June/July 1997, pgs. 3, 82-86

Letters to the Editor

The "Fingernail" Reference

I need your help in finding the complete and exact quotation that a racist Israeli made a few years back in which he said that one Jewish (or Israeli) fingernail equals 100 Arabs.

I am doing research on the subject and I cannot find this quote. I need the name of this racist, the date of his statement, the source which I could cite, and the reasons (if possible) behind such a racist comment. Thank you for your help.

Abdulla M. Sindi, Ph.D., Placentia, CA

The quote is even worse than you remember it. According to journalist and historian Donald Neff, the statement was delivered by Rabbi Ya'acov Perin in his eulogy at the funeral of mass murderer Dr. Baruch Goldstein of the Jewish settlement at Kiryat Arba, in the West Bank above Hebron. Goldstein, you will recall, machine-gunned men and boys at prayer in Hebron's Ibrahimi mosque (called the Cave of the Patriarchs by Jews who maintain a synagogue there), killing 29, wounding many more, and setting off riots in which more than 100 other Palestinians were killed by Israeli soldiers. What Rabbi Perin said in declaring Goldstein a martyr whose grave at Kiryat Arba has become a shrine visited daily by Jewish settlers, was: "One million Arabs are not worth a Jewish fingernail." An original source you can cite is a Feb. 28, 1994 article by Clyde Haberman in The New York Times.

The Thirtieth Anniversary

June 8, 1997 will be the 30th sorrowful anniversary of the intentional Israeli attack on our men and our ship, USS Liberty. Recently, in discussing this infamy with other Americans, I was struck by their ignorance of the Israeli offense. Because our media and government officials have contrived to downplay the Liberty attack, I somewhat understand why younger people are unaware of this crime. But what is the excuse of older citizens to forget the deliberate murder of 34 Americans and the wounding of 171 other sailors and civilians aboard the USS Liberty? At that time 30 years ago, when the Liberty was deliberately targeted by our "ally", the country of Israelthe ship was cruising in international waters.

Perhaps all Liberty "Never Forgetters" are preaching to the choir. What can be done to remind all us Americans of this tragic attack? Are there any civic demonstrations planned or are any major news publications formulating articles to commemorate this 30th anniversary? This is the time! When another anniversary occurs, how many survivors will be here to remind us that our "ally" Israel can commit no offense too loathsome or too shocking or too extreme to be forgiven by the U.S. government and media? So far, the message from the media and our government is that Israel can get away with murder, and that it's okay with us.

V. Muir, James City, VA

A Liberty Crewman

I got my copy of WRMEA a couple of weeks ago but just finished getting through it yesterday and thought I would tell you how much I appreciate it. I am an ex-Liberty crewman (not a survivor), and know many of the survivors. It sure is nice to know there is someone on our side.

I particularly enjoyed Jim Ennes' article on "Censorship in Cyberspace" and Robert Nordlander's exchange of letters with his congressman, Tom Petri. There was a lot of work that went into them.

Also I much appreciated the publicity for the upcoming 30th reunion of the Liberty incident in Washington, DC in June. I wish I could provide more support for such a fine publication.

John Gidusko, via Internet

Will We Live Long Enough?

The enclosed copy of an editorial which appeared in The Post-Standard, Syracuse, NY, Feb. 17 so agreed with your "Point of View" article on Boutros Boutros-Ghali.

Thank you, thank you for your support and for speaking out for the good of the United States and justice throughout the world.

Also enclosed are copies of letters written to our newspaper editors on the 20th anniversary of the ruthless Israeli attack on the U.S.S. Liberty. And still the brave survivors seem to be no closer to a just and dignified resolution of their terrible experience. Again, thanks for your efforts.

Selma Abdo, Syracuse, NY

Your Information Came in Handy

Thank you for another great issue. I was delighted to see my "Christmas" letter to the L.A. Times included.

The "Foreign Aid to Israel" article was very handy, in that I told Congressman Kim that I would send him more information, when the topic arose at a meeting last Friday with him and the Arab-American Republican Club of Orange County. Foreign aid and the travel ban on Lebanon were the two subjects discussed.

Your article on Israel's demographics had an apocalyptic message, in my opinion, that I also mentioned in my letter to the congressman (attached).

The letter from the Irishman, Albert Doyle, on the ADL building, and his meeting there, was hilarious and wonderful. It is typically Irish to deal with madness and injustice with satire and ridicule! I wonder what other NY experiences he might have had?

