Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, August/September 1997, pages 3, 83-85

Letters to the Editor

Iran’s Constitutionalist Movement

On March 23, 1997, Mike Wallace of “60 Minutes” had an interview with Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani. A few days later the same interview plus commentary by Mr. Wallace were shown on C-SPAN. Mr. Wallace betrayed the true spirit of journalism by trying to picture a free and progressive Iran. By all accounts, especially after the conviction in the Mykonos trial of four terrorists working for the Islamic Republic, this regime is not a democratic government and Mr. Rafsanjani is not a “moderate” president as portrayed by Mr. Wallace.

In objection to Mr. Wallace’s comments, we have gathered hundreds of signatures from Iranian people with various political views. We also have mailed to you letters sent by The Constitutionalist Movement of Iran, a free and democratic organization striving to bring democracy back to Iran.

We would deeply appreciate the publication of these materials in your magazine.

Hooman Farahmand, Ass’t. Director of Public Relations, Encino, CA

We didn’t have room in this issue’s “Other People’s Mail” for your lengthy letter to Mike Wallace of “60 Minutes” with nine specific criticisms of his interview with President Rafsanjani but we found them informative. We hope you will like “The Iranian Elections—Five Views” on pp. 10-13 of this issue, including the view of the secretary-general of your party.

Despair for Peace Chances

Do you still believe that there is a chance for a just and permanent peace in the Middle East? I don’t anymore. Because, ever since the time of Menachem Begin, the presidents of our country, without a single exception, have accepted and supported each and every demand of the prime ministers of Israel, the Palestinians will never have a nation of their own. It doesn’t matter how many international laws, resolutions of the United Nations, previous agreements with the apparent guarantee of our government, may be broken. The will of the leaders of Israel will be done. And again, it doesn’t matter that quite a few citizens of Israel disagree with the policies of their government violating the human and political rights of the Palestinians.

René Espinosa, Sr., Falls Church, VA

We don’t expect to see anything but backsliding toward war in the Middle East for the remainder of President Clinton’s term. In justice to ex-presidents since the time of Begin, we think that two of them, had they been elected to a second term, would have tried very hard to settle the Palestinian problem. They are Jimmy Carter, who had to contend with Begin, and George Bush, who must be credited with getting rid of Yitzhak Shamir. In our opinion, the fact that Israel’s U.S. supporters sensed that both would mount heavy pressure on Israel to cede the West Bank and Gaza for peace was a major element, in fact the major element in Bush’s case, in the defeats of their reelection campaigns. Since candidates of both parties make the same assumption, we may never have another president who makes a real effort to bring peace to the Middle East. This puts the burden on the other Arabs. Perhaps when it is just as politically dangerous for the president of Egypt or the king of Saudi Arabia to be considered “soft on Israel” as it is now for a president of the U.S. to be seen as “tough on Israel” is when real momentum for peace will begin. Meanwhile, we fear we’re headed very rapidly now for a new war in the Middle East in which Israeli leaders, who are really helpless militarily and economically without very close U.S. support, will try to drag us in to bail them out. Let’s not go. If they think we won’t help them colonize the whole Middle East, maybe they’ll stop trying. Until then, there will be no peace.

Wartime Mistakes Are Common

I am a subscriber to your publication and have just received the June/July issue. I refer to the article “USS Liberty: Periscope Photography May Finally Reveal Truth.”

Much has been written about this incident since its occurrence over 30 years ago. The burden of evidence seems to indicate that this was a tragic accident that occurred in the midst of a raging war. Friendly-fire incidents are obviously not uncommon and figure prominently in our own recent military history. Those are terrible things that happen, but little purpose is served in dredging them up over and over again, especially after such a long time. Mistakes are common in war.

And one should ask oneself why Israel, whose only real friend is the United States, should wish to antagonize its close ally by deliberately attacking one of its warships and killing and wounding many of its sailors. It simply makes no sense at all. It obviously was an accident of war.

Also, you should perhaps point out that Israel paid out a total of $3.3 million in compensation to the families of the 34 servicemen killed and another $3.6 million to the wounded. Also, the question could be raised what in the world the USS Liberty was doing off the coast of the Sinai peninsula in the middle of a war raging in that area. There is no good answer.

