Letter in National Post, Canada

I have a letter in Canada's National Post (but I cannot retrieve the link at present as I am not a registered user. Hopefully, someone will send it soon). Exactly what day, I am not sure but here's the text I sent:-

Sirs,

Gershom Gorenberg's article, "Chronicle of a quagmire" (Sept. 21), is less than comprehensive and therefore is prejudicially misleading on the issue of Jewish residency in areas, which since 1967, have been administered by Israel.

The true starting point must be the international legality awarded to the right of Jews to live in their patrimony by the Supreme Council of the League of Nations in 1922 following the decision of the San Remo Conference of April 24, 1920 . The Mandate charged Great Britain, as part of the recognition given to the "historical connexion of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country", to facilitate Jewish immigration...(and)... encourage...close settlement by Jews on the land (Article 6). Moreover, no Palestine territory "shall be ceded or leased to, or in any way placed under the control of, the Government of any foreign Power" (Article 5). I have full rights to reside in my home in Shiloh.

After undergoing partition, which the Arabs rejected and after becoming victorious in several wars of agression designed to eradicate the country and its population, there is nothing wrong or evil in the building of Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. Jewish willingness, mistaken in my opinion, to concede land for peace, is ineffective and only increases Arab terror. Gorenberg's complaint is a result of his skewed ideological and political position, not a tennable legal proposition.

Here's the actual published text:

Mr. Gorenberg's column is prejudicially misleading on the issue of Jewish residency in areas which since 1967 have been administered by Israel.

The true starting point must be the international legality awarded to the right of Jews to live in their patrimony by the Supreme Council of the League of Nations in 1922, following the decision of the San Remo Conference of April 24, 1920. The Mandate charged Great Britain, as part of the recognition given to the "historical connexion of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country," to facilitate Jewish immigration and encourage "close settlement by Jews on the land" (Article 6). Moreover, no Palestine territory "shall be ceded or leased to, or in any way placed under the control of, the Government of any foreign Power"(Article 5). I have full rights to reside in my home in the Israeli settlement of Shiloh.

After undergoing partition, which the Arabs rejected, and after becoming victorious in several wars of aggression designed to eradicate the country and its population, there is nothing wrong or evil in the building of Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. Jewish willingness, mistaken in my opinion, to concede land for peace, is ineffective and only increases Arab terror. Gorenberg's complaint is a result of his skewed ideological and political position, not a tenable legal proposition.

Yisrael Medad, Shiloh, Samaria, Israel.

If you want Gorenberg's article, drop me a line: yisrael.medad@gmail.com

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UPDATE

Okay, here's the link. Please note that you need to register with the National Post in order to access certain on-line items, this being one of them.)


And here's another letter there:

It is a tour de force to discuss the origins of the "settlements," the "West Bank" and the "Green Line" without mentioning the core legal document that addressed these issues. Following the San Remo Conference, the Mandate for Palestine was adopted in 1922 by a majority vote at the League of Nations. The Mandate made the status of Palestine, west of the Jordan River, quite clear by recognizing "the historical connexion of the Jewish people with Palestine and ... the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country," and by encouraging "close settlement by Jews, on the land, including state lands and waste lands not required for public purposes." The provisions of the Mandate have never been abrogated.

Former Israeli PM Levi Eshkol was misguided by the ill-conceived legal opinions of Shapira and Meron who pronounced all settlements illegal and advocated a return of the "West Bank" to the Arabs. But 40 years later, Mr. Gorenberg's omission of the Mandate -- the fundamental Middle East document of international law -- is simply unforgivable.

Salomon Benzimra, Toronto.