Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, March 1998, Pages 3, 81-84

Letters to (and from) the Editor

A Heart-Rending Cover

Over the years I have been very impressed with your covers, and especially with the front cover. Your December '97 one is heart-rending.

I have now and then written to the president and our representatives in Washington about the wickedness of our policies in Israel. I am wondering if I could get four copies of the cover of your December issue, which I would like to send to my representatives in Congress and to the president. I plan to add your "Front Cover" caption from page 4.

William Diephuis, Grand Rapids, MI

We've sent you four covers, but since every copy of that issue cost us $2 to print yours is the first and last such request we'll honor. Readers can take their copy to a photocopying establishmet and get a color copy made at about the same cost. Incidently, the Washington Report goes to several people in the White House and at least one copy goes to the office and/or home of every member of Congress, thanks to gift subscriptions from our subscribers.

"One-sided and Misleading Ads"

I received your December 1997 issue a few days ago and, as always, enjoyed reading your instructive articles and other materials. Of course, I do not agree with all of your positions, but that is only to be expected.

I am bemused and fascinated by the perseverance and resilience of the Jewish people, who not only have survived 2,000 years of the most cruel persecution, culminating in the Holocaust of this century, and despite such as Rachelle Marshall, Dr. Alfred M. Lilienthal and (God help us all) Rabbi Daniel Isaak, all of whom seem to be seething with self-hatred and miss no opportunity to foul their own nest.

I was disturbed, however, when I came to pages 99-100 and found over three columns of diatribe against me personally. I understand that you disagree with much of what I have to say, but I don't think it's fair that you refer to our messages as "one-sided," deceptively worded "bilge" and "garbage." I also note that you describe the publications in which we advertise as "Zionist-owned periodicals whose reports on Middle East affairs are just as one-sided and misleading as the ads."

We don't just advertise in the media that you mention (The New Republic, Atlantic Monthly, U.S. News and World Report) which may or may not be "Zionist-owned" (I suppose you refer to Mr. Peretz and Mr. Zuckerman). We also advertise monthly in such media as The National Review (William Buckley, a Zionist?), The American Spectator (edited by that notorious Zionist, R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.), Human Events (Zionist-controlled?), The Washington Times National Weekly and Insight Magazine (owned by the Reverend Moon, a Zionist?), The New Yorker (a recognized pro-Zionist publication), and other monthly and weekly publications, a number of metro newspapers and over 100 small-town newspapers all across the United States and Canada.

Finally, you say that my statement (in my acquisition letter) that "the 'peace process' is endangering the very survival of the State of Israel" sheds light on the caliber of information in our advertisements.

I truly believe that the statement is true and that yielding strategic ground to the Palestinians and other Arabs, all of whom seem to be totally committed to the destruction of Israel, would indeed be a fatal and suicidal error.

I appreciate your acknowledging the small contribution that I made to your general survival fund. Thank you and sincerely yours.

Gerardo Joffe, President, FLAME (Facts and Logic About the Middle East), San Francisco, CA

We strongly believe in freedom of speech and have pondered the ethical dilemma of what to do with an advertisement with which we strongly disagree or which we feel is blatantly misleading. In the case of the former, we generally state our disagreement with the ad in the same issue's "Publishers' Page," which we're told is read almost as widely as is our "Letters to the Editor" section. In the case of advertisements which we feel are misleading or mendacious, we decline the ad, but with an explanation to the would-be advertisers of why. So all we can say is shame on all of the publications you name and suggest that our subscribers may wish to think carefully before renewing subscriptions to any of them, as well as any others in which they find your advertisements.

A 1990 Letter to FLAME

After reading about your experiences with FLAME, I remembered a letter I had written earlier to another publication on the advertisements.

Enclosed is a copy of my Dec. 7, 1990 letter. I don't know if my efforts did any good. (Does one ever really know?) But I believe if readers of offending publications expressed their views, some editors would be forced to listen and perhaps change policies.

Thanks to you, I just subscribed to Link. Keep up the great work. You are really needed.

