June 1994, Page 32

The Washington Report on Middle Eastern Affairs

Other People’s Mail

Some letters by or to other people are as informative for our readers as anything we might write ourselves.

Biased Mideast Coverage

To The New York Times, by Bryan Adrian, New York, NY Feb. 8, 1994

Why do we see so few Arab-American names, after decades of Arab immigration, in the by-lines of The New York Times? There are millions of Arab-Americans today, many highly educated.

I have been living abroad for over three years. My closest friends in West Germany often turned out to be other foreigners like myself, mostly of Arabic or Muslim descent: Syrians, Turks, Lebanese, Senegalese, Iraqis, and especially Kurds. Their graciousness and warmth and friendship were a true comfort. They never spoke about or considered "the destruction of Israel," nor did they demonstrate the symptoms of any such secret compulsion, as often portrayed in the American media when Arabs are the theme.

Since my return I've been astonished to find such biased and dreadfully provincial international coverage in The New York Times. I've seen enough of tribal elitism in Europe. Do I have to watch it again, in New York City?

Don't you think The New York Times is fitting the news into its own special interest agenda, "tailoring" world events to confirm its own biases? If so, is this objective reporting? Given the power of your paper and your wire services and subsidiaries, is this democratic?

Bryan Adrian, New York, NY

The Road That Led to Hebron

To The New York Times, March 2, 1994

Following the mass murder of more than 50 Arabs at prayer, your front page highlights the emotional pain of Israeli Jews, rather than the reactions of Arab victims ("Massacre Leaves Israelis Shamed, Sad and Scared of What's Ahead," Feb. 27).

I write not as an enemy of Israel, but as an American Jew who, during the many years I lived in Israel, worked as the audiovisual director of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem. It is precisely because of this background and my knowledge of the history of Jewish suffering that I find the condemnations of the Hebron massacre by American Jewish organizations hollow in the extreme.

It was these same organizations and Jewish leaders who, over the last two and a half decades, consistently defended the immoral and self-destructive Israeli policy in the occupied territories and kept the funds flowing that enabled the illegal Jewish settlements to flourish. And continuing the Israeli policy of unequal justice for Arabs and Jews in the territories, we surely will not see the family home of Dr. Baruch Goldstein demolished, nor his fellow Jewish extremists expelled to Brooklyn.

There are many of us in the Jewish community, both in the United States and in Israel, who have long argued that the settlements were a barrier to peace and a time bomb waiting to explode. Tragically, the Hebron massacre has proven us right. Only a complete acceptance by Israel and the American Jewish community of the Palestinian people's right to full self-determination will salvage the peace process and the hope that glimmered on the White House lawn last Sept. 13.

Jacob Bender, New York, NY

Israeli Rights Violations

To the Seattle Times, March 15, 1994

The U.S. has reacted very differently to the arrest in China of 35 dissidents involved in the Tianamnen Square demonstration and the massacre of some 30 Palestinians by Dr. Baruch Goldstein in the mosque at Hebron, plus the killing of 20 more Palestinians in the resulting riots. The U.S. has threatened to withdraw most favored nation trading status from China, although China is not accused of killing but only of arresting the dissidents.

Although the Hebron massacre was by only one individual, killing of Palestinians is routine. In the last 6 years the Israeli army and settlers have killed well over 1,300 Palestinians—an average of 19 per month.

Israel, according to different estimates, has between 10,000 and 13,000 Palestinians in prison, most on exactly the same basis as the 35 held by China. No charges, no trial, no determination of guilt, no length of imprisonment established.

The U.S. has raised no question of human rights violations by Israel although the violations are much more serious and widespread than by China. U.S. law provides that aid may not be extended to any country guilty of human rights violations. On Jan. 15, 1994, in compliance with this law ' the secretary of state certified to Congress that Israel was not guilty of human rights violations. However, the report contained 24 pages detailing human rights violations committed by Israel under 6 classifications and 19 sub-headings.

If such false certification had been made by the C.E.O. of a corporation, any court of law in the U.S. would send the C.E.O. to prison for fraud. Why should it be different for the U.S. government?

Since the human rights law was not applied to Israel, the costs will be born by both U.S. taxpayers and Palestinian citizens. According to the law, aid to Israel should be withheld. This would save U.S * taxpayers $6.3 billion in 1995 alone. This money—about 25 percent of Israel's total budget—is used to inflict an unending series of abuses upon the Palestinians.

