The Shield: a novel (31 page)

“
I’ll have a talk with Itamar Herz,” said the Defense Minister. “Maybe we can solve this problem. Probably using several old DC3 transports would be better. They are older designs than the B50 and much smaller. Properly painted they may fool the Germans.”

“
It is decided then: we damage the Romanian refineries and, possibly, the synthetic oil production. Let the military and historians figure out when and how much.”

Am
os closed the meeting.

***

The Chairman of the Palestinian Authority called the meeting to order. The group was seated around a big conference table in his Ramallah office. All the factions were represented, including those supposedly opposed to the Authority, like Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

“
Brothers,” announced the Chairman, “I have grave news. My office received a letter from the Israeli government. Let me read it to you. We can discuss the implications later:

Jerusalem, August 19, 1941

Dear Dr. Mazen;

I
am hereby notifying you of a number of judicial and administrative decisions that may be of interest to you.

As of July 10, 1941, the military courts have been reviewing the cases of convicted terrorists currently serving life sentences, whose acts resulted in death or injury. The prosecution invoked paragraph 3.4.1.7 of the emergency regulations, allowing it to ask for the replacement of a life sentence with the death penalty.

As a result, 357 prisoners (see enclosed list for names) have been sentenced to death so far. I will send you updated lists as soon as they become available.

Let me assure you that the death penalty will only be enforced if our citizens are harmed. If such a tragedy should happen, we will execute convicts belonging to the organization or organizations that participate in such an attack. The n
ames on the lists I enclosed are in the order in which the death penalty will be enforced in case of an attack. We will execute twice the number of convicts as the number of civilians killed or injured in any attack.

You may rest assured that our intentions are peaceful. It is with deep sorrow that I have to notify you of the execution of 16 members of H
amas, as a result of the attack at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. The full list is enclosed. You will note that Ahmad Darwish, who ordered the operation, was among those executed.

I hope that you will be able to rein in the extremist in your ranks to prevent any additional deaths.

Yours Sincerely,

Minister for Internal Security
”

The Chairman paused and looked at each of the men at the conference table: “As you understand, this changes the equation. If we continue our resistance by the same means we have used for so many years, we will cause untold devastation to our own friends and families. I urge each one of you to study the lists carefully. You will find that many of your relatives are at the top of the respective lists.”

Muh
ammad al Husseini was the first to respond: “I reject this threat. The Jews are too weak to enforce it. We can go to their Supreme Court and appeal all these unjust convictions. We can also appeal to the international community and apply pressure through Israel’s allies - that’s always worked in the past. My group will continue our operations – we have to revenge the death of Ahmad Darwish. Besides, every one of us that dies in this holy Jihad becomes a martyr with seventy two virgins awaiting him in heaven.”

The room was silent for a moment. Nobody wanted to contradict this patriotic speech.

“As I said, it will be up to you and your organizations to decide how to react,” the Chairman said finally. “I will order the forces loyal to the Authority to stop all operations immediately.

“
By the way, Muhammad, your uncle warned us not to make trouble now and to wait for his return. Are you going to disobey his order? What if the Israelis arrest you? It’s happened before and may happen again. You will probably be sentenced to death this time around – they know a lot about you. Should your second in command go on and attack some unworthy infidel? And by the way, an appeal to their Supreme Court would be useless as it has no jurisdiction over military courts that operate outside Israeli territory. The West Bank has not been annexed by Israel, so there is no appeal.”

“
I would like to point out to all of you that even if Israel were not blocking all outside communications we would get no help from outside,” said the Palestinian Foreign Minister. “Some of us have been open about destroying the Jews, while others pretended to negotiate with the Jewish state, but our final goal was always the same: to get rid of them for good.

“
You may consider it a miracle that the world never took us to task for this desire, but it is really very simple: nobody thought that the Jews deserved a state of their own or that they even deserved to live. There were some exceptions, but they were in a small minority. The Allies agreed to the Jewish state out of guilt for the Holocaust and because the Jews would have probably established one anyway, but the Jewish state has always been a pariah. That’s why the leftist organizations support us no matter what we do and this is why we could continue to terrorize Israel without rebuke. It is funny, really, how anti-Semitism was condemned but the destruction of the State of Israel was a legitimate goal. Remember, it was anti-Semitism that served us so well.

“
I am sad to inform you that the situation has changed. In the world we’re in now, we are at the Israeli’s mercy. They’re a superpower with advanced weapons and technology, not to mention nuclear capability. Do not forget that the Jewish population of Israel will almost double shortly, increasing their strength. If they decided to kill us all, they could get away with it. Nobody cares about hundreds of thousands of Arabs any more than they care about millions of Jews. The world now thinks Palestinians are the Jews living here. Our friend and ally – anti-Semitism - is still there, but against a Jewish superpower we are nothing. I’m still not quite sure why the Germans are letting all these Jews go. Muhammad’s explanation based on the Mufti’s conversation with our emissary is that they want to concentrate all the Jews in one place and then drop a couple of atom bombs on them. I pray that this is so.”

A stunned silence lasted for several minutes. It wasn’t every day that this group heard a realistic evaluation of their situation. It was very pessimistic and sounded true.

“How do you mean ‘several hundred thousand Arabs’?” asked the leader of the Islamic Jihad finally. “Our own population surveys show that there are more than a million Palestinians in the Gaza strip and at least as many in the West Bank!”

