solution

[Robin Hufford]

Roger, having said about the Persion Gulf war what I just said in the
last posting, which of course, disagrees strongly with some of the
points posted by you, I  have to say that I believe firmly that American
foreign policy, in certain aspects has lead directly to the point of the
latest terrorist attack in the US and has been a factor in the
increasing terrorism emanating from the Arab world  directed again the
West.  We should attempt to understand why.

     I believe we err greatly, no matter how sympathetic we feel as
individuals one to another, to give such unconditional support to the
Israeli government at the expense of the Arabs.  On the one hand  you
have a small, quasi-democratic state with roughly six million citizens,
one and a half million of which are Arabs, which suppress mightly
another two million on the West Bank and Gaza.  This state  slowly
intrudes itself into  Arab land and society, after having already taken
Israel proper, displacing millions who yearn to return to what were
their homes in what is now Israel, and continuing to displace others,
all of which cannot be done without AMERICAN support.  The missiles that
blow up Palestinian homes are made in America, paid for with American
money and delivered by American made helicopters.   Many of the settlers
on the West Bank are American religious fanatics out to displace the
Arabs and they and the other settlers have always  the connivance and,
more or less support, as the case may be,  of the Israeli government
and public.  These isolated but numerous settlements have been
considered Israeli territories by all Israeli governments as are the
roadways that connect them.  Consider this, at the beginning of the Oslo
peace process there were approximately 100,000 settlers in the West Bank
and Gaza.  Now there are almost 400,000! The roadways and settlements
are built and controlled by the Israelis as are the resources necessary
for their maintaince. The resources needed by the settlements, water and
other things, receive priority and those of the  neighboring,
Palestinian areas may be diverted and are always secondary resulting
disruptions in the basic necessities of civil life.  In the various
so-called peace proposals many are to be retained and controlled by
Israel. No proposal contemplates abandoning all of them and returning
East Jerusalem to the Arabs.   This is more in the nature of  stealing
something from somebody  then insisiting they sign a thank you note and
then undertake to publish it worldwide at their expense.  .    I ask all
of  you what state anywhere in the world would accept such a
hotchpodge?  This is all enabled by  American money and support. A
merest fraction of oppresion on this scale and for these reasons,
essentially religious,  against Americans or citizens of the developed
and near developed world, of whatever race, color, creed or religion
would never be tolerated here in the United States or elsewhere for  the
slightest second  and would create an immense brouhaha.  .
     On the other hand you have two hundred million or so Arabs, heirs
as are we to classical civilization,  spread out over a large area,
controlling, at least to some degree a vast proportion of the world's
oil, and ardently  supported by another billion co-religionists.  This
group as a whole commands a great proportion of the worlds important
resources and must not be alienated for many, many reasons.  I ask all
where does the interest of the West lie?
     Not in any way to justify the killing of innocents but the
hyprocisy of the West is plain to all in the Middle East and should be
on reflection to anyone. The use of the veto by the United States to
protect Israel from compliance with UN resolutions is but one
example.       Some in the Middle East,  less fanatical and more secular
overlook this hypocrisy, but others are motivated to give their lives to
strike back.   We should avoid what is essentially developing into a
chronic war now brought home to our backyards by understanding that the
situation that has developed to this point is, in fact, greatly at odds
with the values we profess.  The rule of law,  respect for human rights,
etc, etc, cannot be delivered during eviction at the point of a gun from
one's home to see it deliberately blown up, , by the blasting of people
with helicopter gunships and imprisoning millions of people by military
occupation, stealing their resources and lands, etc., and we in the
United States should not countenace it.  So, I will agree that American
foreign policy has contributed to the present situation.      Regards
Robin.