Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, January/February 1998, Pages 3, 106-110

Letters to (and from) the Editor

Comments and Venting to Come

I have thoroughly enjoyed your magazine since picking up one while working in Jerusalem in 1994 and 1995. I also lived in the Bethlehem area for nine years, starting in 1980. My wife, who is Palestinian, and I are again moving back to Bethlehem, or Beit Sahour to be exact, so I hope to continue to receive the Washington Report there.

Although I'm not able to support the magazine beyond subscriptions, I am thinking about attempting to write something for you to use if you wish. Since Jabal Abu Ghneim is almost in my backyard there, you might soon receive one of my comments, or ventings, on the situation there.

Duane Rogers, Tacoma, WA

We'll be ready, so vent away!

Peace Process in Regression

Having recently visited occupied Palestine, it pains me to tell you that the so-called "peace process" is not merely stalled but actually in regression. While polemicists and political pundits may cite a myriad of reasons for this state of affairs, all honest observers agree that the chief obstacle to peace in the Middle East today is an attitude of many Israelis that they can have both peace and territory. This attitude is best embodied by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his extremist government which is quite hostile to the very concept of land-for-peace—the core of any feasible settlement between Arabs and Israelis.

Since becoming prime minister, Netanyahu has done everything within his power to retard the peace process and even kill it. He has built more illegal Jewish settlements on stolen Arab land, demolished dozens of Palestinian homes, undermined the structures of both Christian and Muslim holy places by building a tunnel under them, started a Jewish-only neighborhood on confiscated Palestinian land in Jerusalem and sanctioned untold dastardly deeds by his Shin Bet (internal security) thugs. Furthermore, he even went as far as expanding a project already under way of building highways for Jews only. In essence Israel is setting up an apartheid system reminiscent of the racist political-economic structure that existed under the former South African regime. Netanyahu was able to do all of this and more because of the silence of the impotent Arab regimes and the acquiescence of the U.S. leadership to the Israeli lobby. But Netanyahu is sadly mistaken if he thinks or even dreams that he can have even a semblance of peace without justice for the Palestinians.

It behooves our secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, to remind Netanyahu that the tail does not wag the dog but rather the other way around. And to drive her point home, she ought to tell him that American aid, without which Israel cannot survive, will be cut off unless he cooperates in the interest of peace. It is incumbent on all of us to call upon our congressmen and our president to do what is right in the Middle East rather than do what is politically expedient. If we remain silent, we will all lose.

Ali J. Abed, Yorktown, VA

An Intellectual Lightweight?

Permit me to join those who believe that our new secretary of state, Dr. Madeleine K. Albright, is an intellectual "lightweight," and to tell you why I so believe:

In 1984 Dr. Albright acted as foreign policy adviser to the Walter Mondale presidential campaign. During the question period after one of her presentations in that category I asked her for Mondale's "rationale" for his advocating moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. (We all know the real reason, but I wanted to hear her "explanation.")

She glared down at me and snapped: "Mr. Mondale believes a country has the right to place its capital wherever it wants in its own territory!"

So, if the "Madam" hadn't yet "discovered her Jewish roots," in the autumn of 1984, she certainly gave a good imitation of the hard-core Zionist!

Roger D. Leonard, Bowie, MD

The Greatest Secretary of State in History?

Looking at the two-full-page reprint of Madeleine Albright's "Remarks" on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process in the Aug. 8 New York Times gives the impression that she is the greatest secretary of state in U.S. history. I am a 1948 Palestinian refugee who was driven out of Arab Jaffa in April 1948 together with my immediate family and scores of friends and acquaintances. The city was evacuated of its Palestinian population three weeks before the end of the British rule in Palestine. My brothers and sisters suffered the same fate in Haifa and West Jerusalem. All of us lost our properties, our possessions, our professions and careers, plus the trauma of becoming nobody in a foreign and sometimes hostile environment.

Ms. Albright condemns terrorism, which is understandable. However, there is no hint in her statement concerning the desperation which can drive a young man to such action as suicide irrespective of religious belief. The sad part of this is that, as in wars, the bombing victims are usually innocent individuals.

In fairness to Ms. Albright, she has managed to include a mild criticism of Netanyahu's "facts on the ground" and implicitly suggests that he should "do more than ask whether an action is technically legal." Where is the legality, technical or otherwise, which enabled Israel to annex Jerusalem and to defy world opinion through a U.S. veto? What legal right, technical or otherwise, justified the building of hundreds of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and Gaza both by Labor and the Likud governments? The same question can be asked regarding the diversion of Palestinian water, the demolition of Palestinian homes, etc. All these measures were and continue to be in violation of U.N. Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 and the 1949 Geneva Convention, to say nothing of U.N. General Assembly resolutions.

