Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, October 1987, page 12

Letters to (and From) the Editors

Dear Messrs. Killgore and Curtiss: August 21, 1987

After receiving yet another free copy, together with your letter to colleagues, I have been shamed into subscribing to the Washington Report, which I find myself reading with great interest and approval. I have never had a Middle East assignment, but I am sure that it would have confirmed my anxiety over the effect of special ethnic or religious pressure groups on foreign policy. Since I, like you, have elected to devote some of my time in retirement to a politically unpopular case (I am a board member of Peaceful Progress in South Africa), I felt all the more inclined to show some solidarity by becoming one of your subscribers.

Although we condemn sanctions and disinvestment as utterly counterproductive, we are as opposed to apartheid and as anxious to see it replaced by a multiracial democracy as any of our impassioned ideological adversaries. I keep seeing analogies between the Afrikaner ultras and the extremists of Likud. Both see themselves encompassed about by heathen Canaanites who must be smitten hip and thigh. Sharon has to "defend" northern Galilee all the way to the streets of Beirut. And the South African equivalent of Ollie North's gang keeps trying to "send them a message" with raids as far afield as Lusaka.

Sincerely, Armistead Lee, Arlington, VA

(Mr. Lee is a retired Foreign Service officer.)

To the Editor of the Washington Report: August 23, 1987

As a US citizen of East Indian origin, I believe it is crucial that Americans of all ethnic and social backgrounds know more about the Middle East. The center for the world's three monotheistic faiths, Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, this region—its cultures, peoples, and history—must be better understood in American classrooms, media newsrooms, and homes.

By influencing our legislative branch of government, AIPAC has thus penetrated all aspects of our government. This organization has certainly tainted and hindered opportunities to better America's relations with the Middle East. American newspapers also have a clear bias when it comes to the Middle East, as Robert Hazo pointed out in the July issue of the Washington Report. Hazo's article, "How to Beat Anti-Arab Racism," noted that words such as "terrorist" always seem to be applied to Arabs, and further used to taint anyone who happens to be Muslim. When the state of Israel bombs or guns down Palestinians, however, there is little, if any, application of the word "terrorist." The injustice of this double standard is overwhelming, and we must condemn the media's continued tendency to describe Arabs or Muslims in pejorative terms.

I am entering college as a political science major in New York City. I shall endeavor during my spare time to recruit new subscribers to the Washington Report and involve myself in some of the activities you suggest. I thank Mr. Mohammad J. Khan of New Jersey for his thoughtfulness in acquainting Muslims of this area with your newsletter, which contains priceless rewards for Arabs and Jews, as well as Americans of other ethnic and religious backgrounds. All mankind needs information like yours, and I am grateful.

Sincerely, Bebe Amena Khan, Bronx, New York