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By Bruce S. Ticker
March 17, 2003
A quarter-year ago, I received an angry response to a piece I wrote about folks like Rachel Corrie. The writer charged that Israeli soldiers have deliberately harmed so-called human shields who travel from America and Europe to Israel's territories to block military activities.
I wouldn't know about the actions of Israeli soldiers, nor do I condone intentional attempts to hurt the activists, but I think I could safely bet that the soldiers and others involved in Israeli military activities hate their guts. And that includes those who disagree with government policies.
It is risky enough to live in Israel these days, and the dangers multiply when the soldiers operate in a war zone.
The presence of foreigners who inject themselves into conflicts between the Israeli military and the Palestinians adds to the jeopardy for everyone involved - including the soldiers, Palestinian civilians and the outsiders themselves.
Can you imagine how stressed out the soldiers must be? I never served in the military, but when I worked as a social worker I found myself in threatening situations where I sought police protection. Parents whose children are about to be removed can be very unpredictable people at such a point.
Anyone who interfered with my job swiftly earned my antagonism. I can well understand the soldiers' attitudes no matter what their politics. They don't appreciate outsiders further complicating an already awful task in a war zone. Of the 750 Israelis who have died in the last 30 months, more than a few hundred have been soldiers and none of these soldiers want to die young because of these idiots.
I don't understand why the Israeli government has tolerated these outsiders for a year or more. The Israeli government has every right to deport them, and when authorities have probable cause to believe that they have interfered with military activities or intend to do so, they should deport them.
Of course, it's a tragedy that the 23-year-old Rachel Corrie was killed when she stood in front of a bulldozer that demolished a home in the Rafah refugee camp in southern Gaza on Sunday.
There is no delicate way to say this, but she and her compatriots knowingly put themselves in harm's way. Some of their forerunners have blocked a road near Nablus, snuck food into the Church of the Nativity Bethlehem when terrorists seized control of it and disrupted work on a security wall. Any number of these people could have met Corrie's fate at any time.
I'm surprised that the Israeli government has not put its foot down already.
What Israel should do is deport anyone it clearly knows has attempted to interfere with military activities. If anyone not on official business steps foot in a virtual war zone, they should be questioned and if it turns out that they intended to interfere then they should at least be given a written warning that they'll face immediate deportation if they engage in such action.
In addition, anyone entering Israel should be checked out for their likely intentions, and anyone suspicious should be barred from entering the territories.
For good measure, maybe some pro-Israel supporters should blockade the various offices of the International Solidarity Movement which hosts these idiots. See how they feel.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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