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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels June 16, 2004 Soccer match better than story We found Friday night's exhibition match between Fuego and Liga del Valle to be much more balanced (and positive) than the Tidings' May 29 article and the quoted comments of Fuego's coach portrayed. Was it really necessary to suggest that Fuego had to "settle" for a tie primarily because its opponent was a "weaker team"? Fortunately, some of the Fuego players acknowledged the talent and motivation exhibited by the Liga players (who, it should have been noted, do not even play together regularly as a team). Overall, though, the general tenor of the article appears to send the wrong message to the many young players who watched the game. We can only hope they did not read the Tidings' account. Joan and Dan Thorndike Ashland History lesson beneficial Cavanaugh's letter (Daily Tidings, 20 May) making an analogy of Israel as "a home invader who breaks in, throws most of the inhabitants out, consigns the others to sub-basements and out houses, and then � takes over the neighborhood" is so far from the facts that his arguments simply do not have any validity. A quick non-biased history lesson: Palestine was not a country in the early 1900s; it was administered by Great Britain, who decreed in 1917 that two states should exist (a Jewish state and a Palestinian state). The Jews agreed; the local Arabs did not, in spite of the representative of the Arab world at the Paris Peace Conference declaring, "There is room � for us both." In l922 an Islamic Imam, Haj el-Husseini, declared that the Jews should be forcibly removed from the area, in spite of their presence there for centuries, as long as had the Arabs. Riots were severe in l922, l929 and l936. Rioting was so bad by l937 that the British again declared there should be two separate countries; the Jews agreed, the Arabs refused. In l947 the U.N. declared there should be two countries; the Jews accepted, the Arabs refused again. In spite of this rejection, on 29 November l947, the U.N. voted to create a Jewish state. Thus, Mr. Cavanaugh, the Jews did not "invade," they had lived in the area for centuries and were given a state by the U.N. Within a week of the vote local Palestinians, under leadership of Imam Haj el-Husseini, and armies from seven surrounding Arab nations fight approximately 45,000 Israeli volunteers. El-Husseini declares they will drive the Jews into the sea. Arabs use car bombs against civilian targets; Israelis refuse as such weapons are too indiscriminate (sound familiar?). In villages taken over by Arabs, Jews are either forced out or murdered; in villages taken over by Israelis, local Arabs are encouraged to stay in their homes. However, el-Husseini and other Arab leaders order, by force, the local Arabs to leave Israeli-occupied villages. Thus begins the Palestinian exodus. They were not kicked out by the Jews, they were forced out by their own leaders, and, as Abu Mazer, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Committee said in l948, "The Arab armies entered Palestine to protect the Palestinians � but instead they abandoned them, forced them to emigrate and leave their homeland�". Also, Khaled al-Azim, former Prime Minister of Syria, wrote "Since 1948 we have been demanding the return of the refugees to their homes. But we ourselves are the ones who encouraged them to leave." So much for Mr. Cavanaugh's stating the Jewish "invaders � throws most of the inhabitants out." I could go on with a point by point rebuttal of Cavanaugh's many other errors but letters are supposed to be kept under 250 words. But I would like to state that the history of any controversial subject is much more complex than most realize. Letters to the editor, like Mr. Cavanaugh that place all blame on one side, using dubious "historical" fictions as backup to their biased arguments, do nothing to enhance the discussion of the issues. History can be read dispassionately, and the reader can make him/herself fully informed, but unfortunately most of us do not have the time or resources for such research. The reader would do well to rely, therefore, on a rule of thumb that states that if a letter is full of accusation and hate, a letter that casts one side as completely innocent (especially if that side celebrates the murder of innocent women and children) and the other as heartless invaders, then that writing is usually biased to the point of historical inaccuracy and may not be worthy of your reading. Larry Buchanan Ashland AHS graduation misses mention On June 4, I was privileged to attend the graduation ceremonies for Ashland High School. In the 32 years I have lived in Ashland, I have attended numerous graduations, and this year's, as in years past, was a joyous event celebrating yet another class Ashland can be proud of. They are bright, hopeful beings possessed of the exuberance unique to their age and potential any age would be proud of. The speech by Mike Farrell was wonderful, spoken from the heart and full of sage advice born of a mature and thoughtful perspective. We were lucky to have him to help us celebrate this special event. There was, however, one thing missing from that day's program, a grave omission for which there can be no excuse. Throughout the evening's many speeches there was not one word of support for our men and women now serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. I do not care whether a person agrees or disagrees with the war on terrorism. I do not care if you love or despise George W. Bush. If we have allowed ourselves to so abhor certain current personalities or polices to the extent that we cannot or will not voice support for our own sons, daughters, husbands, wives, mothers, and fathers who now wear the uniforms of our armed services then we are undeserving of the freedoms and privileges their sacrifices have made possible. I am ashamed. Bruce S. Klein Ashland Innocence no longer guaranteed The American justice system is becoming very different from the one our founding fathers laid out for us. Civil liberties and the presumption of innocence have all but become things of the past. I know many people disagree with this so I want to give one specific example. In the Jackson County Jail, which serves Ashland, prisoners have their pockets picked. The polite way of saying this is that they're forced to pay for some of the expenses of their "lodging." The trouble with this is that our founding fathers made it very clear that a citizen is innocent until proven guilty. Our current authorities pay lip service to this but don't respect it. If a citizen is presumed innocent but is deprived of his liberty, it's the responsibility of the government to shoulder the cost of imprisoning this innocent citizen. Our current policy only makes sense if you presume that all people who are arrested are guilty. Since this is what the Oregon Justice system does, picking the pockets of prisoners could be said to be perfectly in alignment with its overall strategy. Sean Nelson Ashland DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams