If John Scrivener took a moment to read about what really happened in Israel-Palestine 70 years ago, he would realise that his statement ‘It was the Zionist project that brought terrorism and conflict to Palestine’ has zero basis in reality (Letters, June 20).
John, in 1948 the UN General Assembly looked at the area we know as Israel-Palestine and divided it up with the intention of declaring two states – Israel and Palestine.
The Jewish world accepted the UN decision, but the Arab world flatly rejected it and the armies of five Arab countries sought to destroy the fledgling state of Israel.
Why did they do that? Because saying yes to Palestine would have meant saying yes to Israel. There is a clear and unambiguous nexus between the refusal to accept Israel’s existence 70 years ago and the conflict today.
The Palestinian and Israeli people deserve a place in the sun. There are two valid narratives here.
Until the Palestinian leadership comes to the table and talk peace, and Hamas is willing to rip up its charter, stating that Israel will be obliterated, the two protagonists are destined to remain just that – protagonists.
Vic Alhadeff, NSW Jewish Board of Deputies in Echo Net Daily.
This letter has been written in response to this:
Desmond Bellamy’s letter (June 12) is the sort of morally bankrupt and dissembling response we get from Israel’s apologists. Yes, atrocities happen elsewhere, but that doesn’t justify the crimes of the Zionist regime.
I challenge Desmond to cite a single historical fact about Palestine that has appeared in The Echo in recent weeks, while over a hundred Palestinians have been shot dead and more than two thousand crippled by Israeli snipers, for protesting the illegal occupation and decade-long siege of Gaza.
Apart from occasional letters by Gareth Smith I haven’t seen any letters or articles in The Echo that have noted this slaughter of defenceless civilians. It’s this paucity of information that I have sought to redress with my letters.
There are such things as suppressed histories. I think it’s necessary to expose historical facts relevant to intractable conflicts, because knowledge and understanding are essential prerequisites to conflict resolution.
John Scrivener,Main Arm in Echo Net Daily.