News from Israel/Palestine

by Polly Mann, WAMM

Penny Rosenwasser arrested in Jerusalem

At the opening of Israel's Maccabiah ("Jewish Olympics"), Penny Rosenwasser of the Middle East Children's Alliance (Berkeley, CA) joined with a contingent of Israeli women to confront Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as he arose to speak. The group held up signs reading "War Criminal" and "Stop Your Support for Ethnic Cleansing" as they chanted "Poshaya Milhama" (war criminal). Rosenwasser was among eight who were dragged away with considerable force by the security guards, arrested, and placed in confinement. (Rosenwasser is a frequent visitor to the Twin Cities. We received news of her arrest via an e-mail from Jerusalem.)

War Imminent in Israel/Palestine?

The following is an excerpt from an article written by Uzi Benziman that appeared in the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz (July 8, 2001):

"While the prime minister declares that war is not in the offing, his ministerial colleagues are deep in preparations. 'Preparing for war,' is the standard answer now in the corridors of power to the question, 'What's going on?' Ministers, senior officials and, of course, the top officials in the defense establishment and the IDF [Israeli Defense Forces] all say it. Given the current mood of the nation's stewards, the coming war is a matter of destiny, an inevitable development, whose outbreak depends only on the timing of the next terror attack, and the number of resulting casualties.

"The political lobby for bringing the violent conflict with the Palestinians to a military decision is well known; it is led by the settlers and their right-wing representatives in the government--not only Avigdor Lieberman, Rehavam Ze'evi, and Natan Sharansky, but also a large number of the Likud ministers. There's a clear majority among the decision makers now in favor of going to war . . .

"If Ariel Sharon moves the government to authorize war, he'll expose Israel to the dangers of regional and international complications. A full-scale war will result in international intervention that (in the best of circumstances) will require him to present far-reaching political proposals to neutralize the impression created by a military blow in Gaza and the West Bank. And if he tries to avoid that by ordering only a limited military operation, it won't do anything, or may exacerbate, the very circumstances that now create the conditions for a major war.

"Conclusion: As far as can already be seen, war--small, medium-sized or large--is not a solution to the current crisis."