Commentary
Further Fascization of the Israeli State
In an interview published February 1st, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Israeli forces should have killed Yasser Arafat 20 years ago, when he was living under Israeli siege in Beirut during the illegal Israeli invasion and occupation of Lebanon in 1982.
Speaking to a reporter for the Israeli daily Ma'ariv, Sharon said, "In Lebanon, there was an agreement not to liquidate Yasser Arafat. In principle, I'm sorry that we didn't liquidate him."
Sharon was Defence Minister at the time of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, presiding over acts of state terror including rape, torture and murder. His culpability was reinforced by an Israeli investigation of the massacres at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps outside of Beirut that took place in September, 1982. Family members of victims of these massacres have launched a court case in Belgium to indict Sharon for these massacres; the case is ongoing.
The fact that Sharon could muse openly about how Arafat should have been killed during an invasion and occupation which was internationally condemned is evidence of the fascist nature of the Israeli state. Sharon can simply assert anything, or do anything, confident in the protection of U.S. imperialism. It is worth noting that in launching the massacre of refugees at Sabra and Shatila camps, which included men, women and children, Sharon claimed that "2,000 terrorists" remained inside the camps, and deployed the Israeli army to encircle and trap them. Israeli troops shelled the camps from outside, and then sent in their allies, the Phalangist militia, to finish the job. The estimates of dead range from 700 (the official Israeli figure) to 3,500 (the figure accepted by many human rights groups), all of them non-combatants.
In 1982 Sharon used the pretext of "terrorism" to justify crimes against humanity in Lebanon and is expressing regrets, not that he committed war crimes, but that he did not commit even greater crimes. He is now using the same pretext of "terrorism" to flourish to justify brutality, selective assassinations, random murder and collective punishment against the Palestinians in the occupied territories - further crimes against humanity.
Israel's disregard for the rule of law has grown so blatant that it has started systematically destroying infrastructure built within the occupied territories with the help of international donors, including the European Union. Spain, which currently holds the rotating chairmanship of the EU, has sent a letter to Israel's foreign minister on this question. The letter includes a description of all EU-funded facilities destroyed by the Israeli army, including the Gaza International Airport, the Gaza Sea Port, the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation, the Palestinian police headquarters, two schools, a research laboratory and a water treatment and pumping plant. The letter is reported to ask Israel for compensation in the amount of 17.29 million Euros. Israel has justified the destruction of Palestinian infrastructure by claiming it was being used to plot acts of terrorism.
In an interesting sign of the growing internal problems within Israel, more than 100 Israeli reserve officers have now refused to serve in the occupied territories. Their decision, highlighted by an initial 50 officers who published a statement and petition in one of Israel's dailies, has resulted in a country-wide debate. One poll conducted by an Israeli radio station shows that 31 per cent of Israelis support their actions, and a former head of Israel's internal security service has given his support to their protest.
In their published statement, the reservists declare: "We, combat officers and soldiers who have served the State of Israel for long weeks every year ... have been on reserve duty all over the Occupied Territories, and were issued commands and directives that had nothing to do with the security of our country, and that had the sole purpose of perpetuating our control over the Palestinian people. ... We, who understand now that the price of Occupation is the loss of IDF's (Israeli Defence Forces) human character and the corruption of the entire Israeli society ... We hereby declare that we shall not continue to fight this War of the Settlements. We shall not continue to fight beyond the 1967 borders in order to dominate, expel, starve and humiliate an entire people. We hereby declare that we shall continue serving in the IDF in any mission that serves Israel's defence. The missions of occupation and oppression do not serve this purpose - and we shall take no part in them."
Sharon has responded by saying soldiers refusing to carry out the decisions of an elected government are guilty of attacking democracy, while Israeli Defence Force Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz has described the situation as a "serious rebellion that the country's leaders must address."