Palestinian outrage boils over
by Ron Forthofer
The Longmont Daily Times-Call
September 3, 2001
The cycle of violence in the Middle
East continues to worsen almost daily. The appalling suicide bombing in
Jerusalem was retaliation for the horrific killings in Nablus the week before.
The cries of pain and mourning have been drowned out
by cries for revenge and the next round of reprisals has begun. This tit-for-tat
escalation of violence threatens the whole region and must be stopped before
there is no pulling back from the abyss.
To prevent the region from exploding, we must first understand the context for what is happening.
As a result of the Six-Day War in 1967, Israel occupied Arab land on the
Golan Heights in Syria, the West Bank and Gaza, and the Sinai. As part of the
peace agreement with Egypt, Israel returned the Sinai, but it has continued to
occupy the other
territories despite UN resolutions calling for the return of these lands. To
make matters worse, Israel has violated international agreements by
expropriating Palestinian and Syrian land for the placement of Israeli colonies.
These illegal colonies,
along with the brutal Israeli occupation, are almost universally recognized as
the major impediments to achieving peace in the Middle East.
Even back in 1967, David Ben-Gurion, the first prime minister of the independent state of Israel, admitted that, Jerusalem apart, "To get peace, we must return to the pre-1967 borders. Peace is more important than real estate."
This past June, Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, stated, "We believe that in order for there to be peace, Israel must end her occupation and her rule over the Palestinian people."
Instead, Israel continues to use the occupation to steal Palestinian lands
and water, and to humiliate and harass Palestinians in an attempt to get them to
leave their homeland. While on a recent Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT)
delegation, I got a small taste of the everyday violence associated with the
Israeli occupation -- violence that is usually ignored by the media and by the
negotiators. For example, I saw firsthand the "curfew" that Israel
often imposes on entire Palestinian communities. It
doesn't sound so bad until you realize that this "curfew" means being
confined to your home 24 hours a day.
Even worse, Palestinian towns and villages can be blockaded whenever Israel feels like it.
Such "curfews" and blockades are forms of collective punishment and are prohibited under the Geneva Accords.
I visited sites of Palestinian homes that had been demolished by the Israelis under the pretext that they were built without permit. Some of these homes were caves that have existed for thousands of years, certainly long before the occupation! Others were Red Cross tents erected to house those made homeless by earlier demolitions.
Sadly, Israel has made it almost impossible for Palestinians to get permits to build or add on to homes on their own land.
I witnessed the apartheid of "Jewish only" roads. Palestinians are
not allowed to drive on these modern paved "bypass" roads;
instead, they must use back roads (often one-lane dirt), which greatly increase
travel times and the risk of accidents.
Most of us don't even think of "violence" in these terms, but what else is it? How would you respond if you were subjected to such indignities day after day after day? I'm sure you'd be outraged!
After 34 years of mistreatment, including eight years of Oslo negotiations
that only made their situation worse, the Palestinians
finally said enough is enough. When Israeil Prime Minister Ariel Sharon lit the
fuse last Sept. 28, the current intifada was born.
We cannot change the past, but collectively we will determine the future. What kind of future will we make? Will our children and grandchildren grow up in a world at peace, or at war? Will they get a chance to grow up at all?
In the Middle East (and elsewhere around the globe), violence has bred
nothing but more violence. The three R's have become
Reprisal, Revenge and Retaliation. When will the cycle end? Only when we stop
killing each other. Only when we stop letting the extremists define the rules of
engagement. Only when we follow the Golden Rule and do unto others as we would
have them do unto us.
For more information on CPT, visit http://www.prairienet.org/cpt/