The following is a letter from an agnostic in New Zealand. IT IS NOT MEANT TO START ANOTHER CONTROVERSY NOR TO CAST BLAME ON EITHER SIDE. On the contrary, I find it interesting in its "down under" approach to finding a peaceful solution.
I sent a preview to Azeem several days ago to avoid any controversy but he hasn't commented. Please send it to any Palestinian you know. Laurent > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >Special Jerusalem Report - Outstanding Open Letter >Barbara Richmond May 27, 2002 > >A LETTER TO THE PALESTINIANS FROM NEW ZEALAND > >> >An Open Letter to the Palestinians from an Agnostic Date: Sun, 26 May 2002 >18:03:29 -0700 > Speaking Truth to the Powerless: An Open Letter To The >People Commonly Called "Palestinians". > >Greetings to any Palestinian who may be reading this. My name is David >White. I am a citizen of New Zealand, a small, Western, nominally >Christian country in the South Pacific Ocean. I am not Jewish, or >Christian, I guess I'm vaguely agnostic. > >Writing this letter is a good way for me to discuss the horrible mess in >the Middle East, spell out as many relevant points as possible concerning >the state of the Palestinian people, and to see what can be made of them I >don't speak Arabic, so I can only communicate with English-speaking >Palestinians. There aren't many here in NZ, though, and I haven't yet met >any. I don't know how many will ever see these words, but, here's hoping >someone does. > >I have a post-graduate university education, and I suppose I could be >called an intellectual. Unfortunately, many such people have supported >abhorrent ideologies such as Nazism, and continue to support Communism, so >I refuse to describe myself in this way. I don't want to considered as >just another "trendy leftie" academic, as we would say in NZ. So, unlike >many university-educated types, I am anti-totalitarian, pro-peace up to a >point,pro-democracy, pro-capitalism (except the capitalists running >Enron), and skeptical about the "cult of victimhood." I'm quite safe here >in New Zealand, and no-one I know has been killed by a Palestinian. > >My perspective of Palestinians is something like this - you're Arabs (of >course), mostly Muslim, but with a Christian minority. Many of you live >outside Gaza/West Bank, mostly in Jordan and other Muslim countries, with >some groups living in Western countries as well. You feel that you have >been wronged by Israel and are fighting to destroy them. > >As for my perspective on Israel, I see them like this. They are a mainly >Jewish, small, free-market democracy with a large Arab minority surrounded >by hostile Arab dictatorships. They have an ancestral claim to Israel, >their state was created as a refuge from persecution, they have a right to >exist, and, having survived a holocaust in Europe, they should not have to >sit still and wait for another one in the Middle East. > >A Down Under Overview. Over the last few months, the conflict in the >disputed territories of Gaza and the West Bank has turned into a war >between the Palestinian people and Israel. (I will not apologise for using >the term "disputed", as I believe it reflects a rather complicated >situation more accurately than "occupied"). > >Your interpretation, as far as I can tell, seems to be something like >this: You have no state of your own, and you are fighting a war against >those you call "Zionist oppressors" and "colonial imperialists", in order >to create a Palestinian state. Accusations of massacre and human rights >violations by the Israeli Army are being tossed around like confetti. Your >leader, Yasser Arafat, vows to "martyr" himself rather than "surrender", >and that bungling and incompetent organization, the United Nations (again, >no apologies for venting personal opinions), is trying to do what it is >constitutionally incapable of doing, i.e. "saving future generations from >the scourge of war". > >The Israelis see things differently, of course. For them, it's a simple >battle for survival. They offered you a state, and you attacked them >instead. They have occupied Palestinian towns, have fought it out with >various armed groups, and desperate attempts are being made by the US, >other Arab countries and the UN to break the so-called "cycle of >violence". As a result, the Palestinian situation at the moment generally, >can be explained by putting it into New Zealand idiom. > >Put bluntly, the Palestinian people are buggered. Munted. Stuffed. Rooted. >(American equivalent=screwed. British equivalent: done over). It's like >this: Yasser Arafat turned down the Israeli offer of a Palestinian >homeland in Gaza and the West Bank. You want, or Arafat claims that you >want, a Palestine "from the river to the sea;" in other words, "all or >nothing". > >There is one insuperable obstacle to this- Israel. No matter how eloquent >your arguments or numerous your martyrs, no matter how many European >diplomats are angered by, or UN resolutions are passed against, Israel, >the Israelis are not going to pack up and