killings during the bush adminis tration all but disappeared during president barack obama s tenure the obama administration oversaw over 500 drone strikes nearly ten times the number of strikes authorized by the bush administration 81 however domestic and in ternational protest about the policy now deployed by a self proclaimed liberal administration was faint and ultimately faded 82 meanwhile and under obama s leadership u s israeli counterterrorism efforts became more robust in 2011 the obama administration would cite israeli jurisprudence in a department of justice memo providing legal justification for the targeted killing of anwar al awlaki a u s citizen in yemen accused of ties with al qaeda in the arabian peninsula 83 u s and israeli academics have similarly engaged intensely in producing knowl edge about such counterterrorism efforts indicating not only the synergy between them but also the lack of meaningful distinctions that should have otherwise set them apart 84 significantly these collaborations and publications become part of the state practice and opinio juris that constitute customary law and they have added to the register of acceptance of assassinations as targeted killings from occupation to warfare 193 the united states and israel also argued that because they are at the forefront of fighting a war on terror they are specially affected states as such u s and israeli state practice should they say be given greater weight and consideration in the formulation of customary humanitarian law 85 conversely the operational practice and legal opinions of other states should bear less weight in these circum stances a small number of specially affected states can determine the custom for other countries so long as those states do not object 86 in other words the united states and israel are saying they should determine the law for all other states this understanding is not widely accepted but the impact of such a controversy is only as significant as the protest against the practice and such global protest against the use of assassinations has been neither consistent nor long lasting 87 had the united states maintained its opposition to targeted killings and to the framework of armed conflict short of war israel s actions might have remained somewhere between a controversial proposition and a violation of in ternational law however because of diminishing u s protest which culminated in u s adoption of the assassination policy israel s violations steadily escaped the zone of brazen violations and moved into the scope of legitimacy assassination shifted from being the policy of one rogue state to being a policy of targeted killing by the world s superpower in what it called the global war on terror 88 together with the production of knowledge by jurists national jurisprudence and significantly waning protest from other states extrajudicial assassinations became increasingly tolerated as legitimate tactics in certain theaters of war and recognized as targeted killings 89 although a counterfactual analysis is not determinative in this instance the impact of al qaeda s 2001 attacks on the united states on this process cannot be overstated as put by reisner it took four months and four planes to change the opinion of the united states and had it not been for those four planes i am not sure we would have been able to develop the thesis of the war against terrorism on the present scale 90 israel succeeded in making the practice of assassinations as well as its ex panded use of force against palestinians a proposition for a new international norm but it did not stop there the seeds it planted in the second intifada came into full and lethal bloom in its military operations in the gaza strip there from occupation to warfare 194 israel continued its efforts to change the laws of war and methods of colonial domination primarily in its confrontations with hamas which increasingly featured rocket and mortar fire against israel planting the seeds of destruction in 2003 and in the midst of the second intifada the israeli army sought to update its military doctrine it recruited asa kasher professor of professional ethics at tel aviv university and the author of the israeli army s ethical code of conduct established in the mid nineties as well as amos yadlin a major general in the israeli army and the head of military intelligence to lead an ethics committee composed of military personnel in yadlin s words they had to formulate how to fight terror where the laws and ethics of conventional war did not apply 91 whereas in conventional warfare between two states everyone shares the same values in this case yadlin argues the state has to confront a people that have totally different values and rules of engagement 92 since t he other side is fighting outside the rules israel has to create new ethical rules for the international law of armed conflict in keeping with the traditional idf concept of the purity of arms 93 kasher yadlin and their committee made several sweeping proposals for how to amend existing laws of war in order to ease restrictions on states fight ing terrorists in 2005 they built on this proposal with a more comprehensive article in the journal of military ethics an academic publication highly regarded among the military and political elite and national security law scholars where it received global attention 94 kasher explains that while moshe ya alon the israeli army s chief of staff did not formally make the document binding he and his successors adopted the principles it proposed 95 kasher and yadlin who intended to re shape international law through their scholarly interventions and the influence of israel s military practice soon saw that happening in the gaza strip following israel s unilateral withdrawal from that territory of its settler population and military installations in 2005 lethal fruits devastating wars against the gaza strip upon its unilateral disengagement israel argued that it no longer occupied the territory and therefore could no longer conduct police operations there making from occupation to warfare 195 necessary the use of military force as a measure of first resort in effect israel declared war on gaza 96 to facilitate this shift in the relevant language of law it modified the analysis of effective control it had used in the early 2000s then and in order to justify assassinations israel had argued that its withdrawal from area a diminished its effective control in that territory permitting its use of military force since it was still in control of the majority of the territory however it would have to balance the laws of war and the humanitarian provisions of oc cupation law to quell unrest 97 whereas israel argued that the al aqsa intifada was an armed conflict short of war in 2005 it argued that its confrontation with palestinians in gaza was explicitly warfare because israel had ended its effective control when it withdrew from the entire territory and not just part of it thus ending its occupation israel equated the presence of its armed forces in gaza to effective control the threshold analysis for determining the existence of a military occupation and the redeployment of those forces as that occupation s cessation 98 however according to article 42 of the hague regulations 1907 a belligerent has ef fective control of a territory so long as it has established its authority and has the ability to exercise it regardless of the continuous presence of ground troops 99 the nuremberg tribunal100 and the international criminal tribunal for the former yugoslavia icty are among the tribunals that have affirmed that a territory remains occupied so long as an army could reestablish physical control of that territory at any time 101 in its disengagement plan israel reserved the right to use force against palestinians living in the gaza strip in the name of preventive and reactive self defense and it has conducted several military operations in gaza in the name of such self defense israel has maintained control of its air space its seaports its telecommunications network its electromagnetic sphere its tax revenue distribu tion and its population registry israel also has complete control of palestinian movement as it controls four of its five border crossings with gaza and therefore the ingress and egress of all the territory s goods and people upon announcing israel s withdrawal israel s political elite made clear that israel did not intend to relinquish control of the gaza strip dov weisglass senior adviser to prime minister ariel sharon explained that the disengagement was meant to freeze the peace process by supplying the amount of formaldehyde that is necessary from occupation to warfare 196 so there will not be a political process with the palestinians 102 unilateral with drawal sought to alter the balance of power by offering a veneer of palestinian independence while retaining israeli control the international criminal court 103 the human rights council s fact finding mission to the gaza strip104 and multiple international human rights organizations105 have acknowledged that israel remains in effective control of the gaza strip accordingly the laws of occupation should remain in force thus obligating israel to use its law enforcement authority to restore order and prohibiting it from declaring war upon the territory it occupied while these legal findings help to shape the opinio juris regarding the territory s status absent meaningful sanction they are insufficient to regulate israel s use of force against the gaza strip israel has retained that latitude as a matter of sovereign right israel insisted its occupation had ended but it also recognized that gaza was not sovereign it declared gaza a hostile entity which was neither a state wherein palestinians have the right to police and protect themselves nor an occupied territory whose civilian population israel had a duty to protect this meant that it could deny palestinians the right to fully govern themselves and simultaneously use military force to thwart their resistance to colonial domination since winning parliamentary elections in 2006 hamas has been the le gitimately elected leadership of the palestinian population under occupation in june 2007 and in response to a u s supported attempted coup the party routed its rival fatah from the gaza strip and assumed control of the territory hamas claims that it represents a nascent palestinian state still under colonial domination and maintains armed struggle as a legitimate form of resistance israel s outstanding rejection of palestinian claims to sovereignty renders hamas a non state actor denies its forces belligerent privilege and regards any use of force as ipso facto terroristic even when it is directly targeting israeli military installations 106 israel achieves this conundrum by insisting that both gaza s legal status and the hostilities against israel are sui generis echoing its statements at the start of the al aqsa intifada israel argued that as the pioneer in this new military frontier it would have to define what the appropriate laws of war should be based on its from occupation to warfare 197 experience and discretion in other words it would make up the law 107 in effect israel usurped the right of palestinians to defend themselves because they did not belong to an embryonic sovereign relinquished its obligations as an occupying power and expanded its right to unleash military force thus rendering palestin ians in the gaza strip triply vulnerable this framework has since become the bedrock of israel s military campaigns against the coastal enclave since announcing its disengagement in april 2004 israel has launched twenty two military campaigns against gaza including three massive onslaughts between 2008 and 2014 operation cast lead 2008 operation pillar of cloud 2012 and operation protective edge 2014 108 in the course of those on slaughts across six and a half years gaza s captive population became subject to israel s deployment of new laws of warfare without external regulation as put by uzi landau former israeli minister of the interior israel became a laboratory for fighting terror 109 more accurately the gaza strip became israel s colonial laboratory for experimentation with weapons and tactics in the so called global war on terror 110 force protection shifting the risks of warfare from soldiers onto enemy civilians in their 2005 article kasher and yadlin had proposed revising the scope of force protection and considering the military value of protecting soldiers they argued that in a war on terror the lives of a belligerent state s soldiers are worth more than the lives of enemy civilians traditional laws of war consider the lives of soldiers last or next to last on the list of priorities during combat this is because soldiers have the right to kill are supported by a military and political infra structure during combat and assume the risks of death and injury when they enlist hence why soldiers are considered brave in contrast civilians have no right to kill have no infrastructure to support them during hostilities and are not expected to assume the risks of warfare because they are either its victims or its survivors therefore the laws of armed conflict demand that soldiers bear the risks of combat in order to protect civilians to the maximum extent possible and in the case that civilians are harmed that the harm must be proportional to the military advantage achieved this is the principle of proportionality kasher and yadlin reject this logic which they from occupation to warfare 198 consider to be immoral a combatant is a citizen in uniform in israel quite often he is a conscript or on reserve duty his blood is as red and thick of that of citizens who are not in uniform his life is as precious as the life of anyone else that fact that persons involved in terror are depicted as noncombatants is not a reason for jeopardizing the combatant s life in their pursuit he has to fight against terrorists because they are involved in terror they shoulder the responsibility for their encounter with the combatant and should therefore bear the consequences 111 this proposition unduly shifts the risk of warfare from soldiers to enemy civilians in its calculus of proportionality 112 while all armed forces consider force protection as part of their military advantage israel s proposal is radical in that it considers its soldiers lives to be more valuable than the lives of enemy civilians therefore when assessing proportionality it tolerates greater numbers of civilian deaths and injuries so long as that spares israel s soldiers from harm the outcome of this almost ensures devastating results at the most extreme end of this proposition is permission for a belligerent force to carpet bomb its adversary for the sake of preserving its own soldiers lives indeed michael n schmitt a canonical figure of national security law and an editorial advisory board member for the journal of military ethics together with fellow scholar john merriam uncritically notes that the israeli public s aversion to soldier casualties leads israel to liberally apply force particularly airstrikes and counter battery fire in order to guarantee force protection 113 the testimonies of soldiers deployed to the gaza strip in the summer 2014 during operation protective edge indicate how this principle was translated into operational state practice one soldier explains that the rules of engage ment became incredibly lenient and his commander had instructed him and the other soldiers that a nything you see in the neighborhoods you re in anything within a rea sonable distance say between zero and 200 meters is dead on the spot no authorization needed we asked him i see someone walking in the street do i shoot him he said yes why do i shoot him because he isn t supposed to be there nobody no sane civilian who isn t a terrorist has from occupation to warfare 199 any business being within 200 meters of a tank and if he places himself in such a situation he is apparently up to something the working assumption states and i want to stress that this is a quote of sorts that anyone located in an idf area in areas the idf took over is not considered a civilian we entered gaza with that in mind and with an insane amount of firepower i don t know if it was proportionate or not i don t claim to be a battalion commander or a general but it reached a point where a single tank and remember there were 11 of those just where i was fires between 20 and 30 shells per day the two way radio was crazy when we entered there was one reservist tank company that positioned itself up on a hill and started firing they fired lots that company s formal numbers stood at something like 150 shells per day they fired fired fired 114 israeli society has been supportive of this burden shifting framework com pulsory service in israel means that every family sends its children to the battle front thus heightening everyone s sensitivity about the welfare of the armed forces in 2006 this sensitivity came into sharp relief when hamas captured israeli soldier gilad shalit in a cross border raid the palestinian parliamentary body and militant force sought to exchange shalit for palestinian political prisoners his capture has been described as torment for israel where every newscast would end with how many days shalit had been in captivity 115 israeli society blamed the army for not authorizing the hannibal directive or the use of massive fire to rescue shalit before he was captured this directive encourages the use of in discriminate force in order to prevent a capture and thus avoid the consequences of negotiating a soldier s release and also to deter soldiers capture for use as bargaining chips 116 three israeli army officers developed it in the late eighties after hezbollah captured two israeli soldiers across the lebanese border upon shalit s release in 2011 in exchange for 1 027 palestinian prisoners the israeli army modified the directive so that field commanders could initiate a hannibal operation even without authorization from their superior commanders in august 2014 in the course of operation protective edge the commander of israel s givati brigade ofer winter initiated a hannibal operation in rafah upon news that second lieutenant hadar goldin was missing israeli troops from occupation to warfare 200 sealed a perimeter with a 1 5 mile radius around the suspected capture point to prevent anyone from fleeing for the next two days israeli soldiers fired 500 artillery shells and launched 100 airstrikes on the area in late afternoon on the second day of the operation israeli soldiers discovered the remains of goldin s body and forensics concluded that he had died in a firefight he had never been captured by then the israeli operation had killed 190 palestinians including 55 children 36 women and 5 men over the age of sixty winter told the as sociated press that s why we used all this force those who kidnap need to know they will pay a price this was not revenge they simply messed with the wrong brigade 117 under israel s new force protection rubric the carnage borne by palestinian civilians based on inaccurate intelligence and acted upon without superior orders became acceptable not a combatant nor a civilian but always a target in addition to force protection kasher and yadlin s 2005 article also proposed a radical redefinition of who is a direct participant in hostilities the threshold analysis of when a civilian becomes a legitimate target under article 51 3 of the additional protocol i civilians forfeit their immunity for such time as they take up arms 118 kasher and yadlin proposed expanding the temporal scope of this participation beyond the exact time of participation in hostilities so that a civilian involved in hostilities is presumed to be involved in terror for an additional half year or some other period to be determined on professional intelligence grounds in effect a palestinian civilian who participated in hostilities would be a legitimate target for several months after the direct participation unless there was evidence to definitively rebut the presumption of continued involvement in december 2006 the israeli high court of justice adjudicated this issue in its case on targeted killing the public committee against torture in israel v the government of israel while the court rejected the presumption of future involvement based on past involvement it also disregarded the temporal scope of article 51 3 it suggested that a civilian who has joined a terrorist organization which has become his home and in the framework of his role in that organization he commits a chain of hostilities with short periods of rest between them loses his from occupation to warfare 201 immunity from attack for such time as he is committing the chain of acts indeed regarding such a civilian the rest between hostilities is nothing other than preparation for the next hostility 119 the court reasoned that membership in a designated terrorist organization as a continuous combat function and therefore sufficient for denying a civilian his immunity under this framework a military commander does not need to ask what the alleged terrorist is doing at the time he is targeted in order to kill him instead he only needs to verify that the target is an active member of a designated terrorist organization armed forces can thus kill a civilian designated as a member of a terrorist organization even when he is not a threat because his membership status creates a presumption of direct involvement 120 at the heart of this legal reasoning is a justification for the use of preventive force under the previous standard of direct participation in hostilities no military advantage exists for killing a civilian who is no longer posing a threat under this one because the civilian is presumed to have a continuing combat function there is a lawful military advantage in killing a dormant alleged terrorist because the framework considers that inactivity or sleep as rest between hostilities 121 kasher noted after the 2006 israeli judicial decision that there was no need to revise the document that we drafted by even one comma what we are doing in that document is becoming the law 122 israel s legal reasoning found support in an international committee for the red cross document the 2009 interpretive guidance on the notion of direct participation in hostilities under international humanitarian law 123 devel oped out of a series of expert meetings convened between 2003 and 2008 this interpretive guidance came to very similar conclusions about the participation of civilians in hostilities in his capacity as special rapporteur on extrajudicial summary or arbitrary executions philip alston noted that the document s conclusions are questionable because they are tantamount to a status determina tion despite treaty language that temporally limits participation in hostilities 124 notably u s and israeli operational practice jurisprudence and scholarly pro duction helped to shape these conclusions the major distinction however is that this red cross analysis refers to members of organized armed groups whereas hamas is a governing authority with distinct civilian and military branches from occupation to warfare 202 that should be distinguished 125 israel does not make that distinction because it considers hamas an organized armed group and not an embryonic sovereign this raises at least two troubling issues first because israel rejects hamas s legitimate political standing it categorizes all of its members regardless of politi cal or military function as civilians who directly participate in hostilities two even palestinians in gaza who are not members of hamas are at risk because as the governing authority in the territory hamas employs the public sector this includes law enforcement officers who may have no military purpose and no affiliation to hamas beyond employment israel s revised military doctrine which has no regard for hamas s sovereignty claims risks rendering nearly any palestinian participation in the public sector in gaza as presumptively continu ous therefore israel can justify targeting these individuals militarily regardless of the actual threat they pose that is precisely what israel did in late december 2008 when it launched a guided missile at a group of young police cadets in the gaza strip the cadets were marching in their graduation ceremony with their families in audience within a few minutes of the attack sixty israeli jet fighters similarly targeted hamas police and security forces across the tiny span of the coastal enclave israel killed a total of 200 palestinians in the attack which initiated operation cast lead a military offensive in the winter of 2008 to 2009 126 the police cadets and the hamas police officers are civilian law enforcement personnel and therefore not legitimate military targets israel defended its attack by arguing that once in a state of conflict hamas would absorb the officers within its military ranks this is highly speculative because all civilian law enforcement in gaza falls under hamas s authority regardless of police officers political allegiance police officers could be members of fatah or the communist party rather hamas for example even though they are employed by hamas by virtue of its governing authority although the cadets possessed civilian status were not definitively members of hamas and posed no military threat at the time of their killing israel killed them based on their employment by hamas and to prevent the possibility that they would ever become a threat this is a radical reading of humanitarian law israel s analysis significantly expands the definition of a legitimate target by working on the basis of un checked forward looking speculation and not on incontrovertible evidence of from occupation to warfare 203 posing a lethal threat it is a risk averse analysis that places the brunt of any risk on enemy civilians the equivalent would be to consider nearly all israelis aged eighteen or above as legitimate targets because they would eventually be conscripted into the army or called to serve in its reservist troops under israel s revised analysis this disturbing hypothetical is not plausible because the analysis insists that traditional laws of armed conflict remain intact dur ing conventional warfare israel narrowly applies its new military directive to non state actors thus shielding states from ever being brutally attacked based upon the same logic moreover because hamas members can be targeted at any time and not just when they take up arms the likelihood increases that they will be surrounded by uninvolved civilians at the time of targeting as when individual political leaders are sleep in their homes surrounded by their families or when they eat at a restaurant or walk in the street when civilians are killed during israeli assassination attacks israel accuses hamas s leaders of using them as human shields thereby absolving itself for those civilian casualties 127 israel s high court considered this dilemma in its 2006 decision and demanded that the military advantage gained by assassinating a hamas operative be proportionate to the civilian casualties and destruction caused this call for restraint based on military deference has been negligible precisely because of israel s radical modifications of proportionality 128 during israel s 2008 to 2009 winter military offensive for example israeli aerial and ground attacks killed 1 400 palestinians including more than 300 children palestinian forces killed 9 israelis 3 of whom were civilians 129 under a traditional proportionality assessment these figures create a presumption of israel s disproportionate and indiscriminate use of force however israel s revised military doctrine regarding force protection upends this logic because it shifts responsibility for palestinian casualties onto hamas and it ascribes a higher value to the lives of israeli soldiers in the aftermath of the offensive asa kasher explained that the concept of proportionality has changed there is no logic in compar ing the number of civilians and armed fighters on the palestinian side or comparing the number of israelis killed by qassam rockets to the number of palestinians killed in gaza 130 from occupation to warfare 204 in its 2006 decision the israeli high court had also imposed a duty upon the army to warn civilians of an impending attack in order to mitigate harm 131 israel s warning procedures include a tactic called knock on the roof in which israeli soldiers launch a submunition at a home or building in order to warn the civilian inhabitants of an imminent strike the relatively small rocket causes damage and shocks and often paralyzes its intended civilian beneficiaries between forty five seconds and three minutes later israel launches the larger rocket intended to cause significant damage the time frame is so short that it does not afford the population adequate time to flee and has failed to reduce the high toll of civilian deaths 132 israel argues that providing any more time for palestinians to flee would diminish its military advantage 133 worse perhaps israel may also have considered civilians who did not flee to be voluntary human shields directly participating in hostilities and therefore legitimate targets or involuntary human shields whose deaths are then hamas s responsibility in both approaches the warning system absolves israel of the casualties caused by its subsequent attack israel s logic finds no authority in traditional law since an attacking state maintains a duty to distinguish between civilians and combatants if a warning is ineffective and the population cannot flee or take shelter 134 this is necessary to balance the anticipated harm against the anticipated military advantage in most cases investigated during israel s 2014 offensive the warnings were gratuitous as palestinians had no safe shelter israeli forces did not consider any designated area as unequivocally immune from target the un office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs reported that t hroughout the conflict there was a real fear among the population that no person or place was safe as evidenced by attacks on hospitals residential buildings and schools designated as shelters psychosocial distress levels already high among the population of gaza have worsened significantly as a result of the conflict 135 israel even disregarded the immunity of un infrastructure which maintains a civilian status and possesses a presumption of immunity the rooftops of un buildings are emblazoned with the organization s blue emblem to ensure visibil ity and distinction this apparently did not ensure civilian safety during israel s from occupation to warfare 205 2014 offensive in the course of fifty one days israel attacked seven unrwa schools providing shelter to civilians a 2014 un investigation found that in one instance in rafah un personnel provided israel with a school s gps coordinates thirty three times to try to avoid harm to nearly 3 000 civilians seeking refuge israel struck near the school anyway killing 15 palestinians and injuring at least 30 more 136 in its investigation of the attack israel claimed that a palestinian militant on a motorcycle traveled by the un school and in doing so he was using the civilians as human shields to protect himself and or to injure israel s image accordingly israel shifted responsibility for the deaths in the school to the palestinian militant thereby absolving itself of responsibility for the casual ties 137 such a shift removes the attack on the school as well as the 15 casualties and the dozens injured from the register of harm in israel s proportionality as sessment making them acceptable in its new language of law 138 it also justifies targeting the un shelter muted protests and foreseeable horizons during operation cast lead israel destroyed 2 900 homes 29 schools 121 commercial and industrial workshops 60 police stations and 30 mosques in addition to the high number of civilian casualties during the eight days of operation pillar of cloud israel killed 167 palestinians 139 in the course of operation defensive shield in 2014 israel launched 6 000 airstrikes and fired almost 50 000 artillery and tank shells it killed nearly 2 200 palestinians includ ing 1 462 civilians of whom 551 were children orphaned 1 500 children left 370 000 children in need of psychosocial treatment completely destroyed 18 000 homes and at the height of the onslaught displaced half a million palestin ians 140 this carnage becomes acceptable in israel s proposed military directive specifically under the enlarged scope of force protection direct participation in hostilities and the analysis of proportionality israel s officials scholars and military personnel as well as its legal es tablishment have insisted these shifts are necessary to meet the demands of unprecedented warfare against terrorists in the sui generis battlefield against a hostile entity this does not mean that israel s lethal propositions advanced in the gaza strip are accepted norms they are not however that does not make them unequivocal violations of law either in the aftermath of the three from occupation to warfare 206 devastating onslaughts on gaza and amid projections that the coastal enclave will be unlivable by 2020 these military tactics stand somewhere between a violation and a new customary norm if not rebuffed legally and politically by other states they could eventually become accepted as the seed for new custom muted protests as well as collusion by palestinians traditional allies and even palestinians themselves indicate a troubling horizon in the course of israel s first major onslaught on the gaza strip in 2008 and 2009 fatah hamas s rival that is in control of the west bank violently quelled palestinian protests in that territory against the gruesome offensive 141 fatah s u s trained security forces did so in coordination with israel s military forces for the sake of preventing a hamas takeover of the west bank similar to the gaza takeover 142 fatah s focus on this internecine rivalry for authority rather than on israel s violent domination has also shaped its quietude in regard to israel s as sassinations of palestinian leaders in the gaza strip 143 and in the fall of 2009 the fatah dominated leadership undermined one of the few legal accountability instruments available to challenge israel s new military doctrine following operation cast lead the united nations human rights council initiated the united nations fact finding mission on the gaza conflict which represented the most significant protest against israel s tactics 144 the mission s report popularly known as the goldstone report made a number of recom mendations referring israel to the international criminal court referring the issue for review by the un security council convening a conference to reaffirm the applicability of occupation law in the palestinian territories and conven ing a further conference to assess israel s illegal use of prohibited weapons in urban based armed conflict although none of these tactics sufficed to regulate israel s behavior they signaled global resistance to its new means and methods of warfare as a result of intense u s pressure however the palestinian ambas sador to the united nations in geneva deferred the human rights council vote on the report to the following session six months later 145 while the fact finding mission did not rescind the report its deferral effectively toppled global momentum for legal accountability in the aftermath of israel s first large scale offensive against the gaza strip fatah s policies towards hamas and israel reflect a broader regional trend that divides the middle east roughly between a u s sphere of influence and the from occupation to warfare 207 political formations that resist it the resultant political configuration situates egypt saudi arabia lebanon s march 14 coalition jordan and fatah who lean towards u s patronage against iran syria hezbollah and by default hamas these antagonistic formations compete by explicit and implicit means for hegemony in the region and this contest for power has subsumed and over shadowed the question of palestine since 2007 egypt has closed the rafah border crossing one of the five points of ingress into and egress out of the gaza strip thus complementing israel s control of the other four crossings the closure amounts to acquiescence to israel s blockade which is tantamount to an act of war 146 egypt s policy re flects a disdain for the muslim brotherhood a rival political party to the ruling government that briefly assumed power in egypt between 2012 and 2013 and enjoys the support of qatar hamas is an offshoot of the muslim brotherhood and has thus come into egypt s direct line of fire by association 147 during israel s 2014 offensive egypt and israel negotiated a ceasefire without hamas s participation and publicly blamed the palestinian party for the civilian casual ties when the ceasefire collapsed 148 in 2016 an egyptian military delegation visited israel to strengthen the cooperation between the two states and in effect further diluted protest against israel s destructive military doctrine deployed in the gaza strip 149 in similar vein saudi arabia has accused hamas of being a regional proxy for iran for the purpose of destabilizing the middle east 150 and has vowed to disarm it and other militant groups in the gaza strip 151 in 2016 a saudi delegation of academics and businessmen visited israel in an effort to normalize and strengthen their relations 152 israel s offensives against the palestinian population in gaza have been re fracted through the regional contest for control in effect the concern is no longer about the welfare of palestinian civilians and their claims for independence but instead about the political balance in the region that has aligned egyptian saudi arabian and israeli interests these regional trends amount to a quiet approval for israel s military policies and diminish the protest necessary to put israel s revised tactics in war into disrepute while global protest beyond the region has been significant it has not offered an effective counterweight to these developments after israel s offen sive in the summer of 2014 the united nations initiated two investigations from occupation to warfare 208 one carried out by the un independent commission of inquiry on the 2014 gaza conflict operation protective edge which looked at the offensive in its entirety and the other conducted by a un headquarters board of inquiry convened by the secretary general that specifically examined israel s attacks on seven unrwa schools 153 the reports from both these sources have raised serious questions about israel s practices but neither has resulted in meaningful consequences like the reports before them they are likely to become marginal ized and forgotten in a sign of positive development in late december 2014 palestine acceded to the rome statute the multilateral treaty that brought the icc into existence palestine referred the situation in palestine to the icc and as a result the icc has begun a preliminary investigation of israel s onslaught this bid to involve the icc cannot indefinitely restrain israel but in the short run it works as a deterrent because of the new risks of accountability that court s jurisdiction poses nevertheless that multilateral body which is highly vulnerable to state interests and interventions is replete with the trappings of legal technicalities and is likely to yield unsatisfactory outcomes that range from abhorrent to toler able among the most significant challenges to robust legal accountability is the provision of complementarity which affords the icc jurisdiction only over cases where a state is unwilling or unable to genuinely carry out the investigation or prosecution complementarity would benefit israel which can and has argued that it has the capacity to investigate itself in contrast hamas which was a party in the conflict would be unable to make a similar demonstration while israel s dismal record of investigating its own war crimes during operation cast lead puts the adequacy of complementarity into question the demonstration of that inadequacy would require a separate and likely lengthy legal process 154 the principle of complementarity would at best shield israel from icc investigation and at worst delay the process so severely as to thwart justice the palestinian leadership has pursued icc jurisdiction formulaically without any appreciation for its political nature it has not mobilized a popular campaign aimed at dele gitimizing israel and cultivating a base of support for the prosecutor nor has it sought diplomatic partners to help it withstand u s sanctions or made moves to contextualize hamas s militant operations within a frame of armed national liberation in effect it has not challenged the geopolitical structure undergirding from occupation to warfare 209 palestinian subjugation and repression in the long run icc jurisdiction may prove even more detrimental than beneficial to palestinian interests 155 in light of the currently minimal protest at top diplomatic and multilateral levels israel together with the united states will continue to define its military practices as the new normal in asymmetric warfare 156 israeli and u s military operations legal jurisprudence and scholarly interventions will add to the state practice and opinio juris constitutive of customary law this means that as custom ary law on irregular combat continues to crystallize gaza s besieged population and palestinians generally will continue to bear the devastating consequences of its experimentation worse perhaps are the implications that these shifts have had on the ques tion of palestine more generally israel s practice of systematic war together with its framework of unique distinction applied to gaza has set the gaza strip apart from the question of palestine by emphasizing the role of hamas and diminishing the question of palestine israel has collapsed conditions in gaza into the kinds of asymmetric conflicts that characterize what has come to be known as the global war on terror thus eliding the consequential distinctions between palestinians and other non state actors by setting gaza apart from the rest of the palestinian question israel is supplanting a peacemaking let alone settler colonial framework for understanding the conflict with a national security one the internecine conflict between fatah and hamas together with regional polarization only strengthens this paradigm shift and with it israel s colonial domination this shift also reflects an israeli policy goal first publicly articulated by shi mon peres in 1993 in the initial aftermath of the signing of the declaration of principles peres told a unesco conference that he saw the gaza strip pro gressively evolving into a palestinian state while the west bank would become an autonomous polity of palestinians and israeli settlers whose status and borders would eventually be defined 157 unlike the west bank which israel covets for its natural resources as well as its religious and security significance israel has considered gaza a cancer 158 when israel unilaterally withdrew from gaza in 2005 that territory had only 8 000 settlers compared with 400 000 in the west bank the shift to warfare against the coastal enclave together with the arrangement wrought by the peace process has helped israel realize its vision from occupation to warfare 210 separating gaza from the broader palestinian question and transforming its indeterminate occupation in the west bank into a permanent structure this is the current phase of the palestinian israel conflict in many ways it is a return to a bygone era where palestinian claims for self determination were severely muted and its resistance efforts framed as terroristic violence the status quo however is not much more favorable for israeli interests since israel s absolute rejection of palestinian self determination together with its stark regime of racial discrimination are unsustainable israel is on the cusp of expanding its sovereignty across nearly all the territory between the jordan river and the mediterranean sea a significant cross section of israel s population together with a settler controlled knesset supports this policy if it actually comes to fruition it means that israel will not only fulfill its vision for a greater israel it will also enter a phase of unabashed racial discrimination a de jure apartheid regime from occupation to warfare conclusion in 2018 the prospect of a sovereign and independent palestinian state is obso lete as of late 2015 the israeli settler population in the west bank numbered more than 600 000 a 200 percent increase since the advent of the oslo peace process in 1993 1 israel s settlement enterprise carves the west bank into more than twenty noncontiguous landmasses separating approximately three mil lion palestinians into as many groups that stand apart from one another thus undermining any sense of territorial contiguity or national cohesion in 2000 israel began constructing a separation barrier or wall allegedly to halt the flow of palestinian suicide bombers within israel s undeclared borders 2 by the time of the wall s completion in 2020 85 percent of its length will run through the west bank and effectively confiscate 13 percent of that territory conveniently where most of israel s largest settlement blocs are located israeli military law prohibits the presence and travel of palestinians between the west bank and gaza thereby entrenching their political and geographic fragmentation see the access restrictions map in gaza israel has securitized nearly two million palestinians and held them captive under a land siege and naval blockade for more than a decade palestinians cannot freely travel to east jerusalem and that area s 300 000 palestinians are subject to an aggressive removal campaign 3 in the years since 1948 nearly two thirds of the palestinian population has been driven into a global diaspora including fifty eight refugee camps in the arab world and is being denied the right to return having torpedoed the possibility of a palestinian state israel is now the sole source of authority from the medi terranean sea to the river jordan access restrictions 2017 as of 2017 israel s separation wall settlement enterprise annexation of east jerusalem bypass roads and military installations in the west bank have destroyed that area s territorial contiguity as well as the national cohesion of the palestinian population source adapted from ocha west bank access restrictions map october 2017 for a more detailed color version of the map please see https www ochaopt org content west bank access restrictions october 2017 213 legal work has been central to israel s expansionist project the israeli ju diciary diplomatic corps and civil and military legal advisers have understood the law s imbrication with politics and have leveraged the state s diplomatic military and economic prowess to perform legal work in pursuit of its political ambitions following the first world war a sovereign exception marking pal estine as a site of jewish settlement engendered a specialized legal arrangement that justified the juridical erasure of a palestinian political community this regime together with three decades of british imperial sponsorship enabled israel to assert its jewish zionist settler sovereignty by force over 78 percent of mandate palestine in 1948 israel used the fiction of palestinian national non existence together with the structure of permanent emergency between 1948 and 1966 to transform its native palestinian population into present absent individuals whose lands could be arbitrarily confiscated for jewish settlement when it terminated its emergency regime israel enshrined the subordination of palestinians as second class citizens in civil law in 1967 israel deployed a legal political mechanism also predicated upon palestinian national nonexis tence to establish an occupation premised on sui generis claims to facilitate its steady land grab within the west bank and gaza the oslo accords framework established in 1993 engendered yet another specialized regime that has enabled israel to continue its settler colonial expansion this time under the veneer of peacemaking since 2000 also in accord with similar claims of unique distinc tion israel has criminalized all palestinian use of force at the same time the state has expanded its right to use force against palestinians and in the process has forged new laws of armed conflict israel s success has had an unintended consequence it oversees an apartheid regime without a partition separating israel from the territories israel now has to contend with the reality that its jurisdiction contains a significant native pal estinian population according to the israeli bureau of statistics as of october 2012 approximately 5 9 million jewish israelis including the settler population and 6 1 million palestinians were living across israel the west bank and gaza 4 population projections indicate that by 2035 jewish israelis will constitute only 46 percent of the total population 5 the inclusion of palestinians from gaza and the west bank as citizens would undermine the jewish demographic majority inside the 1949 armistice lines the green line the current arrangement in conclusion 214 which israel rules occupied palestinians but excludes them from citizenship exemplifies a regime that administers distinct legal systems based on its own racial definitions in other words an apartheid regime 6 israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu s predecessors knew the dangers of this legal bifurcation during his tenure as prime minister ehud olmert commented that failure to create a palestinian state would force israel to face a south african style struggle for equal voting rights and as soon as that hap pens the state of israel is finished 7 after leaving the prime minister s post ehud barak offered this warning if and as long as between the jordan and the sea there is only one political entity named israel it will end up being either non jewish or non democratic if the palestinians vote in elections it is a bi national state and if they don t it is an apartheid state 8 not all israelis are concerned about this reality significant sectors of israeli society have hailed the current status quo as a tremendous victory some want to consecrate their accomplishment by officially annexing area c which covers 60 percent of the west bank where israel s largest settlement blocs are located 9 in 2012 a government committee revived the discourse of palestinian nonexistence when it concluded there is no occupation because the west bank belongs to no other sovereign justifying israel s permanent presence in the territory 10 while de jure annexation risks absorbing the palestinian population an autonomy framework has the capacity to ensure that population s formal exclusion under the oslo framework s terms israel has steadily reduced the palestinian popula tion in area c and concentrated palestinians within areas a and b 11 although it was ostensibly an interim arrangement until the achievement of final status talks the oslo framework has become interminable its continuation would successfully contain palestinians and suspend them as non sovereigns in their autonomous regions and non citizens of israel thereby diminishing the demo graphic challenge they pose this political trend is not merely a right wing phenomenon population transfers land swaps and annexation for the sake of ensuring a decisive jew ish majority and palestinian exclusion have become increasingly normalized concepts within israeli mainstream discourse a 2012 poll evidenced popular israeli support for the voluntary or forcible transfer of palestinian citizens out of israel 12 more recent initiatives have proposed providing economic incentives conclusion 215 to encourage palestinian citizens to leave 13 still other proposals seek to swap villages with large concentrations of palestinian israelis with the palestinian authority in exchange for jewish israeli settlements 14 more sympathetic or at least more politically astute israelis deny allegations of apartheid by acknowledging palestinians grievances but disaggregating their claims 15 they emphasize that the treatment of palestinian citizens of israel is a matter of domestic concern whereas controversies in the west bank reflect the challenges of conflict resolution and gaza is a national security issue by emphasizing the statist legal and geographic demarcations separating and distin guishing palestinians from one another liberal israelis refute claims that israel oversees a singular discriminatory regime these exculpatory attempts contradict the lived experience of palestinians themselves as early as 2000 after the collapse of the camp david talks that precipitated the al aqsa intifada a group of palestinian scholars issued a statement describing palestinians concentration within a series of small disconnected areas being posited as the emerging palestinian state 16 they referred to those areas as bantu stans in reference to the model of territorialized subordination of blacks used in apartheid south africa and namibia the statement echoed the palestinian legal and political analyses that had culminated in the 1975 general assembly resolu tion declaring zionism to be a form of racism resolution 3379 and seemed to signal an return to such analyses however there are at least two differences distinguishing these 1975 and 2000 articulations and also differentiating case studies looking at palestine versus south africa and namibia first unlike the situation in the mid 1970s when the plo supported the introduction of resolution 3379 the palestinian leadership today has not of ficially endorsed the anti apartheid framework recognition of a singular legal regime would contravene its ambitions to establish a state palestinian officialdom has referred to apartheid and the possibility of a single democratic state only as a threat to compel israeli compromise in negotiations 17 second in 1976 the international community rebuffed south africa s attempts to establish black homelands decrying them as measures aiming to consolidate the inhuman policies of apartheid to destroy the territorial integrity of the country to perpetu ate white minority domination and to dispossess the african people of south africa of their inalienable rights 18 in contrast the international community conclusion 216 has celebrated palestinian autonomy as the germ of independence and has con tributed tremendous financial and diplomatic support in an effort to uphold an arrangement that is in effect if not in intention by supporters oppressive while palestinians outside of officialdom have increasingly understood the ap paratus of their dispossession and domination as apartheid the international community has continued to frame it as interim autonomy for the sake of peacemaking meanwhile and under the cover of peacemaking israel has in tensified its eliminatory structures targeting palestinian natives 19 despite its seeming success in establishing contiguous sovereignty across most of the area that was formerly mandate palestine israel s settler colonial frontier remains active settler colonial studies scholar lorenzo veracini tells us that the ultimate triumph of settler colonialism is its extinguishment it becomes so normal ized as to be imperceptible 20 in palestine that project remains explicit and vulgar precisely because of the demographic reality as well as the palestinians obstinate refusal to relinquish their claims to native belonging in a continuation of the poli cies israel began in 1947 and which it consolidated into a permanent structure of emergency in 1948 today it and its para statal institutions remove dispossess and concentrate palestinian natives without regard to legal jurisdictions or geographic demarcations israel s aims then and now are the same to achieve and maintain a jewish demographic majority and also to acquire the greatest amount of land with the fewest possible number of palestinians on it it achieves this through civil law in israel a mix of administrative and martial law in east jerusalem martial law in the west bank and all out warfare in gaza 21 the concentration of palestinians under israeli jurisdiction onto small areas of land is most obvious in the west bank where they are placed and bounded into areas a and b it is also evident in gaza which has the largest concen tration as well as within israel itself where the government has been shaping legislative policy intended to remove nearly 80 000 bedouin palestinians from the negev region and concentrate them into noncontiguous urban townships under the auspices of development 22 in jerusalem the so called center of life policy mandating that palestinian jerusalemites demonstrate an uninterrupted presence in that city to maintain their residency has steadily reduced the pales tinian population 23 in the rest of the west bank and gaza israel has outrightly revoked the residency permits of a quarter of a million palestinians between 1967 conclusion 217 and 1994 shrinking the palestinian population there by at least 10 percent 24 within israel a legislative ban on family reunification in certain circumstances denies spouses of israeli citizens who hail from enemy states where a signifi cant number of palestinians reside the right to adjust their status an explicit effort to diminish their presence 25 these are only select examples of the matrix of laws and policies aimed at palestinian removal 26 palestinians have increas ingly described their condition as constituting an ongoing nakba catastrophe in reference to the removal and forced exile of 80 percent of the palestinian population during the 1948 war 27 the reference recognizes israel s eliminatory project as an institutionalized policy and a colonial continuity israel s settlement and dispossession policies together amount to forced population transfer 28 a violation of the 1973 international convention on the suppression and punishment of the crime of apartheid 29 an apartheid regime is both the consequence of israel s settler colonial ambitions and the modal gov ernance structure for protecting and maintaining its colonial takings a growing number of international human rights organizations and analysts have scruti nized the resulting conditions and have come to regard the mal distribution of natural resources unequal access to housing and differential punishments in the west bank as a racially discriminatory regime 30 in 2012 the un com mittee on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination concluded that the hermetic character of the separation of two groups in the occupied territories is tantamount to apartheid 31 in 2017 the un economic and social commission for western asia escwa caused an uproar when it took this analysis further and concluded that israel practices apartheid towards all of its palestinian natives without regard to legal status or geographic residence 32 the un report was the first of its kind to authoritatively make the claim that israel s holistic legal regime was not being limited to the occupied territories israel together with the united states forced the united nations to shelve the report 33 escwa s director resigned in protest the report was leaked and widely disseminated 34 the palestinian authority issued statements condemning the dismissal of the report but did not officially endorse the critique of israel s governance as a singular apartheid regime 35 it is a cruel but not unprecedented twist in the history of co opted liberation movements and authoritarian postcolonial regimes that the palestinian leadership conclusion 218 has become a part of the palestinian problem 36 today the buy in and collabora tion of the palestinian leadership is central both to israel s apartheid regime and to the enduring denial of its existence palestinian participation in u s brokered bilateral talks sustains the false conception that a sovereign state is within reach facts on the ground make evident that establishing a palestinian state today would be as difficult as if not more difficult than dismantling israel s apartheid system the framework of peacemaking sustains the fiction of parity and diminishes the imperative to exert pressure on israel in addition the palestinian authority s representational claims over the palestinians resident in the west bank and gaza to the exclusion of palestinian refugees and citizens of israel helps uphold the legal and geographic fragmentations separating palestinians from one another and subverting in practice but not law their status as a holistic nation 37 historically the palestine liberation organization plo has represented all palestinians but since 1993 the liberation movement has been subsumed into the palestin ian authority rendering it functionally absent these fragmentations undergird israeli claims that its relationship with palestinians is either a matter of conflict resolution or national security but not of apartheid worse as part of the faustian bargain that is the oslo framework the pal estinian authority has internalized the colonial logic that its compliance and good behavior will be rewarded with independence 38 in fact its subservience has reified israel s domination and has significantly benefited a select political and economic palestinian elite 39 as part of its pact the pa diligently polices its own population to protect israel s settler population as well as the civilian and military infrastructure that sustains the settlers presence the pa allocates 31 percent of its national budget to security which makes up half of its public sector 40 that is more than it spends on its health education and agriculture sectors combined 41 the pa s security coordination with israel has become so ef fective that u s general keith dayton who trained several classes of palestinian security officers lauded the palestinians for turning their guns on real enemies in reference to palestinians suspected of posing a threat to israel s national inter ests 42 there is no reciprocal security arrangement to protect palestinians in its futile attempt to demonstrate its capacity to govern the palestinian leadership has relieved israel of at least a portion of its military burden as an occupying power and aided it in in controlling the native population conclusion 219 this approach has severely altered the post 1965 palestinian national move ment and transformed it into a critical part of israel s settler colonial machinery rather than being the primary impediment to that apparatus in his work on the colonial politics of recognition glenn coulthard highlights how settler colonialism as a form of governmentality makes this perverse outcome predict able indigenous nations who have established their sovereignty through formal recognition established a relational structure with the settler states that ensures those states continued access to their lands and resources under the framework of bureaucratic administration indigenous peoples become instruments of their own dispossession under this arrangement coulthard continues contempo rary colonialism works through rather than entirely against freedom 43 palestinian officialdom s uncritical adoption of this managerial approach risks confusing what is being offered in terms of limited autonomy with incre mental steps towards freedom 44 this illusory quest bolstered by the perks of self autonomy and access to multilateral fora has shaped the palestinian lead ership s commitment to u s tutelage and its reticence to embark on a bolder course based on a politics of resistance politics of acquiescence and the phantom state after the october 1973 war the plo s mainstream and moderate elements sought a direct channel to the united states they finally got it in late 1991 when the united states together with the soviet union embarked on the oslo peace process the cost of abandoning that direct channel would be high and most likely irreversible as condition for entering into a compact with the u s and israeli governments the plo willingly relinquished its political claims even though they were enshrined in un resolutions and in international treaties worse the plo naively endorsed an autonomy arrangement without any guar antees of national sovereignty the oslo accords established a new specialized legal regime that not only made applicable international law misplaced but also made its very invocation a threat to peacemaking in practice this realpolitik strat egy necessitates strict adherence to the u s brokered bilateral process which is entirely self referential lacks external review mechanisms and is dictated by expedience and pressure 45 the palestinian leadership has assented to this real politik approach because it has regarded the united states in its capacity as the conclusion 220 world s lone superpower and israel s primary patron as the only party capable of delivering a palestinian state so long as palestinians remain compliant with this framework the value of their legal work will be tenuous at best to achieve the law s emancipatory potential palestinians must wield it in the sophisticated service of a political movement that targets the geopolitical structure that has rendered their claims exceptional and therefore non jus ticiable the united states massive military diplomatic and financial aid to israel has constituted the primary pillar of that structure since at least 1967 historically palestinians effectively challenged the structure when they revolted against britain s colonial administration 1936 1939 when they engaged in an armed liberation struggle and consolidated their interests with a counter hegemonic global coalition to inscribe their juridical status into international law 1968 1988 and when they became ungovernable during the first intifada 1987 1991 these moments are instructive until the 1990s the plo had managed through civil uprisings irregular combat political mobilization and legal work to successfully challenge and overcome palestinians juridical erasure and their exception from the promise of self determination the plo s acceptance of the oslo framework then stunted and reversed these gains since the peace process unraveled at camp david in 2000 the palestinian leadership has embarked on several contentious legal campaigns however its commitment to achieve independence through u s and israeli acquiescence has diminished the liberatory potential of its most ambitious legal strategies these efforts include the 2004 international court of justice advisory opinion on israel s wall the 2011 to 2012 un statehood bid the un general assembly resolution augmenting palestine s observer state status the accession to the rome statute and the subsequent admission to the international criminal court and most recently security council resolution 2334 this is to say nothing of the fact that statehood as a remedy does not correspond to the reality and scope of palestinian grievances today as discussed earlier assuming for the sake of argument that being recognized as a state by the united nations could remedy palestinian subjugation the palestinian leadership s legal strategies in pursuance of that goal remain strategically insufficient in each of the aforementioned instances the palestinian leadership pursued a legal campaign aimed at in the crudest and most rudimentary terms holding conclusion 221 israel to account through international law simultaneously it has refused to chal lenge the united states unequivocal aid to israel any successful legal strategy should seek to unsettle this pillar of support instead palestinian officialdom has pursued each of its legal strategies with the policy of maintaining u s favor and or using the legal initiative as a threat to enhance its negotiating leverage in bilateral talks 46 the outcomes of these initiatives are by virtue of these cir cumstances noncommittal and haphazard an examination of the palestinians un statehood bid illustrates this point in 2011 the palestinian leadership sought to upgrade the palestinian ter ritories status from a nonmember observer entity achieved in unga resolu tion 3237 1974 to a member state at the united nations un membership requires a security council recommendation to the general assembly 47 it was immediately evident that the united states would veto such a recommendation alternatively the plo could circumvent the security council and upgrade its status to nonmember observer state by garnering the vote of two thirds of the general assembly 48 by 2011 130 individual states had already recognized the state of palestine according to john quigley palestine has enjoyed international recognition as a state since 1988 when the general assembly endorsed its declaration of independence followed by immediate diplomatic recognition by eighty nine states 49 achieving nonmember state status in 2011 would officiate this stand ing and settle any outstanding controversy surrounding palestine s legal status such a step would certainly be significant although hardly radical 50 achieving un membership would be more difficult than achieving recognition as it would require u s support in the security council however neither recognition nor membership would alter israel s behavior or realities on the ground international law is not a command at most the statehood bid could pro vide the palestinian leadership with opportunities to mobilize the international community to exert pressure on israel to act in accord with its sovereignty claims or to urge penalties for israel s failure to do so to that end upgrading pales tine s status would be beneficial since recognition even without membership confers the juridical standing of a state with all the duties and privileges that flow therefrom upon this basis palestinians could for example embark on an aggressive diplomatic and grassroots campaign aimed at isolating and shaming conclusion 222 israel increasing the diplomatic and financial cost of its gross treatment of palestinians as well as enhancing palestinians appeals for greater international intervention the value of the statehood bid was therefore always dependent on the political resolve and strategic vision of the palestinian leadership to leverage these opportunities the most significant among them was the chance to directly confront the united states and embark on an international strategy beyond the confines of the oslo framework yet the palestinian leadership had no such intentions in fact the statehood bid seemed to be a means to salvage the plo s own legitimacy which was in tatters in 2011 rather than to signal a profound strategic shift 51 when the matter came before the security council the palestinian leadership refused to force a u s veto doing so could have revealed the peace broker s bad faith and lack of fitness to be a mediator the palestinian leadership let palestine s membership application die quietly the next year in december 2012 it brought palestine s status to a vote in the general assembly where it easily prevailed 52 the assembly s overwhelming vote affirmed the palestinian cause of self deter mination at that juncture the palestinian leadership still had the opportunity to leverage the vote to lobby supportive states to apply pressure on israel as well as to find an alternative state or group of states to fulfill the united states mediation role instead in july 2013 the leadership unceremoniously returned to the bilateral talks where the realpolitik negotiating framework had the capacity to obviate the palestinians most recent legal and diplomatic achievement 53 despite damning empirical evidence demonstrating u s unwillingness and inability to challenge israel the palestinian leadership has remained hopeful that the global superpower would deliver independence perhaps it has had no other choice the palestinian authority s national economy is dependent on international aid and stands to lose significant economic guarantees and perks should it abandon the u s sphere of influence 54 in december 2017 the risk of palestinian officialdom s conciliatory approach and undue faith in the united states became clear u s president donald trump announced that the united states would move its israeli embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem 55 on the surface the announced move broke with five decades of u s policy it appeared to be a brazen act of a reckless administration however every presidential administration beginning with lyndon b johnson has maintained conclusion 223 a contradictory policy on jerusalem and on israel s presence in the west bank and gaza more generally they all have insisted that civilian settlements in oc cupied territory contravene international law and undermine the prospects of permanent peace yet simultaneously and over the decades the united states has shielded israel from diplomatic censure and ensured its military prowess in the region while tacitly endorsing israel s sui generis occupation framework that alters the territorial status quo by appropriating palestinian lands but not the palestinians on them consequently u s mideast policy has enabled israel to expand its settlement enterprise without serious consequence the trump administration s announcement did not mark an abrupt and ruinous rupture in u s policy it made it unambiguously coherent in the same speech trump insisted that his decision did not detract from the u s commitment to broker a viable peace agreement 56 indeed facts on the ground which israel could establish under a rule of law framework have governed the pragmatism upon which the negotiations have been based moreover nearly every israeli leader who has led negotiations has offered only limited self autonomy to palestinians in the occupied territories even under ehud barak s generous offer for actual statehood there would be no return to the 1967 borders no palestinian control over external borders no palestinian jurisdiction over the most significant water sources in the west bank and no right of return for palestinian refugees trump s initiative to move the embassy would remove any possibility of palestinian jurisdiction over jerusalem this was less a departure than a concretization of the steady evisceration of the prospect of palestinian statehood palestinian officialdom rejected trump s overtures and rescinded an invi tation to u s vice president mike pence 57 the un general assembly con demned the u s policy by a vote of 128 to 9 58 for its part the united states vetoed a security council resolution doing the same 59 less than a month later the united states threatened to cut critical aid to the palestinian authority as well as to the un relief works agency which provides for the humanitarian needs of over five million palestinian refugees if the pa did not return to the negotiating table 60 the peace process is critical to fulfilling israel s land grab scheme and palestinian participation has been central to its success no international law has had the potential to immediately stem the united states revised middle east policy the palestinian leadership has been partly to conclusion 224 blame in late 2016 the obama administration punted the question of palestine onto the international stage removing it from the backwaters of u s bilateralism the administration abstained on security council resolution 2334 affirming the illegality of israel s settlement enterprise including in east jerusalem that might have been a moment of opportunity for palestinians to run a diplomatic marathon the end goals of the race could have been to establish new terms of reference isolate israel and finally reject u s tutelage the palestinians have had this opportunity many times before not only after the 2012 statehood bid but also in 2004 2009 2011 and 2014 when at each of these junctures the united states impeded palestinian efforts to internationalize the conflict 61 as in those instances the palestinian leadership in 2017 and 2018 remained committed to a realpolitik approach and failed to effectively leverage the opportunities afforded by resolution 2334 over the course of two and a half decades of peacemaking the united states has made increasingly clear that it is part of the problem 62 the trump administration s decision to move the u s embassy to jerusalem only confirmed the dubious role of the united states as an honest broker while the palestinian leadership has failed to respond to this reality it has incrementally advanced its cause on the international stage its efforts have included acceding to dozens of international treaties 63 requesting that palestine be placed under an international protection system 64 and launching a campaign to achieve recognition among european states there seems to be an inverse relationship between palestin ian faith in u s brokered bilateralism and its internationalization efforts 65 if accurate this trend signals a possible pivot away from the oslo framework and the restoration of a politics of resistance it could also indicate a floundering leadership increasingly bereft of vision and popular legitimacy whatever the case may be a decisive strategic shift is necessary to leverage the emancipatory potential of any future palestinian legal initiatives lessons from namibia the legal strategy of namibia during its struggle for liberation and independence provides some lessons on the potential benefits of international law 66 as with palestine the league of nations placed namibia under the league s mandate authority but did not guarantee its independence 67 upon the dissolution of the conclusion 225 league of nations in 1946 south africa in its capacity as a mandatory power refused to relinquish its administration of namibia and deliberately obscured that state s political claims for independence 68 namibia became a battleground for a global and ongoing struggle against racial discrimination and colonization 69 former colonies and armed national liberation movements and also the bodies those movements created like the non aligned movement and specialized committees within the united nations requested a series of advisory opin ions from the international court of justice icj and influenced the security council to pass a string of binding resolutions addressing the illegality of south africa s presence they also constructed the legal infrastructure within the united nations to shepherd namibia to independence by 1956 the icj had issued three advisory opinions in response to proce dural questions about namibia that began to outline a legal blueprint for its independence 70 the 1950 opinion affirmed south africa s role as the manda tory authority of namibia until an alternative arrangement was established and simultaneously imposed upon it a legal obligation to submit to the supervision of the united nations 71 the 1955 and 1956 advisory opinions elucidated the voting procedure over the territory as well as rules regarding appearances before the specialized committee on southwest africa which functioned much like the permanent mandates commission during the interwar years 72 in 1966 the un general assembly ended the mandate and sought to es tablish a un trusteeship to usher in namibia s independence but south africa refused to surrender its control in response the south west african people s organization swapo established in 1964 launched an armed insurrection 73 the un general assembly zealously supported namibian independence but the security council refused to compel south africa s withdrawal the security council was nevertheless sympathetic and passed several binding resolutions outlining the basis of a political resolution including resolutions 264 1969 and 276 1970 74 resolution 264 condemned south africa s presence as well as its establishment of bantustans aimed at autonomous government 75 the following year the security council passed resolution 276 and called on all states particularly those which have economic and other interests in namibia to refrain from any dealings with the government of south africa that sustain its illegal presence in namibia 76 conclusion 226 in 1970 the security council requested an icj advisory opinion that proved to be pivotal in outlining a resolution to the political impasse it asked what are the legal consequences for states of the continued presence of south af rica in namibia notwithstanding security council resolution 276 1970 in june 1971 the icj answered that legal and political developments between the establishment of the mandate system and 1971 leave little doubt that the ultimate objective of the sacred trust of civilization was the self determination and independence of the peoples concerned rendering south africa s presence a breach of law 77 the legal strides did little to alter south africa s behavior and by 1986 na mibia like palestine also seemed to signal a failure of international law to topple a discriminatory racial regime and deliver independence to avoid the pressures of a global consensus south africa initiated a political process to discredit the united nations and arrive at a political agreement that excluded swapo 78 south africa proposed a limited political and economic autonomy in black homelands that would not lead to statehood 79 the parallels to israel s autonomy framework and to the question of palestine generally are striking but there was a unique element in the namibia case in 1975 cuban forces had arrived in angola to support its transition to independence and resist u s and south african backed takeovers by right wing political adversar ies 80 angola became the site of a proxy civil war with regional implications the fighting continued through 1988 and shaped u s intervention in resolving the namibian question in its proposal for namibian independence the rea gan administration linked south africa s withdrawal from namibia to cuba s withdrawal from angola in accordance with un security council resolution 435 81 passed in 1978 that resolution stipulated a un process to oversee south african withdrawal and outlined a process for negotiations in december 1988 south africa agreed to implement the resolution if it facilitated the withdrawal of cuban forces in line with the u s linkage policy unlike the case of palestine the peace process would be established on the basis of hard won reference to international law in 1989 namibians democratically elected swapo leader sam nujoma as president but south africa refused to completely withdraw ongoing resistance ultimately pushed south african forces out and namibia became independent in 1991 conclusion 227 while namibians waged a much more strategic and cumulative legal strategy than the palestinians have this was not the decisive element in their success ful liberation movement there are three fundamental differences between the cases first namibians rejected south africa s peace process as an alternative to the international framework swapo refused to enter south africa s exclusive sphere of influence and thus maintained an adversarial position unlike the plo which has been committed to u s mediated bilateral talks for twenty five years now two swapo never relinquished its right to use of force or ceased its armed struggle until namibia achieved independence cuban troops stationed in angola significantly enhanced the potential of this armed resistance and ultimately created the requisite negotiating leverage to compel u s and south african compromise in contrast the plo relinquished its right to arms as a condition for entering the oslo accords three the international context in the late eighties was much more sympathetic to the cause of anticolonial liberation and to the struggle against apartheid than it is now this enabled swapo to wage an effective political battle against the united states and south africa namibia s legal strategy fulfilled the needs of that battle by creating the tools frameworks and infrastructure necessary for its success swapo together with a global alliance used international law in the service of a political strategy featuring significant coercive pressure that directly challenged the geopolitical structure denying namibian self determination in contrast the palestinian leadership has engaged in a politics of diplomatic respectability and has refrained from cultivating or joining a global movement highlighting the justness of its cause and or israel s role as an aggressor this is not to suggest that palestinians should rely on armed struggle against israel today revolutionary violence is out of time and place israelis with u s backing can swiftly delegitimize any use of force by palestinians as criminal and terroristic regardless of whether palestinians are targeting military objects or using indiscriminate force additionally israel s legal work deployed since 2000 significantly expanded israel s use of force and enables its troops to shoot to kill even unarmed palestinians with impunity although armed resistance remains available to occupied palestinians as a matter of legal right as a matter of strategy it is counterproductive and dangerous but a military option is not the only means of pressure available to palestinians conclusion 228 the current status quo has made israel vulnerable to what former special rapporteur to the occupied palestinian territories richard falk calls a legiti macy war 82 a war of legitimacy would challenge the legitimacy of israel s policies removal dispossession containment exclusion and war and the assumptions on which they are based security and sovereignty in the court of public opinion in particular it would take aim at the denial of native palestinian attachment to the land and at the ways in which a sovereignty framework has obscured and conditioned palestinian claims on israeli consent while the peace process masked the reality of settler colonization the evisceration of a false partition between israel and the territories as well as the escalation of israeli force has created space for the resuscitation of a justice framework a rights based alternative overcoming the sovereignty trap in 2005 and after nearly twelve years of a counterproductive peace process pal estinians outside of officialdom launched a campaign that sought to correct their leadership s deleterious policy on the one year anniversary of the international court of justice s advisory opinion on the separation barrier declaring its route illegal a large swath of palestinian civil society organizations individuals and political parties breathed life into the icj s recommendation to cease economic and diplomatic relations facilitating israel s encroachment into the occupied ter ritories 83 the grassroots initiative also significantly expanded that recommenda tion the boycott national committee bnc issued a call for a global solidarity movement to boycott divest and sanction israel until it first ends its occupation of arab lands second establishes meaningful equality for its palestinian citizens and third fulfills the right of return of palestinian refugees the 2005 bds call as it is known also made three fundamental shifts first the call deliberately drew on international law and human rights norms to frame palestinian grievances in order to transcend the impasse wrought by the peace process second the three demands it issued jointly rehabilitated the palestinian people as a holistic nation across the juridical and geographic fragmentations that divided them third it deliberately invoked south african legacies to highlight israel s discriminatory regime by analogy and to deploy the mechanism of boycott divestment and sanctions bds that had been central to the global fight against apartheid in south africa together these shifts have conclusion 229 created an impression that the bds movement s goal is the establishment of a single democratic state for all people in palestine israel and the abandonment of a two state solution the bnc however is not committed to an explicit political vision omar barghouti a founding member of the bnc and the bds movement explains that the bnc does not take a position on the one versus two state solution 84 instead the movement seeks to establish a rights based alternative to the palestinian leadership s realpolitik approach where nearly every palestinian right is vulnerable to negotiation the bnc insists that the three rights based demands should be fulfilled regardless of the nature of a political solution 85 given these goals even with the unlikely establishment of a palestinian sovereign state and the end of israel s military occupation the bds movement remains salient so long as refugees remain exiled and palestinian citizens of the state continue to constitute a discriminated minority in israeli society the deliberate refusal to adopt an explicit political program has been the bds movement s primary strength its emphasis on rights highlights the sover eignty trap laid out by oslo s realpolitik framework while its appeal to interna tional law and human rights norms imbues it with liberal values of universalism secularism and reason 86 this has enabled it to effectively challenge the self proclaimed liberalism of north american and european powers especially which have supported israel s jewish zionist settler sovereignty at the expense of palestinian human rights the invocation of international law and human rights norms also highlights the contradictions of israel s self proclamation as a liberal democracy a rights based approach challenges israel s rule of law claims and therefore the legitimacy it derives from its supposed adherence the bds movement has been quite successful originally perceived as a fringe effort of the radical left the movement has progressively entered the mainstream 87 its cultural boycott victories include the cancellation of concerts in israel by roger waters lauryn hill elvis costello and lorde 88 world renowned physicist stephen hawking refused to attend a conference in tel aviv and national football league defensive lineman mi chael bennett pulled out of a junket to israel organized by the israeli ministry of foreign affairs 89 in addition several u s based academic associations en dorsed the academic boycott of israel while the presbyterian church usa and conclusion 230 the methodist church divested their holdings in companies that profited from the occupation 90 in april 2018 dublin became the first city to pledge its sup port for the bds movement and discontinue its business dealings with several corporations complicit in israel s human rights violations 91 bds s reach has led israel s leaders and most ardent allies to describe the popular movement as the second most significant threat to israel after a nuclear capable iran 92 the israeli government has responded aggressively in attempts to thwart its impact in 2011 the knesset passed legislation enabling civil suits against any individuals who promote bds including those merely signing a petition 93 in 2014 prime minister netanyahu led an effort to establish an anti bds task force within the ministry of strategic affairs and allocated a 25 5 million budget to combat the movement 94 in january 2018 a freedom of information request revealed that israel has created a blacklist of bds activists and adherents to be barred from entering the country including members of the u s based organization jewish voices for peace 95 the bds movement has carved out tremendous new political space it has successfully transformed the conversation about israel from one about negotia tions and sovereignty to one about israel as a site of gross and systemic human rights violations it has also cultivated a global and grassroots base eager to support the palestinian cause the boycott national committee which leads the movement has refused to step into that political space to chart a political program and leverage its gains it insists that only the plo or an equivalent institution possesses the authority to represent all palestinians and make deci sions on its behalf 96 but since 1993 the plo has been steadily enfolded within the palestinian authority and has refused to endorse the bds movement in its adherence to realpolitik pragmatism moreover despite several grassroots ef forts to resuscitate a representative and accountable palestinian national body none of these alternatives has had the requisite global scope and legitimacy to fill the political void left by the plo s decline 97 this absence of leadership has created a political vacuum and enlarged the significance of the movement s rights based nature during its struggle to end apartheid the african national congress along with other political formations launched divestment as a tactic of global solidar ity to complement and enhance its domestic campaign that campaign created conclusion 231 a vision for the future of south africa that included a place for white south africans and catalyzed their political mobilization the anc s domestic work was so effective that nelson mandela became the symbolic leader of all south africans and not just its black citizens 98 the bds movement in contrast has defined itself as a tactic of global solidarity and has purposefully avoided de veloping a political movement or mantle capable of challenging the palestinian authority s dominance the outcome is dissonance between the official pales tinian leadership s political strategy of achieving sovereignty with u s israeli acquiescence and the bds movement s agenda of fulfilling palestinian rights in direct confrontation with the united states and israel more significantly the aversion to articulating a political program leaves open the question of how to manifest palestinian demands the bds movement a grassroots global and decentralized phenomenon possesses a radical politics and is itself a politicizing space but those attributes have been inadequate to fill an outstanding political void this renders bds at best a necessary but insufficient tactic for overturning israel s expansionist project and associated violence the lack of a correspond ing political program also enhances the signifying role of international law as a normative framework which poses some risk the movement s potential is remarkable precisely because of its emphasis on universal principles enshrined in law however the appeal to universalism can inadvertently depoliticize the question of palestine by framing it as a movement for equality it is indeed a struggle to end discriminatory practices but more fundamentally it is a struggle against settler colonial dominance the question of palestine is about claims to belonging to a particular land and all that flows from that belonging including livelihoods and social systems a discriminatory race based system is the outcome of a territorial project that seeks to usurp that land and remove the markers of native palestinian attachment 99 striving to dismantle the legal barriers to inequality without addressing the territorial dimensions of the palestinian struggle is not enough palestinian citizens of israel originally from ikrit and kufr bir im for example do not just want better education health care and job opportunities within the state they seek to return and rebuild their demolished villages 100 failing to center these demands has the potential to democratize the settler colony without upending the elementary terms of cohabitation structuring the relationship between jewish settlers and conclusion 232 palestinian natives 101 these terms currently include jewish zionist exclusive claims to belonging to the land as well as a right to rule everything within it a political program that centralizes settler colonization requires contending with a history of dispossession it requires committing to a future that affirms the centrality of native people a rights based approach can support this program but on its own it cannot achieve it a rights based approach also risks setting up a discourse of competing rights for example jewish settlers can and have already claimed that they have a human right to remain in their homes in the west bank settlements 102 other israelis have claimed the right to settler sovereignty as the realization of their human right to jewish national self determination 103 absent a political framework these rights lack context and can be framed as competing demands that should be resolved by compromise 104 this is precisely the logic that has led to partition and various perverted forms of it as a solution since 1947 this logic is inadequate and unworkable a leadership with a political framework can diminish this risk by leading a movement wherein it can assign particular meaning to the law it deploys and or abandon the law when its terms entrench undesirable outcomes to leverage the law s emancipatory potential even in a rights based approach palestinians must shape the meaning of law in the context of a discerning political project legal work is critical to shaping the meaning and application of interna tional law and human rights norms which are susceptible to strategic deploy ment and competing interpretive models the transformation of several legal norms across time and space evidences international law s predisposition to legal work we can see for example how self determination is initially cast during the mandate era as a tool facilitating colonial governance and penetration under the veneer of a sacred trust of civilization to usher a state to indepen dence forty years of political legal and armed struggle by colonized nations including palestinians ultimately transformed this vague legal norm into a positive right to sovereign self governance and independence similarly we can see how the legal work of liberation movements and newly independent states in the late 1970s legitimated the use of force by non state actors as long as that use abides by international legal regulation then between the start of the al aqsa intifada in 2000 and the present israel s legal work delegitimized conclusion 233 this right to fight by defining it as criminal and terroristic in the language of law we can also trace how un security council resolution 242 functioned as an oppressive tool of palestinian dispossession and juridical erasure from 1967 through 1987 but became a primary tool of palestinian resistance during the middle east peace process that began in 1991 the value and potential benefit of law is dependent on the political framework and the legal workers that give it meaning in the case of palestine a political program is necessary to avoid confusing the equivocating tendencies of a human rights framework with a practice of decolonization a palestinian youth action in november 2011 illustrates this latent tension on 15 november 2011 six young palestinians boarded egged bus number 148 connecting west bank settlements to jerusalem the bus is normally reserved for jewish israeli settlers who also possess the distinct privilege of being able to freely enter jerusalem 105 the palestinians who boarded the bus described themselves as freedom riders in homage to the activists who defiantly sat in the front of buses in the segregated u s south during the civil rights move ment 106 the palestinian organizers explained israelis suffer almost no limitations on their freedom of movement in the occupied palestinian territory and are even allowed to settle in it contrary to international law palestinians in contrast are not allowed to enter israel without procuring a special permit from israeli authorities 107 the action generated international attention and praise for highlighting israel s apartheid system it also drew controversy from those palestinians who under stood the action as a demand for integration at the expense of liberating the land in response the freedom riders revised their advisory in undertaking this action palestinians do not seek the desegregation of settler buses as the presence of these colonizers and the infrastructure that serves them is illegal and must be dismantled as part of their struggle for freedom justice and dignity palestinians demand the ability to be able to travel freely on their own roads on their own land including the right to travel to jerusalem 108 conclusion 234 the revision centralized palestinians concern with their erasure and dis possession notably it maintained its emphasis on rights indicating the space available for and the compatibility between rights based claims and a political program the challenge remains to define that program can and should rights based strategies be pursued in the absence of a political program on their own such strategies have tremendous capacity to advance the palestinian cause even as they fail to command behavior or yield a satisfactory political outcome legal and rights based strategies are critical and beneficial but we should be none theless skeptical of their potential a rights based approach without a political program that can strategically deploy the law articulate its meaning and leverage its yields bears risk and is insufficient to achieve freedom horizons of freedom beyond the state in 2018 the official palestinian leadership has a clear political vision aimed at establishing a palestinian state but has abandoned a politics of resistance thus diminishing the potential of its legal strategies to challenge the geopolitical structure sustaining palestinian oppression worse officialdom s commitment to statehood is obscuring the reality of settler colonial removal and inadvertently enabling an apartheid regime the bds movement has articulated a rights based approach that has filled the resistance void left by palestinians formal leadership and has successfully carved out a new political space but due to a commitment to a rights based approach it has been unwilling to fill that space and catapult the movement into its next phase this current juncture in the question of palestine is a holding position contingent on multiple and unknown vectors including most significantly palestinian initiative during the 1970s the plo advanced a combination of a political program and an aggressive legal strategy it sought to restore native sovereignty in a single democratic state for all people and it strategically wielded the law in service of that vision it successfully inscribed the juridical status of palestin ian peoplehood in legal instruments crafted an alternative legal framework for peace in place of security council resolution 242 contributed to the creation of new law additional protocol i where none existed in order to legitimate its use of force and established that zionism is a form of racism akin to apartheid conclusion 235 the plo s strategic turn to international law engendered a notable conflict how can a state centric legal order that sanctifies the sovereignty of settler states rectify and stem ongoing dispossession and native erasure that same legal order equivocates between statehood and freedom thus casting the palestinian question as a nationalist struggle between two peoples over one land but the palestinian struggle has not been merely about the league of nations unful filled promise of independence it has equally been about claims to belonging to being to existing 109 indeed the loss of palestine and the desire to return to it poignantly narrated by palestinian author and revolutionary ghassan kanafani does not bemoan a lack of self governance but rather the usurpation of home memory and attachment to land 110 trump s jerusalem announcement embodies a similar duality palestinian officials have lamented the revised u s policy as the end of their statist ambitions 111 for the vast majority of palestinians the affront is not the loss of a would be capital but the imperial rejection of palestinian belonging and the formalization of their erasure then as now there seems to be incongruence between the demand for settler decolonization and the statist remedy international law affords in 1988 palestinians resolved that tension by embracing a truncated state in the west bank and the gaza strip as the site and scope of their self determina tion that compromise was not inevitable although regional and international shifts compelled the plo to moderate its platform in the 1970s the liberation movement could not have anticipated its 1982 expulsion from lebanon nor its steady decline that followed the plo s turn to international law was consequen tial for but not determinative of the two state solution it ultimately endorsed the more decisive element was the popular national desire for a state and the possibility that it could be realized through compromising negotiations 112 twenty five years of the peace process experiment have made clear that israel is not interested in compromise in its pursuit of greater israel it extinguished the surest way of ensuring its settler sovereignty establishing a palestinian state in the west bank and gaza conditions on the ground today constitute a de facto one state reality and once again palestinians have a decision to make about their political program this time with more information and certitude this choice has been cast as being between a one state solution and a two state solution slogans that currently stand in for a multiethnic democracy or conclusion 236 an enfeebled autonomy arrangement respectively this assumption about the significance of possible solutions requires more scrutiny the two state solution as proposed and envisioned by palestinians them selves was a pathway to freedom israel s territorial ambitions severely mutated this possibility and produced the oppressive status quo afflicting the region today while israel recognized the juridical peoplehood of palestinians in 1993 it never accepted let alone embraced their claims to belonging instead its peace efforts aimed to resolve the palestinian question by suspending palestinians in an autonomy framework and pursuing its settler colonial ambitions by other means it did not revisit its mythology of righteous conception nor its forced removal and exile of 80 percent of a native population nor its declaration of independence that edified a social contract among jewish settlers to the exclusion of all others 113 israel established itself by force and insists on maintaining its settler sovereignty by force jewish zionist leaders primarily from europe did not come to the middle east to reestablish their indigenous attachments there they came as settlers claiming nativity and as conquerors intent on earning acceptance within europe by establishing a nation state beyond its shores 114 any possible future necessitates an accounting of this history not simply for the sake of cathartic truth telling but for the sake of decolonization 115 at its core a decolonization practice must reorganize the relational terms mediating israelis as settler sovereigns and palestinians as natives marked for erasure the outcome of this practice can vary settler decolonization does not only mean the removal of the settler that was the case in algeria it was not the case in south africa significantly the demographic realities make the removal of jewish israelis a matter of sensational fancy in algeria and south africa the native population was the overwhelming majority whereas in pal estine the balance excluding the refugee population is nearly equal moreover no analogous case of settler colonialism has featured such a significant exiled native population palestinians were removed but not annihilated they constitute approximately ten million people globally two thirds of whom live in diaspora and forced exile but who insist on native belonging to palestine as israeli historian benny morris laments had david ben gurion carried out a full expulsion rather than a partial one he would have stabilized the state of israel for generations 116 ben gurion did not which is why the demographic balance conclusion 237 is such a key issue and why israel s eliminatory methods include challenging the definition of a palestine refugee and an insistence that refugees amalgamate into their arab host states 117 the trump administration s threat to defund unrwa is pointed in this regard 118 these methods negate the right to return but more fundamentally they negate the right to belong without a decolonization praxis the one state solution assumed to be a desirable model to end palestinian dehumanization and exclusion can also be severely mutated to engender similar if not more oppressive outcomes the existence of a majority palestinian population does not guarantee any particu lar result white rule over a black majority in south africa indicates as much there is no just solution that does not travel through a direct confrontation with israel s insistence upon maintaining jewish sovereignty and the framework of exception that has made that sovereignty an immovable priority this frame work has relegated palestinian claims as always secondary to and contingent upon israeli prerogative thereby justifying the cruel costs of that commitment as either necessary or irrelevant arriving at a more equitable future requires the centering of palestinian claims because they have the potential to benefit everyone not just a select few since his jerusalem announcement president trump has alluded to a deal of the century for palestinians and israel 119 though it has yet to be made public leaked versions of the deal indicate that it is a modified arrangement of previous proposals of limited and fragmented palestinian autonomy couched within israel s overall sovereignty the deal also offers a new element of formally severing gaza and placing it under joint palestinian egyptian administration if implemented these arrangements will freeze into place palestinian subjuga tion and consecrate the forced exile of two thirds of the palestinian population trump s deal of the century with the legacy of u s israeli solutions that it continues prioritizes israel s sovereignty and attempts to appease palestinians with what if anything remains because jewish sovereignty is incommensurable with palestinian presence it necessarily engenders fragmentation partition separation and population transfer the inverse is not true palestinian sovereignty does not obviate jewish belonging moreover palestinians primary claim is not to control it is to belong the unbending refusal to center palestinian claims and invert the equation of conclusion 238 jewish sovereignty equaling palestinian oppression is preventing us from turning to more fruitful possibilities this is not about proposing a political solution the horizon of any such solutions is clear and has acted as a formidable impasse for nearly a century in contrast insisting upon centering palestinian claims is an exercise in visioning a future with the capacity to disrupt the incommensurability of jewish and palestinian belonging 120 zionist opposition to palestinian return and belonging is predicated on a zero sum view israel is if palestinians are not palestinians are not if israel is perhaps instead of asking what it will take to overcome zionist opposition to palestinian belonging we should ask what possibilities does the return of palestinians and the recognition of their belonging create palestinian refugees exiled now for seven decades will return to a memory in the case of several generations they will return to their grandparents memory the journey will by definition be a project of building something new returning to palestine will be literally going back to an unknown future the overwhelming majority of palestinians have not demanded jewish israelis removal in that future only a relinquishment of their desire to rule decolonization demands that the settler reimagine himself or herself in this environment if as zionists insist their settlement in palestine is a return to that land rather than a conquest of it then they must acknowledge the pales tinians on that land on their terms and in their context 121 zionists however once on that land have sought to establish a jewish homeland that is exogenous to the middle east and closer to if not an extension of europe rather than embrace everything indigenous to the middle east from language to liveli hood and peoples zionism rejected them israel established itself as the site of in gathering for the jewish diaspora a purpose perpetually driving its removal of palestinian natives 122 gabriel ash an israeli american analyst points out that the jewish nationalist population because of its commitment to colonial domination suffers from a congenital inability to belong to the land it claims as its homeland 123 he states that an israeliness that is at home in the middle east must be mediated by palestinians who were always already home 124 what possibilities become available when jewish israelis are made part of the land and the rest of the middle east rather than forming a satellite state merely located in the middle east conclusion 239 the numbers of jewish israelis who are of middle eastern origin from iran iraq algeria morocco syria yemen and beyond and whose identities have been deliberately obscured by israel make this consideration even more pressing and appropriate in their efforts to liberate jews from past conditions of inferiority and oppression zionist leaders attempted to create a new jew modeled on white european values and culture this revived citizen possessed qualities in purposeful opposition to cultural markers carried by middle eastern jews moreover the presence of palestinian natives who remained in israel and with whom middle eastern jews had more in common than with european jews threatened zionist efforts to distinguish israelis as zionist and assert their civilizational proximity to europe 125 the nascent state embarked on a series of policies to transform the eastern jew into the new jew including the removal of middle eastern children from their families so they could be acculturated to the new values and the supplanting of a judeo islamic cultural geography with a singular history of european jews framed as being as universal to all jews 126 this binary framework forced middle eastern jews to choose between their cultural ethnic and linguistic ties and their religion to become israeli middle eastern jews had to cease being middle eastern in anything but name a process that scholar ella shohat describes as an exercise in self devastation 127 today most middle eastern jewish israelis cannot return to their countries of origin even if they wanted to either because of legislation deliberately excluding them and or because of wars afflicting those countries there is no viable future that does not account for these communities middle eastern jews belong to the region yet israel s state building project severed them from it in order to gain acceptance within europe what opens for all of us concerned in the way of co existence when middle eastern jews and jewish israelis generally are rehabilitated as part of the region s history and future when they are not merely in the middle east to assert their belonging elsewhere it seems at least in part that the struggle for palestinian sovereignty has similarly been a quest for inclusion in and recognition from a world order that left palestinians behind in the middle of the last century frantz fanon entreated his fellow subjugated peoples to imagine a better horizon for humanity than europe was offering in the form of nation states nearly all colonized peoples pursued self determination in that form nonetheless palestinians joined them conclusion 240 and participated in three monumental periods when oppressed peoples shed the yoke of imperial domination in pursuit of national independence in the years between the world wars during the height of the anticolonial liberation movements and again in the early nineties with the downfall of apartheid in namibia and south africa none of those efforts yielded a palestinian state and now palestinians are potentially ready to seek out and explore new and uncharted paths toward liberation the possibilities are immense and can draw upon various analytical frame works for a better understanding of the conditions of unfreedom including race labor class and gender and the intersections they weave 128 the palestin ian struggle local particular and simultaneously global exemplary embodies kernels of these possibilities and has proven instructive angela davis the black radical scholar activist and former political prisoner for example has drawn on palestinian steadfastness and resistance to better understand the limits and prospects of prison abolition in the united states 129 upon her visit to the region wazatayiwan a dakota woman and native scholar noted the value of a resistance spirit for the well being of oppressed communities she writes i have never lived under conditions in which struggle was celebrated by anything other than a small minority it is this aspect of palestine that i found most beautiful 130 phenomena such as these are piecing together different ways of understanding what it means to exist with dignity in an excess of sovereignty in any scenario moving forward more conflict and bloody confrontations are all but certain no community has ever relinquished its privileges voluntarily and no community has ever submitted to a condition of perpetual servitude and domination the question should not be how to avoid such violence but rather what is the optimal outcome that would make it tolerable what possible futures can palestinians build for themselves as well as for the jewish israelis that currently dominate them that would make this tortured history a chronicle of hope rather than one of mourning this path is not well paved in fact it does not even exist embarking upon it is a commitment to build new possibilities for decolonization and freedom more generally it is primarily a commitment to ask different questions the future of palestine has the potential to provide new models for humanity in cluding legal orders that can make us whole ones that europe has not been able conclusion 241 to deliver fulfilling this potential requires centering our gaze upon ourselves to recognize ourselves as free already in order to forge a path to a future where our liberation is not contingent or mutually exclusive but reinforcing 131 that is palestine s promise still conclusion this page intentionally left blank acknowledgments this book project has been one of the most difficult and fulfilling endeavors i have embarked upon it demanded an intense research and writing praxis that challenged me intellectually emotionally forcing me to alter my sense of time as well as my commitments there was no possible way to cross these turbulent channels without the remarkable support of legions of generous and brilliant human beings for whom i am profoundly grateful thank you kate wahl of stanford university press for your trust in my process and your extraordinary guidance in what felt at times like an experi ment because of its propensity to shift and adapt to new ideas and approaches thanks also to leah pennywark of the press for your close reading of the work and excellent remarks the book has benefited tremendously from the incisive feedback and unpar alleled expertise of many individuals who read varying parts of it they include abdel razzaq takriti andrew dalack anis fawzi kassem arjun sethi asad abukhalil camille mansour darryl li itamar mann joel beinin john reyn olds k sue park nicola periguini nour joudah omar dajani raja shehadeh rashid khalidi richard falk tareq radi and vijay prashad three readers in particular merit distinct mention lisa hajjar victor kattan and sherene sei kaly read the entire book and several drafts of it providing me with invaluable feedback about the project as a composite whole their generosity with their time and collaboration is the most any young scholar can ask for sherene you more than anyone lived through the iterative process of thinking and writing and editing and scrapping and rewriting and disaffection and enthusiasm growing 244 with you intellectually has been a reward unto its own indeed i am happily indebted to each of my readers and so very grateful any and all mistakes that remain are entirely my own in addition to these readers this book has benefited from the intellectual prowess of individuals who were kind enough to help me wrestle with ideas that consumed me thank you adil ahmed haque ahmed ghappour ardi imseis carlton mackey chris tinson dana erekat david palumbo liu dennis ray childs duncan kennedy george bisharat ibtisam azem huda asfour husam al qoulaq jumana musa lena ghannam lori allen mazen masri nadia bar houm nadya sbaiti purvi shah robin dg kelley samera esmeir sarah ihmoud seth azscinka shira robinson tareq baconi tareq radi and ziad abu rish i could not ask for a better team to help me find my way through mazes of my own making thank you also to professor richard buxbaum for planting a seed of critical inquiry in 2002 that continues to drive my intellectual curiosity completing this work would not have been possible without the incredible research assistance of mayss al alami and nusayba hammad and their her culean research efforts to help me achieve what initially appeared as impossible thank you also to noor barakat ina kosova lilah suboh shezza dallal and tareq radi who helped illuminate new lines of inquiry i had not considered and thank you to dalal hilou and mohammed abou ghazaleh for completing discrete and pressing research tasks thank you to each of you i have no doubt you will continue to blaze new paths in your respective pursuits and i hope that i can be as helpful to each of you as you have been to me similarly this book has benefited from the closest attention to detail by the editorial support of allison brown kenya moore maia tabet nehad khader osama alkhawaja and tammy hineline thank you for your scrutinizing eyes which are far more adept than my own i also extend my thanks to the institutions and individuals who supported my research efforts these include the palestinian american research center which funded some of my travels to the region as well as charles anderson hala shoaibi husam al qoulaq elias khoury khaled farraj rosie bsheer and salim tamari who introduced me to critical interlocutors book recommen dations and resources and a special thank you to the librarians and archivists who waded through materials with me jeanette sarouphim of the institute acknowledgments 245 for palestine studies beirut and hana sleiman and kaoukab chebaro of the american university in beirut finally thank you to my colleagues at george mason university for their sustained support in the writing process to my heroic friends who tolerated me during my bouts of confusion and loss who kindly listened to me argue with myself and helped me make amends with my many minds thank you for walking this path with me thank you also to the ig community that allowed me to feel surrounded by people even through long stretches of isolation nerdfest the greatest appreciation is reserved for my family who in the sincerest terms had to endure me for the past three years thank you for believing in me even as i stumbled forward nahla saleh subhiyeh mohammed ahmed and yousef erakat asmahan naya asmahan carole elie and michael haddad khalid jude and julian namez and simina sattar your unconditional love literally the homes you cradled me in the food you made me and your faith that i would make it out the other end of this endeavor makes this life worth living bassam haddad you are sui generis in the best way your ability to make gold out of straw to smile in the midst of shit storms and to give selflessly even in your most challenging moments is so very humbling your example alone lit my path but more you willingly embarked on road trips with me while know ing full well i would talk about one idea for nearly five hours insisted i was on the right track when i insisted i was lost put off your own writing projects and supported my writing retreats sometimes begging me to leave so you did not have to respond to one more request to tell me how a sentence sounded i am totally down for this kind of love thank you b it s your turn now acknowledgments this page intentionally left blank notes i n t r o d u c t i o n 1 united nations security council unsc 7853rd meeting un doc s pv 7853 23 de cember 2016 https unispal un org dpa dpr unispal nsf 0 9097bdd8e5efe86785258098 00550e37 2 unsc resolution 2334 un doc s res 2334 23 december 2016 https www un org webcast pdfs sres2334 2016 pdf by the author new york 23 october 2017 3 majed bamya first counsellor at the mission of the state of palestine to the un interview 4 unsc resolution 465 un doc s res 465 1 march 1980 https unispal un org dpa dpr unispal nsf 0 5aa254a1c8f8b1cb852560e50075d7d5 5 global policy forum subjects of un security council vetoes accessed 12 november 2017 https www globalpolicy org security council 40069 subjects of un security council vetoes html 6 un news united states vetoes security council resolution on israeli settlements 18 february 2011 http www un org apps news story asp newsid 37572 wgrkoxnswwp 7 helene cooper obama says palestinians are using wrong forum new york times 21 september 2011 http www nytimes com 2011 09 22 world obama united nations speech html 8 julie hirschfeld davis obama assures netanyahu that u s opposes palestinians bid to join court new york times updated 12 january 2015 https www nytimes com 2015 01 13 world middleeast obama assures netanyahu that us opposes palestinians bid to join court html 9 u s and israeli intervention led un to reject palestinian resolution the guardian 31 december 2014 https www theguardian com world 2014 dec 31 us israel un reject palestinian resolution nigeria security council 10 unsc divisions over resolution on settlements deemed illegal risk un meet ings coverage and press releases updated 17 january 2017 https www un org press en 2017 sc12683 doc htm 11 danny danon israel s permanent representative to the united nations lamented that the resolution impeded peace because it described israel s presence in parts of jerusalem in 1967 as a flagrant violation of international law ibid 12 ibid 248 n o t e s t o i n t r o d u c t i o n 13 unsc israel markedly increased settlement construction un meeting coverage and press releases 24 march 2017 https www un org press en 2017 sc12765 doc htm 14 league of nations the covenant of the league of nations 28 april 1919 art 22 15 susan pedersen the impact of league oversight on british policy in palestine in britain palestine and empire the mandate years ed rory miller farnham ashgate 2010 45 covenant of the league of nations art 22 16 covenant of the league of nations art 22 17 victor kattan from coexistence to conquest international law and the origins of the arab israeli conflict 1891 1949 new york pluto press 2009 107 18 united nations general assembly unga 207th plenary meeting application of israel for admission to membership in the united nations report of the ad hoc political committee un doc a 855 11 may 1949 https unispal un org dpa dpr unispal nsf 52b7d0e66142a40e852 56dc70072b982 0b3ab8d2a7c0273d8525694b00726d1b opendocument 19 see the israel law review palestine encyclopedia of law palestine law review palestine yearbook of international law and jewish law review 20 my concept of legal opportunity is based on robert knox s definition of principled opportunism as the use of international law as a mere tool to be discarded when not useful he continues the strategic question of international law s progressive potential is as a matter of principle reduced to the tactical instrumental deployment of legal argument knox marxism international law and political strategy leiden journal of international law 22 no 3 september 2009 433 34 21 duncan kennedy a left phenomenological alternative to the hart kelsen theory of legal interpretation in legal reasoning collected essays aurora the davies group 2008 22 united nations charter of the united nations and statute of the international court of justice 26 june 1945 art 38 1 http treaties un org doc publication ctc uncharter pdf 23 martti koskenniemi the politics of international law oxford hart 2011 158 24 antony anghie imperialism sovereignty and the making of international law cambridge cambridge university press 2004 17 25 ibid 22 this is predicated on an assumption that the native is unmanageable and inhabited by savages who do not organize themselves in the image of a european juridical order therefore they are ineligible for organizing themselves at all in the same context colonies are similar to the frontiers they are inhabited by savages achille mmembe necropolitics public culture 15 no 1 winter 2003 24 to be a state was to hold certain factual not evaluative properties if non european entities did not quality for statehood this was not because of the existence of a material code which would for all time have prevented their qualification as such it was simply because their subjective essence degree of civilization did not correspond to that of european states they were simply too different for the classical jurist this difference was a matter of fact not political opinion martti koskenniemi from apology to utopia cambridge cambridge university press 2005 199 26 anghie imperialism sovereignty and the making of international law 21 27 michael fakhri sugar and the making of international trade law cambridge cambridge 28 gil loescher the unhcr and world politics a perilous path oxford oxford university university press 2014 press 2001 n o t e s t o i n t r o d u c t i o n 249 29 john reynolds the long shadow of colonialism the origins of the doctrine of emer gency in international human rights law osgoode clpe research paper 19 2010 2010 http digitalcommons osgoode yorku ca clpe 86 30 chris jochnick and roger normand the legitimation of violence a critical history of the laws of war harvard international law journal 35 no 49 1994 68 31 see mark neocleous the problem with normality taking exception to permanent emergency alternatives global local political 31 no 2 april june 2006 191 213 see gener ally china mieville between equal rights a marxist theory of international law new york pluto press 2006 32 kennedy a left phenomenological alternative 158 33 it is precisely because principles are contradictory that we are able to find them counter systemic logics it is precisely because norms are unstable that we can lead them to surpass them selves and it is precisely because words are ambiguous that we have the chance to make them mean more than they currently want to mean susan marks afterword critical knowledge in the riddle of all constitutions international law democracy and the critique of ideology oxford university press on demand 2000 144 34 kennedy a left phenomenological alternative 158 35 for duncan kennedy s concept of legal work see ibid 158 36 ibid 37 ibid 160 38 ibid 39 dale stephens discusses this example in his work on lawfare and its practice by powerful states stephens the age of lawfare in international law and the changing character of war ed raul a pedrozo and daria p wollschlaeger 327 58 newport naval war college press 2011 40 jeffrey p fontas the bush administration torture policy origins and consequences inquiries 2 no 8 2010 http www inquiriesjournal com a id 276 here derrida s discussion on originary violence is instructive since he suggests that the outcome national security for the united states against terrorist threats if conceived as just can justify the means used to effect its estab lishment as in the modified definition of torture as enhanced interrogation techniques jacques derrida acts of religion ed gil anidjar new york routledge 2001 269 41 boumediene v bush 553 u s 723 2008 david cole closing the law free zone the guardian 13 june 2008 https www theguardian com commentisfree 2008 jun 13 guantanamo terrorism1 42 whether a norm is or is not legal is a function not of its origin or pedigree but of its effects law has an effect is law when it persuades an audience with political clout that something someone else did or plans to do is or is not legitimate in this context ethical and political corroboration with legal rules becomes inevitable stephens quoting david kennedy in the age of lawfare 66 43 the fact is that modern state military forces do legitimately use the law to achieve military objectives this is done as a substitute for the application of force and hence represents a form of lawfare so defined i t may also be manifested in a formal determination as to whether an armed conflict exists at all whether it is international or non international and or whether an opposition group is to obtain prisoner of war rights or not ibid 50 250 n o t e s t o i n t r o d u c t i o n 44 balakrishnan rajagopal international law from below development social movements and third world resistance cambridge cambridge university press 2003 david ludden a brief history of subalternity in reading subaltern studies ed david ludden new york anthem press 2002 7 45 coercive pressure is force that can be direct or indirect physical or symbolic exterior or interior brutal or subtly discursive even hermeneutic coercive or regulative derrida acts of religion 232 46 in his seminal text on the question of palestine edward said explained that zionism s effectiveness in making its way against arab palestinian resistance lay in its being a policy of detail not simply a general colonial vision said the question of palestine new york times books 1979 95 the present book is a humble attempt to unpack and scrutinize that policy of detail concerning the law 47 lisa hajjar human rights in israel palestine the history and politics of a movement journal of palestine studies 30 no 4 summer 2001 21 38 48 the term itself is attributed to u s military colonel charles dunlap jr who in november 2001 explained that law is hijacked in order to fight the war in another way in response to european and ngo criticism of u s military action in 2007 he described it as the strategic attempt to use or misuse law as a substitute for traditional military means to achieve an operational objective michael kearney lawfare legitimacy and resistance the weak and the law palestine yearbook of international law 16 no 1 2010 89 49 stephens the age of lawfare 51 50 israeli ambassador danny ayalon s comments describing unsc resolution 2334 are exemplary of palestinian lawfare as discussed in kearney lawfare legitimacy and resistance 80 see generally un security council resolution 2334 united nations security coun cil asserts illegality harvard law review 130 no 8 june 2017 https harvardlawreview org 2017 06 u n security council resolution 2334 51 the organization defines lawfare as the exploitation of international legal frameworks and principles which has become a major weapon in the political war against israel hoping to delegitimize israeli responses to attacks on its civilian population it highlights the following organizations as being primary culprits the palestinian center for human rights al haq al mezan adalah badil resource center for palestinian residency and refugee rights de fense for children international palestine section fidh international federation for human rights and the center for constitutional rights key issue lawfare international law and human rights ngo monitor accessed 4 november 2017 https www ngo monitor org key issues lawfare international law and human rights about 52 see david luban lawfare and legal ethics in guantanamo stanford law review 60 no 6 april 2008 1981 2026 stephens the age of lawfare 52 and kearney lawfare legitimacy and resistance 127 53 stephens the age of lawfare 54 54 asad talal thinking about terrorism and just war cambridge review of international affairs 23 no 1 2010 3 24 55 law s existence gives rise to the questions what kind of or whose law and what type of and whose preference martti koskenniemi the politics of international law 20 years later european journal of international law 20 no 1 2009 17 n o t e s t o i n t r o d u c t i o n 251 56 meir shamgar legal concepts and problems of the israeli military government the initial stage in military government in the territories administered by israel 1967 1980 the legal aspects ed meir shamgar jerusalem hebrew university jerusalem 1982 15 57 see generally mieville between equal rights neocleous the problem with normality 58 richard falk reframing the legal agenda of world order in the course of a turbulent century in reframing the international law culture politics ed richard falk lester edwin j ruiz and r b j walker 46 69 new york routledge 2002 59 mark tushnet some current controversies in critical legal studies german law journa1 12 no 1 2011 290 99 https dash harvard edu handle 1 10880556 international relations ir scholars have generally assumed that the existence of a coercive state able to enforce laws made domestic order very different from international order a prominent group of legal schol ars at the university of chicago however now argue that even within a domestic setting making successful law and policy requires an understanding of the pervasive influence of social norms of behavior this is a particularly compelling insight for ir scholars since the international system is characterized by law and norms operating without direct punitive capacity martha finnemore and kathryn sikkink international norm dynamics and political change international organization 52 no 4 autumn 1998 893 60 koskenniemi from apology to utopia 169 61 ibid 162 62 ibid 63 legal information institute jus cogens cornell law school accessed 20 october 2016 https www law cornell edu wex jus_cogens 64 falk reframing the legal agenda of world order 48 65 koskenniemi from apology to utopia 6 66 alexander wendt anarchy is what states make of it the social construction of power politics international organization 46 no 2 spring 1992 395 67 since the westphalian turn gave rise to a state centric international system states have become increasingly interdependent and have cultivated a new universal conscience that they apply to themselves as an international community international law can be ascending or descending an ascending law emerges from particular state interests and then influences a global system while descending law flows downwards from a global system upon each state koskenniemi from apology to utopia 182 see also noura erakat u s vs icrc customary international humanitarian law and universal jurisdiction denver journal of international law and policy 41 no 2 winter 2013 238 68 j t checkel the constructivist turn in international relations theory world politics 50 no 2 january 1998 324 326 327 328 69 wendt anarchy is what states make of it 397 70 ibid 395 71 finnemore and sikkink international norm dynamics and political change 889 j goldsmith sovereignty international relations theory and international law stanford law review 52 no 4 april 2000 959 984 965 72 harold hongju koh why do nations obey international law yale law journal 106 no 8 1997 2602 dino kritsiotis when states used armed force in the politics of international law ed christian reus smit cambridge cambridge university press 2004 48 252 n o t e s t o i n t r o d u c t i o n 73 mary ellen o connell new international legal process american journal of international law 93 no 2 1999 334 74 unsc resolution 2334 asserts that states must distinguish in their relevant dealings between the territory of the state of israel and the territories occupied in 1967 75 bamya interview 76 hugh lovatt eu differentiation and the push for peace in israel palestine london euro pean council on foreign relations 2016 2 77 ibid 78 bamya interview 79 lovatt eu differentiation and the push for peace in israel palestine 5 80 ibid 2 81 ibid 6 82 see un escwa israeli practices towards the palestinian people and the question of apart heid palestine and the israeli occupation beirut united nations 2017 83 ibid v 84 ibid 54 55 85 reuters senior un official quits after apartheid israel report pulled re uters 17 march 2017 https www reuters com article us un israel report resignation senior u n official quits after apartheid israel report pulled iduskbn16o24x 86 carl schmitt political theology four chapters on the concept of sovereignty trans george schwab chicago university of chicago press 2005 87 giorgio agamben state of exception trans kevin attell chicago university of chicago press 2005 30 88 in both cases the policies are driven by the necessity to achieve a political outcome agamben state of exception 18 in both circumstances neither framework is necessary lawful but is rather a proceeding guided essentially by the necessity of achieving a certain end schmitt political theology 172 as quoted in agamben state of exception 18 89 exception may be an expression of necessity that does not recognize law or that cre ates its own law in which case more than rendering the illicit licit necessity acts here to justify a single specific case of transgression by means of an exception agamben state of exception 24 90 dictionary com s v sui generis http www dictionary com browse sui generis 91 t he state of exception does not apply equally to all since the exclusion of and violence perpetuated against some groups is anchored in the law alexander g weheliye habeas viscus racializing assemblages biopolitics and black feminist theories of the human durham duke uni versity press 2014 87 92 see e g william peel et al 1937 report of the palestine royal commission london hmso paras 24 33 and 42 http unispal un org pdfs cmd5479 pdf 93 avi shlaim the balfour declaration and its consequences in yet more adventures with britannia personalities politics and culture in britain ed wm roger louis 251 70 london i b tauris 2005 94 peter d errico applies this concept drawn from carl schmitt s observation that the rule lives off the exception alone to explain how in u s federal indian law native sovereignty exists n o t e s t o i n t r o d u c t i o n 253 except to the extent that it does not exist d errico indigenous lèse majesté questioning u s federal indian law new diversities 19 no 2 2017 44 95 agamben state of exception 50 96 as occurred with all cases of settler colonialism britain was able to establish a new people on settled land by practicing an exception to the law that permits eliminating indigenous people while defining settlers as those who replace scott lauria morgensen the biopolitics of settler colonialism right here right now settler colonial studies 1 no 1 2011 52 malm discusses the ways in which palestine bodes the future for all in a warming world in the walls of the tank on palestinian resistance salvage last modified 1 may 2017 http salvage zone in print the walls of the tank on palestinian resistance also see elizabeth f thompson justice interrupted historical perspectives on promoting democracy in the middle east washington dc united states institute of peace 2009 97 in the political juridical structure of the camp the state of exception ceases to be a temporal suspension of the state of law according to agamben it acquires a permanent spatial arrangement that remains continually outside the normal state of law mmembe necropolitics 13 98 patrick wolfe settler colonialism and the elimination of the native journal of genocide research 8 no 4 2006 387 409 morgensen the biopolitics of settler colonialism 52 99 peter baker and julie hirschfeld davis u s finalizes deal to give israel 38 billion in military aid new york times 13 september 2016 https www nytimes com 2016 09 14 world middleeast israel benjamin netanyahu military aid html 100 rebecca savransky pence the day will come when trump moves embassy to jeru salem the hill 18 july 2017 http thehill com homenews administration 342471 pence the day will come when trump moves embassy to jerusalem loveday morris us ambassador breaks with policy i think the settlements are part of israel washington post 29 september 2017 https www washingtonpost com news worldviews wp 2017 09 29 u s ambassador breaks with policy i think the settlements are part of israel utm_term e441fce33869 101 unsc resolution 2334 3 underlines that it will not recognize any changes to the 4 june 1967 lines including with regard to jerusalem other than those agreed by the parties through negotiations 102 we would not have let this resolution pass had it not also addressed counterproductive ac tions by the palestinians such as terrorism and incitement to violence which we ve repeatedly condemned and repeatedly raised with the palestinian leadership and which of course must be stopped samantha powers s statement regarding resolution 2334 read full text of us envoy power s speech following abstention at the un jerusalem post 24 december 2016 http www jpost com american politics read full text of us envoy powers speech following abstention at the un 476370 103 barak ravid pa welcomes paris summit concluding statement calls on france to recognize palestine haaretz 14 november 2017 http www haaretz com israel news live 1 764993 104 legal argument resolves specific violations disputes or instances but it never questions the general structural logics that lurk beneath them and so cannot fully eradicate the problems it addresses knox marxism international law and political strategy 430 105 knox discusses the types of force that determine the meaning of law ibid 427 28 254 n o t e s t o i n t r o d u c t i o n a n d c h a p t e r 1 106 richard falk describes the most recent phase of struggle as a legitimacy war that is focused on a global soft power approach and is waged on symbolic battlefields falk palestine s horizon toward a just peace new york pluto press 2017 9 107 what must be pursued is a principled opportunism where in order to understand the individualizing legitimating perspective of the law international law is consciously used as a mere tool to be discarded when not useful knox marxism international law and political strategy 433 108 in the context of the european enlightenment the human being was directly sorted into the order and context of a political community namely the nation and the right to inalienable rights became dependent on the people s sovereignty the sovereign nation state was the most powerful and most important political agent and the only authority that could guarantee any sorts of rights christian volk the decline of order hannah arendt and the paradoxes of the nation state in politics in dark times encounters with hannah arendt ed seyla benhabib cambridge cambridge university press 2010 195 109 obergefell et al v hodges director ohio department of health et al no 14 556 576 u s 2015 110 frantz fanon the wretched of the earth new york grove press 1963 239 111 sherene seikaly men of capital scarcity and economy in mandate palestine stanford stanford university press 2015 112 zachary lockman comrades and enemies arab and jewish workers in palestine 1906 1948 berkeley university of california press 1996 gershon shafir land labor and the origins of the palestinian israeli conflict 1882 1914 berkeley university of california press 1996 113 judith e tucker in the house of law gender and islamic law in ottoman syria and palestine berkeley university of california press 1998 114 nadera shalhoub kevorkian at the limits of the human reading postraciality from palestine ethnic and racial studies 39 no 13 2016 2252 60 doi 10 1080 01419870 2016 12024 32 noura erakat whiteness as property in israel revival rehabilitation and removal harvard journal on racial ethnic justice 31 2015 69 104 c h a p t e r 1 several sections of this chapter are based on an article i published in 2015 noura erakat whiteness as property in israel revival rehabilitation and removal harvard journal on racial ethnic justice 31 2015 69 104 1 league of nations the covenant of the league of nations 28 april 1919 art 22 2 victor kattan from coexistence to conquest international law and the origins of the arab israeli conflict 1891 1949 new york pluto press 2009 84 88 3 yehoshua porath the emergence of the palestinian arab national movement 1918 1929 lon don frank cass 1995 44 4 ellen l fleischmann the emergence of the palestinian women s movement 1929 39 journal of palestine studies 29 no 3 2000 16 of palestine studies 43 no 1 2013 14 5 tamir sorek calendars martyrs and palestinian particularism under british rule journal 6 this account of al qassam and the great revolt draws from elizabeth f thompson justice interrupted historical perspectives on promoting democracy in the middle east washington dc united states institute of peace 2009 5 mark sanagan teacher preacher soldier martyr die n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 1 255 welt des islams 53 nos 3 4 2013 332 w f abboushi the road to rebellion arab palestine in the 1930 s journal of palestine studies 6 no 3 1977 23 46 charles w anderson from petition to confrontation the palestinian national movement and the rise of mass politics 1929 1939 phd diss new york university 2013 647 and mustafa kabha the palestinian press and the general strike april october 1936 filastin as a case study middle eastern studies 39 no 3 2003 170 http www jstor org stable 4284312 7 kabha the palestinian press 170 8 ibid 174 9 on the peel commission and the palestinian response to the proposal of partition see penny sinangolou the peel commission and partition 1936 1938 in britain palestine and empire the mandate years ed rory miller 119 40 london ashgate 2010 and anderson from petition to confrontation 829 663 10 kabha the palestinian press 175 11 british white paper of 1939 the avalon project http avalon law yale edu 20th_century brwh1939 asp 12 patrick wolfe has illuminated how settler colonialism is a structure of governance and indigenous elimination rather than a singular event of invasion and carnage i draw on his work to establish that israeli settler colonialism constituted a permanent structure of governance aimed at palestinian elimination wolfe settler colonialism and the elimination of the native journal of genocide research 8 no 4 2006 387 409 13 two excellent texts that examine this period with great attention to detail and nuance and upon which this chapter is heavily reliant are victor kattan from coexistence to conquest international law and the origins of the arab israeli conflict 1891 1949 new york pluto press 2009 and john quigley the case for palestine an international law perspective durham duke university press 2005 14 e l woodward and rohan butler eds memorandum by mr balfour paris respecting syria palestine and mesopotamia in documents on british foreign policy 1919 1939 1st ser vol 4 340 48 london hmso 1952 15 aziza khazzoom the great chain of orientalism jewish identity stigma management and ethnic exclusion in israel american sociological review 68 no 4 2003 490 91 16 on ethnographic science and racial hierarchies see george m fredrickson racism a short history princeton princeton university press 2002 frederickson comments that the scientific thought of the enlightenment was a precondition for the growth of modern racism based on physi cal typology on how the triumph of reason made jews eligible for assimilation but only by the obliteration of any markers of distinction see hannah arendt the jewish writings ed jerome kohn and ron h feldman new york schocken books 2007 and sherene seikaly and max ajl of europe zionism and the jewish other in europe after derrida crisis and potentiality ed agnes czajka and bora isyar edinburgh edinburgh university press 2013 120 on the reformulation of jews status in orientalist terms see amnon raz krakotzkin the zionist return to the west and the mizrahi jewish perspective in orientalism and the jews ed ivan davidson kalmar and derek jonathan penslar waltham brandeis university press 2005 162 and ella shohat reflections of an arab jew fellowship 64 nos 5 6 1998 4 5 17 adam gopnik trial of the century revisiting the dreyfus affair the new yorker 28 september 2009 http www newyorker com magazine 2009 09 28 trial of the century albert 256 n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 1 dreyfus an alsatian jew living in paris and serving in the french army was accused and wrong fully convicted of treason in a controversial trial during which the scant evidence against him was kept secret and after which subsequent media coverage and public commentary set off anti semitic riots around france and algiers for assimilated european jews including herzl who was covering the dreyfus affair as a reporter for a vienna newspaper the miscarriage of justice and outburst of anti semitic rhetoric against dreyfus whose life had been dedicated to military service to the na tion and his supporters represented the failure and impossibility of jewish assimilation in france which had once been its most promising setting and by extension throughout the rest of europe 18 on zionism s internalization and reproduction of orientalist tropes see raz krakotzkin the zionist return to the west 170 and theodor herzl the jewish state new york dover 1988 19 zachary lockman comrades and enemies arab and jewish workers in palestine 1906 1948 berkeley university of california press 1996 29 20 christian volk the decline of order hannah arendt and the paradoxes of the nation state in politics in dark times encounters with hannah arendt ed seyla benhabib cambridge cambridge university press 2010 21 hurst hannum autonomy sovereignty and self determination the accommodation of con flicting rights philadelphia university of pennsylvania press 1996 27 22 ibid 59 63 96 23 ibid the quotation is from herzl the jewish state 23 24 quigley the case for palestine 7 25 arthur james balfour balfour declaration 1917 the avalon project http avalon law yale edu 20th_century balfour asp 26 beshara doumani palestine versus the palestinians the iron laws and ironies of a people denied journal of palestinian studies 36 no 4 summer 2007 49 64 27 e j hobsbawm nations and nationalism since 1780 programme myth reality cambridge cambridge university press 1990 18 19 hugh seton watson nations and states an enquiry into the origins of nations and the politics of nationalism london methuen 1977 1 hannum autonomy sovereignty and self determination 24 in the social sciences this shared sense of history language culture and so forth is known as a social imaginary 28 george antonius the arab awakening the story of the arab national movement london kegan paul 2015 app a 29 the sykes picot agreement 1916 the avalon project http avalon law yale edu 20th_cen tury sykes asp see also sara pursley lines drawn on an empty map iraq s borders and the leg end of the artificial state part 1 jadaliyya 2 june 2015 http www jadaliyya com details 32140 and kattan from coexistence to conquest 99 30 thompson justice interrupted 5 31 timothy mitchell carbon democracy political power in the age of oil new york verso 2011 87 this issue is not settled and other reasons for britain s policy are advanced by various historians as discussed by avi shlaim the balfour declaration and its consequences in yet more adventures with britannia personalities politics and culture in britain ed wm roger louis 251 70 london i b tauris 2005 susan pedersen advances yet another argument suggesting that this has to do not with interests but rather with the incorporation and embeddedness of chaim weizmann in the british deliberations susan pedersen writing the balfour declaration n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 1 257 into the palestine mandate presentation at the conference 100 years since the balfour declara tion israel academy of sciences and humanities jerusalem november 2017 32 rashid khalidi iron cage boston beacon press 2006 37 shlaim balfour declaration and its consequences 33 correspondence with the palestine arab delegation and zionist organization presented to parliament by command of his majesty cmd 1700 non un document excerpts london 1 july 1922 20 khalidi iron cage 36 34 mitchell carbon democracy 87 35 thompson justice interrupted 4 36 letter from foreign secretary arthur j balfour to prime minister lloyd george 19 febru ary 1919 as cited in a confidential memorandum on the arab choice of his majesty s government as a mandatory power for palestine document no 47756 2117 m e 44 1919 national archives as quoted in kattan from coexistence to conquest 121 37 doumani palestine versus palestinians 50 38 denis vovchenko creating arab nationalism russia and greece in ottoman syria and palestine 1840 1909 middle eastern studies 49 no 6 2013 901 18 39 porath emergence of the palestinian arab national movement 45 40 but see kattan from coexistence to conquest 131 kattan argues that britain intended to include the political rights of palestinians even if it failed to mention them explicitly i disagree with his reading british administration of mandate palestine and the absence of high ranking palestin ians in the colonial administration as well as indications that transjordan would be the sovereign of arab palestine belie this conclusion 41 shlaim the balfour declaration and its consequences 5 42 william peel et al 1937 report of the palestine royal commission london hmso para 48 available from http unispal un org pdfs cmd5479 pdf 43 khalidi iron cage 37 44 susan pedersen the meaning of the mandates system an argument league of na tions geschichte und gesellschaft 32 no 4 october 2006 560 82 45 the recourse to necessity is an extrajudicial evaluation giorgio agamben state of exception trans kevin attell chicago university of chicago press 2005 30 46 lori allen determining emotions and the burden of proof in investigative commis sions to palestine comparative studies in society and history 59 no 2 2017 385 414 palestinians protested jewish land acquisition as early as 1891 and in 1914 palestinian candidates for parliament ran on an anti zionist platform in 1918 palestinians used the first anniversary of the issuance of the balfour declaration to deliver a petition to the british mandate military governor of jerusalem protesting zionist policy kattan from coexistence to conquest 79 see also porath emergence of the palestinian arab national movement 31 47 quigley the case for palestine 9 48 ibid ken grossi maren milligan and ted waddelow restoring lost voices of self deter mination king crane commission digital collection august 2011 http www2 oberlin edu library digital king crane intro html 49 ibid 50 mitchell carbon democracy 86 108 258 n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 1 51 miriam mckenna the means to the end and the end of the means self determination decolonization and international law jus gentium journal of international legal history 2 no 1 2017 94 95 rupert emerson argues that even after 1960 the right was not enforceable but rather a claim that could be validated by the use of requisite military force emerson self determination american journal of international law 65 no 3 1971 459 75 52 united nations general assembly unga resolution 1514 declaration on the grant ing of independence to colonial countries and peoples un doc a res 15 1514 14 december 1960 http www un org en decolonization declaration shtml see also mckenna the means to the end and the end of the means 94 95 and emerson self determination 53 president woodrow wilson s fourteen points the avalon project http avalon law yale edu 20th_century wilson14 asp 54 allen lynch woodrow wilson and the principle of national self determination a re consideration review of international studies 28 no 2 2002 419 36 doi 10 1017 s02602105020 04199 55 derek heater national self determination woodrow wilson and his legacy london palgrave macmillan 1994 8 as quoted in lynch woodrow wilson and the principle of national self determination 20 56 vladimir lenin a leader of the revolution that established the union of soviet socialist republics ussr which supported liberation movements throughout the former imperial colonies did champion national self determination although he insisted that anticolonial independence movements would only succeed if they fought a class struggle against their own oppressive elites and averted the ascendance of bourgeois nationalism he did not want to support bourgeois nationalism in oppressed nations hannum autonomy sovereignty and self determination 32 57 hannum autonomy sovereignty and self determination 28 29 58 covenant of the league of nations art 22 59 antony anghie imperialism sovereignty and the making of international law cambridge cambridge university press 2004 148 60 mitchell carbon democracy 69 61 anghie imperialism sovereignty and the making of international law 133 62 ibid 146 63 kattan from coexistence to conquest 121 64 covenant of the league of nations art 22 65 mitchell carbon democracy 66 on faysal s advocacy and the creation of the syrian arab kingdom see thompson justice interrupted 3 5 7 and mitchell carbon democracy 67 similarly peter d errico discusses the co constitutive nature of exception and sui generis law as regards u s federal indian law d errico indigenous lèse majesté questioning u s federal indian law new diversities 19 no 2 2017 41 54 68 correspondence with the palestine arab delegation and zionist organization para 4 articles 94 to 97 of the treaty provisionally recognize the independence of iraq and syria while article 95 intentionally avoids making similar reference to palestine in order to fulfill the balfour declaration 69 ibid 3 n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 1 259 70 ibid para 11 c the colonial office also stated that the principal allied powers con cerned as they were to ensure the fulfillment of a policy adopted before the covenant was drafted were well advised in applying to palestine a somewhat different interpretation of paragraph 4 of article 22 of the covenant than was applied to the neighboring countries of iraq and syria ibid para 5 71 samera esmeir contends that the inclusion of colonial subjects in the body of law served a punitive function without necessarily affording these subjects a rights bearing agency esmeir juridical humanity a colonial history stanford stanford university press 2012 72 correspondence with the palestine arab delegation and zionist organization 13 14 73 pedersen writing the balfour declaration into the palestine mandate 74 ibid pederson the impact of league oversight on british policy in palestine in britain palestine and empire the mandate years ed rory miller farnham ashgate 2010 42 charles h levermore third year book of the league of nations 1922 137 as discussed in un special committee on palestine report to the general assembly lake success ny 1947 chap 2 para 180 https unispal un org dpa dpr unispal nsf 0 07175de9fa2de563852568d3006e10f3 75 the palestine mandate 24 july 1922 the avalon project http avalon law yale edu 20th_ century palmanda asp 76 khalidi iron cage 33 77 the one reference to natives in the mandate for palestine appears in article 9 and distinguishes natives from foreigners rather than natives from the jewish immigrants afforded the legal right to settle the land 78 pedersen writing the balfour declaration into the palestine mandate 79 khalidi iron cage 38 80 porath emergence of the palestinian arab national movement 51 81 khalidi iron cage 40 82 ibid 33 83 in 1918 573 000 palestinians and 66 000 jews made up the population and jews owned only 1 percent of the land porath emergence of the palestinian arab national movement 41 84 ibid 44 85 khalidi iron cage 33 86 porath emergence of the palestinian arab national movement 53 87 in response to an appeal by the palestine arab congress in 1925 the pmc decided and would hold to this decision in the future that it could not consider petitions that called into ques tion the very principle of the palestine mandate including the balfour declaration pederson the impact of league oversight on british policy in palestine 45 also see ibid 51 and 53 88 matthew hughes from law and order to pacification britain s suppression of the arab revolt in palestine 1936 39 journal of palestine studies 39 no 2 winter 2010 6 22 89 john reynolds the long shadow of colonialism the origins of the doctrine of emer gency in international human rights law osgoode clpe research paper 19 2010 2010 http digitalcommons osgoode yorku ca clpe 8 league of nations report by his majesty s government in the united kingdom of great britain and northern ireland to the council of the league of na tions on the administration of palestine and trans jordan for the year 1937 31 december 1937 https unispal un org dpa dpr unispal nsf 0 7bdd2c11c15b54c2052565d10057251e 260 n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 1 90 it was institutionalized as a mechanism to protect british interests over those of the native other during several counterinsurgency campaigns including the india mutiny 1857 the mass revolt in jamaica 1865 and the egyptian and iraqi revolts 1919 1920 as well as the irish war of independence 1919 1921 laleh khalili the location of palestine in global counter insurgencies international journal of middle east studies 42 no 3 2010 422 http www jstor org stable 40784820 91 sovereignty is characterized by a right to identify the other as a mortal threat whose elimination strengthens a sovereign s ability to live achille mmembe necropolitics public culture 15 no 1 winter 2003 24 92 mark neocleous the problem with normality taking exception to permanent emer gency alternatives global local political 31 no 2 april june 2006 207 93 the state of exception can assume a permanent spatial arrangement that remains continu ally outside the normal state of law mmembe necropolitics 13 94 khalili the location of palestine in global counterinsurgencies 422 95 ibid 423 my account of the british suppression of the revolt relies on khalili the location of palestine in global counterinsurgencies 422 23 96 hughes from law and order to pacification 6 97 khalidi iron cage 107 98 walid khalidi from haven to conquest beirut institute for palestine studies 1971 app 4 846 49 99 macdonald in permanent mandate commission minutes 36th sess 8 29 june 1939 98 99 as quoted in pederson impact of league oversight on british policy in palestine 62 100 porath emergence of the palestinian arab national movement 277 victor kattan argues that protest from muslims in india which britain maintained as a colony formatively influenced british policy kattan how india s muslim backlash led by jinnah thwarted the balfour declara tion haaretz 30 october 2017 https www haaretz com opinion how india s muslim backlash wrecked the balfour declaration 1 5461135 101 porath emergence of the palestinian arab national movement 286 102 see british white paper of 1939 his majesty s government are unable at present to foresee the exact constitutional forms which government in palestine will eventually take but their objective is self government and they desire to see established ultimately an independent palestine state 103 anderson from petition to confrontation 1102 104 upon reexamination britain modified its earlier position moving from emphatic opposi tion to a promise for palestinian independence it now adopted a less firm position that stated simply that the the language in which its exclusion was expressed was not so specific and unmistakable as it was thought to be at the time this reflected a partial concession to resolve a controversy between the foreign and colonial offices the foreign office was adamant that palestine was not excluded while the colonial office took the opposite stance upon soliciting expert legal advice they learned that the letter was not unequivocal and remained vague see porath emergence of the palestinian arab national movement 284 90 this legal debate and its outcome was also rehearsed in the un special committee on palestine s report to the general assembly paras 167 69 105 porath 290 106 pederson the impact of league oversight on british policy in palestine 64 n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 1 261 107 quigley case for palestine 27 108 ibid 29 109 pederson the impact of league oversight on british policy in palestine 55 110 quigley case for palestine 33 111 un special committee on palestine report to the general assembly paras 176 80 112 unga official records of the second session of the general assembly ad hoc com mittee on the palestinian question united nations special committee on palestine un doc a 364 sup no 11 3 september 1947 https unispal un org dpa dpr unispal nsf 0 07175de9fa2de5 63852568d3006e10f3 113 kattan from coexistence to conquest 148 51 quigley case for palestine 35 114 the united states the most enthusiastic proponent of partition successfully delayed the unga vote on the matter in order to apply coercive financial pressure on smaller states to obtain their support and ultimately secure a majority vote this pressure included threatening to cut aid to financially dependent countries in order to obtain support for partition this was done with public knowledge kattan from coexistence to conquest 153 quigley case for palestine 37 115 kattan from coexistence to conquest 153 quigley case for palestine 37 116 in its survey publication village statistics the mandatory power estimates the total area of land owned by jews in 1945 to be 1 491 699 dunams compared with about 13 million dunams owned by arabs in palestine united nations division for palestine rights dpr acquisition of land in pal estine 1 january 1980 https unispal un org dpa dpr unispal nsf 181c4bf00c44e5fd85256cef0 073c426 7d094ff80ff004f085256dc200680a27 opendocument 117 unga resolution 181 ii future government of palestine un doc a res 181 ii 29 november 1947 https unispal un org dpa dpr unispal nsf 0 7f0af2bd897689b785256c330 061d253 specifically see chap 2 on religious and minority rights chap 3 1 on citizenship and rights chap 2 2 on the prohibition of discrimination chap 2 3 on equal protection and chap 2 8 on the prohibition of land expropriation 118 walid khalidi plan dalet master plan for the conquest of palestine in palestine 1948 special issue journal of palestine studies 18 no 1 autumn 1988 14 http www jstor org stable 2537591 119 ian j bickerton and carla l klausner a concise history of the arab israeli conflict upper saddle river prentice hall 2002 86 87 charles d smith palestine and the arab israeli conflict 2nd ed new york st martin s press 1992 140 120 ilan pappé the forgotten palestinians a history of the palestinians in israel new haven yale university press 2011 121 smith palestine and the arab israeli conflict 140 122 the haganah told the anglo american committee of inquiry a commission initiated by the governments of the united states and the united kingdom in 1946 to examine the situation and help propose a solution as early as march 1946 that if britain and the united states were unwilling to enforce partition they should not interfere and should allow zionist forces to do it themselves khalidi plan dalet 13 123 ibid 15 kattan from coexistence to conquest 183 124 khalidi plan dalet 16 20 appendix a pp 20 23 contains the text of the may 1946 plan gimmel plan c 262 n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 1 cleansing 125 gershon rivlin and elhanan oren eds the war of independence ben gurion s diary tel aviv ministry of defense 1986 210 11 126 david ben gurion in the battle tel aviv am oved 1949 255 72 as cited in ilan pappé the ethnic cleansing of palestine oxford one world oxford 2006 127 pappé ethnic cleansing 48 128 central zionist archives 45 1 protocol 2 november 1947 as cited in pappé ethnic 129 shabtai teveth ben gurion and the palestinian arabs from peace to war oxford oxford university press 1985 189 as quoted in nur masalha 60 years after the nakba historical truth collective memory and ethical obligations kyoto bulletin of islamic area studies 3 no 1 2009 37 88 130 khalidi plan dalet 11 131 ibrahim abu lughod discuses benny morris s finding of ben gurion s role in operation dani leading to the expulsion of palestinians from lydda and ramleh abu lughod the war of 1948 disputed perspectives and outcomes journal of palestine studies 18 no 2 1989 119 27 doi 10 2307 2537638 132 benny morris revisiting the palestinian exodus of 1948 in eugene l rogan and avi shlaim eds the war for palestine 37 59 in his review of morris s 1948 and after israel and the palestinians nur masalha argues that morris makes a problematic distinction which is central to his conclusions between outright expulsion on the one hand and the vague or euphemistic causing promoting precipitating encouraging nudging and prompting people into flight through various military pressures and psychological means on the other the problem with this distinction is that it leaves glaring discrepancies between the evidence he produces and the conclusions he deduces nur masalha 1948 and after revisited review of 1948 and after israel and the palestinians by benny morris journal of palestine studies 24 no 4 1995 90 95 133 unga draft trusteeship agreement for palestine working paper circulated by the united states delegation un doc a c 1 277 20 april 1948 https unispal un org dpa dpr unispal nsf 0 6e8713b260aba5ee80256473004a2b37 quigley case for palestine 44 kattan from coexistence to conquest 190 134 khalidi plan dalet 17 135 ibid 17 and 24 136 appendix b in khalidi plan dalet 29 this appendix contains the text of the march 1948 plan dalet plan d 137 in particular the british recruited and trained armed jewish settlers to protect the haifa lydda railway as palestinian rebels repeatedly targeted and bombed the pipeline delivering oil from haifa to kirkuk iraq mitchell carbon democracy 104 138 khalili location of palestine in global counterinsurgencies 415 16 139 kattan discusses some of the most notable operations including sexual assault against women kattan from coexistence to conquest 191 202 140 nur masalha the politics of denial israel and the palestinian refugee problem london 141 daniel a mcgowan the saga of deir yassin massacre revisionism and reality geneva pluto press 2003 33 ny deir yassin remembered 1999 142 pappé ethnic cleansing 90 n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 1 263 143 khalidi plan dalet 19 144 ibid 17 18 pappé ethnic cleansing 119 145 the final outcome of the war was thus not a miracle but a faithful reflection of the underlying arab israeli military balance in this war as in most wars the stronger side ultimately prevailed avi shlaim the debate about 1948 international journal of middle east studies 27 no 3 1995 295 the account here of the arab armies and king abdullah s command draws on shlaim debate about 1948 avi shlaim collusion across the jordan king abdullah the zionist movement and the partition of palestine new york columbia university press 1988 and bickerton and klausner a concise history of the arab israeli conflict 89 146 shlaim debate about 1948 299 147 spiro munayyer the fall of lydda journal of palestine studies 27 no 4 summer 1998 80 98 148 pappé forgotten palestinians 18 walid khalidi all that remains the palestinian villages occupied and depopulated by israel in 1948 washington dc institute for palestine studies 2006 149 united nations security council unsc official records 358th mtg un doc s pv 385 17 december 1948 https unispal un org dpa dpr unispal nsf 0 437dd877e3491 51b052566ce006d9189 150 unga resolution 273 iii admission of israel to membership in the united nations un doc a res 273 iii 11 may 1949 para 5 151 special unit on palestinian rights supr right of return of the palestinian people a study prepared for the committee on the exercise of the inalienable rights of the palestinian people ceirpp 1 november 1978 https perma cc bjg9 vszr resolution 194 mandates that the conciliation commission on palestine facilitate the repatriation resettlement and the economic and social rehabilitation and the payment of compensation for palestine refugees unga resolution 194 iii palestine progress report of the united nations mediator un doc a res 194 iii 11 december 1948 https unispal un org dpa dpr unispal nsf 0 c758572b78d1cd0085256b cf0077e51a for more on the right of return see special unit on palestinian rights the right of return of the palestinian people and unga resolution 181 ii chap 2 152 unga resolution 273 iii para 5 153 see the statement of abba eban in unga 45th mtg application of israel for ad mission to membership in the united nations un doc a ac 24 sr 45 5 may 1949 https unispal un org dpa dpr unispal nsf 85255a0a0010ae82852555340060479d 1db943e43c280a2 6052565fa004d8174 opendocument 154 shlaim debate about 1948 155 un charter 26 june 1945 chap i arts 1 and 2 http treaties un org doc publication ctc uncharter pdf 156 as this law to come will in return legitimate retrospectively the violence that may offend the sense of justice its future anterior already justifies it the foundation of all states occurs in a situation that one can thus call revolutionary it inaugurates a new law it always does so in violence always which is to say even when there have not been those spectacular genocides expulsions or deportations that so often accompany the foundation of states great or small old or new right nearby or very far away jacques derrida acts of religion ed gil anidjar new york routledge 2001 269 157 founding violence institutes law and decides what it is violence that preserves main tains and preserves the law derrida acts of religion 264 264 n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 1 158 the jewish zionists who established the state produced a declaration of independence that as mazen masri demonstrates was a conditional offer of inclusion and equality to palestinian natives only if the peace as understood by a settler state is preserved moreover k sue park emphasizes that the concrete history of the social contract in fact is both extremely settler colonial and american in that it embodies a pact among settlers to protect themselves as a unit against the native other and external threats mazen masri israel s colonial declaration of independence presentation at the nakba files online symposium on masri s book the dynamics of exclusionary constitutionalism israel as a jewish and democratic state oxford hart 2017 k sue park the colonial history of social contracts a response presented at the nakba files online symposium 159 on israel s treatment of palestinians who remained within the newly formed state see erakat whiteness as property in israel on what happens when the exception is the everyday as is the case for those racialized populations who are suspended in a normalized state of emergency deployed through civil means see alexander g weheliye habeas viscus racializing assemblages biopolitics and black feminist theories of the human durham duke university press 2014 86 denise ferreira da silva introduces a formulation of racial violence that captures how raciality immediately justifies the state s decision to kill certain persons mostly but not only young men and women of colour in the name of self preservation such killings do not unleash an ethical crisis because these persons bodies and the territories they inhabit always already signify violence ferreira da silva no bodies law raciality and violence griffith law review 18 no 2 2014 213 160 yoav mehozay the fluid jurisprudence of israel s emergency powers legal patch work as a governing norm law society review 46 no 1 2012 144 http www jstor org stable 41475256 moshe naor israel s 1948 war of independence as a total war journal of contemporary history 43 no 2 2008 244 http www jstor org stable 30036505 161 mehozay fluid jurisprudence of israel s emergency powers 143 44 the british had actually repealed the emergency regulations on 12 may 1948 in the 1948 order in council thus the regulations were not in force on 14 may 1948 and therefore were not covered by the statute preserving the british law in force this was known to the israeli government ultimately it formally canceled or replaced a handful of the 162 sections of the ders most notably those restricting jew ish immigration and land purchases quigley palestine and israel a challenge to justice durham duke university press 1990 103 162 the military government was established by the defense ministry on 21 october 1948 shira robinson citizen strangers palestinians and the birth of israel s liberal settler state stanford stanford university press 2013 35 naor israel s 1948 war of independence as a total war 244 says the state of emergency was declared on 19 may while mehozay fluid jurisprudence of israel s emergency powers 137 says it was 21 may and tawfiq zayyad says that military rule was imposed on palestinian villages and towns on 12 december 1948 and only formalized into an established set of laws on 20 march 1950 zayyad the fate of the arabs in israel journal of palestine studies 6 no 1 1976 95 163 mehozay fluid jurisprudence of israel s emergency powers 144 164 robinson citizen strangers 41 see also arnon degani the decline and fall of the israeli military government 1948 1966 a case of settler colonial consolidation settler co lonial studies 5 no 1 2015 84 99 165 quigley palestine and israel 109 n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 1 265 166 emergency regulations absentees property law 5709 1948 suppl b art 37 israel 12 december 1948 hanna nakkara israeli land seizure under various defense and emergency regulations journal of palestine studies 14 no 2 1985 18 167 geremy forman and alexandre sandy kedar from arab land to israel lands the legal dispossession of the palestinians displaced by israel in the wake of 1948 environment and planning d society and space 22 no 6 2004 809 30 168 absentees property law 5710 1950 israel 1948 1987 the law described four categories of persons whose land would be confiscated it applied to any land held between 29 november 1947 and the time of legislation by a person who 1 was a national or citizen of lebanon egypt syria saudi arabia jordan iraq or yemen or 2 was in one of these countries or in any part of palestine outside the area of israel or 3 was a palestinian citizen and left his ordinary place of residence in palestine for a place outside of palestine before september 1948 or 4 was a palestinian citizen and left his ordinary place of residence in palestine for a place in palestine held by enemy forces 169 adalah to attorney general and custodian of absentee property israel s sale of pal estinian refugee property violates israeli and international law adalah legal center for arab minority rights in israel 22 june 2009 http www adalah org en content view 7003 170 in her work samera esmeir explores how modern law justified violence in the quest for humanity following the demise of colonial rule esmeir emphasizes how colonial subjects visibility within the law as mentioned earlier made them eligible for punishment but did not make them rights bearing agents see esmeir juridical humanity 171 nakkara israeli land seizure 19 on the legal transformation process aimed at seizing the properties of non absent palestinians and the designation of closed areas see forman and kedar from arab land to israel lands 819 20 and robinson citizen strangers 38 on the land acquisition law see nakkara israeli land seizure 19 172 robinson citizen strangers 47 173 nakkara israeli land seizure 29 31 letter from his grace monseigneur g hakim archbishop of the greek catholic diocese of acre haifa nazareth and the rest of galilee resident in israel to dr hertzog the ministry of religions israel reprinted in izzat tanous persecution of the arab minority in israel haifa 15 january 1952 10 12 174 quigley palestine and israel 106 175 robinson citizen strangers 191 on the dispossession of palestinians through land administration see also forman and kedar from arab land to israel lands 824 176 nakkara israeli land seizure 18 see also the abandoned areas ordinance of 1948 the emergency regulations security zones law of 1949 the prevention of infiltration law of 1954 the plant protection law of 1956 and the prescription law of 1958 177 zayyad the fate of the arabs in israel 95 178 robinson citizen strangers 91 179 robinson citizen strangers 232n78 more generally the description here of palestin ians refugees attempt to return home and the force used against them draws on robinson citizen strangers 68 113 180 the nationality law 5712 1952 also known as the citizenship law was passed by the knesset on 1 april 1952 see the english translation at http www israellawresourcecenter org israellaws fulltext nationalitylaw htm 266 n o t e s t o c h a p t e r s 1 a n d 2 181 law of return 5710 1950 israel 5 july 1950 published in sefer hachukkim book of laws no 51 159 katie hesketh et al the inequality report the palestinian arab minority in israel haifa adalah march 2011 14 16 https www adalah org uploads oldfiles upfiles 2011 adalah_the_inequality_report_march_2011 pdf 182 special unit on palestinian rights the right of return of the palestinian people unga resolution 273 iii statement of abba eban in unga 45th mtg application of israel for admission to membership in the united nations 183 the nationality law denied israeli citizenship to a person having ceased to be an in habitant of israel before the coming into force of this law 2 c 1 see also victor kattan the nationality of denationalized palestinians nordic journal of international law 74 2005 67 102 https ssrn com abstract 993452 184 nationality law 2 c 185 law of return 4 b and 4 a a 186 the discriminatory laws database 187 erakat whiteness as property in israel 188 robinson citizen strangers 143 44 c h a p t e r 2 1 theodor meron memorandum to aviad yafeh political secretary to the prime min ister settlement in the administered territories original in hebrew israel state archives 153 8 7921 3a 18 september 1967 english translation available at http www soas ac uk lawpeacemideast resources file48485 pdf p 3 2 ibid 3 proclamation no 3 idf forces commander in the west bank 7 june 1967 as discussed by meron in memorandum to aviad yafeh 4 meron memorandum to aviad yafeh 5 ibid 6 gershom gorenberg israel s tragedy foretold new york times 10 march 2006 http www nytimes com 2006 03 10 opinion israels tragedy foretold html 7 avi raz dodging the peril of peace israel and the arabs in the aftermath of the june 1967 war in the oxford handbook of contemporary middle eastern and north african history ed amal ghazal and jens hanssen oxford oxford university press 2015 4 8 john quigley palestine and israel a challenge to justice durham duke university press 9 israeli syrian general armistice agreement july 20 1949 the avalon project http avalon law yale edu 20th_century arm04 asp 10 united nations security council unsc resolution 93 question of palestine un doc s 2157 18 may 1951 also see the discussion in quigley palestine and israel 158 11 public figures used strong language that was widely interpreted in the arab world as a signal of israel s intent to overthrow the syrian regime by force including prime minister yitzhak rabin s threatening response to the syrian regime s support of palestinian guerilla insurgencies and earlier prime minister levi eshkol s equally threatening comments alluding to meeting the syr ian regime with punitive measures it was clear across the board that nasser neither wanted nor planned to go to war with israel avi shlaim the iron wall israel and the arab world new york 1990 158 n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 2 267 norton 2001 236 237 nasser conveyed to the egyptian military general abdel hakim amer that there was an american israeli plot to destroy the military and overthrow the entire regime hazem kandil soldiers spies and statesmen egypt s road to revolt london verso books 2012 72 12 cia intelligence reports confirmed that egypt did not believe it could militarily defeat israel informal reports from confidants who met directly with nasser in cairo confirmed that nasser sought food aid and did not seek to enter into combat olivia louise sohns lyndon baines johnson and the arab israeli conflict phd diss cambridge university 2014 165 167 13 ibid 14 avi raz the bride and the dowry israel jordan and the palestinians in the aftermath of the june 1967 war new haven yale university press 2012 265 15 on the morning of the 5 june 1967 attack israel defense minister moshe dayan ad dressed the nation stating our purpose is to bring to naught the attempts of the arab armies to conquer our land and to break the ring of the blockade and aggression which threatens us raz the bride and the dowry 267 16 according to an account put forward by tom egev the final decision to initiate the at tack was motivated by israel s desire to gain aerial supremacy by occupying the sinai and by the increased risk of the egyptians bombing the israeli reactor at dimona egev ve ha aretz shintah et panehah and the face of the land changed jerusalem keter 1967 804 812 17 walid khalidi palestinian historian and member of the iraq delegation to the united nations for the 1967 proceedings interview by the author institute for policy studies washington dc 4 february 2016 18 united nations general assembly unga fifth emergency special session 1558th plenary meeting un doc a pv 1558 21 july 1967 para 2 19 international law recognizes a customary right to preemptive self defense if an attack is imminent and inevitable therefore it is left to debate whether egypt s attack was indeed inevitable see noura erakat new imminence in the time of obama the impact of targeted killings on the law of self defense arizona law review 56 no 1 2014 206 209 julius stone discusses the element of intent in the context of a larger debate on the lawfulness of preemptive attack stone israel and palestine assault on the law of nations baltimore johns hopkins university press 1981 46 53 ardi imseis finds historical value in the gap partially bridging between arab and israeli scholars by new israeli historiography that illustrates the war as not being wanted by either party thus intent could not be confidently outlined as either preemptive or aggressive imseis on the fourth geneva convention and the occupied palestinian territory harvard international law journal 44 no 1 2003 71 see also eugene v rostow the illegality of the arab attack on israel of october 6 1967 american journal of international law 69 no 2 1975 272 89 20 no egyptian tanks had moved toward the negev at dawn nor had the egyptian aircraft approached israel s territory it was israel that had started the war by launching a meticulously preplanned aerial attack on egyptian air bases less than half an hour before the broadcast of the announcement because of stark warnings from friend and foe including the united states britain france and the ussr not to fire the first shot the israelis had been looking for a pretext to justify their assault on june 1 for example chief of staff yitzhak rabin and some of his generals had considered staging a mock shelling of an israeli settlement to create a false pretext for going to war against egypt raz the bride and the dowry 265 quigley concludes that parties engaged in the conflict did not expect egypt to attack in the absence of an israeli invasion of syria quigley 268 n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 2 palestine and israel 161 both david ben gurion s and yitzhak rabin s statements regarding the matter reflect a shared understanding that the intent and the ability of nasser to follow up on his threats with military action were absent imseis on the fourth geneva convention and the oc cupied palestinian territory 8 9 21 raz dodging the peril of peace 8 22 sohns lyndon baines johnson and the arab israeli conflict 56 23 memorandum from the president s special counsel mcpherson to president johnson 11 june 1967 in foreign relations of the united states 1964 1968 vol 19 arab israeli crisis and war document 263 also discussed in sohns lyndon baines johnson and the arab israeli conflict 197 24 quigley speaks of israel s alteration of egypt s communications with jordan and syria in an effort to create the impression of a possible arab victory so that the combat would be extended once militarily engaged israel geared its military maneuvers towards the extension of warfare and the acquisition of lands indicating that israel did not plan to limit its attack to egypt israel apparently wanted the arab states to believe they had a chance to win so they would continue fighting quigley palestine and israel 162 63 25 gershom gorenberg the accidental empire israel and the birth of settlements 1967 1977 new york times books 2006 37 26 ibid 27 ibid 37 28 hearings before the subcommittee on immigration and naturalization of the judiciary committee of the u s senate 95th cong 1st sess on the question of west bank settlements and the treatment of arabs in the israeli occupied territories 17 and 18 october 1977 statement of john ruedy israeli land acquisition in occupied territory 1967 77 29 avi raz the bride and the dowry 3 30 even when its position was at odds with the global consensus israel continued to insist that it has not occupied anyone s land how could it when it considered judea and samaria as land that belonged on biblical grounds to the jewish people raja shehadeh human rights and the israeli occupation new centennial review 8 no 1 2008 40 31 see sharon korman the right of conquest the acquisition of territory by force in interna tional law and practice oxford clarendon press 1996 as discussed in orna ben naftali aeyal m gross and keren michaeli illegal occupation framing the occupied palestinian territory berkeley journal of international law 23 no 3 2005 571 32 un charter art 2 para 4 and art 51 http treaties un org doc publication ctc uncharter pdf the unacceptability of territorial acquisition on the use or threat of force is thus viewed as a corollary of the prohibition on the use of force ben naftali gross and michaeli illegal oc cupation 572 33 imseis on the fourth geneva convention and the occupied palestinian territory 89 34 ibid 91 35 international committee of the red cross convention iv relative to the protection of civilian persons in time of war geneva 12 august 1949 art 49 75 unts united nations treaty series 287 https www icrc org applic ihl ihl nsf article xsp action opendocument documentid 77068f12b8857c4dc12563cd0051bdb0 n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 2 269 2011 69 36 see e g ibid see also diplomatic conference for the establishment of international conventions for the protection of war victims final record of the diplomatic conference of geneva of 1949 vol ii a 12 august 1949 759 60 37 international committee of the red cross convention iv relative to the protection of civilian persons in time of war geneva 12 august 1949 commentary of 1958 https www icrc org applic ihl ihl nsf comment xsp action opendocument documentid 523ba38706c71588 c12563cd0042c407 38 imseis on the fourth geneva convention and the occupied palestinian territory 87 39 see e g international committee of the red cross occupation and international hu manitarian law questions and answers 4 august 2004 https www icrc org eng resources documents misc 634kfc htm 40 imseis on the fourth geneva convention and the occupied palestinian territory 87 41 timothy mitchell carbon democracy political power in the age of oil new york verso 42 unga resolution 1514 declaration on the granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples un doc a res 15 1514 14 december 1960 https www un org en decolonization declaration shtml see also miriam mckenna the means to the end and the end of the means self determination decolonization and international law jus gentium journal of international legal history 2 no 1 2017 93 130 43 ibid 44 raz the bride and the dowry 5 45 nigel j ashton searching for a just and lasting peace anglo american relations and the road to united nations security council resolution 242 international history review 38 no 1 2015 46 kent germany lyndon b johnson foreign affairs university of virginia miller center https millercenter org president lbjohnson foreign affairs 47 sohns lyndon baines johnson and the arab israeli conflict 15 48 p l 110 429 naval vessel transfer act of 2008 as quoted in jeremy m sharp u s foreign aid to israel washington dc congressional research service 2012 8 http journalistsresource org wp content uploads 2012 04 military aid to israel pdf 49 lyndon b johnson address at the state department s foreign policy conference for educators 19 june 1967 the american presidency project http www presidency ucsb edu ws pid 28308 50 vijay prashad the darker nations a people s history of the third world new york new press 2008 kindle edition 51 see also unsc official records 1377th mtg un doc s pv 1377 15 november 1967 para 6 https unispal un org dpa dpr unispal nsf 0 faa6138b684a6e8605256724004d8394 52 johnson address 53 of the approximately 860 000 arabs who had lived in the area of palestine now called israel 133 000 remained charles d smith palestine and the arab israeli conflict 2nd ed new york st martin s press 1992 54 johnson address 270 n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 2 55 yezid savigh armed struggle and the search for a state the palestinian national movement 1949 1993 oxford oxford university press 1997 96 98 56 unsc united states of america draft resolution un doc s 8229 7 november 1967 https unispal un org dpa dpr unispal nsf 0 5eddd417e21187be8525730f0050fee3 unsc union of socialist republics draft resolution un doc s 8253 20 november 1967 https unispal un org dpa dpr unispal nsf 0 ef952d6e12538a348525730f006ae06e 57 unga fifth emergency special session 1540th plenary meeting 29 june 1967 paras 78 and 154 and 3rd plenary meeting 30 june 1967 para 157 as discussed in walid khalidi israel s 1967 annexation of arab jerusalem walid khalidi s address to the un general assem bly special emergency session 14 july 1967 journal of palestine studies 42 no 1 2012 71 82 58 unga argentina barbados bolivia brazil chile colombia costa rica dominican republic ecuador el salvador guatemala guyana honduras jamaica mexico nicaragua panama paraguay trinidad and tobago and venezuela revised draft resolution un doc a l 523 rev 1 4 july 1967 https unispal un org dpa dpr unispal nsf 0 510ef41fac855100052566c d00750ca4 59 during the general assembly discussion u s representative arthur goldberg com mented it is ironic that the soviet representative belatedly refers favourably to the latin american initiative at this assembly but the history of the united nations cannot be rewritten it shows that the united states supported and voted in favour of the latin american draft resolution a l 523 rev 1 and that the soviet union worked against that resolution and voted against it and cas tigated its latin american sponsors unga fifth emergency special session 1559th plenary meeting 18 september 1967 para 61 60 michael lynk conceived in law the legal foundations of resolution 242 journal of palestine studies 37 no 1 2007 9 61 ashton searching for a just and lasting peace 30 62 unsc official records 22nd sess 1382nd mtg para 50 22 november 1967 63 johnson address 64 sohns lyndon baines johnson and the arab israeli conflict 231 65 ibid 198 66 unga resolution 2253 measures taken by israel to change the status of the city of jerusalem un doc a res 2253 es v 4 july 1967 https unispal un org dpa dpr unispal nsf 0 a39a906c89d3e98685256c29006d4014 67 walid khalidi israel s 1967 annexation of arab jerusalem 74 see also nir hasson wary israel tried to conceal east jerusalem s annexation in 1967 documents reveal haaretz 18 april 2017 http www haaretz com israel news 1 783429 68 unsc united kingdom draft resolution un doc s 8247 16 november 1967 https unispal un org dpa dpr unispal nsf 0 99dce031bd9697498525730f0068f430 69 unsc official records 1382nd mtg para 31 70 unsc united kingdom draft resolution 71 john mchugo resolution 242 a legal reappraisal of the right wing israeli interpreta tion of the withdrawal phrase with reference to the conflict between israel and the palestinians international comparative law quarterly 51 no 4 2002 874 75 n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 2 271 72 comment by foreign minister of israel and telegram 3164 uk mission in new york to foreign office fo 961 24 12 november 1967 as quoted in mchugo resolution 242 875 73 french representative to the unsc s 1382nd mtg 22 november 1967 paras 108 9 74 indian representative to the unsc s 1382nd mtg 22 november 1967 75 israeli representative to the unsc s 1382nd mtg 22 november 1967 76 mr tomeh on behalf of the syrian delegation to the unsc s 1382nd mtg 22 november 1967 paras 16 17 77 arthur lall the un and the middle east crisis 1967 new york columbia university press 1968 as discussed in mchugo resolution 242 872 78 ashton searching for a just and lasting peace 37 79 yoram meital argues that this summit meeting marked a departure in egypt s policy towards israel in contravention of a consensus view that it hardened an arab position of non reconciliation meital the khartoum conference and egyptian policy after the 1967 war a reexamination middle east journal 54 no 1 2000 64 82 http www jstor org stable 4329432 80 savigh armed struggle and the search for a state 143 81 unsc resolution 242 un doc s res 242 22 november 1967 https unispal un org dpa dpr unispal nsf 0 7d35e1f729df491c85256ee700686136 82 ibid 83 walid khalidi interview 84 yehuda z blum the missing reversioner reflections on the status of judea and sa maria israel law review 3 no 2 1968 294 85 ibid 86 other arguments point out that the threat to peace clause nullifies palestinian claims for self determination because of the threat they pose to jewish zionist settler sovereignty that the resolution refers to arabs and not palestinians and that un resolutions are not legally binding liora chartouni 70 years after un resolution 181 an assessment jerusalem center for public affairs 11 march 2018 http jcpa org article 70 years un resolution 181 assessment israel s declara tion of independence bases the legal validity of israel s establishment on resolution 181 and states this recognition by the united nations of the right of the jewish people to establish their state is irrevocable provisional government of israel the declaration of the establishment of israel 14 may 1948 in his 1949 address to the israeli knesset prime minister david ben gurion argued that the resolution s stipulations regarding the status of jerusalem as corpus separatum are null and void because the united nations did not succeed in implementing its own decisions and but for the zionist paramilitary s successful stand against aggressors acting in defiance of the united nations jewish jerusalem would have been wiped off of the earth ben gurion s view at once draws israel s legal legitimacy from resolution 181 while rejecting its stipulations david ben gurion jerusalem and the holy places statement to the knesset by prime minister ben gurion 5 december 1949 israeli ministry of foreign affairs foreign policy historical documents vols 1 2 1947 1974 87 kattan from coexistence to conquest international law and the origins of the arab israeli conflict 1891 1949 new york pluto press 2009 135 88 legal consequences of the construction of a wall in the occupied palestinian terri tory advisory opinion of 9 july 2004 2004 icj international court of justice 63 paras 70 78 89 kattan from coexistence to conquest 135 272 n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 2 90 ibid 91 ibid 189 see also imseis on the fourth geneva convention and the occupied pal estinian territory 92 harvard program on humanitarian policy and conflict research hpcr international humanitarian law research initiative review of the applicability of international humanitarian law to the occupied palestinian territory boston hpcr july 2004 7 93 arthur watts israeli wall advisory opinion legal consequences of the construction of a wall in the occupied palestinian territory in max planck encyclopedia of public international law 2007 http opil ouplaw com view 10 1093 law epil 9780199231690 law 9780199231690 e150 see also natalino ronzitti civilian population in armed conflict in max planck encyclopedia of public international law 2010 http opil ouplaw com view 10 1093 law epil 9780199231690 law 9780199231690 e268 94 hpcr review of the applicability of international humanitarian law to the occupied pal estinian territory 95 it is worth noting that the relevant terminology territory belonging to one of the bel ligerents present in article 1 of the 1874 brussels declaration was dropped from the definition of occupation subsequently set down in article 42 of the hague regulations shane darcy and john reynolds an enduring occupation the status of the gaza strip from the perspective of international humanitarian law journal of conflict security law 15 no 2 2010 224 96 in 1970 the un adopted the declaration on principles of international law concern ing friendly relations and co operation among states which reiterated the prohibition on the acquisition of territory by force whether defensive or aggressive also see ben naftali gross and michaeli illegal occupation 572 73 and imseis on the fourth geneva convention and the occupied palestinian territory 97 97 hearings before the subcommittee on immigration and naturalization of the committee on the judiciary of the u s senate 95th cong 1st sess on the question of west bank settlements and the treatment of arabs in the israeli occupied territories 17 and 18 october 1977 https www loc gov law find hearings pdf 00139297647 pdf 98 john j mearsheimer and stephen m walt setting the record straight a response to critics of the israel lobby 12 december 2006 http mearsheimer uchicago edu pdfs a0043 pdf see also bernard gwertzman kissinger fears peril in mideast looks to geneva new york times 27 march 1975 david howard goldberg foreign policy and ethnic interest groups american and canadian jews lobby for israel westport greenwood press 1990 51 and edward tivnan the lobby jewish political power and american foreign policy new york simon schuster 1987 89 99 meir shamgar over but not done with an autobiography 2015 78 87 as quoted in smadar ben natan temporary as indefinite horizons of the future in 1967 paper presented at the center for middle eastern studies panel discussion 1967 and the politics of time university of california berkeley 28 april 2017 100 meir shamgar the observance of international law in the administered territories israel yearbook on human rights 1 1971 101 high court of justice hcj 337 71 christian society for the holy places v minister of defence 26 1 pd 574 1971 this case is discussed in david kretzmer the law of belligerent occupation in the supreme court of israel international review of the red cross 94 no 885 2012 n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 2 273 212 when hearing cases on issues of justice or constitutional matters rather than civil or criminal case appeals the israeli supreme court functions as the high court of justice 102 kretzmer law of belligerent occupation 103 a party to a treaty may not invoke the provisions of its internal law as justification for its failure to perform a treaty vienna convention on the law of treaties 23 may 1969 art 27 https treaties un org doc publication unts volume 201155 volume 1155 i 18232 english pdf this is also discussed in imseis on the fourth geneva convention and the occupied palestinian territory 100 104 shehadeh human rights and the israeli occupation 34 105 international committee of the red cross convention iv respecting the laws and customs of war on land and its annex the hague 18 october 1907 arts 43 46 55 and 56 theodor meron discusses the concept of usufruct which he claims prohibits the use of public property for jewish settlements and violates basic human rights of arabs meron the west bank and international humanitarian law on the eve of the fiftieth anniversary of the six day war american journal of international law 111 no 2 april 2017 357 375 106 see e g christian society for the holy places v minister of defence 107 nimer sultany argues that adjudicating palestinian claims in the israeli supreme court isc has benefited israel s legitimacy more than it has the palestinian claimants he writes that a review of more than four decades of an elaborate jurisprudence developed in thousands of isc rulings on the opt occupied palestinian territories shows that the legitimation effects outweigh the benefits of inclusion the jurisprudence of occupation is one of inclusive subordination sultany activism and legitimation in israel s jurisprudence of occupation social legal studies 23 no 3 september 2014 315 40 108 kretzmer law of belligerent occupation 214 109 hcj 4481 91 bargil et al v government of israel et al 47 4 pd 1993 as discussed in kretzmer law of belligerent occupation 37 110 hcj 390 79 dweikat et al v government of israel et al 34 1 pd 1 1979 herein after elon moreh case elon moreh is the name of the settlement that was for a time disallowed by this case 111 in his own words according to international law the exercise of the right of military administration over a territory and its inhabitants had no time limit because it reflected a factual situation and pending an alternative political or military solution this system of government could from the legal point of view continue indefinitely shamgar the observance of international law in the administered territories 112 ben naftali gross and michaeli illegal occupation 598 113 yehezkel lein with eyal weizman land grab israel s settlement policy in the west bank b tselem israeli information center for human rights in the occupied territories 2002 47 114 hcj 606 610 78 ayyub et al v minister of defense et al 33 2 pd 113 1979 115 lein land grab 48 116 ibid although touted as a remarkable decision for halting the steady confiscation of palestinian private property the elon moreh case did not stem such acquisitions in fact the elon moreh settlement ultimately built on what israel declared to be state land according to raja shehadeh all this case did was to pave the way for a new and in the court s opinio n sounder 274 n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 2 legal course for the military authorities to pursue since the elon moreh case therefore the main method for the acquisition of land in the west bank has been taking place by declaring land to be state land shehadeh occupier s law israel and the west bank new york institute for palestine studies 1985 22 117 shehadeh occupier s law 26 27 118 raja shehadeh provides a thorough discussion of the legal regime regulating land under ottoman british jordanian and israeli rule under the ottoman land code only land in the actual ownership and possession of the state is state land while the rest of the land belongs to the registered owner or the user this remained the case under british and jordanian authority but changed upon the assumption of israel s occupation of the territories ibid 17 49 119 ibid 23 120 ibid 170 171 121 order regarding abandoned property private property judea and samaria number 58 5727 1967 http nakbafiles org wp content uploads 2016 10 military order 58 en pdf also discussed in lein land grab 59 122 even in the elon moreh case the high court established that it could reverse the seizures of privately owned land but was not prepared to intervene in any disputes over ownership status of land this left the status of land to the exclusive discretion of each military area commander with a recommendation from the objection committee a government appointed committee set up to receive complaints from palestinian residents shehadeh occupier s law 21 28 123 see hcj 72 86 zalum v military commander 41 1 pd 1987 and also hcj 4363 02 zinbakh v idf commander in gaza judgment of 28 may 2002 both as referenced in kretzmer law of belligerent occupation 224 124 international committee of the red cross convention iv art 4 1 125 hcj 393 82 jami at ascan et al v idf commander in judea and samaria et al 37 4 pd 1983 as referenced in kretzmer law of belligerent occupation 209 126 clyde haberman israel s highest court upholds the deportations of palestinians new york times 29 january 1993 http www nytimes com 1993 01 29 world israel s highest court upholds the deportation of palestinians html pagewanted all 127 hcj 2164 09 yesh din v commander of idf forces in judea and samaria et al judg ment of 26 december 2011 as referenced in kretzmer law of belligerent occupation 128 ben naftali gross michaeli illegal occupation 610 129 see e g ruth lapidoth the misleading interpretation of un security council resolu tion 242 1967 jewish political studies review 23 fall 2011 7 17 130 yigal allon israel the case for defensible borders foreign affairs 55 no 1 october 1976 38 53 http www jstor org stable 20039626 131 international committee of the red cross protocol additional to the geneva conven tions of 12 august 1949 and relating to the protection of victims of international armed con flicts protocol i 8 june 1977 art 51 7 international committee of the red cross customary ihl international humanitarian law rule 97 human shields https ihl databases icrc org customary ihl eng docs v1_rul_rule97 132 government statement on recognition of three settlements 26 july 1977 israel ministry of foreign affairs foreign policy historical documents vols 4 5 1977 1979 http www mfa gov il mfa n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 2 275 foreignpolicy mfadocuments yearbook3 pages 23 20government 20statement 20on 20 recognition 20of 20three 20se aspx 133 u s reaction to israeli settlements announcement statement by state department spokesman 26 july 1977 israel ministry of foreign affairs foreign policy historical documents vols 4 5 1977 1979 aspxhttp www mfa gov il mfa foreignpolicy mfadocuments yearbook3 pages 24 20us 20reaction 20to 20israeli 20settlements 20announcement aspx 134 statement to the knesset by prime minister begin on his visit to the us 27 july 1977 israel ministry of foreign affairs foreign policy historical documents vols 4 5 1977 1979 http www mfa gov il mfa foreignpolicy mfadocuments yearbook3 pages 25 20statement 20 to 20the 20knesset 20by 20prime 20minister 20begi aspx 135 press conference with president carter 28 july 1977 israel ministry of foreign affairs foreign policy historical documents vols 4 5 1977 1979 http www mfa gov il mfa foreign policy mfadocuments yearbook3 pages 26 20press 20conference 20with 20president 20 carter 2028 20july aspx 136 rashid khalidi brokers of deceit how the u s has undermined peace in the middle east boston beacon press 2013 137 raz dodging the peril of peace 13 138 minutes kfasc knesset foreign affairs and security committee 16 and 29 april 1969 a 8162 5 israel state archives as quoted in raz dodging the peril of peace 10 139 alain gresh the plo the struggle within towards an independent palestinian state london zed books 1988 69 140 raz dodging the peril of peace 9 11 141 dean rusk as i saw it a secretary of state s memoirs london i b tauris 1991 332 as quoted in raz dodging the peril of peace 12 142 sohns lyndon baines johnson and the arab israeli conflict 220 143 for example in 1975 u s president gerald ford and secretary of state henry kiss inger acknowledged that the middle east was in potentially grave danger and that it was necessary to pressure israel over the stalled egyptian israeli peace talks ford and kissinger believed they needed a formal implementation of a reassessment of u s policy in the middle east including the relationship with israel the american israel public affairs committee aipac mobilized seventy six senators to send a letter to president ford demanding that the white house halt its threatened reassessment of relations with israel and that the administration maintain its economic and military aid to israel david howard goldberg foreign policy and ethnic interest groups american and canadian jews lobby for israel new york greenwood 1990 51 and john j mearsheimer and stephen m walt setting the record straight a response to critics of the israel lobby 12 december 2006 http mearsheimer uchicago edu pdfs a0043 pdf many of the signatories admitted they were pressured by the lobby to take such action and to sign the letter of 76 senator daniel inouye stated it s easier to sign one letter than to answer five thousand and senator john culver admitted the pressure was just too great i caved edward tivnan the lobby jewish political power and american foreign policy new york simon schuster 1987 89 144 nearly every occupying power as seen in e g the u s occupation of grenada the iraqi occupation of kuwait and the indonesian occupation of east timor has attempted to avoid 276 n o t e s t o c h a p t e r s 2 a n d 3 external legal regulation but only the most powerful states have been successful hpcr review of the applicability of international humanitarian law to the occupied palestinian territory 7 145 sayigh armed struggle and the search for a state 157 146 ibid 172 175 147 ibid 179 148 ibid 149 yasser arafat biography biography 1 august 2014 http www biography com people yasser arafat 9187265 the plo saddle river prentice hall 2002 158 150 ian j bickerton and carla l klausner a concise history of the arab israeli conflict upper 151 ibid 168 172 152 mark a tessler a history of the israeli palestinian conflict bloomington indiana uni versity press 1994 475 153 ibid 476 154 ibid 155 bickerton and klausner concise history of the arab israeli conflict 174 175 156 ibid c h a p t e r 3 epigraph fayez a sayegh zionist colonialism in palestine palestine monographs no 1 beirut palestine research center 1965 27 1 united nations growth in united nations membership 1945 present http www un org en sections member states growth united nations membership 1945 present index html 2 yezid sayigh armed struggle and the search for a state the palestinian national movement 1949 1993 oxford oxford university press 1997 195 216 3 james r stocker spheres of intervention us foreign policy and the collapse of lebanon 1967 1976 ithaca cornell university press 2016 96 4 helen m kinsella the image before the weapon a critical history of the distinction between combatant and civilian ithaca cornell university press 2011 127 5 un arafat 1974 5 58 minute video of yasser arafat s speech to the un general as sembly 13 november 1974 https www youtube com watch v 7l1ovlbcl8q 6 united nations general assembly unga 2282nd plenary meeting question of pales tine un doc a pv 2282 and corr 1 13 november 1974 para 20 hereinafter arafat speech at unga 13 november 1974 7 arafat speech at unga 13 november 1974 para 22 8 nabil shaath strategic consultant to plo chairman yassir arafat american university in beirut professor and director general of the palestine planning center interview by the author fatah political organization building ramallah west bank 1 august 2016 9 rashid hamid palestinian national council fourth summit cairo 10 17 july 1968 in resolutions of the palestine national assembly 1964 1974 palestine books no 64 beirut palestine research center 1975 301 10 ibid 11 shaath interview 1 august 2016 12 camille mansour legal scholar and adviser to the palestinian negotiations team in wash ington dc interview by the author washington dc 28 april 2016 n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 3 277 1975 85 13 shaath interview 1 august 2016 14 paul thomas chamberlin the global offensive the united states the palestine liberation organization and the making of the post cold war order oxford oxford university press 2012 220 22 15 naveed ahmad the palestine liberation organization pakistan horizon 28 no 4 16 salah a political leader of the popular front for the liberation of palestine interview by the author ajyal youth center beirut 15 august 2016 17 unsc resolution 338 un doc s res 338 22 october 1973 https unispal un org dpa dpr unispal nsf 0 7fb7c26fcbe80a31852560c50065f878 18 unsc 1747th mtg the situation in the middle east un doc s pv 1747 22 october 1973 https unispal un org dpa dpr unispal nsf 0 aa7207d76ef6191285256e53006a d9c1 see also unsc resolution 338 19 stocker spheres of intervention 122 20 chamberlin global offensive 244 salim yaqub imperfect strangers americans arabs and us middle east relations in the 1970s ithaca cornell university press 2016 157 59 21 kissinger s personal history in nazi germany shaped his affinity to israel henry a kiss inger years of renewal new york simon schuster 1999 428 as discussed in yaqub imperfect strangers 157 59 22 yaqub imperfect strangers 155 57 see also memorandum of conversation henry kiss inger s meeting with jewish leaders philip klutznik group foreign relations of the united states 1969 1976 vol 26 arab israeli dispute 1974 1976 https history state gov historicaldocuments frus1969 76v26 d189 23 chamberlin global offensive 225 24 ibid 220 21 25 le monde 15 may 1973 as quoted in alain gresh the plo the struggle within towards an independent palestinian state london zed books 1988 156 26 gresh the plo 154 27 chamberlin global offensive 222 28 stocker spheres of intervention 121 29 in 1970 the plo s security chief ali hasan salame began security coordination with the cia to protect the u s embassy and its diplomatic corps in west beirut ibid 182 30 osamah khalil oslo s roots kissinger the plo and the peace process al shabaka 3 september 2013 https al shabaka org briefs oslos roots kissinger plo and peace process 31 palestinian leaders discuss the new challenges for the resistance essay no 42 trans rashid hamid beirut palestine research center 1974 37 32 ibid 35 33 ibid 25 66 67 34 ibid 40 35 ibid 56 36 ibid 31 69 37 these efforts coincided with cautious attempts by arafat and his deputy salah khalaf abu iyad to indicate their readiness to attend the geneva peace conference at the same time buffum explained the plo leadership had to allay fears among fedayeen rank and file that the 278 n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 3 creation of a palestinian state in the west bank and gaza would mean the surrender or betrayal of the organization s long term goals khalil oslo s roots 38 abu iyad salah khalaf and eric rouleau my home my land a narrative of the palestin ian struggle trans linda butler koseoglu new york times books 1978 138 39 salah interview 40 buffum to kissinger increase in public caution exercised by fedayeen leadership u s department of state 3 december 1973 http al shabaka org wp content uploads 2014 05 khalil_policybrief_buffumtokissinger3dec73 pdf as quoted in khalil oslo s roots 41 shaath interview 1 august 2016 42 gresh the plo 147 43 ibid 44 ibid 165 147 166 45 political program for the present stage drawn up by the 12th pnc cairo june 9 1974 journal of palestine studies 3 no 4 summer 1974 224 46 chamberlin global offensive 238 47 statement issued by the popular front for the liberation of palestine beirut 26 september 1974 http www jstor org mutex gmu edu stable pdf 2535859 pdf refreqid excelsior 3a1bdd54 ac47fcd5abd572d83afeebf40f 48 ibid 49 rupert emerson argues that the united nations has accepted self determination as a right of revolution as demonstrated by the repeated assembly injunction that all states should provide moral and material assistance to the struggle for independence of the national liberation movements some of which are carrying on open warfare emerson self determination american journal of international law 65 no 3 1971 474 50 article 3 in each of the four geneva conventions often referred to as common article 3 is titled conflicts not of an international character and lays out general provisions for the humane treatment of persons who are not active combatants in these conflicts see e g interna tional committee of the red cross convention iv relative to the protection of civilian persons in time of war geneva 12 august 1949 art 3 https ihl databases icrc org applic ihl ihl nsf article xsp action opendocument documentid a4e145a2a7a68875c12563cd0051b9ae 51 full text mandela s rivonia trial speech news24 south africa reported 24 january 2011 https www news24 com nelsonmandela speeches full text mandelas rivonia trial speech 20110124 52 chamberlin global offensive 180 81 53 unga resolution 3034 measures to prevent international terrorism which endangers or takes innocent human lives or jeopardizes fundamental freedoms and study of the underly ing causes of those forms of terrorism and acts of violence which lie in misery frustration grievance and despair and which cause some people to sacrifice human lives including their own in an attempt to effect radical changes a res 3034 xxvii 18 december 1972 http www un org en ga search view_doc asp symbol a res 3034 xxvii also see chamberlin global offensive 180 8 54 unga resolution 3070 importance of the universal realization of the right of peoples to self determination and of the speedy granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 3 279 for the effective guarantee and observance of human rights un doc a res 3070 xxviii 30 november 1973 55 unga respect for human rights in armed conflicts report of the secretary general un doc a 7720 20 november 1969 http repository un org handle 11176 276648 56 georges abi saab legal scholar former ad hoc judge of the international court of justice former judge of the appeals chamber of the international criminal tribunal for the former yugosla via and the international criminal tribunal for rwanda skype interview by the author 24 july 2016 57 georges abi saab wars of national liberation in the geneva conventions and protocols col lected courses of the hague academy of international law vol 165 leiden brill nijhoff 1979 58 ibid 59 robert a mortimer algerian foreign policy from revolution to national interest journal of north african studies 20 no 3 2015 doi 10 1080 13629387 2014 990961 60 abi saab interview 61 kinsella the image before the weapon 141 62 ibid 135 63 abi saab interview 64 daoud barakat former plo ambassador in moscow geneva and vienna telephone interview by the author 19 august 2016 65 shaath interview 1 august 2016 66 abi saab interview 67 miriam mckenna explains the growing tension between self determination human rights and sovereignty became increasingly evident throughout the 1960s as post colonial states turned to self determination to support their political integrity decolonization transformed the united nations into a body with unprecedented willingness to question state sovereignty however in the application of self determination to colonial territories once independence was achieved concerns over the internal make up of these new states receded mckenna the means to the end and the end of the means self determination decolonization and international law jus gentium journal of international legal history 2 no 1 2017 130 68 abi saab interview 69 international committee of the red cross protocol additional to the geneva conventions of 12 august 1949 and relating to the protection of victims of international armed conflicts protocol i 8 june 1977 art 1 4 https ihl databases icrc org applic ihl ihl nsf article xsp acti on opendocument documentid 6c86520d7efad527c12563cd0051d63c 70 gary solis the law of armed conflict cambridge cambridge university press 2010 71 international committee of the red cross protocol additional to the geneva conven tions of 12 august 1949 protocol i arts 1 4 44 3 72 ibid art 85 2 73 international committee of the red cross protocols i and ii additional to the geneva conventions 1 january 2009 https www icrc org eng resources documents misc additional protocols 1977 htm 74 montevideo convention on the rights and duties of states inter american 26 december 1933 the avalon project http avalon law yale edu 20th_century intam03 asp hersch lauterpacht recognition in international law cambridge cambridge university press 1947 280 n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 3 75 barakat interview see discussion of these efforts in sayigh armed struggle and the search for a state 319 494 76 gresh the plo 191 77 chamberlin global offensive 251 78 gresh the plo 191 79 ibid 80 shaath interview 1 august 2016 81 ibid 82 ibid 83 ibid 84 unga resolution 3210 xxix invitation to the palestinian liberation organization un doc a res 3210 14 october 1974 https documents dds ny un org doc resolution gen nr0 738 12 img nr073812 pdf openelement 85 while other general assembly resolutions had recognized that palestinians had a right to self determination and described the refugees as palestinian arab none had affirmed the nationhood of palestinians as this resolution proposed to do see unga resolution 2787 un doc a res 2787 xxvi 6 december 1971 https documents dds ny un org doc reso lution gen nr0 328 03 img nr032803 pdf openelement see also unga resolu tion 2535 united nations relief and works agency for palestine refugees in the near east un doc a res 2535 xxiv a c 10 december 1969 https unispal un org dpa dpr unispal nsf 0 41f2c6dce4daa765852560df004e0ac8 and unga resolution 2672 united nations relief and works agency for palestine refugees in the near east un doc a res 2672 xxv a d 8 december 1970 https unispal un org dpa dpr unispal nsf 0 e7c4b66c913ec0dc852560de006e8f1b 86 ibid 87 mortimer algerian foreign policy 88 karma nabulsi scholar in politics and international relations and former plo representa tive skype interview by the author 20 august 2016 89 final communiqué of the asian african conference of bandung 24 april 1955 sec e para 1 http franke uchicago edu final_communique_bandung_1955 pdf 90 chamberlin global offensive 185 91 nabulsi interview 92 ahmad palestine liberation organization 101 03 93 unga resolution 3151 policies of apartheid of the government of south africa un doc a res 3151 14 december 1973 https documents dds ny un org doc resolution gen nr0 282 23 img nr028223 pdf openelement 94 the first committee deals with issues of disarmament and security that affect the inter national community for more information see http www un org en ga first 95 unga 2268th plenary meeting un doc a pv 2268 14 october 1974 https unispal un org dpa dpr unispal nsf 0 2a1cf8a3ea4d1f0385256230005affee 96 shaath interview 1 august 2016 97 the tripartite palestinian egyptian syrian communique issued in cairo 21 sep tember 1974 journal of palestine studies 4 no 2 winter 1975 164 80 http www jstor org stable 2535859 n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 3 281 98 the palestine resolution of the seventh arab summit conference rabat octo ber 29 1974 journal of palestine studies 4 no 2 winter 1975 177 78 http www jstor org stable 2535859 99 arafat speech at unga 13 november 1974 para 5 100 ibid para 72 101 shaath interview 1 august 2016 102 for more on these texts see statements by the late dr fayez sayegh in the palestine yearbook of international law 6 1990 91 these comments were made at the 2134th meeting of the third social humanitarian cultural committee of the general assembly on 17 october 1975 also see fayez abdullah sayegh zionist colonialism in palestine vol 1 beirut palestine research center 1965 103 shaath interview 1 august 2016 104 arafat speech at unga 13 november 1974 para 74 105 shaath interview 1 august 2016 106 arafat speech at unga 13 november 1974 para 80 107 salah interview 108 nabulsi interview 109 arafat speech at unga 13 november 1974 paras 82 83 110 chamberlin global offensive 250 111 unga 2285th plenary meeting un doc a pv 2268 14 november 1974 para 64 https unispal un org dpa dpr unispal nsf 0 8c323d5263b2f89e852562310069d313 112 shaath interview 1 august 2016 113 unga resolution 3236 question of palestine un doc a res 3236 xxix 22 november 1974 https documents dds ny un org doc resolution gen nr0 738 38 img nr073838 pdf openelement 114 unga 2296th plenary meeting un doc a pv 2296 22 november 1974 paras 20 21 https unispal un org dpa dpr unispal nsf 0 7219f7fe733b856485256236005a4700 115 ibid para 64 116 ibid paras 86 96 117 unga resolution 3237 observer status for the palestine liberation organization un doc a res 3237 xxix 22 november 1974 http www un org en ga search view_doc asp symbol a res 3237 xxix lang e area resolution 118 unga 2296th plenary meeting un doc a pv 2296 22 november 1974 paras 53 55 https unispal un org dpa dpr unispal nsf 0 7219f7fe733b856485256236005a4700 119 ibid para 56 120 ibid para 243 121 chamberlin global offensive 236 122 william korey the plo s conquest of the u n midstream 25 no 9 november 123 sidney liskofsky un resolution on zionism american jewish yearbook 77 1977 1979 11 97 126 124 enuga s reddy the united nations and the struggle for liberation in south africa in the road to democracy in south africa vol 3 part 1 international solidarity pretoria unisa press 2008 282 n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 3 125 united nations charter of the united nations and statute of the international court of justice 26 june 1945 arts 5 and 6 126 spyros blavoukos and dimitris bourantonis chairing multilateral negotiations the case of the united nations new york routledge 2011 51 127 joshua muchavnik the un and israel a history of discrimination world af fairs journal 2 november december 2013 http www worldaffairsjournal org article un and israel history discrimination 128 associated press africans rebuff arab call for u n to expel israel new york times 2 august 1975 129 ahmad palestine liberation organization 104 130 susan aurelia gitelson unfulfilled expectations israeli and arab aid as political in struments in black african united nations voting behavior jewish social studies 38 no 2 spring 1976 159 75 http www jstor org stable 4466923 131 associated press africans rebuff arab call 132 ibid 133 paul hoffman nonaligned bloc adds 4 members new york times 27 august 1975 134 anis fawzi kassem legal scholar and former adviser to the plo skype interview by the author 16 july 2016 135 chamberlin global offensive 229 136 baker to kissinger senator baker s meeting with yasser arafat in beirut 25 may 1975 http al shabaka org wp content uploads 2014 05 khalil_policybrief_bakermtgarafat25may75 pdf as quoted in khalil oslo s roots 137 us israeli memorandum of agreement dealing with future negotiations 17 septem ber 1975 in the israeli palestinian conflict a documentary record 1967 1990 ed yehuda lukacs new york cambridge university press 1992 60 61 https israeled org resources documents us israeli memorandum agreement dealing future negotiations 138 interim agreement between egypt and israel sinai ii 4 september 1 1975 https www fordlibrarymuseum gov library document 0331 1553974 pdf 139 chamberlin global offensive 254 140 unga resolution 3375 invitation to the palestine liberation organization to participate in the efforts for peace in the middle east un doc a res 3375 xxx 10 november 1975 https doc uments dds ny un org doc resolution gen nr0 000 88 img nr000088 pdf openelement 141 the question of palestine was not unique in receiving specialized focus from the united nations the general assembly had previously established other committees aimed at garnering international support to end foreign colonization the two most prominent were the special com mittee on apartheid established in 1962 to end apartheid in south africa and the un council for namibia established in 1967 to act as nambia s administering authority until that state s independence see unga resolution 1761 the policies of apartheid of the government of the republic of south africa un doc a res 1761 xvii 6 november 1962 https documents dds ny un org doc resolution gen nr0 192 69 img nr019269 pdf openelement and unga resolution 2248 s v 19 may 1967 142 unsc guyana pakistan panama and united republic of tanzania draft resolution un doc s 12119 29 june 1976 https unispal un org dpa dpr unispal nsf 0 f9678de127e4 81f90525651c0073b022 n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 3 283 143 convention on the suppression and punishment of the crime of apartheid procedural history audiovisual library of international law http legal un org avl ha cspca cspca html 144 liskofsky un resolution on zionism 100 145 shaath interview 1 august 2016 146 kassem interview 147 statements by the late dr fayez sayegh 148 ibid 149 ibid 150 unga resolution 3379 elimination of all forms of racial discrimination un doc a res 3379 xxx 10 november 10 1975 http www un org en ga search view_doc asp symbol a res 3379 xxx 151 ibid para 158 152 ibid paras 192 193 153 korey the plo s conquest of the u n 15 wolff moynihan amendment 1979 this amendment restricted u s state department allocations to the united nations to a sum equal to 25 percent of spending on pro plo activities 154 murray zuokoff lessons of 1975 challenges in 1976 daily news bulletin 42 no 247 jewish telegraphic agency dec 31 1975 http www jta org 1975 12 31 archive lessons of 1975 challenges in 1976 155 associated press jet attack in lebanon u s israeli rift reported over pledge on plo chicago tribune 3 december 1975 http archives chicagotribune com 1975 12 03 page 18 article jet attack in lebanon 156 leo gross voting in the security council and the plo american journal of interna tional law 70 no 3 july 1976 157 henry kissinger the global challenge and international cooperation speech delivered at the university of wisconsin institute of world affairs milwaukee 14 july 1975 as quoted in ronald i meltzer restructuring the united nations system institutional reform efforts in the context of north south relations international organization 32 no 4 autumn 1978 https doi org 10 1017 s0020818300032069 158 stocker spheres of intervention 196 159 this notion is often repeated as strategic parity patrick seale asad the struggle for the middle east berkeley university of california press 1990 346 47 160 bassel salloukh syria and lebanon a brotherhood transformed middle east report 35 no 236 fall 2005 http www merip org mer mer236 syria lebanon brotherhood transformed 161 abraham plo at the crossroads 9 162 khalil oslo s roots 163 palestinian national council thirteenth summit cairo 12 22 march 1977 in the palestinian documents 1977 in arabic beirut institute of palestine studies 1978 97 98 164 sayigh armed struggle and the search for a state 420 23 165 1977 egyptian leader s israel trip makes history bbc news 19 november 1977 http news bbc co uk onthisday hi dates stories november 19 newsid_2520000 2520467 stm 166 ibid 167 sayigh armed struggle and the search for a state 424 25 284 n o t e s t o c h a p t e r s 3 a n d 4 168 for more information on the secretariat of the committee on the exercise of the in alienable rights of the palestinian people ceirpp see united nations department of political affairs division for palestinian rights http www un org undpa en palestinianrights 169 a framework for peace in the middle east agreed at camp david 17 international legal materials i l m 1466 1978 http hrlibrary umn edu peace docs campdavid html 170 ibid 1 c ii 171 harry hurwitz and yisrael medad eds peace in the making the menachem begin anwar sadat personal correspondence jerusalem gefen 2011 85 as quoted in yair hirschfield track two diplomacy toward an israeli palestinian solution 1978 2014 washington dc woodrow wilson center press 2014 7 172 ibid 173 gresh the plo 218 174 ibid 175 letters of understanding with regard to the sinai jerusalem west bank and gaza and airbases 17 i l m 1471 1978 176 hanan ashrawi english scholar and plo representative interview by the author pal estinian ministry of information ramallah west bank 29 december 2015 177 gresh the plo 221 178 ibid 226 179 sayigh armed struggle and the search for a state camille mansour the palestinian israeli peace negotiations an overview and assessment journal of palestine studies 22 no 3 1993 5 31 doi 10 2307 25375687 180 sayigh armed struggle and the search for a state 545 181 shaath interview 1 august 2016 c h a p t e r 4 epigraph edward said the morning after london review of books 15 no 20 1993 1 azzam tamimi hamas a history from within northampton ma olive branch 2011 10 2 intifada begins on gaza strip history com 2010 http www history com this day in history intifada begins on gaza strip 3 penny johnson and eileen kuttab where have all the women and men gone reflec tions on gender and the second palestinian intifada feminist review no 69 winter 2001 27 doi 10 1080 014177800110070102 4 israel declines to study rabin tie to beatings new york times 12 july 1990 http www nytimes com 1990 07 12 world israel declines to study rabin tie to beatings html 5 25th anniversary of the first intifada fact sheet institute for middle east understand ing december 2016 http imeu org article 25th anniversary of the first intifada 6 terry atlas and uli schmetzer shultz outlines plan for mideast peace chicago tribune 27 february 1988 7 hanan ashrawi english scholar and plo representative interview by the author palestin ian ministry of information ramallah west bank 29 december 2015 8 yair hirschfield track two diplomacy toward an israeli palestinian solution 1978 2014 washington dc woodrow wilson center press 2014 62 n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 4 285 9 see e g saddam hussein interview session 9 interview by george l piro baghdad operations centre national security archive 24 february 2004 https nsarchive2 gwu edu nsaebb nsaebb279 10 pdf 10 gulf war fast facts cnn august 2016 http www cnn com 2013 09 15 world meast gulf war fast facts 11 yann le troquer and rozenn hommery al oudat from kuwait to jordan the palestinians third exodus journal of palestine studies 28 no 3 1999 37 51 doi 10 1525 jps 1999 28 3 00p0029p 12 camille mansour the palestinian israeli peace negotiations an overview and assess ment journal of palestine studies 22 no 3 1993 5 31 doi 10 2307 2537568 13 nabil shaath strategic consultant to plo chairman yassir arafat american university in beirut professor and director general of the palestine planning center telephone interview by the author 12 june 2016 14 hirschfield track two diplomacy 96 15 thomas l friedman israel ignoring bush presses for loan guarantees new york times 7 september 1991 http www nytimes com 1991 09 07 world israel ignoring bush presses for loan guarantees html 16 letter of invitation to madrid peace conference jointly issued by the u s and the soviet union 30 october 1991 israel ministry of foreign affairs foreign policy http www mfa gov il mfa foreignpolicy peace guide pages madrid 20letter 20of 20invitation aspx 17 u s letter of assurance to israel in peace proposals and ideas part 2 of the search for peace in the arab israeli conflict ed terje rød larsen nur laiq and fabrice aidan new york international peace institute 2015 439 40 18 james baker letter of assurance to the palestinians 18 october 1991 peace agreements digital collection united states institute for peace http www usip org sites default files file resources collections peace_agreements letter_of_assurance pdf 19 ashrawi interview 20 camille mansour legal scholar and former plo adviser email interview by the author 3 january 2018 8 2005 1375 21 yezid sayigh armed struggle and the search for a state the palestinian national movement 1949 1993 oxford oxford university press 1997 654 22 tamimi hamas 11 23 are knudsen crescent and sword the hamas enigma third world quarterly 26 no 24 tamimi hamas 44 45 25 jean pierre filiu the origins of hamas militant legacy or israeli tool journal of palestine studies 41 no 3 2012 65 66 26 tamimi hamas 51 27 hamas covenant 1988 the covenant of the islamic resistance movement hamas national charter art 11 the avalon project http avalon law yale edu 20th_century hamas asp 28 hamas covenant art 27 29 hirschfield track two diplomacy 59 286 n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 4 30 rashid khalidi the resolutions of the 19th palestine national council journal of pal estine studies 19 no 2 1990 35 31 united nations general assembly unga agenda item 37 letter dated 18 november 1988 from the permanent representative of jordan to the united nations addressed to the secretary general annex iii palestinian declaration of independence un doc a 43 827 18 november 1988 https unispal un org dpa dpr unispal nsf 0 6eb54a389e2da6c6852560de0070 e392 32 ibid 33 documents and source material journal of palestine studies 16 no 4 1987 189 34 tamimi hamas 63 189 35 sayigh armed struggle and the search for state 640 51 36 mansour palestinian israeli peace negotiations 7 37 ashrawi interview 38 ibid clyde haberman palestinian says his delegation will assert p l o ties at talks new york times 22 october 1991 http www nytimes com 1991 10 22 world palestinian says his delegation will assert plo ties at talks html 39 ashrawi interview 40 address by dr haider abdul shafi head of the palestinian delegation the madrid conference opening speeches 31 october 1991 israel ministry of foreign affairs foreign policy http www mfa gov il mfa foreignpolicy peace mfadocuments pages address 20by 20dr 20haide r 20abdul 20shafi 20 2031 oct 91 aspx 41 ashrawi interview 42 ibid 43 camille mansour interview by the author 13 december 2015 44 mansour palestinian israeli peace negotiations 10 45 ibid 10 46 ibid 12 47 raja shehadeh from occupation to interim accords israel and the palestinian territories london kluwer 1998 author 8 september 2016 48 anis fawzi kassem legal scholar and former adviser to the plo email interview by the 49 shehadeh from occupation to interim accords 107 50 mansour palestinian israeli peace negotiations 15 51 ibid 13 52 ibid 14 53 ibid 54 rashid khalidi historian and former adviser to the plo interview by the author columbia university new york 3 may 2016 55 mansour palestinian israeli peace negotiations 17 56 shehadeh from occupation to interim accords 114 16 57 hirschfield track two diplomacy 106 58 shehadeh from occupation to interim accords rashid khalidi interview 59 hirschfield track two diplomacy 107 ashrawi interview 60 mansour palestinian israeli peace negotiations 18 n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 4 287 61 rashid khalidi interview 62 shehadeh from occupation to interim accords 121 see also sayigh armed struggle and the search for a state 656 trojan horse refers to the tale of the ancient greeks offering a wooden horse to the city of troy as a peace offering once inside the city gates greek warriors hiding inside the horse emerged at night to let in more greek solders the term has come to be synonymous with acts of subversion 63 mansour palestinian israeli peace negotiations 22 64 in his discussion of the role of law in the final status negotiations omar m dajani draws on contract and negotiations theory to demonstrate that the law can serve two other interrelated functions first the shadow of the law concerns how negotiating parties may alter their positions in light of the possible remedies imposed by noncompliance second the shade of the law concerns law s potential value absent the threat of enforcement for the purpose of legitimacy for example dajani shadow or shade the roles of international law in palestinian israeli peace talks yale journal of international law 32 no 1 2007 61 124 65 a framework for peace in the middle east agreed at camp david 17 i l m 1466 1978 http hrlibrary umn edu peace docs campdavid html 66 united nations peacemaker treaty series israel jordan common agenda 14 septem ber 1993 https peacemaker un org sites peacemaker un org files il 20jo_930914_israel 20 jordan 20common 20agenda pdf 67 mansour palestinian israeli peace negotiations 23 68 thomas l friedman bush rejects israel loan guarantees new york times 18 march 1992 http www nytimes com 1992 03 18 world bush rejects israel loan guarantees html 69 daniel reisner head of the israel defense force s international law department from 1995 to 2004 and senior member of israel s negotiating teams since 1994 skype interview by the author 12 june 2016 70 shehadeh from occupation to interim accords 107 71 rashid khalidi interview 72 ashrawi interview 73 shehadeh from occupation to interim accords 2 74 mansour palestinian israeli peace negotiations 24 75 ibid 26 76 tamimi hamas 65 77 ibid 66 78 clyde haberman israel expels 400 from occupied lands lebanese deploy to bar entry of palestinians new york times 17 december 1992 http www nytimes com 1992 12 18 world israel expels 400 occupied lands lebanese deploy bar entry palestinians html pagewanted all 79 hirschfield track two diplomacy 108 80 ibid ashrawi interview 81 ahmed qurei from oslo to jerusalem the palestinian story of the secret negotiations lon don i b tauris 2008 41 82 hirschfield track two diplomacy 108 83 ibid 107 84 qurei from oslo to jerusalem 92 85 hirschfield track two diplomacy 114 288 n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 4 86 ibid 112 87 ibid 117 127 88 ibid 120 89 draft minutes meeting with u s state department officials ana hotel washing ton dc 13 may 1993 http www palestine studies org sites default files uploads files minutes kurtzer miller meeting 13 may 93 pdf 90 ibid 91 camille mansour interview by author dean and deluca café washington dc 28 april 2016 92 qurei from oslo to jerusalem 111 13 93 ibid 143 94 hirschfield track two diplomacy 118 95 shehadeh raja human rights and the israeli occupation the new centennial review 8 no 1 2008 46 96 hirschfield track two diplomacy 122 97 shehadeh from occupation to interim accords 124 hirschfield track two diplomacy 121 98 qurei from oslo to jerusalem 157 99 hirschfield track two diplomacy 123 100 shehadeh from occupation to interim accords 126 101 qurei from oslo to jerusalem 199 102 chas w freeman jr the angola namibia accords foreign affairs 68 summer 1988 126 41 103 but see dajani shadow or shade who takes more issue with the role of law in the negotiations and how it could be more effectively wielded and is less concerned with the structural asymmetries distinguishing the negotiating parties 104 shehadeh from occupation to interim accords 127 105 qurei from oslo to jerusalem 161 106 ibid 235 238 107 shehadeh from occupation to interim accords 159n3 108 qurei from oslo to jerusalem 245 109 declaration of principles on interim self government arrangements 13 september 1993 israel ministry of foreign affairs foreign policy peace process http www mfa gov il mfa foreignpolicy peace guide pages declaration 20of 20principles aspx 110 rashid khalidi interview 111 declaration of principles on interim self government arrangements art iv 112 shaath interview 12 june 2016 113 declaration of principles on interim self government arrangements art xv 114 united nations peacemaker treaty series treaty of peace between the arab republic of egypt and the state of israel 26 march 1979 https peacemaker un org sites peacemaker un org files eg 20il_790326_egypt 20and 20israel 20treaty 20of 20peace pdf united nations peacemaker treaty series treaty of peace between the state of israel and the hashemite kingdom of jordan 26 october 1994 https peacemaker un org sites peacemaker un org files il 20jo_941026_peacetreatyisraeljordan pdf 115 reisner interview 116 declaration of principles on interim self government arrangements art vi and annex ii n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 4 289 117 shehadeh from occupation to interim accords 165 118 declaration of principles on interim self government arrangements preamble 119 see a crisis of faith second submission of the palestine liberation organization to the sharm el sheikh fact finding committee 30 december 2000 and third submission of the palestine liberation organization to the sharm el sheikh fact finding commission 3 april 2001 https 2001 2009 state gov p nea rls rpt 3060 htm 120 rashid khalidi interview 121 george salem attorney and former plo adviser interview by the author dla piper washington dc 28 april 2016 122 ashrawi interview 123 shehadeh from occupation to interim accords 12 124 adam shatz a poet s palestine as metaphor new york times 22 december 2001 http www nytimes com 2001 12 22 books a poet s palestine as a metaphor html 125 edward said the morning after london review of books 15 no 20 21 october 21 1993 3 5 https www lrb co uk v15 n20 edward said the morning afterhttps www lrb co uk v15 n20 edward said the morning after also see edward said peace and its discontents essays on palestine in the middle east peace process new york vintage 1996 126 shaath interview 12 june 2016 127 rashid khalidi interview 128 hirschfield track two diplomacy 145 129 adam raz what israelis weren t told about the alternatives to the oslo accords haaretz 7 february 2016 130 hirschfield track two diplomacy 146 131 shaath interview 12 june 2016 132 hirschfield track two diplomacy 135 133 burhan dajani an alternative to oslo journal of palestine studies 25 no 4 1996 6 see the discussion drawing on this article in shehadeh human rights and the israeli occupation 129 134 ioano e matesan the dynamics of peace spoiling in the palestinian territories during the oslo years maxwell school collaborative governance initiative syracuse university 2010 https www maxwell syr edu uploadedfiles parcc eparcc links matesan 20case 20study 1 pdf 135 tariq dana the prolonged decay of the palestinian national movement national identities 2017 1 17 doi 10 1080 14608944 2017 1343813 in another article dana comments palestinian businessmen have struggled with statelessness and sought the security that a state would provide where their companies and profits would be better protected from regional instability as a result many of them supported the oslo accords as a key step towards establishing a palestinian state some even imagining that oslo s peace dividends would transform the west bank and gaza into the singapore of the middle east dana palestine s capitalists al shabaka 20 february 2014 https al shabaka org briefs palestinian capitalists have gone too far 136 the aid advanced to palestine in the context of the oslo accords agenda under pro longed occupation and colonization is political aid par excellence it has been advanced specifically to force and entice the palestinian people to acquiesce and submit to an imposed political and economic agenda that is determined shaped and dictated by the global neo liberal strategy of pal estine s occupier khalil nakhleh oslo replacing liberation with economic neo colonialism 290 n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 4 al shabaka 10 april 2014 https al shabaka org commentaries oslo replacing liberation with economic neo colonialism 137 israeli palestinian interim agreement on the west bank and the gaza strip washing ton dc 28 september 1995 art ii 2 israel ministry of foreign affairs http www mfa gov il mfa foreignpolicy peace guide pages the 20israeli palestinian 20interim 20agreement aspx 138 israeli palestinian interim agreement art i 5 139 israeli palestinian interim agreement art xii 1 also see arts xi xi 2 f and xiii 2 b 2 human rights council report of the independent international fact finding mission to investigate the implications of the israeli settlements on the civil political economic social and cultural rights of the palestinian people throughout the occupied palestinian territory includ ing east jerusalem para 18 un doc a hrc 22 63 7 february 2013 http www ohchr org documents hrbodies hrcouncil regularsession session22 a hrc 22 63_en pdf 140 y f mourning an israeli pragmatist the economist 4 november 2015 https www economist com prospero 2015 11 04 mourning an israeli pragmatist 141 rashid khalidi interview hirschfield track two diplomacy 145 142 nigel wilson remembering the ibrahimi mosque massacre al jazeera 26 feb ruary 2016 http www aljazeera com news 2016 02 remembering ibrahimi mosque massacre 160225061709582 html 143 clyde haberman arab car bomber kills 8 in israel 44 are wounded new york times 7 april 1994 http www nytimes com 1994 04 07 world arab car bomber kills 8 in israel 44 are wounded html 144 jonathan cook netanyahu admits on video he deceived us to destroy oslo accord the national 18 july 2010 http www thenational ae news world middle east netanyahu admits on video he deceived us to destroy oslo accord shattered dreams of peace timeline frontline pbs n d http www pbs org wgbh pages frontline shows oslo etc cron html 145 shattered dreams of peace reisner interview 146 robert malley and hussein agha camp david the tragedy of errors the new york review of books 48 no 13 9 august 2001 http www nybooks com issues 2001 08 09 147 nigel parry misrepresentation of barak s offer at camp david as generous and unprecedented the electronic intifada 20 march 2002 https electronicintifada net content misrepresentation baraks offer camp david generous and unprecedented 3991 148 as put by noam chomsky renowned linguist and analyst of middle east affairs the cantons would be surrounded by territory to be annexed to israel the areas of palestinian popu lation concentration are to be under palestinian administration an adaptation of the traditional colonial pattern that is the only sensible outcome as far as israel and the us are concerned parry misrepresentation of barak s offer 149 ewen macaskill the real deal the guardian 13 april 2001 http www theguardian com world 2001 apr 14 comment israelandthepalestinians 150 tamimi hamas 198 151 shaath interview 12 june 2016 152 dan rabinowitz belated occupation advanced militarization edward said s critique of the oslo process revisited critical inquiry 31 no 2 2005 505 11 doi 10 2307 3651502 153 clayton swisher the truth about camp david new york nation books 2004 255 154 rabinowitz belated occupation advanced militarization n o t e s t o c h a p t e r s 4 a n d 5 291 155 provocative mosque visit sparks riots bbc news 28 september 2000 http news bbc co uk onthisday hi dates stories september 28 newsid_3687000 3687762 stm epigraph quoted in alan philps israel rocket kills fatah militant the telegraph 10 no c h a p t e r 5 vember 2000 1 graham usher fatah s tanzim middle east report 30 no 217 winter 2000 http www merip org mer mer217 fatahs tanzim 89 105 doi 10 2307 20033005 2 khalil shikaki palestinians divided foreign affairs 81 no 1 january february 2002 3 ibid 4 penny johnson and eileen kuttab where have all the women and men gone reflec tions on gender and the second palestinian intifada feminist review 69 no 1 winter 2001 27 doi 10 1080 014177800110070102 5 ibid 28 6 ibid 23 7 ibid 31 8 three dead in israeli assassination bbc news 9 november 2000 http news bbc co uk 2 hi middle_east 1014595 stm 9 alan philps israeli rocket kills fatah militant the telegraph 10 november 2000 http www telegraph co uk news worldnews middleeast israel 1373950 israeli rocket kills fatah militant html 10 ibid 11 ibid 12 john diamond israel targets kills plo official chicago tribune 20 november 2000 http articles chicagotribune com 2000 11 10 news 0011100281_1_sieging israeli towns gen shaul mofaz israeli army 13 three dead in israeli assassination 14 diamond israel targets kills plo official 15 gal luft the logic of israel s targeted killing middle east quarterly 10 no 1 winter 2003 3 13 http www meforum org 515 the logic of israels targeted killing daniel byman do targeted killings work foreign affairs 85 no 2 march april 2006 95 doi 10 2307 20031914 16 luft logic of israel s targeted killing 17 lisa hajjar lawfare and targeted killing developments in the israeli and us con texts jadaliyya 15 january 2012 http www jadaliyya com pages index 4049 lawfare and targeted killing_developments in the i 18 in the 1960s and 1970s portugal south africa and israel faced controversy for their use of force in neighboring countries against non state actors in the name of self defense the united na tions security council rejected this self defense argument asserting that self defense was unavailable to states that sought to defend territories they illegally occupied christine gray international law and the use of force oxford oxford university press 2008 see also antony anghie on making war on the terrorist imperialism as self defence in imperialism sovereignty and the making of international law 273 309 cambridge cambridge university press 2004 292 n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 5 19 international covenant on civil and political rights 23 march 1976 art 6 https ohchr org en professionalinterest pages ccpr aspx united nations general assembly unga reso lution 44 159 summary or arbitrary executions un doc a res 44 159 15 december 1989 https www un org documents ga res 44 a44r159 htm gerald ford was the first u s president to ban assassinations in executive order 11905 in 1976 in response to public revulsion over the wave of assassinations in the 1970s u s president reagan affirmed this ban in executive order 12333 see elizabeth b bazan assassination ban and e o 12333 a brief summary washington dc congressional research service 2002 http fas org irp crs rs21037 pdf 20 eyal benvenitsi how challenges of warfare influence the laws of warfare military and strategic affairs 4 no 1 april 2012 21 international committee of the red cross convention iv respecting the laws and customs of war on land the hague 18 october 1907 annex to the convention regulations respecting the laws and customs of war on land section iii military authority over the territory of the hostile state art 43 22 emphasis added sharm el sheikh fact finding committee first statement of the government of israel 28 december 2000 israel ministry of foreign affairs http mfa gov il mfa mfa archive 2000 pages sharm 20el sheikh 20fact finding 20committee 20 20first 20sta aspx see also united nations economic and social council the response of the government of the state of israel to the report of the un high commissioner for human rights u n doc e cn 4 2001 114 11 february 2001 para 28 https unispal un org dpa dpr unispal nsf 0 7b2c79acd500acd285256a9c0055266e 23 darryl li roundtable on occupation law jadaliyya 22 september 2011 http www jadaliyya com pages index 2705 roundtable on occupation law_part of the conflict 24 international committee of the red cross protocol additional to the geneva conventions of 12 august 1949 and relating to the protection of victims of international armed conflicts protocol i 8 june 1977 art 1 4 25 third submission of the palestine liberation organization to the sharm el sheikh fact finding commission 3 april 2001 51 https 2001 2009 state gov p nea rls rpt 3060 htm 26 ibid 27 international covenant on civil and political rights art 6 unga resolution 44 159 summary or arbitrary executions also see bazan assassination ban and e o 12333 28 yotam feldman and uri blau consent and advise israeli occupation archive 5 july 2009 http www israeli occupation org 2009 01 29 consent and advise sthash sv9aii77 dpuf 29 legal consequences of the construction of a wall in the occupied palestinian territory advisory opinion of 9 july 2004 2004 icj international court of justice 63 paras 138 42 noura erakat it s not wrong it s illegal situating the gaza blockade between international law and the un response ucla journal of islamic and near eastern law 11 no 37 18 november 2012 http ssrn com abstract 2214163 30 high court of justice hcj 769 02 public committee against torture in israel pcati v government of israel goi supplementary notice by the state 2 february 2003 as cited by galit raguan adjudicating armed conflict in domestic courts the experience of israel s supreme court yearbook of international humanitarian law 13 august 4 2011 61 95 31 dan izenburg what s a lawyer doing in a war zone jerusalem post 15 april 2005 n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 5 293 32 m finkelstein legal perspective in the fight against terror the israeli experience idf israel defense forces law review 1 november 2003 343 44 33 hcj 2461 01 can an v idf military commander in judea and samaria 2001 unpublished 34 hcj 3451 02 almandi v minister of defense 56 3 pd 30 2002 35 since late september 2000 severe combat has been taking place in areas of judea and samaria it is not police activity it is an armed conflict hcj 7015 02 ajuri v the military com mander of the judea and samaria area 56 6 pd 352 358 2002 36 hcj 2056 04 beit sourik village council v the government of israel 58 5 pd 807 37 raguan adjudicating armed conflict in domestic courts 75 38 shira robinson citizen strangers palestinians and the birth of israel s liberal settler state stanford stanford university press 2013 39 giorgio agamben state of exception trans kevin attell chicago university of chicago 2004 press 2003 40 ibid 59 41 united nations statute of the international court of justice june 26 1945 art 38 3 tias treaties and other international acts series 1179 42 ibid 43 anthea roberts traditional and modern approaches to customary international law a reconciliation american journal of international law 95 no 4 27 february 2017 757 91 doi 10 2307 2674625 see also noura erakat the us v the red cross customary international humanitarian law universal jurisdiction denver journal of international law and policy 41 winter 2013 44 stefan talmon determining customary international law the icj s methodology between induction deduction and assertion european journal of international law 26 no 2 december 2015 doi 10 1093 ejil chv020 45 during the world wars law served as a second front where belligerents sought to mo bilize public opinion behind the justice of their cause chris jochnick and roger normand the legitimation of violence a critical history of the laws of war harvard international law journal 35 no 1 winter 1994 77 46 unga international law commission 58th sess fragmentation of international law difficulties arising from the diversification and expansion of international law report of the study group of the international law commission u n doc a cn 4 l 682 august 2006 http legal un org ilc documentation english a_cn4_l682 pdf 47 united nations un charter chap vii action with respect to threats to the peace breaches of the peace and acts of aggression 24 october 1945 http www un org en sections un charter chapter vii index html 48 jochnick and normand legitimation of violence 49 e arly attempts to create laws of war reveal the enduring power of military necessity when ideals for humanity clashed with military necessity as inevitably occurred in all areas critical to protecting civilians they encountered an immovable force as a result any weapon or tactic that a major power considered necessary or even potentially useful was beyond the reach of legal regulation 294 n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 5 attempts to regulate these areas inevitably collapsed into deliberate vagueness to disguise the tragedy of codification legalized subordination of humanitarian principles ibid 68 50 ibid 68 51 unsc resolution 487 un doc s res 487 19 june 1981 https unispal un org dpa dpr unispal nsf 0 6c57312cc8bd93ca852560df00653995 52 feldman and blau consent and advise 53 sharm el sheikh fact finding committee the mitchell plan april 30 2001 the avalon project http avalon law yale edu 21st_century mitchell_plan asp 54 tracy wilkinson palestinians mortar fire may signal a deadlier conflict los angeles times 10 april 2001 http articles latimes com 2001 apr 10 news mn 49224 55 ibid 56 sharm el sheikh fact finding committee 57 this meant that israel should abandon its shoot to kill tactics and instead adopt crowd control tactics that minimize the potential for deaths and casualties withdrawing metal cored rubber rounds from general use and using instead rubber baton rounds without metal cores ibid 58 ibid 59 see a crisis of faith second submission of the palestine liberation organization to the sharm el sheikh fact finding committee 30 december 2000 and third submission of the palestine liberation organization to the sharm el sheikh fact finding commission 3 april 2001 https 2001 2009 state gov p nea rls rpt 3060 htm 60 the security organizations of the government of israel goi and of the palestinian authority pa reaffirm their commitment to the security agreements forged at sharm el sheikh in october 2000 embedded in the mitchell report of april 2001 the tenet plan israeli palestinian ceasefire and security plan proposed by cia director george tenet june 13 2001 the avalon project http avalon law yale edu 21st_century mid023 asp 61 the goi will re institute military police investigations into palestinian deaths resulting from israel defense forces actions in the west bank and gaza in incidents not involving terror ism the israeli defense forces idf will adopt additional non lethal measures to deal with palestinian crowds and demonstrators and more generally seek to minimize the danger to lives and property of palestinian civilians in responding to violence ibid 62 powell israel too aggressive in hamas attack cnn 2 august 2001 http www cnn com 2001 us 08 01 powell mideast index html _s pm 3aus 63 alan sipress from white house state 2 responses washington post 1 august 2001 https www washingtonpost com archive politics 2001 08 01 from white house state 2 responses 835f3d78 a97e 4470 8a70 ed0fecccc6d1 utm_term 0571147bdf8f 64 cheney discusses patients rights anwr and kyoto fox news 3 august 2001 http www foxnews com story 2001 08 03 cheney discusses patients rights anwr and kyoto html 65 for an argument that anticipatory self defense is permissible but must be severely limited see michael walzer just and unjust wars a moral argument with historical illustrations new york basic books 1977 74 also see hugo grotius who argued in 1646 that t he danger must be immediate and imminent in point of time but those who accept fear of any sort as justifying anticipatory slaying are themselves greatly deceived i f a man is not planning an immediate attack but it has been ascertained that he has formed a plot or is preparing an ambuscade or that n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 5 295 he is putting poison in our way i maintain that he cannot lawfully be killed either if the danger can in any other way be avoided or if it is not altogether certain that the danger cannot be otherwise avoided grotius de jure belli ac pacis libri tres vol 2 ed james brown scott trans francis w kelsey oxford clarendon press 1925 173 75 for the argument that anticipatory self defense is only permissible where the political alternatives are obsolete see louis henkin how nations behave 2nd ed new york columbia university press 1979 143 44 and jordan j paust use of armed force against terrorists in afghanistan iraq and beyond cornell international law journal 35 no 3 winter 2002 533 554 furthermore some scholars believe article 51 of the un charter makes anticipatory self defense illegal in all cases see ian brownlie international law and the use of force by states oxford clarendon press 1963 278 79 66 the white house press briefing by ari fleischer 3 august 2001 https georgewbush whitehouse archives gov news briefings 20010803 html 67 according to its statement made before the general assembly on 20 october 2003 the government of israel believes the construction of the barrier is consistent with article 51 of the charter of the united nations its inherent right to self defense and security council resolutions 1368 2001 and 1373 2001 unga tenth emergency special session report of the secretary general prepared pursuant to general assembly resolution es 10 13 annex i summary legal position of the government of israel un doc a es 10 248 24 november 2003 para 6 https unispal un org dpa dpr unispal nsf 0 a5a017029c05606b85256dec00626057 68 the yearbook of the united nations 1969 unyb 1969 part i sec 1 chap 11 the situation in the middle east 201 unyb 1970 part i sec 1 chap 11 the situation in the middle east 228 unyb 1978 part i sec 1 chap 11 the situation in the middle east 297 unyb 1982 part i sec 1 chap 9 the situation in the middle east 434 69 this language was used in unsc resolutions 265 1969 267 1969 271 1969 262 1968 279 1970 and 280 1970 70 christine d gray international law and the use of force oxford oxford university press 2009 138 paras 138 42 71 legal consequences of the construction of a wall in the occupied palestinian territory 72 conference of high contracting parties to the fourth geneva convention declaration ge neva 5 december 2001 https unispal un org dpa dpr unispal nsf 0 8fc4f064b9be5bad8 5256c1400722951 73 ellen margrethe loj statement by the presidency on behalf of the eu on the report of the secretary general on jenin address to the united nations new york 5 august 2002 http eu un europa eu eu presidency statement jenin 74 james risen and david johnston bush has widened authority of c i a to kill ter rorists new york times 14 december 2002 http www nytimes com 2002 12 15 world threats responses hunt for al qaeda bush has widened authority cia kill html pagewanted all 75 walter pincus us missiles kill al qaeda suspects the age 6 november 2002 http www theage com au articles 2002 11 05 1036308311314 html oneclick true 76 if the usa is behind this with yemen s consent it is nevertheless a summary execution that violates human rights if the usa has conducted the attack without yemen s permission it is even worse then it is a question of unauthorized use of force brian whitaker and oliver burkeman 296 n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 5 killing probes the frontiers of robotics and legality the guardian 5 november 2002 https www theguardian com world 2002 nov 06 usa alqaida 77 u s department of state press briefing by richard boucher 5 november 2002 http 2001 2009 state gov p nea rt 14961 htm 78 david leigh and tony geraghty the name of the game is assassination the guardian 18 december 2002 https www theguardian com world 2002 dec 19 usa comment 79 u s department of state annual u s israel joint counterterrorism group meeting press release 14 july 2015 http www 2009 2017 state gov r pa prs ps 2015 07 244877 htm white house u s israel joint statement april 30 1996 white house press release the avalon project http avalon law yale edu 20th_century pal02 asp 80 unsc security council urged to condemn extrajudicial executions following israel s assassination of hamas leader press release 19 april 2004 http www un org press en 2004 sc8063 doc htm 81 micah zenko obama s embrace of drone strikes will be a lasting legacy new york times 12 january 2016 https www nytimes com roomfordebate 2016 01 12 reflecting on obamas presidency obamas embrace of drone strikes will be a lasting legacy 82 ibid 83 charlie savage justice department memo approving targeted killing of anwar al awlaki new york times 23 june 2014 https www nytimes com interactive 2014 06 23 us 23awlaki memo html 84 this effort has included arranging conferences dedicated to counterterrorism as well as publishing articles and books on the topic and also the work of canonical scholars in u s national security law see michael n schmitt and john j merriam the tyranny of context israeli target ing practices in legal perspective university of pennsylvania journal of international law 37 no 1 12 april 2015 53 139 https ssrn com abstract 2593629 85 the icj articulated the concept of specially affected states in a 1969 decision concerning the north sea continental shelf germany denmark and the netherlands had sought a ruling on a dispute regarding jurisdiction over this mineral rich area the icj found that these three states alone could determine custom for all other countries because they were the only ones with an interest in the shelf and so long as other countries did not protest their practice would reflect customary law north sea continental shelf federal republic of germany netherlands judgment of 20 february 1969 1969 icj 3 86 the united states captured this concept in restatement third of the foreign relations law of the u s sec 102 1997 87 unlike the case of a specific interest such as jurisdiction over a coast in the case of war all states are affected regardless of their participation thereby diminishing the role of specially affected states in war erakat us v the red cross 240 42 88 victor kattan argues that it is more difficult to establish new custom when it contravenes an existing norm especially in the case of a jus cogens or compelling norm from which no derogation is permitted such as the prohibition of the use of force accordingly only by accepting the view that the prohibition of the use of force is not jus cogens and that the rule in article 2 4 of the un charter is dead notwithstanding arguments to the contrary can the conceptual leap be made that a new he gemonic law has arisen led by the united states the united kingdom australia and israel that has n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 5 297 modified the prohibition on the use of force to allow for preventive self defence kattan furthering the war on terrorism through international law how the united states and the united kingdom resurrected the bush doctrine on using preventive military force to combat terrorism journal on the use of force and international law 5 no 1 2017 32 33 doi 10 1080 20531702 2017 1376929 89 unga human rights council report of the special rapporteur on extrajudicial summary or arbitrary executions philip alston un doc a hrc 14 24 add 6 28 may 2010 http www2 ohchr org english bodies hrcouncil docs 14session a hrc 14 24 add6 pdf 90 feldman and blau consent and advise 91 amos yadlin ethical dilemmas in fighting terrorism jerusalem center for public affairs 4 no 8 25 november 2004 http www jcpa org brief brief004 8 htm 92 ibid 93 ibid 94 asa kasher and amos yadlin military ethics of fighting terror an israeli perspective journal of military ethics 4 no 1 2005 3 32 doi 10 1080 15027570510014642 95 amos harel the philosopher who gave the idf moral justification in gaza haaretz 6 february 2009 https www haaretz com 1 5071578 96 hcj 9132 07 al bassiouni v prime minister judgment of 30 january 2008 http elyon1 court gov il files_eng 07 320 091 n25 07091320 n25 pdf 97 hcj 2461 01 can an v idf military commander in judea and samaria 2001 unpublished 98 the disengagement plan general outline 18 april 2004 israel ministry of foreign affairs foreign policy http www mfa gov il mfa foreignpolicy peace mfadocuments pages dis engagement 20plan 20 20general 20outline aspx 99 international committee of the red cross convention v respecting the rights and duties of neutral powers and persons during war on land the hague 18 october 1907 art 1 https ihl databases icrc org applic ihl ihl nsf intro 200 opendocument 100 in the same decision the tribunal considered a territory occupied even though the occupy ing army had partially evacuated certain parts of the territory and lost control over the population as long as it could at any time assume physical control of any part of the territory harvard program on humanitarian policy and conflict research legal aspects of israel s disengagement plan under international humanitarian law policy brief boston hpcr 2010 8 101 prosecutor v naletilic international criminal tribunal of yugoslavia judgment of 31 march 2003 para 217 as quoted in elizabeth stubbins occupation armed conflict and the legal aspects of the relationship between israel the west bank and the gaza strip a resource for practitioners policy brief boston hpcr 2008 http eprints lse ac uk 25175 102 ari shavit gaza plan aims to freeze the peace process haaretz 6 october 2004 http www haaretz com top pm aide gaza plan aims to freeze the peace process 1 136686 103 international criminal court situation on registered vessels of comoros greece and cam bodia art 53 1 report 6 november 2014 para 16 104 israel has without doubt at all times relevant to the mandate of the mission exercised effective control over the gaza strip the mission is of the view that the circumstances of this con trol establish that the gaza strip remains occupied by israel the provisions of the fourth geneva convention therefore apply at all relevant times with regard to the obligations of israel towards 298 n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 5 the population of the gaza strip unga human rights council 12th sess human rights in palestine and other occupied arab territories report of the united nations fact finding mission on the gaza conflict un doc a hrc 12 48 676 15 september 2009 para 276 105 the removal of settlers and most military forces will not end israel s control over gaza israel plans to reconfigure its occupation of the territory but it will remain an occupying power with responsibility for the welfare of the civilian israel disengagement will not end gaza occupation human rights watch 28 october 2004 https www hrw org news 2004 10 28 israel disengagement will not end gaza occupation 106 although not directly bearing on the issue of israeli targeting note that the israeli position deprives members of national liberation movements of any belligerent immunity for their attacks on israeli targets including those that qualify as military objectives schmitt and merriam tyranny of context 31 107 the existing laws of war regulating combat were outdated creating a need to formulate a fifth geneva convention because the fourth has lost much of its relevance dan harel asym metrical warfare in the gaza strip military and strategic affairs 4 no 1 2012 22 http www inss org il publication asymmetrical warfare in the gaza strip a test case 108 israeli military operations against gaza 2000 2008 journal of palestine studies 38 no 3 2009 122 doi 10 1525 jps 2009 xxxviii 3 122 109 leigh and geraghty name of the game is assassination 110 samera esmeir colonial experiments in gaza jadaliyya 14 july 2014 http www jadaliyya com pages index 8482 colonial experiments in gaza 111 kasher and yadlin military ethics of fighting terror 17 112 see the debate between asa kasher amos yadlin and michael walzer israel civilians and combatants in new york review of books 58 no 8 14 may 2009 https www nybooks com articles 2009 05 14 israel civilians combatants see also israel and the rules of war an exchange new york review of books 56 no 10 11 june 2009 https www nybooks com articles 2009 06 11 israel the rules of war an exchange 113 schmitt and merriam tyranny of context 8 114 idf soldier 611701 anything still there is as good as dead testimony from gaza 2014 in breaking the silence database http www breakingthesilence org il testimonies database 611701 115 ruth margalit hadar goldin and the hannibal directive the new yorker 6 august 2014 http www newyorker com news news desk hadar goldin hannibal directive 116 max blumenthal the hannibal directive how israel killed its own troops and massacred palestinians to prevent soldier s capture alternet 2 september 2014 http www alternet org hannibal directive how israels secret military doctrine deliberately killed soldiers and massacred 117 william booth the military operation in gaza that still haunts israel one year later washington post 4 august 2015 https www washingtonpost com world the military operation in gaza that still haunts israel one year later 2015 08 03 915859a8 3480 11e5 b835 61ddaa99c73e_story html utm_term f52983d3229f 118 international committee of the red cross convention iii relative to the treat ment of prisoners of war geneva 12 august 1949 https ihl databases icrc org ihl intro 375 opendocument 119 pcati v goi para 39 n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 5 299 120 kristen e eichensehr on target the israeli supreme court and the expansion of targeted killings yale law journal 116 no 8 2007 1873 doi 10 2307 20455778 121 ibid 1879 122 harel the philosopher who gave the idf moral justification in gaza 123 international committee of the red cross interpretive guidance on the notion of direct participation in hostilities under international humanitarian law may 2009 http www refworld org docid 4a670dec2 html 124 unga report of the special rapporteur on extrajudicial summary or arbitrary executions 125 international covenant on civil and political rights art 6 126 tim butcher israel attack on gaza fragile peace shattered again the telegraph 27 december 2008 http www telegraph co uk news worldnews middleeast palestinianauthor ity 3981502 israel attack on gaza fragile peace shattered again html 127 harriet sherwood in gaza hamas fighters are among civilians there is nowhere else for them to go the guardian 24 july 2014 https www theguardian com world 2014 jul 24 gaza hamas fighters military bases guerrilla war civilians israel idf 128 in israel s 2014 assault on gaza for example 7 5 percent of all israelis killed by palestin ians were civilians while 70 percent of all palestinians killed by israel were civilians neve gordon and nicola perugini human shielding and urban warfare in israel palestine society space 19 october 2015 http societyandspace org 2015 10 19 human shielding and urban warfare in israelpalestine by neve gordon and nicola perugini 129 fatalities during operation cast lead b tselem the israeli information center for human rights in the occupied territories n d http www btselem org statistics fatalities during cast lead by date of event 130 harel the philosopher who gave the idf moral justification in gaza 131 pcati v goi para 23 132 sanaa kamel and zaher fahim israel s knock on the roof policy a three minute race with death al akhbar english 15 july 2014 http english al akhbar com node 20750 a 2014 un commission investigated fifteen cases of israeli airstrikes on residential buildings in which 216 people were killed including 115 children united nations office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs ocha occupied palestinian territory key figures on the 2014 hostilities 23 june 2015 https www ochaopt org content key figures 2014 hostilities 133 schmitt and merriam tyranny of context 49 134 international committee of the red cross protocol additional to the geneva conven tions of 12 august 1949 protocol i 135 ocha gaza initial rapid assessment 27 august 2014 http reliefweb int report occupied palestinian territory gaza initial rapid assessment 27 august 2014 136 letter dated 27 april 2015 from the secretary general addressed to the president of the security council un doc s 2015 286 27 april 2015 https www securitycouncilreport org atf cf 7b65bfcf9b 6d27 4e9c 8cd3 cf6e4ff96ff9 7d s_2015_286 pdf chris gunness response to the idf closing the criminal investigation into the shelling near the unrwa school in rafah gaza on august 2014 unrwa 26 august 2016 http www unrwa org newsroom official statements record response idf closing criminal investigation shelling near unrwa 300 n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 5 137 isabel kershner israel clears troops in airstrike near school in 2014 gaza war new york times 25 august 2016 http www nytimes com 2016 08 25 world middleeast israel gaza war html _r 0 138 michael schwartz israel warns gaza residents to evacuate before strikes cnn 13 july 2014 http www cnn com 2014 07 13 world meast mideast tensions the testimony of israeli soldiers from the 2014 onslaught similarly evidences the inefficacy of warnings e g if roof knocking was conducted and no one came out after a few minutes then the assumption was that there was no one there and not enough time for everyone to leave in breaking the silence database http www breakingthesilence org il testimonies database 568083 and http www breakingthesilence org il testimonies database 291321 139 b tselem s findings harm to civilians significantly higher in second half of operation pillar of defense b tselem 8 may 2013 http www btselem org press_releases 20130509_pillar_of_defense_report 140 ocha key figures on the 2014 hostilities 141 jim zanotti u s security assistance to the palestinian authority washington dc con gressional research service 2010 https www fas org sgp crs mideast r40664 pdf 142 the idf also felt after the first week or so that the palestinians the palestinian se curity forces were there and they could trust them as a matter of fact a good portion of the israeli army went off to gaza from the west bank think about that for a minute and the commander was absent for eight straight days that shows the kind of trust they were putting in these people now speech by lieutenant general keith dayton as quoted in ibid 24 143 david poort the al madhoun assassination al jazeera 25 january 2011 http www aljazeera com palestinepapers 2011 01 201112512109241314 html 144 unga human rights council human rights in palestine and other occupied arab 145 dr ibrahim khraishi palestinian ambassador to the united nations in geneva interview by the author grand park hotel ramallah 31 july 2016 146 noga kadman rafah crossing who holds the keys tel aviv gisha legal center for freedom of movement march 2009 http www gisha org userfiles file publications rafah_re port_eng pdf 147 jean pierre filiu from deep state to islamic state the arab counter revolution and its jihadi legacy oxford oxford university press 2015 229 48 148 yossi lempkowicz egypt blames hamas for continuing bloodshed in gaza missing peace 18 july 2014 http missingpeace eu en 2014 07 egypt blames hamas for continuing bloodshed in gaza 149 egyptian army delegation visits israel middle east monitor 12 april 2014 https www middleeastmonitor com 20140412 egyptian army delegation visits israel 150 adam rasgon ex saudi intel chief iran is using hamas to destabilize region jerusa lem post 11 july 2016 http www jpost com middle east hamas and saudis spar over irans role in middle east 460077 151 saudi arabia vows to disarm anti israeli groups in gaza strip amn news 7 february 2016 https www almasdarnews com article saudi arabia vows disarm anti israeli groups gaza strip territories n o t e s t o c h a p t e r 5 a n d c o n c l u s i o n 301 152 saudi delegation visits israel in latest sign of growing ties bridges for peace 25 july 2016 http www bridgesforpeace com 2016 07 saudi delegation visits israel latest sign growing ties 153 international criminal court the principle of complementarity in practice icc otp 2003 https www icc cpi int nr rdonlyres 20bb4494 70f9 4698 8e30 907f631453ed 281984 complementarity pdf 154 united nations independent commission of inquiry on the 2014 gaza conflict report of the independent commission of inquiry on the 2014 gaza conflict un doc a hrc 29 52 24 june 2015 and united nations independent commission of inquiry on the 2014 gaza con flict detailed findings of the commission of inquiry on the 2014 gaza conflict un doc a hrc 29 crp 4 24 june 2015 http www ohchr org en hrbodies hrc coigazaconflict pages reportcoigaza aspx unsc letter dated 27 april 2015 from the secretary general ad dressed to the president of the security council un doc s 2015 286 27 april 2015 para 32 https undocs org s 2015 286 155 noura erakat who is afraid of the international criminal court jadaliyya 12 january 2015 http www jadaliyya com pages index 20523 who is afraid of the international criminal court 156 in its 2015 law of war manual the u s department of defense made similar proposi tions about a revised proportionality assessment that tolerates large numbers of civilian casualties adil ahmad haque the defense department s indefensible position on killing human shields just security 22 june 2015 https www justsecurity org 24077 human shields law war manual 157 amnon brazili how peres sees the future haaretz 28 november 1994 repr as for peres yet another vision report on israeli settlement in the occupied territories 5 no 1 janu ary 1995 2 chris hedges arafat and peres confer on accord new york times 10 december 1993 http www nytimes com 1993 12 10 world arafat and peres confer on accord html leila farsakh palestinian labor flows to the israeli economy a finished story journal of palestine studies 32 no 1 2002 13 27 156 ari shavit the enemy within haaretz 29 august 2002 http www haaretz com the enemy within 1 35604 scott ratner there is no co existence with cancer right wing israelis demand gov t give military free hand to fight palestinians mondoweiss 9 october 2015 http mondoweiss net 2015 10 existence military palestinians sthash ej3icdpd dpuf c o n c l u s i o n 1 b tselem statistics on settlements and settler population http www btselem org settle ments statistics also see hearings before the subcommittee on immigration and naturalization of the judiciary committee of the u s senate 95th cong 1st sess on the question of west bank settlements and the treatment of arabs in the israeli occupied territories 17 and 18 october 1977 statement of john ruedy israeli land acquisition in occupied territory 1967 77 124 133 according to ruedy 15 000 settlers lived in the west bank in 1976 2 ben white did israeli apartheid wall really stop suicide bombing the electronic intifada 10 january 2014 https electronicintifada net blogs ben white did israeli apartheid wall really stop suicide bombings 302 n o t e s t o c o n c l u s i o n 3 israel jerusalem palestinians stripped of status human rights watch 8 august 2017 https www hrw org news 2017 08 08 israel jerusalem palestinians stripped status 4 akiva eldar the jewish majority is history haaretz 16 october 2012 http www haaretz com israel news the jewish majority is history premium 1 470233 the palestinian central bureau of statistics pcbs predicts that palestinians will outnumber jews by 2020 see dpa palestinians to outnumber jewish population by 2020 says pa report haaretz 1 january 2013 https www haaretz com middle east news palestinians to outnumber jewish population by 2020 says pa report 1 491122 in november 2017 israel arrested members of the pcbs collecting demographic data including information from palestinians in east jerusalem see ibrahim husseini israel arrests palestinians over population count al jazeera 22 november 2017 http www aljazeera com news 2017 11 israel arrests palestinians population count 171122151547713 html 5 joseph chamie israeli palestinian population growth and its impact on peace pass blue 2 february 2014 http www passblue com 2014 02 02 israeli palestinian population growth and its impact on peace 6 as defined by the un international convention on the suppression and punishment of the crime of apartheid 18 july 1976 1015 unts 14861 https treaties un org doc publication unts volume 201015 volume 1015 i 14861 english pdf 7 barak ravid david landau aluf benn and shameul rosner olmert to haaretz two state solution or israel is done for haaretz 20 november 2007 https www haaretz com news olmert to haaretz two state solution or israel is done for 1 234201 8 m s ehud barak breaks the apartheid barrier the economist 15 february 2010 https www economist com blogs democracyinamerica 2010 02 israel_demography_democracy_or_apartheid 9 jeremy sharon bennett we will annex ma ale adumim first then all of area c jerusalem post 2 january 2017 http www jpost com arab israeli conflict bennett we will annex maaleh adumim first and then the rest of area c 477236 10 the levy commission report on the legal status of building in judea and samaria 21 june 2012 https israelipalestinian procon org sourcefiles the levy commission report on the legal status of building in judea and samaria pdf 11 united nations office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs ocha occupied palestinian territory area c humanitarian response plan fact sheet 3 september 2010 https www ochaopt org content area c humanitarian response plan fact sheet 12 in a march 2012 poll commissioned by the knesset television station 75 percent of the jewish public supported the transfer of at least some arab israelis as part of a peace deal with the palestinians including 28 percent who believed all arab israelis should be forcibly transferred u s department of state bureau of democracy human rights and labor 2008 country reports on human rights practices israel and the occupied territories 25 february 2009 https www state gov j drl rls hrrpt 2008 nea 119117 htm 13 barak ravid lieberman s peace plan pay israeli arabs to move to palestinian state haaretz 28 november 2014 https www haaretz com lieberman pay israeli arabs to move to palestinian state 1 5337259 14 david b green rage neglect and transfer the israeli arab region lieberman wants to give to the palestinians haaretz 11 december 2017 https www haaretz com israel news premium neglect and transfer the israeli arab region lieberman wants to give to the palestinians 1 56 28275 n o t e s t o c o n c l u s i o n 303 15 peter beinart kerry was wrong in israel there may never be apartheid in the west bank it s already here haaretz 1 may 2014 https www haaretz com opinion pre mium 1 588272 benjamin pogrund why israel is nothing like apartheid south africa new york times 31 march 2017 https www nytimes com 2017 03 31 opinion why israel is nothing like apartheid south africa html ari shavit a wake up call celebrating half a century of israeli occupation haaretz 7 april 2016 https www haaretz com opinion premium 1 713117 16 an urgent statement to the israeli public by a group of palestinian academics and activists palestine israel journal 7 nos 3 4 17 november 2000 http www pij org details php id 267 17 plo time to end dark chapter of apartheid middle east monitor 4 october 2017 https www middleeastmonitor com 20171004 plo time to end dark chapter of apartheid abbas israel s goal with trump s backing is consolidation of an apartheid regime haaretz 1 january 2018 https www haaretz com middle east news palestinians 1 832445 18 united nations general assembly unga resolution 31 6 a policies of apartheid of the government of south africa un doc a res 31 6 a k 26 october 1976 https documents dds ny un org doc resolution gen nr0 301 89 img nr030189 pdf openelement also see noura erakat rethinking israel palestine beyond bantustans beyond reservations the nation 21 march 2013 https www thenation com article rethinking israel palestine beyond bantustans beyond reservations 19 the description of israel s settler colonial expansion as an eliminatory project draws on patrick wolfe s framework of the logic of elimination discussed at greater length in chapter 1 see patrick wolfe settler colonialism and the elimination of the native journal of genocide research 8 no 4 2006 387 409 http www kooriweb org foley resources pdfs 89 pdf 20 settler colonialism seeks to supersede the conditions of its operation lorenzo veracini introducing settler colonial studies 1 no 1 2011 3 doi 10 1080 2201473x 2011 10648799 21 see my discussion of these aims in noura erakat whiteness as property in israel re vival rehabilitation and removal harvard journal on racial ethnic justice 31 2015 69 104 22 suhad bishara adalah s position paper on prawer ii the israeli government s new plan to forcibly displace and dispossess palestinian bedouin citizens of israel from their land in the naqab negev adalah january 2017 https www adalah org en content view 9049 patrick strickland negev israel razes pales tinian village for 113th time al jazeera 18 may 2017 https www aljazeera com news 2017 05 israel razes palestinian bedouin village 113th time 170517075143632 html 23 israel jerusalem palestinians stripped of status human rights watch 8 august 2017 https www hrw org news 2017 08 08 israel jerusalem palestinians stripped status danielle jefferis the center of life policy institutionalizing statelessness in east jerusalem jerusalem quarterly no 50 2012 94 http www palestine studies org jq fulltext 78495 24 forget about him he s not here israel s control of palestinian residency in the west bank and gaza human rights watch 5 february 2012 https www hrw org report 2012 02 05 forget about him hes not here israels control palestinian residency west bank and akiva eldar israel admits it revoked residency rights of a quarter million palestinians haaretz 12 june 2012 https www haaretz com israel admits it revoked palestinians residency since 1967 1 5176492 25 israel family reunification ruling is discriminatory human rights watch 17 may 2006 https www hrw org news 2006 05 17 israel family reunification ruling discriminatory 304 n o t e s t o c o n c l u s i o n israel must repeal the discriminatory citizenship and entry into israel law amnesty in ternational 19 february 2017 https reliefweb int report occupied palestinian territory israel must repeal discriminatory citizenship and entry israel 26 see the discriminatory laws database adalah 25 september 2017 https www adalah org en content view 7771 27 badil ongoing nakba education center http www ongoingnakba org en gregg carlstorm palestinians testify to ongoing nakba al jazeera 15 may 2014 http www al jazeera com news middleeast 2014 05 palestinians testify ongoing nakba 201451561986950 html mosheer amer palestine commemorates 67 years of ongoing nakba middle east eye 15 may 2015 http www middleeasteye net columns palestine commemorates 67 years ongoing nakba 873667795 bds national committee bnc bds upholding our rights resisting the ongoing nakba palestinian grassroots anti apartheid wall campaign 15 may 2017 https www stopthewall org 2017 05 15 bds upholding our rights resisting ongoing nakba 28 a s al khasawneh and r hatano the realization of economic social and cultural rights the human rights dimensions of population transfer including the implantation of set tlers un commission on human rights sub commission on the prevention of discrimination and protection of minorities un doc e cn 4 sub 2 1993 17 6 july 1993 6 para 14 http www refworld org pdfid 3b00f4194 pdf 29 international convention on the suppression and punishment of the crime of apartheid arts ii c and ii d 30 israel west bank separate and unequal human rights watch 19 december 2010 https www hrw org news 2010 12 19 israel west bank separate and unequal amnesty inter national troubled waters palestinians denied fair access to water london amnesty international 2009 https www amnestyusa org pdf mde150272009en pdf 31 un committee on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination consideration of reports comments and information submitted by states parties under article 9 of the conven tion un doc cerd c sr 2132 22 february 2012 https unispal un org dpa dpr unispal nsf 0 cd27f13e032f68a285257aad005afad0 32 richard falk and virginia tilley israeli practices towards the palestinian people and the question of apartheid palestine and the israeli occupation economic and social commission for western asia 2017 https electronicintifada net sites default files 2017 03 un_apartheid_report _15_march_english_final_ pdf 33 israel imposes apartheid regime on palestinians un report reuters 15 march 2017 http www reuters com article us israel palestinians report iduskbn16m2in 34 ibid 35 plo condemns un for removing report accusing israel of apartheid iran daily 19 march 2017 http iran daily com news 189587 html 36 osamah khalil who are you the plo and the limits of representation al shabaka 18 march 2013 https al shabaka org briefs who are you plo and limits representation 37 abbas account of departure from safed is contradictory jerusalem post 18 may 2011 http www jpost com diplomacy and politics abbas account of departure from safed is contradictory elhanan miller why mahmoud abbas is israel s best part ner for peace new york times 1 march 2017 https www nytimes com 2017 03 01 n o t e s t o c o n c l u s i o n 305 opinion why mahmoud abbas is israels best partner for peace html mtrref www google com assettype opinion tariq dana comments although the pa was supposed to be subordinate to the plo it gradually positioned itself at the center of palestinian politics it exercised control over the plo forces at the expense of their political pluralism enforcing political fragmentation and autocratic governance dana the prolonged decay of the palestinian national movement national identities 2017 5 https doi org 10 1080 14608944 2017 1343813 38 alaa tartir the evolution and reform of palestinian security forces 1993 2013 stability 4 no 1 2015 https www stabilityjournal org articles 10 5334 sta gi 39 tariq dana the beginning of the end of palestinian security coordination with israel jadaliyya 4 july 2014 http www jadaliyya com pages index 18379 the beginning of the end of palestinian security c 40 ibid 41 ibid 42 alaa tartir how us security aid to pa sustains israel s occupation al jazeera 2 de cember 2016 http www aljazeera com indepth features 2016 11 security aid pa sustains israel occupation 161103120213593 html 43 glen sean coulthard red skin white masks rejecting the colonial politics of recognition minneapolis university of minnesota press 2014 156 44 ibid 45 noura erakat the un statehood bid palestine s flirtation with multilateralism in land of blue helmets the united nations and the arab world ed vijay prashad and karim makdisi 95 114 minneapolis university of minnesota press 2016 46 khaled elgindy former adviser to the plo negotiations affairs department telephone interview by the author 22 march 2018 47 the 1950 icj advisory opinion on article 4 paragraph 2 of the un charter holds that recommendation of the security council is the condition precedent to the decision of the assembly by which the admission is affected 48 for a wide range of essays on the context of the un statehood bid see noura erakat and mouin rabbani eds aborted state the un initiative and new palestinian junctures washington dc tadween 2013 49 john quigley the palestine declaration to the international criminal court the state hood issue in is there a court for gaza ed chantal meloni and gianni tognoni 429 40 the hague t m c asser press 2011 50 marlise simons court rejects palestinians in their bid for a tribunal new york times 3 april 2012 http www nytimes com 2012 04 04 world middleeast international criminal court rejects palestinian bid for tribunal html 51 on the heels of the arab uprisings that began in december 2010 and had already begun to rock egypt and tunisia al jazeera published confidential documents leaked from the plo s negotiations unit the palestine papers as they came to be known confirmed what many analysts already knew about the peace talks in pursuit of an agreement palestinian negotiators were willing to make remarkable concessions that further disemboweled popular palestinian claims enshrined in general assembly resolutions customary law and human rights norms palestinians across the diaspora among israel s citizens and within the territories revolted 306 n o t e s t o c o n c l u s i o n against the palestinian authority their demands ranged from resuscitating the palestinian national council for the sake of democratizing decision making on behalf of palestinians to dissolving the oslo accords and the palestinian authority they created the expiration of pa president mahmoud abbas s electoral mandate to govern in 2010 exacerbated disdain for the institution the palestinian leadership announced the statehood bid in this context though it failed to thoroughly appease palestinian frustrations the bid managed to provide the pa with a momentary reprieve the statehood bid captured the attention of the international community and of palestinians especially who braced themselves for a potential break in the debilitating status quo erakat un statehood bid 10 12 52 with a vote of 138 in favor 9 against and 1 abstention unga resolution 67 19 status of palestine in the united nations un doc a res 67 19 4 december 2012 https unispal un org dpa dpr unispal nsf 0 19862d03c564fa2c85257acb004ee69b 53 harriet sherwood and paul lewis middle east peace talk negotiators agree that all issues are on the table the guardian 30 july 2013 https www theguardian com world 2013 jul 30 middle east peace talks livni erekat final agreement 54 tariq dana a resistance economy what is it and can it provide an alternative pal papers series berlin rosa luxemburg stiftung 2014 tariq dana the palestinian capi talists that have gone too far al shabaka 14 january 2014 https al shabaka org briefs palestinian capitalists have gone too far 55 full video and transcript trump s speech recognizing jerusalem as the capital of is rael new york times 6 december 2017 http www nytimes com 2017 12 06 world middleeast trump israel speech transcript html peter baker an embassy in jerusalem trump promises but so did predecessors new york times 18 november 2016 https www nytimes com 2016 11 19 world middleeast jerusalem us embassy trump html 56 full video and transcript trump s speech recognizing jerusalem 57 abbas snubs us vice president pence over jerusalem move al jazeera 10 decem ber 2017 www aljazeera com news 2017 12 abbas snubs vice president pence jerusalem move 171210064514836 html 58 carol morello and ruth eglash u n resoundingly rejects u s decision on jerusa lem in pointed rebuke washington post 21 december 2017 www washingtonpost com world national security un begins debate on jerusalem resolution 2017 12 21 37cf9bf8 e65d 11e7 833f 155031558ff4_story html utm_term db1a6f50fe7e 59 michael schwirtz and rick gladstone u s vetoes u n resolution condemning move on jerusalem new york times 18 december 2017 www nytimes com 2017 12 18 world middleeast jerusalem un security council html 60 us threatens to cut unrwa funding unless palestinians engage in peace talks middle east eye 2 january 2018 www middleeasteye net news us may halt unrwa funding until palestine returns negotiating table 884720630 61 see e g the discussion of u s obstructionism in the introduction 62 rashid khalidi brokers of deceit how the us has undermined peace in the middle east boston beacon press 2013 john j mearsheimer and stephen m walt the israel lobby and u s foreign policy new york farrar straus and giroux 2008 n o t e s t o c o n c l u s i o n 307 63 palestinians plan to join 60 u n bodies treaties al arabiya english 28 april 2014 http english alarabiya net en news middle east 2014 04 28 palestinians plan to join 60 u n bodies treaties html 64 vijay prashad cites mahmoud abbas s letter to un secretary general ban ki moon of july 13 requesting international protection prashad holding out frontline india 19 sep tember 2014 65 erakat un statehood bid 15 66 see e g susan akram the palestinian statehood strategy in the united nations les sons from namibia jadaliyya 3 october 2011 http www jadaliyya com details 24468 the palestinian statehood strategy in the united nations lessons from namibia and stephanie koury legal strategies at the united nations a comparative look at namibia western sahara and palestine in international law and the israeli palestinian conflict a rights based approach to middle east peace ed susan m akram michael dumper michael lynk and iain scobbie 147 83 new york routledge 2010 67 u o umozurike law and self determination in namibia journal of modern african studies 8 no 4 december 1970 585 603 68 julio faundez the relevance of international law third world quarterly 8 no 2 april 1986 541 7 1974 16 23 69 g j eddy gouraige the united nations and decolonization the black scholar 5 no 70 ibid 542 71 international status of south west africa advisory opinion of 11 july 1950 1950 icj 128 72 admissibility of hearings of petitioners by the committee on south west africa advisory opinion of 1 june 1956 1956 icj 23 73 faundez relevance of international law 543 74 unsc resolution 539 namibia un doc s res 539 28 october 1983 http www refworld org docid 3b00f16c2c html unsc resolution 385 namibia un doc s res 385 30 january 1976 http www refworld org docid 3b00f1732c html unsc resolution 481 israel syrian arab republic un doc s res 481 1980 26 november 1980 http avalon law yale edu 20th_century un481 asp 75 unsc resolution 264 the situation in namibia un doc s res 264 20 march 1969 http www refworld org docid 3b00f20c14 html 76 unsc resolution 276 the situation in namibia un doc s res 276 30 january 1970 para 5 http www refworld org docid 3b00f2112b html 77 legal consequences for states of the continued presence of south africa in namibia south west africa notwithstanding security council resolution 276 1970 advisory opinion of 21 june 1971 1971 icj 16 para 53 78 faundez relevance of international law 552 79 as explained by one south african senator it stands to reason that when we talk of the natives right of self government in those areas we cannot mean that we intend by that to cut large slices of south africa and turn them into independent states umozurike law and self determination in namibia 596 308 n o t e s t o c o n c l u s i o n 80 christopher wren namibia achieves independence after 75 years of pretoria s rule new york times 21 march 1990 81 unsc resolution 435 namibia un doc s res 435 29 september 1978 https peacemaker un org sites peacemaker un org files nm_780929_scr435 281978 29 pdf 82 richard falk palestine s horizon toward a just peace new york pluto press 2017 9 83 its 2004 decision held that the construction of the wall in the west bank as opposed to along the 1949 armistice line violated the palestinian right to self determination contravened the fourth geneva convention and could not be justified as a measure of israeli self defense it advised israel to terminate its breaches of international law it is under an obligation to cease forthwith the works of construction of the wall being built in the occupied palestinian territory including in and around east jerusalem to dismantle forthwith the structure therein situated the court also observed that all states had an obligation not to recognize the illegal situation resulting from the construction of the wall and not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by such construction legal consequences of the construction of the wall in the occupied palestinian territory advisory opinion of 9 july 2004 2004 icj 63 paras 163 160 84 omar barghouti bds a global movement for freedom justice al shabaka 4 may 2010 https bdsmovement net files 2011 02 alshabakabrief pdf see also noura erakat beyond sterile negotiations looking for a leadership with a strategy al shabaka 1 february 2012 https al shabaka org briefs beyond sterile negotiations looking leadership strategy 85 barghouti bds a global movement for freedom justice 86 annelien de dijn the politics of enlightenment from peter gay to jonathan israel the historical journal 55 no 3 2012 786 87 noura erakat bds in the usa 2001 2010 middle east report 40 no 255 https www merip org mer mer255 bds usa 2001 2010 88 daniel kreps lorde cancels tel aviv concert after calls to boycott israel roll ing stone 24 december 2017 https www rollingstone com music news lorde cancels tel aviv concert after calls to boycott israel w514660 89 hilary rose and steven rose stephen hawking s boycott hits israel where it hurts science the guardian 13 may 2013 https www theguardian com science political science 2013 may 13 stephen hawking boycott israel science dave zirin why michael bennett walked away from the nfl s israel delegation the nation 13 february 2017 https www thenation com article why michael bennett walked away from the nfls israel delegation 90 laurie goodstein presbyterians vote to divest holdings to pressure israel new york times 20 june 2014 https www nytimes com 2014 06 21 us presbyterians debating israeli occupation vote to divest holdings html 91 ireland palestine solidarity campaign dublin city council votes to support palestinians bds movement discontinues hp contracts press release 9 april 2018 http www ipsc ie bds dublin city council votes to support palestinian bds movement discontinue hp contracts 92 see e g howard kohr remarks on iran at the american israel public affairs committee aipac conference video c span 5 march 2012 https www c span org video 304740 1 howard kohr remarks iran in 2014 israeli prime minister netanyahu closed his address at the aipac conference by decrying bds as a manifestation of anti semitism rather than a grassroots political n o t e s t o c o n c l u s i o n 309 tactic aimed at applying pressure on a state where diplomacy has failed netanyahu s aipac speech the full transcript haaretz 4 march 2014 https www haaretz com israel news 1 577920 93 the anti boycott law questions and answers the association for civil rights in israel 17 july 2011 https www acri org il en 2011 07 17 the anti boycott law questions and answers 94 doron peskin israel commits 25 million to new anti bds task force but what exactly will they do al monitor 23 december 2015 https www al monitor com pulse origi nals 2015 12 boycott bds movement israel government office gilad erdan html 95 noa landau and allison kaplan sommer israel says jewish voice for peace on bds blacklist activists will not be allowed entry haaretz 7 january 2018 https www haaretz com israel news 1 833385 96 barghouti bds erakat beyond sterile negotiations 97 erakat beyond sterile negotiations 98 mahmood mamdani the south africa moment journal of palestinian studies 45 no 1 2015 67 99 see stacy douglas and souzan lennon introduction canadian journal of law and society revue canadienne droit et société 29 2 141 143 doi 10 1017 cls 2014 9 because settler colonial ism is first and foremost a territorial project elimination is an organizing principle of settler colonial society rather than a one off occurrence 142 patrick wolfe traces of history elementary structures of race new york verso books 2016 100 nadim nashef palestinian youth assert right of return with direct actions the electronic intifada 11 september 2013 https electronicintifada net content palestinian youth assert right return direct action 12760 101 jared sexton the vel of slavery tracking the figure of the unsovereign critical sociology 42 no 4 5 2014 583 97 also discussed in erakat whiteness as property in israel 102 mottle wolfe jews living in judea is a civil right israel forever foundation 31 march 2018 https israelforever org interact blog jews_living_in_judea_is_a_civil_right sara yael hirschhorn if you can t say israeli settlers are civilians too you re propping up apologists for terror haaretz 31 march 2018 avinoam sharon how i became an evil settler haaretz 13 september 2010 https www haaretz com 1 5112453 nicola perugini and neve gordon the human right to dominate oxford oxford university press 2015 19 103 richard silverstein defending the indefensible settlements the guardian 13 july 2009 https www theguardian com commentisfree cifamerica 2009 jul 13 israel west bank settlements obama see the response to this claim by victor kattan from coexistence to conquest international law and the origins of the arab israeli conflict 1891 1949 new york pluto press 2009 117 45 104 lama abu odeh the limits of international law legalese jadaliyya 5 december 2012 http www jadaliyya com pages index 8800 the limits of international law legalese 105 amira hass palestinians embark on civil disobedience protests against de mographic segregation haaretz 16 november 2011 http www haaretz com palestinians embark on civil disobedience protests against demographic segregation 1 395820 106 linah alsaafin palestinians clarify goal of freedom rides challenge to segregated israeli buses the electronic intifada 14 november 2011 https electronicintifada net blogs linah alsaafin palestinians clarify goal freedom rides challenge segregated israeli buses 310 n o t e s t o c o n c l u s i o n 107 linah alsaafin freedom rides in the 21st century the electronic intifada 9 november 2011 https electronicintifada net blogs linah alsaafin freedom rides 21st century 108 alsaafin palestinians clarify goal of freedom rides challenge 109 in his work native scholar taiaiake alfred interrogates the relationship between nation hood and sovereignty to draw useful distinctions he explains that nationhood is about being being is who you are and a sense of who you are is arrived at through your relationships with other people your people so who we are tied with what we are a nation sovereignty is not a part of being it has to be conferred or granted it s a thing that can be given and thus can be taken away it s clearly a foreign concept because it occurs through an exercise of power over another alfred peace power righteousness an indigenous manifesto 2nd ed oxford oxford university press 2009 89 the arab people of palestine lost not only the battle for the political control of its own country it lost its country as well fayez a sayegh zionist colonialism in palestine palestine monographs no 1 beirut palestine research center 1965 17 110 ghassan kanafani men in the sun 1963 and return to haifa 1970 in men in the sun and other palestinian stories trans hilary kilpatrick boulder lynne reiner 1999 111 noa landau and jack khoury two state solution is over top palestinian diplomat says after trump s jerusalem speech haaretz 7 dec 2017 https www haaretz com middle east news palestinians premium 1 827369 112 walid khalidi thinking the unthinkable a sovereign palestinian state foreign affairs 56 no 4 1 july 1978 https www foreignaffairs com articles palestinian authority 1978 07 01 thinking unthinkable sovereign palestinian state 113 the nakba files symposium israel s colonial declaration of independence 2016 http nakbafiles org 2016 09 06 symposium israels colonial declaration of independence 114 sherene seikaly and max ajl of europe zionism and the jewish other in europe after derrida crisis and potentiality ed agnes czajka and bora isyar 120 33 edinburgh edinburgh university press 2013 115 a dirk moses scrutinizes australia s official apology to its indigenous communities and considers its value to a settler decolonization process and justice for indigenous communities gener ally the apology is only a moment in the process of negotiation then suggesting the opening up rather than closing down of political discourse as the determination of indigenous people to insist both on their autonomous agency and participate in the collective we of the australian political nation indicated moses official apologies reconciliation and settler colonialism australian indigenous alterity and political agency citizenship studies 15 no 2 2011 155 116 baruch kimmerling benny morris s shocking interview history news networks 26 january 2004 http historynewsnetwork org article 3166 117 asaf romirowsky and alexander joffe palestinians refugees forever haaretz 5 janu ary 2012 https www haaretz com opinion palestinians refugees forever 1 434508 118 nicole gaaouette and jamie crawford us cuts funding for palestinians following trump s twitter threat cnn 16 january 2018 https www cnn com 2018 01 16 politics us palestinian aid agency cut index html 119 trump netanyahu s deal of the century revealed middle east monitor 20 july 2017 https www middleeastmonitor com 20170720 trump netanyahus deal of the century revealed n o t e s t o c o n c l u s i o n 311 120 incommensurability is an acknowledgement that decolonization will require a change in the order of the world this is not to say that indigenous peoples or black and brown peoples take positions of dominance over white settlers the goal is not for everyone to merely swap spots on the settler colonial triad to take another turn on the merry go round the goal is to break the relentless structuring of the triad a break and not a compromise eve tuck and k wayne yang decolonization is not a metaphor decolonization indigeneity education society 1 no 1 2012 121 sexton the vel of slavery 122 this discussion is based on erakat whiteness as property in israel 123 gabriel ash the meaning of yair lapid jadaliyya 30 january 2013 http www jadaliyya com details 27931 the meaning of yair lapid 124 ibid 125 ammon raz krakotzkin the zionist return to the west and the mizrahi jewish perspective in orientalism and the jews ed ivan davidson kalmar and derek jonathan penslar 162 81 waltham brandeis university press 2005 126 andrea blanch interview with shlomit lir mizrahi jews in israel center for religious tolerance 2009 http www c r t org content research shlomit pdf 127 ella shohat reflections of an arab jew fellowship 64 nos 5 6 1998 4 128 in their struggles palestinians have already paved this path in coalitions with peoples and movements globally these efforts have included articulating solidarity between blacks and palestin ians solidarity with indigenous nations and antiracist coalitions at the durban review conference in 2001 as well as anti imperialist ones at the world social forum see hamid dabashi black lives matter and palestine a historic alliance al jazeera 6 september 2016 http www aljazeera com indepth opinion 2016 09 black lives matter palestine historic alliance 160906074912307 html rachel l swarns the racism walkout the overview u s and israelis quit racism talks over denunciation new york times 4 september 2001 http www nytimes com 2001 09 04 world racism walkout overview us israelis quit racism talks over denunciation html solidar ity from the south the world social forum declares its support to bds and to the palestinian people palestinian grassroots anti apartheid wall campaign 3 february 2014 https www stopthewall org 2014 02 03 solidarity south world social forum declares its support bds and palestinian people and ben norton palestinians support indigenous dakota pipeline protests we stand with standing rock salon 18 november 2016 https www salon com 2016 11 18 palestinians support indigenous nodapl protests we stand with standing rock 129 angela davis has highlighted how israel s perversion of the two state solution is em blematic of the dangers of political reform agendas this is especially true with regard to the prison industrial complex that is incapable of reformation surveillance mechanisms such as ankle bracelets framed as mitigative measures are part of an endemic structure of domination davis remarks during a panel discussion understand palestine intersectionally at the annual meeting of the middle east studies association washington dc 19 november 2017 130 waziyatawin malice enough in their hearts and courage enough in ours reflec tions on us indigenous and palestinian experiences under occupation settler colonial studies 2 no 1 2012 186 312 n o t e s t o c o n c l u s i o n 131 liberation is to be found in our practices not merely in our international status as glen sean coulthard says t hose struggling against colonialism must turn away from the colonial state and society and instead find in their own decolonial praxis the source of their liberation coulthard red skin white masks 48 in her seminal work audra simpson discusses alternative modes of sovereignty including nested sovereignty she is interested in how indigenous citizenships may move from these seductive inducements to perform for the state and the way they do a different kind of work through a narrative and memory based process of constructing and affording rights to each other simpson mohawk interruptus political life across the borders of settler states durham duke university press 2014 159 index note page numbers followed by m refer to maps those followed by n refer to notes with note number 164 abayat hussein 175 176 77 abbas mahmoud 154 160 306n51 abdelshafi haidar 140 144 145 147 48 abdullah king of jordan 51 abi saab georges 109 110 absentees property law of 1950 66 african national congress 230 31 african states support for legitimization of ahc see arab higher committee al ahmad sabah 126 27 aipac see american israel public affairs alfred taiaiake 310n109 algeria as class a mandate denial of rights associated with 39 as leader of global south 114 as model for liberation move ments 97 liberation movements 107 8 committee al jazeera 305 6n51 allon yigal 87 88 allon doctrine 87 88 89m alston philip 201 american israel public affairs committee amir yigal 170 apartheid regime s as international crime aipac 275n143 apartheid regime israel as 14 213 18 and against humanity 14 un work to remove 282n141 see also south africa bds movement 228 230 31 differences from south african case 215 16 in to obtain 29 30 plo 101 116 creasing international consensus on 217 israeli arguments against 215 palestinian arguments for 215 palestinian leader ship s collaboration and 218 palestinian strategic reasons for not stressing 215 and recognition of palestinian citizenship as end of jewish voting majority 213 14 suppression of un report on 14 15 217 as unsustainable 210 arab higher committee ahc 24 25 42 arab independence after world war i efforts arab league algiers summit 101 support of arab liberation front 106 arab national movement 73 92 arab states conflicts among in 1970s 130 and debate on resolution 242 72 74 77 78 lobbying of great powers for im mediate independence 35 36 refusal to recognize israel 65 78 arafat yasser and camp david peace talks 2000 171 72 and declaration of principles 165 66 as fatah spokesman 92 and geneva peace conference 277 78n37 and gulf war 137 and hamas challenge to plo 143 and interim palestinian state support for 98 104 112 118 19 on israeli violence in second intifada 175 177 and middle east peace conference 1991 2 144 148 149 154 156 57 160 and passive resistance to 314 israelis in gaza strip 166 and peace ne gotiation process 130 as plo chairman 92 and yom kippur war 100 arafat at un general assembly 1974 arafat s views on 113 call for democratic multi faith state in palestine 117 18 impact of 120 22 israel and 119 120 lobbying for invitation 113 15 as palestinian victory 95 96 98 99 recep tion of 119 20 speech of 116 117 19 strategy of 119 asad hafez 129 30 asfour hasan 155 160 ash gabriel 238 ashrawi hanan 132 33 140 144 145 148 151 154 164 65 al assad hafez 93 assassination as israeli tactic and civilian collateral damage justifications of 203 clandestine use before second intifada 177 78 continuation despite international objections 188 192 initial condemnations of 187 89 191 and international law as shaped by nations practices 183 86 israel legal work to justify 178 83 192 93 move toward legitimation after u s adop tion of tactic 191 193 ongoing protests against 192 in second intifada 176 77 178 assassination as u s tactic in war on terror 191 192 193 295 96n76 legal work to defend 192 93 in obama administration 192 and shaping of international law by nations practices 191 192 93 australian government apology for settler colonization in 310n115 awaysa fathiyya 59 al awlaki anwar 192 baker howard 124 baker james 144 45 151 balfour lord 26 27 29 31 balfour declaration inclusion in british mandate for palestine 38 precedence over league of nations covenant 37 38 45 260n104 see also british mandate government balfour declaration and creation of jewish national homeland british strategic goals and 30 consequences for arab population 32 and denial of palestinian status as nation 29 31 32 and denial of right of self determination 16 29 31 33 45 260n104 failure to consult palestine inhabitants on 3 26 31 37 40 illegality of 3 and juridical erasure of palestinian people 31 32 33 40 97 sovereign excep tion doctrine in 16 25 26 45 as violation of promises made to arab population 29 zionist lobbying for 27 29 31 barak ehud 170 72 177 214 223 barakat daoud 110 barghouti marwan 177 barghouti omar 229 baroody jamil murad 121 barrier construction by israel and destruction of palestinian cohesion 212m icj ruling on 220 308n83 preemptive self defense doctrine and 190 295n67 west bank land included within 211 israel 2004 182 begin menachem 80 82 88 90 131 132 33 beilin yossi 154 beirut plo roundtable in 1974 103 4 beit sourik village council v the government of ben eliezer binyamin 192 ben gurion david and martial law in israel 55 and 1967 war 268n20 and removals of palestinians 236 on resolution 181 271n86 on shifting of demographic bal ance in palestine 48 49 black september 93 blum yehuda zvi 79 80 81 82 83 bouchet richard 191 bouteflika abdelaziz 97 114 115 123 boycott divest and sanction bds move ment absence of decolonizing component to 231 34 human rights emphasis of 228 229 230 israeli responses to 230 lack of stance on political solution 229 230 231 234 limitations of 231 32 principles of 228 29 and strategy of direct confronta tion 231 success of 229 30 britain and debate on resolution 242 73 74 77 and egypt s nationalization of suez canal 67 and establishment of israel sovereign exception doctrine in 16 interventions in ottoman empire to pro tect christian and jewish minorities 30 palestine policy goals of 30 on plo non member observer status 121 22 and sui generis status of palestine establishment of 36 38 on un labeling of zionism as rac ism 126 27 see also balfour declaration index british mandate for palestine and british postwar exhaustion 44 british re linquishment of 51 creation of 16 failure to include palestinian national rights in 39 incorporation of balfour declaration into 38 and juridical erasure of palestinian people 97 and palestine as class a mandate 35 37 38 39 80 palestinians refusal to accept 40 zionist input into 39 british mandate government alienation of both palestinians and jews 44 deliberate under representation of palestinians in legislative council of 38 dual commit ment to arabs and jews in 32 impact of world war ii on 42 and jewish homeland as solution to postwar jewish refugee crisis 45 passing of palestine issue to un 44 45 plan for partition ing of palestine 25 43 44 position on palestinian independence 37 38 45 260n104 and sovereign exception in establishment of israel 25 26 support for creation of israel 16 23 26 violent suppression of arab revolt 25 26 see also balfour declaration brown george 74 75 buffum william 104 277 78n37 bush george h w administration and middle east peace conference 144 151 152 bush george w administration and guantanamo bay prison 8 and preemp tive self defense doctrine 188 91 camp david accords 1978 79 130 32 see also framework for peace in the middle east 1978 camp david peace talks 2000 170 71 215 220 caradon lord 75 76 carter james e jimmy 88 90 130 center for constitutional rights 9 center of life policy 216 cheney richard dick 188 89 chomsky noam 290n148 churchill winston 44 citizenship law in israel distinction between jewish national citizens and non jew citizens only 58 59 recognition of palestinian citizenship as end of jewish voting majority 213 14 315 civilians pre attack warning of as requirement in israeli law 204 300n138 rules of war protecting israeli changes to 197 205 clinton william j bill camp david peace negotiations under 170 palestinians hope for concessions from 166 and second in tifada 177 187 closed area policy of israel 56 cold war and u s support for israel 65 71 72 91 100 101 colonial powers erasure of palestinians effects of 22 instructive struggles against xiii international law as product of 6 9 12 13 248n25 interventions in ottoman empire to protect christian and jewish minori ties 30 palestinian efforts to challenge ongoing hegemony of 98 and sovereign exception doctrine 17 253n96 see also settler colonialism constructivists on international law 13 convention relative to the protection of civilian persons in time of war see geneva convention fourth coulthard glenn s 219 312n131 courts israeli rulings on sui generis status of occupied territories 83 86 273n107 see also supreme court of israel covenant of league of nations on communi ties right to determine their future 3 cuba 120 226 227 cultivation of waste lands 1948 israeli regulation 56 dajani omar m 287n64 damouni jamal salim 188 dana tariq 289n135 darwish mahmoud 103 116 142 165 davis angela 240 311n129 dayan moshe 93 267n15 dayton keith 218 decade for action to combat racism and racial discrimination 126 28 declaration of principles oslo i accord dop and arab normalization of rela tions with israel 167 critique of 160 64 damage to global perception of palestinian issue from 166 67 and enticement of palestinians with economic aid 289n136 lack of provisions for israeli withdrawal 161 164 and larger plo strategy 165 66 palestinian elites benefits from 167 289n135 plo benefits from 167 plo index 316 central council endorsement of 165 plo israeli agreement to 159 60 plo renunciation of armed struggle in 163 164 227 and rollback of plo s legal gains of 1970s 163 64 shaping of future nego tiations by 167 signing ceremony for 166 undermining of washington delegation by 161 162 63 164 65 u s as sole enforce ment authority for 161 162 164 defense emergency regulations ders 54 55 defense for children international palestine section 9 defensible borders concept and israeli settle ments in occupied territories 87 88 89m deif muhammad 166 deir yassin zionists massacre of villagers in 50 51 democratic front for the liberation of palestine 96 ders see defense emergency regulations al difa 24 25 differentiation policy of eu 13 14 diplomatic conference on the reaffirmation and application of international humanitarian law applicable in armed conflicts 109 10 djerdian ed 164 dop see declaration of principles dreyfus affair 27 255 56n17 east jerusalem see jerusalem east eban abba 71 75 76 91 economic coercion against israel effectiveness of 19 see also boycott divest and sanction bds movement egypt alignment with israel and u s led na tions in middle east 207 and 1948 war 52 53m and 1967 war 64 65 267n12 and 1973 war 93 100 opposition to expulsion of israel from un 123 24 peace agreements with israel 123 24 125 130 31 207 and peace negotiation pro cess 102 u s relations with 125 eisenhower dwight d 67 elon moreh case 85 273 74n116 274n122 emerson rupert 278n49 escwa see united nations economic and eshkol levi 61 62 91 266 67n11 esmeir samera 265n170 european enlightenment and jewish assimi social commission for western asia lation in europe failure of 27 256n17 and racial hierarchies 255n16 european states turn from support of israel 115 european union eu differentiation policy on israel 13 14 opposition to israeli use of military force in occupied territories 189 90 support for palestinian israeli peace process 19 falk robert 228 254n106 fanon frantz 21 22 239 fatah alignment with u s led nations in middle east 207 control of west bank by 206 300n142 and guerrilla warfare against israel 92 and interim palestinian state debate on 104 israeli assassination of leaders 177 and israel s gaza strip attacks 206 plo and 73 response to israeli air strikes 177 and rise of palestine liberation movement 92 rivalry with hamas 143 206 and second intifada 175 support for interim palestinian state 98 takeover of plo 92 96 willingness to negotiate with israel 101 and yom kippur war 100 faysal prince of saudi arabia 30 35 36 feith douglas 192 ferreira da silva denise 264n159 finkelstein menachem 181 82 fliescher ari 188 89 force protection israeli change to 197 200 ford gerald 124 275n143 framework for peace in the middle east 1978 131 32 138 palestinian rejection of 132 france and debate on resolution 242 76 77 egypt s nationalization of suez canal 67 and syrian arab kingdom ending of 36 future of palestine centering of palestinian claims and 237 38 dismantling of israeli settler colonialism as necessity in 236 38 inevitability of bloody conflict in 240 and possibilities beyond nation states 239 potential for peaceful jewish palestinian cohabitation 237 39 see also one state solution two state solution gaza strip 53m 66m brief israeli occupation in 1967 67 concentration of palestinian population in 216 israeli strategy to separate from west bank 209 10 as index israeli terror fighting laboratory 197 palestinians in as captives 211 remov als of palestinians from 216 17 see also occupied territories gaza strip israeli military attacks on 194 97 attacks on un buildings 204 5 208 casualties and destruction from 205 and civilian collateral damage justifications of 203 5 critique of israeli arguments justifying 195 97 297 98nn104 105 and designation of all members of terrorist or ganizations as targets 200 205 israeli ar guments justifying 194 95 larger middle east political polarization and 206 7 and laws of war protecting civilians 198 99 major attacks 2008 2014 195 97 motives for 195 96 muted international protests against 205 10 and palestinian psycho social distress levels 204 and recasting of issue from settler colonialism to terrorism 209 and refusal to distinguish between hamas military and civilian wings 202 general strike in palestine mandate 1936 23 24 general union of palestinian students 92 geneva convention fourth additional protocols and 107 11 179 200 234 as component of occupation law 69 israeli court rulings on 83 86 on israeli settle ments 61 62 81 prohibition on transfer ring or deporting of civilian populations article 49 61 62 69 protection of civilian rights in wartime 69 see also oc cupation law geneva conventions 1949 and regulation of war practices 185 revision of to legiti mize liberation movements additional protocols i and ii 107 11 179 200 234 on rules regulating international or non international conflict 179 80 geneva peace conference see peace conference on the middle east gil avi 160 global south influence at un 95 96 114 godley mcmurtrie 122 goldberg arthur 74 270n59 goldin hadar 199 200 goldstone report 206 great britain see britain greater israel as israeli goal 68 170 210 211 235 israeli public support for 210 122 317 great revolt 1936 39 24 25 41 44 british suppression of 25 26 41 43 and hobbling of palestinian ability to resist jewish incursions 26 42 impact on british policy 42 43 and influence of politics on legal interpretation 44 and martial law as tactic 26 41 42 palestinian casualties and property losses in 42 43 peel commission report on 25 and po litical influence on law 26 white paper 1939 on 25 43 44 gromyko andrei 74 group of 77 g77 109 111 114 15 guantanamo bay prison legal battle over 8 guerrilla warfare against israel battle of karama and 92 rise of 92 93 gulf war 1990 and middle east peace conference 137 and u s middle east status 137 and weakening of plo 137 140 143 habash george 96 103 104 105 haganah and armed struggle for palestine 44 hague regulations 1907 applicability to israeli settlements 81 83 84 as com ponent of occupation law 69 definition of military control in 195 israeli court rulings on 83 84 and regulation of war practices 185 silence on issue of civilian settlements 84 hamas alignment with anti u s middle east coalition 207 armed struggle by israeli designation as terrorism 196 97 capture and execution of israeli police man 152 53 capture of israeli soldier in raid on israel 199 conflict with plo 141 143 144 control of gaza strip 196 as elected leadership of palestinians since 2006 196 founding of 140 growth in influence 143 israeli assassinations of leadership 188 and israeli designation of all members of terrorist organizations as targets 201 5 israeli forced exiling of suspected leaders of 153 israel s refusal to distinguish between political and military arms of 201 2 jihad against israel 141 military operations against israel 143 suicide attacks by 170 ties to muslim brotherhood 207 hammuda yahya 92 hannibal directive 199 200 index 318 hamas harakat al muqawama al islamiyya see haram al sharif conflict at 2000 172 73 al harethi salim sinan 191 hasan sa dat 113 hawatmeh nayef 103 4 herzl theodor 27 29 256n17 hezbollah 207 hirschfield yair 148 154 155 158 167 al hout shafiq 103 116 hussein king of jordan and battle of karama 92 consolidation of power 93 and 1967 war 90 91 and resolution 242 78 40 44 hussein saddam 137 al hussein faisal 149 hussein bin ali sharif of mecca 29 30 al husseini faisal 140 144 154 al husseini abd al quadr 140 al husseini haj amin 24 hussein mcmahon correspondence 29 30 40 44 ibrahimi mosque massacre 170 icc see international criminal court icj see international court of justice imseis ardi 267n19 interim agreement on the west bank and the gaza strip oslo ii accord 167 70 and division of west bank into areas 168 169m 176 and fragmentation of palestinian society 172 and increased israeli control in occupied territories 172 israeli right wing anger over 170 lack of palestinian sovereignty in 167 68 international committee for the red cross 69 81 109 201 international communities perceptions effect of legal work by palestinians on 5 international convention on the suppression and punishment of the crime of apartheid 217 international court of justice icj criteria used to determine international law 183 184 and enforcement of laws of war 184 on israeli barrier construction 190 220 308n83 on israeli preemptive self defense doctrine 190 and namibian indepen dence movement 225 226 and shaping of international law by nations practices 296n85 un plan for palestine and 46 international criminal court icc and enforcement of laws of war 184 investiga tion of israeli military tactics 208 220 political influences on 208 international law advocates for elimination of 11 ascending and descending forms of 251n67 and colonial order enforcement of 6 9 12 13 248n25 constructivists on 13 definition of 6 efficacy of fac tors affecting xii failure to stop israeli settlements 64 influence on negotia tions 287n64 internalization by states 13 israeli efforts to reshape in revised military doctrine of 2003 194 205 6 209 lack of core meaning in 8 lack of global sovereign to enforce 6 11 15 82 184 postwar prohibition on territorial conquest israeli occupied territories and 68 69 75 79 272n96 shaping of by nations practices 183 86 222 33 296 97n88 296n85 as site of both oppression and resistance 11 social norms affecting 251n59 and structural transformation 19 treaties in 183 185 as unavoidable 11 un options for enforcement of 82 volun tary compliance of strong states necessary for 5 82 see also lawfare legal work international law and palestinian activism general assembly resolution 3379 la beling zionism as racism 126 29 163 history of frustration in 2 4 literature on xii xiii movement lawyering and xi xii oslo accords and 163 64 219 220 305 6n51 political component necessary for 3 political factors affecting 4 5 and sovereign exception doctrine in establish ment of israel 15 17 253n96 see also legal work by palestinians international law political factors in inter pretation of 3 5 6 12 13 249n42 arab great revolt and 26 44 in establishment of israel 15 17 in israeli settlements 64 israel s greater leveraging of 19 20 in un partition plan 46 international law as tool of progressive causes need for strategic use of law in xiii opti mism about success of xiii intifada first 1987 91 and hamas 141 israeli s forceful reaction to 136 and need for diplomatic solution 134 136 nego tiations to end 136 37 and palestinian negotiating leverage 159 palestinian index strategies in 135 36 and plo efforts to retain influence 139 140 and pressure for negotiations 141 42 start of 135 intifada second al aqsa intidafa 2000 2005 casualties in first weeks of 176 events leading to 170 73 israel classifica tion as sui generis armed conflict short of war 179 83 israel s refusal to classify as either international or non international conflict 179 80 mitchell report 2001 and 187 and palestinian use of military weapons 187 tenet plan and 187 88 west bank division into areas and 176 181 young leaders goals in 175 see also sui generis status of second intifada intifada second israeli use of military force in 173 175 176 77 assassinations and 176 77 international opposition to 187 88 189 90 legal work to justify 178 83 see also assassination as israeli tactic coalition 207 on nuclear reactor in 1982 186 doctrine 186 iqrit village israeli seizure of 56 iran alignment with anti u s middle east iraq and gulf war 1990 137 israeli strike iraq war 2003 and preemptive self defense irgun and armed struggle for palestine 44 islamic center turn to violent resistance islamic jihad of palestine founding of against israel 140 141 140 41 israeli forced exiling of suspected leaders of 153 israel arab states refusal to recognize 65 78 culture of as exogenous to middle east 238 39 diplomatic isolation of 115 egypt s nationalization of suez canal 67 mutual recognition pact with plo 166 obama administration military aid to 18 opposition to non state use of force 96 110 111 palestinian population in repres sion of 26 un membership for 52 un recognition of sovereignty and retroactive legitimation of zionist tactics 52 54 263 64n156 u s embassy in 75 u s protection of in un security council 1 2 18 71 79 90 126 131 206 see also military doctrine of israel 2003 revision of occupied territories israel establishment of 51 by force rather than law 3 as illegal 3 jewish lobbying for 27 29 31 king crane commission s 319 recommendation against 32 33 and palestinians juridical erasure 16 17 22 31 32 33 40 73 97 213 sovereign ex ception doctrine in 15 17 25 26 213 253n96 un partitioning plan and 45 48 47m see also balfour declaration jewish settlement in palestine settler colonialism establishment of israel as sui generis status of israel zionists israeli consolidation of power after inde pendence and denial of palestinian rights 56 264nn158 59 ids for resi dent palestinians 57 58 law of return and 58 59 martial law as tool for 26 41 54 55 57 59 60 264nn159 60 nationality law and 58 59 266n183 palestinian legal resistance to land seizures 56 and palestinian refugees denial of return for 52 55 57 60 85 86 remov als of palestinians and appropriations of palestinian lands 55 57 59 265n168 and restrictions on palestinian citizenship 58 59 israeli declaration of independence 52 271n86 israeli policies on palestinians apartheid state established by 59 60 charges of racism 59 criticism of and lifting of martial law 59 distinction between jewish national citizens and non jew citizens only 58 59 restrictions on palestinian citizenship 58 59 see also apartheid regime israel as israeli settlements in occupied territories claimed temporary nature of 88 90 defensible borders concept and 87 88 89m failure of international law to stop 64 increases of 170 israeli government s internal debate on legality of 61 62 legal work in defense of 10 62 64 77 78 79 80 87 88 91 213 strategies for appropriation of palestinian lands 85 86 un condemnation of 1 u s pressure to freeze 137 u s support for israel and 18 64 82 90 222 23 see also occupation law occupation law and israeli settlements resolution 242 resolution 2334 jerusalem conflict in 2000 172 73 re movals of palestinians from 216 in un partition plan 46 47m u s embassy move to 222 23 235 jerusalem east israeli annexation of 71 74 index 320 75 israeli efforts to negotiate agreement on 171 israel s views on settlements in 2 restrictions on palestinian travel to 211 un condemnation of israeli settlements 1 un resolutions condemning 75 jewish agency 44 45 51 jewish refugee crisis after world war ii 44 45 jewish settlement in palestine and arab great revolt 1936 39 24 25 growth after world war i 23 24 peel commission report on 25 protests against 23 24 257n46 as settler colonial ism 28 54 55 white paper 1939 on 25 43 44 see also zionists jews of collapsed ussr migration to israel 137 european assimilation failure of 27 256n17 lack of national identity before creation of israel 27 28 jihad abu khalid al wazir 177 johnson lyndon b anti palestinian poli cies of 222 23 middle east strategy of 71 72 and 1967 war 65 67 68 and occupied territories debate on fate of 71 72 73 75 77 78 90 91 151 jordan alignment with u s led nations in middle east 207 and battle of karama 92 israeli attacks on as claimed preemp tive self defense 189 and middle east peace conference 1991 2 138 145 150 and 1948 war 52 53m and peace nego tiation process 102 and plo 93 96 116 and west bank territorial claim over 101 102 116 journal of military ethics 194 198 kaddoumi farouq 116 120 kanafani ghassan 235 karama battle of 92 kasher asa 194 197 98 200 203 kassem anis fawzi 124 144 kattan victor 296 97n88 kennedy duncan 7 khalaf salah 104 116 277n37 khalidi rashid 147 151 164 165 khalidi walid 78 king crane commission 32 33 kissinger henry on arafat s un general assembly speech 119 20 on non aligned nations manipulation of un charter 129 and peace negotiation process 100 101 102 124 25 support for israel 125 and u s middle east policy 275n143 kufr bir im village israeli seizure of 56 kurtzer dan 156 land acquisition law of 1953 56 landau uzi 197 larsen terje 154 160 law see international law lawfare characterization of legal work by palestinians as 9 10 250n51 definition of 250n51 origin of term 250n48 by states 249n43 as term designed to dis credit politically weak actors 10 law of return of 1950 58 59 league of nations establishment of mandate league of nations covenant article 22 system 34 promise of palestinian independence in 142 precedence of balfour declaration over 37 38 40 41 45 259n70 260n104 and syrian independence 24 lebanon civil war syrian intervention in 129 30 israeli attacks on plo in 93 96 133 israeli attacks on and preemp tive self defense doctrine 189 israeli withdrawal from 2000 172 march 14 coalition alignment with u s 207 and 1948 war 52 legal opportunities and larger political strat egy 19 and principled opportunism 3 legal work constraints on 7 8 definition of 7 8 in guantanamo bay prison legal battle 8 and imbrication of law and politics 8 non state actors and 8 9 and post world war i concept of self deter mination 33 34 strategy required for 11 legal work by israel to defend extrajudicial assassinations 178 83 192 93 to de fend settlements 10 62 64 77 78 79 80 87 88 91 213 and international law as shaped by nations practices 183 86 to justify military force against second intifada 178 83 at middle east peace conference 1991 2 151 and resolution 242 77 90 u s support of 91 legal work by palestinians effect on interna tional communities perceptions 5 to gain recognition of palestinians as a people 9 98 99 100 234 35 to legitimize palestinian use of violence 109 11 neces index 96 associated with 39 sity of 222 23 u s and israel s character ization as lawfare 9 10 legitimacy of israel palestinian targeting of 19 228 resolution 181 and 271n86 lenin vladimir 258n56 liberation movements proliferation in 1970s libya as class a mandate denial of rights lindh anna 191 macaskill ewen 171 macdonald malcolm 42 mallison w t 81 82 mandate system british and french areas of responsibility in 35 36m class ratings for dependent governments in 35 establish ment of 34 independence of supervised nations as supposed goal of 34 35 and iraqi claims on kuwait 137 namibia and 224 25 prioritization of european set ters over local residents rights 39 see also british mandate for palestine mandela nelson 108 159 231 mansour camille 144 145 157 mansour jamal 188 marks susan 249n33 martial law british use of in colonial rule 41 260n90 british use of in great revolt 26 41 42 and israeli consolidation of power 26 41 54 55 57 59 60 264nn159 60 israel s lifting of 59 israel s racialized deployment of 57 and state of emergency vagueness of term 41 60 masalha nur 262n132 masri mazen 264n158 matias shavit 181 maysalun battle of 36 mckenna miriam 279n67 mcmahon henry 29 30 meir golda 23 memorandum of understanding mou 1975 125 142 meron theodor 61 62 80 273n105 merriam john 198 middle east effect of regional rivalries on palestinian issue 206 7 israel as culture exogenous to 238 39 middle east peace conference 1991 2 137 39 exclusion of some groups of palestinians from 144 148 gulf war 321 and 137 and israel consolidation of control over occupied territories 139 144 159 israeli strategy in 150 51 limited palestinian participation in 138 palestinian negotiating leverage in 159 and palestinian status as a people denial of 144 145 148 palestinian strategy in 145 and plo exclusion of 144 45 and plo efforts to retain influence 139 144 power imbalance between parties 146 151 153 156 159 162 164 167 and resolution 242 138 144 145 149 50 155 156 161 separate negotiations with each arab nation in 138 two stage pro cess of 138 146 149 50 152 u s and israeli disavowal of international law in 151 163 64 u s letter of assurances for 138 144 151 u s position at 139 see also declaration of principles oslo i accord middle east peace conference 1991 2 washington meetings 145 47 arafat s criticisms of 156 57 israeli s full with drawal from territories as issue in 149 50 israeli unfreezing of settlement growth and 149 palestinian strategy in 144 147 149 50 156 proposal for palestinian self government debate on 146 48 152 separation of jordanian and palestinian negotiations in 145 suspension over israel s forced exile of hamas and islamic jihad leadership 153 155 156 undermin ing of by plo declaration of principles 161 162 63 164 65 middle east peace conference 1991 2 plo backchannel negotiations in 154 60 agreement to supervised palestinian self rule 157 60 efforts to regain influence 149 exclusion of 148 legitimation of 157 plo central council approval of 148 49 plo recognition by israel as cen tral focus of 159 60 poor results negoti ated by 153 54 155 159 60 160 64 227 235 unofficial participation by 148 49 willingness to negotiate within framework established by israel and u s 151 52 227 middle east peace conference 2017 2 military doctrine of israel 2003 revision of 194 210 and civilian collateral damage justifications of 203 5 designation of all members of terrorist organizations as targets 200 205 effort to reshape inter index 322 national law through 194 205 6 209 and force protection emphasis on 197 200 and hannibal directive 199 200 israeli public s support of 199 and military at tacks on gaza strip 194 97 motivations for 194 muted international protests against 205 10 rules of war protecting civilians changes to 197 200 shaping of international law by 201 miller aaron 156 milson menachem 132 33 mitchell george 187 mitchell report 2001 187 294n57 mofaz shaul 177 morris benny 236 262n132 moses a dirk 310n115 moynihan daniel 123 mubarak hosni 157 munayar spiro 51 muslim brotherhood egyptian opposition to 207 and hamas establishment of 140 turn to violent resistance against israel 140 41 nabulsi karma 115 nam see non aligned movement namibia apartheid in 215 lessons from in dependence movement in 224 27 south africa s offer of limited autonomy home lands in 226 307n79 nasser gamal abdel death of 93 national ization of suez canal 67 and 1967 war 64 65 267nn11 12 and plo 73 92 and resolution 242 78 nationality law of 1952 58 59 266n183 nationhood vs sovereignty 310n109 nation states future possibilities beyond 239 nazi germany and jewish migration to palestine 23 24 occupation law devel oped in response to 69 netanyahu benjamin 170 230 ngo monitor 9 250n51 1948 war borders of israel following 52 53m and british hobbling of palestinian ability to resist 26 42 end of 52 55 expulsion of palestinians during 51 52 israel s military success in 51 263n145 number of palestinians remaining in israel after 54 266 67nn11 12 and blunting of arab de mands on palestine 65 67 events leading 1967 war 64 68 arab prewar views on to 64 65 israeli motives in 267nn15 16 268n24 israeli victory in 65 as legal opportunity 64 and palestine liberation movement development of 92 palestinian refugees israel s denial of return for 85 86 peace negotiations following 90 91 and right to preemptive self defense 67 267 68n20 267n19 see also occupied territories 1967 war territory captured in 65 66m as beyond israeli expectations 68 debate on legality of 67 israeli plan to retain 62 63 67 68 71 israeli public support for reten tion of 68 un debate on status of 71 79 see also occupied territories palestinian goals for 100 101 damage to israeli confidence in 93 legal opportunity created by 100 1973 war yom kippur war arab vs nofal mamdouh 166 non aligned movement nam in 1970s activism against western hegemony 114 15 166 67 criticisms of wester powers 115 and debate on resolution 242 72 and effort to declare zionism as racism 126 29 inability to subvert u s power in un 90 increased un influence in 1970s 97 114 and movement to expel israel from un 124 plo and 96 97 107 124 power in un 129 support for palestinian self determination 114 15 non registered property rules 85 274n118 non state actors and legal work 8 9 palestinians as 9 and plo at un 9 129 types of political pressure used by 9 non state use of force change in law on after september 11th attacks 189 israeli and u s opposition to 96 110 111 postwar conventions against 96 97 revision of law on to legitimize liberation movements 107 12 nujoma sam 226 oau see organization of african unity obama administration assassination as u s tactic in 192 military aid to israel 18 and un anti settlement resolutions 1 224 occupation law components of 69 required protection of local population under 69 occupation law and israeli settlements israeli court rulings on 83 86 israeli govern ment s internal debate on 61 62 israeli index legal work and 64 israel s denial of ap plicability 10 61 79 80 loopholes used to justify israeli settlements 84 85 resolution 2334 ruling on applicability of 10 occupied territories denial of palestinian right to use armed force in 180 general international agreement on required return of 72 74 79 international op position to israeli use of military force in 187 88 189 90 legal limits to israel s use of force as occupying power 178 83 military rule in strategies used to main tain 60 palestinian leadership in 140 planning for administration of 83 pnc on palestinian state in 142 restrictions on palestinian movement in 211 233 34 un committee on the inalienable rights of the palestinian people proposal for return of 125 26 and un prohibition on territorial conquest 68 69 75 79 272n96 u s policy on 90 see also israeli settle ments in occupied territories sui generis status of occupied territories occupied territories israeli plan to retain 62 63 barak and 170 begin on 131 camp david peace talks 2000 and 171 defensible borders concept and 87 88 89m international opposition to 63 64 68 israeli interpretation of resolution 242 and 87 88 and israel s historical claims to region 268n30 middle east peace conference 1991 2 and 150 u s congress and 91 275n143 u s reaction to 91 u s support of 64 71 72 73 91 100 151 autonomy in begin s experiments with 132 33 plo agreement to 157 60 u s russian proposal for 134 occupied territories limited palestinian olmert ehud 214 one state solution dismantling of israeli settler colonialism as benefit of 237 38 palestinian proposals for 99 103 4 112 117 19 124 and potential for peaceful jewish palestinian cohabitation 237 39 see also palestinian state operation cast lead 2008 195 97 202 205 206 208 operation defensive shield 2014 205 operation pillar of cloud 2012 195 97 205 operation protective edge 2014 195 97 198 99 199 200 208 323 order 59 1967 85 order regarding abandoned property 1967 organization of african unity oau 107 organization of islamic cooperation 107 oslo accords and concentration of 85 86 123 24 123 palestinian population in west bank 214 and continuation of israel s settler colonial expansion 213 and fiction of motion toward palestinian state 214 218 and loss of palestinian gains in international law 163 64 219 220 305 6n51 need for palestinian action outside of 222 palestinian protests against 305 6n51 and plo government in occupied territories 175 76 young palestinians opposition to 175 see also declaration of principles oslo i accord interim agreement on the west bank and the gaza strip oslo ii accord pa see palestinian authority palestine as class a mandate and exclusion of palestinians from due rights 39 80 and path to independence 35 37 38 palestine partitioning of british plan for 25 43 44 denial of self determination principle in 45 46 jewish views on 48 261n122 palestinian efforts to revive un plan after 1967 war 91 palestinian rejec tion of 46 48 80 pnc acceptance of plan for 142 un plan for 45 48 47m of 92 palestine liberation movement development palestine liberation organization see plo palestine defence order in council 1937 palestine papers 305 6n51 palestine research center 103 118 palestine royal commission 25 palestinian activism and armed struggle 42 current impracticality of 227 choice of one state or two state solutions 235 36 and dismantling of israel as nonnegotiable condition 231 34 future of 239 40 311n128 312n131 legal work as necessity for 222 33 legitimacy war as strategy in 19 228 lessons from namibian indepen dence movement 224 27 need to chal lenge geopolitical structure undergirding index 324 palestinian oppression 17 26 208 9 220 need to turn from u s reliance to inter national activism 224 227 and one state solution 237 38 311n120 palestinian state as goal of 20 22 political goals as guide to 19 return to homeland as cen tral goal of 235 237 38 and strategy to change policy on israel need for 18 19 tension between decolonization and self rule goals of 235 and two state solutions as inadequate response to israeli settler colonialism 236 37 types of coercive pressure in 19 see also boycott divest and sanction bds movement international law and palestinian activism palestinian authority pa cooperation with israeli government 217 19 establishment of 175 76 general intelligence service and second intifada 175 and marginaliza tion of civil society 176 in oslo ii accord 168 and palestinian liberation movement 218 palestinian protests against 306n51 u s threats of cut aid to 223 palestinian citizenship order of 1925 58 palestinian declaration of independence 142 143 221 palestinian elites benefits from peace process 167 218 289n135 palestinian erasure arafat at un general assembly as reversal of 97 arafat on 97 98 by israeli settler colonialism 16 17 22 31 32 33 40 73 97 213 u s embassy move to jerusalem and 235 see also palestinian struggle for international recognition palestinian israel conflict legal questions sur rounding 3 palestinian leadership abandonment of poli tics of resistance 234 cooperation with israeli government 217 19 234 ceptance of israel as geopolitical reality 142 disavowal of armed struggle 142 and interim palestinian state phased plan debate on 98 99 105 and liberation of palestine as non negotiable goal 98 102 and middle east peace conference 1991 139 and palestinian declaration of independence 142 143 and peace ne gotiations 130 142 palestinian national council pnc ac palestinian national front 101 palestinian refugees furtive return of some palestinian refugees right of return arab 57 58 as two thirds of palestinian popula tion 211 demand for 65 camp david peace talks 2000 on 171 israeli refusal to recognize 52 55 57 60 85 86 171 211 223 237 238 un recognition of 120 126 171 palestinians and ambitions for creation of in dependent greater syria 31 as non state actors 9 number claiming palestinian origin 236 palestinians removals and appropriations of land from after israeli independence 55 57 59 265n168 israeli failure to com plete 236 37 israeli public support for 214 302n12 as ongoing policy 214 15 216 17 as violation of international law 217 as zionist goal 48 49 51 52 palestinian state fragmentation of palestinian population and 172 211 212 218 as goal 20 22 legal benefits of 20 21 254n108 movement toward before 1990s 220 na tions recognizing 221 as obsolete concept in 2018 211 218 palestinian bid for un statehood status 220 221 22 306n51 palestinian leaderships inadequate ap proach to 220 21 224 palestinian reli ance on u s for as misguided 219 24 peace process as obstacle to 218 see also one state solution palestinian status as nation bds movement and 228 as contested claim 21 31 32 israel denial of and resulting illegitimacy of palestinian use of armed resistance 180 legal work to gain recognition of 9 98 99 100 234 35 palestinian struggle for international recogni tion and arafat at un general assembly 1974 95 96 98 99 113 16 and interim palestinian state phased plan 98 100 103 7 111 12 and negotiation with israel debate on 101 7 plo legal work and 9 98 99 100 234 35 plo recognition as palestinian representative and 101 114 return to palestinian home land as central goal of 235 237 38 and shifting of conversation to israeli settler colonialism 114 117 18 230 strategic uncertainties in 112 and un granting of nonmember observer to plo 121 22 220 and united nations campaign to exclude israel from 122 24 and united index nations palestinian presence in special ized agencies 122 and un recognition of plo as lawful combatant 96 97 107 12 un resolution labeling of zionism as racism 126 29 163 see also middle east peace conference 1991 2 paris peace conference 1919 and king crane commission 32 33 and self deter mination conflicting ideas of 33 34 park k sue 264n158 partitioning of palestine see palestine parti peace conference on the middle east peace negotiation process on basis of tioning of geneva peace conference 1973 102 resolution 3236 as arab goal 130 camp david accords and 130 32 as compo nent in israeli settler colonialism 223 228 235 as excuse for inaction against israel 218 false parity between israel and palestinians implied by 19 initiation of 90 91 93 100 israel s lack of seri ous interest in 90 91 235 and israel s refusal to recognize palestinians as nation 131 limited self autonomy as best offer in 223 palestinian elites benefits from 167 218 289n135 peace conference on the middle east 1973 102 3 resolution 242 and 125 130 138 144 145 149 50 155 156 161 trump peace plan 237 un call for plo inclusion in 125 u s goals in 100 101 u s israeli memorandum of understanding on 125 u s strategy in 102 see also middle east peace conference 1991 2 two state solution peace negotiation process plo s joining of lobbying of u s for inclusion 124 plo acceptance of phased political plan and 105 106 plo internal debate on 99 101 7 plo strategy in 106 7 rejection of resolution 242 as basis of 122 strategy for 106 7 as submission to u s israeli governance 17 un resolutions 3236 and 3237 and 122 u s opposition to plo participation 99 101 112 124 25 pedersen susan 256n31 peel commission report 25 45 pence mike 223 peres shimon 148 155 157 158 160 209 permanent mandates commission pmc 3 40 41 259n87 325 pflp see popular front for the liberation of phased political program ten point palestine program debate on 98 100 103 7 pnc adoption of 105 106 plan dalet plan d 49 51 plan gimmel plan c 48 49 plo palestine liberation organization aggressiveness after 1973 war 93 align ment with global liberation movements 115 arab league support of 101 116 arafat as chairman of 92 and armed resistance 96 and bds movement 230 challenge to sui generis status of israel 17 challenge to u s hegemony 98 evacuation to tunis 133 fatah takeover of 92 as first non state participant in un security council debate 129 founding of 73 and framework for peace rejection of 132 and government in exile strategic avoid ance of 112 groups included within 96 98 and hamas 141 143 144 and interim palestinian state phased plan 99 103 7 111 12 israelis refusal to recognize 144 jordan and 93 96 116 legal work by 9 98 99 100 234 35 liberation of palestine as goal of 101 102 105 106 mutual recognition pact with israel 166 nam and 96 97 107 124 and non state use of force as terroristic 96 oau and 107 in occupied territories government by 175 76 and peace process submission to u s israeli governance in 17 pressure to moderate position 102 and resolution 242 91 142 takeover by palestinian led groups 73 turn to moderate position 142 43 unification of palestinian move ments under 96 and united nations campaign to exclude israel from 122 24 un nonmember observer status 121 22 220 and un recognition plo views on benefits of 112 13 un recognition as lawful combatant 96 97 107 12 and un specialized agencies establishment of presence in 122 u s refusal to negotiate with 99 101 112 124 25 1991 agreement to supervised palestinian self rule 157 60 backchannel negotiations in norway 154 60 efforts to regain influence through exclusion from 144 45 148 plo central council plo and middle east peace conference index 326 approval of participation 148 49 and plo legitimation 157 plo recogni tion by u s and israel as central focus of 159 60 219 20 poor results negotiated in 153 54 155 159 60 160 64 227 235 unofficial participation in 148 49 willingness to negotiate within framework established by israel and u s 151 52 227 see also declaration of principles oslo i accord plo and peace negotiation process internal debate on 99 101 7 lobbying of u s for inclusion in 124 plo acceptance of phased political plan and 105 106 plo strategy in 106 7 rejection of resolution 242 as basis of 122 strategy for 106 7 as submission to u s israeli governance 17 un resolutions 3236 and 3237 and 122 u s opposition to plo participation 99 101 112 124 25 plo central council 148 49 165 plo in lebanon 93 96 israeli invasion to dislodge 1982 133 235 syrian interven tion and 129 30 plo weakness after withdrawal to tunisia 133 34 140 44 first intifada and 133 34 142 and middle east peace conference 1991 139 plo support for iraq in gulf war and 137 140 143 rise of palestinian leaders in occupied territories and 140 rise of rival groups and 140 41 and turn to diplomacy 134 235 pmc see permanent mandates commission pnc see palestinian national council popular democratic front for the liberation popular front for the liberation of palestine popular front for the liberation of palestine popular struggle front 106 powell colin 188 preemptive self defense doctrine critiques of 294 95n65 initial condemnation of 186 and international law as shaped by nations practices 186 and iraq war 2003 186 and israeli attack on iraqi nuclear reactor 1982 186 and israeli construction of defensive wall 190 295n67 and target ing of members of terrorist organizations 200 205 un policy change on after september 11th attacks 188 90 of palestine 103 4 pflp 96 99 105 6 133 general command 105 6 193 preemptive self defense doctrine u s use in war on terror 188 91 as justification for israel use 189 90 shaping of international law by 188 90 press palestinian and great revolt 24 25 principled opportunism in context of larger political strategy 19 254n107 legal op portunities for 3 311n129 changes to 197 200 203 205 299n128 the government of israel 2006 200 201 prison industrial complex reform agendas for proportionality principle in use of force israeli the public committee against torture in israel v pundak ron 154 155 al qaeda september 11th attacks by 189 al qassam izz il din 24 quigley john 221 268n20 268n24 qurei ahmed 154 55 157 59 160 rabin yitzhak assassination of 170 and first intifada 136 and middle east peace conference 148 149 150 155 156 157 158 159 166 170 and 1967 war 267 68n20 on syria 266 67n11 the red cross al rantisi abdel aziz 140 192 raz avi 90 91 red cross see international committee for reisner daniel 150 162 181 186 193 rejection front 105 6 resolution 181 unga arab rejection of 46 48 on jerusalem 46 52 jewish response to 48 and legitimacy of israel 271n86 and palestinian claim to state sta tus 80 145 partitioning details in 46 and two state solution 142 u s views on 49 resolution 194 unga 52 171 resolution 242 unsc as basis of middle east peace conference negotiations 138 144 145 149 50 155 156 161 233 failure to address erasure of palestinians 78 israeli interpretation to justify settle ments 87 88 131 32 138 39 and israeli legal work 77 90 and juridical erasure of palestinian people 97 113 233 lack of enforcement of 90 legal loophole for israel in 64 78 79 limited impact of 1 palestinian rejection of 78 98 105 142 passage of 78 and peace negotiation pro index cess 100 125 130 pnc endorsement of 142 provisions of 64 resolution 3236 as revision to 120 21 resolution 242 debate on 71 79 israeli efforts to shape 71 lack of palestinian input on 78 and legitimization of israel as nation 73 77 u s support for israel and 72 73 resolution 264 unsc 225 resolution 273 unga 52 resolution 276 unsc 225 26 resolution 338 unsc 93 100 138 145 resolution 1368 unsc 189 190 resolution 1373 unsc 189 190 resolution 2334 unsc condemnations of israel s settlements in 1 criticisms of palestinians in 253n102 impact of 2 13 15 17 18 19 israel s opposition to as legal work 10 and occupation law applicability to israel s settlements 10 palestinians lack of strategy for capital izing on 18 19 as palestinian success 220 passage of 1 2 quarterly reporting requirement in 14 u s abstention in vote on 1 2 224 253n102 as victory over israel s claimed sui generis status 17 18 resolution 3210 unga groundbreak ing aspects of 95 114 115 lobbying for 113 15 passage of 115 16 plo draft of 113 14 resolution 3236 unga as alternative to resolution 242 as basis of peace negotia tions 120 130 and israel s right to exist 120 21 and legitimization of plo 125 limited effect of 131 and plo alterna tive to resolution 242 142 provisions of 120 121 u s israeli memorandum of understanding and 125 resolution 3237 unga israelis refusal to recognize 144 and legitimization of plo 121 22 limited effect of 131 and plo nonobserver status 221 resolution 3375 unga 125 resolution 3379 unga 126 29 131 163 rhodes cecil 28 rome statute 1998 184 208 220 ross dennis 164 rubinstein elyakim 145 156 sadat anwar 93 100 101 130 132 safieh afif 154 said edward 135 165 250n46 327 sa iqa 98 101 104 salahat khalid 175 176 77 saleh saleh 119 salem george 164 sarpsborg principles 155 saudi arabia alignment with u s led nations in middle east 207 savir uri 157 sayegh fayez a 95 118 126 27 sayigh yezid 144 schmitt michael n 198 self determination decolonization move ment and 28 29 30 34 69 70 279n67 development of concept 34 35 68 69 european postwar use of concept to es tablish control over former ottoman and german territories 33 34 34 35 wilson on 34 self determination right of palestinians current return to muted status of 210 establishment of 80 81 non aligned movement support of 114 15 as palestinian goal 9 20 22 and palestinians status as nation 21 31 32 180 228 as political question 119 un recognition of 120 21 see also palestinian erasure self determination right of palestinians denial of in british mandate for palestine 23 39 80 in creation of israel 16 29 31 33 34 45 260n104 and great revolt 24 26 and oslo accords loss of palestinian gains in international law 163 64 219 220 305 6n51 palestinian challenging of 44 in partitioning of palestine 45 46 in sui generis status of occupied territories 16 17 45 46 79 80 271n86 september 11th attacks and u s adoption of preemptive self defense doctrine 189 91 193 settler colonialism collapse of system after world war i 28 and local populations compliance with managerial regime 219 oslo accords and 213 postwar delegiti mation of 63 as structure of governance 255n12 usefulness in palestine issue xiii see also colonial powers settler colonialism establishment of israel as 28 54 55 bds movement turn of conversation to 230 damage to perception of in oslo i accord 166 67 occupied territories and 60 plo turn of conversa tion to 114 117 18 index 328 settler colonialism opposition to arafat at un general assembly and 95 and decolonization movement 28 29 30 34 69 70 global periods of decolonization 239 40 inability to subvert u s power in un 90 palestinians failure to achieve state despite 239 40 and un influence of decolonized states 97 114 225 settler colonialism of israel as ongoing proj ect 216 19 peace processes as component in 223 228 235 two state solution as inadequate response to 236 37 settler colonialism of israel dismantling of benefits of 237 38 311n120 as necessity in one state solution 237 38 as non negotiable palestinian condition 231 34 236 37 shaath nabil 110 112 16 118 120 161 166 172 shalit gilad 199 shamgar meir 10 83 84 shamir yitzhak 137 145 146 148 shaqaqi fathi 140 41 sharm el sheikh fact finding committee sharon ariel 172 73 192 shash taher 160 shehadeh raja 146 147 48 159 273 74n116 shohat ella 239 shultz george 136 142 simpson audra 312n131 singer yoel 158 159 160 south africa decade against racism cam 187 paign and 126 echoes of protests against in anti israeli bds movement 228 230 31 and namibian independence movement 225 27 release of mandela 159 and un committee on apartheid 282n141 un general assembly suspen sion of 123 withdrawal from namibia 159 226 south west african people s organization swapo 225 27 sovereign exception doctrine declaration of principles oslo i accord and 163 64 as tool of colonial nations 17 as tool of powerful nations 16 sovereign exception doctrine in establishment of israel 15 17 213 253n96 arab pro tests against 25 documents establishing 25 26 plo challenging of 98 see also sui generis status of israel required for 19 sure used by 9 sovereignty vs nationhood 310n109 soviet union ussr collapse of and soviet jews migration to israel 137 and debate on resolution 242 72 74 75 77 and middle east peace conference 137 and 1967 war 64 and peace negotiation process 100 101 views on national self determination 34 258n56 special commission on palestine unscop proposals of 45 46 stone julius 267n19 strategy in legal work 11 structural transformation coercive pressure subaltern movements types of political pres suez canal egypt s nationalization of 67 sui generis status definition of 15 16 sui generis status of israel as justification for alternative law for palestinians 17 213 necessity of overcoming political structure supporting 17 26 208 9 220 resolution 2334 as victory over 17 18 u s as pri mary support for 220 223 sui generis status of jewish homeland in palestine british establishment of 16 17 36 38 259n70 and impotence of palestinian legal arguments 40 41 and jewish historical claim to palestine 31 39 palestinian efforts to challenge 17 37 38 40 41 religious significance of palestine and 32 37 and self determination prin ciple violation of 16 17 45 46 79 80 271n86 sui generis status of occupied territories and claimed israeli right to modify laws of war 196 97 205 6 as continuation of martial law strategy 63 and criminalization of palestinian use of force 213 critique of israeli arguments for 80 82 and denial of palestinian rights 63 79 80 85 86 214 271n86 international community s inability to act against 82 83 israeli court rulings on 83 86 273n107 and israeli freedom from obligations of both sovereignty power and occupying power 79 84 85 86 87 israeli position on 61 63 79 80 and lack of rightful sovereign in west bank 79 and rights of civilians index under occupation 81 sovereign rights of palestinians and 80 sui generis status of second intifada israeli ar guments for 179 83 and international law as shaped by nations practices 183 86 international rejection of 187 88 189 90 sultany nimer 273n107 supreme court of israel legal work to justify use of military force in second intifada 182 prohibition on seizing palestinian land 85 273 74n116 274n122 on required warning of civilians before at tacks 204 rulings on sui generis status of occupied territories 83 86 273n107 on targeting of civilian members of terrorist organizations 200 201 swapo see south west african people s organization sykes picot agreement 1916 35 syria alignment with anti u s middle east coalition 207 intervention in lebanese civil war 129 30 israeli invasion on lebanon 1982 and 133 and 1948 war 52 and 1967 war 64 65 266 67n11 and 1973 war 93 100 101 and peace nego tiation process 102 revolt against french rule 24 syrian arab kingdom creation of 30 35 36 french ending of 36 tenet george 187 tenet plan 187 88 294nn60 61 ten point program see phased political program territorial conquest by nations postwar prohi bition on israeli occupied territories and 68 69 75 79 272n96 israel s legal work on armed conflict short of war 178 79 terrorism international law on 178 and treaty of sèvres 1920 37 trump administration middle east peace plan of 237 and overt continuation of u s anti palestinian policies 224 protec tion of israel 18 and u s embassy move to jerusalem 222 23 235 two state solution first official israeli mention of 170 as inadequate response to israeli settler colonialism 236 37 311n129 international communities commitment to 2 14 israel s settlements as obstacle to 1 14 as no longer viable 14 and place 329 ment of palestinian issue within peace process paradigm 14 see also palestine partitioning of peace negotiation process resolution 242 unesco see united nations educational scientific and cultural organization unga see united nations general assembly unga un international convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination 1965 126 27 united nations acceptance of israel as state 3 condemnations of israel s settlements in resolution 2334 1 2 global south influ ence in 95 96 114 122 increase in mem ber states 95 96 influence of decolonized states in 225 israeli membership in 52 and namibian independence movement 225 27 and 1967 war 67 opposition to israeli tactics in gaza strip 206 207 8 options for enforcement of international law 82 palestinian bid for statehood in 220 221 22 306n51 palestinian views on 113 plo as nonmember observer at 121 22 220 plo campaign to exclude israel from 122 24 plo views on ben efits of recognition by 112 13 recognition of israeli sovereignty and retroactive le gitimation of zionist tactics 52 54 263 64n156 recognition of palestinian right to self determination 120 21 special committees to end colonization 279n67 support for self determination principle 278n49 see also entries under resolution united nations and palestine mandate britain s handover of 44 45 denial of self determination principle in 45 46 partitioning plan 45 48 47m special commission on palestine unscop proposals on 45 46 united nations charter prohibition on ter ritorial conquest 68 69 75 79 united nations committee on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination 217 rights of the palestinian people 125 26 suppression and punishment of the crime of apartheid 126 united nations committee on the inalienable united nations convention on the united nations economic and social index 330 united nations educational scientific and commission for western asia escwa 14 15 217 cultural organization unesco expul sion of israel from 122 23 united nations fact finding mission on the gaza conflict 206 united nations general assembly unga nonaligned nations activism against western hegemony in 1970s 114 15 non aligned states as majority in 1970s 97 114 and palestinian rights support for 125 26 recognition of palestinian state hood 221 222 secretariat for palestinian rights establishment of 131 support for ending of foreign colonization 282n141 support for plo inclusion in peace talks 125 support for violent liberation movements 108 9 suspension of south africa from 123 on u s embassy move to jerusalem 223 see also entries under resolution united nations general assembly arafat at 1974 95 96 98 99 call for democratic multi faith state in palestine 117 18 impact of 120 22 israel and 119 120 lobbying for invitation 113 15 reception of 119 20 speech by 116 117 19 strat egy of 119 inquiry 208 united nations headquarters board of united nations human rights council 206 united nations independent commission of inquiry on the 2014 gaza conflict 207 8 united nations office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs 204 united nations relief works agency 223 united nations security council unsc condemnation of israel s extrajudicial as sassinations 192 condemnation of israel s forced exile of hamas and islamic jihad leadership 153 and enforcement of laws of war 184 history of infrequent action on israel s settlements 1 and 1967 war 64 opposition to israeli retention of occupied lands 64 passage of resolution 2334 condemning israeli settlements 1 2 plo as first non state participant in debate in 129 and political factors in interpretation of law 12 response to september 11th attacks 189 on u s embassy move to jerusalem 223 u s protection of israel in united nations special coordinator for united states abstention in vote on 1 2 18 71 79 90 126 131 206 see also entries under resolution middle east peace process 2 resolution 2334 1 2 253n102 anti palestinian policies 222 23 on arafat s un general assembly speech 119 20 and assassination as israeli tactic 187 89 191 and debate on resolution 242 71 79 270n59 and middle east peace conference 137 39 military aid to israel 18 90 220 221 need for palestinian strategy to confront 18 19 221 222 and 1967 war 65 opposition to non state use of force 96 110 111 palestinian reliance on as misguided 219 24 and peace negotiation process 100 and plo opposition to negotiations with 99 101 124 25 support for israeli retention of occupied territories 64 71 72 73 91 100 151 275n143 support for israeli settlements in occupied territories 18 64 82 90 222 23 and un plan for partitioning of palestine 46 49 and yom kippur war 93 see also assassination as u s tactic in war on terror cold war war on terror united states congress reaction to un label ing of zionism as racism 129 support for israeli retention of occupied territories 91 275n143 un relief and works agency unrwa humanitarian aid to palestinians 113 unsc see united nations security council ussr see soviet union veracini lorenzo 216 village leagues 133 vitoria francis de 6 war laws of enforcement mechanisms for 184 international agreements regulating 185 international will to enforce as fac tor in 184 85 as reflection of powerful nations preferences 185 293 94n49 as shaped by nations practices 183 86 all members of terrorist organizations as targets 200 205 and preemptive self de fense doctrine u s adoption of 188 91 and rules of war protecting civilians war on terror and israeli designation of index 331 israeli changes to 197 200 and shaping of international law by nations practices 188 90 296 97n88 u s security coop eration with israel in 191 92 see also assassination wazatayiwan 240 al wazir khalid abu jihad 177 weisglass dov 195 96 west bank 53m 66m concentration of palestinian population in 214 15 216 division into areas under oslo ii accord 168 169m 176 fragmentation of palestinian population in 211 212 israeli annexation of area c calls for 214 israeli capture of 68 israeli position on sui ge neris status of 61 israeli settler population in 211 israeli strategy to separate from gaza strip 209 10 jordan s territorial claim over 101 102 116 palestinian pop ulation in 211 removals of palestinians from 216 17 sui generis status of 79 see also barrier construction by israel israeli settlements in occupied territories occupied territories white paper 1939 25 42 43 80 wilson woodrow 32 33 34 40 winter ofer 199 200 wolfe patrick 255n12 world war i arab agreement to support allies in 29 30 allies failure to honor terms of 30 40 world war ii impact on british mandate policy 42 and jewish migration to palestine 23 24 jewish refugee crisis fol lowing 44 45 occupation law developed after 69 and palestinian sovereignty post ponement of 44 world zionist organization 39 ya alon moshe 177 194 yadin yigal 57 yadlin amos 194 197 98 200 yasin ahmed 140 141 152 53 192 yom kippur war see 1973 war zaydan fahim 50 zionism and creation of new jew 239 un campaign to label as racism 126 29 163 zionists bombing campaign against palestinians 44 mobilization for armed conflict 44 48 plan dalet plan d 49 51 plan gimmel plan c 48 49 removal of palestinians as goal of 48 49 51 52 search for site for jewish homeland 28 use of british colonial tac tics 50 use of violence and intimidation against palestinians 48 52 zu aytir akram 24 25 42 43 index

