To the Editor:
Re the Op-Ed on Israel should support the Palestinian statehood push: This is like asking whether we should support an independent state in Never Never Land for the poor pirates. Never Never Land is a fairy tale, and so is the State of Palestine. Neither has ever existed.
Instead of bleating about the "poor Palestinians," let’s look at historical facts. The people now claiming to be "Palestinians who’s land was stolen" were calling themselves Southern Syrians during the first half of the 1900s and they were mosly nomadic people who worked land for absentee owners. The land was purchased — in some cases more than once — by Jews settling in the area. So to implement a country to be run by terrorists is the grandest stupidity.
Also, let’s not forget that Jewish immigration was supposed to be encouraged and supported by the British after the demise of the Ottoman Empire. No one questions the existence of Jordan (1921) or Syria (1946) or Libya (1911). The Arab-Muslim countries in the Middle East were called "re-emerging," and the pretense that Israel never existed before and Jerusalem should be a divided city is promulgated by those who seek the destruction of Israel and are worried about the poor Muslims.
Leslie Friedlander
Glendale, Ariz.
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