Unbearable Oppression Forces Palestinians To Kidnap Israelis
19 June 2014
By Khalid Amayreh in al-Khalil
The ostensible kidnapping of three Israeli settlers in
the southern West Bank this week, presumably at the
hands of Palestinian militants, seems to have driven
the Israeli political-security establishment over the
edge.
Perplexed, even hysterical, reactions by Israeli
political leaders and army commanders were noted in
the past few days.
Tens of thousands of Israeli soldiers were deployed in
several parts of the West Bank in a seemingly futile
effort to locate the kidnapped young soldiers.
The crème de la crème of the Israeli intelligence
community as well as the best technology money could
buy are being employed in a race against time to find
the kidnapped settlers, but so far to no avail.
The Israeli army has also rounded up as many as 80
Palestinian community leaders associated with the
"Islamic current," especially Hamas. The detainees
include university professors, lawmakers and religious
leaders.
More arrests are expected in the next few days.
Indiscriminate punishment has always been Israel's
most favored means to react to actions carried out by
resistance elements.
Israeli planners think rather wrongly that tormenting
the Palestinian masses would create deterrence against
resistance activities or at least make the Palestinian
masses resent the resistance. However, the experience
of several decades of resistance and repression
suggests that the resistance is always exonerated in
the sight of the people.
To conceal their obvious security and intelligence
failure, the Israeli government has blamed Palestinian
Authority (PA) leader Mahmoud Abbas for the incident.
Abbas, who expressed absolute willingness to cooperate
with the Israeli army to find the kidnapped
individuals, rejected Israeli charges. He reminded
them that the incident occurred in area-C, which falls
under full Israeli security control.
Draconian oppression:
Most Palestinians are not euphoric about the
kidnapping. However, nearly 99% of the people this
writer has been talking to squarely blamed Israel for
the kidnapping.
Muhammad is a college student, a sophomore, at the
University of Hebron. He says that while the
kidnapping incident has not driven him into a state of
ecstasy, he perfectly understood the legitimacy of the
kidnapping.
"The Israelis treat us like animals. They arrest and
incarcerate our youngsters and leaders for many years
without charge or trial. This is unacceptable; people
anywhere under the sun are entitled to justice and
fair treatment."
Hind, a senior majoring in sociology, agrees.
"I would like to address the conscience of each
Israeli: Wouldn't you be driven over the edge if a
foreign country or your own country kept you
languishing in jail for ten or 12 years without charge
or trial, even without you knowing why you are being
held."
A few weeks ago, a college lecturer in Hebron who had
served 7 years in so-called "administrative detention"
intimated to this writer that he once appealed to an
Israeli judge to let him know why he was being in
jail.
"I told him I needed to know what violation of the law
I did commit so that I wouldn't do it again. But the
judge looked at me in a cynical manner and said:
Ahmed, I am not going to give you the privilege of
knowing why you are here."
I don't know how the current kidnapping incident will
end up. But the prospects already look ominous and
bleak.
The Israelis are thoroughly intoxicated by their
arrogance of power. They are unlikely to resort to
reason and logic and start viewing Palestinians as
equal human beings.
On the other hand, this is a matter of life or death
for hundreds of Palestinian captives unfairly kept in
Israeli jails.
Moreover, the Palestinians have nothing to lose. Our
people have been through it all, from creation to
destruction.
An old woman from the town of Dura reacted to Israeli
threats following the incident, saying "whatever falls
from the sky will fall on earth. We won't be
intimidated by their threats and their terror."
Khalid Amayreh is a veteran Palestinian journalist
and political commentator living in occupied Palestine
©
EsinIslam.Com
Add Comments