copyright 2013 by ari shavit map copyright 2013 by mapping specialists ltd all rights reserved published in the united states by spiegel grau an imprint of the random house publishing group a division of random house llc a penguin random house company new york llc spiegel grau and the house colophon are registered trademarks of random house portions of this work were originally published in di erent form in haaretz and the new york review of books all credits for permission to reproduce photographs can be found on this page library of congress cataloging in publication data 1 arab israeli con ict 2 israel politics and government i title my promised land ari shavit shavit ari p cm isbn 978 0 385 52170 3 ebook isbn 978 0 8129 8464 4 ds119 7 s381877 2013 956 05 4 dc23 2012046122 www spiegelandgrau com jacket design greg mollica v3 1 jacket photograph daniel hundven clements gallerystock contents cover title page copyright map question marks at first sight 1897 into the valley 1921 orange grove 1936 masada 1942 lydda 1948 housing estate 1957 the project 1967 settlement 1975 gaza beach 1991 peace 1993 j accuse 1999 sex drugs and the israeli condition 2000 up the galilee 2003 reality shock 2006 occupy rothschild 2011 existential challenge 2013 by the sea dedication acknowledgments source notes photograph credits about the author photo credit col1 1 introduction question marks for as long as i can remember i remember fear existential fear the israel i grew up in the israel of the mid 1960s was energetic exuberant and hopeful but i always felt that beyond the well to do houses and upper middle class lawns of my hometown lay a dark ocean one day i dreaded that dark ocean would rise and drown us all a mythological tsunami would strike our shores and sweep my israel away it would become another atlantis lost in the depths of the sea one morning in june 1967 when i was nine years old i came upon my father shaving in the bathroom i asked him if the arabs were going to win would the arabs conquer our israel would they really throw us all into the sea a few days later the six day war began in october 1973 the sirens of imminent disaster began to wail i was in bed with the u in the late noon of that silent yom kippur as f 4 jets tore through the sky they were ying 500 feet above our roof en route to the suez canal to fend o the invading egyptian forces that took israel by surprise many of them never returned i was sixteen years old and i was petri ed as the news came in of the collapse of our defenses in the sinai desert and the golan heights for ten terrifying days it seemed that my primordial fears were justi ed israel was in peril the walls of the third jewish temple were shaking in january 1991 the rst gulf war broke out tel aviv was bombarded by iraqi scud missiles there was some concern regarding a possible chemical weapons attack for weeks israelis carried their gas mask kits with them everywhere they went occasionally when a warning sounded that a warhead was on its way we shut ourselves in sealed rooms with the masks on our faces although it turned out that the threat was not real there was something horri c about this surreal ritual i listened closely to the sounds of sirens and looked with dismay at the terri ed eyes of my loved ones locked in german made gas masks in march 2002 a wave of terror rattled israel hundreds died as palestinian suicide bombers attacked buses nightclubs and shopping malls as i was writing in my jerusalem study one night i heard a loud boom it had to be our neighborhood pub i realized i grabbed my writing pad and ran up the street three handsome young men were sitting at the bar in front of their half full beer mugs dead a petite young woman was lying in a corner lifeless those who were only wounded were screaming and crying as i looked at the hell around me in the glowing lights of the blown up pub the journalist i now was asked what will be how long can we sustain this lunacy will there come a time when the vitality we israelis are known for will surrender to the forces of death attempting to annihilate us the decisive victory in the 1967 war dissipated the prewar fears the recovery of the 1970s and 1980s healed the deep wound of 1973 the peace process of the 1990s mended the trauma of 1991 the prosperity of the late 2000s glossed over the horror of 2002 precisely because we are shrouded in uncertainty we israelis insist on believing in ourselves in our nation state and in our future but throughout the years my own muted fear never went away to discuss or express this fear was taboo yet it was with me wherever i went our cities seemed to be built on shifting sand our houses never seemed quite stable even as my nation grew stronger and wealthier i felt it was profoundly vulnerable i realized how exposed we are how constantly intimidated yes our life continues to be intense and rich and in many ways happy israel projects a sense of security that emanates from its physical economic and military success the vitality of our daily life is astonishing and yet there is always the fear that one day daily life will freeze like pompeii s my beloved homeland will crumble as enormous arab masses or mighty islamic forces overcome its defenses and eradicate its existence for as long as i can remember i remember occupation only a week after i asked my father whether the arab nations were going to conquer israel israel conquered the arab populated regions of the west bank and gaza a month later my parents my brother and i embarked on a rst family tour of the occupied cities of ramallah bethlehem and hebron wherever we went there were remains of burned jordanian jeeps trucks and military vehicles white ags of surrender hung over most houses some streets were blocked with the mangled blackened carcasses of fancy mercedes automobiles that had been run over by the treads of israeli tanks palestinian children my age and younger had fear in their eyes their parents appeared devastated and humiliated within a few weeks the mighty arabs were transformed into victims while the endangered israelis became conquerors the jewish state was now triumphant and proud and drunk with a heady sense of power when i was a teenager everything was still ne the common wisdom was that ours was a benevolent military occupation modern israel brought progress and prosperity to the palestinian regions now our backward neighbors had the electricity and running water and health care they never had before they had to realize that they had never had it so good they were surely grateful for all that we bestowed upon them and when peace came we would hand back most of the occupied territories but for the time being all was well in the land of israel arab and jew coexisted throughout the country enjoying calm and plenty only when i was a soldier did i grasp that something was wrong six months after joining the elite paratrooper brigade of the idf i was posted in the very same occupied cities that i had toured as a child ten years earlier now i was assigned to do the dirty work checkpoint of dispersal arrests violent duties house demonstrations what traumatized me most was breaking into homes and taking young men from their warm beds to midnight interrogations what the hell was going on i asked myself why was i defending my homeland by tyrannizing civilians who were deprived of their rights and freedom why was my israel occupying and oppressing another people so i became a peacenik first as a young activist and then as a journalist i fought occupation with a passion in the 1980s i opposed establishing settlements in the palestinian territories in the 1990s i supported the establishment of a plo led palestinian state in the rst decade of the twenty rst century i endorsed israel s unilateral retreat from the gaza strip but almost all the antioccupation campaigns i was involved with ultimately failed almost half a century after my family rst toured the occupied west bank the west bank is still occupied as malignant as it is occupation has become an integral part of the jewish state s being it has also become an integral part of my life as an israeli although i oppose occupation i am responsible for occupation i cannot deny the fact or escape the fact that my nation has become an occupying nation that is existentially only a few years ago did it suddenly dawn on me that my existential fear regarding my nation s future and my moral outrage regarding my nation s occupation policy are not unconnected on the one hand israel is the only nation in the west that is occupying another people on the other hand israel is the only nation in the west threatened both occupation and intimidation make the israeli condition unique intimidation and occupation have become the two pillars of our condition most observers and analysts deny this duality the ones on the left address occupation and overlook intimidation while the ones on the right address intimidation and dismiss occupation but the truth is that without incorporating both elements into one worldview one cannot grasp israel or the israeli palestinian con ict any school of thought that does not relate seriously to these two fundamentals is bound to be awed and futile only a third approach that internalizes both intimidation and occupation can be realistic and moral and get the israel story right i was born in 1957 in the university town of rehovot my father was a scientist my mother an artist and some of my ancestors were among the founders of the zionist enterprise conscripted to the army at eighteen like most israelis i served as a paratrooper and upon completion of my service i studied philosophy at the hebrew university in jerusalem where i joined the peace movement and later the human rights movement since 1995 i have been writing for israel s leading liberal newspaper haaretz although i always stood for peace and supported the two state solution i gradually became aware of the aws and biases of the peace movement my understanding of both occupation and intimidation made my voice somewhat di erent from those of others in the media and as a columnist i challenge both right wing and left wing dogmas i have learned that there are no simple answers in the middle east and no quick x solutions to the israeli palestinian con ict i have realized that the israeli condition is extremely complex perhaps even tragic tech boomed everyday in the rst decade of the twenty rst century israel did well terror subsided high life was vibrant economically israel proved to be a tiger existentially it proved to be a powerhouse of vitality creativity and sensuality but under the glow of an extraordinary success story anxiety was simmering people started asking aloud the questions that i have been asking myself all my life it was not just left right politics anymore it was not just secular versus religious something deeper was taking place many israelis were not at ease with the new israel that was emerging they were asking themselves if they still belonged to the jewish state they had lost their belief in israel s ability to endure some obtained foreign passports some sent their young to study abroad the elite saw to it that alongside the israeli option they would have an alternative one although most israelis still loved their homeland and celebrated its blessings many lost their unshaken faith in its future as the second decade of the twenty rst century has begun to unfold ve di erent apprehensions cast a shadow on israel s voracious appetite for life the notion that the israeli palestinian con ict might not end in the foreseeable future the concern that israel s regional strategic hegemony is being challenged the fear that the very legitimacy of the jewish state is eroding the concern that a deeply transformed israeli society is now divided and polarized its liberal democratic foundation crumbling and the realization that the dysfunctional governments of israel cannot deal seriously with such crucial challenges as occupation and social disintegration each one of these ve apprehensions contains a signi cant threat but their combined e ect makes the overall threat dramatic if peace is not feasible how will we withstand a generation long con ict as our strategic superiority is endangered and our legitimacy is fading and our democratic identity is fractured and our internal ssures tear us apart while israel remains innovative seductive and energetic it has become a nation in doubt angst hovers above the land like the enormous shadow of an ominous volcano this is why i embarked on this journey sixty ve years after its founding israel has returned to its core questions one hundred and sixteen years after it was launched zionism is confronted with its core contradictions now the challenge goes far beyond that of occupation and much deeper than the issue of peace what we all face is the threefold israel question why israel what is israel will israel the israel question cannot be answered with polemics as complex as it is it will not submit itself to arguments and counterarguments the only way to wrestle with it is to tell the israel story that is what i have tried to do in this book in my own idiosyncratic way and through my own prism i have tried to address our existence as a whole as i understand it this book is the personal odyssey of one israeli who is bewildered by the historic drama engul ng his homeland it is the journey in space and time of an israeli born individual exploring the wider narrative of his nation through family history personal history and in depth interviews i will try to tackle the larger israel story and the deeper israel question what has happened in my homeland for over a century that has brought us to where we are now what was achieved here and what went wrong here and where are we heading is my deep sense of anxiety well founded is the jewish state in real jeopardy are we israelis caught in a hopeless tragedy or might we yet revive ourselves and save ourselves and salvage the land we so love photo credit 1 1 one at first sight 1897 on the night of april 15 1897 a small elegant steamer is en route from egypt s port said to ja a thirty passengers are on board twenty one of them zionist pilgrims who have come from london via paris marseille and alexandria leading the pilgrims is the rt honorable herbert bentwich my great grandfather bentwich is an unusual zionist at the end of the nineteenth century most zionists are eastern european bentwich is a british subject most zionists are poor he is a gentleman of independent means most zionists are secular whereas he is a believer for most zionists of this time zionism is the only choice but my great grandfather chooses zionism of his own free will in the early 1890s herbert bentwich makes up his mind that the jews must settle again in their ancient homeland judea this pilgrimage is unusual too it is the rst such journey of upper middle class british jews to the land of israel this is why the founder of political zionism theodor herzl attributes such importance to these twenty one travelers he expects bentwich and his colleagues to write a comprehensive report about the land herzl is especially interested in the inhabitants of palestine and the prospects for colonizing it he expects the report to be presented at the end of the summer to the rst zionist congress that is to be held in basel but my great grandfather is somewhat less ambitious his zionism which preceded herzl s is essentially romantic yet he too was carried away by the english translation of herzl s prophetic manifesto der judenstaat or the state of the jews he personally invited herzl to appear at his prestigious london club and he was bowled over by the charisma of the visionary leader like herzl he believes that jews must return to palestine but as the at bottomed steamer oxus carves the black water of the mediterranean bentwich is still an innocent my great grandfather does not wish to take a country and to establish a state he wishes to face god only i remain on deck for a moment i want to understand why the oxus is making its way across the sea who exactly is this ancestor of mine and why has he come here as the twentieth century is about to begin there are more than 11 million jews in the world of whom nearly 7 million live in eastern europe 2 million live in central and western europe and 1 5 million live in north america asian north african and middle eastern jewry total less than one million in north america and western europe are jews emancipated in russia they are persecuted in poland they are discriminated against in islamic countries they are a protected people living as second class citizens even in the united states france and britain emancipation is merely a legality anti semitism is on the rise in 1897 christendom is not yet at peace with its ultimate other many nd it di cult to address jews as free proud and equal in the eastern parts of europe jewish distress is acute a new breed of ethnic based anti semitism is superseding the old religious based anti semitism waves of pogroms befall jewish towns and townships in russia belarus moldova romania and poland most shtetl jews realize that there is no future for the shtetl hundreds of thousands sail to ellis island the jewish diaspora experiences once again the cataclysmic phenomenon of mass migration worse than the past is what the future holds in the next half century a third of all jews will be murdered two thirds of european jewry will be wiped out the worst catastrophe in the history of the jewish people is about to occur so as the oxus approaches the shores of the holy land the need to give palestine to the jews feels almost palpable if the jews won t disembark here they will have no future this emerging coastline may be their only salvation there is another need in the millennium preceding 1897 jewish survival was guaranteed by the two great g s god and ghetto what enabled jews to maintain their identity and their civilization was their closeness to god and their detachment from the surrounding non jewish world jews had no territory and no kingdom they had no liberty and no sovereignty what held them together as a people were religious belief religious practice and a powerful religious narrative as well as the high walls of isolation built around them by gentiles but in the hundred years prior to 1897 god drifted away and the ghetto walls collapsed secularization and emancipation limited as they were eroded the old formula of jewish survival there was nothing to maintain the jewish people as a people living among others even if jews were not to be slaughtered by russian cossacks or to be persecuted by french anti semites they were faced with collective mortal danger their ability to maintain a non orthodox jewish civilization in the diaspora was now in question there was a need for revolution if it was to survive the jewish people had to be transformed from a people of the diaspora to a people of sovereignty in this sense the zionism that emerges in 1897 is a stroke of genius its founders led by dr herzl are both prophetic and heroic all in all the nineteenth century was the golden age of western europe s jewry yet the herzl zionists see what is coming true they do not know that the twentieth century will conjure up such places as auschwitz and treblinka but in their own way they act in the 1890s in order to preempt the 1940s they realize they are faced with a radical problem the coming extinction of the jews and they realize that a radical problem calls for a radical solution the transformation of the jews a transformation that can take place only in palestine the jews ancient homeland herbert bentwich does not see things as lucidly as theodor herzl does he doesn t know that the century about to begin will be the most dramatic in jewish history but his intuition tells him that it s time for radical action he knows that the distress in eastern europe is intolerable and that in the west assimilation is unavoidable in the east jews are in danger while in the west judaism is in trouble my great grandfather understands that the jewish people desperately need a new place a new beginning a new mode of existence if they are to survive the jewish people need the holy land bentwich was born in 1856 in the whitechapel district of london his father was a russian jewish immigrant who made his living as a traveling salesman peddling jewelry in birmingham and cambridge but the salesman wanted more for his beloved son he sent herbert to ne grammar schools where the boy did well knowing that all his parents hopes were invested in him the disciplined youngster worked hard to prove himself in his thirties he was already a successful solicitor living in st john s wood before traveling to palestine my great grandfather was a leading gure in the anglo jewish community his professional expertise was copyright law in his social life he was one of the founders of the prominent dining and debating maccabean club in his private life he was married to a beautiful artistic wife who was raising nine children in their magisterial avenue road home another two would be born in the coming years a self made man herbert bentwich is rigid and pedantic his dominant traits are arrogance determination self assurance self reliance and nonconformity yet he is very much a romantic with a soft spot for mysticism bentwich is a victorian he feels deeply indebted to the british empire for opening its gates to the immigrant s son he once was when bentwich was two years old the rst jew was elected to british parliament when he was fteen the rst jew was admitted to oxford when he turned twenty nine the rst jew entered the house of lords for bentwich these milestones are wonders he does not look upon emancipation as a belated ful llment of a natural right but as an act of grace carried out by queen victoria s great britain in his physical appearance bentwich resembles the prince of wales he has steely blue eyes a full well trimmed beard a strong jaw his manner is also that of a nobleman although poor at birth herbert bentwich vigorously embraced the values and customs of the empire that ruled the seas like a true gentleman he loves travel poetry and theater he knows his shakespeare and he is at home in the lake district yet he does not compromise his judaism with his wife susan he nurtures a family home that is all anglo jewish harmony morning prayers and chamber music tennyson and maimonides shabbat rituals and an oxbridge education bentwich believes that just as imperial britain has a mission in this world so do the jewish people he feels it is the duty of the emancipated jews of the west to look after the persecuted jews of the east my great grandfather is absolutely certain that just as the british empire saved him it will save his brethren his loyalty to the crown and his loyalty to the jewish vocation are intertwined they push him toward palestine they lead him to head this unique anglo jewish delegation traveling to the shores of the holy land had i met herbert bentwich i probably wouldn t have liked him if i were his son i am sure i would have rebelled against him his world royalist religious patriarchal and imperial is eras away from my world but as i study him from a distance more than a century of distance i cannot deny the similarities between us i am surprised to nd how much i identify with my eccentric great grandfather so i ask again why is he here why does he nd himself on this steamer he is in no personal danger his life in london is prosperous ful lling why sail all the way to ja a one answer is romanticism in 1897 palestine is not yet british but it is on the british horizon in the second half of the nineteenth century the yearning for zion is as english as it is jewish george eliot s daniel deronda has paved the way laurence oliphant has taken it further the fascination with zion is now at the heart of the english romanticism of the colonial era for my great grandfather a romantic a jew and a victorian gentleman the temptation is irresistible the yearning for zion has become an integral part of his constitution it de nes his identity the second answer is more important and more relevant herbert bentwich is way ahead of his time the journey he took from whitechapel to st john s wood in the late nineteenth century is analogous to the journey taken by many jews from the lower east side to the upper west side in the twentieth century as 1900 approaches my great grandfather is faced with the challenge that will face american jewry in the twenty rst century how to maintain a jewish identity in an open world how to preserve a judaism not shielded by the walls of a ghetto how to prevent the dispersion of the jews into the liberty and prosperity of the modern west yes herbert bentwich takes the trip from charing cross to ja a because he is committed to ending jewish misery in the east but his main reason for taking this journey is his understanding of the futility of jewish life in the west because he was blessed with a privileged life he already sees the challenge that will follow the challenge of anti semitism he sees the calamity that will follow the holocaust he realizes that his own world of anglo jewish harmony is a world in eclipse that s why he crosses the mediterranean he arrives on april 16 at the mouth of the ancient port of ja a i watch him as he awakens at 5 00 a m in his rst class compartment i watch him as he walks up the stairs to the oxus s wooden deck in a light suit and a cork hat i watch him as he looks from the deck the sun is about to rise over the archways and turrets of ja a and the land my great grandfather sees is just as he hoped it would appear illuminated by the gentle dawn and shrouded by the frail light of promise do i want him to disembark i don t yet know i have an obsession with all things british like bentwich i love land s end and snowdon and the lake district i love the english cottage and the english pub and the english countryside i love the breakfast ritual and the tea ritual and devon s clotted cream i am mesmerized by the hebrides and the scottish highlands and the soft green hills of dorset i admire the deep certainty of english identity i am drawn to the quiet of an island that has not been conquered for eight hundred years to the continuity of its way of life to the civilized manner in which it conducts its a airs if herbert bentwich disembarks he will bid farewell to all that he will uproot himself and his children and grandchildren and great grandchildren from the deep english green in order to settle us all for generations in the wild middle east isn t it foolish to do so isn t it mad but it s not that simple the british isles are not really ours we are only passersby for the road we travel is much longer and far more tormented the english green provided us with only an elegant and temporary refuge a respite along the way the demography tells a clear story in the second half of the twentieth century which herbert bentwich will not live to see the anglo jewish community will shrink by a third between 1950 and 2000 the number of jews in the british isles will drop from over 400 000 to approximately 300 000 jewish schools and synagogues will close the communities of such cities as brighton and bournemouth will dwindle the rate of intermarriage will increase to well over 50 percent young non orthodox jews will wonder why they should be jewish what s the point a similar process will take place in other western european countries the non orthodox jewish communities of denmark holland and belgium will almost disappear after playing a crucial role in the shaping of modern europe for more than two hundred years think of mendelssohn marx freud mahler kafka einstein jews will gradually leave center stage the golden era of european jewry will be over the very existence of a viable vital and creative european jewry will be questioned what was shall not be again fifty years later this same malaise will hit even the powerful and prosperous american jewish community the ratio of jews to non jews in american society will shrink dramatically intermarriage will be rampant the old jewish establishment will fossilize and fewer non orthodox jews will be a liated or active in jewish life american jewry will still be far more vibrant than europe s but looking across the ocean at their european and british cousins american jews will be able to see what the twenty rst century holds and it is not a pretty sight so should my great grandfather disembark if he doesn t my personal life in england will be rich and rewarding i won t have to do military services i ll face no immediate danger and no gnawing moral dilemmas weekends will be spent at the family s thatched roof cottage in dorset summers in the scottish highlands yet if my great grandfather does not disembark chances are that my children will be only half jewish perhaps they will not be jewish at all britain will mu e our jewish identity in the green meadows of old england and in the thick woods of new england secular jewish civilization might evaporate on both coasts of the atlantic the non orthodox jewish people might gradually disappear so smooth is the mediterranean as the bentwich delegation disembarks that it appears to be a lake arab stevedores ferry the oxus passengers ashore in rough wooden boats the ja a port proves to be less traumatic than expected but in the city of ja a it is market day some of the european travelers are shocked by the hanging animal carcasses the smelly sh the rotting vegetables they notice the infected eyes of the village women the scrawny children and the hustling the noise the lth the sixteen gentlemen four ladies and one maid make their way to the downtown hotel and the elegant thomas cook carriages arrive promptly as soon as they are out of the chaos of arab ja a the europeans are in good spirits once again they smell the sweet scent of the april orange groves and are uplifted by the sight of the blazing red and timid purple elds of wild owers the twenty one travelers are greeted by my other great grandfather dr hillel yo e who makes a positive impression on them in the six years since he too disembarked at the ja a port carried ashore by the very same arab stevedores he has accomplished a great deal his medical work trying to eradicate malaria is now well known his public work as chairman of the zionist committee in palestine is outstanding like the british pilgrims he is committed to the idea that the privileged jews of the west must assist the impoverished jews of the east it s not only a matter of saving them from benighted cossacks but a moral duty to introduce them to science and the enlightenment in the harsh conditions of this remote ottoman province dr yo e is the champion of progress his mission is to heal both his patients and his people led by dr yo e the bentwich convoy reaches the french agricultural school of mikveh yisrael the students are away for the passover holiday but the teachers and sta are impressive mikveh yisrael is an oasis of progress its ne sta trains the young jews of palestine to toil the land in modern ways its mission is to produce the agronomists and vine growers of the next century the french style agriculture it teaches will eventually spread throughout palestine and make its deserts bloom the visitors are ecstatic they feel they are watching the seeds of the future sprouting and it is indeed the very future they want to see from the mikveh yisrael school they travel to the colony of rishon lezion baron edmond de rothschild is the colony s sponsor and benefactor the local governor representing the baron hosts the esteemed pilgrims in his colonial home the brits take to the frenchman they are relieved to nd such architecture and such a household and such ne food in this backwater yet what delights the european travelers most is the formidable advanced winery established by the baron at the center of the fteen year old colony they are amazed at the notion of turning palestine into the provence of the orient they can hardly believe the sight of the red roofed colonial houses the deep green vineyards or the heady smell of the rst hebrew wine in the jewish homeland after eighteen hundred years by noon when they arrive in ramleh it is clear to them seven hours after landing in palestine most of the bentwich pilgrims have no doubts judea is the place where the persecuted jewish masses of russia poland and romania should be settled palestine is to be a jewish home that will ensure jewish salvation soon the delegation will get on the train from lydda to jerusalem but a man like herbert bentwich will not waste a valuable half hour his fellow travelers are exhausted they rest mulling over their many impressions and emotions but my great grandfather is restless in his white suit and his white cork hat he climbs up the white tower rising like a beacon from the center of ramleh and from the grand white tower my great grandfather sees the land looking out over the vacant territory of 1897 bentwich sees the quiet the emptiness the promise here is the stage upon which the drama will play out all that was and all that shall be the carpets of wild owers the groves of ancient olive trees the light purple silhouette of the judean hills and over there jerusalem by pure chance my great grandfather is at the epicenter of the drama and at this juncture a choice must be made this way or the other move forward or pull back choose palestine or reject it my great grandfather is not really t to make such a decision he does not see the land as it is riding in the elegant carriage from ja a to mikveh yisrael he did not see the palestinian village of abu kabir traveling from mikveh yisrael to rishon lezion he did not see the palestinian village of yazur on his way from rishon lezion to ramleh he did not see the palestinian village of sarafand and in ramleh he does not really see that ramleh is a palestinian town now standing atop the white tower he does not see the nearby palestinian town of lydda he does not see the palestinian village of haditha the palestinian village of gimzu or the palestinian village of el kubbab my great grandfather does not see on the shoulder of mount gezer the palestinian village of abu shusha how can this be i ask myself in another millennium how is it possible that my great grandfather does not see there are more than half a million arabs bedouins and druze in palestine in 1897 there are twenty cities and towns and hundreds of villages so how can the pedantic bentwich not notice them how can the hawkeyed bentwich not see from the tower of ramleh that the land is taken that there is another people now occupying the land of his ancestors i am not critical or judgmental on the contrary i realize that the land of israel on his mind is a vast hundred thousand square kilometers which includes today s kingdom of jordan and in this vast land there are fewer than a million inhabitants there is enough room there for the jewish survivors of anti semitic europe greater palestine can be home to both jew and arab i also realize that the land bentwich observes is populated by many bedouin nomads most of the others who live there are serfs with no property rights the vast majority of the palestinians of 1897 live in humble villages and hamlets their houses are nothing but dirt huts bowed by poverty and disease they are hardly noticeable to a victorian gentleman it is also likely that herbert bentwich a white man of the victorian era cannot see nonwhites as equals he might easily persuade himself that the jews who will come from europe will only better the lives of the local population that european jews will cure the natives educate them cultivate them that they will live side by side with them in an honorable and digni ed manner but there is a far stronger argument in april 1897 there is no palestinian people there is no real sense of palestinian self determination and there is no palestinian national movement to speak of arab nationalism is awakening at a distance in damascus in beirut in the arabian peninsula but in palestine there is no cogent national identity there is no mature political culture in these distant parts of the ottoman empire there is no self rule and no palestinian autonomy if one is a proud subject of the british empire it is quite understandable that one would see the land as a no man s land as a land the jews may legitimately inherit yet i still ask myself why he does not see after all arab stevedores woke him at dawn and carried him ashore in the rough wooden boat arab peddlers passed him in the ja a market arab sta attended to him in the ja a hotel he saw arab villagers from the carriages along the way and the arab residents of ramleh and lydda the arabs in his own thomas cook convoy the guides the horsemen the servants the baedeker guide to palestine states emphatically that the city of ramleh is a city built by arabs and that the white tower of ramleh is an arab tower as i observe the blindness of herbert bentwich as he surveys the land from the top of the tower i understand him perfectly my great grandfather does not see because he is motivated by the need not to see he does not see because if he does see he will have to turn back but my great grandfather cannot turn back so that he can carry on my great grandfather chooses not to see he does carry on he gathers his fellow pilgrims and they board the train to jerusalem the ja a jerusalem railway was laid down by a french company only a few years earlier and the engine is a modern steam engine carrying modern cars with comfortably upholstered seats but as thrilled as he is by the signs of progress he sees embodied by the new train he is even more impressed by the landscape through the wide windows of the french made cars he sees the remains of the ancient hebrew city of gezer but he does not see the adjacent palestinian village of abu shusha he sees the tombs of the heroic maccabeans in modi in but not the palestinian village of midia he sees samson s tsora but not artouf he does not see dir el hawa and he does not see ein karem my great grandfather sees the ancient glory of the twisting gorge leading to jerusalem but he does not see the palestinian peasants tilling the craggy terraces of the jerusalem hills two things drive herbert bentwich a vivid historical memory coupled with a belief in progress and a longing for the glory of the past that gives rise to determination to pave the way for modernization yes he is committed to russian jewry groaning under the tsar s tyranny he never forgets the victims of the 1881 82 pogroms in the ukraine and the victims of the recent romanian persecutions but what really captivates him is the bible and modernity his real passions are to revive the prophets and to put up telegraph lines between the mythological past and the technological future there is no present for him between memory and dream there is no here and now in my great grandfather s consciousness there is no place for the land as it is there is no place for the palestinian peasants who stand by their olive and g trees and wave hello to the british gentleman dressed in ne linen who is absorbed by the biblical landscape he sees through the train windows as i follow the train on its climb up to jerusalem i think of ferdinand marie de lesseps the french consul general in egypt who devised a detailed plan to connect the mediterranean and the indian ocean with an arti cial waterway he then raised the money to carry out his vision by founding a general stock company within ten years the suez canal was dug at a horrendous human cost and lesseps proved to the nineteenth century that there were no limits that in this age of reason any problem could be solved no mountain was too high for rational progress herbert bentwich is not french but british and though his personality is not cartesian but tory the de lesseps spirit a ects him too he believes there must be a rational answer to the jewish question for him theodor herzl is the de lesseps of the jewish question herzl would get the charter draw up the plan raise the money by founding a general stock company herzl would erect the great arti cial nation state that would connect east to west and would link the past to the future and would turn this wasteland into an arena of momentous events and great deeds my great grandfather s fellow travelers are excited too they have seen so much since dawn ja a mikveh yisrael rishon lezion ramleh the plains of judea the judean hills the gorge en route to jerusalem the locomotive travels slowly and the thomas cook tourists make good use of the time by reading their various guide and reference books baedeker smith thompson oliphant condor as they pass the valley of ayalon they reconstruct the great biblical battles that occurred there astonished they recognize the site of the heroic victory of the hasmoneans at beth horon they feel they are traveling back in time making their way between the epochs of the remarkable history of the sons of israel i take a close look at them there are sixteen men and ve women sixteen brits three americans and two continental europeans all but three are jewish all but one are well o almost all are well read well to do emancipated jews of the modern era and although they are a bit outlandish in their dress and although they are naïve there is no malice in them what brought them here is desperation and desperation breeds resolve they are unaware of the huge forces coursing through them imperialism capitalism science technology that will transform the land and when imperialism capitalism science and technology breed with their determination nothing can stand in the way these forces will atten mountains and bury villages they will replace one people with another so as the train moves on with its baedeker reading passengers change becomes inevitable of the twenty one travelers only one is not naïve at all israel zangwill is a well known author whose novel children of the ghetto is an international bestseller zangwill is sharp tongued sharp minded and merciless he doesn t share my great grandfather s benevolent conservatism and humane romanticism there is no need for him to deceive himself no need to see and yet not see all that herbert bentwich doesn t see israel zangwill sees he sees the palestinian cities of ja a lydda and ramleh the palestinian villages of abu kabir sarafand haditta and abu shusha he sees all the humble villages and miserable hamlets en route to jerusalem he sees the farmers who toil the land wave at the passing french train in seven years time all that zangwill sees now will pour out of him in a landmark speech in new york the world renowned writer will shock his audience by stating that palestine is populated in the district of jerusalem zangwill will argue population density is double that of the united states but the provocative zionist will not only spout subversive demographic data he will also claim that no populated country was ever won without the use of force zangwill will conclude that because others occupy the land of israel the sons of israel should be ready to take tough action to drive out by sword the tribes in possession as our forefathers did zangwill s speech will be perceived by the zionist movement as scandalous heresy in 1897 and even in 1904 no zionist but zangwill articulates such a blunt analysis of reality and reaches such cruel conclusions after his speech the nonconformist writer will be driven out of the movement but he will return some years later and on his return in the second decade of the twentieth century he will proclaim in public what no zionist dared whisper to himself there is no particular reason for the arabs to cling to these few kilometers to fold their tents and silently steal away is their proverbial habit let them exemplify it now we must gently persuade them to trek but all that will take place much later it is still the early days in the late afternoon of friday april 16 1897 after a long and exciting train ride the bentwich pilgrims get o the train in jerusalem s newly built stone station my great grandfather is thrilled they have reached jerusalem time is short their arrival coincides with passover in a few hours the holiday of freedom will begin and jews will celebrate a previous exodus so after the pilgrims are greeted at the station by the notables of jerusalem s old jewish community they are rushed to the old city once again they are confronted with the misery of the orient dark crooked alleyways lthy markets hungry masses the impoverished arabs and the pre zionist jews who have been residing in the holy city for generations living on charity and prayer are a wretched sight but when they reach at last the wailing wall they are overwhelmed by the devotion of the worshippers there they are moved by the genuine grief of elderly bearded jews as they stand by the only remnant of the temple and lament the eighteen hundred year long catastrophe of their history the british ladies and gentlemen along with their american and european counterparts are surprised to nd that they too are ooded by longing and lament they deposit their scribbled yearnings in the cracks of the wall but as they are short on time bentwich hurries the breathless pilgrims onward through the dark crooked alleyways to the kaminitz hotel where the seder is to be held then on to david s citadel and david s tomb the following morning and then to the breathtaking mount of olives and yet wherever the pilgrims go the contrast is striking venues of the glorious past coexist with present day squalor in the breathtaking beauty of the ancient city of jerusalem both arab and jew are stricken with poverty young boys look like old men disease and despair are everywhere the day after passover the pilgrims head north now it is time for the thomas cook brothers to display their outstanding skills for the forty four guineas it has charged each traveler the prestigious tourism agency now delivers a hundred horses and mules with free english saddles and covered sidesaddles for the women they provide top quality white indian tents no fewer than forty eight servants arrive including a butcher a chef and a sta of trained waiters an english breakfast will be laid out every morning lunch will be packed in handwoven picnic baskets and in the evening a gourmet repast will be served warm soup two kinds of meat or poultry three di erent desserts between april 20 and april 27 1897 herbert bentwich leads a convivial colonial convoy through the land they travel from jerusalem to beit el from beit el to shilo from shilo to nablus from nablus to jenin via the valley of dotan from jenin they journey on to mount tabor via the valley of yizrael from mount tabor they go to tiberias via the horns of hittin and after two days on the shores of the sea of galilee they travel by boat to capernaum and from capernaum to rosh pina from rosh pina along the river jordan to its sources then on to mount hermon damascus beirut in his diary that my great grandfather uses is this colonialism if it looks like a duck and walks like a duck and quacks like a duck it probably is a duck the photographs are incriminating white safari suits cork hats thomas cook tents the language is incriminating too there is no ambiguity no beating about the bush his aim and that of his london circle is to colonize palestine the herzl zionists seek imperial backing for their endeavor they are persistently courting britain germany austria and the ottoman empire they want a major european power to use its might to impose the zionist project on the land they want the west to tame this part of the orient they want this arab land to be con scated by europe so that a european problem will be solved outside the boundaries of europe and yet the bentwich delegation seeks to acquire another part of the planet not for the glory of britain but to save persecuted masses they don t really represent an empire but a deprived people seeking the help of empires they do not intend to oppress but to liberate they do not want to exploit the land but to invest in it apart from israel zangwill no member of the delegation considers their mission as a form of conquest dispossession or expulsion so as i observe the gentlemen sitting on their ne english saddles and the ladies teetering on their sidesaddles i see no evil i do not see a condescending attempt to take the poor man s lamb for although the setting is colonial and the customs are colonial these pilgrims are not agents of a colonial power although their appearance thinking and manners are european these pilgrims do not represent europe on the contrary they are europe s victims and they are here on behalf of europe s ultimate victims it is a dire story herbert bentwich s generation is one of emancipated jews who fell in love with europe and tied their fate to europe after breaking free from the ghetto in which they had been imprisoned for centuries they went forth and embraced enlightened europe enriching the continent and enriching themselves yet as the nineteenth century draws to a close these jews realize that as much as they care for europe europe does not care for them for these newly emancipated european jews europe is like a surrogate mother they look up to her they worship her they give her all they have then suddenly these devoted sons of europe notice that europe won t have them europe thinks they smell overnight there is a new strange look in mother europe s eyes she is about to go insane they see the insanity dancing in her eyes and they understand that they must run for their lives that is why theodor herzl is going to convene a congress in the late summer and why herbert bentwich and the bentwich delegation are riding now through the ancient land of israel because just as europe s progress and enlightenment have reached a peak the jews must escape europe this desolate land is where they will nd refuge from europe s medean insanity herbert bentwich s journal stops abruptly after the visit to jerusalem perhaps fatigue has taken its toll perhaps too much excitement one witness claims that bentwich fell into a local prickly pear cactus whose tiny thorns tormented him and deprived him of his peace of mind but notes taken by other pilgrims tell me that what impressed bentwich most of all was the sight of jerusalem at dusk as he saw it from mount scopus just before departure the next day it was the eerie ancient quiet surrounding the sebastian ruins that enchanted the chief pilgrim he was moved by the biblical views of samaria terraced hills olive groves sleepy valleys he found mount gilboa magical yet what left the strongest impression on him was the sight of the sea of galilee at sunset surrounded by glowing red mountains and the experience of taking an early morning sail in the lake s silence i watch my great grandfather lead a hundred horse convoy as it climbs from the sea of galilee to the lake of hula over the valley of ginosar and i watch him as the hundred horse convoy climbs from the lake of hula to the springs of the banias the snow covered summit of mount hermon hovering above the twentieth century is also hovering above my great grandfather doesn t know it yet but the next half century is going to be the worst ever in the history of the jews after that will come another half century in which at horrendous cost the jews will regain their sovereignty but for the time being all is quiet the land is at peace one can hear the hoofs of the horses as they climb the slopes of the hermon one can hear the musings of the gentlemen the silence of the ladies and when my great grandfather looks back he sees for the very last time a land not yet a ected by his future enterprise a land not yet transformed by the need and despair of the jews he observes the serenity of galilee the magic of the lake the staggering omen of the horns of hittin herbert bentwich will not make it to the rst zionist congress in basel though he will attend future zionist conventions he will not be there to present the report that dr herzl was counting on at the historic 1897 gathering but once back in london he will talk and write about his experiences wherever he goes my great grandfather will be adamant palestine has never yet adopted another population he will claim arguing with the critics of zion he will insist that palestine is absolutely suitable for the teeming millions who are in distress in the east of europe for whom a home might have to be found with a minimum of di culty and a maximum of hope in the future debate my great grandfather will have the upper hand along with his friends and colleagues he will establish a sound zionist power base in europe s foremost capital exactly twenty years after his pilgrimage to palestine herbert bentwich will attend the rst meetings between the zionist leadership and the british crown regarding palestine by that time the aging digni ed solicitor will be a relic of times past but as a matter of honor and courtesy he will be given the right to participate in the early stages of the dramatic negotiations half a year later on november 2 1917 the negotiations will produce a famous seventy word commitment included in a letter that will be sent by foreign secretary lord balfour to lord rothschild foreign o ce november 2nd 1917 dear lord rothschild i have much pleasure in conveying to you on behalf of his majesty s government the following declaration of sympathy with jewish zionist aspirations which has been submitted to and approved by the cabinet his majesty s government views with favour the establishment in palestine of a national home for the jewish people and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non jewish communities in palestine or the rights and political status enjoyed by jews in any other country i should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the zionist federation yours sincerely arthur james balfour the bentwich journey to palestine was short and hurried and somewhat absurd yet it transformed the life of my great grandfather on his return to england he would not be able to resume his victorian gentleman s routine he would not settle for practicing law playing chamber music reading shakespeare and raising his nine daughters and two sons to be british gentlemen and gentlewomen the twelve days bentwich spent in the land of israel would make it di cult for him to enjoy the comforts of his privileged life on the family s estate in birchington by the sea for beyond the kent coastline he would now see a lighthouse the bentwiches would now live in constant dialogue with that beacon the enigmatic attraction to palestine would inhabit the souls of all members of the family in 1913 herbert bentwich s daughter and son in law would build a ne mansion in the wine producing colony of zichron ya acov in 1920 herbert bentwich s son would be appointed the rst attorney general of the british mandate in palestine the british rule over palestine authorized by the league of nations in 1922 in 1923 herbert bentwich himself would establish the rst anglo jewish colony on the shoulder of tel gezer and within the palestinian village of abu shusha in 1929 the elderly bentwich would nally settle in the land of israel where he would die three years later the patriarch would be buried on the western slopes of mount scopus by the newly built hebrew university not far from the spot from which he viewed that unforgettable sight of jerusalem at dusk in april 1897 but now the steamer carrying the bentwich delegation back from palestine to london is crossing the dark sea on its way to constantinople the may night is hot my great grandfather is on deck watching the white foam and the black waves he only vaguely understands what he has just done only vaguely envisions the transformation that will take place in the land of israel his understanding of the land is so very limited but he does know that an era has come to a close and that a new era is set to begin something both grand and terrible occurred when the oxus made its appearance at the ja a port and laid on its shore all that it carried on board photo credit 2 1 two into the valley 1921 i am bound north from tel aviv to hadera it is all asphalt gas stations and shopping malls crowded graceless cities appear and disappear and it is di cult to tell them apart coastal israel is dense intense consumerist and sweaty but when i turn east and pass the arab israeli villages of bartoa and umm el fahem and reach the valley of yizrael which bentwich crossed in 1897 i see a fertile basin of plowed brown elds and when i continue eastward surrounded by the scent of heavy soil i arrive at one of my favorite israeli vantage points just after the kibbutz named yizrael the landscape suddenly opens up before me are the valley of harod and the rocky ridges of mount gilboa and i can see the gentle green slopes of the isaschar heights with its numerous kibbutzim it s so quiet here the spell of another era still hangs over the valley of harod in the dilapidated archives of ein harod the rst kibbutz of the valley i pore over maps plans protocols articles letters and personal journals i look at the black and white photographs from the 1920s our very beginning in the valley before me is the genesis of the zionist adventure harod valley is a long narrow strip of land locked between the dramatic mountain ridge to its south and the gentle heights to its north to the east is the city of beit shean to the west the watershed line in the 1920s there were three palestinian villages and two palestinian hamlets in the valley these thirty thousand dunams were owned by the sarsouk family of alexandria most local inhabitants were their serfs local history is ancient and bloody on the mountaintop of gilboa king saul and his son jonathan were killed when the army of israel was crushed by the philistines the bodies of the king and prince were violated under gilboa burbles the water source to which gideon brought his warriors before defeating the midianites and by the spring of harod gideon divided the brave from the timid separating those t to serve their nation from those un t in 1904 the turkish empire laid down a german planned railway in the midst of the long strip of land yet the valley s torpor proved to be stronger than progress twice a day the steam train whistled through the silence but the silence prevailed as late as 1920 the valley was rst and foremost a patchwork of wild elds scarred by boulders and stubborn bushes that prevent cultivation scattered among the elds were deadly marshes in which anopheles mosquitoes bred infecting most of the local palestinians with malaria yet on the paths descending from the spring of harod barefoot village girls walked in their long black dresses carrying clay jars full of water on their heads skinny young shepherds roamed with their herds of gaunt sheep on both sides of the turkish german railway native life meandered as it had for hundreds of years still death was in the air it lurked low in the poison green marshes of palestine and it hovered above the endangered jews of europe in april 1903 an easter pogrom took place in moldova s capital kishinev forty nine jews were murdered hundreds brutally injured world jewry was in turmoil theodor herzl was personally shocked deeply a ected by kishinev he considered buying the property of the sarsouk family in palestine in order to relocate the victims of european anti semitism there he had the proposal reviewed by a consultant who concluded that the land in the valley of harod was exquisite but to evacuate the serfs from the estate would require the use of force herzl s zionism of 1903 found the use of force unacceptable but seventeen years later zionism was no longer so fastidious the great war and the great revolution had hardened hearts so when the sarsouk transaction was nally signed in the summer of 1920 it was clear to all concerned what was required decisive rapid action action to be carried out by a new breed of jew the in the decade following the kishinev pogrom some one million jews ed eastern europe while fewer than thirty ve thousand immigrated to palestine the choice was clear the masses who wanted a life went to america the few who wanted utopia made aliyah to the land of israel unlike the traditional farmers my great grandfather met in the colonies of 1897 the post kishinev immigrants were secular and utopian they were tolstoyan idealists who traveled to palestine in order to nd salvation both for the nation and individual by adopting a humane and environmentally friendly socialism the great creation of the utopians was the commune in 1909 they established degania the rst small intimate commune with the aim of respecting individual needs and freedom degania survived but the utopians failed many felt lonely in the harsh barren land some sank into depression a few committed suicide most gave up and left for america meanwhile in europe big events were occurring the first world war was perceived by many jews as armageddon lenin s october revolution was considered a messianic event but despite war revolution and postrevolution civil war persecution was worse than ever pogroms were everywhere the failure of the socialist utopians in palestine and the acute distress of jews in eastern europe forced zionism to look for new modes of action the new idea was to colonize palestine by establishing communist colonies that would not be small intimate and utopian like degania but large rigid and almost bolshevik the idea now was to win the land by forming a tough determined semimilitary labor brigade in the summer of 1920 the labor brigade was founded a year later it was hundreds of comrades strong they felt and spoke as if they were the avant garde of the jewish people they acted as if they were the revolutionary elite marching ahead of the masses they were about to liberate no job was unworthy no mission impossible they would do whatever needed to be done in the name of the zionist revolution i look closely at their photographs the young men i see are indeed new jews they are strong bu beaming with certainty it is hard to believe that the parents they left behind in eastern europe were shtetl merchants or ghetto scholars within a short period of time the transformation among these youngsters was beyond comprehension now they wear egalitarian berets and caps khakis and sleeveless shirts khakis and no shirts at all and their ne torsos are proudly on display they are tanned and muscular they look like models of revolutionary potency from the recesses of previous generations humiliation manly energy is now bursting the girls are surprisingly provocative some still wear the vestiges of trendy european fashion had they not landed on the palestine shore they would be dancing the charleston to the music of the roaring twenties but even those clad in spartan khaki are tantalizing as there is no god and no father in palestine all is free as there is no religion and no family all is open under these empty blue skies there is no mercy but there are also no limits there is nothing to stop the most ambitious and audacious of all twentieth century revolutions it is the summer of 1921 and all is quiet in the valley apart from the railway what is here now is what has been here for hundreds of years what the american traveler john ridgway described in the last quarter of the previous century can still be seen in the rst quarter of the new century the valley full of harvesters pickers and packers donkeys heavily laden with sacks of grain are walking by while women are busy picking whatever is left in the eld often one hears the singing of harvesters as they bend over the stalks of grain their bodies swaying to the rhythm of age old chants below the mountainside village of nuris stand the stone houses built by the sarsouk family for its ein jaloud serfs and where kibbutz yizrael will be built sits the quiet village of zarin on one of the hills slump the mud huts of tel fir down below are hidden the scattered homes of shatta and over on the northern heights the village of komay overlooks the valley it commands the waters ow slowly from the lively spring of harod to the pools of sahneh via the old mills as they have for a thousand years every so often water trickles into the ditches that the peasants dig in order to nourish their meager crops but these waters create the boggy marshes from which rise the poisonous vapors of malaria that have turned the old village of rihanyah into a ghost village everything here by the grave of sheikh hassan and around the spring of hassan is idle the torpor of an ancient land deep in ancient slumber and yet there are forces about to be unleashed on the quiet valley the energy generated by kishinev and the great war and the great revolution and the pogroms the opportunity produced by the balfour declaration and the british mandate and the sarsouk transaction the acute distress of eastern european jews that compels them to ee to the valley and the new identity of the new jews that allows them to enter the valley to build and transform themselves in a valley inhabited by others on september 21 1921 a bizarre convoy penetrates the valley of harod two cars four horses and a number of country wagons the dozens of labor brigade pioneers in the convoy are highly excited very much aware that they are about to tilt history in his personal journal one of the youngsters writes no road and no path walking along the railway z is riding ahead of us followed by two cars and wagons and the entire platoon the heat is unbearable it s already past noon and we hardly advance stop advance now we must turn right toward mount gilboa at the foot of the mountain ridge ows the spring of harod the spring is the valley s water source we must conquer it the spring is the key to the conquest of the valley and we are about to capture that key z is still ahead riding his noble arab horse to the spring between water ponds and dank marshes we follow him until we arrive at the slopes of gilboa here it is the mouth to the cave from which the water burst the spring of harod the time is half past four like our forefathers who followed gideon to save israel we kneel by the water drinking happily east of the spring is the small hamlet of jaloud we set up camp right next to it west of the spring we raise thirty ve tents we pound iron poles into the soil and surround the camp with barbed wire we dig combat trenches within hours we have a camp with all the facilities like an army regiment we have all we need there is a eld kitchen now and the girl comrades cook supper by sunset we nish our rst day of labor in ein harod we break bread and bless the valley with its rst pioneers hora dance the community of ein harod is imprinted on every israeli s psyche in a sense it is our source our point of departure but for me ein harod has personal signi cance too i have family here throughout my childhood i used to come here for the summer holidays i was always attached to the aura of this mythological kibbutz i loved to walk its shady pathways and enjoyed the languor of the serene afternoons of the archetypical commune i would stand on the porch of the communal dining room and look down at the verdant valley across the imposing mount gilboa now i am sitting in ein harod s dilapidated archives and as i go over the records of that rst day the pioneers arrived i nd all the formative elements the heat the spring the arabs the tents the barbed wire the awareness of the founding fathers that what they are about to do may require violence their determination to conquer the valley come what may i am no judge i am an observer and at this critical point i choose not to zoom in on the single dimension of jew and arab us and them israel and its other rather i widen my scope of vision and see how the di erent dimensions of the zionist tale interplay in the valley of harod by 1921 it is clear that nonsocialist zionism will not be able to colonize palestine the bourgeois rothschild colonies like the one herbert bentwich visited in 1897 are done with they are based on liberal values a middle class way of life and market forces that are not up to the task utopian communes like degania will not do either liberty intimacy and individualism are incompatible with the mission if zionism is to prevail there is a need now for a well organized disciplined socialist structure the twenty nine thousand dunams bought from the sarsouk family provide the territorial base for such a structure for the very rst time zionism overtakes a substantial chunk of the land by building upon it a large communist colony a kibbutz kibbutz socialism is now essential for several reasons without group e ort zionist colonizers will not be able to endure the hardships involved in the colonizing process without the idealism of kibbutz socialism zionism will not have the sense of moral superiority that is essential for the colonization process to succeed without the communal aspect of kibbutz socialist zionism will lack legitimacy and will be perceived as an unjust colonialist movement only kibbutz socialism can give zionism the social cohesion the mental determination and the moral imperative needed at this revolutionary stage and only the labor brigade ethos of kibbutz socialism will enable zionism to take the valley and to take the land the move is not only brilliant it is brave the young labor brigade comrades settling in the valley of harod do not ask themselves how the eighty thousand jews living in palestine in 1921 will deal with more than six hundred thousand arabs they do not ask themselves how a tiny avant garde of palestine socialists will lead the fteen million of the jewish diaspora on an audacious historical adventure like herbert bentwich the seventy four ein harod pioneers are blessed and cursed with convenient blindness they see the arabs but they don t they see the marshes but they ignore them they know that historic circumstances are unfavorable but they believe they will overcome them their ethos is one of steely de ance against all odds they set up camp in the valley and create ein harod they are rebels of course but their revolution is at least sixfold the seventy four twenty year olds launching ein harod rebel against the daunting jewish past of persecution and wandering they rebel against the moldering jewish past of a people living an unproductive life at the mercy of others they rebel against christian europe they rebel against the capitalist world order they rebel against palestine s marshes and boulders they rebel against palestine s indigenous population the labor brigade pioneers rebel against all forces that are jeopardizing jewish existence in the twentieth century as they pitch their tents by the spring of harod i watch the encampment grow first it is located by the spring so that it will have absolute control over the valley s water source weeks later when the serfs of the ein jaloud hamlet give up and leave the encampment is transplanted to the mountain slope right next to the deserted stone houses by now there are 150 comrades in the labor brigade kibbutz of ein harod they occupy seventy cone shaped white tents at the center of each tent is a red iron pole from which hangs a kerosene lamp three metal beds covered with gray brown military blankets surround the pole there are no desks or chairs but by each bed stands an improvised cupboard made of old wooden fruit boxes in which each pioneer places his or her few personal belongings there is also one ri e in every tent along with some ammunition the barren soil is covered with white gravel and a deep trench is dug around each tent to protect it from the rains soon to fall metal pegs secure each tent to the ground with taut military ropes the young founders of ein harod are ecstatic it s all astounding writes one of them i cannot but think of the sons of israel in their tents in the desert but this is our last stop here our wandering ends the excitement is not only personal but collective the brigade builds the land shoulder to shoulder male and female the collective also dances and sings at night young legs are thrust up in the air young hands are bound together faces glow eyes glitter they dance in circles around a bon re as if dance is prayer they dance as if the act of settling in the valley is of biblical signi cance shots of celebration pierce the air the pitch black night is now reddened by re the downtrodden villagers wonder who are these newcomers singing dancing shooting in the air the astonished valley wonders where these nomads came from to pitch tents and dance wildly into the night to awaken the dormant valley from its thousand year sleep yet the gaiety of the dancing is misleading the exhausted young pioneers who retire to their tents and collapse onto their metal beds are all orphans they have cut themselves o from their roots and have turned their backs on their parents now they are fatherless motherless and godless their camp on the slopes of the gilboa is very much an orphanage after all zionism was an orphans movement a desperate crusade of europe s orphans as the unwanted sons and daughters of the christian continent ed the hatred of their surrogate mother they discovered they were all alone in the world godless parentless and homeless they had to survive having lost one civilization they had to construct another having lost their homeland they had to invent another that is why they came to palestine and why they now cling to the land with such desperate determination but in ein harod the sense of orphanhood is even deeper it occupies the hearts and dreams of every pioneer when immigrating to this land writes one of the youngsters we were on our own we left the past behind we have cut ourselves o from all we were we have distanced ourselves from our previous identity and from those dearest to us overnight we were uprooted from the rich soil of our parents culture that was enriched with thousands of years of history then after being uprooted we were thrown forcefully by a supreme hand onto this barren land in parched sun struck elds we are now faced with naked rocks exposed to the re above face to face with the elements face to face with brutal existence no protection at all and here in this desolate valley we must sculpt our lives from these rocks we must carve our new foundation in the ein harod valley we must dig dig deep to nd the hidden spring that will nourish and inspire our new lives yet orphanhood does not weaken the orphans on the contrary what s extraordinary about ein harod is that it transforms its comrades loneliness and despair into a unique generator of remarkable energy as there is no father there is no boundary and no restraint as there is no mother there is no ease and no comfort as there is no god there is no mercy no second chance no hope of a miracle from the very outset ein harod is brutally realistic the exhausted pioneers now sleeping in their white tents know that there is no shelter for them no shade to rest under no tree to hide behind all is exposed to an extremely cruel history and the test ahead is an ultimate one life or death all depends on these weary boys and girls are they up to the task do they have the necessary stamina and persistence as jewish europe has no more hope jewish youth is all there is it is the jewish people s last resort and this speci c avant garde of jewish youth is at history s forefront there is hardly any time left in only twenty years european jewry will be wiped out that s why the ein harod imperative is absolute there is no compassion in this just born kibbutz there is no indulgence no tolerance no self pity there is no place for individual rights and individual needs and individual wants every single person is on trial and although remote and desolate this valley will witness the events that determine whether the jews can establish a new secular civilization in their ancient homeland here it will be revealed whether the ambitious avant garde is indeed leading its impoverished people to a promised land and a new horizon or whether this encampment is just another hopeless bridgehead with no masses and no reserves to reinforce it a bridgehead to yet another valley of death as the sun rises the sight is breathtaking row after row of white tents dot the dramatic mountain ridge one of the awakening pioneers describes the tents as a ock of birds from a distant land that came down to rest and restore their powers on the rocky slopes of a remote island the pioneers themselves can hardly believe the audacity of what they are doing it is as if a new old testament is being written but there is no time for contemplation three obsolete american tractors arrive sent from tel aviv by the labor movement a dozen strong pedigreed hungarian horses arrive bought from somewhere in the galilee so now the youngsters can begin their work first they clear the elds of boulders and rocks then they plant the rst forests eucalyptus pine then they lay a gravel path connecting the kibbutz with the local railway station the girls plant a small vegetable garden in the abandoned stone buildings of ein jaloud the boys set up a carpentry shop a shoe making shop a welding shop and a tannery a clinic is erected for the rst victims of malaria a communal dining hall is built that will serve all a village bakery and a provisional library are constructed from somewhere somehow a piano appears a few weeks later the day arrives that everyone has been waiting for at rst light there is a commotion at the new dining hall the early risers gather drinking hot chocolate and eating thick slices of bread spread with olive oil or jam once breakfast is over the men march into the elds they march in military rhythm in one line singing the elds have already been cleared of rocks wild bushes and thorny native plants and now the grand spectacle begins two pairs of hungarian horses harnessed to a modern iron plow lead the procession behind them follow four pairs of arab mules harnessed to local plows as the convoy slowly advances into the elds the iron blades pierce the ground and create furrow after furrow the blades of the sun catch the blades of the plows as they turn the valley s soil penetrating the crust of the ancient valley s deep earth and as the plows begin to do their work the jews return to history and regain their masculinity as they take on the physical labor of tilling the earth they transform themselves from object to subject from passive to active from victims to sovereigns a few days later it s time to sow there is great excitement among the youth half sacks full of seeds are hoisted up on the shoulders of a half dozen sowers who spread out through the eld they take a step slip a large hand into the sack bring forth a stful of seed and in a wide arc scatter the seed over the tilled eld step after step they sow wheat and barley and when they return to the encampment at the end of the day everyone gathers around them in glee after eighteen hundred years the jews have returned to sow the valley in the communal dining hall they sing joyfully they dance through the night into the light of dawn progress is fast within a few months the ein harod pioneers plow 1 900 dunams and sow 900 dunams of land they clear more and more elds they blast open a mountain quarry there are milking cows in their dairy and egg laying hens in their coops the number of comrades in the six month old kibbutz keeps rising 180 200 220 but what is even more striking is that these comrades now wear kibbutz made shoes and enjoy kibbutz baked bread and drink rich kibbutz milk and eat kibbutz laid eggs they celebrate the very rst kibbutz tomatoes as one of the leaders looks around him he is astonished at what is being achieved he feels that his comrades resemble robinson crusoe who was swept ashore after his boat was lost he feels that like crusoe he and his comrades never wept never lamented their wretched fate like crusoe they looked around their desolate island and wondered what could be done like crusoe they made the most of whatever they found they were practical imaginative and innovative they were brave and like crusoe they created a surreal man made miracle the winter of 1921 is vicious the valley winds whip through the encampment and sow destruction the mountain rain falls down the slopes in cascades the white tents are thrown to the ground time after time there is no refuge in this improvised refugee camp no sense of home for the homeless tragedy strikes too only ve months after ein harod is founded one of its founders cannot take it anymore he is twenty four when he takes his life with a shotgun a month later the morning quiet is torn once again by the hollow sound of three more shots a blond twenty year old beauty is found dead in a pool of her own blood lying by her side is her handsome twenty ve year old lifeless lover lust despair and jealousy are all at work in the camp as conditions are extreme so are emotions one of the more introspective pioneers tries to de ne the problem we stand naked in the universe he writes we are totally exposed and within this explosive situation we try to shape a new way of life but our life too is exposed and harsh we don t have the subtleness of previous generations we don t have the merciful ambiguity of dusk it s either day or night here hard labor at the noon of day and ideological debates into the night a loving family the soft caress of a mother s hand the stern but encouraging look of a loving father all the things that make life bearable are not here even the intimate touch between a young man and a young woman is there for all to see matter of fact obvious almost gru and so we must face ourselves revealed and exposed naked totally naked every spark of light we must instill in our hearts every drop of life we must imbibe from the wellspring of our own souls and where shall we nd the strength how will we be able to go on to conquer each day where shall we nd power where yet the kibbutz does not disintegrate even as rain falls and storms strike the camp is in high spirits suicide and murder cast their shadow for a while but they are overcome denied and almost forgotten loneliness bites hard but it only forces the frontier community to close ranks and hold on to its fragile solidarity in the long winter nights there is more singing than dancing folk songs revolutionary songs hasidic songs there is mischief hoaxes practical jokes satirical sketches a rst play is produced more and more books are read in the library marx dostoyevsky kropotkin hamsun love a airs ourish babies are born and while they ponder their future and make love in their tents the young pioneers of ein harod listen to the lonely violin of a tall lanky violinist who plays in his tent after each long day in the quarry by the light of a kerosene lamp he sounds the strains of throat choking solitude when yitzhak tabenkin joins ein harod in the winter of december 1921 many of the labor brigade comrades are taken aback tabenkin is older than they are nearly thirty four and he already has a family a wife and two sons while most comrades are the anonymous rank and le soldiers of the zionist revolution tabenkin is something of a celebrity in the ten years since he emigrated from poland to palestine he has emerged as one of the prominent leaders of the labor movement while his friend and rival david ben gurion decides to run socialist politics from tel aviv tabenkin chooses to join the new kibbutz that is already captivating the hearts of the jewish masses although he will always remain something of an outsider by his very presence he turns ein harod into the mecca of the kibbutz movement tabenkin was born in belorussia in 1888 and was raised in warsaw his father turned his back on religion as a young man and embraced radical politics and his mother was active in poland s revolutionary intelligentsia after doing time as a political prisoner his father died and his mother dedicated herself to her promising son by the age of eighteen tabenkin was a well known gure in socialist zionist circles at the age of twenty four he arrived at the port of haifa passed through the valley and settled in tel aviv although he believed in labor and preached labor the young tabenkin was not very good at labor he liked to talk more than he liked to plow his inability to practice what he preached tormented him and often drove him to depression at times he considered suicide joining the valley s rst kibbutz is something of a remedy for tabenkin at last he is with real workers doing real work at last he is at the forefront of the great zionist revolution although he is not analytical eloquent or brilliant tabenkin has charisma the young enthusiastic comrades look up to him as something of a father gure or teacher within a short time tabenkin will be the kibbutz s guru the secular rabbi of ein harod both by temperament and conviction tabenkin is very much an anarchist deeply in uenced by kropotkin and bakunin he is averse to the state detests all establishments and is suspicious of military structures hierarchies and uniforms yet tabenkin is no liberal or paci st he acknowledges the need to use force his leadership is bolshevik in style and his political outlook is combative tabenkin has no respect for the individual whatsoever for him every person is simply raw material for the cause as far as he is concerned every member of ein harod must recast himself as a pioneer by foregoing all individual traits that might jeopardize the ful llment of the socialist zionist vision and what is that vision what is ein harod s dream it is quite clear to be a large ever growing kibbutz tabenkin and his lot reject herzl s political zionism they don t want a jewish state and they don t believe in diplomacy their approach is socialist practical and down to earth they have no expectations of the great powers they despise both bentwich s victorianism and herzl s haut bourgeois elitism they want communism to colonize palestine if possible they want to turn the entire country into one zionist working class commune the way to that goal begins with ein harod let ein harod grow as fast as it can let it take more and more elds capture more and more of the valley allow it to diversify into the pro table areas of crafts light industry and heavy industry let it conquer every patch of land in sight conquer every eld of human activity subjugate the valley to an alternative socioeconomic regime self reliant and self possessed and able to ful ll the needs and realize the dreams of jewish socialism in the land of israel when spring arrives the ein harod pioneers begin to drain the valleys one evening a quiet and earnest engineer arrives in the young kibbutz wearing a gray suit he stands before the bewildered pioneers and explains what is about to be done he shows them a map of the valley the thick blue lines are major canals the thin ones are minor canals the minor canals lead to the major canals whose purpose is to drain the bad waters out of the valley the network of thin and thick lines is laid out across the valley like a sherman s net it will drain the thousand year old marshes and muck and malarial scourge and clear the valley for progress some days later strange men appear wearing khaki shorts and bizarre looking high rubber wellingtons the surveyors look like prehistoric amphibious creatures and yet these human frogs manage to walk about the cursed swamps they hammer pegs and tie ropes along which the major canals and the minor canals will be dug after they are done wellingtons ropes and shovels of all sorts arrive in camp by sunrise the labor brigade pioneers take o into the valley s marshes the heat is unbearable but the mosquitoes are worse buzzing about the ears eyes and private parts they suck fresh blood from the strong young bodies the stench of the swamp is overpowering the tall reeds are infested with snakes yet the canals must be dug the boys work in teams of ve each team digs one layer of mud and then moves on so that the next team will dig deeper standing in a two yard wide ditch each bare chested pioneer has to stick his shovel between the dripping walls of the canal and lift the lth above him once the hard soil hidden under the marsh for a millennium is nally exposed there is a fury of festive shouting now the girls walk in bearing baskets lled with white gravel that since morning they have been producing with their small e cient chisels only now when the girls gravel lines the boys canal may lunch be served canned beef and loaves of bread sate their hunger only a few months ago the draining project seemed unreal as ambitious as the suez canal project as dangerous as the panama canal but now day by day the swamps retreat clay pipes laid in the newly dug well lined canals absorb the deadly subterranean waters the july sun does the rest acre after acre the marshes give way to fertile elds zionist planning zionist know how and zionist labor push back the swamps that have cursed the valley for centuries malaria is on a dramatic decline even the remaining arab neighbors bene t from the miraculous project the desolate valley of harod is gradually turning green in years to come historians will try to determine which is the more dominant feature of the endeavor socialism or nationalism some will argue that choosing socialism at this critical stage is zionism s cunning way of conquering the land socialism gives this belated colonizing project a sense of justice and an aura of legitimacy as the colonizers of the valley of harod don t resemble at all the french masters of algeria or the british plantation owners of rhodesia they are in the clear by working the land with their bare hands and by living in poverty and undertaking a daring unprecedented social experiment they refute any charge that they are about to seize a land that is not theirs yet all this idealistic socialism is just subterfuge future critics will claim it is the moral camou age of an aggressive national movement whose purpose is to obscure its colonialist expansionist nature true and not true just before may day 1922 a young poet living in ein harod translates the international socialist anthem into hebrew the hebrew version gives a poignant subtext to the original words that refer to the universal working class now the text is not only about the world s poor it is also about the world s most oppressed people it is about the mission ein harod took upon itself to destroy an old world and build another to unload the heavy burden from a broken back as there is no god no king and no hero we shall break through toward the light all by ourselves we shall win the last battle of an eternal war yesterday nothing tomorrow everything tabenkin is the very incarnation of this zionist socialist symbiosis in his mid thirties he is still an attractive man with sensual lips and a high forehead he is not a profound intellectual but he has historical pathos and conviction he doesn t write much but he speaks passionately and at great length there is something truly soviet about him had he not been jewish he could have stood now by lenin or stalin in some remote kolkhoz or at a mass gathering of the novosiberian proletariat but tabenkin is jewish and he believes that in the twentieth century the jewish people are heading for disaster twenty years before the holocaust he feels and breathes the holocaust daily that s why he is impossible to be with and impossible to live with he believes that in jewish youth lies the only remedy that only jewish youth can save the jewish people from the approaching catastrophe but he knows there is no time and he feels that all that is being done is not enough palestine might not be ready in time the valley might not be ours in time that s why tabenkin is so demanding he is as cruel to himself as he is to others he is preachy stringent chastising he says over and over again that socialist zionism must do more much more he preaches over and over again that every young pioneer must achieve more much more the avant garde of ein harod must stretch itself beyond its capabilities ein harod must accomplish its mission impossible tabenkin is not much of a theoretician unlike other revolutionaries he does not have an overall systematic ideology but the ein harod rabbi has a powerful concept activism ideologically activism means practicing revolutionary values in everyday life socially activism is wrestling with human nature and changing the unjust order of things politically activism is seizing the initiative and confronting the arabs by force but activism has an overall meaning that is far deeper than all that activism is the revolt of the jews against the passivity of their past it is the rebellion of the jews against their tragic fate and against acceptance of their tragic fate it is not a speci c goal or target but momentum activism is the momentum of doing of moving forward activism is the last attempt of the jews to resist oblivion activism is the desperate rebellion of jewish life against jewish death like bentwich tabenkin is not a gentleman whose company i would enjoy personally i cannot stand soviet type politicians dogmatic revolutionaries and leaders who preach but don t practice yet as i go over tabenkin s old photographs in the ein harod archives i am far more forgiving there is something fascinating about the man he does not have ben gurion s political genius he does not have the intellectual depth of some other founding fathers of zionism he does not have the impressive work ethic and moral rectitude of his fellow rank and le comrades in ein harod but there is re in his belly more than any other zionist leader in palestine he understands the diaspora and feels for the diaspora more than any other local socialist zionist leader he is jewish even when he rails against judaism he does so as a jew even when he rises up against religion he rises up religiously there is so much god in the godless tabenkin as he assaults god and dismisses god and tries to create a god free godless world that s why in the early 1920s tabenkin is the link between the events in the valley of harod and the events in eastern europe that s why tabenkin talks to the valley s youth on behalf of the diaspora and talks to the diaspora on behalf of the valley s youth that s why day in and day out tabenkin wonders whether the work being done in the valley will be su cient whether the valley s youth will have enough in them to pull european jewry from the deadly ocean in which it is drowning on its rst anniversary ein harod celebrates its success by now the year old kibbutz has mastered 8 390 dunams of cultivated land grain takes up 7 000 dunams olive tree groves and vineyards 450 dunams the vegetable garden 200 there are over 600 dunams of forest with 14 000 eucalyptus trees 2 000 pine trees and 1 000 cypresses which cover the inclines of mount gilboa with the rst green shoots of hope there are nearly three hundred comrades in ein harod in the summer of 1922 apart from tabenkin and a few others the age range is from nineteen to twenty ve two hundred white cone shaped tents house a young thriving and energetic community that is transforming the valley and the lives of its inhabitants four other new kibbutzim are now ourishing in the valley momentum is fast and strong there is not a force in sight to stop it many now come to see the wonder as the ein harod experiment becomes world famous it attracts attention in jewish communities and progressive circles worldwide some compare its revolutionary ways to those being tried in the young ussr some see it as providing the only example of successful democratic socialism when one of zionism s leading lights arrives for a day long visit he thinks in di erent terms deeply touched the national moral leader says the following from the nation s valley of death rose a new generation this generation nds life s meaning in toiling our ancestor s land and reviving our ancient tongue the draining of the harod swamps which only covered the land after our people were forced to go into exile is a true wonder but this wonder also symbolizes the draining of the swamp our nation was bogged down in during two millennia of exile you the pioneers of harod are the heroes of the new generation what you are doing is healing the land and healing the nation you are taking us back to the source yet the listening comrades are not heroes what s remarkable about them is their lack of heroism practical and down to earth they know they must do whatever must be done but there is no self aggrandizement about them no sentimentality no smugness caught in a drama larger than themselves they simply carry on another furrow another acre another swamp until the valley is truly theirs until the land is once again the land of israel but there is one feature of the landscape that does not yet retreat the serfs of ein jaloud are gone but the serfs of shatta remain living by the railway station right in the center of the valley and the villagers of nuris menacingly overlook ein harod from the mountaintop the villagers of zarin are actually doing quite well as the valley booms the friendly neighbors of tel fir and those of komay are multiplying now as the anopheles mosquitoes are no longer here to take the lives of their young the bedouins too nd the valley more attractive now as summer peaks they pitch their black tents in the northern part of the valley their herds of sheep foray into the elds and their young armed horsemen terrify the kibbutz girls so mission is not yet accomplished there is indeed a solid jewish base in the valley five di erent kibbutzim have begun to establish one of the rst strips of jewish territorial continuity in the country but the work isn t done the arabs of the harod valley still stand in the way of the jewish liberation movement that needs to remove them from this valley at noon on april 17 1926 the working day is cut short in the valley of harod and the last blast is heard in the quarry an hour later all harvesting stops in the elds the young comrades of ein harod are called back to camp so are the young comrades of the neighboring tel yosef gvat beit alpha and hephzibah throughout the valley kibbutz members are showering shaving and donning their white shabbat out ts back in the quarry a wooden stage is set up by four o clock all is ready the old piano is on the stage decorated with green palm leaves by horse by mule by carriage by wagon and on foot thousands of pioneers ock to the valley quarry turned amphitheater from day one the rough labor brigade pioneers of ein harod have had a soft spot for all things musical one of them has an explanation the playing of classical music lls the void in our lives he writes the time of music is the only time that our communal dining room resembles a place of worship there is a reason for that leaving god behind caused a terrible shock to us all it destroyed the basis of our lives as jews this became the tragic contradiction of our new life we had to start from scratch and build a civilization from the very foundation yet we had no foundation to build on we had no ultimate above us there were blue skies and a radiant sun but no god that s the truth we couldn t ignore and cannot ignore for a moment that is the void and music for us is an attempt to ll the void when the sounds of violins ll our dining hall they reacquaint us with life s other dimension they raise the deepest forgotten feelings buried in all of us our eyes close turn inward and an aura almost of sanctity enwraps us all just a few months earlier in the late autumn the rst quarry concert was held thousands gathered from all over the valley to hear the local choir and string quartet play beethoven bach and mendelssohn a local teacher said that on this great day the mountains of gilboa were revived a young girl read ezekiel s vision of the valley of dry bones and all were silent as the tall lanky violinist of ein harod played bach against the backdrop of the quarry s walls but today is di erent today it is jascha heifetz who is about to play heifetz was born in 1901 in the lithuanian capital of vilna he began playing the violin at three and by the time he was seven he played mendelssohn s concerto brilliantly in public at the age of twelve he was considered one of europe s musical prodigies and at the age of sixteen a week before the balfour declaration was issued he made his legendary american debut at new york s carnegie hall now an american citizen and star heifetz is to the music of the twenties what chaplin is to comedy and einstein to physics an astounding talent a rare incarnation of man s extraordinary almost divine gift that s why the harod valley pioneers are so excited it s not only that they appreciate music and regard it as almost sacred it s not only that music is the one thing that allows them to let go and allows suppressed pain and longing to moisten their eyes it s also the fact that the world s most renowned violinist recognizes the importance of their endeavor by giving a concert in their remote quarry it s the fact that the best that secular jewish diaspora civilization has produced is about to pay homage to their audacious attempt to create a new secular jewish civilization in the valley heifetz is heifetz but he is also jascha one of us one who rose from the misery and despair of the jewish past and the jewish present and has distilled his genius from them one who has escaped the hopelessness of eastern europe and chosen america so when this brilliant cousin chooses to acknowledge his fellow young jews who are escaping what he escaped in a very di erent way and in a very di erent place even the toughest among the labor brigade comrades are beside themselves they feel that a biblical like spectacle is about to happen there are thousands and thousands of them now packing the makeshift seats of hard gray boulders and when heifetz arrives at last i watch both the maestro and his ecstatic audience both the violinist and the pioneers are as old as the century both the violinist and the pioneers will become the century s icons they tell the century s jewish tale and when the young men and women of harod stand up and clap and cheer the vilna boy who cannot start playing until they quiet down is truly touched although he is a cold perfectionist performer he is overwhelmed and between the young man standing on the improvised stage and the young masses standing in the improvised amphitheater there is suddenly an intimate dialogue the two great forces the two sorts of creative energies that erupted dramatically out of modern jewish distress and that represent the two great choices of the jewish people in the twentieth century face each other in the quarry of the valley of harod one bows to the other but as heifetz stretches his arm to pull the bow across the strings i think of all that is to happen in the valley in three years time the rstborns of ein harod will crouch for days in the rst cement built dairy hiding from the gun re of arab neighbors in nine years time the arab villagers of shatta will be forced to leave their homes by the railway station and a new kibbutz will take their place in ten years time to the day the valley s elds will be set on re by arabs who suddenly realize how far the jews have come watching the burning elds the rstborns of ein harod will harden their hearts in twelve years time in ein harod the rst elite anglo jewish commando unit will be founded the unit will raid arab villages at night killing some of their civilian inhabitants a few months later a landmark jewish sergeants course will be launched in ein harod the course will lay the very rst foundation for israel s future army in twenty years time ein harod and the forces it gave birth to will have real military might in twenty two years that military might will attack the villages of nuris zarin and komay it will drive all palestinian inhabitants out of the valley as heifetz plays and his music reverberates in the hushed quarry i wonder at the incredible feat of ein harod i think of the incredible resilience of the naked as they faced a naked fate in a naked land i think of the astonishing determination of the orphans to make a motherland for themselves come hell or high water i think of that great re in the belly a re without which the valley could not have been cultivated the land could not have been conquered the state of the jews could not have been founded but i know that the re will blaze out of control it will burn the valley s palestinians and it will consume itself too its smoldering remains will eventually turn ein harod s exclamation point into a question mark i close the heifetz le in ein harod s dilapidated archives and go out into the early evening air i have supper with my dear elderly relatives i wander the paths of the deteriorating kibbutz over the last thirty years it has lost its way the economic base of ein harod collapsed and its social fabric frayed most of the young have left most of the elderly are aging in despair the collective dining room is empty the collective children s homes are closed and the collective spirit is gone just as the kibbutz rose the kibbutz fell so as i look out at the spring down below and at the mountain ridge casting its shadow i realize it s a spring or mountain question triumphant gideon or defeated saul but my question is not yet answered as the dying light caresses the darkening valley of harod a dunam is a traditional unit of land measurement representing the area that could be plowed in a day it is approximately equivalent to a quarter of an acre photo credit 3 1 three orange grove 1936 oranges had been palestine s trademark for centuries in the 1850s a new variety of orange was discovered in the citrus groves of ja a and by 1890 the new shamouti orange large oval and juicy had found its way to queen victoria s table by 1897 when herbert bentwich disembarked at the remote port of ja a the same grizzled stevedores who took him ashore were already loading thousands of crates of shamouti oranges now called ja a oranges each winter onto liverpool bound ships after world war i the new awareness of the virtues of vitamin c brought about a dramatic rise in the demand for citrus fruit throughout europe in 1925 there were only 30 000 dunams of citrus groves in palestine two years later there were nearly twice as many and two years after that by 1929 they had multiplied yet again to 87 000 dunams by 1935 there were 280 000 dunams of citrus groves in palestine within a decade citrus growing in palestine had risen almost tenfold the small province now under the british mandate had become a powerhouse of citrus export so much so that in 1935 one third of the oranges imported to great britain were ja a oranges the colony of rehovot discovered the virtues of citrus in the 1920s rehovot was founded in 1890 on 10 600 dunams of the ottoman feudal estate of duran situated some fteen miles southeast of ja a after the barren land was purchased and the bedouins occupying it were evicted it was taken over by russian and polish jews hoping to nd peace and plenty in the land of israel the settlers did well rehovot was a place where orthodox and secular rich and poor ashkenazi and yemenite jews lived side by side in relative harmony its jewish inhabitants lived in peace with their arab neighbors too by 1935 the rapidly growing colony of rehovot was the most prosperous jewish colony in palestine leading the citrus industry which in turn was leading the country into an unprecedented boom rehovot and orange groves were a perfect match rehovot s loamy red hamra soil suited the citrus trees because its unique combination of sand silt and clay holds plenty of moisture but also drains well so that su cient air can reach the trees delicate roots rehovot s moderate climate was also well suited to the trees since it was not too warm when the trees blossomed in spring and not too cold or windy in winter when they bore fruit rehovot was rich with the water that the citrus trees badly needed and it was close to the port of ja a rehovot embraced free market principles thrived on private enterprise and had a cheap and e cient labor force provided by neighboring arab villages rehovot also bene ted from the cutting edge scienti c knowledge of the mostly german jewish agronomists working in its newly established agricultural institute those agronomists introduced the e cient californian method of cultivation rehovot was where western know how arab labor and laissez faire economics merged to make the ja a orange a world renowned brand so while europe and america were still in the grip of the great depression ja a oranges and quickening immigration to palestine made rehovot prosper and while hundreds of thousands of uprooted jews couldn t nd a home in europe or america those who had chosen rehovot were ourishing in rehovot of the early 1930s the optimal conditions of palestine met the benign aspirations of modern zionism the particular orange grove whose story i will tell was planted in 1931 a small fortune bequeathed to the owner by his english jewish father in law enabled him to buy seventy dunams of land from the villagers of qubeibeh in the valley of dew on a hilly plot overlooking rehovot north of the railway first he plowed the barren wasteland then he hired beret wearing jewish socialists and ka yeh wearing palestinian arabs to rid the land of obstinate poisonous weeds he commissioned one of the roaming bands of well diggers to dig a water well but only when the excited diggers shouted that they had found water did he know that the land was indeed suitable for planting he marked out the land meticulously with white ropes and wooden stakes and every four meters he dug a half meter hole in which he planted lemon rootstock that he had brought over from a nearby nursery he covered the plantlings with soil which he tamped down and watered then he and his delicate sun shy english born wife stood in front of a weighty kodak camera and took a picture of hope several months later the rehovot farmer grafted shamouti branches onto the lemon rootstock he gently a xed the shamouti to the lemon and tamped the soil again and watered and fertilized and prayed that the winds would not hit that the hail would not despoil only after a long year of apprehension did the orange grower see that the grafting had gone well the shamouti and lemon had become one and the fragile saplings had been welcomed by the red soil so he and his elegant english wife stood once again between the long rows of budding trees in front of the kodak camera and took another picture of a hesitant beginning the young couple he in a pressed khaki suit she in a bias cut silk dress standing beside the tentative orange saplings that had risen from a bare land the orange grower a native of rehovot who had worked for years in other orange groves was disciplined and particular he saw that his trees were watered in a timely manner and fertilized judiciously he made sure the pruning was spare and the weeding merciless he sealed the well walls with cement mounted a formidable diesel wheel pump atop the well and built a large open square pool to collect the water drawn from the well he laid out a network of cement canals to carry the water and dug furrows in the sandy soil of the grove to receive the water from the canals around each shamouti sapling he dug a wide sand bowl so the trees would never want for water then he erected a modern rectangular packing house with square windows and a red tile roof and he built a two story turreted house for the arab guardian of the grove he positioned an impressively ornate iron gate at the entrance to the grove and then waited patiently for four years for the trees to bear fruit in the spring of 1935 when the orange grove is about to bear fruit so does zionism now the liberation movement of the jewish people is no longer the wild fantasy it had been when herbert bentwich rode by rehovot in april 1897 nor is it the spartan revolutionary endeavor it had been in the valley of harod in september 1921 in 1935 zionism does not demand superhuman e ort and total sacri ce of its pioneers it already has a middle class living a life of comfort and leisure it has cities towns colonies and villages the jewish population of palestine now comprises more than a quarter of the overall population of palestine and every year the number of jews in palestine rises by more than ten percent jerusalem already has the hebrew university and haifa has the technion tel aviv now twenty ve years old is a bustling mini metropolis full of theaters restaurants cafés and numerous publishing houses yes there is much work to be done and the task is still herculean but throughout the country the signs of success are palpable the zionist adventure is becoming a zionist reality over the verdant orange groves of rehovot the blue skies of spring seem to carry the promise of the future there is a feeling not only of success but of justice in the spring of 1935 zionism is a just national movement two years after germany chose nazism the need for a jewish home becomes self evident now one does not need herzl s prophetic genius or tabenkin s catastrophic inclinations to envision the future now any reasonable person can see that europe is becoming a death trap for jews and it is also clear that america would not open its gates in time to save the persecuted jews of europe only a jewish state in palestine can save the lives of the millions who are about to die in 1935 zionist justice is an absolute universal justice that cannot be refuted at this point in time the injustice caused to native arabs by the zionist project is still limited it is true that tenant palestinian farmers had already been uprooted from their land in the harod valley and in rehovot and in dozens of other locations in palestine but the lives of those farmers under their arab masters had in many cases been worse than their lives as the eld hands of the jewish colonizers most of them did not have a solid right of possession under their arab masters and when the jews took over many of them were compensated with cash or land moreover while some palestinians do su er many of them bene t considerably as zionism advances in qubeibeh zarnuga and the other arab villages surrounding rehovot jewish capital jewish technology and jewish medicine are a blessing to the native population bringing progress to desperate palestinian communities so the zionists of rehovot can still believe that the clash between the two peoples is avoidable they cannot yet anticipate the imminent inevitable tragedy the rst season of the young orange grove is critical the orange grower has to start up the formidable pump that draws water from the deep well he has to clear out the irrigation canals into which unripe fruit has fallen in winter he has to redig the furrows and bowls and weed clean and dispose of dry thorny branches he has to make sure that all was set for the rst rains of summer at the end of april 1935 disaster strikes in the form of a heat wave on april 27 the mercury climbs to 35 degrees centigrade 95 degrees fahrenheit on april 30 it hits 38 degrees centigrade for ten consecutive days dry desert winds wreak havoc with the delicate white citrus blossoms if action is not taken immediately half of the orange crop would be lost and the citrus season of 1935 36 would be a bust the rst watering of the young rehovot grove is therefore an act of emergency the pump pulls the clear water to the pool and from there the water travels down the open cemented canals until it emerges from the circular openings of the clay grate into the sandy furrows the arab guardian his pants hiked up to his knees his bare feet covered in mud guides the water with a hoe from tree to tree he quickly traps the water by each tree with a tall mound of soil so that the trees would be able to withstand the deadly dry desert winds the heat wave brings with it a sense of panic more water is needed quickly they must save what can be saved the orange grower and the arab guardian are joined by their families who work beside them in the sti ing heat still in the midst of the panic they can hear the sounds of children s gaiety shouting in hebrew and in arabic as they run to watch the gushing water after the children lent their small hands to the great common e ort they steal away to the square pool and jump gleefully into its cool waters while the adults are still struggling with the heat and with the sense of approaching calamity the youngsters discover all that is forbidden wondrous and fun in this man made garden of eden after the heat wave subsides and the emergency watering e ort is completed in may june and july the children return time after time to the orange grove they bathe in its pool sail paper boats in its canals and hide among the thickening trees and toward the end of july they watch with dismay as long convoys of camels advance toward the grove from the distant south jute sacks heavy with sheep dung by the end of summer rehovot s rich fertile hamra soil gives rise to a ne shamouti grove with gleaming young oranges beginning to emerge on its branches at the end of july 1935 alfred dreyfus dies in mid september 1935 nazi germany enforces the racist laws of nuremberg from a zionist point of view there is a link between the two events dreyfus was the french jewish army o cer whose persecution made herzl fear the nightmare that awaited the jews of twentieth century europe the racist laws of nuremberg prove herzl right it is impossible to imagine that within a decade millions of jews would be gassed to death yet in the summer of 1935 the jews of berlin are experiencing something they had not experienced in a hundred years pogroms the news reaching rehovot in late summer leaves no room for doubt the great avalanche had begun european jewry is about to be decimated at the same time the jews of the holy land have a ball in february 1935 the new triple decked ship the tel aviv inaugurates the haifa trieste line luxury cruises are the fashion of the season in march 1935 the city of tel aviv hosts the purim festival of adloyada for three days and nights fty thousand people celebrate raucously in the streets of the rst hebrew city in april 1935 the second maccabiah games are held thirteen hundred and fty jewish athletes from twenty eight countries participate in the games parading their muscle power in front of tens of thousands in may 1935 the numbers are out regarding the record breaking citrus season of 1934 35 the new gures show that palestine had exported over 7 million crates of oranges grapefruits and lemons compared with 5 5 million crates in the previous year in june 1935 the lm land of promise is being shot in the promised land a formidable team of german cinematographers documents the pioneers performing wonders in the ancient land in july 1935 elections are held to the zionist congress that convenes a month later in lucerne switzerland both the elections and the congress prove that the zionist movement is now a mature and powerful political body run in an orderly civilized and democratic manner the rehovot of 1935 re ects well the overall zionist success when established in 1890 the colony had a population of only 280 people yet by june 1935 5 500 men women and children live there and rehovot continues to grow in the coming january it would have 6 500 inhabitants by the following summer it would have 9 000 inhabitants doctors scientists agronomists architects engineers and musicians eeing germany arrive almost daily in the rural colony gradually they are transforming it endowing it with new dimensions of higher learning sophistication and culture in june 1935 the rst proper branch of the anglo palestine bank opens its elegant doors the new modern town hall with a retractable roof shows two movies a week and hosts a monthly concert by now rehovot also has an icehouse a small pharmaceutical plant and a large citrus juice factory it has an agricultural institute and a scienti c institute and a sports eld where the young play soccer tennis and handball rehovot is no longer only about agriculture it has science nance industry culture and sports every new year is better than the previous one autumn is calm little by little the people of rehovot become aware of the full signi cance of the new laws that went into e ect in germany on september 15 1935 more and more information is available regarding the thirty seven german cities in which jews had been assaulted but in palestine weather is good august is relatively cool and so is september in the early morning heavy dew envelopes the grove the orange grower is nally satis ed that the april heat scare is behind him now he has to lay down the narrow gauge decauville tracks that in a few months time would carry the at theresienstadt manufactured teresina railcars from the grove to the packing house but there is no rush now autumn work is slow work it is done with a deepening con dence in the orange grove and its future as the orange grower sits on the terrace of his spacious rehovot home in october 1935 he can hear the quiet ticking of the water pump in the distance as he leafs through the local weekly the journal illustrated ads for ford cars and westinghouse refrigerators and rca radios and maxwell house co ee and cadbury chocolates he is happy to notice an article about the advertising campaign launched in britain this week for the ja a orange he is pleased to read that british cinema houses and department stores now promote the ja a orange it is clear that in the british market the ja a orange is ahead of its spanish and south african and californian competitors when the orange grower nishes reading the paper and closes his eyes to relax in his rocking chair on his terrace he can hear the ticking of the pump working in the orange grove no sound in the world is as sweet as the reassuring sound of the pump s continuous ticking it is the sound of is bursting with quiet and peace and plenty it is the sound of the rest that comes at the end of a trying journey for eighteen hundred years the jews had never had it so good for eighteen hundred years the jews had not lived on their own land with such security such abundance such a deep sense of calm yet all around rehovot is the disquieting question of the arabs the orange grower is a sabra a native of palestine who knows the arabs their tongue and their ways he believes that the trick with the arabs was to honor and be honored to give respect and demand respect as an experienced plantation owner he thinks he knows when one must be rm and when one must be courteous and generous so when the villagers of qubeibeh and zarnuga arrive for work at the orange grove at dawn the orange grower is very strict he puts them in line and checks them one by one to see that their hands are not dirty so they would not spread lth among his ne trees and he checks them to see that they had clipped their nails so that they wouldn t scratch the precious fruit when one of the villagers is suspected of stealing a donkey the orange grower does not disgrace the man in public but goes discreetly to the village elder with the result that the donkey is quietly returned when one of the villagers gets into trouble with the police the orange grower bails him out he provides medical and nancial assistance the arab villagers working in the grove respect the orange grower they admire his knowledge they appreciate his fairness they dread his master s authority they regard him as serfs regard a benevolent feudal lord at the same time the orange grower sees his arabs as any plantation owner on any colonial estate views his native workers he understands that his workers are the very best strong resilient and disciplined they are committed to their work and devoted to their master and yet the orange grower knows that one day one day one arab is di erent from the others abed abed is the guardian of the orange grove he is totally loyal and enjoys the owner s total trust this is why he was permitted to live in the orange grove with his slim tall wife and strapping sons and beautiful young daughter when the orange grower is away abed is in charge he is the one who starts the formidable pump in the frosty mornings the one who walks the grounds when they are still covered with dew he waters in summer and fertilizes in autumn and scrubs the packing house as winter approaches in a knitted white cap billowing oriental pantaloons and proud black mustache he rules over his fellow workers with a stern dignity being even more particular than his particular boss he sees to it that all is in good order and that the orange grove is meticulously maintained like many of the other workers abed had been born and raised in neighboring zarnuga which contributes nearly half of rehovot s workforce the orange grower is deeply involved with the village he is well aware of a recent trend over the last ten years zarnuga s population has doubled to 2 400 residents over the last ve years its orange groves have doubled in size to 2 555 dunams real estate prices have soared tenfold in a decade just like rehovot zarnuga is galloping ahead because so many of zarnuga s inhabitants work in rehovot and spend much of their time there they learn a lot from rehovot they can now drive tractors and operate well pumps and manage modern orange groves they build modern stone houses that resemble more and more the houses of rehovot in rehovot they buy western style jackets western style furniture pots and pans cattle canned goods medicine and baby food so in the autumn of 1935 the orange grower can conclude that the arab issue is not an issue the arabs working in the orange grove are not an issue and abed and his family are de nitely not an issue even the neighboring village of zarnuga is not an issue as rehovot grows zarnuga grows as rehovot prospers zarnuga prospers too when the workers from zarnuga arrive at the gate of the orange grove each morning it seems that all is well and when dozens of youngsters from zarnuga ride into rehovot on their bicycles each day it seems that all would be well there is no reason to believe that jew and arab could not live here together in peace no reason to believe that one day zarnuga will cease to be and the people of zarnuga will be gone and loyal abed and his family will be driven out of the rehovot paradise but in the far north a great distance from the orange grove other voices are beginning to be heard there is nothing concrete yet certainly nothing the orange grower could make out from his tidy terrace but an underground movement that had begun to form years earlier is about to surface izz abd al kader mustafa yusuf ad din al kassam was born in west syria in 1882 he studied islam in cairo returned to damascus and became a fundamentalist revolutionary from 1918 to 1920 he led a national religious revolt against the french rule in syria after the revolt was crushed he ed to the northern seaside town of haifa worked as a teacher and became the preacher of the mosque of istiklal his charisma his perceived arab patriotism and his devotion to the arab poor turned him quickly into a local hero unlike the spoiled and corrupt palestinian leaders he was a man of the people committed to the people and loved by the people al kassam was no hypocrite he created a compelling synthesis between jihad and the war on illiteracy and ignorance he o ered both religious radicalism and social radicalism like the socialist zionists he aimed to transform his society from within and without he promoted a revolution that would have national political spiritual and economic dimensions in 1925 al kassam forged a ve phase plan preparing the minds for revolutionary cells assembling arms money and intelligence killing jews and launching an overall armed struggle by 1930 the plan was implemented and a web of secretive cells formed in northern palestine each cell had ve members committed to islam to secrecy and to the war against jews at night al kassam trained his men in the quarries on the slopes of mount carmel overlooking haifa he preached religion morality ri es and homemade bombs in april 1931 al kassam s followers killed three kibbutz members returning from the elds on a hay cart in january 1932 they killed revolution establishing clandestine the haganah within hours a farmer at his door in march 1932 they murdered another farmer in december 1932 they killed a farmer and his eight year old son by throwing a bomb into their home in the valley of yizrael when the police went after them the clandestine cells went deep underground their leader continued to tell them that jihad was the way that jewish immigration was stealing palestine from the palestinians that every jewish immigrant was an enemy but the time had not yet come they had to be patient they had to practice prepare wait for a sign on october 18 1935 as the orange grower was preparing for his rst harvest a shipment of belgian cement barrels arrived at the port of ja a one of the barrels fell and broke and out rolled thousands of ri e bullets there was panic in the harbor it was clear that the illegal ammunition was headed for the illicit jewish defense organization there was panic throughout the country now palestinians felt that not only was jewish immigration a threat but so was jewish military buildup after a general strike was called al kassam decided the day had come for action some eighty miles north of the rehovot orange grove he gave his last speech i taught you religion and i taught you nationhood he said to his followers now it s your duty to carry out jihad ho islamists go out on jihad when the preacher ended his sermon the crowd was in tears believers kissed his hands promising to die for allah but only twelve men joined al kassam at midnight as he left haifa for northern samaria to ignite the great palestinian revolt yet the only achievement of the revolt was the shooting of the policeman moshe rosenfeld on mount gilboa not far from the valley of harod on november 7 1935 a day later british forces were already chasing the al kassam gang they found no refuge in the village of nuris above ein harod or in the village of zarin next to ein harod so the rebels escaped to the valley of dotan where a british plane detected them the battle between the british empire and the desperate rebels lasted three hours five of the palestinians were captured three shot dead the rst one to die on november 20 1935 was izz abd al kader mustafa yusuf ad din al kassam so when the arab workers arrived at the orange grove with the wooden ladders straw baskets and pruning shears needed for the rst harvest the rehovot orange grower was calm once again a week after al kassam s death he does not see what david ben gurion sees that al kassam is only the beginning that the myth of the dead al kassam would be far more dangerous than the deeds of the living rebel that al kassam would be the rst palestinian martyr whose che guevara like tale would make him the icon of islamic palestinian resistance in the generations to come for the time being the orange grower did not comprehend the signi cance of the events in the north he believed that the british had managed to uproot the poisonous weed that had suddenly appeared on mount gilboa and that there was no longer reason for concern now was the time to concentrate on the large juicy oval fruits that were turning orange on the lush green branches of his citrus trees november is extremely wet with thirteen days of rain in a three day period 112 millimeters of rain descends on the orange grove night after night the orange grower paces the halls of his spacious villa fearing hail if a winter hailstorm followed the spring heat wave the rst season would be lost but as the storm recedes and the skies clear the orange grower nds that his fruit is unharmed and when he stands by the trees now heavy with oranges he feels hopeful perhaps the blessing of the november rains would compensate for the curse of the april hamsin perhaps against all odds the rst season of his young orange grove would be one of prosperity the orange grower is not the sort of man who believes that blessings are given freely what is called for in this land is sweat dedication and precision in the rst weeks of december 1935 the orange grower clears the paths to and within the grove he rids the trees of dry branches so that they wouldn t bruise the fruit during the harvest and he opens the heavy lock of the packing house where he had stored ladders and shears satchels and baskets he makes sure the ladders are sturdy and sharpens the long blades of the shears he lines the rough baskets with soft jute that would protect the fruit in late december the early picking begins to protect the sensitive green fruit work is done only by hand then in january 1936 as a golden winter sun paints the skies blue over rehovot the major harvest of the shamouti begins the arab pickers work in pairs one climbs a three legged ladder up to the branches and begins to pick from above while the other disappears into the thicket to pick from below to pick the fruit each takes the delicate shamouti gently with the palm of his left hand and fastens the rounded blades of his shears on the petiole separating the fruit from the branch then he places the fruit carefully in his satchel the orange grower stands by the working pairs making sure the ladders do not hit the oranges and the shears do not scar their peels and the oranges land softly in the fast lling satchels once the californiamade satchels are full he summons a bedouin girl so that the workers can empty their bags gently into her straw basket and when the straw basket is full he makes sure that the workers help lift it onto the bedouin girl s head once the full basket is on her head he makes sure she joins the other bedouin girls coming from other sections of the grove the orange grower enjoys the sight of the procession of bedouin girls walking along the citrus trees in their long black dresses with straw baskets on their heads full of bright ja a oranges as 1936 begins the orange grower is somewhat concerned there are rumors of unrest the national arab leadership and the nationalistic arab press are inciting against the jews some friends in rehovot fear that something nasty is coming but the local weekly journal reports that by january 12 1936 palestine exported 2 794 165 citrus crates by january 19 it exported 2 923 571 crates by january 26 3 259 609 the orange groves yield nicely the market conditions are favorable and zionism is heading in the right direction the writer moshe smilansky the leader of rehovot s orange growers publishes strong decisive words in the local weekly never in history did a people enter a country as we entered our country there are two reasons for this we are returning to our homeland that has waited for us as wasteland and we are not entering a new country that is not ours we are a people of ancient culture and in the long years of our exile we have added to that culture the great values of a new civilization all these riches we bring with us as a gift to our ancient land and to the people who have settled it while we were away and to the other peoples of the surrounding orient never did a colonial project bring so much blessing as the blessing brought upon the country and its inhabitants by our project every piece of land upon which our feet have stepped turned good we did good to us and we did good to all that are with us this is our pride it is the pride of an endeavor of justice never was a colonial endeavor a historical necessity to any country as our project is a historical necessity for this country we shall not recover without this country and this country shall not recover without us this historical imperative is to guarantee that no human hand will demolish our great deed our deed is a deed of justice absolute justice it is all decency and love a lazy midwinter rain falls on the red tiled roof of the packing house in the soft rain the bedouin girls walk into its dim elongated hall with straw baskets on their heads the bedouin chief takes the baskets o the girls heads and helps them empty them gently so that the oranges roll on the straw matted cement oor and are then gathered into meterhigh piles in the gray february light the orange grower can see pile after pile of oranges rise from the oor of his new modern packing house the sorters go rst with sharp discerning eyes their hands ying over the fruit the yemenite sorters cull the export quality oranges from the rest next come the wrappers most of them newly immigrated european jewish men and women who wrap each fruit with delicate tissue paper as if it were a precious pearl now it is time for the packers in working class berets and khaki uniforms the packers are the elite of the packing house crew with astounding speed and precision they ll every crate with row after row of the glowing freshness that is the pride of palestine the carpenters come last and do their work on the front porch they carefully hammer the crate lids with dull rusted nails chosen so that the oranges won t be bruised and will survive their long journey abroad now the orange crates sit piled up one on top of the other near the packing house not so long ago they would have been taken to port by camels but today small trucks arrive to carry the crates along the gravel road to rehovot s main thoroughfare in the port of ja a they will be loaded onto liverpool bound ships from liverpool the oranges will travel to the wholesale market of covent garden in london and from covent garden they will make their way to chelsea belgravia hampstead primrose hill st john s wood even buckingham palace the orange grower is not sentimental he is a man of deeds but as the rain falls on the packing house he walks up and down the long hall observing the sorters wrappers packers and carpenters he sees that their lips are pursed in concentration he notices the quiet the order the sense of the sacredness of the work as if the working men and women realize that they are taking part in an event far greater than themselves the orange grower thinks of smilansky s words which express his sentiments exactly the sons and daughters of jewish shopkeepers have become ne orange growers they have learned to love the citrus tree and nurture it as in no other land in one generation the jews have totally transformed themselves so much so that now the u s department of agriculture fears that the fast growth of the citrus industry in palestine will destabilize the international citrus market outside the trucks engines are roaring on the porch the carpenters hammers are nailing the orange crates shut but indoors it s all silence orange after orange wrapped in delicate diphenyl paper orange after orange carefully placed into the right space in the crate with precision dedication and pro ciency there is harmony here man and woman yemenite and ashkenazi jew and arab the two peoples of the land are working side by side producing its golden fruit years later smilansky s nephew yizhar who would become one of israel s leading authors will try to capture the magic of rehovot of the 1930s no one was in a hurry he will write everyone lived in comfortable moderation riding donkeys and horses and all was open really open and wide and imbued with a good farmer s thoroughness although there was never a shortage of trouble and there were days of fear and tension too to come to rehovot was to come to a place that had form that had some slowness and level headedness and that had men of honor there was calm there and safety and things did not change much as if there was a secret pact between the ways of people and the fullness of orange groves and the slow ight of the crows that landed boastfully atop the eucalyptus trees and in the evening the silence was utterly full and it was given over to the ticking of the water pumps and the strumming of strings of far away instruments and there were jackals and in the silence one could hear even the waves of the distant sea writers wrote essays into the night by the light of lanterns roosters crowed in circles and donkeys brayed from the depth of their bellies saying that no matter what there was no reason to worry the world was in good order to come to rehovot was to come to a place with a face it had gravity it had a shadow it had earnestness and straightforwardness there was someone to talk to about matters of utmost importance and matters of no importance the orange groves were fertile and almost blue of rich green the hedgerows of acacias were fragrant with golden stars over the paths of gold camels carried heavy citrus crates the irrigation pools were dream like and reckless boys swam recklessly in them and there was a never ending heart that beat there all the time round and round and water came up day and night from the depth of the sandy soil earth that was shaded by oranges but as i look back in time and watch the orange grower now leaving the packing house and riding his horse in the sweet lazy afternoon hours of mid march 1936 i see even more than that the orange grower does not know it yet but from the two story stone building south of the railway that houses the new sie research institute israel s future scienti c prowess will emerge from the experimental farm of the chumasch family on the grounds of the agricultural institute israel s future modern agriculture will spring forth the talent and the knowledge of the german jewish scientists and agronomists who reside in the new bauhaus homes of the miller neighborhood will utterly transform the colony and the country the rehovot of 1936 is quiet and calm and harmonious but it already has within it the seeds of a mind boggling future on his way to his home in rehovot the orange grower s horse passes by the icehouse the small pharmaceutical plant the new cafés on the newly paved herzl high street it passes by the anglo palestine bank the bakeries the hairdresser s salons and the new bus station it passes by the new shop of the newly arrived austrian photographer and new shops for electrical devices it passes by the t youngsters who gather on the sports eld for their physical exercise and it passes the respected elderly of the local landed gentry who are gathered in the landowners club the horse then climbs the hill by the new maternity hospital and reaches the grand synagogue that overlooks rehovot in the west the orange grower can see the workers quarters in the east the grand colonial houses of the wealthy orange grove owners in the south the yemenites in the north the modern palacelike villa being built by the well known architect erich mendelsohn for the zionist leader dr chaim weizmann for two millennia the jews had no place now in rehovot they have a place things feel right about the rehovot of 1936 there is a balance between the revolution of zionism and the evolution with which it is carried out there is a balance between the need to grow fast and the determination to grow slowly both the social democrats of the working class and the liberals of the landowning class agree that step by step development is the way to grow both want zionism to be rooted in the land and to grow from it gradually and naturally there is no talk of taking the land by force in their di erent ways they all want zionism to be a natural identity building process they want to merge the healing of a people with the cultivation of a land in march 1936 there is nothing totalitarian about rehovot there is no bolshevism no fascism no militarism the zionism of rehovot is humane pragmatic moderate and balanced it is turning the seed that was planted here at the end of the nineteenth century into a living reality the end of season party is held in the orange grove in early april 1936 the orange grower is not the partying type but his tel aviv friends have refused to take no for an answer they said the current fashion was wild spring parties in the orange groves of sharon judea and rehovot and they have insisted that the packing house of the orange grove is just the place to hold one they have taken it upon themselves to locate a bulky generator to generate electricity they have hired a popular jazz band and spread the word in the viennese style cafés of the emerging metropolis they have invited slim berlin girls and mink clad polish society ladies the guests have driven down from tel aviv s rothschild boulevard in a jolly convoy of luxurious american cars arriving at the orange grove gate with horns tooting and lights blazing the orange grower does not really join the party he does not drink does not dance although the raucous guests honor him with a toast he prefers to watch standing in the corner of his own packing house turned nightclub he is bewildered by the young entrepreneurs of tel aviv and the young orange grove owners of rehovot who are pouring drink after drink for the yemenite beauties of rehovot and the sophisticated urban european immigrants who now reside in tel aviv he is astonished by the ashy import and export agents who lead onto the improvised dance oor the tipsy maidens in their skimpy dresses the music played by the band becomes more and more lively first the waltz then the tango then the fox trot what a hit the fox trot after a noisy contest for the belle of the ball and then a naughty contest for the boldest couple of the ball some couples slip away from the light into the dark of the orange grove when the sun rises the urban crowd is gone and the orange grower is on his own again the guardian abed and his sons carry tables and chairs out of the packing house the zarnuga workers rake the court and wash the well house with some dismay they collect a silky brassiere left by the irrigation pool the orange grower turns his back on all that and walks in his high boots into the thick morning dew he wonders about the mysterious bond between jews and oranges both arrived in palestine around the same time both took root in the same coastal plain both needed this loamy soil this sun these blue skies the moderate weather the life by the sea neither jews nor oranges could have prospered if the british had not ruled over palestine and now in early april 1936 the jews and the oranges of the land of israel are both ourishing as the orange grower walks into his grove a ock of pheasants takes ight a rabbit scampers away a fox peeps from the thicket bees buzz as they circle above then descend upon the owering buds suckling their nectar the orange grower notices the fresh tracks of a mongoose and those of a jackal the grove is a microcosm unto itself the orange grower nds all this inconceivable only six years have passed since he bought from the villagers of qubeibeh these seventy dunams of once barren land in the valley of dew only ve years have passed since he cleared the land of poisonous weed and planted a thousand saplings of valencia and four thousand saplings of shamouti now as if in the blink of an eye the ve thousand saplings have turned into a forest the gray arid wasteland has given way to a rich habitat of ora and fauna that seems as if it has always been here what the orange grower sees all around him is man made nature the orange grower thinks about the rejuvenation of the jews and the rejuvenation of the country by now there are nearly 300 000 dunams of citrus groves in palestine more than half of them owned by jews next year s exports are expected to reach ten million crates of citrus fruit and by 1939 exports are expected to reach fteen million crates if disaster doesn t strike in the 1940s palestine is expected to export more than twenty million crates of oranges which will make it the world s leading citrus power what the jews have already accomplished in the local groves has proved that there is no limit to the amount of orange gold that can be produced in this land there is no limit to the land s bounty and there is no limit to the ability of palestine to absorb and save the jews the orange grower reaches the summit of the grove and looks around south of his grove are the reddish white houses of rehovot to the west are the sleepy stone houses of the villages of qubeibeh and zarnuga that have learned to live in peace with the colony planted in their midst north of the grove is the grandiose oriental mansion of the palestinian landlord who has ourished alongside the ourishing jews and their ourishing orange groves to the east are the tall palm trees that lead the way to ramleh beyond which lies the faint blue silhouette of the ridge of jerusalem the orange grower is not naïve he follows the news from germany he is attentive to the ominous rumblings coming out of the arab cities and villages he is aware of the fact that the rehovot of 1936 is threatened by the great forces bu eting european jewry and transforming arab palestine but right now as he stands at the top of his own orange grove he sees an orange grove to the south and an orange grove to the west and an orange grove to the north and an orange grove to the east wherever he looks orange groves and the groves are young and mature jewish and arab they are all bursting out of the land the way oil bursts out of the land in texas so the orange grower feels that there is a blessing in the land there is hope in the land and the colony of rehovot is a living testament that the jews were right to end their two millennia of wandering in the plain of judea they were right to come here and build a home and plant a tree and put down roots creating something from nothing creating this green ocean of orange groves that whispers peace and plenty and home photo credit 4 1 four masada 1942 the first shots were heard on the evening of wednesday april 15 1936 in the early hours of dark approximately twenty cars were waved to a halt beside piles of rocks and tar barrels of a makeshift unlawful checkpoint on the tul karem road in the hills of samaria armed men their faces masked demanded that every driver and passenger contribute money for ri es and ammunition for the arab cause but when fty year old zvi dannenberg and seventy year old israel hazan arrived in their chicken lled truck heading for the tel aviv market the gunmen realized that they were jews pulled them out of the truck and shot them dannenberg was killed immediately hazan bled to death by the idling truck the next day two khaki clad jews arrived at a tin hut belonging to abu rass in the applebaum banana plantation in the plain of sharon it was almost midnight when abu rass heard the knocks on his door and opened it for the unexpected guests they red eleven pistol bullets at him and at his egyptian roommate abu rass was killed on the spot while the egyptian managed to crawl for a hundred yards in the pitch black night before collapsing and dying the following day israel hazan s funeral was held in tel aviv s city center the funeral procession quickly got out of hand becoming a demonstration of rage thousands rallied in the streets calling for revenge several gangs tried to lynch some arab cartmen and shoeshine men who were in town for a day s work in blood and re judea fell the young nationalists cried out in blood and in re judea shall rise two days later a rumor swept through ja a that four arabs had been murdered in neighboring tel aviv hundreds of arabs thronged the streets marching toward the city s police station and government headquarters demanding the bodies of those who were assumed to have died then they gathered in groups on street corners waiting for prey they stoned jewish buses jewish taxis and jewish automobiles they chased innocent jews passing by chaim pashigoda twenty three a law clerk was on his way to the registrar s o ces in ja a armed with stones hammers and knives a palestinian crowd attacked and murdered him eliezer bisozky an elderly yiddish speaking jew tried to escape raging ja a he almost succeeded in hopping onto a horse drawn wagon that was heading to tel aviv but fell o and into the hands of the mob who pummeled him to death chaim kornfeld thirty and victor koopermintz thirty four were plasterers renovating a grand arab house in the exclusive arab quarter of jaballiya the mob heading down from the citrus port beat them to death yitzhak frenkel and yehuda siman tov were murdered in much the same way the electrician david shambadal was hacked to pieces by a group of young arab men when he arrived at a café to install a new lighting system zelig levinson was mowed down by ri e bullets on the edge of ja a the next day seven more jews were murdered within three days tel aviv buried sixteen victims of arab violence eighty wounded were treated in the city s hospitals because of a blood shortage the public was urged to donate the following day the national palestinian leadership called for a general strike now violence took a new form fires were set in jerusalem in kibbutz kfar menachem and in the balfour forest in the north the elds of the valley of harod were ablaze and hundreds of dunams of orange groves there were uprooted or felled three weeks later on may 13 two jews were murdered in the old city of jerusalem on may 16 three jews in a crowd coming out of jerusalem s edison cinema house were picked o by snipers on august 13 a gang broke into the house of an ultra orthodox family in safed killing the father the sixteen year old son the nine year old daughter and the seven year old daughter in their beds the next day arabs ambushed four jews who were driving to a quiet mountain retreat in the carmel forest a day later a jew was murdered in sarafand just a few miles from rehovot while the sarafand victim s funeral was under way a bomb was thrown from a passing train onto tel aviv s busy herzl street wounding nineteen jews and killing an eight year old jewish boy the following day two young jewish nurses were shot to death as they arrived for work at ja a s state hospital three days later a ri e bullet penetrated the skull of a scholar as he read an ancient islamic manuscript in the study of his humble jerusalem home the day after that one female and three male jewish workers were murdered as they returned from work in a kfar sabba orange grove the jewish community was aghast true there had been violence before in march 1920 the rst arab jewish confrontation erupted in the northern galilee in april 1920 there were riots in jerusalem in august 1929 there were massacres in hebron and safed yet all these incidents were short sporadic bursts of violence they came suddenly and passed suddenly a british o cer described them accurately as resembling the ash oods in the negev palestine s southern desert the sustained violence of 1936 was di erent it created an unprecedented all engul ng con ict in palestine and because it was coupled with a palestinian general strike and a palestinian national institution building drive it could not be mistaken for anything other than what it was a collective uprising of a national arab palestinian movement in the late spring and early summer of 1936 the zionist response was restrained only in the second half of august after four months of arab terror were the rst jewish acts of revenge carried out but the eighty dead and the four hundred wounded in the summer of 36 transformed the collective psyche of the jews so did the scorched elds the uprooted orange groves the roadside ambushes and the ongoing night shootings the brutal events that took place between april and august 1936 pushed zionism from a state of utopian bliss to a state of dystopian con ict as palestinian nationalism was asserting itself and demanding that jewish immigration stop immediately it was now impossible to ignore the arabs living in the land impossible to ignore the fact that the arabs reviled the zionist enterprise the jewish national liberation movement had to acknowledge that it was facing an arab liberation movement that wished to disgorge the jews from the shores they had settled on day after day the papers were lled with the names of the dead in black bordered notices and descriptions of mass funerals turned demonstrations but there was no sense of panic or despair in the jewish community on the contrary day by day people seemed to grow more resolute rather than weakening their resolve the acknowledgment of a tragic reality emboldened them it turned the 350 000 jews living in palestine in 1936 into a community of combat in november a royal enquiry commission arrived in palestine headed by lord peel within weeks it realized that the evolving reality was intolerable eight months later in july 1937 the peel commission handed the british government recommending a partition of the land into two nation states jewish and arab it also recommended that the arabs residing in the jewish state be transferred elsewhere as will the jews living in the arab state from this moment on the idea of transfer the removal of the arab population became part of mainstream zionist thinking what was unheard of in 1935 became acceptable in 1937 what was absolute heresy when zionism was launched became common opinion when zionism confronted a rival national movement face to face berl katznelson spiritual leader of the labor movement gave a speech in november 1937 my conscience is absolutely clear regarding this matter better a distant neighbor than a close by enemy they will not lose by their transfer and we de nitely will not lose the bottom line shows that this reform would bene t both parties for a while now i have thought that it was the best solution but during the riots i have become convinced that this must take place but it never crossed my mind that the transfer would be to nablus i believed in the past and i believe now that report its to they should be transferred to syria and iraq david ben gurion chairman of the jewish agency in palestine spoke in june 1938 my approach to the solution of the question of the arabs in the jewish state is their transfer to arab countries later that year ben gurion asserted that compulsory transfer will clear for us vast territories i support compulsory transfer i do not see anything immoral in it in december 1940 yosef weitz head of the forestry division of the jewish national fund wrote in his private diary just after visiting herbert bentwich s estate in tel gezer just between us it must be clear that there is no room in the land for the two people s no development will bring us to our goal to be an independent nation in this small land if the arabs leave the country will be wide and spacious for us if the arabs remain the land will remain narrow and poor the only solution is the land of israel at least the western land of israel with no arabs there is no place for compromise here the zionist endeavor thus far was all well and good but it shall not give the people of israel a state there is no other way but to transfer the arabs from here to the neighboring countries to transfer all except perhaps bethlehem nazareth old jerusalem not one village is to remain not one tribe the transfer should target iraq syria even trans jordan for this cause funding will be found much funding only with this transfer will the land be able to absorb millions of our brothers and the question of the jews will have a solution there is no other way in the late 1930s the jewish community in palestine did not have the leverage to initiate a transfer of the arab population but the new idea spoke volumes about the new state of mind of the zionist leadership all that had been suppressed and denied since herbert bentwich disembarked in the port of ja a in 1897 now surfaced the shocking insight of israel zangwill was now a part of conventional thinking within a year a merciless perception of reality took root us or them life or death the change of conscience was not only that of the leadership the jewish community as a whole was transformed as a consequence of the 1936 violence the jews of palestine went through a metamorphosis gone were the innocence the self deception the moral inhibitions with the new merciless perception of reality came a new merciless determination we shall not retreat we shall not concede we will do all that is needed to maintain zionism the pause in violence lasted from the autumn of 1936 to the autumn of 1937 but the arab revolt erupted again in october 1937 after my grandfather s best friend avinoam yalin was shot dead outside the board of education o ce in jerusalem jews took revenge by murdering an arab passerby and an armenian photographer after ve pioneers were ambushed in the judean hills where they were about to plant pine trees jews in jerusalem murdered an arab and then another arab and then two arab women were burned to death when the car they were sitting in exploded by the city s bustling market in just one month the number of innocent arab victims surpassed the number of innocent jewish victims in 1938 the great arab revolt reached a climax and threatened to take over large parts of the country police stations were burned there was chaos in the mountain regions the clash between the arab liberation movement and the british empire turned brutal more than eighteen hundred people were killed in the course of a year although most were casualties of british arab and arab arab confrontations the number of victims of jewish arab hostilities rose too in this dance of blood the atrocities that arabs visited upon the jews and the atrocities that jews visited upon the arabs grew ever more grisly in march 1938 arabs attacked a car en route from haifa to safed they murdered six of its jewish passengers among them two women a young girl and a boy the girl was raped then killed and dismembered the tide of rage triggered by the incident brought about a failed attack of jewish extremists on an arab bus in the galilee when one of the jewish terrorists was hanged at the end of june jewish nationalists went mad on july 3 and 4 several assassinations took place in jerusalem and tel aviv on july 6 jews murdered eighteen arabs by setting o time bombs in the arab market of haifa on july 15 jews murdered ten arabs by setting o a time bomb in the market of jerusalem s old city on july 25 jews murdered more than thirty ve arabs by exploding a highly powerful bomb in the crowded haifa market on august 26 jews murdered twenty four arabs by detonating a well hidden bomb in the market of the citrus port of ja a the arabs were not idle either on june 23 an onslaught on the colony of givat ada three dead on july 5 a murderous attack on orange grove workers in the village of ein vered four dead on july 21 a well planned attack on the poor workers quarter of kiryat haroshet ve dead on august 4 a land mine in the dirt roads of kibbutz ramat hakovesh six dead on august 28 an assault on kibbutz ein shemer two dead on september 10 the lynching of electricity company workers at the massmia junction seven dead on september 14 a land mine on the eastern outskirts of the valley of harod three dead on october 2 in a massacre in tiberias eight adults and eleven children slaughtered there was a signi cant di erence between the jewish and arab atrocities in the rst half of 1938 while the attacks on jewish civilians were supported by the arab national leadership and by much of the arab public the attacks on arab civilians were denounced by mainstream zionism most jewish murderers were members of fringe terrorist groups who de ed the policy and instructions of the elected leadership of the jewish community in palestine on the other hand some of the jewish actions were far more lethal than the arab ones the summer of 1938 was di erent from the summer of 1936 in that the number of murdered arab victims exceeded by far the number of murdered jews the summer of carnage brought forth another dramatic turn of events in the valley of harod the iconoclastic scottish commando warrior col orde wingate established ve special night squads the rst began operating in june 1938 formally the squads task had been to protect the iraq haifa oil pipeline crossing the valley but their real task was to launch an anti insurgency campaign to ght arab terror by initiating anglo jewish counterterror at rst the wingate s warriors set up ambushes in the valley and fought armed arab gangs soon after they began to raid arab villages and terrorize their inhabitants there were more and more reports of looting and prisoner executions in the autumn of 1938 the night squads brutality accelerated after ein harod s local hero yitzhak sturman was killed when his car hit a land mine the anglo jewish guerrilla units went on a rampage in the village of paqua on the slopes of mount gilboa and after the massacre of the nineteen jews in tiberias they took revenge by attacking indiscriminately on the road to safed in the village of dabburiya and in the village of hittin fourteen arabs were killed on the safed road fteen were killed in dabburiya and scores were left dead in hittin british o cers were in command of wingate s special squads the british soldiers were in general the more ruthless warriors but the haganah s ghters were willing partners as they endorsed the new combative ethos they became the heroes of the young hebrews of palestine on september 13 wingate inaugurated a sergeants course in the amphitheater of kibbutz ein harod the deeply religious christian commando commander had no doubt as to the signi cance of the event we are here to found the army of zion he said to the one hundred young jews before him in the winter of 1938 and spring of 1939 the british suppressed the great arab revolt with an iron st but jewish terrorism did not abate in february 1939 more than forty innocent arabs were murdered when bombs went o in the haifa train station the haifa market and the jerusalem market on may 29 four arab women were murdered in bir addas on june 20 scores of innocent arabs were murdered when a bomb exploded in the arab market of haifa on june 29 ve arab villagers riding on a wagon into rehovot in the early morning were shot dead on july 20 another three arabs were murdered in rehovot s orange groves on september 19 1939 the general sta of the haganah was founded well before a jewish state was established a well organized jewish army was raised the arab revolt was over but the jewish community in palestine made the formative decision to organize a national military structure twenty months later on may 15 1941 the palmach strike force was established in between the arms industry of the haganah grew and diversi ed youth movement members received paramilitary training for zionism had no illusions now it realized that the brutal civil war of 1936 39 was only the beginning the jewish national movement was getting ready for a new round of violence no one knew when no one knew under what circumstances but no one doubted that the con ict would erupt again and viciously the trauma of the summer of 1936 was burned deep in the heart and the lesson was learned zionism would never be what it was before chaim pashigoda eliezer bisozky chaim kornfeld victor koopermintz yitzhak frenkel yehuda siman tov david shambadal and zelig levinson were murdered in ja a on the morning of april 19 1936 and yet the newly rede ned zionism was in need of a symbol and a shrine as it rede ned and transformed itself it needed a new epicenter masada is only 63 meters above sea level but because the dead sea to the east of it is approximately 400 meters below sea level the mesa of masada rises to 460 meters above its heavy salty waters to the west is the judean desert to the south sodom and to the north ein gedi ein feshcha and jericho on a very clear day the faint silhouette of jerusalem rises in the distance the slopes are steep almost vertical the summit is at and rhomboid 645 meters long and 315 meters across at its widest the desert cli is composed of layers of sedimentary rock topped by dolomite and limestone boulders from afar masada has the appearance of a lonely desert castle inspiring majesty and awe the hasmoneans were the rst to erect a man made fortress on the natural fort that is masada in the second century b c they built a castle that a hundred years later was described as the mightiest of all but it was king herod who turned masada into an architectural wonder in the years from 36 to 30 b c he surrounded the rock with a casemate wall raised watchtowers and barracks built magni cent houses and ample warehouses carved cisterns in the stone and capped it all with a breathtaking palace when the great jewish revolt against the roman empire began in a d 66 masada was the rst fortress the rebels overtook in a d 70 the romans crushed the revolt conquered jerusalem and destroyed the temple in the following years a small group of jewish zealots made masada the last fortress of the futile revolt in a d 72 the 10th roman legion closed in on masada and in the spring of a d 73 the legion was poised to break into the fortress on the night before the anticipated attack the 960 men women and children of masada took their own lives rather than submit to roman rule for centuries jewish history largely ignored masada the tale of its zealots was perceived as a tale of suicidal extremism and the site of masada was deserted for over a thousand years the american travelers edward robinson and eli smith were the rst modern men to identify masada in 1838 in 1842 the america missionary samuel w wolcott and the english painter w tipping were the rst to climb up masada in 1875 the renowned english captain claude reignier conder was the rst to map masada accurately in 1932 the german scholar adolf schulten conducted a comprehensive archaeological dig around the ruins in 1923 the only historical source of the story of masada flavius josephus the jewish war written around a d 75 was translated into hebrew in 1925 the zionist historian joseph klausner wrote with great a ection about the zealots of masada two years later yitzhak lamdan published his tragic poem masada as jewish nationalism was revived so was interest in the remote forgotten site and all that it embodied high school students from tel aviv and jerusalem conducted several trips to masada in the 1920s until one trip led to a fatal accident and yet until the end of the arab revolt and the beginning of world war ii in 1939 masada did not fully capture the minds of mainstream zionism only nationalistic fringe groups admired its suicidal zealots in january 1942 shmaryahu gutman is a thirty three year old energetic vigorous and charismatic man he is squat but his body is agile and his movements are quick there is no one to rival him in desert hiking and mountain climbing born in glasgow scotland in 1909 gutman immigrated with his family to palestine when he was three and settled in merhavia on the outskirts of the valley of harod in his teens he studied at the agricultural high school mikveh yisrael and emerged as one of the leaders of the working youth movement at twenty one he founded kibbutz na an but as he was an amateur orientalist geographer historian and archaeologist kibbutz life was not enough for the energetic young zionist he walked the land and led groups of youngsters on hikes he was a pillar of the yediat haaretz knowledge of the land movement whose ideology was studying the land loving the land and becoming one with the land at the very same time gutman was also working closely with the leaders of labor zionism berl katznelson and yitzhak tabenkin his best friend israel galili was the strategic mastermind of the military organization the haganah in the early 1940s gutman does not hold an o cial post but in practice he is part of the inner circle of the zionist leadership an educator with outstanding moral authority gutman is privy to the innermost secrets of zionism he views his role as being to concentrate the minds of hebrew youths on what lies ahead in january 1942 gutman decides to take the elite of the pioneer youth movement to masada the trip is no ordinary excursion gutman himself a zealot wants to change the collective psyche he wants to unify the hebrew youth around a powerful concrete symbol which he recognizes in masada in october 1941 he led a preliminary workshop of masada studies in tel aviv and then chose the forty six youth movement leaders he would take with him to masada in january as he sees it these handpicked young agents of change will be the new missionaries of masada they will make masada the new locus of zionist identity on friday january 23 1942 gutman and his forty six disciples leave jerusalem in the early morning an arab bus takes them to the palestinian village of yatta south of hebron tents equipment food and water are loaded on three camels hired from local palestinians the guides are palestinian bedouins the young men and women wear short trousers tall boots and rucksacks laden with rolled army blankets some carry walking sticks some have tied arab ka yehs around their necks all have water canteens when they descend the white hills into the desert of judea they sing loudly with boundless enthusiasm gutman is more thoughtful than the young sabras in fact he is almost somber as he is to tell me fty years later he knows perfectly well why the seventeen year olds are upbeat recent years have been exceptionally good for the jews of palestine since the arab revolt was crushed and the arab national movement disintegrated the country has been at peace in the early 1940s the jewish economy has leaped forward and the jewish organizations have gathered power and authority a substantial industrial revolution has been taking place ata ltd is now manufacturing uniforms for the soldiers of the british army while elite ltd liber ltd and z d ltd are manufacturing chocolate bars for them teva is producing medicine and medical equipment for his majesty s troops assis ltd is producing marmalade and jam and the socialist conglomerate solel boneh is building bridges railways and military bases for the crown in palestine egypt iraq and iran the citrus industry has fallen into crisis but the diamond industry has replaced it as palestine s leading exporter so now the land of israel exports not only ja a oranges but tents ropes camou age nets parachutes boots water canteens cranes heating ovens shaving blades tires measuring equipment plastic goods optical equipment medical supplies dry ice acetone ether beer furs telephone wire electrical wire and land mines the number of jewish employees in these industries has risen threefold in just three years industrial production has risen vefold in ve years exports have doubled in two years the ratio between jewish industrial production and arab industrial production in palestine is now six to one since there is full employment wages have risen dramatically and factories are working around the clock three shifts a day trade union owned corporations and privately held enterprises are prospering theaters are full cafés are bustling while gutman leads his youngsters into the desert tel aviv holds its fourth and most successful fashion week which is celebrated in a glittering ball in the glamorous café piltz this is why the israeli born sabras are so self con dent they are the sons and daughters of a fantasy that is ful lling itself their life experience is that of an astounding collective success based on self reliance and innovation but shmaryahu gutman knows that zionism is in trouble although it has fended o the arab revolt of the 1930s and brought forth the economic miracle of the 1940s history is closing in on the audacious jewish national endeavor the arab threat has not vanished it is clear to the zionist leaders that when the second world war ends the brutal con ict over the fate of palestine will be renewed yet the arab threat is not the only one rommel s afrika korps has just managed to pummel the british defense line not far from benghazi libya while in the summer of 1941 it seemed the germans might attack palestine from the north it now looks as if they are about to invade from the south faced with an arab threat and a nazi threat it is clear that without the use of force zionism will not prevail it will go down in history as yet another movement of false messianism this is why the youth of israel must be prepared only the sons and daughters of zion can save zionism from utter destruction the palestinian guides lose their way the day turns to dusk after two short stops at desert springs the column arrives at the bedouin camp it was supposed to have reached at noon some of the travelers want to stop for the night the camels are exhausted and refuse to go on despite the setback gutman is determined to forge ahead after all this is the very reason he has brought these cadets to the desert to steel them to strengthen their resolve to teach them not to recoil from adversity when the sun goes down the trek will continue by moonlight if the camels refuse to carry the load the young men will shoulder it themselves now the journey is totally altered the navigation mistake the delay and suspicions regarding the bedouins demoralize the hikers they have been on the road since 3 00 a m the previous night they had not really slept they experience anxiety and fatigue their eyes can hardly see in the pitch black night their throats are parched because of the shortage of water the straps of their heavy rucksacks cut into their shoulders the air is salty the desert is lled with chasms and ravines there is no plant life no animals or birds to be seen there are just the heavy footsteps of a column marching on gutman of course does not know that on the previous tuesday january 20 1942 fteen representatives of the ministries of the third reich gathered in berlin s wannsee villa to formulate the final solution he does not yet know that the deportation of jews to the east has begun or that within six weeks in a small redbrick building in a remote camp named auschwitz a rst gas chamber will begin to exterminate jews but gutman does know that zionism s bleak forecast regarding the future of european jewry is becoming reality he knows that in every country they take the germans mark jews gather them and concentrate them in ghettos because he has a profound understanding of history gutman realizes that for the jewish people the current world war is going to be far more signi cant than the previous one he sees that what is happening are not the customary anti jewish pogroms of typical european wars something is happening that has never happened before tens of thousands of jews have already been murdered and their numbers might soon rise to hundreds of thousands if the red army does not block the germans in the crimea and leningrad disaster is imminent so it is not only zionism that is at stake for the jewish people the year 1942 could turn out to be the worst year since the destruction of the second temple it could turn out to be the most catastrophic year in the jews catastrophic history as gutman watches the hikers he understands how di cult the journey is for them they are not adept at walking in the desert as he is and they have little experience with thirst and fatigue the slopes of masada are frighteningly steep and the ascent will be di cult the sliver of moon that has just appeared above is too weak to light their way in the menacing dark many are soaked with sweat their breathing labored some stumble some fall after sixteen hours of walking the forty six are not far from breaking but they are made of stronger stu than that those born in palestine s spartan twenties and shaped in palestine s violent thirties have grown to be rock hard brought up on the values of strength and fortitude that de ne the new hebrew culture the cadets are tough and determined even when their legs betray them they continue to march even when they fall they get up again gutman smiles as he looks at them as he tells me in an interview conducted in the early 1990s he nds in their shining eyes the determination he had hoped to nd gutman is not naïve having grown up beside the malaria infested marshes near the valley of harod he has always known that zionism is a struggle living under the hateful gaze of the valley s arabs he has always known that at its core zionism embodies con ict yet he has always believed in the desperate energy of zionism he believes that the essence of zionism is momentum never to retreat never to rest always to push forward the new hebrews must push the limits of what the jews can do of what any people can do they must defy fate but now gutman feels that zionism s vector of energy is about to run into a wall the forces closing in on the audacious national movement are just too strong the arab front the german front the collapse of european jewry the challenge facing his cadets is unprecedented the thought of it actually makes gutman shiver twenty years after it arrived in the valley zionism once again demands of its followers total mobilization and sacri ce coming from the valleys and the orange groves and tel aviv the hiking youngsters do not realize that their very existence is in peril they are bursting with the gaiety of zionism s decades of success they are drunk with the experience of hebrew renaissance and hebrew creation and hebrew triumph but not long ago gutman has heard yitzhak tabenkin say that we are upon the abyss and berl katznelson say that no man of words can express the horrors of these times the great fear that engulfs us so gutman knows that he has but a short time to transform these youths it is his role to anoint them as the guardians who will stand at the gate when the time comes gutman s choice of masada has a personal dimension at the age of sixteen he collapsed while participating in an early dead sea trek and never made it to the summit the young man made a vow to return when he did several years later he nearly lost his life but managed to reach the top the few hours he spent on masada changed his life he somehow felt tied to this terrible place in the nine years that have passed the mountainous fortress has not let him go often he dreams of it and he has waking visions as well of the ancient site he has come to believe that masada is the true heart of the land the crux of the zionist story but only in the past year has gutman realized the opportunity to engrave masada on the collective jewish psyche just as it has been engraved on his own after the early tour of october 1941 he sent an o cial proposition to the national leadership and after much lobbying he raised the necessary funds so now he can connect the di erent paths of his life he can unite the educator with the historian with the amateur archaeologist he can draw a direct line between the horri c act of a d 73 and the heroic challenge of 1942 he can bring masada back to life and make it the formative site of new zionism like the shadow of a hulking sunken ship the shadow of the mountain appears fatigue is forgotten replaced by song suddenly walking is no longer di cult for the youth movement s leaders as they approach the silhouette of the fortress of tragic jewish sovereignty a re already dances at the foot of the mountain lit by the front guard that arrived earlier the rebels of the second temple used to signal to one another with such res lamdan s masada poem is also replete with such res but here are the ames of the rst re of the new masada when they reach the re the forty six hikers take o their rucksacks unroll their blankets and set up camp for the night at dawn gutman warns his disciples that climbing masada is dangerous some have climbed and died from now on each climber must take care of himself and must take care of the next climber as well danger lurks at every step gutman recites lamdan s poignant lines about the remnant of slaughter that climbs the tall wall of masada the youngsters standing at the foot of masada are all too familiar with the morbid words of the canonical text now being read by their mentor they were raised on these lines they memorized them in school and many still know them by heart but now under the mythological fortress itself the words acquire new signi cance they sound like the anthem of a desperate people coming to the desert to look for a last refuge for several months now i have been studying masada the masada ethos and gutman s masada journey i have read all i could nd in the relevant archives and libraries i have interviewed anyone who could still be interviewed i reread all of my notes from my lengthy interviews with gutman conducted shortly before he died i assembled this historical puzzle piece by piece and yet even after all my research it all seems inconceivable events that took place in the fourth decade of the twentieth century undertaken in a rational and practical manner are already steeped in the aura of mythology the more i learn about them the more distant they seem to me in an era of criticism and cynicism and self awareness i nd it di cult to truly comprehend the cadets state of mind as they prepare to climb masada for the very rst time yet i realize that this paradox is exactly the essence of the zionist masada it is a modern secular icon that transcends modernity and secularism it is an arti cial symbol that transcends its arti ciality what gutman is doing in bringing this young idealistic group to this desert ruin is using the hebrew past to give depth to the hebrew present and enable it to face the hebrew future in order to achieve a concrete realistic and national goal gutman imbues the fortress with a man made historically based mysticism the ascent begins from the east the long column of khaki wearing youngsters climbs up the white rampart the romans built to strike the forti ed wall of the zealots fortress when the column reaches the chasm between the rampart and the summit the e ort intensi es the rst ve hikers strike the rock face with their picks then hammer in pitons and tie ropes and drop them down for the others what makes the task especially di cult is the heavy load that must be lifted to the top tents blankets canned goods water rucksacks arms and ammunition the youngsters create a human chain that enables them to pass the load hand to hand to the top gutman nds the sight of the chain inspiring the chain was not broken is a line from lamdan s poem and gutman is about to establish it as the generation s motto gutman instructs his cadets not to look back not to look down advance only advance onward and upward the forty six go they reach the wall climb the wall then at last nd themselves on masada it is gutman s third time at the summit but he is just as excited as when he rst stood here nine years ago the desert ridges and the terrifying gorge and the quiet silver wavelets of the dead sea stir in him a feeling of unfathomable heartache as he recalled half a century later gutman is bewitched by the eight roman compounds that surround the lonely mountain even after being neglected for 1 869 years the sight feels sti ing it feels to him as if the hundred thousand roman soldiers of the 10th roman legion are still besieging the one thousand de ant jews and he feels just as clearly that mighty historic forces are once again closing in on the jews of palestine after a few moments of looking down from the wall into the gorge lost in thought he shakes o his hallucination and goes back to what he must do as leader the youngsters do not share gutman s profound anxiety or ecstatic vision but they are excited to see the desert hills painted pink by the setting sun and the remnants of herod s buildings that have survived two thousand years at the summit gutman must see to it that this youthful joy does not get out of hand it will be dark soon so camp must be set up rapidly gutman divides his cadets into several work groups some gather rewood some bring water from the wadi some pitch tents within the fortress ruins they improvise a table a kitchen a classroom as the sun sets the camp takes shape on masada s at summit and when dark descends on the mountains of moav gutman feels pride in the tent camp that has risen among the ruins the youngsters light a camp re and sing and dance then gutman addresses the group he tells the tale of masada and its heroes our tent too is pitched on the abyss he says when he is done speaking he steps back into the darkness and watches the dancing begin anew it is a rousing performance eyes a re feet as light as air the young boys and girls of israel have returned to masada to dance with abandon on the abyss gutman is no dancer but the spontaneous ritual is exactly what he wished for for he knows that zionism has no church and no theology and no mythology he knows that zionism is on the brink and needs a poignant symbol that will be a substitute for church and theology and mythology in masada he nds this symbol that will unite and inspire zionism s followers he nds a pillar for zionist identity that is at once concrete mythic and sublime in masada gutman nds both the narrative and the image that will give the young hebrews the depth they lack masada will captivate them empower them and galvanize them for the challenge ahead this tragic mountain will give meaning to their struggle in the name of masada the dancing boys and girls will ght the cataclysmic war that will save zionism and save the jews gutman knows that his enterprise is controversial even in zionist circles many regard the zealots of masada as brutal extremists who robbed murdered and nally committed suicide david ben gurion chairman of the jewish agency is apprehensive about the masada tale because it is a tale of death and self destruction but gutman begs to di er he believes that what he is promoting is not a masada complex but a masada paradox only the young hebrews willing to die will be able to ensure for themselves a secure and sovereign life only their willingness to ght to the end will prevent their end the youngsters sing a cli we conquered and ascended a path we carved and cleared a trail we beat and blazed to the abyss gutman walks away from the singing carrying a ashlight he walks alone to the ancient southeastern living quarters that still have the remnants of a mosaic oor he continues toward the building with the two forecourts that the german archaeologist schulten described and enters the regal edi ce to the west that schulten mistook for herod s palace he goes through the square building that schulten described as the small palace then enters the giant structure at the northern end of the mountain and lingers among its many rooms he visits the bathhouse the tower he walks the long corridors these were the soldiers barracks gutman assumes here lived herod s o cers here food was stored here was the armory gutman is beside himself his ashlight wanders along the thick walls his hand feels the coarsely chiseled stones as far as gutman is concerned this desert citadel is as wondrous as the pyramids of giza but what captures the mind of the zionist revolutionary is not herod s genius and ingenuity it is the thought of the rebels seeking refuge in these deserted palaces what the amateur archaeologist is looking for with his ashlight is the remains the zealots left behind perhaps shekels they coined in the four years of their great revolt or inscriptions they carved into the stone in the nal days perhaps clay pots to collect water crumbling sandals torn prayer shawls oil lamps made of clay but all gutman nds in the dark are round ballista stones that the rebels prepared in order to crush the skulls of the romans and the ballista stones that the romans shot from afar at the rebels stronghold and as he examines the stones his thoughts are drawn to those last hours of that last night in his mind gutman reconstructs that last dreadful night of a d 73 herod s casemate wall has already been breached the rebels improvised wooden wall has already burned down no power in the world will stop the romans from breaking into masada at dawn so elazar ben yair whom gutman worships decides not to surrender but to die here on this very spot ben yair gathers the zealots and says his last famous words as passed down through the ages by a survivor it is known and written that tomorrow will come our demise but the choice is to us to die the death of heroes we and all those dear to us perhaps from the beginning when we stood to assert our liberty we should have grasped the spirit of god and realized that he has sealed the fate of the race of the jews whom he had loved before we cannot save our souls so let our wives die before they are violated let our sons die before they taste the taste of slavery then we shall bless one another with the blessing of heroes how good and how great it will be when we carry our freedom to our grave from a distance gutman sees his youngsters dancing and singing around the re as he watches them he contemplates what his mentor tabenkin said recently in this war we jews are the most lonely people the most deserted and the most just gutman remembers what his other mentor katznelson said when the war in europe began we are orphans in this world and as the world crumbles our orphanhood intensi es on the weak wings of the remnants of israel living in palestine was placed a heavy burden more than we can bear it might very well be that the entire future of jewish history depends now on what shall happen with us without our being asked the most enormous task of all was set upon us and gutman thinks of what katznelson had added just a few months ago the fate of israel is about to be decided as it was not decided upon since the destruction of the temple since we lost our land and liberty our history has not known such a time when the re of destruction will surround at once all of our diasporas across the globe gutman understands that these words are not empty rhetoric since the summer of 1940 mainstream zionist leadership has been seriously considering the possibility of apocalypse if we must fall fall we shall here with our women and children and all that we have said tabenkin that summer since the summer of 1941 mainstream zionist leadership has been concerned that the british will evacuate palestine the germans will invade and a nazi inspired arab uprising will terminate zionism i do not wish for us to die in this land said tabenkin but i do wish that we shall not depart we shall not leave the land alive since november 28 1941 when the grand mufti of jerusalem haj amin al husseini met adolf hitler in berlin there has been an o cial alliance between the arab palestinian movement headed by husseini and the third reich so now in the early winter of 1942 there is growing concern in tel aviv regarding the possible combination of a german invasion of the land with a pro nazi arab palestinian assault it now appears that the distant past is merging with the present that the mythical is coupling with the real after midnight the dancing subsides the camp goes silent only gutman is awake in his tent by the light of his lantern he prepares is one of tomorrow s curriculum although his mission indoctrination and reeducation gutman is not a one dimensional political commissar although his goal is ideological he is not a man of simplistic propaganda he wants his cadets to study masada seriously he wants them to become familiar with its geology history archaeology and to contribute to the scienti c body of knowledge regarding it in order for them to do so he goes over conder s meticulous maps he reads schulten s ndings some of which have been misinterpreted he reads flavius josephus and is overwhelmed by the dry and precise manner in which flavius described the heroic drama finally he reads once again lamdan s long melancholic poem the immigrant poet who lost his family in a russian pogrom does not promise success he does not assure the reader that the zionist masada of the twentieth century will evade the fate of the rst century s zealots all that lamdan argues is that the citadel is the very last chance there is no other place for the jews but palestine no other way but the way of masada gutman spends ve days and ve nights with his youngsters at masada on the second day he shows them the casemate wall consisting of two parallel walls and explains the details of its construction he shows them the remains of thirty of its towers on the third day gutman takes his cadets along the dike to each of the eight encampments of the roman siege he argues with passion that the scale of the force that the romans assembled around the remote desolate masada proves that the mighty empire was truly challenged by the de ant rebels on the fourth day gutman selects the best and the ttest to assist him in exploring masada s unknown quarters hovering over the gorge and literally risking their lives the determined boys manage to discover patches of the lost serpentine path that had escaped the notice of previous explorers and nd a hitherto unknown aqueduct leading water from the east to the mountain fortress on the fth and last day gutman takes his cadets back to the rampart to widen it and make it suitable for thousands to climb he sends others to pile dry wood on some of the nearby hilltops so that the nocturnal farewell ceremony will reenact the way the rst century rebels signaled each other from hill to hill but a storm descends that night so the concluding ceremony is held in a cave resembling the rebels caves selected chapters from ancient flavius and contemporary lamdan are read aloud there is much talk about the chain that binds times past with times present the days of masada are not over they say the voice of israel s heroes will not be silenced no sacri ce is too dear for our freedom we shall not be slaves again when it s time to eat a bedouin lamb is slaughtered as if it is passover eve the evening when the masada wall was breached and the rebels decided to take their own lives they read aloud josephus descriptions of the last deeds of ben yair s men on this summit they hugged their women with much love and held the children to their hearts and kissed them for the very last time tears in their eyes and all slaughtered their brethren and each one lay down on the ground by his dead wife and sons and held them in his arms and the one left after them examined the many bodies and when he knew for certain that all were dead he set re to all corners of the king s palace and with all the power of his hand he thrust his sword into his own esh and fell down dead by his slaughtered loved ones gutman is hypnotized by these words as a humanist he realizes what horror they contain but as a zionist jew he also realizes what horror 1942 will contain he is not interested in cultivating a suicidal ethos but he feels obligated to construct an ethos of resistance he knows that in 1942 the trial ahead is the ultimate one but although there is a certain resemblance between ben yair s masada and gutman s masada gutman wants his masada tale to have a totally di erent ending that s why his motto now is masada shall not fall again that s why he tells his youngsters not to be zealots of defeat but zealots of victory he wants to take the ancient fortress s determination and turn it on its head transforming an ethos of devastation into one of triumph late at night when the winds are howling at the mouth of the cave the theatrical masada ceremony comes to an end the cadets sign a working youth masada scroll and seal it in a glass bottle that they bury under a headstone they erect they call out that the chain has not been broken they call out that masada calls israel to ght for its land they sing the socialist anthem strong be the hands of our brothers building the land they sing the national anthem hope is not yet lost then the youngsters dismantle the tents and pack the rucksacks and descend the mountain which is now engraved in their consciousness is it true that as ben yair wrote god sealed the fate of the race of the jews whom he had loved before on the very same days in late january that gutman s masada graduates return to jerusalem field marshal rommel concludes his breakthrough toward benghazi libya four months later the wermacht s strategic genius defeats the british at bir al hakim and reaches egypt by june 1942 rommel is only a hundred kilometers west of alexandria in tel aviv zionist leaders assume that if alexandria falls the british empire will evacuate the middle east and realign its forces in india some reports claim that british o cers are burning secret documents in their cairo o ces some claim that the british are pulling elite units from egypt in palestine there is much talk of jews selling property to arabs preparing hideouts in monasteries asking christian and muslim friends for protection some acquire foreign passports others purchase poison pills but what is happening in europe is far worse on january 30 1941 hitler announces in the berlin sports palace that the outcome of the war will be the annihilation of the jews in march 1942 the auschwitz extermination camp goes active a few days later the belzec and sobibor extermination camps begin to bellow their unique smoke into europe s spring skies on march 17 1942 the deportation of the jews of lublin to belzec begins on march 24 the deportation of the jews of slovakia to auschwitz begins on march 27 begins the deportation of the jews of france to auschwitz on march 30 the rst paris train carrying jews arrives in auschwitz in palestine there is little information regarding the death camps or hitler s mass death project but there is a growing understanding that europe is experiencing a megapogrom similarly there is a growing understanding that if the british lose egypt a megapogrom will take place in palestine therefore in march 1942 the idea of establishing a modern day masada on mount carmel is seriously considered there is no intention to commit suicide on mount carmel the top secret plan is to concentrate the jewish population of palestine in the mountainous region bordering the sea so that a war can be waged that might slow the germans and convince the british not to abandon the jews yet the nocturnal discussions held secretly by the zionist leadership in the summer of 1942 on a tel aviv roof does not exclude the worst scenario in the words of gutman s best friend israel galili there is no place to retreat we must guarantee that we stand to the last defend ourselves to the end hold on even at the price of extermination in the words of gutman s mentor yitzhak tabenkin these half a million jews should not retreat not even one of us should survive we must stand here to the end for the future right the self respect and the historic loyalty of the jewish people so we are told by masada and even before masada so we are told by the destruction of the second temple in the words of the former leader of poland s zionist movement yitzhak gruenbaum the trouble with the jews of the diaspora was that they preferred the life of a beaten dog to death with honor there is no hope for survival once the germans invade if god forbid we shall reach the moment of invasion we must see to it that we leave a masada legend behind us tabenkin again we the jews have no option of retreat and evacuation some say that women and children must be saved there is no place to save them there is no justice in the demand to save women and children we must have no illusions we face annihilation will the germans leave behind them the yagur kibbutz or the ein harod kibbutz or the commune of degania as temperatures run high zionist policy undergoes profound changes on may 11 1942 in new york s biltmore hotel zionism s leaders abandon the old idea of long term organic growth and endorse the demand to establish a jewish commonwealth in palestine as soon as possible in the weeks preceding and following the biltmore convention the palmach strike force holds its rst explosives course and it exercises its rst ve platoons in june 1942 haganah commanders are called to an emergency meeting in tel aviv to hear the minutes of the masada on the carmel plan in july the plan is thoroughly discussed in a special gathering in the valley of yizrael initial preparations are made to stake out hiding places for arms water food and shelter for a hundred thousand people in the area that lies between haifa and the valley now explicit words are spoken about turning mount carmel into masada no wonder that between february and july 1942 gutman s masada ethos takes root the youth movement s weekly publishes extensive reports of the masada trek and seminar and it puts ben yair s last speech on its march 31 cover other labor publications also celebrate and glorify masada a press conference in which gutman promotes masada resonates strongly in contemporary public opinion the forty six youth leaders do their share to pass along the masada message to their youth movement cadets so that the second masada trek held only three months after the rst includes more than two hundred youngsters throughout the country passover youth camps and youth activities are devoted to masada with rommel at the gate with europe s jewry in ghettos and with the national leadership considering extreme ideas gutman s gospel of masada spreads like re in the woods more and more youth movements ascend masada palmach squads ascend masada masada overtakes the public discourse within a few months the ethos of masada becomes the formative ethos of the young nation masada is now at the heart of the zionist narrative de ning its new palestine born generation by autumn history takes yet another turn the immediate fear of invasion subsides on october 23 allied commander field marshal bernard montgomery launches a countero ensive against rommel who begins his retreat from el alamein on november 4 there is no further danger of a nazi invasion of the land of israel but just as the jewish community of palestine relaxes and returns to the pleasures of an unprecedented economic boom the news from europe becomes grimmer on december 17 1942 the british foreign secretary anthony eden declares in westminster that nazi germany is exterminating european jewry by now it is clear that what hitler has in mind is not a megapogrom but a holocaust every single day thousands are murdered in 1942 more than a million are murdered by the end of the war it might turn out that european jewry has vanished completely as 1943 begins hence the ethos of masada takes on new meaning now it s not only a historic legend whose purpose is to prepare the jews for a desperate war in the land of israel now masada is a mythical almost metaphysical metaphor for the loneliness of the jewish people as always yitzhak tabenkin is the one to phrase the new insight in the cruelest fashion our feeling is that of ultimate loneliness there is no way to know how many jews will remain alive there is no guarantee that the nazis will not exterminate the entire one hundred percent bitter is the knowledge of our solitude and the knowledge that the world is our enemy for spiritual leaders like tabenkin katznelson and gutman the signi cance of the holocaust is threefold it is a human catastrophe on a scale not seen since the middle ages it is a jewish catastrophe on a scale not experienced since the destruction of the second temple and it is a zionist catastrophe unlike any other for zionism the implications of the holocaust are devastating gone are the great jewish masses that zionism was designed to save gone is the great human reservoir that was to save zionism gone is zionism s raison d être for even if hitler is defeated he might still leave behind him a defeated jewish people with no eastern european demographic backbone zionism becomes a bridgehead that no reinforcements will ever cross protect or hold but tabenkin katznelson and gutman turn disaster into mission all three and many others begin to speak out about the responsibility of hebrew youth the new disastrous circumstances every hebrew boy in the land of israel now weighs as ten as we have lost jewish communities ten times as large as the jewish community of palestine writes gutman inspired by tabenkin in the black shadow of this fact you the young working generation of israel must carry on the founders endeavor and be a leading torch of light to the resurrection of the nation in its land as it turns out 1942 is far worse than anyone could have imagined in this year 2 7 million jews are murdered by the nazis within twelve months every sixth jew in the world is exterminated and every fourth european jew dies of disease hunger shooting or facing gas the jewish people will never recover from the blow zionism will never overcome the loss but the ethos of masada will live on the ethos forged in gutman s january 1942 seminar will grow stronger and stronger as the horrors of 1942 are revealed so those who ask whether the ethos was based merely on myth ask the wrong question it is not ben yair who de ned masada it is gutman what matters is not the event that did or did not take place on the fringe of history in a d 73 but the event that does take place in the locus of history in a d 1942 for the masada ethos put forth by gutman would de ne the zionism of the 1940s and would decide the fate of 1948 and would shape the future state of israel the mid nineteenth century french physiologist claude bernard was the rst to overturn the conventional understanding that life is an adjustment to environment adjustment to the surrounding environment is death argued bernard the phenomenon of life is that of preserving an internal environment contrary to an outside environment between the summer of 1936 and the summer of 1942 zionism reaches a similar conclusion a sequence of blows some of them almost deadly teaches the outstanding movement that its surrounding environment is extremely cruel the relevant historical circumstances are these conditions adjustment is death the only way to maintain life is resistance from now on the decisive image of the zionist enterprise is not that of swamps drained or of orange groves bearing fruit but that of a lonely desert fortress casting the shadow of awe on an arid land lethal under photo credit 5 1 five lydda 1948 how did zionism arrive in the valley of lydda just as it arrived in some of palestine s other valleys and plains in the autumn of 1903 after the sixth zionist congress the anglo palestine bank purchased 2 330 dunams of land in the village of haditha for 80 730 francs of that area 1 946 dunams were fertile and at while the remaining 384 dunams were hilly and barren together they formed a long strip of land that stretched from the silvery olive orchards of the arab city of lydda to the low ridge of hills rising from the gray elds of the lydda valley toward jerusalem the beit arif estate became the ben shemen estate one of the rst plots of land purchased by herzl s zionist movement in palestine two years later after exploring several other sites across the country the civil engineer nahum wilbosh decided to establish his atid hebrew for future factory in the lydda valley with an investment of 150 000 francs he bought 100 dunams from the anglo palestine bank and erected a modern plant to press oil from its orchards and manufacture ne soap from the olive refuse in its rst four years atid was a disappointment the oil was murky the soap was inferior and expenses were high but in its fth sixth and seventh years atid prospered it provided its owners with respectable pro ts its workers with decent livings and its arab neighbors with extra income from the sale of raw materials to the new jewish industrial enterprise but before the great war broke out atid collapsed leaving behind in the lydda valley nothing but the gloomy deserted ruins of what was meant to be a year after wilbosh established his factory a teacher named israel belkind built kiryat sefer an agricultural school on fty dunams of the ben shemen estate for the orphans who had survived the gruesome kishinev pogrom three years earlier on the top of the hill not far from the factory belkind erected two story buildings surrounding a spacious courtyard where the pogrom survivors would train to become skilled farmers yet after spending 43 000 francs to purchase the land and build the classrooms and dormitory belkind was short of funds needed to run the school and kiryat sefer collapsed in 1908 several years after the death of theodor herzl the zionist movement decided to commemorate its founder by planting a thousand olive trees in the valley of lydda choosing the olive tree for the orchard of herzl wald was both practical and symbolic the aim was to demonstrate that the new jews could plant olive trees that were as beautiful and deep rooted as the ancient olive trees of the orchards of the arabs of lydda as early as 1908 a nursery had been set up between the atid factory and the kiryat sefer school but an unexpected incident had taken place there jewish workers rallied one day and uprooted the olive trees planted by arab workers replanting them with their own hands in order to make a national jewish statement so in 1909 when herzl wald was planted all work was solely jewish the new jews of palestine planted more than twelve thousand olive trees on the gentle slope overlooking the minarets of the city of lydda and as the trees grew taller it seemed that herzl wald was indeed becoming a real deep rooted olive orchard in palestine but then came war locusts and despair the atid factory failed some of the olive trees were damaged some perished some were uprooted as quickly as herzl s olive forest had appeared in the valley of lydda it disappeared in 1910 after a wave of immigration from yemen reached palestine boris schatz an art professor and the founder of jerusalem s renowned bezalel art academy decided to settle yemenite artisans skilled in silver smithing in the lydda valley his intention was to establish a modest artisan colony whose residents would make a living by combining twentieth century agriculture and traditional crafts for that purpose he built a small neighborhood of humble homes adjacent to the ben shemen courtyard and the herzl wald forest to which he brought twelve families of impoverished yemenite jews who were rich in artistic tradition for three years the families struggled to take root in the lydda valley but they were ultimately defeated by the harsh conditions the shortage of water and the high infant mortality rate like atid kiryat sefer and the olive forest the artisan colony vanished in 1909 the agronomist yitzhak vilkansky who rst came to ben shemen to work in the olive tree nursery turned belkind s courtyard into an exemplary agricultural enterprise in ben shemen vilkansky established palestine s rst modern cowshed where he bred strong german bulls with resilient damascus cows vilkansky experimented in beekeeping almond growing and wheat harvesting he developed new methods of irrigation and came up with the idea of mixed farming which would enable every family of jewish settlers in palestine to have a homestead run on a system of rations that would make the most of every small plot of land year round he trained work groups of skilled farmers one of which settled in the deserted homes of the departed yemenites and established a tiny but ourishing working village for sixteen years vilkansky performed wonders in the lydda valley proving as the zionist leader chaim weizmann had said that in the land of israel hebrew hands can perform miracles but in 1926 vilkansky moved his experimental farm to the thriving orange grove colony of rehovot after ve attempts and four failures zionism was faced with the questions it had faced twenty three years earlier how to settle the valley of lydda and what to do with the strip of land descending from the rocky hills to the deserted courtyard of ben shemen to the ruins of atid and the minarets rising from the arab city of lydda siegfried lehmann was born in berlin in 1892 he studied medicine and served as a doctor in the german army although he was the son of a wealthy family of assimilated german jews during the great war he rediscovered his jewish identity and found meaning in the endeavor of rejuvenating judaism in 1916 he established a center for homeless jewish children in an east berlin slum in 1919 he opened a shelter for jewish war orphans in the lithuanian city of kovna inspired by his mentors martin buber gustav landauer albert einstein and his own brother alfred lehmann believed that there was no future for jews in germany and that western jewry must renew itself by reconnecting with the masses of eastern jewry with their traditions and rituals by 1925 the doctor turned teacher realized that a rising wave of anti semitism would prevent him from maintaining his kovna children s home there was no place to go but palestine first lehmann intended to rebuild his unique institution on the very spot on which the ein harod white tent camp had been pitched in the harod valley in the late summer of 1921 but after learning that the swarms of anopheles mosquitoes in the marshes might endanger the lives of his students einstein s protégé changed course on a rainy winter day lehmann arrived with his wife and a dozen kovna orphans at the courtyard built by israel belkind for the kishinev orphans some twenty years earlier where others had failed lehmann succeeded in 1927 there were only fteen students in lehmann s youth village in 1931 there were two hundred twenty in 1946 some six hundred students the village s ten dunams of cultivated land grew to over ve hundred dunams there was a ne cowshed now a large sheep pen a horse stable an orange grove a vegetable garden wheat elds chicken coops apiaries a vineyard on the gentle slope descending from the courtyard of kiryat sefer to the ruins of the atid factory long red roofed dormitories were built a school was founded a swimming pool dug sports elds constructed flower gardens were planted along footpaths the bright living quarters that lehmann insisted upon for the children gave the school an air of familial warmth within ten years the german jewish humanist succeeded in developing in the lydda valley one of zionism s most endearing enterprises lehmann s village was unique for a reasonably long period of time it ful lled the utopian values of its founder the berlin doctor who was supported by berlin s liberal jews was no narrow minded zionist though he dedicated his life to the salvation of homeless jewish children he viewed his humanitarian mission in a broad historical context he realized that the life of the jewish people had become unbearable he acknowledged that the displacement and detachment they experienced threatened the jews physically mentally and spiritually but lehmann believed that in the twentieth century displacement and detachment were not solely a jewish malady he saw that a sense of rootlessness was also threatening contemporary western civilization lehmann wanted zionism to suggest a cure both for the modern jewish people and for modern man he wanted it to ful ll an urgent national task in a manner that would bene t all of humanity he wanted zionism to be a settlement movement that was not tainted by colonialism a national movement that was not scarred by chauvinism a progressive movement that was not distorted by urban alienation he believed that zionism must not establish a closed o condescending colony in palestine that ignored its surroundings and native neighbors it must not be an occidental frontier fortress commanding the orient on the contrary lehmann believed that zionism must plant the jews in their ancient homeland in an organic fashion it must respect the orient and become a bridge between east and west though he never said so explicitly lehmann saw his lydda valley youth village as an example of what zionism should be a salvation project giving home to the homeless providing roots to the uprooted and restoring meaning to life lehmann s ben shemen would o er harmony to the children and to the era that had lost all harmony dr lehmann believed that zionism would prevail only if it was integrated into the middle east in july 1927 the young doctor rushed to the traumatized arab city of lydda to attend to the survivors of a devastating earthquake that demolished much of the old town and killed scores of its residents in the 1930s because of the profound impact his work had had on the community during the disaster lehmann made friends among lydda s gentry and among the dignitaries of the neighboring arab villages of haditha dahariya gimzu daniyal deir tarif and bayt nabala he saw to it that the villagers walking to and from lydda in the scorching summer heat would enjoy cool water and refreshing shade at a specially designed welcome fountain that he built for them at the gate of the zionist youth village lehmann instructed the youth village clinic to give medical assistance to palestinians seeking it he insisted that the students of ben shemen be taught to respect their neighbors and their neighbors culture almost every weekend the youth of ben shemen went on trips to the villages they also frequently visited lydda its market its schools arab musicians and dancers were invited to participate in the youth village s festivals an orient fair was held at which arab rural civilization was studied displayed and celebrated when the hollywood produced lm land was shot in lehmann s youth village just after world war ii the scenes it captured portrayed a humanist utopia in black and white frames the director helmar lerski and his cinematographers registered an unreal reality here were boys and girls who had barely escaped germany in a progressive democratic educational establishment a kind of convalescent home for the uprooted youth of an uprooted people in the land of the bible here were young hebrew shepherds herding sheep on the craggy ancient hills between haditha and dahariya here were young weavers spinning yarn on spindles as if they were french or german villagers who had been living on the land for generations here was a community of orphans living a euro palestinian village culture that is in peace with the land it had just descended upon on the eve of the sabbath the children wearing white shirts gathered around white cloth covered tables to light candles although they had no parents they had faith some played bach some sang hymns some told jewish living legends and tales from tolstoy but everyone in the halls of ben shemen from age eight to eighteen took part in an exceptional ritual of secular youngsters reaching for the holy in the holy land lydda suspected nothing lydda did not imagine what was about to happen for forty four years it watched zionism enter the valley rst the atid factory then the kiryat sefer school then the olive forest the artisan colony the tiny workers village the experimental farm and the strange youth village headed by the eccentric german doctor who was so friendly to the people of lydda and gave medical treatment to those in need the city of lydda had two mosques and a large cathedral called st george but though by christian tradition lydda was the city of saint george the people of lydda did not see that zionism would turn into a modern day dragon they did not see that while dr lehmann preached peace others taught war while dr lehmann took his students to the neighboring palestinian villages shmaryahu gutman took them to masada while the youth village taught humanism and brotherhood the pine forest behind it hosted military courses training ben shemen s youth to throw grenades assemble submachine guns and re antitank piat shells the people of lydda did not see that the zionism that came into the valley to give hope to a nation of orphans has become a movement of cruel resolve determined to take the land by force in the forty four years that lydda watched zionism approach lydda prospered from 1922 to 1947 the population more than doubled from eight thousand to nineteen thousand the leap forward was not only quantitative but qualitative modernization was everywhere after the devastation caused by the 1927 earthquake many of the old clay dwellings were replaced by new solid stone houses by the great mosque and the cathedral a commercial center and a new mosque were built on the west side of town a new modern quarter of ruler straight streets appeared lydda was a central junction of palestine s railway system and the train company s executives resided in the new english style garden suburb which was the city s pride there was electricity on some streets running water in some houses two state schools and one anglican school educated the boys and girls of lydda separately two clinics ve doctors and two pharmacies guaranteed decent medical service the mortality rate was down to twelve out of a thousand while the fertility rate was drastically up a genuine social revolution had taken place in lydda in the rst half of the twentieth century lydda s economy did well too the british mandate the indirect impact of zionism and a prime location enabled it to gallop ahead situated at the very center of palestine lydda became a main transportation hub in the years of british rule the train station in the south of town and the international airport in the north o ered abundant employment opportunities to its residents the cross country roads passing nearby contributed to local commerce and with its 3 200 dunams of orange groves lydda also bene ted from the citrus boom in the old town hydraulic oil presses replaced manual ones three factories manufactured the oil and soap that atid once produced the town had a successful tannery and many spinning mills that made ka yehs and abbayahs the cafés were crowded and the stores were full of the best modern wares on mondays and thursdays thousands traveled from near and far to lydda s famous cattle market and bazaar alongside the wealthy landowning class rose a ourishing commercial middle class that turned lydda into a lively prosperous town but in 1947 the question of palestine reaches its moment of truth in february his majesty s government has had enough of the con ict between the arabs and the jews and decides to leave the holy land and let the united nations determine its fate in june an eleven member un inquiry commission arrives in palestine and while touring the country visits ben shemen and the lydda valley in august the committee comes to the conclusion that there is no chance that jews and arabs can coexist in palestine and therefore suggests dividing the land into two nation states in november the un general assembly endorses the partition plan and calls for the establishment of a jewish state and an arab state as the arab league and the arabs of palestine reject resolution 181 violence ares throughout the country it is clear that arab nationalism is about to eradicate zionism and destroy the jewish community in palestine by the use of brutal force it is clear that the jews must defend themselves as no one else will come to their rescue from december 1947 to may 1948 a cruel civil war between arabs and jews rages after the british leave the state of israel is founded on may 14 1948 the next day the armies of egypt jordan iraq syria and lebanon invade and a full scale war erupts in december a seven car convoy en route to ben shemen is viciously attacked thirteen of its jewish passengers are brutally murdered in february 1948 some four hundred students of the youth village are evacuated from the lydda valley in a sad convoy of buses escorted by british armored vehicles dr lehmann is heartbroken by april the youth village is a besieged military post in may the mayor of lydda recommends that ben shemen surrender but it refuses still the mayor begs the commander of the arab legion not to attack the isolated compound as it does not threaten lydda in any way when arab elds adjacent to ben shemen are set ablaze some of the youth village graduates who have remained rush to put out the re even as war rages in most parts of palestine both arabs and jews regard the lydda valley as a zone of restricted warfare but on july 4 1948 operation larlar designed to conquer lydda is presented to israel s rst prime minister david ben gurion on july 10 11 the 8th brigade of the idf takes the northern parts of the lydda valley the villages of deir tarif and haditha and the international airport simultaneously the elite yiftach brigade takes the southern parts of the valley the villages of inaba gimzu daniyal and dahariya within twenty four hours of the israeli army s rst division scale o ensive all the villages dr lehmann so loved and taught his students to love are conquered and as zionism closes in on the valley of lydda from the south east and north it now prepares to conquer the city of lydda itself on july 11 two 3rd regiment platoons advance from the conquered village of daniyal toward the olive orchards separating ben shemen from lydda strong machine gun re from the outskirts of lydda halts them in the meantime moshe dayan s regiment 89 arrives in ben shemen by the water fountain dr lehmann built for his arab neighbors dayan forms the regiment into an armored column one behind the other they stand at the ready a giant armored vehicle mounted with a cannon menacing half tracks and machine gun equipped jeeps in the late afternoon the column leaves ben shemen and speeds into the city of lydda ring at all in its way in forty seven minutes of blitz more than a hundred arab civilians are shot dead women children old people regiment 89 loses nine of its men in the early evening the two 3rd regiment platoons are able to penetrate lydda within hours their soldiers hold key positions in the city center and con ne thousands of civilians in the great mosque the small mosque and the st george s cathedral by evening zionism has taken the city of lydda the next day two jordanian armored vehicles enter the conquered city in error setting o a new wave of violence the jordanian army is miles to the east and the two vehicles have no military signi cance but some of the citizens of lydda mistakenly believe they are the harbingers of liberation some of the soldiers of the 3rd regiment mistakenly believe them to mean that they face the imminent danger of jordanian assault by the small mosque israeli soldiers are red upon among the young combatants taking cover in a ditch nearby are some of the ben shemen graduates now in uniform the brigade commander is a ben shemen graduate too he gives the order to open re the soldiers shoot in every direction some throw hand grenades into homes one res an antitank piat shell into the small mosque in thirty minutes at high noon more than two hundred civilians are killed zionism carries out a massacre in the city of lydda when news of the bloodshed reaches the headquarters of operation larlar in the conquered palestinian village of yazzur yigal allon asks ben gurion what to do with the arabs ben gurion waves his hand deport them hours after the fall of lydda operations o cer yitzhak rabin issues a written order to the yiftach brigade the inhabitants of lydda must be expelled quickly without regard to age over the next day negotiations are held in the rectory of st george s cathedral present are shmaryahu gutman who is now the military governor of lydda and the dignitaries of the now occupied city the bewildered dignitaries are anxious to save the lives of their ock whereas the cunning gutman is eager to expel the lot without giving an explicit expulsion order when negotiations end in the late morning of july 13 1948 it is agreed that the people of lydda and the refugees residing there will exit lydda immediately by noon a mass evacuation is under way by evening tens of thousands of palestinian arabs leave lydda in a long column marching south past the ben shemen youth village and disappearing into the east zionism obliterates the city of lydda lydda is our black box in it lies the dark secret of zionism the truth is that zionism could not bear lydda from the very beginning there was a substantial contradiction between zionism and lydda if zionism was to be lydda could not be if lydda was to be zionism could not be in retrospect it s all too clear when herbert bentwich saw lydda from the white tower of ramleh in april 1897 he should have seen that if a jewish state was to exist in palestine an arab lydda could not exist at its center he should have known that lydda was an obstacle blocking the road to the jewish state and that one day zionism would have to remove it but herbert bentwich did not see and zionism chose not to know for half a century the substantial contradiction between the jewish national movement and lydda for forty ve years zionism pretended to be the atid factory and the olive forest and the ben shemen youth village living in peace with lydda then in three days in the cataclysmic summer of 1948 contradiction struck and tragedy revealed its face lydda was no more it succeeded in hiding itself from when twenty years ago i realized that lydda was our black box i tried to decipher its secrets i found the brigade commander and spent long hours with him i located the military governor and spent long days on his kibbutz with him i spent time with soldiers from the 3rd regiment and interviewed students from the youth village to write this chapter i dug out the audiocassettes i had recorded at that time and listened to them as they told the story of the death of lydda the brigade commander was born in 1923 in kovna where his father worked with dr lehmann he was raised in a socialist household in tel aviv but at the age of fteen he was sent to the ben shemen youth village where he immediately became the favorite of his father s old friend on shabbat mornings he was invited to the lehmanns cottage to listen with them to rare recordings on the gramophone haydn mozart bach on holidays he escorted dr lehmann as he made courtesy calls in the neighboring villages occasionally he went with dr lehmann to visit friends and schools in lydda he took to lydda its market its olive presses its old town at ben shemen he worked in the cowshed the vineyard the orange grove he played handball and developed a taste for the arts but most of all he loved music classical music popular music folk music one of his favorite memories of ben shemen is of hundreds of students sitting in silence in the great courtyard listening to an orchestra and choir perform bach s peasant cantata but in addition to the humanistic music loving world of ben shemen the seventeen year old lived in an alternate reality at night he and his friends would go to the forest beyond the youth village where they learned to assemble and dismantle an english ri e to shoot a machine gun to throw a grenade and when the music lover graduated from ben shemen he joined the rst platoon of the palmach strike force in the winter of 1942 he climbed masada in the summer of 1942 he went south to stop rommel s nazis with molotov cocktails at the age of twenty one he became a company commander at twenty three he became a commander in a nationwide training course at twenty four he was a regiment commander when war breaks out at the end of 1947 the ben shemen graduate commands one of the elite units of zionism is the brigade commander aware of the contradiction between his two worlds can he combine the lehmann disciple with the warrior he has no clear answers to these questions when he speaks of the ghting up north he is surprisingly open the voice coming out of the tape recorder says plainly that the mission was the cleansing of the galilee before the invasion of arab armies the jewish state about to be born would not survive the external battle with the armed forces of the arab nations if it did not rst rid itself of the palestinian population that endangered it from within so rst they sweep away all the arabs from the tiberias safed region then in april 1948 they conquer tiberias whose arab population departs under military pressure from the superior israeli army then they conquer and demolish the arab villages around safed in may they conquer safed whose arab population ees under re then they drive away the villagers of the hula valley by the end of may 1948 the hula valley is cleansed of arabs the entire safed tiberias region is cleansed of arabs all of the eastern galilee is cleansed of arabs under the command of ben shemen s graduate the eastern galilee becomes an arab free zone and an integral part of the new jewish state but when the brigade commander speaks of lydda his voice changes now he sounds quiet almost agonized he sounds cautious perhaps not quite candid as if when talking about lydda he is suddenly aware of the contradiction and the tragedy he speaks slowly as he tells me how he conquered the villages to which he used to accompany dr lehmann on his shabbat visits gimzu dahariya haditha he speaks quietly as he tells me how he conquered the valley and the city of lydda he describes the morning he was informed that jordanian armored vehicles had broken into the city and learned shortly afterward that some of the 3rd regiment s ben shemen graduates had been attacked he tells me he was the one who gave orders to shoot anyone walking along the streets of the city the one who gave orders to evacuate the city he and the military governor were the ones who sent the people of lydda out of lydda in a long column heading east the brigade commander is clearly torn the voice coming out of the tape recorder is unconvincing it s not that he is purposely hiding anything from me he himself does not know what he feels his talk of lydda is vague it lacks colors smells details while he remembers his ben shemen years vividly he only vaguely remembers the conquest of lydda he does not mention the schools he visited the families he knew the community he was so fond of he does not speak at all about the city he loved and destroyed only his muted tone surrenders what he holds back his rst apology we were surrounded his second apology we were under imminent threat from within and without his third apology there was no time i had to make an immediate decision his fourth apology horrible things happen in war but not one of his apologies seems to convince him or to begin to explain the suppressed three days of lydda s death bulldozer is very di erent from the brigade commander although he too is traumatized by the war of 48 his mental injury is not the same rough and coarse he tends to raise his voice too much he s tense and quick tempered restless he admits that in the damned war he lost his peace of mind in the many years since he has not been able to nd inner calm bulldozer was also born in eastern europe but was raised in tel aviv at seven he was returning from school one day when an arab threw a bomb from a passing train onto busy herzl street wounding dozens and killing an eight year old boy standing nearby that day it became clear to him that there would be an all out war with the arabs although as a teen he walked to arab ja a and made arab friends he always knew that between us and them there was a sword he always knew that eventually the land would be decided by war he was exceptionally strong he boxed rode horses excelled at sports the size and strength of his body gave him his nickname and made him the boys leader and the girls favorite at the age of fourteen he became a member of the secret haganah at the age of fteen he began grenade training at sixteen he trained at a ring range with live bullets at seventeen he climbed masada when bulldozer joined the palmach at the age of eighteen he did so not because he believed in some sort of kibbutz utopia but because he wanted to be with the best of the best when war arrived the rst months of 1948 are easy village raids roadside ambushes but after he is trained to be an antitank missile operator warfare becomes intensive the 3rd regiment needs his bazookalike antitank weapon in most operations april may and june are impossible inhuman a close friend is killed then another and another pain becomes rage and rage becomes apathy there is no time to comprehend no time to mourn no time to weep they have to drive the arabs from the galilee and thwart the syrians and lebanese forces invading the galilee conquer the galilee cleanse the galilee defend the galilee ensure that the galilee is jewish the raid on ein zeitun is the rst time they go down into an arab village not to take revenge but to conquer bulldozer vividly remembers the midnight anticipation he remembers the assault the restorm and the surprise how easy it is to conquer a village when the 3rd regiment boys break into the stone houses they nd only burning lanterns warm blankets milk boiling over from pots they walk into homes abandoned by their inhabitants who had taken fright and run away into the night he recalls the eerie feeling of witnessing a living village become a ghost village in one night the rst brutal deed bulldozer remembers carrying out is the prisoner of war interrogations for a moment his self assured voice is hesitant may one tell but after a pause comes the ood and the need to talk overpowers the imperative not to talk because he is big and strong bulldozer is assigned to assist the intelligence o cer as he interrogates seven of the young men captured in ein zeitun one by one he ties the terri ed prisoners to a low bench so that their foreheads touch the ground at one end and their feet at the other once he hits the head of a prisoner with a short stick and then he hits the prisoner s legs with a long stick and once he starts beating the prisoners of war he begins to enjoy beating them he feels he is avenging the dead that he is doing what his fallen comrades would have wanted him to do he makes the seven prisoners tell the intelligence o cer all that they know he makes them bleed so much that they cannot stand up next is the conquest of safed the rst time the 3rd regiment conquers a city the beginning is di cult bulldozer nds himself nearly alone as an armed arab mob storms the building he is in the mob shouts slaughter the jews ammunition is running out he feels the cold shudder of approaching death but by morning there is a dramatic turn of events jewish reinforcements arrive and the arabs retreat with his canadian ri e and fresh rounds of ammunition bulldozer hunts down the arabs seeking refuge between the old stone houses of the ancient city he feels delight in hunting delight in killing the almost sexual pleasure of laying men down after the battle subsides bulldozer goes to the local hospital where he nds three of his buddies lying on the oor in a cold corridor their faces alien in death frozen in horror as tough as he is he is frightened a week later because he is the last to return from a late night operation in some arab village he boards the last truck at the collection point half an hour later he realizes that the boys he is with are lifeless once again he feels fear he has a sudden rare moment of understanding of what these few months of war have done to him what a nightmare he is living in late may he is in the jordan valley he experiences one of his worst hours when he is sent with his piat rocket launcher to stop the invading syrian tanks that are approaching kibbutz degania he stands alone watching the rst tank head toward him watching it target him at the very last moment he res his piat rst halting the tank while wounding himself he experiences another bad hour when he sees the survivors from two jordan valley kibbutzim who have escaped their incinerated homes the shock of seeing kibbutz members turned refugees makes him think for the rst time that defeat is possible he realizes that the war he is participating in might end with the death of zionism and if zionism dies what will happen in the land of israel will be what has happened time after time in europe jews will be jews again they will be helpless by the time bulldozer arrives in the lydda valley he is exhausted he has seen too much done too much killed far too much this time he is not trigger happy but when the orders come he obeys he marches with the 3rd regiment platoons from the silvery olive orchards into lydda and when the sun rises he wanders the streets of lydda looking for a camera shop he can loot he so loves cameras suddenly there is shooting there are rumors of invading armored vehicles of friends trapped in the ditch by the small mosque when bulldozer approaches the small mosque he sees that there is indeed shooting from somewhere somehow grenades are thrown he instructs one of his subordinates to re an antitank piat into the small mosque when the shell shocked soldier refuses and departs bulldozer takes the piat into his own hands although he knows that shooting a piat in the narrow alley means that the piat operator himself will be hurt he decides to shoot anyway he dismantles the door of a public lavatory situated in the narrow alley and tries to hide his huge body in the lavatory as best he can he does not aim at the minaret from which the grenades were apparently thrown but at the mosque wall behind which he can hear human voices he shoots his piat at the mosque wall from a distance of six meters killing seventy the training group was made up of 120 youth movement graduates from tel aviv jerusalem and haifa whose mission was to establish a new kibbutz on the shores of the red sea close to eilat in the summer of 1947 the eighteen year old boys and girls trained for kibbutz life in an older kibbutz by the sea of galilee they cleared elds built communal housing mended shing nets worked in the banana plantation and in the cowshed took sheep out to pasture ten days a month they studied topography and navigation and learned how to handle a submachine gun and assemble explosives but for the rest of the month they maintained their communal lifestyle they held a literature class an arts seminar a political economy workshop and a course on zionist thinking they analyzed the inherent contradiction of capitalism that it tramples the dignity of man they wondered whether man makes history or whether history makes man they read tagore zweig hesse and rosa luxemburg koestler s darkness at noon gandhi s the story of my experiments with truth buber s i and thou they played and listened to music mendelssohn paganini and domenico cimarosa to whom they took a special liking in the woods by the sea of galilee sitting in a circle around a gramophone the boys and girls of the training group listened again and again to cimarosa s tragic oboe whose sad sound was echoed by the rustling of the eucalyptus trees and the lapping of the lake s waves in december 1947 a few of the training group boys join their rst retaliation operation in a small arab village in the upper galilee because women and children are accidentally killed they decide they might as well blow up the two village homes that contain the corpses of the dead in january 1948 the training group su ers the loss of its rst boy the girls place candles around his body and all night they sit beside it as if in vigil then another boy is killed in action and another two more are killed some of the boys become cynical and morbid others leave the girls letters of last will and testament in mid january eight of the boys carry out their rst roadside ambush they open re with a machine gun on an arab taxi killing all of its innocent passengers in mid february some of them participate in their rst commando style raid they blow up sixteen stone houses in a remote galilee village killing sixty the mind set changes values and norms begin to devolve there are still gramophone concerts in the evenings but the talk now is of revenge literary discussions and ideological debates still take place but just before a military operation there is now a war dance like painted indian warriors like lustful arab assassins the hebrew boys go round and round with daggers held high knives between their teeth and on the eve of may day they descend the mountain of kna an to conquer a village for the very rst time they drive away the eight hundred inhabitants loot the village and blow it up they erase the village from the face of the earth from the tape recorder on my desk rises the voice of one of the girls from the training group whom i know very well she remembers the apprehension she felt as the boys went down to the village late at night and how they returned at sunrise riding looted donkeys wearing looted ka yehs carrying looted strings of beads instead of the tension they have been feeling for months a sort of euphoria erupts suddenly war isn t just serious and somber it s fun the boys feel a new sense of power and liberation instead of khaki spartanism and self discipline they feel an unburdening a throwing o of the yoke of morality the rooms of the hotel they commandeer for their base are now lled with colorful cloth strings of beads copperware and hookahs on one of the doors is a handwritten sign that reads eat drink and loot for tomorrow we die it is as if not only a conquered arab village was demolished on may day but with it the ethos of the socialist zionist edict of being humble and doing right and serving a greater good some of the boys participate in the brutal interrogation of the village prisoners others take the bleeding prisoners to the wadi after the interrogation is over as the prisoners are executed some of the boys turn their eyes away but others watch in glee meanwhile in the city of safed one of the boys emerges as a talented sniper his voice on my audiocassette is remorseless once he shot a woman another time a priest then a child and every time he felled an arab he carved another groove on the wooden butt of his canadian sniper s ri e fifty grooves in all he says then comes the great battle of safed the emptying of safed and the looting that follows our yard is like the yard of an arab village writes one of the girls in a letter there is much commotion hens are everywhere clucking away the cattle break into the yard now and then but even in all the excitement i see the wrong in all these looted possessions and at the end of the day it disgusts me sickens me i cannot recognize the guys anymore all of them are drunk with victory and driven by the lust for loot each one of them took all that he could and in the joy of triumph they broke loose expressing feelings of hatred and revenge turning into real animals they smashed destroyed and killed anything in their path the thirst for revenge found its fountain and the comrades lost all humanity i can t believe that human beings are capable of such things to kill dozens of people in cold blood no i cannot say in cold blood with passion day by day the human feelings in us become duller and duller on july 11 1948 the training group boys march on lydda the shooting from the eastern outskirts of town con nes them to the olive groves bordering ben shemen mosquitoes buzz around them the heat is scorching and their new iron helmets sizzle on their heads a few are wounded others are shell shocked the group s rst daylight battle is not going well but after dayan s storm of re breaks lydda s spirit of resistance the training group boys are among the 3rd regiment soldiers who penetrate lydda they lead the long processions of lydda s inhabitants their hands in the air to the great mosque and con ne them there thousands of men young and old they hear the shrieking the howling the weeping they see the horror in the eyes of women and children the next day after the jordanian armored vehicles break into lydda one of the training group leaders is wounded when a hand grenade apparently thrown from the small mosque explodes and takes his hand clear o this incident provokes bulldozer to shoot the antitank piat into the mosque and when the piat operator is himself wounded the desire for revenge grows even stronger some 3rd regiment soldiers spray the wounded in the mosque with gun re others toss grenades into neighboring houses still others mount machine guns in the streets and shoot at anything that moves after half an hour of revenge there are scores of corpses in the streets seventy corpses in the mosque the corpses from the mosque are buried at night in a deep hole dug by some nearby arabs and a tractor is brought in before morning to cover the hole we were cruel writes another of the training group girls the damned war turned humans into beasts writes a boy and a second boy writes i am tired so tired tired in many respects but especially mentally i feel too young to carry the burden of all this but of all of the letters on my desk the one that upsets me most is by another boy whom i now know as a mentor and a friend from day to day i see the devastation caused by this war to our generation and to the next from day to day my fear grows that this generation will not be able to carry upon its shoulders the burden of building the state and ful lling the dream i am all anxiety and concern when i think of the thefts the looting the robberies and recklessness i realize that these are not merely separate incidents together they add up to a period of corruption the question is earnest and deep really of historic dimensions we will all be held accountable for this era we shall face judgment and i fear that justice will not be on our side there is an impression that the quick transition to a state and to a state of hebrew power drove people mad otherwise it is impossible to explain the behavior the state of mind the actions of the hebrew youth especially the elite youth the moral code of the nation forged during thousands of years of weakness is rapidly degenerating deteriorating disintegrating the military governor of lydda after occupation is the man of masada although personally he is secular and rational shmaryahu gutman s approach to zionism is almost mystical he sees the revolutionary movement as the outburst of life of a people on the verge of extinction he sees it as an inspired undertaking by a beaten nation that does not wait for the messiah but takes upon itself the messiah s mission he believes that for fty years zionism has been an outstanding success every time one wave of immigration subsided another wave emerged every time one generation grew weak another generation took the torch into its strong hands but in the 1940s something changed the arab issue which had always existed suddenly put a question mark on the future throughout the country arab villages became more modern and arab cities more prosperous a new arab intelligentsia developed a strong national awareness and began to crystallize a distinctive highly dangerous arab palestinian identity so the old zionist way of doing things was no longer relevant there was no longer an option to buy land gradually bring in well trained immigrants gradually and build the jewish nation gradually from the bottom up there was a need for a di erent sort of action war was inhuman but it allowed one to do what one could not do in peace it could solve problems that were unsolvable in peace six and a half years have passed since gutman took his rst forty six cadets up to masada since then he has taken up thousands more and single handedly transformed a generation yet his work has gone beyond inspiring youth in the intervening years he has turned out to be a superb intelligence operator a year after the rst masada seminar using his arabic his cunning and his sharp instincts he began assisting in preparing intelligence les on the arab villages in each le he included an aerial photograph a map a demographic breakdown of the population and its leadership its strengths and weaknesses its roads and byways its command points every village le contains the village s demise for years gutman s thinking has been clandestine only with his best friend the haganah s chief of sta israel galili could he be candid only between themselves did they say what could not be said what the mind understands the heart whispers and morality forbids and when the great inevitable war was being planned it was clear to the two close friends that the rst task in war would be to guarantee an arab free zone a jewish territorial continuum gutman believed the mission was possible knowing the arabs well he surmised that they did not yet have a coherent internal structure or the spirit of a sovereign nation once they encountered zionist organization determination and repower he believed they would simply leave when the 1948 war breaks out gutman is in charge of the palmach s special undercover intelligence unit he debates ercely with the old guard arabists of the haganah who rely on the peace treaties they signed with friendly arab villages across the country he claims that when push comes to shove even the most loyal village leaders will not be able to withstand pan arab pressure they will break the treaties and turn against the jews while the old guard is still committed to its arab allies who have been supportive of the jews for years the energetic educator and arabist believes the con ict between jews and arabs in palestine is a total one the great war is a war of us or them gutman lives in na an the kibbutz he helped to found not far from lydda next to na an are the arab village of na aneh and the bedouin village of sataria established fty eight years earlier when the tribe of sataria was expelled from the estate of duran to make way for the orange grove colony of rehovot in the spring of 1948 the leadership of kibbutz na an meets with the leadership of the sataria tribe and the jews and bedouins pledge mutual allegiance yet gutman cannot stand the hypocritical innocence of both parties he rises to his feet there is a great war coming he says to the bedouin chiefs when it reaches us kibbutz na an will not be able to stand by you and guarantee your future the tribal chief of sataria immediately gets the message the next morning the bedouins of sataria leave their homes and escape to gaza several weeks later the villagers of na aneh do the same without lifting a hand without committing any act of war gutman succeeds in achieving his goal the two villages whose people he has known well and has had close neighborly ties with for fteen years disappear unlike the brigade commander or bulldozer or the training group gutman gets it he is fully aware of the strategic and moral dilemmas he is faced with he has always known that his generation s mission would be to rid the country of its arabs and he has always known how terrible it would be to rid the country of its arabs that s why he has been looking for sophisticated ways to get rid of them he does not want to kill them or expel them he wants to induce them to leave of their own accord gutman is assigned to lydda purely by chance on july 11 1948 he is looking for yigal allon and yitzhak rabin on some intelligence matter he drives from na an to the old herbert bentwich estate near tel gezer but nally nds the generals in the conquered deserted village of daniyal as they watch from daniyal the forces storming lydda allon tells gutman that he is to be the military governor of the city once it is taken gutman asks allon what should i do with the arabs do you have anything to say to me i have nothing to say to you allon replies you will see how things go and as things go you ll act do what you think you must do at dusk gutman arrives in lydda and becomes its military governor in the dimness of nightfall he sees a mass of thousands owing in silence toward the great mosque in order to turn themselves in under threat that whoever is found outside after curfew will be shot by nightfall thousands of terri ed human beings are gathered in the high ceilinged house of prayer it is hot crowded and sti ing with no food no water no air there is no room to sit or to lie down within hours the ill and the young will su ocate at midnight the military governor releases the women and children then he releases the our mill and our shop owners to provide our and the bakers to bake pita bread he releases the water well operators to provide water later on he releases two hundred refugees from na aneh and provides them with food water camels and mules so they can escape the city before all hell breaks loose by morning he releases most of the teenagers yet the mosque is still crowded things get worse again when the 3rd regiment takes control of the entire city in mid morning and more men pour into the great mosque their hands up in the air their eyes full of dread the sudden shooting at noon on july 12 nds the military governor in the rectory of st george s where he is negotiating with lydda s dignitaries the operations o cer of the 3rd regiment is sent into town to see what the hell is going on minutes later an agitated young soldier arrives saying that grenades are being thrown at his comrades from the small mosque the regiment commander turns to the military governor with a sarcastic smile what do you say governor what are your orders he asks the governor is neither sarcastic nor amused he realizes that if he does not act quickly and rmly things will get out of hand he suggests shooting at any house from which shots are red shooting into every window shooting at anyone suspected of being part of the mutiny gutman describes the next thirty minutes as the worst half hour in his life decades later he is still ustered when he recounts the events into the tape recorder the horri c noise the shooting that won t stop the wrath of god and when the shooting does stop the silence is so sweet but then news comes of what has happened in the small mosque the military governor orders his men to bury the dead get rid of the incriminating evidence gutman now knows that the die is cast the fate of lydda is sealed there is no going back but as he has not received an expulsion order he will not give one he returns to the arab dignitaries assembled in the rectory of st george s gets hold of himself and does what he must do he tells the dignitaries that there is a great war coming to lydda because of its international airport he says that as they have just seen anything might happen in a great war the terri ed dignitaries ask what will happen if they ask to leave that is an ominous question the military governor responds i must give it some thought retiring to the next room he rests his head and thinks how much easier it would be if this mass of arabs were not here yet he also decides that no matter what he will not order the arabs to leave when he returns to the dignitaries he exercises the utmost psychological pressure then tells them he must consult with his superiors again during their third meeting the arab dignitaries are in a state of hysteria they ask to leave lydda with their one condition being the release of all prisoners detained in the great mosque for the third time the military governor leaves for consultations this time he returns escorted by two young o cers whom he has asked to witness the fateful conversation dignitaries what will become of the prisoners detained in the mosque gutman we shall do to the prisoners what you would do had you imprisoned us dignitaries no no please don t do that gutman why what did i say all i said is that we will do to you what you would do to us dignitaries please no master we beg you not to do such a thing gutman no we shall not do that ten minutes from now the prisoners will be free to leave the mosque and leave their homes and leave lydda along with all of you and the entire population of lydda dignitaries thank you master god bless you gutman feels he has achieved his goal occupation massacre and mental pressure have had the desired e ect at the end of the day after forty eight hours of hell he does not quite order the people of lydda to go under the indirect threat of slaughter lydda s leaders ask to go now gutman walks across the street from the rectory to the great mosque he faces the mass of prisoners and tells them they are free to go according to the decision made by the dignitaries of lydda he tells them within an hour and a half all the inhabitants of lydda will leave lydda it is forbidden to carry weapons it is forbidden to take cars and vehicles but any other possessions may be taken as long as they leave lydda immediately the military governor can hardly believe his eyes thousands of men are leaving the great mosque their heads bowed no one complains no one curses no one spits in his face with complete submission the masses march out and disperse he climbs the tall minaret of the great mosque from the top he watches chaos engulf the town the people of lydda grab anything they can bread vegetables dates and gs sacks of our sugar wheat and barley silverware copperware jewelry blankets mattresses they carry suitcases bursting at the seams improvised packs made from sheets and pillowcases everything is loaded on horse wagons donkeys mules all is done in a rush in panic within an hour and a half an hour half an hour gutman descends the minaret and walks to the eastern edge of town overlooking ben shemen the groups of civilians leaving town gather into a procession the procession gathers into a long biblical looking column of thousands and as the military governor watches the faces of the people marching into exile he wonders if there is a jeremiah among them to lament their calamity and disgrace suddenly he feels an urge to join the marching people and to be their jeremiah for one long moment he who is their nebuchadnezzar wishes to be their jeremiah the brigade commander withdraws into himself when he nally describes the marching column standing by his command car he watches the people of lydda walking carrying on their backs heavy sacks made of blankets and sheets gradually they cast aside the sacks they cannot carry any farther in the heavy heat su ering from terrible thirst old men and women collapse like the ancient jews the people of lydda go into exile watching the column does the brigade commander feel guilt not guilt but compassion he says on tape then he immediately turns from the human experience to the overall strategic context yitzhak tabenkin supported the expulsion of the arabs he tells me tabenkin was perfectly clear he was not in a position to give speci c orders but his general instruction to palmach headquarters was that war presented a one time opportunity to solve the arab problem yigal allon too said that this was the moment he said they must not be allon was a humanist but he said that the arabs must not remain or else there would not be a state when allon appointed the brigade commander he told him explicitly wherever you ght arabs should not remain so it was in tiberias and safed so it was in the villages of the galilee so it was in the villages of the valley of lydda iraba daniyal gimzu dahariya and haditha only in the city of lydda was there a mess because the city was large and the troops closed in on it from the east so the arabs could not ee during the battle itself was the column the outcome of an early expulsion plan or an explicit expulsion order no no replies the alarmed brigade commander operation larlar was conducted by the state of israel in july 1948 david ben gurion was already the prime minister of a sovereign nation the troops attacking lydda were the troops of the just born israel defense forces the holocaust was in the background prime minister ben gurion could not instruct the idf to get rid of the arabs yigal allon too was a farsighted jew he understood that ben gurion could not give an expulsion order as a state we do not expel on the other hand both ben gurion and allon knew it was impossible to allow an arab lydda to remain by the international airport not far from tel aviv if we did so there would be no victory and there would be no state some things were said between ben gurion and allon but there were no written orders there are also no explicit orders between allon and the brigade commander but the training the brigade commander received in the palmach makes any order redundant he knows what he must do even when he s not told and when the jordanian armored vehicles break into lydda there is even an excuse the jordanian arab legion heading toward central israel does attack from the east the 3rd regiment is indeed under pressure from within and without there is a large palestinian population in lydda and there are considerable jordanian forces massing east of lydda so when the arabs of lydda ask the military governor if they may leave it makes strategic sense for them to be told to walk toward the legion it was a favorable outcome says the brigade commander it worked one hundred percent the column leaving lydda pushed the arab legion eastward clearing a vast territory without any combat and yet when i ask the brigade commander to go back to the place the moment the personal experience he is taken aback allon and rabin have left for another front so the responsibility for the exodus of lydda falls to him and to his deputy the regiment commander and the military governor these four o cers have to contend with the dangers of renewed ghting in the east and the chaos caused by the soldiers wild looting in town they have to see to the burial of ours and theirs and the march the terrible column of tens of thousands leaving lydda o cers are human beings too says the brigade commander and as a human being you suddenly face a chasm on the one hand is the noble legacy of the youth movement the youth village dr lehmann on the other hand is the brutal reality of lydda you are surprised by your own surprise for years you ve trained for this day you ve prepared the village les you ve been told there is an inevitable war coming you ve been told that the arabs will have to go and yet you are in shock in lydda the war is as cruel as it can be the killing the looting the feelings of rage and revenge then the column marching and although you are strong and well trained and resilient you experience some sort of mental collapse you feel the humanist education you received collapsing and you see the jewish soldiers and you see the marching arabs and you feel heavy and deeply sad you feel like you re facing something so immense you cannot deal with you cannot even grasp bulldozer doesn t remember the column because he was injured when shooting the antitank piat shell at the small mosque he lost consciousness and was taken to the hospital but when he awoke several days later his comrades came to visit and told him that he d done good he d killed seventy arabs they told him that because of the rage they felt at seeing him bleed they had walked into the small mosque and sprayed the surviving wounded with automatic re then they walked into the nearby houses and gunned down anyone they found at night when they were ordered to clean the small mosque and carry out the seventy corpses and bury them they took eight other arabs to do the digging of the burial site and afterward shot them too and buried the eight with the seventy because after the shooting by the small mosque they were not hesitant anymore but tough as nails the guys stopped being noble minded says bulldozer they knew what had to be done and did it and what they did was in accord with the decision made high up to take the people of lydda and walk them beyond the border of the jewish state one of the boys from the training group remembers the column well he remembers that in the morning after the small mosque massacre his company s assignment was to cleanse the quarter east of the small mosque he remembers an explicit order to expel to throw them out all of them the idealistic soldiers of the 3rd regiment went from house to house along the ruler straight streets of lydda s modern quarter shouting in arabic yallah yallah go on go on and they shot in the air to frighten and to hurry the muslim and christian families of lydda s new middle class the a uent arabs collected their children in a panic along with their donkeys horses and belongings and they walked in the scorching heat to the edge of town and then onto the road to ben shemen other boys remember less their memory is not quite sharp when it comes to lydda they cannot recall what they were doing during those decisive hours all they carry with them from those three days of july are scattered pictures an occupied city shuttered windows white ags the thousands crammed into the great mosque the shooting by the small mosque half an hour of inferno followed by a deathly silence and in the silence the quiet procession of defeated arabs their hands in the air so now the young soldiers can ride looted bicycles all over town and break into lydda s luxury stores to take cameras gramophones radios carpets hookahs and ne copperware they con scate trucks tractors combines and orange grove pumps for their future kibbutz they ll the buses of the future kibbutz with all the goods of lydda then after an unexplained pause the men i am interviewing mention the column they sound shocked even all these years later as they describe the procession of elderly women and children who leave behind a long trail of household goods they cannot carry anymore sacks of our of sugar of wheat bicycles mattresses children s toys clothes shoes the training group leader remembers the column exceptionally well before he is wounded he breaks into a barber shop to use the clean towels and alcohol to bandage lydda s children who were wounded during combat but after being wounded in the ditch near the small mosque and losing the palm of his right hand he is treated in an improvised military clinic in the town center while the medics bandage him up and ease his pain with morphine he hears the stern commands given to put down the lydda revolt and the boom of the piat and the infernal rat a tat tat of the machine gun the next day when a military ambulance evacuates him to the eld hospital in ben shemen it runs into the column leaving lydda through the ambulance windows the training group leader sees the surreal scene of old men and women and children walking among the donkeys and mules and horse wagons and baby carriages expressions of calamity on their faces the training group leader doesn t know whom he pities more his dead friends himself his generation or the tens of thousands marching through the lydda valley gutman remembers too after he descends the minaret and marches among the marchers the military governor is overtaken by emotion he asks himself if he was right to encourage the regiment commander to shoot into lydda s houses if there was a way to avoid all that has happened then he silences himself by answering that if it weren t for what happened in lydda zionism would be done for as he watches the men and women marching he is shocked to see the imperviousness on their faces the loss of sovereignty the loss of dignity he nds it incomprehensible that a city a civilization can break down just like that outside town the military governor sees hundreds perhaps thousands of people gathered around a well to draw water to quench their july thirst one person falls into the well another is trampled to death in the panic he sees a young woman kneeling to give birth amid the commotion he sees a boy lost and a mother shouting for a lost boy he sees soldiers forcing those marching to hand over cash and wrist watches and jewelry and he stops the soldiers he sees how between two lines of armed jewish boys the great throngs of palestinians leave the city and become a column and the column grows longer and longer the column exits the city of lydda and crosses the lydda valley passing by the endearing zionist youth village of ben shemen ottman abu hammed of lydda remembers the column best his grandfather used to work with the jews in the atid factory and had helped the jews with the planting of the olive forest his father who used to supply the youth village with vegetables had befriended dr lehmann and would escort him when he gave anticholera vaccinations in lydda he himself had visited the ben shemen youth village quite often as a child he loved the modern cowshed and the swimming pool and the girls in khaki shorts with their tanned legs ottman is almost as old as the boys from the training group but when war breaks out in 1948 he is far more innocent lacking a good education and any political awareness he does not really comprehend what is going on all he remembers is his father trying to prevent an attack on ben shemen his father meeting the men of ben shemen in the elds his father being charged with treason and escaping the ring squad at the very last minute for ottman lydda in the summer of 1948 is a booming city the many thousands of refugees who have ed ja a and sarafand and na aneh and settled there have brought money to the town as food and vegetable prices soar the locals pro ts double and triple cafés are open late into the night and belly dancers are everywhere there is music and fun in town and girls who are easy to get ottman remembers violence too a convoy of jews on its way to ben shemen is attacked and its passengers murdered the driver of a jewish jeep is murdered on the main road one day the corpses of two jewish young men and one jewish young woman are brought to town after they have been captured raped and murdered in one of the nearby villages when the violated bodies are paraded in lydda s high street ottman is aghast but neither the eighteen year old nor his family can imagine what is to come they are totally shocked when lydda is bombed by a jewish air force on the night of july 10 and bombarded by jewish artillery on july 11 they are abbergasted when a jewish armored column sweeps the streets of lydda with re on the afternoon of the eleventh leaving behind dozens of corpses the shock the horror the dismay ottman remembers that on the night of july 11 jewish soldiers suddenly appear in the neighborhood loudspeakers mounted on jeeps call for all men to go to the great mosque ottman walks there with his father joining thousands of others in the streets inside the mosque it is hot and crowded with no room to sit or lie down ottman is terri ed he cries he wets himself when news comes of some sort of massacre in the small mosque fear intensi es no one knows what to expect no one knows what else the jews are capable of his father shuts his eyes in prayer ottman fears the worst but the next day after thirty six nightmarish hours the jews come to some sort of understanding with the dignitaries at last the men are allowed out of the mosque although ottman s father notices the loose soil where the small mosque s victims are buried he believes life will now go back to normal when they arrive home his mother greets them as if they have returned from the dead minutes later there is a knock on the door two soldiers stand there shouting loudly yallah yallah pack your belongings and leave go to king abdullah to jordan one of the soldiers is sensitive and shy it s clear he doesn t like what he is doing but the other one with a thin mustache enjoys every moment father takes a letter written in hebrew out of his pocket saying that dr lehmann vouches for this decent arab and asks that no harm will come to this friend of ben shemen but the mustachioed soldier couldn t care less he discards the letter presses the barrel of his gun into the father s chest and says if you don t go right now i will shoot yallah to abdullah mother screams she believes that father is about to be shot but father remains speechless he is in shock bowing his head he asks mother to pack quickly all that can be packed then he calls for grandmother the three aunts his two sons under the barrels of the two jewish soldiers guns the abu hamda family hastily collects its belongings our rice sugar jewelry mattresses they load their belongings onto a horse drawn wagon and help grandmother who is half blind to mount the donkey what hurts ottman most is the humiliating way the soldiers search the women s bodies at the checkpoint on the outskirts of lydda one soldier takes ottman s cash another takes his wristwatch the jute sacks of the jewish soldiers are now lling up quickly with necklaces and earrings silver and gold but it is the humiliation of the women young and old that proves how disgraced they all are now ottman holds the horse s reins while father pushes the wagon from behind the road is narrow the congestion unbearable children shout women scream men weep a rumor circulates of a mother who has lost her baby boy a rumor circulates of a mother who has thrown away her baby girl a jewish jeep appears out of nowhere its soldiers blowing its horn onward onward the jewish soldiers shoot over their heads there is no stopping no going back no looking back in the great rush people took our and rice with them rather than water so there is no water now and the heat is unbearable when someone falls into the well outside town people suck on his wet clothes when he is pulled out people suck watermelons found in the elds eggplants anything with moisture anything that will give momentary relief to their animalistic thirst most women are dressed in traditional black gowns and carry sacks on their heads some of the men wear traditional djellabas some ne european suits every so often a family withdraws from the column and stops by the side of the road to bury a baby that could not bear the heat to say farewell to an old grandmother who collapsed in fatigue after a while it gets worse now a mother abandons her howling baby under a tree ottman s cousin deserts her boy under another tree she cannot stand to hear the week old baby wailing with hunger but ottman s father instructs the cousin to go back to the tree and get her son yet father is desperate too he appears to be losing his mind pushing the loaded wagon he curses the jews and curses the arabs and curses god not far from ben shemen there is a surprise a group of jews in uniform stand by two command cars watching the march one of them calls father s name aloud father raises his eyes and walks toward the commander the ben shemen graduate and the ben shemen vegetable supplier stand face to face in the summer elds both silent finally the commander tells father he can stay father says that if he stays he will be considered a traitor and will be executed the commander walks back to the command car and brings a jerry can of water which he puts on father s wagon the commander watches as father gives water to his mother his wife his sisters in law his sons and he watches as father takes the family wagon and rejoins the column heading east i drive to lydda it s july and the heat is as sti ing as it was back in july 1948 a thick yellow haze chokes the lydda valley the small mosque was recently renovated and is locked up but the great mosque is open i walk through the same stone gate the inhabitants of lydda entered through the same square courtyard they crowded into beneath the same arches of the same high ceilinged dome they stood under for thirty six hours a few yards away is the regal cathedral of st george across the alley is the rectory in which the military governor gutman held talks with the dignitaries of lydda the area in which stood the old stone houses and olive presses and alleyways of the old city was demolished in the 1950s but in the square kilometer of what was once old lydda one still feels that something is very wrong there is a curious ruin here an unexplained ruin there amid the ugly slums shabby market and cheap stores it is clear that there is still an unhealed wound in lydda unlike other cities where israel overcame palestine here palestine is still felt unlike other places where modernity overcame the past here the past is present do i wash my hands of zionism do i turn my back on the jewish national movement that carried out the deed of lydda like the brigade commander i am faced with something too immense to deal with like the military governor gutman i see a reality i cannot contain like the training group leader i am not only sad i am horri ed for when one opens the black box one understands that whereas the small mosque massacre could have been a misunderstanding brought about by a tragic chain of accidental events the conquest of lydda and the expulsion of lydda were no accident they were an inevitable phase of the zionist revolution that laid the foundation for the zionist state lydda is an integral and essential part of our story and when i try to be honest about it i see that the choice is stark either reject zionism because of lydda or accept zionism along with lydda one thing is clear to me the brigade commander and the military governor were right to get angry at the bleeding heart israeli liberals of later years who condemn what they did in lydda but enjoy the fruits of their deed i condemn bulldozer i reject the sniper but i will not damn the brigade commander and the military governor and the training group boys on the contrary if need be i ll stand by the damned because i know that if it wasn t for them the state of israel would not have been born if it wasn t for them i would not have been born they did the dirty lthy work that enables my people myself my daughter and my sons to live to the east the silvery olive orchards are gone the remains of the atid factory are also gone the elds of the long gone arabs of lydda are now the withering sun ower elds of the israeli moshav ginton and the israeli moshav ben shemen dr lehmann s youth village is still here but after the 1948 war and after the death of dr lehmann in 1958 its spirit was lost on the gentle slopes now stand the nondescript buildings of a nondescript educational institution only one group of long red roofed houses built for the orphans of europe still stands in testimony to what ben shemen once was and what it wished to be and the courtyard of ben shemen is still here a major project is under way to preserve it from the highest point of the ben shemen youth village i look out at the lydda valley i see the city of lydda and the tall minaret of the great mosque i see the vanished olive orchards the vanished herzl forest the vanished atid factory the vanished lehmann youth village and i think about the tragedy that took place here forty ve years after it came into the lydda valley in the name of the kishinev pogrom zionism instigated a human catastrophe in the lydda valley forty ve years after zionism came into the valley in the name of the homeless it sent out of the lydda valley a column of homeless in the heavy heat through the haze through the dry brown elds i see the column marching east so many years have passed and yet the column is still marching east for columns like the column of lydda never stop marching photo credit 6 1 six housing estate 1957 i meet with professor ze ev sternhell in his modest jerusalem apartment sternhell is a distinguished scholar of european fascism and a lauded political activist against israeli fascism he is tall and elegant a true gentleman for three consecutive days i listen to his life story trying to understand my own listening to sternhell i try to understand the jewish israeli tale of the twentieth century i was the beloved pampered son of old age of an a uent secular jewish family in galicia sternhell tells me my grandfather was a successful textile merchant and my father was his business partner my mother stayed home and raised me with the help of a maid and a nanny my older sister ada who was thirteen years my senior was like a second mother to me i was showered with love to this day my most poignant memory is of my father holding me in his arms and pressing his cheek to mine suddenly war broke out i was awakened in the middle of the night all the lights were on as my father said goodbye to us dressed in the uniform of the polish army when he returned from defeat a few weeks later everything collapsed my father died my grandfather died the russians occupied eastern poland and took over half of our large house we no longer had a nanny or maid my mother had to work my mother and my sister did the best they could to shield me in a world that had lost all sense of stability they were my only remaining anchor when i was six in the summer of 1941 the barbarossa operation began right under our house which was built on the banks of the wisla river i remember the windows shattering rebombs the amazing might of nazi germany and within hours we saw long convoys of terri ed russian prisoners of war a few months later we were transported to the ghetto the transition was abrupt from our grand house to a nook in the ghetto with its terrible overcrowding its stench the hunger then came the actions the ghetto was liquidated in stages and each time it was a di erent sort of hunt i remember when we ourselves were hunted my mother ada and i hid for three days in an underground hole some sort of cave there were a few other people hiding with us while outside the ghetto was being decimated there was a slit through which i watched the hunt i saw men being shot children being shot i was a child of six hiding underground watching through a slit other children who were hiding in treetops as they were shot and killed and fell to the ground i cannot even say what my emotions were i grew up in the very orderly world of a prosperous middle class european family and then after ve years of bliss this world collapsed overnight what we thought to be inviolable was violated what we thought to be the natural order of things was overturned and it all happened from one day to the next in the ghetto one lost one s human foundation one s human identity one stopped being human i was no longer a human being and in this postcollapse world it was survival at all cost after the rst action came another it was a hot summer day and the germans were once again hunting jews it was a real hunt like a fox hunt or a hare hunt then came the order that everyone who did not have a work permit must assemble in a speci ed ghetto location my mother and sister went i remember it as if it happened yesterday i remember my sister saying to my mother we are young we will work we will survive they knew they were leaving me they knew that only god knew what would happen but they did not want to frighten me and they wanted to hope they wanted to believe they would return and i did too it didn t even occur to me that they wouldn t return that i would never see them again they hugged me and kissed me and left me with my aunt i watched them walk away becoming smaller and smaller in the distance my aunt tried as best she could to make up for my mother s absence my uncle was extremely resourceful he rescued us from the ghetto but although my uncle and aunt tried hard to soften the blow from the moment my mother and sister left i was alone from the age of seven i had no one to talk to i knew i had to survive on my own although i was a child i knew that i could count on no one and turn to no one it was a life of utter solitude in the next few months something happened that bordered on the miraculous my uncle found a home owner in lvov who had been an o cer in the polish army and was willing to assist jews in the terrible anti semitic climate of poland at that time this was one in a thousand there was also a working class family that helped us these two families saved us our forged papers said we were aryan and that our identity was polish catholic so we wouldn t get caught my aunt taught me catholic stories and prayers it was crucial that the neighbors saw us living as catholics gradually it stopped being a game i liked it easter christmas christmas presents the story of jesus the image of mary catholicism is genius you don t stand alone the way jews and protestants do jesus sacri ced himself for you and mary constantly watches over you you ask her to save you and when you are a child in the midst of a horri c war and there is carnage all around you and your father is dead and your mother is gone you are easily tempted to believe in all this you hope it will bring you salvation and you kneel by the altar and you say what every catholic child says postwar poland was dreadfully anti semitic even though the nazis were gone you could smell the hatred for jews on every street corner i remember a woman shouting at jews scum you ve come out of your holes too bad hitler didn t nish you o i remember jews who returned from the camps hiding their identity and when they were exposed they were cursed and beaten there were constant rumors of postwar pogroms it was crystal clear that jews had no future in poland after all we had been through and all we had seen we knew that we could no longer be jewish we had to replace our old cursed identity with a new one i was o cially baptized my polish name became zvigniew orlowski i was an altar boy in the krakow cathedral i prayed with the priest and helped him with the holy bread every day i genu ected being the servant of god s servant gave me proximity to god but what was even more important than that was not to be jewish to be a jew was to have to run away all the time to conceal to lie to manipulate and i cut myself o from all that i ceased to be jewish i turned myself into a catholic in order to live but in 1946 it became clear that even as a catholic i had no future in krakow a red cross children s transport train took me from poland to france from one aunt to another i was eleven and once again i was totally alone when i reached france i buried in my heart everything that had happened in poland i didn t want to remember anything i erased the polish language my mother tongue from my memory i also erased my catholicism i adopted a new identity french within a year french became my rst language i studied in a prestigious high school in avignon and by the time i was fteen i was immersed in french culture even my accent no longer sounded foreign i was on the fast track to the sorbonne france taught me liberty equality and human rights i learned to embrace universalism and secularism and the principle of separation between state and church but i always knew that france was not home although i wanted to erase the past i didn t erase the memory of my father mother and sister who were taken from me and died because they were jewish i felt i was di erent i was from another place as a jew i felt i could never be whole in france and i was not authentically french between france and me there was always a barrier the declaration of the establishment of the state of israel in may 1948 aroused enormous excitement you and people of your generation cannot grasp this sternhell tells me even before the war in poland our family was zionist my aunt in avignon was active in the jewish national fund there were zionist posters in every room i used to read three newspapers every day to follow the drama unfolding in palestine as a thirteen year old boy i feared that the arabs would slaughter the jews but the army of the jews fought and won and the state of the jews came to be it was beyond imagination only four years had passed since the red army had liberated us only six years since the nazis had wiped out the ghetto and now these very same jews who had been locked up in the ghetto and were hunted down rose and established a state even to someone as secular as myself this was a historic event with a metaphysical dimension suddenly there were jews who were government ministers and jews who were military o cers a ag a passport a uniform now the jews were no longer dependent on gentiles now jews were like gentiles they stood up for themselves even in retrospect the most thrilling event of my life was the establishment of the state of israel i felt an almost religious exaltation in the world of the holocaust jews had no dignity jews were human powder human dust they were shot as dogs and cats were never shot they were treated worse than animals animals you could pity jews you could not pity the jew was subhuman nothing zero and now only three years after auschwitz the jew is a human entity now in the land of israel the jews were ghting back and they were ghting properly they fought to win i saw them in magazine photographs and in cinema newsreels young and strong and holding guns suddenly they were human like all humans they were capable of ghting for their freedom as the italians of edmondo de amicis s heart fought for their freedom they were not creatures one could enslave and hunt down and kill for me in the south of france it was a wonder it was a miracle taking place in real concrete history at the age of sixteen i decided to make aliyah i immigrated to israel on my own on a boat with a large transport of children coming from marseille it was very crowded but it was fun i remember us standing on the upper deck watching mount carmel come into view the land of israel approaching and as we disembarked a few children knelt and kissed the ground i didn t kneel or kiss the ground but i felt i had arrived this was the last station no more wandering no more transformations no more false identities no more fraud and forgery no more not being myself for subterfuge and deceit were not needed here something arti cial and scary fell away from me something that had to do with the perpetual need i felt to justify myself but in the state of israel i no longer had to justify or explain it was a great relief i didn t speak hebrew yet i didn t know what the future held i was alone without possessions or protection but i was lled with the amazing feeling that the long excruciating journey had come to an end aharon appelfeld is a world renowned author whose holocaust related novels badenheim 1939 the age of wonders iron tracks have been translated into many languages i sit with him in the basement studio of his mevaseret zion home near jerusalem he is short round faced and soft spoken every now and then a devilish spark lights up his eyes as i had listened to sternhell i listen to appelfeld for a few days listening to appelfeld i once again try to comprehend the jewish israeli story of the twentieth century i was born near czernowitz in 1932 appelfeld tells me my father was a well educated industrialist a former chess champion of vienna my mother stayed at home and she was absolutely beautiful i was an only child and my parents spoiled me with ice cream cakes toys books and folk tales they wanted me to be a lawyer in berlin or vienna in general their eyes were always set on vienna with its opera theater and grand cafés judaism was some anachronistic matter of little importance to them the future was the future of european enlightenment our home was spacious and prosperous we employed a nanny and a cook we had a piano and many books and ne paintings multicolored vases and a masonry stove that warmed the interiors in winter and when our small happy family left home we went to vienna or prague or the carpathian mountains wearing austrian shorts socks and high boots i loved to step on the soft carpet of autumn leaves in the vienna parks when we would return home my mother would play the piano and put me to sleep with snowy tales that seeped into my dreams on sundays when father and i would play in my room with the electric train he bought me mother would call from the other end of the house ervin where are you i am here mother i am here i would call back to her in the summer of 1941 when i was nine we were vacationing at my grandmother s country estate in the carpathian mountains i was sick and was asleep in my bed at noon suddenly there was shooting i called out for my parents there was more shooting i jumped out of the window and hid in the corn eld behind the house while in the eld i heard the germans torturing my beautiful mother i heard my mother screaming i heard the germans murder my grandmother and my mother at night father came home he had managed to hide and come back for me he found me in the high corn together we returned to czernowitz where we found our house looted the books the ne paintings the multicolored vases the piano the masonry stove we were taken to the ghetto where they put ten of us in a room it was crowded it smelled it was degrading the moans of the dying elderly lled the air a few days later we were ordered to march to the train station there was commotion shouting dogs barking every now and then there was a gunshot inside the cattle cars there was no air to breathe my father lifted me onto his shoulders so i would not su ocate when the train stopped there was a commotion again and more shouting and dogs barking thousands of jews were pushed o the cattle cars and kicked into the dniester river the ttest swam the weak drowned most of the elderly and the children drowned because i was his one and only son my father was able to save me when we reached the other side of the river we were ordered to march it was the end of summer and it was getting cold it rained for two weeks we walked in mud in the daytime and slept outdoors at night some disappeared in the marshes some collapsed of fatigue some succumbed to diseases but my father was strong and resilient although at nine and a half years of age i was no longer a baby he carried me on his shoulders much of the way at last we arrived at an abandoned kolkhoz which had become an improvised concentration camp children were separated from adults father disappeared before i was ten i was alone in the world i realized that if i stayed in the camp i would die i ran away the ukrainian farmers whose doors i knocked on turned me away i was hungry i felt it was time to leave this world at home i d heard that when the end was near you leaned on a tree closed your eyes and waited for death so i leaned on a tree closed my eyes and waited but hunger and cold and the dampness kept me awake a few hours later a ray of sun appeared in the woods and i walked on i found shelter in the wooden hut of a ukrainian prostitute i became her servant for six months i milked the cow cleaned the oor watched the rough farmers fuck the prostitute in every which way but when i sensed danger i ed and found refuge with a gang of horse thieves i was useful to the horse thieves since i was small they could smuggle me into barns at night and have me open the gates so the horses could be taken away but when i sensed danger i ed again and so i passed from one underworld to the next from village to village from forest to forest i survived like a eld animal the spoiled bourgeois child i was survived by living for three years like a mouse when the red army arrived i became the kitchen boy of a russian brigade the russians were hungry for food drink and women i watched them conquer loot and rape i watched them drink and cry when the war ended in 1945 i bade them farewell i was thirteen and all alone again i had no orientation whatsoever i hadn t gone to school i had no historical perspective i didn t know where i was or who i was and europe was all refugees everywhere you went there were refugees throngs of uprooted children looking for a home but i had no home my mother was murdered my father was gone the soldiers of the british army s jewish brigade found me as they found others they collected us and smuggled us rst into italy and then to yugoslavia but i was still at odds with myself who was i what was i where did i belong the haganah sailed from zagreb to haifa the boat was lled with people who didn t know each other everybody got sick everybody vomited when we approached shore i was not at all excited it was another station on the journey another ghetto i knew they would go on hounding me the way they had been hounding me for the past ve years i would have to survive as i had been surviving for the past ve years and in order to survive i would have to win hearts here too i would have to prove that there was something valuable in me something that would make it worthwhile for them to keep me alive aharon barak who from 1995 until 2006 served as israel s chief justice sits in his cozy o ce at the herzliya interdisciplinary center he is a brilliant liberal jurist who reshaped israeli jurisprudence and is admired worldwide but i come to him in the same way i approached sternhell and appelfeld i listen to his life story because i want to understand my own listening to barak i try yet again to comprehend the jewish israeli story of the twentieth century when i was born in lithuania in 1936 my name was erik brik barak tells me my father was born into a rabbinical family but he turned his back on all that he went to the university studied law and became the head of the zionist o ce in kovno my mother was a woman of outstanding intellect she went to the university and then taught history german and russian our home was modest but happy with my parents i spoke yiddish with the lithuanian nanny i spoke lithuanian i was an only child i do not remember life before the holocaust perhaps i have repressed it so my rst memory is of the holocaust the german luftwa e bombarded the city and soon after that we left home we put a few of our belongings on a horse drawn cart and we moved to the ghetto my next memory is of the germans arriving in the ghetto rounding up the jews and assembling them a german o cer divided everyone right left those to the right were sent home those to the left were sent to death i was ve or six years old my memory is not clear and the context is not clear i do not know what the historical truth is but i remember machine guns mowing down jews i remember the jews of my hometown being murdered en masse by the nazis then came the children s action by the beginning of 1944 the germans realized they would not win the war but before defeat they wanted to kill as many jews as they could they decided to eliminate all jewish children in the kovno ghetto i remember soldiers going from house to house taking with them any boy or girl under twelve i was eight my mother ran home and held me tightly she took me away and hid me i was saved just in time now i had a problem i was a jewish boy living in the ghetto but there should not be a living jewish boy in the ghetto so my parents dressed me up as a twelve year old tall shoes a hat grown up clothes but we lived in fear that someone would see through the disguise and realize i was not an adolescent one time a german o cer realized i was not an adolescent he looked at me smiled and turned away once again i was saved my parents recognized that the ghetto was a death trap although it was highly dangerous they decided to smuggle me out my father was deputy manager of a sweatshop that sewed uniforms for the wehrmacht the uniforms from the sweatshop were placed in large canvas sacks and piled on horse drawn carts they put me into a sack closed it and threw it onto the cart they put my sack on the top of the heap so that i wouldn t su ocate that was a big mistake the cart driver sat on my sack i was nearly crushed and had a hard time breathing but the eight year old that i was did not utter a sound after the longest half hour of my life i was thrown into a cowshed since i was raised in the ghetto i had never seen a cow when at last the sack was opened i felt the tongue of a fat friendly animal licking my face a few days later my father managed to smuggle my mother out of the ghetto and we were reunited in early 1944 the nazis were everywhere and everywhere there were nazi collaborators but one lithuanian family gave refuge to my mother and me they built a double wall in one of the rooms of their cottage my mother and i lived in the one and a half meters between the walls for six months only at night was i allowed to get out to walk in the elds to breathe fresh air i even rode a horse but during the long days i sat with my mother in the dark behind the wall as she taught me everything she knew math latin history my father stayed in the kovno ghetto until the end the ghetto was burned to the ground and its inhabitants were exterminated but my father survived though his parents were murdered most of my mother s family were also murdered so when the war ended we were just three my father my mother and me after the russians liberated kovno they arrested my father but they let him go so it was clear that we had to ee we escaped kovno for vilna and vilna for grodno and grodno for bucharest from bucharest we traveled in a train s coal car to budapest from budapest we went to russian held austria and then we ed to british held austria via a mountain pass throughout the journey we experienced anti semitism humiliation robbery i remember drunken russian soldiers taking my father s wristwatch they humiliated my father they despised us they treated us like dirt for them we were the scum of the earth i watched how both my parents fought tooth and nail so i could stay alive and we could keep our human dignity when we reached the british zone we encountered soldiers of the jewish brigade here were soldiers with blue and white ags sewn onto the lapels of their uniforms soldiers who spoke hebrew soldiers who actually cared for us and wanted to help us you cannot imagine our excitement even now when i tell you about it i am all emotions after all that had happened jewish soldiers were a dream they were a messianic revelation the jewish brigade took us to milan and from milan we went to rome in rome they put us up in a mansion previously owned by a fascist count and suddenly for the rst time in my living memory we were comfortable we were taken care of and fed we were treated as humans and i went to school i studied my mother took me to town to see the opera but what i loved most was the mansion s cellar which i discovered one day there i found the count s fancy clothes and swords and daggers for the rst time in my life i had a world of my own a world of my own imagination left to myself i put on the count s clothes and held his sword and imagined that i was a count too not a jew but a count of the journey to palestine i remember only the last night standing on deck when we saw the lights of haifa my parents held me tight and we all cried but when we disembarked in the morning it was all quick and e cient from the port of haifa we were taken to a rented apartment in tel aviv days later i was sent on my own to relatives in a sharon plain village to learn hebrew what struck me immediately was the scent of the soil the orange groves the jewish farmers a few days later my aunt took me to an atta workmen s clothing store in the village of hod hasharon she bought me a bell shaped israeli hat khaki shirts khaki trousers and sandals i had been in the country only a week i didn t speak the language i didn t know the land but when i took o my old clothes i shed the past the diaspora the ghetto and when i stood in the atta store in a khaki shirt khaki trousers and sandals i was a new person an israeli louise aynachi is di erent she is a woman she is from iraq she is not well known but like sternhell appelfeld and barak she too experienced the great transformation that many jews experienced in the 1940s and 1950s listening to her in the living room of her daughter s fancy apartment in north tel aviv i hear another chapter of the jewish israeli story of the twentieth century for twenty six hundred years jews lived between the tigris and the euphrates aynachi tells me when the british established modern iraq they gave jews equality and full rights and when iraq gained its independence in 1932 the jews civic and economic rights were maintained of the hundred and thirty thousand iraqi jews a hundred thousand lived in the capital baghdad and played a major role in its commercial and intellectual life many of the big businesses were owned by jews and many of the leading intellectuals were jews jews were also politically in uential and some of them served in parliament my father was a senior executive at the national train company my uncle was in parliament in the iraq in which i grew up in the 1930s jews were not servants but masters in the modern quarter of salhiya on the banks of the tigris we lived a life of dignity prosperity and happiness in the late 1930s there was a growing german in uence in iraq mein kampf was translated into arabic and nazi propaganda was distributed the pro nazi al futuwa youth movement was gaining ground and support for the rising fascist forces jews were the collaborators of the british and the agents of imperialism and yet like the jews of germany my family and my circle of friends in baghdad refused to see what was coming the babylonian diaspora was a perfect diaspora they said it gave jews what jews had never had equality and security prosperity and prestige no one could imagine that one day lightning would strike on april 1 1941 an anti british military coup occurred in may the british put down the mutiny a day after the british supported king returned to the capital nationalist soldiers and civilians frustrated by the failure of the coup took out their anger on a delegation of jewish dignitaries who were on the al khurr bridge on their way to greet the homecoming king immediately afterward jews were attacked in the al rusafa quarter and at abu sifyan for thirty six hours pro nazi soldiers and youngsters wrought havoc on the jews they were joined by poor baghdad bedouins and policemen on the holiday of shavuot hundreds of jewish apartments were ruined and hundreds of jewish businesses looted torah books were violated synagogues burned altogether seven hundred jews were wounded and one hundred and eighty murdered among the murdered were old men mothers and infants when the news of the farhud the pogrom reached us my father assembled the family and we all moved to my aunt s home in central baghdad we locked ourselves in terri ed we heard the mob closing in we saw them waving knives and axes we saw their eyes in amed with hatred the mob broke into neighboring jewish homes women were raped infants killed there was literally blood in the streets there were body parts in the streets there was chaos peaceful baghdad had suddenly gone mad the world had shifted from its natural course the impossible had happened our family was miraculously saved for some unknown reason the mob spared the house we were hiding in so after the farhud ended we tried to forget we tried to act as if it had never happened i married an a uent textile merchant naim aynachi and we brought three children into the world like my parents we lived in an elegant villa on the banks of the tigris life was as sweet as sweet could be in may 1948 israel was established in july the iraqi government passed an anti zionist law in september a highly prominent jewish businessman was hanged in basra jewish government workers were red in october the law curtailing jewish rights was passed in march 1950 there were threats and sporadic attacks now most young jews in baghdad no longer believed in the jewish future of baghdad after the farhud many of them became zionists or communists and after the establishment of israel they witnessed the rising tide of national arab anti semitism wash over iraq they understood that twenty six hundred years of jewish life in baghdad would not give them clemency they knew that the arab jewish honeymoon of the 1920s and 1930s was over but my father s family and my husband s family still believed in the promise of baghdad with all their soul they clung to their happy memories of life by the tigris in 1950 things got worse first jews ed via iran at the rate of a thousand a month then they ed in direct ights arranged by israel at the rate of two or three thousand a month in the spring of 1951 ten to fteen thousand jews ed iraq each month as the community collapsed even my father and my husband realized there was no other way against everything they believed in my parents boarded a plane in march 1951 against everything we believed in my husband and i and our three children boarded a plane in june 1951 exactly ten years after it took place the farhud triumphed on the wooden bench of a mossad skymaster i sat crying watching the baghdad i loved fade away two hours later the skymaster landed in lydda sternhell appelfeld barak and aynachi are just four of the 750 000 jewish refugees who arrived in israel between 1945 and 1951 of that number more than 90 percent arrived in the rst three and a half years of the newly founded state in forty two months the number of immigrants absorbed 685 000 surpassed the number of those absorbing them 655 000 a percentage comparable to what would happen if twenty rst century america took in 350 million immigrants in three and a half years the numbers were daunting and so was the challenge in its rst decade of existence the jewish state experienced a wave of immigration never experienced by any other state in modern times the challenge was not only demographic many of the immigrants were the survivors of ghettos forests and concentration camps many of them were unskilled illiterate old and sick by and large their ethnic and cultural pro le was dramatically di erent from the pro le of the now veteran israeli population the traumas they carried with them were unprecedented and yet the immigrants were taken in and absorbed by 1957 the vast majority of israelis were postwar immigrants within a decade israel s population tripled society was totally transformed and so was the country before even establishing itself as a free stable entity israel was a new israel it was an immigrant state forged in the extremely high temperatures of the post holocaust and post independence 1950s the beginning was dismal approximately a hundred thousand of the rst immigrants to arrive in the free jewish state were sent to the vacant houses of arabs who had just ed ja a haifa acre ramleh and lydda tens of thousands were settled in dozens of palestinian ghost villages whose stone houses were deemed t for residence but by early 1950 the deserted properties could no longer solve the acute problem created by the astonishing human ood more than a hundred thousand immigrants found themselves the government nally in depressing camps established in what had been british military installations most of them surrounded by barbed wire fences there they lived in tents sharing toilets and showers the camps were muddy chaotic and prone to disease this was not what the immigrants had expected the promised land to be like to deal with the human catastrophe 121 ma abarot or refugee camps were hastily erected throughout the country at the end of 1949 93 000 immigrants lived in the tin shacks of these camps in mid 1951 their number soared to 220 000 and at the end of 1951 to 257 000 almost every second person recently immigrated to israel lived in one sort of makeshift installation or another 11 500 families lived in tents 15 000 in tiny temporary huts 30 000 in tin shacks at the very same time the country slid into a deep economic crisis despite the harsh rationing introduced in 1949 the economy was about to collapse unemployment was nearly 14 percent in ation at over 30 percent and the government could not pay its debt the burden of mass immigration was about to crush the young state it halted immigration cut the defense budget raised taxes and devalued the israeli lira immediately afterward israel signed a vital reparations agreement with germany and began to sell bonds to the jewish community in the united states two years later the emergency economic measures german money and american bonds produced results in ation and unemployment declined while growth and productivity rose when immigration was renewed in 1954 israel was a tiger leaping ahead with an annual growth rate of more than 10 percent between 1950 and 1959 israel s gdp climbed a staggering 165 percent the rst national project to lead the israeli economic miracle of the 1950s was housing committed to eliminating the ma abarot and to providing every immigrant with a roof over his head the government initiated the building of two hundred thousand apartments at rst it built cramped 24 square meter and 32 square meter units then it built more reasonable 48 square meter and 52 square meter apartments within a few years housing estates resembling long white trains dotted the landscape they were a took action in 1952 cheap and functional mass solution to a mass problem the number of inhabitants in the ma abarot declined from 160 000 in 1952 to 88 000 in 1954 to 30 000 in 1956 public loans enabled most newcomers to buy the new units that the government had built for them practically overnight by 1957 the rate of israelis who owned their homes was one of the highest in the world the housing estate the shikun became the de ning feature of the israeli welfare state the second national project of the 1950s was agricultural settlement from 1950 to 1951 israel built 190 new kibbutz and moshav villages the average rate of building was one new settlement every four days in the years 1951 52 110 new kibbutzim and moshavim were established the average rate now was a new settlement per week in its rst decade as a state the number of villages in israel rose by 140 percent from 290 to 680 agricultural land use rose from 1 6 million dunams to 3 5 million dunams irrigated eld use from 300 000 dunams to 1 250 000 dunams the rural population tripled agricultural production grew dramatically while four hundred evacuated palestinian villages were demolished four hundred new israeli villages shaped the new economy and the new map of israel in the mid 1950s a third national project began industrialization after supplying basic housing to most of the population and after securing the land and the food supply the young state turned to modern industry almost half of the reparations that israel received from germany were turned into government loans that enabled entrepreneurs to establish factories in remote areas some of the new enterprises failed but many succeeded in 1954 the rst uzi submachine gun was manufactured in 1955 the aeronautics industry was in full swing in 1957 israel began planning its rst scienti c nuclear reactor the bromide industry in the dead sea and the phosphate industry in the negev followed along with a metal factory in yokneam a tire manufacturing facility in hadera and a steel plant in acre between 1953 and 1958 industrial production rose 180 percent by the end of its rst decade israel underwent a rapid and intensive industrial revolution the energy was unceasing wherever one went there was demolition and construction in accordance with a national master plan devised by the government s leading architects and civil engineers in 1950 palestine vanished and the modern state of israel replaced it in addition to the new villages thirty new towns were founded roads were paved power stations erected a new port planned a centralized government used centralized planning to build the new israel as if the state were a grand engineering project at the very same time the state built its own institutions a parliament an administration a judiciary a popular conscription army that performed many nonmilitary duties such as teaching its new soldiers hebrew became a powerful melting pot of the new society a state run education system tripled in size within a decade a national bank a national social security system a national employment service were all established public hospitals and public health clinics provided advanced medical care to most israelis israel of the 1950s was a state on steroids more and more people more and more cities more and more villages more and more of everything but although development was rampant social gaps were narrow the government was committed to full employment there was a genuine e ort to provide every person with housing work education and health care the newborn state was one of the most egalitarian democracies in the world the israel of the 1950s was a just social democracy but it was also a nation of practicality that combined modernity nationalism and development in an aggressive manner there was no time and there was no peace of mind and therefore there was no human sensitivity as the state became everything the individual was marginalized as it marched toward the future israel erased the past there was no place for the previous landscape no place for previous identities everything was done en masse everything was imposed from above there was an arti cial quality to everything zionism was not an organic process anymore but a futuristic coup for its outstanding economic social and engineering achievements the new israel paid a dear moral price there was no notion of human rights civil rights due process or laissez faire there was no equality for the palestinian minority and no compassion for the palestinian refugees there was little respect for the jewish diaspora and little empathy for the survivors of the holocaust ben gurion s statism and monolithic rule compelled the nation forward from the port of haifa svern sternhell was sent to a jewish agency immigration camp in haifa but just days later he was sent on to the boarding school of youth aliyah in the small town of magdiel on his rst night there the sixteen year old threw away the european suit his avignon aunt had sewn especially for his aliyah on his rst morning at work he was already wearing the blue workingman s uniform and the black workingman s boots when he arrived at the orange grove for the very rst time he was as happy as a bird sun blue skies oranges for the rst time since his family was taken to the ghetto the world was good within weeks sternhell was uent in hebrew within months he was a skilled farmer working in the orange grove he consumed dozens of oranges a day like many others he exchanged his european given name for a hebrew one ze ev but he refused to let go of his european last name because it was the name of his parents and sister yet the now seventeen year old survivor was determined not to wallow in pain but to suppress it he was afraid that the weakness of over there would haunt him over here he was afraid that the burden of the past would jeopardize the future he knew he must build himself anew on totally new foundations sternhell s new comrades made similar decisions although they studied together worked together and slept in the same huts they did not talk about their pasts most were holocaust survivors a few were refugees from the arab world all had experienced trauma some had lost their parents all had lost their homes yet these youngsters displayed remarkable optimism in the sweltering heat of summer and the bone chilling cold of winter they did not lament or complain they were not bitter they did not allow themselves to think like orphans or feel like orphans on the contrary they were determined to turn themselves into israelis as fast as possible to milk cows to work the elds to join a kibbutz to forget to begin the future as if the past had never happened because sternhell was already a thinker he conceptualized what his comrades could only intuit he knew that the jews needed a shelter and that israel was that shelter he understood that the jews needed a roof and that israel was their only roof for secular jews who had no god and no religion israel was also essential for their souls and identities without a jewish state secular jews like himself would stand naked in the world they would have no home no collective self and no future therefore sternhell embraced his new israeli identity completely only in israel did he not have to justify himself or hide himself only as an israeli could he turn from being an object of history to being a subject of history only as an israeli could he be the master of his own fate in the summer of 1952 sternhell and his comrades moved to a kibbutz up north ze ev worked in the kibbutz in the mornings studied in haifa in the afternoons and returned for guard duty in the kibbutz at night a small inheritance allowed him to move to haifa nish high school and pass the university entrance exams in august 1954 he joined the israeli army he went through basic training a squad leader course an o cer training course ten years after he was an altar boy in krakow sternhell was an outstanding combat o cer in the golani infantry brigade in october 1956 during the sinai campaign the charismatic platoon commander discovered that his men were trapped in a mine eld walking ahead he led them out of it mental agility physical strength and fearlessness marked svern ze ev sternhell as a son of the land he had found his place in the world the haunted boy from the ghetto had become a total israeli from the boat ervin appelfeld was taken to an immigrant camp in atlit and from atlit he was sent to a zionist youth village south of jerusalem on the farm thirty four young holocaust survivors tried to learn the rules of life in this strange new land they competed to see who would be the rst to drive a tractor who would be more t and suntanned who would be blonder who would look the least like a jew they tried to pretend that the ghettos and the forests and the concentration camps had never happened czernowitz had never existed there never was vienna or father or mother appelfeld feared he was about to lose his sense of self when the teacher would say children now we will study hebrew and study the bible and plant trees and water owerbeds and everything will be ne and everything will turn out great the other children seemed convinced they rapidly shed the past on the rst day they returned from the elds sunburned and on the second day they returned sunburned but on the third day they were tanned israelis but fourteen year old appelfeld was di erent he didn t want to attach himself to a language and a world that were not his own he didn t want to lose the german language and the theater and the music of his childhood he was terri ed of losing his parents and becoming an eternal orphan until one day after everybody was gone he sat alone in the dining hall took out a school notebook and wrote down in large childish letters my father s name michael my mother s name bulia my grandfather s name meir joseph my home is on masarik strasse czernowitz the next day when ervin read the list and added a few poignant words evoking his childhood he felt warmth spreading inside him i have a home he thought i have a street i have a father and mother and grandfather and a city and a park and a soft carpet of autumn leaves in spite of everything i have something to hold me in this world i am not an orphan in the 1948 war appelfeld was a sixteen year old paramilitary warrior four years after hiding from the nazis in ukrainian forests he used a machine gun to defend the zionist farm he was living on from the neighboring arabs who were about to slaughter its youth when the war ended he was sent to the elite mikveh yisrael agricultural school to learn how to grow apples pears and plums a year later he was sent to the new agricultural school of ein karem to teach moroccan and iraqi immigrant boys how to grow apples pears and plums six months later he was sent to serve as a caretaker of the girls agricultural school in nahalal in all of these schools ervin felt totally alone without family or community he found no common ground with the arrogant sabras the oriental newcomers or the ill mannered israeli girls in 1950 he was drafted and trained as a mortar operator now his loneliness became unbearable on shabbat when all his fellow soldiers returned home ervin had no home to go to he stayed on base by himself on saturday nights he would spend a few hours in the nearby town of netanya he would sit at a seaside café watching the people pass by some were holocaust survivors others were arab world survivors but what appelfeld saw were human wrecks he saw the uprooted jews of the twentieth century whose lives had been shattered by disaster appelfeld re ected on the gap between ben gurion s proclaimed egalitarian and united israel and the real israel of the fate stricken who were now huddled in immigrant camps and housing estates he re ected on the gap between the pious pioneering rhetoric of zionism and the new israeli reality of restless drunks and gamblers and whores who could not nd peace of mind he re ected on the gap between the mobilized monolithic upstairs israel and the cacophony of downstairs israel what he saw was an inebriated and licentious immigrants israel trying to forget all that had happened in the last days of his army service appelfeld studied on his own passed the matriculation exams and was accepted to the hebrew university he rented a cheerless room in jerusalem s rehavia neighborhood the boy who never attended rst grade was now the student of some of the world s most renowned scholars he studied yiddish with dov sadan kabbalah with gershom scholem and scriptures with martin buber but ervin was not impressed by his progress he had no bearings he lacked a well grounded identity and was struggling to contain the numerous transformations he had gone through in a decade alone in his room in rehavia appelfeld tried to decipher himself what had happened to him and who he was from what sea he had come and on what shore he had washed up the one place appelfeld felt at ease was in café peter in jerusalem s verdant german colony here people spoke the austro hungarian german of his childhood and served the austro hungarian dishes of home at the elegant tables sat elegant ladies who resembled his mother here there was no melting pot edict here he could remember his mother and long for her he imagined that though murdered she would somehow return in café peter in 1956 appelfeld could bring up from the cellar of his memories what the israel of 1956 kept locked away in his notebook he jotted down a few lines then some sentences then broken paragraphs slivers scraps fragments one story two stories three the story of a people gone up in smoke the story of a world gone up in smoke the story of a boy who witnessed pre holocaust holocaust and post holocaust life and now a decade after the holocaust sitting in a jerusalem café he tried to collect himself to rehabilitate himself to de ne himself and to nd his own voice when his family arrived in jerusalem erik brik had already gone through ve metamorphoses sheltered childhood in prewar kovno persecuted childhood in the wartime ghetto a childhood of hiding in the wall as the war drew to a close a refugee s wandering childhood when the war was over a respite in the jewish agency s mansion in the years following the war but when the briks settled down in a small apartment on the edge of rehavia the eleven year old told himself that what was before would not be again this is our homeland this is the nal beginning here he would take root the beginning was di cult erik was gentle and chubby and well read he loved the opera the israeli born sixth grade sabras ridiculed him they saw him as a weak and pale diaspora jew but within months erik proved what he was made of he acquired hebrew and got rid of his lithuanian accent he viewed himself as someone who was born in israel and acted accordingly he didn t tell anyone about democracy square or the children s action or the ghetto or living in the wall within a year it became apparent that erik was gifted he was brilliant in math and history but he also became president of the student council he was an enthusiastic boy scout rst a cub scout then den chief then troop leader as president of his student council he was chosen to meet ben gurion at his famous retreat in the desert because of his role in the boy scouts he led work camps in the kibbutz and intended to settle in a kibbutz brik internalized the collective values of old pioneering israel he identi ed completely with the jewish state that gave him refuge he saw israel as a dynamic enlightened and constructive entity headed for the future the boy who changed his name to aharon barak was now determined to erase his kovno past and join the israeli future not so his parents leah brik had been a respected high school teacher in lithuania but in israel she taught third grade in a working class school zvi brik had been the head of the jewish agency in kovno but in israel he was just a clerk both felt they didn t receive the recognition they deserved both were not ful lled professionally and realized they never would be and the holocaust refused to let go zvi had lost his parents leah had lost her father mother a brother and a sister the family was small and sad and had few true friends there was anguish at home and much crying all leah and zvi had was their son on whom they were totally focused aharon was promise aharon was hope aharon was an arrow shot from a hopeless past to a hopeful future in 1954 barak graduated from high school with honors because he wanted to continue studying he didn t join a kibbutz but studied law at the hebrew university by 1956 there was a consensus among the jerusalem faculty aharon barak was a judiciary genius when he married and set up house in 1957 many of his friends had no doubt that one day the young groom would be israel s chief justice at lydda airport louise aynachi discovered that half of the suitcases she sent from baghdad were gone and the others had been broken into the family had no clothes no food and the children were crying from the airport she was taken to a cold room at the end of the terminal a brusque nurse went through her hair looking for lice although she didn t nd any without giving notice she sprayed louise s hair and body with ddt then she sprayed louise s husband naim and then their children huda nabil and morris naim was shocked from whence have we come he asked and how far have we fallen after the aynachi family lled out all sorts of bureaucratic forms the jewish agency sta put the family on a truck for three hours the truck rocked along in the dark heading for an unknown destination it arrived at what seemed to be a military camp army tents surrounded by barbed wire louise tried to quell her fears so that her children would not be frightened she took whatever belongings were left and piled them up in the corner of their assigned army tent she did her best to put the children to bed on the straw pillow and under the straw blanket the next morning when naim woke up he was bursting with rage in iraq we were distinguished guests at the king s palace and here we are nothing we are not respected we are not honored we have no property we are nothing but homeless refugees in a tent one blow followed another before the aynachis had left baghdad the iraqi government had con scated their assets because they had chosen to immigrate to israel when they arrived in israel it turned out that the small amount of money that naim had managed to smuggle out via iran had been stolen by the moneychanger he had put his faith in on top of that was the ddt the humiliation of life in a tent the condescending attitude of veteran israelis the scornful attitude of the ashkenazi immigrants and the fact that in israel jewish baghdad was not perceived as the cradle of a great civilization but as the unknown territory of barbarians within one week the aynachi family experienced a sudden fall from paradise to humiliation and depravation louise held on even when it became clear that the money would not arrive she didn t crack even as she struggled in the chaos of the refugee camp she stood rm as she confronted the insults and the degradation she pretended that all was well for the children s sake that this was some sort of sandy summer camp and not the end of the world just a short detour on the way to a new adventure and to from the atlit a new life in a new land that would eventually reveal to them its milk and honey immigrant camp the aynachi family was transported to a ma abara near netanya from a tent to a tin hut from dampness to heavy heat from shock to depression yet after a few months naim found an apartment in holon a southern suburb of tel aviv he found work in tel aviv s atara co eehouse the apartment was nothing like the villa on the tigris and work in a co eehouse was nothing like the work of a textile executive but there was a home for the eight family members that naim was taking care of grandparents aunt wife and children and his job was not shameful so after a year louise felt that they were rising from the deep pit into which they had fallen unlike many other men who had emigrated from iraq naim was not broken he was only very sad for his remaining days naim would remain sad more bitter was the fate of louise s father less fortunate than his son in law eliyahu yitzhak baruch did not nd a suitable job in israel his property assets and money were lost when he left iraq and when he and his wife left the immigrant camp they had to settle for a shabby one room apartment in struma square in holon each morning eliyahu yitzhak baruch left the one room apartment for the lodzia women s undergarment factory throughout the day the former train company executive would stand by the gate of the factory with a peddler s cart trying to sell gum candy and chocolate to the impoverished workers and each evening when he returned to his small apartment in struma square eliyahu yitzhak baruch remembered the tigris his heart would cry as he remembered the tigris until it could no longer endure the pain and stopped beating by the time i am born in november 1957 the state of israel is a triumph the borders are quiet the economy is booming the population is approaching two million the decisive victory in the 1948 war gave birth to the nation and the decisive victory in the 1956 sinai campaign has stabilized it the superhuman endeavor to absorb nearly a million immigrants was a success twenty new cities four hundred new villages two hundred thousand new apartments and a quarter million new jobs attest to an unprecedented historical achievement by now svern sternhell has become lieutenant sternhell who has left the idf for the hebrew university to study history and political science ervin appelfeld has become aharon appelfeld who is assembling his rst collection of short stories erik brik has become aharon barak who is about to receive his law degree summa cum laude louise aynachi is still struggling in a holon immigrant quarter but her three children have gradually adjusted to their new homeland after a decade of war and frenzied state building bordering in pace on the maniacal the rst signs of stability appear the young state ceases to be a makeshift camp it is no longer perceived as a crazy adventure but as a solid political fact true there is no peace the arab world still looks upon the jewish state as an arti ce temporary and despicable but there is no war either the victories of 1948 and 1956 are deterring the enemy a new alliance with france equips the israeli air force with the most modern ghter jets ouragans mystères super mystères west germany and great britain also assist the resolute state which had proved just a year earlier that it was capable of reaching the suez canal relations with the united states are good relations with the soviet union are reasonably good the world watches the jewish phoenix rise from the sand israeli orange groves israeli archaeology and israeli science raise international interest and admiration the autumn i am born rehovot the city i am born in is getting ready to inaugurate a nuclear physics department niels bohr and robert oppenheimer are about to come to the weizmann institute to pay tribute to the promising young physicists of the promising young state at the very same time tel aviv s new performing arts center the frederic r mann auditorium is opened arthur rubinstein isaac stern and leonard bernstein come to nine year old israel to celebrate with the ne musicians and the enthusiastic audience of the israel philharmonic orchestra the national project of draining the swamps of lake hula in the galilee is completed the rst supermarket is set to open in tel aviv as the russians launch their rst sputnik into space israeli newspapers stick closer to home reporting a staggering rise in refrigerator and washing machine sales the economic boom and german reparations awaken old appetites dozens of delicatessens open in central tel aviv as israel gears up for its tenth birthday there is a strong sense of achievement and even wonder a first decade exhibition is planned to be held in the summer of 1958 in jerusalem to highlight israel s success the message will be that israel is now the most stable and most advanced nation in the middle east it is the most remarkable melting pot of the twentieth century the jewish state is a man made miracle but the miracle is based on denial the nation i am born into has erased palestine from the face of the earth bulldozers razed palestinian villages warrants con scated palestinian land laws revoked palestinians citizenship and annulled their homeland by the socialist kibbutz ein harod lie the ruins of qumya by the orange groves of rehovot lie the remains of zarnuga and qubeibeh in the middle of israeli lydda the debris of palestinian lydda is all too apparent and yet there seems to be no connection in people s minds between these sites and the people who occupied them only a decade earlier ten year old israel has expunged palestine from its memory and soul when i am born my grandparents my parents and their friends go about their lives as if the other people have never existed as if they were never driven out as if the other people aren t languishing now in the refugee camps of jericho balata deheisha and jabalia denial has its reasons in the rst decade the unique endeavor of nation building consumes all of the young state s physical and mental resources there is no time and no place for guilt or compassion the number of jewish refugees that israel absorbs surpasses the number of palestinian refugees it expelled and all the while the vast arab nation doesn t lift a nger to help its palestinian brothers and sisters in 1957 most palestinians don t yet de ne themselves as a distinct people they do not have a mature and recognized national movement the world feels sorry for them but the world denies them political rights and does not recognize them as a legitimate national entity it is therefore not without reason that israel chooses to see the arab israeli con ict as a con ict between states a con ict between the israeli david and the arab goliath it is a con ict that marginalizes the palestinian tragedy viewing it as some sort of unpleasant peripheral issue and yet this denial is astonishing the fact that seven hundred thousand human beings have lost their homes and their homeland is simply dismissed asdud becomes ashdod aqir becomes ekron bashit becomes aseret danial becomes daniel gimzu becomes gamzu hadita becomes hadid the arab city of lydda is now the new immigrants city of lydda a dozen towns and hundreds of villages and thousands of sites receive new identities an enormous refugee rehabilitation project is carried out in the homes and elds of others who are now refugees themselves yet the denial of the palestinian disaster is not the only denial the israeli miracle of the 1950s is based upon young israel also denies the great jewish catastrophe of the twentieth century true the holocaust memorial yad vashem is being built in jerusalem every april israel marks the holocaust and heroism remembrance day and in wheeling and dealing with the international community the tragedy of european jewry is mentioned and used but within israel itself the holocaust is not given space the survivors are expected not to tell their stories a dozen years after the catastrophe the catastrophe has no place in local media and art the holocaust is only the low point from which the zionist revival rose the israeli continuum rejects trauma and defeat and pain and harrowing memories furthermore the israeli continuum does not have room for the individual that s also why the holocaust remains abstract and separate it s not really about the people living among us the message is clear quiet now we are building a nation don t ask unnecessary questions don t indulge in self pity don t doubt don t lament don t be soft or sentimental don t dredge up dangerous ghosts it s not a time to remember it is a time to forget we must gather all our strength now and concentrate on the future this denial too is not without reason although vibrant and con dent israel is not strong enough to deal with the horror of the past it is still a scrappy society ghting for its life and its future the jewish state is a frontier oasis surrounded by a desert of threat it is not mature enough for self analysis it is not tranquil enough to see its own drama in perspective there are far too many challenges there is far too much pain without self discipline and self repression and a degree of cruelty everything might disintegrate but the price of denial is dear yes ze ev sternhell and aharon barak are too ambitious to notice the price they enthusiastically embrace their new identities wanting to run as far away as possible from the past but the introspective appelfeld looks on with dread at what is taking place around him people replace a name with a name a tongue with a tongue an identity with an identity to survive they cleanse themselves of the past to function they atten themselves they turn into people of action whose personalities are rigid and deformed whose souls are shallow they lose the riches of jewish culture as they are shaped by a new synthetic culture that lacks tradition and nuance and irony they create a loud externalized way of life that is eager to display a forced gaiety they have lost the place they came from without knowing where they are heading the two denials are actually four the denial of the palestinian past the denial of the palestinian disaster the denial of the jewish past and the denial of the jewish catastrophe four forces of amnesia are at work erased from memory are the land that was and the diaspora that was the injustice done to them and the genocide done to us as they struggle to survive and cast a new identity the israelis of the 1950s bury both the fruit orchards of palestine and the yeshivas of the shtetl the absence of seven hundred thousand palestinian refugees and the nihility of six million murdered jews what vanishes under ben gurion s hasty development is the beauty of the land the depth of the diaspora and the great historic cataclysms of the 1940s it is highly likely that this multilevel denial was essential without it it would have been impossible to function to build to live an obstinate disregard was crucial for the success of zionism in the rst decades of the twentieth century and a lack of awareness was crucial for the success of israel in its rst decade of existence if israel had acknowledged what had happened it would not have survived if israel had been kindly and compassionate it would have collapsed denial was a life or death imperative for the nine year old nation into which i was born to con rm this point i turn to the spiegels whom i have known for years and whose familial biography i nd striking the head of the family erno spiegel is no longer alive but i manage to speak with his ninety two year old wife anna on her last days of lucidity their daughter yehudit adds her own memories to the family s life story and as i leaf through the family s records photo albums and documents i nd the spiegel story to be yet another powerful example of the jewish israeli story of the twentieth century anna was born in the carpathian russian town of svalava in 1918 when the germans invaded in the spring of 1944 she was a twenty six year old beauty a knock on the door a yellow jewish star the herding of jews into the local brick factory ten days later the jews were marched through the streets to the train station they spent three days in a sealed cattle car then arrived at auschwitz anna s sister in law and four month old nephew were sent to the left lucky anna was with the hundreds of women sent to the right rst to a crowded shower hall then to have a total body shave which led to a total loss of identity she spent three days in the camp barracks as the ames of the crematorium danced in the windows but because anna was young and strong she was sent to a succession of work camps an airplane factory an airport hard labor in the woods she made the retreating march with thousands of others to the elba river where those who survived the trek were liberated on the train to prague many female survivors were raped by russian soldiers in prague she was reunited with her brothers and a sister all returned from hell though their parents and sister sheyna would never return in prague anna met erno spiegel spiegel was born in budapest in 1915 but raised in the carpathian russian town of munkacz prior to the war he served as an o cer in the czech army in 1941 he was sent by pro nazi hungarians to forced labor camps for two years and in 1944 he was sent by the germans to auschwitz a twin spiegel was taken from the auschwitz platform to dr mengele s twin compound and appointed by mengele to be the twins master his job was to monitor and organize the twins subjected to mengele s experiments including his sister on several occasions he saved lives including his sister s at night he tried to ease the young twins loneliness and allay their fears he promised them that their parents had not died and that when the war ended he would reunite them with their families at the end of january 1945 spiegel left the just liberated death camp with thirty two children soon after his surreal convoy of survivors wended its way through the ruins of europe after he brought the twins to their hometowns spiegel went back to munkacz and then moved to carlsbad he returned to his old vocation of bookkeeper on a visit to the capital erno met anna and three months later they married in prague s ancient synagogue in may 1948 the state of israel was founded in march 1949 erno and anna spiegel and their two year old daughter entered the port of haifa israeli soldiers boarded their ship and handed out oranges anna was beside herself the land of israel the state of israel jewish soldiers oranges she felt it was a triumph over hitler anna and erno together were a triumph over hitler two year old yehudit was a triumph over hitler the state of israel was an absolute triumph over hitler from haifa the spiegels were sent to the be er ya akov immigrant camp the army tents were surrounded by barbed wire and the march rain penetrated the tarps and turned the oor into a muddy puddle all around the camp people shouted and complained the jumble of immigrants from a jumble of countries spoke a jumble of languages baby yehudit contracted acute dysentery which endangered her life in some tents babies quickly succumbed to the disease and died and yet anna spiegel was happy our land our state a place of our own while anna struggled in the camp erno went to tel aviv to look for a job he found work as a bookkeeper in a small accounting rm the spiegels saved every penny finally nine months after arriving in israel they had enough to move to a one and a half room apartment in a housing estate on the eastern outskirts of tel aviv the spiegels arrived in bizaron in december 1949 between bizaron street and victory road were the long white housing estates that had been hastily erected on the sand pedestrian paths bordered small muddy yards at the end of one of the paths three concrete stairs led from the mud to a small covered entrance on the right was the apartment of the engineer dr fischer on the left the apartment purchased by the senior bookkeeper mr spiegel thirty four square meters one room one half room a toilet a kitchen that made anna spiegel cry at last they had a home apart from the jewish agency s three metal beds the tiny apartment was empty but within days the crates the spiegels had sent from carlsbad arrived blankets towels bed linens crocheted tablecloths pots pans silverware two tea services an electric stove a mechanical meat grinder a co ee grinder a poppy seed grinder the heavy czech furniture that could not t through the door of the miniature apartment was exchanged for light modern israeli made tables and chairs when erno spiegel became the bookkeeper of the just founded cameri theater more furniture was added armchairs a sofa an icebox a radio within one year the empty public housing unit became a warm home enveloped in the aroma of goulash and paprikash and poppy seed yeast cakes that anna prepared in her tiny kitchen for erno spiegel work was everything a source of income a safety net therapy work kept away bad thoughts and memories he told his wife every morning at eight he would put on a suit and tie don a hat and take the bus to the theater s o ce every afternoon at four the bus would take him home after a light meal he would yehudit attended rest and listen to the news on the radio and read the centrist maariv newspaper then at his desk in the hall he would audit the accounts of private theater productions for which he was well paid this was how there was enough money to add another room and to buy yehudit a piano anna spiegel was a housewife in the mornings she cooked spicy hungarian dishes in the afternoons she took yehudit to private piano lessons she was particular about her looks and her daughter s looks she sewed ironed and embroidered their clothes once a week was laundry day once a month was seamstress day every once in a while she would take a hebrew lesson at the ulpan or attend a gathering of mothers at the women s club unlike erno anna never stopped talking about over there and about the great miracle that happened to her family and to all other jewish survivors when they came here from over there the housing estate s kindergarten and elementary school rst in the adjacent neighborhood and then in the housing estate itself almost all the children in her class were the sons and daughters of ashkenazi immigrants almost all of them holocaust survivors from time to time someone would say daddy screams at night from time to time someone would say mommy is sick again they would discuss the number tattooed on a mother s arm the number tattooed on a father s arm partisans ghettos concentration camps but all these shadows could not obscure the miraculous events taking place around them in 1953 israel began to drain the swamps of lake hula in the galilee in 1954 it was digging the rst parts of the national water carrier that would eventually bring water from the sea of galilee to the negev desert in 1955 oil was discovered in heletz not far from the gaza strip in 1956 israel won the sinai campaign so in the housing estate s school there were no doubts anymore it was absolutely clear that the children wearing blue and white for israel s ninth independence day were the children of hope and yehudit spiegel was the most striking among them there was nothing yehudit couldn t do sports scouting english french piano she was the head of her class the leader of the youth movement a medal winning athlete in her pleated blue skirt and embroidered white shirt eleven year old yehudit spiegel was the daughter of triumph triumph over mengele and auschwitz and birkenau triumph over the damned germans triumph over the horri c past of the jews in the name of erno spiegel from auschwitz birkenau and in the name of anna spiegel from the labor camps she would go forth and conquer the world so when i choose the place that evokes the israel of 1957 more than any other i don t choose my hometown of rehovot or a kibbutz or a moshav or a new town nor do i choose jerusalem haifa or central tel aviv i choose the bizaron housing estate in 1957 there are nineteen blocks in the bizaron shikun in every block there are sixteen families most are european poles russians hungarians czechs almost all of the parents are survivors of death camps forests ghettos like yehudit many of the children were born immediately after the war in the ruins of europe the families are small no grandfathers no grandmothers no uncles or aunts every family has only one child at most two behind every living family lurks the shadow of the larger family that has ceased to exist over there mr teicher had another wife over there mrs cohen had two other daughters shoshana s mother is in bed all day long because her little brother and her baby sister never came back from the camps in the tidy clean apartments of night watchman weinstock and labor party functionary katz whose wife su ers endless bouts of migraines and fatigue no one is allowed to raise a voice to horse around to disturb the wives the demons must not be woken although they are only in their thirties and forties almost every parent in the housing estate is bereft of a father or mother of a family that is no more almost every child in the housing estate knows that his or her parents have a past that one should not ask about the bizaron housing estate lives its life under a silent mountain of death yet the housing estate is not gloomy the pedestrian paths between the long trainlike housing blocks are busy with enterprise and action most fathers work as junior clerks in government or trade union o ces or in small private rms most mothers augment the family income with part time jobs but in every corner there is enterprise one opens a notions store another becomes a stationer one works as a plumber and one as a photographer mrs shapiro uses a special blender sent from america to make carrot juice that she sells on the estate mrs levy imports a singer sewing machine to make fancy dresses for the ladies one holocaust survivor is a milkman another is a policeman there is a shoemaker in the housing estate an egg seller and a bookbinder one neighbor is a cosmetician another repairs pantyhose at no 20 an attractive young woman sells her body to men at no 26 and no 30 they sell black market butter in winter when the kerosene seller rings his bell everyone gathers with metal jerry cans in hand around his horse drawn cylindrical red tanker in summer everyone gathers around the square blue cart of the iceman who wins the children s hearts with merry squirts of ice water those lucky enough to have a bathtub at home ll it on thursdays and throw a carp in to make ge lte sh for shabbat and every summer evening the immigrants sit on their balconies to read maariv or the labor party s davar or the hungarian language uj kelet at night the russians drink vodka the poles play cards the czechs listen to classical music from one year to the next a neighborhood coalesces within less than a decade a hodgepodge of devastated jewish refugees who reached bizaron in the hectic summer of 1949 becomes a stable community political allegiance is mostly to labor when minister of labor golda meir comes for a visit the housing estate greets her warmly when prime minster david ben gurion gives a rousing election speech from the back of a truck parked on victory road the housing estate is ecstatic no wonder for the bizaron housing estate labor is not just a political party it is a great omnipotent mother labor built the estate and assembled the refugees and gave them shelter and protection the housing estate s medical clinic social club and sports facilities are all labor related most of the housing estate s men work in labor related o ces and institutions on the other side of victory road there is a housing estate whose middle class middle european residents vote for the progressive party a half a mile away live oriental jews who worship menachem begin and vote for his herut party a mile away is a socialist mapam housing estate in bloc number 20 several russian communists live a life of debauchery but at the heart of the bizaron housing estate labor has a solid loyal majority even the state of mind is that of labor restrained nationalism moderate socialism pragmatism nobody gets too excited nobody is too righteous nobody insists on being absolutely just they have seen it all they believe in the hard work of laying down brick upon brick but they also know that to get to the right place one sometimes has to take a circuitous route there are a number of institutions in bizaron a cooperative minimarket a medical clinic a synagogue a library a sports eld a social club but the most important of all is habonim the builders school the two story school is very much the center of life and the melting pot of the estate here the sons and daughters of europe s survivors study math english hebrew the bible but far more important they become israelis they learn about the heroic pioneers who drained the marshes of the harod valley about the wonders of orange growing and about the remarkable victory in the war of independence they learn about the jewish national fund s forestry e orts about the breakthroughs of israeli science and the achievements of young israeli industry the yiddish speaking polish speaking hungarian speaking and czech speaking adults of bizaron see the habonim school turn their o spring into israelis in every immigrant society as in every postwar society the children are the crux but in the bizaron housing estate the children are everything like leah and zvi brik the thirty and forty year old parents know they are the desert generation though they were saved from annihilation they know that they will never reach a true haven for them everything is temporary fragile and in doubt for them life is waiting for the next catastrophe but their children are something else like the briks son their children too are arrows shot to the future for even though the bow was scorched and deformed in the great re it can still shoot a future bound arrow this is why the fathers will take any job to support the young and the mothers will buy them butter on the black market this is why the children are sent to whatever private lessons they choose because the children s education is the rst priority only what a person knows cannot be taken away from him everything in bizaron is done in the name of the children so that the children will be able to knock on the gates of a future closed to their parents the children get it and don t get it only yaakov s father shmuel gogol comes to school once a year to say what the other parents don t say on holocaust and heroism remembrance day he tells the young students that from the age of seven he played the harmonica in auschwitz too he played the harmonica the harmonica saved him he was the harmonica player in the death orchestra that played music for those marching to work and those marching to death all those years he played the harmonica with his eyes shut even now when he plays for the pupils of habonim he plays with his eyes shut but the children would rather leave behind gogol s heartbreaking stories and harmonica music they want to leave their fathers nightmares and their mothers migraines behind they want to play volleyball basketball soccer go to the scouts and have parties they want to believe in everything that 1957 israel tells them to believe in that we are strong now that we are the very best that we will not be taken like lambs to the slaughter that we will be tall and strong we will be pilots and paratroopers engineers and scientists we will overcome the germans and the arabs and the barren desert we will overcome our weakness and deformed genes and shameful history here in the bizaron housing estate we will overcome ourselves we shall be the new race of israeli triumph so in the housing estate there is a growing gap between one generation and the next inside the tiny ats one cannot escape the anguish although catastrophe is repressed it is present black and white photographs of the dead are illuminated by memorial candles but outside in the daylight there is great jubilation when one walks between number 14 and number 16 one can hear the fischer girl playing the piano and the spiegel girl playing the piano and the belldegrun boy playing the violin after they nish their lessons and chores the children run to the kiosk to buy popsicles and soda pop and as dusk descends they gather by the big tree on victory road to play tag and capture the ag when the holiday of lag baomer approaches the children s excitement mounts they collect kindling and branches and plywood for their bon re and when the day arrives the entire housing estate assembles around the enormous woodpile the re is lit the ames grow taller and taller for the parents the smell of something burning is almost unbearable but the children s happiness is as high as the ames and this year after the 1956 victory is the rst year that the e gy of hitler is replaced by an e gy of egypt s president gamal abdel nasser by now we have burned hitler so many times that he s totally burned out so this year it is the nasty nose of the arab tyrant that is ablaze his vicious smile consumed by ames as we triumphed over the damn nazis we shall triumph over the arabs for we are now part of a great beginning we are the living proof that israel s new beginning is a great success in the basement archives of tel aviv s city hall i lean over the old thick le of house number 14 of the bizaron housing estate it s a two story structure built in 1949 by the histadrut s shikun ltd the housing construction company for workers the land was owned by the jewish national fund and the plans were inspired by those of the working class housing projects of 1920s vienna and 1930s tel aviv although no 14 is a long row house it is variegated in order to give each unit several exposures and some privacy in the plans the 430 square meters of each oor are divided into eight units so that each one will have 53 2 square meters but in practice because of the economic turmoil of 1949 the shikun company built only two thirds of the designated building area the drawings make a distinction between the 34 square meters of the existing area of each unit and the remaining 19 2 square meters of area for the future in december 1951 the engineer dr eliezer fischer submits a request to add to his apartment a bedroom and a bathroom as per the original plans in may 1953 the bookkeeper spiegel submits a similar request in august 1953 wolf dovrovsky does the same as do zalman weinstock in september 1955 and arieh mendkler in may 1956 one by one the immigrants make good no 14 is well built the walls are made of hollow blocks the ceilings of reinforced concrete and the plaster is waterproofed the northern exposure has nice tall windows the southern exposure has square windows and rectangular balconies the architecture is modern but not forbidding functional but not cheap it is apparent that a real e ort has been made here to give the best accomodations possible to as many people as possible in hard times even after they are enlarged all the apartments resemble one another at the entrance is a small hall with a kitchenette to the left and a bathroom to the right beyond the hall are two square connecting rooms one of which opens onto the balcony access to the front yard is through the kitchenette during the 1950s most dusty yards gradually turn into gardens with plum trees guavas chrysanthemums and rosebushes by 1957 the sands on which the shikun s long housing blocks were built in 1949 are covered with green vegetation the land surrounding the housing estate is dotted with orange groves some are jewish orange groves that bear fruit others are deserted palestinian orange groves that are dying closer by new housing estates pop up one after the other new factories pop up too sypholux manufactures domestic soda fountains amcor makes israel s rst refrigerators argaz assembles buses a fenced o plant of israel s military industry manufactures who knows what in 1957 bizaron is still encircled by breathtaking elds of wild owers autumn crocuses asphodels bell owers and anemones but they are about to disappear a wave of development is replacing them with more and more housing estates populated by more and more new immigrants who are rapidly becoming new israelis i leave the municipal archives and drive to bizaron a great deal has happened here over sixty years the neighborhood has gone downhill and uphill and now it is being gentri ed yet the structures of the housing estate are pretty much as they were nineteen long rows eighteen pedestrian paths a school still named habonim i walk along the path that separates what was no 14 from what was no 16 here the children of 1957 used to play dodgeball and hopscotch and simon says here they rolled hoops with sticks and sprayed water on one another until from the balconies their mothers called them home for supper the news bulletin would come on the radio then popular israeli music classical music cantorial singing as i look across the path i can almost imagine the spiegels neat living room where yehudit is playing the piano and the living room of the belldegruns where arie is struggling with the violin while his close friend pinchas zukerman masters it somewhere an accordion is playing somewhere a heartbreaking harmonica and while the kovno ghetto survivor abrasha axelrod writes unforgiving poems in yiddish the mengele twin erno spiegel is closing his account books dr fischer is drafting engineering plans for an overpass to be built in the desert and plumber zahlikovsky is playing cards with friends the photographer leon teicher is developing photographs of his two beloved sons one of whom will fall in one of israel s future wars as night descends the bedroom lights and the balcony lights are dimmed one by one the children s squeals are quieted the forced israeli gaiety and purposefulness of daylight hours disappears into the night carpets are being rolled up armchairs moved aside beds pulled out from living room sofas as they nally lie down to sleep the tenants of the bizaron housing estate close their eyes in their dreams in their nightmares they see their new neighborhood sinking into the sea and yet walking along the path between what was no 14 and what was no 16 i realize that bizaron is not a tragedy but a miracle israel s 1950s are not de ned by misfortune but by a t of human greatness against all odds most of the holocaust survivors of the housing estate make it against all odds ben gurion s israel pulls through ze ev sternhell will become a professor of political science aharon appelfeld will become a great novelist aharon barak will become one of the most respected jurists in the world the children of louise aynachi will also do well arie belldegrun will become an extremely successful doctor and investor in los angeles yehudit fischer will become a professor of hebrew literature in boston the surviving teicher boy shlomo will become one of israel s best dental surgeons yehudit spiegel will become a psychologist and entrepreneur who together with her husband will launch a billion dollar medical company in the most astonishing way bizaron will have become a hub for israel s future meritocratic elite many of its sons and daughters will conquer their professional worlds the israel into which i am born in late 1957 does not only overcome its horri c past it launches a radiant future photo credit 7 1 seven the project 1967 at the age of seven i already suspected there was a secret no one told me what it was or uttered the actual words but because i was a curious child i liked to listen to the grown ups conversations and in the scienti c community of rehovot in the 1960s those conversations revolved around mysterious if not downright sinister sounding places like the hill machon 4 and hemed gimmel my father was a promising young chemist at the weizmann institute and many of his colleagues who assembled often in our living room were among israel s prominent scientists they would often discuss what israel dostrovsky was working on what ernst bergmann was up to what shalhevet freier was absorbed in and what amos de shalit was trying to do and they would always circle back to the big and nameless thing happening in the negev the big ba ing thing that required my fathers friends and the fathers of my friends to travel down there in rehovot itself there was an urgent sense of purpose on the quiet manicured lawns of the weizmann institute of science there was a hushed air of anticipation although nothing was said it was somehow evident that the physicists and chemists upon whose knees i was being raised were expected to save our lives my uncle too went down to the desert in the early 1960s the neighborhood of square concrete at roofed villas on the outskirts of beersheba where he lived with his family was built by the government on the edge of the desert the engineers left their neat dim quiet homes every morning and boarded a gray bus that took them to the secret in the afternoon the bus brought them home children like me knew not to ask what they were actually doing down there but at the age of eight i understood that gideon and roberto and mishka and uncle zeki and yoskeh did more than just gather together on hot summer nights to sing folk songs and tell funny stories as they ru ed my hair and treated me to thick watermelon slices i knew that beyond the villas and their well tended gardens something huge was taking place something was happening in the desert that would change everything forever at the age of nine i already knew the secret one of the rst books i pulled down from my father s shelves was brighter than a thousand suns a personal history of the atomic scientists the story of the manhattan project another book i took an interest in was a collection of articles by israeli academics and intellectuals who opposed the building of an israeli atomic bomb i knew to connect the two books and i knew to connect them to the anticipation at the weizmann institute and the solemn mystery surrounding the villa neighborhood in the desert i realized that i was probably growing up in an israeli manhattan project surrounded by people who were probably the robert oppenheimers edward tellers and lesley groves of israel at the age of ten i already knew that the bespectacled engineers and di dent physicists around me were in their own way part of a mythic undertaking half a century later the secret is still a secret but in reality almost everything has been written about in the international media why israel built dimona how israel built dimona and what israel does there o cially however the nuclear reactor of dimona is still shrouded in ambiguity israeli state policy does not allow israelis to discuss dimona publicly i respect this policy and i obey it and i cleared this chapter with the israeli censor and yet even when wrestling with this haze of mystery it is clear that dimona is still very much at the center of israel s story according to nuclear experts such as frank barnaby the dimona complex is basically rectangular close to the entrance are the administrative o ces the classrooms the canteen and the library to the south are machon 4 a treatment plant for the radioactive e uent from plutonium extraction machon 8 where uranium is enriched by gas centrifuges and machon 9 which houses a laser isotope enrichment facility the central area lies beyond machon 5 where uranium fuel rods are coated with aluminum before insertion into the reactor this central area is bisected by lawns and rows of palm trees that pass by machon 3 where uranium is produced from yellowcake and machon 2 the main production facility where plutonium lithium compounds and beryllium are machined into components for nuclear weapons and lead to machon 1 the reactor itself with its grand dome 18 meters in diameter and 25 meters in height the silver dome is the central commanding structure of dimona the hub the core the center of gravity of the middle east in basic terms it may be put as follows in order to create and uphold a jewish state in the middle east a protective umbrella had to be unfurled above the edgling endeavor a structure that would protect the jews from the animosity they provoked when they entered the land a bell jar had to be placed over them to shield them from the predators that lay in wait the rst such bell jar was provided by the british only within the strong walls of the british mandate could the plant be built without scrutiny but even after the british left western hegemony in the middle east provided the jews with protection from the hostility and malevolence of the arab muslim expanse in which they had elected to build their national home but in the mid 1950s israel s leaders discovered that the protective umbrella of the west was slowly furling the colonial era was coming to an end europe was in retreat and israel was left on its own in a hostile desert at the same time arab nationalism was coalescing being transformed by rapid modernization and swift military buildup israel s leaders panicked the basic conditions upon which the zionist endeavor was founded and within which the zionist miracle tripling immigrants and rapidly absorbing occurred no longer existed although the young state was ourishing its population it was now completely exposed by 1955 prime minister david ben gurion had made up his mind the old protective umbrella of western colonialism had to be replaced with a new one instead of relying upon the west s hegemony over the middle east an israeli hegemony had to be established in the summer of 1956 during many hours spent with his advisers ben gurion honed the view that had begun to crystallize for him in 1949 now he stated explicitly israel must go nuclear in 1956 only three nations possessed nuclear weapons the united states the ussr and the united kingdom even france would produce and assemble a nuclear bomb only four years later in contrast to those wealthy countries the israel of 1956 was a fragile immigrant state of 1 8 million people not yet capable of manufacturing even transistor radios the mere thought that this tiny weak nation would succeed in obtaining nuclear capabilities seemed audacious megalomaniacal even unhinged and yet the founder of the jewish state was adamant israel must acquire a nuclear option ben gurion believed that the arab israeli con ict was deep and irresolvable he worried that in the long run israel s military supremacy would not hold he felt the stress of bearing personal responsibility for his small nation in closed door meetings he analyzed the strategic threats israel faced and arrived at the conclusion that its ultimate security might very well rest on the existential insurance policy of nuclear deterrence many senior cabinet members and politicians opposed him minister of trade and industry pinchas sapir foreign minister golda meir minister of education and culture zalman aran leading member of parliament david hacohen and from time to time finance minister levi eshkol so did many physicists especially amos de shalit senior army o cers chief among them yitzhak rabin and many intellectuals most prominently yeshayahu leibowitz ephraim auerbach and eliezer livneh but the debate was neither moral nor ethical in the israeli siege republic of the 1950s and early 1960s the memory of the holocaust felt very close as did the existential threat both of these factors underpinned the generally agreed upon moral justi cation regarding the right to acquire a nuclear option those who opposed articulated realpolitik arguments some feared economic bankruptcy others feared diplomatic bankruptcy and still others feared military bankruptcy some warned that the nascent alliance with france would dissolve while others warned against american anger and soviet wrath still others pronounced the whole idea a pipe dream there was no way a small nation poor and only partially industrialized could take upon itself a scienti c technological feat that most great nations had yet to attempt the comprehensive methodical argument against the nuclear option was put forward by two renowned military strategists yigal allon and israel galili both men were prominent territorial hawks who had now become nuclear doves their position was that the prime minister was consumed with historical pessimism regarding israel s chance to survive in the middle east and technological optimism regarding israel s scienti c ingenuity while they were consumed with the exact opposite historical optimism and technological pessimism the allon galili argument against the bomb was threefold in the middle east there was no possibility of fashioning a stable regime of mutual deterrence and if no such regime existed then israel would be the party most exposed to the horror of a nuclear attack therefore to guarantee its own security israel should not acquire a nuclear capability that would initiate a nuclear arms race in the middle east because if such a race was launched in such a volatile region it would endanger the very existence of the jewish state ben gurion remained undeterred in the summer of 1956 he sent his sorcerer s apprentice shimon peres to paris to wield his wand improbably the director general of the defense ministry got what he came for he deftly manipulated the anti arab sentiment of the suez era and the pro jewish sentiment of a decade after vichy and technicians know how and he appealed to the bruised patriotic ego over algeria the demise of colonialism and the decline of europe in a very short time the thirty three year old graduate of the ben shemen youth village school a student of the paci st siegfried lehmann pulled o one of the greatest strategic feats of the postwar years persuading a major european power to give a minor middle eastern nation its own nuclear option the option peres received was all inclusive providing engineers training according to international publications it comprised a nuclear reactor a facility for separating plutonium and missile capabilities ben gurion s vision peres s cunning and the diligent work of a few other israelis who joined peres in paris convinced france to place in israel s hands the modern age s prometheus re for the rst time in history the jews could have the ability to annihilate other peoples in his book israel and the bomb dr avner cohen provides the following details in september 1956 an initial understanding was agreed upon for the construction of a small model el 3 reactor on october 3 1957 the dramatic agreement for the construction of a large g1 reactor and a secret plutonium separation plant was signed in the beginning of 1958 a huge hole was dug in the rotem plateau 14 kilometers southeast of dimona and work on the reactor began in february 1959 twenty tons of heavy water were purchased from norway in the early 1960s uranium was extracted from local phosphate rock as well as purchased clandestinely from america and south africa in april 1963 an agreement was signed with the french armament manufacturer dassault for the purchase of md 620 missiles on december 26 1963 the dimona reactor went critical in 1964 the underground plutonium separation plant was completed at the end of 1965 plutonium was produced in march 1965 the jericho missile system was tested by 1967 israel had reached the capability to assemble its rst nuclear device on an early summer evening i park my car on a quiet side street of tel aviv s a uent suburb ramat aviv i locate the apartment building ring the intercom and take the elevator to the eighth oor where a tall broad shouldered man in his early eighties awaits me his handshake is rm his tone gru come in he commands i ve been waiting for your visit for a long time the furnishings in the living room are simple and homey blond wood scandinavian sofas and armchairs a worn persian rug walls hung with watercolors and oil paintings lively landscapes of israeli orange groves painted by my host himself a bottle of chivas regal and a bowl of salted almonds have been placed on the table the television murmurs in the corner talking heads discussing yet another snippet of news about the iranian nuclear threat bullshit it s all bullshit my host says the iranians already have a bomb a bomb is no big deal if a country has the desire and the means and minimal engineering capabilities it will have a bomb if you re determined to build a bomb you ll build a bomb he should know avner cohen claims that israel indeed built its rst atomic bomb in late 1966 and early 1967 my host was the director general of dimona at that time he was the man in charge i look him over as he regards me i know he knows that i know and i know that he knows that i know but we do not say a word about it my host pours whisky into two tumblers and raises his glass toward mine to wish us a productive evening after decades of silence he would like to say his piece while somehow still abiding by the o cial vow he has sworn to the state he is willing to circle the secret come very close but not reveal it or his part in it he asks me to omit his name as long as he is alive but even the euphemisms he uses cannot obscure the great drama to which he bore witness and in which he played a critical role he was born in jerusalem in 1926 his rst memories are bloody during the arab uprising of 1929 his father rescued wounded residents of the old city and when he returned home the car seats were covered with blood as were his suit and hands in the 1930s his family moved to rishon lezion where his father became a prosperous orange grower life in the agricultural colony was comfortable and happy the orange grower s spoiled son had little time for school he preferred playing sports and developed an impressive physique that complemented his technological curiosity and extraordinary daring at the age of eleven he was already driving his family s old austin morris on the sands surrounding rishon lezion and at the age of sixteen he won girls hearts in his father s fancy new buick his adolescence did not have a memorable ideological dimension it proceeded from game to game from party to party from girl to girl until on a beautiful spring morning in 1943 his father was gunned down by an arab while driving out to the family orange grove the murder of his father was a de ning experience it did not loosen its grip on him as he completed a chemical engineering degree at haifa s technion or when he excelled in a haganah company commanders course during the war of independence the memory of his father s murder gave him the motivation and the cruel strength of an avenger in december 1947 he received the command of a northern infantry corps platoon and in january 1948 he defended isolated kibbutzim in the eastern galilee in april and may 1948 he led the conquest of palestinian villages in the eastern galilee and in june and july he fought the egyptian army in the south in october 1948 he drove palestinian villagers from their homes in the north during ten months of erce ghting the twenty two year old platoon commander saw hundreds of arabs killed by his men and buried dozens of his fellow soldiers many of them friends the war toughened him and hardened his heart it taught him that he was resourceful capable and bold at the end of the war the platoon commander felt that there was no such thing as mission impossible there was nothing in the world that could not be conquered after the war he worked as an engineer and in 1951 he was called upon by israel dostrovsky dostrovsky led a double life a brilliant scientist at the weizmann institute of science in rehovot he was also the commander of a secret israeli army unit hemed gimmel dostrovsky appointed his new recruit as the operations o cer of hemed gimmel the engineer s rst assignment was to conduct a mineral survey of the negev to search for bitumen phosphorus and uranium he remembers well the journey to the desert especially the moment he broke open a desert rock with a geologist s hammer to nd a sh scale like substance glowing green in the night but the decisive moment occurred on his return from the desert back in rehovot he met with dostrovsky who took from the safe in his o ce a big metal lump covered in wax paper the professor placed it in the hands of the excited young major and asked him if he knew what it was like lead but much heavier than lead the young man answered uranium it must be uranium both men were silent but they both understood without saying it explicitly what the purpose of hemed gimmel was and what its mission was to create a new bell jar for the jewish state on the table in the ramat aviv living room is a stack of international scienti c journals alongside a copy of avner cohen s book my host praises cohen s book and in this manner he signals that we both know what we are talking about we will conduct our conversation under the shroud of opacity there was no general plan my host begins professor ernst david bergmann did his thing and israel dostrovsky did his thing and they both began to talk to the norwegians and the french i worked on uranium recovery from phosphate rock dostrovsky worked on heavy water and the physicists studied nuclear science but all of these activities were not coordinated and they were not part of a consolidated work plan they stemmed from the understanding of about a dozen people that this age was the nuclear age and that israel must be at its forefront that if israel fell behind the arabs in the nuclear arms race it would cease to exist the arabs were too many to defeat and eventually they would be too strong to defeat what happened in the galilee villages in the spring of 1948 and in the fall of 1948 will not happen again the clock was ticking we were in a race against time the citizens of this country didn t understand but we understood the army generals didn t get it but we did that s why we rose every morning at ve and worked until well after sundown that s why we read studied experimented improvised invented wherever a new capability appeared we quickly harnessed it we progressed step by step and because it was the mid 1950s and the spirit was that of the mid 1950s no one asked where we were running to everyone just kept running running all the time from the mid 1950s until the end of the 1960s no one ever stopped running in the laboratories of international partnerships the marathon began in rehovot where dostrovsky s team built the cumbersome kleinschmidt apparatus that distilled heavy water in a unique process the operation o cer s team brought phosphate rock from the negev and developed various methods to extract uranium from it in vats of solvent the distillation of water enriched with heavy oxygen o18 was an immediate success it turned 1950s israel into one of the leaders in the eld but the uranium extraction was slow and arduous years of hard work yielded only a few grams but both processes forged an initial capability in the eld of nuclear research both aroused international interest and allowed israel to enter the weizmann institute amid the orange groves israel acquired its nuclear foothold the rst nuclear ties between israel and france were brokered by ernst david bergmann in the late 1940s in late 1956 bergmann signed a preliminary agreement with the french to build a nuclear reactor in dimona shimon peres forged the diplomatic alliance on nuclear matters and the french signed the binding agreements in 1957 but the two young men who nurtured and deepened the ties with the french the undercover scienti c attaché shalhevet freier and the operations o cer of hemed gimmel received few accolades working directly with the french atomic energy commission cea these two energetic men gained the trust of the french and fostered a scienti c technological and strategic intimacy between paris and rehovot in 1956 and 1957 the operations o cer made frequent visits to paris hammering out an agreement with the french that required each side to keep the other fully apprised of its advancements in 1957 my host moved to france in order to study the most critical stages of the nuclear process and in 1958 he received access to france s holy of holies its most advanced atomic facility from that moment on everything was open to him everything revealed after completing his military service the young operations o cer of hemed gimmel became the engineer in charge of the most sensitive and most secret part of the french israeli nuclear program in the winter when i was born the action returned to israel seven years after he went down to the negev in a command car in search of uranium the engineer again went down to the desert in a command car in search of the best location to build the french israeli reactor the survey team included eight frenchmen and two israelis the israelis detested each other the pedantic colonel manes pratt former ordnance corps commander and an engineer by profession was in charge of building israel s los alamos while the brash and sometimes impetuous engineer was to be responsible for the most critical part of the future installation but at this point in the plot both israeli men were minor characters the decision makers were the french and when the command car convoy reached triangulation point 472 on the rotem plateau the french concurred that this was the spot the israeli nuclear reactor would be built fourteen kilometers southeast of the town of dimona according to the o cial agreements the reactor was to have been a modest a air of the type el 102 with an output of only 24 megawatts but according to avner cohen on the ground the reactor that the french company saint gobain built for israel resembled the g1 reactor it had built in marcoule for the french republic according to international publications the output of the upgraded reactor in the desert was at least 24 megawatts and according to those same publications it included a secret plutonium separation plant that was not mentioned in the o cial agreements i have reason to believe that during the three years he spent in france the engineer probably took part in the planning of the most essential unit of the israeli reactor and during his frequent visits to israel he surely observed its construction he may well have been the one who solved the severe problems that arose from the proximity of the separation plant to the reactor itself still the engineer has no doubts about the matter however signi cant his or manes pratt s contributions might be dimona was france s grand gesture toward israel it was the parting gift of a declining colonial power to the young frontier nation that the west erected in the east and was now leaving on its own because of his intense rivalry with manes pratt the engineer was not present in dimona when the construction of the reactor was completed in 1961 and he was not present at the negev nuclear research center as dimona was o cially known when the french departed in 1962 nor was he present when the reactor was activated and went critical at the end of 1963 in fact during the rst years of dimona the engineer watched from afar but when he was appointed to the helm of dimona in 1965 he discovered to his surprise that his most important work would be political by 1960 the united states knew that france was building a nuclear reactor for israel on the rotem plateau president john f kennedy was committed to the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons and was staunchly opposed to the production of nuclear weapons in dimona according to an agreement signed between israel and the united states american inspection teams were allowed to visit the desert reactor once a year beginning in 1962 on their rst four visits the americans discovered nothing but with every visit israel s posturing became less and less convincing to the americans by 1965 according to avner cohen and others israel faced its most dramatic juncture the engineer does not tell me so explicitly but it is clear before he turned forty the role of the son of an orange grower from rishon lezion was to deal with the americans his mission was to win them over pleasantly calculatingly elegantly so that dimona could continue to function and in order to achieve this goal according to non israeli sources simulated control rooms were built the entrances to underground levels were bricked up and pigeon droppings were scattered around some buildings in which the forbidden installations were housed to give the impression that they were not in use the saturdays on which the americans visited dimona were tense and exhausting the national leadership followed from afar every moment of conversation between the engineer and the inquisitive inspectors every moment was critical any mistake could be fatal but the engineer s self con dence and charm worked wonders the march 1966 inspection passed without incident as did the following inspection in april 1967 but there was one last hurdle for the israelis to overcome immediately after he was appointed president in 1958 charles de gaulle made it clear that he adamantly opposed the nuclear cooperation between israel and france in 1960 he ordered its cessation but pro israeli french ministers allowed the completion of the construction work in dimona in 1961 and 1962 even in 1965 when de gaulle became hostile toward israel the french israeli nuclear cooperation continued as i now learn without french raw materials and french technology dimona could not have functioned throughout the 1960s senior members of the french atomic energy commission understood this they felt obligated toward israel because of the young state s scienti c contributions because of the holocaust and because of the intelligence it provided on algeria even those among them who were not jewish believed that israel represented a historical act of justice and regarded it as a western bulwark in the east the engineer s dramatic task was to maintain the alliance with the professional leaders of the french nuclear project who de ed their president in order to make dimona possible i want to question the engineer about the nal stage of the process but i know he will not answer my questions about production directly after so many years of adamant silence he will not yield easily now so i ask for another whisky outside the living room windows evening descends in order to ease his way forward i place in front of my host an almost inscrutable entry from the journal of munia mardor the ceo of rafael advanced defense systems it was published in his memoir but its signi cance was only noticed some years after publication by aluf benn of haaretz and was later quoted by avner cohen in his book it is dated may 28 1967 i went to the assembly hall the teams were assembling the weapon system the development and production of which was completed prior to the war the time was after midnight engineers and technicians mostly young were concentrating on their work their facial expressions were solemn pensive as if they fully recognized the enormous perhaps fateful value of the system they brought to operational alert it was evident that the people of the project were under tension the utmost tension physical and spiritual alike the engineer laughs he knows what mardor wrote but he dismisses it out of hand he won t speak about dimona s decisive moment but he will say something about dimona s spirit we never trembled with excitement we never opened bottles of champagne we were physicists and chemists and engineers who did what we were supposed to do without dramatic ourishes or lofty words yet the race was not nished on may 17 1967 shortly before the six day war two egyptian mig 21 jets made a brief high altitude reconnaissance ight over dimona causing alarm in jerusalem the engineer had to take extraordinary steps to protect his unique project but in the year following the war the engineer faced his greatest technological challenge and opportunity post 1967 israel felt a sense of urgency because of the extinction fears that the nation experienced in the weeks prior to the war but because of the decisive victory post 1967 israel also had a new sense of omnipotence the outcome of this mixture of fear and omnipotence was technological chutzpah according to avner cohen during the engineer s third year as director general of dimona the facility tripled its production capability after this success and another and a third the engineer s audacity knew no limits under his command israeli scientists engineers and technicians developed remarkable know how they turned israel into a self su cient nuclear nation no longer a french protégé or an american dependent the jewish state was now perceived worldwide as an advanced nuclear power and then there was the nal stage of the process the american inspectors visits of 1968 and 1969 passed without a hitch together with the physicist amos de shalit the engineer would exhaust the inspectors and lead them astray and yet again manage to obscure the secrets of dimona but after the eighteen hour inspection of july 12 1969 golda meir changed tack and undertook a forthright dialogue with the americans under the in uence of henry kissinger the united states also changed tack in late september 1969 in a meeting between the newly elected u s president richard nixon and prime minister meir the united states and israel reached an unwritten understanding concerning dimona the reactor on the rotem plateau had become a fait accompli and the international community accepted and adopted israel s policy of opacity regarding its existence what interests me most is the event the engineer says occurred in december 1966 this was the moment in which according to international publications israel assembled the rst metallic sphere that could take out a city were there really no goose bumps did the hands not tremble was there really no sense that we had eaten the forbidden fruit did the engineer feel no fear or trepidation at all my host does not con rm or deny the relevant international publications but let s say they are accurate he says smiling what s all the fuss isn t it clear that israel must defend itself isn t it clear that israel must deter its enemies someone had to do that job someone had to be at the weizmann institute in 1955 and in france in 1960 and in dimona in 1966 it had to be done so he did it and he did what he did as best he could helming one of israel s rst high tech enterprises and this israel s acumen and cunning and enterprise demonstrated wherewithal surpassing all expectations and guaranteeing israel a half century of life intellectually as i glance up from my notes to the beaming face of the engineer my rst thought is of his murdered father though the murder occurred four years after the end of the arab revolt the shooting in the orange grove in the spring of 1943 a ected the engineer in the same way that the wave of violence of 1936 39 a ected his generation the murder turned him into a tough formidable ghter bent on revenge the spoiled and indi erent adolescent became a fearless soldier free of inhibitions he fought as commander of a golani infantry platoon as the operations o cer of hemed gimmel as an engineer in france and as the director of dimona he invested his inner strength and his steely determination in the jews national struggle for their land and against the arabs the obligation to guarantee the existence of israel swept aside all other concerns at every juncture the engineer had only one mission to make sure the jews would not die to make sure that no enemy would rise up from the bush and fell them one ne spring morning my second thought is about the arab villages the engineer destroyed in 1948 even if he does not say so it is clear that a straight line leads from those villages to dimona the expulsion of 1948 necessitated dimona because of those dead villages it was clear that the palestinians would always pursue us that they would always want to atten our own villages and so it was necessary to create a shield between us and them and the engineer took it upon himself to build that shield we would not allow the palestinian tragedy to jeopardize the monumental enterprise designed to end our own tragedy my third thought is about the engineer himself the more i listen to him the more i understand that he cannot delve any deeper he does not possess ben gurion s historical acuity amos de shalit s tragic insight or dostrovsky s dialectical shrewdness he truly does not comprehend the complexity of his actions the problematic aspects of his deeds he has no perception of the enormity and the horror of his accomplishments he is possessed by a strong national imperative an iron will an impressive propensity for action but he does not have the ability to see his life s work in perspective his ability to do is derived from his ability not to see the implications of his deeds i tell him my host looks at me quizzically as if trying to read my thoughts i answer his silent questions candidly that his accomplishments are almost incomprehensible in scope in the mid 1960s israel was a nation of 2 5 million people that nevertheless succeeded in acquiring for itself a capability that germany italy and japan still do not have despite its small size and the di cult circumstances in which it existed it was perceived as one of the six leading powers of the world and it did not stop there immediately after crossing the threshold according to international publications it built an arsenal of dozens and dozens of nuclear warheads a bombs and h bombs low yield and high yield nuclear artillery shells and nuclear mines if even a fraction of what has been written over the years is true i tell him then we re talking about a stupefying success according to non israeli nuclear experts even during the early years when the engineer was in charge of dimona the facility in the desert succeeded in producing its wares not only with french separation technology but with an israeli method those experts claim that with proven imported technology and with homegrown novel technology the scienti c installation produced what no one imagined it could produce an astonishing capability of mass destruction the engineer smiles he neither con rms nor denies but the technological achievement is only part of the story i say no less astounding than israel s ability to build a bomb was israel s decision to act as if it did not have a bomb in the beginning there were two schools of thought those who believed in the bomb absolutely like moshe dayan and shimon peres who thought that national security could be based on the bomb and those who opposed it absolutely like allon and galili who believed the bomb would ultimately endanger national security but after the security seminar ben gurion conducted at a retreat on the shore of the sea of galilee in 1962 a synthesis of these two approaches emerged a doctrine according to which israel would be a nuclear power but would act is if it were not this way it would not goad the arabs or accelerate the nuclearization of the middle east it would not adopt a reckless and immoral security strategy concerning anything and everything nuclear israel would be much much more cautious than the united states and nato concerning anything and everything nuclear israel would be the responsible adult of the international community it would well understand the formidable nature of the nuclear demon and would keep it locked in the basement the engineer smiles with what seems to be appreciation of this analysis i go on there is a third achievement that is just as important i tell him the dimona decade 1957 67 is also the rst decade of israeli normalcy it is not only physicists and nuclear engineers who travel to paris in those years painters and sculptors study at the école des beaux arts writers and poets frequent latin quarter cafés returning to israel they bring with them sartre camus brassens prévert and a new individualistic spirit so do their colleagues who travel to new york and london some are in uenced by w h auden some by philip larkin others by andy warhol tel aviv becomes a city of cultural and artistic fervor in which young israeli born artists and writers rebel against old guard zionist edicts in kibbutz hulda young amos oz writes his rst groundbreaking short stories in jerusalem a b yehoshua writes modernist novels expressing the voice of a new generation while a french nuclear reactor is built in the negev israel becomes a modern western nation in which i replaces we there is a remarkable link between these two processes dimona is not only an expression of modernity and individuality but a facilitator of modernity and individuality under its new bell jar the new israelis can be more relaxed and less mobilized they can be far more liberal and loose than they were before and they can actually pursue personal happiness dimona enables the inhabitants of the jewish national home to live relatively sane and full lives that are not fundamentally di erent from those of western europeans for almost half a century i say to my host the three achievements were valid the bell jar solution worked dimona was astounding in its existence and in its opacity and in the quasi normalcy it fostered dimona symbolized the best of israel of the 1960s the vision imagination soberness daring tenacity power restraint and resolve a stern rule of rationality a security mindedness that was not imperialistic a patriotism that was not chauvinistic a unique combination of diplomatic ingenuity and intelligence sophistication and a modicum of modesty a matter of factness a concise understanding of reality and a valiant e ort to manage this reality an attempt to nd a rational solution to an insane situation dimona gave israel half a century of relative security and gave the middle east forty six years of relative stability because of the regional con agrations that erupted periodically during this period israelis did not consider the much greater res that could have broken out dimona prevented total wars it brought about peace agreements but after forty six years the question remained was it right and what would happen when the arabs possessed a demon of their own didn t the engineer and his colleagues open the gates of a future hell the engineer likes my analysis but dislikes my questions he rises from his armchair and says he would like to show me something he walks slowly to the next room and returns with an oblong album in his hands the front cover is made of a thin sheet of copper hammered with the likeness of a dome amid palm trees in the desert the photographs in the album are almost all of the dome the construction of the dome 1960 the completion of the dome 1961 prime minister ben gurion in front of the dome 1963 prime minister eshkol in front of the dome 1965 prime minister meir in front of the dome 1970 defense minister dayan in front of the dome 1972 and the small group of nuclear engineers who led ben gurion eshkol meir and dayan on their tours of the dome i see the exultant expression on dayan s face the solemn expression on meir s face i recognize the faces of many of the engineers who are in their late thirties and early forties i remember them dancing at independence day parties and playing with us children in the sand on summer holidays at the beach i remember them telling jokes and performing magic tricks for the ten year olds we were and here they are showing golda meir and moshe dayan the secret here they are displaying the quiet resolve of the 1948 generation they are neither triumphant nor anxious neither prideful nor fearful but the expressions on their faces and the way they hold themselves seem to say it had to be done and so we did it it was not for us to ask why in many of the photos the engineer is in the lead brisk and determined he walks ahead his bald pate shining above thick horn rimmed glasses and thick lips he exudes con dence and conviction he appears proud of the citroën d3 in which he meets the dignitaries at the helipad and in which he takes them on a tour of his desert kingdom but the photographs betray nothing of the secret itself even in this secret album the secret is kept instead i see the heavy trucks of the solel boneh building company in the dust of the desert construction site the emerging streamlined structures of sixties modernism the palm trees and casuarinas i see new lawns bougainvillea plantings and a large silver dome like a cathedral for a tragic modern age and yet one of the photographs sends a shiver up my spine it is a photograph of an empty room under the dome everything works without human intervention everything takes place in silence if the international publications are correct in this silence are produced a few dozen grams of enriched uranium every day and a few kilograms of plutonium every year if these publications are right the quiet and matter of fact israelis of my childhood processed the plutonium and fashioned it into black metal buttons are these black metal buttons what golda meir sees as she faces the camera terror in her eyes there is only one secret the engineer is willing to divulge as he closes the oblong album in the beginning he tells me golda didn t much like him and she didn t much like the facility he was in charge of but gradually she grew to like him and began to take a greater interest in the facility she called it varenye varenye the jar of fruit preserves that eastern european jews kept in the cupboard for times of trouble so if a pogrom broke out they would have something to feed their families until the fury passed when the engineer would enter her o ce to report the goings on in dimona the prime minister would ask nu what s new with varenye in october 1973 it looked as if golda meir s israel might be in need of its varenye israel was forced to consider its dimona capabilities and it decided to make threatening use of them but even then meir was very careful she acted responsibly and sensibly according to non israeli sources israel revealed its nuclear missiles for a brief moment for russian and american satellites to photograph but never seriously considered using them immediately after the danger passed dimona disappeared again but the trauma remained the yom kippur war proved unequivocally that dimona was israel s unseen anchor an inseparable part of its existence without dimona israel was like a lone tamarisk in the desert but the historical respite that dimona gave israel is nearing an end israel s nuclear hegemony in the middle east is probably coming to a close sooner or later the israeli monopoly will be broken first one hostile state will go nuclear then a second hostile state then a third in the rst half of the twenty rst century the middle east is bound to be nuclearized the world s rst multirival nuclear arena might emerge in the world s most unstable region i describe my concerns to my host at this very moment iranian engineers are doing exactly what you did in the 1950s 1960s and 1970s i say to him at this very moment all kinds of mini dimonas are being built in natanz and parchin nuclear scientists are being sent abroad to learn everything they can from the west intelligence agents are stealing what they can from both east and west the iranians are now running the marathon you ran from 1951 to 1967 and they are not alone egypt saudi arabia turkey and algeria have all expressed nuclear interest especially if iran succeeds they all believe that if we have a right to our dimona they have a right to theirs and when other middle eastern nations exercise their rights our dimona will turn from a blessing into a curse we will revisit allon s and galili s warnings and discover that they were right half a century later we will revisit the essays of the intellectuals i read in my father s library and discover how prescient they were the thing that allowed israel to ourish from 1967 into the second decade of the new millennium will become the biggest threat facing israel it might turn the lives of israelis into a nightmare the engineer does not have an argument to refute mine quite the opposite he can de nitely foresee a middle east glowing in radioactive green he doesn t mince words disparaging the arabs in the most politically incorrect terms possible he concludes that they won t behave the way we behaved they won t act responsibly if they acquire the capability they ll use it right here in the skies over tel aviv as far as the engineer is concerned there is only one answer a preemptive strike he who comes to kill you rise up and kill him rst even though he believes they already have a bomb strike them nonetheless strike them with everything we ve got be proactive now as he and his colleagues were proactive then we cannot sit idly he bellows we cannot wait until one ne spring day a white mushroom cloud rises over what is left of our homes i show the engineer parts of an article i wrote in the fall of 1999 when haaretz newspaper hired a defender jeep to take me to the desert to circle the secret installation in the negev from the beginning israel well understood the dangers inherent in dimona it built dimona but decided not to make irresponsible use of it it did not use the unconventional advantage of dimona in order to gain the upper hand in conventional diplomatic gamesmanship conventional political gamesmanship or conventional military gamesmanship it did not incorporate dimona into its day to day security strategy did not base its military assumptions on it and did not make political capital of it it did not calm the israeli public with it and did not weaken the army s readiness with it it really kept it only as an option as an alternative only to be thought of for the worst possible calamity as an ultramodern answer to the fundamental primeval anxiety of israeli existence seemingly opacity is a joke an agreed upon convention something that everyone knows but of which no one speaks publicly but in truth opacity is genius there is something profoundly wise about israel s desire not to know about dimona to see it only in the grainy photographs taken from a very great distance with a telephoto lens to hear news of dimona only from foreign sources and international publications alongside the decision that dimona was essential there developed in israel an understanding that dimona is impossible and in order to reduce to a minimum the possibility that any use might one day be made of it israel understood that it could in no way rely on dimona life should be lived as if dimona does not exist but dimona is here and when the dusty defender climbs the hill recommended for viewing the secret and the morning fog lifts you can suddenly see what you see in satellite photos how the concrete and asphalt and palm trees of dimona were laid and planted in all of this desert how the negev nuclear research center was laid in this vast desert like a tiny square of well organized western outpost like an isolated settlement of israeli modernism encircled by electric fences i step out of the jeep and look around me at all that surrounds dimona the open maw of the little crater the steep descent to sodom and think about the people who built it mostly they were not comfortable with words feelings or insights they were the physicists and chemists and engineers of the jewish generation of the mid twentieth century they labored under the intense impression of what had happened to the jews in the rst half of the twentieth century and so when the state of israel reached an impasse and told them to break that impasse they broke it they built the reactor that in more ways than one is the core of the zionist revolution they did this without thinking too much without slogans or clichés or stray thoughts they did it with the certitude of good engineers pulled by the great magnet of national commitment and a duty to serve for better or for worse no questions no qualms just action and now when the sun rises high above the mountains of jordan when the desert air begins to warm and the silver dome shines in the distance i think about its place in our lives because in the most basic sense it is our real taboo our common secret not secret it is the real thing scienti c and concrete that embodies the root of our existence here and the unique predicament of our existence here that s why we prefer to avert our gaze from dimona that s why we prefer not to know much about it that s why we prefer to know that it is there but not what it is that s why we chose to ignore the tragedy enmeshed in israel s great secret the engineer places the article on the table in front of him removes his glasses and tells me a ectionately that i think too much i think of the things that he would rather not think about this is how he and his generation were raised make the best of every moment so that tomorrow will be better than today and the day after tomorrow will be better than tomorrow if everyone spent as much time thinking as you do he tells me they would never act if everyone had spent as much time thinking these thoughts would have paralyzed them and kept them from building dimona but you invited me i tell the engineer you wanted to talk you thought it was important to present things in the right context you thought it important that what you did would not be forgotten the engineer xes me with his piercing gaze i know my days are numbered he says another month another six months another year in a certain sense i am the last of my generation of those who were there in the beginning the doers i am truly the last and that s why i wanted to place in your hands a certain understanding not knowledge but understanding through you i wanted to ensure that your generation will know what my generation did we never talked we bit our lips but it is unacceptable to me that because we didn t talk our part will be forgotten that s why after a long deliberation i invited you over this evening that s why i spoke to you as i did i have never spoken like this before this is my legacy the engineer is tired we drink another whisky the last one for the evening in the background daniel barenboim plays the kreutzer sonata what a genius the engineer says a self hating israeli but still a genius unbelievable how many geniuses this country has spawned unbelievable what music and literature and poetry this country has created here on the edge of the desert in the line of death we have built a nation of talent and joy and endless creativity the engineer asks me about the book i am writing because he opened his heart to me i open my heart to him i tell him about the valley the orange grove masada lydda the housing estate i tell him dimona was the inevitable outcome of the valley the orange grove masada lydda and the housing estate and i dare say to him that there is a tragedy here we brought not only water to the negev but heavy water we brought not only agricultural modernity to the land but nuclear modernity because between the holocaust and revival between horror and hope between life and death we did the colossal deed of dimona and to this day it is still impossible to know if this deed is a blessing for generations to come or a malignant curse perhaps it is no coincidence that we are speaking now i say to my host you are a doer a man of action whereas i am an interpreter of actions you are a builder and i try to fathom the meaning of your buildings you are experience and i am consciousness and you need consciousness even your neighbors don t know what they owe you all around you is a hedonistic pleasure seeking tel aviv that has forgotten what it owes you and you see how the wheels of history are starting to spin in reverse there are the bushehr reactor and the natanz centrifuges in iran for the rst time in your life you re not thinking only as an engineer in terms of problems and solutions you too are now consciousness you see context and the context lls you with pride but it also lls you with dread you realize what you ve done and it is too big for you too big for any human being the engineer has had enough it s late and he is tired he promises to think about what i ve said he rises from the armchair and leads me past the watercolors and the oil paintings of the orange groves of his childhood when he takes me to the door he suddenly pats me tenderly on the shoulder and tells me that this evening he has said things that he hadn t imagined he would say revisited places he never thought he would revisit and he makes me promise that i ll treat his radioactive material with care that i ll do him justice and i ll do dimona justice and i ll do the state of israel the justice it deserves a month later the engineer died photo credit 8 1 eight settlement 1975 one cannot understand the settlements without understanding the six day war in may 1967 the egyptian army entered the sinai desert and blockaded the straits of tiran directly threatening the state of israel the international community failed to respond and many in the jewish state panicked they feared a pan arab invasion that would crush israel but when israel launched a preemptive strike on june 5 1967 it had the upper hand within three hours the israel defense forces destroyed the air forces of four arab states within six days it conquered the sinai desert the west bank and the golan heights the arab armies were overwhelmed and arab states were humiliated as tiny israel tripled its size and became a dominant regional power nineteen years after it was founded the israeli republic had become an empire nineteen hundred years after the destruction of the second temple jews were again the masters of jerusalem s temple mount on which the ancient temples once stood settlements without one understanding the yom kippur war on october 6 1973 when the nation was fasting to observe the high holiday of yom kippur the egyptian army caught israel by surprise it crossed the suez canal and captured the bar lev forti cation line which was built to defend israel s southern ank simultaneously the syrian army crossed the northern border crushed israeli defenses and occupied most of the golan heights within days thousands of israeli soldiers were killed wounded or captured the air force lost a third of its cannot understand also the jets at times it seemed israel was about to break defense minister moshe dayan shaken to his core spoke in apocalyptic terms about the imminent destruction of the third temple only after ten days of bloody ghting did israel seize the initiative it struck the invading armored divisions crossed the suez canal and threatened the egyptian capital cairo while simultaneously closing in on the syrian capital damascus but the belated military accomplishments did not dispel the trauma of near defeat the war was perceived as a grand failure faith in israel s leadership and army was fractured so was israeli self con dence for the rst time in its history zionism was not a process of expansion but of retreat the settlements were a direct response to these two wars the swift turn of events in 1967 from fear of annihilation to resounding triumph sideswiped the rigorous self discipline that had held zionism together for seventy years the israeli nation was drunk with victory lled with euphoria hubris and messianic delusions of grandeur six years later the almost instantaneous shift from an imperial state of mind to cowering despondency was followed by a deep crisis of leadership values and identity the nation was lled with despair self doubt and existential fear let down by israel many sought comfort in judaism the two diametrically opposed war experiences which occurred within six years of each other threw the israeli psyche out of balance the incredible contrast between them gave birth to the settlement in 1980 when i was a twenty three year old student i rst came to realize that the settlements were a calamity in the making when i was twenty ve i wrote a pamphlet for the peace now movement that described the settlement project as folly it was the rst text i ever published and it assumed that if the number of jewish israelis to settle in the west bank were to quintuple from about 20 000 to 100 000 israel would be lost today there are nearly 400 000 jewish israeli settlers in the west bank my dire warnings as a student as a peace activist and as a journalist were in vain the grand and noble campaigns of the israeli peace movement and the international community to stop the expansion of the settlements failed the nightmare we envisioned turned into reality israel to erect a that is why some thirty years later i am driving to ofra the mother of all settlements not to ght it but to understand it to understand how the settlements turned from rightist fantasy to historical fact to understand what the forces were that impelled late twentieth century futile anachronistic colonialist project to understand how ofra came to be on a cool winter day i drive east from tel aviv to ariel on the highway crossing the green line and cutting across samaria the northern west bank along this road twenty small settlements and one settlers town were planted then i drive south from ariel to eli and from eli to ofra along this road which follows the water divide line of the shomron mountain range are another twenty or so settlements situated amid palestinian villages the jagged precipices of the mountainous landscape are as stunning as the demographic reality is appalling under december s crystal clear skies it seems that the entanglement created by the west bank settlements cannot be undone occupation seems irreversible the most beautiful region of the biblical land of israel is now the most distressing region occupied by modern israel it is sublime and depressing here majestic and sad perhaps even hopeless a day earlier i had met with yoel bin nun one of the founders of the gush emunim settlers movement and of ofra in his home at the southern west bank settlement of alon shvut on a cold wet night as the wind howled outside i asked him how he had come to found the settlers movement what were the forces that brought israel to build settlements in the territories it occupied in june 1967 bin nun s answer was his life story which begins with the arrival of his mother in palestine on one of the last ships to leave europe in the summer of 1939 on the eve of world war ii growing up in the late 1950s in haifa he received an enlightened religious education and was a member of a moderate national religious youth movement in the mid 1960s he studied in the restrained and reserved atmosphere of the elitist mercaz harav yeshiva in jerusalem and then in the spring of 1967 he experienced a de ning moment three weeks before the six day war rabbi ziyehuda hacohen kook assembled his students to share with them a yearning he had secreted in his heart for two decades where is our nablus the elderly founder of the yeshiva cried out as if experiencing a divine revelation right there and then where is our hebron where is our jericho where is our kingdom of israel where is the house of god a storm was brewing outside the tall windows as an incensed bin nun paced the room when war broke out in early june bin nun fought in the alleys of east jerusalem twenty two days after hearing rabbi kook s prophetic fulminations he found himself on the temple mount the rabbi s cries echoing in his ears he told me that he felt as if the skies had opened and touched the earth all of a sudden he said the land was calling to us beckoning us the land lled our soul it was as if the bible were suddenly alive a historic event of biblical magnitude had occurred the state of israel had returned the people of israel to the land of israel as bin nun spoke to me his eyes were ablaze he stood up he sat down he walked back and forth in his living room tugging at his beard he told me about the rst gathering of hundreds of rabbis and yeshiva students in jerusalem two months after the war everyone there was convinced that this land was our land and we would never leave the germ of the gush emunim settlers movement was formed on that day true it did not yet have a name or a platform but in the summer of 1967 it was already clear that the national religious community who up until the six day war did not dare covet greater israel and did not swear by greater israel was now completely devoted to greater israel religious zionism was determined to settle judea and samaria and make them an integral part of the sovereign state of israel yet not much happened between the six day war and the yom kippur war yes gush etzion to the south of jerusalem was rebuilt after being abandoned and destroyed in 1948 in hebron a new jewish community was established forty years after the massacre of 1929 but the overall number of settlers in the west bank was less than three thousand and not one of them lived in samaria the labor government did not allow the expansionist yearning of the national religious movement to be ful lled yet the yom kippur war weakened the labor government the postwar trauma and bewilderment allowed the messianic impulse that already existed to become a determined and aggressive political force the dam that had kept at bay those eager to settle judea and samaria could no longer stand against the rising tide bin nun reconstructed for me the sequence of events as the 1973 war drew to a close a group of young religious women met with prime minister golda meir and suggested that she establish a jewish settlement in samaria to boost morale and to prove that the yom kippur trauma could not break the spirit of the people of israel meir thought the young women had lost their minds but when hanan porat benny katzover menachem felix and yoel bin nun returned from war in the early winter of 1974 they picked up the struggle from the point at which the women had left o organizing a sit down strike near golda meir s residence and o ces to their surprise hundreds and then thousands joined them a mass movement was born that pressured the government to allow the building of a rst jewish settlement north of jerusalem the stando between the energetic zealots and the enfeebled labor government lasted a year and a half time and again the determined young believers tried to seize land for settlement in samaria and time and again they were evacuated time and again illegal outposts were erected in the west bank and time and again they were demolished but the ongoing confrontation with the establishment forged consolidated and empowered what was now the con dent settlers movement of gush emunim more and more religious young people identi ed with the new protest movement and joined it even among the nonreligious there was growing sympathy for those who were perceived as the new pioneers of a new era there was something attractive and tempting in the enthusiasm and devotion of those determined to go to samaria even israelis who realized that settling occupied territory was illegal and immoral and irrational found it di cult to resist settlement gush emunim was seen as the new torch of zionism at a time when other torches were being extinguished it was not the rabbis who led gush emunim yoel bin nun told me the real leaders were a dozen or so dynamic and charismatic young men in their late twenties and early thirties they had in them a rare combination of fervor and pragmatism idealism and slyness they had both religious faith and political skill they admired the historical labor movement and they despised what labor had become combining messianic judaism with israeli chutzpah they were determined to replace even to inherit the idealistic pioneering movement that the labor movement had once been in annel shirts army coats and knitted yarmulkes these men became israel s new avant garde they mobilized thousands inspired tens of thousands and had the tacit support of hundreds of thousands they evoked fear in the hearts of israel s elected government while the moribund labor party was seen as yesterday s leader gush emunim perceived itself as the leader of tomorrow it challenged secular zionism and democratic israel and demanded to establish in samaria its own ein harod ofra is no ein harod it did not issue from a desperate diaspora but from a sovereign state it did not intend to give the jews shelter but to build the jews a kingdom it did not stand up to a foreign power but against the jewish democratic state and yet for its founders ofra is the direct descendant of ein harod like ein harod it pitched a tent where no jews had lived for thousands of years like ein harod it was founded against all odds like ein harod it evinced the triumph of willpower in its own way ofra tried to impose its own zionist utopia on reality just as ein harod did fty four years earlier pinchas wallerstein welcomes me to his red roofed ofra home with a warm handshake another founder of ofra wallerstein is very di erent from bin nun short clean shaven vigorous and practical he is not a man of deep thought but of swift action yet like bin nun he answers my questions with his life story his impoverished childhood in the haifa working class suburb of kiryat atta a father who left home at 5 00 a m every morning to distribute fresh bread from a horse drawn cart a mother whose ready smile hid a heavy holocaust anguish both his father and mother were alone in the world their families had been annihilated yet their young son an israeli sabra was determined not to be miserable not to feel poor or bitter although he was small and dyslexic he became a social dynamo although he was expelled from his high school yeshiva he was a leader in the national religious youth movement which became his real home although he lived on the fringes of israel he admired the kibbutz and dreamed of being a kibbutznik in the 1967 war he was badly injured and was hospitalized for two years but he overcame his disability and his dyslexia married and had children and nished school he was always restless always looking for something else somewhere else after the 1973 war wallerstein realized that he wanted to nd a way to resuscitate zionism at the age of twenty ve he became the leader of a group of young men and women seeking to settle in samaria but only in early 1975 did he come up with a practical idea that would actually make settlement in samaria possible rather than clash with the government he would lull it into accepting and later endorsing a cunning settlement fait accompli the pragmatic pinchas wallerstein then made all the preparations needed to spearhead the rst settlement on shomron mountain another founder of ofra yehuda etzion greets me with suspicion what exactly do i want what am i looking for in ofra the tall bearded settler nds it inconceivable that a left wing journalist like me can be balanced and fair yet after an hour of idle chat he softens he makes me strong turkish co ee o ers me raisins and roasted almonds and begins to talk etzion is a person of depth unlike bin nun and wallerstein he felt the yearning for the land of biblical israel from early childhood he remembers the fury his parents felt after the war of independence because ben gurion did not insist on keeping the old city in our hands he remembers the admiration for the brutal stern gang of pre independence israel who vowed to forcibly evict the british from the land and yet even for etzion the six day war was the tipping point the big bang when east jerusalem was liberated he felt a delirious joy he tells me he felt a yearning for the temple mount where the first and second temples once stood he experienced the realization that the temple mount was what mattered and the determination to climb up the mount to bring the bible to life six years after the skies opened in 1967 the skies came crashing down with the yom kippur war the questions hit him as he was carrying corpses down from the golan heights what has happened to us why have we fallen how did we become so terribly weak yehuda etzion tells me that worse than the war was the political avalanche in its aftermath suddenly the government of israel was willing to give up everything outside pressure was building but from within there was no real resistance on the contrary there was cynicism nihilism defeatism in the winter months that followed the war he realized that something had gone terribly wrong that something profound had been lost over the years israel had experienced a spiritual decline secular pioneering zionism had been replaced by complacent zionism and seized by a secular weakness of will there was cultural assimilation there was mental surrender to the west and war made all these underlying processes apparent true the third temple had not fallen this time around but it might fall when encountering the next challenge so the mission of salvation was now on the shoulders of believers the torch had been passed to religious zionism and it was the mission of religious zionism to light the re on the mountaintops one settlement on shomron mountain would not solve the problem but one settlement was certainly feasible and it could make a statement it would lead zionism in a totally new direction etzion tells me that gush emunim had a strategic rationale for building ofra the understanding that eventually israel s permanent border would pass along the last jewish furrow they believed that no territory without jewish settlement would remain jewish but etzion admits that this hawkish strategy was only a small part of the ambitious endeavor nablus the capital of samaria is the most signi cant city in the land of israel he tells me it s the city where joshua renewed the covenant with god after the conquest of jericho nearby elon moreh is the site where abraham built his rst altar after he entered israel at elon moreh god said to abraham to your o spring i shall give this land so divine revelation takes place in elon moreh and in nablus the rst aliyah of the people of israel to the land of israel was aliyah to shomron mountain secular zionism never climbed shomron mountain it remained in the plains the renewal and revival of zionism after the yom kippur war was not just about taking strategic control of the highlands of the west bank it was about bringing the people of israel to the mountain of israel we would revive zionism and save israel by climbing up the mountain by realizing that without a spiritual depth the state of israel cannot hold we would revive it through the understanding that the zionism of the plains is doomed our way is the way of our fathers we must go back to the land of our fathers go back to the mountains we lost we must bring zionism back to the mountains and bring the mountains back to zionism whereas wallerstein is matter of fact etzion is imposing in the simple living room of his modest ofra home his words touch me although i reject his worldview and despise his actions i am not indi erent to what he says surprisingly i recognize the great forces that pulled him to ofra i can understand what he says about the plains and the mountains and the history of zionism with horror i realize that the dna of his zionism and the dna of my zionism share a few genes through the rectangular window of etzion s living room i can see ba al hazor mountain its summit is the tallest in samaria 1 010 meters that s why in the mid 1970s the israeli air force chose it for the site of a highly advanced early warning station as etzion and i talk i can see through his window the enormous science ction like metal spheres that scan and protect the skies of israel beyond its strategic importance the radar station has historical signi cance too it gave etzion the excuse to gain a foothold in samaria in the winter of 1974 at the age of twenty three the slim fair skinned etzion managed to become a subcontractor to the jerusalem contractor who was building the secret station etzion s mission was to put up the security fence surrounding the ba al hazor installation this is how the inventive zealot was able to assemble a small work squad of nationalistic young men who came daily to the mountain to erect the fence this is why etzion had reason to demand that a place be found for the fence workers to sleep this is the way he managed to nd a way into forbidden territory when etzion talks he is calm concise unsentimental he is always careful not to claim too much credit for himself not to brag but when he tells me about his rst days on the mountain his eyes light up and when i say that he must have felt god s presence when he went up the mountain for the very rst time he does not contradict me you know i don t like to talk he says i never liked talkers i always said go and do but you are right that winter we understood our role suddenly it was clear that the land of israel was calling upon us and that god was calling upon us a religious duty was thrust upon us and that duty fueled our bodies and souls it fueled my entire existence most of the time i dealt with the small details i put gas in the land rover and loaded it with metal poles and rolls of barbed fence but when the land rover was climbing ba al hazor and the mountaintop came into view i would talk to the heavens and i would say we are here we are doing all we can do so please now do your part yes i had a dialogue with god i was saying to god what the sons of israel said when they brought their baskets of rst fruits to the temple here we have done our share please do your share and bless your people your israel in the beginning of 1975 everything begins to come together yoel bin nun is tired of the raucous demonstrations that gush emunim held throughout the west bank pinchas wallerstein is looking for a pragmatic way to penetrate samaria yehuda etzion knows that the cover story of the work squad won t hold for long the three realize that it is time for a di erent kind of action discreet and clever first etzion wants to settle on the western saddle of ba al hazor mountain he wants ofra to be founded on the site where god showed abraham the land but his more practical comrades convince him that his desire is futile the only way to break into samaria is to take over the deserted jordanian military base of ein yabrud to raid land that is not private property and that already has buildings to settle in and the only way forward is to take action at once before momentum is lost and the youth lose hope and the settlers movement disintegrates the operation is planned like a military o ensive etzion s work squad is to come down the mountain at the end of the workday and arrive at the deserted base below wallerstein s group is to arrive from jerusalem at the very same time simultaneously gush emunim s leader hanan porat is to contact the sympathetic defense minister shimon peres so that when the army discovers that the base has been invaded he will put pressure on the army to look the other way to accept this invasion between the cracks ofra will be founded and become a fact on the ground on sunday april 20 1975 wallerstein leads a small convoy of cars from the gush emunim o ce in jerusalem to samaria in the late afternoon the work squad comes down ba al hazor mountain by evening the two groups meet at the ein yabrud base and take it over a few hours pass until the regional military commander arrives and instructs the trespassers to leave etzion and wallerstein refuse they claim that they are acting on behalf of the ministry of defense while the two are taken to the army s headquarters in ramallah porat puts enormous pressure on peres and three of his hawkish aides late that night peres instructs the army not to assist the settlers but not to evacuate them either etzion and wallerstein immediately grasp these vague instructions a bottle of wine is found and glasses are raised in the army s headquarters at midnight the two young leaders are driven back to ein yabrud in an army jeep victorious determined resourceful and crafty they have overpowered the government of israel in ofra they have laid the foundation of the last colonial project of the twentieth century the historic signi cance of to reassess in early march 1975 palestinian terrorists attack tel aviv s savoy hotel murdering eight guests the un does not condemn the attack and the plo leader yasser arafat sees his international standing grow stronger in late march henry kissinger s attempt to reach an egyptian israeli interim agreement fails president gerald ford instructs his administration the united states relationship with israel the vital american israeli alliance is in crisis at the very same time america s east asian policy is in a state of collapse on april 18 1975 phnom penh is conquered by the khmer rouge on april 20 1975 the last communist o ensive on laos is launched and on april 30 1975 south vietnam falls american helicopters rescue the last americans from the rooftop of the american embassy in saigon in israel there is a widespread feeling that the west might abandon it too western weakness internal weakness and international isolation are almost palpable many israelis fear that what happened in saigon will happen in tel aviv and that israel s fate will be similar to that of south vietnam no wonder there is an instinct to cling to ofra not only raving right wingers but many realistic centrists view ofra as a symbolic response to the national and international slide toward the abyss that is why many israeli o cials senior and junior secretly assist ofra and why leading public gures encourage ofra and contribute to it within less than two years a groundswell of support turns ofra from a temporary encampment into a viable settlement like an entrepreneur when he describes ofra s early days first they had to cover the broken windows of the jordanian base s buildings with sheets of plastic he tells me and improvise a kitchen organize a mess hall bring water tanks and deploy chemical toilets then they had to pave a path in the rocky terrain and pitch tents and divide the long military barracks into small family housing units then they illegally drew water from the regional palestinian water system and siphoned electricity from the regional palestinian electric network they dug a cesspit they founded a eld school a metal workshop a computer programming rm and a small aircraft ladder factory they brought in the rst prefabricated houses then they got into pinchas wallerstein speaks night long discussions about their vision for ofra ofra wouldn t be a kibbutz or moshav or a bedroom community they decided it would encourage private initiative and allow private property ofra would be israel s rst community settlement yehuda etzion speaks about ofra s early days like a romantic ideologue the rst principle of ofra was that its residents would all work here he tells me the second principle was that no arab would be permanently employed here the third principle was that ofra would have a strong agricultural foundation for etzion agriculture was the crux he believed then as he believes now that there is no way to hold on to the land without working the land that there is no way to return to the land without direct physical contact with it that s why he cleared the rst plot of land with his bare hands and planted da odils the very rst summer and cherry trees the rst autumn as the settlement grew stronger he dedicated himself to the cherry orchard convinced he was doing what god wanted him to do neither wallerstein nor etzion gives me a convincing answer regarding the arabs did they not see the arabs they had settled among yes they did see them did they not know that all around ofra were the palestinian villages of silwan mazraat a sharkiya ein yabrud beitin and taybeh yes they did know that those villages existed did they not understand the inherent contradiction wedged between jewish ofra and the dense palestinian population surrounding it yes they did understand wallerstein tells me that the arabs of 1975 were not the arabs of today the villages were small poor and primitive their presence was much less evident the villagers were not hostile or violent they showed no signs of palestinian nationalism in the rst years the settlers of ofra visited the villages and traded with the villagers frequently and did not feel that the local arabs threatened them in any way on the contrary at that time the villages had a primal beauty that ampli ed the biblical magic of the mountainous historically charged region in which ofra had planted itself the arab villagers did not seem to be a genuine obstacle etzion on the other hand knew better than that he spoke arabic had spent long hours with arabs and had bought arab land he even had some sympathy for traditional arab ways he appreciated the fact that unlike secular urban jews rural arabs were one with the land i sense that etzion knew from the outset that there would be a war to the death between ofra and the villages and that he believed that at the end of the war the villages would vanish the historically minded national religious leader never forgot ein harod he was convinced that what would save ofra was some sort of future cataclysm that was bound to come and to achieve in the west bank what the cataclysm of 1948 had achieved in the valley of harod and yet when i listen to wallerstein and etzion i realize that they did not have a well de ned doctrine regarding the arabs when they came to settle in samaria they were more ignorant than evil they saw israel s 1970s weakness and realized that the israeli crisis was not only political but spiritual they felt obliged to deal with the crisis but the solution they came up with was absurd and completely ignored the demographic reality on the ground wallerstein and etzion did not realize this because they did not think through the consequences of their actions they were young and rebellious and they were part of a juvenile movement that enjoyed breaking a taboo crossing a line and challenging the establishment but they never knew where they were really headed they never realized what sort of mess they were about to create they established ofra without comprehending its repercussions pinchas wallerstein is ofra s secretary general for four years he leads the way in expanding it from the abandoned jordanian base into the privately owned palestinian elds surrounding it he doubles its population he builds a kindergarten a school a minimarket a post o ce and a synagogue he sees to it that ofra gets a bus line and a telephone line he initiates and plans ofra s rst fty house neighborhood in 1977 after the right wing likud party comes to power he coaxes menachem begin s cabinet into recognizing ofra as a legitimate and legal settlement as a result of that recognition the once piratelike outpost receives generous support from all branches of government housing health welfare education and defense within less than ve years the unlawful stronghold becomes a solid and viable settlement ofra is home to settler movement gatherings to the settlers weekly magazine and to the settlers political organs the mother of all settlements is now the capital of all settlements it is the icon of the settler movement and the settlement phenomena but pinchas wallerstein wants more ofra is not enough like others in the gush emunim leadership he watches in pain in 1979 as israel s right wing government hands over the sinai desert to egypt in exchange for peace he sees that the process of contraction is gaining momentum and might soon reach the west bank although ofra is a success it does not stop the landslide its founders had planned to stop that s why wallerstein thinks it is essential to take over vast territories of the west bank he seeks to prevent an israeli palestinian peace agreement by establishing dozens of ofras and he does in 1979 wallerstein is nominated head of the regional council of the binyamin district he paves roads builds industrial parks establishes jewish communities energetic creative and shrewd he gets successive israeli governments to endorse and advance the gush emunim dream in his twenty eight years in o ce he establishes forty settlements enlarging the settler population under his jurisdiction from one thousand to forty three thousand simultaneously he plays a leading role in the settlers yesha council which compels israeli governments to build and support 140 settlements and dozens of illegal outposts throughout the west bank he helps bring hundreds of thousands of settlers to the occupied territories after succeeding in ofra wallerstein realizes that there are no limits there is no power in post 1973 israel that can stop him that s how wallerstein is able to build one ofra after another one ofra ten ofras a hundred ofras along with his friends and comrades he institutionalizes the gush emunim revolution he creates a new demographic political reality that rede nes israel and changes the course of zionism yehuda etzion also wants more for four years he works in his cherry orchard to this day he remembers with delight the screech of the chains of the tractor that broke the land of ofra for the very rst time he brings the cherry plants from the valley of jezreel and lays out the orchard with pegs and white ropes he recalls digging the holes for the trees watering the holes the rst section of the orchard is sour cherry the second section is japanese plum the third is sweet cherry then he plants another orchard twenty miles away of peaches nectarines and grapes four years after the initial planting the rst harvest arrives he recounts to me the exhilaration he feels when the decorated wagon drives into ofra carrying its rst fruits but etzion also realizes that although ofra has taken root its success is local and limited prime minister menachem begin has betrayed the land of israel he insists by returning the sinai the israelis of the plains are not standing by the land of israel retreat is in full motion and it seems clear that judea and samaria might fall americanism is the new hellenism and it is making israel un jewish weak hollow and rotten israel can only be saved by a new idea or a deed or an event that will transform history the temple mount has always fascinated yehuda etzion as a child he went with his father to west jerusalem to look over the border toward the site that the holy temple once occupied by the time the six day war broke out etzion was obsessed with the temple mount and even when he was striving to build ofra he always knew that it was only a station on the road to the temple mount the temple mount is the focal point of the land etzion tells me but it is in the hands of gentiles as long as the al aqsa mosque and the omar mosque stand on the temple mount there can be no salvation for israel in 1979 as wallerstein begins his work at the binyamin district regional council etzion begins meeting in jerusalem with yehoshua ben shoshan menachem livni and shabtai ben dov all four agree that no islamic abomination should stand on the temple mount the temple mount embodies the covenant between god and israel it is the source and the focus of jewish life the etzion four see the temple mount as the place to launch the revival of a judaic israel only dramatic action on the temple mount will make it possible to restart zionism so that this time it will be right and pure and truly jewish wallerstein does not know this at the time but in 1980 his path parts from etzion s they still live house by house in ofra and are still ofra s moral leaders wallerstein admires etzion s spirit and etzion respects wallerstein s work but in their daily lives they are working on two very di erent enterprises wallerstein is determined to establish more and more settlements which he does but etzion becomes convinced that wallerstein s settlements are not enough they are vital for the cause but they will not solve the core problem what is needed is a profound internal change what is needed is revolution it is necessary to replace the state of israel with the kingdom of israel western democracy will have to make way for the great jewish court the sanhedrin god almighty will have to intervene in modern history and save his people his israel at this point the conversation with etzion becomes far more fascinating than my conversation with wallerstein yehuda etzion has never before spoken about the temple mount plot as he speaks now revealing his innermost hopes and fears of that time when we founded ofra we already knew that our struggle would pit truth against falsehood he tells me the government s attempt to make samaria a jewish free zone was false our ght with the government was a ght between the good angel and the evil angel jewish legend teaches us that such a ght ends with a surprising outcome the evil angel says amen in spite of himself after being beaten he is forced to see the truth this is what happened in our case too even though the forces we encountered were far superior in the end our truth won even labor s leaders said amen in spite of themselves ofra s success gave us a tremendous boost it strengthened our faith and emboldened us a lot of what happened later happened because of ofra s success from all over the country and from all walks of life people came to see us and be with us they were surprised by what we had accomplished suddenly they saw a light on the mountaintop so after we lit the light of ofra we lit the light of elon moreh and we lit the light of shilo and we lit the light of beit el while secular zionism remained below in the lowland we climbed up and lit more and more bon res on the mountaintops but i lived in fear what was accomplished was far from secure what was built was not yet stable everything still seemed vulnerable and reversible and then there was the shameful peace agreement with egypt and the duplicity of the government with labor drifting further and further away from what it once was so much so that i felt i could no longer trust the national leadership i felt betrayed by it and so i had to ght the state of israel which had ceased to be the emissary of the nation of israel i was obliged to act on my own for the good of the nation of israel as there was no real leadership to speak of and no real state to speak of the duty rested on me in the late 1970s i was introduced to the writings of shabtai ben dov ben dov prepared an operative plan for the establishment of the kingdom of israel i learned from him that settlements were not enough that there was an urgent need to replace the set of foreign values that israel had adopted american and european concepts had to be done away with we needed to embrace concepts that followed directly from the torah of israel we had to leave democracy behind and go back to the source we had to foment a kingdom come revolution i knew that the temple mount was the focal point the mountain is where our father in heaven connects with us the fact that the temple mount is not in our hands is the most damning testimony of how low we have sunk the mosques on the temple mount are a humiliation to the people of israel and the history of israel and god blowing up the mosques would allow us to break through to the heavens it would pave the way to sanctity divine presence the sanhedrin and the temple it would be a purge that would end the old corrupt era and usher in a new pure one that would replace the secular state of israel with a torah inspired kingdom a third world war an islamic march on jerusalem tens of thousands of casualties i thought about these scenarios but came to the conclusion that they were pessimistic and alarmist i realized that when the dome will collapse all hell would break loose but i didn t think that thousands of tanks would move on israel and that hundreds of missiles would be launched but i also thought that even if i was wrong the risk was worthwhile ben gurion thought that the foundation of israel justi ed the war it begot now things are no di erent it was absolutely clear to me that making israel a holy state justi ed su ering a war against all of israel s enemies in the early 1980s as pinchas wallerstein mobilizes more and more of the resources of democratic israel to build settlements in judea and samaria yehuda etzion mobilizes more and more settlers in judea and samaria to bring about a revolution that will topple democratic israel wallerstein tries to impose a colonial stalemate in the west bank while etzion tries to ignite armageddon on the temple mount their success with ofra makes the two men outrageously ambitious while the pragmatic wallerstein succeeds in making the israeli republic a subcontractor of the greater israel edi ce the messianic etzion wishes to replace the israeli republic with a kingdom even today when he reconstructs the events of thirty to forty years ago wallerstein is energetic forceful and detailed he remembers every road he opened every industrial park he initiated every budget he extracted from the government he circumvented here and he maneuvered there and he pushed and he shoved and he made mainstream israeli politics ow to the riverbed of gush emunim but etzion is pensive and introspective he quietly tells me how he came to the conclusion that the time had come not one ofra and not a thousand ofras would su ce so he carries on with the cherry orchard and with buying land from arabs and with planning the ofra synagogue and with weekly meetings of the gush emunim leadership but his mind is elsewhere his heart is with the temple he collects ancient cedar logs that were purportedly once part of the second temple he imagines the temple thinks of the temple reconstructs the temple in his mind and he knows for certain that without redeeming the temple there will be no redemption because he has never been put o by unconventional thinking he is not put o now by the unconventional idea that is capturing his mind and because he has always been disgusted by people who talk but don t act he knows he must act he goes up the mount of olives at night to observe the temple mount and he studies its defenses he draws maps and acquires aerial photos and collects every piece of relevant intelligence and he makes a detailed plan he mobilizes men and instructs them to get explosives he reaches a point where he has four major explosive devices 20 kilograms each that will bring down the four pillars of the dome then he reaches a point where he has twelve medium sized explosive devices 7 kilograms each that will bring down the twelve columns surrounding the dome he is ready in my mind etzion tells me i already saw the dome collapsing on itself with a huge cloud of rising dust and then the confusion stops and israel s stuttering stops and there is clarity at last as one chapter ends and another begins one era closes and another era opens and all is di erent now for we have done our share and god is bound to do his when in the spring of 1984 israel s secret service arrives in ofra to arrest yehuda etzion the community is up in arms the o cial leadership denounces his deeds but many others are supportive it is soon revealed that etzion is not the only ofra resident who is a member of the now notorious jewish underground several jewish terrorists live in ofra a number of the terrorist operations the clandestine ring has managed to pull o earlier were planned in ofra from ofra came the instructions to booby trap the cars of three palestinian mayors which left two of them without legs only ve years after ofra settled among the palestinians it became a terrorist hotbed that bred ideological jewish murderers ofra was home to militant messianic ideas and to a radical school of thought that believed in transforming the land by using unrestrained force the exposure of the etzion led underground is a shock and the shock is healing now even the ofra settlers realize that messianism is radioactive that combining metaphysics with politics breeds insanity after the initial storm subsides the zealots way is rejected the ofra majority chooses pragmatism over fundamentalism moderation over extremism wallerstein over etzion the settlers enlarge ofra and strengthen it they acquire more land and found new neighborhoods as a community they survive two intifadas they su er their losses and bury their dead they withstand the outbreaks of violence and the constant uncertainties of living in a disputed territory true once in a while violent ofra gangs take the law into their own hands and carry out brutal attacks on the neighboring palestinian villages even wallerstein himself gets into a shooting incident in which he kills a palestinian boy after his car is stoned but as a rule ofra does not openly revolt against the state it advances its agenda not by ghting state and law but by using them adopting old labor s step by step approach ofra goes from strength to strength in 1983 it has ve hundred residents in 1995 it has twelve hundred residents today it has approximately thirty ve hundred and yet when i sit with yehuda etzion and hear him talk i know that he has remained a part of ofra s dna for etzion is right ofra as such is futile settlements as such are hopeless in spite of wallerstein s longitudinal and lateral roads the settlements have remained isolated jewish islands in the arab west bank in spite of wallerstein s communities and industrial parks and highways and bridges the settlers are a minority in judea and samaria as the international community will never recognize them as legitimate the settlements are built on precarious ground as israel of the plains never really embraced the settlements they remain distant and detached living beyond mountains of darkness like algeria and rhodesia they will not survive they are at a dead end pragmatic wallerstein does not have a solution he won the war of the hills but his victory is pyrrhic the homes he built don t have long lasting foundations the trees he planted have no deep roots the only way to save his monumental project is yehuda etzion s way the only way to believe in the future of ofra is to believe in cataclysm or divine intervention or both etzion is honest enough to say it but every intelligent person in ofra must know it they harbor in their heart a great belief in a great war which will be their only salvation there will be war no doubt about it because of 1948 and 1967 and because of ofra there will be war but war will not save ofra or israel the reality created by wallerstein and etzion and their friends has entangled israel in a predicament that cannot be untangled the settlements have placed israel s neck in a noose they created an untenable demographic political moral and judicial reality but now ofra s illegitimacy taints israel itself like a cancer it spreads from one organ to another endangering the entire body ofra s colonialism makes the world perceive israel as a colonialist entity but because in the twenty rst century there is no room for a colonialist entity the west is gradually turning its back on israel that s why enlightened jews in america and europe are ashamed of israel that s why israel is at odds with itself although the founders of ofra wished to strengthen israel in practice they weakened it so when the great war does break out it will meet an isolated ostracized and divided israel an israel that will hardly be able to defend itself on this clear winter day everything is still quiet the radar station on ba al hazor mountain scans the blue skies the white homes of ofra and the stone houses of the palestinian village of silwan watch one another in the distance lie the vineyards and the cherry orchard and the gray rocks and the mountain soil a thousand years of memory and a thousand years of silence and an uncertain future yehuda etzion carries on he tells me about the project he has taken up since his release from prison a plan for a new jerusalem a jerusalem without mosques and without arabs a jerusalem of the third temple pinchas wallerstein carries on too we were not mistaken he says we built a splendid project we did what our forefathers did in hanita and ein harod we followed labor s ethos and used labor s methods in the last quarter of the twentieth century we did in samaria what labor did in the valley of harod in the rst quarter of the twentieth century but this is exactly what the argument is about i interrupt the question is whether ofra is a benign continuation of zionism or a malignant mutation of zionism the answer of course is that it is both on the one hand the spirit and the modus operandi are remarkably similar no fair minded observer will deny the assertion that in a sense ofra is ein harod s grandchild but on the other hand the historic and conceptual context is completely di erent in this sense ofra is not a continuation but an aberration a grotesque reincarnation of ein harod wallerstein doesn t get it so i try to explain i tell him that from the beginning zionism skated on thin ice on the one hand it was a national liberation movement but on the other it was a colonialist enterprise it intended to save the lives of one people by the dispossession of another in its rst fty years zionism was aware of this complexity and acted accordingly it was very careful not to be associated with colonialism and tried not to cause unnecessary hardship it made sure it was a democratic progressive and enlightened movement collaborating with the world s forces of progress with great the contradiction at its core it managed to arrive at the great war of 1948 just and strong and came out of the war with a jewish democratic nation state that had clear borders and a massive jewish majority it had turned the con ict between an emigrant community and a native population into a con ict between sovereign states gone was the danger that our fate would be the fate of algeria or sophistication zionism handled insight rhodesia that zionism would be perceived as just another ill conceived colonial project but after 1967 and after 1973 all that changed i tell wallerstein the self discipline and historical that characterized the nation s rst years began to fade you settlers took advantage of the feebleness and of the political vacuum created by the wars you abused labor s weakness and likud s recklessness but although you think you outsmarted everybody you were wrong you were wrong to think you could have done with ofra in 1975 what was done in ein harod in 1921 you were wrong to think that a sovereign state could do in occupied territories what a revolutionary movement can do in an unde ned land you didn t grasp the deep wisdom of the 1950s housing estate israel and the 1960s dimona israel ironically you brought back the palestinians ben gurion managed to keep away you have turned a con ict between nation states into a con ict between a settlers community and an indigenous community by doing that you endangered everything your energy was remarkable but on everything that matters you were utterly wrong out of an understandable yearning for the zionist past and for zionist glory you contradicted zionist logic and undermined zionist interests you brought disaster upon us wallerstein on our behalf you committed an act of historic suicide angry and dejected i walk from pinchas wallerstein s home to the home of israel harel harel is my colleague at haaretz newspaper a columnist and longtime partner in conversation about the nation s future he is pleasant wise and low key unlike wallerstein and etzion he is neither de ant nor obstinate but thoughtful and sad in 1967 he was among the rst paratroopers to reach the temple mount and in 1973 he was among the rst paratroopers to cross the suez canal as a young student he was one of the founders of the greater israel movement and as a young journalist he settled in ofra a year after it was founded he initiated and edited the ofra based settlers weekly magazine nekuda and he founded the settlers representative council yesha although i like harel and respect him i am now cruel to him the more i look into ofra and the more i think about it i say i come to the conclusion that you simply went mad a zealot s fever blinded you a collective national religious fervor made you not see the arabs all around you your tribal psychology and bizarre ideology led you to lead israel to a dead end my excitement doesn t a ect harel through his thick glasses he looks me right in the eye and replies with surprising candor any person coming to live in ofra is required to give answers he says from our rst moment here we were required to give answers he lists four of them 1 a wave of immigration will come from the ussr or from the u s and will sweep away the demographic problem 2 of their own accord the arabs will leave and go to live with their brothers in jordan 3 the state of israel will not transfer its population by force but will encourage the immigration of individual arabs to arab states 4 there will be a war resembling the war of 1948 then i was right i cry ofra s assumption is that the arabs will not stick around its secret hope is that there will be a great war and the arabs will vanish harel politely ignores me and continues we always knew a day might come when we would be forced to leave he says it was not talked about it was concealed in the darkest corners but from the day ofra was founded every person here knew this but we all knew something else too there is a belief here that a grand event will happen like the 1967 war or the 1948 war and that grand event will prove that we were right it will redeem our struggle and will convince the people of israel to join us the people of tel aviv will understand how hollow their existence is that without us they have no roots no depth and no life the masses will come and then when a million jews live on the mountaintops there will really be a new map and there will be a new consciousness what began in ofra will make israel jewish and zionist once again only when i listen to harel do i comprehend gush emunim was so strong because it was the liberation movement of religious zionism by going to judea and samaria it tried to turn a petit bourgeois shabbat keeping community revolutionary movement by establishing settlements it tried to move religious zionism from the fringes of the zionist narrative to its center that s why the yearning for ofra was not only political or religious but visceral only in the disputed territory outside of the borders of sovereign israel was the national religious tribe able to assert itself only in this unde ned territory could it de ne itself only in ofra could national religious youngsters raise their heads and nd a place in the world that s why they refused to see the folly of ofra why they shut their eyes to a reality that was closing in on ofra from the very start that s why they did not understand that in the twenty rst century ofra simply could not be into a but for the time being ofra is here thirty ve hundred strong and counting and when i leave israel harel and stroll to the commercial center and visit the day care nursery and the kindergarten and the school i am impressed by how lively it all is life is good here not a cloud in the sky that is as long as you don t raise your eyes and see the neighboring palestinian villages as long as you don t know exactly how the land under your feet was acquired as long as you are not aware of how the calm is maintained here this is what is so deceptive about ofra to begin with it was a pregnancy outside the womb it was conceived outside state law state borders and state sovereignty but even today ofra lives beyond international law devoid of international context bereft of international goodwill so at the very same time ofra exists and doesn t exist although vibrant and dynamic it is clear that sooner or later ofra s internal logic will be crushed by the exterior logic it revolted against and ignored i think of the rhodesian farmers who felt safe on their vast farms in the 1960s they had it so good they looked down upon critics and skeptics in their eyes their reality was so solid they could not see how fragile it was they were wrong to believe that their virtual reality of a uence was a sustainable reality of survival and i remember the nezer hazani settlement in the gaza strip which i visited just before it was evacuated and demolished during the 2005 disengagement i remember the very deep fear that the destruction of nezer hazani aroused in me it was just like ofra prosperous and self assured but then the bulldozers razed it to the ground within a day it was gone first it was and then it wasn t vanished i feel for ofra i feel strongly for the ofra that i am furious with the ofra archive is as neat and tidy as a pharmacy in one of the white boxes i nd an old statement by yehuda etzion our real goal to establish a proud kingdom that is spiritually robust and politically powerful in another white box i nd a tattered map that shows the sixteen concrete buildings of the jordanian ein yabrud base scattered on the rocky mountain slope and black and white photographs a lonely arab stone house overlooking the rst settlers as they take hold of the ein yabrud base some 8 mm footage energetic young women sweeping the deserted military barracks a baby carriage a water tank hanging laundry young men in shorts and undershirts building vigorously young women in t shirts painting walls white twenty three year old yehuda etzion in a red bell shaped hat twenty six year old pinchas wallerstein speaking excitedly to his fellow settlers the innocence and the blindness of april 1975 the determination to climb the mountain and to light the re to force god to intervene in history and save his people his israel photo credit 9 1 nine gaza beach 1991 twenty years after occupation began and twelve years after ofra was founded the rst intifada broke out in december 1987 the palestinians residing in the west bank and the gaza strip revolted against israel s ongoing military rule tens of thousands took to the streets cities and villages and refugee camps were engulfed by protest an unprecedented palestinian rebellion challenged israel and nearly brought down its reign over the occupied territories but after the initial shock the jewish state fought back it mobilized its army and trained it to become an e ective police force it unleashed the shin bet its e cient secret service on the unarmed masses that rebelled against it within a few months the israeli military built several detention camps in which thousands of palestinians were imprisoned after having been convicted by military tribunals within a few years the intifada rebellion was in decline the systematic and determined use of oppressive lost momentum gone were the mass demonstrations gone was the notion that the popular uprising would force israel to end occupation thousands of palestinian civilians languished in the detention camps in many ways their mass imprisonment tainted israel s democratic identity in march 1991 i was a young journalist about to become a father when i reported to a military base not far from lydda for my annual reserve duty i had no idea what that duty would be once told i was to serve as a jailer in a gaza detention camp i was horri ed an force worked the palestinian campaign i was not willing antioccupation peacenik to compromise everything i believed in and for the rst time in my life i seriously considered breaking the law refusing to serve and going to jail but as the idf bus was taking me and my fellow reservists south i had a better idea i would write about the experience i would put on paper the experience of an israeli citizen who was suddenly transformed into a military jailor documenting occupation i believed would be a far more e ective act of protest than refusing to take part in it in the twelve days i spent in the gaza beach detention camp i took notes and in the three days that followed i wove the notes into a three thousand word piece on gaza beach was rst published in haaretz and then in the new york review of books by the time it came out in english my eldest daughter tamara had been born the setting is idyllic a few hundred yards from the white sands of the mediterranean shore at six in the morning when the shing boats go out i feel as if i am in the crete of the 1950s all that is west of me captures the heart blue sky blue green waves hopeful shermen but the fresh breeze that blows into my watchtower blows east into the barbed wire fences and onto the dark military tents it lifts the spirit of the jailed palestinians and lifts the spirit of the jailing jews the watchtower guards turn their eyes to the changing colors of the morning sea so do the early rising prisoners in the tin shanty where the toilets are located two of the prisoners stand on tiptoe clinging to the only narrow window from which the mediterranean can be seen one day when free palestine is established its government will surely lease this piece of land to some international entrepreneur who will build the gaza beach club med one day when there is peace israelis will come out here for a short holiday break abroad by these blue green waters they will drink white wine and dance the samba on their way home they will buy embroidered black palestinian dresses in the air conditioned duty free shop of the international terminal separating prosperous israel from peaceful palestine but for the time being there is no free palestine and no peace that s why we must get the morning delivery ready a long line of blue uniformed prisoners are being led under the curling wire fences and those who prod them with barrels of m 16 ri es are my buddies in the faint light of an early april morning the jewish soldiers grip their ri es tightly they tell the prisoners to stop to advance to stop and while the fresh breeze blows in from the sea they tell the prisoners to hold out their hands in front of them a young soldier goes from one to another clamping on handcu s this is gaza beach detention camp it is one of several such camps built in a rush in recent years after the eruption of the palestinian uprising in december 1987 more than a thousand palestinians are imprisoned here most of them are not terrorists but demonstrators and rock throwers many are in their teens among them here and there some are physically small and seem to be boys the detention camp has two interrogation wards and four compounds in each compound there are twelve old brown army tents in each tent there are twenty to thirty prisoners in the past fty or sixty men were crowded into each tent now conditions have improved and they are considered reasonable each of the four compounds is surrounded by a conventional wire fence topped with barbed wire outside this fence is a narrow path for the jailers then comes an additional outer fence a sort of improvised wall made of metal barrels lled with cement as the jailers pace back and forth between these fences it occurs to me that it isn t clear who are the con ned and who are the con ners the entire camp strikes me as a grand metaphor for everybody s imprisonment both israelis and palestinians are fenced in here the internment facility has a dozen watchtowers some jewish soldiers are struck by the similarity between these and certain other towers that they have learned about in school but the shock is merely emotional the watchtowers constructed in europe in the 1940s were all made of heavy german and polish wood whereas the towers in the gaza beach facility are of imsy israeli metal produced up in the galilee the towers are equipped with searchlights but they are rarely used this is because the camp is su used all night with an extra strong yellowish light from hundreds of powerful lampposts when the electric system is not turned o as required at early dawn the bulbs and beacons go on glowing into the light of day the detention facility has a mess hall a canteen showers toilets palestinian prisoners are assigned to scrub the israeli soldiers toilets three or four times a day alas some soldiers nd that the hygiene standards achieved by the palestinian scrubbers are not satisfactory the prison facility also has a set of tents for reservists a commander s o ce and an operations room there are two kitchens one for the jailers one for the jailed the two are separated only by a net at times when the guards run out of co ee their cook asks the prisoners cook to pass him two or three bags of the tasteless stu through the net the same sort of coexistence is found in the one medical clinic a doctor may attend to a reservist s eye infection immediately after he has patched up the leg of a prisoner injured by an overzealous interrogator thus everything is in order the gaza beach detention camp runs by the rules given the circumstances they are trapped in the o cers in charge try to do their best they are decent men on their orders the prisoners receive plenty of food and cigarettes and according to policy they are given considerable autonomy for the most part the imprisoned are allowed their own kitchen and quartermastership and are given the supplies to do so the prison commanders and the prisoners leadership negotiate daily they allow life here to proceed calmly it is two years now since an o cer shot to death a prisoner who tried to attack him and kept shooting while the young man rolled over on the ground in his blood nowadays unlike in the past families and lawyers are given the right to visit every friday the red cross drops in regularly run to yet an evil stench is in the air that even the mediterranean breeze cannot carry away although unjust and unfounded the haunting analogy is pervasive here it is not suggested by anti israel propaganda but rather in the language the soldiers use as a matter of course when a gets up to do guard duty in one of the interrogation wards he says i m o to the inquisition when r sees a line of prisoners approaching under the barrels of his friends m 16s he says with quiet intensity look the aktion has begun and even n who harbors strong right wing views grumbles to anyone who will listen that the place resembles a concentration camp m explains with a thin smile that he has accumulated so many days of reserve duty during the intifada that soon they will promote him to a senior gestapo o cial and i too who have always abhorred the analogy who have always argued bitterly with anyone who so much as hinted at it can no longer stop myself the associations are too strong they well up when i see a man from pen number 1 call through the fence to a man from pen number 2 to show him a picture of his daughter they well up when a youngster who has just been arrested awaits my orders with a mixture of submission and panic and quiet pride they well up when i glance at myself in the mirror shocked to see myself here a jailer in this ghastly prison and when i see the thousand or so humans around me locked up in pens in cages like a believer whose faith is wavering i go over the long list of counterarguments all the well known di erences most obvious there are no crematoria here and in the europe of the 1930s there was no existential con ict between two peoples germany with its racist doctrine was organized evil the germans were in no real danger whatsoever but then i realize that the problem is not in the similarity no one can seriously think there is any real similarity the problem is that there isn t enough lack of similarity the lack of similarity is not strong enough to silence once and for all the evil echoes maybe the shin bet is to blame for this every night after it has managed to break some youngsters in the interrogation ward the israeli secret service hands over to the israeli paratroopers who control the city of gaza a list of the close friends of the broken youngsters and anyone standing at the gate like myself can see the paratroopers jeep leave the detention camp after midnight and drive into the occupied darkened city which is under curfew to arrest those who are said to endanger the security of the state i will still stand at the gate when the paratroopers return in their military vehicles with boys of fteen or sixteen who grit their teeth their eyes bulging from their sockets in some cases they have already been beaten the soldiers gather around to watch them undress to watch them shiver in their underwear as they tremble with fear even s who owns a plastics factory in the occupied territories cannot believe his eyes how have we come to this he asks how have we come to chasing such kids or maybe the camp doctor is to blame for the analogy haunting me he is no mengele of course but when i wake him in the dead of night to treat one of the nocturnal detainees who has just been brought in barefoot bruised looking as if he is having an epileptic t the doctor shouts at him and although the detainee is barely seventeen and complains that he was just beaten on his back and on his stomach and over his heart and although there are indeed ugly red marks all over his body the doctor shouts loudly at him i wish you were dead and then turning to me he laughs and says i wish they were all dead or maybe the screams are to blame for my inability to rid my mind of the comparison at the end of my watch as i walk from the reservists tent to the showers i suddenly hear horri c screams strolling in my shorts and clogs a towel slung over my shoulder toilet kit in hand i am stunned by the literally hair raising screams coming from the other side of the galvanized tin fence of the interrogation ward from the various human rights reports i have read i know what might be going on beyond the fence are they using the banana tie method of torture or the other more brutal methods or are they simply applying a crude old fashioned beating whatever the method i do know that from this moment on i will have no quiet because fty yards from the showers where i try to rinse o the day s dust and sweat people scream eighty yards from the mess where i try to eat people scream a hundred yards from the bed where i try to sleep people scream and they scream because other people wearing a uniform like my own make them scream they scream because my jewish state makes them scream in a methodical orderly and absolutely legal fashion my beloved democratic israel makes them scream don t be emotional i tell myself don t jump to conclusions doesn t every nation have its dark cellars doesn t every nation have its secret services and its special units and its hidden away interrogation facilities it just happened to be my bad luck that sent me to the place where i can hear how it all sounds but as the screams get louder i know there is not a grain of truth in what i have just told myself because in this speci c interrogation facility they don t interrogate dangerous spies or traitors or terrorists there are no ticking bombs here and in the various prison compounds israel erected in recent years thousands upon thousands are being held many of them are being tortured in our case the issue is not a dozen deadly enemy agents and the issue is not a limited and precise operation of counterespionage the thing here is cracking down on a popular uprising a forceful occupation of another nation and therefore what i see and hear here is an entire population of ours bank clerks insurance brokers electronics engineers retailers students imprisoning an entire population of theirs tile layers plasterers lab workers journalists clergy students this is a phenomenon without parallel in the west this is systematic brutality no democracy can endure and i am a part of it all i comply now the screams grow weaker they change to sobbing wailing yet i know that from this moment on nothing will be as it was a person who has heard the screams of another is a transformed person whether he does something about it or not he is transformed and i have heard the screams of another i still do even as the screaming men stop screaming i still hear them screaming i cannot stop hearing so although there is no basis for comparison i begin to understand how it was with other guards who stood in other places over other people locked behind other fences how these guards heard others screams and heard nothing for in most cases the evil do not know they are evil those who carry out atrocities don t know they are doing so they are simply obeying orders or waiting for a promotion or doing what they have to do to get on when all they really want is to be home safe and sound and they worry about their taxes and about their kids problems in school but as they are thinking about home and wife and bills to be paid their hands unthinkingly hold the weapon their eyes are on the fence behind which other people are sobbing most reservists are shocked when they rst arrive here they nd the sight of other people caged in pens inconceivable when they hear the screaming for the rst time they are shaken yet only two out of sixty reservists refuse to do guard duty in the interrogation ward only four or ve are really tormented the others adjust after a day or two in the detention camp most reservists nd it almost natural to see people enclosed behind barbed wire the interrogation ward becomes part of routine service as if this is the way of the world as if this is what the idf was originally assigned to do and those moral doubts that surface in the rst days of service give way to the banality of a soldier s life when is the next furlough when can we call home when will the new uniforms arrive for after all this is just another army base although this speci c army base does not protect the border or train soldiers for combat but rather locks boys up this army base puts boys out in the yard with hoods over their faces when we line up for guard duty at one thirty in the morning i look at my fellow reservists at their faces their slouching bodies their oversized trousers and disheveled appearances are we the soldiers of evil are we agents of cruelty are we the heartless gatekeepers of oppression when it comes right down to it we don t want to be here either we don t like this work it s not for us this whole fucking business like most israelis we d prefer our israel to be a sort of california but the trouble is that this california of ours is surrounded by ayatollahs the trouble is that although we are solid citizens of a consumer oriented technological democracy we nd ourselves in deep shit and when we stand in this weary semicircle tired desperate and miserable with our tattered belts and with lousy coats that don t keep us warm enough we too feel like victims but it s not that simple when the formation breaks up and i climb the ladder to tower number 6 i realize that what makes this camp tick is the division of labor the division makes it possible for evil to take place apparently without evil people this is how it works the people who vote for israel s right wing parties are not evil they do not round up youngsters in the middle of the night and the ministers who represent the right wing voters in government are not evil they don t hit boys in the stomach with their own sts and the army s chief of sta is not evil he carries out what a legitimate elected government obliges him to carry out and the commander of the internment facility is not evil he is doing the best he can under impossible circumstances and the interrogators well after all they are doing their job and it is they are told impossible to govern the occupied territories unless they do all this as for the jailers most of them are not evil either they only want to leave all this behind and get back home yet in some mysterious way all these nonevil people manage together to produce a result that is evil indeed and evil is always greater than the sum of its parts greater than all who contribute to it and carry it out despite our unkempt exteriors our clumsiness our pathetic petit bourgeois ways we are evil in gaza but this evil of ours is a cunning evil for it is an evil that happens as it were of its own accord an evil for which the responsibility is no one s evil without evildoers from watchtower number 6 i can see the sea the camp the city of gaza gaza is a city with no hope no cure it is the city of the people whose houses and villages we took in 1948 and whose place of refuge we conquered in 1967 it is the city of those whom we exploited during the long decades of occupation denying them human rights and civil rights and national rights so in gaza there are no excuses gaza is not even needed for our defense like some strategic heights in the west bank it is not even a historically charged terrain like some parts of judea and samaria gaza is clear and simple it is the epitome of the absurdity of occupation it is futile occupation it is brutal occupation it corrodes our very existence and it erodes the legitimacy of our existence i look down at the tents and fences and barbed wire for the last time i try to comprehend the inner logic of the place the necessity that so to speak created it and i summon up all our just claims all our mitigating circumstances aren t we refugees too aren t we too victims of violence and if we are to survive in the middle east we must be strong when attacked we must respond the idf and the shin bet are all that protect us from total chaos only the willingness to use force is what keeps us alive here but it doesn t work here in the gaza beach detention camp it cannot work because there are places and there are situations that are clear cut and this is such a place this is such a situation there are no complexities here no mitigating circumstances this is what the palestinians have brought upon us by means of uprising they deprived us of the illusion of bearable occupation they have told us that if we are to occupy gaza we must have a gaza beach prison and if we are to have such a prison we must betray ourselves we must betray everything we were to be and everything we are to be so the question now is not land for peace the question is land for our decency land for our humanity land for our very soul twenty two years have passed since i observed my palestinian enemies and my israeli commanders from watchtower number 6 the watchtower no longer exists two and a half years after i returned home from gaza beach the 1993 oslo peace accords were in signed in a rare moment of bliss israel s decency overcame israel s brutality and palestinian realism overcame palestinian extremism within months the occupation of the city of gaza was no more by the spring of 1994 the israeli detention facility was dismantled but the palestinian government never leased the coastal terrain to a club med entrepreneur it handed it over to its own security forces far more brutal than israel s later on that secular palestinian government was overthrown by the radical islamists hamas after a short lull the con ict resumed once again israelis and palestinians were caught their well known vicious circle violence counterviolence countercounterviolence so the grand metaphor of gaza beach still applies the intimacy of the jailers and the jailed the complexity of the besieged laying siege to the siegers the jailers imprisoned by their jailed the fact that the actual reality we live in is surreal perhaps this is the reason that even today the sights i saw and the sounds i heard in the gaza beach facility still haunt me i am haunted by the notion that we hold them by the balls and they hold us by the throat we squeeze and they squeeze back we are trapped by them and they are trapped by us and every few years the con ict takes on a new form ever more gruesome every few years the mode of violence changes the tragedy ends one chapter and begins another but the tragedy never ends photo credit 10 1 ten peace 1993 like the settlements peace too was an outcome of the 1967 and 1973 wars in the abstract the desire for peace had always been a part of zionism it was there in the late 1920s when herbert bentwich s son norman realized that the jews were not alone in palestine and joined the jerusalem intellectuals who formed brit shalom the jewish peace alliance it was there in the early 1930s when yitzhak tabenkin settled the valley of harod and jewish radicals rose against zionist colonization that led to the dispossession of arab tenants it was there in the late 1930s when the rehovot writer and orange grower moshe smilansky warned that we have partners in the land and that we must learn to live with them it was there in the early 1940s when shmaryahu gutman led his cadets to masada and jewish humanists denounced the militaristic chauvinism that was capturing the hearts of the young it was there in the late 1940s when palmach battalions emptied the arab villages and conquered arab lydda and smilansky s nephew yizhar wrote khirbet khizeh a seminal novella about the savagery of expulsion it was there when the young state of israel was building and arming itself in the 1950s and left wing parties demanded a peace initiative that would deal justly with palestinian refugees and it was there in the early 1960s when ben gurion built the dimona reactor and men of morals denounced the nuclearization of israel and the middle east for seventy years the yearning for peace existed on the fringes of zionism trying to restrain the baser instincts of the jewish national movement but after the arab uprising of 1936 mainstream zionism wanted more and more land more and more power it paid lip service to peace but it was not willing to pay a real price for it it saw immigration settlement and nation building as its main goals and it did not consider peace to be an absolute value or a supreme cause the real mainstream zionist peace movement was born only after the wars of 1967 and 1973 only the new horizon opened by the six day war and the trauma of the yom kippur war turned the battle for peace into a central struggle of israel s public arena in those same years the greater israel idea and the demand to annex the occupied west bank sprouted too the decade of the rst settlements was also the decade of the rst peace demonstrations from the tectonic shifts of the late sixties and early seventies rose both the new right and the new left both rebelled against labor s intractable ways both rebelled against a stagnant reality both o ered a radical solution and a recipe for instant utopia as they wrestled against each other and de ned each other and empowered each other the peace movement and the land movement became the shaping forces of the new israel this time i don t have to travel far yossi sarid lives just ve miles from my home from the corner window of his roomy apartment in north tel aviv the mediterranean sea beckons blue and placid the man who was an icon of the israeli left welcomes me with a weak handshake we ve known each other for years in one election campaign i even volunteered to be his uno cial adviser but over the years we ve had our di erences this time yossi knows i ve come not to argue but to understand where did the peace movement come from i ask what was it all about what did it get right and where did it go wrong why has it lost its way sarid was born in rehovot in 1940 both his parents were raised in the bleak polish town of rafalowka and made aliyah in 1935 several years later the nazis arrived in rafalowka led the jews to the forest instructed them to dig holes in the ground and shot them into the holes they had just dug yossi s mother duba lost her mother and father sister and brother she became clinically depressed his father yaakov lost his entire family but kept an optimistic upbeat attitude toward life in 1945 yaakov seated his son yossi on a kitchen stool and told him why he had decided to change their surname from schneider to sarid remnant because they were the last remnants for yossi that moment in the kitchen was formative listening to his father he was certain that they were all alone on this earth yaakov sarid did well within a few years the schoolteacher became school principal then director general of all socialist schools and then director general of israel s ministry of education yossi sarid did well too he was a gifted child who excelled in every eld often surpassing his peers but duba sarid remained sad all her life on the nineteenth anniversary of the rafalowka massacre she took her own life from an early age yossi was bound for great things his mother wanted him to be a poet and professor while his classmates were convinced he would become a great national leader wherever he went sarid stood out for his quick thinking sharp tongue and arrogance as a boy and as a teenager he was brilliant rebellious and conceited he never accepted authority he was a sore loser a stark combination of ambition talent and a provocative disposition pushed him from one achievement to the next at sixteen he published poems in israel s most prestigious literary journal at twenty three he was a leading news editor at israel s state run radio at twenty four he was the youngest spokesperson ever of the long ruling labor party sarid de nes himself as one who was born of labor s womb his parents were both active members of the labor movement the neighborhood was labor school was labor and the youth movement was labor labor was his only frame of reference no wonder the young party spokesman quickly won the trust and a ection of the party elders prime minister levi eshkol finance minister pinchas sapir and secretary general golda meir all treated him as a beloved son the inarticulate aging rulers groomed their eloquent spokesman and in a sense adopted him they gave him the backing of an all powerful establishment while he gave them access to a young israel and a news media they did not understand by now it was clear that in due course sarid could inherit labor and become prime minister immediately after the six day war sarid went to study in the united states liberal new york where he spent his graduate school years was absorbed in the struggle against the vietnam war the dynamic israeli joined the struggle he identi ed with students for a democratic society sds took part in protest marches and became part of the antiwar movement when he returned to israel in 1969 he was a di erent person now israeli policy seemed to him combative thoughtless and outdated although he ran labor s election campaign he was at odds with the government s hawkish line when he realized that golda meir was reluctant to give back the occupied territories for peace he was outraged the meir sarid lovefest became an ugly mutual hate relationship in the early 1970s sarid had already made up his mind occupation was a disaster the settlements were a fatal mistake peace was essential israel must retreat to the 1967 border and negotiate with the palestinian liberation organization among the radical left and liberal intelligentsia some agreed with him but in labor he was an outcast and his new political position absolute heresy under golda meir and moshe dayan israel was bewitched by the empire it had just won and would not listen to the sober warnings of an arrogant prince who had been indoctrinated by the american antiwar movement the yom kippur war shattered the imperial delusions of meir and dayan it also gave birth to a new political culture based on protest sarid became its champion he mastered the media and fought passionately against the establishment the settlers and corruption the 1977 electoral upheaval that brought menachem begin and the right wing likud to power made sarid even stronger labor was now in the opposition and so were the elite associated with it many in academia the media the business sector the judiciary and the civil service felt alienated opposition and alienation suited sarid just ne they were compatible with his de ant haughty nature now he was the star he stood up against likud and against the settlers and against the rise of a nationalistic religious israel more than any other israeli he expressed the critical bitter mindset of post 1973 and post 1977 sarid s nest hour came in 1982 as menachem begin and ariel sharon led israel to a deceitful and outrageous war in lebanon sarid was the rst zionist member of the knesset to oppose it for a while he was public enemy number one reviled attacked ostracized but when it turned out that the war was indeed folly sarid was vindicated for the hundreds of thousands of israelis who took part in antiwar demonstrations sarid was the undisputed hero of the israeli peace movement as the peace protest movement gathered steam so did sarid two years later sarid quit labor and joined the left wing meretz party although he eventually became leader of the small party and even served for a while as education minister he never regained the stature he had enjoyed in the 1970s and 1980s breaking away from labor led the promising maverick to a life of frustration and resentment on the fringes of israeli politics although much respected sarid embodies a resounding missed opportunity his is the road not taken sarid s face is heavily lined etched by disappointment he is slim almost bald and is dressed in a strikingly unfashionable manner the co ee he drinks is milky and weak the furnishings in his living room are functional although he is still a consummate storyteller quick witted and wry he cannot mask his discontent the hours i spend with him leave me bewildered and disheartened i m here not only because you are the icon of the israeli peace movement i tell sarid i am here because your biography is the biography of the left you were the pillar of the new peace movement that replaced the fading labor movement but the transition from labor to peace was not only political it was a deep mental shift from building to protesting from doing to talking from leading to opposing and you are the embodiment of that transition you are the incarnation of the shift from the labor culture of socialist zionist action to the peace culture of liberal israeli protest sarid doesn t deny this he sees the correlation between what happened to the left and what happened to him what shaped me he says were the disappearance of my parents home in rafalowka the happiness i experienced in rehovot and the sanity of israel in its rst nineteen years but the six day war undermined the order of things and then america opened my eyes the yom kippur war enraged me because it could have been prevented so when i came of age politically speaking i could not be the prince of continuity i was expected to be i was the wayward son rather than walk in the footsteps of the elders i wanted radical change i wanted to topple and destroy the national leadership that had betrayed us therein lies the problem i say both you and the peace movement were always against against meir against begin against occupation but though you were right to be angry your failing was that you were always about negation protests demonstrations unlike the old laborites you never built anything you never put up a home or planted a tree and you never accepted the heavy responsibility of dealing with the complexity of israeli reality emotionally you remained stuck in the adolescent protest stage of the 1960s and 1970s the naysaying character of the peace culture made it sterile and eventually unattractive politically and emotionally it was unproductive and barren even corrosive there was not enough love not enough compassion and there was too much judgment that s why you couldn t ll the vacuum left by the fading labor culture after you performed the grand acts of patricide and matricide you didn t succeed in becoming fathers and mothers yourselves you did not nurture you did not inspire you did not lead you didn t o er the nation a mature political choice at the end of the day your generation achieved only a fraction of what the founders had it was on your watch not theirs that israel became a rudderless nation lost at sea with no captain and no compass and no sense of direction sarid has a reply at the ready as he ddles with his frameless glasses with his small nail bitten ngers he begins shooting long salvos of sharp words focusing on occupation was the right thing to do he says occupation is the father of all sins occupation is the mother of atrocity when we occupied the west bank and gaza we opened a door and evil winds swept through it all the depravity you see in today s israel is because of the occupation the brutality the deceit the decay even the army is now rotting because it was forced to be an occupying army because of occupation we have been held captive by an insane gang of messianic zealots who may yet destroy us like their forefathers destroyed the second temple don t you see it i am afraid we are doomed and i saw it all coming i saw it in advance when i saw the rst seeds of occupation i knew they were the seeds of destruction there is something else he continues you asked me what the real impetus of the peace movement was well let me put it this way the israeli peace movement was actually a struggle for normalcy what we wanted was normalization the previous generation told us that war was our lot this is the way things are in this region and this country war is normal but we raised our heads and looked around and saw that in other parts of the world perpetual con ict is not normal this is not how others live this is not how nations sort out their di erences germany and france for instance vietnam china later the soviet union so we rejected moshe dayan s notorious statement the sword shall devour forever we looked for a way that would guarantee that the sword shall not devour forever it is not fair to say that we were all about protest and negation we are the ones who brought a new hope of peace we said that war upon war is not a decree we said that peace is within reach we said we want the normal life other people have and we want to enjoy the peace other people enjoy that s just it i challenge sarid you discovered the world but you ignored our own history you forgot 1948 and the refugee problem that it created you were blind to the chilling consequences of zionism and the partial dispossession of another people that is at the core of the zionist enterprise you also failed to realize the gravity of the religious con ict and identity clash between the western jewish democratic israel and the arab world you didn t take into consideration the fact that given our history and our geography peace is hardly likely sarid understands me but he answers as if he doesn t understand a thing history is not a train station he says because even if you re stuck at the most remote train station you can be certain that if you missed the train another will come it might take an hour a day a week but the next train will come not so history in history if you missed the train you were supposed to get on there is no certainty that there will be another that s why i am so angry now and exasperated and disillusioned i have no doubt that had i been prime minister in the late 1980s i would have reached a peace agreement with the palestinians perhaps i would even have managed to save a few settlements perhaps an inch of east jerusalem but because the israeli leadership of the day was cavalier and callous time slipped by and opportunity slipped by and the train left the station now i don t see another train coming no train at all and that only makes me more pessimistic and gloomy i don t love the land as i once did i don t feel i belong to the nation as i once belonged in my nightmares i see millions of palestinians marching to jerusalem i see millions of arabs marching on israel i am well over seventy now i have nothing to lose but the grave i will be buried in but sometimes when i look at my grandchildren my eyes tear up i am no longer certain that their fate will not be the fate of the children of rafalowka i meet with yossi beilin in his posh o ce in a herzliya high tech tower his suit is light his tie white his hair silver gray even though he is in his midsixties the face of the peace statesman turned business adviser is the face of a boy marked by only a few lines although eight years younger than sarid beilin is far more mature throughout the years he has been the responsible adult of peace not a man of protests but a man of deeds not a man of overwhelming emotions but a man of calculated action beilin was born in tel aviv in the same summer as the state of israel his home was imbued with jewish history and a commitment to zionism years earlier his grandfather had been a delegate to two of the rst zionist congresses his father was the well read bookkeeper of tel aviv s journalist union his mother a teacher of arabic bible and archaeology who contributed to the labor daily davar their home was the humble apartment of a family that had lost much of its fortune but not its pride or its passion for learning on the walls hung photographs of the founders of zionism and victims of pogroms and the wailing wall both of beilin s parents felt that they were privileged to live in the time of redemption and they instilled this feeling in their young son yosef beilin was an ambitious boy he had the resolute drive of the son of poor ashkenazi jews in elementary school he was industrious diligent and eager and he was accepted on scholarship to the prestigious herzliya gymnasium he never wasted time never rebelled never cut loose in the afternoons he worked as a juvenile radio reporter at eight he became observant he put on te llin and ate kosher but his real god was esh and blood david ben gurion on fridays the young yossi would walk to jewish national fund boulevard to watch the old man with the unruly white mane get out of his limousine and enter the simple two story residence from which he led the jewish people with in nite wisdom when ben gurion retired beilin cried bitterly the israel beilin remembers from his youth was a future bound country the weizmann institute in rehovot the reactor in dimona the performing arts center in tel aviv the national water carrier economic growth was faster than that of singapore and south korea beilin is amazed to recall the borders were quiet the arabs were distant the palestinians were not an issue there was a deep feeling of security and calm the jewish tragedy was at last behind us zionism had succeeded in turning the miracle of redemption into the modern and enlightened state of israel in may 1967 there was a moment of fright in the days leading up to war people in tel aviv talked of digging mass graves in the city s parks some feared a second holocaust but the resourceful and resolute idf that beilin served in was raring to ght beilin too was impatiently waiting for the war of his generation when war did break out the israeli military machine worked like a swiss clock it crushed the arab armies within days the nineteen year old soldier was struck by the sight of the burned corpses of egyptian soldiers lying in the sand their eyes agape when the transistor radio he was holding in his hand announced that jerusalem had been liberated and that the temple mount was in our hands beilin cried like a child he felt that justice had been done what was not achieved in 1948 was achieved in 1967 the state that was as old as he was proved strong enough to defend itself and ful ll its rights in the late 1960s and early 1970s beilin studied at university political science and literature wrote for davar and was active in politics labor he worked hard studied hard and married young although he was not a hawk occupation never really troubled him he even supported the establishment of some early settlements he had absolute trust in golda meir moshe dayan and their labor government once again the borders were quiet the arabs were distant and the palestinians were not really an issue everything was just as it should be the sirens of october 6 1973 caught beilin at home having just returned from yom kippur prayers to his young wife and their two year old son he thought it must be a mistake could the arabs really be foolish enough to attack after the humiliating defeat they had su ered in 1967 but hours later the twenty ve year old reservist was in uniform serving as a radio operator in the supreme command headquarters with his own ears he heard the israeli army collapse the soldiers at the suez canal were crying for help the generals were shouting at each other there was no order no discipline no dignity the communication networks were screaming in panic the venerated moshe dayan walked the corridors like a defeated marshal the face of the chief of sta was gray with horror in the halls of israel s supreme command there was talk of the end of the third temple while war was still raging beilin turned his back on religion stopped putting on te llin and eating kosher he drove and wrote on the sabbath and he never again walked into a synagogue to pray not only was his faith shattered the world he trusted had crumbled the gods he worshipped seemed now like nothing but deceitful idols it was like a religious revelation but in reverse beilin tells me there was terrible pain and a terrible void because of the sudden disappearance of the shekhinah of divine presence nothing was valid anymore nothing was secure or trustworthy there was no one up there who was wiser than myself and saw what i didn t see there was no god and there were no leaders and there was no one to whom i could raise my eyes i was all alone i bore all the responsibility i was personally obliged to make sure there was not another war or calamity and that the third temple was not destroyed in the decade after the yom kippur war beilin became the promising young thinker of labor in 1977 he was shimon peres s aide and labor party spokesperson by 1984 he was cabinet secretary of a likud labor coalition government then he became a peace entrepreneur in 1987 he stood by shimon peres s side as the foreign minister tried to negotiate peace with jordan s king hussein in 1989 he held indirect talks with a plo representative in the hague in 1990 he signed a joint israeli palestinian declaration in jerusalem after yossi sarid left labor and became marginalized beilin took his place as the great white hope of peace he was the man seen most likely to fashion the historic conciliation between israel and the palestinians in june 1992 yitzhak rabin led labor to victory in the national elections and formed a center left government rabin despised beilin and beilin disdained rabin but the opportunity was irresistible after the failure of the lebanon war and after the palestinian uprising of 1987 92 the right was crushed for the rst time ever there was a peace majority in the knesset the prime minister was committed to reaching an interim agreement with the local palestinian leadership within six to nine months a man like beilin wouldn t miss such an opportunity a man like beilin would not wait for the prime minister to lead the way to peace as deputy foreign minister beilin acts on his own accord on december 4 1992 he sends his envoy dr yair hirschfeld to a clandestine unauthorized meeting in london with the plo s nance minister abu ala on january 20 1993 he sends hirschfeld and another envoy dr ron pundak to negotiate with abu ala in sarpsborg south of oslo on february 11 1993 he sends hirschfeld and pundak to a second round of talks in sarpsborg prime minister rabin and foreign minister peres don t have a clue but in sarpsborg a serious document is being drafted it is agreed that israel will withdraw its forces from the gaza strip consent to an autonomous palestinian administration in the west bank and open direct negotiations regarding a nal status accord only in mid february 1993 does beilin show peres the draft of the norway paper he downplays the matter and in a sense deceives his superior though he informs peres peres does not fully comprehend the signi cance of the sarpsborg talks therefore when the foreign minister reports to the prime minister neither of them really gets it rabin is not keen on the plan but he does not instruct peres to stop the negotiations the befuddlement of israel s top two statesmen plays into beilin s hand just as yehuda etzion pinchas wallerstein and hanan porat extracted from the 1975 rabin peres government a vague approval to settle in samaria beilin extracts from the 1993 rabin peres government a vague approval to negotiate with the plo there is a crack in the dam a speedy process is under way in the spring of 1993 three additional rounds of talks are held in may the director general of the foreign ministry uri savir joins the israeli team in norway in early june yoel zinger legal adviser and rabin con dant comes aboard on june 6 1993 rabin instructs peres to halt negotiations it seems he has suddenly realized how signi cant they are and panicked a few days later he acquiesces now the negotiations center on mutual recognition between israel and the plo they are navigated by a team of four who meet secretly every weekend in tel aviv jerusalem or herzliya rabin peres beilin and zinger but the lead navigator is deputy foreign minister beilin he is the only israeli who knows where he is heading and the only one who understands the meaning of every move he is the one leading the prime minister and the foreign minister and the national agenda did you ever discuss the historic signi cance of what you were doing i ask never answers beilin with coolheaded candor did you discuss the risks involved never did you consider alternatives no did you realize you were on the road to establishing a palestinian state i did though rabin and peres not quite we assumed that the oslo talks were a secret channel that would remain secret the political outcome was supposed to be a limited autonomy agreement between the israeli government and the local palestinian leadership in the west bank and gaza strip no one foresaw the historic handshake between rabin and arafat no one knew that israel s partner would be the palestine liberation organization what the israeli team dealt with were details much thought was given to minor matters that in retrospect had no real importance at the end of july as their self con dence rises the palestinians say they will not sign the interim agreement if there is no mutual recognition rabin is outraged but by now he is trapped he has locked himself into a commitment to political breakthrough and as there is no breakthrough with syria the palestinians are his only chance therefore he yields once again to palestinian demands and walks the path on which beilin is leading him on august 18 rabin authorizes shimon peres to secretly sign the agreement in oslo on september 10 yitzhak rabin recognizes the plo then on september 13 rabin surrenders to a highly signi cant last minute maneuver by arafat changing the phrase palestinian team in the agreement s preamble to plo an hour later the prime minister of israel goes out to the white house lawn with the president of the united states and the leader of the palestinian people and makes history yossi beilin sits in one of the back rows on the lawn not quite believing what he is seeing he brought rabin and peres here he brought israel here he touches peace i ll tell you how i see it i say to beilin to begin with you were not a great believer in peace with the palestinians following the yom kippur trauma you wanted peace and you realized that occupation was dangerous and you thought an agreement that would return the west bank to jordan would solve the problem but by the end of 1988 jordan s king hussein no longer wanted anything to do with the west bank and by 1992 your next go to option negotiating with the local palestinian leadership was no longer on the table all you were left with was arafat but arafat was no easy matter arafat represented the entire palestinian people not just the residents of the occupied territories but also the palestinian refugees and the israeli palestinians arafat was the embodiment of the armed struggle against zionism so if there was to be a peace agreement with arafat it was to be completely di erent from the one discussed with the local palestinians an arafat peace agreement should have been based on a palestinian about face recognizing the jewish people recognizing the jewish national movement and its national rights relinquishing the palestinians right of return in hindsight it seems clear that you did not think about the religious cultural and existential dimensions of the con ict you did not remember the arab rejection of the balfour declaration of 1917 the arab outrage at the un partition plan of 1947 and the calamity wrought by the war of 1948 all you saw was the relatively easy problem of 1967 namely occupation which you thought you could solve in a relatively easy manner that a person of your intelligence was tempted to make peace in such a hasty way is unconscionable rather than use the unique circumstances of the early 1990s to begin a long process that would eventually lead to a true peace you opted for the appearance of peace you thought you were manipulating peres and rabin but in reality it was the palestinians who manipulated you although they were at a strategic disadvantage they still managed to knock you to the ground beilin listens quietly and patiently one of his virtues is his ability to remain detached ice cold if it were up to me he says i would have gone for a nal status agreement right there and then i would have solved all the core issues you mentioned in a short time but in 1993 rabin did not want a nal comprehensive peace i had to sew a suit he would be willing to wear i knew the suit was far from perfect i knew that any delay would serve the enemies of peace but since i was not calling the shots i had no other way i had to work within a set of given circumstances immediately after the white house ceremony i ew to tunisia and started to negotiate a real peace agreement with arafat s most senior deputy mahmoud abbas it took time and meanwhile things happened baruch goldstein committed the hebron massacre in february 1994 then yigal amir murdered yitzhak rabin in november 1995 events happened that i could not foresee to this day i am convinced that if rabin had not been assassinated peace would not have been assassinated we would not be having this conversation because israel would have peace with palestine syria and the arab world the peace story is also my story for upper middle class secular ashkenazi israelis like me peace was not only a political idea in the last quarter of the twentieth century it de ned our identity peace was the social integrator and the pillar of re of our tribe peace was our religion in 1965 when i was in third grade our most sacred song was the peace song tomorrow but the peace promised by the song was abstract it had soldiers shedding their uniforms but it had no arabs it was a peace one yearns for but doesn t really believe in when i was in tenth grade our most sacred song was the song for peace the peace of this song was one of protest it was the chilling outcry of dead soldiers it had de ance but it too had no arabs the peace of the song for peace was angry and confrontational and political but it was amorphous just like its predecessor still its demand for peace was exhilarating the transition from the peace of tomorrow to the peace of the song for peace characterized my generation after the six day war and the occupation of the west bank and gaza we believed peace was possible after the yom kippur war we rightly thought israel had missed the opportunity to prevent war by making peace after the political upheaval of 1977 the establishment of the settlements and the lebanon war peace became our plaint against the right and the settlers peace was not based on a sober historical diagnosis and it did not o er a realistic strategic prognosis peace was an emotional moral and intellectual stance vis à vis an ongoing intolerable con ict and an israel changing its face when i was in high school i would often go to peace movement gatherings i listened with admiration as luminaries like the novelist amos oz the journalist uri avnery and the former colonel meir pa il promised peace when i was a soldier on leave i used to participate in the thrilling jerusalem torch bearing peace marches and i listened with devotion as yossi sarid and yossi beilin promised peace when i was a university student i was an enthusiastic activist in the peace movement i wrote and distributed peace pamphlets and i believed with all my heart in the promise of peace but only when i turned thirty and began listening seriously to what palestinians were actually saying did i realize that the promise of peace was unfounded it played a vital moral role in our lives but it had no empirical basis the promise of peace was benign but it was bogged down by a systematic denial of the brutal reality we live in i worked out a theory the theory assumed we lived in a tragedy an almost eternal struggle between two peoples sharing a homeland and ghting over it for seventy years we jews had the stamina needed to withstand this tragedy we were vital enough to be jolly and optimistic while enduring an ongoing con ict but as fatigue wore us down we began to deny the tragedy we wanted to believe there was no tragic decree at the heart of our existence so we had to pretend that it was not by tragic circumstances that our fate was decided but by our own deeds the territories we conquered in 1967 gave us an excellent pretext for this much needed pretense as it allowed us to concentrate on an internal con ict of our own making the right said if we only annex the west bank we ll be safe and sound the left said if we only hand over the west bank we ll have peace the right said our dead died because of the left s illusions while the left said our dead died because of the right s fantasies rather than face a tragic reality imposed on us from without we chose to create a simplistic narrative of right against left it s not the arabs fault it s the jews it s not the middle east it s the israeli government it s not the fundamental israeli condition but some speci c mistake made by some speci c israeli politician in an ingenious way we turned the tragedy in which we live into a morality play we created a virtual reality that enables us to blame ourselves rather than face the cruel reality we are trapped in from this general theory i worked out a theory of the israeli left its fundamental aw was that it had never distinguished between the issue of occupation and the issue of peace regarding the occupation the left was absolutely right it realized that occupation was a moral demographic and political disaster but regarding peace the left was somewhat naïve it counted on a peace partner that was not really there it assumed that because peace was needed peace was feasible but the history of the con ict and the geostrategy of the region implied that peace was not feasible the correct moral position of the left was compromised by an incorrect empirical assumption why did the left cling to this empirically incorrect assumption because this assumption enabled it to deny the tragedy of 1948 and to ignore the schism between its new liberal values and the zionist predicament it is well known that the euphoria of 1967 led the right to believe that greater israel was possible what is less generally acknowledged is that the same euphoria led the left to believe that greater peace was possible the struggle between these two fantasies empowered both sides and enabled israelis to escape reality instead of sticking to the sound rational position of ending occupation simply because it is immoral and destructive the left endorsed the unsound and irrational belief that ending occupation would bring peace there was a tendency to see the settlers and settlements as the source of evil and to overlook palestinian positions that were not occupation based there was a magic belief that israel was the supreme power that could end the con ict by ending occupation the left adopted the peace illusion because it had a messianic dimension it promised israel a new existential condition it was to replace the badlands under our feet with the open blue skies of an imaginary future so it transpired that peace stopped being peace it was no longer bound by a realistic analysis of power interests opportunity threat and alliance by sound judgment it ignored arab aspirations and political culture it overlooked the existence of millions of palestinian refugees whose main concern was not the occupation but a wish to return to their lost palestine it was not based on a factual state of a airs but on a sentimental state of mind it was a wish a belief a faith in the israel i grew up in peace was an existential need that gave birth to a messianic concept it enabled israel s wasps white ashkenazi supporters of peace to believe they could be israelis without being brutal it made it possible for progressive zionists to delude themselves into thinking that they could appease zionism s disinherited other thus it became the totem of the secular tribe peace promised us that we could be pure and righteous and beautiful peace meant we would not have to ght for centuries for we could write a happy ending to our tragedy i drive up to jerusalem to meet with ze ev sternhell menachem brinker and avishai margalit three of the leading intellectuals of the israeli peace movement two of them were my university professors and the third a political mentor i ask them what went wrong what thwarted the peace process sternhell says that oslo was too little too late but the real problem was that the left never managed to advance beyond the well established ashkenazi elites it never managed to build a party that resembled the european social democratic parties this is why we didn t save israel in time sternhell tells me this is why i am now racked by anxiety he says israel is my life but i see israel fading away i see a terminal illness consuming the nation i so love brinker surprises me by echoing my own theory he says that like the right the left succumbed to messianic delusions following the six day war it was convinced that israel was omnipotent it was certain that everything was in our hands we were naïve but we were also arrogant says brinker in principle our position was right but we refused to see that it was inapplicable first the arab states said no then king hussein said no and the palestinians were always ckle but we never seriously dealt with these di culties we insisted that if israel did a b and c there would be peace that s why we were vulnerable to attacks from the right time and again the right exposed our internal contradictions it proved that the arab partners we were counting on were not really there margalit surprises me too not for a second did he believe in oslo he says one does not hop over a chasm in two jumps he anticipated violence killings and a loss of momentum he saw in advance that euphoria would evaporate and the counterforces would have the upper hand he never trusted rabin peres or barak he did not believe peace would be achieved at camp david but he never publicly criticized the peace process because he didn t want to sabotage it as a movement the peace movement did have great achievements he tells me over the years we dominated the debate regarding occupation we even scored a verbal victory over the right which eventually adopted our wording regarding the two state solution but on the ground we lost badly we didn t stop colonization we never managed to forge a coalition wide enough and strong enough to stop the settlers now it s too late it s almost irreversible i don t see a power within israel erce enough to stop the state founded by my parents from becoming an apartheid state i take a seat in a café in the german colony in jerusalem nearby on lloyd george street stood the headquarters of peace now where i spent many long nights as a student here we tried to stop the lebanon war and failed here we tried to stop the settlements and failed here we tried to bring about peace and failed here we failed to stop the secular right and the religious right from taking over the sane israel we loved it was a powerful experience the struggle emboldened us the protests bolstered our virtuous view of ourselves the hope for peace gave us meaning but after listening to sarid beilin sternhell brinker and margalit i ask myself what was our aw why did we fail in such an astounding way my answer is simple we were right to try peace we were right to send beilin s team to meet with the palestinians and o er them a grand deal a demilitarized palestine living side by side with a jewish democratic israel along the 1967 border but we should never have promised ourselves peace or assumed that peace was around the corner we should have been sober enough to say that occupation must end even if the end of occupation did not end the con ict our goal was to draw a border to win international recognition for that border and to gradually and cautiously withdraw to that new border our task was to convince the israeli public that an occupying israel is doomed and a postoccupation israel will be viable and strong our mission was to design the greatest zionist project of all dividing the land but we did not we failed to say to the world and to our people that occupation must cease even if peace cannot be reached we failed to tell ourselves the truth about the palestinian wish to return to their pre 1948 villages and homes rather than deal courageously with reality as it is we fell for the romantic belief in peace now so when the great moment of opportunity arrived in 1993 we missed it in oslo we tried to impose a awed concept of peace on a middle east reality that soon rejected it but even after rejection was apparent we clung to the awed concept as buses exploded on the streets of our cities we kept singing the hymns of our imaginary peace this is how we lost the trust and respect of our countrymen who turned away from us because we failed to acknowledge that our wished for peace was turning into a macabre farce our failure was not caused by the forces we encountered but by our own weakness by our lack of intellectual integrity and courage and by our immaturity we never deigned to inherit the legacy of the founders of israel that we were supposed to inherit and we didn t continue in the footsteps of those we were supposed to follow the peace clan balked at the historical continuum it refused to take the reins of true responsibility and remained a 1970s style protest movement sarid beilin sternhell brinker and margalit were the teachers and leaders of my generation and i feel close to them i feel empathy and a nity even when i argue with them we are of one stock sarid margalit and brinker understood the folly of occupation in the summer of 1967 beilin and sternhell saw the light after the 1973 war and the 1977 upheaval it is to their credit that they grasped this facet of the story very early and clearly they were courageous enough to ght a consensus that regarded them as loonies or traitors but my mentors fostered an oedipal political culture whose main theme was patricide in a sense they never grew up they never became leaders and they made the mistake of detaching the occupation issue from the wider context of israeli life and middle east reality they were blinded three times over they saw the inner circle of the con ict in which an israeli goliath stands over a palestinian david but they didn t see the outer circle in which an arab islamic goliath stands over an israeli david they saw that for the palestinians the 1967 occupation was disastrous but they did not see that for many palestinians there are other matters that are far more severe and visceral than occupation like the homes they lost in 1948 they knew that israel had to deal with the challenge of occupation but they overlooked and dismissed the other critical challenges facing the state because of these three cognitive aws their vision was impaired and their scope of reality grew more and more narrow until nally they were disconnected from reality the well meaning leaders of the israeli left and the israeli peace movement became irrelevant i drive back to tel aviv to meet with amos oz we ve known each other a long time over a period of twenty years we have been meeting to discuss life and literature to debate peace and politics although i truly love him in recent years i have often disagreed with him oz is the peace prophet he is the guru of the peace movement and the chief rabbi of israel s peace congregation i nd amos in a surprisingly good mood in italy they have just produced an opera based on his poetic novel the same sea his books have been translated into dozens of languages and are read in dozens of countries the jerusalem orphan who found a home in kibbutz hulda is israel s most distinguished author but his head remains level and he is as humble as he has always been in a plaid shirt and old beige trousers he sits in a remote corner of a tidy plain café in ramat aviv he rises to his feet shakes my hand and greets me warmly i am not an orientalist oz says but what i do every morning from ve a m on is to try to get into other people s heads to imagine how they see the world in june 1967 when i returned from war in the sinai desert to jerusalem dressed in uniform and carrying an uzi submachine gun what i saw was not david s capital i saw the arab shoeshine boy looking at me fearfully and i remembered my childhood in british mandate jerusalem and the intimidating surly british soldiers i understood that although jerusalem is my city it is a foreign city i knew i should not rule over it that israel must not rule over it old jerusalem is our past but it is not our present and it endangers our future we must not be tempted by what many are fond of describing as its holy silence when i came back to hulda i realized that what i saw in jerusalem others did not see both the right and mainstream labor thought of 1967 as the completion of 1948 what we were not strong enough to do then we were strong enough to do now what we didn t conquer then we conquered now i thought that state of mind was dangerous i realized that the west bank and gaza strip are the palestinians poor man s lamb i knew we must not take it not one inch not one settlement we must keep the territories only as a surety until peace is reached labor s lions thought as i did levi eshkol pinchas sapir abba eban yitzhak ben aharon but the foxes wanted to annex and when the lions did not roar the foxes raised their heads and i was alone the journalists uri avnery and amos kenan preceded me but within the world of labor i was the rst i wrote against moshe dayan s desire for living space and against the rhetoric of land liberation i called for the establishment of a palestinian state i thought both morals and realism dictated only one solution the two state solution i was savagely attacked even in my own labor paper davar even in my kibbutz hulda a fellow columnist demanded that davar stop running my articles others treated me as a traitor or madman at the very same time israel s most respected novelists and poets were endorsing the idea of a greater israel nobel laureate shmuel yosef agnon and poet laureates uri zvi grinberg nathan alterman and chaim gouri i saw the nation drifting away changing its face it was no longer the israel i thought i knew by the early 1990s it was all very di erent reality had struck and changed both israelis and arabs the 1973 war made the arabs realize they could not take us by force the 1987 92 palestinian uprising made the israelis realize there is a palestinian people and they will not go away they were here and they were here to stay after a hundred years of mutual blindness we suddenly saw one another the illusion that the other would disappear was gone that s why the views held by only a handful of israelis after the six day war were eventually adopted by the majority the ideology of the 1967 left became the platform of rabin peres the 1993 government peace had moved from the fringes to the very center i saw up close the process rabin and peres went through i knew them well they both used to come visit me on friday nights at hulda what changed rabin were the young people of israel he realized that the boys of the twenty rst century would not ght as he did in 1948 what changed peres was the world he was visiting many countries and listening and he realized that he did not want israel to be the new south africa for di erent reasons and in di erent ways both rabin and peres realized that the con ict had to end the predictable hawks they were became hesitant doves when peres secretly sent me a draft of the oslo accords i saw the problem i understood that in reality what we had here was a tricky tripartite agreement between the government of israel the plo and the settlers but still i thought it was a good beginning i believed oslo would bring down the cognitive wall separating israelis and palestinians and once the wall came down there would be progress we would advance step by step toward a true historic conciliation i made one big mistake i underestimated the importance of fear the right s strongest argument is fear they don t say it out loud because they are ashamed to but their most compelling argument is that we are afraid it s a legitimate argument i too am afraid of the arabs so if i were to start the peace movement all over again that s the one change i would make i would address our fear of the arabs i would have a genuine dialogue about the israeli fear of extinction desperate i am not yet desperate oslo was not genuinely implemented because it was a baby unloved by both parents but it s not too late the settlement problem can be resolved both sides know compromise is essential they don t love each other they cheat on each other they shout at each other but whether they like it or not they see each other in this sense the emotional breakthrough of 1993 was real the taboo was broken the cognitive block fell away in spite of everything we now face the palestinians nation to nation to discuss the division of the land that is no small feat peace is an experiment that has not yet failed so i end my peace journey in hulda where amos oz lived for half his life hulda is ben shemen s twin sister it began as an agricultural farm that was to teach jewish immigrants how to work the land of israel located in the center of the country it was founded by the zionist movement in 1908 on land bought from arabs near the ja a jerusalem railway and the arab village of hulda an olive grove in memory of theodor herzl was planted here too and a baronial house called herzl house was built but in the summer of 1929 the hulda farm was attacked and burned down by its arab neighbors so when the moderate harmony seeking socialist gordonia commune settled here a year later in the herzl house in the herzl pine forest beside the olive grove it was to make a statement although we were shot at and our houses were burned down and our trees uprooted we shall not give up our dream for eighteen years the zionist commune of hulda and the palestinian village of hulda lived side by side the utopia building pioneers and the tradition bound villagers were good neighbors but when hostilities erupted after the 1947 un partition plan things changed on march 31 1948 arabs attacked a hulda convoy wending its way to a besieged jerusalem killing twenty two passengers ben gurion decided enough was enough six weeks before declaring the establishment of the state of israel its would be founder decided that the jews must go on the o ensive and conquer the arab villages along the road to jerusalem on april 6 1948 just after 2 00 a m the soldiers of the rst ever zionist battalion left kibbutz hulda crossed the herzl forest and attacked the arab village of hulda by 4 00 a m the village was conquered its inhabitants ed and within weeks its houses were demolished and its elds were pillaged much of the land of the palestinian village of hulda was transferred to the kibbutz forty ve years later i traveled with palestinian refugees through israel in april 1993 as the secretive peace process was under way in norway i brought jamal munheir back to hulda i had been looking for the hulda refugee throughout the west bank and nally found him the seventy year old palestinian remembered his village as if he had just left it he never suspected anything he told me how could he have suspected throughout the years he watched his jewish neighbors rst with suspicion then with wonder and then with admiration he saw them arrive as pale and poor jews from russia and saw them grow stronger and take root and turn their olive grove into a piece of paradise they learned to grow wheat tend sheep and press olives for oil and from his broad eld which bordered on theirs he sensed that his new neighbors were decent and hardworking although their ways were peculiar and their women were half naked and they had a communal arrangement that did not allow a man to own his own property they had devotion although they were not god fearing they were respectful the kibbutzniks stood by courteously and patiently as the palestinian girls drew water from the deep old well that the village shared with the commune and they would visit the village guesthouse the mada a and they invited the villagers to visit their own communal dining hall they bought vegetables from the villagers and supplied them with medicine and medical assistance jamal did business with his neighbors too and at night he would sit with the arabic speaking eld guard aharon aharon would tell jamal the fairy tales of hans christian andersen and jamal would tell aharon ancient stories of demons they would sit silently by the re sipping strong black co ee from small cups and listening to the distant sounds from surrounding villages where jackals were howling into the great night but then in april 1948 a jewish army positioned a mortar by the deep old well and began to bombard the village and the jewish soldiers came up the path the girls used to walk with earthenware jugs of water balanced on their heads and there was machine gun re all over the village jamal munheir took his old mother and put her on a camel and escaped with his family to dayr muhaysin and when dayr muhaysin was attacked on the very next day he escaped with his mother and family to abu shusha and two weeks later he watched from abu shusha as bulldozers razed his family s homes in hulda he watched as a vast cloud of white dust rose over the village he was born in and his father was born in and his grandfather was born in a month later the jews reached abu shusha and jamal munheir escaped to al qubab from al qubab he escaped to ein ariq and from ein ariq to yatta from yatta to amman and then back to yatta to this day he is a penniless refugee in the west bank village of yatta on the outskirts of hebron but during all those wanderings and during all those years jamal told me he never forgot hulda so when i drove him in my car over the dirt road to hulda in the spring of 1993 he smiled a wide child s smile and murmured hulda hulda nothing in the world like the soil of hulda he took me to the site where the threshing oor for the grain harvest had been to the pile of rubble that was once his aunt s house to the pile of rubble that was once his uncle s house and to the pile of rubble that was once his own house he told me he didn t know how to say what s in his heart only god knows only allah himself for there is no place in the world but this place there isn t and there won t be any other place this is jamal munheir s one and only place in the world from the ruins of the village we drove to the herzl forest and i parked by the herzl house as we sat under the old pine trees a gentle wind rose and caressed our faces all around us was the forest s silence jamal raised his hand and pointed to the sea of land in front of us and said this is my plot this is my land these are the hundreds of dunams of the munheir family you were a rich man i said immediately i realized i have made a terrible mistake jamal erupted my heart burns when i come here i go crazy when i come here we were respected people englishmen and jews and arabs listened to us our words carried weight but today who are we what are we beggars no one listens to us no one respects us we who owned all this land don t even have one grain of wheat only a unrwa refugee certi cate he went silent under the old pine trees the only sound was that of my small tape recorder recording the silence until jamal turned to me again crying saying that from the beginning of time his forefathers lived here and died here and were buried here they plowed this plot of land for hundreds of years from this old well they drew water for generations until the jews came to hulda and wiped out the munheir family until the jews conquered and pillaged hulda where is rasheed jamal cried and where is mahmoud and where are all the village people where is our hulda of all the houses in the village of hulda only the mada a guesthouse remains small and charming it still stands at the top of the southern hill commanding breathtaking scenery its black basalt stones are solid its roof at its windows arched today it is used as a sculptor s workshop and is surrounded by a sculpture garden as i approach the building nearly twenty years after i was here with jamal munheir the sound of sirens breaks the quiet it is spring again and it is israel s memorial day the sirens engul ng me are the sirens of memory so i stand at attention facing the mada a in the howling sirens i see the vanished village of hulda in the two decades that have passed since jamal munheir led me through his hulda the remains of the village were obliterated nothing is left now but the mada a carob trees a few hedgerows of prickly pear cactus the remaining wall of a house another wall a pile of rubble the palestinian village of hulda was succeeded by the israeli kibbutz of mishmar david in recent years mishmar david fell on hard times and ceased to be a kibbutz so now the kibbutz that succeeded the village is gone too it is being replaced by an upper middle class community of israel s new bourgeoisie a giant bulldozer razes one of the kibbutz s old egalitarian homes arab workmen build villas for jews on what used to be an arab village on what used to be jamal munheir s home and land this time i am on my own but i make the exact same journey i made with jamal years ago i drive to the herzl forest and park by the herzl house and walk among the old pine trees there is the same silence here the same gentle wind first i walk up the external stairs of the colonial herzl house to the second story porch i look out at the forest and think of the solace that the forest was to have been for the jews then i go on to the statue commemorating a well known guard who fell here while defending the forest and the house in 1929 then i go out of the forest and walk down the path that separated the hulda commune s olive tree grove from jamal munheir s wheat elds it is one of the most beautiful paths in the plain of judea on each side of it is a sad row of tall palm trees marching into the horizon the wind is soft the skies are a constable blue the silhouettes of the hulda kibbutz are to my left the silhouette of the vanished arab hulda to my right hulda is part of my own biography as a child i came to this forest on winter weekends to forage for mushrooms as an adolescent i rode my bike here with my friends looking for adventure as a soldier on leave i brought girlfriends here in my father s car later as a peace activist i came to hulda in my red vw beetle in order to drive amos oz to peace now demonstrations but since my visit here with jamal munheir in the spring of 1993 hulda has changed for me my homeland has changed for me peace has changed too i realize now why israel s peaceniks live against occupation i understand now what brilliant use we wasps make of the con ict s present in order to protect ourselves from the unbearable implications of the con ict s past for we must protect ourselves from our past and our deeds and from jamal munheir we concentrate on the occupation so that we can justify to ourselves the magni cent vineyard that stands in the midst of hulda like some proof of wrongdoing planted in 1999 the hulda vineyard is now one of the largest in the country six di erent varieties of grapes grow here including merlot cabernet sauvignon and sauvignon blanc the vineyard is well tended and thriving and at the end of every row blooms a bush of pink roses rows 1 through 190 of the vineyard are hulda west here between the kibbutz and the path stood the zionist olive grove rows 191 through 285 are hulda east here between the path and the well lay jamal munheir s wheat eld good earth bad earth earth shifting under our feet i go down to the wadi the deep water well is now blocked up i nd the square pool into which the well water was drawn i walk up the path the palestinian girls used to walk with earthenware jugs on their heads i walk up the path that the israeli soldiers climbed under the cover of the three inch shells that the mortar positioned by the well shot at the village i stand once again atop the village hill scanning the hulda valley two miles away is the yellow summit of tel gezer by which herbert bentwich settled nearly a century ago a mile and a half away are the gray ruins of abu shusha where in 1940 yosef weitz came to the conclusion that in order to survive zionism would have to cleanse the land of its native arab inhabitants and here is the kibbutz of hulda rising forth from the elds the herzl forest the herzl house the well the hulda vineyard the two rows of sad palm trees marching into the horizon it s hulda stupid not ofra but hulda i tell myself ofra was a mistake an aberration insanity but in principle ofra may have a solution hulda is the crux of the matter hulda is what the con ict is really about and hulda has no solution hulda is our fate our side is clear kibbutz hulda s intentions were not malevolent it did not wish to dominate it did not seek to exploit or dispossess or supplant all the hulda pioneers wanted was to form an intimate community their dream was to gather a family of forty or fty free individuals who would work the land in partnership and equality and commune with nature and thereby prove that it was possible to cure the disease in icted on the jewish people by diaspora life they sought to o er a way out of modern man s crisis of alienation and subjugation to the machine and plant in the soil of hulda a new beginning of harmony and justice and peace could we not have come to hulda and then when war came could we not have fought for our lives in hulda could we not have sent our soldiers to conquer the neighboring arab village of hulda could we not have taken the village s houses and elds could we not have hardened our hearts and treated our neighbors brutally and brought calamity upon them their side too is clear could they not have protested our penetration into their valley could they not have attacked and burned and destroyed our colonial agricultural farm and then a generation later could they have prevented the brutal attack on the hulda convoy that was part of an inevitable war and after their catastrophe could they not have hated us for conquering their village and taking their elds and sending them into exile and can this hatred ever be overcome can the palestinians be expected to give up the demand to see justice done for the village of hulda can anyone expect the children and grandchildren of jamal munheir ever to accept the fact that we build houses on their ruined homes and grow six varieties of grapes in their pillaged elds what is needed to make peace between the two peoples of this land is probably more than humans can summon they will not give up their demand for what they see as justice we shall not give up our life arab hulda and jewish hulda cannot really see each other and recognize each other and make peace yossi sarid yossi beilin ze ev sternhell menachem brinker avishai margalit and amos oz put up a courageous ght against the folly of the occupation and did all they could do to bring about peace but at the end of the day they could not look jamal munheir in the eye they could not see hulda as it is for the most benign reasons their promise of peace was false the one israeli leader who saw with cruel clarity what i now see in hulda was moshe dayan in 1956 at the funeral of the young security o cer roy rotenberg who fell patrolling the israeli gaza border israel s then chief of sta said the most sincere words ever spoken about the con ict yesterday at dawn roy was murdered the quiet of the spring morning blinded him and he did not see those who sought his life hiding behind the furrow let us not cast blame today on the murderers what can we say against their terrible hatred of us for eight years now they have sat in the refugee camps of gaza and have watched how before their very eyes we have turned their land and villages where they and their forefathers previously dwelled into our home it is not among the arabs of gaza but in our own midst that we must seek roy s blood how did we shut our eyes and refuse to look squarely at our fate and see in all its brutality the fate of our generation let us today take stock of ourselves we are a generation of settlement and without the steel helmet and the gun s muzzle we will not be able to plant a tree and build a house let us not fear to look squarely at the hatred that consumes and lls the lives of hundreds of arabs who live around us let us not drop our gaze lest our arms weaken that is the fate of our generation this is our choice to be ready and armed tough and hard or else the sword shall fall from our hands and our lives will be cut short as the years went by dayan s insight has been dimmed and forgotten israelis could no longer bear its cruel wisdom the six day war enabled us to escape its piercing sagacity the right nurtured its self righteous illusions the left was mesmerized by its own moralistic illusion and for two generations the sin of ofra obscured the sin of hulda but hulda is here hulda is here to stay and hulda has no solution hulda says peace shall not be i descend the hill to the well the vineyard it s so beautiful and calm here but the soil is hard the land is cursed for it is here in the valley of hulda that history s door creaked open on april 6 1948 it is precisely here at the end of the herzl forest that the jews crossed the threshold between the commune s olive grove and jamal munheir s elds and entered the forbidden after eighteen hundred years of powerless existence jewish soldiers employed a large organized force to take another people s land and to conquer dozens of villages of which hulda was one of the rst here by the old well of hulda we moved from one phase of our history to another from one sphere of morality to another so all that has haunted us ever since is right here all that will go on haunting us is right here generation after generation war after war photo credit 11 1 eleven j accuse 1999 aryeh machluf deri was to have been a parisian lawyer his upbringing in the northern moroccan city of meknes was prosperous enough to allow him to dream of a life of success and recognition in france in the 1960s king hassan ii extended his patronage to the jews there was harmony between arabs and jews in the young north african kingdom life had order and meaning and a quiet mediterranean rhythm the jewish community was strong but when eliahu and esther deri realized that their ve year old son was a mathematical genius they expected him to spread his wings and y beyond the happy moroccan jewish community they lived in and because they always looked to france its modernity its enlightenment the equal rights accorded by france to jews the deris hoped their son would nd a future there they imagined he would be a lawyer or a doctor or a math professor in paris or lyon or marseille eliahu deri was orphaned at the age of ten one morning he found his beloved mother lying lifeless in the bed next to him the following ten years were di cult for him he was bullied by his older brothers and he worked for sixteen hours a day as a tailor s apprentice sewing and ironing uniforms for the french army but as he got older and married and became his own man eliahu did well he opened a shop in the center of meknes and became a successful tailor the rapid modernization of north africa in the 1950s and 1960s doubled and tripled the demand for the high quality european suits that were his forte and politicians businessmen and o cers all called on his shop within a short time the penniless orphan from the crowded jewish ghetto the mlach was able to move his young family to the well to do ville nouvelle the new city to a spacious apartment in a smart building with a concierge they had two maids a television gilded furniture and summer vacations in the best resorts of tangier while esther s arab servants cooked and cleaned and tended to the children she would sneak o to the cinema across the street to watch humphrey bogart lms aryeh grew up like a prince playing soccer and swimming and devouring jules verne novels on the high holidays eliahu deri would take his two older sons to synagogue dressed in well cut suits and silk bow ties so that everyone could see just how far the poor orphan had come the deris lived a comfortable life of promise typical of the postwar jewish moroccan bourgeoisie there was a delicate balance in meknes on one hand the mlach preserved the jewish community and jewish identity on the other hand the ville nouvelle o ered the riches of france the deri family and many like them attended synagogue on sabbath mornings but their children played soccer and went to the cinema on saturday afternoons they maintained a close relationship with the arab majority all the while vigilantly safeguarding the uniqueness of their own identity in the postwar years postcolonial meknes managed to keep alive the semi colonial harmony of the enchanting levant where arabism judaism and french culture were woven together into a modern yet traditional fabric the six day war tore this fabric apart overnight in the summer of 1967 everything changed arab customers stopped calling on eliahu deri s shop arab employees started whispering behind his back one day a passerby spat on deri s elegant suit and muttered sale juif dirty jew deri came home incensed we are going to israel he announced without letting the neighbors know they sold all they could sell they put their furniture into a shipping container transferred money with the help of the jewish agency hid cash in the double linings that eliahu sewed into the children s winter coats and told friends they were going on vacation to france they summoned a taxi late one night and drove to casablanca from casablanca they ew to marseille where they boarded a ship to haifa esther deri remembers that when they left meknes she cried and when they boarded the plane in casablanca she cried again life had been good in morocco but though she begged and cajoled her husband to return he didn t listen the arabs sudden change of heart had humiliated him only at the transit camp in marseille did he begin to regret his hasty decision and only at the port of haifa did he begin to understand what he had done when it turned out that their baggage hadn t arrived he lost his temper when he didn t receive the housing promised to him in marseille his wife and ve children watched with horror as an enraged eliahu deri overturned a table aryeh machluf deri remembers that in the transit camp in marseille there was already tension between his parents but they hoped for the best and bought everything needed to make life in israel easier a refrigerator a washing machine a mixer the ship was actually fun the kids went wild on deck and in the evenings the grown ups danced the tango and the pasodoble but when they disembarked in haifa his father was a di erent person loud tense lost he was incapable of understanding the rules of the new world he had chosen so hastily he would raise his voice shouting and crying he lost his dignity the family was sent to the coastal town of rishon lezion south of tel aviv their apartment was tiny and bare jewish agency metal beds army blankets and nothing else when their money didn t arrive eliahu went to the bank every day when their container didn t arrive he went to the jewish agency every day he demanded a better apartment in a better location with better conditions he became enraged his blood pressure rose he shut himself in his room and didn t come out he lay in bed all day crying three months later the family moved from the fty square meter apartment in rishon lezion to a hundred square meter apartment in bat yam there was a little more room now but the neighborhood was bad many of the immigrant libyan families in the eli cohen housing estate lived on the edge of society some neighbors were decent and hardworking but others were petty criminals there were drugs prostitution street gangs because of eliahu deri s debilitating depression it was up to esther deri to protect her four sons and her daughter she locked them up at home so they would not learn the ways of the street one evening two ultra orthodox young men in long black coats knocked on the door they had heard that the deri boys were talented and suggested that two of them enroll in a religious boarding school in netanya esther deri was taken aback she knew nothing about ultra orthodoxy and the idea of sending her boys away scared her it seemed inhuman but her fear of drugs prostitution and street gangs was even stronger after a long heartbreaking deliberation esther deposited her eldest yehuda and her gifted aryeh in the hands of the two young men the two brilliant moroccan boys were sent to the sanz boarding school in netanya where they were totally cut o from their sister and brothers and mother and broken father the rabbi at the sanz yeshiva was an impressive spiritual gure who immediately captured aryeh deri s heart but the place itself was dilapidated dirty and miserable aryeh did not understand why he was being punished why at the age of nine and a half he had been taken away from his mother at night he would cry bitterly during the day he tried to escape he collected bottles from trash cans sold them back to the local grocery store and with the money bought a bus ticket back to bat yam at home he cried and persuaded his mother to let him stay until the rabbi arrived and told esther that her boy was a promising torah scholar looking around the dismal housing estate she agreed to place her boy in the care of the rabbi once again in the meantime esther began working shifts in a trade union owned textile factory in bat yam eliahu got out of bed and began cutting raincoats for a trade union owned haberdashery honor did not return and neither did plenitude and there was not much happiness but after the abrupt transition from morocco to israel that had initially crushed the deris the family was making a new life for itself living the gray depressing routine of the oriental israeli proletariat aryeh the child prodigy took another road he spent his rst summer in the state of israel in the miserable ultra orthodox boarding school in netanya he escaped returned and escaped again months later he managed to get himself transferred to another ultra orthodox boarding school and then to yet another in hadera living conditions were disgraceful too and loneliness was devastating but the ten year old became an observant jew the headmaster rabbi shukrun treated aryeh like his own son and took a personal interest in his education when aryeh went home once a month he watched arab movies on television on friday evenings and played soccer on the sabbath but in school he wore a yarmulke and studied the talmud three years later he was transferred to the sephardic porat yosef yeshiva in jerusalem and two years after that he moved to a mixed sephardic ashkenazi yeshiva at the age of sixteen he was accepted to the prestigious hebron yeshiva after seven and a half years in inferior and mediocre sephardic institutions aryeh machluf deri had reached the eton of the ashkenazi ultra orthodox world hebron was also the school of david yosef the son of israel s chief sephardic rabbi ovadia yosef the chief sephardic rabbi s son a mediocre student needed the help and guidance of the brilliant and charismatic deri and in return he suggested that aryeh become tutor to his younger brother at the age of eighteen the son of eliahu and esther deri was taken into the yosef household ten years after the ship moledet docked in haifa with a spoiled secular traditional boy from meknes on deck aryeh deri was an up and comer in the royal court of israel s sephardic jewry aryeh s dream was to establish an elite yeshiva for sephardic students but life in the chief rabbi s household gave him a taste for politics after deri married ya a a beautiful orphan a friend convinced him to devote his life to public service his self proclaimed mission was to persuade the sephardic rabbi yosef and the ashkenazi super rabbi elazar shach to co sponsor a new sephardic religious party thus shas was born in 1984 at the age of twenty ve aryeh deri ruled over an oriental ultra orthodox party that garnered four seats in the knesset in its debut election campaign he was about to change the face of israel at the age of twenty six deri was a powerful adviser to the minister of the interior at twenty seven he was director general of the ministry of the interior and at twenty nine he became minister of the interior though he did not possess any experience in public administration or any previous knowledge of israeli society aryeh deri became a star overnight he advanced the cause of both ultra orthodox jews and oriental jews but because he was a dove the left took a shine to him because he assisted the settlers the right appreciated him and because the agenda he set forth at the ministry of the interior bene ted many outside his constituencies he gained the respect of business and media deri managed to promote the two minority communities he represented without alienating other communities at the age of thirty he was the rst ultra orthodox oriental jew to break into israel s inner circle of power he was the most electrifying promising gure of a new israel in june 1990 israel s most powerful daily newspaper yediot aharonot published a series of investigative articles claiming that deri was corrupt the state comptroller and then the police opened inquiries deri fought back with a vengeance he attacked yediot aharonot the state comptroller and the police the people s hero became the people s enemy he was perceived not only as a bribe taker but as one who willfully disregarded the rule of law gone was the a ection of the left gone was the support of the right gone was the acceptance by the elite aryeh deri retreated to within the bounds of the one domain that stuck by him the traditional oriental community for three years deri lived a double life on the one hand he remained a successful minister of the interior who contributed greatly to israel of the early 1990s he was instrumental in the absorption of mass russian immigration in preventing israeli involvement in the rst gulf war and in maintaining a crucial and courageous alliance with prime minister rabin on the other hand he had lost the legitimacy of a normative political gure therefore he devoted his exceptional energy to the construction of a parallel israeli universe a religious oriental world funded by the government it challenged and undermined the shas leader used the political power he still had to build a sectarian education system and a sectarian welfare system the dysfunctional universal system of israel s decaying welfare state he took advantage of his management and organization building abilities to establish an alternative kingdom of the oppressed and downtrodden as enlightened israel rejected him he rejected enlightened israel rather than being a uni er and a healer aryeh deri became the oriental leader who would lead the oriental traditionalist revolt against the secular ashkenazi state that zionism had founded that would supplant the movement s the revolt s rst eruption occured in the 1996 election campaign these were the years of the oslo accords the government was the government of peace in the upper echelons of israeli society the feeling was that israeli secularism was back in power but in the lower echelons the revolt of israel s oppressed jews was simmering nationally icon was benjamin netanyahu ethnically its identity was channeled through shas deri understood this he saw the latent potential embodied in cultural discontent he also saw the fear gripping israel when the peace promise was swept away by a wave of terrorism that s why he o ered his voters something else something mystical deri rediscovered rabbi yitzhak kaduri a hundred year old kabbalistic mystic and made him the star of the election campaign kaduri talismans and blessings were handed out en masse and the ancient rabbi was own by helicopter from town to town to address rallies of desperately poor traditional oriental jews who clung to his every often unintelligible word by using kaduri and kabbalah deri got a quarter of a million votes and ten seats in the knesset from israelis who had rejected the secular progress that had established the state he took many sephardic jews back to their traditional mystic roots a source of both pride and consolation the revolt s second eruption came in late april 1997 israel s secular and dovish elites regarded the netanyahu deri government as illegitimate deri was ghting for his life in court suddenly on passover eve the state decided to indict deri on suspicion of persuading prime minister netanyahu to appoint a pliant attorney general in the hope that he could evade further corruption charges the police had recommended breach of trust charges against netanyahu and other ashkenazi suspects in the a air but unlike the sephardic deri none of them was charged the outcome was outrage in the hebrew university s stadium across from the knesset and the supreme court tens of thousands of shas supporters gathered to cheer deri and to identify with him ethnic civil war was close at hand but deri restrained himself and his people he told the immense angry crowd not to resort to violence but the words he chose to use on that blazing hot day were perceived as his farewell to the state and to zionism the vision of zionism has failed he said now secular israelis are afraid that shas will change the secular character of the state they call themselves zionists but they are not really zionists their movement is a movement of heresy they see our fathers and mothers as primitives they want to convert them they sent them to remote towns and villages where life was hard they gave their children a good for nothing education until we came and began taking care of all these people who were su ering in all these remote places that s why they are afraid of us that s why they persecute us and this persecution is both ethnic and religious but the more they humiliate us the more we will grow we shall change the character of the state of israel the revolt s third eruption comes in the spring and summer of 1999 on march 17 1999 the jerusalem district court nds aryeh machluf deri guilty of taking bribes amounting to 155 000 a week later he is sentenced to four years in prison in an irregular move the reading of the court s decision is transmitted on the radio in a live broadcast lasting for nearly two hours not only do the judges convict deri but they describe him as corrupt and malicious when he emerges from the courthouse his supporters are despondent it seems he is politically dead but within hours aryeh deri gathers strength with elections only two months away he decides to make his own tragedy the main issue of the election campaign he locks himself in his o ce with a videographer and gives the speech of his life j accuse he cries for two hours two narratives merge as he settles his own score with the rule of law and settles the score of sephardic judaism with the state of israel aryeh machluf deri is now the symbol of the oriental narrative of rejection humiliation and persecution of the unwillingness of the secular ashkenazi establishment to honor and respect traditional oriental jews of the exclusion of the jewish israeli other deri s j accuse is a hit to meet demand tens of thousands of video cassettes are produced in europe daily and own to israel overnight this time there is no need for kaduri s talismans there is not much interest in rabbi ovadia yosef either the election campaign is all about deri development towns impoverished boroughs and remote villages are on re everybody wants to see deri to touch deri to identify with deri while one israel convicts him another nds him innocent and makes him a hero a surge of protest arises out of the israeli ethnic divide the trauma of arrival in the 1950s the agony of absorption in the 1960s the sense of discrimination in the 1970s and the ickers of protest in the 1980s now come together in mass support for the leader of the oriental revolution who has just been criminally convicted deri is no longer just a politician he is a martyr he becomes the bearer of the cross of oriental pain and tragedy the 430 000 votes he and his party receive sixty days after the court reads aloud its damning decision brings the oriental revolt to its apex in june 1999 almost every sixth israeli gives his vote to a revolutionary leader who challenges the existing order and has been sentenced to four years in jail shas gains seventeen seats in the knesset up from ten in the previous election in july 2000 israel s supreme court rejects deri s appeal but reduces his sentence to three years nding that the bribe he received from his yeshiva friends was only sixty thousand dollars questions are raised if so little is left of the original indictment after a decade long legal battle is deri s unprecedented punishment still justi able are there really no other senior israeli politicians who received illicit funds from friends without being punished at all but the law is the law and the sentence is now nal on september 3 2000 the rst day of the new school year aryeh deri takes his young daughters to the sephardic elementary school he founded in jerusalem and named after margalit yosef the late wife of the chief sephardic rabbi facing the tv cameras he bids farewell to his three weeping girls from school he goes to prison shas supporters want their leader to enter prison not as a felon but as a king tens of thousands are waiting to support him as he exits jerusalem and tra c on the jerusalem tel aviv highway comes to a halt as a convoy of nearly a thousand cars and buses led by a cavalcade of motorcycles follows deri from the capital to maasiyahu prison outside the prison tens of thousands more gather rabbi ovadia yosef assures the crowds that just like the biblical joseph deri will leave prison to become king of israel deri himself asks for forgiveness but swears he has not broken the law and promises he will not crack escorted by a phalanx of policemen with his acolytes chanting their support deri walks through the prison gates and bids farewell to his wife ya a and his parents and when night comes as he lies on his narrow iron bunk bed in his private nine square meter windowless cell he buries his face in his hands and listens to his admirers singing outside the prison walls he pictures the distraught faces of his wife and parents and he thinks about his long journey suddenly he can t take it anymore he cracks after ten turbulent years he cries into the night just as he used to cry at boarding school my god why have you forsaken me so what is the crux of your story i ask deri ten years later and what is the crux of the oriental israeli story do the two really converge we are sitting in the out of the way jerusalem o ce to which aryeh deri retreats to be on his own to think the walls are covered with photographs of rabbi ovadia yosef and other lesser known sephardic rabbis on the shelves are volumes of the bible the mishnah and the talmud on the desk are yesterday s papers after he makes me strong black co ee deri suggests i try some of the exquisite belgian chocolates he has just received from a friend then he sits down strokes his trim beard pats his black yarmulke and looks up at me his eyes light up he is ready relaxed almost at peace years after his incarceration he no longer feels rage from his black leather armchair he can recount his own biography with calm and perspective at times it seems even he is surprised he cannot believe that so much has happened in his life in such a short period of time cannot believe that his life has turned into such a dramatic tale unbelievable he mutters more to himself than to me but when i press him to tell me more his eyes narrow and he chokes up i am not the typical jewish oriental israeli deri tells me the vast majority of immigrants from the arab countries arrived in the 1950s whereas i arrived only in 1968 the great traumas of most arab speaking immigrants were the indiscriminant spraying with ddt that they all received upon arrival and the degrading immigrant camps that i did not experience but when i arrived in bat yam in the late 1960s i saw all around me the damage wrought by the 1950s i saw a splintered oriental society what happened is quite clear deri elaborates oriental jewish culture was founded on three pillars the community the synagogue and the father the father was very strong too strong he was the family s provider and king he told his wife what to do he told his children what to study and how to behave even when modernization came with its french and english in uences the father and the rabbi remained dominant religion tradition and patriarchy preserved the oriental jewish community for a thousand years we did not go through european style secularization we didn t have western enlightenment and a revolt against religion we lived a life that combined religion tradition and rudimentary modernity we looked up to the rabbi and feared the father and thus we survived as a community on arrival in israel deri says the communities were dispersed there was an intentional policy of dispersion the rabbi lost his authority the community disintegrated and the synagogue was very much weakened but worst of all is what happened to the father the father gure was broken here he could not provide for his family as he had in morocco or iraq here he didn t have the authority he had in tunisia or libya he lost his bearings he was depressed he ceased to be relevant this was our crisis too deri says when we arrived in israel there was no community no synagogue and no rabbi my father was morti ed he understood that what had happened to our neighbors was about to happen to us the family sank into miserable poverty we children began to misbehave and use foul language a cousin of ours was killed in a shoot out between rival street gangs what saved us was our mother after the initial shock she realized she couldn t rely on our father so she gathered enough strength to act on her own because she is a wise strong woman she locked us at home so we wouldn t stray but when she realized this wasn t enough she consented to the two rabbis who knocked on her door and sent us to boarding school personally emotionally this was horri c for her but because she loved us so much she did not let her heart overrule her head she didn t quite know where she was sending us she didn t know we would become ultra orthodox but she knew we needed a social framework that would save us from the streets what you are saying i challenge deri is that it s all accidental your parents were more secular than religious more modern than loved humphrey bogart they danced the traditional they pasodoble so had it not been for the young rabbis who knocked on your door you might not have been religious at all if a ne secular institution had come knocking you might have become the leader of a renewed social democratic labor deri nods but is careful not to con rm my hypothesis in his own words he just smiles his mischievous smile and carries on listen he says i have no issue with labor or with the ashkenazis at home no one ever said the ashkenazis screwed us the feeling was that we endured a catastrophe i understood what happened back in the 1950s after all israel was a poor young state surrounded by enemies it was fragile recovering from war with a population of six hundred fty thousand people in all and suddenly this tiny ashkenazi nation is ooded with the entire sephardic diaspora of the middle east communities arriving one by one from yemen iraq morocco tunisia algeria libya lebanon and egypt so the state builds housing estates for the new immigrants it sets up factories for them within a few years it dismantles the dreadful immigrant camps and gives the newcomers a roof and a workplace that s quite an accomplishment but what the ashkenazi dominated state does not understand is that it is taking away from the oriental immigrants their community and honor and tradition it takes apart the social and normative structures that have kept them together in the diaspora they have no tools to deal with the new world no education relevant to it no awareness no sense of where or why they have no authority no compass all they have is the violence and dereliction of the street and so a generation is lost and then another dozens of slums and remote development towns become what bat yam s eli cohen has become neglected crime ridden and bleak hundreds of thousands of oriental jewish youngsters in israel are raised with no father no discipline and no meaning to their life those who were saved deri says are those who had strong mothers this is a mother s generation the mothers are the true heroines of israel s oriental story but as in my case the mother could not cope alone she needed a boarding school those who went to a religious boarding school as i did became torah scholars those who went to secular boarding schools became engineers or insurance agents only the combination of a strong mother and a decent boarding school could save you from the chaos only if you were sent away from home could you survive the collapse of your father and the breakdown of your culture i told you i don t hold a grudge against labor deri says that s true and not true there is one thing that does make me angry the spiritual aspect of absorption when it built the immigrant camps and the housing estates and the remote factories labor had no malice in its heart but in spiritual matters it certainly did the veteran ashkenazim of labor thought that most of the people who emigrated from the arab world were primitive and therefore had to be put through a process of secular european indoctrination the melting pot was a western melting pot that was supposed to totally transform us those labor ashkenazim didn t honor our civilization they didn t see the beauty of our tradition that s why they severed us from our roots and our heritage that was a terrible vicious mistake what these people did was to destroy not build they took the soul we had and did not give us another in its place and since they didn t really give us a new culture or identity they left us with nothing facing extreme economic and physical hardship we found ourselves standing in the world spiritually naked into this void stepped the ultra orthodox deri says in the rst years i was not really god fearing i learned what i was taught and did as i was told and dressed as i was instructed when i was by myself at home i was not profoundly religious only when i reached jerusalem at the age of thirteen did i discover the richness of the world of torah i was deeply drawn to the porat yosef rabbis who treated me like a son i was attracted to the mysticism of the old jerusalem kabbalists the western wall captured my heart the holiness of jerusalem enchanted me i began observing judaism religiously i didn t encounter the oriental issues until later he says because i was transferred from one sephardic hothouse to another i didn t encounter non sephardic jews i didn t encounter non orthodox israel either only in the hebron yeshiva did i notice that the sephardic students bowed down to the ashkenazim and their leaders bowed down to the ashkenazi leaders there was no anger toward the ashkenazim on the contrary there was gratitude for spiritual taking us in and accepting us and teaching us but there was a self abasement that i didn t like that i was not willing to be part of and gradually i noticed other things i hadn t noticed before there was no sephardic leadership no sephardic political representation no quality sephardic education we were totally dependent on the ashkenazim we were picking up the crumbs they were kind enough to let us have at rst i didn t think politically deri continues i was not really a part of israeli society and didn t understand how it functioned that s why all i wanted was to establish a high quality yeshiva for sephardic boys but in rabbi ovadia s house i started to understand politics i saw the persons and the powers shaping israel that s how i got the idea for shas i believed an alliance between rabbi shach and rabbi ovadia would produce a political body that would give representation to sephardic judaism and enjoy the religious backing of the ashkenazim i didn t want to rebel the thought of some sort of israeli black panthers was totally foreign to me all i wanted was to give my people a voice and a place of honor to return the divine crown to its rightful place deri leans over his wide desk his eyes glittering only when i became director general of the ministry of the interior did i truly understand the oriental jewish problem in israel only then in o ce did i truly leave the closed world of ultra orthodox judaism and come to know israeli society and suddenly i realized that of the hundreds of municipalities i was responsible for the weak ones were almost all arabic or oriental i suddenly realized that most of the su ering in israel is oriental su ering in every remote development town i visited i found neglect in every impoverished neighborhood i found oriental jews who had lost their pride and their identity i found communities destroyed families torn apart their honor and tradition taken away and the spark in their eyes extinguished while on the surface israel was thriving just below the surface there was an israel that was fatherless and rabbi less and hopeless traditional oriental israel was left to fend for itself and quite often it failed miserably secular ashkenazi politicians in my rst years in government deri tells me i wanted to integrate not self segregate i was very popular at the time i was a political star and a media darling i established close relationships with many journalists and businessmen they liked my directness and openness and energy we found common ground between their israeliness and mine so i believed it was possible to bridge the gaps between the sephardics and ashkenazim between religious and secular i believed that just as the elite accepted me they would accept the public i represented i felt my purpose was to heal and unite to strengthen the oriental jews and the ultra orthodox jews but to integrate them into a multitribal israel in which they would nd a place but then the newspapers came up with their allegations the state comptroller the police and the judiciary came after me both the right and the left wing elite turned their backs on me rabbi shach whom i loved and admired more than any other person i knew deserted me he never forgave me for trying to form a peace government with shimon peres in 1990 i was alone i was without my new friends from the secular world and without my old rabbi and the ashkenazi ultra orthodox now i was not loved but persecuted not a hero but a pariah all i had left was my tribe sephardic jews only they believed in me and embraced me the oriental jews identi ed with me they saw me as someone whose life story was similar to theirs they were convinced i was a moroccan jew who had opened his heart to israel and was accepted by israel until one day israel slammed the door in his face and did all it could to break him it was hard not to break deri whispers the loneliness was awful i had no one to turn to or look up to simultaneously i lost the israel that i had taken for a mother and rabbi shach whom i had taken for a father so i was attracted to the kabbalah i went up to the galilee on religious retreat i traveled to the ukraine to lie upon the tomb of rabbi breslau of uman although i am not a man of mysticism i needed the comfort of mystics i turned to fundamental faith the support of sephardic judaism mysticism and fundamental faith gave me the power to stand tall when everything was collapsing around me at night i found myself talking aloud to our father in heaven so the use of kaduri s talismans and blessings in the 1996 election campaign was not purely manipulative deri continues it also expressed my personal distress and my emotional need so was the rage of the 1999 election campaign j accuse wasn t only a brilliant political maneuver but an authentic emotional outcry all during the 1990s there was an astonishing correlation between what was happening to me aryeh deri and what the oriental jews of israel were experiencing fifty years after it was founded israel was facing an internal revolt that was about to change its identity they perceived me as a threat deri tells me here stood a person who was as good as they were not afraid not ashamed an organizer a planner a leader and that person operated in the most modern and e ective way but he represented judaism and he spoke for oriental jews and he took the ultra orthodox out of the ghetto they lived in and he rescued the oriental jews from under the oppression they lived in and throughout the country he created change he built alternative schools and community centers and gave people other options he threatened ashkenazi israel s cultural hegemony and chipped away at its identity as a western nation and he was growing stronger by the day leading the most important revolution in israel s short history this is why they had to take me out of the game deri says to remove me from government and cut me o from state resources to assault my character so that even my constituency would denounce me that s why they investigated me like they had never investigated anyone else with a ne tooth comb and judged me like they had never judged anyone else against all evidence they lynched me and created the impression that i was an evil octopus and in a sense they succeeded they expelled me from politics and jailed me and turned me into a demon but in another sense they failed their attacks on me convinced the masses to follow me a million israelis felt that when they tried to take me out they tried to take them out too when they locked me up they kept them out too after they had nally raised their heads they were pushed back half a century the ddt the immigration camps the condescension that s why in 1999 we got seventeen seats in the knesset if elections had been held a month later we would have gotten twenty ve or even twenty eight seats we would have replaced likud as the leading right of center political force and the plan was that when i got out of prison we would do just that we d pick up where we left o and gain thirty seats in the knesset but while i was in jail i decided not to reopen the wounds not to reignite the re it s not that the wounds are not there and the re too lingers you wouldn t believe how much pain is still out there but i came to the conclusion that enough was enough what had happened was extremely dangerous israel almost went over the cli and i don t want that repeated when i think now about what nearly happened i shudder only providence prevented the great re of the 1990s from burning down our house as i relaunched my political career and reentered the public arena i wanted to do things di erently now i want to deal with the old pain in a new way deri and i are almost the same age our collective generational experiences are similar and our perception of reality and our political opinions are not far apart we have common beliefs and a common language deri is wired in a very direct israeli way he is quick and sensitive and his high iq is matched by his in ated ego there are sparks of genius in him i like him and yet deri lives in a faraway place he has other commitments and loyalties he is a citizen of a world i don t know he is so present yet so elusive so open yet so inscrutable he gives me the feeling that even he hasn t quite gured out who he is and who he would like to be a wanderer between worlds and between identities he embodies the great israeli social and cultural chaos and yet deri is not the issue but the metaphor he will be ne after a thirteen year leave of absence he is back in the public arena and is once again the political leader of shas his charisma is somewhat eroded and he has lost his larger than life stature but he is a powerful player again in israel s power game so as i leave his jerusalem o ce i think not of him but of his community the oriental jewish story is simple and cruel i think between the mid nineteenth century and the mid twentieth century arab world jewry experienced a relative golden age as it was close to french and british colonial rulers it enjoyed their patronage it won rights it had never enjoyed before many jews in north africa and the middle east bene ted from all that baghdad damascus beirut cairo alexandria tunis and casablanca had to o er but by the 1940s and 1950s the magic of the orient had evaporated colonialism retreated arab nationalism was on the rise and zionism was triumphant within a few years a civilization collapsed thousand year old communities disintegrated within months with one swing of history s sword the soft underbelly of the old levant was sliced open the enchanting pluralist orient was gone a million jewish arabs were uprooted their world destroyed their culture decimated their homes lost the zionist story is also simple and cruel i think israel was to have been home to the jewish people of eastern europe that is what the state was designed to be but between 1939 and 1945 the jewish people of eastern europe almost ceased to be having no other choice zionism turned eastward the result was ironic in 1897 when zionism was gaining momentum only 7 percent of the world s jews were oriental in 1945 after the holocaust only 10 percent of the world s jews were oriental but in israel by 1990 over 50 percent of jewish israelis were oriental a state designed for one population was populated by another a state based on one culture was overtaken by another but zionism did not and could not acknowledge the sea change that had taken place it could not admit that the original blueprint did not t the new circumstances so zionism pressed on willfully ignoring the harm it was doing the israeli melting pot worked with brutal e ciency it forged a nation but it also scorched the identities and scalded the souls it was to have saved so when deri was born in meknes in 1959 the rst secular oriental israeli uprising erupted in the poor haifa neighborhood of wadi salib when deri was in the wretched hadera boarding school in 1970 the second secular oriental israeli uprising erupted in the poor jerusalem neighborhood of musrara with the appearance of the local black panthers when deri was a yeshiva student in jerusalem in the mid 1970s a secular cultural oriental uprising erupted with new oriental music ignored by mainstream radio and tv but played in every nightclub along the bat yam promenade deri was not aware of all these developments because he joined israel late and because even then he lived in an ultra orthodox enclave even when begin was elected in 1977 with the enthusiastic support of oriental israelis deri was not enthusiastic at all as a disciple of rabbi shach who never believed in the zionist state he did not approve of begin s jewish nationalism yet after begin faded away and left behind the orphaned masses of oriental israelis deri saw the vacuum and was quick to ll it first he presented rabbi ovadia yosef as an alternative father gure to begin then he introduced rabbi kaduri as a comforting mystical gure then he de ned himself as the martyr of oriental judaism in this way he managed to detach himself from the political and the mundane and acquire for a while the other worldliness of a semimythological gure as i drive out of jerusalem i listen to a compilation of songs by zohar argov argov was born in the same rishon lezion neighborhood that deri s family was sent to in 1968 for months the argovs and the deris lived not far apart in the early 1970s the tender aching songs of the shy lanky singer conquered downstairs israel and became the anthems of its struggle they were sold on cassettes in tel aviv s chaotic central bus station they were sung at weddings they were a hit in the oriental nightclubs that popped up in bat yam ja a netanya lydda and ramleh for years argov was not recognized by upstairs israel and when he was nally embraced he took an overdose of drugs and died although his heartbreaking songs deal mostly with love and loss they seem to ll my car with the great pain of the downtrodden as i drive down the highway that the deri convoy traveled to maasiyahu prison i hear in argov s ballads the howl of the long su ering oriental israel when i was a child oriental jews were not recognized as such although they already constituted almost half of israel s population they were oppressed and ignored in an odd sort of way they were present and not present belonging and not belonging they were followed by a constant cloud of doubt and suspicion they were not our lot not really us in the army i was already a minority in the paratrooper platoon i served in elitist ashkenazim like me were mocked but only after the 1977 political upheaval that brought menachem begin to power and the violent in ammatory election campaign of 1981 was political power transferred to the other people one could no longer ignore the fact that oriental jews were the majority they came out of the immigrant camps and housing estates and development towns to which they had been con ned for over a generation to capture the they were likud socioeconomically they were contractors and small business owners culturally they were fans of zohar argov whose music i did not yet appreciate but in liberal ashkenazi circles the surge of oriental jews brought about an ugly response the racism of the 1980s and 1990s was even more repulsive than that of the previous era scornful and maligning they are nouveau riche they don t behave their english is atrocious they are so sensitive regarding their honor they are indians levantines likudniks they disgrace the state we founded and eventually will take us down with them in these comments i saw the dark side of israel s enlightenment a lack of a civility in people who claim to be civilized the oriental story fascinated me as i listened to more and more immigrant stories and to more and more stories of oppression i realized we had done wrong i feared that the pain of oriental israelis might one day blow us to pieces square politically speaking city in a sense it is just like aharon appelfeld s story the same state that denied the diaspora and denied the holocaust and denied palestine also denied the orient perhaps there was no other way in order to survive the establishment tried to forge one strong people and build a uni ed state but the human price was heavy the long term consequences were severe we have wounded millions of oriental jews yet there is another way to look at all this there is a politically incorrect truth here that is not easy to express and this truth is that israel did a favor to those it extracted from the orient the jews there had no real future in the new baghdad the new beirut the new cairo or the new meknes had they stayed they would have been annihilated but forcing them to forgo their identity and culture was foolhardy callous and cruel to this day many oriental israelis are not aware of what israel saved them from a life of misery and backwardness in an arab middle east that turned ugly to this day israel is not aware of the pain it in icted when it crushed the culture and identity of the oriental jews it absorbed neither zionist israel nor its oriental population had fully recognized the traumas of the 1950s and 1960s neither has yet found a way to honor it and contain it and make peace with it this is why the wound lingers on liberalism and the rule of in a tel aviv café i meet gal gabai a friend and colleague gabai is a journalist and the anchor of a popular political talk show i ask her what makes her identify with aryeh deri you are a secular feminist left winger i say to her you are committed to democracy law why are you mesmerized by this ultra orthodox politician who was convicted of taking bribes and whose world is so distant from yours gabai who is a decade younger than deri says that ever since she was a young girl in 1970s beersheba she remembers being torn between two polar forces one was ruge raas the edict to hold your head high the other was khshumeh shame the need to hide from others not to let them see you in your disgrace for dozens of years khshumeh was stronger than ruge raas shame stronger than pride there was a feeling that there was something wrong with us with oriental jews gabai says that there was something tainted and inferior that s why we bowed down to the ashkenazim and abased ourselves before them there was a subtle complicated sort of self loathing a deep unease with one s self until deri came and proved that we could stand tall and proud walk among the ashkenazim as equals deri brought north african jewish tradition to center stage he said we were just as good if not better he awoke the ruge raas in us he let us lift our heads high he gave even oriental yuppies like me the ability to be at peace with ourselves and feel worthy deri meant i could be accepted in tel aviv without turning my back on beersheba he meant we could succeed in the west without betraying the east i remember the overwhelming identi cation with deri in my grandmother s housing estate in beersheba gabai recalls deri enabled the housing estate to go back to the traditions that labor never recognized and the likud never encouraged deri o ered a traditional cultural option that was not shameful backward or fanatical he put a stop to our mimicry of the ashkenazim he wiped away the shame he won us over by not wearing a costume by not disguising himself unlike the oriental israeli leaders who preceded him deri was authentic he was at peace with himself and at peace with his oriental identity while others pretended to be europeans deri said proudly he was a moroccan this was liberating you cannot imagine ari how liberating this was at last one of us a moroccan from meknes was not afraid of who he was and was not afraid to say it he was proud of himself even full of himself i have a theory gabai says in israel belonging is bought with blood we oriental jews didn t bleed enough into the river of belonging we were not murdered in the holocaust we did not get killed in the war of independence we did not participate in the formative saga of holocaust heroism revival we were imported here and we were imported late we were imported only because european jewry was exterminated and there was no other way to grow the state that s why there is always a shadow hovering over us this place was not really meant for us this communal house doesn t quite suit us it was and it remains alien to us we have no other home but for us israel is not quite home we are not at ease here as one should be in one s home let me put it this way gabai continues in its terms of reference and in its mission statement the state of israel never planned for aryeh deri or gal gabai that s not who it had in mind but at the end of the day the european fort was housed by arab speaking jews by aryeh deri and gal gabai but the fundamental structure of the fort and the ethos of its builders sentenced aryeh deri and gal gabai to remain outside in a sense western zionism feared us it feared the arabism we brought with us the arab music the smells and tastes of arab cuisine arab mannerisms think about it something amazing happened here after the holocaust zionism imported a million jewish arabs here so they d save it demographically from the arab world but after it brought these jewish arabs zionism panicked because of their arabic identity it sensed danger in my grandfather s moroccan music and in my grandmother s moroccan cooking and in my father s moroccan tradition it feared that we oriental jews would dissolve western zionism from within that s why they steamrolled us gabai says they had to dominate us the problem was not one of socioeconomic injustice it wasn t about housing or welfare or income the new immigrants from poland and romania had it hard too but the di erence between them and us was that from the very beginning they belonged they were the ones the state of israel was meant for and planned for from the outset we were under suspicion so we were culturally castrated we were expected to relinquish what we were previously we had to prove daily that we were not arabs the outcome was an internal struggle that is tearing us apart to this day we do not accept ourselves and we do not love ourselves we are split between worlds that don t really intersect and we are always asked to present proof we have to prove we are not inferior and not awed we have to prove we have totally assimilated we must prove daily that we are not arabs anymore you wouldn t get it gabai tells me you are from here you belong in israel you are always at home you own the place but i was raised knowing that there was an inner circle that i was not a part of there was an alpha group and i was not in it because there was so much love at home i was empowered i had my own well of strength so i insisted on breaking in i wanted to be with the strong with those who belonged that was also the message i got from my family their rst message was education study study study but it was clear that knowledge on its own would not su ce to really get ahead one had to bleach oneself progeny bleaching was the best vehicle for social mobility my beloved grandmother would say it to me in her native tongue for you gal a moroccan will not do only a polish boy and this went right into my subconscious no way would i have a moroccan spouse if i d married a moroccan he would have been an earnest social worker and i would have been a caring high school teacher and in the evenings we would listen to nice ethnic music in our three room apartment in a beersheba housing estate but because i was ambitious i had to mate with white power i had to dilute the black in me with white sperm our home was lled with music even when times were hard our rooms were lled with the warm sounds of moroccan music but my grandmother took me to a classical music concert and when we came out it was clear that i would play the mandolin not the moroccan oud but the russian mandolin not farid al atrash but tchaikovsky i love tchaikovsky i love the mandolin but within me there is always a yearning for what was lost a yearning for arabism when i visit arab friends my eyes tear up when i watch arab movies i am all emotion i know that there in morocco my father was at ease in israel he was never at ease and he passed his unease to me although i live in tel aviv and i host a television show i am not at ease within my own skin i don t delude myself for me arabism is closed o but in a sense israeliness is closed o as well although my three kids are half ashkenazi ashkenazi israel does not accept me as i am israel still suspects me that s why deri was so important gabai says before and after deri most oriental jews in israel channeled their pain to nationalist politics and likud support this was arti cial and wrong as most oriental jews are not extremists and when deri came along it was di erent he addressed the oriental jewish inferiority complex and the oriental jewish sense of longing he made our pain legitimate but what was really wonderful was his alliance with rabin when yitzhak rabin and aryeh deri formed their alliance in the early 1990s it was much more than a political compact rabin represented the kibbutz the palmach and tel aviv he was the mythological sabra and warrior of zionism deri was meknes bat yam jerusalem he was the hero of oriental israel when rabin and deri stood together we could all stand together when rabin and deri looked each other in the eye we could all look each other in the eye there was mutual recognition there was a way to combine political moderation with ethnic pride now the oriental jews could prove themselves not by hating the arabs but by being a bridge to the arabs for the rst time there was hope that zionism would make peace both with the arabs without and the arabs within but then rabin was assassinated and deri was convicted and everything fell apart the moment of grace of the early 1990s passed and the more deri was persecuted the more rage there was people were angry at the white establishment that hounded him but people were angry at deri too perhaps everybody in politics is corrupt but he should not have been he should have been cleaner than clean because he had a mission he was endowed with a crucial historic role he was our entry ticket he was supposed to let us in make us belong but because he d fallen this couldn t happen our hope seemed to have been an illusion and we all knew we didn t stand a chance we could not be ourselves all we could do was to adjust to mimic to give up and mimic to go back to khshumeh gabai stops tears ll her eyes when my friends read what i ve said to you they ll be terribly angry she says they think the only way forward is to deny our past and deny our pain they say we must not look back not wallow in what happened that s why they pretend that the ethnic wound has formed a scab they want to believe that socioeconomic mobility and intermarriages have diluted the problem and put out the re they think the oriental ashkenazi divide is the one divide israel is about to overcome but i tell you that is not the case i see my brothers and sisters su ocating i see their torment when two thugs at the shaar aliyah immigrant camp took my then nine year old mother by force and cut her glorious long hair and left her shaven and humiliated and helpless they wounded her soul they told her not to be herself and when my ashkenazi schoolteacher in beersheba looked at me in that condescending way and told me with her eyes that my place was at the bottom of the social ladder she wounded my soul she told me i was awed one way or another all oriental israelis were wounded that s why the oriental soul is a wounded soul it was wrenched out of tranquillity and thrust into turbulence and from turbulence into shame and from shame into self denial into forced westernization but underneath westernization lie bitterness and discontent our great enemies are bitterness and discontent deri was to have freed us from them he was supposed to head the de ance that would lead to reconciliation so when deri fell so did we we found ourselves again in the darkness and in the darkness we ache we bleed we cannot nd comfort or remedy or home photo credit 12 1 twelve sex drugs and the israeli condition 2000 nini says finally you can really live in israel he truly feels it as the millennium approaches it is the rst time that nini can be cool here it used to be that every time he came back from a trip to amsterdam he would ask himself why he came back but this year he suddenly noticed that he is ne here in tel aviv he can breathe tel aviv is free and fun it feels as if all of a sudden everybody has decided that enough is enough everyone is fed up with the bullshit the politics the terrorist attacks the religious fanatics the occupied territories the military reserve duty all the pressure that has always fucked up everybody s head here itzik nini is a dancer at club allenby 58 at thirty one he is good looking and bu clad in a torso hugging black t shirt camou age army fatigues and tall black boots he looks like a european clubber actually he hails from small town binyamina but he came to tel aviv at the age of thirteen he saw everything tried everything experienced everything including all of the clubs the coliseum the penguin the metro he left and came back and left again he pursued the life of an actor model performer shuttling between tel aviv s trendy sheinkin quarter and amsterdam s nightlife so he knows that there are some things you still can t do here like s m there isn t enough openness for that just yet it is the middle east and anyway s m is more of a western thing but apart from that and a few other things that are really hard core he suddenly feels that everything has opened up here almost anything goes change is truly awesome even he is sometimes blown away what caused the change nini says it is peace because of peace israelis are more relaxed now more self assured he can see it from his window on yehuda halevi street in downtown tel aviv everything is calmer people sit in cafés for hours they re in the groove no more old ladies shouting shame on you what are you doing having a good time and going to clubs and getting laid when soldiers are getting killed there is another thing mtv video clips really got into people s heads here and turned them on now when you see kids of fteen from some remote development town coming to the city with piercings and tattoos you know it s because even in their traditional hometowns they watch mtv they see what s happening in the world and they want to be a part of it they want to live they so badly want to live but the real cause of change nini says is drugs they ve hit in a really big way over the last ve or six years and every year it gets more intense every time he comes back from amsterdam he notices it so now the feeling in tel aviv is that it s okay everybody is doing drugs the whole world is doing drugs and they do fantastic things these drugs it s time to say it they make everyone happy they liberate you they open things up especially ecstasy it s the drug of the millennium ecstasy it s not a trip it s not lsd it doesn t remove you from reality but makes you feel better within reality it started o as a drug for very angry people it was a pill that softened them made them gentler more loving and that s what it did for israelis it made them less uptight less tense look at the street you can see it sometimes you get the feeling that they poured loads of ecstasy into the national water carrier to make everyone happy and laid back take the gays nini says only a few years ago being gay was really underground when he walked down the street with his long hair in a ponytail people would shout you maniac you fag and the gay scene was hidden in the dark not more than one or two hundred people but now there are thousands tens of thousands and they are not ashamed anymore they re not afraid they don t give a shit did you see the purim carnival in rabin square he asks did you see the love parade and the night ehud barak won the elections over binyamin netanyahu and aryeh deri the gays were partying in the streets and shirazi s events hot as can be everyone has come out of the closet millennial israelis have pried apart the iron bars that imprisoned them nini says that even the tough oriental guys don t say a word now and the straights now envy the gays it s di cult to tell who is what all the straights look like gays now and the gays look like straights he says everything is topsy turvy there is openness we never had here it sounds strange but love is in the air tel aviv is now no less exciting than new york maybe it s even more exciting and there is no less of a happening here than in amsterdam maybe even more all over the world they get it the word is out that tel aviv is hot very hot and the scene here is really classy it s worthwhile coming here just for the scene it s getting to be a bit like ibiza gays straights after parties pills open and sexy and totally free not at all like israel once was chupi says that when you think about it it s pretty amazing just ve or six years ago house music was completely marginal in israel in 1993 and even in 1994 when he showed up with his box of cds and started playing these really long tracks people thought it was spacey music from another world from the next millennium they didn t understand it and they didn t know what to do with it not even how to dance to it they still wanted music to have words and meaning to have a human voice even at the allenby 58 club they didn t want it at rst it was too weird who in israel knew then what chicago house was chupi exclaims what detroit techno was or new york garage who knew the di erence between highs and peaks who knew then that the most important thing is the dj people did not realize then that the dj isn t some technician who changes cds but the musician who creates the one time music of that particular evening they didn t know that he is the one creating those combinations in the mixer and that with perfect timing he hits those peaks that suddenly bring everyone together that suddenly make a thousand people one because of the dj a thousand people raise their hands together and take o their shirts together and shout together in bliss the dj liberates them for a few hours from the con ict and the wars and the stress and all the shit of this country chupi says he had to be persistent he had to put youngsters and club owners alike through a rigorous education to get the dance crowd used to the new thing he had to create his own crowd by himself the house music crowd and then connect the people to the music and then connect the people to one another with the music his goal was to make allenby 58 the mecca of house music he went to europe and met the leading djs and brought back the newest tracks and along with a few others he created a music scene here that rivals those of london amsterdam or paris it worked so anybody who is anybody in hard house or club trance knows that tel aviv is now one of the best israel is awesome no one knows exactly why the crowd here is so special perhaps it s the wars the pressure perhaps it s the sea the weather the atmosphere the attitude toward life but what is clear is that the israeli crowd has an amazing hunger like no other crowd anywhere his real name is sharon friedlich he is the son of middle class german jews who gave him an education in classical music he is short and burly his hair cut short and oxidized by the mid 1990s he had become a mega dj when you are a mega dj chupi tells me you have megapower when you take your place in the elevated booth behind the glass you know that if you just press one button it s as if you are pressing some point in the heads of a thousand people simultaneously this is power total sexy power because now they are really in your hands you control them and if you want to you can send them to heaven you can make them horny the energy of the dance oor is sexual energy and what they beg you for is climax you get to decide whether you ll give them what they are now desperate for they are totally dependent on you but if you are good you wait you don t hit peak after peak you play with them you arouse them but you don t yet give it to them it drives them crazy and they shout louder give it to us and then nally when you give it to them the club is like a ball of re like an atomic blast god is a dj dj is god it s as if you ve touched a thousand people in every part of their body and you see all the blood rushing through them the sweat dripping from them and they are yours utterly yours they thank you and worship you because you gave them something powerful and total something that nothing else in life gives them something you cannot nd in the real life outdoors shirazi says a real revolution has taken place in israel it s not the israel he grew up in anymore in these last ve years everything has turned upside down and his scene the gay scene is the perfect example until he launched his friday night extravaganzas at allenby 58 the gay scene was really on the fringe it was tucked away in places that were dim and secret only a few hundred people knew about them and they didn t want to be seen going in or coming out israel of the 1970s and the 1980s didn t tolerate homosexuality israel was totally straight it was a conformist society hailing old fashioned masculinity and sticking to strict conventional norms but when allenby 58 opened in 1994 shirazi persuaded the owner ori stark to let him have friday nights they called it the playroom and they sent out invitations at rst they were afraid they didn t know how straight tel aviv would react they didn t know if tel aviv s gays would dare come to such a big place in the middle of town but it turned out that tel aviv was not that straight anymore it turned out that the gays dared they came in droves in their colorful coats and their wild out ts and their extravagant attitude they came without any shame on the contrary they came with chutzpah and pride standing there at the entrance of allenby 58 and watching that amazing gay crowd congregate i actually had tears in my eyes shirazi says i knew something big had happened something huge we were liberated at last the gays of tel aviv were liberated and tel aviv was liberated israel was a new israel the gays are the scene leaders shirazi says because what the gays have is totality gays are very total people that s what makes our parties so over the top if it s costumes then it s costumes all the way and if it s drugs then it s drugs all the way and if it s sex then it s sex all the way anyone who comes to our friday night parties sees it immediately everything is up front everything is on o er there is no such thing as busting your ass all evening so that at the end maybe she ll give you her phone number and go with you to the cinema with us it all goes down in seconds we look each other in the eye walk o to the side nd the toilets and fuck and all around you the temperature keeps rising there are go go dancers strippers drag queens flickering lights the beat of house music it s intense as can be but it s not only the gays shirazi continues every night that allenby 58 opens its doors you get this feeling that something is happening here and now you can t stand calmly at the bar you can t just sip a drink the music the strobe lights the meeting of esh chupi s guys stripping o their shirts and the frenzy the sexual directness the desire for an outlet this hyperenergized israel that suddenly appeared in the mid 1990s insists on partying insists on devouring life shirazi was born not far from here on sheinkin street but it was a di erent sheinkin says a quaint quiet neighborhood with orthodox neighbors and a small park a neighborhood that no one ever thought would become tel aviv s soho he brought himself up worked his way up from nothing until with hard work and perseverance he acquired his present status as a scene leader as king of the gays and every week he has to surprise them every friday night he must invent some new ever intensifying thrill one week it s a sailor party the next it s a eurovision song contest party one friday it s a fascist uniform party another it s cross dressing and every two months he holds his agship after party at hauman 17 which calls for a dawn pilgrimage to jerusalem time after time he tells me that he is a patriot he loves israel absolutely he feels so proud when any israeli wins anything then shirazi abroad when the blue and white ag is raised up high in any sports stadium it actually gives him chills but he was especially proud when the transsexual israeli dana international won the eurovision contest in 1998 that was like an o cial seal of proof that israel had changed that israel had adopted a new identity and now they say that allenby 58 is perhaps the fth most important club in the world he tells me there is a very strong international spotlight on the tel aviv scene people realize our scene is world class djs and drag queens from all over europe want to come here because the truth is that although life is demanding here life here is so much fun israelis really love fun we are addicted to fun we must have a good time all the time we must party on and on perhaps it s everything we ve been through perhaps it s because of all of the troubles we still have but we have this deep need to release all this pent up energy so what comes out at the end in the tel aviv night is some sort of unique warmth you won t nd anywhere else this is what erupted here in the 1990s in allenby 58 and in tel aviv and in much of the country this is what came out of the israeli closet when people suddenly opened up and started living and this is the incredible thing you see here on the dance oor at two a m when everybody is sweating and calling out to the dj and guys are taking o their shirts and touching each other and feeling each other and becoming one body of esh michal nadel says it feels like a tribe when it really happens and the vibe is good and the rhythm is good and bodies are moving together then everyone becomes one she thinks it s all very primitive and wonderful when she gets into it and closes her eyes and moves her head from side to side she can actually hear in the music the beating drums of ancient african tribes the hooves of wild horses there is something very sensual about it rhythmic and deep and sweeping she says and everybody is together in this sexy insane thing so you can get close to people you can touch them that doesn t mean anything will come of it though something could come of it but mainly it s these sort of little caresses very gentle because the feeling is that people have no barriers but they are not aggressive they don t threaten one another you feel close even to people you don t know and when you smile at someone he smiles back because we are all together here brothers and sisters we are all one in this incredible happening michal s father was a three star general in the israeli army her brother is a combat pilot but michal s israeliness now manifests itself in new ways every thursday at midnight she stands at the door of allenby 58 in an extravagant getup with her provocative mannerisms she tells the bouncers who to let in and who to turn away all the while looking for the guy she ll have fun with at dawn selection is power michal tells me it is the power to sh people out of the ocean to decide who shall be accepted and who shall be rejected because allenby 58 is for 1990s tel aviv what studio 54 was for 1970s manhattan michal says something glittery trashy gaudy everybody wants to get in sometimes thousands crowd the doors guys in leather pants girls with their breasts half bare because everyone knows that i will only let in the gorgeous ones i will let in those who are not just pretty and handsome and rich but those who come with an open mind and an open heart and are willing to kill for it those who are ready to devote themselves to the alternative reality we create here the reality that s not old israel but new israel that s not real life but much better than real life full of house music and house sex and house drugs full of this roar of an ecstatic tribe ori stark is allenby 58 s thirty eight year old owner and the tall blond and charming ravid zilberman is its twenty ve year old barwoman he is tel aviv s acknowledged prince of the night and she s his girl they ve been going out together for a while now and they love to talk about the scene they ve created ravid says that if you enter allenby 58 in the daytime you see that there is nothing to it what was once a cinema house is just an ugly gutted hall with cement walls and a bit of a stench but as soon as it gets dark and the evening begins and people start streaming in and the lights start to icker and the music erupts then all at once everything is electri ed your skin starts to tingle because you know something will happen you enter something that is not quite real a dream that makes your head spin and all your barriers fall away all your inhibitions you are transformed even a nice middle class girl like ravid is transformed after coming to allenby 58 for a while she has become a totally di erent person sex and drugs are an important part of it ravid says there s no question about it when people are high they get turned on and they don t give a damn but it s not only sex and drugs in the tel aviv clubs ecstasy isn t only in the blood it s in the air everybody gets into the high everybody is vibrating and it s not some animal thing there is a sort of code that makes you feel safe protected you can cut loose precisely because you feel protected there are all sorts of people ravid says there are the uptown girls who come to be seen with their rich beaux but they re not interesting and there are the tough oriental downtown guys who are much more real and are just grateful to be let in then there are the chupi freaks who go wild on the dance oor half naked and sweaty and crowded together hugging ailing grinding creating a whirlpool of energy so strong that it sweeps up all the others too and on saturday nights the soldiers come it s incredible to watch the soldiers water and oranges that s all they have they don t even drink alcohol but even so from midnight to six a m they never stop they give everything they have on the dance oor and when the night is over they go straight from allenby 58 to the buses that will take them to lebanon or to the territories or to some godforsaken skirmish really israel is such a crazy place and when these kid soldiers kiss their girls goodbye and put on their uniforms and go i can t help but get emotional it really breaks my heart we are ve girls at the bar ravid says our role is to play the game we only pour beer for people but they really admire us to be a barwoman at allenby 58 is to be the best of the best you re a goddess when you wear a short tight skirt and a little halter top with your back bare and two hundred hungry guys crowding around your bar you have to know how to play it how to irt with them in the right way gently and all in all they respect you because at allenby 58 you are allowed to try but not to intimidate if you get the sign okay you take it upstairs to the gallery to a dark corner or a dark room anything goes here but if you don t get the sign you move on you don t make a fuss because at allenby 58 we have this code actually it s a kind of culture a pretty de ned world but it s a di erent world it s the world of today s israel the world of the new israeli generation ori tells me that they are now a movement they brought out tens of thousands to barak s victory celebration in rabin square and they brought out two hundred thousand to the tel aviv love parade who else in the country can bring two hundred thousand people to the streets he says perhaps deri s political party shas but no one else true it s not a political movement it has no platform and it s not saying anything it s not the sixties now che guevara is dead janis joplin is dead woodstock is dead and there are no more revolutions there is no innocence either no one thinks he can change the world there is no new idea here no new message and yet the government and the parliament and the establishment should pay attention to what is happening here because this nation is all about war and death even our religion is very sad with its yom kippur and all always telling you to su er and sacri ce but here we have something very powerful that says fuck it we don t have to su er and sacri ce anymore because now we are a fty year old nation and the armies of the surrounding arab nations won t invade us no one will conquer and destroy us so we can breathe we must breathe and not only breathe we even have to smile laugh go wild we deserve it stark continues of all the people in the world we deserve it so let us live peace has already happened and if it hasn t it will in a short time we will have a palestinian state with jerusalem as its capital and it will be all right so how much longer can we go on carrying this weight this baggage we ve been lugging around for ve decades the government and the parliament and the establishment don t get it yet because they were all brought up on ben gurion who sent everyone to the negev but now there is a huge divide here you can see it at allenby 58 young people saying enough it s time for fun there is a new generation in israel and it s demanding happiness ori stark is the son of a labor o cial and an actress in the tel aviv suburb where he grew up he was a good labor boy boy scouts high school active army service but he always su ered a bit from the sti ing atmosphere of old israel so in 1982 after the lebanon war he got himself discharged from the military on psychological grounds he went to london and studied the club scene and when he came back he was ready he became known as ori the handsome the young lover of a top fashion designer the new prince of tel aviv s nightlife by 1983 he had produced his rst big party which featured 8 mm blue movies and attracted thousands then for a decade he opened and closed a dozen bars and clubs until one day at the end of 1993 immediately after oslo he walked into the enormous neglected hall of the allenby movie theater and knew this was it the next big thing here he would establish his kingdom of happiness he would make the empty cinema a shrine to happiness for ori hates sadness and in this out of this world venue he would make himself and others happy and celebrate to the very end does he read the papers does he follow politics does he have an ideology i ask him sure he answers he supports the left always has for a while he even went to peace demonstrations but today he believes that the party now scene is more relevant than the peace now movement allenby 58 is where it s at where politics is really happening he says in the past tel aviv clubs celebrated machismo and senior o cers and military heroes but now no one cares about that hierarchy if the commander of an elite commando unit comes in ne but who the fuck cares who he is the heroes here are singers and actors and people who make other people feel good and this is what the next israeli century and the next global millennium is going to be about not that i will be mayor and shirazi will be my lieutenant not that it s all going to be one big love parade but fun will take center stage it will happen it s already happening the young don t read the papers anymore but they dance like crazy they will not go down to the desert or build kibbutzim or be army heroes but they will wildly pursue pleasure and fun in the sixties and early seventies people wanted meaning in life and in music ori says then came disco but disco was ashamed of having no message now there is no shame no pretense no pressure to say anything you don t sing about love you have sex sex now sex right now sex in the toilets and this new physical authenticity is what s real this need for stimuli and pleasure and excitement this is what israel is now about forget the zionist crap forget the jewish bullshit it s party time all the time you can see it here ori says look around you no more poses no more pretenses the sound system is so loud you can t even talk so you can t ask her what kind of wine she likes and who did she vote for in the last elections there is no foreplay it s all instant quick what s your name let s go these kids live on the internet they click and buy so their love is internet love too they have no patience satisfaction is needed on the spot and when they leave the toilets after a quarter of an hour i watch them there is no embrace no a ection no tenderness he goes this way she goes that way that s it we came we came we went they call themselves the nation the dance nation at 3 00 a m on most thursday nights allenby 58 is at its peak nini gets onstage and begins his provocative performance chupi orchestrates his most intense climaxes shirazi is surrounded by his muscled boys michal joins the early morning dancers ravid is overwhelmed by the dozens of exposed bodies that storm her bar and ori strides regally among his subjects and when the lights cut the dark hall with pulsating rays of pink and white and the oor is full and the stairways are crowded and the top balconies are heaving it seems that there is something here that is more than nightlife something more than one more hot night in one more hot city at the dawn of the new millennium there is a great revolt going on though it is confused and unde ned and awkward with no ideals or slogans or grand pronouncements it is the most captivating revolt i have ever witnessed they are very good looking these youngsters here is an israeli success story few write about the combination of sea and sun and markedly di erent gene pools has created a unique sensual beauty here and the closed intense space of allenby 58 makes this sexy beauty all too apparent they are also very intelligent youngsters quick thinkers quick responders but they are no anarchists they totally accept the rigid laws of the prevailing economic regime even their world apart is built on the organizing principles of hierarchy and selection and marketing and pro t and when the weekend ends they ll begin another week at an accounting rm or a television studio or a start up company yet at dawn at allenby 58 these youngsters do make a statement without uttering a word they make a statement through their liberation through their sexual openness and their rhythmic ritual they make it in trying to create a space of their own that is ritualistic lustful and fun on the dance oor and on the balcony and in the darkest recesses of the club they desperately attempt to reach some sort of personal authenticity some sort of israeli totality in a consumerist era and in a place of constant stress that doesn t o er its young authenticity or meaning anymore this is what they are after this is why they are so devoted to the ritual that is allenby 58 the ecstasy and the ecstasy this house music and this house of fun at ve o clock in the morning the pilgrimage to jerusalem begins the capital s early risers cannot believe their eyes one by one the cars arrive in the sleeping city strange futuristic music blaring from their windows the youngsters in the cars asking for directions to hauman street are smiling and red eyed and dressed like vampires or satanic demons carrying pitchforks or just sailors princesses and pink fairies under the gray dawn skies among the garages and workshops and cheap furniture outlets of this remote industrial zone a great ow converges on the dark warehouse that is hauman 17 a sea of revelers is drawn to the club as if it were exerting a magnetic force beckoning them with an ominous rhythmic beat the shirazi after parties are only for those who are totally enthralled by the scene if you are not in full costume then your face is at least shining with glittery makeup and your clothes are phosphorescent nini is right it s the gays who are leading now they set the tone they are in command of the dance oor but shirazi is right too it s not just the gays it s the mix and the mix works something extremely poignant happens when all of these di erent sexual energies collide in one space under one roof wiry boys with shaved heads hug each other by the stage gorgeous girls in diaphanous shirts dance by the bar the strong smell of hashish lls the air and every minute some couple goes o to do it in the other room boy girl boy boy girl girl it s all upside down it s tel aviv in jerusalem night in the daytime a bacchanal on one of judaism s holiest days rosh hashanah the new year thousands are crowded in the cavernous hall of jerusalem s leading club proving they can celebrate ten or twelve or fourteen hours of house music without becoming aggressive impatient or rough proving that anyone who thinks the new israel is a fundamentalist theocracy doesn t know what the hell he is talking about without the drugs it wouldn t have worked but the drugs can t explain it all many factors are at work here israel is an immigrant society that has no deeply rooted nonreligious conservatism israeli society is a survivor society that is hungry for life israel is a nation on the edge here at hauman 17 the outcome is a burst of energy unlike anything seen in london paris or new york so although this shirazi after party is an end of the spectrum phenomenon it says a lot about the spectrum itself it says a lot about the cultural and emotional landscape of young israel at the beginning of the new millennium for what one hears on the dance oor of jerusalem s hauman 17 is the liberating roar of secularism what one sees is the revolt of twenty rst century youngsters against the demands and decrees and constraints imposed upon them by the zionist project no more they say let us live let us seize the day onstage a performance begins that only a few years ago would have been considered outrageous an ex boy gets down on his knees to worship the enormous erection of a boy who is still very much a boy outside it s noon the high noon of a high holiday in jerusalem but no one in the roaring hall seems much bothered about the lewd worship ritual taking place onstage for this is not what matters what matters are the other things these young people worship liberation freedom the breaking of every taboo leaving behind their inhibitions crossing every boundary living to the extreme waving their hands in the air these sweaty half naked boys worship at the altar of personal pleasure waving their hands in the air these slim provocative girls worship at the altar of deafening delight and everyone in the hall is trying desperately to fashion a nation from all this trying to fashion an alternative nation an alternative reality an alternative meaning rising up against israel s past rising up against israel s fate rising up against the israeli condition photo credit 13 1 thirteen up the galilee 2003 mohammed s light brown eyes look into my eyes as he says you must understand it won t work your jewish mind came up with this jewish democratic invention this intellectual conceit but the invention won t work the conceit is untenable so instead of talking throughout this long trip we re going to take together what we should do is sit down quietly and cobble together a new compact because you have no other ally i am your only ally instead of going to the ultra orthodox jews you should come to me instead of trying to scare up half jews and quarter jews and eighth jews from every corner of the world and bringing them here to israel you should talk to me because i am here in your backyard i am here and i am not going anywhere i am here for good talk to me the palestinian israeli attorney mohammed dahla says talk to me give me your hand make me your partner because like it or not you are a minority in the middle east and though your nation takes part in the eurovision song contest and plays basketball in the european league if you open an atlas and look at the map you will see three hundred fty million arabs all around you and a billion and a half muslims all around you so do you really think that you can go on hiding in this arti cial construct of a jewish state do you really think you can protect yourself with this contradiction of a jewish democracy to insist upon the jewish character of the state of israel is to live by the sword and over time you will no longer be able to do so the world will change the balance of power will change demography will change in fact demography is already changing your only way to survive in the arab muslim world is to strike an alliance with me i am your only hope if you don t do it now tomorrow may be too late when you turn into a minority you will come looking for me but i won t be here by that time i will not be interested in whatever you ll want to o er it will be too late my friend early in the morning we set out on our journey from jerusalem to the north driving from gedera to hadera my friend and foe mohammed dahla says to me look at this architecture so foreign so alien to the land it s as though some kind of invading force emerged from the sea and landed on the beach there is no sensitivity to the terrain no understanding of its features the immigrants who arrived here from far away didn t have a feel for the country and its history they built with dizzying speed they built tall and arrogant but the buildings seem barely glued to the ground they don t rise from it they don t belong to it that s what makes them so incongruous they are aggressive urban edi ces with an unpleasant concrete face and look at the road signs mohammed says most of them are in hebrew and english not arabic because what you want is for tourists to travel around the country and believe that there really is a jewish state here but i am in your way along with another 1 6 million arabs that s why you nd us so di cult to keep your nice little ction of a european jewish state you try to hide our existence you try to eradicate our landscape and our history and our identity is the idea of a jewish state totally unfounded i ask dahla don t the jewish people have the right to self determination aren t jews allowed to have their own nation state within the 1967 boundaries dahla tells me that the jewish people now living in the country have the right to self determination but one can understand why the palestinians rejected the un partition plan in 1947 and one must understand that there is no parity of rights here there is no balance between my right and your right he says at the outset the jews had no legal historical or religious right to the land the only right they had was the right born of persecution but that right cannot justify taking 78 percent of a land that is not theirs it cannot justify the fact that the guests went on to become the masters at the end of the day the ones with the superior right to the land are the natives not the immigrants the ones who have lived here for hundreds of years and have become part of the land just as the land has become a part of them we are not like you we are not strangers or wanderers or emigrants for centuries we have lived upon this land and we multiplied no one can uproot us no one can separate us from the land not even you dahla was born in 1968 in the galilee village of turan he studied hard and worked hard and made his way by himself after excelling at the hebrew university s school of law he became the rst arab law clerk in israel s supreme court in 1993 he opened what would become a ourishing law practice in jerusalem and in 1995 he was the co founder of the legal center for arab minority rights adalah in 2000 dahla married suhad a lawyer and television presenter their rst son omar was born in 2002 for two intense years in the mid 1990s mohammed and i were co chairs of the board of the association of civil rights in israel acri so as we travel north in his blue mercedes we conduct a conversation founded in a universe of shared values and concepts human rights minority rights liberal democracy but unlike previous conversations we have had this time each of us brings with him his national history and perspective and also his existential anxiety this time mohammed surprises me by unfurling for me his full worldview and he tells me why he no longer believes in the partition of the land in a two state solution growing up in a village his identity was local he tells me the identity of a dutiful village son only at the university did he acquire a national palestinian identity and already then the two state solution seemed to him arti cial and insu cient it did not solve the problem of the arabs of 1948 the ones who remained in or returned to israel after the war nor did it address the calamity of the arabs expelled by the war but when the oslo accords were signed in 1993 he was temporarily persuaded that the only viable solution was the two state solution then in 2000 he realized it was hopeless the peace process was actually a process of subjugating the palestinian people to israeli will and preserving occupation israelis were not ripe for a historic conciliation they were not willing to give palestinians their elementary rights so there was no way but struggle israeli society had to be shaken disrupted and eventually the solution would be a binational solution one democratic state between the jordan river and the mediterranean sea a state that would have a jewish law of return and a palestinian right of return one political entity that would leave the settlers of hebron where they are as it would allow the refugees of the palestinian villages destroyed after 1948 to return to their homes this is our second journey to the galilee in the rst week of october 2000 palestinian israelis rioted throughout the north what began as sympathy protests for the palestinian cause after the failure of the camp david talks quickly turned violent israeli police came under attack and in response they shot dead thirteen palestinian israelis on the last day of that brutal week mohammed took me in his mercedes to see the ghting for myself we visited a jewish community that objected to palestinians buying property within its limit we visited the smoke lled city of umm el fahem just as the ames were dying down we dropped in on sheikh raed salah leader of the extremist islamic movement the bright eyed sheikh talked about the abandoned mosques of ruined villages throughout the country and about the danger looming over the al aqsa mosque and he declared that the jews had no historical rights to the temple mount and that their temple mount story was pure ction then we went to a tent of mourning for a young shaheed a martyr for the cause in the village of kana the bereaved father who had just lost his seventeen year old son told us proudly that every day his boy came back from the demonstrations sorry that he had come back alive until one day he did not come back alive then we walked around the empty streets and deserted restaurants of nazareth everywhere we went what struck us most was the silence the mute silence of fear it felt as if both the israeli jews and the israeli palestinians were terri ed of what they had just done as though both sides had taken refuge within their homes in a kind of voluntary curfew while they waited anxiously for the future to unfold now though two and a half years later there are crowds everywhere of israeli jews and israeli palestinians the wadi ara region is bustling with jewish visitors there is not a seat to be found in nazareth s restaurants hebrew speakers and arabic speakers are scooping up hummus with pita side by side grilled meats are being ordered in loud hebrew and loud arabic it s as if peace has been restored and the wounds of october 2000 have healed as if the riots never happened so when mohammed and i walk once again through the doors of sheikh salah s modest o ce we are in for a surprise the sheikh s eyes are not as bright as they were and his brow is furrowed in reasonable hebrew he tells me that israel will soon attempt to expel the arabs from this land avigdor lieberman s proposal to make umm el fahem part of the future palestinian state is an elegant means of population transfer he says now the feeling in the arab villages is that history is repeating itself that 1948 is about to happen again sheikh salah wears a plain dark coat over his white gown and a knitted white skullcap over his gray head of hair now as then he s digni ed and gracious but from across his dusty desk he warns me that international zionism is making a grave mistake by allying itself with the imperialist interests of the united states and by thinking that in the twenty rst century it is possible to re create the oppressive colonial rule imposed by the british and the french on the middle east in the twentieth century international zionism salah says doesn t understand that although the arabs were silent for a hundred years they will be silent no more a billion and a half muslims will be silent no more i am not a prophet he says the future is in god s hands but if you turn the con ict from an israeli palestinian one to a jewish islamic one the consequences will be dire the zionist protestants in america want armageddon so there is great danger now to the world and to the middle east and de nitely to this land there is great danger to the al aqsa mosque i am deeply worried i fear a catastrophe is coming one that will imperil the future of the jews we leave the sheikh and are o to mohammed s homeland the galilee when we pass alonim junction kafr manda junction dahla insists mohammed says that he doesn t necessarily share all of sheikh salah s views but that he respects his convictions and modesty and his record of action he is referring to the march of the flags the weekly pilgrimages sheikh salah leads bringing buses full of believers from the galilee to the al aqsa mosque it s an impressive operation meticulously run that is constantly growing in size so although mohammed is not a religious man and although he was exposed to the west and adopted many of its values he says that for him sheikh salah is a very important identity anchor while your story of the temple built by king solomon three thousand years ago in jerusalem is pure ction dahla tells me sheikh salah represents fourteen hundred years of real islamic existence in this land it captures my heart there is something very deep in this continuity when i listen to the sheikh i connect as if through a time tunnel to early islam and to caliph omar ibn al khattab for whom i named my son i connect to the greatness of islam it gives me a deep sense of calm a sense of self assurance i know that we are not destined to be defeated i know we are not a minority the idea of being a minority is alien to islam it suits judaism but it is alien to islam and when you look around you see that indeed we are not a minority in this land there is a jewish majority that is actually a minority and an arab minority that is actually a majority so every time the authorities go after sheikh salah i o er my help as someone whose expertise is israeli law i do all that i can do for him we turn toward the jewish moshav of tzipori sa uriyya mohammed teaches me by 1948 it was a huge village of thousands so today there are tens of thousands of descendants some in syria some in lebanon and some in galilee villages even my sister s husband is from sa uriyya he says his children also see themselves as sons of sa uriyya and on your independence day we all gather here for an enormous memorial rally we shall not forget mohammed promises we shall not forget and we shall not forgive he wears a light suit a golden tie he is of average height and build energetic with a dark complexion he is proud of the fact that his skin color is the color of this soil for he is mixed with this soil he says as we park the car dahla points to some skeletal prickly pear bushes in the tzipori national park and at some remnants of stone terraces nearby he tells me that the palestinian catastrophe of 1948 was not exactly like the holocaust but that he is not willing to accept the jewish monopoly on the term holocaust it s true that here there were no concentration camps dahla says but on the other hand unlike the holocaust the palestinian catastrophe of 1948 is still going on and while the holocaust was the holocaust of man the palestinian catastrophe of 1948 was a holocaust of man and land the destruction of our people he says was also the destruction of our homeland tzipori s houses are nice and neat white walled and red roofed in one of the front yards a beautiful young mother opens her arms as her one year old takes his rst steps toward her but mohammed says he doesn t know how people can live here in theory the countryside is pastoral and inviting but in reality it is a graveyard in theory you are walking in your garden but really you are walking on corpses it s not human mohammed says it s like the movie he saw once about an american suburb built on a native american cemetery whose ghosts haunted the families who chose to live on top of their graves i am not into mysticism mohammed says but i feel the spirits here and i know they will not stop haunting you the religious kibbutz of beit rimon sits at the summit of the rocky ridge of turan overlooking the village where mohammed was born and his father was born and his grandfather and his grandfather s grandfather for hundreds of years we were here says mohammed from time immemorial tens of thousands of dunams on this ridge were designated by the british high commissioner for the bene t of the villagers of turan until the government of israel seized these ten thousand dunams in order to plant beit rimon aleph and beit rimon beth and beit rimon gimmel at the top of the ridge so here like everywhere else the jews rule over the palestinians from above the jewish masters live up above while the palestinian servants live down below after we climb the mountain road to the kibbutz and nd a way around its locked iron gate mohammed s mobile phone rings the family of a terrorist who tried to blow up butane gas cylinders outside the kitchen of a jerusalem pub is asking dahla to represent the freedom warrior mohammed agrees on the spot and calls the russian compound police station in central jerusalem to inquire about the whereabouts of the detainee when he is done i ask him if he considers beit rimon a settlement does he think what will ultimately happen to the settlements in the occupied territories should happen to beit rimon the logic is the same logic answers mohammed the mind set is the same mind set there is even a physical resemblance the same planning the same architecture it s alien it s an alien force coming from above and imposing itself on the landscape it is early afternoon and the air is clear with good visibility look at that jewish community there and that jewish community there mohammed says pointing rst to the right and then to the left they are so orderly so regimented so european they are totally di erent from our villages which grow from the bottom of the wadi up the hill like a climbing plant it is so clear that they invaded my galilee that s why they were established to separate village from village to prevent the galilee from being an arab land so the arab galilee cannot demand territorial autonomy and cannot demand to secede from israel and to join the state of palestine do you seriously consider demanding a galilee autonomy i ask dahla answers for me the preferred solution is a one state democracy for both peoples but if there is no movement toward a binational state we cannot settle for a shrunken and fragmented palestinian state that doesn t even have its own airspace that will not be a state it will be a joke so if you continue to insist on a two state solution the issue of the autonomy of the galilee will have to be raised and this autonomy cannot be only cultural it must be territorial with policing authority and e ective control of the land and of natural resources we will need three such autonomies the galilee autonomy in the north the arab triangle autonomy in the center and the bedouin negev autonomy in the south and palestinians living in ja a or ramleh or lydda must have personal autonomy linked to one of the three palestinian cantons within israel we pass by mohammed s village of turan but for mohammed it is more important to show me the ruins of the neighboring village of lubia than to stop at home he does tell me that his village is totally surrounded here is beit rimon where he cannot live here is the tzipori industrial park where he cannot build a factory here is the base of an army that is not his army here is the monument for the golani brigade which commemorates a memory he is not a part of so if i think i was saved mohammed says if i think my family managed to escape the catastrophe of 1948 because we went into exile in lebanon for only a few months here i am constantly reminded that i am not welcome that i am on perpetual parole that i have no rights here for the monument that towers over the golani junction our maskana junction celebrates the victorious and omits the defeated with its mcdonald s restaurant and its israeli armored vehicles and its blue and white ags what the golani junction says to me is loud and clear we vanquished you and because we vanquished you our power allows us to celebrate ourselves within your territory in the heart of hearts of your land of galilee dahla s blue mercedes descends the road to the south africa forest of the jewish national fund then climbs up the gravel path among the pines and conifers it s not an innocent forest says my friend mohammed it s a forest of denial by planting this forest you misled yourselves into thinking that you can deny your crime then he tells me when it rst hit him in the late 1990s he participated in back channel talks between senior palestinians and israeli peaceniks in scandinavia in one of the conversations the palestinians demanded reparations for their su ering and asked that these reparations be paid by israel to the future palestinian state so it would be able to utilize them just as the reparations paid by germany to israel were utilized for national projects that s all they demanded but the peaceniks went berserk because of this one request the talks collapsed dahla and his colleagues returned home empty handed with no recognition of the historic justice they were seeking a short time later he came to this forest with his mother s relative mahmoud a son of the village of lubia he walked with mahmoud up this forest path and when they reached this spot mahmoud recognized the ruins of his home and he wept gone is our homeland he cried gone is our life and the successful israeli attorney mohammed dahla stood by his side and wept with him so what are you saying i ask mohammed that the injustice done to palestinians is an injustice not to be forgiven he answers because at this very moment as israelis lay out picnic lunches under the trees of the south africa forest the refugees of the village of lubia rot in the yarmuch refugee camp in syria and the refugees of sa uriyya rot in the ain al hilweh refugee camp in lebanon so justice demands that we have the right to return at least those rotting in the refugee camps should be allowed to return i don t know how many there will be mohammed says not millions but perhaps hundreds of thousands but i see them returning just as my family returned from lebanon coming down the slopes of the rocky ridge of turan with their donkeys and belongings after months of exile so will the others return in a long convoy they will all return azmi bishara welcomes us to his private o ce in nazareth the galilee born philosopher had established a secular radical nationalist arab party in the mid 1990s and was a controversial but e ective member of the knesset ever since there is no banner on the building that houses the headquarters of the leader of the balad party no nameplate on the door but his o ce is airy and comfortable on the wall hangs a framed embroidered map of palestine all of palestine ja a but not tel aviv lydda but not rehovot nazareth but not migdal haemek a photograph of gamal abdel nasser is hanging there too of course the egyptian president and pan arab leader of the 1960s is bishara s hero and as we sit on the sofa he looks down on us from a large black and white photograph in a gray suit and black tie grinning mirthfully under his narrow mustache an outspoken knesset member since 1996 bishara is now very cautious as he awaits a supreme court decision that will determine his political future he looks more like a well fed cat than a dangerous tiger friendly warm and obliging he pours me strong black co ee and asks how i managed to lose so much weight and how my love life is he tells me about an essay he has just written and a novel he has just completed he looks wary as if he is perhaps su ering from political fatigue but he emphasizes how important it is for him not to be disquali ed politically by the court if the court doesn t let him run in the coming elections because he refuses to recognize israel as a jewish state its decision will be perceived as a historic pronouncement it will be viewed as an attempt to send palestinian israelis back to where they were in the 1960s even the appearance of formal democracy will dissolve will riots break out again as they did in october 2000 will israel be torn to pieces by the con ict between israeli jews and israeli palestinians i ask him bishara acknowledges that he is in no position to make any threats right now but dahla raises his head and says what bishara is careful not to say if the palestinians rights are not respected and the palestinians equality is not guaranteed that will lead to the beginning of the countdown to the outbreak of palestinian riots within israel as we leave nazareth mohammed tells me bishara is my other identity anchor he symbolizes our modern palestinian pride he is the icon of the modern generation a generation that did not experience defeat and expulsion a generation that does not fear israel precisely because it knows israel this generation has learned from israeli chutzpah impudence cheekiness and therefore it does not beg but demands it does not defend but attacks it doesn t think like a minority and doesn t feel like a minority because it realizes it s not really a minority the future is ours mohammed dahla concludes no matter what tricks you try you will not be able to maintain a western state with a jewish character here all you will accomplish is to bring about a role reversal we will be masters and you will be our servants some weeks later the supreme court will allow bishara to run for parliament once again but four years later in 2007 bishara will ee israel after being questioned by police on suspicion of passing information to the shiite militia hezbollah on strategic sites for rocket strikes during the 2006 lebanon war dahla s secular hero bishara will go into exile and become a star on the pan arab satellite television network al jazeera while most israelis will regard him as a traitor dahla s islamist hero sheikh raed salah will go into jail and out of jail but he will remain the most in uential subversive palestinian leader within israel right now night begins to fall and mohammed is very tired but all that is in the future he asks me to take his place at the wheel as i drive back south in the dark while he sleeps beside me i think about him and about myself what are our chances i wonder will we survive this horri c history i love mohammed he is smart and engaged and full of life he is direct warm and devilishly talented had he wished to by now he would have been a judge or a member of parliament or a mayor or one of the leaders of israel s palestinian community he is as israeli as any israeli i know he is one of the sharpest friends i have we share a city a state a homeland we hold common values and beliefs and yet there is a terrible schism between us what will become of us mohammed i wonder in the dark what will become of my daughter tamara your son omar what will happen to my land your land photo credit 14 1 fourteen reality shock 2006 what went wrong the obvious answer is occupation but it s not only occupation if today s israel were as clearheaded determined and focused as it was in its early years it would have dealt with occupation by now sooner or later common sense would have prevailed after making some initial errors of judgment a reasonable national leadership of a reasonable republic would have taken action one way or another it would have ended occupation but though occupation is wrong futile and malevolent it is not the source of all evil something else happened to israel that is much more far reaching pervasive and complex something most observers of israeli a airs have surprisingly overlooked in less than thirty years israel has experienced seven di erent internal revolts the settlers revolt the peace revolt the liberal judicial revolt the oriental revolt the ultra orthodox revolt the hedonist individualistic revolt and the palestinian israelis revolt in a sense each and every one of these upheavals was justi ed they sought justice for an oppressed minority and addressed latent but vital needs they all brought to center stage forces that were previously willfully ignored or marginalized but the outcome of these seven revolts was the disintegration of the israeli republic what was fought for during the fty years prior to statehood and cultivated in the rst twenty ve years of statehood was very much eroded in the four decades years following the 1973 war so while most of the upheavals were just and necessary their cumulative e ect was destructive they did not advance israel as a functioning liberal democracy they did not recon gure israel as a strong pluralistic federation of its di erent tribes instead they turned the nation into a stimulating exciting diversi ed colorful energetic pathetic and amusing political circus rather than a mature and solid state body that could safely navigate the dangerous waters of the middle east it became an extravagant bazaar the settlers rose against political discipline and restraint the peaceniks rose against historical and geostrategic reality the liberals rose against the all too powerful state the orientals rose against occidental domination the ultra orthodox rose against secularism the hedonists rose against the su ocating conformism of zionist collectivism the palestinian israelis rose against jewish nationalism yet all these rebellions had one thing in common they bucked against ben gurion s state of the 1950s and 1960s that had built the housing estates and erected dimona and stabilized the young modern jewish state after being conscripted and regimented and mobilized for over a generation israelis had had enough the israeli individual wanted something of his or her very own and every israeli tribe wanted something of its very own every scorned and slighted human sentiment wanted to burst out and be free to express itself but all these di erent individuals and tribes and sentiments never found a way to coexist they never worked out a new political framework that would allow israel to represent them properly while acting as a cohesive whole the outcome was a fascinating vibrant society and a booming economy but a dysfunctional system of government an israeli republic that was not quite there up to a point all the revolts were necessary they were part of a crucial process of growing up and opening up but from a certain point on they became petty and dangerous and they could not be stopped even though by now israel s problem was not ben gurion s monolithic statism by now the problem was the lack of leadership and lack of direction and lack of governability created by the revolts themselves a nation that was once too forceful was now too feeble israel had become a state in chaos and a state of chaos conventional wisdom has it that 1967 was the pivotal year in israel s history true and not true actually there were three pivotal years 1967 1973 and 1977 within one decade israel experienced an extraordinary victory a distressing defeat and a monumental political upheaval when after nearly thirty years of labor s leadership the right wing likud party won the elections the three dramatic events shook the nation to its core they brought about occupation and then institutionalized it but in hindsight it seems that the most decisive of the three de ning years was 1973 the trauma of the yom kippur war terminated the reign of israel s ancien régime it promulgated a deep distrust of the state its government and its leadership it empowered the individual and weakened the collective it crushed ben gurion s legacy and his concrete state as a result the state was in ux old grievances resurfaced old wounds were reopened there were no longer any real shepherds or masters no one had moral authority anymore no one had the capacity to lead or to educate or instruct hierarchy broke down the sense of purpose was gone the common set of core values disintegrated in the heat of revolt the melting pot itself melted away after being forced to be one the di erent tribes of israel began going their di erent ways and it was the same with israeli individuals after being overorganized and overmobilized and overdisciplined for half a century they were not willing to take orders from anyone they trusted no one they became unknowing anarchists the mass russian immigration of 1989 1991 added to the chaos the one million immigrants who arrived in israel within three years invigorated its economy and shared its jewish majority but added to the lack of cohesion by the time they arrived in israel the old zionist melting pot was no longer functioning the well educated newcomers felt they were superior to the ones absorbing them hence they did not shed their old identity and endorse an israeli identity as previous immigrants had done they maintained their russian values and their russian way of life and they largely lived in russian enclaves while contributing to israel s science technology arts and military power they intensi ed the process of turning israeli society into a loose confederation of tribes not quite connecting to one another and not sharing one binding national code israel has never had a constitution its electoral system and political structure have always been shaky but now there was no governing ethos and no governing elite no one was in control and no one was in charge israel became impossible to rule what made things worse was that the old ruling elites now turned their back on the state they felt they had lost and the new rebelling forces never bothered to create a dedicated meritocratic elite of their own the outcome was a gaping vacuum at the top with no worthy leadership no e ective civil service a weak public sector and a disintegrating national ethos the new political game was the blame game left blamed right and right blamed left but as this vicious circle went round and round no political force took overall responsibility for running the nation in a mature and rational manner israel was out of its political mind what enabled the charade to continue was a regional stroke of luck the thirty three years following the yom kippur war were israel s most peaceful few have noticed this because there was so much noise palestinian terrorism palestinian uprisings a war in lebanon two gulf wars but in fact from 1973 on israel was not once attacked by the military forces of a neighboring arab nation it was not even threatened the impact of dimona and israel s air superiority was overwhelming but deterrence was not the only factor israel enjoyed the bene ts of a rare period of corruption fueled stability in the arab world egypt and jordan actually signed peace agreements with the jewish state other less conciliatory arab nations did not want to pick a ght the decline of the soviet union the rise of america as the only superpower and their own internal weakness convinced arab dictators that war with israel was not an option therefore israelis enjoyed an exceptionally long period of strategic stability which allowed them to ignore the outside world and indulge in their fancies and follies reality rst struck in october 2000 after the collapse of the camp david talks the wave of terrorism that rattled their cities for three years reminded israelis where they lived and what they faced but under the leadership of the old time warrior ariel sharon israel rose to the challenge after their initial surprise the idf and the shin bet waged a sophisticated and e ective countero ensive israeli society proved to be far more resilient than expected by 2004 israel managed to stop suicide terrorism the result was euphoria and a regained sense of security and self assurance that led to an economic boom the 2005 unilateral pullout from gaza the disengagement was also initially perceived as a success and contributed to the general sense of safety the generals agreed that our strategic position had never been better and as israel grew more and more prosperous the nation was once again pleased with itself and intent on celebrating its dolce vita on july 12 2006 reality struck once again the second lebanon war was not a major war it lasted 33 days and took the lives of 165 israeli soldiers and civilians and some 1 300 lebanese but it never really endangered israel s existence though the war was nothing like the yom kippur war for the rst time in its history israel was not able to defeat an enemy and the enemy this time was no superpower it was not even another state the enemy was the iranian backed hezbollah militia only eight thousand men strong israel s inability to stop hezbollah from launching rockets at its northern towns was shocking its vulnerability and its impotence were shocking for over a month more than a million israelis lived under re approximately half a million israelis ed their homes the nation was helpless and humiliated then came a moment of reckoning the question that echoed throughout the country was what had happened to us had we lost it returning from a depressing tour in the half deserted towns of the galilee i tried to answer this question in an essay i wrote for haaretz what has happened to us first and foremost we were blinded by political correctness the politically correct discourse that reigned supreme over the last decade was disconnected from reality it focused on the issue of occupation but did not address the fact that israel is caught in an existential con ict fraught with religious and cultural land mines it paid too much attention to israel s wrongdoing and too little to the historical and geopolitical context within which israel has to survive israeli political correctness also assumed that israeli might is a given therefore it was dismissive of the need to maintain this might because the army was perceived to be an occupying force it was denounced anything military or national or zionist was regarded with contempt collective values gave way to individualistic ones power was synonymous with fascism old fashioned israeli masculinity was castrated as we indulged ourselves in the pursuit of absolute justice and absolute pleasure the old discourse of duty and commitment was replaced by a new discourse of protest and hedonism and there was something else israelis were besotted with the illusion of normalcy but on its most basic level israel is not a normal nation it is a jewish state in an arab world and a western state in an islamic world and a democracy in a region of tyranny it is at odds with its surroundings there is a constant and inherent tension between israel and the world it lives in that means that israel cannot lead the normal european life of any eu member but because of its values economic structure and culture israel cannot but attempt to lead a normal life this contradiction is substantial and perpetual the only way to resolve it is to produce a unique positive anomaly that will address the unique negative anomaly of israeli life this is what zionism accomplished in the three decades leading to the founding of the state by formulating unique social inventions such as the kibbutz and the laborite social economy of the histadrut this is what israel did in its rst three decades by striking a delicate balance between israel s unique national requirements and its inhabitants need for personal space and a degree of sanity but after 1967 1973 and 1977 this balance was lost in the 1980s and 1990s israelis went wild we bought into the illusion that this stormy port was actually a safe harbor we deluded ourselves into thinking that we could live on this shore as other nations live on theirs we squandered israel s unique positive anomaly all the while chipping away at our defensive shield ironically those who wished israel to be normal brought about a chaotic state of a airs that could not but lead to the total loss of any normalcy whatsoever both political correctness and the illusion of normalcy were strictly phenomena of the elite the public at large remained sober and strong middle israel did not forget israel s existential challenge in times of trouble it was tough and resilient but the israeli elite detached themselves from historical reality business the media and academia dimmed israel s vision and weakened its spirit they did not read the geostrategic map they did not remember history or understand history their constant attacks on nationalism the military and the zionist narrative consumed israel s existence from within business inculcated ad absurdum the illusion of normalcy by initiating sweeping privatization and establishing an aggressive capitalist regime that didn t suit the needs of a nation in con ict academia instilled ad absurdum a rigid political correctness by turning the constructive means of self criticism into an obsessive deconstructive end of its own the media promoted a false consciousness that combined wild consumerism with hypocritical righteousness instead of purpose and promise the israeli elite embraced self doubt and cynicism each sector undermined zionism in its own way they misled israelis into believing that tel aviv was manhattan that the market is king and that mammon is god by doing so they didn t give young israelis the normative tools needed to ght for their country a nation with no equality no solidarity and no belief in its own cause is not a nation worth ghting for it s not a nation that a young woman or a young man will kill and get killed for but in the middle east a nation whose youngsters are not willing to kill and get killed for it is a nation on borrowed time it will not last for long so what we see now as rockets pound our cities and villages is not only a failure of the israeli army to defend its citizens but the grave outcome of the historic failure of the israeli elite this israeli elite turned its back on reality turned its back on the state stopped leading israel and stopped holding israel together with every ber of its being israel wished to be a modern day athens but in this land and in this era there is no future for an athens that doesn t have in it a grain of sparta there is no hope here for a life loving society that doesn t know how to deal with the imminence of death now we must face reality we must reconstruct our nation state we must restore the delicate balance between forcefulness and normalcy and we must rebuild from scratch our defensive shield after years of illusions delusions and recklessness we must recognize our fate we must live up to our life s decree sadly wars are a testament of israel s national strength israel s remarkable victory in 1948 exempli ed how determined and well organized the society formed by zionism in palestine was in the twenty years prior to the war of independence israel s astonishing victory in 1967 showed how cohesive and modern the nation state that ben gurion forged was in the twenty years prior to the six day war and israel s alarming impotence in 2006 revealed how disoriented and dysfunctional the bizarre political entity that rose from the ashes of old israel in the twenty years prior to the second lebanon war was yes occupation is killing us morally and politically but occupation is not only the cause of the malaise but its outcome in the twenty rst century israel s immediate challenge is not an ideological one it is not a choice between peace and war the immediate challenge is the challenge of regaining national potency an impotent israel cannot make peace or wage war or end occupation the 2006 trauma provided israelis with an accurate picture of the overall condition of their political body an enfeebled national leadership a barely functional government a public sector in decay an army consumed with rot and a startling disconnect between metropolis and periphery but the 2006 experience also provides a detailed panoramic picture of the world israel lives in iran on the rise hezbollah building up in the north hamas building up in the south peace has failed occupation has failed unilateralism has failed any stretch of land from which israel withdrew in the north and in the south was taken over by an iranian backed terrorist entity able to menace israel with its rockets as the threat of a nuclear iran hovers above the peril posed by tens of thousands of rockets encircling israel is imminent faced with renewed existential danger israel has no relevant national strategy it is confused and paralyzed the combination of a grim new geostrategic reality with the inherent internal weakness of the state itself is overwhelming true the second lebanon war bought israel time for the next few years hezbollah would think twice before launching a new attack it would not want to see lebanon devastated again as it was when it last provoked israel but when this lull ends what israel will face might be ten times worse than what it encountered in the traumatic summer of 2006 next time tel aviv ben gurion airport and the dimona nuclear reactor might be under re hundreds or thousands of israeli civilians might be killed as every site and every home in the jewish state will be within reach of the rockets of those enraged by israel s very existence in the rst zionist century jews proved to be vital and resourceful they rose to every challenge great obstacles that endangered and nearly ended their national endeavor were surmounted the arab uprising of 1936 39 was overcome the war of 1948 was won by 1967 dimona secured the existence of the tiny young state in 1973 the ghting spirit of the israeli rank and le rescued the nation from the jaws of defeat so the question posed following the 2006 debacle is whether israel still has what it takes whether in the second zionist century jews can rise up to the challenge and defend their national endeavor as they did in its rst one hundred years the fundamentals are good we have a strong economy a vibrant society extremely talented individuals with impressive common sense and resilience but the political structures and institutions of the israeli republic are ailing malaise runs deep the seven israeli internal revolts have eroded the sovereign nation from below the elite s disa ection has eroded the sovereign nation from above the binding israeli narrative has fallen apart as a result there is no one to speak up for the silent and sane israeli majority there is no great idea or even a reasonable political platform to address israel s real challenges in its seventh decade israel is much less of a solid nation state than it was when it was ten years old as war rages on in the north i decide to revisit tel aviv s night scene by now allenby 58 is closed but jerusalem s hauman 17 has turned a huge garage in southern tel aviv into the new mecca of dance drugs and casual encounters as the israeli army struggles desperately to push into the hezbollah held territory in southern lebanon i spend an evening in the sweaty crowded club then continue on to a russian dance hall in bat yam and then visit a new venue that has just opened next to the ayalon highway on the southern outskirts of tel aviv i end the night at a hip underground club in tel aviv located in a cellar its walls painted black straight stu gay stu mixed stu a lot of dark stu people really need it hard a twenty ve year old blond psychology student tells me as she o ers me a tiny vial of cocaine which i politely refuse ecstasy was love sex coke is alienation sex she continues after peace fell apart and suicide bombers struck the naïve scene of the 1990s was replaced by hollow eyed parties like the one you see all around us tonight it s hard core in your face but there s no love no a ection no hope whatsoever i look around me the kids are good looking all right as sexy as ever lustful and provocative but there is war up north tonight young soldiers are struggling in the bush at this very moment sti ing the fear in their hearts smelling death close by and the distance between what the soldiers are enduring in lebanon and what the clubbers of tel aviv are doing in the black walled cellar is incomprehensible they are nearly the same age same background same education but they are worlds apart planets apart they are playing out israel s schizophrenia all of israel s wars had this sort of tension in 1948 while citizens were being shot on the road to jerusalem others were irting in tel aviv cafés in 1969 while soldiers were taking re in suez canal outposts other in tel aviv s discotheques this duality was part of israel s health and strength it was as if there was a covenant between us today i will stand on guard while you party tomorrow i ll party while you stand on guard this way we don t turn our nation into a barracks where life is not really worth living this way we continue to live while we defend our right to life israelis were having a ball but now it is di erent now there is a complete disconnect this is what is so eerie about the war of 2006 soldiers are ghting and northern civilians are refugees in their own country but many others just go on not really caring many of the rich are vacationing on their yachts while the upper middle class is nding refuge in eilat there are summer cruises and summer parties and summer drugs it is as if the nation were not at war as if it were not being challenged and that is the real threat that is what is so scary there is no israeli togetherness the state cannot defend its citizens and its citizens don t go out of their way to stand by their state there is no glue holding everything together this time we survived it was only a preview of what might happen in coming years but what will happen when it s not just a small shiite militia that s attacking us what will happen to these beautiful dancers and to this sexy tel aviv when some of our really powerful rivals decide to strike returning from a quick encounter the twenty ve year old blonde rejoins me at the bar looking around with glazed eyes and a bewildered smile she says to no one in particular it s a bubble it s an amazing bubble it won t last photo credit 15 1 fifteen occupy rothschild 2011 the strauss story is a hopeful one it is not only a story of a successful family and how it made its money but a story of israel s industrious capitalism it is not only the story of one family but the story of what has ourished in israel and how it ourished richard and hilda strauss married in ulm germany shortly after adolf hitler rose to power on may 1 1934 michael peter was born a year later as hilda was holding her rstborn in her arms she heard goebbels speak over the wireless when the nazi propaganda minister vili ed the jews she felt a sharp pain in her body she knew that disaster was imminent in april 1936 the strauss family loaded their belongings into their car and left for switzerland in her diary hilda wrote we are emigrating where to to the land of our ancestors to our homeland to the land of israel why because we are no longer wanted in the land we were born in the land we loved we want to stay proud as we should be so our children can rejoice that their parents are jews not only in their religious persuasion but in their soul that s why we are leaving for a new homeland on june 18 1936 the strausses arrived at the port of haifa their disembarkation in a crisp black and white photograph richard in wide white linen shorts a white shirt and a white cap hilda in a long checkered summer dress holding a rambunctious michael peter who is wearing shorts and no shirt at rst the family lived in the moshav village of ramot hashavim then they moved to the southern colony of be er tuvia and then to the is documented northern colony of nahariya the climate was hot conditions were harsh and the 1936 39 war with the arabs was brutal richard who held a ph d in economics felt lost in his chosen land he found it di cult to relinquish his academic dreams and adjust to his new life as a taxi driver in a remote mediterranean province disappointment seeps in slowly like the venom of a snake hilda wrote in her diary disappointment is 77 times greater in a new land in which we do not yet have a home the days are very long and full of su ering only the boy s cheerful laughter keeps the soul alive in april 1937 the strauss family nally received the plot of land it had bought months earlier a nine dunam rectangle on the eastern edge of nahariya along with the land came a forty square meter house a cowshed rudimentary agricultural tools an irrigation system and a track line on the boundary of the property complete with open carts for the transport of produce the house was small the question marks huge hilda wrote in her journal what does the future hold what will become of us our fate is in the hands of strangers and we can only ful ll our duty and trust god a few weeks later a rst ray of optimism penetrated the tiny nahariya home hilda wrote in her diary it is eight days now that there are cows in the cowshed there is milk at home fresh white milk we must work hard to acquire the expertise required to run a dairy farm the strausses were a prime example of the spirit of free enterprise that characterized the new german speaking colony they learned fast every morning richard milked the cows lled the large copper pots loaded them onto his bicycle and rode from door to door selling strauss milk but nahariya had many cowsheds and the supply of milk exceeded demand hilda realized that the future lay in cheese making she studied the art of cheese making and turned her domestic kitchen into a small dairy from professional european journals she learned how to make malodorous limburger and milder romadur and she experimented with soft cheeses seasoned with pepper and paprika she packed the 100 and 500 gram cheese parcels in wax paper stamped with a proud blue and white ostrich in german by 1938 she won strauss the british high commissioner s prize for dairy products by early 1939 she persuaded richard to do away with the cowshed sell the cows and focus on the production of ne cheese and other dairy products in the summer of 1939 when the thousand years of german jewry came to a close hilda and richard inaugurated their rst dairy products facility while european jewry was disappearing into the great dark of the holocaust hilda and richard founded strauss nahariya world war ii propelled nahariya forward turning a struggling agricultural colony into a booming leisure town tens of thousands of british soldiers and palestine jews now enjoying the wartime prosperity were attracted to the european charm of the german jewish nahariya the beach was packed the pension hotels were full the cafés were bustling serving strawberries and cream ne bread and rolls and imported meats chamber music concerts jazz jam sessions tango soirees and charleston competitions were held along the beach the colorful huts of the galei galil company stood in row after row sailboats and rowboats headed into the mediterranean powered by the strong arms of nahariya beach boys slim girls came from tel aviv for their holidays irting by the beach huts at noon and in the swinging bars at night while europe was ablaze the small european village founded by europe s survivors on this mediterranean shore of refuge was teeming with life nahariya was now one of zionism s most famous delights world war ii also propelled zionist capitalism forward turning an agricultural economy into an industrial one the british need for an advanced logistical and technological base in the isolated middle east made jewish palestine of the early 1940s a hub of private enterprise and innovation the strauss family was part of this process which laid the foundation for israel s industry and creative capitalism but as war broke out tragedy struck shortly after immigrating to palestine richard s beautiful sister took her own life richard too was often depressed he ew into rages and often sought comfort and pleasure in the arms of nahariya s young women yet hilda remained totally focused she recognized the opportunity of the wartime boom and seized it she was tough when negotiating with milk suppliers from the neighboring kibbutzim and aggressive in marketing her products to the ourishing cafés and overbooked pension hotels but above all she was meticulous about the work ethic and the hygiene and production standards of her edgling dairy throughout the 1940s hilda strauss established the reputation of her company as a superior german jewish dairy that produced in nahariya outstanding european cheese after the war of independence hilda replaced the strauss ostrich with a new and more tting trademark a water tower the 1950s brought the strauss family an unexpected windfall german reparations like other holocaust survivors they and the israeli economy as a whole bene ted from the compensation agreement signed in 1952 by david ben gurion and west germany s chancellor konrad adenauer hilda and richard invested in their dairy the deutschmarks they received from the bundesrepublik deutschland for all that was lost in ulm they imported from germany their rst commercial production equipment as well as professional know how while their young nahariya born daughter raya stayed at home they sent their precocious son michael to switzerland and germany to complete his studies in dairy production the german dimension of the strauss enterprise was ampli ed in the 1960s when hilda and richard managed to forge a strategic alliance with a german subsidiary of the european giant danone the partnership was made possible by the strausses german background if not for hilda danone would not have forged such an alliance with a small dairy in a remote country danone transformed the family business and reconnected hilda to the motherland that had rejected her a generation before it also allowed the strauss family to return from the fringes of palestine to the center of europe and to remain up to date on european technology and business practices in the summer of 1973 when the modern danone strauss plant opened on the strausses nine dunam plot of land that the strausses clung to in the harsh winter of 1937 the event was not merely an industrial triumph after three dramatic decades the three souls who had escaped europe and built in nahariya a shelter that would save them from europe brought europe to nahariya michael peter was only two and a half years old when his parents settled in nahariya as a child he walked barefoot among the cows and as a teenager he sold his mother s cheese to the hotels and cafés but young michael was very much a wild child raising himself his mother was devoted and loving but she was caught up in business his father was bad tempered and sometimes abusive his sister was six years younger and her father s favorite michael received his education on the soccer eld on the basketball court and on the beach he spent most days and nights outdoors the distance between himself and his parents could not have been greater they were well educated while he could not be bothered with going to school they were law abiding bourgeoisie while he was a rule outing rebel they were conventional and conservative while he was an iconoclast under the roof of european propriety a charismatic intuitive and life loving israeli beach boy grew up who would give the strauss dairy its israeli dimension from the ages of thirteen to twenty two michael lived away from home in the naval academy in the navy in the merchant eet the rough life of a sailor suited him but after he was tamed and groomed in switzerland and in ulm he returned at the age of twenty three to his parents dairy to work alongside his mother michael contributed chutzpah to their enterprise he believed the sky was the limit his mother s little dairy could conquer the young state of israel when the business came close to collapsing in the late 1950s he marched into the jerusalem o ce of the trade and industry minister and extracted emergency funding when one bank created di culties in the 1960s he went to tel aviv and persuaded another bank to lend strauss even more money michael used his charisma to win over partners and overcome rivals to cajole and placate employees managers and sales agents with determination and shrewdness softened by charm michael managed to modernize production expand distribution and bring strauss products to every grocery store in israel but michael s real forte was his feel for people he could intuit people s strengths people s weaknesses people s needs in the 1970s and 1980s michael strauss turned the strauss dairy into a modern company that utilized its european capabilities to give israel what israel wanted israel is a harsh hot land ice cream is cold and comforting so israelis consume much more ice cream than north americans and western europeans hilda strauss realized the potential of ice cream in 1950 although production was fraught with di culty she insisted that her dairy begin manufacturing it but michael was the one who made his mother s ice cream a national brand he brought about the fall of the rival company artik bought the competitor vitman and forged a partnership with the anglo dutch giant unilever today strauss ice cream is the biggest manufacturer in israel with roughly half of the market share israel is a bitter land dairy desserts are sweet and soothing so israelis love dairy desserts hilda and michael strauss recognized the potential soon after the 1967 war they understood that the era of ascetic zionism of basic white cheese and thin yogurtlike leben was over with better times came the demand for better and richer dairy products so they challenged the tnuva cooperative s monopoly by o ering the new israeli customer high quality yogurts and individual dairy desserts in the new danone strauss plant they manufactured a milk chocolate pudding called danny which conquered the market of the 1970s in the 1980s and 1990s they introduced the german inspired dark chocolate and whipped cream dessert milky which found its way into almost every israeli refrigerator strauss became a prosperous giant controlling the largest chunk by far of israel s dairy desserts market israel is an exciting and excitable country so israelis need ever increasing excitement the strauss team understood that this applied to the way everything must taste they realized that israeli salty snacks had to be much saltier than their american counterparts and that israeli sweets had to be much sweeter than european ones chocolate had to be much more chocolaty and vanilla much more vanilla y there were no nuances for israel everything had to be erce and aggressive to hit the palate with avor the israeli milky for example had twice as much whipped cream as its german inspiration but israelis don t want just more they want new they get bored very quickly so strauss replaces its products much faster than its european sister companies do to stay where it was strauss had to keep running but michael and his fellow workers loved running they were indefatigable runners so they took hilda s small solid german operation and turned it into a hyper energetic israeli empire dr richard strauss died in nahariya in 1975 hilda strauss died in germany in the summer of 1985 they left behind a son a daughter seven grandchildren and the most advanced dairy products company in the middle east in 1997 twelve years after hilda s death the strauss family purchased elite israel s leading chocolate and co ee manufacturer making strauss elite the largest food and beverage group in israel in 2000 strauss elite opened its new dairy in the galilee the fully automated ahihud plant produces more than a billion cups of yogurt and dairy desserts every year in the mid 2000s strauss elite took over several co ee companies in eastern europe and south america in the late 2000s it penetrated the american market and rebranded itself as the strauss group in 2010 it opened in virginia the biggest hummus manufacturing facility in the world which now supplies over 50 percent of american demand in 2011 the strauss group sales approached 2 billion and the operating pro t neared 180 million sales grow at close to 10 percent annually mainly because of overseas expansion for a while now strauss group has been the fourth largest co ee company in the world in terms of green co ee procurement larger than lavazza and segafredo michael strauss greets me on the deck of his marine blue yacht lucky me anchored in the croatian shing village of havar he is tall and t his gray hair is closely cropped and his voice is thunderous even in his late seventies he has the manner the posture the energy and the mischievous look of a young sailor hungry for life and always on the lookout for the next escapade but during working hours strauss is disciplined i nd him going over emails sent from the company s headquarters a few hours earlier quarterly reports annual projections analyses of the chinese market after o ering me a glass of champagne he makes it clear he must get back to work although he is semi retired and on his summer holiday one must do what one must do only after he reads the last of the company briefs does he join me on deck to try to understand why i have come such a long way to talk to him what is israeli about strauss i ask what is it about israel that enables strauss to succeed michael res back instantly the people israel has extraordinary people israeli human capital is absolutely unique the challenges facing any israeli business are enormous a dysfunctional government an ine cient bureaucracy wars israel s permanent uncertainty is a real drawback but what compensates for all these obstacles are the israelis themselves i ve been around the world there are no such people anywhere else israelis are exceptionally quick creative and audacious they are sexy even in the way they work they are hardworking and tireless they are endowed with a competitive spirit with the need to be the rst at the nish line and they are willing to do whatever it takes to be the rst at the nish line they never take no for an answer they never accept failure or acknowledge defeat at noon michael and i descend the aft stairs to the dinghy that brings us across the bay to a secluded island it s still early in the season and almost empty only two russian oligarchs are enjoying the sun accompanied by three gorgeous platinum haired girls michael irts with the pierced and tattooed barwoman who serves us a midday chardonnay under the thatched roof of the inviting bar she doesn t reject strauss but plays his game it s all transparent in this adriatic resort wealth is wealth and youth is youth and they interact i ask michael if the strauss story is the israeli story michael says that though his mother was not big on words he often sensed her deep pain the departure from germany the expulsion from europe nding herself in a remote land whose tongue she never fully mastered while his father took his pain to other women his mother took her pain to the dairy and with a strength that rose from her su ering she made a family and founded a business hilda was a devoted zionist the trauma of the betrayal of the old homeland made her cherish her new homeland she believed that the dairy was her way of participating in the founding of the jewish state as far as she was concerned strauss and israel were intertwined as israel grew strauss grew as israel made its way through history strauss made its way to market so even though hilda was never political and even though she never spoke hebrew properly and never really knew the country she was israel she embodied the need for israel to be the determination that israel will be the miraculous story that israel is after we head back to the yacht and michael goes down to his cabin for a post chardonnay nap i am left alone with my thoughts ulm was also albert einstein s hometown and einstein was the jewish diaspora at its best a combination of scienti c genius and universal humanism but einstein s and strauss s german jewish diaspora was doomed einstein left for princeton hilda for nahariya hilda did not indulge in self pity but instead fought back she realized that the task of her generation was survival she knew her generation had to invent a new world in which their children would be able to reinvent themselves she was never at home in this new world hers was a life on the cusp but eventually her children and her grandchildren had a homeland and a home they turned hilda s kitchen dairy into a multinational giant employing more than fourteen thousand workers in more than fteen countries manufacturing hundreds of products so now as its owner emerges from his cabin with a sailor s smile the glistening yacht of the son of europe s survivors glides into the port of dubrovnik after some maneuvering it nds its place among the yachts of russian moguls french millionaires and british aristocrats europe s high and mighty the richter story is a hopeful story too kobi richter was born on christmas eve in 1945 his father kalman was a disciple of the revisionist zionist leader vladimir jabotinsky born in lvov poland he immigrated to palestine in 1935 converted to labor worked in a potash plant in sdom and joined kibbutz ramat yohanan in the north his mother mira was the daughter of an ultra orthodox family from lvov that failed to immigrate to palestine in time and perished in the holocaust kalman was the chief welder as well as the treasurer and economic leader of ramat yohanan mira worked in the cowshed and managed the common clothing warehouse kalman and mira were both strict and tough devoted soldiers of the zionist revolution richter s rst memory is of war while the family sat in the kibbutz bomb shelter in early 1948 he put his two year old ngers into empty peanut shells that he imagined to be helmets but his childhood was peaceful by the 1950s ramat yohanan was ourishing the holocaust was not to be mentioned and war was a heroic memory there was no real danger in sight in his eyes the kibbutz was the elite unit of israeli society which was the elite unit of the jewish people which was the elite unit of humanity anyone lucky enough to be the son of a kibbutz was at the apex of the apex of the apex kobi richter was gifted at the age of four he learned to read at the age of seven he devoured four books a week and by the time he was ten he knew his dickens and hesse at eight he learned to swim at twelve he was the kibbutz swimming champion at sixteen he was israel s number 2 in mixed freestyle at seven he learned about di erent screws in the welding workshop at ten he could weld at fteen he built a motorcycle in his teenage years ramat yohanan was paradise there was a pool and a metals workshop and wheat elds there were tractors horses and girls duck hunting and lock picking and mushroom foraging and joyrides in cars borrowed for the night everything was possible kobi richter was a perceptive boy as his bar mitzvah approached he recognized that there was an inherent contradiction between the two values the kibbutz upheld equality and freedom but though he recognized the jealousy hypocrisy and pettiness in the commune s life he was devoted to the kibbutz he sang and danced in the grand socialist national and jewish holidays and celebrations when the women danced in circles and the men reenacted harvest time with plowshares in hand and the children were lifted up high kobi would have tears in his eyes he identi ed totally with the mesmerizing secular religion of israeli pioneerism he felt privileged to be one of the select few who would lead his people from slavery to liberation from weakness to might from shoah to resurrection ramat yohanan was not only a commune ful lling the socialist zionist dream it was a successful business the cows in its modern dairy produced twice as much milk as the cows of the american midwest its new plastics plant was one of the rst of the kibbutz movement the kibbutz also had avocado groves in which the sixteen year old richter laid out an innovative irrigation system it had cotton elds for which the seventeen year old richter built a mechanical picker of his own design ramat yohanan s agriculture was already industrialized and its industry was quite sophisticated the commune was not only the greenhouse of romantic zionist socialism but the greenhouse of a demanding can do ethos and impressive technological capability when richter joined the israeli air force in 1964 he found there what he valued most excellence competitiveness and high technology he loved the challenge of seizing control of the ying machines that de ed the heights and speed man was designed for for richter the pilot was a modern knight a solitary warrior battling other solitary warriors to the death richter loved the ght he believed in his own capability and loved testing it daily his sense of superiority didn t make him popular among his peers and commanders but no one could deny his extraordinary talent the excellent pupil welder swimmer hunter dancer and technological prodigy became an excellent ghter pilot handsome proud and arrogant richter was the poster boy of the israeli air force of the 1960s on june 5 1967 kobi richter took o from lydda airport in a french made ouragan bomber along with his comrades from squadron 107 he headed south ying low and maintaining absolute radio silence before turning southeast toward egypt in perfect coordination operation moked had been rehearsed by the israeli air force for years richter himself had rehearsed it dozens of times the strategic idea was to get nearly all of israel s combat aircraft in the air at once and then strike with complete surprise and accuracy the thirty air bases of egypt syria jordan and iraq but now as squadron 107 hovered over the western negev richter was thrilled to see the plan become reality dozens of planes were in the air some heading for luxor some for amman some for damascus the sky was almost blackened with the ocks of eagles about to attack richter felt as if mighty vectors of power were bursting out of the tiny state of israel and were about to rattle the entire middle east he felt that he was part of some mythical force that had suddenly risen from the promised land every bomber was in the right location at the right altitude on the right course and it all took place like an in absolute silence extraordinary sacrament such an event had never happened before and would never happen again at 0745 richter took his ouragan from three hundred to three thousand feet as the air eld of el arish came into view it looked exactly as he had memorized it the control tower the runways the mig jets richter red seventy six french made rockets at the antiaircraft battery which ceased to exist in about thirty seconds then he returned for three more precision strikes destroying three mig 17 s on the ground within fteen minutes squadron 107 disabled the egyptian air eld of el arish within three hours the israeli air force destroyed four arab air forces as richter headed home and descended over the orange groves of rehovot landing at lydda airport he knew that in its very rst hours the war was already won israel was now a regional power the strongest nation in the middle east in 1968 kobi richter trained as an intercept pilot from 1969 to 1973 he participated in a series of dog ghts shooting down eleven enemy planes he was now one of the leading combat pilots of an air force that gave israel air supremacy yet while he was still in the service he earned his ph d in biology and biochemistry and from 1979 to 1982 he did his postdoctoral research at mit in arti cial intelligence a few years later colonel richter left the air force and established his rst high tech company orbot which he founded with four other graduates of the security and military system orbot developed an innovative automated optical inspection aoi system to aid in the manufacturing of printed circuit boards with speed and resolution previously unseen in the eld in 1986 orbot brought its rst product to market in 1989 it controlled 60 percent of the worldwide aoi market after it merged with its israeli rival optrotech orbotech was born which now controls nearly 80 percent of the aoi market in the second decade of the twenty rst century orbotech employs more than fteen hundred people and has an annual revenue of more than 400 million in 1992 richter himself resigned from the company ready to move on to new things though he continues to be orbotech s biggest shareholder richter founded medinol in december 1992 he realized that the next big thing in cardiac medicine was the stent a tiny device composed of wire mesh tubes inserted into an artery to keep it open and allow blood to ow as it should the stents of the early 1990s were problematic some were too rigid and di cult to insert while others were too exible and collapsed after insertion what was needed was a new kind of stent that would be exible during insertion and rigid afterward richter developed this new kind of stent the rigid ex with the russian tank engineer grisha pinchasik who had recently immigrated to israel in the richters ramat hasharon kitchen the rst models of the revolutionary stent were carved from empty cottage cheese containers five years later after signing a partnership and distribution agreement with boston scienti c medinol sold a hundred thousand stents a month and its annual revenues were over 200 million by mid 1999 the tiny jerusalem based company controlled 35 percent of the international stent market what made medinol s success even more dramatic was the unique production method kobi richter developed consequently medinol s after tax pro t was 86 cents on the dollar in the late 1990s kobi and yehudit richter owned one of the most pro table companies in the world in 2000 a bitter legal battle erupted between the richters and boston scienti c and production and distribution came to a standstill but after ve years of courtroom skirmishes the richters won the case the 750 million they were awarded made the daughter of a mengele twin who grew up in the bizaron housing estate and the son of the soldiers of zionism who grew up on kibbutz ramat yohanan one of israel s richest couples i ve known kobi for years he is a friend as always i meet him in his seaside villa in the prosperous suburb of arsuf north of tel aviv standing in his living room he pushes an unseen button that summons a hydraulic dumbwaiter for ne wines he uncorks a 1964 bourgogne and pours it into a decanter waits awhile then pours it into glasses he asks me what i think of it and then tells me what i should think of it he gives me a long lecture about bourgogne and about the speci c vineyards and winery from which this wine came and about how local inheritance laws shaped bourgogne s wine tradition then after tasting the wine he gives his nal verdict superb he raises his glass in a toast to ne wines and ne books and all work that is nely done i ask kobi what i asked michael strauss what is israel s contribution to his success what is israeli about orbotech and medinol richter answers that the secret is to beat swords into plowshares not because it is good for peace he says with a laugh but because it is good for the plowshares beating swords is not only the sound prophecy of isaiah and micah it is also a sound business plan what made orbotech and medinol possible and what made the israeli high tech boom a reality were the immense resources invested over decades by the state in sophisticated military production the military industrial complex is for israel what the space program was for the united states it generates astounding human capital and develops cutting edge that eventually trickle down to the high tech industry and push it forward it is no accident that orbot was founded by three pilots and two israel security prize recipients it is no accident that technologies invested medinol s breakthrough was made possible by israel s laser and missile production technology what the nation in defending itself for half a century paid o with the surprisingly bounteous dividend of the great high tech boom but there is a second factor richter says orbot had a small interdisciplinary team of outstanding individuals we were the very best in arti cial intelligence in hardware and in ne mechanics this team could have done anything that s very israeli too having a small elite unit of highly quali ed professionals who work together day in and day out to achieve a common goal medinol was a variation on the same theme in that case one person contained within him all that the company dealt with biology medicine engineering computer science and ne mechanics in large american corporations it is almost impossible to nd a programmer who understands the biology of blood vessels or a doctor who understands materials engineering so decisions are made by consensus which is a cumbersome and imprecise process but at medinol it was all integrative just as at orbotech it was all interdisciplinary time was saved e ciency was tripled the business enterprise functioned as a cohesive organism focused strong healthy and able to achieve the best results in di erent shapes and forms this is what happens in many israeli start ups their small uni ed teams have the single mindedness expediency and creative drive that are scarcely found in corporate america or europe the third factor was immigration richter says a million russians came to israel in the 1990s among them hundreds of technicians thousands programmers this bene ted us both at orbotech and at medinol at one point 85 percent of our employees were russian immigrants a russian immigrant was both the co inventor of the rigid ex and co owner of the company this wave of immigration bene ted the entire israeli industry the encounter between israeli creativity and russian thoroughness was exceptionally productive if you ask me what made my success and the success of the israeli high tech revolution my answer is fourfold the infrastructure of the defense fantastic workers engineers of industry israeli innovation and improvisation russian skill and the integration of di erent elds of knowledge in small daring groups the unique combination that enabled my companies to succeed is the very same one that saved israel by making it a start up nation as he drinks his wine richter tries to connect the dots in the twenty years that israel was about the kibbutz i was on a kibbutz in the twenty years that israel was about the military i was in the military in the twenty years that israel is about high tech i am in high tech i happened to be in every nexus of israeli advancement my life took me from one israeli myth to the next in the kibbutz we felt like the sons of gods kobi says we were athletic and handsome and suntanned like proud jewish bedouins walking barefoot in the elds and driving tractors and chasing girls we were the new strong jew rising from the death of the old weak jew we despised the diaspora and looked down upon decadent tel aviv urbanites we were the real thing the ful llment of the zionist dream the core of israeli existence in 1960 the myth was us and we were the myth i was exactly what bruno bettelheim wrote about me when he studied our kibbutz in the 1960s a child of a dream in the air force i was top gun the arab israeli dog ghts of 1969 70 were a theater of war in which the united states and the ussr were ghting each other by proxies so my intercept team was equipped with the very best technology america had to o er but my team had more combat experience than the americans did i found myself teaching american air force intercept teams and american navy intercept teams i was really top gun it s not that i played tom cruise tom cruise played me ten years after becoming a combat pilot i was one of the very best in the west i was a world champion once again i found myself personifying the myth when the kibbutz began to wane the air force was the epitome of israeli excellence my peers and i were the esh and blood embodiment of israel s ability and superiority but by the late 1980s kobi says the military myth was waning although the israeli air force maintained its might i realized that the era of absolute israeli domination of the skies was about to end i understood that no military power and no military victory would solve israel s fundamental problems but just as the second myth was crumbling the third emerged high tech first there was scitex then orbotech then another hundred new start ups a thousand start ups tens of thousands of start ups there were venture capital funds research and development centers telecommunications biotech meditech clean tech an astonishing geyser of innovation erupted out of this barren land so per capita israel has the largest number of medical device patents in the world we have more start ups than france does every international corporation wants a subsidiary here because they all acknowledge our extraordinary creativity all these young israelis with all these brilliant ideas after the kibbutz faded and the military faded a third israeli wave has risen and this third wave of technological innovation is now keeping us above water it enables us to prosper in spite of the occupation and the settlements and the decay of the state it is the new incarnation of israeli vitality the strauss and richter stories represent two facets of israel s economic success story whereas strauss is all about the innovations of the solid traditional israeli industry richter embodies the innovations of israel s dazzling new high tech industry in the 1990s and 2000s while israeli politics failed and the hopes for peace were dashed and an islamic nuclear threat emerged the israeli economy was booming in the twenty rst century enterprises like those of strauss and richter and a thousand others have made israel one of the most nimble economies in the west to understand how this came to be i turn to stanley fischer the sixty nine year old economist was born in rhodesia educated in london and achieved his professional renown in the united states from 1994 until 2001 he was rst deputy managing director of the international monetary fund from 2002 until early 2005 he served as the vice chairman of citigroup for eight years 2005 13 he served as the governor of the bank of israel and he became the high priest of israel s economy in his herzliya home he receives me in moccasins tan bermuda shorts and a green lacoste shirt as he describes the economics of contemporary israel fischer prefers hard data to frothy superlatives sitting in a large red armchair that dwarfs his small frame he utters the relevant gures in slow measured anglo saxon hebrew in the years 2004 to 2008 israel s average annual growth rate was 5 2 percent while the world was in crisis in 2010 11 israel s average annual growth rate was 4 7 percent that doesn t make israel a chinese tiger he tells me but it is a performance far better than america s or europe s it is indeed an extraordinary economic accomplishment fischer tells me there are four reasons for this success reducing government spending dramatically from 51 percent of gdp in 2002 to 42 percent in 2011 reducing the national debt signi cantly from 100 percent of gdp in 2002 to 75 percent in 2011 maintaining a conservative and responsible nancial system and fostering the conditions required for israeli high tech to continue to ourish israeli high tech is truly phenomenal he says it is the locomotive of israel s growth because of the high tech industry we export as much as we import and we attract considerable direct foreign investments israel has really become a start up nation investment in research and development is higher than anywhere else 4 5 percent of gdp compared with an oecd average of 2 2 percent the ratio of start ups to population is by far the highest in the world the number of inventions israelis come up with is astounding no wonder israel has more companies traded on the nasdaq than canada or japan no wonder that venture capital investments in israel are larger than in germany or france time after time i am amazed there is innovation here and there is daring and there is exceptional ambition israelis are willing to take risks and they believe nothing will stop them so there is a unique entrepreneurial spirit in israel and this spirit makes the nation a powerhouse of technological ingenuity one mustn t get carried away we are still a small country with a small marketplace facing incredible challenges but the high tech revolution combined with a prudent macroeconomic policy has made israel a hub of prosperity when i ask fischer about the perils the country faces he speaks cautiously we have four problems he says our education system has deteriorated and it endangers our ability to sustain technological excellence the employment rate among ultra orthodox men is only 45 percent most arab women do not work fewer than twenty business groups control much of the local market and thus restrict competition right now the high tech miracle helps to conceal these four problems that are weighing down the wider economy but in the long term these problems endanger israel s ability to remain prosperous and successful dan ben david is less cautious than fischer i drive up from herzliya to the jerusalem think tank he heads to hear the economics professor say explicitly what the governor of the central bank will only hint at israel s real economic miracle took place in the years 1955 to 1972 ben david tells me during those years the israeli gdp grew twice as fast as that of western countries while israel remained one of the most egalitarian nations in the west although it absorbed millions of immigrants and fought three wars it succeeded in raising the standard of living of its citizens and the productivity rate of its workers at the same time it promoted educational excellence social solidarity and military might but in 1973 it all went wrong after the trauma of the yom kippur war the defense budget was doubled growth slowed and in ation was in ation spiraled out of control even when vanquished in 1985 growth per capita was a third of what it had been twenty years earlier now the burden on the nation s economy was not defense spending but welfare bene ts which rose vefold between 1972 and 2002 rather than investing in human capital and essential infrastructure israel is transferring enormous sums of money to the poor and the ultra orthodox the main reason for this is that the expanding ultra orthodox and arab minorities are not fully participating in israel s economic and social life whereas in its rst twenty ve years israel grew rapidly while maintaining excellence cohesion and social justice in the last twenty ve years it did the exact opposite in recent years growth has been high but excellence social cohesion and social justice have been dangerously eroded the high tech boom is the fruit of the long term investment in human capital made by a previous generation but the high tech boom creates a shiny bubble of prosperity that conceals the fact that today we are not making a similar investment in the human capital of the future budgetary policy is awed public policy is failing israeli society is sick if israel does not change course soon even the high tech miracle will eventually fade away ben david grew up in the united states and earned his ph d from the university of chicago he is one of the few top notch academic economists left in a brain drained country that had an abundance of them only twenty years ago as he talks to me in the spacious o ces of the taube center there is real angst in his eyes look at this he says motioning me toward his desk he talks me through a series of multicolored graphs and charts on his computer screen what makes all this much worse are demographics he says as you can see in these charts over the last thirty years israel went through a demographic revolution during these years the percentage of school aged children attending ultra orthodox schools has risen from 4 percent to nearly 20 percent the percentage of school aged children attending arab schools has risen from 20 percent to 28 percent so today 48 percent of all school aged children are enrolled in either ultra orthodox or arab schools an additional 14 percent are modern orthodox only 38 percent are secular that means that by 2030 israel s shrinking secular jewish majority will become a minority israel s cultural identity will change and so will its socioeconomic pro le secular israelis are the ones working producing and paying taxes once they are outnumbered israel will be a backward nation that will not be able to meet the challenges of the third millennium what you are showing me is a national disaster in the making i say ben david nods sadly if israel had an e ective zionist government it would ght this disastrous trend it is not too late yet but it might soon be too late meanwhile successive dysfunctional israeli governments are doing the very opposite they reward the nonworking minorities and subsidize them and do not require them to take up modern and democratic education as a result nearly half of the population is not part of the national e ort and does not shoulder responsibility for the nation s future the burden on the soldiers of the productive segment of the society is unbearable fewer and fewer israelis work more and more to feed nonworking israelis fewer and fewer israelis run faster and faster to carry along the israelis who don t run at all a awed political system guarantees the special interests of the ultra orthodox the settlers and the megarich but the productive middle class has been abandoned by the state that s why this exhausted middle class is growing bitter it feels the nation has betrayed it it sees the israel it loves disintegrating the shmuli story is also a hopeful story itzik shmuli was born in tel aviv in february 1980 his father was a ja a born restaurant owner and his mother a kurdistan born nanny the ve shmulis lived in a one and a half bedroom apartment in ramat gan although life was not easy their home was warm the twin boys and their young sister were showered with love itzik shmuli was a decent high school student basketball player and soldier after completing military service he worked alongside his father in their modest tel aviv restaurant in 2004 he saw a television program about the homeless and hungry children in the streets of buenos aires at the age of twenty four shmuli got on a plane and opened an orphanage in buenos aires when he returned to israel he studied special education at a small provincial college and was elected leader of its local students three years later he was the president of israel s national student union on july 14 2011 shmuli is in new york his friends call to tell him that something quite unusual is happening on tel aviv s rothschild boulevard a twenty four year old video editor by the name of daphne leef has pitched a tent in the middle of this prestigious thoroughfare as an act of protest against soaring residential rents within a day hundreds have joined her within two days thousands have joined her shmuli gets on a plane and returns to tel aviv to join the rothschild protest a few days later he is the protest movement s responsible adult while many in the leef circle lack experience and organizational skills shmuli has both while many in the leef circle are heavily in uenced by marxist and anarchist ideology shmuli is a sober social democratic zionist he believes that in order not to lose public support the revolt must not become sectarian or radical he wants the movement to represent as many israelis as possible so he too pitches a tent on the boulevard two weeks later shmuli is the leader of a new israeli generation demanding a new social order on july 23 30 000 youths march in the streets of tel aviv chanting a new old slogan the people demand social justice on july 30 they are 130 000 strong on august 6 they are 300 000 strong on september 3 450 000 people take to the streets 6 percent of israel s population shmuli is the keynote speaker at the rally held in tel aviv s nation square we are the new israelis he calls out to the 330 000 cheering demonstrators we love our country and we are willing to die for our country let us live in the country we love in many respects the 2011 revolt is the most impressive of all israeli revolts neither the settlement nor the peace nor the oriental shas movements was ever able to gather so many israelis with such enthusiasm and broad based support neither settlement nor peace nor shas united the nation in such a civilized and constructive manner the israeli civic uprising of 2011 is far more peaceful than cairo s and far more e ective than new york s the young people occupying rothschild boulevard are generally more moderate resourceful and coolheaded than the ones who will occupy wall street later this year of all of the world s social networks to social protest movements the israeli one is the most benign moderate and nonviolent it succeeds in winning the support of 80 percent of israelis for one summer it unites israelis again by giving them a sense of hope and yet just as the de ant wave appears it disappears so as i walk with shmuli along rothschild boulevard in the late hours of a late autumn night there is nothing here there are no tents no demonstrators no social change the carnival is over it s as if it was all a sweet midsummer night s dream shmuli begs to di er i am a marathon man he says i run long distance i know life has its rhythm and i know revolutions don t happen overnight from the outset i was aware that the summer of 2011 would only be the rst leg but i do believe we will have a second and a third leg i don t need daily demonstrations i don t expect ongoing protest but i really think the summer of 2011 was a tipping point it was much larger than housing prices or food prices or the debate over the rule of the rich the summer of 2011 was about us being a people for the rst time in my lifetime israelis felt they are one people not helpless individuals not members of rival sects and what the israeli people said is that they want social justice they want the state to be reformed so it can act as an agent of change true right now rothschild is quiet everybody went back home but the transformation we underwent will not be taken away from us we do not see ourselves anymore as cynical hedonists now our life as israelis has meaning this new sense of meaning is the great achievement of 2011 we love israel again and believe in israel and we are determined to reform it shmuli fascinates me he is slim brown eyed of medium height he has a good heart and a di dent smile as he walks down the boulevard after midnight in jeans t shirt and a backpack young people walk up to him and high ve him and ask him not to quit fight on they tell him show them give it to them the student leader is no intellectual and no ideologue he is neither charismatic nor authoritative but there is a promise in the sanity and decency that he projects his non macho style of leadership is inspiring no doubt he has a political future he will be a member of parliament and the young generation he represents will shape future israeli politics the conceptual revolution of 2011 would change the israeli state of mind and the israeli political landscape so perhaps shmuli is right in arguing for hope i so wish he is right our future depends on whether the revolt of 2011 is institutionalized in a benign and constructive manner after shmuli leaves i walk by myself along the boulevard it is back to what it was before a pickup promenade boys with dogs girls with dogs boys with girls with dogs so i now assemble the di erent pieces of the puzzle in my head all i have learned from strauss richter fischer ben david and shmuli what i come up with is the following the israeli labor hegemony began its decline after the 1973 war and totally disintegrated in the late 1980s the fall of the ancien régime liberated tremendous energy new israeli individualism turned new israeli capitalism into a roaring success the free market enabled israeli talent and initiative to burst forth and create a booming modern economy successive cuts in public expenditures and military spending accelerated the process so did privatization deregulation and monetary liberalization but while the private sector ourished the public sector faltered an uninspired national leadership and petty politics didn t allow the state to act as a counterweight to the ills of the emerging free market antitrust law and enforcement were weak privatization was carried out in a slapdash and hurried fashion no protective measures were taken for the middle class the working class and the welfare state public education and public health were in decline there was no housing policy almost anything that was private boomed while almost anything that was public went bust if in the 1950s israel had too much state in the 2000s it had no state to speak of if half a century ago israel hardly had capitalism now it was all capitalism in this setting michael strauss turned a provincial dairy into an international empire and kobi richter produced a billion dollar enterprise from his unique insights but in this setting wealth was concentrated in the hands of a select few and social gaps expanded some of israel s magnates took over much of the nation s resources and many of its assets the underlying malaise that troubled stanley fischer and dan ben david spread and festered the unjust regime that itzik shmuli stood up against took hold the illusion that the market is a good enough substitute for the state left israelis with no state that can represent them and serve them and promote the common good there was no government to restrain market forces or deal with the challenges of the ultra orthodox minority and arab minority there was no political body to rein in the settlers and the rapacious rich to represent the israeli majority and stand for the hardworking constructive middle class for a long time this cardinal problem was denied the twenty powerful commercial groups that rule over the israeli economy also ruled over the media and public discourse but in recent years a critical awareness has begun to simmer under the surface of israeli political life so when daphne leef set up camp in rothschild boulevard the nation took notice and when itzik shmuli led the civic uprising the public responded after twenty ve years of neoliberal hegemony a new social democratic discourse has surfaced but it is not yet clear if the conceptual revolution of 2011 will become a political reality whether there is a leadership and a platform that will turn what the new israelis want into a new israeli reality on both sides of rothschild boulevard expensive new condominium developments and international style buildings are illuminated from below with spotlights israeli a uence is still very much on display market forces have not waned along the central promenade young men wander in torn jeans end of the night clubbers look on with chemically induced gleams in their eyes a beautiful girl rides her fashionable bike as dawn approaches and the boulevard empties i try to weigh success and failure risk and reward hope and despair and it seems to me now that many of our virtues and many of our aws come from the very same source the very same gene that makes us also endangers us the secret of israeli high tech is bucking authority ignoring conventional wisdom and outing the rules of the game the weakness of the israeli state is bucking authority ignoring conventional wisdom and outing the rules of the game the jewish talmudist the jewish merchant the jewish anarchist and the jewish immigrant gave birth to a restless israeli citizen this unpredictable citizen creates an unbridled energy that doesn t allow the state to function as a sovereign body ben gurion s bureaucratic tyranny harnessed this energy for half a century and founded a state but after ben gurion s death in 1973 the state he forged began to disintegrate it could no longer rule over its tribes and sects and individuals it could no longer contain its diversi ed minorities and contradicting identities the body politic stopped dealing with israel s real challenges and stopped acting rationally instead of being a commando boat advancing toward its target israel became a captainless pleasure ship lost at sea with no compass and no sense of direction what happened here on rothschild boulevard in the summer of 2011 was a wake up call afraid of losing their nation state the israelis tried to reclaim it as a new day rises over the old tel aviv museum building at the end of the boulevard where ben gurion called the israeli state into being i so wish the wake up call will truly awaken us it s high time this start up nation must restart itself this immature political entity must grow up out of disintegration and despair we must rise to the challenge of the most ambitious project of all nation rebuilding the resurrection of the israeli republic photo credit 16 1 sixteen existential challenge 2013 i first perceived the threat posed by iran in 2002 at the time a erce debate was raging in america concerning whether to invade iraq at the time israel was struggling to thwart the suicide bombing o ensive of the second intifada but like a few other israelis i realized that the regional power america must endeavor to restrain was not iraq but iran the real existential threat israel was facing was not palestinian but iranian if iran went nuclear the middle east would go nuclear the world order would collapse and israel s existence would be in jeopardy three years later i began to write about iran in an intensive almost obsessive manner but even in 2006 2007 and 2008 few listened to me as i wrote about the whirling centrifuges enriching uranium in iran only a few agreed that the iranian nuclear challenge was the most dramatic israel had faced since its founding to me the task seemed clear the international community and the state of israel had to act swiftly so that they would not soon face the horri c dilemma of an iranian bomb or an israeli bombing but both at work and at home many regarded me as an alarmist spreading fear and anxiety for no good reason the prominent israelis i am surrounded by and the israeli media i work for paid lip service to iran but refused to grasp iran so did the international community and the international media although it was known that the iranian threat was there and getting closer few acknowledged it and still fewer tried in earnest to do what had to be done to fend it o to control its unique weapon although international community has managed the iranian nuclear challenge has a global context since 1945 the the proliferation of nuclear weapons in an impressive way but if iran goes nuclear it will bring about a nuclear globalization that might eventually endanger the post nagasaki miracle the iranian nuclear challenge has an american context too after invading iraq and after retreating from iraq the united states is perceived in the middle east as a declining power after it lost some of its old arab allies due to the arab awakening america s in uence in the arab world is waning if washington loses the strategic battle against tehran it might lose whatever respect it still has in the middle east a nuclear iran will become the new dominant power in a crucial part of the world and would turn it against the american empire the iranian nuclear challenge also has an israeli context true israel is said to be a nuclear power but israel has never taken is constantly advantage of threatened by its neighbors it has never threatened to wipe them out in the nuclear sphere israel has acted in an admirably responsible and restrained manner iran is di erent its ayatollahs seek regional hegemony and want to see israel decimated if they acquire the bomb they might actually use it or pass it on to others who might do so a nuclear iran will force egypt saudi arabia and turkey to go nuclear and will surround the jewish state with an unstable multipolar nuclear system that will make its strategic positioning impossible and will turn the life of its citizens to an ongoing nightmare three contexts were known and acknowledged both the west and israel were dormant regarding iran for many years the problem was not ideological or moral but cognitive there were no good guys and bad guys vis à vis the uranium enrichment facilities in natanz and fordow there were only those who saw and those who were blind in the early 2000s it should have been crystal clear that israel s number one mission was to do everything in its power not to reach the bomb or bombing juncture but israel failed to address the iranian challenge seriously and yet although the it the strategic establishment and the intelligence community dealt with it but the public at large ignored it as it had no immediate consequences and no tangible costs the threat remained abstract and vague it did not become part of the political debate or public discourse it had no real place in our real lives a mental block would not let us see iran clearly and it cost us a crucial decade in which iran could have been stopped without the use of force the cognitive block did not blind only israel by 2005 all western intelligence agencies were cognizant of the iranian nuclear program all western leaders knew that iran might endanger the future of the united states europe and the world but western public opinion was incapable of addressing the challenge psychologically or conceptually preoccupied with iraq and afghanistan the western media academia and intelligentsia turned their backs on the iranian challenge many wouldn t hear wouldn t see and wouldn t comprehend that s why the west s leaders did not have the necessary political backing needed to act decisively against iran since the issue was not a tomorrow morning issue dealing with it was glossed over and postponed crippling sanctions were not imposed in time a deal with russia which would have put iran under a real economic embargo was not struck supreme leader ali khamenei was not confronted with a credible ultimatum military nuclearization or political survival in the rst decade of the twenty rst century tehran encountered a weak and distracted west that would not impede its race to the bomb the israeli cognitive block and the west s cognitive block had a lot in common both were the outcomes of strategic success and stability for forty years israelis had been leading reasonably good lives under the umbrella of dimona and they had begun taking for granted israel s strategic regional monopoly they were not fully aware of the appalling consequences of the possible end of this monopoly or simply refused to imagine them true there were two gulf wars two lebanon wars and two palestinian uprisings but these did not threaten the existence of israel and as existence was not threatened complacency increased israelis were no longer aware of how lucky they were and what might happen to them once the dimona monopoly was broken for seven decades americans and europeans had been living a life of peace and plenty thanks to the safety net of western strategic superiority consequently they too took this superiority for granted unaware of the fact that the appearance of a radical islam nuclear threat would directly a ect the good life of paris london berlin and new york true during this period of time there was a korean war a vietnam war and the bush wars but apart from the cuban missile crisis in 1962 there was nothing that exposed the united states and europe to a real nuclear threat as strategic stability was not really challenged their complacency increased americans and europeans were no longer aware of how lucky they were and what might happen to them once ayatollahs or islamist terrorists intimidated their sheltered way of life and their pursuit of happiness the iranian nuclear project was like a baobab tree in the early stages of its growth it would have been easy to uproot iran was no match for western might but in the early stages of its growth there was no serious attempt to uproot it because of the gap between iranian tenacity and israeli and western complacency the iranians had the upper hand the united states got entangled in iraq and afghanistan instead of focusing on iran israel dealt with settlements rather than centrifuges because of its internal weaknesses europe was paralyzed both the west and israel saw the terrifying tree of a nuclear iran grow in front of their eyes but did not fell it i meet amos yadlin in his pleasant karmei yosef home east of tel aviv the view from the balcony is astounding the tel aviv skyline the mediterranean coastline rehovot s white urban sprawl hulda s gray green vineyards the archaeological site of tel gezer some ve hundred yards from the garden fence on gezer s slope are well tended orchards where once stood the palestinian village of abu shusha and the stately home in which my great grandfather settled in the 1920s in 1981 major yadlin was one of the eight israeli pilots who bombed osirak the french built iraqi nuclear reactor in 2007 as chief of military intelligence general yadlin was the man in charge of collecting intelligence on the north korean built syrian nuclear reactor in deir ez zor between 2006 and 2010 yadlin played a central role in israeli operations against the iranian nuclear project he was not the one to conceptualize the begin doctrine according to which israel will not allow any enemy nation to acquire a nuclear weapon but he was one of its leading soldiers twice he managed to implement the doctrine in an extraordinary manner while his third attempt was rather less successful so here i sit in a garden chair listening closely to the round faced thoughtful israeli general who time after time happened to be in the place where history was decided first yadlin tells me about his childhood in kibbutz hatzerim in the negev where the pioneering farmers struggled to work the salt streaked soil and eventually triumphed over it the socialist zionism that raised him and shaped him in the 1950s was moderate and humane its primary goal was to conquer the desert and to make a home in the desert for the jewish people then yadlin tells me about his early years in the israeli air force he was proud in the early 1970s to belong to this most professional and e cient israeli organization which secured the existence of the jewish national home then yadlin tells me about the eighteen traumatic days and nights of the yom kippur war seven of his fellow pilots died and ve were captured while his squadron lost seventeen of its thirty skyhawk bombers as war raged all around him yadlin learned to steel himself and regain con dence in himself in the years of recovery that followed 1973 the iaf did the same when yadlin returned from training in utah in the summer of 1980 as one of the rst pilots of israel s rst f 16 squadron both he and his peers felt a renewed sense of strength the 1981 mission seemed impossible to bomb the nuclear reactor the french were building for the iraqis on the outskirts of baghdad on the face of it baghdad was too far away and the israeli air force did not have the technological capabilities required for such a mission there was no gps yet no smart bombs no airborne refueling there was no precedent either no air force in the world had ever bombed a nuclear reactor and yet on june 7 1981 at 1600 hours eight state of the art f 16 bombers took o over the gulf of eilat and crossed at low altitude six hundred miles of saudi arabia and iraq they covered mountains deserts the euphrates valley the euphrates river plateaus water canals railways houses elds some iraqi citizens unaware of what was going on waved to the pilots ying so low over their roofs and then after 103 minutes of ight yadlin ascended from ve hundred feet to ten thousand feet in twenty seconds he could now see the reactor s dome and ve seconds later the reactor itself was within the bomber sights after another ten seconds the young kibbutznik pushed the button releasing two two thousand pound bombs twenty seconds later he made a quick descent into the plumes of smoke from the erupting antiaircraft missiles dropping to ve hundred feet again and escaped home over the darkening deserts of iraq saudi arabia and jordan sitting in the cockpit yadlin knew that mission impossible was accomplished one meticulous minute over the target had removed the threat of a second holocaust the 2007 mission also seemed impossible to destroy the nuclear reactor that the north koreans were building for the syrians without provoking war yadlin will not talk to me about the details of the operation attributed to israel by non israeli sources but much has been published abroad about operation orchard by foreign journalists and experts this time the challenge was not technological but conceptual it was not so much about the planes and the bombs but about getting the right information and making the right decisions in time in 2006 meir dagan the head of the israeli institute for intelligence and special operations known as the mossad argued that there was no sense in investing intelligence resources in syria for it was a dead horse that did not threaten israel in any way amos yadlin begged to di er he remembered that three years earlier israel had failed to detect the libyan nuclear project and he asked his lieutenants to scan all possible sources to see if any surprises were hidden anywhere in the late summer of 2006 one of his men raised the possibility that the enormous cement structure in deir ez zor concealed a north korean plutonium reactor by autumn there was some evidence supporting this seemingly wild hypothesis according to non israeli sources yadlin shared his concern with the prime minister ehud olmert and an american intelligence chief who dismissed him both were under the in uence of dagan who insisted that there was no syrian reactor but in march 2007 an intelligence breakthrough totally changed dagan s position according to non israeli sources the head of the mossad now demanded immediate action before the reactor could be activated and before the syrians realized that their great secret had been discovered in the late spring of 2007 yadlin s role was that of a moderator non israeli sources claim that he was the one who advised the prime minister and the chief of sta to plan a low key operation that would not embarrass the syrian dictator bashar al assad and would enable him not to launch a full scale retaliatory war in a sense the israelis would give assad cover to pretend that nothing had ever happened the non israeli sources claimed that yadlin s military intelligence also made the point that there was enough time to plan the highly risky air raid properly the window of opportunity would close only in a few months time when the reactor might turn critical in retrospect yadlin would be proven right the precise timing and nature of operation orchard would achieve the two essential goals of no core no war journalist and analyst david makovsky just after midnight on september 5 2007 four f 16 bombers took o for the syrian nuclear reactor from the same yizrael valley air force base that was used twenty six years earlier to bomb the iraqi reactor in a long piece published in the new yorker in 2012 makovsky writes that the four f 16s were escorted by four f 15s that took o from the desert air force base situated close to yadlin s childhood kibbutz where he later served as commander the eight israeli planes equipped with advanced electronic warfare devices ew along the mediterranean coast and the american according to along the turkish syrian border after midnight they dropped seventeen tons of explosives on the plutonium plant and attened it for another seventy two hours tensions ran high would syria respond with a devastating missile attack that would set tel aviv ablaze would a war break out that would claim the lives of thousands just as yadlin predicted an overwhelmed syria did not react israeli might deterrence and stealth caused syria to bow its head in defeated silence the second implementation of the begin doctrine was another remarkable success when the world failed to prevent an arab dictatorship from going nuclear and when the united states failed to act israel seized the initiative taking its fate into its own hands once again one meticulous moment hovering over the target removed the threat of a second holocaust but the iran mission is far more complex and di cult than the missions impossible of 1981 and 2007 the iranians are much more sophisticated and cunning than the iraqis and the syrians their strategic goal is not to build a bomb quickly but to build one safely that s why they advanced along many tracks they built a reactor in bushehr a reactor in arak a military complex in parchin a uranium enriching facility in natanz an underground bunker in fordow that s why they try to do most of their work under the umbrella of international legitimacy they are very careful not to be caught red handed and do not provide smoking guns they do their utmost not to take provocative steps that will so enrage the west that it will be forced to act just as yadlin was being nominated to head the idf intelligence in january 2006 the iranians began to enrich uranium in natanz first they obtained a few centrifuges then dozens then hundreds in early 2007 they had only a thousand centrifuges by 2013 they had more than fteen thousand centrifuges some of them highly sophisticated accordingly the amount of enriched uranium the iranians piled up grew from only fty kilograms in early 2008 to more than seven thousand kilograms in mid 2013 although the international community weakly protested and although it imposed limited sanctions the iranians patiently and persistently marched on toward their goal from his spacious o ce on the thirteenth oor of the idf headquarters general yadlin monitored the situation as the iranians fooled the international atomic energy agency iaea and fooled the un and fooled the western powers inching closer and closer to their coveted atomic bomb israel was late in responding to iran s progress in 2002 prime minister ariel sharon called on meir dagan of the mossad to defuse the iranian threat according to non israeli sources the mossad received generous funding and carried out a series of breathtaking operations including cyberattacks and assassinations of nuclear scientists that achieved impressive tactical results but dagan s natural self con dence turned into arrogance in 2005 he promised his colleagues and superiors that iran would not be able to spin even one centrifuge two years later when more than a thousand centrifuges were spinning in natanz the idf high command began to worry that dagan s approach might lead to a dead end as the diplomatic option and the sanctions option hadn t yet yielded any concrete results there was no other way but to consider the military option according to non israeli sources the head of intelligence yadlin the air force commander eliezer shkedi and the deputy chief of sta dan harel insisted that israel must prepare a credible military option vis à vis iran although some senior generals objected the chief of sta gabi ashkenazi instructed the air force to prepare an operational plan intelligence was gathered and pilots trained just as they had in 1981 and 2007 the idf prepared itself to implement the begin doctrine for the third time in november 2007 a national intelligence estimate nie representing the consensus view of all sixteen american spy agencies asserted that there was no conclusive evidence that iran was indeed trying to build a nuclear weapon after yadlin met his american counterpart in rome he realized what the shocking report was all about following the trauma of the invasion of iraq based on false intelligence that was manipulated by the white house the american intelligence community was determined to prevent president george w bush from acting precipitously in iran and getting america into a third war against a third islamic nation but after yadlin returned to tel aviv and instructed his sta to assess and reassess the u s nie they came to the conclusion that it did not hold water four di erent analysis teams in the mossad and in military intelligence asserted that the iranians were advancing toward military nuclear capabilities and that the americans were grossly underestimating the state of the iranian program isolation was di cult france and britain were the only two powers that really understood iran meanwhile china russia and india were partially collaborating with iran many countries in europe were still trading with iran the united states was paralyzed because of its entanglement in other wars even within israel the political leadership was not quite focused on iran the idea that dagan could thwart iran s progress was a widely held assumption while in iran centrifuges were multiplying and uranium was piling up israel was snoozing non israeli sources suggest that even the shkedi yadlin military option was beginning to become irrelevant enter benjamin netanyahu when he arrived in o ce in april 2009 prime minister netanyahu brought with him a totally new approach to iran as he saw it iran was the nazi germany of the twenty rst century its combination of a nonconventional regime with nonconventional weapons was lethal weak and decadent the west of the 2000s resembled in many ways the west of the 1930s but the jewish people would not be led again to some sort of nuclear auschwitz the jewish people now had a state an army and technological might they would do whatever it took to prevent tel aviv from becoming a hiroshima the new prime minister s great contribution to the struggle against iran was cognitive awareness unlike his predecessors netanyahu understood iran internalized iran was totally focused on iran from the day he took o ce he knew that his life s mission was to prevent iran from going nuclear to stop iran he entered a strange coalition with labor s ehud barak who was installed as minister of defense to stop iran he appropriated huge funds and assigned them to intelligence gathering and to air force buildup while holding frank talks with the leaders of the west to stop iran he formulated an e ective israeli military option and time after time he prepared to use it as he readied the idf for action the united states became more and more apprehensive several times in 2009 2010 and 2011 israel acted as if it was about to strike both in washington and in tel aviv there were tense moments when it seemed as if the middle east was on the verge of war amos yadlin and his fellow generals didn t know if netanyahu and barak really intended to strike or if they were playing an unprecedented game of strategic poker the experienced pilot put his superiors to a test he asked them to grant speci c funds and authorize speci c intelligence gathering that were needed only if a real strike was planned barak refused but netanyahu agreed the idf s top intelligence o cer reached the conclusion that while the defense minister might have a hidden agenda the prime minister meant business benjamin netanyahu really believed that the fate of the jewish people was on the line if all else failed he would strike come what may washington reached a similar conclusion 2009 was wasted on a futile engagement policy and 2010 was wasted on a failed attempt to impose un sanctions but by 2011 the fear of a desperate israeli move impelled the dovish obama administration to take nondovish steps first the president approved cyberwarfare against iran then in coordination with the europeans he imposed unilateral sanctions on iran and nally he instructed the pentagon to prepare an e ective american military option but while the israeli military option proved to be a political success within israel all hell broke loose dagan refused to admit that clandestine operations and cyberwarfare had bought precious time but could not achieve the strategic target of defeating the iranians chief of sta gabi ashkenazi adamantly opposed the actual use of the military option he had devised a titanic struggle evolved between netanyahu and barak on one side and dagan and ashkenazi on the other yuval diskin head of the shin bet national security agency and most army generals sided with dagan and ashkenazi while the prime minister and the minister of defense thought their subordinates lacked historical perspective and courage the top army intelligence brass thought of their superiors as messianic warmongering zealots the erce struggle between the two groups became personal visceral and ugly to make the debate more pertinent and less personal general yadlin drafted a seventeen point questionnaire designed to render decision making as rational as possible only if all of yadlin s questions were answered in the a rmative would there be justi cation to launch an israeli attack on iran as the internal israeli debate spiraled out of control various doomsday scenarios were bandied about the doves argued that an unprovoked israeli raid would endanger the alliance with america trigger a regional war and elicit a missile attack on israel that might cost the lives of thousands or even tens of thousands the hawks argued that inaction would lead to the establishment of a multipolar nuclear system in the middle east to the radicalization of the region to endless conventional wars and possibly to the dropping of a nuclear bomb on tel aviv yadlin tried to formulate a third way on the one hand he agreed that an israeli bombing that would prevent an iranian bomb was strategically justi ed and would not bring about armageddon he trusted that the israeli military option would be e ective and he believed that both israel and the west could withstand the limited price they would have to pay if israel shied away from taking action just because it was deterred by a few hundred iranian missiles and a few thousand hezbollah rockets it had no right and no way to survive but on the other hand yadlin argued that with no international legitimacy and without american backing an israeli bombing would be futile if the united states refused to complement the israeli o ensive with paralyzing sanctions only two years would be gained at an extremely high price the challenge was not the operation itself but the decade after the operation yadlin claimed he urged prime minister netanyahu not to quarrel with president obama but to foster an intimate strategic bond with him only if the great american democracy and the small israeli democracy worked shoulder to shoulder would they be able to stop the rising shiite power the occupation related concessions that would win over obama and ignored yadlin s advice he didn t make netanyahu improve israel s international standing rather he provoked obama s anger he turned israel into a semipariah state netanyahu didn t build up legitimacy for the dramatic operation within israel or outside israel when the military option yielded impressive political results israel s prime minister overplayed his hand in the summer of 2012 he was perceived to be intervening in america s presidential election and by the autumn of that year it was clear that he had missed the moment and lost whatever political leverage he had had netanyahu s famous red line speech at the un in september 2012 in which he called for international action when iran reaches the nal stage in its nuclear program was actually a concession speech after realizing that he would not be able to strike before america s presidential elections he moved the critical benchmark to 2013 14 in a sense he put the destiny of his nation in president obama s hands but since that grand speech yadlin tells me things have deteriorated the time iran needs for a surprise breakout that would give it a nuclear bomb has shrunk from over six months to less than three months soon it might shrink to one month as we speak yadlin says the iranians are crossing netanyahu s red line they are approaching the point where israel will not be able to stop them by force soon after they will reach the point where even the united states will nd it di cult to stop them in time the moment of truth is nigh if the west does not wake up soon and if america does not show determination israel will soon be facing the most dramatic junction it will be forced to choose between bomb and bombing yadlin believes that the surprise victory of president hassan rouhani in iran s presidential elections indicates that the netanyahu strategy was partially successful it was the israeli threat of 2010 11 that brought about the international pressure of 2012 which in turn brought about the iranian political change of 2013 if the west would not budge and would tighten sanctions and put a credible military option on the table an overall deal could be reached that would defuse the iran crisis but as the second term obama administration projects indecisiveness the iranians might yet have the upper hand after being drawn again into israel s decision making circle yadlin believes that the real moment of truth will come in the last quarter of 2013 or the rst quarters of 2014 if the jewish state will be cornered it might feel obliged to surprise and strike the iranian decision is probably the most di cult decision israel has to make in this era in a sense it resembles the dimona decision with both dimona and iran the risks are mind boggling with both dimona and iran what is needed is a unique combination of audacity responsibility and cunning israel must work with the western powers but also stand up to them facing a unique challenge the nation must mobilize all its resources and skills to produce a unique solution that a mature leadership endorses and promotes so when i sit with amos yadlin i am reminded of the engineer who ran dimona in its critical years the begin doctrine is a complement to dimona devised to ensure that there would be only one dimona in the middle east and the challenge yadlin and his peers faced in the 2000s was not dissimilar to the one the engineer and his colleagues faced in the 1960s yet there is a major di erence while building dimona young israel acted in an exemplary manner but while facing natanz and fordow middle aged israel faltered badly true great deeds were accomplished thanks to intelligence and technological excellence according to non israeli sources there were incredible achievements but the nation as such did not mobilize all its powers to contend properly with its most dramatic existential challenge yadlin is an optimist with a bitter smile he reconstructs the frustrating moments of his tenure in yadlin s rst year everybody still believed dagan would solve the iranian problem while yadlin shifted precious military and intelligence resources to the iran campaign against the current in yadlin s second year intelligence and military capabilities increased dramatically but the syrian reactor drew attention away from iran and the american nie report muddied the waters in yadlin s third year there was already a good intelligence picture of iran but by then the iranians had gone underground in natanz had already dug the fordow fuel enrichment plant and had crossed what israel had previously de ned as the point of no return in yadlin s fourth year netanyahu reinvigorated the campaign to stop iran but later it turned out that the american israeli cyberwar strategy that yadlin and dagan had counted on had its limits in the fth year no smoking gun was found that would persuade the international community to act decisively and the internal debate within israel grew ugly but in the years after yadlin retired 2011 13 his multiyear endeavor began to bear fruit inexcusably late to act the americans and europeans nally imposed biting sanctions and the iranian economy began to crumble true the iranians had piled up enough enriched uranium for six or seven bombs and very much shortened the breaking out time they needed to manufacture those bombs but at last the earth under their feet was shaking there was some hope that at the very last moment they would be stopped perhaps it s too late perhaps there will be no other way but to contain iran or stop it with force but after a frustrating decade yadlin wants to believe that a minute before midnight the west is nally waking up that the west will not forsake israel and will not let it stand alone against the fanatical power wishing to annihilate it tell me about the iranians i say to yadlin when you were reading the classi ed information coming from tehran what did you learn what sort of society and what sort of regime did you see who are the people we are facing with the iranians one nds a fascinating combination of religious fanaticism and strategic prudence says the bespectacled solicitous retired general sitting across from me they are very ambitious they regard their struggle with america and israel as a clash of civilizations as they see it their civilization is the more pure and more just and therefore it is stronger the judeo christian civilization is for them an evil imperialist civilization that is now in a state of decline they feel genuine rage because of what the british and the americans and the russians did in iran and because of what the zionists did in palestine they are totally convinced that because our civilization is spoiled and corrupt it cannot endure su ering has no resilience and is bound to rot that s why they have no doubt that they will have the upper hand and eventually bring about the downfall of israel europe and america the future is theirs they believe their rising culture will topple ours and yet yadlin goes on in their day to day conduct these zealots act with sophistication and restraint they are not in a hurry they are not hasty they make few mistakes rather than advance directly toward their goal and attract re they built a wide and steady front that is slowly approaching the goal so at the right moment it may be conquered with a high degree of certainty it took me approximately two years to understand this but when i grasped what they were really doing i was deeply impressed one cannot but have respect for the iranians they are deadly serious and in their own way they are very impressive now tell me about the israelis i say to yadlin how did we act were we impressive too our problem was that iran is far away in every respect he replies it was not at the focal point of our attention some israelis thought it was not relevant for us others thought it was too much for us to take on both approaches led to the same outcome we dealt with the palestinian terror and we dealt with disengaging from the gaza palestinians and we dealt with trying peace with the west bank palestinians but we didn t deal with the iranians not seriously not until it was quite late at the very same time the americans were dealing with al qaeda and afghanistan and iraq but not with iran not seriously not until it was very late so for both israelis and americans it was convenient to say to the mossad take some money and solve this one for us the mossad took the money but it didn t solve the problem only in 2007 did the idf rise to the challenge and only in 2009 did the israeli national leadership rise to the challenge and only in 2011 did the world awaken the dramatic question is whether this awakening came too late we don t yet know the answer while the summer of 2011 was a summer of protest the summer of 2012 was one of anxiety early in the year benjamin netanyahu and ehud barak signaled that for them 2012 was the decisive year both argued that iran was about to enter a zone of immunity that would prevent israel from acting against it by force if the international community would not stop it immediately israel would have to stop it on its own by exercising its now famous military option as summer approached tensions rose i experienced it myself coming out of two private meetings with the prime minister and three private meetings with the defense minister i felt my knees shake did they really mean what they were saying did netanyahu really feel that president obama was like president roosevelt who wouldn t bomb auschwitz in 1944 did barak really think that we have only nine to twelve months left before we ll have to strike barak was di cult to decipher but netanyahu seemed absolutely sincere he seemed convinced that he was the churchill of the twenty rst century who must save his homeland and save the west from ultimate evil but netanyahu did not act like churchill he did not share his dramatic perception of reality with his people and did not prepare his nation for an ultimate test even if he saw the iranian challenge correctly and even if he is a gifted strategic poker player he did not lay out the big picture as he should have under his leadership it was not tehran that was perceived as the threat to world peace but jerusalem because of his personal conduct there were inconceivable gaps between the israeli cabinet the israeli military the israeli people and the world a series of interviews i conducted with some of israel s best strategists which i published in haaretz in the summer of 2012 proved to me what i had only intuitively understood ten years ago iran is not a netanyahu bogeyman it is a real existential threat so when the summer of anxiety came to a close without a strike i knew that this was just a pause the iran crisis was not resolved it was simply postponed after the palestinian front heated up again and after israel went into a stormy election campaign the crucial decision was pushed back from the year 2012 to the future but iran is still here iran casts a heavy shadow over the future of israel the rst half of 2013 was quite extraordinary although by now israelis were fully aware of the iran dilemma and its signi cance they chose to ignore it in israel s 2013 election campaign there was less talk of iran than in america s presidential elections held only three months earlier when israel s new government was formed in the spring of 2013 iran was not a prominent issue by now nearly all the old players barak dagan ashkenazi diskin yadlin and some prominent government ministers involved in the iran issue were gone but the one player who really matters remained benjamin netanyahu in meetings with the reelected prime minister and with his new defense minister moshe yaalon and his new chief of sta benny gantz it was made clear to me that iran was at the top of their agenda after giving obama a chance and after giving sanctions a chance and after giving diplomacy a chance they actually felt that their argument was stronger than ever and that by now israel had captured the moral high ground they also felt that the geostrategic changes the meltdown of syria the weakening of hezbollah the growing tensions between sunnis and shiites made the doves alarmist scenarios obsolete if israel were to strike they thought the backlash would not be apocalyptic and the middle east would not be engulfed by the ames of regional war so the issue was very much an american issue will obama s united states have the resolve will post iraq and post afghanistan america stop iran or let israel stop iran unlike the israeli public israeli decision makers are fully aware that the most important event or nonevent of 2013 14 will be the iranian one after bidding amos yadlin farewell i look out at the ancient mound of gezer under which lie the ruins of more than twenty civilizations and i look out at the tel aviv skyline tel aviv s liberal and creative culture is just like new york s it can only survive under the defensive shield of western strategic supremacy but tel aviv is much more exposed than new york it depends not only on dimona but also on dimona s complement the begin doctrine in 1981 and 2007 tel aviv still had the ability to implement the begin doctrine in a way that guaranteed its future but as time passes this capability is eroding as the world changes the dimona monopoly is bound to fade will tel aviv be able to sustain its individualistic and hedonistic life in 2020 and 2030 will the middle east of 2040 and 2050 allow the tel aviv culture to survive state of the art bombers are ying low over the ancient mound of gezer photo credit 17 1 seventeen by the sea every summer my family travels to england perhaps it s because our roots are there perhaps it s because england is the opposite of our homeland while israel is frenzy and constant change england is tranquillity and continuity as the plane descends toward heathrow a deep though unjusti ed sense of homecoming overtakes me and as i drive my wife and three children through somerset and dorset the feeling of calm deepens we pass ocks of sheep village pubs ancient churches when we reach the stone cottage we rent on the shores of south devon my happiness is complete in the light rain i stand with my wife timna and my children tamara michael and daniel at the edge of the white cli across the eld from our house and look out at the deep green vales descending down to the gray green ocean england there has not been a successful foreign invasion here for centuries there has not been violence for decades with its deep calm of solid identity england has all that we never had and all that we may never have peace our history is more ancient i tell my children when we wrote the bible the people of this green isle were illiterate barbarians but our history is that of get thee out of thy country and our land itself is a mound one layer of life upon another layer upon layer of destruction yes we jews had jerusalem when london was still a marsh but the english have what we can only dream of they are born in serenity and they die in serenity not even world wars endanger their very existence we on the other hand are always restless for we live between great res we thrive between calamities that s why we are so quick and vital and creative that s why we are so neurotic and loud and unbearable we dwell under the looming shadow of a smoking volcano england was good to my ancestors the british empire opened its gates to herbert bentwich and gave him the rights liberties and opportunities that jews had not had for more than fteen hundred years it gave his two sons the best education the west had to o er in the rst quarter of the twentieth century it enabled hundreds of thousands of emancipated jews to live lives of freedom and dignity under the benevolent crown although these islands too were tainted with anti semitism jews did well in business science and even politics many of them were part of britain s intellectual and meritocratic elites so more than a hundred years ago the bentwich family went on vacations similar to ours some summers they spent down in cornwall others up in the lake district but mostly the bentwiches would holiday at the family estate of carmel court on the kentish coast in their edwardian manor they lived as the ramsays lived in virginia woolf s to the lighthouse the summer holidays of the bentwich family could have been just like the summer holidays of the ramsay family as timna takes over the kitchen of our rented cottage and as the children plunge into the reassuring cacophonous merriment of their games i think about my anglo jewish ancestors the bentwiches and about myself what would have become of me had my great grandfather not uprooted us from the green shores of britain and settled us on that desolate shore of palestine what would have been the fate of my mother and myself and my children if herbert bentwich had not been overcome by an obsessive yearning for zion i would like to think that i would have been a literature don at oxford or a producer at the bbc i would have a nice house in hampstead and a thatched roof cottage in west dorset my life would be much more relaxed and far safer than my israeli life i would have more leisure time for poetry and music my children s future would not be under a cloud but would i have had a richer inner life would my life s experience have been more meaningful demography is vicious when my great grandfather enjoyed his time of leisure on the coast of kent jews were 0 8 percent of the british population today they are less than 0 5 percent what makes the demography even more vicious is the fact that in the latter part of the twentieth century hundreds of thousands of eastern european jews immigrated to great britain many of them were ultra orthodox jews whose sons and daughters now make up a third of manchester s contemporary jewish community and a fth of london s contemporary jewish community less than half of today s jews are the descendants of the anglo jews of 1920 the disappearance rate of herbert bentwich s anglo jewish community is staggering in the last one hundred years most descendants of britain s veteran jews have ceased to be jewish the anglo jewish community of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was remarkable the union between jewish talent and british culture produced outstanding poets writers playwrights artists musicians lawyers bankers entrepreneurs politicians and revolutionaries jewish britons won more than a dozen nobel prizes they created legendary wealth and were prominent in every radical movement that transformed public discourse in the united kingdom but this creative community is shrinking fast low birthrates and high intermarriage rates are leading to the disappearance of non orthodox jews there appears to be a gradual loss of interest in jewish life and jewish identity in britain the descendants of herbert bentwich who were born in england in recent years are not jewish and those of my wife s english grandfather are not jewish either britain still has rothschilds and goldsmiths and millibands but in a generation or two they too will cease to consider themselves jewish so as i look out at the gray cli s of devon i know that if my great grandfather had not removed me from this coast i myself would probably have been today only half jewish tamara michael and daniel might not consider themselves jewish at all our private life in hampstead and dorset would be full and tranquil but the collective we belonged to would be vanishing all around us scientists the united states the yes there is america north america still has a vibrant non orthodox jewish community in the united states i could have been a proud liberal jew teaching at columbia or writing for the new york times like the two of herbert bentwich s daughters who immigrated to america i could have secured my identity there but the demography of american jewry is vicious too the numbers are controversial but roughly speaking in 1950 3 percent of americans were jews in 1980 it was 2 4 percent and in 2010 approximately 2 percent by 2050 jews might comprise only a fraction of the population of same comfortable circumstances that made the numbers of british non orthodox jews diminish in the last fty years will likely make the numbers of american non orthodox jews diminish over the next fty years in the twenty rst century the jewish birthrate in north america is low and the intermarriage rate is high the jewish population is aging more and more of the a liated jews are orthodox or ultra orthodox or just old most secular young jews have less interest in israel or organized religion than their parents have they are drifting away from the center of gravity of jewish identity they are disappearing into the non jewish space some of herbert bentwich s young american descendants whose parents did not keep jewish law do not consider themselves to be jewish anymore both in my secular english jewish family and in my secular american jewish family one can see the end of the line one can imagine the last of the jews so as i watch tamara michael and daniel walk down the path toward the whitewashed sherman s cottage that stands in solitude by the sea i am at odds with myself one part of me wishes that england would be home for them that they too would live the enchanting life of to the lighthouse but i realize that we cannot go down this path over the years our tribe could not survive on these lush green meadows with no holocaust and no pogroms and no overt anti semitism these islands kill us softly enlightened europe also kills us softly as does democratic america benign western civilization destroys non orthodox judaism that is why herbert bentwich s insane journey from the shores of kent to the shores of ja a was necessary for these soft english hills and old english cottages are not for us this continuous history and solid identity and deep tranquillity are not for us for we are a people on the move and on the edge this is why the concentration of non orthodox jews in one place was imperative and the one place where non orthodox jews could be concentrated was the land of israel so ja a was inevitable we had to save ourselves by building a jewish national home all around ja a a few days after i return from devon i walk through the ancient port of ja a once it was an orange exporting port then an immigrants port then a shing port in recent years it has become a port of leisure i nd a large bar located in an old warehouse and sit there sipping my favorite single malt while watching the handsome young israelis eat drink and make merry i listen in on the sweet murmurs of israel s kinetic nightlife jewish demography in israel is the mirror image of jewish demography in the diaspora in 1897 approximately 50 000 jews lived here now the jewish population exceeds six million while the number of jews in britain rose by less than 20 percent and the number of jews in the united states rose by 350 percent the number of jews in israel rose by more than 10 000 percent the contrast between jewish demographics in the diaspora and in israel is astonishing in 1897 jews living in palestine represented only 0 4 percent of world jewry in 1950 we accounted for 10 6 percent in 1980 25 6 percent now we make up almost 45 percent the historic project that aimed to congregate most of the world s jews in the promised land has had mind boggling success today the jewish community in israel is one of the two largest in the world given current trends by 2025 the majority of the world s jews will be israelis the mass immigration of jews to the land of israel in the twentieth century is zionism s greatest triumph it vindicated the zionist diagnosis and gave hope to the zionist prognosis zionism s other triumph was the outstanding fertility rate of the jewish population in israel in 2012 america s total fertility was 2 06 britain s was 1 9 italy s was 1 4 and so was germany s by contrast israel s fertility was a staggering 2 65 by far the highest of all oecd countries while europe is aging rapidly israel is youthful while the non orthodox jews of the diaspora are aging the jews of israel are mating and multiplying while half of europeans are over forty half of israelis are under thirty they invigorate our towns and cities and invigorate all i see around this bar in the port of ja a so what has happened in the holy land in the rst century of zionism what was our impact here where have we succeeded and where have we failed to answer this question i leave the port of ja a and embark on a journey following my great grandfather s footsteps unlike herbert bentwich i don t stop in mikveh israel from ja a i travel to rishon lezion through the tel aviv satellite towns that were not here in 1897 holon bat yam azur en route is the absence of the palestinian villages that were erased since 1897 tel el kabir yazur bayt dajan the freeways have many lanes the intersections are heavy with tra c between what was an orange shipping port and what was the rst jewish colony in judea there are no more wild ower elds no pastures or meadows there are no camels or ocks of sheep no nomad bedouins palestine was replaced by a great mass of housing for immigrants endless ugly housing estates that stretch out to the south and east of ja a the ten mile route that the thomas cook carriages traversed on that spring morning in 1897 are now crammed full of sweaty bustling cities when my great grandfather reached rishon lezion in april 1897 it had approximately one hundred families fty houses thirty stables and three streets zionism s rst colony was surrounded by 4 000 dunams of vineyards in which its farmers planted more than a million high quality grapevines the winery was legendary the largest in the middle east and one of the most sophisticated worldwide at the top of the hill stood an impressive synagogue and along the wide colonial boulevards rose ne colonial houses the tiny colony founded the rst all hebrew school in the world and the rst all hebrew town hall in the world and palestine s leading orchestra although it was still in its infancy it was clear that rishon lezion had a promising future as it impressed my great grandfather in 1897 it impressed dr herzl who visited a year later may it be the founder of zionism wrote in rishon lezion that from this place will spring forth a blessing for our unfortunate brothers indeed from this place a blessing has sprung forth for our unfortunate brothers from seventy di erent countries jews have ed to rishon lezion the city s population rose from 500 in 1897 to nearly 250 000 in 2013 the fourth largest city in israel now has forty elementary schools a fast growing college a symphony orchestra and a booming commercial district in the last twenty ve years alone the number of its inhabitants rose two and a half times seventy three percent of the local families own the apartments they live in 74 percent have at least one car 81 percent have a personal computer and 96 percent have internet access on average every family in rishon lezion has 2 5 mobile phones and more than 2 bedrooms this middle class city is also the city of middle israel it is neither conservative nor liberal neither ashkenazi nor sephardic neither religious nor secular in the 2013 elections nearly half of its votes went to centrist parties rishon lezion is the typical jewish israeli city of the third millennium inhabited by hardworking immigrants and the children of immigrants who consume a lot and have many children of their own from the freeway i turn right to west rishon until 1985 there was nothing here only the sand dunes herbert bentwich saw from a distance in 1897 for nearly a hundred years nothing changed but in the 1990s the collapse of the soviet union brought a million immigrants who had to be settled rapidly within a decade the sands were paved over and within two decades the new west rishon was larger in size than the old rishon at the age of one hundred zionism proved to be strong and potent once again it performed the miracle of something from nothing another modern israeli city was born under the blue skies stand condominium towers that were built quick and huge to answer quick and huge needs they are e cient and commercial but they are soulless the streets look as if they have risen straight o a drafting table there is a sense of a uence here but no sense of place like neighboring rehovot rishon lezion maintained its identity and character for two or three generations after orange groves replaced the old vineyards it became a booming citrus colony but after 1948 came the demographic waves of the 1950s the 1970s and the 1990s the local identity was erased the unique character obliterated by now the melting pot was not ideological but economic and it worked melding a mishmash of ethnicities and identities and unifying the immigrants under the roof of a gigantic mall ehud barak once de ned the country as a villa in the jungle but the real israel is not a villa but a shopping mall cheap loud intense and lively the shopping mall embodies the israeli condition a desperate attempt to lead a pseudo normal life in abnormal circumstances after an abnormal history and on the verge of an abnormal future and west rishon its malls consumption is its beating heart i walk into cinema city a gaudy temple of twenty six theaters that o er rishon lezion the california it wishes to be along the corridors stand wax gures of superman batman charlie chaplin humphrey bogart there is ben and jerry s ice cream domino s pizza coca cola youngsters wearing diesel jeans and gap sweatshirts and a f jackets lug enormous vats of popcorn nothing remains of the initial promise of the unique beginning and yet seen through the prism of the horrors of the twentieth century all that surrounds me evokes only sympathy for rishon lezion is a life saving project although it does not look or sound like one it is a city of refugee rehabilitation is all about from west rishon i travel to ramleh in 1897 ramleh was an arab town with a population of 6 000 known for its mosques churches inns and markets its many hostels catered to pilgrims en route from ja a to jerusalem today ramleh is an unhappy israeli city of 68 000 50 000 jews 15 000 muslims 3 000 christians almost all the descendants of the muslim arabs who lived here in 1897 were deported in 1948 the present day muslim population is made up mainly of bedouins and palestinians whose ancestors were transferred here from their villages in israel s rst years the jews who inherited ramleh are mostly immigrants of whom nearly 30 percent arrived in the 1990s and 2000s from uzbekistan kazakhstan and ethiopia many of the inhabitants of the dreary housing projects are young and poor one third subsist on welfare bene ts on a socioeconomic scale of one to ten ramleh is a dismal four there are a few ne palestinian houses still standing there are several spectacular historic sites that are dilapidated and run down the market is lively and there are some good ethnic restaurants around it by the old muslim cemetery a new mall is being built alongside a new modern quarter that is designed to attract middle class professionals but all in all ramleh is depressed and depressing after losing its arab identity it never acquired a meaningful israeli one while rishon lezion gives its inhabitants the gloss of consumerism ramleh fails to do even that this city never really recovered from the great cataclysm of 1948 the palestinians might say that when herbert bentwich arrived here in his thomas cook carriage he was carrying with him a virulent bacterium like the conquistadors he wasn t aware of it but it devastated the palestinian immune system and palestinian civilization and laid waste to old ramleh i would not argue but i would add that eventually the same virulent bacterium attacked the original zionist dream too in 1897 it was still possible to imagine a master plan that would turn the dream into reality but by 1950 there was no feasibility for any such plan need chased need pressure chased pressure danger chased danger the naïve conquistadors were caught up in the whirlwind of the consequences of their original deed the historic imperative that had brought them from europe to ramleh wreaked a havoc that no one could control first it demolished the indigenous culture then it demolished the pioneer culture then it uprooted the magical orange groves of my childhood and then it created faceless israeli cities of discontent i climb up the 119 steps of the white tower the panorama of coastal israel is overwhelming town abuts town neighborhood abuts neighborhood building abuts building apartment abuts apartment almost three million human beings are squeezed into the three thousand square kilometers surrounding tel aviv perhaps there was no other way to maintain secular jewish existence in the modern era we had to congregate in one place today this concentration of people is not only a necessity but the essence of israel for it seems we jews need to crowd together we need to be with one another even to ght with one another it is as if we cannot live by ourselves as individuals as if we are afraid that on our own we ll vanish so we do not acknowledge the private domain we don t distinguish the personal from the public we warm ourselves against the big chill together living communally collectively in a kibbutz in a moshav in a housing estate and in this crowded concentration of population that stretches from hadera to gedera and from west rishon to east ramleh from ramleh i travel to lydda the train station is still located in the same stone terminal that the french built for the turks in 1891 where the british jewish pilgrims waited for the train to jerusalem in the spring of 1897 now stand smiling israeli soldiers carrying israeli made assault ri es and holding coke cans and chocolate bars two ultra orthodox men are fervently discussing current events a young russian speaking couple argue in whispers a beautiful young muslim girl in tight jeans and a head scarf passes by from the panoramic windows of my air conditioned train car i look out at ramleh lydda and the plain of judea east of the railroad is tel gezer here stood the ancient settlement of gezer in 3400 b c here stood a rich and powerful canaanite city in 1700 b c here stood an ancient hebrew city in the tenth century b c and a nineteenth century palestinian village named abu shusha in 1923 great grandfather bentwich bought a stately home here in 1948 the idf s givati brigade conquered the village of abu shusha killing expelling and burning as it went these days on the mountain ridge south of tel gezer stands the israeli community of karmei yosef where amos yadlin and the grandchildren of rehovot s orange growers live a life of a uence theirs is israel triumphant lavish homes facing the ancient somber barrow f 16 bombers y overhead preparing for yet another war here is another tragic triumph when blindness nally lifted and the palestinian villages were at last seen the jews acknowledged the drama they were caught in and did not recoil they didn t panic didn t retreat or collapse rather they built an iron wall and within this iron wall the jews built their nation state within this wall they revived the hebrew language and created a vibrant israeli culture within this wall they made music and theater art and cinema they loved and married and bore children they looked fate in the eye and did what they had to do and stood guard for more than one hundred years along the railway are plowed elds grapevines and row upon row of tightly tied bales of cotton beyond the mountain ridge is a secret missile base so if i were to address some imaginary ultimate zionist congress what would i say i d probably say that the need was real the insight was genius the vision was impressive ambitious but not mad and the persistence was unique for over a century zionism displayed and resolve were innovation outstanding but as zionism was late and the holocaust preempted it its premise of the mass immigration to this land of the eastern extraordinary its adaptability exibility and determination imagination improvising european jewish peoples turned out to be false so was the premise regarding feeble arab resistance therefore the zionist project did not become what it was supposed to be a grand well planned engineering project like the suez canal or the panama canal or dutch land reclamation from the sea it did not become a grand enterprise of progress that solved in a rational manner one of humanity s ugliest problems it did not eradicate anti semitism in the way that modern medicine eradicated tuberculosis and polio or solve the problem of the jews in the way that modern medicine solved the problem of infant mortality rather zionism became an unruly process of imperfect solutions to acute challenges addressing new needs adjusting to new conditions and creating new realities it reinvented itself again and again dealing in di erent ways with what is basically an impossible situation this is how zionism wended its way through the twentieth century and this is how it shaped the land that s why the landscape i see as the train approaches the judean hills is that of a haphazard quilt one patch over another one improvised solution alongside another the train passes beit shemesh a development town now turning ultra orthodox and glides into the soreq gorge on both sides of the tracks rocky hills rise some slopes are bare others are covered by a dense zionist pine forest that hides within its thicket the ruins of some palestinian villages the act of concentrating the jews in one place was essential but dangerous if another historic disaster were to strike here it might be the last the founding fathers and mothers of zionism realized this they knew they were leading one of the most miserable nations in the world to one of the most dangerous places in the world that s why they were so demanding of themselves and of others that s why they acted in such a shrewd and resourceful and disciplined manner they knew that their mission was superhuman as was the responsibility thrust upon them but over the years it was not possible to maintain such a high level of revolutionary discipline it wasn t possible to maintain the devotion precision and commitment the following generations lost the historical perspective and the sense of responsibility they were fooled by the zionist success story and they lost sight of the existential risk embodied in the zionist deed gradually they lost the concentration and caution required of those walking a tightrope over the abyss as resolve waned and wisdom dissipated there was no longer a responsible adult to lead the children s crusade a movement that got most things right in its early days has gotten almost everything wrong in recent decades when his train pulled into jerusalem herbert bentwich rushed from the city s old and charming train station to the most sacred jewish site the western wall the remains of the second temple when i arrive i rush from jerusalem s new and charmless train station to the most sacred israeli site yad vashem the museum of the history of the holocaust at the entrance i lose my breath on the walls ghostly images of children in black and white play violin for a tutor lovers in black and white glide on snow a jewish shtetl in black and white a tram youngsters dancing in a circle a girl hugging a doll two girls in black and white waving goodbye the museum is a triangular structure of reinforced concrete that penetrates the mountain like a bunker on both sides of the tunnel like main hall are dark galleries that tell the story christian anti semitism nazi anti semitism kristallnacht the burning of books the burning of synagogues the imprisonment of humans the racial laws the yellow star ghettos murder by hanging murder by shooting murder by gas thousands tens of thousands hundreds of thousands 5 7 million and on both sides of the triangular tunnel zionism s ultimate arguments ponary babi yar majdanek buchenwald sobibor bergen belsen dachau treblinka auschwitz the unforgettable face of the polish diplomat jan karski as he recalls franklin delano roosevelt who would not bomb auschwitz in 1944 and the pale yellow map of europe scattered with inconceivable numbers of the 140 000 jews of holland 102 000 dead of the 817 000 jews of romania 380 000 dead of the 825 000 jews of hungary 565 000 dead of the 3 020 000 jews of the soviet union 995 000 dead of the 3 325 000 jews of poland 3 000 000 dead but the gure that strikes me most is the number of jews killed at the massacre at babi yar on the twenty ninth and thirtieth of september 1941 33 771 of the jews of kiev were taken to the forest made to stand next to a ravine and then shot by the ravine and buried in it in the forty eight hours of babi yar more jews were shot dead than in the rst 120 years of the battle for zion more jews were killed than in all of the wars of israel so there is a good reason for the fact that this tunnel of european devastation leads at its very end to a bright terrace overlooking the deep green of the jerusalem mountain forests and when i stand on the terrace of yad vashem i cannot help but feel proud of israel i was born an israeli and i live as an israeli and as an israeli i shall die from yad vashem i move on to givat shaul so that zionism would not lose the war of 1948 and the jews of palestine would not end up in some palestinian babi yar ben gurion instructed the haganah to go on the o ensive in april of that year he ordered the jewish armed forces to conquer the palestinian villages blocking the road to jerusalem hulda deir muhsein bayt mahsir saris al qastal in coordination with the haganah the nationalist irgun and the stern gang went on their own village o ensive on april 9 1948 at dawn they attacked the west jerusalem village of deir yassin at least one hundred palestinians were slaughtered the bullet ridden corpses were buried by a platoon of seventeen year olds who were sent in to clean up the mess one of the youngsters was herbert bentwich s grandson who was haunted to the end of his days by the horror he witnessed but the state of israel dealt with the trauma in a practical manner in 1951 it transformed the remains of the palestinian village of deir yassin into the closed psychiatric facility of kfar shaul i approach the white metal gate and ask the guard if i might enter she refuses so i walk along the fence nd a breach in it and sneak in an old palestinian stone house is now an occupational therapy carpentry shop another old palestinian stone house is an open ward still more palestinian stone houses are now closed wards for those who pose a danger to themselves and others what strikes me is the large number of religious patients many of the men wear white yarmulkes and many of the women cover their heads though here and there a modern clinic was added all in all the old village is still here it s ironic that while most palestinian villages were demolished one of the few to remain is the one that is the central symbol of the palestinian catastrophe its silent stone houses still tell the tale what was here and what happened here when the jews went mad the mountain summit of deir yassin is now encircled by kablan street and katzenelenbogen street the main thoroughfares of the ultra orthodox neighborhood of har nof laborite israel was reluctant to build on this tainted ridge but new israel had no inhibitions the likud and shas coalition governments saw the potential of the real estate of deir yassin and capitalized on it a few steps from the breach in the fence of kfar shaul where i entered stands the gaudy monumental shrine that is ner haim yeshiva and the gaudy monumental shrine that is the lev aharon yeshiva between them is the massive dormitory building of the orot hateshuva yeshiva and the grand netivei hatalmud yeshiva and the little yeshiva of mishkan hatorah more than twenty yeshivas and synagogues and religious schools stand on the northern slopes of deir yassin and more than twenty stand on its eastern and southern slopes here are tens of thousands of square meters of religious institutions whose students don t work pay taxes or ful ll military service after the grand dream and the great e ort and the horri c sin what zionism established on the land of deir yassin is a new ultra orthodox ghetto site of commemoration mount herzl this is the jewish state s washington monument and lincoln memorial and arlington cemetery all in one in days past it was the palestinian mount sharafa a few palestinian stone houses and stone quarries scattered on west jerusalem s imposing summit in april 1948 an irgun squad positioned itself here and rained machine gun re on deir yassin sixteen months later theodor herzl was buried on this very same mountain his from deir yassin israel s national travel to i majestic state funeral was conceived as a symbolic marking of the end of war and the triumph of the jewish national movement in spite of all the obstacles it faced the great journey that had begun in 1897 had arrived at its destination the dream was ful lled zionism reached zion the architecture is digni ed and restrained herzl s unadorned black granite grave is at encircled by an irregular ellipse of gardens garden paths and stone fences in one corner are the graves of the herzl family and the leaders of the zionist movement in another corner is the grave of vladimir jabotinsky leader of the right wing revisionists and prophet of the iron wall in a third corner lie israeli presidents prime ministers and speakers of parliament the symbolism is clear here on this summit zionism merges with israeliness and israeliness subsumes zionism here is the exact point where the reality of the state of israel is derived from herzl s vision the symbolic site is modest and solemn its strength lies in its republican modesty economy and asceticism in its wide gravel pathways and its sparse mediterranean shrubbery it is geometric and rational with no sign of mysticism or messianism or chauvinism there is nothing man made here that is larger than man mount herzl is an unmonumental monument the military cemetery is also democratic and subdued the ranks of the fallen are not engraved on the gravestones in almost every section generals are buried beside corporals there are no patriotic inscriptions praising heroism and homeland there is no attempt to deprive the dead of their individuality on the contrary the small stone plaques emphasize the fact that what lies under each one of them is a human being the simple epitaphs do not sanctify death in war but leave it as it is nal and horri c mount herzl is the israel of my childhood it is the social democratic israel of pre 1967 it is secular egalitarian and disciplined both harsh and human collective and sensitive there is no nationalistic kitsch here no religious kitsch with quiet dignity it makes a statement on the mountaintop the visionary below him his disciples below them the state leaders below them the soldiers those who toiled those who ful lled those who paid the ultimate price both yad vashem and deir yassin ask the same dire questions shall we live shall we overcome our past mount herzl says we shall its preoccupation narrative claims that we shall live because we do not dwell on the past we shall live because we successfully suppress yad vashem and deir yassin we shall live because we are just and strong and modern our israel is future oriented solidarity progress and courage have enabled it to reign over this summit of sovereignty yet this benign narrative has been disintegrating since 1967 can we renew it can twenty rst century israel reconstruct the mount herzl republic from mount herzl i travel to mount scopus standing where herbert bentwich bid farewell to the city of his longing in 1897 i ask myself the classic israeli questions what will be what are our chances will the jewish state survive another century will we still be here in 2097 in recent years jerusalem has experienced something of a revival it has more nightlife and more artistic activity and more young energy than it had at the turn of the millennium but the capital s demography is not promising in 1897 it had a jewish majority of 62 percent by 1967 it had risen to 79 percent but over the last decades it has shrunk back to almost where it was in 1897 63 percent of the children attending schools in contemporary jerusalem approximately 40 percent are ultra orthodox and more than 35 percent are arabs less than a quarter of jerusalem s youth are jewish zionists and only an eighth are nonreligious jews it is as if secular zionism had never happened true jerusalem is not israel but throughout the country demography is turning against the jews today 46 percent of all of the inhabitants of greater israel are palestinians their share of the overall population is expected to rise to 50 percent by 2020 and 55 percent by 2040 if present trends persist the future of zion will be non zionist to explore the challenges facing israel i travel north from mount scopus to beit el my great grandfather was overwhelmed with religious emotions when he saw the supposed archaeological ruins of where jacob is supposed to have dreamed his ladder dream but now these remains are barely visible between the prefabricated cement walls and cement towers that israeli occupiers erected to protect settlers traveling this road from the wrath of occupied palestinians from beit el i follow my great grandfather s route to shilo the remains of the byzantine church my great grandfather saw here lie across from an israeli settlement surrounded by the high fences of those who chose to be masters living by their sword both in beit el and in shilo the question is whether israel will end occupation or whether occupation will end israel the same question arises all around nablus and in the valley of dotan will the jewish state dismantle the jewish settlements or will the jewish settlements dismantle the jewish state there are only four paths from this junction israel as a criminal state that carries out ethnic cleansing in the occupied territories israel as an apartheid state israel as a binational state or israel as a jewish democratic state retreating with much anguish to a border dividing the land i still believe the israeli majority prefers the fourth path but this majority is not solidi ed or determined israel lacks a political force with the will required to lead the painful and risky retreat it is also not clear whether the israeli republic has the competence needed to evacuate settlements and divide the land the region of samaria that herbert bentwich crossed in april 1897 now looks like a monumental settlement project so far zionism has not been able to summon from within the forces that will save it from itself it is up to its neck in the calamitous reality that it created in the west bank i diverge from my great grandfather s route and head for mount baal hazor in the introduction to this book i wrote that two factors make israel di erent from any other nation occupation and intimidation in the twenty rst century there is no other nation that is occupying another people as we do and there is no other nation that is intimidated as we are now as an armored idf bus takes me up to the highest summit in samaria i can actually see occupation and intimidation from the radar base monitoring israel s airspace i think of the concentric circles of threat closing in on the jewish state it created relationships with others the external circle is the islamic circle israel is a jewish state that arouses religious animosity among many muslims the occupation of jerusalem and the west bank ampli ed this animosity but it is israel s very existence as a sovereign non islamic entity in a land sacred to islam and surrounded by islam that creates the inherent tension between the tiny jewish nation and the vast islamic world for years israel dealt with this religious tension wisely it forged alliances with moderate islamic states and maintained secretive and commercial strategic partnerships and fostered mutual interest arrangements and was very careful not to turn the regional con ict into a religious one but over the years israel lost some of its islamist allies as radical islam swept to power jewish extremism and islamic fanaticism fed each other in some islamic countries hostility toward israel became active deep currents of anti israel feeling are today an integral part of the political landscape in west asia and north africa at any given moment these forces could combust iran is the great threat but so are some other muslim powers a giant circle of a billion and a half muslims surrounds the jewish state and threatens its future the intermediate circle is the arab circle israel is a jewish nation state founded in the heart of the arab world the arab national movement tried to prevent the founding of israel and failed the arab nations tried to destroy israel and failed as such the very existence of israel as a non arab nation state in the middle east is testimony to the failure of arab nationalism when arab nationalism was weakened and corrupted in the last quarter of the twentieth century it was forced to set aside its grievances and to super cially recognize israel that brought about the israeli egyptian peace treaty the israeli jordanian peace treaty and regional stability but the arab awakening changes all this as moderate but corrupt regimes are replaced by new ones public tension rises and there is widespread demand for a tough line vis à vis israel there is no great arab israeli war on the horizon but stability is fragile israel now faces less arab military might but more arab turmoil as the arab nation state iraq syria lebanon is collapsing israel is being surrounded by failed states or extremist nations as the syrian chemical weapons crisis that began in late august 2013 proves new dangers are on the rise so peace skates on very thin ice a wide circle of 370 million arabs surrounds the zionist state and threatens its very existence the third circle is the palestinian circle israel is perceived by its neighbors to be a settler s state founded on the ruins of indigenous israel as an alien palestine many palestinians perceive dispossessing colony that has no place in the land the underlying wish of a great number of palestinians is to turn back the political movement that they blame for shattering their society destroying their villages emptying their towns and turning most of them into refugees as long as israel has overwhelming power moderate palestinians have to conceal their wish and even suppress it but moderate palestinians are in retreat and radical palestinians are on the rise as islamic fundamentalism and arab extremism become dominant is besieged thus if israel weakens for a moment the suppressed palestinian wish will erupt forcefully and as the overall number of arab palestinians overtakes the number of jewish israelis they will be backed by real power an inner circle of ten million palestinians threatens israel s very existence in recent years the three circles of threat have merged as islamic forces strengthened palestinian and israeli moderates weakened and the chance to reach a comprehensive peace diminished at the same time israel s unilateral withdrawals from southern lebanon and the gaza strip cleared the ground for terrorist organizations whose rockets and missiles rattle israel periodically here is the catch if israel does not retreat from the west bank it will be politically and morally doomed but if it does retreat it might face an iranian backed and islamic brotherhood inspired west bank the region palestinian pragmatism throughout regime whose missiles could endanger israel s security the need to end occupation is greater than ever but so are the risks up until now zionism was very e ective in defending against these three circles of threat wise diplomacy prevented the islamic circle from consolidating into a politically active circle that could strangle israel military might prevented the arab circle from acquiring the ability to defeat israel on the battle eld sophisticated intelligence prevented the palestinian circle from destabilizing israel by the use of terrorism but pressure is mounting on israel s iron wall an iranian nuclear bomb a new wave of arab hostility or a palestinian crisis might bring it down so the challenge israel faces in its seventh decade is as dramatic as the one it faced in its rst years atop mount baal hazor it is clear that we are approaching a critical test from the highest summit in the west bank i drive north to mount tabor when i reach its summit i get out of the car and walk around the franciscan monastery and observe the valley herbert bentwich crossed after traveling through samaria in 1897 at that time not one jewish zionist lived here it was all marshes subsistence farmers and bedouins but from mount tabor the outcome of the hundred year struggle is apparent the valley of yizrael is mostly jewish but the mountains of galilee are predominantly arab while zionism won the valleys of the holy land the mountains remained palestinian for all its e orts zionism did not overtake the negev mountain or the galilee mountain or the central mountain it remained a coastal phenomenon sending long tendrils into the inner valleys the white minarets of the villages beyond megiddo and nazareth make the picture clear the vanishing arabs are back the state of israel refuses to see its arab citizens it has not yet found a way to integrate properly one fth of its population the arabs who were not driven away in 1948 have been oppressed by zionism for decades the jewish state con scated much of their land trampled many of their rights and did not accord them real equality in recent years oppression lessened but it was not replaced by a genuine civil covenant that will give arab israelis their full rights to this day there is no de nition of the commitments of the jewish democratic state to its arab minority and that of the arab minority to the jewish democratic state on the one hand there is no real equality for arabs in israel but on the other hand the government does not always enforce the law in their domain and allows their towns and villages to live in partial anarchy what emerges is a dangerous situation of lawlessness many palestinian israelis don t respect central government but they also don t feel they belong their a nity to the palestinians outside israel and the arabs surrounding israel mean that their situation is fundamentally di erent from that of ethnic minorities in north america or western europe although they are a minority within the jewish state they are an integral part of the overwhelming regional majority that makes the jews of israel a regional minority this complexity was never dealt with and majority minority relationships within israel were never de ned for the time being the economic bene ts and the civil rights that the palestinian israelis do have keep the peace although they do not admit it publicly they are very much aware of the fact that in many ways they are much better o than their brothers and sisters in egypt jordan and syria but the political bomb is ticking as the arab minority grows in number and con dence it endangers the identity of israel as a jewish nation state if this crucial issue is not resolved soon turmoil is inevitable i journey on from mount tabor to tiberias the bentwich delegation pitched its white tents south of the ancient city on the shores of the sea of galilee i drive farther south crossing the jordan river and reaching the southern edge of the lake here degania the world s rst kibbutz tried to combine utopia commune life and colonialism a breathtaking human experiment was carried out on this lakeshore to invent a democratic version of communism that would save the jews thirty nine years after it was founded degania was attacked by an invading syrian army there were air raids artillery shelling and an armored assault the kibbutzniks and the soldiers defending the commune stopped the tanks with antitank bazookas ri es and molotov cocktails dozens of them were killed in the battle and were buried nearby a small syrian tank captured in battle stands at the gate to the kibbutz commemorating their sacri ce facing the mythological tank i think of the mental challenge facing israel in the twenty rst century what enabled the defenders of degania to fend o the syrian army at such human cost was the conviction they had the dream of utopia and the burgeoning reality of the commune gave them the mental strength to withstand challenges such as the war of 1948 but contemporary israel has no utopia and no commune and only a semblance of the resolve and commitment it once had can we survive here without them can we still ght for our banal israel as the soldiers of degania fought for their kibbutz dream can our consumerist democracy hold in times of real hardship within the islamic threat circle and arab threat circle and the palestinian challenge circle and the internal threat circle lies the fth threat of the mental challenge might it be that israel s collective psyche is no longer suited to israel s tragic circumstances herbert bentwich crossed the sea of galilee by boat i drive around the lake by car passing tiberias tabgha capernaum a few miles north of the ancient shing village where jesus is said to have taught is the colony of rosh pina in 1897 it was home to a teacher yitzhak epstein who tried to bring jews and arabs together teaching their children in the same school a decade later it was home to an agronomist haim margolis kalawariski who was one of the rst zionist leaders to believe in peace in the late 1920s rosh pina was home to a physician gideon mer who made a point of treating his malaria stricken arab neighbors in his clinic but in 1937 rosh pina spawned the rst jewish terrorist shlomo ben yosef hanged by the british after he tried to murder the passengers of an arab bus climbing mount canaan the sixth threat israel faces is the moral threat a nation bogged down in endless warfare can be easily corrupted it might turn fascist or militaristic or just brutal surprisingly israelis have generally upheld democratic values and institutions while being in a permanent state of war for a long time they have maintained a reasonably moral society the majority respected human rights and endorsed liberal democracy but in recent years there is growing pressure on the very core of israeli democracy occupation takes its moral toll the ultra orthodox and russian minorities do not always cherish the democratic values that were previously taken for granted the fear of the growing arab minority breeds xenophobia and racism ongoing occupation ongoing con ict and the disintegrating code of humane zionism are allowing dark forces to menace the nation semifascist ideas that attracted the right wing fringe of the 1930s are now being endorsed by some leading politicians in the ruling parties but as the 2013 elections prove not all is dark israel still has a sensible middle class center still the one hundred year war creates a moral challenge the brutality that erupted in the rosh pina of 1937 keeps on erupting israel s identity as a benign democracy is constantly being challenged from rosh pina i travel north along the jordan river when herbert bentwich rode his horse through this hula valley there were arabs in it and there was a shallow lake in 1947 1948 the arabs were driven away and between 1953 and 1957 the lake was drained to make way for agricultural settlement in the decade that preceded my birth zionism overcame the two great obstacles it faced in this valley with a series of military operations it eliminated the palestinians and with a grandiose engineering project it eliminated the lake clearing an entire region in which it settled veteran pioneers and new immigrants replacing a backward palestine with a modern israel this dual action of zionism succeeded in its young days by marshalling a new and powerful hebrew identity hebrew identity was revolutionary it de ned itself as a revolt against jewish religion jewish diaspora and passive jewish existence it a rmed itself on the foundations of the hebrew land the hebrew language and the belief in a hebrew future it sancti ed the bible while dismissing postbiblical jewish history and tradition it cherished progress and action and a secular attitude to life it was careful to balance its national zeal by having a universal dimension one of its versions was socialist nationalist and the other was liberal nationalist but both were anticlerical and unprovincial both combined collective determination with enlightenment that is why zionism could believe it was just and this is how it persuaded others it was just it s a long long road it said but we shall walk this road and we shall walk it singing we shall walk it believing that it is not in years to come but here and now believing that it is not up to god but up to us believing in this new secular religion of doing it all with our own hands believing in our ability to drive out the arabs and empty the lake and move mountains hebrew identity was galvanized in the rst third of the twentieth century but remained dominant in the following third of the century it was the real force that overcame the arab uprising in 1938 the palestinian people in 1948 and the arab nations in 1967 it was the force that established a state and maintained it and absorbed immigration and settled the land in some respects it was a brutal identity it detached israelis from the diaspora it cut o their jewish roots and it left them with no tradition or cultural continuity in some respects it was an arti cial identity that imposed on israelis a man made existence based on suppression and denial lost were the depths and riches of the jewish soul but the revolutionary hebrew identity was imperative if the zionist revolution was to prevail it enabled the movement to execute a megalomaniacal concept that suited the israeli condition it granted israel the supremacy without which it would not have survived and it did all this not with solemnity but with delight it made generations of israelis walk the long road they were required to walk with gaiety and optimism we are on our way they sang we are on our way hoppa hey hoppa hey in the last third of the twentieth century hebrew identity was dulled in the early years of the twenty rst century it seems to have disintegrated occupation globalization mass immigration and the rise of non zionist minorities have worn down the hegemony of the hebrews for better or for worse the more rigid way of life was replaced by wild pluralism gone was the balance between nationalism and universalism gone was the secular revolt against diaspora and religion secular faith weakened progress weakened the collective narrative dissolved just as some of the brackish water of the hula began to seep back into the lake bed judaism and shtetlism and arabism returned just as the brutal deed done in this valley was partially reversed so was the brutal deed done to the collective psyche of the jews the ourishing enterprise of israeli self assurance was overshadowed by existential questions succeed or fail flourish or perish the seventh threat facing israel is the threat of crumbling identity the kibbutzim i pass are like a canvas of the model israeli landscape tall eucalyptus trees upright cypresses plowed elds and grain silos but behind the gates things have changed the common dining halls and the nurseries are empty the israeliness that was once here is not really here anymore the hebrew culture that settled this valley and stood fast in this valley is gone it changed form and changed character and turned into something as yet unde ned as i leave the valley behind me i know that the question of identity is the crucial one at the core of the zionist revolution was an identity revolution identity revolutions are tempting but dangerous they are like gender transformations in our case the operation seemed to succeed the outcome was extraordinary but the patient was not really at peace with himself and remained restless now it is all falling apart our new erce identity is disintegrating into a multitude of identities some of which are frail and confused at times we do not recognize ourselves anymore we are not sure who we really are herbert bentwich climbed from the river jordan to the shoulder of mount hermon i am more ambitious i aim for the summit above the crusader s fortress of kalat nimrod and above the druze village of majdal shams and above the israeli settlement of neve ativ and above the lower and then the upper cable cars of the ski resort i reach the closed military base atop the hermon at 2 230 meters above sea level i stand on the highest summit of the land seven circles of threat islamic arabic palestinian internal mental moral and identity based by choosing this land we put ourselves at the epicenter of seven concentric circles of threat but in the twenty rst century what is especially dangerous is that the forces that have backed us since our arrival are growing weak the west is in relative economic and political decline the jews of the diaspora are in demographic decline the alliance of israel with the enlightened jews of the west is agging at the very same time the western powers ability to maintain order in the middle east is diminishing as is their ability to prevent the proliferation of nuclear arms in the third world while islamic fanaticism is rising in the east there are fewer western forces that would stand by israel israeli occupation jewish extremism and religious fundamentalists are undermining support for israel among its remaining friends in 1967 israel conquered mount hermon and built a strategically vital military intelligence base at its summit on october 6 1973 syria conquered the base and captured its men two weeks later dozens of israelis gave their life on these steep slopes so that israel could regain dominance over this dominating mountain now the most advanced technologies are employed in this science ction like mountainous station the hermon high tech fortress enables israel to keep an eye on syria and beyond so as i observe the harsh syrian plains beneath and the sophisticated israeli high tech fortress nearby it occurs to me that israel itself is a fortress like the crusaders who preceded us by eight hundred years we live on a cli facing east like the christian knights we depend on our high walls and sharp swords to keep ourselves alive in a region that wants us gone but the strength of the modern israeli fortress lies precisely in the fact that it does not act or feel like a fortress this was not always so at rst we tried to take this land with the water towers of utopia under which we built our red roofed kibbutz houses and watered the brown plowed elds of our ancient homeland then when reality struck we took the land by establishing tower and stockade settlements prefabricated fortresses that were designed to allow jews to settle the land as the arabs were viciously attacking them for a generation or two israel was pretty much tower and stockade like the crusaders it led a life of religious like devotion that was based on ideology modesty and discipline the zionist entity lived by a rigid code that enabled it to conquer the land settle it and defend it but in the last generation our citadel was so successful that it stopped feeling like a citadel every few years we came up with a new invention dimona mossad air force shin bet arrow missiles iron dome all these inventions had a common denominator the might created by normalcy enabled normalcy to perpetuate itself a free society and a free market gave us an advantage over our adversaries there was no longer any need for the crusader like ethos of tower and stockade on the contrary while the crusaders needed a collective chastity to maintain their fortress we turned liberation and individualism into our source of power the israeli fort had become a nonforti ed fort producing perpetual supremacy but times are changing the gradual decline of the west and the turmoil in the east are shifting the tectonic plates on either side of the syrian african rift and on mount hermon this is almost visual old syria is gone iraq is in transition jordan s stability is in doubt as the mass killing of civilians and the use of chemical weapons prove brutality is beyond comprehension the howling winds of change that can be felt on this frontier summit are turning into a hurricane that is sweeping the middle east so the future of the fortress on the cli is not clear as i look out at the land herbert bentwich left behind in the end of april 1897 i wonder how long we can maintain our miraculous survival story one more generation two three eventually the hand holding the sword must loosen its grip eventually the sword itself will rust no nation can face the world surrounding it for over a hundred years with a jutting spear 2013 has seen two dramatic developments vis à vis the seven challenges that israel faces one is the new middle east the other is new politics some years after it excited international public opinion the arab spring is still transforming the arab world the chain of events triggered by the tahrir square revolution in egypt has had profound long lasting and surprising e ects the demise of the semisecular and pseudo modern dictatorships of tunisia libya egypt and syria and iraq put an end to half century long regimes of oppressive corruption the disintegration of signi cant arab nation states terminates a century long geostrategic status quo shaped by the colonial powers at the end of world war i arab nationalism is now giving way to tribalism arab modernity is deteriorating in the face of islamic fundamentalism as the arab nation state and the arab national identity weaken turmoil abounds while arab monarchies are still standing failed states and extremist movements and torn apart nations are replacing what were once secular and cohesive arab republics gamal abdel nasser s pan arab dream is in tatters anwar sadat s moderation has vanished and the brutal baath secularism of sadam hussein and the hafez and bashar assad is gone it is no longer clear whether countries like iraq syria lebanon jordan and libya can sustain their national identities the enormous forces that challenged zionism in the twentieth century dissolved shortly after the century ended obviously these momentous changes improve israel s short term strategic standing as the jewish state proves to be the west s only reliable middle east ally it regains some of its old legitimacy and is perceived once again as a valuable asset as the military gap between high tech israel and its blighted neighbors widens it regains its position as the leading regional power as the disarray in syria libya iraq and egypt continues the old threat of an all out conventional war diminishes the violent struggle between sunnis and shiites is keeping the new religious forces busy the preoccupation of most arabs with the internal arab malaise temporarily neutralizes israel s existence some of them are actually looking to israel to save them from radical elements that now pose an immediate threat to their future so the vigorous jewish national movement now seems to be their capability to endanger much more coherent and e ective than the declining arab national movement that had been its rival for a hundred years the declaration signed by lord balfour on november 2 1917 has proven to be thus far much more viable than the agreement concluded by mark sykes and charles françois picot on may 16 1916 which divided up arab land between the united kingdom and france thus de ning the modern arab nation states yes israel is a lonely rock in a stormy ocean but sixty six years after its astounding appearance the rock seems to be far more solid than the tempestuous waters surrounding it and yet in the long term the new middle east might prove to be even more dangerous than the old one now there is no hope for peace no moderate arab leader has the legitimacy needed to sign a new con ict ending agreement with the zionist entity now even deterrent based stability is di cult to maintain no arab nation is stable enough and strong enough to guarantee quiet borders and long term tranquility now the risk is growing that eventually israel will become the arab world s scapegoat if political islam fails to ful ll its promise and the masses rise up against it the easy way out will be to turn this rage against the in dels living their outrageously prosperous and permissive life next door there is increasing danger that sophisticated weapons will fall into the hands of zealots who will be eager to use them against the jewish state in short while the old threat of arab military might is on the wane the new danger is arab chaos the troubling scenarios are of arab discontent and islamic fanaticism knocking on israel s iron gates the combination of popular islamic arab resentment from without and desperate palestinian upheaval from within might yet prove to be explosive israel s ability to erect tall technological fences and mighty physical walls is formidable as recent years have proven up to a point tall fences and mighty walls work but in the future the besieged island strategy may exhaust itself one day the forti ed rock might be struck by the angry waves of a regional tsunami new politics are the dramatic outcome of israel s 2013 elections the phenomenal success of the charismatic television personality the centrist yair lapid and the young software entrepreneur the national religious naftali bennett reshaped the country s political landscape ironically the anticapitalist sentiment of the 2011 social protest movement was transformed at the ballot boxes into an overwhelming anti ultra orthodox vote middle israel rose not against israel s nancial oligarchy but against religious extremists and uninspiring politicians and to everyone s surprise the shrinking zionist majority suddenly galvanized itself trying to fend o the expanding non zionist minorities and seize control over the misguided nation a new force surfaced a startling happening took place new politics is the new name given to israel s new political game lapid ran his campaign by forming a new party yesh atid there is a future his success has spawned talk of the yesh atid phenomenon which is at the core of new politics but has not been properly de ned here are some of its features rejection of the old left right divide a willful disregard of the palestinian issue and the iranian threat and the external challenges israel faces emphasis on the daily concerns of ordinary israelis mainly the high cost of living and soaring real estate prices aversion to special interest groups and privileged minorities that do not contribute their share to the general good glori cation of the working middle class that shoulders the military and nancial burden involved in keeping israel a oat adulation of a practical pragmatic and sane israeli identity the political base of yesh atid is those hard working tax paying and army serving jewish israelis that dan ben david spoke to me about some time ago in yair lapid these productive middle of the road israelis nd a strong voice and a handsome icon in the party he founded these reasonable israelis see the locomotive that will pull the jewish state out of the mud and lead it forward hence the hopes that the 2013 elections evoked hence the invigorating feeling that change is in the air indeed change is in the air although lapid who was appointed nance minister was criticized for a conservative belt tightening budget he remains a powerful agent of change reforms are everywhere a urry of social action and economic reconstruction commands the center stage of israel s contemporary public life attempts are being made to draft the ultra orthodox to reform government to limit the power of monopolies to weaken the unions and to promote a more just market economy some of the new ideas are brutally thatcherite others are egalitarian yet the new hyperactive attitude toward politics is often tainted by populism much of it is driven by the desire to please the wider public instantly much of it represents the bourgeois politics of self contentment and self interest and there is more than a grain of anti liberalism in the hostility manifested toward weak minorities there is an undemocratic taint to the way party politics are run the implicit acceptance of ongoing occupation is troubling the lack of interest in the arab world is alarming though new politics has given the world a new image of a reinvigorated israel it is not yet clear what really lies behind the image the good news of the second decade of the twenty rst century is that israel is growing stronger in comparison to its neighbors and that israel is determined to reform itself the bad news of the decade is that the middle east is growing wilder and that israel has turned its back on it military and technological supremacy have allowed the new israelis to become strangely isolationist as they look inward they ignore the world in which they live the palestinians are now the elephant in the room no one dares talk about neighboring arab countries as well as the vast islamic world are treated as if they were thousands of miles away dangerous geohistorical escapism and geostrategic complacency allow the nation once again to be extremely pleased with itself as jews we have never had it so good the twentieth century was the most dramatic century in the dramatic history of the jewish people the rst half of the century was our worst ever we lost a third of our people every third jew but the second half of the century was wondrous in north america we created the perfect diaspora while in the land of israel we established modern jewish sovereignty in europe and in latin america and in australia jews live well too the jews of the twenty rst century have what their great grandparents could only dream of equality freedom prosperity dignity the persecuted people we were are now emancipated the pitiable people are now proud we acquired the ability to ful ll ourselves and live a full life an unprecedented jewish renaissance enabled three generations of jews to believe they escaped jewish fate in america this was achieved by the remarkable project of establishing a well organized free meritocratic jewish community in israel it was achieved by the remarkable success of zionism the jewish national liberation movement gave the jewish people the basic rights they had been deprived of and the life expectancy they had lost it conquered a land and liberated a nation and carried out a revolution like no other nowhere is the revolution more apparent than in the tel aviv port here south of the yarkon river the rst jewish olympic games the maccabia were held in the spring of 1932 within a few weeks a sports stadium was hastily constructed in which thousands gathered to watch the hundreds of athletes that traveled to palestine from twenty ve countries to prove that the jew of the twentieth century was a new jew athletic muscular and strong here south of the maccabia stadium tel aviv s rst international exhibition the levant fair was held in the late spring of 1934 in only eight months a unique bauhaus compound was erected in which thirty six nations and twenty two hundred rms showed their wares and displayed their faith in tel aviv s modernity some six hundred thousand visitors came to see the wonder on the southern bank of the yarkon in the midst of the orient a ying camel the symbol of the levant fair attested to the architectural and commercial excellence connecting europe to the near east west of the levant fair grounds zionism s rst port was inaugurated in the summer of 1936 within weeks a customs building was built along with warehouses and a wooden pier on which the rst hebrew stevedore carried the rst sack of cement into the rst hebrew port of the rst hebrew city the thousands that assembled around him sang the hopeful national anthem hatikva with palpable emotion seven months later they sang hatikva again in the improvised hall in which the rst concert of the palestine philharmonic orchestra was held when the antifascist maestro arturo toscanini conducted the sixty ve survivors of fascism who played brahms mendelssohn and schubert on the tel aviv shore many in the audience were in tears two years later a former russian revolutionary opened a monumental power station a few hundred yards to the north of the improvised hall in only nine months the ingenious engineer pinchas rotenberg and his thousand men working around the clock managed to build the reading power station that accelerated the electri cation of the land and provided power to the fast growing tel aviv simultaneously north of reading the rst runway of the rst airport of the rst hebrew city was paved in the autumn of 1938 the rst international ight took o tel aviv haifa beirut in an area no larger than one square kilometer six di erent events took place within six years every one of them the stu of legend at the northern edge of tel aviv the foundations were laid for a sovereign modern creative vital and life loving jewish existence i choose to walk southward from the airport on the promenade between the runway and the sea a high tech company is having a fun day out twenty rehelmeted men and women ride by on red wheeled segways behind them are cyclists in sleeveless shirts and lycra shorts with determined expressions on their faces the early morning joggers are more relaxed married couples and male same sex couples and female same sex couples in their uorescent running gear i see willowy girls on skates opinionated pensioners amateur shermen before me is an israeli central park on the shores of the mediterranean a hampstead heath in the middle east with all the calm and tranquillity that only free societies can accord their citizens there is a sense of well being here that the jews have not had for nearly two thousand years the six enterprises that were inaugurated on these few hundred acres in the 1930s laid the foundation for contemporary tel aviv they all shared initiative daring alacrity inventiveness ingenuity and a can do spirit but they were not of one cloth the rst two the maccabia and the levant fair were hopeful events we came here we were transformed here we triumphed but the latter four achievements the port the orchestra the power station and the airport were achievements born of peril they took place under the gathering clouds of the late 1930s between the german threat and the arab threat between the catastrophe expected in europe and the war beginning in palestine while the rst two secular miracles occurred facing an open horizon the latter four occurred facing the pincerlike movement of cruel history closing in the can do spirit and the outstanding energy that characterized zionism from the outset took a dramatic turn in 1936 from then on jewish life in palestine was an uphill battle to mobilize faith against fate to wrestle with fate to act and so digging its harbor and playing its mendelssohn and erecting its power station and paving its runway zionism was already both heroic and tragic the power station fascinates me in later years ugly structures were added but the original 1938 edi ce is all austere grandeur international style chosen by rotenberg s the monumental architects projects modern might despite all of the turmoil of the 1930s the turbines that were about to electrify palestine were ensconced in a shrine of progress that rose within months on the yarkon s northern bank but the tale of the tel aviv port is even more signi cant exactly a month after the arab revolt cut o tel aviv from its ja a port lifeline tel aviv constructed a wooden pier it washed out to sea that very night but it was replaced with a pier of solid steel but that was not enough tel aviv constructed a jetty and built more piers six months after it was besieged the city sent out of its own port a rst crate of oranges to buckingham palace in doing so it articulated the zionist mode of action against those trying to annihilate it it responded to terror not with terror but with building it expressed the élan vital of a young nation ghting adamantly while believing that its will to live would overcome the death surrounding it i stand by the cascade of warm water falling from the electricity plant to the mediterranean as another group of cyclists passes by i wonder if we still have within us the fortitude that erected the tel aviv power station and dug the tel aviv port for to face the seven circles of threat closing in on us we need the wisdom and energy and devotion we once had we need the initiative daring alacrity inventiveness ingenuity and can do spirit as individuals we have all of these traits of the yes we can ethos this is why our start ups are so remarkable and our ingenuity unique but as a collective we seem to have lost what we once had this is why our nation state is dysfunctional and our politics dire today ours is a free yet polarized society so the crucial question is whether the free society that emerged here will generate enough power to withstand the external and internal threats endangering it past experience is encouraging time after time we rose to the challenge this pattern of overcoming threats repeated itself even in the tel aviv port in the rst years of the twenty rst century in 2002 a wave of terrorism rattled israel dozens died every month in suicide bombings the nation was petri ed and the economy ground to a halt but while there was blood in the streets a new initiative was launched to renovate the historic port that had been neglected for years within two years the rundown warehouses were turned into a booming leisure complex shops cafés restaurants bars nightclubs in the very spot the zionist spirit triumphed over the arab revolt in the 1930s the israeli spirit triumphed over the second intifada nearly seventy years later so now the challenge is to triumph over our internal weaknesses there are some good reasons for hope if the ultra orthodox community can be integrated into our modern society in the coming decades it will bring a rush of energy resembling the one brought about by the russian immigration of the 1990s if the israeli arabs will be woven into our social and political fabric and given the equality they deserve they might prefer what democratic israel has to o er over what is o ered by islamist arab nations and radical palestinian political movements if the windfall of o shore natural gas which will soon make israel energy a uent and much richer is properly invested it might provide the funds needed for a real internal revolution that will revive the israeli republic as the elections of 2013 have proven not all is lost in israel there is still sanity here and a constructive attitude and a deep wish to move forward anti democratic forces might subside as more and more ultra orthodox modern orthodox and russian immigrants accept the norms and ethos of the jewish democratic state i cross the yarkon river and enter the port although it s morning the cafés on the wooden decks are bustling all around me are good looking women and men t girls and boys young families and youngish singles they eat their continental breakfasts organic breakfasts israeli breakfasts they sip their double espressos camparis and champagne i see bicycles scooters skateboards prams bouquets of helium balloons whose colorful aluminum sheaths shine in the sun a pantomime performance an impromptu accordion concert what a cocktail an immigrant society and a warrior society against the backdrop of the blue mediterranean jewish history and israeli present and blue skies the genetics of pain that burst forth here into gaiety the genetics of torah learning that burst forth into creation life on the edge at the water s edge i walk on the deck and pass a trendy yoga club a slim mother walks in wearing tight designer jeans and red all star sneakers once inside she parks the orange pram she is pushing next to a dozen other prams and joins dozens of other new mothers in postdelivery shavasana here is vitality here is the demography of hope an almost extinguished species renewing itself unlike the free societies of europe the israeli free society reproduces ours is not about disa ection and debauchery but about warmth and family ours loves children and brings into a harsh world these toddlers who are crawling on the colorful mats facing the sea as i see it israelis are diamonds in the rough and israeliness is an iridescent kaleidoscope of broken identities that come together to form a unique human phenomenon somehow something quite incredible emerged in this old new country that is why there is an extraordinary emotional quality to our life here that is why we are not only creative and innovative but authentic and direct and warm and genuine and sexy that is why personal relationships here are exceptional and human contact is remarkable after all and despite all israeliness is familyness as di erent as they are from one another and although they belong to rival tribes the men and women who gathered on this shore managed to form one big strange loud and diverse family here are my own children approaching me my twenty two year old daughter tamara bringing with her my nine year old michael and my four year old daniel two rowers in garish body suits are taking their boats out to sea and daniel calls out to them michael waves tamara laughs and as we walk back along the jetty i suddenly realize it is all here the irrational project of building this port hurriedly in the wrong location and the inability to turn this shallow port into a deep water harbor and the inability of a small arti cial jetty to provide real protection from the breaking waves of winter the whole thing should not have come to be in the rst place the project was geographically awed and economically senseless and poorly planned but because it captured the imagination thousands invested capital they didn t have in tel aviv port shares and because it responded to a deep psychological need thousands built the port of tel aviv eventually this gush of energy created something far larger than its aws so although the tel aviv port played its intended role for only three years it became an icon of our independence and innovation and vitality every generation and every wave of immigration rede nes it and now it is such a carnival thousands of israelis are celebrating life devouring life michael runs ahead of me fearlessly daniel tries to compete with his brother tamara joins her young brothers and in the golden light now ooding the port the grandchildren of herbert bentwich s granddaughter run gleefully on the wooden deck without a care in the world without the burden of being jewish as if there was no persecution and there will be no persecution as if there was no holocaust and there will be no holocaust the land is solid under their feet they are home we israelis face a herculean mission to live here we will have to rede ne a nation and divide a land and come up with a new jewish israeli narrative we will have to restore a rundown state and unify a shredded society and groom a trustworthy civilian leadership after ending occupation we ll have to establish a new rm and legitimate iron wall on our postoccupation borders facing the regional tide of radical islam israel will have to be an island of enlightenment facing seven circles of threat israel will have to be moral progressive cohesive creative and strong there is no other way for us but to renew what we launched here when we founded a daring project of modernity on the yarkon estuary the battle for our existence rages on after tamara takes michael and daniel home i move on to the port of ja a in recent years this port too was rehabilitated galleries restaurants bars a futuristic metal structure replaced the old arab warehouses but dozens of wooden shing boats still bob on the quiet water behind the old jetty where herbert bentwich disembarked in april 1897 we probably had to come and when we came here we performed wonders for better or worse we did the unimaginable our play was the most extravagant of modern plays the drama was breathtaking but only the end will properly put the beginning into perspective only when we know what has become of the protagonists will we know whether they were right or wrong whether they overcame the tragic decree or were overcome by it there will be no utopia here israel will never be the ideal nation it set out to be nor will it be europe away from europe there will be no london here no paris no vienna but what has evolved in this land is not to be dismissed a series of great revolts has created here a truly free society that is alive and kicking and fascinating this free society is creative and passionate and frenzied it gives the ones living here a unique quality of life warmth directness openness yes we are orphans we have no king and no father we have no coherent identity and no continuous past in a sense we have no civic culture our grace is the semibarbaric grace of the wild ones it is the youthful grace of the unbound and the uncouth we respect no past and no future and no authority we are irreverent we are deeply anarchic and yet because we are all alone in this world we stick together because we are orphans we are brothers in arms and in fate there was hope for peace but there will be no peace here not soon there was hope for quiet but there will be no quiet here not in this generation the foundations of the home we founded are somewhat shaky and repeating earthquakes rattle it so what we really have in this land is an ongoing adventure an odyssey the jewish state does not resemble any other nation what this nation has to o er is not security or well being or peace of mind what it has to o er is the intensity of life on the edge the adrenaline rush of living dangerously living lustfully living to the extreme if a vesuvius like volcano were to erupt tonight and end our pompeii this is what it will petrify a living people people that have come from death and were surrounded by death but who nevertheless put up a spectacular spectacle of life people who danced the dance of life to the very end i walk into the very same bar i walked into some weeks ago once again i sit by the bar and sip my single malt i see the ancient port through the windows and i watch people sitting in restaurants and walking into galleries and wandering about the pier bottom line i think zionism was about regenerating jewish vitality the israel tale is the tale of vitality against all odds so the duality is mind boggling we are the most prosaic and prickly people one can imagine we cannot stand puritanism or sentimentality we do not trust high words or lofty concepts and yet we take part daily in a phenomenal historical vision we participate in an event far greater than ourselves we are a ragtag cast in an epic motion picture whose plot we do not understand and cannot grasp the script writer went mad the director ran away the producer went bankrupt but we are still here on this biblical set the camera is still rolling and as the camera pans out and pulls up it sees us converging on this shore and clinging to this shore and living on this shore come what may to my love timna acknowledgments this book would not have been written if it were not for timna rosenheimer my wife my love and my inspiration writing it made me an absentee husband and father for ve years yet my life partner stood by me with courage warmth and grace my debt to her is eternal galia licht was my writing partner she did much of the research and most of the initial editing and she enlivened my writing whatever is worthy in this book is signi cantly hers cindy spiegel is the benevolent spiegel grau editor who made the daring decision to trust me believing i could actually deliver the book about israel she thought was needed cindy s support and guidance led me throughout the journey and her outstanding professionalism and sensitivity gave the raw text the shape and precision it needed there were two other midwives who brought this child into the world tina bennett is not only my beloved agent but also my guardian angel in her gracious manner she saw the book and me through all the obstacles and hurdles we ran into judy friedgut is not only my devoted secretary but also my feet on the ground having the discipline and good order i lack she worked day and night to make all this real my dear friend david remnick went over the manuscript with his typical professionalism and contributed precious insights he is the one who encouraged me to write this book and he is the one who took care of the book graciously once written my beloved brother in law gili rosenheimer stood by me in hard times and tough moments so did my long time friends gabi pikker and avi eliahu i am deeply grateful to all three the natan fund embraced the manuscript and granted it its rst book prize before publication for my promised land is based on numerous which i am deeply grateful ester asherof did the nal research and my one and only tamara shavit contributed her share it is of tamara s future and the future of her brothers michael and daniel that i thought of constantly while writing interviews and discussions with hundreds of israelis jews and arabs men and women they all opened their homes and opened their hearts and shared their israeli experience with me as there were so many of them i cannot mention all their names here but i am deeply grateful to each and every one the intimate and intense dialogue with my countrymen and countrywomen gave me unique insights regarding our beloved and tormented homeland whose story i tried to tell source notes journey through contemporary and historic my promised land is not an academic work of history rather it is a personal israel recounting the larger israel saga by telling several dozen speci c israeli stories that are signi cant and poignant the chapter at first sight is based on bentwich family documents herbert bentwich s own writings some notes left by his fellow travelers and articles describing the 1897 maccabean pilgrimage published in the jewish english press and the jewish hebrew press of the day into the valley incorporates interviews with some of yitzhak tabenkin s disciples and an enormous body of records and memoirs kept in the ein harod archives orange grove was inspired by numerous conversations with rehovot s elderly orange growers who were still alive in the late 2000s and by the local records stored in the rehovot archives the trek and seminar in masada are based on interviews i conducted with shmaryahu gutman in 1992 and on pieces published in the spring of 1942 in labor movement newspapers and periodicals lydda assembles numerous accounts of the traumatic events recounted to me in the early 1990s by mula cohen shmaryahu gutman yisrael goralnik gabriel cohen yael degani ottman abu hammed and some of the other protagonists of the 1948 tragedy housing estate tells the life stories of holocaust and farhud survivors i interviewed among them ze ev sternhell aharon appelfeld aharon barak louise aynachi anna spiegel arie belldegrun yehudit fischer shlomo teicher and some of the other residents of the bitzaron estate at the core of the project is a unique encounter i had in 2009 with yosef tulipman who was the director general of the dimona nuclear reactor in the critical years 1965 1973 settlement is a reconstruction of the founding of the pivotal settlement of ofra based on interviews with yoel bin nun pinchas wallerstein yehuda etzion israel harel and other ofra founders in 2009 2011 gaza beach was rst published in haaretz and in the new york review of books in 1991 shortly after i completed military reserve duty in the notorious detention camp peace contains interviews with yossi sarid yossi beilin avishai margalit menachem brinker and amos oz conducted in 2008 2011 and an older interview with jamal munheir conducted in 1993 j accuse is rst and foremost the life story of aryeh deri as told to me at great length by him and his mother and as described in his biography and in israeli magazine pieces written about him over two decades sex drugs and the israeli condition is an updated version of a comprehensive tel aviv night life piece that i published in haaretz as the previous millennium was drawing to a close up the galilee too was rst published in haaretz in january 2003 reality shock embodies some of the insights i had in real time during the second lebanon war of 2006 occupy rothschild is based on in depth interviews with michael strauss kobi richter and itzik shmuli 2007 2011 and on conversations with stanley fischer and dan ben david 2011 existential challenge gives amos yadlin s interpretation of the iranian saga as he described it to me in 2012 2013 along with my own insights by the sea contains a small portion of the observations i had while touring my homeland as my years long journey was coming to an end pursuing my tour of israel old and new i read hundreds of books and thousands of documents that have inspired me and enriched my experience to make sure all details are correct oral histories were checked and double checked against israel s written history the exciting process of individuals was interwoven with a meticulous process of data gathering and fact checking and yet at the end of the day my promised land is all about people the book i have written is the story of israel as it is seen by individual israelis of whom i am one interviewing signi cant photograph credits col1 1 courtesy of micha bar am magnum photos 1 1 american colony matson collection courtesy of the library of congress 2 1 avraham soskin lavon institute archive tel aviv 3 1 american colony matson collection courtesy of the library of congress 4 1 courtesy of azaria alon 5 1 beno rothenberg the copyright of the photograph of beno rothenberg belongs solely to meitar collection ltd israel 6 1 courtesy of robert capa magnum photos 7 1 the times ni syndication 8 1 courtesy of micha bar am magnum photos 9 1 photographer unknown archive gpo jerusalem 10 1 courtesy of boaz lanir 11 1 moshe milner archive gpo jerusalem 12 1 courtesy of pavel walberg 13 1 amr el abari zochrot organization tel aviv 14 1 courtesy of david tartakover 15 1 courtesy of eldad rafaeli 16 1 dalia amotz courtesy of the gordon gallery tel aviv 17 1 courtesy of ziv koren about the author ari shavit is a leading israeli columnist and writer born in rehovot israel shavit served as a paratrooper in the idf and studied philosophy at the hebrew university in jerusalem in the 1980s he wrote for the progressive weekly koteret rashit in the early 1990s he was chairperson of the association for civil rights in israel and in 1995 he joined haaretz where he became one of its leading journalists shavit is also a leading commentator on israeli public television he is married has a daughter and two sons and lives in kfar shmariahu this file was downloaded from z library project your gateway to knowledge and culture accessible for everyone z library se singlelogin re go to zlibrary se single login ru official telegram channel z access https wikipedia org wiki z library

