The Pretense the Zionists Need?

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The Pretense the Zionists Need?

By G. A. Fox
12-17-12

With the repeated IDF violations of the recent ceasefire agreement, has the Israeli regime finally gotten the excuse it needed to take military action in the West Bank?

Reading various media from the Middle East and around the world is very illuminating, since the Western media is firmly in the pocket of the Zionists and most news and incidents never reach the Western population. Disturbing reports of repeated ceasefire violations by the IDF in both Gaza and the West Bank such as mass arrests ⁽¹⁾, searches of NGO offices ⁽²⁾ and seizures of their files/hard disks, shooting across the border at unarmed farmers and civilians ⁽³⁾, shooting at fishermen ⁽⁴⁾ and confiscating or destroying their boats, psychological warfare via F16s ⁽⁵⁾ and more ⁽⁶⁾. These documented cases of course will stand with no real consequence to the IDF soldiers, because as always, the IDF "investigates" itself ⁽⁷⁾ and rarely, if ever, finds wrongdoing on the part of any soldier no matter how egregious or outrageous their action may have been.

Most recently, two attacks upon journalists indicate that the IDF and government are perpetrating actions that they desperately do not want the world to see. The incident in which two Reuters cameramen ⁽⁸⁾ where attacked was publicised because it is such a large media company. Less noted was the fact that behind the Reuters journalists was another car with two local media members who were subjected to the same humiliation and ill-treatment. A second, separate, incident did not involve a high-profile media company so it was not publicised anywhere except locally ⁽⁹⁾, but these journalists were likewise humiliated and degraded by the IDF. The two incidences involved different IDF soldiers, so clearly these are not isolated incidences or simply the actions of rogue, excitable young IDF soldiers. In both cases, the IDF showed a level of contempt and disdain, not only for the journalists themselves, but for international humanitarian law ⁽¹⁰⁾ that prohibits the ill-treatment of journalists in any conflict.

So the question that immediately comes to mind is,

"What does the Israeli government and IDF not want the world to see in the West Bank?"

Even in the face of these multiple incursions into "Area A" in the West Bank and other ceasefire violations ⁽¹¹⁾, the Palestinians have been by all measures quite subdued and restrained. No rockets have been fired into Israeli territory, no gunfire returned, no terroristic acts. While Israeli media outfits like to mislabel any child or teen who throws stones at fully armed and equipped combat soldiers as "terrorists" the rest of the world is not fooled by that canard.

Enter the 'new faction'

Conveniently for Israel ⁽¹²⁾ on Friday a new faction that calls itself "National Union Battalions" has created a video in which it warns, "This is the beginning of a third Palestinian intifada, which is erupting from the heart of Hebron and will spread to all of Palestine."

It lists several demands, such as:

The removal of all IDF checkpoints in the West Bank;
the release of all Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails;
an Israeli withdrawal from all Palestinian lands;
an end to the Israeli assault against the residents of Hebron;
the transfer of all tax revenues Israel has been withholding from the Palestinian Authority since the UN vote on upgrading the Palestinians' status;
opening all border crossings; and
supplying electricity and water to the Gaza Strip.

The group purportedly threatens violent actions if these demands are not met, including: continuing arrests of Palestinians will result in soldiers being kidnapped in return, and that if Israel kills Palestinians they will respond "with an iron fist."

This group is neither sponsored nor publicly endorsed by any of the groups they claim to speak for or belong to, in fact, the governour of Hebron, Khamel Hamid, has downplayed the video and statement.

While this seems to fit the standard stereotype of the typical terroristic threatening rhetoric, let us examine this situation critically.

Israeli Diplomatic Situation

The government of Israel has alienated many of its former allies upon whom it could count for almost unconditional support. The knee-jerk announcement of once again violating international law and announcing plans to build more colonies ⁽¹³⁾ in the E1 area was akin to a frustrated toddler throwing a toy across the room. This decision was not made lightly; it was contemplated in advance ⁽¹⁴⁾ of the 29 Nov. UN bid by Mahmoud Abbas. The Israeli government had been considering for some time what "appropriate measures" they should take to punish the Palestinians for this act of impudence ⁽¹⁵⁾. An Israeli settler spokesperson called it "diplomatic warfare" ⁽¹⁶⁾ and called for unilateral annexation of the Palestinian territories and more. Therefore it was calculated by the right-wing Likud-Beiteinu ruling coalition, and one must assume the reaction of the international community must have been a factor in the decision-making process. Clearly this shows that Israel has neither any respect or regard for the international community (including its allies) nor the rule of Law ⁽¹⁷⁾. As far as it's concerned, it can do whatever it wants and no one is going to stop them. However, the government is obviously very, very nervous ⁽¹⁸⁾ about the PLO taking a case before the ICC (International Criminal Court) or the ICJ (International Court of Justice) for their illegal activity in Gaza or their illegal settlements ⁽¹⁹⁾, collective punishment or myriad other violations of the Laws of War or the Geneva Convention IV ⁽²⁰⁾. The desperation of the regime is very transparent at this time.