This time it was the Chairman’s turn to respond: “My friend, you believe our propaganda? The West Bank holds at least thirty percent less Palestinians than we claim. The actual birth rates were much lower and emigration much higher than reported. Gaza is not relevant since it did not get transported with us to this time. An Israel with twelve million Jews has no demographic problem with us. Actually they never did but we convinced some of them otherwise – enough for our purposes.

“But back to our main issue. I recommend that you tell everyone in your organizations that from now on any blood they spill will come back to haunt them, immediately and directly. The blood of their brothers will be on their hands.”

“
What if the Jews decide to exterminate us?” asked an older man, the leader of a small Marxist faction.

“
There is nothing we would be able to do except die with dignity.” The Chairman surveyed the crowd. “That is why the Grand Mufti’s advice is so wise – keep quiet and don’t get into fights you can’t win. I agree with his estimate that the only way to defeat Israel is with nuclear weapons. To use them with minimal harm to our people we will have to get out of this area as soon as the border is opened. I only hope that we can convince our brothers living in Israel to follow our example.”

The meeting dispersed after that statement. It seemed that the sacrifice of a small Palestinian state for the dre
am of a large one without Jews was for naught.
The years of struggle and bloodshed were wasted, as were so many Arab lives. It was depressing. Some of the attendees were considering the option to end it all in one glorious act of violence worthy of a real Jihad. Never before had these leaders considered martyring themselves for the cause. It was safe to assume they would find a way to stay alive, as they always did. The Mufti was their only hope. Pray to Allah that his plans will succeed.

***

Dr. Ahmad Mazen didn’t like the current situation one bit but thought that maybe he could change it. It was all a question of politics. The Grand Mufti may have been correct about the Germans and their atom bomb, but in the meantime something had to be done about this terrible change in Israeli policy. They should not be allowed to hold his brothers hostage to future terror acts. The Palestinians should not be held back in their efforts to liberate their land and push the Jews into the sea. He had an idea. It was simple and only required a couple of telephone calls.  His first was to his long-term collaborator and agent in the Peace Now movement.

“
Hello Shlomo. This is your old friend. How are you?”

“
Oh, it’s you. Haven’t heard from you in a long time. I’m fine. How are you and how can I help you?”

“
Shlomo, in a moment I will fax you a letter I received from the Minister of Internal Security. Please read it carefully. You will find that it breaks a number of your laws and constitutes inhumane behavior towards our people. I know that your organization has good lawyers and recommend that you start a two-pronged offensive. A request to the Supreme Court for an injunction to suspend the letter, or whatever other legal action they can come up with, and, in parallel, demonstrations and grassroots resistance to this policy. We will also have the Arab members of the Knesset as well as the left wing peace parties raise hell in the legislature. It’s immoral and illegal to hold prisoners’ lives hostage.”

“
Consider it done.”

Mazen thought some more. He was a historian with a specialty in the Holocaust. Several of his papers explaining how it never happened had been very well accepted in the Arab world. He knew this period well and estimated that none of the great powers, including the U.S. and Russia, would be supportive of the Jews, and certainly would not support the draconian measures against his brothers. The problem was, he didn’t have access to the great powers. He did have access to their
ambassadors though. Mazen thought that if the American and Russian ambassadors publicly oppose the new “Hostage Law” it would help his friends in Peace Now. It might also help them gain some votes in the Knesset. In any case, no harm would be done. He called the American embassy, and after that he called the Russians.

***

The four citizens of the Caliph disappeared in the vicinity of Kaunas, so testified the chief of the local Gestapo. He was extremely nervous and looked afraid. Inspector Saul Unger looked at his voice stress indicator and made a decision
.
“Everybody out. You,” he pointed at the Gestapo man, “stay here.”

The Germans tried to protest, but Eichmann ordered them to obey. Those who were still not convinced of the Caliph’s power, the Major that governed Kaunas being one of those, were swayed by two explosions. The first, the smaller of the two, destroyed an SS barracks two streets away from the building they were in. The second destroyed an empty bunker at the Ninth Fort. The force of this explosion shook the town. The timing was perfect, as the plane that released the two laser-guided bombs received its cue from one of the Special Forces.

“You better listen carefully to what I have to say,” Saul declared. “This is the last warning you will get from the Caliph. One more case of hesitation in obeying my orders and we will execute everybody here.”

There were several German officials in the room, including Eichmann. Three members of the Israeli Special Forces, dressed as Caliphate soldiers, were also present. All the Germans got up and left. Outside another trio of Israelis stood guard. One of them escorted the Germans outside the building. The Israeli group took over, unceremoniously expelling the Gestapo, local Lithuanian police and the German Governor’s staff. The building that used to be the German regional headquarters, the headquarters of the local Gestapo and
of the Lithuanian police was now controlled by Israelis.

“
Relax,” Saul told the Nazi in good but heavily accented German.  “I know it’s not easy to be calm in the presence of the Great Caliph’s inquisitors, but you will be okay if you speak the truth.  Let’s begin.” He put a standard polygraph harness on the German. A thin cable connected it to a small hand held computer. The whole thing was plugged into a power outlet.

“
Now, what is your name?”

“
Hans Klemper.”

“
When were you born?”

“
February 2, 1904.”

“
What color is your hair?”

“
Brown.”

“
Did you have anything to do with the disappearance of our citizens? Yes or no only, please.”