Zionism in crisis

Daniel Pipes, founder of the Middle East Forum and a Zionist himself, wrote that the trend of the "once-tiny haredi", Jewish opponents of Zionism, is on the rise. The telling signs are as follows:

• Young Israelis are avoiding the military in record numbers, with 26 percent of enlistment-age Jewish males and 43 percent of females not drafted in 2006. An alarmed Israel Defense Forces has requested legislation to deny state-provided benefits to Jewish Israelis who do not serve.


• Israel's Attorney-General Menachem Mazuz has up-ended the work of the Jewish National Fund, one of the pioneer Zionist institutions (founded in 1901) by determining that its role of acquiring land specifically for Jews cannot continue in the future with state assistance.


• Prominent Israeli historians focus on showing how Israel was conceived in sin and has been a force for evil.


• Israel's ministry of education has approved schoolbooks for third-grade Arab students that present the creation of Israel in 1948 as a "catastrophe" (Arabic: nakba).


• Avraham Burg, scion of a leading Zionist household and himself a prominent Labor Party figure, has published a book comparing Israel with 1930s Germany.


• A 2004 poll found only 17 percent of American Jews call themselves "Zionist."

Pipes is hopeful for a revival, while Philip Weiss says "history is progressive, go with the flow." While certainly those points do their worth to contribute to the decline of Zionism, that 19th century ideology is something foreign by today's standards, with Israel having all the power and prestige that the Jews did not have back when it was born. And you know that it is in deep crisis when the Middle East Peace Envoy is "shocked" by the West Bank segregation.

"He was shocked by what he was told about conditions in Hebron and diplomats say he was genuinely taken aback by his trip to the West Bank sector of the Jordan Valley – where Palestinians are allowed to dig wells only a third as deep as Israelis – at the exploitation of resources by the rich Jewish agricultural settlements at the expense of closed in Palestinian farmers. And he has been privately dismissive – rather more so perhaps than he was as Prime Minister – of the argument by some Israelis that security comes first, with economics and a political deal well behind it."

It's a pity that Blair only could go so far in his condemnation, but then again, he did piggy-back Bushie to invade Iraq. Too bad he forgets about Gaza, a place that is now compared to "a zoo".

"The comparison to a zoo was made by Dr. Mamdouh al Aker, a doctor who heads the Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizens' Rights. For another Gazan, a prominent businessman whose food plant is working at about 5 percent of its capacity, the situation is reminiscent of a hospital: Like patients, the inhabitants do not work, but they receive food. They do not work, because for four months Israel has prohibited not only the exit of any Gazan products to market, but also the entry of any raw materials or means of production. If the prices of goods continue to rise and the cash crisis worsens because of the severing of contact between banks in Israel and the banks in Gaza, the international aid organizations will soon increase the quantities of food that they donate, which today account for about 10 percent of the supplies that are brought in. Perhaps the day will come when they will drop food packages from helicopters.

The governments of Israel, the United States and Europe see the hermetic imprisonment of 1.5 million human beings and the final destruction of Gaza's economic infrastructure as a suitable answer to Hamas, at least until it falls. It appears that the Ramallah "government" agrees with them. Indeed, the head of the Gazan "government," Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, has hinted that the exclusive Hamas regime in Gaza is temporary. But, this temporary nature depends on the success of a dialogue between Hamas and Fatah, whereas Israel and the United States are forbidding Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas from carrying on such a dialogue. And Abbas, in any case, is for the moment sticking to the approach that Hamas is a hostile entity."

Forget about Gazans, they deserve what they get, for they are "hostile". But nothing passes by our "peace" envoy.

"He thinks the similarities with Northern Ireland are as great as the differences but since it irritates Israelis for him to say so, he doesn't."

Apartheid is a no-no; so is Northern Ireland. What could one compare Israel's occupation to?

Finally, Ray HaCohen writes about the new initiative coming from the Hard Right, who eschews that

"The settlers' ideology is usually shared by the Israeli military, and the military is the central political agent in Israel, much more important than any short-lived government or prime minister. This is why plans, demands, and suggestions of the Israeli far Right, no matter how lunatic they sound when launched, are often the best prediction for future reality, which usually lags just a few years behind."

This is Zionism at its greatest. They aim to sweep out all Palestinians to Jordan, and annex the entire West Bank, dismantle UNRWA and make the Palestinians a foreign entity, similar to tourists, in their own homes. Perhaps this tactic most of all is why people are so exhausted with peace proposals. How much will Abbas give up for his own whelp of a fragmented nation?

