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Twin Town High (vol. 8) |
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Israel has no Alternative, but Defend Herself
Wednesday 28 August @ 09:56:27 |
 by Stanley Berg
I would like to respond to Kristin Razowsky's e-mail missive from the West Bank with another point of view. I found it interesting that in attempting to report on the situation in the Middle East, Kristin chose to speak only to Palestinians, never attempting to gain another perspective from an Israeli. She frequently criticizes the Israeli Defense Force's tight curfew and restrictions in the West Bank while completely glossing over the fact that the reason for these restrictions is the relentless stream of suicide bombers who have killed and maimed hundreds of innocent Israelis. Much as Kristin refuses to acknowledge it, there are consequences in this world for your actions. If your people willfully murder innocent members of another population again and again with suicide bombings and random gun attacks, your people will suffer. The Palestinians are not innocent victims of an oppressive occupation. They have brought about their own suffering by rejecting peace overtures from Israel and responding only with violence. It is sad, but true.
Kristin frequently laments the collective punishment of all Palestinians for the actions of a few, but proposes no alternative course of action that the Israeli government could or should take to protect its citizens from being blown to pieces while riding a bus, eating pizza in a restaurant, or simply walking down the street. I agree that collective punishment is an imperfect solution to the problem, but what alternative do the Israelis have? If the Palestinians are unwilling to police themselves and prevent their own from becoming murderers of innocent Israelis then they are leaving the policing in the hands of the Israelis, who have no way of knowing who is a terrorist and who is peaceful. Kristin may insist that the Palestinians she came in contact with are not terrorists, and she may be correct, but SOME of the Palestinians obviously are terrorists, or else we would not be hearing about bloody explosions that rip apart the bodies of innocent Israelis on a regular basis.
The bottom line is that there is still an unwillingness on the part of many Palestinians to recognize the State of Israel's right to exist. This unyielding hatred and rejectionism is at the heart of the problem in the Middle East. There will never be peace in the Middle East until the Palestinians renounce this point of view and accept Israel as a legitimate neighbor rather than a mortal enemy to be “driven into the sea.” Arafat's wholesale rejection of Ehud Barak's offer to end the occupation and create a Palestinian state at Camp David in 2000 demonstrated once again that many Palestinians are not seeking a state alongside of Israel, but rather a state in place of Israel. Kristin insists that the Palestinians want peace and are willing to make compromises, but offers up no proof of this whatsover. The facts and history clearly show that this has not been the case.
Remember, the Palestinian “resistance” that Kristin speaks of so admiringly actually consists of the murder by suicide bombing of innocent Israeli men, women, and children. While, admittedly, the Israeli Defense Force has regrettably caused the deaths of innocent Palestinians during this conflict, they are not actively targeting innnocents, whereas the Palestinian suicide bombers are indeed actively targeting innocent victims. Kristin notes in passing that the killing of innocent Israelis “saddens” her, but quickly changes the subject.
If only Kristin had taken the time to try to learn more about the Israeli side of the story, her article could have had some validity. She speaks of talking with Palestinian families who have, sadly, lost sons and brothers. But why didn't she talk to Israelis, many of whom have not only lost sons and brothers but, because the suicide bombings kill indiscriminately, have also lost many wives and daughters? Kristin had a chance to make us all understand more about the situation in the Middle East, but instead she has only created more ignorance. Taken as it is, Kristin's article is purely a piece of one-sided anti-Israeli propaganda and should be viewed as such.
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