One has to be very surprised at the long list of tools of collective punishment that the Israeli government has devised over the past six decades to prolong the oppression and the dispossession of the Palestinian people. In particular, one might be really amazed at the list they've come up with over the past few months. With every new measure, I as many people wonder: what else is Israel hiding up its sleeve to silence the voice of people?
They cut electricity, gas and fuel, paralyzing life and depriving ordinary people of their basic human rights, returning them to the lifestyle of hundreds of years ago. They targeted all sectors of the Palestinian community, from children through elderly people, civilians through freedom fighters, be they men or women. The death toll is clear evidence of this policy. Over the past three months alone, more than 200 people were murdered by Israel's strikes and invasions.
Israeli F16 planes and Apache helicopters targeted the infrastructure built by Palestinian hands and funded with EU, Scandinavian and Arab money, including bridges, power units, roads, schools and buildings, an action that is considered a crime under the laws of war. They assassinated political and civil leaders, claiming that they headed terrorist organizations. And apart from a few, shy voices of condemnation, the so-called international community has proven completely receptive to these crimes. They kidnapped and jailed members of the Palestinian parliament, both men and women, appointed through free and fair elections, with the sole aim of foiling Palestinian governance and foiling the choice of nation.
These policy options have, over previous years, been discussed and endorsed by Israeli politicians, generals and courts. In the past few days, however, the Israeli government has come up with yet more options, promising more crimes to come.During the February 10 cabinet meeting, the Israeli Interior Minister Shimon Sheetrit called for the execution of Ismail Haniyeh, the elected Palestinian prime minister. In the course of the same meeting, Tzahi Hanegbi, Chair of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, argued that there was no difference between “those wearing a suicide bomber's suit and a diplomat's suit."
As is well known, Israel has a long record of executing Palestinian leaders both in the Occupied Territories and in exile. Yet targeting the democratically-elected members of its government and debating this openly in the cabinet, as a policy option, is nothing short of astonishing. A declared policy of assassinating the elected leaders of Hamas along with the legitimacy they represent, adopted by Israel's cabinet and parliament members, in fact means disaster that would ultimately lead to disastrous consequences. More important, the total lack of any reaction to this criminal debate in the international press and the absence of any condemnation of it by world leaders is deeply shocking. The world is treating the measures discussed and declared by Israel as if they were totally legal and acceptable.
Imagine the British cabinet convening to discuss, not to mention adopting, a policy of assassinating members of the French or Dutch government . Under what category of state should such a government be classified? And under what category of crimes would such policy options be listed? Furthermore, on what justification could these murders be accounted for? Would the same pretext of “self defense” be used this case as well? And if so, how would world leaders react? Could they condemn the crime and resume business as usual? And then what?
The recent debate and resolution in Israel's cabinet expose just how hypocritical the western world is when it comes to the rights and lives of the powerless. It demonstrates how useless laws are when it comes to weak nations. And, more important, it underlines the total impunity granted to those who hold power.
The Israeli cabinet debate and resolutions, as well as the world's indifference deliver a bitter message to Palestinians. Given the lack of options forced upon the Palestinian people, the world needs to be urgently reminded of its own responsibility for any upcoming directions and lines of action that the Palestinian struggle may take.
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