But, in considering this dreadful tragedy, one wonders why you don’t also fasten on the attack of an Iraqi fighter plane against the USS Stark in 1987, only 10 years ago, in which more U.S. sailors were killed than in the USS Liberty disaster. There was no war in that area of the Gulf and the Iraqi pilot certainly did not commit an “error.” He had to go far out of his way to find and attack that ship. The Iraqis never made the pilot available for interrogation and certainly never paid a penny in compensation to the U.S. government or to the victims and their dependents.

And how about our own USS Vincennes? In a time of tension, but not of war, and not being under any kind of attack, its trigger-happy crew shot down a peaceful Iranian airliner in which over 290 people lost their lives. I don’t believe that our government ever apologized to the government and the people of Iran. We certainly didn’t pay any compensation to anybody.

Wouldn’t it be much more appropriate to keep those two incidents in mind as examples of how terrible unplanned things can happen in times of tension and of war, instead of dredging up the 30-year-old accident of war involving the USS Liberty?

Gerardo Joffe, San Francisco, CA

There are some pretty significant differences in these three disasters, as we understand them. In the case of the USS Stark, the U.S. Naval ship was hit by a missile fired from a great distance by an Iranian aircraft in the dark of a stormy night. There was no follow-up attack, and Iraq offered compensation, although we don’t know whether it actually was paid. Also, contrary to your statement, there was a war raging in the Gulf from 1980 to 1988 and the Iraqi aircraft presumably was stalking Iranian naval vessels when it fired its missile at an image on its radar.

In the case of the Vincennes,the Iranian commercial passenger plane was hit by a missile fired by an obviously inexperienced U.S. crew that apparently thought it was under attack by an Iranian military aircraft. Since it was broad daylight and the plane was climbing, not descending, the mistake was a gross one. Nevertheless, it was a mistake, as all media interviews with the many U.S. sailors who were on the bridge confirm.

The U.S. paid compensation to families of all non-Iranian passengers killed and offered compensation directly to families of all Iranians killed. The only dispute we are aware of has been over the Iranian government’s insistence on collecting the funds rather than letting the U.S. pay them directly to survivors of the victims.

In the case of the USS Liberty, there is overwhelming evidence that the 75-minute attack, by Israeli aircraft which fired cannons and dropped napalm, and Israeli torpedo boats, which first hit the Liberty with a torpedo and then machine-gunned the life rafts from nearby, was not a mistake. A former U.S. ambassador to Lebanon says U.S. radio monitors heard the Israeli pilots informing their headquarters that the ship was American and then being ordered to attack.

Also, since the Israeli sailors on the torpedo boats were so close that the U.S. sailors could see and shake their fists at them, it seems impossible that the Israeli sailors could not see the oversized U.S. flag the Liberty was flying and the huge newly painted U.S. naval serial numbers on the Liberty.

Israel was prompt about paying compensation to families of the Liberty dead, slow about paying compensation to the wounded, and only paid $6 million compensation for the ship after Sen. Adlai Stevenson II began asking questions. In fact, it appears that a deal was made by certain pro-Israel members of Congress to increase U.S. aid to Israel that year by more than the compensation that Israel then paid. So is that better or worse than Iraq’s record on the Stark? Looks about the same to us.

However, the reason we “fasten” on the Liberty and not on the others, is that the Stark and Vincennes disasters both have been investigated by Congress. Congress also has investigated the North Korean seizure of the Liberty’s sister ship, the USS Pueblo, and all other U.S. naval disasters of the more than two centuries we’ve had a navy—but not the assault on the Liberty. Until there is such a congressional investigation, we’ll go right on complaining, and giving a voice to Liberty survivors.

Then, if it’s an honest investigation and the Liberty survivors are allowed to testify, along with all of the civilians and naval officers involved in the U.S.-Israeli communications prior to, during and after the attack, we suspect we won’t have to return to the subject. We’ll leave that to the American people, who have been kept so thoroughly in the dark for the past 30 years.

