Black Flags
When I visited Ramallah last, it wore a shining white
frock. Even after days of sunshine, many areas where
still covered with snow that hid the ravages of the
occupation, destruction and neglect.
I was driving slowly and enjoying the landscape,
when I tensed instinctively. Through the corner of my
eye I saw a group of children. Something was hurled
forcefully against my windshield and landed with a
bang. In the split of a second I relaxed: it wasn’t a rock
but a snowball. I waved and they waved cheerfully
back, in spite of my yellow Israeli license plates.
But that was the only light moment during this visit.
I had come to ask Palestinian civic leaders about the
dangers threatening the Palestinian population in case
of an American attack on Iraq.
They had no illusions. The present Israeli political-
military leadership includes groups that have been
planning for a long time to exploit a war situation in
order to do things which cannot be done in ordinary
times. The moral brakes that still exist in parts of the
Israeli public, as well as the expected international
reaction, prevent the implementation of these plans for
the time being.
All this can change in a war situation. The attention
of the world will be riveted to the battle in Iraq. In the
Arab countries, chaos may prevail, diverting attention
from the Palestinian territories. The Israeli public,
fearful of Saddam’s capabilities, will be (even) less
sensitive to the plight of the Palestinians.
What can happen?
The list is long, and every item is worse than the
preceding one.
The first – and almost certain – act will be a
prolonged closure and curfew in all the occupied
territories. The Palestinians have a long and painful
experience with these. It means that for days and
weeks on end it will be impossible to get food and
medicines into towns and villages, especially to remote
and isolated ones. This time, electricity may be
completely cut off, cutting all connections with the
outside world. Patients will not reach hospitals for
ordinary treatment (dialysis and chemotherapy, for
example) or emergency procedures (wounds,
operations, births etc.). In many cases, this can literally
be a matter of life and death.
Only some of these eventualities can be forestalled.
For example, Villages can be helped to stock essential
supplies in advance.
It is clear to the Palestinians that the war will give
the occupation forces the opportunity to intensify even
more the things which happen now every day: the
execution of militants and others, wholesale demolition
of homes, uprooting of plantations. It is difficult to
know what new dimensions these can attain.
But there is one word that hovers over all the
discussions: “transfer”.
In simple terms, “transfer” means the mass
expulsion of the Palestinian people from Palestine, as
happened in 1948 and 1967. In the situation of 2003,
that will be difficult. The question will be: where to?
Jordan will close its border and the mass expulsion of
Palestinians there would constitute an act of war
against the Hashemite kingdom. It is hard to imagine
the Americans allowing Sharon to do this while Jordan
is serving as one of their bases in the war against
neighboring Iraq. Expulsion to Lebanon is almost
impossible without creating a war-like situation on the
northern border.
But there is another form of transfer: deportation
from one part of the occupied territories to another.
For example: deportation of the population from towns
and villages adjacent to the planned “separation wall”
(Kalkilya, Tulkarm) to the central areas (Nablus).
That has already happened before. During the June
1967 war, Moshe Dayan emptied whole neighborhoods
of Kalkilya and drove their inhabitants on foot to
Nablus. The demolition of the neighborhoods had
already begun, when we succeeded in stopping it. (I
exploited the fact that I was a member of the Knesset
at the time and alerted several senior personalities.)
The refugees were allowed back and the
neighborhoods rebuilt. (At the same time, many
inhabitants of Tulkarm were put on buses and brought
to the Jordan bridges.)
Another example: many settlements on the West
Bank are planning to grab adjacent areas. If the armed
settlers’ militias will terrorize near-by villages under the
cover of the closure, they may cause a Deir Yassin-
style mass flight.
It is common knowledge that many people in the
military leadership are waiting impatiently for the
opportunity to remove Yasser Arafar. Removing means
killing, as nobody believes that Arafat will surrender
without resistance. If the Americans want “regime
change” in Iraq and are not hiding their intention of
killing Saddam, why should Sharon be prevented from
doing the same?
The question is: will the Americans allow Sharon
and his accomplices to do all this, or part of it?
There can be no clear answer to that. Logic says no.
The Americans will not want Israel to disturb their war.
Even after the war, Washington will not want the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict to flare up. The American military
occupation of Iraq might last for many years, and any
inflammation of the Arab world will be detrimental.
But America and logic are two different things. The
group that is now in control in Washington – a mixed
bag of Evangelical fundamentalists and Jews
connected with the extreme right in Israel – has a logic
of its own. They may direct and even push Sharon to
extremes.
It is, of course, clear that all the acts mentioned
constitute war crimes under the Geneva Convention
and other international laws. Some of them are crimes
under Israeli law, too, being “manifestly illegal orders,
over which a black flag is waving”, to quote an Israeli
legal precedent. Participants in such actions may find
themselves, some day in the future, before an
international or national court. There is no statute of
limitations.
But that is not the only reason for sounding a
warning. Every one of these actions will be a disaster
for Israel. If one believes that the long-term security
and well-being of Israel depend on Israeli-Palestinian
peace and reconciliation between the two peoples of
this country, one has to do everything to prevent acts
that will deepen the abyss of hatred between us.
Things may happen that will destroy for generations
any possibility of building a bridge over the abyss, and
turn the whole Arab and Muslim worlds against us
forever.
Therefore, we should not rely on the Americans to
stop Sharon. We, the Israelis, must do everything – but
everything! – to prevent such acts from taking place. I
believe that this is a patriotic duty of the highest order.
Uri Avnery
8.3.03 |
