Alternative Insight

Israel: False Assumptions and Damaging Choices

---

Western governments have assumed that Israel is a democratic nation with no territorial ambitions and is fighting wars to secure itself against terrorism and non-compromising enemies. These assumptions have steered the Western nations into believing they must choose:

either an Israel that deserves support in fighting for a survival that will eventually pacify the entire Middle East, or
terrorist-led factions that want to exterminate Israel and destabilize the Middle East.

Both the assumptions and choices have proven incorrect.

The present choice is between re-directing to newly defined borders an Israel that has expanded at the expense of a possible destruction of the Palestinian people and uses security as an excuse for its expansion, and between
a perpetual conflict that will eventually destroy Israel and much of the Middle East.

Note: This article might appear to be a lengthy "overkill" and one-sided discourse on the Middle East crisis, but only a complete airing of the topic can combat the false assumptions and biased positions that have guided other discourses.

The Case Against Israel
Israel is portrayed by its supporters as a democratic nation that wants peace but is constantly threatened and forced to use aggressive tactics to defend itself. History does not support these assertions. From the moment it declared itself a nation on April 15, 1948, the United Nations and many countries have accused Israel of committing a multitude of violations regarding legal rights, human rights, and international law. Israel has combined virulent nationalism and militarism with aggressive actions and a worldwide propaganda machine. What has Israel accomplished with its behavior?

Lebanon
Israeli forces occupied Southern Lebanon from 1985 until 2000. The Lebanese suffered internecine strife, bombings of refugee camps and killings of many of its civilians. Prime Minister Ehud Barak signed a truce with the Lebanese Hezbollah militia and Israel left Lebanon. Israel succeeded in creating havoc, killing Lebanese and strengthening a radical Islamic Hezbollah as a polarizing force in Lebanon.

Gaza
Israel occupied Gaza from 1967 to 2006, constructed settlements on beach property and prevented the Gazans from making full use of their sand, shore and fishing areas. Protection of the settlements provided an excuse for the Israeli army to control the daily lives of several generations of Palestinians. Bulldozing of houses, curfews, blockades and targeted assassinations that included killings of innocent civilians were common during the occupation. Before Israel removed the settlements and its army, it destroyed much of the Gaza infrastructure, including the airport, seaport, roads, factories and fisheries. The Israeli army, navy and air force have essential blocked Gaza from interchange with other nations. Israel gained nothing of substance and left the Gaza Palestinians destitute, without functioning institutions, with a radical Islamic Hamas in power as a polarizing force, and Gaza surrounded by Israeli military. Israel turned Gaza into a guarded encampment.

The extent of this imprisonment and Israel's duplicity are shown by the attacks on Gaza after Palestinian insurgents captured an Israeli soldier. Israel forces entered Gaza while its air force destroyed roads, buildings, bridges and power stations, none of which had anything to do with the soldier's capture. Israel used the search for the soldier to further cripple the Palestinian economy and move the Palestinian people into increased desperation.

West Bank
The Israeli occupation of the West Bank has been similar to that of Gaza, but worse. Israel maintains a network of checkpoints that make the daily life of the Palestinians an ordeal. Water has been diverted, wells and olive orchards destroyed, cities raided and civilians killed. Observation posts and the Israeli army have kept all Palestinians under strict surveillance. Israel constructed bypass roads for its settlements and 250,000 settlers while restricting everyday movements of West Bank Arabs.

Prime Minister Olmert has announced that Israel will make its borders permanent and give up 85 percent of the West Bank. Actually, Israel will not give up anything because it does not have legal title to West Bank land. It will consolidate its settlements and continue to control the lives of the Palestinians. The Palestinians will be confined to their principal cities and will have only civil control in other areas where fewer Palestinians live. In these same areas, the Israeli army will have administrative control. The Israeli army will occupy the Jordan valley and deny entrance to Palestinians. The Israeli army will control passage between Palestinian controlled areas. The West Bank will be a giant prison with the Israeli army as the guards.

