Marie-Jeanne Berger wrote in her last article, “In response to ‘Revisionism Hurts’ (Commentary, October 7), I would like to avoid the question of the Jews’ right to live in the land of Israel, within or without Judea and Samaria, and instead discuss the way articles like Russell Sitrit-Leibovich’s obfuscate and complicate the reality of modern-day Arab-Israeli politics… When we cut away the fat from the carcass of this issue, we see that Israel is usurping land, and the Palestinians are becoming further disenfranchised, and effectively caged into smaller and smaller turfs. What might surprise the optimistic or uninitiated observer is that this is happening during the first direct peace talks in two years.”
Blaming others for their misfortune is nothing new to the Palestinians. From ’48-’67, it was the Arab states who failed to achieve a separate Palestinian state. Afterward, it was the failure of the PLO. And, as always, it’s the failures of the Israeli government, who by initiating peace talks, is apparently also causing more disenfranchisement, as Berger’s piece argued.
Naturally, the Palestinians are unhappy in their situation. Yet the Israeli government willingly gave up Gaza in 2005 so they could run their own territory as they wished. They chose to elect a terrorist organization as their government. It seems that decision has backfired, and they now have come crawling back to international organizations to make the peace that Hamas refuses to do. If they want self-determination, it starts with asserting responsibility for your own mistakes.
Vicky Tobianah
U3 Honours Political Science and English Literature
McGill Daily news writer
Tribune columnist