October 23: Abnormalization

Perhaps while Peres meets Mubarak, he can bring up the normal ties we were supposed to have with Egypt after our complete withdrawal from Sinai.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
letters 88 (photo credit: )
letters 88
(photo credit: )
Abnormalization Sir, - So Shimon Peres and Hosni Mubarak are going to discuss a plan which calls for Israel's capitulation to Arab demands in return for "normal ties with the Arab world" ("Peres to focus on Saudi peace plan in meeting with Mubarak," October 22). Perhaps while he's there, he could bring up the normal ties we were supposed to have with Egypt after our complete withdrawal from Sinai. From what I understand, incitement against Israel continues in the government-controlled Egyptian press, and tourism is a one-way process in which the Egyptians are happy to accept Israeli tourism revenue but discourage their citizens from coming to Israel. Academics who participate in Israeli conferences are boycotted on their return. If that's the best "normalization" the Arabs can offer, maybe we can do without it for now? CECILIA HENRY Kfar Bialik Just part... Sir, - Re "Parts left on the runway" (October 20): If there existed any sort of "runway" during our first, defensive war against five well-equipped, British-trained enemy armies, there were surely many more "parts left out" than one could imagine. But we were victorious. How come? RUTH BLOCK Jerusalem ...of the story Sir, - Barry Rubin seems to have left a "part on the runway" that I feel is worth mentioning: thinking it is possible to solve the problem of unrest among the Israeli Arab population without addressing the legitimate rights that should be afforded to all citizens. P. BERMAN Shoham Nothing 'religious' about it Sir, - I am disgusted by the behavior of some settlers who consider themselves religious. In their eyes, no doubt, God is blessing them 10 times over for attacking our soldiers and police and people who just want to get on with their lives. Why are these hooligans not arrested, sent to trial and imprisoned for their crimes? ("Harvesting olives," October 19.) MARY SHERMAN Tel Aviv Violence is a choice Sir, - David Kimche made some good points in "A time for healing" (October 17) about the need for Jewish religious authorities to condemn violence committed by Jews as strongly as violence by Arabs. But he justifies Arab Israeli violence when he says that "we (Jews) will only have ourselves to blame" for "more unrest and rioting" if we continue to ignore discrimination of Arabs in Israeli society. Such discrimination is not ethical or fair - but since when was violence an acceptable reaction to discrimination? Jews lived as minorities and experienced discrimination in countries all over the world for hundreds of years, but we didn't respond with violence. We became productive members of society. Discrimination exists everywhere. It's an unfortunate condition of human nature, and it affects plenty of Jews in Israel as well as Arabs. People needn't resort to violence and savagery to enact change. Israel is a democracy with a robust legal system. It is frustratingly slow at times, but it is changing at a rate much faster than in other countries, including France - where Muslims violently rioted against discrimination in 2005 - and Saudi Arabia, where you must be Muslim to be a citizen and religious freedom is nonexistent. Reacting violently to discrimination and other wrongs is a choice. KATE HALLGREN Jerusalem Images, true & false Sir, - One suspects that the photo of an Arab woman poised to throw two stones, one in each hand (accompanying "IDF officer: Olive harvest has become more violent," October 20), was a "setup" rather than a true candid shot. There are two Arab women with very young children standing not far behind her, and no one seems to be taking cover. We have had bitter experience with misleading or downright fake photos, and need to exercise great care in what we print. CHAIM SPRING Karnei Shomron Cancerous problems need creative thinking Sir, - Re "TA hit-and-run culprit turns himself in" (October 22): It is obvious to the long-suffering public that our existing police force cannot cope efficiently with general crime, underworld wars, public disorder, internal security - and traffic as well. The escalating loss of life and serious injury on our roads therefore begs for this bold, major step: removing traffic responsibility from the police and giving it to a fresh, brand-new Traffic Police Force, manned by personnel who would bring an air of "creative thinking" to a cancerous problem. Maj.-Gen. Uri Bar-Lev, the recently dismissed commander of the southern district, would be a serious candidate to head such a force. Let us not forget that we are losing hundreds of millions of shekels in damage each month. A drastic reduction of this loss would create more miracles in our national budget than all the cuts the treasury could ever achieve! ELAINE FINKELSTEIN Herzliya Simple solution Sir, - Despite the fact that I was converted 56 years ago and have been living in Israel ever since, I still have a simple "goyishe kopf," and here is my simple solution to the Gilad Schalit problem: Give his captors everyone they've asked for - 1,000, 2,000 or 3,000 prisoners - and bring Schalit back to his homeland... then change the law to reinstate the death penalty for terrorists with blood on their hands. We did it with Eichmann, we can do it again, then we will not have to exchange murderous terrorists for the bones of our boys. We lost Ron Arad. Don't let us lose Gilad Schalit ("Hardball vs soft," Letters, October 22). YVONNE NARUNSKY Kfar Shmaryahu 'Hitler's pope' tried to overthrow Hitler Sir, - Pope Pius XII has been called "Hitler's pope," but your readers might like to know that he was actively involved in a plot to overthrow Hitler in 1940. It involved my grandfather's first cousin, Sir D'Arcy Osborne (d. 1964), later 12th and last duke of Leeds, and minister plenipotentiary to the Holy See from 1936 to 1947. The leader of the plot on the German side was Gen. Ludwig Beck, executed in 1944 for his part in the famous July 20 plot to assassinate Hitler. The British government took the 1940 plot seriously and the prime minister, Neville Chamberlain, was actively involved in it. According to Owen Chadwick in his Britain and the Vatican during the Second World War, by participating in this plot, Pius "put himself and his aides into those dire risks which attend conspirators." In other words, Pius XII risked his life in an attempt to overthrow Hitler. This may not excuse the pope's later failure to speak out against the Nazis, but it does show that he did actively oppose Hitler ("Cui bono?" Editorial, October 22). GRAHAM SENIOR-MILNE Edinburgh Famous brief words Sir, - Judy Montagu did not mention that the Gettysburg Address was such a brief one that Abraham Lincoln wrote it on the back of an envelope. Among his pithy statements was "The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here." These words still echo in my ears, although I recited them in a school program in 1946! ("That's entertainment," October 22.) JESSICA FISCHER Michmoret