letters_6-7.qxp_MARCH APRIL 2021 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 2/4/21 7:17 PM Page 6
Executive Editor: Managing Editor: Contributing Editor: Contributing Editor: Other Voices Editor: Middle East Books and More Director: Finance & Admin. Dir.: Art Director: Founding Publisher: Founding Exec. Editor: Board of Directors:
DELINDA C. HANLEY DALE SPRUSANSKY WALTER HIXSON JULIA PITNER JANET McMAHON NATHANIEL 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 and Aug./Sept. combined, at 1902 18th St., NW, Washington, DC 20009-1707. Tel. (202) 9396050. 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
6
LetterstotheEditor THE MYTH OF THE “JEWISH AND DEMOCRATIC” STATE
Emphasis is always placed on the requirement for “Arab diplomatic recognition of Israel,” yet I have never seen the opposite: calls for Israel’s recognition of Palestine as an Arab state. Right from the git-go (the U.N. Partition Plan of 1947), Israel fought against a Palestinian state, and consistently and persistently stole more and more of its land, to the point where now there is no possibility of a viable Palestinian state. The only solution now appears to be a federation such as in Belgium, with the Walloons and Flemish sharing power, since surely Israel, despite its best efforts, will not be able to get rid of half the population. Israel’s violation, with impunity, of its own 1948 Declaration of Independence, in which it promised equal rights to all, apparently gave it the green light for other international law violations, including violations of just about all of the articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the Geneva Conventions. Mention of a “Jewish and democratic state”—in which half its inhabitants are oppressed—is an oxymoron. Israel needs to either give equal rights to Palestinians or else admit it is a racist/fascist state. Doris Rausch, Columbia, MD You are not alone in this assessment. In January, B’Tselem, Israel’s leading human rights group, made history by declaring Israel to be an apartheid regime, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River (see pp. 12-13).
PAY ATTENTION TO ISRAELI INTERFERENCE
Those in the media who harp about Russian interference in U.S. elections fail to mention the foreign nation that most interferes with America. They call on the U.S. to stop all trade with Russia and to stop all Russian investments in the U.S., failing to provide any evidence about so-called Russian influence in U.S. elections. Our government has also made accusations against Russia, saying that “national security” prevents it
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
from backing up its claims, which former CIA analyst Ray McGovern calls a “red herring.” Diverse voices, including scholar Noam Chomsky and Harvard Professor Stephen Walt, have shown that Israel, not Russia, openly interferes in U.S. elections and Congress. Even worse, current Pentagon official Douglas Macgregor stated that the pro-Israel lobby in the U.S. is trying to drag America into war in Iran, like they did in Iraq. The U.S. should dialogue and trade with all countries, including Russia and Iran, while favoring no nation, especially apartheid Israel. Ray Gordon, Venice, FL This issue includes an in-depth look at what new members of Congress have said about Israel (see pp. 18-25). The findings support your assertion that Israel’s lobby holds significant sway over the U.S. Congress.
ISRAELI CONDEMNATION OF HEZBOLLAH’S U.N. VIOLATIONS
Israeli officials are claiming that Hezbollah’s violation of a 2006 United Nations resolution somehow justifies the intimidating presence of low-altitude Israeli war planes in Lebanese air space. The 2006 U.N. resolution forbade Hezbollah “from building up its military capabilities and operating near the Israeli border.” U.N. resolutions notwithstanding, foreign aircraft that violate Israeli air space have a low survival rate. The context for these Lebanon overflights is Israel’s ongoing policy of bombing Iran-backed forces in southern Syria. While that is understandable from a purely military perspective, Israel’s resort to the U.N. resolution defense is remarkably hypocritical considering its long history of indifference to the international body. Before continuing, I’ll take a moment to protect myself from possible anti-Semitic accusations emanating from those who have adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s “working definition” of that concept. According to their expansive interpretation, any who dare offer MARCH/APRIL 2021
