Four prominent Israeli writers are urging American Jews to “speak up” against Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir’s policies regarding the administered territories.
In a letter appearing in Sunday’s New York Times, poet Yehuda Amichai, journalist Amos Elon, and novelists Amos Oz and A.B. Yehoshua said Shamir “would like to maintain the status quo forever and continue to rule over 1.5 million Palestinians against their will.”
“We are convinced that the status quo will further corrupt Israeli society and inevitably lead to another major war,” the letter continued. Changing the policies, it said, “also depends on the Jews of America.”
“By their very silence, (American Jews) are massively intervening in Israeli politics and silently but effectively supporting one side in the debate, the tragically wrong side.”
The writers support Foreign Minister Shimon Peres’ calls for political and territorial compromise and a plan by Knesset member Abba Eban of Labor for a “partitioning (of) the country between the two national movements that have fought over it for so long.”
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