The Palestinian Question

In a region embittered by a generation of war, justice is difficult to determine. In the Arab-Israeli conflict it is patently obvious that two wrongs will never make a right.

However, one should make an attempt to clarify the facts. While the PLO, according to Time Magazine of the 28th of March 1978, have since the October War of 1973, been responsible for the death of 143 people, the Israeli government, according to the same source are charged with the killing of over 2,000 Palestinians in aggressive acts against a dispersed people.

While President Sadat and most of the Arab states condemn any form of terrorism in which innocent civilians are killed, such fanaticism by a people driven to desperation only serves to underscore the necessity for a solution to the question of the Palestinian homeland, as the central issue in the Arab-Israeli conflict.

It is now seriously doubted by some high ranking officials in the American administration whether Israel is truly genuine in its desire for peace. The Israeli invasion of Lebanon shows that they are still trying to achieve security by aggression, expansion, and occupation, rather than by agreeing to live with the Palestinians in a just and durable peace.

Certainly, the presence of 25,000 Israeli troops in Lebanon put a major obstacle in the road to peace along which President Sadat so courageously began to tread when he shattered all the old rules and concepts, and broke the vicious circle of procedural wrangling, by visiting Jerusalem in November 1977.