LETTER: Spare us reflections

Editor,

Palestinians have been suffering from continuous Israeli aggression, oppression, and incursions for 35 years. We are living under a brutal occupation. This is why most of the students and faculty at university campuses cheer “Go Team Palestine.” The pro-Palestinian phenomenon is not a matter of style, rather it is a matter of principles, and it is even a matter of being a considerate or inconsiderate human being.

No sane person justifies the killing of children, the demolishing of shelters, the expelling of people from their families, the endless curfews that keep people locked up in their homes, and the daily subjections of intolerable, indescribable humiliation.

It is enough to tell academicians that Israel’s occupation has disrupted education and research for their Palestinian colleagues to elicit their empathy, so maybe that is why they are pro-Palestinian. Academicians may take the Palestinian side because their sense of decency dictates them to twist the Israeli’s hands to stir the Israeli conscious — if they have any — to reconsider what they do to Palestinians.

For students who get misled by Siporin’s article, I suggest taking a glimpse at the arrogance of the occupying Israeli army, arrogance that would be difficult for people to fathom. In Israel, people might observe that Israelis are afraid to sit in cafés. But people need to realize that a Palestinian doesn’t even dream of sitting at a café with his family or friends.

People might note that it is scary to travel on a bus in Israel. But, people need to realize that in Palestine there isn’t any bus service. Israeli policies concerning the occupied territories are selfish, short-sided, and blatantly stupid.

What I expect from Mr. Siporin is an effort, a comment or two, at seeing the brutal occupation end for the sake of humanity. An effort in seeing a free and democratic Palestinian state established where the rights of all are respected and honored and where every Palestinian has the right to live and work for a better life. An effort in seeing two peoples joined by Abraham treat each other with equal rights, equal opportunities, and equal freedoms.

Abedalrazq Khalil