H, 3, Pag 4 a, P{ge Et EE 6i I, OPINION e r i Wednesday, January 17, 1990 The Michigan Daily No Israeli democracy for Palestinians i M By Tom Abowd Many of the enduring myths that sur- round the creation of the State of Israel as well as Israel's treatment of the indigenous Palestinian population were presented by ;Litt, Miller, and G i n itheir Opinon ;:Page letter (Daily, "Productive dialogue :.needed,12/4/89.) Their piece was a re- " sponse to one I wrote in November com- , memorating the first year anniversary of the Palestinian State. Instead of directly addressing the points I made about the history of Israeli oppres- sion and inhumanity toward the indige- ' nous people of the region, the authors {chose to make claims which are un- founded, and often irrelevant to the particu- lar issues I raised. Rather than fill pages i discussing all of their inaccuracies, I will discuss one myth that is used often by supporters of Israel and which the authors . attempt to masquerade as fact. Litt, Miller, and Green assert that Arabs live as equals inside the Jewish State, and that "the only restriction to Arab citizenship is that Arabs are not re- quired to serve in the Israeli army," but the ;facts present a different picture. Israel is a ,state built upon a foundation of racist and idiscriminatory policies. This may seem a strong statement for those who support Is- rael but is easily substantiated by examin- ing official, written Israeli laws, and poli- cies which have been around since the birth of the state in 1948. One law which is fundamental to Zion- ism is the Law of Return. Soon after the State of Israel was established, the Israeli government began to expropriate more land by terrorizing Palestinian families and driving them from their homes. The land that was stolen was reserved for exclusive use of Jews - not for all Israeli citizens. Under the Law of Return, a Jew from anywhere in the world may immigrate to Israel, become a citizen and automatically have more rights to own land than a Pales- tinian citizen of Israel, whose family has lived there for hundreds of years. Today, 92 percent of Israeli land is re- served for the use and benefit of Jews only. Non-Jews may not own land in these areas and are very often even pre- vented from renting in these areas. What would be the reaction if the government of the United States reserved 92 percent of Michigan (or any part of Michigan) for the use of Christians only. What if non-Chris- tians were restricted from owning land there and Christians could take legal mea- sures to prevent Jews, Muslims, or athe- ists from residing in Christian areas. Sim- ilar Israeli land policies in the West Bank and Gaza are currently in practice. This is clearly a racist policy with striking simi- larities to the apartheid land policies of South Africa where 87 percent of the land is reserved for whites only. But not only are Palestinians living in- side Israel forbidden to live on 92 percent of the land but their land in the remaining 8 percent can also be expropriated by the Israeli government and their homes de- stroyed without recourse. In the northern region of Israel called the Galilee (where Palestinians now outnumber Jews) this has happened on numerous occasions. The Israeli government has allowed kibbuttz to expropriate Palestinian villages for the purpose of expansion. Whole Arab vil- lages - many of which the Israeli gov- ernment refuses to recognize - have been razed to the ground leaving thousands of Palestinians, who are citizens of the state, homeless. Arab workers who are Israeli citizens make about half the wages a Jewish worker makes doing the same kind of work. An Arab laborer working in the gated to be members and pay dues in the Israeli Labor Union, the Histadrut, means nothing since the union does not provide any services to or provide protection to Arab workers. In fact, near the Ariel set- tlement the union boasts of its medical clinic for workers but neglects to report that Arab workers will not be treated there under any circumstances. In addition, Palestinians living within Israel are not allowed to express their na- tional identity and are forbidden to even display the Palestinian flag. Others forms of expression of Palestinian history and culture have been erased from virtually ev- ery aspect of life - former Palestinian villages have been renamed, Palestinian history is not taught etc. Living inside "democratic" Israel does have its benefits though Palestinians can vote just as African-Americans were able to vote in Mississippi in the 1930's. Universities, though they may not study certain subjects such as archeology at Hq- brew University in Jerusalem. Agai, policies like these parallel the history of anti-Semitism in the U.S. and around the world: Another of the more humiliating an i dehumanizing laws which the "democratic' state of Israel has instituted concerns thb Palestinians from the West Bank ano1 Gaza. These Palestinians are forbidden by the Israelis to spend the night inside Isradl (similar to policies in South Africa which forbid Blacks from staying in "white ar- eas" overnight). Violation of this law i$ punishable by up to five years in prison