We won’t second-guess the investigators, but it seems to us that the recently released revelations by the late Israeli Gen. Moshe Dayan of the real reasons for Israel’s attack on the Golan Heights after Syria had asked for a cease-fire (p. 115 of this magazine) would provide at least one plausible reason for the Israeli attack on the Liberty. The Liberty was in a position to record Israeli preparations for that attack, which occurred one day after Israel put the Liberty out of action. Perhaps it’s also appropriate to remind you that U.S. military aid can only be used for defensive purposes. An Israeli attack using U.S. weapons on Syrian sovereign territory motivated solely by a desire for agricultural land (and, we believe, water resources) can hardly be classified as “defensive.” Had the Liberty not been put out of action, it would have gathered conclusive evidence of this gross misuse of U.S. military assistance.

A Seattle Editorial on Torture

Attached is an editorial from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer saying that Israeli torture must end. I’m also enclosing a letter I sent today to all 16 executives listed on the mastheads of both the PI and the Times which you may wish to use.

I also included in each of these letters copies of two messages through America Online, received on May 16, covering details of house demolitions on the West Bank and around Hebron, just to educate them. They won’t hurt, and they may help their understanding.

Both of these papers have been very pro-Israel, although being a little more even-handed since Netanyahu has been acting up. I certainly cannot claim influencing this editorial, but is it possible? On April 24th I wrote the editor and publisher of the PI, encouraging him to be more even-handed in his news and pointing out that his columnists were hard-liners including Cal Thomas, A.M. Rosenthal, and George Will. I also pointed out that the U.S. was supporting Israeli actions which were in direct violation of U.S. laws and the principles upon which our country was founded, as defined by the Ten Commandments, Declaration of Independence and Constitution. It was probably just coincidence.

I will also include a copy of a letter I sent to 6 of the 10 “Christian” leaders who signed The New York Times ad of April 21 supporting Israel’s actions in Jerusalem (couldn’t locate the addresses of the other 4). I actually received a response from one of them, stating very vigorously how wrong I was in everything, but not giving any specifics on anything.

However, these two memos give a different approach which I believe will be much more effective than in the past....not stating what the writer thinks Israel ought to do, but what the U.S. isdoing to support Israeli actions which are in direct violation of U.S. laws and the basis upon which our country was founded, as defined by the Ten Commandments, Declaration of Independence and Constitution.

John S O’Connor, Seattle, WA

Looks like this is going to be the John S O’Connor issue, something you’ve earned many times over through your tireless efforts on behalf of the Palestinians. We’re printing a slightly abridged version of your letter to the 16 PI executives in “Other People’s Mail,” starting on p. 76, and hope to print your letter to “Christian Zionist” Jerry Falwell in the “Other People’s Mail” section of our October issue. Obviously your hard work over many years to educate editors, clergy and members of Congress is bearing fruit.

Do You Sell Your Lists?

In your financial desperation, has AET joined the ranks of the organizations which sell mailing lists to others? If so, prudence would suggest reconsideration of that practice!

Recently, Cheryl Andrea Bruhn, a director of the Multipartisan Coalition and a contributor to AET, received a request for a donation to the “United State Holocaust Memorial Museum.” Although we do not know the source from which the organization obtained the name, the financial plight of AET suggests a possibility.

Of course, you may release our names and our addresses to persons whose perspectives are compatible with our own.

Floyd R. Nelson, W. St. Paul, MN

No, we do not under any circumstances release names or addresses from our subscription list to organizations or individuals of any persuasion—like-minded, unlike-minded, or even to those we suspect have no minds at all. It’s brought us a lot of grief with others in the same camp, but we have no regrets. We’ll reiterate our pledge to all our subscribers here and now. Our subscription list is protected. If you ever have reason to think your name and address have been taken from us, let us know and we’ll investigate. On the other hand, letters to the editor or your name and hometown in our “Angels’ Choir” or in a bylined article can lead a persistent person to your address via telephone directories. We can’t do anything about that.

The Alternative to Peace is Grim

Your June/July issue arrived on May 15. Assuming that it was mailed about April 30, I marvel at the fast service for fourth-class mail. I forget why you lost or gave up second-class privileges.

I want to thank you for your personal account of the meeting at the Cosmos Club, arranged by David Hitchcock, which was addressed by two Israelis who teach in the Lurie primary school in Neve Shalom/ Wahat al-Salam. One of the teachers was a Jew, born in the United States. The other was a Christian, born in Nazareth. Both are bringing up their families in the Oasis of Peace, the only village in Israel where Jews and Palestinians live and work together with full equality, respect and dignity. The Lurie primary school is the only school in Israel where Hebrew and Arabic have equal footing.

