Wrong Facts
On Palestinians

Hopefully, this will respond to Neil Richardson’s letter of 8/16 titled "Palestinians Want Peace, Too."

I am particularly interested in his sources, which support what the writer calls the "occupation." The writer has not done his history homework, simply because the so-called occupation of "Palestinian" lands is highly inaccurate.

The last "Palestina" was the Roman-ruled territory after the fall of Jerusalem in the 2nd Century. It then became part of the Byzantine Empire, succeeded by the Ottoman Empire until 1918, and then became the British Mandate when the League of Nations created it after World War I.

There were no "Palestinians" unless you consider the Palestine Exhibit at the New York World’s Fair of 1939 which was Jewish. There were Arab and Jewish residents in and around Jerusalem and what is modern Israel until today.

Yassir Arafat utilized the term when he founded his organization, but there was never a historical Palestine or Palestinians. Please read any old history book, for a reference. If you ask who was there first, then history again will demonstrate that the Bible tells us quickly who was, because the Arabs didn’t come into the area until the 8th Century…

Gaza was Egyptian for centuries, but that was lost in 1956 along with the Sinai, which Israel ceded back to Egypt under the peace treaty after 1973. But Egypt didn’t want it back, and still doesn’t want it. Neither does Israel, as it was turned over to the PLO a few years ago. So it became a haven for Hamas, a terrorist organization, says the United States government.

What is the West Bank was under Jordanian domination after the 1948 War of Independence, which was fought when the Arab States refused to recognize the United Nations plan for two, independent states, side by side, drawn from the British Mandate. One would be Israel, the other what would be called, Palestine.

Most Arab residents fled the area, expecting to return after the Israelis were defeated. The Arab states were so surprised to lose that war; they tried again in 1956, and then again in 1967 when the Jordanians finally retreated from the West Bank. Since that area was once part of the Biblical Kingdoms of Israel and Judah, modern day Israel did indeed partially settle there.

Then along came 1973, and the Arab States, not learning a previous lesson of how to deal with a neighbor, started another war. This time Syria was swept off the Golan Heights where they had been shelling northern Israel for years. Very much like the residents of Gaza are doing now with Quassam rockets into southern Israel.

The comparison of the Bantus and South Africa is sad too, since the Bantus have never threatened the extinction of South Africa, nor have they attempted anything that can compare with what Israel faces daily.

Lets’ not forget the Munich massacre, and the suicide bombers in Jerusalem and other sites in the past 59 years. If you are naïve enough to think the "occupation" is causing that, look at the so-called Palestinian Charter, which calls for the eradication of Israel. Then, my friend Mr. Richardson, what would you do to your neighbors today, when you have Hamas on one side in Gaza, and Fatah on the other side in the West Bank, that are fighting each other, but they both want you gone? What would you do? Would someone who didn’t want to see both sides of this issue call you violent by nature?

Monroe E. Mayer

South Royalton