Category: Letters

I moved to Seattle from Portland a few years ago, but still keep in touch with Vancouver-Portland area publications and read Celia Hassan’s June 6 Young Voices opinion, “Detention offers student new outlook on Israel.”

Since I am a Jewish-American I am extremely frustrated and angry about the media distortion of Israel’s brutal treatment of Palestinians and the way it has ignored the U.S. role in funding and supporting these crimes. It undermines and negates everything that the U.S. and Israel claim to be about.

I am happy to see honest, educational reporting in a local paper. We must fight for Palestinian rights until they and the Jewish inhabitants can live together as equals in a single state.

Policy discriminates

I agree with Celia Hassan’s Young Voices on June 23, “Detention offers student new outlook on Israel.” Israel has no right to violate the human rights of the Palestinians, living under their complete control. It certainly does not have the right to trample American citizens’ rights. This policy has nothing to do with security, and everything to do with keeping families apart so they have to leave their homes.

I have been to Hassan’s great-grandmother’s house in Ramallah. I was there in 2006, when Hassan’s great-aunt Mona, 62, also an American citizen, tried to visit Ramallah, her birthplace. She was held in detention at Ben Gurion airport for 10 days. She had been “back and forth too much,” and was told to “stay in America.” Her aging mother? “Take her with you when you go.” She got a Tel Aviv lawyer for $4,000, paid $4,000 in “bail,” and was allowed in for two weeks.

Israel’s policy of refusing Palestinian Americans entry and encouraging Palestinian residents to leave, while allowing unlimited Israeli immigration into the Palestinian West Bank, is aimed at changing the demographics of the occupied territory. This is against international law. It is racial discrimination, and it must stop.

We spent December in Palestine as Christian pilgrims and visited Jerusalem, Taybeh and Bethlehem. Palestinians gave us a lesson in patience and generosity of spirit which we hope will remain with us.
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The Oregonian

To the editor –

I just read today * that there will be no Christmas in Bethlehem this year. The cruel 24 hour curfew and occupation by the Israeli military is just too much for the Christians (and Muslims) living in the birth place of Jesus. All that they can muster this year is an attempt at a single midnight Mass on Christmas eve. This comes after the Israeli army killed 8 civilians including 2 U.N. workers during the Muslim Eid festivities. The Israeli appropriation of land, killing of civilians, and stealing and destruction of crops are happening at an ever increasing pace. We can all thank our government for looking the other way while the relentless occupation of the Holy Land continues. One wonders whether a modern day Joseph could possibly lead his wife to safety in Bethlehem when it is surrounded by check points, barbed wire, and military occupation.

Sincerely,

Peter Miller

[Status: Published December 22, 2002]

December 11, 2002

Congressman David Wu
1023 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Congressman Wu:

In recent weeks, there have been reports that a delegation from the Government of Israel will travel to Washington, DC, to plead its case for $8 billion in loan guarantees and $4 billion in defense and other grants spread over 10 years. I am unequivocally opposed to Congress acceding to this request.

In a recent study commissioned by the US Army War College, it was calculated that since 1973, the State of Israel has cost the US about $1.6 trillion dollars or, more than $5,700 per person in the US. This amount is more than twice the cost of the Vietnam War. I find it unconscionable that taxpayer dollars of this magnitude have been squandered on the State of Israel or any foreign beneficiary.

Congressional consideration of the Israeli request should not warrant a hearing. The front page November 28, 2002 The Oregonian headline read the State of Oregon “Budget takes another wallop”. The article stated “even if voters approve a tax increase in January, revenues will fall $126 million short of paying for state programs…”

When is the US government and Congress going to cease propping up a regime that has been astronomically costly to the US taxpayer? If the Federal government has money to give the State of Israel or any foreign country why not divert some of those funds to state grants? After all, the money Congress gives away is, in fact, American taxpayer dollars. I realize that certain special interests dominant the political scene in Washington but in this case I feel the special interests of the people of Oregon demand priority.

