January 1996, pgs. 3, 100-104

Letters to the Editor

Letters to the editor are selected, edited and abridged on the basis of relevance, accuracy, taste and available space. The editors do not have facilities to respond to individual letters, or to clear in advance published letters, as edited, with the writers.

Marzieh Motivates Iranian Women

Your article in the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs in the Oct./Nov. issue titled "Marzieh, Iran's Best-Loved Singer, Touring for Resistance Group" was astonishingly delightful to everyone who read it, regardless of knowing that charismatic character or not.

The author, Richard Curtiss, said, "There is little in the life of this one-time icon of Iranian art and culture to explain her conversion, at age 69, to a firebrand activist willing to risk everything for a political cause." However, I have to expand this view. For as far as the Iranian people, particularly Iranian women, are concerned she has given motivation to everybody to raise their voices louder against the present regime of Iran. Her courage and her merit have taught Iranians that, in order to obtain freedom and democracy, they should be willing to risk everything and be prepared to sacrifice. Her conversion, at age 69, proves the legitimacy of the Resistance and shows how the situation is deteriorating in Iran.

At the end I would like to mention how much I enjoyed your informative article along with so many other people who read it.

Beth Dehgan, Alexandria, VA

An Enhanced Respect for Marzieh

I was perusing the Washington Report the other day, when I came to the most mesmerizing article about Marzieh. How very appropriately and correctly the title was chosen. I read it twice, and you can't imagine how much I learned about this best-loved singer, Marzieh, from your article. I've always been an admirer of her voice and her songs. Yet, I had no idea about this legendary singer herself.

I thought that I had to write a note and let you know how grateful I am for what you wrote about her. Since knowing her better, I do enjoy her music more and her songs have deeper meaning for me now.

I will recommend your article to all of my friends who share the same love and respect for her.

Zari Sariri, Falls Church, VA

The article in our Oct./Nov. 1995 issue has been followed with an article by Ali Parsa in our December issue about Marzieh's dramatically successful concert in Los Angeles. We will take this opportunity also to correct our description in that issue of Mr. Parsa, a graduate student at UCLA. Although he is a supporter of the National Council of Resistance, he is not a member of the People's Mojahedin of Iran.

Reflecting Human Rights Abuses in Iran

I wish to write to tell you how much I enjoyed meeting with your executive editor while in Washington. It was indeed an honor to be so warmly welcomed by members of the Washington press corps. I am deeply appreciative of your efforts to reflect the message that I bring of human rights abuses and the plight of Iran's women. I hope that your reports will encourage governments and peoples the world over to work even harder to defend the rights of the women and men of Iran, and in support of the Iranian Resistance.

I shall treasure the memory of our most enjoyable meeting, and look forward to a future opportunity to renew our acquaintance.

Marzieh, Paris, France

Deir Yassin Remembered

I have received a lot of positive feedback on the two articles in the WRMEA about the Deir Yassin Remembered project to build a memorial to the massacred Palestinian villagers at Deir Yassin. I am enclosing one of my favorites and a copy of another letter to Elie Wiesel, asking him to serve on the board of Deir Yassin Remembered.

Prof. Daniel A. McGowan, Dept. of Economics, Hobart & William Smith Colleges, Geneva, NY

Readers who may have missed the article on p. 48 of our Oct./Nov. 1995 issue describing your project to raise $100,000 for the memorial may want to read both of the letters you enclosed in "Other People's Mail on page 88 of this issue.

Homage to Col. Bob Rickert

Many thanks for the copy of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs containing Ambassador Andrew Killgore's article on the late Col. Bob Rickert. Bob and Doris lived two houses down the road. Over the years I came to know Bob and learn a little about his frustrations and problems with the Israelis. Your article clarified the picture considerably.

The world today is seething with many boiling caldrons. And I thought World War II, Korea and Vietnam were enough!

Lt. Gen. Edward M. Flanagan, Jr., Beaufort, SC

Eye-Opening Reporting

I am renewing my subscription. Also included is an extra amount for opinion molder journalists, etc.

Please send them your magazine, the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, right away, so that your great work and eye-opening reporting can be shared by them.

