late 1987, there existed a solid public quorum of between 30–40 per
cent in favour of transfer, and from then up to 1992 that proportion
rose to about one in two Israeli Jews, but by 1993 had declined to
about 30 per cent. The general rise in Israeli public opinion’s support
for transfer during the 1980s and the proximity of such development
with frequent statements from some Likud government officials and
ministers (including ministers from the junior partners in the Likud
coalition, such as Yosef Shapira, Yuval Neeman, Geula Cohen,
Rehava’am Zeevi, Raphael Eitan), in favour of Arab removal is
noteworthy.
Moreover, since Likud assumed power in 1977, there has been, in
conjunction with the growing polarisation of the Israeli public
(particularly after the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon) and the
increase in public support for transfer, a coarsening of political
rhetoric towards, and a stirring up of racism against, the Palestinian
population. The relative proximity of hostile public attitudes towards
the Palestinians, including those who are citizens of Israel, to the
government’s repressive and discriminatory policies is also
reinforced by the countless number of remarks from ministers and
army generals referring to the Palestinians as ‘two-legged animals’
(Begin’s statement shortly before the 1982 invasion of Lebanon);
‘drugged insects’ (by Raphael Eitan, then Army Chief of Staff, later
a minister in the Shamir government until 1992, and subsequently
Minister of Agriculture in the Netanyahu government); ‘a cancer in
the flesh of the country’ (by General Yanush Ben-Gal, Commanding
Officer of the Northern Command, who later joined the Labour
Party); ‘Arab scum’ (by the head of the council of Rosh Pina
settlement in the Galilee); ‘foreigners’ and ‘aliens’ (by Minister Ariel
Sharon, who was describing Israel’s Arabs). When Defence Minister,
Sharon ordered army officers ‘to tear off [Arab male demonstrators’]
balls’;
36
Binyamin Gur-Arie, a former Prime Minister’s adviser on
Arab affairs stated that ‘this disease [that is, the Palestinisation of the
Arab minority in Israel] cannot be cured as the war continues and
the PLO rises on an international level.’ This propagation of
dehumanising and contemptuous anti-Arab attitudes, replete with
racist metaphors and overtones, against the intended Arab victims,
became increasingly pronounced after the Lebanese war of 1982; it
also had a pernicious influence and was a prerequisite for public
support for, and acquiescence in, the apartheid system in the
occupied territories. Against the background of this political culture
206 Imperial Israel and the Palestinians