DUNAMS AND WARS
Prof. Tanya Reinhart
'Yediot Aharonot', March 18, 2001.
(Written before Israel's strikes on Syria and Gaza)
There is something liberating in the truth, even a difficult one.
Since the early 1990's, the Israeli society has been accustomed
to a complex view of reality, which is highly confusing. In its
core there was a tireless strive for peace, which somehow never
materializes: We want to return the Golan Heights, but it doesn't
work out. We finally withdraw from Lebanon, but leave a friction
point in Mount Dov (Shebaa farm), which just might be what will
ignite the next war with Syria. We agree to return to the
Palestinians most of the lands occupied in 1967, but in the
meantime we confiscate more and more lands and double the
settlements.
But now, all of a sudden, everything turned simple and clear.
Sharon, in a surprisingly candid interview with Ari Shavit
(Ha'aretz, weekend supplement, 13.4.01), decided to tell the
people the truth.
Like his predecessors, Sharon too claims that the Arab world
isn't yet ripe for peace, but unlike his predecessors, he openly
reveals that no change in the Arab world will bring Israel to
give up one inch of land. Even in exchange for peace with Syria
"we cannot leave the Golan Heights." As for the Palestinians, if
all of Sharon's demands are fulfilled, he will consider allowing
them to control 42 percent of the occupied territories ("I did
not say 50 percent. I said 42 percent"). In any case, no
agreement will include evacuation of settlements - "Is it
possible today to concede control of the hill aquifer [in the
West Bank], which supplies a third of our water? Is it possible
to concede the buffer zone in the Jordan Rift Valley?" "Netzarim
has tremendous security importance" and as for Hebron, "the Tomb
of the Patriarchs is located in Hebron. [...] These are our
deepest roots".
There is nothing new in these words. The matrix of Israeli
control of the occupied territories which Sharon describes is
identical to the "Alon plus plan" which in turn is identical to
the "Sharon plan", and as Sharon emphasized in the interview, all
Israeli governments since 1967 have acted to implement these
plans. Netzarim, e.g. was not established by chance. "It was
established as part of a conception that a buffer should be
created between Khan Yunis and Gaza City and that we should have
access from the Green Line to the coast".
The only new thing is the openness - the decision to tell the
truth. Since Oslo, Rabin, Barak and Sharon acted (with
coordination behind the screens) to enlarge and enhance the
Israeli control blocks. In an interview in 'Davar' in July 1994,
Sharon explained that the settlements and roads plan which Rabin
was implementing in the territories since Oslo is exactly that
which Sharon suggested in 1974, and he even complimented Rabin
for his cunning: "Some think that Rabin gave the Palestinians
who-knows-what. Nonsense! These things are done cunningly." After
seven years of cunning, the Palestinians in the occupied
territories were already robbed of 50 percent of their land, and
it is now possible to strive towards the next goal, of leaving
them with 42 percent.
Now the era of cunning is over. Sharon, freed of the burden of
the left voters and the constant need to lie, phrases clearly the
world view of the Palmah ('striking forces', pre-state military
legions) and IDF commanders who, for years, are controlling the
Israeli political system. In this world view, everything is
entangled into one romantic framework: the fields, the blossom of
the orchards, the plough and the wars.
The heart of this ideology is the sanctity of the land. "When
Sadat would tell me that for the Arabs land is sacred, that made
me envious", Sharon confesses, "People today don't get so excited
by the idea of 'another dunam and another dunam' [of land]. But I
still get excited".
And land should be fought over forever. "The War of Independence
has not ended", and will, perhaps, go on for ever. "A normal
people does not ask questions like 'will we always live by the
sword' [...] the sword is part of life."
Those who are excited by the sanctity of the land, will never be
satisfied with what they have. There are many Palestinian dunams
still waiting to be redeemed - a dunam in Khan Yunes, a dunam in
Rafah, the outskirts of Beit Jalla and Abu Sneina of the holy
city of Hebron. One by one, they will be redeemed by the heroes
of the Palmah and added to the "security strips" - lands free of
Arabs.
The truth is liberating. Now, at least, those who will go to
reserve service will know what they are fighting for. The choice
is clear. The thousands who evade reserve duty have voted with
their feet.
