OPM_64-65.qxp_Other Peoples Mail 10/15/20 11:14 PM Page 64
TELL YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS WHAT YOU THINK
Other People’s Mail
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE 1600 PENNSYLVANIA AVE. NW WASHINGTON, DC 20500 COMMENT LINE: (202) 456-1111 WWW.WHITEHOUSE.GOV/CONTACT
Compiled by Dale Sprusansky THE ABRAHAM ACCORDS ARE NO PEACE DEAL
To the Anchorage Daily News, Sept. 30, 2020 I keep hoping the Trump administration’s international team knows what they’re doing, but I haven’t been holding my breath lately. Then, I heard that a Norwegian nominated Donald Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize for brokering a “peace deal” between the Gulf Arab states and Israel—I actually choked for a second. What a strange sense of humor they have in Scandinavia, I thought. The peace deal seems to be actually an economic/military cooperation pact where all partners appear to be using each other for their own ends—with a common thread of isolating or keeping Iran at bay, while unintentionally driving Iran into China’s waiting embrace. Surely all “peaceful” deals attempted so far have not progressed much—Israel continues to expand and Palestine continues to contract, and the conflicts continue. As with this administration’s “Deal of the Century,” there is a lacking participant—Palestine. To turn these potentially catastrophic “deals” into some resemblance of “peace,” a priority must include some kind of a Palestinian entity and representation. Otherwise the “dawn of a new Middle East” could well turn into a nightmare, since it would seem to be difficult to build stable peace on top of the ethnic obliteration of an entire people. It is interesting, even fun, to remember that in the Shah’s day in the 1970s El Al Israel Airlines was flying regular flights into Tehran and Israeli commercial representatives were buying whatever Iran had to offer. Ken Green, Cooper Landing, AK
TRUMP, NETANYAHU AND A FAUX PEACE AGREEMENT
To the San Francisco Chronicle, Sept. 17, 2020 I could only shake my head in disgust while reading “Israel, two Arab states sign pacts” (Sept. 16). Despite President Trump’s claim that agreements between Israel and two Gulf Arab nations, the United Arab Emi64
ANY SENATOR U.S. SENATE WASHINGTON, DC 20510 (202) 224-3121
rates and Bahrain, represent the dawn of a new Middle East, there can be no lasting peace in this region without the proper establishment and recognition of a Palestinian state. Both Trump and Israel Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu are ethically challenged leaders. And both U.S. and Israeli citizens who understand this fact also know that this signing ceremony at the White House will not make either of them into statesmen or boost their stature in the global community. Imani Odebayu, Oakland, CA
NO PEACE CAN BE ACHIEVED WITHOUT JUSTICE
To the Gettysburg Times, Sept. 27, 2020 So disappointing to read the frontpage Gettysburg Times headline on Monday, Sept. 21 on Middle East “peace” making. The fact remains, no matter how politicians (local or otherwise) paint it, there is no peace without justice for all parties. Further oppression, with suppression and lies about that oppression, do not make peace. Until Israel, backed by the U.S. government, takes its knee off the neck of the Palestinian people, there can be no peace. Until Israel ends the illegal, immoral, brutal military occupation of Palestine, there can be no peace. Until Israel ends extrajudicial killings of Palestinian people, ends detention and torture of children, ends indefinite detention and torture of adults without charges, ends land grabs and destruction of Palestinian homes there can be no peace. American people would never accept such abuses and neither should Palestinian people. In my travels I experience the people in Palestine and the Middle East to be warm and hospitable, people who seek only to live and to care for their families. Sound familiar to you, fellow citizens? If Americans knew how the U.S. government manipulates the facts of this situation, they would demand an end to the human rights abuses perpetrated upon Palestinian families. Actual fair and balanced mainstream media reporting would mean we stop talking about Palestinian people and start talking to Palestinian people. Their lives are at stake. We should hear their
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
SECRETARY OF STATE MIKE POMPEO U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE 2201 C ST. NW WASHINGTON, DC 20520 PHONE: (202) 647-6575 VISIT WWW.STATE.GOV TO E-MAIL ANY REPRESENTATIVE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES WASHINGTON, DC 20515 (202) 225-3121
point of view, even if the truth makes us uncomfortable. It is important for American taxpayers to understand that Palestinians are fully human. It is important for American citizens to understand that the biblical tribe of Israel is not the same as the modern state of Israel, which was founded with support from Western powers, on Palestinian land, in May 1948. It is important for Americans to understand that the modern state of Israel suffers from the same issues of corruption as any other nation. Like our head of state, Israel’s head of state is under criminal investigation. American taxpayer dollars pay for genocide in Palestine. This is outrageous and must end. As people of faith, we have a right and an obligation to demand an end to human rights abuses everywhere, including Israel’s abuses in Palestine. God calls us to love and honor all people. Rev. Sandra R Mackie, Gettysburg, PA
CARTOON SMEARS PALESTINIANS
To The Virginian-Pilot, Sept. 22, 2020 Michael Ramirez’s Sept. 18 political cartoon that depicts Palestine as a vulture and other Middle Eastern countries as peacemakers is not only offensive, but it misrepresents the plight of the Palestinian people. The Palestinians are being persecuted in their own homeland and are forced to live under deplorable conditions. The world has seen this before with American Indians, Blacks in America and South Africa, the Jewish people in Europe and the Uyghur people in China. At a time when people are waking up to the plight of minority people, I hope people will take the time to educate themselves on the true story of the Palestinians and not be swayed by a prejudicial cartoon. Pamela Burroughs, Hampton, VA
HEBRON A CLEAR MANIFESTATION OF ISRAELI APARTHEID
To The Washington Post, Sept. 24, 2020 Thanks to the editorial board for asserting, in its Sept. 19 editorial “A lopsided
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020
