Editor:

I was disturbed and angered by Asad Khan's letter ("Aggressive Israel not in need of security") in the April 23 issue of the Wildcat. Khan, in his condemnation of the terrible incidents of the past week, has missed the point. The loss of innocent life is a tragedy, regardless of religion or nationality. Furthermore, Khan's argumentation is problematic because it uses the same rhetoric he is condemning.

He begins his letter with the accurate statement that the Hezbollah does not represent all Arabs. However, in his letter, he is more than willing to make the same type of blanket statements about "Israel/Jews." He asks, "What do you expect from the Arabs after what Israel has done? Do you remember Feb. 25, 1994, when an American-born Israeli killed 29 Palestinians in a mosque near Hebron?" Yet he never mentions that this attack was condemned by the Israeli government. As a Jew and an American, I was appalled by the Hebron killings. Similarly, I was saddened by the images of Israeli and Lebanese civilians that have been injured or killed this past week. However, Khan refuses to look at the real complexity of the problem and is content to reduce this to some fantastic notion of pure Israeli guilt and pure Arab innocence.

He tries to show Israel as the "most aggressive nation in the Middle East," but he ignores the reality of the situation. Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Israel and the PLO all have a history of aggression in southern Lebanon and northern Israel. Furthermore, to equate Israeli attacks on Hezbollah terrorists to the ethnic genocide of the Holocaust is both wrong and offensive.

I would encourage Khan to learn his history. The history of modern Lebanon is riddled with conflict and instability, not just between Arabs and Israelis, but between Arabs of different nations and religions. The security zone in southern Lebanon was established to prevent the shelling of northern Israel during these periods of instability. The latest Israeli attacks were not aimed at innocent people, but at Hezbollah guerrillas shelling northern Israel, precisely the reason why the security zone was created.

Finally, I wish you could address the real atrocity of the loss of human life. Khan, you are wrong that no one cares about the 75 civilians that died. I care about those deaths as much as the deaths of innocent people anywhere. However, by couching your statement in anti-"Israel/Jew" rhetoric, you are not helping the problem. You ask, "why should I care about what happened forty-plus years ago?" You should care because it is tragic when people die because of prejudice and ignorance.

Josh Barkan
history senior