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The Israeli occupation has many faces and they all represent different sides of ruthless oppression. However, there are those acts that make you wonder if the occupier has developed such severe paranoia that it has become a victim of its own wrongdoing. It might be the case that, deep down, the oppressor knows how wrong, immoral and unsustainable its actions are; hence it becomes afraid of the oppressed.
But in case there was any doubt that the Israeli occupation has lost its judgment and political compass, look no further than the raid by police earlier this month on two branches of an internationally renowned Palestinian bookshop, the Educational Bookshop, in East Jerusalem. They arrested owner Mahmoud Muna and his nephew Ahmed Muna and, for good measure, seized a selection of a few dozen books — among them a children’s coloring book — a book that you can easily buy online — titled “From the River to the Sea.” Meanwhile, many on the right in Israel, in their annexationist approach, also want a dominion that stretches “from the river to the sea” but are never arrested for saying so.
In case you thought these shops were hiding underground, away from the watchful eyes of the Israeli security forces, I must disappoint you. It was more a case of Inspector Clouseau than James Bond. Both shops are in Salah Al-Din Street, which is the commercial hub of East Jerusalem, frequently visited by diplomats, activists, researchers and tourists from around the world. The Munas’ shop has been a well-known establishment for many years and has never been associated with militant organizations.
This story is Kafkaesque in nature, especially for those who are familiar with the shop, with its many books in foreign languages
Yossi Mekelberg
It is not that the police did not know that their raid was on very shaky legal ground. In public, they suggested that the owners kept inciteful material, but the search warrant was for disturbing public order, not for inciting. How could books and other printed material sitting in a shop disturb public order? Moreover, what possessed the judge to give the police a search warrant in the first place? After all, the books are always well organized on the shelves and both the judge and police officers could have browsed them without causing a commotion or leaving a mess behind them, as they indeed did.
This story is Kafkaesque in nature, especially for those who are familiar with the shop, with its many books in foreign languages. The Israeli security forces should probably look elsewhere to find the reasons why some young Palestinians are resorting to armed resistance — and I have very strong doubts it has anything to do with these two bookshops.
“Suspicion of causing public disturbance” can mean almost anything. It is an excuse that the police use recurrently and can be used to intimidate those against whom there is no solid evidence of any crime being committed. I cannot think of a single bookshop in Israel or anywhere else in the world that has no books on its shelves that might raise suspicion of disturbing the public peace, especially when those who define it are the security forces.
What the occupiers do, and increasingly so, is harass and intimidate the occupied with the most ridiculous accusations to keep them constantly living in fear and confusion about what will happen next. As a result, they totally obey their rulers. In the words of George Orwell, “Until they become conscious, they will never rebel,” and the books do not necessarily incite, but they make people conscious through knowledge — and this is what scares their tormentors.
The confiscation of material in which a Palestinian flag appears is of particular interest. It is worth reminding ourselves that this is the legitimate and legal symbol of the Palestinians and their right to self-determination. However, in the Israeli mind, especially those on the right, it is associated with terrorism. But this is the flag of Palestine and when Israel, in the Oslo Accords, recognized the Palestine Liberation Organization as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, it recognized by extension the symbols of their existence, including their flag. This is not Hamas’ or Hezbollah’s flag and the claim that any printed material that contains the Palestinian flag is an incitement reflects the biases and prejudices of the Israeli security forces about the right of Palestinians to statehood and the symbols that come with that.
This latest episode of harassment and intimidation by Israel’s security forces goes beyond a bookshop and its owners
Yossi Mekelberg
But this latest episode of harassment and intimidation by Israel’s security forces goes beyond a bookshop and its owners. It is being extended to individuals, to Palestinian nongovernmental organizations that are accused of being terrorist without a shred of evidence, and to the closure of media outlets and the intimidation of journalists should certain Israelis in high places disagree with their editorial line.
Arresting the owners of bookshops is a new low. But — as much as this might appeal to the oppressor as a show of strength, exploiting the asymmetry of power and of domination to keep those who are subjected to these arbitrary measures unsettled and in fear for their freedom, their livelihood and sometimes their lives, in the hope that such bullying will paralyze their resistance — it is mainly a sign of the oppressor’s weakness.
It is one thing to contain militancy and terrorism by the use of force, but something else entirely when you see civil society or those who sell or read books as your enemy whose freedom should be denied. It leads to those who resort to such measures also living in constant fear and hiding behind the excessive force they employ, as this is their familiar, almost only, modus operandi.
Those who want to perpetuate the occupation feel the need to constantly bully those who are subjected to their power because, deep down, they know that they have lost the moral and legal argument to deprive millions of people of their political and human rights, and they expect them to resist. After all, those who fought for Israel’s independence also resisted occupation, including resorting to armed resistance, and they succeeded.
There is only one way by which both Israelis and Palestinians will become unafraid of each other and cease trying to harm each other: a mutual recognition of their equal rights in a political and social arrangement that is fully agreed by both. And this will require some painful compromises. In the meantime, in the absence of such a historic compromise, those in charge of Israeli security, as those who dictate their policies, will remain unable to distinguish between friend and foe and will end up seeing the shadows of mountains as mountains — a path that only leads to more oppression and a pathetic fear of bookshops.
- Yossi Mekelberg is a professor of international relations and an associate fellow of the MENA Program at Chatham House. X: @YMekelberg