I also am sending you an article entitled "An Old War, Newly Discovered," by foreign affairs specialist Eric Margolis, in the Toronto Sun, hoping you will reprint it in your magazine.

The WRMEA's unbiased articles and reporting regarding India's genocide against the Kashmiri people, whose demand is the right of self-determination in accordance with the U.N. Security Council's resolutions, are always appreciated by people of conscience irrespective of their beliefs, race or color.

I hope you also will report regularly on India's atrocities in the Punjab against Sikhs, as your coverage of Bosnia has rightfully exposed the West's bias against defenseless Bosnian Muslims. Keep going. You are the best.

M. Hum-A-Yun, Toronto, Canada

The Eric Margolis article you enclosed is reprinted in Other Voices, on page 120. Many thanks for your many kinds of support.

Good Information Provided

You provide fine information about little-publicized events. I have donated two subscriptions to friends in India. If the U.S. were to stop foreign aid, how would it improve life with so much corruption here?

Look at our top leaders! Look what Israel is doing today with the Arabs! Unfortunately Israel has found in India a fertile field for its agenda. Israel's supporters and the Hindus are fanning the flames against Indian Muslims. God help India and its Muslim citizens.

No Name Please, Buffalo, NY

Keep Your Present Focus

Do not lose your focus on Arab (Palestinian/Syrian/ Lebanese/Jordanian "confrontation state") issues. I am an Arab American and want attention on Arab/Israeli issues. It's ironic you always claim you have so little space in each issue for informative letters. Why? Because of such coverage as "Tajikistan After the Elections: Post-Soviet Dictatorship." Or coverage of India. I thought the magazine is the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs . Do not lose your focus!

Larry Deyab, New York, NY

We won't. We'll just keep expanding with the help of all of our readers, many of whom are just as concerned about Kashmir, Bosnia or Iran as you are about the confrontation states.

Don't Lose Your Wide Appeal

I like your magazine as it is. Don't lose the appeal to a wide range of cultural and ethnic groups. Also, I think there is a disconnect and poor understanding by Americans of Christianity in the Middle East, leading to a "them vs. us" mentality. The prevalence of Islam is obvious, but the Christian heritage is not obvious, especially to recent generations of Americans. I think this fact has been of major importance in the public relations "war."

Sami Nuchi, Ridley Park, PA

The Rare Truth

It's very rare to see truth about the Middle East in the American media, especially when it comes to Islam. I wish I had more resources to help you financially. At present I am doing my best to get lots of people to subscribe to the Washington Report. Please continue the good work you are doing. One day every American will be educated on U.S. policies toward the Middle East.

Kamal Mahmud, Smyrna, GA

Thanks for the kind words and donated subscriptions.

You Offer Much-Needed Support

The Washington Report keeps me up-to-date on what is happening in the U.S.A. in relation to the Middle East. It also lets me know what is happening in the other countries in the region. Although I live in the region, the media often are restricted. I need the "support" I receive from knowing there are others out there who know and care.

Linda Thain-Ali, Malatya, Turkey

My Only Criticism of WRMEA

My only criticism of your magazine is that after reading a Washington Report I am so fired up and angry with the administration, the Congress and all of the media under Israeli influence. Land stealing and lying bothers me most. What I read in the Washington Report I never see elsewhere.

Lois H. Ward, West Hartford, CT

A Lack of Airplane Time

Your magazine is excellent. Keep it up. The only problem is that it is so long. I can't find time to get it read now that I don't spend as much time on airplanes. Shorter would be better.

R. Hobbs, Sparks, NV

Only Sound Bites Available

The Washington Report keeps me informed about what is going on in the whole region with in-depth analyses that are not found in current mass media coverage in the U.S. The latter consists of sound bites and "sexy" stories with no depth or perspective at all.

Deborah Anne Pope, Chicago, IL

Why Kati Marton's Death in Jerusalem is Not an Unbiased Source

No one in the broad spectrum of Middle East reporting has contributed more to an understanding of the hidden truth than your ubiquitous, indefatigable executive editor, Richard Curtiss, to whom all seekers of peace are indebted. However, he went badly astray when, in "People Watch" in the Oct./Nov. issue of Washington Report, he described Kati Marton's new book, A Death in Jerusalem as "a reliable source" for her new husband, Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke (she was previously married to ABC's Peter Jennings), who was handling the peace negotiations on Bosnia.

