Letters to the Editor

Jewish Fatah member holds Israeli citizenship

I wish to comment on your report "Jerusalem-Born Jew Elected to Fatah revolutionary Council" (DPA, August 16). I did not abandon my Israeli citizenship, (I am a dual citizen of the apartheid State of Israel and the alleged constitutional monarchy of the UK to date). I did not apply for nor receive Palestinian citizenship (citizenship is legal relationship between the individual and a sovereign state. A sovereign State of Palestine has yet to take its seat at the UN). Lastly, I teach critical Israel studies at the Palestinian Al-Quds University, Abu Dis (not Jewish studies).

Prof. Uri Davis

Ramle

Germany still against nuclear power

In his op-ed "Going Nuclear - power, that is," (Gal Luft, August 7 Week's End) the author writes that the Israeli public deserves a serious, well-informed debate on the issue. His article however does not contribute to such a debate. There are many claims in his article that deserve to be refuted. I will concentrate on his claim, that "even in Germany, where anti-nuclear sentiment is part of the culture, there has been a change of heart toward nuclear power."

In Germany, during the government of the Social Democrats and Greens in 2001, the parliament decided to phase out nuclear power and determined that the last nuclear power plant would be disconnected in 2020. There has been no attempt by the current government of Social Democrats and Conservatives to revoke this decision. Almost nobody in Germany currently proposes the building of new nuclear power plants.

One of the controversies of the current election campaign is about the question as to how long the existing nuclear power plants will be connected to the power grid. Liberals and Conservatives want to extend this period, while Greens and Social Democrats want to close the nuclear plants as soon as possible.

Repeated accidents at a nuclear power plant in northern Germany have even brought members of the Conservative party to the point of threatening the electric company responsible for this nuclear power plant with the removal of the license to operate it.

In polls, a majority of Germans continue to support the phasing out of nuclear power. Given this background, you can hardly speak of a "change of heart towards nuclear power in Germany."

A serious and well-informed debate in Israel on the issue of energy security should include the "Desertec Industrial Initiative." The idea is of a Euro-Mediterranian energy partnership, whereby solar energy would be produced mainly in North African states and would partly be used in Europe. This initiative deserves discussion in Israel in connection with Israel's own energy needs as well as in connection with the possibilities and opportunities of regional cooperation.

Joern Boehme

Director

Israel Office of the Heinrich Boell Foundation