Only with volatile issues like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can two normal people break out in an argument while viewing an exhibit.
The University of Memphis Arab Student Association displayed a collection of drawings by Palestinian children about the war and violence around them. The Harvard exhibit, traveling to universities around the country, is the issue behind the Highland and Poplar protest held last Friday as well as the nationwide wave of college demonstrations.
One drawing in the exhibit, by Sari Taka, age 13, showed bullets raining from planes that said “Made in the USA,” while people laid bleeding on the ground.
One student passing the exhibit, wearing a star of David, saw the drawings and commented that the Palestinians should not teach their children to hate and perpetuate violence.
Another commented that American children are now learning to hate Arabs from their violence towards us.
Israelis have long since persisted in violating the 1947 UN resolution by taking over the portion of land given to the Palestinians. Their continual fighting has resulted in long-term war, including recent suicide bombings, considered to be terrorist actions.
According to Calvin Allen, director of international programs at The U of M, solving terrorism is made difficult by the fact that everyone sees terrorism differently.
“The definition of terrorism seems to vary from person to person,” Allen said.
The April 5 protest on Poplar and Highland, called the “Rally and March for Peace in Palestine” met at 2:30 p.m. at the Masjid as-Nur Mosque. Students and concerned citizens carried signs and chanted.
U of M Professor of Physics Raymond Puzio participated in the protest and has been active in the cause for several years. He once camped out in front of the federal building downtown to get time to talk to Harold Ford Jr. about the Iraqi sanctions.
Puzio is part of Voices for Peace, a group that has concerned itself with peace in Memphis for several years.
“Last Friday’s turnout was spectacular,” Puzio said, adding that he hopes to see America address the route problems that cause terrorism, increase aid and resume peace processes.
More than 30 colleges across the country have been planning a “day of action” campaign to persuade universities to divest themselves of stock in corporations that do business with Israel.
According to Allen, the United States has typically sided with Israel in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict because they have a western style democracy, something that has caused outrage among some mosque members, Arab-Americans, and pro-peace activists.
“There is also a sense of international guilt about the Holocaust,” Allen said, adding that Jewish political support is strong in America, while not to the extent is has been highlighted in recent media.
According to Jamal Abukhudeir, a member of the Arab Student Association, the Israeli lobby interest is the strongest lobby in the United States, and Israeli support is a key player in campaign elections.
According to Puzio, political and business motivation has often sparked international involvement.
“A lot of American businesses have very dirty hands even back to Fascist times,” Puzio said.
The United States gives an estimated $3.5 billion to Israel every year, much of which is spent on Israel’s military actions against Palestinians.
“Most people don’t realize that the American taxpayer is paying to kill Palestinians,” Abukhudeir said, comparing the United State’s funding of Israel to Britain’s funding of the colonies — funding a group that is ruling over an unrepresented, indigenous people.
To put the funding in perspective, we give $3 billion in aid to Egypt per year, but our aid to Palestine is considerably smaller, Allen said.
According to Puzio, the defense budget is an area that may need less money than struggling domestic affairs.
“I regret that so much is spent on the defense budget instead of social or educational things, like our university,” said Puzio. Puzio also said he hopes the Voice for Peace organization can help lessen violence throughout the world.
But according to Abukhudeir, violence among a repressed, angry, hopeless people is inevitable.
“People have been asking me about suicide bombings, and I say that some people see it as the only means that people have to fight back,” said Abukhudeir. “The U.S. has rejected 60 UN proposals to reprimand Israel, and people feel the superpower is against them. It’s their way of saying ‘give me freedom or give me death’.”
“This is the reason that there is bad sentiment for the U.S.,” Abukhudeir said.
“It is well known to children that America pays for the terrorism that is ruining their lives,” Abukhudeir said, adding that everyone knows Apache helicopters and F16s are from the United States.
“If we want to accomplish our goals (of eliminating terrorism) we cannot be hypocritical,” Abukhudeir said.
The question of whether America itself has been funding terrorism while trying to obliterate it is a question growing louder as the suicide bombings and destruction in the Middle East intensify.
According to Puzio, the United States should seriously consider the consequences of our arms sales.
“We are a top arms supplier throughout the world, and in many wars both sides use U.S. weapons,” Puzio said.
According to Abukhudeir, the way to stop the violence is through campaign finance reform.
“Those few people in Congress are causing terrorism,” Abukhudeir said.
Allen suggested eliminating groups that are clearly terrorist groups, then moving on to deal with what supports terrorism. He also added that no one would care if the money we gave to Israel went toward their schools and not to war.
“What’s happening in Palestine creates terrorists,” Allen said. “It is our policy and not our money that needs changing.”
“We may have reached a point that the U.S. realizes that we need a change,” Allen said, adding that if the conflict was happening anywhere else in the world we would be involved.
According to Allen, the changes in policy will be slow because the administration in charge of the decisions leans more towards Israel and it’s a slow change.
“We’ve always had a hands-off policy towards Israel,” Allen said.
Student adviser for the Muslim Student Association, Sajjad Mahmood, emphasized the need for peace on both sides of the conflict.
“I think we need to put a multinational peace force in the area to bring peace rather than violence going on on both sides,” Mahmood said.
