As this issue was in the last stage of being prepared for print, Prime Minister Sharon has ordered the Attorney General to probe the possibility of opening legal proceedings against Gush Shalom.
The reason: Gush Shalom sent letters to military officers warning them that some of their acts might constitute violations of international law.
The letters which had been sent more than half a year ago were now taken up. This may indicate a decision to look for left-wing scapegoats for the governments failure to "root out terrorism". As is more and more mentioned in the media: never before in Israel's history have there been so many terrorist attacks as in the period of the Sharon government.
In the course of the military operations against the Palestinian population commanders of the units involved regularly gave extensive interviews to the media, in which they admitted - indeed, often boasted of their acts which seemed not always to be legal.
"We have entered Tamoun in order to catch terrorists. The terrorists managed to escape before our arrival, but we are going to give the townspeople hell, to teach them not to harbour terrorists" said a colonel on Israeli radio on the morning of February 10. Gush Shalom sent him a letter, pointing out that collective punishment is a violation of the Geneva Conventions, and citing reports that twenty inhabitants of Tamoun (a town northeast of Nablus) had been wounded by soldiers under his command, among them the 70-year old imam of the local mosque. The colonel was warned that the evidence might in the future be presented to an Israeli or international court empowered to deal with war crimes and violations of international law.
Other cases followed, involving officers who had arrested the brothers of "wanted terrorists" in order to make the fugitives give themselves up, which amounts to taking hostages, and to those involved in the demolition of Palestinian homes. Of all letters, copies were sent to the military prosecution and the army high command, as well as to the press — which at the time showed very little interest. The officers addressed never answered directly — but suddenly the army issued a new directive, forbidding soldiers and officers to give their full names when interviewed by the media. The reason explicitly given was "to prevent the possibility of their being prosecuted at the Hague War Crimes Tribunal."
Press reports told of senior officers feeling apprehensive about going abroad. Suddenly, on the morning of August 4, Ha'aretz published prominently on its front page an article written by its military correspondent Amos Har'el, with the title "Gush Shalom sent letters to officers, threatens to give information to international court". The article also quoted Adam Keller, in his role as Gush Shalom Spokesperson — but much of the terminology and presentation were slanted so as to create hostility, for example using the term "threatening letters." It was, also, a particularly violent and bloody day, with a major suicide bombing in the morning and several additional lethal attacks by Palestinians later in the day.
At that day's cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Sharon fulminated at length against Gush Shalom and instructed Attorney-General Rubinstein to look into ways of prosecuting the movement's activists. Several other ministers who spoke used the explicit word "treason", and so did nationalist Knesset Members and columnists who soon joined the choir.
Even Meretz Knesset Members, and the editorial writers of the liberal Ha'aretz, felt the need to condemn and distance themselves — though KM Mossi Raz did add "I think Gush Shalom is wrong about this, but I see nothing illegal in what they did." Meanwhile, dozens of obscene and threatening phone calls started arriving at the Gush Shalom office and private phones of several well-known activists — but there were also many moving calls of people expressing support and appreciation. Messages of solidarity came in from inside and outside the country, from individuals and from fellow peace groups — Yesh Gvul, The Public Committee Against Torture, Machsom Watch, Women's Peace Coalition, The Committee Against House Demolitions, and the American Jewish Not in My Name; hundreds of you, the TOI readers, sent messages of protest to the PM and the Attorney-General.
Others took their own initiatives: Haim and Rivka Gordon, lecturers at Be'er Shaba University, sent a letter to the new Army Chief Of Staff Ya'alon, warning that they would monitor his activities and pass the information to the Hague Court.
Meanwhile, there were a lot of calls from Israeli and foreign journalists seeking interviews, and the producers of radio and TV talks shows asking for the participation of a Gush Shalom representative. An unusual experience: in the past year, peace groups found it increasingly difficult to get any airing for their views and reports on their activity into the Israeli media.
Though in most cases the interviewers were quite hostile and also in talk shows the Gush Shalom representative was sometimes confronted with outright hostility, it gives Gush Shalom also an opportunity to convey its message to a much larger audience.
— 'How dare you criticize our brave soldiers and officers? Don't you realize they are the only thing standing between you and the terrorist threat?'
— 'When they break international law and trample on human rights, they increase terrorism, not stop it. Look at the bombing in Gaza, the dead children, and what horrors it brought upon us.'
— 'And would you really inform upon a fellow Israeli, a fellow Jew, to a foreign court? Are you that depraved?'
— 'I would much rather prefer an Israeli court to deal with these cases, but it is not always possible. Look how the Supreme Court approved the destruction of houses, which is against the Geneva Convention.'
— 'So if our courts don't fit you, you really would set foreign judges upon a brother Jew? That is disgusting!
— 'If your brother was about to murder somebody, would you call the police? And if by threatening to go to the police you could prevent him from doing it?
According to press reports, the Attorney-General already months ago got the Gush Shalom letters from the army, and reportedly "greatly disliked them, but found nothing illegal." Justice Ministry officials were quoted as doubting that the special probe ordered by Sharon will yield any different result. It may be that the purpose was mainly a public smear campaign, but still, Gush Shalom has to be prepared also for the possibility of a fierce legal battle.
For that, it can use all the support it can get — and not least contributions to help defray expenses.
Letters of protest to: PM Ariel Sharon, PM's Office, Kiryat Ben-Gurion, J'lem; fax: 972-2-5664838 / 972-2-6705415 or: via Israeli Embassy in your own country
Listed protest letters: www.gush-shalom.org
Letters of support/checks to: Gush Shalom, pob 3322, Tel-Aviv 61033 Israel.
+++ Two incidents seem to be directly related to the outburst of publicity.
Unknown persons sprayed on the private cars of three Air Force pilots the words "war criminal". In another incident, a 65-year old man from Herzliya was briefly detained by the police for hanging near the homes of cabinet ministers and generals signs with the slogan 'Every minister and every general is an accessory to war crimes.' He was arrested near the home of General Amos Gi'ad, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (i.e., chief military governor). Ma'ariv, which reported it on Aug. 8, did not give the man's name; he does not appear to be a member of any specific group.
For a free sample copy of this issue of The Other Israel, please send us your name and postal mailing address. From addresses in North America, please send to AICIPP@igc.org. All others please send to otherisr@actcom.co.il