There's always another side to the story

This is in response to the March 11 letter to the editor titled “Jewish lives not worth mentioning.” I would never condone the ideology that one life valued more over another. Nor do I agree with the few Palestinians who think the only way of sending a message to Israel is through violence. There are people on both sides who want to see the violence stop. With naming the defense of the Palestinians of their OWN LAND from occupying Israel “Arab terrorism,” are you implying that all Arab-Palestinians are terrorists and therefore stories of their deaths should be pushed aside to those of Israelis because Arabs are the “bad guys”? Or, are you just responding to the false connection the Israeli government has been successfully pushing on us since we went “terrorist” crazy on Sept. 11, 2002 that an oppressed people choice of defense is highly organized attack on an innocent country?

The fact that you complained about the LACK of coverage on Israeli deaths in the media (i.e. Mustang Daily) proves to me you are uninformed of the current political situation in Israel/Palestine. I noticed you said “Jewish” rather than Israeli in your letter and this too fosters false information. Israel does not equal all Jewish people. The apartheid taking place in which Christians, Jews and Muslims die every day is centralized to the Middle East. It is fallacy to connect a world religion with a hugely political issue.

Israel gets more “positive spin” and media coverage than any other area in the world under similar conflict. And they spend a lot of money and effort to keep it that way. Watch any news report on TV and I promise they will take the time to let you get to know the tearful family of a dead Israeli soldier, rather than see the Palestine house bulldozed by Israelis while families were still in them or the shooting of Palestinian school children throwing stones with bullets, or the bomb raids dropped on Palestinian cities by Israel.

Go back and read your history book. Go way back. Say, around 63 B.C., not just the ones that start with the World Wars or with the war of 1967 waged by Israel.

Israel has and is illegally colonizing the land of the Palestinians even as I write this. With the U.S. as one of their biggest supporters in the media and politically, the Israeli government has been hugely successful in its illegal and aggressive apartheid. It’s a well organized, armed and funded government aganist a few gorilla groups (like Hamas) and people just trying to survive each day. Don’t mistake the attackers for the defenders. How can an occupier defend itself when it is the aggressor? Unless you count having to defend itself from people demanding human rights and freedom. When you make such a grand statement please have some facts that back it up (no, Fox News doesn’t count). Remember, there is ALWAYS another side to the story.

And take HIST 214, political economy of Latin America and the Middle East, with Prof. Manzar Foroohar. She herself is Iranian and brings a unique perspective of the politics in the Middle East that is very different to the one we are spoon fed by our national media. It has opened my eyes and allows me the luxury of now feeling somewhat informed enough to respond to your false complaint.

Soquel Schafer is a social science sophomore and a guest columnist for the Mustang Daily.