A Take on the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict

Rabbi Ed Romm
Director, Center on Campus in Israel

I was debating what approach to take writing about the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict. I have decided to approach the topic from a personal point of view and not worry about being politically correct. The ideas expressed are my own.

Before the current intifada broke out, I felt like I was living in paradise. The economy was growing, tourists were flooding the country and despite continued acts of terrorism, we felt like we were indeed part of a new Middle East. Relations between average Israelis and Palestinians were, for the most part, good. Then the intifada broke our "bubble." After recovering from the initial shock of the Palestinian uprising, we learned that the Palestinian Authority had planned this all along. Now I look at the Oslo Accord as a "Trojan Horse."

'I call to account the Palestinian Authority'

I do believe and acknowledge that the Palestinians are suffering, just as we are suffering. We should strive to put an end to suffering on all sides. We have made mistakes over the years in our dealings with the Arabs. However, I call to account the Palestinian leadership for this current situation. One only has to see the official Palestinian Authority TV broadcasts and programs to understand how a totalitarian regime manipulates public opinion and incites violence. They fund terrorism and hatred, instead of providing basic services and a stable infrastructure for their people.

They like to use the term "Israeli occupation" as the root of the problem. That has become one of the mantras of the P.A. One only has to remember that the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) was founded two years before Israel ever "occupied territories" and that these territories were under Jordanian and Egyptian administration (not Palestinian -- there was no Palestinian entity at the time) and fell into Israeli hands as a result of a war of annihilation waged by the Arab nations against Israel in the Six Day War. Sorry, we won!

The negation of all moral principles

Today, civilized society all over the world is waging a struggle against nihilism. The word comes from the Latin "nihil," meaning, "nothing" and the approach constitutes a real danger by its negation of all moral principles. It is a justification of terror and destruction as a means to attain set goals. Homicidal bombers include the cynical use of children wearing explosive belts to strike out at innocent civilians, the commandeering of civilian aircraft and using them as instruments of death, unleashing weapons of mass destruction and the blowing up of busses and trains. These represent a problem for the entire world, not only Israel.

It is painful to talk about the people I personally know -- friends -- who have been killed since the outbreak of the intifada.

On a Friday night, a few weeks ago, there was a drive-by shooting in my neighborhood. A Christian Arab student out jogging was shot to death. Arafat's al-Aksa Brigade apologized to the Arab family by saying that they meant to kill a Jew and declared the student a "shahid (martyr) as if he was killed by the Israelis." At the funeral the father said that his son is not a "shahid." His son is an "angel."

The Palestinian Authority has to stop terrorizing their own people as well: using children as human bombs, arbitrary execution and torture of civilians, kangaroo courts (courts for appearances, rather than actually doling out justice), allowing women to be abused and dehumanized because they are women -- and many other crimes against civilization as well as humanity.

I do not know what the future holds in store for any of us. We live in a complicated world. We will all have to compromise in the end and learn how to live together. What we need are rational people to stand up and say that terrorism is sick and there is no justification for it, on both sides of the issue. Once that takes place, we can sit down and talk!

(Our Center on Campus Program [KOACH in Israel] offers a support system and extra-curricular activities to overseas students studying in Israeli Universities).

[Posted 4/19/04]