People's Democracy

VISIT TO PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES

Feeling The Depth Of Anger, Anguish And Pathos

Sitaram Yechury

FOLLOWING the Communist Party of Israel’s 25th Congress and the Jerusalem Initiative (reported in the last two issues), I had the opportunity to visit various cities in the West Bank, much of which is under Israeli occupation. The fact that this coincided with the 40th anniversary of the 1967 Israeli war of aggression made the visit more memorable as it gave an opportunity to assess the outpouring of anger and anguish of a people who have been denied their fundamental right to a homeland by a gigantic international imperialist conspiracy.

All the major towns in the West Bank – East Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Hebron, Jericho, apart from Ramallah – are all towns of historic Biblical significance. Interestingly, all these Biblical towns are dominated by predominant Arab populations, as are those in Israel as well, like Nazareth, Haifa, the hills and environs around the sea of Galilee. Looking at it today, it is deeply disturbing and ironic that this is the ‘promised land’ that the Bible refers to. It is today a land of agonising tales of a people who continue to be deprived. And, when they dare to rise in defence of their elementary rights of a homeland and decent livelihood, they are mercilessly suppressed.

BLATANT VIOLATION OF UN PARTITION PLAN

According to the United Nations Partition Plan of 1947 that legitimised the creation of the State of Israel, the areas which are now east and west Jerusalem (and their environs, including Bethlehem) were not allocated to either the Arab or the Jew state but were instead to be internationally administered as a separate entity. The borders of the UN partition plan remain the only internationally recognised borders of Israel. During the 1948 war, Israel violated this UN plan and invaded and occupied 84 per cent of Jerusalem leaving the historic old city and a little more under the control of Jordan.

In 1967, Israeli military occupied East Jerusalem, the rest of the West Bank and the Gaza strip. Despite Israel’s claim that it never intended to occupy these Palestinian lands, Israel not only expanded the borders of East Jerusalem in order to change the demographic composition, but also went on to establish Jewish settlements in the West Bank with the implicit objective of making any future Israeli vacation of its occupation infructuous.

In June 2002, Israeli government launched its policy of unilateral segregation between Israel and Palestinian territory like creating a segregation zone on the Palestinian lands in the West Bank. The zone running from North to South corners the most fertile agricultural land, isolating Palestinian communities as enclaves undermining the territorial contiguity between Palestinian villages and cities and, thus, securing Israeli settlements. By building 8 meter high concrete walls around Palestinian settlements and ensuring that its citizens are deprived of working on their own lands unless they are cleared by the Israeli check posts, and similarly deprived from their relatives or friends in other close by villages only when permitted by Israeli security forces. This segregation wall will eventually enclose 102 Israeli settlements accommodating 85 per cent of the Israeli settlers population in the West Bank and increase the number of isolated Palestinian localities to 59.

Upon visiting the wall that encloses Bethlehem (the biblical town where Jesus was born) today, I was immediately reminded of my visit to Soweto and the South African ‘Bantustans’ which isolated the black population into enclosed ghettos in 1991 when the apartheid regime in South Africa was being overthrown. The security and surveillance in Israeli-occupied West Bank is, of course, much more sophisticated and modern than what it was in South Africa in the 1990s.

In fact, Israel had never desisted from expanding Jewish settlements in Palestinian land even after the signing of the Oslo Accord in 1996. For instance, the increase of settlements area between 1996 and 2005 in Jerusalem alone was by 78 per cent. This clearly reflected the Israeli plan to maintain a Jewish dominance over Jerusalem. This from the Zionist point of view is important to lay claim on the 2.25 square kilometre old city which is the centre for all three Semitic religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

OLD CITY OF JERUSALEM

The old city of Jerusalem must be the smallest space on this entire globe with such immense significance for the evolution of human civilisation and the continued impact it has in shaping it today. The mount of a hill around which the city arose is of significance for all three religions and, hence, has different interpretations. Jews believe that on this mount, Noah and his ark sought refuge from the cataclysmic flood that devastated the world. For the Christians, this is the mount from which Jesus after his resurrection rose to heaven. For the Muslims, this was the mount on which Ibrahim (Abraham) was tested by God by being asked to behead his son, Ismail (Ishmael). Pleased with Ibrahim, God reportedly replaced Ismail with a goat, not only bringing his son back to life but also indicated the place (Mecca) where the believer should worship. This incident lays the basis for the Islamic festival of ‘Bakrid’.

The Jews believe that King Solomon built the first temple around this mount which was destroyed by many and finally as Christianity triumphed. Close by is the place where Jesus was reportedly captured, arrested, made to walk with the cross, crucified and buried. The church of the Sepulchre which marks this event stands in close quarters. Interestingly when Caliph Omar reaches to capture this mount as that of Ibrahim, he refuses to enter the church when invited by the Bishop to pray stating that if he did so, his followers would convert this into a mosque. Instead, the Caliph prayed in front of the church where today stands a mosque in his honour.

