I enjoyed reading Storer Rowley’s piece on the founding of Israel (Page 1, April 26). It gave a nice flavor to the events surrounding Israel’s birth 50 years ago. But I was very disappointed with Tom Hundley’s piece the following day on the misfortune of the Palestinians.
Hundley seems to display a severe lack of research skills and avoids including several major details in his writing. He has a history of this. These traits are not worthy of a foreign correspondent for a paper of the Tribune’s caliber.
Hundley reports that when fighting broke, many Arabs fled their homes, leaving the possible impression Jews started attacking everywhere as soon as Israel declared independence. Rather, fighting broke out because six regular, standing Arab armies launched an attack (although not very well coordinated) to wipe out Israel.
Hundley also mentions that the United Nations once “proposed” a two-state solution. There was more than a proposal. The UN voted to partition Palestine into a Jewish and Arab state when the British mandate ended. The map resembled the current division of Bosnia. The Jews voted, albeit not happily, to accept this; the Arabs completely rejected it.
According to the graphic in the story, nearly two-thirds of the Arabs who fled went just a few miles to the West Bank and Gaza, which were to compromise the bulk of the Arab state anyhow. Of course, the story doesn’t mention that these areas were annexed during the war by Jordan and Egypt respectively.
Also, according to the graphic, 100 percent of the Arabs inside Israel fled. That’s interesting, considering that about 1 million of Israel’s citizens are Arabs, including several members of parliament. More than 700,000 Jews fled from surrounding Arab countries, leaving their homes and property behind. Wars, unfortunately, create refugees, but it is a lot easier to move nine miles than 900 miles, as many Jews did.
Hundley also cites as absolute fact that Israel had decisive advantage in every military category. He cites no figures, so he obviously didn’t check these statistics but relied solely on assertions of several left-wing, revisionist historians. In fact, much of Israel’s equipment was captured and salvaged Arab weaponry.
Hundley has a pattern of not probing beyond the surface. In his April 5 interview with Egyptian foreign minister Amr Moussa, he accepts Moussa’s claim that the cold peace Israel complains about is due solely to Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies. In fact, the cold peace existed during Yitzhak Rabin’s tenure. Thus it is really based on the actions of Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s president, not Netanyahu. A truly good reporter would have pursued that issue.
