The occupation of the West Bank has lasted 56 years. About 800,000 Israeli Jews
(12% of the population) live beyond the "green line", the internationallyrecognized border, that of the armistice of 1948-49. ---- If part of the settlersare suburbanites, attracted by privileged living conditions (large cheapresidences, bypass roads, abundant water, etc.), a good half are religiousfanatics. Their reading of the Hebrew Bible, an ethnicist and territorialistreading, has become widely accepted among religious Jews: "God gave this land tothe Jewish people". So there is nothing to discuss. The Palestinians areintruders and to please God, they must be expelled or locked up.Jewish settlement in the West BankUrinate in the pool from the top of the diving boardThe expression is from Sylvain Cypel, author of Israel against the Jews. Itreflects the current behavior of a majority of Israelis. Zionism, a colonialistand racist ideology, has resulted in a lasting hegemony of the extreme right inall sectors of Israeli society: among the religious and the settlers of course,but also among the Sephardim, the Russians, in the army... The violence againstthe Palestinian population has never ceased. In the Jenin camp, during Sharon'stime, the Israeli army experimented with new methods: bringing down buildingswith tanks and walling up the inhabitants. In the old city of Hebron, thesettlers dump their garbage in the Palestinian street and educate their childrento throw stones at Palestinian school children.All this is not new. What is good is that the settlers now feel strong enough andno longer hide. They are in power directly with key positions. Every day aPalestinian (preferably a child) is killed. The army openly supports thecolonists when they attack the peasants or build a new colony. Impunity and inparticular the absence of sanctions and protests makes them think that everythingis permitted.What happened in Huwara is a further step. A veritable pogrom with, as in Russiain the past, a complementarity between the rioters who loot, kill, burneverything and the army which protects them and forbids any response. With inaddition ministers openly calling for murder. Bezalel Smotrich, finance minister,called for Huwara to be razed. Suddenly, a new Nakba (the catastrophe, theprogrammed ethnic cleansing) is on the agenda.To live is to resistThe Palestinians have tried and continue to try all forms of resistance. And itis clear that they have no interlocutor on the Israeli side. What is on theagenda against them are bombings, assassinations, mass imprisonment, land thefts,house destructions. Yet Palestinian society is still alive. The populationcontinues to educate the children, to produce when possible, to party.The Palestinian Authority is mostly perceived for what it is: a collaboratingentity that zealously applies the one thing that was signed in Oslo: that theoccupied provide the "security" of the occupier. It has killed opponents (NizarBanat), it persecutes rebellious civil society (notably the theater of freedom inJenin), it fights the pluralism of Palestinian society. She intervened violentlyagainst the funeral procession of a Hamas militant, killed by the Israeli army,and accused of an attack against two settlers. Many political parties arediscredited. We perceive a certain "clearance" against them in the population.An all-powerful armyIn 56 years of occupation, the Israeli army has become extremely powerful. Itstechnology allows it to control everything, from spying on phones to monitoringthe slightest movements in society with drones. Its firepower is unmatched. Shehas the "legal" right to torture and kill. Every occupation has led to forms ofcollaboration. Against the Palestinians, all means are good. A Gazan fisherman,taken prisoner in the middle of work, recounted the proposition that the securityservices had made to him: "You know, your mother has cancer and anti-cancer drugsare banned in Gaza. But if you help us, she can be cured...". If the secretservices have spotted that a Palestinian is homosexual or that a Palestinianwoman has had relations outside marriage, blackmail can make them collaborators.As a result, targeted executions of fighters have multiplied.Checkpoint in HebronArmed struggle?A poll in Palestine shows that a fairly clear majority of the population supportsthe armed struggle. And during each Israeli attack, the crowd present at thefunerals of the murdered fighters was impressive. Even well-known Palestinianpoliticians like Leila Shahid have praised them. Two Palestinian politicalparties have an offensive armed wing: Hamas and Islamic Jihad.Against Jihad, the Israeli army has always used the worst methods: 49 died inGaza last year during massive bombardments on Gaza. Merav Michaeli, leader of theLabor Party, reputedly modernist and feminist, said then: "Wherever they are,members of Islamic Jihad must be wiped out". The Jihad, which is both anationalist and a religious party, has the reputation of being incorruptible andunitary. Despite many losses, his determination is intact.But it is outside the parties that new groups have been born, the most famousbeing "La Tanière des Lions".Little is known about these groups. For them the most total secrecy is anobligation. We know of no "leader" for them, a bit like in the revolt movement inIran. Any known leader would be immediately shot down. They are young people.They have groups in Nablus, Jenin, Jericho, probably elsewhere as well. They arenot affiliated with any political party. The Palestinian Authority tried to bribethem by offering them positions in exchange for giving up the armed struggle.They refused. Their armament is light. They only attack the army and thesettlers. Of course, their chances of winning a victory against the Israeli armyare very small.lion's denI will end about them by quoting the words of my father, a former member of theManouchian group: "we knew that if we did not fight, we were condemned to death.And if we fought, we were also condemned to death. So we chose to fight.»Peter Istanbul. March 2023http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article3719_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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