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Wise calls for end to Mideast 'injustice'

By Raiha Ali
The Daily Cougar

In her presentation Monday, Ora Wise, a young but prominent activist against Israelis occupation of disputed Palestinian territories, said Palestinians have the right and obligation to steal back their own land. 

Jim McCormick/The Daily Cougar

She detailed what she considers acts of injustice on the part of Israel and called on the audience to seek an end to the occupation of Israel.

Wise conducted five lectures today in Agnes Arnold Hall about her views, experience and opinions on the different ongoing conflicts in Israel.

"If you are truly concerned about the killing of innocent people and suicide bombers, then you will end the occupation of Israel," she told the audience.

Wise, a Jew whose father is a rabbi, said she is adamantly against the role Israel is playing in its conflict with Palestine. Wise attributed Jewish support of the "injustices" to the rise of Zionism, the worldwide Jewish movement that sought to create a permanent Jewish state.

Zionism became increasingly popular at the close of World War II as the world learned of the horrors endured by Jews in Nazi concentration camps. 

What was once a call to unity became the modern Jewis political nationalism, she said. Although there are many ideologies to choose from, the majority of Jews choose Zionism. 

Wise said two things are distorted in this conflict. One is the origin of the conflict and the other is being a Jew and a Zionist. 

"This conflict is often referred to as a religious conflict but it is not," she said. Wise argued that it is a territorial dispute regarding the displacement of people and the destruction of Palestinian homes. Wise likened the situation to apartheid. 

It has been said that Arabs told the Palestinians to flee their lands and homes. It has also been said that the Palestinians left of their own free will. None of these ideas is true, Wise argued.

Thanks to radio communication records kept by the British, she said, "there are recordings of Arab leaders begging Palestinians not to leave."

At Dier Yassin, Wise said, Jewish terrorist groups went into the Palestinian city, killed about 100 people and burned several buildings. Later they went into other cities and told the Palestinians to "Remember Dier Yassin," causing widespread panic. Such tactics forced massive Arab exoduses, she said.

In other places many Palestinians were forced at gunpoint to march nonstop to Jordan, she said.

Wise also described how Palestinians are kept under restrictive curfews and lockdown 24 hours a day. According to Wise, Palestinians are not allowed to open their stores, leave their houses or attend school. If they "so much as poke their head out the door," they will be shot, she said. Often, many are shot inside their homes as well, she said. 

Wise also described how Israeli troops walk through the cities randomly shooting inside homes. In extreme circumstances, Wise said, if someone in a family dies, the family members keep the decaying body inside the house because if they go outside bury it, they risk being shot.

Wise also spoke about how an organization called the International Solidarity Movement utilizes people from all over the country to offer some sort of protection for the Palestinians. Members of the movement are welcomed into Palestinian homes and live there so the Palestinians might be able to keep their house for one more day.

Wise told the audience about Rachel Corey, a U.S. citizen from Washington who was living in one of these Palestinian homes. In March, an Israeli bulldozer was in front of the house trying to knock it down because the Palestine doctor who lived there was an activist. Corey stood in front of the house wearing a bright orange reflector vest and screaming into a megaphone for the driver of the bulldozer to stop. People standing around were also screaming for the man to stop. The man would not stop because he was following orders from Israel, Wise said. 

Israel wanted to tear the house down so it could destroy the activistis plans and also because removing the house would give the Israelis a strategic view of the land, Wise said. The bulldozer kept on going, crushing Corey twice -- once when it went forward and then again when it backed up. 

Corey died hours later from internal bleeding and a crushed skull. People gathered around Corey to offer help, but the Israeli troops opened fire on anyone who came near, Wise said. 

This led Wise to talk about how the United States "looks the other way" when Israel kills "innocent people." Israel faces no repercussions, she said, "not for killing Palestinians and not for killing U.S. citizens."

When the United States asked Israel about what happened to Corey, Israel responded by saying it was an accident. Other people in the United States asked why she was there, but they did not question why the bulldozer was being used, Wise said.

"Israel only gets a verbal warning, maybe a slap on the wrist, and an extra $10 million in aid," she said. 

Since 1973, the amount of aid the United States gives to Israel has been increasing. Israel is also the only country to receive its aid at the beginning of the fiscal year. Other countries get aid quarterly throughout the year. 

Wise will give a similar presentation at 12:30 p.m. today at the University of St. Thomasi Tiller Hall. 

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