January/February 1997

Letters to the Editor

Verification Needed on Stern Gang

I look forward to reading each issue of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs when my office receives its copy. I was especially intrigued by Richard Curtiss' article “Dangerous Myths About the Late Great Peace Process,” on p. 6 of the Nov./Dec. 1996 issue. I was surprised to read that during World War II Yitzhak Shamir’s Lehi (Stern Gang) “first sent an emissary to try to strike up an alliance with Hitler.” The incongruity of this episode is incredible. Could you please provide me with detailed information on who in Lehi authorized this contact, who the emissary was, what German Nazi representative met with the Lehi emissary, and place, date, purpose, and other circumstances of the meeting. Please also provide me with details of the document or other tangible source from which you derived this information, and the current location of this document. This is quite a significant statement, or accusation, and it deserves to be supported by facts.

I am looking forward to receiving your reply.

Harold E. Raugh, Jr., Ph.D., Laurel, MD

The Lehi (Stern Gang) attempt to form an alliance with the Nazis is described in a number of books covering that period. One that is available through the AET Book Club is Lenni Brenner’s Zionism in the Age of Dictators, published in the U.S. by Lawrence Hill. Brenner’s answers on pp. 266-267 to your specific questions follow: “(Avraham) Stern sent Naftali Lubentschik to Beirut, which was still controlled by Vichy, to negotiate directly with the Axis. Nothing is known of his dealings with either Vichy or the Italians, but in January 1941 Lubentschik met two Germans—Rudolf Rosen and Otto von Hentig, the philo-Zionist, who was then head of the Oriental Department of the German Foreign Office. After the war a copy of the Stern proposal for an alliance between his movement and the Third Reich was discovered in the files of the German Embassy in Turkey. The Ankara document called itself a ‘Proposal of the National Military Organization (Irgun Zvai Leumi) Concerning the Solution of the Jewish Question in Europe and the Participation of the NMO in the War on the Side of Germany.’ The Ankara document is dated 11 January 1941. At that point the Sternists still thought of themselves as the ‘real’ Irgun, and it was only later that they adopted the Fighters for the Freedom of Israel—Lohamei Herut Yisrael—appellation.” Brenner’s book also provides much of the text of the Lehi proposal and more about the organization and its subsequent assassinations, under Yitzhak Shamir’s direction, of the British Resident Minister for the Middle East, Lord Moyne, on Nov. 6, 1944 and of the U.N. special mediator on Palestine, Count Folke Bernadotte, on Sept. 17, 1948.

The fact that the statement surprised you indicates what a complete blackout has been imposed by the mainstream U.S. media on virtually all the facts surrounding the creation of Israel and the forcible dispossession of the Palestinians. The Brenner book, available for $7.95 from our catalog, is a good place to start making up for lost time.

The Late Rabbi Elmer Berger

Many more tributes to Elmer Berger will be written now that he is gone but Grace Halsell’s in your October 1996 issue has the distinction of having been read by him. I was so busy and preoccupied during the last two months of his life I don’t remember whether I wrote and told Grace Halsell that we talked about her article when he was in the hospital and that he was pleased. We didn’t know then that his illness was terminal and that hers would be one of the last articles we would ever discuss. I know I speak for him also when I say “Thank you.”

Roselle Tekiner, Sarasota, FL

Since Rabbi Berger’s death in October we have received many offers to write obituaries. In addition to the obituary by Dr. Norton Mezvinsky and the tribute by Rev. L. Humphrey Walz in our November issue, we are printing a tribute by Dr. Nasser Aruri on page 24 of this issue.

Genocide by Sanctions in Iraq

I have been trying to publicize the Genocide by Sanctions of the Iraqi people by buying and giving away (free) copies of the International Relief Association’s video, “Children of the Cradle” (Box 56, St. Clair Shores, MI 48080, (810) 772-2357) and International Action Center’s book, The Children are Dying, but....

The 300 people I have reached is insignificant to the thousands who could have been/could still be awakened to this human tragedy if the editors and publishers of the Washington Report had chosen to put a photograph of emaciated and dying Iraqi children on its cover long before 1.2 million Iraqis had died.

