Pge 4-Thursday, October 4, 1979-The Michigan Daily
TheArab-Israelidisputecomes from decades of hostiiity

i

-The continuing impasse in the Middle
East peace process reminds us of the
intricate complexity of the issues at
hand, and the bitter dispositions, har-
dened by years of tragic losses for both
sides. After decades of offensive
reprisals initiated by both Arabs and
Israelis, there seems to be little hope of
either side becoming willing to make
the =sacrifices and bestow the trust,
necessary for a peaceful resolution.
Palestinians insist that the key issue
in the dispute is human rights. Indeed
there have been numerous violations of
basic rights of the Palestinians by the
Israeli government, one of which is
unr-easonable curfews and the cutting
of essential services in reaction to com-
patatively mild disturbances.
Iti his speech at the Michigan Union
Monday, Mayor Fahd Kawasmeh of
Hebron-the 2nd largest city in the
West Bank-told of a Palestinian,, town
near his that had a 17-day curfew im-
posed on it, including the cutting of food
and' medical supplies-and com-
munication services, as a result of a
single stone-throwing incident. During
that curfew, two Palestinian youths
were killed by Israeli troops. Similar
incidients recounted by Palestinians
livinig in the United States make it clear
that Israel has violated the human
rights of its indiginant Palestinian ,
population as a measure for insuring
its internal security.
JEWS WHO HAVE c\me to under-
stand the plight of the Palestinian
people are in a precarious position to
even discuss the Middle East. They
have been harshly condemned by other
Jews who mistakenly assume that all
Jews must be Zionists. Many forget
that there is an- important distinction
between Zionism and Judaism, and that
some of the most orthodox believers
are, at the same time, the most staun-
chly'anti-Zionist. The Neture Karta, for
axample, are a group of religious set-
tlers on the West Bank, who opposed the
initial creation of a politicized Jewish
state on the grounds that it violated the


scriptures forseeing the advent of the
Messiah, which is to symbolize the re-
creation of the Jewish state.
Still other Jews of all degrees of
religiousity have come to sympathize
with the Palestinians as victims of
gross human rights violations. Some
even point to the irony of the political
circumstances which lead to the
creation of the Jewish state, Jews are
less likely than Arabs to forget that the
Nazi Holocaust was the primary factor
which caused the great powers to lend
their support to the creation of Israel.
Political Zionism became a viable
political force only with the help of the
'French, German, and British gover-
nments, which cooperated with the
Zionist immigration efforts of the late
19th and early 20th centuries. This
movement was disowned by the
religious Zionists, who began settling
peacefully among the Arab populations
long before the First Aliya in the 1880s.
THIS FACT is too easily forgotten by
Arabs, especially those who make the
obscene analogy of comparing the
'Jewish state to the Aryan ideals of
Hitler. No objective observer would
deny that the Israeli government has
been guilty of repeated human rights
violations against Palestine, both
Muslim and Christian. But to liken the
defensive paranoia of Israel to the
aggressive Nazi policy of seeking to ex-
terminate an entire race of people is in-
deed erroneous and offensive.
Israel, on the other hand, has taken
its policy satisfying its security
requirements to such an extreme that
its policy of procuring defensable bor-
ders has come to appear as expan-
sionist. The new settlements on the
West Bank, and the recent government
approval to buy Arab land in that
territory enforce this observation. This
policy is the very one which has lead to
the rationalization of Palestinian rights
for security concerns-and to incidents
similar to the one accounted by Mayor
Kawasmeh. By overreacting to mild
disturbances within its borders, Israel

