Alex Homan not only states incorrect facts in his op-ed article, Between the lines: Israel breaches international law to punish Palestine (March 9), but it also seems as though he is looking in the wrong places for credible information. First, it is incorrect for Alex to mention the numbers of overall Palestinians killed in comparison to Israelis, given the fact that three fourths of Palestinians killed are members of Hamas, a Palestinian terrorist organization. He stated that 400 of those killed were children, but in reality, according to the most cited Palestinian source, Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, the total number of children killed up to January 21 is 280. Of these, 55 were males aged 15 to 17 and it's fair to assume that many of those males were likely to be Hamas combatants.
Hamas has been sending rockets into Israeli civilian neighborhoods on a consistent basis since 2001. This is extremely important to note, not only because Alex mentions that the rocket attacks came after Israel decided to break the cease-fire agreement
but also that when a cease-fire was put into place in June, Israel was the one who was attacked first. During the cease-fire, starting June 19 until Nov 4, 20 rockets and 18 mortar shells were shot into the Israeli town of Sderot. That is what broke the cease-fire - not Israel. Many people consider the event that occurred in November where Israel caught two members of Hamas building a tunnel in order to smuggle arms into (Gaza) and kidnap Israeli soldiers, breaking the cease-fire.
To touch on the most important and incorrect claim that Alex made in his article, it is completely preposterous to state that Israel, in any way, targets civilians in their attacks. If you are unaware, Israel calls, texts and sends out notices to Palestinian civilians to tell them about the attacks and warn them to get their families out of the areas where attacks are going to take place. These attacks are strictly targeting members of Hamas, who in turn are the ones sending rockets into Israeli civilian neighborhoods. Hamas is the one who purposefully targets any Israeli citizen they can, especially by aiming their rockets at schools and playgrounds. Palestinian suicide attacks, such as the most recent bulldozer attacks, have clearly been targeting innocent Israelis. To even attempt to claim that Israel targets civilians in their attacks is completely and utterly unreasonable.
In terms of acquiring peace, there could have been a two-state solution in 2001, but Yassar Arafat rejected Israel's offer and began the Intefada, also known as an Arab uprising. Alex states that peace will be achieved if Israel retreats back to the pre-1967 borders; in reality the UN resolution 242 states that Israel withdraw from territories rather than the territories. This was done on purpose, seeing as though Israel had won the war and was never required to give back that land. As CAMERA reports, The British UN Ambassador at the time Lord Caradon who introduced the resolution to the Council
has stated that
'It would have been wrong to demand that Israel return to its positions of June 4
1967
because those positions were undesirable and artificial.' It should also be mentioned that after Israel signed a peace treaty with Egypt and withdrew from Sinai, Israel vacated 91 percent of the territories it obtained in 1967.
In conclusion, it is extremely important for The Post writers to have credible and factual information before they publish. It is for readers to obtain the correct information, especially about such an important issue. Although I do agree that what our university needs the most is dialogue and open discussion, the facts presented on both sides have to be accurate.
Rachel Zieleniec is a junior studying journalism and the president of Bobcats for Israel.
Editor's note: All facts in the Between The Lines piece were checked and found to be accurate to some source. Which sources are most reliable, of course, is certainly debatable.
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Opinion
