The Editor, Ottawa Citizen
1101 Baxter Road
Ottawa, ON
K2C 3M4
June 18, 1997
Dear Editor:
Jeff Pernica’s skill at re-writing history (Letter June 17) is simply phenomenal. In responding to Peyton Lyon’s factual catalogue of Israel’s continuing history of defiance of international law and universal conventions on human rights, he transforms Zionist mythology into factual history. If space would allow, I would have liked to expose the fallacy of every statement he made. However, I will confine myself to few issues.
He castigates Mr. Lyon for his statement that Israel continued to grab Palestinian land beyond the limits set by the U.N. Partition Resolution of Nov. 29, 1947, by stating that Israel accepted the resolution and the neighbouring Arab countries invaded Israel. This resolution which was forced upon the General Assembly by the U.S., gave 56% of Palestine for a Jewish state, when the Jews constituted less than one third of the population and owned exactly 5.6% of the land. The reality of the Jewish leaders’ acceptance of this resolution can be seen for its worth when we look at the facts. Long before the British troops withdrew from Palestine, on May 15, 1948, the Haganalh and the Stern and Irgun Zwei Leumi Jewish terrorist gangs were committing scores of massacres of Palestinian men, women and children. They drove, in a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing, 300, 000 Palestinians to become refugees. They also occupied cities like Jaffa and Acre and scores of towns and villages which were allotted to the Arab State. All this occurred before any Arab army entered Palestine, on May 15, 1948. As to the Jewish leaders’ acceptance of the Partition Scheme, let us take them at their own word. Menachem Begin, leader of the Herut Party, stated:
"The partition of the homeland is illegal. It will never be recognized".
David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first Prime Minister, when announcing the creation of Israel, on May 14, 1948, refused to define its borders and stated:
"We are announcing the creation of a state in the Western part of our country. Take the American Declaration of Independence, for instance. It contains no mention of territorial limits. We are not obliged to state the limits of our state".
He later stated:
"To maintain the status quo will not do. We have to set up a dynamic state bent upon expansion".
The Zionist fabrication, that the Palestinian refugees left on orders broadcast by their leaders, has been exposed for the lie it is by the Irish journalist, Erskine Childers and Israeli historians like Tom Segev and
Harkabi, amongst others. Childers examined all American and British monitoring records of all Middle East broadcasts, throughout 1948, and reported:
"There was not a single order of appeal or suggestion about evacuation from any Arab radio, inside of outside Palestine in 1948. There is repeated monitored record of Arab appeals, even flat orders, to the civilians to stay put". (The Spectator. 12 May 1961)
The statement that the wars of 1956 and 1967 were started by the Arab nations is farcical. Every
one knows that the 1956 war was a war of secret collusion between Israel, France and Britain.
As to the 1967 war, I will let Israel’s leaders tell the truth. Yitzhak Rabin, Chief of Staff of
Israel’s army 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". (I~ Monde 28 Feb. 1968).
Prime Minister Levi Eshkol stated:
"The Egyptian layout, in the Sinai, and the general military build up there testified to a military defensive Egyptian set-up, south of Israel". (Yediot Abronot 18 October 1967).
Menachem Begin, Israel’s Prime Minister, addressing Israel’s NatiOnal Defence
College, on August 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 ourselves. We decided to attack him". (N.Y. Times
Aug. 21, 1982)
Alas, there is a need for some honesty, instead of this continuing Zionist fabrication and rewriting of history.
Yours sincerely,
Ismail Zayid, M.D. Professor,
Faculty of Medicine,
Dalhousie University