Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 13, 1997)
k Is the new movie, w “Beavis and Butthead \ Do America,” equal to i the television exploits of the dynamic duo? ' Let us know. editorials, letters, commentary and perspective BY MAIL: P O. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403 BY PHONE: (541)346-5511 BY E-MAIL: ode@oregon. uoregon. edu IN PERSON: Suite 300, EMU Middle East problems require understanding BACKGROUND ■ 1948: Israel offi cially becomes an in dependent stafe. Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan immediately declare war on Israel. During the war, most of the Palestinian ter ritory comes under Israeli control. ■11967: Israel launches a preemp tive strike on the neighboring Arab nations. Israel gains complete control of Jerusalem and He bron. ■ 1982: Israeli forces mount a large invasion of Lebanon in retaliation for at tacks by the PLO. ■ 1987: Palestini ans in the West Bank and Gaza rise up in protest of Israeli rule. Clashes between Is raeli soldiers and Palestinians lead to casualties on both sides in the riots known as the Intifa da. ■ 1993: Israel and the Palestinian Liber ation Organization (PLO) sign a historic peace agreement. This paves the way toward the eventual self-rule of the Pales tinians in the occu pied territories. ■ 1995: Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is as sassinated by Yigal Amir, an Israeli an gered by the peace process. ■ OUR OPINION: Solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is harder than it appears of land no bigger than the state of New Jersey? The Israeli-Palestinean conflict for one thing. Once again, af ter it looked like peace was close only a few years ago, these two enemies seem to be heading toward another violent eruption. With mistrust and frustration growing on both sides, many people in the United States and the rest of the world are wondering why peace in the Middle East has be come such an elusive goal. After all, many Americans reason, if we can get along with our neighbors, why can’t they? The current conflict in Israel re volves around the city of Hebron — a city of biblical importance both for religious Jews and Muslims. The Palestinians controlled Hebron up until the Six Day War in 1968, at which point the Palestinians lost the city to Israeli forces. Under former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Israel agreed to give Hebron back over to Palestinian control in an effort to es tablish peace with the Palestinians. However, after Rabin was assassi nated, conservative Benjamin Ne tanyahu became prime minister and negotiations with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat came to an almost screeching halt. Netanyahu has en gaged in a far more cautious ap proach to dealing with the Palestini ans and has delayed the Israeli pull-out from Hebron. This has led to rising tensions on both sides, most re cently from a retired Israeli soldier shooting at a crowd of Palestinians in Hebron. In response, violent Pales tinian organizations have threatened violent attacks on Israel, putting yet another snag in the peace process. Around the world, and in the Unit ed States especially, it is easy to pass hat happens when half a century of fighting and bad blood are squeezed into a space WHY NOT? America's perception. CHRIS HUTCHINSON/Emerald ■ The reality. judgment on both the Israelis and the Palestinians. Why can’t they just sign on the dotted line and get on with the peace process already? The U.S. gov ernment has continued to push for a quick solution to the Hebron situa tion. What people don’t seem to un derstand is how complicated the en tire Israeli-Palestinean conflict really is and how impractical a “quick fix” solution would be. If the U.S. government vows peace with Canada, we can assume there will be peace with Canada. The chances of some militia group orga nizing an attack on Canadian soil without the government being able to stop them are pretty slim, because in the United States, the government is in complete control of its foreign pol icy. The same can not be said for many nations in the Middle East. Take the Palestinians for example. Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) are the recognized leaders of the Pales tinian people. Under the PLO leader ship, the Palestinians have promised peace with Israel if the country hon ors the agreements it made under Ra bin’s government. Unfortunately, un der the PLO is an equally powerful organization — the terrorist group Hamas — which has made it clear that as long as the state of Israel exists they will rain violence on the people. So even if Arafat is serious in his in tentions for peace, there is no guaran tee it will happen. On the other side of the coin, re cent events clearly show the Israeli government is not in complete con trol of its people, either. While the Is raeli government works for peace, ul tra-religious sects have claimed a higher responsibility toward God in violating Israeli foreign policy with attacks on Palestinians. This forces each government to be very hesitant about giving up strategic pieces of land that could sacrifice the security of its people. While it is admirable to want to see Israelis and Palestinians finally achieve peace, people have to under stand that peace isn’t as easy as it may sound. In the United States, we have 1 become spoiled with security. We just expect that our government will be able to protect us from any foreign threat. After all, the last war fought on our own soil was the Civil War, over 100 years ago. It’s easy for us to ask the Israelis and the Palestinians to take a chance and trust each other. What do we have to lose? We know we’ll be safe no matter what happens. For the people in the Middle East, it’s a little bit harder. Rushing into an agreement without first making sure the people of each nation will honor it could be a catastrophic mistake leading to the loss of more innocent fives. Instead of placing unrealistic ex pectations on the Palestinians and the Israelis, we should be patient with the peace process and under stand how complicated it really is. Only when we understand how diffi cult peace will be can we truly work towards achieving it. This editorial represents the opinion of the Emerald editorial board. P.O. BOX 3159. EUGENE. OREGON 97403 The Oregon Daily Emerald is published daily Monday through Friday during the school year and Tuesday and Thursday during the summer by the Oregon Daily Emerald Publishing Co. Inc., at the University of Oregon. Eugene, Oregon. A member of the Associated Press, the Emer ald operates independently of the University with offices at Suite 300 of the Erb Memorial Union. The Emerald is private property. The unlawful removal or use of pa pers is prosecutable by law. Editor-in-Chief: Steven Asbury Managing Editor: Thom Schoenborn Night Editor: Thom Schoenborn Community: Jennifer Schmitt, editor. Eric Collins Entertainment: Nicole Kreuger, editor. Jesse Stephenson Higher Education: Laura Cadiz, editor Benjamin Kwasney Opinion: Ashley Bach, Brian Diamond, editors. Chris Hutchinson, illustrator. Student Activities: Angie Suchy, editor. Autumn DePoe. Dana Williamson Sports: Mark McTyre, editor. Andrea DeYoung, assistant editor Chris Hansen, Ryan Frank. Ryan Halvorsen Copy Desk: Sarah Kickler, copy chief Mike Schmierbach, Kendra Smith Presentation: Dennis Bolt, editor. Matt Garton Photography: Mathew Stitfler, editor. Joe Bunik, Amanda Erickson, Shannon Kildutf, Chad Patteson Freelance: Carl Yeh, editor. On-Line: Nicholas Stiffler, director General Manager: Judy Riedl Advertising: Becky Merchant, director Anne Amador. Lee Yen Beh, Yujin Chi, Matt Johnson. Andrew Lakefish, Anne Miller, Trma Shanaman, Rose Soil, Matt Solomon. Greg Walsh Classified: Tara Sloan, manager. Natasha Lumpkin, Debbie Levy, Heather Moye Production: Michele Ross, manager Ingrid White, coordinator. Shawna Abele, Laura Daniel, Trevor Kearney,Tara Knight, Melissa Lebahn, Molly McCanta, Ellen Milne, Mike Young Business: Kathy Carbone, supervisor. Judy Connolly Distribution: John Long. Dave Ovall, Ferenc Rakoczi Newsroom. Display Advertising . Business Office _ Classified Advertising (541)346-5511 (541)346-3712 (541)346-5512 (541)346-4343 ...I (ANT Condone AAAJwJUANK even fop Med»cal P6^SON$W ,.,V¥mpa IF I OOHf n INM p*&f I T/ f i'CAuF&PmI Ca' "“■‘J CORRECTION In the Jan. 9 edition of the Emerald, an ar ticle stated that the Student Senate’s en dorsements of two resolutions will now go to the University Senate. The sentence should have specified that the Student Senate en dorsed the rec ommendations, which may or may not go to the University Senate.
