T U E S D A Y OCTOBER 28, 2003
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXXXVIII, No. 101
An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891
Robberies continue on College Hill
Scholar outlines basics of Middle East conflict BY KIRA LESLEY
For students who grew up with daily television clips of Middle Eastern violence, newspaper coverage of peace negotiations and political personalities like Bill O’Reilly condemning everything from suicide bombings to Israeli settlements, it’s impossible to be unaware of the IsraeliPalestinian conflict. But many Brown students today say their understanding of the conflict is still murky. Scholar Mitchell Bard tried to clear up their questions Monday night in a lecture entitled “Middle East Conflict 101: What You Always Wanted to Know and Couldn’t Ask.” The lecture, which drew a large crowd to Lower Salomon, was sponsored by Friends of Israel. In his talk, Bard, who has written 17 books on the Middle East conflict, outlined the options facing Palestinians and Israelis and offered his ideas for what the future of the region holds. “There is no getting around the fact that the lives of most Palestinians are pretty miserable,” Bard said. Palestinians can respond to their situation in three ways, he said. They can wait, use terrorist tactics or negotiate. He said some Palestinians feel “time is on their side” and that in the long run, Arab countries will develop significant nuclear arsenals and Palestinians will outnumber Jews and be able to overtake them. Currently, the birthrate for Palestinians is double that of Jewish Israelis, he said. Bard stressed that terrorism has not accomplished Palestinian goals in the past. In the most recent Intifada, 850 Israelis have been killed while counterterrorism strikes by the Israeli army and the number of Israeli-occupied cities has risen, he said. Bard said he believes Israel has two options: unilateral withdrawal from disputed territories or negotiation. Past negotiations have often failed because outside parties did not recognize the historical, religious and psychological significance of the conflict. “It’s very complex,” he said, “It’s not political; it’s historical.” According to Bard, part of this complexity stems from the fact that three major religions — Islam, Judaism and Christianity — have holy sites in Jerusalem. Although the city’s Jewish and Arab populations are split into two geographic regions, dividing the city is not possible because holy sites such as the Temple Mount, the Wailing Wall and the Dome of the Rock are all located near each other, he said. Another obstacle to peace is the inability of the Palestinian leadership to negotiate on reasonable terms, Bard said. He said many Palestinians recognize that in 2000, Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat turned down a “golden opportunity” that would have eventually resulted in a Palestinian state. Under this proposal, Israel would have withdrawn
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BY ZACH BARTER
Sorleen Trevino / Herald
Chris Matthews P’05 dispensed his brand of straight talk about Iraq, the California recall and the 2004 presidential race. Matthews hosts “Hardball with Chris Matthews” on MSNBC.
“Hardball” host hunts hypocrisy BY JONATHAN HERMAN
Being hypocritical is as American as apple pie. Chris Matthews P’05, host of “Hardball with Chris Matthews” on MSNBC, spoke of double dealing, deceit and some of what he called the other fundamental tenets of politics yesterday to a full house in Sayles Hall. His lecture, “A Great Debate in 2004?” covered the war in Iraq, the California recall and the 2004 presidential race. Matthews said the war in Iraq will be the “big issue” of the upcoming election. He predicted there will be many more casualties by the election in November as the American occupation continues. “We are in Iraq today because of American policy,” Matthews said. “Every day that passes or every other day we see American casualties and every time an American is killed, he is killed not because he is a solider, but because he is a symbol of our occupation.” Matthews said each candidate should explain what the United States must accomplish “so Iraq doesn’t turn into a basket case” in a limited amount of time. In this situation we must ask ourselves, “Who are we, are we the good guys or are we the bad guys?” Matthews said. “Are we the colonialist or anti-colonialist?” Matthews said he does not support the war and the Bush administration’s policy of pre-emptive strike. Matthews said the conflict in Iraq
has not accomplished its goal but rather “the American occupation is the greatest Wahabi school,” breeding the fundamentalism that leads to terrorist attacks. “It’s almost like in a baseball team. Are you going to pull Pedro? Are you going to take him out? If a guy cannot be a good president and cannot get the troops out working, the war is yanked by the managers, the voters,” he said about re-electing President Bush in the presidential election. “Howard Dean and Clark are running as antiwar candidates. The rest voted for war and this vote is like the Gulf of Tonkin vote,” Matthews said, comparing congressional resolutions on Iraq to the 1964 vote that led to hostilities in Vietnam. “If you want to predict who wins the election, close your eyes and picture the candidates. Which candidate do you see with the sun in your face?” Matthews said. Many of the Democratic candidates are losing popularity, except for Dean, Matthews said. Dean is his favorite of the current Democratic candidates because of his “cowboy” quality. But Matthews was not sure if Dean would be the best president during another terrorist attack. “He’s not a warrior; he’s a dove. He doesn’t have the executive experience, and he is not a veteran,” Matthews said. “Can Howard Dean, former governor of Vermont, territory of Ben and
The recent string of muggings on College Hill continued Sunday night with the robbery of a female RISD student behind Andrews Hall. The campus community learned of the assault in a Department of Public Safety email Monday afternoon. The student reported walking east on Bowen Street just before 7 p.m. when a man grabbed her bag, which she refused to give up. Her attacker dragged her onto the ground and punched her in the face. The student then let go of the bag. The suspect was seen fleeing south on Brown Street before approaching a white pickup truck police believed to be involved in the incident. The student was taken to Rhode Island Hospital for treatment. The student described the suspect as a man of medium build in his early 20s, wearing dark clothing and a knit cap. In the e-mail, DPS and the Providence Police Department asked students with knowledge of the incident to help them solve the case. Sunday’s incident follows the Oct. 9 mugging of a student outside Minden Hall and the Oct. 4 mugging of a student near Hope and Bowen streets. The Oct. 9 assault occurred close to the scene of a robbery involving a weapon outside of an ATM on Sept. 15. DPS also received word of an attempted robbery under Soldier’s Arch on Sept. 22. Herald senior staff writer Zach Barter ’06 covers crime. He can be reached at zbarter@browndailyherald.com.
Informal discussion centers on racism, self-identification BY SARAH LABRIE
A conversation in a Hope College lounge covered issues ranging from racism in education to racial self-identification as students discussed the ways “whiteness” shapes society today. At a workshop entitled “How Whiteness Affects Who: An Interracial Dialogue,” students from varied racial, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds tackled what being “white” entails today at Brown and in the real world. Some students requested that they not be identified in The Herald. Conversation centered around definitions of terms like “white privilege” and “white power.” Sharon Mulligan ’05 and Makini Chisolm-Straker ’05 mediated the “fishbowl style” conversation. Students who identified as people of color spoke first while other students listened. They were followed by students who identified as mul-
see MATTHEWS, page 4
see DIALOGUE, page 4
see BARD, page 5
I N S I D E T U E S D AY, O C T O B E R 2 8 , 2 0 0 3 Popular concert venue Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel may shut doors metro, page 3
Future of Providence Athenaeum hangs in the balance amid fiscal crisis arts & culture, page 3
Liu ’07 reveals “Pottery Barn” candidate Howard Dean as just another Wal-Mart column, page 7
TO D AY ’ S F O R E C A S T Confederacy was part of nation’s history, but not its heritage, says John Brougher ’06 column, page 7
Brown football defeats Cornell 21-7; Hertigan ’06 earns Ivy honors for good performance sports, page 8
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