To the Editor:
Reading of Jewish tombstones on the Mount of Olives being vandalized reminds of me of how Arabs vandalized Jewish tombstones there before 1967. It also reminded me that Palestinians a few years ago vandalized and ransacked Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus, a Palestinian policeman this year shot and killed a Jewish visitor to Joseph’s Tomb, and Palestinian Authority President Abbas complains when Israeli police try to stop Palestinians from stoning Jews at the Western Wall.
I am reminded also that before 1967, when the Arabs were in control of eastern Jerusalem, snipers would shoot at Jews from the high vantage point of the Mount of Olives.
For all these reasons, it is not understandable how President Obama and Western nations can demand of Israel to begin negotitations from the 1967 lines. Only under Israeli control is there safe access and freedom to live in these areas. To demand of Israel to force Jews out of their homes and cede those areas to Palestinians would be tantamount to fighting against freedom and in favor of damaging the security of a free democracy.
To add the caveat of "mutually agreed land swaps" is disingenuous, as the Palestinians obviously are not interested in agreeing to give Israel more land than they would be obligated, so Israel can feel secure and Jews would be saved from being kicked out of their homes. The Palestinians, after all, want even to allow millions of Arabs into pre-1967 Israel.
Ben Klein
New York, N.Y.
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