Is there campus dialogue? It"s only a "screaming match"

To the Daily:

The Arab-Israeli dialogue on campus is not a dialogue it"s a screaming match between two equally passionate, and neglectful, children. The voices are loud, the phrases are catchy, and the claims are exaggerated.

It makes me sick. However, more than making me sick, it makes me apathetic. I am a student who has spent time living and studying in the Middle East and I think that the dialogue on campus is not only childish, but immature as well. What are we doing at this University? Are we here to learn? Or are we just here in order to scream our preconceived notions at each other until someone finally listens?

I truly believe that I would be a valuable asset to either pro-Israeli or pro-Palestinian groups on campus, but I choose to remain uninvolved because I see a general lack of maturity in the actions of both groups. Rally, counter rally. Lecture, counter lecture. What is this? Can we speak to each other in a normal tone of voice without using ridiculous claims or overblown catch phrases? I was under the impression that a university exists to facilitate growth, perhaps I am wrong. Could we try to sit down together and talk, as opposed to rallying our fellow students against one another? What impact do we have just screaming at each other, hundreds of thousands of miles away from the Middle East? Why don"t we try using our distance from the problem as a way of giving ourselves some distance to the problem, and perhaps even thinking about something that someone caught up in the Middle East would not think about?

Until this campus facilitates an educated, calm and growth-oriented program concerning the Middle East, I"ll stay in my room.

Brian Lobel

LSA first-year student

Israeli supporters just as disruptive

To the Daily:

What better time to respond to the accusations in Jacqueline Wulwick"s letter to the editor ("Some pro-Palestinian activists aim to disrupt events," 4/5/01) than now, after a pro-Palestinian rally on the Diag during which supporters of Israel exhibited the same type of disruptive behavior Wulwick accuses Palestinian supporters of, and indeed the same type of disgusting behavior that characterizes the state whose cause they so feverishly champion.

Throughout their counter-protest on the Diag yesterday afternoon, pro-Israel protesters were often rude, obnoxious and at times vulgar and profane. Many Israeli supporters, draped in Israeli flags holding signs that read "I Stand With Israel," repeatedly attempted to disrupt and shout down speakers from the Palestinian side throughout the rally. While passing out their own leaflets accusing Palestinian supporters of anti-Semitism, the pro-Israeli protesters were quick to label claims of Israeli racism as "propaganda." And this was expressed in the most vulgar manner: In response to comments by Sara Flounders of the International Action Center, who spoke about the state of Israel"s racist apartheid-like policies against non-Jews, one pro-Israel protester shouted, "You fucking bitch!"

The attitude is sad, though hardly surprising. What is most striking is not that the Israeli supporters were exhibiting the same type of behavior outlined in Wulwick"s letter (much worse, actually), but that their behavior represents a consistent policy pursued by the state of Israel and its supporters since its establishment in 1948: That Zionists must cleanse "their" homeland of Arabs and non-Jews and that any opposition to the Zionist state is tantamount to anti-Semitism and must be put down by any means necessary. And if Israel"s supporters on this campus wish to carry on that legacy, they are doing an excellent job.

Sabir Ibrahim

Engineering junior

Diag confrontations make it difficult to be in middle

To the Daily:

As I was leaving the Diag yesterday afternoon, on an absolutely picturesque day, a single tear trickled down my check. I had come to witness what was supposed to be two opposing, yet peaceful, rallies regarding Israel and Palestine. But what I left with was fear, disgust and tears.

Who was my disgust toward? Both sides. I have nothing to hide, I"m a pro-Israel advocate, but my disappointment and abhorrence is equally directed to certain members of both groups on campus. Despite my equal nature of disillusionment, I am confident that pro-Israel supporters will respond to this essay declaring that I am a "sellout." Simultaneously, the Arab student community will affirm that I am merely spreading manipulative anti-Palestine propaganda. But both sides are wrong, I speak for fairness, compassion and peace.

As the pro-Palestine contingency was standing in the Diag, a handful of supporters for Israel found it necessary to get in the faces of those trying to assemble peacefully.