Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, December 1998, pages 3, 99-102

Letters to the Editor

The Wye Plantation Meeting

At this writing Yasser Arafat, Bibi Netanyahu and Ariel Sharon are meeting under U.S. auspices at the secluded Wye Plantation outside Washington, DC. The PNA has done an inadequate job getting across its side. Every newspaper lists the nine Israeli conditions they need to end Palestinian terrorism. The Wall Street Journal did, however, in a recent issue manage to provide one line that the Palestinians would like reciprocity—protection for their people from trigger-happy settlers and IDF soldiers. Am I not correct that each year more Palestinians are killed than are Israelis? Killings on either side are counterproductive and hurtful to the peace process. But there is more the PNA should underscore (with American support all these dismal months) and that includes: a Gaza industrial zone, airport, and seaport and free access for trade and the movement of labor, let alone those seeking an education or medical help beyond each supposedly autonomous “bantustan.”

John G. Merriam (Ph.D), via e-mail

We, too, have been critical of the Palestinians for seemingly being unable to put forth their case in written, usable form themselves and also being unwilling to find some native speakers of English to do it for them. That said, however, it’s clear that even if they did both it would get very little pickup in the so-called national press. We say this because, for example, our regular contributors Rachelle Marshall and Maureen Meehan do a first-rate job of describing the facts on the ground, the former from Northern California and the latter from the West Bank. If they, neither of whom have research assistants, can do it, so could the correspondents of The Washington Post, New York Times,Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, etc., if their editors, publishers and producers wanted them to.

The Usual Same Response

I write op-ed pieces that appear in the Providence Journal—the response is always the same: refutations of fact (usually nonsense or downright lies) in the form of letters to the editor written by “regulars” from the Jewish Federation of Rhode Island, and private letters of support from people who are grateful for my article but either too afraid to speak out, or too uninformed, they say, to respond adequately. When I read WRMEA I at least feel assured I am not alone.

Anonymous, Providence, RI

We wish you had signed your letter, particularly since you checked off the boxes describing yourself as a North American-born Arab American, Christian American and Jewish American. Sounds like all our relatives by blood and marriage in one package. Anyway, letters from readers and writers like you make us feel we’re not alone. How about giving us your personal story for our “Seeing the Light” or “Pro-Israel McCarthyism” series?

Said Said It All

I am a New England Yankee, which is probably why I have been puzzled by the way the Arab world has let the arrogant and aggressive Zionists consistently walk all over the Palestinians. Dr. Edward Said’s article in the Washington Report (September) said it all. One must conclude that if the Palestinian Authority and the rest of their Arab brothers have so little leadership and diplomatic strategy—and guts—how in the world can the rest of us help them?

It is true that Americans are ignorant of the plight of the Palestinians because of the Israeli lobby and others, as Dr. Said wrote, but where is the counter-lobby of the Palestinians? And what about hounding the media with their truth?

Like many others, I am appalled at what is happening in Palestine. The American government is in the pocket of the Knesset. As a taxpayer I am outraged at the billions we pour into their coffers. Yet, never a peep from the Arabs about how terrible it all is. I’m sure they yell someplace, but not in the United States.

I’m not talking about war. We’ve had enough of that horror. But how about holding Israel responsible in the world arena with some sharp diplomacy? How about getting to our Congress with a little aggression? Anything! But do something or you’re going to lose it all.

One thing for sure: you’d never make a good New England Yankee!

H. Brayton Gifford, Cornwall, PA

It’s really only in the U.S. that the Israel myths persist, as the U.N. votes condemning Israel reveal year after year. Unfortunately, with “the world’s only remaining superpower” in their back pocket, the Israelis seem determined to continue their war with the world, no matter what the cost in lives and money to the U.S.

Stepping Over the Line

Regarding the September issue, p.101, “Stepping Over the Line” letter by Rachelle Marshall. I disagree with Rachelle Marshall and your backstepping comment about her letter.

I support and appreciate Mr. Hughes’ article of May 1998. He was bashing the Christian-bashers (in Israel, the Christian murderers). Mr. Hughes showed their lies and hypocrisy. Most non-Zionists have been emasculated or paid off. Not William Hughes. Why this would disturb Ms. Marshall or cause the WRMEA to step back is beyond my understanding.

Don’t mix, mingle, confuse the complaints of R. Marshall with that of the director of the Polish American Congress. Two different animals.

