PERSPECTIVES ON ISRAEL : Moral Boundaries Have Vanished : The ‘only democracy in the Middle East’ has given up any semblance of following democratic rule.

Israel’s mass deportation of 415 Palestinians across the Lebanese border must surely also mark the crossing of a symbolic border. Yes, much worse happened just 10 years ago in the siege of Beirut. But then there was the cover of war. Now the character of Israeli government thinking--Labor or Likud, dovish or hawkish--is harder to conceal.

Four Israeli soldiers on patrol in the Gaza Strip were ambushed and killed; a border policeman was kidnaped and killed. Hamas, the Islamic fundamentalist organization, claimed responsibility. There was intense and understandable pressure on the government to do something. With hardly the pretense of a policing operation to discover the culprits, the military authorities simply rounded up 1,300 Palestinians alleged to have some affiliation with Hamas. Four hundred fifteen “militants” were then selected, given $50 and a blanket, bound and blindfolded and driven on buses to be dumped across the Lebanese border, supposedly for two years.

Everyone knows the Israeli government’s justifications: security needs, self-defense, the fight against terrorism. Israel’s chief negotiator at the Washington peace talks, Elyakim Rubinstein, professed surprise that anyone would get so upset about “a few terrorists being removed.” Rubinstein, a lawyer, needs reminding that without a trial there can be no proof that any one of the 415 deportees was a “terrorist” or had any connection with the killing or even belonged to Hamas.

No semblance of any democratic or legal procedure was followed in the “only democracy in the Middle East.” The deportation procedure, a secret border-crossing in the middle of the night, was explicitly designed to bypass Israeli law. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, with the characteristic shamelessness for which he is justly famous, explained that in the past the law had unfortunately delayed such measures. It is also clear to all legal authorities in the world outside Israel that the deportations violate international law--notably Article 49 of the Geneva Convention, which prohibits such transfers or deportation.

The only discernible morality at work is the principle of collective punishment. Enraged by the killings, even the countervailing democratic forces within Israeli society have faded away. Little could have been expected from the Supreme Court--which, for 25 years, has loyally upheld the military on cases relating to the occupied territories. But the Israeli government coalition and Cabinet today includes a party, Meretz, elected six months ago on a platform of justice and human rights for Palestinians. The Meretz Knesset members, however, supported the Rabin line (though there is dissent in the party, which might soon leave the coalition).

There has been some condemnation by other nations. But this is far more muted than it would be for any country other than Israel. With the current horrors in Bosnia and Somalia, we cannot expect the serious international mobilization that would make Israel understand what it has done.

In response to criticism, Rabin argued that the expulsions were surely preferable to the death penalty. Are we being asked to believe that the Israeli Cabinet debated the killing, in mass reprisal, of 415 people? Obviously not. But for the prime minister even to pose the issue this way is a terrible comment on the shape of Israel’s moral boundaries.

Leaving aside morality, legality and human rights, can anyone seriously believe that this type of policy will be effective, either in restraining Islamic fundamentalism or bringing peace to the Middle East? Israel claims to be following a two-track policy: being tough on the ground and talking peace in Washington. But the tracks are connected. Unless they are offered genuine diplomatic concessions, the Palestinian negotiators will have nothing to show, which encourages further violent opposition. And for Israel to continue ruling the 2 million Palestinians in the occupied territories by collective punishment--not for being a terrorist, not for being Hamas or PLO but just for being Palestinian--only amplifies the cycle of violence.

We in the peace and human-rights movement in Israel are in a clear minority. But our fellow citizens in that 80% of the Israeli Jewish population who think differently and who support these deportations are growing weary of the struggle. There is no doubt that most of them will go along with an American-brokered peace arrangement. No conceivable Palestinian leadership, however, can go along with what Israel is currently offering: a continuation of occupation in another name. Unless the Clinton Administration moves quickly, the next round of vengeance can only be worse for both sides.