While hers is a fast-moving, riveting narrative concerning the Sept. 17, 1948 assassination of Count Folke Bernadotte, the first U.N. mediator in the Middle East, throughout the book Marton depicts Bernadotte as "a coddled youth brought up in the privileged shelter of the Swedish royal family." By contrast, copious tears are shed for the leaders of Lehi (the Stern Gang), the group that assassinated him: Avraham Stern, founder of the Jewish terrorist organization, and future Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, who by his own admission orchestrated the Bernadotte killing as he had four years earlier that of British Minister of State for the Middle East, Lord Moyne.

In denigrating Bernadotte who, through his personal intervention with Heinrich Himmler, was responsible for rescuing more than 28,000 Jews and non-Jews from Nazi concentration camps, the author strives to minimize the seriousness of the Israeli crime. Toward this end, she insinuates over five pages the charge that Bernadotte was anti-Semitic, as raised by British historian H.R. Trevor-Roper. After stating that "no historian of any nationality has found a shred of evidence to support the charge that Bernadotte was an anti-Semite," Ms. Marton, nevertheless, introduces in full a May 10, 1945 letter Bernadotte allegedly sent to Gestapo chief Heinrich Himmler that she herself describes as having "an absurdly scurrilous tone, mixing anti-Semitism ('Jews are not wanted in Sweden just as they are not wanted in Germany') with treachery, advice on how the Nazis might improve their aim on British military targets."

Verification for Ms. Marton's accuracy throughout rests principally not with historians or unprejudiced observers but with such Israelis as Lehi (Stern Gang) informant Baruch Nadel, Israeli army liaison Moshe Hillman, Israeli ambassadors Walter Eytan and Abba Eban, and various American Zionists. It was Nadel who told Marton, "We warned him [Bernadotte] that we will kill him, and he should have taken it seriously."

At nearly every turn in the brilliantly deceptive book, there is some direct or oblique reference to Nazis and the Holocaust, oppressive British misrule in Palestine or anti-Semitism. For example, on three successive pages we find the phrase, "the little death ships," a reference to "the steamers groaning under their burden of 10 or 20 times their intended human cargo of Jews" smuggled out of Europe with the help of the Haganah or the Irgun which had broken through the British blockade, only to be kept from landing in Palestine.

Even Stephen Spielberg, who achieved Hollywood's top recognition for his contribution to Holocaustomania with his "Schindler's List," could learn something in techniques from this insidiously clever author. One can only conjecture as to what prompted her to wander at this time into the early days of the stricken field of Palestine by presenting her version of the Bernadotte slaying 45 years after the fact. Her earlier book on Raoul Wallenberg revealed her deep devotion to Zionism, which is clearly evident again throughout this book.

At a time when Jerusalem is up for grabs, and as it increasingly becomes an American domestic presidential campaign issue—to wit, the recent passage of the Dole legislation calling for the removal of the American embassy to the Holy City—the question of who are and who are not the terrorists and why they behave as they do is most pertinent and vital. Perhaps, in order to cover up Israel's Achilles' heel, Marton deemed it wise to present her own rationale for the Jewish terrorism that has characterized Israel from even before its formal creation by depicting it as a response to the Bernadotte Plan. Bernadotte's formula for dealing with the problem of Jerusalem dared prescribe its internationalization. This is decried by Marton as "unthinkable and undo-able" for Jews "with their mystical attachment to the Holy City."

Marton would have us looking back over our shoulders constantly to the Holocaust in Europe of half a century ago to reach decisions with which people will have to live throughout the 21st and subsequent centuries in the Middle East. Indeed her book is far less about an assassination of an unselfish international civil servant on a narrow Jerusalem street than it is about upholding the impunity inevitably granted Israel because the world for so long has persecuted the Jewish people. And in this cunning book, Folke Bernadotte has been assassinated a second time.

No, Richard, this volume is scarcely a reliable source for the assistant secretary, for you, or for anyone else!

Alfred Lilienthal, Washington, DC

The Whole Family is Enthusiastic

My 28-year-old granddaughter was visiting. She read your magazine and said it was the best news magazine she had ever encountered—so I am enclosing a check for a year's subscription for her.

