Letter from Israel
This letter is on the BBC News website at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5209962.stm
Dear Saleem,
If you say that your grandmother came from al-Bassa I won't dispute this with you. I make no secret of the fact that I came here from England.
But I would like you to know that my daughter-in-law's parents fled Tunisia, a "moderate" Arab state, because their lives as Jews in a Muslim state had become untenable.
I don't know under what circumstances your grandparents left. A large part of the local population stayed, including the family from Nazareth whose two children were killed [on July 19th] by missiles, fired indiscriminately as usual against civilians [by Hezbollah].
[Hezbollah leader] Nasrallah declared that they are martyrs to the Muslim cause, which I hope will be of some comfort to their parents.
I personally opposed settlement in the West Bank and Gaza, and was delighted when we finally pulled out of Gaza.
But I simply did not anticipate the almost constant shelling of Israeli settlements in the south. And let's not forget, the occupation of those lands came as a result of a war foisted upon us by those who denied our right to exist.
My first experience of Katyusha rocket fire was in November 1978. The first shell fell some 10m from a public phone box which I was using. Twenty-eight years on, it is still continuing.
A Katyusha missile is not a weapon of self-defence. Its purpose is to terrorise civilian populations. The current missiles even have ball bearings packed into their warheads to increase their destructive power.
Like it or not, Hezbollah represents a large segment of Lebanese society
The 1982 Israeli invasion was misguided, but it came about in a desperate effort to curtail the endless attacks on civilian targets from Lebanon.
The hope then was that we would eventually come to a peace agreement with the President-elect, Bashir Gemayel. That of course ended when he was assassinated - in retrospect a logical move because why would anyone in Lebanon want peace with Israel?
The north of Israel has been hit by so many missiles that huge numbers of people have taken refuge in the south. My son, who lives some 10km south of here, has had missiles fall close to his home. We are more concerned for his safety than our own.
Like it or not, Hezbollah represents a large segment of Lebanese society. And they are supported because of their avowed aim of destroying Israel, not in spite of it.
And for that reason they allow Hezbollah to fire their missiles from within houses and schools, and put all of your population at risk.
Israel cannot be blamed for the inability of Lebanon to control Hezbollah or even to strengthen its own army. It is in your hands to find a way to control your own population; not doing so will always be the opening for such tragic instability for us all.
The destruction of Israel will not happen. What worries me about Hezbollah, Hamas and al-Qaeda etc is that they believe their actions will bring about the end of the State of Israel, and therefore any amount of pain and suffering is justified.
In hope of happier times,
Gordon
Gordon talks about a war that was placed upon them... ie 1948. As I have talked about before most Jews immigrating to the area prior to 1948 bought land from arabs are fair prices. However, other arabs were angry at the creation of a Jewish and thus non-muslim state in the Middle East, and invavded Israel. These countries include Syria, Egypt, and Jordan. Egypt in 1948 was given control of Palestinians in Gaza, and Jordan those in the West Bank. Prior to 1948 it was under British Rule, and prior to that other Empries and so forth. In fact there has never in History been a Palestinian State. But there has been a Jewish State, and the Kingdom of Judea (for where the word Jew is derived) until the Roman Empire destroyed it and scattered the Jews across the globe.
Back to the facts... there is no easy solution. But, Israel must do whatever it needs to stop the continued attacks from Lebanan, West Bank, & Gaza. The Fact is, had Arabs never attacked Israel, the Palestinians would still be under Arab rule or independant today. People seem to forget this fact, and don't understand that in an area of only arabs who all work together is where Israel exists. In fact, these nations have worked together in the past to Destroy Israel. Jordan and Egypt have peace treaties with Israel now... but there is still alot of hatred because of past wars at which Israel has no fault! Iran which is backing Hezbollah is constantly talking about the need to destroy the State of Israel, and is developing Nuclear Weapons to do just that. It's a shamed nobody except Israel wants to play hardball in the Middle East.
