Terrorists are not evil. Osama bin Laden is not pure evil, neitheris any other person who has ever existed (including Adolf Hitler).The only true evil is vice. Greed, jealously and thirst for revenge;these are the principlesthat drive humans to evil actions — but no human being can be viceincarnate.
Hence, a terrorist is not “evil.” He is a deranged human being,overcome with hatred and contempt. A sick individual, brainwashed byopportunistic rhetoric, driven to the edge by society and blinded byhis human emotions.
It is extremely important to see terrorists in this light.
When Bush and his world associates call terrorism “evil,” theydehumanize the enemy. It casts the illusion that entire races ofpeople are somehow plastic, and our bombs and tankshells arejustified as long as they seem to be destroying an enemy.
The Palestinian race is not an inferior race — they are notgenetically prone to homicide or carnage. Yet time and time again wesee pictures and hear stories of Palestinians with guns, bombs andslogans, committing unthinkable acts against innocent people.
Assuming these bombers do not pop out of the womb ready to kill,we have to ask where the sources of true evil, the vice thatultimately takes control of them, is coming from.
And it’s not from the Koran. It’s from society.
The Palestinians are second-class citizens, stripped of their landand placed in glorified refugee camps called the West Bank and Gaza.They are put in control of incompetent leadership that is not trulyconcerned with the betterment of the Palestinian people.
On top of all that, what little they have is slowly being takenover by Israeli “settlement projects.” Make no mistake — Israel issystematically taking over the Palestinian people, and Israel’slatest incursion on Palestinian territories is to weaken thePalestinians and capture as much land as possible.
Israel will say it’s an attempt to destroy terroristinfrastructure, hoping the world is too ignorant to tell thedifference between terrorist infrastructure and Palestinian autonomy.
So the Israeli government leaves the Palestinian people with openemotional wounds, and that is when the opportunist disease of radicalleaders, militant Muslims and wealthy malefactors like Saddam Hussein(who allegedly gives money to the families of suicide bombers) infectthe people.
This social situation is not a justification for the killing ofinnocent Israelis. Often there are reasons, but not justifications.However, just as Palestinian oppression isn’t an excuse forPalestinian violence, Palestinian violence is not an excuse forPalestinian oppression.
Israeli tanks currently imprison innocent Palestinians in theirhomes, keeping entire cities of human beings under house arrest.Innocent Palestinian men are detained in compounds, while the suicidebombings increase. Israel is destroying what little government andfunctionality the Palestinians have.
And Israel’s only excuse is the same rhetoric we used to justifykilling 100,000 children in Afghanistan (UNICEF estimates 100,000children will die due to the war).
The death we cause today will purge the wicked and is vital to theprotection of the Israeli (or American) people — that is the biggestlie we could ever tell ourselves.
The war on terrorism is a social war, not a physical one.
Calling terror “evil” is how we brace our conscience for theunethical things we are about to do. Israel’s incursion on Ramallahhas only angered the Arab community and has significantly spiked thenumber of aggressions against the Jewish people. Not only have thesuicide bombings Israel claims to be defending against increased, butaggression all over the world is once again being directed toward theJews.
Provoking attacks and drawing hatred toward your country is no wayto defend yourself. More innocent Israelis will die as a result ofthis incursion, which leads me to believe Israel’s only reason forthe invasion is to capture the West Bank and Gaza for itself (or atleast weaken the Palestinians so they would never be organized enoughto adequately oppose Israel).
If Israel was serious about striking peace it would attack theroot of the vices contaminating the Middle East. It would war againstsocial inequality and Palestinian oppression, not the PalestinianAuthority.
The day there is a country called Palestine coexisting with acountry called Israel, with both countries enjoying basic humanrights, is the day there is lasting peace.
All the Palestinians want is their own land and basic freedom.When the Israelis give this to the Palestinian people, thenPalestinians will no longer be targets for militant movements.
Israel needs to give the West Bank and Gaza to the Palestinianpeople, and the two groups need to learn to live together.
Enter United States mediation. We are the only government with thepolitical power to force Israel to allow a Palestinian state, andthrough cooperation with the United Nations, the United States couldregulate the two countries to ensure old feelings don’t affect newcountries. But due to a political agenda that isn’t peace, we willnot do this.
The Israelis are good people. The Palestinians are good people.They can coexist. All we have is a bad case of misunderstanding,prejudice and poor leadership.
–Joe Zarro is an undeclared sophomore.
–This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of TheDaily Aztec. Send e-mail to letters@thedailyaztec.com.Anonymous letters will not be printed — include your full name,major and year in school.