Patrick F. Flynn, Yorba Linda, CA

"The Nazi Germany Holocaust"

Reference is made to page 3 of the March 1997 issue in which the term "Holocaust" is used.

To this reader, the use of this capitalized term is not only a form of propaganda, it is an insult to the memory of those who died in other mass killings. A more balanced expression would be "the holocaust in Nazi Germany" or "the Nazi Germany holocaust."

Unfortunately, there are too many examples of mass killings in the history of planet earth. The holocaust in Nazi Germany is just one of many. The post-WWII holocaust of disarmed German soldiers and civilians that is described in the book Other Losses is another example of man's inhumanity to man. The economic collapse in Russia during 1921-22 caused a holocaust that left some five million dead. Many more millions died in a holocaust in the Soviet Union during the late 1920s and early 1930s.

Bill Buckel, Columbus, OH

We were a little surprised on reading your letter to think that we hadn't qualified the noun with some kind of adjective. But when we looked up the reference we saw it was in a letter to the editor, and one that at least one of our Irish-American readers enjoyed. See his letter above. So we take your point, but we generally don't mess with people's letters except to abridge them.

You're Disingenuous

I did not receive issue number 3 of the 14th volume of the WRMEA. Even if it had gone to my old address, it would have been forwarded here by the post office, where I had ordered that service. I am enclosing a $5 Canadian banknote to cover the cost.

I understand that for practical reasons you would not want to cover questions of WWII-history revision. But if you suggest that the dominant version does not need any revision, I would find that disingenuous. A cursory reading, if only of Yehuda Bauer or Arno Mayer, to name but two Jewish professors, should shake your belief in familiar stories and figures. Or what do you think of Roger Baraudy or Abbe Pierre, two leftist intellectuals, and their present assessment of Israel's manipulation of that history?

It is not just a question of intellectual integrity in general to examine the issue, but it also has to do with the fate of the Palestinians. The loss of their land so far was not only precipitated, if not made possible, by the persecution of Jews by the Nazi regime in Germany; in addition, the post-war governments in Bonn, the media and their gullible public have allowed the issue to be exploited by spicing it with disinformation of various kinds, as if reality weren't awful enough. This exploitation has been constantly working for Israel, since it creates a screen in public opinion behind which Israel could apply policies in dealing with the Palestinians, or the Lebanese for that matter, which would be called genocidal if applied to Israelis.

For that reason and beyond the financial and economic aid extended to Israel, Bonn should take full responsibility for each and every Palestinian suffering under the occupation. Do you publish the WRMEA in the FRG? If not, why? Most people go through high school and learn English. As for translation into German, I am ready to volunteer, for the sake of justice and the Palestinian people.

Lore Morcos, Sidney, B.C. Canada

Your missing issue has been forwarded. We're not sure how it works in Canada but in the U.S. leaving a forwarding address with your previous post office is not sufficient. Third- and fourth-class mail, which the Washington Report was at that time and is again, is not forwarded and not returned. It is destroyed at the receiving post office. So a change of address notice must be sent to us, not just to your post office, to get your subscription on track.

As for your second question, anyone in the world can subscribe by mail. We would love to print in other places, especially in the Middle East, but, if we had additional resources, we would use them to print additional issues in the U.S. We have so much to report but can't even afford to put out an issue here every month. Subscriber Doug Baldwin in Riyadh summed it up nicely in a recent phone call when he said that publishing is a field in which anyone can take a large fortune and turn it into a small one. If only we'd talked to him 15 years ago, we might have stuck to writing those revealing letters to the editor that most publications are so afraid to use, instead of trying to set up a vehicle to print them.

A "Wake Up Call" for Palestinians

This is a "wake up call" for Palestinians everywhere in the world.

Some Jews, admittedly, bluffed when they questioned whether Swiss banks might be holding "safe-haven" funds from Jews later killed in German death camps, and they hit gold! Now France is being asked to determine the "provenance" of art works in the Louvre and the Elyse Palace that might have been confiscated from Jewish owners during the Nazi occupation. Other European countries also are looking for assets that might once have belonged to Jews.

While the media are focusing attention on Jewish losses it is most timely for Palestinians to make very public their losses. Any Palestinian claim should be broadcast as widely as possible, letters to newspapers, TV stations, government officials, consulates and embassies, even the U.N. Whatever deeds, letters or pictures are available will help in substantiating the claim. But just making the claim, right now, is the most vital thing.

Patently the Palestinians will have a harder time being heard. Therefore one letter to one newspaper will not do. Each Palestinian should send at least 10 letters to anyone who might possibly read them. The larger the flow of mail, the better the chances of being recognized.