Florence Richards, Whittier, CA

We liked your December 1990 letter to The Nation so much we've reprinted it in "Other People's Mail," along with a current letter to The Nation on the same subject and a response from The Nation to a similar letter to our long-time subscribers, the Bacons, of Corona, CA.

Lambasting Netanyahu

The December issue arrived today and I am working my way through it and having fits or applauding. I like Ostrovsky's article and Paul Findley's on Al-Najjar and Steve Sosebee's also (he was our "guide" in Palestine). I did hope Mrs. Albright would be less irrelevant but I should know better. I'd like to pull out some of the articles and send them to her, and some letters. Netanyahu is taking a lambasting from all of you and Richard Curtiss's article is the best, especially the paragraph about Netanyahu being "dangerously out of control." I can't bear to watch him (Netanyahu, not Curtiss, on TV! As for the FLAME rubbish, I have beaten my head in vain protesting those ads. I wrote Albright that I felt no pro-Israelis should be in our top positions, but little she cares, no doubt.

Marion A. Fitch, Washington, DC

Reporting Bad News Well

I want to tell you how impressive the December issue is. A couple of my friends remarked on it, too. The Ostrovsky and Lilienthal articles were just excellent. And Paul Findley's article on The Post was great. So, even if the news from the Middle East is bad, at least it's well reported!

Thanks also for the box of magazines for distribution at our "O Palestine" concert in November, and my very best wishes to the entire staff of the Washington Report and American Educational Trust. Salaam.

Vicki Tamoush, Steering Committee member, Middle East Fellowship of Southern California Ecumenical Task Force on Christian Presence in the Holy Land, Tujunga, CA

Keep Slugging Away

This is just a short note to let you know that your work is valued greatly! Somehow or other, you have to keep slugging away.

I am most grateful for the copies of the magazine you send to me each month. I make them available at seminars to those who show interest in your work—and all but break their bones to encourage them to get the publication into their church libraries, and other libraries in the area. I do not know how successful my efforts are—but I keep at it like a pit bull!

Though I keep plugging away trying to get people to think through the situation in the Middle East, at least these days I can do so without immediately being labeled as "anti-Semitic." It is obvious that a larger percentage of people know what is going on in relation to the Zionist lobby—and many feel helpless as to what to do about it.

Earlier this year we included a paragraph in our mailer that goes out to about 100,000 churches around the nation encouraging clergy and people in general to subscribe to your publication. I hope some responded. Unfortunately for many people the only thing that gets read is the TV guide. Enclosed is a small gift for 1997. And you may list my name whenever and wherever you choose.

Rev. Harry Wendt, President, Crossways International ("Bible Studies With Vision"), Minneapolis, MN

A Unique Contribution

As a longtime subscriber and contributor to the Washington Report , I want once again to commend you for the virtually unique contribution you make to the literature available in this country for those who care about what is happening in the Middle East.

Enclosed is a piece I just published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Please feel free to reprint it in your publication.

Robert B. Ashmore, Professor, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI

Actually your article from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel was sent to us by other readers as well and we will use it in a forthcoming issue of "Other Voices on the Middle East, Islam and Israel," available to Washington Report readers for a $15 surcharge (see subscription card insert).

Killgore Visit to Youngstown

On behalf of the United Nations Association, the Arab Community Center and the Coalition for Peace in the Middle East, I want to thank your publisher, Ambassador Andrew Killgore, for coming to Youngstown to be our United Nations Day special guest speaker. Thanks to him also for doing three hours and ten minutes of live radio taking calls from the listening public and handling each with aplomb.

We knew that he would bring us intelligence, integrity and insight. However, we received a real bonus in his humor, humility and humanity. Although his visit was all too brief, he touched many of us, deeply, with his warmth and good nature. He was a lot of fun and we thoroughly enjoyed him.

Thanks, too, not just for the visit, but for a lifetime of courage and good work as he continues to be a true hero in the struggle for Peace, Freedom and Justice.

Ray Nakley, U.N. Day Committee, Youngstown (OH) Chapter

The Johnson Visit

Your magazine is super this issue as always. We're especially grateful for your correspondent David Johnson's "Northeast News," as there is much going on here. We thank him for visiting "The Arabic Hour" and writing about us. Like you, we realize the importance of print and non-print media for reaching people who seldom get reliable information on that important part of the world.

