Impartial approach needed in Mideast

Kermani is a third-year physiological science student.

By Reza Kermani

During the past week, as the Middle East situation has
escalated, I have heard one word constantly repeated: terrorist. In
the Daily Bruin, obviously biased writers have been calling
individuals on both the Israeli and Palestinian sides
terrorists.

Shows on talk radio, especially those with Christian viewpoints,
often air accusations that the Palestinians and Yasser Arafat
promote terrorism. CNN interviews and Arab television have shown
Hamas leaders claiming that they are freedom fighters and that the
true terrorists are in the Israeli government.

How can we know who is correct? Yes, it is terrorism when a
Palestinian adolescent straps a bomb to him/herself and blows up
innocent Israeli civilians who are going about their daily
business. The innocent children who die in these bombings share no
role in the occupation that their government is conducting in
Palestinian territory. They can call themselves “freedom
fighters” if they want, and they may even be right. But no
one can disagree that suicide bombings, whether justified or not,
amount to using terror to promote a political agenda.

But if suicide bombers are terrorists, which they surely are,
then we must be fair and also call the Israeli government a
terrorist regime. Ever since 1967, Israel has been occupying
Palestinian land. They have attempted to justify this occupation
with various reasons, including the preservation of national
security. But occupation, in its very essence, is a form of
terrorism. The result of the Israeli occupation is an entire
generation of Palestinians who have been raised with the image of
Israeli tanks and border patrols. While Israel may be a democratic
government, democracy does not preclude Israel from being a
terrorist entity.

Americans and the media must realize that both sides are
resorting to terrorism. It is wrong to compare this crisis to the
Sept. 11 attacks. On Sept. 11, our nation was victimized by an
unprovoked attack carried out by cowards who held no value for our
lives. It was absolutely necessary for us to destroy the
infrastructure of their terrorist network and to free the Afghans
from their oppressive regime. That reasoning explains why the
entire international community stood behind the U.S. The
Israeli-Palestinian situation is a completely different matter, as
their conflict reaches hundreds of years back through history. One
can hardly claim that any of the attacks by either side are
“unprovoked.”

I admired President Bush for taking a stand last week,
condemning both Israel and Palestine for their counterproductive
actions. In order to mediate the situation in the Middle East, we
need to condemn all terror equally. When people on talk radio
condemn Palestinian terrorism, calling for solidarity behind
Israel, they must realize that they are only promoting one form of
terror over another.

The only way to attain peace is to stay impartial and condemn
all terror by the following methods:

1.) The international community must pressure the Israeli
government to withdraw from the occupied lands in accordance with
international law and U.N. resolutions.

2.) The Palestinian Authority must be forced to crack down on
terrorist organizations in its lands or face the military
enforcement of a cease-fire by neutral security forces from the
U.N.

3.) Having a neutral international third party ““ neither
an Arab nation nor the U.S. ““ draft an objective peace
proposal. Any proposal created by Arab nations or the U.S. would be
inherently biased.

4.) U.N. security forces must enforce this objective peace
proposal by thwarting any terrorist organization that wants to
destroy either Israel or Palestine.

Only when the world stops taking sides can we begin to promote
an objective and peaceful solution to end this conflict.