January 1989, Page 26

Letters to (and from) the Editors

Palestine National Charter

Dear Editors:

Since knowledge is so important, please publish a definitive annotated copy of the Palestine National Charter. It is widely distributed by Zionist organizations but is unavailable at Arab-related organizations in the United States and elsewhere. Surely it belongs in AET's "Information Services." Request: If convenient, please send me a list of AET's directors and members of its advisory committees.

Joseph Lerner, Jerusalem, Israel

Dear Dr. Lerner:

The Palestine National Charter was adopted in 1964 and, as you indicate, has been routinely described by Zionist organizations as a pledge for the destruction of Israel ever since. Its support for a unified secular state rather than separate Jewish and Arab states as envisioned in UN General Assembly Resolution 181 of November 1947 has been superseded by the Palestine National Council's Nov. 15, 1988, Declaration of Independence and accompanying political statement issued at Algiers. Those statements support the existence of two states as called for in 181 and also support negotiations on boundaries based upon UN Security Council Resolution 242, the land-for-peace formula endorsed by the United States. Relevant passages from both PNC documents were printed in the December 1988 issue of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.

An AET brochure containing biographies of its directors, and also listing members of AET advisory committees, all of whom are retired US government officials or former members of Congress, has been mailed to you.

Articles From Our Readers

Dear Editors:

Enclosed you will find a clipping from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution of an editorial written by a local rabbi. I hope you can use it in your publication.

Thank you for your efforts toward educating the American public on the Middle East realities and dishonorable US government behavior toward the Arabs in general.

Tamim Hammad. Marietta, GA.

Dear Mr. Hammad:

Thank you for the article, "Memory of the Holocaust Cannot be Sword and Shield," by Rabbi Michael Goldberg of Atlanta. In it he maintains that Israel and its American supporters must stop using the holocaust as a sword to destroy the Palestinians, and a shield against all criticism of Israel for doing so. He speaks very eloquently for both Jewish and non-Jewish Americans. Unfortunately, he has denied us permission to reprint his article in the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.

Responding to Miller I

Dear Editors:

I would like to know what Dr. Miller, who in your "Letters to the Editors" column (October 1988) accused the Washington Report of anti-semitism, thinks of a government that does not recognize the existence of others; that beats young and old, with the intention of permanent injury; that closes businesses; that bulldozes homes or just confiscates property; that imprisons without due process; that expels people from their own country; that prohibits independent news coverage, especially TV coverage, because it fears the loss of the United States support? Those, Dr. Miller, are Hitler's tactics, and the government using them today, Dr. Miller, is the Israeli government.

Why is it, Dr. Miller, that anyone who speaks out against atrocities Israelis commit against Palestinians is anti-Semitic? I for one am very grateful for the Washington Report, as it represents the other side of the coin. I also resent our tax dollars going to any country that practices human rights violations, as does Israel.

Roland Smith, Port St. Lucie, FL.

Responding to Miller II

Dear Editors:

I am one of your Jewish-American readers and have been receiving your magazine for two years now. I can understand why some of my fellow Jewish Americans find your publication to be anti-Semitic and it is good and honorable of you to publish those letters which do criticize the Washington Report harshly and angrily. You have to remember that for many Jews around the world, the memory of German anti-Semitism is still strong: So when we American Jews read criticism of Israel in a pro-Arab magazine, some of us will naturally get upset and worried about what might be termed a new form of anti-Semitism.

But from reading your magazine from cover to cover each month, I know that your editors are not anti-Semitic or anti-Israel, even though they are pro-Arab and pro-Palestinian. To be pro-Arab is not to be anti-Jew. And at the same time, to be pro-Israel is not to be anti-Arab. What we all need to be is pro-human, pro-humanity. When, finally, the Israelis and the Palestinians sit down to make a just and lasting peace, which they will do someday, I am certain, then people will realize how important your magazine has been and continues to be.

Peace is at hand. However, it may not be realized for another 10 or 20 years, given the political situations in Israel and its Arab neighbors. Let's please refrain from all anti-Semitic tendencies, all anti-Arab tendencies, and all bigoted and ethnic stereotyping. Inside every Arab and Israeli is a human being yearning to be free. The Washington Report is part of the liberation movement, for both Arabs and Israelis, Palestinians and Jews.

