- "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!"
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- 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".
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- "Black Saturday" was a milestone
in the fight against the British. Within a year, they decided to leave
the country.
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- 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.
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- 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".
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- 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".
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- CAN THIS succeed? Exactly like the the
success of the British operation. "Agatha" achieved the very
opposite.
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- 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?
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- The "Summer Rains" may have
washed it off the map.
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