Put land for peace issue back on Mideast table

In his response to James Williamson’s oped commentary, “One man’s terrorist another man’s freedom fighter” (BDN, April 25), David Alexander Cantor defines a terrorist as, “… someone who, in the midst of an armed struggle, specifically targets noncombatants as a means of achieving the end toward which they are struggling” (April 27-28).

Professor Richard Falk opines his “dual face of terrorism” in which terrorism is used to resist tyranny, but is also used by the government of one nation against the population of another. Terrorists are those who use violence, or the threat of violence to achieve specific political objectives. Being in the midst of an armed struggle isn’t necessarily a factor. If it was, then the terrorists involved in the events of Sept. 11 might not be, according to Cantor. Editors of The Economist (July 26, 1986) suggest that other factors be considered in identifying illegal kinds of actions terrorist and terrorist organizations undertake, e.g. bombing, skyjacking, kidnapping. For example: Are the means just? Is the cause just?

Clearly, both sides in the Middle East dispute are using terrorism as a means toward an end. We’re all aware of the spate of restaurant and bus bombings in Israel lately. We’re also becoming painfully aware of Israeli military conduct in the refugee areas of Remallah and Jenin. In the latter, Israeli soldiers have lamented what they did to civilians. Anything that moved was shot. Housing areas were blown up and bulldozed with “noncombatants” still in them. In these incidents there were also no attempts to differentiate combatant from noncombatant.

Cantor also takes issue with the use of the term “new Holocaust” in the referenced commentary, saying that if such were Israel’s intention there would be Nazi-style roundups, extermination camps, etc. Something similar did occur in the late ’40s as land was being seized and consolidated by Zionists, militia and Jewish terrorist organizations. In an irony of history, a group once set upon by a renegade government switched roles and targeted another indigenous group. “Chosen ones” targeted those less chosen and began expelling them from ancestral lands, all in the name of God. Those who resisted were jailed or killed by roving militia and terrorist gangs. Unfortunately, the less chosen were also less organized with little or no support. A huge refugee crisis ensued, which can be witnessed today by refugee camps spread across the Middle East.

Palestinians, like Jewish mi-grants, were promised a homeland in the early 20th century. They have been denied for more than 60 years, not just by Israeli tactics, but by Zionist machination and world indifference. There was never any real compensation for land confiscated and, chagrined at being denied what was Trans-Jordan, Zionists pushed for settlements in the West Bank area so that eventual annexation would be easier. So, a “Holocaust” did occur which still lingers today and the world can no longer afford to be complacent. Current Israeli leaders, exemplified by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and prime minister would-be Benjamin Netan-yahu, are supporters of those settlements and are opposed to any land for peace deals which would entail termination.

They and their followers would consign Palestinians to political limbo and subjugation in their own land. The settlements, however many, would require constant military protection necessitating a continuing foreign military presence on Palestinian soil. And therefore, subjugation. That is what modern-day Zionists might settle for: an acquiescent, nonviable “nation” next door. And so we return to whether or not “means” and “cause” are just for each side. Clearly, the means for each is not. Israel’s cause, “drang nach Osten” (“drive toward the East”), clearly is not. The Palestinian cause, striving for viable nationhood, is just contingent on normalization and lasting peace with Israel.

There are ways to stop the carnage, defang the terrorist groups striking Israel and get the peace talks back on line. First and foremost involves a quantum leap for Israel: Put land for peace back on the table and terminate all Israeli settlements in Gaza and on the West Bank. Resettle the occupants in suitable dwellings in Israel and save the buildings for Palestinian families. If this crucial settlement issue isn’t addressed and resolved, lasting peace cannot happen and our own “war on terrorism” will become vastly more complicated.

Robert Fritsch, of Dexter, is a longtime student of international relations who holds a master of science degree from Central Connecticut State University.