"Imagine, dear Tony, that out of the ashes of the London bombing, a new Blairite horizon would open. One in which the current president of the EC would begin a new European initiative, correctly identifying the necessity of forcing Israel to leave all the areas it had occupied in 1967"

Dear Tony, if you will excuse this personal tone,

We are more less the same age; hence, I hope this letter does not sound too didactic and lofty.

Although I was never a great admirer of your policies in the Middle East, I still feel you have a chance, and indeed responsibility, as a British Prime Minister, to impact events here in our torn land. The immediate background for this letter was the unprecedented attack on you in the printed and electronic media in Israel, which I have a feeling was not fully reported to you by your embassy in Israel (which is not surprising. I think as a rule your embassy in Tel-Aviv conceals from your government what they know about the Israeli mood and plans; what you call the ?road map? is regarded here as an Israeli demolition plan of the Palestinian people and what you call the ?peace process? is conceived here as a unilateral scheme for the making of Greater Israel).

Your innocent remark that connected the terror in London to the unsolved conflict in Palestine, turned you, in the eyes of many, into the enemy of the Jewish people as a whole, not just of those living in Israel.

You may wonder, justifiably, why? After all, there was never in 10 Downing Street, a British Prime
Minister, who was so, embarrassingly, pro-Israeli. You really do not deserve such an image. But you have it now. And believe me, it will not be easy to shake if off. If Ha?aretz, the only broadsheet we have, will continue to tarnish you as an anti-Semite, then Tony, you are in big trouble. They would not do it to Chirac or Schroder, you know. You see, this is how it goes: since you have proved to be such a staunch supporter of Israeli policies and such a devout objector (as if you were a typical American president) to the Palestinian cause, you were counted as one of us. World leaders, and even more so, second and third league politicians who are not part of us, are expected, and allowed, to criticize Israel, or even remind the world of the connection between Israeli policies, and for that matter American policies, and the terror that struck the USA in September 2001, and Britain in July 2005. However, not someone like you, dear Tony, who in the last four years was as allegiant as the most common AIPAC lobbyist on Capitol Hill would be. We trusted you, and without informing us, you come out with this irresponsible?though truthful?declaration.

As a new friend of yours, I hope, let me advise you to take these depictions of you as a new anti-Semite very seriously. You see, we have accumulated vast experience, especially in the USA, in destroying disloyal politicians and statesmen. We have a toolkit, which will be immediately put into affect: we will find fascist inclinations in your family?if necessary in your wife?s family?and we will ruin you. Look how we started a demolition job against Oscar Lafontaine in Germany. This man who aspires to represent the German Left?he is one of those statesmen who is disappointed by your ?Third Way? and still believes in some of the precepts that once guided your own party before you ?reoriented? it?has criticized Israel.

We do not allow any German to criticize Israel?even if he was born today. So we ?discovered? his Nazi past (regardless of his age and true biography). We are very efficient.

Now, Tony, you could of course read another interesting piece in the same Ha?aretz. One that tells you that only fourteen percent of Europeans today endorse Israel?s position on the Palestine question, and realize that you are part of this tiny and shrinking group. You may want to broaden your viewpoint, given the fact that your anti-terrorist squads will be unable to protect Britain; unless, as you rightly commented, the source of terror disappears (which lies deep inside the unsolved question of Palestine). You may even dare to say to yourself that the conflict in Palestine continues because the world has never had the courage to face Israel and its callous policies in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and its successive violation of international conventions and law. And then, I dare say, you may find that actually, our Israeli toolkit for turning each critique of Israel into an anti-Semitic attack is already worn out and defunct, and which, once it is ignored, turns out to be quite ineffective.

Imagine, dear Tony, that out of the ashes of the London bombing, a new Blairite horizon would open. One in which the current president of the EC would begin a new European initiative, correctly identifying the necessity of forcing Israel to leave all the areas it had occupied in 1967. One which encourages both sides to find an equitable solution to the issues of the 1948 refugees and to the Palestinians in Israel and Jerusalem.

This is the best anti-terrorist operation you could ever be able to undertake, for the benefit of us all: here in Palestine and there in Britain.

Yours,
Ilan Pappe