Palestinians, Israelis discuss peace at 'U'

Sawsan Abdulrahim knows her parents' horrifying stories of being driven from their Palestinian homeland and forced into refugee camps.

But since Israel is one of the United States' most loyal allies, she says, U.S. media coverage of peace negotiations in the volatile Middle East often overlooks the plight of her nationality.

"Nobody seems to focus on the injustices that Palestinians experienced," said Abdulrahim, a Rackham doctoral candidate.

Palestinian and Israeli nationalists have been at odds since the Jewish state of Israel was established in 1948, and Israel has had trouble reaching agreements with its neighbors. But David Rote, deputy counsel general of Israel, insists that peace is on the horizon, however distant.

"The peace process is moving down there. It's alive and it's kicking," Rote said yesterday during a conference at the Michigan Union titled "The U.S.-Israeli Relationship and Peace in the Middle East," sponsored by the Michigan Democratic Party.

"We are doing our best," Rote said. "Our best is sometimes not enough. Our best sometimes takes too long. But we are doing our best to reach an agreement with the Palestinians."

Egypt signed an accord with Israel in the 1970s, and negotiations have picked up since the 1991 Madrid Conference and a 1994 agreement with Jordan. Rote said conflict in the Middle East has been so common during most Americans' lives that they often associate the region with turmoil and terrorism.

"People think, 'Well, you're living in the Middle East. A bus blows up sometimes,'" Rote said. "We're not like that."

U.S. Rep. Lynn Rivers (D-Ann Arbor) told the audience of two-dozen people that one-sided perspectives will never lead to peace. Palestinians are driven by a sense of injustice and Israelis by a lifetime of fear, she said.

"I don't think the peace process will work without recognizing the animating views of both sides," Rivers said.

But understanding both points-of-view doesn't require choosing one side, she added.

"Maybe I'm naive, but I really believe that there is a way to be pro-Israel and pro-Palestine," Rivers said.

Rote said many Americans wonder why the United States should concern itself with the matters of the Middle East.

"Americans should care because America can make a difference," he argued. "When America is interested in what goes on in the Middle East, things start moving."

"From a nation that was formed from an overwhelming sense of injustice, we should be very concerned in promoting justice," Rivers said.

Congress has debated several pieces of legislation dealing with the peace process. Rivers said some U.S. lawmakers are taking too active a role in Israel's affairs.

The Foreign Operations Bill, which would designate nearly two-thirds of $3 billion in U.S. aid to Egypt and Israel for military assistance rather than economic support, passed in the House of Representatives, but President Clinton has vowed to veto those numbers, Rivers said.

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) has proposed a resolution to recognize Jerusalem as the official capital of Israel, and Rep. Jim Saxton (R-N.J.) has sponsored a resolution to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

"I am very uncomfortable with the role that some members of Congress want to play," Rivers said.

"Both sides agree that they want the United States to be an honest broker of peace," she said. "Congress itself takes positions when we are supposed to be honest brokers of peace."

LSA senior Will Youmans, president of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee said he hopes to work with the Democratic party to sponsor a similar discussion on campus in the future.

"For too long one viewpoint has dominated the discussion," Youmans said. "The Israeli viewpoint dominates in the U.S."

SARA SCHENCK/Daily

Deputy Counsel General of Israel, David Rote, speaks at the Michigan Union

yesterday.

10-11-99