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From: hijab@ucbcad.BERKELEY.EDU (Raif Hijab)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc
Subject: Re: South Africa Terrorizes Southern Africa
Message-ID: <1069@ucbcad.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: Sun, 5-Oct-86 13:56:02 EDT
Article-I.D.: ucbcad.1069
Posted: Sun Oct  5 13:56:02 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 11-Oct-86 09:28:17 EDT
References: <8556@duke.duke.UUCP> <117200040@inmet> <8673@duke.duke.UUCP>
Reply-To: hijab@cad.Berkeley.EDU.UUCP (Raif Hijab)
Organization: UC Berkeley, CAD group
Lines: 35
Keywords: Israel and South Africa
Summary: Yet Another Example of the Double Standard

In article <8673@duke.duke.UUCP> rjn@duke.UUCP (R. James Nusbaum) writes:
>>
>>A terrorist attempts to foment TERROR -- he attacks the civilian
>>population because it is a good way to do this.  If you were to
>>tell him (authoritatively) that a bomb in given place  wouldn't
>>harm a soul, he'd choose another target.  He's after terror, not
>>demolished buildings.
>
>The connotation of calling someone a terrorist is in my mind to say that
>they are wrong or bad.  After all the President says we are going to 'wipe
>out terrorism' not wipe out Arab terrorism.  I believe the commonly accepted
>meaning of the word is that of unjustified violence against innocents.
>In my opinion to place this label on the ANC is to say that they are wrong
>in their fight for freedom.  

I am a strong supporter of the right of the ANC to fight against their
white oppressors. However, I am disturbed by the lack of sensitivity in
the U.S. for the opression of the Palestinians by the Israelis. Their
suffering is somehow less important, less weighty on the conscience.

Yes, there has been a lot of Palestinian terrorism, much of it senseless,
useless acts of desperation. But the Palestinians did not start it, nor 
are they the only terrorists around. In particular, the Israelis are
guilty of terrorism, BY THE SAME DEFINITION GIVEN ABOVE  -namely,
fomenting TERROR by attacking civilians. The difference is that they
hit refugee camps and call them terrorist bases, and destroy villagers'
homes "to teach them a lesson." YES, a government with a standing army
can be as much a terrorist as an extralegal gang of desperate young men 
(or women). 

The Palestinians have their terrorists, as does the ANC. But so do the
Israelis and the Afikaaners. Does the terrorism negate the truth about
right and wrong? about just and unjust? Why is it that the same person
who will defend the right of blacks in South Africa to fight racism,
is squeamish about defending the same right for the Palestinians?