Letters to the Editor, January 12, 2004

Aside from the revulsion and horror I feel toward Benny Morris' discussion of Zionism as outlined in the Haaretz 1-09-04 article, Survival of the Fittest, he provides a very clear vision of Zionist history and philosophy. Though I do not accept his justifications, if I were to, there are two major errors in his thinking.

#1. In 1948 there was no real danger in the continuation of the Jewish genocide/halocaust. The danger had passed in 1945... with the defeat of the Nazis. Many countries such as America and England took Jewish refugees in at that point in time.

#2. There may be 22 Arab states and only one Jewish state, but this is a comparison of apples to oranges. Race vs. Religion

The proper comparison would be between Arab (Semites) vs. Caucasian vs. Asian, etc. or between Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, etc.

In 1948 and long before, Palestine was a mix of not only many races (though predominantly Arab) it was a mix of many religions. For example, in 1948 Ramallah was 4/5th Christian.

The Zionist leadership in 1948 was predominantly German, Polish and Russian... many with family histories of conversion to Judaism. Though this may have occurred as early as the 5th, 6th centuries, many conversions were much later. In fact, many of the Ashkenazi Jewish population have NO Semite bloodlines at all, hence the hostility to Arabs who are Semites as were the ancient Hebrews of the bible.

Applied to today's Jewish community, the term anti-Semitism is a misnomer. It is not a misnomer when applied to Israel's response to Arabs. Zionism is anti-Semitism as illustrated by Morris' comments.

The Arab vs. Jew analogy is appropriate if you are speaking of the sons and daughters of Abraham. According to tradition, the Ishmael branch is the Arab branch of the family, the Isaac branch became the biblical Jewish population. Today's Jewish population comes in all races and there are many Arab Jews, some of whom may be actual descendants of Abraham as are many of the Arab Muslim population.

Zionism is essentially an Aryan philosophy just as Nazism is/was.... born of the witches brew of Master Race philosophies prevalent following the release of Friedrich Nietzsche's classic "Thus Spake Zarathustra," published in the 1880s. Both Zionism and Nazism justify brutality as well as an iron-clad belief in their superiority. But Judaism is not Zionism. Zionism has hijacked Judaism to support it's cause. Fortunately, not all people of the Jewish community buy into this racist philosophy.

Genevieve Cora Fraser

:Orange Jump Suits

With the widow Mariani RICO ACT lawsuit which was served 1/2/04 with 60 days to respond, I hold my breath. With ALL the grassroots action that is running rampant in this country I feel better. I believe with all my soul that Bush & fiends are coming down. You wish for orange suits, I wish for "Shawshank Redemption". If you have not seen this movie my Steven King then please do...it is worth the time. I only hope that Bush has enough guts to exit stage left all on his own.

I wish you well.

I remain, hopeful.

Deborah Rodriguez, Forbes Riverside, IL, USA

War in Iraq

I have news for news reporters, a second Bush term scares the hell out of many Americans. Let's all remember that the Iraq war is not over and it is not yet clear who is the winner. That Saddam is over is clear but Iraq is crowded with Ba'athist members who may still come back to power once America leaves. The Russians left Afghanistan after almost ten years, America left Vietnam.

Johannes Holub, NYC

The Triumph of Intemperance by Fawaz Turki

I don't necessarily see the "intemperance" in Iran's refusal to accept the US "aid." Who knows how many spies were among the accompanying "aid-workers".

GW Bush has in fact tried to use the aid to score political gains and to incite backlash among Iranians against their govt. (Weblink to news below).

It would have been better if Iranian people recognized this lowly American tactic and condemned Bush for taking advantage of misery of affected people due to the natural disaster, but I will settle for the rebuff by Iranian administration.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040102/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_iran_8

Regards,

Arif Khan

Earth, a planet hungry for peace

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03).

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03).

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