Fateful Triangle

Rejectionism and Accomodation126the Israeli dove Uri Avneri, who describes Milson as a poor copy of “hisformer master, Ariel Sharon”: “So far as compulsive lying, boasting andimpudence are concerned, he is merely Sharon’s pocket edition,” Avnericontinues, going on to recall the measures he instituted in an effort tobreak the will of the Palestinians, including formation of “the hated‘Leagues,’ which became the representatives of the Israeli conquest forthe public,” “armed gangs of quislings” largely constituted of “thehuman refuse of the villages, known hooligans and criminals, whoreceived weapons from the military government in order to create anatmosphere of terror.” 51 In short, a true “Mideast Maverick,” much to beadmired for his defense of Palestinian rights.To illustrate Avneri’s description, Professor Milson, in his Globeinterview, states that “partly due to my influence, the fact is that nohouse was demolished in the West Bank.” In fact, two weeks after hisNovember 1, 1981 takeover, on November 16, four houses weredestroyed in Beit Sahur in a collective punishment, and one house wasdestroyed in Bethlehem, the home of a man suspected of throwing amolotov cocktail at a bus. 52 Milson assumed, correctly no doubt, that hisstatement would pass unchallenged in the United States, where he ispresented as an advocate of peace and conciliation. He might, however,have argued correctly that the Labor Party resorted to this technique ofcollective punishment in the case of people suspected of some act ofviolence (or resistance, depending on one’s point of view) far moreextensively than he did.The West Bank correspondent of Ha’aretz, Zvi Barel, reports GeneralSharon’s statement that the League members “are not collaborators inthe usual sense of the word.” Barel agrees, on the grounds that “no pastcollaborators had enjoyed such wide government support as thesepeople receive.” He describes how they are not only provided with armsto terrorize the population, but are even given “the privilege of makingClassics in Politics: The Fateful TriangleNoam Chomsky