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CounterPunch
August
31, 2002
Ariel Sharon's
Subjugation Strategy
by Neve Gordon
JERUSALEM. Israel recently agreed to withdraw its forces
from Bethlehem and populated Palestinian areas in the Gaza Strip
while the Palestinian Authority takes on the responsibility of
policing residents there.
Israeli soldiers and tanks moved to the
outskirts of Bethlehem, allowing the residents who have been
under curfew for nine weeks to leave their homes.
But the tight military blockade around
the city continues, cutting it off from other parts of the West
Bank. Bethlehem has been transformed into an island.
But even this small gesture, initiated
by Israeli Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, has little
to do with his concern for the Palestinians, 2 million of whom
have been imprisoned in their homes for nearly 70 days.
Rather, the appearance of Haifa Mayor
Amram Mitzna on the political scene -- as a contender for leading
the Labor Party in the next national elections -- seems to have
induced Mr. Ben-Eliezer to finally negotiate with the Palestinians.
Mr. Mitzna, who is part of Labor's dovish wing, has, according
to the polls, a 60 percent lead over Mr. Ben-Eliezer.
While Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has
not opposed Mr. Ben-Eliezer's initiative, he has a few ideas
of his own.
On Aug. 20, only hours after Israeli
and Palestinian forces began implementing the Gaza-Bethlehem
First withdrawal plan, he authorized the arrest of Mohammed Saadat,
the brother of Ahmed Saadat, who is the current leader of the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The elite
military unit that was sent to do the job killed Mohammed, the
young brother.
As the news of Mr. Saadat's death spread,
violence once again flared in the occupied territories following
nearly two weeks of relative quiet.
The PFLP also vowed to avenge the assassination,
and if the past is any indication of the future, it will make
good on its promise.
Mr. Sharon, though, is not a man to make
arbitrary decisions. Killing Mr. Saadat was just part of his
ongoing attempt to subjugate the Palestinians.
The closures and curfews have not worked,
nor have the extra-judicial executions, the demolition of homes
and the deportation of family members. So perhaps arresting and
killing brothers of political leaders -- "as a potential
deterrent" -- will.
But what is Mr. Sharon's goal?
After an F-16 jet dropped a one-ton bomb
on a crowded residential area in Gaza on July 22, killing 17
people -- nine of them children -- and wounding more than 140
others, Mr. Sharon exclaimed that the attack had been one of
Israel's "biggest successes."
Despite harsh international criticism,
Mr. Sharon remained unrepentant.
The Israeli press suggested that his
triumphant cry had less to do with the operation's formal objective
-- the extra-judicial execution of Hamas leader Salah Shehadeh
-- than with the successful destruction of a unilateral cease-fire
agreement formally finalized by different Palestinian military
factions a day before the massacre.
Predictably, the cease-fire was annulled
and a series of Hamas attacks followed, killing nearly 30 people
and wounding many more. Among them was the bombing of the Hebrew
University cafeteria, where nine people died, including five
Americans.
Not unlike the bombing of Gaza, killing
Mr. Saadat on the eve of the implementation of Gaza-Bethlehem
First was meant to add fuel to the violence. It is still too
soon to tell how many Israelis will die this time.
Again and again, Mr. Sharon has chosen
the battleground as the arena of action because he does not believe
in a diplomatic solution to the bloody Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
His overall objective, though, is not
to wipe out the Palestinian Authority, as some commentators seem
to suggest, but rather to forcibly change its role.
Regardless of whether Yasser Arafat remains
in charge, if Mr. Sharon gets his way, a "reformed"
Palestinian Authority will no longer serve as the political representative
of an independent state.
Rather, it will operate as a subcontractor
for the Israeli government -- a civil administration of sorts,
responsible for education, health, sewage and garbage collection,
and for policing the streets, as Gaza-Bethlehem First appears
to entail.
The strategy is clear: confer on the
Palestinians the costly role of managing civil life, but eliminate
their political freedoms while controlling them from afar. South
Africans called them Bantustans.
To accomplish this vision, Mr. Sharon
needs to break the spirit of the Palestinian people, hoping that
at a certain point they will bow. This, it seems, is exactly
what he has been trying to do. The Gaza-Bethlehem First plan
does not undermine his objective because it prolongs the strangulation
and humiliation of the Palestinians, even while it allows them
to leave their homes.
Neve Gordon
teaches politics at Ben-Gurion University in Israel. He can be
reached at ngordon@bgumail.bgu.ac.il
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