A debate about the Israel-Gaza conflict BY ANAND CHUKKA AND YONI ZEMYLAK 1. Why do you support the side that you support? Anand Chukka: Having been an advocate of human rights for all my life, I support Palestine because I believe they are being unjustly and violently targeted by a conflict that never even involved them. The real conflict is between the Israeli government and the Hamas terrorist organization. Palestinians have been arrested, raped and killed by the thousands since the beginning of the conflict. They are innocent victims in this whole situation. Yoni Zemlyak: I support Israel because I support peace. I have had firsthand experience in this conflict and have seen the fundamental
difference between the two sides. Israel targets Hamas terrorist leaders, but Palestinians plant bombs in buses and malls, trying to murder as many civilians as possible. During a family vacation four years ago in Israel, I had an encounter with Hamas’s inhumane tactics; my parents were planning a family trip to a mall but we luckily didn’t go-a bomb exploded in that very mall, killing three people and injuring dozens.
2. Is each side justi�ied in the actions they have taken so far? AC: Israel has claimed this action in the name of “defense,” but how is occupying land Palestinians owned and removing them from their territory an issue of defense? This is an act of aggression. Under the protocols of the
Geneva Conventions, people under a foreign occupation the right to use armed forces to fight and resist these regimes. However, Israel initiated the conflict and refuses to use humane tactics to achieve their demands. What is happening currently with the settlements in West Bank is comparable to the German occupation of Poland. MIT professor and political activist Noam Chomsky said it best: “You can’t defend yourself when you’re militarily occupying someone else’s land.” YZ: Israel’s actions are justified because they were in self-defense. Israel is unfairly viewed as the aggressor because its civilian casualties are not as high as those of Palestine. This is largely due to the Iron Dome, a mechanism which Israel deploys to dislodge oncoming missiles. According to a study
An Introduction to the Conflict
Yoni Zemlyak is from Israel and grew up in a Jewish family. He has experienced the conflict firsthand.
In 1948, the United Nations granted land to the Israelis, displacing the Palestinians, who moved onto the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. In 1967, a war broke out between the Israelis, Syrians, and Jordanians. The result was a decisive Israeli victory, as Israel captured West Bank, the Sinai Peninsula, and the Golan Heights. In 2007 a new political party called Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip and launched an anti-Israeli campaign. Israel retaliated by launching a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip in 2008. Recently, Israel assassinated a Hamas leader, Ahmed Jabari. Hamas responded by launching more and more rockets into Israel. This led to a full eight-day conflict.
done at Harvard, the ratio of Palestinian civilians to militants killed is one civilian for every thirty militants. This is taking into consideration the fact that Hamas utilizes and encourages the use of human shields, hiding their militants behind elementary-school children, making it virtually impossible to hit the militant without of harming the child.
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3. Should Palestine become a state? Why or why not? AC: I believe Palestine should become a state. Hamas’s main goal right now is to achieve Palestinian statehood along the 1967 borders; if Palestine becomes a state, these goals will be achieved. Palestine becoming a separate state is in the best interest of both countries because it would stop the fighting, encourage peace talks and suppress Hamas’s power. YZ: Not right now. At some point in future, Palestine should become a state. Israel was recognized as a state in 1948 because they were able to prove they could function independent-
dull and lifeless building has been lying across the street from Calabazas Park for three years and harbors no signs of completion. This is the Calabazas Library. Despite its projected opening in the summer of 2011, the library is still a good six to seven months from opening due to a lack of funding to support utility costs and new staff. Although the renovation attempts are commendable, the planning and execution of the project was poor. The Calabazas Library was often a goto place for Lynbrook students to work on projects and homework. “The Calabazas Library pre-renovation served its purpose well: small size, local library and a convenient alternative to the Santa Clara Library,” said junior Michael Sheng. To enhance the experience of the library members, the City of San Jose decided to renovate the library to include new technology and create a modern feel for its members. In November 2000, voters approved a $212 million library bond measure that would reconstruct 14 library branches and build six new branches for under-served neighborhoods. At a community meeting, members decided to reconstruct the Calabazas library; renovations were estimated to cost $7.4 million. The operating costs of
ly. Palestine, however, is nowhere near where Israel was when it was declared a state. If the Palestinians were to somehow get rid of Hamas, which is governing half their country, then Palestinians could start making rational decisions. The fact that the President of the Palestinian National Authority Mahmoud Abbas is not even allowed in half of his own country (Gaza), is reason enough to show that Palestine must first solve its internal conflicts before it can be recognized as a nation. 4. What are some mistakes that you think they have made? AC: Through talks with my grandfather about his involvement in the nonviolence movement in India against the British colo-
Calabazas library opening delay preventable with greater voter awareness of the city’s budget the library, however, come out of the City’s General Fund, which also funds most of the city’s services. Over the past decade, the City of San Jose has been forced to trim budgets. The budget cuts did not affect the building of the library, but they greatly impact the operating costs due to insufficient money in the city’s General Fund. “That is why there has been a reduction in library hours, although some have been restored. Besides reducing hours, one strategy to save money was to delay the opening of certain newly completed branches—Calabazas being one of them,” said aide to San Jose City Councilmember Pete Constant, Jerad Ferguson. When budget cuts on the General Fund were imposed, construction had already begun; the city could not stop remodeling when the budget cuts hit because of voter approval from a decade earlier.
“The bond measure was passed ahead of the budget deficits and at a time where the outlook for the city was good,” said Ferguson. But this is not an excuse for the fact that the city should have conducted extensive research to determine whether there would be budget cuts later on down the line. The voters who approved the renovation may not have voted the same way had they known of the likelihood of insufficient funds prior to their decision. As the reconstruction continued, the budget deficits began to hurt the library. Throughout the Lynbrook community, frustrations arose from the lack of updates on the status of the library. Junior James Ma said, “[The Calabazas Library] was so convenient before it closed down, but now I have to go all the way to Cupertino or Saratoga to find reading material.” At this point, the city should have gotten
Anand Chukka is an active pro-Palestine supporter. He reads literature and follows news about the conflict.
nists, I have learned the importance of resolving conflict with diplomacy. Palestine has made many mistakes due to its failure to resolve the conflict through diplomatic discussions. The best way to fight is through words. In addition, Hamas has failed to recognize Israel as a peaceful state; their shortsightedness comes at the expense of peace and cooperation between Israel and Palestine. YZ: There have been war crimes committed on both sides, so pinning all of them on one side and completely neglecting the other is ignorant, wrong and stupid. On the case of the Israelis’ mistakes, I personally do not agree with the Israeli settlements in the West Bank. I do not want to say that it is illegal, but it is an obstruction to peace and should be removed. voter approval to temporarily suspend the project until the General Fund was stabilized. Since it had become apparent that the General Fund was not likely to be stabilized, the city should have called on residents to vote on an additional fund, in the form of a parcel tax. This would cover the operating costs of the library and would also provide a safety net if some part of the reconstruction went wrong. Even though the budget cuts happened after the passage of the renovation, the city still should have had a contingency plan. Such a plan could have included temporarily shutting down construction and restarting once funds were secured. Had the general public known about the insufficient funds earlier, some community members could have donated money to support the renovation of the library. The library could also implement a small library card fee to cover the costs of staffing and operating hours; this money could have facilitated an earlier grand opening of the library. As the library continues to remain closed due to lack of funds and poor execution of remodeling plans, many students who have relied on Calabazas library for years will be detrimentally affected.