                       A Voice from Hebron
                      by Gary M. Cooperberg
. . . .February 26, 1995
                        An Open Letter to
                   Seymour D. Reich, President
                    American Zionist Movement


Dear Mr. Reich,

. . . .As an Israeli who lives with terror, I wish to respond to the ad your organization placed
in the New York Times issue of January 31, 1995.
. . . .While it may sound noble and strong to talk about "choosing peace over terror, and
strength over weakness," and then come to the grossly inaccurate conclusion that as a result of
such choosing, "we are choosing life", you are actually helping to perpetuate terror and death...
not life.
. . . .One does not achieve peace by wishful thinking; by shaking hands with terrorist
murderers; nor by trying to appease terrorists with money or territory.  Before one can make
peace with his enemies, he must convince his enemies that it is no longer in its interest to wage
war with him.  In the case of Israel, this simply has not been done.  As terror continues to plague
my country, rather than taking steps to obliterate it before sitting down to negotiate our future,
our government has accepted terror as a necessary fact of life!  Not only has it taken no realistic
steps to stop terror, rather it has taken incredibly absurd steps which actually encourage it:
recognizing the PLO; ceding Jewish land to it; releasing thousands of terrorist prisoners; arming
them and calling them policemen; and promising to retreat from more Jewish land and give that
too to Arafat!
. . . .I am glad that you, who live in New York, "are confident that the government of Israel
is taking whatever steps are necessary to protect its citizens..."  I, who live in Israel and face the
terror here every day do not share your confidence.  My government is more concerned with
pleasing Mubarak, Hussein and Arafat, not to mention Mr. Clinton, than it is with the very lives of
its citizens.
. . . .The fact is, Mr. Reich, Rabin has not chosen peace over terror.  He has chosen terror
and insists upon calling it peace.  Terror cannot be stopped by appeasement and wishful thinking. 
One stops terror by physically destroying it.  If we do not destroy terror, then terror  will destroy
us, as it is presently doing.
. . . .So, while I genuinely appreciate your desire to support Israel, I must inform you that
this desire is not being accomplished by the message placed in the New York Times.  There is no
"advancing peace process".  We have been surrendering to our enemies and only get terror as our
reward.  Where is the so called "peace"?  A better message would have said, "Peace first, then
negotiations".  Even President Ezer Weizman suggested that the peace talks be postponed and re-evaluated before we continue to weaken ourselves before our enemies.  
. . . .It is not a sign of strength to capitulate to Arab terror.  But that is exactly what our
government has been doing.  By supporting such a position you, sir, are actually advocating a
choice of terror over peace, and weakness in place of strength.  I am sure that you love the Jewish
State, but such mistakes accomplish exactly the opposite of your intentions.  I therefore
respectfully suggest that you be more careful before issuing such statements in the future.

. . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . With love of Israel,

. . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gary M. Cooperberg