Whom to write in each country where expatriate Palestinians now live has to be their choice, but I would urge each one, wherever, to write at least one letter to the American Embassy in that country.

In the U.S., Palestinian citizens should write the president, the State Department, their senators and congressmen, the media (local newspaper, TV stations). Indeed if, as taxpayers, they have any deeds, etc., enough to declare a loss on income tax returns, do so. Remember it's the squeaky wheel that gets attention.

If you listen to TV interviews with children of Holocaust victims, you realize they cannot prove anything about the reality of funds placed in Switzerland, they were too young to know any facts, much less figures. Certainly Palestinians can do as well, indeed better, with equal emotional impact if they try hard enough.

Abbe Sawabini, Shelburne, VT

We suggest that Palestinians and their heirs who heed this advice drop a copy of one of their letters, preferably the shortest, to this magazine. Obviously we can't use them all in "Other People's Mail," which is primarily to give ideas to other letter writers, but we'll try to build up a file of prospective participants in a class-action suit. One lawyer already has contacted us on the matter and we think it's a very sound idea. In fact, that's how the successful suit against AIPAC began nearly a decade ago. Don't, however, send us original documents of any kind. We get 200 letters a day to be dealt with by a paid staff of five and a few seasoned volunteers whom others suspect may be about to topple over the hill. So we lose things.

Cause and Effect

During his meeting with Binyamin Netanyahu, the president of the U.S. announced that he will try to get the peace process on the track by stopping the violence. Not the cause.

Khalid M. Sheikh, Vienna, VA

Bubba and Bibi

Attached are copies of a March 30 column by Tom Teepen and a letter to the editor from the North County Times of Escondido, CA.

It would appear that this columnist does not read the Mideast news in his own publication for he lays all the trouble on Yasser Arafat, claiming that that defenseless fellow is clamoring for more and more of the Peace Pie. From all I can find in the newspapers, Arafat is simply and properly insisting on sticking to the original signed Oslo agreement.

In unilaterally tossing all the previous agreements overboard, Binyamin Netanyahu has rendered the signature, word and bond of Israel simply worthless. Israel can no longer (if it ever could) be trusted! Does this Israeli charlatan not realize that? Perhaps it makes no difference, with Bubba to back him up.

In the letter to the editor, the writer declares that Israel "trained and heavily armed 30,000 Palestinian security forces." Can that statement possibly be true, or is it another exaggeration extricated from some Jewish weekly? I cannot imagine Israel putting that much trust in any Arabic manpower. Your comments regarding the word of Israel, and the Palestinian army, should be of great interest to the readers.

Frank J. Burris, Fallbrook, CA

You're right and columnist Teepen is a might gullible or blind, in our opinion, in assessing blame for the breakdown of the peace process. As for the Palestinian security forces, in responses to members of the U.S. Congress covered in "Congress Watch" in this issue, Arafat notes that his Palestinian Authority has a lower ratio of security personnel to population than any other Middle East country, including Israel.

His True Colors

It hasn't taken long for Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu to reveal his true colors. This M.I.T.-degreed all-American boy wonder came onto the scene one year ago with a clear-cut agenda, namely to destroy the Oslo I and Oslo II peace accords and fulfill the Likud dream of a Greater Israel. He has since set the wheels in motion and now appears to be within sight of achieving his goal. What had taken the United States 50 years to achieve in terms of dialogue between Arabs and Jews was reversed in just one year by the masterful Bibi.

In the meantime, so-called moderate Arabs and fair-minded Americans are scratching their heads and asking how could the government of Israel violate a contract that it had signed in the presence of the superpowers and the world community. How could America, the only superpower today, swallow its pride and might and veto two U.N. resolutions that could have prevented Bibi from pursuing his Eretz Israel dream? My good friends, I beg you to take a few minutes from your time and study history. I ask you when have the Israelites ever honored a treaty that they signed? Arafat must have been a fool (indeed he is a fool) to think that America, which itself is "Israeli-Occupied Territory," would come to his side and bring pressure on the Israeli government. How many more failures are the naive Palestinians (I happen to be one) going to tolerate from the disastrous Arafat? All of these are fair and legitimate questions that the moderates have to answer to us "hard-liners." There has to be accountability in this process if we are to learn some painful lessons and thus move forward.

