Arab & Jew

To the Editors of The Crimson:

This letter is in reponse to Steve Lichtman's editorial evaluation of David Shipler's book, Arab and Jew: Wounded Spirit in a Promised Land. His analysis of the book is probably fair, but in the process he makes various political assertions of his own which are unqualified, vague and even factually untrue.

First, he states that Arab textbooks and papers used in the West Bank "exhibit virulent militarism and anti-semitism." This is simply not true as all Arab publications must pass through the hands of an Israeli censor.

Second, he seems to doubt that the heads of the P.L.O. are the legitimate "leaders" of the Palestinian people. This is also untrue as votes and polls have shown between 60 and 80 percent of Palestinians support the organization.

Third, he theorizes that the Palestinian leaders have resisted Israeli attempts to provide the Palestinians with better housing so as to have a steady supply of "dirty and deprived young boys to send on suicide missions inside of Israel." This is too simplistic. Most Palestinian refugee camps are outside of Israel's borders and Israel has only offered to house a fraction of them-hence helping to explain the existence of these refugee camps in the first place.

Finally, he states that the "cycles of violence and animosity which have made victims of Palestinians and Israelis have their source in the betrayal of the Palestinian people by other Arabs and their own leaders." It is dangerous to make sweeping generalizations like this (especially when dealing with the Middle East), without attempting first to establish the facts. Such statements can only lead to further misunderstandings and hence to further strife. Teymour Farman-Farmaian '88