Charlie Salaita, Richmond, VA

Hughes Response to Marshall

Many thanks to Duncan McKeever for his praise of my article, “Pope Pius XII: Victim of the Christian Bashers.” Wallace J. Kosinkski and W. Milan-Kamaki were both right, too, to point out that Auschwitz was “a Nazi death camp,” that was situated in Poland. It was an error on my part not to make that important fact crystal clear.

As to Rachelle Marshall, a more detailed rejoinder is needed. She began her letter by conceding that she can’t “refute” my defense of Pius XII. But then she proceeded to condemn, without a shred of evidence, the reputation of the late Breckenridge Long, “and his colleagues in the State Department.” She blasted them for being “notorious anti-Semites.” After that ad hominem attack, I knew I was in trouble.

Marshall next took exception to my revealing the extensive support some Jews gave to Josef Stalin’s evil regime. For instance, one of his lieutenants, a mass murderer, Lazar Kaganovich, was responsible for killing millions of innocent people in the genocide/famine in the Ukraine in the early 1930s. Marshall dismisses the slaughter of these people at the hands of a Jewish Communist with a sarcastic, “So what?” Where’s the relevance?

The silence of the Zionist propaganda machine to these Communist atrocities against the Ukrainians, while at the same time unfairly bashing Pius XII and the Vatican for not rescuing the Jews, makes it relevant.

There are also instances of that same double standard in the present. One example I gave was the silence of Zionist author Elie Weisel to Israel’s ongoing barbaric treatment of the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.

When I referred to an article from The Washington Times (7/18/90) that stated that only one million Jews died at Auschwitz, and not the 4 million originally claimed by the Zionists, she wrongfully accuses me of minimizing the Jewish tragedy. What’s a guy to do?

Finally, to finish me off, she raised the specter of my being an anti-Semite by alleging that even a “tinge of anti-Semitism in an article will hurt WRMEA’s mission.” Of course, Marshall doesn’t define “anti-Semitism.” Most accusers never do. History, however, is entitled to all the facts, and not just the ones the Zionists (read “Big Brother”) want us to hear.

William Hughes, Baltimore, MD

We’ve printed your rejoinder to Rachelle Marshall’s rejoinder and now, for us, the subject is closed. (Sorry about all you other letter writers who wanted to get into the act.) As usual, all the crazies like Morton Klein of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) also piled on, claiming we were “holocaust revisionists.” (We’re not. It happened!) Since we think Klein’s crazy and he usually spends his time bashing Jewish leaders who are to the left of him and Binyamin Netanyahu, which means virtually all Jewish leaders anywhere, his change of targets must have been a welcome relief for all concerned. It seems the whole world goes bananas anytime one of our writers uses the word “holocaust.” We thought your article was about Pope Pius XII but apparently no one else did. In any case, our self-appointed task is to expose instances of current, ongoing denial of human rights in Middle Eastern countries that other publications are unwilling to touch. We’ll leave the huge tragedies of the first half of the 20th century, on most of which there is little new left to write, to the publications that cover them so thoroughly and assiduously.

Countering the Propaganda War Against Muslims

I would like to ask you a question that has had me confused for quite some time. I hope you will excuse me for offending anyone. I have written several other organizations and also talked about this subject to several Muslims and always get a puzzled response or silence.

The question is: Why hasn’t there been a call for some sort of an international conference on the propaganda war being waged upon Muslims and Middle Eastern people, and ways to counter this war through various means?

It seems to me that the U.S. government, the media and various multi-national corporations have an agenda to destroy Muslim and Middle Eastern peoples in order to promote their consumer culture, with its hate-based faith, violence and drug-peddling agenda.

Are Muslims and Middle Eastern people in this country so afraid of being labeled “anti-American,” or something else, that they don’t care about what is happening? I think a conference such as I have mentioned would be a great idea. The Zionists have already proven that they can control the minds of common Americans to enhance their own agenda.

Why can’t we try to bring them some truth? After all, we can only be further destroyed if we continue to do nothing. Until the American people see the truth, they will continue to blindly support their government’s policy of terrorism against the Muslim people of the world. No one is advocating armed resistance against an all-powerful machine, bent on destruction of anyone who does not accept this consumer culture. All that is necessary is to recognize that there is a propaganda war raging and that one must try to show the truth to ordinary Americans in order to stop this evil.

