The Other Road Map

Back to answering my “on hiatus” email. This is in response to reader A.H. who wanted to know “how can you possibly negotiate with the kind of people who would do this to a civilian bus?”, with a link to details of the suicide bombing of a Jerusalem bus in February 2004, in which eight Israelis were killed.

Well, there are two answers to that. The utilitarian answer is that you negotiate, even when people who do not support negotiations are committing acts of murder, because if you stop negotiating on behalf of the majority who want a political settlement every time there is an act of terror, then you are effectively giving a veto over the entire political process to the last uncooperative person or rejectionist faction with a gun or a bomb. You negotiate as if there is no terror and fight terror as if there were no negotiations, to borrow a phrase from Yitzhak Rabin. If you believe in a negotiated settlement, then stopping talks every time there is an act of violence is only shooting yourself in the foot. If on the other hand you don’t really believe in negotiations anyway, and the terror attacks are simply your pretext for not engaging in them, then at least have the honesty to that admit that you fear talking more than you fear terrorism, and that a little bit of terror actually suits you just fine.

The metaphysical answer is that there is no such thing as a “kind of people” that blow up busloads of civilians. If you claim that someone who would attack a bus is intrinsically a different kind of humanity from the rest of us, then you are simply making stuff up to avoid having to confront the fact that people just like us might do something so terrible, and having to ask yourself why that might be.

Palestinian terrorists do not attack civilian buses because they are a different species to the rest of us, they attack civilians because Israel enjoys overwhelming military superiority over them, and choose buses in particular because buses are uniquely vulnerable: they are numerous and therefore difficult to defend individually; they carry a large number of people in a small enclosed space which maximizes casualties; and they run on a published timetable, which makes them easy to ambush. In short, Palestinian militants choose to attack civilian buses for the same reasons that militants with a political agenda target civilian buses in Sri Lanka, and in Iraq, and in Colombia, and in Kosovo, and for the same reasons that Zionist militants targetted Palestinian civilian buses in British Palestine, which they did, by the way, with a regularity that makes Hamas et al look like a bunch of slackers. (Click on map to enlarge)

So the Palestinian terrorists who attacked an Israeli civilian bus in Jerusalem on 22 February 2004 are certainly murderers, but their actions don’t show them to be a different “kind of people” to the rest of us, any more than the attack on a Palestinian civilian bus travelling from Haifa to Acre on 5 January 1948, proves that Zionist terrorists are a different “kind of people” than the rest of us (1)…

…Likewise, the Zionist terrorists who attacked the Hebron bus on the Jerusalem Road seven days after that, wounding one Palestinian (1);

Or the Zionist terrorists who attacked the No.5 bus in Elijah Street, Haifa, three days later, killing one Palestinian and wounding eight others (1);

Or the Zionist terrorists who attacked the No.4 bus to Haifa the same day, wounding four Palestinians (1);

Or the Zionist terrorists who attacked an Arab bus entering Jerusalem two days later, killing one Palestinian (1);

Or the Zionist terrorists who ambushed farm labourers riding a passenger truck to work in Yazur five days later, killing three Palestinians and wounding twelve (1);

Or the Zionist terrorists who bombed the Ramle bus as it made a stop at As Safiriya three days later, killing one and wounding two Palestinians (2);

Or the Zionist terrorists who blew up the No.22 bus on the Bethlehem Road to Jerusalem the following day (2);

Or the Zionist terrorists who attacked the bus to Jaffa near Miqve Israel two days later, killing one Palestinian and wounding three others (3);

Or the Zionist terrorists who blew up the Haifa bus on the road from Tel Aviv three days later, killing two Palestinians and wounding eight others (2);

Or the Zionist terrorists who attacked the No.6 bus near Tall Waqiya the following day, killing three Palestinians and wounding one other (2);

Or the Zionist terrorists who attacked the bus from Kafr Yasif near Khirbet Al Aiyadiya the day after that, seriously wounding two Palestinians (2);

Or the Zionist terrorists who attacked the bus travelling through Deir Muheisin two days later, wounding five Palestinians (3);

