Dear Susannah,

As previous contributors have already said, Museum-L is not the place to
debate the sort of political arguments that you present.  I will therefore
restrict myself to just two purely factual points arising out of your
contribution and some other recent ones.

1. The "Palestinians" are by no means only "... Moslems from the
surrounding countries and from as far away as Morocco and
Afghanistan..." - to quote from your posting.

Bethlehem and Ramallah (to give just two examples) have been predominantly
Christian towns since New Testament times, both Christians and Jews were
allowed to retain and practice their religions through Ottoman times,
though both were persecuted from time to time during the period of the
main Crusades. Ramallah remains famous historically and today for its
production of a distinctive (and very strong!) strong alcoholic spirit,
and since becoming the administrative capital of the Palestinian Authority
it also now produces much the best beer in the Middle East - hardly a sign
that the place is totally dominated by Islamic Fundamentalists.)

1. All decent human beings must deplore terrorist bombing of innocent
civilians.  Sadly, however, such outrages have been more the norm than the
exception in the "pro-independence" campaigns of the past half-century or
more, including at least 20 formerly UK colonies and British-controlled
territories in the Middle East, Africa and Asia which have now gained
their independence.

This "liberation movement" technique was first perfected by groups such as
Irgun and the Stern Gang fighting the British for an independent Israeli
State in the 1940s, but following the success there it was soon copied in
many other countries and regions around the world. The campaign against
the British occupation of what is now Israel was led by people who - like
later terrorist group leaders in many other British territories overseas -
soon went on to hold the very highest positions in the government of the
new States after independence, (e.g. Prime Minister Begin in the case of
Israel).

Also, even the very worst of the criminal and utterly unjustifiable
bombings of Israeli civilians over the past year or so has never caused
even one quarter of the number of deaths resulting from the bombing of the
King David Hotel in Jerusalem in the final struggle against the British
Mandate - arguably the final blow that won Israel its independence. There
can be absolutely no excuse for such crimes against humanity, historically
any more than today.  However, it is far from surprising that having seen
the "successes" of such terrorism in the past this is still being copied
today.



Patrick Boylan

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