What bothers me most about Blair Reeves' April 7 column, "Israel's violent history," is not the looseness of his factual base, nor his apparent lack of knowledge and understanding about the rather complex history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. What bothers me is the general implication of the column, which ironically takes the world a step back from the goal that most of us want to achieve: The creation of a free and responsible Palestinian State. The longer it takes for people to realize that the greatest barrier to the creation of the Palestinian State is not Israel but rather the terrorism that is often condoned, if not endorsed, by the Palestinian Liberation Organization, the longer the suffering of the Palestinian people will be needlessly prolonged. Therefore, any attempt to justify or legitimize terrorism is extremely hurtful to the cause of the Palestinians, and what Reeves needs to understand is that terrorism will not be the "formative element" for the creation of the Palestinian State.
I've been a student in this school for four years, and I've heard numerous times the term Zionism being used quite liberally in reference to Israel, without many people, as I suspect, truly understanding what this term means. But when Reeves in his column despicably equates Zionism with "Jewish terrorism," I can no longer sit idly, and at least must attempt to explain. I'm a citizen of Israel but, having been born in Russia, I understand all too well the significance of having a Jewish State, one of the few places in the world where Jewish people can be free from persecution andmadness that was the Holocaust. Zionism was a peaceful struggle for the creation of the Jewish State, so thatthe unimaginable atrocities committed by Nazi Germany could never be reincarnated. Zionism was the need for Jewish people to come together again in the land of their own after hundreds of years of exile. Zionism was the idea in which my grandfather believed and consequently spent many years of his life imprisoned by Joseph Stalin for what was labeled as an anti-Soviet ideology. Zionism was a dream; it was an ideological fight for a cause that was just, and any attempt to equate it with terrorism -- or even, more regretfully, racism -- constitutes an unforgivable distortion of history.
Deir Yassin was undeniably a tragedy, as is any futile loss of life at the hands of Palestinians or Israelis. But it was not an act of terrorism and cannot be likened to the suicide bombings that we see carried out today. Despite his claims of factual accuracy, Reeves falls into the trap of confusing propaganda for the truth. There are credible accounts of the event at Deir Yassin from respected TV and film writer Marc J. Rauch and from foreign policy analyst Mitchell Bard, which clearly state that Arab fighters had repeatedly ignored the orders to clear the road to Jerusalem that was illegally blocked and used the elderly, women and children as human shields, not much unlike the tactics we see used by the Iraqi resistance in the current war.
It is not my intention to romanticize and defend all of the Israeli actions throughout history. In fact, I'm the first one to be concerned when the Israel Defense Force allegedly mistreats peaceful civilians, but one important point must be made. Yes, unfortunately, Israel did have a "violent history;" but why? The 1948 War of Independence, along with the rest of the wars in Israel's relatively short history, were all forced on it. The Israelis are a peaceful people, and it is not by choice that they find themselves in situations when an armed confrontation is required. The Deir Yassin tragedy, although extremely unfortunate, occurred in the context of one of those military confrontations and cannot be compared to the senseless act of killing innocent civilians traveling on buses, dining in cafes or enjoying a night out in a club.
I personally remember the horror of taking the bus from Ramat Gan to Tel Aviv each day to go to school, looking franticly around for anything suspicious and thinking to myself that this is not the way that things should be. Despite everything, we were never taught in school to hate the Palestinians or that they should be driven into the sea. The kids in Israeli schools are taught the ideas of peaceful coexistence and mutual respect. And that is what I mean when I say that there is a need for constructive thinking. And as for the one million Israeli Arabs residing in Israel, they essentially enjoy full benefits of Israeli citizenship and are treated far better than most Arab governments treat their own citizens.
Although understanding of the history of the conflict is surely of tremendous importance, it is less helpful to engage in continuous finger pointing that only leads to further stalemate. Instead, we should all look forward for creative solutions. It is in Israel's best interest to have a democratic, terror-free and economically viable Palestinian State as its neighbor, and I have no doubt that Israel will invest more than most other countries in the world to make this happen. However, terrorism is a huge setback. The terrorists are not interested in peace, and so far have been quite successful in derailing the peace process again and again. When the dream of the Palestinian people has come so close to becoming a reality, it has been shattered by terrorism and the lack of courage exhibited by Yasser Arafat. Current reforms in the PLO government leave me hopeful that the new government will truly crack down on terrorism, and thus finally enable the creation of the Palestinian State. However, any attempts to point back at Israel to try and legitimize the suicide bombings is extremely unconstructive to achieving the ultimate goal that everyone is aiming for: peace in the Middle East.
(Eugene Lebanidze is a fourth year in the School of Engineering and Applied Science.)
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