Dear Sir or Madam:

I am writing this letter in response to your article on October 30, 2004 by Earl McRae entitled “Jewish Dinner Sparks Battle”. Your article quotes from several letters defaming me and distorting my position. I am a moderate supporter of the two state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. I have long opposed the occupation and have called for the end of most settlements consistent with the offer made by former Prime Minister Ehud Barak and former President Bill Clinton in 2001. I strongly believe that the Palestinians made a grievous mistake in rejecting this offer. Had they accepted it, they would be celebrating their third anniversary of statehood. The letter writers also deliberately distort my position on torture. I am against the use of torture, but I favor accountability. I also recognize that non-lethal torture is, in fact, being used by democratic nations including the United States, in an effort to prevent terrorism. Accordingly, I have argued that torture should never be employed without authorization from the highest authority (the Supreme Court or the Chief Executive), and never in cases that do not involve imminent threats of mass destruction. The Palestinian Authority, on the other hand, employs torture routinely against so-called collaborators. The torture it employs is lethal and has resulted in dozens of deaths including women and the elderly. The letters you quote are part of a well orchestrated campaign to attack anyone who supports Israel. It was this kind of attack which prevented former Prime Minister Edud Barak from speaking at Concordia University. I will not be silenced or intimidated by mendacious zealots who apply a double standard to the Jewish state and never protest the atrocities perpetrated by their own people in the name of their cause.

Sincerely,

Alan Dershowitz

Cambridge, Massachusetts

USA