or $5000. However, it is lawful for Israeli employers to keep Palestinian workers in a room locked from the outside between the hours of 1 and 5 am. In other words, only if these wild, primitive Palestinians are locked up like horses and kept out cif sight can there presence can be tolerated. Either Litt, Miller, and Green don't know much about the state they defend they believe these written laws to be democratic and just. I challenge Litt, Miller, and Green to put themselves in th place of Palestinians for just one minut$ and ask themselves what it might be like. Tom Abowd is a member of the Palestine Solidarity Committee. ii- 'Today, 92 percent of Israeli land is reserved for the use and benefit of Jews only. Non-Jews may not own land in these ar- eas and are very often even prevented from renting in these areas. What would be the reaction if the government of the United States reserved 92 percent of Michigan (or any part of Michigan) for the use of Christians only.' same factory on the same line working next to his or her Jewish counterpart makes half as much as the Jewish worker. The fact that many Arab workers are obli- Palestinians can not be expelled from their homeland like their brothers and sisters in the West Bank and Gaza. Also, Palestini- ans may enroll in any of the fine Israeli 'h Edited andr Vol. C, No. 73 Unsigned editorialsr s cartoons, signed ar of the Daily. i' 'Oliver South's? managed by students at The University of Michigan 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 represent a majority of the Daily's Editorial Board. All other ticles, and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion i' ~El :IN WHAT !bold politic ;'dent Alfre 1announced ,the murde ,Novembe announcer Brest of sev idiers, incl They ar diers to be 4murders in civil war army-spon sponsible that time. Christia sion by th the enrom his county any measu ceed. rThrough has threat various re supported indirectly :,progress o cys. To re tional polit erected a f man right out by the In lateI murder o Oscar Ro 4 cans (inct i took its im pressure th clean up i was suspe Since th significant 1 the army murders. E receive m U.S. aid fa will increa gets his w tinued. On t;cently defe testified th tary opera least 72 ac last year. r Christia '; sonnel, wh Salvador's fall guys HAS been falsely hailed as a rather than arouse the kind of attention cal move, Salvadoran Presi- such an admission rightly deserves. ado Christiani has formally Just as the spectacle of the indictment Ihis army's responsibility for and prosecution of Oliver North in this er of six Jesuit priests on country diverted attention from the true r 16 of last year. Christiani's origins of the crimes in the Iran/contra nent was followed by the ar- case, Christiani and his U.S.-American veral army officers and sol- supporters are banking on a classic fall- uding a colonel. guy theory of crisis resolution. While e the first government sol- Christiani is widely praised (in this e charged with death squad country) for his political courage, his a the 10-year-old Salvadoran own complicity and the complicity of though government and his death-squad Arena party will drop nsored forces have been re- from public view. for 60,000 murders during The success of this ploy is especially important to Christiani for several rea- ni hopes to forestall a deci- sons: he U.S. Congress to reduce From the start of his term last spring ous supply of military aid to Christiani has been struggling to create ry. And if recent history is the sort of moderate image which his ire, he will undoubtedly suc- predecessor Jose Napole6n Duarte en- joyed in the U.S. media and Congress. hout the decade, Congress This is no small task for a man who ened to suspend aid to the has been chosen to front what is essen- pressive governments it has tially the most extreme right-wing party which use that aid directly or in Salvadoran politics - the party most in their efforts to stop the directly linked to death-squad murders f popular guerilla insurgen- throughout the current civil war. Even lieve domestic and interna- today, the leadership of the fascist tical pressures, Congress has Roberto d'Aubuisson within the Arena facade of concern for the hu- party is rarely questioned. s abuses relentlessly carried Salvadoran military. Secondly, with his army's brutal re- 1980, following the army's pression of the November offensive by f Salvadoran Archbishop the rebels of the Farabundo Marti Na- mero and five U.S.