May 1989, Page 33

Letters to (and from) the Editors

Plastic Bullets

Dear Editors:

Sometimes what an object is called has a great deal to do with how it is perceived. Note how innocuous "plastic bullet" sounds.

If these bullets break apart upon hitting a target they should be called "dum dum" bullets. This will evoke a much stronger image, especially among the older generation.

Weren't there international conventions against the use of dum dum bullets? Isn't there a body where this outrage can be exposed and condemned?

Rudolph Meyers, New Braunfels, TX.

Antidote to Myths and Facts

To the Editors:

Most of us who write about Middle East issues receive frequent mail and phone calls asking us to please respond to various widely published arguments by spokesmen for Israel. Few of us are able. I have a modest proposal:

One of the most powerful and effective tools of the pro-Israel campaign to win the hearts and minds of the American public is a tiny booklet called Myths and Facts. The booklet is updated and republished annually by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and its adjunct, the Near East Report.

Myths and Facts contains a brief rebuttal to every recurring argument that is embarrassing to Israel. For example, if a daily newspaper criticizes the amount of American aid to Israel, Israel's supporters need look no further than Myths and Facts to find a simplistic but effective reply.

A day or so later the newspaper will typically receive a dozen or more angry letters, all arguing that Israel is America's only reliable ally in the Middle East and the only democracy in the area, and that America's support of Israel is a bargain because of all the intelligence and other benefits supposedly received in return.

Myths and Facts can be found in any public library and on the private book shelves of almost every official or self-annointed spokesman for Israel. Almost without exception, published arguments defending Israel's actions can be traced to this single source.

My proposal: American Educational Trust should contract with a recognized Middle East scholar to compile and edit the truth about these vital issues in a form that can be used by spokesmen for America. Call this one, Facts—The Truth about the Middle East. Invite respected authors and researchers to submit brief, signed papers on the same issues.

The booklet could be sold through the AET Book Club and distributed free to libraries and reliable spokesmen. Like the Israeli version, this American version would be updated and distributed annually. But instead of consisting mainly of half-truths and evasions, AET's booklet would contain documented facts and would include sources and a bibliography, perhaps in a separately bound optional section to keep the costs down. A loose-leaf version could facilitate frequent updates and help control costs.

With Facts at hand, Americans who wish to respond to silly news stories or outrageous commentary will be armed with material for an effective rebuttal. Surely a sponsor can be found to support such a project.

Jim Ennes, Jr., Woodinville, WA

Dear Mr. Ennes:

Your own book, Assault on the Liberty, has long been our reference work on that 1967 event. Now perhaps we can return the favor. We'll undertake the project.

How ambitiously, and with how large a print run, will depend upon how accurate your last sentence turns out to be. Sponsors, ahoy.

Oliver North and Israel

To the Editors:

Thank you for your excellent copies of "From the Hebrew Press. . " and please keep the Washington Report coming. I hope that you will eventually be in a position to publish the truth about Col. North's Israeli contact's death in an air crash in Mexico last November.

Jean Cootes, Princeton, NJ.

Dear Mrs. Cootes:

The story put out after the death of Amiram Nir, formerly an aide to then Prime Minister Shimon Peres, in the crash of a chartered aircraft in western Mexico, was that Israel had suffered adverse weather and was fearful of losing some European markets for its avocados. Therefore, it was purchasing huge amounts of Mexican avocados to ship into those European markets as Israeli products. Why an arms merchant would be involved with avocados might depend upon what was to be used to pay for the avocados. In fact, the manner in which Nir associates kept the press from interviewing the two survivors of the crash in a Mexican hospital shows that there is a story to be told. Perhaps it will be like some of those involving Israel in Panama and in other Central American countries. In Panama, strongman Noriega, through Israelis on his staff, reputedly pays for Israeli weapons with narcotics. What the Israeli aides do with the narcotics is a mystery. It's certain, however, that they don't send them back to Israel. Presumably they are sold somewhere along the way to raise dollars to send to Israel as reimbursement for the weapons. From that perspective, perhaps it's not so confusing to find an Israeli weapons dealer flying around the very areas of Mexico which are considered a major source of the marijuana and other contraband smuggled into the US from Mexico.

