I want to congratulate Ben Daniel on his letter (March 20) in which he suggests that Israel should ”free itself from Washington`s purse strings,” a point I have been making for many years.
As an American Jew who does not agree with Israel`s policies and politics, I feel strongly that the oppressed have now become the oppressors, and they have no right to ask us to support these oppressions by loan guarantees.
I would like to remind Ben Daniel and other Israel supporters that without the millions and billions of dollars poured by the U.S. into Israel each year for the last 44 years, there would be no Israel today. If Israel wants to defy humani-tarian rules and goals, then let that nation stand on its own.
The only way I would support loan guarantees is the creation of a new government in Israel that would welcome the opportunity to work with the Palestinian people with the true desire to give the Palestinians a right to their homeland.
It seems to me that Israel`s existence depends on the recog-nition of the fact that peace will never be achieved without a sin-cere desire on both parts for ac-commodation. From what many of my Palestinian acquaintances tell me, they are waiting for the first honest move by Israel to prove it is sincerely willing to be part of the peace process.
Sharon and Shamir have thrown nothing but building blocks (literally) in the way of a peaceful solution to the Pales-tinians` long expressed desire for a return to their homes. It`s a shame that a people whose property and liberties had been stolen by the Nazis have been doing the same thing to another group of people these many years.