Evelyn Menconi, "Arabic Hour" volunteer, Boston, MA

Planning a Washington, DC Rally

We are a group of Arab students in Boston who have long admired your publication and its balanced and pro-Arab handling of issues. We were dismayed to hear of WRMEA's recent financial troubles. We are currently thinking of holding a big rally in Washington to counteract the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the state of Israel this May. We would like to help WRMEA raise funds and increase its subscribers by having a booth for WRMEA in the rally. This is still in the "brainstorming phase." Please send us your ideas and your opinions and whether you would be willing to have a booth at such an event. Members of our group are going to attend Mr. Curtiss' lecture at Brown University and will bring up the topic with him at that point. Keep up the excellent work.

Nasri Jacir, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA

We'll be happy to hand out sample copies of the magazine with a special gift book offer for all who subscribe on the spot (as we did at Brown University when executive editor Richard Curtiss spoke there). That goes for any such lectures at U.S. universities and before other audiences. All we need is one volunteer from the sponsoring group to whom we can ship the magazines and who will be sure that they are made available to interested audience members.

As for ideas, how about making known the cost of racist Israel to U.S. taxpayers and the fact that if we thought we were supporting establishment of a democracy that would respect the human rights of all of its citizens, "we didn't get what we paid for."

Mass Expulsions of Arabs

As we await possible U.S. military action against Iraq, the following elements of the situation come to mind:

1. The Zionist Mafia is pushing its spineless servitor, Clinton, to keep up the pressure on Saddam until he is gone.
   
   
2. The Zionists are apparently willing to face the consequences if, as is likely, the fall of Saddam leads to turmoil in Iraq that could involve neighboring states—Iran, Turkey, Syria and, above all, Jordan.
   
   
3. We have to wonder what Israel would hope to gain from such unpredictable events that would justify the attendant risks. What is Israel's salient problem right now? The Palestinians on the West Bank. When did Israel last accomplish significant reductions in the Arab population of Palestine? During and after the wars of 1948 and 1967.
   
   
4. Conclusion: Current Zionist/Israeli planning may center on a scheme to precipitate inter-Arab hostilities that might be exploited to justify new mass expulsions across the Jordan River.

Maybe you can provide me some assurance that the above scenario is not paranoid.

Curtis Jones, Chapel Hill, NC

We can provide no such assurances. In fact, the entire Likud program makes no sense without some such catastrophe which would provide the cover for "transfer," as Likud puts it, or "ethnic cleansing" as it would appear to Americans, whose forces probably would be called upon to defend Israel from the consequences of the racist Likud scheme to expel all of the Palestinians from all of Palestine.

Don't Westerners Get It?

In his address to the Sixth Annual U.S. Mideast Policymakers Conference (Dec. 1997), Gen. Anthony C. Zinni, commander-in-chief of U.S. Central Command, outlined five threats facing the region, namely, Iraq, Iran, terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the threats to internal and regional stability.

It is amazing how a supposedly intelligent, rational and well-informed senior American official like General Zinni could be so naive and out of touch with reality as to confuse causes and effects and, therefore, ignore the two fundamental causes of tension and instability in the Middle East: Israel's occupation of Arab lands and the absence of democracy.

Israel has been terrorizing the Arabs in general and the Palestinian population in particular since 1948, and has carried out massive usurpation of Arab lands and destruction of Arab homes over the past three decades. Within this context, it is fair to say that such militant organizations as Hamas and Hezbollah and, for that matter, the Palestine Liberation Organization itself, are the direct result of Israeli occupation and not the other way around. This is why by helping to put a speedy end to this brutal occupation, the U.S. would contribute immeasurably to the process of uprooting violence from the region.

Furthermore, history suggests that the other major cause of violence and insecurity in the Middle East lies largely in the dictatorial practices that prevail in the region's politics. The invasion of Kuwait, for example, proved how an ambitious, reckless dictator can pose a perilous threat to the whole region. Although the despotic character of the Iraqi leader was well known, only during the Gulf war did President Bush refer to him as "Baghdad's dictator." Until the eve of his military adventure many Western countries assisted him with arms, loans and intelligence information in the expectation of having him as an "asset" in their respective geostrategic calculations.

