http://www.aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20editorials/2007%20Opinion%20Editorials/February/13%20o/The%20Method%20in%20the%20Madness%20Olmert's%20Provocations%20in%20Lebanon%20and%20Jerusalem%20By%20Uri%20Avnery.htm
The Method in the Madness: Olmert's Provocations in Lebanon and Jerusalem

By Uri Avnery

Gush Shalom, February 13, 2007

WHEN A Prime Minister has just lost a war, is dogged by corruption allegations and sees his popularity ratings in free fall - what can he do?

Why, he can initiate provocations.

A provocation diverts attention, generates headlines, creates the illusion of power, radiates a sense of leadership.

But a provocation is a dangerous instrument. It can cause irreversible damage.

PROVOCATION NO. 1: The northern frontier.

Along the northern border runs a fence. But not everywhere does the fence coincide exactly with the recognized border (the so-called Blue Line). For topographical reasons, some sections of the fence run a few dozen meters south of it.

That is the theory of the situation. In the course of the years, both sides have become accustomed to regarding the fence as the actual border. On the Lebanese side, the villagers farm the fields up to the fence, fields which may well be their property.

Now Ehud Olmert has decided to exploit this situation and reveal himself as a great, invincible warrior. Some explosives recently found a few yards from the Blue Line serve as a pretext. The Israeli army claims that they were put there just days ago by Hizbullah fighters disguised as goatherds. According to Hizbullah, they are old bombs that have been there since before the recent war.

Olmert sent soldiers beyond the fence to carry out a "Hissuf" ("exposure") - one of those new Hebrew words invented by the army's "verbal laundry" to beautify ugly things. It means the wholesale uprooting of trees, in order to improve vision and facilitate shooting. The army used the trademark weapon of the State of Israel: the armored bulldozer.

The Lebanese army sent a warning that they would open fire. When this did not have any effect, they indeed fired several salvoes over the heads of the Israeli soldiers. The Israeli army responded by firing several tank shells at the Lebanese position and lo - we have our "incident".

The whole affair is very reminiscent of Ariel Sharon's methods in the 60s, when he was the chief of operations of the Northern Command. Sharon became quite an expert at provoking the Syrian army in the demilitarized zones that existed on the border between the two countries at the time. Israel claimed sovereignty over these areas, while the Syrians asserted that it was a neutral zone that did not belong to either state and in which the Arab farmers, who owned the land, were allowed to tend their fields.

According to legend, the Syrians exploited their control of heights overlooking the Israeli villages in the valley below them. Again and again the evil Syrians (the Syrians were always "evil") terrorized the helpless kibbutzim by shelling. This myth, which was believed by practically all Israelis at the time, served as a justification for the occupation of the Golan Heights and their annexation by Israel. Even now, foreign visitors are brought to an observation post on the Golan Heights and shown the defenseless Kibbutzim down below.

The truth, which has been exposed since then, was a bit different: Sharon used to instruct the Kibbutzniks to go to their shelters, and then send an armored tractor into the demilitarized zone. Predictably, the Syrians shot at it. The Israeli artillery, just waiting for its cue, then opened up a massive bombardment of the Syrian positions. There were dozens of such "incidents".

Now the same method is being practiced by Sharon's successor. Soldiers and bulldozers enter the area, the Lebanese shoot, the Israeli tanks shell them.

Does this provocation make any political sense? The Lebanese army answers to Fuad Siniora, the darling of the United States and the opponent of Hizbullah. In the wake of the Second Lebanon War, this army was deployed along the border, at the express demand of the Israeli government, and this was proclaimed by Olmert as a huge Israeli achievement. (Until then, the Israeli army commanders had adamantly opposed the idea of stationing Lebanese or international troops in this area, on the grounds that this would hamper their freedom of action.)

So what is the aim of this provocation? The same as with all Olmert's recent actions: gaining popularity to survive in power, in this case by creating tension.

PROVOCATION NO. 2: The Temple Mount.

Islam has three holy cities: Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem. In Mecca this week, the chiefs of Fateh and Hamas assembled in order to put an end to the mutual killing and set up a unity government. While the attention of the concerned Palestinian public was riveted there, Olmert struck in Jerusalem.

As pretext served the Magharibeh Gate, an entrance to the Haram-al-Sharif ("the Noble Sanctuary"), the wide plaza where the al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock are located. Since this gate is higher than the Western Wall area below it, one can approach it only over a rising bridge or ramp.

The old bridge collapsed some time ago, and was replaced with a temporary structure. Now the "Israel Antiquities Authority" is destroying the temporary bridge and putting in its place - so it says - a permanent one. But the work looks much more extensive.

