James
van Luik
Publisher
& Editor
Thursday
101702
Volume
1, No. 2
The four articles in this issue all deal with aspects of the on-going crises in the Middle East. The first article by Alexander Cockburn, covers a scenario put forth by Martin Van Creveld a well known military analyst from Hebrew University who is alarmed that Sharon will use the war on Iraq as cover for possible mass expulsions and/or genocide of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories.
The second article
is a very recent petition signed by Israeli faculty members that
relates to this possible scenario. Other than stopping the war
against Iraq, I’m not sure what we in the US can do to
prevent this from happening. Perhaps making it widely known in
the US that mass expulsion is a possibility could help to prevent
it.
The third item:
The United States and The Middle East: Why Do “They”
Hate Us? is by Stephen R. Shalom.
The Fourth Item is
a letter about Iraq from Iraq by Ramsey Clark.
1.
Sharon and the Possibility of Mass Expulsions
By
Alexander Cockburn
Two years ago, less than 8 percent of those who took part in a Gallup poll among Jewish Israelis said they were in favor of what is politely called “transfer” – that is, the expulsion of perhaps two million Palestinians across the river Jordan. This month, that figure reached 44 percent.
Professor Martin
Van Creveld is Israel’s well-known military historian. On
April 28th, Britain’s conservative newspaper The
Telegraph, published an article outlining what Van Creveld
believes is Sharon’s near-term goal: “transfer,”
otherwise known as expulsion of the Palestinians.
According to Van
Creveld, Sharon’s plan is to drive two million Palestinians
across the Jordan using the Pretext of a US attack on Iraq or a
terrorist strike in Israel. This could trigger a vast
mobilization to clear the Occupied Territories of their two
million Arabs. Van Creveld notes that in September 1970 King
Hussein of Jordan attacked the Palestinians in his Kingdom,
killing perhaps 5,000 to 10,000. Sharon, serving as Commanding
Officer, Southern Front, argued that Israel’s assistance to
the King was a mistake; instead it should have tried to topple
the Hashemite regime. Sharon has often said since Jordan, which,
according to him, has a Palestinian majority even now, is the
Palestinian state, and thus is a suitable destination for
Palestinians to be “transferred” from “ Greater”
Israel.
Van Creveld writes
that Sharon has always nourished the idea of driving all
Palestinians out. A US attack on Iraq would offer appropriate
cover. Sharon himself told Secretary of State Colin Powell that
nothing happening in Israel should delay a US attack on Iraq.
Another pretext could include an uprising in Jordan, followed by
the collapse of King Abdullah’s regime or a major terrorist
outrage inside Israel.
Should such
circumstances arise, according to Van Creveld, Israel would
mobilize within hours. “First, the country’s three
ultra-modern submarines would take up firing positions out at
sea. Borders would be closed, a news blackout imposed, and all
foreign journalists rounded up and confined to a hotel as guests
of the government. A force of 12 divisions, 11 of them armored,
plus various territorial units suitable for occupation duties,
would be deployed: five against Egypt, three against Syria, and
one opposite Lebanon. This would leave three to face east, as
well as enough forces to put a tank inside every Arab-Israeli
village just in case their populations get any funny ideas.”
In Van Creveld’s
view (he does say flatly that he is utterly opposed to any form
of “transfer”), “the expulsion of the Palestinians
would require only a few brigades. They would not drag people out
of their houses but use heavy artillery to drive them out; the
damage caused to Jenin would look like a pinprick in caparison.
He discounts any effective response from Egypt, Syria, Lebanon or
Iraq. “Saddam Hussein may launch some of the 30 to 40
missiles he probably has. The damage they can do, however, is
limited. Should Saddam be mad enough to resort to weapons of mass
destruction, then Israel’s response would be so awesome
and terrible, (as Yitzhak Shamir, the former prime minister, once
said) as to defy the imagination.”
But what about
international reaction? Van Creveld thinks it would not be
an effective deterrent. “If Mr. Sharon decides to go ahead,
the only country that can stop him is the Untied States. The US,
however, regards itself as being at war with part of the Muslim
world that has supported Osma bin Laden. America will not
necessarily object to that world being taught a lesson –
particularly if it could be as swift and brutal as the 1967
campaign; and also particularly if it does not disrupt the flow
of oil for too long.”
Israeli military
experts estimate that such a war could be over in just eight
days. Van Creveld writes. “If the Arab states do not
intervene, it will end with the Palestinians expelled and Jordan
in ruins. If they do intervene, the result will be the same, with
the main Arab armies destroyed. Israel would, of course, take
some casualties, especially in the north, where its’
population would come under fire from Hizbollah. However, their
number would be limited, and Israel would stand triumphant, as it
was in 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973.
2.
Petition
“We, members of Israeli academe, are horrified by US buildup of aggression towards Iraq and by the Israeli political leadership’s enthusiastic support for it.
