Settlers look on as cars and homes they torched burn in Huwara in the
Occupied West Bank, February 26, 2023 [photo credit: Twitter]
The tepid response from Washington to settler terrorism has set a
tone that other governments in the West are bound to follow. Here is
State Department spokesperson Ned Price:
We condemn today’s violence in the West Bank, including the
terrorist attack that killed two Israelis and settler violence, which
resulted in the killing of one Palestinian, injuries to over 100 others,
and the destruction of extensive property.
Many expressed outrage at what they saw as the false equivalency in
Price’s tweet where one attack is deemed “terrorist” and the other
called “settler violence.” Lara Friedman, the president of the
Washington-based Foundation for Middle East Peace tweeted:
When I was in training as a new foreign service officer a retired
amb taught us: “a diplomat never insults anyone…by accident.” So yes,
in current context State spox referring to Palestinian “terrorist
attack” vs “settler violence” is as deliberate as it is unconscionable.
And the Ramallah journalist and activist Nour Odeh commented on her Twitter account:
There should be no confusion. These are not “disturbances” bet
Israeli settlers & Palestinians. Israeli settlers & occupation
soldiers work together to oppress, brutalize & displace Palestinians
who have no protection. This did not start yesterday either.
Odeh makes the point that the current wave of settler terrorism,
though dangerously fuelled and escalated by fascist ministers in the
current Netanyahu government such as “the power couple”
of finance minister Bezalel Smotrich and the national security
minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, has been in play in one form or another since
the inception of the state of Israel. In her recent Arab Digest podcast,
she noted how Israel’s impunity has grown over the decades and what the
result of the international community ignoring flagrant violations has
led to:
what Israel is doing is telling the world: hey, I'm a state above
the law, none of your rules apply to me. I can retaliate against the
Palestinians under my control, under my absolute domination, for seeking
recourse that was set out in the international system for peoples who
are facing problems and issues that require a legal assessment.
This latest rampage may or may not derail Israel’s growing
rapprochement with Arab states though it will cause some uncomfortable
moments. Oman for example had just opened its air space
to El Al. One wonders if Sultan Haithem is in danger of losing the
careful path of neutrality his predecessor Qaboos shaped over nearly 50
years of rule.
The picture that emerged in Tunisia over the weekend is a bleak one
too. The country that launched the Arab Spring and for nearly a decade
maintained a precarious democracy is now pitched on the road to a
totalitarian state headed by a former academic, Kais Saied, who has
attempted to mask his failures at dealing with the economic crisis by jailing critics and journalists and by dog-whistling
black Africans with his own version of America’s racist white
replacement theory. Saied claimed "the undeclared goal of successive
waves of illegal immigration is to consider Tunisia a purely African
country that has no affiliation to the Arab and Islamic nations."
Although hundreds took to the streets
of Tunis to denounce his comments, his tactic to deflect attention away
from his increasingly autocratic and equally incompetent regime has
gained traction. The Middle East Studies professor Monica Marks tweeted:
“Many—but *far* from all—Tunisians are, tragically, embracing Kais
Saied’s racist campaign. Some have joined manhunts. Thousands more are
applauding it on social media.”
Among those condemning his comments is Tharwa Boulifi, the young
Tunisian writer and Arab Digest contributor. Like many of her generation
she voted for Kais Saied in 2019. In our 24 February podcast, Boulifi told us that back then Saied embodied what she now calls a fantasy, the idea that he would salvage the revolution:
Saied made me and other young people dream. And his words gave us
much hope for a better future. It was the first election I got to vote
in. And I was very excited. It was my first time assuming my sovereignty
as a citizen. So I was paying attention to make the right choice and to
choose wisely.
Disillusion set in quickly as Saied consolidated his hold on power.
Now Boulifi feels that the Tunisians of her generation, Gen Z, must take
up the cause of peaceful resistance:
I think all that's left to do is resist. We should keep
resisting. Under all forums whether it's by protesting, writing,
blogging, and especially keeping the media independent, something that
Saied doesn't want to have.
Resistance comes at a price, and too often a very steep price, but it
is one that many young Arabs in Tunisia, in Palestine and elsewhere in
the region are showing great courage in being ready to pay. Would that
their courage was matched by politicians and policy-makers in the West.