letters_6r1.qxp_JANUARY FEBRUARY 2021 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 12/3/20 10:37 AM Page 6
Executive Editor: Managing Editor: Contributing Editor: Contributing Editor: Other Voices Editor: Middle East Books and More Director: Assistant Bookstore Dir.: Finance & Admin. Dir.: Art Director: Founding Publisher: Founding Exec. Editor: Board of Directors:
DELINDA C. HANLEY DALE SPRUSANSKY WALTER HIXSON JULIA PITNER JANET McMAHON SAMI TAYEB NATE BAILEY CHARLES R. CARTER RALPH-UWE SCHERER ANDREW I. KILLGORE (1919-2016) RICHARD H. CURTISS (1927-2013) HENRIETTA FANNER JANET McMAHON JANE KILLGORE
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs (ISSN 87554917) is published 7 times a year, monthly except Jan./Feb., March/April, June/July, Aug./Sept. and Nov./Dec. combined, at 1902 18th St., NW, Washington, DC 20009-1707. Tel. (202) 939-6050. Subscription prices (United States and possessions): one year, $29; two years, $55; three years, $75. For Canadian and Mexican subscriptions, $35 per year; for other foreign subscriptions, $70 per year. Periodicals, postage paid at Washington, DC and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, P.O. Box 91056, Long Beach, CA 90809-1056. Published by the American Educational Trust (AET), a nonprofit foundation incorporated in Washington, DC by retired U.S. foreign service officers to provide the American public with balanced and accurate information concerning U.S. relations with Middle Eastern states. AET’s Foreign Policy Committee has included former U.S. ambassadors, government officials, and members of Congress, including the late Democratic Sen. J. William Fulbright and Republican Sen. Charles Percy, both former chairmen of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Members of AET’s Board of Directors and advisory committees receive no fees for their services. The new Board of Advisers includes: Anisa Mehdi, John Gareeb, Dr. Najat Khelil Arafat, William Lightfoot and Susan Abulhawa. The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs does not take partisan domestic political positions. As a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli dispute, it endorses U.N. Security Council Resolution 242’s land-for-peace formula, supported by nine successive U.S. presidents. In general, it supports Middle East solutions which it judges to be consistent with the charter of the United Nations and traditional American support for human rights, self-determination, and fair play. Material from the Washington Report may be reprinted without charge with attribution to Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. Bylined material must also be attributed to the author. This release does not apply to photographs, cartoons or reprints from other publications. Indexed by ProQuest, Gale, Ebsco Information Services, InfoTrac, LexisNexis, Public Affairs Information Service, Index to Jewish Periodicals, Ethnic News Watch, Periodica Islamica. CONTACT INFORMATION: Washington Report on Middle East Affairs Editorial Office and Bookstore: 1902 18th St. NW, Washington, DC 20009-9062 Phone: (202) 939-6050 • (800) 368-5788 Fax: (202) 265-4574 E-mail: wrmea@wrmea.org bookstore@wrmea.org circulation@wrmea.org advertising@wrmea.org Web sites: http://www.wrmea.org http://www.middleeastbooks.com Subscriptions, sample copies and donations: P.O. Box 91056, Long Beach, CA 90809-1056 Phone: (888) 881-5861 • Fax: (714) 226-9733 Printed in the USA
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LetterstotheEditor ISRAEL DEMOLISHES HOMES AS ITS ALLIES WEAPONIZE ANTI-SEMITISM
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) recently destroyed yet another Bedouin settlement in the illegally occupied Jordan Valley on the pretext that the land was needed for a “military firing zone.” It could be suggested that the regular assaults on Gaza’s captive population already provide a lethal form of target practice that renders so-called firing ranges redundant. This “firing range” tactic has been frequently employed as a handy excuse to displace both Bedouins and Palestinians. Such actions are standard policy for a powerful nation that has declared itself the “Middle East's only democracy.” Unfortunately, the many benefits of Israeli “democracy” are mainly reserved for Israeli Jews, passive Israeli Arabs and senior members of the collaborationist Palestinian Authority. The factual basis for my observations is apparently irrelevant to those who support the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) “working definition” of anti-Semitism, which is supposedly designed to reduce hate crimes against Jews. However, the breadth of the definition suggests different goals. According to this expansive definition, those who dare offer a reasoned critique of Israeli policy are anti-Semitic, unless they simultaneously detail the sins of every other nation. This policy both excuses Israeli offenses and discourages dissent, creating a chilling effect on public discourse. It is worth noting that Jews in every nation are increasingly critical of Israeli state policy toward those Palestinians and Bedouins living under martial law in illegally occupied territories. Those deploying the IHRA definition are well-aware of this uncomfortable reality and may be seeking to delegitimize Israeli critics by accusing even Jews of anti-Semitism. Morgan Duchesney, Ottawa, Canada For more on this important topic, we encourage you to read Jonathan Cook’s article, “lsrael Uses Closed Military Firing Zones to Drive More Palestinians From Their Land,” in the September 2014 issue of this publication. In the article, he noted that “18 percent of the West Bank has
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been declared as Israeli military training and firing zones.”
ISRAEL’S HYPOCRISY IN DENOUNCING TERRORISM
In the Oct. 3 New York Post, Manhattan lawyer Neal Sher cited “an overwhelming amount of publicly available evidence” to suggest that Saeb Erekat, the since deceased chief negotiator for the Palestine Liberation Organization, incited terrorist violence by helping facilitate financial support to the families of Palestinian “terrorists.” It is so hypocritical for Israel and its defenders to make such claims when “terrorism” has deep roots in Israel’s history. Indeed, Israel is guilty of practicing terrorism while establishing its state. Among many other things, terrorists blew up the King David Hotel in 1946, killing 91 people, mostly British soldiers. Jewish terrorists also assassinated U.N. peacekeeper Count Folke Bernadotte in 1948. The individuals involved in this murder were rewarded, not with a pittance of money, but with important positions in Israel’s government. One such person was future Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, whose Stern Gang participated in Bernadotte’s assassination. Yet, so many in the world somehow accept Israel’s claim that this was all merely “freedom fighting.” Of course, Israel’s modern, U.S.-taxpayer funded military apparatus no longer needs to resort to such primordial methods of terrorism. It can simply deploy the might of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on the Palestinians who were dispossessed by Israel’s founding fathers. Doris Rausch, Columbia, MD It’s a sad reality that the powerful often write and share history in self-serving ways. But your letter is proof that these efforts can only go so far. The more we insist on sharing the unadulterated true history of the “conflict,” the less weight nationalist myths carry. ■ JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021
