When Killings Don’t Count: A Week of Israeli Restraint

By Tanya Reinhart

In Israeli discourse, Israel is always the side exercising restraint in its conflict with the Palestinians. This was true again for the events of the past week: As the Qassam rockets were falling on the Southern Israeli town of Sderot, it was “leaked” that the Israeli Minister of Defense had directed the army to show restraint. (1)

During the week of Israeli “restraint”, the army killed a Palestinian family who went on a picnic on the Beit Lahya beach in the Gaza Strip; after that, the army killed nine people in order to liquidate a Katyusha rocket.

But in the discourse of restraint, the first killing does not count, because the army denied its involvement, and the second was deemed a necessary act of self-defense. After all, Israel is caught in the midst of Qassam attacks, and must defend its citizens. In this narrative, the fact that Israel is content merely to bombard the Gaza Strip from air, sea and land is a model of restraint and humanity that not many states could match.

But what is driving the Qassam attacks on Israel? For 17 months, since it declared a cease fire, Hamas has not been involved in firing Qassams. Other organizations have generally succeeded in launching only a few isolated Qassams.

How did this evolve into an attack of an estimated 70 Qassams in three days?

The Israeli army has a long tradition of “inviting” salvoes of Qassams. In April of last year, Sharon took off to a meeting with Bush in which his central message was that Abbas is not to be trusted, has no control of the ground, and cannot be a partner for negotiations. The army took care to provide an appropriate backdrop for the meeting. On the eve of Sharon’s departure, on 9 April 2005, the Israeli army killed three youths on the Rafah border, who according to Palestinian sources were playing soccer there.

This arbitrary killing inflamed a wave of anger in the Gaza Strip, which had been relatively quiet until then. Hamas responded to the anger on the street, and permitted its people to participate in the firing of Qassams. In the following two days, about 80 Qassams were fired, until Hamas restored calm. Thus, during the Sharon-Bush meeting, the world received a perfect illustration of the untrustworthiness of Abbas. (2)

At the beginning of last week (11 June), Olmert set out on a campaign of persuasion in Europe to convince European leaders that now, with Hamas in power, Israel definitely has no partner. The USA does not appear to need any convincing at the moment, but in Europe there is more reservation about unilateral measures. The Israeli army began to prepare the backdrop on the night of the previous Thursday (8 June 2006), when it “liquidated” Jamal Abu Samhadana, who had recently been appointed head of the security forces of the Interior Ministry by the Hamas government. It was entirely predictable that the action may lead to Qassam attacks on Sderot. Nevertheless, the army proceeded the following day to shell the Gaza coast (killing the Ghalya family and wounding tens of people), and succeeded in igniting the required conflagration, until Hamas again ordered its people, on 14 June, to cease firing.

This time, the show orchestrated by the army got a bit messed up. Pictures of the child Huda Ghalya succeeded in breaching the wall of Western indifference to Palestinian suffering. Even if Israel still has enough power to force Kofi Annan to apologize for casting doubt on Israel’s denial, the message that Hamas is the aggressive side in the conflict did not go unchallenged in the world this time. But the army has not given up. It appears determined to continue to provoke attacks that would justify bringing down the Hamas government by force, with Sderot paying the price.

Even though it is impossible to compare the sufferings of the residents of Sderot with the sufferings of the residents of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya in the North of the Gaza Strip, on which 5,000 shells fell in the past month alone (3), my heart also goes out to the residents of Sderot. It is their destiny to live in fear and agony, because in the eyes of the army their suffering is necessary so that the world may understand that Israel is the restrained side in a war for its very existence.

This op-ed went to press an hour before the Israeli air force killed three more children in a crowded street in North Gaza, on Tuesday, June 20.

Tanya Reinhart is a Professor of Linguistics at Tel Aviv University and the author of Israel/Palestine: How to End the War of 1948 and The Roadmap to Nowhere. She can be reached through her website: http://www.tau.ac.il/~reinhart

NOTES

1. On Monday, June 12, the headlines announced that the Defence Minister Peretz blocked an initiative of the army to launch a massive land offensive in Gaza (e.g. Amos Har’el and Avi Issacharoff, Ha’aretz, June 12, 2006). In the inside pages of the weekend papers, it turned out that this was a “media spin” produced by Peretz bureau “based on a security consultation held the previous night” (Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel, Lost innocents, Ha’aretz, June 16-17, 2006).

