I applaud David Elazar's analysis. In the years prior to the first intifada how much did Israel actually interfere with Palestinian life? Many Palestinians earned comfortable livings working in the construction industry in Israel. When I visited Israel in 1972, 1974, and 1981 you did not hear much rhetoric concerning the suffering of the Palestinians. The 1987 intifada was the first attempt at achieving Palestinian independence through armed struggle. This seems to be a point of the leadership. In 2000 Prime Minster Barak was prepared to give the Palestinians almost 90% of the West bank. It was firmly rejected by Arafat. Israel did not suddenly decide to engage in an armed struggle with the Palestinians but as a responsible government Israel must defend its citizens. Their actions as those that any government even ours would do to protect its population. Who then fired the first shot which evolved into great suffering for the Palestinian people?
We have western values and would not use children as combatants, other cultures do not think that way. How many times were US servicemen injured or killed in South Vietnam by incidents done by children? We can feel for the suffering of children on one level but when they become combatants and aspire to be so that is something else. For some reason the Palestinians want to achieve freedom through armed struggle, if this is the case then if we are objective we should examine the reasons and strategies. Moral equivalency is very dangerous because it clouds our perspective and allows terrorism and bloodshed a place of understanding. Children are very impressionable and that needs to be taken into consideration. How do you suppose a family member of someone killed on 9/11 would feel if a Palestinian child told them that those people deserved what they got? Suppose a small child whose father was killed on 9/11 was assigned a book that showed how children praise suicide bombers, how would that child feel? If we care about children, we should be concerned and care about ALL children. Eliezer M. Wise Director of Library Services Gratz College 7605 Old York Road Melrose Park, PA 19027 215-635-7300 ext. 159 [EMAIL PROTECTED] <http://www.gratz.edu/>http://www.gratz.edu Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the AJL =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
