Op-Ed
Occupation Is a Crime
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Kind of a Big Deal
November 28, 2006 - 1:00amToday, Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres will be addressing members of the Cornell community in Bailey Hall. According to the CIPAC website, one of the event’s sponsors, the former Prime Minister will be discussing, “Israel and the prospects for peace in the Middle East.” The visit of such a major foreign leader is sure to be a packed event.
However, outside Bailey Hall there will also be a number of Cornell students, Ithaca College students and community members protesting against Peres. But why protest the proclaimed “man of peace”?
My fellow columnist Jeff Purcell elaborated on one of the many reasons yesterday in his column, “Peres’ Apartheid Past,” which detailed Israel’s support of Apartheid South Africa while Peres was Prime Minister.
CIPAC and others praise Peres as a Nobel laureate for the peace prize he won in 1994 jointly with Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin. However, they do not discuss the fact that, in 2002, members of the Nobel committee publicly opposed Peres’ actions as a member of the Israeli cabinet in the re-occupation of Palestinian territory. Hanna Kvanmo, a Nobel committee member, stated that, “what is happening today in Palestine is grotesque and unbelievable. Peres is responsible, as part of the government.” Committee members expressed regret that, in response to Peres’ actions, the peace prize could not be recalled.
There are numerous other reasons to oppose Peres, from his role in developing nuclear weapons in Israel to his work to help cover up the Armenian genocide in order to establish political ties with Turkey. However, the protest today will not just be a protest against Peres exclusively. It will also be a protest against the Israeli government and its actions in Palestine.
Unfortunately, many Americans, including some on the left, are not aware of the horrors that occur against Palestinians on a daily basis. They see the results of suicide bombers in Israel prominently featured on the news, but not the daily horrors of living in Gaza or the West Bank. Those who may begin to question Israel’s actions towards the people of Palestine often silence their dissent for fear of being labeled an “anti-Semite.”
When discussion on the issue of Israel and Palestine emerges, it is important to note the distinction between being Israeli and supporting Israel’s policies. There are some Israelis who oppose the government’s policies and stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine, with some even refusing to serve in the Israeli Army.
In the same vein, there is a distinction between supporters of Israel and Jewish people. Not all Jewish people support the state of Israel, despite the fear of being called anti-Semitic by people of their own religion and ancestry.
In order to explain why I will be protesting Peres tomorrow, there are many things that I could discuss. I could go into the origins of Zionism, and the collaboration of some early Zionists with anti-Semitic leaders. I could discuss the creation of the state of Israel and the unequal distribution of land between Arabs and Zionists. However, those things are in the past. I could debate for hours with supporters of Israel about the history of Zionism and Israel, and nothing would be gained.
What matters most, both to the people there and to activists here, is what’s happening in Palestine today. If life was wonderful for the Palestinians now, Israel’s past transgressions might seem less pressing.
But life is not wonderful for the people of Palestine today. Appalling would be a better description of the daily struggles they must face.
Although Israel claims to have withdrawn from Gaza and the West Bank, Palestinians continue to live under occupation. There are many facets to the occupation, which Israel claims are needed for “security.” In reality, they are methods for control of the people of Palestine
Checkpoints serve as a major restriction on the day-to-day lives of Palestinians. The vast majority of these checkpoints are set up between Palestinian towns and villages and are exclusively for Palestinians. People are often held up for hours at these checkpoints at random, then suddenly allowed to pass. This makes it nearly impossible to go to school or have a job outside of your own small town, crippling the Palestinian economy.
There are also separate highways for Israelis and Palestinians, and each group has different license plates to ensure that they are driving on the “correct” highway. It is no surprise that the Israeli highway is much better maintained. Beyond being a daily frustration, it is also a subtle reminder to Palestinians that they are less than Israelis.
Roadblocks. Settlements. Outposts. The Wall. The list of tactics by which the Israeli government seeks to upset the lives of Palestinians goes on and on. What it adds up to is an Apartheid state, in which there are two classes of citizens: Israeli and Palestinian.
It can be difficult to support the cause of justice in Palestine, especially when the U.S. media and government are so consistently pro-Israel. Often, it is easier to shy away from the topic and focus on “safer” issues. However, we cannot ignore our duty to stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine, in opposition to the oppressive Israeli regime.
If you believe in justice, come to Bailey Hall at 2:45 pm today to proclaim: “From Iraq to Palestine, Occupation Is A Crime.”