We are deeply
worried by indications that the “fog of war” could be
exploited by the Israeli government to commit further crimes
against the Palestinian people, up to full-fledged ethnic
cleansing.”
The Israeli ruling
coalition includes parties that promote “transfer” of
the Palestinian population as a solution to what they call “the
demographic problem”. Politicians are regularly quoted in
the media suggesting forcible expulsion, most recently Michael
Kleiner and Benny Elon, as reported on Yediot Ahronot. In a
recent interview in Halaretz, Chief of Staff Moshe Yalalon
described the Palestinians as a “cancerous manifestation”,
suggesting that Sharon has backed this “assessment of
reality”. Escalating racist demagoguery concerning the
Palestinian citizens of Israel may indicate the scope of
the crimes that are possibly being contemplated.
(I
have their names if anyone wishes the list. JvL)
(Views are those of the Professors. Their views should not be construed as reflective of the Palestinian Right of Return Coalition)
“We call upon the International Community to pay close attention to the events that unfold within Israel and in the Occupied Territories, to make it absolutely clear that crimes against humanity will not be tolerated, and to take concrete measures to prevent such crimes from taking place.”
(There
were approximately 100 Signatories, as of September 23rd,
2002)
3. The United States and The Middle East: Why do “They” Hate Us?
Stephen R. Shalom
The list below presents some specific incidents of US policy in the Middle East. The list minimizes the grievances against the United States in the region because it excludes more generalized long standing policies, such as US backing for authoritarian regimes (arming Saudi Arabia, training the secret police in Iran under the Shah, providing arms and aid to Turkey as it ruthlessly attacked Kurdish villages, etc.). The list also excludes many actions of Israel in which the United States is indirectly implicated because of its military, diplomatic, and economic backing for Israel.
Whether any of
these grievances actually motivated those who organized the
attacks of September 11th is unknown. But the
grievances surely helped to create the environment which breeds
anti-American terrorism.
1949: CIA backs
military coup deposing elected government of Syria.
1953: CIA helps
overthrow the democratically elected Mossadeq government in Iran
(which had nationalized the British Petroleum company) leading to
a quarter century of repressive and dictatorial rule by the Shah,
Mohammed Reza Pahlevi.
1956: US cuts off
promised funding for Aswan Dam in Egypt after Egypt receives
Eastern block arms.
1958: US troops
land in Lebanon to preserve “stability”.
Early 1960s: US
unsuccessfully attempts assassination of Iraqi leader, Abdul
Karim Qassim.
1963: US supports
coup by Iraqi Ba’ath party (soon to be headed by Saddam
Hussein) and reportedly gives them names of communists to murder,
which they do with vigor.
1967: US blocks
any effort in the Security Council to enforce SC Resolution 242,
calling for Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied in the
1967 war.
1970: Civil war
between Jordan and PLO. Israel and US discuss intervening on side
of Jordan if Syria backs PLO.
1972: US blocks
Egyptian leader Anwar Sadat’s efforts to reach a peace
agreement with Israel.
1973: Airlifted US
military aid enables Israel to turn the tide in war with Syria
and Egypt.
1973-75: US
supports Kurdish rebels in Iraq. When Iran reaches an agreement
with Iraq in 1975 and seals the border, Iraq slaughters Kurds and
US denies them refuge. Kissinger secretly explains that “covert
action should not be confused with missionary work.”
1975: US vetoes
Security Council resolution condemning Israeli attacks on
Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.
1978-79: Iranians
begin demonstrations against the Shah. US tells Shah it supports
him “without reservation” and urges him to act
forcefully. Until the last minute, US tries to organize military
coup to save the Shah, but to no avail.
1979-88: US begins
covert aid to Mujahideen in Afghanistan six months before Soviet
invasion in Dec.1979. Over the next decade US provides training
and more than $3 billion in arms and aid.
1980-88: Iran Iraq
war. When Iraq invades Iran, the US opposes any Security Council
action to condemn the invasion. US soon removes Iraq from its
list of nations supporting terrorism and allows US arms to be
transferred to Iraq. At the same time, US lets Israel provide
arms to Iran and in 1985 US provides arms directly (though
secretly) to Iran. US provides intelligence information to Iraq.
Iraq uses chemical weapons in 1984; US restores diplomatic
relations with Iraq. In 1987 US sends its navy into the Persian
gulf, taking Iraq’s side; an overly aggressive US warship
shoots down an Iranian civilian airliner, killing 290.
1981, 1986: US
holds military maneuvers off the coast of Libya in waters claimed
by Libya with the clear purpose of provoking Qaddafi. In 1981, a
Libyan plane fires a missile and US shoots down two Libyan
planes. In 1986, Libya fires missiles that land far from any
target and US attacks Libyan patrol boats, killing 72, and shore
installations. When a bomb goes off in a Berlin nightclub,
killing three, the US charges that Qaddafi was behind it
(possibly true) and conducts major bombing raids in Libya,
killing dozens of civilians, including Qaddafi’s adopted
daughter.
