Israel has been too kind to Palestinians

THE other side of the coin of Brendan O’Brien’s concern about young Arab stone-throwers being arrested, questioned and imprisoned a while to cool their heels (Write Back, December 13) is in the UN Declaration of the Rights of the Child — that nobody use under-15s on any battlefield/ field of conflict.

From May to November 1947, Arab states and the Palestinian leadership threatened war if UN plans — based on a visit and evidence-taking — proposed partition.

When the UN passed Resolution 181, the Arab parties rejected the Arab Palestine State and failed to declare an Arab state of Palestine, then opened hostilities with ‘non-state actors’ and, in May 1948, the Arab regular armies. Then-UN Secretary General Trygve Lie condemned the Arabs for the first aggression since 1945.

By the 1949 armistices, Jordan, Egypt and Syria remained in their occupations of Palestine and never created an Arab Palestine state. In 1967, to everybody’s surprise, Israel quickly broke Egypt’s aggressive maritime blockade of Eilat, Syria’s aggressive shelling of Galilee, and Jordan’s shelling of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Still, in June 1967, Israel offered to withdraw in return for a treaty ending the conflict. The Arab parties did not even say thanks but no thanks.

As in 1948 and ever since, Arabs kick Israeli shins and sue Israel for blacking their eyes in self-defence.

FRANK ADAM

Prestwitch, Greater Manchester