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ABOUT THE QUICK TAKE Every Friday, the Quick Take columnists will offer their views on an issue of significance to American University. Notable members of the campus community will also be invited to contribute to this new feature. Suggestions for topics and other ideas from readers are welcome and encouraged, so please submit comments to edpage@theeagleonline.com. |
Last Wednesday, the United Nations Security Council formed a special committee to review Palestine's application for full U.N. Membership. As the commission meets behind closed doors, public figures on both sides have made their feelings on the matter known, bringing the Israel-Palestine conflict to yet another contentious moment in its tried and troubled history. Should Palestine be recognized? What impact will this have on the peace process? And how should AU students both Palestine's actions and Israel's response? Our Quick Take columnists and guest contributors weigh in:
David Wolkowicz and Hallie Bondar
Steve Demarest
Palestinian Authority takes struggle to the international community
Joe Gruenbaum
A biased media leads to biased perspectives
Rachel Lomot
The path to peace is understanding
Israel is committed to peace
By David Wolkowicz and Hallie Bondar
In 2000, peace between Israel and Palestine never looked more achievable. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barack shocked the world by offering the Palestinians a state with Jerusalem as its capital, 95 percent of the West Bank, Gaza, and $30 billion in compensation for refugees. Saudi Arabian Prince Bandar told Yasser Arafat it would be a “crime” if we “lose this opportunity.” Yet, the Palestinians lived up to their reputation of “never miss[ing] an opportunity to miss an opportunity.”
Eleven years later and the PLO wants exactly what Arafat had once refused: a newly drawn up Palestinian state would include land before 1967 redrawing of borders and hail east Jerusalem as its capital.
From the original UN partition in 1947 to the 2010 Israeli settlement freeze the Palestinians still rejected every proposal that could result in the creation of their own state. In 2005, Israel unilaterally agreed to withdraw from all 19 of its settlements in the Gaza Strip. Israeli soldiers were forced to drag people from their homes. The result? Thousands of rockets have rained down on Israeli citizens.
Today, the PLO is using a new method to achieve statehood: recognition in the UN. Despite lacking the capacity to establish legitimate borders, form government institutions and carry out basic government functions such as collecting taxes (which Israel does for them) and provide a stable economy since 30 percent of their GDP comes from foreign aid, the world appears willing to upgrade their status at the UN to observer status.
This upgrade would be enough for President Abbas who has made his ambitions clear in a New York Times editorial in May: "Palestine's admission to the United Nations would [...] pave the way for us to pursue claims against Israel at the United Nations, human rights treaty bodies and the International Court of Justice.” His focus lies not with improving the lives of Palestinians, but instead at vilifying Israel, while ignoring Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s call to continue negotiations today. Israel has shown its commitment to peace, when will the PLO do the same?
David Wolkowicz and Hallie Bondar are members of AU Students for Israel.
Palestinian Authority takes struggle to the international community
By Steve Demarest
For the last two decades, the Israeli and American governments have worked to suppress the national aspirations of the Palestinian people through a “peace process” that has completely failed to end the occupation of the Palestinian territories. And the Palestine Papers, a set of documents detailing negotiations between the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government that leaked earlier this year, showed that the PA was willing to capitulate on major Palestinian goals, including, in large part, the right of return for Palestinian refugees.
So it was rather surprising to see PA President Mahmoud Abbas push forward with a UN bid for Palestinian statehood despite the relentless opposition of Binyamin Netanyahu's government and the Obama Administration. In a move indicating that he may actually still possess a bit of integrity, Abbas sent a clear message that the PA will not waste its time in futile negotiation with Israel and is willing to pursue other options for obtaining statehood.
The major obstacle to UN recognition of a Palestinian state is, of course, our own President, who has made it clear that he will veto the PA's bid. As hypocritical and misleading as Barack Obama's May speech on the Middle East was, he actually managed to outdo himself this time, neglecting to even mention the word “occupation.” Also noteworthy was Obama's sickening exploitation of the Holocaust to justify Israeli oppression of the Palestinians.
The PA statehood bid will not solve all the problems of the Palestinians. It will almost certainly be vetoed and, even if passed, Israel could simply ignore it as it has with past UN resolutions. However, the bid has served to expose the rejectionism of the US and delivered an important symbolic message. Abbas has given hope to the Palestinians of the occupied territories, no small feat.
Steve Demarest is a member of AU Students for Justice in Palestine.
