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Readers' Letters, June 24, 2003, Al-Jazeerah.info |
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6/19/03 Your sidebar shows a category for Arab cartoonists, but all I get is a Editor: The links were broken for three sections: Cartoons, News Archives, and News Photos. Sorry that you missed the daily cartoons. Anyway, you can look at all of them now. All sections are also linked on the front page, just under the the title. Thanks for your observation.
6/19/03 Hello,
What really gets me with the following article is one
particular remark: "Israeli chief representative Avraham Toledo
called on conference delegates to make anti-Semitism a criminal
offence." When is Avraham Toledo and his Zionist cohorts going
to penalize those who engage in anti-Palestinianism, not to mention the
vicious hateful creed directed against all non-Jews in their Talmudic Oral
Laws, which they openly concede any more. But, I guess living in
Israel, a country where ethnic cleansing is part of its daily business, we
might expect such hypocrisy from Avraham. m.f. Article follows:
6/22/03
Dear Editor
I had an opportunity to read your opinion on
Sri Lankan peace process under the title Roadblock in Sri Lanka dated
21 June 2003. I feel very sorry for the ignorance of the journalist
on Sri Lankan affairs, who wrote this opinion. This
journalist has formed a wrong opinion about what is going on in this
peace process, because this journalist is not aware of the details.
I am a Tamil Australian who is into the
thick of this peace process and recently appeared on an ABC TV program
under the Asia Pacific Focus program -
"Double trouble in Sri Lanka" in which the
Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumarathunga also was interviewed.
You could at least read the transcript at
Road Maps and hence road blocks have become
the popular jargons of the journalists these days when they write about
conflicts. However, using these jargons without knowing the true
facts about a conflict and spreading false opinion among the readers is
equivalent to a crime against humanity.
Your opinion starts with a false allegation
that "This time the Tamil Tiger rebels have rejected the
government's interim administration for the northeast of the
island". This is not correct. Prime minister Ranil
Wickramasinga in his Television address to the nation said that he is
prepared to give an Interim Administrative Council and also said that
the responsibility lies with the Tigers to participate in negotiations.
The LTTE's Chief Negotiator Anton Balasingam in a response to PM's
address, given to the "Tamil Net" website has said that there
is no difference between what PM has said before and now. Balasingam
also has said that for LTTE to discuss this matter with the
government face to face, PM has to give a framework of his plan on
the Interim Administrative Council. The "Tamil Net"
published this as a response from the Tigers to PM's address. But
several media have headlined this news as Tigers have rejected PM's
offer.
To go into the details of the IA, Tigers
demanded an IA to be in place for the North East province until a new final
constitutional arrangement is put in place. Both PM and President
in their last election manifesto promised to offer an IA for the North
east. President went even a further step and offered to give the
administration of the North East to the Tigers for 10 years and also
said that the Tigers could run the place with the help of their own
police force. Therefore the people of sri Lanka gave the mandate
to both the PM and President to set up an IA (not as a final solution).
This is why the Government and Tigers set out to talk about an IA when
they started the peace talks in Thailand. But, because the PM was
facing non cooperation from the President, knowing that he cannot offer
an IA without her cooperation, he requested the Tigers not to insist on
IA for the time being and the Government will try and fulfil its
obligation through alternative means. Tigers agreed for the sake
of continuing the talks. However after almost an year of
negotiations, Tigers have found out that these arrangements have no
legal powers to implement what is agreed upon through talks so far.
This is why Tigers are insisting on IA now.
As you are aware IA is the common
denominator in any conflict resolution. Without going through an
IA it is impossible to change a Unitary state to a Federal State.
The roadblock to peace in Sri Lanka is the non-cooperation between the
PM and the President. Without both of them agree on anything,
nothing will move forward. This is the fact and this is the
dilemma the PM is facing.
It is also stated in your opinion that
" they (LTTE) refuse to talk directly the government,
insisting instead the talking must be done by an IA". This is
gross misinformation concocted by the author of this opinion.
Tigers never said this.
