The Yoke of Zion:
World’s Patience May Come to End |
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| Arab News |
| Monday, August 7, 2006 |
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israel
shamir |
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Thermopylae, move over, Bint Jbeil is coming in! Bishop Philip of Antioch compared the leveling of this small Lebanese town with the destruction of Stalingrad, but these cities are also comparable by courage of their defenders.
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A small band of determined warriors takes on and fights off the mightiest army of the region — this is the stuff history is made of. Thermopylae, move over, Bint Jbeil is coming in! Bishop Philip of Antioch compared the leveling of this small Lebanese town with the destruction of Stalingrad, but these cities are also comparable by courage of their defenders. Seldom is a generation able to witness such a shining example of valor: For three long weeks a handful of Hezbollah warriors — two thousand by the most optimistic count — fought to standstill ten, twenty, thirty times more numerous Israeli troops. Forty years ago, Israelis defeated three armies in one week, but now the invader’s charm has worn off, or it has passed over to the vanquished.
The
ruins of the market in Bint Jbeil |
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Qana massacre has overshadowed a greater going-on, and that is the steadfast resistance of the Lebanese fighters.
Why this war? Leave small details to a future Plutarch; this is another round of battle for Palestine. Supported and supplied by their captive empire, the US, the Jews had all the weapons, all the ammunition, all the diplomatic support, when hubris-drunk they drove into disarmed and starved Gaza to kill off its last resisters and impose the yoke of Zion. Their invasion was prepared by a yearlong siege and incessant shelling; they were cock sure they could devour Gaza at will. And indeed, everyone kept mum. The Jews felt secure as they stooped to finish off Gaza: Who would disturb the lion of Judah roaring at his prey? And a tiny force from the Mount Lebanon said: We will. The Israeli Army roused from its prey turned north and lashed with all its might at the Hezbollah fighters. But they stood fast.
This was most unexpected. The Israelis were used to killing — or dispersing — weaponless untrained Palestinians. Instead, the fighters of Nasrallah dug their heels into the bare hills of Bint Jbeil and gave battle. If they were destroyed quickly, Israeli generals would lead their victorious troops to Damascus and Tehran before turning back and despoiling Palestine of its priceless jewel, Haram Al-Sharif. It still could happen, but the chances were diminished by the steadfastness of Hezbollah.
More importantly, Hezbollah refused to cease fire as long as Israel occupies the land of Lebanon. This daring step undermined the whole strategy of Zionists. They planned to occupy the south and wait there until an international (or NATO) force entered to do their job for them. Hezbollah’s decision lacks one detail: Any cease-fire must extend to Palestine, as well. It is inconceivable that Lebanon will lay down its arms, while Gaza is besieged and Nablus ravished.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said: “We have changed the Middle East”. I do not know whether all the Middle East has changed, but in Israel we witness a great change. Until now, only a few just men and women of Israel called their government to desist in their aggression against Gaza and Lebanon. But the Katyusha rain changed minds of many. Early complaints about the army’s failure to deliver have given place to critique of the policy itself. They have begun to understand that time is not on their side.
Neil MacFarquhar reports in the NYT (July 28): “...with hundreds of Lebanese dead and Hezbollah holding out against the vaunted Israeli military for more than two weeks, the tide of public opinion across the Arab world is surging behind the organization, transforming the Shiite group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, into a folk hero and forcing a change in official statements. “
The report sees the popular opinion, “the Arab street” as the vehicle for change; but the change can come from above, too. The cruel bombardment of Beirut and of all Lebanon was supposed to frighten the Arab nations into obedience; instead, it convinced the rich and powerful Arabs that as long as the Jews run the writ in the Middle East, their own riches and power can be taken from them anytime by will of a Jewish general.
Beirut was peaceful, Beirut agreed to expel Syrians, Beirut was the capital of the most pro-Western state, and yet it did not save the city from Jewish — not even vengeance for there was nothing to avenge — but arbitrary heavy-handedness. The Arabs in power ask, whether the Jewish state can be a peaceful neighbor at all, or whether (as the Iranian President Ahmadinejad says) it is bellicose by its nature and must be dealt with as the Crusader Kingdom once was.
Indeed, the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem existed longer than the Jewish state, and probably would have lasted for centuries, but for its innate aggressiveness and its preparedness to serve as bridgehead for European invasions.
In our time the US pays heavily for Israel’s wars. A poor American may hate to think about the fact that while he has no medical insurance, his government has to pay tribute to rich Israel. The average American filling his average car may dislike paying for support of the Jewish state since before the neocons got into power in the administration, gas was much, much cheaper. A wealthy and worldly American may feel vexed that he is not welcome wherever he goes — from Paris to Istanbul — as he was before the yoke of Zion.
An American politician, maybe even an American president may get tired by the Jewish lobby’s endless need to demand sympathy or to protest an outrage; by necessity to watch out, by ideological censorship and party discipline, by their blackmailing habits, by their fat pockets and grip on media, by the Damocles Sword they hanged above his head.
Even a Jew in the US or Europe may give a thought as to whether he wishes to be a secret weapon of Israel in the words of Prime Minister Olmert who said: “Arab weapons, even when they hurt us, are nothing like the powerful, secret weapon we possess: The Jewish people... across the world, and the special feeling of love and mutual commitment that prevails between all Jews, regardless of where they are”.
Israelis, i.e. dwellers of Palestine who consider themselves Jewish, may also contemplate whether they want to fight and support the ideological yoke of Zion which brings them only hatred outside and poverty within. Even Germans may one day kick their masochist habit of endless repentance.
— Israel Shamir is a leading Russian-Israeli intellectual, writer, translator and journalist. Shamir (50) lives in Jaffa.
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