Robert Knabke, Acampo, CA

That's exactly how, over 13+ years, we've acquired the largest circulation of any Middle East-related magazine in North America. Next year we'll send your granddaughter the renewal notice and you can go prospecting for other potential subscribers.

Enlightenment on Congress

Your most important function for me is enlightenment on individual congressmen and their support of Israel. This way I can inform or blast my Vermont politicians. Dole's need to move the Embassy to Jerusalem will backfire and will be seen as a crass, transparent attempt to curry Israeli (Jewish) votes. Also, keep exposing Clinton's Zionist cronies with whom he has surrounded himself. Ashrawi's new autobiography is a must read for every congressman.

Mrs. G.W. Mize, Chelsea, VT

We'll eschew the word "blast" but suggest you might instead look for alternatives to Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy who, despite his occasional expressions of concern about how our foreign aid is misused, has managed to accumulate $106,200 in pro-Israel PAC donations since 1980, and Republican Rep. James Jeffords, who has accepted $32,150 from pro-Israel PACs since 1986. We'll have nationwide pro-Israel PAC donations to date for the 1996 elections, plus career totals to date for the recipients of those pro-Israel donations, in the February/March or April issues, depending upon when the FEC releases the information.

A Remarkable Job

You're doing a remarkable job with each issue of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. Keep up the wonderful work. Bless you each and all, and many thanks.

Howard A. Reed, Professor of History (Islamic and Turkish), Emeritus, The University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT

The Catastrophe of 1948

The article about the Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut featured in the October issue was an especially poignant and distressing one for me. As a Palestinian who grew up in the Bourj al-Barajneh district of Beirut, now living in the comforts of the Detroit, Michigan, suburbs, I am filled with anguish upon recalling the conditions and events that these refugees have endured through the years. Suppressed by the Lebanese government, massacred by the Phalange and Amal gangs, and now abandoned by Arafat's defunct PLO, their struggle, sacrifice and endurance has been exemplary and ranks with the sacrifices made by the Russian people during World War II.

The people of these camps are indeed very proud, pragmatic and industrious. Many of them hail from Palestine's Galilee towns of Acre, Haifa, Jaffa, Safad and Nazareth. They have been there since the Catastrophe of 1948 and have rebuilt their lives with the limited resources available to them. They've turned the camps into microcosms of their respective towns in Palestine while simultaneously continuing to dream of return to those towns. I remember as a child how I would go with my mother to Sabra's open-air bazaar and buy the best vegetables, meats and sweets. Distinctive scents always emanated from the camps. Whether they were falafel or kaak or roasted peanuts, they made one hungry. All the while, I would be reminded by my mother that I was in Acre's or Haifa's or Jaffa's district of the camps.

The refugees of the camps held the mantle of the Palestinian revolution both at its highest and lowest points. When a martyr fell, it didn't matter whether the martyr was a peasant or student, Muslim or Christian, pro- or anti-Arafat. The entire camp wept, prayed and comforted his or her family. Their dedication to Palestine ran so deep that during Amal's siege of the camps the refugees resorted to eating cats, dogs and donkeys rather than surrender!

The intense bombardment by Israel and the massacres committed by the Phalange never seemed to shatter their love and support for the Palestinian revolution. They lent unwavering support to Yasser Arafat in his moments of greatest need. They naively believed that Arafat would reciprocate and someday would deliver them back to a liberated Palestine. Rather, Arafat shook the hands of the Zionists and abandoned the refugees in his selfish quest to have a name for himself in the history books. Even worse, Arafat also dumped his once generous host, Lebanon. The Lebanese people, who cradled Arafat and his PLO in their infancy and supported him during the siege of Beirut, thereby sacrificing thousands of their precious children, also were abandoned.

This is why for some Palestinians and Arabs, it is painful to watch all of the fanfare and attention that is given to the PLO-Israel peace accord. It must be realized that in every peace there are winners and losers. It has become quite apparent that the Palestinian Diaspora of 1948, along with the people of Lebanon and Syria, are the big losers in this peace process. But history demonstrates that incomprehensible peace deals are short-lived, and that leaders who sell out their own people usually meet a vicious end (i.e., Sadat). I hope that the WRMEA continues to report on the lives of those Arabs to whom this lopsided peace process is irrelevant. Time and God are on the side of those who persevere.