Today, the Dome of the Mount as it is called is part of the Al Aqsa Mosque, the second most holy place of the Muslim. Right across the old city, above the valley, is the mount of Olives where it is believed that on the day of redemption, the Gods of all these religions will provide deliverance. The valley leading up to the old city from this mount is littered with graves. For centuries, these cemeteries were the target and centres of disputes as it was believed (even today) that the closer one is buried to the Mount, the greater the certainty of going to heaven.

For Zionism, therefore, the control of this territory and the old city, in particular, is of immense importance both for their religio-nationalism and the spiritual sustenance for the modern State. Therefore, soon after the 1967 war when Israel captured Jerusalem, more than 700 buildings inside the old city were destroyed to create the Jewish quarter. What was once known as the wailing wall where the Jews wailed for their return of their lost kingdoms is now called the western wall. This entire area is one of the most high security zones on this planet. Disputes, naturally, arise since on top of this wall is the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Mount. Tensions abound around the fact that the archaeological excavations being currently done around the wall may weaken the foundations of the mosque. In periods of distress, such as the one in which we live today, rumours of such nature are sufficient to spark major conflicts.

Similar was the experience in Hebron which has the tombs of Abraham and his wife and son Isaac and his wife. Since this is a shared religious legacy between the Muslims and the Jews, this city has been devastatingly impacted by a forcible Jewish settlement, by a fanatical gunning down of Muslims in their prayer at their mosque by a Jew, the subsequent division of the tombs in the mosque into separate areas for Muslim and Jewish worship, resulted in the town being completely under siege. Hebron since ancient times was a thriving market place and even today one can see the huge covered market area called souk which is completely deserted. Because of the occupation and the division of the city, no one comes there any more, hence, the market ceases to have any significance. It is, indeed, a tragic sight and a melancholic atmosphere as one walks through the town.

Though many of us had been championing the Palestinian cause for over three decades, I must confess that only when we visited this area did one understand the gravity of the situation and felt the depth of anger, anguish and pathos. The intifada was the only possible expression that any self-respecting Palestinian had. At Ramallah (despite wide enquiries, I have failed in trying to unearth the origins of this name), one was reminded of Bertolt Brecht who when once asked if there would be music in the dark times, he said, yes, there would be music of the dark times. The tomb of Yasser Arafat is under construction, gunshots and firing are regularly heard, the look of disbelief and anger as Israel systematically dismantles the international airport at Jerusalem to ensure control over all travel, as Palestinians feverishly discuss the ways and means of ending this occupation.

Terrorism is not the cause for the occupation. On the contrary, it is the occupation that festers terrorism. State terrorism and individual terrorism are two sides of the same coin that feed each other. Once occupation is vacated and if Israel is subject to terrorist attacks, then the whole world will rise in support of Israel. But, however, if the occupation continues, then terrorism cannot be accepted as the excuse to justify such occupation.

DIABOLIC SANCTIONS & INTERNECINE CLASHES

Further, subsequent to the victory of Hamas in the 2006 Palestinian elections, imperialism led by USA, the European Union, Israel and several others imposed sanctions suspending all transfer of legitimate financial resources to the Palestinian Authority. Ironic and diabolic as these very countries demanded democracy and when implemented they proceed to deny people’s will. This is imperialist democracy! This continues to impose untold miseries on the Palestinian people with the government being unable to pay the salaries of its employees for over a year.

Under these conditions, it is unfortunate that internecine clashes between the Hamas and the Fatah have erupted. While the prime minister belongs to the Hamas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mohd Abbas, belongs to the Fatah. The first round of armed fighting took place in December 2006 and since continued. The second round in May 2007 and in June 2007, the third in the latest round saw Hamas take full control of the Gaza strip. On June 14, president Mohd Abbas declared a state of emergency and announced the dissolution of the current unity government. The latest effort to bring about a rapprochement with the intervention of some Arab powers like Egypt had also not produced the desired results. In the meanwhile, the Arab initiative (see last week’s People’s Democracy), though not rejected, has not been accepted in right earnest by USA and Israel to be the basis for any future settlement of this continuing West Asian crisis. With this infighting amongst the Palestinians, Israel and US imperialism would be more emboldened to continue with their illegal, unjustified and inhuman occupation of Palestinian lands.

Under these circumstances, it is imperative that international solidarity must be strengthened to compel Israel to implement the many UN Security Council resolutions that have demanded Israeli withdrawal from occupied lands. The fact that CPI(M) had independently run a nationwide solidarity campaign and collected a substantial amount of money for the Palestinians is widely appreciated. However, such efforts need to intensify further.