Dear Editor:

I am responding to Eli Kassirer’s letter (April 19) and to the other sporadic letters to the Freeman attacking and vilifying Israel. They are misguided and have misinformation. These are the kind of letters that actually keep the Palestinians angry and deter peace in the region.

In 1947, the United Nations recommended an Arab state and a Jewish state. This was rejected by the Arab leaders and they launched a genocidal war to seize the whole territory. The truth is that there was never a Palestinian state or country or homeland in the area that was known as Palestine.

Before 1948, Jews were also Palestinians. Israel really does not occupy Palestinian land. Actually, it has never been agreed upon as to what is Palestinian land. As such, one might even say some Palestinians occupy Jewish land.

Until there is a peace agreement, the West Bank will remain disputed territory because Israel has legal, historic and security claims to this land and the Palestinians want it for their future state.

As a matter of fact, between 1948 and 1967, the Arabs controlled the West Bank and Gaza and never created a Palestinian state, nor did the Palestinians ask for one. Israel is 1-800th the size of the Arab world and no country helped absorb the Palestinians! Meanwhile, Israel absorbed over 800,000 Jews from Arab lands plus thousands more from other countries.

Israel totally left Gaza in 2005 and in return received a barrage of missiles from that area that continues to this day. Gaza has its own government in Hamas, which is deemed a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union. Hamas, with the help of Iran, is still committed to the total destruction of Israel.

Israel’s presence in the West Bank is not illegal. The West Bank has a government of its own in the Palestinian Authority. U.N. Resolution 242 allows Israel to help administer the West Bank. The settlements already there are agreed to in the Oslo accords. When there is an agreement with the Palestinian Authority there will be secure and defined borders.

The U.S. does give aid to Israel as it serves its interest. Israel must spend 75 percent of that money in the U.S. The U.S. also gives aid to Egypt and the Palestinian Authority. Israel, America’s staunchest ally in the region, provides the U.S. with cutting edge research in medicine and technology. It also provides the U.S. with military intelligence in the region, military research and allows the stockpiling of military supplies.

Israel does not stop needed supplies to the Palestinians (i.e., medicines, food, etc.). Since Hamas is engaged in a genocidal war against Israel (Hamas’ charter still calls for the murder of Jews and Israel’s “obliteration”), any blockade, which is legal, is only for inspect for any weaponry for terrorism. Israel has never kept humanitarian aid from reaching Gaza. Continued...

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As far as the water, Israel is sharing, not stealing it. Israel is actually giving more water to Palestinians than agreed to at Oslo and Israel does not use West Bank water. Actually, Israel helped modernize the West Bank’s water system between 1967 and 1997 and now there is a Joint Water Commission.

The truth is the Palestinians should focus on state building and peace instead of rocket-building war. How can Israel negotiate peace with a government that calls for its annihilation and promotes anti-Semitism in its schools and on TV?

Peace will come when the Palestinians feel it’s more important to have their own country (and plow their money in to schools, health, roads, etc.) instead of destroying another.

CHARLES M. FLIEGLER

Kingston

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