“Israel is going to occupy the Gaza Strip”
In proper Hebrew translation this means: “We decided to continue killing Arabs a long time ago, we just thought we would let you know now.”
By Tom Zandman • Translated by Sol Salbe
Oh my God. Shock.
It seems to me that we need to take a moment’s break to straighten up a few things:
The IDF has already delineated 88 per cent of the Gaza Strip as an extermination zone, and is bombing the remaining 12 to its heart’s content
The IDF has already established bases and infrastructure inside the Gaza Strip.
The IDF pays the West Bank [ideological] settlers to come and flatten the cities of the Gaza Strip home by home, with the declared intention of making sure that the Palestinians have nowhere to return.
The IDF decides how much, how and when all Palestinians in Gaza will eat (ie, not eat).
The Gaza Strip is already occupied. Okay, so they will physically enter the remaining 12 per cent and expand the mandate of the GHF to run the concentration camps, or something like that. Is this anything new to anyone? Haven’t government ministers been saying this for two years?
The policy on the ground has always, always, always precedes the official policy. Always. There’s no need for a cabinet decision nor is there a need for a command from the Chief of Staff in order to set the direction and start marching to hell. On the contrary: an official decision is often a good way to understand what has already been done.
So while we all sniggered at the inclusion of statements by [Heritage Minister] Amichai Eliyahu and [MK] Nissim Vaturi in the South African case in The Hague — because come on, as if they are the ones who ultimately make the decisions — it turns out that Israel’s actual policy was exactly what Israel’s official representatives said Israel’s actual policy would be. As I said: shock.
And Israel is in turmoil: But what about our captives? (They will die, because the policy was and remains to kill them.)
Will the Chief-of-Staff resign? (Who cares? The potential replacement is already in place.)
Where will they get all the soldiers who will control the territory? (From among us. Because the haredim will not be conscripted, and, unlike them, we do what we are told.)
How much will it cost us? (Everything.)
And while we are discussing the pros and cons of occupying the Strip, is it practical, how will we finance it, how many reserves service days each person will be required to do, security arguments this way and that way, does it advance or hinder a deal to free the captives? And while the extreme right will continue to do what it always does — which is exactly what it said it would do: occupation-deportation-settlement; who will no one talk about?
The thousands who will be killed along the way. Because “occupying the Strip” is, as usual, the whitewash term for the extermination and expulsion of Palestinians, as if there are two armies here fighting for control of the territory and not a meat mincer crawling up and down the Strip and grinding up people. “Israel is going to occupy the Strip” in proper Hebrew translation is “We decided to continue killing Arabs a long time ago, we just thought we would let you know now.”
