Sent: Monday, December 21, 2009 10:03 AM
Subject: Letter Opportunity; Model Letter Below
Ed Pearl
LA Times: one item today:
--- An article on page A21 reports on the Egyptian and Arab press reaction
to Egypt's plan to install a 100-foot deep steel wall along the border to
block tunnels.
NY Times : nothing today:
You have an opportunity to write a letter to the editor to express your
views about peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A model letter to
the LA Times is below our signature. Use the model letter as your own,
modify it as you see fit, or be inspired to write your own letter. The LA
Times letter may be applicable to the NY Times.
E-mail your letter to
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Please pass this letter-to-the-editor prompt on to others who might be
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best jeff
MODEL LETTER - START # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #
RE: "Egypt-Gaza barrier called 'wall of shame'," Dec. 21
Egypt has a right to control its border. The 100-foot deep steel wall Egypt
is building along the border raises two issues. First, the real issue is
the right for the 1.5 million people living in Gaza to a decent quality of
life. Israel must open the crossings to allow legal commerce and not force
the Gazan people to rely on the illegal trade through the tunnels, that by
the way helps fund Hamas. Second, Who is paying for this wall? A 100-foot
deep steel wall along the Egypt-Gaza border will likely cost $100 million.
I hope the United States government is not spending tax dollars to protect
Egypt's border.
Your Name
Your city
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http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/12/10/palestinian.qa
Palestinian Leader Speaks from Prison
The first day of peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis is
the last day in the life of the occupation -- Marwan Barghouti
CNN Interviews Marwan Barghouti : December 10, 2009
Jerusalem (CNN) -- One of the key players in Palestinian politics and
therefore in any future peace talks with Israel has spoken to CNN from his
Israeli prison cell. Marwan Barghouti is serving five life sentences
following his conviction in an Israeli court on murder and other charges
related to his role in planning attacks on Israelis during the second
Intifada.
He is considered by many Palestinians to be the most important prisoner who
might be released in a deal for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
For many Palestinians he is the only political successor to Mahmoud Abbas
who recently announced that he would not be seeking re-election for the
office of President of the Palestinian Authority.
Barghouti is a member of the central committee of Fatah, and a member of the
Palestinian Legislative Council. From Hadarim prison he answered CNN's
questions through his lawyer, Khader Shkirat.
Will you run for president in upcoming elections? What makes you a good
candidate for president?
When there is a permanent date for the presidential and legislative
elections, and when national reconciliation has been achieved, and when we
are capable of holding elections in the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem, then
I will take the appropriate decision. I am proud in obtaining the popular
support from the Palestinian people in and outside of the country, and also
getting on the most votes in the polls that have been conducted along these
years.
Some of the media have you described you as a "Palestinian Nelson Mandela."
Can you ever hope to satisfy these incredibly high expectations?
I highly respect the experience and resistance of the great African leader
Mandela, who led his people to independence and freedom. I wish to be able
to contribute in achieving freedom and independence for the Palestinian
people. Mandela succeeded because he found a partner like de Klerk, but in
Israel there is no de Gaulle that ended the French colonization of Algeria
and also there is no de Klerk that ended the Apartheid regime.
Have you changed at all during your years in prison? Have your political
views and approach to politics changed?
Prison is a very harsh and bitter place especially since I spent most of my
time in solitary confinement then in group confinement, but my political
views have not changed. I believe in a two-state solution living side by
side in peace and security, and I consider that the key to peace between
Israelis and Palestinians is the end of the Israeli occupation and the
withdrawal to 1967 borders.
In the past, you criticized the Palestinian Authority for corruption. Do you
think the Palestinian Authority needs change and reform and a period of
leadership under younger politicians like yourself?
The Palestinian Authority has come a long way in fighting and reforming
corruption, but this is not enough. The Palestinian Authority needs to do
more. It is unfortunate and sad that there have not been any sentences or
charges against any of those corrupt officials until now. We are in need now
to reinstate a transparent and independent justice system, and to establish
rule of law and the cessation of human rights abuses, and strengthening the
individual freedoms, the freedom of the press and fostering political
pluralism.
How would you resolve the conflict between Fatah and Hamas?
During my time in prison brothers from various parties and I were able to
draft a prisoners document which became the framework for a national unity
document that all 13 Palestinian parties signed on June 27, 2006. It is the
first document in the history of Palestinian parties, that the PLO, Hamas,
and Islamic Jihad participated in and agreed on a state with 1967 borders,
and accepted the PLO and the president of the Palestinian Authority to
negotiate in the name of Palestinians, and accepted the call for a national
unity government. The conflict will be resolved by referring back to this
document and with the signature of all [parties] on the Egyptian national
reconciliation document, and by resorting to presidential and legislative
elections, and by respecting the law and ending internal strife and through
the reestablishment of a national unity government.
Your approach to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has been described as one
of "resistance and negotiation." What kind of resistance does this mean?
Bombs? Rock-throwing? Civil disobedience? Sit-ins and marches?
All freedom movements negotiated and resisted, and what I mean by resistance
is the one that is permitted under international law and has international
legitimacy.
At this stage the political, diplomatic and negotiating approach, in
addition to the popular peaceful resistance, is an acceptable matter in
keeping with the existing conditions. It is the right of the Palestinian
people to resist the Israeli military and settlement occupation which the
International Court of Justice at The Hague has approved in addition to
international law, the United Nations charter, and all religions.
Do you think there is any hope for your release in a prisoner exchange any
time soon?
I am part of the list that Hamas is negotiating over, and I have high hopes
and expectations to be released in this deal.
How do you feel when Israel trades up to 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for
just one Israeli soldier?
Israel is holding inside its prisons and detention facilities more than
10,000 Palestinian prisoners, some of whom have spent more than 32 years of
their life inside prisons. Also, Israel detains hundreds of prisoners
without trial or charges or anything. Israel is an occupying country that
uses oppression and aggression against the Palestinians for decades. It
confiscates land, builds illegal settlements, kills and assassinates, and
arrests close to 500 Palestinians on a monthly basis, establishes and erects
military checkpoints, besieges the Gaza strip. The Palestinians have one
soldier to return for 10,000 prisoners, so it is natural to request the
largest possible number. For Israel the soldier is the army, and the army
means the state. So the deal will release 100 percent of Israelis in return
for 10 percent of the Palestinian prisoners.
Israeli politicians have been visiting you in prison. Why are they coming to
you? What do they ask you about?
Not one single Israeli official has met with me since my kidnapping in April
2002, only a certain number of Israeli Knesset members have visited me. Most
of them conduct many visits to prisons and meet with a number of prisoners.
Most of the time the conversations are on developments in the political
situation, and about the practices of the Israeli occupation. They listened
to my point-of-view in which I have always maintained that the first day of
peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis is the last day in the life
of the occupation. And the two-state solution is the solution most capable
of life even though it is becoming more difficult as time passes.
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