Letters to the editor

Farahan column one-sided, inaccurate I must object to Daniel Farahan's column "Jihad not for children" (Jan. 24) as it is extremely one sided and grossly oversimplifies an extremely complex situation. Let's look at the facts on the ground. The Ministry of Education in Israel routinely approves books for use in their public school system that promote racism and hatred towards Palestinians. A study done by a Professor Daniel Bar-Tal of Tel-Aviv University showed that Israeli textbooks consistently refer to Palestinians as "inferior, unenlightened, unproductive and colored," among many other carefully selected words and phrases. Here in America we saw this type of dehumanization of African-Americans and the institutionalization of racism towards not only blacks in America, but all people of color. Thankfully we've made some progress by at least removing this type of inflammatory rhetoric from our textbooks, but unfortunately, the Israelis have not. Furthermore, this attitude among Israelis regarding their superiority over Palestinians is reinforced through other aspects of Israeli life, such as their "justice" system. For example, should a Palestinian in the Occupied Territories kill a soldier he can expect to be imprisoned for a substantial amount of time, usually no less than 20 years? On the flip side of that, armed Israeli settlers and vigilante mobs routinely kill Palestinian civilians and receive little more than a slap on the wrist for their heinous acts. One tragic example is the brutal murder of 11-year-old Hilmi Shusha by a settler, Nahum Korman, who bludgeoned the boy to death. His punishment: six months of community service and a small fine. As Americans, we also know the impact of inconsistent application of the law. Murder is wrong and should be treated as such, regardless of the perpetrator's ethnic background. The Intifada was around long before the Palestinian Authority's "approved texts"; consider the first-hand education Palestinian children receive when their homes are demolished, their stomachs are empty and their brethren beaten and murdered by a mob of occupiers. Farahan's time would be better spent worrying about that, rather than the loose, inaccurate translation of Arabic texts from various biased propaganda sources. Khaled A. Taha
Alumnus Campaign finance reform needed The enormity of Enron's financial influence in Washington demonstrates our pressing need for campaign finance reform ("Lead auditor in Enron case invokes constitutional right not to testify," Jan. 25). According to statistics collected by the Center for Responsive Politics, an astounding 94 percent of the 2000 Senate and House elections were won by the candidate who spent the most money campaigning. Fundraising wastes politicians' time. Worse, when corporations are so crucial to re-election, they take the lion's share of our leaders' attention out of the hands of their constituents. "Free market" campaign finance does not make for effective or responsive government. After our congressmen return Enron's campaign contributions, I hope they gather up the courage to prevent any further such patronage. Joshus Goldberg
Graduate student Religion without ritual brings truth In reading the Bahá'í "Religion without ritual" article (Jan. 24), I was struck by its display of very "Humanistic" principles so similar to my own "Secular Humanistic" world view. I was particularly pleased to see Bahai focus on the "free and independent investigation of truth." In contrast to the revealed religious view of truth, which assumes that "the truth" is absolute, I would point out that actually truth can be changeable, including so called "Biblical truth." Such change can be wrought by man's state of scientific knowledge at any given point in time. Recall that while the Orthodox church once accepted the geocentric view of the universe as being truth it is certainly no longer generally accepted as truth today. Emanuel Klein
Former faculty, IU Health Center Questioning 'over-rated' chants at basketball games I've waited until my senior year to buy IU basketball season tickets and thus far it has been one of the best investments I have made in my time at this university. There have been countless amazing moments that I have shared with my friends. The overwhelming pride that I feel standing in Assembly Hall listening to our school song is something I will never forget. That pride most definitely carries over to how I feel about our basketball team, as I'm sure it does for nearly all the people who attend the games. I've noticed, however, a disturbing trend every time we play a ranked opponent at Assembly Hall. The end of the game nears, IU has built up a substantial lead and then I start to hear chants of "overrated." Granted, it's understandable that everyone is excited that we've just beaten a ranked team, but I would like to credit the IU blowout wins to our basketball team being good enough that they can dominate the visiting team. Everytime I hear "overrated," I wonder if people realize that they are discrediting our team; they're basically saying "we beat them because they really weren't that good," not because we out-rebounded them, dominated them on offense and defense and played with enough heart to beat the No. 9 team in the country. Please don't get me wrong, IU basketball fans are some of the best in sports and truly give our team an advantage playing at home, but the next time everyone starts chanting "overrated," think twice before underestimating our team's ability to beat nationally ranked teams. Niq Klingler
