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August 22, 2003/Av 24 5763, Vol. 55, No. 52
Letters to the EditorAugust 22, 2003
Israel needs to wait for real peacemakersEditor:I read with great interest the recent exchange between Dennis Ross, Professor Gordon Weiner and Farley Weiss. ("Experts keep getting it wrong," "Dennis Ross Responds," Jewish News, Aug. 8; "Readers weigh in on Mideast debate," Jewish News, Aug. 15) What all Jews want is a lasting peace of true friendship, compatible political philosophies and enlightened self-interest. Palestinian leaders may promise salaam (peace) but plan to deliver only a hudna (in the Koran, a temporary tactical cease-fire disguised as peace, expediently negotiated by Mohammed with the Jewish tribes of Saudi Arabia when Islam was weak, only to annul it when Islam became stronger). Israel should not make painful sacrifices for salaam to receive in return the inevitable betrayal of a hudna, even if its proud negotiators win Nobel Peace Prizes and a legacy in the history books. Instead, Israel should wait patiently for true Arab democracies to emerge and negotiate salaam with them. David Marhoffer Scottsdale Shameful heat wave cartoonEditor:You should be ashamed of yourself for printing that cartoon by Dry Bones in the Aug. 15 issue of Jewish News of Greater Phoenix. Three thousand people died in France alone as a result of the heat wave in Europe. I have no idea how many were elderly, children or Jews. That cartoon was like kicking people when they're down. I'm certain many of them were innocent of your complaints. You cannot condemn an entire nation for the misguided actions of a few. I assume that my fellow Jews are fighting against such generalizations. If not, they have not learned the lessons of the Holocaust, that each person is unique. Zachary Winograd Phoenix Appeasement never leads to peaceEditor:President George W. Bush called for Yasser Arafat's ouster and democratization of the Palestinian Authority. Arafat appoints Mahmoud Abbas as prime minister, and we happily ignore Abbas' refusal to confront Hamas or any terrorists. Has anyone noticed that Arafat is still in control without even the pretense of democracy or free press? Even Saddam Hussein had fake elections. Never has appeasement of tyrants brought peace. From the Barbary Pirates through Nazi Germany, appeasement only brought more aggression and bloodier wars. The Bush doctrine of "with us or with the terrorists" doesn't seem to apply when our only true Middle Eastern ally's survival is at stake. Our past aid to bin Laden in his struggle against the Soviets bought us the suicide hijackings of Sept. 11. What reward can we expect from the same terrorists that first led the world in hijacking of airplanes and then taught the world the power of suicide bombings? Irina and David Zuckerman Phoenix
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