If Israel helped the Palestinians gain UN recognition of their statehood, it would become not unilateral but bilateral.
By JERUSALEM POST READERSLetters 370(photo credit: REUTERS/Handout )Joint effortSir, – If Israel helped the Palestinians gain UN recognition of their statehood, it would become not unilateral but bilateral (“General Assembly president: Palestinian push for UN upgrade likely to succeed,” October 21).The reduction of extremism and creation of so much good will that this would generate would be beneficial to all. But Israel isn’t helping.Meanwhile, for better and worse, it has also acted unilaterally when need be – for better, with the UN Partition Plan and declaration of statehood, and for worse, the settlement creation and expansion until today’s 700,000 settlers over the border.The Post’s article says that “being registered as a state...would mean the Palestinians could join bodies such as the International Criminal Court and file complaints against Israel” for its continued “occupation.”But why is it continued? If Israel felt stuck with an unwanted military occupation until peace, this would be different. But instead, its creation of civilian settlements and their continuous expansion makes it wished-for and deliberate – and further entrenches it.Maybe this is why the Palestinians are taking the same UN road to independence that Israel herself once had to. But if Israel would help, she could turn it around to serve the interests of both states and peoples.JAMES ADLERCambridge, MassachusettsBarack vs. BibiSir, – In the October 19 issue of The Jerusalem Post, there is an article entitled “If you are Jewish” by Martin Sherman (Into the Fray, Observations), which succinctly and precisely lists the most cogent and relative arguments for NOT supporting Barack Obama in the upcoming US presidential race.Many of his arguments were on the table for all to see in 2008, to which has been added a track record of failure and incompetency in any direction you wish to look. Many have been perplexed by the continued support Obama continues to receive especially from the American-Jewish population.I can appreciate that his call for “change” fell on very fertile soil although he never defined what was going to constitute “change.” Now we have a track record of abysmal failure that is again overlooked, excused and rationalized.I, like Mr. Sherman, do not have a rational explanation of this paradox but feel that somehow there is in the mindset of the Jewish American community a “Republicanphobia” that is so ingrained as to be passed from generation to generation and is oblivious to anything contradictory.Thus, the far-left shift of the Democratic Party is not even perceived nor questioned by the indoctrinated adherents.I share Mr. Sherman’s fears and apprehensions when I think of the possibility of another four years of an Obama presidency.RICHARD JACOBSHaifaSir, – I am sure that Martin Sherman, like me, has come under abuse and insults following his article “If You are Jewish...”When listing facts and perspectives that expose the failures of the Obama administration I have been called a “racist,” a “fascist,” and a “right-wing nut.”When American liberals and progressives, including Jews, are unable to address points made, such as those in Sherman’s article, they resort to attacking the messenger.I have been writing and talking to lots of people about the upcoming presidential elections, and I have not met one person who did not vote for Barack Obama in 2008 who intends to vote for him this year.On the other hand, I know many who did vote for him last time who will desert him on November 6.BARRY SHAWNetanyaSir, – As a Jewish-American who has been to Israel twice, I find Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s relentless pressure to involve the United States in an attack on Iran to be utterly reprehensible.I commend President Barack Obama’s courage in resisting this pressure. My loyalty is to Obama, my president, not Netanyahu, and as I see it the majority of Jewish voters agree with me.I also know full well that Netanyahu’s supporters in Israel and the US are from the hard right – the religious fundamentalists and the war hawks.Netanyahu is banking on the ignorance of Americans, who know little of the injustices perpetrated on the Palestinian people, and who don’t even know that there have been Arab Christians in the Holy Land for centuries.I maintain that not only is he a bully of the highest order – in a league with Iran’s president – his country is not one for Americans to die for.HARRY KATZSouthold, New YorkSir, – Mr. Netanyahu, this is an open letter to you and the people of Israel.The people of America love you and your country, please don’t ever let the media make you think differently.Americans are appalled at the way this administration has treated Israel and you. If you should ever need anyone to come over there and help you fight against any enemy, I offer my life and services to you and the people of Israel.I pray for your country and my own, if America turns its back on Israel then we as a nation are finished.Stand firm, sir, in your faith that God has his outstretched hand over you and your people.People like Obama don’t have the slightest idea how Americans really feel about what is going on, they live in a glass bubble and are out of touch with real Americans! WE care!STEVE H. SENTERS, JR.Ocala, FloridaReligious driveSir – I rarely take issue with Caroline Glick, but I think she is wrong when she writes “Their rejection of Israel´s right to exist is not a primarily political position, but a religious one” (“Libya, Jordan and Obama’s narratives,” Column One, Observations, October 19).Barely 330 years ago, the Muslims were turned back from the Gates of Vienna and since then they dream of recouping their losses and continuing from where they left off. It will of course be easier to do so now that they have forces on the inside.But it is difficult to begin this drive militarily when they cannot remove this pimple of an infidel state near their heart. They would be attacking this little strip of land we call Eretz Yisrael even if it were held by Christian Evangelicals or Mormons or Shintus or Sikhs.And if we Jews had a state someplace else, it would be getting the same attention as the Egyptian Copts.ISRAEL PICKHOLTZJerusalemGood jokeSir, – Following the media’s aggressive reporting on Olmert’s return to the political race, I must tell the reader a joke, which I believe reflects the feeling of an average citizen in Israel (“State appeal against Olmert could cloud Knesset run,” October 17).After Ehud Olmert had to leave his post as prime minister, an American tourist called his office, and asked to speak to Mr.Olmert. The secretary replied that Olmert is not prime minister anymore.The next day this tourist calls the Prime Minister’s Office again with the same question.The secretary again replies politely, that Mr. Olmert is not prime minister anymore, and therefore not at this office. The tourist continues to call the office each day, and always receives the same reply, until one day, the secretary explodes, screaming “I told you several times, Olmert is not the prime minister anymore!” “Yes, I know,” replied the tourist, “but it is so wonderful to hear this message again and again!”SHLOMO FELDMANNGivatayimCorrection: The photo in the story ‘Danino dismisses Edri for failing to report suspected sexual harassment’ is of Yohanan Danino and not as printed.
if(catID != 151){
var cont = `Take Israel home with the new Jerusalem Post Store
