Harper's Visit To Israel In Its Proper Historical Context
Jan 24, 2014
Harper's Visit To Israel In Its Proper Historical Context
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I was wondering what to make of the recent video of a backbench Conservative MP trying to get in on the Prime Minister's 'million dollar shot' at Israel's famous Wailing Wall, something about the blatantly cold political commodification of something that's intended to physically manifest and represent the most positive and uplifting of intentions.
After reading this press release from the National Education Committee on Israel/Palestine (NECIP), I found the only thing I could really say about the incident is that it wasn't really an anomoly on the trip, so much as it was the most perfect representative moment of it.
There was nothing good, true, positive or uplifting about Stephen Harper's visit to Israel.
There is the same element of cold political commodification and historical falsehood in every aspect of the entire visit in and of itself, Harper's statement in the Knesset, his visit to the wailing wall, and the main purpose of the visit, to acknowledge a bird sanctuary being named after him, and, as the NECIP point out, the site of the 'sanctuary' itself.
The Stephen Harper bird sanctuary in Israel
Why can Harper see the birds, but not any
Palestinians?
Is the Steven J. Harper Hula Valley Bird Sanctuary just an environmental project?
On January 22, Mr. Harper visited the Hula Valley Bird Sanctuary that will be named after him.
He saw lots of birds, but no Palestinians. There is a reason. There are not many Palestinians
left in the Hula Valley.
In 1948 there were several small Palestinian villages eking out a poor living in the malaria
infested marshy valley by fishing and weaving papyrus mats.
According to Israeli historian Benny Morris, the Hula Valley was cleared of its Bedouin
inhabitants in 1948 through a military operation (before the declaration of Israeli
independence) led by Israeli General Yigal Allon.
In Morris' account, the soldiers were ordered to attack villages in the area, and that "their
inhabitants expelled and the[ir] houses blown up." An eyewitness quoted by Morris described the scene:
“House after house was bombed and torched, then matters proceeded towards the Jordan. All
was bombed, the tents and huts were burned. All day there were explosions, and smoke and
fire were visible.”
General Allon described the effect of psychological warfare on the Palestinian Arabs:
"The confidence of thousands of [Palestinian] Arabs of the Hula [Valley] was shaken . . . We
had ONLY five days left . . . until 15 May [1948]. We regarded it as imperative to CLEANSE [of
Palestinian Arabs] the interior of the Galilee and create JEWISH territorial continuity in the
whole of the Upper Galilee.”
The confiscated land was allocated for the development of kibbutzim, but the reclamation was a
failure and most of the valley has subsequently returned to its natural state. The Palestinian
villagers have never been allowed to return to their land. They were permanently displaced
without compensation.
It is on and around these ruins that The Stephen J. Harper Hula Valley Bird Sanctuary Visitor
and Education Centre will be built.
For more information, please refer to: The Birth of the Palestinian refugee problem, 1947–1948,
Benny Morris, 1989.
Peter Larson
Chair,
National Education Committee on Israel/Palestine
National Council on Canada Arab Relations
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