palestinian loss of land 1946 to present recommended books george douglas ball the passionate attachment mazin qumsiyeh sharing the land of canaan greg philo and mike berry israel and palestine competing histories paul findley they dare to speak out ali abunimah one country jonathon cook blood and religion donald neff fallen pillars salman abu sitta palestine right of return sacred ilan pappe the ethnic cleansing of palestine israel shahak jewish fundamentalism in israel legal and possible robert john sami hadawi palestine diary 1914 1945 kathleen christison perceptions of palestine john w mulhall csp america and the founding of israel charles d smith palestine and the arab israeli conflict nur masalha expulsion of the palestinians stephen green taking sides noam chomsky fateful triangle sami hadawi bitter harvest virginia tilley the one state solution norman finkelstein beyond chutzpah john mearsheimer stephen walt the israel lobby stephen j sniegoski the transparent cabal grant smith deadly dogma grant smith foreign agents hatim kanaaneh a doctor in galilee clayton e swisher the truth about camp david rev elias chacour blood brothers confusion about the origins of the conflict all too often has obscured americans understanding of its true dimension it began as a conflict resulting from immigrants struggling to displace the local majority population all else is derivative from this basic reality donald neff former senior editor time magazine fallen pillars u s policy towards palestine and israel since 1945 t he story of 1948 is the simple but horrific story of the ethnic cleansing of palestine retrieving it from oblivion is incumbent upon us not just as a greatly overdue act of historiographical reconstruction or professional duty it is the very first step we must take if we ever want reconciliation to have a chance and peace to take root in the torn lands of palestine and israel ilan pappe israeli historian the ethnic cleansing of palestine the palestinian holocaust is unsurpassed in history for a country to be occupied emptied of its people its physical and cultural landmarks obliterated its destruction hailed as a miraculous act of god all done according to a premeditated plan meticulously executed internationally supported and still maintained today dr salman abu sitta palestine right of return sacred legal and possible ifamericansknew org palestineremembered com updated april 2013 h o w p a l e s t i n e b e c a m e i s r a e l inthe late 1800s a small fanatic movement called political zionism began in europe its goal was to create a jewish state somewhere in the world its leaders settled on the ancient and long inhabited land of palestine for the location of this state 1 the catastrophe this growing violence culminated in israel s ruthless 1947 49 war of independence in which at least 750 000 palestinian men women and children were expelled from their homes by numerically superior israeli forces half before any arab armies joined the war this massive humanitarian disaster is known as the catastrophe al nakba in arabic 8 population of palestine in late 1800s 4 10 palestine s population at this time was approxi mately ninety six percent non jewish primarily muslim and christian 2 historic palestine the land now occupied by the state of israel was a multicultural society during the 1947 49 war israel committed at least 33 massacres and expelled over 750 000 palestinians 86 over the coming decades zionist leaders used various strategies to accomplish their goal of taking over palestine 1 encouraging jewish immigration to pales tine partly through the invention of such decep tive slogans as a land without a people for a people without a land when in fact the land was already inhabited since the majority of jews were not zionists until after wwii zionists used an array of misleading strategies including secret collaboration with the nazis to push immigration 3 2 convincing a great power to back this process by turn zionists approached the ottomans the british and the u s to further their cause while the ottomans turned them down the british being promised that american zionists would push the u s to enter world war i on the side of england eventually acceded as did the u s due to concerns of politicians like harry truman that they would lose elections otherwise 4 3 buying up the land sometimes through subterfuges proclaiming it jewish for all eternity and refusing to allow non jews to live or work on the purchased land this was called redeeming the land and was financed by a variety of means including by such wealthy bank ing families as the rothschilds 5 4 violence if such financial dispossession should fail or prove too slow as it did 6 in the 1930s jewish land ownership had increased from approximately 1 to just over 6 of the land and violence had increased as well with the emergence of several zionist terrorist gangs whose ranks included a number of future prime ministers of israel there was violent conflict numerous people of all ethnicities were killed then as now the large majority of them christian and muslim palestinians 7 finkelstein zionist forces committed 33 massacres and destroyed 531 palestinian towns states author norman according to the former director of the israeli army archives in almost every vil lage occupied by us during the war acts were committed which are defined as war crimes such as murders massacres and rapes uri milstein the authoritative israeli military historian of the 1948 war goes one step further maintaining that every skir mish ended in a massacre of arabs 9 count folke bernadotte a former official of the swedish red cross who saved thousands of jews during world war ii and was appointed u n mediator in palestine said of the refugees it would be an offence against the principles of ele mental justice if these innocent victims of the conflict were denied the right to return to their homes 10 bernadotte was assassinated by a zionist organization led by future israeli prime minister yitzhak shamir 11 injustice continues over the 60 years since israel s founding on may 14 1948 this profound injustice has continued palestinian refugees are the largest remaining refugee population in the world 1 3 million palestinians live in israel as israeli citizens but despite their status as citizens they are subject to systematic dis crimination many are prohibited from liv ing in the villages and homes from which they were violently expelled and their prop erty has been confiscated for jewish only uses in orwellian terminology israeli law designates these internal refugees as pre sent absentees 12 in 1967 israel launched its third war and seized still more palestinian and other arab land israel also attacked a u s navy ship the uss liberty killing and injuring over 200 americans an event that remains largely covered up today despite efforts by an extraordinary array of high level mili tary officers and civilian officials to expose it 13 israel occupied the west bank and gaza strip the final 22 of mandatory palestine and began building set tlements for jewish israelis on land confiscated from palestinian muslims and christians it has demolished more than 24 145 palestinian homes since 1967 in 2005 israel returned gazan land to its owners but continues to control its borders ports and air space turning gaza into a large prison where 1 5 million people are held under what a un human rights commissioner described as cat astrophic conditions over 7 000 palestinian men women and children are imprisoned in israeli jails under physically abusive condi tions many have not even been charged with a crime and the basic human rights of all palestinians under israeli rule are routinely violated some prisoners tortured by israel have been american citizens in the violence that began in fall 2000 through feb 5 2009 israeli forces killed 6 348 palestinians palestinian resistance groups killed 1 072 israelis israel s military the fourth most powerful on earth possesses hundreds of nuclear weapons american involvement american taxpayers give israel more than 8 million per day15 even though surveys reveal that 73 of americans oppose taking sides on israel palestine because of israel s powerful us lobby congress gives far more money to israel than to all of sub saharan africa put together in its 60 years of existence israel the size of new jersey has received more u s tax money than any other nation while most americans are unaware of these facts studies have shown that media report on israeli deaths at rates up to 13 times greater than they report on palestinian deaths governmental actions are making americans respon sible for a continuing catastrophe of historic proportions and which is in addition creating extremely damaging enmity to the us itself israel partisans have played a significant role in pro moting u s attacks on iraq and iran 16 as more americans learn the facts there is a growing bipartisan multi ethnic movement to counter israel s us lobby which has long held a vicegrip on american mideast policies footnotes online at ifamericansknew org

