An ‘apartheid society’ being created in Israel

THE James Irwin letter on Israel’s treatment of Palestinians (Letters, 2.9.22) began with the ‘‘claim’’ about Israel’s ‘‘alleged’’ land grabs.

James is unconvinced the Israeli military, settlers and bogus judiciary are stealing Palestinian land daily and they make it ‘‘legal’’.

He should not worry. The ‘‘Great Powers’’ of Europe and the United States are aligned with Israel and protect them from criticism.

In the United Nations the US frequently resorts to the Security Council veto to save face for Israel. A recent example is: ‘‘United Nations, December 20, 2002 — The United States today vetoed a Security Council resolution that condemned Israel for its recent killings of several United Nations employees and the destruction of a United Nations food warehouse.’’

James seems to doubt that we are convinced Israel is truly entitled to this land, so he turns to religion for help. He discovered the ‘‘Reformist Journalist’’ Abdullah AlHadlaq from Kuwait who quoted from the Bible and the Koran snippets such as: “Allah assigned that land to them and they did not plunder it” and ‘‘When the State of Israel was established in 1948, there was no state called Palestine’’.

(They always say that, and it's not true. At least we didn’t get Golda Meir’s quote: ‘‘A land without people, for a people without land.’’).

While these excerpts suggest that Jews are entitled to live in Israel, they do not say ‘‘Only Jews are allowed to live in Israel’’.

I think God would be quite cross at the apartheid society created in

Israel. It is well known that 700,000 refugees were driven out of their homes immediately by the Israelis in 1948. Their villages were systematically destroyed and buried to ensure there was no evidence.

Heavy earthmoving machinery is routinely used to destroy houses to encourage more people to leave. There are approximately five million refugees in camps in and around Palestine.

Ike Nitis

Mosgiel