THE HOUR BEFORE DAWN
Nick Pretzlik
Jerusalem
22 January 2004
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Returning to Jerusalem yesterday, an Israeli soldier
at the Bethlehem checkpoint glanced at my passport and
mumbled "Did you enjoy the visit?"
"Yes" I replied.
"Well," he said pointing towards the town "it stinks
in there. I smell it every day."
Taken aback, I asked "What do you mean?"
He repeated the comment and waved me through.

The previous day at the al Hamra checkpoint, south of
Jenin, I had watched a soldier order people out of
their cars. It was 7.00 in the morning and the slopes
of the hills down one side of the valley were bathed
in soft dawn light. Songbirds flitted from tree to
tree and the valley floor was lush and green - the sky
pristine blue. An extensive queue of cars taking
Palestinians to work had formed already and the
soldier was strutting up and down in Chaplinesque
fashion, his rifle comically large in proportion to
his diminutive frame.

Passengers were shouted instructions to line up in
front of him - even local UN personnel - and
harangued, while he jabbed his finger repeatedly in
their direction. The intention was to humiliate and
the process continued until appropriate signs of
submission were displayed. Only then were the
passengers permitted to continue on their way. The
charade took hours and did nothing for security. But
that was not the intention.

All Israeli checkpoints are on Palestinian land -
under military occupation since 1967 - and incidents
like these are commonplace. They are an indication of
the racism, which infects the Israeli armed forces.
The contrived sloppiness of soldiers in their dealings
with Palestinians in these territories is further
evidence of their mindset - a young woman conscript
blowing bubbles of gum as she questions Palestinians
standing in front of her, her stubble chinned male
counterparts ostentatiously filling their mouths with
food while doing the same thing, others drinking
coffee and puffing cigarette smoke nonchalantly into
the air while yelling at their victims. These actions
are anathema to Palestinians - the women, scarved and
tidy, do not eat, drink or smoke in public, the men,
generally well educated and cultured, dress as smartly
as circumstances allow. Nor is the soldiers' behavior,
which is designed to demean and humiliate, confined to
the military. The border police and traffic police act
in similar fashion.

Israel has recently complained about a perceived rise
in European anti-Semitism. It should take a look at
its own institutions with regard to racism and be
mindful of the fact that, once conscripts have
completed their stint of military service, they return
to their communities taking their attitudes with them.

A successful military career in Israel is a
stepping-stone to success in the political arena and
it is not unreasonable to suppose that ex-soldiers
carry army inspired prejudices with them when they
enter the Knesset. Therein, perhaps, lies a partial
explanation for the construction of the apartheid wall
- now acknowledged as a ghastly mistake by many
politicians. Maybe the idea wouldn't have taken root
had those involved not been conditioned during their
formative years in uniform and maybe it also explains
why the wider Israeli public fails to oppose the
project in larger numbers. If Palestinians were not
thought of as second grade human beings, would the
concept have been given serious consideration? Would
it really have been thought acceptable to incarcerate
Palestinians in the world's largest ghetto, to pen
them in with five hundred kilometers of concrete and
razor wire and a swathe of no-mans land on both sides
- a barrier which cuts through neighborhoods and
divides villagers from their fields and their water
and separates whole Palestinian communities from
schools and hospitals?

It appears that Ariel Sharon's government did not
foresee the negative global implications of the
apartheid wall. And the implications could be dire.
Watchtowers, machine gun emplacements and blocks of
concrete up to nine meters high make uncomfortable
viewing and are not images that a public relations
campaign can smooth over easily. Furthermore it is
likely that the myth of the vaunted security benefits
may be rapidly exposed. With tension high and large
numbers of Israeli settlers refusing to move and
continuing to reside within the perimeter of the wall,
violence will continue. It is a question of 'when' not
'if' that violence explodes on the Israeli side of the
barrier.

This moment in time is the Palestinian equivalent of
the hour before dawn - their darkest hour. It is also
a moment when the Jewish state itself is imperiled.
Israel displays scant inclination to withdraw to the
1967 borders and seems set on completing the wall
without delay. If that is indeed the case, the
Palestinians may decide to abandon their aspirations
for a two state solution and co-opt instead global
anti-Israel sentiments aroused by television images of
their plight to mount an anti-apartheid style campaign
for a single state - incorporating Jews and
Palestinians - from the Jordan river to the sea. The
campaign would be hard for Israel to counter,
particularly if it is accompanied by demands for
democracy. One person one vote is after all President
Bush's messianic mantra.

Current demographic trends indicate that within ten
years Palestinians will become the majority in a
single state. And what would be wrong with that? I
have yet to meet a Palestinian unwilling to accept
living alongside the Jewish population on equal terms,
pooling resources and sharing the potential of the
Holy Land. Surely such an arrangement is preferable to
the insanity occurring today. Only the colonial
concept of Zionism stands in the way.
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