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introduction how did you become an activist why palestine these are the types of questions many activists will be asked at one point or another when talking about their life work and motivations with a non activist person while i often want to reverse the question and ask why aren t you an activist i usually decide with insight to try my best in answering this potentially frustrating question why because i think it is important to understand where the questions are coming from and it is as important to look inside yourself take a step back relive your journey pause and realize that you too not that long ago may have asked the same questions of anyone engaged in working toward a better world where equality justice and freedom apply to all regardless of nationality ethnicity country of origin skin color political affiliation or sexual orientation how then does one become an activist the easy answer would be to say that we do not become activists we simply forget that we are we are all born with compassion generosity and love for others inside us we are all moved by injustice and discrimination we are all inside concerned human beings we all want to give more than to receive we all want to live in a world where solidarity and companionship are more important values than individualism and selfishness we all want to share beautiful things experience joy laughter love and experiment together but we have a problem a big one we live in a society and an epoch where we do not have time to think any longer we live in a time when taking a step back and a deep breath have become a luxury that many cannot afford we live in a world where the mainstream education system teaches you to obey and listen to authority from the earliest age and does not offer you the chance to think for yourself and express yourself in ways that are outside the proclaimed norm we live in a society where the nothing shopping watching tv has become a something and the something relaxing meditating sharing has become a void in need of being filled our minds our souls have slowly been corrupted by materialistic nothingness that has been created for us billboarded in front of our eyes and printed tattooed on our cells by advertising marketing and vulture capitalism the remote control of our world only has two buttons play and fast forward while the one we are all looking for is the pause i became an activist through books after having worked since my early twenties in various menial jobs and like a good citizen doing my nine to five looking away at the ticking clock enjoying my life for the reasons i was told were needed to enjoy it fulfilling the potential that i had been allowed to have by society and its leaders i stopped i quit my job moved from the city i had been living in for the last six years and started studying again i read loads of books and realized that i wanted this period which was supposed to be temporary because of the dread of unemployment and boredom potentially creeping in to last forever reading and feeling enlightened by those books really played a big part in changing my vision of life and what it was supposed to mean i started with reading chomsky and slowly became very interested in anything that had to do with israel palestine reading edward said mahmoud darwish ghassan kanafani john berger tanya reinhart ilan pappé norman finkelstein noam chomsky kurt vonnegut arundhati roy naomi klein all became part of my daily routine books changed me and i think that they are more than anything else one of the best tools we can use to learn reflect on and truly understand the world we are living in they are a bridge between languages continents and people a book will accompany you and will stay with you it will mark you like nothing else you will go back to it quote it argue about it you will borrow one and lend one the written word in my opinion is therefore more effective and long lasting than the spoken one as a tool for change i felt very lucky and privileged when in 2008 two of the authors i had read again and again on palestine professors noam chomsky and ilan pappé agreed to work on a book with me our long email exchanges became gaza in crisis reflections on israel s war against the palestinians which found a broad audience and was translated into many languages after the book noam ilan and i continued talking mostly via emails one day during a meeting with ilan in brussels we both came to the conclusion that a follow up to that book was necessary one thing that had indeed left me frustrated working on gaza in crisis was how the email exchanges between noam and ilan were not interactive noam answered a set of questions and ilan did the same the two authors had no way to respond to or argue with each other ilan and i therefore decided that if another book were produced it would have to consist of face to face conversations truly excited by the prospect i emailed noam pretty sure that he was not going to be available due to his extremely busy schedule to my surprise noam responded positively and a few months after i sent the email ilan and i boarded a plane for boston to meet noam in his office at mit in preparing the questions and the topics we were going to address i thought that it was important to start with the past some commentators argue that you should always look forward think about the future that thinking about the past tends to be a stumbling block that impedes on the negotiations the peace process they are often on purpose missing the point the past as far as palestine and palestinians are concerned is 1948 the nakba and the ethnic cleansing of two thirds of the population yes two thirds try to put this in perspective and do the math with the country you are living in right now that was expelled from historical palestine to make space for a new state israel it is a not so distant past we are not talking about centuries ago it is a very present past for all palestinians talking about it analyzing it is therefore crucial to understanding the current situation understanding zionism is also key and the two professors have slightly different perspectives about the matter in discussing the present we focused on the role of civil society and the impact it can have on radically changing the narrative and actual policies on the ground the huge growth and the impact of the boycott divestment and sanction bds movement cannot be underestimated in putting palestine back on the map the bds movement helped rejuvenate and rebuild the solidarity movement worldwide it offered a step by step guide with flexibility depending on the different national interests on how to turn from a defensive stance to an offensive one the bds movement asserted let s stop trying to justify our actions let s act this made for very engaging discussions the bds movement is a subject of debate between professor pappé and professor chomsky and both this book and gaza in crisis allow room for differences between the two i do think there is something to gain by enabling this conversation that it can be constructive and reinforce the struggle for palestinian rights finally and obviously we talked about the future the day after question what is actually meant practically by a free palestine what kind of state is possible is a state the solution how will palestinians and israelis share the country what constitution will be drafted while it is important to focus on the present as things on the ground are getting worse every day having a clear strategy and political vision is crucial if we want people around the globe to see what is possible with that the conversation part was concluded and as far as i was concerned this was good enough ilan however thought we needed something more he offered to write what i think is an amazing and incredibly timely and challenging original piece called the old and new conversations it is a rallying call to move forward change gears and totally rethink the vocabulary we use when it comes to the palestine question to use semantics as an educating tool for change this piece makes in my opinion the book a much better and solid one it fills in the blanks and opens up the debate to the world but something brought us back to the present in a most forceful way another israeli aggression in gaza shortly after we submitted this book to the publisher israel was at it again mowing the lawn as they horrifyingly call it the carpet bombing of an imprisoned population by its occupier with the support of most western states spurred ilan and noam to write additional contributions working on the book again while israel was indiscriminately carpet bombing a population of 1 8 million palestinians was often very difficult when things are radically wrong writing does not feel like the most obvious response for an activist writing while feeling extremely angry and useless often does not produce the best results i was glad to see some of my close friends involved in civil disobedience actions all over the world it gave me strength and faith with good people like that around the struggle after all might not be endless but the writing was essential and i hope that this book will help challenge the narrative of the powerful the pr of governments repeated in loop by the corporate media that helps justify the crimes that allows them to be committed that paralyzes people the palestine question is emblematic of what is wrong with the world the role played by western states the complicity of corporations and of various institutions make this case a very special one the fact that israel actually benefits from violating international law and receives red carpet treatment from the west means that we all have a role to play in ending the injustice that the palestinians are facing the injustice in palestine has ramifications throughout the world from ferguson to athens via mexico it is clear that many governments are reproducing the tools that israel uses to repress and oppress the palestinians the replication of those same tactics methods and often weapons serves as proof that the palestinians are now used as guinea pigs for experimentation and palestine is a great laboratory exploring the palestine case is therefore crucial for understanding where we stand as human beings and what we stand for finding a solution to this question could then open the door to a new vision to a new world to new possibilities for all of us palestine is slowly becoming global a social issue that all movements fighting for social justice need to embrace the next step is connecting the dots between various struggles around the world and creating a truly united front we are many we will prevail frank barat brussels september 2014 chapter one the old and new conversations ilan pappé when frank barat and i sat with noam chomsky for a long discussion about palestine we divided our conversation into three parts a discussion on the past focusing on understanding zionism as a historical phenomenon a conversation about the present with a particular focus on the validity and desirability of applying the apartheid model to israel and on the efficacy of the bds movement as a major strategy of solidarity with the palestinian people and finally in talking about the future we discussed the choice between a two state and a one state solution the principal purpose of these meetings was to help us all clarify our views in light of the dramatic changes not only in israel and palestine in recent years but in the region as a whole we assumed that many readers would agree with us that chomsky s take on palestine at the present historical juncture is a crucial contribution for any relevant discussion on the issue we hope that this conversation helps to clarify the palestine issue specifically highlighting the possible transition that is taking place in the solidarity movement with the palestinians with wide implications for the struggle from within israel palestine we do not cover all the issues we selected those that seemed controversial and strove for the exchange to be a civilized one apart from one or two less tame outbursts for a movement that needs to be united the fragmentation of the liberation movement itself its apparent lack of clear leadership and the ambiguity that characterizes the israeli peace camp all contribute to this dissension nonetheless a dialogue among those who believe in peace must be possible we seem to be in the midst of a transition from an old conversation about palestine to a new one i myself feel very comfortable in the new conversation but would not like to lose the comrades who are still happier in the older one so here in the first part of this book i aim to delineate the two conversations before engaging in a conversation with noam on the issues that are at the heart of the matter the old peace orthodoxy and its challengers the need to look for a new conversation about palestine stems first and foremost from the dramatic changes on the ground in recent years these developments are likely familiar to most of our readers and i will summarize them in the most updated form possible toward the end of this essay and assess their impact on the future conversation but i think the search for new ideas and maybe even for a new language about palestine emerged out of a longer term crisis the crisis was characterized by the inability to translate impressive gains outside of palestine especially in transforming world public opinion about it into tangible changes on the ground the new search is an attempt to deal with several gaps and paradoxes that haunt the solidarity movement with palestine as a result of this obstacle these days the ever growing camp of activists for peace and justice in palestine is facing several paradoxes that are hard to reconcile let me first consider these paradoxes and then suggest a way forward both through my own analysis the analyses of others and finally through a conversation with chomsky the first paradox is the gap between the dramatic change in world public opinion on the issue of palestine on the one hand and the continued support from the political and economic elites in the west for the jewish state on the other and hence the lack of any impact of that change on the reality on the ground activists for the cause of palestine sense rightly that their message of justice and their basic understanding of the grave situation in israel and palestine are now widely accepted in the world but yet this has not alleviated the palestinians sufferings wherever they are while in the past the activists could have attributed this gap to a measure of sophistication behind the israeli actions that hid well the uncanny and quite often criminal israeli policies this could not have been the case in our century the successive israeli governments since the beginning of this century rendered any sophisticated analysis of israel quite redundant these days it is very easy to expose not only the israeli policy but also the racist ideology behind it the activists efforts and this deplorable policy produced a dramatic shift in western including american public opinion but so far this shift has failed to reach the upper echelons of society and therefore on the ground israel continues unabated and uninterrupted its policies of dispossession and does not seem to be paying a price for its policies the second gap indeed paradox is the one between this widely held negative image of israel on the one hand and the very positive image its own jewish society has of the state israel s relative economic prosperity still promises that the most isolated state in the organisation for economic co operation and development is regarded by its own jewish citizens as a thriving state that has ended the arab israeli conflict and has only to struggle with residues of the western war against terrorism in the form of hamas and hezbollah but even that is not deemed a crucial issue in the wake of the arab spring israel does suffer from social and cultural rifts and cracks but they have been muted for the time being by the invention of a phony threat of an iranian nuclear war and other such scenarios that also ensure the uninhibited flow of money to the army and security services this sense of success of course is not shared by the palestinian citizens of israel in the galilee and the al naqab the negev who continue to suffer from expropriation of their land and demolition of their houses and are exposed to a new set of racist laws that undermine their most essential and elementary rights the palestinians in the west bank are still humiliated on a daily basis at checkpoints arrested without trial losing their lands to settlers and the israeli land authority and barred from traveling to nearby villages and towns due to the systems of apartheid walls and barriers that encircle their homes those who try pay with their lives or are arrested and the people of gaza are still subjected to the barbaric combination of siege and bombardment and shooting in the biggest open human jail upon earth and of course one should not forget that millions of palestinian refugees still languish in camps while their right of return seems to be totally ignored by the global powers that be the third paradox is that while specific israeli policies are severely criticized and condemned the very nature of the israeli regime and the ideology that produces these policies are not targeted by the solidarity movement activists and supporters demonstrated against the massacre in gaza in 2009 and the assault on the flotilla in 2010 yet in this arena of open and public protest nobody it seems dares to attack the ideology that is behind these aggressions there is no demonstration against zionism because even the european parliament regards such a demonstration as anti semitic imagine in the days of supremacist south africa if you were not allowed to demonstrate against the apartheid regime itself but only against the soweto massacre or any other particular atrocity committed by the south african government the last paradox is that the tale of palestine from the beginning until today is a simple story of colonialism and dispossession yet the world treats it as a multifaceted and complex story hard to understand and even harder to solve indeed the story of palestine has been told before european settlers coming to a foreign land settling there and either committing genocide against or expelling the indigenous people the zionists have not invented anything new in this respect but israel succeeded nonetheless with the help of its allies everywhere in building a multilayered explanation that is so complex that only israel can understand it any interference from the outside world is immediately castigated as naïve at best or anti semitic at worst these paradoxes at times have frustrated understandably the solidarity movement with palestine it is indeed difficult to challenge established powers and interests when they refuse to yield to the moral voice of civil societies and their agendas but there is always a need to think hard about whether more can be done in those spaces and areas in which non elite groups have the power to impact and change the conversation in effective ways in 1982 in the wake of israel s first invasion of lebanon edward said wrote an article titled permission to narrate in which he called upon the palestinians to extend their struggle into the realm of representation and historical versions or narratives the actual balance of political economic and military powers did not mean he asserted that the disempowered did not possess the ability to struggle over the production of knowledge whether such producers in or in the name of palestine have heeded said directly or were thinking along these lines anyway this project has indeed begun in earnest academic palestinian historiography and the new history in israel has succeeded in debunking some of israel s more absurd claims about what happened in 1948 and to a lesser extent had been able to refute the depiction of the palestine liberation organization plo as a purely terrorist organization but it seems that the historiographical revision and setting the record right has not had an impact on a peace process that ignored 1948 altogether the absence of the narrative and the historical conversation about what passes nowadays as a peace process seems to serve the political elites of the day well on either side of the divide and in the world at large there is no incentive whatsoever it seems to transform the hegemonic discourse that seems to be acceptable exactly because it does not ask for a dramatic change on the ground as said proposed such hegemony can be challenged by language and narration we need a more guarded approach when offering this new perspective as we are not only challenging the hegemonic powers but also the convictions of many palestinians and genuine friends of the palestine cause hence framing this challenge as a conversation may be more helpful i suggest enhancing this conversation by producing a theoretical dictionary specific to the palestine issue that gradually replaces the old one the new dictionary contains decolonization regime change one state solution and other terms discussed in the following pages and later with noam chomsky and others who try to find a way forward and out of an ongoing catastrophe with the help of these entries i hope to reexamine the hegemonic discourse employed by both the powers that be and the solidarity movement with palestine however before presenting the entries in the new dictionary i would like to look more closely at the waning of the old one still dominating the conversation about palestine among diplomats academics politicians and activists in the west i call this discourse the dictionary of the peace orthodoxy in fact not my term but alas i cannot recall where i first heard it and i apologize for justifiable claims of unoriginality the challenge to peace orthodoxy the dictionary of the peace orthodoxy sprang from an almost religious belief in the two state solution the partition of the land of palestine by allocating 80 percent of the land to israel and 20 percent to the palestinians was thought to be a feasible target that could be achieved with the help of international diplomacy and a change within the israeli society two fully sovereign states would live next to each other and agree on how to solve the palestine refugee problem and would decide jointly what kind of a jerusalem there would be there was also a wish to see israel more of a state of all its citizens and less as a jewish state that retains its jewish character this vision was clearly based on the desire to help the palestinians on the one hand and on realpolitik considerations on the other it was and is driven by oversensitivity to the wishes and ambitions of the powerful israeli side and by exaggerated consideration for the international balance of power it is a language born of american political science research and is meant to cater to basic american positions and stances on the issue most users of the language that surrounds the two state solution as the ideal settlement are probably sincere when employing it this language has helped western diplomats and politicians remain ineffective either out of will or necessity in the face of continuing israeli oppression expressions and phrases like a land for two people the peace process the israel palestine conflict the need to stop the violence on both sides negotiations or the two state solution come straight out of a contemporary version of orwell s 1984 yet this language is advanced even by people who would find this kind of a settlement morally repugnant as noam chomsky has succinctly put it in the conversation in this book and unsatisfactory but who see no other realistic way to bring an end to the oppressive israeli occupation in the west bank and the siege on the gaza strip the hegemonic language in the corridors of power in the west and among the israeli and palestinian politicians on the ground in palestine is still that discourse based on the old dictionary but this orthodox view is slowly losing ground in the activist world granted the official peace camp in israel and the liberal zionist organizations worldwide still subscribe to the view as do leftist politicians in europe in some ways known and famous friends of the cause still endorse it some it seems even religiously in the name of realpolitik and efficiency but the vast majority of activists are looking for a new way out the emergence of the bds movement through the call for such action by palestinian civil society inside and outside of palestine the growing interests and support for the one state solution and the emergence of a clearer albeit small anti zionist peace camp in israel has provided an alternative thinking the new movement which is supported by activists all around the world and inside israel and palestine is modeled on the anti apartheid solidarity movement this has become clear by the prominence of bds as the main tactic on campuses during israel apartheid week apartheid now an acceptable and common term used by student activists on behalf of the palestine cause this has been followed recently by a scholarly attempt to widen the comparative research on the two case studies apartheid south africa and israel palestine within the paradigm of settler colonialism settler colonialism is a conceptual fine tuning on the theories and histories of colonialism settler movements that sought a new life and identity in already inhabited countries were not unique to palestine in the americas in the southern tip of africa and in australia and new zealand white settlers destroyed the local population by various means foremost among them genocide to re create themselves as the owners of the country and reinvent themselves as its native population the application of this definition settler colonialism to the case of zionism is now quite common in the academic world and has politically enabled activists to see more clearly the resemblance of the case of israel and palestine to south africa and to equate the fate of the palestinians with that of the native americans this new model highlights the significant points of difference between the peace orthodoxy and the new movement the new movement relates to the whole of historical palestine as the land that needs support and change in this view the whole of palestine is an area that was and is colonized and occupied in one way or another by israel and in that area palestinians are subject to various legal and oppressive regimes emanating from the same ideological source zionism it stresses particularly the link between the ideology and israel s current positions on demography and race as the major obstacle for peace and reconciliation in israel and palestine today it is an easier task to illustrate this fresh point of view since 2010 the israeli legislation in the knesset demanding loyalty to a jewish state from the palestinian citizens codifying thus far informal discrimination in welfare benefits land rights and job hiring policies against the palestinian minority clearly has exposed israel as an overtly racist and apartheid state the green line that created different classes of palestinians those inside israel and those in the occupied territories is slowly disappearing because the same policies of ethnic cleansing are enacted on both sides of the line in fact the more sophisticated oppression of the palestinian citizens inside israel looks at times worse than the oppression of residents living under direct or indirect military rule in the west bank finally the new movement does not shy away from pushing forward a solution that is not the preferred one in the eyes of either the israelis the palestinian authority pa or the political elites of the west the one state solution the activist and the scholarly depiction of zionism as a settler colonialist movement and the state of israel as an apartheid state also determine the mechanism of change for the orthodoxy that mechanism is the peace process as if israel and palestine were once two independent states and israel invaded part of palestine from which it has to withdraw for the sake of peace the new approach proposes the decolonization of israel palestine and the substitution of the present israeli regime with democracy for all it thus targets not only the policies of the state but also its ideology from this perspective the israeli refusal to allow the 1948 refugees to return home is seen as a racist rather than pragmatic position the new activists voice their unconditional support for the palestinian refugees right of return and they voice it more clearly it seems than some palestinian leaders in other words the new approach proposes a paradigm shift for the solidarity movement which hopefully will gain credence among those in power and in particular those who are engaged with the question of palestine and peace this new paradigm offers a new analysis for the present situation and proposes a different vision for the future many elements in this new paradigm are old ideas that can be found in the plo 1968 charter and in the platforms of activist groups such as abna al balad matzpen the popular front for the liberation of palestine and the popular democratic front for the liberation of palestine these positions have been updated and adapted to the current reality the issues brought up in the past by these groups were totally ignored by the orthodox peace movement when it supported at least initially the oslo accords in the name of realpolitik even at the time that the oslo process seemed to produce some sort of change on the ground it was in essence a settlement that ignored the fate of the palestinian refugees and the palestinian minority in israel and did not relate to either the racist nature of the jewish state or its role in the 1948 ethnic cleansing of palestine the new movement has created a new dictionary that if used extensively can help shift public opinion on the subject below are some of the most illustrative and significant entries in this new language used to analyze the situation today in israel and palestine and describe a vision for the future by adopting a new discourse the activists can strengthen their commitment toward struggling against the ideology behind the current israeli abuses and violations of human and civil rights whether they take place inside israel or in the occupied territories i have divided the entries into three different temporal zones one zone relates to the way the alternative activist perspective views the past in general with its particular focus on how to define zionism and israel s actions in the past the second zone relates to the new definition of israel today mainly as an apartheid state and the implications for activism in particular outside of israel and palestine of such a definition this sparks a very relevant conversation about the importance and role of the bds movement and the various israel apartheid weeks held on campuses around the world the third zone relates to the future what are the alternatives to the dismal and ineffective attempts to move the peace process forward on the basis of a two state solution this alternative view toward the future substitutes terms such as the peace process with decolonization and regime change and envisages some sort of a one state solution instead of the two state solution these three different perspectives on the past the present and the future were each the focus of the conversations frank barat and i had with noam chomsky we did not choose him as our interlocutor because we think he necessarily represents the peace orthodoxy although he still subscribes to some of its basic assumptions but because we feel that his views on these issues are crucial for pushing forward the discussion on palestine the new dictionary the past the reassertion of the zionism as colonialism equation is critical not only because it best explains the israeli policies of judaization inside israel and settlement in the west bank but also because it is consistent with the way the early zionists perceived their project and talked about it the hebrew verb le hitnahel or le hityashev and the hebrew nouns hitanchalut and hitayasvut were used ever since 1882 by the zionist movement and later the state of israel to describe the takeover of land in palestine their accurate translation into english is to settle to colonize settlement and colonization respectively early zionists used the terms proudly since colonialism was very positively received by the public at the time and continued to until the end of the first world war when colonialism s fortunes changed in the aftermath of the second world war and colonialism connoted negative european policies and practices the zionist movement and later the state of israel looked for ways of dissociating the hebrew terminology from the colonialist one and started to use more universal and positive language to describe their policies despite this energetic attempt to claim that zionism was not part and parcel of the universal colonialist movement there was no escape from understanding these hebrew terms linked to the act of colonization to settle is deemed as an act of colonization in the scholarly and political dictionary of the twentieth and twenty first centuries so there is no way out of it even if the zionist movement and later the state of israel did not regard the expropriation of palestine s land quite often accompanied by dispossession of the natives as an act of colonizing everyone else did the analysis through the colonialist perspective also challenges the israeli claim of complexity now desperately used by israeli scholars to fend off the inevitable comparison between the situations in palestine and in south africa the historical timeline is indeed unusual it involves a nineteenth century colonialist project extended into the twenty first century but the features and solutions for this project are not unique it is a simple rather than complex narrative although its unique timing would undoubtedly require a complex settlement the analysis is clear even if the prognosis will demand some ingenuity since decolonization in the twenty first century is indeed a complex project an important task in this respect is introducing to western schools curricula and textbooks this understanding of colonialism and strengthening the research on it in universities if this were to succeed the media would follow suit the task is not easy but if this message were conveyed effectively we could then hope that every decent person in the west as in the time of colonialism would not stand on the side of the oppressive ideology and instead would identify with its victims and deem their struggle as anticolonialist this particular new discourse is likely to be branded by the israelis as anti semitic but nowadays any criticism even a soft one of israel is regarded by the state as akin to anti semitism so it seems this potential accusation should not dissuade us from using the terminology of colonization anyone who does not subscribe to the israeli version of a two state solution is suspected of being an anti semite official israel demands an absolute support of its version so when powerful secretaries of state do not reflect this version exactly they are condemned as anti semites the israeli version is a jewish state next to two bantustans divided into twelve enclaves in the west bank and contained in a huge ghetto in the gaza strip with no connection between the west bank and the gaza strip and run by a small municipality in ramallah operating as the seat of government official israel insists that in the interest of national security a palestinian state if at all allowed would be modeled along these lines the present the apartheid state of israel the scholarly literature comparing the apartheid in south africa to that of israel is only now beginning to emerge brave scholars such as uri davis used the term quite early on his analysis in the 1980s was the first to expose israel s land regime and legal practices within the green line as another form of apartheid further research has highlighted both the similarities and dissimilarities it was the first visitors from post apartheid south africa who together with former us president jimmy carter frequently used the term although it seems from very early on that they realized the regime imposed on the palestinians in the west bank and the gaza strip was in many respects far worse than that of the apartheid in south africa the most recent research has noted how uniform israeli legal economic and cultural policies have become on both sides of the green line the de facto and more invisible apartheid has been replaced by racist legislation in the knesset and open policies of discrimination it may be a different version of apartheid but the israel of 2014 is a state that segregates separates and discriminates openly on the basis of ethnicity which in american parlance would be race religion and nationality since the reference to apartheid has become common in the corridors of power as well as among activists one can see why the inventive group of activists in canada who initiated israel apartheid week on their own university campus inspired so many others in the world to follow suit the phenomenon has become so widespread now also in israel and palestine because it resonates with what people knew is happening on the ground due to the growth of the ism the international solidarity movement it has provided an alternative source of information to the distorted reports of the mainstream media in the west in particular grabbing public attention in the united states when rachel corrie a young activist in the ism was brutally killed by the israeli army the apartheid weeks are the main focal point of annual activity for the cause in palestine and they have won over the campuses that were previously dominated by zionist lobbying and academia because of the kind of harassment steven salaita norman finkelstein and others endured as university appointees suspected of harboring pro palestinian views college professors and staff are still concerned in the united states that they too may be subjected either to a prolonged process of promotion or be disqualified and refused tenure but the trend in the other direction is growing and campus communities as a space of debate have become more hostile toward those who support zionism and more friendly to those who wish to show solidarity with the palestinian cause this has not transformed yet into support from university administrations but the tide is definitely moving in the right direction the analysis of israel as an apartheid state that resembles south africa during its worst moment has produced another prognosis that is diametrically opposed to the raison d être of the peace process most of the whites in south africa were still quite racist when their regime of oppression collapsed which means that change did not come because they were transformed from within the country they were forced to change by the african national congress anc struggle and international pressure while activists still struggle in and outside of palestine to emulate the unity and power of representation the anc enjoyed they can more easily see how to manage a campaign of pressure from the outside inspired by the anti apartheid movement with south africa the new basis for such activity is a realization that the change will not come from within israel this is how the bds campaign was born out of a call from palestinian civil society to pressure israel through these means until it respects the human and civil rights of palestinians wherever they are the campaign which in many ways became a movement has its problems the absence of clear representative and effective palestinian institutions has forced the activists to act within a leadership vacuum hence at times strategic decisions have seemed to overstep the boundaries of what is tactical the campaign s relationship with boycott initiatives on the ground such as the boycott of settlement goods in the west bank or the rejection of any normalization with israelis is not always clear but these flaws pale in comparison to the campaign s success in bringing to the world s attention a crisis that is at times overshadowed by the dramas that have engulfed the region since 2011 major companies have rethought their investments in israel trade unions have ceded their connections with israeli counterparts as have various academic associations including leading ones in the united states and an impressive number of artists authors and world renowned figures including stephen hawking have cancelled their trips to israel one component of the campaign the academic boycott is still contentious as is clearly evident in the conversation frank and i had with chomsky norman finkelstein also publicly condemns this tactic but it seems that it is accepted by many others as part of the new dictionary of activism and recently led to the creation in israel of a committee of boycott from within made up of israeli jewish academics with impressive membership numbers the present ethnic cleansing and reparations insisting on describing what happened to the palestinians in 1948 and ever since as a crime and not just as a tragedy or even a catastrophe is essential if past evils are to be rectified the ethnic cleansing paradigm points clearly to a victim and offender and more importantly to a mechanism of reconciliation it clarifies the connection between zionist ideology and the movement s polices in the past and israeli policies in the present both aim to establish a jewish state by taking over as much of historical palestine as possible and leaving in it as few palestinians as possible the desire to turn the mixed ethnic palestine into a pure ethnic space was and is at the heart of the conflict that has raged since 1882 this impulse never condemned or rebuked by a world that watched by and did nothing led to the massive expulsion of 750 000 people half of the region s population the destruction of more than five hundred villages and the demolition of a dozen towns in 1948 the international silence in the face of this crime against humanity which is how ethnic cleansing is defined in the dictionary of international law transformed the ethnic cleansing into the ideological infrastructure on which the jewish state was built ethnic cleansing became the dna of israeli jewish society and remains a daily preoccupation for those in power and those who were engaged in one way or another with the various palestinian communities controlled by israel it became the means for implementing a not yet fulfilled dream if israel wanted not only to survive but also to thrive whatever the shape of the state the fewer arabs in it the better ethnic cleansing motivated not only the israeli policy throughout the years against the palestinians but also toward the millions of jews who were brought from islamic and arab counties if they were to partake in the zionist dream they had to be de arabized losing any connection to their mother tongue and proactively showing how un arab they were by daily expressing their self hate as ella habib shohat has put it for everything that is arab the arab jews who could have been the bridge to reconciliation turned out to be one of the highest obstacles to it ethnic cleansing s most preferred method is expulsion and dislocation but in the case of israel this was not always possible this limitation forced the israelis to be quite inventive in finding other means to continue with the vision of an israel that has an absolute jewish majority in it they found that if you cannot expel someone the second best option is not to allow him or her to move enclaving people in villages and towns and disallowing any spatial expansion of human habitats became the hallmark of israel s ethnic cleansing after 1948 and it is still used today very effectively when asked to explain why one new palestinian village or town was not allowed to be built between the river jordan and the mediterranean a prohibition benefiting the other ethnic group that today constitutes half of palestine s population the official israeli line is that palestinians do not need the same space as jews do and are quite happy to be stuck in their homes without free access to green spaces around them in the past any short aerial tour over the west bank would have shown you how palestinian villages used to look comfortably spread over the hills of eastern palestine beautifully mingling with the natural landscape but they have been gradually strangulated especially if they lie in the vicinity of jewish settlements or are locked between them as is the case in the galilee at the same time the jewish settlements on both sides of the green line form a very spacious suburbia so the refusal to allow the repatriation of refugees the military rule on the palestinians who were left inside israel 1948 1966 the occupation and treatment of the palestinians in the west bank the erection of the apartheid wall the silent transfer of palestinians from jerusalem the siege on gaza and the oppression of the bedouins in the al naqab are all either stages or components in an ongoing ethnic cleansing operation using the term ethnic cleansing is also about justice at every given moment in the history of the conflict justice was ridiculed when it was even suggested as a principle in the attempts to solve the conflict ethnic cleansing however ensures that the basic right of return for those who were expelled is not forgotten even if it is constantly violated by israel it seems that no real reconciliation will be possible without at least recognizing this right a new dictionary of activism is based on applying the universal concepts advanced by reparations to the case of the palestinian refugees the international community has long ago established the mechanism for treating the victims of ethnic cleansing and reparations is often used as the remedy and solution reparations here exist in a spectrum of possibilities to allow the victims and the victimizers to build a new life these possibilities include the physical return of those who survived ethnic cleansing or financial compensation to those survivors who wish to build a new life elsewhere it also includes mechanisms for reintroducing the victims in the country s historical accounts and retrieving their cultural assets the major point of all these mechanisms is that it is up to the victims of the ethnic cleansing to decide individually which reparation they would prefer but there is more at stake here than just defining and properly conceptualizing the reparation paradigm as part of the new recommended dictionary the idea of reparations and in particular the right of the refugees to return is rarely questioned in any other conflict in the world apart from palestine the european union and the us state department have a principled position on refugees that accepts without any hesitations or qualifications the right of people to return to their homes after fighting has subsided the united nations has a similar universal position and made a concrete decision on the right of the palestinian refugees to return unconditionally to their homes when it adopted resolution 194 in december 1948 it was adopted by the same un general assembly that decided on the partition plan and the creation of the jewish state so putting the right of return at the very heart of any future solution is not a revolutionary idea that asks the western world to betray its principles or adopt a unique exceptional attitude on the contrary it requires the western world to be loyal to its principles and not exclude the palestinians from the application of those principles yet the old peace orthodoxy abandoned these basic human principles and did not even think of fighting for them well the new movement does and will put them at the center of its struggle as long as the last refugee wishes to return the al jazeera palestine papers leak exposed how far the palestine authority was willing to go in order to appease the israelis it showed the pa s readiness to give up this right of return the new realities described at the end of this section reveal the emergence of a new political elite in palestine that may have a different view on the issue finally this ideology of ethnic cleansing also explains the dehumanization of the palestinians a dehumanization that can bring about the kind of atrocities we witnessed in gaza in january 2009 this dehumanization is the bitter fruit of the moral corruption that the militarization of the jewish society bore in israel the palestinians are a military target a security risk and a demographic bomb this is one of the main reasons why ethnic cleansing is an ideology that is regarded by the international community in the aftermath of the second world war as a hideous crime and moreover one that can lead to genocide since with both crimes you have to dehumanize your victim in order to implement your vision of ethnic purity whether you expel or massacre people including children they have to be objectified as military targets not as human beings anyone who has been in israel long enough as i have knows that the worst corruption of young israelis is the indoctrination they receive that totally dehumanizes the palestinians when an israeli soldier sees a palestinian baby he does not see an infant he sees the enemy this is why all the military documents whether those ordering the occupation of villages in 1948 those instructing the air force in 2009 to resort to the dahiyah doctrine the strategy that was meant to defeat hezbollah in the 2006 assault on lebanon with the carpet bombing of the eponymous southern suburb of beirut which is the shiites stronghold or when bombarding gaza depict the civilian areas as military bases in israel since 1948 ethnic cleansing is not just a policy it is a way of life and its constant practice criminalizes the state not just its policies more important when one has such a term in the activist s dictionary he or she realizes that ethnic cleansing does not end because it peters out it ends either when the job is completed or is stopped by a more powerful force this realization turns on its head the logic of the peace process that has been attempted so far the process was meant to limit the implementation of israel s policies onto the pre 1967 borders it has not of course succeed in doing that as the basic zionist quest is for control direct or indirect over the whole of palestine any tactical concessions on this space have been only due to demographic considerations not a desire for peace and reconciliation for this reason the direct control over the gaza strip has been abandoned and the zionist left supports the two state solution but this course of action is not working and as the recent more direct ethnic cleansing operations of israel in the negev the jordan valley and the greater jerusalem area have shown the old plan a of direct expulsion is still used in order to complete the work that was begun in 1948 thus the peace process forces israel to be more inventive in its ethnic cleansing strategy but does not require it to stop that strategy the new dictionary regards the end of the ethnic cleansing as a precondition for peace the depiction of zionism as colonialism the analysis of israel as an apartheid state and the recognition of how deeply imbedded the notion of ethnic cleansing is in jewish society in israel is the source of thee key entries in our new dictionary shaping our view of the future decolonization regime change and a one state solution the future decolonization and regime change the invalidity of the term peace process in regards to the israel palestine conflict became clear when people started to have access to what was really happening on the ground through the work of the ism as well as communication via the internet satellite tv and other means people in the west could see the discrepancy between the various attempts to solve the conflict such as geneva 1977 madrid 1991 oslo 1993 and camp david 2000 and what was really taking place on the ground in this respect chomsky was the first to observe that the process was never meant to reach a destination but only to perpetuate a situation of no solution israel used it as a means to grab more land build more colonies and annex more space the status quo was the solution the entry of decolonization in the dictionary would hopefully put an end to the coexistence industry which fueled a false dialogue financed mainly by the americans and the leaders of the european union most palestinians have pulled out of this post oslo accords project and wasted millions of dollars what was particularly annoying and unhelpful was the paradigm of parity on which the peace process was based it divided the blame between the two parties and treated them as equally responsible for the conflict while offering allegedly an equitable solution the blatant misbalance of power should have discredited this solution a long time ago as a realistic approach to peace it was based on the wish to appease israel without irritating it too much the end result was that the palestinians were to receive whatever israel was willing to give them this had nothing to do with peace it was a search after a comfortable capitulation by the native people of palestine who lost it to the zionists who invaded the region in the nineteenth century but the new dictionary is not made of entries based on romantic or utopian notions past injustices cannot all be undone this is very clear to the people who have been branded as unrealistic even by their friends not all past evils can be rectified but ongoing evils surely should stop and this is where the entry regime change becomes so appropriate according to the new movement it is not unthinkable to aspire to a regime change in israel nor is it naïve to envision a state where everyone is equal and it is not unrealistic to work for the unconditional return of the palestinian refugees to their homes the principle of regime change was abused by the united states and britain in their attacks on iraq and afghanistan but won a new international legitimacy in the popular revolutions in tunis and egypt regimes can change dramatically and drastically but they can also change gradually and in a bloodless manner although the upheavals in ex yugoslavia and syria serve as warnings of how badly regime change can go most of the historical examples in recent times are of nonviolent or nearly nonviolent regime changes therefore the last entry in the new dictionary a one state solution is based on the hope that a clear vision of how the future relationship between victims and victimizers is framed will indicate also the nature of the change needed and the way to achieve it for many activists the two state solution was dead long before the desperate admission of that fact by us secretary of state john kerry in april 2014 the strengthening of voices about the demise of the settlement does not mean that a clear alternative immediately has emerged a long process in search of the alternatives has just begun some people activists and new political organizations have already articulated a clearer program and idea of what such a state would be their views are based both on old ideas that were developed in the past and their own new inputs others are still groping in the dark but the journey has commenced preliminary milestones of this journey have been achieved the first milestone was the reconceptualization of israel and palestine as one country not two present or future states palestine became once more a country called palestine and not just a geopolitical reality called israel and the occupied territories and it is in this space that the new dictionary needs additional entries to clarify how people who live in palestine and those who were expelled from it could live as equals and even live in ways better than in other parts of the middle east maybe even better than in some parts of europe a second milestone which was particularly crucial as again can be gleaned from the conversation with chomsky in the second part of this book was the refutation of the allegation that the one state vision denies israel s right to exist the new movement of activists does not possess the power to eliminate states nor are they interested in doing so israel has the power to eliminate states the peace movement does not but it does have the moral power to question the ideology and ethical validity of the state and the destructive impact it had through the expulsion of half the country s population the third milestone was the head on challenge of one of the most basic assumptions of the peace orthodoxy that partition of a country is an act of peace and reconciliation partition in the history of palestine is an act of destruction committed within a framework of a un peace plan that drew no international reaction or condemnation whatsoever thus the terms in the international dictionary from that formative period that signify positive peaceful values such as partition are a newspeak to borrow george orwell s famous term for such deceptive realities partition signifies international complicity in the crime of destruction not a peace offer consequently anyone opposing partition became the enemy of peace the more sinister and pro israeli elements of the peace orthodoxy used to blame the palestinians for being irresponsible warmongering and intransigent beginning with the palestinian rejection of the partition plan in 1947 in hindsight we know partition was also an ill conceived idea from a realpolitik point of view this may not have been known at the time but to offer partition now as a solution on the same premise that informed the 1947 resolution which was that zionism was a benevolent movement wishing israelis to coexist as equals with the palestinian native majority is an absurdity and a travesty the continued adherence to the interpretation zionism gave to partition and liberal zionism very recently gave to the oslo process corrupts every human and humane value cherished in the west partition in both 1947 and 1993 means a license to have a racist jewish state in more than 56 percent of palestine in 1947 and more than 80 percent if not more in 1993 this is where the senior israeli and pro israel western political and social scientists are exposed in their utter immorality and indecency they claim and teach that a jewish state reigning over much of palestine provided there is a palestinian entity next to it is a democratic reality it is a democracy that is maintained by all means possible to ensure an everlasting jewish majority in the land these means could and have included genocidal policies and other brutal strategies to safeguard that the state embodies the ethnic identity of one group alone israelis do not find it therefore at all bizarre or unacceptable that determining the results of a democratic process by first determining by force who makes up the electorate gets the desired result a purely jewish state in a binational country this charade is still marketed successfully in the west israel is a democracy because the majority decides what it wants even if the majority is determined by means of colonization ethnic cleansing and recently by ghettoizing the palestinians in the gaza strip enclaving them in areas a and b in the west bank and in isolated villages in the greater jerusalem area the jordan valley and the bedouin reservations in the naqab israeli jews need to safeguard the existence of the palestinians threatened daily by their government and army before nourishing the project of coexistence if they want to help they can join the international solidarity movement and those within the land who wish to transform israel and palestine into a geopolitical entity in which everyone can live as equal persons and citizens conclusions palestine and israel 2014 2020 in order to move out of the paradoxes mentioned above the ideas of the old peace camp have to be abandoned the international community interested in helping palestine needs to stand behind the attempt to turn israel into a pariah state as long as israel continues to pursue its policies of apartheid dispossession and occupation the peace process between israel and the palestinians is a medical miracle it died several times was resuscitated for a while then collapsed again it holds on not because there is the slight chance it will succeed but because of the dividends its very existence brings to many involved the israeli government understands that without this peace process israel would become a pariah state and would be exposed to international boycott and even sanctions as long as the process is alive israel can continue to expand its settlement project in the west bank and the dispossession of the palestinians there including in the greater jerusalem area and establish facts on the ground that would render any future settlement unfeasible and impossible because of the dishonest brokering of the united states and europe s impotence in international affairs israel continues to enjoy immunity in this process the palestinian leadership is divided on the question of how desirable the continuation of the process is senior members in the palestinian authority assert that the establishment of the pa was a very important national achievement and therefore should be maintained others and it seems this includes president mahmoud abbas himself have begun to doubt the validity of the pa and the chances of reaching peace it is true that hollow threats to hand over the keys to the israelis were voiced in the past by abu mazen in order to exert pressure on israel but it seems that the threat from israel in spring 2014 was more genuine and the sense of despair more real and therefore the attempts to establish a unity government with hamas which were resumed in earnest that april may have a better chance of succeeding the new efforts at unity were just one indication that quite a few of those who supported the process in the past and those who have been observers have prepared themselves for the eventuality that the medical miracle would not repeat itself and the dead would not be resurrected most of those who try and understand as well as predict what will take place if indeed the process cannot be revived see any other alternative as disastrous the zionist left as well as liberal pro zionist bodies in the west talk about the nightmarish scenario of a binational state not only because it would mean the end of zionism but also would produce a far worse reality for both peoples as if things can get worse for the palestinians the israeli zionist left has a bizarre explanation for its fear of a binational state or for that matter of a single democratic state the palestinians will become tree hewers and drawers of water as the biblical phrase has it proponents warn us a warning made several times by uri avnery others describe scenes of a never ending civil war among the palestinians the support for the two state solution comes from a different angle it is perceived as the only settlement that has global support even inside israel and therefore should still be maintained quite a few of palestine s genuine friends continue to subscribe to this point of view for similar reasons although the way the center and right wings in israel imagine a two state solution differs from that imagined among members of the zionist left or within parties such as hadash and tajamu in israel and differs again among pa members and supporters of palestinians in the enlightened world there is generally a consensual depiction of it that dominates the political conversation on palestine in the world but will the consensus be there in 2015 more and more voices among various palestinian communities and among non zionist jewish activists are replacing their unwavering support for the two state solution with a search for new alternatives it is on the ground that one can see clearly how irrelevant this hegemonic and orthodox discourse of peace is and how futile any future attempts to revive it will be the zionist left has disappeared from the political scene in israel for all intents and purposes and thus the only viable political alternatives are either a coalition between the right and a secular center or a coalition between the right and ultra orthodox jews the emergence of a new and left leaning political force in israel does not seem likely at this time anyone who is still hopeful of such an eventuality underrates the mental process jewish society in israel underwent following the creation of the state in 1948 it was put under an indoctrinating steamroller that pressed together old jewish phobias about hostile gentiles in europe with typical colonialist anxieties about the natives into a frightening local version of racism deep racist layers like this are not removed easily and definitely do not disappear by themselves as the case of post apartheid south africa has so clearly shown us counter educational projects in the long run active resistance and huge pressure from the outside can transform a society like that in israel however counter education is a very long process and the immediate dangers emanating from the collapse of the diplomatic effort have such destructive potential that they would render these educational efforts useless as for the resistance movement it is still fragmented it has produced five different palestinian groups that developed discretely since 1948 each with its own national agenda and has to navigate in an almost impossible historical reality forging unity is another long term process probably taking as long as it would take to immunize jewish society against the racist virus that affects it the bds movement with all its incredible achievements and there are many has still not affected the political elites in the west who are still providing israel with immunity for its actions and policies in spite of positive developments a few brave israelis seek to confront their society s racism in all its political manifestations a systematic policy of ethnic cleansing in the negev jaffa acre nazareth east jerusalem the jordan valley and south of the hebron mountains and its constitutional manifestations a racist wave of legislation in the knesset the bds movement becomes stronger by the day and we may be witnessing genuine efforts at palestinian unification on the ground a new state the greater israeli state has been born this state has nearly completed the annexation of area c in the west bank and offers the palestinians in areas a and b incarceration in cages if they do not resist the new state or the threat that they will be treated like the population in gaza if they do resist this model is offered to the palestinian people throughout the new state in cages there is no room for spatial expansion no resources for development and progress and an absolute prohibition on resisting this new vision of a greater israeli state whoever follows the index of racism and democracy in israel recognizes this is a creeping reality a slide toward an age of more racist legislation expanded projects of judaization and an alarming increase in attacks on palestinians under the slogan tag mehir price tag that consists of the daily destruction of palestinian property and holy places in the new greater israel impotent local palestinian councils and uninterested police forces watch helplessly as organized crime takes over the more deprived palestinian neighborhoods and villages between the river jordan and the mediterranean fed by the poverty and unemployment that has reached unprecedented levels this is a tough reality that could be and should be challenged but it is left intact partly because of the energy wasted in the futile peace process as well as in power struggles among its victims over insignificant fiefdoms today in three areas a new conversation has to commence that addresses rather than ignores the reality the first area is the overall israeli policy that has obscured the green line already in existence for many years and which basically treats all the palestinians in the same way there are still advantages for palestinians who are citizens of the state of israel but these seem to disappear as the years go by as mentioned before this is happening not only because israel is less interested in providing these advantages but also due to the growing recognition that a hidden apartheid system such as the one in israel itself is no less oppressive than a direct occupation in the west bank or prolonged siege in the gaza strip when different forms of oppression emanate from the same source the struggle against it has to be focused i have no illusions that in the near future we will all be guided by a clear and unified palestinian strategy but whoever subscribes to the importance of the jewish palestinian joint struggle has to recognize a worldview that confronts the ethnic cleansing throughout all of palestine and not just in part of it a genuine and clear conversation about the new options instead of a dead formula is imperative at this moment in history the reframing of the arab jewish relationship over the whole land of historical palestine is a crucial project that has to commence whatever one proposes in terms of the future political entity it has to be based on full equality for whoever lives in or was expelled from the country each such entity or ideal future model hopefully could be developed through the existing representative bodies and new ones that might emerge but for the sake of some sort of progress beyond the conceptual paralysis imposed on us in the name of the two state solution anyone who can and wants to on every possible stage should offer a political ideological constitutional and socio economic structure for whoever lives in the country of palestine and not just in the state of israel the second area is the future of the palestinian refugees as long as this question is discussed within the framework of the old peace orthodoxy and the two state solution discourse it remains marginal and its solution deemed possible only as a return of refugees to the future palestinian state a totally different conversation about the refugee issue focuses on two subjects the first an analysis of the israeli refusal to allow the return of refugees as yet another manifestation of how racist this state has become the second the need to consider the fate of the refugees in the light of the new refugee problem in syria which includes large numbers of palestinian refugees within the framework of the diplomatic effort that was based on the two state solution israel s determined rejection of any return was legitimized as was the israeli argument that return would not allow israel to maintain a jewish majority in the state this international legitimacy indirectly licenses israel to employ any means it deems necessary to maintain a significant jewish majority in the state in this respect there is no difference between an israeli position that rejects the refugees right of return and the other israeli projects of ethnic cleansing be it proposing to annex wadi ara to the west bank uprooting the bedouins in the naqab or depopulating east jerusalem and the jordan valley peace cannot be on the agenda of a state that exercises such policies against its own citizens a subject associated with the refugee question is the immediate fate of the palestinian refugees in syria lebanon iraq turkey and jordan who fled the civil war in syria israel boasts of its humanitarianism by telling the world that it admitted dozens of wounded syrian fighters to its hospitals but syria s four neighbors who have no less complicated relationships with syria absorbed hundreds of thousands of refugees even if israel does not show any humanitarian interest in these refugees many of whom are palestinians anyone who is part of the peace camp inside and outside palestine has to highlight the linkage between the syrian tragedy and the palestine issue the need to offer the old new palestinian refugees a return to their original homeland has to be endorsed as both a humanitarian gesture and as a political act that can contribute to the end of the conflict in israel and palestine the right of return in general should be placed at the heart of much of the activity inside israel and there are early encouraging signs that the local agenda of activists there is moving in this direction the nakba took place where israel is today not in the west bank or the gaza strip any conversation about reconciliation with both communities should take this fact as a starting point a preliminary step is probably recognizing at least the right of internal palestinian refugees about 250 000 today by conservative estimates to return to their homes or nearby the right of internally displaced persons to return is the issue on which the widest consensus can build inside israel in the struggle against the ongoing ethnic cleansing the internal refugeehood presents a testimony from the past for what and against what the struggle is all about the refugees are already part of the demographic balance how these people will return and how other refugees will return is a question that has to be at the center and not on the margins of the public debate about palestine in this century the third and last area is the absence of any socialist discourse from the conversation about palestine this absence is one of the main reasons the so called peace camp in israel and the same is true regarding the lobbyists on j street in the united states has no issue with neoliberalism this worldview is not opposed to israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories but has no position on the harsh economic and social oppression that does not distinguish between a west bank inhabitant and an israeli citizen it is true that unfortunately some of the jewish oppressed classes in israel in particular the arab jews who see themselves as jews first subscribe to extreme racist views but their plight is another good reason not to give up on a worldview that challenges the present economic not just political regime between the river jordan and the sea the absence of this angle also weakens our ability to understand the oslo accords the creation of the pa projects such as people to people and the maintenance of the occupation by eu and usaid money as neoliberal projects economic elites supported the peace process because it was perceived to lead to an economic bonanza the importance of insisting on a socialist worldview can be gleaned from the example of post apartheid south africa which has proven so disappointing as it maintains an economic structure that still discriminates against the african community there those who represent institutionally collectively or individually this worldview have a responsibility to make sure the conversation about it will not stop at the green line but will relate to palestine as a whole and who knows it may kick off a serious conversation about the future of the middle east in its entirety heading toward 2020 we will all most probably face a racist ultra capitalist and more expanded israel still busy ethnically cleansing palestine there is however a good chance that such a state will become a global pariah and the people around the world will ask their leaders to act and end any relations they have with it what they should not hear are the past slogans which are no longer relevant in the struggle for a more just and democratic palestine part one dialogues chapter two the past frank barat how important is the role of the past in understanding the present more and more people are asking the palestinians to move on to forget about the past the nakba of 1948 the refugees how would you respond to that noam chomsky well it s not just on this issue it s quite standard for those who hold the clubs to say forget about everything that happened and let s just go on from here in other words i ve got what i want and you forget what your concerns are i ll just take what i want that s what it translates as in this case too to forget about the past means forgetting about the future because the past involves aspirations hopes many of them entirely justified that will be dealt with in the future if you pay attention to them it s essentially saying let s dismiss just hopes and aspirations because we ve got what we want ilan pappé i definitely agree with this i would say that in the case of palestine and why we continue to receive requests to speak and give our views the clock of destruction continues at every historical juncture at a much faster pace than our clock of ideas on how to get out of this this stalemate continues however because the perception of those who manage the so called peace process those who interpret the reality in palestine and israel and claim that they know what is the right solution is rigid and has not changed for years at its base is a formula for peace that insists on taking the past out of the equation of peace these peace brokers claim that the relevant past for any peace process is the moment the process begins anything that happened before is irrelevant for that process so if you already have huge jewish settlement blocks all over the west bank you cannot think about dismantling them you may think about the exchange of territories but not about dismantling these settlements so the past becomes an obstacle in the eyes of the so called mediators but the past is everything in the eyes of the occupied and the oppressed people nc i might add to that it s universal president obama says well let s forget about the crimes that were committed the invasion of iraq let s just go on in others words let s continue the same way we ve been proceeding that s the weapon of the powerful ip absolutely fb zionism has become a word that has many definitions and interpretations some people don t know what it means anymore could you give us an overview of what this word has meant historically ip as you re saying zionism has many interpretations its more neutral definition would be ideology i suppose zionism is a set of ideas that inspires people to do certain things and act in accordance to them what is important in my mind is how people in power interpret this ideology i m less interested in how it is interpreted by neutral scholars i m interested in zionism as an ideology that has an impact on people s lives on the ground as such it is an ideology and has been since almost the beginning of the zionist project in palestine that meant in very simple terms that judaism as a national movement has the right and the aspirations to have as much of palestine as possible with as few palestinians in it as possible such a reality was determined as a precondition for creating new jewish life i think that throughout the years when you have an institution like a state which accepts this ideology as its ethical infrastructure that ideology becomes even more powerful in the life of people as such it is not that different from other national or cultural ideologies its uniqueness lies elsewhere zionism today is an ideology of power that is quite peculiar in history as it is directed against one particular group of people usually ideologies have wider implications for people zionism is very focused whether it can be substituted by a more progressive ideology is a very good question the best way forward seems is for its victims and opponents to see how far they can progress motivated by a set of universal values of human rights and civil rights because most of what is interpreted today as zionism violates and contradicts basic human rights and civil rights for anyone who is not a jew in israel rather than finding the alternative ideology as such the goal is to create positions that claim the right of people to elementary human and civil rights fb is there a clear definition of zionism today what is a zionist today nc first of all i think that here again the past is relevant zionism meant something different in the pre state and post state period from 1948 on zionism meant the ideology of the state a state religion like americanism or the magnificence of france in fact even in this period the notion has changed i remember for example in 1964 i happened to spend some time in israel and among leftish intellectuals zionism was regarded as a joke a thing that was used for propaganda for children three years later most of these people were raving nationalists that changed in 1967 which was a sea change in the way many israelis saw themselves and what the state was like fundamentally in the pre state period it was not a state religion for example in the mid 1940s i was a zionist youth leader but strongly opposed to a jewish state i was in favor of jewish arab working class cooperation to build a socialist palestine but the idea of a jewish state was anathema i was a zionist youth leader because it was not a state religion you go back a bit further my father his generation they were zionists but they were ahad ha amists they wanted a cultural center as a place where the diaspora could find a way to live together with the palestinians that ended in 1948 from then on it essentially became a state religion one that shifted in terms of policies it s interesting to remember this in the mid 1970s it was clear that the arabs were perfectly willing to make a political settlement syria egypt and jordan proposed a two state settlement at the security council the usa had to veto it egypt had already offered a full peace treaty with israel it was necessary to raise barriers to block negotiations so the concept of zionism changed everyone had to accept the right to exist of israel states do not have a right to exist mexico does not accept the right of the usa to exist sitting on half of mexico states recognize each other but not their right to exist there is no such thing but israel raised that barrier to require that palestinians accept that their oppression and expulsion is justified not just that it happened but that it is justified of course they are not going to accept that so it was a nice barrier to stop negotiations now it s harder the support for a settlement is now so overwhelming that israel has been forced to raise the barrier still higher the palestinians now have to recognize israel as a jewish state that s the core element of most of the speeches that netanyahu gives why that because that s understood to be impossible nobody should recognize israel as a jewish state just as we do not recognize the usa as a christian state say pakistan calls itself an islamic state but the usa does not recognize it as one zionism in the policy of the state of israel has had to shift to impose still higher barriers to any kind of political settlement if something more is needed in the future they will invent something new zionism as state policy is a shifting concept depending on what the state needs ip for me there is one constant dimension of zionism that does not easily shift with time one can call it mainstream zionism sometimes referred to as labor zionism it s the colonialist or settler colonialist dimension of zionism from the moment the more vague ideas of zionism as the revival of judaism as nationalism became the concrete project of settling in palestine zionism became a settler colonialist project and still is one today maybe the means of colonizing palestine are changing according to circumstances and the balance of power but not the vision itself within that act of colonizing also come perceptions of the native or the indigenous population as being an obstacle for the success of the project i think that this part of zionism stays at the heart of the ideology even before the state was founded the state just enhances the ability to colonize but does not change the vision of colonizing palestine palestinian perspectives on it however did change with time noteworthy is the position of palestinian intellectuals and leaders such as azmi bishara who argues that the settlers today have a certain right and presence in palestine when the first wave of settlers came as zionists it happened at a historical moment when quite often in the history of nineteenth century colonialism the local population could opt for resistance and successfully usually in an armed struggle push the colonizers back to their home countries when the colonizers are already a third generation and even succeeded in founding their own state the native population has to strategize differently and find ways of coexisting with this generation of colonizers the reason the colonialist impulse of the zionist movement did not end at a certain historical moment lies in the territorial appetite and greediness of these settlers when they were offered part of palestine in 1937 they regarded it as insufficient space for implementing their aspirations but they had a wise leader david ben gurion who understood that it was tactfully beneficial not to spell out clearly these annexationist dreams so he told the royal peel commission the zionist movement was content with a small part of the country he continued this tactical and successful policy in 1947 and led his community to accept a larger part of palestine than that offered in 1937 but one that he still deemed as insufficient he told his colleagues he was very unhappy with the map offered by the un partition plan in november 1947 and promised them as indeed happened that they would have the means the opportunity and the plan to change these borders later on his successors still hope to re create his winning formulae today after israel completed the takeover of the whole of palestine in 1967 but unlike ben gurion in 1937 and 1947 they so far failed in obtaining the international legitimacy for the last territorial expansion and unlike him at least some of them were even seeking again unsuccessfully palestinian legitimacy for this act nc i think that s a correct characterization of what you d call hard core zionism or more generally political zionism which of course ben gurion was a leading figure of but zionism generally was broader like ahad ha am was a zionist but not a political zionist the groups that i was involved in admittedly were marginal like kalvarisky s league for arab jewish rapprochement they were zionists but anti state they were class based and in favor of jewish arab working class cooperation it might sound strange today but it did not in the context of the thirties and the forties ip the jews were a minority then is it possible when the jews are a majority and in power to develop such ideas nc well this is later a majority and a state in fact they were strongly opposed to it at the time so the concept changed what you are describing is a correct characterization of the mainstream of political zionism technically the zionist movement did not formally accept the notion of a state until 1942 but it was always in the background of political zionism you just could not say it i think it s worth thinking through what the options were because that may be some kind of a guide to what the future could be fb nowadays a lot of people describe zionism as a settler colonial movement do you both agree with this definition nc the jewish settlement in israel was certainly a settler colonial movement when you talk about what zionism was it depends on how wide you want to spread it the movement that developed yes is a settler colonial society like the usa australia the anglosphere israel is one of them it s not a small point if you take a look at the international support for israeli policies it s of course primarily the usa but secondarily it s the anglosphere australia canada i suspect that there is a kind of intuitive feeling on the part of the population look we did it it must be right so they are doing it so it must be right the settler colonial societies have a different kind of mentality we did exterminate or expel the indigenous population so there has to be something justified about it superior civilization or other ideas ip our chance to change international perspective and perceptions even in settler colonialist societies has to do with the past even if you go to the usa and australia nowadays maybe because the policies were genocidal and happened many years ago i do not think these societies will resort easily today to settler colonialist practices they may deal well or not so well from our perspective with crimes of the past they may find different ways of engaging with them as the australians did when they initiated the sorry day or even a more progressive act of reconciliation in the permit given by the government of new zealand to the maoris to return to their lands that were stolen from them all these acts are taken from what one can call the comfort zone of those settlers societies that have diminished the native population to such an extent at the early stage of colonization that they have no fear the symbolic acts will change the socio economic or even political realities of today for the israelis of course the task is far more formidable they are still dispossessing because they failed in the early stage of the 1948 ethnic cleansing to eliminate the palestinians as a people and thus every symbolic act of reconciliation would have a profound and tangible impact on the socio economic and political realities on the ground most israeli jews do all they can to prevent this from happening where they are not sure about their success is in winning international and regional legitimacy for their acts nc it s true israel has had the problem that it s a twentieth century version of a seventeenth through nineteenth century colonialism that s a problem but my point was a little bit different there is a kind of an underlying mentality in the anglosphere in settler colonial societies which is simply some kind of deep seated part of the way in which people look at the world and that slips through however speaking about the future this is changing in the anglosphere since the 1960s mainly the effect of sixties era activism there has been a considerable revival a significant one of concern for what actually happened in the past a lot of it was suppressed until then literally you go back to the 1960s when leading anthropologists were claiming that there were maybe only a million indians native americans around the country that s collapsed now attitudes are very different i think this is part of the background for the increasing criticism of the settler colonial character of israel these things are connected in sort of subtle ways ip i agree and i think that this shift in perceptions in the settler colonial societies is something we are still struggling with as activists i remember how i struggled to explain to my students in england that what they see in israel and palestine today is a daily implementation of nineteenth century colonialist ideology and discourse nc yes ip where the israelis find it difficult is actually in escaping the description of the reality as colonialist when trying to do this in hebrew any translation into another language of the israeli terminology of settlement is bound to expose the colonialist nature of the project even those progressive jews who support israel feel uncomfortable when this act of translation is taking place this israeli predicament is also our predicament as activists we are dealing with a nineteenth century fossil that is very alive and kicking in the twenty first century that s why i think the power of connecting the past to the future comes through the paradigm of settler colonialism because settler colonialism is not only about the act of settling and colonizing but what happens afterwards nc driving out the indigenous population ip exactly fb i want to go back to the question of a jewish state if the jews are a people what is the problem of them having a state and why shouldn t we recognize israel as a jewish state ip i think that no one i know has ever objected or questioned the right of people to redefine themselves on a national ethnic or cultural ground there is no ground for objecting from the perspective of international law or international morality neither is the historical moment in which they decide to do it questionable however this particular group had defined itself in the past in our case as a religious group the problem lies elsewhere what is the price paid by this transformation and who pays the price if this new definition comes at the expense of another people this becomes a problem if a group is a victim of a crime and is looking for a safe haven it cannot obtain this by expelling someone else another group from this space that you want as your safe haven this is the difference between what you want as a group and what means you use to achieve it the problem is not the right of the jews to have a state of their own or not that s an internal jewish problem orthodox jews might have a problem with this palestinians have no qualms about the jews forming a state in uganda as some people proposed in 1902 to 1903 not one palestinian in the world would be interested in this scenario that s the main issue how do you implement your right to self determination nc the idea of a jewish state is an anomaly it s not something that s happened somewhere in the world the question is based on the wrong presupposition take france it took a long time for france to become a state a lot of violence and repression took place in fact all state formation is a process of extreme violence that s why europe was the most violent place in the world for centuries once a state is established any citizen is a citizen of the state no matter who you are if you are a french citizen you re french if you live in israel and you are an israeli citizen you are not a jew so the jewish state concept is a complete anomaly it has no analogs in the modern world therefore it s obvious why we should not accept it why should we accept this unique anomaly every state if you look at its history is created by extreme violence there is no other way to impose a uniform structure on people of varying interests backgrounds languages and so on so it s done by violence but once it s there at least in the modern state system anybody who is part of a state is theoretically an equal member of the state of course it might not work in practice but that s the concept in israel it is totally different there is a distinction between citizenship and nationality there is no israeli nationality you cannot be an israeli national this came up in the courts back in the sixties and came back up again recently a group of israelis wanted to have their papers identify them as israelis not as jews it went all the way to the high court which rejected it it reflects this anomalous concept of a jewish state which has no counterpart in the contemporary international political system ip paradoxically it is used by israel in an attempt to stifle any criticism of the state and its ideology if you chastise israel you assault the jewish state and by association you attack judaism that s a very interesting line of argumentation and defense this prohibition would not work in any case if you look at the struggle against apartheid in south africa it is as if in the heyday of the struggle against apartheid you were only allowed to criticize certain policies of south african society but not the very nature of the regime that s a great success for israel that it obtained immunity from such a protest movement so far they defined the parameters of the game you are allowed to demonstrate against israeli policies but if you demonstrate against israel you demonstrate against the jewish state and therefore you demonstrate against judaism that is why it is very important to bring this to the fore of the discussion nc it s interesting that it is now the israeli leadership itself that is bringing it to the fore ip exactly nc when netanyahu says you have to recognize us as a jewish state he is saying you have to recognize us as something that does not exist in the modern world there is no such thing again if you are french a citizen of france you are french if you are a citizen of israel you are not jewish it s crucial fb could israel have formed without the holocaust nc it s hard to debate such a question but i think it would have what ilan was describing before the national institutions that had been created they were strong there was a military force an ideology support for it in the powerful countries for all kind of reasons like in britain and in the us a lot of the support for it was religious christian zionism is a very significant force it goes back way before jewish zionism it was an elite phenomenon lord balfour lloyd george woodrow wilson harry truman read the bible every morning it says there god promised the land to the jews that s in the powerful states there was already plenty of support in fact britain as the mandatory authority facilitated the development of the jewish national institutions so my guess is that it would have happened without the holocaust also it s worth remembering that the holocaust was not a big issue in the 1940s on the contrary it became a big issue after 1967 if you take a look at the holocaust museums the holocaust studies programs it s post 67 it s very striking in the usa so ask yourself a very simple question after the war there were many survivors of the holocaust many of them living in concentration camps they were in camps that were essentially no different from the nazi extermination camps except that there were no crematoria there were us government presidential studies that investigated and said that the people were living under the conditions of nazi occupation simple question how many of them came to the united states virtually none if you had asked them where they wanted to go i think you can make a sane guess that they would have wanted to come to the united states half of europe wanted to come especially holocaust survivors they did not the american government did not want them the american jewish community did not want them zionist emissaries took over the camps they had a principle that able bodied men and women between seventeen and thirty five had to be shipped off to palestine the first book on this which has been a suppressed topic appeared a couple of years ago a yosef grodzinsky book ip only in hebrew right nc it s in english too but it s been so suppressed that nobody knows about it it s deeply hidden but it does exist the translation of the hebrew title is good human material the idea was that the good human material was going to be cannon fodder nobody studied it but you can be pretty sure that coming to the us was what they would have chosen that s what the holocaust meant you can see it in propaganda truman is very much honored because he was trying to force the british to send jews to palestine nobody asks why truman did not say okay let s take a hundred thousand jews here this is the place where it would have been easiest to absorb them it can absorb anybody it s a country that is not densely settled the richest country in history they did not because the holocaust was considered a way to damn the enemy but it was not a meaningful concept when the first scholarly study of the holocaust came out by raul hilberg it was condemned let s not bring out all that stuff we do not want that ip i do agree though i have a slightly different take on this it has a lot to do with historical timing it is absolutely true that without the holocaust there were vested religious and strategic western interests to have a jewish presence instead of a palestinian one or they would have called it at the time an islamic one you particularly see it when you read the correspondence surrounding both the balfour declaration and its aftermath in britain in the 1920s and 1930s a few british public figures were trying to protect the interests of the indigenous palestinians but already then they were saying that it was almost impossible to bring the other point of view to the public s attention you were immediately stifled and rebutted and so on it was not just christian zionism alone that won the day for zionism long before the holocaust the impulse to allow indeed to push jews to settle in palestine was motivated also by british and western islamophobia nc true ip it was anti arab anti muslim if you take a place where christian zionists or secular british imperialists want to see jewish presence serving their empires or theologies and do not wish to see there an arab or muslim presence it becomes a powerful international coalition that defeats a priori the indigenous people this was the powerful coalition the palestinians had to face when they first attempted to create a national movement and struggle for their right of self determination and independence the holocaust had an effect on the historical timing but i think that the historical timing is important after the holocaust there is the beginning of historical processes by which the power of islamophobia or arabophobia or christian zionism wanes call it the left call it progressiveness these forces eventually decolonized the arab world and even africa so zionism without the holocaust could have found it a bit more difficult to establish what it did establish in the same place it did nc i totally agree with this ip what noam said about the dps displaced persons is very interesting because when both the anglo american commission in 1946 and we can see it from richard crossman s memoirs and both unscops united nations special committee on palestine afterward in 1947 when they tried to be sort of neutral and said let s see both sides points of view on palestine many members of both committees claimed that visiting the dps of course with good zionist propaganda made them associate the fate of the jews of europe demographically arithmetically with the fate of the jews in palestine which put the palestinian point of view in a very weak position who are you to be against our wish to solve the problem of the jews in europe as a whole you could not visit vienna in 1900 and ask the jews to come to palestine it would not have worked then nc you re right but i think it tells you something very interesting about western culture when they went to the concentration camps and were appalled they did not say let s save the survivors they said let someone else pay for saving the survivors ip exactly nc this tells you something about the west the deeply rooted imperial mentality that affects the west like a plague yes there are these people living in misery we are the ones able to help them but we are not going to even raise that possibility somebody else who does not have the capacity they have to suffer for it fb was it only due to imperialist policies or also due to western anti semitism nc zionists or not they would have reacted exactly the same ip i agree nc take say the usa which is the clearest case after the second world war they were in an absolutely unique position there was some zionist pressure but it did not mean anything they just did not want them and the american jewish community did not want them either fb was it anti semitic nc anti semitism partly but mostly why should we take the burden ip not them and not anyone else it did not have to be jews nc in 1924 there was an immigration law in the usa that was aimed at jews and italians let s keep them out of the country they did not say it that way they said eastern and southeastern and southern europeans ip the pathology of zionism is crucial when you are a historian you always have to remember that people did not know what was going to happen so when you look at zionist discussions in the 1930s about nazism and fascism you have to realize that these people are talking about nazism without knowing what will be the final solution they are not appalled they say that they should talk to these people we have a uniformity of interest here they want the jews out of germany we want the jews out of germany on this basis they even go into negotiations you do not correlate zionism with nazism when you say that you show that you are in the company of people and they had to understand which interests they were serving apart from theirs this comes to the fore very strongly nc it s very striking it s important to stress that in the 1930s you could not see what was going to happen it was even true of german jews there is a book in 1935 by joachim prinz wir juden this is a humanist zionist who said that jews should recognize that they should be sympathetic to the nazis because they have the same kind of ideology we do blood and land and so on we agree with that if we can only explain to them that we are really on the same side they will stop persecuting us this was in 1935 in fact you can go to 1941 the usa had a consul in berlin prior to pearl harbor and he was writing fairly sympathetic commentaries on the nazis his name was george kennan one of the framers of the postwar world ip yes kennan the strategist who thought that america should control 50 percent of the world s natural resources to have the standard of living they desired fb the refugee question is key for any palestinian inside or outside palestine don t you think that the first step the israeli government should take is to accept its responsibility in creating the problem in the first place and then as kevin rudd did in australia issue a public apology also should we as activists clearly state that regardless of the possibility or not of the refugees and their descendants going back to their original homes they do have this right nc i think that not only they should do it but it s come close to that there has been among the various informal negotiations like geneva a move to say okay let s admit that they have the right of return while recognizing that they will not return to use an analogy i gave a talk in arizona recently and i simply referred to it as occupied mexico which it is it should be referred to that way it s occupied mexico we conquered it in a violent brutal war of aggression we should do something about it that s why they have names like san francisco san diego los angeles and so on recognize it recognize what we did on the other hand we know we are not going to give it back to mexico there are terrible historical injustices some of them you can try to do something about but just to unwind history is very difficult maybe in the longer term this could happen in israel in fact in my view the only way there would be a realistic solution to the return problem is if the whole state system erodes in the region if you travel in the northern galilee you can see that there is no basis for a line there i ll tell you an anecdote in 1953 my wife and i were living in a kibbutz in israel we were students hiking around backpacking in the northern galilee on a road behind us a jeep came by a guy came out and started yelling at us you have to go back you are in the wrong country we crossed into lebanon these days it s probably bristling with machine guns there should not be any line there over time i think there is a chance that these borders may erode the whole sykes picot imperial arrangement is beginning to erode and it could go further in the longer term when they talk about a two state solution i do not think that this should be regarded as the end as i ve said before states have no inherent legitimacy they have all been imposed by violence they are causing violence all over the world it s an inhuman social structure it should erode every time in that context i think you could imagine an authentic return not just recognition of an historical wrong but in fact interactions among people that are not based on states or religious or ethnic lines there are other grounds for people to interact with one another ip well i do agree with most of it but i think that there are three dimensions to this question one is tackling it as key issue in the peace negotiations the right has symbolic and practical aspects there is a palestinian demand for an israeli recognition of the right itself through a combination of acknowledgment and apology this maybe in the form of an apology can open the ground for discussions over practicalities the second dimension is the implication of the israeli position on the very nature of the state and the zionist project the israeli rejection of the right of return stems from a racist ideology hence for me as an activist struggle over or engaging with the issue of the right of return relates directly to the question of the moral validity of zionism and the nature of the jewish state today nc yes ip the reason they do not accept the return has nothing to do with practicalities it has to do with jewish supremacy and jewish exclusivity nc yes ip so you struggle against it from an israeli jewish perspective not so much on the level of acknowledgment and apology which i think are important for the peace process to progress but on this whole other level the third dimension concerns the palestinians alone it concerns the question of how to live an ordinary life under the shadow of the right of return slogan how does one navigate between perceiving the right as sacred with the knowledge it is not around the corner this translates into concrete questions do you really condemn palestinians in the refugee camps in lebanon for improving a little bit their homes without immediately accusing them of naturalization tawtin or that they have betrayed the right of return because they have slightly improved their standard of living it s up to the palestinians to strategize i am not going to do it for them but they will have to strategize and differentiate between for instance refugees in the west bank the gaza strip the internal refugees inside israel and also the refugees in jordan syria and lebanon these three dimensions are very important for developing a novel approach toward this painful issue for me the basic point is what is a jewish state can it really exist as such what would be a solution that is not based on a continued violation of basic human and civil rights and one that has to include the right of people to come back to their homeland their right to visit their homeland i think that s where we sometimes do not differentiate between what is right what we believe is justified and what should be the issues we discuss inside israel inside the palestinian community and among the community of negotiators and mediators we should be beyond that argument of supporting or not the right of return we should talk about what it means this is what israeli society has to do have a serious internal discussion about its own racist nature nc in support of the observations that it is really a racist issue is the fact that israel has been trying to block by law or by force commemorating the nakba or recognizing it ip exactly nc this has nothing to do with refugees this is pure racism justifying your own repression and violence i was in refugee camps not that long ago the people live in horrible conditions it s very moving i visited a family who lived in a small room as usual middle eastern style they offered coffee and so on but when they start showing you the keys of their villages their houses pictures of their land when they start telling you idealized stories about what life was like in the galilee you re right ilan it has to be dealt with realistically but it s hard to tell people like that you are never going to see your village again ip no you should not say that what i meant is that we should tell them that until they see their villages they should make their lives better you are not undermining your chance of seeing your village by creating some comfort in your life now nc that s right ip you are not undermining your life as a palestinian citizen of israel by pushing aside accusations of practicing normalization because you have a palestinian theater in haifa such a theater was accused of tabi normalization for accepting a budget from the israeli ministry of culture in israel you can open a theater in haifa without taking money from the ministry these issues living life under slogans having moral or political purity have a lot to do with the fact that if you are struggling for a different moral infrastructure for a future state it would be far more important to provide a different ethical base for this future state to which the refugees would return whether it is one state a federal state a binational state if you fight for a different ethical infrastructure for the state the whole issue of people wanting to change their lives either by coming back or by visiting becomes a different issue the conversation here is different and we do not condemn people for persisting in the last sixty five years to dream about their return home they have this right but what do we do until that right is implemented to my mind this is no less important than protecting the right nc at a human level some steps should be taken like the israeli women who bring palestinian women to the beach it s very important i mean imagine those people that can see the sea but cannot touch it the fact that there are some efforts to overcome that that s the way things could begin fb i remember professor chomsky that you told me in a previous interview that israeli policies will lead israel to self destruction the issue for example of bringing as many jews to israel as possible regardless of their real jewishness russian jews ethiopian jews the internal racism it creates between haredi jews ashkenazis mizrahis is becoming very worrying and problematic can you reflect on that nc that s one kind of problem internal but what i had in mind was a different one in 1971 israel made a decision which in my view was its most fateful decision in its history there was an offer from egypt for a full peace treaty the israeli government led by golda meir considered it and rejected it because they wanted to colonize the sinai basically their choice at the time was between security and expansion a peace treaty with egypt whatever one might think about that outcome would have meant security in fact permanent security as egypt was the only powerful arab military force they understood that but they preferred to expand into the sinai this was a fateful decision and it s been followed ever since ever since then israel prefers expansion over security to say they prefer expansion to security means that they are going to follow the path of apartheid south africa because that follows automatically step by step they are going to become isolated a pariah state delegitimized very much like south africa they are going to be able to survive only as long as the us supports them it s very interesting to look at the history of south africa you could pretty much replace the word south africa with israel all through the history back in 1960 roughly the apartheid regime recognized that it was becoming an international pariah we now know from declassified documents that the foreign minister called the american ambassador and told him that he knew everyone was voting against them but that as long as the us was backing them they did not care that s pretty much what happened by 1988 and a few years beyond the us was still supporting south africa strongly thatcher too but it was mainly reagan and the us south africa was okay when us policy shifted apartheid ended israel is moving in exactly the same direction by now their sole support virtually is the us they are becoming delegitimized they are worried about it but it is going to continue it s inherent with a policy of expansion disregard of international opinion violations of international law you can get away with it as long as you have the biggest thug on the block protecting you but that s a weak support because it is going to erode in the us too just like it did with south africa you can already see it happening the us anti apartheid movement really started in the eighties twenty years later than it did in england but it did develop and it was significant and it changed policy ip i think that what you are saying is correct to a certain extent there is one big difference between south africa and israel usually people that do the comparison say that unfortunately it will be much more difficult to dismantle israeli apartheid than the south african one nc it s not apartheid i think the state is going to collapse ip it is a demand for a regime change nc it s very different from apartheid it s really an issue of delegitimization and isolation ip what i am saying is that the white community in south africa was from a socio economic point of view quite homogenous whereas the white supremacist group in israel is polarized economically and socially if you add to this what noam was talking about the international delegitimization of israel you have two powerful processes one from the inside and one from the outside that really questions the viability of the state if you belong to the master race but within the master race you have such a polarization in how the economic cake is being shared you are in trouble the israelis now have to brand two commodities they have to market to the world the legitimacy of the state in a world that finds it very difficult to accept it but then they have also a domestic branding to do they have to explain to the poor and marginalized jews why belonging to the master race has not improved their socio economic standards of living why do they still live in impoverished development towns why is their culture not represented in the european dominated and hegemonic culture israeli strategists will tell you that they have dealt with this by having a common enemy a security issue by having a war on islam the explanations and excuses have changed with time but the polarized socio economic reality remained the same that s where the israelis will find it difficult there is a limit to how much you can justify a socio economic marginalization and polarization this became a more acute problem because since 2008 the middle class in israel is being pushed down to being the lower middle class which means that a larger number of people is prevented from getting its share of the national cake despite their belonging to the right ethnic group in the past and until recently the ability to keep enough people convinced that their ethnic association also benefits them economically depended largely on the huge amounts of american financial aid to israel it is not very clear how much longer such massive aid will be continued the tendency to review critically how much america is spending abroad does not come only from anti imperialist critiques in the united states and the people who would demand a reduction in the aid to israel are not necessarily pro palestinians the question would be whether the jewish state is still a strategic asset or financial liability these processes will work to weaken the zionist state in the long run but my great fear is about the near future as i heard and learned from veteran anc leaders and activists the apartheid regime became particularly fierce and vicious in its last years it is the prospective fall of zionism that brings us to a very dangerous period in the history of palestine we all have to be very alert and on guard about what is going to happen in the next few years rather than in the long term you can be a bit more optimistic about the long term in terms of justice and changes in the reality nc i would not push the south african analogy too far because there are striking differences one difference that cannot be acknowledged in the usa for obvious reasons is that it was the cubans that destroyed the south african regime it was they who drove south african aggressors out of angola namibia broke the mythology of the white superman it was black troops that were driving them out it had an enormous effect it is going to take a long time before this enters the us consciousness the other thing is what you talked about the homogenous white community which meant that there was a crucial class issue it was possible to reach a settlement in south africa the kind of which is impossible in israel the final settlement was let s keep the socio economic system and have some black faces in the limousines you cannot do that in israel ip making the parallel between south africa and palestine has advantages and disadvantages you already have a palestinian bourgeoisie inside israel you did not have african heads of medical departments in south africa take the galilee for example there the intertwined communities are slowly becoming a fact of life it already has a reality that reflects the future the nature of the state is still ethnic and segregationist but the transition to a state that recognizes the reality that already exists on the ground does not have to be as dramatic or drastic as it was in south africa in other parts of the country especially in the west bank and greater jerusalem area dismantling the present reality and replacing it by a more just one would be very similar to the process occurring in the transition in south africa from apartheid to a post apartheid state so there is no harm is studying closely the south african case so as not to repeat the mistakes made there and also be aware of the differences that would require original thinking for the case of israel and palestine nc south africa was different because the white population needed its black counterpart it was its workforce israel does not want the palestinians south africa actually supported the bantustans they wanted them to develop because they had to reproduce the workforce and to be internationally recognized in details it s not going to be a similar process even though there are some similarities what i mentioned before israel determined that they will be a pariah state but that it did not matter as long as the us backed them that s very much the south african position that is why i have often written since the 1970s that the people who call themselves supporters of israel are in fact supporters of its moral degeneration and probably ultimate destruction ip absolutely this conversation between noam chomsky ilan pappé and frank barat was recorded on january 14 2014 and has been condensed and edited chapter three the present fb what is the role of activists standing in solidarity with the palestinian people should they be pragmatic in terms of their advocacy or should they lead the way and adopt more ethical and radical positions should we focus on occupation or on the nature of the state of israel nc if their goals are to help the palestinians while they should of course take positions that are ethical they also must be pragmatic they have to ask themselves what is going to help and what is going to hurt the palestinians take the antiwar movement about vietnam for example there were young people who were properly outraged by the war and thought that the ethical attitude to have was to carry out acts of destruction against us property corporations destroy armaments and so on that s ethical but it was harmful the vietnamese were strongly opposed to it they did not care about the fact that people in the us felt good they cared about what happened to them on the ground and the effects on them were harmful since it provoked a huge backlash and strengthened support for the war those are the kind of choices that you always have to make when you are considering acting in the interest of someone you have to ask what is going to help them not what is going to make me feel good call it pragmatic if you like but i would call it ethical you are concerned with the effects of your actions on the people you are standing in solidarity with look at the south african solidarity movement they actually lived up to this condition pretty effectively by and large looking at their actions they selected actions which both harmed south african apartheid and enhanced support for the anti apartheid struggle in their home countries that s what we should be doing and that can be done take israel a couple of days ago we read a report about settlements in the jordan valley which have had their profits reduced by european boycott movements that doubly makes sense it harms the occupation and it is quite intelligible to the audience at home it s an educational process you are trying to get people to understand that these are criminal activities and that you are using creative ways to undermine those activities those are the kind of actions that make sense there are other actions that are harmful first because they have almost no effect on the policies but they also predictably create a backlash of opposition which simply strengthens the crimes for example ten years ago at the time when sharon invaded the west bank and there were these massive atrocities in jenin there were protests here there was a faculty petition condemning it i signed it mainly out of sympathy for the people who were doing it but i thought it was badly designed it had provisions in it which were guaranteed to be unintelligible to the general population and to create a backlash they insisted on including something about the fact that the university should divest from israel no background was laid for that nobody understood why why not divest from harvard the result was exactly as i thought there was this huge reaction dwarfing the petition for the next couple of months the issue at harvard was not jenin this was forgotten the issue became is there anti semitism at harvard so then you spend a couple of months arguing about that the net effect for the palestinians was predictably harmful these are the type of things you have to think about you have to ask what the consequences are going to be for the victims that should be the highest priority all the time tactical decisions are important they are not trivial human lives depend on them you have to think carefully about what the effects are and the multiple dimensions involved one what does it have to do with the policy of the state how does it affect that the other is what about the audience here at home that you are trying to mobilize to become more active themselves through civil disobedience and everything else there are people who i very much respect mostly religious christians who are very dedicated they think it s very important to break into military installations and smash all these kind of missiles i can understand why they are doing it but the net effect turns out to be predictably harmful for one thing the workers in the plants have no idea what the protesters are doing except taking their jobs away no background has been laid explaining why they are breaking the missiles there are no educational efforts in the community to make people understand that this is something sensible to do the net effect is that you spend enormous amounts of time and money wasted in court cases testifying and so on and then a couple of people go to jail and nothing has been achieved those are the kinds of questions you have to ask all the time ip i think there are three elements here which are very important to consider the fragmentation of the palestinian existence the accountability of the zionist ideology for the reality we face today in israel and palestine and finding the right balance between ethical positions and concrete actions the first point is to relate to the biggest success of the zionist project which was to fragment the palestinian existence in this respect they suffered more than the vietnamese or the south africans although not in terms of human cost at least in the case of the former the palestinians have gone through history ever since 1948 as a fragmented group and thus different palestinian groups are exposed to a ton of different israeli policies as an activist when you have a fragmented group with no clear leadership no clear address to which you can refer to get clear guidance of what are the national priorities of the people you support it is not always easy to come with the right or adequate response in other words it is very difficult to adopt a clear ethical position that respects the interests of all the palestinian groups concerned for instance it is obvious that when you live under occupation in the west bank or when you are a refugee in lebanon you may have different priorities as far as the israeli policies against you are concerned and therefore you would ask the solidarity movement to do two different contradictory things the second point is the role and accountability of zionism i think what activists were looking for is a kind of framework which tried to contain as many of the palestinian communities of suffering as they could knowing that in some cases some policies will be less adequate for one group and more adequate for another this is where i see activism doing the right thing in the last few years where it takes zionism not so much as an ideology or a scholarly riddle that has to be deconstructed but refers to it mainly as the source of most of the evil that torments israel and palestine the palestinians are subjected to different sufferings because of israeli policies but there is an ideological source behind it sticking to such a framework as activists is highly important to my mind as i have pointed out earlier there is anomaly in the way zionism has been until now protected from any serious challenge or rebuke activists in the west were allowed to demonstrate against apartheid in south africa and did not limit their actions against just one or other policy of the south african government there is a greater willingness among activists to confront the ideology behind the policies finally there is the need to strike the right balance between the ethical positions and concrete actions at the end of the day it is the concrete actions of the activists that help the people on the ground but this is not always easy to do this is one of the predicaments facing the bds movement the campaign can be very helpful when it is focused on the evils perpetrated in the occupied west bank and the besieged gaza strip but this is also a movement that galvanized thinking people from all walks of life who do not want to support just one particular palestinian group but would like to face the oppression and violation of human and civil rights wherever it occurs and point to its source it is of course important to maintain the general discussion the bds campaign has generated about israel s nature and policies and to use it when it can be helpful i can give two different recent examples to show the different roles bds can play the operation attempted by israel to cleanse the bedouins in the naqab the prawer plan was thwarted not by bds pressure but by the very clear message the bedouin community sent to the israeli government of the possible dire consequences of the attempt to forcefully remove a community which had serving members in the army the police and on its margins connections to the arsenal of the criminal world in short there were loads of weapons around in a new developing case regarding the attempt of the israeli government to cleanse the palestinians from the old city of akka acre the only effective means will be a strong international campaign spearheaded by a cultural boycott here the connection between the racist ideology of zionism and the actual policies on the ground is part of the tasks of a concrete bds campaign the ability to take this case by case and the israeli government is providing us with many of them recently is crucial we need to make sure we do not stay at the level of slogans you know what you are talking about and are very concrete about the kind of atrocities that you are facing in most cases you can leave it to an academic debate later on to explain the general context but as an activist there has to be a direct address to the community of suffering even if you do not have national leadership and even if the reality is fragmented nc i think that s correct and in this respect i think the south african anti apartheid movement was a pretty good model they tended to be pretty concrete let s oppose allowing sports teams to participate in international events because of their racist conditions let s oppose racist hiring in universities all of that makes sense it s directed against particular policies and it s clear what the general background is it s also intelligible to the audience at home but there was another aspect of the south african solidarity movement which is very critical by the 1990s the apartheid regime had virtually no international support only two countries the usa and britain they supported apartheid strongly right to the end particularly reagan that was sufficient for the regime as long as they had us support they did not care like israel right now that meant that a crucial part of activism had to be directed against the usa and secondly great britain that s very critical it s critical now too part of the intellectual weakness of the bds movement is that it is directed against israel but not against the usa us policies are absolutely critical israel understands like south africa at the time that they can be a pariah state the whole world can be against them but that it does not make a difference as long as the usa backs them that was true in south africa and it s true in israel the us solidarity movement has to focus on that what are we going to do to change us policies that is quite critical ip although of course there are elements of us policy and israeli policy that are not easily distinguishable nc that s part of the problem the usa supports israel not out of benevolence but because it s useful for us policies so yes they do overlap a lot also cultural relations christian zionism for example is part of the demographic base of the republican party extremely anti semitic but pro israel all these things have to be addressed ip i also meant the industrial complex the academic complex it s not very autonomous in israel it s part of the american milieu in many ways nc not autonomous you re right such that israel s major military industry rafael moved their management headquarters to washington because that s where the money is ip sometimes you target israelis elites and you condemn them for their complacency or their direct involvement in the atrocities you are also in a way targeting the octopus that is america in this respect nc if you make it clear not if you do not talk about it ip i agree you have to clarify that s a good point fb can pressure from the bottom up from civil society through the boycott movement and other tactics change us policies nc i think that us foreign policy as in every other case will have to change because of pressure from the bottom take south africa it was popular pressure which finally induced congress and even businesses to begin to pull out of south africa it could not get to the executive reagan vetoed congressional sanctions but there was enough popular pressure for congress to override the vetoes reagan had then to violate the congressional legislation popular pressure did make a difference that s the same on every other issue civil rights women rights whatever it may be that s what has to be done here too now does bds contribute to that it could in fact it has not much it might have even been harmful the way it has been conducted but it could if there is groundwork laid by educational programs among the public which makes these actions understandable helps explain what s happening and if you can work it out is directed specifically toward the usa so for example the jordan valley i do not think this has been done in the us it should be boycotting products of the jordan valley first of all it harms the jordan valley settlement project but much more significantly it brings out here that the usa and israel have a policy of depopulating the jordan valley which is a real ethnic cleansing kicking the palestinians out whose population is now down to sixty thousand compared to a couple of hundred thousands in 1967 there is a systematic policy of displacing them replacing them by jewish settlements which leads the way to a form of annexation which would completely imprison any palestinian entity that might arise somehow in 30 percent of the west bank the us is backing these actions and policies something simple like boycotting products is an entry point to bringing out all of these issues among the general public that s intelligible in fact it s already been pretty successful one of the major successes to a large extent thanks to young palestinian activists has been in the colleges the atmosphere in the universities around these issues has radically changed not many years ago if i was talking even here at mit on israel palestine i would have had to have police protection now it s totally different if we were to give a talk tomorrow we would get a huge audience engaged you could not get a hostile question that s an enormous change and that can be extended activism among young people has sparked broader popular movements it s true for the civil rights movement the antiwar movement that can have a large effect and it s a matter of considerable concern for the zionist organizations they are talking about it writing about it they are worried about it they realize that they are losing the youth that s going to affect the population pretty much like in other cases it can make a big difference it tends to be played down in elite discussions but if you look closely even in the documentary record you can see the effect take vietnam again one of the most interesting parts of the pentagon papers which is never discussed because it is too inflammatory is at the very end the pentagon papers end in mid 1968 right after the tet offensive a big uprising in south vietnam which goes on for a couple of months the president wanted to send more troops after the tet offensive the joint chiefs of staff were opposed they said that they were going to need those troops for civil disorder control in the usa they said there will be uprisings among young people women students minorities we are just going to have to suppress them we cannot send more troops and they did not that s not insignificant it s because of mass popular activism if that can be done in the palestine case i think it can change us policy which is not graven in stone there are a lot of factors that can of course impel it but they are pretty thin if you look at them for example if the significant domestic lobbies in the usa the business lobbies which just overwhelm everything else if they came to the opinion that us policy in support of israel is harmful to their interests they would change it very quickly that can be done ip i think we are talking about two levels of activism here first the level of more organized activism on the ground such as the bds movements and the israeli apartheid week projects on campuses that started in canada in 2005 they were in a way narratives created invented by young people because there was no guidance from the plo no clear leadership that told people how they would like the civil society to act on their behalf the south africa and antiwar movements inspired people what they do as noam rightly says and i think it is a great success is to change the language on campuses on universities things that were taboos are now totally acceptable it is far more embarrassing to be a pro israeli activist today than it was twenty years ago it is a great success that does not necessarily translate immediately into a change of american policy on the ground but it is part of a larger process the second level of activism is an internal recognition of the complex nature of its possible effect there is no clear vision or way of assessing the impact activism had in the few cases in recent history which ended long chapters of human abuse take for example south africa it is difficult to measure the impact of activism and even the efforts of the liberation movement on the ground that the impact of the fall of the soviet union played in toppling the apartheid regime it is hard to conjure what will be the equivalent historical event in the case of israel but that event has to be a catalytic one whether it is the fall of saudi arabia or something else whatever it is going to be we should not bother guessing the future the relevant question is while one waits for the fundamental change in american policy can one win small battles vis à vis its policies are there loopholes that would enable activism to convince the american policy makers to condemn or even stop isolated atrocious cases such as preventing the continued ethnic cleansing of palestinians from the naqab acre or the greater jerusalem area targets probably have to be modest in comparison to the big picture although there is nothing modest in trying to prevent the continued starvation of the gaza strip i am optimistic and i do believe a catalytic event will occur that would fundamentally change the picture in the meantime i totally identify with what noam said about the suffering of the people on the ground and you know it as much as i do frank when you come to the jordan valley and i was just there a week ago how difficult it is to lift spirits there by telling how impressive has been the shift in western and american public opinion this does not alleviate their suffering in any way you rightly receive stale looks when you tell them enthusiastically about the bds campaign they still are denied access to their water and land and are facing the danger of an imminent expulsion nc yes ip i think expectations on the ground are far more concrete and immediate can the solidarity movement outside persuade the american consul in east jerusalem to come and see with his own eyes what they are subjected to by the israeli occupation we need to strike the right balance between our success in changing the conversation in the west through the actions of the bds and the apartheid week initiatives and achieving some old activist style tangible results on the ground nc yes ip the sense for the need for tangible results is particularly acute when you talk to people in the gaza strip nc that can be done by activism here there could be campaigns here that would get people to pressure the american consul to go to the west bank it was actually done in the south african case i do not want to go too far off on south africa but there is a crucial aspect of the end of apartheid that is totally suppressed here and in britain for reasons of ideological fanaticism apartheid was substantially ended by cuba the scholarly record on this by now is just overwhelming the cubans sent military forces mostly black soldiers who drove the south africans out of angola forced them to leave namibia broke the mythology of this white superman which had a big effect on white and black south africa and the south africans know it when mandela was let out of jail his first comment was to praise cubans for their inspiration and their help because they played a huge part in ending apartheid you cannot say that in the usa or in england because we have a kind of religious fanaticism that says that we are not allowed to tell the truth about these matters but that was an overwhelming factor and of course it s missing here we should think about other models but it is important to break through the ideological constraints in the west which prevent recognition of what in fact happened that s pretty important ip there was a beginning of this model although it has not matured in a similar way in the early days of what was called the arab spring i remember the israeli bewilderment at seeing young secular egyptians who manifested and believed in everything the israelis at least allegedly believed in as well whether it is liberalism democracy and so on and yet were very clear about palestine including in the signs that they were carrying this combination of highly committed young arabs to both the idea of palestine and democracy frightened the israelis who would be much more comfortable if the pro palestinian sentiment were packaged in an anti democratic way nc israel s mythology is the villa in the jungle and then it turns out the jungle was watching the villa ip i am a historian i am not impressed by a few years and i think we should be very careful when saying that we know exactly where the arab spring is going but it has a potential a kind of out of the box factor that has not been there before the unknown factors and actors disable us from predicting too well the future trends we are familiar with the arab regimes the islamic opposition and western policies but the balance between them can all be reshuffled by the appearance of a new force nc at the moment things are kind of in limbo but in the early stages of the arab spring there was a very significant solidarity developing between american european and egyptian activists the arab spring began around the time of the wisconsin uprising there were messages of support from egyptian labor leaders to wisconsin activists and conversely occupy people went to egypt another aspect of the arab spring which cannot be discussed in the usa for ideological reasons is the role of labor the militant labor movement was very significant one of the lasting achievements is a substantial boost in the opportunities for labor organizing which had been crushed under the previous regime again that s the kind of topic that you are not supposed to talk about here but it s important fb what do you make of the american studies association passing a resolution endorsing an academic boycott of israel how important do you think that is nc well that s what i had in mind when i was bringing up the jenin fiasco it s very much like it it was not prepared it was guaranteed to create a backlash that would overwhelm it it was not thought out properly the result is that there has been a shift from concern with israeli crimes and us support for them to the issue of academic freedom very much like what happened in 2002 shift from focus on jenin and the crimes there and the us background to a discussion about anti semitism at harvard the net effect of the asa resolution predictably has been a huge discussion in the usa about academic freedom that s harmful to the palestinians you have to think these things through what is the effect going to be of the resolution that you are putting forth if you have not created an understanding among the population you are trying to reach an understanding about what the significance of this is it s going to be harmful so anybody who looks at the resolution will ask immediate questions the resolution began whereas the usa supports israeli crimes therefore let s boycott tel aviv university that s not what is supposed to follow it should say whereas the usa supports israeli crimes let s boycott harvard well that s not a good proposal either but at least it would be logical i think around a hundred university presidents already immediately issued condemnations and there is a big debate around academic freedom what good does it do to the palestinians it diverts attention away from the issue and of course it does not affect israel in any way at all i would contrast that to the boycott of the products of the jordan valley that s significant first of all it has an impact and secondly people can understand it it can be an entry wedge toward bringing out the major issues like what israel is doing in the jordan valley altogether how come they are able to get away with it only because of us support that opens opportunities that have all the right characteristics it harms the israeli government policies significantly and it also opens the way to creating the kind of popular understanding and activism in the us that can change policy on the other hand the asa resolution had the opposite effect ip here i don t entirely agree with noam i am now spending a sabbatical year in israel and i see on the ground the reactions to the asa and similar kinds of declarations i do think it has some positive effects in israel for instance it takes the intellectual academic elite of israel out of its comfort zone they are worried they may not read the declaration pedantically but they understand that what they are seeing as far as they are concerned is a kind of a domino effect by which societies of american academics are going to find ways or look for better or more efficient ways to convey a message to them that they are unhappy with the israeli academic basic position on israeli policies and so on there is also very little danger for backlash from israel in the sense that the present political and cultural elites in israel are so entrenched in their fanatic positions that they cannot dig deeper or become more intransigent than they are today as for the liberal zionist elements within these elites i think campaigns like this embarrass them in a positive way it forces them to adopt clearer positions on the oppression and occupation they are being reminded in a very forceful way that their self image of israel as a democratic society is questioned by people they respect and societies and associations to which they want to belong that is the way of sending a wake up call to them secondly although there is a backlash on the part of the american presidents of universities and so on i do think it comes to the issue of democratization in the academic system in a similar way you could say that a civil society action against israel will not be endorsed by capitol hill in fact they might go and do the opposite declare a counter position i know it is not a democratic system it is not supposed to be it is a production of knowledge system but it is also a human organism which has two kinds of memberships members who are running the system and members who are part of the system the latter are the ones who have a view about israel they have other ways of expressing it they are also using academic societies for that purpose the fact that this is not reflected in the positions of the heads of universities is not necessarily a bad thing it is a kind of tough conversation that we are having with each other in modern academia nc i mentioned the hundred university presidents but it s the academic world for example if you read the chronicle of higher education there are articles critical of the asa resolution by long term militant activists people like linda gordon and others who have been at the forefront of activism in all kind of issues they are the kind of people who are critical of the resolution now there could have been a sensible resolution if the resolution had said let s boycott in some fashion bar ilan because of the ariel campus in the middle of the west bank that would have been comparable to the jordan valley boycott it is understandable it makes good sense they are directly involved in the occupation as an academic institution and it also brings out the basic fact about what the occupation is doing why is there an ariel campus it splits the west bank in two maybe in five by now all of that is important to bring out when you say let s carry out these actions against israeli institutions why not against us institutions which have a much worse record i mean it s not just the university presidents the asa resolution is not going to affect construction workers it reaches the academic world and in the academic world it shifted attention from israeli crimes and crucially us support for them to the general question about academic freedom in that respect it s rather like what happened in the jenin case i think those things have to be thought through carefully israeli institutions are not more blameworthy than american institutions much less focusing on bar ilan or any others directly involved in the occupation could have been much more effective ip the hebrew university is expanding on the land of issawiya nc then that should be brought up that would make sense ip i agree with noam that it would be good to have a thorough study on this we still don t have a clear study that tells ordinary people in the united states why the israeli academia should be targeted there is a need to present a clear proof to people about their complacency the level of their collaboration with the occupation and the oppression although bds was an initiative of the palestinian civil society it emerged parallel to similar initiatives in the west by pro palestinian activists they were looking for ways of sending messages to israel to show that enough is enough if you are an academic or a trade union activist you use your peer group and you say we have to do something as academics journalists artists filmmakers you also have to know better what are you targeting and why you are targeting it in this i don t see as much harm as noam does but i do agree that as i said before a more concrete and transparent action is needed you explain to people why you are doing what you are doing and do not leave it on this general level which says everybody s a criminal and so on and therefore by association should be targeted i think there could be a constructive criticism rather than killing the impulse this is a very successful impulse when you view it on the ground in israel you can sense the apprehension that the next step would be as suggested by jibril rajub to take israel out of the world or european football association there you hear clearly that israeli sports people know that the only reason that may happen is the way their state is treating the palestinians in general and palestinian footballers in particular no discourse on anti semitism is heard in this context nc that would be like the south african case it picks out actions that are unacceptable on the part of the state and intelligible on the part of the audience you are trying to reach the asa was the opposite fb i agree that thorough studies on the implications of israeli institutions in the occupation and israeli crimes need to be done nc for some of it it s kind of obvious the ariel campus you hardly have to study it ip the more general one is more difficult to understand nc the hebrew university one will take work fb still from what i understand and from what i have read it looks like most of them are indeed complicit in the occupation and in israeli crimes so even though i agree that more studies will be useful and are important i do think that the educational process is happening during and after a resolution like the asa one is passed the debate in the us is on academic freedom but people are also asking questions like why is the asa a respected institution asking to boycott israel this question might not have been raised if the resolution had not been passed ip i think what noam is trying to say if i understood correctly at least this is what i think is that it is the other way around you have not yet won the argument that israel as a political entity is problematic you have won the argument that israel should not occupy the west bank and the gaza strip but that is something else if the whole boycott movement were focused on getting the israeli army out of the west bank and the gaza strip i think there would have been less argument about it as you know i support it and i think there is a problem with the state of israel as it is not just with what it is doing in the west bank but also what it is doing in haifa in the naqab and in acre this is not yet clear to many people in the west i think that people there are not aware that they are facing a bigger injustice than just the israeli policies in the west bank and the gaza strip bds so far has been an impulse not a strategy i think it is an impulse that needs to be accompanied by more thorough analysis study and explanation nc i would only add to that that critically the usa has to be brought into it ip yes i agree nc it s the crucial support for israeli actions very much like in the south african case where it was the us that maintained apartheid until the end fb how would you bring the us more to the front it seems to me like people do know right now that the us is complicit in israel s crimes how would you even start boycotting the usa nc take say the negotiations that are going on the solidarity movement ought to be focused on that negotiations which are organized by the usa which is a participant in the conflict that makes about as much sense as if iran was called upon to mediate the shia sunni conflict in iraq people would just laugh the very fact that the us is organizing it should be viewed as a joke that s not understood it should be understood it s not just three billion dollars in military aid it s also the vetoes and the ideological support that s crucial support in the usa the striking case in the usa is the way the cuban role in south africa has been suppressed to this day you read articles by scholars that are suppressing it these are things you have to deal with this conversation between noam chomsky ilan pappé and frank barat was recorded on january 17 2014 and has been condensed and edited a study by the alternative information center from 2009 academic boycott of israel can be found online chapter four the future fb is an israeli spring possible nc for the last ten years especially there has been a very strong shift in israeli mentality and politics toward the right nationalism toward more extremism there is a kind of circling the wagons mentality which was also true in south africa toward the end the world hates us because they are all anti semitic so we will do what we want nothing is their fault everything is somebody else s fault a lot of brutality i mean sometimes unbelievable the scenes for example during cast lead the brutal attack on gaza with israelis sitting on beach chairs on the hills applauding every time a bomb fell this is beyond obscenity but unfortunately it is a large part of the population there are countertendencies but they are as far as i can see pretty limited when there was the rothschild demonstration the tent city kind of occupy type thing except if you look at it it is pretty narrow it is i want something better for me i want to be able to get an apartment in fact there was a decision by the organizers that they could not mention the palestinians so it is just what can i get to make my life a little better it is true that israeli society has been shifting from what used to be a kind of more or less scandinavian style social democracy to a kind of an extreme version of neoliberal kind of a caricature of neoliberalism pretty much like the us with sharp inequalities wealth and privileges there is a strong effort to have an appeal to western youth and youth culture and so on with the secular mood of tel aviv in tel aviv we have gay bars and things like that it may be the gay center of the mediterranean i think is it becoming an ugly and kind of suicidal society they are very concerned about what they call delegitimation and that is true they are delegitimizing themselves it is a choice i think i may have mentioned that before my own feeling is that this is virtually inevitable since 1971 when they basically made the decision to reject security in favor of expansion and then lots of things followed more or less not automatically but fairly predictably and they ve been happening there are slight changes how significant they will be i don t know in the repression of the palestinian population for example the most extreme racist laws in israel are those concerning the land about 92 percent of the land was in the hands of keren kayemet the jewish national fund which is an organization that had contracts with the state of israel that required them to work only for the benefit of people of jewish race religion and origin that was the phrase that with the whole array of administrative arrangements bureaucratic structures meant that in effect they control over 90 percent of the land which meant that it was arab free basically there is a crack in that structure about ten years ago i think it was in 2000 the supreme court did invalidate it in principle with regard to a particular settlement they said they could not keep arabs out and i think after five or six years the arab couple who was trying to live there were finally allowed in but ilan you would know better than i do i do not think it had any noticeable effects anywhere else and now legislation in the parliament is trying to undercut it it is one example of policies that are pretty rigid there are some things that are going on that really shock me i learned recently from ruchama marton a wonderful woman who is the head of the israeli physicians for human rights organization and you probably know this that in israeli hospitals in maternity wards palestinian women citizens have to go to different wards than the jewish women things like that go on all the time i don t think it is a very pretty picture you can t separate israel itself from greater israel with their planning which is being implemented in the west bank people forget about the golan heights but that is illegally occupied in violation of explicit security council orders the world likes to forget that is syria basically and of course gaza remains a horrible prison brutalized now it is even worse because of the egyptian military regime which is closing off the tunnels and threatening to punish gaza the whole picture is extremely unpleasant to use a very mild understated word and i suspect it will get worse ip yes i fully agree i think it is an important question that you pose because for anyone who is watching from the outside who is an activist who is interested in analyses of a possible change from within the answer to this question will dictate one s strategy in the future if you come to the conclusion which i think was at the heart of the strategy against apartheid in south africa that change from within is not imminent it is not going to take place of course then the pressure from the outside becomes the major hope for change or military defeat which was an option during the age of the liberation movements but is probably less relevant today in this connection it might be helpful to mention two other related issues or rather two disappearances one is the disappearance of liberal zionism as a significant actor on the israeli political stage there seems to be no room in israel for those who try to square a universalist point of view be it liberal or socialist with the racist definition of zionism the second issue is the disappearance of the green line after forty five years of occupation and with it has gone the distinction between what is here and what is there the most recent indications for this is the creeping annexation of area c by the israelis and the suggestion of the israeli foreign minister avigdor liberman to annex the palestinian citizens of israel in wadi ara to the west bank this brought to the fore more clearly the israeli ethnic policies of dispossession and occupation and showed that these policies were not limited to a certain area or one group of palestinians these two additional developments accentuate the conviction that we should not expect a change from within israel there are few movements that try to challenge it from within there is even a younger generation that is trying to do things that have not been done before like the anarchists against the wall new profile and the like but they are very small in numbers and they do not expand at any pace that would make you optimistic that they represent a more massive movement it may also be useful to mention in this context the 2011 israeli social justice protests it shows changes in the agenda of the israeli middle class but alas they are still not connected in any visible way to conflict with the palestinians one of the main reasons that until 2011 it fared much better than in most western countries even after the 2008 financial crisis was the way the overdraft banking system worked in israel regardless of your salary you had a license to spend from the bank it meant that a member of the middle class could live well beyond their means and their actual salaries this fiesta has now come to an end and the bitter reality has unfolded the average middle class salary does not allow for a decent standard of living and in particular decent housing this realization was the main impetus behind the 2011 protests the banks have stopped doing this overdrafts and israelis had to start to live according to the not so high salaries and they could not afford what is the most expensive item in the market accommodation and that was the major motive for the protest movement what it means in macroeconomic terms is that the middle class is dragged down and the rich become richer in the long run it can have impact on the questions we discuss a society without socioeconomic integrity and solidarity can collapse from within and not even a strong ideological indoctrination would keep it intact nc in comparison to south africa there really are differences in this regard in south africa the oppressed population the black population was 85 percent of the total population they were their entire workforce they depended on them also there was a huge cuban force driving south africa out of its neighboring countries that it was trying to integrate apart from that there was in the 1980s and after soweto in 1987 a very fierce militant black activism from within there is nothing comparable in either of those two things in israel ip no not really fb let s come to palestinian society and palestinian politics haidar eid a professor in gaza recently wrote for al shabaka that the only way forward may be to dis participate in the current palestinian political system there is no space for radical change in the current system and that palestinians should rebuild from the bottom up organically a real political alternative do you agree with this idea of dis participation and then should not we apply this idea to europe and the west too our governments being democrats republicans the left the right do not represent us and this idea of dis participating from the current system might be a way forward to rebuild something much better nc saying this for someone who is actually living in gaza like a cry of desperation is pretty understandable as i said i was there recently the situation is very harsh but what does it mean i mean what do you dis participate from in the west i don t think it means much either it is true our governments do not represent us but there is plenty that can be done about that we don t live in fascist states there are lots of opportunities state power is there but its capacity to repress is not really great it is a pretty fragile structure and it can be influenced and affected separating yourself from it i don t know what that means does that mean going to montana getting a plot of land and raising your own food there are interpretations of that notion which make some sense like localism in agriculture developing local production urban agriculture a lot of things that can be done that kind of extricate people from the dominant social economic forces but there are plenty of opportunities within the existing framework within institutions for major changes that do not exist in gaza i don t really think these are comparable notions ip it is important in this context to pay attention to the sentiment on the ground and mainly the wish to rely less on existing political structures as they have highly disappointed the palestinians wherever they are if we want to respond to this sentiment we can cautiously at least say we are looking for new thinking on how to reframe the relationship between jews and arabs between the river jordan and the mediterranean but this should not be done against the existing structures but in conversation with them engaging as many people as possible in new thinking can be very helpful whether they are from the fatah hamas or israeli political parties a good departure point to agree on how to analyze or depict the present reality if these structures are not relevant to that new reality they will disappear anyway i do not have to declare the need to dismantle them i will give a few examples israelis can either deny the fact that they live with the west bank longer than they lived without it and therefore territorially this is the space israel and the west bank as well as the gaza strip in which they have to find a solution not just in the west bank palestinians can deny that there is already a third generation of zionist settlers on the ground but they will have to accept that they missed the historical opportunity if ever there was one to get rid of the first wave of invaders there are also two different tasks ahead the israeli wish to keep the status quo and the palestinian crave to change it the former have a lot to lose in terms of privileges and power the latter everything to gain thus the need to pressure the former is the key for peace or reconciliation maybe another way forward is the one noam hinted at somehow finding a way of convincing the israelis they are heading on a suicidal track and add to this showing their own responsibility for that state of affairs they are building walls arming themselves to death and yet their insecurity is growing this is where one should look for a way of not giving up the utopian ideal of a non state future and the need to find a political structure that as soon as possible would bring an ending to the suffering on the ground nc i suspect that there is a not too hidden sense among the israelis of the fragility of their future one indication is that there are a number of people who are trying to get a double passport ip absolutely nc i don t know what the proportion is but it is large ip true it is a lot nc worse come to worst they will come to new york ip not the arab jews they ve got nowhere to go nc i read somewhere that the most rapidly growing jewish community in the world is in berlin ip yes it is absolutely true it is a bit ironic nc i think we have to ask ourselves what israel is planning and will be able to implement as long as the us supports it and ask ourselves how do we react to that not too distant future what you said about area c and wadi ara i think is right to the point here it seems that what they are clearly planning is greater israel which will of course include the golan heights and will separate gaza from the west bank which is a crucial violation of oslo and everything else but they don t care about laws as far as the west bank is concerned they have certainly planned to take over everything within what is called the separation wall the annexation wall greater jerusalem is maybe five times greater than what it ever was in history and systematically kicks palestinians out there are practically no palestinians institutions left then come these corridors to the east of greater jerusalem one goes through the town of maale adumim which was built primarily in the 1990s just as a way of bisecting the west bank the lands of maale adumim go way beyond the settlement they practically reach jericho which bisects the west bank they haven t yet succeeded in filling in one area that is called e1 so far every american president has blocked that pre obama he has said nothing about it except that it wasn t helpful so they may be able to fill out that encirclement of greater jerusalem these corridors are to the north one going to ariel which we talked about one to kedumin that would cut through much of the rest of the area it looks as if they were planning to take over area c and they deny it but there have been large parts later that have been taken over the jordan valley which israel claims it occupies only because of security is now in fact inaccessible to most palestinians since israel has used the security issue to build more and more settlements looking at the plans that are being implemented there are definite intentions to take over the jordan valley it will mean that this greater israel if it looks something like this will have a very few palestinians in it they won t have what is called the demographic problem too many non jews in the jewish state a horrible concept but they won t really have it and in fact if it becomes integrated into israel as i am sure they ve planned it will actually decrease the proportion of palestinians now they have got to do some hand wringing about land swap and i suspect it will be just like you said where this is happening in the northern galilee with a very heavily arab population the population apparently doesn t want it not because they love israel but because they don t want to go from being forced out of a wealthy first world developed society into what one of them recently called a punching bag in an article on haaretz which is what palestine is turning out to be a racist society will force them out even if they don t want to leave it will be presented to the west as a very gracious act of letting the palestinian state have a piece of israel the piece that we don t want because there are too many arabs there and maybe you know giving them a little bit of land in the negev that looks like the picture on the ground and if so that is the picture we have to face fb following up on this and talking about a new reality for you professor pappé the new reality is already one regime one political system governing both palestinians and israeli jews a common state reality you are urging us to advocate and fight to change the nature of the system the rules the internal laws et cetera professor chomsky you ve been an advocate and you ve written about a common state one state a binational state for decades do we need to go through two states because of the consensus to eventually get to one state nc yes that is because the way i see it israel and the united states do not want one state and will never accept it they have a preferable alternative from their point of view to take over what i ve just described this greater israel which is not going to have many palestinians in it in fact a smaller percentage than in israel today the big palestinian concentrations are going to be outside population concentrations will be outside the plan for them is i think they can mostly rot or maybe flee there will be a standard neocolonial structure in which there is a center for the elite so you go to ramallah nice houses theaters bars where westerners can come and see how lovely palestine is which you find in every third world country the poorest country you want in central africa and you can find these sectors there that are for the elite which look like paris or london in fact if you go back to the 1990s israeli industrialists openly and literally urged the government to shift from what they called a colonial program to a neocolonial program which means establish this third world style entity with most of them rotting but with some kind of a center for rich palestinians the privileged ones the elite and so on if that is correct then there are really two options one is either this which will have very few palestinians they will be somewhere else and the other one is two states two states is a rotten solution but at least it has the merit of having overwhelming international support that has been blocked by the united states for thirty five years now but has overwhelming international support i don t feel myself that the settlements are irreversible i d be interested in ilan s opinion but my feeling is that israel could do what it could have done if they wanted to in gaza they did not have to force the people out of gaza and that was a game that they played to impress the west they could have said on august 1 the idf israeli defense forces is going to leave gaza you climb into the lorries we are giving you we will take you from your subsidized homes in gaza to nicer subsidized homes in the west bank then they could do the same thing for the west bank say the idf is pulling out there you can go and a lot of people in the west bank reckon that it is a nice place to live and they have subsidized towns pleasant suburbs tel aviv and jerusalem they ve got superhighways taking them right into tel aviv without seeing any arabs and so on if some people want to hang on to every rock i don t see why they should not be allowed to do it they can be in a palestinian state that is a conceivable possibility i think the chances are not very high in fact pretty low but that seems to me the only realistic alternative to this greater israel picture now if some kind of two state settlement no matter how rotten it is is established my guess is that the borders are going to erode because if you know the country at all there is no way to draw a line it would not make sense whatsoever in fact when there have been relaxations of tension in the past there has been some erosion of the sharp boundaries and commercial cultural and other kinds of interchange began to take place we don t know where it could lead but it could lead to closer integration you know a kind of longer term that we are all talking about thinking about some sort of a federal integrated society as i said earlier i don t worship the imperial borders i don t think they have to be maintained either but i just don t see any other alternatives to those two alternatives talking about one state is kind of interesting to keep at the back of your mind but it is just not one of the options i think these are the two options and i think it is misleading from people on every side the shin bet palestinian leaders international commentators to talk as if the choices are either two states or one state those are simply not the choices the choices are greater israel or two states and greater israel doesn t have palestinians or a few palestinians ip i see it a bit differently i think that the balance of power on the ground and the kind of relationship israel has with the united states and the international community ensures that the alternative of two states will always be implemented more or less the way israel understands the two state solution this version actually means the creation of a greater israel despite the international support for allegedly two distinct states the end result will not be two very different models they would be different in the sense of international legitimacy and in the two state solution the palestinians will enjoy some symbolic independence and could display some insignia but the basic relationship between the israelis and the palestinians would not change i do not see much logic in supporting something that would actually legitimize the greater israel option the two state solution in 2014 can only go one way toward the international legitimization of the two state solution the international community is looking for someone like abu mazen to accept an israeli notion of a two state solution that it purports and this if successful can perpetuate a greater israel through international legitimacy against the already existing greater israel one has to conduct a campaign of regime change based on human and civil rights equality and hope the regional and international developments would help it to mature what the international community is doing right now reminds us once more of the famous jewish joke of someone looking for a key he lost where there was light but not where he lost the key nc we may have a slightly different expectation of what might happen i don t think anybody can know but i think we ought to be able to agree on this the standard discourse is highly misleading there is no choice between two states and one state that is not a choice and again this standard discourse is on all sides you hear it from the israeli leadership and the palestinian leadership i was surprised by what ian lustick wrote but this is almost universal there is no one state option what s left is two possibilities either the one option of greater israel or some other version of it which will be called two states or maybe something like the international consensus the question is what are the probabilities that the international consensus or something like it can be realized not just the israeli version of it about that i don t think we know my feeling is you might be right maybe it s water under the bridge but it is also possible that this still remains a live option exactly what it would be like maybe something like the geneva proposals which were not wonderful but they are not the greater israel version if this could be possible it would be different from greater israel for one thing the jordan valley would not be included same for most of area c and it would include some kind of shrinking division of jerusalem with palestinian institutions there and it would not be land swaps with wadi ara but maybe with fertile land near gaza which could give gaza some opportunities those are not huge differences but i think they are differences and how realistic that is i don t know my own feeling is that if us policies shifted it would be realistic again i don t think we can push the south africa analogy too far because at this point there are too many differences like the huge internal black activism inside south africa no possible counterpart to that in israel the military defeat of south africa by cuba there is nothing like that but some things are similar like us policy europe can also take a position here too europe is pretty timid it doesn t want to bother or interfere with the bosses priorities but they don t have to be like that part of the third world is also becoming more independent the us is still overwhelmingly powerful but in the whole world the power is being diffused and it might make a difference these countries are not enormously powerful but still things could happen in the arab world i don t think the arab spring is finished there are other things that are going to break open and at least such developments might lead to possible realizations of a bad but preferable two state option i think this is a matter that we cannot predict ip there are other things we can do there are two ways of looking at the one state two state dichotomy one is to say that this is an argument about what is the best solution in the future the other way of looking at it is a way of describing the reality today for instance if palestinians inside israel support the two state solution it means they still accept arafat s contention during the days of oslo that they are not part of the equation or the solution and moreover that they prefer to participate in the present israeli system and not follow the agenda of the other palestinian groups but if they adopt haidar eid s position that means that even they do not have the political power to change the reality now on the ground they still have the right as edward said put it in 1982 to narrate their own version of the past and future but of course i have to concede that it is not easy to get a clear picture of the palestinian attitudes especially those who live in historical palestine on this question palestinians living in israel may want the plo to represent them but declaring it will be suicidal for them at the same time they are fully aware of the limitation of their representatives in the israeli knesset to cater for their needs in between these predicaments they nonetheless begin to adapt to the new realities the intensifying cultural political social and economic connections between palestinians living on both sides of the green line and even with the exilic communities abroad shows that on a small scale and without broadcasting it they refer to the reality as one state and also seem to share a vision of it from a different angle a similar development is taking place on the jewish side the veteran settlers of the west bank have been there as long as most of the jews inside israel they are either redeemers of an ancient land in their own eyes who want to continue the dispossession of the palestinians or they are settlers wherever they are who have to come to terms with the local people what matters is not how many israelis support the two state solution many of them do but how they regard greater jerusalem qiryat arba and ariel and the jordan valley the vast majority regards this is a part of a jewish state in a two state solution and in such a scenario nothing is left for the other state and what they mean is a support for a one state version in which zionism continues to prevail as a racist ideology or if convinced they would eventually accept a different democratic basis for such a state from my perspective thus a support of a one state solution is activism that promotes the whole space as one land and the people as one people what we should not succumb to is the zionist version of the two states that limits the idea of a jewish palestine with few palestinians in it to just 80 percent of palestine i still think the principal motive behind israelis support for the two state solution is not reconciliation with the palestinians but a wish to control as much of the land with as few palestinians in it as possible nc it is a different scenario and perspective let me go back to your distinction between what can be done in the inside and what can be done on the outside what i think about the issue concentrating on the work that can be done on the outside i can t do anything about what palestinians will decide and you quite properly are asking what can be done from the inside i think these are kind of complementary i don t think they have to be conflicting but from the outside my perspective i think the task here and in europe is to delegitimize the occupation which is possible delegitimize israel insofar as it is involved in the occupation press forward as much as possible to get the us to drop its unilateral opposition to diplomatic settlement along the lines that were laid out thirty five years ago and see what the options are to create some alternatives to this greater israel picture which we see developing ip but also delegitimize israel when it mistreats the palestinians inside nc yes we should of course be opposed to internal oppression in israel every country but these are kind of separate things like when people talk about apartheid it is a little bit misleading i mean inside israel there is repression but it is not apartheid in the occupied territories it s much worse than apartheid black south africa was not like the occupied territories ip but that is separation even the israelis cannot keep the separation for too long you can see that the same units that have been used to disperse demonstrations in the west bank are now used to disperse demonstrations in the negev the same laws or rather emergency regulations that were applied only in the west bank and the gaza strip are now sort of seeping through into israel because the nature of the relationship is changing nc it is correct but if greater israel does get established they won t care about what s happening outside it they may occasionally send the idf there to smash up nablus but it is irrelevant it is your business you rot over there we are going to take care of the things that happen inside with not many palestinians i think a thrust of activism is trying to expose that expose it not suppress it and it is being suppressed by the one state two state discourse so not suppress it expose it and struggle against it ip on this i agree fb south africa got rid of institutionalized or legal apartheid in the nineties but when you look at south african society today and i think professor chomsky you mentioned that yesterday it is putting a few black faces in power and keeping the same system in place so looking at let s say a common state or one state if it was ever to happen how do you make sure you do not reproduce the south african experience nc you see that presupposes that israel would ever want to take in the palestinian population in the west bank and gaza and i don t think they will that is the crucial difference from south africa south africa had to incorporate the black population they had no choice first of all it was the vast majority of the population and secondly it was their workforce they could not say okay we will let you go rot somewhere and then they would disappear but israel can that is the greater israel option there are some people even on the right that would say let s take them all over but i think what they are going to do is what we ve been describing create this greater israel which won t have a lot of palestinians and repress them inside the country but then the south africa option doesn t arise what happened in south africa let me say was a kind of recognition around 1990 by international capital by south african businessmen that were privileged south africans by the united states that this cannot go on for reasons that don t exist in the israel case as we mentioned and therefore they made an agreement which mandela authorized when he became a freed leader that they would end formal apartheid and keep the socio economic structure which for most africans did not change a lot maybe it s actually worse for them but that is not going to happen in israel palestine because they do not want the population ip i think in a bizarre way it is maybe i am going too far with this kind of a silver lining and i ll explain what i mean it is very clear that the south african post apartheid model cannot work in israel in other words you cannot buy the israelis by persuading them to give up their racist ideology in return for maintaining their economic privileges this is not going to work in a very bizarre way israeli apartheid if we can call it that or racist ideology is far more religious and dogmatic than the white supremacist one in south africa although it had its churches and its own version of theocratic and religious justifications basically it was a matter of keeping the privileges intact and once they were secured in the post apartheid system you win over quite a lot of people among the white population which is not going to work in israel you will not convince the high tech sector in israel that they can be as rich as they are now but they have to live in a more democratic system why can i say it is a bit of a silver lining unless i am totally pessimistic about the ability of the younger generations to come to aspire for a better world this would be a striking example in the twenty first century of something deplorable unacceptable because it means you have a segregationist society that is only interested in this core racist ideology and that it is easy to see in such a situation and i think that is why these differences are so important nc i don t know if i am saying something different but i would stress again that one crucial difference between israel and south africa is that israel is separationist and south africa was not south africa had to incorporate the black population israel wants to get rid of them they can do this by drawing the lines around this greater israel expelling palestinians in it what they are in fact doing and slowly is step by step constructing this monstrous thing greater israel that will not have a lot of palestinians the compromise you mentioned in south africa won t be possible ip no it won t work in israel this conversation between noam chomsky ilan pappé and frank barat was recorded on january 17 2014 and has been condensed and edited see ian s lustick two state illusion op ed new york times september 14 2013 chapter five inside israel fb ilan you are a historian you ve published numerous books among them the famous and controversial for some people ethnic cleansing of palestine in 2006 in 2007 you moved to england where you are currently teaching history at exeter university you are part of what is called by some people the new historians who give a new analysis and narrative of the history of zionism and the history of the creation of israel you ve taken some radical positions against the state of israel why and when did you decide to stand on the palestinians side and what were the consequences for you being israeli ip changing one s point of view on such a crucial issue is a long journey it doesn t happen in one day and it doesn t happen because of one event i ve tried in one of my books called out of the frame to describe this journey out of zionism to a critical position against zionism if i had to choose a formative event that really changed my point of view in a dramatic way it would be the israeli attack on lebanon in 1982 for us who grew up in israel it was the first non consensus war the first war that obviously was a war of choice israel was not attacked israel attacked then the first intifada happened these events were eye openers in many ways for people like myself who already had some doubts about zionism about the historical version we learned at school it is a long journey and once you take it you are facing your own society you are even facing your own family and it is not a nice position to be in people who know israel know that it is an intimate and vibrant society so if you are against it you feel it in every aspect of your life i think this is one of the reasons why it takes a bit longer for the people like me to come to the point where you say there is no return you have to subscribe to these views whatever the repercussions are fb i find what you are saying about israel very interesting most nation states are very good propagandists but israel has taken this to another level i know someone whom you also know nurit peled elhanan who has written a book about the way arabs are portrayed in israeli schoolbooks to show the world the amount of brainwashing and propaganda in israel that starts from a very early age can you tell us more about this society as you ve experienced this yourself as well ip indeed it is a very indoctrinated society probably more than most western societies and more than the non western societies it is not because of coercion that people are indoctrinated it is a powerful indoctrination from the moment you are born to the moment you die the people in power don t expect you to get out of it because you seem to be swimming in this fluid what nurit peled elhanan says in her books is that you could compare becoming an anti zionist to a religious person becoming an atheist and still believing that maybe god is there and maybe he will punish him and punish you for being sacrilegious and so on one should think about the way you are brought up to believe that there are some truisms of life that if you challenge them you need to clean yourself up to the bottom to be sure that you are able to move on because otherwise you have all these doubts all the time it was so powerful but i think there is a difference between my generation and the present generation of nurit s sons and my own sons they know more than we did because of the internet and what goes on i think it is more difficult for the israelis now to rely just on indoctrination although they are doing a good job there are a very few among the young people of israel who challenge zionism i hope that the world has become more opened with what happened in the arab world as well you thought that these were closed societies who would not know what is going on so i hope this is going to change but for us we were like in a bubble we did not know that there was a different existence it was very difficult to get out of it fb i guess the older generation your generation and nurit s the amount of cognitive dissonance as well when you ve believed in something so strongly all your life even though the facts show after a while that you are wrong it is so hard to accept that you were wrong for let s say thirty or forty years of your life you see that all the time at events when you always see the same people coming to every single palestinian event i always think they know as much as i do about palestine and they know the facts how come they are still defending israel so strongly i think because this is such a personal and emotional journey it is very hard for them to come to the realization that they were wrong and all their lives have been in a way a myth ip yes and i think we should also point out that like in any colonialist situation where you have an anticolonialist struggle there is a lot of violence in the air when you are brought up in a certain way and the policies and actions of your own government push the other side to take some violent actions as well then you think that objectively your point of view is correct because you see that there are suicide bombers violence missiles sent from gaza we also have to understand that this need to get out has been debated and examined within the context of permanent violence it is very difficult for israelis to separate between the violence and the experience and the reasons for that violence one of the most difficult things is to explain to the israelis what is the cause and what is the effect what brings that violence about and not to regard this violence as just coming out of the blue and therefore they have no other choice than being where they are fb that is the problem of knowledge and education i think it also comes from the fact that mainstream media or the education system in israel even more is not doing its job when you hear people here saying what do you want israel to do hamas has been sending one hundred and fifty rockets a day to sderot they have to react i think in a time when history is very short term we are not talking about six months we are talking about last week the circle of violence will never stop because the job is not done the education part is not done ip that s true and i think one of the major challenges is to find space for israelis and western people to be able to understand how it all began even the first zionist settlers when they came and realized that what they thought was an empty land or at least their own land was full of arab people they regarded these people as aliens as violent aliens who took over their land it is this infrastructure they have built about the other side that feeds all the israelis perception and visions it is a dehumanization of the palestinians that begins in the late nineteenth century how to explain to people that they are actually a product of this alienation it is one of the biggest tasks for anyone who engages in alternative education or is trying to convey a different message to the israeli jews society fb i d like you to talk about what historically was the first palestinian intifada of the late thirties and the revolt against uk imperialism ip i think it is important to go back to even earlier than 1936 in order to understand it you have to go back to the late nineteenth century when zionism appeared as a movement it had two noble objectives one was to find a safe place for jews who felt insecure in a growing atmosphere of anti semitism and the other was that some jews wanted to redefine themselves in a national group not just as a religion the problem started when they chose palestine as a territory in which to implement these two impulses it was clear because the land was inhabited that you would have to do it by force and you had to contemplate the depopulation of the inhabitants of the indigenous people it took time for the palestinian community to realize that this was the plan even the balfour declaration did not awaken the people when it was adopted in november 1917 it did not bring the palestinians to revolt against the british policy or the zionist strategy by 1936 you could already see the beginning of the real result of this strategy palestinians were evicted from land purchased by the zionist movement palestinians lost their jobs because of zionist strategy to take over the labor market it was very clear that the european jewish problem was going to be solved in palestine all these factors pushed palestinians for the first time to say we are going to do something about it and they tried to revolt you needed the might of the british empire to crush that revolt it took them three years they used the repertoire of actions against the palestinians that were as bad as those that would be used later on by the israelis to quell the palestinian intifadas of 1987 and 2000 fb this revolt of 36 was a very popular revolt it was the falah the peasants that took arms also in reading your books i ve realized that this revolt being so violently squashed did help the haganah in 47 48 the palestinians were really weak at that time because all the leaders all the potential fighting elements had been killed or had to go into exile in 1936 ip absolutely the palestinian political elite lived in cities of palestine but the main victims of zionism up to the 1930s were in the countryside that s why the revolt started there but there were sections of the urban elite that joined them like you said i pointed out in one of my books that the british killed or imprisoned most of those who belong to the palestinian political elite and military or potentially military elite they created a palestinian society that was quite defenseless in 1947 when the first zionist actions with the knowledge that the british mandate came to an end had commenced i think it had an impact on the inability of the palestinians to resist a year later in 1948 the ethnic cleansing of palestine fb your work as a historian has helped to dismantle most of the myths about israel one of the myths is that israel was created because the bible gave it to the jewish people could you to tell us a bit about theodor herzl who is known as one of the founders of zionism was not religious at all and did not speak even speak yiddish ip that s right zionism had one element that is usually forgotten by historians this was a wish to secularize jewish life if you secularize the jewish religion you cannot later use the bible as a justification for occupying palestine it was a bizarre mixture which i like to call a movement made by people who do not believe in god but god nonetheless promised them palestine i think this is something that is at the heart of the internal problems of israeli jewish society today it is also important to understand that even before herzl there were people who thought about themselves as zionists but were aware of the existence of palestinians in palestine they were thinking of different kinds of connections to palestine and solutions for the insecurity of jews in europe like ahad ha am real name asher ginzburg who said that maybe palestine would just be a spiritual center and jews if they feel insecure in europe should settle elsewhere outside europe or settle in more secure european societies one important group of people that did not allow them to do this were christian zionists that already existed in those days who believed that the return of the jews to palestine was part of a divine scheme they wanted the jews to return to palestine because they could precipitate the second coming of the messiah they were also anti semites a two for one deal as they could also get rid of the jews in europe at the same time i think it is an important period to go back to to understand how british imperialism christian zionism and of course jewish nationalism played together as a formidable force that left very few chances for the palestinians when it all came together in the late nineteenth century fb like you said you have to add anti semitism as well when you hear lord balfour and the politicians at the time they wanted the jews to live in palestine because they did not want the jews in england or anywhere else in europe history is crucial we talked a few hours ago about knowledge and the way it is transmitted can you tell us about how history and knowledge if it is properly taught can enlighten people and can maybe better the struggle ip i think we ve already pointed it out if you don t have a historical perspective understanding and if you don t know the facts you accept the kind of negative depictions that the world and the israelis have of palestinians i ll give you one example of what is so called palestinian terrorism that in the israeli perspective and in some western perspectives comes out of the blue we don t know why these people are violent maybe it is because they are muslims maybe it is their political culture it is only when you have a historical understanding that you can say wait a minute i understand where this violence comes from i understand the source of the violence actually settling in my house by force is an act of violence maybe they were wrong maybe they were right to try to resist by violence but it begins by the very invasion of my space the place where i live this invasion is accompanied by a wish to get rid of me what else can i do i think the historical dimension is important first for a better understanding of why the conflict continues the second reason is that we will never succeed in changing political views about the palestinian issue if we don t explain to people how knowledge was manipulated it is very important because you need to understand how certain phrases are being used like peace process how certain ideas are being broadcasted like the only democracy in the middle east like palestinian primitivism and so on you need to understand how these languages are means of manipulating the knowledge that is there so as to form a certain point of view and prevent another point of view for coming into the space it s a twofold issue you need to understand the history of the place but also the way the narratives have been constructed and how they are being manipulated and used a crucial aspect is to understand how to challenge this the main narrative that the israelis are still successful in portraying is this idea of a land that even if it was not empty was full of people who had no real connections to the place and are illegitimate they lose legitimacy because they are not there then they lose legitimacy because they are a bit of bedouins and nomads so they don t really care then they lose legitimacy by being violent or being muslims after 9 11 there is all the time this laundry list of words and ideas that try to convince you that whatever the israelis are doing if you are unhappy with this it doesn t matter because there is no one on the other side that has anything legitimate to offer it all depends on the israelis kindness if you check very carefully the language of peace since oslo even before but it has been more accentuated since oslo it is all about israeli concessions the language is concession israelis will make concessions to palestinians and then there is a chance for peace if this is the departure point there will never be any reconciliation i invaded your house but i am generous enough to let you come back and take the sofa with you to the new place that is hardly a dialogue that wants to settle a conflict it is almost more humiliating than the act of invasion itself fb historians are subjective right for example how can you and benny morris agree on the facts of 47 48 but come to very different conclusions how do you deal with that ip first of all i think there is a factual infrastructure we all have to know it and in this respect it is good that benny morris at least headed the charge to voice this idea that you should stop the nonsense of saying that palestinians left voluntarily in 1948 this was a factual debate did they leave voluntarily or were they expelled what you feel from this debate when it continues is that this is not the most important issue because before historians appeared in israel we knew that palestinians were being expelled we just did not believe the palestinians there were five million palestinian refugees who kept telling us we were expelled and we said no you are palestinians when you say it we don t believe you it is only when the israeli historians came to say you know what they are right they had documents that confirmed what the palestinians were saying that suddenly they were telling the truth this was only a first step the more important thing was not what happened but what to learn from what happened what are our conclusions this is a moral and ideological debate the artificial attempt to say that historians can only deal with what happened and not say anything about what the implications are constitute false approaches that can be seen in morris s own work he writes in his first book that he is a bit sorry for what has been done in 1948 and in his last book he is sorry that the israelis did not complete the ethnic cleansing he has not changed one fact in both books they are the same facts but the books are being written very differently one book doesn t like the idea of an ethnic cleansing the other book endorses it not only justifies it in the past but endorses it as a plan for the future florent barat it s time for a musical break ilan you ve chosen two tracks that you wanted to listen to could you introduce the first one and maybe tell us the reasons why you ve chosen this one ip the first track is a song by cat stevens it is called peace train i ve always loved cat stevens i am a product of the seventies and he is one of my musical heroes i also like his very bold move by converting to islam and not being terrified by everything that was said about him i think there is some honesty in this guy this song for me was encapsulating although i m not sure he meant the same things that i mean but that doesn t matter it encapsulates what i was always longing for to have this peace train coming to israel and palestine you have to understand who is the driver and who are the passengers i wrote in one of my articles i can t remember which one that there is a difference between a peace train that takes us all to a better destination which is the peace process that we don t have and the peace train that runs over everyone on the way to the so called peace which i think is our present peace process so it is a very powerful metaphor for me fb you moved to exeter in the uk in 2007 but still go back to israel very often how has the situation evolved in israel in the last few years ip the task of changing jewish society from within is formidable this society seems to be more and more entrenched on its positions the more i think about it the more desperate i am about succeeding in changing it from within on the other side there is a growing number of young people who seem to grasp reality in a different way there are very few but i do not remember having such a young generation before in israel so although the short term future does not harbor any chance for a change from within there are signs that with pressure from outside there is a group of people there with whom one will be able in the future potentially to create a different society if you compare israel today with the israel i left or the israel i grew up in the trend is to become more chauvinistic ethnocentric intransigent which makes us all feel that peace and reconciliation are very far away if we only rely on our hope that jewish society will change from within fb should we therefore put all our energy on applying pressure from the outside or should we still try to talk to israelis to help them change their views ip the reason why we are all debating this is because on the ground the machine of destruction does not stop for one day we therefore don t have the luxury to wait any longer time is not on our side we know that while we wait many terrible things are happening we also now there is a correlation between those terrible things happening and the realization of the israelis that there is a price tag attached to what they are doing if they pay no price for what they are doing they will even accelerate the strategy of ethnic cleansing it s therefore a mixture we urgently need to find a system by which you stop what is being done now on the ground and to also prevent what is about to happen you need a powerful model of pressure from the outside as far as people from the outside are concerned international civil society i think the bds movement is as good as it gets still it can t be the only model or factor there are two additional factors to make it a successful process one is on the palestinian side the question of representation needs to be sorted you need a good solution secondly you need to have a kind of educational system inside that takes the time to educate the israeli jews about a different reality and the benefit it will bring to them if those factors all work well together and we have a more holistic approach to the question of reconciliation things could change florent barat as a teacher wouldn t you be more useful teaching in israel than abroad could you be the teacher you are in the uk in israel ip i don t think i want to be a teacher in a university anyway universities are not the best place to teach people about the realities of life or can change their point of view universities are sites for careers now not for knowledge and education i am teaching in israel as well in my own way through my articles through the tiny amount of public speaking i am allowed to do i would like to continue this i feel like what i am doing in britain is working on the pressure from the outside less than education you cannot sustain a bds campaign without explaining to people why it is necessary to give them the tools and the background they need to understand it to legitimize it we do not cease to be educators as well as activists all the time it s important to try to combine and find the time for the actions that you take and the educational process we can t be too impatient if people do not get it straight away we have to be patient and explain our positions again and again until people understand them fb i am very interested in the question of solidarity about its real meaning what does solidarity mean for non palestinians whom do we stand in solidarity with what about if whoever represents the palestinians decides that they want a state on 11 percent of historical palestine and that they want a neoliberal capitalist state how am i supposed to stand in solidarity with that ip first of all the solidarity is with victims of a certain policy and ideology even if these victims are not represented you are in solidarity with their suffering and you support their attempt to get out of this suffering now you raise an interesting question i think that part of solidarity is like a good friendship as a good friend you can tell your friend that you understand what he is doing but that you think he is wrong those of us in solidarity with the palestinian people we find ourselves when it comes to our debates with good friends that still support the peace process the two state solution disagreeing with them part of our role is to tell them that we think they are wrong the assumption in your question is not realistic not one palestinian will ever agree with that still if that happens yes maybe we will have to rethink the whole idea of solidarity those debates are organic and stem from the situation we are not inventing them if you have a position between one state or two states or what kind of means the palestinians should adopt you connect to issues the palestinians have themselves you re therefore not an outsider you will be betraying your solidarity if you stopped having a position on the current and important debates i know that sometimes there is a nationalistic position saying that because you re not palestinian you cannot comment and are not entitled to have an opinion for me movements are made of people and people are different from one another not everybody is going to play according to the same rules i think that solidarity is also agreeing on what is right and what is wrong to do what are the boundaries of the involvement of people from the outside there is no dogmatic answer to this usually when someone says something like you cannot advocate one state if you re not palestinian or israeli it s usually to stifle a debate we should not waste too much time on this question by now i think that everyone involved knows what solidarity means and what it entitles you to do fb let s talk about the solution is there really a debate right now about this the two state solution as far as the institutions are concerned the governments still seems to be the only solution on the table when you mention one state people either call you a utopian or say that you are against jewish self determination even the so called palestinian political leaders despite what s happening on the ground still support a two state solution the more rational and humane solution which would be one state is still not debated and thought about enough in terms of the practicalities of it the how to get there ip i think two things are taking place one is the issue of palestinian representativity the people who claim to represent the palestinians from the west bank became the representatives of the whole palestinian people as far as the west bank is concerned you see why a two state solution is attractive it could mean the end of military control in their lives one can understand this but this disregards the other palestinians the refugees the ones from gaza and the ones that live inside israel that s one of the difficulties you have certain groups of palestinians that in my opinion wrongly believe that this is the quickest way to end the occupation i don t think it is you re right when you are saying the oslo agreement ensured the continuation of the occupation not the end of it the second reason is that the two state solution has a logical ring to it it s a very western idea a colonialist invention that was applied in india and africa this idea of partition while the non western world is a far more holistic world the idea of partition became a kind of religion to the extent that you do not question it anymore you work out how best to get there to my mind it makes very intelligent people take this as a religion of logic if you question the rationality of it you are criticized this is while a lot of people in the west stick to it nothing on the ground would ever change their mind of course you re right five minutes on the ground shows you that one state is already there it s a non democratic regime an apartheid regime so you just need to think about how to change this regime you do not need to think about a two state solution you need to think about how to change the relations between the communities how to affect the power structure in place fb right so as you re saying why are very intelligent people very rational ones still saying that the two state solution is the compulsory step the first unavoidable one toward something better i went to lectures about this but i still don t get it how would this work in practice ip again it goes back to a rationalist western way to look at reality it says that i can only advocate for what i can get not what i want at this moment in time it seems that you have such a wide coalition for a two state solution so you go for it you do not evaluate its morality its ethical dimension even if it s likely to change the reality later on this whole idea that this is a very reasonable approach is of course reasonable to a point but it s totally insane because it has nothing to do with the conflict it has to do with the way israel wants the world to accept this idea constructed in 1967 that it needs most of the territory that it occupied then but that it is willing to allow some autonomy to the palestinians in that territory that s the debate in israel it s never about the principles the thing that israel has always needed is international support they need their policies rubber stamped by the international community they also need a palestinian representative in 1993 the plo surprised them when it agreed to have a small autonomous area on a small part of the west bank and leave all the rest to israel that s the two state solution that everybody wants to convince us is the only way forward the problem is that not one palestinian can live with this hence the continuation of the conflict fb edward said died ten years ago he was one of the last palestinians with mahmoud darwish that the majority of the palestinians looked up to i know you knew him well can you end by giving us a few words on edward said and the role he played during his life ip we miss him very much i don t think only palestinians looked up to him for inspiration he was one of the greatest intellectuals of the second half of the last century we all looked at him for inspiration on questions of knowledge morality inspiration activism not only on palestine we are missing his holistic approach his ability to see things from above in a more wholesome way when you lose someone like that you have people that are taking the fragmentation that israel imposes on the palestinians and act as if this is a reality itself what we need is to overcome the intellectual physical and cultural fragmentation that israel imposes on us palestinians and jews and to strive to come back to something far more organic and integrated so that the third generation of jewish settlers and indigenous native people of palestine could have a future together florent barat final question now ilan are you working on a book right now ip i ve got several in fact one of them is coming out next winter it s called the idea of israel verso it s a history of the production of knowledge in israel in 2015 my book on israel s history of the occupation of the west bank called mega prison of palestine will come out this conversation between ilan pappé frank barat and frank s brother florent barat was recorded on october 20 2013 and has been condensed and edited chapter six inside the united states fb what is the definition of negotiations in israel us language and why is the palestinian authority playing along nc from the us point of view negotiations are in effect a way for israel to continue its policies of systematically taking over whatever it wants in the west bank maintaining the brutal siege on gaza separating gaza from the west bank and of course occupying the syrian golan heights all with full us support and the framework of negotiations as in the past twenty years of the oslo experience has simply provided a cover for this fb why is the pa playing along with this and going to negotiations time after time nc it s probably partly out of desperation you can ask whether it s the right choice or not but they don t have many alternatives fb so in your opinion it s pretty much to survive that they indeed accept the framework nc if they were to refuse to join the us run negotiations their basis for support would collapse they survive on donations essentially israel has made sure that it s not a productive economy they re a kind of what would be called in yiddish a schnorrer society you just borrow and live on what you can get whether they have an alternative to that is not so clear but if they were to refuse the us demand for negotiations on completely unacceptable terms their basis for support would erode and they do have support external support enough so that the palestinian elite can live a fairly decent often lavish lifestyle while the society around them collapses fb so would the crumbling and disappearance of the pa be a bad thing after all nc it depends on what would replace it if say marwan barghouti were permitted to join the society the way say nelson mandela was finally that could have a revitalizing effect in organizing a palestinian society that might press for more substantial demands but remember they don t have a lot of choices in fact go back to the beginning of the oslo agreements now twenty years old there were negotiations under way the madrid negotiations at which the palestinian delegation was led by haider abdel shafi a highly respected left nationalist figure in palestine he was refusing to agree to the us israel terms which required crucially that settlement expansion be allowed to continue he refused and therefore the negotiations stalled and got nowhere meanwhile arafat and the external palestinians went on the side track through oslo gained control and haider abdel shafi was so opposed to this he didn t even show up to the dramatic and meaningless ceremony where clinton beamed while arafat and rabin shook hands he didn t show up because he realized it was a total sellout but he was principled and therefore could get nowhere and we ll get nowhere unless there s substantial support from the european union the gulf states and ultimately from the united states fb in your opinion what is really at stake in what s unraveling in syria at the moment and what does it mean for the broader region nc well syria is descending into suicide it s a horror story and getting worse and worse there s no bright spot on the horizon what will probably happen if this continues is that syria will be partitioned into probably three regions a kurdish region which is already forming that could pull out and join in some fashion the semi autonomous iraqi kurdistan maybe with some kind of deal with turkey the rest of the country will be divided between a region dominated by the assad regime a brutal horrifying regime and another section dominated by the various militias which range from the extremely malicious and violent to the secular and democratic meanwhile israel is looking on and enjoying the spectacle for the united states that s fine they don t want an outcome either if the us and israel wanted to assist the rebels which they do not they can do it even without military intervention for example if israel were to mobilize forces on the golan heights of course it s the syrian golan heights but by now the world more or less tolerates or accepts israel s illegal occupation if they would just do that it would compel assad to move forces to the south which would relieve pressure against the rebels but there s no hint even of that they re also not giving humanitarian aid to the huge number of suffering refugees not doing all kinds of simple things that they could do all of which suggests that both israel and the united states prefer exactly what is happening today meanwhile israel can celebrate its status as what they call a villa in the jungle there was an interesting article by the editor of haaretz aluf benn who wrote about how israelis are going to the beach and enjoying themselves and congratulating themselves on being a villa in the jungle while the wild beasts out there tear each other to shreds and of course israel in this picture is doing nothing except defending itself they like that picture and the us doesn t seem too dissatisfied with it either the rest is shadowboxing fb what about talk of a us strike then do you think it s going to happen nc a bombing fb yes nc well it s kind of an interesting debate in the united states the ultra right the right wing extremists who are kind of off the international spectrum they re opposing it though not for reasons i like they re opposing it because why should we dedicate ourselves to solving other people s problems and waste our own resources they re literally asking who s going to defend us when we re attacked because we re devoting ourselves to helping people overseas that s the ultra right if you look at the moderate right people like say david brooks of the new york times considered an intellectual commentator on the right his view is that the us effort to withdraw its forces from the region is not having a moderating effect according to brooks when us forces are in the region that has a moderating effect it improves the situation as you can see in iraq for example but if we re withdrawing our forces then we re no longer able to moderate the situation and make it better that s the standard view from the intellectual right over to the mainstream the liberal democrats and so on so there s a lot of talk about should we exercise our responsibility to protect well just take a look at the us record on responsibility to protect r2p the fact that these words can even be spoken reveals something quite extraordinary about the us and in fact western moral and intellectual culture this is quite apart from the fact that it s a gross violation of international law obama s latest line is that he didn t establish a red line but the world did through its conventions on chemical warfare well actually the world does have a treaty which israel didn t sign and which the us has totally neglected for example when it supported saddam hussein s really horrifying use of chemical weapons today this is used to denounce saddam hussein overlooking the fact that it was not only tolerated but basically supported by the reagan administration and of course the convention has no enforcement mechanisms there s also no such thing as responsibility to protect that s a fraud perpetrated in western intellectual culture there is a notion in fact two notions there s one passed by the un general assembly which does talk about a responsibility to protect but it offers no authorization for any kind of intervention except under conditions of the united nations charter there is another version which is adopted only by the west the us and its allies which is unilateral and says r2p permits military intervention by regional organizations in the region of their authority without security council authorization well translating that into english this means that it provides authorization for the us and nato to use violence wherever they choose without security council authorization that s what s called responsibility to protect in western discourse if it weren t so tragic it would be farcical this conversation between noam chomsky and frank barat was recorded september 6 2013 and has been condensed and edited originally published september 7 2013 at ceasefire magazine part two reflections chapter seven gaza s torment israel s crimes our responsibilities noam chomsky at 3 a m gaza time july 9 2014 in the midst of israel s latest exercise in savagery i received a phone call from a young palestinian journalist in gaza in the background i could hear his infant child wailing amid the sounds of explosions and jet planes targeting any civilian who moves and homes as well he just saw a friend of his in a car clearly marked press get blown away and he heard shrieks next door after an explosion but couldn t go outside or he d be a likely target this is a quiet neighborhood no military targets except palestinians who are fair game for israel s high tech us supplied military machine he said that 70 percent of the ambulances have been destroyed and that by then more than seventy had been killed and of the three hundred or so wounded about two thirds were women and children few hamas activists or rocket launching sites have been hit just the usual victims it is important to understand what life is like in gaza when israel s behavior is restrained in between the regular manufactured crises like this one a good sense is given in a report to the united nations relief and works agency unrwa by mads gilbert the courageous and expert norwegian physician who has worked extensively in gaza including throughout the vicious and murderous cast lead operation in every respect the situation is disastrous just keeping to children gilbert reports palestinian children in gaza are suffering immensely a large proportion are affected by the man made malnourishment regime caused by the israeli imposed blockage prevalence of anaemia in children under 2 years in gaza is at 72 8 percent while prevalence of wasting stunting underweight have been documented at 34 3 percent 31 4 percent 31 45 percent respectively and it gets worse as the report proceeds when israel is on good behavior more than two palestinian children are killed every week a pattern that goes back over fourteen years the underlying cause is the criminal occupation and the programs to reduce palestinian life to bare survival in gaza while palestinians are restricted to unviable cantons in the west bank and israel takes over what it wants all in gross violation of international law and explicit security council resolutions not to speak of minimal decency and it will continue as long as it is supported by washington and tolerated by europe to our everlasting shame originally published in z magazine july 12 2014 chapter eight genocide a brief history of israel s incremental ilan pappé in a september 2006 article for the electronic intifada i defined the israeli policy toward the gaza strip as an incremental genocide israel s present assault on gaza alas indicates that this policy continues unabated the term is important since it appropriately locates israel s barbaric action then and now within a wider historical context people in gaza and elsewhere in palestine feel disappointed at the lack of any significant international reaction to the carnage and destruction the israeli assault has so far left behind in the strip the inability or unwillingness to act seems to be first and foremost an acceptance of the israeli narrative and argumentation for the crisis in gaza israel has developed a very clear narrative about the present carnage in gaza it is a tragedy caused by an unprovoked hamas missile attack on the jewish state to which israel had to react in self defense while mainstream western media academia and politicians may have reservations about the proportionality of the force used by israel they accept the gist of this argument this israeli narrative is totally rejected in the world of cyber activism and alternative media there it seems the condemnation of the israeli action as a war crime is widespread and consensual the main difference between the two analyses from above and from below is the willingness of activists to study deeper and in a more profound way the ideological and historical context of the present israeli action in gaza a historical evaluation and contextualization of the present israeli assault on gaza and that of the previous three since 2006 expose clearly the israeli genocidal policy there an incremental policy of massive killing that is less a product of a callous intention and more the inevitable outcome of israel s overall strategy toward palestine in general and the areas it occupied in 1967 in particular this context should be insisted upon since the israeli propaganda machine attempts again and again to narrate its policies as out of context and turns the pretext it found for every previous wave of destruction into the main justification for another spree of indiscriminate slaughter in the killing fields of palestine the zionist strategy of branding its brutal policies as an ad hoc response to this or that palestinian action is as old as the zionist presence in palestine itself it was used repeatedly as a justification for implementing the zionist vision of a future palestine that has in it very few if any native palestinians the means for achieving this goal has changed over the years but the formula has remained the same whatever the zionist vision of a jewish state might be it can only materialize without any significant number of palestinians in it and nowadays the vision is of an israel stretching over almost the whole of historic palestine where millions of palestinians still live the present genocidal wave has like all the previous ones also a more immediate background it has been born out of an attempt to foil the palestinian decision to form a unity government that even the united states could not object to the collapse of us secretary of state john kerry s desperate peace initiative legitimized the palestinian appeal to international organizations to stop the occupation at the same time palestinians gained wide international blessing for the cautious attempt represented by the unity government to strategize once again a coordinated policy among the various palestinian groups and agendas ever since june 1967 israel has searched for a way to keep the territories it occupied that year without incorporating their indigenous palestinian population into its rights bearing citizenry all the while it participated in a peace process charade to cover up or buy time for its unilateral colonization policies on the ground in the last few decades israel differentiated between areas it wished to control directly and those it would manage indirectly with the aim in the long run of downsizing the palestinian population to a minimum through among other means ethnic cleansing and economic and geographic strangulation thus the west bank was in effect divided into jewish and palestinian zones a reality most israelis can live with provided the palestinian bantustans inhabitants are content with their incarceration within these mega prisons the geopolitical location of the west bank creates the impression in israel at least that it is possible to achieve this without anticipating a third uprising or too much international condemnation the gaza strip due to its unique geopolitical location did not lend itself that easily to such a strategy ever since 1994 and even more so when ariel sharon came to power as prime minister in the early 2000s the strategy there has been to ghettoize gaza and somehow hope that the people there 1 8 million as of today would be dropped into eternal oblivion but the ghetto proved to be rebellious and unwilling to live under conditions of strangulation isolation starvation and economic collapse there was no way it would be annexed to egypt either in 1948 or in 2014 in 1948 israel pushed into the gaza area before it became a strip hundreds of thousands of refugees it expelled from the northern naqab and southern coast who so israel hoped would move even farther away from palestine for a while after 1967 israel wanted to keep the west bank as a township which provided unskilled labor but without any human and civil rights when the occupied people resisted the continued oppression in two intifadas the west bank was bisected into small bantustans encircled by jewish colonies but it did not work in the too small and too dense gaza strip the israelis were unable to west bank the strip so to speak so they cordoned it as a ghetto and when it resisted the army was allowed to use its most formidable and lethal weapons to crush it the inevitable result of an accumulative reaction of this kind was genocidal on may 15 israeli forces killed two palestinian youths in the west bank town of beitunia their cold blooded slayings by a sniper s bullet captured on video their names nadim nuwara and muhammad abu al thahir were added to a long list of such killings in recent months and years the killing of three israeli teenagers two of them minors abducted in the occupied west bank in june was perhaps in reprisal for killings of palestinian children but for all the depredations of the oppressive occupation it provided the pretext first and foremost for destroying the delicate unity in the west bank a unity that followed a decision by the palestinian authority to forsake the peace process and appeal to international organizations to judge israel according to a human and civil rights yardstick both developments were viewed as alarming in israel the abductions also created the pretext for the implementation of the old dream of wiping out hamas from gaza so that the ghetto could be quiet again since 1994 even before the rise of hamas to power in the gaza strip the very particular geopolitical location of the strip has made it clear that any collective punitive action such as the one inflicted now could only be an operation of massive killings and destruction in other words of a continued genocide this recognition never inhibited the generals who give the orders to bomb the people from the air the sea and the ground downsizing the number of palestinians all over historic palestine is still the zionist vision in gaza its implementation takes its most inhuman form the particular timing of this genocidal wave is determined as in the past by additional considerations the domestic social unrest of 2011 is still simmering and for a while there was a public demand to cut military expenditures and move money from the inflated defense budget to social services the army branded this possibility as suicidal there is nothing like a military operation to stifle any voices calling on the government to cut its military expenses typical hallmarks of the previous stages in this incremental genocide reappear in this wave as well one can witness again consensual israeli jewish support for the massacre of civilians in the gaza strip without one significant voice of dissent in tel aviv the few who dared to demonstrate against it were beaten by jewish hooligans while the police stood by and watched academia as always becomes part of the machinery the prestigious private university the interdisciplinary center herzliya has established a civilian headquarters where students volunteer to serve as mouthpieces in the propaganda campaign abroad various universities have offered the state their student bodies to help and battle for the israeli narrative in cyberspace and the alternative media the israeli media as well has toed loyally the government s line showing no pictures of the human catastrophe israel has wreaked and informing its public that this time the world understands us and is behind us that statement is valid to a point as the political elites in the west continue to provide the old immunity to the jewish state the recent appeal by western governments to the prosecutor in the international court of justice in the hague not to look into israel s crimes in gaza is a case in point wide sections of the western media have followed suit and have justified by and large israel s actions including the french media especially france 24 and the bbc which continue to shamefully parrot israeli propaganda this is not surprising since pro israel lobby groups continue to work tirelessly to press israel s case in france and the rest of europe as they do in the united states this distorted coverage is also fed by a sense among western journalists that what happens in gaza pales in comparison to the atrocities in iraq and syria comparisons like this are usually provided without a wider historical perspective a longer view on the history of the palestinians would be a much more appropriate way to evaluate their suffering vis à vis the carnage elsewhere but not only a historical view is needed for a better understanding of the massacre in gaza a dialectical approach that identifies the connection between israel s immunity and the horrific developments elsewhere is required as well the dehumanization in iraq and syria is widespread and terrifying as it is in gaza but there is one crucial difference between these cases and the israeli brutality the former are condemned as barbarous and inhuman worldwide while those committed by israel are still publicly licensed and approved by the president of the united states the leaders of the european union and israel s other friends in the world whether it is burning alive a palestinian youth from jerusalem fatally shooting two others just for the fun of it in beitunia or slaying whole families in gaza these are all acts that can only be perpetrated if the victim is dehumanized the only chance for a successful struggle against zionism in palestine is the one based on a human and civil rights agenda that does not differentiate between one violation and the other and yet identifies clearly the victim and the victimizers those who commit atrocities in the arab world against oppressed minorities and helpless communities as well as the israelis who commit these crimes against the palestinian people should all be judged by the same moral and ethical standards they are all war criminals though in the case of palestine they have been at work longer than anyone else it does not really matter what the religious identity is of the people who commit the atrocities or in the name of which religion they purport to speak whether they call themselves jihadists judaists or zionists they should be treated in the same way a world that would stop employing double standards in its dealings with israel is a world that could be far more effective in its response to war crimes elsewhere in the world the cessation of the incremental genocide in gaza and the restitution of the basic human and civil rights of palestinians wherever they are including the right of return is the only way to open a new vista for a productive international intervention in the middle east as a whole adapted from israel s incremental genocide in the gaza ghetto electronic intifada july 13 2014 and the historical perspective of the 2014 gaza massacre information clearing house august 23 2014 chapter nine nightmare in gaza noam chomsky amid all the horrors unfolding in the latest israeli offensive in gaza israel s goal is simple quiet for quiet a return to the norm for the west bank the norm is that israel continues its illegal construction of settlements and infrastructure so that it can integrate into israel whatever might be of value meanwhile consigning palestinians to unviable cantons and subjecting them to repression and violence for gaza the norm is a miserable existence under a cruel and destructive siege that israel administers to permit bare survival but nothing more for the past fourteen years the norm is that israel kills more than two palestinian children a week the latest israeli rampage was set off by the brutal murder of three israeli boys from a settler community in the occupied west bank a month before two palestinian boys were shot dead in the west bank city of ramallah that elicited little attention which is understandable since it is routine the institutionalized disregard for palestinian life in the west helps explain not only why palestinians resort to violence middle east analyst mouin rabbani reports but also israel s latest assault on the gaza strip quiet for quiet also enables israel to carry forward its program of separating gaza from the west bank that program has been pursued vigorously always with us support ever since the us and israel accepted the oslo accords which declare the two regions to be an inseparable territorial unity a look at the map explains the rationale gaza provides palestine s only access to the outside world so once the two are separated any autonomy that israel might grant to palestinians in the west bank would leave them effectively imprisoned between hostile states israel and jordan the imprisonment will become even more severe as israel continues its program of expelling palestinians from the jordan valley and constructing israeli settlements there the norm in gaza was described in detail by the heroic norwegian trauma surgeon mads gilbert who has worked in gaza s main hospital through israel s most grotesque crimes and returned again for the current onslaught in june 2014 he submitted a report on the gaza health sector to the unrwa the un agency that tries desperately on a shoestring to care for refugees at least 57 percent of gaza households are food insecure and about 80 percent are now aid recipients gilbert reports food insecurity and rising poverty also mean that most residents cannot meet their daily caloric requirements while over 90 percent of the water in gaza has been deemed unfit for human consumption a situation that is becoming even worse as israel again attacks water and sewage systems leaving 1 2 million people with even more severe disruption of the barest necessity of life in an interview human rights lawyer raji sourani who has remained in gaza through years of israeli brutality and terror said the most common sentence i heard when people began to talk about ceasefire everybody says it s better for all of us to die and not go back to the situation we used to have before this war we don t want that again we have no dignity no pride we are just soft targets and we are very cheap either this situation really improves or it is better to just die i am talking about intellectuals academics ordinary people everybody is saying that similar sentiments have been widely heard it is better to die with dignity than to be slowly strangled by the torturer for gaza the plans for the norm were explained forthrightly by dov weissglass the confidant of ariel sharon who negotiated the withdrawal of israeli settlers from gaza in 2005 hailed as a grand gesture in israel and among acolytes and the deluded elsewhere the withdrawal was in reality a carefully staged national trauma properly ridiculed by informed israeli commentators among them israel s leading sociologist the late baruch kimmerling what actually happened is that israeli hawks led by sharon realized that it made good sense to transfer the illegal settlers from their subsidized communities in devastated gaza to subsidized settlements in the other occupied territories which israel intends to keep but instead of simply transferring them as would have been simple enough it was considered more effective to present the world with images of little children pleading with soldiers not to destroy their homes amid cries of never again with the implication obvious what made the farce even more transparent was that it was a replica of the staged trauma when israel had to evacuate the egyptian sinai in 1982 but it played very well for the intended audience abroad in weissglass s own description of the transfer of settlers from gaza to other occupied territories what i effectively agreed to with the americans was that the major settlement blocs in the west bank would not be dealt with at all and the rest will not be dealt with until the palestinians turn into finns but a special kind of finns who would accept rule by a foreign power the significance is the freezing of the political process weissglass continued and when you freeze that process you prevent the establishment of a palestinian state and you prevent a discussion about the refugees the borders and jerusalem effectively this whole package that is called the palestinian state with all that it entails has been removed from our agenda indefinitely and all this with george w bush s authority and permission and the ratification of both houses of congress weisglass added that gazans would remain on a diet but not to make them die of hunger which would not help israel s fading reputation with their vaunted technical efficiency israeli experts determined exactly how many calories a day gazans needed for bare survival while also depriving them of medicines construction materials or other means of decent life israeli military forces confined them by land sea and air to what british prime minister david cameron accurately described as a prison camp the israeli withdrawal left israel in total control of gaza hence the occupying power under international law the official story is that after israel graciously handed gaza over to the palestinians in the hope that they would construct a flourishing state they revealed their true nature by subjecting israel to unremitting rocket attack and forcing the captive population to become martyrs leaving israel in a bad light for failing to anticipate this scenario reality is rather different in january 2006 palestinians committed a major crime they voted the wrong way in a carefully monitored free election handing control of parliament to hamas the media constantly intone that hamas is dedicated to the destruction of israel in reality hamas leaders have repeatedly made it clear that hamas would accept a two state settlement in accord with the international consensus that has been blocked by the united states and israel for forty years in contrast israel is dedicated to the destruction of palestine apart from some occasional meaningless words and is implementing that commitment true israel accepted the road map for reaching a two state settlement initiated by president george w bush and adopted by the quartet that is to supervise it the united states the european union the united nations and russia but as he accepted the road map prime minister sharon at once added fourteen reservations that effectively nullify it the facts were known to activists but revealed to the general public for the first time in jimmy carter s book palestine peace not apartheid they remain under wraps in media reporting and commentary the unrevised 1999 platform of israel s governing party benjamin netanyahu s likud flatly rejects the establishment of a palestinian arab state west of the jordan river and for those who like to obsess about meaningless charters the core component of likud menachem begin s herut has yet to abandon its founding doctrine that the territory on both sides of the jordan is part of the land of israel the crime of the palestinians in january 2006 was punished at once the united states and israel with europe shamefully trailing behind imposed harsh sanctions on the errant population and israel stepped up its violence the united states and israel quickly initiated plans for a military coup to overthrow the elected government when hamas had the effrontery to foil the plans the israeli assaults and the siege became far more severe there should be no need to review again the dismal record since the relentless siege and savage attacks are punctuated by episodes of mowing the lawn to borrow israel s cheery expression for its periodic exercises in shooting fish in a pond as part of what it calls a war of defense once the lawn is mowed and the desperate population seeks to rebuild somehow from the devastation and the murders there is a ceasefire agreement the most recent ceasefire was established after israel s october 2012 assault called operation pillar of defense though israel maintained its siege hamas observed the ceasefire as israel concedes matters changed in april of this year when fatah and hamas forged a unity agreement that established a new government of technocrats unaffiliated with either party israel was naturally furious all the more so when even the obama administration joined the west in signaling approval the unity agreement not only undercuts israel s claim that it cannot negotiate with a divided palestine but also threatens the long term goal of dividing gaza from the west bank and pursuing its destructive policies in both regions something had to be done and an occasion arose on june 12 when the three israeli boys were murdered in the west bank early on the netanyahu government knew that they were dead but pretended otherwise which provided the opportunity to launch a rampage in the west bank targeting hamas prime minister netanyahu claimed to have certain knowledge that hamas was responsible that too was a lie one of israel s leading authorities on hamas shlomi eldar reported almost at once that the killers very likely came from a dissident clan in hebron that has long been a thorn in the side of hamas eldar added i m sure they didn t get any green light from the leadership of hamas they just thought it was the right time to act the eighteen day rampage after the kidnapping however succeeded in undermining the feared unity government and sharply increasing israeli repression according to israeli military sources israeli soldiers arrested 419 palestinians including 335 affiliated with hamas and killed six palestinians also searching thousands of locations and confiscating 350 000 israel also conducted dozens of attacks in gaza killing five hamas members on july 7 hamas finally reacted with its first rockets in nineteen months providing israel with the pretext for operation protective edge on july 8 by july 31 around 1 400 palestinians had been killed mostly civilians including hundreds of women and children and three israeli civilians by then large areas of gaza had been turned into rubble during brief bombing pauses relatives desperately sought shattered bodies or household items in the ruins of homes four hospitals had been attacked each yet another war crime the main power plant was attacked sharply curtailing the already very limited electricity and worse still reducing still further the minimal availability of fresh water another war crime meanwhile rescue teams and ambulances are repeatedly attacked the atrocities mount throughout gaza while israel claims that its goal is to destroy tunnels at the border israeli officials laud the humanity of what it calls the most moral army in the world which informs residents that their homes will be bombed the practice is sadism sanctimoniously disguising itself as mercy in the words of israeli journalist amira hass a recorded message demanding hundreds of thousands of people leave their already targeted homes for another place equally dangerous 10 kilometers away in fact there is no place in the prison of gaza safe from israeli sadism which may even exceed the terrible crimes of operation cast lead in 2008 2009 the hideous revelations elicited the usual reaction from the most moral president in the world barack obama great sympathy for israelis bitter condemnation of hamas and calls for moderation on both sides when the current episode of sadism is called off israel hopes to be free to pursue its criminal policies in the occupied territories without interference and with the us support it has enjoyed in the past military economic and diplomatic and also ideological by framing the issues in conformity to israeli doctrines gazans will be free to return to the norm in their israeli run prison while in the west bank palestinians can watch in peace as israel dismantles what remains of their possessions that is the likely outcome if the united states maintains its decisive and virtually unilateral support for israeli crimes and its rejection of the long standing international consensus on diplomatic settlement but the future will be quite different if the united states withdraws that support in that case it would be possible to move toward the enduring solution in gaza that us secretary of state john kerry called for eliciting hysterical condemnation in israel because the phrase could be interpreted as calling for an end to israel s siege and regular attacks and horror of horrors the phrase might even be interpreted as calling for implementation of international law in the rest of the occupied territories it is not that israel s security would be threatened by adherence to international law it would very likely be enhanced but as explained forty years ago by israeli general ezer weizman later president israel could then not exist according to the scale spirit and quality she now embodies there are similar cases in recent history indonesian generals swore that they would never abandon what australian foreign minister gareth evans called the indonesian province of east timor as he was making a deal to steal timorese oil and as long as they retained us support through decades of virtually genocidal slaughter their goals were realistic in september 1999 under considerable domestic and international pressure president clinton finally informed them quietly that the game was over and they instantly withdrew while evans turned to his new career as the lauded apostle of responsibility to protect to be sure in a version designed to permit western resort to violence at will another relevant case is south africa in 1958 south africa s foreign minister informed the us ambassador that although his country was becoming a pariah state it would not matter as long as the us support continued his assessment proved fairly accurate thirty years later reagan was the last significant holdout in supporting the apartheid regime within a few years washington joined the world and the regime collapsed not for that reason alone of course one crucial factor was the remarkable cuban role in the liberation of africa generally ignored in the west though not in africa forty years ago israel made the fateful decision to choose expansion over security rejecting a full peace treaty offered by egypt in return for evacuation from the occupied egyptian sinai where israel was initiating extensive settlement and development projects it has adhered to that policy ever since making essentially the same judgment as south africa did in 1958 in the case of israel if the united states decided to join the world the impact would be far greater relations of power allow nothing else as has been demonstrated over and over when washington has demanded that israel abandon cherished goals furthermore israel by now has little recourse after having adopted policies that turned it from a country that was greatly admired to one that is feared and despised policies it is pursuing with blind determination today in its resolute march toward moral deterioration and possible ultimate destruction could us policy change it s not impossible public opinion has shifted considerably in recent years particularly among the young and it cannot be completely ignored for some years there has been a good basis for public demands that washington observe its own laws and cut off military aid to israel us law requires that no security assistance may be provided to any country the government of which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights israel most certainly is guilty of this consistent pattern and has been for many years senator patrick leahy of vermont author of this provision of the law has brought up its potential applicability to israel in specific cases and with a well conducted educational organizational and activist effort such initiatives could be pursued successfully that could have a very significant impact in itself while also providing a springboard for further actions to compel washington to become part of the international community and to observe international law and norms nothing could be more significant for the tragic palestinian victims of many years of violence and repression adapted from nightmare in gaza alternet august 1 2014 and outrage information clearing house august 3 2014 chapter ten palestine the futility and immorality of partition in ilan pappé there is a famous jewish maxim that one should look for one s lost key where it was lost and not where there is light in many ways the so called peace process in palestine with the concept of the two state solution as its benchmark has been a futile search under a powerful streetlamp far away from the lost key the congregation of world leaders mediators liberal zionists so called moderate palestinians and some of palestine s best friends in the west under the street lamp was motivated by a shared misconception of the palestine conflict as one fought between two national movements from within this perspective two other misconceptions emerge the conflict in palestine started more or less in 1967 with the occupation by israel of the west bank and the gaza strip and secondly these two areas are more palestinian in nature and history than the rest of palestine away from the lamp lie truths which are uncomfortable it seems not only to zionists but also to those who fear a direct confrontation with the jewish state there in the darkness one can find the only relevant framing of the conflict in palestine as a struggle between a settler colonialist movement and a native indigenous population that has raged since the late nineteenth century until today seen from the perspective of settler colonialism the conflict is a relentless and tireless engagement with the attempt to take over as much of palestine as possible and leave in it as few palestinians as possible ironically the wish to de arabize the country stemmed from a zionist aspiration to create a european kind of democracy within the midst of the arab world with one caveat only it had to be a jewish democracy hence the colonialist impulse of the settlers was always geographical and demographic the movement in its early stages was led by pragmatic leaders such as david ben gurion who recognized the need to take over palestine bit by bit and without forgetting the imperative of always having an exclusive jewish majority in the land and therefore when the jews were less than a third of the population during the mandatory period 1918 1948 the movement proposed a partition of palestine in a way that would ensure the small minority of settlers demographic exclusivity in parts of palestine with the hope of absorbing more settlers in the future and thus more land in fact early on in the 1930s the zionist leaders tried to persuade the british government to help materialize these dreams by transferring palestinians from future jewish areas as part of a solution to the emerging conflict but the empire was not convinced so the zionist movement had to do it itself namely had to contemplate both the takeover of the space for a future jewish democracy and the removal of the palestinians living in that space the need to use force in order to change the demographic balance in a country in which the jewish settlers were still only one third in 1948 was accentuated by the failure of the zionist movement to purchase a significant number of lands the inevitable result was a vast ethnic cleansing operation in palestine that had begun even before the british left the country in february 1948 and ended 1 in early 1949 this ethnic cleansing operation created the west bank and the gaza strip two geopolitical entities that came to the world as part of the incremental takeover of palestine by the zionist movement as did a third area wadi ara which was part of the west bank but was annexed to israel under duress when jordan was threatened with war and conceded this slice of the west bank to israel in april 1949 as part of the bilateral armistice 2 agreement 3 the west bank was carved out of the parts of palestine allocated to an arab state in the un partition resolution of november 29 1947 it was the quid pro quo for a jordanian consent to take only a limited part in the overall arab attempt to salvage palestine the jordanian legion and the nascent israeli army fought a bitter battle over jerusalem and divided it between the two sides the gaza strip was carved out of the naqab or negev and was created by israel as a huge receptor of refugees israeli forces systematically cleansed all the villages and inhabitants south of jaffa and pushed them into what became the gaza strip so these two geopolitical units were the leftovers of the zionist attempt to judaize the whole of palestine one was created as a result of a strategic understanding with jordan the other for the purpose of solving the demographic issue this was the real partition of palestine until 1967 the fictive peace partition the streetlamp was conceived by israel after the 1967 war it came within a set of strategic decisions taken by the thirteenth government of israel the background for these decisions was a discontent among many of israel s chief policy makers about the 1948 tacit alliance with jordan there was an active lobby pushing prime minister ben gurion who was in power until 1963 to reconsider this alliance and find a pretext to occupy either parts of the west bank or the whole of it these were powerful people some of them were generals in the 1948 war such as yigal alon and moshe dayan others were ideologues who considered the west bank as the heart of ancient israel without which the jewish state could not survive the military men also concocted the myth of the river jordan as a natural barrier for future invasions from the east against the jewish state anyone who had seen the river jordan even on a particular good day would know that this creek could hardly stop a unit of donkeys let alone 4 tanks this lobby had its chance to transform expansionist dreams into strategic planning once ben gurion left office in 1963 ben gurion was adamant in his objection for occupying any more parts of palestine since he dreaded the incorporation of an additional and large number of palestinians but once he was gone the government intensified its preparations for the eventuality of such an expansion while ben gurion was in charge he prevented a dangerous circumstance from developing into a war circumstances quite similar to the ones which led to the 1967 war in 1960 gamal abdul nasser the leader of egypt and the arab world embarked on a brinkmanship policy that foreshadowed his moves in 1967 a different israeli prime minister and a different un secretary general did not prevent a 5 war that their predecessors successfully diffused in 1960 from 1963 onward israeli strategists intensified their preparations for the eventuality of a future occupation of the west bank and the gaza strip these preparations included very systematic planning for how to run the two areas as occupied military zones they were put into effective use within a few days in june 1967 but they were not enough a strategy had to be formulated and this task was taken up by the israeli government in several meetings during the following months after the fighting subsided 6 immediately after the 1967 war ended the thirteenth government of israel began discussions that produced a series of decisions that all in one way or another condemned all the people who lived in the west bank and the gaza strip to life imprisonment in the biggest ever human mega prison witnessed in modern times the palestinians living there were incarcerated in such a fashion for crimes they never committed and for offenses that were never ever pronounced admitted or defined today a third generation of such inmates have begun their life in that mega prison the particular government which took this callous and inhuman decision represented the widest possible zionist consensus every ideological stream and view was presented in that government socialists from mapam sat alongside the revisionist menachem begin and shared the glory and the power with the various factions that made up the zionist labor movement they were joined by members of the most secular liberal and the most religious and ultra religious political parties never before nor after during this government s term in office would such a consensual partnership lead the state of israel in its future and crucial decisions contrary to common wisdom about the history of the west bank and the gaza strip no one apart from the government of israel played any crucial role then and ever since in deciding the fate of these territories or the people living in them what these ministers decided in the second half of june 1967 and in the following months of july and august has remained to this day the cornerstone of israeli policy toward the occupied territories none of the successive israeli governments deviated from these past decisions nor did they wish to deviate from them in any form or shape the resolutions taken in that short period of three months between june and august 1967 charted clearly the principles to which future governments in israel would religiously adhere and from which they would not diverge even during the most dramatic events that followed in years to come be it the first or second intifada or the oslo peace process and the camp david summit of 2000 one explanation for the resilience of this set of decisions is the extraordinary composition of the 1967 government as mentioned this government represented as never before and never since the widest possible zionist consensus one can also attribute it to the euphoric mood in the wake of the total devastation of six arab armies by the idf and the successful blitzkrieg that ended with the military occupation of vast areas of arab lands and countries a messianic aura surrounded the decision makers in those days energizing them to take bold and historic decisions which their successors would find hard to refute or change all these plausible explanations tend to see the policies as the direct product of the particular and extraordinary circumstances of june 1967 but these decisions were mainly the inevitable outcome of zionist ideology and history however one chooses to define this ideology or insist on its shades and innuendoes the particular circumstances made it easier to remind the politicians of their ideological heritage and reconnected them once more as they did in 1948 to the zionist drive to judaize as much of historical palestine as possible the first decision was not to ethnically cleanse the population despite the joy of expanding the jewish state onto what many israelis felt were the natural and historical borders of ancient israel the ministers played with the idea but eventually ruled it out they doubted whether the army had the will and mentality to carry it out as it was unclear whether the army had 7 sufficient means for accomplishing it the second decision was to exclude the west bank and the gaza strip from any future deal based on territories for peace a principle that at least in theory the government accepted for the sinai peninsula and the golan heights the prevailing sense in those meetings was that the international immunity for land expansion was guaranteed not as an endorsement of expansionism per se but more as an unwillingness to confront it but with one crucial caveat there could not be a de jure annexation of the territories 8 only a de facto one the third one was not to grant full citizenship to the occupied population so as not to endanger the demographic jewish majority there was then and there is now a consensual israeli impulse and overwhelming desire to keep the west bank forever while at the same time there was and is the twofold recognition of the undesirability of officially annexing these territories and the inability to expel the population en masse the aspirations about the gaza strip then and now are more ambivalent the main drive was to see it disappear it was a vision in 1967 which has become a dangerous blueprint for action these days and yet keeping these territories with the population in it seemed as vital as the need to maintain a decisive jewish majority in whatever constituted a jewish state the minutes of the meetings are now open to historians they expose the impossibility and incompatibility of these two impulses the appetite for possessing new land on the one hand and the reluctance to either drive out or fully incorporate the people living on them on the other but the documents also reveal a self congratulatory satisfaction from the early discovery of a way out of the ostensible logical deadlock and theoretical impasse the ministers were convinced as all the ministers after them would be that they had found the formula that would enable israel to keep the territories it coveted without annexing the people it negated and while 9 safeguarding its international immunity and reputation when those three goals are translated into actual policies they can only produce an inhuman and ruthless reality on the ground there can be no benign or enlightened version for a policy meant to keep people in citizenless status for a long period of time only one known human invention operates in such a way which robs temporarily or for longer period of times the basic human and civil rights of citizens the modern day prison the official israeli navigation between impossible nationalist and colonialist ambitions turned a million and half people in 1967 into inmates of such a mega prison it was not a prison for a few inmates wrongly or rightly incarcerated it was imposed on a society as a whole it was and still is a system of malice that was built due to vile motives but not only some of its architects searched genuinely for the most possible humane model for this prison probably because they were aware that this was a collective punishment for a crime never committed others did not even bother to search for a softer version or more humane one but the two camps existed and therefore the government offered two versions of the mega prison to the people in the west bank and the gaza strip one was an open air prison and the other a maximum security one should they not accept the former they would get the latter the open air prison allowed a measure of autonomous life under indirect and direct israeli control the maximum security one robbed the palestinians of all the autonomies and subjected them to a harsh policy of punishments restriction and in the worst case scenario execution the reality on the ground was that the open air prison was harsh enough and sufficiently inhuman to trigger resistance from the enclaved population and that the maximum security model was imposed as retaliation to palestinian resistance in general the softer model was attempted twice between 1967 and 1987 and between 1993 and 2000 and the retaliations occurred in 1987 until 1993 and 2000 until 2009 the open air prison became the false paradigm of peace as it was marketed by israel and by american and european allies of the jewish state as an ingenious idea for how to solve the conflict the best open prison was eventually propagated first as an autonomous zone in the 1979 camp david agreement between israel and egypt that led to nowhere and later on as an independent palestinian state in the oslo accord of 1993 when the oslo accord was translated into reality by the sheer power of the occupier the resemblance of the idea of a state to an open prison became clear with the partitioning of the west bank into areas a b and c and the exclusion of the jewish settlements in gaza from any palestinian rule the map of the oslo b accord of 1994 gave autonomy only in small parts of the west bank and the gaza strip but left the control of the enclaves security and sovereignty in the hands of the israeli security apparatuses when the israeli regime felt security deteriorated for a short while the maximum security model was reinstalled in 2002 and in many ways it is still there today while the rebellious prison of gaza is severely punished by a continuous siege and closure the success of turning the open prison model into a diplomatic effort and a peace process could not have been possible had it not won the support of large sections of the palestinian political elite the zionist left and even some very well known and highly respected international supporters of the palestinian cause but it is mainly a new creation the quartet a kind of ad hoc international tribunal for palestine consisting of the european union russia the united states and the united nations that gave the process the legitimacy it needed to be seen as a powerful paradigm for peace in israel and in the west a huge laundry list of words and a very cooperative media and academia were essential for maintaining the moral and political validity of the open air prison option as the best solution for the conflict and as an ideal vision for normal and healthy life in the occupied west bank and the gaza strip autonomy self determination and finally independence were used and mainly abused as words to describe the best version of an open air prison model the israelis could offer the palestinians in the west bank and the gaza strip but this laundry list did not cleanse the reality and the hyperbolic discourse of peace and independence did not deafen the conscientious members of all the societies involved in the territories in israel and in the outside world in the age of the internet an independent press an active civil society and energetic ngos it was hard to play the charade of peace and reconciliation on the ground where people were incarcerated in the biggest ever human prison witnessed in modern history in this situation out of conscious intention to control the area indefinitely and deny all the human rights of its people israel invented the magic formula of presenting the occupation as temporary the status of the population will be settled with the coming of peace this mode of operation allows israel to continue to present itself as a democratic state and enjoy the many benefits attached to this status in the international arena hence the peace process and talk about two states for two peoples are not in any contradiction with the occupation not even the temporary occupation of 1967 they are a political and conceptual framework designed to enable and perpetuate the status quo for as long as possible israel would find it hard to market this façade to the world if it were not assisted by many others some serving their self interests and others out of misled good intentions the leadership of the palestinian national movement also plays a key role in providing credibility for the fake peace process it is followed by a large part of the leadership of the palestinian arab population within the green line many peace activists around the world have fallen into this trap meanwhile israel has been working on the ground to deepen its control over the land water economy and all aspects of palestinian lives it creates a situation where even if a palestinian state is announced headed by mahmoud abbas as president it will not have any practical significance there is no chance of getting out of the deadlock in palestine without tearing apart the façade of a fake peace process and the two state solution it is time to look for the key where we lost it we need to start by correctly identifying the problem expose zionism as a colonialist movement and characterize israel as an apartheid racist state there is no other zionism nor other israel exposure by itself may have a huge effect because of the importance of international support in preserving israel s superiority against all local forces but also due to internal conflicts within israeli society any solution should be derived from our understanding of the problem it should start with a discussion among all residents of the country on how to live together within a framework where all enjoy full rights equality and partnership the palestinian refugees should also take part in this discussion as they have the right to return to palestine and to fully take part in shaping their country s future it is essential to set the goal of establishing one state for all inhabitants and refugees of the country because it defines who should participate in the discussion about this future zionism has done and continues to do whatever it can to divide the palestinian people and guide all of them to a dead end first came the distancing of the refugees outside palestine s borders and the isolation of the palestinian population in the 1948 territories today we also witness the political separation between the west bank and the gaza strip posing a new agenda common to all sectors of the palestinian people is the beginning of the road toward a solution today s technology can provide the basis for an open discussion across borders and checkpoints forming a platform for more intense links and together designing the common path all this is not at all easy there are problems in the relationship between different sectors of the public between secular and religious folk between the indigenous inhabitants and the third generation of settlers a new distribution of resources is required to compensate for generations of dispossession and discrimination it is not clear what will be the nature of the new society and what political framework we will build together but it is essential that we start a serious discussion about all of it beyond that we face a hard struggle against an oppressive regime that regards any perspective other than that of a racist jewish state as suicide and an existential danger this is our task and those are the problems we must solve until we look straight at this reality we are wasting precious time understanding the problem and presenting a real solution can create strong dynamics for changing the balance of power chapter eleven ceasefires in which violations never cease noam chomsky on august 26 2014 israel and the palestinian authority pa both accepted a ceasefire agreement after a fifty day israeli assault on gaza that left 2 100 palestinians dead and vast landscapes of destruction behind the agreement calls for an end to military action by both israel and hamas as well as an easing of the israeli siege that has strangled gaza for many years this is however just the most recent of a series of ceasefire agreements reached after each of israel s periodic escalations of its unremitting assault on gaza throughout this period the terms of these agreements remain essentially the same the regular pattern is for israel then to disregard whatever agreement is in place while hamas observes it as israel has officially recognized until a sharp increase in israeli violence elicits a hamas response followed by even fiercer brutality rather than mowing the lawn in israeli parlance the most recent was more accurately described as removing the topsoil by a senior us military officer appalled by the practices of the self described most moral army in the world the first of this series was the agreement on movement and access between israel and the pa in november 2005 it called for a crossing between gaza and egypt at rafah for the export of goods and the transit of people continuous operation of crossings between israel and gaza for the import export of goods and the transit of people reduction of obstacles to movement within the west bank bus and truck convoys between the west bank and gaza the building of a seaport in gaza and the reopening of the airport in gaza that israeli bombing had demolished that agreement was reached shortly after israel withdrew its settlers and military forces from gaza the motive for the disengagement was explained by dov weissglass a confidant of then prime minister ariel sharon who was in charge of negotiating and implementing it the significance of the disengagement plan is the freezing of the peace process weissglass informed the israeli press and when you freeze that process you prevent the establishment of a palestinian state and you prevent a discussion on the refugees the borders and jerusalem effectively this whole package called the palestinian state with all that it entails has been removed indefinitely from our agenda and all this with authority and permission all with a us presidential blessing and the ratification of both houses of congress true enough the disengagement is actually formaldehyde weissglass added it supplies the amount of formaldehyde that is necessary so there will not be a political process with the palestinians israeli hawks also recognized that instead of investing substantial resources in maintaining a few thousand settlers in illegal communities in devastated gaza it made more sense to transfer them to illegal subsidized communities in areas of the west bank that israel intended to keep the disengagement was depicted as a noble effort to pursue peace but the reality was quite different israel never relinquished control of gaza and is accordingly recognized as the occupying power by the united nations the united states and other states israel apart of course in their comprehensive history of israeli settlement in the occupied territories israeli scholars idith zertal and akiva eldar describe what actually happened when that country disengaged the ruined territory was not released for even a single day from israel s military grip or from the price of the occupation that the inhabitants pay every day after the disengagement israel left behind scorched earth devastated services and people with neither a present nor a future the settlements were destroyed in an ungenerous move by an unenlightened occupier which in fact continues to control the territory and kill and harass its inhabitants by means of its formidable military might operations cast lead and pillar of defense israel soon had a pretext for violating the november agreement more severely in january 2006 the palestinians committed a serious crime they voted the wrong way in carefully monitored free elections placing the parliament in the hands of hamas israel and the united states immediately imposed harsh sanctions telling the world very clearly what they mean by democracy promotion europe to its shame went along as well the united states and israel soon began planning a military coup to overthrow the unacceptable elected government a familiar procedure when hamas preempted the coup in 2007 the siege of gaza became far more severe along with regular israeli military attacks voting the wrong way in a free election was bad enough but preempting a us planned military coup proved to be an unpardonable offense a new ceasefire agreement was reached in june 2008 it again called for opening the border crossings to allow the transfer of all goods that were banned and restricted to go into gaza israel formally agreed to this but immediately announced that it would not abide by the agreement and open the borders until hamas released gilad shalit an israeli soldier held by hamas israel itself has a long history of kidnapping civilians in lebanon and on the high seas and holding them for lengthy periods without credible charge sometimes as hostages of course imprisoning civilians on dubious charges or none is a regular practice in the territories israel controls but the standard western distinction between people and unpeople in orwell s useful phrase renders all this insignificant israel not only maintained the siege in violation of the june 2008 ceasefire agreement but did so with extreme rigor even preventing the united nations relief and works agency which cares for the huge number of official refugees in gaza from replenishing its stocks on november 4 while the media were focused on the us presidential election israeli troops entered gaza and killed half a dozen hamas militants that elicited a hamas missile response and an exchange of fire all the deaths were palestinian in late december hamas offered to renew the ceasefire israel considered the offer but rejected it preferring instead to launch operation cast lead a three week incursion of the full power of the israeli military into the gaza strip resulting in shocking atrocities well documented by international and israeli human rights organizations on january 8 2009 while cast lead was in full fury the un security council passed a unanimous resolution with the united states abstaining calling for an immediate ceasefire leading to a full israeli withdrawal unimpeded provision through gaza of food fuel and medical treatment and intensified international arrangements to prevent arms and ammunition smuggling a new ceasefire agreement was indeed reached but the terms similar to the previous ones were again never observed and broke down completely with the next major mowing the lawn episode in november 2012 operation pillar of defense what happened in the interim can be illustrated by the casualty figures from january 2012 to the launching of that operation one israeli was killed by fire from gaza while seventy eight palestinians were killed by israeli fire the first act of operation pillar of defense was the murder of ahmed jabari a high official of the military wing of hamas aluf benn editor in chief of israel s leading newspaper haaretz described jabari as israel s subcontractor in gaza who enforced relative quiet there for more than five years as always there was a pretext for the assassination but the likely reason was provided by israeli peace activist gershon baskin he had been involved in direct negotiations with jabari for years and reported that hours before he was assassinated jabari received the draft of a permanent truce agreement with israel which included mechanisms for maintaining the ceasefire in the case of a flare up between israel and the factions in the gaza strip there is a long record of israeli actions designed to deter the threat of a diplomatic settlement after this exercise of mowing the lawn a ceasefire agreement was reached yet again repeating the now standard terms it called for a cessation of military action by both sides and the effective ending of the siege of gaza with israel opening the crossings and facilitating the movements of people and transfer of goods and refraining from restricting residents free movements and targeting residents in border areas what happened next was reviewed by nathan thrall senior middle east analyst of the international crisis group israeli intelligence recognized that hamas was observing the terms of the ceasefire israel thrall wrote therefore saw little incentive in upholding its end of the deal in the three months following the ceasefire its forces made regular incursions into gaza strafed palestinian farmers and those collecting scrap and rubble across the border and fired at boats preventing fishermen from accessing the majority of gaza s waters in other words the siege never ended crossings were repeatedly shut so called buffer zones inside gaza from which palestinians are barred and which include a third or more of the strip s limited arable land were reinstated imports declined exports were blocked and fewer gazans were given exit permits to israel and the west bank operation protective edge so matters continued until april 2014 when an important event took place the two major palestinian groupings gaza based hamas and the fatah dominated pa in the west bank signed a unity agreement hamas made major concessions the unity government contained none of its members or allies in substantial measure as nathan thrall observes hamas turned over governance of gaza to the pa several thousand pa security forces were sent there and the pa placed its guards at borders and crossings with no reciprocal positions for hamas in the west bank security apparatus finally the unity government accepted the three conditions that washington and the european union had long demanded nonviolence adherence to past agreements and the recognition of israel israel was infuriated its government declared at once that it would refuse to deal with the unity government and cancelled negotiations its fury mounted when the united states along with most of the world signaled support for the unity government there are good reasons why israel opposes the unification of palestinians one is that the hamas fatah conflict has provided a useful pretext for refusing to engage in serious negotiations how can one negotiate with a divided entity more significantly for more than twenty years israel has been committed to separating gaza from the west bank in violation of the oslo accords it signed in 1993 which declare gaza and the west bank to be an inseparable territorial unity a look at a map explains the rationale separated from gaza any west bank enclaves left to palestinians have no access to the outside world they are contained by two hostile powers israel and jordan both close us allies and contrary to illusions the united states is very far from a neutral honest broker furthermore israel has been systematically taking over the jordan valley driving out palestinians establishing settlements sinking wells and otherwise ensuring that the region about one third of the west bank with much of its arable land will ultimately be integrated into israel along with the other regions that country is taking over hence remaining palestinian cantons will be completely imprisoned unification with gaza would interfere with these plans which trace back to the early days of the occupation and have had steady support from the major political blocs including figures usually portrayed as doves like former president shimon peres who was one of the architects of settlement deep in the west bank as usual a pretext was needed to move on to the next escalation which arose when three israeli boys from the settler community in the west bank were brutally murdered the israeli police have since been searching for and arresting members of a dissident group in hebron still claiming without evidence that they are hamas terrorists on september 2 haaretz reported that after very intensive interrogations the israeli security services concluded the abduction of the teenagers was carried out by an independent cell with no known direct links to hamas but the eighteen day rampage by the israeli defense forces succeeded in undermining the feared unity government and provoking hamas to respond by firing its first rockets in eighteen months providing israel with the pretext to launch operation protective edge on july 8 the fifty day assault proved the most extreme exercise in mowing the lawn so far operation still to be named israel is in a fine position today to reverse its decades old policy of separating gaza from the west bank in violation of its solemn agreements and to observe a major ceasefire agreement for the first time at least temporarily the threat of democracy in neighboring egypt has been diminished and the brutal egyptian military dictatorship of general abdul fattah al sisi is a welcome ally for israel in maintaining control over gaza the palestinian unity government as noted earlier is placing the us trained forces of the palestinian authority in control of gaza s borders and governance may be shifting into the hands of the pa which depends on israel for its survival as well as for its finances israel might feel that its takeover of palestinian territory in the west bank has proceeded so far that there is little to fear from some limited form of autonomy for palestinians in the enclaves that remain there is also some truth to prime minister benjamin netanyahu s observation many elements in the region understand today that in the struggle in which they are threatened israel is not an enemy but a partner akiva eldar israel s leading diplomatic correspondent adds however that all those many elements in the region also understand that there is no brave and comprehensive diplomatic move on the horizon without an agreement on the establishment of a palestinian state based on the 1967 borders and a just agreed upon solution to the refugee problem that is not on israel s agenda he points out and is in fact in direct conflict with the 1999 electoral program of the governing likud coalition never rescinded which flatly rejects the establishment of a palestinian arab state west of the jordan river some knowledgeable israeli commentators notably columnist danny rubinstein believe that israel is poised to reverse course and relax its stranglehold on gaza we ll see the record of these past years suggests otherwise and the first signs are not auspicious as operation protective edge ended israel announced its largest appropriation of west bank land in thirty years almost 1 000 acres israel radio reported that the takeover was in response to the killing of the three jewish teenagers by hamas militants a palestinian boy was burned to death in retaliation for the murder but no israeli land was handed to palestinians nor was there any reaction when an israeli soldier murdered ten year old khalil anati on a quiet street in a refugee camp near hebron on august 10 while the most moral army in the world was smashing gaza to bits and then drove away in his jeep as the child bled to death anati was one of the twenty three palestinians including three children killed by israeli occupation forces in the west bank during the gaza onslaught according to un statistics along with more than two thousand wounded 38 percent by live fire none of those killed were endangering soldiers lives israeli journalist gideon levy reported to none of this is there any reaction just as there was no reaction while israel killed on average more than two palestinian children a week for the past fourteen years they are unpeople after all it is commonly claimed on all sides that if the two state settlement is dead as a result of israel s takeover of palestinian lands then the outcome will be one state west of the jordan some palestinians welcome this outcome anticipating that they can then conduct a civil rights struggle for equal rights on the model of south africa under apartheid many israeli commentators warn that the resulting demographic problem of more arab than jewish births and diminishing jewish immigration will undermine their hope for a democratic jewish state but these widespread beliefs are dubious the realistic alternative to a two state settlement is that israel will continue to carry forward the plans it has been implementing for years taking over whatever is of value to it in the west bank while avoiding palestinian population concentrations and removing palestinians from the areas it is integrating into israel that should avoid the dreaded demographic problem the areas being integrated into israel include a vastly expanded greater jerusalem the area within the illegal separation wall and corridors cutting through the regions to the east and will probably also encompass the jordan valley gaza will likely remain under its usual harsh siege separated from the west bank and the syrian golan heights like jerusalem annexed in violation of security council orders will quietly become part of greater israel in the meantime west bank palestinians will be contained in unviable cantons with special accommodation for elites in standard neocolonial style these basic policies have been under way since the 1967 conquest following a principle enunciated by then defense minister moshe dayan one of the israeli leaders most sympathetic to the palestinians he informed his party colleagues that they should tell palestinian refugees in the west bank we have no solution you shall continue to live like dogs and whoever wishes may leave and we will see where this process leads the suggestion was natural within the overriding conception articulated in 1972 by future president haim herzog i do not deny the palestinians a place or stand or opinion on every matter but certainly i am not prepared to consider them as partners in any respect in a land that has been consecrated in the hands of our nation for thousands of years for the jews of this land there cannot be any partner dayan also called for israel s permanent rule memshelet keva over the occupied territories when netanyahu expresses the same stand today he is not breaking new ground like other states israel pleads security as justification for its aggressive and violent actions but knowledgeable israelis know better their recognition of reality was articulated clearly in 1972 by air force commander and later president ezer weizman he explained that there would be no security problem if israel were to accept the international call to withdraw from the territories it conquered in 1967 but the country would not then be able to exist according to the scale spirit and quality she now embodies for a century the zionist colonization of palestine has proceeded primarily on the pragmatic principle of the quiet establishment of facts on the ground which the world was to ultimately come to accept it has been a highly successful policy there is every reason to expect it to persist as long as the united states provides the necessary military economic diplomatic and ideological support for those concerned with the rights of the brutalized palestinians there can be no higher priority than working to change us policies not an idle dream by any means adapted from ceasefires in which violations never cease tomdispatch september 9 2014 chapter twelve an address to the united nations noam chomsky it s a pleasure to be here to be able to talk with you and discuss with you afterwards many of the world s problems are so intractable that it s hard to think of ways even to take steps toward mitigating them the israel palestine conflict is not one of these on the contrary the general outlines of a diplomatic solution have been clear for at least forty years not the end of the road nothing ever is but a significant step forward and the obstacles to a resolution are also quite clear the basic outlines were presented here in a resolution brought to the un security council in january 1976 it called for a two state settlement on the internationally recognized border and now i m quoting with guarantees for the rights of both states to exist in peace and security within secure and recognized borders the resolution was brought by the three major arab states egypt jordan syria sometimes called the confrontation states israel refused to attend the session the resolution was vetoed by the united states a us veto typically is a double veto the veto the resolution is not implemented and the event is vetoed from history so you have to look hard to find the record but it is there that has set the pattern that has continued since the most recent us veto was in february 2011 that s president obama when his administration vetoed a resolution calling for implementation of official us policy opposition to expansion of settlements and it s worth bearing in mind that expansion of settlements is not really the issue it s the settlements unquestionably illegal along with the infrastructure projects supporting them for a long time there has been an overwhelming international consensus in support of a settlement along these general lines the pattern that was set in january 1976 continues to the present israel rejects a settlement of these terms and for many years has been devoting extensive resources to ensuring that it will not be implemented with the unremitting and decisive support of the united states military economic diplomatic and indeed ideological by establishing how the conflict is viewed and interpreted in the united states and within its broad sphere of influence there s no time here to review the record but its general character is revealed by a look at what has happened in gaza in the past decade carrying forward a long history of earlier crimes last august august 26th a ceasefire was reached between israel and the palestinian authority and the question on all our minds is what are the prospects for the future well one reasonable way to try to answer that question is to look at the record and here too there is a definite pattern a ceasefire is reached israel disregards it and continues its steady assault on gaza including continued siege intermittent acts of violence more settlement and development projects often violence in the west bank hamas observes the ceasefire as israel officially recognizes until some israeli escalation elicits a hamas response which leads to another exercise of mowing the lawn in israeli parlance each episode more fierce and destructive than the last the first of the series was the agreement on movement and access in november 2005 i ll give a close paraphrase of it it called for a crossing between gaza and egypt at rafah for the export of goods and the transit of people continuous operation of crossings between israel and gaza for the import and export of goods and the transit of people reduction of obstacles to movement within the west bank bus and truck convoys between the west bank and gaza the building of a seaport in gaza the reopening of the airport in gaza that israel had recently destroyed these are essentially the terms of successive ceasefires including the one just reached a few weeks ago the timing of the november 2005 agreement is significant this was the moment of israel s disengagement as it s called from gaza the removal of several thousand israeli settlers from gaza now this is depicted as a noble effort to seek peace and development but the reality is rather different the reality was described very quickly by the israeli official who was in charge of negotiating and implementing the ceasefire dov weissglass close confidant of then prime minister ariel sharon as he explained to the israeli press the goal of the disengagement i m quoting him was the freezing of the peace process so as to prevent the establishment of a palestinian state and to ensure that diplomacy has been removed indefinitely from our agenda the reality on the ground is described by israel s leading specialists on the occupation a respected historian idith zertal and israel s leading diplomatic correspondent akiva eldar wrote the major book the standard work on the settlement project called lords of the land referring to the settlers what they say about the disengagement is this they say the ruined territory and by then it was ruined largely part of the reason for the removal of the settlers the ruined territory was not released for even a single day from israel s military grip or from the price of the occupation that the inhabitants pay every day after the disengagement israel left behind scorched earth devastated services and people with neither a present nor a future the settlements were destroyed in an ungenerous move by an unenlightened occupier which in fact continues to control the territory and to kill and harass its inhabitants by means of its formidable military might now that s an accurate description from the most respected israeli source the oslo accords twenty years ago established that gaza and the west bank are an indivisible territorial unity whose integrity cannot be broken up for twenty years the united states and israel have been dedicated to separate gaza and the west bank in violation of the accords that they had accepted and a look at the map explains why gaza offers the only access to the outside world of palestine if gaza is separated from the west bank whatever autonomy might ultimately be granted in the west bank would be imprisoned israel on one side a hostile jordan ally of israel on the other side and in addition one of israel s slow and steady us backed policies is to take over the jordan valley about a third of the west bank much of the arable land which would essentially imprison the rest even more tightly if gaza is separated from the west bank now that s the major geostrategic reason for the israeli insistence with us backing on separating the two in violation of the oslo agreements and the series of ceasefires that have been reached since november 2005 well the november 2005 agreement lasted for a few weeks in january 2006 a very important event took place the first full free election in the arab world carefully monitored recognized to be free and fair it had one flaw it came out the wrong way hamas won the parliament control of the parliament the us and israel didn t want that you may recall at that period the slogan on everyone s lips was democracy promotion the highest us commitment in the world was democracy promotion here was a good test democracy election came out the wrong way the us instantly decided along with israel to punish the palestinians for the crime of voting the wrong way a harsh siege was instituted other punishments violence increased the united states immediately began to organize a military coup to overthrow the unacceptable government that s quite familiar practice i won t go through the record the european union to its shame and discredit went along with this there was an immediate israeli escalation that was the end of the november agreement followed by major israeli onslaughts in 2007 a year later hamas committed even a greater crime than winning a fair election it preempted the planned military coup and took over gaza that s described in the west in the united states most of the west as hamas s taking over gaza by force which is not false but something is omitted the force was preempting a planned military coup to overthrow the elected government now that was a serious crime it s bad enough to vote the wrong way in a free election but to preempt a us planned military coup is far more serious the attack on gaza increased substantially at that point major israeli onslaughts finally in january 2008 another ceasefire was reached terms were pretty much the same as those that i quoted israel publicly rejected the ceasefire said that it would not abide by it hamas observed the ceasefire as israel officially recognizes despite israel s refusal to do so now that continued until november 4 2008 on november 4 which was the day of the us election israeli forces invaded gaza killed half a dozen hamas militants that led to qassam rockets attacking israel then a huge israeli response lots of killings all palestinians as usual by the end of december a couple of weeks later hamas offered to renew the ceasefire the israeli cabinet considered it and rejected it this was a dovish cabinet led by ehud olmert rejected it and decided to launch the next major military operation that was cast lead which was a horrible operation so much so that it caused a very substantial international reaction investigations by a united nations commission amnesty international human rights watch in the middle of the assault the assault incidentally was carefully timed to end immediately before president obama s inauguration he had already been elected but he wasn t inaugurated yet so when he was asked to comment on the ongoing atrocities he responded by saying that he couldn t do so the united states has only one president and he wasn t president yet he was talking about lots of other things but not this the attack was timed to end immediately before the inauguration so he therefore could respond to the questions by saying well now is not the time to look at the past let s look forward to the future diplomats know very well that that s a standard slogan for those who are engaged in serious crime let s forget about the past let s look forward to a glorious future well that was right in the middle of the assault the security council did pass a resolution unanimously the us abstaining calling for an immediate ceasefire with the usual terms that was january 8 2009 it was never observed and it broke down completely with the next major episode of mowing the lawn in november 2012 now you can get a good sense of what was going on by looking at the casualty figures for the year 2012 seventy nine people were killed seventy eight of them palestinians the usual story as leading middle east analyst nathan thrall writes israel recognized that hamas was observing the terms of the ceasefire and therefore saw little incentive in doing the same the military attacks on gaza increased along with more stringent restrictions on imports exports were blocked exit permits were blocked that continued until april 2014 when palestinians committed another crime gaza based hamas and west bank based palestinian authority signed a unity agreement israel was infuriated infuriated even more when the world mostly supported it even the united states gave weak but actual support several reasons for the israeli reaction one is that unity between gaza and the west bank between the two movements would threaten the long standing policies of separating the two for the reasons that i mentioned another reason was that a unity government undermines one of the pretexts for israel s refusal to participate in negotiations seriously namely how can we negotiate with an entity that is internally divided well if they re unified that pretext disappears israel was infuriated it launched major assaults on the palestinians in the west bank primarily targeting hamas hundreds of people arrested mostly hamas members also gaza also killings there was a pretext of course there always is the pretext was that three teenagers israeli teenagers in the settlements had been brutally murdered captured and murdered israel claimed officially that they thought that they were alive so therefore launched a long several weeks assault on the west bank alleging that they were trying to find them alive meanwhile the arrests attacks and so on it turns out that they knew immediately that they had been killed now they also knew immediately that it was very unlikely that hamas was involved the government said they had certain knowledge that hamas had done it but their own leading specialists like shlomi eldar had pointed out right away that the assault which was a brutal crime was very likely committed by members of a breakaway clan the qawasmeh clan in hebron which was not given a green light by hamas and had been a thorn in its side and that apparently is true if you look at the later arrests and punishments anyway that was a pretext for this assault killings in gaza too that finally elicited a hamas response then came operation protective edge the one which was just completed and more brutal and destructive even than the ones that preceded it the pattern is very clear and so far at least it appears to be continuing the latest ceasefire was reached on august 26 it was followed at once by israel s greatest land grab in thirty years almost a thousand acres in the gush etzion area near what s called jerusalem greater jerusalem about five times the size of anything that jerusalem ever was taken over by israel annexed in violation of security council orders the us state department informed the israeli embassy that i m quoting it now israeli activity in gush etzion undermines american efforts to protect israel at the united nations and urged that israel shouldn t provide ammunition for those at the united nations who would interpret israel s position as hardening actually that warning was given forty seven years ago in september 1967 at the time of israel s first colonization illegal colonization of gush etzion israeli historian gershom gorenberg recently reminded us of this little has changed since in the last forty seven years apart from the scale of the crimes which continue without a break with constant us support well as for the prospects there is a conventional picture it s repeated constantly on all sides israel palestine independent commentators diplomats the picture that s presented is that there are two alternatives either the two state settlement which represents an overwhelming international consensus virtually everyone and if that fails there will have to be one state israel will take over the west bank the palestinians will hand over the keys as it s sometimes said palestinians often have favored that they say then they will be able to carry out a civil rights struggle maybe modeled on the anti apartheid struggle in south africa fight for civil rights within the whole one state controlled by israel now israelis criticize that on the grounds of what is called the demographic problem the fact that there will be too many non jews in a jewish state in fact pretty soon a majority those are the alternatives that are presented overwhelmingly hardly an exception my own opinion which i ve written about repeatedly without convincing many people apparently but i ll try to convince you is that this is a total illusion those are not the two alternatives there are two alternatives but they re different ones one alternative is the international consensus on a two state settlement basically the terms of january 1976 by now it s virtually everyone the arab league the organization of islamic states which includes iran europe latin america informally at least just about everyone that s one option the other option the realistic one is that israel will continue doing exactly what it is doing right now before our eyes visible with us support which is also visible and what s happening is not a secret you can open the newspapers and read it israel is taking over what they call jerusalem as i mentioned a huge area maybe five times the area of historic jerusalem greater jerusalem big area in the west bank includes many arab villages being dispossessed destroyed bringing settlers in all of this is doubly illegal all the settlements are illegal as determined by the security council advisory opinion of the international court of justice but the jerusalem settlements are doubly illegal because they re also in violation of explicit security council orders going back to 1968 with the us actually voting for them at that time barring any change in the status of jerusalem but it continues that s greater jerusalem there are then corridors extending to the east one major corridor extending from jerusalem almost to jericho virtually bisecting the west bank includes the israeli town of maale adumim which was built largely during the clinton administration with the obvious purpose of bisecting the west bank still a little contested territory but that s the goal there s another corridor further to the north including the town of ariel partially bisecting what remains and another one further to the north including the town of kedumim if you look at the map these essentially break up the west bank into pretty much cantons it looks from a map as though a large territory is left but that s misleading most of that is uninhabitable desert and that s separate from what i mentioned before the slow steady takeover of the jordan valley to the east again about a third of the arable land the country israel has no official policy of taking it over but they re pursuing the policy in the way that has been carried out now for a hundred years literally small steps so nobody notices or at least people pretend not to notice establish a military zone the palestinians who live there have to be displaced because it s a military zone no settlement allowed and pretty soon there s a military settlement nahal settlement and another then sooner or later it becomes an actual settlement meanwhile dig wells dispossess the population set up green zones a large variety of techniques which have by now reduced the arab population from about 300 000 in 1967 to roughly 60 000 today as i mentioned that essentially imprisons what s left i don t think israel has any intention of taking over the palestinian population concentrations which are left out of this these plans there are analogies often made to south africa but they re quite misleading south africa relied on its black population that was 85 percent of the population it was its workforce and they had to sustain them just like slaveowners have to maintain their capital they tried to sustain the population they even tried to gain international support for the bantustans israel has no such attitude toward the palestinians they don t want to have anything to do with them if they leave that s fine if they die that s fine in standard neocolonial pattern israel is establishing permitting the establishment of a center for palestinian elites in ramallah where you have nice restaurants and theaters and so on every third world country under the colonial system had something like that now that s the picture that s emerging it s taking shape before our eyes it has so far worked very well if it continues israel will not face a demographic problem when these regions are integrated slowly into israel actually the proportion of jews in greater israel will increase there are very few palestinians there those who are there are being dispossessed kicked out that s what s taking shape before our eyes i think that s the realistic alternative to a two state settlement and there s every reason to expect it to continue as long as the united states supports it this essay is based on a speech delivered to the united nations general assembly on october 14 2014 this file was downloaded from z library project your gateway to knowledge and culture accessible for everyone z library se singlelogin re go to zlibrary se single login ru official telegram channel z access https wikipedia org wiki z library

