CAMERA Letter Published in Boston Globe

OCTOBER 17, 2004

Clarification of adviser’s statement

THE GLOBE’S Oct. 13 editorial (“Unguarded on Gaza”) about comments by Ariel Sharon’s advisor, Dov Weisglass, drastically misrepresented his interview with the Israeli daily Haaretz.

     Weisglass recapped the long established Israeli and American position, which states that there will be no negotiating with the Palestinians — until such time as their leadership abandons terror. In line with President Bush’s formula for peace expressed on June 24, 2002, Weisglass explained, Israel insists that “the swamp of terrorism be drained before a political process begins.”

     Because this abandoning of terror does not seem forthcoming and because the continuation of Palestinian terror has stalled the road map, Weisglass added, a unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip is necessary to “preserve” this vision for a peaceful Palestinian state. “The disengagement plan is the bottle of formaldehyde within which you place the president’s formula so that it will be preserved for a very lengthy period.”

     In claiming that Weisglass asserted that “the true aim of Sharon’s plan to withdraw from Gaza is to freeze the peace process embodied in the road map endorsed by…Bush,” the Globe editorial distorted completely the crux of Weisglass’ comments.

GILEAD INI
COMMITTEE FOR ACCURACY IN
MIDDLE EAST REPORTING IN
AMERICA

Boston

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