As could have been expected, riots broke out at once. In 1967, Israel formally annexed this area and claimed sovereignty over the entire Temple Mount. The Arabs (and the whole world) have never recognized the annexation. In practice, the Temple Mount is governed by the Islamic Waqf (religious endowment).

The Israeli government argues that the bridge is separate from the Temple Mount. The Muslims insist that the bridge is a part of it. Behind this tussle, there is a lurking Arab suspicion that the installation of the new bridge is just a cover for something else happening below the surface.

At the 2000 Camp David conference, the Israeli side made a weird-sounding proposal: to leave the area itself to the Muslims, but with Israeli sovereignty over everything beneath the surface. That reinforced the Muslim belief that the Israelis intended to dig beneath the Mount, in order to discover traces of the Jewish Temple that was destroyed by the Romans 1936 years ago. Some believed that the real intention was to cause the Islamic shrines to collapse, so a new Temple could be built in their place.

These suspicions are nurtured by the fact that most Israeli archaeologists have always been the loyal foot-soldiers of the official propaganda. Since the emergence of modern Zionism, they have been engaged in a desperate endeavor to "find" archaeological evidence for the historical truth of the stories of the Old Testament. Until now, they have gone empty-handed: there exists no archaeological proof for the exodus from Egypt, the conquest of Canaan and the kingdoms of Saul, David and Solomon. But in their eagerness to prove the unprovable (because in the opinion of the vast majority of archaeologists and historians outside Israel - and also some in Israel - the Old Testament stories are but sacred myths), the archaeologists have destroyed many strata of other periods.

But that is not the most important side of the present affair. One can argue to the end of days about the responsibility for the Magharibeh walkway or what it might be that the archaeologists are looking for. But it is impossible to doubt that this is a provocation: it was carried out like a surprise military operation, without consultation with the other side.

Nobody knew better what to expect than Olmert, who, as mayor of Jerusalem, was responsible for the killing of 85 human beings - 69 Palestinians and 16 Israelis - in a similar provocation, when he "opened" a tunnel near the Temple Mount. And everybody remembers, of course, that the Second Intifada started with the provocative "visit" to the Temple Mount by Ariel Sharon.

This is a provocation against 1.3 billion Muslims, and especially against the Arab world. It is a knife in the back of the "moderate" Mahmoud Abbas, with whom Olmert pretends to be ready to have a "dialogue" - and this at exactly the moment Abbas reached an historical agreement with Hamas for the formation of a national unity government. It is also a knife in the back of the king of Jordan, Israel's ally, who sees himself as the traditional protector of the Temple Mount.

What for? To prove that Olmert is a strong leader, the hero of the Temple Mount, the defender of the national values, who doesn't give a damn for world public opinion.

PROVOCATION NO. 3: After Haim Ramon was convicted of indecent conduct, the post of the Minister of Justice fell vacant. In a surprise blow, after laying down a smoke screen by dangling the names of acceptable candidates, Olmert appointed to the post a professor who is the open and vocal enemy of the Supreme Court and the Attorney General.

The Supreme Court is almost the only governmental institution in Israel which still enjoys the confidence of the great majority. The last President of the Court, Aharon Barak, once told me: "We have no troops. Our power is based solely on the confidence of the public." Now Olmert has appointed a Minister of Justice who has been engaged for a long time and with a lot of noise in destroying this confidence. Indeed, it seems that this is his main interest in life, ever since he failed to get a close friend, a female professor, elevated to the Supreme Court.

One can see in this an effort by Olmert, a politician who is dragging behind him a long train of corruption affairs (several of which are at present under police and State Comptroller investigation), to undermine the investigators, the Attorney General and the courts. It serves also as revenge against the court that dared to convict Ramon, his friend and ally. He did not, of course, consult with anyone in the judicial system: not with the Attorney General (whose official title is "Legal Adviser of the Government") nor with the President of the Supreme Court, Dorit Beinish, whom he cannot stand.

I am not an unreserved admirer of the Supreme Court. It is a wheel in the machinery of the occupation. It cannot be relied on in matters like the targeted assassinations, the Separation Wall, the demolition of Palestinian homes and the hundred and one other cases over which the false banner of "security" is waving. But it is the last bastion of human rights inside Israel proper.

The appointment of the new minister is an assault on Israeli democracy, and therefore no less dangerous than the other two provocations.

WHAT DO the three have in common? First of all: their unilateral character. Forty years of occupation have created an occupation mentality that destroys all desire and all ability to solve problems by mutual understanding, dialogue and compromise.

