From: Ismail Zayid
To: Guardian Weekly
Sent: Friday, July 09, 2004 9:13 PM
Subject: A fictitious siege.

July 9,2004
 
The Editor,
The Guardian Weekly.
 
Dear Editor;
 
Glenn Frankel, in his article {"Israel's crisis without end" June 25}, depicts Israel as a state under a "perpetual state of siege". This is the most powerful military state in the Middle East, which has waged a series of wars of aggression, in 1956,1967,1978 and 1982, against its Egyptian, Syrian, Palestinian and Lebanese neighbours, and possesses the most sophisticated weaponry, including nuclear, Chemical and biological weapons.
 
Mr. Frankel speaks of Israel "longing for a normal existence". Surely, a state that imposes, for decades, an illegal occupation over its neighbours, in defiance of international law and repeated Security Council resolutions, and persists in practising, against the occupied people, the violation of virtually every article in the Fourth Geneva Convention, cannot be interested in normalcy.
 
If Israel is truly interested in a state of normalcy and the security of its citizens, it should completely terminate its illegal occupation of Palestinian and Syrian territory and comply with international law and UN resolutions.
 
Yours sincerely,
 
Ismail Zayid, MD