4A - The Michigan Daily - Monday, April 1, 2002 OP/ED ctle fl!Dailid 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 We look at this as something to heighten the hearts of Enron employees who are losing their jobs." - Playboy spokeswoman Elizabeth Norris, regarding the upcoming "Women of Enron" issue, as quoted in the current Newsweek THOMAS KULJURGIS TENTATIVELY SPEAKING / fl '4hp ~~V COS0 She was from Deisheh, Palestine. AMER G. ZAHR THE PROGRESSIVE PEN ne of the last individ- uals to give her life was an 18-year old young woman. She was from Dheisheh, a refugee camp near Jerusalem in the West Bank. I can remember a time a few years ago when I met with a man named Ziad who heads much of the activities that revolve around youth at the camp. He came to America asking me and others to help organize a tour for a number of Dheisheh's young popula- tion. A few months later, Ziad returned with a group of about 30 children from Dheisheh aged anywhere from seven to about 16 years. They toured around the country putting on cultural art shows and performing traditional Palestinian dances. I can remember congregating with them backstage before their performance here in Michi- gan. We sang songs, about struggle, about love, about whatever we felt like. I got to know all their names, although I forget most of them now. I can remember one girl in particular though. Her name is Manaar. She must have been 12 or 13 at the time. She was especially talented. She sang beautifully, and I can remember how she asked me to speak English with her. She wanted to prac- tice, as it was one of her jobs in the cultural shows to recite a poem in English. I saw Manaar again at a rally in Washington in September of 2000. She performed there as well, and she served as an inspiration to many, including me. She was the first person I thought of when I heard that the young woman who had exploded herself in that market in Jerusalem was from Dheisheh. I felt relief to learn that it had not been Manaar who decided to take her life that day. But my relief quickly turned to dejection when I came to the realization that it very well could have been. Not on that day, but perhaps on any other. Manaar lives a life all too similar to that of the young woman who committed such an act of horror and despair. We all too seldom hear of people like Ziad and Manaar. We forget about them, as we constantly hear Israeli officials and their support- ers on this campus and elsewhere brushing over the fact that Ziad, Manaar and the other 3 million. residents of the West Bank are living under the longest standing military occupation of our time. And now, more than ever, as their deficient and defunct leadership stays holed up in presidential compounds, speaking to television cameras and soaking up the spotlight, their plight seems more hopeless than ever. It has become the strategy of our current American administration to lump the Palestinian question into the greater war on terror, much to the delight of Israel and its supporters. But this strategy, unfortunately, will only create more bar- riers to truly understanding the conflict. Although the maniacs of al-Qaida attempted to co-opt the Palestinian cause for their own political means, Palestinians remain committed to a legitimate goal of self-determination. This is not to say that some Palestinians do not commit acts of terrorism. They are human, like any other people and there will be some who will resort to illegitimate means of resistance. But not every act of violence is an act of terrorism, and not every act of violence is an illegitimate form of resistance. Palestinians, like any other people, are mostly averse to acts of vio- lence against civilians. The Palestinian suicide bomber, however, is not the same creature that flies a plane into a New York City skyscraper. The latter is calculating, deliberate and has intent to murder. The former is dejected, impulsive and has intent to die. Understanding this and framing it in the context of an illegal military occupation leads to an understanding that can intelligently condemn the action of the individual while simul- taneously understanding what circumstances could lead to such a horrific act. In other words, a Palestinian act of violence against civilians does not delegitimize the just struggle of a people try- ing to free itself from the shackles of military occupation - a form of terror itself. Much of my commitment to the struggle of my fellow Palestinians comes not from the fact that I am Palestinian, but rather from a strong belief that our cause is just. My commitment also, however, comes from a shared history, a shared political experience. My personal family history is one of refuge, from Jaffa to Amman to America. It is sadly not uncommon to the Pales- tinian experience. Dheisheh's residents are inter- nal refugees, many of them coming from towns located only miles from their refugee camp. They, of course, are not allowed to return to their towns by virtue of their being Palestinian. In fact, in a sort of wicked irony, the Palestinian experience has come to mimic the Jewish experi- ence. Palestinians and Jews now share more than just a political conflict that has stretched for much of the past century; they also share a histo- ry of refuge, discrimination, diaspora and power- lessness, the only difference being that the Palestinian experience is current. The Palestinian has inherited the Jewish political soul, made to feel like a foreigner in his own land, battered by his enemy and abandoned by his protectors, left to fend for himself against incredible odds. In Dheisheh, this feeling is more prevalent than ever. Ziad and Manaar are aliens in their own land. Dheisheh is now under siege, and I do not imagine that they will ever read this column. I can only remember what Ziad once told me when I asked him what he truly wanted. His reply rings in my ears, "I was born in a refugee camp. My only goal is to not die in one." Amer G. Zahr can be reached at zahrag@umich.edu. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ITCS should try harder to find campus computing space TO THE DAILY: I am writing this e-mail in regards to Fri- day's Michigan Daily article, NUBS site will close due to LSI construction and I am extremely concerned why ITCS does not try harder to find computing space. It is obvious there are not enough computing resources, since all too often people wander around sites like Angell Hall, waiting to be lucky enough to find someone leaving a computer so that they can jump on it. My suggestion is, what about East Hall? In East Hall, there are two very large atria that for the most part lay idle and unused, and are frankly just wasted space. There is several thou- sand square feet available, on the first floors of the North and South Atrium, on the second floor of the South Atrium and on the third floor of the North Atrium. Currently, there is pretty much nothing on the first floors of the atrium, not even benches, tables or chairs for studying, meeting, etc. On the upper levels there are scattered tables and chairs, and even a ping pong table, but most of them remain empty and unused. Throughout the day, there may be a few individuals found studying at these tables, but there are other study/common areas available to them in East Hall, and are just as empty. The traffic through the atria is minimal, and the most I have ever seen anyone make use of them is when a jug- gling club was practicing there. Furthermore, the location of a computing site in East Hall would be extremely beneficial, for it is on a vital part of Central Campus, and there is no other computing site that is very close to that location. The only complaints or issues that I foresee is the psychology or math department complain- ing about the allotment of space being for them, or that the noise level would be disruptive. But the psychology and math departments will be the first to benefit having a computing site read- ily available to them, and as you can see in com- puting sites such as the Union basement, the noise level is low. Even if no computing site is installed in East Hall, the University should at least try to make the area more useful, such as providing more study tables and chairs in the empty space. CHERYL CHEOK LSA junior ... and ITCS respods to students' computer concerns TO THE DAILY: First, let me say that we understand frustra- tion with the closing of the NUBS computing facility. It was not by any means a decision that ITCS or the sites management made purposeful- ly. The need to close NUBS came from the decision to demolish that building to make room for the Life Sciences Institute. In short, if the building does't exist we obviously can not maintain a computer lab there. We within ITCS and Campus Computing Sites would prefer as well to not lose additional computing space on campus and we do realize resources are tight. In this light, I would like to inform you that the computers from NUBS are being redeployed in other sites around campus in an effort to not reduce the total number of machines available to students. Currently there are 1,500-plus machines available to students and that number is not expected to decrease and could potentially increase over the next year. Machines from NUBS are expected to be deployed to the residence halls, the basement of the Shapiro Library as well as a few other loca- tions around campus. I would like to direct you to the campus computing sites web page where we list the available computing facilities: http://www.umich.edu/-sites/site .html#general As both myself and Ruth Addis, ITCS director for user services, were quoted in the Daily article, ITCS is aggressively looking for additional space for computing facilities in the Hill area. We have been actively searching for additional computing space since the first day that we have heard of the closing of NUBS and we continue to do so. We appreciate your suggestion of the East Hall locations and will take it under advise- ment as a possible alternative location. Thank you for being concerned and please do not hesitate to communicate with us and pro- vide constructive feedback. BILL NIESTER ITCS sites manager 0 FROM THE UNIVERSITY WIRE Slave reparations: Suit underscores By THE STAFF OF THE DAILY CAMPUS The recent filing of a lawsuit in a Brooklyn federal court highlights the hypocritical argu- ment upon which the claim for slave repara- tions is based. Activist Deadria Farmer -Paellman filed a lawsuit seeking billions of dollars against three corporations that benefit- ed from slavery before the Eman- U. CO cipation Proclamation. Fleet- Boston Financial, railroad T( RR S firm CSX and the Aetna insurance company have all been named. Farmer-Paellman has promised to name over 100 other defendants. She filed the suit on behalf of 35 million These actions, and the claims upon which this suit is built are tantamount to nothing more than a racial witch-hunt. Proponents of slave reparations argue that repaying living African-Americans for the horrible injustices of crimes committed over 140 years ago is a necessary step in correcting the atrocity that slavery was, and the legacy of hate it undoubt- edly carries with it. In reality it does nothing NNEC TICU T more than draw further lines of division between those people advocating reparations, and those opposing it. Farmer-Paellman is basing her claim against people living today, based on the culpability of others who have been dead hypocrisy In order to truly make things equal, erase racism as much as possible, and provide all citizens with the same opportunity for upward mobility, activists like Farmer-Paellman must be proactive, and work toward creating a world in which equality is the standard. What she and her supporters are doing now is attempting to punish people who are not guilty for a crime they had no part in. This is racist in the sense that she is holding people responsi- ble based on their affiliation with a company, and the color of their skin. This creates more racial walls than it breaks down. This makes Farmer-Paellman a hypocrite, as she is an African-American activist. In order to help 0 m _- in -r- - --- A -1 1-1 - I I ff - 1-1, -- - v -- .-, -