Human flag story mischaracterized event

On April 29, the Wildcat ran a front-page story about an event from the day before, involving members and supporters of the Arizona Israel Alliance/Hillel and the Alliance for Peace and Justice in the Middle East. In observance of Israel's 56th year of statehood, AIA/Hillel was attempting to form a human Israeli flag on the UA Mall, while adjacent to them, APJME was holding a peaceful protest to make them and bystanders aware that Israel did not just magically appear. It was, in fact, formed at the expense of indigenous Palestinians who today remain the world's largest refugee population on Earth.

The article falsely leaves the impression that APJME was responsible for the acts of three individuals who tried to disrupt the AIA/Hillel event. When it became apparent to APJME organizers that three people were attempting to obscure the aerial photograph of AIA/Hillel's Star of David with red balloons, we immediately requested these individuals leave the areas reserved for the two events. We took this action to make it clear that APJME was in no way connected with, and did not endorse, their attempt to impinge on AIA/Hillel's event.

The Wildcat article and headline imply that APJME's protest was connected to the balloon incident. The Wildcat was irresponsible in its failure to distinguish between APJME's peace vigil and three people who took it upon themselves to taint the spirit of our event. What the reporter should have done was to discuss the balloon incident with organizers of both of the planned events. Instead, as the article shows, comment was sought about the incident only from AIA/Hillel. This imbalance vilifies APJME's vigil.

Notwithstanding the acts of those three individuals who were not connected to us, APJME is proud of what we accomplished that day. Approximately 70 people from our campus and surrounding communities stood together to claim human rights for Palestinians, who are too embattled to do so for themselves.

Today, Israel continues to violate the human rights of Palestinians by illegally occupying their land in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. By killing and wounding Palestinian civilians in military strikes, seizing their land for the ongoing expansion of illegal settlements, and denying them access to their families, health care, work and education, Israel is flouting international laws designed to promote fairness and equality in the global community. Despite AIA/Hillel's claim that their event was not political, the dispossession and ongoing oppression of an entire nation of indigenous people is inherently political and cannot conceivably be separated from Israel's formation.

We call for a solution to this crisis that allows both Palestinians and Israelis to live in security and with dignity. No such solution can be had without treating both sides equitably.

Nesreen Khashan
Near Eastern studies graduate student

Jessica Weinberg
anthropology and linguistics graduate student
APJME co-presidents

Catholics won't be staging a 'takeover'

In his column "The Paradox of the American Catholic," Tim Belshe harkens back to the paranoia of the 19th century Know Nothing political movements, a notion that endured in this country until the election of John Kennedy: The Vatican is plotting to take control of the United States. Much to the relief of such sophisticated thinkers, the takeover by the Romanists has yet to happen.

Mr. Belshe makes a sensationalist claim that no two institutions could be more opposed than the Catholic Church and the United States. Actually, both systems of thought are in profound agreement as to the inherent dignity and freedom of the human person and his or her relation to society.

Belshe also mischaracterizes the Church's overall mission by framing it as solely a foreign political entity with a quasi-conspiratorial political agenda. Queen Elizabeth I might have had a case with that argument, but Mr. Belshe, in the post-Vatican II era, does not.

Belshe's largest error is his statement that in proclaiming the Church's views on issues such as abortion, it makes political agreement a requirement for Catholics. The Church has competence to teach in faith and in morals. If the pope and the College of Bishops tell me to buy Nikes instead of Reeboks, I as a Catholic am not bound to oblige. However, on a matter directly related to morality or to the teachings of the Catholic faith, the faithful, in good conscience, are obliged to assent; and if they do not assent, as in the case of John Kerry - well, then they're not that faithful to begin with.

The Church's position on abortion reflects natural laws that transcend any political discourse. And in every age and every society, the Church, tainted though it is by recent scandals, is bound to proclaim these self-evident truths, even if it makes patriotic Catholics such as Mr. Belshe squeamish.

Matt Rubach
first-year medical student

Palestinians not treated same by Israeli police

I was astonished by Mr. Muhammad al-Wadi's letter published in the Wildcat on April 29. I lived most of my life in Nazareth in Israel as an Israeli citizen, and at the same time, as a member of the Palestinian community in Israel. The Israeli state, as always, still discriminates against us. It allocates less money for our education, health care and basic infrastructure.

Israeli governments are fully engaged in confiscating the lands and demolishing the houses of members in this community and therefore making us landless and homeless. According to Mr. al-Wadi, terrorism does not discriminate between Jews and Arabs. Maybe he is right, but the Israeli police do discriminate between the two communities. I had the honor and the pleasure of being an eyewitness to how the police force deal with unarmed Palestinian civilians demonstrating in Nazareth by beating up protesters after they were arrested - physically threatening a local reporter who was taking pictures of this event, throwing tear gas bombs inside peaceful houses, and even pointing a machine gun at me just because I was watching these "lessons in democracy" from my house. Maybe I became a "security threat" at that moment and I was not aware of it. This standard of service is only exclusive for the Palestinian community in Israel.

As you can see, Mr. al-Wadi, human rights and equality of minorities in any country are good indications of how democratic is the country. If these elements struggle to exist in a country, you should be very skeptical and reluctant in describing it as democratic.

Baha Kardosh
speech and hearing sciences graduate student