World View Fall 08--Faculty Review Copy

8/14/2019 World View Fall 08--Faculty Review Copy

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World View


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World ViewIssue One Volume Two

Fall 2008

Editorial Board

Editor-in-Chie

Josh Marcin

Copy Editors

Tom Perko

Natale Terry

Samantha Cocco

Julie Myers

Erin MoranJessica Serbin

Layout Editor

Andy Trares

Cover Photo:

Ilya Batikov

Table o Contents Photos by:

Zoltn Bugnyr


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Our MissionWorld View seeks not solely to change, but to challenge the way

we see the world. It aims to portray service to others as morethan a temporary activity or occasional side project, but rather asa universal struggle or human dignity in the orm o a sharedworldviewa paradigm or lie that opposes injustice in all ormsand locations. Based on this dedication to the struggle or humanrights locally, nationally and internationally, this journal oers aview o the world as it is and as it can be. It unites awareness andaction to challenge the status quo and to inspire us to embrace

humanity in the midst o the violence o disease, o poverty ando social division.

Table o Contents5 Our Purpose

6 Cruzando Las Fronteras

8 Returning Home and Facing Barriers

10 Treptow Memorial

12 Arrupe House Neighborhood Partnership14 Planting Seeds o Sel-Esteem

16 South Arica

18 Catholic Social Teaching and the

American Addiction to the Automobile23 Splash

24 Pursuing Peace: A Possible End to

the Isreali-Palestinian Conict

28 I Let My Heart in the Dominican

30 To Our Readers


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Our PurposeRecognizing the drive or John Carroll University studentsto engage the world, World View is a student publication

that ocuses on local, national and global issues o social

justice and human rights. Such a unique publication o

research, literature and photography, printed once a semester,

will provide students o various organizations, academic

backgrounds and service-based mentalities a platorm topromote awareness o human rights issues. This will also

provide opportunities or students to learn more about local

organizations and movements dedicated to such a cause.

Photo By: Bridget Ludwa

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We would like to thank our supporters and contributors, especial

Dr. Lauren Bowen in the Oce o the Academic Vice President, th

Program in Applied Ethics, and the Honors Program. This would n

have been possible without the tremendous support provided to

the editorial board by Dr. Richard Clark, Dr. Jim Lissemore, Dr. MarMarsilli, Dr. Phil Metres, Dr. Mindy Peden, Fr. Tom Schubeck, Dr.

Walter Simmons, and Dr. Sheri Young. I you would to like to supp

this initiative in any way, please do not hesitate to contact the

editorial sta by email at [email protected].


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We drove across the border with easearound 10:00 PM on a Saturday evening,encountering much less trouble than we

expected. As I let my mostly-white, middle-classOhio suburb the day beore, my amilys partingwords were o the horrors o the US/Mexicoborder they remembered rom decades ago,and I hal-expected to be orced to le out o thevan and to line up to be searched. This dramaticwelcoming party I expected couldnt havebeen urther rom that which we encounteredcrossing into Mexico. In actuality, we didnt evenneed to slow down as we entered the country,and hal o the students in our van did not even

realize we had crossed until our driver, Jorge,turned around to tell us.

Once we began to see and hear oursurroundings, however, Mexico was dicult to

ignore. Our very rst impression o Mexico was a conusing one. As we sped past the long line o cars on theother side o the highway waiting to enter the United States, looking in wonder at all o the highway signs inSpanish and the quaint taco stands scattered along the road, we began to hear the honking o many carhornsas we drove deeper into the country. At rst we glanced nervously at one another, wondering anxiously whatthe commotion was all about, but then we saw Jorge chuckling to himsel in the rearview mirror and heard theamiliar tune o Jingle Bells playing on the horns o some o the truckers. We realized with a t o laughter thatthe truckers and drivers, were simply entertaining themselves and those in the other cars driving in and out o

Mexico. It may seem strange, but this unexpected rst impression we were all given o Tijuana turned out to beperectly analogous to our nine-day stay there as a retreat group with the Los Nios program: initial wariness andanxiety caused by Mexican-American cultural conusion, ollowed by a stunning and rereshing realization o thenature o the Mexican people we encountered. At the end o our nine-day stay, we were all blessed with gitsrom our Mexican amigos (riends): charlas (conversation) and amistadesnuevas (new riendships).

I bring in these two Spanish words because they are two that I notonly learned rom our wonderul driver and riend Jorge, but experiencedin Mexico on a daily basis. For me, the experience o the Los Niostrip as a whole was symbolized by the crossing o the border that weexperienced our rst night; once we had crossed that physical border, we

had a whole new set o borders to navigate during our short trip in orderto orm our amistades nuevas. The Spanish-English language barrierwas a border that some o us were able to navigate with ease, whilesome encountered a bit more diculty. In the end though, we could allsomehow gure out what our Spanish-speaking riends were trying totell us, and they in turn could usually gure out what our broken Spanishwas supposed to mean as well. This language barrier turned out to bean obstacle or many as we tried desperately to make charlas with ourriends. However, nothing proved to be more rewarding than spendingten minutes trying to phrase one simple sentence, ull o agrant hand-motion and jaw-stretching attempts at increased enunciation, only to just

Cruzando Las Fronteras: Tijuana, Mxico August 2008

By: Samantha Cocco

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barely understand one another. This wonderul naleo comprehension was usually accompanied by greatlaughter, hugs, and most importantly, a bond that didnot exist beore.

The mixing o cement that served as the serviceaspect o our trip was also analogous o what went onbetween the people mixing the cement a gurativemixing o our cultures, words, and a variety o other

aspects that led to us learning not only about oneanother, but about ourselves as well. The physical laborwas unique in that it gave us an opportunity to worktogether and help one another without having to crossmuch o a cultural or language border; all that wasreally required was to pick up a shovel and start mixing(rom the bottom, o course, while adding considerableamounts o agua (water). During the course o the mixing we played peek-a-boo behind our shovel heads withthe smaller children, who hid behind their working mothers; taught each other dances rom our respectivecultures; laughed jokingly with each other when we did things wrong; shared our own tricks to the mixing ocement (the Americans certainly learned more than we taught!); and were reminded o the simple truth that no

matter what our country o origin, we all laugh, get rustrated and impatient, and play.Altogether, between the strong and inspiring women we had the pleasure o meeting, the beautiul

children we played with, the deported immigrants rom the United States we were able to talk with, andthe mix o urban Tijuana and the indigenous peoples living just next door, we were given a small glimpseinto that troubled and dangerous Tijuana my amily had been warned me about. Funny enough, it waswhen we looked past its struggles, both with the United States and internally, that we were given a muchdeeper glance into the lives o the people o Tijuana the daily obstacles they , and also the laughter andlove they enjoy and share. Very ew people we talked to were down on their luck or eeling hopeless;most were hopeul not nave, but hopeul, o a better uture to come. Seeing this attitude o our amigosnuevos, I am reminded o a quote rom a man named Gabril who I met in Duran, Ecuador:

Tiene que recordar la vida es hermosa si sabe cmo la vivir.You must remember lie is beautiul, i you know how to live it.

The wise words o a man, representative o the words o a struggling people, whether they are in Mexico,Ecuador, Sudan, or Burma: we all have our struggles, but lie can be still be so beautiul i we can learn what it

means to truly live.

