In his letter, Wilkenfeld writes dismissively of "Machiavellian … intentions," although one can find, in the pages of The New York Times, an Israeli official referring to the Gazan settlements as "Israel's 'playing cards' for negotiation purposes." Ariel Sharon and his senior advisor, Dov Weisglass, have openly admitted that the withdrawal from Gaza will be used to solidify Israeli control over the West Bank-their formulation was that the Gaza disengagement would place the peace process in "formaldehyde." Yet the removal of military forces from the interior of a territory comprising less than one percent of historic Palestine is heralded as "Summertime" in a lead editorial in America's ascendant liberal newspaper.
Wilkenfeld then claims that "the Israelis have accepted every viable peace plan ever put on the table." Again, the historical record reveals otherwise. In a foretaste of Weisglass, the aim of Israeli foreign policy should be to place any peace process "in the refrigerator," as Yitzhak Rabin, the messianic hero of Oslo, put it in 1974. This cooling process was necessary because in 1967, the Security Council passed Resolution 242, calling for an immediate Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 borders. Obviously the threat embodied in compliance with international law had to be contained by Israel, with America's support. Thus, in 1976, America-with substantial Israeli assent-vetoed a Security Council resolution calling for immediate withdrawal from the occupied territories.
Wilkenfeld then writes of Camp David, where "Barak agreed to the formation of a Palestinian state with a capital in East Jerusalem." Mainstream and credible witnesses to the Camp David summit have claimed otherwise, emphasizing that Barak did not propose a holistic state comprising the entirety of the occupied territories, with, perhaps, small modifications, and a capital in Arab East Jerusalem. What he proposed-or given the balance of power, demanded-was an Eastern salient extending to the Jordanian border, and a Northern salient bisecting the upper of the two West Bank Bantustans, creating a stuttered set of cantons as opposed to a contiguous state.
Paralleling these policies, Israel has expanded the rate of settlement building in Judea-Samaria, in violation of international law. Simultaneously, it has constructed a wall that will annex much of the illegally occupied West Bank. The International Court of Justice handed down an advisory opinion, stating that the wall is "contrary to international law." Yet Israel continues pouring concrete.
With these types of policies in place and accelerating, we read in the pages of the liberal Washington Post of how "Israel has no peace partner," for "Mahmoud Abbas has nothing to offer and has offered nothing." In yet another misapprehension, Wilkenfeld writes of Israel's "massive restraint." In juxtaposition with Palestinian immorality, Israel's conduct in the occupied territories has become not merely moral but morality itself; in the face of barbaric attacks on civilians, Israel responds with assiduously hesitant arrests and assassinations. The problem is that this is not, in fact, what Israel does. Instead, we read in Human Rights Watch and other publications of Rachel Corrie, churned to death under the burnished steel of an Israeli tank-blade, and "57-year-old Kamal Zghair, a wheelchair-bound man who was shot and then run over by IDF tanks on Apr. 10, 2002 as he was moving in his wheelchair equipped with a white flag down a major road in Jenin." More broadly, Israel's human rights record in the occupied territories has been horrendous, most starkly in Norman Finkelstein's glowingly reviewed Beyond Chutzpah. Finkelstein's book adduces thousands of documents outlining Israel's systematic abuse and murder of the Palestinians.
Wilkenfeld then proceeds, writing of "complete capitulation," as though Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza does not constitute a violation of international law. UN Special Rapporteur John Dugard wrote, before the withdrawal, that "Gaza is a prison, and all its inhabitants are prisoners of Israel" and made it clear that Israel "will remain subject to the obligations contained in the Fourth Geneva Convention in respect of Gaza." This is because, pursuant to the 1907 Hague Convention, Israel is still exercising meaningful military control over the territory. This is not a controversial subject among international jurists; yet The New York Times notes carefully that "Israelis and Palestinians making opposing arguments tend to cite the same documents," leading one to believe that these arguments have equal truth values.
Resultantly, we read that "In a courageous move to shrink Israeli control of Palestinians, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is risking his life" to withdraw the settlers, as Thomas Friedman extolled the courage of the butcher of Sabra and Shatila. Any reasonable interpretation of the withdrawal suggests that Israel is ceding very little "control."
It is in this sordid context that the Gaza pullout is a "ploy." It is presented as a "territorial compromise" and "a step for peace," even while it abets American misunderstanding and prevents a just peace.
This misrepresentation is vital, because these policies are Israel's, but they are also America's. We collectively remit close to $8 billion a year to Israel, promoting what we perceive as our strategic alliance while funding Israeli criminality and aggression. Stop the flow of money to the "Guardian of the Gulf," as Israeli is referred to for its ability to act as an American military base in the center of the world's oil supply, and Israel will, hopefully, stop obstructing the peace process and stop its systematic suppression of Palestinian nationalism. Perhaps then the prognosis of Shaul Mofaz, Israel's Defense Minister, who recently let slip that he does not "think a Palestinian state will see the light of day in the coming years," will be proven wrong, and perhaps Israel, and the Palestinians, and America can stop burying the victims of the terror that Israeli-American policy foments.
Ajl can be contacted at msajl@amherst.edu