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By MC12
The Israeli settlement called Karnei Shomron came under attack by Palestinians in February. A suicide bomber detonated his bomb near a pizza place in the Yovelim shopping mall, which had opened a few months earlier, killing two Israeli teenagers and wounding 29 others. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility for the attack. Karnei Shomron is in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and the attack was the first suicide bombing in the West Bank in the latest outbreak of the war.(1)
A spokespersyn for the U.$.-supported Israeli government, Avi Pazner, said, "For some time now Israel has been the victim of a relentless and murderous series of terrorist attacks aiming specifically at civilians, at men women and children. ... We'll do everything in our power to protect ourselves against these terrorist atrocities and the murderous appetite of these organisations."(2) The word "terrorism" (like other vague terms such as "hard-liners") is freely used by the U.$. media, usually referring to violence against U.$. interests, especially when the targets of the violence may be described as "civilians." The Israeli spokepersyn could be sure his characterization would not receive close scrutiny in the U.$. media. A closer look at the Karnei Shomron case shows that the designation "civilian" is not justified, however.
Settlements
The Israeli settlements in the occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza followed the Israeli victory in the 1967 war, made possible by Amerikan military support. Since then, under the leadership of both major Israeli political parties and with the support of Amerikan imperialism, settlements have expanded as part of a deliberate policy of undermining Palestinian self- determination. In particular, settlements were spread out to surround major Palestinian population centers and to divide them from each other. This is true of Karnei Shomron, which was strategically placed on the site of a forest between Kalkilya and Nablus.(3) When Israel and the Palestinian "Authority" met in the U$A to discuss the "peace plan," the Israeli proposal included the preservation of these settlements and Israeli control over the roads between them, which would have cemented the divisions they created.
When Yassir Arafat rejected the plan, he was falsely accused of choosing war over peace. The French news agency Agence France Presse reported what is obvious to most of the world, but carefully avoided by the U.$. media: "Jewish settlements on occupied land are considered by the Palestinians and a large part of the international community to be one of the root causes of the Palestinian uprising which has raged since September 2000. ... UN Security Council resolutions have called on Israel to quit the occupied territories in exchange for peace."(4) Not only are the settlements placed and built to divide and undermine the Palestinian nation, but the settlers who live there are active participants in Israel's ethnic cleansing program.
The web site for the Yeshiva, fundamentalist Jewish school there called Yeshivat Hesder Karnei Shomron, specifically incorporates military service into the religious duties of the community. Judaism in their interpretation is completely linked with the conquering of the Palestinian people. An article by a rabbi on the web site says: "The Hesder Yeshivot [students in the Yeshiva] see learning and 'doing' as two facets of life which must be synthesized. Not just learning which has no relation to day-to-day life in Israel, and not 'doing' without a basis in Torah learning. They also negate that these approaches should be divided between different people in Israel -- the people who learn and the people who 'do.' The first test is the attitude towards the army service. Service in the army is one of the most burdensome tasks that Israelis have to perform, and I have already said: The greater the sorrow -- so is the reward.
Nevertheless, the Torah education must not be neglected -- the 'doing' cannot replace the learning. On the contrary, it stems from the learning. This is why the Hesder Yeshivot integrate the two into a five year learning and army service program and in spite of the fact that the army service period is shorter than the regular 3 year program, our students attend the elitest units of the army -- paratroopers, infantry and the armoured division, with dedication and distinction. This merge results in an interrelated affect: on the one hand, contributing to the forming of a 'torah scholar' who carries the burdens of the community and is educated to learn Torah in order to 'carry out' Torah, and on the other hand, contributing to the nurturing of a motivated soldier who is instilled with Torah values."(5)
The web site includes a picture of smiling, armed yeshiva students in military uniform captioned: "Our students on active military service with the Israeli Defense Forces." The people killed in the bombing, however, were young adults, including 15-year-old Keren Shatsky, the children of Amerikan Jewish settlers who moved to Israel in 1984 and settled in Shomron in 1986.(6) People this young, still living with their parents and not yet in the military, are victims of the warmongering of their parents and their militarist national leadership. Parents and political leaders who use abuse their children with ideological indoctrination and use them as population displacement weapons have no right to declare themselves the victims of "terrorism" when the people they are oppressing strike back.
"Security"
While the new settlement mall defended its security procedures, "local residents said there was no security whatsoever and that Palestinians from the local villages often shopped there."(1) Construction of a fence surround the settlement has begun, but is not complete. A Karnei Shomron spokeswomyn said, "We are not the ones who should be fenced in but rather the Palestinians from neighbouring villages and the nearby city of Qalqilya." Of course, keeping all Palestinians out of the settlement is problematic, because they are the exploited laborers who build the houses for Israeli settlers -- and who do the scut work in the mall.(4) Evicting or massacring all Palestinians would require Israelis to do a lot more work at wages far higher than Palestinians command. Israel's response to the bombing was a continuation of its military campaign: firing missiles into Nablus, driving tanks into a refugee camp in Gaza, and assassinating a Hamas commander with a car bomb in Jenin.(7)
Which side are you on?
In Israel there are clear lines of demarcation between those who support the colonization and oppression of Palestinians and those who oppose them (see story in this issue on Israeli soldiers who refuse to serve in the territories). In the days following the attack, the two sides were especially clearly drawn. A poll showed that 35% of Israelis support the policy known as "transfer," or getting rid of all Palestinians, with a growing sentiment in favor of seizing all the areas nominally under Palestinian "control" at the moment. At the same time, a small but visible demonstration of about 5,000 people in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv protested the occupation and Israeli attacks.(The Guardian (London), 18 Feb 2002.) In such a context, people choose what side they are on. The settlers of Karnei Shomron have made their choice.
Notes:
1. The Jerusalem Post, 17 Feb 2002, p. 1.
2. Agence France Presse, February 16, 2002.
3. "Israeli Settlements and Palestinian Rights," by
Ibrahim Matar. Pp. 195-210 in Occupation: Israel
Over Palestine, edited by Naseer Aruri.
Association of Arab American University Graduates:
Belmont, Mass, 1989.
4. Agence France Presse, February 18, 2002.
5. http://www.aquanet.co.il/vip/hesderks/rosh/rosh.htm
6. The Jerusalem Post. February 18, 2002, p. 1.
7. The Guardian (London), 18 Feb 2002.