To the Editor:
While the literary merit of Ali Rashid's letter to the editor "Do You Remember?" (The Dartmouth, Jan. 22) is perhaps notable, the message seems self-contradictory, and I am dubious of his sincerity. His piece claims to call out for a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian impasse, yet it provides not a single rumination on any of the serious questions regarding how progress might be made, nor does it even attempt to identify such questions. Mr. Rashid remembers days of peace with longing, but he forgets the thousands of suicide bombers and would-be bombers who have gotten us to the place we are today. He recalls warm handshakes and shared optimism but then turns -- in true monomaniacal fashion -- to the image of an Israeli tank, pitting all the blame for his lost hope on this vessel. He forgets, of course, the young man inside the tank who wants nothing more than to be home with his family living free from Palestinian terrorism. His message is simple and one-sided yet is presented as fair and honest under the guise of a lost soul searching for answers.
If Mr. Rashid's quest for reconciliation were sincere, he would pick up the dialogue on peace where it was left at Taba -- not harp on pity-me tactics. What matters today is not who the greater victim is but who will win Israel's upcoming elections, when the Palestinians will achieve democratic leadership, how dialogue can be restarted and how the imminent war with Iraq will affect Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. I cannot help but doubt Mr. Rashid's commitment to moving out of the current morass and wonder if instead he was not simply trying to take pot-shots at the Israeli people -- a group who day-in and day-out battle terrorism we are blessed to live without.
