Jews for Peace misquote facts in lambasting Israel

An open letter to Barbara Harvey and David Finkel
From Maurice Ostroff June 8, 2008

Dear Ms Harvey and Mr. Finkel
I refer to your May 22 article "No time to celebrate as Palestinians still suffer"

At the outset I must state that the suffering of Palestinians is real and deserves not only our sympathy but assistance. But making unsubstantiated inaccurate statements does not advance their cause. Intellectual honesty requires that we avoid representing our opinions as facts and that we check the information on which our publicly expressed opinions are based.

Tantura
For example, your allegation that Jewish soldiers of the Alexandroni Brigade "went on a killing spree" in the village of Tantura is libelous. Having served in the Israel army in 1948, I am particularly hurt by this type of false, damaging and inciting allegation of behavior that is completely contrary, in my own experience, to the code of conduct practiced by my comrades.

The fact, as proved in a Supreme Court action, is that the story of a massacre at Tantura is a fiction that originated in a thesis submitted by Theodore Katz, a student under the supervision of revisionist historian Ilan Pappe at the University of Haifa. Katz was sued for libel and during the trial he admitted under oath that no massacre took place. Moreover, it was revealed that his own notes and recorded interviews contradicted his claims that there had been a massacre.

In the circumstances, one must ask whether you didn't consider it important enough to invest in even a modest amount of research that would have revealed the facts of the trial, or whether you were indeed aware of the trial and chose to ignore it.

Deir Yassin
You cite what you call "the infamous massacre at Deir Yassin" as if you are certain that it occurred. But there is incontrovertible proof, readily available on public record, that this story of a massacre was also fabricated. I say incontrovertible because of an admission, in a 1997 interview with the BBC, by no less an authority than the person who issued the first press report on this event, Hazem Nusseibeh, editor of Palestine Broadcasting Service's in 1948.

In the interview, Nusseibeh explained why so many Arabs fled at the time and in doing so he let slip that that the story of a massacre at Deir Yassin, was fabricated on the direct instructions of the secretary of the Arab High Committee, Hussein Khalidi so as to encourage Arab regimes to attack Israel.

As the many articles about an alleged massacre at Deir Yassin that were immediately circulated around the world and frequently repeated since then, were all based on the fictional press release put out by Nusseibeh, his admission cannot be disregarded.

Nusseibeh explained his main theme, that the Palestinians later realized that the fabricated atrocity stories were in his words, "our biggest mistake, because Palestinians fled in terror and left the country in huge numbers after hearing the atrocity claims."

In the same program, a former resident of Deir Yassin told Khalidi there were no rapes but Khalidi convinced them that they had to say there were. "'We said, there was no rape but Khalidi said, We have to say this, so the Arab armies will come to liberate Palestine from the Jews".

I am sure you will agree that no person seeking the truth can ignore this evidence. If you have difficulty in believing this revelation, please view a video clip of the interview at http://deir-yassin.tripod.com/

Refugees
Also disturbing is your cursory emotive reference to 700,000 Palestinians who have grown to 7 million in 60 years, with no attempt at placing the matter in perspective. As mentioned above, Hazem Nusseibeh explained to the BBC that his fabricated story of a massacre at Deir Yassin was a major cause of the Palestinians fleeing in 1948.

But every intelligent person must ask why they have not been absorbed and resettled in the vast Arab countries. Every human must agree with the general manager of Al -Arabiya television, Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed, who courageously wrote in an article in the leading Arabic international daily Asharq Alawsat, "Some Arab countries 'hosting' refugees ban them from leaving [camps], from occupying a large number of positions and deny them any other legal rights. ..Our insistence to lock the Palestinians in camps and treat them like animals in the name of preserving the issue is far worse a crime than Israel stealing land and causing the displacement of people. The 60 year-old camps only signify our inhumanity and double standards".

It is educational to read his complete article available at http://maurice-ostroff.tripod.com/id143.html

In sharp contrast to the failure of the Arab states to absorb and rehabilitate the relatively small number of Palestinian refugees, the tiny population of 600,000 Jews in Israel quickly absorbed and rehabilitated not only the approximately 800,000 Jewish refugees expelled by Arab states, but in addition, more than one million penniless refugees from Europe.

It is legitimate to ask why, among the hundreds of millions of refugees world-wide who have been successfully resettled, only the Palestinians have suffered the deliberate intensification of their refugee status as a political weapon. (See http://maurice-ostroff.tripod.com/id121.html )

In a November 1957 paper, "Century of the Homeless Man" published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Dr. Elfan Rees, Advisor on Refugees to the World Council of Churches, wrote: "No large-scale refugee problem has ever been solved by repatriation, and there are certainly no grounds for believing that this particular problem (the Palestine refugees) can be so solved. The facts we must face force us to the conclusion that for most of the world refugees the only solution is integration where they are. "

In terms of the 1945 Potsdam declaration approximately 15 million Germans in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Austria were forcibly relocated to Germany. They lost title to the property they left behind, and no arrangements were made to compensate them for their losses.

The creation of Pakistan similarly resulted in relocation of millions of people. Immoveable property left behind by these refugees was seized by the respective governments to help settle the incoming refugees.

Ms Harvey and Mr. Finkel, may I dare hope that, in the light of the above verifiable information, you will reconsider your opinions and offer a public correction of the incorrect statements in your article?

Sincerely
Maurice Ostroff