leave. The only way you will get >the Palestinian state you want is to destroy Israel. > >This is what you have been trying to do since 1948, and the current >"intifada" launched in 2000 is your latest effort. However, the Israelis >are not standing there and letting you kill them. They are fighting back, >and if they have to choose between their own survival and yours, guess >which choice they'll make. > >A Vast Wringing Of Hands, A Great Fluttering Of Diplomats. That has been >the overall response to the disaster you have created for yourselves. You, >the Palestinian Arabs, are obviously hoping for some kind of international >intervention to save you. As we in New Zealand would say, "Get Real!". > >The European Union and the UN have demonstrated on numerous occasions in >the past their incompetence and total incapacity to take any sort of firm >action without American leadership. Ask your Muslim brothers of >Bosnia-Herzegovina, about how effective the EU and the UN were in >protecting them without American intervention. In spite of the impression >that American diplomatic efforts have created, the US will not take sides >against Israel, and will eventually abandon its futile attempts at >evenhandedness. If they do join forces militarily with Israel in their war >against terrorism, your fighters will be snuffed out like candle flames. > >As for your "beloved Arab brothers" in the Middle East, they make a great >deal of noise about your "liberation struggle", and have sent money and >arms, but have not sent a single tank to save you. Their diplomatic >proposals are ones that could have been offered at any time, and are aimed >at benefiting them, not Palestinians.The Egyptians themselves will not >declare war on Israel unless they receive $100 billion to cover their costs. > >Do you really believe that the rest of your Arab Muslim brothers think you >are worth that much? Do you really believe they will put your interests >ahead of their own? Although your friends and Arabs in Europe are passing >sanctions and burning synagogues in your support, not a single EU warship >has sailed to your aid, and not a single NATO aircraft has dropped a >single bomb on your "Zionist oppressors". > >I have noted that large numbers of people, including university educated >intellectuals support the Palestinian cause. Don't be misled by this. No >matter how many western intellectuals, news media and international >organisations may support the Palestinian struggle, none of this matters >because America stands by Israel. > >The Unbearable Burden of Life How did you get into such a mess? As you >yourselves would say and have indeed said on many occasions, it isn't your >fault. It's always the "Great Satan" America, and it's "Lesser Satan", >Israel, that you blame for all your woes. Everything that you do, such as >your "martyrdom operations", are described as the products of your "rage" >at being "dispossessed of your land", and of your "helplessness" in the >face of "Zionist" might. > >There are only 300 million Arabs against over 5 million Jews! How unfair! >How unjust, that so many can do so little against so few! > >A number of Western commentators have put Arab failures down to numerous >cultural factors, not the least being Islam. Your religious beliefs in >martyrdom and jihad, coupled with a total inability to accept any blame >for your own predicament, have combined to do you great and lasting damage. > >Look closely at why Western countries such as Israel have succeeded, and >Muslim countries have not. Western countries are free-market democracies. >Muslim countries (other than Turkey) aren't. Surely that should tell you >something. > >Why I Stand. As I said, I do not, and I will not, support the Palestinian >cause. Why >not? I have a number of reasons, and here they are: > >1. You have made it clear beyond any shadow of doubt that you intend to >destroy Israel and kill or drive out its Jewish population. This is >genocide, pure and simple. You justify this by saying that Israel has >committed many crimes against your people, and that you seek "justice". I >say this in response- NOTHING WHATSOEVER is an acceptable justification >for genocide. Loss of land, humiliation at being militarily >defeated others have suffered these and moved on to create new nations >and opportunities for themselves. > >Examples abound- the Germans thrown out of East Prussia in Europe, 1945, >the Nationalist Chinese who fled to Taiwan in 1949, to name but two. >Germans and Taiwanese have coped with military defeat and the loss of >land. They haven't warred with their neighbours, nor have they launched >terrorist attacks upon them. Both countries have more wealth than any Arab >nation. Why can't Palestinians cope? Are Germans and Chinese better able >to deal with adversity than Arabs? > >2. You have accused the Israelis of "genocide" against you. Here's a >question for you: Israel has atomic bombs and powerful military forces. If >they really, truly wanted you all dead, they could easily do it. Why >haven't