March 1989, Page 31

Letters to (and from) the Editors

Contribute to World Peace Now

Dear Editors:

Your magazine is a breath of fresh air in an atmosphere where objectivity and fair-mindedness about the Middle East is often in short supply. I am enclosing $15 for my student subscription, and currently encouraging my friends to do that. Your efforts in making the truth available to all Americans are to be commended. If every American knows the truth, American foreign policy and, more importantly, American money and aid will be contributing to real world peace.

Samir Diab, Willow Springs, IL.

Women In Islam

Dear Editors:

It was a pleasure to read the article, "Women in Islam," by Ms. Fatibia El Bakry in your January 1989 issue. No doubt this article clarifies the status of women in Islam which is misunderstood by the West, but it also raises some serious doubts in the mind of a reader about the subject of the veil.

The author's point of view in this matter contradicts the teachings of the Holy Quran. I am no scholar of history and I cannot argue about her research tracing the roots of the veil to pre-Islamic traditions. Even if we accept that there were traces of the veil in pre-Islamic ages, this does not imply that not to veil is Islamic. She is simply wrong in her claim when she says, "There is no Islamic injunction to women to veil." It surprised me how she could overlook the verses about the subject of the veil while quoting from the Holy Quran on other subjects. The Holy Quran is unambiguous when it says: "Direct the believing men to restrain their looks and to guard their senses. That is purer for them. Surely, Allah is well aware of that which they do. Direct the believing women to restrain their looks and to guard their senses, and not disclose any part of their beauty or their adornment, save that which is perforce apparent thereof. They should draw their head-coverings across their bosoms; and not disclose any part of their beauty or their adornment save to their husbands or to their fathers, or to the fathers of their husbands, or to their own sons or the sons of their husbands, or to their brothers, or the sons of their brothers, or the sons of their sisters, or to gentlewomen, or to their maidservants, or to such attendants who have no desire for women, or to such children who have no knowledge of the relationship between the sexes; nor should they strike their feet on the ground in such a manner as to disclose such of their adornments as they ought not to disclose. Turn ye to Allah together, O believers, that you may prosper (24:31-2)."

The only exception to this mentioned in the Holy Quran is: "There is no blame on elderly women who are past the age of marriage if they lay aside outer coverings without displaying their adornment. But it would be better for them to guard themselves. Allah is all-Hearing, all-knowing (24:6 10). "

I believe we should not fabricate groundless theories which directly contradict the teachings of the Holy Quran, just to defend our traditions, which may not be very popular in the so-called modern world, and our actions, which may not be Islamic due to our own weaknesses.

Nasir A. Jamil, Bel Air, MD.

Dear Mr. Jamil:

We referred your letter to Ms. El Bakry for her response, printed below. The editors are grateful for both interpretations:

I would like to point out that my reference to the veil does not contradict the teachings of the Holy Quran, particularly the verse the reader cited, unless he meant kheman, "the head cover" and not the face cover. The text runs thus: "...and not disclose any part of their beauty or their adornment, save that which is perforce apparent thereof." This exception has been interpreted by Muslim scholars as to exclude the face, the hands, and the feet from the parts covered. I refer the reader to: Al- Tabary, vol XVIII, p. 84; Tafsir el-Saafl, vol. 18, p. 430; al-Nasaf, vol. 3, p. 338; and The Bounteous Koran by Dr. M.M. Khatib, p. 461, the only authorized interpretation by "Al-Azhar Islamic Research Academy." This interpretation is well supported by a Hadith, according to which the Holy Prophet is reported to have told Asma, daughter of Abu Bakr: "Asma, when woman attains majority, it is not proper that any part of her body should be seen except this and this," pointing to his face and his hands (Sunan of Abu Dawud, 31:30).

Fatihia El Bakry, Annandale, VA.

Israelis Who Met PLO Need Help

Dear Editors:

It seems fantastic but it is a fact that under Israeli law it is a crime for an Israeli citizen to meet with members of the PLO to discuss peace. Four Israeli citizens have been tried and convicted of that crime. They have been sentenced to fines of more than $2,400 each, and 18 months imprisonment. The imprisonment was later commuted to six months of community service. They have appealed the case to the Israeli Supreme Court.