What did Israel gain from its almost 40-year occupation of the West Bank? It didn't gain resources. It officially (?) added about 5% to its land area and populated that area with about 5% of its people. It enabled Hamas to become the leader of the Palestinian Authority and degraded the lives of several generations of Palestinians, a process it intends to continue. It brought the Palestinian community to almost complete destruction and encroached upon its territory in a manner that is more than is apparent.

The Separation Barrier assures Israel control over lives of the Palestinians and its total control of the West Bank.

Separation Barrier
Expropriation of Palestinian lands deep in the West Bank for use in Israel's Separation Barrier emphasizes Israel's transgressions on Palestinian life and property. The United Nations (UN) overwhelmingly voted (144 to 4) for a resolution that demands a halt in construction of the barrier and removal of the sections already completed. A UN Report concludes that "Palestinian families and communities are being separated from each other. Communities adjacent to Jerusalem are being cut off from the city, which they rely on for commerce, work and essential social services." The "Separation Barrier" together with Israel "security" forces in the West Bank accomplish the following:

• Separates the Palestinian population into several enclaves,
• Routes the barrier so that Israeli West Bank settlements become part of Israel,
• Incorporates the Jordan valley into Israel,
• Surrounds West Bank cities of Jericho, Hebron, and Ramallah by Israeli forces.

The Israel Defense forces maps, shown below, tell the story. The left map, which depicts the Separation Barrier close to the Green Line, was approved by the Israeli government on February 20, 2005. A revised map, on the right, which once again routes the barrier around the settlements and incorporates more Palestinian lands into Israel, was revised on April 30th 2006 without international complaint. Since it is difficult to read the maps, here are the essentials:

(1) The barrier is the curving line, red on the left
map and purple on the right map.
(2) The brown blotches are Palestine's main cities and immediate areas under total control of the Palestinians - Jenin, Nablus, Jericho, Hebron.
(3) In the yellow area Palestinians have responsibility for civil life such as economics, health and education; however, Israel retains full control over security and administration.
(4) The other areas to the Jordan river (the light line that starts from the northeastern terminus of the separation barrier and goes south), which is mainly the Jordan valley, is controlled by Israeli military and denied to the Palestinians.
(5) The green blotch is "state preserved nature lands."
(6) The remaining areas have the same light brown color as the State of Israel and are not distinguished from Israel.

It can be seen that the Palestinians have total control only over a small part of the West Bank and are separated into enclaves that are guarded by Israeli forces. How can a civilized world permit this monstrosity?

And what type of nation is Israel?

The Nation of Israel
Israel's growth resembles the initial stages of the creation of the United States. In both cases settlers arrived from foreign shores, encountered indigenous peoples, expanded at the expense of the native people and increased their populations from immigration. However, the successful creation of a secure United States does not extrapolate to Israel. U.S. expansion didn't directly affect foreign powers; it was secured by eventual expansion to oceans that provided a natural defensive position and occurred at a time when no nation (except Canada) could interfere with America's purposes. The differences in America's experiences are the differences that will eventually prevent Israel from succeeding in its ambitions.

Israel today is a nation that defines itself as Jewish, but actually contains twenty percent Palestinians, and a large percentage of dubious Jews. While claiming to be a product of Zionism, Israel has been sparsely settled by those who sought a nation with a Zionist vision; it has been settled principally by those who sought the economic advantages that Israel offered, in large part due to generous contributions from the United States and Germany. Almost all Russians, many of who were not actually Jews, desired to emigrate to America, but were forced to go to Israel. Middle East and North African Jews, who could have gone to Palestine at any time during the Ottoman Empire, left nations for Israel due to the escalating Israel/Arab conflict that grossly affected their acceptance and livelihood in their countries of origin. Others came either to escape from the limited possibilities in deprived nations or to receive the free assistance and often land and housing that had been seized by the Israelis during the 1947-1948 war. From Ethiopia, the Falasha arrived with a modified Torah and little attachment to world Jewry. Only a minor portion of western world Jews have migrated to Israel and many came as religious zealots.

In essence, Israel provided improved economic circumstances for selected peoples from other nations at the expense of the native Palestinian Arab people who were reduced to poverty. The trade-off is a racist concept. Its acceptance by the western nations is troubling and one cause of Islam's antagonism to the West.

