Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Death toll from latest Israeli strikes on Gaza rises to 30
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: Five killed in the Israeli bombing of a civilian vehicle on Al-Qassam Street in Khan Younis, south of the Gaza Strip
Hamas confirms that it has no connection to the shooting incident in Rafah and affirms its commitment to the ceasefire agreement
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: Two civilians were killed and four others, including a child and an infant, were injured in an Israeli bombing of a house belonging to the Al-Banna family in the al-Sabra neighborhood, south of Gaza City
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: An Israeli airstrike targets the vicinity of Al-Shifa Medical Complex, west of Gaza City
Al-Qassam: We will postpone the handover of the body of the Israeli captive we found, which was scheduled for today, due to the occupation's violations
Al Mayadeen's correspondent in Gaza: Israeli occupation aircraft launch airstrikes on the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip
Netanyahu's office: At the end of the security consultations, the prime minister instructed the military to launch massive military strikes on the Gaza Strip immediately
President Aoun: We urge the activation of the monitoring committee, the cessation of hostilities, ongoing Israeli violations, attacks
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun to US Envoy Morgan Ortagus: Southerners must be enabled to return to their homes and rebuild

A letter to President Bill Clinton

  • Bouthaina Shaaban Bouthaina Shaaban
  • Source: Al Mayadeen English
  • 4 Nov 2024 23:06
  • 2 Shares
3 Min Read

As I watched you in complete disbelief giving your terribly miscalculated statement, which does not at all befit your statesmanship, you reminded me of the English Poet William Wordsworth...who tore up his best work later in his life.

Listen
  • x
  • I know that our narrative, i.e. the Arab narrative, does not reach you; so allow me to say that the atrocities
    I know that our narrative, i.e. the Arab narrative, does not reach you; so allow me to say that the atrocities "Israel" is perpetrating against us can only be compared to the genocide of Native Americans. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Mahdi Rtail)

Dear President Clinton,

As you were bidding farewell to late President Hafez al-Assad at the door of the presidential palace in Damascus, you told him, "I regret having to leave without seeing the city of Damascus; this historical city that I dreamt of visiting since I was a kid." Yesterday, Mr. President, "Israel" shelled the Lebanese city of Baalbek, which is like Damascus, a UNESCO World Heritage site that represents 9000 years of human history; its grand structures reflect Phoenician and Roman cultures. Israeli airstrikes recently struck Tyre in Lebanon and the historic Markets of Nabatieh, raising alarm about a deliberate attempt to erase the region's past.

Dear Mr. President,

You were the custodian of many negotiation rounds both in Washington and in Shepherdstown and you saw how the Israelis didn’t even allow the border committee to meet. President Hafez al-Assad described you as the most even-handed American president, and the most serious in pursuing a peace deal between the Arabs and the Israelis. That is why I was so surprised to see you at the campaign of Kamala Harris shying away from facts and equating the murderer with the victim when you said, "I will do everything I can to convince people that they cannot murder their way out of this." It is not people, Mr. President, who are murdering their way out of this, but the Israelis armed with American bombs and missiles who are murdering hundreds of thousands of Palestinian and Lebanese civilians.

Related News

Will Damascus be willing to pay the price to restore relations with Moscow?

How MI6 built Syria’s extremist police

You must have heard Netanyahu saying, “We want to finish the job,” describing this war as an existential war. What he meant by finishing the job is to kill as many Arabs as possible and to erase their culture, history, and identity as he has been doing daily in both Palestine and Lebanon for the last 14 months.

Dear Mr. President,

When you met with the late President Hafez al-Assad in Geneva, in January 1994, you both talked for hours about people in the region and the need to make peace, and in the closed meeting, you bonded with him beautifully, talking about your late mothers. I am sure you will be shocked to know that "Israel" has killed in the last year tens of thousands of mothers in Gaza, Palestine, and Lebanon, tens of thousands of infants and children, hundreds of journalists, and hundreds of medical doctors and staff and patients, not to mention the destruction they wrought on all hospitals in Gaza. I know that our narrative, i.e. the Arab narrative, does not reach you; so allow me to say that the atrocities "Israel" is perpetrating against us can only be compared to the genocide of Native Americans and the Aborigines amid a total collapse of the international system and international humanitarian law.

Dear Mr. President,

As I watched you in complete disbelief giving your terribly miscalculated statement, which does not at all befit your statesmanship, you reminded me of the English poet William Wordsworth, who at an advanced age tore up his best poems in a reevaluation of what he wrote, not knowing that he was destroying his best heritage and depriving himself of his most honorable legacy.

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect Al Mayadeen’s editorial stance.
  • Bill Clinton
  • Palestine
  • Lebanon
  • Gaza
  • Hafez Al-Assad
  • Syria
  • Damascus
Bouthaina Shaaban

Bouthaina Shaaban

Arab Intellectual

War on Gaza

War on Gaza

Most Read

All
What Marr evidently didn't seem to understand was that Hedges isn't saying that Western journalists manipulate the truth, but that they systematically amplify Israeli narratives they know are false. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Batoul Chamas)

Western journalists know they have a case to answer for their betrayal of Gaza, and it frightens them

  • Opinion
  • 24 Oct 2025
Manufacturing civil war: The Zionist doctrine to destroy resistance

Manufacturing civil war: The Zionist doctrine to destroy resistance

  • Opinion
  • 21 Oct 2025
Documents submitted to the UK Foreign Office by ARK - founded by MI6's Alistair Harris - noted the FSP were “revolutionary entities who share a general ideological affinity with the Syrian rebels.” (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab el-Hajj)

How MI6 built Syria’s extremist police

  • Opinion
  • 16 Oct 2025
The Nobel Committee and the Swedish Academy at least have their finger on the pulse of these colonial-racist and genocidal times. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Batoul Chamas)

This year’s Nobels: A win for Yankee imperialism and Zionism

  • Opinion
  • 18 Oct 2025

Coverage

All
Gaza: An Epic of Resilience and Valor

More from this writer

All
Finishing the job!!!

Finishing the job!

Between concept and identity

Between concept and identity

"However, unfortunately as many serious philosophers have noted, Walzer is also unwilling to fully apply his own analysis to Israeli behavior, especially towards the Palestinians." (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Ali Al-Hadi Shmeiss)

'Every Person is a universe' Ibn Arabi

Spring flowers turn into fruits in the fall

Spring flowers turn into fruits in the fall

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS