Source: The Irish Times, by ZE’EV BOKER, Aug 18, 2016
Sir, – As someone who worked closely with the late Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin during the early days of the Oslo peace process, I can scarcely recognise the argument put forth by Ben Ehrenreich “The Arab-Israeli conflict in 10 points” (August 16th).
Ben Ehrenreich blithely ignores the deep historic connection of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel going back 3,000 years.
While noting the 700,000 Muslim Arabs who fled the fighting in 1948, he says nothing about the expulsion of nearly a million Jews at the same time from Arab countries and that whereas Israel absorbed Jewish refugees and gave them equal rights, Arab countries kept Palestinian refugees in camps to be used as political fodder against Israel.
In reference to the 1967 Six-Day War, Ben Ehrenreich does not clarify that UN Security Council resolution 242 which called for the withdrawal of territories acquired by Israel also required the Arab states to recognise Israel’s right to exist. They refused, that is until the signing of the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt in 1979.
It is wrong to say the security barrier built along the West Bank border was designed to seize Palestinian land. The barrier was a response to the murder of 1,100 Israeli civilians by terrorists who easily crossed from the West Bank into Israel during the Second Intifada. The purpose of the barrier is entirely to protect the lives of Israeli civilians, and the Supreme Court, which adjudicates in territorial disputes regarding the barrier, sometimes in fact decides against the Israeli government.
Read more: http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/israeli-ambassador-responds-to-arab-israeli-conflict-in-10-points-1.2759504
Note: Ze'ev Boker is Israel's ambassador to Ireland.
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