Recent letter-writer Lester LeViness condescendingly informs Journal News
readers that they are ignorant, with little or no idea of what the Balfour
Declaration is (“Rights” Not Respected, 10/2). He then attempts to prove that
Israel has repeatedly violated this declaration with U.S. financial and moral
support. His conclusion? The attacks of 9/11 and indeed Muslim terrorism
worldwide are a direct result of U.S. support for Israel.

This is a commonly heard refrain among pro-Palestinian propagandists who try
to turn truth on its head by blaming the victims for the crimes of the
perpetrators. However, presenting readers with a laundry list of baseless
allegations of supposed Israeli “crimes” against Palestinians does not make
it fact.

It appears that LeViness, not Journal News readers, needs a lesson in
history. It was not the Jewish state but the Arab states which violated
international declarations and resolutions from the start.
By waging war against the reconstituted State of Israel, the Arabs violated
the original UN Charter which required nations to “settle their international
disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and
security, and justice, are not endangered” (UN Charter, Article 2(3)) and to
“refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force
against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state”(UN
Charter, Article 2(4).

United Nations Resolution 181 of November 29, 1947 calling for the partition
of the British-ruled Palestine Mandate into a Jewish state and an Arab state
was accepted by the Jews of Palestine, but rejected by the Arabs, as was
every other attempt at international resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Instead of accepting territorial compromise, the Arabs invaded, killing a
full 1% of the Jewish population in this attempt to obliterate Israel.

United Nations Resolution 194 of December 11, 1948 which is now cited by
Palestinians demanding the “right of return” to what is now Israel carried a
paragraph stating that “refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at
peace with their neighborsshould be permitted to do so at the earliest
practicable date â¤?” However, all the Arab states voted against this
resolution because it implied recognition of the State of Israel and made the
possibility of return contingent upon peaceful relations with Israelis.

United Nations Resolution 242 which calls for a negotiated “withdrawal of
Israeli armed forces from territories” occupied in the 1967 war and the
“termination of all claims or states of belligerency â¤? acknowledgment of the
sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State
in the area �to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free
from threats or acts of force” was rejected by the Arab states in 1967. They
not only denied Israelâ¤^(TM)s new borders but refused to accept it in any guise in
any borders.

The determination to expunge the only non-Arab, non-Muslim nation in the
Middle East has not yet disappeared. In July 2000, Yasir Arafat rejected
Israelâ¤^(TM)s attempts to reach a negotiated settlement, choosing to fuel suicide
bombings and terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians throughout the
country. Sadly, Palestinian society has widely celebrated the carnage.

The adverse conditions under which the Palestinians now live have been
inflicted upon them by their own leadership, one that has chosen terror and
violence over peace.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 8th, 2003 and is filed under opinion.