Most Middle Eastern countries are ruled autocratically. Their leaders come to power without the consent of the people, and thus, lacking popular legitimacy, they resort to militant rhetoric and look for scapegoats to explain their failures. One way or another, native or foreign enemies are responsible for their own shortcomings. The inherent vulnerability of such rulers is at the root of militarization in an area where the arms race is primarily fed by their acute insecurity within their own countries. Arab leaders neither retire nor limit their tenure to a fixed term.

Unfortunately, the West in general and the U.S. in particular still practice a hypocritical policy concerning democracy in the Middle East. The West cannot indefinitely pursue a policy which, for example, condemns Saddam Hussain's dictatorship, while embracing the generals in Algeria or absolute monarchs. Its attitudes toward human rights and democracy seem conditioned by strategic considerations and are selective in their choice of enemies.

Democracy and the end of Israeli occupation of Arab lands are the only remedies to the seemingly chronic state of insecurity and instability in the region. The West cannot remain indifferent to gross human rights violations in one part of the world while celebrating the rise of democracy elsewhere. It must help the nascent impulse toward democracy in the Arab world. Success in this field would be a more effective contribution to peace and stability than alliances with despots.

Ibrahim Hayani, Unionville, Ontario, Canada

Nothing but silence

By now Israel should be as isolated as South Africa was in the time of apartheid. Even your president, great friend of Israel as he is, cannot abide the yahoo in power and yet he does nothing. Let Iraq tweak Uncle Sam's nose and out comes all the artillery and the bold words. Let Israel again and again kick Uncle Sam's striped-trousered derri²re and out comes silence! It really is pathetic and beyond common sense. Never mind. Here is something to keep your voice of protest alive and well. Good luck!

Joan McConnell, Saltspring Is., BC, Canada

Thanks for your generous financial contribution, which will help keep the voice loud and clear.

Iraqis Have Suffered Enough

The Semitic Iraqi peoples—Assyrian and Chaldean Christians, Sunni and Shi'i Muslims, etc.—have suffered enough under sanctions. Many religious leaders such as the patriarch of the ancient Church of the East, The Roman Catholic Assembly of Bishops and others have urged the end of sanctions and of the merciless killing of 500,000 or more children.

I urge the Washington Report to continue in its great task to fulfill the Oslo accord and U.N. Security Council Resolution 242's land-for-peace settlement.

In your quest for fulfilling the principles of human rights, self-determination and fair play, I trust you will remember the Assyrians and Chaldeans in the north of Iraq who are caught in the crossfire between Kurds and Iraqi Arabs. I trust that the Assyrian Christians, like the Palestinians and others, will gain the statehood necessary for peaceful solutions to Middle East problems.

With every good wish to the Washington Report staff in faith, prayer and action "as we are saved by faith and good works."

Dr. F. Hoyen, Assyrian Aramaic Bible Lecturer, Worcester, MA

Include Fact Sheet in Each Issue

Prof. Gordon Shull, a respected partner in Middle East peacemaking, has shared with me his Nov. 19 letter to you suggesting that you include in every issue of the Washington Report an updated fact sheet of Israeli human rights violations.

As a longtime reader and booster of your magazine and one who has participated in many workshops and programs on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, I want to second his suggestion with a hearty "yesss"!

I hope that the "other similar data" he called for would include the number of dunams, or acres, of land confiscated by Israel in the occupied territories.

Keep up your great work! Shalom! Salaam!

Bertwin L. Frey, Ohioans for Middle East Peace, Fairview Park, OH

Okay. We'll see if we can put together a permanent box like our boxes for the cost of Israel to U.S. taxpayers.

Add a Map of Israel to Issues

I have a request that may possibly be within your budgetary constraints. That is to include with each issue a map of Israel so that your followers may be able to get a better grasp on what and where. If this cannot be done I certainly understand.