Both in foreign and domestic relations, Mafia methods reign: violence, sudden blows, targeted eliminations.
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When these methods are applied by a politician haunted by corruption affairs, an uninhibited war-monger who is fighting for survival by all means available - this is indeed a very dangerous situation.

http://www.imemc.org/article/46822
PCHR weekly report on Israeli violations in the occupied territories
Friday February 02, 2007 01:21 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC saed at imemc dot org

The Palestinian Center For Human Rights (PCHR), based in Gaza, published its weekly report on the Israeli violations in the occupied territories during the period between January 25 and January 31, 2007.

In a continuation of the systematic policy of house demolition in Jerusalem, Israeli Occupation Forces demolishing a house in al-Tour neighborhood.

!-- @page { size: 21.59cm 27.94cm; margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } -->During the period of the report Israeli soldiers shot and killed one Palestinian child, and injured nine civilians, including three children and one woman.

The child was shot by a round of live ammunition in the northern West Bank city of Nablus; he was left to bleed to death after he was injured.

Soldiers fired at him when he tried to escape from the soldiers; he was unarmed. His family said that he tried to escape as the army repeatedly broke into his parents home searching for him.

Also, a British journalist was injured when a sound bomb fired by the soldiers detonated near him as he was reporting in Bil'in village, near Ramallah, during a peaceful protest against the Israeli Annexation Wall.

Two Palestinian civilians were also injured when the army used excessive force against the peaceful protest against the Annexation Wall.

Soldiers carried eighteen invasion into Palestinian cities, villages and refugee camp in the occupied West Bank and took prisoner 84 residents, including six children and four women.

Seven Palestinian residents were taken prisoner at Israeli roadblocks in the occupied West Bank.

In a separate Israeli military attack, three Palestinian civilians were shot and injured when the army opened fire at a Palestinian Taxi, near Jenin, in the northern part of the West Bank.



Also, two Palestinian civilians were shot and injured when soldiers, stationed at the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip, opened fire at them.

Israel claimed that the two were attempting to infiltrate through the border fence, but eyewitnesses confirmed that the two were hunting birds nearly 500 meters away from the border.

During the period of the report, soldiers conducted at least 18 military invasions in the West Bank.

The siege imposed on the Gaza Strip remained in effect, and the residents are suffering from shortages in fuels and basic goods.

The Rafah Border Crossing, between Gaza and Egypt, remained closed, and the commercial crossings in the Gaza Strip were partially opened.



The Eretz crossing between Gaza and Israel remained closed as hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were prevented from traveling through it.

Only a limited number of Palestinian patients were allowed into Israel and the West Bank for treatment there.

Gaza sea and shore remained off-limits as Palestinian fishermen remained unable to fish since eight months.

Since Israel started its military assault in the Gaza Strip on June 25, 2006, soldiers killed 497 Palestinians, 317 of whom were civilians. 410 of the casualties were killed in the Gaza Strip, 245 of them were civilians.

1691 Palestinians, mostly civilians, including 363 children and 111 women were injured. 1291 of them, including 351 children, were injured in the Gaza Strip.

The army carried at least 329 air-to-surface missile strikes and used hundreds of artillery shells in the Gaza Strip.

Click below for FULL PCHR REPORT

palestine | israeli attacks | news report
Related Link(s): http://www.pchrgaza.ps/files/W_report/English/2007/01-0...7.htm

http://www.imemc.org/article/46798
Settlers take Palestinian lands by force, plant trees on them
Thursday February 01, 2007 03:07 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies saed at imemc dot org

Dozens of farmers from the West Bank city of Hebron complained that Jewish settlers took their lands by gunpoint and started digging holes in the lands in preparation for planting thousands of trees before the Tu B’Shvat Jewish holiday. The settlers were carrying there attack under the soldiers’ protection.

Armed Settlers

A Palestinian farmer told the Israeli Ynet on Wednesday that the farmers were planting their lands when dozens of settlers came and started digging holes in the ground in preparation for planting thousands of trees for Tu B'Shvat.

One of the farmers, identified as Abdul-Majid Salem, said that he saw the settlers digging while the soldiers were guarding them, and when the farmers asked the soldiers about what was going on they said that there is a festival and ordered them to leave.

Salem added that following the incident he and the other Palestinian farmers were ordered to show documents proving ownership of the land.

The Ynet added that there was no violence involved in Wednesday’s incident, and that the farmers turned to Zacharia Seeda, a coordinator from an organization called Rabbis for Human Rights, who contacted the army asking them to stop the activities.

Seeda contacted the army but received no response.

Rabbis for Human rights said that this planting of trees was carried out in contrary to a resolution by the West Bank Appeals Committee that determined that “most of the farmlands in the area are owned by the Palestinians who already went to court”.

Abdul-Hadi Khantash, from the Committee for Land Defense in Hebron and an expert in Maps and Settlements, said that this attack comes to create a reality by repositioning the Green Line, separating the Palestinian territories from Israel, deeper into the Palestinian lands.

Khantash added that the settlers are creating continuity for the illegal settlements and the Palestinians are paying the price.

The Israeli army claimed that the area in question is part of the Meitarim industrial area “that belongs to the state”.

According to the army, the Palestinian farmers appealed in 1982, when their lands was annexed and considered state land, and lost their appeal.

The Ynet added that all planting activities were authorized by army, and the infrastructure department of the so-called Civil Administration office that belongs to the Israeli army.

http://www.imemc.org/article/46797
US to send money and weapons to forces loyal to Abbas
Thursday February 01, 2007 02:35 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies saed at imemc dot org

The United States is seeking to arm and train the presidential guards, loyal to the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, as part of a plan that was presented to the Quartet, Israel, and some Arabic countries.

Palestinian security forces

The plan aims at providing Abbas with weapons, ammunition and money in order to strengthen his power in the Palestinian territories.

U.S officials said that the US Administration intends to increase it support to reach other security devices loyal to Abbas.

As part of the plan, the US president, George Bush, ordered the transfer of 86 Million US Dollars to Abbas, in order to impose law and order, conduct reforms in the security devices, and curb attacks against Israel.

Also, a weapon shipment is waiting to enter the Gaza through the Rafah Border Crossing between Gaza and Egypt. These weapons will be transferred to the presidential guards.

Over the last several days, several shipments of ammunition and weapons were delivered to Abbas and were stored at Ansar base, under the control of Abbas.

According to the US plan, Egypt and Jordan will be in charge of arming Abbas’ forces.

Palestinian sources estimated that 4000 security men will be highly trained, and will receive weapons. The sources also said that it estimated the number of security forces will arrive to 40000, but only have of them will be part of the American training program.

Israeli online daily Haaretz reported that the support to Abbas and his forces comes to counter the increasing power of Hamas’ Al Qassam brigades.

Meanwhile, the Hamas-led Palestinian government slammed that plan, considered it a direct violation and interference in the internal Palestinian politics.

Government media spokesperson, Ghazi Hamad, said that the US government is attempting to create further conflicts among the Palestinians in order to maintain its political domination in the region, the Hamas-rub website Palestineinfo reported.

Hamad added that the government rejects this American interference that aims at flaming divisions and clashes among the different factions.

Ismail Radwan, Hamas spokesperson, said in a press release in Gaza, that the statement of the White House regarding providing Abbas with 4.68 Million Dollars to strengthen his forces aims at escalating the clashes and creating civil war.

Radwan added that “whenever the United States sees that the Palestinians are about to achieve a unity agreement, it send Condoleezza Rice to the regiog, or publicly announces sending weapons and money to Abbas, because it does not want unity among the Palestinians”.

http://www.imemc.org/article/46794
Israeli Supreme Court rules against petition to save Beit Dijan cemetery
Thursday February 01, 2007 00:32 by Palestine News Network saed at imemc dot org

The Israeli Supreme Court ruled that an Islamic cemetery in the village of Beit Dijan, whose residents were displaced in 1948, can be paved over. It said that the graves were not Islamic nor properly maintained. Last year Israeli companies began preparations to build apartments and streets atop the cemetery. The Al Aqsa Foundation filed a suit in the Israeli court system to stop the desecration.

The Chairperson of the Al Aqsa Foundation for Islamic Sanctities and Reconstruction, Sheikh Ali Abu Sheikhah, said that the decision “undoubtedly shows that the Israeli institution has expanded its tentacles.

”One year and a half ago the Al Aqsa Foundation revealed that the Israeli Antiquities Authority began excavations in the Beit Dijan cemetery, preparing for the Israeli companies to build apartments and roads.In protest, the Al Aqsa Foundation managed to go to the Israeli Magistrate's Court in Kfar Saba and then to the Supreme Court to stop the excavation. The Israeli Supreme Court refused to accept Al Aqsa's petition.

The graves can be transferred or paved over, either way the sanctity of dead Muslims is desecrated.Sheikh Ali Abu Sheikhah said, “The decision issued by the Supreme Court regarding the cemetery in Beit Dijan is a reprehensible one illustrating the Israeli institution's contempt for Muslims and their graves, which violates international covenants and religious laws.”

He also stressed that the Israeli position that the graves are not necessarily Muslim is without merit as he is certain, “the graves are Islamic as evidenced by the burial method that Islam is known for, either from a religious or archaeological perspective.”