By Amira Hass
Contributed by Lucia
".......The concept of "amnesty" that is being used to describe the agreement to stop chasing wanted men demonstrates to what extent Israel is entrenched in its position of domination. According to the law, the president is allowed to pardon "criminals." According to the law, a "criminal" is someone who was tried and convicted......
But here it is a "pardon" of the Shin Bet and the army in the field. The ease with which the concept "pardon" was accepted in the media is additional proof of the sweeping approval that Israelis grant the Israel Defense Forces and its soldiers to act as prosecutor, judge and executioner. Is it any wonder that they are given the power of a king of England, to pardon before a trial?
Even the fate of the prisoners to be released in the context of the gestures had been sealed, even before they were tried in the big show called "the Israeli military court." A show, because the same military establishment that occupies and destroys and oppresses the civilian population is the body that decides that opposing the occupation (even by popular demonstrations and stone throwing) is a crime. Its judges are loyal to the interest of defending the occupier and the settler. The gesture of the prisoner release is therefore a very minor repair of a substantial legal flaw......
But after all, the "gestures" are being made in the concept of Israeli supremacy, of throwing a few crumbs to Abbas in anticipation of his obedience and of a grade of "good behavior" befitting a loyal subject."
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