The Natives Are Restless

Face it, it's a thankless task being a Zionist. No matter what you do to... sorry, for... the natives, the buggers are never happy:

 2014: "John Lyons quite rightly points out the rise of the Israeli right wing under Benjamin Netanyahu (Settlers fuel cycle of bloodshed, 22/11*) but seems to suggest this is Netanyahu's doing. The opposite is true: the growing right wing keeps him in power. And the right wing has grown because of the evidence presented by Palestinians about their intentions. In the 1990s Israelis still hoped for peace, resulting in the Oslo accord and the withdrawal from south Lebanon. Hamas bus bombings, Hezbollah missiles and Yasser Arafat's suicide bombing campaign soured that faith and brought the pro-settler Ariel Sharon to power. Hamas's use of Gaza to pour thousands of missiles into Israel confirmed what withdrawal from the West Bank would bring. New incitement by Mahmoud Abbas and recent lone-wolf terrorism only push Israelis further to the right. Relentless Palestinian aggression is the cause of Israel's move to the right; Netanyahu and the settlers are only its beneficiaries." (Letter to The Australian by Dov Midalia,** Bondi Junction, NSW, 24/11/14)

1986: "On 4 December 1986, two young Palestinian students were shot dead by Israeli soldiers after a sit-down protest at a blockade set up near Birzeit University in the West Bank. In the week that followed, several more violent confrontations took place between the military and Palestinian inhabitants, in the course of which two more Palestinians were killed and several wounded. During December, a large number of articles appeared in the Israeli press, reporting or reflecting on what had taken place.

"In those articles appearing in the Jerusalem Post, the following expressions were used to refer to the response of the Palestinians all over the occupied territories to the first two shootings: 'wave of disturbances', 'unrest', 'wave of demonstrations', 'eruption', 'outbreaks', 'turmoil', 'disorder', 'riots', disturbances swept the West Bank', 'widespread disturbances continued to rock the Gaza Strip'.

"The actions of the IDF officers, however, were represented by the following expressions: 'self-defence', 'preventing further violence', 'breaking up a demonstration', quelling the disturbances', 'maintaining law and order', 'troops used 'maximal restraint'...

"Israeli settlement was referred to both as the solution to, and justification for, the confrontations: 'The disturbances should prompt the government to set up more settlements in the territories. Settlements are an assurance of security'. An IDF soldier who admitted to shooting one of the two Birzeit students argued, 'We were caught in an impossible situation. Had we retreated, no Israeli from the nearby settlements would be able to travel on the main road leading west'.

"Another common assertion in the articles surveyed explicitly or implicitly blamed the PLO for the occurrences: 'The disturbances at Birzeit University... are part of an attempt of the PLO to murder prospects for peace by inciting to riot'; 'there may be some guiding hand behind the eruption of simultaneous demonstrations throughout the West Bank and Gaza'..." (Colonial Law & Ideology - Israel & the Occupied Territories, Ben Cashdan, pp 72-3, in Palestine: Profile of an Occupation, Khamsin, 1989)

1936: "The facts are extracted from the official Communiques: To destroy properties and crops! Do you call it STRIKE?*** To destroy schools by fire! Do you call it STRIKE? To murder man, to desecrate graveyards, to destroy water resources! Do you call it STRIKE? To stab and shoot innocent animals ie cows, horses, and donkeys! Do you call it STRIKE? To enter under pretext of friendship or pity and ask for water to drink and to pay the donor with a bullet in his back! Do you call it STRIKE? To throw bombs and put fire to the factories, hospitals, sanatoria, and Children & Invalid Homes! Do you call it STRIKE? To destroy bridges and derail trains and to cause the death of innocent people inside! Do you call it STRIKE? In conclusion: A land and fields which were full of stones and thorns, and have been converted into a true garden of Eden with a strenuous and ambitious work of twenty-five years, to put it back into its old wild and desert aspect in twenty-five minutes by uprooting, cutting, burning the several thousands of fine trees of oranges, lemons, citrus, olives, winegrapes, and other trees to combat malaria! Do you call it STRIKE? or Barbarism, Savagery and Cruelty?" (Letter to The Spectator by Benjamin Levy, 17/7/36)

[*See my 23/11/14 Dross & Gold in The Weekend Australian; **For more of Dov Midalia see my 30/7/11 post Leave Our Islamophobes Alone, OK?; ***In response to mass Zionist immigration under British auspices, the Palestinian Arabs staged a general strike (19/4/36 - 11/10/36), the opening round in a revolt that raged until 1939.]