XX XXXXXX
XXXXXX
Wellington 6003
New Zealand
Phone xx
xxxxxxx
e-mail j.monro@mac.com
Homepage http://homepage.mac.com/j.monro
7 February 2009
The Ambassador
The Israeli Embassy
Wellington
New Zealand.
Dear Mr Ambassador Rotem,
A few minutes ago I donated
$100 to the Red Cross appeal for victims of the assault by your country on
Gaza. I write to protest that I had to do this, because there are more
than enough problems and there is more than enough misery in the world without
having to pick up the pieces after the entirely man-made and unnecessary
conflict and murderous attack on the people of Gaza. My $100 could have gone to
the starving in Africa, due to drought or famine.
I could be very rude, but I
won't, there's no point. You are a human being and deserve respect and
politeness from me, I have never met you, and perhaps you are as horrified by
the actions of your country on Gaza as I am. I certainly hope so. But I would
contend what Israel inflicted on Gaza was an appalling act of brutality –
disproportionate, cruel and almost certainly illegal. I write to you also
because the New Zealand government has failed in its duty to take you and your
government to task for this pointless violence, at the very least you should
have been summoned to the Prime MinisterÕs office to be given a letter of
protest. I have written to John Key and Murray McCully about this, but not
having had a reply yet, I must write to you myself. Our reputation for our
ethical foreign policies has suffered as a result.
It is true that your
citizens have faced murderous assaults by some extreme Palestinians, but what
on Earth do you hope to gain by killing many more of their innocent brothers and
sisters, fathers and mothers and children, destroying their homes, hospitals,
workplaces and livelihoods? I suppose your government made some sort of
strategic evaluation of what you were doing, but I'd be interested to read it,
because if there was ever a way of evaluating hatred, your government has
certainly scored a jackpot, both within Gaza and now in the wider world as
well.
There can be no justice in
this world, no contentment, no peace until all of us understand the pernicious
and destructive effects of violence, and that recourse to violence to gain
political ends is futile. I am surprised that in sixty years of history in
Israel, and some thousands of years of history of the Jewish people this fact
has still to register with you and your countrymen.
There are only two possible
solutions to this problem:
1) That Israel withdraws to
its borders prior to the 1967 war, that it dismantles all walls and impediments
to normal life in Palestine, and returns all occupied lands and Israeli
settlements to its rightful holders, the Palestinians. With luck, and good
will, the Palestinians may show some magnanimity to your country, which
seems to be rather more than Israel has ever shown in regard to the
Palestinians, accept the pre-1967 borders of your country and construct their
own country in which they can prosper and thrive.
2) What would be preferable
though is that the State of Israel disbands itself, and all present Israelis
work with their Palestinian sisters and brothers to a create a unified state,
recognising each other's right to exist and work together to create a
harmonious and successful state in the Middle East. That way the wealth and
happiness of both communities will be maximised. Money presently used to
purchase armaments, and given to you in large amounts by successive American
administrations, will aid this transition.
What is happening now in
your lands is tragic and immoral, but it is also absurd. You and all of us are
going to face over the next one hundred years much more massive and intractable
problems than any mindless arguments that you presently have with your
neighbours. Global warming, environmental degradation and oil and raw material
depletion are momentous problems that threaten our very survival as a species on
this planet. For you and your fellow citizens, in one of the hottest and driest
areas of the world, to be wasting your, and my, precious resources on such
immoral and pointless actions as the assault on Gaza is so preposterous, it's
almost laughable. Such revolutionary environmental changes are promising you
that your country will more than likely be unliveable in, and all the problems,
wars, violence, pride, arrogance and human folly will be as nothing, as
the dust and sand blow over your and your children's dreams.
Shalom,
Dr John K Monro, MB.ChB.
General medical
practitioner
Explanation.
I wrote this letter sometime after I wrote to
Mr Key. I originally found an e-mail address for the Embassy on the internet.
So I sent it to this. However the e-mail was returned, as the account had been
closed. So I printed the letter out, and took it by hand to what was advertised
as the Israeli embassy address in Willis St. But I couldnÕt find any mention of
the Israeli embassy in the foyer. So I had to take the letter back with me. I
got a stamp and posted it to the box address, but then it too was returned to
me, box no longer used.
Is there an Israeli Embassy in Wellington? I
no longer know. Perhaps the Israeli Embassy is afraid of attacks on its
premises. That wouldnÕt be surprising.
Perhaps if IsraelÕs behaviour to its neighbours improved and Israel were
to obey the numerous UN resolutions calling for IsraelÕs withdrawal to its pre
1967 borders the Embassy wouldnÕt need to skulk in hiding, and I would be able
to make my point with the Ambassador directly, rather than having to post it to
my web site. JKM