The cover message would be transmitted not only to subscribers, but at newsstands, book stores and library periodical reading rooms across the nation.

Are the UNICEF numbers of 10,000 Iraqi Arab children and adults dying every month not enough to motivate WRMEAto put this holocaust on its cover?

You know as well as I do that the paltry 40 percent (25 cents per person) of the proceeds from the limited sale of oil “for food and medcine” will not change the course of the genocide, but only prolong the dying period for the doomed. Only public awareness and outrage will stop this evil.

Americans have a unique propensity for “going along” with wars and government military/economic, covert/overt terrorism against powerless Third World peoples if their leader or political system has been/is sufficiently demonized.

Is it a wonder that the Palestinians are being so methodically and easily smashed under the rubic of a so-called “Peace Process”?

Joyce Bacon, Corona, CA

Your letter helped inspire both the front and back covers of this issue, to complement Robert Hazo’s article on p. 17. By our arithmetic (not our strongest subject) 40 percent of $2 billion divided among 20 million people is $40 per person per year. Clearly it’s far from enough, considering that $1,000 per person in U.S. aid per year doesn’t seem to be enough to keep body and soul together in Israel. But let’s hope that this time the U.S. runs out of excuses in the U.N., just as it’s already run out of friends and allies there, and doesn’t again derail the agreement allowing Iraq to sell $2 billion a year in petroleum to get some food and medicine moving to the Iraqis who desperately need both.

More Truth Needed About Iraq

Keep us informed of the effects of the U.S.-initiated embargo measures on the health, nutrition, mortality, economy of Iraq.

Thanks for your clear voice for truth and justice in a terribly depressing time.

Ken Scudder, San Francisco, CA

Zionism’s Half-Baked Thinking

Former (Likud) Israeli Ambassador Zalman Shoval’s article in The Washington Times (“There can never be peace with violence”) further illustrates the half-baked “thinking” that permeates Zionism and its supporters.

First, “violence” seems to have served the Zionists well in their pre-1948 days. Author Eric Silver claims that Zionist “terrorists” killed 336 British nationals during the British Mandate. (I assume this figure includes the two unarmed British sergeants hanged in a diamond factory by former Israeli Prime Minister Begin’s terrorist group, whose bodies then were “booby-trapped”!)

Second, Shoval suggests that the international law principle that a “material breach” of an agreement has occurred may legally nullify it. It doesn’t seem to occur to him that the same principle may apply as well to agreements upon which Israeli existence is based.

Can a case be made that the Israeli “annexation” of Jerusalem is a “material breach” of the U.N. resolution of Nov. 29, 1947, which established three separate entities in Palestine—a Jewish state, an Arab state, and an independent Jerusalem—thus rendering “null and void” any legitimate existence of Israel?

Further, Shoval says that “In order to succeed [in furthering the Middle East peace process], it [the United States] should never encourage a perception that it is putting pressure on Israel.”

Other countries are “pressured”—even countries such as The People’s Republic of China that are far more important in the world than Israel—but only the Israelis must not be “pressured”!

How silly! Israel has been and is being “pressured” right now—and continuously! By the difficulty in balancing the U.S. budget, for one example—and by the massive need of both Israel and the U.S. for Middle East oil, for another!

Twenty years ago a Palestinian displaying the Palestinian flag anywhere in Palestine would be imprisoned. Now they are all over the place—and thousands of Palestinians are carrying automatic weapons!

I view the Netanyahu government as much like the Hitler chancellorship in Germany—a major but nevertheless temporary setback on the path to greater democracy!

People such as Mr. Shoval should learn to “get real” if they expect ever to see the end of “anti-Semitism”!

Roger D. Leonard, Bowie, MD

Keep Up Your Fine Work

Please keep up your fine work. Here’s a little contribution to the cause.

Gerry Toy, Portland, OR

Are You Anti-British?

Of course I cannot do without the Washington Report , but regret reading some anti-British bias in some articles. Congress also passed a remarkably similar document to the Balfour Declaration, I think in 1922. His Majesty’s government, though appalling in many ways, is not “occupied” by Zionists nor are the great proportion of English people taken in by the neo-Nazis, and politicians have not sold out to them. We lost many lives trying to help the Palestinians despite U.S. betrayal.