More news in your magazine, from time to time, on this unique village of peace might serve to counter-balance your many correspondents and editors who would like the Jews in Israel to disappear—and their counterparts among the fundamentalist rabbis, whom you like to quote, who call the Palestinians Ishmaelites, or, even worse, Amalek, whom God decreed must be destroyed.

A few comments on some of the news in this issue: Yasser Arafat told the Likud-loving congressmen that he had submitted to the Israeli government a list of 45 commitments under Oslo I which Israel has not implemented. Why didn’t he attach the list? The Israeli government regularly publishes long lists of alleged PLO violations, which are then used by these congressmen to sabotage the peace process.

Prof. Ian Lustick makes the interesting point that Israel never annexed East Jerusalem. He quotes 1967 papers that the area was added to the city for administrative purposes. Isn’t he forgetting the Jerusalem Law, enacted by the Knesset in 1980, which sent a dozen-odd foreign embassies scurrying to Tel Aviv?

Rental car agencies in Tel Aviv agree that East Jerusalem is not a part of Israel. I’m enclosing a contract dated April 10, 1997 which is stamped in large bold type “No insurance coverage for parking in East Jerusalem...”

Your anti-Zionist correspondent in Israel, Prof. Israel Shahak, writes that only the Meretz Party and Peace Now among the Jews deny that the Oslo process has failed. As a supporter of Meretz and Peace Now, I am happy to add my voice to those who believe that the will of the silent majority among Jews and Palestinians, who want the peace process to continue, will prevail. I am reminded of the words of Yitzhak Rabin upon receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994: “Peace will triumph over all enemies because the alternative is grimmer.” What he was saying was that making peace with Israel’s enemies is a grim task, but the alternative is grimmer.

J. Zel Lurie, Delray Beach, FL

We, too, forget why we lost second-class mail privileges, but it was on a technicality which seemed reasonable at the time. We like your columns in the Palm Beach Jewish Journal and if space permits we plan to reprint one in this issue. We’re not clear why, when you write so carefully and accurately in print in that publication, you feel obliged to make sweeping and inaccurate condemnations of the writings of others in this magazine. We certainly don’t have either editors or writers who would like “the Jews in Israel to disappear,” although we certainly do have writers and editors who believe that inevitably the racist state that Israel has become will either have to evolve into a modern state which grants equal rights to all of its citizens—Jews, Muslim, Christian, atheist, whatever—or disappear. If that makes some of us “anti-Zionist,” so be it. The executive editor was “anti-fascist” and “anti-Nazi” well before the beginning of World War II and is proud of it. We suspect that even you would have to admit, at least in the privacy of your own mind, that there’s not much difference in the theoretical basis of all three of the named isms, based as they are on special privilege for members of a chosen nationality, race or religion, and gross violation of the rights of all others. As for practice as opposed to theory, Mussolini’s fascism was much milder in practice than Hitler’s Nazism. Zionism, in our opinion, falls somewhere in between. Nevertheless, all are reprehensible, have given birth to oceans of blood and tears, and all are as outdated and doomed as the bigotry and racism upon which they are based.

Hitting a Particular Chord

I would like to commend you on your excellent publication. I just received my first issue of the Washington Report. It is a great magazine and fills a tremendous void in the lack of balanced reporting on issues relating to the Middle East.

James M. Ennes’ article, “Censorship in Cyberspace,” struck a particular chord. The issue of indecency on the Internet has become a rallying point for groups to attack those who differ with them politically.

For example, Protestant leaders in Northern Ireland have recently expressed their outrage at the proliferation of Web sites that support the Irish Republican viewpoint. The head of the Church of Ireland (Anglican) recently stated that the presence of Sinn Fein and other Republican Web sites from the United States shows the need for stricter controls on the Internet. He then compared the dangers of the Republican viewpoint being heard to the presence of child pornography online.

No doubt, if stricter controls on the Internet are implemented in this country, it will be a short period before people like Avi Weiss or Abe Foxman are testifying before Congress that the presence of Web sites which espouse a different line than the Israeli lobby are indecent anti-Semitic hate speech.

Sean Kane, Hillside, NJ

We share your concern since, at present, with talk radio increasingly being stifled through advertising pressure, the Internet and the very few publications like this one are the only places one can express an opinion contrary to whatever is the Zionist line of the moment.

