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The Hands of Esau by Uri Avnery | |
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Editor's Note:
Very interesting article by Uri Avnery, an Israeli known
for standing up for Palestinian rights.
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Video Clip Of The Week
Bush Gaff In The Middle East
President Bush had a press conference in the Palestinian
territories and he dismissed UN resolutions passed in the
past. This is extremely problematic in the region because
UN resolutions were the foundation for attacking Iraq.
View: Bush Gaff In The Middle East
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The Hands of Esau -by Uri Avnery
WHICH OF the two men is the leader of the greatest power
on earth and which is the boss of a small client state?
A visitor from another planet, attending the press
conference in Jerusalem, would find it hard not to answer:
Olmert is the president of the great power, Bush is his
vassal.
Olmert is taller. He talked endlessly, while Bush listened
patiently. While Olmert anointed Bush with flattery that
would have made a Byzantine emperor blush, it was quite
clear that it is Olmert who decides policy, while Bush
humbly accepts the Israeli diktat. And Bush's flattery of
Olmert exceeded even Olmert's flattery of Bush.
Both, we learned, are "courageous". Both are "determined".
Both have a "vision". The word "vision", once reserved for
prophets, starred in every second sentence. (Bush could not
know that in Israel, "vision" has long become a jocular
appellation for highfaluting speeches, usually in combin-
ation with the word "Zionism".)
The President and the Prime Minister have something else
in common: not a word of what they said at the press
conference had any connection with the truth.
ONE OF the most moving dramas in the Bible tells about our
old blind forefather, Isaac, who wanted to bless his eldest
son, Esau, a reddish and hairy hunter. But the second son,
the homebody (or rather tent-body) Jacob, exploited the
absence of his brother and went to his father in order to
steal the blessing. He wore Esau's clothes and covered his
arms with hairy goat skins. The ruse nearly failed, when
the father felt the arms of Jacob and his suspicion was
aroused.
That's when he uttered the famous words: "The voice is
Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau."
(Genesis, 27: 22).
Yet Jacob, the impostor, did receive the blessing and
became the father of the nation which was named after
him (he was also called Israel). It seems that Ehud
Olmert is a true successor: there is no connection
between his voice and his hands.
Anyone who listens to him - not just at the press
conference, but also on every other occasion - hears
words of peace and reason: The Palestinians must have
a state of their own. The "vision" must be realized
while Bush is president, because Israel has never had
and never will have a truer friend. The settlement
outposts must be removed, as promised by us again and
again. The settlements must be frozen. Etc. etc.
That is the voice of Jacob. But the hands, well, they
are the hands of Esau.
BEFORE ANNAPOLIS, during Annapolis and after Annapolis,
nothing at all was done to promote the Two-State Solution.
The negotiations were about to begin - any moment now -
a year ago, and now they are again about to begin - any
moment now. Yes, the "core issues" - borders, Jerusalem,
refugees - will be addressed. Sure. Any moment now.
But in the meantime, the hands of Esau are working fever-
ishly. All over the occupied territories, the settlements
are being enlarged. The existing outposts remain untouched,
new ones spring up from time to time. Around them, a well
choreographed dance has evolved, a kind of formal ballet
executed by the settlers and the army. The settlers set
up a new outpost, the army removes it, the settlers return
and set it up again, the army dismantles, and so forth.
In the meantime the outpost gets bigger and bigger. The
government connects it to the electricity and water systems
and builds a road. And the army, of course, protects it day
and night. We cannot leave good Jews at the mercy of the
evil Palestinian terrorists, can we?
Bush knows all this and still continues to blabber that
"the illegal outposts must be removed". And so it
continues: the voice is Jacob's voice, the hands are the
hands of Esau.
BUT ONE cannot fool all of the people all of the time, to
quote another American President who was slightly more
intelligent than the present incumbent.
And so, after Olmert and Bush repeated the mantra about
removing the outposts and freezing the settlements, one
of the journalists popped an innocent question: How does
this fit together with the announcement about the building
of a huge new housing project at Har Homa?
If anyone thought that this would embarrass Olmert, he
was sadly mistaken. Olmert just cannot be embarrassed.
He simply answered that this promise does not apply to
Jerusalem, nor to the "Jewish population centers" beyond
the Green Line.
"Jerusalem" - since the time of Levy Eshkol - is not only
the Old City and the Holy Basin. It is the huge tract of
land annexed to Israel after the Six-Day War, from the
approaches to Bethlehem to the outskirts of Ramallah. This
area includes the hill that was once forested and called
Jebel Abu-Ghneim, now the site of the big and ugly Har
Homa settlement. And the "population centers" are the big
settlement blocs in the occupied Palestinian territories,
which President Bush so generously presented to Ariel
Sharon.
