From: Ismail Zayid
To: Guardian Weekly
Sent: Monday, May 07, 2001 12:32 PM
Subject: How about Israeli compliance with international law?

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The Editor,
The Guardian Weekly
 
May 7, 2001
 
Dear Editor:
 
Mr. Michael Berger, in defending Israeli policies { letter, May2-9} speaks in praise of Ehud Barak's " unprecedented offer" to Yasser Arafat. How about Israeli compliance with international law and repeated Security Council resolutions and complete Israeli withdrawal from the illegally occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza strip, that has been allowed to stand for 34 years?
 
Israel's record as to the violations of Palestinian human rights is phenomenal and surely cannot be defended. This includes, arrest and imprisonment with charge or trial, torture, demolition of homes and entire villages, eg. Imwas, Yalu and Beit Nuba [my own hometown], expropriation of property and creation of illegal settlements, in violation of virtually every article of The Fourth Geneva Convention.
 
He speaks of Palestinian refugees "leaving voluntarily". We thought this myth has been completely demolished by verifiable records and Israel's own historians.
 
I think it is time for Israel's apologists to look at Israel's record and call for justice for the dispossessed Palestinians.
 
Yours sincerely
 
Ismail Zayid, MD.