Letters to the Editor October 8, 1997

ONE-HALF MILLION DEAD JEWS ARE TOLERATED ON MOUNT OF OLIVES

Monday, September 29, 1997, the front page of the New York Times carried a picture of Dr. Irving Moskowitz alongside that of Jerusalem's mayor, Ehud Olmert. The headline read, U.S. Doctor's Donations Fuel Mideast Storm. The article continued on page A6 in a four column, 3/4 page, approximately 2500 word denunciation of Dr. Moskowitz's alleged manipulation of "a right-wing Israeli leader negotiating on the future of the Arab-Israeli peace…with a right-wing American Jew." The article makes a point of trying to discredit Dr. Moskowitz's philanthropy, and sees fit to depict his legal purchase of land in Jerusalem as 'land-grabbing'. His latest "provocation" occurred when he permitted Jews to inhabit one house that he owns on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. The press persists in calling this area Ras al-Amud. It is actually adjacent to the Wall of the Old City, and to the cemetery where one-half million Jews are buried.

This cemetery is constantly being desecrated by the Arabs, and during the Jordanian occupation of Jerusalem from 1948-1967, the gravestones were used as splashboards for latrines, and for paving the streets. Once Jerusalem was liberated, the Mount of Olives was under the protection of the Israelis. It is very Jewish. But its occupants are dead. This Judaization of Jerusalem is barely tolerable to the Arabs. Living Jews, inhabiting homes legally owned by Jews, is not to be tolerated!!!

Let's turn the page and examine what happens when Arabs buy land in Jewish sections of Jerusalem. Dr. Moskowitz wrote a response to the article about him which was reduced to approximately 250 words, and relegated to a mid-section of the Letters to the Editor on Wednesday, October 8, 1997. The caption read, " Arab Donors, Too, Are Buying Land in Jerusalem." It is hardly an inflammatory headline, nor one that would "fuel Middle East storms." But the information contained therein should alarm anyone concerned about the territorial integrity of Jerusalem and Israel's security. The Times made an extensive check on the facts presented by Dr. Moskowitz, and finding them incontrovertibly true, had no choice but to print the information, albeit reluctantly. The facts are: "Abaleh Salem, an Arab, bought a house in Talpiot. No one reacted. King Hassan of Morocco is managing a huge Islamic slush fund directed at Jerusalem; a $70 million Jerusalem estate pool has been accumulated by businessmen in the Palestinian "diaspora"; a $50 million Jordanian-Saudi investment company is spearheading construction of Arab housing in East Jerusalem, and Saudi Arabia has pledged $19 million to Arafat as a down payment for the construction of 600 housing units in four Jerusalem neighborhoods." Silence.

The disparity between the reactions to a lone investor's efforts to enable Jews to live in the capital city of their sovereign nation of Israel, and the total silence when it comes to many millions of dollars pouring in from Arab individuals and Arab nations throughout the world once again underlines the awful truth about the Middle East. It is a dangerous neighborhood for Jews, made more so by the daily bias and distortion of a powerful press that chooses to use its influence to destroy, rather than present the truth.

Helen Freedman, Executive Director, Americans For a Safe Israel, 212-828-2424

Dear Networker - The above letter was sent to many newspapers, including the NY Times. Please use it to urge your own papers to publicize the Arab building program.