-Ameri- tional Liberation Front (FMLN) - uding three nuns), Congress which included bombing poor areas of iost drastic measure ever to San Salvador at a cost of hundreds of he Salvadoran government to civilian lives - domestic opposition to its image: U.S. military aid U.S. support for the Arena government nded for nearly one month. has intensified. Members of Congress hat time there has been no have relied on the image of Christiani Congressional opposition to as a moderate reformer to justify the and right-wing death-squad enormous levels of funding required to El Salvador has continued to keep the FMLN at bay. With hundreds ore than $1 million per day in killed and the murder of six Jesuit or nine years (a figure which priests and educators unsolved, the ase further if President Bush "war at home" was threatening to get ay), and the killing has con- out of hand. ie Salvadoran soldier who re- Whether or not the arrested officers ected to the United States has are ever punished (it may not be neces- iat he was involved in a mili- sary to continue the charade to comple- ation which assissinated at tion) the prosecution of a few soldiers tivists from April to July of and officers does nothing to alter the true nature of El Salvador's repressive ni's indictment of army per- government. And the longer the U.S. ich underscores the govern- government can come up with excuses S O* RO A Savadran an supectd o wokingwit theFML - s arestd b themiltarydurng he ltes of fensive in San Salvador. Now some army ssld e s d aoln ae ee hagdhthe ssasinaton o - Jesit piest on NvembrM16 0 0i For candor and truth To the Daily: UCAR articles in the Daily seem like the messages people wear on T-shirts: all manifesto, no communication. Response doesn't seem to be the object, but perhaps it may be permit- ted? "Twenty years past due" (Daily, 1/12/90) charges that the University has failed to meet its commitment of 20 years ago - yielding to the demand of the Black Action Movement - to achieve 10 percent Black enrollment. That charge is, of course, perfectly true. But in taking the view that the University administration has somehow brought about this result by not trying hard enough, or by not doing some- thing it is perfectly capable of doing, is to misread the facts wildly and to perpetuate a his- tory of something less than candor and truth. I agree with UCAR that the University administration is in bad faith: it was so 20 years ago, it was so when President Shapiro accepted another two percent just before cutting out for a "smaller, better place," and it is so today. But not be- lack of candor and good faith have been the sad result. This, it seems, is the inevitable con- sequence of the inability to admit a blunder was made in the first place. The demand (not for knowl- edge and wisdom, which may always be demanded and sought) for a quota was ex- torted by bullying. The capitu- lation of 20 years ago was a vain attempt to preserve busi- ness as usual. I sincerely invite UCAR to start being against racism (as when in its article it refers to "the few token people of color brought here by the administra- tion," an insulting reference to people of color in this com- munity, and one it must know to be dishonest) and to begin a genuine attempt to foster jus- tice for all students, all faculty, all administrators - of all races. -Leo McNamara January 14 Reformative. action? To the Daily: There will inevitably be those who dismiss this article as racist and insensitive be- cause it was written by a mid- dle-class white boy from the stitutionalized racism mani- fested as underrepresentation of minority students at the Uni- versity. It further attacks the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) as a racist tool used primarily for keeping minorities and the underprivileged off campus. While I agree that the prob- lem is institutionalized racism, I disagree as to where this racism is to be found. I'm not sure the blame belongs with the University, and I have grave doubts about blaming the SAT. I will concede that the verbal portion of the exam may give white students an unfair advantage; I refuse to concede the same thing about the math- ematics portion of the test. A polygon can not be racist, and quadratic equations are color- blind: you either know how to solve them or you don't, and the color of your skin isn't go- ing to affect a thing. And yet, study after study has shown that minority stu- dents perform worse on this test than their white, affluent counterparts. Why? The problem is not that the test is unfair; nor is it that Blacks and other minorities are less intelligent than whites (although some racists make this claim). The problem is that minority students have al- ready been failed by 12 years of in and of itself, is colorblind. Affirmative action tries to correct with a single push the injustices done by holding mi- nority students back for twelve years. The goal is a noble one, but I am skeptical about the'I success of the methods. I have never seen a study that fol- lowed up on the University ca- reers of those students who were admitted through affirma- tive action programs, but {I suspect it would show that they do worse than the major- ity of the student body. Having been robbed of the necessary foundation in their early educa- * tion, they are unable to live up to their higher aspirations. The problem is not the SAT or the admissions process. The problem is the system that produces unqualified applicants in the first place. What is needed is not affirmative a - tion, but reformative action. We need to fix the system, b- ginning with first grade, so that it produces qualified mi- nority students who will then perform better on the standard- ized tests, and thus be accepted on their own merits. Higher minority enrollment will inevitably follow, along with an improved minority success rate at the University.