Then what happened to General Assembly Resolution 194 (III), which called upon Israel to allow the return of the 1948 refugees or compensate those who chose not to return? German and European Jews have been receiving compensation from Germany for the past 50 years while Palestinian refugees were left to rot in refugee camps. An American Jew goes to Jerusalem and immediately acquires Israeli citizenship, whereas a Palestinian born in Jerusalem is expelled because he acquired U.S. citizenship. A Palestinian from Jerusalem who was forced to become an Israeli citizen in 1968 following the annexation of East Jerusalem still is denied title to his home in West Jerusalem because Israeli logic dictates that he was absent from that home in 1948.

Through racist policies and to eliminate any sense of guilt for crimes against the Palestinians, the Israelis have been desensitized regarding the human nature and qualities of the Palestinian people. A typical example is the outrageous statement by Golda Meir that the Palestinians did not exist. Of course the language gap and other factors have enabled the Israelis to monopolize the American public.

In conclusion, I can find no consolation in Ms. Albright's statement. Israel has never followed the law technically or otherwise and I do not expect it will in the future. For political expediency the U.S. has condoned and even blessed some of Israel's most atrocious and illegal actions, and history will be a judge of that. My greatest fear is that the much desired peace in the Middle East, even if realized, may not survive for any length of time.

Shukri Salameh, New York, NY

Who is a Terrorist?

Madeleine Albright's comments about terrorism and security in her effort to salvage the peace process in the Middle East, prompt one to ask, "Who is a terrorist?"

Consider an individual whose family members or friends are incarcerated by an occupying force, who sees homes demolished by the army, discovers relatives killed in air attacks, finds family land usurped to build homes for settlers, who finds no standing army or "international community" to defend his rights, faces the grim choice to submit to oppression, or oppose it. In the grip of such a tyranny, he single-handedly attacks the supporters of this "state terrorism" in a desperate suicide act. Pictures of the dead and injured become front-page news.

Is this person a courageous liberation fighter or a coward for refusing to live under oppression? Is he a hero or a terrorist? How would Ms. Albright label such Palestinians?

On the opposite side, you have a trained fighter pilot who goes on a bombing mission attacking towns, villages, even refugee camps. Such sorties are undertaken quite frequently. The dead and the injured civilians run into the hundreds, but these don't make the front pages. The human suffering is simply dismissed as "collateral damage."

Is this person a courageous liberation fighter, a coward, a hero, or a terrorist? How would Ms. Albright label such Israelis? Furthermore, because such a bombing mission, unlike that of the lone suicide bomber, is undertaken with full government involvement, does it make all Israelis guilty of civilian deaths?

Then you have settlers, armed and supported by the government, taking over expropriated Palestinian land, constantly harassing the population under occupation, and even going on shooting sprees as Baruch Goldstein did on kneeling worshippers in a Hebron mosque. Again, how would Ms. Albright label such Israelis? As courageous liberation fighters, cowards or terrorists?

Can governments or organizations conscript or train suicide bombers or are they the product of relentless oppression, under the control of nobody, moved only by the will to refuse to submit to oppression? Ms. Albright might be wise to consider whether "security" is attained by demanding the Palestinian Authority clamp down on Palestinians, which would further increase their oppression, or by asking the Israelis to end their tyranny over Palestinian people and thereby remove the primary motivation for suicide bombings.

There will be no peace unless the Israelis, and peace-loving Jews around the world, face the painful facts and try to understand the "motivation" behind acts of suicide bombing. The fact is, only countries which do not have oppression have peace and security. If Ms. Albright seeks to examine the problems without prejudice, introducing fairness and justice, then there is hope that the peace process can be salvaged. On the other hand, if she sees the issues only through Netanyahu's eyes, her effort is doomed, and both Palestinians and Israelis will be the losers. That would indeed be a tragedy.

Ahmed Motiar, Thornhill, Ont., Canada

The Same Judge Silberman?

On p. 121 of the Oct./Nov. 1997 issue of the Washington Report, it is reported that Judge Laurence Silberman was instrumental in expediting the lawsuit that seven persons—six now living—had filed in federal court which would force AIPAC to reveal the sources of its political money.

In the Jan./Feb. issue, you wrote an article on this matter with no mention of Judge Silberman's role in this suit. Why the silence then, and why the revelation now?