I am not a prophet (Mohammed is the last of the prophets), but two years ago I wrote a letter to WRMEA prophesizing that this lopsided Mideast peace process was doomed. I was told to be patient because this time it's different. Well, I have patiently waited and observed as the moderate Arabs were outfoxed, outwitted and finally humiliated by the savvy Israelis. Now my friends, it is time for the moderates to step aside and allow the so-called "hard-liners" to have their "Place in the Sun." Let Hanan Ashrawi take a backseat to Professor Edward Said (he's just as eloquent and charming). Send the PLO back to Tunis and let Hamas and George Habash assume power in the territories. Give Assad leadership of the Arab world and let Mubarak take an indefinite leave of absence. I really think that, two years from now, we will have results through this new breed of leadership that are mutually beneficial to both Arabs and Americans. The "civilized" West may call us terrorists, extremists or even barbarians, but one must observe that historically the end always has justified the means. Armed struggles and uprisings have always accompanied change throughout the course of history. America and Israel are living testaments to this fact. It is also worth noting that the victors always get the privilege of writing the history books. We shall write them to our own liking.

Finally, I would like to wish the staff of the WRMEA a prosperous and happy Eid. You are performing divine deeds by speaking out against Zionists. May God bless all of you. I politely request that you publish my article in its entirety without censorship. After all, this is America.

Aed M. Dudar, Dearborn, MI

We have published your letter, almost without "censorship" except for three sentences in which you strayed out of politics, which is our field, and into religion, which is not. We agree that Netanyahu is deliberately derailing the peace train, and expecting to get away with blaming the Palestinians. In our opinion, however, had Hamas or Habash been in charge right now, it would have been much easier to do so. We think that only Zionist historical revisionists will even try to blame Arafat for the current failure and they won't get away with it.

We expect you're right that Netanyahu's moves end the Arafat experiment, and pave the way for a bloody showdown between extremists on both sides. We think you're wrong in believing things will be better in two years. In the continued absence of American leadership things will be worse then and headed for much worse. When the dust settles, perhaps in 10 years, there will be thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, unnecessarily dead, probably including many Americans. And, we predict, historians will blame Netanyahu, and the Likud revisionists, for the fact that, despite extremely clever maneuvering by Mssrs. Rabin and Peres to make Israel acceptable to its Middle Eastern neighbors, their successor lost Israel's claim to achieve such acceptance through overweening pride and stupidity. So you go ahead and deplore the role of Palestine's president, we'll leave deploring Netanyahu's stupidity to sensible Israelis, and we'll wring our hands over the hollow man in the White House who still could put peace back on the track and save us all, but won't. Unfortunately, he, too, is America.

P.S. We aren't hearing much these days from the many readers who assured us that there would be a "new Clinton" in his second term since he no longer had to fear the Israel lobby. Let's all take a vow never to fall for this myth of second-term conversion again. As for those who led the campaign to get Arab Americans to vote for a second term for the most pro-Israel president in U.S. history, maybe it's time for some new Arab-American leaders who think of their followers first and party preferences and personal favors or appointments second.

I Should Have Been More Formal

I was surprised to find that you had published an inquiry by me for information on Jerusalem's taxes together with your response. Had I realized, and I should have by looking at your voluminous correspondence pages, that you publish many letters of inquiry, I would have been more formal, at least in the first reference, in naming Ra'ees Yasser Arafat and Rose Memshala Binyamin Netanyahu. Always give their full names and titles first, before using their nicknames.

I appreciate the fact that you took the trouble to call a lady in London to find the source of your statement that Palestinians pay 26 percent of the taxes in Jerusalem and receive 5 percent of the services. But her reference to a 1994 news items by a Jerusalem organization tells you nothing of substance.

Jerusalem municipal taxes, like our cities and counties, are based on property. Taxes in Jerusalem are complicated by the fact that so much of the property is exempt from city taxes because it is owned by religious, governmental and educational institutions. The short-fall from the tax revenue is made up by a government grant. This applies to all the cities and towns in Israel in varying degrees.

It is possible that Palestinians own 26 percent of the taxable property and pay 26 percent of the taxes. But this is far less than 26 percent of the city's revenue. This is no excuse for the discrimination in city services suffered by Arab areas. I know of one Arab section, Wallaja, annexed to Jerusalem in 1967, which receives zero services from the city because it has no access to the city center.

A word about your article on the media in which you list the Jews on the masthead of The Washington Post, as if it was relevant and important. It reminds me of the time that I was visiting an African country as the guest of the Ministry of Tourism. The foreign minister invited me to his office. I was accompanied by a political officer of the American Embassy. The foreign minister gave me an hour-long speech on his disputes with neighboring states for which he begged American support.

