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Israel's Side of the Story

[New York Times ] Lenny Ben-David - Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times (22June08) finds the idea of Jews living in their second holiest city, Hebron, illegal or "utterly impractical." Sorry, Mr. Kristof, many Jews want the right to visit the Tomb of the Patriarchs, something denied to Jews after the 1929 massacre of Hebron's Jews. Many of those closed shops you referred to were once Jewish properties. You claim one-third of settlement land is privately owned by Palestinians. Not according to the Israeli Supreme Court - the "paragon of justice, decency, and fairness" - that allowed the construction of settlements on "state land." When a settlement was built on private land, the court ordered it removed immediately. (The Elon Moreh case.) The delay of sick Palestinians in ambulances at checkpoints is tragic, but the use of those ambulances to ferry explosives used by suicide bombers is lethal and criminal. I'm not surprised they get delayed at checkpoints. Your portrait of evil Israelis just can't be complete without the canard of Israelis using five times more water than Palestinians. A study by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences along with their Jordanian, Palestinian and Israeli counterparts ten years ago found: "Per capita water use for urban Palestinians reaches a maximum of 100 cubic meters a year, similar to Israeli use." The study suggests that low figures for rural Palestinians "is likely to increase with improvement in the level of living." Lastly, all modern, developed 21st century societies use much more water than developing societies. Cross the U.S. border into Mexico and per capita water usage drops by two-thirds. The writer served as deputy chief of mission in Israel's embassy in Washington.
2008-06-25 01:00:00
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