Dear Saleem,
If you say that your grandmother came from al-Bassa I won't dispute this with you. I make no secret of the fact that I came here from England.
But I would like you to know that my daughter-in-law's parents fled Tunisia, a "moderate" Arab state, because their lives as Jews in a Muslim state had become untenable.
I don't know under what circumstances your grandparents left. A large part of the local population stayed, including the family from Nazareth whose two children were killed [on July 19th] by missiles, fired indiscriminately as usual against civilians [by Hezbollah].
[Hezbollah leader] Nasrallah declared that they are martyrs to the Muslim cause, which I hope will be of some comfort to their parents.
I personally opposed settlement in the West Bank and Gaza, and was delighted when we finally pulled out of Gaza.
But I simply did not anticipate the almost constant shelling of Israeli settlements in the south. And let's not forget, the occupation of those lands came as a result of a war foisted upon us by those who denied our right to exist.
My first experience of Katyusha rocket fire was in November 1978. The first shell fell some 10m from a public phone box which I was using. Twenty-eight years on, it is still continuing.
A Katyusha missile is not a weapon of self-defence. Its purpose is to terrorise civilian populations. The current missiles even have ball bearings packed into their warheads to increase their destructive power.
Like it or not, Hezbollah represents a large segment of Lebanese society
The 1982 Israeli invasion was misguided, but it came about in a desperate effort to curtail the endless attacks on civilian targets from Lebanon.
The hope then was that we would eventually come to a peace agreement with the President-elect, Bashir Gemayel. That of course ended when he was assassinated - in retrospect a logical move because why would anyone in Lebanon want peace with Israel?
The north of Israel has been hit by so many missiles that huge numbers of people have taken refuge in the south. My son, who lives some 10km south of here, has had missiles fall close to his home. We are more concerned for his safety than our own.
Like it or not, Hezbollah represents a large segment of Lebanese society. And they are supported because of their avowed aim of destroying Israel, not in spite of it.
And for that reason they allow Hezbollah to fire their missiles from within houses and schools, and put all of your population at risk.
Israel cannot be blamed for the inability of Lebanon to control Hezbollah or even to strengthen its own army. It is in your hands to find a way to control your own population; not doing so will always be the opening for such tragic instability for us all.
The destruction of Israel will not happen. What worries me about Hezbollah, Hamas and al-Qaeda etc is that they believe their actions will bring about the end of the State of Israel, and therefore any amount of pain and suffering is justified.
In hope of happier times,
Gordon
Gordon talks about a war that was placed upon them... ie 1948. As I have talked about before most Jews immigrating to the area prior to 1948 bought land from arabs are fair prices. However, other arabs were angry at the creation of a Jewish and thus non-muslim state in the Middle East, and invavded Israel. These countries include Syria, Egypt, and Jordan. Egypt in 1948 was given control of Palestinians in Gaza, and Jordan those in the West Bank. Prior to 1948 it was under British Rule, and prior to that other Empries and so forth. In fact there has never in History been a Palestinian State. But there has been a Jewish State, and the Kingdom of Judea (for where the word Jew is derived) until the Roman Empire destroyed it and scattered the Jews across the globe.
Back to the facts... there is no easy solution. But, Israel must do whatever it needs to stop the continued attacks from Lebanan, West Bank, & Gaza. The Fact is, had Arabs never attacked Israel, the Palestinians would still be under Arab rule or independant today. People seem to forget this fact, and don't understand that in an area of only arabs who all work together is where Israel exists. In fact, these nations have worked together in the past to Destroy Israel. Jordan and Egypt have peace treaties with Israel now... but there is still alot of hatred because of past wars at which Israel has no fault! Iran which is backing Hezbollah is constantly talking about the need to destroy the State of Israel, and is developing Nuclear Weapons to do just that. It's a shamed nobody except Israel wants to play hardball in the Middle East.
posted by LJKelley @ 02:47
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