When History Repeats Itself, Again And Again

By Sam Bahour and Michael Dahan*

March 6, 2002

The first Palestinian refugee camps are a product of the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. In 1967, when Israel militarily occupied the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem a second wave of Palestinian refugees was created. Today, Ariel Sharon and his government are creating a third wave of Palestinian refugees by attacking those very same refugees that, decades ago, fled for their lives and have been living under illegal Israeli occupation ever since.

It was twenty years ago when Sharon himself was responsible for the massacre of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps in Lebanon. Today, the Sharon-Peres coalition is repeating history by entering refugee camps within the Palestinian Authority, killing people and destroying homes and property.

They are repeating history when they insist on keeping Arafat prisoner in Ramallah, as Sharon tried and failed to do in Beirut. When tank shells are used for "pinpointed" assassinations and kill a mother and her children "mistakenly" (tell us please where is the pin and the point?). When an entire family is killed in Jerusalem while celebrating a child's Bar Mitzvah (the Jewish coming of age ceremony), when missiles are fired from F16s into densely populated areas in Ramallah, Gaza and Bethlehem, when death and destruction, debasement and humiliation are part and parcel of official Israeli policy towards millions of Palestinians, history is repeating itself again and again.

The Sharon-Peres coalition has no plan. Tenet, Mitchell, the Saudi Arabian initiative have all been rejected. Sharon's only response is to say "the Palestinians have to be hit harder". And after they are hit hard? They then need to be hit harder? And harder? And then? The Israeli government has rejected every proposal to try and calm the violence. The only response that the government has is to increase its war against the Palestinians. And make no mistake, this is not a low level conflict, but a war against the Palestinians. Sharon is not simply a hard liner - he has absolutely no intention of reaching any agreement whatsoever with the Palestinians. Anyone who thinks that he does is only fooling themselves, while everyday innocent people are being slaughtered in the streets of Ramallah and Jerusalem, Jenin and Tel Aviv.

Sharon has rejected and will continue to reject any proposal that attempts to calm the situation, while at the same time raising the stakes even higher. The only action that Sharon is capable of taking is to create a smoke screen, which will allow him to continue his personal vendetta against Arafat. This is the only conclusion that one can reach - Sharon has neglected his responsibility as a leader and is willing to place his own personal agenda ahead of the common good and common interest of Israel.

For those in the military, we would like to remind them of one of the basic laws of physics: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This is a simple fact. "Hitting the Palestinians harder" will only serve to create more and more people willing to commit acts of violence, and will only serve to send a message to the Palestinian people that Israel has no intention of trying to reach a political solution.

It is time to send a clear message to Sharon and to the international community as well. There is no military solution for the conflict. Constantly bombarding the Palestinians will not make them give up their hope and legitimate desire to live in a free and independent state. Stifling them with roadblocks and indiscriminate violence will not soften them up, but will only serve to increase their commitment to achieve their goals.

In a few weeks, Jews all over the world will be celebrating the holiday of Passover, which is also known as the "Holiday of Liberty" from Egyptian slavery. It is time to apply the inalienable principle of liberty, which Jews cherish so much, to the Palestinian people. The only possible hope for a solution is the complete and total end of Occupation, the Israeli withdrawal to 1967 borders and the establishment of a free and independent Palestinian state. As the Israeli government is not willing or not capable of implementing this simple and fair solution, we call on the international community to put as much pressure as possible on Israel in order to stop the cycle of violence. Failure to do so will only encourage Sharon to implement his own agenda, and history will continue to repeat itself.

* Sam Bahour is a Palestinian-American living in the besieged Palestinian City of Al-Bireh in the West Bank and can be reached at sbahour@palnet.com.

Michael Dahan is an Israeli-American political scientist living in Jerusalem and can be reached at mdahan@attglobal.net.

Hello

Visit here : http://www.cs3i.fr/abonnes/do/isr_heaven.swf

And here : http://www.jewsnotzionists.org/themiddleeastquandary.htm

and you can read: «We pray for a peaceful dismantling of the state», say some jews !

I cannot believe in any god(s) but I think these Jews are right !

The invasion by zionists of Palestine after 1947 is like the invasion by Europeans of America after 1492.

Israel don't have the right to exist !

It is easy today to see that invasion of Gaza or Cysjordannie by zionists is colonialism. But invasion by zionists of Palestine after 1947 was also colonialism ! for the very same reasons !

Israel is colonialism of USA in palestine ! (USA is behind Israël, even if there is many Israelians who come from Russia and other countries)

Israel is a state of USA !

Israel is american gendarme (policeman) of Mid-East !

Israel prevent real revolution in all arabes and muslims regions, because arabe and muslim people see only israeli oppression, and forget to see that the oppression is also into their countries, with kings and other dictators. And some Arabes and muslims fall into the trap of islamism (trap made by USA) because they think only islamism can help them against Israël, because islamism have many money. But they don't know it is money of USA or of countries which are friend and dominated by USA as saudi Arabia !

Don't forget : at the beginning, Palestinians was spoking of "palestinian revolution", and not only palestinian liberation, and it was not islamist, it was a non-religious revolution. And Palestinians wanted make a big revolution also against kings and dictators in others arabe countries... But it is forgotten...

Israël is American gendarme of Mid-East !

http://www.jewsnotzionists.org/

http://www.netureikarta.org/



bye

do

http://mai68.org or http://www.cs3i.fr/abonnes/do

My condolences go out to all of the families that have lost loved ones on both sides of the dispute. My aim here is to denounce the militaristic tactics of the Sharon administration. Enough is enough! Its seems that Sharon has forgotten that he is a representative of the people of Israel and his primary responsibility is to protect civilians. He assumes that heavy handed blows will bring Palestinians back to the negotiating table but this is false. The Palestinian people has suffered tremendously at the hands of international arrogance (1947) and suffer under the trigger of Sharon. COntinued violence against the people of Palestine will only fuel the appeal of desperate measures amoung young and old namely suicide bombings and violence against the Isreali people. The problem here is Sharon thinks he can stop terrorism with terrorism.

Sharon is a butcher. We know this to be true. But who elected this monster? It is time for the Israeli people to take control of the misery THEY have created (I exclude the many brave Israeli peace groups in this). The Palestinians do not have the power to change the situation- it is up to Israel... and the United States.