blog title sent to the sky author deema dalloul date march 30 2024 content yesterday i went out with my father usually we have no common errands to run together but i felt he needed some company exactly as i predicted he quickly accepted my offer of joining him on his journey to look for wood i put my clothes on and brought my brother s bicycle with me we hit the road at noon heading to a nearby block in the center of gaza in the good old days i used to go there by car to attend workshops and meet friends today all i m seeking is good wood to set a warm fire i couldn t ride the bicycle because my neighborhood was crowded with dozens of men passing by selling expensive and perhaps stolen goods there is barely space to walk your eyes don t have the time to meditate it s as if you re watching a movie trailer where you only find suspense and nothing else we don t even find suspense only some hasty moments of losing part of our day in vain my father a world weary old man with white hair and a red face wearing a shabby leather jacket carried a small handsaw wrinkles invaded his forehead as he walked silently to do his job this is how my father appeared in the middle of this real life trailer we kept walking for almost an hour until we reached an area with some upside down trees trees older than my father their roots are taller than me but certainly they sawed what they reaped they have been buried above the same soil that kept them nourished for decades sunraysmade it easier for my father as he sweated it out constantly pressing and pulling the broken branches of the trees i tried to help him and instantly got my hands muddy people passing by were staring at us deeply i reckon they were jealous my father found some natural plants and started collecting them from the ground and i had to watch out for the wood he cut to take home out of the blue i glanced over the pile of wood only to find that an old man was taking from it startled i screamed excuse me sir these belong to us the man apologized with a face of true regret and i wanted to gift him all the wood but i couldn t offer something that was not mine while i had a hand in collecting the pieces of wood my father made the real effort the man started searching for other broken branches my father came over and advised him to bring a handsaw next time to be able to cut the branches the man confessed that he needed one for sure the three of us started looking for plastic bags to carry the wood we left the area after putting all the wood on the bicycle which became too heavy to ride we pushed instead my father managed the steering and i supported the back of the bicycle so it wouldn t deviate from its path when my father had been immersed in the cutting process i rode the bike for a few laps of freedom many girls in the street encouraged me the cheering made me feel joy on our way home the spoil of wood we had made me feel accomplished i miss the feeling i get once i achieve a task or learn something new it was wood this time who knows what else will bring me joy i became aware of the fact that it s not easy to understand things at first i used to believe that small families are the best fit you don t need lots of luggage and it s not even costly to escape at any moment one car could be more than enough no struggles with one room and certainly a single bed might do the trick yet all my beliefs were altered once my friend s twin brothers became martyrs in the south away from all their other siblings leaving a heartbroken family struggling to survive again with missed fractions i realized that large families could do better in such tragedies no matter how much effort it takes to get them in one car or how many mattresses they might own not to mention the food they would demand it s still a blessing to have someone left if god forbid any misfortune occurs yet again all of these reflections were to evaporate once again after another friend told me that her family had been divided part of them were forced to the south while the others remained in the northern areas other family members were sent to the sky sooner than they could have ever imagined they have no way of contacting each other they live in the continuous horror of not knowing even a tiny word can cause them to panic at the moment i shall confess that losing your sense of measurement is inevitable amid such cases of constant loss i will never be able to identify my own category i will always get stuck and so i will avoid making such judgments to save myself from greater pain monday january 29 2024at dawn

