ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, May 6, 1996 TAG: 9605060014
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHARLES F. ROBERTS
I KNOW it will be regarded as politically incorrect (anti-Semitic?) to say that I'm fed up with a portion of my taxes being sent to Israel every year as a part of the $3 billion to $5 billion aid package to help support the slaughter of innocent Palestinian and other Arab women and children.
If the Israelis feel they have to resort to such barbaric tactics to protect their country, I want them to use their own resources - without Americans' help. It's time we got our human-rights priorities straight.
Our aid to support these actions has been going on for more than 25 years. Actually, it began shortly after the Israelis launched the surprise attack and invasion of Palestine, Egypt, Jordan and Syria in 1967. Why we ended up aiding the aggressor in that war I've yet to figure out, especially when I recall the totally unprovoked attack by the Israelis on an American naval vessel operating in international waters. That attack seriously damaged the Liberty, and resulted in the death or injury of more than 100 U.S. sailors.
One must have sympathy for the plight of European Jews at the end of World War II, but it must also be said that the creation of Israel from lands belonging to other people will continue to create huge problems in the Middle East until the end of time.
Just consider what sort of difficulties would result if the United Nations mandated that portions of Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina and Tennessee were to be used to establish a homeland for the Cherokee Indian tribe, with the land to be ruled, policed and defended by Cherokee Indian armies as an independent nation.
How many generations would have to pass before the defendants of Virginians would accept the lawful existence of "Cherokee land" in Southwest Virginia? By what magnitude would their level of resentment be increased if the Indians further invaded and occupied lands outside the United Nations' mandated borders?
A further understanding of the dilemma we're confronted with in the Middle East can be had by looking at the difficult situation faced by Britain and Ireland as a result of the Irish Republican Army's terrorism. Try to imagine the reaction of Americans if, after every IRA attack in London, Britain launched air and artillery strikes against the people of Ireland. The Irish sections of Boston, New York and other cities would burn if the United States didn't immediately intervene forcibly and effectively.
Charles F. Roberts of Blacksburg is a retired research scientist from the Department of Agriculture.
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