Democratic Palestine : 30 (ص 9)
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- Democratic Palestine : 30 (ص 9)
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ficers)...» As reported by AP, July
12th, Rabin estimated the Israeli
military’s expenses as a result of the
uprising at 160 million dollars. Rabin
also announced that the cost of com-
batting the uprising might hinder the
current armament program of the army
and military research, by imposing
budget restrictions.
Equally significant was the worry
expressed by Reserve General
Menachem Meron, former director
general of the Defense Ministry, that
the Israeli army «will turn into experts
at riot control at the expense of combat
readiness» (AP, July 12th). As one ex-
ample ur this, the elite Givati Brigade
had planned exercises in December, but
these were ,,ostponed when the entire
brigaue was 2__..7 1 against the upris-
ing in the Gaza Strip. They finally held
their exercises in July. In addition, by
late June, 30 Israeli soldiers had been
imprisoned for refusing to serve in the
occupied territories.
Compounding the problems in the
military field is the fact that the
damages inflicted on the Israeli
economy by the uprising are beginning
to show their long-term impact. In
June, the governor of the Israeli Cen-
tral Bank admitted that the uprising is
hitting the Israeli economy hard;
growth in business may fall by 40% this
year, cutting the 1987 growth rate of
6.9% to 4% or less (New Worker, June
24). Economy Minister Gad Yaacobi
estimated that the uprising has cost
‘Israel’ over 600 million dollars, in-
cluding losses in tourism, export and
production revenues (AP, July 12th).
On September 9th, Israeli radio
reported that Prime Minister Shamir
supported the Treasury Ministry’s
recommendations of major budget
cuts, due to the added costs of the
uprising.
Still, sectors of the Israeli political
leadership feigned ignorance of the
reality because it doesn’t match their
strategic expectations, as when Shamir
termed the uprising a «bother» rather
than a threat to the Israeli occupation.
On July 12, Housing Minister David
Levy inaugurated a new settlement in
the West Bank, and vowed more would
be built depite the uprising. On the
other hand, Yoshe Beilin, director
general for political affairs in the
Foreign Ministry and Labor-oriented,
admitted in mid-July that there is no
military solution for the uprising. He
added that nonetheless the methods of
force will continue to be applied as long
as there is unrest, demonstrating
Zionist unity of action against the
uprising.
A political furor was created by the
statements of Maj. Gen. Avraham
Tamir, director-general of the Israeli
Foreign Ministry; while in Washington,
he said: «Everybody knows that the
PLO is, for the Palestinians, for the
Palestinian people, their national
organization... So the question is not
how to replace the PLO, but how to
change it» (International Herald
Tribune, September 3-4th). Tamir also
said that ‘Israel’ would not negotiate
with the PLO, and that he opposed a
Palestinian state. Still, his
acknowledgement of the PLO was
enough to prompt Shamir to call for his
dismissal.
At the same time, the Likud and
other extreme rightist forces were call-
ing for a change in the rules so that
Israeli soldiers and civilians (settlers)
could shoot to kill at stonethrowers. A
battalion of 170 armored corps
soldiers, ending reserve duty in the
West Bank, signed a petition urging the
army to allow soldiers to shoot more
freely at demonstrators. The tank
commander Gad Shlafkin said, «That
way we won’t come to the point where
soldiers are humiliated in front of the
rioters» (AP, September 2nd).
In any case, the upsurge in militant
demonstrations in mid-July was vastly
disconcerting for both wings of the
Israeli government. This upsurge was in
part the culmination of the battle of the
schools.
THE BATTLE OF THE
SCHOOLS
Since the first days of the uprising,
the battle for education has been an in-
tegral part of this round of struggle,
against the occupation. Depriving
Palestinians of a meaningful education
has always been a main thrust of Israeli
occupation policy, and on the other
hand, students have always been in the
forefront of the mass struggle. Palesti-
nian universities have repeatedly been
closed for extended periods, while other
schools suffered intermittent closures
following protests. With the onset of
the uprising and the entire Palestinian
population’s involvement in this, Israeli
repression against educational institu-
tions became more severe and
systematic than ever. Virtually all West
Bank schools were shut for the dura-
tion, while those in the Gaza Strip
operated only off and on; 475,000
students were deprived of daily educa-
tion.
Meanwhile, with the uprising’s thrust
towards Palestinians organizing their
own affairs, steps were taken tc
organize popular education on the locai
level. The United National Leadership
called for the formation of educational
committees and for actions to protest
the occupiers’ use of schools as bar-
racks for their soldiers.
Finally, with the school semester
anyway nearing an end, the occupation
authorities decided to open the schools
in stages from mid-May, starting witl
East Jerusalem and kindergartens, and
moving up and out. By June 6th, high
schools in both the West Bank and
Gaza Strip were opened, but univer-
sities remained closed. The occupation
authorities hoped to use the opening as
a device for ‘normalizing’ the situation.
At the same time, they reasserted their
intention to interfere in Palestinian
educational affairs as evidenced by the
statement of Brig. Gen. Shaike Erez,
head of the West Bank military
government, that «teachers who are
connected with the rioting are not
teachers anymore» (International
Herald Tribune, May 24th).
The United National Leadership
called for children to return to school,
and Palestinians en masse asserted their
right to education, while teachers
worked to have the school year extend-
ed through the summer to make up for
lost classes. But as could be expected,
there was no normalization. Many
students returned to schools which had
been heavily damaged by the occupa-
tion troops; in one El Bireh school
alone, 77 windows had been broken by
the occupation troops stationed there.
In addition, soldiers remained deployed
in the vicinity of the schools.
The uprising having become a way of
life, school pupils continued to par-
ticipate in demonstrations and other
activities, as on June ist when
thousands marched in protest of the
occupation on the International Day of
the Child. Within a week, the
authorities were threatening to close the
schools again. At the same time, they
released 120 detainees of school age, a
de facto admission that they had been
arresting children, despite their denials.
In the same period, the Hebrew press
had printed several exposes about the
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