Peace in the Middle East looking doubtful
■Some University professors
give their views on the
situation in the Middle East
By Andrew Adams
Oregon Daily Emerald
University experts were quick to
describe their shock at the recent
escalation of violence between Is
raelis and Palestinians and the sus
pected terrorist attack on a U.S.
warship off the coast of Yemen.
“I really pray this doesn’t esca
late anymore,” said Anita Weiss,
an international studies professor
who has researched Muslim soci
eties.
Weiss also said she was con
cerned about the timing of the air
and tank attacks by Israel in re
sponse to the deaths of three sol
diers at the hands of a Palestinian
mob. These actions arise only a
month from the Islamic holy peri
od of Ramadan.
“Between now and then, [Islam
ic states] are going to say if we’re
going to do anything we have to do
it now,” she said.
She said the holy time is usually
spent in fasting and prayer, but if
the Islamic nations of the region
become incensed, it could also be
a time of war.
“There’s nothing to preclude
fighting during [Ramadan] if
you’re fighting for a worthy
cause,” she said, “especially for
the preservation of the communi
ty.”
Weiss said she had heard from
several Islamic groups in the Unit
ed States denouncing the apparent
terrorist attack on the USS Cole.
She explained they believe it will
only aggravate the violence in the
Middle East and could spark retal
iatory violence on Islamic-Ameri
cans.
David Frank, the associate dean
of the Honors College who teaches
a class studying the rhetoric of
Middle Eastern issues, said the sit
uation was “very bad right now
and it could get quite worse.”
He said the violence just demon
strates that the tentative peace ac
cord reached in 1993 was based
purely on pragmatic reasons and
{ (/ just lament and weep
for the failure of the first
generation of
peacemakers.
David Frank
associate dean,
Honors Col lege
did not address the deep cultural
and economic divide between Is
raelis and Palestinians. He said the
two sides only entered into the
agreement because they thought it
was to their advantage to simply
stop fighting. True seeds of peace
were never planted, he said, and
now Israelis and Palestinians are
reaping a harvest of violence.
“I just lament and weep for the
failure of the first generation of
peacemakers,” he said.
If the situation gets worse than it
is now, Frank said a major war in
volving Israel and its Islamic
neighbors, similar to those in 1967
and 1973, could break out.
This would be the worst-case
scenario, he said, and is something
he does not envision happening
because Israel still holds the mili
tary advantage in the region. He
added that the United States
should not tip this balance by
bringing in its own military
prowess in response to the sus
pected terrorist attack on the USS
Cole.
“History has demonstrated that
retaliation doesn’t go to the core of
the problem, but only perpetuates
a cycle of violence,” Frank said.
“It’s so bad now, we need to wait it
out and see what happens.”
Geography professor Shaul Co
hen lived and worked in Israel for
11 years and witnessed the anger
and frustration firsthand. To see it
explode like it has now greatly up
set him, he said.
“I feel tremendous empathy for
both sides and I feel the pain on
both sides,” he said. “My experi
ence there has taught me just how
acute that pain can be.”
Cohen said he is currently trying
to develop a system to enable Is
raelis and Palestinians to physical
ly share the disputed areas. He
said the plan would be similar to
how diverse groups share water
rights in desert regions. However,
this would require a new atmos
phere for peace, which Cohen said
may be even more difficult to at
tain now.
“I think it’s quite possible that
things are going to get worse,” he
said.
Sweatshops
continued from page 1A
tions,” she said. “The way activists
were treating the issue on campus
was ridiculous; they act like it’s a
much bigger deal than it really is.
Many people from my country
don’t hate sweatshops ... and they
don’t feel exploited.”
Tolani added that, despite the
conditions, many workers aren’t
anxious to make changes in their
workplaces.
“I can guarantee that if some
body goes to those factories and
says ‘Don’t work here, we’ll find
you something better,’ workers
will say ‘We don’t care, we want to
work here,”’ said Tolani. “Sweat
shops give these people the securi
ty that they won’t die of hunger.
They don’t want to leave.”
Tolani, Serrano and Khan said
harsh conditions in some factories
don’t represent sweatshops as a
whole, and generalizations
shouldn’t be made.
“My mom works with a lot of
women who work in sweatshops,”
said Serrano, a sophomore busi
ness major from El Salvador.
“Some of them like their jobs, but
i ( Out of all those people
who protested in front of
Johnson Hall, how many
have been to a third-world
country?
Rakesh Tolani
Junior, business
then others think the treatment is
too rigid. Working in a sweatshop
isn’t the best job, but it’s not the
worst either ... You can’t say all
sweatshops are good, but you can’t
say they’re all bad.”
Serrano said that although the
WRC may improve some working
conditions, its efforts could also
have a negative impact.
“WRC intentions are good,” she
said. “But it could have a double
effect. For example, the WRC is
thinking about closing down some
sweatshops in El Salvador, and
that would bring many economic
problems and make the country’s
poverty even worse.”
Tolani, Serrano and Khan advo
cate some of the activists’ causes,
but they said some have made the
mistake of applying high Ameri
can standards to third-world coun
tries without actually going there,
and this makes sweatshops appear
worse than they are. They said ac
tivists should have real-life expo
sure to third-world countries be
fore fighting for the people living
in them.
“Out of all those people who
protested in front of Johnson Hall,
how many have been to a third
world country?” said Tolani.
“They should go to these countries
to see people’s situations firsthand;
then if they still want to fight for it,
I’m behind them all the way.”
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Research
continued from page 1B
research included freezing the
worms and examining their fitness
rates, does not like the fact that to
day’s medical technology can alter
nature. The problem, she said, is
that people with affected genes
who would not normally be able to
reproduce are having children and
passing down harmful genetic ma
terial.
Because of these medical con
cerns, another goal of Lynch’s team
is to examine how different popu
lations are affected when natural
selection is relaxed. Further study
would look at whether the same
rate of mutation would occur in
other species. This research could
take several years, but Estes thinks
the time is worth the effort.
“It’s exciting to be doing some
thing that will have relevance to
conservation biology, and to be
learning firsthand how evolution
works,” she said.
The research is ongoing. The
next phase of examining genetic
mutations is focused on the varia
tion and mutation rates among ani
mal species. Baer said he is excited
to be participating in this new
phase of research, which only be
gan three weeks ago.
“We hope to find out whether
mutation rates are specific to indi
vidual properties or if there’s varia
tion,” Baer said.
The new experiments are con
ducted similarly to the previous ex
periments, but three different
species of worms are being used.
Results are expected from this re
search in two years.
stuff in the
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