By H. Scott Prosterman

Declaration, and that the land in
question encompassed parts of present-
day Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan as
well. The British government of An-
thony Eden made this agreement
through its foreign secretary, Sir Henry
McMahon, as a reciprocation for the
Arabs entering World War I to help
Great Britain against Germany and
Turkey.
Because of the geographical details
of the early agreements, and the fact
that Jordan controlled the West Bank
until 1967, many Jews rightfully ask
why no sincere effort was made by the
Arabs to create a Palestinian state on
the West Bank while it was under Arab
occupation. Likewise, the Arabs have a
diminished memory of the Holocaust.
The creation of Israel was a reaction to
centuries of Jewish persecution, which
culminated with the Holocaust. It is
most unfortunate that some Arabs feel
a sort of vengeance for the Holocaust
being directed toward them. But
because Israel continues to suppress
the free movement of its Palestinian
population, this attitude is not without
foundation, however exaggerated it
maybe. ,
UNTIL ISRAEL demonstrates a
greater awareness and respect for
these basic human. rights, it can not
realistically expect the PLO to
recognize its legitimacy as a nation. In
an arena of such bitter violence, trust is
hard to come by. Israel feels a genuine
internal threat from its Ralestinian at-
tacks on civilians. Thus, it is compelled
to limit the freedom of movement of
those whom it views as potential
terrorists. Native Palestinians though,
find it unthinkable to recognize a nation
which symbolizes the destruction of
their homogeneity, and which forces
them to subsist in "deplorable con-
ditions", while maintaining an ar-
bitrary power of deportation over them.
At the same time, the Palestinians
must come to terms with their own
paranoia about dealing with the United
States. Kawasmeh stated that the PLO
refused to cooperate in the process of

Camp David, because of the United
States' presence and involvement. He
stated his insistence that the solution
can come "only under the flag of the,
U.N.", with Soviet involvement and
cooperation. This suggestion is not even
considered to be realistic to most
political observers. It has loiig been un-
derstood that the Soviet Union has no'
vested interest in solving the Middle
East conflict, and furthermore has an
ideological interest in maintaining a
state of turmoil there. Palestinian
leaders also ignore the fact that the
State Department has lost-many Jewish
friends because it has been putting
pressure on Israel to deal more lenien
tly with the PLO.
Likewise, Israel's insistence that the
U.S. not even speak to the PLO is en-
tirely self-defeating. Someone must at-
tempt to bridge the impasse; nothing,
was ever accomplished by not
negotiating. Andrew Young was an un-
fortunate victim of circumstance in ef-
forts to accomplish this, as he
recognized the dire need to have some
kind of dialogue with the PLO.
It is even more regrettable that his
forced resignation was followed by a
host of self-righteous demagogues, in-
jecting their own personalities into the
process. The present situation can only
worsen now that it has become fuel for
the egotistical demogogery of Jesse
Jackson. By default, he has assumed 4
role that should be performed by the
State Department. The State Depar-"
tment must re-assume this role at all
costs, even if it means offending Israel
and the American Jewish Community'
by negotiating with the PLO. Otherwise
the cost will continue to be measured in
billions of dollars, and loss of life. In
spite of its shortsightedness in dealing
with many of these current issues, the
Department of State remains the most
viable force capable of resolving the
conflict.
H. Scott Prosterman is a graduate
student in the Center for Near
Eastern and North African Studies.)

Kawasmeh

is only aggravating the bitterness
among the Palestinians and leaving it-
self open to what should be harsh
criticism from its primary weapons
supplier and financier-the U.S.
So with the current impasse, we ask
who will be the first to give in by
recognizing the rights and existence of
the other party. Palestinians insist that
the issue is "rights", rather than
"trust". They "trust" the Jews, we're
told by Kawasmeh, after all "we lived
side by side for thousands of years
before the Zionists came." Thus, for
Palestinians the single issue is
recognition by the Israeli government
of their basic human rights. Only then,

they insist, can they negotiate. "We are
not the enemy of the Jews", we were
told, but "of anyone who takes our right
to live."
ACCORDINGLY MANY Arabs insist
that the avowed PLO goal of destroying
the state of Israel, speaks of the
elimination of the "pure Jewish state"
and not of the Jewish people.
Arabs and Jews alike have demon-
strated a short memory for history in
presenting their views on the Middle
East. Few people outside of academic
circles seem to realize that the land of
Israel was promised to the Arab
Nationalist cause a full two and a half
years before the signing of the Balfour