2. This sequence of events is documented in detail in my book The Road Map to Nowhere, to appear in July, 2006 (Verso).

3. Alex Fishman, Senior security analyst of Yediot Aharonot reports that at the beginning “the artillery shelling of the Gaza strip was debated”, but then, “what started ten months ago with dozens of shells a month that were fired at open areas today reached astronomical numbers of shells. The battery that fired the six shells on Friday [June 9] fire an average of more than a thousand shells a week towards the north of the Strip. This means that the battery which has been placed there for four weeks has already fired about 5000 shells” (Yediot Aharonot Sa! turday Supplement, June 16, 2006).
http://www.tau.ac.il/~reinhart

Bil’in Mourns Hundreds of Cilivian Deaths

Today, July 21, 2006, the people of Bil’in marched in silence to the Apartheid Wall with the support of Israelis and internationals. The weekly march turned into a mourner’s procession as two hundred and fifty demonstrators carried a 20 meter long black flag as a symbol of the over 425 Palestinians and Lebanese killed in recent weeks. They also carried posters with the message “Is this the world we want for our children?”. To download a poster for printing and posting click here For PDF.

Worldwide Poster Campaign

The demonstrators gathered in front of the Wall and held a moment of silence and prayer for those killed in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, and the West Bank. The normal celebratory tone of the demonstration was replaced with one of somberness and grief. After the moment of silence the procession marched back to Bil’in without any violent response from the Israeli army.

Mohammed Al Khateeb of the Popular Committee of Bil’in stated, “We are protesting against the Israeli military aggression that targets innocent civilians and infrastructure”. He explained the tape that many people wore over their mouths, “We are against the Arab and International apathy and silence towards the ongoing Israeli violations of human rights”.

Al Khateeb also called on the Palestinian, Israeli, and international peace activists to continue to protest, in Palestine, in Israel, and around the world, against the Israeli attacks and violations.

After the demonstration Israelis and internationals joined people of Bil’in in a discussion about the non-violent joint struggle in Bil’in and new strategies of working together and resisting. Israelis and internationals also took posters to place in Israel and to send abroad.

To Israel: “You just want us all to die, and no one in the world seems to care”

A story from Maghazi Refugee Camp, central Gaza
by: Rami Almeghari

It was just after 1am when the Israeli jeeps and tanks, backed by war planes, invaded Maghazi, telling the story of Palestinian refugees anew. It is a story that not only pacifica radio, but all of us who live in Maghazi, know already, having seen it repeated again and again in Gaza. Less than one hour before, the Washington Based Pacifica had phoned me about doing a live interview about Maghazi camp in central Gaza, where I live. I laid down my head on the pillow, under darkness because there is no electricity, in order to have some peace of mind before the live interview the next day.

War planes began shooting heavily overhead. Abruptly, I rushed to my children beside me, waking them up and taking them downstairs in case of any stray bullets hitting from above. My mother was crying, my father was worried, my sister listening to newscasts.

In the darkness, everybody has been anxious, with kerosene lamps showing their wary faces and hushed voices.

My six year old son asked me, “Dad, will i be able to be in the second grade at school?”, as we got the news that Israeli war planes had dropped a missile on his school. The Palestinian News Network reported that this bombing killed one Palestinian cilivian and injured 20 others, who were all children. He noted that all of the children were transferred to a nearby hospital, where nine are being treated for “serious injuries.”

This morning’s raid marks what is merely the latest in a series of Israeli attacks on the Gaza refugee camp. Since Israeli attacks began on Maghazi Camp just a few days ago, eight civilians have been killed, and a staggering 90 have been wounded.

My eight year old daughter sat on the sofa, awake all night looking at me with frightened eyes, her face yellow and pale. I was worried about my brother and his children (like many refugee families, we all live together in one house), so i went upstairs to wake them up. I found my brother sleeping on the roof, due to the hot weather under darkness.

Unfortunately, I was sorry to break his rest, because the sky was raining in such a summer night, but an Israeli-made ‘Summer Rain’ [The Israeli military code-name for their ongoing Israeli invasion in the Gaza Strip is ‘Operation Summer Rains’].

Now, the whole family has been crowded in one small, much safer room, listening quietly to the summer rains and to my mother’s cries, which I tried to dry, but in vain. Because she was so worried, lest her other son, who was out with friends, seeking summer breeze and summer air, get wet by the ‘summer rains’ that have started to fall on Maghazi.

From 1 am to 9:30 am as I write this, the ‘summer rains’ have been falling, making a flow that has swept away six lives, wounded several others, devastated the camp’s transformer, hit a wall of my son’s elementary school, and inflicted damage to many homes and buildings.

My fear, as well as my family’s, is the same as that of thousands of Palestinian refugee families throughout the past six decades starting from 1948, 1956, 1967, and ending with 2006’s latest invasion of Maghazi and other refugee camps since june 27th.

However, Palestinians in the past century have found safe shelters to which they have fled. It now seems we have only one choice — staying in our homes under candlelight. This is the story of Palestinian refugees. Now, in the 21st century, I ask Israel — where else do you want us to go? It seems that you just want us all to die, and no one in the world seems to care.

