The letter by Brenda Cohen { " NOthing wrong with being Zionist: Abbas can't waive the right of return" June 5}, is laden with mythology and fallacies. Palestine is the historic land of the Palestinians who are the descendents of the Canaanites, the Jebusites and other tribes that lived in this land since history began. Professor Maxime Rodinson, who is Jewish and Professor of History at the Sorbonne University in Paris, stated in 1968: " 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." The Hebrew tribes came to the land of Canaan as invaders and were driven out by other invaders, the Romans.

Ms. Cohen claims that the Palestinian refugees of 1948 were not driven out by the Zionist forces or by Israel, using the Zionist fable that they left on the orders of their leaders' broadcasts. This fable was systematically demolished by the work of Israeli hisorians and the work of Dr. Erskine Childers, who examined the American and British monitoring records of all Middle East broadcasts throughout 1948 and reported : " There was not a single order or appeal or suggestion about evacuation from Palestine,in 1948. There is repeated monitored record of Arab appeals, even flat orders, to civilians of Palestine to stay put." { The Spectator, London, May 12,1961}. The Palestinian refugees were driven out as a result of a Zionist plan orchestrated and effected by various Zionist leaders beginning from Herzl, to Ben Gurion to current leaders like current cabinet ministers in Sharon's government who speak of the policy of 'transfer'. Theodor Herzl stated in 1896 : " We shall try to spirit the penniless [Arab] population across the borders...Both the process of expropriation and the removal must be carried out discreetly and circumspectly." { The Complete Diaries of Theodor Herzl. Vol I, Ed. R Patai}. Ben Gurion confided to his son, Amos, in a letter in 1937, that when the Jewish state comes into being: " We will expel the Arabs and take their places." Nathan Chofshi, a prominent Jewish thinker, who immigrated to Palestine from Russia in 1908, wrote, in rebuttal of statements by an American Zionist rabbi: " If Rabbi Kaplan really wanted to know what happened. We old settlers in Palestine, who witnessed the flight, could tell him how and in what manner we, Jews, forced the Arabs to leave their cities and villages... We came and turned the native Arabs into tragic refugees. And we still dare to slander and malign them and to besmirch their name. Instead of being ashamed of what we did and of trying to undo some of the evil we committed, by helping these unfortunate refugees, we justify our terrible acts and even attept to glorify them." { Jewish Newsletter, Feb. 9,1959}.

The story about Arab armies invading Israel in 1948 is, again, part of Zionist falsification of history. Before a single Arab soldier entered palestine on May 15, 1948, Zionist forces had already driven out 350,000 Palestinian refugees and occupied mancy cities and towns, like Jaffa and Acre, which were included in the Arab state, according to the Partition Scheme of 1947, as per UN resolution # 181. Mr. Ben Gurion , on announcing the creation of Israel on May 14,1948, refused to define its borders and stated hat had the Arab armies not come in, we would have extended our borders throughout the land. He later stated: " We are building a dynamic state, bent on expansion."

As to The right of return for the refugees to their homes, rhis is an inalienable right, based on on Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the repeatedly- reaffirmed UN Resolution # 194, of Dec. 11, 1948. This is an individual right, that cannot be bargained away by Abbas, Sharon or Bush. The story of Jewish refugees being driven out by Arab states is best answered by the story of Iraqi Jews. who resisted Israeli pressure to emigrate to Israel, and were then subjected to intimidation by Israeli secret agents, as documented by the report of agents like Mordechai Ben Porat sent By Yigal Allon,in 1951/2 tossing hand grenades into the Masouda Shem-Tov synagogue, crowded with Jewish worshippers, killing and injuring many innocent victims, in an attempt to blame it on the Arabs of Iraq. Be that as it may, these Jewish refugees have also the right to return to their homes, and many Arab governments have already offered them this choice.

In summation, a massive injustice has been committed against the Palestinian people, who are calling for a modicum of justice, so that security for Israelis and Palestinians can be obtained. Bush's road map, is a mirage. The fudamental issue is an illegal Israeli occupation, of the West Bank,including East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip, that has been allowed to stand for 36 years, in defiance of international law and repeated Security Council resolutions. Complete termination of this occupation and dismantlement of all settlements, not merely the outposts that Sharon speaks of, must be effected. All the settlements are illegal, as defined by the Fourth Geneva Convention, and Security Council resolutions. The call for negotiation between the occupier and the occupied is illegitimate and has no basis in international law.