Common Sense

To the Editors of The Crimson:

In response to O.L. Brannaman's Letter to the Editor (1/16/84), perhaps it would be best to inject a little common sense.

In May 1948, just as the Israelis were celebrating their newly independent statehood, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan invaded the country, with the express desire to "push the Jews into the sea." That is obviously Israeli aggression.

But then there's 1956, and Nasser's nationalization of the Suez Canal, effectively cutting Israel off from a major supply route. Taking this to be an act of war, Israel crossed the Sinai to free the canal (with American, French, and British help). Clearly, this, too, is blind, naked aggression. Why Should the Israelis be allowed to trade with other countries, anyway?

And don't forget 1967. Amid a mounting Arab arms build-up, and amid new and extremely hostile calls to "drive the Jew into the Mediterranean," Israel chose to strike first, and caught the Arab countries unawares. Aggression again? Of course...no nation should have the right to protect itself from the perceived threat of imminent destruction.

1973--the Yom Kipper War? We all know that Israel would start a war on the holiest day of the year, with the intention of wiping itself off the face of the earth. All countries secretly desire to evaporate in self-immolation.

Lebanon, 1978, 1982, 1983. Again, it is clearly the Israelis' fault. PLO terrorists should have every right in the world to lob mortars, and to stage periodic terrorist runs into the Jewish state. What right does Israel have to invade Lebanon to attempt to halt the waves of mansacal murders? The PLO should be alloweed to blow up any military targets in wants to--especially public buses, marketplaces, passenger planes, Olympic teams, nursery schools.

Maybe the U.S. should punish this "Israeli aggression" by dumping Israel, and instead siding with the Moslem nations (even though we already support and trade with most of them, anyway). So we dump a friendly, allied nation in favor of hostile, unstable countries that revel in anti-American, anti-Western, and even anti-Super Power rhetoric: countries, that the record shows, have a history of sticking up for themselves alone, and a propensity for violating alliances and treaties.

Better yet, why don't we drop Britain, France, West Germany, Spain, etc., and ally ourselves with Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Poland, Afghanistan. Magically, they'll break their Soviet ties, they'll become American friends. Why don't we turn the whole world upside down? What loyalty do we own Israel?

Mr. Brannaman suggests that if the Israelis don't like "the solution, they could return in large numbers to Russia..." But the again, what does Mr. Brannaman understand of mutual friendship and self-determination and democracy? And to condemn Communism as a Jewish creation makes about as much sense as condemning philosophy as a pagan creation--the particular school of thought has nothing to do with the religion of the human beings who developed it. (Good gods! Evolution is a Christian creation, and algebra and astronomy are Moslem creations.)

Seriously speaking. Mr. Brannaman does seem to understand one point: the uselessness of war and violent death. No group of people ever has or ever will want war. It is the leaders of nations who cause wars. The Israeli people do not hate the citizens of the Arab and Moslems countries. Nor do the Arabs and Moslems of the religion naturally hate the Israelis. It is the leaders of the countries who teach this overwhelming hatred. It is organizations like the PLO of Yasser Arafat and the "Islamic" Revolution of Ayatollah Khomeini that foment this tremendous amount of negative energy. Negative energy and hatred can only lead to war and misery, not to freedom and peace.

When both the Soviets and the belligerent Arab countries realize that the way to have peace is through negotiation, not war and terrorism, then we will have peace in the region. And it should be the hole of the United States, as an ally of Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon, to encourage all sides to converge in order to create a negotiated peace. Until that time, the casualty lost will lengthen, and the misery will means. Rob Silverstone '84