BY AHMAD NIMER
RAMALLAH — Commentary in the capitalist mass media about the measures taken by Israel against the Palestinian population in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the wake of the December 1-2 suicide bombings has been strikingly unanimous: Israel is now engaged in a "war against terror" that resembles that launched by Washington against Osama bin Laden and the Taliban in Afghanistan; Israel must do as it sees fit to defend its people; and the days of Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority (PA) are numbered if the intifada is not halted.
This myopic analysis is symptomatic of the unwillingness to recognise that the true cause of the "violence" in Palestine is the historic injustice inflicted upon the Palestinian people over the past 53 years, made worse by the casual disregard of the extreme suffering felt by the majority of the population since the latest intifada began on September 29, 2000.
During October and November, 139 Palestinians were killed by Israel's forces in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The vast majority were civilians going about their daily lives, including five children from Gaza who were killed on November 22 by an Israeli mine planted on the road to their school.
The Palestinian death toll in October was the largest since November 2000 with 91 dead. Palestine's economy has all but collapsed due to the Israel's closure of Palestinian towns and villages. A majority of the Palestinian population now subsists on less than A$4 a day and meaningful employment is almost impossible to come by.
Add to this Israel's continuing official policy of assassination, the latest victim being Hamas leader Mahmoud Abu Hunoud on December 1.
However, the immiseration of the entire population is not the reason why a handful of Palestinians decide to strap on explosives and blow up themselves and others on Israel's streets.
The missing link is political frustration. Many Palestinians see no hope or viable strategy to achieve national liberation. The material roots of Palestinian terrorism are located in desperation mixed with no political hope for the future. Hamas and Islamic Jihad have concluded that there remains no alternative but for Israeli civilians to feel the Palestinians' pain and suffering.
Green light
However, this strategy only strengthens the Israeli rulers. Following the three suicide attacks in Jerusalem and Haifa, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who is directly responsible for thousands of Palestinian deaths during his long career in the Israeli military and political leadership, was given a green light to escalate Israel's attacks against the Palestinian population.
Despite a whimper of protest from the Israeli Labour Party (historically the backbone of the Zionist movement and the ideological twin of Sharon's Likud party), all ranks within the Israeli government quickly fell into line behind Israel's thinly veiled declaration of war against the PA.
The aims of the escalation were expressed in startling honesty by Israeli leaders: the PA must arrest and crush all Palestinian political forces opposed to the Israeli occupation or else it will cease to be the recognised government of the Palestinian people; and the PA must immediately and unequivocally act against the political opposition — essentially Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and some elements of Fatah — or it will be toppled.
The US government has also given Israel a green light to follow this policy to its logical conclusion of establishing a proxy government to rule on behalf of Israel's occupation with or without the PA.
The debate within Israel's ruling circles is around whether the PA can deliver stability based on acceptance of Israel's occupation or should it be replaced by another entity? Some of Israel's extreme right wing, organised around Avigdor Lieberman and elements of Likud support the immediate destruction of the PA and the establishment of Palestinian cantons in which Israel would deal directly with Palestinian warlords in each area.
Other tendencies, such as the Israeli Labour Party — supported by European Union governments and, at least until recently, Washington — believe the PA can deliver, and should be pressured to do so. This wing argues that the cantonisation of the West Bank is best delivered by the PA itself through negotiations along the lines of the Mitchell and Tenet Agreements. All tendencies agree that now is the time to force the PA to act immediately to arrest activists, prevent demonstrations and put an end to so-called "incitement" against Israel.
Military strikes
Israel's immediate response to the December 1-2 suicide bombings was to impose the strictest military closure on Palestine since the signing of the Oslo accords in 1993. For several days it was impossible to leave Palestinian areas. Even Palestinians in need of medical attention were prevented from moving, resulting in the death of an 18-month-old baby who was prevented from going to the hospital in Qalqilya.
Israel then launched military strikes with US-supplied F-16 warplanes and Apache helicopters against symbolic targets such as Arafat's private helicopters, and numerous police stations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Two Palestinians were killed during the attacks in Gaza City.
In addition, the Israeli army sent its tanks into PA areas in Ramallah, Gaza and the north of the West Bank. If the PA is unable to carry out the arrests that Israel demands, there is talk that the Israel military will impose a curfew and go house to house in order to kill or arrest wanted activists. Another option being floated is to bring in Jordanian troops to rule over these areas.
The PA responded by declaring a state of emergency and banning all demonstrations not officially approved. Hundreds of activists have been arrested across the West Bank and Gaza Strip and Arafat has pleaded for more time in order to carry out planned arrests.
The PA has so far shied away from the mass arrests demanded by Israel for fear of civil war and the collapse of the PA itself. Previous attempts at arrests, particularly of PFLP members following that organisation's assassination of far-right Israeli tourism minister Ze'evi, have largely targeted lower-level cadres and non-active members.
This time it could be different. As Israel's foreign minister Shimon Peres has put it, "The PA needs to decide between the risk of a civil war or the certainty of an all-out war with Israel".
The Palestinian population, demobilised due to its position as spectators after the intifada took on a more militarised character, has so far been largely passive during the PA's arrest campaign, despite widespread sentiment against it.
In the Gaza Strip, armed Hamas members unsuccessfully tried to prevent the PA placing Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Yassin under house arrest.
This is Israel's final attempt to quell the Palestinian uprising by using the PA as its battering ram against the population. If this fails, then Israel will attempt to replace the PA with those more able to do the job.
However, as long as Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip continues, there will always be another uprising.
From Green Left Weekly, December 12, 2001.
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