Afterwards I asked the American political officer why I, the editor of a Zionist monthly that few people in Washington read, was given this royal treatment. His reply: "This man has read the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion' and he believes it."

Now you have another member of the secret Jewish cabal to write about, our secretary of state.

Since you like to see my articles promoting the peace process in the Palm Beach Jewish Journal, I'm enclosing two from today's issue.

J. Zel Lurie, Delray Beach, FL

Actually we pretty well wrote ourselves out on the secretary of state in our January issue, mailed in mid-December, and were criticized for mentioning Madeleine Albright's Jewish background. Then, The Washington Post (after a call to us the first week in January) decided it was politically correct for the Post to mention what we, the Israeli press, the U.S. Jewish weeklies and the Arab press had been reporting for some time. Yes we like your articles, but not all your letters.

"Israel is Not a Refugee-Producing Country"

Many of the Russian Jewish refugees from Israel seeking asylum in Canada (and elsewhere) are living in or children of mixed marriages who are not welcome in Israel.

Let me recall an incident that happened in the early '50s when I lived in Israel. There was a Polish Jew who had been hidden from the Nazis throughout the war by a Polish Christian woman, obviously at great danger to herself. They were lucky: the Nazis never discovered them and after the war they were married and had a son. A few years later they emigrated to Israel. Either because they did not want it or because it may have been difficult to obtain in Poland immediately after the war, the boy was not circumcised. This caused him a lot of trouble in kindergarten and school as he was mocked by his schoolmates.

Eventually the boy died of some childhood disease. The parents had him buried in the Jewish cemetery of Tel Aviv, where else? But rabbinical authorities decreed that since he was not a Jew he could not be buried on holy ground and had his body removed outside beyond the wall. At night the couple's friends would go and bury him inside the cemetery. The next day, the authorities had him removed and buried outside again.

I do not recall how many times this unedifying game went back and forth. Eventually a non-religious kibbutz came forward and offered to have the boy buried in its private cemetery which was not under the jurisdiction of the rabbinical authorities. The couple agreed and thus that disgusting spectacle ended.

One wonders what the devoted Polish woman felt about seeing her son treated in this manner in the "homeland" of her husband.

Is it any wonder that Russian Jews in mixed marriages do not want to live in a country where they have to face discrimination?

As for the "protests" of the official Jewish community: what hypocrisy! Except for fanatics like Baruch Goldstein, few American, Canadian or Western European Jews ever move to Israel. By what right do they dare deny less fortunate Jews from "refugee producing countries" the right to live wherever they choose?

And that's, of course, disregarding the fact that Israel turned the majority of Palestinians into refugees.

Helen Cohen, Missisauga, Ontario, Canada

Syria's Pivotal Role

I have been reading the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs for over 10 years. Allow me to tell you frankly and honestly that this magazine is the best one I have ever read in terms of accuracy, fairness, objectivity and excellence. But what I have realized, unfortunately, is it very, very rarely publishes anything about Syria. Why? Maybe due to the lack of chemistry between it and President Hafez Al-Assad and his regime which are as a matter of fact the business of the Syrian people and not the business of anybody else.

However, everybody knows that Syria now is engaged in a battle of life and death against Israel and those who are backing and protecting her. Syria is not fighting just for her future. She is fighting for the future of the whole region. Moreover, Syria is playing a pivotal role in the policy of the Middle East. Therefore, I do not see any excuse or justification for ignoring her.

Kamel Mudarry, Brighton, MA

Our "justification" is that for years, literally, we have sought a resident correspondent in Syria, mentioning it from time to time in this magazine, but never found one. The light is in the window.

As for chemistry, our executive editor lived in Syria for a year and loved it, and has visited many times since, though not since assuming this position. Has it occurred to you that perhaps it's impossible for a journalist living in Syria to report credibly in a Western publication and feel secure? It's the only explanation we can come up with. If we're wrong, let some Syrian resident prove it.

Keep the Magazines Coming, Please

Thank you for adjusting my address in Rome and sending me the three issues I missed, October '96 to Jan. '97. Please send me a reminder when it will be time to renew the yearly subscription by air mail. WRMEA is always very helpful to me. See my article in Mediterranean Quarterly, edited by Amb. Raymond Ewing in Washington, DC.

Sincere regards.