I am writing this by pencil, on used paper, I can no longer type on my computer. The electricity is fully gone, the backup systems have all been hit. I have to dictate my writing by cell phone to a friend in the West Bank who can type it up – but soon, most likely, my cell phone reception will be gone as well. Now I have heard that two of my relatives were killed in the ongoing attack…..I’ll have to attend their funerals this afternoon. Will Israeli forces attack the funeral? Lately every time there is a funeral, their warplanes buzz overhead, dropping bombs on the attendees and making more funerals necessary. I just hope the next one will not be my own, or that of my dear, dear children.

US State Dept.: You’re on Your Own

The US State Department has issued a travel warning for Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza that states that “those taking part in demonstrations, non-violent resistance, and “direct action,” are advised to cease such activity for their own safety.” They warn of the danger that peace workers face from Israeli soldiers and settlers just for working in “pro-Palestinian volunteer efforts”.

In the report they state, “In recent months, citizens of Western nations, including Americans, involved in pro-Palestinian volunteer efforts were assaulted and injured in the Occupied Territories by Israeli settlers and harassed by the IDF.” Fox News reported on their website, “This likely refers to a group known as the International Solidarity Movement, said political science professor Nathan Brown, a senior associate with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington.”

Along with ISM, the US State Dept. is referring to internationals from the Tel Rumeida Project, Christian Peace Maker Team, International Women’s Peace Service and other organizations who have been attacked and beaten by settlers in Hebron and shot at by soldiers in non-violent protest across the West Bank.

Huwaida Arraf, one of the founders of ISM, expressed her disappointment towards their response. “Instead of calling on Americans to stop engaging in nonviolent protests to Israel’s occupation and human rights violations, the state department should be calling on Israel to stop using violence against unarmed civilians (which include americans), especially since the Israeli military is using US taxpayer dollars to carry out these attacks.”

Gaza Diaries: Cry Freedom

By Mona El-Farra

16th of July, 1.30 am
A loud explosion woke me up. My daughter was frightened and covered her head with the blankets as I switched on my little transistor radio. The F16 hit the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building with one rocket, it is the second time in less than one week. Straight away I thought of Fawaz and Nawaf, my childhood friends, and their families. I did not dare to contact them! The sound of the explosion was too strong, it shook my flat (500 meters away).

16th of July, 7.30 am
After a struggle to sleep, I decided to get up and hurried to my friends’ house. They were not injured but, the scene was shocking: Fawaz was startled and unable to focus, causing his brother and the children to be traumatized. He showed me the garden: tall, old trees completely destroyed, so were the windows of their building, and the garden was covered with the rubble of the destroyed Ministry of Foreign Affairs building.

Why to hit the same building twice in one week? They did the same with the Ministry of Interior building, which my friend Hoda lives close to. It is a massive systematic terrifying collective punishment.

No electricity, no water, no milk for babies, no safety, closed borders. 1.5 million captured in their own country. 4 weeks of continuous shelling from sea, land, and air against civilian targets causing 145 deaths (45 were children) and hundreds of injuries in three weeks.

The captured soldier was a pretense for a well-planned systematic assault and collective punishment against a whole population. It is a desperate trial by the Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) to destroy our will and our determination to achieve our just national goals. But they will not succeed and they should learn from our people’s history: we get tired sometimes, we complain other times, but fortunately Palestinian people do not have the psychology of victims. We have the psychology of freedom fighters, and with the support and solidarity of other people who are fighting daily against injustice: we shall overcome.
With every pain and suffering we cry: Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!

19th 0f July, 4pm
Al-Magazi Refugee Camp, East Gaza

Today is the second day of IOF incursion into the Al-Magazi camp in the middle of the Gaza Strip. Shelling continues from the sea, land, and air. So far 9 people are killed, at least 45 (mainly civilians) are injured in the first hours of the incursion. Still no water and no electricity. Hospitals are struggling with increasing causalities. They are working through the emergency off the alternative power source and medical supplies are exhausted.

Beit Hanoun village North Gaza
Today the IOF withdrew from the village, leaving 40 houses demolished, 12 people killed, tens injured, large areas of fruitful agricultural land were destroyed, 2 journalists and 2 health emergency workers were injured. Our surgical team at Al-Awda Hospital was overwhelmed with the large number of the casualities. The army stayed for 3 days in the village, and left it destroyed.The UN OSO team reported some very poor families are in great need of baby formula but the UN does not supply this sort of milk. I shall make sure to distribute this milk via Middle East Children Alliance (MECA) tomorrow.

While I write, continuous explosions can be heared from the gunboats, Apache helicopters fill the sky with a drone sound. Still no electricity. I do not find it easy to write with the candle light and the old fashioned kerosine lamp.

In Solidarity,

Mona El-Farra