First a disclosure is in
order. I have close, personal friends who are Jewish and I also have
friends who are Palestinian Americans who were in Jerusalem during the 1967 war
there. I have work friends who are Arab American; I had a Lebanese
roommate in college and lived in South Dearborn, a mixed neighborhood of
various Arab nationalities. I am
sympathetic to the Palestinians and to Israel.
Although I am not an
expert, I believe that Israel, often maligned by the Arab press, has real
security issues. In spite of that, the treatment of Palestinians who are
in the occupied territories is counter to our values and in disagreement with a
large minority of Israeli citizens. The latest move, as reported in Haaretz, is to separate Palestinians from Jews on
buses there. The minority opposition parties are denouncing it as
apartheid.