Dr. V. Sanguineti, Rome, Italy

The Back Issues

Enclosed are one copy each of the May/June 1996 and Aug./Sept. 1996 issues as requested on page 122 of the Jan./Feb. 1997 issue. Thanks for continuing to do a terrific job, folks!

R. L. Gabler, Kingwood, TX

Those country special issues, like the Qatar and Pakistan issues you sent, are always the first to go out of stock. We appreciate receiving used copies from our subscribers because they are in great demand by libraries where, in some cases, they provide the only reference material available on the countries covered.

To Cover the Mailing

Enclosed is our check in the amount of $60 to cover renewal of a one-year subscription with the balance to be applied toward 50 to 60 copies of a recent issue of the Washington Report for distribution to participants in a life enrichment class in April 1997 ("The Middle East, Both Sides, Political, Historical and Economic Background"). The other side will be given by the Israeli consulate. If there is any further obligation on our part please let us know and we'll make every effort to raise the funds.

Abdallah E. and Gerri Najjar, Atlanta, GA

We appreciate your willingness to cover the costs of shipping as well as of printing the extra copies. In fact we have extra copies of most recent back issues because we use newsstand returns. So we don't need money for the copies, and the shipping cost was less than you sent. We'll use our "profit" to ship introductory copies to other friends of the Washington Report who are willing to distribute but are unable to fund bulk shipments of introductory copies.

Continuing to Function

I am a fountain of information about the Middle East in my locality. As I was born in Egypt and teach Arabic here, I should not be found wanting on news about the Arab world. I should be most grateful if you could send me your famous magazine and the 1997 calendar. I wish you a happy and prosperous new year.

I.M. Gony, Accra-Newtown, Ghana

The calendar and a sample copy are on their way, but we would need a donation of a $60 subscription to keep the fountain flowing.

What Ought to be Done

I thought you might be interested in a letter I am sending today to Senator Patty Murray. You might want to include all or part of it in "Other People's Mail."

Since we, as individuals, cannot make Israel do what we, with our set of beliefs, think Israel ought to do, what we can do is concentrate on what our country is doing in supporting Israeli actions which are in direct violation of our own most basic beliefs.

My hope is to start such a movement in the Seattle area in the near future. If you believe there is any merit to this approach, how you treat it in the Washington Report will have a great impact on how successful it is. The more widespread its use, the more effective it will be in changing U.S. policies in the Mideast.

John S O'Connor, Seattle, WA

Your letter to Senator Murray is in this issue's "Other People's Mail" starting on page 95.

Another Splendid Issue!

Before anything else, I want to congratulate you on yet another splendid issue! I am awed by your superb accomplishment in the case of just about every issue I remember! We who value your "product" so very much should be cheering you after every publication. I hope others are joining me. Thank you.

Edna Homa Hunt, Winter Park, FL

Others cheer us too, but since you wrote this letter you joined us with your moving "personal commemoration" of the 30th anniversary of the Israeli occupation that began in June 1967. It is printed on p. 11 of this issue.

More Adulation, Unadulterated

Greetings from the land of 15,000 lakes. Please accept the enclosed $1,000 check as my contribution to the best publication on the Middle East, especially Palestine/Israel issues, in the U.S.A. and anywhere in the world. Mssrs. Curtiss, Killgore, Findley and the Washington Report staff are the best team of writers and authors on the subject. I wish you continued success in your honest effort to report on the Arab/Israeli conflict, truly and honestly. I am one of the millions of victims of Israel's aggression, having been born in Jaffa and expelled by force in 1948 with my family. With gratitude and best wishes.

Araf J. Jabr, St. Paul, MN

With generous supporters like you we will have continued success. We hope there are many more like you in the land of 15,000 lakes. But, back in World War II when we were studying Japanese at the U.S. Army's pleasure at the University of Minnesota, there were only 10,000 lakes. Is the new number the result of natural increase, global warming of glaciers, or just good old Midwestern boosterism?

Keep Her Writing for You

Please do whatever it takes to keep Dr. Mahjabeen Islam-Husain writing for WRMEA. What many of us "fellow travelers" feel, she expresses with eloquence, dignity, tolerance and compassion. Hers is the face of Islam I would like the American public at large to see and understand. I only wish people could read her essays.

R. Tawil, Rochester, NY

The best way to get more people to read her essays is to get more people to subscribe to the Washington Report. Also, of course, other publications are free to reprint her articles without advance permission but with attribution, as they are all articles that originate in the Washington Report. This release for Washington Report material does not apply, however, to photographs (except by WRMEA staff members), cartoons or reprinted articles in the "Other Voices" section of this magazine.

