In reply to “Palestinians driven from land” (Our Readers’ Views, June 2), one might question the writer’s assertion that the Balfour Declaration started the recent war between Gaza and Israel. When the U.N. voted to partition Palestine in 1947, it was Arabs living in the part of the land which was to be the Jewish state, together with armies from five surrounding Arab countries, who attacked. The idea that the British (who armed and supported the Jordanians in the ensuing war) and the U.S. (which had no part in it) supported Israel is a total distortion of history.
Israeli settlements in the West Bank, no matter what you think of them, do not cut off transportation and trade among the Palestinians. Ingress and egress to the Gaza Strip is not under the total control of Israel — Egypt has a long border with Gaza and is just as concerned as Israel with the terrorists who govern the Strip.
Finally, as a wit once said, you’re always going to have tension in the Middle East when there are people who want to kill Jews and Jews who don’t want to be killed and neither side is willing to compromise. I could go on, but you get the picture.
