| OPINION
| November 10, 2004
Guest Column
The Whole Story
Real solutions require moving
past double standards
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| The Shorthorn: Daniel Worthington |
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After scanning both Israeli and Arab outlooks
on the Middle East, I find that the Israelis come across as willing
to understand and accommodate the Arabs’ outlook, but Arab
disregard for Israelis was marked. Though neither is apt to be angelic
in combat situations, Israelis seem more disturbed by this than
Palestinians, and more likely to see and admit how their actions
contribute to the mess.
At the international level, U.N. resolutions that pass U.S. muster
are likely to be two-sided. As the “Road Map” experience
illustrates, the Palestinians were unable or unwilling to implement
their part of the agreement. But that does not keep them from demanding
that the Israelis keep their word. If this is typical, why should
Israelis be expected to comply with U.N. resolutions when Arabs
ignore them? It’s also probable that resolutions against Israeli
“aggression” are drawn up by one Arab nation or another.
More than 11 of those nations surround and outnumber the Israelis.
With the oil situation, Arabs have the world over a barrel, so to
speak.
The United States is not the staunchest of allies. George Bush “goofed”
and said the Palestinian state should be established outside Israel’s
boundaries, dismissing “the right of return.” Others
would have us return to more Democratic policies: give Palestinians
more Israeli land and Israelis nothing but grief.
Contrary to Palestinian claims, Israel may be more the scapegoat
than the problem, since it’s non-Islamic in an Islamic neighborhood.
Jewish immigration improved the situation, which wasn’t especially
hospitable before they moved in. They looked around and gulped,
“This is it. Not much in terms of quality or space, but let’s
see what we can do with it.” Their presence and efforts were
enough to draw quite a few Arabs from the newly created nations
surrounding the “Jewish National Homeland,” with its
promise of jobs and opportunity. Until then, the population had
been a small, fairly static mix of Jews, Christians and Arabs managing
to eke out an existence in the territory renamed “Palestine”
by the Romans after they squelched Jewish attempts to break free
of Roman domination and re-establish themselves as an independent
nation.
Will economic sanctions really help Palestinians in the long run,
since Israel is still an important part of their job market? If
Arabs accomplish their aims, Jews who survive will be reduced to
the status of second-class citizens, just as they were among the
area’s various Arab populations before being forcibly driven
from the communities where they had been living, often for as long
as two thousand years.
Had the surrounding Arab nations been so inclined, they could have
accepted the very people they advised to leave Israel before launching
their first war against the new Israel. Instead, those refugees
and their descendants remain in refugee camps. Because of the Israelis?
You could say that, but it would be more accurate to say that the
residents are more victimized by their own worldview, leadership
and hatred.
All this is enough to indicate that the Palestinians, knowingly
or not, are apt to leave some things out or make part of the truth
into the whole truth. One person, reared to consider the Israelis
invaders, trouble-makers and monsters, discovered that Israeli doctors
treat patients of all persuasions, sometimes even Arab patients
before Israeli soldiers. It was an eye-opener: she knew that had
she been a Jew in an Arab hospital, she would have been lynched.
Another declared that Arafat was a moderate, because it is the moderate
Arab view that Israel has no right to exist. As an Israeli put it:
If the Arabs put down their weapons, there will be no more violence.
If the Israelis hang up their arsenal, there will be no more Israel.
— Deveny Means is a physical plant building attendant
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