One of the most progressive Jewish principles of old is now being put to the test: “In those daysthey shall say no more, ‘The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children’s teeth are set onedge’. But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, histeeth shall be set on edge.” (Jeremia, 31.)
A suicide bomber kills himself. Should his orphan children be punished for that?
The Israeli army of occupation says: Yes, indeed! Furthermore, anyone who helps the childrenis a criminal, an accomplice, a supporter of terrorism. If the potential suicide bomber knowsthat his family will starve after his death, he might shrink from committing the deed. But if heknows that somebody will take care of his family, his readiness to become a martyr will bestrengthened.
That is to say: “The fathers have eaten a sour grape and the children’s teeth shall be set onedge. Every one shall die for his fathers iniquity, the teeth of his whole family shall be set onedge.”
In recent times, this logic has frequently been acted upon. When Stalin’s secret policearrested a man as an “imperialist spy”, his family was dispersed, his wife sent to the Gulag andthe children to the party’s orphanage. The Nazis created the term “Sippenhaft”, meaning thatthe whole family is responsible for the acts of any of its members. Until now, such methods wereassociated with totalitarian regimes.
Even if this method were effective, if starving the wives and children of suicide bombersdeter others, we must still say: No. We cannot allow our state to behave like this, just as we donot take hostages and shoot them or wrap the corpses of suicide bombers in pigs’ skins, as hasbeen suggested by some (to prevent them from entering paradise). In the final analysis, thatis not wise, either. The prophets of Israel were no fools.
And to the matter at hand: This week the leaders of the Islamic Movement in Israel (“NorthernBranch”) were arrested. The huge propaganda apparatus of the army and Security Service,which controls all our media, accused them of “helping Palestinian terrorism”.
Two days later, the mountain gave birth to a mouse (as the Hebrew saying goes). The mainaccusation against the Islamists was that they are supporting the family members of suicidebombers and other “martyrs”. The police officer in charge declared that, beyond that, thereis no evidence of support of terrorism. All in all, the only offences allegedly discoveredwere of an economic nature, such as money laundering. “Economic offenses”, and for that such agigantic operation!
The arrests were conducted like a military operation against a dangerous enemy. In the middleof the night, a convoy of 800 police rolled into the township of Um-al-Fakhem, accompanied by acompany of reporters and photographers. Policemen in bulletproof vests surrounded thehomes of the “suspects”, all of them respected public figures. Snipers were at the ready, asthe policemen burst in and dragged the leaders out of their beds.
The climax of the operation was the arrest of the head of the movement, Sheikh Ra’ed Salah. Hisfather was dying in hospital, the Sheikh was lying next to him to give him support in his lasthours. The policemen woke him up and took him out in his underclothes to the waitingphotographers, as we saw on TV. If they wanted to humiliate him, they failed. The dignifiedbearing of the Sheikh put the policemen to shame. His father died a few hours later, alone.
I must disclose here that I am not entirely objective where Sheikh Ra’ed is concerned. Tenyears ago, in the winter of 1993, when Yitzhaq Rabin expelled 415 Islamic activists and leftthem in a deserted field on the Lebanese border, we set up protest tents opposite the PrimeMinister’s office. With us in the tent was Sheikh Ra’ed. For 45 days and nights in the fiercecold of snow-covered Jerusalem, we lived together – the Sheikh and his followers, I and myspouse Rachel and a changing number of guests, Jews and Arabs. We spent hundreds of hourstalking about everything under the sun, and the Sheikh taught us a lot about the Kor’an andIslam, especially its tolerant face.
I admit that the Sheikh, who was 34 years old at the time, charmed us. Unlike the stereotype of areligious extremist, he was full of humor. He is a wise person. In daily life he was pleasant,courteous and modest. I was impressed by his leadership style: early in the morning he got upand started to clean the area around the tents. His men were quick to join him. No orders, norequests.
This does not mean, of course, that I accepted his ideas. I reject any religious regime. Isupport the total separation of religion from politics, between church (or mosque orsynagogue) and state. Religious fanaticism is completely alien to me. That did not prevent mefrom liking Ra’ed Salah. End of personal note.
The solidarity of the Arab citizens of Israel with their kin in the Palestinian territories intheir struggle against the occupation seems to me quite natural. I understand their feelingsand their desire to tender humanitarian aid. All the more so as Gush Shalom, the movement towhich I belong, collects money and sends food to the beleaguered Palestinian villages andrefugee camps, as an act of solidarity. This can also be construed as “aid to terrorists” -after all, if the army wants to starve the population into surrender, who are we to alleviatetheir hunger?
Clearly, all these are pretexts. One does not send 800 policemen just to prevent children fromgetting bread or to arrest people laundering money. If so, what was the real aim?
The Sharon government is now engaged in an all-out struggle to destroy the Palestinian peopleas a national entity. The re-conquest of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the enlargement ofthe settlements at a frantic pace, the building of the “separation walls” that will cut offabout half of area of the West Bank, the daily assassinations and other killings, the starvingof the population, the wholesale demolition of homes and the building of bypass roads – allthese are meant to beat the Palestinian people into submission and to break their will toresist.
Sharon is now opening a second front. The million and a quarter Palestinians who are Israelicitizens were not directly involved up till now. A lot of declarations of support for theircompatriots beyond the Green Line, some humanitarian actions, here and there someindividuals who actively helped bombers. All in all, very little, under the circumstances.
Sharon is going to change that. The attack on the Islamic Movement is the beginning of aconcentrated onslaught that will drag the “Israeli Arabs” into the bloody fight. Breakingthe back of this population is aimed at driving the Palestinians deeper into despair. It is, ofcourse, convenient to start with the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement, because it isthe most distant from the Jewish public. It does not participate in the Knesset elections. Itis easy to create suspicion and to attack it. But let there no doubt: if this operationsucceeds, all the other sections of the Arab population, from Azmi Bishara to Hadash, willfollow. The recent attempt to get them out of the Knesset was just the beginning. After that, itmay be the turn of the Jewish peace forces which support the establishment of a viablePalestinian state in all the occupied territories.
Let there be no illusions: Sharon’s final goal is turning the whole country, from theMediterranean to the Jordan river, into an exclusively Jewish state. In this vision there isno place for Arabs, whether in the occupied territories or in Israel proper. Whoever opposesthis vision is an enemy (if an Arab) or a traitor (if a Jew).
Therefore, paradoxically, the struggle over Sheikh Ra’ed, the religious extremist, is alsoa battle for the future of Israel as a democratic, secular and liberal state.