Terrorists give free countries no options
John Litle
Frankly Obnoxious
I don't negotiate with terrorists. I don't support their causes, no matter what they are, and I do support the systematic discovery and destruction of all groups and political bodies that would use terrorism worldwide. Rarely are issues so black and white, but in this day in age, we're left with no choice. In order to combat the threat that has been leveled against ourselves and our society as a whole, we, as citizens of the United States and as members of the Notre Dame community, have a duty to look above the reasons terrorists are upset to see the truth: that their course of action to remedy their problem nullifies their political concerns.
Here we sit as members of an Irish Catholic institution. Some of us no doubt have sympathies with the causes of the Irish Republican Army, a group that for years used terrorism as a way to achieve a political end. It is up to us, in a world where we must unquestionably announce that terrorism will never succeed in producing one single political change, to renounce any support we might have had for such groups. I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this.
The Palestinians and everyone who has supported their cause have completely forgone any right to any cooperation from Israel by choosing to use the tactics of terrorism. The deliberate attacks against Israeli citizens have placed all of us in the uncomfortable position of having to say, "Yes, I do support terrorism under certain circumstances." Or, "Terrorism can never be allowed to succeed regardless of the legitimacy of the political complaints." Those are the only choices. To say I support the Palestinian cause is necessarily a promotion of terrorism because that is the only method the Palestinians have used to promote their political ends.
Some would argue that Israelis have killed Palestinian civilians. This is true, but there are two overlooked aspects in this simplification. First, Palestinian civilians are the ones who are attacking Israel, not the uniformed men that Israel sends. All a Palestinian needs to do to convince a bleeding heart media type that an innocent civilian was killed is remove the AK-47 from the hand of the slain terrorist. Click, a picture is taken and another "innocent civilian" dies. This is not to say that some true innocents do not die and suffer. As in all war, there are casualties. The second issue is that countries have a right to defend themselves and soldiers have a right to kill their enemies. Civilians do not have a right to kill other civilians or foreign civilians.
Let me try an analogy on you. A couple hundred years ago, the land on which your house was built was owned by a Native American. The land was stolen from him. It passed hands following that theft legally. Different persons bought, sold and gave the land away until your family received the land and moved in.
One night, the grandchild of this man who once had the land stolen from him comes to your home and kills your daughter because he wants his land back. Is he justified in doing this? No, absolutely not. Though at one time he had a claim to the land, that time has long since passed. It is just the same with the Palestinians. There was a time they did have a claim, but sadly, their land was taken from them. They didn't get it back. Palestinians should be happy with what they have. They don't have a right to more, and they certainly don't have a right to the destruction of all of Israel which is their goal.
My final point is this. Arafat had on the table everything he "supposedly" wanted when he was negotiating with Barak at Camp David. Arafat passed it all up, because the truth is, he wants all of Israel and won't stop until he gets it. Had he accepted the peace and then continued in his attacks, he wouldn't have the outpouring of worldwide sympathy he needs in order to persist. So when you're thinking of the poor, oppressed Palestinians, remember, they could have had all they claim to want and passed it up in order to manipulate you into supporting them. We're dealing with a man who made an agreement with Iran stating, "If you send me a boat full of illegal missiles and weapons, I promise never to make peace with Israel." And you're supporting his side, as if he's in the right.
Wake up, Arafat is a terrorist, and the Palestinian cause is one that is supported solely by terrorism and lack of respect for human life. And while I don't propose we send U.S. troops over to kill off the Palestinian terrorists, I also don't propose we arrogantly sit here and tell Israel when they can and cannot defend themselves.
John Litle is a junior MIS major. He can be contacted at jlitle@nd.edu and appreciates e-mails from enraged liberals. His column appears every other Tuesday.
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
All Viewpoint Stories for Tuesday, April 16, 2002