A biased media leads to biased perspectives
By Joe Gruenbaum
The traditional narrative appearing in articles about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from Western media sources—nowadays usually just American media sources—is something like this:
It’s dusk. Palestinian militants sneak through occupied territory and attack an Israeli government building, killing a half-dozen. Israel responds by firing long-range rockets at militant strongholds, killing about the same number. Statements on both sides are inflammatory; the population of each country is outraged. Neither will take any step toward peace.
The influence of Christian Zionism is such that the institutions we trust to report fact objectively have created this fiction, now ingrained in the minds of many Americans, that is unabashedly pro-Israel. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve encountered people trying to justify Israel’s conquest of territories outside the 1967 borders with arguments about how much Israel needed to retaliate to show its strength, or that Israel was simply protecting itself. These responses skate deftly around the fact that Israel invaded, still controls and is trying to colonize another sovereign nation’s territory. That truth is simply ignored by the US media, or played down as unavoidable.
The media also pointedly ignores the nature of violence in the conflict. Casualties have not been equal. This conflict has not been a give and take. B’Tselem, The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights, reports that since 2000, Israelis have killed 6,430 Palestinians, and Palestinians 1,084 Israelis.
And I haven’t yet mentioned the hundreds of thousands of refugees driven out of the West Bank, Jerusalem, and Gaza. Upon the creation of Israel, more than 700,000 Palestinians became refugees. Now, the number is approaching 4.62 million displaced, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.
Even the United States cannot control Israel’s behavior. Obama still cannot get Netanyahu to resume a moratorium on settlement building, which was standard operating procedure for previous administrations. In fact, in response to Palestine’s quest for statehood in the UN, Israel announced last week that it will soon begin construction on 1,100 new settlements.
And now, we plan to veto Palestine’s state-hood bid. With the Arab world already alienated, and France stepping in to soutenir la démocratie in Libya, Tunisia and now Palestine, the United States stands at a crossroads. We’ve vetoed resolutions like this before. But never has there been such worldwide support for a Palestinian state.
It’s time for the United States to get real about Israel. It won’t happen, because of the strength of Jewish and Zionist voters, some of whom Obama needs to please in 2012. But it would be nice if the media, at least, could cut their fictional narrative and begin to tell the truth about what’s actually going on.
Joe Gruenbaum is a Freshman in SIS and a Quick Take columnist for The Eagle.
The path to peace is understanding
By Rachel Lomot
Until last Saturday I was like most ignorant people. Simply a victim of the partisan American media in the Israel-Palestine issue, I questioned the righteousness of all Palestinians because of the pro-Israel stories I’m always exposed to. When asked whether Palestine should be a state I wasn’t sure, but I was convinced Palestinians were the “bad guys.” However, there is no “good” side and “bad” side to war, there is only violence coming from years of built up anger.
The UN has tried to resolve this conflict before. It continuously fails because the Palestinian people are “no longer tolerating endless negotiations about nothing,” according to AU hosted speaker Mouin Rabbani,a visiting senior fellow at the Institute for Palestine Studies. However, the epitome of this conflict is not over land, but over stereotypes and revenge. One violent act creates anger in the victims, which creates more violence, and more victims. The cycle won’t end until the world ceases to associate with only one side. I beg the world - take a breath and listen.
On Sept. 24, I heard Aziz Abu Sarah, a Palestinian Professor, tell his story. Aziz’s brother was tortured and incarcerated for throwing rocks at Israeli’s; due to his malnutrition in jail he passed away. The only way Aziz could react was in a completely human way – revenge. Aziz became involved in a world of hatred, with consistently strengthening beliefs due to continuous reinforcement and ignorance. To him Israeli’s were “not fully human.”
But later, Aziz was put into a position where he had to take a class in Jerusalem with mixed Israeli’s and Palestinians. The only Israeli’s he had interacted with before were settlers. Simple conversation led Aziz to discover their similarities and dismiss his ignorance. Aziz realized the simple solution: listening.
If someone so set on revenge can turn around from a simple classroom experience, then is it possible for everyone?
Palestine deserves to have representation and a presence in the UN, just like Israel. Yet, this will be vetoed and both nations will be back to square one. Change is not going to take place on a political level As we can see from our own country, nothing gets accomplished in politics. But, change can happen on a grassroots level. We can follow the example of Aziz who bravely entered Israeli high schools to talk about his culture. Currently Aziz hosts Mejdi Tour Company which aims to showcase both sides of Jerusalem.
We must go from absentmindedly throwing stones at our “enemies” to sharing stories. Each person who commits to understanding the opposing perspective becomes one more proponent to ending the gunfire.
Rachel Lomot is a Freshman in SIS and SOC and a Quick Take columnist for The Eagle.
