PLO advisor condemns Israel
MELANIE BECKER
News Writer
Diana Buttu, the Chief Legal Advisor for the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), addressed human rights violations in Israel Monday at Saint Mary's Carroll Auditorium.
Buttu was born and raised in Canada by her parents after they fled Palestine in the late 1940s. She attended Queens College in Canada, received a law degree from Stanford University and is currently pursuing a master's degree in human rights and refugee compensation from Stanford.
Buttu encouraged the audience to "think like a Palestinian," in order to understand the problems in the Middle East. She questioned the U.S. media's portrayal of events in Israel and said that she was concerned that U.S. citizens do not understand the truth of the situation.
According to Buttu, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is political, not religious.
Land dispute has been the problem that has led the Palestinians and the Israelis to the brink of war, she said. Israeli occupation of Palestinian land has pushed Palestinians out of their homes and off their land and along the West Bank in Jerusalem and in Gaza there are segregated Israeli and Palestinian settlements, Buttu added.
As Israeli communities grow and expand they are building through Palestinian Communities and destroying homes that are in the way, she said.
"Get rid of the people, hold onto the land," Buttu said, describing the Israeli's theory behind settle expansion.
According to Buttu, the relocation of Palestinians to Jordan has become a prevalent idea in Israel as 43 percent of Israelis support ethic cleansing of Palestinians and 70 percent support the removal of Palestinians from Israel.
Israeli propaganda such as the slogan, "Jordan equals Palestine. Us here, them there," demonstrates the desire of Israeli to remove the Palestinians from the area, she said.
Since the Freedom Movement in Oslo in 1993 Palestinians have been subject to more restrictions from the Israelis, Buttu added.
Palestinians have an imposed curfew from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., violators of it are subject to death on the spot without any questions, she said, adding that personal travel has been restricted without permission of the Israeli government.
Trees, agriculture and fertile land are being destroyed within the Palestine, according to Buttu. Checkpoints have been placed in Palestinian territory, which restricts the travel of goods within the Palestinian State resulting in the malnutrition of the Palestinian People. According to Buttu, 70 percent of the population lives on two meals a day or less and 50 percent of the population is unemployed. Additionally, in the last two years 1.5 percent of the Palestinian population has been injured or killed as a result of terrorism, she said.
In June of 1967 a resolution was passed by the United Nations calling for the withdrawal of Israeli forces in Gaza and the West Bank, Buttu said. Israeli forces remain today in violation of International Law, according to Buttu.
The United States continues to support Israel in violation of its Foreign Policy Laws and a Pro-Israel lobby exists within this country which is supported by the Christian-Right while no Palestinian Lobby exists to challenge the U.S.'s support of Israel, she said.
"Nothing can prepare you for a one-ton bomb being dropped nearby that you know is financed by the United States. This is what Palestinians are living with," Buttu said.
If U.S. citizens knew the truth they would lobby to the United States government to stop supporting Israel, Buttu said. With inaccurate perceptions from the media, however, the U.S. public will continue to be misinformed on the root of the cause, she added.
Buttu suggested that the international community place pressure on Israel through trade embargos, visa requirements for travel and withdrawal of financial support.
"I want to see consistent application of the United States' Foreign Policy so that Israel is not above the law and Palestine is not placed below it," Buttu said. "If we continue to feed into the notion of getting rid of the people and holding on to the land, there can never be peace in the Middle East."
Tuesday's lecture was sponsored by the Center for Academic Innovation, the Center for Women's Intercultural Leadership, the Justice Education Department and the Peacemaker's Coalition in conjunction with the Global Exchange Organization.
All News Stories for Tuesday, November 12, 2002
