A Race Against Time
16 January 2002
Recently I returned to the West Bank after a five-month
hiatus from a year-long session of studying abroad. Expecting to find things drastically different from what I
had left, what with the precipitous escalation in events since last summer and
the further encroachment of Israel’s military might on Palestinian civilian
areas, I instead felt an eerie sense of constancy.
There is indeed a familiar ring to life in the Occupied Territories.
The checkpoints, Israel’s modus operandi for the
collective ensnarement of Palestinian civilians and restriction of their
movement, continue unabated between population centers.
Between Jerusalem and Ramallah for example, there are no less than three
military checkpoints stationed to triple check Palestinian movement, as well as
arbitrary road closures demarcated by bulldozed asphalt and piles of earth
across the roads all across the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
And the addition of concrete blocks and, in some cases, steel barriers
and fencing, give them an ominous aura of permanence.
The presence of construction cranes over many of the
visible Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories strongly suggests
that despite US and international condemnation, the expansion of these illegal
settlements is continuing as always, dating to Israel’s conquest of the West
Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967. While
the current Israeli government insists expansion is necessary for reasons of
“natural population growth,” evidence from an Israeli human rights group
notes that as many as 8% of West Bank and 40% of Gaza Strip settlement homes are
currently empty. One would imagine
Israel’s current natural rate of population increase of 1.2% could fill this
void.
While settlement homes go up, Palestinian homes go down.
Passing a familiar spot in the Palestinian village of Shu’fat near
Jerusalem, I noticed a large area of vacant land in a residential area; a row of
homes that were there in July were not there anymore.
House demolitions remain part of the daily routine of the occupation.
In recent days, the IDF has bulldozed tens of homes in the Gaza Strip and
East Jerusalem, leaving hundreds of Palestinians with only tent shelter this
winter.
Also unchanged seems to be the tit-for-tat rhetoric from
the political leaders. On the one
hand one still hears the echo of Yasser Arafat condemning this act of terror and
that, while amid the chaos of Palestinian society he is unable to contain the
suicide attacks and firefights. On
the other hand, Ariel Sharon continues his unreasonable demands on the
Palestinians while not offering his own initiatives for peace, and at every
chance he turns to Washington to deliver another “I told you so” about his
foe.
Thus, the more things seem to change, the more they are in
fact the same. Time becomes a big
factor, and in this case time is very much on the side of the occupiers.
The Israeli government under Sharon seems willing to tolerate the
unnecessary daily dangers to its soldiers and settlers, not to mention the lives
of millions of Palestinians, to maintain the occupation, knowing that any
Palestinian attack can be magnified in significance to Israelis and the West
and, by way of such a logically distorted public relations campaign,
self-justify its inhumane treatment of Palestinian civilians.
Hiding behind this, Sharon can effectively manipulate his plans to
continue the settlement program and perform political and demographical surgery
to divide the Palestinians from their rights to their own land.
Instead of proposing peace plans, Sharon proposes intransigent demands
for surrender.
The fact that things are still largely unchanged after more than a year of violence should not be confused as a stalemate or a war of attrition. The Israeli military holds the upper hand, and for Palestinian civilians it is a race against time. With each day, new facts are created on the ground, which favor Israel. To give into Sharon is to have no chance at their legitimate rights to viable statehood, including contiguous borders and a capital in Jerusalem. But if Israel persists to deem the occupation - with its policies of settlement, bulldozing, and collective punishment - as more important than peace, the Palestinians will not stop short of a real and just solution. Peace will be painful to both sides, to paraphrase Yitzhak Rabin, but occupation is agonizing to the Palestinians.
Richard Johnson - Ramallah
(c) 2002 canadazone.com