From: Ismail Zayid
To: Globe & Mail

Sent: Tuesday, November 21, 2000 11:55 AM

Subject:Falsification of History.

Canada Palestine Association
P.O.Box, 1085
Halifax, NS., B3H 2V4

Tel: 902. 429. 9100

The Editor,
The Globe & Mail
21 Nov. 2000

Dear editor:

Zionist re-writing of the history of the Middle East conflict is unending, and Shimon Peres [ "Moment of truth in the Mideast", Nov.21] is indulging in this liberally.

He states:" the Palestinians related to the U.N. map drawn in 1947 that allocated to them three quarters of the territory of historical Palestine". This is completely false. The U.N. General Assembly resolution # 181, of 29 Nov. 1947and passed under tremendous pressure from the U.S., allotted to the Palestinians, who constituted, at the time, two thirds of the population and owned 94% of the land, only 42% of the country. The Jewish state was allotted 56% of the land, when the Jews, mostly recent immigrants, constituted only one third of the population and owned 5.6% of the land. Through war, Israel proceeded, by the end of 1948, to conquer 78% of Palestine and expel 85% of the population of this area, who,and their descendants, remain to this day as refugees, in violation of repeated U.N.resolutions.

He speaks of Oslo and Camp David, and how 97% of the Palestinian population, in the occupied territories, are under Palestinian Authority control. They are encircled, in ghettos or bantustans, by Israeli army and settlers that are capable of, and are doing so now, of imposing a siege, thus denying them all means of livelihood. Their land is expropriated for the creation of illegal Jewish settlements, their homes are demolished and they are continuously humiliated, all in violation of international law and the Fourth Geneva Convention. When they rise in protest, as in the current Intifada, they are killed by the hundreds. However, when some of them kill Israelis, their towns and cities are mercilessly rocketed by helicopter and navy gunships.

Mr. Peres says "we have reached the moment of choice". He is quite right, and the moment of choice has been there for a long time, but neither he nor the Israeli governments before or after his own government chose to make the choice dictated by international law. That choice must include the complete Israeli withdrawal from the illegally occupied territories, of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, since 1967, in accordance with Security Council resolutions. The settlements created on expropriated Palestinian land are illegal and must be dismantled. The Palestinians must be allowed to create their own truly independent state on these territories which constitute only 22% of historic Palestine.

Finally, the Palestinians are asking for a modicum of justice. For without justice there will be no peace for Arab or Jew in the Middle East.

Yours sincerely

Ismail zayid, MD.
President, Canada Palestine Association