| This is in response to your recent article titled �Israel�s Being Too Nice.� It was interesting reading about your views of what is happening overseas, however, I believe you forgot to include the fine print. You have obviously ignored what crimes Israel has committed over the past years and still committing today against the Palestinian population. Either that, or you, like many others, have been influenced by the media which, I should say, has done a good job of portraying our closest ally as the �poor and innocent� by concealing its decades of its crimes and violations. You write your article as if poor Israel is being attacked for no reason at all. Notice how you, like the media, make it seem that Israel is �defending� or �retaliating� against Palestinian attacks as if poor Israel cannot comprehend these suicide bombers. Blaming a desperate 15-year-old Palestinian for the violence and Israeli atrocities in the West Bank is not just simplistic, it is evil. How dare you speak about �negotiating in good faith� at a time like this, when Sharon�s genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians are terrorizing the region? Yes, Israel and unfortunately, the U.S. have been the impediments to peace in the Middle East. Who are you fooling when you talk of �valid efforts� made by both countries to resolve the region�s problems? Yes, the Arabs have an interest in peace but not if the U.S. continues to send billions of dollars for aid to Israel alone, not if Bush continues to supply Sharon with the weapons now being used on the streets of West Bank, not if the U.S. continues to ignore the International law and human rights violations committed by Israel, not if the war criminal Sharon is welcomed with open arms at the White House, while Arafat, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, is shunned and abhorred. Make no mistake, I am not a fan of Arafat, but you get my point. Palestinians refuse to negotiate a cease-fire and swap peace with having to give up their resistance movements, peace activists, anti-occupation activists, having to put up with Israelis who kill anyone who dares to speak out against their tyrant government, and having their human rights stolen from them. You yourself admit their poor treatment, but you quickly mention the Jews who were also treated badly years ago as if the Palestinians are to blame for that. In spite of this, I find it ironic to see that the Israelis are inflicting on the Palestinians what they had to endure years ago. And don�t try to be smart by warning others against Israel, the �region�s only military superpower,� getting �pushed too far.� Israel by itself wouldn�t stand a chance without U.S. support. Not only has the United States created what Israel is today, but it is also defending it with its own American-made Apache and F-16 weaponry. In other words, Israel is nothing if it wasn�t for the U. S. Like the media again, you mention the term �innocent civilians� as targets for the Palestinians, as if that term is only reserved for the Israelis and only Palestinians aim at such targets. By the way, I am skeptical of such a term in Israel; unlike here in the U.S., Israeli citizens are on military reserve if they are needed to �defend� their state. And no, the suicide bombers do not target small children or as you put it �blow up small child after small child.� Should I remind you of the hundreds of Palestinian refugees, which their only concern was to hide from the Israeli tanks and snipers roaming in their streets, who were murdered cold-bloodedly in their camps of Jenin and Nablus? What about the astonishing number of children who were shot at �small child after small child� only because they stood up bravely before Israeli tanks with only rocks in their hands? What about the elderly, pregnant women, and even babies that were killed by Israeli soldiers? Are these the �individual terrorists� you talk about in your article? And don�t even give me the excuse of these events being mere accidents!! I have not even begun to list the atrocities Israel has committed under its name but I don�t think it will be necessary to continue listing since I am sure you are well aware of all this but, for some reason, you always fail to mention these points in your articles. I don�t blame you. What does one expect from a pro-Israeli regardless of the circumstances. And if Israel is showing restraint and patience as you claim it to be doing, then I can�t even imagine what more evil and horror we can expect in the future. Allow me to remind you that even �superpowers� have an end and I assure you that justice will prevail. |
| A Response Letter to an Anti-Palestinian Article By Batoul Safi (2000) |