The unspoken alliance: Israel’s secret relationship with apartheid South Africa – Mondoweiss

24.1.16

The unspoken alliance: Israel’s secret relationship with apartheid South Africa – Mondoweiss: The plan was code-named ‘The Shaham Plan’ and it divided the West Bank to eight districts for the purpose of facilitating the imposition of an organized military rule. Michael (Michel) Shaham was the general military governor of the Palestinian territories inside Israel and the official name of the programme was ‘the organization of the Military Rule in Occupied Territories’…. The Shaham plan also suggested names of people who should be appointed to the high posts in the future occupation. …

By May 1967, the plan became operative and the actual appointment of military governors and military judges to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip moved to a more detailed stage…Each governor in May received a box (Argaz). Each box included instructions of how to govern an occupied Arab area; the Geneva and the Hague conventions; the Arabic translation of the emergency regulations; the book, The Occupation of Enemy Territory: A Commentary on the Law and Practice of Belligerent Occupation….

Although, in hindsight one can say that despite the elaborate preparations in practice an easier way was chosen: transferring the mode of rule according to the emergency regulations that were imposed on the Palestinians inside Israel between 1948 and 1966 and transplant them into the reality of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The Israeli interpretation of these regulations – in 1948 as well as in 1967 – gave unlimited control for a military governor over every aspect of life of the people in his area.