Colin ShindlerAhdaf Soueif (Comment, November 17) simplistically depicts the Israeli right as “Zionists” and the peace camp as merely “Israelis”. Yet the Peace Now movement does not disavow Zionism. Neither does the architect of the Oslo and Geneva accords, Yossi Beilin. Neither do members of Courage to Refuse, who reject military service in the West Bank … Read more
Why didn’t George Galloway (Comment, August 31) notice the absence of air raid shelters in Lebanon? Why did Iran and Syria spend tens of millions of dollars on sophisticated weaponry for Hizbullah, yet not spend a penny to protect Lebanese civilians against the Israeli air force? Why is Hizbullah now offering $12,000 compensation for each … Read more
I came to Spain because I felt I had to… we didn’t worry when Mussolini came to power in Italy. We felt bad when Hitler became chancellor of Germany, but what could we do? We felt – although we tried to help and sympathize – that it was their problem and wouldn’t affect us… I … Read more
Timothy Garton Ash is right to promote the cause of liberal democracy in the Middle East, but although Hizbullah has embraced parliamentary politics, it simultaneously continued the armed struggle (A little democracy is a dangerous thing – so let’s have more of it, August 3). In contrast, the Irgun transformed itself into an Israeli political … Read more
Ned Temko (Comment, last week) is right to differentiate between the present Israeli incursion and Sharon’s categorical refusal to heed cabinet decisions in 1982. By marching instead on Beirut, Sharon brought out 400,000 protesters in Tel Aviv in 1982. Today, demonstrations against the conflict from the Israeli far left can only muster hundreds. There is … Read more
An outright victory over Hizbullah, as David Grossman argues (Comment, July 20), is impossible, but it may be considerably weakened militarily. The Israelis have learned the lesson of 1982 by not mounting a ground invasion of Lebanon. At that time, Sharon disobeyed cabinet orders to clear a 40km swathe of territory of Palestinian fighters and … Read more
Before moving into higher education and teaching Israeli studies, I taught chemistry for 20 years in an inner-London college and was a loyal member of my union, NATFHE (National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education). Lecturers in further education like myself were treated extremely badly by successive British governments and we went out … Read more
When the Irish rebels were pulled out of the General Post Office on Dublin’s O’Connell Street 90 years ago, they were jeered and spat upon by the locals. Decaying fruit was hurled at the wounded and the maimed. The Easter Uprising in 1916 was a courageous, futile affair – another link in the chain of … Read more
Inevitably, therefore, the question must arise of ‘transferring’ those Arabs elsewhere so as to make at least some room for Jewish newcomers. But it must be hateful for any Jew to think that the rebirth of a Jewish state should ever be linked with such an odious suggestion as the removal of non-Jewish citizens. So … Read more
THE MURDER OF YITZHAK Rabin on 4 November 1995 was a watershed in the campaign of incitement of the Israeli far right against the Oslo Agreement. Yigal Amir, Rabin’s assassin, was not considered insane or unbalanced before the killing, merely another right wing activist supporting the settlers. He was swept along by the rising tide … Read more