This week the United States began a campaign of airstrikes against Afghanistan. President Bush ignored the pleas made by Muslim and Arab leaders throughout the Middle East to find a peaceful solution.
Their appeals fell on deaf ears as U.S. military chiefs began their anti-terrorist operation. Already, massive bombing has seriously crippled the possibility of a long-lasting coalition that could have promoted peace and cooperation within the region.
People living in the Middle East have every reason to doubt that the U.S. military operation will result in increasing their freedom and security. Palestinian refugees living in the Gaza Strip know all too well about U.S. foreign policy. In Palestine, fundamentalist terror from the Israeli army is ever present.
U.S. policy has been to ignore the oppression of the Palestinians. At the same time, the U.S. government is not neutral because it supplies arms to the Israeli government. Civilians in the Middle East, who face the terror of United States-sponsored F-16 jet missiles used by the Israeli army, know what it's like to lose children and loved ones.
The nation of Israel is the largest recipient of military foreign aid from the United States. The tensions that have surfaced in the streets between Palestinian rock throwers and Israeli soldiers have led many in the Middle East to believe that the United States is preventing the possibility of a Palestinian homeland.
While the Western media seek to portray Arafat as untrustworthy, in reality he is the voice of moderation against Islamic fundamentalist factions.
The U.N. Relief and Works Agency reported that, in Gaza, 20 percent of the land belongs to 16 Jewish settlements, while one million Palestinian refugees lack the means to survive. One in three Palestinians lives on less than $2.10 a day, while a fifth of the Gaza Strip owned by only 0.5 percent of the people.
The United States is quick to condemn Arab nations it doesn't like for human-rights violations and military invasions of neighboring countries, but it holds a double standard for Israel. The Israeli government has grossly violated the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords by continuing to build illegal settlements and highways in the Gaza Strip.
Palestinians are prohibited from entering the areas protected by Israeli soldiers and tanks. These encroachments constitute an invasion in the eyes of Palestinians, yet the United States overlooks these provocations.
Long before the tragic events of Sept. 11, moderate Palestinian leaders warned the international community about growing resentment of the United States' unconditional financial support of the Israeli government. The United States must say to Ariel Sharon that his government will not continue to receive military aid unless the Oslo Peace Accords are respected.
Now, just three days into U.S. air strikes, four U.N. aid workers are dead. They were killed by a bomb launched from an American fighter jet. These workers were employed by the United Nations to remove old land mines left in Afghanistan by the Soviets.
The United Nations has been forced to stop distributing food to the region because commercial truckers are refusing to transport the aid. President Bush stressed he was targeting terrorists and not the people of Afghanistan, but the deaths of these U.N. workers prove innocent civilians will die.
At this critical turning point in American history, citizens of this nation cannot allow the United States to launch another failed policy in the Middle East. President Bush's logic is misguided and will only serve to fan the flames of intolerance. The future of peace and security lies not with a bombing campaign, but with a progressive peace coalition.
