It almost seems fruitless to continually send letters to news publications in the name of trying to unearth the truth about the situation in Israel. With every letter sent in Israel’s defense, the same replies come careening back, calling to mind the brutal occupation of the Israeli Defense Force, the sanctions on trade, the curfews, the disputed amount of land given and taken in the last 54 years and the outlandish suffering of the Palestinians.
I have been an avid reader of anything having to do with Israel since I visited there two years ago for five months. In that time, I have learned that nothing can be summed up in any editorial letter. But with that risk in mind, I would like to remind both Rebecca Stempfle (“Truth requires the Palestinian perspective,” Jan. 24) and Yaser Ishtaiwi (“Israel not innocent,” Jan 24.) that the Palestinians have been played for fools since day one by Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and their own fearless leader, Yasser Arafat.
In the past, the leadership in the aforementioned countries sparred with Israel in hopes that, once conquered, the holy land would be allocated to their countries. It wasn’t until the 1960s when leadership in the territories truly emerged.
Then, in the 1980s when the Palestine Liberation Organization became nationally recognized, the goal changed from divvying up land to establishing a state with a corrupt leader (Arafat) who would help continue the ridiculous trend that has emerged in the Middle East of wealthy governments that do little to nothing to help a poverty stricken populous. Of course the goal came at a high price. For example, 100,000 lives were taken in Black September – the infamous Jordanian massacre to quell Palestinians who planned a coup.
The truth is Palestine will become a state, eventually. The IDF will back out of Palestine, and most of the settlements in the territories will be dismantled – and rightly so. The question remains when, and also who, will benefit from the monies that will come in. So please, don’t wax too poetic about who is innocent and guilty.
The truth is that Palestine presents a delicious opportunity for power hungry fronts, such as the PLO, Hamas and Jihad, to reign control upon state formation and get extraordinarily rich.
Israeli occupation has hurt the territories, but ending their encroachment will not allow 50 percent of the population to get their jobs back. It will not end government-controlled media. It will not end the brainwashing of millions of children into believing that martyrdom is the best compliment. It will not build houses and sewer systems.
For some reason, a lot of people passionate for Palestine seem to believe that Israel caused these problems. Get real. See the whole picture. It’s an ugly one, but if you don’t want to see it, no one can help you.
Shula Luck is a senior psychology major. Send comments to [email protected]
