israel and lebanon
Supporting Israel
Re "Anti-U.S. Feeling Leaves Arab Reformers Isolated" (article, August 9), describing the problems that the U.S. faces today for supporting Israel ( Read more... )
Re "Anti-U.S. Feeling Leaves Arab Reformers Isolated" (article, August 9), describing the problems that the U.S. faces today for supporting Israel ( Read more... )
Comments 15
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Date: Aug 10, 2006 3:15 AM
Subject: Dialogue
Dear Ilya,
I read this letter of yours published in today's NYT:-
The problem is not that we support Israel today when it is in the right, but that we supported it in the past when it was in the wrong.
We were wrong to support Israel’s building of illegal settlements. That has created the impression that we’ll stand by Israel no matter what it does. Now that Israel really needs and deserves our support, our ability to give that support is compromised.
I am quite well aware that the term "illegal settlements" has become 'settled" into political language and dialogue. But may I suggest your reasoning is wrong ( ... )
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Maybe; though I think that while most Arabs _want_ Israel off the map,
many will accept (settle for) Israel minus the settlements.
But my point still stands that settlements are not vital to Israel's
security and existence, and the political capital and Arab goodwill
that the U.S. has spent tacitly supporting Israel's
settlement-building would be much better spent on supporting Israel's
efforts on truly vital fronts like the fight against Hezbollah.
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Date: Aug 10, 2006 2:07 PM
On 8/10/06, Ilya Shlyakhter wrote ( ... )
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Date: Aug 10, 2006 8:40 AM
Ja ne schitaiy poselenia "illegal" Resoliyzia OON, kotorai polnostiy
pro-arabskaia, ne imeet nikakog znachenia. No daze nezavisimo ot etogo, ja
imenno i zashishala bu Israek "no matter what", potomy chto napadat na
nego vsegda naidetsa komy, i v ogromnom kolichestve. Komy nyzna tyt igra v
blagorodstvo? I komy est delo do togo, chto seichas zashishat israel
sloznee. potomy chto yze zashishali ranshe? Razve voobshe v tom,
chtoproisxodit v mirovoi ozenke Israela, mozno iskat xot kakoi-to zdravui
smusl???????
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sloznee. potomy chto yze zashishali ranshe?
Yesli ya pravil'no ponyal Ilyu...vopros v tom, chto vse politicheskie resursy byli potracheny na zashitu frontov, kotoriye absoljutno bessmislenny dlya obshey bezopasnosti Izrailya.
Razve voobshe v tom,
chtoproisxodit v mirovoi ozenke Israela, mozno iskat xot kakoi-to zdravui
smusl???????
Mozhno, i nuzhno. Inache ostaneshsya v polneyshey izolyatsii.
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ja ponimaju, pochemu NYTimes ego opublikovali, no mne ono ne ochen' nravitsja, chestno govorja. iz nego v pervuju ochenred' chitaetsha, chto Israel IS WRONG, a vo vtopruju -- to, chto ty hotel skazat'.
in my (very) humble opinion.
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it does say that israel now is "in the right" and that today it "needs and deserves our support".
the many one-sided letters that said only that didn't get printed.
zhal'.
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and omitted the reference to the article to which it was responding.
:(
oh well.
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i think partially that's because how your letter reads. i know what you're trying to say -- that if the bush administration had any credibility, it would be good for israel, but it's too late to build credibility now; but that's not how it reads :((((
it reads as an anti-settlement statement.
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To: Tom Feyer (tomfeyerATnytimesDOTcom)
Only one of four letters under the heading "From Israel, a Voice
Against the War (4 Letters) " is actually against the war -- this
might look misleading on the page... it might be better in the future
to make sure that the letters match the heading they're under.
...
One other thing: your selection doesn't reference the article to which
I was responding ("Anti-U.S. Feeling Leaves Arab Reformers Isolated",
August 9), as it normally does. That put it out of context
unfortunately. The article said "supporting Israel now is a problem
for the U.S.". I wrote "supporting Israel now is not the problem, the
problem was supporting it in the past with regards to the
settlements". But without the original reference, my letter suddenly
sounds like out-of-the-blue criticism of the settlements. That's not
something I meant, especially given the current situation.
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