Letters to the Editor, April 5, 2004

The arrogance of Forum columnist Sidney Zion and the American worshippers of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is appalling.

"Kerry better join Bush on Israel," he demands. Who is this neo-con thug to threaten Jewish wrath against John Kerry for his minute efforts at evenhandedness in the Palestinian-Israeli dispute?

American Jews don’t march in lock step behind Sharon’s blind policy of assassinations, walls, and apartheid.

Zion threatens Kerry for having the temerity to suggest using former President Jimmy Carter to make peace. Carter is "anti-Israel," he says.

That’s moronic. Carter forged the Israeli-Egyptian peace agreement, eliminating Israel’s only real military opponent.

Zion hates "serial losers" Sandy Berger and Dennis Ross. When did they cross Israel? Didn’t they create a false alarm about an Iraqi "menace" just as the Israeli politicians wanted?

It is true that the hard right has captured the leadership of major Jewish political organizations and wields that power to crush any slights against the bully boys in Jerusalem. But they throw their weight around through money and media influence, not though the "Jewish vote."

The Jewish community is split in many different currents, most are indifferent to Israel and many Jews despise what Israeli leaders do in their name.

Zion orders Kerry to stop pushing Israel around. Would that it were true! Nobody pushes Sharon other than to push more money and weapons on him.

And what has he done for Israel? He hasn’t stopped Palestinian military attacks and he hasn’t stopped the homicidal bombings. He hasn’t made any agreements with the Palestinian Authority, though he does deal with the Hezbollah. He orders the rocket assassination of a quadriplegic Hamas leader instead of arresting him, all to prove to Israelis that he is not wimping out when he says he will pull out of Gaza.

Zion brings up the image of the Titanic. Fine enough, but it’s President Bush’s Middle East policy that is sinking, and asking Kerry to climb aboard and rearrange the deck chairs is empty-headed chutzpah.

It’s high time an American politician stood up to the Jewish and Christian fanatics who are dooming Israel to perpetual war.

Stanley Heller is chairman of the Middle East Crisis Committee. The letter was first published in the New Haven Register on 03/31/2004 but sent to Al-Jazeerah.info by a friend of the author, Selma, on April 4, 2004.

Palestinian Martyrs Triumphant

By Genevieve Cora Fraser

Bodies borne aloft

Shut into death’s release

Float in caskets swaying

On a sea of Arab hands

Palestinian assassinated

Remains charred as on a pyre

Are shielded in Prophet Green

Strew with floral offerings

Israeli forces occupied

With treacherous plots

Foment a reign of terror

Exploded in their minds

Yassin’s death beats time

Alive at spirt’s door

He welcomes home

The disheartened

To drink at unity’s well

Addressing the rood causes of conflict

Dear Editor,

I can understand people getting very upset about opinions which do not accord with their own on such difficult topics as war and peace. I have recently sent an occasional letter to you critical of US and Israeli policy. This is certainly not because I support violence - in fact the very opposite. I have never engaged in it (and very fortunately never had to) or supported it. In my life and work I have, in fact, tried in an inconspicuous way to promote inter-cultural understanding. I realise my efforts are totally insignificant but, having worked in several countries, I try to do my own little bit to create some degree of friendship. I am not anti-American or anti-Israeli (I realise many Americans and some Israelis, including high ranking officers with distinguished careers, have similar reservations). But - since Iraq - I write for four main reasons:

The tone of the current US regime appears so harsh and aggressive and its policies so mis-directed and lacking in perception that I really am upset. Of course the US has to defend itself from attack. But I would have expected the US to pursue criminals who break the law vigorously whilst at the same time maintaining the essentially noble values of their constitution and bringing offenders to justice in proper legal fashion. I would also have expected America to look at the root cause of its fractured relations with the Muslim world, very obviously the Arab-Israeli conflict. However in the first case, the invasion of the wrong country has only resulted in more innocent deaths whilst Guantanemo has severely damaged the US image. In the second matter, the absence of any apparent interest in a realistic/parallel strategy or sincere wish to resolve fundamental disputes really grates. Indeed, the thrust of 'Vulcan' policy is the doctrine of hard power and 'Blut und Eisen' pre-emption, which are alien values to me;
The US and Israel always claim the moral high ground and must therefore expect their conduct to be judged by the exacting standards they themselves proclaim. Otherwise they indulge in double standards and appear hypocritical. Spain, which I am sure is not at all soft on criminals, will prosecute the Madrid offenders to the fullest extent of the law but it will not invade Morocco or detain suspects in degrading conditions;
The US and Israel are immensely powerful - it is essentially a battle between tanks and stones. It therefore seems incumbent on the powerful to use their power wisely and with restraint and to care about minorities. Yet actual policies appear increasingly brutal;
I am not a historian but the seizure of land for the creation of Israel appears to me to be the great injustice that has poisoned peace. I can imagine no nation on earth that would happily accept the annexation of swathes of territory and expulsion to squalid refugee camps. Put simply, it is unfair and therefore there is a wish to redress the balance and speak for the oppressed. I do not know how peace can be achieved but I am sure the process cannot start without a recognition of this stark injustice (however justified and/or irreversible). After that those on both sides might then be able to start talking. I do believe peace can always be achieved if people of good will come together. Both Israelis and Arabs share a common humanity and deserve peace.

Phil G Hong