Yours truly,

Louis Farshee

OP-ED SUBMISSION: HEBRON VISIT

In the aftermath of the gun battle in Hebron where 12 members of
Israeli security forces and 3 Palestinians were killed, it is likely
that living conditions for the 130,000 Palestinians who reside in that
city will worsen. Having returned from visiting the Christian
Peacemaker Team in Hebron two weeks before this tragedy, it is hard for
me to imagine how conditions for those Palestinians could get much
worse. On the day I visited Rev. Bob Holmes, who heads the Christian
Peacemakers in Hebron, I had to walk in as the Israeli Defense Forces
had blocked all of the roads used by Palestinians leading into the
city. In contrast, there were roads open for the exclusive use of
Israeli settlers, one of which was built entirely with U.S. foreign aid.

I was not prepared for what I saw and learned in Hebron. Nearly all of
the Palestinian shops were closed which has caused 80% unemployment.
Israeli graffiti was spray painted on every shop door with Stars of
David and Hebrew words that were translated for me which read “Death to
Arabs,” “Deport the Arabs” and other unrepeatable things. I learned
from Rev. Holmes that 400 Jewish settlers confiscated the upstairs
apartments in the center of Hebron. Those settlers have been protected
by 2,000 Israeli army soldiers who were roaming the city on foot and in
vehicles. Israeli snipers were positioned on the top of 42 buildings
in the central part of the city. There has not been a building permit
issued to a Palestinian in Hebron in the last 35 years. The week
before I arrived in Hebron, the Israeli settler women had gone on a
rampage and ransacked what few Arab shops had been open and destroyed
merchandise while the soldiers watched and did nothing. The buildings
in the portion of Hebron occupied by settlers are very close together
and Palestinians have strung chain link fencing overhead to catch
debris thrown down upon them by the settlers who live above.
Unfortunately, the wire is not effective at catching feces and urine
dumped on them which is a common occurrence. I saw many Palestinian
men who were lined up in the hot sun against brick walls and in a park
by machine gun toting soldiers. It looked like a Hollywood movie set
except it was real. Real mean.

Hebron is not a nice place to live in if you happen to be a Palestinian
and now it just got a whole lot worse. According to Rev. Holmes, the
Israeli occupation IS the primary violence in Hebron. As long as
Palestinian land is illegally occupied and they are denied basic human
rights, there will be violent resistance to the violence of occupation.

John M. Grosvenor

(For reports and photos from the Christian Peacemaker Team in Hebron go
to http://www.cpt.org. I traveled October 17-27, 2002 with Friends of
Sabeel – North America, which is linked with Sabeel Ecumenical
Liberation Theology Center in East Jerusalem.)

To the Editor,

With regard to the November 5, 2002, Oregonian headline, “Missile fired by CIA drone kills top al-Qaida official.”
Is this the “New USA?” Killing suspects by missile and trying them via news media.

You better not get on Mr. USA’s bad side. You will no longer have a chance to defend yourself in court and possibly be found innocent.

Have the Israelis now taught us how not to bother with justice? Using military hardware to do police work.

Doug Willbanks

Letter to the Editor:

The article “Hamas Threatens Revenge” (Oct. 8) described the Israelis
firing a missile into a large crowd of Palestinians, killing 12 and
wounding 110 which included many women and children. This isn’t the
first
time the Israelis have done this. In July, they fired a missile into a
crowded apartment building in Gaza which killed and wounded dozens of
other
innocent civilians.

If the victims of this attack had been Israelis, this article would
have
appeared on the front page of the Oregonian, not on page 6 where it
appeared. If the victims had been Israelis, the words “violence” and
“terrorism” would have been used to describe this horrendous assault.
Does not
an Israseli attack ever warrant words stronger than “self defense”?

There is a careful manipulation of language these days. When
Palestinians
are killed, it is “in response” or “self defense”. When Israelis are
killed, it is “violence” and “terrorism”.

John Grosvenor

Resolving Israel issue more helpful The president’s eloquent recital of Saddam Hussein’s violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions is chilling, but not a cause to make war for his removal.

09/24/02

The United States, in cooperation with the U.N. Security Council, has placed sanctions on imports and enforced no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq. Seven years of inspections followed by destruction of weapons stockpiles and production facilities have greatly reduced Hussein’s capability for aggression against others.

