-Caveat Lector-
----Original Message Follows----
From: "Smiley Dragon" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Manufacturing consent for war
Date: 14 Jul 2001 20:57:00 -0000
On Thu, 12 Jul 2001 18:53:00 -0500 (CDT) Dave Muller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote:
----------
___________________________________________________________________
i n f o p a l - The Independent Palestinian Information Network
___________________________________________________________________
Louder Voices of War
Manufacturing Consent at Its Peak
Tikva Honig-Parnass
Between the Lines, Vol 1, No#8, JULY 2001
(Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] for subscription info)
The starting point for reviewing the events of last month relies
upon understanding Sharon's absolute refusal to reach the point
of a settlement freeze which would then move to renewing
negotiations with the Palestinians, as required by the Tenet /
Mitchell documents. In pursuit of this aim, Sharon has activated
an elaborate set of tricks, lies, and provocative military
operations which seek at paving the way to the implementation of
the war plan that Israel and the US have designed for quite some
time. [See Peace and War: Israel versus the Palestinians A second
Intifada? Anthony Cordesman, CSIS December 2000 and "Peace" With
Violence or Transfer, Shraga Elam, BTL December 2000]. This month
however, Sharon still continues to pretend to collaborate in the
temporary game dictated by the US which is needed for
manufacturing the consent to the war plan both locally and
abroad.
Israeli Demands - A Trap Set for Arafat
As stated by the Tenet agreement, three intermediate stages
should be implemented on the path towards a full settlements
freeze. Namely, a period of 'cease of fire' which is to last
seven days as a 'test period', followed by a 'cooling period' of
five weeks, which is then followed (presuming the cease-fire
continues), by the two sides moving to a stage of 'building a
trustful relationship', in which the implementation of the so far
neglected Oslo agreements will take place, amongst them, the
third Israeli redeployment.
Sharon indeed hastily announced at the end of June a 'unilateral
cease-fire' which was identified by public opinion in Israel and
abroad, as a policy of 'self-restraint' for which he has been
awarded endless praise by the Israeli 'Left' and by the US and
European community. However, beneath the justification of an
'active cease fire', Sharon failed to keep his promise for even
one day. The occupation army has continued its policies of razing
and confiscating more and more Palestinian land, enforced the
closure policy that strangulates entire Palestinian communities,
and resumed the execution of Palestinian activists beneath the
pretext of 'active defense'. Regarding this latter issue, the
cabinet meeting of 4/7 even decided to 'widen' this policy so as
to include "not only those who are directly involved in terror
operations but also those who send them". The Israeli media could
not wait to adopt the new term for washing the war crime of
extra-judicial executions as the "interception of terrorists."
The cunning scheme of bringing about the failure of the Tenet and
Mitchell agreements is comprised of both declarative and
provocative actions. Sharon presents to Arafat demands that he
knows Arafat is unable to fulfill and at the same time gives
promises that he (Sharon) does not intend to implement. His
demands include a '100% cease-fire', the arrest of activists, the
collection of all arms "to the last rifle" held by different
paramilitary groups of Fateh, Hamas and Islamic Jihad and a
decrease in the number of PA security forces (from 60,000 to
30,000 which is the figure permitted by Oslo and which the
Israeli government allowed to violate in the hopes that it meant
the repression of the opposition) and the complete halt to all
incitement, however broadly defined. (Nahum Barne'a, Yediot
Ahronot, 2/7). The Israeli media indeed has completely betrayed
its duty since the beginning of this Intifada and has become the
mouthpiece of Sharon's policy. However, a few mainstream
journalists have this month joined the lonely voices of
progressive commentators such as Haim Bar'am and Meron Benvenisti
and publicized their awareness to the fact that these demands are
nothing but a trap that Sharon has set for Arafat. This is how
commentator Eli Kamir (Ma'ariv 29/6) describes these demands:
"Sharon speaks about the Tenet document and emphasizes that he
has accepted the Mitchell report, but in fact both only serve as
a basis for carrying out his own plans which are already
completed and ready, thus serving as an insurance policy against
entering the stage of a settlement freeze." Danny Rubinstein
(Ha'aretz 2/7) explains why these demands are unrealistic: "The
problem for Arafat and for all the political leadership is that
the price for stopping the violence and incitement may be the
collapse of their rule [...] Arafat may pay with his head and
with the heads of his friends."
Executions - Provocations for the Failing Mitchell Agreement
Moreover, these few honest journalists also recognize the fact
that the continuation of fire on the side of the Palestinians is
in Israel's interests and that Israel even makes provocations in
order to attract the Palestinians into the trap: "Only a steady
flow of violent acts will leave at Israel's hands the option to
decide to stop the policy of self-restraint, so as to launch an
attack on the Palestinians at a scale they so desire thus
delaying the arrival of the moment of truth at the negotiation
table[...] where Israel will be forced to reveal its true face."
(B. Michael, Yediot Ahronot 26/6).
The decision taken a month ago, after the suicide bombing at the
Tel Aviv discotheque in which 23 youngsters were killed, to
resume the policy of exterminating wanted Palestinian activists
is aimed at using another vehicle to end the game of attempts to
go back to negotiations within the Oslo framework. The executions
are intended to disrupt the starting point of when the 7-day
cease-fire begins, as Israel restarts the count-down after every
military operation committed by Palestinians. It is well
understood by Israel that every assassination will be followed by
a retaliation operation which will result in beginning again the
counting, thus postponing the threatening 'cooling period'.
This is indeed what happened after Muhammed Bushairat, claimed by
Israel to be the 'number one most wanted' activist (and denied by
Palestinians sources), was killed together with two of his aids,
when their car was targeted by an Israeli Air Force helicopter on
the evening of July 1, near Jenin. On the following day, two
Israelis were gunned down - a settler in the Hebron area and a
civilian in Baqa El Sharkiyeh, a few yards from the Green Line,
while two cars also exploded in the town of Yahud near Tel Aviv.
Thus Sharon could announce on July 3 that the countdown has still
not begun, and had his position backed-up by the Americans who
confirmed during the coordinating meeting between Israeli and
Palestinian security commanders and the CIA, that indeed Israel
is entitled to decide when the right time is to begin the
countdown. Chief of Staff Shaoul Mofaz who returned earlier than
planned from his trip to the US (supposedly to convince the
Israeli cabinet to end the 'self-restraint policy') declared upon
his arrival on July 3 that "Arafat is not interested and will
never be interested in a cease fire." In other words, it's time
to turn to the war option.
Signals Sent About War and Transfer
And indeed throughout the entire month of June, the Israeli
government has released signs that the 'self-restraint policy' is
coming to its end, and that Israel is determined to activate the
plan of a 'painful military blow' upon the Palestinians. This
plan was already confirmed by the Cabinet after the killing in
the discotheque but was postponed, all the time pretending to
give another chance for a cease-fire. ("If we'll need to attack
the Palestinians - everything is ready", Sharon declared on 3/7.
Also Haaretz 10/6 quotes Sharon saying, "No one has the right to
enforce us to pay with our own blood the price of stability in
the region.")
Only few Israeli journalists reported the details of this plan
and even fewer have warned of its horrific consequences.
Following are the general lines of the emerging picture portrayed
by them:
The coming 'comprehensive military operation' will bring about
the collapse of the Palestinian Authority (Hemi Shalev, Ma'ariv
22/6) in whose place a system of cantons will be established
headed by collaborators (Haim Baram, quoting 'an especially
reliable source', Kol Ha'ir, 29/6). The territories which will be
under Palestinian control "will turn into islands surrounded by
Israeli forces, who will destroy the governing infrastructure of
the PA and will commit operations to identify and execute those
wanted by the Israeli Shabak. (Alex Fishman, Yediot Ahronot
29/9).
