Appraising the American Relationship with the Middle East                                                                                                                               

Questions and Answers are cited below as "Q" and "A"

These quotations are out of Harvard professor, Dershowitz's "What Israel Means to Me," which is a collection of representative aspects of the realities of the Middle East.

1. Q: Is there an overall description applicable here?

A: "We stand with Israel because Israel is a beacon of freedom and hopeñto the world generally, and in a more important sense to the Middle East. In its very Declaration of Independence, Israel proclaimed that it would ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex. It will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the holy places of all religions."

"Israel has kept faith with the promise of its founding, a founding more similar to America's than perhaps any other nation's."

2. Q: The commentator, Meron Benvenisti says: "I've earned my doubts, pain, and worries. I am as much a part of this land as its stones, it is only natural fact that I fear about the future of my grandchildren. What am I leaving them?"

"On September 11, 2001, Israelis lowered their flags to half-staff in empathy with the United States. By contrast, Palestinians in the West Bank were cheering in the streets."

3. Q: Who is the stater of the above foundational fact?

A: The stater of the foundational fact is William J. Bennett, former U.S. Secretary of Education, host of nationally syndicated radio show, "Morning in America," and also Washington Fellow of the Claremont Institute and chairman of Americans for Victory over terrorism."

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cc: George W. Bush, President
George H.W. Bush, Former President
Richard Cheney, Vice President John Kerry, Senator
Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State
Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense
Colonel Oliver North
Michael Chertoff, Secretary of Homeland Security
Alberto Gonzales, U.S. Attorney General
Tony Blair, Prime Minister of Great Britain
Jack Straw, British Foreign Secretary
Newt Gingrich, Former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives
Ehud Olmert, Prime Minister of Israel
His Excellency Daniel Ayalon Ambassador of Israel
Benjamin Netanyahu, Economy Minister for the Israeli Government
Israel's "Women In Green"
National Unity Coalition for Israel
Arianna Huffington, Syndicated Columnist
Yohanan Ramati, Chairman, Jerusalem Institute for Western Defense
Gerardo Joffe, FLAME (Facts & Logic About the Middle East)
Mortimer Zuckerman, Editor in Chief - US News and World Report
Time Magazine
Washington Post - Attn: Bob Woodward
International Jerusalem Post
The Weekly Standard ñ Bill Kristol, Editor
The Wall Street Journal - Editorial and Op-Ed Department
The New York Times, Op-Ed Department
Los Angeles Times, Op-Ed Department
Dr. and Mrs. Jordan Phillips, Medical Books for China International
MoveOn PAC/www.MoveonPac.Org