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With 30th annivesary of Yom Kippur War upon us, I suppose these recent actions shouldn't come as a surprise. See, a friend of mine who recently immigrated from Israel to the US (last year) told me that the reason she left was because she feared an all-out Arab-Israeli war was inevitable (Mind you, her family is part of the Arab Christian minority--their village is near Bethlehem).
She said that many Palestinians were openly weeping the day Rabin was assassinated, because they knew it was only a matter of time until the region would be enveloped in war again. She said that that's when she began planning to get out of there ASAP. And who can blame her?
Thing is, the restaraunt that got bombed was jointly owned by a Jewish family and an Arab family. I find that rather telling. Sharon's crowd isn't too keen on Jews and Palestinians cooperating or establishing any kind of dialogue, and its been suggested in the past that the Mossad isn't above pulling a terrorist act of its own and framing another party for it.
In fact, just before 9/11, there was a report out of the Army War College on global security risks (well, risks to the US geopolitical plans) that called Mossad a "Wild Card. Ruthless and cunning. Capable of staging a terrorist attack and making it appear to be the work of Arab terrorists". Rather chilling in light of 9/11 and the allegations of a Mossad front operation being in the vicinity (recall the news story of a witness describing a white van and men filming the towers collapse and then celebrating?); not to mention what has been going on in Israel since the fall of 2000...I don't like to jump into conspiracy theorizing, but its really shaping up to be a frightening scenario.
Also, my friend pointed out that just before the 2000 Israeli elections, Ariel Sharon was about to be implicated in some sort of financial fraud crime, something akin to insider trading and money laundering, and then it all just vanished from the Israeli media once Sharon staged his fall 2000 appearance on the Temple Mount. That appearance was the catalyst that set the wheels in motion. His appearance there was the justification for a huge security detail that claimed, out of necessity, the need to close off access to the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa mosque while he was there, for his protection.
The Palestinians protested in anger over both the need to close off their houses of worship, and the fact that here was this war criminal(who had allowed the Christian Phlangist militia in Lebanon to massacre women and children at the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps in 1982) staging a photo op at their expense. So in other words, Sharon directly provoked the Palestinians into rioting, then ran on a "law and order" ticket and promised the Israelis that he would put the kibosh on Palestinian violence, all the while encouraging new settlements to be built in Palestinian territory.
Flash forward to the present. 30th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, a conflict that (secretly) brought the world closer than its ever been to a real nuclear war. Most people have no idea how close we really came that year to WWIII. The Israelis were prepared to nuke Cairo and Damascus if they lost, and if not for Nixon arranging for the transport of US equipment out of South Vietnam (tanks and helicopters, mostly) in the nick of time, the Israelis would have lost. Tanks were rushed to the front still in their jungle camoflage, that's how fast they were pressed into service. When the tide of battle turned and Israel gained the upper hand, they were prepared to invade Syria and lay siege to Damascus. The USSR threatened intervention at that point, and they had planeloads of troops and squadrons of Migs and bombers in Kazakhstan on the tarmac, with engines running. Supposedly, Nixon got on the phone with Brezhnev at that point and let him know in no uncertain terms that if so much as one Soviet paratrooper landed on Israeli soil, he would give the green light to the Strategic Air Command...The USSR backed down, as did the Israelis. That's how close we came.
And now, 30 years later, without the constraints of the Cold War to keep in things in check, another major Arab-Israeli war looks inevitable. Add to the geopolitical factors the "Armageddon scenario" that is desired by fundamentalist Jews and Christians alike, and its starting to look really, really bad.
I mean, I fear the news from overseas now like never before. I keep getting this overwhelming sense of dread with each new report of escalating violence in the region. This isn't like past conflicts, this is very different, and by that I mean not only what is going on in Israel/Palestine, but also Iraq and this whole "War on Terror" scenario. Its shaping up to be all part of a greater whole, and the big picture scares the crap out of me.
I think the only thing that will defuse the situation somewhat is if enough Israelis can get Sharon out of office, preferably putting him behind bars where he belongs. A long shot, maybe, but still, their peace movement is growing. Hopefully their momentum will outpace that of the hardline right wing religious extremists who want all-out war no matter the cost in human life. |
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