4A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, March 7, 2002 OP/ED olbe libiguu iuig 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 letters@michigandaily. com EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 JON SCHWARTZ Editor in Chief JOHANNA HANINK Editorial Page Editor Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the Daily's editorial board. All other articles, letters and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily. NOTABLE QUOTABLE This is of considerable potential danger in terms of poisoning trade relationships between a wide range of countries." - Peter Sutherland, thefirst director of the World Trade Organization, as quoted by the BBC, commenting on President Bush's new, protectionist tariff increases on imported steel. SAM BUTLER v.soix 'buk-C$rs~'o~ heU S E Sho.1l we jst- shaoe ar CARS C N X1 ~ 0 At the border and under suspicion YAEL KOHEN JE NE SAIS QUOI e were almost at the border. The train was stopped and the French customs offi- cers boarded. "Passports please," they declared. The officers walked down the aisles, guns in holsters and barely scanned my passport once he saw United States of America on the cover. This was one of those standard inconve- niences that we couldn't avoid but we could be rid of soon. But the train didn't move and a different set of French customs officers, boarded the train. "Passports please," again they declared and fol- lowed the same procedure as the control before. Two more sets of customs officers - this time Spanish - boarded the train and checked passports. One of the officers was in plain clothes. OK, this was more than standard border control. It seemed a little excessive for just a routine check. But this check was not an isolated incident. Another friend of mine who had traveled to Spain the day before me said that French cus- toms officers boarded her train too. Only they had dogs. They searched bags but this time they had their guns drawn and ready to fire, finally escorting a passenger off the train. Now it's not like they tell you what they are looking for. Instead we are all left to speculate. Were they looking for terrorists? And if they were was it because they were tipped off or was it just a random check? Were they al-Qaida ter- rorists or domestic Spanish terrorists? Of course, something like this doesn't ruin a weekend trip; after all, I can under- stand the need for border patrol. Instead, it kind of just floats out of your mind as a stan- dard procedure not to be thought of until the train ride home. After an adventurous cultural escapade and many details later, we boarded a train headed back to France. And on the train ride home, there was no border control going from Spain to France. I wondered why? But this time, my friend and I changed trains at the French border town of Cer- bere. We had a two-hour layover so we decided to take a walk around. This town was gorgeous, but small and empty. It was on the water which was bordered by little closed cafes and the whole town was surrounded by green mountains. And of course like the American tourists that we were we had to take a picture. There was only one person close enough to take a picture - a man who looked to be of North- African descent. He took the picture and returned the camera. As we thanked him, two of his friends approached us and we could tell that although they were speaking French, their accents were not French. OK, fine, whatever .... "Do you know where we can find a taxi to take us to Barcelona?" they asked. Barcelona? Were they kidding? We were a good several hours away from Barcelona - a taxi would cost a fortune. "Well there is a train station right there. I'm sure you could find a train to Spain. That's how we went," my friend replied. "We can't get to Spain on the train. We are not allowed to cross the border." OK. Now that was a little weird. I don't think I need to tell you that it's a little uncom- fortable when you're two girls talking to three men trying to illegally cross a border. My thoughts were thrown back to the border control on the way to Spain. Were these men the kind that customs were searching for and if they were, were they dangerous? Were they just being racially profiled or did they really pose a threat? Suddenly I was very aware that there was nobody else around. To kill some time we went to a cafe, and several minutes later the men showed up. They went inside, where they had a clear view of us and watched. We were definitely going to take a cab back, we decided. We both were uneasy. Maybe they wanted our passports, our money Unable to find a cab we asked the cafe employees if they had any suggestion for get- ting back to the train station. We explained our discomfort with these particular men and they didn't second guess us at all, instead the waitress said she would drive us back to the train station. "We get alot of people trying to cross the border here," she said. "I don't blame you. It can be dangerous - especially two girls trav- eling alone." All of this and we were just going from France to Spain - two European Union countries in which border lines are supposed to be blurred to facilitate travel and trade. But borders still exist and while it is easier to move between countries, borders continue to be surveyed. Yael Kohen is a Daily columnist writing from Aix-en-Provence, France. She can bereached atyaeljkohen@hotmail.com. 01 VIEWPOINT Palestinians must compromise, not terrorize By DAVID LIVSHIZ AND SAMANTHA WOLL Last week brought a renewed explosion of terrorism in the Middle East. In the lat- est round of violence, more than 30 Israelis and 50 Palestinians have died and hun- dreds of others have been wounded. Repeated suicide bombings, shootings and rocket attacks have once again returned the Israeli populace to a state of siege, where people feel that every time they leave their house might be their last. With Tuesday's attacks Israel has also witnessed a new