Aed M. Dudar, Royal Oak, MI

We agree that the refugees of 1948 and their descendents seem to be the big losers. However, it will only be in the final-stage negotiations when Palestine's borders and Jerusalem's status as the capital of one country or the shared capital of two are defined, a water-sharing agreement is reached, and Palestine's economy is freed (or not freed) from that of Israel that we will learn whether Yasser Arafat has abandoned his people or instead has forced the world to look anew at who is willing and who is not willing to share the land, who is willing to make a peace that both sides can accept, and who is not.

Why All the Rabin Media Coverage?

Why all the media coverage about the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin? The elite politicians were concerned but not the average American.

Israel and Rabin reaped what they sowed. Israel under Rabin's rule was a very oppressive government for the Palestinians. It murdered, tortured and put Palestinians in jail without charges. Also, it killed people in foreign countries.

Rabin ignored the Camp David Accords, Geneva Conventions and United Nations resolutions. His legacy is one of terrorism and oppression. He was chief of staff of the Israeli forces when Israel started the 1967 war against its Arab neighbors. The purpose was a greater Israel.

He was defense minister during the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation in the late 1980s, when he ordered Israeli troops to break the bones of young protesters.

Why did Bill Clinton order that all U.S. flags at public buildings, embassies and military bases around the world be flown at half-staff until Rabin was buried? All Jewish settlements must be abandoned and Israel must completely withdraw from the West Bank, Gaza, Golan Heights, Lebanon and East Jerusalem.

Ray F. Dively, Baden, PA

You're Certainly Not Anonymous

One of the things I appreciate most is that WRMEA names names, dates and places, and does not attribute statements to "anonymous," and "informed" sources as do other mainstream publications when they disseminate information.

However, I'm upset that to this day, I still don't know whether to send checks to AET, the Washington Report, or what? For example, I just sent 100 percent of my contribution to AET, but it is meant to support your magazine. Are they one and the same?

Name withheld

Checks to AET, the American Educational Trust and the Washington Report all go into the same account. However, if you plan to deduct a donation from your federal income tax, then the check should be to the AET Library Endowment (Federal ID No. 52-1460362). We use such donations to put subscriptions to the Washington Report and donated books into public and university libraries and into the hands of journalists, talk show hosts and other opinion molders.

Our Secret and Insidious Disease

The United States government is afflicted with a secret and insidious disease. To all appearances our government is sovereign and supreme. In reality, however, it is manipulated behind the scenes by Israeli agents, predominantly AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee).

It's like watching a horror/science fiction movie wherein aliens from outer space occupy the mental processes of the members of our government while leaving their physical beings intact. Israel has stealthily suborned the United States government and I view this state of affairs with both sadness and alarm.

But there is hope for the people of our beloved country. Thank God we have you, the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. With every issue you sound the tocsin. I hope the American people will eventually pay attention.

Catherine Yatlee, San Francisco, CA

They better hurry up. We're not getting any younger.

Washington Report Insights Appreciated

Your magazine gives me insights into the dynamics beneath what CNN and other mainline media present. This is very important. I only wish you could reach all of "middle" America.

Lorena Tinker, Ph.D., Fayette, MO

Every year we're reaching more of it, thanks to the gift subscriptions and library donations of our readers.

An Even-Handed Approach

The work being done by the American Educational Trust is most commendable and appreciated by all Americans who are seeking an even-handed approach in the foreign policy of the U.S. I am proud to be a subscriber to the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs and a member of the Council for the National Interest.

R. L. Gabler, Kingwood, TX

Profile Palestinian Villages

I was first introduced to the Washington Report by my dad a few years ago. He now is residing in Ramallah, and I send him my issues as soon as I finish reading them. I have tried to set up a subscription for him in the West Bank but for some reason they never reach his P.O. box in Ramallah.