I feel that the bombings in Sudan and Afghanistan and the arrest of some stooges are only the beginning of a type of hysteria that was seen during World War II, when the Japanese were rounded up and put in camps.

Dan Unis, Pueblo, CO

Passenger Profiling Alive and Well

I read in your latest issue how John Sununu (R-NH) has been active in limiting the use of passenger profiling at airports. Well, this is total nonsense. Passenger (or as I call it “victim”) profiling is alive and well. When I returned from abroad this past Sunday I was the only person, among three planeloads of passengers, who was immediately stopped, told to stand in the middle of an open area alone (at Newark Airport, by the way) and told to wait for 8 to 10 minutes. Then I was surrounded by three customs “thugs” as I was questioned and both my bags searched. No one else was stopped. Just me. An Arab American. So please cut the nonsense and self-congratulatory crap that your magazine is more and more filled with. You only love letters that tell you what a great job you are doing.

Larry Deyab, via e-mail

Thanks for Your Feature

Thank you for featuring the “First Pan-Orthodox Christian School” in the U.S. in your September issue (p. 35).

May there be many more, and not just at the pre-school level.

Richard Rosenbaum, via e-mail

Introducing the WRMEA

Thank you for the three boxes of your magazines. We gave away some copies at the Pax Christi Assembly in Collegeville last weekend. I will use the remaining ones in November at a meeting of the Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers. I like to introduce people to the WRMEA. It is such a fine publication. I used the information concerning the funding for the Holocaust Museum at $31 million a year in a message to my senators and congressman re funding for PBS and NPR.

Florence Steichen, St. Paul, MN

Thanks From Far Away

I received your worthy and valuable magazine. I do not know how to thank you as no word, phrase or letter could convey my feelings to you.

Your magazine is an eye-opener to our modern world. I deeply admire your beautiful publication, guiding humanity to the straight path and truth. It appears as the full moon, gleaming in the night, shedding light and attracting everyone’s attention.

Continue sending me your valuable magazine. I wish you peace and good health.

Kalid Dawoud Mohammed, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia

There Is Hope

Enclosed please find a letter that was published in the Cleveland Plain Dealer on Aug. 18, 1998. As long as one person thinks and will take the time to write and express his opinion, there is hope.

You are doing great. Keep up the good work!

Said S. Kabalan, Rocky River, OH

Out of Print

I have received the introductory copy of the Washington Report and have thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Recently I purchased the book by Richard Curtiss Stealth PACs through the AET, which is one of the most informative books of its kind. Enclosed please find my subscription form along with the book order, a $250 donation to the American Educational Trust and a $250 donation to the AET Library Endowment. Keep up the good work.

Hisham Mishal, Atlanta, GA

Unfortunately, the fourth and most recent addition of Stealth PACs now is out of print. We hope to publish a fifth edition in the spring of 1999, incorporating all of the final information and statistics for the 1998 election cycle.

A Glowing Tribute

Many thanks for the very readable review of my Dictionary of the Middle East in the September issue of the WRMEA. It was more a glowing tribute than a favorable review. Even I could not have improved on your copy had I been allowed to review my own book.

Dilip Hiro, London, England

We’re awed at the power of our own reviews. Our first order of your book from your publisher sold out immediately. We now have more on order.

Kudos and a Status Up-Grade

1. Enclosed is my check for $16 for a copy of Dilip Hiro’s Dictionary. I probably have 200 or more books on the Middle East but that makes it all the more difficult to find or verify a fact.

2. I think I know who your “landlords” are, who haven’t been paid for several years. I hope the total contribution of the “landlords” will be printed one day, even if not in the Washington Report.

3. Congratulations to managing editor Janet McMahon for her marvelously written essay on her personal pilgrimage to Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza in your September issue.

4. And my thanks to Ms. Janet and probably others for your arrangement of long essays such as hers. The news magazines, and Forbes, for example, print their news stories and essays on consecutive pages. They also edit their contributors to a given number of words or pages. The Washington Report challenges its readers, as in Ms. Janet’s essay, on pages 11-14, 113, 122 and 135, and forces us to remember the title of each essay, because there may be several essays or articles appearing on each of those pages. So I start reading my copy with a supply of paper clips and a note pad. This keeps my mind young and vigorous.

5. Also, I enclose another check to up-grade my status as an angel.

Best regards to all of you.

