UN Resolution 42/95 "Affirms the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and independence, reaffirms the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for their independence, territorial integrity, national unity, and liberation from domination and foreign occupation by all means including armed struggle."
There is a fundamental error in Howard Wolke's way of thinking about this conflict between the Palestinians and Israelis ("Peace with security," 11/30). He says that the more the Palestinians continue to fight "the more likely it is that Israel is not going to give up its land." I just want to point out that it is not Israel's land. There are almost no countries, including the United States, as well as a large portion of Israelis, that recognize it as Israeli land. Hence the term "occupied land" that is given to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The majority of the clashes are occurring within this occupied Palestinian land. This is legitimate Palestinian land that the Palestinians want back from Israel. Israel has no legitimate legal claim to this land. Therefore, the Palestinians have a right to fight for it back as is stated above. This is also agreed upon by the majority of the world.
I know this is a very controversial statement but it hurts me when some people (not Howard Wolke in this instance) refer to the Bible to justify the occupation. They say that this is the "promised land" that God intended for the "chosen people" and that is why the Jewish people have a right to inhabit it. Yes, the Jews are God's "chosen people" but so are the Christians and Muslims. Even those who don't believe in God are his "chosen people." We are all God's children. I am not down-playing the immense suffering of the Jewish people but I do know that God would also never have intended the sacrifice of one people for another no matter how much suffering one side experienced.
As for security, which is of course Israel's most important priority, General Shlomo Gazit, former head of military intelligence for the Israeli Defense Forces (who will have spoken at Tufts by the time this is published), stated at a lecture at Boston University this week that the Palestinians did not pose a real military threat to Israel and he also disagreed with claims that the 1967 borders would be indefensible if the Palestinians regained control of more of their land.
I understand that even if people realize that the Palestinians do not pose a military threat, they still pose a threat to Israeli security because of the independent insurgents who plant bombs in market places and buses.
The question remains: How is the continuation of the illegal occupation going to solve this problem? How is the expansion of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land going to improve things? How is the tearing down of Palestinian homes and century-old orchards going to lead to peace? How is the killing of 300 Palestinians (including 60 children) going to improve the security situation of the Israeli people? These incidents are only worsening the situation. Where there was one Palestinian filled with anger, there are now ten. Where there were ten, there are now 100. With every Palestinian that perishes in this struggle, new seeds of frustration and resentment are planted. Security is slipping away with the blood of the Palestinians. The Israeli people are suffering immensely because of this conflict. So why does it continue?
Dina Karam is a senior majoring in sociology. She is co-president of the Arab Students Association.
