Ariel Sharon asssinara o fechamento da colônia Gush Katif no dia 13 de julho de 2005.
Os residentes desta e das demais invasões civis israelenses na Faixa de Gaza haviam tido semanas para evacuá-las mediante vantajosa compensação financeira para saírem do território alheio.
Os que se recusaram a mudar para fora da Faixa, seriam evacuados na marra pelos soldados da IDF e sob os olhares da mídia internacional devidamente ciceroneada por funcionários do Ministério de Comunicação israelense como se estivessem em excursão.
À meia-noite do dia 14 para o dia 15 de agosto o Kissufim crossing - barreira fronteiriça entre Israel e a Faixa de Gaza - foi fechado e a entrada de israelenses na Faixa foi proibida. A Magav, polícia de fronteira, ficou encarregada de controlar as entradas e saídas de seus compatriotas.
Ariel Sharon autorizou mai dois dias aos colonos que pediram extensão de prazo e a Câmara de vereadores de Gush Katif ameaçou declarar independência unilateral e reinar suprema sobre a Faixa. O que, considerando seu tamanho e armas que não faltariam, poderia ser plausível.
No dia 14 o extremista Aryeh Yitzhaki já proclamara a tal independência fictícia da colônia Shirat Hayam, chamando-a de "The Independent Jewish Authority in Gaza Beach". O delírio chegou ao extremo de submeterem a proposta à Cruz Vermelha e às Nações Unidas.
No dia 15 um comboio da IDF sob as ordens do general Dan Harel entrou na invasão Neve Dekalim e começou a evacuar os recalcitrantes para demonstrar que ia cumprir as ordens.
A maioria foi embora pacificamente, mas alguns espernearam e foram carregados junto com os "mistannim" (extremistas infiltrados) até os veículos de mudança.
Assim começou a evacuação das vinte e uma invasões judias distruídas em seis conglomerados que ocupaam 20% da Faixa. 14.000 soldados foram mobilizados para a operação e alguns deles, poucos, esqueceram a que tinham ido e se juntaram aos judeus ortodoxos que oravam em uma alta ladainha.
Assim começou a evacuação das vinte e uma invasões judias distruídas em seis conglomerados que ocupaam 20% da Faixa. 14.000 soldados foram mobilizados para a operação e alguns deles, poucos, esqueceram a que tinham ido e se juntaram aos judeus ortodoxos que oravam em uma alta ladainha.
Muitos colonos incendiaram suas moradias para não deixar aos gazauís nada aproveitável, outros jogaram ácido na terra para torná-la árida, e outros se engajaram em uma sucessão de atos extremos de bloquear estradas, incendiar objetos, lavouras, propriedades, e incitar os soldados a tomar sua defesa.
No checkpoint Neve Dekalm, um grupo de 15 judeus ortodoxos estadunidenses, que haviam feito a viagem para criar o máximo de confusão que pudessem, se fecharam em um porão e ameaçaram incendiar-se.
Depois foi a vez de Kfar Darom. Lá, invasores e outros mistannim cercaram a área com arame farpado, e enquanto isso, cerca de trezentas pessoas se trancaram na sinagoga local, no telhado da qual outros subiram e começaram a xingar os residentes que saíam pacificamente e os soldados que os acompanhavam.
No dia 17 a invasão de Morag foi evacuada por duzentos soldados.
No dia 18, após uma escaramuça com mistannim, soldados da IDF e policiais conseguiram evacuar Shirat HaYam com difculdade. Jovens colonos cercavam o caminho com obstáculos que queimavam - pneus, lixeiras, e outos objetos transportáveis - outros subiam nos telhados, de onde jogavam objetos e ofensas nos soldados.
O tal Aryeh Yitzhaki que proclamara a independência de sua colônia, pegou seu fuzil de assalto M16 e fincou pé no seu domicílio enquanto vizinhos se trancavam na sinagoga local.
