Dear Editor:
Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, with his U.S.-funded military, is brutally rolling over Palestinian homes, villages and cities, killing civilians and terrorizing hundreds of thousands of Palestinian people. Sharon's actions are no more justifiable than suicide bombs. That he uses the military to perpetrate violence doesn't mean it isn't terrorism. Sharon calls Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat a terrorist, yet there is no proof that Arafat ordered any of the suicide bombings in Israel.
As horrible as the bombings are, they are committed by individuals who are desperate enough to sacrifice their own lives. How can Arafat control someone who is willing to lose his own life, particularly when Arafat is a virtual prisoner of the Israeli military? Meanwhile, President Bush, in his profound ignorance, tells Arafat to have his security forces clamp down on terrorists when Israel was killing those very same security forces! Bush's rhetoric and the American media give the impression that Israel is on the defensive. Yet Sharon has specifically directed his military to systematically invade and destroy Palestinian people and property to a far greater degree than any Palestinian suicide bombs could ever achieve.
Israel is and has been, for decades, the aggressor. Leaders from around the world have condemned Israel's vicious assault on the Palestinian territories. It is time that Americans remove the veils from their eyes and see the true face of terrorism for what it is. There will only be peace when Israel removes itself from its brutal and illegal occupation of Palestine.
Gregory Wendt
Instructional Support Services, Morris Library
Published on 11/17/05; 12:24:44 PM
