Unfortunately the fighting in the Middle East continues

Israelis and Palestinians have right to survive -- both have committed terrorism against each other

(4-3-2002)

by Matt Kapko
Community editor, The Lumberjack

The Middle East is repeating its own history with a growing culture of violence as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict reached a boiling point over the past week.

With the daily occurrence of Palestinian suicide bombers came an aggressive military campaign from Israel. As of this writing, Israeli tanks are surrounding the Palestinian Liberation Organization's headquarters in Ramallah.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is regarding PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat as responsible for all terrorist activities committed by Palestinians.

Being confined to the remaining offices in his compound, Arafat has been essentially cut off from electricity, food and water since last Friday.

As Sharon was declaring that Israel is in a state of war, his spokespersons made clear that their goal is to isolate Arafat and force a cease-fire with the Palestinians.

The Israeli military called up 20,000 troops as the number of Palestinian towns being occupied grew. Arafat and his spokespersons condemned Israel's incursion into their communities, seeing it as an aggression against the people of Palestine. The words coming from both sides are expected, but there are some points that don't seem to be addressed.

The actions of Palestinian suicide bombers are quickly defined as terrorist, while the conduct of Israel's military is hardly seen the same. Regardless of its merit, the Israeli military are committing terrorism against Palestinians.

Without this understanding, an Israeli life can easily be seen as more valuable than that of a Palestinian. Both the Israelis and Palestinians have a right to survive, and both sides have committed terrorism against the other's civilians.

The PLO is the umbrella organization of numerous Palestinian-nationalist groups. These splinter organizations have different goals and methods for reaching them.

The Israeli government in cahoots with President Bush demanded that Arafat control the people of Palestine and stop inciting the violence.

In 1995, Israel learned the foolishness of this theory in failing to control their population when a Jewish extremist assassinated then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

It doesn't take an order from Arafat for a Palestinian to find themselves in such desperation as to want to blow themselves up in attempts to further their struggle for a sovereign Palestinian state.

Life in refugee camps and the likely chance of witnessing family member's deaths at the hands of Israeli soldiers is convincing enough for them.

I don't wish to glorify or justify the acts of Palestinian suicide bombers but to instead make it clear the environment in which these people live and the sense of hopelessness stemming from their situation.

Shortly after the Israeli military stormed Ramallah, the U. N. Security Council held an emergency session passing resolution 1402 which called for Israel to withdraw troops from Palestinian cities and for both sides to return to negotiations for peace.

It appears that Sharon is willing to negotiate a cease-fire only after he destroys the infrastructure of the PLO and is in a position of power to force-feed his visions of a peace.

To me it is unclear exactly what house-to-house searches and execution-style killings of Palestinians will do to bring peace to the region.

Violence does not bring peace nor will the human rights violations being carried out by the Israeli military. Everyday the evidence for this is piling up.

On Tuesday, reports came in of Israeli troops injuring protestors by firing into the ground directly in front of them.

This conflict is the very history of these distinct peoples. While the acts of Palestinian suicide bombers and Israeli tanks carry the headlines, the majority of people in the region do not want bloodshed. It is unfortunate that the suicide bombers mar the image of the Palestinians plight while the same goes for the actions of Israeli soldiers.

Neither side is willing to recognize the viewpoint of the other, instead they stubbornly resort to blaming each other for the violence.

Arafat and Sharon have both proven to be leaders that cannot be trusted and many of the Israelis and Palestinians agree.

Only time will tell whether Sharon dares to remove Arafat from power and the bets are pouring in at The 'Jack.

It must be cautioned that those waiting to replace Arafat are more extreme in their views and will only cause more bloodshed.

On Monday, Bush toned down his support for Israel's occupation of Palestinian towns, and it seems his premature wet dreams of Arafat being responsible for the violence have subsided.

Matt Kapko is the Community editor at The Lumberjack, and because Christine did not have room for a thing after his column, he got this generic one.