Democratic Palestine : 23 (ص 27)
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- Democratic Palestine : 23 (ص 27)
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such logic, Palestinian retaliation is,
invariably, «terrorist» in nature.
A closer inspection of Israeli
«retaliation» will reveal the true nature
of the Zionist state and its duplicitous
partner, the United States (herein, |
shall use the U.S. only, because it leads
the West in an all-out support for
Israel). On April 9, 1984, the Irgun-
LEHI (Stern Gang) groups massacred
250 innocent men, women and children
in the village of Deir Yassin. The sur-
vivors of that massacre were taken to
Jerusalem and paraded through the
streets to instill fear in the indigenous
population, which efficated the expul-
sion of 300,000 Palestinians the
following month. In October 1953, unit
101 commanded by Ariel Sharon at-
tacked the Jordanian village of Qibya, x
which killed 70 people; again innocent
men, women and children (note that as
of yet there is no PLO). The following
description was given by UN military
observers: «Bullet-riddled bodies near
the doorways and multiple bullet hits
on the door of the demolished houses
indicated that the inhabitants had been
forced to remain inside until their
homes were blown up over them...
Witnesses were uniform in describing
their experience as a night of horror,
during which soldiers moved about in
their village blowing up buildings, fir-
ing into doorways and windows with
automatic weapons and throwing hand
grenades.» | It is interesting to note
that Sharon, who was responsible for a
great many other massacres, is being
hailed as a hero within Israel and the
West.
In December 1954, Israeli military
aircraft captured a Syrian civilian
airliner in order to use the passengers as
hostages for exchange with Israeli
soldiers captured by Syria. Former
Israeli Prime Minister, Moshe Sharett,
states in his diary: «Our action was
without precedent in the history of in-
ternational practice.» The euphemisms
used to describe this event were «diver-
sion raid» or «retaliatory raid.» A
parallel act committed by Palestinians
is termed «hijacking,» «terrorism» or
«barbarism.» The preferential use of
epithets by Israel and the West has
always been an effective tool in the
construction of the Manichean view of
the Palestinian-Israeli conflict; namely
that Israel is the bastion of civilization
in the Middle East and the Palestinians
are «barbarians» bent on the destruc-
tion of «innocent» Israel.
THE QUESTION OF
TARGETS
Referring to a Palestinian attack on
Ma'alot settlement in occupied
Palestine, Rafaat Georgy writes,
«Granted that the killing of 20(Israeli)
youths was without justification and
immoral...» We feel that this merits
comment: The main line of the
Palestinian resistance is, of course, to
strike Zionist military targets.
However, it is necessary to point out
what this means in the specific context
of the national liberation struggle in
occupied Palestine. ‘Israel’ is a settler-
colonial state. This means it is not only
the occupation army and police forces
that directly deprive the Palestinian
people of their land and rights, Zionist
settlements, of which Ma’alot is only
one, are built on Palestinian land that
was either occupied by force of arms,
or confiscated through unjust, racist
laws. In either case, the rightful owners
are evicted. The settlements are
moreover armed, serving as de facto
extensions of the Israeli army and in
some cases actual military posts. This
has been very obviously demonstrated
by the armed settlers’ movement in the
West Bank, but it is a characteristic of
Zionist settlements throughout oc-
cupied Palestine. While
Mr. Georgy’s right to make his own
evaluation, we maintain that attacking
recognizing
Zionist settlements is a legitimate and
necessary part of the
liberation struggle.
Palestinian
IRRATIONALITY OR
STRATEGY?
The essay says, «When a Palestinian
witnesses his whole family massacred
by Israeli bombs, supplied by the
United States, his rational mode of
reasoning ultimately loses out to irra-
tional behavior,» This is in the context
of explaining the conditions under
which the Palestinian people live. We
greatly appreciate Mr. Georgy’s ex-
position of the bad conditions under
which Palestinians live, and we are cer-
tain that anyone can find instances of
irrationality on the part of some
Palestinian individuals or groups, like
among any population. However, we
hope Mr. Georgy does not mean that
the Palestinian armed struggle as such
is the result of reasoning losing out to
irrationality. The line of armed struggle
was adopted due to the lessons of the
Palestinian people’s experience and the
assessment that only through revolu-
tionary violence, combined with other
methods of struggle, can Palestinians
regain their rights. Armed struggle is a
conscious strategy that has proved its
validity in Vietnam, Algeria and other
anti-colonial struggles.
In March 1978, Israel invades
Lebanon leaving 250,000 people
homeless and 2000 dead. By June 1982,
Israel again invades Lebanon with far
greater destruction; leaving over a
million homeless, 20,000 dead, 48% of
which were civilian population, and
30,000 injured. (The figures are from
the UN. They are undoubtedly conser-
vative figures). It is of some interest
here to note how Israel is writing
history by using an Orwellian language
to describe the 1982 invasion; it was
appropriately termed «Operation Peace
for Galilee.» Language here is being
used to change the epistemological
construction of Israeli society and, to a
large degree, the West. The thousands
of Palestinians and other Arabs who
die under Israeli «retaliation» become
obscure numbers in the media; they are,
and this is most unfortunate, pro-
grammatically destined
historical footnotes.
to become
In. comparison, when Israelis are
killed by Palestinians or other Arabs
they (Israelis) are accorded front page
news and extensive television coverage.
We are bombarded with platitudes and
inculcated with interviews of the sur-
vivors and relatives of the survivors. In
May 1974, the PLO captured 20 teen-
age Israeli hostages (the Ma’alot attack)
from a paramilitary youth group
(Gadna) and after Israel refused
negotiations, the 20 youths were killed
in a rescue attempt. The incident en-
joyed sensational coverage by the
American media and, as usual, the
event was reported without any con-
text; thus leaving public opinion to
render blind condemnation. Granted
that the killing of 20 youths was
without justification and immoral, >
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