I refer to the letter ‘Little hope for Middle East peace’ by Jos Edmond Zarb, (The Sunday Times of Malta, May 20).
The statement that ‘Gaza is on the verge of total collapse” is true, but it has nothing to do with actions of Israel or Donald Trump. What does the Hamas terror operation do with hundreds of millions of dollars it gets to help the people of Gaza? In 2014 Egyptian security reports revealed that Hamas is spending $140 million a year to dig terror tunnels. It uses children as slave labourers and spent at least $100 million annually building terror tunnels since 2014.
On May 11 Palestinian rioters in the Gaza Strip set fire to gas pipes serving the territory as well as electricity infrastructure valued at $8 million. Hamas recently refused to accept two truckloads of medical supplies since they came from Israel.
The letter states: “Israel has enforced a devastating blockade … and Hamas firing rockets into Israel has not helped...” Again, reversing cause and effect. Israel unilaterally evacuated Gaza nearly 13 years ago leaving a modern infrastructure to grow flowers and create jobs, which was all destroyed by Hamas to make rockets. It was the firing of rockets into civilian areas of Israel that caused the blockade. This is like reporting Britain bombed Berlin. True but why?
Mr Zarb refers to “the painful compromises the Palestinians have made for peace…” And what compromise does he claim? “Trying to build their State on 22 per cent of historic Palestine”. Palestinians never engaged in State building, only State destruction – the State of Israel.
“Historic Palestine”? The Romans ruled Judea when Jesus was born. Persians sacked Jerusalem in 614, then Byzantines retook the area, the Umayyad Caliphate conquered the area in 661, the Abbasids in 905, the Crusaders in 1096 and the Turks in 1517. There never was a “Historic Palestine”. Check history books, or Google if it is easier.
This area was part of Greater Syria (the Vilayet of Syria). France and Britain divided the Middle East after the First World War and created the Arab States of Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Trans-Jordan. Britain got a mandate for a carved-out area called Palestine. There was never a Palestinian people until Yasser Arafat created them in 1964 – previously people living in the area identified with their city or as Syrians.
Mr Zarb wrote “Israelis … continue pursuing … policies in … East Jerusalem … to forcibly transfer the Palestinian population out of the city.” I challenge him to prove any forced transfer of people living in Jerusalem, let alone “continuing it”. The Municipality of Jerusalem installed sewage and water pipes in the Old City in 1975 – to make life easier and hygienic, something neither the British nor Jordanians did. No forcible transfer ever occurred.
He claims unification of Jerusalem was “acquisition by force”. The Jordanians seized half the city by force in 1948. The partition plan, rejected by Palestinians, mandated international supervision. In 1967 Jordan shelled Jewish Jerusalem after Israel begged it not to enter the war. To protect its citizens Israel re-unified the city. All religions have free access to their holy sites. Under Jordanian rule, Jewish synagogues were blown up, grave stones used for latrines and Jews refused access.
The Palestinians have always refused every offer to make peace, they only want the destruction of Israel.