January 1994, Page 36

Myths and Facts 

(In refuting myths about the Middle East, sometimes one doesn't have to look beyond the mainstream media that help perpetuate them.)

Who Is Stalling Israeli-Syrian Peace?

Myth:"Negotiations with the Syrians remain stalled too, hindered by incomplete definitions of the extent of peace the Syrians are willing to offer Israel, and the extent to which Israel is willing to withdraw from the Golan Heights."

—Correspondent David Landau, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, June 30, 1993

Myth: "The Syrians still refuse to clarify what they mean by 'full peace.' They say they will explain their definition only after Israel meets their demand that it commit in advance to a total withdrawal from the Golan. "

—Near East Report, weekly newsletter of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, July 12, 1993

Fact: "It is now apparent that in exchange for a total Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights, Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad would agree to peace with Israel modeled on the peace with Egypt: peaceful relations, an open frontier, exchange of embassies and the demilitarization of the Golan Heights under international control."

—Jerusalem Post correspondent Alouph Hareven, Washington Jewish Week, Oct. 15, 1992

Who Sidetracked a Peace Treaty?

Myth:"In 1967, when Israel was again threatened with destruction by its neighboring Arab states, the territories came under our control, along with the Golan Heights, in a war of self-defense. We are aware of the suffering that the Palestinians have experienced throughout this long period. But it is not Israel that has refused to sign a peace treaty since 1947."

—Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Gad Yaacobi, writing in The Jewish Week, Queens, NY, July 9- 15,1993

Fact: "The Israeli victory in the 1967 Six-Day War was followed by some euphoric years, during which Israeli governments refused to recognize the very existence of a Palestinian people, expecting the Palestinians to forget their national identity and to surrender every inch of the land to our domination. "

—Israeli novelist Amos Oz, founder of Israel's Peace Now movement, writing in Tel Aviv newspaper Yediot Ahronot and reprinted in the Washington Post, Sept. 2, 1993

Does Israel Violate Human Rights?

Myth:"Israel is proud of the world's recognition of her moral standards. Other nations' high expectations of us are derived from many years of observing the behavior of the only democracy in the Middle East and from Israel's tradition of guarding human rights, even those of her wartime enemies."

—Uri Oren, Israeli Consul General in Los Angeles, in letter to the editor of the Los Angeles Times, published Jan. 2, 1993

Myth: "Col. David Yahav, the Israel Defense Forces' deputy advocate general, asserted that many of the army's most criticized actions–detention without trial, deportations, demolition of houses, lengthy curfews, censorship and seizure of land–are permitted under international treaties. Palestinians actually have more rights than before the 1967 war, end far more then other people under military occupation, Yahav declared, because of their access to Israeli courts, judicial review for major decisions on the West Bank and Gaza Strip and 'a spirit of progress."'

—Excerpted from article by correspondent Michael Parks, Los Angeles Times, July 8, 1993

Fact: "Joshua Schoffman, legal director of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, noted that many Israeli actions are based on old British emergency regulations that Jewish leaders had denounced before Israel became a nation. Expulsions, detention without trial, house demolitions and denial of legal counsel are all contrary to international law, Schoffman said, but widely used. The military also has been slow, he said, in investigating and prosecuting those responsible for human rights abuses.

"Eric Goldstein, research director of Middle East Watch in New York, argued that Israel's expulsion of the suspected Islamic activists in December alone was a massive breach of human rights–and that the Israeli courts refused to order the government to reverse the action and bring all the men home. The report, he said, failed to show that 'the rule of law, in the true meaning of the phrase, obtains on the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.'

"And Fatah Azzam, program director of the Palestinian legal center Al Haq in the West Bank town of Ramallah, said the military's report was merely 'an attempt to put a legal face on what has been the practice for years . . . Their interpretation of the Fourth Geneva Convention is designed to serve purposes that are inconsistent with what the rule of law is supposed to protect,' Azzam said. 'They are trying to put a pretty face on what is a rather ugly situation. "'

—Excerpted from article by correspondent Michael Parks, Los Angeles Times, July 8, 1993

Does Islam Compel Conversion?

Myth:"This is a reminder to those inside and outside Israel that for terrorist groups like Hamas there can be no faith in 'peace talks.' There is faith only in Allah, who instructs his loyal followers to make war on the Jewish 'infidels' and all others who reject Islam . . . this is their just punishment. "

 —Syndicated columnist Cal Thomas, Janesville (WI) Gazette, Aug. 29, 1993

Fact: "Whoever kills a human being–unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land–it shall be as if he had killed the entire human race."

—Holy Qur'an (V:35)

Fact: "Those who are not out to eliminate Islam or put obstacles in the way of Allah and who do not destroy the peace and tranquillity of the human society, decidedly the sword of Islam has nothing to do with these people. They may belong to any faith, and entertain and cherish any belief, however wrong and un-Islamic that may be, Islam does not disturb them, their life and propertyare haraam (protected from harm) in its sight and the sword of Islam is impotent against them."

—Jihad in Islam,quoted in the Khaleej Times of Dubai, U.A.E., Sept.3, 1993

Fact: "Don't compel anyone to embrace Islam... Whoever has been given guidance by Allah and whose heart is open to truth will embrace it out of free will, and as for those whose faculties have been sealed, there is no use in forcing them into the fold."

—14th century Islamic scholar Ibn Kathir, quoted in Khaleej Times of Dubai, U.A.E, Sept. 3, 1993

Do Israeli Arabs Have Equal Rights?

Myth:"A significant minority of Arabs live in Israel with full rights of citizenship except for military service."

—Letter by Michael Wolin in Rocky Mountain News, Nov. 18, 1993

Fact: "While enjoying basic democratic rights, Israeli Arabs do not as yet fully enjoy equal opportunity. Arab towns and villages have been disadvantaged in the allocation of budgets and services, leading to wide gaps in development between most Arab localities and their Jewish neighbors . . . Not a single Arab citizen is employed in most government ministries or in the president's office."

—Jerusalem Post correspondent Alouph Hareven, Near East Report (AIPAC newsletter), Oct. 11, 1993