| The latest suicide bombing which
caused
a heavy death toll among Israelis and
caused a storm
worldwide leaves several unanswered
questions.
This comment is not an
attempt to distort facts or
divert responsibility to
other parties or cover up what has
actually happened. This is an
attempt to analyze available data
and observations.
The Islamic movements have supported the
bombing, though,
contrary to the allegations of
Israeli
authorities and media, have not
claimed responsibility for it.
That Israeli parties have rushed to
falsely claim that this or
that Islamic movement has
claimed responsibility is the first
thing worth noting. Besides, media
reports have failed to provide
evidence that witnesses have
actually seen a Palestinian man
moving among the crowd of Israeli
youngsters - they only made
assumptions.
There are doubts that any Islamic
movement is able to carry out
such a strong attack, given
that most of the recent suicide
bombings have
failed to cause significant harm or
damage.
Different questions are being
raised. Susanne Scheidt from Italy
writes: "How come that last
summer, when there was no Palestinian
uprising in
sight, we read about numerous cases
in which
Palestinians, as soon as they
showed up on the beach of Tel Aviv
with a bathing suit in
their bag, were instantly spotted by
Israeli police and sent away from
the beach? How come that last
summer the Israeli police got out
of it's way to keep the Tel
Aviv beach Arab-free, whereas now,
with a Palestinian uprising
underway, there was no such
Arab-hunting activity on the part of
the police? And doesn't a person "stuffed up to his teeth with
explosives" -
according to TV reports - get noticed
in an
environment characterized by
half-naked beach dancers, as he
walked up towards the beach
compound? Isn't it may be high time
that the Israeli peace camp
raises its voice and demands the
Israeli judicial power to conduct a
profound investigation into
this case - and afterwards also
into the preceding ones, instead
of exploiting it politically? Or
are they too afraid that this
would be too risky, as may be
unconfessable elements might come
up?"
It cannot be argued that Islamic
movements are afraid to claim
responsibility out of fear of
Israeli reprisals (which will come
in any case, sooner or later).
Yesterday the spiritual leader of
Hamas himself, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin,
openly supported the attack.
And frankly it is not
beyond Israeli generals to manufacture
pretexts for declaring war. It
happened before. In 1982 Israel
attacked Lebanon without any
provocation, after a cease-fire that
lasted over a year. The pretext was
an attack by the Abu Nidal
group (which is not affiliated with
the PLO) against the Israeli
ambassador in London, Shlomo Argov.
Israeli chief of staff at the
time, Rafael Eitan, declared: "Abu Nidal, Abu Shmidal, we have to
strike the PLO." Today Israeli
leaders use a similar language: "Whoever hurts us, we will
strike Arafat." And they go further by
punishing and locking up all
Palestinians in the West Bank and
Gaza.
It is not improbable that indeed
one Islamic movement did carry
out the bombing. But reprisals
against a whole population are war
crimes. Israel is not looking for
solutions to its problems. It
is looking for scapegoats.
|
UPDATE:
JANUARY 12, 2002