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Israelis Are a War-Loving People
As evidence they point out that at the very moment the bomb was slamming into Gaza, leaders from the Tanzim -- the "field
organisation" of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement and the most powerful Palestinian faction in the occupied territories -- were
meeting in the West Bank to finalise a statement calling for a unilateral Palestinian ceasefire.
organisation" of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement and the most powerful Palestinian faction in the occupied territories -- were
meeting in the West Bank to finalise a statement calling for a unilateral Palestinian ceasefire.
http://web1.ahram.org.eg/weekly/2002/597/re1.htm
Last Friday, several thousand Palestinians marched through the wreck of Gaza City's
Al-Daraj neighbourhood, site of a one-ton Israeli bomb that killed 15 Palestinians, nine of
them children.
The marchers were paying homage to the next Salah Shehada, the Hamas military leader
killed in the bombing and wanted by Israel for masterminding armed attacks against soldiers
and settlers in Gaza and suicide bombings inside Israel.
Hamas' latest military commander was not named at the rally, though Hamas sources said he
was Mohamed Deif, Shehada's second in command and survivor of at least one Israeli
assassination attempt.
Hamas' senior political leader in Gaza, Aziz Rantisi, spelled out his mission: "We hope God
blesses you and gives you the power to avenge us every day and everywhere -- in Haifa, in
Tel Aviv and Hadera."
Not a single Israeli takes this threat as lightly, and not only because Hamas suicide bombers
have a proven record of attacks in the named Israeli cities. Israelis have already tasted the
first lashes of vengeance for the Gaza carnage, and so, of course, have the Palestinians.
On Thursday, a Jewish settler was killed in his car in a Palestinian ambush near the West Bank Palestinian city of Qalqiliya.
On Friday, four more settlers were slain -- including a couple and their child -- in similar attacks near Hebron. These were the
"first and simple answers" to the Gaza bombing, said the various Palestinian militias who claimed them.
Following the funeral of one, Jewish settlers ran wild in Hebron, shooting dead a 14-year old Palestinian girl and wounding
nine others. This was the first bloodletting. More -- and worse -- will almost certainly follow.
Many Palestinians believe this is what Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon wants: the continuation of a vengeful war "without
rules" to maintain a domestic Israeli "consensus of fear" behind his policies of military re-conquest in the West Bank.
As evidence they point out that at the very moment the bomb was slamming into Gaza, leaders from the Tanzim -- the "field
organisation" of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement and the most powerful Palestinian faction in the occupied territories -- were
meeting in the West Bank to finalise a statement calling for a unilateral Palestinian ceasefire.
The Tanzim's leader is Marwan Barghouti, currently languishing in an Israeli prison on charges of "terrorism". He approved the
ceasefire call, says Fatah.
The statement had been the fruit of two months of discussions between Tanzim leaders, the other Palestinian factions
(including Hamas) and diplomats from the European Union, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
Published on 24 July in Israel's largest circulation Yediot Aharonot newspaper, it said "Tanzim and Fatah will cease all attacks
on innocent men, women and children who are non-combatants" i.e. all Israelis save for soldiers and armed settlers in the
occupied territories. Moreover, it called on "all Palestinian organisations and movements to cease these attacks immediately,
without hesitation or preconditions".
This refers to Hamas. On 22 July -- hours before the attack on Gaza -- its spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, had said
Hamas would stop killing Israeli civilians if Israel were to withdraw from recently re-occupied Palestinian cities, free recently
detained Palestinian prisoners and end the assassinations of its leaders.
Some Fatah sources said this was to prepare his followers for an endorsement of the Tanzim statement. Others say there were
divisions within Hamas over an "unconditional" ceasefire: Shehada, for example, was opposed to the call. Yassin had been in
favour.
But whatever Hamas' ultimate response, the ceasefire is now buried in the rubble of Al-Darraj.
"Sharon has wasted a golden opportunity," says Hatem Abdul Khader, a Fatah leader involved in the ceasefire negotiations
with both Hamas and foreign diplomats. "With such an agreement we could have saved the lives not just of Palestinians but
also Israelis."
The Israeli government rejects the charge. "Of course we knew about it [the ceasefire declaration]," said Sharon's spokesman,
Rannan Gissin, on 25 July. "So what? It would have been one more declaration. Never have their declarations held, and it
wouldn't have held this time. Not for one moment did the warnings of attacks diminish."