Photos By: Samantha Cocco

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By: Josh Marcin

Returning Home and Facing Barriers

On December 31, 2005, 1 in every 32 citizens was in prison, jail, on probation or on parole (Bureau

o Justice, 2006). Though over 600,000 total inmates are released annually, a majority is o low-incomestatus and returns to communities with above average unemployment and poverty rates (Bureau oJustice, 2006). In light o the act that two-thirds o all ex-oenders are expected to recidivate, governmentocials must take a closer look at the resources made available or the incarcerated both beore andater they are released rom prisons and return back to local communities (Travis, Solomon, Waul, 2001).Despite completing their court-ordered requirements, many ormerly incarcerated persons still aceenormous obstacles to reestablish roles as productive citizens. In the meantime, unding or services andtreatment to address recidivism rates and the underlying causes o criminal behavior continues to hoveraround a meager six percent o the national budget or corrections and rehabilitation (Travis, Solomon,Waul, 2001).

Combined with rates o disease and illness in correctional acilities that surpass those o the

general population, the act that inmates are the only citizens with a constitutional guarantee to medicaltreatment has orced state departments o corrections to more and more requently act as communityhealth providers (Estelle v. Gamble, 1976). Though many qualiy or Medicaid (healthcare programtypically made available to low-income individuals and amilies) at the time o incarceration, and evenreceive benets up to the very moment o arrest, the Medicaid Act o 1994 contains an inmate exceptionthat prohibits the ederal government rom providing support to any inmate o a public institution (U.S.Medicaid Act, 1994).

To justiy eorts to ensure that Medicaid-eligible ex-oenders have benets reinstated immediatelyupon release rom prison, one need only look to the dangerously disproportionate rates o communicableand chronic diseases in prison acilities, as well as the act that 97 percent o currently incarceratedindividuals are not serving lie sentences, i.e. will return home rom prison (Hughes & James Wilson,

2003). In 2004, over 650,000 were released and consequently brought whatever health concerns that mayhave went untreated or undiagnosed back into local communities and their own households (Oceo Justice Programs, 2004). The rate o AIDS cases among inmates o jails and prisons is ve times theprevalence o the general population; HIV and Hepatitis C inectionseight times the prevalence;Tuberculosisseventeen times the rate seen in the U.S. as a whole (National Commission on CorrectionalHealth Care, 2002, p37). With the Ohio Department o Rehabilitation and Corrections (ODRC) yearlybudget or medical services surpassing $183 million, ederal support would ease this burden on prisonsthat already act as health care providers, potentially oster the creation and enorcement o nationwidestandards o healthcare or all inmates, and protect low-income individuals access to Medicaid undingas a human right (Ohio Department o Rehabilitation and Corrections, 2006).

Photo By: Ilya Batikov

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Ohios Department o Job and Family Services (ODJFS) should waste no time and act to break downits own obstacles to a continuation o healthcare or individuals ater their period o incarceration. Ohio goesbeyond the ederal requirement that Medicaid be suspended during incarceration and actually terminates theeligibility o anyone incarcerated under process o the penal system (Petro, 2006) . Names are literally removedrom Medicaid rolls, requiring otherwise eligible individuals to go through the entire reapplication process againater release.

Rather than terminate the incarcerated rom the Medicaid rolls, and in the process require that anyonein prison wait to be re-enrolled despite having ongoing medical needs ater release, Ohios Department o Job

and Family Services should instead ollow the recommendation o the Center or Medicaid and State Operationsand place oenders on suspended status during incarceration (Stanton, 2004). This change would make themost o the current system and ensure continuous access to care upon reentry. As is the practice in Maine andnumerous other states, Ohios inmate population would remain registered as eligible Medicaid recipients, butnot be covered during their sentence (Human Rights Watch, 2003). Keeping their names on the rolls wouldallow treatment to automatically restart at the moment o release (so long as the individual still meets eligibilityrequirements).

In terms o preparing or reunication, incarcerated parents and their children ace a numbero barriers upon release. Finding employment, housing, healthcare and education or the benet oboth parent and child are essential needs or not only the maintenance o amily bonds and the healthydevelopment o minors, but also or reentry into society and the prevention o recidivism. Though

spending on corrections continues to increase, steady growth in incarceration rates demands that societytake a closer look at how current policy aects individuals, amilies and communities aced with theburdens o reentry. Extending well beyond the topics covered in this article, the U.S. criminal justice ison an unsustainable path and must aim legislative reorm and the application o corrections policy at therestoration o ormerly incarcerated persons, rather than their continued denigration as a lower class ocitizens.

BibliographyBureau o Justice Statistics. (2006). One in every 32 adults was in a prison, jail, on probation, or on parole at the end o

2005. U.S. Department o Justice. Available at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/press/pripropr.htm.Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 103 (Supreme Court 1976).

GAINS Center or People with Co-Occurring Disorders in the Justice System. (2005). The Nathaniel Project: An

Alternative to Incarceration Program or People with Serious Mental Illness Who Have Committed Felony Oenses.Delmar, NY: http://gainscenter.samhsa.gov/pds/jail_diversion/nathaniel_project.pd .Hughes, T. & James Wilson, D. (2003). Reentry Trends in the United States, U.S. Department o Justice: Bureau o JusticeStatistics.

Human Rights Watch. (2003). Ill-Equipped: U.S. Prisons and Oenders with Mental Illness. New York: Human RightsWatch.

Oce o Justice Programs. (2004, May). Serious and Violent Oender Re-Entry Initiative. US Department o Justice:National Institute o Justice. Available rom http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/reentry/learn.html, November 22, 2007.

National Commission on Correctional Health Care. (2002, March). The Health Status o Soon-to-be-Released Inmates.U.S. Department o Justice: National Institute o Justice.Ohio Department o Rehabilitation and Correction. (2006). Executive Budget or Fiscal Years 2006 and 2007. Retrieved

December 2, 2007 rom http://www.drc.state.oh.us.Ohio Department o Rehabilitation and Correction: December 2007 Facts. ODRC DataSource: http://www.drc.state.oh.us/

web/Reports/reports3.asp.Petro, J. (2006, May 5). State o Ohio Oce o the Attorney General. OPINION NO. 2006-19.

Stanton, G. (2004, May 25). Memo to State Medicaid Directors. Center or Medicare and Medicaid Services. RetrievedDecember 2, 2007 rom http://www.cms.hhs.gov/HomelessnessInitiative/Downloads/SMDLetter.pd.

Travis, J., Solomon, A., Waul, M. (2001, June). From Prison to Home: The Dimensions and Consequences oPrisoner Reentry. Urban Institute: Justice Policy Center. Retrieved November 22, 2007 rom http://www.urban.org/publications/410927.html.

United States Medicaid Act. (1994, December 8). 42 U.S.C. 1320a(2). Pub. L. No. 103-382, Title V, 555(a), 108 Stat. 4057.

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Treptow Memorial.Photos and Poem By: Amanda HeimburgMassive and heavy architecture that evokes the essence o a uttering breeze through a mournul andrespectul lowered Soviet ag.Gloomy rain and the delay o Spring buds intensied the ambiance o mourning.Summertime perhaps would show a celebration o dying with honor,

But the mass graves.Droves o dead soldiers unceremoniously thrown, no cons, no possibility o the return o a allenson or ather or husbands body to return home or proper mourning and burial.

