As a parent of a Tufts undergraduate, I must say that I have been increasingly troubled by the anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic rhetoric of the recent months. There has been an abundance of slanted reporting and many misleading news reports, and many Tufts students have been taken in by these accounts.
First, I think that we need to gain a true historical perspective of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. For over 3,300 years, Jerusalem has been the Jewish capital. It is named over 700 times in the Tanakh, while not even one time is it mentioned in the Koran, nor did Mohammed ever visit Jerusalem. In fact, Jews pray facing Jerusalem, while Muslims pray facing toward Mecca. While East Jerusalem was under Arab control, Jews were not even allowed to visit this most holy place to them. In contrast, Israel has never denied any religion the right to visit their holy sites.
Israel has shown its interest in forging a peace at many times in history. Although goaded more than once into a war that it did not provoke, Israel has given much of the land seized, such as the Sinai Peninsula, back to the Arabs. How many nations engaged similarly in such a war have ever done the same?
All that being said, it is understandable that the Arabs would like to remain in the land where they have lived for so long. If that is the case, why did over 600,000 Palestinians flee the newly formed state in 1948? In that year, David Ben-Gurion reached out to what was to be a Palestinian state. However, not only did Arab leaders encourage these refugees to leave, but they sent soldiers to crush Israel. The Palestinian refugees were persuaded to leave by their leaders, with promises of being able to return after Israel was defeated. And by the way, why hasn't even one of the surrounding eight Arab countries ever offered to take in these refugees? Could it be that they serve more political use by being intentionally allowed to remain in refugee camps? In contrast, a similar number of Jewish refugees from Arab lands have been absorbed and welcomed into Israel. These Jewish refugees were not encouraged to leave their native countries with promises of being able to return at some future date when the government would be given over to them. Rather, they were forced out because of brutal and tyrannical leadership.
And while we are on the subject of brutality, the news media are vastly slanted. With even just the phrase "hard-liner Sharon," the bias is apparent. How has he shown himself to be a hard-liner since the election? If anything, he has shown immeasurable restraint. Not once has the Israeli army, unlike the Arabs, set their sights on ordinary citizens, infants, or children. Many innocent people have been intentionally targeted by Arab murderers, like the Israeli mother and doctor who were killed or the young schoolchildren who lost their legs when their school bus was attacked. Their only crime was to be traveling back and forth to their homes in Hebron. Or what about the fifteen-month and ten-month-old babies who were purposely killed by snipers? And the religious students standing and waiting for a bus who were killed and maimed? Their only crime was to be visibly Jewish and waiting to travel to their places of study. In contrast, Israeli soldiers have only responded when attacked or have ruined facilities where weapons were being produced.
And how about the media who show Arab children throwing rocks at Israeli soldiers? Do they show the adults who, in such a spineless manner, are standing behind these children with guns? Very often, these cowards plant themselves in front of places of worship or schools so as to give the impression that the Israeli soldiers are firing on these buildings. And by the way, what kind of parents would allow their children to throw rocks at soldiers, anyway? And why aren't these children in school? And speaking of schools, many Americans do not realize that Arab textbooks themselves call for the destruction of Israel, while Israeli textbooks have been revised to make them more sensitive to the plight of the Palestinians. How can children brought up with this kind of hatred and prejudice ever even begin to think about living in peace with their Jewish neighbors?
I am beginning to come to the sad conclusion that the Palestinian leadership does not truly want peace. What other inference can I make? When Ehud Barak was ready to give up more than most ever dreamed Israel would concede, and his offers were turned down by Yassar Arafat, what other assumption can I make? When faced with a reality of peace, Arafat knew that the fanatics in the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) would never agree to any concessions, so what did he do? He used the excuse of Ariel Sharon walking, yes, only walking, on the Temple Mount to launch his newest intifada. Now the Israelis, who at one time had so much hope for peace, have turned away from these blanket concessions given with no Arab assurances, and have turned to Sharon with the hope that he can stop the bloodshed. Mothers are tired of seeing their sons killed and maimed.
Yes, the Israelis want to live in peace, as do many of the Palestinians, too, I am sure. However, not until the Arab leaders end the wanton bloodshed, the manipulation of their own people, and remove from the PLO charter the destruction of the state of Israel can they demonstrate that they truly want peace. And not until then can it happen.
Ellen Metzger is the parent of a Tufts undergradaute.