This means that almost all the extensive building
activities that are now going on beyond the Green Line
are not covered by the Israeli undertaking to freeze
the settlements. And while Olmert publicly announced
this, President Bush was standing at his side, smiling
foolishly and painting on another layer of compliments.
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The following day, Bush visited Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah
and told the shocked Palestinians that the innumerable
Israeli roadblocks in the West Bank, which turn the life
of the Palestinians into hell, are necessary for the
protection of Israel and must remain where they are -
until after the establishment of the hoped-for democratic
Palestinian state.
Condoleezza Rice was quick to remind him in private that
this was not very wise, since he was about to visit half
a dozen Arab countries. So Bush hastened to call another
press conference in Jerusalem, talking about the "core
issues": there would be a "contiguous" Palestinian state,
but the 1949 borders (the Green Line) would not be
restored. He would not speak about Jerusalem. Also, the
refugee problem would be settled by an international fund
- meaning that none at all would be allowed to return.
Altogether, much less than Bill Clinton's 2000
"parameters", and less than most Israelis are already
prepared to accept. It amounts to 110% support for the
official Israeli government line.
After that, Bush had dinner with Israeli cabinet ministers.
He cordially shook the hand of Minister Rafael Eitan, the
former spymaster who controlled the Israeli spy in
Washington, Jonathan Pollard, whom Bush refuses to pardon.
(Eitan would be arrested the moment he set foot on American
soil.) He spoke cordially with the ultra-rightist Minister
Avigdor Liberman, urging him to support Olmert. Throughout
the dinner, he talked and talked, until Condi sent him a
discreet note suggesting that he shut up. Bush, in high
spirits, read the note out loud.
I HAVE mentioned more than once the British World War II
poster which was pasted up on the walls in Palestine: "Is
this trip really necessary?"
That is again the question now: Is this trip of Bush's
really necessary?
The answer is: Of course. Necessary for Bush. Necessary
for Olmert. Necessary for Abbas, too.
For Bush, because he is a lame duck, in the last year of
his term, and therefore almost paralyzed. In the United
States he is rapidly becoming irrelevant. His touted Middle
East tour has been drowned out by the primary elections
mayhem, which produces a new drama almost every day. While
Hillary wrestles with Obama and the glib Bill competes with
an impressive black grandma, who cares where the worst
president in American history is traipsing around?
Olmert is well aware of the situation. When he declares that
the last year of the term of his noble friend must be used,
what he really means to say is: he cannot exert any
pressure on us, he cannot even "nudge" us, as he promises.
There is no need to remove even one single outpost for him.
So let us squeeze the last drop of juice out of his
presidency, before he is thrown onto the trash pile of
history.
But Olmert needs the presence of Bush at his side, because
his position is not much more secure than Bush's. Bush is
bankrupt in a big way, after starting one of the most
pointless and unsuccessful wars in US history. That is
true for Olmert in a small way. He is bankrupt too, and
he also started a pointless, failed war.
In two weeks time, the Winograd Commission will publish its
final report on Lebanon War II, and everyone expects it to
come down on Olmert like a 16 ton weight. He may survive,
if only because there is now no credible substitute. But
he needs all the help he can get - and what better help
than the "Leader of the Free World" gazing at him with
liquid eyes?
It's the old story about the lame and the blind.
THIS WAS NOT Bush's last presidential visit to Israel. He
has already promised to return on the 60th anniversary of
the founding of the state, which falls this year (in
accordance with the Hebrew calendar) on May 8. What else
can a president do in his last months in office, except
star in ceremonies with kings, presidents and prime
ministers?
Perhaps he had intended to finish with a big bang, a
historic climax that would overshadow even his invasions
of Afghanistan and Iraq, such as a grand attack on Iran.
But it seems that the US intelligence community, in a
patriotic act that makes up for some of its earlier sins,
has prevented this by publishing its sensational report.
True, this week something happened that put on a warning
light. Some small Iranian boats were reported to have made
a provocative gesture against the powerful American
warships in the Strait of Hormuz.
That takes us right back to 1964 and to what has become
known as the "Gulf of Tonkin incident". President Lyndon
Johnson announced that Vietnamese vessels had attacked
American warships. That wss a lie, but it was enough for
Congress to empower the president to widen the war that
killed millions of people (and buried Johnson's career).
But this time the red light went out quickly. The US
Congress is not what it was, it seems that the Americans
have no stomach for another war, the historical parallel
was too obvious. Bush has been left without an option for
war. He has been left with nothing.
Apart from Olmert's flattery, of course.
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Uri Avnery is an Israeli writer, ex-soldier and advocate
for Palestinian rights.
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