Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2004 5:33 PM
Subject: Re-writing history.
Feb. 25,2004
The Editor,
The Montreal Gazette.
Dear Editor;
Steven Chaimberg, in his letter,Feb. 25, contests John Dirlik's
accurate statements, by indulging in re-writing history.
It is true that the Palestinians rejected the Partition
plan, forced by the US in UNGA resolution # 181, because it was totally
unjust. The Jewish population of Palestine in 1947 constituted 31% of the
population, with large numbers of recent and illegal immigrants, and owned
exactly 5.6.% of the land, and yet were apportioned by this resolution 56% of
Palestine. Nevertheless, the zionist leaders' acceptance was merely tactical,
as confirmed by their own words. Menachem Begin, the leader of the Herut party,
stated ;" The partition of the homeland is illegal and will never be accepted."
David Ben Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, on declaring the creation of
the state 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."
He went on later to state :" To maintain the status quo will not do. We have
set up a dynamic state bent upon expansion." We are still,to this day,
witnessing this expansionist program.
As to who committed the massacres and expulsion, Mr.Chaimberg
should read the reports of Israeli historians like Ariyeh Yitzhaki and Uri
Milstein. Milstein, celebrated in Israel as the dispeller of myths,
wrote: " If Yitzhaki claims that there were murders in almost every
[Arab] village, then I say that up to the inception of Israel, every event of
fighting ended in a massacre of Arabs. There were massacres of Arabs in all of
Israel's wars, but I have no doubt that the War of Indepensence was the
dirtiest."
As to who started the killing and the expulsion, I will let Mr. Ben
Gurion enlighten your readers. Ben Gurion stated: " Until the British left {May
15,1948}, no Jewish settlement, however remote, was entered or seized by the
Arabs, while the Haganah , under severe and frequent attack, captured
many Arab positions and liberated [sic] Tiberias, Haifa, Jaffa and Safad."
{David Ben Gurion, "Rebirth and Destiny of Israel, p.530}. Ben Gurion also
stated: " If it wasn't for the Arab invasion, there would have been no stop to
the expansion of the forces of Haganah , who would have, with the same
drive, reached the national borders of Western Israel [ all of Palestine to the
Jordan River}".
I think it behooves Israel's apologists to heed the facts of
history.
Yours sincerely.
Ismail Zayid, M.D.