John S. O'Conner, Seattle, WA

Senator Warner and Israel Aid

To Ms. Lucy S. Smith, Dinwiddie, VA, March 18, 1994

Thank you for taking the time to contact my office and share your views on U.S. aid to Israel. It is always a pleasure to hear the concerns of fellow Virginians.

While the current level of U.S. foreign assistance is less than one percent of the total U.S. budget, I am always concerned about the benefit of our foreign aid as well as how the funds are distributed. In that regard, I have been very deliberate in determining which countries and situations, in my judgment, both deserve and need aid.

American assistance to Israel is designed to help deter aggression and protect vulnerable borders, to maintain a balance necessary to pursue negotiations, and to promote economic diversity and development, thereby reducing the need for assistance in the long-term. To the extent that our diplomatic efforts, coupled with economic and military assistance, have contributed positively to these objectives in this war-torn region, I have supported our assistance programs.

The United States continues to support negotiations between Israel and its neighbors, believing firmly that only through such negotiations can the basic needs of all parties be addressed. For Israelis this means security and freedom from threats of violence and terrorism. For Palestinians this means addressing legitimate rights and just requirements, through negotiations, to resolve contentious issues. The United States, as always, stands ready to assist in this effort and I support this policy.

John Warner (R-VA), Washington, DC

Remembering Lazarus

To the National Catholic Reporter, Feb. 11, 1994

How much do we care? In 1993, the U.S. foreign aid budget, which was less than 1 percent of total federal spending, was cut again. Aid to Egypt and Israel was maintained at around 38 percent of the total, while the poorest of the poor bore the brunt of the cuts.

We are like the rich man in the gospel narrative who ignored the beggar, Lazarus. Remember how that story ends?

Ken Slaughter, Vernon, CT

A Challenge From Dr. Lilienthal

To the Washington Jewish Week, Jan. 20, 1994

I appreciated the Rosenberg article in your Dec. 23 issue covering the University Club reception. But to keep the record straight, I was not "feted" by Israel's critics, as your headline alleged. Family and friends, many neutral on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, gathered from all parts of the country and Canada as my guests to mark my 80th birthday and the 40th anniversary of the publication of my seminal work What Price Israel?

I am guilty, as your editorial "Natal Nattering" points out, of striving to free metaphysical practices essential to the worship of God from national activities related to a foreign state, namely Israel. As I have from the start predicted there have been many situations involving Israel in policies and politics that nationals of no other country ought dare underwrite.

Dual loyalties do not necessarily involve a conscious process of choice: "THIS is in the interest of the United States, THAT is in the interest of Israel. I choose THAT." Such is the rare case. Far more common is the automatic choosing of THAT without due consideration being given to THIS.

I firmly believe that the substitution of the worship of the state of Israel for the worship of Yahweh, as has been occurring, is a tragic error for Jews and Judaism alike...

Is being a Jew or believing in Judaism what really counts? This is a subject that should be debated openly, without the continued ruthless suppression of dissidents by stigmatization as either anti-Semites or self-hating Jews. Let us bring this out in the open. Through your paper, I herewith issue an open challenge to debate this important question before the largest possible audience—proceeds from such a debate could go to helping Israeli and Palestinian orphans. I am ready. Are you?

Dr. Alfred M. Lilienthal, Washington, DC

Dotan Affair Indictments

To the Jewish Ledger, Rochester, NY, March 28, 1994

The Associated Press report on the indictments for embezzling money in Israel from U.S. military aid in the March 24 issue of the Ledger may be incomplete, in regard to one of the indicted, Mr. Harold Katz. Harold Katz is an American-Israeli who has lived in Israel since 1972. In 1985, Mr. Katz purchased a condominium-apartment at 2939 Van Ness Street, NW, Washington, DC at the request of the government of Israel, for $82,500 in cash. It was not used as a residence. Instead, it was filled with sophisticated photocopying machines, complete with a "Tempest" brand electronic protection system to assure that the equipment did not radiate electronic noise that would bother the neighbors. The apartment was in a building which also included the residence of Irit Erb, an employee of the Israeli Embassy. She used the apartment to copy documents purloined from the United States Navy by Jonathan Pollard.

Katz's explanation was that while his Washington apartment was unoccupied it was used by the Israeli Embassy without his permission or knowledge from March to November 1985.

Recall that Israel at first abandoned Pollard and then reclaimed him. The Israeli participants in the "rogue" operation slipped away to Israel where they were rewarded, not punished. It will be very interesting to see what becomes of Harold Katz. There also is a question as to whether the Dotan affair, in which U.S. foreign aid funds were diverted, is a private theft or an Iran-Contra style Israeli diversion of $11 million dollars into some secret Israeli government operation too vile to appear on any official ledger.

