Letters to the Editor

Clarifying letter on how Israel should approach negotiations

The following is a revised version of Matt Frazier '02's letter that appeared in the Nov. 22 edition of the 'Prince.' His original copy was printed before the revised version was brought to our attention.

I was bewildered by Dan Ostrow '02's editorial in the Nov. 20 edition of the 'Prince' concerning Israeli diplomatic strategy. His remarkably bizarre distinction between "positive" and "negative" actions seems to completely ignore historical "positive" actions. After all, the land to be "literally carved out of parts of Israel" to form a Palestinian state are territories that Israel quite "positively" occupied in warfare. But the international law that may be used to resolve that occupation is quickly dismissed by Ostrow: "Well, what of it?"

He complains that, despite earnest Israeli attempts to find peace, the violence has continued. I agree — there are factions on both sides of the conflict that use violent words to prevent a successful agreement. This summer, Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef, spiritual leader of the Shas party, announced that Palestinians are "snakes." (He also announced that those who died in the Holocaust deserved it. Do we really want to adhere to this guy's philosophy?) Perhaps the violence is rooted in institutional factors, not some natural serpentine predisposition of Arabs toward killing. And maybe through negotiation, an agreement can be found that will end injustice on both sides. Of course, such an argument rests on notions of justice — notions quite foreign to Ostrow, it seems.

The editorial concludes with the bold assertion: "If one has enough strength, one need not negotiate." And so we have a phrase that taps beautifully into historical precedent. As we saw after the Munich Pact of 1938, a certain German chancellor shared Ostrow's approach to international diplomacy. Poland, anyone?

I reject this hyper-realist approach to international politics. In fact, I believe it fundamentally contradicts every philosophical pillar that Israel rests upon. Notions of political strength devoid of any sense of justice or human rights led to millennia of horribly oppressed Jewish communities. A Jewish homeland was created out of a necessity to inject some morality into international politics. And Israel, a democratic nation populated with well-educated and conscientious people, is in a wonderful position to prove its devotion to human rights, justice and peace. So let the negotiations continue in good faith — and let the belligerent newspaper columns remain exercises in academic futility. Matt Frazier '02

Responding to Frazier's original letter on the Mideast

We understand that Matt Frazier '02 has revised his letter which was printed in the Nov. 22 issue of the 'Prince.' We feel, however, that the accusations made at that time were of such magnitude, that once printed, they must be addressed. Most prominent of these accusations are Frazier's comparisons of Israeli policies to those of Nazi Germany — which those of us familiar with the circumstances surrounding the creation of Israel regard as not only fallacious, but highly offensive as well.

Apparently Frazier has forgotten that the "Palestinian territories" acquired by Israel in 1967, the West Bank and Gaza, were taken not from some independent Palestinian entity, but rather from Jordan and Egypt, respectively — two countries that during the previous 19 years had neither recognized any Palestinian right to self-determination nor made any efforts to improve the situation of Palestinians languishing in refugee camps under their control. In Israel, on the other hand, all Arab citizens have enjoyed the right to vote in the only truly democratic elections in the Middle East.

Furthermore, the words of a man such as Ovadiah Yosef should never be offered as proof of any institutionalized Israeli government stance — in a recent sermon, Rabbi Yosef stated that the Jewish victims of the Holocaust were reincarnated sinners. However, a closer look at statements made recently on official Palestinian Authority television, such as this one by Arafat-appointed Fatwa Council official Dr. Ahmad Abu Halabiya, reveals quite a bit of institutionalized racism: "Have no mercy on the Jews, no matter where they are, in any country. Wherever you meet them, kill them. Wherever you are, kill those Jews and those Americans who are like them." Adam Friedlander '01 Sam Spector '03