Israeli Minister Sharansky talks on Middle East violence

Adressing the ongoing violence in the Middle East, Israeli Minister of Diaspora and Jerusalem Affairs Natan Sharansky spoke to an invite-only audience Tuesday at Hillel.

In Israel, he said, "children bury their parents, and parents bury their children" everyday because of terrorist attacks.

The chat, which was part of a six-day North American campus tour also focused on international views of Israeli policy.

According to the minister, many foreign politicians and journalists claim that "war criminals head the state [of Israel]" and they have admonished Sharansky for speaking on human rights. He insisted that Israel "is always trying to champion human rights."

Sharansky cited Israel's decision to conduct searches of the Jenin refugee camp in April 2002 on a house-to-house basis as an effort to minimize civilian casualties. He denied the United Nations' initial declaration of the event as a human tragedy and accused the UN of an anti-Israel bias led by an Arab-Muslim nation bloc.

Born in the Ukraine in 1948, Sharansky later fought for Jews' emigration rights and was incarcerated in a Soviet prison camp. He was released several years later when his case generated international attention. He immediately made his way to Israel and became heavily involved in politics, working for immigrants' rights and heading the right-wing Russian immigrants' political effort.

Hillel and Friends of Israel, who co-hosted the event, were only able to invite between 70 and 80 people due to "budgetary reasons and the nature of the speech," organizer Bonnie Rose Schulman said. Gary Hoffman, honorary consul of Pakistan, joined both students and professors from several departments.

Hillel president Joshua Pressman called Sharansky "a hero to many and a stand-up to adversity." Sharansky was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 1986 - an honor he shares with Winston Churchill, Mother Teresa and Nelson Mandela.

As Rabbi Jeffrey Summit said in his introduction, Sharansky "belongs to an exclusive club."

Sharansky also highlighted the differences between the Israeli and Palestinian governments. He said that "war is always the last choice for democratic leaders - we are always making concessions."

Under the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), he said, "in order to keep the people under control, [it] needs an enemy like Israel for them to hate more than [the dictator]."

When asked what he thought of the idea of creating a greater Israel by joining the West Bank and Gaza, Sharansky responded, "Palestinians should have their own independent state and it should be a democracy. That means not going to prison for speaking your mind. [Today] no Palestinian can speak out against Arafat."

Sharansky's comments on the rise of anti-Semitism and action against Arafat were concise. "What will be the fate of Arafat? Not our business. Though if it were America, [the UN] wouldn't think twice [of getting rid of Arafat]." He also said that "the US should be much more aggressive in promoting democracy" in Palestine.

Another question referred to the new law that was passed stating that the children of Israelis who marry Palestinians cannot claim Israeli citizenship. Sharansky justified the law by citing what he called the problem of men who marry many wives and have many children with each. The law is a "financial consideration," he said, because too many of these people make "an industry out of social security."

Prior to his visit to Tufts, Sharansky visited universities in Canada and was also scheduled to speak at other Boston-area schools such as Harvard, MIT, and Boston University before heading to Washington, DC and New York City.