I enjoy reading the magazine, and find it to be a great wealth of knowledge. I've seen segments where you profile a different country in some issues. Well, I think it would be a great idea to describe a Palestinian village in every upcoming issue. You could call the segment "Profile of a Palestinian Village." One of the villages I would like to see profiled is Ein-Arik, which happens to be the village of my family and where my relatives all came from. It's a small village southwest of Ramallah, and has a population of roughly 1,100 people. I believe your magazine mentioned the village in a report on the water shortage in the West Bank. What makes this village so unique is that it is one of the few in the West Bank that is evenly split between Muslim and Christian inhabitants who have been able to co-exist peacefully for hundreds of years. There is a fascinating story behind the birth of this village, and how it came to have its sectarian diversity. I'm sure there are other fascinating stories behind all the Palestinian villages, and I can bet other readers would enjoy this segment as well. Please consider this request, and if you need information on Ein-Arik or assistance on any other related matter, please contact me any time.

Shehad Mohammed, Evergreen Park, IL

What we would need is a West Bank correspondent capable of preparing such special, illustrated reports. In 13 years of publishing we've never been able to recruit a regular East Jerusalem/West Bank correspondent, but we're still looking.

Not Like the Mainstream Press

The Washington Report provides independent reporting not found in the mainstream press. I look for an additional perspective into the issues. The precise and updated information you provide is not to be found in any other media reports. I share my copies with friends and acquaintances who are interested in the Middle East and who are seeking unbiased and unprejudiced reporting of the facts. Thank you for a job well done.

Alma Jadallah, Fairfax, VA

Syria Helped End the Lebanon War

In your Oct./Nov. issue (page 6), you note that Syria "draws much more from Lebanon than its occupation costs." I don't challenge your economic calculations, but I believe they are overshadowed by the political benefits of Syrian intervention, which terminated a decade of civil war.

Last Saturday night local Palestinian Americans convened to activate the Carolina Palestinian Association. During the presentations, no challenge was interposed to the proposition that the people of the Middle East have three enemies: political opportunism in the West and zealotry and communalism in the Middle East.

It's not necessary to take a position among the various political factions in Syria and Lebanon to accept the thesis I advanced in the Christian Science Monitor of June 12, 1979 that "the state of Lebanon is an ephemeral phenomenon, born of colonialism..."

Recognition of the geographic, economic and cultural unity of these two countries is one step toward the regional cooperation that is essential to the peace and progress of the entire area.

Curtis F. Jones, FSO, retired, Chapel Hill, NC

A Republican Mega-Pundit

At the moment I forget which of your all-stars covers which variety of American apologists for Israel, but I offer the enclosed clipping from the Minneapolis Star and Tribune and also my personal comment for him/her.

Former Congressman Vin Weber from southern Minnesota was a very minor offender in the congressional bank brouhaha, but chose that occasion to resign, although his re-election was assured. He has since become a mega-pundit, as a Republican conservative and friend of Newt Gingrich, and a force in national conservative Republican circles as well as in Minnesota. His voting record was so solidly pro-Israel that he might have been identified as Jewish, which he is not. He is, rather, a former chief of staff for former Minnesota Senator Rudy Boschwitz, an emigrant/ refugee from Nazi Germany, constant supporter of Israel, and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

When Weber first ran for Congress he was blessed not only with his own considerable intelligence and a conservative constituency but a donors list from his patron and mentor, Senator Boschwitz, one of the best fund-raisers in Congress. My two hours of research in our Minnesota state election archives revealed that a large part of Weber's funding in his first campaign was from outside of Minnesota, and from the same donors who had supported Boschwitz. Weber later established himself as one of the brightest and best of young Republicans. Since his retirement he has remained a spokesman for the articulate Republican rightists and remains identified as a friend of Newt Gingrich.

Minnesota has only a small number of Jewish supporters of Israel (and a much smaller number of Jewish Peace Now members), but a far larger number of Republican conservative, fundamentalist Christians with anti-abortion and pro-Israel positions. Vin Weber's Minnesota Republican support is secure; he has a non-partisan base, with another retired congressman, Tim Penny (Democrat), in the Hubert Humphrey Institute of Minnesota.

So we should not be surprised that Vin Weber made a connection between Marianne (Mrs. Newt) Gingrich and Israeli businessmen. Or if Vin Weber, only in his 40s, decides to become a governor, or a U.S. senator or, like a previous very bright, articulate, ambitious Minnesotan, Hubert Humphrey, has even higher ambitions.