Or the Zionist terrorists who attacked the Ramle bus on the road to Aqir three days later, killing one Palestinian and wounding two others (3);

Or the Zionist terrorists who attacked a passenger truck transporting farmers home from the cattle market at Petah Tiqvah three days later, killing seven Palestinians and wounding five (2);

Or the Zionist terrorists who shot at the No.6 bus from Talpoith to Meqor Haim two days later, wounding three Palestinians (2);

Or the Zionist terrorists who blew up the bus travelling through Nabi Yusha the same day, killing one Palestinian and wounding another (3);

Or the Zionist terrorists who blew up the bus to Safad also on the same day, killing five Palestinians and seriously wounding another four (3);

Or the Zionist terrorists who attacked the bus travelling through Miqve, south of Tel Aviv, the following day, wounding four Palestinians (3);

Or the Zionist terrorists who threw a bomb into a bus at Ramle the day after that, wounding four Palestinians, then opened fire on the remaining passengers, wounding another three (4, 5);

Or the Zionist terrorists who opened fire on the No.21 bus from Jerusalem to Bethlehem five days later, wounding five Palestinians (2);

Or the Zionist terrorists who attacked the bus from Lydda to Rarn el Aqir near Kefar Bilu the following day, wounding five Palestinians (2);

Or the Zionist terrorists who fired on the bus from Jaffa to Ramle two days later, wounding two Palestinians (3);

Or the Zionist terrorists who attacked a bus near Beit Jirja the following day, killing three Palestinians and seriously wounding two others (4);

Or the Zionist terrorists who blew up the No.45 (Jerusalem-Ramallah) bus near Neve Ya’acov the day after that, wounding at least three Palestinians (2);

Or the Zionist terrorists who the same day attacked a bus travelling along the Bethlehem Road in Jerusalem, seriously wounding two Palestinians (2);

Or the Zionist terrorists who also on the same day attacked the No.6 bus on the road from Haifa to Nazareth, killing one Palestinian and seriously wounding another (2);

Or the Zionist terrorist who, still on 24 February 1948, attacked the No.4 bus near St John’s Ophthalmic Hospital in Jerusalem, killing one Palestinian and wounding three more (20);

Or the Zionist terrorists who, in the fifth terror attack on Palestinian buses in a single day, fired on a bus travelling the Jerusalem-Bethlehem Road, wounding one Palestinian (2);

Or the Zionist terrorists who opened fire on a passenger truck near Bir El Hilu on the Jaffa-Jerusalem Road two days later, killing two Palestinians and wounding five others (2);

Or the Zionist terrorists who fired on a bus near Bab el Wad on the Jaffa-Jerusalem Road three days later, wounding four Palestinians and one Russian (2);

Or the Zionist terrorists who fired on the bus travelling the Ramallah-Latrun Road five days later (3);

Or the Zionist terrorists who attacked two Arab buses the next day near Jaba on the Haifa Road, killing one Palestinian and wounding three others (2);

Or the Zionist terrorists who opened fire on a bus travelling the Athlit-Haifa Road near Mazar, later that same day (2);

Or the Zionist terrorists who opened fire on a bus travelling through Beit Shugelman on the Jaffa-Jerusalem road two days later, wounding one Palestinian and one Egyptian (2);

Or the Zionist terrorists who, one week later, fired on the No.1 bus from Nazareth as it reached Iraq Street, Haifa, killing one Palestinian and seriously wounding another (2);

Or the Zionist terrorists who detonated a bomb on the Safad-Acre Road as the bus to Safad was passing five days later, killing one Palestinian and wounding two others (2);

Or the Zionist terrorists who fired from Neve Ya’acov Jewish colony at the Jaffa-Jerusalem bus three days later, killing one Greek and two Palestinians (5);

Or the Zionist terrorists who firebombed a Nazareth Bus Company bus as it approached Haifa two days later, killing one Palestinian and wounding nine Palestinians and one Syrian (5);

Or the Zionist terrorists who blew up the bus to Beit Hanoun the same day with a landmine detonated near Yad Mordechai, killing one Palestinian and wounding one other (5);

