Understanding the Middle East

I recently met someone who was under the impression that the current crisis in the Middle East was the result of Muslim fanatics, who believed that the Quran promised them lots of women in heaven the more people they killed. I was not offended with this common misconception; rather, I was upset at the fact that this person had no clue as to the true underlying roots of the crisis.

The common consensus among most of the media in this country seems to be that Palestinians, under the orders of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, used Ariel Sharon's visit to the al-Aqsa mosque as a pretext to launch a violent and bloody campaign against Israel. The public is unaware of the context of 50 years of tensions in which this visit must be seen.

They are also unaware of what Ariel Sharon represents to the Palestinian people. In 1982, during Ariel Sharon's tenure as Israeli Defense Minister, two massacres took place in the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila in Southern Lebanon. Two thousand unarmed Palestinian men, women and children were slaughtered. The Israeli Kahan commission described how Sharon ordered the Israeli commanders in Lebanon to allow Phalangist militiamen into the camps to clean out the terrorists he claimed were lurking there. Sharon was held indirectly responsible for the massacres and removed from office. Palestinians feel that the hands of this man are stained with the blood of innocent people.

This latest visit by Ariel Sharon to the Al-Aqsa Mosque was merely the last straw, yet superficial media coverage fails to acknowledge this. Palestinians have faced 50 years of oppression.

They are frustrated with the military rule of the Israelis which denies them freedom of movement and expression, adequate access to natural resources and makes them victim to frequent arbitrary arrests, torture and detention. Many Palestinians have close relatives or friends who were wrongfully jailed during the Intifada in the 1980s.

Israel has for years been breaching U.N. resolution 242, which calls for the withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the 1967 war and also affirms the necessity of achieving a just settlement of the refugee problem. Despite this resolution, Israel has continued to expand settlements for Israelis on occupied land while Palestinian refugees remain in camps dating back to 1967 and even 1948. Israel has also destroyed Palestinian homes in response to attacks, a method of collective punishment forbidden by the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Palestinians are frustrated with isolated acts of violence by settlers and the Israeli army, frustrated with failed peace negotiations. After all, they want peace as well, but one which will allow them to truly live a life free from fear and oppression. People must recognize that the recent events in the Middle East are the accumulation of years of injustice, but the media fails to make people aware of this.

Thus, when I hear someone say that they unequivocally support the actions of the Israeli Defense Force, my heart sinks. It not only sinks because they have failed to understand why the Palestinians have taken to the streets, but because it means they seem to support the use of anti-tank missiles, helicopter gunships and exploding bullets against Palestinian civilians. It tells me that they support the killing of twelve-year-old Mohammed al-Dura, of his father who pleaded with Israeli troops not to open fire and of the ambulance driver trying to rescue them. Many of those wounded in this conflict, including children and medical personnel, have been injured in the head and upper body, which may indicate that they were specifically targeted--another act forbidden by the Geneva Convention.

What people also don't realize is that they are also supporting an invasion. The Israeli Defense Forces are killing people on land which does not fall under their jurisdiction; they are killing people who are marching in their own streets, in front of their own homes. As of last 184 Palestinians have been killed, 54 of them children.

I am not a supporter of violence. I merely hope to help people understand the roots and causes of it. The international community is decrying the excessive use of force by Israeli forces, along with various international human rights organizations (including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Israeli human rights group B'tselem). Protests have been held all over the world, including here in America. The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution--with 14 out of 15 countries voting in favor and only America abstaining--calling on Israel to stop its excessive use of force. The U.N. General Assembly also passed a resolution condemning Israel's excessive use of force against Palestinian civilians.

But international pressure doesn't seem to sway the state of Israel. With Israel as the greatest recipient of U.S. military and economic aid, it is high time that the American people took a stand in reining in Israel.

Yasmin K. Bin-Humam '03 is an economics concentrator in Eliot House. She is a member of the Society of Arab Students.