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CounterPunch
November
20, 2002
Identity Under
Siege
by PAUL de ROOIJ
The Palestinian struggle -- that a people
should endure such unremitting cruelty from Israel and still
not give up, is a collective miracle.
Edward Said,
"Disunity and factionalism",
Al Ahram 21 August 2002.
The Israeli war waged against the Palestinians
has taken many forms and not all of them well known to us. Bombings,
assassinations, house demolitions, and arbitrary imprisonment
are some of the concrete manifestations in this war--these are
clear for all to see and understand. However, other tactics
employed in this war aren't so evident. Foremost among them
is an assault on the Palestinian identity itself.
European colonialists learned that to
keep a strangle hold on their possessions a policy of divide
and rule was necessary. However, the unintended consequence
of this was to engender a strong nationalism, a force that eventually
doomed the colonialist enterprise. The Israelis have learned
this lesson, and trying to implement measures that shield them
from the errors of the past. The policies now applied in the
Occupied Territories (OPT) apply the divide and rule principle,
but they attempt to quell the nationalism that accompanied this
in the past. The foremost element to achieve this is to actively
demolish or restrict the Palestinian identity in the OPT.
The process of connecting all the settlements
in the OPT to Israel proper by building the networks of the so-called
bypass roads also entailed intentionally stopping traffic and
contact between neighboring towns in the OPT; contact between
the West Bank and Gaza has been mostly impeded since 30/Sept/2000.
It is now very difficult for a resident of any Palestinian city
to visit the nearby village. Either a circuitous path must be
taken, or it is simply impossible to cross the so-called military
checkpoints, in reality choke points. Furthermore, quite a few
villages have been isolated thanks to the fences and walls currently
being built unilaterally by Israel. Finally, some Palestinian
villages have been isolated due to the settlement expansion activities.
Consequently it is difficult for Palestinians anywhere to relate
to other Palestinians elsewhere in the OPT. The Israeli instigated
policy aims to fragment the Palestinian identity, and make people
think of themselves exclusively as residents of Ramallah or Bethlehem.
For the past 145 days (since June 25,
02), Nablus has been under military curfew. People are only
allowed out for a few hours every week, otherwise they are subjected
to a lock down regime that even prevents them from sitting on
a balcony or peer out of the window. Here the frame of reference
of the citizens of Nablus has been further restricted to only
account for the individual. People are atomized, and start to
view their problems with reference only to themselves, and it
is difficult for them to appreciate that it is their entire community
facing this collective punishment. Again, the Palestinian identity
is threatened, and the ensuing frame of reference stultified
so that it can be manipulated more easily by the Israeli military.
Nablus' militancy singled it out for this atomization and an
assault on people's identity. From the Israel occupying forces
(IOF) perspective, perhaps it is an experiment to determine how
others can similarly be "broken".
During the past few months community
leaders not related to the Palestinian Authority have been rounded
up and subjected to arbitrary detentions (e.g., see Arbitrary
Detentions [1]). The aim of this policy is to remove leaders
who provide the necessary cohesion to a society. Once the educated
organizers have been imprisoned, the sense of isolation is reinforced,
increasing the vulnerability of the population. Furthermore,
the actions of the Israeli occupation have targeted the middle
class where most of the leadership of a society emanates. The
people who can direct others or offer an interpretation of events
are hounded, imprisoned or isolated.
For Palestinians the temptation to escape
the communal misery must be very difficult for many to resist.
It may come in the form of the advertisements by the Israeli
ultra right-wing Moledet Party offering assistance for Palestinians
to emigrate; the temptation to drop everything and leave must
be very great (e.g. see: One way ticket [2]). The enticements
by Israeli soldiers to obtain collaborators are an added element
in the psychological warfare. People will be tempted to obtain
favors, food, permission to work, in exchange for betraying fellow
Palestinians. Accepting to collaborate accelerates the demolition
of their Palestinian identity; it is difficult to see how these
people will act in the interests of their society afterwards.
The suspicion that someone in their midst is giving information
to the IOF also poisons the air in the mind of other Palestinians.
Either way, the Palestinian identity has come under threat by
attempts to corrupt the vulnerable or criminal elements in the
society.
Traveling in the West Bank and Gaza one
immediately becomes aware of the importance of symbols. The
IOF is very keen to plant an Israeli flag wherever it is, and
it is keen to rip down Palestinian symbols. Even the colors
of the Palestinian flag elicit a violent response from soldiers.
During the first intifada in July 1989, Jamal Radwan, an agricultural
laborer from Gaza and a father of five, had the tattoo of the
Palestinian flag on his arm cut off by an Israeli soldier. The
scar runs more than half way from his shoulder to his elbow.
Perhaps today the IOF isn't so much concerned with the physical
manifestation of symbols, but is more concerned with the mental
national identity.
During the Israeli invasion of Beirut,
Israeli soldiers plundered and destroyed the Palestinian archives
and important cultural treasures. During the invasion of Ramallah
earlier this year, the same thing happened, important historical
archives were plundered, key databases destroyed, and the video
archives of the Palestinian TV stations were damaged. The Sakakini
Centre and Kasaba Theatre in Ramallah, two very important contemporary
cultural institutions, were demolished earlier this year. These
attacks aim to erase the Palestinian history and culture, an
important aspect of any national identity. While Israelis belabor
their past and use it for political ends, they are at the same
time attempting to erase the history of the nation they occupy.
