(This is a section of a longer article, "Six Myths of the Middle East," written by an American Jew who emigrated to Israel and lives in a small town near Haifa with his wife and three sons.)
Jews are often accused, particularly since the Holocaust, of being paranoid about antisemitism--seeing the effects of antisemitism where none exist. After watching and listening to the world news (CNN International, BBC, Sky News) along with the reaction of world governments and the UN to the latest violence here, most of us can only conclude that antisemitism in the guise of anti-Israeli sentiments is alive and well in the world at large.
Take the favorite media claim that Israel responds to mere rocks with rifles.
Here is what a typical Palestinian attack looks like. Thousands (no exaggeration) of Palestinians, mostly young men and children, begin to storm an Israeli outpost which protects an Israeli village or border between Palestinian territory and Israel proper. I have never heard the question asked as to why we need such protection if we have a peace agreement. Behind this mob, hiding behind buildings and other cover are both Palestinian police and civilians with automatic weapons who fire on the outpost.
The soldiers can either ignore these "mere rock throwers" until they physically overrun their outpost and attack what is beyond (unarmed Israelis) or selectively fire to try to stop the surging crowd from reaching the village they are protecting. As the world decries the 90-plus Palestinian deaths, no one stops to ask how many would be dead if Israeli forces were actually doing what they are accused ofshooting indiscriminately into these crowds with their automatic weapons. Literally hundreds or thousands of Palestinians would be dead.
Yes, tanks and helicopter gunships have been moved in to the worst areas. But they have been used as tactical scare tactics not as offensive weapons. Simply imagine how many would be dead if the fire power in these weapons had been used.
So, rock throwers are not mere nuisances. These masses of attackers represent a true threat to both the soldiers in their outposts and the Israeli citizens who live behind them. Are more Palestinians being killed and injured than Israelis? Of course. They are out in the open while the Israeli troops are trapped within bunker-type buildings. The Israelis are not leaving these outposts to give chase as they well could. They are defending their positions. All media reports I have seen paint this as Israeli aggression.
Are children being killed? Indeed. I ask you, what kind of parent allows, and in many cases encourages, their child to go to the front lines of what is basically a war to throw stones at armed troops? This is not civil disobedience or a demonstration. This is mass mob rioting with all the dangers that entails. The Palestinians send their children to be slaughtered and then cynically use this against us in the court of world opinion. The reporters know this but are quick to blame us for the outcome.
Or take the myth of Israeli presence as a provocation. Wherever there is an Israeli presence--as approved by the Oslo agreements-- it is to protect Israeli citizens who are constantly under threat of attack by our "peace partners." The Israeli outposts, well outside the independent Palestinian towns and villages, did not suddenly move towards those towns and villages and magically become objects of provocation. The Palestinians left their homes in masses and attacked these sites. Their diplomats ask us to remove our troops from these areas of "provocation" in order to gain land by violence that they did not gain by negotiation. If we allow that, where does it end?
Still, with all that, Israel agreed to hand control of a Jewish religious site in Nablus (Joseph's tomb) over to the Palestinian police in order that there would be absolutely no "provocative" Israeli presence anywhere near the Palestinian town. A few days before, in an unprecedented act of sheer hatred, the Palestinian police refused to allow Israelis to evacuate a severely wounded border policeman who had been shot in the neck by Palestinian rioters. Negotiations went on for four hours to no avail and the policeman died. In the meantime, Israel smuggled doctors dressed as Arab residents into Nablus to try to save the life of the son of the Nablus governor. He was airlifted to an Israeli hospital for treatment. Did you see this in your news?
In an agreement worked out by both sides, the Palestinians promised to protect this holy site as the Israelis withdrew. During the withdrawal, one Israeli border policeman was killed and several seriously wounded. After the withdrawal, the Palestinian masses stormed the tomb, pulled out Jewish religious articles, prayer books and the like and burned them, set fire to the inside of the tomb, and destroyed as much of the tomb itself as they could, stone by stone. These are acts by people who, according to Hanan Ashrawi, just wanted a Jewish presence out of their town but bear no hatred towards Jews or Israelis. They just want peace.
This is the behavior of people who propose to have control over a city holy to three religions and to protect the holy sites of all. This horrible act said more to Israeli Jews about the Palestinians' true feeling towards the Jews than almost any other act during the current violence. To us, it represents the true face of modern Islam.
November 2000 - 7 - Outpost