Slippery Silwan statements

Regarding “In recognition of the Judeo-Christian values upon which both nations were founded” ( July 11), Gershon Baskin claims, “Israel is planning to evacuate dozens of Palestinian families from Silwan and transfer their homes to Jewish settlers – who have nothing to do with the properties or history of the area for the last few hundred years.”

One can perhaps admire him for identifying with the Palestinians, but not for following their propensity for distorting the facts by claiming there is no Jewish connection to Silwan.

While driving in Jerusalem recently, one of my Jewish passengers pointed to a side street and said, “That’s where I was brought up after our family was evacuated from Silwan because of the prewar rioting.”

Not everyone has the opportunity to hear local history first hand, but everyone should expect a respected newspaper such as The Jerusalem Post to ensure that its columnists pushing an agenda are not playing fast and loose with the facts. Otherwise how can I, or anyone, know the truth that he distorts or believe anything other than what is written? BOB KNIGHT Modi’in

It is your right to print opposing views. However, to allow Gershon Baskin to fabricate history is not presenting an opposing view, it is rewriting history.

History clearly confirms that the area of Silwan was vacant during Ottoman control. In the 1850s, the area was a mixed Jewish-Arab village. In the 1880s, Yemenite Jews moved into the community. These Jewish homeowners were brutally attacked during programs of 1921 and 1929. In 1939, these Jewish occupants were evacuated for their own safety and Arabs stole the homes, without compensation. So any effort today to right the wrong of 90 years ago is not evicting legal Arab residents; it is an effort to restore the rightful property to the Jewish owners who were forced out by the Arab mobs.

Silwan has a 3,000-year Jewish history. It is very easy to overlook the truth, as most readers lack knowledge to understand the facts of the conflict and history.

The excavation of a road that dates some 2,500-3,000 years is not an effort to draft a new reality; the discovery puts history and current events in perspective.

Please give (and stick to) the facts. ELIEZER COHEN Cedarhurst, NY