LAS VEGAS, Nevada, 26 April 2004 — The recent assassinations of Hamas leaders Sheikh Yassin and Dr. Abdelaziz Rantissi are part of a long-term Israeli strategy — the latest in a series of actions taken by Israel toward the ultimate destruction of Palestinian society. Their implications may be far more reaching than many analysts have observed, and the need for re-examination of US policy in the Middle East has never been greater.
The first among Israel’s objectives has been to convince the public in Israel and in the West that the destruction of Palestinian society is acceptable. Israel has succeeded in creating the widespread perception within Israel and among American society that violence committed by the Palestinian paramilitary is reprehensible and never justified, but that the violence committed by the Israeli occupation forces is somehow defensible. Israel has unfortunately succeeded in convincing the Israeli and American public that a Palestinian life is worth less than an Israeli Jewish life.
Israel’s second objective has been to transfer (expel) Palestinians to areas outside Palestine. In spite of its efforts and the support of Jewish communities around the world, Israel’s plan to import enough immigrants to offset the increase in the Palestinian population has failed. The plan failed even with the intense recruiting among gentiles, in Asia, Latin America and elsewhere, and even with the promise of free transportation, cash allowances, subsidized living and free housing on confiscated Palestinian land. The alternative left for the Israeli government — long advocated by a sector of Israeli society — has been to transfer Palestinians out of Palestine by making life for Palestinians so unbearable that they would “opt” to leave or by force if “voluntary” departure fails. This plan will eventually succeed unless Palestinian living conditions improve, which is not likely in the foreseeable future, and the world community remains alert to Israel’s plan.
Israel’s third and latest strategy in pursuing its objective of destroying Palestinian society has been to deceptively enlist the help of the United States, with its military might and world domination, not only as a partner, which it has already succeeded in doing as was recently confirmed and announced by George W. Bush, but also as an active combatant. This deception is nowhere clearer than in the case of the assassination of Sheikh Ahmad Yassin and Dr. Abdelaziz Rantissi. Sharon knows that Hamas holds their leaders in high esteem and would no doubt avenge their assassination. From their side, the Palestinians know that no Israeli action of this magnitude is ever taken without first consulting with the United States and getting US approval, in spite of denial of such complicity by the Bush administration. Sharon’s latest plot has been not only to invite Palestinian violence against Israel, but also against the United States. Such violence, in Sharon’s mind, would invite the US to lump the Palestinian resistance with Al-Qaeda and other “terrorists” under the US umbrella of “war on terror,” and cause the US to retaliate with brute force or instigate Israel to do so on its behalf. That would certainly help legitimize Sharon’s objective of the total destruction of Palestinian society right under the nose of the world community.
Most likely, Hamas will see through Sharon’s plan, and will restrict its retaliation to Israel, as evidenced by the retraction of threats against the US in the days following Yassin’s assassination. It is not likely that Sharon will succeed in inviting Palestinian terror against the United States or its interests in the Middle East any time soon. However, one cannot expect the Palestinians to continue indefinitely their self-restraint with the United States when they see their remaining land and their national rights being bartered away by a US president for Jewish votes. Also, we should not be surprised if Sharon manufactures terror against the US and blames it on the Palestinians with the intent of bringing the US as an active combatant on the side of Israel. A deception of this kind would not be insurmountable or unusual for Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service.
As Washington continues to ignore the basic underlying causes of the disdain felt by so many around the world, the suffering of Palestinians has been rising steadily. The humiliation of the Palestinians and the erosion of their national rights are at their all-time peak. The level of Palestinian suffering during the Al-Aqsa Intifada has been at its highest since the Nakba (“cataclysm or catastrophe”) of 1948. If we continue to bankroll and lend political support to Israel’s policies of expansionism, I fear that we will continue to be shocked by senseless acts of terrorism the like of which we have not seen.
The US president’s decision to bargain away Palestinian rights will certainly have been one of the causes of such terror. Unless the US does more to avoid involvement in Israel’s thick plot to eradicate Palestinian rights, we should not be surprised if the US finds itself an active combatant, at a time and place not of our choosing, at the expense of our interests throughout the world. Israel will have deceived the US to fight Israel’s fight, in a global and perpetual war against Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims throughout the world. If we look around carefully, we can see traces everywhere of this, the ultimate deception, an outcome we must do everything in our power to avoid.
— Michael S. Ladah is an Arab- American who lived and worked in various parts of the Middle East. He is the author of “Quicksand, Oil and Dreams: The Story of One of Five Million Dispossessed Palestinians.” He lived in Saudi Arabia from 1974 through 1994 working for Saudi Aramco. He now manages a charitable foundation (www.ladah.org) that benefits Palestinian students through scholarships, and may be reached at [email protected]