Snipers da IDF, acostumados ao tiro ao alvo, tiveram de ser posicionados em uma medida intimidativa, pois Yitzhaki começou a atirar.
Mulheres deitavam no chão agarradas aos filhos, outras tentavam sensibilizar os soldados se servindo dos filhos menores, velhos gritavam, jovens esbravejavam obcenidades, e alguns pais pregaram estrelas de David na roupa dos filhos ao evacuar as casas, se fazendo de vítimas, embora soubessem perfeitamente que quem estava com estrela invisível desde 1948 eram os palestinos.
A colônia de Netzarim foi evacuada no dia 22 de agosto.
A equipe de demolição, acostumada a demolir as casas dos palestinos demoliu rapidinho as 2.530 residências dos colonos. Em um dia. Como fazem na Cisjordânia e em Rafah.
As construções que podiam ser aproveitadas foram transportadas inteiras para Israel, como algumas sinagogas.
As construções que podiam ser aproveitadas foram transportadas inteiras para Israel, como algumas sinagogas.
No dia 28 começou o desmantelamento do cemitério de Gush Katif e o transporte para Israel dos 48 caixões, enrolados na bandeira nacional como os heróis, para o cemitério da escolha da família.
O Disengagement Plan foi completado no dia 01° de setembro de 2005.
"I am pleased to celebrate with you today the laying of the cornerstone for
the new settlement of Nurit [on Mount Gilboa]...
On the eve of disengagement - which was a very difficult plan and a very
difficult thing - and during the difficult days of the evacuation - we
repeatedly heard claims that leaving Gaza meant an end to the settlement
enterprise, and some added that it meant the end of Zionism, etc. These were
claims meant to imbue despair and loss of hope. These were false claims, and we
will prove it - not through words, slogans or intimidation - but through action.
Action and facts will prove that our leaving Gaza will ensure the future of
Zionism.
We are leaving the Gaza Strip when it is clear to everyone that it will not
be a part of the State of Israel in the future, so that we can ensure those
areas which have a greater strategic importance for us. The significance of the
Disengagement Plan is not only the evacuation of the Gaza Strip - it is also an
increased effort to develop the Negev, the Galilee and greater Jerusalem.
The Government of Israel, which I head, considers developing the Negev, the
Galilee and greater Jerusalem a primary national mission - and views settlement
as the number-one tool for doing so. We are currently in the process of
establishing five more communities. Since I intend to promote settlement for
many more years, I can promise you, we will not quit.
The momentum of construction and strengthening the communities in the Galilee
and the Negev is just beginning. Nurit is just the beginning. There will be many
more Nurits [Hebrew for buttercup] blossoming in the Negev..."
Ariel Sharon, 29/08/2005
Mesmo aumentando desavergonhadamente as colônias na Cisjordânia, Ariel Sharon ousou voltar a tirar sua pele de lobo predador e vestir pele de carneiro, esquecer o algoz que era e voltar ao papel de vítima eterna na Assembleia Geral das Nações Unidas, no dia 15 de setembro de 2005.
Após apresentar suas "sinceras" condolências às familias estadunidenses atingidas pelo furação Katrina, disse "I stand before you at the gate of nations as a Jew and as a citizen of the
democratic, free, and sovereign State of Israel, a proud representative of an
ancient people, whose numbers are few, but whose contribution to civilization
and to the values of ethics, justice, and faith, surrounds the world and
encompasses history. The Jewish people has a long memory, the memory which
united the exiles of Israel for thousands of years: a memory which has its
origin in God’s commandment to our forefather Abraham: “Go forth!” and continued
with the receiving of the Torah at the foot of Mount Sinai and the wanderings of
the children of Israel in the desert, led by Moses on their journey to the
promised land, the Land of Israel."
Depois reescreveu a História e continuou,
"I say these things to you because they are the essence of my Jewish
consciousness, and of my belief in the eternal and unimpeachable right of the
people of Israel to the Land of Israel. However, I say this here also to
emphasize the immensity of the pain I feel deep in my heart at the recognition
that we have to make concessions for the sake of peace between us and our
Palestinian neighbors.
