San Francisco, Again

I'm referring to "letters-to-the-New York Times-editor". We had one yesterday.

Here's another from that hotbed of pro-Pal. sentiment:

To the Editor:

The fact that the United States’ negotiating teams attending to the Arab-Israeli conflict have largely been Jewish with few or no Arab-American voices represented speaks volumes about our unhealthy allegiance to Israel and our inability to broker peace in the Middle East.

Such a shortsighted consensus of views robs us of much-needed perspective and flies in the face of President-elect Barack Obama’s much-touted “team of rivals” approach to governing.

One would never think of appointing a civil rights commission made up exclusively of white men. Why then do we apply a different standard when it comes to understanding and resolving one of the most important issues of our time?

Khaled Galal
San Francisco

Khalal, you might think, makes a valid point.

But think about it this way:

if you are trying to solve the problem of rape in downtown San Francisco, do you appoint three rapists to the Public Council for the 'Safety of Our Women and Girls'?

Once we get rational Arabs who accept the reality of the legitimacy of Zionism and Jewish national feeling, who recognize that what the entire civilized world did some 90 years ago in arranging for the Jewish national home to be reconstituted in the territory of its patrimony was just and correct and that Arab terror and violence must be eradicated before any political progress is to be made and that it has been the Jews who have consistently attempted compromise and partition which never satisfied the Arabs, then we might have Arabs on a peace team, not to mention Robert Malley.

By the way, I mentioned Khalal previously in 2007 here and he had another letter in May at the NYT and here are a few others over the years.


And here are some others from today which will lift your spirits:

To the Editor:

In Roger Cohen’s view, the Israeli defense in Gaza has crossed the line.

Really?

Mr. Cohen acts as if the rocket attacks are isolated incidents being set off by schoolchildren and are nothing more than a mere nuisance to the citizens of Israel.

More than 7,000 rockets have been launched against Israeli cities, targeting civilians for eight years. Any talk of immorality should involve the government of Israel, which for these eight years failed to defend its own citizens.

Enough is enough. I challenge Israel’s critics to live in Ashdod, Ashkelon, Beersheba or any city within 50 miles of Gaza and see if they still feel the same way. Just imagine what the response of the United States would be if San Diego were repeatedly shelled by terrorists from Tijuana, Mexico.

Israel is bending over backward to limit harm to the Palestinian population, telling civilians in targeted buildings that serve as launching pads for missiles to leave the premises immediately. By doing so, the Israel Defense Forces forfeits the element of surprise and endangers its own soldiers.

Isaac Cohen
Chicago,

•

To the Editor:

Thanks to Roger Cohen for his critical and difficult analysis of President-elect Barack Obama’s Middle East team.

Mr. Cohen writes, “I wonder about the capacity for ‘major renewal’ of someone who has failed for so long.”

It is certainly true that we would not appoint all of the people who have failed to develop sustainable economic policies in the United States to positions in the new administration. So why then are we appointing the same people who have failed to encourage (or force) countries to take major steps to bring peace to the Middle East?

We need change, new visions and new paradigms that include the perspectives from the region.

Rochelle Davis
Washington, Jan.
12, 2009

The writer is an assistant professor of culture and society at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University.

•

To the Editor:

During the waning months of President Bill Clinton’s administration, the Palestinians were offered a peace deal and statehood that were so good that the governments of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt pleaded with the Palestinians to accept.

Instead, the Palestinians began a wave of suicide bombings against Israeli civilians without even making a counteroffer.

Mr. Clinton and Dennis B. Ross did not fail at brokering peace. The Palestinians failed at accepting peace.

Peter Reitzes
Brooklyn, Jan.
12, 2009

and a veiled antisemtic one (as if no other national-ethnic grouping or even foregin firms don't act the same way)

To the Editor:

Thank you, Roger Cohen. It is refreshing to see his viewpoint in a major media outlet.

What Mr. Cohen doesn’t mention, and I’m sure he is aware of the problem, is that one reason for the lock-step support by our Congress of any Israeli military action, and the occupation in general, is the pressure from the pro-Israel lobbies and so-called major Jewish organizations.

This is a serious and difficult obstacle that stands in the path of any hoped-for change in American policy in the Middle East, no matter who is on the team.

Robert Haufrecht
New York,