Is this the same Laurence H. Silberman who conspired with the likes of Richard Allen and Robert McFarlane in an effort to delay the release of American hostages in Iran, in return for promises of American weapons for the Iranian army?

Is this the same Judge Silberman who helped to overturn the conviction of Lt. Col. Oliver North?

According to Judge Lawrence E. Walsh's book, Firewall, p. 260, President George Bush was handed a list of four persons to fill a vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court. Judge Silberman's name was on that list. "According to published reports," writes Judge Walsh, "when President Bush received the list, he crossed Silberman's name out. Clarence Thomas received the appointment."

I wonder if President Bush's decision had any bearing on the suit against AIPAC. What gives?

Charles R. Denton, Manchester, NH

This is the same Laurence Silberman who attended, along with Republicans Richard Allen and Robert McFarlane, a meeting with an Iranian in Washington, DC prior to the 1980 election. From subsequent accounts, both of this meeting and other meetings that apparently took place between Iranians and other Republicans, including the late William Casey, we have concluded that any discussion of delaying the release of the American Embassy hostages in Tehran until after the 1980 election contest between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan did not take place at the Washington meeting attended by Judge Silberman. However, that does not rule out such discussions at other meetings in Paris and Madrid, where Judge Silberman was not a participant. We see no connection between the 1980 event and the suit against AIPAC, which was filed in 1989.

Mirass-e-Iran

I have enclosed a copy of Mirass-e-Iran, a magazine which will provide your institution with a refreshing and new source of material regarding the Persian community here and abroad. This quarterly publication is published by Persian Heritage, Inc., 110 Passaic Ave., Passaic, NJ 07055, tel. (201) 471-4283.

Unlike other Persian journals, Persian Heritage is non-political and non-religious and is printed in English and Farsi. Persian Heritage presently reaches more than 75,000 homes, universities, bookstores and businesses in the United States. I hope that you will consider making Persian Heritage part of your library shelf.

Haleh Nia, Passaic, NJ

We find your quarterly magazine very impressive, with some 60 pages in English and 96 pages in Farsi. Some of our readers may want to subscribe at $12 per year in the U.S. or $24 for foreign addresses.

The Demonization of Islam

Having lived in Iran for 10 years—and returning in '91 after the Bush War—I maintain an active interest in the Gulf region. I would actually like more in-depth coverage of the area. Your articles on Iranian elections were very brief. I am heartsick at the demonization of Islam and Middle Easterners in general and also the lack of support for more creative peacemaking efforts. We need to think bigger!

Ann Huntwork, Portland, Or

We were pleased with our coverage of the Iranian elections, since we came up with five different views despite the fact that we have been unable to find a correspondent there and couldn't reach any Iranian government spokesperson in either Washington or New York, where there are Iranian consular and diplomatic missions. Anyway, we keep trying on Iran and are happy that people care.

Congratulations to M.M. Ali

I would like to commend M.M. Ali on his article "Fifty Years of India and Pakistan: Dual Histories of Lost Opportunities" (Oct./Nov., 1997), which was an insightful analysis of the realities of the Indian subcontinent 50 years after partition. One fact that needs to be mentioned as well is the tragedy of Kashmir, which continues to be under military occupation 50 years after the Union Jack ceased its waving in the capital of the British Raj, New Delhi.

Although India prides itself as the world's greatest democracy, it does not apply democratic principles with respect to Kashmir. Just ask the ordinary citizens of that beautiful valley what the "golden anniversary" of independence has brought to them? The answer is occupation, repression, detention, starvation, etc. An excellent presentation of the modern realities of Kashmir can be found in William W. Baker's Kashmir: Happy Valley, Valley of Death (Las Vegas, NV: Defender's Publications, 1994). Baker is one of the few Westerners who has had the courage to venture into this dangerous region in recent years and explain to the world the crying and pleading for justice by the Kashmiri people.

I appreciate your publication for presenting thought-provoking articles on the Indian subcontinent. Although I was born and raised a Hindu, I have come to accept the teachings of Jesus Christ and seek to apply His simple teachings with respect to the betterment of India, the land of my birth.

Srinidhi Anantharamiah, Brandon, MS

Politics Has No Religion

As my grandfather once admonished me, "Politics has no religion," to which I would add, "especially in Israel."

In the run up to the Israeli elections Binyamin Netanyahu capitalized on the issue of security and the attacks of Hamas. He said he would not meet Yasser Arafat and that he would not shake the hand of a "terrorist." From the moment he took office, Binyamin Netanyahu has placed a question mark on the prospects and future of the peace process. Throughout, however, King Hussein of Jordan gave him the benefit of the doubt.