Israel is a country of several factions held together by virulent nationalism, militarism and exclusionary laws that favor those who call themselves Jewish and reduces other citizens to 2nd class status. The discrimination in Israel contradicts the tenets of Western democracies. It is amazing it is tolerated. Israel has:

• Created laws and procedures that deny its non-Jewish citizens land purchases, equal opportunity for higher education scholarships, and access to credit.
• Issued Identification cards and passports that defines nationality according to ethnic group
• Created apartheid policies that deny Palestinians opportunities to obtain mortgages and also obtain housing in Jewish neighborhoods. Jewish citizens can obtain housing in Arab neighborhoods but are not permitted to sell these properties to non-Jews.

...one cannot fail to reach a conclusion, which cannot but be embarrassing to many of us: namely, that Israel is an Apartheid state, and the Apartheid not only manifests itself socially, but that it is also embedded in the legal system.
Apartheid Laws in Israel - The Art of The Obfuscatory Formulation
Excerpts from article by Uzi Ornan, the Israeli daily Ha'aretz, 17 May 1999.

Israel is a leading "money laundering" nation. Former Prime Minister Barak successfully petitioned U.S. President Bill Clinton to grant a pardon to Marc Rich, a fugitive from American justice. Rich transferred most of his funds, and eventually himself to Israel. Several Russian oligarchs, all fugitives from Russian justice, invested heavily in Israel and eventually made Israel their homes and its banks the havens for their looted money.

The money-laundering investigation against Bank Hapoalim's Yarkon Branch in Tel Aviv broke after a year of undercover police work, with huge headlines, investigators coming and going with cartons of confiscated records, and the questioning of bank staff, including the manager, on suspicion of involvement in the laundering of hundreds of millions of shekels by account holders at the branch. Among the best known of its customers are billionaires Valdimir Gussinsky and Arcadi Gaydamak.
Police sources say Gussinsky escaped by skin of his teeth, Roni Singer-Heruti

Israel has excessive organized crime:

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert admitted Wednesday that Israel is plagued with organized crime. Addressing an international convention on corruption in government, Olmert said that crime has infiltrated many aspects of Israeli life. Departing from his text, which used the term "organized criminal activity," Olmert said he had decided to call the phenomenon by its name. Leading crime families are said to be involved in gambling, prostitution and money laundering. The daughter of a reputed crime boss won a seat in the parliament that ended its term after March 28 elections. Earlier this year she prevented a search of her father's house by invoking parliamentary privilege. Haaretz -May 17, 2006

Israel has death squads:

LEBANESE authorities have broken up an apparent Israeli spy ring whose members have claimed responsibility for a string of killings of Hezbollah and Palestinian militants since 1999.
Death squad spy ring is captured, Nicholas Blanford, The Times June 16, 2006

Israel has forced labor:-

Some 16,000 to 20,000 people from developing nations such as Romania, Jordan, Thailand, the Philippines and Nepal are victims of forced labor in Israel, according to a report by the U.S. State Department that was released Monday in Washington. The report, which ranks countries according to the efforts they made last year to wipe out trafficking in women and involuntary servitude by foreign workers, has classified Israel on the "Tier 2 Watch List" - one level lower than the previous year. Israel is now included among countries that have failed to make adequate efforts to stamp out trafficking in persons for the purposes of forced labor.
State Dept. report raps Israel over forced labor, Relly Sa'ar

Israel interferes in other nations :

Several Israeli firms involved in defense exports are being investigated by the police on suspicion of illegal dealing in Iraq. The probe is being handled by the international investigations unit and has been going on for a number of weeks. At the focus of the investigation are Shlomi Michaels and Kodo, a firm registered in Switzerland but operating in Israel. Sources familiar with the case say that a foreign-registered company that operates in Israel should be listed with the Company Registrar - and this is a matter that will also be investigated by the authorities. Kodo and Michaels are suspected of selling equipment, know-how and technology, as well as providing security advisers from Israel, to groups and companies of Kurds operating in northern Iraq.
Police investigate dealings of Israeli companies in Iraq; Yossi Melman, Haaretz

Israel's operations contradict general perceptions and its transgressions are not well reported. Other nations have been sanctioned, invaded, punished and even destroyed by UN resolutions or NATO military for a fraction of Israel's violations. Only a cursory summary and portion of the total violations can be provided.

