By Yamin Zakaria
iiop.org

"We must use terror, assassination, intimidation, land confiscation, and the cutting of all social services to rid the Galilee of its Arab population." – (David Ben-Gurion, May 1948. From Ben-Gurion, a Biography, by Michael Ben-Zohar)

Even before the abovementioned words were uttered by Ben Gurion, and before the establishment of Israel: terrorism, assassination and propaganda were the primary tools of the Zionists immigrants arriving from Europe and Russia. Ironically, many of them were fleeing persecution but upon their arrival they began to persecute another innocent nation!

These Zionists organised themselves into groups and one of the earliest one was called the “Haganah”; its members included the likes of Yitzhak Rabin, Ariel Sharon and Moshe Dayan. From “Haganah”, the “Irgun” gang was formed by the more fanatical right-wing members; the group was later led by Menachem Begin. However, the “Irgun” gang also split in 1940; their off-shoot was called the "Lehi" also known by the British as the "Stern Gang", named after its leader Avraham Stern.

All of these terrorist groups terrorised the indigenous Muslim/Arabs, driving them out of their lands. This is the source of the problem, the root of the Arab-Israeli conflict: foreigners who have sought refuge in the land of olive (Palestine – “Bilad az-Zaytun”), turn violent on the indigenous population. These ungrateful Zionist terrorists also attacked the British occupational forces, despite the fact that it was the British government who facilitated their ‘settlement’ in these lands. They bombed King David Hotel, killing 91 people that comprised largely of British civilians. Menachem Begin of the Stern Gang was wanted by the British authorities for his criminal activities.

Israel continues terrorising the region for the ultimate goal of building Eretz (greater) Israel. The map issued by Begin’s Irgun gang is proof of that vision of creating Eretz Israel, when Israel was not even born. Menachem Begin explicitly stated this in 1947: “Eretz Israel will be restored to the people of Israel, all of it and for ever.”

However, the international situation prevents Israel from achieving this goal of building Eretz Israel immediately; this is a long term objective that is being undertaken with careful planning. To weaken the surrounding Arab countries is one essential milestone for achieving this objective. Thus, dismantling of Iraq, incursion into Syria and Lebanon, eventual annihilation of the Palestinians, preparing to attack Iran, Somalia and Syria, then eventually Saudi Arabia and Sudan, all aid that objective of building Eretz Israel, even though other factors are driving those events. Not surprisingly the fanatical neo-cons (Zionists) are the real architects of this aggressive US foreign policy that is design to weaken the Arab/Muslim countries.

However, since 1948, Israel has managed to portray itself as a victim of terrorism, instead of being the real perpetrator, while Israel’s victims have been systematically turned into terrorists. This reversal of the image was achieved primarily by the media-terrorists of the west, and this continues till today by their one-sided media coverage. Zionists of all colours to the government of Israel are given maximum air-time, while the Arab voices are given minimal time, if any at all.

For example, the big news in the Western media is that Iran and Syria have aided Hizbullah, but it is no news that the US and UK has been arming Israel to the teeth for the last 60 years! No one notices that the US and British made fighter-planes, helicopters and missiles are used daily to kill and maim Palestinians. If we examine the weapons dropped in Lebanon, one would think it was the US that launched the attack. Basically, coalition of greedy capitalist-vultures in attacking Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon is acceptable but not the coalition of Muslim countries defending itself.

Another example of media-terrorism is the selective application of certain terms to conceal the crime. Israel bombing civilian installations in Lebanon and Gaza, depriving the entire population of transport, water and electricity, is described as an act of ‘self-defence’; but any impartial observer will see this as ‘collective punishment’ dispensed through state-terrorism. These are acts of war crimes and illegal under the various international conventions.

Israel claims the right to invade Gaza and Lebanon to ‘rescue’ the captured soldiers. No authorization was required from the UN, and the US gave it the green light. Israel refused to negotiate the release of its soldiers, partly because it has a hidden agenda and partly because of its racist nature. It is interesting to note that victims of HizbUllah have primarily been Israeli soldiers and only 10 civilians, in contrast almost all the victims of the Israeli onslaught has been innocent civilians. So who is the real terrorist by their conduct?

Commonsense tells us there is clear difference between, groups resisting foreign occupational forces as freedom fighters and state-terrorists/terrorists. The former groups are operating largely within their borders to free their lands and people from foreign forces; hence by reality they are freedom fighters. In contrast state-terrorism is deployed largely by imperialist nations seeking the wealth of other nations and by those nations who have established themselves on other people’s land, later colonised it by force. For example, it was state-terrorism of European colonisers that led to the virtual annihilation of the aboriginal and the Native American population. Israel and the US are perfect examples of state-terrorists; they were setup on stolen lands, subsequently committed genocide on the native population. Both countries use their firepower to terrorise weaker nations, while they have killed millions more, they scream of being innocent victims, whenever they face just retaliation.