From: Ismail Zayid
To: Dal. Gazette
Sent: Friday, November 03, 2000 5:59 PM

Subject: Zionist Fasification of History

 

Zionist Falsification of the History of the Palestine- Israel Conflict

The Halifax Jewish Students’ Federation, in their article addressed to me and titled " A letter in response to Ismail Zayid", are liberally indulging in falsification of history and putting words in my mouth .

They state : " In 1967, the Palestinians and the PLO urged Arab states to conquer Israel." It is implied, here, as the Zionist propaganda frequently claims, that the Arabs, and particularly President Nasser of Egypt, started the 1967 war and threatened Israeli extermination. This is of course a complete falsehood, as confirmed by Israeli leaders’ own words, who planned and initiated this war, and I quote:

General Yitzhak Rabin, Israel’s Chief of Staff at the time, stated: " I do not think Nasser wanted war. The two divisions he sent to the Sinai would not have been sufficient to launch an offensive war. He knew it and we knew it" {Le Monde, Feb. 28, 1968}.

Mr Levi Eshkol, Prime Minister at the time, stated : "The Egyptian layout in the Sinai and the general build up there testified to a military defensive Egyptian set-up, south of Israel" {reported in the Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot, Oct. 18, 1967}.

Menachem Begin, while Prime Minister, addressing Israel’s National Defence College on Aug. 8, 1982, stated: " In June 1967, we again had a choice. The Egyptian army concentrations in the Sinai did not prove that Nasser was really about to attack us. We must be honest with our selves. We decided to attack him" { The N.Y.Times, Aug, 21, 1982}.

As to the story of extermination, Mr. Mordechai Bentov, Cabinet Minister at the time of the 1967 war, stated: " All this story about the danger of extermination has been a a complete invention and has been blown up a posteriori to justify the annexation of new Arab territories"{Al Hamishmar, 14 April 1972}.

This tells it all, as to who initiated and committed that war of aggression in June 1967.

I am accused of "propagation of half-truths and the mistruths". I challenge the authors of the article to show one single half-truth or mistruth I made in my lecture. As to the charge of being a rejectionist and extremist, my position has been stated quite clearly. It is that Israel must comply with international law and Security Council and U.N resolutions and withdraw completely from the illegally occupied territory, in 1967, of the West Bank ,Gaza and East Jerusalem, for the creation of a truly independent Palestinian state on 22% of the land of Palestine, to live side by side in peace with Israel. If this is extremism and rejectionism, then common sense is in short supply. As to the story of Mr Barak’s generosity and concessions, let me state clearly again that the Palestinians are not asking for gifts or concessions from Mr. Barak. They are asking for compliance with international law and Security Council resolutions,so as to end the 33 year illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory. Such compliance requires no negotiation or bargaining, sparing Mr. Clinton and Camp David all efforts. This was the policy adopted against Iraqi illegal occupation of Kuwait.

As to Palestinian children demonstrations and ‘ violence’, let me remind the authors that it has been a recognised legitimate historic right for all peoples, including the Palestinians, I assume, to resist foreign occupation. The real violence is the Israeli practices of torture, de-humanisation, expropriation of property, creation of illegal Jewish settlements and demolition of thousands of Palestinian homes, and complete demolition of villages, including my own village of Beit Nuba. If the testimony, as to these violations, of Amnesty International and U.N Human Rights Commission is not enough, perhaps The Halifax Jewish Students Federation might care to examine the testimony of Israel’s own human rights groups, including B’Tselem and The Israeli League for Civil and Human Rights.

Finally, as I have stated repeatedly, the Palestinians are asking only for a

modicum of justice. For without justice, ther will be no peace for Arab or

Jew in the Middle East,

Ismail Zayid, M.D.

Dear editior:

I am submitting the above article as a response to the charges in the article you published addressed to me and I trust you will publish it as a fair measure.