Gutierrez’ assessment of conflict in Mideast wrong

Barrett is a first-year aerospace engineer.  

By Brent Barrett

I don’t know how messed up in your head you’d have
to be to think that anything Gustavo Gutierrez said on Thursday
(“Mideast events complex, not presented fairly,”
Viewpoint, May 16) was true or fair.

He says that he doesn’t condone terrorism, but believes
that homicide bombers are exercising their rights to nationalism.
But nationalism is not making innocent women and children afraid to
go to their schools, stores or jobs. Nationalism is not about
scaring the opposition into backing down. While it is true that all
nations, in gaining independence, have had to fight for their
causes, murder of the innocent can never be an understandable
result of this fight. People die in war, but under no circumstances
should that include civilian populations targeted with the aim of
demoralizing and terrorizing a nation. There’s only one word
for that: evil.

Gutierrez also states that, “the ruling coalition in
Israel just voted against the creation of a Palestinian state west
of the Jordan River.” No kidding. That would be part of
Israeli land. In the UN resolution to end the violence in 1948,
offers were made to have two countries, Israel and Palestine.
However, Palestine got greedy and refused to accept anything less
than total control and eradication of the Jewish population. The
result was that Israel accepted and was the only new nation created
““ legally, I might add. Israel has only gained more land in
response to attacks against their nation. They have established
buffer zones to protect their people from the attacks of the local
Arab population. I commend Israel for doing so well (with some
help, of course).

Whether or not those who commit crimes against humanity are
representative of the majority is irrelevant. The Palestinian
government then has a responsibility to step in and do whatever it
can to stop the terror. Instead, in cooperation with Arab leaders,
they make it profitable for the terrorists’ families. They
send a message to terrorists that if they help Palestine, they will
have their families taken care of and respected for life. This too
is only evil. If you say that the government is not representative,
then it needs to be replaced. Until this happens, the Palestinian
Authority is a threat to Israel because of its support of terror,
and thus should not be made into a nation. It’s time for
Palestinians and their supporters to step up and take
responsibility for those they represent.