We feel that it is urgent and necessary to raise the
alarm regarding what may come during and after evacuation of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip occupied by Israel in 1967,
in the event that the evacuation is implemented.
We held back on getting this statement published and circulated,
seeking additional feedback from our peers. The publication in Ha'aretz (22 June 2005) quoting statements by General (Reserves)
Eival Giladi, the head of the Coordination and Strategy team of the Prime Minister's Office, motivated us not to delay publication
and circulation any further. Confirming our worst fears, General (Res.) Eival Giladi went on record in print and on television
to the effect that "Israel will act in a very resolute manner in order to prevent terror attacks and [militant] fire while
the disengagement is being implemented" and that "If pinpoint response proves insufficient, we may have to use weaponry that
causes major collateral damage, including helicopters and planes, with mounting danger to surrounding people."
We believe that one primary, unstated motive for the determination
of the government of the State of Israel to get the Jewish settlers of the Qatif (Katif) settlement block out of the Gaza
Strip may be to keep them out of harm's way when the Israeli government and military possibly trigger an intensified mass
attack on the approximately one and a half million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, of whom about half are 1948 Palestine refugees.
The scenario could be similar to what has already happened
in the past - a tactic that Ariel Sharon has used many times in his military career - i.e., utilizing provocation in order
to launch massive attacks.
Following this pattern, we believe that Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon and Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz are considering to utilize provocation for vicious attacks in the near future on the
approximately one and a half million Palestinian inhabitants of the Gaza Strip: a possible combination of intensified state
terror and mass killing. The Israeli army is not likely to risk the kind of casualties to its soldiers that would be involved
in employing ground troops on a large scale in the Gaza Strip. With General Dan Halutz as Chief of Staff they don't need to.
It was General Dan Halutz, in his capacity as Commander of the Israeli Air Force, who authorized the bombing of a civilian
Gaza City quarter with a bomb weighing one ton, and then went on record as saying that he sleeps well and that the only thing
he feels when dropping a bomb is a slight bump of the aircraft.
The initiators of this alarm have been active for many decades
in the defence of human rights inside the State of Israel and beyond. We do not have the academic evidence to support our
feeling, but given past behavior, ideological leanings and current media spin initiated by the Israeli government and military,
we believe that the designs of the State of Israel are clear, and we submit that our educated intuition with matters pertaining
to the defence of human rights has been more often correct than otherwise.
We urge all those who share the concern above to add their
names to ours and urgently give this alarm as wide a circulation as possible.
Circulating and publishing this text may constitute a significant
factor in deterring the Israeli government, thus protecting the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip from this very possible
catastrophe and contributing to prevent yet more war crimes from occurring.
Please sign, circulate, and publish this alarm without delay!
Please send notification of your signature to Tamar Yaron tiyaron@hazorea.org.il
WE WOULD ALSO APPRECIATE RECEIVING NOTIFICATION IF THE ALARM
WAS PUBLISHED IN ANY MEDIA AND/OR IF IT WAS SENT TO A GROUP DISTRIBUTION LIST.
Uri Davis, Sakhnin, uridavis@actcom.co.il , Ilan Pappe, Tiv'on, pappe@poli.haifa.ac.il, and Tamar Yaron, Kibbutz Hazorea, tiyaron@hazorea.org.il
Source:
CounterPunch
Read also Israeli forces mass at Gaza border
