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<DIV><STRONG><A
href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=266417&contrassID=2&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y">http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=266417&contrassID=2&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y</A></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG>Laundering language</STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=t11B>By <A class=tUbl2 href="mailto:eldar@haaretz.co.il">Akiva
Eldar</A> (last section of his article)</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><FONT
face=Arial size=2></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><BR><BR>Many years of
observing Islamic zealots and an intimate familiarity with the Israeli
intelligence services has turned Prof. Immanuel Sivan into a sharp-eyed observer
of the war Israel is currently conducting against the Hamas. <BR><BR>In a
lecture delivered last week, Sivan referred to news reports abut "the
elimination of senior Hamas men," something that has become routine. He said
that apparently it's enough to control 13 neighbors to be turned into a "senior"
Hamas activist. <BR><BR>Sivan, who was lecturing at a conference in honor of
Prof. Bernard Lewis at the Hebrew University's Truman Institute, noted that in
light of the situation in the territories over the past few months, the leaders
of the Hamas have largely lost their ability to conduct internal communication
or coordinate moves. <BR><BR>The phrase, "senior Hamas activist," which has been
drafted into service by the IDF, deserves a medal for the wonders it does to
public opinion. There's no need to claim he was a "ticking bomb," to
extra-judicially execute a "senior Hamas official." Nobody gets excited if half
a dozen innocent civilians are killed during the capture of "one of the top
wanted men from the Hamas in Gaza." <BR><BR>And while conducting war against the
murderers of Israeli teens who went out to a discotheque there's no need to
count young Palestinians who get caught and are killed in the cross fire.
<BR><BR>Dr. Niv Gordon of Ben-Gurion University conducted a study that shows how
the terrible terror bombing of the Dolphinarium in Tel Aviv, like the Park Hotel
bombing in Netanya and the Sbarro bombing in Jerusalem, were turned into events
that became useful to justify "eliminations." <BR><BR>He compared the phenomenon
to the collective psychological effect on Americans by the 9/11 attacks. The
establishment uses the tragic events that have been carved into the collective
consciousness and at the same time, relies on collective amnesia to forget the
personal details of the murderers. <BR><BR>Examining the newspapers between June
1, 2001 - the Dolphinarium attack - and November 25, 2001, Gordon found that
during nearly six months the security forces assassinated 14 Hamas activists,
mostly "senior." <BR><BR>According to military sources quoted in the three major
dailies, seven of the 14 were involved in one way or another with the suicide
bombing outside the Tel Aviv discotheque. <BR><BR>Jamal Mansur and Jamal Salim
Damouni from Nablus were assassinated on July 31 (two children who happened to
be there were also killed); Abed Rahman Sa'id Hamad from Qalqiliya was killed on
October 14, Ahmed Marshud from Nablus was killed on October 15; Iman Halawa from
Nablus was killed on October 22; Jamal Jadala from Hebron was killed on October
31, and Mahmud Abu Hanud from Al Fara refugee camp was killed on November 23.
<BR><BR>But Gordon notes that every reporter in the territories knows Hamas is
broken down into tiny cells and the organization, with the identity of each cell
zealously protected from the other members. Therefore, Gordon finds it difficult
to believe that activists from Nablus, Qalqiliya, Hebron, and Al Fara were all
involved in the same bombing. <BR><BR>But lacking any evidence linking the
assassinated men to the bombing, the press relies only on military sources,
which attribute various adjectives to the dead men. One prepared the bomb,
another ran the lab, a third commanded the cell, a fourth taught the terrorist,
a fifth paid for it, a sixth planned it, a seventh enlisted the cell, an eighth
"played an important role," and so on and so forth. <BR><BR>The study shows
there is an interesting language used to whitewash assassinations, which most of
the Israeli public support as a policy. <BR><BR>An ambush or attack on an
Israeli tank that invaded Gaza, or an Israeli soldier guarding an illegal
outpost in the West Bank, are defined as "terror operations," which justify
extra-judicial executions.</DIV></BODY></HTML>