[WCUSP] Article: The Occupation? Fuggedaboutit!

[C.J. Minster]

The Occupation? Fuggedaboutit!

Gila Svirsky

What a stroke of luck - 10 days before a war breaks out in Lebanon, we buy
an apartment in Nahariya.

We had been looking for a place for about a year. We went to Cyprus to
check out the beautiful new communities on the northern shore - it's quite a
bargain, if you don't mind settling in occupied territory. We thought about
Mauritius, but the savings on real estate would be offset by the costs of
flights there. So finally we settled on an apartment under construction in
Israel's sweetest little town on the Mediterranean coast - just 5 miles
south of the border with Lebanon.

We were looking for a sea view. Had the balcony already been built, we
would have been able to watch the Israeli navy array itself along the coast,
laying siege to Lebanon. We wanted to be close to Kibbutz Sa'ar, just north
of Nahariya, where one of my grown daughters lives, except when she
evacuates herself to safer points south. And we wanted a getaway from
turbulent Jerusalem, somewhere we could spend long quiet weekends and
eventually a serene retirement. Several dozen rockets dropped into her
kibbutz and our serene neighborhood this weekend.

In listening to the media, to my neighbors, to the gas station attendant, I
am amazed by the lack of comprehension: "We leave Gaza, they shoot missiles
at us from there. We leave Lebanon, they kidnap our boys. How do they
expect us to leave the West Bank? Fuggedaboudit!"

These views, expressed by most Israelis these days, can only fill me with
awe at how the Big Lie works: Repeat it often enough, publicly enough, by
political and spiritual leaders, and the whole country/world will begin to
believe that Israel is innocent of all wrongdoing and that these attacks
emerged from a political vacuum:

As if there is no occupation. As if there is no siege on Gaza. As if there
are no 39 years (and counting) of military and political oppression with all
the killing, maiming, home destruction, and livelihood wrecking that this
entails. What is it about "end the occupation" that they don't understand?

No, I do not justify Qassam missiles or Katyusha rockets hurled at Israeli
towns or the kidnapping of anyone (even armed soldiers in tanks). I do not
justify any attacks by missile or suicide bomber or remotely detonated
device.

Nor do I justify the endless shelling of Gaza and Lebanon - land, sea, and
air - for any reason at all, let alone for purposes more related to
posturing and domestic public opinion than with accomplishing any political
objective. "How could we not respond when they kill and kidnap our
soldiers?" asked Yuli Tamir, our Education Minister (for goodness sakes!)
and a former Peace Now activist. As if shelling is sure to make the
Hizbullah leaders remorseful and let our boys come home.

So, as usual in wars, we have an alliance of the jingoistic decision-makers
on both sides, whipping up patriotism while they watch the fighting
on-screen from bunkers deep in the earth. In Israel, this war absolutely
thrills the right wing: The escalation keeps up the militaristic approach
to problem solving, discredits the view that Israel must leave the occupied
territories, and distances the current warfare from its roots in the ongoing
occupation. What's not to love about this war?

And as usual in Israel, a few cantankerous peace organizations - the
Coalition of Women for Peace, Gush Shalom, Ta'ayush, and a few others -
increase their presence on the streets. At Women in Black last Friday, we
carried our regular "End the Occupation" signs and buttressed them with
signs saying, "Stop the Killing - Negotiate!" (and "It's the Occupation,
Stupid!"). But when the cannons roar, so do the bystanders, and a dozen
police were there to prevent anything worse than words and gestures.

A day will come when this small corner of the Mediterranean will again hold
sailboats and waterskiers, and I'm looking forward to that view from the
balcony. I still think it was a good investment.

Shalom / Salaam from Jerusalem,

Gila

___________________

Gila Svirsky

Coalition of Women for Peace

www.coalitionofwomen.org < http://www.coalitionofwomen.org/>
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