A letter

Just sent to the Los Angeles Times. It's a bit long to be published, but hopefully it will encourage them to check their facts more carefully.

To the editors,

Having read and reread his article "Why the Gaza Pullout Matters," [11 May 2005] I cannot help but be concerned by some of David Miller's contentions regarding the legal status of Israel's Arab citizens.

Mr. Miller describes Israeli Arabs as having no access to "military or national service." I assume he meant to write that they are not actively recruited into national service, which would have been mostly true. (At the request of their own community, young Druze men are conscripted into the Israeli Defense Forces.) Many Arab citizens — especially within the Bedu population — volunteer to serve. I vividly remember hearing of a Hamas attack in Gaza some years ago in which four Israeli soldiers died defending their base. All four were Arabs, and all four were Muslims.

Rather more curious is Miller's invocation of the state of African Americans in the 1950s in order to describe Israeli Arabs' plight. It is indeed a sad fact that this community receives inadequate funding from the government. Its constituents face pervasive social discrimination, even as they are granted the same theoretical rights as all other citizens. Many of them — especially young men — are easily profiled as threats, and are often treated accordingly. Be advised, Mr. Miller, that there is no need to look back half a century. This is the state of African Americans today.

Yours,
Lawrence ________
West Jerusalem, Israel