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.