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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 2 - 8 November 2000 Issue No. 506 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 2 - 8 November 2000 Issue No. 506
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region Interview International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters A lesson in humanity
When five to nine Palestinians, "on average," including many children under 12, are shot brutally by Israeli occupation troops every day -- when so many tragedies are treated as mundane items on hourly news bulletins -- the idea of universal human rights loses all credibility. Israel is using live ammunition to kill Palestinians; it is also using missiles, tanks and helicopter gunships to bombard heavily populated areas with the aim of inflicting the greatest possible number of human losses. Israel, and any party that abets its massacre of innocent Palestinians -- or insinuates that "both sides" are "responsible for the violence" -- cannot possibly consider Palestinians, and Arabs in general, as equal human beings.Residents of Palestinian villages close to illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Jerusalem have deserted their homes, fleeing an endless nightmare of Israeli missile attacks. The bodies of the young Palestinian martyrs are inscribed with the explicit policies of the Israeli government: the occupying forces shoot to kill, or at least to maim. The frightening number of fatal wounds to the head and heart is sufficiently eloquent on that point.
Some in the West wonder why young Palestinians are going out to die in hopelessly unequal battles against Israeli soldiers. Their blindness, however, prevents them from asking why Israel continues to occupy Palestinian land and treat its rightful owners as a species lower than animals. It is shameful, in such circumstances, even to suggest that there could be a shred of doubt as to who is the victim and who the aggressor.
The Arab countries during the Cairo summit left the door ajar for Israel to reconsider its position and return to the negotiating table. But they also warned that they would not stand by if Israel continued to escalate its aggression. The United States, the sole sponsor of the peace process, is surely aware by now -- as indicated by the closure of its embassies and heightened security measures around its naval bases in the region -- that Israeli aggression can only inflame the situation further. If Clinton wants to end his last term in the White House with an "historic breakthrough," he must also know that no settlement can be reached as long as Israel refuses to treat the Arabs as human beings with equal rights.
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