STOP IN THE NAME OF DECENCY

Emma Williams on the mistakes

that Israel is making in its war against the terrorists

Jerusalem A FEW weeks ago an Israeli cabinet minister called on his country to 'do to the Palestinians what Iraq did to the Kurds'. Assuming he was not referring to Saddam Hussein's gassing of civilians at Halabja, it looks as if Israel is heeding his call.

Operation 'Defensive Shield', Israel's largest military operation since 1967, has aroused waves of condemnation around the world. The UN secretary-general warned: 'Responding to terror does not in any way free Israel from its obligations under international law, nor does it justify creating a human-rights and humanitarian crisis within the occupied Palestinian territory.' Yet that is precisely what is happening.

Despite Israel's media ban, stories are seeping out of reoccupied West Bank cities. Frustrated journalists, many with Afghanistan's dust on their boots, gather at the bar of the American Colony Hotel and compare experiences. The UN's humanitarian chief in the region said on Monday, 'The Israeli Defence Force [IDFI has made a hellish battleground among the

civilians. . helicopters are strafing civilian residential areas; systematic shelling by tanks has created hundreds of wounded; bulldozers are razing refugee homes to the ground; and food and medicine will soon run out. In the name of human decency,' he pleaded, 'the Israeli military must allow our ambulances safe passage.'

Phone-calls and emails from friends under curfew describe medical workers used as human shields, looting by troops, summary executions, snipers firing at civilians looking for food when curfews are lifted, journalists and peace activists shot at, men rounded up, bused out, stripped naked and interrogated. As I write, a work colleague calls from Ramallah under curfew, sobbing that there is an old man lying dead on her street, his daughter bleeding beside him: ambulances are not allowed through, so they must watch her die. A UN friend shakes as he describes his staff being handcuffed and blindfolded — no one knows where they are now.

Red Cross officials, normally noted for professional detachment, describe their utter disbelief at the IDF's recent conduct. Never before have they seen a professional army commit such horrors — a conscript band of drugged-up kids in Sierra Leone maybe, but this is the IDF. Its spokesmen claim that there are orders to limit civilian damage, yet there is little evidence that these orders are being obeyed.

In the past fortnight, on top of launching Operation Defensive Shield, Arid l Sharon has repeatedly rebuffed President Bush, recruited right-wing extremists to his coalition, and thrown away the Arab League's conciliatory Beirut Declaration.

At what cost? For starters, many lives — both Palestinian and Israeli. A new generation of extremists has been created, and the credibility of the US secretary of state and President has been damaged. Ultimately, though, the cost is regional instability that was far from inevitable and totally avoidable.

Convinced that their actions are moderate, one military official complained to a foreign colleague about the barrage of criticism: 'If we were a Third World country, we would have surrounded the camps with artillery and opened fire.' Eighty per cent of Israelis believe that Defensive Shield is the only solution: 'terror is terror', and needs to be rooted out. Those who criticise Israel now, they feel, simply do not understand either their bitter anger or their resolve. The atrocious Passover suicide bomb, which killed 27 Israelis, was the final straw. 'We had to react,' explained the keeper of the store where I buy groceries.

Unaware of what the IDF are doing, many Israelis talk of their unwillingness to know, because they despair that the terror will never end. The foreign minister, Shimon Peres, fears international outrage when the full truth surfaces about IDF actions in Jenin. So far 22 Israeli soldiers have been killed during the Jenin operation, 13 in one ambush, causing Israeli outrage — as if Palestinians should not defend themselves against massive air and land onslaught. The Palestinian death-toll is estimated at 100. Moderate Israeli official spokesmen visibly struggle to find words to defend the IlDF's actions.

Visit the Israeli media centre and you see photos of Holocaust victims and of Israelis killed in the intifada. 'You cannot understand how threatened we feel,' says one reservist, married ten days before being called up for extra duty. 'We don't go out except to friends' houses. They are killing us, and the world attacks us for defending ourselves. The country is shutting down and we're supposed to do nothing?'

The US administration has finally accepted that there can be no security for Israelis while the Palestinians' occupation and humiliation continue. Yet there is little faith in the latter's ability to do what is needed. Rebuffed last week over the Arab summit — American demands that Arafat be allowed to attend were dusted under a Knesset carpet — and snubbed again this week, the President's 'withdraw immediately' was as effective as mosquito spray against a Merkava tank.

'Why does Bush tolerate the snubbings?' wondered a Palestinian baker in East Jerusalem. Though initially overjoyed at Bush's volte-face, Palestinians soon stopped celebrating. It was several days before Colin Powell left the US, and he is touring Arab countries first. 'If they were serious about saving us, Powell would have come immediately.'

The appeal of a short-term solution is powerful: military operations end terrorism: Congressmen keep their pro-Israeli votes: Bush-the-brother gets re-elected governor of Florida; Bush-the-President gets a second term; US allies maintain 'special relationship' status; and moderate Arab countries keep US aid dollars. But for this scenario to work, Palestinians must put away dreams of freedom and independence, not mind that hundreds have been killed in the last 18 months, accept Israel's continued occupation of the last 22 per cent of historic Palestine, and turn a blind eye to every new illegal settlement and road on their land.

Instead of addressing the root cause of Palestinian anguish — occupation, occupation, occupation — Washington has focused almost entirely on the appalling suicide bombings carried out by Palestinian extremists against Israeli civilians. Mention the word 'terror' and a wall comes down, impenetrable to reason.

'0 Terrorism, what crimes are committed against thy name!' Under the guise of 'selfdefence against terror', Israel is now violating virtually every article of the Geneva Convention. And for what? The results of Sharon's policy appear all too clear: hundreds killed, thousands swearing revenge, and hundreds of thousands in a humanitarian crisis. Arafat's standing has never been higher among Palestinians, US credibility dives, European powers are derided for standing by. To paraphrase a contemporary of Madame Roland: the continuing IDF operation is not only a crime, it's an error. And disastrous on both counts.