Instead, buried in a oreign land, alone, yet never a personal space to be mourned in.There is some consolation in the commemoration o these soldiers.They will not be orgotten because their memory is encased in stone.What about those without markers or memorials, how will their loved ones nd them?

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Photos and Article By: Natalie Terry

Social justice means growth of the global community in which people are able and willing to livetogether in community; it means proactively working to end unjust suffering. Ones denition of social justice

is formed through intentional experience in community with others, especially those who are disadvantaged in

any number of ways. Throughout the past year, my experience at the Arrupe House Neighborhood Partnership

has led to my own personal growth and deep reection about the meaning of social justice. This growth has

been accentuated by the nature of Arrupe House, which embodies the values and principles of social justice,

and leads individuals to become men and women for others through their commitment to the local and global

communities.

The Arrupe Neighborhood Partnership is connected to St. Ignatius High School, located in the Ohio

City neighborhood of Cleveland. Arrupe House was created in 1991 to connect and build trust with the local

community. The mission of the Arrupe House became providing opportunities through service and reectionto build relationships, grow in faith, and make a difference in the community. Named for Father Pedro Arrupe,

the Superior General of the Society of Jesus from 1961-1984, Arrupe Houses mission clearly reects the Jesuit

motto coined by Fr. Arrupe of becoming men and women for others. Through his leadership and dedication

to social justice, Fr. Arrupe challenged Jesuit educators to focus on the importance of service to the poor and

marginalized, to be agents of change in society, and to commit to a faith that acts for justice (Arrupe). Father

Arrupes mission for Jesuit education has been the primary goal of the Arrupe Neighborhood Partnership.

In this spirit of this Jesuit mission of men and women for others, Arrupe House asks St. Ignatius

students of many ages to make commitments to serve and make healthy life choices in a variety of ways. High

school students can make a weekly commitment to mentor or tutor neighborhood youth, serve as pallbearers at

funerals of community members, or serve the large number of people in Cleveland who currently are without

shelter on Friday evenings through the Labre Ministry of St. Ignatius High School. In addition to enabling highschool students to have these powerful and life-giving experiences, Arrupe House provides direct support to

the surrounding Ohio City Community, including the creation of a block club for community members to have

conversation and create relationships with each other and with the Saint Ignatius Community, as well as care to

older adults in the community through leaf raking, snow shoveling, and friendship.

Arrupe House also seeks out college-age students to serve with the Arrupe Explorers Program, a group

of approximately 20 seventh- and eighth-grade students residing in Ohio City. The students come from many

different ethnic backgrounds, and the majority come from middle-to-low-income socioeconomic backgrounds.

Many of these students are faced with violence at their schools, in their neighborhood, and sadly, often at home.

Due to these factors, these students often nd themselves challenged to grow up more quickly than their peers

Arrupe

House

Neighborhood

Partnership

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in order to take care of younger siblings and themselves, especially if their parents or caregivers are either not

present or work full time jobs in order to provide for their families. Arrupe Explorers creates a safe haven for

students during the week, whether they play a game of basketball, or talk to an adult about a problem. The

program provides an after-school activity once a week, as well as a month-long summer program, through

which participating students are able to focus on healthy lifestyle choice; social justice opportunities; service

in and around the Cleveland area; high school, college, and career applications and options; art; and recreation

participate in an anti-violence and anti-gun rally in downtown Cleveland.

Throughout the past year, I have been an active volunteer at the Arrupe House. I served on the staff for

the Arrupe Explorers Summer Program in the summer of 2007 and on the staff of the Arrupe Explorers AfterSchool Program during the 2007-2008 school year. I have seen students struggle and succeed at making healthy

choices at school, in their neighborhoods, and at home, and through this, I have come to a deeper understanding

of the injustice that is happening every day on the streets of Cleveland and in the Cleveland Public School

System. Throughout the school year, I have grown in relationship with an extremely bright seventh-grader who

lives in Ohio City with his mother and siblings. This student has ideas about politics and society that show a

wisdom that is well beyond his years, and is lucky enough to have been placed in an accelerated program in

school. At home, however, he is not so privileged. He is his own primary caregiver, and over the past year,

his sisters emotional troubles have placed her in the hospital on several occasions. For him, Arrupe House has

become a place where he can leave his problems at home and truly be a seventh grader.

The impact of Arrupe House on the St. Ignatius and Ohio City communities has been great. Theindividuals who staff and volunteer at Arrupe House take their commitment to heart, a commitment to

uphold the dignity and respect of all people, regardless of ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds; all people

are accepted and embraced in this setting. Arrupe House has also enabled the St. Ignatius and Ohio City

communities to grow in relationship with one another and become advocates for the respect of all people in

the global community. Finally, Arrupe House allows people to be people by creating a space where one is not

constrained by societal norms and stereotypes which can limit the ability to live and grow as unique individuals.

As Fr. Arrupe once said, when all is said and done, what transforms a person is not an ideology, not a theory,

but life something lived (Arrupe).

Works Cited

Arrupe Neighborhood Partnership at Saint Ignatius High School. Available from www.ignatius.edu/arrupe

Arrupe , Pedro.Pedro Arrupe Essential Writings. New York: Orbis Books , 2005.

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Planting

SeedS of

Self-eSteem

Photo and Article By: Amy E. GundermanThe children that struggle in the cycle o poverty are

extremely vulnerable; they must put up a erce ght tobreak ree. Too oten American society views equalityo opportunity as a simple, cure-all solution to this

problem. Although presenting children experiencing poverty with a starting line equivalent to that otheir nancially stable peers is important, it is not enough. We can take a book and place it in a childshands, but unless we teach that child how read it, the book serves no purpose. Creating a brighter utureor all children currently living in the claws o poverty is not simply a matter o presenting opportunitiesand allowing the children to take advantage o them. To truly be eective, we as people living in the

United States must take it one step urther, by giving the children battling poverty a reason to believe inthemselves. Through programs that address education and relationship-building, and projects that givethe children a sense o responsibility in their community, their sel-condence will grow and they will seethe potential that each o their lives holds.

O the 73 million children living in the United States, 39%, or about 28.6 million children live inlow-income households (Basic Facts About Low-Income Children). This alarmingly high rate o childrenliving in poverty speaks to the dire need to act now and address the issue o how these children view theirutures.

The roots, the building blocks, the oundation o every society rests within its children. The greatera childs sel-esteem and eeling o sel worth, the more willing the child will be to work or greaterachievement. In studies conducted by sociologists Baharudin and Luster, children rom amilies in

persistent economic hardship showed lower sel-esteem than children rom better-o amilies (AdlerLent and Figueira-Mcdonough 9). Thereore, children living in poverty ace a challenge when viewing thepotential their utures hold. They witness limited opportunities and multiple hardships in their parentslives, and as a result see little more in their own utures. It is imperative that these children oster the driveto make something o their lives, to become successul and to become assets to society by giving back tothe community and making a dierence.

