Dear Editor,
Please allow me space in your prestigious newspaper to express my response to an article written by your regular contributor, the honourable Senator Henry Gordon, with regard to game theory, the state of Israel, and its implications for the Belize-Guatemala territorial dispute.
In his article about game theory Senator Gordon essentially outlined the political/psychological strategy that he claims both the Arab states around Israel – but Syria in particular – employ in order to coerce Israel into relinquishing land they feel is rightfully theirs. In the immediate case of Syria this would be the Golan Heights. He cleverly explains the current stalemate in the region by using the analogy of two men in a room with money, Reuben and Simon, in which the former is Israel and the latter Syria, and thereafter equates Syria’s all-or-nothing territorial aspirations to the current dilemma faced by Belize from Guatemala. To this effect I have three major points of contention which I will outline below.
My first point of disagreement with Senator Gordon’s article is the mismatched use of analogy, for it is Israel that far more plays the role of Simon in the region, and, by extension, Guatemala in ours. In the first instance the modern state of Israel is the child of the Zionist movement founded by Theodor Herzl in 1897 on a purely secular basis as a response to the wave of nationalism that was sweeping Europe at the time. The Zionists finally succeeded in the creation of a Jewish homeland at the expense of the native Palestinian people, only after a bloody displacement in which thousands of natives died, including the old, women and children. What is more, Israel has subsequently and repeatedly violated the 1948 borders designated for it by the United Nations, such as illegally occupying the Golan Heights, the West Bank, and until recently, Gaza.
But the similarities between Guatemala do not end there. Just as Israel continues to murder and massacre innocent Palestinian civilians (such as in Ramallah and Gaza, just to name two instances) Guatemala is likewise charged with slaughtering in excess of 250,000 of its own citizens, mostly defenceless Mayans, to satisfy the thirst for land by its wealthy neo-European elite. Additionally, both countries turn a blind eye to illegal settlements and encroachments by their citizenry and, in the case of Belize; this is aided by the “artificial border” known more appropriately as the “adjacency zone.”
In both cases once the settlers have staked a claim to land and begin to multiply, they are just barely removed with the greatest of difficulty as was seen in Santa Rosa in Cayo and Gaza in 2005.
Fuelling the antagonism on the side of the belligerent nations is the subtle element of racism. In the case of Israel, against Arabs, and in that of Guatemala, against the historically dominant Black people of this country: examples of both cases abound in the media of the respective countries.
My second reason for insisting that Israel and Guatemala are more appropriately labelled the aggressor Simon is that their underlying tactics used to achieve territorial domination are near identical. First, as was stated above, both countries flood the disputed territories with their nationals, who then proceed to multiply and intimidate the local populations. In Israel this has led to the creation of “security barriers” i.e. walls, to cordon off illegal settlements and appropriate more territory. Nowhere is this more blatant than in East Jerusalem.
Likewise, while Guatemala has not yet gone to these lengths, one would be remiss to not notice the onslaught on the Western border of our country for its natural resources. What is even more disturbing, however, is the alarming number of Guatemalan citizens granted Belizean nationality, thereby giving the former an advantage over the latter when and if the referendum to go to the ICJ should arise. Perhaps this is what Minister Elrington meant when he said we are all “one people.”
Paradoxically, however, even while Israel and Guatemala use military intimidation at will, they continue to bemoan being the “victim,” with Israel using the tried and trusted accusation of anti-Semitism against her criticisers, and Guatemala claiming that she was cheated and “roughed up” by the imperial strength of the British. Furthermore, both aggressors have successfully indoctrinated the belief in the land claim in their citizens and both find sundry ways of demoralising the people of the desired territories. Israel finds starvation and military presence effective to this effect, while Guatemala, with the help of Belizean collaborators, prefers to flood Belize with her propaganda carrying newspapers and news channels. In both scenarios the similarities in tactics are too clear to be overlooked, and this is not a coincidence, the desired effects are the same.
Thirdly and lastly, to fully appreciate the scope of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Belize-Guatemala dispute, one must take a step back and look at how these nations fit into the wider scheme of the capitalist/globalisation driven neo-colonialists. First of all, since its creation Israel has been a willing pawn of the United States in its quest to intimidate and control the oil-rich nations of the Middle East. One has only to take a look at the way Israel has been the true belligerent in the region: the bombing of Lebanon and Iraq, and more recently the threat of war with Iran over supposed nuclear weapons while she denies the existence of her own lethal stockpile of warheads.
Similarly, Guatemala has always been a tool of the Uncle Sam against “communism,” that is, the poor masses rebelling against their oppressors. Was she not used to launch the Bay of Pigs invasion as well as to train the Contras during the civil war in Nicaragua? Also, while Israel may be bereft of oil deposits Belize has this resource in abundance and investors north of us are all too eager to exploit them. Secondly, just as Israel hires powerful lobbyists to promote its cause internationally, Guatemala aspires to do the same through the ICJ.
Finally, look at what the years of dispute have caused to the people of the occupied/disputed territories. The Palestinians continue to die by the scores for want of basic humanitarian aid that the Israelis refuse to allow in, while here in Belize the flood of immigrants coupled with the propagandistic media have produced a despondent and apathetic populace that are denied land and jobs while the citizens of the very nation that claims us are given these resources.
I write this letter not in any anger or malice whatsoever towards our respected Senator. I merely intend to point out what I passionately feel is a profoundly misguided interpretation of the facts of our predicament by Senator Gordon, and I do so by expanding on the facts he presented in brief in his article.
It is my hope that all Belizeans can make the connections I have, for it is only in doing so that we can begin to undo the psychological assault that the Guatemalans and others have succeeded in waging against us.
Sincerely,
A proud Belizean citizen
Antonio Hegar
Santa Elena, Cayo District