they? If the Israelis went all-out, you would be, as we say in New >Zealand, "dog tucker". Why did they spend so much time negotiating with >your leaders? Because Israel wants peace and secure borders. You refuse to >give them even those. You plan genocide and accuse Israel of the same >crime. Prove it! > >3. The use of terrorism. Killing people for being Jewish is >despicable.Terrorist attacks on innocent civilians are also despicable. >(At this point, I'd like to pause and get a question of nomenclature >cleared up, regarding those Palestinians who kill themselves and others >with explosives strapped to their bodies. You call them "martyrs". Western >media sources and academics debate the precise term to use in describing >them. Others, including the Israelis, call them terrorists. > >I have a better, more appropriate term. I prefer to use the word >"kamikazes". The original kamikazes appeared in 1944, in the war in the >Pacific. They were Japanese Navy and Army pilots, organised into "Special >Attack Units" with orders to crash their planes into American warships, in >the hope of destroying them - "one plane, one ship". Their initial impact >was similar to that of the Al-Quaeda attacks on New York and the >Pentagon-shock and horror. (I noted that many Palestinians appeared on >Western TV celebrating the September attacks). Note: The American >response, in both cases was not the one hoped for. > >Once the shock had worn off, the US set out to destroy the kamikazes, and >terrible destruction was rained down on Japan, ending only with 2 atomic >bombs. You know what is happening right now in Afghanistan to the >Al-Quaeda group). > >4. Using children as suicide bombers. Anyone who teaches children to kill >themselves in suicide attacks is not worth supporting under any >circumstances. For you to do this to your children is an abomination. A >commentator on a Web magazine said that if the Palestinians laid down >their arms, they would get peace and land. If the Israelis laid down their >arms, they would be killed. You know that is true, even if most of Europe >doesn't. Your cause is evil, because it seeks destruction at any price. >Genocide is not justice. Sacrificing your own children for the sake of >your leader's personal ambitions is wicked. > >That's why I cannot support you. That's why I stand with Israel. > >Palestinian Past or Future? > >The Second World War in Europe ended with Hitler's suicide. He was >replaced by Admiral Doenitz who quickly made peace with the Allies. >Japan's leader, Emperor Hirohito, decided on surrender rather than see his >nation destroyed. > >If Arafat chooses surrender, though, will the rest of the Palestinians go >along with it? If he dies, will the war end? If the answer to both of >these questions is No, then the Palestinian people are doomed. Do you >really prefer death as a people? Do you fully comprehend what you are >doing? If you are indeed aware that the path you have embarked on leads to >destruction, and if you have freely chosen to walk in that direction, then >as a people you are truly beyond hope. > >Are Palestinians really going to be a "Kamikaze Nation"? Are you really >going to give Israel no other option except your destruction? If they must >choose, then as Israeli historian Martin Van Creveld said, "better a >terrible end than terror without end". > >Do not think that kamikaze tactics can get you what you want. The Israelis >can tell you all about Masada, if you ask them. Remember what happened to >the Japanese at places like Okinawa and Iwo Jima. Palestinians deserve >better than the current mess you are in now - but before you can be given >anything, you must offer a sincere peace, you must stop teaching your >children to hate, you must stop believing that "victimhood" justifies >everything and - above all other things - GIVE UP ISRAEL! Accept that you >will never go there again except perhaps as workers or tourists. Accept >that Jews are human beings. Accept the verdict of 1948 and learn to live >with it. > >Invest in banks, not bombs. Build computer chips, not Kalashnikovs. Teach >science & math, not hate. Look to the future, not the past. Stop blaming >Americans and Jews for all your problems, and take responsibility for your >own actions. Read those parts in the Quran about living with the "peoples >of the Book". > >Golda Meir, the former Israeli Prime minister, is quoted as "saying" there >will be peace in the Middle East only when the Arabs love their children >more than they hate Israel ". Every time I see pictures of Palestinian >children waving guns and wearing dummy explosives, then I can only say she >is right. The alternative to peace is not victory but death. > >Think about it- before it's too late. > > From an Infidel to Those Who Submit, and are living in the Holy Land - > May God grant you steadfastness in the face of things that cannot be > changed, the capacity to cope with those that can be changed, and the > wisdom and the ability to tell the difference. > >David White Auckland, New Zealand
