The Cycle of Violence Begins Again
by
Ash Pulcifer
Dissident Voice
March 8, 2003
Yesterday's
suicide attack on a crowded bus in Israel was unfortunately quite predictable.
It was predictable because for the past two months, Palestinian militants have
refrained from launching suicide attacks, but the Israeli government has not
responded in kind. Instead, the Israeli government continued its repressive
policies perpetuated upon the Palestinians, killing many innocent people; for
example, just last Monday the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) caused the death of
a pregnant 33-year old Palestinian woman and her unborn child. As is often the
case, the IDF blew up a militant's home and the explosion also caused
destruction of the house next door, where this woman was killed by falling masonry.
So now, after two months of violence against Palestinian innocents, another
bomb has gone off and there are 15 more broken Israeli families and 50 more
whose loved ones were injured in yesterday's Haifa blast.
For the past two months,
Palestinian circles have questioned the results of suicide attacks inside
Israel's pre-1967 borders. This began two months of "relative calm."
There was the occasional, but deadly, Kassam rocket fired out of the Gaza
Strip, but the most devastating attacks toward Israeli civilians subsided. Yet
in this period of "relative calm," the developments in the Gaza Strip
were anything but "calm."
Despite every indicator
pointing in the opposite direction, the Sharon government and the Israelis who
support it fail to see that constant invasions of the Gaza Strip do nothing to
reduce terrorism. Each time the IDF carries out an operation in the Gaza Strip,
they kill more innocent civilians. Haaretz military correspondent Amos Harel
charges that civilian casualties "run to about 30 percent of the
total" when the IDF swarms into the territories. By killing so many
civilians, Israel is not reducing the anger and hatred toward its occupation;
what Israel is doing is increasing the amount of hatred toward Israelis, and
making it much easier for civilians to be recruited as militants who would
willingly give their lives to cause some sort of damage to Israel and the
innocent Jews who represent it.
It is not hard to see why an
individual who loses his family to the IDF would take up arms against anything
that seems to be responsible for his hatred. Given the superiority of the
Israeli military, often this hate is directed at innocent Israelis. There is
also no incentive (other than moral concerns that dissipate in the face of
anger) to attack the Israeli military instead of civilians: the reprisals from
Israel are the same. When recently Palestinian militants targeted Israeli
soldiers and successfully blew up an Israeli tank, Palestinian civilians
suffered the same reprisals from the IDF as they would have if these militants
instead killed civilians. Therefore, many militants choose to attack whichever
is an easier target and this results in the deaths of Israeli civilians. The
first suicide attack in Israel did not take place until the early '90s and the
Palestinians are loath to go back to the days before this. During the two
decades after the 1967 occupation, many Palestinians felt helpless against the
brutalizing occupation. Now they finally feel as if they have an outlet for
their hatred.
But the use of violence
works both ways. Israelis who lose family members and friends to suicide
attacks become more supportive of Sharon's violent policies, and unleash their
hatred through their support of IDF offensives into the Palestinian territories.
Since many members of the Israeli Defense Forces have also lost loved ones from
Palestinian attacks, it makes it easier for them to cause untold destruction to
innocent Palestinian lives as is evident through Israel's illegal policy of
forcible transfer and collective punishment. As Amnesty International states,
"Members of the IDF who commit grave human rights violations and war
crimes, such as killing children and other unarmed civilians, recklessly
shooting and shelling densely populated residential areas or blowing up houses
on top of people and leaving them to die under the rubble are not brought to
justice and held accountable for their acts."
Israelis and Palestinians
hate to hear the term "cycle of violence" because it incriminates
both sides equally. But a cycle of violence is exactly what is occurring.
Already, the Sharon government is planning its retaliation against the latest
attack, and they will receive wide support from Israel's population because
everyone feels that some sort of action must be taken in response. Yet all
Israel's retaliation will do is create more Palestinian suffering and thus
produce more Palestinian militants eager to rise up and strike at the heart of
Israel.
This cycle of violence will
continue until one side takes the bold initiative in offering an olive branch.
Considering that the Israeli state is much more organized and politically
advanced than the undeclared Palestinian one, Tel Aviv must take the first and
hard step toward reconciliation. As long as Sharon stays in power, however,
olive trees will continue to be destroyed and, as time progresses, there may be
no more olive branches left to give.
Ash Pulcifer is a U.S. based analyst of international
conflicts and a human rights activist. This article first appeared in YellowTimes.org. Ash encourages your
comments: apulcifer@YellowTimes.org