It is also stated that the Tigers are
demanding a fundamental overhaul of the peace process and it does not
make sense as they are the ones who have undermined the process by
refusing to talk directly to the government. The author has
taken this out of context here. In referring to the final
resolution made at the end of the Tokyo donor
conference only the Tigers said that what is suggested in this
final resolution is irrelevant as they are going to talk to the
facilitators, Norway, about overhauling the peace process. As an
important party to the process Tigers have all the rights to request the
facilitators to overhaul the whole process if they feel that the process
is not going in the correct direction. The direction cannot be
dictated by others who have their own agenda. This conflict cannot
be resolved at a speed everyone wants for their own reasons.
The LTTE, Sri Lankan government and Norway only knows better, the speed
at which the whole process could proceed. Just for the sake of
others' wish to find a quick fix, the Tamils in Sri Lanka are not
prepared to sacrifice their right to self -determination.
Therefore I urge you to educate this opinion
writer on this conflict, before he or she ventures out to write
another opinion, for the sake of the benefit of your readers,
if you are interested in providing your readers with accurate
information.
Regards
Dr. Victor Rajakulendran
Tel: 02 9626 5487
7 Carly Place
Quakers Hill NSW 2763
AUSTRALIA.
Dear
Sir or Madam: A
recently concluded British Broadcasting Co. survey concluded that no
less than 11,000 people from 11 countries throughout the world had a
negative opinion of George W. Bush.
57
percent of those questioned had a very unfavorable, or fairly
unfavorable attitude toward the US President, and when American opinions
were eliminated from the survey, that number rose to 60 percent. Jordan
and Indonesia thought that the US was more dangerous to world peace and
stability than Al-Qaeda. The
US was rated more dangerous than Iran, by people in Jordan, Indonesia,
Russia, South Korea and Brazil, and more dangerous than Syria by
respondents in all countries except Australia, Israel and the United
States. How
can a president expect to broker peace in the Middle East when he and
his country are held in such low esteem? Walt Lukasik
You have to like his painting "The
Terrorist" and "The New World Order": m.f.
Within the next few days, you will receive a copy
of the special
Rove announces new Palestinian "Roadmap to Peace" Cheney, Wolfowitz, Rove, Perle -- sitting around the Oval Office. George was off watching TV. "Let's stop playing God for a moment, said Perle. Total silence. You could hear a pin drop. "Nah. Bad idea." "Let's shake up the Middle East again," said Rove. Sure. Whatja got? "Well, the Afghanis, Iranians, Iraqis and CARS are killing each other off as planned." With a little help from their American friends. "But the Jews and Muslims aren't killing each other fast enough. As usual, Rove had put his finger right on the problem. No nuclear detonations, no fire storms, nothing. Only 2,237 Arabs killed, only 720 Israelis killed, only 522 children. Small potatoes. Peanuts. Think tank mode. "I know!" sez Cheney. "We need a new Roadmap!" Cool. "A Palestinian Roadmap! Let's mess with their minds." Give the Palestinians 8.5 million dollars a day too! "They can kill each other off, we get the Middle East, we get that idiot Charac off our necks." Done deal. No need to inform Congress. The next day, Palestine announced their own Roadmap to Peace, bought matching Blackhawks, introduced settlers on the East Bank, started destroying businesses and olive groves and jailing men between the ages of 15 and 45. Soon the Middle East was a desert. An oil-producing desert. "Good work, Carl," said Wolfowitz. "Now let's start on the real target. California." Best regards, Jane Stillwater, Berkeley, CA
Reportedly, late last month, U.S. military forces
arrested several persons
The author of this article was reported killed
recently by a hit and run driver.
I
was noticeably distrubed when I read about how
Kevin McGuire was
punished for telling the truth about Israel's hateful actions
in the
June edition of the magazine "Free American," which I
purchased at Barnes & Noble. It
is a matter of common record that Israel has been engaging in
terrorist actions since its inception. Since its early days,
we saw such hateful events as when Menachem Begin bombed the King
David Hotel, murdering many Arabs and Europeans. How did
Israel respond? They elected him prime minister. When we
saw Yitzhak Yezernitsky murder UN mediator Count Folke Bernadotte
and England's Lord Moyne, how did the Israeli population respond?
