I don’t know Mike Caggiano but I know that his April 30 letter is a distortion of history. If he is talking about roads not taken by Israel I would advise him that some of those roads were blocked. What if the Arabs in 1948 had taken the road to peace and accepted the United Nations Partition Plan. What if instead of attacking Israel and capturing Gaza and the West Bank, Jordan and Egypt would have invested in a Palestinian state. There would have been a two state solution. Instead the world allowed these two Arab nations to illegally occupy land that was to be a Palestinian state. By the way, does anyone remember demonstrations or encampments to oppose this occupation?
Caggiano either does not know, or does not care, to note that following Israel’s victory in 1967 it offered to return all of the territory it captured from Egypt and Jordan in exchange for diplomatic recognition. This led to the infamous Khartoum Declaration of the three NOs: No to recognition, no to negotiations and no to peace with Israel.
Yes, Mike Caggiano, things could have been different if different roads were taken, but the failure for peace lies with the Arabs, not with Israel.
Thanks for your letter. I submitted an LTE, "I stand with Israel," two months after October 7. It looks like you and I are in agreement re: most aspects of this topic.
Ah, my buddy Mike C... I do not agree with a lot of what he says about what's going on in Gaza. However, I will say this about Mike... he is not jumping on a "River to the Sea" bandwagon. While he believes what he is writing, he is willing to listen. You cannot say that for anti-Israel provocateurs who appear in these pages. Remember the DJ's featured story last March about "Rashid" who raised a Hamas flag at his home in San Carlos? That guy would not even give his last name to the DJ's reporter. Mike owns his words unlike Rashid who hides behind his rhetoric. Hopefully, Mike will enter this dialog. We'll see.
Hey Ray, I try to cover all the bases but with limited wordspace it's not easy.
Here's a copy and paste from an earlier letter, the author was Fred and not Bert, sorry for that.
Mike Caggiano May 3, 2025 7:42pm
Bert (Fred) makes some points that deserve discussion. There are indeed responsible Palestinians who now accept the reality of the pre-67 war boundaries, as the demarcation for a new Palestinian state. Mr. Abbas is among them. The nearest both sides have come was during the Ehud Olmert administration where his peace plan did not have enough time to be analyzed and accepted before he lost power. Mr. Abbas refused an election without the voters from East Jerusalem being counted. He might easily have lost, as Bert (Fred) mentions, as he was not very popular. There are certainly lost opportunities on all sides as is usually the case in all conflicts.
Now Mr. Olmert is back and has partnered with Nasser al Kidwa the ex. foreign minister of the Palestinian Authority, and they still see the future as a joint area of co-operation between the sides. Unfortunately, Many Israel backers in the US. prefer to stand with the settler element who see continued displacement and expansion as the way forward, and ignore the reality of the Palestinian presence and their rights under international law. There is still hope for those who see peace as the best guarantee for the future.
**************
I might add the only one side seems OK with settlers harassing long time residents and trying by all means to displace them. Hardly the attitude to bring about any peace. I doubt that any of the three authors will see this but It's a try.
Unfortunately, Mr. Caggiano, it is difficult to achieve any peace when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing over 1000 people while also taking, and continuing, to hold hostages. We’ve seen that Hamas does not want to bring about peace and since they’ve made their bed and we can only hope Netanyahu completes his mission. However long it takes. Meanwhile, any prediction on how soon Israel will bomb Iran?
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(3) comments
Good morning, Gil
Thanks for your letter. I submitted an LTE, "I stand with Israel," two months after October 7. It looks like you and I are in agreement re: most aspects of this topic.
Ah, my buddy Mike C... I do not agree with a lot of what he says about what's going on in Gaza. However, I will say this about Mike... he is not jumping on a "River to the Sea" bandwagon. While he believes what he is writing, he is willing to listen. You cannot say that for anti-Israel provocateurs who appear in these pages. Remember the DJ's featured story last March about "Rashid" who raised a Hamas flag at his home in San Carlos? That guy would not even give his last name to the DJ's reporter. Mike owns his words unlike Rashid who hides behind his rhetoric. Hopefully, Mike will enter this dialog. We'll see.
Hey Ray, I try to cover all the bases but with limited wordspace it's not easy.
Here's a copy and paste from an earlier letter, the author was Fred and not Bert, sorry for that.
Mike Caggiano May 3, 2025 7:42pm
Bert (Fred) makes some points that deserve discussion. There are indeed responsible Palestinians who now accept the reality of the pre-67 war boundaries, as the demarcation for a new Palestinian state. Mr. Abbas is among them. The nearest both sides have come was during the Ehud Olmert administration where his peace plan did not have enough time to be analyzed and accepted before he lost power. Mr. Abbas refused an election without the voters from East Jerusalem being counted. He might easily have lost, as Bert (Fred) mentions, as he was not very popular. There are certainly lost opportunities on all sides as is usually the case in all conflicts.
Now Mr. Olmert is back and has partnered with Nasser al Kidwa the ex. foreign minister of the Palestinian Authority, and they still see the future as a joint area of co-operation between the sides. Unfortunately, Many Israel backers in the US. prefer to stand with the settler element who see continued displacement and expansion as the way forward, and ignore the reality of the Palestinian presence and their rights under international law. There is still hope for those who see peace as the best guarantee for the future.
**************
I might add the only one side seems OK with settlers harassing long time residents and trying by all means to displace them. Hardly the attitude to bring about any peace. I doubt that any of the three authors will see this but It's a try.
Cheers all
Unfortunately, Mr. Caggiano, it is difficult to achieve any peace when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing over 1000 people while also taking, and continuing, to hold hostages. We’ve seen that Hamas does not want to bring about peace and since they’ve made their bed and we can only hope Netanyahu completes his mission. However long it takes. Meanwhile, any prediction on how soon Israel will bomb Iran?
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.