Correspondence with Arun Gandhi (Mahatma's grandson)

An Open Letter to Mr. Arun Gandhi
from Maurice Ostroff

August 28, 2004

Dear Mr. Gandhi,

In Hebrew we have an expression “kol hakavod” which literally means all honor to you. It is used when one wishes to encourage someone for doing something admirable. And I am writing to say kol hakavod to you for establishing the Gandhi Institute to honor the memory of your revered grandfather Mahatma Gandhi.

No doubt, you follow your grandfather’s devotion to truth, as expressed in his autobiography “Story of My Experiments with Truth”. I trust therefore that you will welcome a few observations about the truth of the Israel Palestinian conflict.

In an article on your web site “The World After 9/11” you wrote "Palestinian young people are not sacrificing their lives simply because their religion tells them to, nor, as the American media will have us believe, because they are told they will enjoy luxuries and sex with beautiful women in heaven." As this appears to be one of the basic premises governing your outlook on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, I hope that, as a devotee to truth, you will agree that its veracity deserves critical examination.

The cycle of violence commonly quoted in the media is: suicide bombing - Israeli response - retaliatory suicide attack and so on. But this simplified sequence omits the essential initial motivating factor, viz. incitement. To break the cycle, it is essential to remove this obvious root cause.

While the PA sends "messages of peace" in English, it continuously incites its people in Arabic to "Kill and be killed”. PA television spots urge young people to seek a martyr's paradise. It shows a child writing a farewell letter saying "Mother, don't cry over me, be joyous over my blood." Small children, wrapped in mock explosives participate in public parades and are taught to use murderous weapons.

The undeniable truth is that naive young people are in fact being lured by religious exhortations, glorifying death as 'Shahids', and sent to certain death by cruel, cynical recruiters. Yes! cynical. No son of an Arab politician or religious leader has ever blown himself up.

Your description of Israel’s anti-terrorist barrier (ATB) as an apartheid wall, as headlined in The Times of India (Aug. 27) is particularly disconcerting. You are quoted as saying “the barrier, which Israel calls its bulwark against suicide bombers but Palestinians see as a bid to annex occupied land, might isolate Palestinians but not silence them just as apartheid rule failed to suppress blacks in South Africa”. The Times provided some balance by adding, “Israel denies any such intention and rejects comparisons with apartheid South Africa. It says the barrier could be torn down and negotiations on Palestinian statehood could proceed if Palestinians ended attacks on Israelis.”

The irony is that while you obviously intended your rally against the ATB to spread a message of non-violence, it ended with Palestinian youths hurling stones as graphically illustrated in an AP picture.

The truth is that the ATB against which you are protesting has prevented the killing and maiming of countless uninvolved persons including the elderly, the infirm and infants, Jew and Arab alike. It was surely not your intention, but many see your much-publicized protest against the ATB without a simultaneous, highly visible condemnation of Palestinian incitement and terror, as support for that terror. It is difficult to see any resemblance between this rally, which ended in stone throwing, and your grandfather’s famous non-violent Salt March to Dandi.

It is sad that as a lover of peace and truth you appear to have been influenced by abusive labels invented by propagandists, which, though inaccurate, are nevertheless propagated as catch phrases by uncritical media. The appellation of apartheid to Israel is as unjustified as it is offensive. The abhorrent South African apartheid system not only denied the vote to Black citizens, it legislated to force discrimination in almost every aspect of daily life while Israel’s Declaration of Independence specifically "ensures complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race, or gender”.

The truth is that it is Israel’s Arab neighbors, which enforce gender and religious apartheid. The truth is that Israeli Muslims, Christians, Druse and other minority groups enjoy exactly the same civil and political rights as Jews. The truth is that they serve in the Knesset and speak freely against the government. The truth is that Israel is in fact, the only country in the Middle East where voting takes place in a truly democratic manner.

Your revered grandfather wrote:

"When in despair I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won; there have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall."

If we seek the truth, let’s avoid propaganda and fearlessly examine factual history no matter where our enquiry leads. Then let us decide who are the tyrants and murderers and against whom the protests should be directed.

About your visit to Chairman Arafat, you have been quoted as saying "In principle, he agreed to non-violence, but we couldn't come down to any brass tacks. I couldn't pin him down to any action. In an half-hour discussion, I won't change his opinion".

Looking at the half full glass perhaps we should be optimistic about your further statement "The fact that he agreed in principle is a first step. Hopefully we can work on him to move further".

You can help break the cycle of violence if you can persuade the PA to replace the lethal incitement programs, which their kids now receive, with the constructive educational programs they deserve. This would enable the negotiations to resume. What is more, the ATB will become unnecessary and can be torn down, to the great relief of Israelis as well as Palestinians. And you, sir, will be able to extend your peacemaking efforts to regions in dire need, such as Darfur where it has been estimated that 1,400 people are dying daily.