Sir, - In an item in Quidnunc (The Irish Times, September 19th) Israel and Palestine were quoted as among countries visited by Irish delegates; but Israel is Palestine. Up to and during the second World War "Palestinians" meant the Jewish inhabitants of Palestine. Co-resident Arabs declined to be called "Palestinians", preferring the term "Arabs". From May 1948, the Jews referred to themselves as Israelis - inhabitants of Israel.
The concept of a land of Palestine having been the homeland of the "Palestinian People" from time immemorial until they were dispossessed by "invading Zionist Jews" is promoted by the PLO (formed in Cairo in 1964 to eliminate Israel by armed struggle).
`Palestine') The notion finds world-wide acceptance, despite incontrovertible historical evidence to the contrary. Arieh Avneri's book Claim of Dispossession shows conclusively that the majority of so-called "Palestinians" are descended from Egyptian, Algerian and Bedouin immigrants who entered Israel during the last century following Jewish restoration of the long-neglected land. The few Arabs living in Israel a hundred years ago were involved in unending internal conflicts which prevented them taking root and handing down a tradition of permanent settlement from generation to generation.
Even Zuhair Muhsin, a head of the PLO's Military Operations Department admitted on March 3rd 1977: "Only for political reasons do we carefully underline our Palestinian identity. For it is of national interest for Arabs to encourage the existence of Palestinians against Zionism. Yes, the existence of a separate Palestinian identity is there only for tactical reasons."
Contrary to the Oslo Accords, the PLO covenant calling for the annihilation of Israel remains unrevoked. - Yours, etc., Dr Steve Harris,
Broadford Crescent, Ballinteer, Dublin 16.