Patricia Mercer’s myopic portrayal of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians (“Local retiree witnesses West Bank conflict,” Nov. 19) requires a teachable moment to remedy her many baseless assertions.
The so-called “occupation” to which Mercer refers to, was only brought after combined Arab armies in 1967 sought to effectively wipe Israel from the map. In a war of self-defence, Israel took over the West Bank (also known as Judea and Samaria — the ancestral Jewish homeland) during the Six Day War which was aggressively launched against the Jewish state by Egypt, Syria and Jordan.
The true “occupiers” of the West Bank were the Jordanians who controlled the land until 1967 following their previous attempt to destroy the nascent state of Israel in 1948. Jordan had no legal claim to the land, nor did a state of “Palestine” ever exist. The Ottoman Empire and the British Mandate were the past administrators of the land making this matter fundamentally “disputed” and not “occupied.” It would be advisable for Prof. Mercer to take a history lesson on the deep historic, legal and religious Jewish claims to these “disputed” territories.
Furthermore, the Palestinian Authority (PA) has governed almost all West Bank Palestinians for close to two decades now and Israel’s security raids into the West Bank are meant to thwart and disrupt terror cells that are actively trying to stage terror attacks against innocent Israeli civilians. Had the PA responsibly dismantled terror networks and stopped glorifying these ruthless murderers, Israel wouldn’t have to take these necessary actions. Let us not forget, these dubious killers don’t discriminate. They regale at the potential “success” of killing Israeli infants, children, mothers, fathers, grandparents, educators, you name it. Since 2000, over 1,218 people have been killed and close to 10,000 Israelis have been wounded by Palestinian violence and terrorism, yet Ms. Mercer doesn’t seem interested in “protecting” these Israelis.
We expect our teachers and educators to allow for a fair hearing of the controversial issues involved in the Arab-Israeli conflict to enable heated two-way debates that add to the marketplace of ideas. Sadly, Ms. Mercer’s one-way perspective has only inflamed tensions, misled peers, and brought prospects for peace to a deadend.
Mike Fegelman
executive director
HonestreportingCanada
Toronto
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Sorry. I meant to say that Israel receives $8.2 MILLION per day in military aid from the US.