A war could upset budding autonomous governments in the north, under the protection of no-fly zones.

It would be more helpful to resolve the Israel-Palestinian issue than to risk inflaming Arab hatreds. They have long criticized attempts to enforce Security Council resolutions against Arabs, while Israel gets by with flouting U.N. Resolution 242, which demands return of Palestinian lands to Palestinians.

JACK KIRKWOOD Beaverton

Sharon still poses the biggest threat to peace

09/24/02

ZAHA HASSAN

September 2002 marks another anniversary of an attack on twin towers. On Sept. 29, 2000, hope for peace in the Middle East was hijacked by Ariel Sharon.

Palestine’s twin towers of freedom and justice took a direct hit; they still stand, though badly weakened.

When Sharon, now Israel’s prime minister, “visited” the Haram Al Sharif in Jerusalem with 1,000 Israeli troops two years ago and sparked the Al Aqsa Intifada, he did so to demonstrate that if he became prime minister, he would make no compromise when it comes to Jerusalem. And he has indeed proven, with the utmost brutality, that he does not intend to compromise on his vision of a Greater Israel: New settlements continue to be built, more Palestinian homes have been destroyed, and more innocent Israelis and Palestinians have died.

Even so, the two sides may now be ready to live side by side in peace. In a poll conducted by the Israeli group Peace Now, 68 percent of Jewish settlers living in the West Bank and Gaza would obey a democratic decision of the Israeli government to leave the settlements. Only 6 percent said that they would resist. In a recent poll conducted by Common Ground, a nongovernmental organization dedicated to conflict resolution, more than three-quarters of Israeli Jews surveyed said the Palestinians have a legitimate right to seek a Palestinian state, provided they use nonviolent means.

All this should give us some hope for the future, yet never have we been closer to the brink than we are today. The Bush administration is intent on opening up a new arena of battle in Iraq, despite lack of evidence that Iraq is a current threat to the United States.

So why are the war drums beating so loudly in Washington now and who is doing the drumming? Among those standing center stage for war with Iraq are Israeli lobby groups and pro-Israel policy institutes. Why would it be to Israel’s benefit to have the United States attack Iraq when Saddam Hussein’s response would most assuredly be an Iraqi missile attack on America’s perceived proxy in the region, Israel?

Israeli peace groups believe that Israel is pushing the Bush administration and members of Congress facing an election year to go to war with Iraq so that Israel can expel Palestinians.

Many Israelis believe that Sharon’s plan is to provoke Iraq to attack Israel if U.S. troops invade Iraq, as Iraq did during Desert Storm. It’s speculated that Israel would then, under the guise of “national security,” round up Palestinians and drive them either to Jordan or to Gaza. Gaza is completely fenced in and already serves as a proto-Palestinian internment camp.

Palestinians from the West Bank have recently been deported to Gaza as collective punishment for being related to Palestinians suspected of engaging in suicide missions against Israel.

Some believe the recent deportations serve as a test case for Israel to gauge the level of public outcry for the policy of “population transfer,” a clear violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Sharon is in desperate need of a solution to the demographic problem posed by 4 million Palestinians living in a Greater Israel. As Sharon’s Lt. Gen. Moshe Ya’alon bluntly described it, the growing Palestinian population poses a “threat” with “cancer-like attributes” to Israel. One way to treat a cancer is to surgically remove it, and this is Sharon’s long-held treatment of choice.

Of course, such a plan would have catastrophic impact on Americans. The United States will lose any credibility it has in the Arab world and in the international community if it plays into Israel’s hand. New bin Ladins will be born with nothing more on their minds than blind revenge against our country. Worst of all, our sons and daughters would be used as pawns and sent to a foreign land to die for the most unjust of causes.

As the twin towers in New York should be rebuilt as a symbol of American resolve, so, too, must the twin towers of freedom and justice rise again in the Middle East. We must demand that the United States lead the effort for the sake of peace everywhere. War with Iraq does not serve the cause of peace but ensures that it will always be an illusive dream.

Zaha Hassan, a founding member of the Portland-based organization Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights and an attorney, lives in Lake Oswego.