Op-Ed
Sound Off: Perspectives on the visit of the Palestinian ambassador
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A Helping of Hummus
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This past Tuesday, I, along with 400 or so of my peers, went to Statler Auditorium to hear Palestinian Ambassador Afif Safieh address the Cornell community on what was advertised as “A Palestinian Perspective.” Ambassador Safieh’s speech came at a crucial time, with tensions and violence having mounted in Gaza a few days earlier. I was happy to see that the audience was very respectful of Ambassador Safieh during his speech, as the spiel given in the beginning about “our right to protest without obstructing the speaker’s right to free speech” brought back images of John Ashcroft and students with potato sack hats. No, I’m happy to report that Ambassador Safieh’s extraordinarily elegant speech (let’s not address the fact that English is probably his third language and yet he still speaks it infinitely better than I could ever aspire to) was completely free of interruption. (This, unfortunately, is something I cannot say about President Skorton’s introduction, which went on for what I honestly believe to have been a full 15 grueling minutes. In fact, I think the only thing left unsaid by whoever it was introducing him was whether Skorton prefers boxers or briefs.)
As expected, however, the opposing viewpoint came out during the question-answer period. If you weren’t at the talk, I’m sure you’ve heard from your friends of the — let me try to be diplomatic — extreme and offensive naïveté of one student, who I am ashamed to call a fellow Cornellian, when he began his question with what he thought was a funny joke. The naïve young lad preceded his question with: “How many Palestinians does it take to screw in a light bulb?” It’s really unfortunate that Cornell cannot assess whether an applicant to the University has common sense as well as good academic scores before admitting them. Luckily, the audience booed this questioner (sorry kid, you are not Russell Peters), showing the ambassador that most of us, thankfully, are not racist bigots.
At its core, this student’s question was somewhat reasonable. Minus all the prejudice, his question was essentially: “how can Israelis trust Palestinians when Israeli civilians are constantly being attacked by Hamas,” citing different instances of Israeli causalities. In fact, had this student asked this question instead of the one he actually asked, he would have received a less severe ass-whooping than the one he consequently received from Safieh. Safieh’s response, which was so well-phrased that the ambassador had to ask the audience to stop applauding, contained one phrase which has stuck with me since: “I have one remark to say about causalities … you mentioned casualties [caused by] Hamas … in the last 4 days, we have had in Gaza … 117 killed, and on the Israeli side three killed. I for one say that all of the victims were unnecessary victims … you are only thinking of the three and you probably think that the 117 killed deserve to have been killed … I have often told Israelis that …” — and here’s the kicker — “anybody who does not condemn Israeli indiscriminate bombardment is not morally equipped to have an opinion on Hamas’ bombings.” Throughout his speech Safieh condemned suicide bombings and Palestinian militant terrorism, and cited that as a Christian he did not identify with or support Hamas.
With the Israeli-Palestinian conflict having gone on for at least six decades, we seem to find ourselves forgetting that both sides are human, both sides have families and friends that they love and want to protect, and both sides just want to be able to live happy and peaceful lives. The hate emerges when, for whatever reason, these people are inhibited from their human right to security and the pursuit of happiness.
One of the main reasons that I took this column was because I felt that the Middle East was represented from a very one-sided perspective at Cornell, namely that of a very anti-Arab one. I felt that it was very important to highlight the Arab world from another side because I think that it is essential that any individual, on any side of an argument, be able to clearly see and understand both perspectives of an issue. One of the most interesting talks I’ve had at Cornell was when I sat down with fellow columnist Ben Birnbaum ’08 and discussed, from each of our own perspectives, the Hezbollah-Israel war of 2006.
If we are ever to see peace in the Middle East, it will only take place under the leadership of enlightened individuals who see each side’s legitimacy and right to live, and this begins, as corny as it may sound, right here at Cornell, be it by hearing the Palestinian Ambassador speak, or by going with a Jewish friend to Shabbat dinner.
Nora Choueiri is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences. She can be contacted at nchoueiri@cornellsun.com. A Helping of Hummus appears alternate Mondays.
