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Opinion
Thursday, October 26, 2000
for comments, contact Ben Embry or Emily Hughey at 864-4924 or e-mail opinion@kansan.com
Perspective Appeasement a poor tactic in Middle East
"H ave no mercy on the Jews, no matter where they are, in any country. Fight them, wherever you are. Wherever you meet
them, kill them.'
Throughout the "peace process," we've heard the refrain time and again: If only the Israelis would make reasonable territorial and security concessions, Palestinian leaders would renounce violence as a political weapon, call off their range of terrorists, and they'd all live happily ever after.
I'll give you three guesses as to the source of these monstrous words. Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf? No. A Ku Klux Klan rally? No. Some neo-Nazi skin-head group? Wrong again. Actually, this is from a sermon given at the Zayed bin Sultan Aal Nahyan mosque in Gaza (translated into English by the Middle East Media Research Institute) and broadcast last week on state-controlled television by Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority. Still think there's any hope for Middle East peace?
Beginning with the 1993 Oslo Accords,
John McCool guest columnist opinion@kansan.com
Beginning with the 19 th there have been intense international efforts, pushed by President Clinton, to broker a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
rorists, and they'd all live happily ever after. Surely if we were dealing with two sincere groups of people, both of whom desired peaceful co-existence and could be trusted to keep their words and abide by the treaties they've signed, Middle East peace might be a reality today. Unfortunately, one side — the Palestinians — does not want peace. They don't want to coexist with Israel. Their leaders are pathologically dishonest and some of the most vicious and deprived anti-Semites since the Third Reich. They will accept nothing less than the complete annihilation of the state of Israel — just read their own words.
Everything from Holocaust denial to fabricated stories of Jewish atrocities regularly drip from the mouths of Arab leaders and are popular topics in the state-controlled media. From the July 2, 1998, edition of the official Palestinian newspaper, Al Hayat Al-Jadeeda: "The truth is that the persecution of the Jews is a deceitful myth which the Jews have labeled the Holocaust and have exploited to get sympathy."
Also from the above-mentioned sermon: "O brother believers, the criminals, the terrorists are the Jews, who have butchered our children, orphaned them, widowed our women and desecrated our holy places and sacred sites. They are the terrorists. They are the ones who must be butchered and killed."
And from the February 22, 2000, edition of the official Syrian paper *Al-Thaura*: "Israel has revealed itself as an entity steeped in racism, hate and state-sponsored terrorism, which has surpassed even the Nazis in its criminal acts of murder, destruction and devastation, and in its disdain for humanity."
It is simply impossible to engage in peace negotiations and make treaties with Arab leaders who poison their airwaves and their people with such abominable words, and are, in the process, sowing the seeds of a second Holocaust. Be assured, there are powerful people in the Arab world looking to finish what was begun at Auschwitz, and they can't be bargained with, reasoned with or coddled into changing their minds. They must be opposed at every turn.
Winston Churchill once defined an appeaser as one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last. We know what happened after British prime minister Neville Chamberlain's 1938 pact with Hitler at Munich. If Israel's prime minister, Ehud Barak, probed by President Clinton, continues his appeasement tactics, slicing up and giving away more and more of Israel in the false hope of securing peace, he and his Jewish brethren will surely be devoured by the insatiable Palestinian crocodile. The only question is when. Never, I think, has the adage been more appropriate: Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it.
McCool is an Evansville, Ind., graduate student in history.
Wayne Stayskalf / TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES
Kansan report card
Pass:
Kansas and Burge Unions renovation.
With a new computer lab, a convenience store and a redesigned lounge, students can enjoy a union that caters to their needs and wants. If they institute the old campus liquor policy, students might actually use it.
The bus system. The City Commission approved the location of a downtown transfer station, which would serve as the hub of the Lawrence Transit System. Now, maybe the infemal traffic on 23rd Street will become a distant memory.
Womyn Take Back the Night. Lawrence will celebrate the 13th annual rally tonight to empower women and provide support for victims of sexual violence.
Fail:
The failed attempts at tearing down the goal posts after Saturday's game. Such an act is reserved for major upsets, not the defeat of a 1-6 team.
Guy masturbating at dog. A student discovered her next-door neighbor masturbating at her dog in plain view. Two words: Down boy.
Media coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. For an institution that claims to be unbiased, the media's pro-Israeli slant has been irreprehensible.
Perspective
Peace a priority for both Israelis. Palestinians
As president of KU Hillel, the on-campus Jewish students organization, most of my time is spent planning barbecues and weeding the yard of the Hillle house.
the Hillel house.
Recently, however, I've been inundated with breaking news from Israel, and press releases about declining Palestinian-Israeli relations clog my e-mail box. Because of my position as the head of a Jewish organization, people may assume that I have a hardline, one Israeli stance.
