Activists Speak Out On Mid-East Conflict

Mark Rosenblum, a professor at Queens College and Michael Klosner, a former Bayside resident now residing in Jerusalem, differ sharply on their opinions of the Middle East crisis. While Rosenblum says that peace can be achieved without violence, Klosner says the Middle East situation will not be settled without war.
Rosenblum, a historian and director of the Michael Harrington Center at Queens College, has been advocating a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute for as long as he can remember.
Rosenblum told The Queens Courier that Palestine and Israel have been involved in a "public relations war," where each country is trying to prove to the world which side is at fault.
"Peace will not be achieved until both parties [Yassir Arafat and Ehud Barak] agree on the terms Clinton laid out at the summit meeting," Rosenblum said. "The two sides have exhausted all efforts in exploiting its current PR war, and the escalating violence has yet to prove who the bad guy is."
Rosenblum went on to say that as long as Arafat can show that he is putting extensive effort into controlling the actions of Palestines aggressive extremists, and that Israel can be more committed to improving social relations with the Palestinians, the fighting will end and peace can be achieved.
Klosner, searching for his roots overseas, left for Jerusalem. Klosners voice about the need for Israel to be strong was at the right of politics. He founded the newspaper Your Jerusalem, a weekly publication he said he modeled after The Queens Courier, where he worked for a short time as a reporter. He used his newspaper as an opportunity to provide Israelites with a different political voice from that of the left winged, big business controlled Jerusalem Post. He was passionately a right-winger.
He reported in a telephone interview from his Jerusalem home, saying Americans dont watch Palestinian television. Twenty-four hours a day, he reports, they repeat three themes. One is films of Israeli atrocities against Palestinians. Another is high pitched, fast paced music calling for the people to to take arms, riling against the nation and their people. The third are news reports from the Arab point of view encouraging the Palestinians to fight the evil enemy.
"They even show maps of Palestine as being all of Israel," said Klosner. "In Islam, they believe the highest thing you can do is for your religion and your cause."
The peaceniks called those against peace at any cost the "riff raff." "With our views now widely accepted, right-winger followers find many people joining them to be part of the riff raff," said Klosner.
Your Jerusalem has slowly found its niche and has provided extensive coverage on issues dealing with the peace process. Klosners view of how peace will be reached differs strongly from that of Rosenblum. Klosner said that he knew a peace treaty between the two sides could not last. While Rosenblum insists the matter will be solved only on the negotiating table, Klosner believes there is only one road to peace: through war.
"I never believed a peace treaty would last between Israel and Palestine," Klosner said. "Israel must be strong to have peace…war is inevitable and Israel must show its strength in order to ultimately achieve peace."