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The
real Motive behind Israel's Decision to Expel Yasser Arafat
By
Rannie Amiri
The Israeli Security Cabinet's decision to expel Palestinian
President Yasser Arafat from his two-room compound in Ramallah may
have come as a surprise to the world community and even caught the
United States
briefly off
guard. However, to those familiar with the machinations of the
Israeli government, the events which subsequently unfolded were as
predictable as any bad made-for-TV movie.
A few days after the Security Cabinet's pronouncement,
Israeli Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert indicated that killing
Arafat was another option being considered. This caused enough
consternation to prompt the United Nations Security Council to meet
at
Syria
's behest. A
resolution was proposed which stated that "
Israel
, the occupying
power, desist from any act of deportation and cease any threat to
the safety of the elected president of the Palestinian
Authority." As expected, this was vetoed by the
United States
on grounds it
was "one-sided" and "unbalanced" against
Israel
.
The measure was then shuffled on to the General Assembly,
which voted 133-4 in its favor.
Israel
was flippant
in its dismissal of this last vote.
All players in the above act did not stray far from their
pre-assigned roles: the Israelis claimed Mr. Arafat must be removed
because he actively supports terrorism and is an obstacle to peace.
Mr. Arafat said he would never leave, and is happy to die a martyr
if forced to do so. The
United States
, keen not to
further upset already tenuous relations with Arab states (yet also
quite mindful of the influence of the Jewish lobby in the upcoming
elections), spoke out of both sides of its mouth. They asserted that
by expelling Arafat, he would pose more of a threat to the Israelis
than he currently does under 24-hour surveillance.
The protestations of the two paper tigers, the European Union
and United Nations, were simply ignored.
It only takes a cursory review of
Israel
's short
history and the mention of a few salient points of Zionism to
understand
Israel
's real motives
for wanting to expel, but not kill, Yasser Arafat.
Before we get to those reasons, we should first recognize
that Israeli defiance of the United Nations is well established.
This has occurred primarily through the proxy veto power wielded by
the
United States
on Israeli's
behalf at unfavorable Security Council Resolutions. More interesting
and troublesome, though, is Israeli's overt, deliberate, and
unabashed rebuking of the
United States
itself.
A few notable examples include:
- The intentional bombing of the U.S.S. Liberty in
international waters in June 1967, resulting in the deaths of
thirty-four American servicemen. The U.S.S. Liberty was the only
ship in the region which had the capability of monitoring Israeli
troop deployments. After the ship was destroyed,
Israel
swiftly
invaded and annexed the
Golan Heights
from
Syria
, a move they
knew the
United States
opposed.
- The enlistment of American spy Jonathan Pollard. Pollard
passed on highly classified information to
Israel
from his post
in U.S. Naval Intelligence for eighteen months. Sentenced to life in
prison in 1987 for espionage, he was granted Israeli citizenship
while incarcerated. To this day,
Israel
has not
disclosed to the
United States
exactly what
information Pollard provided. Over the years, there have been
frequent appeals by Israeli officials to pardon and release him into
their custody.
- The murder of Rachel Corrie, a 23-year old American citizen
and International Solidarity Movement member, in March 2003. Ms.
Corrie was unceremoniously run over by an Israeli bulldozer as she
was standing with a megaphone in front of a Palestinian home slated
for destruction. No apology was given, and the Israeli government
implied she was the cause of her own death, despite the overwhelming
evidence to the contrary, including being clearly marked as a
peace-activist and taking no hostile action. The silence from
President George Bush and the Congress was deafening. There has yet
to be a call by the
United States
government
demanding a full and open investigation into her murder.
Israel
has clearly
demonstrated that it can not only rebuff the world community, but
can equally and as effectively do the same to their number one ally
and benefactor.
With the inaction/tacit approval of the
United States
thus assured,
the question becomes what benefit would
Israel
gain from
expelling Arafat? Is it really due to the familiar excuses they have
repeatedly given to the world community (supporting suicide
bombings, obstructing former Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, etc)?
The answer is no, as those are merely for public consumption.
Rather, the real motives are much more clandestine in nature.
First, in the mind of the Israeli government, Yasser Arafat
has ceased to become as valuable and effective a scapegoat as he
would be if outside the
Occupied
Territories
. Currently, he
is completely isolated in his tiny bombed-out compound in Ramallah.
Israel
has correctly
realized they will no longer be able to peddle the myth that he
exerts any meaningful influence over Hamas or Islamic Jihad. Even
his sway with Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a military offshoot from his
own Fatah movement, is questionable. Pointing the finger at Arafat
in Ramallah when a young suicide bomber acting on behalf of Hamas
detonates himself in
Gaza
will no longer
carry the weight it once did.
In addition, Arafat's stature as a symbol of Palestinian
resistance continues to grow. The picture of a now frail man, lip
trembling, with familiar kafiyyah, scruffy beard, green uniform and
pistol, giving the victory sign to the people outside a tiny alcove,
has become quite endearing. The Israelis believe the further he and
this image are removed from the Palestinian masses, the better.
Finally, and most importantly, is the facilitation of the
ultimate goal of the Israeli state: expansion. This has been and
continues to be justified as necessary for its security and survival
(a nebulous mantra invoked time and time again, now plagiarized by
the
United States
). Expelling
Arafat to another state, then accusing him of continuing to support
terrorism from that state, becomes a convenient pretext for taking
military action. This, after all, is exactly what occurred prior to
the Israeli invasion of
Lebanon
in 1982.
David Ben Gurion, the founding father and first Prime
Minister of
Israel
, openly lauded
this Zionist doctrine:
"To maintain the status quo will not do. We have to set
up a dynamic state bent upon expansion" (Rebirth and Destiny of Israel, 1954).
I believe
Israel
would ideally
like to expel Arafat to
Syria
. A strong case
for the
United States
to take
pre-emptive measures against
Syria
for harboring
terrorists and weapons of mass destruction is already being made in
Washington
. With
Iraq
effectively
neutralized,
Syria
and
Iran
have become
the next targets. Arafat in
Syria
provides an
expeditious means for
Israel
to hasten the
process.
Despite the statements of Ehud Olmert, killing Arafat would
nullify the value acquired by deporting him. He would instantly be
regarded as a martyr for the Palestinian cause, by both friends and
enemies alike, and lose the position of scapegoat. The logistics of
how to remove him and not kill him in the process is one I will
leave to the expertise of Israeli commandos.
We therefore can confidently say that the expulsion of Yasser
Arafat from Ramallah would be a coup de grace for Ariel Sharon, the
Likud, and all Zionists for the reasons mentioned above. The
perpetuation of a climate of provocation and incitement upon which
expansion of the Israeli state is wholly dependent, would thus be
ensured.
"Our fathers had reached the frontiers which were
recognized in the Partition Plan. Our generation reached the
frontiers of 1949. Now the Six-Day generation have managed to reach
Suez
,
Jordan
, and the
Golan Heights
. This is not
the end. After the present ceasefire lines, there will be new ones.
They will extend beyond Jordan - perhaps to Lebanon and perhaps to
central Syria as well" (Moshe Dayan, Chief of Staff of the
Israeli army, as quoted in the Times of London, June 25, 1969).
Rannie
Amiri is an observer, commentator, and exponent of issues dealing
with the Arab and Islamic worlds.
Note:
Well argued
commentaries are welcome, please email your opinion to op-ed@majalla.org;
Op-Ed articles are not peer-reviewed.
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