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Letter to Sun-Sentinel I
enjoyed reading Philip Terzian’s opinion entitled “Virtual
imprisonment riles Palestinians” (Sun-Sentinel, 8/24/01) In it, Mr.
Terzian single-handedly attempts to deconstruct public sentiment and
journalistic empathy (!) towards the plight of Israel’s survival. He specifically quotes Michael Kelly, editor of The
Atlantic and George Will of The Washington Post Writers Group saying
that their recognition of Israel’s crisis is the result of the Mideast
violence having “an intoxicating…effect on the minds of
journalists”. He also
accuses the unrest of having a “coarsening effect on America” which
has produced Vice President Dick Cheney’s implied endorsement of
Israel’s “policy of assassination toward Palestinian civilians”
and has turned you and I into “counselors of ethnic cleansing”. When Mr.
Terzian’s next picnic is ruined by fire ants, I challenge him to
ignore the bites, fully embracing the concept that although the ants
reside in all of the many surrounding acres of park land, if they want
to throw him off of his small patch of blanket and use violent bites as
their means, than so be it. And
Heaven forbid he should attempt to remove them, forcibly or otherwise,
from his blanket area! (Needless to say, the use of “Off!” or any
other repellant would be tantamount to “antnic” cleansing and would
also be seriously condemned). In a note of
accidental solidarity, Greek-Orthodox
archbishop of Aleppo, Paulus Yazgi said, "Israeli racist policy is
based on preventing coexistence, not only in Palestine, …(It)
threatens the future of the whole world." (Sun-Sentinel 8/20/01
– “In Syria, a half-million march in support of
Palestinians”). The
sentiments of Mr. Terzian and Archbishop Yazgi seem to be in wonderful
harmony. The
funny thing is that unlike George Will, Michael Kelly, and Dick Cheney,
until I read the words of Mr. Terzian and Archbishop Yazgi in my local
Sun-Sentinel, I had never heard of either of them. To
me, this reiterates that classic simile about opinions and how everyone
has one. - Simon Mirsky |