Why should we reward terrorism? I have tried to sympathize with the Palestinian people, the oppression they have suffered in the occupied territories and the continued building of settlements by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. After the back-to-back homicide bombings, I am no longer able to feel the pain of the Palestinian people. That pain has turned into anger - anger at Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian people and their refusal to stop the killing of innocents and their continued support for the massacre of Jews.
There now have been at least 71 suicide bombings in 20 months that have killed at least 247 civilians and wounded thousands more as they rode buses, shopped, sat in cafes, danced in clubs or celebrated religious holidays. Just this year, at least 182 people have died in the 21 such attacks directed against Israel. Israel should not be expected to tolerate such a sustained campaign of murder without defending itself. Suicide bombing has become the tool of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a group linked directly to Yasser Arafat’s Fatah party. A poll last month showed that two-thirds believe they have accomplished more through two years of violence than through all the previous years of negotiation.
Another poll showed that a majority of Palestinians support homicide bombings.
Two years ago at the Camp David summit, in the presence of President Clinton, the Palestinians were offered an end to the occupation by the prime minister of Israel. They said “no.” They said no because they were asked to make peace in return. They can go on television every day and say that these murders are terrible until they are blue in the face. But the bottom line is that the Palestinians do not want peace, they want to make Israel extinct. They will do this by any means necessary and at the expense of innocent women and children. I thought Islam forbids suicide bombings without any if, ands or buts.
These cowardly acts go against the very fabric for which Islam stands. Apparently a majority of Palestinians do not prescribe to this interpretation of Islam.
Shawn Dhar
1997 graduate
