Gideon Levy : Sacred sovereignty *** haaretz.com
Breaking
yet another record for chutzpah, Israel justified its strike on the
Islamic Jihad tunnel by calling the tunnel a “violation of sovereignty,”
and threatened to hit anyone who tries to infringe on its sacred
sovereignty. The prime minister, defense minister and chief of staff
recited it as one. Funny. A state that has violated almost every
sovereignty around it and respected none, that forcibly rules
territories in which it lacks sovereignty, sanctifies the idea of
sovereignty when expedient. It gives hypocrisy a bad name.
The tunnel from Gaza
was absolutely a danger to Israeli lives. Islamic Jihad said it was
intended for the purpose of abducting soldiers. Snatching people from
their beds is, of course, a privilege reserved for Israeli soldiers.
They do it nightly. Israelis said the tunnel would be used to murder
women and children. In any case, Israel had a right, a duty even, to
foil the threat to its citizens and residents’ safety and hit the
tunnel. But the timing was suspicious: just as the Palestinians are
trying to unite in Gaza, just before the transfer of responsibility for
the border terminals between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.
One
needn’t be overly suspicious to realize that Israel would do anything
to sabotage Palestinian reconciliation; it jeopardizes Israel’s
intransigence and threatens to call its bluff. Just imagine a unified
Palestinian partner for peace suddenly appearing, God forbid. In the
absence of evidence, Israel can enjoy the benefit of the doubt. It can
be assumed that the timing was random; Israel found a tunnel and bombed
it.
It’s
harder to believe Israel didn’t know Islamic Jihad commanders were in
the tunnel. Perhaps Israel didn’t plan to kill them in advance — highly
doubtful — but it certainly did nothing to prevent it. The army and the
Shin Bet security service, which know the color of every Islamic Jihad
fighter’s briefs at any given moment, didn’t know these figures were in
the tunnel? There’s a limit to disingenuousness.
Israel
almost always prefers bombing to any other option, especially when
Palestinian unity lurks in the background. Moreover, had Israel truly
wanted to prevent the near-mass killing, it could have done what it
always boasts of doing in Gaza: a “roof knocking” warning strike a few
minutes in advance, to prevent unnecessary deaths. Since this was not
done, it must be assumed that killing the Islamic Jihad heads was a goal, or at very least a welcome bonus.
It
isn’t hard to imagine what would have happened if a Palestinian
organization had wiped out eight Israeli generals. Gaza’s skies would
have gone red, its building would tremble. And note the characteristic
debate over whether the army spokesman apologized for the deaths — he
didn’t — as though it’s forbidden to apologize for killing Arabs, in any
circumstance; only rejoicing is permitted. Is it permissible to
remember that senior figures in Islamic Jihad officers, a violent
extremist organization that is not merely a charity, are also human
beings and that in a period of quiet there’s no reason to eliminate
them?
But
the claim of sovereignty infringement was just too much. Israel has no
right to preach about respecting sovereignty. When its troops invade
Area A West Bank cities (under Palestinian control) nightly to abuse
their residents, to make a show of force, to keep the soldiers alert, to
make arrests or confiscate cash, separately or together, it cannot
demand that its sovereignty be respected. When it treats Lebanon’s skies
as its own and bombs in Syria as if it owned it; when it bars Gazan
fishermen from going to sea and shells them, and prevents farmers from
approaching the border fence and shoots them, how can it complain about a
tunnel in the name of sovereignty?
When Israeli soldiers shot dead an innocent driver
and wounded his sister at Halamish junction on Tuesday, simply because
they didn’t obey the soldiers’ orders, in the name of what sovereignty
did they act, in a piece of land that has no sovereignty?
But Israel sees itself as the sovereign of the universe. That’s why it’s allowed to do so.
Commenti
Posta un commento