Israeli hawks control peace process
Details emerge of plans to `re-invade' Palestinian areas
By Dara MacNeil
Nine days before two suicide bombs exploded in a Jerusalem
market, killing 13 civilians, it was revealed that the Israeli
military had drawn up plans to invade the West Bank.
The `re-invasion' plans had matured to the point where Israeli
forces held a simulated `war-game' in which the object was to
re-take the chief population centres in the West Bank under
Palestinian control. The war games were held in June.
The planned re-invasion was said by the Israeli military to be
technically feasible, with a cost in lives they estimated to be
in the hundreds. The exercises were observed by what press
reports described as ``several leading politicians,'' including
aides to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
However, it was eventually concluded that the re-invasion plan
was not a realistic option but, according to the same reports,
the army is ominously said ``to be devising alternative strategies
for the eventuality of a full-scale Israeli-Palestinian
confrontation.''
The fact that Israel's military-political establishment was
thinking along these lines well before the 30 July explosions
serves as a chilling reminder of the level of commitment, in
senior Israeli circles, to the actual peace process. And the 30
July bombs - criminal acts which deliberately targetted innocent
civilians - will now be used by those same figures to provide
retrospective justification for their antipathy to a just
settlement with the Palestinians.
In the aftermath of the bombs Israel's Netanyahu predictably laid
the blame fully on the shoulders of Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat.
In addition, he revived the tried, trusted and very worn strategy
of criminalising the entire Palestinian nation.
Thus, Israel halted the monthly transfer to the Palestinian
Authority of some $40 million in tax revenue (money which belongs
to the Authority), and imposed a closure order on the West Bank
and Gaza Strip, while simultaneously blockading
Palestinian-controlled cities. Israel also jammed the Voice of
Palestine Radio and TV broadcasts.
The effect is to deprive the Authority of the funds it requires
to function on a daily basis, while preventing Palestinians from
getting to their jobs in Israel. Consequently, an already
impoverished region is further immiserated.
d should Israel contemplate taking further action, including a
military offensive of sorts, they will be assured of support from
people in high places. In the wake of the 30 July bombs
loudmouthed US politician, Newt Gingrich, inflamed an already
tense situation by calling for a military escalation by Israel.
On US TV, the armchair warmonger said Israel had every right to
``go after Hamas.'' He added that if this included ``raids into
Palestinian territory,'' or ``whatever steps have to be taken,''
then so be it.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives appears to enjoy
toying with the lives of others, from the comfort of Washington
of course.
d surprise surprise, it is now virtually certain that the two
suicide bombers who entered the Jerusalem market on 30 July did
not originate from any of the territory under Palestinian
Authority control, and may not even have been Palestinian.
Indeed, all the evidence now suggests that the suicide bombers
had arrived in Israel from abroad. Should their country of origin
be determined, what is the response of the Israeli authorities
and warmongers like Newt Gingrich likely to be?
Will financial penalties be imposed by Israel on another
sovereign country?
Will travel restrictions and blockades be announced? Will Israel
set about the jamming of that country's TV and radio
transmissions? Will the Israeli military stage simulated
invasions?
d will Newt Gingrich cheerfully propose ``raids'' into that
country's territory? Don't hold your breath.
More evidence of Mexican army's drugs links
In Mexico evidence of the links between drug barons and the
military continues to emerge. At the end of July an ex-beauty
queen was murdered by unknown gunmen in the northern Mexican town
of Guadalajara.
Forty four year old Irma Lizette Ibarra Naveja had been shot six
times. Prior to her murder, Ibarra had been named as a key
witness in an investigation into links between drug traffickers
and high-ranking members of the Mexican military. Ibarra, who had
occupied key positions in the regional structures of the ruling
Institutional Revolutionary Party, was known to be close to
General Vinicio Santoyo, the former commander of Mexico's
Military Zone 15. The General was known to be involved in the
drugs trade.
Before her murder, Ibarra had told journalists that she had been
followed for a number of days by men ``of military appearance.''
After her death, friends of Ibarra said she possessed information
detailing connections between drug dealers and senior military
commanders. It was also stated that Ibarra had information
linking the former head of the country's National Institute to
Combat Drugs, to the traffickers. Ibarra was the third witness in
this case to be murdered.
Third Havana bomb blamed on right wing exiles
More evidence has emerged of an escalation in the dirty war
against Cuba. On Monday 4 August, a bomb exploded in the lobby of
Havana's prestigious Melia Cohiba hotel.
The explosion was said to be small and to have caused only minor
damage to furnishings. It does not appear that any warning was
given. The explosion comes three weeks after similar bombs
exploded in the lobbies of two other prestigious Havana hotels,
the Capri and the Nacional. The latter was built and run by the
US Mafia, before the overthrow of the Batista regime necessitated
their hasty departure from Cuba. Three people were said to be
slightly wounded by the two previous bombs and, again, warnings
do not appear to have been given. The hotels in question play a
crucial role in Cuba's tourist economy, which has provided the
country with an important means of ameliorating at least some of
the effects of the US blockade of the island. Last year the
number of tourists visiting Cuba rose by 15.3% and the tourism
industry is Cuba's biggest earner of foreign capital. New hotels
are being built in the main tourist centres - last year an extra
2,500 beds were provided in new hotels. And given the importance
of the tourist industry, one wonders who stands to benefit should
the bombs force a decline in the number of overseas visitors to
the island?
Raul Castro, brother of Fidel and head of the Cuban Army, blamed
the attacks on right-wing Cuban exiles living in the United
States. He said the Cuban government had evidence that these
groups were involved in trying to sabotage the Cuban tourist
industry.
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