When Will the Public Focus?

Enclosed is our check for $1,000 to assist you in your efforts to inform the mindless American electorate. Even when presented with the truth on events in the Middle East, Americans shrug their shoulders as if it doesn’t really matter. We have told them that America will someday pay a very heavy price for this folly. Then they start to focus.

Never have so few demanded and taken so much, yet done so little to bring peace to a troubled land as the Israeli religious fanatics, the right-wing zealots, and their Jewish supporters in America. These arrogant and greedy Jewish settlers and their supporters who have confiscated Palestinian land and water are indeed the Ku Klux Klan of the Middle East. Led by the Grand Wizard, Netanyahu, Israel has made a mockery of international law and convention. Every U.S. veto at the U.N. on behalf of Israel not only undermines peace in the Middle East but also stability throughout countries in the Muslim world. Our friends in Indonesia have told us this.

Thank you again for your excellent publication. Is there any hope for peace?

Vince and Louise Larsen, Billings, MT

In regard to your first sentence, thanks from the bottom of our hearts. It’s readers like you who make possible this magazine, which seeks so desperately to inform that American electorate of the dreadful consequences to us of the terrible deeds being done in our name and with our financial support. In regard to the question in your last sentence, we fear that because of Binyamin Netanyahu, his heedless American minions at AIPAC, and his ruthless congressional backers like Senator Arlen Specter and Representatives Benjamin Gilman and Charles Schumer,no, there is no hope for peace in the Middle East in our time unless by some miracle we get an American president with, to borrow Madeleine Albright’s phrase, the “cajones” to deal with the Israel lobby. Neither bubba nor the veep show any such inclinations!

U.S. Vets Died Fighting Against Exactly What Israel Represents

The U.S. government is wrong to finance Israel’s insatiable consumption of Palestinian land. Congress has through the years condoned Israel’s crimes and cannot now condemn Israel without condemning itself.

When Americans visit war memorials or military cemeteries, most don’t realize that America’s war dead fought against what the U.S. government rewards Israel for doing: territorial expansion and brutal occupation.

Our government tells us that fighting against brutal expansionist regimes is a just cause to die for. Because we believe it and we die fighting land-grabbing regimes, our government’s support for Israel’s land-grabbing regime dishonors the patriotism of all veterans and belittles their ultimate sacrifices. Compounding this unspeakable insult, American families who lost loved ones in wars against expansionist regimes are forced by our government to support, with their taxes, Israel’s expansionist regime.

Stone war memorials, military cemeteries, statues and patriotic events remind us that we owe a debt to our war heroes. But only by extending America’s hard-won principles of freedom to all people, including Palestinians, do we keep faith with and properly honor our precious war dead.

Mike Paproski, Omaha, NE

Appeal Against Zionist Congress in Switzerland

On behalf of numerous people from all corners of the world, I permit myself to send you a petition concerning the contemplated Zionist Congress to be held in August 1997 in Basle (Switzerland) with the endorsement and support of the Basle City Council, the participation of the Basle University, the cooperation of the World Zionist Organization and under the protection of the Swiss army. The petition was sent today to:

•Dr. Ueli Vischer, President of the Basle City Council

•Swiss Federal Ministry of Justice, Bern

•The University of Basle

•Chief Editor, Basler Zeitung

As the signatories represent people of different religions, nationalities, professions and origins, they represent a fair sample of the widely shared opposition to Zionism as a form of racism in all corners of the world. Please note that many Jews, including Israeli Jews, oppose Zionism as a form of racism. Please note furthermore that we signatories are totally opposed to all forms of racism and racial discrimination, whatever its name.

We would be thankful if you would kindly distribute this message, as we have no powerful lobby to pursue our agenda of justice and truth.

Elias Davidsson, composer, Reykjavik, Iceland (Born in Palestine, 1941. Son of Nazi victims of racial persecution.)

Thanks. We are publishing the petition in this issue’s “Other People’s Mail” starting on p. 76, but for space reasons without the 84 signatures of prominent Americans, Israelis and Europeans attached to the early version you sent us,.

A Mennonite Reader

Here is an article for your consideration. It is from the May/June 1997 issue of Sojourners, a progressive Christian voice for peace and justice. It may be a good inclusion for your “Other Voices” column.