The court stated that there is no "dispute over the fact that the appellants participated in the meeting in order to stress the need to achieve peace in order to put an end to the Israeli-Arab conflict and to bring an end to bloodshed through the recognition of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people. The entire meeting bore the character of a meeting for peace." But the court also said that the law forbidding contact between Israeli citizens and members of the PLO was dear, and they had no choice.

The four Israelis are in urgent need of financial help for their legal expenses. They would greatly appreciate a check and note of moral support sent to: Committee to Save the Peace Dialogue, PO Box 20395, Tel Aviv 61204, Israel. Upon request they will send additional background material about their campaign.

Paul Kotakis, San Francisco, CA.

What's Going on with Deinjanjuk's Attorneys in Israel?

Dear Editors:

I am extremely grateful to you for the tremendous job AET and your St magazine are doing. You are to be commended for the high literary taste, technical standards, and above all, the magazine's contents and the restrained and balanced tone of your contributors. What has prompted me to write this letter is the curious silence of practically all kinds of US mass media regarding the "suicide" of John Demjanjuk's attorney.

Demjanjuk's widely publicized "Nazi crimes" trial has received too much notoriety for the American public to be denied additional information. It was reported that Deinjanjuk's defense counsel, Dov Eitan, 53, left no suicide note. It was also reported that he was a retired Jerusalem District Court judge and former military court president.

The obvious question the incident raises is whether Mr. Eitan was helped by the prosecution in his successful suicide attempt. It appears that the mass media are not going to help out, but we do expect your magazine to dig further into the story and provide additional information.

Inayat I. Laiani, MD, North Richard Hills, TX.

Dear Dr. Lalani:

What has been reported in the Israeli press is the following:

Retired Israeli District Court Judge Dov Eitan, 53, who earlier in 1988 had joined the defense team in the appeal of John Demjanjuk, leaped or fell to his death from the 15th floor of an office building in downtown Jerusalem Nov. 29. Eitan had resigned from the Israeli court system in 1983 after signing a petition to then Prime Minister Menachem Begin to withdraw Israeli troops from Lebanon.

Eitan had joined the defense team after Demjanjuk, a retired Ukranian-born Cleveland auto worker who was deported from the US to Israel, was convicted last April 18 in an Israeli court of operating a Nazi gas chamber at Treblinka, where 800,000 Jews were said to have been killed. Demjanjuk, a 67-year-old former Soviet army prisoner-of-war, admitted working for his German army captors but said he has never been at Treblinka. Demjanjuk's conviction was based largely upon an identity card obtained from the Soviet Union, which critics of the trial claim was forged or altered.

Eitan left a wife and two daughters. A law partner said his suicide was utterly inexplicable. At Eitan's funeral, acid was thrown into the face of Yoram Sheftel, chief defense counsel for Demjanjuk, whose appeal on conviction of war crimes was to have been heard in December in Israel. Sheftel, a 73-year-old holocaust survivor, was attending the funeral when Yisrael Yehekeli, a survivor of the Treblinka death camp, stepped from the crowd at the Sanhedria Cemetery and threw a bottle of acid at the attorney's face. Sheftel was hospitalized with damage to one eye. A woman with him was also treated for injuries. At Sheftel's request, the hearing on Demjanjuk's appeal had been postponed until May 4 to give the defense time to find a replacement for Eitan.

Name the Senators Who Wanted Arafat Barred

Dear Editors:

Our senators from Oregon are reluctant to discuss the two letters signed by their fellow senators regarding the Arafat visa. I would like to know who the "51" and the "68" were. Can you tell me?

It would also be timely to summarize such a listing for the many AIPAC-sponsored letters over the years. We all must be made aware of our senators who are representing AIPAC, Israel's only registered lobby in the US. We will not get peace in the Middle East until this stops.

Clifford Misener, Brookings, OR.

Dear Mr. Misener:

Allan Kellum provides signatories of the two letters in his tabulation of the Senate voting record of the 100th Congress, in this issue of the Washington Report. We are working on similar tabulations for previous years.

