Palestinians do not want compromise

In his opinion piece of 4/26/02, Masoud Kheirabadi makes the case that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict can be resolved by Israel giving up more of its land and trading its people.

I disagree. While, in hindsight, the events leading up to the present situation might have been dealt with differently, the choices that were made have led to a point where no compromise is possible. Israel has tried everything in its power to make peace with the Palestinians, unsuccessfully. The fact of the matter, however, is that if you ask the typical person in Palestine about Israel, they will tell you that they want every last Israeli dead.

They don’t want a compromise. They don’t want a peaceful agreement. They want to bathe in the blood of Israeli women and children. They want to drive them into the ocean to feed to the sharks. Against this attitude, there is no compromise. You cannot reason with someone who finds anything less than your death to be unacceptable.

I do not know how to solve the problems in the Middle East; they are complex and deeply rooted. In all honesty, I find it puzzling why we in America believe it is our place to solve their problems to begin with, as our interference in world politics seems only to breed resentment, war and chaos. As it stands, however, the presumption that a simple and pacifistic solution will solve the problems of the Middle East is misguided and dangerous.

-Justice McPherson, junior,
community development