Slingshots and “Sarafs"

Slingshots and ‘Sarafs’ 1 is the working title for my dissertation, and it is actually about the fifth rewording I have come up with in just the few short weeks since I started working on the project. A previous incarnation was ‘David and Goliath’, a reference to mythical story of the young, Israelite, Sheppard boy’s miraculous victory over the Philistine ‘Giant’ and champion, Goliath, that is documented in Biblical and Qu'anic texts. The current title certainly draws from the sentiment expressed with that ancient myth. The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict is, and has been for a long time, 2 a conflict between two antagonists that is so vastly unequal in terms of military might and economic resources, that, short of a similar miracle it appears to be almost irresolvable at this point.

Apart from the aesthetic fact that the term ‘David and Goliath’ is perhaps overused in reference to this conflict, I was keen to use a title that was more descriptive of the actual conditions facing modern day antagonists while maintaining the core of the original sentiment. The slingshot, therefore, is not only the weapon which David used to incapacitate his foe, it is also the weapon that’s use grew in prominence during the first Intifada) and perhaps best captured in symbolism of the resistance by Palestinian children to the extraordinary might of the Israeli military. The slingshot is something that is held in the hand of the antagonist and fires projectile, usually stones, toward the target. The ‘Saraf’, on the other hand, is a brand new weapon, in April of 2007 the Israel government took delivery of the first three of a final contingent of eighteen from the US based Boeing Corporation4 The ‘Saraf’ is the latest upgraded version of the well known Apache Helicopter. The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) website refers to it as “the most advanced of all aircraft5 its can operate during day or night operations and in all weathers and in any part of the world. Perhaps most revelling is that in contrast to the slingshots dependence on the accuracy of human judgement, the aircraft possesses a new “automatic target selection and a new missile target system” which is nicknamed, tellingly: “Launch and Forget". 6

1‘Sarafs’ are sometimes translated as ‘Sharafs’, the Original product designation from Boeing is AH-64D Apache Longbow. (http://www.boeing.com/rotorcraft/military/ah64d/)

2Since 1967, in its current form.

4 Al Jazeera online (http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=7602)

5 IDF Website (http://www1.idf.il/DOVER/site/mainpage.asp?sl=EN&srch=&id=6&clr=1)

6 IDF Website (http://www1.idf.il/DOVER/site/mainpage.asp?sl=EN&srch=&id=6&clr=1): Tran, M., “Abbas appeals for US help” in The Guardian, Friday May 18, 2007 (available online at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,,00.html, last accessed 23/05/:51:13), At the time of writing, Israeli helicopter gun ships are involved in missile attacks, primarily, against those who they identify as Hamas and Islamic Jihad in and around Gaza City in response to rocket attacks on nearby Israeli towns from Gaza. It is not clear weather the ‘Sarafs’ are operational in these missions, however the extraordinary gulf in military strength is evident here nonetheless.