Fateful Triangle

The Palestinian Uprising798young as four days old. Almost all of the deported children were born intheir villages. About half are recognized to be residents by the MilitaryGovernment. Since Israel is a civilized state governed by the rule of law,it is possible for villagers to apply for “legal residence” in their homes fora fee of $100. Ninety-nine percent of the applications are rejected.Standard procedure is for the army to surround a village before dawn.Helicopters hover overhead and soldiers with loudspeakers order all mento congregate in the village center or they will be shot on sight. Soldiersthen enter designated homes and inform the women targeted that theyhave five or ten minutes to pack and leave. The women are forced totake an Arab taxi to the bridge over the Jordan and to pay a fee to cross,with a fine sometimes added because of their “illegal residence.” If theyhave no money, they may be forced to stand on the bridge with theirchildren until some method of payment is arranged.Sometimes the women do not follow orders quickly enough, as in thecase of one expelled on September 15; soldiers awakened her twochildren (aged four and six), forced them into the taxi barefoot withoutallowing them to eat or drink, and sent them off to Jordan. The fate oftheir year-old brother and 28-day-old sister is unreported; presumablythey left for Jordan with their mother. When the fathers are allowed toreturn home, they find their wives and children gone.Sometimes the army shows “extraordinary sensitivity,” as in the caseof a brain-damaged child who had undergone surgery a few days earlier;her mother was granted a week’s delay before she and the child wereexpelled. This child was born in Israel and is registered as a resident onher father’s ID card, the usual situation. Not all deportees are youngwomen with children, however. For example, there is the case of ZafiraMohammad Ahmed, a grandmother with a British Mandatory birthcertificate confirming that she was born in Palestine in 1895, who wasdeported to Jordan on September 1 with only the clothes on her back,Classics in Politics: The Fateful TriangleNoam Chomsky