Jordan Valley plundering

A report (PDF file) published by the MA'AN Development Center and the Grassroots Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign details the policies pushed by Israel in the integral region of the Jordan Valley. A brief glance at the map shown below gives the reality of how dissected the West Bank is, while the Jordan Valley is tripartited into areas A, B, C:

East Jerusalem is to be separated completely from the West Bank or any future Palestinian state (if there ever will be one). Every Palestinian will attest to the fact that they can have no viable state unless there is access to East Jerusalem. The importance of East Jerusalem cannot be undermined (re: Jeff Halper's Matrix of Control). With continued construction of the wall, as soon as the proposed border is finished around Jerusalem, the only state that is left for the Palestinians is a slighter bigger version of the Gaza Strip, split into three regions of activity. It would resemble a refugee camp.

The settlement control of the Jordan Valley is at 28.5%, while the Palestinians are left with 54.5% of the West Bank. Considering the original figure given to the Palestinian state during the UN Partition Plan was 43% of Mandate Palestine, they are being offered just over half of the territory known as the West Bank, while being encircled by settlements to the east and trapped by the border to their west. As an added bonus, there are certain Palestinian villages which is split by the wall, leaving 10% in No Man's Land, between the wall and the State of Israel.

Now the area A and B of the Jordan Valley are under Palestinian control. In total, both areas amount to 5.62% of the Jordan Valley. Area C (for settlements) and the closed zones (border line, military bases and natural reserves) have 94.7% of the Jordan Valley. There are thirty-six settlements, including one belonging to one woman (Mol Nefo) amounting to 66 dunams. The table below encapsulates the comparisons between coloniser and colonised:

And here's more of an outline of the daily humiliations that Palestinians are subjected to just by being unfortunate enough to be living in the area desired by the Jewish State:

"On 12 January 2006 Israeli leaders officially announced the isolation of the Jordan Valley from the rest of the West Bank, dropping the status of the Jordan Valley from final status negotiations. Furthermore, Israel continues its escalation of military procedures in the area by:

* Imposing strict military procedures on areas inhabited by Palestinians, such as placing watch towers at the entrances of Jordan Valley villages and along Road 90, setting up 24-hour military routes, breaking into villages and houses and imposing regular and continuous curfews;

* Preventing landowners, whose IDs do not show a Jordan Valley residential address, from reaching their lands, resulting in loss of sources of income and making it easier for Israel to confiscate their land under Israel’s "absentee’ property law;

* Preventing Palestinian farmers from selling their produce to Israeli traders at Bardala-Bisan checkpoint (5km away), forcing them to travel 50km more to get to Al-Jalameh trade crossing, increasing the cost and making crops, especially fruits and vegetables, far more vulnerable to damage;

* Preventing traders from 1948 land from entering Palestinian villages or farms, based on the excuse of “security, creating problems with regard to quality, price and payments;

* Closing thousands of dunums of pastures and surrounding some with trenches and announcing others as closed military zones;

* Focusing the colonization project, which ultimately gives Israel complete control over the West Bank by continuing to build settlements along the eastern borders from the Dead Sea in the south to Bisan in the north, with 36 settlements and several military bases; consequently, Israel would control the northern, center and southern parts of the Jordan Valley, which is about 20 km to the west of the Jordan River, in addition to controlling the huge water basin in the area;

* Issuing military orders that prevent Palestinians who do not have a Jordan Valley address in their IDs from living there and arresting or expelling those whose ID does not show a change of address (additionally, Israeli authorities prevent any change of address in this area);

* Forcing Palestinians to deal with Israeli Civil Administration for their daily dealings;

* Restricting movement to and from Jericho by:

* Placing 7 checkpoints manned by Israeli soldiers around the city especially outlets to road 90.
* Surrounding Jericho with a trench: 30km long, 2m deep, 2-5m wide.
* Closing all entrances/ exits to Jericho by roadblocks permanently and controlling movement through two permanent checkpoints.
* Stopping coordination with the Palestinian Civil Coordination Office in Jericho.
* Invading Jericho, resulting in killings and arrests of many Palestinians
* Demolishing and destroying public buildings by curettage and air strikes.
* Preventing Palestinian vehicles and tourist guides from moving out of Jericho towards the Dead
Sea."

It does not end there either. Along with the land, Israel has made agriculture extremely difficult to maintain, which provides for up to 35% of total produce; the water resources has been isolated from Palestinian use, which settlers consume six times more water than Palestinians; tourism is also affected by policies of closures and destruction of tourist sites; and there is no sewage network available for the Palestinians. In fact, "[T]he location—between Fasayel and south of Al-Jiftlik—was strategically selected because of the direction the wind would blow the smell to avoid the settlements." Poisoning them is also an option.

These may not be news to many, but it is just another example of how difficult the occupation is getting. Every day is another attempt to displace the rightful owners of the land, so the harsh policies have to be in place in order for the usurpation to be complete.

Israel is willing to give the bare minimum in order to get what they want. The occupation is something they can live with as long as they are able to appropriate more Palestinian land.