| 31/12/04 | Middle East Update |
Dear friends, It is my last update for 2004. While the formidable natural disaster of the tsunami overshadows any possible celebrations of complacency, let us not forget the pain and threats inflicted by humanity on itself. These, unlike the working of nature, could easily be avoided if we opened our hearts to the sufferings and deprivation of our fellow humans. The beginning of a new year is aptly marked by building new enterprises of great pitch and moment: a shade of the future in its inception. Ironically, my government marks the opening of the new year by building new settlements in the heart of the populated West Bank, and a notorious wall of separation to perpetuate hate and alienation. We shall close 2004 by demonstrating against it, Israelis and Palestinians together. This week, as I have reported before, peace activist Tali Fahima was charged for “assisting the enemy” by translating some IDF documents left behind at the Jenin refugee camp last May, indicating operations to capture targeted leaders of Palestinian resistance to the occupation. This morning, Zaqaria Zubeidi, the commander of the Al-Aqsa groups in Jenin, the man whom Israel has long marked as a target for assassination and to whom Tali Fahima volunteered to serve as “a human shield,” appeared on Israeli TV, telling the Israeli channel 10 reporter that would the IDF retreat its troops from the area the Palestinian actions will stop. What caught my ear was his accomplished Hebrew: no Tali Fahima was needed to translate any Hbrew documents for him. The Israeli government is concentrating its efforts to arraign peace activists, while still sponsoring pre-military colleges, openly delivering radical right-wing political messages to their students. Please read the two reports below, and think, on the eve of a new year, about the avoidable predicaments created not by nature, but by the human heart, which threat to perpetuate themselves tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow… May you all have a peaceful and happy 2005! For better
days, Professor
Avraham Oz 1. At 11.00 am on the morning of Friday, December 31, hundreds of Israeli peace activists will hold a joint demonstration with inhabitants of Jayyous village to protest the creation of a new Israeli settlement on village lands north of Qalqilia on the West Bank. Protesters will plant new olive trees to repalce those uprooted and sold by the settlers. About a year ago, the Sharon Government erected a section of the so-called Separation Fence, cutting the Jayyous villagers off from their land. At the time, this was explained as “a security need”, but it is obvious that the true purpose was confiscating land for a new settlement. The Friday action was initiated be The Palestinian-Israeli Committee of Jayyous, Gush Shalom (the Israeli Peace Bloc), Ta’ayush (Arab-Jewish Partnership), ICAHD, and Anarchists against the Fence. The village of Jayyous already lost over two thirds of its lands to the Separation Fence. Now the purpose of this confiscation is becoming evident: on the lands of Jayyous are sprouting new settlements. These settlements, “New Zufin” and “Nofey Zufin” are presented as an extension of the existing settlement Zufin, but in fact they are totally new settlements, and larger by far than the original one. Also planned in this “seam zone” is a new industrial zone (for the Alfey Menasheh settlement) below the Fence, and the paving of a new road to link the various settlements. When the building is completed, the inhabitants of Jayyous will lose what remains of their lands beyond the Fence. On Dec. 12, bulldozers of a company owned by the settlers , named “Ge’ulat Ha’aretz” (i.d. “Redemption of the Land”, i.e. “redeeming” the land from its Palestinian owners and passing it toJewsih ownership) uprooted approximately 300 olive trees in the land of Jayyous inhabitant Tawfiq Hassan Salim. A week later (Dec. 19) the villagers of Jayyous blocked the bulldozers that entered their lands. Today (Wed., Dec. 29) Israeli activists visiting the site found the settlers back at their work, digging out the olive trees with their roots so as to sell them in Israel and make an additional profit. This accelerated settlement drive at Jayyous is not an isolated event. These days a new wave of settlements is taking place in the West Bank. It is especially evident in the area near the Green Line (pre-’67 order) along a line running from the settlements of Elkana and Oranit, via Zufin, east of Zur Yig’al, and all the way to Reihan in the north. Thousands of housing units are built, in order to blur the Green Line, and annex de-facto all the areas to which the Palestinian owners’ access is limited by the Fence. It seems that Prime Minster Sharon is compensating for the planned exit from Gaza by renewing and accelerating the settlement process on another front. 2. By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent The IDF’s Chief Rabbi, Brigadier General Yisrael Weiss, blundered Thursday with a politically charged statement about the disengagement plan. In an interview for Channel 1, Weiss implied he would resign from the IDF if told to by his mentor Rabbi Avraham Shapira, a staunch objector to disengagement. Several months ago Rabbi Shapira, formerly Israel’s Chief Rabbi, publicly called on religious soldiers to refuse orders to evacuate settlements. In an interview for the program “Saturday Night on 1" (which will be broadcast in full Saturday night), Weiss told former MK Nahum Langenthal that he recently met with Rabbi Shapira but “had not heard a request to take off my uniform.” When asked by Langenthal what he would do in such an event, Weiss answered, “If such a request were made, I suppose you would be interviewing someone else here.” Weiss’ words provoked sharp responses from the left. MK Yossi Sarid (Yahad) said Weiss should resign right away, or else the Chief of Staff Moshe Ya’alon should remove him. Peace Now and the Council for Peace and Security also called on Ya’alon to fire Weiss. The IDF General Staff has criticized the military chief rabbi in the past for his indecisive statements on disengagement and refusal. As a result Weiss has clarified his position and called on soldiers to obey orders. Rabbi Weiss told Haaretz Thursday that his words were a “slip of the tongue,” and that the outraged responses were a “storm in a teacup.” “Last week I clearly condemned refusal at every possible opportunity,” he said. Weiss added that he has no intention of resigning |
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