Legal Rights Violations. Israel

• Seized Palestinian lands, homes, factories, bank accounts and possessions from 700,000 refugees during the 1948-49 war and retained them for the state.
• Confiscated Palestinian homes after the 1948 and 1967 wars and gave them to Jewish immigrants
• Destroyed much Palestinian infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza, including airport, factories, schools, fishing areas, olive orchards, fruit orchards, wells, water facilities and homes.
• Continually confiscated Palestinian properties for either construction of military bases, construction of the security barrier, lack of use of the land or because the owners (only Palestinians) were out of the country for too long a period of time.

Human Rights Violations. Israel

• Destroyed 411 Palestinian villages after 1949, including mosques and burial places.
• Imprisoned, since 1967, an inordinate percentage of the Palestinian population at some time in their lives. Many of the imprisoned Palestinians have not had due process of law. I
• Caused 3,808 deaths and 29,456 injuries from Sept 29th, 2000 to Feb. 14 , 2005 to Palestinians in West Bank & Gaza. (Palestine Red Crescent Society)
• Constructed a Separation Barrier that has destroyed tens of thousands of Palestinian olive and fruit trees, divided villages and expropriated property.
• Destroyed thousands of homes along the Gaza border with Egypt that Human Rights Watch states "has no justification on military grounds."
• Has bombed Gaza towns, performed targeted assassinations of Palestinians, invaded homes and killed hundreds "while trying to escape" and without bringing them to trial (for what?).
• Has treated children as "collateral damage." Israeli air strike kills 3 children. The Israeli military has killed three Palestinian children, two of them siblings, in an air strike on the Gaza Strip. ABC News, June 21, 2006

International Law Violations. Israel

• Unilaterally declared itself a Jewish state and made no provision for the 40% Palestinians in the state defined by UN Proclamation 181 that apecified representation for all minorities.
• Contradicted international law and did not permit 700,000 Palestinian refugees to return to their legal homes, resulting in the greatest ethnic cleansing (other than mutual transfers) since World war II.
• Seized Jaffa, Beersheba, and other territory awarded to the Palestinians in 1948-49 .
• Contradicted international law and proclaimed martial law in Palestinian villages from 1948-1967.
• Ignored hundreds of UN General Assembly Resolutions and tens of Security Council Resolutions.
• Contradicted international law, and continually constructed and expanded settlements in the occupied West Bank, although the Geneva Convention declares: The occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own population into the territories it occupies." Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention (August 12, 1949)

Secrets of Temporary Success
Considering the obvious violations of international norms, how has Israel managed to gain continuous support from western nations?