The right of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel does not mean
disregarding the rights of others in the land. The Palestinians will always be
our neighbors. We respect them, and have no aspirations to rule over them.
They are also entitled to freedom and to a national, sovereign existence in a
state of their own.
This week, the last Israeli soldier left the Gaza Strip, and military law
there was ended. The State of Israel proved that it is ready to make painful
concessions in order to resolve the conflict with the Palestinians. The
decision to disengage was very difficult for me, and involves a heavy personal
price. However, it is the absolute recognition that it is the right path for
the future of Israel that guided me. Israeli society is undergoing a difficult
crisis as a result of the Disengagement, and now needs to heal the rifts.
Now it is the Palestinians’ turn to prove their desire for peace. The end of
Israeli control over and responsibility for the Gaza Strip allows the
Palestinians, if they so wish, to develop their economy and build a
peace-seeking society, which is developed, free, law-abiding, and transparent,
and which adheres to democratic principles. The most important test the
Palestinian leadership will face is in fulfilling their commitment to put an end
to terrorism and its infrastructures, eliminate the anarchic regime of armed
gangs, and cease the incitement and indoctrination of hatred towards Israel and
the Jews.
Until they do so - Israel will know how to defend itself from the horrors of
terrorism. This is why we built the security fence, and we will continue to
build it until it is completed, as would any other country defending its
citizens. The security fence prevents terrorists and murderers from arriving in
city centers on a daily basis and targeting citizens on their way to work,
children on their way to school, and families sitting together in restaurants.
This fence is vitally indispensable. This fence saves lives!"...
...Peace is a supreme value in the Jewish legacy, and is the desired goal of our
policy. After the long journey of wanderings and the hardships of the Jewish
people; after the Holocaust which obliterated one third of our people; after the
long and arduous struggle for revival; after more than 57 consecutive years of
war and terrorism which did not stop the development of the State of Israel;
after all this - our heart’s desire was and remains to achieve peace with our
neighbors. Our desire for peace is strong enough to ensure that we will achieve
it, only if our neighbors are genuine partners in this longed-for goal. If we
succeed in working together, we can transform our plot of land, which is dear to
both peoples, from a land of contention to a land of peace – for our children
and grandchildren."
A hipocrisia da conversa fiada, da vitimização, de deturpar a história, de chamar o resistente oprimido de terrorista e o ocupante belicoso e expansionista de pacifista, deixou um gosto amargo nos palestinos e nos membros da ONU que conheciam o que o discurso escondia. Mas fazia parte da estratégia israelense que há anos dava frutos. A estratégia de fabricar uma verdade inacreditável e fazer dela um fato apesar de todas as provas concretas provarem o contrario.
Era a aplicação da dialética ao extremo da malevolência.
Pois de fato, além das desapropriações forçadas de casas, terras e cidadezinhas na Cisjordânia continuarem a toque de caixa, o "Disengament Plan" exluía a presença militar israelense no chamado Philadelphia corridor, entre a Faixa de Gaza e o Egito", e constava no protocolo que "Israel retains the right to expand the area in which military operations are conducted."
Os outros parágrafos menos noticiados foram os seguintes, no tocante à Faixa de Gaza: "Israel will exclusively control the airspace of the Gaza Strip, and will continue to carry out military operations in the sea; The Gaza Strip will be demilitarised of weapons whose existence are not in accordance with existing agreements between the two sides; Israel will consider maintaining the status quo of the Erez Industrial Zone, on condition of suitable security arrangements and a clear recognition by the international community that the continuing operation of the industrial zone will not be viewed as a continuation of Israeli control of the area; Alternatively, the industrial zone will be handed over to the responsibility of agreed upon Palestinian or international authorities; Israel will consider, together with Egypt, the possibility of establishing a joint industrial zone on the border of the Gaza Strip, Egypt and Israel".