Rita Fairchild, Marietta, GA

Actually the late British Ambassador Edward Henderson, Arabist author of This Strange Eventful History (see AET Book Club catalog starting on p. 111 of this issue) was one of the three original founders of the American Educational Trust, publisher of this magazine. He transferred his base of operations from the U.K., where for one year he directed the Council for the Advancement of Arab British Understanding (CAABU), because he concluded the problems were greater in Washington than in London. What motivated him was the fact that he served as a British officer in Palestine during and after World War II. He felt that the Palestinians, and honest British soldiers who tried to halt the theft of their nation, were betrayed by Zionists at the political level in the British government, and perhaps in the British military command structure as well. He believed they worked successfully to keep British soldiers on the spot from discovering and confiscating arms smuggled into Palestine and hidden in the Jewish kibbutzim and moshavim prior to the outbreak of fighting in 1947 and 1948.

Our Government Sell-Out

Please continue your excellent work with the Washington Report, plus your excellent books. Americans must learn how our government is selling out to Israel by providing it with our tax money and justifying this with lies and half-truths.

George Kolodzey, Philadelphia, PA

Help From Far Away

In response to your Nov. 11 appeal, I herewith enclose my check for $250. It is my modest contribution to keep your honest voice heard in the U.S.A. and everywhere.

I have recently become one of your devoted magazine readers and I am doing my best to help the continued publication of your fair viewpoints in the United States where apparently both logic and justice are missing. I wish all the best for you.

Abdulwahab W. Alkhatib, Cairo, Egypt

Flipped Out

Your magazine is just great, but one thing drives me mad: Having to flip the pages so many times to finish any article. I considered canceling my subscription just because of that. Next year I promise not to renew if you keep doing it. How much more, per printing, does it cost you to print all complete articles without this irritation? I may help with that. You have no excuses. The one reason you attempted to explain to a reader a while ago just doesn’t make sense.

Walid Nicro, Miami, FL

So we’ll explain again. We have a very limited number of four-color pages (40 in this 124-page issue) and can’t afford to use them except where we have a color photo to print. So we jump the remainder of articles that start with a color photo to black and white pages. If we tried to print the entire magazine in four-color pages we could afford to publish about two issues a year on our present budget. In our case, it’s flip or die.

Touching the Core of the Conflict

It is difficult to find any information objective enough about Israelis/Palestinians to be taken seriously. Jeune Afrique, in Paris, once in a while has the courage to articulate serious analyses of the problem. The Washington Report to its credit, from time to time, attempts to offer views and subjects which touch the core of the conflict. It is important to its Arab and Muslim readers to be exposed, at least sometimes, to the “other side.” Often, Arabs and Muslims are disappointed because their leaders, press, etc. do not realistically describe events.

Joseph Gottfried, W. Palm Beach, FL

Jeune Afrique must agree with you because from time to time they reprint for their huge audience in France, and Francophone Africa translations in French of Washington Report articles.

Thanks for Your Magazine

Your magazine is very important to me. Thanks for your excellent, informative articles.

Harry Crewson, Sebring, OH

How Do You Stop Dollar Giveaway?

I am very angry with our American government’s policy which is in complete agreement with the Israeli cause. There is enough intrusion by the Israeli PAC groups in our country. When is the infiltration of Israel sympathizers into top positions in our government going to stop? Both parties favor Israel above the needs of our own homeless and uneducated and of our children and seniors. What can be done to stop the flow of billions of our tax dollars into the coffers of the Israeli state?

Rex Volf, Tucson, AZ

In Response to Your Emergency

In response to your Nov. 1, 1996 letter of emergency, enclosed is our check in the amount of $100, of which $40 is for two gift subscriptions as indicated on the back of your letter, and $60 as a donation. We wish it were more as your publication is absolutely the best .

In a few days, addressed to the editor of WRMEA, will be copies of two recent columns by Charley Reese sent to us from East Texas. With them will be a third Reese column from Oct. 3, 1980 and my Oct. 7, 1980 reply sent to the printing newspaper. I asked that my reply be sent to him, and hope that that 1980 exchange had something to do with his “Seeing the Light.”

