LETTER to the NYT Letters' editor

Dear Letter Editor,

I submit this letter to you for publication

Fictions of  Tony Judt - Re: Fictions on the ground , June 22, 2009

The author writes that in the early 60-s he spent some time in a kibbutz in Israel. It shows: his reminiscences are fresh and authentic. In contrast all what he writes about the later forty plus years in Israel shows no signs of authenticity, only prejudicial politics.  An example of  the blunt mistakes is the Jewish settler number of half million he gave; he reached that by the false addition of Jews living in Samaria and Judea plus Arabs living in East Jerusalem. The true number of Jews living beyond the ‘green line' is around 250,000.

But the author doesn't cover his views and sentiments that for him even one Jew there is illegal - ‘none is too many'. Regarding the international law he is mistaken, but I wish to address here the human side.   In Israel 1.3 million Arabs are living among the Jewish majority in peace and with more human rights than their brethren in any Arab country.  Why shouldn't five times less Jews have the right to live among a Palestinian Arab majority? If those Jews want to live in Samaria and Judea where their ancestors lived 3000 years ago, choosing all the difficulties there, let them do it.  

As a Holocaust survivor I find the Palestinian demand that Jews couldn't live among them as racist.  I believe that no land on earth should be "judenrein" or "Jew-clean" ever again.

Endre MOZES

Chairman, Take-A-Pen

chairman@takeapen.org

Israel