Uri Avnery’s take on what Sharon is really up to:
“The maximum plan is to turn all of the land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River into a Jewish State, with no non-Jewish population. Since such an ethnic cleansing is not feasible for the time being, he is implementing his minimum plan: to enlarge the borders of the Jewish State as much as possible, without incorporating a further large Arab population.”
At the Israel Forum event (which we hope to have in an online webcast soon), one of the speakers was Raef Zreik, the chair of Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel. Zreik provided an important insight, which helps clarify for me what is going on in both Israel/Palestine and Iraq,
Avnery points out that Sharon’s plan is essentially the South African Bantustan model. But what Zreik clarifies is that the essense of this model is the separation of the two core elements of sovereignity - responsibility and control. So while Israel will retain 100% control over any area from which it “withdraws,” it will claim the Palestinians are sovereign and have 100% responsibility in that area. Israel will wash its hands of any responsibility to care for the economic and social needs of the Palestinian people living in hte enclaves, and will also blame the Palestinian leadership for any resistance, violent or otherwise, that will no doubt continue under ths setup.
Looking at Iraq as well, the so-called transfer of sovereignity is the exact same model. America will continue to control all of Iraq, but it will claim the new Iraqi government is responsible. Such a situation is of great practical convenience to the occupying power, and gives a “moral” front to the crimes being committed. “We’re not responsible for the Arab children dying. We are not the government. There is a legitimate government in power and they bear full responsibility.”
Of course, practically and ethically, responsibility goes hand in hand with control, and can’t be separated. Israelis have an expression “IsraBluf” which describes the extraordinary capacity for Israeli governments to say one thing and do the opposite. The “Palestinian State” envisioned by Sharon and the “Free Iraq” of Bush & Co, are examples of IsraBluf in its most refined form.
