Ra’anana...one way or another Sir, – Israel claims that the Palmer report vindicates its actions with respect to the Mavi Marmara. The report states, among other findings, that the boarding of the vessel at a “great distance from the blockade zone and with no final warning immediately prior to the boarding was excessive and unreasonable.”Is it too much to expect Israel to say it’s sorry by saying: “We apologize for boarding the Mavi Marmara without a final warning and using excessive force that resulted in the unfortunate death of the Turkish citizens, which we deeply regret?”JACK ZIV-ELHerzliyaWe know the endingSir, – Regarding “Libyan rebels meet with foreign powers in Paris” (September 2), Libya, like the former Yugoslavia, is an entirely artificial creation, essentially a conglomeration of what was left of the Ottoman Empire in North Africa after the French took control of the Maghreb and the British took over Egypt.Its components have little in common. Tripolitania is essentially part of the Maghreb whereas Cyrenaica, with its capital, Benghazi, is more within the Egyptian cultural sphere. This division goes back to antiquity when the former was part of the western (Latin) Roman Empire and the latter was Byzantine (Greek).The vast majority of the country is desert with nomadic Arabs and Berbers whose primary loyalty is tribal and not national, while there is a black population in the south with more affinity to sub-Saharan Africa than to the Arabized Mediterranean littoral.In this, Libya is very similar to what Yugoslavia was and we can expect it to fall apart with similarly horrific ethnic conflicts.MARTIN D. STERN Salford, UKThey really like us!Sir, – The photo accompanying “Iran ‘charm offensive’ fails to ease nuclear fears” (September 2) is priceless. Where else would you see the ayatollahs sitting on a beautiful blue and white carpet? They really do like us and our colors, as the picture shows.M. SCHAEFFERJerusalemWho is he?Sir, – Although I have full faith in Rabbi Menachem Froman’s sincerity and integrity, I nevertheless have serious misgivings about his naivete and presumptuous behavior (“Rabbi Froman meets Abbas, pledges support for UN bid,” September 2).The rabbi should be aware of the significant differences between his meetings with clergymen of various faiths in order to try to establish a common theological basis for peace, and his pledging support to Abbas regarding the PA’s statehood bid at the UN. The first, while admirable, is merely an exercise in futility, while the latter is fraught with grave dangers to the State of Israel and the lives of its citizens.Froman was neither elected nor chosen to grant support to a political act of this consequence.One wonders whether, before he granted his blessing to Abbas, the rabbi was able to extract a commitment from him to recognize the State of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people.Did he demand that Abbas stop naming public squares after terrorists or glorifying them in Palestinian textbooks? Did he in fact make any demands at all? Does his naivete blind him to the fact that the two don’t speak the same language, and that while Froman abhors terrorism because of its immorality, Abbas merely discards it as no longer being practical? This does not at all add honor to Froman in his own country.ZEV CHAMUDOT Petah TikvaCourageous enoughSir, – Uri Savir states that “it is due time for a courageous peace initiative by our government” (“An American September,” Savir’s Corner, September 2).This statement completely ignores reality. No government, courageous or not, can make peace with a people whose leader refuses to recognize that we have a valid and historical right to exist; who allows his media to incite hatred against Jews; who names streets and squares after terrorists; who says nice things in English to Western diplomats but something completely different in Arabic to his own people.Our government is being courageous in wishing to have a dialogue with such a leader at all.LYNETTE ORDMANNetanyaOverlooked date Sir, – I read several Israeli newspapers every day and was chagrined, to say the least, that not one, including The Jerusalem Post, had a recent article or even a mention of September 1, 1939. This was the beginning the Second World War and the killing of Jews in the territories taken over by the Nazi armies.I am friends with several survivors of the Holocaust who also were severely disappointed and hurt.JOSHUA J. ADLERJerusalemCome on out, CohenSir, – On the many world problems he has chosen to write about, New York Times columnist Roger Cohen has been a cool voice of reason and objectivity expressed in deft and elegant phrasing. However, in a rare self-revealing column (“Jews in a Whisper,” Comment & Features, August 28), Cohen, in asking disarmingly “Where shall a Jew in Britain who wants to speak up stand?,” gets himself hopelessly entangled in a web of incoherence and self contradiction.He is indeed right that the traditional genteel British anti-Semitism, which mainly marked the establishment, has turned ugly and threatening by the addition of a “ferocious anti-Zionism” of Left and Muslim hatred and demonization. So in light of all this, what does Cohen see as the task of Diaspora Jews? “They must be vociferous in their insistence that continued colonization of Palestinians on the West Bank will increase Israel’s isolation and ultimately its vulnerability.”Put aside this notion and consider rather the truth of these charges. I challenge Cohen to justify in open forum his judgment that in light of all known facts Israel is today “systematically oppressing” another people; to explicate the meaning of the mongrel phrase “colonization of the Palestinian people” (how do you “colonize” people?); and to explain why it is “legally” or “morally” wrong to “expand Jewish settlements in the West Bank.”Cohen concludes his piece by quoting favorably from Philip Roth (that clear-headed Jew whose identity is rooted solidly in Jewish sources) that he favors “Jews with force, Jews with appetite, Jews without shame.”If those are the Jews Cohen is looking for, let him come home to Israel where such creatures abound.SHUBERT SPERO Jerusalem
September 5: Carpe diem...
