The cartoon in last week's edition of an Israeli family cowering under missile-heads labeled "Hamas" and "Global Anti-Semitism" is infuriatingly close-minded and stubborn. I understand political cartoons are meant to be divisive and show the single-sided stories of a bitter or oppressed populace (Republicans denounce Democrats, Dems blame the GOP, the Liberal Left reprimands the Christian Right, the U.S. denounces China's sanctions against Tibet). But as editors and students of this diverse and, we'd like to think, progressive university, you have alienated those of us who work toward or believe in the prospect of a peaceful and independent Palestine.
The cartoon blatantly disregarded indisputable facts. It ran on the 20th day of the war, the day after Palestinian deaths reached 1,000 and Israeli deaths were at four; deaths by an Israeli offensive. Deaths included "nearly a third ... to be children," according to BBC World News.
Last Thursday evening there was a candlelight vigil to honor the victims of the Gaza conflict, in which half a dozen AU students told personal stories about loved ones who have lost their lives or are directly affected by this bitter war.
After the vigil, "One Voice," a student-run organization that works for moderation in the Middle East, held an open forum with three professors, Kristin Smith Diwan, Boaz Atzili and Anthony Wanis. Each gave bleak, but fair, perspectives on the half-century old conflict.
Diwan, an SIS professor of comparative and regional studies, asked how neighbors can expect to coexist if the majority of Palestinians believe "Israel only responds to force."
Boaz Atzili, professor of international politics, said in a recent poll that 80 percent of Israelis support the war in Gaza. He said in a land of constant distrust and violence there is a "mass production of a next generation of hate." He likened Israel's trade and economic sanctions in Gaza and the West Bank to an "apartheid world" in which the majority rules over the minority.
Wanis, professor of international peace and conflict resolution, said in the "logic of violence" such as is between Israelis and Palestinians, compromise is difficult because both sides see themselves as indelibly correct. It is considered "the exception" when "the other side" does something good; justified when the "we's" act with the same violence of its opposition.
That violence meets more violence is not a new concept. That hate breeds more hate is as old as human documentation.
The American University is full of diverse cultures, intellectual and emotionally invested staff and students on all sides of the conflict. In the wise words of Wanis, to unceasingly blame the "other" side for your own suffering is "problematic, deceptive and self-justifying."
This is exactly what your cartoon set to accomplish. "Hamas" and "Global Anti-Semitism" are broad and complex entities in a broad and complex war that has spanned decades and continents.
I do not mean to diminish the suffering of any people, but I do mean to challenge you and the blindly pro-Israel and pro-Palestine readers of our school's paper to look at the whole picture. I urge you to include a greater slice of this university's beliefs and values in your future editorial pages.
Kate E. Matthews Senior, School of Communication
