April 1991, Page 5

Letters To (and From) The Editors

Thanks to Kathleen Christison

I am deeply grateful to Kathleen Christison for writing the "open letter" to Elie Weisel, which I have been holding in my heart for some years now, but have been unable to articulate sufficiently well to transform into writing.

As a native of Jerusalem of five generations' standing, I count myself a Palestinian Jew, who suffers spiritually every day from the afflictions heaped by other Jews on the people with whom I also grew up. Elie Weisel knows nothing of such a deeply personal affinity with the people who have for a few generations now become the scapegoat of historical Jewish victimhood.

In the role he has assumed as the highpriest of this Jewish victimhood, he leads a world-wide worship of the Holocaust, from whose horrors other victims have been slowly, but surely, excluded. Elie Weisel deeply believes—as do many other Jews—that, because they were the principal victims, Jews have earned the right to victimize. Conveniently, their Palestinian neighbors are close at hand.

Elie Weisel seems emotionally and spiritually incapable of perceiving and identifying the EVIL of what the Israeli government has for too long inflicted on the other Palestinians who have shared our land. Besides, were he to express solidarity with the Palestinians and agree that "morality IS indivisible," as Ms. Christison suggests, Elie Weisel would certainly lose the preeminent position he has so assiduously cultivated and from which he so richly profited.

To Ms. Christison I suggest that she become acquainted with Prof. Yesha'yahu Leibowitz, for it is he that I would nominate as "moral spokesman" for Jews, and all others.

Dr. Edna Hunt, Winter Park, FL

Those Were Cheap Shots

Robert Clark's article on the Committee on Peace and Security in the Gulf uses innuendo, cheap shots (no children in the military—inaccurate by the way) and leaps of logic to impinge a group of sincere people whose dedication to the United States needs no defense.

His central theme seems to be that because we do not reveal funding sources and because some of our members are identified (at least in his mind) with Israel, we are a front for Israel.

Nothing could be further from the truth. We accept no foreign funds, we have had no contact with Israel and our deliberations have all been based on what is good for the United States.

Moreover, a number of us have had close relations with the Arab states. As Secretary of Defense, I came under attack for my criticism of lobbying activities against Arab arms sales. I have also been a board member of the Arab American Affairs Council, and in fact in 1984 visited Iraq in that capacity as a guest of the Iraqi government. Others on the Committee have also worked to improve relations between the US and Arab States.

Shotgun attacks such as Mr. Clark's do not serve the stated goals of his own organization.

Frank C. Carlucci, Vice Chairman, The Carlyle Group, Washington, DC

We are proud to count ourselves among your friends and admirers and do not question your personal dedication to even-handed US Middle East policies. That said, however, when we see among your fellow members of the Committee for Peace and Security in the Gulf the names of Max Kampelman, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Richard Perle, and Representatives Thomas Lantos (D-CA), Stephen Solarz (D-NY) and Robert Torricelli (D-NY), we can only caution that "he who sups with the Devil should use a long spoon."

For the Record, Look Again at Saddam's Proposals

This is not intended for publication, but rather is in reference to the editorial comment on page six of your March issue, about Iraqi proposals. According to US officials, there were at least two Iraqi offers—one late August, one late December—which called for withdrawal from Kuwait, the first without "linkage" but with the condition of access to the Gulf and control of the Rumailah oil field, the second complete withdrawal but with an (unspecified) Security Council commitment on the two issues regularly raised, the problem of weapons of mass destruction in the region and the Israeli-Arab conflict. I enclose an article in the London Guardian (Jan. 10), and a longer paper in Z magazine, with some references. Originals are Knut Royce, Newsday, Aug. 29, Jan. 3. Royce is, to my knowledge, the only US journalist to have attempted to follow these matters.

Noam Chomsky, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA

Intended for publication or not, your letter is both informative and short and will, therefore, do temporary stand-in duty for a deluge of mail on this subject. We fear we erred in not being a little more inquisitive about these proposals. Although the milk is by now spilled, we'll try to do better by the subject, and the many readers who have contacted us about it, in our next issue.