No tocante à Cisjordânia, o parágrafo que a condenava era: Israel will continue building the West Bank barrier; Israeli military activity will continue in the areas of the West Bank where Israel retains a presence. If circumstances allow, Israel will consider reducing its activity in Palestinian cities; Israel will aim to maintain the assets of Israeli settlements; Israel retains the right to ask for compensation to the value of all the economic assets that remain in areas from which it withdraws." Como se a simples exploração gratuita da terra durante anos não bastassem.
E para deixar claro que Israel não se submete às mesmas regra que os demais países das Nações Unidas que invadem outro, ocupam e oprimem, disse, "Israel insists there will be no foreign military presence in the Gaza Strip and/or the West Bank, without co-ordination and without Israeli agreement; Israel retains the basic right to self-defence, including pre-emptive steps and response, with the use of force, against threats emanating from the Gaza Strip and evacuated areas of the West Bank."
Pronto, a cama estava pronta para a colonização acelerada da Cisjordânia e o bombardeio da Faixa de Gaza que seria peparado durante dois anos sigilosamente para pegar os ocidentais de surpresa durante as festas cristãs de fim de ano.
Mas esta história é para 2008. Antes disso, muita água vai rolar debaixo da ponte - ponte de uso restrito aos colonos, é claro.
No dia 01 de setembro a IDF também já tinha evacuado 95% de suas forças armadas da Faixa de Gaza, e prometeu evacuaço total no dia 12 depenendo de aprovação do governo.
No dia 11 o governo israelense decidiu deixar as sinagogas que não podiam ser transportadas, em vez de demoli-las como as demais construções.
A Autoridade Palestina reclamou da provocação final, em vão. As sinagogas ficaram nas invasões, altivas, para demonstrar que os invasores civis iam-se mas que Israel mantinha o domínio.
Foi a IDF virar as costas e os gazauís queimaram todas, como Sharon esperava. E os jornais "lamentaram a barbaridade contra um edifício religioso".
(Na Cisjordânia, a IDF e os colonos depredam igrejas e mesquitas sem serem repreendidos e sem nenhum problema de consciência.)
Fazia parte do acordo que as lavouras fossem deixadas intactas. Não por generosidade ou pagamento de arrendamento jamais quitado, e sim porque as lavouras haviam sido compradas pela Economic Cooperation Foundation, ONG fundada por Yair Hirschfeld na década de 90 com o propósito de criar um sistema de cooperação e diálogo entre Israel e os países árabes.
Porém, a maioria das hortas e pomares foram destruídos pelos colonos. As que ficaram são tocadas por camponeses gazauís que eram empregados lá.
A ideia era proporcionar aos palestinos meios de subsistência e fonte de renda com produtos exportáveis. Ideia teoricamente boa. Na prática, faltam sementes e todo o comércio internacional palestino é feito através de Israel que tem de aprovar a saída dos produtos. O processo é interminável e os produtos acabam perecendo nos armazéns, embora tenham compradores assegurados.
Na Cisjordânia, a evacuação das quatro colônias terminou no dia 22. Os residentes de Ganim e Kadim, na maioria de classe média e laicos, aceitaram a indenização e se mudaram sem criar caso.
Em Sa-Nur e Homesh, algumas familias e cerca de dois mil mistannim fizeram tudo para evitar o evacuamento, mas acabaram cedendo. As 270 casas foram demolidas, e em Sa Nur a sinagoga foi deixada. Só que desta vez a soterraram. A provocação da Faixa de Gaza fora mal vista e bastara.
Como compensação por serviços prestados invadindo terra alheia, todos os colonos da Cisjordânia e da Faixa de Gaza com mais de 18 anos que tivessem vivido em uma das invasões por mais de dois anos foram indenizados.
As casas foram compensadas por metros quadrados e as terras foram pagas US$50.000 por dunam (medida otomana usada em muitos países do Oriente, em Israel e na Palestina corresponde a 1.000 m²). E aos fazendeiros foi oferecido terra cultivável em outro lugar.
