Sent: Friday, April 26, 2002 8:46 PM
Subject: Judge and Jury?
26 April, 2002
The Editor,
The National Post.
Dear Editor:
In your editorial { "The phantom massacre" April 25} you
lambaste the UN envoy, Mr Larsen, Svend Robison, Amnesty International and
all those who dare criticise Israel and point out the horrific destruction
imposed on a refugee camp, and other towns and villages, by Israel.
You state : "Israel should welcome an objective inquiry." Yet,
you and Mr. Sharon, in objecting to an independent commission
appointed by the UN Secretary General, would like to act as both judge and
jury. Interestingly, you refer to the Geneva Conventions. Are you aware
that the state of Israel stands, for the last 35 years, in violation of
virtually every article of The Fourth Geneva Convention. These
violations include torture, detention without charge or trial,collective
punishments, demolition of thousands of homes, including entire villages, like
Imwas, Yalu and Beit Nuba [my own home town], expropriation of land, uprooting
of hundreds of thousands of trees and creation of illegal
settlements.
No where in your editorial is there any mention of an illegal
Israeli occupation that has been allowed to stand for 35 years, in defiance of
international law and repeated Security Council resolutions. Do you not accept,
as it is enshrined in the UN Charter, that people under foreign occupation are
entitled to resist such occupation, or must Israel remain above international
law?
Yours Sincerely,
Ismail Zayid, M.D.