Post by Paddy by Grace on Jun 12, 2009 23:31:34 GMT -7
In response to the recent talks between U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Obama's subsequent sppech in Cairo, Ra'anan Levy, a former Advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Founder and President of the Israel Laad (Israel Eternal) Foundation, has released the following open letter to the American president.
Mr. Barack Obama
President of the United States of America
The White House,
Washington, D.C.
USA
Shalom Mr.President,
I am writing you from a small village in Israel called Asseret. We are group of seven small villages, united under a Regional Council called "Gderot." A County, in American terms. A little over a year ago, I was in a meeting in New York City in a building designed by the world renowned designer, Phillip Stark. The population of that building alone was larger than that of our entire "county". This is indicative of one of the main differences between our two nations. Yours is big. Very big. Ours is small. Very small.
At its longest , Israel is just a 7 hour drive from North to South. In width, it is only about 50 miles. You seem like a fairly athletic man. If you chose to cross the country riding a bicycle and left Tel Aviv, on th shores of the Mediterranean Sea, at 7:00 in the morning, you would reach our eastern border, on the banks of the Jordan River, in time for lunch.
I have listened to you very carefully in the past several months, particularly since you were elected President of the USA. I listen to every word you and your senior aides are saying about the Middle-East. During your Cairo speech just a few days ago, I actually felt a physical pain in my chest and decided thatI must write you.
I do not think my words will impact you greatly, Mr. President, but perhaps, you will at least hear them. To my deep sorrow, no senior Israeli official is able to say these words to you anymore, words which should have reflected our official position for the past 2-3 decades. My Prime Minister and his senior aides, like his predecessors since 1992, are confused and lost in "political correctness." Had we been a country which takes its vital affairs a tad more seriously, this is what we should have been saying to you now, with all due respect and friendship:
1. The State of Israel shall never again participate in ANY territorial dialogue with anyone. We are simply tired and ashamed of this hoax, which always failed and was a tragic mistake to begin with. From now on, there are no more territorial discussions ever, with anyone. The present day boundaries of Israel will be permanent, forever. We shall never discuss handing over the Golan-Heights to Syria. No Palestinian official presence will ever be allowed in our HolyCity, our CapitalCity, Jerusalem. The cities we built in Ariel, Efrat, and Ma'ale-Adumim, will be annexed to Israel tomorrow, and shall never again be referred to as "occupied territory" by any friend of the State of Israel.
2. The Palestinian Authority, is a corrupt entity, constantly promoting terror. The Palestinians are poor and divided amongst themselves. They have no hope for an independent economy nor the infrastructure for an independent state. They have nothing, Mr. President. Israel longs for the day the PA will be a democratic, peace seeking entity, which abandons terror and incitement and ceases sending its young to explode on buses. When this happens, Israel will actively participate in fostering economic opportunities and a better political climate for the Palestinians.
3. We shall NEVER allow the Palestinian Authority to evolve into a sovereign state. Israel shall never accept establishing an additional Arab country in the narrow margin of 30 miles, between the Jordan River and Ben-Gurion airport. This would be a totally suicidal act on our part.
On the other hand, if and when the Palestinians fulfill their part of the terrible "Oslo Agreements," we shall reciprocate and work together with them to create a fruitful urban and administrative civil body under their control.
A "Palestinian State" will be another failed experiment, which will bring additional disappointments and bloodshed to the region. A transparent, democratic Palestinian Authority is the only hope.
4. Jerusalem is the city of the Jewish people and the Capital City of the State of Israel. This has been an undeniable fact for 3,000 years. There is no theological basis for the Arab claims to Jerusalem. It is not mentioned in the Koran, and has only been "turned holy" to Islam in a cynical political assault in the last 40-60 years. Israel shall no longer participate in this game.
In your Cairo speech, you repeatedly suggested speaking truthfully and honestly. A noble offer, no doubt. You have also stated, however, that the "dislocation of the Palestinians has been going on for over 60 years". In saying this, Mr. President, you lent strength to the false Palestinian "Nakba" claim. No longer is the issue the refugee problem that was the aftermath of the Six Day War of 1967, but the Palestinian disaster caused by the very creation of the State of Israel, in 1948. I doubt that you realize the full and terrible ramifications of such a statement to my personal well-being or the future of my children in Israel, let alone the very serious damage this will do to our ability to reach a peaceful resolution with our neighbors.