Where honest and documentable criticism must be leveled, let's hear it, for hear it we must. As an American Jew, I want to hear the truth. I just hope Arab Americans will be equally open to the truth, on both sides of the question. Because if we are all partisans of the truth, we have nothing to fear but lies.

Daniel Bloom, Juneau, AK.

Closing the Subject

Dear Editors:

Enclosed is a copy of my response to Dr. Douglas Miller of Miami Beach, FL, whose letter you published in a recent issue of the Washington Report.

Dear Dr. Miller:

I read your letter to the Washington Report accusing it of anti-Semitism. Histrionically, you were, you said, frightened, sickened, nauseated, and horrified at the Washington Report's "savage and dishonest" attacks against Israel. To get the full flavor of your temper tantrum the reader should see page 34 of the October issue.

Sir, you are a physician, as I am, trained in science. Can you not understand a simple causality when you see it? If you are not a paid propagandist in the employ of Israel or its Zionist surrogates in the United States, then you must appreciate the fact that criticism of Israel may be called anti-Semitism only if you equate Israel and Zionism with being a member of the Jewish community.

I think you can concede that the political behavior of certain groups can be objectionable, regardless of their religious affiliation.

If you insist on calling objections to Israeli policies anti-Semitism, then you are obviously trying to stifle political dissent with a religious blanket. By doing that you create for Jews a real dilemma. Do you want to call the average American an anti-Semite because he is repulsed by the sight of armed Israeli troops breaking the bones of Palestinian children? And if you accuse him of anti-Semitism do you suppose he will like it and feel kindly toward you for the unjustified hurt you have inflicted?

The charge of anti-Semitism is warranted and effective only as long as it is applied fairly and thus evokes concern among decent Americans, who do not like to be thought of as unfair or bigoted. In the long run, however, Americans will not accept the Zionist habit of stifling dissent by recklessly shooting their opponents from behind the shelter of Judaism. Sadly, so many people do not understand how they create antagonism by their own behavior.

If this idea is difficult for you to understand, please inform yourself of the work of anti-Zionist Jews like Rabbi Elmer Berger, who have tried to separate the religion of Judaism from the political nationalism of Zionism and blind loyalty to Israel, a foreign state. More and more Jews now agree with Rabbi Berger. You cannot serve two masters. And next time you write a letter to the editor please understand that your right to disagree with him is the same as his right to disagree with Israeli policies. If for this reason you call him anti-Semitic then, by the same logic, you can be called anti-American.

Maurice H. Bisharat, Sacramento, CA.

Dear Messrs. Bisharat, Bloom, and Smith:

The editors of the Washington Report deeply appreciate the many letters of support from readers in response to Dr. Miller's letter. There is no space to publish them all, however, and we will consider the subject closed unless Dr. Miller, or a like-minded reader, wishes to reopen it.

Wounded Palestinians Need Help

Dear Editors:

Please publish this appeal for help in your esteemed magazine.

A continuous grass-roots effort is underway in North America to bring injured Palestinian children here for treatment that would otherwise be unattainable.

Our latest case is Mohammad Abu-Aker. Bullet wounds totally shredded the small intestine and the majority of the large intestine of this 17-year-old boy. Without the concentrated efforts of concerned people like yourself, Mohammad's chances for survival would be minimal at best. Since Oct. 5, 1988, he has been undergoing extensive treatment at the New England Deaconess Hospital. His condition, like that of many others, will require long, tedious, and expensive medical care.

Your moral and financial support is greatly needed to help these children. Please send your contribution to the New England Deaconess Hospital, Attention: Dr. Anthony Sahyoun, 185 Pilgrim Road, Boston, MA 02215.

Samir Abed-Rabbo, Amana Books, Brattleboro, VT.

Washington Report's Support for Resolution 242

Dear Editors:

After having read the complimentary copy of the Washington Report that was sent to me as an ADC member, I felt compelled to tell you that yours is one of the most informative and beneficial Middle East magazines that I have ever seen published in this country. As a person who has been active for several years in the Palestine issue, I am always on the lookout for the hard-to-find inside stories. Your magazine has filled that gap with well-written and well-thought-out articles, informative news briefs, and letters.

