The rise of the Oslo generation

posted on: Oct 17, 2015

In 1988, Israel’s then-Defence Minister Yitzhak Rabin ordered his lieutenants at the height of the first Palestinian Intifada to “break the bones” of young Palestinian inciters and stone throwers to “bring them under control”.

And recently, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the military to use “all means necessary”, including the use of “live ammunition” against Palestinian stone throwers.

Almost three decades later, and it’s more of the same.

Now, as then, Israel’s excessive use of force has failed to repress the Palestinian yearning for freedom from occupation. Instead, the tensions in Jerusalem have spread to Palestinians communities in the West Bank, Gaza, and within Israel itself.

However, unlike Rabin, who concluded that force has its limits and that Israel needs to embrace diplomacy, the current prime minister reckons force works and diplomacy is only good to waste time and gain territory. (Rabin was later assassinated by an Israeli extremist against the backdrop of incitement by the Israeli right, led by none other than Benjamin Netanyahu.)

Inside Story – The end of the Oslo agreement?

‘The Zionist enterprise’

But now that his policy backfired, Netanyahu is doing what he does best: project blame elsewhere. Predictably, he expressed shock and dismay and accused the Palestinians of trying to destroy the “Zionist enterprise” – ie, Israel.

Such a “whining while shooting” policy has worked for Israel in the past, but will it work this time around?

The peace process generation

Unlike their predecessors, the overwhelming majority of the young Palestinians who are out demonstrating grew up under the shadows of the Israel-dictated “peace process”.

Source: www.aljazeera.com