Ronald C. Johnson, Pittsford, NY

About Spies and Spying

To the Minneapolis Star and Tribune, Feb. 24, 1994

Congressmen are shocked at news that a recipient of American aid, Russia, should be employing an American citizen, Aldrich Ames of the CIA, as a spy. They propose that we cut off U.S. aid to Russia.

Perhaps they're right. Perhaps then we should be consistent in our policy toward aid-receiving nations which spy on us, and apply our new policy retroactively.

The case which comes first to mind is that of Jonathan Pollard of the Department of Defense, who was convicted of delivering something like a boxcar load of top secret documents to Israel. According to press reports, although the Israeli government described this as "unauthorized," Pollard's service to Israel is honored by continuing deposits in his bank account in Tel Aviv.

The cases are not parallel, of course. U.S. aid to Russia has totaled a few billion dollars—no small change. But cumulative U.S. aid to Israel is over $60 billion and goes on at over four billion dollars a year.

C. Patrick Quinlan, Edina, MN

Executed for the Crime

To the National Catholic Reporter, Feb. 11, 1994

Peter Hebblethwaite's piece on Vatican-Israeli relations in your Jan. 7 issue makes one wonder if he has read anything not written by radical Zionists or their Vatican supporters. If he had, surely he would regret the terrible disservice he has done to the indigenous Christians and Muslims of the Holy Land.

According to Hebblethwaite, the Palestinian Christians (who, like their Muslim cousins, are also Semitic peoples) are noteworthy only for their historic opposition to Vatican recognition of the state that, since its inception, has stolen their property, destroyed their homes, and imprisoned or killed those of their number who resisted the destruction of their way of life. Nowhere else in the entire essay does he mention the plight of the millions of Palestinians made refugees by the great rush to expiate European and American guilt over the Nazi death camps. As a Palestinian priest once remarked, "We (the Palestinians) did not kill any Jews in Europe during the war, but every day we are being executed for the crime. "

Larry and Mary Hansen, Aloha, OR

Worth a Thousand Words

To the Albuquerque Journal, March 13, 1994

John Trever's cartoon depicts a tiny vehicle captioned "Peace" driven by Bill Clinton on a narrow mountain road on the West Bank, confronting a very much larger truck captioned "Greater Israel Inc." and conveying a cargo labeled " Settlements. " Only a final bit of ironic truth is missing—a "Made in USA" label on the cargo.

George Luecker, Albuquerque, NM

Look Who's Running for President

To the Jewish Journal of San Antonio, and to Mr. Philip M. Barshop, March 2, 1994

I want to thank you for your generous support which helped enable Wendy and me to undertake our mission to Israel last week and tell you how beneficial and enjoyable the trip was in every way.

The quality and content of our meetings were superb. We talked at length with Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres, Bibi Netanyahu, the mayors of Jerusalem and Haifa, Natan Sharansky, the Minister of Finance, and the Governor of the Bank of Israel. We received comprehensive briefings from the Israeli defense ministry and Israeli navy, went to Jericho, visited with residents of a kibbutz in the occupied territories, and talked with academics and policymakers. We also attended a wedding of friends from Tulsa and had Sabbath dinner in a private home.

In my four trips to Israel, I have always learned a great deal and never cease to be amazed at the energy, boldness and committment of Israelis under the most difficult of circumstances. And while they may face one of the most difficult tasks in their turbulent history, I have always found that Israelis are willing to take risks for the common good.

The peace process will probably evolve over a longer period of time than anyone hopes or expects and will be a test of patience, courage and political leadership. I believe that the prospect for real peace hinges on the answers to two questions: Can a political consensus of support among Israelis hold firm during the transition period when the goal they sought peace is not being immediately achieved? And, can the PLO actually control the Palestinians and effectively carry out governmental functions?

In the short term, I believe Israel will face turmoil, less peace and greater insecurity. She will need a good friend now more than ever, and I intend to see that the United States continues to be that friend.

It was an honor and privilege to be in Israel during such a significant period, and I am grateful to you for helping to make it possible. Thank you for your friendship and support of my efforts on behalf of the philosophy we share.

Phil Gramm, United States Senator (RTX), Washington, DC

"Land-Grab Mania"

To President Clinton, Feb. 14, 1994 While the "terrorist" PLO negotiates for a fair share of the land, "democratic" Israel is demolishing homes and stealing a lion's share of the land-36,490 acres in December alone, a " Land-Grab Mania," according to an Israeli journal, Challenge (Jan. -Feb. 1994).