blog title palestinechronology press summaries on the war on gaza november 17 21 author palestine chronology staff date november 29 2023 content november 17 in the west bank a palestinian man succumbed to injuries sustained from israeli forces in jenin on 11 9 israeli settlers shot and injured a palestinian with live ammunition in khirbet tana israeli settlers also assaulted al jazeera journalist joseph handal and vandalized his vehicle near abu dis israeli forces raided jenin refugee camp killing 5 palestinians in a drone strike and injuring 14 others the soldiers raided the ibn sina hospital detaining medical staff for interrogation uprooted streets with bulldozers and cut the power to several neighborhoods in jenin during the attack israeli forces also shot and killed 2 palestinians claiming they had opened fire on them in hebron meanwhile israeli forces shot and injured 5 palestinians during raids in kafr dan and dahariya 36 palestinians were arrested during late night raids in and around ni lin hebron jalqamus and tulkarm in east jerusalem israeli forces prevented palestinian worshippers from reaching the haram al sharif compound including by attacking palestinians and a turkish news crew in wadi al juz israeli forces also arrested journalist marwat al azza claiming her social media posts encourage terrorism in gaza the internet was partially restored at the end of the day due to a delivery of fuel israeli airstrikes killed at least 40 people in jabalia refugee camp khan yunis and nuseirat refugee camp israeli airstrikes also killed several at al wafa hospital including its director the number of fatalities was likely much higher since the gaza ministry of health was unable to communicate with hospitals and civil defense members in northern gaza elsewhere israeli forces attacked bakeries and wheat mills in the south leaving only 1 company able to produce flour in gaza al shifa hospital remained under israeli siege the number of premature babies that had died at the hospital rose to 4 with a total 40 patients having died at the hospital since 11 16 rockets were fired at israel no injuries were reported in lebanon israeli attacked several places and shot down a missile that targeted an israeli drone 2 anti tank missiles were fired at kibbutz manara injuring 4 in syria israeli forces conducted airstrikes near damascus causing damage ha 11 16 aj aj aj aj ap ap ha reu reu reu unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 11 17 aj 11 18 ha 11 19 the gaza ministry of health was not able to update the casualty figures due to a collapse in services and communications at hospitals in northern gaza leaving the death toll at 11 479 including 4 630 children and 3 130 women and around 32 000 injured in israeli airstrikes on gaza since 10 7 at least 3 250 people were missing in rubble including 1 700 children 198 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and settlers in the west bank and east jerusalem since 10 7 including 53 children more than 2 730 people have been injured israel reported that 1 200 israelis and foreign nationals have been killed and 5 431 have injured since 10 7 56 israeli soldiers have been killed in gaza since the ground invasion began on 10 27 over 1 61 million palestinians around 70 of the population of gaza have been displaced since 10 7 there has been a complete electricity blackout in gaza since 10 12 due to the israel blockade as of 11 6 at least 40 000 housing units have been destroyed and 220 000 have been damaged in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 constituting 45 of all housing units 73 injured palestinians and their family members were evacuated to egypt for treatment around 700 foreign nationals were also evacuated aid deliveries to gaza were suspended due to the blackout of communications al amal hospital and the headquarters of the palestinian red crescent said the 2 facilities had not had water or electricity for the past 5 days aj ap ap ha reu unocha unocha wafa wafa 11 17 unocha 11 18 church leaders in jerusalem issued a statement warning that israeli settlers are trying to seize land in the armenian quarter of the old city of jerusalem wafa 11 17 aj 11 18 reu 11 19 israel charged 2 14 year old palestinian citizens of israel with the attempted murder of an israeli soldier ha 11 17 the israeli military suspended a soldier who was filmed throwing a stun grenade into a mosque in budrus for their own amusement ha 11 17 ha 11 18 ha 11 19 hamas said that some of the captives it s holding had been taken to hospitals in gaza for treatment of serious health conditions but denied that it was holding any captives in hospitals aj 11 17 the bbc said 1 of its reporters was allowed to tour parts al shifa hospital with the israeli military filming some of the same areas that the israeli military had published footage of previously the bbc said that it was evident from comparing the 2 sets of footage that by the time their journalist arrived alleged hamas weaponry had been moved around for example an area behind an mri machine had a bag with 2 rifles in the bbc footage but only 1 in the israeli military footage the bbc also pointed out that the israeli claim that its video was unedited was false and that the purported evidence presented by israel did not validate the israeli claim that al shifa was a hamas command center x 11 17 aj 11 19 pa president mahmoud abbas foreign minister riyad al maliki and prime minister mohammad shtayyeh met with eu high commissioner for foreign affairs josep borrell in ramallah borell called for an immediate ceasefire and for israel to abide by international law aj wafa wafa 11 17 aj 11 18 the israeli war cabinet approved a u s request to allow 2 tanker trucks to enter gaza each day with fuel amounting to about 13 000 gallons unrwa said that covers about 37 of its daily needs national security adviser tzachi hanegbi said the fuel allowed to enter constituted roughly 2 4 of the normal quantities of fuel that enter gaza finance minister bezalel smotrich called the decision illegal because it had not been approved by the security cabinet and demanded that prime minister benjamin netanyahu change the war cabinet the war cabinet reportedly rejected the latest proposal for a prisoner exchange knesset deputy speaker nissim vaturi said in a post on x that israel should burn gaza now calling its attacks on gaza too humane israeli defense minister yoav gallant called hamas leader in gaza yahya sinwar the new osama bin laden aj ax ha 11 17 aj 11 18 amnesty international said israel should rescind its 11 15 order telling palestinians in eastern khan yunis to flee calling it a violation of international law aj 11 17 the u s said deliveries of fuel should continue on a regular basis in larger quantities president joe biden spoke with qatari emir sheikh tamim bin hamad al thani discussing prisoner exchange negotiations aj ha 11 17 u s senator bernie sanders d vt said the u s congress should not allow extra funding for israel while it attacks gaza house foreign affairs committee chairperson mike mccaul r tx said prime minister netanyahu had told him that he urgently needs iron dome interceptors precision guided weapons and 155mm artillery shells aj ha 11 17 icc prosecutor karim khan said he had received referrals on crimes committed in palestine from south africa bangladesh bolivia comoros and djibouti aj icc reu wafa 11 17 wafa 11 18 x owner elon musk said using terms such as decolonization and from the river to the sea in relation to israel will result in suspension from his platform aj ha 11 18 november 18 in the west bank israeli settlers with a military escort attacked palestinians harvesting olives in burin stealing crops israeli settlers posing as soldiers also attacked 2 palestinians in qawawis in the masafer yatta area stealing their property israeli forces killed 5 palestinians in a drone strike on fatah s headquarters in balata refugee camp injuring 2 others israeli forces later raided the camp demolishing a home and uprooting streets israeli forces also shot and killed a palestinian and injured 3 others during a raid in tubas elsewhere israeli forces shot and injured a palestinian during a raid in idhna israeli forces also assaulted palestinians harvesting olives in al zawiya kisan and nahalin 38 palestinians were arrested during late night raids in and around hebron jaba tubas jericho fasayil and birzeit in east jerusalem israeli forces violently dispersed students and staff at a school in isawiya physically assaulting them and causing tear gas related injuries in gaza israeli airstrikes in khan yunis and on an unrwa school in jabalia refugee camp killed 116 people israeli attacks on beit lahiya beit hanun and gaza city also killed dozens including at tal al zaatar an unrwa run school and the kamal adwan hospital the number of fatalities was likely much higher since the gaza ministry of health was unable to communicate with hospitals and civil defense members in northern gaza israeli forces ordered the evacuation of al shifa hospital forcing at least 2 500 people to flee 25 medical workers and 291 patients remained at the end of the day the who said it would help evacuate those remaining at the hospital in the next 2 3 days a doctors without borders convoy evacuating patients from al shifa was attacked killing 1 and injuring another 3 israeli soldiers were killed in fighting with militants in lebanon israel said it attacked sites linked to hezbollah including an aluminum plant near nabatieh aj aj aj aj ap ha ha ha nyt reu reu unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 11 18 aj ha nyt wafa 11 19 the gaza ministry of health was not able to fully update the casualty figures due to a collapse in services and communications at hospitals in northern gaza however it stated that at least 11 800 palestinians have been killed including 4 630 children and 3 130 women and around 32 000 injured in israeli airstrikes on gaza since 10 7 at least 3 250 people were missing in rubble including 1 700 children 204 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and settlers in the west bank and east jerusalem since 10 7 including 47 children more than 2 730 people have been injured israel reported that 1 200 israelis and foreign nationals had been killed and 5 431 have injured since 10 7 56 israeli soldiers have been killed in gaza since the ground invasion began on 10 27 over 1 61 million palestinians around 70 of the population of gaza have been displaced since 10 7 there has been a complete electricity blackout in gaza since 10 12 due to the israel blockade as of 11 6 at least 40 000 housing units have been destroyed and 220 000 have been damaged in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 constituting 45 of all housing units around 10 000 people fled northern gaza to the south around 26 000 gallons of fuel and 30 trucks carrying aid entered gaza 15 injured palestinians arrived in the uae for treatment aj ap unocha unocha wafa 11 18 ha 11 19 thaer samih abu assab died in the ktzi ot prison the sixth palestinian to die in an israeli prison since 10 7 ha wafa 11 18 aj 11 19 jordan set up a field hospital in nablus to provide services to the city which has been under israeli siege since 10 7 aj 11 18 pa president mahmoud abbas called on u s president joe biden to intervene to end israeli attacks on gaza during a televised speech calling the attacks genocide wafa 11 18 aj 11 19 the israeli police said it did not believe that hamas had prior knowledge of the nova music festival held near kibbutz re im but spontaneously targeted it after entering israel on 10 7 israeli police said 364 people were killed at the music festival police sources said that israeli combat helicopters may have hit festivalgoers while attacking militants the festival was originally scheduled to end on 10 6 but on 10 3 was extended to 10 7 aj aj ha 11 18 aj 11 19 israeli foreign minister eli cohen there will be israeli security control from the jordan river to the mediterranean sea at all times saying the pa should not govern gaza prime minister benjamin netanyahu said the pa in its current form is not capable of accepting the responsibility for gaza aj ha 11 18 u s president joe biden published an op ed in the washington post saying that the u s may start issuing visa bans to extremist settlers to discourage settler violence biden also called for gaza and the west bank to be reunited under pa rule when israel ends its attack on gaza at the iiss manama dialogue security conference in bahrain national security council coordinator for the middle east and north africa brett mcgurk linked humanitarian aid to gaza with the release of captives saying the surge in humanitarian relief the surge in fuel the pause in fighting will come when hostages are released jordanian foreign minister ayman safadi sharply criticized the u s saying it would have imposed sanctions on any other country that did a fragment of what israel does in gaza and that international calls for israel to abide by international law do not change its behavior aj ap ap ha reu reu wp 11 18 ax ha ha 11 19 u s senator bernie sanders d vt called on the u s to condition aid to israel saying israel does not have the right to wage almost total warfare against the palestinian people this is morally unacceptable and in violation of international law sanders said to receive u s aid israel must end indiscriminate bombings and start pauses allow displaced palestinians in gaza to return to their homes not re occupy or blockade gaza end settler violence and settlement expansion in the west bank and commit itself to peace talks for a two state solution ha 11 18 the german foreign ministry said its review of aid to palestinians did not show any indication of misuse reu 11 18 the social media companies tiktok and meta removed 8 000 posts related to israel and gaza at israel s request aj 11 18 november 19 in the west bank israeli forces shot and killed a disabled man and destroyed infrastructure during a raid in jenin israeli forces also shot and killed a palestinian man during a raid in dheisheh refugee camp elsewhere israeli forces shot and injured 6 palestinians during a raid in balata refugee camp israeli forces also seized 3 vehicles in dahariya in gaza israeli airstrikes killed at least 70 palestinians in khan yunis and 32 in 2 strikes on residential buildings in nuseirat refugee camp the number of fatalities was likely much higher since the gaza ministry of health was unable to communicate with hospitals and civil defense members in northern gaza 47 people were evacuated from al shifa hospital including 31 premature babies 259 patients remained at the hospital which continues to be under israel siege 7 israeli soldiers were killed in lebanon israel said it attacked several areas saying mortar shells were fired at israel ha 11 18 aj aj ha ha reu unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 11 19 ha 11 20 the gaza ministry of health was not able to fully update the casualty figures due to a collapse in services and communications at hospitals in northern gaza however it stated that at least 13 000 palestinians have been killed including 5 500 children and 3 500 women and around 32 000 injured in israeli airstrikes on gaza since 10 7 at least 3 250 people were missing in rubble including 1 700 children 206 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and settlers in the west bank and east jerusalem since 10 7 including 47 children more than 2 730 people have been injured israel reported that 1 200 israelis and foreign nationals have been killed and 5 431 have been injured since 10 7 69 israeli soldiers have been killed in gaza since the ground invasion began on 10 27 over 1 61 million palestinians around 70 of the population of gaza have been displaced since 10 7 there has been a complete electricity blackout in gaza since 10 12 due to the israel blockade as of 11 6 at least 40 000 housing units have been destroyed and 220 000 have been damaged in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 constituting 45 of all housing units 29 premature babies were evacuated to egypt via the rafah crossing about 20 000 palestinians fled northern gaza to the south around 15 000 gallons of fuel and 69 trucks carrying aid entered gaza the committee to protect journalists said 48 journalists had been killed since 10 7 including 44 palestinians and 1 lebanese aj ap ha ha nyt reu reu unocha unocha wafa 11 19 aj nyt reu reu 11 20 the commission of prisoners and ex prisoners affairs said israel has imposed additional punitive measures on palestinian prisoners including not allowing doctors to visit sick patients decreasing the quality of the food denying yard access confiscating several personal belongings daily cuts of electricity from 6 p m to 6 a m and denying prisoners visits from lawyers and family members wafa 11 19 the pa foreign ministry issued a statement it later retracted saying it was israeli helicopters that killed 364 israelis during a festival on 10 7 and not hamas militants haaretz had reported on 11 18 that israeli combat helicopters likely hit some israelis while attacking militants israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu condemned the retracted statement and called pa president mahmoud abbas a holocaust denier ha 11 19 israel said it had taken more than 100 palestinians captive during its raids in gaza and brought them to israel the israeli military released a video showing that 2 injured captives of nepalese and thai nationality were taken to al shifa hospital for treatment on 10 7 but did not provide evidence that the hospital was used by hamas for captives after 10 7 israel also claimed it found a 180 foot long tunnel under al shifa hospital aj aj ha ha reu 11 19 nyt 11 20 israeli intelligence minister gila gamliel said the international community should stop funding unrwa and instead start taking in palestinians from gaza in voluntary settlement aj 11 19 u s deputy national security advisor jon finer said israel should not move its ground invasion to southern gaza until the hundreds of thousands palestinian who have fled the north to the south have been accounted for in their military planning ha ha 11 19 haaretz reported that u s officials believed that prime minister netanyahu s stance against the pa taking control of gaza after israel s war would soften if the pa agreed to stop seeking justice in international bodies and ended its payments to the families of palestinian prisoners and palestinians killed by israeli forces ha 11 19 french president emmanuel macron said france will send more medical supplies and a second hospital ship to gaza adding that he told prime minister netanyahu that there were too many civilian losses in gaza macron also spoke with president abbas aj ha wafa 11 19 aj aj 11 20 eu commission president ursula von der leyen called the settler violence in the west bank unacceptable von der leyen met with king abdullah ii of jordan who called for an immediate ceasefire to protect palestinians from israel s ugly war against civilians ha wafa 11 19 the houthi led yemeni government said it had seized an israeli ship in the red sea and taken it to a port in yemen israel said the ship did not have israeli owners or crew aj aj ap ha nyt reu 11 19 an nbc news poll found that 70 of 18 to 34 year old americans disapprove of the u s handling of israel s war on gaza overall 56 said they disapproved 49 of democrats said they opposed providing military aid to israel aj ha 11 19 november 20 in the west bank a palestinian succumbed to injuries sustained from israeli forces on 11 9 in jenin refugee camp israeli settlers assaulted palestinian herders and stole some of their sheep in tuqu israeli settlers also raided kisan stealing solar panels and a generator elsewhere israeli settlers raided shaab al butum in the masafer yatta area demolishing a residential structure and vandalizing solar panels water tanks and 70 olive tree saplings israeli settlers also attacked 2 palestinians and 2 foreign journalists during a raid in manizil and al rakiz in the masafer yatta causing bruises israeli forces shot and killed a palestinian man during a raid near al arroub refugee camp israeli forces also shot and injured a palestinian during a raid in arrabah elsewhere israeli forces demolished a 4 story building under construction in al za im nearly 50 palestinians were arrested during late night raids in and around hebron deir al ghusun ramallah deir ibzi bethlehem and qaryut in gaza israeli forces sealed off the indonesian hospital in beit lahiya israeli shelling of the hospital killed 12 people 100 patients were later evacuated from the hospital the israeli seige of al shifa hospital continued for the fifth day israeli forces also attacked a doctors without borders clinic in gaza city destroying 4 of its vehicles that were clearly marked with the organization s logo israeli airstrikes targeted nuseirat refugee camp killing 20 rafah killing 15 and khan yunis killing a family of 5 the number of fatalities was likely much higher since the gaza ministry of health was unable to communicate with hospitals and civil defense members in northern gaza the israeli military said it attacked 250 sites in gaza 2 israeli soldiers were killed in tayibe israeli police arrested a 14 year old palestinian citizen of israel for allegedly posting support for hamas on social media in lebanon israel attacked several areas including the home of amal party official kabalan kabalan no injuries were reported israel said hezbollah launched 25 rockets and 3 drones at israel hitting military sites no injuries were reported aj aj aj ap ap cnn ha ha nyt reu unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 11 20 aj ha ha 11 21 the gaza ministry of health was not able to fully update the casualty figures due to a collapse in services and communications at hospitals in northern gaza leaving the casualty numbers at around 13 000 palestinians killed including 5 500 children and 3 500 women and around 32 000 injured in israeli airstrikes on gaza since 10 7 at least 3 250 people were missing in rubble including 1 700 children 208 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and settlers in the west bank and east jerusalem since 10 7 including 52 children more than 2 885 people have been injured israel reported that 1 200 israelis and foreign nationals have been killed and 5 431 have been injured since 10 7 71 israeli soldiers have been killed in gaza since the ground invasion began on 10 27 over 1 61 million palestinians around 70 of the population of gaza have been displaced since 10 7 there has been a complete electricity blackout in gaza since 10 12 due to the israel blockade as of 11 6 at least 40 000 housing units had been destroyed and 220 000 had been damaged in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 constituting 45 of all housing units some 25 000 people fled northern gaza to the south the un said that since shelters are completely full newly arrived displaced people were sleeping on the streets 51 aid trucks entered gaza including trucks carrying material to build 2 field hospitals run by the uae and jordan 2 trucks carrying 17 000 gallons of fuel entered gaza 180 doctors and nurses entered gaza 571 foreign nationals and 67 injured palestinians were evacuated from gaza via the rafah crossing jordanian crown prince hussein arrived in egypt to oversee the establishment of the jordanian field hospital which will be set up in khan yunis the committee to protect journalists said 50 journalists have been killed since 10 7 including 45 palestinians and 1 lebanese aj ap unocha unocha wafa 11 20 ha unocha 11 21 former israeli prime minister ehud barak told cnn that the tunnels system israel is claiming that hamas uses under al shifa hospital was built by israel five or four decades ago to enable more space for the operation of the hospital within the very limited size of the compound cnn 11 20 a witness said that the palestinian man who died at the ketziot prison in the naqab on 11 18 thaer samih abu assab was beaten to death by israeli forces after they raided his cell and assaulted 10 prisoners aj 11 20 israeli forces reportedly arrested palestinian poet mosab abu toha on 11 18 while he was fleeing from northern gaza to rafah to get to the u s where his son has citizenship ha 11 21 israel indicted 2 israelis on charges of terrorism for throwing molotov cocktails at a court a post office banks and palestinian homes in sheikh jarrah ha 11 20 the israeli military said there have been several incidents of friendly fire in gaza saying israeli soldiers had been killed as a result there were more than 10 000 israeli soldiers in gaza israel s military also said it had transferred 300 palestinians from gaza to israel ap ha 11 20 foreign ministers from the pa saudi arabia jordan egypt and indonesia and a representative from the oic met with chinese foreign minister wang yi in beijing calling for a ceasefire aj aj ha nyt reu wafa 11 20 hamas political leader ismail haniyeh met with international committee of the red cross icrc president mirjana spoljaric in qatar who demanded that hamas release all captives immediately and that the icrc be allowed to visit the captives the hamas information ministry called on egypt to open the rafah crossing permanently saying it fears epidemics and famine will hit gaza due to the lack of food and basic medical services a hamas military spokesperson said the qassam brigades had destroyed 60 military vehicles in the past 3 days and that israeli forces had killed their own soldiers after thinking they were captured by hamas militants aj ap ha 11 20 pa president mahmoud abbas met with latvian president edgars rinkević in ramallah discussing the situation in gaza and the west bank wafa 11 20 israeli interior minister moshe arbel demanded that the un refugee agency unhcr build an aid program for israelis evacuated from the area around gaza and near the blue line during a meeting with unhcr representative in israel matthias larota the knesset ethics committee banned likud mk nissim vaturi from speaking at the next 10 knesset sessions after he accused 2 palestinian mks aida touma sliman and iman khatib yassin of supporting hamas ha 11 20 israel recalled its ambassador to south africa south africa recalled its ambassador to israel weeks ago and referred the situation in gaza to the icc on 10 7 the south african parliament is also scheduled to vote on 11 21 to close the israeli embassy and cut all ties with israel until a ceasefire is implemented aj ha 11 20 aj ha 11 21 turkish president recep tayyip erdoğan said he will not allow the issue of israeli nuclear weapons to be dropped from the international agenda and said the shame of the holocaust has literally taken european leaders hostage referring to their support for israel ha 11 20 white house senior adviser for energy and investment amos hochstein met with israeli officials discussing the situation at the blue line and the development of the gaza marine gas field off the coast of gaza which he said would benefit the palestinian economy hochstein arrived in israel after meetings with lebanese officials aj ax ha reu 11 20 amnesty international said israel had committed war crimes by attacking a church in gaza city on 10 19 and a residential building in nuseirat refugee camp on 10 20 which killed 46 civilians including 20 children amnesty said it had visited the sites interviewed witnesses and survivors and analyzed satellite imagery to reach its conclusion ha wafa 11 20 13 u s senators urged president joe biden to work with israel to increase aid to gaza including by reopening the karem abu salem karem shalom crossing and to protect palestinian civilians senator jeff merkley d or called for a ceasefire the second u s senator to do so after senator dick durbin d il 41 members of the house have called for a ceasefire aj ha 11 20 qatar said the revenue from the asia cup 2023 soccer tournament held in the country will go to palestinian relief efforts the australian soccer team which is playing against the palestinian soccer team in a world cup qualifying game in kuwait on 11 21 said its players and soccer association will donate a 5 figure sum to palestinians in gaza aj wafa 11 20 november 21 in the west bank israeli settlers attacked palestinians harvesting olives in yamun and damaged their vehicle israeli settlers also threw stones at palestinian vehicles in awarta causing damage elsewhere israeli settlers set fire to a school in zanuta causing extensive damage israeli forces shot and killed a palestinian during a raid in balata refugee camp israeli forces also shot and injured 6 palestinians including a child during raids in ad doha asira al qibliya jenin and balata refugee camp 45 palestinians were arrested during late night raids in and around jenin ramallah jericho nablus bethlehem and hebron in east jerusalem israeli settlers toured the haram al sharif compound israeli forces demolished a palestinian owned home in isawiya displacing 6 and a structure in silwan in gaza the israeli military said it had encircled jabalia refugee camp israeli soldiers continued their sieges of the indonesian and al shifa hospitals around 500 patients and staff were evacuated from the indonesian hospital to a hospital in khan yunis later in the day at least 120 palestinians were killed in israeli airstrikes on nuseirat refugee camp gaza city jabalia refugee camp beit lahiya al bureij and khan yunis israel also attacked al awda hospital killing 3 doctors and a patient the number of fatalities was likely much higher since the gaza ministry of health was unable to communicate with hospitals and civil defense members in northern gaza 2 israeli soldiers were killed 10 rockets were fired at israel with 1 hitting ness ziona no injuries were reported in lebanon israeli forces attacked several areas of south lebanon saying anti tank missiles were fired by hezbollah at israel 4 people including an elderly woman and 2 journalists working for al mayadeen television network were killed in israeli attacks in kfar kila and tair harfa 4 hamas members were killed in a drone strike on chaatiyeh reportedly including deputy chief of the qassem brigades in lebanon khalil kharraz hezbollah later said it attacked israeli tanks and soldiers a military base in beit hilal and a missile factory in shlomi aj aj aj ap ha reu reu reu reu reu unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 11 21 the gaza ministry of health was not able to fully update the casualty figures due to a collapse in services and communications at hospitals in northern gaza leaving the casualty numbers at around 13 000 palestinians killed including 5 500 children and 3 500 women and around 32 000 injured in israeli airstrikes on gaza since 10 7 at least 3 250 people were missing in rubble including 1 700 children 209 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and settlers in the west bank and east jerusalem since 10 7 including 52 children more than 2 885 people have been injured israel reported that 1 200 israelis and foreign nationals have been killed and 5 431 have been injured since 10 7 73 israeli soldiers have been killed in gaza since the ground invasion began on 10 27 over 1 61 million palestinians around 70 of the population of gaza have been displaced since 10 7 there has been a complete electricity blackout in gaza since 10 12 due to the israel blockade as of 11 6 at least 40 000 housing units had been destroyed and 220 000 had been damaged in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 constituting 45 of all housing units 2 trucks carrying 17 000 gallons of fuel and 79 trucks carrying aid entered gaza via the rafah crossing unrwa said 108 members of its staff have been killed in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 aj ap ha unocha 11 21 palestinian poet mosab abu toha was released after being arrested on 11 18 by israeli forces in gaza abu toha was reportedly beaten while detained aj ha nyt 11 21 the ministry of national economy in the nablus governorate said israel had only allowed 45 palestinian businesses to operate in huwwara since 10 7 forcing 255 business to close aj 11 21 jordan said israel had ordered the evacuation of its field hospital in gaza saying it would not heed the order aj ha 11 21 hamas said it had agreed to the terms of the first prisoner exchange and temporary ceasefire islamic jihad said it was coordinating with hamas on the prisoner exchange deal the israeli war security and government cabinets convened in separate meetings in the evening to discuss the deal prime minister benjamin netanyahu said the deal was likely to happen despite opposition from national security minister itamar ben gvir and finance minister bezalel smotrich and that israel would continue its war on gaza after the temporary ceasefire the meeting of the government cabinet was still ongoing at the end of the day it was reported by haaretz that the israeli public would have 24 hours to appeal to the israeli high court of justice if the government decides to approve the deal islamic jihad said an israeli captive it had tried to release earlier for humanitarian reasons had died aj aj ha ha ha ha reu reu reu 11 21 aj ha 11 22 jordanian prime minister bisher khasawneh said a ny displacement of palestinians in the west bank or creating the conditions that would lead to it jordan will consider it a declaration of war and constitute a material breach of the peace treaty aj ha reu 11 21 lebanese caretaker prime minister najib mikati condemned the israeli killing of 2 lebanese journalists saying israel s goal is to silence the media that exposes its crimes and attacks aj ap 11 21 u s national security council spokesperson john kirby said the u s would not support israeli military action in southern gaza unless it clearly articulated a plan for how they are going to protect the lives of the hundreds of thousands of people that have now added to the population because they were asked to leave by the israelis kirby also said that the biden administration was considering redesignating the yemeni houthi government a terrorist organization citing its attacks on israel and the seizure of an alleged israeli linked vessel on 11 19 pentagon deputy press secretary sabrina singh said the u s continued to supply israel with 155 mm rounds precision guided munitions and air defense systems politico reported that the u s had sent israel the coordinates for humanitarian sites including hospitals and gave israel information about the movement of aid groups to avoid israeli attacks on protected groups however israel reportedly continued attacking those sites aj aj ha reu 11 21 aj 11 22 a survey by the organization arab world for research and development found that 98 of palestinians in the west bank and gaza said they could not forgive nor forget israel s attacks on gaza with 65 saying the attacks were targeting all palestinians 75 said they supported operation al aqsa flood to some extent 22 said they expected the pa to return to power in gaza aj 11 21 the european commission said its review of its aid to palestine did not find evidence that funds were used for hamas aj ha reu 11 21 representatives from the oic and arab league and the foreign ministers of the pa saudi arabia indonesia and jordan met with russian foreign minister sergey lavrov in moscow egyptian foreign minister sameh shoukry said israel s goal with bombing southern gaza was to force palestinians to flee gaza aj ha wafa 11 21 leaders of the brics countries met virtually to discuss the situation in gaza demanding a ceasefire and condemning attacks on civilians in gaza and israel representatives of saudi arabia argentina egypt ethiopia iran and the uae all countries that will join brics in 2024 also attended the meeting saudi crown prince mohammad bin salman called for a global ban on exports of arms to israel aj aj ap ha nyt reu reu 11 21 the south african parliament voted 248 91 to close the israeli embassy and suspend ties with israel the motion was non binding leaving president cyril ramaphosa to implement it aj aj ha wafa 11 21 the scottish parliament voted 90 28 in favor of a ceasefire all parties except for the scottish conservatives supported the motion aj 11 21

blog title palestinechronology press summaries on the war on gaza november 22 25 author palestine chronology staff date november 29 2023 content november 22 in the west bank israeli forces raided tulkarm refugee camp killing 6 palestinians and injuring 3 in a drone strike uprooted streets and put 2 hospitals under siege israeli forces also shot and killed 2 palestinians including a child during raids in azzun and burin elsewhere israeli forces shot and injured a palestinian in beitunia israeli forces also notified a palestinian landowner that it will seize 2 5 dunams 62 acres of his land in beit dajan to construct a settler road meanwhile israeli forces demolished 6 residential structures and 1 agricultural structure in shaab al butum in the masafer yatta area displacing 20 people 38 palestinians were arrested during late night raids in bethlehem ramallah qalqilya and tubas in gaza israeli forces attacked khan yunis gaza city nuseirat refugee camp jabalia refugee camp and the indonesian and kamal adwan hospitals killing at least 80 people the number of fatalities was likely much higher given the lack of communication with hospitals and civil defense members in northern gaza 3 premature babies died at the kamal adwan hospital due to the incubators failing as a result of a lack of fuel the administration at the indonesian hospital said it had been ordered by israel to evacuate the hospital 14 ambulances arrived at al shifa hospital to start evacuating the 250 remaining patients the red crescent said 3 paramedics and a companion of a wounded palestinian were detained by israeli forces with 1 of the paramedics being arrested and that israel obstructed the evacuation efforts 190 patients were evacuated from the hospital over a 20 hour period 2 israeli soldiers were killed rockets were fired from gaza at israel no injuries were reported in lebanon israeli airstrikes killed 5 people in beit yahoun including the son of hezbollah mp mohammed raad in syria israeli forces fired 2 missiles at damascus causing damage in the red sea israel said it intercepted a cruise missile fired from yemen aj ap ha ha reu unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 11 22 aj ha unocha 11 23 ha 11 24 the gaza media office reported that 14 532 palestinian have been killed including 6 000 children and 4 000 women and around 35 000 have been injured in israeli airstrikes on gaza since 10 7 at least 7 000 people were missing in rubble including 1 700 children 217 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and settlers in the west bank and east jerusalem since 10 7 including 53 children more than 2 885 people have been injured israel reported that 1 200 israelis and foreign nationals have been killed and 5 431 have been injured since 10 7 75 israeli soldiers have been killed in gaza since the ground invasion began on 10 27 over 1 7 million palestinians more than 70 of the population of gaza have been displaced since 10 7 there has been a complete electricity blackout in gaza since 10 12 due to the israel blockade as of 11 18 at least 45 000 housing units had been destroyed and 233 000 had been damaged in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 constituting 60 of all housing units 111 palestinians were buried in a mass grave in khan yunis the bodies were initially seized by israel at al shifa hospital and in beit hanun and handed over to palestinian authorities prior to arriving in khan yunis in a shipping container about 250 people fled northern gaza to the south around 18 000 gallons of fuel and 80 trucks carrying aid entered gaza via the rafah crossing 433 foreign nationals and 17 wounded people were evacuated to egypt aj ha unocha unocha wafa 11 22 nyt 11 23 un under secretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator martin griffiths called the humanitarian crisis in gaza the worst ever adding i do not say that lightly i started off in my twenties dealing with the khmer rouge and the killing fields ha 11 22 israel and hamas agreed to the terms of a 4 day ceasefire that would see 50 women and children held in gaza released in exchange for 150 palestinian women and children being released from israeli prisons the start of the ceasefire would be announced within 24 hours awaiting the israeli high court of justice s consideration of israeli public appeals against the deal the ceasefire could be extended for one additional day for every 10 additional captives released from gaza there are about 240 captives held by hamas and islamic jihad israel agreed to stop military movement and allow people to travel from the north of gaza to the south on salah al din road but said it would not allow movement to the north 300 trucks carrying aid including fuel would be allowed into gaza every day furthermore hamas said israel had agreed to stop drone flights over southern gaza during the period of the ceasefire and not fly over northern gaza for 6 hours a day and that israel could not attack or arrest anyone during the 4 day period israel published a list of 300 palestinian prisoners including 123 children that it deemed eligible for release most of the prisoners on the list were arrested in the past 2 years for minor offenses islamic jihad said the israeli soldiers it is holding captive will not be released until all its members are released from israeli prisons pa president mahmoud abbas welcomed the agreement and thanked qatar and egypt for their mediation efforts the israeli cabinet approved deal in the early hours of the day after a 6 hour meeting 3 ministers from the otzma yehudit party voted against it while 35 ministers voted in favor israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu said israel would resume its attacks on gaza after the ceasefire ha nyt nyt 11 21 aj aj aj aj aj aj aj ap ap ap ax ha ha ha ha ha ha ha nyt nyt nyt reu reu reu reu reu wafa wafa 11 22 hamas deputy political leader khalil al hayya and hamas representative in lebanon osama hamdan met with hezbollah secretary general hassan nasrallah in lebanon discussing the ceasefire it was reported that hezbollah would enter the ceasefire if israel did not attack lebanon during the 4 day period ha 11 22 the pa cabinet held an emergency session on the situation in gaza and the pa s financial situation given the israeli decision to withhold more funds from the pa tax revenue and the pa s refusal to accept the reduced sums the cabinet decided to allow each ministry to find ways to reduce their expenses and indicated that civil servants will not be paid their salaries or will receive reduced salaries due to the financial crisis president abbas discussed the situation in gaza and the west bank with finnish president sauli niinistö wafa wafa 11 22 a delegation of foreign ministers from arab and islamic countries including the pa jordan saudi arabia egypt turkey indonesia and nigeria met with uk foreign secretary david cameron in london discussing the situation in gaza wafa 11 22 mossad director david barnea arrived in doha to discuss the final details of the prisoner exchange with qatari officials ax ha 11 22 israel claimed to have found a 525 foot long tunnels underneath al shifa hospital saying it was used by hamas videos of the tunnels released by israel showed the tunnels were completely empty aside from an air conditioning unit former israeli prime minister ehud barak said earlier this week that israel constructed tunnels under al shifa in the 1980s prime minister netanyahu said he had instructed the mossad to attack hamas leaders outside of the occupied territories aj nyt 11 22 ha 11 23 u s president joe biden released a statement welcoming the temporary ceasefire thanking the leaders of qatar and egypt biden told president abdel fattah el sisi that the u s opposes forced deportation of palestinians in gaza to egypt and the redrawing of the gaza borders biden also spoke with prime minister netanyahu emphasizing the importance of maintaining calm along the lebanese border as well as in the west bank according to the u s readout of their conversation secretary of state antony blinken spoke with the foreign ministers of saudi arabia the uae and qatar it was reported that the u s was using the ceasefire to push israel to set up safe areas in gaza and allow more aid and fuel into gaza aj aj ha ha nyt reu 11 22 politico reported that the biden administration was worried that an unintended consequence of the ceasefire would be journalists being able to illuminate the devastation in gaza since they would have more access aj 11 22 palestinians who met pope francis at the vatican said he described the situation in gaza as genocide a vatican spokesperson later said that he was not aware that the pope used the word pope francis also met with israeli relatives of people held captive in gaza by hamas aj ha wafa 11 22 the yemeni naval commander spoke to the crew members of the cargo ship galaxy leader the navy had captured on 11 19 assuring them that they would be treated as guests ha 11 22 november 23 in the west bank israeli settlers uprooted 12 olive trees in salfit and vandalized palestinian property in al twana in the masafer yatta area israeli forces shot and killed 3 palestinians including a 12 year old during raids in balata refugee camp beita and burqa israeli forces also shot and injured 5 people during raids in balata refugee camp habla and burqa israeli forces also issued stop work orders for 8 homes in al khader 76 palestinians were arrested during late night raids in and around azzun al arroub refugee camp nablus balata refugee camp jenin tubas bethlehem aroura and abu dis 3 130 palestinians have been arrested in the west bank since 10 7 in east jerusalem israeli forces shot injured and arrested a palestinian child in jabel mukaber in gaza israeli airstrikes killed around 270 palestinians including 30 in an airstrike on an unrwa school in jabalia refugee camp 15 in khan yunis 14 in rafah 10 in the sheikh radwan neighborhood of gaza city and 5 in nuseirat refugee camp israel also bombed the zeitoun neighborhood bani suhaila al daraj and al tufah israel said it had assassinated hamas naval commander omar abu jallah israeli forces also attacked the indonesian hospital s main gate power generators and administrative office elsewhere israeli forces arrested al shifa hospital director mohammad abu salmiya and other medical staff after the arrest the gaza ministry of health suspended coordination with the who 4 wounded palestinians died during an evacuation from the turkish palestinian friendship hospital to khan yunis israel said it attacked 300 sites in gaza during the day rockets were fired from gaza at israel no injuries were reported in lebanon israeli forces attacked several sites saying they had been used to fire 35 rockets toward israel causing damage to 2 homes in the red sea the u s said it shot down drones launched from yemen ha 11 22 aj aj aj aj ha ha unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 11 23 unocha 11 24 aj 11 25 aj 11 25 the gaza media office reported that 14 800 palestinian have been killed including 6 000 children and 4 000 women and around 35 000 have injured in israeli airstrikes on gaza since 10 7 at least 7 000 people were missing in rubble including 1 700 children 220 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and settlers in the west bank and east jerusalem since 10 7 including 54 children more than 2 885 people have been injured israel reported that 1 200 israelis and foreign nationals have been killed and 5 431 have been injured since 10 7 75 israeli soldiers have been killed in gaza since the ground invasion began on 10 27 over 1 7 million palestinians more than 70 of the population of gaza have been displaced since 10 7 there has been a complete electricity blackout in gaza since 10 12 due to the israel blockade as of 11 18 at least 45 000 housing units had been destroyed and 233 000 had been damaged in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 constituting 60 of all housing units 18 000 gallons of fuel and 80 truckloads of aid entered gaza via the rafah crossing 433 foreign nationals and 17 wounded palestinians were evacuated to egypt less than 500 people fled northern gaza to the south unocha noted that there were more people arrested by israeli forces while crossing than in previous days aj ha unocha unocha 11 23 qatar announced that the ceasefire will begin at 7 a m on 11 24 with 13 captives being released to israel at 4 p m the ceasefire was reportedly delayed due to a disagreement over the list of captives that would be released the israeli high court of justice rejected 2 petitions against the prisoner exchange saying the court did not have justification to intervene in the ceasefire deal israel said palestinians will not be allowed to return to the north of gaza during the ceasefire israeli defense minister yoav gallant said he expected the israeli attacks on gaza to continue for 2 months after the ceasefire period is over egypt said 35 000 gallons of diesel 4 trucks of gas and 200 trucks carrying aid would enter gaza daily from 11 24 during the ceasefire aj aj aj aj aj ax ha ha ha ha nyt nyt 11 23 ha ha 11 24 al araby al jadeed reported that an iranian brokered deal would see 23 thai captives released by hamas without conditions ha 11 23 displaced palestinians returning to the homes they fled from in al qanoub near sa ir said israeli settlers had demolished and stolen all their belongings including 5 homes tents and solar panels the settlers had threatened the palestinians with displacement or death wafa 11 23 pa president mahmoud abbas met with the spanish prime minister pedro sanchez and belgian prime minister alexander de croo in ramallah discussing the situation in gaza and the west bank wafa 11 23 a delegation of foreign ministers from arab and islamic countries including the pa jordan saudi arabia egypt turkey indonesia and nigeria met with french president emmanuel macron in paris discussing the situation in gaza the delegation had met with leaders in the uk russia and china in the past week wafa 11 23 israeli channel 12 reported that national security minister itamar ben gvir had instructed police not to deal with israeli settler violence against palestinians ben gvir also instructed prison authorities to use an iron fist in repressing celebrations of prisoner releases aj 11 23 hezbollah secretary general hassan nasrallah met with iranian foreign minister hossein amir abdollahian in lebanon aj 11 23 ha 11 24 spanish foreign minister jose manuel albares said before a meeting in israel between prime minister sanchez and israeli president isaac herzog and prime minister benjamin netanyahu that spain wants to recognize a palestinian state in the very short term adding the existence of a palestinian state is the best guarantee for peace in the middle east during the meeting with netanyahu sanchez proposed an international conference to settle the overall conflict uk prime minister david cameron also met with netanyahu aj ha reu 11 23 israeli communications minister shlomo karhi submitted a proposal to the israeli cabinet that would end the publication of government notices in haaretz and halt all government payments to the newspaper including by canceling all state employees subscriptions aj ha 11 23 german police raided 15 properties it claimed were linked to hamas and samidoun aj ap 11 23 the un said its member states had raised 218 million in funding for its flash appeal for gaza constituting 18 of the 1 2 billion requested unocha 11 23 november 24 in the west bank a palestinian man succumbed to injuries sustained during the airstrikes on tulkarm refugee camp on 11 17 israeli settlers attacked and wounded several palestinian farmers in ramin and vandalized their cars israeli forces shot and killed a palestinian during a raid in aqrabat jaber refugee camp israeli forces also violently dispersed palestinians celebrating the release of prisoners near the ofer prison injuring 3 with live ammunition 4 with baton rounds and 22 with tear gas meanwhile israeli forces shot and injured 5 palestinian during raids in nablus deir al ghusun and tuqu israeli forces also punitively demolished the family home in rumana of a palestinian who was shot dead by israeli police in tel aviv earlier this year after he allegedly shot and killed several israelis elsewhere israeli forces assaulted 5 palestinians arresting them and seizing their vehicles at a flying checkpoint near aqraba israeli forces also assaulted 2 palestinians during a raid in taqqou in east jerusalem israeli forces violently dispersed palestinians trying to reach the haram al sharif compound from wadi al juz causing injuries from beatings and tear gas israeli forces also raided the homes of 3 palestinian prisoners in jabel mukaber and bayt hanina warning their families not to celebrate their release in gaza before the ceasefire took effect see below israeli forces raided the indonesian hospital killing a wounded woman and injuring 3 others after shelling and destroying the first floor of the hospital israeli forces also bombed nuseirat refugee camp killing at least 27 people after the ceasefire took effect israeli forces shot and killed 2 palestinians and wounded 15 others who were trying to return to northern gaza from the south israel said it would not allow palestinians to return to the north israel also said it had completed its operation at al shifa hospital claiming it had destroyed tunnels it was also reported that israeli forces destroyed oxygen pipes and generators at the hospital rockets were fired at israel prior to the ceasefire no injuries were reported in lebanon israel shot down a surface to air missile fired at an israeli drone aj aj aj aj ha nyt nyt unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 11 24 aj aj 11 25 ha 11 27 the gaza media office did not update the casualty numbers leaving the comprehensive death toll as of 11 23 at around 14 800 palestinians including 6 000 children and 4 000 women and around 35 000 injured in israeli airstrikes on gaza since 10 7 at least 7 000 people were missing in rubble including 1 700 children 222 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and settlers in the west bank and east jerusalem since 10 7 including 54 children more than 2 885 people have been injured israel reported that 1 200 israelis and foreign nationals have been killed and 5 431 have been injured since 10 7 75 israeli soldiers have been killed in gaza since the ground invasion began on 10 27 over 1 7 million palestinians more than 70 of the population of gaza have been displaced since 10 7 there has been a complete electricity blackout in gaza since 10 12 due to the israel blockade as of 11 18 at least 45 000 housing units had been destroyed and 233 000 had been damaged in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 constituting 60 of all housing units 2 ambulances 4 trucks carrying diesel 4 trucks carrying cooking oil and 137 trucks carrying aid entered gaza via the rafah crossing the un delivered flour to 2 unrwa facilities in the north of gaza the first delivery of aid the north in more than 1 month 40 people were evacuated from al ahli baptist hospital in gaza city to a hospital in khan yunis al ahli started to admit new patients despite a lack of electricity and essential hospital supplies fewer than 400 people fled the northern part of gaza to the south 44 wounded palestinians and their companions were evacuated to egypt thousands of palestinians stuck in egypt began returning to gaza aj ha nyt reu unocha unocha 11 24 39 palestinians were released from the ofer prison as part of the prisoner exchange including 24 women and 15 children 33 were released to the beitunia checkpoint while 6 were released to east jerusalem 13 israelis 10 thai nationals and 1 filipino national held captive by hamas were released to israel via egypt germany said 4 of the israelis were also german nationals the thai and filipino captives were released in a separate deal made between hamas and thailand brokered by iran the director of the schneider children s medical center in israel said the captives the hospital had received were in good physical condition hamas published videos of its militants handing over captives to the red cross hamas political leader ismail haniyeh said hamas was committed to the ceasefire as long as israel abides by the terms head of the palestinian prisoners club qadura fares said israel had violated the prisoner exchange terms by releasing 7 people who were arrested within the past year instead of prisoners who had been in prison for longer the prisoner s club also said israel had imposed a ban on celebrating the release of palestinian prisoners imposing fines of 18 700 for public celebrations aj aj aj aj aj aj aj ap ap ax ha ha nyt nyt nyt nyt nyt nyt nyt nyt reu reu reu unocha wafa wafa 11 24 aj aj aj ha nyt reu 11 25 ha 11 27 uk foreign secretary david cameron visited ramallah saying the uk has committed an additional 37 8 million in aid to gaza cameron also said that israel will not have long term safety and security unless palestinians have the same calling settler violence completely unacceptable and urging israel to prosecute the perpetrators cameron met with pa president mahmoud abbas who called on the uk to help ensure that israel will not succeed in separating the west bank and gaza or reoccupy it pa prime minister mohammed shtayyeh also met with cameron and met separately with the foreign ministers of portugal and slovenia ha wafa wafa wafa wafa 11 24 aj 11 25 at a press conference held at the rafah crossing spanish prime minister pedro sanchez said that a permanent ceasefire was required and said spain may unilaterally recognize palestine even if the eu does not at the press conference belgian prime minister alexander de croo said w ay too many people have died the destruction of gaza is unacceptable israel subsequently summoned the spanish and belgian representatives in israel for a reprimand prompting spain to do the same to the israeli ambassador to spain later in a meeting with de croo and sanchez in cairo egyptian president abdel fattah el sisi called for the establishment of a demilitarized palestinian state with un arab or nato forces guaranteeing the peace aj aj ap ha ha reu 11 24 aj ha 11 25 ha 11 26 u s president joe biden welcomed the release of the 24 captives from gaza saying that there was a chance that the temporary ceasefire could facilitate a longer ceasefire nyt 11 24 european commission president ursula von der leyen said at a press conference with canadian prime minister justin trudeau that there should be no forced displacement from occupied palestine and that a reformed pa should govern gaza and the west bank von der leyen also said settler violence had to stop ha 11 24 an israeli owned cargo ship was attacked by a drone in the northern part of the indian ocean before the ceasefire agreement was implemented the attack which caused minor damage was attributed to iran by several media outlets aj aj ha ha reu 11 25 november 25 in the west bank israeli settlers attacked palestinians harvesting olives in aqraba forcing them to flee israeli forces raided jenin killing 5 people including a child and injuring 14 with 1 death and 11 injuries resulting from an airstrike israeli forces prevented the palestinian red crescent from reaching the injured and put the jenin governmental hospital and the ibn sina hospital under siege israeli forces also shot and killed 2 palestinians including a child near al bireh and in qabatiya israeli forces also shot and injured 6 palestinians including 2 children during raids in qarawat bani hassan burqa al arroub refugee camp qabatiya and beit umar elsewhere israeli forces also violently dispersed palestinians gathered near the ofer prison dropping tear gas from drones shooting 3 including a child with live ammunition and opened fire at a palestinian red crescent ambulance near the ofer prison causing damage israeli forces also razed 100 dunams 25 acres of land east of qalqilya uprooting 150 olive trees 17 palestinians were arrested during raids in and around askar refugee camp jenin hebron qalqilya and jericho in east jerusalem israel forced a palestinian family to demolish their own home in jabel mukaber displacing 4 people in lebanon israeli forces opened fire at a unifil vehicle no injuries were reported israel also said it had shot down a surface to air missile launched from lebanon in the red sea israel said it had intercepted a drone aj aj aj ha reu reu reu unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 11 25 aj 11 26 the gaza media office did not update the casualty numbers leaving the comprehensive death toll as of 11 23 at around 14 800 palestinians including 6 000 children and 4 000 women and around 35 000 injured in israeli airstrikes on gaza since 10 7 at least 7 000 people were missing in rubble including 1 700 children 229 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and settlers in the west bank and east jerusalem since 10 7 including 56 children more than 2 885 people have been injured israel reported that 1 200 israelis and foreign nationals have been killed and 5 431 have been injured since 10 7 75 israeli soldiers have been killed in gaza since the ground invasion began on 10 27 over 1 7 million palestinians more than 70 of the population of gaza have been displaced since 10 7 there has been a complete electricity blackout in gaza since 10 12 due to the israel blockade as of 11 18 at least 45 000 housing units had been destroyed and 233 000 had been damaged in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 constituting 60 of all housing units 187 trucks carrying aid 4 trucks carrying diesel and 4 trucks carrying cooking oil entered gaza via the rafah crossing 61 trucks carrying aid entered northern gaza the committee to protect journalists said 57 journalists have been killed since 10 7 including 50 palestinians 3 lebanese and 4 israelis gaza s media office said the number of palestinian journalists killed in gaza was 67 the palestinian prisoners club said israel has arrested 3 160 palestinians since 10 7 around 400 people fled northern gaza to the south 17 wounded palestinians and their companions and 25 foreign nationals were evacuated to egypt aj ha nyt unocha unocha wafa 11 25 39 palestinian prisoners were released from the damon megiddo and ofer prisons on the second day of the prisoner exchange 13 israelis and 4 thai nationals were released the exchange was delayed by 7 hours as hamas said israel had violated the agreement by only allowing half the agreed number of aid trucks to enter northern gaza and not releasing palestinians who had been imprisoned for a longer period than 2 years israel said the un was responsible for the lack of aid deliveries before the exchange took place israel threatened that it would start bombing gaza at midnight if the issues were not resolved egypt said it had received positive signals from both sides that the ceasefire could be extended beyond the initial 4 day period a delegation of qatari intelligence officers arrived in israel to ensure the exchange process continues smoothly and to discuss a possible extension of the ceasefire aj aj aj ax ha nyt nyt reu reu reu reu unocha 11 25 aj aj ap ha ha ha ha ha ha nyt nyt nyt reu reu 11 26 the tulkarm brigades said it had executed 2 palestinian men saying they were collaborators with israel giving information that led to the killing of 3 palestinians by israeli forces on 11 6 the group released a video on telegram that purportedly showed the 2 men confessing to working with israeli intelligence the group also said that anyone who had been working with israel had until 12 5 to come forward the bodies of the executed men were reportedly hung from an electric pole ap ha reu 11 25 israeli defense minister yoav gallant visited israeli soldiers in gaza ha 11 25 the new york times said that in the first 2 weeks of the israeli attacks on gaza 90 of the bombs israel stuck gaza with were 1 000 2 000 pound u s made satellite guided bombs citing a senior u s military official u s military officials said that 500 pound bombs were too large to target urban areas the times also said that israeli attacks on gaza have killed more palestinians faster than in any other conflict in the 21st century a former u s intelligence analyst said the israeli attacks were comparable to those in the vietnam war and world war ii nyt 11 25 3 palestinian university students wearing keffiyehs were shot and seriously wounded in burlington vermont a 48 year old man was later arrested for the attack aj 11 25 aj ha reu 11 26 aj aj reu 11 27

blog title there are no silent vigils during genocide author nadine naber date november 28 2023 content the u s and israel have now murdered over 15 000 palestinians including more than 6 150 children most buried alive under the rubble know their names mahdiya abdullah abdul wahab halawasuhail ramez al sourijulie ramez al sourimajd ramez al sourimoaz hani mohammed al aidimisk mohammed khalil gouda it takes five hours to read and remember them all one of the greatest heartaches for a grieving person is the fear that their loved one will be forgotten we deserve to pause and grieve our palestinian siblings they deserve to have their stories told and remembered their families deserve the chance to talk about them preserve their stories receive condolences pray to god to have mercy on their souls comfort one another plant an olive tree and share sweets and coffee in their memory when we grieve together we honor life and we collectively promise that those we lost will live in our hearts forever we pause and exhale together in our places of worship in the graveyard and in our living rooms we make space for our bodies to feel the swell of emotions that are causing our hearts to pound with the aching torment of loss and we persevere through our collective sorrow so that we can inhale new energy again but grieving is a privilege during a genocide in real time when the bombs are still dropping the water has run dry and the dead bodies continue to mount to be sure there is no comparison between what our people are enduring in gaza and all of palestine and our lives in the diaspora still many of us arab americans have not stopped shaking in our bones before the images of palestinian children screaming for their dead mother under the rubble mama mama or the stories of entire extended families wiped out or the scenes of israeli air raids flattening a complete refugee camp jabalia over three short days our collective panic stricken roots are turbulently shuddering over how much more brutality there is to come in the belly of the beast there are no quiet spaces in our hearts for candlelight vigils we watch elected officials engineer the slaughtering of our people the gazan men who embody the same tenderness of our brothers and fathers and the kids who resemble or are our niblings with their hazel eyes and long dark brown lashes before our eyes yet surrounding us at work at school on the bus at the local cafe and on the streets we strive to stop the isolation the survivors guilt and the betrayals in the face of business as usual from killing us like the neighbors mowing their lawn while giggling with their children friends on their way to a concert and people gathering at the cafe sharing smiles and scones and with our growing allies we strive to disrupt the silence screaming vociferously stop the genocide and stop the attacks on palestinians and arabs in our community wadea al fayoume a six year old palestinian child was stabbed to death twenty six times inside his apartment by his white supremacist landlord a woman just shoved her shopping cart into the body of an arab american college student at the grocery store our students are sitting in class with tears rolling down their faces wondering if their relatives in gaza are still alive while the sky above their apartment buildings lights up with fire indeed death is a part of life even as humans are rarely equipped to deal with the turmoil death inspires but what of the turmoil of an immediate genocide in progress an important part of any grieving journey is to find meaning in the loss often expressed through sentiments like well at least he is not suffering anymore or at least they didn t have to live through the pandemic but what if u s and israeli colonization is the only meaning to be made of the mass murders of palestinians yet we insist on more in our perseverance we will never forget never again means never again for anyone anywhere without exception our martyrs are not numbers we will free palestine in our lifetime i turn to the words i read etched in chalk on the asphalt at george floyd s memorial from tragedy love must prevail and we turn to those we trust bearing witness with us to validate our anguish and find a way through during a genocide there is no silent vigil there are no pauses without action while we say their beautiful names maria yasser kamal al masrymohammed mamdouh mohammed abu jazarzein al din suleiman moin al najjaraisha jihad jalal shaheen we relentlessly and unapologetically organize for and scream stop the genocide end the occupation decolonize palestine and as the u s and israel disenfranchise and gaslight our emotions painting our sorrow as emblems of support for terrorism and anti semitism we mobilize our grief as an insistence on palestinian life and militant defiance of u s and israeli terror drawing power from our love our rage and our pain we leave not one space in our lives devoid of direct action and resistance in the time of airstrikes stun grenades tear gas ground invasions and the same skunk water israel made for u s police to deploy against bipoc communities at borders in prisons and at demonstrations and sit ins our radical grief is neither singular nor quiet it is a collective practice that wails you have blood on your hands we are more than death we are life and love itself and we will never be eliminated i cannot keep up with who i am grieving for but i will continue to say their names qais ali nabil al aidinabil bilal nabil al aidialma moamen mohammed hamdanmisk mohammed khalil gouda i say their names as this moment of silence bursts with the sounds of israeli weapons and the images of gazan emergency personnel searching for more bodies under the rubble i can almost smell the fire and death emanating from my screen what will the names of those i grieve be tomorrow we grieve through the escalating brutality and we brace ourselves for a future violated by the loss of children who died stuck under the rubble there is no moment of silence when we have to fight for those who remain alive but just as our ancestors taught us when the figs and the olives are ripe and ready for harvest we should only eat after others have been fed they also taught us not to give our power away and to turn toward each other to persevere in the u s on turtle island our palestinian and arab moments of silence must be made public they must interrupt the racist idea that palestinians deserve to die that their lives have no value or that they are nothing more than savage fanatics or fodders of war in some faraway land and they must unsettle the status quo and the war machine while shrieking and organizing cease fire now stop the genocide interrupt war machine financing interrupt everything direct action now free free gaza free free palestine from the river to the sea cease relations mass boycott divestment now this palestinian and arab moment of silence is a public disruption it says no to business as usual genocide is not normal it is monstrous and vile for humans and non humans bahaa mustafa jamal musasafa nizar jamil hassounarose ramez amin hassounamaysoon ali alian al masryammar muhammad ramadan al kurd we will continue to say your names and honor your stories our scars and our hearts are fused with yours forever editor s note a version of this blogpost was originallyreadon the podcast movement memos

blog title 1 million march for palestine london s largest ever author sara a date november 27 2023 content the capital of the united kingdom witnessed its largest pro palestinian demonstration in uk history since the illegal invasion of iraq 2003 as over one million protesters flooded the streets of london on saturday nov 11 the demonstration was a show of solidarity with palestine calling for a ceasefire in gaza protesters have been taking to the streets each week since oct 7 against israel sgenocidal war crimes against palestinians in gaza each week s march has seen a significant increase in size from 150 000 on october 15 to 300 000 on october 21 then half a million on october 28 and now reportedly over one million people in london showing their solidarity with the people of gaza this comes despite escalating repression and anti palestinian stances from british prime minister rishi sunak to the recently sacked home secretary suella braverman and the leader of the opposition keir starmer braverman had come under fire for enabling violence from far right thugs at the cenotaph as the nov 11 march coincided with armistice day image courtesy of author sunak whose family has substantial financial ties to the israeli regime dismissed braverman from her position after she published an article in the times without his approval in the article braverman accused the london police of favoring pro palestinian protesters her removal was sunak s weak attempt to reinforce leadership after many including police officials reprimanded braverman s harsh and divisive comments sunak recently visited occupied palestine days after the al ahli baptist hospital massacre where he told prime minister benjamin netanyahu we want you to win since the weekly protests in london began braverman s stance had become increasingly fearmongering and intimidating towards pro palestinian voices describing the peaceful marches as hate marches she also called for the outlawing of slogans such as from the river to the sea and even attempted to persuade the metropolitan police to deem the flying of the palestinian flag as illegal she called for further action against pro palesintian marches under the pretense read weaponization of anti semitism it comes as no surprise that braverman who has close family members in the israeli occupation forces iof and whose husband is a self declared proud zioinist would call for such repression of freedom and not call for a ceasefire keir starmer the leader of the labour party has also taken a pro israeli stance having said that a ceasefire would negate israel s right to defend itself clearly indicating the position of the uk starmer who has advocated for the israeli regime to cut off water and electricity to palestinians in gaza also has ties to the zionist entity through his wife s family image courtesy of author such fragrant and outright support for the genocidal campaign against gaza shows the uk s complicity in the war crimes being committed in an attempt to hold western leaders accountable the international centre of justice for palestinians wrote to sunak informing him of their intention to prosecute uk government officials for complicity in israeli war crimes in gaza however the uk s complicity in the genocide and ethnic cleansing of palestinians should come as no surprise as the uk was the country that paved the way for the establishment of the zionist settler colonial entity and occupation through the balfour declaration the government s unwavering support for israel s right to defend itself in today s context can be seen as the continued alliance between the brutality of both british imperialism and zionist colonialism meanwhile on uk campuses there have been direct implications for showing support for palestine in an active campaign of repressing pro palestinian voices london s soas university of london a university which supposedly prides itself in its expertise in the middle east africa and asia and its decolonial outlook has suspended six students part of the soas palestine society following their solidarity rally this incident highlights the widespread repression of student and pro palestinian voices across uk universities and institutions soas along with other uk universities has yet to reassure palestinian arab and muslim students of their safety during a time in which anti palestinian and islamaphobic attacks are on the rise image courtesy of author this is not the first time that uk institutions have shown their true colors back in february of 2022 soas students were forcibly removed for participating in sit ins in protest over soas ties with israel s haifa university similarly back in 2021 lse students were faced with silence by management after protesting the visit of the zionist regime s ambassador in the last few years ongoing efforts from activists most notably apartheid off campus have pressured uk universities to end their ties with israel it was only a few months ago that the anti boycott bill was introduced a clear attack on freedom of expression and the space to show solidarity with the palestinian people these attacks reveal a state that is increasingly draconian and suppressive despite the repression of palestinian voices on uk campuses overwhelming support and solidarity for palestine and gaza continues with over 5 000 signatures calling for the reinstatement of the four suspended students with signatories including both students and instructors moreover the university college union has also called for an immediate ceasefire since the historical national march took place with a rally outside the houses of parliament demanding mps vote for a ceasefire the majority of mps voted against the scottish national party s amendment to call for an immediate ceasefire in gaza once again highlighting the uk government s support for israel s genocide in gaza however no matter how much the uk government expresses its support for israel it will never represent the masses of people who take to the streets to make their stance known image courtesy of author various actions and protests have since taken place on nov 24 students workers and all sectors of society across britain joined the international call for shutdown by participating in a national walkout calling on institutions to demand an immediate ceasefire and to end support for israel s occupation and genocide of the palestinian people students from universities across london including soas ucl kcl and lse joined the walkouts marching to keir starmer s office which was closed and to camden council meanwhile the latest mass demonstration was on nov 25 when over 300 000 protestors took to the streets demanding a permanent ceasefire in gaza students continue to organize as management and institutions continue to ignore and silence their demands the latest action will take place on nov 29 coinciding with the international day of solidarity with the palestinian people despite their government and institutions unwavering support for the israeli occupation ukcitizens continue to show solidarity with the palestinian people and their right to self determination and resistance against oppression

blog title indian government s propaganda machine boosts israeli genocide of palestinians author shivangi mariam raj date november 26 2023 content shortly after the al ahli hospital massacre was committed by the israeli occupation forces killing more than 500 palestinian men women and children an x account faridakhan introduced herself as an al jazeera journalist working in khan yunis gaza the supposed journalist then began to accuse al jazeera of lying about the israeli missile strike soon after the news network tweeted that no such journalist was associated with them this account was in fact found to be operated by a man from india but not before it garnered over 250 000 impressions was embedded in several blogs and news reports and was even reposted by michael p pregent a former american intelligence officer and senior fellow at the hudson institute this is just one instance of the indian government s dangerous propaganda strategy which aims to dehumanize muslims at home and abroad while bolstering economic and military ties with the israeli regime massive billboards have been put up across central delhi bearing the message india stands with israel in the war against terrorism rallies have been funded and protestors have been bussed in to hail the india israel friendship as holy while public hindu prayers have been organized for israeli occupation forces the israeli ambassador to india allegedly received multiple requests from indian citizens who wished to volunteer to serve in the israeli army one such request also came from yati narsinghanand saraswati a hindu religious preacher notorious for hate speech and genocidal calls against the minority muslim community in india along with his 1 000 followers he expressedadesire to be allowed into occupied palestine as settlers the success of these campaigns is attributed to the recurrent islamophobic trope of fanatic muslim masculinities tropes equally bought into by several left and liberal narratives in india and abroad which these propagandists have perfected in their routine harassment and aggression directed against dalits as well as muslims of india and kashmir who are struggling against fascism and settler colonial projects respectively the governing bharatiya janata party s bjp ideology draws its primary motivation from the belief that zionism is the civilizational twin of hindutva hindu extremism and is a model to be emulated for population management so as to achieve the ultimate goal of a hindu rashtra an exclusive hindu nation in which minorities are tortured and expelled from their land and their homes are bulldozed occurrences that have been accelerated since modi s rise to power in 2014 this dehumanization policy also explains the government sponsored circulation of images that celebrate and mock palestinian suffering today india is the largest buyer in the world of israeli weapons and surveillance technologies purchasing over 3 billion worth of these products on an annual basis the two states have maintained close strategic trade and militaristic ties premised on the expansionist logic of colonialism and crony capitalism consolidating their structures of imposing violent statecraft against civilian populations several bjp leaders and hindu supremacist groups are busy using the anti palestinian sentiment deployed by western governments as an opportunity to push messaging directed at the upcoming 2024 general elections apart from standwithisrael and indiawithisrael specific hashtags such as islamistheproblem and hamasterrorists are being utilized to fuse the zionist and hindutva narratives of manufactured victimhood against the perpetual muslim enemy the world s readiness to believe in propaganda has created the optimal conditions for the accelerated genocide of palestinians in gaza with its real time manipulation across language algorithms and images the horrors of this state sponsored propaganda lie not in its spectacle but rather in its banality and industrial reproduction in the ongoing genocide evidence precedes the crime every palestinian testimony written and screamed in blood is caught in an asymmetric confrontation with tech bias where all forms of exceptional and quotidian settler colonial violence are being actively obscured by censorship account suspensions and shadowbans not only have israeli allied governments tech firms and weapons companies justified stealing thousands of palestinian lives but these disinformation campaigns are also robbing palestinians of the right to mourn their dead with dignity by forcing them to fight an unceasing stream of denialism and erasure much of it pushed by indian government bots in thiswell choreographed cyber warfare the israeli regime s impossible insistence on self defense is exalted while every palestinian cast as a legitimate target for this world sponsored genocide

blog title 60 000 rally at texas capitol in largest palestine protest in the state s history author anna rajagopal date november 26 2023 content on nov 17 more than 60 000 people gathered at the texas state capitol in austin for the largest pro palestine protest in the state s history and the fifth largest protest overall in the state s history the protest was organized by the palestinian youth movement national students for justice in palestine the palestine solidarity committee at the university of texas at austin students for justice in palestine at the university of texas at dallas rice university students for justice in palestine and students for justice in palestine at the university of houston drawing crowds from most major cities in the state forty buses were arranged to transport protesters from houston san antonio dallas and college station into the heart of austin as a crowd amassed from morning till dusk crowds carpooled from el paso to attend the event protesters united to demand a ceasefire from their political representatives with organizers calling for an end to all u s and texas government complicity in israeli crimes as far as overseas funding weapons sales and political impunity the rally began with chants and speeches and ended with a march around the capitol itself lasting from 2 p m into the evening organizers arriving as early as 5 a m for set up demonstrated a strong commitment to the cause laila mohamad a student affiliated with students for justice in palestine at the university of texas at dallas helped organize the rally she addressed the broader financial implications of the state of texas in the palestinian liberation movement texas is one of the largest states and has contributed significantly to the zionist entity mohamad said such as through the establishment of relationships with israeli settlements leading to economic exports to israel amounting to around 900 million mohamad s chapter of sjp recently spearheaded the passing of an anti militarism resolution with their student government at the university of texas at dallas speakers at the protest included nida abu baker daughter of shukri abubaker of the holy land five mai abushaaban nawaf abulhaija dana fattouh and others who drew comparisons between the policies of president joe biden and texas governor greg abbott concerning israel protesters ride horses one waves a large palestinian flag at texas state capitol protest in austin image by sanaheet_ on instagram fouad salah 22 attended the rally as an organizer with the palestinian youth movement in houston he believes texas stands near the center of the battle for palestinian freedom in america we have to understand that texas is a hotbed for anti palestinian rhetoric salah said which is expressed materially through state repression and a lack of resources for palestinian arab and muslim community members salah added that the state of texas has led the campaign to criminalize pro palestine activism the state has recently tried to silence palestinian voices and to materially harm palestinian residents we see this through the establishment of anti bds laws which makes it illegal for government contractors to knowingly boycott israel salah said if forcing texans to choose between their job and their constitutionally protected rights wasn t dystopian enough the texas governor greg abbot cheered on twitter as the hilton hotel unjustly canceled the u s campaign for palestinian rights conference issuing horrifyingly racist and islamophobic statements which vilify the just movement for palestinian freedom and dehumanize those who have the courage to fight for it daniel synder an organizer with rice university students for justice in palestine drove to austin from houston and back on the same day synder belongs to a growing network of private southern universities establishing sjp chapters that are carrying out major actions in their localities p eople don t expect texas to be a hub of social movements so our actions can be especially helpful in showing national support of this issue and in dismissing this myth synder said greg abbott has also gone to israel and offered the country monetary support from our tax dollars which puts us in a position to be able to show that he does not represent us a plan with a banner that says save palestine cease fire now flies by the texas state capitol pro palestine protest in austin image by r a n i a raniaon instagram texas has in fact spearheaded student organizing around palestine in recent years with the university of houston s student government association successfully passing a resolution to protect pro palestine students and activism on campus including the boycott divestment and sanctions bds movement as well as passing a resolution demanding the university divest from militarism in recent months major cities including dallas austin houston el paso and san antonio have hosted consecutive marches since israel s bombardment of gaza began again in october each rally called for governor abbott s endorsement of a ceasefire organizers such as mohamad have drawn comparisons between the treatment of immigrants at the southern border of texas and the treatment of the palestinians in gaza mohamad remarked how sad yet fitting it is to have the man who ordered child parent separation and installed barbed wire floats in the rio grande visit the state of israel when it comes to draconian and illegal policies they texas and israel have much in common

blog title on french television palestinians are held guilty of their fate author thomas vescovi date november 25 2023 content l union militariste qui s est formée en israël au lendemain du 7 octobre a trouvé de nombreux adeptes à la télévision française mais avec une différence majeure alors que l opinion publique israélienne s orientait progressivement vers une volonté de stopper l opération en cours les plateaux télévisés français offraient du temps de parole à des experts prêts à aller toujours plus loin dans la justification des bombardements sur la bande de gaza accepter ou refuser les sollicitations médiatiques le dilemme se pose et nécessite réflexion il m est arrivé de parvenir en un temps limité à replacer des évènements dans leur contexte historique à rappeler l asymétrie des rapports de force et à exposer les grands principes qui doivent prévaloir dès lors que le conflit israélo palestinien est sous la lumière colonialisme et droit international notamment accepter cette fenêtre d expression médiatique revient à résoudre une équation entre temps de parole et possibilité de se faire comprendre en d autres termes même dans une émission de type débat où vous aurez le temps nécessaire pour vous exprimer si le reste du plateau est résolument en désaccord avec vous votre message risque d être difficilement audible tant vous aurez à répondre aux attaques et critiques des autres intervenants plutôt qu à développer votre analyse une journée en deux temps le samedi 7 octobre peut grossièrement être découpé en deux phases dans un premier temps plusieurs médias diffusent des informations qui proviennent d israël et de la bande de gaza faisant état d une attaque de grande ampleur contre des villes israéliennes ce contexte qui s apparente à une guerre de haute intensité permet de rappeler combien depuis plusieurs mois la situation devenait intenable on ne règle pas la question palestinienne par une solution sécuritaire mais politique une attaque surprenante mais pas incompréhensible au vu de la situation humanitaire et politique de la bande de gaza puis dans un deuxième temps circulent les premières imagesdes civils israéliens transportés manu militari vers la bande de gaza pour servir d otages des témoins rapportant des exactions contre des habitants de différentes localités la découverte de corps potentiellement victimes d actes de torture renversement de table changer la donne répondre à l oppression tous les motifs utilisés pour tenter d expliquer sans jamais justifier l opération du hamas se confrontent aux images et aux récits qui illustrent les actes innommables perpétrés pendant cette journée cette seconde phase rend tout rappel historique ou du contexte colonial inaudible au profit d une lecture qui appréhende la conflictualité au proche orient par le paradigme du terrorisme islamiste ou du choc des civilisations du hamas à daesh il n y a qu un pas progressivement une rhétorique s installe pour assimiler le hamas à l état islamique en irak et au levant daesh dans ses pratiques comme dans son idéologie sur les plateaux l émotion et la pression est telle que certains parlent d un 11 septembre israélien les quelques voix qui rappellent le caractère islamo nationaliste du hamas et non djihadiste se heurtent au mur de l émotion et aux détails macabres des massacres du 7 octobre dont certains s avèrent par la suite faux chaque tentative de revenir à la source de la conflictualité nous place au centre de polémiques nous faisant endosser un rôle officieux de porte parole du hamas la concomitance du meurtre dans un lycée français d un enseignant dominique bernard le 13 octobre par un jeune de 20 ans se réclamant de l islamisme favorise l idée de sociétés démocratiques françaises comme israéliennes en proie à un terrorisme semblable c est comme si l ensemble des débats télévisés reportages et articles faisant état d un régime d apartheid en israël devenaient infondés comme si l occupation et la colonisation principales sources du ressentiment et de la colère palestinienne passaient au second plan comme si la vie dans la bande de gaza depuis dix sept ans de blocus israélien n intéressait plus personne la rhétorique hamas daesh voire hamas nazisme permet de justifier la campagne de bombardements sur la bande de gaza et d écarter toute empathie à l endroit des victimes palestiniennes en d autres termes qui peut donner des leçons aux israéliens rappelez vous notre réponse et celle des états unis au lendemain des attentats de 2001 ou 2015 ces propos deviennent par ailleurs de plus en plus récurrents à mesure que la situation humanitaire dans la bande de gaza se dégrade quand bien même les précédentes campagnes de guerre contre le terrorisme ont été des échecs patents peu à peu plusieurs voix parviennent à rappeler que 56 ans d histoire coloniale a minima témoignent du caractère infondé de ces comparaisons toutes doivent faire face à deux arguments relayés à tort et à travers d abord que le hamas serait à l origine de la guerre en cours au mépris pourtant de la réalité du terrain qui témoigne pour la population palestinienne d une guerre qui ne s est jamais interrompue ensuite que la disparition du hamas serait un préalable obligatoire à tout processus de paix une telle affirmation masque au moins deux éléments déterminants premièrement avec ou sans hamas l extrême droite au pouvoir en israël refuse toute idée d état palestinien et donc de perspective de paix deuxièmement la montée en puissance du hamas depuis deux décennies résulte avant tout de la politique israélienne ce dernier élément explique à lui seul pourquoi le hamas ne peut être éradiqué et pire pourquoi il existe un risque réel de voir parmi les survivants à ces bombardements un basculement vers des idées encore plus radicales à cela s ajoute systématiquement l inversement de la charge de la preuve le nombre de victime serait ainsi à prendre avec méfiance puisqu il émanerait du ministère de la santé aux ordres du hamas le bombardement de zones d habitation s expliquerait par la présence au milieu de membres du hamas tout devient caution à justifier l opération israélienne en minimisant ou relativisant les pertes civiles les palestiniens sont considérés comme responsables de leur sort et les victimes deviennent des dommages collatéraux à une guerre juste menée contre un groupe à éradiquer bfm et lci relais de la communication de l armée israélienne invité le 28 octobre à bfm pour commenter la conférence de presse de netanyahu je suis ainsi confronté à un expert qui transpose la guerre à gaza dans le conflit actuel en europe de l est considérant le hamas comme l agresseur russe et israël comme l agressé ukrainien le second invité va encore plus loin il commence par saluer le courage des journalistes israéliens qui ont multiplié les questions embarrassantes à leur premier ministre notamment au sujet de sa responsabilité dans le 7 octobre pour lui aucun doute ce moment symbolise combien israël est une démocratie exemplaire ce n est pas à gaza qu on entendrait des journalistes interrogés ainsi le hamas ces paroles sont prononcées alors qu au moins 7 000 palestiniens avaient déjà été tués dans la bande de gaza dont une dizaine de journalistes et que le blocus empêche tout média étranger d y pénétrer conscient de servir de caution à un tel débat je décide de quitter le direct quelques jours plus tard me voilà sur un plateau de lci la présentatrice commence par demander à ses invités s ils se réjouissent de l ouverture du point de passage de rafah pour faire sortir les binationaux prêt à incarner le rabat joie de service j explique que la seule raison de se réjouir serait la déclaration d un cessez le feu et l entrée d aide humanitaire conséquente alors que défile sous nos yeux les images du bombardement qui a touché la veille le camp de réfugiés de jabaliya 50 victimes civiles pour viser un sous commandant du hamas l un des experts prétendument professeur à sciences po m interpelle au sujet des atrocités perpétrés sur des civils israéliens pour complètement écarter les accusations de crimes contre l humanité et de génocide qui montent à l encontre d israël pour lui l éradication du hamas est la priorité et il rappelle l ensemble des éléments de communication de l armée israélienne au sujet des boucliers humains et des populations de gaza empêchées de partir prises en otage par le hamas une seconde experte juge utile de rappeler des extraits antisémites de la charte du hamas se gardant bien de citer les propos génocidaires de dirigeants israéliens prononcés depuis le 7 octobre dans de telles circonstances le temps qui nous est donné pour répondre est beaucoup trop limité pour revenir sur l ensemble des éléments ces manipulations intellectuelles permettent de légitimer tout refus de cessez le feu et surtout offrent une caution intellectuelle à la poursuite des crimes en cours dans la bande de gaza et confortent les présentateurs ou journalistes jeunes qui se frottent pour la première fois au proche orient à reprendre ce narratif des militants pleinement acquis à la cause pauline perrenot de l observatoire des médias acrimed témoignait en 2021 dans la revue palestine solidarité des exigences éditoriales qui traversent ces médias remplir un cahier des charges où les violences des deux camps sont systématiquement montrées en partageant les responsabilités dans une improbable démarche d équilibriste c est évidemment dans un tel contexte colonial et d asymétrie de la désinformation relayée à grande échelle l auteure d une enquête à ce sujet affirmait c est l obsession de la symétrie qui neutralise complètement les rapports de force en présence et produit une image déformée des réalités politiques elle ajoute pour trouver un équilibre dans une région où les rapports de force sont déséquilibrés il faut tordre la réalité rogner sur certains faits et ou ne pas en évoquer d autres la journaliste marine vlahovic était correspondante pour la radio publique francophone à ramallah de 2016 à 2019 dans un podcast à arte radio elle décrit ce qu a été son quotidien commun à l ensemble des journalistes sur place abreuvés d information par les autorités israéliennes avec des points presse réguliers la diffusion d argumentaire l envoi de documents militaires directement par mail les communicants de l armée israélienne s organisent pour étouffer tout autre récit ou du moins semer confusion et doute dans l esprit des journalistes il n en reste pas moins qu une différenciation doit être opérée rechercher constamment l équilibre est une chose relayer des messages qui visent à défendre la politique d un camp en est une autre voilà pourquoi il ne faut pas se méprendre certains experts ou journalistes savent très bien ce qu ils font en relayant ces éléments de langage de l armée israélienne ils défendent une certaine vision du monde celle du choc des civilisations des néo conservateurs états uniens et entendent bien empêcher ou limiter toutes les voix discordantes eux cependant ne seront jamais taxés de militant pro israélien read the original content

blog title an account from the genocide in gaza what my family is going through is impossible author ashjan ajour date november 23 2023 content as a palestinian i have experienced the impact of colonization on my life and my loved ones not least now that my close family including my parents and siblings who survived four previous cruel wars against gaza are living under this current intense and murderous bombardment gaza is the world s largest open air prison which is in effect a concentration camp where 2 3 million people have been targeted for ethnic cleansing through massacres and erasures and have now lived in a state of horror panic and sumud steadfastness for over one month palestinians in gaza who have been slowly dying from the lengthy brutal israeli blockade in place since 2007 are now being killed by israeli missiles and shelling this genocide is a continuation of the 1948 nakba that forcibly displaced palestinians and ethnically cleansed the land of the indigenous palestinian people to sustain the zionist settler project this settler colonial machine uses the most destructive weapons supplied by its western allies to wage war on homes hospitals churches universities and un schools where people have been sheltering as the world watches the horrific genocide unfolding on tv screens my family members like everyone else in gaza await their turn to be massacred the israeli bombs fell on people in their houses and on their shelters without warning entire residential neighborhoods were destroyed and turned into rubble palestinians have been portrayed as animals to justify this collective punishment the israeli minister of defense said they were dealing with human animals and cut off access to electricity food and water in gaza israel ordered one million palestinians to evacuate from the north of gaza within twenty four hours an order considered impossible by the un this mass displacement is a continuation of the 1948 nakba with palestinians repetitively forced to leave their homes the south is supposedly safe but it continues to be targeted there is no safe place in gaza my family left their home to stay in my sister s house in the south in khan yunis my mother who had already lost members of her extended family in this war wept over the phone grieving the destruction of our home in the tal al hawa neighborhood which was turned to rubble even though i was trying to soothe and calm my mother by saying our home will be rebuilt again deep inside i felt that the destruction of our home as the obliteration of our intimate family memory and history my parents are old and sick and cannot find their medicine amid this horror since hospitals are out of service due to israel s targeted bombardment electricity and communication shutoffs and a total siege that has prevented vital medicines and supplies from entering gaza my sister s children are traumatized and wake up from their sleep screaming we find solace in that my nieces have not yet resorted to writing the names of their children on their hands to be identified in case they are killed my grandmother s house was damaged by the bombing my uncle mahmoud lives in this house and has a lung condition he not only lives in dangerous conditions but no longer has enough oxygen tubes to survive israel targeted and continues to target hospitals and can barely treat the wounded therefore there is no space for patients with chronic diseases or women that are giving birth and there is a shortage of life saving medications two of my uncles sami and jihad decided not to leave their houses in the northern part of gaza not only because there is no place for them to go in the south but because they would rather remain steadfast they are willing to die in their own homes because they are scared to be bombed on their way south according to the gaza media office forty six percent of the overall death toll occurred in the southern area which israeli forces claimed was safe after my cousin s husband s house was destroyed her husband s parents escaped to the south where they were killed by israeli airstrikes she said that her house was destroyed by ships bombarding them from the sea other cousins homes were also destroyed israel is using internationally banned phosphorous bombs in gaza my aunt safa wondered what sort of bombs were being dropped on them because they could not breathe due to the smoke and had sore throats from inhaling chemical substances my cousin samer wrote with the sound of every israeli bombing we feel that these are the last moments of our lives and minutes later we discover that they were the last moments of dear relatives friends and neighbors your mercy lord he posted on social media dear world tell biden that his green light for israel was for killing children and women while sleeping i m sorry my daughters rita and karma but there is no way to protect you and remove fear from your hearts his latest post was in the 2023 fall of gaza humanity fell before the leaves he means that the world cannot stop this criminal madness the impact on my family has been transnational my other cousin mohamad who studies and lives in paris was very anxious about his family in gaza he took sick leave from university and came for a visit to be around us here in the uk he posted i shit on humanity if it is not for all humans he also posted his conversation with his mom on oct 30 mom every night passes and i think it s the worst of my life then the next night comes and it s even worse happy halloween people enjoy watching the blood a week later he posted again he had dreams my cousin is crying for her 14 year old son bashar who was killed while he was bringing some water for his family who were sheltering in the un school after the destruction of their home rest in peace i am here in the uk with my small family we are subjected to another level of trauma and panic as we find it difficult to cope or process this horror i ask myself what is happening is it a nightmare or reality i find it difficult to respond to my friends when they ask are you okay is your family okay i am not okay neither are my family or my children this ongoing genocidal war in gaza and what my family is going through is impossible and has made me sick both mentally and physically i have been consumed by this hellscape that is as bad as it can possibly get for me in every single way to witness my loved ones and my people living this horror is beyond my capacity to handle i suffer from sleep deprivation and when managing to get some sleep i wake up running to my phone to make sure that my family is still alive i then find a message from my mother praying for us and saying goodbye the hardest days of my suffering were when i was no longer able to reach my family due to electricity cuts this was devastating i lost contact with my family and lost my mind as well one of the worst moments was when we read in the news about a house being bombed in the middle of khanyunis where my family now resides i screamed and was about to faint thinking that my family had died but then we found out that it was the house next to them my sister messaged saying that she had been out to get some food when the bomb fell on her neighbor s home i gathered my strength to write this piece and to take care of my family here in the uk and support my children who have been anxiously watching the tv and are on social media all the time my daughter tala could not continue with her internship in london and my son could not attend his college because of their extreme anxiety about what is happening to our people in palestine instead kareem chose to volunteer for a restaurant that organized a charity day for gaza 100 percent of profits were donated to help palestinians in gaza and my daughter participated in several protests in london and produced some paintings on gaza both donated to the victims of the war who are suffering israeli bombardment without food water and electricity painting by ashjan s daughter tala

blog title mariam my first and forever friend author bahaa shahera rauf date november 21 2023 content editor s note the following testimony was first posted on bahaa s facebook page on nov 8 2023 it has been translated and republished with permission in the early days of my college life i met a girl named mariam she was a beautiful girl alone in gaza pursuing a university degree despite her quiet demeanor she was ambitious and had an extraordinary ability to comfort those around her in an unparalleled way she was the one who introduced me to the concept of first time the idea that first time experiences are always challenging to surpass or overcome and indeed she became the first friend i allowed myself to rely on one day i suggested to her that we should do something new wandering the streets of a city that felt foreign to us this idea came to me after i spent all my money on cigarettes a habit that i had recently picked up as a proud man i couldn t bring myself to accept money from a girl no matter how close we were exhausted from our long journey on foot she quickly realized the truth when i refused to get into a cab after declining to take her money she scolded me sharply marking the first time a girl had ever cursed at me mariam was the first girl with whom i openly shared my religious views despite her initial apprehension about my beliefs she calmly expressed her thoughts even laughing at the number of lectures and books i had consumed on the subject when i experienced the sensation of falling in love for the first time i immediately confided in mariam she listened and helped me make sense of those overwhelming overflowing emotions she assured me that it was true love and encouraged me to embrace this experience accept the bitter with the sweet and share our story with everyone however things changed when mariam got engaged and because we live in a society that disapproves of friendships like ours she tearfully told me that we should part ways as our friendship would be inappropriate now that she was engaged she promised she keep in touch occasionally and that she would pray for me despite my lack of faith true to her word we went our separate ways and mariam transferred to another university to pursue a different major mariam built a beautiful and loving family dedicating all her care to them away from the hustle and bustle she would occasionally send me her greetings through people the pilot who bombed mariam s house yesterday was unaware of the fact that she was the inventor of the first time he didn t realize that the bomb that would take her life was the first time someone tried to kill her i am certain that mariam will come to tell me about her first time experiencing immortality with the same serene calmness she always exhibited she was mariam she is mariam and she always will be this testimony was translated into english by aya jayyousi

blog title to escape from death and face it again conversations with my family author reema saleh date november 21 2023 content i am overwhelmed with embarrassment when i share the struggles of my family in gaza especially when others also in gaza are suffering the worst conditions of death torture and genocide but from what my mother tells me i ve come to understand that surviving airstrikes doesn t necessarily mean escaping death the threats of hunger thirst inconsolable grief and disease are ever present these conditions which include starvation and deprivation are forms of and can be seen as acts of genocide just as horrific as missile attacks and the use of internationally prohibited weapons my sister nour shares stories of disease spreading due to accumulating waste fly infestations and fluctuating weather conditions scorching during the day and freezing at night many displaced individuals lack adequate blankets and winter clothing the public toilets currently being used by thousands pose a significant risk for infections fever diarrhea influenza and other contagious diseases on the rare occasions when the internet connection is stable enough for a video call i glimpse the harsh reality my family is living in mounds of garbage and swarms of flies that churn my stomach i constantly find myself questioning whether will they succumb to the lack of basic necessities or the absence of medication especially for those battling chronic diseases my cousin lama is battling kidney failure and requires daily kidney dialysis however as of today november 15 she has only been able to receive treatment using makeshift unsterilized equipment within an exposed and ill equipped tent her mother bitterly awaits her daughter s inevitable fate perhaps finding some comfort in the thought that her daughter might finally find peace during our last conversation lama s once vibrant features were barely recognizable due to fluid and toxin retention in her frail body she told me i want israelis to stop bombing hospitals why would they bomb al rantisi hospital and i want them to open erez crossing so i can get my medication i don t want to die this heroic girl who was never afraid of death is now clinging to life refusing to surrender to the brutality of an enemy that seems only to understand the language of blood what troubles me most is the situation of my five year old niece joury who suffers from epilepsy and has run out of medication without her twice daily doses she experiences severe seizures that could potentially lead to paralysis god forbid it breaks my heart that her medical condition hasn t been accurately diagnosed due to the israeli blockade preventing joury and her parents from traveling outside gaza to seek specialized diagnosis and treatment most neurologists in gaza believe her illness is a result of her mother inhaling the smoke of internationally banned white phosphorus bombs used in previous wars each day i ask my sister nour if they ve found joury s medicine but the answer is always no she tells me that her husband ahmad spends hours every day searching for an alternative for their daughter s medication but always comes back empty handed despite not being able to communicate with my family for five days i continued to send messages hoping for a reply i find myself asking did you find food to eat did you find drinkable water were you able to get clothes blankets or anything to help fortify your tent against the upcoming winter rains now they can t even decide if rain is a blessing providing them with much needed water or a curse as they face the elements without proper shelter only a flimsy tent stitched together from fabric scraps that constantly fall on their heads my father shared with me that a week ago they had to resort to eating expired biscuits for breakfast they ve only been able to secure bottled drinking water twice in the past month since being displaced to the south even if they re fortunate enough to secure more than one meal a day my brother mahmoud tells me he limits himself to one meal daily to avoid the long lines at the public toilets as a result the gaunt faces of my family members who have lost significant weight due to the starvation tactics employed by israel against all palestinians in gaza are no longer surprising the enormity of the situation is beyond what tv cameras and social media posts can capture in another tragedy my friend jullnar with whom i ve only managed to speak three times since the aggression began shared her experience of being displaced twice their home in the al nasr neighborhood was bombed without warning as was her husband s family home which was hit by israeli tank shells leading to the martyrdom of her uncle she and her husband fled to the center of gaza city uncertain of the fate of the rest of her family jullnar who has had three miscarriages in the past and went to great lengths to carry her baby to term lost contact with her private doctor and couldn t get the daily injections she needed to maintain her pregnancy she shared with me through whatsapp messages her experiences of bleeding and pain over the past few days unable to reach a doctor or a hospital she can t even get the results of bloodwork tests she had before october 7 as she had hoped to communicate with a doctor outside gaza to answer some of her questions determine the dosage she should take or the date of her delivery and whether the birth would be natural or a cesarean section and then there s fatima my cousin the only member of my family i managed to talk to in the last five days who told me she s embarrassed to even talk about the quality of the water they drink and the food they eat she explains how it is hard to explain to her six year old sister joud who has diabetes that she can t receive her injections even if they are available because there are no open pharmacies even if they find one there are no refrigerators to store her injections she pleads with me to stop my questions as the answers leave her wounded and choked up and this is how any conversation i have with my family in the southern part of the gaza strip ends in a cloud of bitterness and helplessness this testimony was translated into english by aya jayyousi

blog title a plea to president biden from a u s cardiologist author walid alami date november 20 2023 content dear mr president i am writing you as a u s citizen and a cardiologist my practice is not far from the white house every night i go to sleep grateful to have been given the opportunity of an excellent education i sleep well because just about every day i have the opportunity to save someone s life these are gifts i do not take for granted when i took an oath to save lives my belief was and still is that all lives matter and are equal i know you re not a physician but i would have thought that since you took an oath of office you would believe the same thing especially having lost your first wife and child innocent people in the wrong place at the wrong time i am sure the doctors who attended to them did everythingin their power to save them not because they were related to a senator elect but because they were human beings no one i know treats patients differently depending on where they were born where they live or what language they speak certainly not because of who they may have voted for can you imagine being judged by these things it goes against humanity not to mention that it is against the law if i witnessed such a thing it would be my duty as a physician and as a human being to report it people in the usa and the entire world are witnessing these heinous israeli crimes right now in gaza my very hard earned tax dollars are paying for weapons that are killing innocent palestinians in gaza if i am quiet about it and do not report it i am complicit in the killing of over 5 000 gazan children the equivalent of 600 000 american children who had their skulls crushed bones shattered spleens livers and hearts minced by the killing machines that i paid for and you are gifting to netanyahu i am not talking about numbers i am talking about children families teachers nurses doctors journalists aid workers artists cats dogs mules horses olive trees date trees schools makeshift tents hospitals nursing homes churches and mosques being the son of a gazan physician who was rendered a refugee after the israelis occupied the gaza strip in 1967 i grew up in lebanon and witnessed the devastation of war and its ongoing effects but as wretched as it was hospitals were not being bombed as they are now and certainly never with the sort of perverse rationalizations being used to justify these atrocities these crimes are being legitimized by the most powerful seat in the world yours you are being judged right now by billions of people here and around the world not only for funding this genocide but also for knowing that you have the power to stop it and choosing to do nothing this will be remembered a year from now when it is time to vote it will be remembered forever so i have to ask how can you sleep at night knowing you have the ultimate power to stop the killing of thousands of innocent people by saying just one word ceasefire now that thanksgiving is around the corner it feels strange at this time of horror that you will go on tv and pardon a pair of turkeys what kind of world are we living in i beg you to do the right thing for humanity your grandchildren and history will judge you i hope you will decide to be on the right side of this you still have about 2 2 million reasons to make that choice fewer and fewer with each passing day sincerely walid alami md

blog title testimony from prison unprecedented brutality against palestinian detainees author abu hanin date november 20 2023 content editor s note this article was first publishedin arabic by the institute for palestine studieson nov 20 it was translated by mondoweiss into english and republished ontheir website the translation is published here with permission ever since october 7 israeli prison authorities have unleashed a brutal campaign of repression against palestinian prisoners including severe beatings humiliation and the deprivation of food health care and basic amenities this testimony is from our daily life in prison i hastily prepared it amidst difficult imprisonment conditions especially deliberate power cuts a shortage of essentials like cigarettes a lack of our basic necessities and the general violent and unstable condition in which we are living abu hanin a palestinian prisoner at a time when our people and the resistance in the gaza strip are facing an unprecedented fascist attack since october 7 comprised of genocide and forced displacement that has taken place under the scrutiny of the entire world and in a flagrant violation of all international conventions and norms that define the rules of war at a time when our people in the west bank and jerusalem are facing repression abuse arrests and massacres every day at a time when our people in the 48 occupied territory are facing continuous israelization campaigns plans to flood them with organized crime arrest campaigns and gagging at a time when our people in the palestinian diaspora are being pursued and deprived of their natural right to raise their voice against zionist colonial fascism at these times we in the sixth palestinian geography as coined by dr abdul rahim al sheikh the prisons of the zionist colonizers that span the entire homeland are facing a brutal fascist attack the first of its kind since the early years of operation of israeli prisons following our second catastrophe in 1967 this attack has rolled back all of our achievements in winning humane living conditions as prisoners including food drink cleaning supplies yard time health care family visitation television radio access to books pens and notebooks access to personal belongings such as clothes and family pictures access to means of protection from the extreme cold of winter and so on prisoners are at the heart of operation al aqsa flood the policies of slow death by zionist colonialists are no longer a metaphor for the constant targeting of prisoners whether in cells interrogation centers or in prisons rather these have become part of a tangible reality practiced daily and in various ways against all prisoners including systematic torture and severe beatings new prisoners a considerable number of whom have been liberated and re imprisoned since october 7 in addition to detainees from the gaza strip particularly those who were working in 48 occupied territory are the main targets of these attacks as a result of these practices six prisoners have been martyred including omar daraghmeh arafat hamdan abdel rahman marei thaer abu asab majed zaqoul and another prisoner from the gaza strip whose identity is not yet known in addition serious injuries have been inflicted upon dozens of prisoners including elderly people without receiving any treatment according to testimonies by a number of prisoners the aforementioned severe beating is not only practiced by members of the repression units deployed in ofer prison but also by members of the israeli prison service these practices include shooting rubber bullets and forcing new prisoners taken to shin bet and police interrogations to bend their backs and heads in an extreme manner whoever does not comply with these instructions is subjected to severe beatings add to this a barrage of insults curses and provocations during the daily count and inspection of windows and floors with the aim of pushing prisoners to respond and thus use excessive force in response aware of the intention behind such practices the prisoners however maintain self control to avoid being targeted or even killed it is clear that killing prisoners through torture and severe beating is now on the agenda of the israel prison service a translation of the policies promoted by the minister of the so called national security itamar ben gvir israeli media revealed that the zionist security services considered the launch of the assault on our people in the gaza strip was as good an opportunity as any to implement ben gvir s plan to crack down on prisoners and obliterate their achievements following decades of struggle they are no longer afraid of the situation erupting as a result of the prisoners issue it has already become explosive since the slogan of whitening all the prisons is now at the heart of the al aqsa flood operation therefore palestinian prisoners have become targets for revenge consequently the israel prison service no longer needs to employ what might appear as containment policies for managing prisoners instead discourse and practice have shifted towards the use of an iron fist emphasizing attempts to exert control through heightened force a clear indication of a return to traditional methods of repression that were employed in the first years of the formation of the prisoners movement central to this issue is the manifestation of direct structural violence involving torture brutal beatings and dog attacks additionally indirect forms of torture are also practiced perhaps best epitomized by the israeli settler colonial authority s callous approach of let them die this is implemented through starvation medical neglect exposure to extreme cold the denial of basic human necessities and a suffocating siege on prisoners movement in addition to other forms of violence and torture collective punishment against freedom fighters feeling full is now outlawed by official decree today palestinian prisoners breakfast rations are limited to a spoonful of yogurt and a slice of tomato or bell pepper lunch is often a limited amount of undercooked rice with a few grains of boiled lentils corn beans or peas and sometimes hot dogs or schnitzel that is added turkey is served raw so the prisoners do not eat it as for dinner it is a spoonful of hummus and sometimes an egg with a potato fruits have been prohibited since the onset of the aggression prisoners feel real hunger that runs through their veins they try to silence it by eating a piece of bread and some water if available the situation was different before the crackdown political prisoners ran the prison kitchen but at present they are prohibited from doing so prior to the onset of the repression food was prepared in cells using electric stoves which were later confiscated the significant shortage in the quantity and quality of food was compensated for by purchasing from the prison canteen including fruits and vegetables that were sometimes permitted now the canteen is closed and transferring money to the prisoners from their families is prohibited whether it is from their families or from the palestinian authority water is the only drink prisoners are allowed to have turning tea and coffee into a luxury item the same is the case with cigarettes the stockpiles previously held by prisoners have already finished prisoners face collective punishment including daytime electricity cuts in prison cells and lights are only allowed to be turned on at night for surveillance and searches every half hour this practice like other procedures reflects a vengeful mindset that is deeply rooted in authoritarianism and fascism yard time has also been restricted to a brief 15 minute window per cell typically allocated for eight prisoners to shower and for brief walks and limited interaction with prisoners in neighboring cells through the mesh of their iron doors we used to say that the settler colonial authorities practice a deliberate policy of medical negligence today we need a different description because medical care iscompletely absent while prisoners suffering from chronic diseases still receive some of their medications every week patients who suffer from emergency and seasonal diseases such as influenza cannot receive any medication health care or hospital treatment they are therefore forced to manage by using medicine they might have been able to keep in their cells during the past weeks general physicians did not visit the sections to examine sick prisoners furthermore prisoners have become very reluctant to seek health care despite their need for it due to the apprehension that their trip to the clinic might turn into an excuse for physical abuse which proves the settler colonial mindset of let them die this logic has always underpinned the approach toward prisoners in open hunger strikes a policy of rationing has been adopted in providing the prisoners needs including basic hygiene materials such as toilet paper dishwashing liquid shampoo etc very limited amounts of these materials are provided from the closed canteen at the expense of the prisoners moreover prisoners are forbidden from keeping basic cleaning tools such as brooms and floor squeegees in the cells since october 7 prisoners organizational structures inside prisons have also been specifically targeted most notably the prisoners struggle committees national committees canteen committees and the representation of political factions and prison wards have all been dismantled and the prison administration refuses to currently engage with any form of collective representation for the prisoners thus demonstrating the targeting of collective national action and the leadership of the various factions instead the prison administration seeks to impose a system of individual treatment with prisoners in an attempt to go back 56 years in time furthermore the attack against prisoners includes the suspension of family visits in all prisons and the confiscation of televisions radios books pens notebooks and all possessions such as family photos footwear clothes prisoners can keep one change of clothes in addition to removing access to mirrors outdoor games cold water fridges etc collective punishment has also included keeping the windows of prison cells open despite the extreme cold and not returning the confiscated winter clothing to the prisoners cells possessions are limited to a mattress and one blanket at best and some prisoners only have a light summer blanket shaving is also prohibited and shaving tools have been confiscated offering condolences to prisoners whose family members have been killed during this episode of genocidal war is also at the forefront of the restrictions against palestinian prisoners such was the case with a father who was arrested alongside two of his sons while the third was martyred this was also the case of another prisoner who lost his brother congregational prayer in the yards has also been banned the list of prohibitions and penalties stretches endlessly prisoners are living under immense pressures but they remain steadfast in the face of the prison administration and repression units that are prepared to exercise the utmost levels of abuse against them especially since the prisoners are imagining the approach of their liberation for the prisoners nothing surpasses the beauty of long awaited freedom mahmoud darwish says in prison do not say that everything is over in prison you say that everything has begun and the beginning is freedom the palestinian freedom fighters affirm that the terrorist wave of attacks against them will not isolate them from their great people who are paying a heavy price to achieve freedom nor will it prevent them from thinking freely which can break the most severe restrictions just as nelson mandela used to say nothing in prison is satisfactory except one thing having time to meditate and think

blog title my 84 year old mother was killed in shelling by an israeli tank author h k date november 17 2023 content my mother feryal ezzeldine aldajani khayal was born in 1939 on nov 10 2023 she was killed by israeli shelling in gaza she was with her daughter my sister soha and grandkids and great grandkids sheltering in a family house the house was bombed at night and became uninhabitable they waited for the morning to move to another house but an israeli tank shelled them while walking and killed my 84 year old my 31 year old niece and my sister s daughter in law who was 28 years old a mother of two babies my mother was very loving compassionate endearing kind and protective she was strong extraordinary supportive intuitive caring and mindful i have received a lot of words of support sympathy and condolences from many family members friends neighbors and people who worked with her in the past they shared memories of her feryal right and her sister lamiya in the united states lamiya passed away in march 2023 my sister soha tried to save my mother but an israeli sniper targeted her and shot her three times in the leg soha s daughter my niece had a disability she was also targeted by the sniper she was shot and bled to death for seven hours my injured sister and her family have been seeking shelter in a building and have been unable to go to the hospital since nov 10 2023 no one has been able to send help for almost a week now they are slowly running out of resources including food milk and medicine feryal pictured in a garden in gaza in october 2022 my sister soha is kind strong loyal determined and dedicated she has always taken care of her family her husband daughter and two married sons with their families tarek soha s oldest son lost his wife to israeli shelling during this war he has two kids twelve years ago her husband suffered a disabling stroke that left him completely dependent on her for all his daily functions she feeds him and takes care of his personal hygiene and other needs despite all the hardship she has suffered she still has a great sense of humor my hope now is for the suffering of innocent civilians in gaza to end for the genocide to end for the ethnic cleansing to end for an immediate ceasefire for humanitarian aid to enter and for the criminals to be punished for what they have done to us soha far right and feryal sitting with family in gaza in october 2022

blog title palestinian central bureau of statistics pcbs issues a press release on the impact of the israeli occupation aggression on the right to education in palestine during 07 10 2023 11 11 2023 author palestinian central bureau of statistics date november 13 2023 content 5 martyrs out of every thousand students enrolled in gaza strip schools the number of martyrs among students enrolled in schools in palestine reached 3 141 martyrs 3 117 martyrs in gaza strip and 24 martyrs in the west bank while the number of injured students enrolled in schools in palestine reached 4 863 4 613 injured students in gaza strip and 250 injured students in the west bank as for the detained students enrolled in schools 67 students were detained where all of them are from the west bank the number of students enrolled in schools in palestine and the number of martyrs and injured among them during the period 07 10 11 11 2023 130 martyrs of teachers and administrators in gaza strip schools the number of martyrs of teachers and administrators in palestine schools reached 130 martyrs all of whom were martyred during the raids on gaza strip while the number of the injured among teachers and administrators in palestine schools reached 403 injured during the raids on gaza strip meanwhile more than 40 individuals including teachers and administrators in the west bank schools were detained the number of martyrs and injured teachers and administrators in gaza strip schools during the period 07 10 11 11 2023 45 schools in gaza strip were severely destroyed and 27 schools in the west bank were attacked as for attacks on schools infrastructure 239 government schools were attacked in gaza strip by bombs during air strikes of which 45 schools were severely destroyed and 50 unrwa schools were attacked nonetheless schools in the west bank were not spared from the israeli occupation attacks where 27 governmental schools were attacked in the west bank 608 thousand students in gaza strip were deprived of their right to school education as a natural reaction to the continuous bombing and violent raids on gaza strip the toll of martyrs among students and teachers and the destruction of the infrastructure of a significant number of schools all schools in gaza strip have been suspended closed as of the beginning of the aggression depriving about 608 thousand students of their right to school education 70 governmental and 145 unrwa school buildings were also used as shelters and a refuge for displaced people as for the schools in the west bank the school hours were not on their usual hours due to the repeated strikes and raids on a number of population centers which hindered about 1 750 male and female teachers from reaching their schools every day where local education did not exceed 90 5 martyrs out of every thousand students enrolled in higher education institutions in gaza strip the number of martyrs during the period 07 10 05 11 2023 among students enrolled in higher education institutions in palestine reached 446 students 438 students in gaza strip and 8 students in the west bank whereas there are 14 martyrs among employees working in higher educational institutions in gaza strip the number of higher education institutions in palestine that were partially or completely damaged since october 7th reached 14 institutions 12 institutions in gaza strip and two institutions in the west bank which led to a complete interruption of university education in gaza strip as well as the interruption of face to face education and the shift to online education in some higher education institutions in the west bank the status of general and higher education in palestine before the october 7thwar the number of schools in the scholastic year 2022 2023 in palestine reached 3 190 schools 2 338 governmental schools 380 unrwa schools and 472 private schools by region the number of schools in the west bank reached 2 394 1 896 governmental schools 96 unrwa schools and 402 private schools while the number of schools in gaza strip reached 796 schools 442 governmental schools 284 unrwa schools and 70 private schools the number of school buildings 1 in the scholastic year 2022 2023 in the west bank reached 2 383 school buildings 1 889 governmental school buildings 93 unrwa school buildings and 401 private school buildings while the number of school buildings for the same scholastic year in gaza strip reached 550 school buildings 303 government school buildings 182 unrwa school buildings and 65 private school buildings number of schools and school buildings in palestine by supervising authority 2022 2023 the number of students in schools in palestine for the same scholastic year reached about 1 38 million students distributed according to supervising authority as follows 899 thousand students in governmental schools 339 thousand students in unrwa schools and 144 students in private schools by region the number of students in schools in the west bank reached about 775 thousand students distributed according to supervising authority as follows 606 thousand students in government schools 46 thousand students in unrwa schools and 123 thousand students in private schools while the number of students in gaza strip schools reached about 608 thousand students distributed according to supervising authority as follows 294 thousand students in governmental schools 293 thousand students in unrwa schools and 21 thousand students in private schools while the number of teachers in schools in palestine for the scholastic year 2022 2023 reached about 62 thousand teachers 43 thousand teachers in governmental schools 10 5 thousand teachers in unrwa schools and 8 5 thousand teachers in private schools by region the number of teachers in the west bank schools reached about 40 thousand teachers 31 thousand teachers in governmental schools about 2 thousand teachers in unrwa schools and 7 thousand teachers in private schools while the number of teachers in gaza strip schools reached about 22 thousand teachers 12 thousand teachers in governmental schools 9 thousand teachers in unrwa schools and a thousand teachers in private schools as for the average number of students per class in governmental schools in palestine for the scholastic year 2022 2023 it reached 29 7 students per class while it reached 40 0 students in unrwa schools and 22 9 students per class in private schools by region the average number of students per class in governmental schools in the west bank was 26 7 students per class while it was 34 3 students in unrwa schools and 23 1 students per class in private schools while the average number of students per class in governmental schools in gaza strip was 38 6 students per class while it was 41 1 students in unrwa schools and 21 7 students per class in private schools as for the higher education sector in palestine the number of higher education institutions in palestine reached 53 institutions in the scholastic year 2021 2022 35 institutions in the west bank and 17 institutions in gaza strip in addition to an open education university whose centers are distributed between the west bank and gaza strip about 226 thousand students are enrolled in these institutions 139 thousand students in the west bank and 87 thousand students in gaza strip moreover 46 thousand students graduated from these institutions in the scholastic year 2020 2021 32 thousand graduates in the west bank and 14 thousand graduates in gaza strip the number of employees working in higher education institutions in palestine reached about 17 thousand employees in the scholastic year 2021 2022 12 thousand employees in the west bank and 5 thousand employees in gaza strip while there were about 9 thousand educational academics in those institutions 7 thousands in the west bank and 2 thousands in gaza strip selected indicators of general education in palestine by governorate 2022 2023 region governorate number of schools number of school buildings number of students number of teachers average number of students per class palestine 3 190 2 933 1 382 932 62 352 30 7 west bank 2 394 2 383 774 568 39 914 26 4 jenin 288 288 84 046 4 612 24 7 tubas northern valleys 53 53 17 012 864 27 1 tulkarm 157 157 48 089 2 402 27 6 nablus 335 333 107 161 5 400 27 4 qalqiliya 97 96 31 577 1 595 27 1 salfit 75 74 21 595 1 156 25 3 ramallah al bireh 282 281 94 833 5 416 24 7 jericho al aghwar 38 38 13 813 730 26 3 jerusalem 262 262 76 152 4 533 22 8 bethlehem 173 170 58 029 3 000 25 6 hebron 634 631 222 261 10 207 29 0 gaza strip 796 550 608 364 22 438 38 7 north gaza 124 86 103 374 3 662 39 5 gaza 303 205 219 468 8 246 38 2 dier al balah 106 69 86 367 3 093 38 8 khan yunis 172 120 122 705 4 672 38 5 rafah 91 70 76 450 2 765 39 7 do not include the israeli municipality and culture committee schools in jerusalem note data do not necessarily represent the governorate students and teachers as there are students and teachers who come from other governorates as they represent the students and teachers in the governorate schools and not the governorate students and teachers data sources ministry of education education census for the scholastics year 2022 2023 ramallah palestine ministry of education israeli occupation violations against education in palestine 07 10 2023 11 11 2023 ramallah palestine ministry of higher education and scientific research higher education statistical yearbook for scholastic year 2021 2022 ramallah palestine ministry of higher education and scientific research israeli occupation violations against higher education sector in palestine 07 10 2023 05 11 2023 ramallah palestine 1 the school building might contain more than one school depending on the nature of the morning or evening hours

blog title brief israeli propaganda surges after attacks on gaza author anna rajagopal date november 13 2023 content the israeli propaganda machine has been working hard to control the global narrative to support for israel and deny the unfolding genocide in gaza by attempting to manipulate bribe and threaten social media influencers guy christensen a viral tiktoker better known by username yourfavoriteguy explained in a video he posted last month that he was offered 5 000 by an unnamed zionist organization to post a pro israel propaganda video for his audience of 345 000 christensen shared a screenshot of the email he received tiktok took down his video for a community guidelines violation the text of the email read we have been following your content on tiktok and appreciate your passion for the middle east our organization which seeks to help understanding would like to offer you a sponsorship opportunity we have noticed your support for the palestinian cause and we respect your dedication to important issues however we believe that there may be some misunderstandings and misperceptions regarding israel and you have fallen for the lies of the rabid dogs we are willing to offer you 5 000 to go live and pledge your support for israel we aim to provide you with resources and experts who can make you see the truth your voice is influential and we believe it s essential to not spread the lies of terrorists on accident we look forward to working together to promote greater truth in the world christensen has since posted two tiktok videos resharing the screenshot and christensen ends the video reaffirming his support for palestine despite the substantive monetary offer this is disgusting you cannot buy my morals you cannot buy my support of a genocide not in a million years and not even for a million dollars he said in one of the videos in more malicious attempts to silence individuals with large followings zionists have leveraged threats if influencers do not comply with orders of disseminating pro israel messaging faryal makhdoom social media influencer and wife of notable boxer amir khan received a whatsapp communication from an account claiming to represent israeli officials reading l et s make this quite simple if you support israel and cease posting about palestine we will ensure you are rewarded lucratively if you don t or if this is publicized there will be severe consequences your choice mrs faryal take care dina torkia a trending vlogger received an identical message both influencers posted the messages to their instagram stories refusing to buckle to the threats other brands have threatened to pull sponsorships and cancel contracts from social media influencers promising more money if the social media figures delete their pro palestine content and pledge allegiance to israel on camera the other side of the zionist propaganda machine is equally effective in zionist monopolization of algorithmic data and relies on israeli social media users in effort to downplay the genocide experienced by palestinians in gaza israelis have popularized a new trend on tiktok and instagram reels in which they mock the conditions of palestinian refugees trending videos depict israelis comparing palestinians to dogs show israelis drawing stereotypical orientalist features on their faces to mimic the appearance of palestinians and feature israelis dancing in front of images of crumbled palestinian hospitals and residential buildings bombed by israel israeli propaganda surges in the aftermath of israeli attacks on gaza as the regime attempts to mitigate harm done to its reputation by burying evidence posted by palestinians on the ground and by undermining popular support for palestine

blog title on the limits of sumud in genocide a message from gaza author ali abdel wahab date november 13 2023 content editor s note the following is translated and transcribed by nadim bawalsa associate editor of the journal of palestine studies it is based on audio recordings and text messages exchanged with the author it is the thirty seventh day of israel s genocidal rampage on us palestinians in gaza nov 12 i write these thoughts not to waste precious energy condemning our occupier or international complicity nor the futility of human rights laws and bodies none of it is worth the time i write these thoughts for myself for my son for loved ones in gaza and afar to share reflections on existing under genocide i also share these words with my palestinian brothers and sisters everywhere for whom our sumud steadfastness as a people carries and has carried profound meaning and significance for decades but here i share with you the limits of sumud under genocide through my own eyes we palestinians in gaza are familiar with solitude with abandonment with shouting into the void where are the arabs where is the world we ve always felt it and perhaps we once hoped we would be wrong if it came to this but it came to this and we were right this solitary existence manifests differently in the global imaginary and even in our occupier s imaginary the latter casting us as the besieged enemy two million strong who voted for a terrorist government and who must therefore suffer the consequences perhaps this is how they sleep at night and when i imagine our brothers and sisters in the region our friends in the world helping us any way they can and amplifying our voices i imagine them holding on to a romanticized idea that we gazans alone and unlike any humans in the world don t fear death that we have gotten used to living under unending bombardment from the air land and sea and that we can therefore continue to withstand it against all logic and reason there is no one like the gazans they say in awe of our survival after decades of siege and war that led to this as if we alone can somehow continue to weather the unending unspeakable but we can t none of the more than 5 000 children who have been massacred in this war and none of the thousands more still buried under the rubble could either before they were taken none of them voted for hamas sixteen years ago most of the more than 11 000 slaughtered didn t sixteen years ago almost all of them were children their voices weren t yet counted and now they can t even be heard most of the 11 000 slaughtered and over 30 000 injured in this war lived and survived at least one more in 2021 to say nothing of the periodic airstrikes between the wars that don t make it to mainstream news networks when they were reduced to numbers in this war while seeking shelter in their homes mosques churches and hospitals they died already suffering from untold traumas just like their parents and grandparents who survived several more wars and some even 1967 and 1948 and who died beside them their parents and grandparents may have developed some understanding of the meaning of it all while they lived some reckoning with fate and what comes after life a reckoning with martyrdom even after surviving decades in refugee camps within the most densely populated place on earth this tiny strip of land under the longest military siege in modern history they must have grasped that transcendent knowledge and thanked god for his blessings and for taking them at that moment when that missile came through the roof of their building at least i hope it did for their sake and ours but what do the children know of god and martyrdom what do they know of life after all of this and for those of us who somehow remain we still struggle to breathe after thirty seven days as anyone would when we hear the deafening military jets and bombs overhead we hold our children tightly and tell them not to be scared that this too shall pass as any human would we doubt god as anyone would as yet another missile somehow misses our building sparing us while tearing through our neighbors home next door even as we say al hamdulillah that we are still alive every minute of every day we struggle to make sense of existence if this is existence even if we are impressed as the world should be with the unprecedented might and perseverance of the abandoned palestinian resistance even if we are proud that gaza gave life to it and nurtured it for all these decades even if we continue to support our fighters in their lonely incredible struggle how could the blood of all of our children of our mothers fathers brothers sisters and grandparents of our uncles aunts and cousins of our neighbors colleagues and friends be washed from their hands they knew there was no turning back when they stunned us all on that saturday oct 7 but as in every war before all this they didn t have the foresight to formulate a contingency plan for israel s inevitable retribution for the world s inevitable abandonment we palestinians in gaza are grateful to our brothers and sisters all over this world writing to us and about us organizing protesting crying and staying up at night with us we understand why they must tell themselves and tell us that we palestinians in gaza personify sumud it s true that we alone know what it means to live and die through this after 2008 2012 2014 and 2021 but we never chose to be the experiment of how much genocide and ethnic cleansing palestinian sumud can endure our children certainly didn t like anyone anywhere our instinct is toward survival despite our unmatched sumud and so perhaps we palestinians in gaza alone can tell our palestinian brothers and sisters in the west bank in 48 heartland and in the shataat diaspora that no land no cause and no resistance struggle is worth the erasure of entire families and bloodlines centuries old no land no cause and no resistance struggle is worth surviving this carnage only to bear witness to it to the total destruction of every aspect of your life beyond your physical body as i wish my son a happy second birthday exactly one month and one day into this war mere days after our home in al rimal was torched all our memories reduced to ash i kiss him on the head and say al hamdulillah that we were of the privileged few who could flee our home in gaza city in the first days of the war and secure refuge with family south of the valley i thank god and praise him for these blessings but as i look at what s become of us my wife and me my parents siblings uncles aunts and cousins and as i envision what more we may endure if we survive this how could i not want to be anywhere but here how could i not want to be anywhere that we palestinians of gaza can rebuild our homes restore our family lines and communities and give our children a chance at life how could sumud overcome all of this the author s son nasser photographed looking at the destruction wrought on their street the morning after a night of heavy israeli bombardment of the neighborhood of al rimal gaza city october 10 2023

blog title palestinian organizations individuals take u s officials to court for complicity in gaza genocide author sarah o neal date march 12 2024 content earlier this year a preliminary hearing was held in oakland california for a lawsuit filed in u s federal court by the center for constitutional rights ccr on behalf of palestinian organizations together with palestinians in gaza and the u s defense for children international palestine v biden the plaintiffs asked the court to declare that u s president joe biden secretary of state antony blinken and secretary of defense lloyd austin have failed to prevent genocide and are aiding and abetting israel in carrying out a genocide on the palestinian people in gaza the case was filed on nov 13 2023 and a decision was made by u s district judge jeffrey white on jan 26 2024 the court reluctantly dismissed the case judge white wrote there are rare cases in which the preferred outcome is inaccessible to the court this is one of those cases citing the political question doctrine the court maintained that it was bound to its judicial limitations and could not rule on issues that are determined by the powers of the executive branch i e foreign policy still the court made it clear that based on the testimony from plaintiffs which included a doctor surviving the siege in gaza an expert on genocide and the holocaust as well as the ruling by the international court of justice it is plausible that israel s conduct amounts to genocide imploring the biden administration to examine the results of their unflagging support of the military siege against the palestinians in gaza although the court s decision to rule in favor of the defendants is bound to disappoint many this conclusion could add pressure from a federal court for the biden administration to reconsider its policy of providing military and political support to the israeli regime as it commits a horrifying genocide on the palestinian people after this decision the ccr pursued an appeal for which they were granted an expedited briefing on march 7 the appeal was officially submitted the plaintiffs argued that the court holds a constitutional obligation to review their claim that u s officials are complicit in israel s genocide in gaza in their brief the ccr insists that aiding and abetting genocide can never be a policy decision and the constitution requires that the federal judiciary uphold its duty to apply the law the court of appeals for the ninth circuit will hear oral arguments in san francisco california in june 2024 historically u s courts have ceded to the federal government when it has claimed that federal courts have no say in u s foreign policy and that any intervention would be a breach of the political question doctrine meaning the courts are overstepping their role as an apolitical branch of government that is meant to concern itself solely with the law the political question doctrine is meant to enforce the separation of powers by the government between the legislative executive and judicial branches but the plaintiffs argue that the court is not being asked to question foreign and military aid to israel altogether but rather a specific instance of an active genocide which they determine to be an issue of law based off the genocide convention the issue of the political question doctrine foregrounded this case the plaintiffs addressed this issue and how the government uses it to bully courts pamela spees one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs spoke in a press conference held in oakland after the jan 26 hearing stating the government comes in as they do and say this is a political question you can t interfere with it and that is not the law but it often will scare courts into abdicating from their role of being a full y co equal branch of government in this democracy and that s what we re up against we re swimming against this tide the political question doctrine is what ultimately led the court to dismiss the case in favor of the government it purports to have its hands tied as the nature of military aid falls under foreign policy and therefore the executive branch of government still this case has brought the political question doctrine into consideration the morning of the jan 26 hearing community members gathered to support the palestinian plaintiffs painting the main street outside of the courthouse with a mural that read biden complicit in genocide while they painted testimony from the courtroom was broadcast over loudspeakers community members paint mural in front of the u s court house in oakland during hearing proceedings on january 26 2024 photo by sarah o neal the loudspeakers were set up because the judge had ordered the courtroom closed to the public citing safety concerns due to past direct actions taken at the oakland federal building to demand a ceasefire in gaza typically a case like this would be heard publicly with overflow rooms opened when the courtroom reached capacity still organizers managed to create an overflow room on the streets of oakland the jan 26 hearing unfolded over four hours judge jeffrey s white appeared sympathetic to the plaintiffs an experience many community members were moved by considering the hostile and downright violent atmosphere many institutions have cultivated against palestinians and their supporters in the us judge white began the hearing by citing the violence palestinians have endured in gaza over the past months as well as the role of the u s in supporting israel with military aid still the judge shared that it ultimately came down to jurisdictional reach in the end it did afterward the plaintiffs shared that the vocal and visual support of the community uplifted them during a difficult hearing speaking directly to supporters who had gathered all morning bilal elkarra director of council on american islamic relations sacramento shared from the second floor we were nervous as we were about to testify but then we would look out at all of you and get inspiration from all of you it was a powerful scene as protesters could look up at the plaintiffs who were continuing the fight on the other side of the glass during the hearing elkarra was informed by his mother that israel had killed another family member in gaza and that two more went missing this hearing was historic for numerous reasons one of the most significant was the ability for plaintiffs to share testimony about the current moment by contextualizing the palestinian struggle through their lives and familial experiences the plaintiffs were able to describe the ethnic cleansing by zionist militias that their families survived in 1948 which led them to become residents of gaza elkarra shared a similar sentiment for the first time in the history of this country a u s high court was able to hear our stories about the nakba we told the judge that we were descendants of refugees of people who were forcibly displaced from their country and then we proceeded to tell him about the current nakba we are witnessing today community members gather outside of the u s court house in oakland listening to plaintiff testimonies photo sarah o neal diala shamas senior staff attorney at ccr elaborated we ve seen and heard palestinians stand up in a non defensive posture and be allowed to testify and bear witness to not only what the israeli government and military are doing to them right now uninterrupted to explain that to understand how we are currently experiencing what is happening in gaza you have to understand the nakba that when they say nakba now we know exactly what that means for so long the zionist perspective has dominated the discourse surrounding the occupation of palestine effectively ensuring the occupier s language is solely legitimate this case challenged that it was surreal to hear dr omar najjar speak over zoom from rafah gaza to a courtroom in oakland california najjar who is only twenty four years old described witnessing his childhood and family homes being obliterated by israeli airstrikes while he watched through media streams the experience speaks to the violent absurdity of witnessing the genocide over livestreams and recordings in the past months still the abundance of evidence has not seemed to shift the political willpower of the biden administration to stop supporting the israeli military and has instead doubled down on its commitment to supporting the israeli regime the unprecedented nature of the genocide that the israeli regime has carried out on the palestinian people for almost six months should compel the legal system to respond in an equally unprecedented manner the question of political doctrine was what ultimately led to the dismissal of corrie v caterpillar in 2007 the case was brought forth by ccr in 2004 in an attempt to hold the u s government accountable for the murder of rachel corrie an american activist who was attempting to defend palestinians in gaza against home demolitions when israeli forces bulldozed her to death caterpillar the company that produced the bulldozer used to kill her denied responsibility because the u s military had purchased and provided israel with its bulldozers two of the attorneys who worked on corrie s case maria lahood and katherine gallagher returned to represent palestinians in the case against biden blinken and austin in ccr s jan 31 press release gallagher expressed disagreement with the ruling on jurisdictional grounds and implored the biden administration to heed the judge s call to examine and end its deadly course of action together with our plaintiffs we will pursue all legal avenues to stop the genocide and save palestinian lives the january ruling on the defense for children international palestine v biden case came 15 days after president biden issued a statement 100 days into israel s genocide on palestinians where he did not mention palestine or palestinians once he chose to close out his statement with we will never stop working to bring americans home the bitter irony highlights how to this administration only some americans matter israel has killed americans like rachel corrie shireen abu akleh and furkan doganl with zero recourse more recently tawfiq ajaq a 17 year old palestinian american was killed in the west bank with justice yet to be served the lack of justice for these americans highlights an urgent need for u s courts to do more to ensure justice for the individuals and families who are killed or harmed by the israeli regime this case is a historic effort to hold the u s government accountable to international law and its commitment to preventing genocide

