By
Nick Zeckets
Sunday evening, on CBS' 60 Minutes, the heightened conflict between the Palestinians and Israelis was discussed. Mike Wallace led the piece. Not necessarily a news piece, but a piece of something. To me, it certainly wasn't a fair piece of reporting, but rather deserving of response and criticism. In this university setting we call the UA, we should aspire to know more about the issues and demand the fair reporting they deserve.
For those of you not up on the question of Israel, the issue goes back thousands of years. The region was to be the Jewish homeland but they were sent from ancient Palestine, creating the Diaspora. Arabs and Jews were not in contention until land issues were brought up on Palestine.
Being the home of Jerusalem and valuable fresh water sources, Palestine has always been fought for. Following World War II, Britain gave the United Nations the power to decide Palestine's fate. The pains the Jews suffered at the hands of the Nazis during World War II, the efforts of the Zionist League under Theodore Herzl, and the weakness of the Palestinians resulted in land being carved out of the Middle East for the Jews: Israel.
Since then, the Palestinians have struggled to keep their culture and land. Israel receives more US foreign aid than any other country because of its strategic value and a lingering sense of remorse for what happened in Germany. That aid comes in the form of funds and military assistance. Thus, Palestine holds on by a thin string and with the support of Arab League members.
Now, in the past two weeks, Palestinians have been fighting back with little more than sticks and rocks against Israel's well-organized military. The death count was at 88 on Monday, and most of those were Palestinians. Slingshots do little to conquer AK-47s. Barak gave Arafat and the Palestinians an ultimatum to come to terms. The Palestinians want the Israelis to stop building settlements on their land and to give them freedom.
Walking the mall, students were hard pressed to give comments about the situation. This short summary should offer only enough to get those who aren't in the know on track. Unfortunately, the issue is far more complex than what is above. Having the media create opinions for Americans based on their own agendas is unfair.
CBS has, for years, had the weight to garner big-name interviews and create solid pieces on issues ranging from tobacco addiction as portrayed in, "The Insider," to the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina. For the most part, both sides of an issue are fairly tackled. However, Monday night was a clear disregard for the truth.
Ehud Barak, the Israeli Prime Minister, was the only central political figure interviewed. Palestine's Yasser Arafat, meanwhile, was left out of the debate. Take into account that Arabs are already vilified in America as psycho bomb-toting killers, and you've got a philosophical victory for Israel stateside.
Some students on campus were educated enough to comment on the escalated conflict. Bolivian ESL Junior Rodolfo Richter felt that "Peace is possible. They're fighting for territory and religion." He continued that, "Fighting for that is stupid."
It's difficult to understand how deep these issues run. Many anonymous students indicated that war was the only solution as neither side would ever agree.
Lisa Buisman, a UA graduate from this spring and current campus minister for Faith Christian Church, found that "Because their conflict is so great, I don't think they're going to come to terms by talking about it."
Here in America, continued Buisman, "I think the media takes sides because there is a big Jewish population." Criticizing the media, she said that, "when you hear about terrorism you usually hear about the Arab instigators."
Indeed, Wallace singled out instances of Israeli deaths at the hands of Palestinians. No matter what side of the argument you are on, this "60 Minutes" story was unfair and improper reporting.
No one turns on the news in order to be told what they should be hearing in order to found the "right" opinion. Facts are offered the audience so that they might extract an educated opinion.
CBS should be ashamed of itself. Write, call, fax, whatever. Tell CBS they can stick that piece of (fill in the blank) in the proper receptacle. News is designed to educate, not lie.
