Haaretz - Withdraw and win

[Englander]

Last update - 13:23 08/10/2005

By Akiva Eldar

The activists from MachsomWatch could not believe their ears. Representatives of the women's organization that monitors Israel Defense Forces checkpoints in the West Bank) were attending a conference last Monday at the Van Leer Institute in Jerusalem to mark their annual checkpoint report. The expression on the face of the meeting's chairman, Prof. Yossi Yona, a supporter of the Geneva Initiative, also reflected surprise. The eyes of those present darted back and forth between the silver-haired speaker and the lines of text displayed on the screen. Major General (ret.) Amiram Levine, once a commander of the elite Sayeret Matkal unit, a military man who spent most of his years fighting Palestinian terror, said that any occupation, including the Israeli occupation in the territories, necessarily entails acts of terror against the civilian population. It was not the last time that evening that Levine left his listeners with mouths agape.

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In between, Levine also writes policy-security papers and is working on a book about strategic issues. In a paper submitted three years ago, he suggested a unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. In a conversation with Haaretz at the end of last week, he spoke about his principles. At a cafe on the main road from Tel Aviv to his home in Caesarea, Levine said he could not recall whether he actually talked about Israeli terror in the territories. But he is ready to say that control over another people leads to corruption and that corruption ensures defeat, and that the only question is whether the defeat will come in another two years, five years, or twenty years. These are the basic assumptions upon which his plan is built. Levine cited as an example of corruption a report two days earlier in Haaretz about the confiscation of za'atar (hyssop) plants from elderly Palestinian women at IDF checkpoints. "How did we reach this point that a company commander or squad commander obeys such a command and remains silent? Only an army of bastards does such things."

His complaints are not directed mainly at the operative echelon in the field because, in his view, as along as the occupation continues, the checkpoints, like the targeted killings and the home demolitions, are legitimate tools, despite their immeasurable damage. He focuses his criticism on the senior military brass.

"Either the senior command does not understand that over time, the checkpoint, like the other tools of occupation, defiles and corrupts us and brings us closer to defeat, or it is afraid to present this to the government as a professional-historic truth," Levine writes in his presentation. "The IDF has an obligation to present military truth that is based upon knowledge and military history, and only then to salute and execute. It's not clear whether this is being done."

Thus, for example, he expects the senior command to tell the government that the separation fence is a "terrible mistake" from every perspective. It oppresses and harasses unfortunate civilians, does not facilitate an accord, ruins the landscape and nature, and is nothing but an attempt to cover backs by ostensibly taking steps against terror.

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