Letters

The December 21 edition contained two letters about the Middle East. One states that it “is intellectually dishonest, lazy and beyond the pale” that every time someone defends the rights of Palestinians, they’re labeled antisemitic [“Intellectually Dishonest,” Letters, December 21], denying the right for someone to express their opinion.

A second letter states, “It’s high time brainwashed American Jews face up to the real history of Israel instead of the mythical pablum they were taught in Hebrew schools” [“Fake History,” Letters, December 21].

Jews have dwelt in Israel since Abraham died in Hebron in 1821 BCE.

1000 BCE and 70 CE: first and second Temples built and destroyed on Temple Mount, Jerusalem.

705 CE: Al-Aqsa Mosque built on Temple Mount.

1517-1947 CE: Occupation by Ottoman Empire and British.

1929: Rioting kills 133 Jews, injures 339; 69 Jews murdered and all Jews leave Hebron; 17 communities evacuated. Haganah formed to defend Jewish communities.

1947: U.N. Resolution 181 divides land into Jewish and Arab states; Jerusalem under international administration. Accepted by Jews, rejected by Arabs.

1948: Israeli independence. Israel invaded by five Arab armies. Many Arabs flee Israel at insistence of invaders — 850,000 Jews flee Arab countries.

1949: Armistice with Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon.

1956: Moshe Dayan expresses empathy for Gazans living under Egyptian rule for 18 years.

1966: From Jordan-West Bank and Syria, attacks by Fatah and other Arabs. Israel retaliates. Egypt closes Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping. Suez Canal already closed. Continued closure: an economic and humanitarian disaster and reason for 1967 war.

1967: Egypt, Jordan and Syria defeated; Sinai Peninsula, Gaza, West Bank, East Jerusalem and Golan Heights taken.

1973: Egypt and Syria attack Israel. Israel’s IDF crosses the Suez Canal.

1978-79: Treaty with Egypt (Camp David Accords). Normal diplomatic relations. Entire Sinai Peninsula returned. Egypt ostracized by other Arab countries.

1981: Anwar Sadat assassinated.

1993: Oslo Accord. Israel accepts the PLO as Palestinian representative; PLO renounces terrorism, recognizes Israel’s right to exist. Palestinian Authority to govern West Bank and Gaza. Talks on borders, refugees and Jerusalem to be held.

1995: Yitzhak Rabin assassinated, followed by Hamas terrorist attacks. Accord not implemented.

1999: Bill Clinton summit with Ehud Barak and Yasser Arafat attempts to reach agreement. Disagreement on borders, Jerusalem and refugees. No agreement reached; Clinton blames Arafat.

2000-05: Second Intifada violence.

2005: Twenty-one Israeli settlements in Gaza dismantled; IDF and 8,000 Jewish settlers relocated. Israel remains out of Gaza until October 7, 2023.

In the treaty with Egypt, Israel traded land for peace, normal relations and the right to exist. Israel has repeated this from 1947 until the brutal attack of October 7.

Gaza and West Bank Arabs do not want peace. They want Israel and the Jews gone.

Please do the research and seek the truth.

Howard Samborn

Southampton