Israel: Democracy's last stand in the Middle East
Yulia DernovskySeptember 2nd, 2002
Fall 2002, the first day of another school year at the University of Michigan, I fear that once again I enter the battleground of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, location Ann Arbor, Michigan. Having witnessed numerous clashes between the two sides in past years, I notice that sadly most, though not all, of the participants in this campus war are Jews with the pro-Israel views and Arabs fighting for the pro-Palestine side. The rest of the University student body is either apathetic about the issue or is irritated at the continuing propaganda war on the Middle East.
Most troubling are the attempts by pro-Palestinian advocates to mislead students who are uneducated and disinterested in the conflict with their fallacious and demagogic arguments. They hope that the liberal-minded always-ready-to-right-a-wrong college student will give in to the pleas to support the "poor Palestinians suffering under brutal occupation" and will reprimand Israel for abusing its power.
All those little, unimportant facts such as suicide bombers, terrorist organizations and the threat of destruction that Israel faces on a daily basis are conveniently left out of the pro-Palestine discourse in an effort to mislead students. Similarly left unmentioned are human rights abuses of the Palestinian Authority under the corrupt and dictatorial leadership of Yassir Arafat.
I believe it is time that college students realize why Israel needs and deserves their support, regardless of how tear-drawing the demagogic speeches of the pro-Palestinian activists are. It is time that students take a stand for the values in which this liberal campus takes so much pride: The values of liberty, equality and social justice. It is time to see that Israel is the only hope for the survival of those values in the Middle East.
Israel is not perfect, like any other country in the world it has flaws and problems dealing with complex issues like gender, poverty and race. At the same time the one undeniable truth in this conflict is that Israel is the only true democracy in the Middle East. Next to the despotism of the Middle East dictatorships, Israel guarantees that its government will be "based on freedom, justice, peace ... it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture." Israel doesn't always accomplish these goals - but at least it tries. No other country in the Middle East comes even close to promising their people these freedoms. On the contrary, their propaganda focuses on bashing the Western democratic ideals and repressing their citizens.
Furthermore, as a loyal ally, Israel fights our enemies in our "War Against Terrorism." Israel shared the pain of our losses from terrorism, the pain it suffers on almost a daily basis at the hands of those same innocent and helpless Palestinians portrayed in the anti-Israel rhetoric. Israelis condemn and fight against terrorism at the same time as Palestinians riot because one of the leaders of Hamas or Hizbullah (two terrorist organizations) was put under temporary house arrest. As Israeli civilians are dying in clubs, restaurants, hotels and buses, Hizbullah recruits are working with al Qaeda to destroy Israel and America (see Washington Post 06/30/02). And Arafat's corrupt regime is doing zilch to stop them. How can we support the regime whose actions contradict every moral value on which America is based?
These are the questions that as students we must address. How much do we value democracy and what are we willing to do to preserve it? The current focus of the campus battle is the infamous divestment petition that the pro-Palestinian leaders are incessantly advocating. The petition would call on the University to end all of "the University's financial investments in the Israeli market and in corporations with significant financial connections with Israel."
The divestment petition disregards any possibilities of negotiations for peace, calling on Israel to give up all its rights to safe and secure borders. They talk of the "illegal" occupation, forgetting that the reason Israel is in control of the disputed territories is because it defeated the aggressor states when it was attacked by them in 1967. They talk of the UN resolutions which direct Israel to give up the territories, conveniently leaving out the parts of the resolutions that demand the recognition of Israel's right to safe and secure borders. They talk of Israel's imperial claims, avoiding the reality that there is a widespread desire among Israelis for a long term and peaceful solution, while the majority of Palestinians refuse to recognize the right of Israel to exist. They neglect to mention that in Israel 70 percent support territorial compromise and peace, while in the Palestinian territories 68 percent support suicide bombings.
Not only would it be morally hypocritical for the University to divest from Israel in favor of the undemocratic regime of the Palestinian Authority, it would also be economically unreasonable. The state of Michigan, including the University and various businesses are heavily involved in economic relations with Israel. Not only do numerous businesses benefit from the international trade, Israel is also a tremendous source of technological and scientific innovations as well as proposing social programs that helped improve the lives of all citizens of Michigan. Israel, for instance, introduced an education program called Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youngsters, which was praised by former President Clinton as "the best preschool program on earth," and has since been implemented throughout the country.
The University itself has a close relationship with Israel in its research projects. The University of Michigan and Michigan State University are among the Michigan institutions that have shared with counterparts in Israel more than $1.7 million in grants awarded by the Binational Science Foundation (BSF) since 1987. As of 2000, BSF documented at least 75 discoveries that resulted from the cooperation between United States and Israel and which have contributed to the world wide academic acclaim enjoyed by our University.
Any which way you look, there is no moral or practical justification for divesting from Israel, unless of course, one wants to distorts the truth. Fact is, Israel is a democracy; Palestinian Authority is not. Israel promotes rule of law, the Palestinian Authority promotes terrorism.
The students of this University want social justice and moral satisfaction. It is impossible to support these ideals while supporting a morally and politically corrupt Palestinian regime. If students at this University want to promote democratic values, they should support the only lasting democracy in the Middle East - Israel.
Remember, if all that the Palestinians wanted was a state - they could have had it as recently as two years ago. Truth is Israel is fighting to live; Palestinians are fighting to destroy. This generation will be decisive in the outcome of the Middle East crisis, and it's time for us to decide whether we support democracy or dictatorships, human rights or terrorism. If we support democracy and human rights then it is time to help Israel survive.
For those of you who support the values of democracy, freedom and human rights in the Middle East, I urge you to join other students on this campus in promoting these values.
If you want to participate in this cause come join the various Israel groups on campus, such as the American Movement for Israel, Israel Michigan Political Action Committee or the Zionist Organization of Michigan. Members of these groups differ in their outlook on the conflict, their opinions range from those who are willing to give up just about anything for peace to those who will agree to nothing but nonnegotiable peace. The one thing that we agree on is the need to promote democracy and human rights in the Middle East. If these values appeal to you - then work with us.
Dernovsky is the co-chair American Movement for Israel.
Printed from www.michigandaily.com on Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:57:25 -0500