From: melsant@vipac.org Date: Sun 3 Apr 2005 Subject: Support Israel! Keep your promise of Israeli rule in Ma'aleh Dear Mr. President: On Friday March 25 your Secretary of State Condi Rice harshly criticized Israel's plans to build 3200 housing units in the Jerusalem suburb of Ma'aleh Adumim which is already home to over 30000 Israeli Jews. She said these new Jewish homes in this Jerusalem suburb were "at odds with American policy" which is a harsh barely diplomatic expression. She then spoke dismissively and disrespectfully of Israeli justifications for these Jewish homes next to Jerusalem. She characterized Israel's Biblical historical and security rights to live near Jerusalem as "not really a satisfactory response." Yet in a letter to Prime Minister Sharon dated April 14 2004 you wrote that a final peace deal with the Palestinian Authority would not be made on the basis of Israel's 1967 boundaries but would reflect the "new realities on the ground including already existing major Israeli population centers." Ma'aleh Adumim is among the largest of these already existing major Israeli population centers. For you to allow Secretary Rice to condemn Jewish homes built there is to violate your pledge to Prime Minister Sharon and to the people of Israel contained in your letter of April 14. Breaking pledges to the Jewish people in Israel may seem to have the advantage of political expediency. After all there are about a billion Moslems in the world and only about 12 million Jews. But the British Empire made that same calculation after World War 1 and it did not work out so well for them. First the British promised to build a Jewish National Home on both sides of the Jordan River in order to receive their League of Nations Mandate. And then the British calculated that there was more profit in siding with the Arabs and their oil than with the Jews and their National Home so they abandoned their promises to the Jews of Israel. In the years following this betrayal the English lost most of their Empire saw much of London burned by the Blitz and were ultimately evicted from all of their strategic positions in the Middle East. Please Mr. President don't follow the folly and fate of the British. Support loudly and clearly Israel's right to build 3200 new Jewish homes in Ma'aleh Adumim just as you promised in your letter of April 14. Please support Israel's Biblical historical and security rights in Jerusalem Judea Samaria and the Golan Heights not just for Israel's sake but for America's sake as well. Sincerely |