Fateful Triangle

Israel and Palestine: Historical Backgrounds264dangerous political acts.” And the Arab policemen at one of theinnumerable roadblocks who have standing orders from the Israelimilitary “to take in for questioning any Jewish woman seen with anArab.” Roadblocks carry their own terror when manned by Israelimilitary, many of whom rejoice in the opportunity to humiliatedefenseless Arabs in accordance with the doctrine of “purity of arms.”They can also be dangerous, as for Shehadeh’s uncle who was stoppedby some soldiers just after the 1967 war, marched off to a nearby fieldand shot along with his companion, their bodies then set on fire andfound days later.There is also the case of the Arab lawyer who was engaged to contestthe sale of land of a nearby village to the Jewish National Fund, whoserepresentatives had frightened an old woman into signing documentsselling the land (purchased by charitable tax-deductible contributions byAmericans, and then reserved for Jewish use). He was warned by themilitary government to keep off the case, and when he refused, wasarrested “on suspicion of driving without a licence” and sentenced to sixmonths in prison and a fine of 7500 Israeli pounds. The JewishNational Fund is represented by a West Bank lawyer, one who haschosen the second way, “so that it can never be said that the land wastaken against our will,” an important consideration for Americans calledupon the explain why all of this is right and just. There is the client who“has clearly been severely tortured,” and many other images that shapethe world of the Samid.There are other experiences that entice the Samid to undertake thefirst way, as the conquerer would no doubt prefer, so as to rid himself ofthe troublesome intruder in the Land of Israel. For example, the case ofHani, shot by an Israeli soldier during a demonstration against the racistAmerican Rabbi Meir Kahane, who openly calls for driving the Arabs outof the Land of the Jews, and acts accordingly, with particularClassics in Politics: The Fateful TriangleNoam Chomsky