Newsroom: (541) 346-5511
Suite 300, Erb Memorial Union
RO. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403
E-mail: editor@dailyemerald.com
Online: www.dailyemerald.com
Tuesday, july 13, 2004
Oregon Daily Emerald
COMMENTARY
Editor in Chief:
Jared Paben
Managing Editor:
Travis Willse
e: oi tori ai.
Even at the
Fair, laws
are meant
to be followed
While strolling on assignment through the Oregon Coun
try Fairin Veneta, no fewer than three times did dealers try
to sell drugs to a member of the Fmerald Editorial Board.
1 he member, who was toting a press pass and a camera,
saw other dealers selling hash and marijuana. Whatever the
ethics of drug use are, that narcotic vendors can openly
commit felonies in a public space (and not just any public
place — a fair) points to a troubling inconsistency in en
forcement of laws.
A number of officials are on duty, patrolling what is for sev
eral days each year one of Oregon's largest population cen
ters. But, if people are openly committing felonies, the rele
vant law enforcement agencies evidently aren't doing enough
to deter crimes, creating what appears to be a law-free zone
where one doesn't belong.
Some people may enjoy using these drugs, and those who
do probably do so without hurting others; but the legitimacy
of "consensual crimes" is largely beside the point here: This
issue is a matter of officials doing their jobs, and of citizens
following laws in public that don't compel them to hurt oth
ers or themselves.
lo be clear, the Emerald Editorial Board supports the legal
ization of marijuana, at the least for medical purposes. But un
til the laws are changed, citizens should refrain from illegal
drug use and sales, particularly in public. And officials entrust
ed with enforcing the law should do so.
Making de facto exceptions to standing laws for events like
the Oregon Country fair sets a philosophically murky and
professionally irresponsible standard for law enforcement
officials; certainly, a legally fair society must also be a legally
consistent one.
EDITORIAL BOARD
Jared Paben Travis Willse
Editor in Chief Managing Editor
Erik R. Bishoff
Online & Photo Editor
ONLINE POLL
THIS WEEK'S POLL RESULTS
What is your favorite hangover remedy? (28 total votes)
1. Greasy breakfast 50 percent
2 Dont drink in the first place 32 percent
3. Coffee/cola 7 percent
4 Hair-o'-the-dog (keep drinking) 7 percent
5. Herbal supplements 4 percent
6. Cactus iuhe 0 percent
NEXT WEEK’S QUESTION
The Oregon Country Fair: Love it or hate it?
• Love it! Art, music, culture and community galore1
• Hate it' It's been hijacked by capitalism
• Love it’ Let your hair down and free your mind
• Hate it! It's dirty and dusty, 3nd the people are too
Hey, Sprinkles!
I can't believe the
Atkins plan lets me
eat all of the meat
I want, and I am
losing weight.
Watch those heart attacks, Miffy.
Aaron Sullivan Illustrator
Israel has taken concrete steps to
defend its people from Palestinian terror
ist attacks, and, yet again, the world
has objected.
On Friday the International Court of
Justice ruled that Israel's new terror barri
er — a 50-meter-wide stretch of chain
link fence, barbed wire, electronic sen
sors, ditches and patrol roads in rural
areas and a 10-meter-high wall of con
crete in urban areas — is in violation of
international law because it restricts
Palestinian freedom of movement and
annexes Palestinian territories.
The court's decision, which calls for the
dismantling of the wall, is not binding.
As a result, Israel has vowed to ignore it
and continue building the wall, which
will be about 437 miles long and is about
one-third complete.
The Israelis are correct in weathering the
storm of world opinion and building the
barrier. The wall — which the Israelis say
has reduced attacks inside Israel by Pales
tinians by 80 percent this year, according
to a Los Angeles Times article — is, as Is
rael contends, a nonviolent defensive
measure that protects its people from the
horrific attacks on civilians that Palestin
ian terrorists have committed foryears.
Obviously, Palestinian leaders applaud
ed the world court's decision. Ahmed Gh
naim, a Palestinian legislator from
lerusalem and an influential leader in
Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, said Pales
tinians now expect the United Nations Se
curity Council to impose sanctions against
Israel if it doesn't comply, according to an
article in The Globe and Mail newspaper.
This is a praiseworthy case of Palestini
ans using diplomatic means to reach their
goals. Here's another: The Palestinian Lib
eration Army lobbied heavily and is the
reason the United Nations forwarded die
case to the world court in the first place,
_,#.mm*._
JARED PABEN
HELP WANTED
according to the article.
But, after calling for diplomatic action,
Ghnaim warned that any veto by the
United States — a longtime supporter
of Israel in its fight against terror —
would encourage moderates, like him
self, to act violently.
"A veto by the American will send the
message for the Palestinians that armed
struggle is the only choice," he said in
the article.
This is a disgusting threat echoed by a
people who know no compromise, but
only violence.
Luckily, the wall seems to be working
against these people. According to the ar
ticle, Israeli security officials report that
"only three Palestinian suicide attackers
succeeded in reaching their targets from
the northern West Bank in the past 11
months, compared with 73 attacks in the
34 months before the barrier was built."
The fence works. It is a temporary, non
violent security means, and it saves lives,"
the Israeli government said in a statement
quoted in the LA Times article. "So long as
terror continues, Israel will continue to de
fend its citizens."
The wall may not be completely legiti
mate, however. Israeli Foreign Ministry
spokesman Jonathan Peled said the world
court completely ignored the fact that Is
rael needs to wall to prevent attack by
Palestinian terrorists when delivering its
verdict. This is true, and I support Israel in
its fight against terror; however, Peled fails
to mention that the placement of parts of
the wall did intrude into Palestinian terri
tory, resulting, effectively, in the annexa
tion of Palestinian lands.
The Israelis can't dispute they irre
sponsibly placed the barrier. Last week,
their own high court ordered the govern
ment to re-route a 30 kilometer stretch of
the wall that created unnecessary hard
ship for local Palestinians and en
croached on Palestinian lands. The wall
went well beyond the boundaries of Is
rael's supposed pre-1967 frontier, called
the Green Line, and into Palestinian ter
ritories, according to the LA Times arti
cle. It pressed nearly 800 kilometers into
West Bank territory in an effort to en
compass Israeli settlements, according to
The Globe and Mail.
This is counterproductive and only
hurts the quest for peace in the region. The
wall should have been placed on the tradi
tional border and not miles into Palestin
ian lands where it could protect Israeli set
tlements that probably shouldn't be there
in the first place.
"In spite of my objection in principle to
the fence, if Israel really wanted one, it
could have built it on its own territory and
no one would have made a peep in the en
tire world, because it wouldn't have made
Palestinians' lives a misery," Ahmed Tibi,
an Israeli Arab who serves in Israel's parlia
ment, told the LA Times.
Israel's high court needs to continue de
livering rulings that ensure the wall doesn't
needlessly impede on the lives and territo
ries of the local Palestinians. But, in the
end, Israel does have a fundamental right
to build a barrier that has been proven to
protect its innocent civilians from mad
men with bombs strapped to their chests.
The wall has worked, while years of arrests
and retaliatory killings have not.