Democratic Palestine : 4 (ص 17)
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- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 4 (ص 17)
- المحتوى
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Zionist ‘Justice’ -
Election Tactics
Why the terrorist establishment cracked down on its own death squads...
In July 1980, the attempted assasination of mayors
Ibrahim Tawil, Bassam Shakaa and Karim Khalaf resulted in
serious disabilities for the latter two. Since then Palestinian
residents, especially in the West Bank, have been accosted by
wave after wave of terrorist attacks officially attributed to
eccentrics. The few perpetrators brought to trial were ones
who could be discounted as fringe elements or deranged,
while terror escalated under the pseudonym of TNT, a sup-
posedly unknown group.
It is well-known why the crimes against our people
remained unresolved. Quite simply, their aim of inducing a
mass exodus of Palestinians is Israeli state policy. Only
recently, Prime Minister Shamir spoke of «a land of Israeli free
of foreigners». The criminals were just doing their job of clear-
ing the land as good Zionist settlers have always done in one
way or another. Accordingly, settler terrorism enjoyed support
in the highest echelons, with arms, logistics and protection
coming from the IDF, intelligence officers and government offi-
cials. Recently, this official encouragement was made explicit
by Science and Development Minister Yuval Neeman. Speak-
ing on Israeli radio, May 9th, he said of the 1980 attack on the
mayors: «in total, it had a positive effect...paralyzed the main
instigators...»
Official involvement has been amply confirmed by the
details released in connection with the arrests that began late
in April and resulted in the indictment of 27 Israelis associated
with the assassination attempt on the mayors, the July 1983
murder of students at Al Khalil (Hebron) University, planting
bombs /in mosques and buses, etc. The indicted are residents
of settlements in the 1967 occupied territories. Unlike the
Israelis arrested earlier, they are not mainly affiliated to
Kahane’s KACH movement which openly advocates «All
Arabs out!» and which ‘respectable’ Zionists call fanatics. No,
those newly arrested are the type of Gush Emunim, the Likud’s
favored settler movement. They include decorated war
«heros», at least two senior army officers, a retired police
officer, a mayor in the so-called civil administration of the West
Bank, a former deputy military governor for a region of the
West Bank and a senior air force officer. Shin Bet investiga-
tions revealed a sophisticated organizational network. The
arms caches «suddenly discovered» were stocked with
weapons of IDF issue, from the one at Lifta, near Jerusalem, to
that at Kiryat Arba which consisted of weapons given to the
settlers for a regional defense program and then reported mis-
sing.
It has also been officially confirmed that the authorities
have known the identity of these terrorists for at least a year
and that many have been under surveillance (but of course not
prevented from their anti-Palestinian terror). Israeli police offic-
ers have confirmed that in some cases the intelligence had
ordered a halt to investigations. Why then did the Israeli
authorities finally crack down on their partners in terrorism?
«The Jewish underground» -
a political football in the Zionist elections
We can automatically discount that the arrests of Zionist
terrorists was a concession to Palestinian grievances. Gener-
ally, the Israeli authorities have not even bothered to interview
the targets of terror attacks to gather clues. Instead we can
trace the reasons for the crackdown to the needs of the Zionist
state in its current crisis, and most immediately to the Likud’s
slipping hold on state power. The Shamir government desper-
ately needs to show it is in control in order to cover its total fal-
lure to alleviate the economic crisis or reduce Israeli casualties
in Lebanon. Under pressure from the opposition, the Likud
needs a diversionary maneuver to blunt criticism and increase
the chances of its reelection. In the process, Shamir and Arens
are taking the opportunity to consolidate their hegemony over
the state and the right-wing bloc. Three events which preceded
the recent arrests indicate that to a great extent they are a polit-
ical football in the upcoming Israeli elections:
1. In late January, previously undisclosed facts about the
invasion of Lebanon were published in ‘Israel’, highlighting
misuse of power on the part of then Defense Minister Sharon
and Chief of Staff Eitan. Subsequently, a group of senior army
officers demanded an official inquiry into Sharon's perfor-
mance in the war, contending that forty Israelis were killed in
battles for which Sharon had not sought government approval.
This was a new reminder that despite Sharon’s great contribu-
tion to Zionism’s aggressive enterprises, he has become a lia-
bility to the Likud’s credibility and has disturbed the unity and
morale of the most sacred Israeli institution: the army.
2. On February 7th, the Karp report was published. Drawn
up by Israeli legal experts headed by Deputy Attorney General
Karp, it castigated law enforcement in the occupied territories.
Covering the period from May 1981 until May 1982, the report
has been finished since that time, but publication was delayed
because it documented the failure of Israeli police to seriously
deal with anti-Palestinian terrorism.
Karp herself is Labor-affiliated, and this report's publica-
tion gave a real push to the opposition. The Labor Party lacks
foolproof solutions for the economic crisis, which is inherent in
the Zionist state’s structure, and to the problems encountered
in occupying South Lebanon. (It advocates withdrawal only
when ‘security’ is guaranteed, which is essentially the same
policy established by Defense Minister Arens. Whether advo-
cated by Labor or Likud, this means continuing occupation and
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