From: Ismail Zayid
To: Halifax Herald
Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2005 4:49 PM
Subject: Illegal Occupation.

March 16, ,2005
 
The Editor,
The Halifax Herald.
 
Dear Editor:
 
Mr. A.Mark David, in his letter :{"Proactive measures" March 18}, claims that " Israel came to possess these [occupied] territories through a defensive war [the Six Day War in 1967]". The falsehood of this claim. and the fact that this war of aggression was planned by Israel, is clearly exposed by Israel's own leaders at the time who stated:
 
Yitzhak Rabin, chief of staff of the Israeli 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." {Le Monde, Feb.28,1968}.
 
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" [ Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot, Oct. 18,1967].
 
Modechai Bentov, an Israeli cabinet minister at the time, stated: " All this story about the danger of extermination [of Israel in June 1967] has been a complete invention and has been blown up a poseriori to justify the annexation of Arab territory" [ Al Hamishmar, 14 April 1972,  and quoted in Le Monde,  3 June 1972].
 
Menachem Begin, a cabinet minister in June 1967, stated, while prime minister, addressing Israel's National Defence College, on Aug.8,1982, : " In June 1967, we again had a choice. The Egyptian army concentrations in the Sinai did not prove 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].
 
The Fourth Geneva Convention applies to the treatment of people under military occupation, regardless of the cause of the nature of the war, and as we see from the Israeli leaders statements, the June 1967 war was not a 'defensive war'.
 
As to the applicability of  Security Council Resolution # 242, the preamble to this resolution clearly states:
"Emphasizing the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war .....". As to the 1948 borders, they were borders of the Armistice Agreement in 1949. Israel was admitted to the UN General Assembly in resolution
#273, of May 11, 1949 on condition of its implementation of the UNGA Partition resolution # 181, and UNGA resolution #194, of Dec.11,1948, calling for the Right of Return for the Palestinian refugees to their homes. To this day, Israel is refusing to comply with these resolutions, and thus it can be legitimately argued that its UN membership is illegitimate.
 
That the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza is clearly illegal, is also affirmed by the ruling of the International Court of Justice, in July 2004.
 
Yours sincerely,
 
Ismail Zayid, MD.