Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/408403
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 2 NOVEMBER 2014 26 Letters Send your letters to: The Editor, MaltaToday, MediaToday Ltd. Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 | Fax: (356) 21 385075 E-mail: newsroom@mediatoday.com.mt. Letters to the Editor should be concise. No pen names are accepted. By sheer historical coincidence, the re-election of President Bush and the demise of Yassar Arafat will shuffle the cards in the Middle East crisis. The Palestinian leader who embodied the Palestinian struggle for statehood has dominated the Pal- estinian scene for four decades. The end of the Arafat era seen by both Israel and Washington, (rightly or wrongly, depending on whether one sees him as a terrorist or a freedom fighter) as an obstacle to peace in the Middle East could change the whole dynamics of the area. Indeed it shuffles the cards. This is all the more possible coming in the wake of an overwhelming re-election result of President Bush who should spend the great amount of bestowed political capital behind him following his victory to work towards the creation of a free Palestinian state working and living at peace with Israel. It is of course difficult to predict events in Palestine, an area where Arafat was most reluctant to cede power or to even prepare for the possibility of eventually having to do so. He ran the area controlling all power both financial and security. There is a danger that following his demise the area will turn into chaos with complete disorder and confusion. There is a real fear that violence will spread against the Israeli occupa- tion in Gaza and the west Bank. The real possibility of no one being able to keep order can lead to a heightening of the ten- sion and put paid to all possibilities of a peaceful settlement. That would be catastrophic especially since events of the last two days may have opened up the road to the possibility of reaching a settlement. The ball is now clearly in America's court. For years, Ameri- can foreign policy has affirmed the impossibility of reaching agreement as long as Yassar Arafat was leading the Palestinian people. True to its affirmations it is now up to the American Administration and most especially President Bush to make it happen. He must start focusing primarily on the Middle East. He must see or be made to see that the fight against terrorism includes also the fight against the causes of terrorism, a major part of which lie clearly in the suffering resulting from years of wars and conflicts between Isreal and its neighbours. There is a growing feeling especially in European capitals that a key building block in the fight against terrorism is the settling of the Middle East conflict. To many this is the real obstacle. There seems to be a general consensus that the Palestinian people have a right to their own home land and that Israel too has a right to exist and to live at peace with its neighbours. Recent events must also serve to improve the strained relationship between America and Europe. It is in the interests of the western world that relations be re-established to their traditional level. It is not in the interests of either continent that major disagreements keep surfacing. The illegal invasion of Iraq may have divided Europe but it is now opportune to work together with America to hand over the matter to The United Nations. It is time to start closing ranks. Europe must build its own identity, its own foreign policy, but it is crucial that this policy is not built on anti-American foundations. It is equally important as stated in a recent edition of Le Monde that anti-Americanism does not turn into an ideology. Europe must concentrate on consolidating its cohesion now that it is a club of twenty five members. It must get its foreign policy act together. It must make use of all use its good offices especially with the help of the close Anglo-American relations to get the peace process moving again. This area needs to be the focus of American and European foreign policy working together to get an honourable settlement between Israel and the Arab world. America and especially a politically strong Bush can make this happen. To many a foreign commentator the re-election of Bush was bad news for Europe and undoubtedly for the rest of the world. In time Bush may surprise his fiercest critics, he is certainly now in a similar position to a re-elected Ronald Rea- gan. He need not worry about re-election; this can place him in a better position to force an honourable peace settlement on both Israel and the Palestinian people. Shuffling the cards Editorial • November 7 2004 Sale of Aliyev villa 'within the law' I refer to the article in last Sunday's MaltaToday ('Ray Bugeja sold €3.5 million villa where Aliyev was living'). The sale of the property in question to Ganado Trustee & Fiduciaries Limited was conducted in full accordance with the law. The insinuations and allegations made by MaltaToday in my regard are completely unfounded and simply wrong. Raymond Bugeja St Julians Editorial note MaltaToday has made no insinu- ation or allegation against Raymond Bugeja. The news story was relevant be- cause the villa searched by police in an investigation concerning money laundering related, as the story pointed out, to its then tenant, the former deputy head of the Kazakh secret service Rakhat Aliyev, cur- rently in jail in Austria. It is important to note that Aliyev had a legal relationship, as recently as February 2014, when a court issued an asset freeze, with Ganado Trustees & Fiduciaries, who were the buyers of Raymond Bugeja's property in 2011. MaltaToday never suggested that the property sale was not in line with the law; never alleged anything with regard to Bugeja except for the fact that the €3.5 million sale took place, and this is recorded in the Public Registry, and as such is a public document. The 24-carat credit card The people's voice on Little Armier Positive Mater Dei experience The recent remark made by a top public officer about the traffic problem in Malta being some- thing short of a figment of the man-in-the-roads' (where else?) imagination showed, perhaps un- wittingly (who knows?), to what a sad level our Civil Service has descended. If ever proof was needed that Hans Christian Andersen had more than children in mind when he wrote his tale, this remark seems to have signed, sealed and delivered it. For Andersen's "The Emperor's New Clothes" wasn't merely a children's tale, it was a telltale. What is so depressing about this remark is that here we have a senior member of the public service fawning on the Royal Household to such a ridiculous extent as to embarrass in the ex- treme no other than the Emperor himself. So much so that the Emperor went public with these words, which were uttered in such spon- taneit y. "No, I don't have clothes," he found himself saying, in what was perhaps the most honest-to- goodness remark he made in his 19-month reign. Had it been a low-ranking mem- ber who was responsible for such an inane remark, it would have been forgotten almost as quickly as it was laughed at. But the rot seems to run so deep that top management t ypes seem to be constrained to utter inani- ties, thoroughly convinced that sycophantic, boot-licking zeal is a 24-carat credit card to green pastures. Joe Genovese Birkirkara The majority of the Maltese have shown their support for your initiative, together with that of The Times of Malta and others, about holding a referen- dum on spring hunting. May I suggest that a similar campaign be started to collect signatures asking the govern- ment to hold a referendum on whether the illegal boathouses at Little Armier should be demolished and the land given back to its rightful owners – the people and the government of Malta – thereby upholding the rule of law. A clear indication of the people's wishes can be seen from the current survey being conducted on The Times of Malta. Who knows – perhaps both referenda could be held at the same time! George Busuttil via email If I say I am afraid of hospitals I would be lying – I am terrified. On October 15, 2014 I was urgently admitted to Mater Dei Hospital. I started praying. I went into emergency and doctors, nurses, radiographers, and ultra- sound specialists attended to me non-stop. I was impressed. And I am a rather difficult character, not easily impressed. After a deluge of tests, I was given a bed in Medical Ward One. The nursing officer in charge was Joe Camilleri and deputy N.O. was Antonio Mifsud. My treatment was under the complete supervision of Prof. Emmanuel Farrugia, consultant physician and nephrologist. I spent a whole week as an inpa- tient. I never thought it was going to be such a wonderful experience. 100% perfection does not exist – only God is perfect. But I do not hesitate to put on record that the treatment and the staff-patient relationship left nothing to be desired. All staff looked truly happy doing their job – a fitting example of a state-of-the-art hospital. I believe the C.E.O at MDH must be very pleased, same as the minister and parliamentary secretary. I kindly ask them to go on practising the feel-good factor. It gives courage to employees. Well done M1 and thank you. Lino Callus Hal Balzan