Letter to the editor

19 September 2001 |

The Berkeleyan welcomes your letters concerning
crisis precipitated by the recent attacks.

A political solution for a political issue
While we mourn the thousands of people who were victims of the horrendous attacks that took place on Sept. 11, 2001, we need to think clearly about how to prevent such terrorism from recurring. In my mind, the most effective response would be to try to resolve the political issues that helped fuel these assaults, as well as to catch and punish the individual perpetrators and their accomplices.

The people who carried out the horrific acts in New York and Washington DC were not madmen or cowards. They planned these coordinated strikes meticulously for over a year. All of the surviving accomplices should be apprehended, tried and sentenced to the maximum possible extent under national and international law.

But retaliatory bombing against Afghanistan or groups in the Middle East will not end terrorism in this country. Air and/or land attacks by the U.S. will most likely inflame terrorism way beyond even the nightmare of Sept. 11.

To prevent further terrorist attacks, the United States and its allies need to apprehend and punish those responsible for Sept. 11, but we also need to get serious about finding a resolution to the persistent issue that is at the heart of the hostility to this country — the frustration of Palestinian self-determination. Until Israel and the Palestinians find a way to co-exist in peace, we will never lower the level of violence between the allies of Israel, and the allies of the Palestinians.

The U.S. needs to reconvene negotiations to end the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, and we need to put the utmost pressure on both sides to come to a just and workable compromise immediately.

— Zack Rogow
senior editor, School of Education