The Truth Has Been Lost
Israelis are behind Palestinian attacks in Israel
by Matthias Erne
When the American special envoy Zinni left for his peace negotiating mission to the Near East in December, he was forced to do so at a very bad time. In quick succession a series of suicide bomb attacks took place in various Israeli cities. The bloody images went around the world. Officially, extremist Palestinian groups who sought to sabotage Zinni‘s peace mission were blamed for the attacks. The blame was also placed indirectly on Arafat for not being resolute enough against terrorist activity coming from his own ranks.
US Peace Mission Impeded
At the time, however, other usually well-informed circles had already pointed out that the attacks may have had other origins. In their opinion Sharon would draw political profit to justify his military attacks against the Palestinians as a ‚war against terrorism‘. In addition, the United States would not be able to apply as much pressure, therefore allowing him to refuse to return to the negotiating table. President Bush had, after all, held out the prospect of a Palestinian state before the UN General Assembly in November. The series of attacks continued during Zinni‘s mission and the Israelis were able to maintain their hard line and demand a ‚moral decision‘. When Zinni returned to the US, Sharon even declared his counterpart Arafat a ´quantité négligeable‘, destroyed his airplanes, circled him in with tanks and – even though he is married to a Christian – prohibited him from visiting Christmas midnight mass in Bethlehem.
Israeli Agents Confess
Much could be said about Sharon‘s behavior and the US‘ vague reaction. The Palestinian president did give a highly interesting explanation in an interview with Germany‘s ‚Der Spiegel‘ published in the last issue of the year.
| Spiegel: Sharon‘s condition for returning to the negotiating table is a complete pause in which no shots fall at all. |
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Arafat: No one on this earth can guarantee for every citizen. Not even Israel was in a condition to do so even though it has been proven that the assassins responsible for some of the terror attacks in Israel have come from Israeli territory. If you want, you can talk to two Palestinian agents from the Israeli secret services tomorrow who were picked up by our security services. They confessed to have been hired by Israeli authorities to carry out terror attacks. I have reported this not only to the American CIA chief Tenet but also other leading persons. However, I have as yet not received an answer.‘
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The interview was carried out by Volkhard Windfuhr, Spiegel correspondent in Cairo. Zeit-Fragen telephoned with Windfuhr and asked him whether he spoke to the Israeli agents mentioned by Arafat. ‚No‘, he said ‚because I wouldn‘t have had enough time after my interview with Arafat to leave the encircled city of Ramallah. The interview would otherwise not have gone to print before Christmas.‘ Yet Windfuhr confirms that ‚a visit to the arrested agents would without doubt have been possible.‘ Asked whether one could give credence to Arafat‘s statement concerning the Israeli agents he answered: ´In my experience and my opinion Arafat was not lying to me.‘
CIA Chief is Silent
Whatever reaction the Israeli agents were to trigger is open to speculation. It is bad enough to know that Sharon‘s government or other responsible persons are willing to organize such attacks in their own country. Arafat‘s statement is not implausible, given the fact that ‚Spiegel‘ has not received an Israeli denial as of the 2nd of January. Windfuhr said: ‚Things were conspicuously silent after this interview. My office usually gets calls from important Israeli persons or from the ambassador. This time I did not even receive a letter to the editor. And the fact that even CIA chief Tenet does not deny it, which he could do in two sentences, says a lot. But I can assure you that they read the ‚Spiegel‘. Quie reactions have happened in Israel, even if they are quiet ones.‘
Attacks and Attacks
Arafat‘s portrayal of the attacks show us that not everything that we see on television is true. Attacks can be carried out by agents and the blame placed on the opponent in order to justify one‘s rock-hard policy. You just shouldn‘t be caught red handed. Recently attacks have been carried out with world-shattering consequences. Next to Jerusalem there has of course been New York and finally the attack on the Parliament in Dehli, bringing the India-Pakistan conflict to a boil. The origins of the attack are not clear.
After the attacks in Washington and New York America‘s president declared before the US Congress that America would do things which the world would not come to know about and not find out who did them. This means that he is claiming the right to deal in lies, to use propaganda and mass psychology. The US government has engaged public relations firms and established three ‚PR centers‘ in all time zones so that the media war can be carried out around the clock.
Rejection of Good Faith
What is being lost in the process is something very valuable: faith in friendly democracies. The rejection of good faith in these democracies is more than an everyday occurrence. It is an admission that saying the truth would obviously not achieve the goals that have been set. In that case, something is very foul. And if something is foul, care should be taken.
One could think that the friendly democracies are to be used from now on to obtain the support of obedient lackeys, elites and their trumpeters (the media).
What conclusions do citizens draw from this? First, he or she will treat any reports of recently broadcasted videos, found documents and laptops as well as apparent confessions with skepticism. Then, he or she will ask him/herself what position his/her government takes on this issue. A Swiss citizen, for instance, will look to Federal Council Villiger, to Samuel Schmid, usw. If they, in turn, remain silent, then in the eyes of citizens they become accomplices to a certain extent. Why don‘t they demand that what is said ‚must at least be true‘ as Peter Forster demands in his book as a minimal standard? Citizens‘ faith could continue to erode. Those who do not demand truth will end up losing it.
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