What's behind Jericho raid?
- From: "Islam Will Replace Collapsing Amerikan Empire" <islam_to_replace_amerikan_empire@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2006 08:12:55 -0500
What's behind Jericho raid?
3/23/2006 12:50:00 PM GMT
By: Ramzy Baroud
Could it be possible that the Israeli army raid on a Jericho prison on March
14 was done without careful coordination between Israel, the United States
and Britain? Could it also be possible that the timing of the onslaught was
equally innocent, of no political consequence, and not linked in any way to
the Palestinians' ability to withstand Israeli blackmail, US threats and
European intimidation following the Hamas election victory in January 2006?
Arab League Secretary General Amr Musa - a man known for being particularly
cautious with his choice of words - said that: "Clearly, there (was) some
sort of coordination". Many others concur. But before examining the Israeli
raid itself, one should quickly scrutinize its surrounding political milieu,
for without such comprehension, the Israeli attack which resulted in the
death of a prison guard, a prisoner and the abduction of several leading
political prisoners would seem just like any other day of violence in the
fractious occupied territories.
The Palestinian parliamentary elections last January, which introduced Hamas
as a power player, have yielded a most unfavorable formula from the point of
view of the U.S. and Britain. Both governments have invested in a carefully
designed and self-serving democracy program that would cement and justify
their costly meddling in the region and, of course, their lost war in Iraq.
Whether they wish to admit it or not, the advent of Hamas, which has
provided a moral boost to Islamic political movements everywhere, has most
likely signaled the end of the U.S.-led quasi-democracy project.
Israel, on the other hand, has arguably benefited from the Hamas victory
since, surly, no one would expect Israel to negotiate with a political force
that calls for the Jewish state's demise; now Israel can further twist its
masterful rhetoric of having a moral right and obligation to secure itself
from theoretical annihilation at the hands of Hamas through more unilateral
action, or so the incongruous logic goes.
Indeed, acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert could hardly conceal his
enthusiasm and has embarked on all kinds of unilateral plans, by walling off
Palestinians completely and, further, by drawing his country's own version
of permanent borders - of course at the expense of Palestinian land and amid
near complete American and European silence.
Europe, even after it agreed to pass some funds on to the Palestinian
Authority, is yet to grow weary of warning Palestinians of dire consequences
if certain conditions are not met (conditions that are of course applicable
to Palestinians only).
The United States government unabashedly demanded some meager funds it
delivered to the Palestinian Authority prior to the vote back. Palestinians
complied. The Congress, on the other hand, has forged and is quickly
processing various laws to further punish and alienate Palestinians for
making their democratic choice.
Even Israel's initial sense of vindication has turned sour, as Hamas -
despite its lack of experience in international politics - has managed to
win the trust of various governments outside of the Western hemisphere, and
is proving equally savvy in making its conditions for a final settlement
with Israel appear plausible.
In other words, despite the intense blackmail and arm-twisting to cripple
one of a few truly democratic Middle East experiences, Palestinians have
successfully managed to impress their political will as an irrevocable part
of the region's political reality; a very disturbing realization indeed in
the eyes of the U.S. and Israel who have diligently worked for decades to
undermine the Palestinian people's aspirations.
But even more dangerous is the fact that Palestinians were quietly reworking
their political and ideological divergence in intense meetings in Gaza, with
the hope that a national unity government would replace the less favored
option of a Hamas-only government.
Of course it's not the workings of Palestinian politics that Israel and the
U.S. government (and less significantly Britain) found troubling. What's
troublesome is the fact that a national unity government that includes the
defeated pro-U.S. Fatah movement would deny the Bush administration and
Israel the chance to scrutinize, undermine and eventually topple a lone
Hamas government.
Thus, the U.S. response to the unity talks in Gaza between Hamas and Fatah
representatives was uncompromisingly clear. "Diplomatic sources said strict
U.S. restrictions on contacts and assistance to Hamas would apply to Fatah
and other parties if they joined a government under the militant group,"
Reuters reported on March 13, a day before the Israeli raid on the Jericho
prison. One should try to approach the analysis of the Israeli raid on the
West Bank prison' against this backdrop.
The prison has been under the watchful eye of American and European monitors
for over four years. Their mission was to satisfy Israel's demand to keep
Ahmed Saadat, the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine (PFLP), locked in, without trial, due process or conviction.
Saadat is arbitrarily connected by Israel to the killing of an Israeli
minister, Rehavam Zeevi, five years ago. His imprisonment by the Palestinian
Authority, under foreign monitoring, was for long a source of embarrassment
for the PA and its formerly leading Fatah Party.
Abruptly, on March 14, Americans and British monitors reportedly abandoned
their posts, a move that was followed minutes later by a well-calculated and
well-executed Israeli attack that resulted in a bloody episode and the
abduction of Saadat and a few other political prisoners. A military
penetration of such a magnitude would've surely consumed days, if not weeks
in the making. For the U.S. administration and the British government to
claim that they didn't coordinate their decision to withdraw their monitors
with Israel is utter nonsense.
What followed was most predictable: violence, chaos, threats of vengeance
and the kidnapping of a few foreigners, a most suitable conclusion to an
event that was meant to spur just that: to shatter the relative peace, to
harden Hamas' mission in forming a government, to provoke Palestinians into
breaking their one-sided ceasefire, thus their rank. But ultimately, with
its brutal show of force, Israel meant to remind the Palestinian leadership,
democratically elected or not, that those with the bigger guns will always
have the final say.
Ramzy Baroud is the author of "The Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle
of a People's Struggle" (Pluto Press, London) and also editor-in-chief of
PalestineChronicle.com.
http://islamonline.com/cgi-bin/news_service/middle_east_full_story.asp?service_id=10752
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