Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, January/February 1999, page 138

Publishers’ Page

Heee’s Baaaack!

After a few months out of print, former Illinois Congressman Paul Findley’s classic book, They Dare to Speak Out: People and Institutions Confront Israel’s Lobby, is back in circulation. Our 1,000 copies of the newest, umpteenth edition, which lists at $9.95, arrived too late for inclusion in this issue’s AET Book Club catalog. Nevertheless, it’s available again, from us, at the former price, $6.95.

This Issue Was Mailed Dec. 18.

So it’s obviously too late for Hanukkah, probably too late for Christmas, but maybe just in time to recommend the book as an Eid al Fitr present. This January issue is also an excellent place to wish, on behalf of our tiny staff and ever-growing stable of writers, appropriate religious holiday greetings and...

A Happy New Year to...

Our subscribers and the generous donors among them who got us through the lean 1998 year. Let’s hope 1999 brings the Palestinian people an independent state within viable borders they can accept; the Israelis the personal security that can come only from peace with justice with all of their neighbors; the Kashmiris much closer to the self-determination promised them by the United Nations more than 50 years ago; the Muslims, Croats and Serbs of Bosnia and the ethnic Albanians and Serbs of Kosovo a safe return to secure homes and peaceful co-existence with equal rights for all; the Afghans real and lasting peace with a brighter future rather than a reversion to the dark past; and for all the rest of us the peace with justice and full human rights regardless of race, creed or gender that is the birthright of every human being on this planet. It all sounds so simple that we should be far beyond worrying about such elementary rights and into such diverse matters as equal educational and social opportunities, animal rights, economically sustainable environmental protection and encouraging the space programs and scientific research that will open undreamed-of opportunities (and maybe, someday, physical salvation) for our children and their children in the 21st century.

But We’re Not There Yet!

And in addition to American one-sided policies in the Middle East and misuse of secret evidence at home, some places like Likudist Israel, Talibanist Afghanistan, civil war-torn Sudan, militarily occupied Kashmir and Palestine and embargoed Iraq are not moving in the right direction either. Which is why this magazine is still here instead of relinquishing its mostly North American readership totally to the highly selective media gatekeepers in New York, Washington, Toronto, Montreal, Boston and Los Angeles.

We’d Expected to Give Our Readers...

An accounting in this issue of where we stand financially after our November fund-raising drive. The thousands of letters went out on schedule Nov. 14, but then a funny thing happened. Or, more precisely, virtually nothing happened, which wasn’t so funny.

Finally Our Call to the Post Office...

Elicited the statement, “Oh yes, we’re holding all your postage-paid mail because you owe us an $85 fee for a permit.” We won’t bore you with the details of why they didn’t notify us, how we paid the fee although we didn’t owe it (those of our readers who already have remarked on a convergence of what used to be called the Third World and the First World will understand), and hauled back to the office a load of thousands of new subscriptions, renewals and—ta daa—donations! The point of all this is that circulation director Samia El-Mahdi is just becoming visible again from behind a mountain of unopened postage-paid mail. So, in short, we don’t know yet...

Whether the 1997 Rent Finally...

Will or will not be paid! Meanwhile, to be simplistic about it, we got the names of some readers who sent donations of $100 or more into this issue’s honor role of the AET Choir of Angels on p. 136. Donations from those whose names didn’t appear are still being opened, and will be recorded in the next issue’s final listing of 1998 donors of $100 or more. Then we start all over again.

To be Honest, We’re Very Uneasy.

But we’ll be careful about how we express our disquiet. A couple of weeks ago we were explaining to a supporter why we couldn’t afford to put up $2,000 she wanted us to invest in a table for our periodicals and books at a political convention in Washington. Suddenly she interrupted us. “I was going to give subscriptions to the Washington Report to all my friends for Christmas,” she said, “but now it sounds like you won’t even be around next year, so I’ll give them something else.”

Whoa There, We’ll Still Be Around!

But the point is we want to be around for eight issues at the present size next year, and we’d also like to keep that big Web site on the Internet attracting up to 3,000 daily “visitors,” meaning those who stay to read a whole issue, and keep all the books about the Middle East that Americans find nowhere else permanently available in our catalog.

And We’d Like to be Able...

To pay our rent again after falling two years behind. But it all costs money, of which, so far, we don’t have nearly enough. So if you haven’t helped in 1998, there’s still time and we would really, really appreciate it. Phone to contribute by credit card or endorse your check to the AET Library Endowment (Federal ID #52-1460362) if you’re going to deduct it from your 1998 income tax, or to “AET” or “Washington Report” if you don’t plan to deduct it. And if you gave in 1998 and plan to do so again for 1999 (as we hope all readers do), why not do it now? If you donate $100 or more, see your name on the first listing of the Angels’ Choir for 1999, and then in each listing thereafter for the rest of the year. The first four months of the year are always the leanest for us. So please give now and...

Make a Difference, This Month!