Or the Zionist terrorists who ambushed a bus at the junction of Allenby Road and Freres Street in Haifa later that same day, wounding three Palestinians (3);

Or the Zionist terrorists who, in the fourth terror attack on a Palestinian bus in a single day (24 March 1948) fired from Neve Ya’acov Jewish colony on two buses travelling along the Jerusalem-Nablus Road (5)…

…etc…
…etc…

So while it is undeniably terrible that the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades would deliberately target civilian passengers on an Israeli bus, the men who murdered Lior Azulai, Nathaniel Havshush, Bnayahu Jonathan Zuckerman, Rahamiam Rami Duga, Yaffa Ben-Shimol, Ilan Avisedris, Yehuda Haim and Yuval Ozana in that attack are not a different “kind of people” from you or me or the soon-to-be-Israelis who unloaded Ibrahim Mohammed Ahmed El Haj, Mahmoud Hassan Attieh, Saleh Mohammed Suleiman, Abdul Fattah Hussein, Mahmoud Mustafa Khalil, Mohammed Ali Eissa, and Hassan Mohammed Eissa from a Palestinian truck in February 1948, lined them up in an orange grove and murdered them:

10 FEBRUARY 1948 Lydda. 1700 hours, Petah Tiqvah. A party of twelve Arabs from Et Tira village (Tulkarm Sub-District) returning in a truck from selling cattle in the Petah Tiqvah area, was stopped by a large number of Jews in a truck near 120 M.U. Royal Air Force Camp, Ras El Ein. The Arabs were made to alight from their vehicle and were taken into the nearby orange grove of Abu Lebban from which firing was subsequently heard. Jews were then seen to leave the grove and enter the truck which was driven away.

The following dead and wounded Arabs were taken to Jaffa Government Hospital and the Royal Air Force Camp: Dead - Ibrahim Mohammed Ahmed El Haj (20); Mahmoud Hassan Attieh (30); Saleh Mohammed Suleiman (18); Abdul Fattah Hussein (37); Mahmoud Mustafa Khalil (42); Mohammed Ali Eissa (48); Hassan Mohammed Eissa (42). Injured (believed seriously) - Ahmed Ibrahim Abdulla (24); Lutfi Yassin Khal (25); Shehadi Abdul Wahab (27); Mustafa Saleh Kassim (23); Ahmed Hassan Saleh (70). (2)

Similarly, missiles raining down on civilians in Sderot are no more an ontological insight into the Palestinians who launch them than mortars raining down on civilians in Haifa are a legitimate indicator of “kind of people” Zionists are:

6 MARCH 1948 Jewish terrorists killed five Arabs and severely damaged three buildings by firing three inch mortar shells into the Arab business district in the harbour area of Haifa. The firing came from Hadar HaCarmel, an all-Jewish business and residential section. (6)

And the terrorists who blew up the Taba Hilton last year no more did it because of some defect in their character than the Haganah terrorists who blew up the Semiramis Hotel:

5 JANUARY 1948 Haganah terrorists made a most barbarous attack at one o'clock in the early morning of Monday, 5 January 1948, at the Semiramis hotel in the Katamon section of Jerusalem, killing innocent people and wounding many. The Jewish Agency terrorist forces blasted the entrance to the hotel by a small bomb and then placed bombs in the basement of the building. As a result of the explosions, the whole building collapsed with its residents. As the terrorists withdrew, they started shooting at the houses in the neighborhood.

