From: Ismail Zayid
To: The Halifax Herald
Cc: Beverley Dauphinee ; Bob Howse
Sent: Wednesday, March 06, 2002 11:58 AM
Subject: " Naked aggression".

March 6,2002
 
The Editor,
The Halifax Herald
 
Dear Editor:
 
In reference to Mr. Bob MacLaughlin's letter {"Mindless aggression" March 6}, is he aware that there is such a thing as international law and that the "mindless aggression" that is taking place is the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinan territory that has been allowed to stand for 35 years? Is it in his dictionary that the demolition of thousands of Palestinian homes, including total villages like Emmaus, Yalu and Beit Nuba[ my own hometown] is naked aggression? Is he aware that the daily humiliation , torture of prisoners, collective punishment and extra-judicial execution , to which Palestinians are exposed, are condemned by all international and Israeli human rights organisations? Is he awrare that international law entitles people under foreign occupation to resist such occupation?
 
His notion of history is strange, to say the least. Today's Palestinians are the descendents of the Canaanites, Jebusites and other tribes that lived in this land since history began. The Hebrew tribes which invaded the Land of Canaan came as invaders and were driven out by other invaders, the Romans. The land of Palestine encountered a variety of other invaders including the Romans, Greeks, Babylonians, Persians, the Crusaders, Turks and British. Does that entitle any of them to claim that land as their own? Maxime Rodinson, Professor of History at the Sorbonne University in Paris, and who is Jewish, wrote: " The Arab population of Palestine was native in all the senses of the word and their roots in Palestine can be traced back at least forty centuries." Mr. MacLaughlin's notion that if a colonised people have not formed a government, they are not entitled to their native land and thus can be cleansed. There are scores of states and nations in the world today that did not form a government until they were able, after the Second World war, to rid themselves of their colonial rulers.
 
The inexcusable killing of innocent Palestinian and Israeli civilians must come to an end, and this will be achieved when this illegal Israeli occupation is completely brought to an end and the Palestinians allowed to live freely in their own land. Thus peace and security can be attained for both peoples.
 
Yours sincerely,
 
Ismail Zayid, M.D.