Your positions on the Palestinian issue are courageous, indeed, although I was amazed at your unqualified support for 242, considering that it does not require the Israelis to give up all the 1967 territories; that it does not recognize the Palestinians as a people, speaking of them only as nameless "refugees"; and that it contains no provision for Palestinian self-determination or for the right of this people to select its own representative. Why not qualify your support for 242 by stating that you support it but only in the context of the other UN resolutions pertaining to the Palestine question?

Aside from this deficiency, however, I was very pleased with the magazine and hence, I am requesting that you start a one-year student subscription for me as soon as possible. I am sorry that, as a student, I cannot afford to send a larger contribution, but in moral support, I am behind you all the way.

Laura Drake, New York, NY.

Dear Ms. Drake:

We support UN Security Council Resolution 242 because it provides at least a minimum peace plan upon which all parties to the dispute, even Israel and Syria in the past, have agreed. We think 242 does call for Israeli withdrawal from all or virtually all territories seized in 1967. The US government agreed with that interpretation as enunciated in the "Rogers Plan" during President Nixon's first term. At that time, the US said any deviations from complete Israeli withdrawal should be "insubstantial." We certainly do support self-determination for the Palestinians and we think that means the Palestinians will themselves choose whether to exercise that self-determination as an independent state or in confederation with Jordan. Anything else would not be self-determination. So, we do agree, and we welcome your support.

Volunteers Always Welcome

Dear Editors:

I enjoy your publication, favor the policies that guide your activities, and would like to help in your work as a volunteer.

My background: editor and later bureau chief with the Foreign Broadcast Information Service from 1950 to 1974, including coverage of the Middle East, and a summer with Ed Wright's Middle East seminar at AUB.

If you can use a spare hand for a day a week, please contact me.

George J. Paduda, McLean, VA.

(Readers can now reach Mr. Paduda on Tuesdays at the American Educational Trust where, along with Kathy Spillman Abukhalil, he has assumed responsibility for issuing a monthly collection of translations from the Hebrew press by the veteran Israeli peace activist, Dr. Israel Shahak. Readers interested in receiving an introductory selection of the Shahak translations at no charge should write or call AET.)

A Word of Praise

Dear Editors:

It was wonderful having the Washington Report's chief editor and his lovely wife spend some time with us in Minnesota at our annual ADC banquet for the Minnesota chapter recently.

His wealth of knowledge and understanding of the Middle East is so refreshing and a pleasure to hear from an American. It does restore my faith in the people of America.

I am sorry that the ADC national group subscription cannot be sustained. Therefore I'm enclosing my check for $25 for a personal subscription.

Please keep up the excellent work you all are doing and I hope to stop by your offices in April if I come to the ADC convention.

Jean Hanna, Minneapolis, MN.

A Word of Thanks

Dear Editors:

A personal note of thanks for the materials which your organization recently sent to us for use and distribution by our group, Americans for Middle East Peace, in connection with an International Peace Festival held here on November 6.

Harold Hewett, Houston, TX

Dear Mr. Hewett:

It's a pleasure for us to donate sample copies for distribution to the public at no charge of back issues of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs to groups like yours for your entries or displays at educational events. Not only do we help some people "see the light," we also invariably pick up more subscribers. Let's do it again.

Amnesty International Member Seeks Support

Dear Editors:

Your names were mentioned as people who have helped Amnesty International in the past. At this moment, I am bringing to your attention another important matter involving the Middle East in which your influence can be helpful.

I am a member of Amnesty International—an impartial international human rights organization. My local group (Group 19) is concerned with a particular case of a prisoner of conscience in Syria, Mr. Wahid Khadhur. Mr. Khadhur was an employee of the electricity board of Misyaf at the time of his detention on July 17, 1984.

Since his arrest, he has been held at the Military Interrogation Center in Damascus. Mr. Khadhur's continued detention for his membership in a non-violent opposition party is in violation of Article 36 of the Syrian Constitution which states: "Every citizen has the right to freely and openly express his views in words, in writing and through all other means of expression."

Amnesty International has adopted Mr. Khadhur, as a prisoner of conscience, after a careful and impartial investigation of his case. My local group has been writing to Syrian government officials regarding Mr. Khadhur, but so far we have not received a response.

Amnesty International has found that government officials are more likely to respond to inquiries from prominent persons. Your organization provides information on international affairs in the Middle East with a sympathetic view to the Arab perspective. We would be grateful if you would consider using your influence to seek a review of Mr. Khadhur's case.

