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COMMENTARY
Israel-Palestine
conflict issue deeper than land
Sean Oakley
Israelis and Palestinians
are once again killing one another. I’ve watched as so-called “educated”
representatives spout off propaganda every night on news broadcasts.
Yes, there is propaganda coming from both sides.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out there are masses of innocent
Palestinians suffering for the actions of terrorist groups like Hamas
and the Islamic Jihad.
Many people have criticized Israel for their recent military actions,
but honestly, what did you expect them to do? Did you expect them to
bow down to the suicide bombings, effectively ensuring that suicide
bombing will go down in every terrorist’s handbook as a successful
way of getting what they want?
Did you expect them to just sit there, or maybe even go to a negotiating
table, while more and more suicide bombers swept into Israeli cities?
They are doing what any sane country would do in a similar situation:
They are defending themselves.
Now before everyone calls me a warmonger, I do agree that occupation,
in its essence, is wrong. I do think that this latest Israeli military
action is only going to spark more hatred and more suicide bombings.
But Israel isn’t occupying the West Bank and Gaza because they
feel like it, or because they want to oppress the Palestinians. They
are trying to protect themselves.
And for those of you who think that occupation is the root of all Palestinian
terrorism, I would ask you to look at the history of the conflict before
1967.
While I think the majority of the Palestinian people want their own
state and peace, I think that these fundamentalist groups want Israel
pushed into the sea.
Yasser Arafat wants Israel pushed into the sea. He doesn’t want
peace; otherwise, he would have never walked away from Camp David. His
gripe was that the deal given to him at Camp David did not allow for
the right of return. Arafat claims this is the right of any refugee,
but in essence right of return would mean an influx of Palestinians
into Israel, which would eventually overtake the Jewish population and
effectively wipe out Israel.
Arafat is the only terrorist with a Nobel Peace Prize in his closet.
For those of you saying right now “But it was originally the Palestinians,”
you’re wrong. Who founded Jerusalem?
I do think the majority of the Palestinians are innocent and want peace.
But they should blame Hamas, the PLO and Yasser Arafat for their troubles,
not Israel.
Israel would gladly give the Palestinians their own state if it insured
an end to suicide attacks. But it won’t. Think about it: Saddam
Hussein and even Saudi Arabia are paying off the families of suicide
bombers.
Every Palestinian representative I’ve ever heard speak only calls
Israel a murderer and won’t even acknowledge the suicide bombings
as terrorism. Blowing yourself up with little kids and women is terrorism.
There is no justification.
THERE IS NO JUSTIFICATION!
I truly feel for the majority of the Palestinian people. I honestly
mean that. I saw some images on TV the other day that almost made me
throw up.
But I also ask you to look at the plight of Israel. They are surrounded
by hostile countries, are suffering waves of suicide bombings, and not
even America will come out and openly, firmly support them. They have
just as much of a right to defend themselves as we do.
Israel may not be making the best decisions, but they are desperately
trying to survive. And where are all the critics while Israel watches
her citizens get blown up in coffee shops, dance clubs and candy shops?
What’s the answer? There is none while Arafat is in charge. There
is none while terrorist groups continually attack Israeli citizens.
For the sake of the Palestinian people, I truly hope that Arafat is
seen for what he is, and that somehow these terrorist groups are
annihilated. Then we will see peace in the Middle East.
And one last little side note: to every person who has ever tried to
compare Israeli treatment of Palestinians to the Holocaust … shame
on you. The people making that comparison only show their ignorance,
underlying hatred and lack of historical knowledge.
COMMENTARY
Cigarette
butts should not litter our campus
Crystal
Thompson - Staff Writer
I am not a smoker,
but even if I were I’d like to think I would have the decency
to respect the other people on campus, smokers or not.
It seems like everywhere I step there are cigarette butts, sometimes
even in piles, like someone had a cigarette party.
They’re on the ground, in some flowerbeds, around monuments and
in just about every corner in which you look. There are designated
places to put cigarette butts, but they are not being used.
It seems like the smokers who just drop their smoked cigarettes down
anywhere could care a little more about the presentation of this campus
and about the people who work to keep the campus presentable.
It’s really odd too, because I used to see more chewed gum on
the sidewalks than smoked cigarettes. Maybe there has been a phenomenal
increase in smoking at Appalachian State University. No matter the
reason, there is no excuse for not discarding cigarette butts in their
proper place.