Who Was More Prophetic? The King or the Politicians?

I have been a subscriber to your periodical for many years, but I have never written a letter to you before. I was surprised, therefore, when [on page 95 of your Jan./Feb. issue] I came across a letter from "me" concerning the destruction of our home some time ago. While I await your enlightenment, I will pass on some Middle East history I gained while serving in the U.S. Army in World War II. I was on the staff of AMET [American Middle East Theater], headquartered near Cairo, Egypt, but traveling extensively throughout the area.

In April 1946, I was part of a group of staff officers accompanying our commander, General Henry Aurand, a fine officer, to Saudi Arabia to deal with its famous monarch, King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud, whose sons have ruled that nation since his death in 1953.

I was present in Riyadh when, in an exchange with the general, the monarch made a statement I shall never forget:

"If your President Truman continues his present policy of forcing onto the people of Palestine the people of Germany and elsewhere, the Middle East will flow red with blood for the next thousand years."

Who was more prophetic, the king or the politicians surrounding Truman and assuring him that the trouble would be over in a week or two? Was the New York vote worth the half-century, and counting, that has followed?

During the Riyadh trip I also had the good fortune of being the guest of U.S. Minister [later ambassador] William Eddy at the U.S. mission in Jidda. He was the most knowledgeable person on the Middle East I have ever known, then or since.

After acting as translator in the Suez Canal complex for FDR, returning from Yalta, and the Saudi king, he wrote a book, FDR Meets Ibn Saud, about the meeting. It is well worth studying, as it spells out the basic reasons for the unbelievable misery in the area for the past 50 years, and before it actually happened. With the other 2,000 volumes [over 500 of which were on the Middle East] in my library, it was destroyed when our home was blown up and burned to the ground in 1989.

After my return to the U.S. my interest in the area simply increased. I have given many speeches to civic groups and others as well as writing numerous articles. As only one example of problems I have faced, I submitted to the local daily a lengthy treatise on "Zionism and the U.S." Only paying the full advertising price and threatening to sue if it were not published made the printing of the article possible.

For my efforts I received the usual threatening letters. I ignored them. When I was asked by the authorities who I thought had destroyed our home, I said "The Jewish Defense League." A local fellow was tried in federal court but acquitted of that charge.

When I was proposed for the bench the local Jewish community bitterly opposed me. Was it my lack of trial experience? Hardly. Only two attorneys from Austin, Minnesota have ever been made Fellows of the American College of Trial Lawyers in its entire history, and I am one of them. The real reason was obvious, I had the temerity to attack Zionism and Israel [although not Judaism, which I respect and admire].

One last point, and I will be finished. The local Jewish community went all the way to Washington to enlist the influence of then-U.S. Senator Rudy Boschwitz. They found out, however, that the Minnesota Governor Al Quie was made of sturdy stuff and I was appointed.

My library is slowly being replaced, but it's slow going and very expensive. Your Report is excellent. Keep it up.

William J. Nierengarten, Judge of the District Court, Third Judicial District, Austin, MN

To shed light on how we could print your story before you sent it to us in a letter, we read your interesting comments on the evaluation sheet you returned with your renewal and put them in our letters column. We said then that it sounded like you had an interesting story for us, and indeed you did.

Tripping Through Tunisia

I recently returned with a group from Tunisia, my third trip this past year. One of the tour members had the December issue of your journal and was kind enough to share it with me, but not kind enough to give it to me outright. It is a major piece of writing on Tunisia and I was thrilled to have it along on the trip.

The emphasis of this company for the past 23 years has been Eastern Europe and the Balkans. However, we try to work in other areas where the folk traditions are still a centering factor for a community. (My son is with a group in Ethiopia and Eritrea this month.) Your journal will be a valuable addition to our research library. However, please begin the subscription with the December 1996 issue.

Rae Tauber, Program Development, Opa! Folklore Studies, La Jolla, CA

Thanks for the subscription. We're eager to do a special issue on admirable, up-by-the-bootstraps newly independent Eritrea sometime when we can slip away from the eternal search for funding to spend two weeks there. Maybe next year.

Greetings from Jerusalem!

Greetings and best wishes from Jerusalem! Thank you for mailing the note and check in payment for our article and photos used, three copies of the latest issue of WRMEA, as well as the return of the photos. All of these items arrived safely.

It was my pleasure to send these photos to you, on behalf of Sabeel Liberation Theology Center. Our center has come to find your magazine one of the best sources of clear, concise and accurate reporting on the Middle East. It has become an asset to our work. If I can ever be of assistance in the future, please do not hesitate to call on me.

