By Baruch Kimmerling | July 10, 2004
> ...The issue of borders is currently a cause of some confusion within
Israel because of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's commitment to evacuate
the Gaza settlements, as well as a few small isolated West Bank
settlements. The right wing went into a panic because, for the first
time since 1967, a leader who identified with their cause had
committed himself to dismantling settlements in historic Palestine.
Centrists and non-radical leftists welcomed the plan -- not without suspicion -- because they perceive it as a crack in the major taboo against uprooting settlements and as a possible precursor to withdrawal from all or most of the occupied territories.
As a part of Sharon's so-called Disengagement Plan, the pulling out of 17 settlements in the Gaza Strip in fact will not end the occupation there, as Israel would retain control over Gaza's airspace, its territorial sea, and all border crossings. Presumably, the Israeli army and security services would continue to operate there as well.
The real result of Sharon's plan would be to turn the Gaza Strip into a vast concentration camp under Israeli surveillance. This type of Palestinian "sovereignty" could then serve as a model for part of the West Bank. Still, Sharon's own government has not approved even this arrangement and it is not guaranteed to receive a parliamentary majority even with the hesitant support of the Labor Party.
From this perspective, the Gaza withdrawal and the border fence are complementary policies of one larger plan, whose ultimate aim is to attain control over the maximum amount of Palestinian territory while minimizing the number of Arab inhabitants.
In pursuit of this aim, the border fence will enclose all the major settlement blocs (about 60 settlements), including many, such as Kiryat Arba and Ariel, that lie deep inside Palestinian territory.
The fence, when completed, will result in the de facto annexation of at least 20 percent of the West Bank. Additionally, it seems that Israel will retain the Jordan Valley up to a narrow strip of about 6 miles west of the Jordan River.
Permanent or not, such a "border" not only makes the everyday life of the Palestinians unbearable, it will prevent the creation of a viable Palestinian state. Presumably, this is the additional hidden purpose of the enterprise -- to force Palestinians off the land by "voluntary" ethnic cleansing. No Palestinian leadership -- with or without Yasser Arafat -- can accept such a "border," and the cycle of violence will continue.
The only acceptable border for Palestinians, after they already gave up 78 percent of historic Palestine, is the pre-1967 border. This should be the trade-off deal with the original demand for return to a whole Palestine.
Sharon's scheme to unilaterally reshape the border by building fences is a guaranteed prescription for continuation of mutual slaughter.
Baruch Kimmerling is professor of sociology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, author of "Politicide," and co-author with Joel Migdal of "The Palestinian People: A History."
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