No, No, Not "Settlements"!

While my letter was not published (you're not surprised now are you?) in the New York Times, this one was.

But there's a real serious error in his terminology:-

To the Editor:

Sam Bahour, who complains that Israel is denying him permission to live in the West Bank, might well blame the Palestinian prime minister, Ismail Haniya, who in an Oct. 7 news article is quoted as telling tens of thousands of supporters at a Gaza rally that “we will not recognize Israel, we will not recognize Israel, we will not recognize Israel.”

Mr. Haniya is the elected prime minister of an entity whose preferred method of communicating with Israel is by shooting hundreds of missiles and rockets at peaceful Israeli settlements, from territories in Gaza that Israel relinquished.

Mr. Bahour’s stated goal of “a bright, joint future for Palestinian and Israeli children alike” is hardly served by the Palestinian government’s actions.

J. J. Levin
Mahwah, N.J., Oct. 7, 2006

Hey, while it is unfortunate that people use the word "settlements" to describe the Jewish civilian residential communities established in the heartland of the Jewish homeland which enjoys international legal recognition, those locations JJ Levin refers to in his letter above are inside the pre-1967 borders!

They aren't "settlements" either way, unless, of course, you are an Arab or Arab supporter and claim that no Jews should be living in what they consider "Palestine".