A nation-wide program that aims to increase levels o sel-condence and achievement in childrenis The Big Brothers Big Sisters organization. In this mentorship program, adolescents, ondly known asLittles, are paired up with Bigs, or older individuals in the community. The Littles involved in theprogram sometimes come rom unstable home lives, which may contain violence, drugs, and poverty.The Bigs and Littles meet multiple times per month, sharing common activities, such as eating out,

sporting events, going to movies, or simply hanging out (Tierney et al.). Although both the Bigs andthe Littles enjoy the activities, the relationships they orm are the main objective o the program. Forchildren living in unstable home atmospheres, these relationships are important, because they oer thepresence o a caring adult in the childs lie. Many o these children do not receive this support rom theirown parents, and this program oers them a support system, companionship, and a trusting relationship.According to a study conducted by a Philadelphia-based national research organization, When LittleBrothers and Little Sisters eel good about themselves they positively impact their riends and amilies,their schools, and their communities. And as this important study has shown, these young people believein themselves because a Big Brother or Big Sister believes in them (Tierney et al.).

Another program implemented to increase success and eelings o sel-worth in children living in povertyis Cultivating Our Community. Cultivating Our Community is an organization that works towards the creation

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o community gardens. According to Seeds o HopeHarvest o Pride, an article by Ohio State UniversityExtensions Urban Gardening Program, Urban gardening cultivates leadership skills, sel-esteem, neighborhoodpride and community spirit (Seeds o HopeHarvest o Pride 3). Based on this general concept, manygardening programs have recently sprung up in urban areas across the nation. Community gardens bring entirecommunities together by giving individuals o all ages a common goal to work towards (Russell).

These community gardens help raise eelings o sel-esteem and sel-worth in children in twodierent ways. First, the community gardens provide the children with companionship throughinteractions with adults and other youth in the community. Secondly, these gardens provide each youth

with experiences at which he will be successul. Success builds sel-esteem, bolsters condence andencourages more learning and growth. Even a small garden plot becomes the childs land and gives hima sense o ownership, control and responsibility (Seeds o HopeHarvest o Pride 4). The children havethe opportunity to ocus their time, eorts, and skills into the project o gardening, actually getting to seeand hold the tangible results o their eorts and achievements.

In viewing the success the community garden programs have achieved, this program can andshould eectively be provided to adolescents and children living in poverty. However, the program mustbe ocused more on increasing these eelings o sel-esteem and success in the adolescents and childrenso they can recognize the potential in their own utures. I propose that we take the idea o communitygardens a step urther. I suggest that we pair up a high school student with a younger, underprivilegedchild in his or her area and give each pair one plot o land to cultivate and tend to together. Not only

will they oster a riendship, sel-condence, and pride through the success o their garden, but the olderstudent will also serve as a positive role model or the younger child. Additionally, by working with ateenager rather than an adult, the child will eel less like he or she is under a strict authority. Thereore,when vegetables result rom the garden, the child will be able to take more responsibility and credit orthem. The relationship between the two may also span into a scholastic setting, where the older studentcould take on the additional responsibility o mentoring the child. Hopeully this would encourage thechilds success in the garden to replicate itsel in the classroom.

This possible solution would result in many benets or both the vulnerable population o childrenliving in poverty and the general community as a whole. The children would be able to experienceincreased eelings o sel-esteem and sel-worth and have more condence in their abilities, which willenable and inspire them to ght or successul utures. On a larger scale, the community as a whole would

benet rom an increased level o sel-esteem in its youngest generation. The children o today are theuture o tomorrow. With increased levels o sel-esteem, these children are more likely to t to drive orachievement in their lives and their communities.

It is our responsibility as people living in the United States to take the initiative to empowerchildren living in poverty to see or themselves the potential their lives can hold. With each childs attitudewe positively inuence, with each seed o sel-esteem that we help plant, we work towards a strongeroundation or uture generations. The answer to the problem o poverty is not a single, simple action, butrather a slow and steady process that begins with the youth. By helping to oster a belie and a desire intoeach and every child, a more successul, higher achieving American society is possible. Every child mustlearn to see the worth o his or her lie and use that git to benet others.

Works Cited

Adler Lent, Sandra and Josena Figueira-Mcdonough. Gender and Poverty: Sel-Esteem Among Elementary SchoolChildren. Journal o Children and Poverty. 8.1 (2002): 5-22.

Basic Facts About Low-Income Children: Birth to Age 18. Sept. 2007. National Center or Children in Poverty. 26 April 2008.

Matthews, Amy. Personal Interview. 1 April 2008.Russell, Jeannetta. Personal Interview. 16 April 2008.Seeds o HopeHarvest o Pride. 3 Aug. 2000. Ohio State University Extensions Urban Gardening Program. 26 April 2008

.Tierney, J.P., Grossman, J.B., and Resch, N.L.(1995). Making a Dierence: An Impact Study o Big Brothers Big Sisters.Philadelphia: Public/Private Ventures. < http://www.bbbs.org >.

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Photo and Reection By: Jovanna SilipigniA Short History

South Arica is an extraordinarily diverse place. Its own tumultuous history is one o the mostdening aspects o the country and people. Settled by the Dutch East India Company in 1652 at theCape o Good Hope, Europeans slowly began to relocate and develop arms. As time passed, the Dutch,Germans, French Huguenots, and British developed an exclusively white Arican identity. Callingthemselves Arikaners, this white minority would continue to become more and more politically andsocially powerul over the centuries, thus elevating their status, and oppressing blacks.

This social status relationship between whites and blacks led to the legalization o racialdiscrimination and human maltreatment in 1948. Apartheid, as it was termed, allowed or the separationand degradation o blacks in South Arica. Under this legislation, many injustices took place, includingthe orced movement o communities into townships, slave labor jobs or blacks, strict identication

policies, segregated and unequal public services, and the revocation o citizenship.Black South Aricans did not take this overt discrimination lightly. Protests, demonstrations, and

secret meetings were held to voice opposition, even at the risk o arrest, imprisonment, or even death.The social eruptions all over the country throughout the latter hal o the 1900s provoked action byinternational organizations and allied nations. By the late 1980s, the United States, Great Britain, and 23others had made their opposition known by placing trade sanctions on goods and pulling investmentsout o the country, greatly hurting the South Arican economy. It was not until 1994 that apartheid wascondemned and a new policy was developed.My Experience

In the past, JCU has led numerous trips to Northern Ireland to study and better understand theconicts and peace eorts there. This past summer, a new location was visited with the Institute on Peace

Building and Conict Transition. Dr. Jeanne Colleran, Dr. Richard Clark, Dr. Andreas Sobisch, and Dr.Thomas Kelly led a group o 12 students on a study tour o South Arica. I was extremely ortunate to beone o the students taking part in this wonderully orchestrated learning experience.

Ater having been in the country or only a ew hours, we were immersed in the history o South Arica.We toured the community o Soweto, just southwest o Johannesburg. During the apartheid years, Sowetobecame a community inhabited by black people ater Johannesburg was claimed or whites only. Communitymembers gained attention in 1976 when massive protests occurred in response to a new policy that ruled thateducation was to be conducted in the Arikan language. This issue caused a great uproar because it was meantto keep black South Aricans uneducated due to their inability to speak the white language. The Soweto Uprisingwas a crucial orce in the overall destruction o apartheid legislation.