• Use of the Holocaust has created tremendous sympathy for Israel. Although the UN established Israel several years after the end of World War II and after all refugees had been disbursed throughout the world, Israel has publicized itself as the refuge for Holocaust survivors. Actually, only a small percentage of Israel's citizens can trace themselves to being survivors or descendants of survivors of the world War II Holocaust.
• Appealing to Biblical history has enlisted assistance from religious fundamentalists. It is inconceivable that those who came from foreign nations claim ownership of land superseding those who either had legal title to the land or occupied the land for centuries. It is inconceivable that the world does not refute claims to the Holy Land made by Christian and Jewish extremists, who try to use the Bible as proof of their claims. Hasn't history and archaeology repudiated the fiction that have promoted these claims? As one example, it is not evident that Jerusalem houses any monuments, buildings, religious institutions, architecture or administration associated with ancient Israel. "...from the tenth century B.C.E. there is no archaeological evidence that many people actually lived in Jerusalem, only that it was some kind of public administrative center...We are left with nothing that indicates a city was here during their supposed reigns (of David and Solomon)...It seems unlikely, however, that this Jerusalem was the capital of a large state, the United monarchy, as described in Biblical texts." Margaret Steiner: It's Not There: Archaeology Proves a Negative, Biblical Archaeology Review, July/August, 1998.
• Some international media have supported Israel's interests. A virtual army of Israel supporters in institutions throughout the world, many sent from Israel, create lobbies, enter debates, "balance" discussions, influence media, respond to arguments not favorable to Israel and generate propaganda. An example of a false report: NPR Report, June 9 - Since Hamas announced the end of a 15 month truce, hostilities have started again.
  Truth: Israel bombed the Gaza beach days before the Hamas announcement and the Israeli military had hammered the Palestinians for months.
• Israel uses its debts as collateral. Israel attacks Palestinians, invites reprisals in the form of terrorism and then shouts "terrorism." Israel seizes Palestinian lands, declares all Jerusalem its property, refuses to discuss the right of return of Palestinian refugees, offers the Palestinians a peace treaty which is equivalent to surrender and then says the Palestinians refuse to negotiate and don't want peace. Israel violates human rights and attacks those who expose Israel's perfidy with vicious invectives that include the provocative charge of "anti-Semitism. "
• Zionism, a failed movement, has become a successful strategy. In order to promote new generations of Jews to identify closely with Israel, intensive propaganda attracts them to Zionism. The Zionist movement of the late 1800s maintained that Jews needed their own nation due to persecution, especially in Tsarist Russia, but a more relevant reason for Zionism was due to Jews becoming integrated into democratic societies and losing their faith in Judaism. Before the end of World War I, world Jewry had rejected Zionism; two million Russian Jews had emigrated to western nations and only several tens of thousands to Palestine. After creation of the state of Israel, most Jews came for economic reasons, some for religious reasons and very few because of a dedication to a Zionist philosophy. Now, although there is no strong Zionist movement (there are Zionists) unknowing persons divide Jews between the non-significant propaganda terms of Zionist and non-Zionist Jews and contribute to Israel's propaganda strategy. Four questions: (1) Why would any ethnic minority, that is living successfully in its birth country, want to be accused of being disloyal for favoring a foreign nation? (2) What nation wants in its midst an ethnic minority that has done well, but seems to favor a foreign nation? (3) What benefit is Zionism to world Jewry? (4) Why is Israel trying to revive the Zionist movement.

The 35th Zionist Congress is currently taking place at the Jerusalem Convention Center (Binyanei Hauma) in Jerusalem. The central theme for this congress is The Zionist Movement – Innovation and Revitalization. Israel Government Portal, June 20, 2006

At the age of 109, the Zionist Congress seems more alienated than ever from the Israeli agenda. Haaretz, June 26, 2006

The Self-Destruction of Israel
Israel's principal problems are:(1) It has nowhere to go except to meet more enemies. (2) It is limited in population growth of its favored ethnic group by birth and immigration. (3) It is developing internal religious, social and economic conflicts. (4) The list of nations and peoples who are antagonistic to its policies are growing. (5) It will always have hostility from Arab and Muslim peoples. (6) It can never escape from its illegal maneuvers and defiance of UN resolutions.

Considering a growing anti-Israel trend, a greater Israel as a Jewish nation is doubtful. The world's problem is, if "push comes to shove" will Israel use all of its power, including nuclear arms, to prevent its collapse?

The Growing anti-Israel trend:

