An open letter to Matt Rees and Time Magazine

Mark Appleton

Mikial ben Yisrael

JanWillem van der Hoeven

Naomi Honey

"Fields Of Fire"

“The Boy and the Stone” BY MATT REES/GAZA CITY

“Wael Imad wanted a one-way ticket to martyrdom. It was an early morning in late October, just as the latest Palestinian riots were gathering strength, when the lively 14-year-old entered his father's tiny used-furniture store in Jabalia, a ramshackle town in the north of the Gaza Strip. "I won't be able to come see you tomorrow, Daddy, so can you give me two days' allowance right now?" he asked. Mohammed Imad, unsuspecting, forked over the money. It was less than a dollar, the cost of a shared taxi to the Israeli outpost at Erez, where young Palestinians clashed daily with the guards. Wael left the store and met school friend Hussein Hamoudeh. "I need to go only one way," he told Hussein. "I'll come back in an ambulance."

Well, Mr. Rees. I don’t know whether to congratulate you or feel sorry for you. Congratulate you on ingeniously portraying a pathetic (and tragic) story of a boy and his misguided actions into one of heroism, wrenching tears no less than that other amusing and fictional piece, “Old Yeller”!

But, I think it is more true that one needs to feel sorry for you. I am wondering, do you do this type of writing to advance your career, building on it the perpetuation of myths and dissention? I am also wondering when was the last time you read a history book on the middle east? I think never, as if you had you would know and understand that what is going on down in Gaza is fueled by ignorance and world public opinion – which you obviously are a victim of yourself - on both counts.

In addition, do you not ask yourself what kind of father would hide behind his son in battle - a misconceived battle, by the way, which began by order of Arafat. Which will end by the order of Arafat. Unless you are blind, you should see that no one is attacking these people. All Gazians injured in these incidents are victims of their own hostilities (misguided as the are). The Israeli soldiers are reacting, not initiating. But you know this, so why do you write as you write.

If you were knowledgeable about wars, conflicts, and armies, especially in this last century you would know that there has never existed an army, of such high moral standards as the Israeli army. Israeli soldiers did not murder and abuse the original citizens of the U.S.A and Canada – the “North American Indian”. They did not mow down innocents of a dubious “empire” as the British did where ever they set foot. They did not murder and rape as we saw in the aftermath of the dissolving of the USSR and as we heard about after the Vietnam war. And they are not wantonly gunning down defenseless passers-by.

So what are you writing about? What are your ulterior motives? Are you just plain anti-Jewish and anti Israel? . . . .

Mikial ben Yisrael, Canada