Democratic Palestine : 40 (ص 3)
غرض
- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 40 (ص 3)
- المحتوى
-
New Zionist Violence
Any hope of a breakthrough in the political impasse was thwarted
after the formation of the new Israeli government, a coalition
made up of fundamentalist and ultra-right-wing parties, including
Geula Cohen’s Tehiya and Raphael Eitan’s Tsomet. Eitan once
referred to the Palestinians as cockroaches, and like many other
ministers in this new government, he would rather see them exter-
minated or at least expelled.
by Maher Salameh
The «Greater Israel» government
put the issue of immigration and
absorption foremost among its national
objectives. Despite international pro-
test against the settling of new immig-
rants in the 1967 occupied territories,
Housing Minister Ariel Sharon has
planned the building of 20,000 housing
units in the Jerusalem area which was
annexed by Israel after its occupation
in 1967. A map of the occupied ter-
ritories printed in Russian was distri-
buted to all absorption centers handl-
ing Soviet immigrants. The map
includes the names and _ telephone
numbers to contact for those interested
in settling in the 1967 occupied ter-
ritories(Jerusalem Post, June 20th).
During the month of May, 30 families
of Soviet Jewish immigrants were set-
tled in the Golan Heights settlement of
Kitsrin. In addition, the influx of tens
of thousands of Soviet Jews has
created a severe housing crisis in
Israel, with the housing ministry
encouraging Israelis to settle in the
1967 occupied territories by providing
them with material incentives.
This move leaves no_ illusions
about Israel’s intentions of circumvent-
ing any efforts towards a peaceful set-
tlement of the conflict. In the words of
Shamir: «It would be madness on our
part to agree to any concession what-
soever in an area(the West Bank)
which is the soft underbelly of Eretz
Yisrael»(Jerusalem Post, June 12th). If
Israel succeeds in absorbing the pro-
jected one million new Soviet Jewish
immigrants, perhaps the new «soft
underbelly» will be Jordan!
On the military front, the new
government’s plan was expounded by
Defense Minister Moshe Arens. In an
interview with Israeli television, Arens
Democratic Palestine, July-August 1990
criticized his predecessor, Yitzhak
Rabin, particularly for his belief that
there cannot be a military solution to
the intifada. Arens described Rabin’s
conclusion as «a fundamental mis-
take,» and added that «when such a
solution becomes possible, we will
implement it.»
Arens’ strategy vis-a-vis the
intifada is two-pronged. On the one
hand, he is attempting to revive the
Israeli policy of finding an alternative
leadership in the occupied territories in
a vain effort to exclude the PLO,
thereby defeating the intifada politi-
cally. After finding «his men,» Arens
proposes to conduct municipal elec-
tions instead of general elections in the
West Bank and Gaza Strip, as prop-
osed in both the Shamir and Baker
plans. Arens fears such elections would
«create problems and complicate the
issues;» such complications would be
the presence of a UN team to monitor
general elections, making it difficult
for the Israelis to ng them.
On the other hand, he is escalat-
ing repression through the increased
use of collective punishment, such as
house demolition, while simultaneously
‘reducing the presence of troops in cer-
tain areas, in hopes of dampening
popular resistance.
Meanwhile, vigilante violence
increased sharply after two Israelis
were found dead in the Jerusalem area
on August 6th. Upon hearing the news
and before the arrest of any suspects,
Israeli settlers and vigilantes went on a
rampage against Palestinians. In the
ensuing frenzy, two Palestinians were
killed and over a hundred injured in
the Jerusalem area. Another Palesti-
nian women was killed near the Kiryat
Arba settlement in what the Israeli
police admitted was an act of revenge.
A 40-year-old Palestinian man was kil-
led on August 7th by an Israeli mob
inside the green line, when he was
dragged from his car and beaten to
death. His pregnant wife and their six
children also received injuries. The
rampage continued for three days in
many parts of occupied Palestine,
resulting in extensive damage to prop-
erty and many injuries. The settlers’ >
Israeli patrol in Jerusalem’s Old City
-Tordai - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 40
- تاريخ
- أغسطس ١٩٩٠
- المنشئ
- الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين
Contribute
Not viewed