If one thinks of one's national identity,
then some buildings and their history come to mind. For the
English Big Ben is extremely important; Americans similarly relate
to the Statue of Liberty. For Palestinians the key symbols are
the Haram Al Sharif temple (known to Israelis as Temple Mount)
and the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, the Church of the Nativity
in Bethlehem, the Casbah -- the Old Town (dating from 71BC) --
and the al-Khadra Mosque (1,000+ years old) in Nablus, all are
of great importance. The latter has already been demolished
in several phases this year--this is destruction of world heritage
monuments. The Casbah has been blasted by very large bombs and
repeatedly hit by tank fire (see Nablus info [3]). The Church
of the Nativity with a spiritual value to hundreds of millions
of people was damaged earlier this year by Israeli actions.
A clear threat hangs over the Haram Al Sharif temple with ever
increasing calls by the erstwhile fanatic fringe of the settlers,
but increasingly coming from centrist politicians to demolish
the temple. The extremist settlers aim to blow it up or undermine
the structure by digging tunnels under it; some "centrist"
politicians have called to cut the building in pieces, and send
the crates to Saudi Arabia. Supposedly, this temple is in the
way of a planned Jewish sacred temple, and just like Palestinians
have been pushed aside in most of their homeland, their monuments
may soon be cast aside too. The destruction of the national
identity has an architectural component.
For decades, Israelis have been attempting
to erase the vestiges of the 400+ Palestinian villages and towns
destroyed during the 1948 war. The towns have been bulldozed
and the ruins have been built over. Where one finds a pine forest
in Israel proper one will find the ruins of a Palestinian village
that the Israelis are trying to hide. In recent months, many
of these ruined villages have been "developed" so that
Palestinians won't be able to claim them in an eventual peace
agreement, but part of the process is to rid the country of Palestinian
history and vestiges. Erasing the ruined villages is not only
an attempt to rid any Palestinian claim to the land, but also
another attempt to demolish their identity. The most potent
symbol for Palestinians is the "key"--the claim to
the homes that the Israelis stole. The key is also the principal
symbol excised out of all cartoons and art by the Israeli censor.
Further demolition of the ruins has important implications for
all.
Archeology has been a battleground with
a long history. Israelis have always claimed monopoly in archeology,
and they have prohibited Palestinians from studying this field
in Israeli universities. Israeli archeologists will usually
concentrate on the old layers in the archeological excavations,
to the exclusion of the more recent ones dealing with Palestinian
history -- these are usually destroyed. A few years ago, Dr.
Albert Glock, an American archeologist head of the Palestinian
Institute of Archeology at Bir Zeit University, was excavating
the recent layers near Ramallah when he was mysteriously assassinated.
Palestinians suspect that the Israelis assassinated him because
digging up the recent history counters the Israeli attempts to
bury the Palestinian history.
The looming threat of war against Iraq
casts a dark shadow over the Palestinians. As Prof. Illan Pappe
has stated, it is now a centrist political position in Israel
to propose plans for "transfer" -- that obscene euphemism
for the mass expulsion of Palestinians. One can read about this
in the Israeli press, listen to the Molodet Party's proposals,
or one can listen to some of the principal cabinet members in
the current government; they all clamor with varying degrees
of viciousness about plans to expel the Palestinian population.
The only restraining factors are the international reaction
to such a crime and the feasibility of expelling the population
to Lebanon, Jordan, or Iraq. Graham Usher, a British journalist,
recently said that what is being envisaged by the US in the area
is not simply "regime change, but region change."
[Note 4] If such seismic changes are implemented entailing the
redrawing of borders in Iraq and Jordan, then Israel may see
an opportunity to implement its sinister plans. One must see
the current attempts to demolish the Palestinian identity in
this context. An atomized and brutalized population without
any effective leadership can perhaps be terrorized to flee across
the border in the event of a war.
It is unimaginable why any population
should be subjected to the threat of ethnic cleansing in the
21st century. After WWII, the world had achieved a consensus
that the "might makes right" principle was unacceptable
and incompatible with peace. Annexation by war, it was agreed,
could not be tolerated. As such, the incessant pressure to expel
the Palestinian population, to erase their history, and to demolish
their identity, are incompatible with principles that have formed
the basis of international law and consensus for the past 50+
years. It is the responsibility of the so-called international
community to put a stop to the war and to the Israeli campaign
against Palestinians. One would hope that the UN would play
a leading role, but the organization is currently compromised
and manipulated by the US. One can hardly expect Kofi Annan,
a venal politician, to act decisively; the Rwandan genocide occurred
during his watch, and the callousness he exhibited then doesn't
portend for an active role now. Unfortunately, up to now, the
stance of most European governments has been disgraceful. Similarly,
the role of major human rights organizations with responsibility
for the area has been less than honorable (see Amnesty
[5]). The establishment of a war crimes tribunal holding Sharon,
Mofaz, Netanyahu, Ben-Eliezer, and Peres, to account is of paramount
importance, yet no action is seen for its institution. One fears
the worst: that mass crimes and ethnic cleansing will occur in
the area and no peep will be heard from the so-called international
community.
Paul de Rooij is an economist living in London. He can
be reached at proox@hotmail.com
Note 1: www.counterpunch.org/bahour1023.html
Note 2: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2377273.stm
Note 3: www.nablus.org/invasion/press2.html.
Don't miss: www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=10291
Nothing like seeing the photos.
Note 4: Talk given in the House of Parliament,
London, Nov. 14, 2002.
Note 5: www.counterpunch.org/rooij1031.html
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