Netanyahu soon realized that Israel, as well as the rest of the world, wanted results. Faced with the contentious issue of Hebron and the implementation of the Declaration of Principles of Peace (the Oslo agreement) Netanyahu unleashed a new policy—one that contradicted international law—the redrafting of the Declaration of Principles. However, King Hussein salvaged the peace negotiations and the Hebron obstacle was removed. In turn the publicity that was generated in the media carved a refined image of Netanyahu—no longer the iron fist. Ostensibly, the Hebron agreement produced two developments in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

Arafat realized that the ball was in his court...just not on his terms! Either he accepts the offer on the table or he gets the short end of the stick. The "success" of the Hebron agreement rehabilitated Netanyahu's image while it weakened Arafat. Realizing that he had deviated from the traditional hard-line Likud, Netanyahu then authorized the building of the Har Homa Jewish settlement at Jabal Abu Ghneim. Consequently, the building of settlements brought the peace process to the brink once more.

Netanyahu seems to be, at best, proof that politics has no religion. The situation in his cabinet is fluid. At no time in Israeli history has there been a more divided and disunited government in power. From setting financial strategy in Israel to addressing the recent Hamas bombing, Netanyahu falls short of being a credible statesman. His word is nothing more than a sound bite.

King Hussein once again tried to provide a window of opportunity and room to maneuver; yet Netanyahu showed no flexibility in his narrow-minded and uncompromising policy—that is, if he has a policy. Unlike his predecessors, Netanyahu has not fought in a Middle Eastern war, does not respect the sanctity of human life and does not comprehend that it is easier to wage war than it is to secure peace.

Perhaps worst of all is that Netanyahu has miserably failed to appreciate Jordan's input into the peace process. He has not honored the peace treaty that was signed between the two states. Implementation of a number of articles of the treaty are outstanding and sadly enough he has not exhibited appreciation of nor gratitude for the persevering role of King Hussein.

Indeed, my grandfather's words still resonate within me. Politics has no religion. Binyamin Netanyahu is the proof.

Massoud Derhally, Masters Student in International Studies and Diplomacy, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, London, England.

Continuing Arrogant Actions

Thanks againfor continuing to do such a great job of keeping your readers correctly informed. Your balanced reporting is unequaled in the U.S.

I thought you might find the attached article from Aviation Week & Space Technology on Detroit engineer David Tenenbaum who says he "inadvertently" passed classified information to Israel for 10 years interesting and amusing. To date that magazine has not seen fit to publish my comments on its article.

Also, Rod Driver's article in USA Today (3/19/97) is an eyewitness account of the Israeli government's continuing arrogant actions and atrocities.

Keep up the superb job at WRMEA!

R. L. Gabler, Houston, TX

We're printing both your letter on David Tenenbaum and Rod Driver's on Israeli land seizures from West Bank Palestinians in "Other People's Mail" starting on page 57 of this issue.

We Need You

With a secretary of state (Albright) who thinks Hamas is the worst enemy of the Palestinians, we need the Washington Report as never before. Albright is the most ignorant secretary of state we have had.

Ray E. Stewart, Richmond, IN

We're inclined to agree that she started the job apparently blissfully unaware that the party line she preached at the U.N. was purely for public consumption and in fact was hogwash. By now Mr. Netanyahu has taught her a few things by horrible example. The question is whether she will begin to pressure President Clinton for beneficial changes in U.S. Mideast policies, as she did from the U.N. where she advocated changes in U.S. Bosnian policy. Or will she follow the example of George Shultz and Warren Christopher, reveling in the trappings of power while letting U.S. national interest and credibility go down the tube?

Clinton Aides Scuttling Peace

I'm forwarding to you a letter to the editor of the International Herald Tribune which I was writing when I tried to reach you in August when you were on vacation. I wanted to ask you for examples of the curious strands of support between the Israeli right and the Palestinian and Arab fanatics. In the end....well, you'll see how I handled it. All of this was occasioned by the spate of pieces recently on Arafat/Netanyahu contretemps.

We are into another of those strange periods we've witnessed before, when the U.S. president is misserved by aides who fail to warn of the agenda of the Israeli right (now sitting in the seat of the PM) and its inexorable consequences, and thus tacitly contribute to the slide toward conflict. In this particular case, it's a little more disturbing to me than it has been in the past, because in the process, these aides are also scuttling the first real opportunity for peace in the region since 1954.