Those killed were: Subhi El-Taher, Moslem; Mary Masoud, Christian; Georgette Khoury, Christian; Abas Awad, Moslem; Nazira Lorenzo, Christian; Mary Lorenzo, Christian; Mohammed Saleh Ahmed, Moslem; Ashur Abed El Razik, Moslem; Ismail Abed El Aziz, Moslem; Ambeer Lorenzo, Christian; Raof Lorenzo, Christian; Abu Suwan, Christian family, seven members, husband, wife and five children. Beside those killed, 16 more were wounded, among them women and children. (6)

And the members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad who killed five innocent Israeli shoppers in an attack on a mall just last week committed a terrible murder, but they’re not different in kind from the members of the Irgun who committed a terrible murder in blowing up the shoppers at Ramle Market:

18 FEBRUARY 1948 At 2:30 in the afternoon, an Irgun Z'vai Leumi terrorist disguised as an Arab and riding a donkey, arrived at the Ramleh vegetable market. The terrorist started to bargain for some vegetables from a woman vendor, paid her the price and asked her to look after his donkey and the basket on its back, while the terrorist left, saying he was going to buy some meat from an adjacent market.

In less then ten minutes the mines and high explosives in the basket exploded killing 12 and wounding 43 persons. Among the killed were four children less then ten years of age and four less than fourteen.

The explosion was so terrible that it was impossible to identify more than one of the victims. The Palestine Government official communique describing this incident said that pieces of the heads, hands, legs and internal parts of the dead were gathered from places two miles away from the scene of the explosion. (6)

Blowing up a bus for political ends is a criminal act, not an ontological insight into how Zionist Jews were in 1948 or how Palestinian Muslims are in 2004. As awful as it is, this is simply how sub-national groups – Zionists, Islamists or anyone else - fight an unconventional war. It’s “a way people wage war when they don't have F-16's or armored divisions”, as William Pfaff put it. You can only claim otherwise by consigning all the inconvenient atrocities committed by your own side down the memory hole. And the fact that A.H. would pick a bus bombing as proof that Palestinians are a kind of people you can't negotiate with – apparently totally unaware of the popularity of that very tactic among Zionists in Mandate Palestine - shows just how effectively we have done just that in the case of Israel and the terrorist campaign that helped to establish it. (I can't count how many times I have heard discussion of terrorism in Mandate Palestine reduced to "Ah yes, the King David...).

I’m not dredging all this up as some kind of academic historical exercise, or as an opportunity to say “yes but other people do it too”. It matters that we remember what we would rather forget, because it is only our deliberate forgetfulness over our own atrocities that allows us to pretend that the I/P conflict is a zero sum game of good versus evil, rather than a political conflict over land that is capable of a compromise solution.

If we remember that “our” side committed terrorism, not because they were morally defective, but as a tactic in support of political goals in an unconventional war, then we will be able to appreciate that just maybe the same is true of “their” side today. So get off your high horse, A.H., admit that nobody has clean hands, and stop looking for reasons not to negotiate.

Footnotes:

(1) Source CO 537/3855: Confidential reports from the British Criminal Investigation Dept (C.I.D.) to the U.K. Colonial Office on Outrages in Palestine, 1947-48. Now declassified and open to the public at the U.K. National Archives in Kew, London.

(2) Source CO 537/3856: Confidential reports from the British Criminal Investigation Dept (C.I.D.) to the U.K. Colonial Office on Outrages in Palestine, Feb-Mar 1948. Now declassified and open to the public at the U.K. National Archives in Kew, London.

(3) Source WO 261/573: Confidential quarterly reports from British Army H.Q. in Palestine to the U.K. War Office, Jan-Mar 1948. Now declassified and open to the public at the U.K. National Archives in Kew, London.

(4) Source WO 275/64: Confidential fortnightly newsletters from the H.Q. of the British Sixth Airborne Division in Palestine to the U.K. War Office, Mar 1947-May 1948. Now declassified and open to the public at the U.K. National Archives in Kew, London.

(5) Source CO 537/3857: Confidential reports from the British Criminal Investigation Dept (C.I.D.) to the U.K. Colonial Office on Outrages in Palestine, Mar-Apr 1948. Now declassified and open to the public at the U.K. National Archives in Kew, London.

(6) From United Nations Security Council Official Records, Supplements for 1948 - Palestine.

(via the Encyclopaedia of Palestine)

The map, Three Months in Palestine: Terror Attacks on Buses, Jan - Mar 1948 is adapted from a map of Palestine's Main Roads And Railways Before Nakba, online at Palestine Remembered.com