OK, so I signed the petition deploring the latest Presbyterian attack on Israel. I am deeply upset by this and by the prejudicial nature of their position.

Here's a link, which Sol had already posted.

I got this in response (my reply follows):

OK, I replied thus:

With respect, Reverend Parsons,

Claiming that the violence against Israel is rooted in "The Occupation" is short-sighted.

PLO was created in order to destroy Israel several years before the West Bank and East Jerusalem were captured by Israel, from Jordan, which had annexed these areas and ethnically cleansed them of their Jewish population.

It's also important to note, which you don't, that nearly a million Arab Jews were threatened by and ultimately fled their ancient communities, most with nothing, after 1948; before that, pogroms had erupted throughout the Middle East. Only the Lebanese Maronites decried this violence. Recently the tiny Yemenite population has been reduced still further - I don't know if any Jews yet remain in Yemen - only 200 had been living there, under the protection of the sheik, having already lost their homes. There are about 8 Jews left in Baghdad. Of course the Jewish tribes, those that hadn't already been attacked and decimated, were expelled from Arabia by Mohammed centuries ago.

If you want to discuss violence why not put it into this context?

Nor, notably, did Jordan or Egypt, which occupied Gaza, attempt to create a Palestinian Arab state after the 1948-49 war - or indeed instead of war! an Arab state could have been created per the UN Partition of 1947. Instead several Arab armies attacked Israel.

For that matter Jordan, Iraq, modern Syria and Lebanon are all the result of the Sykes-Picot Agreement and Saudi Arabia was created when the Hijaz was conquered by the Sauds and their Wahhabi supporters.

None of these states are internally peaceful or free; with the possible exception of Jordan none has what could remotely be considered a progressive government. All have acted against the cause of peace in the Middle East; except for Jordan none has offered citizenship to the Palestinians, who have been expelled en masse from several Arab states and who remain perpetual "refugees" from the 1948 war, even unto several generations.

That alone assures continuing conflict as does the existence of the "camps" which are now essentially cities, yet separate from Lebanon, Jordan, Syria - there are even "refugee camps" in Gaza and the West Bank! This is absurd and it's damaging, and it's all sponsored by the UN.

Further, Israel has tried on many occasions to give back the whole package captured in the defensive war of 1967 in exchange for peace, for example at Khartoum - and has received nothing but rejection and more war including during the Oslo process, when Barak and Clinton's efforts resulted in the horrible Intifada II.

In any case, Jews had lived in East Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria for well over 3,000 years before the British-led Arab Legions of Transjordan threw them all out in a deliberate act of total ethnic cleansing.

Your "facts" don't even mention this. When you discuss "The Occupation" you might want to recall that "The West Bank" has been continuously populated by Jews up until the ethnic cleansing by Jordan and that the holiest sites in Judaism are in these areas - such as the Temple Mount and the shrines near Hebron. Under Jordanian rule Jews weren't even allowed access to pray in their holiest sites and also, many were trashed.

Similarly the Golan Heights look down into the coastal plain of Israel, where most of the people of Israel live.

Strategically, the Heights are important for Israel's security, which is something not taken into account in your statement. Had the Heights not been used as a base to attack Israel repeatedly, you might have a point. Were the Baath government of Syria an open, progressive, peace-seeking institution - you might have a point.

However, this isn't the case.

Adventurism in Lebanon and sponsorship not only of Hezbollah but other fascistic political parties that target Israel and radicalize the Palestinians in the "camps" are in fact aspects of the Syrian government, which is also linked closely to Iran, that you aren't even considering in your paradigm.

And, there has been no movement whatsoever by any Arab power, outside Egypt and Jordan which have peace agreements with Israel, yet which continue to publish vile antisemitism in papers and on TV, toward accepting Israel let alone accepting Jews as equals - and this includes a boycott that has been in place since 1931. This was put in place by Arab leadership against the Yishuv and continues to this day under the aegis of the Arab League.

Perhaps if we were seeing some softening, some acceptance of Israel and a reduction in antisemitic propaganda the Israelis would feel more secure and you might have more of a point. The fact is, though, incitement is the rule rather than the exception and even President Obama has been unable to bring about a softening of the Arab point of view toward Israel, period. The Hamas doctrine remains as hateful and violent as ever. How do you propose to deal with that?

Also, the Kairos document is offensive, surely you must recognize that Christians shouldn't be legitimizing "resistance" which actually means terrorism? This alone is bringing an element of religious bias into the argument, bias against Jews, and I think it's dangerous. It's also reinforcing many centuries of Christian bias against Jews. On top of the extremist Muslim point of view, this we don't need.

Responsible, modern Christians should be speaking against this, loud and clear, and in favor of moderation and tolerance as well as non-violence.

Finally, the day Israel declared independence it was attacked. "The Occupation" had nothing to do with this.

I think, with respect sir, you are overlooking some root causes of the conflict and targeting Israel like this doesn't begin to address them. It's a fundamentally dishonest and ahistorical position.

Your comment is highly prejudicial, biased and I am totally dismayed by it.

Sincerely,

***

For me, the money quote is the assertion that the violence is rooted in "The Occupation".

Enough with this calumny already. That is flat out inaccurate. Period. It doesn't account for several wars predating "The Occupation" and it totally dismisses Arab agency before and after the UN vote for Partition, not to mention widespread violence against Middle Eastern Jews.

I am starting to get mad. I can't believe either the sappy apologia, the supposed belief in "The Peace of Jerusalem" combined with bigoted interpretations of history as well as the facts on the ground.

Enough already. This is beyond chutzpah.