Spring Break
Israel debate not being furthered through articles, call for discussion
Arinne Braverman & Rabbi Aron Hier
Issue date: 12/5/07 Section: Commentary
I'd like to begin by thanking the Wheaton Wire and Wheaton College community for the opportunity to discuss student support and concerns about Israel in print. What we have before us here on campus is a real opportunity for dialogue: a chance to work towards greater understanding of one another's positions, mirroring the continued work being done through the recent Annapolis Peace Summit.
We might next expect to see an article countering each of the arguments Mr. Waggaman put forth in "Debate on Israel speaker continues, sources given" with an opposing set of "facts" and sources. Rather than fill up the page recounting each of these, I will cite just one journal for examples: two articles written by Tamar Sternthal entitled, "B'Tselem's Annual Casualty Figures Questioned" (1/3/2007) and "From Ethnic Cleansing to Casualty Count, Prof. Qumsiyeh Errs" (8/20/2004), published by the Boston-based Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America. In these articles, the charges of ethnic cleansing and statistics & methodology of B'Tselem are challenged using statistics from the Palestinian Bureau of Statistics, among others.
I put forth this information not in the spirit of argument or "having the last word", but rather to note that these arguments have all been had in print before, never bringing us closer to finding "the truth". Nothing new has been or will be gained from such a process. We would merely be rehashing history, justifying our opinions with the opinions of others (and in the process growing more entrenched and self-righteous, though no closer to a resolution of the issues). That which either side will point to as "objective" or "fact" is also by its very nature biased. Thanks to relatively recent insights from systems theory to quantum physics, we have a greater understanding of how little of that which happens in the physical world is truly "objective" (talking here of physical subjectivity, not moral subjectivity).
In addition to the myriad of ways bias may enter into an analysis, the very process of "observing" (who, what, where, when, how, why) shapes that which is observed. Let us begin by acknowledging that there have been wrongs committed on both sides.
We might next expect to see an article countering each of the arguments Mr. Waggaman put forth in "Debate on Israel speaker continues, sources given" with an opposing set of "facts" and sources. Rather than fill up the page recounting each of these, I will cite just one journal for examples: two articles written by Tamar Sternthal entitled, "B'Tselem's Annual Casualty Figures Questioned" (1/3/2007) and "From Ethnic Cleansing to Casualty Count, Prof. Qumsiyeh Errs" (8/20/2004), published by the Boston-based Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America. In these articles, the charges of ethnic cleansing and statistics & methodology of B'Tselem are challenged using statistics from the Palestinian Bureau of Statistics, among others.
I put forth this information not in the spirit of argument or "having the last word", but rather to note that these arguments have all been had in print before, never bringing us closer to finding "the truth". Nothing new has been or will be gained from such a process. We would merely be rehashing history, justifying our opinions with the opinions of others (and in the process growing more entrenched and self-righteous, though no closer to a resolution of the issues). That which either side will point to as "objective" or "fact" is also by its very nature biased. Thanks to relatively recent insights from systems theory to quantum physics, we have a greater understanding of how little of that which happens in the physical world is truly "objective" (talking here of physical subjectivity, not moral subjectivity).
In addition to the myriad of ways bias may enter into an analysis, the very process of "observing" (who, what, where, when, how, why) shapes that which is observed. Let us begin by acknowledging that there have been wrongs committed on both sides.
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