Letters to the Editor, January 17, 2005

Inciting civil war in Iraq- Mike Whitney

Dear editor,

Civil war in Iraq is exactly what the neocons would like to see happen. Iraq, an enemy of Israel has been destroyed and for the foreseeable future will be prostrate. A job well done. Syria and Iran are next.

Peter Lewycky

Comments on Al-Hail's Article

I refer to the article: Isn't It Interesting, How Key World Leaders reacted to Mahmoud Abbas Peace gesture? published on Jan 13th, by Dr. Ali Al Hail.

It's always easy to throw mud and complain about anything and everything, but more difficult to come up with a solution. I am more interested in hearing what Mr. Ali Al Hail would have preferred the world leaders to do or say. I have a feeling that had they done anything else, he would still be suspicious of their response. The world leaders are therefore in a 'no win' situation with Mr Ali Al-Hail. Please try to write to promote peace and therefore better lives for people - no matter whether they are Muslim, Christian or Jewish. Otherwise you are part of the problem and not part of the solution, my friend.

Gayle Hinckfuss

Al-Hail's Response

If you had a chance to read my other articles, I’m sure you wouldn’t come up with such a hasty conclusion about the way I perceive the conflict in the Middle East.

I refer you, just for example, if I may, to ‘Live On Television: Yet Murdering More Little Dreams’. As a matter of fact, I have through all of my articles been promoting and calling for peace.

As for the solution, I have been writing that, the solution is just there but Israel doesn’t want to have it seen the light despite the fact that the whole world had agreed to it, i.e., the nearly, four decade aged UN framework of resolutions 242 338 and 194.
As for the article you referred to in particular, what I attempted to do was just to remind the World that, more or less, the same statements were made by key World leaders about the late Arafat in the early 1990’s when he decided to negotiate with Israel within the boundaries of the above mentioned resolutions. This is quite a common place fact which is very well known to observers concerned with the dispute in the Middle East. I presume that the ‘reader’ didn’t spare the time to follow the 1990’s statements I have referred to in the article.

However as soon as late Arafat refused to go less than Oslo Accord which in itself is lesser than what the UN resolutions had to offer the Palestinians, he was brushed aside by the same key World leaders who applauded him years before and was considered by them as an obstacle and ‘irrelevant’.

Now, when Abbas would insist (albeit, Israel declared that it had stopped any connections with him even before any connection started) on establishing the Palestinian state according to the Road Map Plan, drawn out by the Quartet led by the Bush \ Blair administrations more than a year ago, at the moment Abbas dares to do so, and I think he will, Israel would respond to him almost exactly in the same way it did with Arafat. Take my word for it my friend.

Professor Ali Al Hail