Attitudes Toward Palestine
Our local station replayed a program you taped in
March (technical problems, they said) in which
you responded to a question about visiting Mt.
Hermon, in the Golan Heights, by saying "you're
lucky it's not located in the West Bank or Gaza
Strip."
I presume your reasoning was that those
places are bad because they're populated by Arabs
(Palestinians). As someone who has worked in the
Arab world (I'm a Foreign Service Officer) for
years, I am not surprised (but continue to be
very disappointed) to hear yet another bigoted
reference, even if indirect, to Arabs.
The fact
is, your listeners, should they choose to visit
Palestine, or any Arab country, would be treated
with respect, courtesy, and above all a degree of
hospitality they would not otherwise experience
-- certainly not in Israel. I hope you will make
some effort in the future to resist further such
prejudicial statements about the Arab world (have
you ever discussed visiting or traveling in that
part of the world?) and to find out for yourself.
Thank you.
Richard
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