Commentary

The Middle East: When War Crimes Become the Norm

Israeli Defence Forces swept through what remains of the West Bank city of Jenin again last week, arresting alleged terrorists and destroying more of the already invasion-scarred city's homes and buildings. The incursion received little media attention in North America or even Europe; media coverage of the event treated it as simply routine. The Israeli government seems, to a certain extent, to have succeeded in establishing their war crimes against the Palestinian people as a norm, with only the most blatant events causing international outrage.

The incursion into Jenin is just one such example. Next week, Israeli MK David Magen will table a draft bill in the Knesset for preliminary reading that allows Israel's notorious Shin Bet security service to use "exceptional interrogation methods" (read: torture) against suspected terrorists. Magen is the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee chair, and the bill is co-sponsored by four other members of the Committee, including a member from Prime Minister Sharon's Likud party.

This in itself is not surprising, given that the Central Committee of Likud voted overwhelmingly on May 12 in favour of a resolution that "no Palestinian state will be established west of the Jordan River." Israel has long and loudly condemned neighbouring Arab states for not recognizing Israel's right to exist, a barrier that was actually surmounted with the signing of the Oslo peace accords. In addition, the latest Arab peace proposal, put forward by Saudi Arabia, clearly recognizes Israel's right to exist within pre-1967 borders (excluding the Occupied Territories).

The Israeli government, however, is continuing to build settlements in the Occupied Territories at a rapid rate. According to a report published May 15 by B'Tselem - The Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the Territories - while only 1.7 per cent of the territory of the West Bank is built-up settlement area, the territory "controlled by the settlements" amounts to 41.9 per cent of the West Bank. There are over 300,000 Israeli settlers living in the West Bank, according to the report, and the number is steadily climbing. B'Tselem chair Anat Biletzki, in releasing the report, told a new conference that the manner in which the settlements and their jurisdictions are laid out prevents any possibility of creating territorial continuity between Palestinian cities and towns. The layout, she pointed out, dramatically reduces the economic development potential of the Palestinians.

The settlements have been condemned by the international community through special resolutions of the United Nations. Dismantling the settlements was a key plank in the Oslo peace accords; yet since their signing the pace of construction of new homes in the settlements has increased dramatically.