Dear Patrick,

To add a footnote to your post, the Irgun were not the first to employ
so-called "terroist" tactics in the Middle East.

The Moslem Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in the 1920s, employed these
techniques against the British.

Also, similar techniques date to ancient times, e.g., prior to the founding
of Shi'ia Islam with the murders of Huseyin and Hassan, and before them, of
Ali.

Check the famous Arab historians Charles Issawi and Phillip Hitti for more on
this topic.

Also, please don't use revisionist Ottoman history.   Overall, the Ottomans
ruled Palestine and other areas of the Levent, as well as the Arabian
Penninsula with much less bloodshed and trauma than we have seen in our days.
  Check Bernard Lewis' vast works on this subject.  It is nationalism that
has created all the modern problems and human rights violations with it's
false pretenses that a country has definable, geographic boundaries, and that
the dominant culture is somehow homogeneous (they are not) with one language,
one religion, one folklore tradition.  The Palestians and the Israelis have
come late to this game (1940s) as have most modern Arab Countries
(e.g.,Lebanon declared independence in 1956).  Many modern African nations
are still caught up in these problems, too -- e.g., Zaire or  should we again
say the Congo;  Zimbabwe/Rhodesia,   strife between the Hutu and Tutsi in
Ruanda,  where and when will it stop???

Note that the  1915 conflict with the Armenians unfortunately parallels
todays events in the Middle East with  great similarity since the Armenian
communities at the break-up of the Ottoman Empire who experienced problems
and relocation were only those who supported armed "terrorists,"  (or
liberation fighters according to the Armenian historians) who were organized
in terror cells, called Dashnaks, and funded and supported by Imperial Russia
to destablize and bring about the collapse of the last Ottoman government.
Armenians who did not support this armed rebellion and treason against the
central government in Ottoman Turkey retained their social status, security
and property rights to this day -- e.g., their descendants own some of the
most valuable land in downtown Istanbul.

End of rant, but my minor in Middle Eastern Studies must be good for
something.

Cordially,
Pamela Sezgin, Ph.D.
Museum Consultant

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