That these individuals are also misserving the State of Israel (and that is the character of their relationship) does not seem to occur to them. Or if it does, they haven't the personal courage to stand out, and to risk the ire and reaction of the institutionalized "friends of Israel" in America, and the Netanyahu regime.

Stephen Green, Rome, Italy

We've reprinted your letter to the Herald Tribune in "Other People's Mail," starting on p. 57.

Photo Worthy of a Cover

Thank you for your truly great magazine. With the Oct./Nov. 1997 issue you have surpassed yourselves, not only with reports of, and intelligent commentary on, the latest developments, but also with articles on the new and old canards which so many people accept as common knowledge but which never were, are not now and never will be true.

Coincidentally, on the same day your latest issue arrived here, our local paper (a Gannett newspaper) ran a picture of a Palestinian toddler standing and crying amid the wreckage of his family's house. (I enclose a photocopy.)

I was surprised to see such a picture therein because the paper takes the standard "only stable democracy in the Middle East/strategic asset/loyal friend and ally busy making the desert bloom whose security the U.S. is morally bound to guarantee under all contingencies" line of parrotry when it bothers to report on the region at all. (Their admittedly infrequent editorials always seem to me to have been written by someone with all the knowledge, expertise and background depth of a person who once read Exodus—probably in college—and keeps up to date with the Middle East by reading AIPAC's Near East Report.)

But presumably an editor decided to use this picture of the toddler because it is a stunning photo. I thought the caption should have read "Your tax dollars at work." Perhaps you could get the rights to this picture for one of your covers. It would, I am sure, occasion an even bigger impact than the current cover with the little girl.

I am enclosing a further gift which—you must be tired of hearing this mantra—I wish could be more. Maybe in the future I can do better.

We do appreciate the honor, integrity, courage, dedication and selflessness (among other virtues) with which you share your knowledge. Thanks again for everything.

Karen Ray Bossmeyer, Louisville, KY

Thanks for your gift, kind words and tip about the photo. Indeed it was shocking and we selected it for the December issue's cover, one of the best in our 16-year history. Without your letter we wouldn't have known of the photo's existence. Readers would be amazed at how many ideas, photos, tips, etc. come from our readers. Wish there were time and space to give credit to all of them, besides our financial angels whose names we DO list (see p. 150 of this issue).

Alhamdillah!

I saw Bob Dole very much in the spotlight with Madeleine Albright this week. It's comforting to know that she isn't shy about asking for help, but it makes me wonder why we pay her a salary.

On a lighter note, I watched the opening ceremonies of George Bush's library on Kuwait TV. It's all they've been thinking about in Kuwait this week, especially with Iraq flexing its muscles. When Clinton told the audience that he called Bush for counsel, the translator sighed in relief and said in a low voice—"Alhamdillah" ("Thank God")!

I'm an appreciative subscriber.

Kay Whitecotton, Riverton, WY

"H" for "Hypocrisy"

The December cover photo of little Mohamed Ali Abu-Swai crying among the ruins of his home destroyed by Israeli Jews supported by American Jews makes me want to spray-paint a huge "H" for "Hyprocrisy" across the front of the Holocaust Museum in nearby Washington, DC—after first vomiting!

If little Mohamed Ali grows up to be a suicide bomber, should anyone be surprised? Israel's deliberate destruction of Arab homes without provision for alternate shelter is not only showing contempt for the Arabs that it governs, it is showing contempt for world opinion and even for fundamental Jewish values—as the late Yitzhak Rabin feared would happen.

With regard to the "memorial" around the grave of Dr. Baruch Goldstein, who killed 29 Palestinian men and boys while they were at prayer—would such a "memorial" to a German who killed Jews be permitted in today's Germany? I doubt it very much.

Roger D. Leonard, Bowie, MD

Were Athletes Soldiers Too?

I just sent the enclosed letter to our Prez. Another 32 cents shot to h—l. The only response I am likely to get will be from the FBI.

As long as I am spending this 32 cents, however, I may as well see if I can get something in return. Recent news items regarding the anniversary of the "Munich massacre" of 1972 roused a long-dormant question in my mind. The Israeli wrestlers were always portrayed as innocent victims of terror, but I dimly remember at the time hearing one of them, a coach or trainer I believe, referred to with a military rank.

And I wonder—those men were healthy and of military age. I would imagine that most of them, at least, were either on active duty or in the IDF reserves. Does anyone there know where I might find out the military status and records of service of these individuals? It seems likely that at least some of them took part in the Six-Day War and others might have performed occupation duties in the West Bank or Gaza. It would be interesting to know.

