Israel's answer to Uprising: 'Expel the Palestinians'

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A vital tool for anti-Zionist struggl SOCIALIST ACTION JULY 1988 13 An important story that went largely unnoticed was carried by The Washington Post on its front page on Feb. 7, 1988, under the headline "Expelling Palestinians: It Isn't a New Idea and It Isn't Just Kahane's."

Two Israeli journalists, Yossi Melman, diplomatic correspondent of the Israeli daily, Davar, and Dan Raviv, London-based CBS News correspondent, disclosed that barely two weeks after the end of the June 1967 war, secret Israeli cabinet meetings were convened to discuss the "resettlement of Arabs."

The information was obtained from private diaries kept by Ya'acov Herzog, director general of the Prime Minister's office. The official transcript of the meeting remains secret.

According to the Post article, Prime Minister Menachem Begin recommended the demolition of the refugee camps and the transfer of the Palestinians to the Sinai. Finance Minister Pinhas Sapir and Foreign Minister Abba Eban, both Labor Zionists, disagreed. They called for Since last Augi ist, the Syrian government has ordere ed the arrests of hundreds of left-wing oppositionists. The Hafez al-Assad regime has been working to create a climate of fear in the face of a steep drop in the standard of living.

The repression has been concentrated against the Communist Action Party (CAP), which has over 330 members and sympathizers in prison.

Several have been severely injured by the beatings and tortures inflicted by Syrian authorities.

These prisoners have not participated in any violence. They are in prison because of their ideas and their attempts to express their ideas in action.

The United Secretariat of the Fourth International has been participating in a solidarity campaign on behalf of the CAP prisoners and other left-wing victims of repression in Syria. Signatures-particularly from trade unions and political organizations and from the literary and academic world —are being gathered on a petition.

The petition demands an end to the torture, the immediate release of the prisoners, and public trials held in the presence of observers from international democratic organizations.

For copies of the petition or for more information, write to International Viewpoint, 2 rue Richard Lenoir, 93108 Montreuil, France. the transfer of all the refugees 01, neighboring Arab countries, mainly Syria and Iraq."

The 1967 cabinet meeting did not reach a decision.

"Sentiment seemed to favor Deputy Prime Minister Yigal Allon's proposal that the Palestinians ... should be transported to the Sinai desert," the Post article states. Accordingly, the Prime Minister's office, the Defense Ministry and the army jointly set up a "secret unit charged with 'encouraging' the departure of the Palestinians for foreign shores."

The secret plan was revealed by Ariel Sharon before a Tel Aviv audience in November 1987, when he disclosed the existence of an "organization" which for years had transferred Palestinians to other countries, including Paraguay, with whose government Israel had made the necessary arrangements.

These "transfers" were handled by the Israeli military governor's office in Gaza. When one of the transferees, Talal ibn-Dimassi, attacked the Israeli consulate in Asunción, Paraguay, killing the Consul's secretary, complications ensued:

"The attack in Paraguay put an abrupt end to the secret Israeli plan which the government had hoped would help solve the problem of the Palestinians by exporting them," the Post article states.

Over 1 million people were contemplated for "transfer." Only 1000 were successfully sent out.

Melman and Raviv emphasize that the relocation of Palestinians is not new "as the 1967 cabinet discussions show." They state that a similar scheme would be attractive to a growing number of Israelis "as they watch the recent uprising in the West Bank and Gaza."

An option long considered The authors acknowledge that the removal of the Palestinians has been the central focus of Zionist planning since the inception of the movement. They write:

"Since the early days of Zionism, resettlement has been an option for dealing with the problem posed by the large Arab population in the historical land of Israel."

Melman and Raviv recount a series of schemes which were designed to effect the removal of the Palestinian people. The East bank of the Jordan River [the state of Jordan] was contemplated, a scheme indicated in March 1988 in a full-page advertisement republishing a column by George Will which equates Jordan with Palestine.

Labor Zionists and Revisionists were united on the necessity to transfer the Palestinians elsewhere. Vladimir Jabotinsky spelled out the various efforts made since World War I in a letter written in November 1939:

"We should instruct American Jewry to mobilize a half billion dollars in order that Iraq and Saudi Arabia will absorb the Palestinian Arabs. There is no choice: The Arabs must make room for the Jews in Eretz Israel. If it was possible to transfer the Baltic peoples, it is also possible to move the Palestinian Arabs."

By 1947, Labor Zionists and Revisionists joined together in the mass expulsion of 800,000 Palestinians. In 1964, a young Israeli colonel named Ariel Sharon structed his staff to determine "the number of buses, vans and trucks required in case of war to transport... the Arabs out of northern Israel."

In 1967, Israeli military commanders began the process.

"One general sent bulldozers to demolish three Arab villages near Latrun on the road to Jerusalem, expelling their residents."

Such an expulsion order was issued for the West Bank city of Qalqilya and then cancelled.

Since the Uprising began in December 1987, Michael Dekel of the Likud has taken up the call "to transfer the Arabs," and Gideon Patt, a government minister from the Liberal Party, has declared that the Palestinians should be placed on trucks and sent to the border.

Melman and Raviv conclude with the following prognosis:

missiles from China intended to menace Iran. The Israeli declaration was taken very seriously by the Saudis, President Mubarak of Egypt and the Reagan administration, inducing a "flurry of diplomatic activity."

The March 23, 1988, New York Times reports:

"The Reagan administration has expressed its concern that Israel not conduct any pre-emptive attack on Chinesebuilt missiles purchased recently by Saudi Arabia. ... Israel has not given a definitive reply to the Administration's appeals to refrain from attacking the Saudi missiles. The missiles ... were discussed during Mr. Shamir's visit to Washington last week."

Within two days of Ben Aharon's statement, Hosni Mubarak warned Israel that Egypt "would react to an Israeli attack on Saudi Arabia's new medium-range missile sites as 'firmly and decisively' as if it were an attack on Egypt itself."

This statement was followed by Mubarak with a second declaration in what was described as "a deepening crisis."

"Mubarak told reporters that he took a 'grave' view of reports that Israel was considering a preemptive air strike to destroy the missiles. … "This is a grave, grave matter. An Israeli attack would blow up the entire peace process.

I warn against any attack on Saudi Arabia which is a sisterly and friendly country.""

These public responses by President Mubarak indicate that the possibility of an Israeli adventure, intended to provide cover for expulsion of the Palestinians and to fragment Saudi Arabia, the paymaster of the Arab regimes, is not an idle one.

The timing of The Washington Post story of Feb. 7, 1988, may be more than fortuitous. The Israeli authorities have no answer to the uprising of the Palestinian people other than intensified repression.

This pamphlet by Ralph Schoenman, former executive director of the Bertrand Russel Peace Foundation and author of the U.N. report 'Prisoners of Israel, discusses the origins and sordid history of Zionism.

With thorough documentation, it shatters the myths that color the consciousness of most people in this society about Zionism.

"The Hidden History of Zionism 104 pages. Price: $3.00. Send $1.00 for postage. Order today.

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