“Everybody has to move, run and grab as many hilltops as they can to enlarge the settlements because everything we take now will stay ours… Everything we don’t grab will go to them.” Ariel Sharon; as Israeli Foreign Minister

“When we have settled the land, all the Arabs will be able to do about it will be to scurry around like drugged cockroaches in a bottle.” Raphael Eitan, Chief of Staff of the Israeli Defence Forces, New York Times, 14 April 1983.

Less than one week ago, Uri Avnery, peace activist and former member of the Israeli Knesset, offered these prescient thoughts about election season in the US and its affects on Israeli politics:

“…the months before the American elections are a kind of open season for Israel. The basic assumption is that no candidate for the White House would dare to provoke the American Jewish voters at election times. They are an extremely well organized and highly motivated political bloc, ready to donate heaps of money, which gives them political clout well beyond their numbers.”

Avnery probably had no idea how prophetic his words would be.

Understanding Bush’s vulnerability, Ariel Sharon blind sided the President by announced the building of 1,000 new units in the West Bank.

Bush, who has repeatedly committed himself to the Road Map as well as to Palestinian statehood, quickly reversed himself and caved in to everything “The Man of Peace” wanted.

Ironically, the announcement came on the same day that:

“The 115-member developing states of the Non-Aligned Movement condemned Israel’s “Apartheid Wall,” saying it infringes Palestinians’ rights, and urged all of its members to act “individually or collectively” to impose sanctions both against Israeli settlements and international companies that participate in settlement activity, including construction of the Wall.”

Not that this would have had any affect on Bush’s decision. The wishes of the broader world community rarely enter into the machinations of the superpower or its proxy, Israel.

Needless to say, the information of the Non-Aligned Movements’ condemnation was unreported in America’s “free press”; there’s no sense in recording the frustrations of those who rail against the actions of trusted ally, Israel.

When the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly condemned Israel’s Apartheid wall just months earlier (following the unanimous ruling of the World Court) the coverage was equally lacking. The American media continues to be a reliable partner in the facilitation of unjust policy.

The actions taken by the Non Aligned Movement, the World Court and the UN illustrate that there’s no real argument about these issues; nor is there any significant disagreement about the 1967 internationally established borders.

Israel’s settlement policy is universally condemned as an unlicensed intrusion on Palestinian land and an incitement to regional violence.

These things have already been resolved to everyone’s satisfaction. Now, it is simply a matter of whether Israel will follow the dictates of international law or continue to defy UN resolutions with impunity?

The Oslo Ruse

During the eight years of the Oslo negotiations, Israel never slowed its settlement of either the West Bank or the Gaza Strip. Ironically, the steepest increases in home building actually occurred under “liberals” Peres and Barak. (A lesson to Kerry supporters that he may in fact carry out the Bush policies with even greater zeal than the president) Much like politics in the US, the faces at the head of government may change, but the brutal policies remain unaltered.

Oslo provided welcomed cover for the inexorable colonization of Palestinian land and the systematic destruction of Palestinian identity. Noam Chomsky who has observed the process as carefully as anyone says that Oslo was intended “to establish a ‘neocolonial dependency’ for the Palestinians which would be permanent. That is what was promised at Camp David.” (Noam Chomsky, “Hegemony or Survival” Owl Books, page 170)

The ultimate goal of Oslo was to disguise the ever-increasing repression in the territories while the carefully managed public relations gambit (the “peace talks”) continued.

There was no “olive branch”, just a well placed “boot heel” under which a population of three million were required to survive.

As former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan said many years earlier, “We have no solution, you (Palestinians) shall continue to live like dogs, and whoever wishes, may leave.” (Ibid., page 184)

His words should be boldly inscribed over every checkpoint in the West Bank.

The “facts on the ground” that we see in the West Bank now, were announced as early as 1968 in the Allon Plan; a plan that precluded any Palestinian state between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. However concealed, (by political necessity) these have always been the long-range goals of the Israeli state.

The practical application of this plan is modeled on South Africa’s Apartheid system of small population reserves or “Bantustans”. In fact, this is how the West Bank is divided right now. Israel’s “apartheid wall only adds some of the finishing touches.

Bush’s acceptance of new settlement in the West Bank is a tacit endorsement of this apartheid system. It puts Bush at odds with the world community, international law, UN resolutions and 30 years of American Middle East policy. It applies the Presidential Seal to the final dissolution of the Palestinian state.

Bush’s capitulation to Sharon should come as no surprise. He is intimidated by Sharon. We all remember when Sharon was carrying out his vicious operation in Jenin and Bush angrily ordered an immediate withdrawal. Sharon, of course, just brushed off the blustery president and carried on his rampage. Bush was left slinking away like a wet cat.

Things haven’t changed…they’ve only intensified.

Sharon says a 1,000 homes…Bush says 2,000…Why not?

The building all takes place under the rubric of “natural growth”; a cheerful sounding euphemism that puts a benign face on the colonization.

We know all about that in America…we orchestrated our own lethal campaign under the equally friendly-sounding, “Manifest Destiny”. It legitimized the butchering of 8 million Native Americans who got in the way of God’s Will.

It was the most horrific act of genocide in the 19th century, but, fortunately, the history books have been effectively purged of any detail that casts the onslaught in a critical light. Most of that grisly tale has been faithfully scrubbed from the public record and replaced with apocryphal tales of hardship and heroism.

Israel’s “natural growth” cannot compare to the barbarity that characterized America’s move Westward, but the language is equally deceptive; camouflaging the cruelty of continued expansion.

Already, according to B’Tselem, (Israeli Peace Group) Israeli settlements control 42% of the West Bank; leaving only 12% of what was original Palestine. The ongoing development insures that the Palestinian state (promised by Bush and Powell) will be a virtual impossibility.

While Bush’s submission to Sharon signals the demise of the Road Map, it is not really a departure from previous US policy. Prior administrations simply kept their ambitions hidden behind a curtain of diplomacy. The difference now, is that both Bush and Sharon are boldly stating the ultimate objectives.

There was no “terrorist incident” that precipitated the dramatic shift in policy. Bush and Sharon are so drunk with hubris they didn’t even attempt to rationalize their actions in terms of their “all purpose” excuse, terrorism.

That should prove to skeptics that the occupation never had anything to do with terrorism; that was simply the pretext for further settlement. Now, that Sharon has done away with the pretenses, we should expect to see him despoil the West Bank according to plan.

As for Bush, his string of broken promises remains intact. There’s simply no commitment “so great” that George W won’t discard it when the opportunity arises. His pledge to the Road Map is just another pitiable addition to a long litany of lies.

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