Driving through this sacred area was most humbling. While great strides were made by this strong-willed

South Arica:An Example or Us All

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By: Megan Wilson

The Automobility o AmericaThis year marks the 100th anniversary o the Model T Ford,a the invention which brought the

automobile to the middle-class communities o America.b It was the perect invention to drive thetwentieth-century American Dream. For some Americans, this understanding o the automobileremains unquestioned; cars are solidly established in our culture as symbols o sexuality, power, andindividual reedom. To the American imagination, these three things represent a Holy Trinity in theirown right, and a signicant re-imagination is required to ree ourselves rom this trinitys hold over us.

So why should we ree ourselves rom the collective worship o this American trinity? For manypeople, this is a bafing and conrontational suggestion, and a popular response is oten deensive. All ous are, ater all, more or less dependent upon automobiles to support our liestyles. But this dependencyhas dangerous side eects, and we, like addicts nearing a crash, are growing uncomortably aware o

them. The exploding price o gas has sent our society into a panic this past year, causing a renewal oattention to the issue o our car dependency, but this expense is in act only a tiny raction o the total costo Americas car culture. We tend to ignore, dismiss or cover up these other costs, but we know theyexist, and they are staggering. Our cultural addiction to the automobile, in short, is destroying us.

While aith communities are by no means the only groups that have a voice in this issue, theyhave an important role to play, and those o us who are members o aith communities must encouragethem to take on that particular role. It is time or Americas car culture to be subjected to a seriousreligious and moral examination, and our religious communities must be a part o this reormation o ourconsciousness, our challenge to reject our cultures sacred trinity. It is time or a voice o moral andreligious authority to play a part in this discussion: the religious communities must step orward, andthey must call us to a dierent way o living, beore our culture chokes itsel to death on its own exhaust.

Let in the Dust: Impact o Car Culture on the PoorI there is one teaching in all o Catholic social thought that is thoroughly consistent and

uncompromising, it is the sense o critical urgency about social equity and justice. The Church has issuedmany statements about economic justice and consistently comes back to the same idea; Catholics areabsolutely required, as a aith community, to give preerential option to the poor.

Preerential option or the poor generally means that all things must serve the good o all people,and those who are least served by society require the most careul attention. This is particularly true inthe Church position towards private property, such as automobiles. The Church does recognize the valueo privately-owned property, but only inasmuch as it serves the common good: Those who hold goodsor use and consumption should use them with moderation, says the Catechism o the Catholic Church,

Catholic Social Teaching and the American

Addiction to the Automobile

ThisFeverishActiv

ity:

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reserving the better part or guests, or the sick and the poor.So, the question becomes this: is car use in our society detrimental to the common good? The answer

may not be entirely clear. What is clear, however, is that the poorest people in America are disproportionatelyand negatively aected by the car culture. The system is so pervasive, and has been in place or so long, that, asJane Holtz Kay says, those most abused by the chronic injustice o a car culture can no longer pinpoint its pains. c

Three specic ways in which the injustice maniests are demographic shits in the wake o highway construction,car-centered inrastructure design and development, and inadequate public transit. When taken separately,none o these individual issues appears to be a cause o poverty. However, when understood together as a

conuence o issues within a system, a very dark truth about the car culture in America emerges: poor transportdoes not issue rom poverty, but lies at its very roots and sustains and perpetuates it.d The car culture is, in act, acentral cause o poverty, one so much a part o our culture that it is nearly invisible to most o us.

White Flight and Growing InequityInequity and racism, always a part o the American experience, were exacerbated in new ways

with the dawn o the automobile in the early twentieth century. With the advent o the highway systemin 1956, America saw the beginning o suburban white ight into new suburbs, a movement whichhas continued unabated up to the present. Since the 1950s, more than 90 percent o all populationgrowth in metropolitan areas has been in the ever-expanding suburban ring around the city. e Oururban communities have never recovered rom the secession o the wealthiest 20 or 30 percent o their

population.

Another perspective o the same phenomenon is oered by ormer Catholic priest Ivan Illich, one o the

rst authors to discuss the issues o the car culture and social equity rom a moral perspective, suggesting thatmore energy means less equity [and] high speed is the critical actor which makes transportation sociallydestructive.g That is to say, as soon as people can aord to speed up their own motion, they become moreremote rom those who are unable to keep up with them. Greyhound buses, or example, are populated witha signicantly dierent group o people than those boarding the Concorde to Paris. In a culture that believesthat time is money, to be able to travel at higher speed is to be assigned a higher cultural and economic value.Those who do not, or who cannot, travel at the speed (at least) o an automobile are literally let in the dust.

This reality, and its inherent injustice and inequality, challenges people o aith to respond creatively,according to the Second Vatican Council. To satisy the demands o justice and equity, strenuous eorts must

be made, without disregarding the rights o persons or the natural qualities o each country, to remove as quicklyas possible the immense economic inequalities, which now exist and in many cases are growing and which areconnected with individual and social discrimination.h

Car-Centered Inrastructure DesignThe history o white ight has been set in concrete,

literally, by the explosive construction o the roads andhighways o the nation to accommodate suburban automobileusers. Planners dont have people in mind when they planthese [reeways], explained one impacted urban resident to anewspaper reporter in 1976. They dont care about our schools

that are uprooted. They dont care about the psychologicalimpact on our children.iThe story o the urban expressway has always been

the story o white [peoples] roads through black [peoples]bedrooms.j One o the clearest inequities o modernurban America is the design o highway systems to movesuburbanites in and out o the city more easily. Oten,these highways restrict or eliminate access to poor minoritycommunities. In Kansas City, or example, outraged blackcommunity members described plans or a superhighwaythat cut through the black part o the city, no stoplights,

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white entrance, white exit.k O course, one neednt travel as ar as Kansas City to observe this phenomenon. InCleveland, not many years ago, the building o a high-speed highway interchange near downtown completelyisolated the poor neighborhood o Tremont rom its neighbors, reducing the entire communitys access to therest o the city to one or two narrow side streets. It was only through a sustained community organizing eortthat the residents received additional roads and bridges in order to cross the concrete wall surrounding theircommunity; a success story which has unortunately not repeated itsel in other cities.l

In cities across the country, this is the reality o the car culture. By allowing the rapid transporto people in hermetically sealed vehicles over highways soaring above and around poor neighborhoods,

people are more isolated than ever rom one another. The wealthy, rom their ast cars, cannot see orexperience the suering o the poor; thereore, it is less likely to impact them. The urban poor are also notthe only ones aected by a car-centered inrastructure: in rural areas, where most distances are dicultor impossible to travel without a car, people who are too young, too old, too disabled, or too poor to driveare trapped with little or no access to basic services.

All human communities are harmed by this level o isolation, but as always, it is the poorestmembers o the community who bear the heaviest burden. To be isolated, or a poor person, is also to liveat great risk; or the poor, a network o people is oten the only way to survive. The more isolated thesecommunities become, the less o a natural saety net is available. Our society has created this isolation, inpart, through a system o urban planning that avors indeed, oten requires automobiles.

