    Subtle Loyalties to Zionism

    by Kim Petersen

    www.dissidentvoice.org

    July 4, 2006

    "Everything must be done to win Gilad Shalit's
    release," writes Gideon Levy of the captured
    Israeli fighter in his most recent piece. [1]
    Levy who laments that "Israelis [are] totally
    indifferent to the sufferings of the other" [2] is
    well regarded in progressive circles for his
    articles that decry the daily suffering of
    Palestinians at the hands of the occupiers. A
    closer examination of his recent article, however,
    reveals that the difference between Levy and the
    occupation regime is more nuance than substance.
    Why, for example, does Levy not list off the names
    of all the Palestinians held prisoner by the
    Zionist regime and declare: "Everything must be
    done to win their release"?
    According to Ayed Abueqtaish, a former political
    prisoner and presently a research co-coordinator
    with Defense for Children International in
    Ramallah, since the outbreak of the second
    intifada, over 30,000 Palestinians have been
    arrested by the occupiers, of which 9,000 remain
    in prison. Ten percent of those arrested are
    children; 400 children were still in the occupiers'
    prison. [3]
    Typically, the children are arrested in an assault
    by Zionist troops while in their homes. This,
    according to the soft-spoken Abueqtaish, is
    designed to terrify Palestinians. The children are
    beaten and cursed before being taken away to
    prison, where they are subjected to both physical
    and psychological torture.
    The Palestinians are under assault, but Levy's
    article is replete with euphemistic language. He
    writes of the "'rolling' operation in Gaza" and
    the "'summer rains' we are showering on Gaza." He
    writes of a "weekend lull," as if the Palestinians
    have ever had a lull during their 39 years of
    occupation.
    He refers to the "steps" of cutting off
    electricity, clearing Palestinian towns, and
    "penetrating" (not "violating") Syrian airspace as
    "illegitimate." These "steps" are war crimes and
    acts of aggression. Levy adds, "The harsher the
    steps, the more monstrous and stupid they become,
    the more the moral underpinnings for them are
    removed."
    What moral underpinnings did such "steps" ever
    have? The entire occupation is devoid of morality.
    In the absence of morality, of what use are moral
    underpinnings? Any claims to morality cannot be
    made so long as the occupation continues, so long
    as the occupiers torture, so long as Palestinians
    languish in the prisons of occupiers, so long as
    the results of ethnic cleansing remain in place,
    so long as Palestinian refugees are denied the
    right of return.
    But Levy peppers his article with 10 mentions of
    "legitimacy," as if that is the concern. There is,
    however, no legitimacy to the occupation. If the
    occupation, itself, is illegitimate (a euphemism
    for "evil"), then everything originating from it
    is likeliest illegitimate. Does evil spawn good?
    Levy also repeats the falsehood that Shalit was
    kidnapped. That he also refers to the kidnapping
    of two Palestinian civilians does not balance his
    writing. Shalit is a soldier. Soldiers are not
    kidnapped; they are prisoners of war.
    Although no one should wish Shalit harm, by virtue
    of his choice to serve in the occupation forces,
    he is not a sympathetic character. The occupation
    forces hinder and prevent passage of the
    Palestinian people across their territory; they
    humiliate and heap abuse on the Palestinian
    people; they brutalize and murder Palestinians.
    The occupation army wages a grotesquely asymmetric
    war against Palestinian people.
    But he describes the army's response as "a
    widescale act of vengeance ... mostly motivated by
    the deep frustration that the army commanders feel
    about their impotence against the Qassams and the
    daring Palestinian guerilla raid." Levy implies
    that the horror "showering" upon the Palestinians
    in Gaza is the revenge of a "frustrated" army. The
    murders of many Palestinians before the guerrilla
    raid that captured Shalit were seemingly
    non-provocatory; hence, Levy denies Palestinians
    revenge and makes them the instigators of the
    Zionist assault in Gaza.
    Levy's sympathies are manifest. His primary
    concern is for Shalit and the future of the regime
    whose inexperience "does not bode well, not only
    for the chances of freeing Shalit, but also for
    the future management of the government." How
    about the Palestinians? How does this bode for the
    people that Levy disparages as "miserable."
    Levy further asserts, "The legitimate basis for
    the IDF's operation was stripped away the moment
    it began." What possible "legitimate basis" did
    the frustrated army ever have? Levy never
    enlightens the reader about this.
    Elsewhere Levy revealingly writes: "[W]e are a
    state and they are a terror organization." Levy
    did not write that Israel is an illegitimate
    terror state. He chooses to demonize the
    Palestinians -- who have the unmentioned
    legitimate right to fight occupation -- as
    terrorists.
    Levy feebly notes, "Collective punishment is
    illegitimate and it does not have a smidgeon of
    intelligence." Collective punishment is a
    euphemism for terror inflicted on the Palestinian
    people. It is much more than unintelligent; it is
    a war crime under the Geneva Conventions. Ergo,
    the perpetrators are war criminals.
    Levy is a wordsmith by trade. As such, he is fully
    aware of the content of his writing. Supporters of
    the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people
    must beware of the skillful guising of Zionist
    loyalties through the _expression of a professed
    concern for the Palestinians.

    Kim Petersen, Co-Editor of Dissident Voice, lives
    in the traditional Mi'kmaq homeland colonially
    designated Nova Scotia, Canada. He can be reached
    at: kim@dissidentvoice.org.

    ENDNOTES
    [1] Gideon Levy, "A black flag," Haaretz, 2 July
    2006.

    [2] Claude Lévesque, "Gideon Levy, the voice of
    Palestinians in Israel," Le Devoir, 6 March 2006.

    [3] From speech organized by the Sumoud Political
    Prisoners Solidarity Group on second annual Free
    Palestinian Political Prisoners presented at St.
    Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia on 6 April
    2006.