Thanks to a "Point of Enlightenment"

I wish to thank you and Mr. Richard Standing of Owensville, Ohio for providing me with the subscription to the Washington Report.

It is excellent reading and I feel very privileged to receive it. Thank you.

Doreen Busby, Grangeville, ID

We get hundreds of letters from recipients of donated subscriptions to the AET "points of enlightenment " whose donations first acquainted the writers with the Washington Report. Let this brief letter speak to all the donors from all this month's recipients.

Homage to Lord Caradon

I was deeply moved to learn from your last issue that Lord Caradon—whom I still remember from his earlier incarnation as an official of the British Mandate in Palestine—requested in his will that he be buried in a Palestinian flag.

Let us hope that very soon now the current British ambassador to the United Nations will have the honor to be present when the flag of Palestine will be raised over East Jerusalem, as the capital of the state of Palestine.

Only then will Britain have expiated the heavy burden of guilt she bears over the hasty, undignified manner in which she abandoned her Mandate—thus bringing decades of suffering on the Palestinian people for whom she had assumed responsibility after World War I.

Miriam M. Abileah, Toronto, Canada

Donating Paul Findley's Book

The pastor at the Catholic church where I am employed recently received from your organization They Dare to Speak Out by former Congressman Paul Findley. I am elated that such a book has been written, is being distributed and backed up with all the factual evidence about which I think the American public needs to be informed. I have been aware of the many violations of human rights in Israel's occupied territories. It is my hope that every American citizen be informed of this reality of what is happening. I cannot thank you enough for bringing this to light.

Can you tell me why this book is not offered at major bookstores? I checked with all the bookstores in the small town in which I live and no one carried it. Dalton's Bookstore had it listed in their computer as "horror and science fiction." Can you believe that? Well, I am not shocked, only more convinced of the strength of the Israel lobby's control in this country.

Under separate cover I have sent payment along with a list of those to whom I wish to donate a copy of They Dare to Speak Out.

Lynda Alhussiny, Las Cruces, NM

You've answered your own question as to why Congressman Findley's revelations concerning Israel's US lobby are hard to find in mainstream bookstores. Our supply is inexhaustible, however, and, thanks to donors like you, the American Educational Trust, publisher of this magazine, has sold or presented close to 100,000 copies of this book to libraries and individuals. We've lost count of how many of the latter have written to say thanks for opening their eyes and changing their lives, and then through their donations started opening the eyes of others.

Balancing the Scales

I have been meaning to write a letter to the editor, and will simply use this order form to express my feelings. I will not renew my subscription to the Washington Report. I find your alleged efforts to be objective a failure, seen clearly not only in content but in logistics as well. Take, for example, the table of contents alone—in the past five months, there have been more articles on the intifada and Israel than on Iraq and Saddam Hussain. Indeed, it took a lot of searching to find anything written about any Arab state or leader in a critical vein, unlike your approach to Israel, where it is nearly impossible to find anything positive. Even the debate on "Anti-Semitism: Three Views" doesn't address real anti-Semitism, but rather puts it down where it can. In the "Letters" section, magazine staff respond enthusiastically to any letter that is anti-Israel, and don't respond at all to pro-Israel sentiment. What about Arab country brutality? I'm in no way supportive of Israel's treatment of Palestinians or Israeli policy, but to be truly objective, we need to at least hear where Israel is coming from without using pejorative words when describing everything Israel does. Enclosed is an article from "the other side." Thanks for listening. Publish this in "Letters" if you choose.

D'vorah Kost, Seattle, WA

Sorry to lose you, but we've always said we'll use our limited space to present a variety of opinions, but in inverse proportion to the treatment given them in the mainstream press. We suggest you subscribe to The New York Times, Washington Post, or almost any daily newspaper published in the United States. They have lots to say about Syrian brutality in Hama and Saddam (Adolf Hitler) Hussain, and very little to say about Israeli misuse of US aid in Lebanon and on the West Bank. We just seek to balance the scales.