I have been a subscriber to WRMEA for a little over two years and have thoroughly enjoyed its scope and witness to what’s going on in the Middle East. I was first introduced to your magazine by an Arab- American friend of mine in Richmond, VA. His name is Nidal Mahayni and he is an activist for peace and justice in the Middle East. I recently saw his name in your Choir of Angels list, so I’m glad he is still subscribing. Nidal, in fact, bought me my first year subscription and I have renewed since then and plan to continue renewing.

My favorite columns are “Christianity and the Middle East,” “Muslim-American Activism,” “Arab-American Activism” and, of course, “Letters to the Editor.” I am a Mennonite Christian who, unfortunately, has not yet gone to the Middle East, but I have heard lectures from several people who have spent rather large blocks of time there and have told me a lot of the same information that I read in your magazine. I also keep up with the work of the Mennonite Central Committee and other Mennonite mission agencies who place people in the Middle East, and I find their stories very educational. I hope and pray for peace in the Middle East and a better understanding of those issues by Americans who are still ignorant as I once was. May God bless your work!

Lee Pfahler, Goshen, IN

When we looked at the article we automatically thought no, based on its length. When we read it, we automatically though yes, based on its sensitive and cogent summary of the problems and opportunities in Muslim-Christian dialogue. If there’s space we’ll include it, if not, we won’t, and interested readers will have to call Sojourners in Washington, DC at (202) 328-8842 and ask for a copy of “A Place Apart” from the May/June issue. If this is confusing, the explanation is that our letters columns go early to the printer and our “Other Voces” go late, getting only whatever space is left at the end of each issue.

Thanks From an Angel

Thank you so much for the book, Seeing the Light. It is wonderful reading. Enclosed is a check for a Washington Report gift subscription to the Perkins Library at Duke University. On a recent visit there I noted they did not have one. Use the rest of the money for four other subscriptions to libraries or opinion molders of your choice.

Judith Howard, Norwood, MA

P.S. What is the status of “Mega?” Do your know who it is?

You received the brand-new Seeing the Light as a member of our 1995 Angels’ Choir. We haven’t really publicized it yet, aside from mailing advance copies to two journalists who had asked when it was coming out, and already we have a nice review (see “Other Voices,” p. 116) from syndicated columnist Charley Reese and, incredibly, about one-third of the first edition already is gone. Guess we’d better start thinking about a second edition while the ink’s still wet (love that printer’s ink smell that permeates the office each time a brand new book or magazine shipment is delivered) from the first one.

Who’s “Mega”? We’ve heard speculation but have nothing to print.

P.S. Welcome to the 1997 Angels’ Choir.

Another Boost for Columnist Charley Reese

Attached please find a copy of a recent article by Charley Reese in The Orlando Sentinel, dated March 27, 1997. You may find it of interest for your “Other People’s Mail” section. It is refreshing that such articles can now be found in “mainstream” publications. Thirty years ago, when my family immigrated to this country, such a blatant criticism of Israel was unheard of. Since then there have been small but measurable incremental gains in better informing the American public of the duplicitous, hypocritical and downright unjust foreign policy of the American government. Your publication goes a long way in exposing the truth of our government’s hypocritical Middle East policy and the chokehold of the Zionist lobby on our politicians. Mercifully, it also reveals that there are many Israelis and American Jews who, on moral and humanitarian grounds, object to the activities of the Israeli government. This, in addition to the gains made by a variety of organizations in spreading the truth, have saved me from the pit of deep cynicism.

Thank you for your wonderfully informative publication. I am certain that with your help, “the truth will out.”

Dr. Yehia Y. Mishriki, Emmaus, PA

Thanks for the Copies

This is to express my deep appreciation for the 60 copies each of the January and March issues of the Washington Report magazine which I distributed to the Adventures in Learning class of the Life Enrichment program in Atlanta.

The contents in the two issues were excellent background information for discussion during the four weekly seminars and will hopefully be a frame of reference for further elaboration in the coming four weeks.

The volunteer faculty that presented the Arab side of the “Mideast—Two Perspectives” class consisted of myself as coordinator, a Jordanian-American political scientist, a Palestinian-American Presbyterian minister and a Lebanese-American university professor of Semitic languages. All of us were Arab Americans who enjoyed sharing our rich cultural heritage and history with concerned fellow Americans.

