Arab Israeli Conflict

Image from Gary Varvel, Indiana -- The Indianapolis Star-News April 15, 2002

1. Meaning/Explanation
          This cartoon is representing the Palestinians and their new form of warfare, using suicide bombers. The Palestinians don't care who they have to kill to win and they believe that by dressing up kids as Israelis, they are able to achieve their political aims. They feel that they finally have a weapon that creates a balance of power with Israel, and maybe can defeat Israel. Ismail Haniya, a Hamas leader, once said in the Washington Post that Jews, "love life more than any other people, and they prefer not to die," so that makes Palestinian suicide bombers ideal for dealing with them.


2. Explain how it's connected to our learning in class.
             The Palestinians and the Arabs will go to any measure to defeat each other. They will go as far as to use children as suicide bombers, not caring what the consequences might be. In class, we discussed that these two opposing parties have been fighting against each other for over a century with conflicts that began with religious issues, land possession, society and politics. We also discussed the drastic measures they take so they can beat the other by whatever means necessary. In 1939, British attempted to strike a balance between Palestinians and Jews but their efforts failed to hold down the escalating tensions and it seems like no one can stop these two opposing sides.


3.Why is this meaningful? Does it make you sad, hopeful, angry, etc?
          This makes angry and upset because the kids shouldn't be directly involved in the issues that adults have the adults have to deal with.  Kids shouldn't be used as a weapon to solve the conflicts of their elders. This adults are mercilessly taking away innocent children's lives and they were probably tricked into doing something like this in the first place. Its not that the Palestinians are desperate, its that they actually want to win their independence in blood and fire. All they can agree on as a community is what they want to destroy, not what they want to build. Nevertheless, adults shouldn't involve their children in their business/personal lives; the children probably don't even know what their parents are talking about. Its upsetting that the only thing on the Palestinian's minds are to kill and win at whatever costs rather than paying attention to all the lives they are killing. This sort of western society is very different from America. Not to say that we're better, just that something should be done about this.

Reviewing Critical Junctures - Group 2

1. Explain why your document highlights a critical juncture of the Vietnam War.
Our document shows that for the South Vietnamese, our sudden withdrawal would inevitably allow the Communists to repeat the massacres which followed their takeover in the North fifteen years before. For the United States, if we leave Vietnam, then this first defeat in our nation’s history would result in a collapse of confidence in American leadership not only in Asia but throughout the world. For us to withdraw from the vast amount of effort in Vietnam would mean a collapse not only of South Vietnam but Southeast Asia. A nation cannot remain great if it betrays its allies and lets down its friends. Our defeat and humiliation in South Vietnam without question would promote recklessness in the councils of those great powers who have not yet abandoned their goals of world conquest.



2. What were the main goals of U.S. policy in Vietnam at the time your document was written?
We shall furnish military and economic assistance when requested in accordance with our treaty commitments. But we shall look to the nation directly threatened to assume the primary responsibility of providing the manpower for its defense.


3. What were the main policy choices facing U.S. leaders at the time your document was written?
The main policy  choice facing U.S. leaders was the Nixon Doctrine. This policy was a policy which not only will help end the war in Vietnam but which is an essential element of our program to prevent future Vietnamese people.


4. What policy choice was made regarding the issues considered in your document? How did the decision affect the course of the Vietnam War?

In the previous Johnson administration, we Americanized the war in Vietnam. In this administration, we are Vietnamizing the search for peace. Under the new orders, the primary mission of our troops is to enable the South Vietnamese forces to assume the full responsibility for the security of South Vietnam.The president and his administration have only two choices open to them if they ever want to end this war. The president can order an immediate precipitate withdrawal of all Americans from Vietnam without regard to the effects of that action. Or the United States can persist in our search for a just peace through a negotiated settlement, if possible, or through continued implementation of our plan for Vietnamization, if necessary.