Correction: In last week’s column on the tasering incident at UCLA, I mistakenly referred to the Iranian-American student involved in the incident, Mostafa Tabatabainejad, as Arabic. I do not know the ethnicity of Tabatabainejad, as Iran has a diversity of ethnicities within its borders. I sincerely regret the error.
Laura Taylor is a senior in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations. She can be contacted at lat34@cornell.edu. Kind of a Big Deal appears Tuesdays.
Questions!
1. Has Israel claimed to have withdrawn from the West Bank?
2. Is the U.S. an apartheid country because illegal immigrants do not have all the rights and privileges of American citizens?
3. If Israel's occupation has nothing to do with security, as you dismissively suggest, what is the purpose of the occupation?
4. If your answer to #3 above is to "control of the people of Palestine," as you explain in your article, since you lack any modicum on introspection, what, exactly, does Israel get out of this?
5. How many rocket attacks has Israel suffered from Gaza since withdrawing from Gaza?
6. How many weapons have been smuggled from Egypt since Israel withdrew from Gaza?
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I agree that occupation is terrible, and that the hardships it puts on Palestinians is enormous. No one wants to be an occupier, and Israel doesn't want to have to "control of the people of Palestine."
The notion of the Oslo Peace Process was to gradually eliminate occupation along with the constant terror attacks emanating from the occupied territories. Instead, the Palestinians launched their Intifada and increased those attacks, leading to a tighter shut down.
But I agree. The occupation must end. The historical Gaza disengagement was the start of that for the Gaza Strip, but the continuing rocket fire from Gaza into mainland Israel is just another sign that the Palestinians don't want peace.
In the West Bank, the construction of the separation barrier and the use of checkpoints in and out of Israel has decreased terror attacks by over 90%.
It might surprise Laura Taylor that Israelis aren't conducting suicide bomb attacks against Israel. She might also be surprised by the fact that 19% of Israel's citizens are, in fact, Arab and enjoy democratic representation in Israel's Knesset. Israeli Arabs are...Israeli!
Israel, like any country, has citizens and non-citizens. Illegal Immigrants in the U.S. don't have all of the rights and privileges as Americans. Thus, when Laura Taylor spouts off lines like "What it adds up to is an Apartheid state, in which there are two classes of citizens: Israeli and Palestinian," what she is really saying is that Israel has citizens and non-citizens. By her definition, the U.S. is an apartheid state.
Nice column!
Pause NOT.
Life today is horrible for the Palestinians because their leaders and the rest of the Arab world have made a conscious choice to keep their lives horrible to maintain a false grievance against Israel. Why are the Palestinians still living in refugee camps? Is it because the horrible Israeli occupiers won't let them build homes? No. It's because the Palestinian leaders funnel all the foreign aid into buying weapons instead of building homes. It's because the neighboring Arab countries refuse to integrate the Palestinians into their own countries, choosing instead to keep them poor and angry. Hundreds of thousands of Jews were kicked out of Arab countries in the aftermath of the 1948 War of Independence. Are they stewing in refugee camps and plotting suicide bomb attacks? No. They were fully integrated into Israeli society decades ago and are now living normal lives.
The Palestinians have chosen a culture of death and are raising their children to be the next generation of killers of Jews. Take a look for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odvRlLZrlJ4&eurl=
Finally, your "correction" from last week's column is still wrong. Arabic is a language, not an ethnicity and you could have easily verified the ethnicity of the UCLA student with a little research, instead of blindly assuming he was an Arab.
Occupation?
Laura, since occupation is the root of all violence between Israel and the Palestinians, I was hoping you could write your next article on the roots of the continued rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza, and Hezbollah's continued attacks on Northern Israel, being that there is no "occupation" of either Gaza or Lebanon?? Since I am assuming you have very little understanding of this conflict and its history based on the inaccuracies in your article, I would inform you that Israel had completely disengaged from Gaza and Israel had completely withdrawn from Lebanon. My guess is that it has something other to do with than occupation, but of course you won't hear of that since you would rather have your voice get soar from sreaming, rather than learning and engaging on important issues from the lecture.
Laura...
...please stop writing your articles. For reasonable people and for your cause. Reasonable people like to read reasonable things, and your, frankly, astonishingly subpar article takes up space where a well written article could be. As for your cause--it has legitimacy--and the mindless prattle doesn't help it. Why do you think you have such keen insight into these issues? Why do you think they are so simple? Please stop