By Uri Avnery, 1.7.06
"ISRAEL HAS declared war on the Palestinian people! The Palestinian people will answer in kind! The Palestinian rebellion will go on! The Palestinian fighters are steadfast in the service of the nation! Down with the Nazi-Zionist occupation! Out with the unclean infidels from the Holy Land! Destroyed Rafah - we shall build you anew! Long live the Palestinian revolution! Long live the State of Palestine!"
A Hamas leaflet of last week? Not exactly. With appropriate changes, this leaflet was published on July 2, 1946 - sixty years ago almost to the day - by the Haganah, after "Black Saturday".
Then, in the wake of a
daring commando action by the Palmakh ("shock troops" of the
Haganah), which blew up a number of bridges, the British government of
Palestine decided to carry out a plan prepared well in advance. It was
code-named "Agatha". On June
29, 1946, 17 thousand British soldiers fanned out all over the Jewish towns and
kibbutzim to confiscate arms and documents and arrest the leaders of the Jewish
community. The British government affirmed its determination to stamp out
terrorism. In Jerusalem, the soldiers occupied the headquarters of the Jewish
Agency, the de facto government of the Jewish "state within the
state", and confiscated many documents that clearly established its close
connections with the "terrorist headquarters" - the joint command of
the Haganah, the Irgun and the Stern Group, which worked closely together at
the time.
The soldiers broke into
the homes of the political leaders of the Jewish community and arrested most of
the Jewish Agency "ministers". The leaders were detained in Latrun.
But the commanders of the underground organizations decided to continue
fighting, in order to prove to the British that the arrest of the leaders had
not silenced them.
"Black
Saturday" was a milestone in the fight against the British. Within a year,
they decided to leave the country.
The similarity between
the British "Agatha" and the Israeli "Summer Rains" is
striking. This shows that every occupation regime is condemned to repeat the
actions of its predecessors, even when they have been proved hopeless. This
does not mean that all occupiers are fools - only that the logic of occupation
itself condemns them to do foolish things.
THE AIM of the present operation is, ostensibly, to free
the soldier Gilad Shalit, who was captured by the Palestinian underground
(consisting of several organizations), in an attack that even an Israeli
military expert called "a daring commando action".
If our army had kept its
high military standard, it would immediately have replaced all the commanders
responsible for the debacle. 50 years ago this would have been done. But we
have a different army now. Nobody was removed. The failed commanders just
called the attack "a terrorist act", the fighters
"terrorists" and the captured soldier "kidnapped".
The action proves, of
course, an old military maxim: for every means of defense a means of attack can
be found, and vice versa. The "security" fence that surrounds the
Gaza Strip on all sides (except the sea), the like of which is now being built
inside the West Bank, can stop thieves and
people looking for work in Israel, but not determined fighters who will
always find ways to cross it, whether from below or above.
The
"kidnapped" soldier served as a pretext for an operation which must
have been prepared a long time ago. The Israeli and international public has
been told that the aim is to set him free, but in practice it has put his life
in greater jeopardy. If the soldiers come near to where he is hidden, he could
be killed in the cross-fire - as happened some years ago to the soldier
Nakhshon Waksman, who was captured by Hamas. He was killed in the exchange of
fire between the soldiers and the Palestinians. Waksman would probably be alive
today, if there had been an exchange of prisoners instead.
The connection between
the "kidnapped soldier" and the operation exists only in the realm of
propaganda. The same goes for the second pretext: that the aim is to put an end
to the launching of Qassam rockets at the town of Sderot.
True, this is indeed an
intolerable situation. The Qassam, a simple and inexpensive weapon, causes more
panic than real damage, like the German V-rockets fired on London in World War
II. It terrorizes the population, and that is its aim. Its purpose is to break
the devastating blockade that the Israeli government has been maintaining
against the Gaza strip since the "disengagement". Until now, the army
has not come up with a means to put a stop to the rockets.
But the Qassams, too,
are not the real cause of the "Summer Rains" operation. Its character
shows that it has a much wider aim: to destroy the elected Palestinian
government (Israeli propaganda's "Hamas Government") and bring the
Palestinian population to its knees. This is supposed to make it possible for
the Israeli government to carry out the "Convergence" plan, annexing
major parts of the West Bank to Israel and preventing the establishment of a
viable Palestinian state.
A clear aim, which the operation is designed to attain by simple means: breaking the Palestinian population by the liquidation of its leadership, destruction of its infrastructure and cutting off of food supplies, medicines, electricity, water and sanitary services - not to mention employment. The message to the Palestinians: if you want to put an end to your suffering, remove the government you have elected.
CAN THIS succeed? Exactly like the success of the British
operation. "Agatha" achieved the very opposite.
Like all the failures of
our army over the years, from the battle of Karameh in 1968, through the
Egyptian crossing of the canal at the beginning of the Yom Kippur war, to the
two intifadas, the reason lies with the abysmal contempt that the army
commanders hold for the Arabs in general and the Palestinians in particular.
The Shin Bet meets the Palestinians in the form of interrogated prisoners, who
are ready to say anything at all under torture, and the despicable collaborators,
who are ready to sell their cousins for drugs or money. The occupation
commanders cannot imagine that the Palestinians could react like any other
people, even - God forbid! - as we did in a similar situation. What, these
pitiful Arabs are like us?
True, the British never
behaved towards us as we do now towards the Palestinians. But on the other
hand, the Palestinians' ability to suffer oppression is much greater than ours.
It is based on the family structure that makes for much more effective mutual help,
and on the experience of living for years in dire straits.
On "Black
Saturday" the Jewish community stood together behind its besieged
leadership. The opposition from right and left rallied behind Ben-Gurion (who
was abroad) and Sharett (imprisoned in Latrun). Experience shows that every
people behaves like this when a foreign enemy attacks its leadership. Hamas is
almost certain to emerge much strengthened from this test. The arrests prove to
the Palestinian public that its is a fighting, loyal leadership, not corrupted
by the amenities of power - contrary to their predecessors, some of whom were
tainted by corruption.
The pretext for the
operation - the release of the captured soldier - will only harden the attitude
of the Palestinians. No issue is more important for them than the release of
Palestinian prisoners - a matter that directly concerns 10 thousand Palestinian
extended families, in every town, quarter and village. These families are
prepared to suffer anything to secure their release.
THE SECOND victim of the operation is the "Convergence
Plan", which has become ridiculous. In the eyes of the ordinary Israeli,
it looks like this: We have left Gaza, and now we are returning. We dismantled
the settlements there, and got the Qassams on Sderot in return. Sharon has
failed, so Olmert will fail doubly.
That is true, but not
for the obvious reasons. The withdrawal from Gaza has not brought security,
because it was carried out without any dialogue or agreement with the
Palestinians. It has not brought peace nearer, because it was coupled with an
open intention to annex large parts of the West Bank. And, no less importantly,
we did indeed leave the Gaza Strip entirely, but have blockaded it and cut it
off from the world. All this is even more true for the "convergence"
of Olmert.
The "Summer
Rains" may have washed it off the map.