Please thank Ms. Hanley for the books and for the past editions of WRMEA. Reading several years' worth of WRMEA in a short time gives one a good feeling for the ebb and flow of events. But it is somehow depressing to see how hopes have been repeatedly raised only to be blasted by some new bout of lunacy or cowardice on the part of our "leaders."

Jack C. McMonigle, Edgewater, FL

We'll leave the question about the military status of the Israelis killed at Munich to our readers. You'll find your letter to President Clinton (slightly abridged and toned down, since you really were pretty angry when you wrote it) in this issue's "Other People's Mail" starting on p. 57.

My Corrections

I have been a subscriber for many years and sometimes fear to read the magazine to avoid boiling with rage at the way the Palestinians are being treated by Israel while the world remains silent.

No doubt other readers have pointed out that the Nashashibi family is Muslim, not Christian, as are the Husseinis and their related Khalidis.

Regarding your earlier article, "Vignettes From Jerusalem the Golden," I can assure you Bertha Vester was not an anti-Semite because she was not anti-anything, only pro-herself!

Her mother was the daughter of an impecunious Norwegian carpenter and her father so poor that when she and her husband and followers were invited to stay in my maternal grandfather's house in Chicago, the womenfolk went by streetcar while the menfolk followed on foot, unable to pay the streetcar fare.

The result of my grandfather's generosity was to have his congregation alienated by Mrs. Spafford, who claimed she had direct contact with God and who persuaded my grandfather and his congregations in Chicago and Nas, Sweden, to sell their possessions and travel to Jerusalem to wait the coming of our Lord in 1900!

Although your publication is like a "lone voice crying in the wilderness," it is encouraging that it exists at all and I wish you every success.

John Larsson, Stockholm, Sweden

Let's hope the most exciting thing that happens in the year of our Lord 2000 is that all the attendant computer problems are solved.

Spread "The Light"

Thank you for your letter dated July 10, 1997 regarding my donation and the distribution of 100 copies of Seeing the Light. Enclosed please find my check dated Oct. 5, 1997 drawn in favor of AET for the amount of U.S. $1,600 for the distribution to American recipients of your choice.

Assuring you of my support,

Mohammad F. Al Husseini, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

P.S. Your publisher's story about Jewish and Arab cemeteries in 1957 was especially moving. Keep up the good work.

A Clarification of Remarks

This letter is a clarification of my participation with Mr. Richard Curtiss and Dr. Agha Saeed in Seattle, July 20, 1997, regarding political involvement of the Seattle American Muslim Alliance. Some important points were omitted in the account in the Oct./Nov. 1997 issue of the Washington Report.

1. A resolution was passed by the Washington State Democratic Convention with 3,000 delegates in 1988 calling for a Palestinian state alongside Israel and negotiations under international auspices and also for self-determination. That resolution was adopted by acclamation as I negotiated this resolution with a Jewish group, which also called at the same time for international and secure borders for Israel.
   
   
2. In June 1990, during a Washington State Democratic Party Convention in Spokane, the pro-Israeli group circulated a letter on the letterhead of Congressman McDermott to defeat that resolution about the Palestinian state with 87 elected officials' signatures on the letter, including the governor and senators. However, my counter- letter and my intervention at the convention was successful to the point that the convention reaffirmed the 1988 resolution by an overwhelming majority (75 percent). At that convention, we passed other resolutions including (1) an invitation for Chairman Arafat, (2) withholding military aid to Israel pending its respect for Palestinian human rights and acceptance of U.N. Resolutions 242 and 338, and (3) making the Middle East, including Israel, free of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.
   
   
3. In 1992, at the Washington State Convention in Silverdale, WA, we passed an important resolution regarding Jerusalem calling for it to be an open city for all religions and at the same time opposing its annexation or its becoming the capital of Israel. The resolutions passed in spite of tremendous opposition by pro-Israeli forces. It is a shame that they were never published as they are significant in terms of how we can reach out to the American people, who are fair and objective when you are able to reach them and we proponents of human rights for Palestinians do our homework properly.

Concerning my personal campaign for governor, it is not easy to run for a position which is the highest in the state. We were five diverse candidates from the Democratic Party: Gary Locke, the current governor, who is of Chinese background; Norm Rice, an African American who is mayor of Seattle; Brian Zytlan, a Jewish businessman who was a captain in the Israeli army; Gary Inslee, a former congressman and a lawyer of Scottish background; and I, who was presented as an emigrant from Palestine and an Arab and Muslim.

