Miami Student

Issue date: 4/4/08 Section: Campus

Journalist Khaled Abu Toameh speaks to students Thursday night in Laws Hall.

Award-winning "Israeli-Arab-Muslim-Palestinian" journalist Khaled Abu Toameh shared his perspective of the current state of the Israeli Conflict with students in Bishop and Laws halls Thursday.

In the event, hosted by the Miami Students for Israel, Toameh gave a brief history of how Israel became a separated nation and what political leaders have done since to sever the relations with Israeli and Palestinian authorities.

"I see a total breakdown of law and order," Toameh said at the small group setting in Bishop.

He discussed the stalemate situation for the Israelis who he said would rather trade land for peace. The problem is, these people fear that Hamas, the Palestinian-run government, will leave them to die once they have left the West Bank, as he said was the case with the Gaza Strip.

Today, the Gaza Strip is a breeding ground for terrorist forces.

"It's clearly a matter of security," said Leo Nayfield, vice president of Miami Students for Israel.

Toameh, the Palestinian affairs producer for NBC News, said that the Palestinians are fighting for a separated Israel, whereas the Israelis are fighting for an integrated one. "Unless we make real changes on the Palestinian side, I don't see how we can find a real solution," he said.

Toameh expressed his view of what he called Palestinian political figures' twisted logic, saying, "If you kill a Jew, you're a general. If you kill two, you're a minister."

This logic, Toameh believes, holds true today.

Miami junior Sean Wright listened to Toameh speak at the small group discussion in Bishop Hall. He said he was interested to hear America's part in Israel's political affairs, and in particular, America's strategy for allowing Arab-Israelis to vote for a new president in 2006.

"(The United States is) promoting democracy, but democracy that we want," Wright said.

The Miami Students for Israel saw Toameh speak in California at an annual conference sponsored by StandWithUs, an international non-profit Israel education organization. They later saw him speak in Israel and asked him about a month ago to come to Oxford. Nayfield praised Toameh's moderate views of Israel's issues.

"(Toameh) has a complete 360-degree perspective on the conflict," Nayfield said.

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