http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4094236,00.html
'Restraint' strikes fear into Palestinians' hearts
In a strongly worded attack, Middle East editor Brian Whitaker
condemns Israel's offensive on the Gaza Strip Special report: Israel
and the Middle East
Brian Whitaker
Guardian Unlimited
Tuesday November 21, 2000
If there's one word that ought to strike fear into the hearts of
Palestinians every time they hear it, it's "restraint".
Whenever the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Barak, announces that he has
thought carefully about the situation and has decided to continue his
policy of restraint - as he did yesterday - we can be sure that some
new and horrifying offensive will follow within hours.
Last night's "restraint" was an unprecedented two-hour bombardment of
the Gaza Strip - in which more than 30 missiles were fired and
electricity was cut off
- plus the bulldozing of Palestinian farms, in response to a terrorist
attack which killed two adults aboard a bus carrying Israeli
settlers' children.
As if to confirm that such onslaughts really are restraint, other
Israelis always step forward after the event to condemn Mr Barak for
not being tough enough. It's one of the oldest tricks in the book,
but the Israelis are masters at it.
The secret is never to be caught defending the indefensible. Instead
of trying to justify your disproportionate response to riots and
relatively minor acts of terrorism, you shift the debate into even
more preposterous territory. The effect of this is to make outrageous
actions appear reasonable by comparison.
We saw the same technique at work last week, when US President Bill
Clinton asked Congress to provide $450m "emergency" aid for Israel.
This consists of $200m to pay for Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon
last May, and $250m to protect Israel from a new type of Iranian
missile - a privilege not accorded to any of the other countries
within firing range.
There is no sensible justification for these payments, but Mr Barak
had made it known beforehand that Israel really needed $800m - and he
has been complaining ever since.
Hey presto! Instead of Congress asking, "Why on earth should we pay
this money?" they will ask: "Is it enough?"
Over the last few weeks I have had several emails from Israel
apologists about the Palestinian children killed in the conflict. The
general drift of these is to blame their parents for not keeping them
out of the way of Israeli bullets.
The same point could equally be made of yesterday's bus bombing. What
sort of parents put their children in the front line of battle and
send them to school in an armoured bus with a military escort?
The answer is Israeli settlers. "Settlers" - the word has connotations
of romance and adventure, but also of seeking a better life, tilling
the soil. For Americans it probably conjures up images of quiet
homesteads on the prairie.
But in the case of Israeli settlers, "thieves and brigands" would be a
better description. They live on stolen land and have been known to
shoot Palestinian neighbours for quietly going about their own
business picking olives.
All the world, apart from Israel itself, regards the settlements as
illegal, but Israel treats any attack on them as an unjustified
outrage.
Without the settlers, peace would have come long ago. For the sake of
200,000 bigots in the West Bank and Gaza, the conflict continues,
threatening now to destabilise the entire Middle East.
One day, the international community may wake up and impose some real
restraint.
