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The eyes that cannot see beyond Jabaliya and Samarra<br>
Simon Tisdall<br>
Tuesday October 05 2004<br>
The Guardian<br><br>
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At first glance the violence in Jabaliya in Palestine and in the Iraqi<br>
town of Samarra appear to be unconnected. The Israeli army's incursion<br>
into northern Gaza looks like just another deadeningly familiar<br>
episode in the unending conflict between Palestinians and Jews.<br><br>
The US-led weekend assault on insurgents in mainly Sunni Samarra seems<br>
to be broadly typical of the continuing turmoil in Iraq.<br><br>
But peer beneath the headlines and it is clear that these ostensibly<br>
separate events are far from routine, and are closely linked in many<br>
ways, directly and indirectly.<br><br>
In both Jabaliya and Samarra modern armies with state-of-the-art<br>
weaponry and unanswerable air power attacked residential areas,<br>
causing numerous civilian casualties.<br><br>
In both cases the degree of lethal force used was grossly<br>
disproportionate to the assessed threat. Three US and two Iraqi<br>
battalions - about 5,000 men - were sent against 200-300 insurgents in<br>
Samarra.<br><br>
In Gaza, in order to deter the sort of vicious home-made Hamas rocket<br>
attacks that killed two children in Sderot last week, the Israelis<br>
have deployed an estimated 2,000 soldiers and 200 tanks, and are<br>
threatening an escalation.<br><br>
In both places, enormous damage has been done to homes and<br>
infrastructure, including basic services. The Palestinians are<br>
appealing for international assistance for what they say is a<br>
developing "humanitarian tragedy".<br><br>
The Iraqi Red Crescent, reporting that 500 families were forced to<br>
flee Samarra, said the Iraqi interim government had asked for<br>
emergency aid.<br><br>
Present horrors apart, Jabaliya and Samarra both offer disturbing<br>
portents, and both have considerable political significance.<br><br>
In Gaza, Israel seems intent on establishing a buffer zone on<br>
Palestinian land, the equivalent of the wall with which it is<br>
enclosing the West Bank and which, despite official denials, is<br>
prospectively just as permanent.<br><br>
This is linked in turn to the Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon's<br>
controversial unilateral plan to evacuate most of the Gaza Strip next<br>
year while consolidating Israel's grip on growing swaths of the West<br>
Bank.<br><br>
The US attack on Samarra, a relatively easy target, appears to be a<br>
dress rehearsal for coming attempts to seize control of better<br>
defended insurgent strongholds such as Falluja, Sadr City and Ramadi.<br><br>
On the success of this campaign rests, to a large degree, the Bush<br>
administration's strategy for creating a democratic post-Saddam Iraq.<br><br>
And thus are the personal political fortunes of Mr Sharon and the US<br>
president, George Bush, bound up to a critical degree in what happens<br>
in places such as Jabaliya and Samarra.<br><br>
Both men are fighting to convince sceptical electorates, and their own<br>
parties, that they know what they are doing. When elected, Mr Sharon<br>
promised to achieve security for Israelis. Mr Bush declared victory in<br>
Iraq more than a year ago.<br><br>
Each man has a credibility gap. To fill it, it seems ongoing civilian<br>
carnage is not too high a price to pay.<br><br>
Jabaliya and Samarra may also be seen as linked symbols of a bigger<br>
problem. In Iraq and Palestine, two allied occupying powers - and<br>
democracies, at that - act with questionable or no legal authority and<br>
with evident impunity.<br><br>
Resolutions and protests from the UN are ignored. European and Arab<br>
governments wring their hands impotently. Tony Blair is reduced to<br>
hinting at better times to come. Yet the bald fact remains: the US and<br>
Israel behave they way they do because they can; there is simply<br>
nobody to stop them.<br><br>
And just as Israel's unbending stance, favouring force over dialogue,<br>
threatens a spreading conflict, drawing in Syria and Lebanon, so does<br>
an aggressive US policy, confusing power and legitimacy, intensify the<br>
risk of an Iraqi fragmentation embroiling Iran, Turkey and other<br>
neighbours.<br><br>
Jabaliya and Samarra, officially, are distinct theatres in the wider<br>
"war on terror".<br><br>
But far from being unconnected, to many in the Arab world they look<br>
dismayingly like integral parts of a western crusade against both<br>
Muslims and Islam in general, to which violent resistance is the only<br>
possible response.<br><br>
On both sides of the divide this dread downward spiral creates a kind<br>
of unseeing rage to which all are held hostage: blind in Iraq, eyeless<br>
in Gaza.<br><br>
Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited<br><br>
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