What a dierence this isolation is rom the grand social vision o Gaudium et Spes, the Pastoral

Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Second Vatican Council o 1965. This documentproclaims, by contrast:

The social order and its development must constantly yield to the good o the person,since the order o things must be subordinate to the order o persons and not the other wayaround.... The social order requires constant improvement; it must be ounded in truth, built onjustice, and enlivened by love: it should grow in reedom towards a more humane equilibrium. Ithese objectives are to be attained there will rst have to be a renewal o attitudes and ar-reachingsocial changes.m

Many social changes will have to happen at all levels or this to occur, not simply individual conversion,but the conversion o our entire community to new social mores regarding our building projects, our

travel, our homes.Current zoning regulations in many communities prohibit mixed-use development o the sort

that makes walkable cities possible. Zoning regulations in most places require housing in one sector,businesses in another, schools in a third, etc.; this practice o cordoning o single-use areas makes itnearly impossible to move around such communities without an automobile.n So it is that two-thirdso all car travel in America is made up o brie trips to move people around these poorly-designedcommunities: we have become a car-bound nation o errands.o Those who cannot drive a car because oage, ability or economic status lose what mobility they would have had in a less car-centered community,to walk to a local store or to ride a bicycle to the library, and instead become housebound or dependent ona crumbling and inadequate public transportation system or their basic mobility needs.Deterioration o Mass Transit

As urban areas emptied, the numbers o people riding mass transit declined as well. Formerlyadequate public transit systems like streetcars, railroads, interurban light rail, trolleys, and buses limitedtheir services or disappeared altogether. The only people let riding public transit are those who have noother option: the poor. When rich and poor were both dependent on similar orms o transportation, theinequity was not so signicant. As soon as the ability to move arther and aster became available to therich, however, the poor were let in the dust, waiting orever or buses that would no longer arrive.

The problem is not simply that the poor do not have cars. It is that the car culture penalizes thosewithout cars in ways which perpetuate their poverty and powerlessness. The automobile culture is subsidizedat a rate our times higher than public transit, which means that the real cost o the automobile on society isnot reected in the actual monetary expense o car ownership or driving. The current division o market sharebetween the automobile and mass transit is in no way the product o a ree market, point out Paul Weyrich

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and William Lind in their study Conservatives and Mass Transit: Is it Time or a New Look? On the contrary, itreects massive and sustained government intervention on behal o automobiles.p Americas dream o endlessmobility has, in act, immobilized many.

In the Cleveland metropolitan area, at present, a wealthy person may use public transit to travel to a job ina well-appointed luxury bus rom as ar away as another county, i she is traveling at peak hours and commutinginto an oce in the city center. A poor person who must travel into the suburbs or a second or third-shit job,however, will be hard-pressed to nd any bus service at all in her neighborhood at the hours at which she musttravel.

Some second-shit workers, in act, must leave home hours in advance in order to travel to work by bus,and must stay out all night waiting to return home in the morning once the bus service resumes or normalbusiness hours.q The problem with this situation is that the inequities between poor and rich, urban andsuburban, bus rider and bus administrator, minority and majority, powerless and powerul, are so gigantic as tobe nearly invisible to a people accustomed to isolation. The people who have what they need dont notice thestruggle or survival just outside their car window. Pope John Paul II points out the inherent misery in this sort osystem:

Next to the underdevelopment o the many, there is a superdevelopment or the ew.Superdevelopment leads to a throwaway society and to enormous waste. Excessive access to allkinds o things enslaves people and does not make them happy. The more one possesses, themore one wants, while the deeper human hopes remain unsatised and even stied.r

For a thinking person who wishes to be true to Catholic Social Teaching, an ethical dilemma istaking shape. A careul examination o the impact o our car culture presents an honest challenge toAmerican Catholics who sincerely wish to live in a culture built around being rather than having.

A New Direction: Save Paradise, tear up a parking lot?In the context o so many social ills, we tend to perceive our individualized orm o transportation to be a

negligible issue, rather than a central piece o a systemic problem. This perspective, however, is changing as webegin to examine issues like those above. What then does that mean or a responsible Catholic trying to changeher or his participation in the system? The good news is that there are multitudes o ways that committed,thoughtul can take Catholic social teachings to heart regarding this issue. Here are a ew possible steps in the

right direction:- Organize car-pools or ridesharing to reduce the individual impact o driving.- Bundle errands to reduce the number o short trips.- Replace at least one car trip per week with cycling or public transit.- Take public transit, especially when it might be a challenge to do so, as an expression o solidarity

with the poor who struggle with the system every day. Ask bus riders questions about theirexperience on public transit.

- Get rid o your car altogether and buy a bicycle. Rent a car or join a carshare when you really needto use a car or something.

- Commit to driving more careully and intentionally so as not to put pedestrians and cyclists at risk.- Organize with others to help preserve our dwindling green space, to battle the building o roads

that divide communities, to ght or better public transit.- Convince your church to reduce the size o its parking lots in order to build a community garden,to provide bicycle parking or its congregation, to push or public transit on Sunday mornings.

- Work with your employer to bring better public transit service, amenities or cyclists, carpoolingand car-sharing to your workplace. Work on campus to help bring those things here.

There are so many things that we can do to participate in this movement: all it takes is an awareness o theproblem, and a commitment to being a part o the solution.

Our generation has ound itsel at a crossroads. The road weve walked is jammed to the horizonwith poisonous trac, but there is another path open to us, should we choose to ollow it. The valueso our aith, as the bishops remind us, call us to humility, sacrice, and a respect or lie and the naturalgits God has provided.s This humility and sacrice might just be a call to a whole new way o lie.

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Are we ready or the challenge?

(Endnotes)a James J. Flink, The Car Culture (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1975), 53.

b Throughout this paper, I use America and Americans to reer exclusively to the citizens and residents o theUnited States o America. This is or the sake o writing convenience and reects the lack o more appropriate language

that may be used with equal simplicity when reerring to people living in this nation-state. It should be noted that the 600million citizens and residents o the 34 other countries throughout the continents o North and South America are also, ocourse, Americans.

c Jane Holtz Kay, Asphalt Nation: How the Automobile Took Over America and How We Can Take it Back (New York:Crown Publishers, 1997), 38.

d Kay, 40.e Anthony Flint, This Land: The Battle over Sprawl and the Future o America (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press,

2006), 1. Kay, 50 (quoting Robert Reich, labor secretary)g Ivan Illich, Energy and Equity (New York: Harper and Row, 1974), 33, 12.

h Gaudium et Spes, #66.i Other side o tracks now other side o the reeway, (Kansas City Call, February 20-26, 1976), qtd. in Kevin Fox

Gotham, Political Opportunity, Community Identity, and the Emergence o a Local Anti-Expressway Movement (Social

Problems 46, 3 (August 1999), 332-354), 344. j Mark H. Rose, Interstate: Express Highway Politics, 1939-1989 (Knoxville, TN: University o Tennessee Press, 1990),116.k Frank Royton, personal interview, 1996, qtd. in Gotham, 342

l David Dirck Van Tassel and John J. Grabowski, The Encyclopedia o Cleveland History (Bloomington: IndianaUniversity Press, 1987), 981.

m Gaudium et Spes, #26n Kay, 297.

o Kay, 20.p Paul Weyrich and William Lind, Conservatives and Mass Transit: Is It Time or a New Look?: A Study Preparedby the Free Congress Research and Education Foundation, American Public Transit Association, http://www.apta.

com/research/ino/online/documents/conserve.pd [Accessed April 10, 2008]. The our-to-one ratio includes public andprivate subsidies or the building and maintenance o roads and highways or vehicle users, subsidized ree parking,

and oil subsidies. The cost in dollars and lives o oreign policy decisions, including war, made primarily or the sake omaintaining American access to cheap oil is not considered in this number.

q This inormation is gathered rom long personal experience with the Greater Cleveland Regional TransitAuthority, and may be corroborated by a review o the bus and rail services it oers to suburban and urban locations,respectively. More inormation, including bus schedules, may be ound at www.gcrta.org.

r Solicitudo Rei Socialis, John Paul II, 1987, #28.s USCCB, Global Climate Change, 2001.