I felt I earned respect as we debated more than 11 times and I was told that I was at the top on issues related to international trade, human rights, health care and welfare reform. Indeed, in one of the debates at Bremerton hosted by the local newspaper, I was given a reward as the debate champ. Unfortunately, I did not make it as governor as I lacked organization and money. I received only $1,200 in political contributions while Gary Locke probably got about $1 million, the vast majority coming from Chinese-American donors.

In my platform and in my debates, I called for lifting the embargo against Iraq, Iran and Libya, which was received with enthusiasm as those countries could be markets for our exports. I suggested declaring alcohol the number-one drug in the state and limiting its consumption at government functions and on campuses. I stressed putting more emphasis on unwanted teen pregnancies; and in a nation of food stamps encouraged instead purchasing food from the local farmers and distributing it to the needy. At the same time, I emphasized finding any kind of work for welfare recipients provided we subsidized housing, medical care and day care. I wanted to use the military in our state, not just the National Guard alone, for natural disaster relief and I wanted to limit total political contributions to any state candidate to a cap of $50,000 with two months' campaigning. Some of those issues are now at the top of the agenda in our state and the nation.

I intend to write an extensive analysis of my campaign which will benefit many Muslim brothers and sisters who would like to run for public office.

Finally, I would like to express my deep thanks that I had the chance to meet your executive editor, Richard Curtiss, at the same forum in which I discussed my personal experiences in Washington state politics. He and others at the Washington Report are doing a great job and provide a valuable service to the American people. I admire their fairness and courage. The only thing I can say is may God bless them and reward them.

Mohammad H. Said, M.D., Ph.D, Ephrata, WA

Reprinting Ostrovsky Article

Two weeks ago, after getting the Oct./Nov. 1997 issue of the WRMEA, I decided to transcribe the article by Canadian (like myself) Victor Ostrovsky and to ship it out via e-mail to a small circle of my friends around the world, friends who all share a common concern for the Palestinian tragedy.

Today, one of my German-speaking friends expressed an interest in translating the Ostrovsky cri de coeur into German. He wondered about copyright attached to it, and asked if I might find out how to go about securing the permission to re-publish Ostrovsky's article in German for a German-language publication.

I note that page 3 of the latest issue of WRMEA states: "Material from the Washington Report may be reprinted without charge with attribution to the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. By-lined material must also be attributed to the author. This release does not apply to photographs, cartoons or reprints from other publications."

It seems to me therefore that the Ostrovsky piece might indeed be freely translated and thereupon reproduced without there being any sort of copyright infringement.

Naturally, we want to do the right thing. All we ask is that you provide us with some clarification if there's something that I may not have properly understood. Otherwise, we'd be pleased to inform German readers of Victor Ostrovsky's plight.

Orest Slepokura, via Intermet

You were right the first time. Any original article in the Washington Report may be reprinted without charge so long as it is attributed to the author and the Washington Report. That release applies to all languages.

More on Zimmermann Telegram

I read with interest the article by John Cornelius in the Aug./Sept. issue on the Zimmermann Telegram and the subsequent correspondence. For the record, the British broke code 13040 in the first weeks of World War I and passed the key(s) to their allies, France and Russia. As I said in Mata Hari, The True Story, breaking the enemy's code is second in importance only to keeping the enemy ignorant of your achievement. In this, the Allies failed. But Britain broke 0075 well before Mata Hari's arrest on Feb. 17, 1917 and a few weeks before the Zimmermann Telegram, and managed to preserve the secret of this success until the end of the war. (This is why the German legation in Madrid sent its false-flag message to Berlin in December 1916 in 13040, knowing it would be intercepted by the Eiffel Tower top-deck monitoring station and inducing the French to believe that their amateur part-time agent Mata Hari was actually in the German intelligence service.)

Deceit is to intelligence what water is to tea or coffee or oxygen to the brain, the quintessential ingredient. I am inclined to accept what I was taught at Cambridge: That the Telegram was concocted in London to encourage Washington to join the Allies against the Central Powers. It resembles the remarkable CIA false-flag exercise which persuaded Nasser to expel the Soviet military mission from Egypt in 1972.

It may also be interesting to note that Winston Churchill, as minister of the colonies—having lost the Admiralty post because of the victory of Col. Mustapha Kemal (later, "Ataturk") at Gallipoli—recommended that Cyprus be given to the Zionists. At the time, Britain leased the island from the Sultan in Istanbul but planned to confiscate it as war reparations.

