Fateful Triangle

The Palestinian Uprising802added in an interview in the Hebrew press. “Most of those killed areyoung people, and the Palestinian mother cries, like every mother. Thebrothers and sisters cry too, just as in France, England, China, or Israel.We are the only ones forbidden to cry, so I have a small request: if youdo not permit us to be happy, at least let us cry.” 14The occupation, always grim, has assumed a particularly ugly cast asIsrael devises novel means to suppress the Intifada. Nothing escapes thelong arm of the authorities. The arbitrariness of the acts described is bydesign, perhaps on the advice of Israeli Arabists and psychologists. Thepoint is to teach the Palestinians that every aspect of their lives iscontrolled by the authorities, and the master will do what he likes, withimpunity. They must be taught not to “raise their heads,” a crime that isdenounced with particular outrage (in these words). They mustunderstand that they are one of those “insignificant nations” who shouldnot succumb to “delusions of significance,” to adopt properneoconservative rhetoric. 15The mainstream doves agree with the advice of New York Times chiefdiplomatic correspondent Thomas Friedman: give “Ahmed…a seat inthe bus, [and] he will limit his demands”; then treat him in the mannerof southern Lebanon, which Friedman recommends as a model, whereIsraeli troops and a network of collaborators terrorize or expel the nativepopulation. The hawks want Ahmed to understand that he must walkwith head lowered, all the time. The basic method, Israel’s leading civillibertarian Israel Shahak observes, is “the total, indeed the totalitariancontrol, exercised by the Israeli authorities over all aspects of Palestinianlife in the territories and the arbitrariness by which it is imposed,”humiliation as an instrument of policy. 16One might, incidentally, imagine the reaction if a journalist were toadvise South Africans to “give Sambo a seat in the bus,” or proposedthat Jews be granted “something to lose,” because “if you give Hymie aClassics in Politics: The Fateful TriangleNoam Chomsky