The U.S. now must decide whether to support this Israeli aggression or support the new Peace Accord—Article I of which affirms that negotiations "will lead to the implementation of Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, " which call on Israel to return captured land, not capture more.

The PLO is powerless to make Israel stop bulldozing a land-grab and start negotiating a genuine land-sharing plan. Palestinians have already "shared" 80 percent of their ancestral homeland. It's Israel's turn to give back the remaining 20 percent—all the occupied territories, as called for in 242.

Only the U.S. administration can assure that Israel honors in the occupied territories the documents it signed in Washington.

Please do what's necessary to stop these violations of the Peace Accord and insist on the negotiation process for resolving issues in the territories.

Mac Fleming, Bloomington, IN (Prof. Emeritus, Indiana University)

Double Standard?

To the Minneapolis Star Tribune, March 12, 1994

In his March 7 " Commentary " article, Charles Krautharnmer charges that Israel is judged by a double standard.

While the massacre at Hebron should be-and is-regarded as the action of a deranged fanatic, the scale of violence committed by the Israeli state radically outflanks that carried out by Arabs.

Consider the middle of August, when an Israeli offensive in southern Lebanon left -300 Lebanese villages attacked, 75 reduced to rubble, 500,000 Lebanese forced to flee, 140 people killed" and 500 wounded, according to an Associated Press report. The mission, Israel feebly argues, was in response to a spurt of attacks in August that killed seven Israeli soldiers occupying southern Lebanon—a region to which it has no legal claim.

Or consider a report by the New York based human rights group Middle East Watch, which charged in July that Israeli undercover units on the West Bank and Gaza Strip had turned into virtual hit squads with a "license to kill" Palestinians they believe to be active opponents of the Israeli occupation. The group added that no more than 40 percent were actually on Israeli "wanted" lists—and that the rest were painting graffiti or throwing stones when they were killed.

The actual double standard is in the use of the word "terrorist. " The March 6 Star Tribune quotes a Palestinian in Jericho asking: "Why when they kill us they are crazy and when we kill them we are terrorists?"

The difference in scale is underscored in several books by the likes of MIT linguist Noam Chomsky, Columbia Prof. Edward Said, Nation columnist Alexander Cockburn and Pennsylvania Prof. Edward S. Herman. The "real terrorists," they argue, are the states unleashing awesome, organized military and police power against defenseless victims—not the sporadic shootings and stabbings by the victims.

Greg Myers, St. Louis Park, MN

From the IRS

To Mr. Arthur L. Lowrie, Lutz, FL, March 7, 1994

This is in response to your letter dated January 18, 1994, regarding the "Coalition for Jewish Concerns—AMCHA." Your inquiry was referred from the national office to the Brooklyn District, because this office has jurisdiction over exempt organization matters in the North Atlantic Region.

A search of our files indicates that we have no record of the "Coalition for Jewish Concerns—AMCHA" receiving tax exemption from the Internal Revenue Service under that name, or any other reasonable variation of the name and address.

Please be assured that the Internal Revenue Service maintains an examination program to review the operation and activities of tax-exempt organizations and those claiming to be tax-exempt. The purpose of this program is to ensure compliance with the provisions of the applicable tax laws. All information that comes to the attention of the Internal Revenue Service is given careful consideration.

However, section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code precludes the Internal Revenue Service from disclosing information concerning any actions the Internal Revenue Service may have taken or will be taking in respect to any particular organization. This provision of the Code prevents our office from informing you as to whether an examination will be initiated. In addition, we are unable to disclose the results if an examination is conducted.

If there are any questions, you may call Ms. Patricia Holub, Manager, Customer Service Unit, at (718) 488-2333.

Herbert J. Huff, District Director, Department of the Treasury, Brooklyn, NY

Denouncing Farrakhan

To the Daily Herald, Arlington Heights, IL, Feb. 3, 1994

Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam has repudiated remarks made by a senior aide who got out of line and offended Arabs, Jews, Catholics and white South Africans during a campus speech last November. Khalid Abdul Mohammed was also bounced from his ministerial duties with the Nation of Islam.

But Louis Farrakhan also aimed strong criticism at the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, the potent and controversial Jewish organization that brought Khalid Mohammed's remarks to national attention by publishing them in a recent full-page ad in The New York Times. By any objective standard, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) of B'nai B'rith is one of the most influential organizations in America today. Its ability to cajole, intimidate and pressure politicians, newspapers and broadcasters is legendary. Founded in 1916, the ADL in recent years has broadened its focus to include just about any criticism of Israel as well as of Jews.