1982: US gives
“green light” to Israeli invasion of Lebanon resulting
in the deaths of some 17,000 civilians. US chooses not to invoke
its laws prohibiting Israeli use of US weapons except in self
defense. US vetoes several Security Council resolutions
condemning the invasion.
1983: US troops
sent to Lebanon as part of a multinational peacekeeping force;
intervene on one side of a civil war, including bombardment by
USS New Jersey. Withdrawal after suicide bombing of US Marine
barracks.
1984: US backed
rebels in Afghanistan, fire on civilian airliner.
1987-92: US arms
used by Israel to repress first Palestinian Intifada. US vetoes
five Security Council resolutions condemning Israeli repression.
1988: Saddam
Hussein kills many thousands of his own Kurdish population and
uses chemical weapons against them. The US increases its economic
ties to Iraq.
1988: US vetoes 3
Security Council resolutions condemning continuing Israeli
occupation of and repression in Lebanon.
1990-91: US
rejects any diplomatic settlement of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait
(for example, rebuffing any attempt to link the two regional
occupations of Kuwait, and of the West Bank). US leads
international coalition in war against Iraq. Civilian
infrastructure targeted. To promote “stability” US
encourages then refuses to aid post-war uprisings by Shi’ites
in the south and similarly the Kurds in the north, denying the
rebels access to captured Iraqi weapons, and refusing to prohibit
Iraqi helicopter flights.
1991: Devastating
economic sanctions are imposed on Iraq. US and Britain block all
attempts to lift them. Hundreds of thousands die even though the
Security Council had stated that sanctions were to be lifted once
Saddam Hussein’s programs to develop weapons of mass
destruction were ended. Washington makes it known, unauthorized
by the Security Council, that the sanctions would remain as long
as Saddam remains in power. Sanctions in fact strengthen Saddam’s
position. Asked about the horrendous human consequences of the
sanctions, Madeleine Albright (US ambassador to the UN and later
Secretary of State) declares the “the price is worth it.”
1991-: US forces
permanently based in Saudi Arabia.
1993: US launches
missile attack on Iraq, claiming self defense against an alleged
assassination attempt on former President Bush two months
earlier.
1998: US and UK
bomb Iraq over the issue of weapons inspections, even though the
Security Council is just then meeting to discuss the matter. The
US government maintains that Saddam Hussein expelled the UN
inspectors from Iraq in 1998, but this is not true. On December
15th the US ambassador to the UN warned Richard
Butler, the head of the UN inspection team, that his team should
leave Iraq for its own safety. Butler pulled out, and on the
following day the US started bombing Iraq. The US and the UK have
been bombing Iraq without UN authorization weekly from the time
of the Gulf war through 2002.
1998: US destroys
factory producing half of Sudan’s pharmaceutical supplies,
claiming retaliation for attacks on US embassies in Tanzania and
Kenya and that factory was involved in chemical warfare. Evidence
for these charges were and continue to be widely disputed.
2000: Israel uses
US arms in attempt to crush Palestinian uprising, killing
hundreds.
4.
A Letter from Ramsey Clark
From
a Letter from Ramsey Clark to Kofi Annan, September 20th
, 2002
George Bush cites two invasion of other countries by Iraq during the last 22 years. He ignores the many scores of US invasion and assaults on other countries in Africa, Asia, and the Americas during the last 220 years, and the permanent seizure of lands from Native Americans and other nations—lands like Florida, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, California and Puerto Rico among others, seized by force and threat.
In the same last
22 years the US has invaded or assaulted Grenada, Nicaragua,
Libya, Panama, Haiti, Somalia, Sudan, Iraq, Yugoslavia,
Afghanistan and others directly, while supporting assaults and
invasions elsewhere in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
It is healthy to
remember that the US invaded and occupied little Grenada in 1983
after a year of threats, killing hundreds of civilians and
destroying its small mental hospital, where many patients died.
In a surprise attack on the sleeping and defenseless cities of
Tripoli and Benghazi in April 1986, the US killed hundreds of
civilians and damaged four foreign embassies. It launched 21
Tomahawk cruise missiles against the El Shifa pharmaceutical
plant in Khartoum, August 1998, destroying the source of half the
medicines available to the people of Sudan. The US has bombed
Iraq on hundreds of occasions since the Gulf War, including this
week, killing hundreds of people without a casualty or damage to
an attaching plane.
Prior regime
changes by the US brought to power among a long list of tyrants,
such leaders as the Shah of Iran, Mobutu in the Congo, Pnochet in
Chile, all replacing democratically elected heads of government.