FM: John Whitbeck
Transmitted below is a letter to the editor which I submitted several days ago to the INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE -- in response to a letter which they had published from Abe Foxman, longtime leading light of The Lobby and Imperial Grand Dragon of its Thought Police.
Remarkably, the IHT has resisted the urge to publish it.
TO: Letters to the Editor
RE: Letter to the Editor from Abraham Foxman (IHT, March 26)
Abraham Foxman writes that "the critical stumbling block to peace is Palestinian rejection of the legitimate right of the Jewish people to a state" and that "the focus must be on the need for true Palestinian acceptance of Israel. When this happens, all else is possible."
Mr. Foxman is clearly entitled to believe that racial-supremicist, settler-colonial states founded on the ethnic cleansing of indigenous populations are wonderful and deserve to be legitimized and perpetuated -- at least when the ethnic cleansing is carried out by people like him. He is also entitled to make a career out of trying to convince others to share his belief -- or at least not to dare to publicly question it.
However, can Mr. Foxman -- or anyone else -- really believe that those who have been ethnically cleansed could ever be convinced to share his belief?
Perhaps the focus should instead be on the need for true Israeli acceptance that what they have done to the Palestinian people is morally and ethically indefensible and for Israeli willingness to make amends by offering to accept a single democratic state in all of Mandatory Palestine, free of any form of discrimination based on race or religion and with equal rights for all who live there. When this happens, peace will be possible.
John V. Whitbeck
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia