I would like to comment on Betsey Harding’s letter that was printed on Jan. 4 (“War casting a pall over Hanukkah“).
As she stated, Israel was started in 1948. This action was approved by England, which controlled the area, and also approved by the United Nations. There was to be a second state for Palestinians, but the surrounding Arab nations chose not to accept it and started a war with Israel with the intention of driving the Jews out. They lost the war to the new state of Israel.
In 1993, the Palestine Liberation Organization, under the leadership of Yasser Arafat, was offered 95% of its demands in exchange for a Palestinian state. Arafat refused the offer.
It seems ironic to me that Arab countries have not taken their Palestinian brethren into their countries over all these years. They have, instead, allowed them to languish in the refugee camps.
The resolution to this decades-long problem will be complex and not easy. Nothing can happen until the two sides are willing to deal in good faith and acknowledge that each has a right to live in peace and without worry of the other wanting to kill each other.
Stan Tetenman
Poland
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