This was sent to the Internatonal Herald Tribune, but it did not get published:
----- Original Message -----
To: opinion@iht.com
Sent: Friday, April 11, 2008 1:52 PM
Subject: An Open Letter to President Jimmy Carter
To President Carter:
I'd like to offer my view on your upcoming Mideast trip. Please understand that I say everything with the utmost respect and admiration for what you've done in the past.
You and I have the same goal: A permanent peace between Palestine and Israel. The question is: how do we get there?
In my view, we need to look at past and present. We all agree on Israel's right to exist. We all agree that the Palestinians have a right to their sovereign country. This was part of the 1947 UN Partition Plan.
Where we start to diverge is what happened during the 1947-1948 timeframe. In your book "Peace, Not Apartheid", you acknowldge that the Arab States opposed the UN Partition Plan. You also acknowledge that the Palestinians rejected it. You even acknowledge that the Arabs declared war on the new Jewish state.
Due to the war, as you pointed out, an estimated 750,000 Palestinians became displaced (or refugees). But it is not clear how, in every case, Palestinian families left their homes. I did hear of stories that the Israeli's forced some away. I heard of stories that the Arabs ordered families to move. I wasn't around at the time (I was born in 1954).
But most likely, the story is similar to those of my parents, who lived in Poland until 1939. My father (now deceased) saw the writing on the wall, and decided to leave Poland with my Mom (his new bride) and ended up spending 6 years in Russia. Eventually they ended up in America.
The book "The Faith Club", by Ranya Idliby, who is of Muslim/Palestinian descent (along with Priscilla Warner, a Jew, and Suzanne Oilver, a Christian) has this passage by Ms. Idilby:
""The overwhelming majority of Palestinians fled in fear as war broke out. They believed that they would return when conditions calmed down. The Israeli Army murdered Palestinians ... and frightened the Palestinians out of their homes".
So responsibility is a bit confusing, at best. Why couldn't there have been a compromise in 1947? Why were some of of the Israelis so cruel to the Palestinians?
But, President Carter, in your book, you seem to only ask the latter question, you ignore the first. You point responsibility only one way, even as you acknowledge the facts.
OK, so now let's look ahead. You wish to speak with Hamas. If speaking with them can help bring peace, fine. But they seem to be stuck in pre-1948 ideology.
And this is a little different, in my view, than 1980, when Andrew Young ('illegally") spoke to the PLO. The Palestinians have a representative now that is in favor of the 2-state solution. I believe your emphasis, if not sole purpose, should be to advance the cause of this leader, President.Mahmoud Abbas.
An analogy I think of: If my next door neighbor is claiming that my house is his, continually shoots at my house, refuses to talk about any agreement, what is my first obligation? Of course, it is to protect myself. Asking me to speak to this neighbor is a non-starter, since he doesn't want to talk to me. So Mr. Carter, what would you recommend in this instance?
I hope you understand that Hamas' intentions in this meeting is to gain acceptance, nothing more. And with this acceptance I only see more bloodshed, as they can use it as leverage against Abbas. If you know of another reason, please inform me.
So I hope you do the right thing and not meet with Hamas. If you do, I only pray that your name is not added to those who helped destroy a nation.
(Signature)
Thanks for reading this.