Os colonos que aceitassem a mudança para o Negev e para a Galileia recebiam gratificação substancial.
Pessoas de 50 a 55 anos na ativa receberam anos de salário desemprego, e os de mais de 55 tiveram direito a pensão até os 67.
Foi criada uma categoria especial para os colonos da msma comunidade que mudavam em massa. Estes beneficiariam de propriedades vizinhas.
O Knesset autorizou o gasto de US$3.8 com os colonos, que foram temporariamente instalados em hoteis ou caravanas até a moradia definitiva. Os com bom senso, se instalaram em Israel. Os extremistas, foram engrossar os grupos e colonos para-militares na Cisjordânia.
Na Faixa de Gaza, os gazauís celebraram a partida dos invasores civis como se estivessem realmente livres.
Não tardavam por esperar.
Uri Avnery, 18/06/2005: The experience was almost surrealistic: I was in a hall in the centre of Gaza, facing some 500 people, all of them bearded men, nearly all of them Hamas militants.
The Hamas movement officially opposes the very existence of the State of Israel, and here I stand on the podium speaking in Hebrew about peace between Israel and the future State of Palestine.
Did they protest? On the contrary, they applauded, and after the event I was invited to lunch with the respected sheikhs.
That was in 1994, and perhaps the background requires some explanation: a year before, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin decided to expel from the country 415 Islamic activists. The Chief-of-Staff, Ehud Barak, testified in court that this measure was absolutely essential for the security of the state. The Supreme Court confirmed the expulsion.
The activists were taken by bus to the northern border, but the Beirut government did not allow them to be deported into Lebanon. For a whole year, the expellees vegetated in tents in an open field between the two armies, exposed to the rain and the cold in winter and to the burning sun in summer, until they were finally allowed to return.
I considered the expulsion a grievous violation of human rights, as well as politically foolish. So I proposed, in a "Peace Now" meeting, the setting up of a protest tent in front of the Prime Minister's office. The leaders of Peace Now did not agree with protesting against an act of the Labor Party leader. But some other peace activists combined to set up the tent, together with leaders of the Arab community in Israel, both religious and secular.
We spent 45 days and nights together. Some days, snow was falling and the cold was bitter. Bedouins from the Negev and activists from Arab villages brought us food and coal-burners, women-activists from Jerusalem brought us a large kettle of warm soup every evening. Owing to our profound disappointment with Peace Now we decided there and then to found a new peace movement. That's how Gush Shalom came into being.
I was curious how the Islamic militants would behave towards us upon their return. I was very pleased when they decided to express their gratitude publicly: together with my friends, the tent dwellers, I was invited to that event in Gaza. There I met several of the people who are now leading Hamas, after the assassinations of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who was in prison at the time, and Abd-al-Aziz al-Rantisi, who was one of the expellees.
I remembered this experience when I heard that at tomorrow's meeting with Condoleezza Rice, Ariel Sharon will demand that the Americans refuse all contact with Hamas representatives who are running for office in the coming Palestinian elections. Official spokesmen also expressed their anger at the decision of the EU to allow diplomats "beneath the rank of ambassador" to meet with them.
Sharon now demands the exclusion of Hamas from the elections, as long as they do not officially recognize the State of Israel and abjure terrorism. More than that: he has already declared that there will be no peace negotiations until the Palestinian Authority destroys the "terror infrastructure" (meaning: Hamas) and disarms it.
That, too, reminds one of something. For years, successive Israeli governments had demanded that all the world boycott the PLO, until it abolishes the "Palestinian National Charter". This document, dating from the 60s, called for the dismantling of the State of Israel. Later, the PLO adopted many new resolutions that negated the Charter and recognized Israel. In the 1993 Oslo agreement Yasser Arafat gave up 78% of the country of Palestine that existed until 1948. But nothing helped. For many years, Israeli propaganda was riding on the miserable Charter in order to justify an extreme anti-Palestinian policy, until the Palestinians - much to the chagrin of many Israelis - abolished it altogether.
