I`m not surprised that N. Vakilo (Voice, Nov. 22) is ”amazed and confused” at the Israelis. Those are the natural consequences of having all one`s facts garbled. To correct a few of the errors:
1. The Israelis ”refuse to consider peace initiatives.” To the contrary, their proposals for negotiations without preconditions have been rejected. Prime Minister Shamir`s last proposal was torpedoed by a demand that he in effect concede the Jerusalem issue before talks began.
2. ”Palestinians have always belonged in Palestine.” Sounds logical, but there is no such thing as a Palestinian. There are Palestinian Jews, or Israelis, and Palestinian Arabs. When the Romans conquered the land of Israel and renamed it ”Palestine” they found only Jews; the Arabs were in Saudi Arabia where they originated. The ones who moved to Israel called themselves
”Arabs” until after Israel was established. Then, the Jews having chosen to call themselves Israelis, they appropriated the term ”Palestinian.” I could call myself the King of England but that wouldn`t make me heir to the British throne.
3. There is ”an illegal occupation” by Israel. Since the territory of Israel plus Jordan is the historic Jewish homeland, it`s more correct to say there`s an Arab occupation of 80 percent of it. In any case, Israel`s presence in Judea and Samaria came about because Jordan chose to join in the Six Day War and lost. Otherwise King Hussein would still have those areas today.