If you are not personally acquainted with a Syrian government official, perhaps you may like to address your inquiry to this Syrian government official: Mahmud al-Zu'bi, Office of the Prime Minister, 'Abd al-Rahman Shahbandar Street, Damascus, Syrian Arab Republic.

I thank you for your time and we of Group 19 will appreciate your assistance in the case of Mr. Khadhur.

Ramji Digumarthi, Palo Alto, CA.

Dear Mr. Digumarthi:

Thanks for your letter. We are sending a copy of this issue of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs to Mr. AI-Zu'bi and to the Syrian Embassy in Washington, DC.

Readers who are interested in supporting the work of Amnesty International on behalf of prisoners of conscience in countries all over the world may write Amnesty International USA, 608 Massachusetts Ave. NE, Washington DC 20002.

It is our impression that the organization is impartial. In the past it has called on the US Congress to hold hearings on human rights violations in the Israeli-occupied territories and it makes its information concerning such violations available to the public.

Kennedy Assassination

Dear Editors:

Out of curiosity how do you account for the murder of Robert F. Kennedy by Palestinian terrorist Sirhan Sirhan?

Mark Adocati, Hallandale, FL.

Dear Mr. Adocati:

Senator Robert Kennedy had won four out of five Presidential primaries including one on June 4, 1964, in California where, early on June 5, after a victory speech to his followers, he was fatally wounded in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles by Sirhan Sirhan, a young Jordanian-born immigrant who had grown up in Pasadena, California. Unlike his older brother Jack, Robert Kennedy was a passionate supporter of Israel and had spent some time on a Kibbutz there. This, and his pro-Israel speeches in California, were cited by Sirhan's attorneys as motives. Sirhan has been in prison ever since and his motions for parole have been rejected.

The tragedy is sometimes privately cited by Senator Edward Kennedy to supporters who charge that his unwillingness to speak up for fair treatment for Palestinians is grossly inconsistent with his support for the disenfranchised elsewhere and represents a shift from the statements he made when he visited Palestinian refugee camps before his brother Robert's assassination. This perhaps best illustrates how terrorism always undercuts the cause in whose name it is committed.

Although that tragic act represented the first introduction of "Middle East-related terrorism" into the United States, there was no further incident in the US involving Americans until a series of bombings in 1985 against, among other targets, the Boston, Southern California and Washington, DC offices of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC). Two Boston policemen were injured and ADC's Southern California regional director, Alex Odeh, was killed. The FBI has attributed the Odeh murder to a former Jewish Defense League member now living in a Jewish settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Since you are asking institutions to "account" for terrorism, you might request the Ambassador of Israel in the United States to "account" for his government's refusal to extradite Odeh's alleged assassin, whom the FBI has also implicated in other non-Middle East-related murders. Don't expect a serious discussion of "terrorism" from the Israeli Embassy, however. It represents a nation whose prime minister, before he changed his name to Yitzhak Shamir, was Yitzhak Yizernitsky, one of the three leaders of the Jewish underground Lehi, called the "Stern Gang" by the British, who ordered the successful assassination in Jerusalem in 1948 of Sweden's Count Folke Bernadotte. Bernadotte was the UN Truce negotiator seeking to end the Arab-Israeli hostilities. All of the assassins were released by Israel within a few months. The triggerman, Joshua Cohen, became the personal bodyguard to David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first prime minister. The planner, Yernitzky, changed his name to Shamir and became an official of the Israeli intelligence service, Mossad. There he reportedly directed the mailing of letter bombs to German rocket scientists in Egypt before leaving Mossad to pursue his highly successful third career in Israeli politics.

A Letter From the Editors

Henry Ryan, a subscriber from Dorchester, MA, has written to ask us to publish the fact that he is not the Henry Ryan listed in AET's August 1987 honor role. The honor role, which was discontinued some time ago after it became too long for the space available, was a monthly listing of purchasers of multiple copies of books, films and videotapes and did not list home towns. It is not to be confused with AET's "Choir of Angels," which lists names and hometowns of donors of untied amounts of $100 or more, and which is never long enough to fill the space we would like to allot to it. There have been Ryans in the choir loft over the years. None, however, were Henry Ryan of Dorchester, MA.