Democratic Palestine : 5 (ص 28)
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- Democratic Palestine : 5 (ص 28)
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Guatemala also has an Israeli-installed computer which
monitors electricity and telephone usage and records data on
individual movements taken from police checkpoints. A
Guatemalan with abnormal power or phone usage is sus-
pected as running a safe house or as an activist. Such suspi-
cion is likely to bring a death squad to the door.2'* «Israeli
advisers work closely with Guatemala’s police intelligence (G-
2)», according to George Black.?'S
Former junta chief Lucas Garcia, who organized the death
squads, said, «We appreciate Israel. We see the Israeli soldier
as the best soldier in the world today, and we look to him as a
model and an example for us».?’© However, young Guatema-
lan officers were reported disgusted at corruption in which their
superiors shared arms sales commissions with Israelis.2'7
The Army Transmissions and Electronics School was
opened in 1981 by President Lucas Garcia. George Black
reports it is «designed, staffed, and funded by Israelis, its
sophisticated systems are unprecedented in Central America.
At the opening, Moshe Dayan, former Israeli ambassador to
Guatemala (no relation to the former defense minister), called
Guatemala «one of our best friends» .218
According to Time, the Israelis have sold the Guatema-
lans «everything from antiterrorism equipment to transport
planes. Army outposts in the jungle have become near replicas
of Israeli army field camps». Colonel Gustavo Menendez Herr-
era, based in Huehuetenango, told Time his troops «are using
Israeli Communications equipment, mortars, submachine
guns, battle gear, and helmets» .?'9 President Efrain Rios Montt
told ABC-TV that the coup which brought him into power was
so successful «because many of our soldiers were trained by
the Israelis» .22°
An Israeli military training team is assigned to Guatemala.
Guatemalan military police were taught by Israeli advisors ina
two-week counterinsurgency course.?2'
Israelis advised former President Rios Montt in agrarian
counterinsurgency, based on Israeli experience in the West
Bank.?@2 In March 1983, Col. Eduardo Wohlers, director of the
«Plan of Assistance to Conflict Areas», pointed to the Israelis
as his main source of inspiration: «Many of our technicians are
Israeli trained. The model of the kibbutz and the moshav is
planted firmly in their minds. And personally | think it would be
fascinating to turn our highlands [the home of Guatemala’s
indigenous people] into that kind of system» .228
A Catholic priest interviewed by George Black in
Guatemala in March 1983, «believes that even the promotion
of Catholic-evangelical factionalism in an effort to divide and
conquer communities is the result of Israeli advice, based on
the successful exploitation of rivalries between Christian, Mos-
lem, and Druze communities in Lebanon» .224
Honduras
Honduras,too, has a computer, but here Israel contributes
most directly to the U.S. strategy of regionalizing the war in
28:
Central America. Israeli planes and U.S.-financed runways
have made Honduras Central America’s main air power
threatening FMLN control zones in El Salvador. and now the
people of Nicaragua as well.*@° In 1981, Israeli military person-
nel were spotted training pilots at a Honduran base.”
In July 1982, the Honduran army commander, General
Gustavo Alvarez, made a quasi-secret visit to Israel seeking
alternatives to American aircraft in case Congress refused to
sell them.?2” In December 1982, former Israeli Defense Minis-
ter Ariel Sharon returned the visit in Honduras at about the
same time as President Reagan was there. A high-level Hon-
duran officer told the Christian Science Monitor, «Sharon’s trip
was more positive. He sold us arms. Reagan only uttered
platitudes explaining that Congress was preventing him from
doing more». The same officer reported that the sales included
advanced fighter planes, training, and missiles.?78
Sharon was accompanied by then Air Force chief General
David Ivry, who became president of Israel Aircraft Industries
on January 1, 1983, and then deputy chief of staff when Gen-
eral Eitan retired in the aftermath of Sabra and Shatila.*?° In
May, Honduran General Alvarez made a «semiclandestine»
visit to Tel Aviv to purchase «a large quantity» of Kfir jets and
electronics devices.*°° Alvarez was recently quoted saying, in
relation to Nicaragua and his support for the contras, «Every-
thing you do to destroy a Marxist regime is moral».?9' Israeli
combat pilots and military instructors are already in Honduras
and «everything is paid for by the U.S.A.».29?
The Honduran Christian Commission for Human Rights
published a communique indicating the Israeli-Honduran
agreement included $25 million in military hardware (including
twelve Kfirs) and fifty advisers.2° Edgardo Paz Barnica,Hon-
duran foreifn minister, denied the deal.2** A Honduran official
explained this official silence. «We don't want Nicaragua to
react violently as it did on other occasions for less important
reasons» .2°°
The U.S. State Department claims it did not know
beforehand that Sharon was going to Honduras, even though
Sharon went directly from Washington to Tegucigalpa. How-
ever, a high State Department official told the New York Times,
when asked if the Reagan administration approved of Israeli
activities in Central America, «Absolutely. We've indicated
we're not unhappy they are helping out. But | wouldn’t say we
and the Israelis have figured out together what to do» .?36
Israeli advisers are serving in Honduras and are involved
in the U.S.-sponsored covert operations against Nicaragua’s
Sandinista government. The Israelis have donated captured
PLO weapons to the contras, based in Honduras, with trans-
port paid for by the United States.”°’
To be continued.... - هو جزء من
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