blog title not an arab dream rajieen restores hope in palestine s liberation author asmahan qarjouli date november 12 2023 content our lives have been at a standstill since oct 7 especially if you happen to be one of the millions of palestinian diaspora who grew up far from your homeland without choice nothing has felt the same since then we do not wake to the aroma of morning coffee we are already awake watching the news every bite of food is tasteless and is accompanied by guilt and even the music we would normally be listening to on our daily work commute no longer brings us joy the immense feeling of survivor s guilt has overcome us all as we helplessly watch the genocide in gaza and the ethnic cleansing of our people with every passing minute for an entire month and counting our anger toward world powers and decision makers has been eating us up internally and the statements of condemnation that are filled with defeat have only filled us with more rage in a world filled with cliches that easily spread in such times and celebrities who tend to capitalize on the palestinian cause i only expected the release of yet another song as we saw after the first intifada when el helm el araby the arab dream rose in popularity and my guess was partially right as i was scrolling through my instagram to stay updated with the horrors unfolding in gaza pretty much like everyone else i found some of the arab celebrities i have followed all at once posted the same video it became clear that it was a joint song titled rajieen we re returning performed by 25 young artists many of whom i have closely followed for years the ones that i have followed over the years include wessam qutob zeyne ghaliaa dana salah issam najjar a5rass saif safadi and amir eid cairokee all those names have had a huge influence on the industry in speaking to the younger arab generation and even placing arabic music on the world map for example dana salah and issam najjar have been on the vibrant billboards of times square in new york city i hesitated as i clicked to listen to it hoping it was not another ballad for a so called arab dream the artists who sang el helm el araby sang for unity an aspiration they felt was not realized the song as joseph massad writes in a 2003 article in the journal of palestine studies was a new televised song which included upwards of twenty singers and scores of musicians aired on arab television stations in 1988 to become quite unexpectidely an instant hit continiously aired on arab satellite channels the tear jerker documentary footage accompanying the music which showed the succession of arab defeats since 1948 evoked feelings of despair and loss at the end of a dream in the face of yet more defeats death and division rajieen in contrast launched on youtube evoking a clear declaration that the arab youth are indeed united as custodians of the palestinian cause despite their sense of powerlessness and that there is no defeat or division firm in their belief of return the first few seconds of the music video were enough to bring out my emotions as it showed the level of destruction in gaza before i heard the vocals of saif safadi a rising young palestinian artist from the diaspora the first verses were filled with the agony that all of us have been experiencing coupled with the major sense of abandonment with the absence of action to end this war then came the chorus that beautifully changed the tone of the song to one that is rather empowering turning what once was an arab dream into reality but the key to my home remains in my heart and i m returning with my children in my arms even if the whole world stands against me i m returning o my country i am returning from the moment i heard issam najjar powerfully sing the chorus together with the other artists rajieen became the only meaningful song i have been listening to daily i do not know what it is about this part that struck a chord perhaps it is the assertion that i like the many palestinians my age who are singing it out loud are eventually returning to the homeland the song only got better from the chorus with calls on the arab world to rise to the harrowing crimes being committed in their region especially with questions being raised over the effectiveness of the arab league despite the 22 nation bloc initially embodying a united region in light of the first years of the israeli occupation of palestine it has only turned into a mere shadow of a decades long dusty mission rajieen even said loud and clear that our helplessness toward palestine is not a form of normalization the arab people had no role in the signing of the 2020 abraham accords widely seen as a major betrayal to the arab world signed in an attempt to achieve peace the accords have proven to be a failure as it only made israel act with utmost impunity one of the possibilities why the song the arab dream portrayed the regional unity that the arab league aimed to achieve was because of its more prominent role back then especially when compared to the present a point that one must also keep in mind is that rajieen s arab artists are the ones who have been shaping the music scene in recent years regionally and internationally i remember having a conversation with zeyne who is palestinian jordanian last year about a new music revolution in the region led by young artists some of the things zeyne told me was that the arab music industry is witnessing something that never happened before one of the most significant examples is jordanian artist najjar who was among the first arab artists to make the region s tunes more mainstream najjar went from recording covers at home to being one of the most famous faces displayed in times square it all started with his hit hadal ahbek i will still love you which went viral on tiktok in 2021 before it was picked up by industry giants this generation of arab artists is not only shifting the industry but has grown to tell their stories to the world using music inspired by an upbringing that centered on the palestinian cause and the brutal reality of the israeli occupation of palestine that they witnessed in real time via social media at least this was zeyne s case who told me that her music is part of her identity as a palestinian and a form of resistance to the israeli occupation during the 2021 israeli aggression on gaza zeyne s cover of the palestinian song yamma mweel el hawa which she sang with her mother went viral she then released her song nostalgia during the same year the song reflected her internal conflict of longing for a life in a land she never lived in you can easily identify the palestinian symbols in the video such as the oranges of the occupied city of yaffa nostalgia also echoed the stories zeyne listened to from her mother and grandmother who were displaced from palestine by the zionist militia in 1948 unapologetically existing apart from the region rajieen unapologetically called out the broader western world and its double standards omar rammal a palestinian filmmaker and artist featured in the video with directing credits as well sang sorry that i m not from ukraine sorry that my skin is not white this one verse is enough to show that there is now a young generation that is fully aware of what lives the west deems as more worthy this generation is also well aware that those same nations have actively backed israel in its right to self defense without halting the decimation of palestinians in gaza we have also witnessed this change with the mass f in the united states including the national march in washington d c on nov 4 and across europe with hundreds of thousands united in their stance against their governments support for israel we will never forget the song is filled with details that i kept discovering each time i played it when i listened to it again saudi artist ahmed alsaddam s rap resonated with me we haven t forgotten al durrah and the bombing of the baptist hospital this specific lyric reflected the core memory of the killing of palestinian martyr muhammad al durrah by the israeli occupation forces in gaza during the second intifada that one single image of al durrah desperately shielding under his father before getting shot and killed by israel has been deeply ingrained in all of us and has exposed to us the cruelty of the zionist regime from a very young age twenty three years later israel killed the two brothers of jamal al durrah the martyred child s father during the latest onslaught of gaza on oct 16 the killing of the al durrah family members happened before the world s eyes showing again and again the deafening silence of the international community toward palestinians under occupation the young artists behind rajieen are just like me all who opened their eyes to the disturbing image of al durrah from that point we have grown with built up rage toward the perpetrators of his murder and that of thousands of palestinians the occupying israeli regime and there is no way israel would ever erase that memory with all of its weapons and influence on social media at the same time the lyrics juxtaposed the massacre of oct 17 at the al ahli arab baptist hospital where israel killed hundreds of palestinians in gaza some of whom were taking shelter at the facility and others who were trying to receive medical treatment the many massacres israel has been committing in gaza and the footage circulating on social media every day have created more vivid memories of the reality palestinians are facing perhaps this time the generations younger than us would also remember them and grow up to be as frustrated as we are hopefully rajieen would be the song that my generation and those who are much younger would listen to instead of inheriting the arab dream return to palestine is not a mere dream it is destiny like all colonial empires that fell after colonizing lands that weren t theirs israel the last colonial project on earth will also fall but until then we can passionately chant i m returning o my country i am returning

blog title palestinian indigeneity and the master s tools author nada elia date november 12 2023 content like many of my palestinian colleagues who are academics in the u s i have found myself offering teach ins on many campuses mostly zooming in across this continent and europe as well as to many community organizations since the escalation of israel s genocidal war on the palestinian people in the wake of the events of oct 7 2023 i have cited innumerable united nations general assembly resolutions u n security council resolutions and international laws that israel is violating i have cited the geneva conventions the definition of apartheid and the definition of genocide i have explained what constitutes war crimes and when and how resistance is permissible even by armed means i cite dates and numbers and i explain the difference between definition and working definition and between resolutions that can be implemented and those that cannot i mention u n ga resolution 194 passed in 1948 guaranteeing the palestinian right of return which israel continues to deny us and u n resolution ga 252 adopted in 1968 in the wake of israel s occupation of east jerusalem the west bank and gaza strip which reaffirms the inadmissibility of acquiring territory by military means and deplores israel s failure to comply with the resolutions i give an overview of these and many many more definitions working definitions resolutions and unimplementable resolutions and de jure and de facto i m no lawyer but i ve learned some of the lingo by the end of the presentation i feel empty cheated why do we even have all these resolutions and definitions when not one of these is used to hold israel accountable for what are according to these laws and definitions war crimes and crimes against humanity the answer simply is that these are the master s tools and as audre lorde noted in 1979 the master s tools will never dismantle the master s house they may allow us to temporarily beat him at his own game but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change specifically the resolutions and definitions i cite are the tools of the master that birthed the state of israel it is the united nations that laid the foundations for the israeli settler project to be built in 1948 on the ruins of over 500 palestinian towns and villages after 75 of the palestinian people were forcefully expelled from their ancestral lands after hundreds of thousands of palestinians were ethnically cleansed by the zionist militias the idea of creating a jewish state in palestine was a european colonial vision first formulated in the 19th century it is in line with various european colonial ventures of the 19th century the 1917 balfour declaration which views with favour the zionist aspirations to our land was issued by the foreign secretary of an empire that took pride in having colonized nations and peoples across the globe the sun never sets on the british empire was an assertion of pride unadulterated by guilt at the onus of empire on the dispossessed the exploited the enslaved indeed the cavalier manner his majesty s government referred to palestinians as the non jewish population of palestine without so much as naming us when palestinian christians muslims druze and baha i to list the largest non jewish religious communities who made up 95 of this historically diverse people is indicative of the total disregard for the indigenous population of a land that europeans planned to colonize it is not a coincidence that even as online webinars have made virtual teach ins a common occurrence with almost everybody being able to meet up in cyberspace palestinians do not have to educate people in the global south about israel s criminality according to international law people there know without the need for any legalese what colonialism occupation and the violation of human rights look like feel like and taste like in daily life these things taste like blood rubble and white phosphorous when people are made hungry thirsty and weary lorde asked what does it mean when the tools of a racist patriarchy are used to examine the fruits of that same patriarchy it means that only the most narrow parameters of change are possible and allowable similarly we can now ask what does it mean when the tools of an institution that considers itself the world s peacekeeper or the world s cop are used to police the digressions of the progeny of that institution in the case of the united nations the permanent presence within that institution of the big five china russia france the uk and the usa within the security council and the reality that the u s does not hesitate to wield its veto power to block any resolution that would hold israel accountable for its violations renders the whole process utterly futile the latest such u s veto to date was on oct 18 2023 and would have called for a humanitarian pause in israel s bombardment of the gaza strip to allow humanitarian corridors and the lifting of the order for civilians to leave the northern region here i am referencing a u n resolution again for now as we educate those who only speak the master discourse it is useful to reiterate the frustrating inability of the master s tools to bring about critically needed change the u s has used its permanent veto power over 55 times to block u n resolutions critical of the israeli regime we need to break free from the mobius strip of course named after a european mathematician even though it has existed across the world since antiquity of the magisterial paradigm it does not serve us the united nations a world policing body like all police forces globally is at the service of the wealthy the privileged the masters shielding them from the seething anger of the dispossessed like police forces everywhere including our own palestinian authority security forces who arrest anti israel protesters it needs to be abolished reforming it only allows it to continue fulfilling its primary function which is inherently oppressive one major feature of this primary function is the maintenance of arbitrary colonial lines drawn not by the indigenous peoples who are now divided and uprooted but by the alien european concept of the modern nation state with its militarized borders abolitionists know that merely reforming an oppressive system isn t enough still we can use what is currently at our disposal as a temporary stopgap while creating the alternative to cite lorde again the master s tools may temporarily help us beat him at his own game but they can never bring about genuine change as such we can keep citing international law u n resolutions and definitions of war crimes and crimes against humanity as these are formulated by the master to point out the criminality of the israeli project all within the master narrative but the alternative cannot be a new and improved israel or a reformed apartheid project indeed the distinction between the legal occupation of a people s ancestral homeland 1948 and the illegal occupation of that same people s homeland 1967 is at its very essence a colonial concept the alternative is one that the colonizing master cannot envision as it continues to promote two states and the pacification of the dispossessed rather than justice leading to genuine peace the alternative is what we are building as we look with horror at the master s accelerated genocide of the palestinian people we are witnessing its bloodthirsty desire to destroy what it could not tame what was and remains beyond its reach in response we also see the defiant indigeneity of a people we who define ourselves in terms incomprehensible to the master we remain a nation driven to achieve social and political liberation with dignity and freedom for all not just the magisterial class we are palestinian we do not occupy the land we belong to it

blog title palestinechronology press summaries on the war on gaza november 8 9 author palestine chronology staff date november 11 2023 content november 8 in the west bank israeli settlers attacked 2 palestinians harvesting olives in burqin injuring them with sticks and stones 2 israeli settlers were shot and injured at the itamar settlement israeli forces shot and killed 2 palestinian during raids in bethlehem and at tabaqa israeli forces also raided bethlehem injuring 64 palestinians and firing tear gas near an orphanage leading to the evacuation of 100 children elsewhere israeli forces shot and injured 3 palestinians including a child during raids at birzeit university and in al mughayyir and sabastia 55 palestinians were arrested during late night raids in and around hebron bethlehem qalqilya nablus tulkarm ramallah tubas and jenin in east jerusalem israeli settlers toured the haram al sharif compound israeli forces demolished the family home in shu fat refugee camp of a 13 year old boy who was arrested after he allegedly stabbed and killed 1 israeli soldier on 2 13 the father and brother of the palestinian child were arrested and beaten by israeli forces ahead of the demolition the u s condemned the demolition in gaza 241 palestinians were killed including 43 members of the same family and around 500 injured in israeli airstrikes israel said it assassinated hamas member mahsan abu zina israel also said 1 israeli soldier was killed and 2 seriously wounded in northern gaza rockets were fired at israel no injuries were reported in syria israeli forces conducted airstrikes near damascus killing 3 people said to be members of hezbollah ha 11 7 aj ap ap ha nyt unocha unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 11 8 aj ha 11 9 ap 11 10 the ministry of health in gaza said at least 10 569 palestinians have been killed including 4 324 children and 2 823 women and 26 475 have been injured in israeli airstrikes on gaza since 10 7 at least 2 450 people were buried in rubble including 1 350 children 155 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and settlers in the west bank and east jerusalem since 10 7 including 44 children more than 2 397 people have been injured around 1 400 israelis and foreign nationals have been killed and 5 431 injured since 10 7 33 israeli soldiers have been killed in gaza since the ground invasion began over 1 61 million palestinians around 70 of the population of gaza have been displaced since 10 7 there has been a complete electricity blackout in gaza since 10 12 due to the israel blockade as of 11 6 at least 40 000 housing units have been destroyed and 220 000 have been damaged in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 constituting around 45 of all housing units al quds hospital in gaza city shut down most of its operations after running out of fuel and being hit by israeli airstrikes daily since 11 5 106 trucks carrying aid entered gaza via the rafah crossing no one was evacuated from gaza to egypt it was estimated that 50 000 people fled the northern part of gaza to the south bringing the total number to 72 000 since 11 5 unrwa said 99 of its staff members had been killed since 10 7 including 2 in the past 24 hours the who said that diarrhea and chickenpox were spreading in gaza and warned that there was a risk of cholera and other epidemics the palestinian journalists syndicate said 44 palestinian journalists had been killed in israeli airstrikes on gaza and 25 have been detained in the west bank since 10 7 ap 11 7 aj aj aj ha nyt unocha unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 11 8 aj ha reu 11 9 aj 11 10 the israeli high court of justice ruled to evict israeli settlers who had been occupying palestinian owned land for 30 years in the jordan valley the court accepted a petition by 20 palestinian landowners filed 5 years ago but gave the settlers 7 years to leave the 1 000 dunams 250 acres of land which was planted with date bearing palms the judge wrote in her ruling that the settlers cultivation of the land was done in violation of international law but also in violation of the government s declared policy and even contrary to halakhic law ha 11 9 pa foreign minister riyad al maliki filed a complaint to the international atomic energy agency over israeli heritage minister amichai eliyahu s comment that israel could drop a nuclear bomb on gaza calling the comment the prevailing discourse in israel and an official recognition that israel possesses nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction pa president mahmoud abbas spoke with dutch prime minister mark rutte who invited abbas to the netherlands abbas also spoke with australian prime minister anthony albanese urging him to help stop the israeli attacks in gaza calling it genocide wafa wafa wafa 11 8 aj reu 11 9 hamas deputy political leader saleh al arouri condemned the u s for supporting the continuation of the war on gaza while encouraging humanitarian pauses and called on arab states that have normalized relations with israel to sever political and economic ties al arouri also said hamas is ready for a comprehensive deal that would see all palestinian prisoners released by israel in exchange for the captives held by hamas aj 11 8 israeli education minister yoav kisch said israel could rebuild israeli settlements in gaza military chief of staff herzl halevi told the knesset foreign affairs and defense committee that the pa has been working extensively to prevent pro hamas demonstrations in the west bank ha 11 8 ha 11 9 u s secretary of state antony blinken said israel should not reoccupy gaza after the war and that palestinians in gaza should not be forcefully displaced from gaza haaretz reported that unnamed european diplomats were worried about israeli politicians call to reoccupy gaza ha ha nyt nyt reu 11 8 the g7 issued a joint statement after a meeting in tokyo condemning hamas supporting israel s right to self defense and calling for humanitarian pauses ap ha 11 7 aj ap ha nyt 11 8 26 democratic senators signed a letter to the biden administration requesting clarification on israel s strategy in gaza more than 1 000 staffers from the u s agency for international development signed a letter calling for an immediate ceasefire 100 congressional staffers also staged a walkout demanding a ceasefire aj aj ha nyt 11 8 aj 11 9 the wall street journal reported that egyptian president abdel fattah el sisi had rejected a proposal by cia director william burns that would see egypt take control of the security in gaza before the pa can take over after israel s war the new york times reported that a qatari mediated deal to release 50 of the hamas held captives failed after israel decided to launch its ground invasion on 10 27 aj ha 11 8 aj 11 9 the u s department of defense said the u s military had attacked a facility used by iran s islamic revolutionary guard corps in eastern syria 9 people were reportedly killed yemen shot down a u s drone flying over yemeni territorial waters aj ha nyt 11 8 aj ha ha nyt 11 9 italy said it would send a hospital ship to the coast of gaza to treat injured palestinians aj 11 8 spanish minister for social rights ione belarra called on the international community to sanction israel and said israel was carrying out a planned genocide against palestinians in gaza belgian deputy prime minister petra de sutter called on the belgian government to place sanctions on israel and investigate its bombings of hospitals and refugee camps aj aj 11 8 ha 11 9 brandeis university banned a chapter of students for justice in palestine claiming the student group openly supports hamas aj 11 8 november 9 in the west bank israeli settlers attacked palestinian herders in kisan with sticks injuring 2 including a child israeli forces killed 14 palestinians including a pa officer during a raid in jenin and jenin refugee camp during the raid israeli forces opened fire at ambulances used drones to attack buildings with airstrikes and used 4 bulldozers to raze paved streets israeli forces also shot and killed 4 palestinians during raids in al am ari refugee camp balata refugee camp hebron and bethlehem meanwhile israeli forces shot and injured 69 palestinians during raids in bethlehem beit furik aqraba ni lin jenin balata refugee camp and al bireh israeli forces also displaced 20 palestinian families from their homes in khirbet tana demolishing homes and destroying beehives 50 palestinians mostly people from gaza working in israel before 10 7 were arrested in barta a in gaza israeli airstrikes killed 243 palestinians and injured around 430 others israeli airstrikes targeted the vicinity of al nasr hospital al awda hospital the indonesian hospital and al shifa hospital killing at least 3 people and causing significant damage to the hospitals and 2 ambulances israeli said it assassinated hamas member ibrahim abu ma asiv in an airstrike 2 israeli soldiers were killed in gaza in south lebanon anti tank missiles were fired at israel and israel attacked lebanon in eilat israel said a drone launched from syria damaged a school in eilat israel also said it deployed its arrow 3 missile defense system for the first time to intercept a surface to surface missile fired at eilat reportedly from yemen aj aj ap ha ha reu unocha unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 11 9 aj aj ha reu 11 10 the ministry of health in gaza said at least 10 818 palestinians have been killed including 4 412 children and 2 918 women and 26 905 have been injured in israeli airstrikes on gaza since 10 7 at least 2 450 people were buried in rubble including 1 350 children 173 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and settlers in the west bank and east jerusalem since 10 7 including 46 children more than 2 492 people have been injured around 1 400 israelis and foreign nationals have been killed and 5 431 injured since 10 7 35 israeli soldiers have been killed in gaza since the ground invasion began over 1 61 million palestinians around 70 of the population of gaza have been displaced since 10 7 there has been a complete electricity blackout in gaza since 10 12 due to the israel blockade as of 11 6 at least 40 000 housing units have been destroyed and 220 000 have been damaged in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 constituting 45 of all housing units 65 trucks carrying aid to gaza and 7 ambulances entered via the rafah crossing 12 injured palestinians and 695 foreign passport holders were evacuated from gaza to egypt around 50 000 people fled north gaza to the south bringing the total number to 122 000 since 11 5 unrwa launched a flash appeal for 481 million to address the humanitarian needs in gaza and the west bank aj ap ha reu unocha unocha 11 9 wafa 11 10 the pa finance ministry said it returned its tax revenue to israel due to israel deducting 600 million israel said is earmarked for administrative expenses in gaza wafa 11 9 israel arrested high follow up committee for arab citizens of israel chairperson mohammed barakeh and former mks haneen zoabi sami abou shehadeh and mtanes shehadeh who were planning to attend a small anti war protest in nazareth since israel has banned large anti war protests barakeh said he had told nazereth police that he and 40 others would rally together leading to his arrest protesters later demonstrated against the arrests of the palestinian leaders outside of a police station in tel aviv 15 were arrested after the palestinian leaders were released abou shahadeh said he was arrested for being a palestinian citizen calling to end the war by contrast if i were a jewish citizen calling for a genocide of palestinians i could become a minister aj ha ha ha ha wafa wafa 11 9 nyt 11 10 hamas said 1 israeli soldier held captive in gaza was killed in an israeli airstrike islamic jihad released a video of an israeli child and elderly woman that it said it wanted to release for humanitarian reasons aj ha ha reu reu 11 9 nyt 11 10 hamas leaders ismail haniyeh and khaled mashal arrived in cairo reportedly to discuss a prisoner exchange aj ha 11 9 during a speech at an aid conference in paris pa prime minister mohammad shtayyeh said that hamas could not be eliminated because it is not just a military organization but also an idea shtayyeh also said israel was waging war against all palestinians violating international law french president emmanuel macron who hosted the conference said civilians in gaza must be protected calling for humanitarian pauses and for countries to work on a ceasefire egyptian foreign minister sameh shoukry complained that the international community has an imbalance in its conscience when it ignores israeli violations of international law separately pa presidential spokesperson nabil abu rudeineh said israel s aim is to kill as many palestinians as possible referring to the many killed in the west bank as israel attacks gaza abu rudeineh called on the u s to force israel to stop its attacks pa foreign minister riyad al maliki met with uk foreign secretary james cleverly in riyadh calling on the uk to help achieve a ceasefire aj aj ap ha ha reu unocha wafa wafa wafa 11 9 haaretz reported an increase in israeli soldiers publishing videos of themselves beating and humiliating palestinians they have arrested in the west bank ha 11 9 a report by the undp and the escwa said palestinian gdp had shrunk 4 during the first month of israel s attacks on gaza it projected that if the attacks continue for a second month it will drop by 8 4 and by 12 if attacks continue for a third month aj ha 11 9 aj aj ap ap 11 10 israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu s spokesperson ofir gendelman tweeted a video he claimed showed palestinians staging people being injured and evacuated however the video was backstage footage from the lebanese short film the reality gendelman kept the tweet up even after x formerly known as twitter clarified what the video actually showed db 11 9 u s president joe biden said israel had agreed to daily 4 hour pauses in its attacks on gaza to allow palestinians in the north to flee south saying it had taken longer for prime minister benjamin netanyahu to agree to the pauses than he had hoped biden also said had asked for longer pauses that would help facilitate the release of captives state department deputy spokesperson vedant patel said palestinians fleeing the north of gaza should be able to return israeli national security minister itamar ben gvir called the pauses a particularly serious mistake netanyahu clarified in an interview with fox news that he does not seek to govern gaza aj aj ap ha reu reu 11 9 aj ap ha reu 11 10 the israeli organization honestreporting said it had identified cnn ap and reuters contributors who covered the hamas operation al aqsa flood on 10 7 claiming they must have had knowledge of the operation prior to it or participated in it israeli war cabinet member benny gantz and national security minister ben gvir said the journalists should be treated as terrorists likud party mk danny danon said the journalist would be added to israel s kill list the new york times which employs one of the freelance journalists called honestreporting s allegations reckless and said it endangered their journalists in gaza and israel cnn said it cut relations with 1 of the freelance journalists that honestreporting posted a photo of standing next to hamas leader in gaza yahya sinwar aj aj ha ha nyt reu 11 9 cia director william burns and mossad director david barnea traveled to doha for meetings with qatari prime minister mohammed bin abdulrahman al thani regarding a potential prisoner swap al thani reportedly held a meeting with hamas officials in qatar on 11 8 aj ha ha reu 11 9 belgian minister of development cooperation caroline gennez said her government was considering recognizing the state of palestine and would donate 2 1 million in aid to palestine and 5 3 million to the icc aj 11 9 media workers staged a sit in demonstration at the new york times headquarters criticizing the newspaper s pro israel bias the american postal workers union called for a ceasefire aj ha 11 9 aj 11 10 the syrian aviation authority said the damascus international airport would not reopen for another week the airport has been closed since 10 12 due to israeli airstrikes damaging the runway ha 11 9

blog title scenes from gaza author ayham al sahli date november 09 2023 content the title of this article suggests that what follows are observations in reality these are testimonies from people some of them entirely helpless that have been displaced from various areas of the gaza strip these testimonies were pieced together from many conversations with and voice recordings of people who volunteered their words among the other tasks they have been carrying out the stories may seem like the sorts of stories that emerge from a war but in an area so small such as gaza they sound uncanny they are doubly painful especially since those fleeing death aren t able to escape to places that will shelter and protect them some of them wait for death alongside their families others who aren t in gaza wait for the phone to bring them the news of their family s death muhammad apologizes to his son i was at home in mashrou beit lahia relatives from beit hanoun had moved into our house a house in our neighborhood was bombed and most of our street resembled a sieve it was a massacre we left the house after the bombing resumed and found refuge in a shelter in northern gaza the day soon came when israeli warplanes dropped leaflets calling for people to leave the north to the south unrwa staff left the headquarters in the north and headed toward the south and the schools that had been turned into shelters were left with no administrative staff so popular committees were formed to self manage my family my relatives who were displaced and i also headed south walking a distance of around 40 km to reach deir al balah 7 000 citizens were crowded into an unrwa school that had been converted into a shelter there i had never experienced humiliation in my life until now we were humiliated in every sense of the word the provision of water and the distribution of aid was all carried out by the people themselves unrwa staff only appeared at our school after two days of us staying there those who did eventually come were teachers i don t believe the agency had a contingency plan if it did we would have felt it i m unable to use the bathrooms because of overcrowding the school can only house 7 000 people i can t tell what the difference is between what s happening now and what happened in 1948 perhaps it s the fact that i m displaced between cement walls while my grandparents were in tents as we speak tents are being put up in khan younis i have a child named ghaith and i owe him a huge apology wissam abdul rahman and their families for two years wissam has been living with his wife and children in beirut where he came to study around two months ago he sent his 12 year old daughter with his friend and his family to the gaza strip to see her grandfather and grandmother she returned to beirut and when friends asked him about his decision read audacity in sending a child to travel alone he said i want her to feel her strength about a week ago i met wissam along with two friends we asked him about his family and how they were coping in this war his answers were full of sadness and composure he said i spent more than a week without any information about my family until i was able to speak to my sister who told me that they were fine as for my brother i haven t heard anything since the beginning of the war on monday oct 30 wissam s phone rang this time it was from gaza the news his mother was martyred along with a number of his family members wissam s father survived because the housethey were sheltering inwas targeted by israeli airstrikes at prayer time and his father was at the mosque days before wissam s family was martyred the family of abdul rahman who also studies in beirut was also martyred his uncle first two days later his brother and his wife and their two daughters were martyred his two sisters his sister s husband and his sister s three children were also martyred his father was seriously injured wissam and abdel rahman received mourners in beirut they like other gazans abroad live in heartbreak and pain it would not be more difficult if they were in gaza they said in unison bahaa communications and his mother communications were cut off in the gaza strip on the night of friday oct 27 there was no longer anyone in gaza communicating with the outside world this remained the case more or less until sunday i sent my friend bahaa a message to make sure he was alive his reply when bahaa disappears he doesn t disappear to decieve when bahaa disappeared he learned that modern life isn t good i m fine i got to know these people who are with me here at home since they re my family after reading what he wrote i asked what is it that you want he said i want the palestinian prisoners to be released i swear i m speaking seriously i witnessed wafa al ahrar the prisoner exchange deal between the resistance and the israeli occupation in 2011 i kept crying for six years i ve never been as happy as i was that day i also asked him what do people want what do you hear them say bahaa who is also working as a volunteer to help people between the shelters and hospitals answered people need a moment toreturn to their homes get their things and carry on in shelters baby milk gaza has become a graveyard for thousands of children announced unicef spokesman james alder it is a living hell for everyone else these reports from unicef along with other accounts prompted me to ask some of those i know in the gaza strip about infant formula their answers for the most part indicated its lack of availability one of my friends said to me today i went to four pharmacies to get milk i also need essential medications that i take daily that i am starting to run out of the reason for my search for milk is that one of my friends in the shelter has a three month old child and said the last time he d managed to find any was a week ago his child hasn t eaten since i found myself searching for milk instead of my medicine i couldn t find any you can find this stuff in malls sometimes but they too have run out of it what this friend told me confirms that there are victims who are killed not by shells but rather by malnutrition given the current conditions in the gaza strip it is very possible that hospitals will not be able to save them burial in graves during one of my conversations with bahaa i asked him about graves and burials given the increasing number of martyrs he shared with me what he saw in deir al balah we started removing stones from the cemetery wall placing them as headstones on the graves so that we could at least identify those buried there are no more stones left there s no longer any room to bury each person in an individual grave that s when the mass graves started even the spaces between graves horizontal and vertical are now used to bury the dead when we enter the cemetery to bury our martyrs people are often standing on other graves this testimony was transalted into english by francesco anselmetti

blog title voicenotes from mahmoud shawa in gaza city author fayrouz ibrahim date november 09 2023 content editor s note on oct 17 at 8 p m in cairo fayrouz and amina reached out to mahmoud shawa in gaza and shared excerpts from their conversation in an instagram reel we were granted permission to translate mahmoud s voicenotes into english and publish them as part of our letters from gaza series mahmoud has not replied to the young women s texts since the beginning of november we remain in gaza like everyone else when the israeli occupation forces asked people to move south due to impending bombardments in the north my family and i complied many of those who moved south had no homes to return to many homes were destroyed entire neighborhoods in gaza have been erased many people including myself have lost their jobs my company is gone upon arriving in the south we found that the situation was dire gaza has no electricity no water no internet it s a miracle that i m sitting here sending this message right now we re cut off from the world unaware of global events or even what s happening within gaza the airstrikes are everywhere but no one knows where the bombs are falling exactly after we moved south we found that airstrikes were also happening there so my family and i decided to return to our home in the north in gaza city we are currently in the area that israel has warned us to evacuate but we thank god for everything we are okay for now thank you very much for your support thank you for asking and checking on us we truly don t know what is happening in the world and can t post or publish anything from here most of the internet and telecom companies were destroyed you can get updates on gaza on the news through instagram channels for alaa hamdan or the journalist muna hawwa they post content in different languages on the palestinian cause through their pages you can find a lot of content you share that can help us thank you very much thank you thank you your messages will remain with us always they make us feel better as biden visits israel on oct 18 you will see news showing support and solidarity with israel i feel that this is the right time for you to spread the message and truth about what is actually happening in gaza and palestine the situation is not only difficult in gaza but also in the west bank almost all the settlers have been armed there are 60 martyrs in the west bank so far killed by settler gunfire they kidnap people and then kill them the situation is bigger than just gaza it is an ethnic cleansing of palestine with gaza as the main focus they aim to trap the entire population to either expel or kill unfortunately we feel the whole world is idle content with what s happening but we thank god for everything all we ask is for your prayers that s all we want i hope to see and speak to you again during better times peace excerpt from text messages fayrouz and or amina all we can do is to share everything is it okay to share your texts and the voicenotes to reach as many people as possible mahmoud your support and concern makes us stronger we would never accept nor wish for these circumstances to befall you if our steadfastness keeps evil away from you we have no problem with that god protects us all thank you for standing with us you can use anything from our conversation freely we are saddened by the silence of the arabs and the racism and double standards of the west and the rest of the world but we thank god fayrouz and amina of course god s mercy is grand god protect you all and keep you patient mahmoud o god fayrouz and or amina the world is cruel we don t know how to help god protect you and your family and all palestinians mahmoud pray for us and share our stories and what is happening to us this is how you help us this testimony was translated into english by malika

blog title palestinechronology press summaries on the war on gaza november 6 7 author palestine chronology staff date november 09 2023 content november 6 in the west bank israeli settlers attacked palestinians harvesting olives in qaryut israeli settlers also vandalized palestinian property including water tanks solar panels and a vehicle in al rakiz and al mafqara in the masafer yatta area israeli forces shot and killed 6 palestinians during raids in halhul beit fajjar and tulkarm israeli forces also shot and injured 8 palestinian during raids in al khader tulkarm ya bad beit fajjar and halhul elsewhere israeli forces assaulted 1 palestinian in azzun 70 palestinians were arrested during late night raids in and around ramallah dura nabi salih qalqilya shu fat refugee camp anata hebron and nablus including prominent activist ahed tamimi and senior fatah member marouf rifai the palestinian prisoners commission said 2 150 palestinians have been arrested since 10 7 in east jerusalem israeli police shot and killed 1 palestinian minor after he allegedly stabbed 2 israeli soldiers in the old city 1 of the soldiers later died of her wounds in gaza telecommunications were gradually restored in the morning after israel cut the internet and phone connection on 11 5 252 palestinians were killed and 1 200 injured in israeli airstrikes israel said it had attacked 450 sites overnight and assassinated hamas member jamal musa israeli airstrikes targeted al shifa hospital killing 1 and injuring 170 others and the nasser medical complex killing at least 8 bombardments also caused mass casualties in az zawaidah and tel as sultan in lebanon hamas claimed responsibility for firing 16 rockets near haifa israel said it attacked the launch sites aj aj aj ap ap ap ha ha ha reu reu unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 11 6 aj aj reu 11 7 the ministry of health in gaza said at least 10 022 palestinians have been killed including 4 100 children and 2 550 women and 25 408 have been injured in israeli airstrikes on gaza since 10 7 at least 2 260 people were buried in rubble including 1 270 children 151 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and settlers in the west bank and east jerusalem since 10 7 including 44 children more than 2 386 people have been injured around 1 400 israelis and foreign nationals have been killed and 5 431 injured since 10 7 30 israeli soldiers have been killed in gaza since the ground invasion began over 1 61 million palestinians around 70 of the population of gaza have been displaced since 10 7 there has been a complete electricity blackout in gaza since 10 12 due to the israel blockade at least 40 000 housing units have been destroyed and 220 000 have been damaged in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 4 ambulances carrying 17 injured palestinians entered egypt through the rafah crossing 50 trucks carrying aid entered gaza via the rafah crossing pa health minister mai al kaila said 175 medical personnel and 34 civil defense workers have been killed by israel in gaza since 10 7 the un said 89 unrwa staff members have been killed the committee to protect journalists said 36 journalists have been killed since 10 7 aj aj ha ha nyt nyt nyt reu unocha unocha wafa wafa wafa 11 6 aj 11 7 a palestinian man held in israeli prison majad ahmed zaqoul died in israeli custody at the ofer prison being the third palestinian to die in israeli prison since 10 7 zaqoul was working in israel on 10 7 and was arrested by israel shortly after israel has not investigated the death of the 2 other palestinians who died while in israeli custody since 10 7 aj ha wafa 11 6 wafa 11 7 the pa refused to accept the partial transfer of its tax revenue collected by israel after israel decided to withhold sums earmarked for administration expenses in gaza in addition to the funds withheld that israel says the pa pays to the families of palestinian detainees and palestinians killed by israeli forces the amount israel earmarked for gaza was 140 million a month pa president mahmoud abbas spoke with austrian chancellor karl nehammer calling for an immediate ceasefire ha reu wafa wafa 11 6 the knesset approved a temporary bill banning consumption of words of praise sympathy or encouragement for acts of terrorism by hamas or isis israeli finance minister bezalel smotrich sent a letter to prime minister benjamin netanyahu and defense minister yoav gallant demanding that the israeli military creates security zones around the settlements and roads and prevents palestinians from approaching them aj ha reu 11 6 qatar condemned israel for claiming that there was a tunnel system under the qatar funded sheikh hamad hospital in gaza israel had released a photo to back up its claims but engineers have pointed out that the purported tunnel is for water storage an al jazeera investigation later disproved the israeli claim aj ha 11 6 aj 11 8 south africa recalled its ambassador to israel calling israeli actions in gaza genocide the deputy speaker of the bahraini parliament said the parliament wants to cancel the country s normalization deal with israel aj aj ap ha ha reu 11 6 ha 11 7 nyt 11 8 the uae said it would establish a field hospital in gaza and that 5 aircraft carrying the necessary equipment were en route to egypt france said it was in talks with egypt to set up a field hospital in the sinai to treated wounded palestinians from gaza aj ha 11 6 the 15 un security council members failed to agree to a resolution on israel s attacks on gaza the u s insisted the council call for humanitarian pauses while other states demanded a call for a humanitarian ceasefire un secretary general antonio guterres launched a 1 2 billion humanitarian appeal to help 2 7 million palestinians in gaza and the west bank and said gaza was becoming a graveyard for children aj ap ax ha nyt unocha wafa wafa 11 6 aj ha 11 7 u s secretary of state antony blinken met with turkish foreign minister hakan fidan in ankara u s national security council spokesperson john kirby said president joe biden and prime minister netanyahu had discussed tactical pauses axios later reported that biden asked netanyahu for a 3 day ceasefire to allow sufficient aid to enter gaza in return hamas would release 10 15 captives and verify the identities of the remaining captives a proposal netanyahu reportedly rejected netanyahu told abc news that a ceasefire depended on the release of the hamas held captives but that israel could allow tactical pauses netanyahu also said israel will maintain the overall security responsibility for gaza for an indefinite period when israel has finished its campaign u s state department deputy spokesperson vedant patal said in response to netanyahu s comments that gaza will remain palestinian land and that the u s does not support reoccupation aj ap ap ax ha reu 11 6 aj aj aj ap ap ap ax ha ha ha nyt nyt reu reu reu reu reu 11 7 ha nyt 11 8 the u s military said a nuclear submarine had arrived in the eastern mediterranean the submarine was said to have not been carrying nuclear weapons but tomahawk missiles it was also reported that the u s planned to send israel 320 million worth of spice family gliding bomb assemblies a precision guided munition for fighter jets the state department approved the shipment aj aj ha nyt reu 11 6 aj ha 11 7 eu commission president ursula von der leyen presented 5 principles for after israel s war on gaza 1 gaza cannot be a haven for terrorists 2 hamas cannot rule gaza 3 there cannot be a long term israeli security presence in gaza 4 no forced displacement of palestinians 5 no continuous siege on gaza von der leyen also announced that the eu will allocate another 27 million in aid to gaza aj aj ha ha 11 6 iranian foreign minister hossein amir abdollahian spoke with saudi foreign minister faisal bin farhan about the situation in gaza agreeing to convene an extraordinary summit of the oic in saudi arabia on 11 12 ha 11 6 the new york times reported that the u s had told hezbollah and iran that it will intervene militarily if they attack israel ha nyt 11 6 haaretz reported that u s officials told the newspaper that secretary blinken got the impression that israel does not have a strategy for what to do when its war on gaza ends blinken reportedly broached the question in meetings with israeli officials on 11 3 receiving the impression that the matter has barely been discussed ha 11 6 ha 11 7 november 7 in the west bank israeli forces shot and killed 2 palestinians during raids in beit anan and sa ir israeli forces also shot and injured 10 palestinians during raids in tulkarm refugee camp arrabah and sa ir elsewhere israeli forces shot and injured 1 palestinian girl at the qalandia crossing claiming she was carrying a knife israeli forces also seized 1 vehicle and vandalized 2 others during a raid in shaab al butum in the masafer yatta area 56 palestinians were arrested during late night raids in and around hebron jericho jenin and bethlehem in east jerusalem israeli settlers toured the haram al sharif compound in gaza israeli airstrikes killed 306 palestinians including mass casualties in strikes on residential buildings and unrwa schools in rafah and khan yunis israel also killed wafa journalist mohammad abu hasira and 42 members of his family in an airstrike in gaza city 450 people were injured in the israeli airstrikes the red cross said 5 trucks carrying aid to health facilities in gaza city came under fire damaging 2 of the trucks and lightly injuring a driver the red cross did not say who attacked the convoy rockets were fired at israel causing damage in south lebanon israeli forces attacked several sites causing damage israeli fighter jets were also reported to be flying over beirut aj ap ha reu unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 11 7 aj aj nyt 11 8 the ministry of health in gaza said at least 10 328 palestinians have been killed including 4 100 children and 2 550 women and 25 956 have been injured in israeli airstrikes on gaza since 10 7 at least 2 450 people were buried in rubble including 1 350 children 153 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and settlers in the west bank and east jerusalem since 10 7 including 44 children more than 2 386 people have been injured around 1 400 israelis and foreign nationals have been killed and 5 431 injured since 10 7 30 israeli soldiers have been killed in gaza since the ground invasion began over 1 61 million palestinians around 70 of the population of gaza have been displaced since 10 7 there has been a complete electricity blackout in gaza since 10 12 due to the israel blockade at least 40 000 housing units have been destroyed and 220 000 have been damaged in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 93 aid trucks entered gaza 19 palestinians including 12 children suffering from cancer and around 600 foreign nationals were evacuated to egypt the who said 160 health care workers have been killed while on duty in gaza and that in some hospitals operations are performed without anesthesia due to lack of supplies the israeli military released a video showing thousands of palestinians fleeing south from the northern part of gaza the un said that 15 000 people fled from the north to the south today 5 000 on 11 6 and 2 000 on 11 5 the un also said that there was no flour left in northern gaza and that all bakeries are closed aj aj ap ha reu unocha unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 11 7 aj ap ap 11 8 pa wall and settlement resistance committee head muayad shaaban said 9 palestinian communities totaling 1 000 people in the eastern west bank have been displaced from their homes since 10 7 aj 11 7 the israeli human rights organizations acri hamoked and ir amim petitioned the israeli high court of justice to lift restrictions on kafr aqab in east jerusalem which has been under a strict closure since 10 7 including being completely shut off from 5 p m to the next morning only private vehicles can leave and enter the neighborhood in the period that the checkpoint is open ha 11 7 hamas said it wanted to release 12 captives but that the situation on the ground is what hinders this from being completed aj 11 7 plo secretary general hussein al sheikh spoke with russian foreign minister sergey lavrov pa prime minister mohammed shtayyeh spoke with swedish foreign minister tobias billström aj wafa wafa 11 7 israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu called the israeli ground invasion of gaza a phenomenal success defense minister yoav gallant said the intention of the ground invasion was to remove hamas and guarantee the israeli military free access to gaza without limitations on operations hamas said israel had not made big military gains in gaza aj ap ha 11 7 the israeli national planning and building council approved the establishment of a new community named hanon near gaza ha 11 7 united arab list leader mk mansour abbas told radio al nas that he denounced the hamas operation on 10 7 saying innocent civilians were killed and that islam is against taking women children and elderly as captives he added that hamas actions did not represent our arab society nor our palestinian people nor our palestine nation ha 11 7 u s vice president kamala harris urged israel to hold israeli settlers accountable for the many attacks they commit against palestinians in the west bank during a conversation with israeli president isaac herzog herzog wrote a letter to 700 u s university presidents demanding that they deal with students that allegedly support the actions of hamas aj ha 11 7 the u s house of representatives voted 234 188 to censor palestinian american representative rashida tlaib d mi for defending the pro palestinian phrase from the river to the sea 22 democrats joined republicans in voting to censor tlaib senator chris murphy d ct blocked the fast tracking of a bill that would provide israel 14 billion in aid and cut the same amount from the budget of the internal revenue service democrats want the israel funding to be part of a bill that also includes aid to ukraine and taiwan ha nyt 11 7 aj aj ap ha 11 8 cia director william burns met with egyptian president abdel fattah el sisi who called on an immediate ceasefire aj 11 7 saudi arabia said that in addition to the scheduled oic extraordinary summit on 11 12 the country will host an emergency meeting of the arab league and an africa saudi summit on the situation in gaza ha 11 7 aj reu 11 8 uk labour party mp and shadow minister for employment rights and protections imran hussain resigned from the party s frontbench in protest over leader keir starmer s refusal to call for a ceasefire in gaza aj 11 8 germany said it had decided to release 75 8 million in aid to palestinians that it suspended nearly a month ago when it said it would review its support of palestine germany also pledged an additional 21 5 million in support for palestine the majority of the aid will go to palestinians in gaza and jordan through unrwa reu 11 7

blog title palestinechronology press summaries on the war on gaza november 3 5 author palestine chronology staff date november 09 2023 content editor s note these entries are compiled by the palestine chronology researcher from the period of november 3 to november 5 the gathered summaries are based on initial reporting november 3 in the west bank 1 palestinian man succumbed to injuries sustained from israeli forces in tell on 11 1 israeli settlers shot and injured 1 palestinian in shu fat refugee camp israeli settlers also destroyed a water pipeline to beit lid cutting off the town s access to water israeli forces shot and killed 9 palestinians during raids in jenin refugee camp budrus qalandia refugee camp hebron and fawwar refugee camp including 1 child and 2 others in a drone strike on jenin refugee camp israeli forces also shot and injured 19 people during raids in jenin refugee camp fawwar refugee camp and qalandia refugee camp in east jerusalem israeli forces used tear gas and water cannons to prevent palestinians from entering the haram al sharif compound in gaza at least 196 palestinians were killed and 605 injured in israeli airstrikes israeli forces attacked an ambulance outside of al shifa hospital killing at least 15 and injuring 60 others israel also attacked the indonesian and al quds hospitals and the office of agence france presse in gaza city causing significant damage israel said it assassinated hamas member mustafa dalul in an airstrike 4 israeli soldiers were killed in gaza u s mq 9 reaper drones circled gaza reportedly gathering intelligence on the whereabouts of the captives held by hamas the new york times said the u s drones have been flying over gaza since 10 28 rockets were fired at israel causing damage in lebanon israel killed 1 person it said was a member of hezbollah and attacked several areas in south lebanon 2 israeli soldiers were injured in a drone attack in the golan heights nyt 11 2 aj aj aj ap ha nyt nyt nyt reu reu unocha unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 11 3 aj aj ha ha wafa 11 4 the ministry of health in gaza said at least 9 257 palestinians have been killed including 3 826 children and 2 405 women and 23 516 have been injured in israeli airstrikes on gaza since 10 7 at least 1 800 people including 940 children have been reported missing 144 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and settlers in the west bank and east jerusalem since 10 7 including 40 children more than 2 300 people have been injured around 1 400 israelis including foreign nationals have been killed and 5 431 injured since 10 7 over 1 5 million palestinians more than half the population of gaza have been displaced since 10 7 there has been a complete electricity blackout in gaza since 10 12 due to the israel blockade as of 10 23 at least 27 781 housing units have been destroyed and 150 000 have been damaged in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 the number is likely much higher given the lack of recent data 17 wounded palestinians were transferred to egyptian hospitals via the rafah crossing between 300 and 400 foreign passport holders left via the rafah crossing the evacuation efforts were halted after the israeli attack on the ambulance outside of al shifa hospital 47 truckloads of aid entered gaza israel reconnected 2 water pipelines to gaza aj aj ap ha unocha unocha wafa wafa 11 3 3 026 palestinians from gaza employed in israel prior to 10 7 were expelled to gaza via the karem abu salem kerem shalom crossing palestinian laborers from gaza have been held in internment camps in israel and some were deported to the west bank aj aj aj ap ap ha ha reu 11 3 israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu continued to invoke biblical history referring to palestinians as amalek and the sons of darkness in a letter to israeli soldiers ha 11 3 an israeli soldier accused of shooting and killing a palestinian harvesting olives was released to house arrest ha 11 3 hezbollah secretary general hassan nasrallah gave a televised speech saying a wider escalation could not be ruled out if israel continues attacking gaza nasrallah said he did not know about operation al aqsa flood before 10 7 aj aj aj aj ap ha nyt reu 11 3 ha ha 11 4 u s secretary of state antony blinken arrived in israel saying he would push the israeli government to agree to humanitarian pauses to allow aid into gaza and to facilitate a release of the captives after the meeting netanyahu issued a statement saying israel will continue to attack gaza with all of its power and not agree to a temporary ceasefire that does not include a return of all of the captives u s officials told axios that blinken expressed concern over the israeli decision to withhold pa tax revenue aj aj ap ap ap ax ha ha ha ha nyt nyt reu reu 11 3 aj ax nyt 11 4 honduras recalled its ambassador to israel aj ap ha reu 11 3 wafa 11 4 irish prime minister leo varadkar told the irish radio station rte w hat i am seeing unfolding at the moment is not self defense it looks resembles something more approaching revenge in referencing israeli attacks on gaza aj ha reu 11 3 dozens of u s activists were arrested at u s senate office buildings after holding sit ins at 8 senators offices demanding a ceasefire aj 11 3 the new york times reported that israel used 2 2 000 pound bombs to attack jabalia refugee camp on 10 31 nyt 6 3 cnn reported that the u s expects israel will reduce its airstrikes on gaza in the coming days and focus on the ground operation aj ha 11 4 french officials said france will host an international conference on the delivery of humanitarian aid to gaza on 11 9 reu 11 3 bloomberg news reported that israel no longer gives russia advanced warning about its airstrikes in syria ha 11 3 the uk charged 2 women with terrorism offenses for allegedly displaying pro hamas imagery at a pro palestinian demonstration in london on 10 14 the 2 women reportedly wore stickers with paragliders on them reu 11 3 japan said it would donate 65 million in humanitarian aid to palestine after a meeting with pa foreign minister riyad al maliki reu wafa 11 3 november 4 in the west bank armed israeli settlers assaulted 1 palestinian and threatened others during a raid in yarza israeli settlers also attacked palestinians harvesting olives in khirbet quweis in the masafer yatta area stealing the olive harvest and a tractor israeli forces shot and injured 8 palestinians during a raid in beit umar israeli forces also opened fire at vehicles near ya bad causing damage 50 palestinians were arrested during late night raids in and around fawwar refugee camp beit umar bethlehem jaba balata refugee camp deir jarir and nil in 1 israeli soldier was lightly wounded by gunfire near nabi ilyas in gaza israeli forces killed 231 palestinians and injured 650 others israel bombed al nasser children s hospital and al wafa hospital in gaza city reportedly killing patients and causing damage including to solar panels israel also bombed al fakhoora school in jabalia refugee camp killing at least 15 people and injuring 45 hamas said it killed 5 israeli soldiers northwest of gaza city rockets were fired at israel causing damage in lebanon israel conducted airstrikes and hezbollah attacked several israeli army posts aj aj ap ap ha reu reu unocha unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 11 4 wafa 11 5 ha 11 6 the ministry of health in gaza said at least 9 488 palestinians have been killed including 3 900 children and 2 430 women and 24 173 have been injured in israeli airstrikes on gaza since 10 7 at least 2 200 people were buried in rubble including 1 250 children 144 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and settlers in the west bank and east jerusalem since 10 7 including 43 children more than 2 274 people have been injured around 1 400 israelis including foreign nationals have been killed and 5 431 injured since 10 7 over 1 5 million palestinians more than half the population of gaza have been displaced since 10 7 there has been a complete electricity blackout in gaza since 10 12 due to the israel blockade as of 10 23 at least 27 781 housing units have been destroyed and 150 000 have been damaged in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 the number is likely much higher given the lack of recent data the generators at the kamal adwan hospital in northern gaza shutdown due to a lack of fuel 30 truckloads of aid entered gaza through the rafah crossing no injured people or foreign passport holders were evacuated to egypt aj ap ha unocha unocha wafa 11 4 hamas military spokesperson abu obeida said 60 israeli captives were missing after intense israeli bombing and that the bodies of 23 captives were trapped under rubble abu obeida also said hamas fighters had destroyed 24 israeli military vehicles in gaza in the past 24 hours aj ha reu 11 4 iranian state run irna news agency said supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei met with hamas political leader ismail haniyeh in tehran reu 11 4 ap reu 11 5 al haq said it had documented abuses of palestinian workers from gaza who were in israel on 10 7 including beatings arbitrary detention having their property stolen and degrading treatment 1 worker said he saw people beaten to the point that they were unable to walk and dead palestinians being urinated on by israeli settlers aj 11 4 axios reported that israeli officials told the news outlet that israel was working on a plan accept the delivery of fuel to southern gaza under an international monitoring regime aj ax 11 4 israeli finance minister bezalel smotrich said when israel finishes its attack on gaza the area will be under israeli military control for years ha 11 4 ha 11 5 turkey and chad recalled their diplomats in israel turkish president recep tayyip erdoğan also said that israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is no longer someone we can talk to we have written him off aj aj aj ha ha reu wafa 11 4 wafa 11 5 ha 11 6 u s secretary of state antony blinken met with the foreign ministers of jordan egypt saudi arabia the uae oman and qatar in oman lebanese caretaker prime minister najib mikati who also took part urged blinken to call for a ceasefire in gaza and to end israeli aggression in southern lebanon jordanian foreign minister ayman safadi said israel was committing war crimes and that jordan does not accept the israeli claim that israel is acting in self defense blinken dismissed the group s call for a ceasefire insisting on calling for pauses before meeting blinken the group held a meeting with plo secretary general hussein al sheikh aj aj aj ap ap ha ha ha nyt reu reu reu wafa 11 4 ap 11 6 iranian foreign minister hossein amir abdollahian spoke with uk foreign minister james cleverly discussing the situation in gaza aj 11 4 france said israel had hit a french cultural institute in gaza saying it was in dialogue with israel to understand why the institute was hit agence french presse afp called for an investigation into the israeli bombing of its offices in gaza city saying the israeli statement on the bombing does not explain the extent of the damage caused to the afp bureau and that the bombing sends a deeply troubling message to all the journalists working in such difficult conditions in gaza aj 11 4 u s president joe biden said progress had been made on the issue of humanitarian pauses u s senator bernie sanders d vt called for pauses saying israel was violating international law with its indiscriminate killing in gaza and that israel was offending u s values aj ap 11 4 thousands of people protested in washington d c paris berlin london and elsewhere around the world demanding an end to the israeli attacks on gaza 300 000 reportedly partook in the demonstrations in washington d c aj aj ap ha wafa 11 4 aj aj nyt wafa 11 5 november 5 in the west bank 1 palestinian succumbed to injuries sustained from israeli forces earlier this week in al eizariya israeli settlers set up 5 caravans near tuqu israeli settlers also threw stones at palestinian vehicles and assaulted a palestinian man near sabastia elsewhere israeli settlers threw stones at palestinian vehicles traveling north of ramallah israeli forces shot and killed 4 palestinians during raids in abu dis and nuba including 1 in a missile strike on a building in abu dis israeli forces also shot and injured 8 palestinian during raids in usarin hebron and abu dis elsewhere israeli forces vandalized several vehicles in bayt jala and uprooted 70 olive trees in haris 46 palestinians were arrested during late night raids in and around birzeit bil in nuba jenin nablus tulkarm bethlehem and tubas in gaza israel cut internet and phone communications for the third time since 10 7 israeli forces killed 243 palestinians and injured 635 others israel bombed maghazi refugee camp and al bureij refugee camp killing 71 palestinians and injuring dozens of others 1 israeli soldier was killed in gaza bringing the total death toll to 28 since the ground invasion started rockets were fired at israel no damage was reported in lebanon israeli airstrikes killed 4 lebanese including 3 children and an elderly woman traveling in a car between ainata and aitaroun 4 medics were also injured in israeli attacks in southern lebanon hezbollah responded by attacking kiryat shmona killing 1 israeli 1 israeli soldier succumbed to injuries he sustained last week when his tank overturned aj ha 11 4 aj aj aj ap ha nyt reu reu reu reu unocha unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 11 5 aj ap ap 11 6 the ministry of health in gaza said at least 9 770 palestinians have been killed including 4 008 children and 2 500 women and 24 173 have been injured in israeli airstrikes on gaza since 10 7 at least 2 260 people were buried in rubble including 1 270 children 144 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and settlers in the west bank and east jerusalem since 10 7 including 43 children more than 2 386 people have been injured around 1 400 israelis including foreign nationals have been killed and 5 431 injured since 10 7 over 1 5 million palestinians more than half the population of gaza have been displaced since 10 7 there has been a complete electricity blackout in gaza since 10 12 due to the israel blockade as of 10 23 at least 27 781 housing units have been destroyed and 150 000 have been damaged in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 the number is likely much higher given the lack of recent data egypt said the evacuation of injured palestinians and foreign passport holders has been suspended since 11 4 due to the israeli attack on an ambulance on 11 3 aj ha 11 4 aj ap ha reu unocha unocha wafa 11 5 nyt 11 6 israeli military spokesperson daniel hagari said israeli forces had divided gaza into a south gaza and a north gaza the israeli military called on palestinians in northern gaza to travel south on salah al din street between 10 a m and 2 p m israeli heritage minister amichai eliyahu suggested that israel use nuclear bombs in gaza he was later suspended from cabinet meetings but not as a minister eliyahu also suggested that the palestinian population in gaza should be forcefully displaced to ireland or the desert saudi arabia condemned the comments and called on israel to fire him israeli military rabbi amichai friedman told israeli soldiers t his is our country all of it including gaza including lebanon the entire promised land newly appointed chairperson of the knesset subcommittee on west bank issues zvi sukkot called on israel to prevent all palestinians from harvesting olives claiming the harvest endangers israeli settlers aj 11 4 aj ha ha nyt reu reu wafa wafa wafa 11 5 ap ha ha ha wafa wafa 11 6 israeli police banned an anti war protest in umm al fahm ha 11 5 king abdullah ii of jordan said the jordanian military had airdropped medical aid for a field hospital run by jordan in gaza israel later claimed it coordinated with jordan on the airdrop aj 11 4 ha 11 5 aj aj ap ha reu 11 6 pa president mahmoud abbas met with u s secretary of state antony blinken in ramallah calling on blinken to support a ceasefire abbas said that the pa could return to power in gaza if a comprehensive political solution is found to the israeli occupation u s officials said blinken had told abbas that the pa will play a central role in what comes next for gaza palestinians protested blinken s visit to ramallah blinken also traveled to iraq meeting with prime minister mohammed shia al sudani pa prime minister mohammed shtayyeh met with the french consul general to jerusalem pierre cochard discussing the upcoming french conference on aid to gaza aj 11 4 aj ha nyt reu reu wafa wafa 11 5 aj aj ap 11 6 the fatah central committee held a meeting discussing the situation in gaza in a statement after the meeting the committee condemned the barbaric war of extermination by the occupying army aj 11 6 cia director william burns arrived in israel for meetings with israeli officials aj 11 4 nyt 11 5 the new york times reported that israeli officials have been pushing other countries to lobby egypt to allow israel to displace palestinians to the sinai the times also reported that u s officials overseeing arms transfers to foreign countries will approve the sale of 24 000 assault rifles to israel despite concerns that some of the rifles will be handed out to settlers and civilian militias in israel israeli national security minister itamar ben gvir has handed out weapons to settlers and promised more will arrive axios reported on 11 6 that the biden administration the senate foreign relations committee and the house foreign affairs committee have approved the israeli purchase of m16 rifles from u s companies on the condition that they would not be handed to civilians in israeli settlements in the west bank nyt nyt 11 5 ax 11 6 thousands of turkish protesters demonstrated outside of a u s airbase in incirlik after traveling 584 miles from istanbul in solidarity with palestine turkish police violently dispersed some protesters with water cannons and tear gas aj aj 11 4 ap ha reu 11 5 ap 11 6

blog title palestine is freeing us 300 000 people march in largest pro palestine protest in washington dc author noor h date november 08 2023 content on nov 4 an estimated 300 000 people flooded freedom plaza in washington d c to participate in a national march for palestine that was organized by a coalition of grassroots and national organizations it was the largest protest for palestine in u s history demonstrators came from all corners of the united states flying in or traveling on one of the hundreds of buses coordinated across the country others walked over from their d c residences the crowd was diverse spanning generations and united by an outrage over 75 years of ethnic cleansing and settler colonialism as well as the unfolding israeli genocide in gaza the mobilization was organized by the palestinian youth movement answer coalition american muslim alliance the people s forum national students for justice in palestine the palestinian feminist collective al awda the palestine right to return coalition us palestinian community network uscpn us campaign for palestinian rights uscpr maryland2palestine and the palestinian american community center new jersey it was endorsed by more than 400 organizations demonstrators at freedom plaza in washington dc on nov 4 carry signs and protest for palestine photo by laura albast in one month israel murdered more than 10 000 palestinians under a deluge of aerial bombing and illegal white phosphorus targeting hospitals churches mosques schools bakeries residential buildings exit corridors un shelters water supplies and refugee camps since oct 7 more than one million gazans have been displaced from their homes and several towns across the west bank have faced dispossession and ethnic cleansing more palestinians have been displaced in the last month than during the entire nakba and nearly just as many have been killed in the wake of what many are now calling a genocide including scholars legal experts and un officials and what palestinians have long referred to as part of an ongoing nakba the masses in dc were there to declare that enough is enough the rally began at freedom plaza where attendees were greeted with cultural tunes free posters for all erect banners by regional contingents and dozens of pseudo caskets draped in palestinian flags lined up along the plaza steps by 12 45 p m about an hour before the official start of the protest thousands of muslims lined up for prayer initiated by an athan call to prayer from the stage the event featured a diverse lineup of speakers ranging from religious leaders and activists to lawyers and celebrities these included nadya tannous dr hatem bazian lauren pineiro mahdi bray melanie yazzie omar suleiman macklemore maysoon abu gharbieh nihad awad rasha mubarak mohammed el kurd noura erakat osama abu irshaid lamis deek vijay parshad and 36 others portraits of speakers at freedom plaza in washington dc on nov 4 from left to right omar sulaiman rasha mubarak macklemore mohammed el kurd and noura erakat photo by laura albast the crowd continued to swell as the day progressed several key themes emerged during the speeches the recent events were not isolated and occurred within the context of an ongoing occupation the palestinian struggle was interconnected with all anti colonial struggles throughout history and the palestinian cause though marked by loss and mourning was undoubtedly a just and hopeful cause for all people wherever they may be as the final speeches concluded hundreds of thousands of people moved up 14th street the crowd marched toward the white house chanting several demands including a call for an immediate ceasefire an end to the siege on gaza and an end to u s military aid to israel brian becker executive director of act now to stop war and end racism answer coalition and one of the march s national organizers emphasized a significant public shift in the palestine movement we are experiencing a fundamental change in public opinion in the united states on the issue of palestine becker said he added that the indisputably horrific footage coming out of gaza the biden administration s disgraceful embrace of israel s racist regime and the outspoken and growing number of arabs and muslims across the united states have all led to the historic numbers observed at the march though no one reason alone could account for the over quarter of a million americans marching in their capital for palestine it was clear that the tide was turning in the united states yara shoufani another national march organizer and member of the palestinian youth movement pym said in a country where education healthcare and good jobs need funding the american masses do not support their tax dollars going towards the zionist state s genocide against the palestinian people in the last year the child poverty rate in the u s has more than doubled as a result of dwindling covid 19 pandemic funds and homelessness has been steadily on the rise despite the inaction of u s officials almost two thirds of americans are now calling for a ceasefire demonstrators chant and carry signs in front of the white house in washington dc on nov 4 photo by laura albast nour jaghama palestine coordinator for the feminist anti war group codepink had a message for u s politicians are you comfortable being remembered as inhumane warmongers taking part in the genocide of men women children and the elderly jaghama said emphasizing american tax dollars being used to fund israel or will you take a stand and call for a ceasefire while u s officials have refused to take action to stop israel s carpet bombing of gaza funded in the billions by american taxpayers they have intensified efforts to suppress free speech expand surveillance and criminalize the activism of palestinians arabs muslims and their allies across the country this crackdown against pro palestine voices referred to as a mccarthyite backlash by palestine legal has created an environment of fear designed to suppress the growing movement the rise in eerily familiar post 9 11 rhetoric has not only manufactured consent for the relentless killing of palestinians in palestine but it has also led to the tragic murder of palestinians in the united states on oct 14 wadea al fayoume a six year old palestinian american boy was murdered in a hate crime al fayoume was stabbed 26 times by his landlord a man whom he previously viewed as a trusted adult figure in a week the man who had once built the young child a tree house had become his killer radicalized by the rhetoric that is once again making its way from news screens into public life neither the anti palestinian rhetoric in this moment of history nor its deadly consequences are new mohammad abou ghazala a march organizer with pym echoed this sentiment i am palestinian i have carried that always i grew up in the post 9 11 climate where palestine was beyond taboo and there was an intense sense of fear abou ghazala said and the attempts at stunting momentum for palestinian liberation span far beyond sept 11 2001 abou ghazala emphasized that much of pym s work is based on a post oslo accords framework that has come to define the modern state of the world in which palestinian students women trade unions and in the diaspora all got severed after oslo from a more cohesive organizing structure demonstrators carry signs at freedom plaza in washington dc on nov 4 photo by laura albast the widespread campaign to suppress and factionalize palestinians has only served as evidence of the movement s strength so while the attempts to isolate and instill fear in palestinians have a long history too does the palestinian solidarity movement as countless protesters in dc who spoke with palestine square this blog pointed out micah khater a protester who flew in from california to attend the march told palestine square that the history of the movement is nearly a century and what is so rich about it is that it refuses to forget the young refuse to forget the history of the old and those struggling refuse to forget those who struggled alongside them khater in imagining a world without colonialism always think s about june jordan and how she constantly invoked the connection between feminism black liberation and palestinian liberation isabella dominique a dc area organizer and march attendee said it is important to realize how much our struggles are connected people assume issues that happen outside of the country are just that but they are interconnected dominique emphasized the connection between militarized forces in america and israel linking the tactics used by israeli occupation forces against palestinians to the tactics used by u s police against black and brown americans hadiya afzal a chicago based organizer spoke to the connection between imperial powers in the formation of modern day borders pakistan was established a year before the nakba with borders drawn up by the same colonial powers that benefited from the imperialist extractionist empire before it afzal said like all people faced with violent repression afzal underscores that when a people are subjugated their solidarity will inevitably burst forward and across those imperial lines to unite and tear down their oppressors with the demand for self determination the struggle for palestinian freedom is part of a web of freedom struggles across time it is a struggle that teaches others and learns from others as a part of a collective fight for liberation lujain al saleh an organizer with the palestinian feminist collective pfc and the arab resource and organizing center aroc said we learn so much from other struggles like the haitian revolution the algerian revolution and i think it s crucial at this time to bridge our organizing and our struggle with others al saleh also said the history of the united states is based on genocide and the removal of native people along with slave owning and racial capitalism if we want to be on the right side of history what s happening right now makes it our duty to fight against our government to say that this needs to stop demonstrator films march from freedom plaza to the white house in washington dc on nov 4 photo by laura albast while the path to palestinian liberation does not run through washington d c or any governmental or non governmental organization the world is witnessing a growing awareness of the issue even those at the heart of the imperial core recognize and are inspired by the urgency of this moment from the united nations to the u s state department employees are resigning over global leaders despicable stance on palestine and while the liberation of palestine will not come from any of these institutions saturday s march was a sign that it will surely come within this lifetime the recent wave of mobilization forged from the fire of a nearly century long struggle for freedom and dignity is a testament to the inspiring steadfastness of the palestinian people recent demonstrations in egypt have seen hundreds of thousands take to the streets even though protest has been illegal in the country for over a decade the masses have chanted in freeing palestine palestine is freeing us a sentiment that has since reverberated all across the globe pym s shoufani pointed out where revolutions are repressed the struggle for palestine is a struggle that unites us and frees us all from the shackles of imperialism and colonialism indeed the masses see themselves in the struggle for palestinian liberation to the people of palestine the message is this we love you you are not alone and the world stands with you every word uttered at the march in washington d c on nov 4 was about your bravery your dignity your sacrifice and your steadfastness from those who just learned about palestine this week to those of us living in exile waiting for return you are an inspiration to everyone of all levels of political consciousness all over the globe it is because of you that many are now calling into question the so called complex narratives that were once accepted as fact it is because of you that the situation in palestine which was once ambiguous to americans has now become incredibly and unequivocally clear it is because of you that millions everywhere have been mobilized to action it is because of you that so many people see themselves in palestinians we see ourselves in your joy we see ourselves in your tears and we see ourselves in your liberation most importantly it is because of you that palestine will be free and we will all be freer for it demonstrators hold signs at freedom plaza in washington dc on nov 4 photo by laura albast

blog title brief egypt s role in gaza amidst domestic strife author zeena amin date november 08 2023 content egypt has historically and geopolitically played a pivotal role when it came to the palestinian cause situated on the border of southern palestine it controls the rafah crossing into gaza from sinai with israel s latest assault on gaza cairo has once again emerged as a key player on the middle east stage despite a growing divide between the egyptian populace and the government particularly in light of the country s increasingly dire economic situation and the upcoming presidential elections the regime appears to have recognized an opportunity to boost its popularity among the predominantly pro palestine egyptian masses and potentially restore its regional influence the egyptian people and politics have historically had a steadfast and interlaced connection to the palestinian cause as highlighted by nihal el aasar in her analysis of the recent escalations following the latest israeli assault on gaza egyptians were not only allowed but also encouraged to participate in demonstrations held on friday oct 20 by pro government and state aligned entities this marked the first time in nearly a decade and many analysts and observers concluded that it was an effort to enhance el sisi s domestic and foreign image in preparation for the upcoming elections naturally thousands took to the streets in hopes of portraying solidarity with palestinians while many also declared that their participation in those genuine demonstrations was not a sign of support for el sisi it was not surprising albeit deeply nostalgic and inspiring that some protesters broke away from the state designated demonstration areas and walked toward and into tahrir square the iconic site for egypt s 2011 uprising where they were swiftly dispersed in the days following the protests of oct 20 over 100 people out of those in both the state sanctioned protests and the spontaneous demonstrations that erupted surrounding them have reportedly been arrested by the egyptian authorities since then no further demonstrations have been organized and any protests that have erupted were almost immediately dispersed the government s attempts to stifle the egyptian public s solidarity in the streets might thus far be working however egyptians continue to express their support in various ways such as engaging with social media to raise awareness participating in initiatives to collect donations and aid for gaza and attempting to call on government officials and state sponsored media via social media and in small rallies some of these rallies have even seen people charging at the gates to the crossing rafah crossing urging its opening to allow aid from egypt to enter gaza and to facilitate the transfer of severely injured and sick individuals from gaza into egypt for medical treatment many are actively boycotting western and pro israel businesses and products as well in line with bds boycott divestment and sanctions guidelines the official egyptian state position has been to demand that israel allows for safe entry of aid into the gaza strip via the rafah crossing while also calling for an immediate humanitarian truce and rejecting the transfer of gazans into sinai these demands and egypt s desire to play on regional and international influences in this conflict were amplified when it organized the cairo peace summit on oct 21 the summit was co chaired by egyptian jordanian and palestinian leadership though it failed to produce any material resolution for the unceasing gaza assault it affirmed egypt s refusal of israel s forced displacement of palestinians the explicit israeli us backed plan to push palestinians out of gaza and into northern sinai has only recently been confirmed via a document drafted by the israeli intelligence ministry that was recently published however the plan has been evident since the events on oct 7 via various israeli officials public statements and articles one such statement was made by the former israeli deputy foreign minister in an interview with marc lamont hill on al jazeera and an article referenced in a now deleted misgav institute tweet nevertheless el sisi and the egyptian government have rejected this plan on several grounds firstly the rejection is based on egypt s refusal to allow israel to liquidate the palestinian cause by removing the palestinians from their land and into sinai in a long and historical pattern of attempts to pacify gaza using the same solution other grounds for egypt s refusal include national security considerations as outlined in this article among which are fears that by opening the rafah crossing access to hamas military operations in sinai would also be opened resulting in potential israeli retaliation on egyptian land this notion is becoming increasingly plausible even without the opening of the crossing as demonstrated by the recent incident when two projectiles hit taba and nuweiba israeli officials later alleged that the projectiles were connected to the houthis in yemen in any case the events are seen by the egyptian government as a threat to egypt s already waning stability for the egyptian people though solidarity with palestine and their support for the palestinians continues to grow both exponentially and unconditionally

blog title attempts at survival author feda ziad date november 07 2023 content nightfall during wartime is fear personified it s hard to conjure up an image of wartime nights or imagine what it is like after a long struggle for water and bread during the day we received instructions to evacuate the house we were in due to the impending danger though we couldn t figure out the location of the danger or even its general area an entire residential block received the evacuation notice and people began leaving with their belongings in hand we watched from the window in wartime you cannot make decisions on your own you are the casualty of majority decisions and you must abide by it or you will die alone or at most you will die with those you managed to convince to stay with you it s an instinctual belief that death in a group is a mercy if you are a displaced guest in someone s house who has made the decision to flee then you also once again have to flee along with them we had walked around 36 kilometers to remain in this house i write these words as the clock strikes 8 p m and we must head to the street with around 33 other people there the question emerges where do we go we don t have the luxury of an answer we re on the street and we must set aside our fear and anger in order to help others i am occupied with two wheelchair bound women while the children in the group let out their anxiety in screams i deal with mine by helping the two women as we look for a place to stay after that we will find out if it is safe the doors of the unrwa center in khan younes opened at 8 10 p m it was a food storage center with offices and furniture as well the bathrooms were out of service filthy and waterless at 8 30 p m after a great deal of negotiation we were able to secure a place for the women to stay the question still hung in the air like a child who has lost his mother s hand where do we go the answer now was to the storage room we did not have the luxury of deciding where we would sleep either a storage room with a big door a cement floor and high walls where food goes to expire 50 women and 30 children spread out on the floor my anxiety started spiraling until a security guard s order stopped it in its tracks please mind the furniture what furniture the offices were smeared with sardine oil and tuna and there were stacks of paper files and bags of supplies sir we left our houses our furniture and memories we have no desire to destroy a flour storage room i relieved my stress by transforming into a leader and organizing people in their sleeping quarters what right did i have to bark out these orders we are all displaced from gaza city to khan younes together the question dissolved and was replaced by feelings of loss and yearning the hours passed i kept checking on things everyone cooperated to exert some modicum of control over the night that brought us to this unrwa storage facility we all sang parts of the song the ballad of yearning specifically the lines i walked under the rain and the rain drenched me and when night came it set me ablaze my life remains a price i would pay for freedom we know this feeling well in gaza often expressed as sing maybe you will feel better when everyone was settled i lay on a wooden coffin like office table with a white blanket i covered my body and used my evacuation bag as a pillow we used the glow from our phones for light since there was no electricity to complete the sensation that my surroundings were a grave where i lay a coffin we all had to listen to the quran on the phone of a mother whose crying child would only be soothed by those sounds and to press that feeling of impending death we listened to the passage o reassured soul return to your lord well pleased and pleasing to him it was like a joke fate was playing on me as i experienced the feeling of natural death on the wooden coffin in a shelter center telling myself to sleep like a corpse in the morning we discovered that we had survived as long as you see the light of the full moon in the sky and feel the sting of the cold on your body there is plenty of time to survive and walk under the rain on the morning of oct 30 there was no rain but another evacuation order and a decision to return to the host s house the way back was empty because it had begun to rain and the moon was full at 5 30 p m warplanes and wartime are so terrifying that you must be careful dear displaced guest don t take photos of the moon with your phone as was your habit because a plane might think you are documenting its crimes and bomb you and whoever you are with then it is you who becomes its next war crime this testimony was translated into english by rasha moumneh it was published on our arabic blog on nov 2 2023

blog title palestinechronology press summaries on the war on gaza november 1 2 author palestine chronology staff date november 04 2023 content november 1 in the west bank israeli settlers opened fire at palestinians harvesting olives in qusra no injuries were reported israeli settlers with a military escort also raided wadi al hasin injuring 1 palestinian minor and entering homes and commercial stores israeli forces raided jenin and jenin refugee camp killing 3 palestinians including 2 in a drone strike and arresting fatah s secretary general in jenin ata abu ramila and fatah member jamal hawil israeli forces also shot and killed 1 disabled 65 year old palestinian man during a raid in tulkarm elsewhere israeli forces raided a funeral procession for 1 child killed on 10 31 in beit umar injuring 2 with live ammunition and others with tear gas israeli forces also shot and injured 2 palestinians including a child during raids in aida refugee camp and ya bad meanwhile israeli forces demolished 2 homes and 4 agricultural structures in al khader and seized a bulldozer in deir balut palestinians in the west bank and east jerusalem observed a general strike in protest over israel s attacks on gaza 62 palestinians were arrested during late night raids in and around bethlehem jenin hebron qalqilya ramallah tulkarm and nablus in east jerusalem israeli settlers toured the haram al sharif compound in gaza israel again cut off phone and internet services the services were gradually restored 8 hours later at least 280 palestinians were killed and 697 injured in israeli airstrikes in gaza israel conducted massive airstrikes on jabalia refugee camp for a second day in a row hamas said 195 palestinians were killed 777 were injured and 120 are missing in jabalia refugee camp in the past 2 days israel claimed it had assassinated hamas member muhammad asar rockets were fired at israel in lebanon israeli forces attacked several places it said was linked to hezbollah hezbollah said it had shot down an israeli drone lebanon s state run news agency said 2 lebanese shepherds were killed by israeli forces while grazing their herds by the wazzani river ha 10 31 aj aj aj aj ap ha ha ha nyt nyt reu reu unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 11 1 ap reu 11 2 the ministry of health in gaza said at least 8 805 palestinians had been killed including around 5 811 women and children and 22 240 had been injured in israeli airstrikes on gaza since 10 7 at least 1 800 people including 940 children have been reported missing 129 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and settlers in the west bank and east jerusalem since 10 7 including 35 children more than 2 274 people have been injured israel said 15 soldiers had been killed in gaza since its ground invasion leaving the israeli death toll at around 1 400 israelis including foreign nationals since 10 7 5 431 israelis have been injured the un reported that over 1 4 million palestinians more than half the population in gaza had been displaced since 10 7 there has been a complete blackout of electricity in gaza since 10 12 due to the israel blockade as of 10 23 at least 27 781 housing units have been destroyed and 150 000 have been damaged in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 the number is likely much higher given the lack of recent data about 450 people including 81 injured palestinians and people with foreign passports left gaza to egypt via the rafah crossing it was reported that qatari mediation had brokered the agreement for a limited evacuation of some people from gaza 55 trucks carrying aid entered gaza pa health minister mai al kaila said the only cancer hospital in gaza the turkish palestinian friendship hospital had stopped operating due to israeli bombardments and running out of fuel the indonesian hospital s main generator stopped working putting the hospital s oxygen station ventilators air conditioners and fridges in the morgue out of commission 14 out of 35 hospitals in gaza were out of commission the un said 11 out of 20 bakeries in gaza have been destroyed in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 the un also said it had recorded 171 settler related incidents of violence against palestinians and palestinian property 7 a day since 10 7 unrwa commissioner general philippe lazzarini visited gaza saying the scale of the tragedy is unprecedented ha 10 31 aj aj aj aj ap ap ap ha ha nyt nyt reu reu reu reu unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 11 1 aj ap ap 11 2 36 palestinians fled their homes in al ganoub near hebron due to israeli settler violence unocha 11 1 the israel prison service said 6 704 palestinians were imprisoned in israel including 2 070 who were held in administrative detention 1 512 were imprisoned during the month of october al jazeera reported that arafat hamdan who died in israeli custody on 10 24 died because he was beaten and left in the sun with a bag over his head for hours while being refused his diabetes medicine palestinian prisoners society spokesperson amani sarahneh said a medical report issued by the israel prison service showed that omar daraghmeh who died in israeli custody on 10 23 had internal bleeding particularly in his stomach and intestines the un human rights office reported that palestinians arrested by israel have been subject to violent and humiliating acts by israeli forces during their arrest aj unocha 11 1 ha 11 2 hamas said that 7 of the captives held by hamas were killed in the israeli airstrikes on jabalia refugee camp on 10 31 saying almost 50 of the captives have been killed in israeli bombardments since 10 7 aj 11 1 reporters without borders rsf filed war crime complaints to the icc in relation to the killing of 8 palestinian and 1 israeli journalists rsf said 34 journalists had been killed since 10 7 the organization also said that more journalists have been killed since 10 7 than in in any other conflict since 1992 aj ap 11 1 ha 11 2 un commissioner for human rights volker turk said the israeli attacks on jabalia refugee camp could amount to war crimes colombian president gustavo petro condemned the attack and said i t s called genocide they do it to remove the palestinian people from gaza and take it over eu high commissioner for foreign policy josep borell called the jabalia refugee camp attack appalling aj reu wafa wafa wafa wafa 11 1 aj aj aj ha 11 2 pa prime minister mohammad shtayyeh and foreign minister riyad al maliki met with uk minister of state for the middle east and north africa lord tariq ahmed in ramallah calling on the uk to support a ceasefire wafa 11 1 israeli defense minister yoav gallant said israeli finance minister bezalel smotrich should transfer the pa tax revenue to the pa as it helps in preventing terrorism it was reported that gallant was left with the decision of whether to use new emergency regulations to ban al jazeera s operations in israel israeli sources told haaretz that the israeli government was hesitant to shut down al jazeera s operations in israel as it may undermine qatari negotiations on a prisoner exchange aj reu 11 1 ha ha 11 2 the religious zionism party said its mk zvi sukkot will be appointed chairman of the knesset subcommittee on west bank issues sukkot has been arrested several times and had restraining orders against entering the west bank for his connection to settler violence ha 11 1 ha 11 2 jordan recalled its ambassador to israel aj aj reu wafa 11 1 ha 11 2 for the first time u s president joe biden called for a pause to get the prisoners out white house press secretary katrine jean pierre announced that the biden administration will develop a national strategy to counter islamophobia in the u s mentioning the barbaric killing of wadea al fayoume a palestinian american child who was killed by his landlord near chicago on 10 15 the u s house of representatives blocked a motion to censure democrat rashida tlaib d mi the motion which was brought to the floor by marjorie taylor greene r ga charged tlaib with anti semitic activity and leading an insurrection referring to a jewish led sit in at the capitol where protestors demanded a ceasefire in gaza taylor greene has herself made anti semitic comments 23 republicans voted against the motion and 13 democrats abstained national security council spokesperson john kirby said the u s still wants to move forward with its efforts to normalize ties between saudi arabia and israel and claimed that saudi arabia has indicated a willingness to proceed aj 11 1 aj aj aj ap ap ha 11 2 the houthi led yemeni government said it would continue to carry out military operations against israel until israel stops attacking gaza ha 11 2 pope francis called for a 2 state solution with jerusalem as a special status city aj 11 1 reu 11 2 november 2 in the west bank 1 palestinian child succumbed to injuries sustained from israeli forces on 10 30 in zawata israeli settlers set fire to vehicles and buildings in deir sharaf set fire to olive trees in jit and threw stones on a road between the 2 towns causing damage israeli settlers also attacked palestinian homes in shaab al butum in the masafer yatta area causing damage elsewhere israeli settlers attacked a motorist in the jordan valley destroying his car the man was able to escape 1 israeli settler wearing an israeli military uniform was shot and killed near beit lid israeli forces shot and killed 4 palestinians including 1 child during raids in qalqilya jenin and al bireh israeli forces also shot and injured 9 palestinians during raids in huwwara jenin al bireh and qalqilya elsewhere israeli forces assaulted 1 palestinian man in salfit israeli forces also demolished 6 vending stalls in jalamah 65 palestinians were arrested during late night raids in and around ramallah bethlehem and hebron in east jerusalem israeli forces raided the makassed hospital arresting patients from gaza in gaza israeli military spokesperson daniel hagari said israel forces had surrounded gaza city completely at least 256 palestinians were killed and 671 injured in israeli airstrikes in gaza israeli airstrikes also killed palestine tv journalist mohammed abu hatab and 10 members of his family in what palestine tv called a deliberate assassination of its employee unrwa said 4 unrwa shelters were hit by israeli airstrikes killing 23 displaced palestinians 2 palestinians were wounded by machine gun fire from an israeli tank in al quds hospital in gaza city hamas said it hit 2 israeli tanks with anti tank shells in northern gaza 2 israeli soldiers were killed in gaza rockets were fired at israel in lebanon hezbollah said it had destroyed 19 israeli military sites along the blue line hamas said it fired 12 rockets at israel from lebanon causing damage in kiryat shemona israel reportedly killed 5 civilians in strikes on wadi al sulouqi and meiss ej jabal aj aj aj ha ha nyt nyt nyt nyt reu unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 11 2 aj aj ap ap reu wafa 11 3 the ministry of health in gaza said at least 9 061 palestinians had been killed including around 5 980 women and children and 22 911 had been injured in israeli airstrikes on gaza since 10 7 at least 1 800 including 940 children have been reported missing 134 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and settlers in the west bank and east jerusalem since 10 7 including 37 children more than 2 274 have been injured israel said 20 soldiers had been killed in gaza since its ground invasion leaving the israeli death toll at around 1 400 israelis including foreign nationals since 10 7 5 431 israelis have been injured the un reported that over 1 5 million palestinians more than half the population in gaza had been displaced since 10 7 there has been a complete electricity blackout in gaza since 10 12 due to the israel blockade as of 10 23 at least 27 781 housing units have been destroyed and 150 000 have been damaged in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 the number is likely much higher given the lack of recent data for the second day in a row around 400 foreign passport holders and about 60 injured palestinians were evacuated to egypt via the rafah crossing 102 truckloads of humanitarian aid entered gaza unrwa said 72 of its employees have been killed since 10 7 ha 11 1 aj ap ap ha nyt nyt reu unocha wafa wafa wafa 11 2 41 palestinians fled their homes in khirbet zanuta due to israeli settler attacks 141 palestinians from the same village fled on 10 28 unocha 11 2 pa president mahmoud abbas spoke with pope francis discussing israeli attacks on palestinians in gaza and the west bank wafa 11 2 israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu called on palestinian civilians to move south from northern gaza despite israeli forces having seized control of the 2 main roads leading from north to south israeli forces have been reportedly opening fire at civilians traveling on the roads aj 11 2 the israeli security cabinet decided to deduct funds from the pa tax revenue that is used in gaza in addition to the funds it deducts from the pa that are said to be used for paying stipends to the families of palestinian prisoners and palestinians killed by israel the cabinet also decided to no longer allow palestinians from gaza to work in israel and to send those held in the israeli internment camps back to gaza interior minister moshe arbel approved a memorandum making it easier for israel to revoke the citizenship for people accused of supporting inciting or identifying with a terrorist organization arbel also transferred 50 4 million to 67 palestinian municipalities in israel after the funds had been frozen by finance minister bezalel smotrich since july israeli military chief of staff herzl halevi said israel would allow fuel to enter gaza to keep hospitals running however prime minister netanyahu s office rejected the move aj ha ha ha reu reu 11 2 aj ap ha ha 11 3 haaretz reported that the israeli military is setting up a program to train and arm israeli settlers to guard israeli settlements the military said it was willing to overlook criminal records in hiring the settlers to guard the settlements ha 11 2 germany banned all activities by hamas and the palestinian prisoner advocacy group samidoun aj aj ap ha reu 11 2 the bahraini parliament said the country had recalled its ambassador to israel and frozen economic ties israel s ambassador to bahrain left manama shortly after the bahraini government later confirmed it had recalled the ambassador but did not mention the freezing of economic ties aj aj ha reu 11 2 ap 11 3 un secretary general antonio guterres said in a report issued by the un that israel has used disproportionate force in the west bank in recent years saying some killings appeared to amount to extrajudicial executions ap 11 3 the un refugee agency said it would cut the number of palestinian refugee families that receive cash assistance in lebanon by a third from next year citing budget restraints ap 11 2 chilean president gabriel boric met with u s president joe biden at the white house after the meeting boric said the israeli response to al aqsa floods operation on 10 7 had been disproportionate and unacceptable and condemned both hamas and israel boric who recalled chile s ambassador to israel on 10 31 said he would not relay what biden had said to him about the conflict ha 11 2 aj 11 3 the u s house of representatives passed a bill that would provide 14 3 billion in aid to israel and deduct the same amount from the internal revenue service irs the bill was unlikely to pass in the senate due to the deduction in funds from the irs and the lack of funding for ukraine senator chris murphy d ct said the civilian deaths in gaza were unacceptable and called on israel to immediately reconsider its strategy and shift to a more deliberate and proportionate counterterrorism campaign senator dick durbin d il called for a ceasefire among the u s senators to do so vice president kamala harris said the u s will not condition its support for israel aj ap ha nyt reu reu reu 11 2 aj aj 11 3 irish president michael higgins called for an immediate ceasefire ha 11 2 the american civil liberties union called on 650 university leaders to reject the targeting of pro palestinian groups for exercising their right to free speech ha 11 2 sweden said it would donate an additional 13 4 million to gaza on top of its 50 million in aid to palestinians for 2023 norway said it will increase its support to gaza via unicef by 2 million saudi arabia said king salman had donated 8 million and crown prince mohammed bin salman had donated 5 million to a relief campaign for palestinians in gaza ap nyt 11 2

blog title brief 28 days of genocide author asma barakat date november 03 2023 content nov 3 marks 28 days of accelerated isolation genocide and displacement in the occupied gaza strip during this past week in particular israel has committed hundreds of human rights atrocities the gravity of the situation is nearly impossible to keep up with israel has been deliberately targeting journalists and their families 31 journalists in gaza and one journalist in lebanon have been killed by israeli missile strikes as this article was completed we learned that an israeli airstrike killed palestine tv journalist mohammad abu hatab with 11 members of his family we backspaced and updated the rising number on oct 25 wael al dahdouh al jazeera s bureau chief in gaza was reporting just moments before a bomb targeted the nuseirat refugee camp in the center of the strip where his family was seeking refuge after being displaced by the initial bombardment several of al dahdouh s family members including his wife daughter and grandson were murdered by the indiscriminate bombing journalists across occupied palestine especially in gaza are extremely valuable and key in reporting the reality of the israeli regime s continued ethnic cleansing and genocide campaign the escalated deadly attacks on journalists and their loved ones aim to intimidate journalists to stop reporting on the countless massacres being committed against palestinians wael al dahdouh and other palestinian journalists will not succumb to these tactics al dahdouh stated in a video addressing the public s condolences that it is his duty to continue reporting on the war crimes being committed regardless of what happens israel has used other criminal methods in attempts to silence the people of gaza including imposing a complete blackout on the gaza strip since october 28 gaza has undergone multiple telecommunications blackouts it is during these moments of complete isolation from the outside world that the iof commits its most gruesome crimes al jazeera reports palestinians in gaza were unable to communicate with people outside the enclave for a second day on saturday after some of the heaviest bombing of the war and reports by hamas of limited ground incursions by israeli forces overnight the iof attempted a ground invasion into gaza from the south on oct 22 but was forced to withdraw as palestinian fighters destroyed two bulldozers and a tank but in recent days the iof invaded the besieged territory and has clashed with palestinian fighters in the vicinity of gaza city the israeli regime claims that a ground invasion will put more pressure on hamas to release the captives hamas has previously offered a prisoner exchange which israel refused to entertain in a video released on oct 30 three captives blamed israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu for the delay in their release stating their support for a prisoner exchange israel has been holding 5 200 palestinians captive in its prisons including 170 children many are illegally administratively detained without charge israel prison authorities began facilitating torture beatings and threats against the prisoners and have imposed inhumane restrictions in an act of collective punishment the iof has ramped up its campaign of arbitrary arrest throughout the west bank in less than three weeks the number of palestinians detained by the iof doubled in size al jazeera reports that more than 10 000 palestinians are being unjustly detained the head of the palestinian authority s commission for detainees affairs qadura fares explained that everyone who is arrested is assaulted many of the prisoners have had their limbs hands and legs broken degrading and insulting expressions insults cursing tying them with handcuffs to the back and tightening them at the end to the point of causing severe pain naked humiliating and group search of the prisoners footage filmed by israeli soldiers themselves depicts their crimes palestinian men who have been kidnapped from their homes across the occupied west bank are being blindfolded restrained and abused videos of palestinian men being stripped naked dragged across the ground and stomped on have been circulating on israeli telegram channels as the middle east eye reports the iof is not only targeting the people but also living monuments on oct 27 israeli forces bulldozed shireen abu akleh s memorial in jenin which was built on top of the site of her assassination in may 2022 while wreaking havoc the iof dismantled and stole the jenin horse a statue erected in the jenin refugee camp made from the remains of an ambulance that israeli forces bombed while it was transporting injured palestinians in 2002 during the second intifada while the list of human rights atrocities triples in size by the hour across the occupied land and the death toll in gaza has rapidly surpassed 9 000 people the united nations is holding meetings fumbling over what to make of this aggression the un seems to be having a difficult time naming genocide so much so that the director of the new york office of the high commissioner for human rights craig mokhiber has resigned in mokhiber s letter of resignation he directly states this is a textbook case of genocide the european ethno nationalist settler colonial project in palestine has entered its final phase toward the expedited destruction of the last remnants of indigenous palestinian life in palestine this resignation comes after u s president joe biden doubled down on pro palestinian activism on college campuses specifically targeting north american chapters of students for justice in palestine in a ridiculous attempt at defamation and delegitimizing the calls for freedom and justice for palestinians biden labeled the group as antisemitic repugnant and morally contemptible meanwhile the white house press secretary has called support for a ceasefire as disgraceful biden s approval rating amongst arab american voters has plummeted to 17 from 59 in 2020 muslims in swing states have also threatened to vote against biden in the 2023 presidential election he has earned the nickname genocide joe in what appears to be an attempt to salvage these votes the biden administration announced the development of the nation s first national strategy to counter islamophobia in response the national director of the american arab anti discrimination committee tweeted the arab and muslim american communities aren t dumb your administration is playing an active role in the genocide happening in gaza that has killed 9 500 people and 3 500 children you think some bankrupt counter islamophobia project is going to erase or excuse that on nov 2 the u s house of representatives approved a 14 3 billion military aid package to israel which includes weapons transfer the united states has continuously funded the ethnic cleansing of the palestinians funneling 3 billion annually for israel s military the united states government has not only refused to condemn the mass slaughter of palestinians but also begun shaming anyone from college students to public officials for their concerns with this human catastrophe arab governments have been idle while the arab people have revolted en masse raising their voices in support of the palestinian struggle for liberation this comes as a leaked document from the israeli regime has called for the ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of palestinians from gaza into egypt yet in a glimmer of international solidarity bolivia has severed ties with israel while colombia and chile recalled their ambassadors palestinians in gaza are facing an incomprehensible level of pain and suffering as they are drawing near a month of nonstop massacres since oct 7 the world health organization in occupied palestine has documented 200 attacks on health care in the occupied palestinian territory according to euromed human rights monitor israel targeted 108 health facilities and killed 114 health staff a little after 1 a m gaza time on nov 3 al shifa hospital the largest in gaza sheltering more than 50 000 displaced palestinians and treating more than 2500 casualties of israeli bombs announced that the main power generator had turned off israel has repeatedly bombed jabalia camp since oct 7 on oct 31 and nov 1 israel targetted the camp once more killing 195 and wounding 777 the gaza s government media office said that an estimated 120 are still missing under the rubble palestinian journalist plestiaalaqad who is currently reporting from gaza said my beautiful hometown gaza is becoming a ghost town where you smell death as you walk where you look and everything around you is bombed and destroyed where all you can hear are the sound of bombs airstrikes and kids crying and screaming from fear and pain laura albast and anna rajagopal contributed to the reporting of this brief

blog title palestinechronology press summaries on the war on gaza october 30 31 author palestine chronology staff date november 01 2023 content october 30 in the west bank 1 palestinian succumbed to injuries sustained by israeli forces during a raid in ras karkar last week israeli settlers posing as israeli forces forced 3 palestinian families to demolish their residential tents on the outskirts of hizma israeli forces shot and killed 4 palestinians during a raid in jenin 9 were injured including 1 in a drone strike on a house israeli forces also shot and killed 1 palestinian during a raid in masafer yatta elsewhere israeli forces shot and injured 44 palestinians during raids in beita al khalil hebron zawata safa al ram dura al qar anata and dheisheh refugee camp 60 palestinians were arrested during late night raids in and around ramallah silwad al khalil hebron nablus bethlehem tulkarm and qalqilya in jerusalem israeli forces shot and killed 1 palestinian in shaykh jarrah claiming he had stabbed and injured a police officer in gaza israeli airstrikes killed at least 304 palestinians israel said it had carried out 600 airstrikes in the past 24 hours hamas said it had repelled israeli advances near gaza city forcing israeli tanks and bulldozers to retreat israel hit the turkish palestinian friendship cancer hospital causing extensive damage near lebanon 1 israeli soldier was killed and 2 others injured when an israeli tank rolled over them near the blue line israel attacked several places in lebanon 3 mortar shells were fired at israel in syria israeli forces carried out airstrikes saying it had hit targets that fired rockets towards israel ap 10 29 aj aj aj aj ap ha nyt nyt nyt reu reu unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 10 30 ha nyt 10 31 the ministry of health in gaza said at least 8 309 palestinians had been killed including around 5 000 women and children and 21 048 had been injured in israeli airstrikes on gaza since 10 7 1 800 including 940 children have been reported missing in addition it has been reported by israeli media that 1 500 palestinian militants have been killed near gaza 122 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and settlers in the west bank and east jerusalem since 10 7 including 33 children more than 2 208 have been injured israeli officials recorded no new fatalities leaving the israeli death toll at around 1 400 israelis including foreign nationals 5 431 have been injured since 10 7 the un reported that over 1 4 million palestinians more than half the population in gaza had been displaced since 10 7 and that since 11pm on 10 12 there had been a complete blackout of electricity due to the israel blockade at least 27 781 housing units have been destroyed and 150 000 have been damaged in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 as of 10 23 at least 45 of all housing units have been either destroyed or damaged in israeli airstrikes unrwa said 10 of its staff had been killed in the past 3 days bringing the total number of unrwa staff killed by israel to 63 26 trucks carrying aid to gaza entered the rafah crossing the who said it had not been able to resupply al shifa and al quds hospitals because of the risk of israeli airstrikes the palestinian red crescent society said an israeli airstrike damaged its warehouse in gaza city israel closed off the water to gaza again after reopening 2 water lines the past week aj ha unocha wafa wafa 10 30 hamas released a video of 3 israeli captives calling on israel to facilitate their release israel said it had released 1 captive from hamas during an operation in gaza aj aj aj ap ha nyt reu reu 10 30 al jazeera journalist youmna elsayed said her family had received a phone call from israel warning them to flee south from gaza city al jazeera condemned the threat against their journalist in a statement saying israel s actions continue with impunity as they attempt to silence the messenger aj aj 10 30 pa foreign minister riyad al maliki met with cypriot foreign minister constantinos kombos discussing the need for an immediate ceasefire wafa 10 30 israeli media reported that israeli finance minister bezalel smotrich had sent a letter to prime mister benjamin netanyahu informing him that monthly payments to the pa delivering the pa s tax revenue had stopped aj 10 30 a draft document written by the israeli ministry of intelligence said israel may try to forcefully displace palestinians in gaza to egypt which was the favorable option 2 other options in the document suggested that israel hands control of gaza to the pa or establish local arab rule by palestinians in gaza israeli sources verified the authenticity of the document but said the government is not expected to debate the proposals ha 10 30 ap 10 31 the israeli high court of justices denied a petition by 3 israeli organizations to remove a temporary order allowing worsening conditions for palestinian prisoners the judges said t he assessment of human rights violations in times of war is not comparable to such assessments in peaceful situations ha 10 30 al haq al mezan and the palestinian centre for human rights urged icc prosecutor karim khan to issue arrest warrants for israeli authorities and military personnel aj 10 30 wafa 10 31 at the un security council pa envoy to the un riyad mansour criticized the international community for not forcing israel to stop its bombing on gaza saying they are besieged and bombed with nowhere safe to go israeli un ambassador gilad erdan wore a yellow star of david resembling the markings forced on jewish people by nazi germany saying never again dani dayan the chairperson of the israeli holocaust remembrance center yad vashem said erdan s actions disgraces both holocaust victims and israel unrwa director phillippe lazzarini told the council that a ceasefire was a matter of life and death for millions and charged israel with collective punishment aj nyt wafa 10 30 ap ap ha ha ha wafa 10 31 ha 11 1 israeli defense minister yoav gallant said hamas will die fighting or surrender without any conditions aj 10 30 u s national security council spokesperson john kirby said the u s does not support a ceasefire reiterating the white house s position that a ceasefire would only benefit hamas kirby stated the u s position was to support temporary localized humanitarian pauses for aid and for people to get out the u s also said 4 rockets were launched at the ain al asad air base causing no injuries or damage saudi defense minister khalid bin salman said he discussed the need for a ceasefire during a meeting with national security advisor jake sullivan aj ha reu reu 10 30 aj 10 31 uk foreign secretary james cleverly said the uk was working to facilitate a temporary ceasefire to have more aid enter gaza uk parliamentary private secretary paul bristow was fired from the conservative government for writing a letter to prime minister rishi sunak calling for a ceasefire aj reu 10 30 aj aj ha 10 31 axios reported that israeli mossad director david barnea traveled to qatar over the weekend for meetings with qatar officials regarding a prisoner exchange with hamas secretary blinken spoke with qatari prime minister mohammed bin abdulrahman al thani discussing the humanitarian situation in gaza and qatari efforts to mediate a prisoner exchange aj ax ha 10 30 oic secretary general hussein brahim taha condemned the israeli attacks on gaza calling on the international community to intervene wafa 10 30 october 31 in the west bank 1 palestinian child succumbed to injuries sustained by israeli forces in zawata on 10 30 israeli settlers opened fire at palestinian farmers in beit umar causing damage to a vehicle and forcing the palestinians to flee israeli forces shot and killed 2 palestinians during raids in tubas and beit umar including 1 child and a 70 year old man israeli forces also shot and injured 8 palestinians during raids in qabatiya tubas dheisheh refugee camp elsewhere israeli forces demolished the family home of senior hamas member saleh al arouri in aroura israeli forces placed a flag in the rubble of the house saying hamas equals isis israeli forces also uprooted 12 olive trees and razed farmland in farkha 52 palestinians were arrested during late night raids in and around bethlehem hebron nablus jenin tulkarm and ramallah in east jerusalem israeli settlers toured the haram al sharif compound in gaza israeli airstrikes killed more than 200 palestinians israel said it had attacked 300 targets in gaza and assassinated hamas commanders nasim abu ajina and ibrahim biari in airstrikes the airstrike that israel claimed killed biari killed at least 50 and injured 150 in jabaliya refugee camp and leveled 30 residential buildings hamas denied that israel had killed biari hamas said it killed 1 israeli soldier and damage 2 vehicles near gaza city israel said 10 soldiers had been killed during the ground invasion today rockets were fired at israel causing damage and injuries israel said it shot down a drone near eliat the houthi led government in yemen claimed responsibility in lebanon israel said it intercepted a surface to air missile fired at an israeli drone and killed 1 member of hezbollah ha 10 30 aj aj aj aj aj ap ap ap ha ha nyt nyt nyt nyt nyt reu reu reu reu reu unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 10 31 aj ap ha ha ha ha 11 1 the ministry of health in gaza said at least 8 525 palestinians had been killed in israeli airstrikes including around 5 700 women and children and 21 543 had been injured in israeli airstrikes on gaza since 10 7 1 800 including 940 children have been reported missing in addition it has been reported by israeli media that 1 500 palestinian militants have been killed near gaza 125 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and settlers in the west bank and east jerusalem since 10 7 including 35 children more than 2 209 have been injured israel said 10 soldiers were killed in gaza leaving the israeli death toll at around 1 400 israelis including foreign nationals 5 431 have been injured since 10 7 the un reported that over 1 4 million palestinians more than half the population in gaza had been displaced since 10 7 and that since 11pm on 10 12 there had been a complete blackout of electricity due to the israel blockade at least 27 781 housing units have been destroyed and 150 000 have been damaged in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 as of 10 23 59 truckloads of aid entered gaza un secretary general antonio guterres called the pace of aid entering gaza completely inadequate unicef spokesperson james elder described gaza as a graveyard for thousands of children and a living hell for everyone else aj aj aj ap unocha wafa wafa 10 31 ha 11 1 amnesty international said israel had used white phosphorus smoke artillery shells in south lebanon between 10 10 and 10 16 indiscriminately and therefore unlawfully amnesty said israel injured 9 civilians with white phosphorus in dhayra on 10 16 the lebanese civil defense said it was fighting wildfires in southern lebanon that it claimed erupted due to israel firing white phosphorous shells aj ap ha reu 10 31 hamas spokesperson abu obaida said hamas will release a number of captives who hold other passports than israeli in the coming days saying we do not want to hold them in the gaza strip abu obeida also said the israeli soldier israel claimed to have freed on 10 30 was not held by hamas hamas pollical leader ismail haniyeh met with iranian foreign minister hossein amir abdollahian in qatar the interior minister in gaza iyad al bazom said israel is seeking to separate northern gaza from the south with its ground invasion aj aj ha reu 10 31 fatah called for a general strike on 11 1 in response to the attack on jabaliya refugee camp pa president mahmoud abbas spoke with uk prime minister rishi sunak discussing the situation in gaza and the need for a political solution on the israeli occupation ha wafa wafa 10 31 the shin bet warned the israeli government of an explosion in violence in the west bank due to the increase in israeli settler attacks aj 10 31 the israeli military issued an temporary order of minimum sentences of 2 years for palestinians in the west bank who are convicted of having association with hamas islamic jihad the lions den and isis and 1 year for incitement attempting to enter a restricted location and obtaining information about the location in the context of terror organizations ha 10 31 the wall street journal reported that egyptian prime minister mustafa madbouly said egypt is ready to sacrifice the lives of millions to ensure palestinians do not flee or are forcefully displaced to egypt ha 10 31 bolivia announced that it had severed ties with israel due to the aggressive and disproportionate israeli military offensive taking place in the gaza strip israel condemned bolivia for supporting terrorism bolivian israeli ties were restored in 2020 by the right wing interim president jaenine anez after they were first cut by president evo morales in 2009 colombia and chile recalled their ambassadors from israel for consultations saudi arabia egypt the uae and jordan condemned israel s massive airstrike on the jabaliya refugee camp qatar called the attack a new massacre against the defenseless palestinian people scottish first minister humza yousaf said i am sorry to those innocent men women and children in jabalia refugee camp that the world could not protect you this blatant disregard for human life must be condemned unequivocally calling for a ceasefire the arab league reiterated its call for an immediate ceasefire aj ap ha reu wafa wafa wafa 10 31 aj aj ap ha ha reu 11 1 the financial times reported that israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu asked his austrian and czech counterparts to lobby eu members to pressure egypt into taking refugees from gaza germany and france reportedly dismissed the idea aj 10 31 u s president joe biden spoke to king abudullah ii of jordan discussing humanitarian aid to gaza secretary of state antony blinken and israeli president isaac herzog discussed aid and the need to protect civilians in gaza and the west bank u s national security council spokesperson john kirby said the u s had told israel that the need for fuel in gaza was urgent responding to a question on israeli prime minister netanyahu comparing palestinians to the biblical people amalek kirby said i am not qualified to speak much on biblical history but we have been crystal clear on our concern about genocidal behavior about any leader that is not what we are seeing israel desire to do further claiming that israel is trying to prevent civilian casualties u s ambassador to the un linda thomas greenfield said the u s is deeply concerned by the significant uptick in violence against palestinian civilians in the west bank the u s deployed a f 15e fighter jet squadron and special forces to jordan 25 u s heavy transport planes also landed in jordan the pentagon said the u s had soldiers in israel helping with identifying captives held by hamas the u s criticized lebanon for not filling the presidential seat leaving it open for 365 days at the u s senate a member of code pink was removed while castigating secretary blinken for the u s complicity in the israeli attacks on gaza while several others held their hands covered in red dye raised blinking told the senate that the u s and other countries had discussed the future of gaza including having the pa govern there the u s senate confirmed in a 53 43 vote former treasury secretary jack lew as the next u s ambassador to israel all democrats and republican senators lindsey graham r sc and rand paul r ky voted to confirm lew aj ap ha ha ha nyt nyt reu reu reu 10 31 aj nyt reu 11 1 eu high representative for foreign affairs josep borell discussed the need to restore a political horizon and relaunch the peace process with the foreign ministers of saudi arabia jordan egypt and representatives from the oic aj ha wafa 10 31 a poll commissioned by the arab american institute found that arab american support for u s president joe biden had decreased 42 since 2020 it has plummeted to 17 4 in support 40 of the people polled said they would vote for donald trump 13 7 for robert f kennedy jr and 3 8 for cornel west while 25 1 said they were undecided aj ha reu reu 10 31 virginia attorney general jason miyares said he will open an investigation into american muslims for palestine amp alleging that the organization was providing support to terrorist organizations and was not fundraising with a proper registration amp denied the allegations and said miyares was attempting to score political points with hateful extremists aj ha 10 31 4 belgian transport workers unions issued a joint statement calling on its members to refuse handling military equipment being sent to israel calling israel s actions in gaza genocide reu 10 31 director of the new york office of the un high commissioner for human rights craig mokhiber resigned in a letter to un high commissioner for human rights volker turk saying the un was failing in its mission to stop genocide in refence to the israeli attacks on gaza mokhiber accused the u s the uk and parts of europe with being complicit in the israeli genocide in gaza gdn nyt 10 31

blog title denying motherhood in gaza author lama ghosheh date october 31 2023 content as palestinian women we watch the news with the eyes and hearts of mothers constantly fearing for our children and striving to protect them from missiles and bullets of the occupation that aim at their innocent faces and small bodies we constantly ask ourselves why must mothers in gaza and palestine endure such pain what does it mean to be a mother in occupied palestine is giving birth in this land a crime against our children motherhood in occupied palestine can be defined as a constant state of fear grief and anger it means perpetually preparing for loss and learning to control our emotions it involves preparing our children for forced absences sudden deaths unexpected arrests critical injuries and more the sources of pain are numerous keeping us constantly on edge yet reasons for hope are scarce as palestinian mothers our role is to maintain a balance between pain and hope in our children s hearts and minds making life possible and bearable artwork by sliman mansour in this article i aim to share the experiences of women in gaza during the ongoing war bring their voices to the forefront while ours take a step back my goal is to shed light on the unseen and untold suffering they endure i wish to narrate their stories those that were overlooked by camera lenses and left untold by reporters on television amidst the overwhelming bloodshed and horrific death toll there has been little space left for grief mourning and catharsis policies of denying motherhood during the war on gaza since oct 7 women in gaza have been subjected to unbearable and unimaginable suffering making them vulnerable to various forms of oppression by the occupation forces they have experienced the worst kinds of pain oppression and loss their senses have been numbed their bodies violated their memories shattered and their motherhood denied gaza is experiencing a mass genocide that transcends time and reveals an impending death threatening all living beings in a scene devoid of any semblance of humanity heba abu nada a martyr from gaza wrote on her facebook page on oct 9 just days before her death on oct 23 describing this war compared to previous wars waged by the israeli forces on gaza in recent years in every previous war israel had a specific pattern of targets sometimes it was families sometimes mosques sometimes streets sometimes border or central areas and sometimes residential towers there was a plan for the bombardment that we the ones under fire understood and based on that we could predict the targets the airstrikes and the expected duration of the war but this time there is no specific pattern everything is under attack like all previous wars crushed into one gaza from north to south is under indiscriminate and relentless fire a state of mass slaughter and arbitrary assassination of everything in the same vein a woman who is five months pregnant asks through a facebook page dedicated to maternal and child care the situation here is dangerous and the sounds of exploding missiles are terrifying i franticaklly run around the house every hour and i am forcefully startled from the sounds of missiles and jolt awake terrified at night for two days now i haven t felt my baby kick at all how do i know if my baby is still alive this fear filled question haunts thousands of women currently there are more than 493 000 displaced women and girls in gaza due to the war and the number is on the rise among them are 900 widowed women who are now responsible for supporting their families after the death of their partners there are also more than 2 187martyred women as of oct 31 50 000 pregnant women waiting to give birth including 5 522 expected to deliver in the next month while there are 540 000 women of childbearing age in gaza mothers in gaza face immense risks they live in a state of daily fear and trauma with limited access to medical supplies they may even face difficulties having access to anesthetics and pain relief or other essential medications during complicated childbirth and labor palestinian women in gaza also face an increased chance of miscarriage stillbirth or premature birth as a result maternal mortality rates during childbirth are likely to continue to rise additionally women in gaza suffer from a lack of sanitary pads and the necessary water for maintaining personal hygiene they are forced to sleep on the floor in shelters exposed to the elements and experiencing great physical discomfort some women have resorted to taking birth control pills to stop their menstrual cycle which could cause future health risks this situation underscores the harsh reality that pregnancy postpartum childbirth menstruation and abortion do not cease during war wombs under siege researcher nadera shalhoub kevorkian describes how the israeli occupation uses women s bodies and their wombs as tools of blackmail and intimidation she states i have talked extensively about how to read women s sexuality in the context of israeli settler violence and one example in my writings is that during the war on gaza mordechai kedar an academic who served for 25 years in the israeli military intelligence when asked about how to deal with palestinian resistance he said the only way is to frighten them and rape their women in the battle of jenin israeli soldiers announced over loudspeakers people of jenin surrender yourselves and spare your women similarly researcher nour bader in an interview on the same topic highlights her work with gazan women with terminal breast cancer while filming her documentary titled the edge of death she sheds light on the intricate network of oppression that women face women s wombs in gaza have remained under siege for seventeen years and these women have suffered greatly due to extremely harsh living conditions as long as the womb keeps working it keeps giving birth this popular phrase should make us recognize the cruelty of treating the womb as a mere machine or vessel tasked only with giving birth if you look at the women themselves you would know that these wombs were never mere vessels for children they are the first cradles for our children in this cradle our feelings for our unborn children began to take shape through waiting and eagerness to see our children s faces and hear their voices feelings that then develop into a strong bond as we hold our children close to our hearts after birth artwork by sliman mansour in response to a question about the policies of denying motherhood during the war particularly through the specter of repeated loss bader states loss during the war makes us question the value of life as mothers this is why denying palestinian women mothering is key to the colonial project with repeated loss mothers cry out take us with them bury us with them with the loss of their children mothers lose the meaning of their life what else does it mean to kill everyone that women love and live for her children are killed yet she is asked to give birth again and again to grieve repeatedly as a mother i can say that pregnancy could become a source of fear instead of joy in normal circumstances pregnancy is a source of happiness and delight however in the context of war pregnancy can become a source of fear and confusion as you fear the death of your unborn children even before their actual birth similarly dr ibrahim matar a witness to the worst atrocities of this war describes one of the most painful scenes he witnessed i saw mothers running in the corridors crying as if the world had ended they gasped with wild questions and screamed are they alive who is still alive where are my children i have no one but them oh god the martyr heba abu nada described mothers primary role in gaza which is to worry mothers don t understand ordinary phone calls intended to reassure or ask about the time when they are returning home in their mind there is always a disaster behind every question or something horrible that we are hiding from thrm oh god will mothers ever stop worrying an important question raised by the martyr and one she inadvertently answers in another post where she wrote in paradise there is a new gaza without a siege getting built now implying that worry cannot leave the hearts of mothers in gaza except in a parallel universe without the israeli occupation postcolonial feminist theories highlight the strong relationship between mother and nation and indicate that the biological role of women is often assigned a central and important place in national discourse and national struggle women s bodies are systematically targeted as part of colonial power mechanisms to impose racial dominance and eliminate indigenous communities sexual violence has been committed in colonial contexts against indigenous women through rape control of their reproductive capacities torture and killing shalhoub kevorkian points out that the imbalance between external israeli power and internal palestinian power leads to the redirection of this israeli power toward groups with limited power usually women her analysis suggests that violence against palestinian women s bodies and their sexuality is reinforced by the zionist state to bolster patriarchal structures the israeli state has exploited the threat of sexual violence against palestinian women and patriarchal conceptions of sexuality and honor to recruit palestinians as collaborators and deter organized resistance zionist and colonial propaganda portrays palestinians as a people lacking the vitamin of motherhood while presenting israeli society as the pinnacle of humanity and emotion they attempt to brand palestinian society as backward discriminatory against women and hateful however reality shows that mothers are the cornerstone of palestinian society and their role cannot be confined to biological motherhood alone mothering becomes a revolutionary force raising children in occupied palestine is part of our collective resistance especially since mothering necessitates raising children as a life force in a world that can only be changed together the palestinian martyr jamila al shanti known as um abdullah is a significant example of the revolutionary role of mothers in gaza al shanti who was killed on oct 18 after her house was bombed by israeli warplanes in gaza city was the first woman to join the political bureau of the islamic resistance movement hamas and gained prominence in 2006 when she led a women s march that successfully broke the israeli army s siege of a mosque in beit hanoun where dozens of resistance fighters were besieged three days after that event her house was destroyed by an israeli airstrike leading to the martyrdom of her brother s wife in 2013 she was appointed as minister of women s affairs and in 2021 she became a member of hamas political bureau thousands of mothers in gaza have been martyred while thousands are widowed and thousands more are losing their children there are also thousands of children who are now left motherless and thousands of fetuses killed inside their mothers wombs before even seeing the light of day the massacre continues and the continuous and heartbreaking tragedy of loss has yet to stop all of this is happening and there is no way for the women of gaza to voice their pain except through screams tears and prolonged laments that have touched the hearts of millions of mothers behind the screens worldwide mothering is a collective instinctual act its force knows no bounds and no prose can adequately describe it behind all the exhausted palestinian mothers there is the mother who shouldered all our burdens and endured all our pains in a journey that dates back more than two thousand years she is the keeper of our memories and for her sake our blood has been spilled she is our great mother and our land palestine from the river to the sea this article was first published in our arabic blog on oct 29 it is translated into english by aya jayyousi

blog title palestinechronology press summaries on the war on gaza october 28 29 author palestine chronology staff date october 30 2023 content editor s note these entries are compiled by the palestine chronology researcher from the period of october 23 to october 25 the gathered summaries are based on initial reporting and will be updated october 28 in the west bank israeli settlers shot and killed 1 palestinian man harvesting olives during a raid in al zawiya israeli settlers also attacked palestinians harvesting olives in qusra kafr ad dik deir istiya haris and shaab al batn injuring 1 elsewhere israeli settlers vandalized 10 palestinian owned vehicles in beit iksa israeli settlers also raided at tuba in the masafer yatta area attacking homes and stealing property israeli forces shot and injured 1 palestinian child during a raid in al arroub refugee camp israeli forces also demolished the family home in jalazun refugee camp of 1 hamas activist bajis nakhleh who was arrested on 10 9 displacing 7 elsewhere israeli forces placed cement barriers at the main entrance to burqa 25 palestinians were arrested during late night raids in and around jalazun refugee camp bethlehem hebron nablus and tulkarm in jerusalem israel forced 3 palestinian families to demolish their own homes in bayt hanina displacing 18 in gaza all telecommunications were cut in gaza for the second day in a row as israel s ground invasion continued overnight israeli airstrikes killed at least 377 palestinians the number of killed could be much higher as the breakdown in telecommunications made delivering news from gaza extremely difficult israel said it had hit 150 underground facilities and infrastructure in gaza israel also said it assassinated hamas members asem abu rakaba and ratab abu tsahiban rockets were fired at israel causing damage palestinian students at the netanya academic college were attacked by jewish israelis chanting death to arabs at the dormitory in lebanon israel said it had attacked hezbollah positions overnight 1 surface to air missile was fired at an israeli drone 1 shell hit the unifil headquarters in southern lebanon without exploding it was unclear who fired the shell unifil also said 1 of its peacekeepers had been injured after a shell hit a unifil base in houla and called for a ceasefire ha 10 27 aj aj aj aj aj ap ap ap ha ha nyt reu reu unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 10 28 ap ha ha ha nyt 10 29 the ministry of health in gaza said at least 7 703 palestinians had been killed including around 5 000 women and children and 19 743 had been injured in israeli airstrikes on gaza since 10 7 hundreds of others were feared death trapped under rubble in addition it has been reported by israeli media that 1 500 palestinian militants have been killed near gaza 109 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and settlers in the west bank and east jerusalem since 10 7 including 30 children more than 2 011 have been injured israeli officials recorded no new fatalities leaving the israeli death toll at around 1 400 israelis including foreign nationals 5 431 have been injured since 10 7 the un reported that over 1 4 million palestinians more than half the population in gaza had been displaced since 10 7 and that since 11pm on 10 12 there had been a complete blackout of electricity due to the israel blockade at least 27 781 housing units have been destroyed and 150 000 have been damaged in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 as of 10 23 at least 45 of all housing units have been either destroyed or damaged in israeli airstrikes the ministry of health in gaza also reported that israeli attacks had killed 110 medical staff injured more than 100 that 50 ambulances had been targeted since 10 7 and that 12 hospitals and 46 healthcare facilities had been shot due to bombing or lack of fuel the egyptian foreign ministry said israeli obstacles impede delivery of aid to gaza aj ha reu unocha wafa 10 28 sustained israeli settler attacks forced 141 palestinians in khirbet zanuta to flee their homes wafa 10 28 unocha 10 29 amid a total blackout of communications in gaza the israeli military said in an english language video that palestinians in gaza should evacuate the northern part of gaza ha 10 28 reu 10 29 hamas leader in gaza yahya sinwar said hamas is ready for an immediate prisoner exchange deal all the captives in exchange for all the prisoners hamas military spokesperson abu obeida said israel has not been serious about a prisoner exchange and criticized arab nations for not doing more to get humanitarian aid to gaza ha 10 28 pa president mahmoud abbas called for an emergency meeting at the arab league to address the genocide in the gaza strip pa health minister mai al kaila also called the israeli attacks genocide saying 7 300 civilians had been killed 70 of them women children and elderly the plo executive committee held a meeting in ramallah issuing 3 top priorities including an immediate ceasefire lifting of the blockade of gaza and halting forced displacement of palestinians inside and outside of gaza aj ha wafa wafa wafa 10 28 israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu said the ground invasion of gaza was approved unanimously by the government aj aj ap ha nyt reu wafa 10 28 aj aj 10 29 the u s told israel that it would stop supplying weapons to israel if they are used to arm civilians and handed out at political events the warning followed israeli national security minister itamar ben gvir s tour of israel handing out guns to israelis ha 10 28 the u s aircraft carrier uss eisenhower arrived in the mediterranean joining uss gerald ford aj ha 10 28 turkish president recep tayyip erdoğan hosted a massive rally in istanbul in support of palestinians erdoğan told the rallygoers that that israel is an occupier and that hamas is not a terrorist organization israeli un ambassador gilad erdan called erdoğan a snake and foreign minister eli cohen recalled all its diplomats in turkey the uae and saudi arabia condemned the israeli ground operation in gaza and the uae called for a un security council meeting on the situation aj aj ha ha reu reu wafa 10 28 x and spacex owner elon musk said his starlink satellite internet would be made available to humanitarian organizations in gaza if the organizations are approved by both israel and the u s israel said it would not allow starlink to be used in gaza aj aj ha ha reu 10 28 more than 100 000 pro palestinian protesters marched in london thousands of pro palestinians protesters defied a paris police ban on their demonstration and marched in paris 100 000 people also rallied in support of palestine in karala india aj aj ha nyt reu wafa wafa 10 28 aj 10 29 former u s president and current republican front runner for the upcoming u s elections donald trump said at a convention for the republican jewish coalition that he would cancel pro palestinian protestors visas if he is elected president florida governor and presidential candidate ron desantis again claimed that students for justice in palestine provided material support to terrorists newly elected speaker of the house of representatives mike johnson pledged support for israel saying god is not done with israel ha ha 10 28 ha 10 29 american muslims for palestine said it had been forced to move it annual convention in chicago in november after the venue hyatt regency o hare received threats for hosting the convention ha 10 28 october 29 in the west bank israeli settlers raided at tuba and wadi ijheish in the masafer yatta area assaulting palestinians and stealing 6 sheep and agricultural equipment israeli settlers also raided qaryut vandalizing property israeli forces shot and killed 5 palestinians during raids in askar refugee camp dheisheh refugee camp beit rima balata refugee camp and tammun israeli forces also shot and injured 38 including at least 3 children during raids in tammun dheisheh refugee camp balata refugee camp urif askar refugee camp nablus and beit rima meanwhile israeli forces punitively demolished the family home in askar refugee camp of 1 palestinian man killed by israeli forces in nablus in may the man was accused of taking part in the killing of 3 israeli settlers in april israeli forces also punitively demolished the family home of 1 palestinian killed by israeli forces in burqa and delivered a punitive demolition notice to a family of a palestinian killed in rumana elsewhere israeli forces razed land near abu basal to expand a nearby settlement israeli forces also closed down the dream radio station in hebron threating to destroy its content if it did not stop broadcasting 35 palestinians were arrested during late night raids in and around nablus jenin hebron qalqilya tubas salfit and tulkarm the pa commission of detainees and ex detainees affairs said more than 1 590 palestinian had been arrested in the west bank since 10 7 in jerusalem israeli forces fired tear gas at palestinians in silwan igniting a fire and causing injuries in gaza some communications were restored after being cut off by israel on 10 27 at least 302 palestinians were killed in israeli attacks islamic jihad said israel had assassinated 1 of its senior political officials taysir alghouti killing several members of his family in rafah islamic jihad also said it attacked some israeli military vehicles in gaza 2 israeli soldiers were injured by a mortar shell in gaza rockets were fired at israel causing damage in hanita islamic jihad said 2 al quds brigades fighters had been killed during an operation near the blue line in lebanon hezbollah said it had downed 1 israeli drone aj ha 10 28 aj aj ap ap ha ha nyt reu reu unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 10 29 ap aj 10 30 the ministry of health in gaza said at least 8 005 palestinians had been killed including around 5 000 women and children and 20 242 had been injured in israeli airstrikes on gaza since 10 7 1 800 including 940 children have been reported missing in addition it has been reported by israeli media that 1 500 palestinian militants have been killed near gaza 115 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and settlers in the west bank and east jerusalem since 10 7 including 33 children more than 2 150 have been injured israeli officials recorded no new fatalities leaving the israeli death toll at around 1 400 israelis including foreign nationals 5 431 have been injured since 10 7 the un reported that over 1 4 million palestinians more than half the population in gaza had been displaced since 10 7 and that since 11pm on 10 12 there had been a complete blackout of electricity due to the israel blockade at least 27 781 housing units have been destroyed and 150 000 have been damaged in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 as of 10 23 at least 45 of all housing units have been either destroyed or damaged in israeli airstrikes the bodies of 62 unidentified palestinians were buried in a mass grave near al shifa hospital it was the third time palestinians in gaza had to resort to burying palestinians killed by israel in a mass grave since 10 7 33 trucks carrying aid entered gaza israel opened a second water pipe to gaza the palestinian red crescent society said israel had ordered it to evacuate al quds hospital airstrikes later damaged the hospital in addition to the al shifa and indonesian hospitals unrwa said the slow flow of aid had prompted thousands of palestinians in gaza too take food supplies from its warehouses the un said nearly 1 000 palestinians had been displaced from their homes in the west bank since 10 7 due to israeli settler attacks and israeli miltary demolitions aj 10 28 aj aj ap ha ha reu reu unocha wafa wafa 10 29 aj aj ap wafa 10 30 save the children said more children had been killed in gaza in the past 3 weeks than the total of children killed in conflicts around the world since 2019 saying so far 3 324 have been killed in gaza and 36 in the west bank aj 10 29 aj 10 30 a palestinian citizen of israel actress maisa abd elhadi was charged by israel with incitement to terrorism and expressing solidarity with a terrorist organization for an instagram post interior minister moshe arbel directed the population and immigration authority to examine if he could revoke her citizenship elhadi was arrested on 10 12 ha 10 30 reporters without borders said their investigation into the israeli killing of reuters journalist issam abdallah on 10 13 in lebanon concluded that israel intentionally targeted him and six other journalists injured during the attack aj 10 28 reu 10 29 aj 10 30 israeli defense minister yoav gallant signed an order to place the settler activist ariel danino on administrative detention for 4 months for his involvement in settler attacks on palestinians ha 10 29 pa president mahmoud abbas met with bahrain s foreign minister abdullatif bin rashid al zayani in ramallah pa foreign minister riyad al maliki spoke with uk foreign minister james cleverly wafa wafa 10 29 a leaked u s state department internal memo recommended that president joe biden pressure israel to allow more aid to enter gaza estimating that 52 000 pregnant women and 30 000 babies were drinking brackish or contaminated water due to the lack of water in gaza ha 10 29 aj 10 30 the washington post reported that the u s pressured israel to turn communications back on in gaza aj 10 30 international committee of the red cross president mirjana spoljaric said i t is unacceptable that civilians have no safe place to go in gaza amid the massive bombardments and with a military siege in place there is also no adequate humanitarian response currently possible this is a catastrophic failing that the world must not tolerate ha 10 28 30 israeli human rights and civil society organizations urged the international community to act urgently to stop the state backed wave of settler violence which has led and is leading to the forcible transfer of palestinian communities in the west bank the french foreign ministry called on israel to take action to protect palestinians in the west bank aj 10 28 ha wafa 10 29 u s president joe biden told israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu that more humanitarian aid had to enter gaza immediately before the 2 spoke u s national security advisor jake sullivan said israel has a responsibility to rein in the settlers sullivan also said israel must distinguish between terrorist targets and civilians and claimed hamas was using human shields biden also spoke with egyptian president abdel fattah el sisi aj 10 28 aj ha reu reu wafa 10 29 un secretary general antonio guterres said the world is witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe taking place before our eyes in reference to the situation in gaza aj 10 28 ha 10 29 pope francis called for a ceasefire and the release of the hamas held capitves ha reu 10 29 icc prosecutor karim khan visited the rafah crossing saying the icc has ongoing investigations into potential war crimes committed by hamas and israel khan said impeding aid to gaza could constitute a war crime aj 10 28 aj ha ha reu wafa 10 29 aj 10 30 jordan said it had asked the u s to deploy the patriot air defense system in jordan aj 10 28 reu 10 29 pro palestinian demonstrations were held in many cities across the world including in islamabad beirut berlin madrid athens and ottawa aj 10 28 aj reu wafa 10 29

blog title awaiting news of a loved one s martyrdom author sara sbaih date october 29 2023 content my name is sara sbaih a palestinian from the besieged city of gaza which is currently enduring the bombardment and massacres by the israeli occupation as i pen these words my eyes well up with tears my heart quivers with fear and worry for my family friends and loved ones in gaza and for gaza itself which i hold dear i currently reside in lebanon s capital beirut while my family is in gaza this is my first experience of being away from my family during a war waged on our homeland it s the first war that i m not experiencing alongside my people i m at a loss for where to begin is it when i lost contact with my family or when i anxiously awaited news from a friend trapped under the rubble of a collapsed building or when i heard about gaza being deprived of water food and medical supplies or when i learned that classmates friends and relatives had been martyred or when i realized that another nakba was being prepared by the occupation or when i discovered that my family had fled our home suddenly displaced desperately seeking the safety they had lost or perhaps other moments of suffocation and guilt for being far away from our beloved gaza the war on gaza commenced on oct 7 from the moment the first airstrike targeted us i felt a sense of betrayal towards my country due to my absence however i managed to rationalize the situation and convinced myself that all i could do was follow the news and share updates about the country that i ve always dreamed would one day know peace without the sound of bombings or fighter jets overhead i maintained constant online contact with my family until 15 30 p m on wednesday oct 11 when their internet connection was cut off since then i haven t heard any of their voices this was the first time internet access is cut off in gaza during a war at that moment i feared that an israeli strike had targeted the building my family resides in and they had all been martyred after several failed attempts to reach them through various means my sister who is in germany managed to call them from germany and reassured me that they were alive and that internet indeed had been cut off and communication systems are weak but that was the last time we heard from them since then i ve been a dead woman walking after barely two hours of fitful sleep i wake up to go to work and immediately check my phone for any news related to my family the scale of death has led me to believe that i might lose them in this war and so i wait for the news of their death i think this because i have already lost many colleagues friends and relatives on my way to work i listen to the news and try to distract myself once i reach the office but the sounds of the news segments continue to echo in my ears i ve begun to despise eating each time i see food i reproach myself how can i eat when i m uncertain if my family has food drinking water feels like a transgression how can i drink when my family is in search of clean water i loathe myself for living a life that while far from normal is still more comfortable than what my family in gaza is experiencing they can t even open a window to breathe air that s now thick with dust from destroyed buildings smoke from the missiles that caused the destruction and the stench of blood and death my responses about my family have changed too when friends in lebanon ask about them i used to answer with a smile they re fine now i no longer smile we are still alive thank god is all i can say it s the only response anyone in gaza can give right now i m still alive all we can do is pray for our loved ones survival and close our eyes hoping that when we wake up after an hour or two our loved ones will still be with us i recall the day after my family s internet was cut off israel launched a violent strike near my house i tried various ways to check on my family my sister in germany also tried to contact them but the communication lines in gaza weren t working after nearly half an hour of excruciating pain and anxiety my sister received news about my mother father sister and little brother but even my mother didn t know if my older brother and his family were okay he wasn t at home when the strike hit he was with his wife offering condolences to relatives over the martyrdom of a family member the explosion was closer to where they were than our home my mother didn t know whether her son and his wife had been martyred or injured in this attack especially since there was no way of contacting them after about an hour i learned that my brother was alive i truly felt that i was letting my brother his soul down the person who had never let me down i hated myself because i was not by his side i began to wish that i would die rather than anything bad happening to him i never thought that one day i would be waiting for news of a family member s death this is where i find myself now waiting for news of their martyrdom i swear to all that is dear to me that waiting for death is worse than death itself this testimony was translated into english by francesco anselmetti

blog title we ve cried too much a testimony from the beach camp in gaza author marwa abu hatab date october 29 2023 content my name is marwa abu hatab a resident of the al shati beach camp in gaza as renewed israel assaults on gaza began my heart became heavy with the memories of past wars that have wreaked havoc on our lives claimed our loved ones destroyed our cherished possessions and left our hearts shattered despite the shock and darkness brought on by the relentless attacks that have ravaged our neighborhood displacing many and reducing countless homes to rubble we remain steadfast our decision to stay in our homes is not a testament to our bravery or others cowardice but rather a grim acceptance of the reality that no place in gaza is truly safe we ve witnessed the horrifying fate of those who attempted to flee their vehicles targeted and their lives extinguished in a blaze our once occupied area has now become a battlefield subjected to violent bombings by the israeli forces homes clinics and mosques have been reduced to debris innocent children have been robbed of their dreams in their sleep we ve been subjected to a massacre many of our friends and relatives have been forced to seek refuge in southern areas due to the incessant bombings even if our homes remain standing the psychological impacts of the occupation weigh heavily on us we feign laughter and suppress our tears because we ve cried too much and there are no tears left fear has taken root in our hearts as we grapple with the senseless violence inflicted upon us i am deeply saddened by what remains of our world and by the deafening silence from organizations that continue to propagate the narratives of the oppressor i yearn for our voices to echo across the globe with the truth reaching out to those who seek it

blog title palestinechronology press summaries on the war on gaza october 26 27 author palestine chronology staff date october 29 2023 content editor s note these entries are compiled by the palestine chronology researcher from the period of october 23 to october 25 the gathered summaries are based on initial reporting and will be updated october 26 in the west bank 1 palestinian man succumbed to wounds sustained by gunfire from israeli forces last week in tura 2 israeli settlers were injured during a confrontation with palestinians who threw rocks near the rimonim settlement north of wadi as seeq israeli settlers assaulted 5 palestinians in deir jarir during olive harves and taybeh they also assaulted palestinians during raids in qusra and bethlehem israeli settlers also vandalized homes stole items and assaulted palestinians in shaab al batn and khirbet saddet al tha leh in the masafer yatta area elsewhere israeli settlers left leaflets in deir istiya warning palestinians to flee to jordan before they are forcefully expelled in the great nakba israeli forces shot and killed 1 palestinian child injuring another during a raid in jalazun refugee camp nearly 100 palestinians were arrested during late night raids in and around biddu kobar arora al mughayyir al bireh bethlehem hebron sanour and marda in gaza israeli attacks killed at least 481 palestinians including 209 children israeli tanks entered gaza killing several and damaging buildings israel also said it used combat helicopters to assassinate 4 members of hamas shadi barud tareq ma ruf rafat abbas and ibrahim jadbah in gaza city rockets were fired at israel no new injuries were recorded in lebanon israeli forces attacked ayta al shaab in southern lebanon aj aj ap ap ha nyt reu reu wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 10 26 ha unocha 10 27 the ministry of health in gaza said at least 7 028 palestinians had been killed including at least 4 000 women and children and 18 482 had been injured in israeli airstrikes on gaza since 10 7 it is estimated that 1 600 including 900 children were trapped in rubble in addition it has been reported by israeli media that 1 500 palestinian militants have been killed near gaza 104 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and settlers in the west bank and east jerusalem since 10 7 including 30 children more than 1 956 have been injured israeli officials recorded no new fatalities leaving the israeli death toll at around 1 400 israelis including foreign nationals 5 431 have been injured since 10 7 the un reported that over 1 4 million palestinians more than half the population in gaza had been displaced since 10 7 and that since 11pm on 10 12 there had been a complete blackout of electricity due to the israel blockade at least 27 781 housing units have been destroyed and 150 000 have been damaged in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 as of 10 23 at least 45 of all housing units have been either destroyed or damaged in israeli airstrikes 12 truckloads of aid entered gaza aj ha wafa 10 26 unocha 10 27 the ministry of health in gaza published the names and id numbers of 6747 palestinians killed including 2 665 children in israeli attacks since 10 7 it said that 281 including children remain unidentified the publishing of the names comes 1 day after u s president joe biden questioned the reliability of the data coming from the ministry aj nyt 10 26 pa minister of public works and housing minister mohammad ziyara said 200 000 housing units have been completely or partially destroyed by israeli airstrikes since 10 7 israel said that 224 people are held captive in gaza aj wafa 10 26 hamas leaders bassem naim and moussa abu marzouk and iranian deputy foreign minister ali baghiri kani met with russian deputy foreign minister mikhail bogdanov in moscow israel condemned russia for hosting members of hamas hamas spokesperson abu obeida said israeli airstrikes had killed around 50 captives hamas political leader ismail haniyeh said in a speech that israeli attacks on gaza will destabilize the entire region and that the resistance in gaza was doing well aj ha 10 26 ap ha 10 27 at the un security council pa foreign minister riyad al maliki said israel was waging a war of revenge with no real objective al maliki also met with icc prosecutor karim khan in the hague the un general assembly also convened an emergency session reu wafa wafa wafa 10 26 uae jordan bahrain saudi arabia oman qatar kuwait egypt and morocco released a joint statement condemning the targeting of civilians forced displacement and collective punishment of palestinians in gaza aj ha 10 26 eu leaders agreed on a final communique after a 7 hour long meeting on the israeli attacks on gaza calling for humanitarian corridors and pauses aj 10 26 brazilian president luiz inacio lula da silva said about israeli attacks on gaza it is not war it is a genocide that has killed 2 000 children aj 10 26 a venue in israel canceled a palestinian jewish conference after israeli police warned the owner of the venue of consequences the higher arab monitoring committee said israel is persecuting the arab public trying to prevent political meetings and silence them ha 10 25 ha ha 10 26 the u s said it attacked 2 facilities with links to the iranian revolutionary guard corps in syria the u s also deployed 900 troops to the middle east a pentagon spokesperson said that they were not going to israel aj 10 26 aj aj ha ha nyt 10 27 _ the u s senate unanimously passed a resolution denouncing anti semitism on campuses in remarks related to the passing of the resolution senators conflated criticism of israel with anti semitism the anti defamation league sent 200 letters to campuses in the u s requesting that they investigate student for justice in palestine for possibly violating a law prohibiting support for a foreign terrorist organization ha 10 26 a gallup poll found that u s president joe biden lost 11 percentage points among democrats since september and that his overall approval rating had dropped from 41 to 37 aj ha 10 26 switzerland suspended financial support of 6 palestinian and 5 israeli ngos including adalah al shabaka gisha 7amleh hamoked jerusalem legal aid and human rights centre miftah the palestinian initiative for the promotion of global dialogue and democracy palestinian center for human rights palestinian ngo network physicians for human rights and the women s centre for legal aid and counselling switzerland said it would analyze the feasibility of the programs ha 10 26 october 27 in the west bank israeli settlers with military escort shot and injured 1 palestinian during a raid in sarra israeli settlers also threw stones at palestinians traveling near tuqu causing damage elsewhere israeli settlers vandalized 200 olive grape and almond trees water pumps irrigation pipes and a water tank in ain al beida israeli settlers also assaulted palestinians during a raid in susiya israeli forces shot and killed 4 palestinians during raids in jenin and qalqilya during the raid in jenin israeli forces vandalized the memorial of shireen abu akleh and used bulldozers to destroy infrastructure israeli forces also shot and injured 19 palestinians including at least 1 child during raids in jenin hebron deir abu masha al qalqilya bethlehem al bireh and nablus elsewhere israeli forces opened fire at palestinian red crescent medics in tubas 45 palestinians were arrested during late night raids in as samu ad dhahiriya dura beit umar ni lin kafr nimeh hizma jericho aida refugee camp dheisha refugee camp and nablus in east jerusalem israeli forces blocked entrance to the haram al sharif compound and assaulted worshippers in gaza israeli attacks killed 298 palestinians including 125 children israeli forces made incursions and fired tank shells at palestinian infrastructure near gaza city at night all telecommunications were cut in gaza several humanitarian organizations and media outlets said they were unable to reach their people on the ground the communications blackout started prior to israel s attempted ground invasion of gaza hamas said its military wing had repelled israeli attack on beit hanoun and al bureij and from a beach in rafah israel said it assassinated hamas member madhat mubashe rockets were fired at israel no injuries were reported in egypt explosive objects hit a medical facility in taba and an electric plant near nuweiba lightly injuring 6 people it was later reported that the explosives came from the south of the red sea aj aj aj aj aj aj aj ha ha ha nyt nyt reu reu unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 10 27 aj aj aj aj ap ap ap reu 10 28 the ministry of health in gaza said at least 7 326 palestinians had been killed including at least 4 000 women and children and 18 967 had been injured in israeli airstrikes on gaza since 10 7 it is estimated that 1 700 including 940 children were trapped in rubble in addition it has been reported by israeli media that 1 500 palestinian militants have been killed near gaza 108 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and settlers in the west bank and east jerusalem since 10 7 including 30 children more than 1 967 have been injured israeli officials recorded no new fatalities leaving the israeli death toll at around 1 400 israelis including foreign nationals 5 431 have been injured since 10 7 the un reported that over 1 4 million palestinians more than half the population in gaza had been displaced since 10 7 and that since 11pm on 10 12 there had been a complete blackout of electricity due to the israel blockade at least 27 781 housing units have been destroyed and 150 000 have been damaged in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 as of 10 23 at least 45 of all housing units have been either destroyed or damaged in israeli airstrikes the unrwa said 14 of its staff members had been killed in the last 24 hours raising the total number of unrwa staff killed in israeli attacks to 53 un secretary general antonio guterres said the monitoring regime for the aid trucks that pass to gaza via the rafah crossing was too slow at least 10 trucks carrying aid entered gaza aj ha unocha wafa wafa 10 27 israel indicted 5 israeli citizens on charges of inciting terrorism or identifying with hamas a total of 24 have been indicated on similar charges since 10 7 ha 10 27 the israeli military released a video illustration claiming al shifa hospital has vast network of underground facilities the head of the government media office in gaza salama marouf called the illustration false fabricated allegations aj aj reu 10 27 reuters reported that israel had told the news agency and agence frence presse that as israel ramp up its attacks on gaza it cannot guarantee the safety of the 2 agency s journalists 29 journalists have been killed since 10 7 including 25 palestinians and 1 lebanese aj reu 10 27 unrwa secretary general philippe lazzarini defended the data coming from the health ministry in gaza saying it has been reliable in the past 5 6 cycles of conflict in the gaza strip u s president joe biden said on 10 25 that he did not have confidence in the palestinian provided data aj aj reu wafa 10 27 israeli soldiers were filmed singing ahmad tibi is dead referring to the palestinian member of knesset for the ta al party ha 10 27 pa president mahmoud abbas spoke with danish prime minister mette frederiksen discussing the situation in gaza wafa 10 27 the un general assembly voted to adopt a non binding resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian truce between israel and hamas and demanding humanitarian aid access in gaza 120 countries voted in favor 45 abstained and 14 voted against tunisia and iraq explained their abstentions saying the resolution did not support palestine enough israeli ambassador to the un said it was a dark day for the un and for mankind referring to the passage of the resolution an amendment introduced by canada and co sponsored by the u s condemning hamas for the taking of hostages failed as it did not get the 2 3s majority support in the assembly needed to pass aj aj aj ap ha reu reu wafa wafa wafa 10 27 aj ap 10 28 the council of the european union accepted a spanish proposal for the country to host a peace conference on middle east peace within 6 months aj ap 10 27 french president emmanuel macron said he and several european countries will make a humanitarian coalition for gaza aj 10 27 the washington post reported that the biden administration was pushing israel not to do a full ground invasion of gaza abc news reported that the u s state department was not aware that israel would expand its ground invasion u s national security council spokesperson john kirby said the u s supports humanitarian pauses if captives held by hamas were released a u s official told reuters that qatar is open to reconsidering allowing hamas to have a presence in the country aj ha reu reu 10 27 aj 10 28 new york city police arrested more than 200 people at a jewish voice for peace arranged mass sit in at grand central station temporarily closing the station the protesters called for an immediate ceasefire ha wafa 10 27 aj aj ap ap nyt 10 28 the u s told its citizens in lebanon that they should leave the country due to the unpredictable security situation aj 10 27 aj ha 10 28

blog title gaza s flour is stained with blood author asma barakat date march 06 2024 content gaza is approaching the six month mark of sustained genocide with each passing day israel s war crimes intensify and the death toll of palestinians skyrockets on feb 29 israeli occupation forces iof opened fire on a large gathering of palestinians in gaza city waiting for aid trucks to distribute flour and canned goods this massacre that unfolded came on the heels of months of a manmade famine created by israel to starve gazans to death the slaughter was promptly coined the flour massacre hundreds of palestinians desperate for aid gathered at al rashid street in gaza city at 4 30 am with the hope that truckswould finally enter gaza after weeks of an aid shortage if not flat out drought tragedy ensued quickly the iof began firing into the crowd from all angles aiming to hit as many people as possible al jazeera s ismail al ghoul reported live from the scene stating that after opening fire israeli tanks advanced and ran over many of the dead and injured bodies the death toll was catastrophic at least 112 palestinians were announced dead and 760 were injured due to the indiscriminate shooting hospitals in gaza have not been equipped to handle the influx of wounded and dead especially since such facilities have been targeted by israeli airstrikes and ground troops and have been rendered not functional in recent months ambulances were also not able to enter the area due to the devastation and chaos caused by israel videos surfaced of individuals using donkey carts to transfer martyrs and injured people to nearby hospitals israel crafted its umpteenth lie claiming that a stampede at the aid distribution site caused a large death toll then the lie took a new form israel changed its hasbara story stating its soldiers did indeed open fire because they felt threatened by a group of starved maimed unarmed helpless population additionally the director of kamal adwan hospital reported that a large number of fatalities at the flour massacre had gunshot wounds to their upper body showing the iof s intent to kill eyewitness accounts confirm israel s premeditated massacre jihad rajab a survivor of the flour massacre said as soon as the trucks entered the area israeli forces started firing heavily resulting in the killing and wounding of scores of people the occupation did not spare us and they deliberately fired at us as we were awaiting the aid convoy reports the palestine chronicle genocide denial and passive voice have been the western media spreferred approachwhen reporting about gaza since the start of israel s extermination campaign an analysis by the cradleshowed that western media is whitewashing israel s crimes in gaza by omitting israel from headlines major news outlets such as cnn and the new york times have been covering up israel s atrocities publishing propaganda that vilifies and dehumanizes palestinians in response to a passive headline from the new york times human rights attorney noura erakat tweeted you re so dishonest nytimes you sound more like lawyers for israel telling us twisted stories rather than journalists israeli troops have demonstrated a practice of shooting at humanitarian convoys as well as palestinians from sea and land just say it without accountability israel is further emboldened to commit war crimes with a shield of protection from world leaders and media organizations on march 3 the iof once again opened fire on palestinians seeking aid killing at least 9 this was the second massacre committed against the starving population in one week it is clear that the few aid convoys able to enter the besieged gaza strip are being used as bait to kill as many palestinians as rapidly as possible the alternativethat israel is offeringpalestinians in gaza is prolonged and painful starvation to death many children were starved to death like 9 year old yazan kafarnah who died from malnutrition

blog title a detailed report of the victims of israel s war on the gaza strip 7 26 october 2023 author palestinian ministry of health date october 27 2023 content report prepared by the health information centre palestinian ministry of health moh gaza the palestinian ministry of health in gaza published its detailed report on the victims of israel s aggression against the gaza strip for the period between 7 to 26 october the report prepared by the health information centre includes the number of martyrs classified into males females adults and children as well as a diagram monitoring the death toll at a daily basis the report contains a full record of martyrs including the name identity number age and sex up to page 150 and a special record of the names of children who died as a result of the israeli shelling during the period of aggression referred to pages following page 150 the latter is only available in arabic during the period documented in the report there were 7 028 martyrs of whom 2 913 were children and 4 115 were adults the total number of martyrs according to gender was 3 129 females and 3 899 males and 281 of the martyrs referred to in the report were unidentified the palestinian ministry of health indicated in its report that the actual number of martyrs is significantly higher than the number observed in the present report since the report does not include those who are still missing under the rubble and those who were directly buried without showing to hospitals or those who couldn t be registered by the hospitals the english version can be found here obtained via moh

blog title grief beyond language author nicki kattoura date october 27 2023 content etymologically the word grief derives from the latin word gravare meaning to make heavy like gravity palestinian grief is a constant scientific fact a physical force that holds us down as the earth continues to spin on its axis yet for us time has stood still the last three weeks feel infinite carrying the burden of all the victims from the last 75 years often repeated there seem to be no words that can convey this grief in fact we realize the irony of even writing about it the entire premise of this essay has already fallen apart before we begin because writing about palestine s grief exposes the limits of language itself but we will try anyway we grieve our children those whose potential could not be contained by the prison they were trapped in the children who aspired to create and imagine things that would outlive them but who were instead victims to a racist colonial logic that long preceded them a logic that had marked them for death long before they were even born there is no allegory and no poem no chant and no comparison that can revive them or encapsulate losing each and every one of them yet still we rewrite and edit sentences to make senseless brutality more eloquent reading words out loud as if they were an incantation for their resurrection we grieve our women the matriarchs and caretakers of our land at whose feet heaven lies the ones who reared our children and freedom fighters and were still freedom fighters themselves our women deserve to love and be loved while they currently sift through rubble with their bare hands and search makeshift morgues in the hopes to uncover life that they had originally bestowed we search for the perfect word in a thesaurus to describe their nightmare they are our martyrs who refuse to capitulate to zionist terror but instead stand tall steadfast against monstrous shameless theft we write as though this page could be a shield instead it is a single paper rose on a mass grave only symbolic a metaphor utterly and shatteringly useless we grieve our men those whose deaths have been obscured to make space for the overwhelming loss of our children the ones clinging to their offspring in death marked by others as violent savages and thus undeserving of our tears the ones who fasted so their families could eat who photographed their own murder so the world could refuse to care we refuse to withhold our mourning until we can prove their innocence these sentences cannot assemble a bulldozer that can break through the walls of their captivity or dig them graves to rest in instead these sentences flatten multi faceted contradictory peculiar lives in the vapid category of men that denies them their names and unique histories and ignores that they are devastatingly people without a future we mourn nahzanu نحزن we bereave nata lamu نتألم we grieve the palestinians not in palestine in exile in diaspora whose eyes are glued to the telegram obituaries whose lives were predestined for heartbreak the ones who have been forced to consume images of their our suffering murder genocide across decades in death and in life the ones who have resisted not just by learning about their immense beautiful history culture struggle but also keeping it alive in a world hellbent on hiding it denying it exterminating it firing bullets into the notion that when our old die we would ever dare forget we grieve how scattered we are how life has halted for us while the earth continues to spin on its axis repetition moving and breathing while the words on this page sit like a corpse draped in white fixed frozen cold insignificant we grieve the people in palestine yet to be grieved that will have been murdered by the time we publish this essay who will have perished by the time you finish reading it the ones who foresaw their martyrdom and wrote their own eulogies is there a word for grieving in advance is writing about those still alive in the past tense prophetic of their death or is it simply the grim reality when they are buried do we write another meandering essay or do we copy and paste what has already been written how many more times until language collapses underneath the weight of homes hospitals and schools we not only repeat the words we grieve we even repeat the sentence structure and syntax each paragraph reads like the last until they are indistinguishable from one another we grieve we grieve we grieve we grieve we as wildfires rage beneath the sky where missiles fly family trees have been set ablaze entire families and ancestral lines of palestine have been wiped out the loss of entire lineages of resistance to displacement who lived on their land for centuries and millennia gone with a single strike is incomprehensible we are rageful at our inadequacy writing as though a single strike of this pen could bring back the generations and generations and generations and generations and generations and generations that had tilled the soil watered the graves and tended to those also gone families that have not just been fragmented and forever changed but entirely eradicated ended no amount of grief no paragraphs of prose no sophisticated analogy can pull centuries of ancestry from beneath the rubble and within the flames ending every sentence with an exclamation point cannot convey how the heart breaks writing this in a shout can t either we grieve all of palestine we grieve the parts of her no one speaks about we grieve the many things there are to grieve that these pages have no space for our ancestors our homes our sick our injured our land the list is endless it grows while the grief drains us of the energy to write even when every single victim requires entire bodies of work we have repeated ad nauseam the word grieve that it has been stripped of its meaning from the beginning we were aware that writing on this is deeply flawed language cannot communicate what the mind cannot process maybe we do not need to write maybe we weaponize our chants as eulogy turn our marching into prayer transform the streets into a funeral procession editor s note the struckthrough words that appear in this piece are intentional presenting the difficulty in choosing words when writing about grief

blog title to be displaced at an unwra school in gaza author shahd safi date october 26 2023 content editor s note this testimony is based on conversations that the author has had with a family seeking refuge at her grandparent s house in southern gaza after evacuating from their home to an unrwa school the author s family also evacuated their home to the south fleeing israeli bombs have you ever wondered what it means to be a displaced person sheltering at an unrwa school in gaza gaza is experiencing severe shortages of water flour electricity fuel and medicine as a result of israel s complete blockade on the strip the aid that has finally been permitted to enter after several bombings of the rafah crossing covers practically nothing of what the population in gaza needs to survive so as a family who was forced to flee their home escaping bombardment to seek refuge at an unrwa school all while experiencing these conditions what does it look like in these schools turned shelters you have no bed to lie on at night no pillows no blanket your mattress is the classroom floor your blanket is the clothes you wear nothing warms your body when it s cold your pillow is the small emergency bag you packed before you fled your home stuffed with some clothes and important documents such as your id birth certificate and passport if you have one it s a luxury for palestinians living in gaza as well as a few paracetamol tablets to treat headaches if you re a female you take pills to delay your period as long as possible since you have no menstrual pads due to a shortage caused by the israeli blockade there is no water to drink wash clothes or shower with you scramble to find water for your family you might be able to fill a tank or two from the mosque nearest to the school to use the bathroom you wait in line behind hundreds of people because there is no water you use wet wipes to keep yourself as clean as you can you won t feel comfortable in the bathroom another hundred people are waiting outside for you to leave knocking on the door and urging you to finish there is a shortage of flour in gaza so there s not enough bread you purchase the one bundle allowed per family even if it is not enough to sustain them you wait for hours in the bread line with hundreds of other people sweaty irritated and afraid of being bombed unrwa personnel give you white cheese daily it is not enough but you are grateful for the charity there is no electricity anywhere in gaza because there is no fuel and the power was unreliable to begin with so you can t charge your family s phone devices unless you are lucky to find somebody living in the neighborhood near the school whose building is powered by solar energy there is no internet connectivity at all in the school so you can t assure anyone that you are still alive and you can t be assured about loved ones elsewhere in gaza you live in constant confusion and worry you struggle with anxiety irritability boredom and quiet anger it is very much like being imprisoned you are punished although you did not commit any crimes you are full of rage unable to prove your innocence in a world that sees you as a terrorist when all you fight for is freedom being a displaced person at an unrwa school means that you are constantly looking at the sky praying that the place that shelters you will not be bombed that you and your family will not be massacred it is to constantly visualize your parents and siblings under the rubble of the school your body torn apart unable to help them your soul departed

blog title melodies to missiles a gaza musician s testimony author hamada nasrallah date october 26 2023 content my name is hamada nasrallah i am from gaza i am a traveling musician who has lived in turkey egypt the uae and jordan as well as some other countries i decided to return to gaza in order to pursue an artistic production for my band sol but all our plans dreams and everything we built has been bombed the dream has become either to all survive or we all die two members of the band and i lived in gaza city while our keyboard player abboud lives in the south my friends and i decided that to move to the south with abboud his family welcomed us warmly a testament to the unity of the people of gaza in times of adversity despite the hardships the people of gaza cherish life before i became forcibly displaced to southern gaza i lived in the north near the strip s border during escalations we would relocate to the city center which we perceived as safer but as the israeli bombs rained down they spared no one the israeli airstrikes began while we were asleep at home the intensity of violence surpassed anything i had witnessed in previous wars my family was scattered i was in one location my mother and siblings in another my mother had urged me to find a safe place so that if our home was targeted someone in the family would survive the bombs did not discriminate between a child a woman an elder a young man or a civilian we live in constant fear of whether the next bomb will fall on us or near us i lost my home to the bombings a sad event indeed but nothing compared to losing a family member like many others we relocated to the south but bombings and death are omnipresent in the gaza strip having narrowly escaped death twice already i live in uncertainty about what will happen to me when the next bomb drops my brother s wife was due to give birth during the last two weeks we were all eagerly anticipating the arrival of my brother s first child and my mother s first grandchild however amidst all this joy was also fear for the unborn baby due to the ongoing bombings a different kind of horror indeed my nephew was born during these tumultuous times and our greatest fear is losing him at any moment we have had enough of being treated like animals the bombing must stop the genocide in gaza must end this testimony was translated into english by diana h and laura albast

blog title palestinechronology press summaries on the war on gaza october 23 25 author palestine chronology staff date october 26 2023 content editor s note these entries are compiled by the palestine chronology researcher from the period of october 23 to october 25 the gathered summaries are based on initial reporting and will be updated october 23 in the west bank israeli settlers opened fire at a palestinian car traveling near marda causing damage israeli settlers also vandalized 40 olive trees in kafr ad dik and stole olive harvest in awarta israeli forces shot and killed 2 palestinians and injured 14 others during a raid in jalazun refugee camp israeli forces also prevented palestinians from harvesting olives in iskaka more than 120 palestinians were arrested during late night raids in and around hebron jalazun refugee camp beit rima jericho bethlehem jenin tulkarm and nablus in jerusalem israeli settlers toured the haram al sharif compound preventing palestinian students from attending classes in gaza israeli airstrikes killed at least 400 palestinians israel said it had attacked 320 targets in gaza overnight including 2 mosques rockets were fired at israel causing damage in lebanon israeli forces attacked 2 hezbollah positions killing 1 near aitaroun israel shot down 2 drones that entered israeli airspace from lebanon ap 10 20 aj aj ha 10 22 aj aj aj ap ha nyt reu reu reu unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 10 23 wafa 10 24 the ministry of health in gaza said at least 5 087 palestinians had been killed including at least 3 100 women and children and 15 273 had been injured in israeli airstrikes on gaza since 10 7 as of 5pm it is estimated that 1 500 were trapped in rubble in addition it has been reported by israeli media that 1 500 palestinian militants have been killed near gaza 94 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and settlers in the west bank and east jerusalem since 10 7 including 27 children more than 1 738 have been injured including at least 360 with live ammunition israeli officials recorded no new fatalities leaving the israeli death toll at around 1 400 israelis including foreign nationals 5 431 have been injured since 10 7 the un reported that over 1 4 million palestinians more than half the population in gaza had been displaced since 10 7 and that since 11pm on 10 12 there had been a complete blackout of electricity due to the israel blockade at least 26 756 housing units have been destroyed and 139 000 have been damaged in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 at least 42 of all housing units have been either destroyed or damaged in israeli airstrikes israel said it allowed 14 trucks of aid to enter gaza after having its forces inspect the content a total of 20 trucks carrying food water and medicine entered gaza the international organization for migration said 19 646 people in lebanon had been displaced due to fighting near the blue line aj aj ha reu unocha wafa wafa wafa 10 23 palestinian prisoner and member of hamas omar daraghmeh died in the megiddo prison hamas called the 58 year old s death an assassination daraghmeh was arrested in his home in tubas and placed in administrative detention on 10 9 aj 10 22 wafa 10 23 2 elderly israeli hamas held captives were released to the red cross and transferred to israel via egypt s rafah crossing 1 of the captives was filmed shaking the hand of 1 of the hamas members handing them over to the red cross 4 captives have been released since 10 20 hamas said the 2 were released for humanitarian reasons later 1 of the released israelis said she was treated with care while being kept but was beaten when she was taken to gaza aj 10 22 aj aj ha ha 10 23 aj ha ha nyt reu 10 24 pa president mahmoud abbas met with dutch prime minister mark rutte in ramallah rutte had met israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu in israel before traveling to ramallah abbas also spoke with eu commission president ursula von der leyen wafa wafa 10 23 eu high commissioner on foreign policy josep borell called for a temporary ceasefire to allow more aid to reach gaza ap 10 20 aj 10 22 aj ha reu 10 23 amnesty international said uk prime minister rishi sunak and labor shadow secretary for international development lisa nandy are diminishing the gravity of israel s actions by refusing to condemn clear breaches of international law sunak said the uk will donate 25 million in aid to gaza and said the uk believed it was a misfired rocket from gaza that hit al ahli arab hospital on 10 17 aj 10 22 ha 10 23 u s national security council spokesperson john kirby said it still is not time for the u s to call for a ceasefire the u s also sent 3 star general james glynn to advise israel glynn was reported to be an expert in urban warfare aj 10 22 ap 10 24 china s special envoy on the middle east zhai jun said china is willing to do whatever is conducive to promote a ceasefire and retore peace calling the situation in gaza very serious aj reu 10 23 the icc announced that it would begin hearings on the request for an advisory opinion on the legal consequences for the israeli occupation on 2 19 2024 ha 10 23 wafa 10 25 october 24 in the west bank 1 palestinian teenager succumbed to injuries sustained by israeli forces last week in anabta israeli settlers assaulted 1 palestinian man and threatened to demolish his family s home in the masafer yatta area israeli settlers also rammed a palestinian vehicle in ras karkar opening fire at the driver and passengers injuring 3 including 2 with live ammunition elsewhere israeli settlers set fire to a palestinian home in talfit and vandalized 10 vehicles in beit iksa israeli forces shot and injured 3 palestinians in ras karkar 51 palestinians were arrested during late night raids in and around hebron ramallah bethlehem qalqilya and jenin including adnan hamarsheh of hamas in east jerusalem israeli authorities closed the haram al sharif compound for muslim worshippers allowing israeli settlers to tour the compound israeli forces also demolished 1 house in jabel mukaber and 1 commercial structure in sur baher in gaza israeli airstrikes killed 704 palestinians including 305 children israel said that its military had attacked 400 sites in gaza and assassinating 3 members of hamas rockets were fired at israel causing damage israel said it killed 10 militants who had tried to enter zikim by sea in syria israeli forces fired artillery at what it said were militants near the golan heights aj 10 23 aj unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 10 24 wafa 10 25 the ministry of health in gaza said at least 5 791 palestinians had been killed including at least 3 600 women and children and 16 297 had been injured in israeli airstrikes on gaza since 10 7 as of 5pm it is estimated that 1 500 were trapped in rubble in addition it has been reported by israeli media that 1 500 palestinian militants have been killed near gaza 95 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and settlers in the west bank and east jerusalem since 10 7 including 27 children more than 1 833 have been injured including at least 360 with live ammunition israeli officials recorded no new fatalities leaving the israeli death toll at around 1 400 israelis including foreign nationals 5 431 have been injured since 10 7 the un reported that over 1 4 million palestinians more than half the population in gaza had been displaced since 10 7 and that since 11pm on 10 12 there had been a complete blackout of electricity due to the israel blockade at least 27 781 housing units have been destroyed and 150 000 have been damaged in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 at least 45 of all housing units have been either destroyed or damaged in israeli airstrikes the indonesian hospital the largest hospital in northern gaza lost power for a period of time overnight 8 trucks carrying aid including 5 with water 2 with food and 1 with medical supplies entered gaza aj 10 23 aj aj ha unocha wafa wafa 10 24 aj 10 25 25 year old palestinian arafat hamdan died in the ofer prison a day after omar daraghmeh died at the megiddo prison hamdan was arrested by israeli forces on 10 22 the palestinian human rights organizations council urged the red cross to visit the 2 israeli prisons and investigate the deaths aj 10 23 ha wafa 10 24 wafa wafa 10 25 pa health minister mai al kaila said hospitals in gaza no longer were able to receive new patients saying 12 hospitals were no longer operational due to israeli airstrikes or lack of fuel and that 65 doctors and nurses had been killed by israel since 10 7 aj 10 23 israel dropped leaflets in gaza saying israel will provide security and monetary rewards for information on where israeli and foreign captives are kept aj 10 23 ha 10 24 israeli attorney general galia baharav miara approved an emergency regulation to allow israel to detain members of hamas for 90 days without access to a lawyer ha 10 24 the new york times published an investigation into what israel called evidence that an errant rocket caused the explosion at al ahli baptist hospital in gaza city on 10 17 finding that the israel presented video did not prove that an islamic jihad fired rocket caused the explosion the nyt suggested that video footage pointed at a projectile fired from israel at gaza from the nahal oz area as being the cause nyt 10 24 french president emmanuel macron visited pa president mahmoud abbas in ramallah who called for an immediate end to the israeli aggression macron had visited israel earlier in the day meeting with prime minister benjamin netanyahu macron called for the international coalition fighting isis to also fight hamas and said that 30 french nationals were killed by militants during operation al aqsa flood aj 10 23 aj ap ha wafa 10 24 ap 10 25 ha 10 26 chinese foreign minister wang yi spoke with pa foreign minister riyad al maliki and israeli foreign minister eli cohen urging steps to prevent further escalation and establish a lasting peace aj wafa 10 24 u s president joe biden spoke with prime minister netanyahu urging him to not interfere with humanitarian aid for gaza biden also spoke with saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman national security council spokesperson john kirby said the u s does not call for a ceasefire as a ceasefire right now really only benefits hamas aj ha 10 23 ha nyt reu 10 24 un secretary general antonio guterres said the hamas operation did not happen in a vacuum referring to 56 years of suffocating occupation and that the hamas operation did not justify israeli collective punishment of the palestinian people israeli un ambassador gilad erdan called on guterres to resign israeli foreign minister eli cohen canceled a meeting with guterres israel also said it would refuse visas to un officials aj 10 23 aj aj ha ha nyt wafa 10 24 aj reu wafa 10 25 ap wafa 10 26 at the un security council pa foreign minister riyad al maliki called on the council to act to stop israeli massacres of palestinians calling them savage and systematic iranian ambassador saeed iravani said the u s was exacerbating the conflict by providing unwavering support for the israeli occupation egypt s foreign minister sameh shoukry said the governments that remain silent on israeli attacks on civilians are participating in the crimes saudi foreign minister faisal bin farhan al saud called for an immediate ceasefire and for israel to lift its siege on gaza foreign minister cohen rejected calls for a ceasefire aj 10 23 ha nyt wafa wafa 10 24 ap ap 10 25 nbc news reported that 24 u s soldiers suffered minor injuries in attacks on u s bases in syria and iraq on 10 18 aj 10 24 florida governor and republican presidential candidate ron desantis banned the group students for justice in palestine falsely claiming that the group supports terrorism ha 10 24 aj 10 25 the council on american islamic relations called the biden administration s refusal to call for a ceasefire unacceptable aj 10 23 ha 10 25 palestine legal said it had responded to 260 incidents of people in the u s being targeted for supporting palestine including people being fired and losing job opportunities aj 10 24 japan donated 10 million in humanitarian aid to gaza including 7 million for unrwa and 3 million to the international committee of the red cross wafa 10 24 october 25 in the west bank israeli settlers attacked palestinians harvesting olives in burin assaulting them at gun point and stealing tools phones and olive crops israeli settlers also raided qarawat bani hassan opening fire at palestinian harvesting olives forcing them to flee elsewhere israeli settlers uprooted 55 trees using a bulldozer in al twana israeli settlers also assaulted palestinians in khallet ad dabi causing fractures and bruises on several meanwhile israeli settlers threw stones at palestinian homes in al milehat near jericho israeli forces killed 7 palestinians including 2 children during raids in jenin refugee camp qalqilya and qalandia refugee camp 5 of the palestinians were killed in a drone strike in jenin refugee camp israeli forces also shot and injured 28 palestinians during raids in jenin refugee camp and qalandia refugee camp elsewhere israeli forces razed land and uprooted 25 trees near beit umar 52 palestinians were arrested during raids in and around ramallah al khalil hebron bethlehem qalqilya salfit jenin tubas beit awwa and beit umar in jerusalem israeli settlers toured the haram al sharif compound israeli settlers with military escort also attacked palestinians in al sawana injuring 3 including 2 with baton rounds and 1 by assault israeli forces demolished 1 palestinian home in shaykh jarrah displacing 9 israel also forced 1 palestinian family to demolish their own home in beit hanina 20 palestinians were arrested during late night raids in gaza israeli airstrikes killed 756 palestinians including the wife son daughter and grandchild of al jazeera gaza bureau chief wael dahdouh in an airstrike that was said to be targeting him israeli airstrikes also destroyed a bakery in dayr al balah shortly after it received a shipment of flour rockets were fired at israel causing damage and injuries in lebanon israeli attacks killed 2 members of hezbollah raising the death toll of hezbollah members to 40 since 10 7 in syria israeli forces attacked aleppo international airport rendering it out of service and killed at least 8 and wounded 7 others in a different attack in southwestern syria aj 10 24 aj aj aj aj ap ha nyt reu reu reu unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 10 25 aj ap ap ap wafa 10 26 the ministry of health in gaza said at least 6 547 palestinians had been killed including at least 4 000 women and children and 17 439 had been injured in israeli airstrikes on gaza since 10 7 as of 5pm it is estimated that 1 500 were trapped in rubble in addition it has been reported by israeli media that 1 500 palestinian militants have been killed near gaza 102 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and settlers in the west bank and east jerusalem since 10 7 including 29 children more than 1 833 have been injured israeli officials recorded no new fatalities leaving the israeli death toll at around 1 400 israelis including foreign nationals 5 431 have been injured since 10 7 the un reported that over 1 4 million palestinians more than half the population in gaza had been displaced since 10 7 and that since 11pm on 10 12 there had been a complete blackout of electricity due to the israel blockade at least 27 781 housing units have been destroyed and 150 000 have been damaged in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 at least 45 of all housing units have been either destroyed or damaged in israeli airstrikes the committee to protect journalists said at least 24 journalists had been killed since 10 7 including 20 palestinians 3 israelis and 1 lebanese the un said the shortage of fuel was threatening its effort to help palestinians in gaza israel told 40 000 palestinians in dayr al balah and khan yunis should evacuate to al mawasi aj 10 24 ha nyt unocha wafa 10 25 ap 10 26 the palestinian federation of trade unions said between 9 000 and 9 500 palestinians from gaza employed in israel were in israel on 10 7 5 000 of them made it to the west bank with some 2 000 of them subsequently being arrested by israel while 1 000 are unaccounted for 1 palestinian worker told haaretz after he was released from an israeli detention camp that palestinians were held in the sun for 2 days without food while they were blindfolded and their hands were tied he also reported he was beaten and threatened with death during an interrogation aj 10 24 ha 10 25 ha wafa 10 26 oxfam said israel is using starvation as a weapon of war saying only 2 of the food that under normal circumstances would have entered gaza have been delivered since 10 7 and that 104 trucks of food is needed daily to cover the needs of the population aj 10 25 hamas deputy political leader saleh al arouri and islamic jihad secretary general ziad al nakhalah met with hezbollah secretary general hassan nasrallah in beirut aj 10 24 aj ha reu 10 25 ha 10 26 u s president joe biden questioned the accuracy of the death toll reported by the ministry of health in gaza human rights watch said the data provided by the ministry is accurate saying their own investigations are aligned with the ministry data biden also criticized israeli settlers for attacking palestinians in places that they are entitled to be after a call with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu a readout of the conversation stated that they discussed a pathway for a permanent peace newly elected speaker of the house of representative mike johnson s first act as speaker was to bring a pro israel resolution to the floor which passed 412 10 with 6 voting present the u s said it will send 2 iron dome batteries and 300 interceptors to israel aj reu 10 24 aj ha ha nyt nyt 10 25 aj ap ap ha reu 10 26 at the un security council the u s and uk vetoed a russian resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire china gabon russia and the uae voted for while the 9 other members abstained russia and china vetoed a u s resolution calling for humanitarian pauses the uae also voted against while albania france ecuador gabon ghana japan malta switzerland and the uk voted in favor brazil and mozambique abstained aj 10 24 aj reu 10 25 aj aj aj aj ap ap ha wafa 10 26 turkish president recep tayyip erdoğan said in a speech that he will not visit israel as planned and that relations between the 2 states will not improve calling israel s attacks on gaza inhumane erdoğan also said hamas is a liberation group that protects its lands and people aj 10 24 aj ha ha nyt reu 10 25 nyt 10 26 french president emmanuel macron met with his egyptian counterpart abdel fattah el sisi who said the 2 discussed the many many civilian casualties that could result from an israeli ground invasion of gaza macron also met with king abdullah ii of jordan in amman macron said france will deploy a navy ship to bring aid to gaza hospitals via egypt aj 10 24 ha reu reu 10 25 ap 10 26 scottish first minister humza yousaf called uk prime minister rishi sunak and labour leader kair starmer s refusal to call for a ceasefire infuriating aj 10 24 the wall street journal reported that the u s has asked israel to hold off on its planned ground invasion of gaza until the u s has bolstered its defenses in iraq syria saudi arabia jordan kuwait and the uae haaretz reported that as of 10 22 80 u s military planes have landed in israel jordan and cyprus ha 10 24 ha ha nyt reu 10 25 axios reported that u s secretary of state antony blinken had asked qatar to tone down al jazeera s rhetoric on the israeli attacks on gaza aj 10 24 fans of the celtic soccer club in glasgow scotland waived 100s of palestinian flags during the champions league match against atletico madrid aj 10 24 aj 10 26

blog title there is another war going on in israeli prisons today how are palestinian detainees coping with the battle of al aqsa flood author lama ghosheh date october 26 2023 content the news of the death of palestinian administrative detainee omar daraghmeh 58 in megiddo prison on monday evening came as a shock to many especially after a joint statement by the palestinian prisoners society and the commission of prisoners affairs confirmed that the prisoner attended a virtual court hearing earlier in the day and had reassured his lawyer that he was in good health however the israeli prison service claimed in their statement that the prisoner felt unwell and that he went to the clinic for treatment that same day the joint statement puts the israeli narrative into question and casts doubt on the circumstances of daraghmeh s death since the prisoner was detained on oct 9 as part of a mass arrest campaign two days after the launch of the al aqsa flood operation and so we need to ask questions about the circumstances of daraghmeh s death and investigate what has been going on inside israeli prisons since the beginning of this battle on the dawn of oct 7 2023 the lives of palestinian detainees inside israeli prisons were transformed and their hearts were gripped by two emotions first a fervent hope that made their hearts race and their bodies quiver as they felt their freedom become more tangible than ever and as the possibility of a prisoner exchange to empty all israeli prisons loomed ahead second a terrible pain as the israeli repressive machine wreaked vengeance on all palestinian detainees inside israeli prisons as the israeli government announced its wartime cabinet in accordance with the 1945 british mandate s defense emergency regulations control over israeli prisons was handed over to the israeli military instead of the israeli prison service oscillating between hope and pain the families of palestinian prisoners continue to live in perpetual despair israeli prisons today bring back bitter memories of abu ghraib prison the number of arrests has increased since oct 7 reaching 5 300 detainees bringing the total number to more than 10 000 according to a statement by qadura fares head of the commission of prisoners affairs all detainees are being systematically and deliberately deprived of water and food with water and electricity being cut off from the prisons moreover direct physical assaults on prisoners have increased as guards and army officers use batons to beat the prisoners breaking the bones of some while other prisoners become almost unrecognizable due to the bruising and swelling of their faces from these brutal attacks these assaults are often accompanied by a barrage of insults and vulgar and humiliating remarks as the prisoners are shackled tightly with their hands behind their backs causing severe pain and leaving scars behind in addition prisoners are forced to endure the humiliation of mass strip searches and the constant presence of armed guards and officers near them in the yards and cells making them vulnerable to assassination and direct physical attacks since oct 7 the number of arrests made by the israeli army has increased to over 1 265 most of which are in the west bank specifically people affiliated with or close to the islamic resistance movement hamas they have been placed under administrative detention the occupation has issued more than 300 administrative detention orders after oct 7 bringing the total number of administrative detainees to 1 600 excluding workers from the gaza strip detained after oct 7 on oct 23 the israeli occupation authorities issued a military order regarding some temporary changes related to administrative detention these changes include an extension of a detainee s initial holding period before an administrative detention order from 72 hours to six days furthermore the date of a detainee s initial judicial review which was previously set after eight days has now been extended to 12 days according to qadura fares the primary goal of these arrests is to take revenge and punish palestinian people everywhere and is a feeble attempt to placate the israeli public as for jerusalem and the 48 occupied territory hundreds of arrests have been made under the pretext of incitement on social media and affiliation with terrorist organizations the estimated number of detained gazan workers who were in the 48 occupied territory on oct 7 is 4 000 detainees fares pointed out that the israeli defense minister yoav gallant issued a decision classifying gaza prisoners as unlawful combatants in violation of international law which states that the detainees are prisoners of war he added israel has not disclosed any information to any international party regarding the number of detainees from the gaza strip or the prisons to which they have been transferred to this moment we have not been able to obtain accurate information about their situation and the conditions of their detention according to the ministry of labor in gaza 18 500 workers from the gaza strip held israeli work permits before oct 7 iman nafe wife of prisoner nael barghouti who has been detained for 43 years in israeli prisons says it is our right to know how our brothers and sons are doing since the war we have not heard anything about them and if we do hear anything it is that they are suffering being beaten and deprived of their humanity the occupation is the same everywhere not just gaza but all palestinian people are a target sana daqqa wife of prisoner walid daqqa who is in critical health condition in the ramleh prison hospital stressed that palestinian prisoners are part of the genocide against the palestinian people in gaza highlighting the situation of sick prisoners saying israel is now carrying out a policy of collective punishment against palestinian prisoners as for what is called the ramleh prison hospital where abu milad and all the sick prisoners are detained there is absolutely no contact with them we do not know anything about them there is no communication with lawyers and family visits have been canceled there is no phone communication at all and the israeli prison service does not respond to our repeated calls hoping to check on all sick prisoners she added we hope that these difficult days will end soon with all our prisoners free this hope has burrowed into the hearts and minds of thousands of palestinian families longing for the freedom of their sons and daughters some of them have thought about the meal they would prepare to welcome their sons daughters and spouses while others have sewed the garment of liberation and attempted to smuggle it during prohibited visits some couldn t sleep a wink due to anxiety or joy this hope has also resonated with many academics and researchers interested in the affairs of palestinian prisoners dr abdel rahim al sheikh wrote on his facebook page on oct 7 2023 what is being circulated about the numbers of zionist prisoners in the hands of the resistance indicates that we have already reached beyond the terms of an exchange deal in any previously optimistic scenario perhaps the first condition imposed by us will be the dismantling of the israeli prison service after the release of every detainee soon enough we will witness this criminal system be torn down before its criminals stand trial gaza has made the impossible possible and there will be no going back a new reality in israeli prisons after the oct 7 what is happening today inside israeli prisons has not occurred since 1967 when israeli prisons officially began their operation it is a transitional phase and ushers in a significant transformation that the occupation had hinted at before oct 7 specifically after the gilboa prison break carried out by six palestinian prisoners on sept 6 2021 since then there has been a structural shift in how the israeli prison service deals with the architectural and material construction of prisons as well as their organizational and sociological structures this occurred through a systematic escalation by the israeli prison service administration directly against palestinian prisoners as a result this new reality reeled the years back to the experiences of early palestinian detainees in the 1960s and 1970s according to amani sarahneh a spokeswoman for the palestinian prisoners society prisoners today based on the information we received are sometimes subjected to beatings and torture on a similar level to what we used to hear and read about in the 1970s and 1980s she adds the messages we received from lawyers who were able to visit some prisoners indicate that the prisoners today are in high spirits beyond what we can imagine the resilience of the prisoners and their belief that patience and wisdom in the face of the repressive measures they are subjected to reflect the image of palestinian revolutionaries and freedom fighters even though the prison administration may have put the prisoners through detention conditions resembling the early stages of detention the prisoners have regained a language we haven t heard in a long time in a related context this is considered only the second war of its kind witnessed by palestinians inside israeli prisons the first was during the 1973 war and it was completely different from the current situation since the beginning of the al aqsa flood operation and the israeli occupation s subsequent attempts of genocide and ethnic cleansing of the palestinian people in the gaza strip shadi al sharfa a former detainee says during the 1973 war the occupation and the israeli prison service were afraid that the egyptians might reach tel aviv at any moment so the atmosphere in the prisons during the war was very tense but prison guards attempted to act friendly today there is no friendliness at all on the contrary there is a state of criminality especially in the negev prison as the vast majority of the prisoners there are affiliated with hamas the prisoners have been suppressed bound and sprayed with tear gas and water cannons in addition to insults and the breaking of their ribs he adds there is a state of fear and terror among the prisoners which is accompanied by a feeling of absolute helplessness for the first time the prisoner movement faces an event on such a large scale where they feel that any steps they might take would be futile the popular movement today is entirely focused on the gaza strip and no one is paying attention to the prisoners from another perspective there is a sense of joy in the air as the possibility of a prisoner exchange looms on the horizon after a long period without hope female prisoners in damon prison threaten hunger strike since oct 7 a state of fury has prevailed in damon prison where around 50 palestinian female prisoners are held in response to the repressive measures imposed on them by the army leadership together with the israeli prison service they were deprived of the canteen recreation time and water water electricity and public phone communication were also cut off the prisoners are banned from family visits and meetings with lawyers and they were subjected to cell raids and beatings they were tear gassed inside their cells with no consideration for minors elderly women and injured and sick women some of whom suffer from asthma they were also threatened with death furthermore marah bakir the representative of female prisoners was placed in solitary confinement in jalameh prison in response the female prisoners decided to stand up against this brutal attack and refused to comply with the headcount they also chanted and screamed and kept banging on the doors threatening to go on a hunger strike if the situation continued as is the prisoners affairs commission also reported details of a large force of prison guards armed with bulletproof shields storming the damon prison on oct 19 carrying batons tear gas grenades and weapons they wreaked havoc on the cells emptying them of all necessities such as tables chairs kitchen utensils and food supplies in addition some female prisoners were placed in solitary confinement including the prisoner marah bakir the representative of female prisoners in damon prison marah bakir s mother sawsan al mubayyid says since the beginning of al aqsa flood battle and until today marah has been in solitary confinement in the jalameh prison marah has always told me that the director of damon prison always threatened her with solitary confinement because of her stance toward the prison administration and it seems he took advantage of the situation to isolate her and put her under control she then went on a hunger strike for six days to demand her release from solitary confinement these are very difficult days for us and we cannot contact her to reassure her or reassure ourselves muna jaabis the sister of the prisoner israa jaabis expressed her mounting concern saying the last time we spoke to israa was on oct 4 and then contact with her was completely cut off we are worried and afraid for her and the other female prisoners as we have no news about them there is nothing to say words fail us in the face of these travesties especially in light of the complacency we are experiencing we no longer know who to fear for and worry about since oct 7 we have been witnessing difficult and pivotal days for the palestinian cause and it seems that the fate of palestinian prisoners is directly linked to any development in this war this means that their lives are currently at stake amid the triad of martyrdom in our arab history thirst hunger and fear this is happening while the governments of the arab world and the west remain silent and complacent leaving palestinians with nothing but their voice and narrative for those who do not tell their own story risk losing it to their enemies this article was translated into english by aya jayyousi

blog title israel s vengeance on gazan workers after the al aqsa flood operation suffering and solidarity author majdi al malki date october 25 2023 content the suffering of the gaza strip is not limited to its besieged residents who are currently undergoing indiscriminate and constant bombardment as the circle of suffering has widened to include palestinian workers from gaza who were in 48 occupied territories israel began granting work permits several years ago to some palestinians in gaza who meet the requirements and an estimated 18 000 workers were in israeli facilities after hamas carried out the al aqsa flood operation on oct 7 2023 israeli authorities revoked all work permits for these workers and the police began collecting and expelling them in brutal fashion to palestinian authority controlled areas in the west bank most of these workers arrived in various palestinian cities and towns in the west bank carrying little of their personal belongings and some cash they were received by palestinian institutions specifically provincial offices civil institutions and some schools hotels and private sector companies as one staff member in the ramallah governor s office said they did not expect such a large number of workers to arrive all at once because the institutions in the city were not ready to receive them on the evening of wednesday oct 11 nearly 300 workers arrived in ramallah and an increasing numbers continue to arrive over the following days the director of the first ramallah brigade sports club khalid alian said we initially received our full capacity 75 workers after the governorate office suddenly asked us to do so but we were surprised the next day by the arrival of hundreds of workers to the institution which created a crisis in the facilities of the institution and housing in the face of all other requirements the club only has sports facilities and the requisite simple bathrooms therefore it is not qualified to receive arrivals for housing and overnight stays as these workers lived in its sports fields after the members of the club and the people of the city donated the accommodation requirements and other basic needs but the great solidarity for these expelled workers that has been shown by the people and villages of the city has had a great impact in alleviating their suffering because they are helping to provide everything necessary along with the city s institutions the residents of the city have rushed to receive the workers as civil institutions provided in kind and financial donations to provide for their basic needs the city s official dignitaries and local delegations headed to the reception centers to support workers and provide significant assistance workers story popular solidarity and heading to ramallah one of the workers from gaza shared we used to work as a group in construction in shafa amr in the 48 palestine where the employer secured housing and work for us suddenly the war took place in gaza and we are from the town of jabaliya and from the beit lahiya area in the north the war began and we were in danger we couldn t move inside workers from gaza inside were beaten and attacked and we felt afraid and threatened with deportation we stayed at work until today on wednesday october 11 we were in obvious danger as the police began to chase down workers we could not continue working and we remained in housing without work and we could not get food and basic needs in light of the police pursuits as they spread in the streets we had to move from the north to the umm al rayhan checkpoint in jenin and then come to ramallah work permits were withdrawn from us at night via the coordinator app and our work status was changed to illegal we saw a call on facebook that laila ghannam governor of ramallah posted about the reception of workers from gaza so we came after hardship and with help from the people of shafa amr the people in shafa amr did not let us down but they advised us to return or move to the west bank areas and since the return to gaza became dangerous and impossible we had to go to ramallah in fact the governor and the people of ramallah have welcomed us with open arms and all that we are missing is to hear reassuring news from our families in gaza another worker recounts that he was working at the ramy levy supermarket in the al qastel area when the events took place on saturday we came to ramallah avoiding any problem with the jewish population in the area where we were all our fear is for the people of gaza what is happening in gaza is not to be treated lightly we arrived today as a group of 28 workers to ramallah most of us are from khan younis and al barej the jerusalemite operator abu osama from eastern sawahera took care of us and our residence was in wadi al hummus he helped us from the beginning of the war secured our arrival in al eizariya then secured another car from al eizariya to take us to ramallah paying the car expenses since the first days of the war we were in his hospitality he took care of our food and drinks at his own expense workers from gaza moved to ramallah since it is the safest area currently one of them said that he came to ramallah after a call from other workers who said that they arrived there and that the governorate of ramallah and al bireh provided accommodation and housing for the workers approximately 600 workers flocked to ramallah on october 10 2023 soon after the number began to increase rapidly until it reached about 3 000 workers in the city of ramallah alone a ramallah governorate employee said that when the youth and people of ramallah learned of the arrival of the workers they started a social campaign to volunteer and collect donations to provide workers with their basic needs young people were soliciating donations to guarantee the workers lunch the next day taking care of these workers became a matter of solidarity as is common in palestinian society despite the popular support in the west bank for these workers and the provision of all their necessities we noticed during our visits the anxiety these workers experienced for their families and relatives in the gaza strip they spent their waiting hours under great tension and great fear of devastating news arriving from their towns and cities they already lived under difficult and stressful conditions but this time it was away from their families who have been suffering under continuous israeli bombing and airstrikes since the afternoon of saturday october 7 despite the anxiety fear and lack of basic needs among workers the warmth from community members and care from palestinian institutions was important in contributing to the mental health and collective identity of all palestinians involved by chance one of the workers who came to ramallah met a young palestinian that he had previously been incarcerated with in the same israeli prison they met near al manara square and conversed exchanging reassurances and compliments after years of absence and perhaps forgot for a moment the devastations in gaza this is an important indicator of existing social familiarity popular cohesion and solidarity and a reflection of the common destiny of all palestinians inside and outside of historic palestine

blog title real names of stolen villages illegal settlements of the gaza perimeter author perla issa date october 25 2023 content if you are to read western news reports coming from israel you would likely believe that kfar azza be eri erez nahal oz and the other settlements that surround gaza are idyllic spots little pieces of paradise little pieces of heaven and small farming communities what is missing from this picture what is missing from the vast majority of western news reports on the genocide unfolding in gaza is that these pieces of paradise are built on stolen land stolen by zionists from the palestinian people through violence and that the palestinian population have been huddled and caged in one small corner of their original lands for over 75 years that is what is currently called the gaza strip about 80 percent of gaza s population are refugees refugees from what today is called the gaza perimeter as palestinian resistance increased over the years as palestinians generation after generation have tried to break the cage and return home that cage has become tighter and tighter that is how the israeli residents of these farming communities around 50 000 people living on 1 038 squared kilometers of stolen lands the sha ar hanegev eshkol and sdot negev regional councils have been able for years to live prosper raise families have dinners swim in pools dance sing and celebrate unity and love in large concerts just a few kilometers away from where over 2 1 million people live on 365 squared kilometers usurped from their lands subjugated to daily humiliation purposely impoverished and caged in unable to move live fish in the sea and certainly unable to celebrate unity and love a simple glance at google maps puts this reality in plain sight how can such an urban reality exist a people density of 5 753 people per squared kilometer next to a people density of 48 people per squared kilometer can there be any doubt that in order to keep such a reality for decades a vast amount of daily violence needs to be applied in order to prevent any spill over google maps screenshot of the gaza strip and surrounding area showing the wide disparity in urban density between palestinian and israeli controlled areas taken on oct 16 2023 the image used as the header of this article however is a historic map from 1948 from palestine open maps palestinians live this reality on a daily basis while israelis living in idyllic spots thought that they could afford to forget it they thought they could afford to forget how they came to live on that very land let us here remind ourselves of this reality in an oral history project of interviews with zionist fighters the truth is spoken plainly and simply michael cohen from the negev brigade of the israeli occupation forces formed from the palmach the elite fighting force of the haganah explains in a recorded video how the brigade expelled palestinians in october 1948 from what today you would call the gaza perimeter it s the entire western sector bordering on today s gaza strip he explains how expelling was easy that the majority of the palestinians had no plans to hurt us but that we couldn t allow ourselves we as an army and the jewish settlements around us to leave arab settlements in our underbelly we kicked them out he explains how in many places palestinians left without a fight on one or two occasions there was some sort of resistance even using firearms but that was rare the negev was cleared of all villages but with time the soldiers realized that the people they had expelled were coming back and that it was difficult to finish the job with them he explains that they had to block them block means shoot to kill in his own words so in that case i saw it with my own eyes i didn t just see it with my own eyes i also did it expulsion was one thing that needed to be done and it was done indeed violent expulsion was done but violence breeds violence through cohen s testimony we can see how palestinian resistance was changing and adapting in response to israeli violence the villagers and bedouins went from friendly coexistence to acquiescence to non violent resistance by quietly returning to their lands but once faced with deadly force they resorted to armed resistance they started attacking roads and planting mines the israeli response was more violence they demolished palestinian homes and burned fields forcing the population to flee again cohen explains how they planted explosives and would topple down the houses in one full swoop he further explains the demolition of the houses and or the burning of the fields it wasn t a one time thing during the deportation it was a process avri ya ari of the haganah explains in another recorded video how they expelled the people of huj هوج a palestinian village lying 2 5 kilometers from the current israeli settlement of sderot and 6 5 kilometers from the gaza strip where ariel sharon built a ranch through ya ari s testimony we get a sense of the large disproportionate of force between the israeli armed forces and the palestinians and again we see how the palestinian population was peaceful ya ari there was huj but the relations with them were very good interviewer the arab population when did they leave the area ya ari when they were told to laughter interviewer what do you mean ya ari they were told to take a hike interviewer who told them ya ari the army the israeli defense forces in certain stages how should i say it they cleared the area of arabs the people of huj who had been very friendly and later suffered terribly in the refugee camps they told them they d be back in two or three weeks palestinians indeed have been attempting to return ever since by any and all means at their disposal people must recognize what lands israeli settlements have been built on and call them by their names their real names in the table below is a list of some of the settlements that surround gaza and the corresponding palestinian lands that they have been built on whether it be city village or tribal lands israeli settlement name of depopulated palestinian city that corresponding israeli settlement is built on name of depopulated palestinian village that corresponding israeli settlement is built on name of depopulated tribal land that corresponding israeli settlement is built on additional notes from author ashkelon al majdal المجدل al jura الجورة al khisas الخصاص ni ilya نعليا built on the village lands and orchards zikim hirbiya هربيا built on the citrus groves of the village karmiya hirbiya هربيا built on the orchards of the village mavqiim barbara بربرة built on the village and its orchards erez dimra دمرة sderot najd نجد mefalsim wadi ez zeit of gaza city kfar aza turkman quarter of gaza city nahal oz waqf esh sheikh zarif in gaza city وقف الشيخ ظريف sa ad jdeide quarter of gaza city alumin turkman quarter of gaza city be eri wuhaitat al tarabin الوحيدات ترابين clan of the tarabin ترابين tribe lands re im ghawali al zari i غوالي الزريعي clan of the tarabin ترابين tribe lands built next to the ancient ruins of tell jamma تل جمة in the gaza valley kisufim abu khammash ابو خماش clan of the tarabin ترابين tribe lands en hashlosha ma in abu sitta village معين ابو ستة umm tina hamlet ام تينة part of the arab al ghawali عرب الغوالي clan of the tarabin ترابين tribe umm tina is described in an oral history project by a former villager as fertile land extending as far as the eye can see wide and spacious with almond orchards and fields of wheat barley lentils watermelons and cantaloupes a wonderful country nirim ma in abu sitta village معين ابو ستة part of the arab al ghawali عرب الغوالي clan of the tarabin ترابين tribe built on the ruins of the village s former school nir oz ma in abu sitta village معين ابو ستة part of the arab al ghawali عرب الغوالي clan of the tarabin ترابين tribe built on the village orchards magen ma in abu sitta village معين ابو ستة abu tailakh أبو تيلخ and abu nuqeira ابو نقيرة hamlets part of arab al ghawali عرب الغوالي clan of the tarabin ترابين tribe built on the village orchards engulfing the shrine of sheikh nuran مقام الشيخ نوران and the abu qurayda spring بئر أبو قريدة ami oz zohar ohad mivtahim yesha umm ajwe أم عجوة and tell rabiya تل رابية hamlets part of the najmat clan نجمات of the tarabin ترابين tribe sde nitsan talmei eliyahu karm aqel كرم عقل part of the najmat clan نجمات of the tarabin ترابين tribe holit el buhdari hamlet كرم البهداري part of the najmat al kassar نجمات القصار clan of the tarabin tribe ترابين built on the village orchards peri gan sede avraham deqel talme yosef avshalom yated yevul el ahmar كرم الاحمر and el khilawi كرم الخلاوي hamlet part of the najmat al kassar نجمات القصار clan of the tarabin tribe ترابين built on the village orchards editor s note this is not an exhaustive list feel free to contact the author directly at emailprotected you may also seek additional resources such as all that remains the palestinian villages occupied and depopulated by israel in 1948 the interactive encyclopedia of the palestine question places section palestine open maps palestine remembered and the return journey atlas for further reading on the history of destroyed and depopulated villages across all of palestine

blog title a gaza family escapes one death to encounter another author ahmad al batta date october 25 2023 content on the morning of oct 16 a family s story in gaza came to a tragic end at 7 43 a m an israeli airstrike hit the home of the zaqmat family in the city of khan younis located in the southern part of the gaza strip the attack claimed the lives of syed al eqad s wife and all of his children leaving him physically injured and emotionally devastated the family had fled their home in the city center just a few days prior due to heavy bombing they sought refuge in a relative s home but death found them there in the form of a missile weighing over half a ton the house was reduced to a pile of rubble in a crater three meters deep medical rescue crews pulled more than 15 martyrs from the site among them were women and children including syed s wife and children the dreams and memories of a once happy family were erased yet the voice of anas their young son with a voice like a curlew bird still echoes faintly in the ears of relatives and friends next to their mother randa five children mohammed anas duaa maryam and noor were laid to rest alaa was found hours later under the rubble fighting for her life as alaa battled death in the intensive burn unit her father syed faced his own struggle with loneliness and grief despite an upcoming surgery for his physical injuries he believed the deep wound in his heart may never heal six souls departed this world this incident is one of many carried out by israeli occupation forces against palestinian civilians over 350 families have been erased from the palestinian civil registery bloodlines wiped as of oct 25 israel killed more than 6500 palestinians more than 2500 were children

blog title decolonizing the mind learning from yacoub odeh s village of lifta author noor h date october 25 2023 content it was on the edge of the valley in occupied jerusalem where i first met yacoub odeh i expected him to tell me about his mother or grandmother about their upbringing in the now colonized village of lifta just steps from where we were standing that afternoon but yacoub s lifta wasn t that of past generations of a lost history when we spoke he told me of the lifta of his own childhood the 83 year old skipped up the jagged hills as he led me to a look out over the valley i lagged behind him chasing my breath trying to avoid the eyes of the settlers staggering up and down the hill around us they threw nods and sneers at yacoub as we hiked familiar with the man whose ancestral land they were occupying and yet so clearly unfamiliar with the contours of the land itself yacoub waited for me to reach the top and with lifta s remains before us he told me that he lost this village to israel during the nakba he was eight years old yacoub moved through the rough geography of the land with a deftness the settlers couldn t access it was astonishing to me had i plopped him right at the entrance of lifta and blindfolded him he could have traversed the village s disappeared streets all the same his knowledge was borne from a willingness to learn from the land itself and from the people who had no doubt learned from it before him lifta s past was not just an image yacoub carried in his mind it was a physical routine that lived in his muscle memory one he repeated every day with the same agility he possessed the day he was exiled from it at this sight alone my thoughts raced my brain unraveling as if i was being lulled to sleep my mind about to begin dreaming i have been acutely aware of the series of events that led to my birth in the united states for quite some time i could sit in front of power point slides before an audience of college students nearly shouting about napoleon and the ottomans and sykes picot and the nakba and the other nakba and the other nakba and the intifada and the other intifada and the other intifada until my voice gave out i was a teenager the first time i visited palestine an adult when my mother told me her first memory began with an evacuation of her kindergarten class and ended with israeli soldiers surrounding her village with tanks many of palestine s stones had been turned over in my head a million times rote memories that i spewed and analyzed and explained and cried over and let harden in my imagination as a stagnant series of thoughts as yacoub pointed to his former school turned military base these thoughts began clanging in unison ignited into sentience by the past and the present and the future all simultaneously crashing into each other before me our tour had barely begun when the jaded part of me that conceptualized a free palestine awoke from its sleep i have spent the entirety of my life attending american academic institutions this is where my despair and jaded attitude was first forged where my own politics and understanding of colonialism found footing but informed by the stories of my family i always felt a disconnect between the colonization i knew intimately and the rhetorically empty variety described by my professors if you spend enough time within western academic spaces you may be familiar with popular incessant calls to decolonize the mind this concept decolonizing the mind is rooted in radical politics popularized by the inimitable kenyan fanonian marxist writer ngũgĩ wa thiong o but his original call to action has since been transfigured by the american academy where scholars above all else use it to pat themselves on the back as they try to defend their academic careers from the colonial past and present of the academy itself as a palestinian it was not hard to see it as a theoretical practice with no real praxis a retroactive attempt to wave away the violence already done to make invisible the violence still underway and while it can certainly be a useful tool of reflection and analysis my primary observations of this process have shown me that decolonizing the mind is mainly used as a tool of self flagellation for guilty academics how do we decolonize the way of thinking that is responsible for publishing our papers responsible for keeping our lights on responsible for kicking out the people who used to live on the land our lecture halls were built over all cynical questions ones that i believed had no real answer that is until i was standing in the middle of lifta with yacoub we spent a day piecing through the ruins of lifta back together naming every family that once occupied the remnants of the village s demolished homes as if they were to return within the hour with bread and fruit from the market as if they had pots still boiling on the stove yacoub stood on a slab of the mountain we were in front of and leaned in culture moves from generation to generation he gestured between himself and i if the memory is alive we will not lose our land he tells me that yes geographically settlers occupied it but sooner or later all colonization all oppression will one day come to an end with righteous certainty odeh explained that settler colonialism relies not only on the theft of land but on severing the connection between the land and its dispossessed we cannot free the land if we have allowed it to escape our minds it needs more than to return to our belonging it must never leave our grasp it is necessary for generation after generation to never forget who we are and where we come from so that when the day of return does arrive we know exactly where we are going perhaps for those in american academia attempting to wrap the shivering guilt of the dispossessor in a warm and fuzzy blanket decolonization of the mind can be an analytical and retroactive means of thinking and perhaps this is why the process of decolonizing the mind can be riddled with a cynic s contradictions for those whose life s work has been made possible by settler colonialism but for the dispossessed decolonization of the mind is a process that begins with our memory and lives in our bodies it s not a retroactive process of undoing it is instead imaginative regenerative and above all else borne through a hopeful steadfastness so that when the land does return it s met by and freed by the minds of people who have never forgotten it on my next visit to lifta i will be a little less out of breath a little more familiar with the land that yacoub still calls his home

blog title palestinechronology press summaries on the war on gaza october 21 22 author palestine chronology staff date october 25 2023 content editor s note these entries are compiled by the palestine chronology researcher from the period of october 21 to october 22 the gathered summaries are based on initial reporting and will be updated october 21 in the west bank israeli settlers injured 5 palestinians in yasuf including 3 with live ammunition and 2 with stones israeli settlers also assaulted palestinians harvesting olives in deir istiya and al khader a palestinian family of 16 fled their home in khirbet ar ratheem south of al khalil hebron after israeli settlers raided the area causing destruction of their property and threatening them with guns israeli forces shot and killed 1 palestinian minor during a raid in jericho israeli forces also shot and injured 10 palestinians using live ammunition during raids in askar refugee camp beita and deir as sudan elsewhere israeli forces punitively demolished the home of a palestinian man in aqabat jaber refugee camp using explosives israeli forces also seized deputy leader of the hamas political bureau salah al arouri s home in bani zeid al sharqiya turning it in to a shin bet facility meanwhile israeli forces prevented palestinians from harvesting olives in duma burin zabbuba and sebastia more than 120 palestinians were arrested during late night raids in aroura rantis bethlehem hebron deir samet and nablus the palestinian prisoners club said at least 1 070 palestinians have been arrested in the west bank since 10 7 in gaza around 250 palestinians were killed in israeli airstrikes rockets were fired at israel no new fatalities were reported in lebanon anti tank missiles fired from lebanon wounded 1 israeli soldier and israel attacked hezbollah linked sites hezbollah said 19 of its members had been killed by israel since 10 7 including 6 on 10 21 in cyprus a small homemade bomb exploded near the israeli embassy in nicosia no damage or injuries were reported 4 syrians were arrested aj ha 10 20 aj aj aj ap ha reu reu unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 10 21 unocha 10 22 the ministry of health in gaza said at least 4 385 palestinians had been killed including at least 1 524 children and 13 561 had been injured in israeli airstrikes on gaza since 10 7 as of 5pm including 47 entire families consisting of 500 people the un said that about 70 of palestinians killed in gaza are children and women it is estimated that hundreds are still trapped under the rubble in addition it has been reported by israeli media that 1 500 palestinian militants have been killed near gaza 84 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and settlers in the west bank and east jerusalem since 10 7 including 26 children more than 1 653 have been injured including at least 360 with live ammunition israeli officials recorded no new fatalities leaving the israeli death toll at around 1 400 israelis including foreign nationals 4 629 have been injured since 10 7 the un reported that over 1 4 million palestinians more than half the population in gaza had been displaced since 10 7 and that since 11pm on 10 12 there had been a complete blackout of electricity due to the israel blockade at least 26 756 housing units have been destroyed and 139 000 have been damaged in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 at least 42 of all housing units have been either destroyed or damaged in israeli airstrikes 43 unidentified palestinians were buried in a mass grave in gaza city it was the second time palestinians in gaza were buried in mass graves this week the palestinian health ministry said 37 medical personnel had been killed since 10 7 and that 7 hospitals no longer are operational the first trucks carrying aid to gaza arrived through the rafah crossing about 20 trucks carrying aid entered gaza on 10 21 israeli military spokesperson daniel hagari said fuel will not enter gaza via the rafah crossing unrwa said 17 of its members have been killed and 35 of its buildings damaged in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 aj ha 10 20 aj aj aj aj ap ap ha nyt reu unocha unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 10 21 ha 10 22 ha 10 23 israel said it attacked several high rise buildings in northern gaza in recent days in preparation for a ground invasion israel also dropped leaflets over gaza city warning that israel considers people remaining there collaborators with terrorists aj 10 21 ha ha 10 21 reu 10 22 hamas said it sought to release 2 additional captives for humanitarian reasons but that israel declined to receive them hamas political leader ismail haniyeh spoke with turkish president recep tayyip erdoğan aj 10 20 aj aj ha 10 21 a pa official told haaretz that israel only allowed the aid the arrived in gaza today because of the release of 2 captives on 10 20 and that future aid will depend on releasing more captives the official said that the u s and european countries have been trying to link aid to release of civilian captives ha 10 21 5 un agencies released a joint statement calling the situation in gaza catastrophic ha 10 21 wafa 10 22 leaders from the pa egypt jordan bahrain qatar italy spain greece cyprus south africa the uae un and eu and senior government officials from kuwait germany france japan norway russia and china met at the cairo peace summit on israel s attack on gaza jordanian king abdullah ii said t oday israel is literally starving civilians in gaza but for decades palestinians have been starved of hope of freedom and of future complaining that israel is never held accountable and calling its actions in gaza a war crime un secretary general antonio guterres said hamas attack does not justify collective punishment of the palestinian people pa president mahmoud abbas called on hamas and israel to release all captives and prisoners the summit ended without agreement on a joint statement abbas met with spanish prime minister pedro sanchez eu high representative for foreign affairs and council president josep borell and charles michel italian prime minister giorgia meloni japanese foreign minister yoko kamikawa and south african president cyril ramaphosa on the sidelines of the summit aj 10 20 aj aj ap ha ha nyt reu reu reu wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 10 21 prime minister meloni arrived in israel for meetings with prime minister benjamin netanyahu and president isaac herzog ha 10 21 u s forces shot down 2 drones flying near ain al asad air base in iraq the u s deployed a thaad missile defense system battery and multiple patriot missile batteries in the middle east to increase force protection for u s forces in the region and assist in the defense of israel according to secretary of defense lloyd austin iii aj 10 21 ha nyt 10 22 the u s introduced a draft resolution at the un security council saying israel has a right to defend itself iran needs to stop exporting arms to militias and terrorist groups calling for unhindered aid and protection of civilians ha 10 21 ap said based on videos its experts had determined that it was likely an errant rocket that caused the explosion at al ahli arab hospital on 10 17 french and canadian intelligence also suggested that an errant rocket fired by palestinian militant caused the explosion uk channel 4 al jazeera and forensic architecture investigations have concluded that it was likely an israeli airstrike or artillery fire that caused the explosion aj 10 20 aj ap 10 21 aj ha ha 10 22 thousands of demonstrators attended pro palestinian rallies in many major cities throughout the world including more than 100 000 in london aj 10 20 aj aj ha wafa wafa wafa 10 21 october 22 in the west bank israeli settlers set fire to 2 cars in huwwara israeli settlers also vandalized 70 olive trees in yasuf elsewhere israeli settlers uprooted 30 olive and grape trees damaged water tanks and solar panels in shaab al batn in the masafer yatta area israeli settlers also assaulted palestinians in kisan israeli forces carried out an airstrike from a fighter jet at the al anasari mosque in jenin killing 2 palestinians it was the first time since the second intifada that israel have used fighter jets in the west bank israeli forces shot and killed 5 others including 1 minor during raids in qabatiya tammun zawata and askar refugee camp elsewhere israeli forces shot and killed 1 palestinian they claimed had tried to ram israeli soldiers at a checkpoint near al arroub refugee camp israeli forces also seized 1 bulldozer and arrested the driver in qablan 52 palestinians were arrested during raids in and around ramallah al bireh hebron nablus qabatiya kafr ra i tubas and salfit including the mayor of al bireh islam al tawil in east jerusalem israeli forces violently dispersed a protest in support of gaza arresting 6 in gaza israeli forces killed nearly 400 palestinians in airstrikes israeli forces also targeted the vicinity of al shifa and al quds hospitals 1 israeli soldier was killed and 3 wounded in anti tank fire during a raid in near khan yunis rockets were fired at israel causing no new fatalities in lebanon israeli forces attacked and killed militants that allegedly were firing anti tank missiles at israel using a missile strike in syria israeli forces fired missiles at damascus and aleppo international airports killing 2 airport workers in damascus and causing enough damage to close both airports in egypt israeli tank fire hit an egyptian military post injuring 7 israeli called the incident an accident ap 10 20 aj ha 10 21 aj aj aj aj aj aj ap ap ha ha nyt nyt nyt reu reu reu reu reu unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 10 22 ha reu 10 23 the ministry of health in gaza said at least 4 651 palestinians had been killed including at least 1 524 children and 14 245 had been injured in israeli airstrikes on gaza since 10 7 as of 5pm including 47 entire families consisting of 500 people the un said that about 70 of palestinians killed in gaza are children and women it is estimated that hundreds are still trapped in rubble in addition it has been reported by israeli media that 1 500 palestinian militants have been killed near gaza 92 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and settlers in the west bank and east jerusalem since 10 7 including 27 children more than 1 734 have been injured including at least 360 with live ammunition israeli officials recorded no new fatalities leaving the israeli death toll at around 1 400 israelis including foreign nationals 4 932 have been injured since 10 7 the un reported that over 1 4 million palestinians more than half the population in gaza had been displaced since 10 7 and that since 11pm on 10 12 there had been a complete blackout of electricity due to the israel blockade at least 26 756 housing units have been destroyed and 139 000 have been damaged in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 at least 42 of all housing units have been either destroyed or damaged in israeli airstrikes unrwa said 29 of its employees had been killed in gaza since 10 7 ap reported that 17 aid trucks entered gaza today including 7 carrying fuel the who said 4 trucks of medical supplies had entered gaza to help more than 300 000 patients the gaza ministry of endowments said 31 mosques had been destroyed in israeli airstrikes aj 10 21 ha unocha wafa wafa wafa 10 22 ha 10 23 the palestinian prisoners society said 300 palestinians had been placed in administrative detention and that 1 130 have been arrested since 10 7 aj 10 21 israel evacuated 14 towns near the northern border with lebanon blue line ha 10 22 iranian foreign minister hossein amir abdollahian spoke with hamas political leader ismail haniyeh and islamic jihad secretary general ziyad al nakhalah aj 10 21 ha 10 22 ha 10 23 pa prime minister mohammed shtayyeh met with 25 ambassadors and representatives in ramallah urging a united front in ending the israeli attacks on gaza wafa 10 22 katyusha rockets were fired at the u s air base ain al asad in iraq ha 10 22 israeli president isaac herzog claimed that hamas militants planned to use cyanide on israelis showing documents he said were found on a usb drive in the possession of militants killed by israel the documents herzog presented did not seem real as the word al qaeda was written with large font in english ha 10 22 israel closed its public diplomacy ministry allocating the budget of the ministry to rehabilitation of israeli towns near the gaza fence ha 10 22 the new york times reported that the u s have asked israel to suspend its ground invasion of gaza to allow negotiations over releasing more captives held by hamas president joe biden reiterated his believe that israel has a right to defend itself but said it must operate within the laws of war biden also discussed the situation in gaza with pope francis secretary of state antony blinken said the u s expects a likelihood of regional escalation and claimed that hamas is preventing u s citizens from leaving gaza aj 10 21 aj ha nyt reu 10 22 ha 10 23 president biden canadian prime minister justin trudeau french president emmanuel macron uk prime minister rishi sunak german chancellor olaf scholz and italian prime minister giorgia meloni issued a joint statement reaffirming their support for israel s war against hamas called for the release of all captives and for israel to adhere to international law and protect palestinian civilians ap 10 20 aj ha 10 22 the israeli education ministry removed swedish climate activist greta thunberg from the israeli curriculum because of her support of palestinians in gaza and calls to end israeli attacks ha 10 22 thousands marched in solidarity with palestine in copenhagen paris sydney brussels sarajevo são paulo santiago and elsewhere wafa 10 22