More on Contragate

To the Editors:

Again, thank you for another valuable issue—the March one which came yesterday.

I am especially pleased that you are throwing the spotlight on the actual people in the government who are skewing American foreign policy in the Middle East. As the issues become dearer, they should be held responsible and not allowed to work in the shadows. We are all tired of the Iran-contra matter, but it must still be lit up more. In particular, one question remains unanswered: At this late date what secrets remain hidden which the government does not want to come out in the North trial?

Two things have been mentioned: drugs in Central America and the quid pro quos for the money given to aid the contras by foreign governments. But these may not be the main secret. The final suspicion (and it is at the moment apparently nothing more than that): one foreign government apparently asked for the US to carry out a covert action as its "reward."

Do we know which government this was and what it asked for? Could it have been Israel? Could Israel have asked for the strike at the PLO base in Tunis? Is this North's ace-in-the-hole to prevent having to go to jail? And is this why Bush and Baker have been "nicer" to the PLO, fearing this coming out?

Roy Finch, New Rochelle, NY.

Dear Prof. Finch:

We find it increasingly peculiar that the North trial focused determinedly upon the contra issue when, unless we seriously misread American public opinion, Americans are much more deeply disturbed at the callousness of the Reagan administration's sales of destructive weapons to the ayatollah's Iran, and the shortsightedness of trying to ransom US hostages in this manner, thus virtually ensuring future kidnappings and long incarcerations of Americans. We think it has to do with the fact that Israelis were only on the periphery of the contra violations, while they were the instigators and agents of the arms-for-hostages folly. If there is anything else, we're unaware of it so far.

Extending the Cultural Boycott of South Africa to Israel

To the Editors:

I have been informed by the leadership of what might best be described as the "black consciousness movement" of Azania (South Africa) that a formal call to include Israel in the "cultural boycott" of South Africa will be issued from inside South Africa within the next few weeks.

The Black Consciousness Movement was started under the leadership of Steve Biko (whose life and murder by the Pretoria regime was the basis for the film "Cry Freedom") and was the first organization to call for a cultural boycott of South Africa.

This call, sent out especially to pop musical groups, eventually generated the formation of "Artists United Against Apartheid." The cultural boycott of South Africa was probably the first major effort successfully to draw pop and rock musicians into an anti-racist campaign.

The next logical step, which some of us have been struggling to implement, has been the inclusion of the racist, colonial, settler, Zionist regime of Israel in the cultural boycott.

Recently, a British pop-reggae band called UB40 spent some time here in Hawaii. Known for the radical political content of many of their songs, UB40 had a song go to no. 1 on the pop music charts in the US in 1988.

UB40 has agreed to cancel their Israel tour (a loss of over $500,000) in protest of the racist policies of the Zionist occupation forces in Israel and in support of the intifadah of the indigenous Arab youth of Palestine. Finally, the lines have been drawn. With UB40 setting an example, the call will be going out to all the major pop and rock groups to honor the cultural boycott of South Africa-Israel or risk being "boycotted" themselves.

UB40 has taken a very courageous stand. Those of us familiar with the music business know only too well how dominant outright Zionists and supporters of Israel are in the industry, Many of us remember the near destruction of Miriam Makeba's career some 20 years ago when she took a stand opposing Zionism and supporting the Palestinian people's right to self-determination.

What we are saying is, from the frontlines of South Africa to the frontlines of Palestine, apartheid-Zionism is racism. Support the cultural boycott! Say "no" to Israel and South Africa!

Thomas C. Mountain, Hawaii Black History Committee, Kaneohe, HI.

Fiction Supplement for the Washington Report?

To the Editors:

I cannot tell you how much I admire the efforts of all involved in preparing the Washington Report. In time, I am convinced, your efforts will make a real difference, and, hopefully, your rewards will be commensurate with your contribution.