Do you realize that the
Do you realize that the majority of the 117 killed were Hamas terrorists who have been firing barrage after barrage of rockets at the neighboring Israeli towns? And Israel's attacks were certainly not "indiscriminate" as Safieh describes. Israel targets the terrorists launching the rockets -- who also happen to be firing from civilians areas. Even the vaunted Geneva Convention, which opponents of Israel drag out at every opportunity to bash Israel when she tries to defend herself, says that any civilian casulaties resulting from attacks against terrorists embedded amongst civilians are on the terrorists who cowardly launch these attacks. It is extremely hypocritical for Hamas to fire rockets from civilian areas indiscriminately at Israeli towns (they are not even firing at military targets) and then cry to the world when a few civilians get killed in the reprisal attack by Israel. This tactic is a win-win for Hamas, as they know that either Israel will be hestitant to strike back, or if she does strike back and civilans get killed, then Hamas cries "massacre" and the international condemnations of Israel come flowing in.
You also fail to mention, in recounting Safieh's quote, that he of course leaves out the Israeli civilian casualties and massive amount of damage that the rocket fire has caused to Sderot and Ashkelon. While the deaths caused by these rockets have thankfully been low (this of course was not the intention of Hamas et al. as they purposely launch rockets at the time when children are walking to school), there has been massive property damage and hundreds of people have suffered from shock. Most of the wealthier citizens of Sderot have already left, while those without the financial means must endure day after day of random rocket attacks, from which they only have at most a 15 second warning. It is also worth noting that after Hamas blew up the border with Egypt in January that they have somehow acquired longer range Iranian Grad rockets which have been hitting Ashkelon. Of course, no one will take care to notice that while their citizens are supposedly starving, Hamas used the border breach to significantly up its arsenal.
"With the Israeli-Palestinian conflict having gone on for at least six decades, we seem to find ourselves forgetting that both sides are human, both sides have families and friends that they love and want to protect, and both sides just want to be able to live happy and peaceful lives."
This could not be more false. Witness the reaction from Gaza after 8 Israeli students were murdered in cold blood in a Jerusalem yeshiva: http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/slideshow/photo//080306/ids_photos_wl/r480...
Any people that celebrate the gruesome murder of innocent students (some of whom were 15 and 16) no longer deserve to be called human in my book. They should be called what they are: animals.
Could you be a little more
Could you be a little more biased you piece of scum? Palestinians aren't animals, the only animals are the ISRAELI OCCUPYING FORCES and the Israeli Government that is obsessed with stealing land that's not theirs to begin with. (Look up the husayn mcmahon aggreements if you want to know the history) The majority of the 120 people killed in gaza were civilians, not Hamas, not that the collective punishment warcrimes of israel are anything new. I'd rather a 15 second warning from a qassam rocket than no warning from US tax dollar bought Hellfire heat seekers.
If one series of warcrimes wasn't enough just look to todays news thats going under the radar: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7286264.stm
Israel is expanding their settlement plan. It's hard to conduct peace talks when you're overseeing the usurpation of land Olmert.
"Could you be a little more
"Could you be a little more biased you piece of scum? Palestinians aren't animals"
What else would you call a group that gleefully celebrates the cold-blooded murder of unarmed teenagers studying holy books? Do you see any Israeli celebrations of Palestinian civilian deaths? When you celebrate the murder of children, you cease the right to be called human.
"I'd rather a 15 second warning from a qassam rocket than no warning from US tax dollar bought Hellfire heat seekers."
Too bad that Israel routinely warns people in Gaza that they are about to attack Hamas targets that could result in civilian casualties. Hamas then uses this advance warning to evacuate their terrorists or call in a group of human shields. This is a far cry from indiscriminately firing thousands of rockets at civilian targets day after day, with the intent being to kill as many civilians as possible.
I certainly hope that you
I certainly hope that you are not trying to justify the killing of 8 students. There is a very big difference between retaliating against Hamas and killing civilians (if you can call people who harbor terrorists civilians) in the process and walking into a yeshiva and opening fire on students learning in the library. If you cannot distinguish between the two, you need a reality check. Also, he was not calling Palestinians animals. He was calling terrorists animals.
