Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, November 1987, pages 11-12

Other People's Mail

"Gentlemen don't read other people's mail," an idealistic American official exclaimed between World Wars I and II as he abolished US cryptographic counter-intelligence programs. Times change, however, and some letters by or to other people are as informative for our readers as anything we might write ourselves.

Mordechai Vanunu: One Day I'll Be Free

Ms. Ruth Elizabeth Ramsey, Epworth, GA September 18, 1987

Thank you for your letter. After the beginning of my trial, I don't know what will be the sentence, but it does not matter. I believe that I did good things, the best actions of my life. I am not sorry for them even in these inhuman prison conditions...They will not break my soul or my faith. I hope that many other people in the world will also reveal the nuclear secrets of their governments. This is the way to act against the nuclear peril. One day I'll be free; and I'll keep working against nuclear weapons everywhere.

I believe in peace among all peoples and all religions, to live without fear of nuclear bombs. I obeyed the commandment "to love they neighbor." Because I come from a poor family I know what it means to help and to give. In the time when I was working for the nuclear reactor, I was a philosophy student acting in a group of Arabs and Jewish students for equal rights for the Arab students, against the Lebanon war, and against the military occupation. I did what my conscience told me to do. Now I can be at peace because I know that many people support my actions.

Your letter and actions for me and others give the strength to overcome the solitary confinement. Keep writing for peace and a safe world.

Yours in peace, Mordechai Vanunu

Japanese Support for the Palestinians

Mr. Hobart Rowen, The Washington Post July 27, 1987

Referring to your article, "The Japanese and the Jews" carried in The Honolulu Advertiser of July 17th, I am enclosing for your information the "Preliminary Report of the International People's Tribunal on the Israeli invasion of Lebanon," of March 18-21, 1983, in Tokyo, and a brochure of the "Japanese Committee for the Children of Palestine." The Japanese are not unaware of the recent and current intense Jewish aggression in the Middle East and the brutal Jewish mistreatment of the inhabitants of that area.

The last sentence in your article requires clarification. How is anti-Zionism "an attack on America"?

Sincerely, Alvin L. Colflesh, Honolulu, HI

The New Republic and the Middle East

Mr. Martin Peretz, Publisher and Owner, The New Republic

I received recently an invitation from your magazine, The New Republic, to become a regular reader. The brochure enclosed with the invitation indicated that the Republic has highlighted in the past months a number of subjects in which I am interested.

Before I decide to subscribe, however, I should like to request clarification regarding information I have heard or read pertaining to you and to the magazine. The following has been indicated:

• The maintenance of an anti-Arab, anti-Moslem bias regardless of the subject under consideration.

• The maintenance of a pro-Israel bias with no consideration as to the propriety of an Israeli action.

I am devoted to the principle that peace in the Middle East is possible. I also fear that it will never come about as long as our government proceeds on a course of action appearing to be almost totally biased in favor of Israel.

Why don't you, as a purveyor of information through The New Republic, and our government, as the protector of its citizens, adopt a balanced approach which recognizes the negatives and the positives on both sides of the Arab-Israeli problem?...

Sincerely, Eugene Crowe, Singer Island, FL

The New York Times and Israel's Dirty Linen

Editor, The New York Times, June 2, 1987

My head shook in amazement today as I read your news story, "Shamir Asks Inquiry in Security Case." It was not so much the actual revelation about the Shin Beth that struck me, but rather your remarkable ability to write a story centering on torture without ever once using the word.

The unsigned story reports that the Israeli prime minister seeks the establishment of a judicial commission "to examine the conduct of agents of the Shin Beth." This, the most recent scandal to rock Israel's secret police agency, arose from the court testimony of a Muslim army officer "who said he was forced by agents to make a false confession." The officer is described as having said "Shin Beth agents had used physical and psychological harassment to force him to confess."

The story adds that the task of the inquiry commission "will be to examine Shin Beth's investigation methods, work procedures, and internal organization."

In the face of such a welter of euphemisms, it is no wonder that, as your news story observes in closing, Shin Beth agents "are confused about how to continue their work, and do not know whether to continue interrogating suspects with the methods they have used until now."

Sincerely, Nabeel Abraham, Dearborn, MI

Saudis Deserve US Arms

Sens. Cranston, Lautenberg, D'Amato, September 12, 1987
Packwood, and DeConcini,

I read that you wrote to President Reagan in opposition to arms sales to Saudi Arabia, stating that Saudi behavior does not warrant reward, that Saudi Arabia has harmed US national security interests and so on.

Surely you know that Saudi Arabia has long been this region's most stable country, and that it has had a productive, amicable, and honorable history of cooperation with the United States for more than half a century.

You know that the Saudis are masters of quiet diplomacy, having settled numerous conflicts over the years, from the North-South Yemen dispute to the Jordan-Syria standoff. Aimed at protecting their national interests, these and other moves have also served US national interests, including our goal of peace in the Middle East.

Currently, we have the example of the Iran-Iraq war in which Saudi Arabia has contributed tens of billions of dollars in aid to Iraq. Without this aid, Iraq would surely have lost the war by now, leaving Iran free to bring down the Saudi government, as it as long threatened to do, and to take command of the free world's largest proven oil reserves. The only preventive for that scenario would have been US intervention, with all the horrors that implies of American troops mired in endless desert warfare.

Yet another example of Saudis serving US interests, is the AWACS, which you fought so hard to deny them, and which now reinforce our defense capability in the Gulf. Surely today, no senator, including yourself, regrets the assistance the United States receives from Saudi Arabia's AWACS intelligence.

I find strange a formulation of foreign policy based on punishing a country for perceived offenses. The only yardstick should be whether a course of action is in our national interest. Clearly, a stronger Saudi Arabia, able to deter and defend, is in our national interest. To weaken Saudi Arabia is to invite further threats and to insult our forces in the Gulf whose message to Khomeini your stance would cancel.

Frankly, I find your desire to punish Saudi Arabia hypocritical. Whatever its failings, Saudi Arabia never stole our nuclear materials or built an illicit nuclear arsenal, or stole our nation's most vital secrets or broke sanctions on arms to South Africa or Iran. Neither did they con us into selling arms to Iran and diversions to contras, nor did they deliberately attack one of our ships, killing 34 and wounding 171 American servicemen. Israel has committed these and other offenses against the United States, yet I hear no words of criticism or talk of punishment.

It is time you ceased being AIPAC's agent, even as AIPAC is Israel's agent. You were elected by Americans to serve our national interests, a job you accepted with your oath of office. Today, Israel is allied with Iran in weapons supplies, intelligence, and oil imports. To do the will of Israel is to come down on the side of Iran. Please think—with our forces staring down Iranian weapons—whether this is where you belong or where you wish to be.

Sincerely, M. Norton, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia