Mr. Fred Snowflack, Editor
Dear Editor;
Re: letter by Mr. Henry Westreich, 2/6/2004
I find myself constantly being ascribed views that I don't hold and then
insulted, as reader Henry Westreich does in a letter dated February 6, 2004, for
holding those non-existent opinions. It's not my habit to reply to critics, as
this reduces the time available to do my own work, but exceptions must
occasionally be made.
While I expected the Daily Record to have exercised a reasonable measure of
editorial scrutiny, I fault the reader for engaging in defamatory, libelous and
baseless accusations. Calling me an "apologist for terrorists" and complaining
about my "frequent" citings in the paper are at best acts of jealousy or at
least indicative of self-inflicted but curable ignorance.
For in private and public life, I have always denounced violence as a means to
resolving conflicts. I still hold to be true that humans are capable of good
deeds and that justice is at the heart of the American polity. My advocacy on
behalf of the plight of the Palestinian people is based on their inalienable
rights to self
determination and that only a just solution will bring about stability, peace
and prosperity to the region. I also am victim of Israel’s savage treatment of
the Palestinian people: My father was among the 700 thousand Palestinians who in
1948 were forcibly expelled off their lands to make room for settlers from
Europe. I have lived most of my life in a refugee camp but always dreamt of the
land that was once ours. In 1967, I lost a brother who was barely 11 years to an
American-made bullet at the hands of an Israel solider.
If my advocacy against this travesty is wrong, then Mr. Westreich has no sense
of justice and no compassion for the suffering of other peoples.
Not all Palestinians are terrorists and not all Israelis angels. It is
unquestionable that the source of violence in the Middle East is the continued
illegal and barbaric Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands. I advocate a
peaceful solution based on a two-state formula to incorporate full withdrawal of
Israel from the Arab lands it occupied in 1967. Continued occupation, reinforced
by systematic collective
punishment of the Palestinian people, will not provide the warring parties real
peace or security. Our US aid to Israel totals close to $4 billion a year.
Consequently, we pay for Israel to continue to deny other people their basic
human rights.
A recent poll of Arab and Jewish Americans favors a strong role for our
government in effecting peaceful negotiations in the Middle East.
Contrary to what some may think, American Jews and Arabs strongly favor
political candidates who back active U.S. engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian
peace process, agree that America needs to be evenhanded if it wants to broker a
peace treaty, and give low marks to President Bush for his handling of the
Arab-Israeli conflict, according to a recent telephone survey conducted on
behalf of Americans for Peace Now and the American Arab Institute.
It is in our national interest that peace returns to the Holy Land. However,
peace must be based on justice for it to prevail.
Respectfully,
Aref Assaf
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