Madam, – The Israeli counsellor’s letter (January 16th) is misleading and full of unfounded statements.
I have never personally condoned terror of any kind, either by an individual or a state, regardless of its motive.
I would like to commend Lara Marlowe (Opinion, January 13th) for her courage and deep insight, but more importantly for her loyalty to the values of journalism.
It was the Israelis who brought terrorism to our region before and since the creation of the Israeli state in 1948. Remember Deir Yassin in 1948, Qibya in 1953 and Kafr Qasim in 1956, all documented massacres conducted by the Israeli armed forces against defenceless Palestinians.
The Hamas charter might carry threats to the existence of the state of Israel but, in reality, Israel’s existence as a state is not under threat.
Because of Israel’s continuing building of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, what is under threat is the potential for a Palestinian state in these territories.
Israel has never really withdrawn from Gaza. It may have left the room, but it is surrounding the house, and by its economic blockade is denying the people who live in it the basic necessities of life.
This collective punishment is contrary to Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. So far 384 patients have died because Israel has refused to allow them to leave Gaza for medical treatment.
Israel has never offered Palestinians a viable state.
It is more than two decades since Palestinians recognised the state of Israel within its 1967 borders, that is, in 78 per cent of historic Palestine, instead of the 56 per cent allotted to it by the UN in the 1947 Partition Plan.
Moreover, in 2002, all the Arab countries offered to recognise and normalise relations with Israel in return for the creation of a Palestinian state in the other 22 per cent of Palestine.
Israel’s response to this generous offer was a verbal rejection by prime minister Ariel Sharon, followed by his infamous Operation Defensive Shield, by which he reoccupied the West Bank and destroyed nearly all its infrastructure (March 29th, 2002).
Binyamin Netanyahu’s commitment to a Palestinian state in June 2009 was a joke.
Under the Road Map peace plan, Israel is supposed to make an unequivocal commitment to an “independent, viable, sovereign Palestinian state”. The “state” proposed by Netanyahu was none of those things. It might as well be on the moon.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has never refused any non-violent means of resolving our conflict with Israel, the occupying power.
At the closing ceremony of the Arab summit in Saudi Arabia in March 2007, he called for a “negotiated settlement that will be sponsored by the international community and within the framework of an international peace conference in the region”, adding: “I reiterate the sincerity of the Palestinian will in extending the hand of peace to the Israeli people . . . We should not waste more chances in the history of this long and painful cause.”
But President Abbas refuses to negotiate about the “pizza” with the Israelis until they stop eating it. Building a state side by side with Israel on the 1967 borders is the strategic option of the overwhelming majority of the Palestinians.
But, the territory that is supposed to belong to our state is being steadily eaten into by the building of Jewish settlements. Israel’s refusal to cease settlement activities proves that it is not serious about allowing us to have our state. Soon there will be no land left to negotiate about. – Yours, etc,