By Miriam Tramer
Most people outside Israel, especially the Palestinians, would see the closure of the occupied territories as an appalling disaster. Without a viable economy, the territories have been transformed into giant prison camps, imposing considerable misery and denial of human rights.
However, Akiva Eldar, a leading Israeli journalist, announced during a recent Sydney address that he was "delighted to hear about the closures".
Eldar, considered a "dove" within the Israeli context, is the diplomatic editor for the Israeli daily Ha'aretz. He spoke in Sydney last week on "Peace in our time: The peace process under pressure". In his speech he welcomed the closures, claiming that they indicate Israel is going back to its pre-1967 borders and abandoning the "Greater Israel" idea.
He expressed an outrageous racism which, in Israel, masquerades as liberalism. He had been impressed in Sydney to see "blond sewerage workers". In Israel, he said, they were used to seeing "black Arabs doing the dirty work". He hoped that when he returned to Israel he would see blond sewerage workers. "I don't want slaves from the West Bank working for us or stabbing us", he explained.
"Israel is a country of slaves and masters", he said. "Since 1967 we have had 'occupation deluxe', but Israeli coexistence with the Arabs on this basis has been more like the coexistence of the jockey with the horse. We made a fortune out of this occupation. We denied them independent economic development, we got cheap labour, a great market. It was typical colonialism.
"Until the intifada started, we believed life could go on like post-1967, with Arabs doing all the work. As a result of the deportations, in the last few months Israelis have come to understand that you cannot keep the territories and get rid of the people. We shall have to share land if there is not to be a bloodbath. It took only 15 stabbed Israelis last month to persuade 70% of Israelis that Gaza should be left."
Eldar said that most of the ministers in the Israeli government believe the deportations were a political mistake. "You can't have a peace process and at the same time deport people." Ignoring the fact of the continuing settlements in the territories, he claimed that in the same way that the Jews left the territories since the intifada, the closures send the Palestinians out of Israel.
While the frank acknowledgement by an Israeli commentator of the colonial nature of the Israeli occupation is refreshing, Eldar's vision of an Israel "cleansed" of Palestinians remains essentially racist. He omits to say that the territories have been progressively annexed since 1967 through settlements strategically placed to divide Palestinian centres from each other. A system of highways has been built which links Jewish settlements and isolates Palestinian ones. Jerusalem itself has been gradually and stealthily trebled in size since 1967, encroaching more and more on the territories.
With the deliberate Israeli policy of underdevelopment of the territories, what kind of independence can emerge if the Israelis calmly withdraw, leaving the Palestinians to solve the problems dumped on them by colonial occupation? This would be freedom to starve, not freedom to live in dignity.
When questioned on this point, Eldar replied, "It is not our business how they run their life. We hope that there will not be a Lebanonisation." He said he believed the West would have to give economic aid to assist economic development.
Eldar concluded that there is "much room for optimism, for peace". The unchallenged dominance of the United States, the fear of Islamic fundamentalism on the part of the PLO and many of the Arab states, the election of the charismatic hawk, Benjamin Netanyahu, to the leadership of the Likud party, are all factors he believes are favourable to a peace settlement.
But what sort of peace? With agendas like that described by Eldar, there is little room for optimism for a peace based on justice and equality.