Senior Farahan's comments extremely disturbing After reading the column written by Daniel Farahan on Jan. 14, 2002, I felt extremely bothered by its contents. Although I agree that something needs to be done to counter terrorism in the Middle East, Farahan never once mentioned that just this past week the Israeli army demolished fifty-eight Palestinian homes leaving 500 Palestinians homeless. Regrettably, Farahan neglected to mention that just two weeks ago the Israeli army shot and killed six Palestinians for undisclosed reasons. Most importantly, Farahan never gave a reason for why the Palestinians are so angry with the Israelis. Imagine that one day while sitting at home, your house is under attack and an army comes in and tells you that you and your community cannot live there anymore. Your town is no longer filled with familiar faces; rather it has been demolished and then given to your rivals of thousands of years. I can gather that you all would be as upset as I would be. In 1948 this happened to millions of Palestinians. They were displaced from their homes and expected to find somewhere else to live. Now to any logical thinker, one would agree that this was beyond a doubt wrong and unjust. So why, after years of injustice and persecution by not just a radical group but in fact a government (Israel), is it wrong for Palestinans to defend themselves against the Israeli government? The Palestinans are under a government whose head, Ariel Sharon, was commander of numerous atrocious attacks massacring Palestinians village after village; a leader who is reported to have said, "The only good Arab is a dead Arab." So answer this question: Is it wrong to want justice? I must say again that those who attack innocent people are without question terrorists and should be brought to justice. However, fighting an oppressive and occupying government is not wrong. In fact it is what our founding fathers in America did to get us where we are today. Don't forget, there are two sides to every story. Malak Zawahri
Freshman Endangered species deserve protection Recently, it has come to my attention that there are only a few thousand types of endangered, or threatened, species left on the entire planet. These species, which include both plants and animals, are rapidly being destroyed by habitat destruction, introduction of exotic species, overexploitation, and other factors such as disease and pollution. These endangered species need our help to survive, and it is our job to protect them. Why save these endangered species, you may ask? Well, there is a plethora of reasons I could give to you on why we need to save these valued plants and animals. First, medicinal values are a big factor. Plants and animals are responsible for a great variety of useful medications. In fact, the pharmaceutical industry brings in $40 billion annually from products pertaining to products derived from plants and animals. For example, the Pacific yew. This tree was considered a "trash" tree, as they burned it after clear cutting, but recently an amazing substance was found in the bark of the tree that can contribute to the treatment process of ovarian and breast cancer. What I propose we do, as a global community is to keep our wildlife preserves in top shape, and to even take that a step further by constructing more of these preserves. Statistically it is shown that if there is dedication, manpower, capitol, and land, that many endangered species will become a normal inhabitant, and continue to grow their species. The only thing that we need to enact this, I believe, is government power, land, money, and a dedication by the people of the world to protect these incredible species. With a huge support by the people of the world giving this proposal a push, I believe that the organizations that deal with endangered species, such as the Environmental Protection Agency, could eventually obtain the rights to new land in which to organize a new preserve, or possibly, existing preserves may be able to obtain additional funding. Having these areas of a land are a valuable tool for the conservation of endangered species. These areas will be free of pollution, free of a lot of interaction by humans, and many of the species will be bred specifically as to insure their survival. Frank Kralis
Student, West Irondequoit Central School District, NY