Dershowitz's Letter Shows Him Out of Touch

To the editors:

Professor of Law Alan M. Dershowitz claims that he was misconstrued in The Crimson, that he “never said that students and professors who signed the petition were anti-Semitic.” (Letters, “Debate Coverage Misses Point of Article,” Oct. 9) It is, I suppose, good news that he dissociates himself from the blatant assertion of racism attributed to him.

But I was surprised to see no reaction to what looks like an even more serious misquotation on the substance of the petition, given that Dershowitz derisively accuses those who disagree with him of factual ignorance. The coverage of the Winthrop House “debate” reports him as saying: “It’s a little bit strange that there should be such a huge debate about four issues which have already been resolved.”

The whole matter has precisely to do with these four unresolved issues. Here are just two of the four conditions in the petition: 1) That Israel [be] in compliance with United Nations Resolution 242 which calls for withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from occupied territories; 2) In compliance with the Fourth Geneva Convention (Article 49, paragraph 6), Israel cease building new settlements, and vacate existing settlements, in the occupied territories.

If these issues have “already been resolved,” then I have spent the last few years on a different planet.

Richard F. Thomas

Oct. 10, 2002

The writer is professor of Greek and Latin and chair of the Department of the Classics.