We should unilaterally withdraw our diplomatic representation from Ankara; Israel does not accept ultimata.
Ra’anana...one way or another Sir, – Israel claims that the Palmer report vindicates its actions with respect to the Mavi Marmara. The report states, among other findings, that the boarding of the vessel at a “great distance from the blockade zone and with no final warning immediately prior to the boarding was excessive and unreasonable.”Is it too much to expect Israel to say it’s sorry by saying: “We apologize for boarding the Mavi Marmara without a final warning and using excessive force that resulted in the unfortunate death of the Turkish citizens, which we deeply regret?”JACK ZIV-ELHerzliyaWe know the endingSir, – Regarding “Libyan rebels meet with foreign powers in Paris” (September 2), Libya, like the former Yugoslavia, is an entirely artificial creation, essentially a conglomeration of what was left of the Ottoman Empire in North Africa after the French took control of the Maghreb and the British took over Egypt.Its components have little in common. Tripolitania is essentially part of the Maghreb whereas Cyrenaica, with its capital, Benghazi, is more within the Egyptian cultural sphere. This division goes back to antiquity when the former was part of the western (Latin) Roman Empire and the latter was Byzantine (Greek).The vast majority of the country is desert with nomadic Arabs and Berbers whose primary loyalty is tribal and not national, while there is a black population in the south with more affinity to sub-Saharan Africa than to the Arabized Mediterranean littoral.In this, Libya is very similar to what Yugoslavia was and we can expect it to fall apart with similarly horrific ethnic conflicts.MARTIN D. STERN Salford, UKThey really like us!Sir, – The photo accompanying “Iran ‘charm offensive’ fails to ease nuclear fears” (September 2) is priceless. Where else would you see the ayatollahs sitting on a beautiful blue and white carpet? They really do like us and our colors, as the picture shows.M. SCHAEFFERJerusalemWho is he?Sir, – Although I have full faith in Rabbi Menachem Froman’s sincerity and integrity, I nevertheless have serious misgivings about his naivete and presumptuous behavior (“Rabbi Froman meets Abbas, pledges support for UN bid,” September 2).The rabbi should be aware of the significant differences between his meetings with clergymen of various faiths in order to try to establish a common theological basis for peace, and his pledging support to Abbas regarding the PA’s statehood bid at the UN. The first, while admirable, is merely an exercise in futility, while the latter is fraught with grave dangers to the State of Israel and the lives of its citizens.Froman was neither elected nor chosen to grant support to a political act of this consequence.One wonders whether, before he granted his blessing to Abbas, the rabbi was able to extract a commitment from him to recognize the State of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people.Did he demand that Abbas stop naming public squares after terrorists or glorifying them in Palestinian textbooks? Did he in fact make any demands at all? Does his naivete blind him to the fact that the two don’t speak the same language, and that while Froman abhors terrorism because of its immorality, Abbas merely discards it as no longer being practical? This does not at all add honor to Froman in his own country.ZEV CHAMUDOT Petah TikvaCourageous enoughSir, – Uri Savir states that “it is due time for a courageous peace initiative by our government” (“An American September,” Savir’s Corner, September 2).This statement completely ignores reality. No government, courageous or not, can make peace with a people whose leader refuses to recognize that we have a valid and historical right to exist; who allows his media to incite hatred against Jews; who names streets and squares after terrorists; who says nice things in English to Western diplomats but something completely different in Arabic to his own people.Our government is being courageous in wishing to have a dialogue with such a leader at all.LYNETTE ORDMANNetanyaOverlooked date Sir, – I read several Israeli newspapers every day and was chagrined, to say the least, that not one, including The Jerusalem Post, had a recent article or even a mention of September 1, 1939. This was the beginning the Second World War and the killing of Jews in the territories taken over by the Nazi armies.I am friends with several survivors of the Holocaust who also were severely disappointed and hurt.JOSHUA J. ADLERJerusalemCome on out, CohenSir, – On the many world problems he has chosen to write about, New York Times columnist Roger Cohen has been a cool voice of reason and objectivity expressed in deft and elegant phrasing. However, in a rare self-revealing column (“Jews in a Whisper,” Comment & Features, August 28), Cohen, in asking disarmingly “Where shall a Jew in Britain who wants to speak up stand?,” gets himself hopelessly entangled in a web of incoherence and self contradiction.He is indeed right that the traditional genteel British anti-Semitism, which mainly marked the establishment, has turned ugly and threatening by the addition of a “ferocious anti-Zionism” of Left and Muslim hatred and demonization. So in light of all this, what does Cohen see as the task of Diaspora Jews? “They must be vociferous in their insistence that continued colonization of Palestinians on the West Bank will increase Israel’s isolation and ultimately its vulnerability.”Put aside this notion and consider rather the truth of these charges. I challenge Cohen to justify in open forum his judgment that in light of all known facts Israel is today “systematically oppressing” another people; to explicate the meaning of the mongrel phrase “colonization of the Palestinian people” (how do you “colonize” people?); and to explain why it is “legally” or “morally” wrong to “expand Jewish settlements in the West Bank.”Cohen concludes his piece by quoting favorably from Philip Roth (that clear-headed Jew whose identity is rooted solidly in Jewish sources) that he favors “Jews with force, Jews with appetite, Jews without shame.”If those are the Jews Cohen is looking for, let him come home to Israel where such creatures abound.SHUBERT SPERO Jerusalem