Recommended Reading:

Alt-Trans Cleveland. Car-Free in Cleveland. Cleveland Heights, Ohio: EcoCity Cleveland, 2000.

Alvord, Katie. Divorce Your Car! Ending the Love Aair with the Automobile. Gabriola Island, BC, Canada: NewSociety Publishers, 2000.

Balish, Chris. How to Live Well without Owning a Car. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2006.

Flint, Anthony. This Land: The Battle over Sprawl and the Future o America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins

University Press, 2006.

Kay, Jane Holtz. Asphalt Nation: How the Automobile Took Over America and How We Can Take it Back. New

York: Crown Publishers, 1997.

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By: Bev Sledge

Why did the asphalt encrusted earthyawn open,

Acquiesce to the assault

o tires splashing

through the crevice?

Why did my mothers womb

yawn open,

Spit me into the worldperplexed as the puddletears splashing?

SPlaSh

Photo by: Andy Trares

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By: Michael Zurn

Since the dawn o humanity, the quest or landhas ueled conict and strie. Humans have been willingto sacrice themselves and their enemies as i theirlives meant nothing. In our modern era, the conictexisting between Israel and Palestine has become themost recognized. Since its creation in 1948, Israel has

ound itsel caught in wars with native Palestinians andoutside neighbors. Dozens o times, the United Stateshas attempted to serve as an honest broker in order

to create a lasting peace between the two; however, allattempts have proven utile. In act, on October 22, 2007,Jackson Diehl o the Washington Times reported:

Between the end o the last serious Israeli-Palestinian talks, in January 2001, and theirresumption this month, more than 4,000Palestinians and Israelis have been killed in the

conict. Yet as soon as the talks began again,negotiators on both sides ound themselvesmaking pretty much the same demands andhinting at the same concessions that they did

when President Bill Clinton tried to broker a deal(A23).

It is important to recognize that the death toll is only

increasing due to a lack o peace negotiations. So, onemight ask: will there ever be peace, and i so, how willit be achieved? First, it is pivotal to recognize that both

sides must be willing to compromise. That is, both Israeland Palestine must be willing to give up their win-lose philosophies and instead collaborate to createa win-win situation. Also, both Israel and Palestinemust recognize one anothers existence as sovereign,independent nations. With that said, neither should

succumb to the inuence o outside neighbors thatmay potentially challenge them to abandon peace andengage in violence. The Geneva Accord (also knownas The Geneva Initiative or Drat Permanent StatusAgreement), reached in October 2003, creates the best

opportunity to carry out these long term goals andestablish a lasting peace between the two.

The accord was a non-ocial negotiationlaunched by two prominent Israeli and Palestiniangures, Yossi Beilin and Yassar Abd-Rabbo. Thenegotiations were mediated and supported by the Swiss

government. The talks aimed to eliminate the step-by-step approach to the peace process taken by the UnitedStates or years, and rather, sought a comprehensive

PurSuing

Peace

A possible plan to end the

Israeli-Palestinian conict

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agreement that tackled the most divisive issues among Israelis and Palestinians. The issues include:Jerusalem, the status o settlements, and the arrangements or placement o reugees (Global PolicyForum).

Most agreements made and/or negotiated in the past were counter-productive and unpopular,creating immense opposition on both sides. This opposition established an environment o lowmorale and discontent. Eventually, agreements either aded away or were abandoned by one or bothsides. However, the Geneva Accord signals hope or the quagmire. In act, a top adviser to Ariel

Sharon indicated that the documents popularity among Israelis played a decisive role in Israels planto give back the Gaza Strip. Furthermore, the director o the Geneva Initiative, Gadi Baltyanskiy,argues that Israel realizes that it will eventually lose most o Judea and Samaria, and the GenevaAccords provide a greater opportunity or the Israelis to get something in exchange (BBC MonitoringMiddle East).

Like Israelis, Palestinians also view the Accords as a great opportunity to come closer to

peace. A joint December 2007 poll conducted by the Harry S. Truman Research Associate or theAdvancement o Peace ound that about hal o Palestinians and Israelis support the implementationo the parameters set orth by the Geneva Accord. It is important to note that this poll was conductedater the perceived ailure o the Annapolis Summit, which ueled negative skepticism about

resolving the conict. Even more staggering, the data concludes that about two-thirds o Israelis andPalestinians would support negotiations i a peace agreement was reached (Geneva Initiative OcialWebsite).

The controversy surrounding the land swap centers itsel around Jerusalem. Jerusalem remains

one o the most revered cities in the world by many, including Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Theconict over the city provides a backbone or the continuation o the Israeli-Palestinian ght. In act,prominent Israeli and Palestinian leaders support making Jerusalem the capital city o their countries.

The Arab World or Research and Development ound that 95% o Palestinians view Jerusalem asa prominent issue in peace negotiations (Geneva Initiative Ocial Website). Given these pressinggures, how can the Geneva Accord create an evenly distributed solution or both parties?

The Geneva Accord intends to divide Jerusalem between Israel and Palestine. Both countries

will be granted sovereignty over their distinguished parts o the city. Each will have mutuallyrecognized capitals in their respective areas. Israel will keep the Wailing Wall, Mt. Scopus and Mt.

Olives, and Jewish settlements around East Jerusalem. In turn, Israel will surrender sovereigntyover the Temple Mount, but be given open access to the site (MidEastWeb). Palestine will expressterritorial claims over its settlements within Jerusalem. This includes, but is not limited to most oEast Jerusalem Furthermore, a multinational orce will be established to provide security guaranteesto the parties. To perorm the unctions specied in this agreement, the MF (Multinational Force) shallbe deployed in the state o Palestine (Geneva Initiative Ocial Website).

While Israel and Palestine are granted sovereignty over the areas in Jerusalem, the city willnot discriminate based on religion and guarantee access to all holy sites. That is, neither country will

exercise sovereignty over the sites under the Accord. This division will create a win-win situationbecause both sides will be designated desired areas. The independent Palestine will be granted areasto benet the majority Muslim population, and the Israeli Jewish population will guard the WesternWall or their benet. Now, each population will be able to maintain their religious identity andpreserve peace in the Holy City (Ellis, p 5).

The Accord also outlines a plan to divide settlements among the independent nations. Israelwill be required to return land beyond the 1967 border and surrender additional land to Palestinebased on a 1:1 ratio. This equal division creates a greater probability o acceptance rom the two.However, Israel will also be orced to return the territories it captured and occupied ater the Six Day

War. This leads to the question o arguably the most controversial territory other than Jerusalem: theWest Bank.

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The West Bank is a landlocked piece o territorythat exists on the western side o the Jordan River. In1967, Israel captured this territory rom Jordan duringthe Six Day War. The Geneva Accord would dividethe land airly among both countries so each may reapthe benets. Under the agreement about hal o the220,000 Jewish settlers in the West Bank would haveto evacuate their homes while the other hal live in

settlements that would be incorporated into Israel(MidEastWeb).

