Anees of Jerusalem was upset by reading here about Benny Morris's new book, One State, Two States, where he says that Palestinians value human life less than Israelis, and are lousier drivers, and so he wrote to the publisher, Yale University Press. And said:
I'm a 31 year old Palestinian from Jerusalem. My mother and father,
who taught me something about right and wrong, who lauded my triumphs
and accepted my failures, often drove me to and from school, quite
safely, as I grew up. I can add my uncle as well: he picked me up many
mornings in his clunky old two-door Fiat, and seemed to drive quite
well despite the sometimes uncooperative vehicle. He also was mindful
of the world and never seemed not to care about human life.
Do I have to continue down the list of Palestinians that I've
known, both young and old, both drivers and not, and how they don't
seem to be the barbarians described in that paragraph?
I'm
appalled that racist language such as Mr Benny Morris's above is
published by your establishment. Those words are pure colonialist
racism. I am sure at some point in recent history some whites in
Apartheid-era South Africa
wrote a paragraph or two lamenting criminal tendencies, nonexistent
human values, and careless driving habits as characteristics of 'the
blacks'. Would you have published them? Would you publish them today?
Please, give me an answer. In the meantime, I am driving my car carefully and trying not to bump anybody.
