<< Front page Commentary April 30, 2004

Palestinian relations response

To the Editors:

On the other side of the hill the view is different. Mr. Demchick’s commentary in the Review’s staff box cites as the source of his frustration the senselessness of real world events and conflicts.

In order to attempt making sense of such tragic events, perhaps the best way is to place one’s self in the shoes of all parties involved in the conflict. Not an easy task for those who side with one or the other of the many groups involved in the Israeli-Palestinian never-ending conflict. A great number of Israelis as well as Palestinians desire to live in peace. Unfortunately there are radical groups in both camps that detest it.

During the Yitzhak Rabin years peace seemed almost there, but his assassination by a radical Israeli derailed the so much-desired resolution to the millenary conflict. I personally believe this may have caused a lot of frustration on both sides. It is for certain that the Oslo accord was dead in the water, as well as the hopes of millions of people. Perhaps it was that sense of frustration and hopelessness that caused many to pick up rocks and weapons and declare a second uprising of the Palestinian people.

Mr. Rabin managed to quell the first uprising through diplomacy. The prospect of a settlement was very real. Radicalism got under way and as it always happens, violence just brings more violence. The leaders of people that use this means through terror, repression, preemptive strikes or whatever violent ways are only going to bring more violence upon their peoples.

Palestine and Israel are a prime example. What is the difference between a 2,000-pound bomb used in a Hamas leader assassination attempt in a residential building filled with Palestinian families and a suicide bomber that gets on a bus in an Israeli city?

I wonder, if Mr. Demchick were in the shoes of the Palestinians, what would the tone of his commentary be? It is really easy to become frustrated by broken promises and brutal repression. It is also really easy to pick up weapons and fight for what you believe is right. Golda Meyer, Ben Gurion, Menachen Begin, Moshe Dayan and many others did it. Israel was founded because of their conviction.

Palestinians also have a right to have a nation and to live peacefully. The means of achieving this is not through targeted assassinations, security walls, land expropriation and rampant repression. The way to achieve it is through the vision of someone of the size of Yitzhak Rabin.

–Edward A. Fuquay
Art department technician


 
 
   

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