April 11, 2007

The Editor,

San Francisco Chronicle.

Dear Editor:

David Gelernter;{“Ramp complaints groundless”, April 11}, makes  a series of falsehoods. The claim that :” Come 1967, Egypt provoked another pan-Arab war against Israel [the Six-Day War]” is baseless. Israel’s own leaders, at the time, state the facts at who planned and effected that war:

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}.

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 postriori 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].

I think the facts speak for themselves.

Yours sincerely,

Ismail Zayid, M.D.