C. Patrick Quinlan, Edina, MN

Your letter is so fact-packed that we cannot improve on it. In case there are any new Minnesotan activists who don't already know you, we can vouch for the quality of your research honed by three decades as a career foreign service officer. Looking at our "Letters to the Editor" and "Other People's Mail" columns, issue after issue, we've decided that old foreign service officers never die, they just keep on writing articles or letters for the Washington Report.

 Addressing the Average Person

The chances of any average person acquiring the information and knowledge you present would be abysmal, at best, without the WRMEA. Experts know what they know, but most people would not have the access to the resources of experts on the Middle East and the U.S. political system without the WRMEA. No one presented such statistics and facts until you came along.

Ali Charara, Dearborn Heights, MI

A Special Library Project on Bosnia

I am involved in developing a library at the new Bosnian Cultural Center in Houston, Texas. The purpose of this library project is to collect and make available information about the history of Bosnia, especially the history and culture of Bosnia's Muslims.

I am writing to ask if the American Educational Trust (AET) would be able to donate a book or journal that contains information about Bosnia to the Bosnian Cultural Center. Thus the culture of Bosnia can be appreciated by American as well as Bosnian-American people in the U.S.

The address of the Bosnian Cultural Center is: 6703 Hornwood #376, Houston, TX 77074.

Kevin R. Beck, Damascus, MD

We're sending one copy of each book about Bosnia from our Book Club catalog.

Theft of a Culture Along With a Nation

Thumbing through The New Jewish Cookbook (Prince) at a local bookstore, I was surprised to "learn" that kibbeh and falafel are "Israeli fast food."

I guess the thinking was that if the Zionists were hungry enough to steal the country, they might as well steal a few recipes, too.

Ray A. Rafidi, Richardson, TX

Let's not forget, however, that hamburgers and frankfurters aren't named after cities in Maine or California.

An Angel's Report

Until I heard about the Washington Report in 1988 (from your volunteer worker Donna Bourne Curtiss), I thought I was all alone in my view of the Mideast situation. It was a great morale builder for me to learn of the work being done by the AET. I'm in no position to do very much but I have distributed quite a few books to libraries and "opinion makers," and also subscriptions to WRMEA.

This $100 check makes me a three-time member of the Choir of Angels. Due to the WRMEA and AET I am much more hopeful that a just peace ultimately will be achieved and a viable Palestinian state established.

Blanche Kerr, Los Angeles, CA

We reached you because a reader sent us a letter to the editor you had had published in a California newspaper. We send sample copies to such letter writers and, over the years, that's been a major factor in our circulation increase.

Alternate Your Columns?

Alternating all of your columns on Congress, The Cost of Israel to U.S. Taxpayers, Election Watch, Human Rights, etc., at the appropriate times will keep us much more informed and more active. Thank you for your great contribution.

May Victoria West, Sunnyvale, CA

Trying to cram some of these columns into each issue is the major reason we have to keep expanding, as we have again in this largest issue ever published.

Wish I Had Taken Speed Reading!

I depend on the Washington Report. I wish I had a speed reading course behind me. There is so much vital information and so little time. Thanks for using interviews with challenging people. They are not only lucid but also very important activists in their approach to Israeli/Palestinian politics. Thank you for existing—you perform such an important service. Keep it up.

Susan van Donger, Willits, CA

Fresh Help for Vanunu

First, the good news from Ashkelon Prison in Israel, where Mordechai Vanunu has languished for nine years in a 6-by-9- foot isolation cell for blowing the whistle on his government's secret nuclear weapons program:

* Statements of support from Joseph Rotblat, winner of the 1995 Nobel Peace Prize, and Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Jan Egeland have given fresh impetus to the international campaign for release of this prisoner-of-conscience.

* Concerned citizens in Britain and Israel, as well as the United States, are keeping up the pressure not only to free Vanunu but also to rid Israel and the rest of the world of these weapons of mass destruction.

* And Vanunu himself, serving as a model for nuclear resistance in his own and other countries, continues to wage his lonely battle to bring down the barriers of nuclear secrecy around the world.

