Salon.com > Christoph Schult

“It is a clash of civilizations”

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 13:24:00 +0000

Even before he became Israel's foreign minister just under a year ago, Avigdor Lieberman had already established a reputation for his abrasive approach. For example, the former club bouncer, who was born in Moldova and emigrated to Israel in 1978, threatened to bomb the Aswan High Dam in Egypt and publicly stated that he wished President Hosni Mubarek would "go to Hell."

The popularity of Lieberman, with his thick Russian accent, is fueled by two sources: the more than 1 million Israeli immigrants from the former Soviet Union, who support a largely hardline course against the Palestinians; and the Jewish settlers in the West Bank, where Lieberman himself lives.

When it comes to the settlements in the West Bank, Lieberman pronounce's himself flexible. But he refuses to make any compromises when it comes to preserving the Jewish residential areas that have been constructed in eastern Jerusalem since Israeli victory in the Six-Day War in 1967. Around 200,000 Jews live in this annexed part of the city, and the destruction of Arab homes and new construction projects could soon transform Arab residents into a minority.

“I will not back down”

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:09:00 +0000

Mr. President, the whole world is waiting for you to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for talks. When is this finally going to happen?

That depends on Israel. We Palestinians have always said that we are willing to negotiate, but only if Israel stops settlement construction completely and recognizes the 1967 borders.

Why are you standing in the way of talks by setting these preconditions?

They aren't preconditions, but steps that are overdue after the first phase of the international roadmap for peace. Unlike Israel, we have met our obligations: We have recognized Israel's right to exist, and we are combating violent Palestinian groups. The Americans, the Europeans and even the Israelis have acknowledged this.

At least Netanyahu has ordered a 10-month freeze on settlements, something no other Israeli prime minister has done. Wouldn't it be your turn now to take a step in his direction?

It isn't a real moratorium, because a few thousand housing units are still being built in the West Bank, and Jerusalem is completely exempted from the settlement freeze.

A forced breakthrough in the Middle East

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:32:00 +0000

Cell 28, block 3, Hadarim Prison, 30 kilometers (19 miles) northeast of Tel Aviv: This is where one of the two men who could play an important role in the Middle East in the coming months is currently incarcerated. The other man sits in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington.

In 2004, an Israeli court sentenced Marwan Barghouti, 50, to life in prison for his role in the planning of several murders. At the time, Barghouti called it a "show trial" and insisted that it would not deter him from sticking to his position. Even behind bars, the charismatic Palestinian leader stressed the need to "fight the occupying power." At the same time, however, he argued the case for peaceful coexistence with the Israelis and advocated a two-state solution. Three weeks ago, at the convention in Bethlehem of Fatah, which governs the West Bank, the prisoner received the third-largest number of votes for a spot on the group's central committee.

Israel’s pragmatic thug

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 10:20:00 +0000

Things get tight as the members of Parliament meet at their headquarters on the western outskirts of Jerusalem. The conference room, about the size of an ordinary living room, is really too small to accommodate the party's new abundance of power. The Israel Our Home Party (Yisrael Beiteinu), with its 15 seats, is now the third-largest faction in the Israeli Parliament, the Knesset, and will join the new government. Eventually everyone in the room takes a seat at a small horseshoe-shaped table.

Avigdor Lieberman, 50, squeezes his bulky frame into a chair at the head of the table, facing a tray of sticky chocolate croissants and soft drinks. "We have achieved a lot," he says, in his Russian-accented Hebrew, pronouncing his O's as A's and rolling his R's. A yellowed map of the faded Soviet Union hangs on the wall.

Lieberman founded and shaped his party. For him, an immigrant from the former Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, a new era is about to begin. He intends to be Israel's new foreign minister. It will be a historic moment, and he can hardly wait. "The faster a government is formed, the better for the country," he tells the media patriotically.

Did Israel commit war crimes in Gaza?

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 11:12:00 +0000

The Palmachim Air Force Base is 15 kilometers (9 miles) south of Tel Aviv, tucked away in the dunes along the Mediterranean shore. A thin, bald man wearing rectangular, rimless glasses is standing in front of half a dozen combat helicopters on the airfield at the base.

He introduces himself as "Major I." A reservist in the Israeli armed forces, he ought to be looking after the restaurant he recently opened in downtown Tel Aviv. But since the end of December, his workplace has been the cockpit of a Cobra helicopter. "It's a crazy world," he says. "You're with your family in the morning and at war in Gaza in the afternoon."

Appropriately serious and yet relaxed, the 38-year-old major was probably selected by the Israeli army press office for the meeting with Spiegel because he comes across as being so intelligent and urbane.

Israel makes a distinction between terrorists and civilians -- that, at least, is the message the reservist keeps repeating in various forms. He shows an Israeli Air Force video that depicts Palestinian fighters taking cover behind a tree, firing off a rocket and then quickly driving away in a jeep. Black cross hairs can be seen following them. No other people are visible. Suddenly the jeep turns into the garage of an apartment building.

“Hamastan” vs. “Fatahstan”

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 10:43:00 +0000

Nothing symbolizes the swift defeat of the moderate Fatah movement in Gaza as well as the recent escape of its security chief, Mohammed Dahlan. In five days of intense fighting -- after weeks of sporadic civil war -- Hamas seized political control over the 1.4 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip. Fatah's troops offered surprisingly little resistance, though they vastly outnumber Hamas' forces. By the end of last week, victorious Hamas fighters were driving Dahlan's few remaining men half naked through the streets before executing them in the desert.

As head of the preventive security forces of former Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in the 1990s, Dahlan, 46, took a heavy-handed approach to punishing members of the rival Hamas faction, locking many of its leaders in prison. Current Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas named Dahlan coordinator of the Palestinian security forces in March of this year. Dahlan stands for everything the Hamas extremists hate: He took part in the secret peace negotiations between the Palestinian Liberation Organization and Israel. He has long maintained contacts with U.S. and Israeli intelligence, placing him at the top of Hamas' death list as a collaborator and traitor to the Palestinian cause. Early this year he was asked whether he was afraid. "Forget it," he answered, "not for a second." Dahlan insisted that he stood behind his men 100 percent. "We will do everything, I repeat, everything, to protect the Fatah activists," he said at the time.

Bombs vs. ballots

Wed, 25 Jan 2006 12:00:00 +0000

Sheikh Mohammed Abu Tir would never have imagined that he would feel grateful to the Israelis. They arrested him in Jerusalem early last week, when he campaigned near the Damascus Gate, despite an Israeli ban on such activities. First they interrogated him, and then they stuck him in a cell, where he spent the night sleeping on a bare floor, covered only with his coat.

Abu Tir is still wearing the same gray coat as he sits in his living room a few days later and talks about his night in prison. His house is in Umm Tuba, a low-income district of Jerusalem where an icy wind blows through the narrow streets at this time of the year. He's been practically overwhelmed with visitors since images on TV transformed him into a minor celebrity. "The Israelis are stupid," he says, smiling, sipping his coffee. "They helped us a great deal."

Without his trademark bright red beard, which he dyes with henna ("like the Prophet Mohammed," the sheikh says quietly), this thin, darkly clothed and bespectacled man wouldn't stand out from other Islamic politicians.