Letters to the Editor, December 6, 2003
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PLO Position toward Israel
Could you please inform me as to the current official position of the PLO on the right of Israel to exist as a nation? I believe the original position was the extermination of Israel but have been told it has changed.
Thank you,
John Bannon
Editor: The PLO recognized Israel’s right to exist for the first time, in 1988. On September 13, 1993, both Israel and the PLO recognized each other officially by signing the Oslo Accords on the lawn of the White House. The agreement included the PLO’s recognition of the right of Israel to exist as a nation. In return, Israel recognized the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people. Further agreements, including the Road Map, brought the two sides to agree to the two-state solution.
With regard to your observation about extermination, the PLO never possessed weapons of mass destruction, which are capable of extermination. Only Israel has these weapons in the Middle East.
Why are Arab countries not supporting Palestinians?
From all indications, this administration is focused on war with another Arab or Muslim country and destabilization of the Middle East in general. When are Arab and Muslim countries going to unite and take a stand against the policies of this administration? On a side note, if the U.S. can support Israel with billions of dollars in financial aid and military weaponry, despite being thousands of miles away, why are Arab countries not doing the same for Palestinians who live right next door? I really do not understand!
Tim Stinson
Because the Arab "leaders" in those countries are either in their positions because they have faithfully served US interests or are not willing to take the risks that supporting the Palestinians requires. Look at Iran which may be subject to attack by Israel at any time and can get away with it and the same applies to Syria. Washington is clearly Israel's most important occupied territory and those who don't wish to acknowledge that will never understand what is going on.
Also, don't be fooled into thinking the administration is actually moving to implement anything substantial regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict. Within the week, Powell will be called behind closed doors for another dressing down by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for making positive statements regarding Geneva. I say again because that happened to him before when he made statements critical of Israel and only the Jewish weekly Forward reported it.
Jeff Blankfort
Bye bye, land of the free
With bio-scientists like Dr. Thomas Butler convicted in a bookkeeping dispute and programmers like Dmitry Sklyarov put in jail for decoding eBooks, it is becoming very apparent that scientists are no longer free to research in the United States. Even if they are developing vaccines to protect Americans against plagues, they face centuries of imprisonment for the smallest deviation from new and draconian rules.
It's now time for US scientists who value freedom to look to other lands like Canada, Europe, India, and Japan to do and publish their research, and to hold conferences. The land of the free has moved.
Tom Trottier
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| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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