During the last several months, however, the ADL's own nationwide "intelligence gathering" operations have come under critical scrutiny. Although the Gerard/Bullock "ADL spy scandal" involving confidential files on more than 10,000 individuals and groups apparently has been dropped, some victims on the ADL's enemies list have filed class action suits.

While denouncing Farrakhan's criticism as "the double-speak of hate," the ADL has been silent on other remarks that need repudiation: Israel's right-wing extremist and former cabinet minister Ariel Sharon blurting out a few years ago, "There are too many Blacks in the U.S. military." According to Sharon, "Blacks reduce the combat-effectiveness of the American armed forces. " And former Israeli leader Menachem Begin routinely referring to the Palestinian people—a sizable number of whom reside in the Chicago area—as "two-legged animals."

The ADL has pulled out all the stops to soil Louis Farrakhan, who has been high on its enemies list for years. Yet no hands are clean. Let the Nation of Islam bring to attention the offensive remarks of Sharon and Begin by publishing them in a full-page ad in the Herald, and let ADL Chairman Melvin Salberg step forward and repudiate them and demand that Ariel Sharon no longer receive U.S. visas for his regular fund-raising visits to the United States. Then everyone can say, "Well done!" and get on with the more important business of reconciliation.

Paul Thomas, Chicago, IL

Secular Muslim Countries Watch Bosnia

To The New York Times, Feb. 23, 1994 The United States and the West often show little understanding of the impact of their actions or inaction on other countries.

Take Bosnia. While there has been much concern—and little action—about the atrocities committed daily against the citizens of Bosnia by the Serbs and Croats, Americans do not stop and think how their actions affect countries other than the former Yugoslavia.

My country of Azerbaijan is, like Bosnia, a secular Muslim country. The same is true of several other former republics of the Soviet Union. All of these countries, having been freed of Soviet bondage, immediately looked to the West and the United States as models for democracy and free-market reforms. We looked to the West for its history of defending human rights, territorial sovereignty and independence. We remember the West's role in the world wars, the Cold War and the Persian Gulf war.

But these former Soviet republics—all of them secular and most of them emerging democracies concerned about their independence and sovereignty—feel great disappointment with the way the West has reacted to the horrors of Bosnia. Some wonder if the West believes Muslim democracies and independence are less worthy than Christian ones.

If these countries come to believe the West does not care about their freedom and independence, it can only encourage the growth of radical Muslim fundamentalism, which is spreading in other parts of the world. This radical fundamentalism is probably the greatest threat to world stability over the next decades.

The United States and the West fervently hope that Muslim countries will follow the example of Turkey and maintain secular governments committed to democracy and free markets. This is certainly the desire of Azerbaijan and other emerging democracies of Central Asia. But the supporters of secularism are not helped when the United States and the West by deed or inaction indicate that they are unwilling to help Bosnia defend its basic right of survival. More than just Bosnia is at stake.

Hafiz Mir Jalal Pashayev, Ambassador of Azerbaijan, Washington, DC

Bosnia Peace Still Possible

To The New York Times, March 20, 1994

Cooperation among the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the United Nations and Russia could lay the groundwork for peace in Bosnia, but the situation remains precarious. Genocide continues, mostly as Serbian ethnic cleansing of Muslims and slaughter of civilians. The United States and the international community should recognize their primary commitment is to end the genocide and war, and then work with the combatants toward a political solution that preserves, as much as is still possible, the multiethnic character of Sarajevo and Bosnia.

As members of the Center on Violence and Human Survival at John Jay College, CUNY, we urge the United States to pursue these policies.

The bombardment of all Bosnian cities must be ended and all sieges (including that of Sarajevo) lifted. United Nations and NATO forces must remove Serbian and Croatian regular army troops and equipment from Bosnia. The United States, United Nations or NATO must not force partition of Bosnia into a rump state that could not survive economically, politically, or socially. The democratic opposition in Zagreb and Belgrade should be supported in undermining Croatian and Serbian war policies.

The mandate of United Nations ground troops should be changed so that they or NATO units can use appropriate force to protect civilians and disarm military groups that threaten them, or the Bosnians should be given the means to protect themselves. The United States should be involved in making and keeping the peace, including providing ground troops and taking its fair share of refugees from the fighting in Bosnia.