However, there are some grim realities:

* We are deeply concerned about Mordechai's physical and mental health—and about the prison's refusal to allow an independent medical examination. For nine years he has endured solitary confinement, longer than any other prisoner on record.

* Despite growing public awareness of his plight and the threat of a nuclear arms race ignited by Israel's hidden arsenal, the Israeli government remains intransigent in holding Vanunu hostage to nuclear secrecy. Clearly, we must increase the pressure.

There are important ways, large and small, in which we all can help free Vanunu and help move the world a little closer to the goal for which he has sacrificed so dearly.

1. Write him a letter of support and encouragement. Just a few words will do. His address is Ashkelon Prison, Ashkelon, Israel. A one-page, air mail letter to Israel costs 60 cents in postage.

2. Let your U.S. senators and representatives know that you care about Vanunu and are concerned about our own government's double standard on nuclear proliferation. We threaten Iraq and North Korea but ignore the most serious transgressions of our close Middle Eastern ally.

3. Strengthen the grass-roots campaign by spreading the word about Vanunu among your friends and associates.

4. Send a financial contribution to the U.S. Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu. We are a volunteer, non-profit public interest group dependent on the contributions of concerned citizens like you. That is our only income.

No amount is too small. Even if you can spare only one dollar, please send it without hesitation or embarrassment, knowing that every dime of it will be spent to help free Mordechai Vanunu and to challenge nuclear secrecy. That is our pledge to you.

We are grateful to the many whose support has breathed life into this campaign. We hope we will continue to deserve your support.

Samuel H. Day, Jr., Coordinator, U.S. Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu, 2206 Fox Ave., Madison, WI 53711

Not a Peep About Billions to Israel

In my state of Pennsylvania vouchers for school choice were just voted down. The schools (public) and teachers had an all-out drive to defeat this legislation and much publicity against it was published in all newspapers. In contrast, not a peep out of the media about the $6 billion plus we give to Israel which we think is a theocracy since only some can enjoy full citizen's rights. Why hasn't this issue been addressed?

Mary and Herman Diesel, Worcester, MA

You Help Me Take Action

Your magazine fills a vacuum of news about actions and events related to the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. It helps me to determine what actions I must take here to influence American policy in the Middle East.

Ramsey Madany, Phoenix, AZ

Accurate Information Helpful

Accurate, factual information is the prerequisite for effective action and argument. The WRMEA provides this prerequisite. Thanks.

Maher Awad, Boulder, CO

My Only True Window on Events

The Washington Report is my only true window on events in the Middle East, accompanied by analysis that helps me stay informed without reading everything else in print. It also helps me form opinions about politicians in the U.S. and informs me about "the other side" and what they are up to.

Khalid Turaani, Little Rock, AR

Religious Orthodoxy

I wish to add two observations to Rachelle Marshall's timely commentary on right-wing extremists in Israel.

1) The "Orthodox Jews" (we Orthodox Christians often wonder why on earth the Jews have adopted as an adjective to describe the strictly observant among them a Christian term coined by the Greek Fathers of the Church to describe those who properly confess belief in the Trinity!) believe that God granted them fief in perpetuity over "Greater Israel." But that is precisely the propaganda message of all Zionists, not just of traditionally religious Jews. Fundamentalist evangelical Christians have bought this Zionist propaganda without being aware, apparently, that something like 70 percent or more of the Zionists are for all intents and purposes agnostics or even atheists and hardly representative of the traditional Faith of Israel!

2) In the broadest definition of the term, a "religion" is a way of life built upon one's core/highest values, for that is the one feature held in common by all the world's "Great Religions." Even though some might feel reluctant to call Enlightenment Secularism a "religion," no one can deny that Enlightenment Secularism functions as the de facto religion of millions, for it clearly supplies their values and establishes their way of life. Therefore, even that overwhelming majority of Jews who espouse Zionism and the secularist/rationalist worldview of the Enlightenment are in fact religious, indeed, fundamentalists, even though their functioning fundamentalist religion is not traditional Judaism, but rather Secularist Zionism.

Isaac Melton, St. Michael's Skete of the Monastery of the Glorious Ascension, Canones, New Mexico