Re: "Closing embassy a terrible mistake," Sept. 19.
One would have to invent a new history of the Middle East to make the assumption, as the writer does, that the West Bank is occupied Palestinian land.
First, you'd start by erasing from the historical record a 3,700-year Jewish presence in what was called until a few decades ago, "Judea and Samaria."
Having erased the Hebrew, religious and historical connection of Jews to Judea, one then would remove the legally binding League of Nations mandate, unanimously approved by 51 countries, which called for the recognition and reconstitution of the Jewish national home.
Having accomplished that one would then erase Article 80 of the UN Charter, which implicitly recognizes the "Mandate for Palestine" of the League of Nations.
Finally, one would have to conveniently forget that Israel captured the West Bank in a defensive war, rather than an offensive war, in 1967.
In other words, only by discarding history, binding legal documents, the UN Charter and the provisions of the international laws of war that make the aggressor accountable for his aggression, can one conclude the West Bank is occupied Palestinian land. To further clarify the distinctions, before the 1967 war the West Bank belonged to Jordan.
One thing must be clearly understood. The Jews are just as much Palestinian as the Arabs. The name "Palestine" is a Roman invention, not an Arab one nor a Jewish one. But for 3,700 years Israel and Jerusalem have been eternal to the Jews.
Marvin Sharpe
Victoria