You know, perhaps better than I, that there is a great lack of knowledge and sympathy for Arabs in general, and Palestinians in particular, among our countrymen here in America. This leads me to wonder whether fictional stories about Arabs, Palestinians, and the Middle East might be a good tool to assist in developing more understanding among Americans.

With this in mind I have written a story, a copy of which is attached hereto. I wonder if you might find time to read it, and tell me honestly what you think. I even had the perhaps far-fetched idea that you might at some point consider including a supplement to your regular Washington Report containing only fiction. I hope you will not consider me presumptuous.

Larry Ison, Gordonsville, VA.

Dear Mr. Ison:

First, we think your short story is wonderful. Obviously it's based upon your own personal experience of the incredible bonding that once took place between idealistic young Arabs and Americans, before Zionists poisoned the well for both.

It's not presumptuous at all to think about a fiction supplement to the Washington Report. We think about it, wistfully, all the time. We would like to make it a regular eight pages, include original writing or translations of writing by both American and Middle Eastern authors, and collect and republish them in book form as we go. To fund it requires about two full-page ads per issue, 12 issues per year, in the Washington Report, or an outright gift of $15,000 to cover 12 such supplements. Sponsors in this case could be corporations, foundations, or individuals. You think it's a good idea. We think it's a great one. Perhaps some other reader or readers will come up with the means to realize it. Meanwhile, we'll optimistically hold on to your manuscript.

More WR Covers of the Intifadah—Not Iran

To the Editors:

The Washington Report has been instrumental in informing the American public about the Arab-Israeli situation as well as the US government policy and actions concerning that situation.

The intifadah is still raging and the death, injury, and arrest numbers steadily climbing. The kids are younger, the women have joined the men in demonstrating and stone throwing (so unusual for Palestinian matrons!). The bullets now are directed to heads, chests, necks, and to the backs of fleeing youngsters. The houses are being blown up, as usual, and not only in the West Bank and Gaza. The incursions into Lebanon, which started long before the attack on Lebanon in 1982, are devastating the south and destroying the fragile government—all in conjunction with the infamous South Lebanese Army, a gang of traitors paid by Israel.

Having said that, I want to add I firmly believe Iran is a major threat to all countries of the Middle East, including and above all, Israel. It is a deadly enemy of the US, and our hostages and airplanes are exposed to its vicious, mindless fanaticism.

But, as an enthusiastic reader of the Washington Report and an admirer of its writers, photographers, and volunteer workers, I must say I am surprised to see the Iranian situation jumping to the covers of the publication. I feel very strongly that the Palestinian-Israeli story must remain on the front burner, because we, in the US, bear such a heavy responsibility for the establishing and nurturing of the state of Israel, as well as for arming its aggressive military and supporting its terroristic government.

I would very much like to see the pictures of the intifadah on the covers of the Washington Report again. A picture is powerful information all by itself. The Vietnam War pictures on television and in the newspapers proved it.

The onslaught on the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza—and on south Lebanon—continues. It should continue to be brought home to the American people by every means at your disposal, as starkly as the stark reality itself.

Margaret Ison, Gordonsville, VA.

Dear Mrs. Ison:

This issue's cover is for you.

Congressional Subscription Request

To the Editors:

Thank you for the complimentary subscription of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. We find it extremely informative and interesting, and we greatly appreciate receiving it. In fact, the issues are often in great demand. Therefore, I would like to ask if you would be so kind as to put me down for an additional complimentary subscription.

Thank you for your kind assistance.

Don Ritter, US House of Representatives, 15th District, Pennsylvania

Dear Congressman Ritter:

It's in the mail, a personal donation from one of your constituents.

Keep It Up!

To the Editors:

Keep up the fine work! Your excellent publication should be required reading for all freshman congressmen! Maybe America's 40-year nightmare in the Middle East can have an ending after all. Maybe America can develop a Middle East policy in Washington instead of using the Israeli import.

David G. Dill, Baraboo, WI