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This issue is full of mustread articles, detailing Israel’s descent into apartheid. Instead of the touted “only democracy in the Middle East,” hard at work “making the desert bloom,” in reality Israel is demolishing homes, trees and lives. Please send the postcard in this issue to our new and old leaders, especially the new members of Congress, who need a reality check (see p. 18). Despite their many trials, Palestinians somehow still manage to enjoy sparks of joy and life (see this issue’s cover and p. 38).
PHOTO BY JAAFAR ASHTIYEH/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Read all About It
American Educational Trust
ileged receive vaccinations, in Israel, the U.S. and elsewhere, COVID-19 variants will plague the world for the rest of our lives.
Quiz Answers
Palestinians try to return an olive tree to its place after an Israeli bulldozer yanked it out, in a field in the West Bank city of Salfit, near the Israeli settlement of Ariel, on Oct. 26, 2020.
Washington Report Quiz
Contestants on a National Public Radio Saturday weekly game show are asked to guess which is the real news story and which is a fabrication. These are the stories we wish were contenders:
A. Israel Builds Settlements in
Albuquerque
This article, which won’t surprise Palestinians, declares that “an increasingly bold Israel announced Tuesday that it had begun building settlements for its citizens in downtown Albuquerque, NM.” A photo shows a bulldozer demolishing a building in the central business district. The article adds that Israel will build a wall around the new houses, and IDF troops will patrol to protect the new subdivision. And by the way, the article concludes, “the U.S. government has pledged to provide Israel with an additional $3 billion in military aid to help the nation defend its new territory.”
B. Soldiers Moonlight as Armed Robbers
Armed robbers, in uniform, tried to steal a generator in broad daylight in the South Hebron Hills. As the robbers loaded the generator into their vehicle, its rightful owners, three unarmed shepherds, tried to MARCH/APRIL 2021
Publishers’ Page
save their property with their bare hands. The generator is a lifeline for these shepherds, whose Palestinian village is not allowed to connect to the water or electricity supply. The robbers, Israeli soldiers, shot the shepherds, critically wounding a 24year-old, before taking off with their loot. C. Israel’s COVID-19 Vaccinations Hold Lessons for the U.S.
This story has led nightly news broadcasts and grabbed headlines. It must be true. But a UK article fills in some gaps. “As the world ramps up what is already on track to become a highly unequal vaccination push—with people in richer nations first to be inoculated—the situation in Israel and the Palestinian territories provides a stark example of the divide. Israel is transporting batches of vaccine deep inside the West Bank, but they are only distributed to Jewish settlers, and not the roughly 2.7 million Palestinians living around them.” Lesson learned: Americans should deny vaccinations to Black and Brown Americans. Of course, if only the privOur friends and colleagues at Americans for Middle East Understanding (AMEU) are seeking an executive director/editor-in-chief of The Link, published five times a year. Please visit AMEU’s website, www.ameu.org for more information. To apply, please send cover letter and CV to ameu@aol.com.
A. Article published on Jan. 27, 2021 in the online satirical publication, the Onion. For now a joke. B. Article by Gideon Levy, published in Haaretz, Jan. 2, 2021. Truth. C. Article published in The Guardian, Jan. 3, 2021, with the Washington Report adding our thoughts, which we doubt will be mentioned in your nightly news reports.
Missing Washington Report
We’d like to apologize to our loyal readers who received the January/February 2021 issue of this magazine late—in most instances, very late. Despite moving up our production timeline by one week in an effort to avoid the Christmas holiday’s slam on the U.S. Postal Service, the issue apparently still got buried under piles of mail. It began to arrive in mailboxes in late January and early February—more than a month and a half after it was mailed! We hope this issue reaches you in a much more timely manner. As a non-profit that depends on the USPS to deliver this magazine, receive donations and ship orders from our bookstore, we hope lawmakers will deliver much-needed postal reforms in 2021.
Our Angels Came Through!
We thank our 2020 angels, those listed and those who preferred to be unidentified. Without your help the Washington Report would vanish, like so many other publications facing crises due to rising paper costs, postage as well as economic troubles. We’ll begin publishing the 2021 donors next issue, so please continue to help us ride out the pandemic and...
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WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
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