Marla Schrader, Coordinator, International Programs, Liberation Theology Center, Jerusalem

The Disciples Seminary Foundation

I recently was a tour leader along with Dr. Rod Parrott of the Disciples Seminary Foundation, Claremont, California and Marla Schrader of Sabeel Liberation Theology Center of a study tour of 21 participants to the West Bank, Gaza and Israel. We had a copy of the Jan./Feb. issue of WRMEA and I'm enclosing names and addresses of persons who indicated an interest in receiving a sample copy of WRMEA. I believe some, if not all, will subscribe.

We also had discussions with, amongst others, Dr. Naim Ateek; Rev. Riaah Abu Asal in Nazareth; Rev. Elias Chacour in Ibillin; Father Yousef Sa'adeh in Nablus; the Near East Christian Council in Gaza; the Christian Peacemaker Team in Hebron; a Waqf official in Jerusalem; and ANERA.

Duane A. Rames, Mesa, AZ

A Worcester Correspondent

I would appreciate your having me as your literary and news representative in the Worcester, Massachusetts area. I noted your item in a recent issue which encouraged input by those interested in Middle East affairs.

I would be most happy to take care of publicity and your purposes in Worcester to promote the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.

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

You're on! The way to start is to make sure that all libraries in the area that are interested have subscriptions. Talk to our circulation director Delinda Hanley about that. Then see that the larger newsstands are aware of the magazine. A call to our public relations director, John Vandenberg, will elicit the name and address of a wholesale magazine distributor for your area. We'll also supply introductory copies of back issues to be handed out at appropriate (Middle East-related secular, Christian or Muslim) events, and will appreciate advance notification of such events for our "Bulletin Board" and coverage of them for our "Activism" columns. We appreciate your offer, and the many things you have done on our behalf over the years.

A Library Thank You

We acknowledge with grateful appreciation receipt of a one-year subscription to the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs from S. Sohail Ahmed, beginning with the January issue. Please thank the donor for this thoughtful and generous gift.

Carolyn A. Anthony, Director, Skokie Public Library, Skokie, IL

This letter will stand in for the more than 2,000 received in 1996 from libraries that received gift subscriptions from our readers. Even more libraries than that pay for their own subscriptions, and the numbers are rising rapidly since libraries that subscribe or renew on their own in 1997 also get the $150 library donation book package described in this spring's mailing to 21,000 librarians.

Happy Birthday, Dear Dad

This subscription is a birthday present for my father, Nabil. I must admit this gift is partly selfish because I'm looking forward to reading the first issue. However, once I leave home I'll be sure to get my own subscription.

Dima Shehadeh, Vienna, VA

Reconnected After a Long Time

I recently got reconnected to your outstanding magazine via a gift subscription after a hiatus of several years. I see that you are still doing a terrific job at exposing the truth about the biggest and most successful cover-up operation in the history of the modern world. Thank you for the cover story on the ongoing human tragedy in Iraq. I believe that there is no greater and more shameful man-made humanitarian disaster in the world today. Even more shocking is the lack of attention the issue gets from just about all quarters, including "liberal" and Arab media outlets. I would encourage you to keep bringing up the issue, which is also the focus of cover-up propaganda, in your future publications. Have you talked to Ramsey Clark about this matter? On another issue I am faxing along with this letter a copy of an advertisement that you probably saw in The New York Times from the Central Rabbinical Congress of the USA and Canada. I was extremely surprised upon finding out how strongly anti-Israel certain Jewish Orthodox groups really are. Perhaps you would be kind enough to shed more light on this and other such Jewish groups. I wonder if you can reproduce this ad in your magazine? Also, I heard your executive editor on KPFK radio the other day. I meant to call in and ask what motivates you to take on and keep up this incredibly difficult challenge, i.e., fighting the Zionists and their behemoth propaganda machine. Perhaps you'd care to answer that sometime in your columns. Keep up the good work. Our best wishes and prayers are with you.

Saif M. Hussain, Woodland Hills, CA

We reported on the anti-Israel ad in The New York Times by the ultra-Orthodox Central Rabbinical Congress of the USA and Canada in an answer to a letter to the editor on p. 99 of our October 1996 issue. As to what motivates us, it's the same thing that motivates our readers, an unwillingness to remain silent in the face of injustice. What will stop us? Lack of funding, and unfortunately, possibly sooner than we can bear to contemplate.