development. A Jewish group called "Avengers of the Infants" bombed a school in an Arab neighborhood leaving several Palestinians dead. Such acts of terror targeted against civilians are unacceptable; they are a violation of Israeli and Jewish values, and action must be taken immediately to ensure that no other similar acts occur. As pro-Israel advocates on campus, we condemn this brutal act of violence aimed at innocent civilians. We call on the Israeli government to immediately arrest and pun- ish all those responsible and demonstrate to the world community that terrorism is ter- rorism and that Israel will not tolerate bar- baric attacks targeted at civilians, be they Jewish or Muslim, Israeli or Palestinian. We also challenge our Palestinian cousins to follow our lead and explicitly and unambiguously condemn terrorist actions that are carried out in their name. Condemning terrorism is not enough, however. Even Yasser Arafat has bowed to international pressure and finally con- demned the suicide bombings that are car- ried out in the name of the Palestinian people. The obvious and easy answer to the complex question of "what causes terror- ism?" is that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land is at fault. Terrorism hap- pens because Israel is occupying Palestin- ian land and Palestinians are simply responding to this occupation. Unfortu- nately, like many other complex problems the simple and obvious solution is not the correct one. To begin with, this argument is based on the assumption that it is the occupation that has created the terrorists, not the other way around. Following this logic we would then conclude that without the occupation there would be no terrorism. History, how- ever, disproves this conclusion. Throughout the 1960s, Palestinian ter- rorists used bases in Gaza and the West Bank to attack Israeli civilians - much like they do now - during a time in which there was no occupation to speak of. Obvi- ously, it is not the occupation that causes terrorism, for when there was no occupa- tion there was Palestinian terrorism. A skeptic might argue that it is a lack of a Palestinian state that causes terrorism. These people argue that suicide bombers are simply expressing their justifiable anger over Israel's presence in the disputed territories; but, if this was the case, would we not expect the Palestinians to support a solution establishing a Palestinian state? History once again shows this not to be the case. Three times the Palestinians have been offered an independent state of their own; three times they have responded with violence aimed at civilians. In 1937 and then again 10 years later, the international community offered the Palestinians a state and both times the Palestinians turned to violence rather then compromise. Two years ago at Camp David, the Palestinian leadership turned down a set- tlement offered by Prime Minister Barak that would have created a Palestinian state. While Barak's offer did not meet all of the Palestinian demands, it was an offer that indicated Israel's willingness to compro- mise in order to achieve peace. Rather then respond to compromise with compromise, the Palestinians turned toward violence hoping to achieve their maximalist goals. Maybe, just maybe, the root cause of the violence isn't the occupation, or a lack of a Nlestinian state, but simply the unwilling- ness of the Palestinian leadership to com- promise. If the Palestinians really want peace, they must learn to compromise, not terrorize. Livshiz is co-chairperson of the American Movementfor Israel and a member of the Daily's editorial board. Woll is the co-chairperson of the Israel Michigan Public Affairs Committee. " LETTERS TO THE EDITOR If the goal of JROTC is to prosletyze, it fails miserably To THE DAILY: I read Wednesday's editorial, Playing War: ROTC does not belong in high schools, with some amusement and more than a little bit of disgust. The editors of the Daily apparently feel that JROTC programs are nothing more than a recruitment tool for the U.S. Armed Forces and a means of brainwashing teenagers into enlisting. This argument is based not so much on hard data, but on the motto of one JROTC program in Florida and the contents of "Policy Memorandum No. 50" - both of which could easily have been pre- e n ,-,f cfrnntcpvt A l nail rn. ,,r ipnt uation and less than five percent of each class went on to the service academies or Senior ROTC. If the JROTC program's goal is to "proselytize," it's doing a very poor job of it. What did we learn from JROTC? Well, we didn't "play war" as the title of this editorial suggests. We didn't study combat tactics and we didn't learn about weapons systems. We learned first aid, civics, public speaking skills, management and leadership techniques, as well as how the military operates in the con- text of national and state government. Maybe I've been "indoctrinated," but this seems like a pretty valuable experience to me. My high school circle of friends now includes a lawyer, a stockbroker, a plumber, a restaurant manager, a human rights activist and an environmental engineer. So much for JROTC "locking students into a predetermined discipline - two qualities that many people lack today. As a former member of JROTC in high school, but not a ROTC cadet, I am one of many JROTC cadets who chose not to go into military service. In fact, only one out of about 15 JROTC cadets in my graduating class went on to participate in ROTC in col- lege and he attends a military institute. As for the comment, "military service is a very serious commitment that requires full freedom to choose to participate," the last time I checked, the U.S. had not instituted a draft and students who participate in JROTC and ROTC are volunteers. JROTC helps stu- dents make the decision of joining the mili- tary because it offers them an opportunity to experience a taste of how the military oper- 1+GI* vCnns0_r100 nu h i1 Cif Im A) TIftW U1 e I 'u_