ARIEL SHARON and the settlers have never had to wink to understand one
another. A month before disengagement from Gaza, they are cultivating a
Phony Trauma that will make any further
withdrawal inconceivable. The aim? To consolidate their hold on the West
Bank.
Sharon’s friends in Washington cover their Middle East
imperialism with a Democracy Scam, although the last thing they
want is free elections, which in most of the region’s countries would
result in Islamic states.
Professor Anat Biletzki talks to Challenge in the
38th year of the Occupation. She explores the Post-Oslo Dilemmas of
the Left: Will Sharon go through with disengagement? Is it a step toward
peace? Is the two-state solution feasible? Biletzki calls a “Jewish
democratic state” an oxymoron. She insists on the refugees’ right of
return.
Challenge
follows, once more, Palestinian workers who sneak into Tel Aviv in search
of jobs. They overnight in an unfinished shopping mall, three stories
underground, with no water, electricity or fresh air. The police give
chase but
They Always Return. One did not: it is suspected that Ali
Abu Rob, aged 20, was beaten to death in a police station. The official
story is that he killed himself.
You are not permitted to work in Israel, but before you
graze your sheep in the West Bank, check for poison. Young settlers in
White Shirts, from the illegal outpost of Havat Maon, harass the
people of Tuwani in Mt. Hebron. The pastures of the villagers are
repeatedly strewn with poison pellets, which Sisyphean volunteers from
Ta’ayush try to clean up.
In June the Organization for Democratic Action held a
three-day seminar in Galilee on the Rise and Fall of Empires. We publish
one of the lectures, On the Retreat of Israeli Colonialism.
Sindyanna of Galilee (www.sindyanna.com)
has trained ten Arab women in Basketry, a pilot project which, it
is hoped, will serve as a transition Between Worlds, drawing on
traditional culture while connecting the women to Fair Trade markets
abroad. n
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