Thanks for all you people do.

Gip D. Oldham, Jr., Dallas, T

Charley Reese columns on the Middle East also are “the best,” and if you had a hand in his dramatic conversion on the subject of Israel and Palestine you can be very proud. Perhaps the two media recipients in Dallas and Abilene of your gift subscriptions will also see the light. We often get subscriptions from journalists who first encountered the magazine on a colleague’s desk, and got tired of sharing it.

Playing Both Sides

It is interesting to note that AIPAC, which for so long supported Bill Clinton, also contributed to the Dole campaign—just in case! They ride both sides so come out winners in either case—while we simpleton taxpayers pay out—and pay out—and pay out!

F.B., Fallbrook, CA

Volumes Blown Up

My interest in the Middle East goes back to World War II when I was stationed in the area. I had collected over 500 volumes on the area when my home and all its contents were blown up by set explosives. I’m replacing them now.

William Nierengarten, Austin, NM

Sounds like you might have a story for us. Or was the explosion not related to the concerns of us paranoids with real enemies?

My Heroes!

Thanks eternally for your excellent magazine and for the three of you! You’ll always be my heroes. Here are my subscriptions for three libraries.

Nuha Marchi, Orlando, FL

Librarians Should Make Request

Please do not send free subscriptions to any library unless you get an official request from the librarian. For years ADC gave a free Washington Report subscription to the local public library but the copies were not put into general circulation.

Rev. and Mrs. John A. Zunes, Chapel Hill, NC

You raise a good point. When we get an undesignated donation to the AET Library Endowment we use it for subscriptions (and books) only for libraries that have asked for them specifically and have sent us a signed form pledging to put them into general circulation. However, when a subscriber sends a gift subscription for a specifically designated library, we assume the donor has checked with that library and may also be keeping an eye open to see that it is displayed prominently and where it cannot be tampered with. Our experience is that most librarians are grateful for the subscription and in some areas are well aware of the problems with thieves who don’t want the magazine to be available to their fellow library patrons. At last count the Washington Report was in 4,600 public or university libraries in the U.S. alone.

Vanunu’s “Crime”

Mordechai Vanunu has spent 10 years of hell inside an Israeli jail. Vanunu’s “crime” was blowing the whistle on Israel’s then-secret nuclear program. Clinton should make it clear to the Israelis that if they want to continue receiving aid from America’s taxpayers, then the first order of business must be for them to free Mordechai Vanunu from solitary confinement.

William Hughes, Baltimore, MD

A lot of people have written President Clinton insisting that there should never be a U.S. pardon for Jonathan Pollard unless it is linked to an Israeli pardon for Mordechai Vanunu. We enjoy your columns in the Baltimore Sentinel and appreciate your keeping us informed about your new Internet address at http://home.earthlink.net.~liamhughes/

In the Face of Adversity

Please renew my subscription for three years and send the additional gift subscriptions and gift books as directed. You are doing a wonderful job in the face of adversity!

Col. Arthur Porcella, San Antonio, T

We Need You

Enclosed is my check for $20. I hope many others who can send more are doing so. We need you!

Allene Lee, Madison, WI

If every reader made just one donation over the cost of their subscription, our troubles would be over. Many thanks.

More About Christians Needed

We would appreciate a little more on the Christians in the Middle East.

Mennonite Central Committee, Ontario, Canada

Your wish is our command. Start with this issue’s inside front cover, proceed to Reverend Walz’s column on p. 73, and stay tuned.

The Remark Makes Me Angry

There were a great many articles in your Oct. ’96 issue which I read thoroughly and with great enthusiasm, but the one which has prompted me to write was the “Invitation and Guide to the Holy Land” by Rev. L. Humphrey Walz, on p. 64. In the opening paragraph he refers to a conference in Rio de Janeiro at which Father Elias Chacour of the Galilee pleaded for help to stem the exodus of native Christians from Israel. Later Fr. Chacour includes West Bank Christians in this tragic exodus.