C. Patrick Quinlan, Edina, MN

Every time one of our editors decides something is too good to cut down to fit into the space originally allotted for it, we say “it will be good to hear from Pat Quinlan again.” It’s not necessary to reward us financially each time we offend you and other readers with a double jump, but since you insist, we gratefully accept.

Whoops! Something’s Missing

I enjoyed reading the interesting article by Richard Curtiss, “Iran-U.S. World Cup Match,” which ran on pages 33 and 34 of my magazine. Unfortunately, at the end of page 34 it did not say where it continued nor could I find it anywhere else in the magazine I received. Could you send me a copy of the continuation of the article? Thank you.

Alex Kratz, via e-mail

Actuallly there were only three and a half words dropped on p. 34 at the very end of the article as it emerged from the printers. The final sentence should have read:“To heal that breech, the rapprochement must be with all Iranians and not just with the group holding power at the time diplomatic relations are restored.”

Propaganda From All Sides

Another proud day in the history of the Republic. I will be especially eager to read the next issue of the WRMEA since you will present the facts about U.S. missile attacks on Sudan and Afghanistan—in context.

I enclose an additional small gift to help in your work—your never-ending work of trying to enlighten the American taxpayer.

I also enclose a photocopy (of Israeli rescue workers in Nairobi) the nice propaganda coup the Zionists managed to garner from the local satrapy of the Ganett empire. (By contrast—and surprisingly—the coverage by the Zionists’ usual cheering section in The New York Times was very different.)

Thanks again for all your work and for the great magazine you turn out.

Karen Ray Bossmeyer, Louisville, KY

What Shimon Peres Said

In an interview with the WRMEA, former Prime Minister Shimon Peres stated that the Palestinians should not be allowed to return to their homeland because they would become a majority, and there are 22 Arab states and only one Jewish state in the world. First, there are 44 times more Arabs than Jews in the Middle East. Second, the Arabs who are a majority in all of these states, are not forcing non-Arabs to live in exile so that they will remain a majority.

During the period of apartheid, South Africa could have become a white majority state by forcing the majority black population to live in exile. Would Shimon Peres and “friends” of Israel in this country have supported this state and called it a “democracy”? Do they care that there no longer is an Afrikaner-ruled state in the world?

Alfred Zakhour, Fairfield, CT

Shimon Peres and all Labor governments did support the apartheid state of South Africa, even to the extent of jointly developing nuclear weapons. But that apartheid state eventually collapsed and its successor state has renounced nuclear weapons.

Vanunu’s Adoptive Parents Speak Out

We are the adoptive parents of Mordechai Vanunu, who is now in his 12th year of confinement in Shikma Prison, Ashkelon, Israel, for blowing the whistle on Israel’s secret nuclear weapons program. After 11 years, 4 months and 12 days of total isolation in a 6’x 9’ windowless cell, our son may now see the blue sky, green grass in the prison courtyard and mingle with Israeli common criminals, but not with Palestinian political prisoners, in that high-security facility. On Sept. 17 we visited Mordechai for the fourth time since we were granted our petition to adopt him on Oct. 24, 1997. He is a gentle, soft-spoken human being totally committed to abolition of nuclear weapons not only in the Middle East, but also throughout the world; he is consumed by the righteousness of his actions, which he has repeatedly said he would do again.

We were hopeful that, on the occasion of Israel’s 50th jubilee year of statehood, and because Mordechai had completed two-thirds of his sentence, Israeli President Ezer Weizman would include Mordechai as one of the 1,000 prisoners to whom he granted executive clemency, but that was not to be. Appeals to President Clinton, Prime Minister Netanyahu, President Weizman and hours of vigils at the prison have proven fruitless.

We are asking the WRMEA readership to write letters to Mordechai, since it appears to him that the world has forgotten him now that he is no longer in isolation. He may not be able to answer letters promptly, if at all, but it is enough that his Israeli kidnappers know that the world has not abandoned him. Please ask relatives and friends to write. The cost of an airmail letter to Israel is 60 cents; his address is:

Mordechai Vanunu

P.O. Box 17

Shikma Prison

Ashkelon, Israel

Know that all good things done on Mordechai’s behalf are held in grateful tenderness. Blessings to all.

Nick and Mary Eoloff, St. Paul, MN

Needs for Life

In the prevailing political climate, my need for the Washington Report is like the need of life on earth for salt, and the plants for H₂0. Thanks for the efforts.

