September
26, 2003
Front-Page
News
Oslo, Ten Years
Later Visiting assistant professor of international relations
Scott B. Lasensky used the September 13 ten-year anniversary of
the Oslo Accord to review the current status of Palestinian-Israeli
relations. In that historic agreement with Israel, the Palestine
Liberation Organization agreed to renounce violence and begin
negotiations toward a permanent settlement. Writing in the San
Diego Union-Tribune (a version of the piece was also carried
by the Daily Star, Lebanon's leading English language
newspaper), Lasensky wrote:
"By almost every
measure, Palestinians are experiencing a crushing setback. Despite
obtaining measurable achievements through peacemaking in the 1990s,
Palestinians are now mired in an uprising that has pushed the
prospect of statehood further out of reach. To be sure, Israel
faces painful choices -- whether to continue building the 'separation
fence' (which President Bush has criticized) or whether to expand
Jewish settlements in Palestinian lands (which most Israelis consider
a big mistake) to name just two. But Palestinians face an even
greater test -- to cast aside their insurgent mentality, reject
terrorism, and focus squarely on state building.
"It is not an
insurmountable challenge. But without a clear political decision
to abandon violence and confront the armed rejectionist groups,
the Palestinian national movement will remain frustrated -- leaving
Palestinians trapped somewhere between insurgency and statehood...
"Ten years after
first sitting down with Israel to negotiate a political settlement,
the Palestinian national movement stands at a crossroad. If Arafat
and the Palestinian leadership decide to let the Intifada continue,
the current catastrophe will only worsen and Palestinian society
will suffer even more. In the aftermath of America's military
defeat of Saddam Hussein, there will be little tolerance in Washington
for a continued Palestinian insurgency. Moreover, with Saddam
removed, Palestinians have few, if any, regional patrons that
are as vocal and generous as Ba'athist Iraq.
"Palestinians
can choose a different path, but it will take courageous leadership.
The new Palestinian prime minister will need to prove that even
though he is partially constrained by Arafat's grip, resolute
action can be taken to reign in the Intifada and challenge extremist
violence. Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, like his predecessor, will
complain that he lacks the capacity to do so. But in reality the
problem goes much deeper. To borrow one of Arafat's favorite phrases,
'where there's a will, there's a way.' Palestinians must demonstrate
the will to confront violent renegades in their midst. Until that
happens, Palestinians are likely to remain where they are today
-- defeated and worse off than a decade earlier when prospects
for peace were real and a better future was within reach." The
full text of the piece is available at www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/
comm/oped/Lasensky.shtml.
Lasensky, formerly
a fellow at the Brookings Institution and the Council on Foreign
Relations, was also interviewed recently as part of a National
Public Radio All Things Considered series on Israel's
"separation fence."
Myth Understanding
The Genealogy of Greek Mythology: An Illustrated Family Tree
of Greek Myth from the First Gods to the Founders of Rome,
a new book by Vanessa James, associate professor of theatre arts,
has garnered much attention. "The accordion-style reference book
folds out to 17 feet wide, and includes not only the most thorough
genealogical chart of its kind, but also color photographs of
ancient art and, in boxed text, the hair-raising histories of
some of the gods and heroes in the chart," noted Pat Cahill in
a lengthy feature article in the September 14 Springfield Sunday
Republican newspaper. "'No matter where it falls open,' says
James, 'you can start anywhere and read in any direction,'" Cahill
wrote. "'The stories are as vivid as a nightmare or a surrealist
painting. A ship talks. A river fathers children. A tree splits
apart and has a baby. A husband swallows his wife. An adulterer
disguises himself as a swan, a white bull, a shower of gold. Strange
as these myths are, they have a psychological coherence,' James
said." Cahill interspersed synopses of a number of stories in
the book with the story of how James came to write the book over
the course of several years. "James says the interest in Greek
mythology has survived so long because of its powerful vision.
It paralleled the human condition, she says, and it left room
for progressive ideas in science, mathematics, law, politics and
the arts. 'I like to see it as incorporated in some way into the
scientific and artistic visions we have now,' she says." James
has also been interviewed on a number of radio stations, including
WAMC, the National Public Radio affiliate in Albany, New York;
WNTN-AM; WRNX-FM, and WTAG-AM.
Second to None
The College's Second*Saturday program, which connects new students
with some of the resources and opportunities available in the
surrounding area, was featured in the Daily Hampshire Gazette on
September 15. The photo package highlighted two activities: In
the main photo, Al Werner, associate professor of geology, works
with students Judy Kim '04, Natasha Hunter '07, and Sally Hayes
'07 to protect trees from damage by beavers; in a second photo,
students Kate Lincoln '07, Jannatul Ferdous '07, and Sonja Georgevich
'07 are taking inventory at The Evergreens at the Emily Dickinson
Museum in Amherst. More than 400 new students took part in 34
activities during Second*Saturday.
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