From Occupied Palestine

Obituary: Tanya Reinhart
VICTORIA BRITTAIN
Guardian, 21 March 2007

What they are fighting for
TANYA REINHART
Yediot Aharonot, [publication postponed]

Whatever may be the fate of the captive soldier Gilad Shalit, the Israeli army's war in Gaza is not about him. As senior security analyst Alex Fishman widely reported, the army was preparing for an attack months earlier and was constantly pushing for it, with the goal of destroying the Hamas infrastructure and its government. The army initiated an escalation on 8 June when it assassinated Abu Samhadana, a senior appointee of the Hamas government, and intensified its shelling of civilians in the Gaza Strip. Governmental authorization for action on a larger scale was already given by 12 June, but it was postponed in the wake of the global reverberation caused by the killing of civilians in the air force bombing the next day. The abduction of the soldier released the safety-catch, and the operation began on 28 June with the destruction of infrastructure in Gaza and the mass detention of the Hamas leadership in the West Bank, which was also planned weeks in advance.[1]

A week of Israeli restraint
TANYA REINHART
Yediot Aharonoth, 21 June 2006

[Translated from Hebrew and annotated by MARK MARSHALL]

In Israeli discourse, Israel is always presented as the side exercising restraint in its conflict with the Palestinians. This was true again for the events of the past week: As the Qassam rockets were falling on the Southern Israeli town of Sderot, it was "leaked" that the Israeli Minister of Defense had directed the army to show restraint [1].

"According to security sources": What remains of the Israeli media
TANYA REINHART
Yediot Aharonot, 24 May 2005

[Translated from Hebrew by Mark Marshall]

In the 1960s there were many jokes in Israel about the Voice of the UAR (United Arab Republic) from Cairo, which broadcasted news in broken Hebrew, written by spokesmen of the Egyptian regime. The absurdity of these broadcasts enhanced the credibility of the IDF spokesmen in our eyes. Today we ourselves are not all that far from the Voice of the UAR, and in fluent IDF Hebrew.

Behind the smokescreen of the Gaza pullout
TANYA REINHART
Yediot Aharonot, 13 April 2005

[Translated from Hebrew by Mark Marshall]

Sharon travelled to the USA as a hero of peace, as if he had already evacuated Gaza and only the follow-up remained to be worked out. What has completely disappeared from the public agenda is what is happening meanwhile in the West Bank. The media continue to deluge us daily with disengagement storms, like the Nitzanim bubble. But for now the disengagement - the Gaza pullout - exists only on paper. On the ground, no settler has yet received compensation. Even those who agreed to accept compensation are now waiting, because if they have a chance to get Nitzanim - the pearl of Israeli real estate - why hurry?

The Israeli left is opting for suicide
TANYA REINHART
Yediot Aharonot, 23 March 2005

[Translated from Hebrew by Mark Marshall]

Judging by the political discourse, being a Leftist today means supporting Sharon. Even when his government decides yet again to postpone the evacuation of the illegal outposts to an unknown future date, the pundits explain that the mere fact that he even raised the matter for discussion in the government is indicative of the seriousness of his intentions. Sharon will evacuate Gaza first, they say, and afterwards the outposts, and in the end maybe even the West Bank. And those who most believe that Sharon will dismantle settlements are the parties of the Left. On what basis?

From Hague to Mas'ha
TANYA REINHART
Yediot Aharonot, 15 July 2004

[Translated from Hebrew by Edeet Ravel and Mark Marshall]

The International Court of Justice has determined that Israel "has the right, and indeed the duty, to... protect the life of its citizens" but that "the measures taken are bound nonetheless to remain in conformity with applicable international law." The Court found the present route of the separation fence or wall to be a serious and egregious violation of international law.

The address for protest is Labor's headquarters
TANYA REINHART
Yediot Aharonot, 8 June 2004

[Translated from Hebrew by Edeet Ravel]

How can we explain the conjurer's trick by which Sharon has turned into the darling of the Israeli peace camp?

Sharon is the worst prime minister we have ever had. No one else has managed to destroy so much in so little time. In the occupied territories, Sharon is realizing with frightening efficiency his long-standing vision of evicting the maximum number of Palestinians from their land. We have become a land of walls and fences and checkpoints in Rafah, in Jerusalem, in the West Bank. And now Israeli Arabs in Lydda are also being imprisoned behind a wall. We have an army that acts in unthinkable ways. Reading a newspaper fills one with shame; it is shameful to be an Israeli abroad.

What kind of state deserves to exist?
TANYA REINHART
Yediot Aharonot, 21 April 2004

Amidst the political storm in Israel regarding the "Gaza disengagement" plan, only one really meaningful fact emerges: Sharon received Bush's approval to proceed with his plan for the wall in the West Bank.

With regard to the Gaza strip, the disengagement plan published in the Israeli papers on Friday, April 16th specifies that within a year and a half, the Israeli occupation there should be declared to be over. In every other aspect, the situation will remain as is. The Palestinians will be imprisoned from all sides, with no connection to the world, except through Israel. Israel also reserves for itself the right to act militarily inside the Gaza strip. But since the strip will no longer be defined as an occupied territory, Israel will not be subject to the fourth Geneva Convention. Clause f of section I in the published plan states that "the disengagement move will obviate the claims about Israel with regard to its responsibility for the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip". In other words, what Israel does today in violation of international law will become legal: It would presumably become formally permissible to starve people and to kill whoever Israel determines - from a child throwing stones, to the successor of a spiritual leader, himself executed a month before.

Biddu: The struggle against the wall
TANYA REINHART
Yediot Aharonot, 20 April 2004

[Translated from Hebrew by Netta Van Vliet]

Biddu is a beautiful Palestinian village, surrounded with vines and fruit orchards, a few miles to the east of the Israeli border of 1967. In the last couple of months, the village, that has lived in peace with its Israeli neighbors even during the present Intifada, has become yet another symbol in the history of Israel/Palestine.