By Matt Kiernan
New York Times Jerusalem Bureau Chief Ethan Bronner visited CCSU to report on what is happening in the Middle East and to explain his opinions on current events and reveal factors in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“My message for you today is that the situation is very dire,” said Bronner, who worked for the Boston Globe as a legal affairs correspondent in Washington D.C. as well as a Middle East correspondent.
A main focus of his speech was the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and what aspects are involved in the chances of the dispute ever being settled. For the many years that the conflict has been going on, the issues and reasons for it have always been very complicated and the hopes of a resolution seem very low.
“Even the language of the conflict is different in one way or another,” said Bronner.
Bronner wants people to understand that people in the Middle East region are similar in most ways to Americans even though they dress differently but that they have happy and sad emotions, love going to see movies and love their children but have a different ideology, culture and circumstances that change the way they view the world.
For some Israelis, they live there because they are attracted to Israel because of the government, atmosphere and think it is a generally nice place to live, without any religious attachment. For others, some tens of thousands of Jews, they believe that they were promised the land by God in the Bible and remain there because of that belief.
“They believe that their living on this land is the only way for the universe to remain in balance,” said Bronner.
A main concerns is Iran, which has always been looming over Israel and is always in dispute with each other with one example of Iran denying the existence in history of the Nazi Holocaust. The increase in Israeli missile defenses give Bronner the belief that there’s a 50 percent chance that Israel will bomb Iran.
He likened the circumstances surrounding Israels’ reaction to Iran’s nuclear plans to five ticking clocks. Bronner said that there are military officials whose only job is to simply observe these factors: the amount of uranium enrichment Iran has, Iran’s ability to resist a battle with Israel, diplomacy, Iranian anti-government activists who believe the June presidential election was rigged and the missile defense of Hezbollah that may attack Israel if it attacks Iran.
Bronner also discussed the role of journalism in the Middle East, especially that of newspapers in Israel and the surrounding countries. Whereas Israel was not especially difficult to cover and report on, he said gathering information and covering Palestinians became troublesome.
“What you write will determine your chances of being allowed in next time,” said Bronner.
In Palestine, journalists are not allowed to write about their own government and issues occurring with it, but they are allowed to write about Israel’s. When people go to read newspapers, they’ll find that they’re filled with information about Israel’s government and conflicts going on.
Bronner believes that if there were to be an attack between Iran and Israel, it wouldn’t be nuclear. It would be a “bunker-busting” attack more likely by missiles and not include deadlier weapons.
“I don’t think Israel wants to attack Iran at the moment,” said Bronner.
The rise of Israel’s missile defense and border protection has improved the safety of their country, but has isolated them to a degree. Bronner feels that Israel’s diplomacy skills are on a decline and that it relies too much on physical attacks on those who disagree with them.
