Hi 79 / Lo 66
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Hi 79 / Lo 66 |
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Volume 72, Issue 69,
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
News Tour discussed peaceful Middle-East solution by AMNA KHALIQUE
A former Israeli Captain, Yonatan Shapira, and a former Palestinian guerilla, Sulaiman Khatib, said non-violence is the way to end the Middle-East conflict in a talk Monday at the University Center. "Our goal, simply and frankly, (is) to end the occupation, the Israeli occupation, in a non-violent way and to end the violence between both sides," Khatib said. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed throughout the years and Israelis live under a constant threat of suicide bombers. Khatib served ten years in an Israeli prison for trying to kill an Israeli soldier at the age of 14. Shapira was a former Captain in the Israeli Air Force Reserves who initiated a group of pilots to refuse service on missions to attack Palestine in 2003. Khatib said that they hope to raise awareness about the occupation of Palestine during. Violence is not the answer to settle conflicts; negotiations and a commitment to follow through those negotiations is the key, he said. The two talked about their personal experiences as fighters as well as eye-opening events that made them connect with the reality of the situation. They compared the West Bank wall and the restrictions imposed on Palestinians to apartheid in South Africa. "We have so-called democracy for Jewish people or for Palestinians who are living within the 1967 border. But if you live in the Occupied Territories, it's completely apartheid," Shapira said. Shapira also said that the process of realization takes a long time and that it takes many years to understand the enormity of the situation. "It's a long, long process. And during this process, you suffer. You find out things that you do not want to believe," Shapira said. The two speakers belong to the group Combatants For Peace, which consists of former fighters from both sides that have come together to end the cycle of violence in the Middle East. The tour is sponsored nationally by the Faculty for Israeli-Palestinian Peace and hosted on campus by Students for Equality and Justice. They have also visited Amherst, Harvard and Berkley campuses. Combatants For Peace was initiated when individuals from both sides approached each other. The founders organized secret meetings that led to the formation of the group. More information on the group can be found on www.combatantsforpeace.org. Khatib and Shapira will be speaking tonight at Adel Road Mosque. For more information, contact Tanwir Badar at (832) 247-1786. Send comments to dcnews@mail.uh.edu |
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