You also speak of war crimes. Is it not a war crime to indiscriminately shell civilian locations?! That is what Hamas is doing to Sderot and Ashkelon. That is what Hezbollah did in 2006. Targeting civilians is a war crime!! Israeli expansion does not even compare to intentionally trying to kill children.
And the land is not ours? If you recall, there never was a country called Palestine. When Palestine was partitioned, the Israelis excepted the two state solution. First when Palestine was partitioned the first time, the Arabs got roughly two-thirds of the land (everything East of the Jordan River). Then when Palestine was partitioned again in 1947, the Jews excepted that plan. Palestine could have become a country 60 years ago as well, but instead you would rather play the blame game. This is exactly what the student who made the light bulb joke was talking about. There will never be peace. When Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza, what happened? Nothing attacks increased. As Mr. Safieh said, Palestinians did not see the withdrawal from Gaza as a step towards the peace process because the action was taken unilaterally. Rather than acknowledging the action as a step in the peace process, the Palestinians found a way to turn it against Israel. Stop blaming Israel for everything. Israel has already shown that it prefers peace by withdrawing from Gaza. It is time to come back to the negotiation table (without making ridiculous preconditions).
This was a horribly written
This was a horribly written column that did not even so much as make me consider the viewpoint you claim to be trying to preach. Furthermore, you say that everyone at Cornell is anti-Arab and yet I constantly read columns in the Sun just like yours which try to preach the Palestinian's side of things, as if reading your false sentiments will make me suddenly decide that acts of terrorism are ok since in the end all these terrorists want is "peace and happiness." Please. Get your facts straight and try and write an unbiased column. Maybe then I won't feel as though I've wasted my time reading.
"...and both sides just want
"...and both sides just want to be able to live happy and peaceful lives". If only that were true. That one quote diminished an otherwise reasoned column.
I would have to say that the
I would have to say that the author of this column is the naive one if she believes that the Palestinians genuinely want to live peaceably side-by-side with Israel. History would say otherwise. I quote from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel):
"The newly-created United Nations approved the UN Partition Plan (United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181) on November 29, 1947, dividing the country into two states, one Arab and one Jewish. Jerusalem was to be designated an international city – a corpus separatum – administered by the UN to avoid conflict over its status.[52] The Jewish community accepted the plan,[53] but the Arab League and Arab Higher Committee rejected it.[54]"
Israel has made four peace offers that would transfer all of the disputed territories to Arab hands. All four were rejected by the Palestinians. Palestinian maps portray the Middle East with no Israel whatsoever. Are these the actions of someone who wants a two-state solution?
Remember Yassir Arafat, who started the PLO, a terrorist organization from which the newer terrorist groups have sprung? He formed the PLO in 1964. 1964 is three years before Israel defensively captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Golan Heights.
Speaking of the Gaza Strip, Israel pulled out of there two years ago. Instead of rewarding this in any way, the Palestinians proceeded to launch daily rocket fire at Israel citizens, which prompted Israel to target the sources of those missiles, terrorists that were hiding behind civilian shields in a most callous and cruel manner. This is meant to trap Israel in a catch-22; either it endure daily attacks on it citizens while the terrorist forces become ever stronger, or Israel responds to the attacks in an effort to weaken the arsenal. But if Israel does this, these civilians shields are bound to be killed, and the Palestinians can use them to gain world sympathy. I mean, you can say for instance that you were unbiased about who you wanted to win the Super Bowl. But if you insisted on Tom Brady tying a hand behind his back during the game, you'd be showing your bias in how you've tried to rig the game and make it impossible for one side. This is exactly what most critics of Israel practice.
If the terrorists really cared about their citizens, they would not hide themselves and their rocket launchers behind said citizens. Or better yet, they would not launch daily rocket fire at Israeli civilians to begin with. If the author of this piece really wants peace and prosperity for Palestinian citizens, I urge her to just consider questioning the Palestinians leadership and nihilist group mentality for once.