I received your letter today and will join your choir again next year and also will continue to spread the word. A question, have you ever been invited as a guest on C-SPAN? I have noticed that when anything critical of Israel is brought up the caller is very quickly dismissed.

Keep up your good work.

Sam Cochrane, via Internet

Your powers of observation are very acute. Our publisher, executive editor and news editor all have been on C-SPAN—but so far only one time each. The map idea is a very good one. We'll try to comply.

Thanks for Palestinian Support

As a 15-year-old Palestinian girl currently residing in Saudi Arabia, I would like to thank the entire staff who produce each issue of the Washington Report and I would like to greatly thank everyone for supporting the Palestinians.

No one has formulated a settlement to our dilemma that would benefit both parties and terminate the conflict for eternity. A solution will never be created until Binyamin Netanyahu is sincerely willing to compromise. Netanyahu wants all the land and all the peace, while the Palestinians would settle for a compromise of both.

Who is it that claims exclusive supremacy over Palestine? Who determines that the Israelis are in control of the land? The Israelis are not willing to share authority over any part of Palestine. With this mindset, a solution to the conflict will be impossible.

Another major factor which makes it difficult to create a peace agreement is the role of the U.S. in this conflict. The U.S. claims neutrality. If so, why is it donating billions of dollars to Israel? Israel's mere existence is due to the aid from the U.S. If the U.S. cared about human rights and justice, it would have stopped all forms of aid to Israel years ago.

During the Gulf war of 1991, when Saddam Hussain attempted to annex Kuwait, the U.S. intervened and created a coalition to oppose his actions. But Saddam Hussain's actions were the same as those of the Israelis when they attempt to annex Palestine. The U.S. made an appropriate decision during the Gulf war, but it has made a poor decision in the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Another complaint which I would like to make is that when a Palestinian throws a bomb on a bus and kills Israelis, the Palestinian will be branded a terrorist and will immediately be put in jail. However, if an Israeli kills Palestinians, he will be put in jail for an hour and will be described more kindly as a "mentally disturbed Israeli." This is straight-out injustice. Americans should be able to realize this.

This conflict is between the Israelis and the Palestinians. The U.S. should keep its money where it belongs and stay out of this dilemma, unless it plans to make everything equal for both the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Suha Atiyeh, via Internet

The Palestinians' Just Cause

I am a permanent subscriber and an avid reader of WRMEA. I can find no words to express my profound admiration and appreciation for your excellent editorial standards and superb style when dealing with the Palestinians as well as other relevant Arab, Islamic and Christian issues in a fair, evenhanded and objective manner.

I have donated subscription copies of WRMEA to a number of my American and Arab friends and do hereby extend to you my best wishes for ongoing and lasting success for a job well done in the service of the inalienable rights of the Palestinians and their just cause.

Enclosed herewith are two articles which have been published in The Gazette, a Montreal daily, by two Jewish university professors which I hope you may find interesting and informative.

Mustafa Issa, Quebec, Canada

We'll try to find space for Yakov M. Robbin's article "Endangering Diaspora Jews" from The Gazette of Montreal in "Other Voices on the Middle East, South Asia, Islam and Israel," which is available to Washington Report subscribers for a $15 additional surcharge. Thanks for thinking of us.

It Is Time to Act

It is time for Muslims and Arabs in the U.S. to act. They are in a better position than Muslim or Arab governments to influence American Mideast policy. Politicians tend to yield to internal pressures and resist external pressures. Moreover, the number of Middle Eastern and Muslim people living here is relatively large and can make a difference to the electoral process. My concern is that by doing nothing (or, equivalently, not doing enough) we let the Zionist voice alone be heard. This not only perpetuates the harm American politicians do to the innocent people of Palestine, Iraq, Iran and other people in the area. It also undermines the democratic process in this country and desensitizes the American people to unfair policies.

It is now certain that repeated watching of violent movies makes viewers more callous and less sensitive to the suffering of others. Similarly, I strongly believe, watching CNN and other national TV stations showing Iraqis bombed and Palestinians beaten on a regular basis makes Americans used to such brutalities. The problem, according to sociologists and social scientists, is that people lose empathy when the suffering of others is perceived as a "normal state of affairs" or, more dangerously, when this "normal occurrence" is justified (and American political TV shows are clever at inventing convincing reasons for viewers). So I am not only concerned about the suffering of innocent people but also about the future of democracy. I would be gravely disappointed if Arab and Muslim Americans, by their silence, continue unknowingly to participate in slaughtering democracy in this country.