On a certain level that remark makes me very angry and I’ll tell you why. My husband is a Christian from Bethlehem. We have been married for five years now and since the day of our wedding we have seen nothing but a steady erosion of our rights. Five years ago there was no checkpoint at the entrance to Bethlehem; now there is a permanent one.

Five years ago my husband had access to Jerusalem. It has been nine months now since he has been “allowed” to enter Jerusalem or Israel. Five years ago West Bank cars were allowed into Israel; now it is virtually impossible to come in by car. When the checkpoint was first erected everyone except young men under the age of, say, 28 were allowed to pass. Now old men and women, women with small children, and even foreigners (including myself, an American citizen) are routinely turned back from the checkpoint and told we are not “allowed.”

My two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, who was born with a rare congenital heart malformation, no longer has dependable access to her cardiologist in East Jerusalem and my four-year-old has already missed countless days from her East Jerusalem kindergarten this year because of the arbitrary closure. In March, when the closure was first imposed and my husband was no longer able to get to work, I very fortunately found work at two different centers of archaeological research in Jerusalem and for a time I was able to pass freely because of my foreign passport.

That is no longer the case. Because I do not have a tourist visa I am supposed to consider myself a West Bank resident with the same restriction of rights. Now, when neither my husband nor I can get to work any longer, when my children are refused standard schooling and medical care, when we are no longer “allowed” to pursue even the most basic necessities of life—what do Father Chacour and his fellow church officials recommend we do?

My husband has endured incredible suffering on behalf of this idea that Christians must not abandon the Holy Land. Why must he endure these feelings of guilt and betrayal as well that the Church imposes upon him? How much more do we have to suffer? How much more must we sacrifice before it is enough? Like Christians anywhere, we have a responsibility to feed our children. We have a responsibility to provide them with a future.

This has been an extremely difficult year for us financially and emotionally, and there are no signs that things will improve. On the contrary, with regard to the present government, no one is optimistic that the situation will do anything but deteriorate further, in which case we will have no choice but to leave.

I just wish the Church would let us make our decision without contributing any further to our sense of guilt. We may be turning our backs on the Holy Land, but governments and Churches the world over have also turned their backs on us. We can endure no more.

George and Alison Nassar, Bethlehem

Box 32143 Jerusalem, Israel

Like you, we find it incomprehensible that Christian ministers almost everywhere in the United States and Canada are afraid to speak out against the open and vindictive persecution of Christians in the Holy Land. What are they afraid of? How can they reconcile the fact that their tax dollars and those of their congregants and parishioners are being used by the government of Israel to pay for this persecution of Christian and Muslim Palestinians, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Jews, to their great credit, stood up to be counted when their co-religionists were being persecuted in the former Soviet Union. Bravo! Muslims, to their great credit, speak out openly and often for the Muslim and Christian Palestinians in their Friday services. Bravo! Christian ministers, or 90 percent of them, not only turn the other cheek when their co-religionists are persecuted, but often ignore or ostracize the few brave Christian ministers who dare to speak out. Shame, shame, shame!

The Renegade Zionists

You are the best—the one good source of news from the Middle East and the Muslim world. We worked in the oil fields in Iran for six years (1956-62), and in Saudi Arabia for seven (1978-85). I served with Montgomery’s 21st Army as a platoon sergeant in the U.S 84th Division Infantry. I considered the renegade Zionists who helped the Hitler war effort against Britain to be our enemy. The 1967 attack on the USS Liberty only renewed my opinion.

John Cazort, Jr., Springfield, MO

I Am Outraged!

I am neither Muslim nor Jewish and I am outraged that U.S. policy is aiding Israel in treating the Palestinians as the U.S. government has and does treat Native Americans—taking their land, water and homes and making them prisoners in small areas, while claiming that the newer people have a higher purpose in making “better” use of these resources, obtained by armed power. You, WRMEA, must keep us informed of events in Washington and Israel so that we can try to get the billions back home to construct a U.S. safety-net for neglected U.S. mothers and children and for health-care delivery.

Anonymous, Berkeley, CA

Your outrage might be more effective if you let us use your name. What good are 250 million outraged Americans if so few dare act or speak out publicly?

In the Information Age

We live in an age where a tremendous amount of communication and technology information is made available to us, though much of that information is totally dependent on the editing and bias of the producers of that information.

