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Letters

Editor: Dr. Moishe Golubchuk's recent letter to the Bulletin ("Supposition and extrapolation," March 8) attacks Jews for a Just Peace, stating that "nothing in their message shows that they are interested in a just peace for Jews and for the state of Israel," accusing us of not being candid about our intentions and implying that we advocate the expulsion of Jews from Israel. These characterizations of our position are false and represent the opposite of what we stand for.

Jews for a Just Peace is an organization of Vancouver Jews whose purpose is to build support in our community for a fair and just resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We believe such a just and lasting peace can come only by recognizing the humanity and cherishing the human and democratic rights of both Jews and Palestinians.

We care deeply for Israel. We believe Israel has the right to exist and endure, and its people to live in peace and security. We also believe the Palestinian people have the right to live in peace and security and to establish their own viable independent state in the whole of the West Bank and Gaza Strip should they so wish. We believe the peace, security and self-determination of both peoples are not contradictory; indeed, they are interdependent.

We believe the most urgent obstacle to peace has been and remains Israel's ongoing occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and the consequent oppression of the Palestinians. Occupation is violence and this occupation must end before there can be any hope of a true and lasting peace.

We deplore all violence against civilians. This includes violence against Jewish civilians, through suicide bombings and other terrorist attacks, for example. It also includes violence against Palestinian civilians, as during the present invasion and bombardment of cities and refugee camps. We observe that throughout this conflict, the vast majority of deaths and injuries have been inflicted on Palestinians, many of them children.

We do not believe that Israel's security is served by injustice against Palestinians. On the contrary. We agree with former Shin Bet head Ami Ayalon that maintaining the occupation - as current tragic events demonstrate all too clearly - will only intensify the cycle of violence, leading, we fear, to catastrophic disaster for all inhabitants in the region. It is against such present and future tragedy that our struggle is dedicated.

Dr. Golubchuk challenges us to respond to the suggestion that Jews should "leave Palestine (and Israel) or face death." We accept this challenge and our answer is clear and unequivocal: we reject and condemn all such threats. We have a question of our own, for ourselves and for our community: How should we respond to statements and actions that deny the human and democratic rights of the Palestinians?

Stephen Aberle,
on behalf of Jews for a Just Peace
Vancouver

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