Ninety Years of Editorial Freedom
Vol. LXXXX, No. 25 News Phone: 764-0552
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
lsprin age oMnila
oY PERMITTING Westinghouse the plant down ahead of time.
Electric Corp. to export the key But such assumptions take un-
*component of a $1.2 billion nuclear necessary risks, placing far too much
,power plant for, the Phillipines, the responsibility for human safety on the
bState Department is ignoring vital same kinds of failsafe mechanisms
concerns of health and safety in the that indeed failed at Three Mile Island.
name of expediency. The result is that If there is one thing that the Pen-
:no longer is this country engaged in the nsylvania near-disaster should have
deadly exportation of commercial demonstrated, it is that in the nuclear
nuclear power, but in the exportation power game, uncertainty and the
of the dangers so markedly illustrated potential for human error are the
by the accident at Three Mile Island. dominant dynamics.
Sources have suggested to the press
,The administration approved that that the only reason the administration
dale despite the fact that the proposed is pushing the project is to salvage the
Philippine plant will be built at Nabot health of the U.S. Atomic power in-
Ioint near Manila within erupting dustry, which has seen a lack of ac-
distance of'four volcanoes. The edge of tivity since Three Mile Island distur-
one huge lava flow from one of those bed America's faith in the nuclear age.
volcanos, Mt. Natib, is less than two But if the market for the deadly power
a::les from the site of the proposed plants is shrinking, that is because
plant. The Philippine Atomic Energy these plants are still too unsafe and too
Commission has already surrounded by uncertainty to become
,acknowledged the possibility of erup- the major source of eney for this or
tion" of Mt. Natib, and the State any country.
Department said in its 6Q-page report The Nuclear Regulatory Com-
that the "volcanic history of the site mission still has to approve the
region is not well known or under- project, so the people of the Phillipines
ood." ..can only hope that that body - if not
But the administration has approved the State Department - has learned
the proposed plant, ignoring the ob- from the lessons of Three Mile Island
tious dangers, and content that a and the dangers of pushing ahead too
"volcano surveillance system" will be quickly .with commercial nuclear
able to anticipate eruptions and shut power.
- 4


It started out as a form we used
in the English Department to
report "incompletes" in the
courses. (For the information of
you older readers, "incompletes"
are what you report instead of
failing grades for students who
don't complete the work for a
course on time: it's as simple as ,
that.) But the gentleman-a
colleague-who created this form
in a fit ofwadministrative zeal
outdid himself; and now, as a
result,.the:whole world may be
changed, or changing.
The form he made up was
headed "Report of Incomplete
Course Work," and it asked first
for information like the student's
name, class year, college of
enrollment, and so forth. Below
this there was a place for you to
note what work had actually been
done, and what the grade was for
that work. Then it asked you to
list the work still outstanding, the
"incomplete" part. At the bottom
there was a line for your
signature.
RIGHT IN THE middle of the
form, however, after "Term of
Enrollment" but before
"Description of Work Complete"
there was a line that said
"Reason for Incomplete." For a
while, when the form was first in-
troduced, we shook our heads and
wrote in "Work incomplete."
Then, disgusted, we wrote in
"Guess." Then we became
creative. Reason for incomplete?
"Frogs." "Bananas overripe."
"Civil strife on Mars." "Time
and Space." "Sailing to Byzan-
tium."
One year as I was turning in my
grades for the term, and in need
therefore of several copies of the
form to take care of my usual run
of "incompletes" from the
Dickens course, I discovered that
there were only a half-dozen
copies left. "Make some copies of
that," Toby said, "before you use
the last one." I used five, and

A new world of
incompletes,
By Bert Hornback

then gleefully covered over the
offensive "Reason for Incom-
plete" line on the sixty copy. Iran
off a hundred of the revised form
and put them in the filing cabinet
where they belonged.
But correctness achieved never
ends in mere correctness: that's
a law of Nature. A couple of mon-
ths later, in mid-summer, I
noticed that the supply of the
revised form was almost
exhausted. So I took one, and in
the blank space where it had once
said "Reason for Incomplete" I
typed "Handicap," and ran off
twenty-five.
Then I took one of those with
the new revision and revised it,
replacing "Handicap" with
"Astrological Sign or Sexual
Preference," and did twenty-five
more. Then, I replaced
"Astrological Sign orSexual
Preference" with "Recent Gain
or Loss of Weight."
I ALSO DID "Student's
Height" (revision 5), and
changed that (revision 6) to
"Student's Longitude." And I put
them all in Toby's file.
Subversion is a form of tyran-
ny, and tyrants always subvert
themselves in the end. I could't
stop. Next I invaded the space
traditionally occupied by "Num-
ber of Course," and replaced it
with "Student's Weight." Then I,

