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The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil,    but because of the people who don't do anything about it

Occupation magazine - Commentary Home page  back Print  Send To friend Week 2359 of Occupation The incitement index incites Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs was first established in 2006 to provide a consolation prize to Avigdor Lieberman, who wanted the Internal Security Ministry, but was unfortunately the subject of several investigations by that ministry at the time. It was phased out in 2008, only to be revived in 2009, this time to provide a portfolio to Moshe “Bogey” Ya’alon, number two in the Likud Party, since the important ministries were reserved for Likud’s coalition partners. But what does this political artifact of a ministry actually do? It is supposed to be responsible for coordinating strategic affairs, but it has no authority over any other ministry. On August 12 we discovered what Ya’alon’s superfluous ministry has been up to, when it revealed its Palestinian Authority “incitement index.” The index records and tabulates public statements by PA officials and their media outlets that do not conform to the Israeli establishment’s idea of proper political behavior. This includes not only statements maligning Jews collectively, which exist, but anything that does not imply a capitulation to Israel’s terms for “peace.” So any hint that Palestinians are collectively engaged in a struggle for national rights is termed “incitement.” The examples provided reveal a Palestinian society that indeed sees itself as engaged in a struggle against the occupier. It is a society ideologically mobilized to fight for its legitimate rights. This is what the incitement index calls “the ethos of struggle” that is encouraged by Palestinian leadership and media. Calling this incitement is to suggest that Palestinians accept the alternative, the Israeli vision of peace through division of the remaining 20% of Palestine based on a configuration of settlements that Israel imposed by force, mostly while “peace negotiations” were taking place. The index also takes offense and labels as incitement any reference to the entire territory that was Mandatory Palestine in 1947 as “Palestine.” Photos of Mahmoud Abbas next to maps of Palestine thus delineated, the map of said territory on official PA documents, and as traced by children on television, these are all said to be instances of incitement and an obstacle to peace. If you have visited the West Bank, you will also see the same familiar shape of historic Palestine on dashboards of taxis, on living room walls. It is a graphic representation of the Palestinian narrative. But calling this “incitement,” and claiming that it is “the primary obstacle to peace,” as the index does, requires a badly atrophied sense of irony. Israel daily uses not only incitement to violence, but real violence, and the threat of violence, to take Palestinian lands. The former IDF chief of staff who runs the office that produced this pseudoscientific index has openly supported accelerated settlement activity. He has declared that Jews should be allowed to colonize all of “the land of Israel.” Not only are there countless instances of Israeli government officials and politicians denying the validity of Palestinian national existence, let alone the right to self-determination, but Israel is actively implementing their vision. It could not have helped the cause of this “incitement” awareness campaign, that a few days after the index was released, Israel’s media had forgotten all about this document, and were instead preoccupied with the vicious attacks of Palestinian teenagers in Jerusalem at the hands of Israeli gangs. The incitement index can be found here: http://www.pmo.gov.il/English/MediaCenter/Spokesman/Pages/spokehasata120812.aspx Lieberman going rogue Israel’s Foreign Ministry, under Minister Avigdor Lieberman and his deputy, Danny Ayalon, is a rogue operation. This is despite the fact that the platform of the Israel Beiteinu party of both Lieberman and Ayalon calls for moving Israel toward a system of government more like the executive branch of the US system, with an appointed cabinet that shares a unified policy. Lieberman is now calling for a diplomatic offensive to delegitimate Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. On 19 August, Lieberman sent off a letter to the four members of the “quartet” who monitor progress in what they still call the peace process: the US, EU, UN, and Russia. In his letter he complained about Abbas’s own diplomatic campaign to seek observer status for the state of Palestine in the UN General Assembly. Lieberman asked the quartet to require new Palestinian elections, for the purpose of replacing Abbas. On 23 August, Lieberman, in a radio interview in Israel, said that Abbas was waging “diplomatic terror” against Israel. Any exhortation to struggle to realize Palestinian rights is now termed “incitement,” so any actual practical attempts to engage in that struggle is defined, at least in Lieberman’s world, as “terror.” Prime Minister Netanyahu has stated that Lieberman’s offensive represents neither his own position nor that of his government. So the letter is received internationally as a personal campaign, on the part of a foreign minister whose international reputation for seriousness and moderation is negligible, particularly compared to that of Abbas himself. It is not surprising that Russia has already responded to Lieberman’s letter, reaffirming its support for Abbas as leader of the Palestinian Authority. Sources: http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=282296 http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/barak-says-lieberman-s-letter- calling-for-abbas-ouster-harms-israeli-interests.premium-1.460087 http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20507 Settler violence In recent days, settler attacks on Palestinians and their property, have intensified. Here are four of the latest incidents: 15 August: Settlers destroy 30 olive trees in the al-Hamra valley in the South Hebron Hills. This makes 97 Palestinian-owned olive trees destroyed in the area since January. (http://www.operationdove.org/?p=830). 16 August: Settlers injured five members of the Hassan family, by throwing Molotov cocktails at their car, near Bethlehem. (http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=513076) 25 August: Settlers cut down 30 olive trees in Yatta and sprayed racist slogans on water tanks. (http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20506) 25 August: Settlers uprooted trees and destroyed crops in Jammala and Deir Ammar, near Ramallah. ( Links to the latest articles in this section The US and nuclear programs in the Middle East How can Israel, Palestine return to a two-state solution? A matter of concrete debate