Feeling Alone and Abandoned

I am really grateful for the magazine you put out. As a Palestinian I have felt alone and abandoned in this society. This feeling was primarily evoked by popular ignorance in this country. Almost no one knew anything about the Middle East, its problems, culture and, most of all, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Every time I publicly speak of our struggle as a Palestinian people, the Zionist community inevitably harasses in some form or another. I am happy to see you able to present honest news coverage and political analysis to the American public.

I am sorry I cannot give you more money, but I am a student who is very poor at the moment.

Karim Dajani, Santa Fe, NM

The warmth your letter evokes is just as precious as money. It takes a lot of both just to put out a magazine like ours, subject to the same harassment you mention, but expressed in ways so vicious, crude and malevolent that they boggle the minds of normal human beings. Letters like yours make it all worthwhile.

Reproducing Information From Stealth PACs

Several times while conducting workshops on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict I would have been able to make good use of some copies of material in Stealth PACs: How Israel's American Lobby Seeks to Control US Middle East Policy.

May I have the publisher's and author's permission to copy and distribute to workshop participants the Ohio portion of page 118? If granted, please indicate your desired wording of the credit to be included.

We must carry on. The ignorance of the American public is still abysmal.

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

Permission granted, to you and to other readers who wish to reproduce material pertaining to candidates in your own states and "fair usage" excerpts from the text. We request the following credit: From Stealth PACs: How Israel's American Lobby Seeks to Control US Middle East Policy, published in 1990 by the American Educational Trust, Washington, DC. Readers should know that a third edition of Stealth PACs, listing contributions received by congressional candidates from pro-Israel PACs in the 1990 election cycle, will be released in July 1991. Readers who already have the first or second editions are invited to copy the 1990 information from this issue of the Washington Report to supplement their copies of the book.

Your Work is Important

I have just finished reading, rather carefully, most of the articles in the Washington Report, Volume 9, February 1991.

I cannot tell you how important, in terms of information, I think your articles are and how important that the American public have them available. Excellent! Keep up the good work!

Arthur J. Kobacker, Columbus, OH

Confusing Criticism of Israel with Hostility to Jews

As a member of the Middle East Subcommittee of the Northern California office of AFSC [American Friends Service Committee], I was disturbed by the letter from Linda Lotz, of AFSC's regional office in Southern California, in your February issue. Ms. Lotz claims that several of Washington Report's commentaries have "bordered on being phobic about Jews in America. " I am sorry that she provided no evidence for this claim, which is a serious one.

The reason her accusation is of particular concern to me is that I am a Jew and also an occasional contributor to the Washington Report. As a Jew I read everything that touches on Middle East issues with an eye to whether or not it contains bias toward the Jewish people. As a contributor to the Washington Report, and an assiduous reader, I am especially sensitive to articles in the magazine that refer to Jews or to Jewish organizations. After years of reading the magazine I can say in all honesty that I have never read anything that approached an anti-Semitic statement.

Since Ms. Lotz: offered no evidence to back her accusation, I find her letter an unfortunate example of the tendency to confuse legitimate criticism of Israel, or of the policies of Jewish organizations, with hostility to Jews. I am sure I share her repugnance to anti-Semitism or any other form of racism, and I am equally certain of recognizing it when it occurs. To my knowledge it has never been present in the pages of the Washington Report and I regret that an official of AFSC (which has itself been unjustly accused of being anti-Semitic) should have made such a baseless charge.

Rachelle Marshall, Stanford, CA

We of course received a large number of queries from Jewish subscribers after we printed the letter from Ms. Lotz. They fell into two categories. One category asked, "Have I missed something?" Those in the other category said, like you, that they are virtually cover-to-cover readers and they disagreed with her statement. One Southern California reader wanted us to make it clear that Ms. Lotz is not Jewish herself, lest our readers leap to the conclusion that her letter represented some sort of group paranoia.

For the record, in nine years of publishing we've often been accused of "pro-Arab " bias, occasionally of an "anti-Israel "bias, but almost never of an "anti-Semitic "or "anti-Jewish" bias. "When we do receive such a letter, and the letter is signed, we generally print it, perhaps just to receive assurances like yours. Thanks.

