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

Letters to (and From) the Editors

Dear Andy and Dick, September 7, 1987

I read and reread with great interest your Washington Report on Middle East Affairs and your letter.

As a one-time Arabist, with tours in both Israel and the Arab states, I have not been able to find the non-partisan, balanced view that you purport to espouse—except for the "180 Degrees" column...If it is not your intent, it nevertheless appears that you are a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israeli publication...

I admire your volunteer dedication and your production, but it reads partisan to me. Best wishes for achieving a better balance (and therefore more credibility) in the future issues.

Sincerely, James A. May, Santa Maria, CA

Dear Jim,

Your comments are to the point. We'll answer in kind. Our use of the work "non-partisan" means only that we are neutral among domestic political parties, and we have both Democrats and Republicans on our Foreign Policy Committee to keep us that way. We certainly do have viewpoints on Middle East affairs, but there's no way they can be over-simplified into "pro-Palestinian" or "anti-Israel." You'll find among our writers Zionist and anti-Zionist Jews, secular and devoutly religious Arabs, and liberal and conservative Americans. What most have in common is support for moderates in the Israeli camp, and for moderates in the Arab camp. Those are the peacemakers.

You cite "180 Degrees" as the only example of balance in our pages. Show us any such balance on the Israeli-Palestinian dispute in 90 percent of the mainstream American press. The day you can read just as much of the Thompson view as the Warrensford view in the Washington Post, New York Times, Atlantic Monthly or New Republic, we can devote 50 percent of our space to providing symmetry as well as diversity of views.

We believe that, presented all the facts, Americans will act intelligently in the Middle East. Until then, we'll concentrate on what Americans won't learn from the journals cited, such as the fact that there are both Palestinians and Israelis ready to sit down and negotiate a land-for-peace settlement on the basis of UN Security Council Resolution 242, and why those would-be peace-makers believe such a settlement is essential for Israel, the Arabs, the United States, and world peace. Since resolution 242 has been the basis of US Middle East policy since 1967, we think you'll have to agree our unwavering support for it, from the day the Washington Report was born in 1982, makes our own policy consistently "pro-American." That's all we want to be.

Sincerely, Andy Killgore and Dick Curtiss