'If the Middle East is to attain peace'

 By Michael Jansen

During the forum's deliberations and the meeting on the sidelines of the Quartet, His Majesty King Abdullah, US Secretary of State Colin Powell and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called for restraint on both the Palestinian and Israeli sides. Israel responded by assassinating Hamas leader Abdullah Qawasmeh in Hebron. Powell reacted with implied criticism of Israel's strike. He stated: “I regret that we continue to find ourselves trapped in this action and counter-ction, provocation and reaction to provocation... I would rather on a Sunday morning wake up to find that we are moving forward [with the roadmap] and it was not necessary to have this kind of activity on either side.”

As the forum wound up its meeting on Monday, Amos Gilad, the Israeli general involved in security talks with the Palestinian National Authority, rejected the truce, or “hudna” — halting attacks on Israelis by Palestinian dissident groups — which Egypt has been trying to mediate with Hamas and other dissident groups. Under this accord, the militants would agree to stop resistance activities against Israel for an indefinite period, in exchange for an Israeli pull-back from Palestinian self-rule areas occupied since the Intifada erupted in September 2000, an end to Israeli assassinations of Palestinian leaders and a cessation of house demolitions and expropriations.

Gilad warned that Hamas and the others would use a ceasefire to reorganise, regroup and rearm so that they could resume the armed Intifada. A few hours later, Israeli military followed up Gilad's statement by arresting 150 West Bank Palestinians suspected of being Hamas members and demolishing a Palestinian house in Jenin. Israel is clearly determined to pursue its all-out military campaign against Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Al Aqsa Martyr's Brigades, with the aim of finishing off not only the armed Intifada but also any type of Palestinian resistance to the occupation.

Gilad's remarks and the army's actions should be considered as a rebuff to the Bush administration, the Quartet and Arab leaders seeking a settlement with Israel. Shalom's appearance at the meeting in Jordan and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's participation in the Aqaba summit and formal acceptance of the “roadmap” are part and parcel of an Israeli policy of deception. Sharon is projecting the illusion of being a peace-maker while waging war.

Sharon's agreement to attempt the journey on the road to a Palestinian state mapped out by the Quartet is a tactical ploy designed to deflect attention from his strategic goal of colonising the whole of Palestine and, ultimately, rendering the entire Palestinian people homeless as well as stateless.

One of the proofs of Sharon's intention to abide by the terms of the roadmap cited by the US and others is his decision to demolish “illegal” outposts established by Jewish settlers since he took office in March 2001. Over the past two weeks, the Israeli army says it has removed 10 outposts, one inhabited, from West Bank hilltops. Another five are slated for dismantling. The Yesha settler council replied by establishing more than ten new outposts, one named “Ariel” in honour of Sharon. Settlers are returning to sites as soon as outposts are demolished. Even if the government and army succeed in removing all 15 and prevent the settlers from returning to evacuated sites or from setting up new outposts, this will mean that at least 85 outposts remain, awaiting demolition. So far, Sharon has not mentioned when these removals could take place.

Gideon Levy, a columnist writing in the Israeli daily Haaretz, considers the outpost evacuations a “farce” and a “charade” being staged by players who are acting out predetermined roles on the stage of the West Bank. Thus, Sharon issues an order, the army obeys by dispatching troops to dismantle the chosen outposts, the settlers resist by setting fire to nearby brush (burning Palestinian fields and orchards at the same time), throwing stones and refusing to leave the sites. This scenario plays out in front of television cameras which project the scuffles into Israeli homes on the evening news. In spite of the fact that the soldiers who carry out the evacuations are unarmed and handle the settlers as gently as possible, the latter are seen as victims because they are being punished for staking Israel's claim to the land given to the Jewish people by God.

As my old friend Israel Shahak (now deceased, alas) used to say, “even Jews who do not believe in God believe God gave this land to Israel”.

The main reason, Levy says, the removals should not be taken seriously is that Sharon is not tackling Israel's 144 “real settlements” which are inhabited by 218,000 settlers, at least half of whom are prepared to leave if they receive compensation and property within Israel “proper”. On Tuesday, Israel's minister of infrastructure suggested that Israelis evacuated from settlements be resettled in the Galilee or the Negev. This practicable proposition would certainly be rejected by militant settlers in colonies selected for evacuation. They would insist on being planted in the large West Bank settlements (such as Maale Adumim and Ariel) which Israel seeks to annex in a final deal.

Outposts and settlements are Israel's traditional tools of colonisation and expansion. Military and civilian outposts and settlements have been used to take over the land by the Zionists since they first landed in Palestine. Two other recently adopted tools are checkpoints and the West Bank wall being constructed to separate Palestinian and Israeli population centres. All four instruments are used to capture and consolidate Israel's hold and dominate the terrain.

Sharon, the architect of Israel's expansion into the West Bank and Gaza, will never agree to abandon these tools in exchange for any peace process. Therefore, as long as he remains prime minister, Israel will not engage in serious negotiations with the Palestinians or any other Arab party. He will not succumb to the calls of the Bush administration or the other members of the Quartet to yield on settlements. Sharon, like the radical rabbis who condemned his government for preparing to allow an alien (Palestinian) state to be established in the “Land of Israel” (Palestine), believes that any land Israel secures is inalienable and cannot be abandoned to the Palestinians. This being the case, there can be no progress in implementing the roadmap until Israel has a new leader who is prepared to forget about the land-grabbing tenets of Zionism and give up the West Bank and Gaza in exchange for peace with the Palestinians. Israel has to change its regime and mindset if the Middle East is to attain peace.