This was an era when London was getting ready to invent Kuwait and France to invent Lebanon, hiving off pieces of Mesopotamia for their own cogent reasons. So giving the Jewish European settlers a European island with no borders to defend, only a small native population and daily ferries to the Holy Land would have made more sense than inserting urban European settlers into agricultural Western Asia, and would have saved American taxpayers enough billions to pay for a national health insurance program comparable to those of Canada, Japan and Western Europe.

Russell Warren Howe, Washington, DC

The only trouble with what you learned at Cambridge, according to our writer, John Cornelius, is that German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmermann was asked in the Reichstag whether he had written the telegram. He said yes.

You Restore Our Faith

Thanks to WRMEA for restoring my faith that, one day, all of America will see the light about Israel, the Arabs and Islam. Your work is a spark in a long dim night of conspiracy, expedience and convenience of abusing, slighting and, in general, vilifying the Arabs and Muslims by the media, politicians, the Christian Right and the pro-Israel lobby. Please keep restoring our faith in the American spirit.

Ahmad Sbaiti, Dallas, TX

Land for Greater Israel

We have heard denials from Israelis over the years of the Zionist conspiracy to create "Eretz Yisroel," or Greater Israel, that will extend far beyond its present boundaries. I use the word "boundaries" because Israel is the only country that has never officially defined its borders, which I interpret as evidence of its intended future land thefts beyond Palestine, Syria's Golan Heights, and southern Lebanon.

Few of us, including myself, understood exactly which Arab lands this intended quest for Greater Israel comprises, until I was given an Israeli 10 agorot coin that displays a large land area with a menorah superimposed over it. I traced the area out on a map of the Middle East and was shocked to discover that these Zionist miscreants mean to add all of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Sinai, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Iraq and Iran to its present dominion over Palestine. If anyone ever had any doubt about Israel's intended conquest and illegal annexation of this entire area, one only has to compare it with the boundaries on the Israeli 10 agorot coin.

And, speaking of boundaries, since Israel refuses to define its borders does this not demonstrate that it is not a legitimate country? Is that why Zionists always refer to Israel as a "state" and never as a "country" as it continues to aspire for "Eretz Yisroel"? Those Arab rulers of the countries outlined on the coin in question ought to think twice about cozying up to Israel's land theft schemes and dreams or they may some day find riyals and dinars replaced by agorots and shekels.

Yousef Salem, Director of The American Muslim Forum, Sunnyvale,CA

You're Right on Target

WRMEA is my best and most accurate source for in-depth reliable and balanced materials and information on the Middle East. It provides the views and explains the stance of Arab countries rarely found elsewhere. It is a refreshing in-depth source to counterbalance the typical shallowness of our daily press. Keep up the good work. You're right on target.

Hal Fisher, Salem, OR

Different Chronology Needed

I would like to have the chronology as an easily removed sheet punched for a 3-hole binder. I would also like a similar sheet of biographical information on the key players in regional politics.

Marshall Windmiller, Alameda, CA

We hope to publish the chronology in book form as a separate record (1980-2000) within three years. Meanwhile we suggest making photocopies.

You Keep Me Fired Up

The Washington Report keeps me informed, fired up, angry, compassionate, appalled, nauseated, outraged, disillusioned, profoundly sympathetic to the Palestinians and disgusted by the neo-Nazism of Netanyahu, Likud and the "settlers." Is it a repeat of what happened in the U.S. when the native people were slaughtered, exiled, humiliated and degraded? Is this one of the reasons the U.S. has nothing worth saying on Palestine?

R. Fairchild, Marietta, GA

Thanks for Being There

Now that I can no longer afford to travel to the Middle East frequently, and the area has become, sadly, a far less safe place for all those who live there, as well as those who visit, you are my primary source of information. I still speak frequently to groups wanting updates on what our news fails to tell them about the region. The first-hand reports I hear from returning friends, in combination with your data, assures that my speeches contain accurate, useful information to help people write informed letters. Thanks for "being there."

Barbara J. Oskoui, San Jose, CA

Why Not More of Us?

Your magazine is great—just as it is. It's wonderful to know I am not alone and that there are intelligent folks out there who think as I do. Why are we so few? Is it fear? God bless you.

Emmett J. Murphy, Springfield, VA

We really aren't so few. And our lack of national impact to date is ascribable more to lack of organization and selfless leadership than fear or apathy.

You Keep Me Informed and Hopeful

The Washington Report is unique. It is the only American publication with full, accurate and courageous coverage to offset traditionally one-sided treatment in U.S. media. It is must reading to me because it keeps me informed and hopeful.

Mahmoud Zawawi, Washington, DC