Seeking and Finding a Friend

Greetings in the name of Our Lord from Nazareth.

The cover of your much esteemed magazine dated September 1990, Volume IX No. 4, fell into my hands recently. I've been hearing about the credibility of the articles published therein for a long time now, and always wondered how to get hold of your magazine. As you may already know, St. Gregory Palamas is a unique project in this part of the world. It is a non-profit library and Christian Orthodox information center, open to all.

Kindly allow a complimentary subscription, if possible. Otherwise inform me concerning the yearly subscription fees, so as to enable me either to find a friend to cover the cost, or find another way to pay for it from here.

Dr. Ernest Farah, St. Gregory Palamas
Library and Christian Orthodox Information Center, Nazareth, Israel

You've found a friend in the US to donate a subscription to your library. He is the Rev. L. Humphrey Wa1z, chairman of the American Educational Trust Board of Directors and religion editor of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.

Continued Success

It gives me pleasure to enclose a check for $1,000 towards your educational campaign. We are most impressed with what you are doing and we wish you continued success in the pursuit of your goal.

Joseph W. Tamari, Cultural and Educational Committee, Diana Tamari Sabbagh Foundation, Chicago, IL

Posting WR Articles by Computer

For the past two years I have been promoting the Washington Report and, more recently, CNI on the Amateur Radio Forum and international computer networks.

I have been doing this by either reading or "posting" articles and information from the WR. I normally excerpt and/or edit them for brevity and always end with the 800 number and subscription information. I call it the "Flagship of Mideast Journalism, if you don't read it, you have no business talking about the Mideast."

There is no way of knowing what good all this is doing unless I happen to get some feedback, but I do know that it takes a great deal of my time and energy just in the retyping of articles.

It occurs to me that you probably have these in some sort of computer form and I am wondering if it would be possible to get selected articles to me in a form that would save me the typing.

Please give this some thought and let me know what you think.

Jack Schmidling, The Amateur Radio Forum, Chicago, IL

Tell us which articles you want (one or two at a time) and we'll give it a try. By the way, you have brought us both requests for introductory copies of the magazine and a large number of paid subscriptions.

You Would Make the Founding Fathers Proud

I look forward at the beginning of each month to the new issue of the Washington Report. The March edition has been my third issue so far. I'm extremely excited to have finally found a journal that I enjoy reading and in it discovering "unpublished" facts. You folks are really true Americans. I say "true" because our constitution's fathers would have been very proud of you, for your honesty, courage and nationalism. The Washington Report is truly a unique journal.

Furthermore, I was impressed by George Moses' report "Would Israel's Budget Be Cut If It Were Officially Part of the US Government?" (March 1991).

Mr. Moses has given us an accurate and precise data breakdown of where most of our tax dollars are going, and in comparison to Israel's aid. Mr. Moses was absolutely right when he indicated that by reading this report, we were "likely now to know more about the budget and aid to Israel than most members of Congress want their constituents to know, and perhaps want to know themselves."

Thank you, Washington Report. And thanks to each honest member of the Washington Report's editorial staff and to its freelance writers, who make truth-telling their utmost quest.

Bob M. Sleiman, Okemos, MI

There Is No Such Thing as a "Just War"

I must say frankly that having watched the destruction visited upon Tel Aviv, and now the enormous devastation poured all over the Iraqi people, we feel deeply despondent at the terrible savage bombing which is now the lot of Iraqi men, women, and children, Jordanian workers and drivers, and the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. Only the Vietnam war and destruction was similar to this.

We pray that this crazy war will stop and peaceful talks and negotiations shall be taken seriously. There is no such thing as a "just war."

We urge you to take a responsible attitude and do all within your powers to join the pressures to stop this war and bring early peace.

Zahi Nasser, Nazareth, Israel

Neither you nor we could prevent the war that we now must put behind us. Perhaps by working together for a just peace, however, we can prevent the next one.