The following is a selection of letters sent in reply to the October 16 WSWS article “Israel's war measures and the legacy of Zionism” http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/oct2000/mide-o16.shtml
I wholeheartedly agree with the last paragraph of the above article by Messrs. Marsden and North. Further, I can say with some conviction that unless their warnings are heeded: then Israel might well be cast into the sea, as some Arab spokespersons have iterated.
There can be no way in which one nation's people can carve out a place for themselves without first providing a place for that other nation's people whose country they plan to use as a mould. To attempt to do so is at once suicidal, and genocidal. If Israel is unable to come to terms with the Palestinian people, to say nothing about their Arab neighbours, then certainly Israel's longevity can be calculated in years rather than in decades or centuries. Armageddon is the surest way to homelessness yet to be assayed in modern times. Shall Israel be that nation whose citizens who, collectively, are willing to launch it?
PC
18 October 2000
I want to congratulate you on your incredible article on the Middle East. The thing that really blows me away is that I was in the process of writing an article with practically every point that you made—-down to complete sentences—-and decided to hop on line to check the news and got your article. The collective conscious is at work. Kudos for your style and choice of words, and of course for the content.
There is no way that there will ever be peace in the Middle East, so long as there are states that are based on ethnic, racial and religious exclusivism, just as you said, and there will be no peace in the world so long as there are states based on financial market exclusivism as I am sure you agree as well. The mechanisms of religious monopolies, economic monopolies, government monopolies, and knowledge monopolies have plagued us for too long. Without a coordinated cease, desist, and transition they will continue to threaten our existence just as they do right at this very moment. Thank you for your article.
JM
18 October 2000
In regards to your article “Israel's war measures” I find it humorous that, once again, as socialists you must distort and revise history to plead your cause. This just proves out that socialism can only be justified in a world of half-truths.
Israel has the historical claim (have any of you ever heard of the term archeology), the moral claim (they are the only honest broker in the region), and the biblical claim (God will prove that to you very soon).
God Bless Israel!
TB
18 October 2000
Gentlemen,
Your excellently researched and penned article appears in the web site sightings.com where I found it. Although I am not a socialist (more libertarian really) I found your article to be well-presented and objective. I am a former Jew who is disgusted by Israel's latest actions, politically and militarily, against the Palestinians. In fact I've been very ambivalent about Israel for a number of years and have been watching the trends and have discovered that Israel is a nation in extreme need of a collective “butt-kicking” for its arrogance and repressive policies.
It's a pity that the US showed its foreign policy yellow belly at the UN in abstaining from the Security Council's condemnation vote against Israel in order to appease American Jewry.
I've grown over-weary at Jews worldwide screaming “Anti-Semitism!” whenever non-Jews don't go along with their words or actions. Well, here's one ex-Jew who says that Israel, in his estimation, has joined the pariah nations of the world as a fascist state on par with Iran, Afghanistan, China and Iraq.
BL
Phoenix, Arizona
21 October 2000
The Palestinian leadership does not want peace with Israel. It would mean they would have to go to work for a living. Waging war is much more exciting when you do not put your life on the line and those who do also pay your expenses. Otherwise we would have had it years ago.
Do you think terrorism like blowing up the Cole is going to bring down the Western world? Of course not. Yet they continue to do it. Why? They don't want to work for a living. They pretend to themselves they are in a righteous cause.
Sincerely,
SP
16 October 2000
The editorials entitled “Israel's right wing take Middle East to the brink of war” and “Israel's war measures and the legacy of Zionism” are two of the best pieces I have read in a very long time. This is the first article I've heard that had the courage to say, “The nation of Israel is a lot of damned bullies and the Palestinians are getting screwed!” I thought I was the only person in America who had the courage or brains to say that what's happening isn't fair to the Palestinians. Thank you, thank you, thank you for well-informed and thoughtful pieces that stand up for what's right, our allies be damned.
CM
23 October 2000
Thanks for the informative summary of the current crisis in Israel. I have found it rather difficult to cut through all the propaganda coming from mainstream sources, mostly influenced by the powerful pro-Israeli establishment in this country, in order to get a more factual understanding of this history. One fact that is missing from your summary is some information that I have run across at times: England reportedly issued a Balfour Declaration which promised European Jews help in establishing a homeland within Palestine in exchange for financial assistance for the war effort against Germany. I doubt that England made this declaration without a quid pro quo.
I thoroughly enjoy your web site.
RH
16 October 2000