Will people stop talking about me like I’m not in the room

“To pair murders is to count heads, and to count heads isto quantify killing and to quantify killing is to denigrate thesacred meaning of a single human life. The idea of‘extremists on both sides’ leads to that tired oldsleight-of-hand known as moral equivalence.”

This is a quote from the play “Reading Hebron.”

I hear what everybody’s saying, and I get the point. I getthe point, Knapp: Israel equals scientific advances that will savecivilization. Palestine equals its utter destruction. So simple.Too simple.

I get the point Rahman: Islam is not a religion that condonesterrorism.

Well, guess what?

I come from a Christian family. My Christian family’sfurniture, china and other decorations still sit in the rooms wherean Israeli family lives now. My elderly Christiangrandparents’ home is still shelled at by Israelisoldiers’ American-supplied tanks. So I guess your articledoesn’t apply to me. I guess that makes me a terrorist. Sonow I am a terrorist and am causing the end of the world as we knowit. It’s World War III, everybody duck and cover! I justwalked into the room!

I am an individual. I do not condone terrorism. I condemnterrorism from both sides of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Don’tforget that Israel’s prime ministers have committed acts ofterrorism. Ariel Sharon was tried and convicted by his owngovernment. Then they elected him to lead their government.

You maybe right, Knapp. Yasser Arafat is a terrorist and corruptleader. He also won the Nobel Peace Prize. So did Israeli PrimeMinister Menachem Begin who, as a terrorist, bombed the King DavidHotel in Jerusalem.

Many Palestinians share your frustrations. Gandhi said he knewBritish-run India had problems, but he wanted them to be hisproblems. He also said, “Among the many misdeeds of theBritish rule in India, history will look upon the act of deprivinga whole nation of arms as the blackest.”

The corrupt Palestinian government could not possibly spendmoney on our military because we are not allowed one.

I am insulted to hear you say that Palestinians have no culture.I am a rational, intelligent person. I contribute to society and tomy community. I am a patriot. And I am not a part of any terroristgroup, thank you very much!

Many years ago I came to the realization that I am notPalestinian. I am not American. I am a Palestinian-American. Thetwo words separately do not accurately describe me. Together, theyrepresent an enclave of people whose world I share.

As a Palestinian-American, I can be at least slightly moredetached from emotional reactions. I have an advantage being on theoutside of two worlds. Oscar Wilde knew all too well that”the truth is rarely pure and never simple.”

Rucker, I get your point too. Israel is an apartheid government.Even Bishop Desmond Tutu, who fought so hard against apartheidSouth Africa, said that. But the truth is not black or white.It’s gray like me. Bakhshian knows that I am not alone.

In The Fateful Triangle by Noam Chomsky former Israeli PrimeMinister Golda Meir was quoted.

“It was not as though there was a Palestinian people inPalestine considering itself as a Palestinian people and we cameand threw them out and took their country away from them. They didnot exist,” she said.

We talk about finding a solution to this “problem.”Well I’m sorry that my existence is a “problem,”but contrary to what Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir said, I doexist; and so must a Palestinian state.