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<b>In Israel, a Tsunami Warning</b><br>
Thursday 7 July 2011<br>
Noam Chomsky<br>
<br>
In May, in a closed meeting of many of Israel's business leaders,
Idan Ofer, a holding-company magnate, warned, "We are quickly
turning into South Africa. The economic blow of sanctions will be
felt by every family in Israel."<br>
<br>
The business leaders' particular concern was the U.N. General
Assembly session this September, where the Palestinian Authority is
planning to call for recognition of a Palestinian state.<br>
<br>
Dan Gillerman, Israel's former ambassador to the United Nations,
warned participants that "the morning after the anticipated
announcement of recognition of a Palestinian state, a painful and
dramatic process of Southafricanization will begin" – meaning that
Israel would become a pariah state, subject to international
sanctions.<br>
<br>
In this and subsequent meetings, the oligarchs urged the government
to initiate efforts modeled on the Saudi (Arab League) proposals and
the unofficial Geneva Accord of 2003, in which high-level
Palestinian and Israeli negotiators detailed a two-state settlement
that was welcomed by most of the world, dismissed by Israel and
ignored by Washington.<br>
<br>
In March, Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned of the
prospective U.N. action as a "tsunami." The fear is that the world
will condemn Israel not only for violating international law but
also for carrying out its criminal acts in an occupied state
recognized by the U.N.<br>
<br>
The U.S. and Israel are waging intensive diplomatic campaigns to
head off the tsunami. If they fail, recognition of a Palestinian
state is likely.<br>
<br>
More than 100 states already recognize Palestine. The United
Kingdom, France and other European nations have upgraded the
Palestine General Delegation to "diplomatic missions and embassies –
a status normally reserved only for states," Victor Kattan observes
in the American Journal of International Law.<br>
<br>
Palestine has also been admitted to U.N. organizations apart from
UNESCO and the World Health Organization, which have avoided the
issue for fear of U.S. defunding – no idle threat.<br>
<br>
In June the U.S. Senate passed a resolution threatening to suspend
aid for the Palestine Authority if it persists with its U.N.
initiative. Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the U.N., warned that
there was "no greater threat" to U.S. funding of the U.N. "than the
prospect of Palestinian statehood being endorsed by member states,"
The (London) Daily Telegraph reports. Israel's new U.N. Ambassador,
Ron Prosor, informed the Israeli press that U.N. recognition "would
lead to violence and war."<br>
<br>
The U.N. would presumably recognize Palestine in the internationally
accepted borders, including the Golan Heights, West Bank and Gaza.
The heights were annexed by Israel in December 1981, in violation of
U.N. Security Council orders.<br>
<br>
In the West Bank, the settlements and acts to support them are
clearly in violation of international law, as affirmed by the World
Court and the Security Council.<br>
<br>
In February 2006, the U.S. and Israel imposed a siege in Gaza after
the "wrong side" – Hamas – won elections in Palestine, recognized as
free and fair. The siege became much harsher in June 2007 after the
failure of a U.S.-backed military coup to overthrow the elected
government.<br>
<br>
In June 2010, the siege of Gaza was condemned by the International
Committee of the Red Cross – which rarely issues such reports – as
"collective punishment imposed in clear violation" of international
humanitarian law. The BBC reported that the ICRC "paints a bleak
picture of conditions in Gaza: hospitals short of equipment, power
cuts lasting hours each day, drinking water unfit for consumption,"
and the population of course imprisoned.<br>
<br>
The criminal siege extends the U.S.-Israeli policy since 1991 of
separating Gaza from the West Bank, thus ensuring that any eventual
Palestinian state would be effectively contained within hostile
powers – Israel and the Jordanian dictatorship. The Oslo Accords,
signed by Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1993,
proscribe separating Gaza from the West Bank.<br>
<br>
A more immediate threat facing U.S.-Israeli rejectionism is the
Freedom Flotilla that seeks to challenge the blockade of Gaza by
bringing letters and humanitarian aid. In May 2010, the last such
attempt led to an attack by Israeli commandoes in international
waters – a major crime in itself – in which nine passengers were
killed, actions bitterly condemned outside the U.S.<br>
<br>
In Israel, most people convinced themselves that the commandoes were
the innocent victims, attacked by passengers, another sign of the
self-destructive irrationality sweeping the society.<br>
<br>
Today the U.S. and Israel are vigorously seeking to block the
flotilla. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton virtually
authorized violence, stating that "Israelis have the right to defend
themselves" if flotillas "try to provoke action by entering into
Israeli waters" – that is, the territorial waters of Gaza, as if
Gaza belonged to Israel.<br>
<br>
Greece agreed to prevent the boats from leaving (that is, those
boats not already sabotaged) – though, unlike Clinton, Greece
referred rightly to "the maritime area of Gaza."<br>
<br>
In January 2009, Greece had distinguished itself by refusing to
permit U.S. arms to be shipped to Israel from Greek ports during the
vicious U.S.-Israeli assault in Gaza. No longer an independent
country in its current financial duress, Greece evidently cannot
risk such unusual integrity.<br>
<br>
Asked whether the flotilla is a "provocation," Chris Gunness, the
spokesperson for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, the major aid
agency for Gaza, described the situation as desperate: "If there
were no humanitarian crisis, if there weren't a crisis in almost
every aspect of life in Gaza there would be no need for the flotilla
â(euro) [ 95 percent of all water in Gaza is undrinkable, 40 percent
of all disease is water-borne ... 45.2 percent of the labor force is
unemployed, 80 percent aid dependency, a tripling of the abject poor
since the start of the blockade. Let's get rid of this blockade and
there would be no need for a flotilla."<br>
<br>
Diplomatic initiatives such as the Palestinian state strategy, and
nonviolent actions generally, threaten those who hold a virtual
monopoly on violence. The U.S. and Israel are trying to sustain
indefensible positions: the occupation and its subversion of the
overwhelming, long-standing consensus on a diplomatic settlement.<br>
<i><br>
Noam Chomsky's most recent book, with co-author Ilan Pappe, is
''Gaza in Crisis.`` Chomsky is emeritus professor of linguistics
and philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in
Cambridge, Mass.</i><br>
<i><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="http://www.truth-out.org/israel-tsunami-warning/1310042953"><http://www.truth-out.org/israel-tsunami-warning/1310042953></a></i><br>
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