It is late in the day, but these policies could end the genocide and bring peace.

Bogdan Denitch, Michael Flynn, Robert Jay Lifton, Charles B. Strozier, New York, NY

Non-Proliferation for All

To the Austin American-Statesman, Feb. 16, 1994

The administration and Congress are wont to express their deep concern for human rights and nuclear non-proliferation every so often. They are at it again, and, true to tradition, their concern is very selective.

North Korea,we are told, is determined to build nuclear weapons, and it doesn't want the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspecting its nuclear weapons installations. Our dearest "ally" in the Middle East, Israel, has a nuclear weapons facility (through theft of materials from theU.S. and nods and winks from U.S. officials) and also refuses inspections by the IAEA. It also refuses to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. The U.S. violates its own law by dealing with such a state.

China, which somehow has enjoyed a "most favored nation" (MFN) relationship with the U. S. for some years now, is frequently (and rightly) condemned for its human rights abuses. Its MFN status gets threatened, but "market forces" take over and justice is again a victim of greed. The Feb. 2 edition of the Statesman says John Shattuck, assistant secretary of state for human rights, remarked on the State Department's annual report on human rights around the world that China has a "continued climate of repression, a pattern of abuse in its prisons." (Shattuck also remarked on TV that many Chinese are arrested and held without charge or trial.) This sounds very much like the decades-old situation in Israel and the occupied territories. Human rights violations anywhere are inexcusable, but our government's ignoring those of Israel, while our tax money helps support this terror and atrocious treatment of another Semitic people, the Palestinians, makes most taxpayers unwilling or unwitting coconspirators in this ugly enterprise.

William V. Kelly, Austin, TX

Massacre as a Way of Life

To the San Francisco Chronicle, Feb. 26, 1994

The Hebron massacre is not remarkable. When I lived in Birzeit in the summer of 1993, murdering Palestinians, especially young men, was a daily sport. This was often part of a midnight raid where people who opposed occupation were rounded up and shot or imprisoned without charges. This is not news—it is only part of life under Israeli occupation.

What is most remarkable is the decades long silence and lack of concern by the international community. More shocking yet is the massive aid, exceeding $6 billion annually, that the United States provides to Israel to fuel this oppressive, cruel and deadly government. I am deeply ashamed of the way in which my tax dollars are spent.

Catherine A. Mikutowicz, San Francisco, CA

After the Mosque Massacre

To the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, March 2, 1994

Predictably, another atrocity has been committed in the Israeli-occupied territories. That it was carried out by an American comes as no surprise to anyone who has watched the situation develop in the occupied territories. This barbaric act should cause a re-examination of the U.S. role in the continuing conflict in the area.

It is estimated that as many as one third of the Israeli settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are U.S. citizens. Unfortunately, our government has allowed the active recruitment of these individuals by the right-wing extremists who control the Israeli settler movement. Many of these individuals are recent converts to Judaism, and are attracted to the settler movement because it offers them the opportunity to live out their fantasies of violence with little fear of having to pay for their crimes.

It is time to put those Americans living in the settlements on notice that if they do not immediately leave the occupied territories their passports will be withdrawn, followed by their citizenship. We should also inform the Israeli government that we will no longer contribute to the occupation, either financially, politically or diplomatically, and that it must begin honest negotiations concerning withdrawal from the territories or risk losing U.S. aid altogether.

Gregory A. Hanson, Minneapolis, MN

Not a "Terrorist"

To the San Antonio Express-News, March 11, 1994

Does it seem peculiar to anyone that the entire front-page coverage of the tragic mosque massacre of Palestinians is described without the killer ever once being called a terrorist?

No, he was an immigrant, a good doctor, and troubled. The headline ("fatal Arab riots") and the photo (a Palestinian shouting "Slaughter... ! ") present the Arabs as aggressors once again, not as victims.

Never again can the Israelis apply the word "terrorist" to someone else with their usual pious impunity.

If a Palestinian kills one person (never justifiable) or throws one stone, the media immediately brand him a "terrorist." We receive no compassionate psychological insights into his troubled life or wounds served up to him in his native land which may have caused him to commit dastardly acts.

If a Jew massacres dozens, he is a "lunatic individual" and warrants a big story describing his "mental crisis" and comparing him to Mahatma Gandhi, a desecration of Gandhi's good name.

For peace to happen, each life must equal another, even linguistically. Maybe Steven Spielberg could give up some recent cash earned by portrayal of victimization for families of the most current victims.

Naomi Nye, San Antonio, TX