Yezernitsky (or, Shamir, as he is better known) was also elected
prime minister. Later,
we saw the LaVon Affair, when Israel bombed American interests in
Egypt. Some time later, we again witnessed the vicious nature
of the Zionists when they murdered dozens of American sailors aboard
the nigh-defenseless ship the USS Liberty, not to mentioning
injuring close to 200. It was an intentional act on Israel's
part to place the blame on Egypt and entangle America in Israel's
affairs. In fact, the former heads of the NSA and CIA have
gone on record attesting to the fact that Israel knew in advance,
that it was a deliberate attack against an American ship, despite
what Israel may say (having been caught in the act). I put together a few video clips of many such atrocities perpetrated by the Zionist hatemongers here: (online med.-quality video for 112K+ connections – Windows Media Video) http://www.indymedia.org/local/webcast/uploads/zwc-ad-e-med.wmv (sm. video for 56K connection, buffering req. – Windows Media Video) http://www.indymedia.org/local/webcast/uploads/zwcesad.wmv These
incidents are but few among hundreds of hateful acts perpetrated by
the Zionist hatemongers. There are too many massacres to even
recall - Deir Yassin, Lebanon, Jenin, et cetera, ad nauseam.
In fact, as McGuire pointed out (if you had taken the time to
honestly review the facts), 2,265 Palestinians have been murdered in
the course of the last 3 years alone, 291 of whom were under 15
years old. If Palestine had a population the same as America
and the same percentage held true, that would be 226,500 people who
were murdered by the Israeli hatemongers. You can then begin
to understand how it affects the lives of nearly all Palestinians,
particularly when you add the injured and displaced among them. For
criticising Israel's gross violation of human rights, Kevin McGuire
should have received a medal of honor from your college. For
you to cause him and the editor of your precious little newspaper
grief is ludicrous. While
you obviously don't respect either Truth or Free Speech - the ideas
that this country was founded on - it is astounding that you can be
so anti-American that you'd displace people who are working to keep
America safe and intact - people like McGuire who honestly criticise
Israel's gross violation of human rights. Whose
side are you on? Sincerely, Mark
Franklin
A letter from George Galloway
Dear Sir,
I received the following appeal today.
I believe that this man and his legal battle is worthy of
our support as the trial will expose the 'Money-power'
terrorists, behind the wars, the media and the British &
American government.
Yours,
John Bayldon
----- Original Message -----
From: GALLOWAY,
George
Sent: Monday, June 23, 2003 2:35 PM
Subject: Thank you for your support
23rd June 2003 Dear Friend, In view of your kind support for my work in the past I am writing to ask for your help. I have launched the GEORGE GALLOWAY LEGAL FUND which will be handled by my lawyers DAVENPORT LYONS, 1 OLD BURLINGTON STREET, LONDON, W1X 2NL. This is to help finance my legal costs in the libel actions I will fight against the Daily Telegraph and the Christian Science Monitor after their vicious attacks upon me in April of this year. As you will have seen the Christian Science Monitor have now accepted that the documents on which they based a front page story, published all over the world, alleging that I had taken more than six million pounds from the former Iraqi regime, were forgeries. You will know that another newspaper the Mail on Sunday consulting different experts quickly came to the same conclusion. But an apology is not enough, I want this matter fully dealt with through the law and above all I want to get to the bottom of this conspiracy. That is why I need your help. These utterly false claims were, as I'm sure you will have concluded, entirely politically motivated. They were intended to punish me for my role on the Palestinian and Iraq issues, to intimidate me and others from continuing to make a stand and if possible to drive me out of British politics altogether. With the support of my friends I intend to fight this. I hope I can count you as one of those friends. The Telegraph group is controlled by Lord and Lady Black (Barbara Amiel), two of Sharon's and Israel's most vociferous supporters. On Black's board of directors sit Richard Perle and Henry Kissinger, as did once Margaret Thatcher. I mention this so you'll know what we're up against and the bitter and expensive fight on which I have embarked. I can't do it without your help and I hope you will donate what you can. All contributions will be carefully recorded and will be returned on the successful awarding of costs in the case, or a proportion will be returned if costs are only partly awarded. Cheques etc should be made payable to the GEORGE GALLOWAY LEGAL FUND and sent to DAVENPORT LYONS SOLICITORS, 1 OLD BURLINGTON STREET, LONDON W1X 2NL, together with a contact address so contributions can be returned. Confidentiality will be respected.
In any case with all good wishes, Yours fraternally George Galloway MP
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