In my inbox of articles and ripostes I missed: Roger Cohen, yet again -- yawn! -- putting the boot into Israel, in an article "A year of waste", which I confess I missed, but the tone of which one knows, both from Cohen's predilections and biases, and from the letter in riposte. [Update: here is
Cohen's article]
Cohen is part of that cohort in the New York Times and its international edition I get here in Hong Kong, the International Herald Tribune, which put the torch to Israel's feet, and never once mention the need for Palestinian leaderships to put up their side of the bargain: recognition of Israel and its guaranteed security.
So, good on Fiona Grady for this letter, "The only road to real peace":
Cohen's article]
Cohen is part of that cohort in the New York Times and its international edition I get here in Hong Kong, the International Herald Tribune, which put the torch to Israel's feet, and never once mention the need for Palestinian leaderships to put up their side of the bargain: recognition of Israel and its guaranteed security.
So, good on Fiona Grady for this letter, "The only road to real peace":
I.H.T. OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
The Only Road to Real Peace
Published: July 18, 2011
Roger Cohen (“A year of waste,” Globalist, July 15) writes that Israel’s demand that Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state is an “obsession” of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s, and that this is “absurd — a powerful indication of growing Israeli insecurities, isolation and intolerance.”
However, a brief look at Israel’s neighboring states reveals that most of them have the word “Arab” in their official names, as in Arab Republic of Egypt and Syrian Arab Republic. Jordan’s official name indicates the ethnicity of the ruling minority: Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The Palestinian charter makes a repeated usage of “Arab Palestinian people.” Meanwhile, some Palestinian factions do not even recognize Israel’s right to exist, let alone its existence as a Jewish state. Even “moderate” Palestinian factions continue to insist that the millions of descendents of Palestinian refugees have a right of return into Israel.
With this in mind, Israelis are absolutely right to demand that Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Only this will guarantee that there will be no future claims. This is the only road to real peace and mutual coexistence.
Fiona Grady, Chicago
