Wachovsky's
Israel article flawed and biased
Gerry
Wachovsky's recent article on the Israel/Palestine
conflict is replete with errors, major
omissions, and outright falsehoods. I
was surprised that the 49er printed Wachovsky's
openly racist article, but regrettably,
anti-Arab racism is still acceptable and
even encouraged in the United States.
Wachovsky claims that the people of Palestine
have no right to land in Israel, the West
Bank or the Gaza Strip. This is absurd
considering the fact that during the 1948
war, 780,000 were evicted from their homes
inside of what is today Israel. Palestinian
villages were razed, and in the town of
Dayr Yasin, 125 of its inhabitants were
slaughtered by Israeli defense forces,
and had their bodies stuffed down wells.
This act of terrorism was a valuable propaganda
tool for Israeli forces. Many of the victims
of the 1948 war still have the keys to
their old homes in what is today the state
of Israel.
Many
have argued that the Palestinians willingly
abandoned their homes in 1948 and have
no right to return. They state, correctly,
that Arab authorities urged many Palestinians
to flee. The corollary, almost never stated,
is that the Palestinians were under extreme
duress. They had reason to fear for their
lives as the Israeli army was conducting
Operation Hiram, clearing out Palestinian
villages and committing massacres. It's
funny that Wachovsky lectures others about
history when he is clearly ignorant of
it. He claims the United Nations (UN)
upholds Israel's right to the West Bank
and Gaza Strip, but ignores the numerous
resolutions Israel has violated since
1948 that contradict his claim. Enter
the UN's 1948 resolution 194 which states
"That the refugees wishing to return
to their homes and live at peace with
their neighbors should be permitted to
do so at the earliest practicable date,
and that compensation should be paid for
the property of those choosing not to
return."
Resolutions
242 and 446 were enacted after the Israeli
seizure of the West Bank and Gaza Strip
in 1967. They call for the immediate withdrawal
of the occupying forces, and for an end
to the illegal settlements. Since then,
Jewish settlement in the West Bank has
increased contrary to the dictates of
international law.
Wachovsky
goes on to blame the victims. He states
that the terms in the Oslo accords were
"extremely beneficial" and "a
no-brainer" for the Palestinians
and their "brainless" leaders.
Perhaps
he should use his own brain and find a
map of the proposal, which he has obviously
never seen. Under Oslo, Jewish settlements
went largely untouched, leaving little
bits and pieces of non-contiguous land
under varying degrees of Palestinian autonomy.
The terms of the agreement were a clear
violation of international law.
The
people of Israel would be far more secure
today if the illegal settlements were
dismantled and the pre-1967 borders were
respected, along with the right of return
(or compensation) granted to refugees
from the 1948 war. This proposal is supported
by every nation on Earth except for Israel
and the United States. It is the only
just settlement and a great way to alleviate
the conditions that engender terrorism
in the Middle East.
Sterling
Harris is a history major at CSULB.
