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Friday, October 13, 2000

Violence hits close to home
Palestinians, Jews here crave peace
By Jeremy Schwartz, and Guy H. Lawrence
Caller-Times
When Corpus Christi nightclub manager Nader Margia visited Nazareth in September, at first he had a serene time with friends and family. Two weeks later, he was trapped by violence between Jews and Palestinians.
   "Things started and I couldn't leave town; bullets were flying and they were throwing smoke bombs," said Margia, a Palestinian who returned this week to Corpus Christi, where he has lived for 15 years. "It is that bad. I couldn't believe it."
   With Jews and Palestinians on the verge of war in the Middle East, local members of the Jewish and Palestinian communities differed about the causes of the latest conflict, but agree that peace is needed in the region.
   "I'm very distraught, obviously," said Rabbi Gary D. Kessler of B'nai Israel Synagogue. "But I knew when this peace process started it would come to a head because the ultimate goal of the Palestinians is Jerusalem. Since Israel has made as many concessions as it could without giving up Jerusalem we've reached the point of no return."
   But Palestinian Khaled Yousef, 31, a car audio store manager in Corpus Christi, said the Israeli government is not being reasonable in trying to confine Palestinians to less than a quarter of the land in Israel, as well as dominate Jerusalem, a holy place for Jews, Muslims and Christians.
   "It is a holy place where the Israelis go pray and the Muslims go pray. Israelis want to take over the whole city," Yousef said.
   Yousef said a neutral body such as the United Nations needs to step in and oversee the peace process and even take over Jerusalem to ease the tension.
   "I think they should do that for five or 10 years, and then say 'Now we can let them be in charge,' " Yousef said. "I think the UN should be in control."
   Knows mentality
   Kessler, who lived in Israel for seven years in the 1980s, said he believes antagonism between Israelis and Palestinians may never be solved. "From experience I know the mentality of the Palestinians and Arabs," he said. "Their hatred of Israel is never ending."
   But Yousef, who was born in Kuwait and left in 1988, said peace can be achieved through a third party. He was pleased with President Clinton's efforts to bring the two sides together. A neutral body, such as the United Nations, needs to step in and look at what is happening.
   "I think what Mr. Clinton has done, nobody has done in the whole world," Yousef said. "I feel like the United States has to put some power there and get these two sides to sit down and stop all the fighting."
   Thinks motives suspicious
   The recent violence was sparked by the Sept. 28 visit of Israel's hard-line opposition leader Ariel Sharon to a Jerusalem shrine holy to Jews and Muslims. Since then, more than 100 people have died, mostly Palestinians, according to The Associated Press.
   Kessler said that visit could have been done differently. "He could have gone in a quieter way," he said.
   Yousef said Sharon's visit was a deliberate attempt to incite the Palestinians, and to blame the Arabs for derailing the peace process. Yousef does not support the violence on either side.
   "I don't agree with the riots. I don't agree with the killings," Yousef said. "I think that it is very bad. They are killing any chance for peace."
   Pushed over edge
   Tensions were inflamed Thursday when two Israeli soldiers were killed and mutilated by a Palestinian mob. Israel retaliated with helicopter rocket attacks against Palestinian targets including Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat's residential compound, police stations and broadcasting centers. Also, a 12-year-old Palestinian boy, who was injured Oct. 10 by gunfire, died of his wounds. Joe Jessel, a past president of Temple Beth El who has twice traveled to Israel, said he thinks the situation likely will degenerate into war. "Like all Jews I'm saddened by the events," he said. "It seems as though Israel has had to fight for existence since the state was created."
   Jessel said he doesn't see a change in the mentality of Arab leaders, who before the Six Day war in 1967 proclaimed they wanted to push Israel into the sea. "It makes you wonder if peace will ever come," he said.
   Yousef is also concerned about escalating violence that could ignite a holy war, dragging in Muslims from countries such as Iran and Pakistan. That war would surely affect Jordan, where his family now lives.
   "If they let it go like this, I think it would be a big war," Yousef said.
   Tranquility of past
   Jessel said he would like to see Arafat bring an end to the rock throwing and look for peace. He said that would be in Palestinians' best interests. "They will get more land if they show good faith," he said.
   Margia said that Arafat is in a difficult situation because the protesters could turn against him if they see he is siding with the Israelis, especially after the deaths that have occurred in the past weeks.
   Margia said he wants the two sides to reach a peace agreement and the conditions to return to the tranquility of just a few years ago, so he can keep telling his friends here how peaceful it is.
   "We have always been living very peacefully and I hope it goes back that way," Margia said. "I want the country to go back to a year and two years ago. I want peace. That is the only way to do it. You don't want to go back to war. I saw what war (did) to my mother and father and my uncles."



Staff writer Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 886-3779 or by e-mail at schwartzj@caller.com. Staff writer Guy H. Lawrence can be reached at 886-3792 or by e-mail at lawrenceg@caller.com

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