European diplomats involved in the ceasefire discussions are less dismissive. Unlike Yasser Arafat's calls for an end to military
actions in January and March -- extracted on pain of political and diplomatic excommunication -- this ceasefire originated in
the Tanzim itself. And it was born of grassroots Fatah leaders' growing realisation that the strategy of an "armed Intifada" --
and particularly the suicide bombings -- had failed.
One reason for reappraisal is the enormous cost to Palestinians of Israel's collective reprisals for the suicide bombings. These
currently include Israel's reoccupation of seven of the eight main Palestinian West Bank cities, a lethal siege on Gaza and an
economy which has reduced one in two Palestinians to penury.
But another relates to the internal power struggle that has simmered within Fatah throughout the Intifada between the "young
guard" represented by the Tanzim and militias like the Al-Aqsa Brigades and the older, exiled leadership that returned to the
occupied territories with Arafat in 1994.
Fatah's younger cadre want a ceasefire now not only to spare their people and themselves more Israeli punishment, say
Palestinian sources. They also want a period of quiet to translate the popular support they enjoy into political power, firstly by
holding new elections for leadership positions within Fatah and ultimately for the PA elections, scheduled for early next year.
The aim is less to challenge Arafat, says one, than to "remove the people around him".
If so, Israeli government officials say, the ceasefire call is tactical, enabling the Tanzim to recover from the losses they have
suffered from Israel's reoccupation of the West Bank. It does not signal any strategic shift away from armed struggle to more
political forms of protest. Other Israeli commentators are not so sure.
Israel's assassination of Shehada "wiped out the chance, however small, to calm the region", wrote Israel's leading military
analyst, Alex Fishman, in Yediot Aharonot on 24 July. "Was it a coincidence, or are we wedded to the conception that every
Palestinian move is a conspiracy or a lie?"
http://web1.ahram.org.eg/weekly/2002/597/re1.htm
Last Friday, several thousand Palestinians marched through the wreck of Gaza City's
Al-Daraj neighbourhood, site of a one-ton Israeli bomb that killed 15 Palestinians, nine of
them children.
The marchers were paying homage to the next Salah Shehada, the Hamas military leader
killed in the bombing and wanted by Israel for masterminding armed attacks against soldiers
and settlers in Gaza and suicide bombings inside Israel.
Hamas' latest military commander was not named at the rally, though Hamas sources said he
was Mohamed Deif, Shehada's second in command and survivor of at least one Israeli
assassination attempt.
Hamas' senior political leader in Gaza, Aziz Rantisi, spelled out his mission: "We hope God
blesses you and gives you the power to avenge us every day and everywhere -- in Haifa, in
Tel Aviv and Hadera."
Not a single Israeli takes this threat as lightly, and not only because Hamas suicide bombers
have a proven record of attacks in the named Israeli cities. Israelis have already tasted the
first lashes of vengeance for the Gaza carnage, and so, of course, have the Palestinians.
On Thursday, a Jewish settler was killed in his car in a Palestinian ambush near the West Bank Palestinian city of Qalqiliya.
On Friday, four more settlers were slain -- including a couple and their child -- in similar attacks near Hebron. These were the
"first and simple answers" to the Gaza bombing, said the various Palestinian militias who claimed them.
Following the funeral of one, Jewish settlers ran wild in Hebron, shooting dead a 14-year old Palestinian girl and wounding
nine others. This was the first bloodletting. More -- and worse -- will almost certainly follow.
Many Palestinians believe this is what Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon wants: the continuation of a vengeful war "without
rules" to maintain a domestic Israeli "consensus of fear" behind his policies of military re-conquest in the West Bank.
As evidence they point out that at the very moment the bomb was slamming into Gaza, leaders from the Tanzim -- the "field
organisation" of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement and the most powerful Palestinian faction in the occupied territories -- were
meeting in the West Bank to finalise a statement calling for a unilateral Palestinian ceasefire.
The Tanzim's leader is Marwan Barghouti, currently languishing in an Israeli prison on charges of "terrorism". He approved the
ceasefire call, says Fatah.
The statement had been the fruit of two months of discussions between Tanzim leaders, the other Palestinian factions
(including Hamas) and diplomats from the European Union, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
Published on 24 July in Israel's largest circulation Yediot Aharonot newspaper, it said "Tanzim and Fatah will cease all attacks
on innocent men, women and children who are non-combatants" i.e. all Israelis save for soldiers and armed settlers in the
occupied territories. Moreover, it called on "all Palestinian organisations and movements to cease these attacks immediately,
without hesitation or preconditions".