Magdi Kamel, Cleveland, OH

Arab and Muslim Americans have been very slow about realizing that they have the numbers to change U.S. policy if they get their act together and vote as a bloc, just as do their cousins, election after election. Arab Americans will have to stop listening to their "intellectuals," mired in an outdated Marxism that puts the blame on capitalist America rather than Zionist Israel, and also stop following national leaders who would sell them out in a second in return for political appointments. In 1998, look at congressional candidates in terms of who has received the most from the Zionist lobby and vote accordingly as a bloc. Do the same in the presidential primaries and then the presidential election in the year 2000, and U.S. Middle East policy will mysteriously right itself from its half-century tilt toward Israel. In fact, in pursuit of the Arab-American and Muslim-American voter, numbering between 8 and 10 million by then, astute American politicians will quickly discover that Palestinians and Kashmiris have human rights just like all other members of the human race. Thanks for a very important letter.

Why Not an Arab Newspaper?

We love you for your personal sacrifice. I have been receiving your magazine for a number of years now, and want to commend you for your dedication and struggle to keep people like me informed. I agree with people who write to you about being disillusioned, depressed and angry at the injustices perpetrated not alone in the Mideast but also here in the U.S. But we always hope that more and more people will see the light, eventually, and justice will prevail.

Furthermore, I agree strongly with your assessment that the Arab people here in the United States should organize and, as a starter, bring a newspaper to life which brings out the facts. The Arab countries have the financial means to do it—just the will and courage are necessary. The sufferings of the Palestinian people should be impetus enough for such an undertaking. One need only look at that little boy on the cover of your December issue to be overcome with sorrow and pain. Please keep up your dedicated effort.

A. Hoffmann, Tenafly, NJ

Congress in a Stranglehold

I enclose three items in chronological order which I hope will arouse your interest.

1. "Death Strikes the Liberty," The American Legion Magazine , Vol. 143, No. 1, July, 1997 p. 24 ff.
   
   
2. Letter from me to Mr. Joseph J. Frank, National Commander, The American Legion, July 22, 1997.
   
   
3. Letter from me to Mr. Frank, Sept. 18, 1997.

I am deeply concerned, and somewhat shocked, by Mr. Frank's failure to answer my suggestion. I will give him some more time, and then I will contact you further. Right now, I just wanted you to be aware. I fear the Zionists have such a stranglehold on Congress, and probably the veterans organizations, that Frank is between a rock and a hard place.

I am so grateful that you exist. Whatever would we do without you? I am retired but I do what I can.

John E. MacDonald, Jr., Wappingers Falls, NY

We'll print "Death Strikes the Liberty" in "Other Voices" and your two unanswered letters to American Legion National Commander Joseph Frank in "Other People's Mail" as space permits. Many thanks.

Is This Policy Driven by Israel?

Is not the whole of America's concern in the "situation Iraq" driven solely by the concerns of the Israelis—rather than by any threat to America's interests, needs or sovereignty?

Cannot other U.N. member nations conduct these compliance inspections without there being an American on each and every inspection team? In fact, if most of these American inspectors are Jewish, might this not elevate the resentments of the Iraqis? They certainly are aware of the daily "happenings" in Israel as the Israelis turn the screws on the Palestinian people.

Harry W. Hunt, Huddy, KY

Dealing With Serious Issues

I would like to thank you for the December 1997 Washington Report. It deals with serious and hot issues in an honest way, especially the article by Mr. Ray Hanania about "Moral Equivalency." It was a well-written article and Mr. Hanania based it on facts and figures, which is professional in my point of view.

Thank you again for such a great Report and regards from Jordan.