• Overwhelming votes in the United Nations Assembly (a figure of almost 500 resolutions has been cited) that accuse Israel of human rights violations and Geneva Convention violations.
• Of about 181 Security Council resolutions, almost forty percent have criticized Israel. (Note: The exact numbers are disputed and the U.S. vetoed most of the resolutions.)
• In a Eurobarometer poll, November 2003, a majority of Europeans named Israel as the greatest threat to world peace.
• The National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE), Britain's largest academic trade union, voted on May 29, 2006 to boycott Israeli lecturers and academic institutions that did not publicly declared their opposition to Israeli policy in the territories. The boycott ended after the union's merger with the Association of University Teachers (AUT), Britain's second academic trade union.
• On May 28, 2006, the convention of the 200,000 member Canadian Union of Public Employees Ontario unanimously voted to support an “international campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel until that state recognizes the Palestinian right to self-determination.”
• The Congress of South African Trade Unions, representing 1.2 million workers, published a letter expressing enthusiastic support for the Canadian Union of Public Employees boycott of Israel.
• Leaders of the largest Presbyterian denomination officially equated the Jewish state with apartheid South Africa and previously voted "to initiate a process of phased selective divestment in multinational corporations operating in Israel, in accordance to General Assembly policy on social investing, and to make appropriate recommendations to the General Assembly Council for action.” Pressure by Israeli supporters brought a modification to the original document. Now the Presbyterian denomination "urges that financial investments of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), as they pertain to Israel, Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank, be invested in only peaceful pursuits, and affirm that the customary corporate engagement process of the Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investments of our denomination is the proper vehicle for achieving this goal.”
• The Church of Scotland is prepared to urge the European Union to ensure that all products made in West Bank settlements are clearly labeled so consumers can know their origins.
• The Church of England’s General Synod voted to disinvest Church funds from companies that profit from Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territory.

Damaging Choices
Israel has gone too far to retreat and relinquish its gains without sufficient pressure for it do to so. It has created an Israel Defense force, now a mighty army, which has become a brutal and intimidating enforcer of policies. Countering assumptions and a mighty army are generations of victims of Israel's illegal seizures of lands, occupation and repression who seem determined to never relinquish their demands for justice. The world must choose between re-directing to newly defined borders an Israel that has expanded at the expense of a possible destruction of the Palestinian people and used security as an excuse for its expansion, and a perpetual conflict that will eventually destroy Israel and much of the Middle East.

Israel has been driven by the concept of having a Jewish only state that encompasses a wide territory. It has approached the resolution of the conflict as "an all or nothing proposition." Halting this mission of destruction to the Palestinians, Middle East nations, Israel, and eventually the Jewish people demands, as a minimum, Israel's pull-back to the Green Line. The roll-back to the Green Line will be the termination of the "all" part of the proposition and the flow of history will go in an opposing direction. Other problems might then be resolved.

Jerusalem will be recognized by its true form, composed of the "old city" of ancient Jerusalem, which houses mainly Muslim and Christian institutions, and composed of neighborhoods that have independently grown during the times of the Ottoman empire and modern Israel. This composition counters Israel's propaganda of a greater Jerusalem that "should not be divided." The land area of an expanded Jerusalem will be distributed to claimants according to their legal claims

Land is not possessed by sketchy memory, awakened dreams and 3000 year old unproven genealogical connections. In nations of law, land belongs to those who legally acquired it. This legality can be a paper deed languishing for centuries in a bureaucratic drawer or, if the deed is not available, the right by inheritance of those who tilled and nourished the land for generations and hammered the rocks that provided shelter. In the reversal of history that replaces war with law, Palestinian refugees will be allowed to return to their lands or receive compensation for the properties taken from them.Legality and justice have been totally ignored in the resolution of the Middle East crisis.

Israel's expansion is due to a careless Western world that committed the unforgivable - actively assisted in the destruction and potential genocide of a people. Where else and when in modern times has this occurred? The populations and a growing number of institutions in the western Europe clearly recognize the injustices done to the Palestinian people, but their governments refuse to act to rectify the injustices. These governments have previously made decisions to resolve comparable situations:

• To defeat "ethnic cleansing" in Kosovo, NATO applied a military solution.
• To defeat Yugoslavian violation of UN resolutions, the UN applied sanctions.
• To defeat apartheid in South Africa, the UN applied sanctions.
• To defeat predjudice of its African-American citizens, the U.S. applied laws countering discrimination.

For the world, any of these approaches to the conflict will be a difficult, if not impossible, choice. Western governments, that have followed false assumptions and caused the difficulties, can either equitably resolve the injustices committed or knowingly set in motion the conclusive solution -- severe destruction of Middle East populations.

alternative insight
july 1, 2006

 HOME PAGE     MAIN PAGE
 

alternativeinsight@earthlink.net