Editor,
On Monday, student Rachel Fredman responded to a March 26 Daily Lobo article about Palestinian Hisham Jabi, who spoke at UNM about life under the Israeli military occupation. Fredman attacked Jabi's reported comments as "particularly absurd." She described herself as "an occasionally hawkish Jewish American" and president of the UNM Israel Alliance.
Jabi was a Clinton presidential scholar. He was in Albuquerque to participate in a prestigious youth leadership conference. At UNM, and at a talk in Santa Fe, Jabi described his everyday life under occupation. The Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory began before he was born.
He discussed mass demolitions of Palestinian homes - 12,000 since 1967 - by Israel. The Geneva Conventions state, "Occupying powers are prohibited from destroying property or employing collective
punishment."
He described how Israeli settlements on Palestinian land have annexed 24 percent of the West Bank and 90 percent of East Jerusalem. Four hundred and fifty-thousand Israeli settlers now occupy Palestinian lands. The Geneva Conventions state, "The occupying power shall not transfer parts of its own civilian population into territories it occupies."
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He discussed Israel's 26 foot-high, 450 mile-long wall barrier, which has annexed 15 percent of the West Bank. The wall was ruled illegal by the International Court of Justice in 2004.
He described how the constant pressures of these and other illegal Israeli policies are taking away the lives, land and hope of the Palestinians.
In her response, Fredman mentions a friend who was kidnapped and concludes by saying she has no sympathy for the "so-called Palestinian cause." She did not explain that her friend recklessly ventured alone into Nablus in 2006, the day after Israel shelled and killed seven Palestinian civilians on a Gaza beach.
Jabi was imprisoned by Israelis for 60 days without ever being charged, then released.
Justice, first, is needed for peace in the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis. For peace to come, Israel must comply with international and human rights laws, end its occupation of Palestinian territory and end its siege of Gaza. Israel's illegal and brutal policies have not made Israel more secure - experts state that Israel is less safe today than at any time in its 60-year existence. The security and reputation of the U.S. is affected as well, as tens of billions of taxpayer dollars have subsidized Israel's occupation.
Talks like Jabi's give students like Fredman an opportunity to listen, in a safe environment, to one of her perceived enemies - to learn about his daily life and to understand the effects of oppression and illegal government policies. Next time, I hope she'll attend talks like his and not just read about them in the paper.
Vicki Johnson
UNM alumna
