I take great exception to your portrayal of the Palestinian Solidarity Movement as standing for the destruction of Israel. I have been on an email list that tracks some of the activities of this organization and as near as I can tell, they are trying to get the truth about what is happening to the Palestinian people out to the rest of the world. I, and many thousands in the Jewish peace movement in Israel, believe that the truth is not beling told. I believe that what the followers of Sharon and those further to the right really want is for all the Palestinians to leave the disputed lands, and find homes elsehwere, that their ancestors have been there for centuries, notwithstanding. Even though the Oslo Accords orderd the stopping of builiding new settlements in the occupied lands, over 100,000 new residents have moved in in ten years!! Now Sharon is bulidng what I ocnsider to be an "apartheid" wall, destroying Palestinian orchards and farms and homes, in order to achieve "security."

If the Israelis want peace with the Palestinians and the rest of the Arab world, then they should first work for justice. In the US we seldom hear about the tens of thousands of ordinary Israelis who desire to live peacefully next to the Palestinians, and who go out into the streets to make their point.

I am not apologizing for the terror that kills innocent people, but when the count is made, when a Plaestinian sudicide bomber kills 15 on a bus on in a cafe, the Israelis, within a few weeks h ave killed at least that many, and many of those are guility of nothing more than being a child in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I also believe that the numbers of desperate men and women throughout the world that are ready to resort to terrorism against the West has been exacerbated by the inability to solve the Israel/Palestine issue. Suicide bombing and attacks have been aroudn for a long time, but since the fall of 2000, following the collapse of the last peace talks with Arafat and Barak, the frustration has built and the number of attacks has exploded. I believe that if Israel dismanted the settlements in the occupied lands tomorrow, it would be a great step for justice in this region, and we would see the number of terrorist attacks decrease worldwide. Perhaps millions of Muslims hate us, but others are just tired of the relentless humiliation by the West, especially by the United States, and the inability of any justice to come to the Palestinian people. My motto is: If I want peace, I should work for justice.

Oh, you bleeding heart.

i helped to organize the conference, and i participated in it. i can say very confidently that the frontpagemag article is full of lies and errors from start to finish, from false claims about what individuals said at the conference, to fabrications about their organizational affiliations, to getting wrong about half of the names he mentions. as an account of the conference, the article is worthless. the sections excerpted by jihadwatch contain the following errors:

- ora wise did not chant "zionism is racism", did not call for the end of israel, did not say to anyone that she believes palestinians want to wipe out israeli jews, and does not point to her ethnicity as proof that there's no antisemitism in the movement. she's also not the person who read the conference's decisions at the end (the author of the article, lee kaplan, seems to have trouble telling jewish women apart).
- fatima did not praise al-qaeda or the taliban, nor did she call them freedom fighters.
- fatima's last name is ayub, not ayoub
- sami al-arian has been accused of being the north american leader of islamic jihad, but has not been convicted. he is therefore presumed innocent under the law. as far as i know, no evidence has been presented in public to support the accusation.
- the article suggests that jewish presence at the conference was tokenistic and aimed at defusing criticisms of anti-semitism. in fact, jews were dramatically overrepresented at the conference, were not treated as tokens but as comrades, and have been an integral part of organizing since the first student palestine solidarity conference.

the tone of the article suggests that the conference was about supporting suicide bombers and destroying israel. the conference was nothing like this. it was about ending the occupation of palestine, ending apartheid in israel and supporting the human rights of palestinians. the dominant viewpoint among the conference attendees is peace with security equality between israelis and palestinians.

look for a retraction of many of the article's statements in frontpagemag very soon, or alternatively legal action.

John Hushagen: You are ignoring the hatred that has been part of Islam for over one thousand years. Thankfully, during most of that time, the hatred did not end up as targetted attacks against Jews. However, over the last 50 years and 5 wars all lost the Arabs, Arab resentment has
grown.

Let's review what happened under Oslo, to see whether the Palestinians have complied with the requirements expected of them:

1) Oslo called for a Palestinian leadership that denounced violence and showed fiscal and diplomatic responsibility. However, Arafat expanded the terror, extorted funding, and continued to deny Israel's legitimacy.

2) Oslo called for dismantling of all terror organizations, like Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and the confiscation of illegal weapons. In fact, the
leaders of these groups were actually empowered by release from Palestinian prisons, entry to official office, smuggling of illegal weapons (Karine A), and the funneling of arms to terror factions.

3) Oslo called for ending incitement to violence, and education of the Palestinian population for peace. In fact, the P.A. used their media and textbooks to deny Israel's legitimacy, incite for the killing of Jews, and call for "holy war."

4) Oslo presumed that violations would trigger the cessation of the process. Despite explicit Palestinian violations, Israel continued to pursue the Oslo vision, ceding additional land at Wye in 1998, and presenting a deal at Camp David in July 2000 that far exceeded previous offers.

I think we can agree than none of the Palestinian conditions were met.

What were the Israeli responsibilities? Basically they were to transfer control to the Palestinian Authority among many other things. Before the intifada, 97% of Palestinians were under Palestinian leadership. Yes, there were roadblocks and checkpoints, but there were so many security violations that they had to be there. Yes, the settlements may cause some resentments, but I think terrorism is much
worse than occupying some land, and is much more reversible!

Let me tell you why I think the Palestinian "soldarity" organizations are dangerous.
They say:
1. We support the Palestinian right of return. It is non-negotiable.
2. It is becoming increasing clear that a two state solution is not a viable or acceptable option for the Palestinian people.

This means the destruction of Israel. What is the point of a negotiated settlement if you don't want a two-state solution. They want to flood Israel with Muslims, making a Muslim majority. The idea of Oslo was a two-state solution, which would give both peoples their own land.

They also say:
3. Israel is a racist apartheid state.

So much for understanding. Aparteid? Jews in the PA have to worry about their lives. Muslims in Israel have equal rights under the law!

And:
4. Our activism is imbued with an anti-colonial feminist practice.

Feminist? Their activism is aimed at promoting a fascist state that doesn't give a crap about women. If only they really cared about women, they'd be fighting against Islam, not Israel.

And:
5. We support the right of the Palestinian people to resist Israeli and colonialism by the means of their choosing.

Any means? That means they promote mass extermination by human bombs!

6. Actions that we organize out of this conference will be developed under the framework of respecting a diversity of tactics.

I'm sure they'd accept people with differing views...diversity...