Sept. 14, 2005
The Editor:
The Halifax herald.
Dear Editor:
The tirade of falsehoods and baseless charges made by your
correspondents, G. McEachern, A.Mark David, Jane MacDonald and Bob MacLaughlin
[Letters Sept. 13], do not have any factual basis. The West Bank, including East
Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip are not part of Israel and are under illegal
Israeli occupation, as affirmed universally and by all international bodies.
Contrary to the claim made by Mr. David and Ms. MacDonald, this illegal
occupation came, in June 1967, as a result of a war of aggression planned and
started by Israel. This fact is confirmed by the statements made by Israel's own
leaders at the time, and was not planned by President Nasser of Egypt, as often
claimed by Israel's propagandists and apologists:
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}.
Prime Minister Levi Eshkol stated :" The
Egyptian layout in the Sinai and the general military build up there testified
to a military defensive Egyptian set-up, south of Israel" [ Israeli daily
Yediot Ahronot, Oct. 18,1967].
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
posteriori 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 ourselves. We decided to attack him" [The
N.Y.Times, Aug.21,1982].
This tells us who planned this war and effected it, and
perhaps it is time that Israel's apologists heed Mr. Begin's advice and be
honest with themselves.
The personal attack, made by Mr. MacLaughlin, is not worthy of
publication and certainly does not deserve a response. However, when I was
invited 33 years to come and teach at Dalhousie University
Medical School, I was not told that I would not be allowed to express my own
views about world events including Israeli policies and war crimes committed in
the Occupied Territories, let alone the total demolition, in June 1967, of
my own village, Beit Nuba, and neighbouring villages of Yalu and biblical town
of Emmaus. The views I express are held by many Canadians including
politicians.
As to who initiated terrorism in the Middle East, the
historic record shows Israel's primary role in committing numerous acts of
terrorism against Palestinians, British and Americans as well as
Jews. Perhaps it is relevant, on this issue, to quote the statement made by
the late Professor Israel Shahak, a Holocaust survivor and then Chairman of
Israeli League for Human and Civil Rights, who stated: "There is nothing new in
the fact that Israel is a terrorist state, which, almost from its inception, has
used its intelligence services [the Mossad] to assassinate people on foreign
soil with any violence or terror it considers necessary for its
ends."
The biblical claim, stated by Mr. MacLaughlin has no standing
in international law and no relevance in the 21st. century.
Mr. David refers to the Security Council resolution # 242. The
preamble to this resolution affirms clearly:
" the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war."
Furthermore, the Arab countries have offered Israel recognition and full
security if it complies with international law and withdraws to the June 4, 1967
borders. This offer still stands as per resolutions of the Arab league Summits
in Fez, 1980, and Beirut two years ago. But Israel refuses to accept these
offers.
Yours Sincerely,
Ismail Zayid, MD.