In a last attempt to 'prevent the catastrophe', Meir Shtiglitz ,
(Yediot Ahronot 4/7) referring to Alex Fishmans' report, warns
against the terrible cost in lives, both Israeli and Palestinian,
which this plan involves. He adds:
"However, even this is not the main danger. The supporters of the
plan estimate that invasion into the Palestinian Authority areas
will bring a military solution only if the 'hard decisive blow'
will be such that we will be able to indeed say that we have
'eliminated' the remains of stability in the Middle East. They
understand that the moment the IDF enters an operation of a
strategic scope against the PA, there is a clear and immediate
danger to the collapse of the peace agreements with Jordan and
Egypt. This does not mean an 'Apocalyptic war', (because the
forces we confront are militarily inferior), but the
deterioration of the region to the conditions of those in the
1950's, with sporadic attacks [by Israel] and the planning of the
decisive war in the future. One big war with transfer at its end
- this is the plan of the hawks who indeed almost reached the
moment of its implementation. This is for the doves an historic
and moral red line." The transfer or mass expulsion of
Palestinians is a central aim of the planned massive military
operation, which may develop to a full-fledged war. Commentator
Akiva Eldar reports (Ha'arets 14/6) about the anxiety of the
Jordanian King Abdullah regarding the possibility of transfer and
about the 'separation plan' submitted by the Israeli president
Moshe Katzav, in which one of its central clauses mentions
'encouraging the Palestinians in Yehuda and Samaria [the West
Bank] to leave for working in Arab states. Eldar sarcastically
ends by commenting, "He [Katsav] said it but did not go into [the
well understood] details. Tens of thousands of Palestinians in
refugee camps constitute living evidence for the Hashemite family
that Israel is distinguished in its encouragement of Arab labor
in Arab states." Recently, the calls for a military blow and for
ending the Oslo process are heard from Shas. In an interview to
the orthodox newspaper 'Hashavua', Shas Minister of Labor and
Welfare, Ben Izry was asked about his opinion regarding transfer.
He answered with a winking eye, "There are things that not always
should be said loudly. From the very things you heard from me, it
is possible to understand what I today think about this subject"
(Shahar Ilan, Ha'aretz 22/6).
The Role of the 'Left' in Manufacturing Consent
Within the fascist culture increasingly thriving amongst wider
circles of Israeli society, including the academic, legal and
mass communication elites, it is reasonable to expect that "most
of the Israeli public will accept with understanding, albeit in
sorrow, the military operation whose preparations half-overtly
exposed, are already being made." (Ha'aretz editorial article,
21/6). However, it seems that Sharon is still waiting for the
decisive 'Causus Bellum' under whose pretext will win him full
support inside Israel and in Europe thus granting him the green
light from the US (which hopes by then that the weak objections
of Egypt and Saudi Arabia will have faded away).
In the meantime, the manufacturing of consent continues with
enthusiastic support from the Labor party leadership (except MK
Beilin), and with somewhat milder support from the Meretz MK's,
who praise Sharon for his policy of 'self-restraint'. All the
while it is the Labor party ministers in the unified national
government (Minister of Defense, Ben Eliezer and Foreign Minister
Shimon Peres) who are implementing that policy whose main
function is to justify the coming "massive military operation."
Indeed, there is no difference today between the Right and "Left"
regarding these war plans. The Right honestly admits that they
aspire for war, while the hypocritical 'Left' says that this war
is inevitable and of course Arafat is to be blamed.
The justification for the military alternative to the Oslo
framework indeed began by the previous PM, Ehud Barak, who at
Camp David cunningly presented to the Palestinians the famous
'generous' suggestions the Palestinians could not accept, thus
claiming that "Israel has no partner for making peace." However
since then, the demonization of Arafat (the "pathological liar"
and "snake") and the Palestinians reached monstrous proportions
when Sharon, on his second visit to the US, claimed that "Each
country has its own Ben Laden. Arafat is our Ben Laden", implying
Israel has the right to destroy him and his regime. Even Zeev
Shiff, the Ha'aretz senior commentator of military affairs, who
until recently called for the continuation of the Oslo process,
has come out emphasizing Arafat's responsibility for "encouraging
the terror operations against Israel and therefore Israel has
full right to defend itself and to preempt any terror
activities." (Ha'aretz 22/6) The most recent confirmation of the
scheme to get rid of Arafat was revealed by Ma'ariv (6/6) which
on its 6/7 issue published excerpts of a top secrete study made
by the Shin Bet security services. The initial study had been
conducted at the request of then PM Barak, whose results were
printed in a document dated 15/10/2000, and which was resubmitted
to Sharon very recently. The conclusion of the study is that
"Arafat the person is a severe threat to the security of the
state [of Israel] and the damage which will result from his
disappearance is less than the damage caused by his existence".