That created a vacuum. Sharon is now using Hamas to fill it.
One of the more colorful idioms of the English language is "red herring". That is a smoked herring (the red color is imparted to it in the process of smoke-curing) that has a strong smell. A person being chased by dogs draws it across his path in order to distract the animals so they lose the trail.
Much as his predecessors used the PLO Charter, Sharon is now using Hamas to distract attention from his promise to immediately dismantle the settlement "outposts", freeze the settlements and start political negotiations with the Palestinians. He draws the herring across the Road Map.
As for the matter itself: Is the participation of Hamas in the elections a good or a bad thing, as far as Israeli interests are concerned?
I say that it's a good thing.
Some 30 years ago, I called for negotiations with the PLO, which was then considered a terror-gang and a bunch of murderers. At the time we coined the phrase: "Peace is made between enemies". Today that applies to Hamas, too. There is no doubt that Hamas is about to win a significant share of the vote in the parliamentary election, after it achieved excellent results in the recent municipal elections. It does not get these votes because it refuses to recognize Israel. Rather, there are two main reasons for its success: the prestige it has acquired for valiantly fighting against the Israeli occupation and its being untouched by the corruption that marks some of the other personalities and factions.
The Palestinians consider the violence, which is usually referred to in Israel as "terrorism", to be legitimate resistance. They believe that Israel would not have decided to leave the Gaza Strip if not for the armed struggle, since Israel, according to their belief and experience, "understands only the language of force". Until now, no one can point to a single achievement of the Palestinians that was attained by any other means.
It is an irony of fate (or a triumph of folly) that Hamas was created, in fact, with the help of Israel itself.
Much as the Americans created the al-Qaeda of Osama bin-Laden in order to fight against the Soviet army in Afghanistan, Israel supported the Islamic movement in the occupied territories as a counterweight to the PLO.
The assumption was that pious Muslims would spend their time praying in the mosques and would not support the secular PLO, which was then considered the arch-enemy.
But when the first intifada broke out at the end of 1987, the Islamists organized as Hamas (the Arabic initials of "Islamic Resistance Movement") and quickly became the most efficient underground fighting organization. However, the Security Service started to act against them only after a whole year of the intifada had passed.
Now the existence of Hamas is an accomplished fact. It has deep roots in the community, also because of its widespread social services which were initially financed by the Saudis and others.
Historical experience shows that such movements tend to become more moderate as they are integrated in the political system. A movement that has ministers in the cabinet, a faction in Parliament and mayors in towns and villages, acquires an interest in stability. True, in the beginning it may cause a radicalization of the style of the Palestinian National Authority, but in the long run it will make the achievement of a settlement much easier.
If one wants a real peace that will be accepted by the whole Palestinian public, one should bless the integration of Hamas in the Palestinian political system. But if one wants to obstruct peace in order to annex most of the West Bank to Israel and preserve the settlements, it is logical that one opposes it - as Sharon does.
Reservistas da IDF, forças israelenses de ocupação,
Shovrim Shtika - Breaking the Silence (22')
When you say harassment, what do you mean?
Puncturing tires, requiring people to undress for no reason, things like that. Once he wanted to impress the soldiers who were with him on the jeep, so he caught some chicks grazing out there and used them for a shooting range. I mean, yes, it's just chickens, but I know that for whoever makes his living from his little home chicken-coop this might be quite significant.
You say these things were investigated, looked into?
Yes, in fact.
You were not there, you heard about it.
I was not there in person.
We would go out on so-called "curfew-imposing missions". We would go out, impose a curfew.
What does that mean?
Say, we would replace Border-Police Sivan, whose job it was. Sometimes we would do it, go out in a jeep and impose curfew. We would throw a smoke-grenade into every open shop door. That's just what we did. Sometimes a shock-grenade. If we saw anybody in the street , we would fling at him some . . . This was for fun. Fling, hoopla, fling at him.
Target-shooting.
Yeah, like target-shooting.