You also expressed the idea that Israel was recreated as a consequence of the Holocaust. While this is not accurate, it is not your fault. We ourselves have promoted this foolish doctrine in the past 60 years. But if truth and honesty is what we seek, please note that Zionism was "alive and well" way back in the late 19th Century. The immigration to the Land, to our "Eretz-Israel", our redemption of this land by the return of Jews to their historic homeland started back then. Even the League of Nations designated this land to the "Restoration" - in those very words - of the Jewish people in their homeland. It included all of Judea, Samaria and Jordan of today.
We do not blame you for failing to see this, Mr.President. Many even here in Israel do not see this anymore. But when the President of the United States preaches "truth and honesty," it would best serve the purpose to stick to facts, not to Arab propaganda.
I am confident that you are a fair man with good intentions, Mr.Obama. I do not think that you knowingly seek to harm Israel. I believe the accusations of you being an "Arabist" are nonsense. If Tzippy Livni, leader of the Kadima party in Israel, is the most active agent for promoting a Palestinian State, if Avigdor Liberman could offer portions of the Galilee (!!!) to the Palestinians, if Ehud Barak could pressure Arafat to take control of East-Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, (Camp-David, June 1999), if Ariel Sharon was able to destroy and relocate Jewish towns twice (1978 Sinai, 2005 Gush-Katif ), how can we, in all fairness, be upset with you?
I am aware that my letter will probably not influence you. It will be easy for you to continue in the sorry direction you have started. You will go on to promising that America will not threaten nor dictate to other countries, but you will threaten and dictate - only to the Israelis. I can only be saddened Mr.President, that there is no serious Israeli figure today, who will stand up to you, who will correct you, who will work together with you, to take a more just and moral approach. The fact is that Israel has produced the kind of leadership that will make it easy for you. Peace, unfortunately, what we really need so badly here, will never come out of it.
Israel will continue in its ideological deterioration and its strategic margins will continue to narrow. All, of course, in the name of "Peace." And as we watch it happen in the years to come, more Presidents will come after you, and push us more, and more.
But please don't feel bad, Mr. President. You have no reason to feel bad because the painful truth is, you are not to blame for your ideas. It is us. We did this to ourselves.
Respectfully,
Raanan (Rani) Levy
Mr. Barack Obama
President of the United States of America
The White House,
Washington, D.C.
USA
Shalom Mr.President,
I am writing you from a small village in Israel called Asseret. We are group of seven small villages, united under a Regional Council called "Gderot." A County, in American terms. A little over a year ago, I was in a meeting in New York City in a building designed by the world renowned designer, Phillip Stark. The population of that building alone was larger than that of our entire "county". This is indicative of one of the main differences between our two nations. Yours is big. Very big. Ours is small. Very small.
At its longest , Israel is just a 7 hour drive from North to South. In width, it is only about 50 miles. You seem like a fairly athletic man. If you chose to cross the country riding a bicycle and left Tel Aviv, on th shores of the Mediterranean Sea, at 7:00 in the morning, you would reach our eastern border, on the banks of the Jordan River, in time for lunch.
I have listened to you very carefully in the past several months, particularly since you were elected President of the USA. I listen to every word you and your senior aides are saying about the Middle-East. During your Cairo speech just a few days ago, I actually felt a physical pain in my chest and decided thatI must write you.
I do not think my words will impact you greatly, Mr. President, but perhaps, you will at least hear them. To my deep sorrow, no senior Israeli official is able to say these words to you anymore, words which should have reflected our official position for the past 2-3 decades. My Prime Minister and his senior aides, like his predecessors since 1992, are confused and lost in "political correctness." Had we been a country which takes its vital affairs a tad more seriously, this is what we should have been saying to you now, with all due respect and friendship:
1. The State of Israel shall never again participate in ANY territorial dialogue with anyone. We are simply tired and ashamed of this hoax, which always failed and was a tragic mistake to begin with. From now on, there are no more territorial discussions ever, with anyone. The present day boundaries of Israel will be permanent, forever. We shall never discuss handing over the Golan-Heights to Syria. No Palestinian official presence will ever be allowed in our HolyCity, our CapitalCity, Jerusalem. The cities we built in Ariel, Efrat, and Ma'ale-Adumim, will be annexed to Israel tomorrow, and shall never again be referred to as "occupied territory" by any friend of the State of Israel.
2. The Palestinian Authority, is a corrupt entity, constantly promoting terror. The Palestinians are poor and divided amongst themselves. They have no hope for an independent economy nor the infrastructure for an independent state. They have nothing, Mr. President. Israel longs for the day the PA will be a democratic, peace seeking entity, which abandons terror and incitement and ceases sending its young to explode on buses. When this happens, Israel will actively participate in fostering economic opportunities and a better political climate for the Palestinians.
3. We shall NEVER allow the Palestinian Authority to evolve into a sovereign state. Israel shall never accept establishing an additional Arab country in the narrow margin of 30 miles, between the Jordan River and Ben-Gurion airport. This would be a totally suicidal act on our part.
On the other hand, if and when the Palestinians fulfill their part of the terrible "Oslo Agreements," we shall reciprocate and work together with them to create a fruitful urban and administrative civil body under their control.
A "Palestinian State" will be another failed experiment, which will bring additional disappointments and bloodshed to the region. A transparent, democratic Palestinian Authority is the only hope.
4. Jerusalem is the city of the Jewish people and the Capital City of the State of Israel. This has been an undeniable fact for 3,000 years. There is no theological basis for the Arab claims to Jerusalem. It is not mentioned in the Koran, and has only been "turned holy" to Islam in a cynical political assault in the last 40-60 years. Israel shall no longer participate in this game.
In your Cairo speech, you repeatedly suggested speaking truthfully and honestly. A noble offer, no doubt. You have also stated, however, that the "dislocation of the Palestinians has been going on for over 60 years". In saying this, Mr. President, you lent strength to the false Palestinian "Nakba" claim. No longer is the issue the refugee problem that was the aftermath of the Six Day War of 1967, but the Palestinian disaster caused by the very creation of the State of Israel, in 1948. I doubt that you realize the full and terrible ramifications of such a statement to my personal well-being or the future of my children in Israel, let alone the very serious damage this will do to our ability to reach a peaceful resolution with our neighbors.
You also expressed the idea that Israel was recreated as a consequence of the Holocaust. While this is not accurate, it is not your fault. We ourselves have promoted this foolish doctrine in the past 60 years. But if truth and honesty is what we seek, please note that Zionism was "alive and well" way back in the late 19th Century. The immigration to the Land, to our "Eretz-Israel", our redemption of this land by the return of Jews to their historic homeland started back then. Even the League of Nations designated this land to the "Restoration" - in those very words - of the Jewish people in their homeland. It included all of Judea, Samaria and Jordan of today.
We do not blame you for failing to see this, Mr.President. Many even here in Israel do not see this anymore. But when the President of the United States preaches "truth and honesty," it would best serve the purpose to stick to facts, not to Arab propaganda.
I am confident that you are a fair man with good intentions, Mr.Obama. I do not think that you knowingly seek to harm Israel. I believe the accusations of you being an "Arabist" are nonsense. If Tzippy Livni, leader of the Kadima party in Israel, is the most active agent for promoting a Palestinian State, if Avigdor Liberman could offer portions of the Galilee (!!!) to the Palestinians, if Ehud Barak could pressure Arafat to take control of East-Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, (Camp-David, June 1999), if Ariel Sharon was able to destroy and relocate Jewish towns twice (1978 Sinai, 2005 Gush-Katif ), how can we, in all fairness, be upset with you?
I am aware that my letter will probably not influence you. It will be easy for you to continue in the sorry direction you have started. You will go on to promising that America will not threaten nor dictate to other countries, but you will threaten and dictate - only to the Israelis. I can only be saddened Mr.President, that there is no serious Israeli figure today, who will stand up to you, who will correct you, who will work together with you, to take a more just and moral approach. The fact is that Israel has produced the kind of leadership that will make it easy for you. Peace, unfortunately, what we really need so badly here, will never come out of it.
Israel will continue in its ideological deterioration and its strategic margins will continue to narrow. All, of course, in the name of "Peace." And as we watch it happen in the years to come, more Presidents will come after you, and push us more, and more.
But please don't feel bad, Mr. President. You have no reason to feel bad because the painful truth is, you are not to blame for your ideas. It is us. We did this to ourselves.
Respectfully,
Raanan (Rani) Levy