From Occupied Palestine

End of the Rainbow
GIDEON LEVY
Ha'aretz, 2 June 2004

One of the 120 homes demolished by the IDF in the Brazil refugee camp belonged to architect Manal Awad. This was the third time since 1948 that her family has been left homeless - and the second time that Ariel Sharon was responsible.

Now all 19 people are crowded into a tiny two-and-a-half-room apartment belonging to one sister, on the edge of the destroyed area of their refugee camp. The curtain blowing in the breeze allows intermittent glimpses of the view from the window: mounds of rubble all the way to the end of the street. This is the Awad family: Mother, elderly aunt, son, daughters and their families. On Thursday, May 20, two bulldozers approached their home, threatening to raze it with the occupants still inside: Operation Rainbow. The 85-year-old aunt barely managed to climb out. She says that in 1948, when she fled from her first home, and in 1972, when the IDF razed her home again, it was easier for her - she was still young then. One of the daughters, architect Manal Awad, says that it's not just stone walls that have been destroyed, but also memories - in the photographs and books that are lost forever. Her sisters tried to save the coffee table that she had designed, but couldn't. The table was crushed along with the other contents of the house. Among the wreckage, the only thing she could find was the new narghile she had bought for her brother in Tunisia.

One grandmother is not enough
GIDEON LEVY
Ha'aretz, 30 May 2004

One day, when Ariel Sharon's government is scrutinized by historians, the issue of how its component parts operated will be examined. All told, this is a government that is responsible for the destruction of the prospects for peace, and for the implementation of inhumane policies in the occupied areas. The Likud's main coalition partner in the government cannot exempt itself of blame for these results, no matter that it is trying right now to do precisely that.

Today Rafah, tomorrow Jenin
GIDEON LEVY
Ha'aretz, 16 May 2004

It is easy to criticize the scenes in Rafah as inhumane Palestinian cruelty. But the hard truth is even harder to digest - what we are seeing is the inevitable result of years of abuse of a helpless population.

The 13 soldiers who died in the Gaza Strip were not pointless victims because their sacrifice points the way to a withdrawal from the territory. Israel will prove yet again what it has known for a long time - the only language it really understands is the language of force. Withdrawals come only when so much blood is shed that the country's majority is persuaded that the country has no choice but to pull out.

And then there was one
GIDEON LEVY
Ha'aretz, 5 May 2004

Athidel and Mazan Azuka had three sons. Osama was killed three years ago, at the age of 13. Mohammed was killed two weeks ago, after taking a high-school exam in English. Only Marwan is left

On the way back from Jenin we heard about the killing of the mother and four daughters of the Hatuel family, from Gush Katif. Athidel and Mazan Azuka have lost two sons, and their killings are not considered criminal acts of murder. Mazan, a grocer, and his wife, Athidel, had three sons, and now only one is left. Osama was killed by soldiers during a demonstration as he walked with his father and his older brother, Mohammed. Mohammed was shot during an assassination operation two weeks ago. He was a high-school student, a passerby, who was on his way from an examination to sign up for a trip, when soldiers shot him in the head, about half an hour after liquidating the people they were after. There are times when anyone walking the streets of Jenin is marked for death, because of the war against terrorism.

Time for the soldiers to speak out
GIDEON LEVY
Ha'aretz, 2 May 2004

When will the soldiers at long last start talking? When will their consciences get the better of them? When will they sit at home and tell the truth about what they did in their army service in the territories? Recently there have been a few signs that this inevitable process, already very late in appearing, may be about to occur. If so, it could signal an important shift. The refuseniks made their contribution but apparently have exhausted their strength and their influence. Now, the talking soldiers' turn has come. Those who do not refuse to serve - indeed, they are ready to go on bearing the burden - but who at least will tell the unvarnished truth at home.

A sudden concern for the Palestinian child
GIDEON LEVY
Ha'aretz, 27 March 2004

Suddenly, Israelis are worried about the bitter fate of a Palestinian child. To judge by the public shock over Hussam Bilal Abdu, who was caught wearing an explosives belt at the Hawara checkpoint, it would seem that nothing of a humane nature is foreign to us, even when it pertains to an enemy and his children. But this is an infuriating show of concern. The fate of a Palestinian child only touches us when it suits us, when it serves our purposes and when our hands are not involved.

Victory of brutality
GIDEON LEVY
Ha'aretz, 14 March 2004

A new species of officer is achieving greatness in the Israel Defense Forces. These people did most of their service as occupation officers, and their excellence is a function of the degree of violence and brutality they exercise against the Palestinians. The most striking example of this trend is Brigadier General Gadi Shamni, a graduate of Lebanon and Hebron, who last week concluded his tour of duty as commander of the Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip and was promoted to head of the Operations Division in the General Staff, a post which is a major step on the way to becoming a major general. The promotion of an officer of this type speaks volumes about the IDF's value system and its order of priorities, far more than what it says about Shamni himself.

Fighting the fence
GIDEON LEVY
Ha'aretz, 7 March 2004

These were not rubber bullets. You don't have to be a ballistics expert to know that bullets that slice through a car, enter its flank, penetrate the upholstery and exit via the door are not rubber bullets. This is the red and white Ford Transit with which the driver, Nidal Rian, tried to evacuate a demonstrator, Mohammed Rian, who lay dying on the floor of the vehicle after being shot in the back during the demonstration on February 26. The vehicle is riddled with bullet holes. At least three in the chassis; the front and back windshields are shattered, as are the lights; the tires have already been changed.

Gaza: The IDF's shooting range
GIDEON LEVY
Ha'aretz, 15 February 2004

It sometimes seems the Gaza Strip has become the central shooting range of the Israel Defense Forces, the IDF’s firing zone and training field. The weapons in use there are of dubious legality, the rules of engagement lack the element of restraint, and punitive measures that Israel would not conceive of inflicting in the West Bank are par for the course, in a region that produces far less terrorism than the West Bank.

Undeserving of compassion
GIDEON LEVY
Ha'aretz, 8 February 2004

Whenever talk of evacuating settlements starts, it's immediately accompanied by the phrase "the painful price." Evacuation of settlements, we have been habituated to believe, is synonymous with "national pain" and "trauma." Yet why should this be so? It's understandable, of course, that people who are uprooted from their place of residence and who loved their home, will not leave joyfully. It's never pleasant to move from a beloved place to which we have grown accustomed to a new place. Not pleasant, but not so terrible, either, especially when it's possible to return to the place you came from not so long ago. True, it's possible to believe that some of the settlers will experience true grief, just as others will breathe a huge sigh of relief - but it's a long way from here to turning the evacuation into an object of national mourning.