While some members of the Jewish community might hold such a position, I do not agree with it myself. I cannot say that Israel has done nothing wrong and assert that the conflict in the Middle East is one-sided.
In Israel, the name of the game is co-existence. Palestinians and Israelis share a plot of land in the middle of the desert the size of New Jersey. People there just want to live their lives without fear of being shot or beaten while conducting their daily business. While I've observed the worries of
I can agree that Israel's beauty, historical significance and wonderful culture mean a lot to me, and I'm not ashamed to be Jewish with Israeli roots. I also
believe, however, that violence cannot be condoned under any circumstances, and while people could have a "you started it" brawl over the startling violence in Israel, neither side can claim innocence.
Sarah
Shik
guest columnist
pjinion@kansan.com
When I was in Israel last winter, a Palestinian cab driver struck up a conversation with me as we drove from the New City in Jerusalem to the gates of the Old City.
Israelis as tension mounts near their cities. I also understand the Palestinians' fears of brutality and isolation in their towns.
"You've grown up in America," he said,
"You've been trained to hate us. Well, I can tell you for sure, we don't want violence any more than you do. Nobody wants more death. We cry when we see bloodshed, just like you."
Now, as my father prepares to visit his home in Israel, I cannot help but feel the same anxiety that many Palestinians may be feeling. I do not care about victory or conquest. I care about my family's safety and about establishing peace in the Middle East to assure that safety. The violence seething on both sides of the fighting lines moves Palestinians and Israelis farther away from benevolent ends, making the chances of stabilizing the peaceful co-existence necessary in such a small country less and less possible.
As I stepped out of the car into a street bustling with Muslims and Jews brushing against one another on their work to work, prayer or home. I sensed for the first time the delicate co-habitation of the ancient city.
While it is often said that for every two Jews, there are three opinions, I know that many Jews share my hope for peace. Although our paths to this peace may differ, we can at least agree on our desires to end the killing and suffering in the Middle East.
Shik is president of KU Hillel and an Overland Park senior in English.
Editorial
Halls join Rock Chalk tradition
Residence halls should be commended for submitting notebooks to the revue.
The Rock Chalk Revue is a University of Kansas tradition. For the past decade, it has been dominated by the greek community, but involvement is not restricted to it.
The revue is actually classified as a campus-wide philanthropy. During the 52 years that the Rock Chalk Revue has existed, residence halls and scholarship halls also have taken part in the community fund-raiser.
Residents of Templin, Hashinger and Lewis halls should be applauded for their recent decision to apply. The battle ahead is an uphill one. The participants' goal is to team up with another group, and write and produce a 20-minute original musical together. Teams are responsible for their own costumes and scenery.
Although non-greek living organizations have a clear disadvantage when it comes to available resources such as funding, they are to be commended for competing. All involved pour their blood, sweat and tears into the project
The application and selection process is very competitive. Out of the more than 10 teams that prepare a musical, only five are chosen to participate in the actual show after rigorous months of preparation.
One of the main objectives of the Rock Chalk Revue is to accumulate community service hours. Awards are presented at the final showing to those groups who have contributed the most. All profits from the shows are donated to the Douglas County United Wav.
By deciding to get involved this year, the residence halls are setting out to alter recent Rock Chalk Revue trends. The greek community is to be commended for upholding the tradition, but it is time to once again make it a campus-wide event.
Katie Hackett for the editorial board
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. The Kansan reserves the right to edit submissions, and not all of them will be published. Standerous statements will not be printed. To read more, go to www.kansan.com.
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I am sick and tired of hearing everyone complain about the Greek community.I, for one, would like to see the Kansan report on the good and bad of the greek community.
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Roy Williams is just a basketball coach, not a god.
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Why does the parking department always complain about not having any money, yet they have the nicest monitors and printers I've ever seen.
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For the girls that dance on the bar at The Hawk, you girls aren't strippers so get down.
If George W. Bush gets elected president, I don't think I'll be able to take it.
Man, I am so sick of hearing about Roy Williams. I mean the T-shirts are bad enough, and now you have these stupid posters in the Kansan and they don't even line up when you put them together. He's just doing his job. He doesn't really deserve all that attention.
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The reason why negative comments are always being made about the greek systems is that there is nothing positive to say.
Love is a crock. It's never equal, and somebody always ends up getting hurt.
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Does anybody else think "ointment" is a really funny word?
George W. Bush supports the execution of mentally retarded people. George W. Bush is in favor of taking children away from gay and lesbian couples. Is this the man you want as your president?
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They need to put a barber shop in the Kansas Union.
I did a lot of fuzzy math on the Calc 115 midterm.
B
Save pumpkins. Carve a watermelon.
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