Regarding the letters to the editor of July 1 about Israel’s disregard for human rights, I found them to be sad, naíve, totally untrue and with a complete lack of history about the Holy Land.
Before the legal partition of 1948, the small Jewish population was subject to pogroms, murder and atrocities of pure hate from its neighbors.
In World War II, the Arab Grand Mufti of Jerusalem sided with Adolf Hitler and provided a base for his propaganda throughout the Middle East. After the legal (and I stress the word) partition, the exiled Jordanians (there were no Palestinians as such then), gleefully joined the five Arab armies attempting to destroy the new Israel. They were encouraged to leave their homes so that after Israel’s destruction they could seize all of the Jewish-owned small businesses, farms and homes. Instead of trying to build for prosperity, these Jordanians, now called Palestinians, spent the next 50 years with intifadas, murder and hate of every type toward the new state. During this time frame, Israel offered citizenship, admission to universities, medical treatment, etc., to the populace who hated them.
If the Palestinians really want peace, let them forget their ultimate goal of the destruction of Israel.
And last, but not least, the letter entitled “West Bank, Warsaw ghetto alike,” is a slap in the face to every Jew who died in the Holocaust, their survivors and the Jewish population worldwide.
Were the ghetto residents allowed to own comfortable small businesses, drive home at night after closing, have a peaceful meal with their families, not be afraid of death camps and death squads? I think not!
If these writers are indeed looking for human rights violations in the Middle East, they are not hard to find — but not in Israel.
—Michael Farr
