Fateful Triangle

Israel and Palestine: Historical Backgrounds243here, like the very people who painted a picture of the Jew as a subhumancreature…” 116 In fact, what has been happening in the occupiedterritories for many years is all too familiar from Jewish history.Stories such as these, which abound, have constituted the daily livesof those subjected to Israeli rule for many years. Outright murders byIsraeli soldiers or settlers are sometimes reported in the U.S., but theregular terror, harassment and degradation pass unnoticed among thosewho are paying the bills. It is, for example, most unlikely that an Americannewspaper would print the report by Aharon Bachar, whichappeared in a mass-circulation Israeli journal, on the atrocities reportedto the Prime Minister by a high-level (and generally hawkish) LaborAlignment delegation. The few people who have tried to transmit someof the facts reported in the mainstream Hebrew press have either beenignored, or subjected to a campaign of lies and vilification that isreminiscent of Stalinist practices.5.2 The Golan HeightsUntil December 1981, the Golan Heights had been spared this treatment.Over 90% of the population had fled or were expelled at the timeof the Israeli conquest of the Heights in 1967. Israeli settlements werethen established, but the Druze population generally “accepted theauthority and jurisdiction of the military government,” according to areport by a leading Israeli civil rights association. 117 On December 14,the day after martial law was declared in Poland, the Knesset passed alaw extending civilian law and administration to the Golan Heights—ineffect, annexation. In January, new regulations were imposed requiringthat the inhabitants carry Israeli IDs. There was overwhelmingopposition to this integration into Israel. On February 13, four leadingClassics in Politics: The Fateful TriangleNoam Chomsky