Israel's concerns pale in comparison to what one tsunami has done, writes Emad Gad Israel is currently witnessing a severe state of polarisation over Ariel Sharon's so-called disengagement plan, a unilateral withdraw from the Gaza Strip and four settlements in the northern West Bank. Settler groups are waging an increasingly racist campaign as they intensify their efforts to resist the evacuation of settlements. Settlers have accused Sharon of being a Nazi waging war on Jews, and some have called for armed resistance to the army forces who will come to evacuate settlements, even if the cost of such resistance is prison. At the same time, however, more rational voices have appeared on the scene, asking the government to implement the disengagement plan, impose law and order, and end the occupation. The peace camp and groups calling for a political settlement of the conflict have begun to revive their activities, saying that Palestinians should be given their full rights and all sorts of discrimination should end, including that practised against Arab citizens of Israel. In fact, the struggle over disengagement has revealed the different aspects of Israeli society. While Israel is a traditional occupying nation that discriminates against a large group of its own citizens, there are Israeli voices calling for an end to this situation, a rapid withdrawal from all occupied Arab territory, and giving Palestinian Israeli citizens their full rights. While recently we featured examples of racist Israeli writings and practices, this time we offer examples of more objective Israeli voices writing from a humanistic viewpoint to give a fuller picture of the nature of contemporary Israeli society and the current controversy as it is covered in the media. Giving space to more objective voices helps convey a more truthful image of Israeli society, which is necessary if we are to deal with it seriously and objectively. An article entitled "We, the pampered", written by Nahum Barnea for Yediot Aharonot on 3 January is a prominent example of the more objective, humanistic Israeli voices currently on the scene. "The natural disaster that hit southeast Asia, leaving large-scale damage and huge numbers of victims, is so heartrending and depressing as to lead us to re- examine our own problems in a different light," Barnea wrote. "True, Israel is a difficult country in which to live. It faces the ongoing danger of terrorism, cursed by an occupation whose end is drawing near and loathed by neighbouring countries and throughout the Islamic world. It faces severe criticism from those countries to whom its future is linked, and its economy is having a difficult time sustaining the country. Its social fabric is violent and torn, its educational system convulsing, and its political system is showing worrying signs of decay. "All of this is cause for extreme concern, but it pales in comparison to what one tsunami can do. Thus far, 150,000 have been counted dead along the golden shores of the Indian Ocean. If the estimates offered by some experts prove correct, hundreds of thousands more may die from the spread of disease. "The havoc wreaked on southeast Asia requires us to re-define words like 'catastrophe' and 'the end of the world'. The end of the world is a wave that wipes cities from the face of the earth in Indonesia. The end of the world is not guaranteeing the meaningless post of deputy prime minister to Shimon Peres, for which the Labour Party fought tooth and nail before giving in. The end of the world is not even found in the problem and very real rage of the settlers in the Gaza Strip. True, the crisis will break them up, but it is a crisis wrapped in soft cotton. Every one of the five million people uprooted from their homes in Southeast Asia as a result of the natural disaster would willingly trade places with the most dejected of settlers. "Last week, settlers left flyers in mailboxes claiming in large red letters, 'Sharon is ripping the people apart.' When [Yitzhak] Rabin was prime minister, the walls of the bus stations were covered with the slogan: 'Rabin is ripping the people apart.' After that Peres, then Netanyahu, then Barak 'ripped apart' the people. Barak is still 'ripping apart' the people even today, according to the huge sign that hangs on a vacant house on the Jordan Valley Road. "While the disengagement may be a blow that some find difficult to accept, there is a huge difference between it and 'ripping apart', let alone between disengagement and a real catastrophe. "Victor Klemperer was a Jewish professor at the University of Dresden who survived the Holocaust because of his Aryan, Christian wife and the British bombing that destroyed Dresden on the eve of the war's end. During the Nazi era, Klemperer devoted himself to maintaining a secret diary; a few weeks ago, his memoirs were published in an abridged Hebrew version. "Klemperer's book will draw in any reader, but I particularly recommend it to the settlers of Neve Dekalim, who last week started wearing an orange Star of David [in protest]. The book shows Klemperer to be a difficult person to take as a model. He is exasperatingly preoccupied with himself and his own narrow problems; he is cultured, but not wise; he is blindly loyal to Germany and has a limited understanding of history. But the strength of the book lies in the facts, in the raw reportage, revealing and precise, of the details of the life of a Jew who, in spite of himself, wore the yellow star in the heart of Nazi Germany. "Klemperer was not sent to the death camps; he was not tortured or beaten, and he was detained for only a week, which he spent in highly humane conditions. For him, the Holocaust was merely a distant rumour. Nevertheless, he still lived a hell. The atrocities came to him gradually: initially it was humiliation, followed by fear, and later hunger. In the end he faced humiliation, fear, and hunger together. Many of those around Klemperer preferred suicide, but he chose to remain alive. "We, the pampered, who grew up in our own state, with food in our bellies and our weapons in our own hands, should not confuse our cozy struggles with the real, greater problems; atrocities, too, deserve a little respect." Another example is an article by Yariv Oppenheimer, secretary- general of Peace Now, that appeared in Maariv Magazine on 3 October 2004, entitled, "I am ashamed". The article discusses the release of Israelis who tortured an Arab and another Israeli who killed a Palestinian. The author asks, "Would an Arab who killed an Israeli be released after a brief investigation? Woe to a country where such flagrant racism prevails." Oppenheimer continues, "'the accused claims that he acted in self- defence, but basic inconsistencies in his statements during the interrogation raise suspicions of murder.' This is how the head of police investigations in Samaria, Lt Haim Fadlon, described the interrogation with the settler who shot a 46-year-old Palestinian sitting in his car at the Furik junction in the heart of Samaria this afternoon. "This was not an assassination or an execution without trial; it was just another death in the territories. Instead of thoroughly investigating the incident and submitting the findings of the investigation to the prosecution to determine the charge to be brought against the accused, the police spokesman chose to make light of the incident. Several hours after the investigation, the media published a statement acquitting the accused of the murder charge, informing the nation that this incident was an accidental killing. "What would the police investigator have said if the opposite had happened, and it had been a Palestinian who had shot a settler sitting in his car? Would the police have rushed to exonerate the accused of the charge of premeditated murder, announcing that it was an accidental killing, despite inconsistencies in his statements? "We can assume that the Israeli press and the police spokesmen would have chosen phrases such as 'murder in cold blood' to describe such an incident. "A few hours earlier, the Jerusalem Magistrates Court heard another incident in which Border Guard soldiers sadistically abused Palestinian citizens for racially motivated reasons. Given the disturbing, horrifying nature of the incident, it is difficult to accept Judge Haim Li-Ran's decision to place those charged in the case under house arrest. One need not be a lawyer to realise that if Palestinians had used the same methods to abuse Israelis, they would have been jailed until the trial was concluded and a sentence had been issued. How can we forget? Even the settler who, as the police said, 'only' committed murder, was released. Would an Arab who 'only' killed an Israeli have been released? "In times like these, in which the law enforcement authorities in Israel seem to make decisions based solely on the identity of the victim rather than the seriousness of the crime, we can only be ashamed. "After four years of the Intifada, filled with atrocities committed by both sides, we can understand the apathy that many in Israeli society feel towards the suffering of individual Palestinians and Israelis. However, we should not accept a policy on the part of police and law enforcement officials that consistently shows a disregard for the penal code so obvious that one need not be a lawyer to understand it." To read more articles from the Israeli press, please visit the website of Arabs Against Discrimination www.aad-online.org.