The problem of simply flicking cigarette butts on the ground is not
just my concern. Jim Bryan, landscape superintendent, also has problems
with it.
“This is something that I have an issue with because the smokers
need to use the containers we have set up around campus, but they’re
not,” said Bryan.
These piles of cigarette butts aren’t just on the ground when
you’re walking to class or on the sidewalks, either.
“They’re at the entrance to academic buildings and residence
halls. It’s not just the students doing it either. I’ve
seen faculty members and staff walk out and flick a cigarette on the
ground. There’s no one group to blame,” said Bryan.
All the cigarette butts on the ground make the campus look bad, but
it’s also hazardous.
“They can start fires,” said Bryan.
There are different containers that are there specifically for smokers
to put their cigarettes in.
“We’ve tried several different containers. The containers
with sand collect water and trash and those plastic smokers’
posts don’t hold up. They seem to get vandalized. Then there’s
the concrete smokers’ posts with about an inch hole for the cigarettes,”
said Bryan.
Someone services them every day. I bet they’ll find more on the
ground than in the designated posts. I don’t understand why they
are not being used. That’s what they’re there for. There
just aren’t any excuses.
Any way you look at it it’s littering. The smokers who discard
of their smoked cigarettes by flicking them to the ground should be
fined for it the same as if they were driving down the road and threw
garbage out the window.
The campus would have a dramatic improvement in landscape appearance
if the smokers would discard their cigarette butts into the posts
that are available. If for no other reason, then at least do so out
of respect for the people who don’t smoke and the people who
try to clean them up.
I have an issue with this because Appalachian is supposed to be a
well-respected college of this area and presentation is a big part
of that.
We may have some buildings that are weather-beaten, but that doesn’t
mean that we can’t protect and preserve the grounds onto which
these buildings were built.
OUR PERSPECTIVE
Marshall
plan
While
baseball diamonds, track and field facilities and tennis courts currently
dominate the sports pages of this and other collegiate newspapers around
the nation, football season is only months away.
For Appalachian State University football enthusiasts, their collective
thirst was temporarily quenched late last month when the Mountaineers
concluded their spring practice period with the Outback Spring Finale.
As Appalachian prepares for a season that will leave it as the lone perennial
Southern Conference title contender that did not undergo a coaching change
after the 2001 season, the pressures that stem from predictions of a run
at the NCAA Division I-AA National Championship are mounting.
Before the Mountaineers begin their quest for the conference and national
crowns, they must travel to West Virginia to rekindle a rivalry with an
old—and very familiar foe.
Appalachian will begin the 2002 slate with a trip to battle one-time SoCon
and Division I-AA power Marshall University.
This will not be the same Thundering Herd squad the Mountaineers once
battled at the Division I-AA level, however.
This Marshall team has blazed a very impressive trail in transitioning
from a I-AA juggernaut to a legitimate top-25 program at the NCAA’s
premier level of college football.
Despite the outcome of the Mountaineers’ contest with the Thundering
Herd, the faction of Appalachian State supporters, alumni and fans that
have been very outspoken in past years in their view the institution should
petition the NCAA to follow Marshall’s lead and make the jump to
I-A will no doubt have an opinion to voice following the game.
While we cannot prognosticate the outcome of the game, we would like to
make clear Marshall’s I-A success was not handed to the program.
Marshall’s march to three conference titles and several bowl victories
was the result of hard work and a group of individuals rallying around
a common goal.
As The Appalachian’s two-part probe into the efforts taken by Marshall
officials show, a long, costly and tedious process went into its transition
to a competitive I-A program (see related story, page 5).
Would that kind of dedication and unity exist if Appalachian made the
move to I-A?
Given the North Carolina’s current budget crisis, would state dollars
be available for such an effort? With families counting dollars as the
economy continues to lag, could university officials justify another student
fee hike to fund a comprehensive study of the program and the crafting
of a plan to move to I-A?
In short, the time is simply not right for the Mountaineers to focus on
competing at the Division I-A level.
We also question the credibility of such a jump given the fact Appalachian
has been cast in the shadow of Furman and Georgia Southern universities
in terms of Southern Conference supremacy.
It would be a very hard sell to convince NCAA officials a team that ranks
third in its own conference could realistically compete with the elite
programs in college football.
At the time it petitioned for its move, the Marshall program had a proven
track record of dominance over the SoCon and all of Division I-AA.
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