Ziad Ziadeh, San Jose, CA

Write More About Magrebes

I spent over 10 years in Algeria and Tunisia. It is very hard for me to keep up with events in the Arab-Islamic world and the Washington Report is just about the only unbiased source available. It would be nice if you could include more about the Magrebes in your reporting.

Ben Hardman, Philadelphia, PA

Since you wrote we’ve done special reports on Tunisia and we have reports from both Algeria and Morocco in the works, we think.

U.S. “Imperial Interests”

We at Outlook magazine in Vancouver find your magazine gives valuable information about Israeli treatment of the Palestinians and Israeli dissidents such as Israel Shahak. However, we feel it attributes U.S. support for Israel too much to the Jewish or Zionist lobby rather than U.S. imperial interests in the Middle East. (Similar to U.S. policy in Vietnam and Latin America.)

Henry Rosenthal, Vancouver, BC, Canada

We wish we thought you were right. Maybe you could start by explaining how repeated instances of political instability or actual war that interrupt the smooth flow of petroleum, natural gas and chemical fertilizers from the Middle East, sending the prices of all sky-high and triggering recession throughout the industrialized world and malnutrition and sometimes starvation in parts of the Third World, serve U.S. “imperial interests” in the Middle East. It seems to us that if Israel would settle down and make real peace with the Palestinians and its other Arab neighbors, everyone’s interests would be far better served. You’ll surely agree that Netanyahu’s current intransigence with the Palestinians and Syria is made possible only by the Israel lobby’s iron grip on the Clinton administration and the majority of both Republicans and Democrats in Congress.

Information on Lobbies Needed

Your magazine brings me up to date on events behind the scenes. You’ve made me hope that if more people get to know about the Israeli lobby, together we will be able to change our policy in the Middle East.

Zagloul Kadah, San Jose, CA

Keeping Eyes Open

Arab/Israeli issues are vital to me. Nowhere else do I get the news and analyses that I get in the Washington Report. Although I get upset by what you reveal re Israeli injustices I am glad that you keep my eyes open.

Ramsey H. Madary, Phoenix, AZ

An Uphill Climb

Yours is a splendid publication. It gives the facts as they are. Your efforts to balance U.S. policy in the Middle East is an uphill climb. Keep up the good work.

A. Shehab, Odenton, MD

Grateful For My Lifeline

You are my lifeline! The information gathered from the Washington Report is used in letters I write and conversations regarding the Middle East. Thank you so much for being there and thank you so much for caring and supporting “human rights, self-determination and fair play.”

Judith Howard, Norwood, MA

You’ve been one of our most generous financial supporters almost since we began, as well as volunteering your time at conferences, with library placements, etc. We can truly say that without a handful of special people like you, we’d already just be history.

Land Slipping Away

Reading the Report makes me feel very very angry and I feel so helpless in confronting the Zionist influence in the Clinton administration. And in Congress. I feel the Palestinian homeland is slipping away mile by mile, daily.

Anonymous, Hartford, CT

Publish More Frequently

News travels fast and actions, around the world, are changing day by day. Although the Washington Report does not depend on daily events, I think it would be fresher and more effective to have it more often than 6 or 8 times a year.

Mohamad Nabi, Union, KY

Actually readers get it eight times a year. Unless we dramatically raise the subscription price or finally, after 17 years, find a rich sponsor, that’s about the best we can do.

Timely and Scholarly

The magazine offers a variety that is scholarly and informative. This is the only publication dealing with such timely issues facing the four corners of the globe—for which I am truly grateful. This is the magazine with “first choice reading.” Keep on maintaining the high caliber of reporting, opinions and essays!

Anonymous

Someday we’ll figure out why so many people who write us nice letters withhold their names, while those who write the negative letters (but not the threatening ones) always sign them. Anyway, thanks.

Coordination Needed

Your readers could use suggestions for coordinated responses to various issues that could be subjects for Letters to the Editor (of newspapers) or to senators, representatives and other government officials. Dozens or hundreds of letters on similar subjects weekly and monthly could be very effective in getting a message remembered in “Subject of the month.”

W.R. Canaday, Foley, AL

We used to do that sometimes on the “Publishers’ Page” before we got so frantically worried about going broke. If we make it into next year we’ll try to start doing it again.

