Partners in crime, The Israeli elections
Partners in crime, The Israeli elections
By Neve Gordon
The first Ehud Barak-Ariel Sharon alliance began in
1982. At the time, Barak was a young general in charge of
strategic development; in this capacity he prepared a
detailed proposal for the invasion of Lebanon. He handed the
plan to Sharon, the defense minister, who launched the
attack a few months later. The results were horrific. An
estimated 20,000 Lebanese civilians died--including hundreds
of Palestinians massacred in Sabra and Shatila; hundreds of
thousands were wounded and displaced; Israel's death toll
was more than 1,000. Nineteen years later, it looks like
the Barak-Sharon duo is preparing a comeback. Polls show
Sharon heading for an easy victory in the February 6
elections with a 20 percent lead over Barak. Aware of the
Knesset's problematic configuration, however, Sharon has
declared his intention to create a national unity government
in which Barak will be defense minister--a move that may
serve to deflect an unfavorable international reaction to
Sharon's government. Whether the two candidates will
actually join forces remains a matter of speculation. But
the fact that they are the only contenders in the race is a
sign of Israel's moral bankruptcy. Each already has proven
his willingness to perpetrate horrendous crimes. For those
who have not followed Sharon's career it is important to
note that his criminal record did not begin with the Lebanon
fiasco, but can be traced back to 1953 when the military
unit he commanded attacked El-Bureig refugee camp in the
Gaza Strip. An estimated 50 refugees were killed in that
operation. A few months later, the same unit carried out a
massacre in the Jordanian village of Qibya. U.N. observers
who arrived at the scene stated that the "bullet-riddled
bodies near the doorways, and multiple bullet-hits on the
doors of the demolished houses indicated that the
inhabitants had been forced to remain inside until their
homes were blown up over them." According to Prime Minister
David Ben-Gurion's biography, "70 corpses were found in the
rubble, including dozens of women and children." As the
military commander of Gaza during the '70s, Sharon
introduced new methods of brutal repression. Unfortunately,
neither these atrocities nor the Sabra and Shatila debacle
put an end to his career, and today a war criminal is
running for Israel's highest office. While Barak's history
is not as appalling, in the past few months he has gone a
long way toward catching up. After defeating Netanyahu, he
introduced two taboo issues into Israel's public
discourse--Jerusalem's division and Palestinian refugees'
"right of return." In this way, Barak actually contributed
to the peace effort. Yet it is crucial to consider not only
what Barak has said, but what he has done. As Edmund Burke
once wrote, in politics conduct is the only language that
rarely lies. During Barak's short year-and-a-half tenure,
Jewish settlers in the Palestinian territories have built as
many houses as they did under his right-wing predecessor,
Benjamin Netanyahu. When Rabin and Arafat signed the Oslo
agreement in 1993, there were 110,000 Jewish settlers; this
number has almost doubled. The construction of bypass roads
also has dramatically increased. Given that the Oslo
agreement is based on the principle of land for peace, the
accelerated construction in the territories is a major
obstacle. The settlement build-up and the ongoing
confiscation of land is the backdrop for the second
Intifada. As In These Times went to press, 360 people had
been killed in the occupied territories since September 29,
while more than 11,000 have been wounded. The Palestinians
have buried 288 people (80 of whom were under the age of
17), and the Israelis 37; four foreign nationals were also
killed. Barak has instructed commando units to carry out
summary executions. The latest victim of this policy was Dr.
Thabet Thabet, who was well known to Peace Now activists for
organizing joint political activities as well as dialogue
groups between Israelis and Palestinians. No one knows
exactly why he was targeted. As if the destruction of life
were not enough, Barak also has attacked the Palestinians'
livelihood. At the outset, he ordered the military to
implement a curfew on the residents of downtown Hebron. For
almost four months, the houses of 37,000 Palestinians have
been turned into prison cells so that a few hundred Jewish
zealots can live out their fundamentalist aspirations. In
other Palestinian cities and villages, hundreds of thousands
of people are prevented from reaching their workplaces due
to the hermetic military siege. The Gaza Strip has been
divided into three sealed zones, and in some isolated
villages unemployment rates have soared to 70 percent. Acres
of orchards and fields have been destroyed, thousands of
olive trees uprooted and hundreds of houses demolished. The
grinding poverty is so severe that people are beginning to
run out of food and medicine. Barak strangles and
dehumanizes the Palestinian people while continuously
stating that he will do everything in his power to bring
peace. Perhaps the most bizarre part of the upcoming
elections is that both generals are running on the "peace"
ticket. Nearly every slogan in Sharon's campaign includes
the term; one cannot drive along Israel's highways without
noticing billboards declaring "Sharon will lead Israel to
peace." All this is reminiscent of Orwell's chilling
political world where "Newspeak," the official language
introduced by the government, facilitates the manipulation
of the population. Despite the well-oiled propaganda
machine, many citizens have not been fooled. They recognize
an impossible situation and consider the limited choice
between two Napoleons as a dangerous restriction of the
democratic process. According to current polls, unless a
miracle occurs and Barak reaches a peace agreement, more
than 20 percent of the electorate will either cast a blank
ballot or not vote at all. This has created considerable
pressure within the Labor Party, and rumors have it that
Barak may quit the race, allowing Shimon Peres to take his
place. Be that as it may, a tragedy is unfolding with no end
in sight. Regardless of the election results, the near
future will likely be bloody. Neve Gordon teaches in the
department of politics and government at Ben-Gurion
University, Israel.
ENDS