Israeli Military Situation

If there is no enemy, who can the IDF fight? While people don't generally relish rocks being thrown at them, the world doesn't really believe that frustrated teens throwing rocks at fully-armed combat troops are actually "terrorists." In the absence of a malevolent terrorist group, or actual terrorism itself, what's the IDF to do besides harassing farmers, fishermen and prowling at night kicking doors in of peaceful NGO offices? For young adults that comprise the majority of active IDF deployed and the Border Police, that only goes so far. They've been all geared up for a major ground incursion (their terminology is "mowing the grass" ⁽²¹⁾ ) and no joy for them since there was no ground invasion of Gaza. So almost 70,000 reservists had to go back home to their lives without making one kill "in the jungle" ⁽²²⁾ as they call Palestinian areas and the Palestinians. Young, highly trained combat soldiers who have been pepped up and rallied to kill Palestinians, are now held back but are filled with a lot of pent-up frustration. This makes for a very volatile situation.

Operatives and Informant Networks

Shin Bet, the Israeli secretive internal security service (also called Shabak), routinely threatens, bribes or blackmails hapless Palestinians into their service ⁽²³⁾. This usually starts very small ⁽²⁴⁾, but gets more intrusive and demanding and forces the individual to commit acts against his fellows ⁽²⁵⁾ that he would never commit, much less contemplate. One may wonder how a Palestinian could or would ever work with Shin Bet? But what if they blackmailed someone with the threat of spreading vile rumours about his sister around his village? In this culture, that would be devastating. Many medical procedures require Palestinians to have a travel permit to reach their doctor in another area. This used against them - agree to inform and they get a permit, refuse and no permit to travel = no medical treatment ⁽²⁶⁾. Ironically, their medical provider may be an informant, too ⁽²⁷⁾.

The incredibly deep infiltration ⁽²⁸⁾ and penetration of informants in Gaza allowed Shin Bet to pass that along to the IDF for their "surgical strikes" in the last Gaza offensive, deceptively termed "Operation Pillar of Defense" (Pillar of Smoke in Hebrew). A similar level of infiltration operates in the West Bank where there are over 500 fixed checkpoints ⁽²⁹⁾ that disrupt normal travel and Palestinians' daily lives.

Like dealing with the mafia or any organised crime outfit, once you cooperate, Shin Bet never lets you go.

The West Bank

It is not difficult to see how young, vulnerable, and fearful informants in the West Bank ⁽³⁰⁾, in too deep with the Shin Bet, could be coerced to make such a video to exploit the growing frustration of both sides.

Unemployment in the West Bank is very high, Palestinians are harassed by IDF soldiers and settlers despite the ceasefire, and the checkpoint/roadblock and costly travel permit system keep the population in a dismal limbo, pending actual political fruit of their upgraded national status. In the meantime, their lives remain humiliating, degrading and dreary, with frustration mounting at the level of impunity with which the IDF is still able to operate, even in Area A locations. Despite continuing frustrations and inhumane treatment, Palestinian adults in the various political parties and movements are determined not to erode the shaky ceasefire and proceed with a peaceful political process.

But Israel desperately needs a diversion to take attention away from their mind-boggling foreign policy, crooks in high government ⁽³¹⁾, increasing self-imposed international isolation, and retreating former allies, as well as their dismal internal economic disparity situation.⁽³²⁾

So this video arrives just at a suspiciously timely moment for the Israeli government and seems to give them a perfect pretext for which to keep their high level alert of IDF going. This of course allows them to also claim "security needs" as the excuse for any atrocity they may commit. And since they feel so confident about the quiet in the Gaza Strip and the concurrent frustration about not being able to "bomb them into the Middle Ages" ⁽³³⁾ or use their antsy and anxious ground troops, could this be the false flag ⁽³⁴⁾ Israel needs to allow the frustrated IDF to perpetrate a few atrocities to inflame the youth in the West Bank?

Could young Palestinian operatives now virtually owned by the Shin Bet be commanded to commit some violent act(s) intended to trigger Israeli and international outrage?

Israel could then cite any responses as ceasefire violations and then go ahead and attack, perhaps bomb, the Palestinians in the West Bank into a devastated and deadly quiet like those in the Gaza Strip who are still picking through the rubble of their former lives.

It seems like the government is doing its best, both overtly and covertly, to goad the Palestinians to react in a way that will justify the ground incursion and subsequent devastation that the increasingly right-wing Israeli public desperately wants and the government needs to deflect attention from its increasingly untenable position on the international, political and economic fronts.

Considering the foregoing, will we see an Israeli military invasion or action in the West Bank?

_____________________________________________

References

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(2) M.H./F.R. (11/12/2012) Israeli Forces Raid, Ransack Rights and Civil Offices in Ramallah. Palestinian News & Info Agency - WAFA Retrieved 15/12/2012 from http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=21293

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(11) ibid 6

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