Alon again, naturally

In “The creation of a Palestinian state is inescapable” (June 27), Alon Ben Meir made at least two egregious errors in presenting his narrative.

First, he presents statements as facts for which he has no supporting data. For example:

• “Every Israeli will sooner than later recognize that the creation of a Palestinian state is the only way to protect its democracy,” without data to support this claim, how is he

able to draw such a conclusion?

• He uses the term “occupation” as if our behavior is similar to that of the German occupation of Europe during WWII or European occupation of African lands in the 19th century. How can we be occupiers in our own land? And how can

we be occupiers when much of the Arab population lives in

area A and Gaza where the population runs its own affairs?

• He is concerned that Israel will become an “apartheid” state. Not likely, since Israel is one of the most integrated

societies in the world. Besides, the term applies to racial matters and Israel is not a race.

Secondly, he ignores such major issues as security for Israel and the civil rights of those who live in areas of Israel that

were occupied by Jordan.

• A Palestinian state would probably be run by Hamas and Israelis everywhere in the land would be subjected to the same terror experienced by Israelis who live in the South. This would likely cause shutdowns of the airport and consequent destruction of the country’s economy.

• And what about the civil rights of the approximate 800,000 Jews who live beyond the Green Line? Will they be

driven out of their homes into tent cities?

There are other solutions to this difficult problem, such as

the granting of further autonomy and joint economic projects between Arabs and Jews without destroying the infrastructure, security and Jewish character of the state; Ben Meir’s suggestions would lead to a strategic and economic

disaster.

ALLAN SIEGEL

Professor Emeritus, Efrat

Letter writers under the heading “Leave us Alon” (June 28) make excellent points against Ben-Meir’s article. There is so much wrong in his piece that a whole essay could be written in refutation.

Briefly:

First he threatens us with a loss of friendship. I always told my kids that any friend who threatens us with the loss of friendship is not a friend. This rule of the playground is still

Next, he attempts to bring into play that we have a new government. If there is anything about our lengthy round of elections that is stable, it is that around 90% of Israelis agree

on the situation vis-a-vis the Palestinian issue. That was put

firmly into place by arch-terrorist Arafat on starting the Second Intifada in 2020, when he launched a reign of death and destruction on Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, causing the

immediate implosion of the Israeli Left (me included).

Last, I always felt that the most insidious form of antisemitism is: The Jews, who went through the horrors of the

Holocaust, should be held to a higher standard than the rest of humanity.

One wonders whether Prof. Ben-Meir should be teaching at NYU, where he can continue to poison the minds of naive students who can be forced to conform to his views under threat of not attaining passing grades.

DAVID SMITH

Ra’anana

The creation of a Palestinian state is so “inescapable” that

one already exists. It is called Jordan, occupying most of Palestine and with a strong majority of Palestinian Arabs.

There’s already a second Palestinian state, too. It is called Israel, with a majority of Palestinian Jews.

With all due respect to Ben-Meir’s unimaginative piece,

the creation of additional Arab/Muslim states in historical Palestine is neither inescapable nor advisable. There are so

many other better solutions available, requiring only creativity, flexibility and good will on the Arab side (whenever they’re ready to trade their hatred for open-mindedness).

Israel must not capitulate to the loser-take-all demands of the PA and its cheerleaders.

HAIM GREEN

Hadera