Palestinian suicide bombers – a small number of desperate extremists – have killed many Israeli civilians, yet Ariel Sharon – guilty of crimes in Lebanon – uses those deaths to justify even more civilian deaths.
In two weeks, over 200 Palestinian civilians were slaughtered in the West Bank; thousands were maimed or driven from their homes. Homes, businesses and public utilities were destroyed. Survivors cannot bury their dead. Journalists cannot tell the story because they are shot or beaten by Israeli troops. And billions of our tax dollars are paying for this.
No public figure in America rises to defend the Palestinians or call attention to their suffering. U.N. resolutions and the constraints of international humanitarian law are ignored, and it’s been international volunteers who have saved lives by acting as human shields.
We must ask ourselves why the whole world condemns Israel’s brutality, while we support the oppression of a people fighting for its very existence. We must ask ourselves why the Bush administration fiddled like Nero until a human catastrophe exploded, when the U.S. is the only nation with the economic and military might to negotiate a life-saving compromise. We must ask why our media sympathetically cover Israel but dismiss the perspective of the Palestinian people.
The murder of Israeli civilians by terrorists cannot justify Israel’s indiscriminate use of force, extra-judicial executions, torture of prisoners, blockading of hospitals or denial of food, safety and dignity to Palestinian civilians.
Two wrongs don’t make a right. Sharon’s reactionary policies are sowing seeds of rage and hatred in the Middle East – and our support guarantees America will share the harvest. Unless we oppose Sharon’s strategy of collective punishment and terror against the Palestinian people, we are supporting a downward spiral of violence that will only lead to the depths of hell.
Everett
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