This refers to Hamas. On 22 July -- hours before the attack on Gaza -- its spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, had said
Hamas would stop killing Israeli civilians if Israel were to withdraw from recently re-occupied Palestinian cities, free recently
detained Palestinian prisoners and end the assassinations of its leaders.
Some Fatah sources said this was to prepare his followers for an endorsement of the Tanzim statement. Others say there were
divisions within Hamas over an "unconditional" ceasefire: Shehada, for example, was opposed to the call. Yassin had been in
favour.
But whatever Hamas' ultimate response, the ceasefire is now buried in the rubble of Al-Darraj.
"Sharon has wasted a golden opportunity," says Hatem Abdul Khader, a Fatah leader involved in the ceasefire negotiations
with both Hamas and foreign diplomats. "With such an agreement we could have saved the lives not just of Palestinians but
also Israelis."
The Israeli government rejects the charge. "Of course we knew about it [the ceasefire declaration]," said Sharon's spokesman,
Rannan Gissin, on 25 July. "So what? It would have been one more declaration. Never have their declarations held, and it
wouldn't have held this time. Not for one moment did the warnings of attacks diminish."
European diplomats involved in the ceasefire discussions are less dismissive. Unlike Yasser Arafat's calls for an end to military
actions in January and March -- extracted on pain of political and diplomatic excommunication -- this ceasefire originated in
the Tanzim itself. And it was born of grassroots Fatah leaders' growing realisation that the strategy of an "armed Intifada" --
and particularly the suicide bombings -- had failed.
One reason for reappraisal is the enormous cost to Palestinians of Israel's collective reprisals for the suicide bombings. These
currently include Israel's reoccupation of seven of the eight main Palestinian West Bank cities, a lethal siege on Gaza and an
economy which has reduced one in two Palestinians to penury.
But another relates to the internal power struggle that has simmered within Fatah throughout the Intifada between the "young
guard" represented by the Tanzim and militias like the Al-Aqsa Brigades and the older, exiled leadership that returned to the
occupied territories with Arafat in 1994.
Fatah's younger cadre want a ceasefire now not only to spare their people and themselves more Israeli punishment, say
Palestinian sources. They also want a period of quiet to translate the popular support they enjoy into political power, firstly by
holding new elections for leadership positions within Fatah and ultimately for the PA elections, scheduled for early next year.
The aim is less to challenge Arafat, says one, than to "remove the people around him".
If so, Israeli government officials say, the ceasefire call is tactical, enabling the Tanzim to recover from the losses they have
suffered from Israel's reoccupation of the West Bank. It does not signal any strategic shift away from armed struggle to more
political forms of protest. Other Israeli commentators are not so sure.
Israel's assassination of Shehada "wiped out the chance, however small, to calm the region", wrote Israel's leading military
analyst, Alex Fishman, in Yediot Aharonot on 24 July. "Was it a coincidence, or are we wedded to the conception that every
Palestinian move is a conspiracy or a lie?"
http://web1.ahram.org.eg/weekly/2002/597/re1.htm
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Duh.
At least in the year 2002 Israel, like most non-Muslim countries, has moved foward from the idea that
women are human beings and has inacted laws the recognize this. Recently the Saudi governemnt has debated issuing ID cards to women which would be the first time that their existance has been recognized in any legal sense- although it would not change the apartheid system the refuses them access to any financial or judicical means on their own behalf. Even this modest step is being protested by Saudi religous leaders who claim Allah would not like this at all. Hopefully if this small step isn't taken women will be so angry as to
immitate the Palestinians in their violent means to demand freedom. How would the Saudi governement react to women throwing stones, snipers killing the facist Mullahs, and women suicide bombers targeting institutions that exclude women? No doubt the great admiration they express for Palestinian terrorists would not be shown to these women.
it is not o.k. to call "israeli's", as an entire nation and culture, war loving. and it is not o.k. to cast all palestinians and arabs, every single one of them, as terrorists.
so are all "white" people in america wealthy, uncaring assholes? is that an accurate characterization? are all "black" people in america poor criminals? are all "latino" people illegal migrant farm workers? is that how it works? just go ahead and put entire races in little convenient pigeonholes to score some fucking points with your buddies?
it doesn't prove shit. nothing.
history. human nature. reactionary hatred and political extremism, on the arab side AND the israeli side. there's the problem. not "arabs" versus "israeli's". black vs. white. evil vs. good. it's so much more complicated than these worthless pictures.