Some may argue that this may create a verydicult situation or both parties; however, one mustask i the hassle is worth achieving peace. Furthermore,Israel giving up settlements in the West Bank isabsolutely paramount in establishing an acceptabledeal. Palestinians will not make any agreements unlessthe West Bank is placed on the negotiating agenda.

Thereore, it is necessary or Israel to make this

concession to become closer to a lasting peace.Additionally, the issue o reugees is critical inthe negotiations between Israel and Palestine. Manywould argue that the creation o Israel orced manyPalestinians to ee their homeland or a variety oreasons. Israel must be willing to take responsibility orthis unjustied behavior, and attempt to compensate thereugees or their hardships. In order to grant Palestine

the right o return, Israel would have to give up landand property that would not be included in Palestinesborders. So, Israel would be giving up more than the

Palestinians on this issue. Thereore, the Geneva Accordattempted to set up a completely balanced situation.

Under the Accord, Palestinian reugees would beentitled to complete compensation or both their statusand loss o property. The compensation would most

likely be monetary. The reugees would also be grantedmembership status within the new Palestine. Or, itheir property exists within the new Israel borders, theindividuals would be entitled to live in Israel (GenevaInitiative Ocial Website). While no one can be ullyrepaid or injustices committed against them, theprinciple ideas behind the Geneva Accord are most air.

The issue would be discussed in greater detail duringthe outlining process o negotiations.

Regarding the negotiating process, the UnitedStates should not be present as a major player.Palestinians view the United States as very pro-Israel and thus do not trust its judgment. Ater all, in2008, the United States pledged an increase in Israeliunding which totals about three billion dollars peryear. Thereore, United States involvement could be

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perceived with an Israeli slant or bias and jeopardize the entire negotiations process. Instead, theUnited States should be actively involved on the sidelines by demonstrating its support or bothparties. Furthermore, the United States should proceed in a more riendly approach toward Palestine.

This involves oering aid to assist the country in a smooth ormation, while also pledging to protectit rom outside harm.Granting a security guarantee will allow the United States to dampen the inuence o outsideneighbors, and improve relations with the entire Middle East.

Instead o having the United States once again attempt to serve as an honest broker, both

parties should push or the Swiss government to remain involved in the process. During talks, thegovernment can act as a mediator to keep the negotiations as neutral as possible. The path to peacewill then be air and balanced. Unlike the United States, the Swiss government does not have activeties toward either o the parties involved. This way neither side will eel that they are experiencinga disadvantage rom the beginning. The negotiations will thus be able to proceed in a avorableand timely manner. Additionally, the Swiss government is oten portrayed globally as the neutralmediator. This type o mediating is crucial in helping to break the Israeli-Palestinian strie.

During negotiations, Israel and Palestine should come together to orm a peace agreement.Specically, both should pledge not to attack one another. Without a peace agreement, either side

could perceive the negotiations as not genuine.

This peace agreement should explicitly state that all attacks against Israel will end. The Palestinianauthority must renounce terrorism and acts o violence to have any chance at success. In the sametoken, Israeli leaders should pledge to deend its nation rom terrorist attacks, but avoid Palestiniancasualties at all costs.

While many issues must be continuously worked out between Israel and Palestine, oneoundational theme must be reiterated: violence is not bringing the two toward a successulresolution. Proceeding into structured negotiations will allow each party to gain a greaterunderstanding o the other and place value on each ones lives, religion, and culture. Nicolas Kristo,

a distinguished journalist and winner o two Pulitzer prizes, correctly suggests that security orIsrael will emerge only rom a peace agreement with Palestinians. We even know what that peacedeal will look like: the Geneva accord, reached in 2003 by private Israeli and Palestinian negotiators.

However, leaders rom both sides must be willing to establish common ground with one another andmake concessions intended to serve the greater good. Otherwise, the Geneva Accord may collapseand Israelis and Palestinians alike will shatter their greatest opportunity or a long-term, stable peace.

ReerencesDiehl, Jackson. The Deal on the Table. Washington Post 22 Oct 2007, Regional: A23.

A Dove Departs: Yossi Beilin. The Economist 22 Dec 2007:

Ellis, Marc. Ater Araat: mapping a Jewish/Palestinian solidarity.. Journal o Church and State 47(2005): 5-14.

Geneva Accord. Global Policy Forum. 02 Mar 2004. 18 Apr 2008 .

Geneva Accord. MidEastWeb. Oct 2003. MidEastWeb. 14 Apr 2008 .

Kristo, Nicolas . Talking About Israel. International Herald Tribune 19 Mar 2007: Opinion; p. 6.

Puger, Friedbert. Pointing the way to Mideast peace;. International Hearld Tribune 03 Dec 2003: Opinion; p.9.

Polls. Geneva Initiative Ocial Website. 25 Dec 2007. Geneva Initiative. 16 Apr 2008 .

Isreal Photos By: Ilya Batikov

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i letmy heart

in the

dominicanPhoto and Poem By:

Sara Jane Kukawka

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We walked in groups

nding the early sunlight to be much better than the darkness.Joining the procession o praises and palmswaving pieces o the country above our headswith their language lling our mouths to bursting

We kept walkingSeeing their homes on this landthat gave them ood and work and so much suering.

Wondering how they could stay, but where they would gotears and sweat pool together with the taste o sugar and basura en uego[trash on re]

We walked onFinding children in rags, snagged and torn

The barbed wire as their clothes lines

The river their everythingPity and compassion mix with envious love.

We stopped. Wishing there was a way to combine our worldsBeneath a tree, closing out the sky above usOpening its ruit below our eetSurrendering its heart to this landPlacing on the ground that which should never be trampled

I lay mine down beside it

And kept walking

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To Our Readers,To describe issues o poverty, discrimination, human rights, and

social justice can oten eel like a monumental task. Whether we nd

ourselves everishly scribbling essays about inequality in the city oCleveland, painting pictures o racism with reections, statistics and

poetry, or simply trying to understand our relationship as individuals

to the structures o our society, we are all undeniably connected

to these issues. We are students working towards academicunderstanding in a variety o subject areas; we are members oamilies working or health and longevity; we are citizens living in a

city, a region, and a world with more promise and opportunity than

we can athom; we are people. It was through these dierent lenses

that World View was envisioned. It is our journal and our chance to

broaden awareness o the issues that are closest to our vision o theworld around us.

We encourage everyone to use this medium as an opportunity

to engage the world by also engaging in a discourse with oneanother about social justice, in its many orms. We are undoubtedly

surrounded by opportunities to work within our communities, visitothers and learn about the structures and systems that connect

them all. The uture o this journal is also the uture o every student

organization on this campus, and every class whose syllabus calls

us to think about the place o human rights in our world. Published

semiannually, we are here or everyone to take a trip abroad one stepurther, to turn a graded assignment into something to be connected

to a greater community outside o the classroom, and to act asstudents engaged in not just university lie, but an ongoing call or

justice and opportunitya view o the world that is not rooted in

exclusivity, but rather openness, progress, and human worth.


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Documents

World View Fall 08--Faculty Review Copy