War - the Only Alternative to the Failing of the Oslo Apartheid
Solution
The despair of the apartheid solution of Oslo, mistakenly
identified as a 'two-state solution', has been spreading since
the beginning of this Intifada towards wider circles of the
Israeli political center and 'Left', leading these circles to
join the enlarging chorus of Sharon's supporters. Each day brings
with it the refuting of the misleading assumptions that underlie
the Oslo agreement. That is, that an armed authority headed by
Arafat will constitute an efficient vehicle in repressing any
opposition to Oslo's apartheid solution.
Even MK Yossi Beilin, one of the forefathers of the Oslo Accords
and a senior leader of the labor who adheres to the two-state
solution (in the framework of Oslo) as "the only way to save the
Jewish state from an Arab majority" expressed in a recent
interview (by Ari Shavit, Ha'aretz, 14/6), his doubts about the
prospects of such a solution. To the question of "Do you really
think that the Palestinian national movement in general and
Arafat in particular will accept deep down the existence of a
Jewish state inside the Green Line?" Beilin answers, "Deep down,
I don't know." He admits that Zionism is an obstacle to the Oslo
solution: "What we have to understand as a Zionist movement is
that we are doing a very, very unnatural thing here [.] We are
returning after 2000 years [...] claiming our right to establish
a state of our own here [...] when there are other people here,
who say they do not accept that idea, that it is against their
will." He goes on to describe the relationship which developed
around Oslo as a very thin layer of ice that when now and again
breaks "you suddenly see the hatred welling up from the depths of
the ocean and threatening you. That is hard, [and] it is hard for
me too."
No wonder the number of those left to share Beilin's concluding
statement for no other choice but to continue "thickening the
ice", decreases daily. Refusing to give up the apartheid
framework which sustains the Jewish state, inevitably leads to
adopting the choice of Sharon. Others however, among the
political and legal elites who share Beilin's recognition of "a
Jewish state" as the supreme value and his version of the two
states solution, are investing efforts in strengthening the legal
and institutional basis for the discriminative nature of the
Jewish-Zionist state. They thus take a step backward from the
times in which their confidence in the implementation of the Oslo
solution permitted them to make some 'post-Zionist' moves, thus
falling in line with the dictates of the free market and neo-
liberal ideology.
A case in hand is the recent suggestion of Aharon Barak,
president of the Supreme Court, (Ha'aretz 22/7) to grant full-
fledge constitutional status to the Law of Return (of the Jewish
people) "which touches the very root of the nature of the Jewish
state." Another example is the recent thriving of Zionist
movement institutions, (active before the establishment of Israel
and which gained state-like status within it), which continue
implementing the discriminative policy of the state under the
pretext that these are semi-private institutions which 'act on
behalf of the Jewish People'. For example, the 'Jewish National
Fund, which owns almost 3 million dunams of Palestinian lands is
making serious attempts to take control of the agenda regarding
the subject of land policy and land use in the state of Israel.
In a recent convention on 'Land Policy' which took place in the
last week of June in Jerusalem and which was widely attended by
ministers and public and academia figures, Prof. Oren Yiftahel
from Beersheva University, stated that the consequence of the
continued existence of the Jewish National Fund means that the
'reservation' spaces for Arabs (18% of the population) is limited
to 2.5% of the area of Israel, as they are prohibited to purchase
or lease 80% of state. In his reporting about the convention
Meron Benvenisti, (Ha'aretz 5/7) pointed to the reactivation of
the JNF dispossesive policy when it announced intentions to block
even more land access to the "Arab invaders".
We have then a situation in which the very attempts to strengthen
the apartheid solution only contribute to nullifying the
prospects that the Palestinians will accept it. As Dr. Jamal
Zahalka recently stated at a ceremony commemorating the Nakba
(see BTL, Between Memory, Consciousness and Today's Reality, June
2000), "the dilemma that confronted Zionism in 1948 was indeed
that of either Apartheid or war and expulsion". Today as well,
both the dilemma and its answer have not changed.
--------------------------------
Between the Lines
P.O Box 681
Jerusalem
tel:02-563-0060 or 02-296-6311
[EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED]
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at
http://explorer.msn.com
www.ctrl.org
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
ctrl
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
