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Dear former, current, or future Washington
Report subscriber,
This has been a shattering year for those who care about peace
in the Middle East and the Muslim world. Starting with Ariel Sharon's
provocative Sept. 28 visit last year to the al-Aqsa Mosque, followed
days later by the Sept. 30 shooting death of 12-year-old Mohammed
Al-Durra, who died in his father's arms, Sharon's election as
Israeli prime minister, and Israeli escalations of closures, assassinations,
bulldozed homes, new settlements, and more recently, its invasion
of Hebron while the world's attention was focused on this past
September's attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
All Americans, including those who
had no interest in world affairs before Sept. 11, are asking:
"Why did this happen?" For nearly two decades, the Washington
Report on Middle East Affairs has been providing the answers,
warning that U.S. policy toward the Arab-Israeli conflict has
become untenable. By turning its back on the right of Palestinians
to statehood, peace and justice-as called for in U.N. Security
Council Resolutions 242 and 338-Washington not only is losing
friends in the Middle East, but is endangering the internal security
of countries which continue to embrace America. U.S. foreign policy
has been structured to win domestic approval, straying far from
our country's ideals of liberty and justice for all.
President George W. Bush declared
on Oct. 2 and again on Oct. 11 that the United States supports
Palestinian statehood. The Sept. 11 attack forced postponement
of the announcement of a major policy initiative to that effect.
Unless the U.S. uses its muscle and its annual $3 billion-plus
aid to Israel as leverage to end that struggle now, terrorists
on both sides of that conflict will have won. Even everyday Americans
are beginning to see that it is in our nation's self-interest
to pressure Israel to make peace.
Despite President Bush's frequent
assurances that his war on terrorism isn't a war on Islam, many
Americans and Muslims around the world are hearing that this is
the beginning of a "clash of civilizations" and a "holy
war." This misinformation is coming from the mainstream media,
talking heads, experts, and even some people in the Bush administration.
The usual cast of characters is working the streets of America
saying this is a war against, it turns out, anyone who is an enemy
of Israel. Self-proclaimed terrorism expert Daniel Pipes told
the Philadelphia Daily News: "Islamists constitute a small,
but significant, minority of all Muslims, perhaps 10 to 15 percent
of the population.... Many of them are peaceable in appearance,
but they all must be considered potential killers..." No
wonder airline crews are kicking Arab and Muslim Americans off
planes. Richard Perle, head of the Defense Policy Board, and Deputy
Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz are pushing to expand the
war on terrorism to end regimes in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Sudan and
even Lebanon after the Taliban in Afghanistan are annihilated.
In fact, however, Osama bin Laden's terrorist cells are more likely
to reside in Europe and North America than in the countries targeted
by supporters of Israel. Along with Osama bin Laden and Ariel
Sharon, these advisers share one great desire: a war pitting America
against Islam; East versus West; the U.S. and Israel against the
world. We just can't let that happen.
The time has come for the Washington
Report and every one of our subscribers
to make the supreme effort. If we can't get American support for
a
Palestinian state and prevent this war on terrorism from erupting
into an
unholy mess, we all will lose.
This is our last fundraising appeal
of 2001 to ask you for the donations,
gift subscriptions and book orders we so desperately need. Please
use the
reverse side of this letter to respond just as generously as you
possibly can
to this urgent appeal. If you plan to deduct your donation from
your 2001
income tax, make it to the "AET Library Endowment,"
Federal ID #52-1460362.
Otherwise, please donate to "AET" or "The Washington
Report on Middle East
Affairs."
What else can you do? Think night
and day about potential new subscribers to
whom you can introduce the magazine. Then act:
- Help us get the Washington Report
into the hands of more opinion molders: elected officials, clerics,
local editors, and talk show hosts. Give them a one-year subscription
or give us their name and address and we'll find an angel underwriter.
- Check your local public library,
as well as high school and college libraries in your area. Tell
them about our library gift package of books with a list value
of over $200 if they pay for a one-year subscription. If they
can't afford a subscription, offer a donated subscription from
you or another angel.
- Ask your doctor, lawyer, teacher
or coworker if they would like a gift subscription for their
office.
- Send us membership lists of any
organization or society to which you belong. We'll send a postcard
or a free introductory issue to likely subscribers on the list.
- Call us in advance of any local
events in your area. We'll send you free magazines to distribute
to help educate participants.
- Go to your favorite bookstore
and newsstands to see if they carry the Washington Report. If
they don't, ask them to call Ingram Periodicals at 1 (800) 627-6247
and add our magazine (Bi-pad #92017) to their standing order,
or set up a new account.
- Visit our redesigned Web site
www.wrmea.com and bookmark
it for up-to-date news and in-depth reporting on the Middle
East and the Muslim world. We've installed a faster search engine
to help researchers from any computer in the world find information-for
free-on current affairs and history published since the magazine's
first issue in April 1982.
- Place your holiday book order
today using the book list that accompanies this appeal. Give
the gift of knowledge to your friends and family.
We hope to see your name very soon
on the roster of AET's Year 2001 Choir of Angels! Thank you in
advance for your efforts, and let's all ... Make a Difference-Today!
Sincerely,
Rev. L. Humphrey Walz
Amb. Andrew I. Killgore
Richard H. Curtiss
Chairman
President
Executive Editor
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