The theory of Israeli illusory security

Many Israeli experts, military personnel, and academics, who claim to be the most capable of understanding what they call the Middle East and the most effective in dealing with it and its phenomena, believe that this region, with all its ethnic and sectarian mosaic, is a fragile, ever-changing, and frequently conflicted region, devoid of legitimacy and constants, and that it worships force in all its forms and manifestations. They believe that the peoples of this region and its sects are transient and have never developed solid states or stable regimes. Even the states that arose here were feudal, tribal states based on tribalism more than nationalism or patriotism.

The problem with this is that the Israeli military and security establishment treats us with this colonial and orientalist mentality. In other words, it treats us and the peoples of the region based on the assumption that we are neither mature peoples nor real states.

The Israeli military-security establishment, which rules Israel and is the decision-maker, at least until now, believes that it is possible to achieve permanent security - not to mention permanent peace - through all forms of force, starting with occupying land, expelling its inhabitants, abusing them, depriving them of their wealth and rights, controlling their lives, controlling their activities, limiting their ability to confront, preventing them from exercising basic rights, and making them feel like they are inside a large prison, denied many of the privileges that every citizen living on their land in complete freedom possesses. For this reason, the military-security establishment has, over the course of 56 years, restricted freedoms, movement, work, travel, construction, education, urban and population development. This is done through a discriminatory legal system, expanding settlements, changing the road network, confiscating land for various reasons, expelling citizens, preventing them from building, and forcing them into residential areas that become increasingly narrower with time.

However, the Israeli military-security establishment was not satisfied with these measures of force and subjugation, despite their costly and harsh nature. It succeeded in some of its objectives, which included impoverishing citizens, subordinating them to the Israeli economy, and dismantling social structures to a certain extent, as well as pushing them to emigrate, drop out of school, or become involved in a world of crime. As I mentioned, the military-security establishment was not satisfied with these measures of force. Rather, it resorted to using another tool of control and subjugation through political proposals, settlement projects, the development of alternatives, and the presentation of multiple political options. Over the course of 56 years, the occupier has deliberately bypassed the choices of the Palestinian people, their symbols, and their political representative. The occupier has tried throughout this time to create alternative leaders, other plans, and fictitious bodies. It has attempted to create solutions that have neither legs nor hands, and to fabricate thugs from various regions, colors, and interests.

This apparently didn't work for reasons too long to be explained in a newspaper article like this. So the military-security establishment turned to new solutions, such as dismantling, skepticism, division, seduction, funding schemes, and the illusion of representation. The Israeli military-security establishment resorted to using excessive force on the one hand, and soft power and deception on the other, based on the premise that the peoples of the region are delusional, imaginary, reckless, and emotional, and will believe anything with a little seduction and temptation.

Israel has never given up on trying to consolidate its security—not to mention its peace—through a heavy stick that operates without regard for compromise, and through soft policies that operate without regard for the heavy stick. In this, Israel appears incomprehensible, insane, or without legal restraints or humanitarian controls whatsoever. What's the problem with all this? The problem is that Israel has not achieved security to this moment, nor has it achieved peace. It has remained embroiled in constant wars that have cost it dearly in material and human terms, and it has remained in constant turmoil and tremendous controversy. As much as we have changed, Israeli society has also changed at an even greater pace. Israel is losing its vitality, its guaranteeing institutions, and its strong internal factors, and is descending into the abyss of extremism, racism, and the threat of civil war. It is losing its luster, reputation, and respect, at a time when near and distant dangers and challenges are increasing.

The problem with Israel's delusional security theory is that Israel doesn't want to see that it is occupying and dispossessing another people, yet it demands that the region not only recognize this but also share in its consequences. This is an occupation that has never existed before, and this is also true. The occupying Israeli doesn't believe he is practicing a hideous occupation; rather, he sees himself as returning to the home he abandoned thousands of years ago, and therefore he is renovating it anew. And even these renovations entail some losses. This is the problem with Israeli security: many illusions and superhuman efforts to prove them true, which is never true.

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The problem with Israel's delusional security theory is that Israel doesn't want to see that it is occupying and confiscating another people's land, yet it demands that the region not only recognize this but also share in its consequences.