blog title a gaza daughter in exile i wish i were there with you author reema saleh date october 25 2023 content i called my father at 10 a m on saturday oct 7 after hearing the news my mind could barely comprehend the qassam brigades had broken through the siege of gaza and captured scores of israelis he spoke to me in a tone i had not heard before a combination of joy and dread of what awaits the people of gaza i could not contain my tears when he told me that no words could describe what israel was going to do to our bereaved people he went silent for a moment as if he was holding back tears and trying to project strength rima i need you to be strong even if you come to visit gaza and none of us are left it has been one year one month and seven days since i left gaza i clearly remember the moment i realized that this was the first time i was going to experience a war on gaza far from the barbarity of missiles and body parts strewed everywhere i did not know it would be the most ferocious war yet and i did not know that those missiles were less powerful than the hallucinations that would haunt me through the night i did not know that remorse and fear for my family would so utterly destroy me i called my friend gripped with shame at having left that great city i was ashamed to ask her how she is i could not recall any words in the entire arabic language that might have helped me in that moment tell me everything in detail no matter how inconsequential i said i want to cool the fire of helplessness inside me she told me that they left their house and then saw it on the news completely destroyed they fled to her brother s house in the middle of the jabalia refugee camp only for israel to blindly rain down a barrage of missiles that destroyed dozens of houses and killed scores of people one of those killed was her uncle s wife who was nine months pregnant they still have not found her body i wonder how can a child be born under the rubble of this destruction how can a child greet life amongst all this death i picture her uncle looking for his family members in the hospitals of gaza and writing down this one has been martyred this one injured and that one missing they are not numbers i ask her to talk at length listening was the least i could offer i had never seen my close friends this powerless my heart broke when she told me pray for us rima we ve been humiliated my tears betray me every time i try to feign strength when i hear those wails my friend likened fleeing to the south as the israeli occupation authorities instructed them to the horrors of judgement day when they arrived at the unrwa schools on caravans they found nothing that could possibly sustain life there they had to wait long hours just for a few loaves of bread if they were even lucky to get any at all she tells me of a night she spent sleeping on a chair because there were no mattresses and that she had to perform her prayer ablutions with damp tissues there was no drinking water and i had to stop drinking so as not to use the bathroom i had to wait long hours to even go in my family lives in the jabalia refugee camp in the north of gaza the enemy s warnings to leave to the south mattered little to them my mother said how can i leave my house while our relatives are seeking shelter with us how can i leave it and repeat the mistakes your grandparents made when they fled the 1948 nakba my father told me the same thing as do my siblings i told them i am ashamed to tell you what to do i am with you in my heart and in my prayers just be okay please stay with each other even if you decide to leave for the south at noon the sound of an f 16 bomb interrupted a phone call with my mother i couldn t remember what she was even telling me i knew exactly what that sound was from experience i was cut off from my family for the rest of that day my neighbor s house was bombed and collapsed on its residents they bombed alaa s house without warning my sister nour told me it is the house adjacent to my family s as is the case with all houses in the camp i asked her to tell me what happened in detail and she was terrified at the horror of the scene i remember the number of family members there it s been six hours and they haven t been able to recover a single body they found a leg and a hand that might be alaa s wife s i shuddered and found no answers to my questions what are these missiles they are using that cause such devastation i kept trying to call my father so he could tell me something he finally answered me at 9 p m and said mohammad s wife his four children his mother his brother hamza and his wife his brother ra afat and his wife and child his sisters ghida and haifa and diyaa all were martyred the rescue workers worked really hard and they re still unable to recover ghida s body how will mohammad and his father the only two survivors of the entire family bear this calamity how my four year old cousin jad tells me don t cry rima i m not afraid of the bombs because we re going to go to heaven like uncle who died i collapsed into tears how could a child so young speak about death and bombardment and heaven how can they be so strong as to reassure me when it should be me reassuring them my mother tried to minimize the danger of the situation and pretend they were okay what did you have for lunch darling how was university today i told her that her words wracked me with guilt and pleaded with her to tell me how the rest of the family and our neighbors were doing how is my cousin lama the child who has kidney failure how is she able to undergo dialysis three times a week in this tragic situation i was stunned when she replied her older sister haneen does it with some basic materials so if she doesn t die from the bombs she ll die from lack of proper health care my mother is afraid to tell me that my cousin joury s medication is about to run out knowing that without it she will be paralyzed but i know and feel everything my family is facing because i left my heart in gaza when i came to lebanon on oct 16 my older brother tamer told me that my father had decided to evacuate them to the south for a moment i thought they would offer them rooms inside the college but then i learned that my dad had pitched a tent made of bedsheets and blankets to shelter them while they slept it doesn t protect them from the heat or the cold they found a grocery store that still had some canned goods and water that is not sufficient for them by any means but they have no choice i asked my little brother for details about their daily lives about their feelings about everything he said rima i lost six kilograms in less than two weeks we eat one meal a day because there is not enough food but that s probably best because then we won t have to go to the bathroom and wait hours in line our cat bees got depressed and died don t worry i made her a coffin and buried her i take advantage of any lull in the bombing to sleep i wake up i wait for night to come and then i sleep again i don t know what to do there s no school no internet no football we re broken we re living the most primitive life i walked under the bombs for about 45 minutes to find the internet to speak to you i know it s late 1 a m but i know you can t sleep and i know how your heart aches for us my loves how i wish i were there with you this article was translated into english by rasha moumneh

blog title solidarity statement by sjp at columbia college chicago author students for justice in palestine at columbia college chicago date october 24 2023 content editor s note this statement was first released on instagram by sjp at columbia college chicago on oct 12 it is published with permission solidarity statement by ccc sjp students for justice in palestine at columbia college chicago mourns the loss of all innocent life we condemn the violent ongoing israeli occupation and ethnic cleansing of palestine and hold the israeli regime responsible for the recent escalation we unequivocally support and stand in full solidarity with the palestinian resistance against 75 years of israel s atrocities resistance is justified when people are occupied it is crucial to understand that violence does not occur in a vacuum violence in palestine did not start with this escalation and it will not end until the israeli occupation is over 75 years ago the israeli settler colony was born from the ethnic cleansing of palestinians israel could not be a state today without committing horrific massacres destroying over 500 villages and expelling hundreds of thousands of palestinians from their land creating generations of palestinian refugees many palestinian refugees traveled to camps in the gaza strip before israel built a wall around gaza trapping over 2 million people inside under abysmal conditions making it the world s largest open air prison gaza has been under a land air and sea blockade for over 16 years while israel routinely bombs gazans indiscriminately israel has committed a mass amount of war crimes including the use of white phosphorus killing journalists targeting hospitals and ambulances and more israel has held over 2 million gazans hostage for over 16 years for 75 years the palestinian people have suffered under a brutal military occupation which controls every aspect of palestinian life towfan al aqsa al aqsa flood was a historic revolutionary moment in which gazans broke free from their cage and walked on land stolen from them for the first time in over 75 years against all odds gazans took a massive leap towards liberation and launched a counter offensive on the israeli regime which receives billions of us tax dollars each year in military funding any framing of towfan al aqsa that ignores the violent military occupation violent blockade of gaza or violent ethnic cleaning of palestine is a biased and dishonest one for those concerned with the violence in palestinian resistance ask yourself do you truly support peace or do you support palestinians absorbing violence passively do you support decolonization in action should you as someone who has never lived under an apartheid military regime founded in genocide have a suggestion for how palestinians can non violently resist their colonial oppressors we urge you to consider that palestinians have resisted through every peaceful means possible did you condemn the slaughter of palestinians peacefully protesting during the great march of return did you condemn the brutalization of peaceful protesters in sheikh jarrah did you condemn the routine attacks on muslim worshipers inside al aqsa mosque did you condemn the incarceration of palestinian artists teachers students and other activists did you condemn the palestinian child prisoners did you condemn the demolished schools in masafer yatta did you condemn the murdered journalists and paramedics do you truly support peace or do you support palestinians absorbing violence passively palestinians will be liberated as the algerians irish south africans haitian slaves and all other oppressed peoples are throughout history freedom fighters have not been celebrated but suppressed today in spite of the noise we stand with the palestinian resistance gaza is the cradle of the palestinian resistance and the lifeblood of our struggle we call on all palestinians in the diaspora and our comrades in the greater struggle for justice worldwide to rise up and support the liberation of our occupied peoples one step closer to palestinian liberation is a step closer to liberation for everyone we will continue to support and advocate for the palestinian resistance until palestine is free from the river to the sea long live the resistance and long live palestine signed students for justice in palestine at columbia college chicago signed in solidarity national students for justice in palestinemuslim student association at columbia college chicagomuslims for just futuresarab american cultural center at uicstudents for justice in palestine at the university of illinois at chicagostudents for justice in palestine at the university of illinois urbana champaignstudents for justice in palestine at northwestern universitystudents for justice in palestine at boston universitystudents for justice in palestine at uc san diegostudents for justice in palestine at san jose universitystudents for justice in palestine at umass amherststudents for justice in palestine at irvine valley collegestudents for justice in palestine at miami universitystudents for justice in palestine at ohio state universitystudents for justice in palestine at the university of cincinnati the views in all articles in this blog and site belong to their authors

blog title i couldn t bid my apartment farewell author tawfiq abu shomer date october 24 2023 content i apologize to my library filled with the memories of many years because the apache pilot only gave me a few minutes warning to save myself before they sentenced my small apartment to death my heart aches for my apartment which i built brick by brick with my own hands i painstakingly selected each material each tile treating them as companions that would accompany me through life i carried the packages of tiles with tenderness just as i carried my firstborn child in his cradle the joy i felt as each tile was laid and dried was immeasurable i even distributed sweets around gaza when i completed the row of tiles yet the pilot decided to unleash their hatred upon my cherished tiles dimming their brightness that i loved so deeply i had thought my son s apartment next door would be a refuge when mine was destroyed i had built it too and another for my daughter i reveled in the thought of having three independent apartments all adjacent to each other but a single bomb from a murderous occupier stole this happiness in mere seconds the bomb obliterated the memories of choosing my bedroom furniture which i had bought in installments i regret not bidding it a final farewell i yearned to stand in the middle of the living room filled with stories and memories and salute this sanctuary of memories one last time but all that remained were torn pieces after the bomb s destruction stepping on the fragments of my kitchen brings me immense pain the pilot of the warplane took away my taste for traditional food leaving me longing for my favorite flavors how do i regain the flavor of my ceramic coffee cup which had been a close friend to my writing projects this cup was with me when i published four books drops of bitter coffee seeping onto my pages now i leave my traditional kitchen without seeing this cup because a bomb covered it in ashes and scattered its fragments among the rubble my hands trembled as i collected its broken pieces can i ever rid my two favorite plates of the smell of gunpowder one plate was adorned by an image of a small black rose in the middle of white marble the second was made out of polished metal how can i get used to tasting food in my new shelter and forget the taste of these plates what caused my loss of appetite at first i thought it was due to losing everything and becoming homeless but then i realized it was the absence of my two favorite plates i can t imagine ever adjusting to life without them i never anticipated that the destruction of my apartment and those of my son and daughter would resurrect memories of my first cradle seized by the israeli occupier today i feel closer to that first cradle than ever before despite everything i will continue to echo the words of renowned poet pablo neruda you can cut all the flowers you can kill all the birds but you cannot keep spring from coming editor s note this article was first published in arabic on oct 11 on the website of the palestine news network it was translated into english by meriam mabrouk and is republished here

blog title beyond grief to love and stay with those who die in our arms author devin g atallah date october 24 2023 content artwork by devin atallah poetry by mahmoud darwish translated from the arabic by fady joudah in the butterfly s burden 2007 as love is born a living creature before it becomes an idea today here in boston i received a call from one of my people in my indigenous village in the west bank 1 my people called me to cry together to be present to the genocide in gaza to hold each other and all the pain and horror we feel in our bones during this same phone call we celebrated the birthday of an adored member of our community even in this time we were present for the anniversary of birth loving palestinian life remembering and honoring our intergenerational perseverance over the phone we spoke together about how we can find the expansiveness of spirit to be present for children s lives for birth for each other in times genocide we cried for all our palestinian babies massacred and our families facing annihilation by israeli colonial violence we remember the words of palestinian poet mahmoud darwish who wrote love is born a living creature before it becomes an idea what does it take to love our babies our living and our dead in the midst of israel s genocidal colonial conquest how do we care for our massacred bodies and all the collective residues of horror as our people are so violently thrown out of human consideration when can we release our tears and let them fall free this is not grief this is our revolutionary indigenous love fighting against the apocalyptic violence of genocide and when we love like this anchored in palestinian feminist praxis we live and die with dignity and we become the freedom we are demanding from this praxis of palestinian indigenous love i question judith butler s recent interpretations of grievability on october 13 2023 six days into israel s genocide of our families the london review of books published an essay by butler titled the compass of mourning in which she condemns the violence of hamas and the israeli regime and calls for nonviolence even though she admits that nonviolence is not a politic that can possibly operate as an absolute principle to be applied in all occasions but apply it she does butler goes on to say that the wider compass of mourning serves a more substantial ideal of equality one that acknowledges the equal grievability of lives and gives rise to an outrage that these lives should not have been lost that the dead deserved more life and equal recognition for their lives she asks if we can mourn without qualification for the lives lost in israel as well as those lost in gaza my response to butler yes we can mourn the israeli lives lost in the hamas raid but as palestinians we do not have access to grieve our beloveds killed by israeli settler colonial and genocidal aggression this is why i cringed and shouted aloud while reading butler s whitewashed interpretations i felt colonial hands guiding her compass pointing due north global south imaginaries of peace and nonviolence have long abolished this northern colonial compass where has butler been long shipwrecked on the shores of the mpondo on the eastern cape of south africa as hugo canham so beautifully writes in riotous deathscapes emergent from the failures of white hope we as transnational indigenous and black decolonial theorists have worked to orient away from destructive zones of colonial safety security and certainty we orient toward our waters our changing seas and our wells and springs we find ways to flow to resist acceptability and categorical knowingness as our palestinian people face the genocidal unmasking of the colonial world we know that when colonizers talk about security they are in fact talking about violence in the colonial exchange or the columbial exchange as colón is spanish for columbus security becomes violence and violence becomes security they merge and become the same word tareq baconi recently wrote for decades israel has operated on the pretense that it can provide security for its citizens while subjecting the palestinian people to an apartheid regime now that pretense has been shattered did israel lie to or mislead its citizens for over seven decades no instead the issue is one of semantics israel s promise that it would provide security for its citizens has always been in fact a promise that it would provide them with violence as illustrated in the work of nadera shalhoub kevorkian as palestinians we do not have the privilege to grieve because we cannot mourn our corpses murdered as part of this continuous columbial violence we know deep in our bodies that to grieve we must have access to the fluidity of time stolen from us along with our land grieving is for corpses that had access to livingness while alive and that were then ceremonially laid to rest in the earth and sky in cemeteries in smoke colonizers bodies have these privileges yet we the colonized still cannot pick up our body parts scattered across spaces and times from this moment in gaza city to forty years ago in sabra and shatila from a few months ago in jenin to twenty years ago in bethlehem from two years ago in sheikh jarrah to one year ago in nablus from nine years ago in khan younis to seventy five years ago in deir yassin and on and on and on this is why we the colonized cannot grieve our dead we are obligated to steal our present to fight for our future even when we cannot grieve still we choose love we affirm our palestinian love with refusal persistence and care as my friend abdullah a palestinian from gaza shared with me just yesterday when i visited him and his three year old baby and with love and care i asked him what he is holding on that i can hold with him he shared this story you know devin habibi i am trying to hold on to our indigenous love right now more than ever indigenous love to me means life giving relationships between earth soil and soul which i feel in my own body when i am hugging my son i have been home with him throughout the genocide of the past 12 days while i am talking on the phone or messaging my family and my community in gaza i was just on the phone with a frontline worker from a palestinian relief organization who was responding to yesterday s bombings in gaza she was explaining to me how she and others on her team were struggling to find survivors bodies corpses as she was sharing this with me i noticed that i suddenly began to travel in time to be flooded with memories of 2008 when i was a translator and a journalist responding to a massacre of farmers in a community in gaza i was at a site where 28 members of one family were killed in an israeli bombing and as i was struggling to overturn the rubble of the houses i stumbled upon a woman who was on the ground shouting and actively giving birth there was no medical relief yet and the israeli army would not let the ambulance into the area i kneeled down beside her and noticed she was badly injured and bleeding everywhere she was having contractions about to birth her baby i lifted and held her head off the ground as she pushed her baby out once the baby emerged i knew i needed to cut the umbilical cord but i didn t have any tools my hands and everything around me were covered in dust and blood i saw that the mother was in a terrible condition and would likely die i realized i had only three options try to save her somehow stay with her as she died in my arms or leave her and keep looking for others who may have a higher chance of surviving and what about the baby i was frozen in this impossible state of nonexistence this was hell on earth i stayed with her in hell these are palestinian moments that so many of us hold and remember under our skin especially us from gaza then i traveled in time again and i was back with the frontline responder who was still speaking into my other ear describing scenes of horror from the present moment from the now where body parts are everywhere people shouting sharp edges at each step everything broken and collapsed she was speaking with me about the same decisions i had to make in 2008 do i search for survivors or do i stay with people who are dying in my arms on the phone it was as if we were both running both losing our breath together losing everything it was as if we were falling into the abyss of genocide a black hole strong enough to swallow our light i could hear our struggles to breathe on the phone she knows i know she knows i understand i support her in making the impossible decisions sharing words of love affection and support as we say our goodbyes i say to her ma al mahabba with love no judith butler we cannot mourn our dead as our people in gaza shout out nothing is left but agony the colonial world remains silent but we hear your screams and your cries beloved gaza we move toward you we strive to be present for you we love you we abandon grief as we watch the clock waiting for the hour of life to tick while death encloses our every breath we the indigenous in 2023 entrust the land with our pain and with our love the colonizers come and go but the land remains as do our souls and as our palestinian proverb reminds us the land is equivalent to the soul الارض تعادل الروح 1 i am not naming my people in the west bank nor their connection to me to protect their privacy and security in a time of incredible violence against our people

blog title on the dehumanization of the palestinians author stephen bennett date october 23 2023 content one of the more horrifying dimensions of the unfolding events in palestine is witnessing the utter dehumanization of the palestinian people through the symbiotic nexus of western governments and the mainstream news media the current genocidal assaults on palestinians in the gaza strip have undoubtedly been enabled by decades of anti palestinian racism propagated by both government and military officials and by media outlets this comes as no surprise to those of us who are familiar with the deep omnipresent bias against palestinians in mainstream news media where the necessary historical context is wholly avoided and where palestinians simply and passively die while israelis are actively killed there has been a concerted effort to dehumanize palestinians through racist framings and orientalist tropes for decades this has never been clearer than over the course of the last two weeks as u s and israeli political and military leaders sow fear and paranoia and trot out the worst anti arab rhetoric we have seen since the period following 9 11 this racist rhetoric is intended to dehumanize the palestinians in order to neutralize public outrage at what may amount to the worst ethnic cleansing since the 1948 nakba and what constitutes a genocide at the hands of one of the most advanced militaries in the world all while world powers watch and do nothing by all accounts the mass murder that took place at the al alhi baptist hospital in gaza along with the thousands of children and civilians bombed to death by israel in the days before and after should compel the biden administration to force a ceasefire instead it continues to provide israel with unconditional diplomatic cover and hand feed the media mendacious statements in support of israel s continuing war crimes these official statements are being parroted largely without question by compliant news media outlets who cravenly suspend their journalistic duties when reporting on israeli crimes it can be maddening to hear journalists crow about their mission to defend democracy and truth while abdicating these principles and making every exception when it comes to coverage of palestine perhaps even more disturbing is the public mourning for journalists killed in places like ukraine wherein the blame for the killing is laid precisely at the hands of the guilty while the outright murder of journalists like shireen abu akleh in jenin and issam abdallah in south lebanon is given only tepid coverage in the cases where arab journalists are murdered in the field responsibility is clouded through weak verbiage and by media outlets that allow officials to outright lie and muddy the waters even worse is when the media produces propaganda for israel in the case of issam abdullah by not stating outright that israel killed him but rather absurdly saying that he was killed by missiles fired from the direction of israel the sheer imbalance of value afforded to israelis lives at the direct cost to palestinian life has never been more obvious while the colors of the israeli flag are projected on the white house to pay tribute to dead israelis not a word of condemnation is uttered when palestinian civilians are starved maimed tortured or killed instead the u s supplies weapons to a racist apartheid government the leader of which deploys explicitly racist terminology to label palestinians children of darkness who live by the laws of the jungle the american government props up an israeli military that openly condemns palestinian children to death and refers to palestinian civilians as human beasts palestinian life does not hold value in the profane equation of american power wherein the bombing of a hospital in gaza is rendered an explosion the dehumanization of palestinians by the u s israel and their allies is clear as they continue to justify the mass murder of people held in the world s largest open air prison they are not led by their declared intentions to spread democracy in the middle east but rather to ensure a continued strategic foothold in the region and provide profits to the weapons manufacturers that fund the personal fortunes and election campaigns of american politicians perhaps we should not be surprised that such a machine consumes us and rejects the collective humanity of victims and witnesses alike the media must be held to account for so severely abdicating their responsibility to inform the public and as a result enabling these crimes against humanity we should reject the ridiculous overly simplistic assertion that the long arc of history bends toward justice and instead find some semblance of hope in the form of mass protest and civil disobedience in order to make the machine stop we are fortunately beginning to see the results of appeals made to our common humanity even at the institutional and state level the arc of history does not bend through some invisible hand or natural process we can only bend it ourselves through sheer force of will and determination in order to bring historical justice and a lasting peace to palestine and palestinians

blog title brief u s civil society groups and artists speak for palestine face silencing author zain assaf date october 23 2023 content pro palestinian voices in the united states are facing censorship harassment doxxing and punitive actions in response to their advocacy against the ongoing genocide in gaza these efforts are carried out by public and private institutions as well as by powerful israeli lobby groups with the intention of suppressing those who shed light on the reality in gaza this is a coordinated attempt to downplay the plight of palestinians while portraying the perpetrators as victims a viral online statement signed by more than 30 student groups at harvard university stated that israel s decades long occupation is responsible for the recent events that took place days after the statement was released members of these various student organizations became victims of doxxing despite not having their names mentioned in the statement their private details were exposed on the internet and a mobile advertisement truck roamed harvard square displaying the photos and names of these students with a headline that read harvard s prominent anti semitic figures clearly the israeli lobby has put significant resources into defaming palestinian activism on college campuses at columbia university joseph massad a professor of modern arab politics has been facing growing calls for his removal after he published an op ed in the electronic intifada discussing the october 7 operation not long after the op ed s release a petition authored by a columbia student who once worked for the occupation forces started making the rounds urging columbia university to terminate massad s employment maha dakhil a top hollywood agent at creative artists agency who works with a list celebrities like tom cruise and anne hathaway resigned from her position following a post she shared to her instagram story that read you re currently learning who supports genocide hours later she took down her post and issued an apology this was then followed by her resignation from the agency s internal board and her status as the co head of the motion picture department dozens of legal groups are demanding protection for palestine advocates in the u s stating that they are fielding hundreds of requests for support and protection from racist attacks and government targeting these are the direct results of virulent anti palestinian rhetoric from israel echoed by our own elected officials as well as institutional and community leaders they stated that palestinians and allies have been bullied in schools visited by law enforcement arrested censored discriminated against faced employment consequences doxxed and assaulted while these groups emphasized that this isn t a new phenomenon by any means they did say that it s escalating at a terrifying speed despite these attempts to silence any support for palestinians various civil society organizations artists and scholars in the united states have called out the atrocities that have been taking place in gaza committed by the israeli regime the center for constitutional rights a legal organization that works on advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the united states constitution and the universal declaration of human rights released an emergency legal brief accusing israel of committing the crime of genocide against palestinians in said brief the ccr affirms that the united states has also been complicit and is contributing to israel s acts of genocide the ccr s brief details the current genocidal moment that is taking place in palestine listing various actions that the apartheid state has taken to advance its genocidal agenda since october 7 2023 the report was released on oct 17 on oct 22 55 big name actors and artists in the united states released a letter addressed to president joe biden calling for an immediate de escalation and ceasefire in gaza and israel before another life is lost the letter details the atrocities that have been unfolding in gaza stating that more than 6 000 bombs have been dropped on gaza in the last 12 days resulting in one child being killed every 15 minutes the signatories of the letter include channing tatum andrew garfield kristen stewart mo amer oscar isaac ayo edebiri rosario dawson amongst other a listers over 400 congressional staffers have circulated a letter urging their bosses u s representatives at the united states congress to push for a ceasefire in gaza the letter details their disappointment at the reactions of members of congress to the killings of palestinians stating that they are profoundly disturbed that shows of humanity have barely been extended to the palestinian people and that the palestinian people deserve to be remembered mourned and defended with the same rigor that jewish israelis deserve from the u s congress said letter is anonymously signed with the phrase 411 staff of the united states congress placed at the bottom the staffers express concerns for their personal safety risk of violence and impact on their professional credibility in the capitol they fear losing their jobs for unequivocally speaking out against the genocide of palestinians such is the power of the israeli lobby in american politics on oct 15 a public statement signed by over 800 scholars from various fields including international law conflict studies and genocide studies warned about the potential of israel committing the crime of genocide against palestinians in gaza the letter affirms that the crime of genocide pre dates the current situation in gaza affirming that pre existing conditions in the gaza strip had already prompted discussions of genocide prior to the current escalation the letter also details the language israel has been employing asserting that the language is one of genocidal rhetoric the scholars detail evidence of israel s various genocidal acts and calls on states to take action to prevent the genocide unfolding against palestinians over 750 artists and authors in north america the u s and the uk have also signed an open letter demanding an end to the destruction and violence against palestinians the letter calls the atrocities in gaza indiscriminate violence which is supported financially and politically by western powers the letter calls for the government to demand a ceasefire allow the entry of humanitarian aid into gaza and end financial and military support for israeli violence amidst attempts to silence voices of solidarity these actions by civil society artists and scholars signify the persistent commitment to highlighting the plight of palestinians and advocating for justice against israel s acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing to various degrees these letters and statements highlight the indiscriminate violence and destruction palestinians have been facing at the hands of the israeli regime as well the responsibilities that governments have in ending this atrocity

blog title western insistence on the perfect palestinian victim and the condemnation of resistance author nadine sayegh date october 23 2023 content despite being oppressed and occupied for 75 years palestinians have tried everything to remedy their situation through international dialogue demilitarization and rescission of multiple demands for the sake of the so called peace process and yet it seems they are not and nor will they ever be the perfect victim that is a victim worthy of unwavering support from the international community at this point however it seems they are not victims worthy enough of support in the face of real time genocide the international criticism and discussion about the offensive by the palestinian resistance in illegal settlements surrounding the gaza strip have reinforced the idea that even the perfect victim will be vilified as politicians journalists pundits and others demand palestinians in gaza whom israel is slaughtering by the thousands to condemn hamas while western states may have deemed hamas a terror group they were democratically elected in 2006 to govern gaza before israel imposed a complete blockade denying any prosperous future for the strip or a real chance at governance gaza in particular has been under israeli siege by land air and sea for sixteen years palestinians there are denied their basic human needs such as adequate health care access to clean water and electricity and the right to live in dignity from victim blaming to character assassination of a collective resistance movement that does not only include hamas responding to decades of oppression the palestinians are expected to publicly mourn the loss of israeli civilians while experiencing death and destruction every single day the palestinians have endured numerous crimes against humanity due to the abject complacency and occasional participation of the international community since the inception of the zionist settler colonial project in the twentieth century in palestine on oct 7 hamas launched operation al aqsa flood and the media members of academia and various western governments and states in the region responded swiftly with condemnations the narrative conflated palestinian resistance with extremist islamist terrorists going as far as comparing hamas to isis a dangerous and inaccurate comparison israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu stated hamas is isis and we ll defeat it just like the enlightened world defeated isis the israeli military and government along with its supporters have resorted to blatant lies and disinformation to do so those making such claims did not have any verifiable evidence and were coming from so called credible sources such as heads of state from resistance fighters beheading 40 babies to them raping israeli women the israeli government has used these blatant debunked lies to gain support for their current retaliatory onslaught of the gaza strip character assassination lies with the intention of delegitimizing a resistance against a decades long expanding settler colonial state and a sixteen year blockade of the gaza strip have been spread and repeated by western media sources and have since been refuted furthermore accusations of mass rape which have not been verified by a credible source were retracted by the la times and have been deconstructed in an article by the interim revolutionary feminist committee southern california chapter even zionist media sources such as the times of israel have stated that there is no conclusive evidence that even a single case of rape or sexual assault has occurred at the hands of the palestinian freedom fighters much less that it has occurred en masse in an article posted on october 8 2023 they reported that such cases are only suspected they state that these concerns of sexual assault stem from two sources 1 a video of a woman with blood on her shorts and 2 an image of a woman lying in a truck while images coming from a war zone are shocking for mostly everyone absolutely none of the videos released show any conclusive evidence of sexual assault and nor do they reasonably point to the likelihood of sexual assault occurring out of many possible explanations the imperialist and zionist media has chosen to speculate that these are evidence of sexual assault why in order to organize masses of people into their narrative that palestinian freedom fighters are evil monstrous terrorists not entirely irrelevant but still important to note is that the first video actually appears to show the woman being passed off to an ambulance or medical vehicle to this day there has been no confirmation or evidence of rapes taking place by palestinian fighters additionally there are israelis who have spoken of resistance fighters good treatment of them in israeli media one israeli woman along with her two children were taken as hostages by fighters and then released a couple of days later as reported by al jazeera she describes how she carried one child and the resistance fighter carried the other as they were led to safety the spreading of lies and disinformation in addition to other tactics such as categorizing all members of the collective resistance as hamas terrorists frames the situation in a certain mainstream narrative that dehumanizes palestinians even remarks by the president of the united states who confirmed having seen nonexistent images of beheaded babies were later withdrawn by the white house this fearmongering allows israel and its supporters to refer to the incursion as self defense and a religious war and ignores the context of palestinians fighting for liberation from their oppressive and cruel conditions under an internationally supported illegal military occupation this approach dismisses a national liberation movement by using xenophobic tropes and lies to distract from the complicity that western governments like the u s and other supporters of israel now have in the oppression of palestinians beyond palestine a six year old palestinian american boy was murdered in illinois on october 15 his landlord stabbed him twenty six times while saying you muslims must die the boy s mother was also critically injured victim blaming and collective punishment u s republican presidential candidate nikki haley said during a cnn interview with jake tapper that the united states needs to support israel and netanyahu in another instance haley said i m always going to come down hard on those who want to kill us if people think that s too much they ll have to get over it she essentially equated israelis and americans as one people after the attack on oct 7 american politicians on both sides came out in swift support of israel and condemnation of hamas another u s republican presidential candidate and governor of florida ron desantis said the u s should not take in any refugees from the gaza strip because they are all antisemitic israeli politicians are no different defense minister yoav gallant said we are fighting human animals and we act accordingly and went on to say we are imposing a complete siege on gaza there will be no electricity no food no water no fuel everything will be closed the israeli ambassador to the uk tzipi hotovely has said there is no humanitarian crisis in gaza these are blatant calls for mass murder and what is more shocking is that these calls target a majority refugee population that has experienced displacement and incursions numerous times over decades of settler colonialism according to journalist chris mcgreal the language being used to describe palestinians is genocidal and i covered the rwandan genocide as a reporter the language spilling out of israel is eerily familiar once again the media bias is evident not only in its portrayal of the situation but also in its very apparent and differing treatment of the respective parties involved its treatment and representation of the palestinians illustrate classic victim blaming and essentially justify genocide at the time of publishing this piece the death toll in gaza from indiscriminate israeli bombardment has surpassed 5 000 the vast majority of whom are civilians including children water and electricity have been cut off from the strip by the occupation forces and the majority of the infrastructure has been so badly damaged that emergency services cannot navigate their way through to save people that may have survived more than a million people have been displaced with no safe place to go and israeli forces have destroyed or damaged 26 health facilities as of oct 17 25 ambulances 34 places of worship and more than 181 000 housing units furthermore entire neighborhoods have been flattened some areas literal dust and rubble and while netanyahu has warned palestinians in gaza to evacuate they have nowhere safe to go israel and egypt control the borders and egypt will not open the border which israel bombed four times until israel allows humanitarian aid into gaza 37 aid trucks were eventually allowed into gaza this weekend but they are nowhere near enough initially the eu halted all aid to palestine and condemned hamas but has since retracted its decision pledged triple the funding and called on israel to restrain itself in gaza in general governments in europe are responding with aggression and violence to pro palestinian demonstrations rallies in support of palestine are being banned in places like germany france and the uk a teacher slapped a child in germany for carrying a palestinian flag and others were arrested for wearing or raising palestinian symbols protests and any physical sign of solidarity with palestinians are banned in the country for a risk to public order as did france with the same justification it is becoming clear that to be palestinian or sympathize with palestinians means one will bear the oppression of state powers and palestinians will suffer collective punishment for simply existing condemnation paradigm as highlighted by the experiences of husam zomlot head of the palestinian mission to the uk in a series of recent interviews with various media outlets palestinians are expected to condemn hamas before being given any space to discuss the genocide occurring against the palestinians in an interview with christiane amanpour zomlot was asked first and foremost do you condemn what hamas did inside israel to israeli civilians during three different interviews he raised the important point that the media discussion always starts with a narrative that purposefully vilifies palestinians in response to a bbc report zomlot wrote there right there all you need to know about how western mainstream media dehumanizes the palestinian people palestinians die israelis are killed during an interview with the bbc he said how many times have you interviewed israeli officials lewis hundreds of times hundreds of times how many times israel has committed war crimes live on your own cameras do you start by asking them to condemn themselves it is palestinians that are always asked to condemn themselves zomlot has criticized the media for equating israelis occupiers and palestinians occupied during one interview he revealed that his cousin her husband and two of their children were killed instantly by israeli bombardment while in their home in gaza two other members of her husband s family were killed and her two remaining children two year old twins are in intensive care this atrocity highlights the power imbalance at play not just currently but also historically palestinians are expected to endure the murder of their loved ones by israelis calmly while israelis are justified in their bloodlust responses to attacks by palestinians in behaving as the perfect victim palestinians are expected to withstand the injustice of occupation without resisting palestinians are not and have never been supported by western governments despite their numerous demands for basic human dignity under international law palestinians have a right to defend themselves and reclaim what has been stolen from them

blog title all we want is to live author mohammed alfarra date october 22 2023 content editor s note this testimony was collected by journalist ahmad al batta in gaza hello another world my name is mohammed alfarra i live in the center of khan yunis which is supposed to be the safest part of the gaza strip we live in a building that contains more than thirty families some of which came from other areas to be safe many people who were displaced from northern gaza were forced to come here only to encounter more danger as we have been suffering since the first day of this war at 7 00 am on oct 14 we miraculously survived the bombing of the house next to us we were sleeping we woke up startled thinking it was our building that was bombed we could not see anything because of the smoke and gunpowder in a panic we searched for family children women elders the building next door was destroyed as we fled ours we noticed a child stuck in his bedroom we broke the door down to rescue him and rescued others we fled the building leaving behind possessions and lost memories 15 were killed by the israeli bomb that day many charred to pieces our children are afriad loud noises startle them not just bombs we suffered injuries became displaced where are you world where is the humanity you speak of we are killed in gaza unable to live a decent live in our lovely country of palestine all we want is to live with our loved ones in safety

blog title testimonies from gaza youth dunia aburahma and sara besaiso author dunia aburahma date october 22 2023 content editor s note both these testimonies were video testimonies published on the institute for middle east understanding s instagram page we transcribed and published them here with permission dunia aburahma i m 22 years old i m an architecture student in the islamic university of gaza and i m living here in gaza city we ve been experiencing some terrifying moments we don t know if we re going to live in the next moment or not we are praying every second to be alive this is not a new thing for us this moment and what happened in the last few days this is not a new thing but it is super terrifying and we are super terrified we evacuated from our home to our friend s and now we re evacuating again at 3 00 am on oct 14 we were informed that we have to evacuate again israel is going to bomb every house in the city and destroy the streets the buildings and our houses we re not going to have a home anymore we ve been experiencing this for years but this time it is miserable and terrifying and we hope that we will have our simple rights to at least have a home and be safe one day sara besaiso i live in gaza palestine let me tell you about what it is like from a palestinian s point of view that s living in gaza right now these past few days we ve had no rest we barely slept through the night and the kids in our family don t know what to do they don t know what to expect they barely understand what s going on we had to evacuate leave from house to house three times my neighborhood was bombed with white phosphorus and it is known to be illegal but apparently nothing is too illegal for it to be used on us on oct 13 israel asked 1 1 million of us people from gaza to go south but the question is where should we go they re asking us to leave our houses our homes our neighborhood the people that we love and our friends to go evacuate to the south we don t have anywhere to go they told us to go south because it s going to be be safer then they started bombing us in the south i don t know what you guys want or expect me to do but we have faced israel has been committing war crimes they cut off electricity water and all life resources that a human being needs to live they re breaking international law again and again but who cares it s just some kids in palestine right no one cares about us how are we supposed to get our voice out what we re asking for is peace we want this to stop what is our fault of being civilians was it my only fault that i have been born in this city or in this country is that the only fault of those kids that have been killed most of the people that have been bombed and killed were civilians babies children they don t understand what s going on i can tell you half of the people right here with me half of those kids don t understand why this is happening to them they re asking why could you tell us why this is happening

blog title palestinechronology press summaries on the war on gaza oct 19 20 author palestine chronology staff date october 22 2023 content october 19 in the west bank israeli settlers threw stones at palestinians harvesting olives in the masafer yatta area injuring 2 israeli settlers also attempted to kidnap a child in khirbet al farisiya elsewhere armed israeli settlers posing as soldiers vandalized a mosque in menizel israeli forces raided nur shams refugee camp also attacking it with drones killing 13 palestinians including 5 children banned movement in and out of the refugee camp and uprooted pavement with bulldozers 1 israeli soldier died in an ied explosion and 9 others were wounded israeli forces also shot and killed 3 palestinians including 2 minors during raids in budrus tulkarm and dheisheh refugee camp elsewhere israeli forces shot and injured 16 others during a raid in budrus and al arroub refugee camp israeli forces also demolished the family home in qibya of a palestinian alleged to have killed a settler before he was shot and killed by israeli forces near kafr qaddum on 7 6 around 184 palestinians were arrested during late night raids in hebron ramallah dheisheh refugee camp tubas beita qalqilya eizeriya umm safa and aqabat jaber including 50 palestinians workers from gaza who had been expelled to the west bank staying in dheisheh refugee camp in gaza around 285 palestinians were killed in israeli airstrikes israeli forces also assassinated the first female member of the hamas political bureau jamila al shanti the head of the military wing of the popular resistance committee rafat harb hussein abu halal and hamas jehad mheisen israeli airstrikes also bombed the 12th century church of saint porphyrius killing at least 8 people sheltering in it and targeted 5 bakeries killing many waiting to purchase bread rockets were fired at israel no fatalities were reported in lebanon israeli forces shot and killed 1 journalist and injured 1 other in hula israeli forces also attacked parts of southern lebanon with combat helicopters and killed 3 people it claimed were firing anti tank missiles at israel israel said 30 rockets were fired at israel aj ha 10 18 aj aj aj ap ap ha ha nyt reu reu reu reu reu unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 10 19 aj ha nyt reu wafa 10 20 the ministry of health in gaza said at least 3 785 palestinians had been killed including at least 1 524 children and 12 500 had been injured in israeli airstrikes on gaza since 10 7 as of 5pm including 47 entire families consisting of 500 people it is estimated that hundreds are still trapped in rubble in addition it has been reported by israeli media that 1 500 palestinian militants have been killed near gaza 81 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and settlers in the west bank and jerusalem since 10 7 including 22 children more than 1 434 have been injured including at least 300 with live ammunition israeli officials recorded no new fatalities leaving the israeli death toll at around 1 400 israelis including foreign nationals 4 562 have been injured since 10 7 the number of israelis killed rose from 10 18 as israel released the names of israelis killed on 10 7 the un reported that over 1 million palestinians had been displaced since 10 7 and that since 11pm on 10 12 there had been a complete blackout of electricity due to the israel blockade at least 21 900 housing units have been destroyed and 121 000 have been damaged in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 constituting around 30 of all homes in gaza the committee to protect journalists said 21 journalists had been killed since 10 7 including 17 palestinians 3 israelis and 1 lebanese aj ha 10 18 aj ha unocha wafa 10 19 the un reported that 74 palestinian household comprising of 545 people had been displaced from bedouin communities in area c of the west bank due to settler violence and access restrictions unocha 10 19 haaretz reported that on 10 12 a group of 20 25 israeli settlers and soldiers abducted 3 palestinians from the depopulated wadi al seeq community before assaulting undressing and urinating on 2 of them putting 1 of their faces in feces and attempted to sodomize of 1 of them the 3 palestinians were abused for 6 hours before they were dropped off at an abandoned building and photographed the settlers and soldiers also stole their phones a car and 544 in cash the israeli military said it was investigating the incident and 1 commander of the military unit was suspended ha 10 19 memo toi 10 20 palestinian officials said that israeli authorities have warned that israeli forces will target the gaza power plant if it tries to resume operations unocha 10 19 palestinian officials also said israel had arrested 4 000 workers from gaza holding them in military bases and have arrested 1 070 palestinians in the west bank and gaza doubling the total number of palestinian prisoners held by israel aj 10 21 an al jazeera investigation into the bombing of al ahli baptist hospital found that statements made by israel misinterpreted evidence and that no footage from live streams suggest that rockets were fired from gaza at the moment of the bombing aj 10 19 the u s said it had intercepted 3 cruise missiles and several drones fired by houthi fighters in yemen the defense department said they missiles and drones were heading north in the red sea potentially towards israel rockets and drones also attacked the ain al asad u s air base and another compound hosting u s military near baghdad international airport it was unclear who attacked the bases aj 10 18 ha nyt reu reu reu 10 19 ap 10 20 egyptian machinery reportedly entered gaza to repair roads near the rafah crossing to facilitate transfer of humanitarian aid however hamas denied that repairs had begun israel has bombed the rafah crossing at least 4 times since 10 7 at least 100 trucks are waiting to enter gaza near the crossing while others are waiting at al arish airport un officials said un observers will inspect aid to gaza before it enters through the rafah crossing aj ap reu 10 19 israel said hezbollah had granted hamas permission to fire rockets at israel and will bear the consequences defense minister yoav gallant told soldiers near the gaza fence to get ready for a ground invasion ap ha reu 10 19 pa president mahmoud abbas spoke with indian prime minister narendra modi wafa 10 19 uk prime minister rishi sunak traveled to israel for meetings with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and president isaac herzog sunak said upon his arrival that he stands with israel and that the uk is on the forefront of the effort to avoid further escalation to the conflict 6 uk nationals were killed in operation al aqsa flood and 9 are still missing sunak also met with saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman in riyadh who called israel s targeting of civilians in gaza a heinous crime and brutal attack sunak will later travel to egypt turkey and qatar aj 10 18 aj ha ha reu reu reu 10 19 u s president joe biden compared in an oval office address hamas to russian president vladimir putin s attack on ukraine saying both want to annihilate their neighbors further claiming that hamas uses palestinians as human shields and said he had told pa president mahmoud abbas he supports the palestinian people biden further said he will send an unprecedented aid package to israel for congress approval it was reported the package was worth 14 billion israel had asked the u s for weapons including precision guided munitions jdams iron dome replenishment and mortar shells the u s senate unanimously adopted a resolution affirming israel s right to self defense and condemning hamas and iran 10 republican senators said they will introduce legislation to redirect 100 million in planned humanitarian aid to palestinians to replenishing the iron dome house minority leader hakeem jeffries said he had received a briefing that suggested the al ahli baptist hospital bombing was caused by a misfired rocket by islamic jihad california governor gavin newsom said he was traveling to israel aj aj ha nyt reu reu 10 19 ha reu 10 20 turkish media reported that the israeli ambassador and other israeli diplomats had left the country ha 10 19 israeli opposition leader yair lapid said the pa should take control of gaza after the israel concludes its attack aj 10 18 russia said it will deliver 27 tonnes of humanitarian aid to gaza via egypt germany said it would donate 52 91 million to the world food programme unicef and unwra to help palestinians in gaza aj 10 18 ha 10 19 ap reported that hamas may have used north korean weapons during operation al aqsa flood including f 7 rocket propelled grenades ap 10 19 a cbs news yougov poll found that 53 of u s democrats and 55 of independents believed that the u s should not send additional weapons and supplies to israel while 56 of all polled disapproved of president biden s handling of the war ha 10 19 more than 400 u s congressional staffers signed a letter saying they were profoundly disturbed by the lack of humanity extended to the palestinian people by the u s congress huffpost reported that state department officials were preparing a letter of dissent on the biden administration s approach to the war ha 10 19 the u s department of homeland security said israel had been included in the u s visa waiver program effective immediately despite the israel entry to the program being scheduled for 11 30 ap ha nyt 10 19 many countries urged their citizens to leave lebanon as soon as possible aj aj ha 10 19 the hilton houston post oak by the gallaria in texas said it had determined that it cannot serve as a venue hosting the u s campaign for palestinian rights uscpr national conference citing security risks to its staff and guests texas governor greg abbot called uscpr hamas supporters the council of american islamic relations canceled a banquet at the marriott crystal gateway hotel in arlington virginia after receiving bomb threats ap ha 10 19 october 20 in the west bank israeli settlers opened fire at palestinians harvesting olives in yasuf forcing the palestinians to flee no injuries were reported israeli settlers also set fire to 1 home and vandalized water pipes in al awja israeli forces shot and killed 2 minors during raids in huwwara and beitunia israeli forces shot and injured 21 palestinians with live ammunition during raids in al azza refugee camp urif idhna beit furik al bireh bethlehem al khader tura and beitunia elsewhere israeli forces punitively demolished 1 home with exploives in urif 55 palestinians were arrested during late night raids in and around hebron bethlehem nablus ramallah and jalazun refugee camp in gaza israeli airstrikes killed around 350 palestinians including assassinating hamas member muhammad tzviach israeli airstrikes destroyed the grand al omari mosque in jabalia rockets were fired at israel no fatalities were reported at the lebanon border 1 israeli soldier was killed and 3 others injured in anti tank fire near margaliot israeli forces also attacked hezbollah camps with combat helicopters aj ap ha 10 19 aj ap ap ha nyt unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 10 20 ap ha reu 10 21 the ministry of health in gaza said at least 4 137 palestinians had been killed including at least 1 524 children and 13 162 had been injured in israeli airstrikes on gaza since 10 7 as of 5pm including 47 entire families consisting of 500 people the un said that about 70 of palestinians killed in gaza are children and women it is estimated that hundreds are still trapped in rubble in addition it has been reported by israeli media that 1 500 palestinian militants have been killed near gaza 83 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and settlers in the west bank and east jerusalem since 10 7 including 25 children more than 1 434 have been injured including at least 350 with live ammunition israeli officials recorded no new fatalities leaving the israeli death toll at around 1 400 israelis including foreign nationals 4 629 have been injured since 10 7 the un reported that over 1 4 million palestinians more than half the population in gaza had been displaced since 10 7 and that since 11pm on 10 12 there had been a complete blackout of electricity due to the israel blockade at least 21 900 housing units have been destroyed and 121 000 have been damaged in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 constituting around 30 of all homes in gaza the palestinian red crescent said israel had told the al quds hospital to evacuate its 500 patients and 12 000 people sheltering at the hospital unrwa said 16 members of its staff had been killed and 10 wounded in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 the committee to protect journalists said that 22 journalists had been killed since 10 7 including 18 palestinian 3 israeli and 1 lebanese aj 10 19 aj ha nyt unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 10 20 wafa 10 21 amnesty international said it had documented israeli actions that should be investigated as war crimes including indiscriminate attacks leading to mass civilian casualties ai 10 20 hamas released 2 american captives a mother and her daughter on humanitarian grounds after negotiations with qatar it was unclear if hamas received anything in return a hamas statement also said hamas had released the captives to prove to the american people and the world that the claims made by biden and his fascist administration are false and baseless aj 10 19 aj ha ha 10 20 forensic architecture released a preliminary analysis of al ahli baptist hospital bombing saying the f ragmentation patterns may indicate the projectile came from the northeast the direction of the israeli controlled side of the gaza perimeter and not from the west as israel has claimed uk channel 4 and al jazeera have also concluded that israeli claims that the explosion at the hospital was caused by an errand rocket are dubious aj 10 19 aj aj 10 20 pa president mahmoud abbas left for cairo for a summit on the israel hamas war and humanitarian aid to gaza representatives from egypt jordan turkey greece italy qatar saudi arabia kuwait the un the uk and the uae will attend in cairo abbas met with uk prime minister rishi sunak abbas also spoke with french president emmanuel macron chilean president gabriel boric and pakistan s caretaker prime minister anwar al haq ha wafa wafa wafa wafa 10 20 the israeli prime minister s office said t he prime minister has defined the objective to obliterate hamas any talk of decisions to relinquish gaza to the palestinian authority or any other authority is a lie ha ha 10 20 the u s white house formally requested from congress 10 6 billion in military aid to israel 3 7 billion in state department financing to cover foreign military financing and embassy support and 9 15 billion in humanitarian aid to ukraine israel gaza president biden has publicly said 100 million will be allocated for gaza aj 10 16 ha 10 20 the u s and eu issued a joint statement after eu leadership met with president biden in washington d c expressing concern for the deteriorating humanitarian crisis in gaza more than 800 eu officials wrote a letter to the president of the european commission ursula von der leyen criticizing her uncontrolled support of israel and calling the eu s response to the massacres in gaza indifference aj 10 19 aj aj 10 20 turkish president recep tayyip erdoğan said israeli attacks on gaza amounted to genocide and had to be stopped aj 10 19 ha 10 20 the new york times reported that the u s president joe biden urged the israeli war cabinet not to attack hezbollah in a preemptive strike fearing that the u s and iran would get directly involved ha 10 21 mcdonald s franchises in saudi arabia oman kuwait the uae jordan egypt bahrain and turkey pledged 3 million in support of palestinians in gaza after mcdonald s in israel said its franchises there would give free meals to israeli soldiers aj 10 19 aj 10 20 meta apologized for inserting the word terrorist in the biographies of many palestinian users on instagram aj 10 19

blog title ghassa the lump in one s throat blocking tears and speech author sarah ihmoud date october 21 2023 content for mona what does it mean to practice feminism in a moment of bearing witness to genocide just as i penned these words in my notebook wednesday morning after reading through the daily counts of the ongoing atrocities with 4 200 palestinians killed including at least 1 000 children and over one million displaced in just ten days i received a whatsapp message from a young woman scholar in gaza mona ameen who i spoke to several weeks ago she had reached out to interview me for a research project on global palestinian feminism we spoke for an hour or so she asked her questions in arabic i responded mostly in english with reflective pauses bursts of laughter a dropped call after the daily power outage a reconnection finally and sharing stories in between i had messaged her after the war began last week a war that in reality began seventy five years ago i had worried about mona periodically as the death toll kept mounting her first message was i am not fine at all my neighbors and my colleagues are martyrs now it s my turn now just pray for us mona was like many palestinians in gaza at this very moment suspended in the alternative space time of colonial war waiting for death expecting it to arrive at any moment while also fighting for her life she had already lived through multiple israeli assaults on gaza her younger brother s foot had to be amputated due to injuries sustained from an airstrike in 2014 and in 2021 she had borne witness to more atrocities originally from beit hanoun a city on the northeast edge of the gaza strip she had fled her house days ago during this latest assault after receiving a warning call from the occupation forces her home was now uninhabitable after the bombing and she was seeking refuge in sheikh radwan when i asked if she had a message to women and feminists around the world in this moment she replied my message to all women and feminists is just to keep posting about palestine and palestinians and spread the truth spread the news as much as they can keep talking about us we are not numbers tell the world that we are not only under bombing as every time this time is the most difficult and we are experiencing a genocide tell the women and feminists that huge numbers of mothers lost their children and huge numbers of children will complete their lives without their mothers keep posting and posting and posting about us keep us in your prayers as i read and reread her messages now i am holding close to the memory of the kindness in her voice when we spoke that day i am holding on to mona s humility too the humility of a young palestinian woman living in the largest open air prison in the world in asking questions about how i wrapped in all the privileges of bearing witness to colonial war from afar in a u s based academic institution no less understood feminism about how i practiced it as a diasporic palestinian i am struck now especially by one of the questions she posed do you believe in the power of raising feminist awareness as a critical consciousness what are its goals and how does it differ in your opinion from western feminism at this moment it is mona and our palestinian women our people on the ground who are teaching us lessons about what it means to practice feminism indeed i want to answer mona s question with the proposition that practicing decolonial love in a time of genocidal war is a practice of critical feminist consciousness in speaking about feminist consciousness i am not speaking of that universal atemporal feminism that casts palestinian women as defenseless victims who must be saved from the savage brutality of our indigenous men especially our muslim men that dangerous orientalist narrative that has been weaponized to sell an imperial war to the masses justifying the invasion theft or destruction of our homelands the very narrative that has helped stoke fear and hatred in the colonizer this time around mobilizing them for a military assault against our people the grotesque scale of which we could not have fathomed nor is it that brand of colonial feminism that views us only as human animals the term mobilized by israeli defense minister yoav gallant on oct 9 who birth future terrorists those one thousand and counting palestinian children massacred by israel in the recent incursion the world has allowed to be stripped of their humanity and denied their childhood and future i am speaking of a decolonial palestinian feminism to practice feminism in the midst of bearing witness to genocide is to embrace love as a radical consciousness as a radical decolonial politic of fighting for life to practice feminism in this moment is to hold each other through the vast darkness of our grief to walk with each other hand in hand to bear witness to landscapes of death and as mona urges us to tell the truth indeed mona s words invite us to break out of this غصة ghassa this lump in our throat that keeps us from speaking and to speak loud and courageously into the wind telling the truth means not only refusing to look away from that which feels unbearable to know that our people have not had access to water food shelter for days as mona wrote to me if we don t get martyred from the bombing we will die from the lack of water and food that our buildings homescapes and even hospitals have been targeted and destroyed on a mass scale bodies buried in their depths and our dead babies are still being pulled from the rubble and that the entire population of gaza has been framed as a dehumanized enemy that must be killed in order to give life to the colony telling the truth as feminists in this moment requires rejecting colonial narratives and boldly affirming the power and creativity of our life force that we have always possessed and cultivated as indigenous women the power we have always wielded in service of dismantling settler colonialism and genocidal war thrusting its overbearingness into crisis in the same breath telling the truth means amplifying our visions for freedom and dignity if we listen we can witness the fractals of these visions in the voices of our people in gaza like mona who said survived many wars but this one i don t think i will survive although i don t want to die i have dreams i want to have the chance to travel and i want to have a chance to do my master s degree and then my ph d i have many dreams i am still young tell the world tell the world that i am here one among many all the people here are traumatized and don t know how to express it and we will not forget please keep talking about us keep telling and spreading our stories and what is happening now and keep us in your prayers mona s message her affirmation that she is still here despite many wars that she has dreams and she and we will not forget is an affirmation of palestinian life and future making in the midst of colonial attempts at epistemicide and memoricide i texted mona back we will never forgive the world that has allowed this to happen nor will we stop fighting for our people s lives i told her that i would share her words and that i also wanted to share that we love her and we love our people to love our people and our homeland are one and the same and that love is something the colonizer can never comprehend and can never take away from us to know this to feel this love deeply is to know that we have already won as the israeli settler colony has thrust another moment of apocalypse upon palestinians we must hold fast to mona s words we must continue to enact refusal shaking free of ghassa غصة that lump in our throat when the grief is thick and suffocating to boldly disrupt the noise of complacency we must loudly denounce this genocidal violence at the same time we must continue to love and affirm each other and our communal struggle for life the very thing that exposes the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of the colonial project our refusal is a form of love indeed our refusal and our love amidst this genocidal war expose the fractures and the limits of the colonial infrastructure our love is vital in this moment because it is revolutionary love that gives us the courage to continue the struggle to affirm palestinian life and a future in our homeland this is our palestinian litany for survival

blog title i feel helpless palestinian americans anxiously await news from family in gaza as israeli attacks intensify author malak silmi date october 20 2023 content some palestinian americans haven t been able to reach their family members for days narmin abushaban hasn t spoken to her 78 year old mother in gaza and doesn t know when she ll hear her voice again abushaban 43 lives in michigan and has been getting updates from brief texts over whatsapp from her siblings who lived in northern and central gaza and are now displaced after evacuating after more than a week of israel s bombardment of besieged gaza she worries for her family s safety especially her mother who is paralyzed and can t move on her own when i lay down to sleep i prepare myself to wake up to bad news abushaban said i tell myself to prepare for the news that i may lose someone from my family that someone may be killed on oct 16 abushaban woke up to the news that her uncle s home was destroyed by an israeli airstrike in northern gaza there were 24 relatives in the building four were confirmed dead and the rest are either injured or missing under the rubble abushaban like many others with family in gaza said she feels anxious and full of dread as she waits for news since october 7th israel has unleashed thousands of bombs killing more than 4 137 palestinians across gaza including at least1 524 children according to the palestinian ministry of health israeli forces have also cut off access to water electricity food supplies and any outside aid the loss of electricity in gaza makes it difficult for palestinians there to keep their overseas families apprised of their conditions abushaban saw videos of her uncle s house collapsing through a family group chat where updates come in every few days but is mostly silent since charging phones and connecting to the internet is difficult we have a family group chat where whoever is able to get connected texts us and lets us know that they re okay she said a text on oct 19 confirmed the deaths of more extended family members this time abushaban s fathers cousin and his wife and kids abushaban is grieving and praying that her mother and the rest of her family continue to survive afnan algharabli of ohio also has family in gaza and said that the only reason she s able to call her mom is because she has an american phone that s able to accept calls every phone call is hard because you re just calling to make sure they re still alive and nothing bad happened algharabli said you don t talk about anything else image on the left is of afnan s mother and daughter image in the center is of afnan at her home in gaza in shejaiya image on the right is of afnan s daughter with her cousins at the beach in gaza the header image is also of afnan s daughter with her cousins at their grandparents house in gaza in 2022 she said that her mother and husband s family evacuated from shejaiya a city in northern gaza to the south she said the area they are currently in does not have any water or electricity and that they have been charging their phones using solar batteries when we call them they re asking about the news in gaza because they have no idea what s happening in the other areas she said there is guilt that i m here and they re there i feel helpless another michigan resident samara attalla hasn t heard from her great uncles and aunts since they evacuated their home in northern gaza early saturday and doesn t know where they ve relocated to or if they re safe the communication is fickle and it can take up to five days to hear back because they re constantly moving to safety and the electricity and internet has been blocked attalla said the 29 year old said she s been spreading awareness on social media because she feels obligated to share her family s story but also has been navigating a constant emotional tug of war she said her grandmother who lives in australia got news on oct 19 that some extended family members were killed but still does not have news about her grandmothers siblings we feel a duty to continue raising awareness about the ongoing atrocities in palestine to share our family s narratives and to educate our colleagues communities and neighbors despite the emotional toll it takes to hear firsthand what family members are experiencing attalla said abushaban said she was last in gaza this past february but was also there during the 2021 attacks on gaza and the 2022 attacks where she saw the atrocities and fear with her own eyes it was very hard but there s no comparison with what s happening right now she said it s horrible my brother last told me that they re lucky if they find bread and zaatar to eat right now their biggest concern is safety

blog title a new unprecedented chapter author ahmad samih khalidi date october 19 2023 content as we await israel s vengeful wrath and its punitive offensive against the people of gaza the next hours are likely to witness the first steps towards opening a new and unprecedented chapter in the century old assault on arab palestine in gaza a relentless air campaign has released over 6000 bombs that have killed over 750 children amongst the 2750 dead all of whom have been subjected to a cruel and collective punishment for events they did not participate in and cannot be held responsible for israel s military assault will most likely be spearheaded by heavily armoured columns supported by combat engineers dividing gaza s 360 sq kms into separate sectors and intended to clear the way for the special forces and infantry who will seek to uproot the resistance organizations destroy their military facilities and deliver a final and decisive blow to their fighting capabilities although israeli forces will try and locate israelis held in gaza it is now clear that israeli leaders are quite ready to sacrifice their lives as part of their relentless retributive campaign however israel s real problem will begin after the initial phase of the offensive is deemed to be over israel s day after plans seem to be shrouded in confusion and wishful thinking even if the initial offensive brings israel troops into the heart of gaza the resistance forces will be offered multiple targets for a sustained guerrilla campaign and the emergence of new post occupation forms of resistance reoccupation will entail other problems establishing control and the need to cater for the population s daily needs in the wake of unprecedented destruction and loss of life it will also require a local address and mechanism of government but it is very hard to see who will step up to take upon themselves that role or how any local administration will have even a shred of legitimacy in the eyes of its own people it is also very hard to see any outside combination of forces will be ready to inherit and manage the consequences of israel actions should it succeed in taking over gaza israel will be taking over an extraordinary burden and challenge with no comparison to anything it has faced in the past israel s military commanders and politicians have spoken of making gaza uninhabitable and turn it into a desert not for just today or tomorrow but permanently in other words to revive mass depopulation and the notion of transfer as israel s grand strategy to be threatened or applied whenever circumstances allow not just in gaza but potentially in the west bank as well but the fact is that besides outright genocide there is no feasible depopulation option in gaza there is nowhere for the people to gaza to go egypt is not an option egypt has made it clear that it will not agree to host tens or hundreds of thousands of palestinians in sinai or be seen as complicit in israel s design to wipe gaza off the map and we know from our bitter historical experience what happens once palestinians leave their national soil what may be taking shape is a redefinition of the terms of israel s occupation of the entire land of palestine israel s longer term problem will be that its renewed occupation will only lead it down a new blind alley of unforeseen circumstances despite the terrible images coming out of gaza it is worth recalling that the strip has been the incubator for the contemporary palestinian national movement in all its different iterations from fatah to islamic jihad to hamas israel has tried everything in its 70 year assault on the strip from mowing down the unarmed refugees seeking to return to their homes and fields after 1948 to the repeated massacres of the first occupation in 1956 now hardly remembered by the outside world to the mass expulsions of 1967 to sharon s brutal pacification campaign in 1970 71 to the era of settler occupation up to 2005 and to the endless siege and repeated bloody assaults ever since in all their anger and desperate to avenge their humiliation israeli leaders act as if history s bitter experience leaves no aftertaste the latest brutal assault may well redraw the map as netanyahu has threatened but not in the manner that he anticipates rather with israel mired in a new and terrible phase of conflict with long term and unforeseen consequences the biden administration and the west s blind and unconditional support for israel makes them complicit in the new occupation and its crimes and will bear heavily on relations between the west and the palestinian and arab peoples for decades to come rather than normalizing and stabilizing the region as the so called abrahamic accords promised and should israel persist with its retributive campaign and occupation the next phase is likely to be that of extreme turbulence with the constant threat of a widespread regional war and increasingly strained israeli relations with all its arab neighbours governments and peoples including those with whom it has ostensibly resolved its conflict

blog title israel destroys palestinian cultural heritage sites in gaza author mahmoud hawari date february 28 2024 content israel s military onslaught and indiscriminate bombardment of the gaza strip for the last five months have resulted in massive death devastation and a humanitarian catastrophe for the 2 3 million palestinians reaching an unprecedented scale in modern history nearly 30 000 people have been killed with over 70 000 injured and more than 1 7 million displaced nearly 80 of the gaza strip s built environment and farmlands have been decimated civilian infrastructure including residential and public buildings hospitals schools universities mosques and churches have been intentionally targeted additionally the palestinian ministry of culture has reported that 207 archaeological sites and buildings of cultural and historical significance out of a total of 320 have been reduced to rubble or severely damaged these include old mosques churches cemeteries museums libraries and archives so far only a preliminary assessment of the destruction and damage to cultural heritage has been conducted relying on local eyewitnesses as well as on international ngos andsatellite images archaeological sites along the coast such as tell es sakan tell ruqaish tell al ajul tell al mintar and tell rafah have been severely damaged by israeli bombardments the site of deir al balah where remains of a philistine cemetery dating to the late bronze period 1550 1200 bce were revealed during the excavations 1972 1982 including the famous anthropoid clay coffins has also been badly damaged the archaeological site of blakhiyya identified as anthedon harbour gaza s ancient seaport dating from 800 bce 1100 has been largely damaged by airstrikes and military activities as shown in a report by forensic architecture excavated by a palestinian french expedition 1995 2005 it is one of three gaza sites on unesco s world heritage tentative list there is also a fear that artifacts will be looted or illicitly transferred to israel a warehouse for the ministry of tourism and antiquities in the sheikh ridwan neighborhood consisting of more than 4 000 archaeological objects mainly from the excavations at blakhiyya was seized by the israeli army and its fate remains unknown the site of saint hilarion monastery at tell umm amer near al nuseirat refugee camp was also damaged saint hilarion was born in palestine but lived for some time in egypt and finally he settled in cyprus where he died in 371 he is known as the founder of monasticism in palestine and he is celebrated on his feast day in cyprus on oct 21 of each year the monastery one of the sites on unesco s world heritage tentative list in palestine was excavated by a joint palestinian french expedition the site of mukheitim or byzantine church dated to the 5th century in jabalia has been largely damaged and turned into a base for the israeli military the church is known for its splendid mosaic floors and greek inscriptions both the monastery and the church were restored and renovated by palestinian french and spanish teams funded by the british council involving community archaeological activities among several christian places of worship that have been damaged the orthodox church of saint porphyrios believed to be the world s third oldest church was also bombed on oct 19 2023 where at least 18 christian palestinians were reportedly killed porphyrios was the bishop of gaza in the 5th century and his tomb still exists in gaza the core of the old city of gaza has also been relentlessly devastated and within it 144 prominent historical monuments have been destroyed among these is the great umari mosque originally the cathedral of st john the baptist which was built by the crusaders in the 12th century and converted into a mosque by salah al din in 1187 the nearby al qissariya gaza s medieval old city market and a public bathhouse named hammam al samara the last surviving building of its kind dating to the mamluk period have reportedly been turned into rubble the renovated pasha s palace the former governor s residence during the mamluk and ottoman times which was converted in recent years into an archaeological museum has also been largely destroyed the ibn uthman mosque in the shuja iyya neighborhood dating back to the 15th century and serving at the burial site for the prophet muhammad s great grandfather hashem has been severely damaged gaza s museums have not been spared from the bombardment the al qarara cultural museum in southern gaza which housed a pottery collection from the byzantine period suffered serious damage the rafah museum located in southern gaza was hit by an israeli airstrike and partially destroyed another private museum named al mathaf founded by jawdat al khoudari as a future national archaeology museum was bombed and its contents were devastated the indiscriminate israeli bombardments have also destroyed several old houses in gaza city that were renovated and converted into cultural heritage centers such as as saqqa palace subat al alami khader al tarazi house and ghussein house the orthodox cultural centre in tell al hawa region of gaza was completely destroyed by an israeli airstrike many of these sites mentioned above were detailed in south africa s case against the israeli regime for the crime of genocide at the international court of justice indeed south africa s submission notes that the destruction of the physical monuments to the history and heritage of the palestinians in gaza is part of the ongoing genocide the fact that this destruction of palestinian cultural heritage is carried out in conjunction with the mass scale killing of palestinians demonstrates the israeli political and military leadership s intent to destroy the palestinian people and their cultural identity whilst the destruction in gaza is unprecedented the targeting of palestinian cultural heritage is not a new phenomenon in fact the israeli regime has systematically pursued policies to destroy palestinian cultural heritage and identity indeed as with all settler colonial projects the aim is to erase the palestinian people from their land and this necessitates the destruction of their culture and history reacting to the ongoing destruction of cultural heritage in gaza unesco reported that at least 22 archaeological and historical sites were damaged it granted provisional enhanced protection to saint hilarion monastery complex the highest level of immunity established by the 1954 hague convention and its second protocol however unesco s response ranged from silence to moderate concern it expressed deep concern about the adverse impact this conflict could have on cultural heritage in palestine and israel and calls on all actors to scrupulously respect international law in the same context it called on all parties involved to strictly respect international law cultural property should not be targeted or used for military purposes as it is considered to be civilian infrastructure while referring to such destruction in passive language with no reference to the israeli regime s large scale indiscriminate bombing unesco is not only failing to take a stance on the genocide but it is also using passive language thus neglecting to adhere to its own established precedent the response of the international council on monuments and sites icomos was similar calling on all parties to do all in their power to protect cultural heritage icomos reaction was almost identical calling upon all parties to respect international law and conventions warning against the potential increase in smuggling and destruction of cultural objects and preventing the illicit transfer of cultural property as enshrined in the 1970 unesco convention indeed unesco s response to the destruction of cultural heritage in ukraine was qualitatively different and came with strong condemnation following russian airstrikes on the city of odesa in ukraine which damaged several significant cultural sites including the transfiguration cathedral founded in 1794 unesco published a statement on july 23 2023 saying it was deeply dismayed and condemns in the strongest terms the brazen attack carried out by the russian forces in another statement audrey azoulay unesco s director general said i strongly condemn this attack against culture and i urge the russian federation to take meaningful action to comply with its obligations under international law including the 1954 hague convention for the protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflict and the 1972 world heritage convention so far unesco has failed to take a similar position on the israeli regime s intentional targeting of cultural heritage sites in the gaza strip this is hardly surprising such hypocrisy and double standards characterize other international organizations and western governments concerning the unfolding genocidal war on the palestinian people of the gaza strip whilst the focus is rightly on the mass killing and maiming of palestinians in gaza we must not forget the devastation being wreaked on palestinian tangible and intangible cultural heritage this heritage comprises a myriad of archaeological and historical sites representing multiple cultures as well as the traditional religious and social life of palestinians including both muslims and christians alike indeed it is this richness in culture and history that the israeli regime is also trying to erase

blog title brief a textbook case of genocide author asma barakat date october 19 2023 content on oct 15 talk of a five hour ceasefire was reported by multiple media outlets the israeli regime claimed the ceasefire would take place on oct 16 beginning at 9 a m and ending at 2 p m to allow foreigners to evacuate and humanitarian aid into the gaza strip about 100 trucks carrying humanitarian aid lined up in egypt at the rafah border crossing awaiting permission to enter as soon as the clock struck 9 a m the ceasefire that the israeli regime announced did not occur and the border did not open reuters reports that israel was not cooperating with the delivery of aid into gaza and evacuations of foreign passport holders leaving hundreds of tonnes of supplies stuck palestinian news outlet palestine online tweeted that benjamin netanyahu retracted the plan stating there is now no agreement on a ceasefire or the entry of humanitarian aid into gaza in exchange for the withdrawal of foreigners in fact not only did israel refuse the entry of aid but they bombed the rafah border crossing a fourth time since the genocide campaign unfolded further damaging the route in an attempt to permanently block aid from entering gaza western news outlets barely reported on the canceled ceasefire and the bombing of the rafah border crossing the lack of reporting perpetuates the idea that aid was let into gaza palestinian journalist bayan abusultan who is in gaza tweeted not a single item entered gaza until now all the news about humanitarian aid on its way to the gaza strip is false the borders are still closed until this moment we need water fuel medicine food clothes the combination of the israeli imposed siege the neverending bombardment and the growing humanitarian crisis in gaza has wiped out any supplies gazans had access to even the remaining unrwa humanitarian aid that was already within gaza s warehouses was bombed by the iof the unrwa released a statement that gaza is running out of body bags while the number of palestinians israel is killing continues to rise similarly hospital morgues are at full capacity forcing hospital staff to use ice cream trucks as they did in the 2014 war in an interview with democracy now raz segal a professor in genocide and holocaust studies declared that this current assault on gaza is undoubtedly a textbook case of genocide one of the latest crimes in this genocide is israel bombing the al ahli hospital also known as the baptist hospital on oct 17 the hospital located in gaza s city center in the al zaitoon neighborhood was deliberately targeted by israeli forces they have been bombing the area surrounding the hospital and issued a warning dropping evacuation orders as they have warned more than 20 other hospitals in a preliminary count gaza s ministry of health estimated that more than 500 palestinians were killed in the israeli attack and over 1 200 palestinians are missing al ahli baptist hospital was established in 1882 and has been serving the palestinian community in gaza for over 100 years during the fatal attack the hospital also functioned as a shelter for displaced individuals and families in gaza since the start of this latest israeli bombardment hours after the belligerent israeli airstrike doctors from the al ahli baptist hospital held a press conference standing between dozens of covered palestinian bodies medical staff were seen holding lifeless corpses of children shock on their faces the images from the al ahli baptist hospital massacre are haunting since oct 7 israel killed 3 478 palestinians as of 3 30 p m gaza time and injured 12 065 while 1 300 are missing under the rubble with news of the hospital bombing spreading across the globe people in different cities took to the streets in occupied palestine palestinians protested from ramallah to jenin calling for the resignation of palestinian president mahmoud abbas and for the dissolution of the palestinian authority to no one s surprise the palestinian authority opened fire on protesters just across the river in jordan protesters gathered in droves and set part of the israeli embassy on fire in lebanon overhead footage showed hundreds of people marching in beirut to protest israel s genocide of the palestinian people another video shows lebanese protesters burning part of the american embassy simultaneously protesters in turkey attempted to break into a nato military base the collective anger and grief spread even wider with protests breaking out in egypt algeria tunisia and elsewhere in the arab and western world at the time of the writing of this brief news of joshua paul s resignation as director of the bureau of political military affairs for the biden administration broke citing the united states blind support for israel and that he cannot work in support of a set of major policy decisions including rushing more arms to one side of the conflict he also wrote that the united states cannot be both against occupation and for it for freedom and against it also on oct 18 the u s vetoed a security council resolution introduced by brazil calling for a ceasefire the u s does not realize it cannot continue to provide israel with impunity to commit war crimes they count on the world to stand by silently but the tide is turning against this position dissonance is also growing within the biden administration as daily beast columnist wajahat ali tweeted sources with direct knowledge confirm many high ranking muslim appointees are strongly considering resigning the biden administration isn t listening to them during this crisis their communities are frustrated with them islamophobes are targeting them questioning their loyalties such tropes are inflamed by biased media coverage and racist tropes championed by netanyahu who called palestinians human beasts then in the wake of the hospital bombing called palestinian children children of darkness comparing humans to animals and associating them with evil is a tactic used to condition the masses to have less sympathy for palestinians so that when news of their suffering breaks no one would bat an eye this tactic is not new but one deriving from a psychology of cruelly as dubbed in an npr article in 2011 that reads during the holocaust nazis referred to jews as rats hutus involved in the rwanda genocide called tutsis cockroaches slave owners throughout history considered slaves subhuman animals and western media is taking up its own arms using dehumanizing rhetoric against the palestinians and inciting violence the killing of 6 year old wadea al fayoume in chicago is a direct result of that his killer joseph czuba who was the family s landlord had been upset about the israel hamas war and was regularly tuning into the news twenty four hours before the bombing of al ahli baptist hospital the bbc tweeted does hamas build tunnels under hospitals and schools this unethical form of journalism must be condemned and the journalists must be held accountable for aiding and abetting hate and war crimes in a mind boggling attempt to gaslight the world the israeli regime took credit for the attack on the hospital via a tweet then deleted it israel then proceeded to cast blame on palestinian resistance during the press conference at al ahli baptist hospital doctors stated that israel had sent the hospital an evacuation order proving intent the israeli occupation s propaganda task force hopes to influence people to believe that the hospital was destroyed by a palestinian resistance misfire going as far as deploying a fake twitter account of an al jazeera journalist called farida khan tweeting this lie this israeli bot falsely claimed to have video proof that the rocket launched into the hospital was a hamas missile al jazeera quickly released a statement declaring that the account has no ties to al jazeera in the long hours since the massacre of palestinians at the hospital israel admitted its crime deleted the posts created a fake account and released fabricated video footage and an audio recording in an attempt to redirect its moral failures onto the palestinian people palestinians in gaza feel as if they are counting their last days with the sliver of connection some of them have left after israel imposed a media blackout by cutting off internet access while palestinians try to tell the world that each day may be their last they have lost their families their neighbors and their homes and are now being starved having run out of water and fuel

blog title palestinechronology press summaries on the war on gaza oct 17 18 author palestine chronology staff date october 19 2023 content october 17 in gaza an israeli airstrike killed 471 palestinians in al ahli baptist hospital in gaza city according to initial reports the hospital that was filled with patients and palestinians seeking shelter from israeli bombardment had received evacuation warnings from israel on 10 14 10 15 and 10 16 as did other hospitals but there is no where to go other israeli airstrikes killed around 200 palestinians mostly in rafah and khan yunis israel also assassinated the head of hamas shura council osama mazini who led negotations on the prisoner exchange that saw gilad shalit transferred to israel in exchange for 1 000 palestinian prisoners in 2011 and hamas commanders muhammad alwadia ayman nofal and akram hijaz it was also reported that israeli airstrikes had killed 3 members of hamas political leader ismail haniyeh s family 6 were killed in an airstrike on an unrwa school sheltering palestinians in al maghazi rockets were fired at israel causing damage in the west bank there were large demonstrations against the pa and the israeli bombing of the al ahli arab hospital throughout the west bank with pa forces violently dispersing palestinian protesters killing a 12 year old girl in jenin with live ammunition and many others with tear gas israeli forces shot and killed 2 palestinians including a minor during raids in halhul and nabi salih 1 elderly palestinian succumbed to injuries sustained by israeli forces on 10 13 in nablus israeli forces also violently dispersed palestinians injuring 8 with live ammunition in nablus elsewhere israeli forces assaulted 1 ambulance driver near al arroub refugee camp causing a fractured arm and bruises israeli forces arrested the speaker of the palestinian legislative council aziz dweik during a raid 115 others were arrested during raids in and around hebron ramallah bethlehem and nablus including 50 palestinians from gaza who were employed in israel before being expelled to the west bank the detainees and ex detainees affairs authority said israel had arrested 680 palestinians in the west bank and jerusalem since 10 7 in jerusalem israeli settlers toured the haram al sharif compound in lebanon israeli forces attacked targets north of the blue line hezbollah said it fired an anti tank missile at a vehicle in metula 3 were reportedly injured israel said it killed 4 people who had entered israel from lebanon 4 were also killed in an israeli airstrike west of yarine in jordan protesters attempted to storm the israeli embassy in amman ap 10 7 aj ap ha reu 10 16 aj aj aj aj aj aj aj ap ap ap ap ha ha nyt nyt nyt reu reu reu reu reu unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 10 17 aj aj ap ap ap ha ha nyt reu reu wafa 10 18 _ the ministry of health in gaza said at least 3 500 palestinians had been killed and 12 500 had been injured in israeli airstrikes on gaza since 10 7 including 47 entire families consisting of 500 people in addition it has been reported by israeli media that 1 500 palestinian militants have been killed near gaza 61 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and settlers in the west bank and jerusalem since 10 7 including 13 children more than 1 230 had been injured including at least 300 with live ammunition israeli officials recorded no new fatalities leaving the israeli death toll at around 1 300 israelis including foreign nationals 4 229 have been injured since 10 7 the un reported that over 1 million palestinians had been displaced since 10 7 and that since 11pm on 10 12 there had been a complete blackout of electricity due to the israel blockade at least 11 887 housing units have been destroyed in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 the number is likely much higher as the latest data is from 10 14 the palestinian civil defense team said that more than 1 000 palestinians were under the rubble of buildings in gaza the committee to protect journalists said 13 palestinian 3 israeli and 1 lebanese journalist had been killed since 10 7 aj 10 16 aj aj aj aj ha ha unocha wafa wafa 10 17 ha 10 18 _ unrwa said parts of southern gaza about 14 of the population received water for 3 hours the remaining seawater desalination plant in gaza shut down due to a lack of fuel aj 10 16 ha 10 17 _ hundreds of trucks carrying aid to gaza were stuck near the rafah crossing as israel continued to deny them safe passage into gaza egyptian foreign minister sameh shoukry said the crossing was not officially closed but that it was not functioning due to being bombed four times by israel aj 10 16 ha reu reu 10 17 _ un human rights office spokesperson ravina shamdasani said israel s siege and order to evacuate northern gaza could breach international law aj reu 10 17 _ israel attempted to deny that it killed hundreds of palestinian civilians in an airstrike in al ahli baptist hospital in gaza presenting a slew of flimsy evidence to put the blame on islamic jihad israeli government social media accounts published what it claimed to be evidence that it was rocket misfire but later deleted the videos when a new york times journalist questioned the timing of the videos military spokesperson daniel hagari said a ccording to our intelligence hamas checked the report understood it was an islamic jihad rocket that had misfired and decided to launch a global media campaign to hide what really happened israel often employs misinformation campaigns to deflect its blame for atrocities on occasion taking responsibility long after the event as in the case with the killing of shireen abu akleh a uk channel 4 investigation said israeli evidence presented is likely fabricated and contradictory but the channel did not make a final determination regarding the origin of the explosion israeli president isaac herzog called reporting that israel conducted the airstrike 21st century blood libel many western leaders called for an investigation or referred to the loss of life without condemning the perpetrators leaders in the middle east were unequivocal in their condemnation of the israeli airstrike king abdullah ii of jordan pa president mahmoud abbas and egyptian president abdel fattah el sisi canceled meetings with u s president joe biden scheduled for 10 18 in amman the uae and russia called on a meeting of the un security council on 10 18 on the attack on the hospital u s defense department spokesperson sabrina singh said in response to questions about the incident that hamas puts their command and control units inside hospitals saying the u s does not know who the perpetrator was biden said he spoke to prime minister netanyahu and that his national security team will gather information about the incident large demonstrations were held in washington d c turkey jordan yemen iraq lebanon and morocco aj ap 10 16 aj aj aj aj aj aj aj ha ha nyt nyt nyt reu reu reu reu wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 10 17 aj aj ap c4 ha ha ha ha ha nyt reu reu reu wafa wafa wafa wafa 10 18 _ the pa foreign ministry accused israel of ethnic cleansing and genocide aimed at removing all palestinians from gaza the palestinian central bureau of statistics said israel had killed at least 3 057 palestinians since the beginning of 2023 including 2 793 in gaza and 264 in the west bank and east jerusalem wafa wafa 10 17 _ fatah s military wing al aqsa martyrs brigades called on president abbas to step down as the head of fatah s martyrs and prisoners commission aj 10 18 _ israeli military spokesperson daniel hagari ruled out a ceasefire saying israel continues to prepare for the next stages of war foreign minister eli cohen said the israeli campaign would take several months the israeli military also said that it could not confirm that white phosphorus was used in attacks on gaza but maintained that it would not be unlawful in certain situations israeli police commissioner kobi shabtai w hoever wants to become an israeli citizen welcome anyone who wants to identify with gaza is welcome i will put him on the buses heading there now shabtai also said he had outlawed demonstrations in solidarity with palestinians in gaza ha 10 17 aj ha wafa 10 18 aj 10 19 _ after israeli airstrike on al ahli baptist hospital president abbas traveled back from amman to ramallah to hold an emergency meeting abbas also declared three days of mourning and in a speech called the airstrike a heinous crime earlier in the day met with u s secretary of state antony blinken in amman blinken later called abbas to offer condolences on the massacre at al ahli baptist hospital pa envoy to the un riyad mansour called on the security council to intervene by demanding a ceasefire aj 10 16 aj ha wafa wafa wafa 10 17 aj ha wafa wafa 10 18 _ hamas political leader ismail haniyeh spoke with south african foreign minister nalendi pandor who conveyed support for palestine and expressed sadness for the loss of innocent life in gaza and israel aj 10 16 reu 10 18 _ the knesset national security committee approved legislation to allow israeli prisons to admit new inmates beyond their legal capacity allowing worsening conditions for palestinian prisoners since 10 7 israeli prisons family visits have been suspended public phones have been blocked and all electrical devices have been cut off from power the hadassah university hospital refused to treat a palestinian militant captured by israel saying it would offend national feelings ha ha 10 17 _ the u s announced that president biden will visit israel on 10 18 the new york times reported that biden s visit will postpone israel s planned ground operation in gaza with at least 24 hours the nyt also reported that israel has asked the u s for 10 billion in emergency aid secretary of state blinken said the announcement was made after israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu committed to allowing aid to enter gaza and to establish safe zones at an 8 hour long meeting of the war cabinet blinken attended new york governor kathy hochul said she will visit israel biden said he will visit jordan senate majority leader chuck schumer said he would push through an emergency aid package to israel as quickly as possible 6 republican senators introduced legislation to end all u s funding for unrwa all senators except rand paul i ky sponsored a resolution in support for israel s war against hamas aj ha 10 16 aj ha ha reu reu 10 17 ha 10 18 _ king abdullah ii said jordan and egypt would not take in palestinian refugees from gaza calling it a red line abdullah ii also met with german chancellor olaf scholz in berlin scholz warned hezbollah and iran to stay out of this war scholz later traveled to israel where he met with prime minister netanyahu invoking the german genocide of the jewish people as a reason for germany to ensure israel s existence and security lebanese foreign minister abdallah bou habib said israel was pouring oil on fire at the lebanese border turkish foreign minister hakan fidan said egypt will host a summit on the situation in gaza on 10 21 aj 10 16 ha reu reu reu 10 17 ap ha 10 18 _ iranian sources told al jazeera that the u s had sent the iranian un representative a message warning iran of war if it enters the conflict ha 10 17 _ u s central command commander michael kurilla arrived in israel for meetings with israeli military leaders the u s also sent 2 000 marines to the middle east aj ha ha ha 10 16 ha reu 10 17 ap 10 18 _ russian president vladimir putin and chinese president xi jinping discussed the palestinian israeli conflict during a meeting in beijing aj aj ha 10 17 _ 159 u s citizens were evacuated from israel headed to cyprus on a cruise ship nearly 1 000 u s citizens have left israel on state department charted planes to europe since 10 13 aj ha ha 10 16 ha 10 17 _ japanese foreign minister yoko kamikawa said japan will donate 10 million in emergency aid to gaza spain said it would donate 1 million in humanitarian aid to gaza the netherlands pledged 10 million in humanitarian aid to gaza aj 10 16 ha reu reu reu 10 17 _ the eu held a video conference for the leaders of the 27 members of the union to discuss the situation in gaza and find a unified stance after eu member states have expressed dissatisfaction with the eu leaderships pro israel statements including european commission president ursula von der leyen s failure to call on israel to abide by international law during her visit on 10 17 irish president michael d higgens called von der leyen s comments about israel s attacks thoughtless and even reckless questioning where she gets the authority to speak on behalf of the eu on the issue after the meeting the eu leader agreed to condemn hamas operation in israel on 10 7 expressed solidarity with the people of israel said israel has a right to defend itself in line with humanitarian and international law and called on hamas to released all captives aj 10 15 aj 10 16 aj eu ha reu 10 17 _ the mainz 05 soccer club in germany suspended egyptian soccer player anwar el ghazi for a pro palestinian social media post aj 10 17 october 18 in the west bank israeli settlers with military escort shot and killed 1 palestinian man during a raid in dura al qara israeli settlers also shot and injured 1 palestinian in shufa elsewhere israeli settlers threw stones at palestinians traveling near burqa injuring 1 palestinian woman israeli settlers also opened fire at a palestinian vehicle near bazaria causing damage meanwhile israeli settlers vandalized olive trees near tell israeli forces shot and killed 3 palestinians including 2 minors during raids in shuqba and jamma in israeli forces also violently dispersed palestinian protesters in huwwara tarqumiyyah and dar salah injuring 3 with live ammunition and others with tear gas elsewhere israeli forces demolished 1 palestinian home in beit hanina 65 palestinians were arrested during late night raids in and around hebron bethlehem and nablus around 750 palestinians have been arrested by israeli forces since 10 7 in jerusalem israeli settlers toured the haram al sharif compound in gaza israeli airstrikes killed around 100 palestinians including several people sheltering at an unrwa school in khan yunis rockets were fired at israel causing damage in haifa israeli police violently dispersed anti war protesters arresting 4 and injuring others with batons in lebanon hezbollah fired an anti tank missile at israeli soldiers in shtula injuring 5 israel fired artillery shells and conducted drone strikes in lebanon hezbollah said 2 of its members were killed protesters demonstrated outside of the german and u s embassies in beirut in syria israel conducted airstrikes in the quneitra province in turkey 60 people mostly police were injured after protesters in istanbul attempted to storm the israeli consulate there were also demonstrations in jordan yemen egypt tunisia morocco libya iran and the west bank aj aj ap ap ap ha ha nyt nyt reu unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 10 18 aj aj ap ha nyt wafa wafa wafa 10 19 _ the ministry of health in gaza said at least 3 500 palestinians had been killed including at least 853 children and 12 500 had been injured in israeli airstrikes on gaza since 10 7 as of 5pm including 47 entire families consisting of 500 people in addition it has been reported by israeli media that 1 500 palestinian militants have been killed near gaza 65 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and settlers in the west bank and jerusalem since 10 7 including 15 children more than 1 284 have been injured including at least 300 with live ammunition israeli officials recorded no new fatalities leaving the israeli death toll at around 1 300 israelis including foreign nationals 4 562 have been injured since 10 7 the un reported that over 1 million palestinians had been displaced since 10 7 and that since 11pm on 10 12 there had been a complete blackout of electricity due to the israel blockade at least 11 887 housing units have been destroyed in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 the number is likely much higher as the latest data is from 10 14 the palestinian civil defense team said that more than 1 000 palestinians were under the rubble of buildings in gaza aj aj ha unocha 10 18 _ palestinians in the west bank observed a general strike in protest over the israeli airstrike that killed 471 people per initial reports at al ahli baptist hospital in gaza city on 10 17 wafa wafa 10 18 _ the israeli military again called on palestinians in northern gaza to evacuate south to the al mawasi area aj 10 17 ha unocha 10 18 _ the pa leadership held an emergency meeting chaired by president mahmoud abbas confirming a july 2023 decision to end security coordination with israel and reaffirming the palestinians people right to self defense wafa 10 18 _ the knesset approved temporary legislation to allow israeli prisons to admit new inmates beyond their legal capacity allowing worsening conditions for palestinian prisoners including reducing living spaces and forcing prisoners to sleep on mattresses on the floor the bill will be in effect for 3 months israel prisons said they had received 500 new palestinian prisoners since 10 7 including 118 who crossed from gaza to israel in relation to operation al aqsa flood the israeli high court of justice ruled in 2017 that prisoners must be given at least 37 7 square feet of space the knesset ethics panel also voted to suspend jewish hadash mk ofer cassif from the knesset over his anti war stance aj ha 10 18 _ u s president joe biden landed in israel for meetings with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu president isaac herzog and the war cabinet biden was supposed to travel to amman for meetings with president abbas jordanian king abdullah ii and egyptian president abdel fattah el sisi but the meetings were cancelled by the 3 leaders after israel bombed al ahli baptist hospital in gaza killing 471 people per initial reports biden told netanyahu during a meeting that it appears as though it was done by the other team not you in reference to the hospital bombing biden cautioned israel not to be consumed by rage saying the u s made mistakes after 9 11 biden also announced 100 million in humanitarian aid to palestinians as the senate was working on passing a 10 billion in extra aid to israel biden said aid to gaza could start arriving on 10 20 as egypt needs to patch the road to the crossing senator bernie sanders d vt blocked an attempted by senator rick scott r fl to prevent the biden administration from dispersing the 100 million in aid to palestinians 33 democratic senators urged secretary of state antony blinken to lead efforts to provide humanitarian aid to gaza around 300 jewish americans were arrested at the u s capitol while protesting israel s war in gaza the protest was arranged by jewish voice for peace ha 10 17 aj aj aj aj ap ha ha ha ha ha ha ha nyt nyt nyt reu reu reu reu reu reu 10 18 aj ap ha ha reu wafa 10 19 _ after president biden s meeting with prime minister netanyahu netanyahu s office released a statement saying that israel will not allow aid from its territory to enter gaza until the captives are returned israel demands that the red cross can visit the captives and that israel will not thwart humanitarian aid from egypt as long as it consists of only food water and medicine aj 10 17 aj ha 10 18 _ president el sisi said during a press conference with german chancellor olaf schulz that israel could allow palestinians in gaza to stay in the naqab desert until israel do what they wish to do with the militant operatives in the gaza strip el sisi also spoke with president biden about aid coming through the rafah crossing saudi foreign minister faisal bin farhan met with his iranian counterpart hossein amir abdollahian in the sidelines of an organisation of islamic cooperation oic meeting in jeddah discussing the situation in gaza amir abdollahian called on the oic members to sanction israel and expel israeli ambassadors the oic called for an immediate ceasefire and for israel to lift the siege of gaza ap 10 16 aj 10 17 aj ha reu reu wafa wafa 10 18 _ the u s blocked a un security council unsc resolution calling for humanitarian access to gaza protection of civilians and condemning hamas operation into israel the resolution introduced by brazil was approved by 12 members of the unsc while russia and the uk abstained un secretary general antonio guterres called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the middle east aj 10 17 aj aj aj ap ha nyt reu 10 18 _ u s state department director of the office of public and congressional affairs josh paul resigned in protest over the biden administration s policy towards the israeli assault on gaza and its impulsive reaction built on confirmation bias political convenience intellectual bankruptcy and bureaucratic inertia aj ha 10 18 nyt 10 19 _ jewish currents reported that the palestinian academics and analysts noura erakat yousef munayyer and omar baddar had their interviews cut from segments on cbs and cnn msnbc last week temporarily removed 3 muslim hosts mehdi hasan ali velshi and ayman mohyeldin who is palestinian from their programming jc 10 18

blog title palestinechronology press summaries on the war on gaza october 13 16 author palestine chronology staff date october 17 2023 content october 13 in the west bank an israeli settler was filmed shooting a palestinian man point blank critically injuring him in the stomach during a settler raid in al twana israeli settler also shot and injured 3 palestinians with live ammunition in nablus elsewhere israeli settlers vandalized 2 agricultural structures and uprooted fruit trees in masafer yatta damaged vehicles near nahalin and homes in silat ad dhahr israeli forces shot and killed 15 palestinians including 3 minors during raids in tulkarm beit furik beit ula al ram atuf biddu beit liqya and al khalil hebron israeli forces also violently dispersed palestinian protesters in halhul dheisheh refugee camp qalandia huwwara budrus al khader bethlehem al twana jenin al khalil hebron and qalqilya injuring 53 with live ammunition and baton rounds 1 israeli soldier was killed in friendly fire in nablus 36 palestinians were arrested during late night raids in hebron fawwar refugee camp qalqiya dheisheh refugee camp beit umar and halhul in jerusalem israeli forces killed 2 palestinian children in isawiya israel also refused entry to palestinians under the age of 35 to the haram al sharif compound in gaza 70 palestinians following israeli evacuation orders were killed and more than 200 wounded in an israeli airstrike around 300 others were also killed and more than 1 100 were injured in israeli airstrikes throughout gaza israeli forces also made incursions into gaza retrieving the bodies of several israelis rockets were fired at israel from gaza no deaths were reported in lebanon israeli forces killed 1 reuters journalist issam abdullah and injured 6 others in a missile strike al jazeera said israel targeted the group of journalists on purpose ap 10 7 aj aj aj aj aj aj ha ha unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 10 13 aj ha ha reu 10 14 ap reu reu 10 15 the ministry of health in gaza said at least 1 799 palestinians had been killed and 7 388 had been injured in israeli airstrikes on gaza since 10 7 as of 2pm in addition it has been reported by israeli media that 1 500 palestinian militants have been killed near gaza hamas said 13 of the israeli captives including foreigners had been killed in israeli airstrikes in the past 24 hours israel said it hit 750 targets overnight and destroyed 12 high rise buildings within one minute 51 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and settlers in the west bank and east jerusalem since 10 7 including 11 children more than 700 had been injured israeli officials said 1 300 israelis including foreign nationals had been killed and 3 436 were injured since 10 7 the un reported that 423 378 palestinians had been displaced since 10 7 and that since 11pm on 10 12 there had been a complete blackout of electricity due to the israel blockade at least 9 283 housing units have been destroyed in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 aj aj ha reu reu unocha wafa 10 13 the israeli military told around 1 1 million palestinians in the northern part of gaza including gaza city that they should flee south within the next 24 hours un spokesperson stephane dujarric said that would have devastating humanitarian consequences and strongly appealed that israel rescind that order many other countries also called on israel to reverse its order the who called relocating severely ill people a death sentence unrwa offered its staff and their families shelter at a unrwa compound in southern gaza but said it did not have plans to evacuate palestinians sheltering in unrwa schools throughout gaza as it doesn t have any capacity in the south and no means of transporting the many thousands of people hamas refugee affairs authority called on palestinians to remain in their homes calling the israeli evacuation order disgusting phycological war egypt moved thousands of troops to its gaza border to prevent palestinians fleeing israeli attacks from breaching the border fence aj aj aj aj ap ap ap ap ha reu reu reu reu wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 10 13 aj aj aj wafa wafa wafa 10 14 wafa wafa 10 15 adalah the public committee against torture in israel physicians for human rights israel acri and hamoked sent letters to national security minister itamar ben gvir attorney general gali baharav miara and the head of the israel prison service katy perry demanding that water and electricity is restored in security wings of israeli prisons that imprison palestinians the commission for the prisoners and ex prisoners affairs said on 10 12 that israel had started collectively punishing prisoners in the naqab prison on 10 11 adalah wafa 10 14 the un appealed for 294 million to help some 1 3 million palestinians in gaza reu 10 13 a turkish cargo plane with humanitarian aid arrived in egypt for transfer to gaza aj 10 13 pa prime minister mohammad shtayyeh said israel is committing genocide in gaza aj 10 13 israeli president isaac herzog blamed palestinian civilians in gaza for the hamas operation saying i t is not true this rhetoric about civilians being not aware responsible for the attack they could have risen up they could have fought against that evil regime which took over gaza in a coup d état ft 10 13 israeli defense minister yoav gallant said israel received a second plane carrying u s ammunition aj 10 13 tens of thousands protesters demonstrated in baghdad and tehran against the israeli attacks in gaza jordanians marched towards the border to the west bank in protest over the israeli attacks jordanian police violently dispersed protesters at the border large protests were also held in yemen pakistan and elsewhere aj aj ap ap wafa 10 13 iranian foreign minister hossein amir abdollahian warned israel that if it does not stop its attacks on gaza the war could spread to other parts of the middle east after meetings lebanese caretaker prime minister najib mikati and hezbollah secretary general hassan nasrallah in beirut ap reu reu 10 13 u s secretary of defense lloyd austin iii arrived in israel to meet with israeli leaders secretary of state antony blinken arrived in jordan for meetings with jordanian king abdullah ii and pa president mahmoud abbas abbas told blinken that hamas does not represent the palestinian people and called for the opening of humanitarian corridors and for aid to enter gaza blinken offered condolences for the palestinian victims of the war abbas also spoke with canadian prime minister justin trudeau 55 members of congress wrote a letter to biden urging him to pressure israel to protect civilians in gaza aj aj ap ha ha reu wafa wafa wafa 10 13 russia introduced a draft un security council resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire president vladimir putin also compared the siege of gaza to the nazi siege of leningrad during world war ii ha 10 13 reuters reported that saudi arabia had frozen normalization talks with israel and the u s due to the attacks on gaza ha ha 10 13 aj 10 14 the new york times and nbc news reported that they had obtained documents that allegedly show how hamas instructed militants to target schools and seize captives during its 10 7 operation it is worth noting that israeli schools were closed on 10 7 as it was a saturday the documents were allegedly found on the bodies of militants killed by israel and were labeled top secret in arabic other media outlets were skeptical to whether the documents were fabricated ha 10 13 ha 10 14 the huffington post reported that the u s state department is telling its diplomats not to use the terms de escalation ceasefire end to violence bloodshed and restoring calm when referring to israel and gaza aj 10 13 australian police in the new south wales said it has sought legal advisor as to if it can use special stop and search powers for the first time since 2005 to demand the identities of pro palestinian protesters attending an unauthorized demonstration in sydney on 10 15 reu 10 13 october 14 in the west bank israeli settlers raided several places in the masafer yatta area throwing stones at homes and stealing solar panels and batteries israeli forces shot and killed 1 palestinian man during a raid in jericho and 1 palestinian child succumbed injuries sustained by israeli forces on 10 16 in far un israeli forces violently dispersed palestinian protesters in jericho qalandia and huwwara injuring 5 23 palestinians were arrested during late night raids in bayt awa bethlehem jenin ramallah birzeit silwad and qalandia in east jerusalem israeli forces shot and killed 1 palestinian in isawiya in gaza israeli airstrikes killed more than 400 palestinians and israel assassinated the leader of hamas aerial forces murad abu murad rockets were fired at israel no fatalities were reported in lebanon israeli combat helicopters attacked areas around the blue line reportedly killing 2 civilians in chebaa 1 member of hezbollah was also killed by israel israel said 3 militants were killed after crossing into israel in syria israeli forces injured 5 in an airstrike on aleppo international airport rockets were reportedly also launched from syria and israel fired artillery shells at syria near the golan heights ap 10 7 aj ha 10 13 aj aj aj aj aj ha reu unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 10 14 ha wafa 10 15 the ministry of health in gaza said at least 2 228 palestinians had been killed and 8 744 had been injured in israeli airstrikes on gaza since 10 7 as of 10 30pm in addition it has been reported by israeli media that 1 500 palestinian militants have been killed near gaza 54 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and settlers in the west bank and east jerusalem since 10 7 including 11 children more than 1 150 had been injured including at least 300 with live ammunition israeli officials recorded no new fatalities leaving the israeli death toll at around 1 300 israelis including foreign nationals 3 436 have been injured since 10 7 hamas said 9 captives including 4 foreigners were killed in israeli airstrikes the past 24 hours the un reported that 423 378 palestinians had been displaced since 10 7 and that since 11pm on 10 12 there had been a complete blackout of electricity due to the israel blockade the un acknowledged that the number of displaced palestinians was likely much higher since the israel order for palestinians in the north to leave for the south at least 10 607 housing units have been destroyed in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 aj 10 13 aj aj aj ha unocha wafa 10 14 unrwa called on israel to protect all civilians in unrwa facilities across gaza saying many are unable to flee south as israel has demanded israel gave palestinian red crescent society prcs until 4pm to evacuate the al quds hospital in gaza city prcs said it could not evacuate the hospital 2 other hospitals in the northern part of gaza el uda and kamal adwan children s hospital said they would not evacuate after receiving similar orders the ministry of health in gaza called on egypt to open the rafah crossing so casualties could be evacuated it was reported that the rafah crossing would be open for palestinian americans between 12pm and 5pm the evacuation was later delayed aj 10 13 aj aj aj ha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 10 14 the israeli military said it was preparing for an extensive military campaign in gaza that would include an integrated and coordinated attack by air sea and land aj 10 13 ap reu 10 14 ha 10 15 the u s deployed a second aircraft carrier to the mediterranean the u s also sent more f 15 fighter jets to the middle east aj ha 10 13 ap 10 14 ha reu 10 15 hamas political leader ismail haniyeh met with iranian foreign minister hossein amir abdollahian in qatar haniyeh said in a televised speech that palestinians would not leave gaza aj 10 13 aj ha reu 10 14 aj reu 10 15 u s president joe biden said the u s was working with israel egypt jordan and the un to facilitate humanitarian aid to gaza biden also spoke to pa president mahmoud abbas and israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu abbas told biden that israel must respect humanitarian laws and stop settlers from attacking palestinian villages in the west bank abbas also spoke with dutch prime minister mark rutte and brazilian president luiz inácio lula da silva aj 10 13 aj ha ha reu wafa wafa wafa 10 14 ap 10 15 israeli minister without a portfolio gideon sa ar said in an interview that the gaza strip must be smaller at the end of the war saying w hoever starts a war against israel must lose territory ha 10 14 there were major protests in support of palestinians in many cities throughout the world aj 10 13 ha wafa wafa wafa wafa 10 14 reu 10 15 eu high representative for foreign affairs josep borell said the world had failed miserably in establishing a 2 state solution calling the situation in gaza a grave humanitarian crisis china s foreign minister wang yi said israel was acting outside of the scope of self defense and called on israel to stop collective punishment south african president cyril ramaphosa pledged solidarity with the palestinian people saying they have a just struggle aj 10 13 aj ha wafa wafa 10 14 croatian president zoran milanović said he lost sympathy for israel within 15 minutes due to its response in gaza calling the foreign ministry s decision to display the israeli flag outside of its building idiotic ha 10 14 the walt disney company said it would donate 2 million in humanitarian aid to israel ha ha 10 14 october 15 in the west bank israeli settlers threw stones at palestinian vehicles and stole olive harvest near burqa israeli settlers also used pepper spray against 2 palestinians at the awarta checkpoint elsewhere israeli settlers opened fire at palestinian vehicles in shaab al batn in the masafer yatta area causing damage israeli settlers also assaulted 1 palestinian man in deir istiya israeli forces shot and killed 1 palestinian minor in beita israeli forces also violently dispersed palestinian protesters injuring 2 with live ammunition in tubas 52 palestinians were arrested during late night raids in and around bethlehem hebron jenin nablus deir istiya and ramallah in gaza israeli airstrikes killed around 450 palestinians and caused extensive damage israel also assassinated hamas commander in the khan yunis battalion bilal al kadra rockets were fired from gaza at israel causing injuries in lebanon unifil said its headquarters in southern lebanon was hit by a rocket hamas said it had fired 20 rockets from lebanon at israel hezbollah said it had hit 2 tanks and 1 armored vehicle in response to the killing of journalists and civilians 1 israeli was killed and 3 wounded by anti tank missiles fired by hezbollah at shtula ap 10 7 aj ha 10 14 aj aj ap ha reu reu reu unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 10 15 ha ha ha 10 16 the ministry of health in gaza said at least 2 670 palestinians had been killed and 9 600 had been injured in israeli airstrikes on gaza since 10 7 including 47 entire families consisting of 500 people in addition it has been reported by israeli media that 1 500 palestinian militants have been killed near gaza due to a lack of space in cemeteries palestinians were laid to rest in mass graves in gaza city 55 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and settlers in the west bank and east jerusalem since 10 7 including 12 children more than 1 173 had been injured including at least 300 with live ammunition israeli officials recorded no new fatalities leaving the israeli death toll at around 1 300 israelis including foreign nationals 3 436 have been injured since 10 7 the un reported that nearly 600 000 palestinians had been displaced since 10 7 and that since 11pm on 10 12 there had been a complete blackout of electricity due to the israel blockade the un acknowledged that the number of displaced palestinians was likely much higher since the israel order for palestinians in the north to leave for the south at least 11 887 housing units have been destroyed in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 aj 10 14 aj ap ha ha reu reu unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa 10 15 aj ha reu 10 16 the who said 4 hospitals in northern gaza had become unable to operational due to israeli attacks and 21 hospitals have been ordered to evacuate by israel who also said it delivered medical supplies to 2 000 patients in gaza d espite the israeli airstrikes there were reports of aid amassing near the rafah crossing as israel have not promised safe passage for the aid to enter gaza the u s white house said israel had agreed to supply water to some areas of gaza hamas said the water had not started running as of 10 16 unrwa said that water had run out at un facilities sheltering palestinians who have fled their homes the remaining seawater distillation plant in gaza closed due to a lack of fuel aj 10 14 aj ap ha ha reu reu unocha wafa wafa 10 15 aj ha reu 10 16 unrwa commissioner general philippe lazzarini said gaza is running out of water and gaza is running out of life soon i believe with this there will be no food or medicine either lazzarini said unrwa no longer was able to provide humanitarian assistance in gaza 14 unrwa staffer have been killed and 13 000 displaced from their homes aj ha wafa 10 15 the commission of detainees and ex detainees affairs and the prisoners society said palestinian workers from gaza were being detained by israel at anatot camp it was unclear how many were kept in the camp wafa 10 15 the new york times reported that israel had loosened its rules of engagement for its planned ground invasion in gaza aj 10 14 pa president mahmoud abbas told venezuelan president nicolás maduro that hamas actions and policies do not represent the palestinian people maduro said after the phone call that venezuela would send 30 tones of humanitarian aid to gaza abbas also spoke to u s president joe biden aj 10 14 ha reu 10 15 wafa 10 16 a landlord in planfield illinois stabbed and killed 1 6 year old palestinian american boy and severely injured his mother the man screamed you muslims must die as he attacked the 2 in their apartment president biden called the killing a horrific act of hate aj 10 14 aj aj ha 10 15 ha 10 16 israeli communications minister shlomo karhi said he will ask the cabinet to close al jazeera s office in israel karhi also promoted emergency regulations limiting aid to the enemy through communications that would allow him to direct israeli police to arrest people removing them from their homes and seize their property if he believes they spread information that could harm national moral or serve as enemy propaganda ha ha 10 15 u s secretary of state antony blinken said president abbas and virtually every other leader that i have talked to in the region warned against the idea of transferring palestinians from gaza to the sinai peninsula blinken also met with egyptian president abdel fattah el sisi announcing the rafah crossing was open it was unclear if it was only open for entry of aid or for travel reporting suggested it was not open for either el sisi criticized blinken for his remarks in israel earlier in the week when blinken said he came to israel as a jew and el sisi said the israeli attacks on gaza goes beyond self defense and amounts to collective punishment blinken also met with saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman who urged blinken to help stop the attacks make israel respect international law and lift the siege on gaza blinken has also visited the uae qatar and bahrain since leaving jordan on 10 13 aj 10 14 dos ha ha reu reu 10 15 aj 10 16 president biden tweeted we must not lose sight of the fact that the overwhelming majority of palestinians had nothing to do with hamas s appealing attacks and are suffering as a result of them biden also told 60 minutes that it would be a big mistake for israel to reoccupy gaza biden further said hamas needs to be eliminated while there needs to be a palestinian authority in gaza and a path to a palestinian state aj ha reu 10 15 ha 10 16 u s senators chuck schumer d ny mitt romney r ut bill cassidy r la mark kelly d az and jackie rosen d nv traveled to israel meeting with president isaac herzog ha 10 15 israel suspended security exports to columbia in response to a tweet from 10 9 by president gustavo petro where he compares israel s response to gaza particularly its language about palestinians and the total blockade of gaza to that of the nazis aj ha 10 15 the african union and arab league issued a joint statement saying an israeli ground invasion of gaza could lead to genocide of unprecedented proportions aj 10 14 king abdullah ii of jordan met with uk prime minister rishi sunak in london in his first visit to europe as part of his effort to convince european leaders to help end the war on gaza ha 10 15 algeria said it would host all official and non official matches involving the palestinian national soccer team s preparation for qualification to the 2026 world cup and 2027 asian cup and to assume all associated costs aj 10 14 october 16 in the west bank israeli settlers vandalized 3 water wells uprooted 70 olive tree saplings and removed barbed wire in susiya israeli forces shot and killed 2 palestinians during raids in aqabat jaber refugee camp and jenin 1 palestinian succumbed to injuries sustained by israeli forces in tulkarm on 10 13 israeli forces violently dispersed palestinians in aqabat jaber refugee camp and fawwar refugee camp injuring 4 with live ammunition at least 70 palestinians were arrested during late night raids in and around hebron tulkarm nablus ramallah nil in qarawat bani hassan bethlehem and jericho in gaza israeli airstrikes killed more than 100 palestinians and caused extensive damage israeli forces also attacked the rafah crossing for a fourth time since 10 7 rockets were fired at israel causing damage and injuries in lebanon israel said it attacked hezbollah targets ap 10 7 aj ha 10 15 aj ha reu unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 10 16 aj ha 10 17 the ministry of health in gaza said at least 2 808 palestinians had been killed and 10 850 had been injured in israeli airstrikes on gaza since 10 7 including 47 entire families consisting of 500 people in addition it has been reported by israeli media that 1 500 palestinian militants have been killed near gaza 58 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and settlers in the west bank and east jerusalem since 10 7 including 12 children more than 1 176 had been injured including at least 300 with live ammunition israeli officials recorded no new fatalities leaving the israeli death toll at around 1 300 israelis including foreign nationals 4 121 have been injured since 10 7 the un reported that over 1 million palestinians had been displaced since 10 7 and that since 11pm on 10 12 there had been a complete blackout of electricity due to the israel blockade at least 11 887 housing units have been destroyed in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 the palestinian civil defense team said that more than 1 000 palestinians were under the rubble of buildings in gaza 7 members of the civil defense were killed in israeli airstrikes on the palestinian civil defense headquarters in at tuffah bringing the number of humanitarian staff killed to 31 since 10 7 the palestinian journalists syndicate said 11 palestinian journalists had been killed in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 aj ha 10 15 aj ha reu reu reu unocha wafa wafa wafa 10 16 aj 10 17 unrwa said in a tweet that people claiming to be from the gaza health ministry seized fuel and medical equipment from its compound in gaza city later deleting the tweet a unrwa statement later said that there had been no looting of unrwa warehouses ha ha 10 16 ha 10 17 palestinian prisoner kayed al fafsous suspended his 75 day long hunger strike after his family urged him to end it fearing that israel will let him die as part of its campaign against palestinians related to the war with hamas al fafsous was protesting being held in administrative detention wafa 10 16 hamas released a video of one of its captives a 21 year old dual french israeli citizen who in the video said i m in gaza i came back early on saturday morning from a party in the sderot area i was seriously injured in the arm they brought me to gaza and they took me to the hospital here for three hours they ve been taking care of me providing medication i m just asking that you bring me back home as soon as possible to my family my parents my siblings please get me out of here as quickly as possible hamas military spokesperson abu obeida said hamas is holding around 200 250 people captive and that they are treated with dignity and respect he further said 22 captives have been killed in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 and that captives that are not israelis will be released when circumstances allow aj 10 15 aj ha ha nyt reu 10 16 ha reu reu 10 17 hamas political leader ismail haniyeh spoke with turkish foreign minister hakan fidan about the release of the hamas held captives and with malaysian prime minister anwar ibrahim aj 10 15 aj ha reu reu 10 16 plo secretary general hussein al sheikh met with un special coordinator for the middle east peace process tor wennesland in ramallah discussing the need for an immediate ceasefire and humanitarian aid to enter gaza pa president mahmoud abbas spoke with uk prime minister rishi sunak and russian president vladimir putin wafa wafa wafa 10 16 israeli military spokesperson daniel hagari said 199 people have been taking captive by hamas in gaza the prime minister s office denied reporting that there will be a ceasefire to allow foreigners to leave gaza aj 10 15 aj 10 16 israel said it allowed some aid entering gaza via the rafah crossing but did not allow fuel to enter egypt said humanitarian aid for gaza is stuck in egypt as israel is not cooperating in allowing the aid to enter gaza the eu said it would launch a humanitarian air bridge to egypt with aid to gaza and the un began shipping aid to egypt in anticipation that it would be able to enter gaza aj 10 15 aj ap ha ha nyt reu reu reu 10 16 hezbollah said it started destroying israeli surveillance cameras near the border ap 10 16 the israeli military said it will evacuate israeli residents from 28 communities within 1 2 miles of the blue line ha reu reu 10 16 ha ha 10 17 the israeli national security committee at the knesset approved new regulations making it easier for israelis to obtain a gun license 41 000 israelis have applied for a license since 10 7 ha 10 16 the u s said 30 u s citizens were killed since 10 7 and that 13 are unaccounted for ha 10 15 ha 10 16 iranian foreign minister hossein amir abdollahian told iranian state tv that a preemptive strike against israel could be expected as israel continues to attack gaza amir abdollahian suggested the strike would be carried out by hezbollah and would be related to a potential israeli ground invasion of gaza iranian foreign ministry spokesperson nasser kanaani said that iran considers the u s militarily involved in the conflict aj 10 15 aj aj ha nyt reu reu 10 16 aj 10 17 israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu told russian president vladimir putin that israel would not end its attacks on gaza until israel had eliminated hamas military and governmental capabilities netanyahu also spoke with uae president mohammed bin zayed aj 10 15 ha reu 10 16 ha reu 10 17 u s secretary of state antony blinken visited israel again after touring the middle east over the weekend meeting with prime minister netanyahu the israeli war cabinet and president isaac herzog blinken said israel had agreed to develop a plan to get humanitarian aid to gaza without it benefiting hamas blinken also spoke with turkish foreign minister hakan fidan who condemned israel s inhumane actions in gaza president joe biden spoke with german chancellor olaf scholz and egyptian president abdel fattah el sisi the wall street journal reported that the u s had prepared around 2 000 soldiers for potential deployment to israel to serve as advisors and for medical support aj 10 15 aj ha nyt reu reu 10 16 ap ha reu 10 17 the un security council rejected a russian resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire and condemning violence and terrorism against civilians 5 countries voted for the resolution china russia the uae gabon and mozambique 4 against including the u s the uk france and japan while 6 abstained the u s criticized the resolution for not condemning hamas aj ha reu 10 16 ap wafa 10 17 u s senators brian schatz d hi chris van hollen d md and peter welch d vt called on israel to protect civilians in gaza 14 u s senators 8 democrats 5 republican and 1 independent called on president biden to freeze 6 billion in iranian assets held in qatar that the u s exchanged for the release of people held in iran last month 13 members of the house co sponsored a resolution urging biden to call for an immediate ceasefire the resolution spearheaded was by cori bush d mo rashida tlaib d mi summer lee d pa delia ramirez d il and andre carson d in aj 10 15 aj aj ha 10 16 pakistan s foreign minister jalil abbas jilani called israel s attacks on gaza genocide canadian prime minister justin trudeau called for the opening of a humanitarian corridor in gaza to allow delivery of food fuel and water scottish first minister humza yousaf said that he fears that his in laws who are visiting gaza could die any day as they are running out of water and food uk prime minister rishi sunak charactered the hamas operation on 10 7 as a pogrom while addressing the house of commons and said israel must defend itself in line with international humanitarian law sunak said 6 uk citizens have been killed and 10 are missing furthermore sunak said the uk would increase its aid to palestinians by 12 12 million sunak also spoke to turkish president recep tayyip erdoğan who warned him about making provocative steps and reminded him of the unkept promises made to palestine aj 10 15 ha ha reu reu reu reu 10 16 ha 10 17 u s police arrested 50 demonstrators outside of the white house who were calling for a ceasefire the demonstration was arranged by jewish american groups including ifnotnow aj 10 15 ha 10 16 the bbc apologized for describing thousands of protesters in london on 10 14 as backing hamas calling the reporting misleading aj 10 15 the new york times reported that meta the parent company of instagram and facebook was accused of suppressing pro palestinian content on its platforms nyt 10 16 the un independent international commission of inquiry on the occupied palestinian territory including east jerusalem and israel concluded that israeli forces used lethal forces without justification under international human rights law when soldiers killed al jazeera journalist shireen abu akleh in jenin in may 2022 aj 10 15 aj 10 16 republican presidential candidate and former u s president donald trump said he would expel immigrants who are anti zionists support hamas or are communist marxist or fascist ha reu 10 16

blog title an account from khan yunis author ahmad al batta date october 16 2023 content editor s note this testimony was collected by journalist ahmad al batta in gaza we were jolted awake by the cacophony of explosions and terrified screams with smoke permeating the air an acrid smell incited panic and made it difficult to breathe my parents and siblings who had sought refuge at my house after escaping bombardment found themselves in the midst of it again an adjacent building was hit and collapsed onto my home causing the windows to shatter the air filled with smoke as the airstrikes intensified in khan yunis city center we hastily packed our belongings and fled kind strangers in the street offered us water we spent a night on the street before seeking shelter at a relative s house resources are scarce water electricity food and medical supplies we struggled to find ventolin to alleviate our shortness of breath caused by inhaling dust and smoke my wife and i visited the hospital to treat our injuries from the shattered glass the scene there was horrifying decapitated children scattered limbs a woman screaming in agony the hospital was overcrowded and the medical staff was overwhelmed massacres are occurring in every district having worked in the humanitarian sector i can attest that this is a catastrophe despite being under siege for 17 years the international community s rhetoric about human rights children s rights women s rights seems hollow when it comes to palestinians gaza is on the brink of annihilation and it feels like no one is taking action this testimony was translated into english by laura albast graphic footage from one of the hospitals in gaza in a different location can be viewed on ahmed hijazi s instagram account trigger warning

blog title testimonies from mother and child neighbor author ayham al sahli date october 15 2023 content in this article there are testimonies from a gazan child named mariam her mother and their neighbor bahaa shahraa rouf i communicate daily with bahaa who resides in a neighborhood in deir al balah near the historical site of al khidr i inquire about his well being the conditions he his mother his siblings and his neighbors are facing and in response to my questions he always says don t worry we re fine on one occasion he replied i m not contemplating dying in this war bahaa typically writes opinion articles in palestinian and arab media we rarely speak on the phone mainly exchanging lengthy messages to discuss our concerns worries and daily lives at the beginning of this conflict he sent me a message that said tell me a joke or two during these tough times to make my heart leap with laughter amid the sounds of israeli shelling in our city i stick my head out of my window inhaling bomb dust only to return and tell a third joke following this message i asked him to record an account of his situation along with mariam and her mother while they were at their home on that day mariam and her mother mariam nine years old left her home with her mother due to the intensity of the nearby shelling and the fear of it reaching them mariam s mother says yesterday the first day started as a normal day and the area where i live was relatively safe however with the absence of the sun everything changed before that we heard sounds here and there but with the sun gone we lost sight of where the rockets were falling as the shelling intensified the electricity was cut off and the internet stopped working so i couldn t access any details this is how mariam s mother experienced those moments as her fear for herself and her daughter overcame everything from around 6 o clock until dawn missiles were falling around us i wasn t sure where exactly my mother would call me from time to time to check on me and mariam providing me with limited information to prevent me from being too afraid she adds many people left their homes and some areas in gaza appeared desolate either because they were completely destroyed or due to the displacement of their residents the united nations relief and works agency unrwa reported that there were approximately 218 600 internally displaced people residing in 92 unrwa schools in all gaza areas this emptying of homes heightened the feeling of loneliness for mariam s mother who said when people began leaving their homes i saw some neighbors leaving with their mattresses unsure of where to go nearly all areas were being shelled faced with this situation mariam s mother says when we hear the sounds of explosions and rockets with no people around and the electricity cut off it intensifies our feelings of isolation continuous shelling and the sounds of terror make the ground tremble beneath us at that moment i d revert to the rule we ve learned from previous wars as long as you hear the rockets sounds you are safe i m not sure if this rule is correct but it brought comfort this destruction we observe as outsiders was once buildings where we once saw residents roaming within and around like the palestine tower that israel bombed obliterating its fourteen floors to a single destroyed layer it had been used by various institutions and media teams and housed medical clinics and residential apartments after people began evacuating their neighborhood mariam s mother s primary concern was the well being of her daughter mariam she explained my daughter slept she fell asleep out of fear with every new rocket she d grip my hand tightly mariam has dreams just like any other child around the world i am in the fourth grade and when i go back to school i want to check on my friends in my class as well as my teacher and the school principal she taught us well and she always demands that we study on the second day of the war mariam wrote a short story and her mother photographed it and sent it to bahaa in the story mariam expresses her fear when the door is shattered forcing her and her mother to flee to her aunt s house she wishes for the war to end mariam writes i felt extreme fear when the door broke and my mother and i went to my aunt s house i saw broken glass all over the place and my mother and i ran out into the street leaving our bird in the house i hope the war will end my name is mariam and i m nine years old i miss my life at school bahaa bahaa conducted the interview with mariam and her mother over the phone and sent me the recording i transcribed and crafted it as presented above i asked bahaa to respond to the same questions he posed to mariam and her mother and to talk about this war from the perspective of someone living in gaza bahaa stated i m a person with somewhat muted feelings primarily due to my ongoing battle with depression for which i am receiving treatment however my predominant feeling right now is pride as a people we have seized the initiative and the truth is on our side today we are taking real action not just reacting i don t feel sadness rather i feel anger at what i see for bahaa this anger is meaningful as it is for anyone following the ongoing aggression watching the extent of killing and destruction by the occupation the israeli army declared last thursday that it had bombed gaza with 4 000 tons of explosives since the start of the aggression bahaa believes that people in gaza are somewhat resilient despite everything he states there is fear concern for life and anxiety about what is to come but emotions are intense we have a strong sense of pride i am not surprised by these emotions in my people and myself i am comforted by this steadfast spirit within our people it is clear that we will continue to resist and resistance is not just about weapons it is also about resilience and the concepts we have formed through many experiences of wars and assaults on us in gaza along with a group of friends bahaa actively participates in assisting various places in gaza he explains i feel that i have a national duty to fulfill and a national struggle to follow through for the people i imagine this is the natural role i must play very passionately he concludes his recording by saying i will not accept being a breaking news item on the screens i am a life which has a story which also has a life meanwhile the occupation wants to turn us into urgent news and i refuse so i have a revolutionary role to perform and that s what matters and that s what i will do

blog title gazan student escaping death twice author ahmad al batta date october 15 2023 content editor s note this testimony was collected by journalist ahmad al batta based in southern gaza i was on my way to university riding the bus when the israeli airstrikes began i hurried home and found my parents sheltering on the ground floor of our building we live on the second floor afraid myfamily decided to evacuate and leave our house in khan yunis because we feared the indiscriminate bombardment of civilians it was difficult for me to leave our home but it was necessary to be safe i have younger siblings children we left our house and sought refuge in the center of the city hoping to find safety the bombs however were falling everywhere and so we decided to go back home when we got there we discovred that our home and our entire neighborhood had been turned to rubble by israeli airstrikes images of saeed s home before and after israeli strikes targeted it we returned to central khan yunis but within hours after we arrived the house next to us was bombed without warning it was a miracle that we even managed to escape death when the neighbors were bombed one of the windows crashed on my head it was a massacre it was a painful all those martyrs and wounded despite this pain the spirit of our people has not been broken residents have opened their homes to welcome displaced families others took the initiative to distribute food parcels to those in need and volunteered to drive people from one place to another no matter the danger we are not afraid but for states to have turned their back on us that is shameful and we shall never forgive them perhaps this is the last time you hear from us there is no safe place in gaza the world must act before gaza is annihlated this testimony was translated into english by aya jayyousi and laura albast

blog title brief one week of hell on earth in gaza author asma barakat date october 14 2023 content in occupied gaza bombs are not the only thing raining down on its residents on friday oct 13 residents in northern gaza looked up as leaflets from the israeli occupation forces fell from the sky instructing palestinians in the beit lahia region of gaza to evacuate from impending danger approximately 1 1 million palestinians living in northern gaza face two options ethnic cleansing or genocide for the last 75 years in occupied palestine ethnic cleansing and genocide have been a constant occurrence but now palestinians in gaza are experiencing a modern day nakba history is repeating itself in the most sinister of ways because zionists have been allowed to act as though they are above life itself saturday oct 14 marked one week since the al aqsa flood operation began in the past seven days israel dropped more than 6 000 bombs on gaza killing at least 2 215 palestinians including more than 700 children as of saturday morning to provide context on how fast this genocidal attack on gaza is accelerating in 2014 2 251 palestinians were murdered in a 50 day bombardment on the besieged strip the israeli regime has cut off water electricity and internet in gaza since wednesday hospitals have been devastated by the amount of injured palestinians and have no resources to provide proper care al awda hospital located in northern gaza was part of those ordered to evacuate by the iof msf international tweeted that staff and patients were given two hours to escape and expected to drop everything while they were in the middle of treating wounded patients al awda hospital s director said that they will not be evacuating and that doctors will remain with their patients yumna patel palestine news director at mondoweiss tweeted gazans are fleeing their homes en masse our colleague tareqshajjaj says gaza city is in complete chaos hundreds of thousands of people are fleeing on foot heading south and israeli drones circle the skies this morning there were air strikes in gaza s south this is a death march but just as thousands of displaced gazans were attempting to escape imminent threat israel bombed the very same streets they told palestinians to flee through israel has put on a show for the western world in the eyes of the west all the occupying state must do to appear civilized is to send down pamphlets warning people about their upcoming genocide in reality palestinians only had an illusion of choice israel controls everything and will never allow palestinians to have any sort of self determination even if it is between displacement and death many of those located in northern gaza refused to leave stating they would not live to see a repeat of the nakba when 750 000 palestinians were ethnically cleansed due to the creation of the settler colonial state of israel the majority of palestinians living in gaza are the descendants of these refugees and they would rather die with honor in their homes instead of letting their occupiers continue to displace them in the wake of the evacuation order the palestinian red crescent has issued a statement saying it will not leave and abandon palestinians to die alone despite israel s threats to bomb and kill indiscriminately this is the extent of how principled palestinians are that they choose to risk their lives for dignity honor and a just cause ten paramedics have already been killed by israel since the start of the bombardment and 27 have been injured meanwhile in order to attempt to justify genocide israel has been ramping up its usage of atrocity propaganda multiple lies have come out about the palestinian resistance beheading israeli babies although having no proof cnn correspondent sarah sidner reported that 40 israeli babies were found beheaded after a member of the israeli forces lied when people demanded proof from israel they were met with dismissal in fact during an aggressive and makeshift press conference on zoom on oct 12 major nir dinar andcolonel res golan vachsaid said that details don t matter and you don t want to see the pictures when asked to verify the claim as reported and recorded by palestine square this blog sidner later retracted that statement but only after 614 palestinian children were murdered while the world justified it due to propaganda ironically as the media pretends to care for children palestinian children have to remind the world that they are not worthless by campaigning for their own human rights to be recognized as western journalists spread damaging lies and remain unaffected palestinian journalists in gaza are being targeted and murdered by the iof for documenting israeli war crimes at least 10 palestinian journalists in gaza and one lebanese journalist in southern lebanon have been killed so far others are reported missing or detained while those who remain are actively threatened by the israeli regime motaz azaiza a gazan photojournalist has been anonymously called by israeli authorities a tactic commonly used to threaten palestinians aziza was told to stay away from northern gaza and stop reporting or risk death more than 15 members of azaiza s family were killed by an israeli airstrike the israeli war criminal on the phone also claimed that a ground invasion was coming not only do palestinian journalists have to risk their lives to report on what is occurring in occupied gaza but social media censorship of palestinian content has escalated since saturday the very same journalist motaz azaiza has had his instagram account suspended forcing him to create a new account to document israel s crimes against humanity his account was later reinstated palestinians are fighting a multi billion dollar funded regime and the world is in collaboration with their oppressors to silence them in any way possible it seems that regular laws and rules of humanity do not apply when palestinians are involved the wealthiest and strongest nations on this earth are terrified of an occupied population who live under lock and key in an extermination camp bayan abusultan a palestinian journalist in northern gaza tweeted my family and i remain in gaza city until the moment almost everyone in gaza and the northern provinces fled to the south we feel like we are the only ones left here i do not forgive anyone who left us to die in this bloodbath may our faces haunt you forever gaza to all of those who ask how human rights atrocities such as genocide can be committed understand that we as a world are witness to mass execution right now this is how genocides have been committed in the past this is how genocide is being committed in gaza before the eyes of passive and complicit world leaders looking away from the footage and covering their ears to block people s chants from the streets

blog title how did some arab countries react to the aggression on the gaza strip author ayham al sahli date october 13 2023 content since the al aqsa deluge operation was carried out by hamas on the dawn saturday 7 october arab states expressed a range of political and popular responses below is an overview of some of the most prominent reactions egypt egyptian president abdel fattah el sisi held numerous phone calls with leaders in the arab world and beyond in a phone call he received from german chancellor olaf scholz to discuss efforts aimed at halting the current escalation both agreed on the importance of intensive work towards stopping the military escalation to prevent the situation from deteriorating into vicious cycles of violence and human suffering while taking into the account the potentially grave consequences on regional security and stability el sisi also discussed the situation in gaza with turkish president recep tayyip erdoğan resulting in an agreement to urge all parties to immediately stop confrontations and violence in this conversation both presidents emphasized that ending the palestinian israeli conflict once and for all comes through providing hope and a political horizon further in a call with the crown prince of the kingdom of saudi arabia mohammed bin salman the official spokesperson for the egyptian presidency explained that it was agreed to consult and coordinate between egypt and saudi arabia during the coming period to confirm the arab vision regarding the palestinian question which centers on reaching a comprehensive and just settlement based on the two state solution and according to the norms of international legitimacy as this matter requires immediate calm and the cessation of military confrontations on all sides similarly the egyptian foreign ministry issued a statement on the morning of saturday 7 october which warned of serious dangers of the ongoing escalation between the palestinian and israeli sides following a series of attacks against palestinian cities the statement also warned of dangerous repercussions as a result of the escalation of violence which would negatively impact any future efforts of de escalation egyptian diplomatic channels also held numerous phone calls with officials in the arab world and beyond sameh shoukry the minister of foreign affairs of egypt contacted several ministers of foreign affairs in the region including ayman safadi jordan abdullah bin zayed united arab emirates among others in a call between shoukry and us secretary of state anthony blinken the former stressed the need for the international community to stick to its ultimate goal that of reaching a comprehensive and just settlement of the palestinian question on the basis of the two state solution as well as to establish an independent palestinian state on the basis of the june 1967 borders with east jerusalem as its capital this requires stopping raids into palestinian cities refraining from taking repeated provocative actions that fuel hostilities and encouraging both parties to de escalate and return to the path of negotiations jordan in a throne speech delivered during the opening of the ordinary session of the jordanian house of representatives on 11 october king abdullah ii affirmed that the dangerous escalation and acts of violence and aggression that the palestinian territories are currently witnessing reassert that our region will not know security and stability without a just and comprehensive peace based on the two state solution so that the palestinian people obtain their independent sovereign state on the basis of the 4 june 1967 borders with east jerusalem as its capital then the cycles of killing for which innocent civilians pay the price will come to an end jordanian foreign minister ayman safadi held numerous calls with his peers in the region and the wider world according to a statement from the jordanian foreign ministry they discussed stopping the dangerous escalation in gaza and its envelope emphasizing the importance of international mobilization to stop the worsening of the situation protect civilians and respect international humanitarian law the statement also asserted that continued escalation will fuel the conflict and have disastrous repercussions on the entire region lebanon in a statement the lebanese foreign ministry said that the developments in palestine are an outcome of israel s continued occupation of the palestinian territories and its daily attacks on islamic and christian holy sites hezbollah on the other hand congratulated the hamas movement on the large scale heroic operation commenting on al aqsa deluge hashim safi al din head of hezbollah s executive council said netanyahu must know that this battle is not just the battle of gaza we are not passive qatar in a statement issued on the first day of the battle saturday 7 october the qatari ministry of foreign affairs stated that israel alone is responsible for the escalation taking place now due to its continued violations of the rights of the palestinian people the latest of which are the repeated raids on al aqsa mosque under the protection of the israeli police moreover the qatari foreign ministry expressed its deep concern about the developments of the situation in the gaza strip calling on all parties to de escalate the situation and exercise the utmost restraint qatar plays a diplomatic role in terms of de escalation through its contacts it with countries and international organizations globally on the one hand and with the hamas movement regarding prisoners of war on the other hand saudi arabia in a call held with the palestinian national authority pna president mahmoud abbas saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman discussed the military escalation in gaza and the security and stability of the region emphasizing that saudi arabia stands with palestinians to achieve their ambitions and reach a just and comprehensive peace in another call with jordanian king abdullah ii bin salman stressed that saudi arabia stands with the palestinian people to achieve their legitimate rights to fulfill their hopes and aspirations and to reach a just and lasting peace in addition to that a statement from the saudi foreign ministry clarified that the kingdom is closely following developments in the unprecedented situation between a number of palestinian factions and the israeli occupation forces which has resulted in a serious level of violence taking place on a number of fronts there saudi arabia also called for an immediate cessation of escalation between the two sides the protection of civilians and restraint while renewing its call on the international community to trigger a reliable peace process that leads to a two state solution united arab emirates in a statement the uae foreign ministry expressed the country s deep concern about the escalation of violence between israelis and palestinians the statement also noted that as a non permanent member of the un security council the uae calls for the immediate reactivation of the quartet on the middle east to revive the trajectory of arab israeli peace the uae foreign ministry also emphasized the necessity of stopping the escalation and preserving the lives of civilians offering sincere condolences to all the victims whose lives were taken as a result of the recent fighting further the ministry called for exercising the utmost restraint and an immediate ceasefire to avoid dangerous repercussions urging the international community to advance all efforts to achieve a comprehensive and just peace and prevent the region from being dragged into new levels of violence tensions and instability morocco the kingdom of morocco expressed its deep concern over the deteriorating situation and the outbreak of military activities in the gaza strip and condemns the targeting of civilians by any side in a statement morocco explained that it has always warned of the repercussions of the political impasse on peace in the region and of the dangers of increasing tensions as a result as such morocco called for an immediate cessation of all acts of violence a return to calm and the eschewing of all forms of escalation that would undermine the chances of peace in the region in the same statement morocco declared that the approach of dialogue and negotiations remains the only means through which to reach a comprehensive and lasting solution to the palestinian question on the basis of international legitimacy resolutions and the internationally agreed upon principle of the two state solution iraq in a statement the iraqi prime minister s media office affirmed that the operations carried out by the palestinian people today are a natural outcome of the systemic oppression that they have been subjected for decades at the hands of the zionist occupation regime which has never adhered to international and un resolutions in this statement the prime minister call s on the international community to take action to put an end to the serious violations and to restore the legitimate rights of the palestinian people who still suffer from occupation apartheid policies blockade violation of holy sites and of humanitarian values and principles kuwait the kuwaiti ministry of foreign affairs considered the current escalation to be a result of the continued violations and blatant attacks committed by the israeli occupation regime against the sister nation of palestine kuwait also expressed its deep concern over the situation the ministry also called on the international community to fulfill its responsibilities stop the violence provide protection for the brotherly people of palestine and to end the provocative practices of the occupation regime tunisia meanwhile tunisia expressed its full and unconditional support for the palestinian people reminding that what some media outlets describe as the gaza envelope is palestinian land that has been under zionist occupation for decades and that the palestinian people have the right to reclaim it and to reclaim the entirety of the land of palestine the palestinian people also have the right to establish their independent state with the holy quds islam s third holiest and first prayer mosque as its capital in a statement the tunisian presidency stated that tunisia calls on all people of conscience in the world to stand with the palestinian people and to remember the massacres carried out by the zionist enemy against our arab peoples in palestine and even against the entire muslim community the whole world must not forget the enemy s massacres in al dawayima balad al shaykh in deir yassin kafr qasim khan yunis the ibrahimi mosque and many more tunisia called on the world not to forget the hundreds of thousands of palestinians who were displaced and robbed of their lands emphasizing that the world must remember these histories and recognize the right to legitimate resistance to the occupation and not consider this resistance an attack or an escalation algeria in a statement the algerian ministry of foreign affairs said that with great concern algeria is following the development of the brutal israeli attacks on the gaza strip which claimed the lives of dozens of innocent sons and daughters of the palestinian people who were martyred in light of the persistence of the zionist occupation and the politics of tyranny and persecution that it imposes on the brave people of palestine the statement added that algeria strongly condemns these policies and practices that violate the most basic humanitarian laws and principles of international legitimacy moreover algeria renewed the demand for the immediate intervention of the international community through the relevant international bodies to protect the palestinian people from zionist arrogance and criminality both features of their occupation of palestinian land syria syria declared that it stands with the palestinian people and their resistance forces against zionist terrorism syria considered that this honorable achievement proves that the only way to achieve the legitimate rights of the palestinian people is resistance in all of its forms sultanate of oman in a statement issued by the foreign ministry oman declared that with interest and concern it is following the ongoing escalation between the palestinian and israeli sides oman explained that this escalation is the result of the continued illegal israeli occupation of the palestinian territories and the ongoing israeli aggression and portends serious repercussions oman stressed the importance of protecting civilians and called on both parties to exercise the utmost levels of restraint the arab league according to a statement from the spokesperson of ahmed aboul gheit secretary general of the arab league he called for an immediate halt to military operations in gaza reminding that israel s continued implementation of violent and extremist policies is a time bomb depriving the region of any serious opportunities for stability in the foreseeable future the spokesperson also added that the secretary general is fully convinced of the international community s responsibility for the current situation in the absence of any real responses to the israeli right wing s provocative policies against islamic holy sites and the two state solution the cooperation council for the arab states of the gulf gcc jassim muhammad al budaiwi secretary general of the cooperation council for the arab states of the gulf gcc called for an immediate halt to the escalation and to protect innocent civilians al budaiwi held the occupation forces responsible for these conditions that according to him resulted from the continuation of the blatant and ongoing israeli attacks against the people and holy places of palestine al budaiwi stated that the ongoing israeli attacks represent a flagrant violation of international conventions and law and that they obstruct the efforts of the peace process to resolve the palestinian question he also renewed his call on the institutions of the international community to intervene forcefully and quickly this would be to revive efforts to empower the palestinian people with their legitimate rights to establish their state along the borders of 1967 with east jerusalem as its capital according to him this would be a means to achieving the peace and stability desired in the occupied palestinian territories since saturday morning palestinian resistance groups in operating gaza have intensively fired missiles towards israel in addition to a land sea and air incursion while sirens sounded in several areas including tal abib al quds asdoud and asqalan

blog title sinai s rising walls close on 1 5 million palestinians in rafah author asma barakat date february 23 2024 content on feb 14 the sinai foundation for human rights released information on state sanctioned construction occurring in eastern sinai the report revealed that construction work is intended to build a gated area surrounded by 7 meter high walls meant to contain over 100 000 people in the event that israeli occupation forces iof forcibly expel palestinians from gaza into the sinai desert satellite photos and video of the sinai show the construction of a wall along the rafah egypt crossing reports claim the construction site is surrounded by concrete walls and far from any egyptian settlements large numbers of tents have been delivered to the site it appears like egypt is preparing to receive an influx of palestinians who are currently under siege near the rafah crossing instead of permitting aid trucks to enter gaza a concrete cage is being erected to contain palestinians who flee a genocide this buffer zone will transform into a refugee camp in the middle of the sinai desert where palestinians from gaza will remain stateless refugees overlooked by the world and condemned to live an unjust life of humiliation the pattern that was initiated in the 1948 nakba where palestinian refugees in neighboring countries were treated as second class citizens at best in refugee camps and buffer zones will likely be repeated since oct 7 palestinians in gaza have been experiencing a genocide and humanitarian crisis that wrecked catastrophe in their lives including experiencing constant displacement and loss of family home and livelihoods euro med monitor reports that 100 000 palestinians have either been murdered missing or wounded over 1 3 million palestinians have been displaced to rafah gaza s southernmost city bordering egypt ordinarily rafah s population is around 220 000 but due to israel s annihilation campaign in gaza the governorate now holds 1 5 million palestinians 80 of whom are living in tents rafah was designated a so called safe zone by israel which prompted palestinians from across the strip to flee toward it except rafah like the entirety of gaza is not safe the border city has experienced aerial bombardment almost daily since the start of israel s extermination campaign deeply disturbing imagery of israel s war crimes has come out of rafah for instance the video and photo of seven year old sidra hassouna s lifeless and mangled body was shared on social media last week after israel s most recent carpet bombing of rafah on feb 11 benjamin netanyahu announced that the iof would prepare for a ground invasion of rafah gaza has been made uninhabitable by israel s bombardment and siege but a ground invasion into rafah would escalate matters even further in an interview with al jazeera displaced palestinians shared the direness of their situation assaad hassan for example said we have nowhere else to go but to the grave if they carry out their threats to invade rafah in an interview with democracy now noura erakat called the potential of a ground invasion in rafah along with pushing a portion of gaza s population into egypt s buffer zone the worst case scenario as it would permanently lock palestinians into a state of no return just as it did palestinian refugees in jordan syria and lebanon with 1 5 million people crammed into a tiny city the death toll would be cataclysmic this is without a doubt a repetition of the 1948 nakba but on a much larger scale with billions of eyes watching world leaders have remained idle refusing to hold israel accountable for its crimes with any tangible action let alone sanctions the people of gaza continue to ask for how much longer do they have to bear this incomprehensible violence if a ground invasion takes place rafah will turn into nothing short of a death camp egypt s buffer zone can only hold a small percentage of gaza s population the egyptian government risks complicity in this genocide by facilitating the mass slaughter starvation and expulsion of the palestinians from gaza

blog title gaza the caged context author dalal iriqat date october 13 2023 content even before israel s most recent bombardment of gaza conditions there were dire the strip is home to 2 2 million people mostly refugees and is 365 square kilometers wide 141 square miles and 41 kilometers long 25 miles it is completely besieged under israeli military occupation by air land and sea since 2005 about 5 855 people have lived per square kilometer under total lockdown the following year hamas was elected in gaza nothing coming in or out of the strip is under the full control of the palestinians it can only be described as the largest open air prison on earth deprived of basic human rights such as access to clean water medicine and electricity palestinians in gaza suffer in other ways under the occupation they have limited and weak internet access a lack of mobility in and out of the strip inadequate healthcare facilities few employment opportunities and no political or social rights in 2005 former israeli prime minister ariel sharon s senior adviser dov weisglass described israel s withdrawal from gaza as disengagement that is actually formaldehyde it supplies the amount of formaldehyde that is necessary so there will not be a political process with the palestinians this calculated disengagement orchestrated by war criminals who carried out massacres throughout the late 20th century was a strategy to divide rule and kill the palestinian national project furthermore the israeli withdrawal from gaza was done unilaterally and without coordination with the palestinian liberation organization plo or the palestinian authority pa which has led to institutional and political divisions that have now been in existence for nearly two decades as a result of the ensuing blockade gazans have endured numerous major military raids and incursions by israel since 2007 during this period hamas has relied on rocket fire as a negotiating tactic to pressure israel into easing the conditions of the blockade and allowing limited access of goods and people however palestinians in gaza have paid a heavy price for this because the israeli regime employs all its might to kill palestinians from the air today hamas is utilizing coercive diplomacy by taking israelis hostage to use them as bargaining chips during negotiations to end the blockade and secure the release of thousands of palestinians including women and children who are being held illegally in israeli prisons the events of the last few days mark a historic and natural human yearning for freedom for years palestinians in gaza have been contained cruelly and unjustly in a pressure cooker denied all basic human rights thousands have been killed over time including entire families ensuring that the situation would erupt at any given moment it is important to note that the right to self defense is preserved in international law particularly article 31 of the rome statue which guarantees the right of peoples to defend themselves against aggression particularly war crimes the israeli regime has been committing genocide and war crimes against the palestinian people uninterruptedly for 75 years diplomacy and multilateralism have failed the 2 2 million palestinians living in gaza numerous condemnations by international organizations have fallen on deaf ears and have not netted actual concrete changes for gaza given the immense power of the well organized and amply financed israeli lobby brutal recurrent israeli aggressions have resulted in the execution of thousands of palestinians including over a 1 000 children and multigenerational families as well as the destruction of the quality of life of palestinians particularly gazans each accelerated aggression such as the current bombardment turned gaza into a disaster zone and reduced it to rubble the people have been left traumatized many survivors have no will to live the youth have little opportunity in 2018 40 000 mostly young and educated palestinians left gaza for turkey and europe gaza is a lush source of palestinian natural and human resources the people and the land of the strip are vital to the general palestinian economy the illegal blockade of gaza and the unlawful occupation serves as a particularly grotesque form of structural violence and collective punishment that cannot be ignored this situation has left the palestinians with an unprecedented humanitarian crisis above all the loss of hope prevails what is happening in gaza has been standard practice for israeli settlers since the inception of the apartheid state for 75 years western powers and international organizations have stood by as israeli occupation forces iof have acted with impunity oppressing the palestinian people under prolonged military occupation with the support of western financing and weapons while humanitarian aid is crucial to the millions who are still holding refugee status even after 75 years the priority should be ending the occupation the recent flurry of international statements of condemnations of hamas and unconditional support for benjamin netanyahu s fascist israeli administration will only fuel more state organized terror against palestinians and more impunity for the regime s continued crimes and collective punishment of the innocents in gaza since 2000 the iof and settlers have murdered more than 11 000 palestinians while countless more have died from starvation a collapsed medical system injuries poor air quality and undrinkable water all the results of the zionist siege in just the past six days during the latest incursion the iof have already killed more than 2 000 additional palestinians in gaza through bombs and chemical weapons while having also shot and killed hundreds of palestinians in the west bank and the 48 territories israel is sustaining an occupation with financial aid free weapons and institutional support from western powers ensuring that jewish supremacy reigns over all of historic palestine rather than being prosecuted for violations of the geneva convention the zionist regime s ethnic cleansing of the indigenous population has been amply rewarded while palestinian resistance is criminalized both in occupied palestine and around the world the global community has tolerated if not outright supported zionist colonialism in palestine this has taken place through annexations expulsions renewed and consistent attacks on refugees destroyed villages rapes maiming the detention and torture of minors expropriations and disposessions the isolation of jerusalem and numerous other crimes against humanity it is shocking to hear condemnations of palestinian resistance after 75 years of an ongoing nakba and 17 years of total siege on gaza it is a matter of life and death to shift the international rhetoric towards ending israeli occupation apartheid and impunity conscious citizens in positions of influence must center the root causes of the oppression in historic palestine the genocidal israeli regime has left palestinians with no option but to resist by any means necessary this is what operation al aqsa flood shows us the opportunity is ripe for gaza s leadership to practice coercive diplomacy this sudden development will increase efforts to slow the israeli led carnage and increase the chances of a breakthrough the state of emergency launched by netanyahu may make the possibility of normalization with saudi arabia less likely or it may not but it has invited further american intervention in the region the resistance however has succeeded in bringing back the stick and strengthening the palestinian position in any normalization or bilateral negotiations in the near future it may be possible to leverage israeli captives in a future exchange for palestinian prisoners reminding the world that gaza is very much a part of palestine there must be accountability for israeli crimes against humanity and there must be protection for the palestinian people but above all the siege needs to be lifted and the occupation must end

blog title palestinechronology press summaries on the war on gaza october 12 author palestine chronology staff date october 13 2023 content editor s note these entries are compiled by the palestine chronology researcher from the october 12 the gathered summaries are based on initial reporting and will be updated in coming days october 12 in the west bank israeli settlers shot and killed 2 palestinians during a funeral procession for 4 palestinians killed by israeli settlers in qusra on 10 11 israeli settlers also attacked palestinians and palestinian property in nabi salih huwwara abu kabash zanuta al jab a and twana injuring at least 2 israeli forces shot and killed 1 palestinian minor in jayyus israeli forces also shot and killed 1 palestinian who allegedly shot and injured 1 israeli soldier near dayr ibzi elsewhere israeli forces shot and killed 1 palestinian woman traveling in a car with her son who was injured in yabrud israeli forces also violently dispersed palestinian protesters injuring 7 with live ammunition in nabi ilyas sinjil bethlehem and beit umar meanwhile israeli forces assaulted 2 palestinians including a 9 year old demolished a gate to a school and seized a palestinian flag in zanuta israeli forces also demolished 2 palestinian homes in al janiya separetely israeli forces sealed pizzeria in huwwara that had used a picture of one of the israeli captives for an online ad israeli settlers had earlier tried to attack the pizzeria 60 palestinians were arrested during raid in and around jenin ariha jericho bethlehem al khalil hebro n ramallah nablus qalandia qalqilya and tulkarm the palestinian prisoner s society said israel had arrested more than 200 in the west bank since 10 7 in east jerusalem israeli forces shot and killed 1 palestinian after he allegedly shot and injured 2 israeli police officers in near bab al zahra pflp said that man of a member of its organization in gaza 1 israeli airstrike killed at least 45 people in jabalia refugee camp airstrikes further killed hundreds of palestinians and destroyed at least 8 high rise residential towers with the most severely hit areas being gaza city rafah al nusirrat and dayr al balah the un said that while rockets were still fired from gaza they had dissipated in intensity the rockets from gaza killed 2 israelis and wounded several others in the naqab israeli police shot and injured 2 palestinians who hold israeli citizenship in rahat claiming to believe they were from gaza in lebanon militants killed 1 israeli soldier using an anti tank missile 1 drone from lebanon was shot down over israel in syria israeli forces attacked the 2 syrian international airports in damascus and aleppo damaging the runways ap 10 7 aj 10 11 aj aj aj aj ap ap ap ap ha ha unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 10 12 aj aj ha 10 13 human rights watch amnesty international and the euro med human rights monitor confirmed earlier reports that israel had used white phosphorus munitions to attack gaza and lebanon the israeli military said that it was currently not aware of the use of white phosphorus munition in gaza the ministry of health in gaza said at least 1 417 palestinians had been killed and 6 268 had been injured in israeli airstrikes on gaza since 10 7 as of 2pm in addition it has been reported by israeli media that 1 500 palestinian fighters have been killed near gaza 34 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and settlers in the west bank and east jerusalem since 10 7 including 6 children more than 500 had been injured including at least 175 with live ammunition israeli media reported that around 1 300 israelis including foreign nationals had been killed and 3 391 injured in israel since 10 7 the un reported that 423 000 palestinians had been displaced since 10 7 and that since 2pm on 10 11 there had been a complete blackout of electricity due to the israel blockade at least 4 626 housing units have been destroyed in israeli airstrikes since 10 7 the international committee of the red cross icrc said hospitals in gaza were turning to graveyards as medical equipment have stopped working due to the lack of power and that 3 of 5 water plants in gaza serving 1 1 million were out of service due to the israeli bombing and blockade the icrc also said it is in contact with hamas and israel about the captives held in gaza the israeli air force s bragged on x that israel had dropped 6 000 bombs on gaza since 10 7 aj 10 11 aj aj aj ap ap ha hrw unocha wafa wafa wafa 10 12 aj aj ha reu 10 13 israeli energy minister yisrael katz said israel would continue preventing energy water and fuel from entering gaza until the israeli captives were released aj 10 11 aj reu 10 12 un secretary general antonio guterres said that israel must allow fuel food and water into gaza aj 10 11 jordan said it will send a military plane with humanitarian aid to gaza via the rafah crossing aj 10 11 ha 10 12 egyptian president abdel fattah al sisi said palestinians must stay steadfast and remain on their land as egypt feared that allowing palestinians to flee to egypt would mean their permanent displacement from gaza egypt also said planes carrying international aid to gaza should use the al arish airport 28 miles from the gaza border aj 10 11 reu 10 12 the uk said it had deployed 2 naval ships and a surveillance aircraft to the eastern mediterranean to support israel aj 10 11 ha 10 12 the commission for the prisoners and ex prisoners affairs said israel cut off water and electricity to palestinian prisoners in the naqab prison starting 10 11 wafa 10 12 qassam brigades spokesperson abu obeida said hamas began preparing for operation al aqsa flood in 2022 and managed to recruit 4 500 fighters for the operation he further said that hamas is prepared for an israeli ground invasion deputy political leader of hamas salah al arouri called the operation a preemptive strike made on intelligence that israel was planning to attack after the sukkot holidays al aruri also said it initially only took soldiers as captives but that the entrance of armed civilians resulted in chaos and that many of the death israelis were a result of israeli actions citing the hannibal directive that allows israeli forces to kill israelis rather than allow enemies from holding them captives hamas also released a video produced last month of its training exercise strong pillar preparing militants for operation al aqsa flood aj 10 11 ap ha 10 12 pa president mahmoud abbas met with jordanian king abdullah ii in amman saying that he rejects the killing of civilians on both sides aj 10 11 ha reu reu wafa 10 12 the knesset approved the new war cabinet and swore in national unity party members benny gantz gadi eisenkot gideon sa ar chili tropper and yifat shasha biton as ministers without portfolio ha 10 12 u s secretary of state antony blinken landed in israel for meetings with israeli leaders in a meeting with prime minister benjamin netanyahu blinken invoked the holocaust and said he was in israel to support the country as the united states secretary of state but also as a jew blinken and netanyahu compared hamas to isis saying the israeli government had showed him pictures and videos of infants shot soldiers beheaded and people burned alive the israeli military spokesperson daniel hagari claimed that a guide by isis and al qaeda on producing ieds was left behind by militants near gaza blinken is expected to meet with pa president mahmoud abbas and king abdullah ii of jordan in amman on 10 13 and later travel to saudi arabia the uae egypt and qatar the wall street journal reported that the u s is in contacts with egyptian and israeli officials to help evacuate around 500 600 u s citizens living in gaza via the rafah crossing 17 members of congress led by sara jacobs d ca signed a letter to the state department urging it to evacuate palestinian americans from in gaza and the west bank aj 10 11 aj ha ha ha reu reu reu 10 12 reu 10 13 israeli defense minister yoav gallant spoke to nato defense ministers claiming israeli women were raped and dragged to gaza and saying the hamas operation was the worst for the jewish people since the holocaust no one have verified these widely circulated claims of rapes ha ha 10 12 lebanese caretaker prime minister najib mikati urged all lebanese groups not to get pulled into israel s plans and condemned israeli attacks aj 10 11 the oic condemned israel s attacks on gaza wafa 10 12 south africa offered to help mediate a conflict resolution calling on the immediate and unconditional opening of humanitarian corridors aj 10 11 ha 10 12 brazilian president luiz inacio lula da silva called on israeli president isaac herzog to establish a humanitarian corridor to egypt and to end the total blockade of gaza allowing electricity water and medicin in hospitals aj 10 13 german chancellor olaf scholz criticized pa president mahmoud abbas for not speaking out against the hamas operation on 10 7 and said germany will suspend all development aid to palestine until germany has completed a review of its aid scholz also said germany would ban the organization samidoun because it handed out pastries at a pro palestinian protest on 10 7 ap ha 10 12 the arab american anti discrimination committee said it had received multiple calls about palestinians being detained by the u s immigration and customs enforcement or receiving visits from the fbi and that the fbi visited several mosques in the u s aj 10 11 reu 10 13 france banned pro palestine protests claiming they would generate disturbances to public order when protesters took to the street in paris in defiance of the ban french police assaulted them using water cannons and tear gas more than 1 000 tunisians also protested in tunis aj 10 11 aj ap ha 10 12 reu 10 13 international criminal court prosecutor karim khan spoke for the first time since operation al aqsa flood saying the icc does have jurisdiction over potential war crimes carried out by either israel or palestinian militants in the current war reu 10 12 former u s president and current republican front runner for the next presidential election donald trump said that he will never forget that bibi netanyahu let us down and called defense minister gallant a jerk trump complained that netanyahu tried to take credit for killing iranian general qassem soleimani in 2020 saying that did not make me feel too good rolling stones magazine reported that trump had told allies that he wants netanyahu impeached ha ha ha 10 12 reu 10 13

blog title brief atrocities in gaza health sector cries for help author asma barakat date october 12 2023 content since the historical events of oct 7 it is nearly impossible to keep up with the updates coming out of occupied palestine the palestinian death toll is quickly rising with 1128 martyrs including 7 journalists having been accounted for thus far and thousands more seriously injured over 1 000 israelis have died since saturday and the israeli occupation s unlawful retaliation is nothing less than collective punishment and blatant genocide gazans have described their current reality as worse than any other escalation gaza has gone through the israeli occupation forces iof have released statements and videos publically calling for a genocide in gaza in one video a member of the iof calls palestinians human beasts and declares gaza will receive no electricity or water just destruction israel s defense minister yoav gallant reiterated in a video that gazans are human animals and will be placed under a complete siege and left without food and fuel israel s goal is to destroy any and all signs of life in gaza by targeting apartment buildings universities churches mosques and hospitals on saturday israel s prime minister benjamin netanyahu vowed to get vengeance promising to turn the largest and most densely populated open air prison in the world into a deserted island as if this behavior is not sick enough netanyahu told palestinians in gaza to flee knowing the israeli occupation controls all border crossings in and out of gaza yes even the egyptian one is under strict order as egypt and israel collaborate on denying palestinians freedom of movement in fact palestinians did attempt to flee through the rafah crossing into egypt except the israeli forces bombed it three times in a 24 hour period gaza is the only place in the world where people cannot flee by boat despite bordering the coast of the mediterranean sea in contrast israeli settlers have been racing their way out of the occupied territories by jumping on planes and flying out to wherever their second passports lead them water and electricity in gaza have been cut off by the israeli occupation in an act of collective punishment and as an aid in palestinian genocide there are 2 1 million residents in gaza almost 50 of the population are children water is a basic human necessity that palestinians in gaza have now been completely stripped of without electricity gaza s residents will soon lose access to the internet unable to document the war crimes being committed against them hospitals are absolutely inundated with injured and traumatized victims al jazeera reported that according to the world health organization 13 attacks have hit health facilities and pre positioned medical supplies have already been used doctor ghassan abu sittah who is in gaza tweeted the hospitals because of the siege are so short of supplies that we had to clean a teenage girl with 70 body surface burns with regular soap because the hospital is out of chlorhexidine antiseptic dr abu sittah also filmed a video published by the institute for palestine studies stating that 30 to 40 percent of the wounded like all gaza wars are children and that the situation will only get worse palestinians in gaza need supplies sooner rather than later but as egypt attempted to send a humanitarian aid truck the rafah crossing was hit with missiles again forcing the truck to retreat israel also threatened that future attempts at delivering humanitarian aid would be met with military aggression on oct 11 israel killed four paramedics from the palestinian red crescent three of whom were deliberately targeted while attending to the injured in the jabalia area in gaza their names were khalil al sharif yasser al masri and ahmed dahman the fourth paramedic hatem awad was shot in the back through the heart while on a humanitarian mission aiding the injured and the dead at the karmi crossing in eastern gaza the mission was green lit in coordination mission the international committee of the red cross all were visibly identifiable uniforms and vehicles as the iof continues to commit one belligerent war crime after another such as dropping internationally banned white phosphorus onto gaza s neighborhoods extreme stress sets in as to how palestinians will survive this latest genocide attempt while palestinian civilians are being met with hell on earth once again western nations including the u s uk france germany and italy released ajoint statement announcing their steadfast and united support to the state of israel and unequivocal condemnation of hamas and its appalling acts of terrorism in addition u s president joe biden released a statement about the at least 11 american citizens killed in the al aqsa flood operation and assuring israeli american settlers that the u s will provide consular assistance the american arab anti discrimination committee tweeted however that this is incorrect and that the u s embassy has abandoned its citizens this is a very stark contrast to the complete silence palestinians are met with every time war crimes are perpetrated against them the iof has killed palestinians with american citizenship like omar assad and al jazeera journalist shireen abu akleh but we never heard western condemnation in these moments of absolute chaos and destruction palestinians remember that only liberation can end this cycle of palestinian suffering gaza writer asmaa taybeh said in an interview with al jazeera i believe we will never be safe even after the war is over in fact i will never feel free as long as palestine is occupied and its people terrorized

blog title the israeli discourse on al aqsa flood operation author ashraf bader date october 12 2023 content this article aims to analyze the israeli discourse towards palestinians during the al aqsa flood operation by monitoring statements from israeli politicians and officials the israeli institutions through its use of a discriminatory discourse towards palestinians targeted two distinct external and internal audience groups the anti palestinian racist discourse intended for the western audience may seem different on the surface from the one directed at the israeli audience but they converge in their goal which is to justify the killing of palestinians and the harshest forms of violence and destruction against them the israeli discourse directed towards western europe and the united states is based on exploiting the prevalence of islamophobia in the west according to edward said islamophobia has been linked to orientalist frameworks that portray muslims as violent bloodthirsty individuals who particularly harbor animosity towards others especially jews in this context we find the israeli army spokesperson doron spielman likening the situation in israel after the al aqsa flood operation to the period following the september 11 2001 attacks that targeted the twin towers of the world trade center in the united states simultaneously avichay adraee the israeli army spokesperson for arab media wrote on his x formerly twitter page hamas and isis are two sides of the same coin describing palestinian resistance factions as isis and terrorists the speakers representing the israeli army strike a chord in the western collective consciousness where the scenes of september 11 and years later the practices of isis resulted in increased islamophobia in the western world the likening of al aqsa flood operation to the events of september 11 and of palestinian resistance factions to isis is an extension of an israeli media strategy that was originally adopted by the former prime minister ariel sharon who compared the former palestinian president yasser arafat to the leader of al qaeda osama bin laden 5 as a justification for getting rid of him the purpose of this analogy is to imply to western society a common ground with israel which is the fight against islamic terrorism the suggestion is that israel is facing terrorists and not a national liberation movement that has emerged in response to decades of brutal occupation this objective becomes clear in the speech of the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu addressed to the french ambassador after the isis attacks in france in 2015 when he said we are proud of our values our friendship and our freedom when civilized forces diagnose the problem there is nothing left for them but to unite to eliminate these animals these animals have a name and it is extremist islam we are committed to standing together to combat extremist islam we can observe the resonance of the orientalist and racist israeli discourse in the speech of us president joe biden when he described al aqsa flood operation as pure evil and stated that hamas is a group with the declared goal of killing jews biden also stated that the brutality of hamas brings to mind the worst excesses of isis 7 in this way we find alignment between the israeli and american discourse likening hamas to isis in order to justify israel s violent practices towards the palestinians internally the israeli discourse directed at the israeli public is based on dehumanizing palestinians this is exemplified in the statement by the israeli defense minister yoav gallant when discussing an attack on the gaza strip in a public statement gallant said we are fighting human animals 8 justifying the cutoff of electricity water and food in gaza gallant s statement is part of a long series of israeli statements aimed at stripping palestinians of their humanity likening them to animals and insects previously the former israeli chief of staff rafael eitan referred to palestinians as cockroaches while former israeli prime minister yitzhak shamir likened them to jackals furthermore yehiel hazan a member of the right wing likud party in the knesset described arabs as worms the racist israeli discourse aimed at dehumanizing palestinians and arabs has merged with the inherited zionist extremist religious teachings this is evident in the statement of rabbi ovadia yosef the spiritual leader of the shas party and former sephardic chief rabbi of israel who said when a jew kills a muslim it s as if he killed a snake or a worm and no one can deny that both the snake and the worm pose a danger to humans therefore disposing of muslims like getting rid of worms is a natural thing to do this racist discourse aimed at dehumanizing palestinians also intersects with the practices of european colonialism which were built upon a condescending orientalist perspective towards colonized peoples european colonizers often regarded the colonized peoples as inferior and dehumanized them by likening them to insects or animals in order to justify their killing and disposal conclusion as observed above there is an undeniably racist israeli discourse towards palestinians on one hand they are demonized on a global scale and on the other hand they are dehumanized in order to eliminate any sympathy for them and justify violent practices against them this includes killing through bombings blockades starvation and the destruction of buildings with civilians including children women and the elderly when palestinians are demonized dehumanized and collectively labeled as terrorists and extremists it becomes easier for the israeli military machinery to continue its violent practices as if it is not committing any moral transgressions the targeted victims of this killing destruction blockade and starvation are no longer seen as human beings but as human animals and insects to be disposed of without mercy or compassion regardless of the heartbreaking scenes of children innocents and their remains after the shelling of their homes

blog title brief israel assassinates assaults journalists in gaza author sarah o neal date october 12 2023 content since the israeli regime s military response to operation al aqsa flood by hamas at least nine journalists have been killed according to roya news the journalists are salam mema ibrahim lafi mohammad jarghoun mohammad al salehi asaad shamlakh saeed al taweel mohammad rezq sobh and hisham al nawajha and most recently mohammad fayez yousef abu matar many more are injured or missing the slaughter of journalists is taking place during an unprecedented bombardment of the gaza strip by israeli forces where a policy of destruction over precision is being carried out this includes the use of white phosphorus bombs an illegal chemical weapon first used by the israeli military against palestinians in gaza during operation cast lead in 2008 9 gaza a densely populated strip of land has been subject to israel s most brutal military tactics a population of 2 2 million people over half of whom are children are subjected to israel s murderous policies time and time again and the sixteen year blockade has created an unending humanitarian and health crisis with a shortened life expectancy for the average palestinian in gaza because they are prevented from accessing basic needs the conditions in gaza must be understood in order to contextualize the environment in which journalists based in the concentration camp are working in currently gaza is faced with a power blackout as a result of the current israeli incursion which will result in even more preventable deaths of palestinians due to hospital shutdowns furthermore israeli forces will be able to work under the cover of darkness since this also means internet service may not be available and this will prevent journalists from reporting on what is happening on the ground the manufactured blackout that palestinians are facing in gaza will make it impossible for journalists to report and this will allow the israeli military to dominate the narrative in the mainstream media as well as hide the realities of the massacre israel s media domination has already been occurring in the last few days as the proliferation of unsubstantiated reporting has gone largely unchecked and without consequence a reminder that the role of the media and journalists during war time is crucial still journalists like mohammed r mhawish and maha hussaini are finding ways to report in these inhumane conditions and managing to get first hand accounts of the suffering of the palestinian people in gaza into the mainstream media meanwhile a few miles north of gaza in the city of ashkelon journalists are being harassed attacked and humiliated by israeli police and soldiers for doing their job sky news arabia correspondent firas lutfi described being assaulted by israeli police who aimed guns at his head forced him to strip and remove his clothing took his team s phones damaged their equipment and then made them leave the area they had been reporting from under police escort israel enabled by the us and its allies has been executing and critically injuring journalists indiscriminately this has allowed the occupation forces to control the mainstream narrative and perpetuate racist and harmful images of palestinians rooted in islamophobic tropes that justifies their subjugation and murder by the apartheid state the killing of journalists occurs in an israeli censorship apparatus that spans the globe from meta censoring pro palestinian activists and people by deleting journalists accounts to various social media platforms taking down content at the behest of israeli cyber security authorities it is within this atmosphere that narratives are being pushed into the mainstream media that embolden pro israeli demonstrators to shout death to arabs on live streams a teacher to attack a student in germany for carrying a palestinian flag and talks of banning and criminalizing the palestinian flag in the uk it is within this context that palestinian resistance movements are deliberately misinterpreted and disregarded as legitimate pursuits for justice and self determination in the face of the ongoing brutal apartheid and military occupation of palestine extrajudicial executions of palestinian journalists are commonplace under israeli rule palestinian journalists are killed incarcerated and forced to report under horrendous conditions which include media blackouts where they are among their own family anticipating being killed as they hear bombs reduce apartment buildings to rubble burying other families nearby in may 2022 al jazeera journalist shireen abu akleh was assassinated by an israeli soldier while reporting on an israeli raid of the jenin refugee camp where the second intifada began in 2002 to this day israel has refused to do a complete investigation of her killing and even initially blamed palestinian resistance fighters for her death another strategy used by the israeli regime abu akleh holds american citizenship but even the us government has not done its due diligence in bringing her killer to justice furthermore israeli forces did not allow mourners to bury her in peace they attacked abu akleh s funeral procession a few weeks after her murder highlighting the cruelty of israeli violence against palestinians even in death palestinians are dehumanized and unprotected a little over a year after abu akleh s murder the committee to protect journalists published a report on may 9 2023 titled deadly pattern 20 journalists died by israeli military fire in 22 years no one has been held accountable the report examines the extrajudicial killings of journalists by the israeli regime their main findings are the israeli military discounts evidence and witness claims to push narratives that have been disproven by journalists and researchers israeli forces fail to respect press insignia and seemingly target journalists who are clearly recognizable by their helmets and vests as members of the press israeli officials respond by pushing false narratives journalists are accused of terrorism to deny them protection and justify killing them israel opens probes into the killings of journalists when there is international pressure because victims are citizens of other countries but probes often amount to nothing close to justice and israeli officials clear soldiers of wrongdoing even before an investigation is complete killings and harassment of journalists by israeli authorities threatens independent reporting because journalists fear for their lives families of murdered journalists have little to no recourse inside the state of israel and are even forced to pay thousands of dollars in court fees when judges reject their claims for justice according to the cpj at least 20 journalists have been killed by israeli soldiers in the past twenty years but some estimate that the number is much higher the palestinian center for development and media freedom also known as mada writes that the additional deaths of journalists in gaza raises the number of journalist martyrs since the year 2000 to 53 journalists even though journalists are meant to be protected and considered civilians their status marked by their blue vests and helmets the israeli regime has repeatedly been investigated for its targeting and killing of journalists the targeted killings of palestinian journalists prevent accurate reporting from being shared with the world in the last year palestinian journalists have been increasingly targeted by israeli authorities

blog title palestine where empire dies author avik jain chatlani date october 12 2023 content when biden and harris addressed the nation and the world on behalf of the israeli regime and on behalf of the monied interests behind the american empire nobody really cared to see a decrepit american president who can scarcely mumble his way through a speech and his faithful deputy who hardly ever appears in public anymore given her abysmal approval ratings trotted out to the podium it was almost tragic figureheads for a bloated bureacracy coached by neocon advisors who have never held jobs beyond israeli funded think tanks and political parties biden and harris were as bored as the few people who bothered to watch them it was business as usual in washington as democrats and republicanlegislators hurried to get extra weapons and money to netanyahu a fellow american so that he can bomb even more civilians in gaza but it s certainly not business as usual in occupied palestine where the apartheid project has been rattled to its core despite all the propaganda that we have been fed about israeli tech despite all the israeli robot guns israeli face scanning and israeli spyware deployed against occupied palestine and sold to thugs around the world the fact of the matter is that the apartheid project is fundamentally little more than a flimsy structure made up of american subsidies cowardly european settlers and an army of brats who wage war by beating up children and stripping women and girls the unfathomably brave and successful resistance of palestinians shows that this project a horror filled extension of a tired empire is inevitably in its dying days it s true that every well armed and well fed western government is on the side of the israeli regime s ethnic cleansing of the palestinians and it s also true that there are some cowards among the supposedly pro palestine circles in the world who rushed to condemn palestinian resistance the second they heard some tough talk from legacy media outlets but here and there in scotland in spain there s been official dissent from the israeli lobby in new powerhouses such as qatar there has been unequivocal support for palestine and from the kingdoms of complicity saudi arabia and the uae an array of unintelligible statements have been released equivalent to silence it s a satisfying silence confirmation that the likes of mohammed bin salman jared kushner and mohamed bin zayed cannot barter with palestine in the same way that they ve sold their own souls what s even more satisfying however is that the israeli elites are now more likely than ever going to start sending their money and their children out of the hellish state they have constructed on stolen land maybe the most capable of them will leave as well back to the countries where they came from with the passports that they ve dutifully renewed tourists are going to stop flying into israeli airports foreign investment is going to take a pass partiers are perhaps going to think twice before dancing on palestinian cemeteries and razed villages mayors of big cities around the world who frightened by their donors have issued censorial statements are going to see that pro palestine marches have taken the streets because the israelis clearly have no real support among the people only in the backrooms just as leaders of countries like the united states have no legitimacy among their electorates biden and harris are the best examples of emissaries whose words mean nothing although empty vessels such as trudeau sunak macron and von der leyen are close behind them nobody fears their prepared statements threatening palestine the israelis were going to bomb palestinian families no matter what as they have been doing uninterruptedly since 1948 and no serious person thinks that biden and harris care about anything more than lining their own pockets with blood money beyond murderous israeli settlers who must be relieved to know that uncle sam is still going to bankroll them the only people who felt any joy when these one termers spoke were the weapons manufacturers the only valid sadness right now is reserved for the people of palestine and especially the people of gaza yet while the american canadian european australian russian and south african settlers in occupied palestine press buttons on screens to destroy people s lives as they drag out a 75 year old illegal occupation even longer experimenting with new weapons trafficking in blood diamonds dealing out more misery we should also recognize that there is another sadness here albeit not one worth crying over what i m referring to is the sadness of the condemned what they don t realize what biden and harris don t realize comfortably ensconced in the white house and what the israeli rulers don t realize as they plot the next phase of ethnic cleansing is that they too have trapped themselves in the prison that they ve built there s no way out of that prison a prison that was built out of hatred over vineyards and olive trees over the churches and the mosques as the settlers flee as the leaders of the west deliver talking points about a world that they don t understand and a history that is not theirs the prison will collapse on them and outside the ruins of that prison palestinians will continue to live after they have mourned their dead biden will be gone from the rundown white house soon and harris with him whoever comes next will continue to protect the last little colony on earth sheltering its crimes they will undoubtedly send more bombs and cash and words of support to the settlers as america s neglected schools and hospitals crumble at home but whether it takes a few more years or even longer than that palestine is going to shatter the last of america s teetering empire abroad for those of us who have been spared the checkpoints and walls of apartheid safely away from the israeli bombs that rain down from a sky that is not theirs we cannot do much and there s guilt in that there s guilt in being able to drink clean water and breathe fresh air free from the grip of occupiers who have drained the rivers and poisoned the soil there s a feeling of profound helplessness in only being able to pray for palestine to pray for the swift end of those who torment her people although i for one will find some small amount of solace in helping to document the slow end of this empire of lies

blog title columbia students for justice in palestine statement of solidarity author columbia students for justice in palestine date october 12 2023 content october 9th 2023 columbia students for justice in palestine stands in full solidarity with palestinian resistance against over 75 years of israeli settler colonialism and apartheid palestinians have been subjected to the longest ongoing military occupation inmodern history and their right to resist is enshrined in international law yesterday was an unprecedented historic moment for the palestinians of gaza who tore through the wall that has been suffocating them in one of the most densely populated areas on earth for the past 16 years an open air prisonblockaded by israeli soldiers via land air and sea despite the odds against them palestinians launched a counter offensive against their settler colonial oppressor which receives billions of us dollars annually in military aid and possesses one of the world s most robust surveillanceand security apparatuses any omission of this context any rhetoric of an unprovoked palestinian attack is shamefully misleading we invite you to look into the detailed human rights watch b tselem and amnesty international reports on israeli apartheid to those who are now calling for peace we ask where were you during the great march of return in 2018 when palestinians in gaza peacefully protested and were shot dead by the hundreds where were you when israel indiscriminately bombed palestinian civilians in gaza in 2008 2012 2014 2021 and 2022 where were you this year when israel killed over 220 palestinians over the past nine months alone where were you as settlers kickedpeople out of their homes arbitrarily imprisoned children without trial and brutally oppressed an entire population you are not asking for peace you are asking for quiet submission to systemic violence as long as you perpetuate this narrative fighting will continue to break out until justice is achieved because nothing else is working as columbia students our classes regularly discuss the inevitability of resistance as part of the struggle fordecolonization we study under renowned scholars who denounce the fact that the media requires oppressed peoples tobe perfect victims in order to deserve sympathy yet not only does our institution neglect to align its actions with its ostensible values but it actively normalizes israeli apartheid and subjugation of palestinians we wholeheartedly condemn the email sent by general studies dean lisa rosen metsch on october 8th that exclusively sympathized with israeli soldiers who uphold the occupation obfuscated palestinian resistance as terrorism and refused to acknowledge any of the hundreds of palestinian casualties in the past 48 hours let alone the overall context of the past 75 years we condemn the october 7th email from barnard dean leslie grinage that extended support to those affected by the violence and loss of life in israel without even mentioning palestinian suffering once we condemn the fact that columbia uses our endowment to invest in israeli companies that violate international lawand profit off of the construction of illegal settlements on palestinian land we condemn that former president lee bollinger unilaterally and anti democratically overturned a student referendum to divest from these companies in 2020 and we condemn columbia initiatives that normalize apartheid by sending students to the region when palestinianmembers of our university community are barred from doing the same from the 2020 dual degree program with tel aviv university to the recently announced global center in tel aviv we call upon newly inaugurated president minouche shafik to step up and divest from israeli apartheid end the dualdegree program with tel aviv university and cancel the opening of the tel aviv global center we call upon our administration as a whole to start verbally acknowledging palestinian existence and humanity columbia students and affiliates we invite you to sign this open letter and to join us at 4 30pm on thursday october 12th at the low library steps to protest our university s complicity in palestinian oppression we further request that you individually email our administration to call out their hypocritical statements and blatant disregard for palestinian trauma it is on us to change the status quo and achieve justicefor true lasting peace continue raising awareness pressuring our university and expressing solidarity see you thursday signed columbia students for justice in palestine co signed columbia jewish voice for peace four protest demands from columbia university address palestinian humanity and correct and apologize for the emails sent by columbia administration that support israel while ignoring and neglecting to even name palestinians divest from companies profiting from israeli apartheid noting that both former columbia and barnardpresidents unilaterally anti democratically ignored the student body referendums to divest in 2020 cancel the opening of the tel aviv global center noting that palestinian affiliates of columbia would be restricted from access to this program given israel s apartheid policies and further noting that this therefore violates columbia s very own non discrimination policy cease the dual degree partnership with tel aviv university for the same

blog title palestinechronology press summaries on the war on gaza october 10 11 author palestine chronology staff date october 12 2023 content editor s note these entries are compiled by the palestine chronology researcher from the period of october 10 to october 11 the gathered summaries are based on initial reporting and will be updated in coming days october 10 in the west bank israeli settlers attacked a palestinian family in their home in the masafer yatta area causing bruises israeli settlers also opened fire at palestinians harvesting olives in kafr ni ma no injuries were reported elsewhere israeli settlers opened fire at palestinian homes in al khalil hebron no injuries were reported israeli settlers reportedly disguised as soldiers also attacked palestinians west of ariha jericho with stones and clubs causing injuries and damage israeli forces shot and killed 1 palestinian during a funeral procession in beit umar injured 1 other with live ammunition others suffered tear gas related injuries israeli forces also violently dispersed palestinian protesters at al jalama checkpoint killing 2 and injuring 2 others elsewhere israeli forces violently dispersed palestinian protesters in aqabat jaber refugee camp injuring 3 with live ammunition israeli forces also violently dispersed palestinian protesters in bethlehem injuring a minor with a baton round meanwhile israeli forces violently dispersed palestinian protesters near far un injuring 1 with live ammunition israeli forces also shot and injured 3 palestinians near the separation wall west of attil separately israeli forces violently dispersed palestinian protesters in al bireh injuring 2 with live ammunition israeli forces also demolished 2 agricultural structures in mughayyir al abeed in the masafer yatta area additionally israeli forces fired tear gas near a hospital in dura causing tear gas related injuries a rocket either launched from gaza or an iron dome interceptor hit baqa ash sharqiyya killing 1 palestinian and injuring 6 others in east jerusalem israeli forces shot and killed 2 palestinians in silwan after they allegedly fired fireworks at israeli forces israeli forces also violently dispersed palestinians in isawiya and ras al amud elsewhere israeli forces arrested 13 palestinians allegedly on suspicion of incitement and supporting hamas in gaza israeli naval forces fired shells at a port west of gaza city and khan yunis damaging the ports and fishing boats israeli airstrikes also killed hundreds of palestinians and caused damage especially to the rimal al karama and al furqan neighborhoods and jabaliya and gaza economy minister juad abu smallah was reportedly assassinated it was reported that white phosphorus bombs were dropped on al karama unrwa said its headquarters in gaza were hit by israeli bombs hundreds of rockets were fired at israel from gaza near gaza israel said it had killed 4 militants at a beach north of gaza and 2 in kibbutz re im militants were also reported to have attacked mefalsim causing casualties in lebanon militants fired anti tank missiles at an israeli vehicle and israeli forces attacked militants with a helicopter and artillery rockets were also fired towards israel in syria rockets were launched at the israeli occupied golan heights and israel fired artillery and mortar shells at syria aj aj aj aj aj aj ap ap ha ha reu reu reu wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 10 10 aj ap ap ap ha reu 10 11 israel claimed to have regained full control in the area around gaza saying the bodies of approximately 1 500 palestinian fighters were found in the area the ministry of health in gaza said 830 palestinians had been killed in israeli airstrikes and 4 250 wounded since 10 7 as of 5 30pm 22 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and settlers in the west bank and east jerusalem since 10 7 including 4 children 332 have been injured israeli media reported that as of 9pm more than 1 000 israelis including foreign nationals had been killed and 2 806 wounded since 10 7 the un said 263 934 palestinians had been displaced with 175 486 people sheltering at un facilities all but 1 mobile communications tower were destroyed in israeli strikes more than 610 000 people in gaza were disconnected from water supply due to israeli actions the gaza power plant was reported to run out of fuel by midday on 10 11 current electricity per day was at 3 4 hours aj 10 9 aj aj alm ap ap ap ap ha ha ha reu reu reu unocha unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 10 10 aj ap ap reu 10 11 the ministry of health in gaza called for the opening of a safe corridor to allow medical aid as hospitals are overwhelmed 4 ambulances and 1 hospital in beit hanun were targeted by israeli airstrikes closing the hospital plo secretary general hussein al sheikh said israel was refusing to allow aid from the west bank to enter gaza aj aj 10 10 wafa 10 11 israeli military spokesperson richard hecht said israel may not use the same level of fidelity in warning civilians before striking homes and apartment buildings it had been reported that israel is no longer using smaller munitions to knock on the roofs of apartment buildings or call building managers before demolishing them with larger bombs hecht also called the parliament and ministries in gaza legitimate targets hecht further said palestinians in gaza should flee to egypt via the rafah crossing first saying that it is open and later tweeting that he does not know if it is open israel bombed the crossing on 10 9 after which it was closed israel also hit the crossing today defense minister yoav gallant said the israeli military would release all constraints in its attacks on gaza and is transitioning to a full scale offensive the israeli military said it had dropped hundreds of tons of bombs on gaza and is emphasizing damage not precision aj 10 9 aj aj ha ha reu reu 10 10 the israeli military began sending planes to europe to collect reservist that had been called up more than 300 000 israeli military reservists were call in to participate in the israeli assault on gaza reu 10 9 aj ha reu 10 10 israeli national security minister itamar ben gvir said israel would handout 10 000 rifles to volunteers in israeli border communities and in israeli settlements aj reu 10 10 a plane carrying u s ammunition arrived in israel the uss gerald r ford aircraft carrier reach the eastern mediterranean turkish president recep tayyip erdoğan criticized the u s for moving the carrier near israel warning of a massacre in gaza aj ha reu 10 10 thousands of jordanians protested in amman against the israeli attacks on gaza demanding the israeli embassy closed and for jordan to end its peace treaty with israel reu 10 11 pa president mahmoud abbas spoke with norwegian prime minister jonas gahr støre about the israeli attack on gaza palestinian envoy to the un riyad mansour wrote a letter to the un security council calling israeli actions including intentional starvation of gaza genocidal reu wafa 10 10 the likud party said the leaders of the parties in the israeli government coalition have agreed that prime minister benjamin netanyahu can form an emergency unity government yisrael beiteinu leader avigdor lieberman said on 10 8 that he will only join the unity government if the israeli leadership commits to end the policy of constraining hamas and eliminates the organization ha reu 10 10 u s president joe biden gave a televised speech calling the hamas operation on 10 7 pure unadulterated evil recounting unconfirmed israeli narratives of militants committing rapes biden also compared hamas to isis attributed the operation to anti semitism rather than resistance and reiterated his stance in support of israel saying israel has a duty to respond despite the mass civilian casualties in gaza biden further stated that the u s is sending ammunition and interceptors for the iron dome to israel lastly biden warned other countries and organizations to get involved against israel hamas called biden s speech deplorable and inflammatory saying hamas launched its operation to defend the palestinian people and put an end to the occupation biden also spoke with prime minister netanyahu about u s assistance 392 members of the u s house of representatives co sponsored a resolution in support of israel calling the hamas operation barbaric it is unknown if the resolution will pass as it is unclear if the acting speaker of the house patrick mchenry r nc has the authority to bring the resolution to the floor aj aj aj ha ha ha 10 10 reu reu 10 11 u s national security advisor jake sullivan said the u s was in talks with egypt and israel to create a humanitarian corridor of residents of gaza ha reu 10 10 the u s state department said secretary of state antony blinken will arrive in israel on 10 12 for meetings with israeli leaders blinken will also travel to jordan uk foreign secretary james cleverly is also scheduled to arrive in israel on 10 11 aj ha reu 10 10 reu 10 11 u s homeland security advisor liz sherwood randall said the u s is working on different options to ensure that all u s citizens can leave israel by air sea and land there are currently no direct flights from israel to the u s many other countries including france germany and canada said they are planning on offering their citizens flights out of israel aj ha 10 10 president erdoğan spoke with russian president vladimir putin about measures to halt the hamas israel conflict and deliver humanitarian aid erdoğan also said he is having talks with regional leaders to mediate a stop to the war egyptian president abdel fatah al sisi and qatari emir tamim bin hamad al thani spoke about protecting civilians in gaza aj ha ha reu reu reu 10 10 aj aj 10 11 houthi leader abdel malek al houthi said that if the u s intervenes in the attack on gaza it would respond with drones and missiles aj ha 10 10 the police in berlin banned pro palestinian demonstrations planned for 10 11 saying expressions of solidarity with palestine pose a threat to public order australian police said a planned pro palestinian protest scheduled for 10 15 will be an unauthorized activity ha 10 10 reu 10 11 uk home secretary suella braverman sent a letter to english and welsh police saying that waiving palestinian flags may in some instances be illegal in cases where it is intended to glorify acts of terrorism aj 10 10 eu high commissioner for foreign affairs josep borell said he had invited pa and israeli foreign ministers riyad al maliki and eli cohen to an eu foreign ministers meeting to discuss the situation in palestine and israel borell also said that israel must adhere to international law saying israel violates the law by imposing a total blockade of gaza borell further said that the overwhelming majority of eu states are against cutting aid to palestinians as suggested by some eu officials aj ha reu 10 10 the un high commissioner for human rights volker turk said the total siege of gaza imposed by israel was illegal under international law as it deprive civilians of goods essential to their survival turk also said israeli airstrikes had struck residential and un buildings as well as un schools aj reu 10 10 the un commission of inquiry on the occupied palestinian territory including east jerusalem and israel said that there was clear evidence that war crimes had been committed in israel and gaza aj un wafa 10 10 the office of the international criminal court prosecutor said the icc mandate to investigate the situation in the state of palestine extends to the current attacks reu 10 10 sweden and denmark suspended aid to palestinians none of the aid is delivered to hamas aj ha reu 10 10 the uae donated 20 million in aid to palestinians via unrwa aj 10 10 october 11 in the west bank israeli settlers shot and killed 3 palestinians and injuring 9 others in qusra israeli settlers also raided shaab forsa in the masafer yatta area destroying solar panels and water tanks and uprooting fruit trees elsewhere israeli settlers attacked palestinian vehicles traveling near burqa damaging 3 israeli forces shot and killed 1 palestinian at a checkpoint near bayt jala israeli forces also shot and killed 1 palestinian minor in bani na im elsewhere israeli forces violently dispersed palestinian protesters in hebron beit fajjar abud fawwar refugee camp al bireh huwwara beit furik arraba nabi salih al khader deir istiya and burin injuring 21 with live ammunition including at least 1 minor 3 with a baton rounds and many others with tear gas israeli forces also raided idhna and beit umar arresting 18 in east jerusalem israeli settlers toured the haram al sharif compound in gaza israeli forces attacked the home of hamas commander mohammed deif killing several of his relatives including his children and assassinated islamic jihad commander mousa nasser in beit lahiya hundreds of palestinians were killed in israeli airstrikes including at least 4 palestinian medics were killed in israeli airstrikes israeli airstrikes also destroyed the islamic university s engineering school and the headquarters of the palestinian red crescent society rockets were fired from gaza into israel in lebanon hezbollah said it had fired precision missiles at israel in response to israel killing members of the organization israeli airstrikes hit southern lebanon ap 10 7 aj ha 10 10 ap ha ha ha reu reu reu reu unocha wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 10 11 ha reu wafa 10 12 gaza s sole power plant ran out of fuel in the afternoon the ministry of health in gaza said at least 1 100 palestinians had been killed and 5 339 had been injured in israeli airstrikes on gaza since 10 7 as of 2pm 27 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces and settlers in the west bank and east jerusalem since 10 7 including 5 children 427 have been injured in addition 1 500 palestinian militants are reported to have been killed by israeli forces in israel since 10 7 the ministry of health in gaza said 60 of palestinians wounded are children and elderly unrwa said 11 of its workers had been killed in israeli airstrikes and the international federation of red cross said red crescent societies said 5 of its members had been killed since 10 7 israeli media reported that as of 9am more than 1 200 israeli including foreign nationals had been killed and 3 192 wounded the un reported that 338 934 palestinians had been displaced since 10 7 and 4 625 housing units in gaza had been destroyed while 32 000 had been damaged ap 10 7 aj 10 10 aj aj ap ha ha reu unohca wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa wafa 10 11 al jazeera released a video that appeared to show militants releasing 1 israeli woman and 2 children near the gaza fence aj aj 10 11 ramallah governor laila ghannam said some 600 palestinian workers from gaza had arrived in ramallah after being expelled from israel ap 10 7 aj 10 10 israeli national security minister itamar ben gvir said on x that he had instructed the israeli police to prepare for operation guardian of the walls 2 a reference to israel s operation during the unity intifada and approved that residents of sderot will receive weapons from the state ha 10 11 egyptian officials told reuters that egypt rejects the idea of an evacuation of palestinians to egypt reu 10 11 former hamas political leader khaled mashal called on the arab world to protest in solidarity with palestinians on 10 13 ha reu 10 11 turkish president recep tayyip erdoğan called israel s blockade and bombing if gaza a massacre erdoğan also called the israeli bombings disproportionate turkish officials also said they are negotiating with hamas in regard to the israeli captives aj 10 10 aj ha reu 10 11 the arab league released a statement after a meeting of its foreign ministers calling for an immediate ceasefire condemning the targeting of civilians urging israel to lift its blockade on gaza and calling for negotiations between the plo and israel for a just peace wafa 10 11 german foreign minister boris pistorius said germany had allowed israel to use 2 of its heron combat drones and that israel had requested ammunition from israel which was under review aj 10 11 ap 10 12 iranian president ebrahim raisi and saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman spoke about the situation in gaza bin salman said according to the saudi press agency that he stands firm towards supporting the palestinian cause it was the first time the 2 leaders have spoken to each other aj 10 10 aj 10 11 aj reu 10 12 israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu met with national unity party leader benny gantz agreeing to form an emergency unity government and a war cabinet the war cabinet will consist of netanyahu gantz and defense minister yoav gallant with former military chief of staff gadi eizenkot of the national unity party and strategic affairs minister ron dermer as observers opposition leader yair lapid did not join the emergency government reportedly because he wants national security minister itamar ben gvir and finance minister bezalel smotrich removed gallant said w e will wipe hamas off the face of the earth and netanyahu said e very member of hamas is a dead man aj 10 10 aj ha ha ha 10 11 aj ha ha 10 12 u s president joe biden gave a speech to jewish american leaders telling them i never really thought i would see have confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading children the white house later told the washington post t he president based his comments about the alleged atrocities in the claims of netanyahu s spokesman and media reports from israel noting that biden and his team have not seen pictures or confirmed the reports hamas also denied the report calling it zionist slander and lies rejecting that palestinians beheaded children and assaulted women the u s state department said 22 americans had been killed and 17 were unaccounted for biden also spoke with prime minister netanyahu aj aj ha 10 11 cnn ha 10 12 chair of the u s house foreign affairs committee michael mccaul r tx said the u s knew that egypt warned israel 3 days prior to the hamas operation that an event like this could happen aj 10 10 ha 10 11

blog title a safe passage in gaza humanitarian corridors or population transfer author sanaa hammoudi date october 12 2023 content the israeli decision to impose a complete siege on the gaza strip no electricity no food no flue is a clear declaration to deny the delivery of food and medical supplies deprive the people of gaza of all means of survival as the intensity of the israeli war on the strip escalated calls from various sources began to demand the opening of a safe passage or a humanitarian corridor what are humanitarian corridors humanitarian corridor is a term used during armed conflicts when parties to the conflict agree to open a safe passage for the purpose of delivering humanitarian aid evacuating the wounded and facilitating the departure of civilians who wish to leave these corridors are conditionally established in demilitarized zones and are supervised by a third party such as the united nations or relevant international humanitarian organizations the primary goal of creating humanitarian corridors is to protect civilians and ensure the delivery of humanitarian assistance to them often international humanitarian organizations such as the international red cross irc amongst others take on the task of delivering humanitarian assistance or evacuating the wounded and sick the 23rd article of the fourth geneva convention of 1949 obligates states to uphold the principle of free passage for aid including medicine medical equipment food and clothing to civilian populations for this reason the establishment of a safe passage requires discussions and negotiations involving the conflicting parties the third party state through which aid will pass and the international organizations that will oversee the corridor united nations entities are often parts of these agreements two essential elements must be present in a safe passage a defined geographic area agreed upon by the conflicting parties meaning a secure zone outside the conflict area a specified time frame to achieve the objective however establishing these corridors is usually not an easy task firstly the conflicting parties must agree to the establishment of the corridor and the state through which aid will be delivered and civilians evacuated must also consent this state has the right to impose specific restrictions or conditions related to the corridor the first additional protocol to the geneva conventions of 1977 specifies the provisions related to providing humanitarian assistance the most important one being that such assistance should not be considered an intervention in the conflict and it should meet the conditions of neutrality and impartiality meaning that the mission is of a purely humanitarian nature it is within the authority of the united nations to impose the opening of humanitarian corridors based on chapter vii however the use of veto rights often acts as an obstacle to reaching a decision regarding such a corridor this occurred during the syrian crisis when france and turkey proposed opening humanitarian corridors but russia opposed the proposal and syria rejected it russia and syria justified their rejection at that time by arguing that the corridor would be a direct interference in syria s internal affairs and an escalation of the armed conflict humanitarian corridors established during the ongoing war between russia and ukraine after negotiations between the conflicting parties are the closest analogue ten humanitarian corridors were created to allow ukrainian civilians to cross from conflict areas to safe zones however the permission to open these corridors often depended on russian willingness further ukraine has accused russian authorities on several occasions of obstructing these corridors through bombardments in areas that were supposed to be safe for a facilitated passage of civilians modern history has witnessed numerous examples of such corridors including the kindertransport corridor this means children s transport and was established with the approval of the german government to transport jewish children from areas under nazi control to the united kingdom in 1938 and 1939 corridors established during the siege of sarajevo the capital of bosnia to rescue civilians who wished to leave the city between 1992 and 1995 however upon closer examination of these two examples it can be noted that the objectives go beyond the humanitarian goal of saving civilians the facilitated exit of civilians in both cases involved plans to relocate specific population groups with the aim of creating demographic changes in those areas of conflict this demographic shift is exactly what raises concerns and fears for the palestinian side vis a vis the idea of establishing a humanitarian corridor in the gaza strip humanitarian corridor or displacement operation calls for the establishment of a humanitarian corridor in the gaza strip may carry on the surface a humanitarian message that is aligned with the principles of international humanitarian law however monitoring the statements issued by international officials indicates a divergence in the objectives behind opening this corridor which leads to more dangerous implications in regard to plans for the population of the gaza strip between emphasizing the necessity of humanitarian aid entry and the call for civilian evacuation there lies a significant distinction that manifests in two ways one permits the entry of humanitarian essentials needed for perseverance and the other facilitates the evacuation and depopulation of the strip how did the discrepancy in this humanitarian discourse emerge the united nations affirmed that the complete blockade imposed on gaza is prohibited under international humanitarian law un secretary general antonio guterres called for providing the residents of the gaza strip with humanitarian assistance stating vital life saving supplies including fuel food and water must be allowed in as he emphasized the need for rapid and unimpeded access to humanitarian aid the world health organization who called for the opening of a humanitarian corridor to deliver aid its spokesperson in geneva stated the opening of a humanitarian corridor is necessary to provide essential medical supplies to the population it was also reported by news sources that the director general of the who met with the president of egypt to discuss the delivery of humanitarian aid to gaza several humanitarian and human rights organizations have called for the necessity of delivering humanitarian aid to the gaza strip to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe additionally palestinian prime minister mohammad shtayyeh in a statement from his office called for the establishment of safe passages to deliver food and medical supplies to the gaza strip warning of a humanitarian disaster threatening the population of the strip however the eu high representative for foreign affairs and security policy josep borrell held a different perspective during a press conference following an emergency meeting of the european union he called for the opening of humanitarian corridors and facilitating the departure of civilians to egypt this means that according to the vision of the entity he represents the objective of this corridor is to evacuate civilians from gaza to egypt borrell s demands were in line with the statement made by the israeli military official richard hecht who clearly told foreign journalists i know that the rafah crossing is still open and i advise anyone who can leave to do so although the spokesperson for the israeli occupation army later denied calling on the residents of the gaza strip to head towards egyptian territories the initial statement undoubtedly expressed the intentions of the israeli establishment in the latest statement by u s secretary of state antony blinken before his departure to israel he mentioned that discussions regarding a humanitarian corridor to allow civilians to leave gaza via egypt are ongoing high level egyptian security sources had affirmed their rejection of this plan pointing to a clear scheme to depopulate palestinian territories they asserted that the israeli occupation forces palestinians to choose between death under shelling or displacement beyond their lands the egyptian sources mentioned that the israeli occupation has sought throughout the conflict to resettle the residents of gaza in the sinai peninsula they emphasized that egypt has opposed these plans and that there is a palestinian popular consensus to remain firm on their land in confirmation of the existence of a zionist plan to evacuate the gaza strip of its inhabitants the palestinian ministry of interior mentioned that the occupation sends random recorded voice messages to the citizens in gaza requesting them to leave their homes the ministry urged citizens to ignore these messages which aim to spread fear and panic as part of the psychological warfare accompanying the israeli aggression while perspectives vary it seems clear that the idea of establishing a humanitarian corridor if approved without specifying its purpose to deliver humanitarian aid poses an existential threat to the gaza strip israel will likely attempt through this corridor to implement a transfer plan one which israelis have long dreamed of the displacement of gaza s population to egypt specifically to sinai in this context the egyptian government can agree or rather insist on delivering humanitarian aid to the gaza population through the rafah crossing despite israeli threats to bomb it if egypt proceeds with this such a step undoubtedly will garner the attention of most parties because it is of a purely humanitarian aim furthermore it will prevent a humanitarian catastrophe threatening civilians in the gaza strip in case the israeli blockade continues unchecked in conclusion it is essential to note that the call to apply the rules of international law and humanitarian law during the israeli war on the gaza strip appears to be meaningless as the same international community that recognizes the principles of these laws adopts double standards when it comes to the israeli palestinian conflict in such cases the law of might makes right becomes the only law that is applied and enforced the most crucial question remains for the besieged resilient and resistant people of gaza are they ready for a new displacement given that many of them have already experienced the bitterness of expulsion and displacement during the nakba 75 years ago resources borrell calls for opening humanitarian corridors and facilitating the exit of civilians from gaza to egypt arabic rt com 10 10 2023 world health organization calls for opening a humanitarian corridor to the gaza strip middle east aawsat com 10 10 2023 gaza europe joins the evacuation plan calls for opening corridors for civilians to egypt almodon com 11 10 2023 guterres avoiding the extension of the israeli palestinian conflict to other fronts the secretary general of the united nations emphasized the necessity of allowing life saving supplies to enter gaza aa com tr ar 11 10 2023 michel bechir in times of war humanitarian corridors are the lifeline for civilians dw com ar 8 3 2022 this article was translated into english by two kind young men who wished to remain nameless

blog title my children and i are alone in a residential building in gaza author sama hassan date october 11 2023 content with a voice tinged with both fear and anticipation my daughter tells me i wish we could go back to the time before sunday before the new war on gaza began i did not share this desire completely i had mixed and contradictory feelings this time i am resolved to stay strong and steadfast during previous wars on gaza i would frequently let out cries of despair filling the world with wails and sobbing holding onto the hope for a miracle that might allow me to leave until the situation stabilizes even if it seemed impossible but my connection to this place runs deep to leave gaza is akin to a soul being torn from its body i ve lived in this six story residential building for over a year now with each floor housing three compact apartments occupied mostly by young families and newlyweds as a result my interactions with my neighbors have been largely formal limited to brief greetings in the elevator or at the building s entrance these days i ve started to feel a need for company and an urgency to ensure that my family and i aren t alone in the building in the initial days after relocating from southern of the strip to central gaza i was consumed by a sense of alienation that was almost unbearable a woman in my fifties i wanted safety and peace of mind avoiding extensive social interactions my life narrowed to the practice of a few routines and the conversations with a few individuals i did however have one friend in this building an elderly neighbor she seemed weary of life and showed little interest in anything beyond sharing a cup of bitter coffee with me while she reminisced about old palestinian customs and lamented how today s younger generation whom she considered spoiled and indolent had altered them whenever the sounds of bombs amplify in the distance i would try to encourage and remind my children that our situation is similar to that of the other families who reside on other floors in the building while our apartment was nestled in the middle floors there were those who live on the top floor of the building on the roof the roof is also where some residents spend social nights and quality time with loved ones among beds of plants spread across the space the bombing has not stopped and now there is a strange scent permeating the air reminiscent of pure alcohol i was unsure of its origin but it s causing us to sneeze and cough after checking facebook i suspect it might be the smell of white phosphorus it descended forcefully much like rain as it struck somewhere near my building complex in this war you re constantly learning and experiencing new realities it dawned on me that during this aggression my children and i were the only ones left in this building we were jolted awake in the middle of the third night of war by a warning of an impending bombing to a neighboring mosque prompting us to hastily evacuate our flat as we rushed down the building s stairs it became clear that we were its sole inhabitants the other residents had sought refuge with their extended families elsewhere seeking comfort in each other s company during these harrowing times no one had informed me families with children had also chosen to return to the homes of grandparents and relatives especially those who lived on lower floors or the ground floor and did not have to experience the hindrance of long staircases as they escaped living on higher floors had proven to be the less favorable choice in these circumstances to live in a smaller house in the camp for instance makes it easier to quickly slip out to the street given the absence of shelters and safe havens the streets had often become the preferred refuge from the bombings my neighbors cleverly led me to believe they were still in the building an innocent ruse i mistook the stillness behind locked doors and the pervasive silence for fear no sounds of doors opening children crying or even the familiar sound of the neighboring bathroom s water tap which was adjacent to my window i had assumed that like me everyone was huddled in the middle of their apartments scrolling news websites on their phones after the mosque was bombed and reduced to rubble which we observed from a distance we returned to our building taking refuge in the guard s room at the entrance the guard himself couldn t make it back to his family home in a zbat beit hanoun in the northern gaza strip i had naively assumed that one of the residents would inform me if they were leaving but in reality much like on judgement day everyone is primarily concerned with their own survival i forgave them on the morning of wednesday october 11 i discovered that we had run out of drinking water with the bombing drawing closer leaving the building had become dangerous we were still sheltering in the guard s room it was then that i thought of my elderly neighbor she had left for jabalia camp to visit her daughter the day before the war began she often mentioned that given her age she sometimes forgot to lock her apartment door i found myself hoping that she hadn t locked it this time i hurried up to the fifth floor out of breath my daughter s concerned voice trailed after me worried about the risk of shrapnel from nearby attacks when i reached my neighbor s apartment i tentatively turned the handle and to my immense relief the door opened i rushed to the refrigerator eagerly pulling it open to discover several water bottles inside she had also filled and left many large bottles atop the kitchen sink my daughter and i returned downstairs with water bottles in hand i smiled inwardly as i glanced at the closed doors wishing their good inhabitants protection i sat on the floor in the guard s room with a glimmer of optimism this time i m not sure how long this war will last but i m hoping that it will finish as abruptly as it began this article was translated into english by islam khatib

blog title gazan journalist surviving day 5 of israeli bombs author mahmoud mushtaha date october 11 2023 content across the neighborhood you can hear children crying a little girl whimpers under the rubble of her house and calls out to her father who is trapped beneath a fallen wall baba she sobs but her father cannot hear her because he was killed instantly a boy meanwhile is begging his mother not to die under the rubble this is what is happening in gaza right now if they are not killing our children they are scarring the rest of their lives for the fifth consecutive day it has come to the point where i fear it will always be night in gaza as i look at my family s faces i imagine that this may be the last night that we will spend together i have experienced six mass israeli assaults on gaza in addition to countless routine incursions and strikes but the scene right now is more difficult than anything i have experienced suddenly as my family and i sit in the living room dozens of israeli airstrikes crash around my neighborhood tal elhawa in the west of gaza i hear the entire house tremble dust rains from the ceiling my niece screams her eyes fill with tears the smoke of the bombing spreads everywhere if you do not die from the direct bombing you may die from smoke falling structures or traces of gas from chemical weapons last night israeli occupation forces used poisonous white phosphorus on civilians in the karama neighborhood north of the gaza strip which is prohibited under international law the number of deaths has increased lives families stories of love success and injustice are all buried together under the rubble with every innocent who was killed until now the occupation airstrikes have destroyed 168 buildings more than 1 000 residential units were obliterated while another 12 630 have been partially destroyed collectively there have been over 1 055 people killed including women and children and 5 184 injured according to gaza s ministry of health genocide is being committed by israel in gaza where entire generations of families have been wiped out with civilians and homes being targetted by missile strikes and bombs this technique is used by israel to put pressure on the resistance and to create a health economic and psychological crisis among gazans this picture taken on october 11 2023 shows an aerial view of buildings destroyed by israeli air strikes in the jabalia camp for palestinian refugees in gaza city photo by yahya hassouna afp via getty images i am very worried that my family members will become the next victims because there is simply no safe home in gaza and we after all are who they want to kill children women and defenseless civilians the israelis aim to wipe out as many palestinians as possible as they accelerate their ethnic cleansing depression and trauma afflict every palestinian who lives in the shadow of repeated israeli wars on gaza there s fear as we wait out the nights waiting for death waiting to learn who is the next victim there s terror as we follow the news 24 hours a day messaging our friends and loved ones the worst thing about this aggression is that the israeli regime has fully cut off electricity internet food and water supplies causing a media blackout fuel has run out generators will stop working and the sliver of connection to the world some have on their phones will soon disappear they even bombed the rafah border crossing with egypt in the southern gaza strip preventing thousands from returning or leaving and preventing medical supplies from entering nobody is able to move as a journalist in gaza i can clearly see that israel is intent on killing us and keeping us silent it doesn t want local media to show these war crimes the israelis want to hide the truth about their cruelty from the world due to the blackouts of electricity and internet gaza is further cut off from the rest of the world even the international press or international human rights organizations have so far been unable to enter the gaza strip or even communicate with their teams on the ground for instance the euro med human rights monitor an organization based in switzerland announced that it had lost contact with its employees in gaza the only way to access the besieged strip is through the rafah crossing which has been destroyed by the israeli occupation forces gaza is not an easy place to live maintaining one s mental balance requires a huge amount of effort it is war it takes our soul and our youth it never minds if it will take our future and our dreams in gaza we can t dream war does not allow us to dream the dream turned to ashes this is what my friend ahmed said when the israeli forces bombed his family s store days and years pass slowly but memories of israeli oppression and the pain inflicted by their violence are what will make us grow old their bombs have taken our souls from our bodies we do not like their war and we will never get used to their war but their war is well accustomed to us there are many untold stories from more than two million people living in gaza this is only a snapshot of the story of a young man who is surviving this aggression for another day

blog title gaza palestine al aqsa flood or the right to resist author editorial staff date october 10 2023 content as part of its coverage of the palestinian resistance operation that began last saturday and its consequences the institute for palestine studies continues to follow what foreign observers and analysts are publishing about this operation and is also publishing analyses written by israeli analysts for selections from the hebrew press the following is the full text of an editorial published on october 9 2023 by journalist and historian alain gresh also the director of digital website orient xxi initially in french the editorial was translated to arabic by sara grira a journalist at orient xxi what s happening today also happened precisely fifty years ago in october 1973 the egyptian and syrian armies had crossed the ceasefire lines to inflict severe losses on the israeli army leaving tel aviv in shock despite having received intelligence indicating an imminent attack the political leadership acted arrogantly would the arabs who were defeated in 1967 be capable of fighting in the eyes of the israelis the occupation of arab lands could have continued indefinitely and without any reaction is it considered an attack when someone tries to return to their home at the time many commentators in europe and the united states condemned the unjust unethical and unprovoked egyptian syrian aggression israeli leaders are fond of this phrase as it allows them to obscure the roots of the conflict i e the occupation back then french foreign minister michel jobert demonstrated an honorable awareness with regards to his country is it considered an attack when someone tries to return to their home while the voice of paris was hovering high above western clamor it affirmed that the recognition of the national rights of the palestinians and the evacuation of the arab territories occupied in 1967 are keys to peace if the desire to end the occupation of the sinai and the golan heights was legitimate in 1973 how can the palestinians desire to liberate themselves from israeli occupation be considered illegitimate today fifty years later just as in the october war tel aviv was taken aback by the palestinian initiative and suffered a military defeat of exceptional magnitude and as in the october war the occupier s arrogance their contempt for palestinians and the conviction of the fanatical jewish government that god is on their side contributed to its blindness the attack launched by the joint military leadership of most palestinian organizations and led by the al qassam brigades the military wing of hamas was not only surprising due to its timing but also due to its size organization and military capabilities these capabilities allowed among other things for the invasion of israeli military bases this operation unified all palestinians and garnered widespread support in the arab world despite their leaders efforts to normalize relations with israel and sacrifice palestine even mahmoud abbas the head of the palestinian authority whose existence is primarily attributed to its security cooperation with the israeli army felt compelled to declare the right of the palestinian people to defend themselves against settler terrorism and the occupation s forces and the necessity of providing protection to our people s children all of them are terrorists every time the palestinians revolt the west the same west that does not hesitate to praise the resistance of ukrainians invokes terrorism within that same tone french president emmanuel macron strongly condemned the terrorist attacks currently striking israel without uttering a word about the ongoing occupation which is the source of the violence the resilience of palestinians remains steadfast and unbroken shocking settlers and apparently shocking many in the west as was the case during the first intifada in 1987 or the second intifada in 2000 during armed resistance operations in the west bank or mobilization for the sake of jerusalem and during confrontations in the gaza strip under siege since 2007 and suffering six wars in 17 years resulting in 400 casualties in 2006 1 300 in 2008 2009 160 in 2012 2 100 in 2014 approximately 300 in 2021 and dozens in the spring of 2023 israeli officials condemn the savagery of their adversaries and their disregard for human life or in other words their terrorism this accusation allows israel s actions to be disguised not only as legal but also as moral forgetting the brutal apartheid regime that oppresses palestinians daily let us once again recall that a significant number of terrorist organizations have historically transitioned from being outcasts to legitimate actors the irish republican army ira the national liberation front of algeria fln the african national congress anc and others were all initially labeled as terrorists with the aim of undermining the political dimension of their fighting and portraying it as a struggle between the good and the evil eventually all these groups became parties to negotiations following the israeli aggression in june 1967 general de gaulle speculated on the matter saying now israel is establishing itself in the territories it occupied with an occupation that cannot exist without injustice repression and deportation and on these lands resistance appears against this occupation described as terrorism it is not an unjustifiable attack israeli journalist haggai matar once wrote contrary to what many israelis say this is not a one sided or unjustifiable attack the fear that israelis are feeling now and i m one of them is just a small part of what palestinians feel every day under decades of military rule in the west bank not to mention the recurring siege and assaults on gaza the responses we hear from many israelis those calling for the destruction of gaza and saying they are savages not people we can negotiate with they kill entire families or there s no room for dialogue with these people are exactly what i ve heard countless times from palestinians about israelis we can indeed mourn as in any war the killing of civilians but are there good civilians for whom we should shed tears as opposed to others who are bad like the palestinians who are killed daily in the west bank and gaza and whose deaths hardly raise any voices of condemnation the number of israeli casualties has reached 700 and over 400 on the palestinian side which is more than those who died during the 1967 war against egypt jordan and syria this operation will have repercussions on the regional political and geopolitical situation in a way which is difficult to assess at this time however what the current events once again affirm is that the occupation constantly fuels resistance for which the occupier alone bears responsibility as stated in article 2 of the declaration of the rights of man and the citizen issued on august 26 1789 the resistance to oppression is a fundamental right one to which the palestinians can justifiably lay claim orient xxi is an independent and ad free french website that publishes articles about the middle east and the islamic world in french english spanish italian arabic and persian it recently celebrated its tenth anniversary this version was translated into english by michelle eid

blog title joint statement by harvard palestine solidarity groups on the situation in palestine author harvard palestine solidarity groups date october 10 2023 content editor s note this statement is republished with permission we the undersigned student organizations hold the israeli regime entirely responsible for all the unfolding violence today s events did not occur in a vaccum for the last two decades millions of palestinians in gaza have been forced to live in an opeb air prison israeli officials promise to open the gates of hell and the massacres in gaza have already commenced palestinians in gaza have no shelters for refuge and nowhere to escape in the coming days palestinians will be forced to bear the full brunt of israel s violence the apartheid regime is the only one to blame israeli violence has structured every aspect of palestinian existence for 75 years from systematized land seizures to routine airstrikes arbitrary detentios to military checkpoints and enforced family separations to targeted killings palestinians have been forced to live in a state of death both slow and sudden today the palestinian ordeal enters into uncharted territory the coming days will require a firm stand against colonial retaliation we call on the harvard community to take action to stop the ongoing annihilation of palestinians african american resistance organization bengali association of students at harvard college harvard act on a dream harvard arab medical and dental student association harvard chan muslim student association harvard chan students for health equity and justice in palestine harvard college pakistan student association harvard divinity school muslim association harvard middle eastern and north african law student association harvard graduate school of education islamic society harvard graduate students for palestine harvard islamic society harvard law school justice for palestine harvard divinity school students for justice in palestine harvard jews for liberation harvard kennedy school bangladesh caucus harvard kennedy school muslim caucus harvard kennedy school muslim women s caucus harvard kennedy school palestine caucusharvard muslim law school association harvard pakistan forum harvard prison divest coalition harvard south asian law students associationharvard south asians for forward thinking advocacy and researchharvard tps coalitionharvard undergraduate arab women s collectiveharvard undergraduate ghungroo harvard undergraduate muslim women s medical alliance harvard undergraduate nepali students association harvard undergraduate palestine solidarity committee middle east and north african graduate school of design student society neighbor program cambridgesikhs and companions of harvard undergraduates society of arab students the views in all articles in this blog and site belong to their authors

blog title gaza s unyielding reality sparrows sirens and survival author eman ashraf alhaj ali date october 10 2023 content editor s note this testimony wasfirst publishedby we are not numbers on october 9 it is republished with permission we are not numbersis is a youth led palestinian nonprofit project in the gaza strip it tells the stories behind the numbers of palestinians in the news and advocates for their human rights if there s one thing i want people to know about living under israeli occupation it s how quickly birdsongs can be replaced by the screech of missiles most mornings in gaza my family wakes to the melodic symphony of spanish sparrows gracing our kitchen window my mother tenderly rouses my younger siblings and our days commence with al fajr prayers bathing in the blessings of allah even as we anticipate our meticulously crafted to do lists but the morning of october 7 2023 reminded us that our routines however sacred are never safe my eyes flickered open gripped by terror as the thunderous roar of missiles shattered the tranquil sky above our home mother what is happening my voice quivered my brothers and sisters ages 6 to 12 had just left for school we ran to the window and saw them in the street as they shouted for help their voices full of fear come back immediately my mother implored the days of overwhelming dread have returned again i muttered my voice barely above a whisper i reached for my phone seeking answers in the digital world headlines like israel declares a massive escalation on gaza bring tears to my eyes such a swift turn of events can be difficult to comprehend but such is life in gaza birdsong one minute missiles the next just days ago life had proceeded smoothly after work i went to the gym then to meet my friend asmaa we discussed the urgent need to delve deeper into the heart wrenching reality here in gaza to unearth truths hidden beneath the surface little did we know that we would awaken to yet another shattered dream another agonizing ordeal over the past few days the heart wrenching news has continued to pour in each revelation more unbearable than the last israel set its sights on civilian homes leaving one man bereft of his entire family a young girl mourned the loss of her dearest friend the casualties mounted to the hundreds martyrs upon martyrs more souls extracted from the rubble countless buildings lay in ruins a landscape marred by massacres and genocide mosques symbols of our faith have been obliterated and at least two ambulances were targeted gaza under bombardment from israel october 8 2023 photo circulating on social media even now the harrowing wail of sirens disorients me the deafening crash of missiles near our home tests my composure and the glow of approaching danger paints my windows crimson but i feel the weight of my responsibilities bearing down upon me and i have no choice but to press on i clutch my laptop and force myself to focus knowing that failing to meet my deadlines is not an option like every gazan family we have our emergency bags prepared containing essential clothing and documents in case of a sudden evacuation we huddle together a family bound by fear of the unknown our prayers intertwining with the relentless stream of breaking news this is gaza a bitter existence where each day brings us closer to the brink we face the specter of death daily under the weight of an unjust oppressor an inhumane and merciless state that clutches our necks stealing innocence and joy from our children and birdsongs from our windows