Again, thank you for your prompt response and this public service.

Dr. Abdallah E. Najjar, Atlanta, GA

Humming Along With You

I have been a subscriber to the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs ever since I graduated from college seven years ago. Your publication is very important to me. The insight I get from reading WRMEA is reflected in casual conversation with friends and acquaintances. One day a friend came up to me and told me that he never thought much about what was happening to Palestinians. He said that after our conversations he finds himself noticing news reports regarding Israel in newspapers ( San Antonio Express-News) and takes the time to read them with interest. After he reads these rather frequent news briefs he wonders about the causes of these problems in Israel/Palestine.

I have decided to hum along with you. So I have included $100 along with a renewal of my subscription. Take Care and Plod on!

Patrick Zeller (illustrator: San Antonio Express News), San Antonio, TX

If you would like to send your friend’s address, we’ll use $20 of your donation for a gift subscription for him. The moment of truth will come next year when we send the renewal notice to him. But, nothing ventured, nothing gained. There’s another letter in this month’s lineup from a subscriber who was started by a gift subscription from a friend, and who’s now so involved that she’s sending us articles from other publications for possible inclusion in our “Other Voices” section.

Thanks for Supporting Palestinians

I would like to thank you and your staff for your support to the Palestinian people for their struggle for freedom and independence. Please find enclosed my donation in support of the Washington Report. God bless you and keep up the good work.

A.M. Khalil, Cairo, Egypt

A “Voice of Truth”

If foreign nations can buy influence at the White House, why can’t wealthy Arab nations use the same methods? Maybe at least one of them could assist our magazine, a “Voice of Truth” frequently speaking out in a real “desert land.”

Richard H. Curtiss (the other one), Los Angeles, CA

P.S. Of course, you have my permission to list my name.

Thanks, namesake, for the donation, which once again will put our shared name in two places in this magazine’s “Angels’ Choir” and prompt some reader to ask, as happens every year, how it is that we always list Richard H. Curtiss twice but with different hometowns. To add to the confusion, your California hometown used to be the hometown of the Richard H. Curtiss now living in Maryland, and the H. stands for nearly identical middle names. But apparently we aren’t related, at least not closely enough to track down a common ancestor.

Another Nice Name

Thanks to circulation director Delinda Hanley (who has a lovely last name) for her letter dated March 26 and the material she mailed me recently (a copy of Vol. XV, No. 3 issue of the WRMEA and a photocopy of pp. 5 and 6 of Vol. XV, No. 4). I know the WRMEA staff has been cut back even further lately, which overextends your ability to correspond with us all, so I do appreciate her getting in touch with me, and the personal tone of her letter. Hang tough.

Tim Hanley, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

A Retired Foreign Service Person

As a retired Foreign Service person with a lot of Middle East time who has been a WRMEA subscriber for years, I just want to tell you how much I appreciate your keeping me informed of the true situation in all of the Middle East areas, particularly the Israel/Palestine issue. Yours is the only publication where the real truth lies. I know, I was there!

Charles W. Dorfeld, Manistee, MI

With Total Support From France

Thank you for your mail dated April 10, 1997. I am a French subscriber who has been reading WRMEA for several years already. I have written five books on the Israeli-Palestinian issue, and I have suffered unbelievable censorship and pressure from the Zionist lobby here in France.

My next book is to be published in France next fall. It tells the story of an old Palestinian Human Rights watcher, born and still living in Nazareth, Galilee. His name is Mansour Kardosh, and he is one of the founders of the El Ard movement. I would be glad to have your advice in order to find an American publisher who would be interested in translating it for your readers. Could you please give this information to whom it may concern?

Besides, I want to tell you how much I support your wonderful work. With total support and solidarity from France.

Marion Sigaut, Ferme de Montrepare, 889520 Lainsecq, France, tel. (33) 03 86 74 68 64, fax (33) 03 86 74 66 98, or e-mail: Marion@Wanadoo.fr

The “to whom it may concern” would be our readers. If there is a writer who is a native speaker of English, whose French is good and who has the time to volunteer for the project, perhaps the result would be a manuscript in English that would interest a publisher in the U.S. or U.K. To help make the match, we’re printing your full address with this letter.