Report on Real Life

From you I need more information on real life in occupied Palestine; voices of the grass roots, not just well known figures we have already heard from. Also, more voices of diversity from Hamas—not just someone else’s interpretation of what they think Hamas means. Also more information is needed on Palestinian prisoners of war and Israel’s history of war crimes.

Ismail and Patricia Abou Srour, Tucson, AZ

You Mean the World To Me

The Washington Report means the world to me! It’s like sunshine, water and nutrition to my mind, spirit and body. Honestly, I cannot imagine living in America without it. It has become my personal and collective dignity and human respect. It fires me up and pushes me to action and to speak up about my anger, concerns and fears loudly and fearlessly. Thanks for a job excellently done and may God always bless you and our Washington Report .

Anonymous

You wrote such a nice evaluation, but then didn’t sign your name. Never mind. You know who you are and maybe it’s none of our business.

What Is the Future?

I want your speculation or prophecy on the future of Israel and the Middle East. Mr. Curtiss is my favorite writer. How will a stronger China affect the Middle East? How much do the Arabs and Muslims care about the Palestinians? I would like regional meetings of WRMEA readers for the purpose of fellowship and composing letters to the editor to get the public involved. God bless whomever reads this.

Lyle L. Cochran, Santa Rosa, CA

We know you didn’t expect this letter to go beyond our own staff but since you’re doling out blessings, we think we’d better share them with all those dozens, maybe hundreds of subscribers who send us clippings, letters, etc. from their own reading, and thereby make it possible for such a tiny staff to publish such a big magazine.

A Pride of Victorians

I think that you are a pride of Victorians for your patriotism, dedication to the truth, duty and incredible work to educate the world in the fearsome political realities of the post-war world. I, also, belong in the 19th century, by preference. But since I am English I would like my reparations for England’s irreparabledamage in two world wars: the best of two generations gone, bombed cities, craven politicians and ruined economy and the sheer horror and terror of 1939-1945 on the foundation of civilization.

R. Fairchild, Marietta, GA

Looking For Input

I really appreciate the research you do on your articles. As an activist and free-lance writer, I depend on you for facts, dates, totals and an accurate and objective portrayal of matters. I would be interested to know how free-lance writers like me could have an opportunity to contribute to your great magazine. Thanks.

Rafael Narbaez, Dearborn, MI

How about starting by giving us coverage of events in Michigan for our various “activism” columns. We’re also always looking for “personality” pieces, that is biographical portraits of people from your area who are active in any of the fields we cover. But check with us first before setting up an interview.

Sanctions Killing the Children of Iraq”

I am writing to submit the article called “Sanctions Are Killing the Children of Iraq” which was published in the May 19, 1998 issue of the Toronto Star. You may wish to include this in your “Other Voices” section.

I am also writing to express my appreciation for your magazine, which as most of your readers agree is the best publication of its kind. I am confident that your magazine has done a great deal to help the cause of Palestinians. Nevertheless, I feel that it is important for your magazine to focus less on Israel and Palestine and more on other areas. I have shown your magazine to many of my friends and some of them feel that the magazine would have more credibility and respect if it did not overly focus on Israel.

I hope these few words of input are useful to you and please keep up the good work.

M. Altaf Hussain, North York, Ont., Canada

We included in our September “Other Voices” the Toronto Star article you forwarded on Iraq by Faisal Kutty, our own indefatigable Canadian columnist. Regarding your well-intentioned advice, we wish we didn’t feel compelled to devote so much space to Israel-Palestine, as it would free up more space for Iran, South Asia, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and North Africa. However, the evil deeds we report from Israel-Palestine have a corrupting influence throughout U.S. foreign, domestic and economic policy, and certainly in the problems faced by Muslim Americans and Arab Americans in North America. America is our primary concern, and fallout from the Israeli-Palestinian problem is having incalculably negative effects on all of us who live and work here.

Rebutting Misinformation

In response to misleading statements in a letter to the editor of a local newspaper by two representatives of the American Jewish Committee’s Minneapolis/St.Paul chapter, my wife and I saw fit to write a rebuttal.

The two letters (copy enclosed) were published in the Saint Paul Pioneer Press on July 18 and Aug. 3, 1998, respectively.

I take this opportunity to wish you continued strength in your struggle on behalf of justice and peace in Palestine.

Aref J. Jabr, St. Paul, MN

Your letter published in the St. Paul Pioneer Press is on p. 92of the Oct./Nov. issue’s “Other People’s Mail.”