Rima Hazboun, Amman, Jordan

A Concerned Senator

I have received an Oct. 30, 1997 letter from Senator Slade Gorton (R-WA) informing me that "It has been reported that the Israeli government is condoning the deportation of Palestinians and the confiscation of their land. In some cases, reports indicate that deeds of title for property held by Palestinians for many years are rendered unofficial or invalid, thereby allowing the Israeli government to seize the property." Gorton adds that the issue may be brought before the Senate for consideration. I have no idea where Gorton got such ideas, given his totally pro-Israeli stance for so many years, but I urge all Washington Report readers who may hold deeds or any documents attesting to lands lost in Palestine over the years to contact Gorton's office immediately. Those who have been deported may also wish to report their experiences to him. I enclose a complete copy of his letter. Please spread the word.

Bernice L. Youtz, Olympia, WA

Thanks for your valuable letter. We are reprinting the full text of Senator Gorton's letter to you in this issue's "Other People's Mail," starting on p. 71. It's clearly not boiler plate. We hope our readers will take heed.

The "Other Voices" Supplement

I'm not so sure a special supplement for "Other Voices" is a good idea, but if you decide to do it, count me in.

By the way, congratulations on the excellent December issue, particularly the piece on U.S. aid to Israel. I wish I had the nerve to use one of the bumper stickers on "your share" of Israel aid, but my car would be in danger since I live in the very belly of the beast.

Albert Doyle, Valley Cottage, NY

We have started the "Other Voices" as a 16-page (or more) supplement to which Washington Report readers can subscribe for an extra $15. Just phone our toll-free number, write or e-mail if you want to be included. The first issue went out with this magazine (see table of contents) but only to those who had already subscribed. (We have some extra copies printed for those whose subscriptions have not yet been received.)

A Tribal Ideology

The evident Israeli desire to eliminate Palestinians from their land is defended by Israelis and their supporters along these lines:

1. In the distant past, people living on this land were Jewish, therefore, all non-Jews living on it must go.
   
   
2. It was a wrong historical development that Palestinians came to existence over a land that is reserved for Jews.
   
   
3. Although the Jews left this land (whether voluntarily or not) for a long time, they left their unique mark on it.
   
   
4. Accordingly, the elimination of Palestinians is only a well-conceived attempt to correct an historical mistake.

I do not find this reasoning different from any other tribal ideology, such as that of the Serbs. In my opinion, the Serbs had a similar attitude but, fortunately, made it publicly known. I have another comment on the argument of Zionists which says that the Jews deserve a home of their own to take refuge in it once a new Hitler appears. This is an unjustified mistrust of non-Jews. It is wrong to deal with future human beings as potential Nazis. Also, minorities do not have a right to an independent home simply because they are minorities. Otherwise, the Kurds, Basques and Sikhs would be right to claim separate states of their own.

Saed Obeid, Washington, DC

We think the problem arises when more than one group occupies the same land, as in the case with Israelis and Palestinians. In that case the only solution, it seems to us, is to turn the areas in question into modern countries (like the United States) where all citizens have exactly the same rights, regardless of ethnicity or religion. We may have to give up on the two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian problem, though we supported it for many years. It's increasingly clear that no Israeli government has been or, apparently, ever will be ready to withdraw from the West Bank and Gaza, all of it, to give the Palestinian state land of its own in accordance with the land-for-peace settlement mandated in U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, to which the U.S. government has given lip service since Nov. 22, 1967. If this remains the Israeli attitude, the only long-term solution, it appears, will be the one-person, one-vote program advocated by the PLO from the beginning.

The Other Side of the Coin

I would like to thank you for the time and work you devote to show the American public the other side of the coin which we Arabs consider to be the truth. With persons like you, the truth will emerge one day. Thank you.

Mohamad Tamim, via Internet

People Are Indebted to You

After we hung up from our telephone conversation, I thought about your circulation director, Delinda Hanley, thanking me for renewing my subscription to the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. Actually, it should be the other way around. We would like to give you our deepest thanks for your work for an objective understanding in America of the Arab and Muslim peoples and their hopes and fears. These people are indeed indebted to you for all you have done and are doing.

Please do not hesitate to let us know how we can be of help in the future.

Ahmad and Mona Jarrah, Robbinsville, NJ