Let's Hear More About Pro-Israel PAC Beneficiaries

Dear Editors:

As a mere country boy from St. Anthony's little village (San Antonio), I do not want to wear out my welcome with you, but I urge you people to make some adjustments for the coming publishing of the pro-Israel PAC money going to members of Congress.

You did good in the past breaking things down state by state, but why don't you put opposite each member of Congress an "R" or "D" indicating political party?

Also, why not a grand total for all money received by Democrats? The same for Republicans? The total received by the speaker? The total received by the minority leader of the House, etc.? I think my fellow lefties are going to come out bad on this, but the truth is the truth.

One of Lyndon Johnson's all time favorite stories is what my father told me 15 minutes before he died: "Maury, Jr., you didn't turn out to be as big a horse's ass as Elliot Roosevelt." Lyndon sent word to me when I was representing conscientious objectors to the Vietnam War that, to the contrary, I was a bigger horse's ass than Elliot Roosevelt. So caveat emptor in taking my advice, but the above suggested totals might shed some interesting light on the matter.

Maury Maverick, Jr., San Antonio, TX.

Dear Mr. Maverick:

We almost always take your advice. We'll take some of it in the final listing of 1988 PAC donations, scheduled for our April issue, and all of it in a white paper we will issue later this year summarizing donations over several election cycles.

MESA Protests Israeli School Closures

Dear Editors:

At the business meeting of the annual conference of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (Nov. 2-5, 1988), a "sense of the meeting" resolution was adopted on an issue of great importance to Middle East scholars. I call to your attention this resolution, the substance of which follows, as a matter of concern to all of us interested in Middle East scholarship:

1. Members of the Middle East Studies Association view with concern the continued closure of institutions of higher education in the West Bank and Gaza.
   
   
2. MESA members strongly believe in the need for academic freedom throughout the Middle East region.
   
   
3. Closure of universities, whenever or wherever it occurs, precludes all possibility for academic freedom to flourish.
   
   
4. MESA members therefore strongly urge that the universities in the West Bank and Gaza be reopened as soon as possible under conditions that will allow students and professors to return to their legitimate scholarly pursuits.

William B. Quandt, President of MESA 1987-88

B'nai B'rith Canada Settles Libel Suit

Dear Editors:

Congratulations for your charges against AIPAC this week.

Had you heard of the Canadian lawsuit concerning an "anti-Semite" charge? Enclosed is a copy of an article from the Nov. 3, 1988, Canadian Jewish News. B'nai B'rith was forced to settle a libel case in one of the largest damage awards in Canadian history.

Ethel Macomber Nichols, El Cerrito, CA.

Dear Ms. Nichols:

Thanks for the report on a $400,000 out of court settlement from B'nai B'rith Canada to Ukranian-Canadian Luba Fedorkine of Winnipeg.

AIPAC and Congress

Dear Editors:

A brief note to tell you how glad I am that you and others have joined to seek an indictment of AIPAC for violating federal election rules, as reported in yesterday's Wall Street Journal.

Also, yesterday I had a call from the office of Secretary of State James Baker, thanking me for sending to Mr. Baker a copy of the book Israel & the American Public Interest by Cheryl Rubenberg—one of the best books I have read on how Israel is shaping US foreign policy against the best interests of the US. According to the caller, an assistant to Mr. Baker, the book was read with great interest.

You also might like to know that some months ago I wrote to Judge Webster of the CIA urging him to look into whether AIPAC is receiving money from Israel to be spent influencing US elections of Congress and the presidency. If it is shown that Israel is indeed spending some of the money our Congress gives them in order to assure getting more from Congress, this will drive a wedge between Israel and the American people that will not be easily removed.

Robert Emmet Taylor, Naples, FL.

Driving the Sacred Cow Out of Congress

Dear Editors:

Congratulations to you and everybody on your suit against AIPAC, that was announced in today's Los Angeles Times. It is a service to all America, Jews and Gentiles, the equivalent of St. Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland. I think it is apparent to everybody now that America has a sacred cow wandering its political halls and it is not in our best interests or traditions to have it there, corrupting our government, taking our food.

Patrick F. Flynn, Yorba Linda, CA.