Where the Middle East is concerned, one of the issues in particular, Palestinian disenfranchisement, has been totally ignored and neglected by us as a country, primarily due to the feverish attempt by the Lobby and the media to stifle the Palestinian point of view.

I am grateful to the Washington Report for providing many of us with documented information that clearly offers another point of view. I applaud your courageous efforts and hope your magazine will always be available to us. Thank you.

Farida Sweezy, Charlotte, NC

We, too, hope the magazine will always be available and are greatly encouraged by the magnificent public response to this year’s funding appeal. Maybe we really are here to stay after all, after our closest brush yet with bankruptcy.

Your Good Work

We need your truth-telling. I wish my donation could be more. Keep up your good work. Thank you.

Martha Katz, Youngstown, OH

A True and Complete Source

Thank God for the Washington Report. It’s our number one source for a true and complete report on what is going on in the Middle East and Washington. Keep up the good work.

Paul Wagner, Bridgeville, PA

Honey and Onions

I received a copy of the Washington Report with your review of my book about life in Saudi Arabia, Honey and Onions, and I was certainly much more than pleased! What a glowing review and how kind of you to give it so much space. The whole magazine was quite exceptional—particularly interesting was the Princess litigation. I had heard rumors of this about a year ago from a friend in London who sent a small clipping from the Times. I am constantly plagued with questions about this nutty book and I’m going to start handing out reprints of your article, with your permission, to substantiate my comments.

I am, of course, most anxious to know how my book has been going and what the response has been to your publicity. It is selling well here in the bookstores and I have been doing talks and book signings too. Ambassador Suddarth has asked me to do one in Washington for the Middle East Institute on May 14, 1997 and I’m genuinely looking forward to that. I would like to know if and when you might need another shipment of books. Right now we’re looking ahead to a second printing.

Many thanks for your splendid support.

Frances M. Meade, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Readers have blanket permission to reproduce or reprint Washington Report articles, except those we’ve reprinted in “Other Voices.” Regarding your book, you’d better hurry with the second printing. We may soon run out.

An Interesting Article

Enclosed is a fine Op-Ed by Sylvie Drake, a Sephardic Jew reared in Egypt, printed in the Denver Post. I hope you will see fit to publish it with “Other Voices.”

Valerie Vaughan, Denver, CO

You’ll find it in this issue’s “Other Voices,” starting on p. 103. Although we think Ms. Drake is a bit naive about David Ben-Gurion and Golda Meir, presumably because she is younger than we are (isn’t everybody?), we certainly agree with her constructive and conciliatory outlook about the need for peace, as in the past, between Jews and Arabs. Thanks for alerting us.

This Letter Qualifies

I am taking advantage of your invitation to Mr. Bodnar (p. 3 of the November issue) to send you copies of “Letters to the Editor” sent to newspapers which do not print such letters. The enclosed letter qualifies. The reporting of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer has become more objective since Netanyahu’s election, but letters about the Mideast are almost a thing of the past. However, including the enclosure with this letter is only to save postage.

My chief concern is that I have sent you money for the past several years, but this year your appeals for help seem even more frantic than usual. Your continual flirting with bankruptcy bothers me. You say your printer does not want to keep your business because you can’t pay your print bills. That worries me because the threat is that you will be forced out of business. Read your “Letters” and see how many people in addition to me will be devastated.

Not having access to your figures, I can only surmise the specific actions you should take. However, one guess is when you increased the size from about 100 to 140 pages, you went beyond your ability to pay. In addition to the financial aspect, your magazine would be improved by reducing it back to the 100-page level. I find it very hard to read that much. There is too much material which is not significant. Size does not determine quality. Setting priorities, sharpening your focus can make the magazine even more useful than it is now...especially when the alternative may be to go out of business.

A worried subscriber, John S O’Connor, Seattle, WA

Your letter to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer is in “Other People’s Mail.” We thank you for your continued financial support and, with this issue, have started cutting back on size, at least until our advertising support grows larger.