gave them back "Number of
Course," but put "Favorite
Color" where the form had
previously asked for "College of
Enrollment."
By this time I knew what the
end of my work would be.
Revision 17 replaced all the
original information (except for
"Reason for Incomplete") in the
proper places, but added in the
upper right-hand corner-in the
index position-"Favorite
Author." I kept that one there,
varying it occasionally to
"Favorite Food" (revision 19)
and "Favorite Color" (revision
20), for eighteen months.
FINALLY, WITH brazen and
presumptive malice, I replaced
"Last Name" with "Favorite
Food" (revision 21). ThenI filled
out mine for the term, giving in-
completes to Craig Spaghetti and
Andi Artichoke, Cindy Lamb
Chops and Arlene Steak au
Poivre. And to the Oysters
Rockefeller, Otto and Jerry (no
relation).
Today there are more than four
hundred blank copies of revision
21 in the top file drawer behind
Toby'srdesk, in the folder marked
".Report of Incomplete Course
Work." In the second drawer,
there are maybe forty or fifty
completed copies, filed
alphabetically according to

favorite tooa. There are still
some Jacksons and ' Churchills
and Brewers in there, but they
should be moving out soon, as the
Jacksons and Churchills and
Brewers get their work done. And
they will be replaced by Jam-
Cakes and Corn on the Cobs and
Baked Alaskas.
Most of us got out family names;
from our fathers (Jacksons,
Dickson, MarArthur), or from
some place our ancestors were
associated with (Church on the
hill, Lancaster, Wickfield), or
from a nickname somebody gave
one of us several centuries ago.
What all of these kinds of names
have in common is that they
neither are now nor ever have
been in any way personally our
own. They are all somebody '
else's identification of us, in ter-
ms of our relation to that which is
not us. Hornback is my
name-but as a name it is
.T
irrelevant to me. My favorite
food, however, is my favorite,
food-and I'll be the one to choose
it!
Eventually we will all be
known, I suppose, by our favorite
foods, and what we now know as'"
family names will disappear. The',
English department has already,
lent a form or two to the History'-
Department, and our supplemen-
tary grade reports have in-
filtrated the Academic Records
office. Transcripts will influence
Financial Aid, and Financial 4id
will pass things on to Washington.
Diplomas for Mary Ellen Cheese
and Adam Aubergine will result
in marriage, perhaps, and their
children will enroll-the
Moussala twins, or the young
Stuffed Eggplants-someday.
And all because of that dumb:,
form made up by old Professor
What's-his-favorite-food.
Bert Hornback is a Univer-
sity English professor.


Letters to

The Daily

To the Daily:
This is in response to the Daily's
Sunday Magazine article, "Goin'
Nuts: Ann Arbor squirrels speak
out." As a member of the canine
community of Ann Arbor I would
like to direct my rebuttal
specifically to the comments of
one Hedda Buttrey. Statements
such as, "Dog attacks. . . are the
'leading cause of death among
Ann Arbor squirrels, second only

and cannot communicate
rationally with a squirrel and
thus attack them. We, the
peaceful majority, condemn such
action. To them we say, "ARF!"
The latter part of the article
gave the impression that Ann Ar-
bor dogs were vicious killers.
But, has the Daily ever thought to
investigate the canine as a vic-
tim? I know for a fact that many
of my four-legged friends have

but Michigan's mongrols are
willing to give it a try. For now,
however, let sleeping dogs lie.
Devotedly,
Buddy Cohen
Hydrant Local K-9
To the Daily:
The cartoon in this Sunday's is-
sue depicting a "terrorist" with a
machine gun was a blatant
example of bias and poor

clumsy propaganda.
I am not going to quote Ant
:drew Young, or deliver a
harrangue about my owi
political beliefs, although spacd
in this newspaper for such a let'
ter is more than due. I merely
wish to point out that te Israeli
army is killing women and
children in Lebanon every day,
yet a cartoon on this issue would
be met with much indignation.