Pro-Israel St. Louis

I’m sorry we cannot donate more. We are on a fixed income. Your organization is the best and most American in this country. Here, in St. Louis, almost everyone is pro-Israel. I’ve spoken to people from the Christian Coalition and tried to sway them, but to no avail. I pray that you get a group here in St. Louis that we can meet with. God bless you and your great efforts.

Alfred M. Martinelli, St. Louis, MO

All I Can Give

This is all I can afford to donate now. Please ask again! Thank you for your good work.

Nahida H. Gordon, Wooster, OH

Normally we mail out only one fund-raising solicitation per year—unlike nearly all other non-profits. However, we’ll mull over your kind offer to “please ask again.”

An Important Magazine

Yours is by far the most important magazine that comes to our home. It is excellently produced and totally believable.

Drs. J. and E. DeBoer, Albuquerque, NM

Light From Eastern Windows

Enclosed is a check in the amount of $60 for a subscription to the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. As controversy continues to be high in the Middle East, I’ve grown more and more dependent on your publication to help me figure out what is really going on. In Malaysia, some of the anti-Muslim bias gets screened out but the “news 4" still comes from the same Western media giants. We still don’t seem to get to hear the voices of the victims of aggression and repression. If I could, I would pay for a subscription for at least one key newspaper and television station (and maybe one for the prime minister). They are obviously in need of really knowing more about the critical issues published in your magazine.

I hope it’s possible to begin this subscription as soon as possible. I managed to have a friend send past issues. I don’t want to miss the next issue if at all possible. Thank you for doing such valuable work.

Zulnaidi Bin Ismail, Terengganu Darul Imam, Malaysia

Your subscription has begun. We’re sorry subscriptions are so expensive overseas, but the postage kills us. If any reader can figure out a less expensive way for us to serve subscribers in Europe, Asia and Latin America, it would be a tremendous boost to the cause of truth. But please don’t suggest the Internet. We’re already there. (See our ad on p. 121.)

Do You Have Accurate Figures?

I have just finished reading God Has Ninety-Nine Names, by Judith Miller, an interesting book with much material. I am disturbed, however, by her cavalier dismissal of the intifada and obvious lack of sympathy for the 29-year ordeal of Palestinians in the occupied territories. On page 380 she asserts that “[Hamas] proved more deadly to Palestinians than Israelis,” responsible for the murder of 750-950 Arabs in the territories, accused, falsely in most cases, of collaborating with Israel.

This seems excessive; does anyone have accurate figures?

Bernice L. Youtz, Olympia, WA

We’ve already reviewed the book in our July issue, but we’ll put your question to our readers. Meanwhile, let’s not forget that it was the Israeli government that clandestinely helped Hamas establish itself in the occupied territories in an effort to weaken the PLO and the intifada. It was only when Hamas got out of hand that the Israelis started to fear it and fight it.

Cal Thomas, Christian Likudnik

My letter to The Orlando Sentinel was published today. It called attention to the fact that Mr. Thomas is a dedicated propagandist for unlimited perpetual “aid” to Israel who exhibits undying love for the Likud Party. My letter to the Sentinel was published exactly as written. As a rule they heavily edit them.

Please keep up your outstanding work. You are a rare jewel in the American press with your fairness.

Ted Byrd, Merritt Island, FL

You might even call us a “solitaire,” unfortunately.

In Flagrante Delicto

For the past six or seven years Joseph-Beth, a bookstore in Lexington, has been selling the Washington Report on a part-time basis. I say part-time because I can only find it there about half the time. When I am able to find one or two copies, they are covered up.

You will be happy to know that the most recent issue was an exception. The magazines were on prominent display. In checking back (and we did six times), I found them in the same position. A part-time clerk told me that she thought the library article in the April issue sort of “shook them up.” Wish I could send you more than the enclosed check.

Welby Campbell, Frankfort, KY

Thanks to watchdogs like you and your friends in libraries and newsstands across the nation, a lot of librarians and clerks have become conscious of how some of their patrons, or even lone ranger librarians with a separate agenda, are trying to deprive others of their First Amendment rights by concealing, stealing or removing copies of this magazine from the shelves. If you catch one in flagrante delicto we’re ready to join you in pressing charges. Stealing or hiding magazines to suppress information denies freedom of information to others.