LETTER: Israel claimed back sovereign territory

SIR – To the uneducated and bigoted, Mr Storey’s letter (July 6th) makes a compelling case, if it were not mired in mythology.

His assertions regarding whether the 1967 was defensive or offensive by either side are both puerile and irrelevant, as are his absurd claims regarding the outcome.

He conveniently ignores the fact that the armed forces of five Arab States attacked the fledgling state of Israel in 1948 and during that illegal, offensive campaign the Sovereign State of Jordan illegally occupied the area commonly known as the West Bank during the period 1948-1967. 

This landmass was designated by UN Charter to be part of the State of Israel including East Jerusalem. Israel won back that territory during the 1967 war and, as of right, legally claimed back her sovereign territory. 

Mr Storey then makes claims, which by quoting UN Resolutions and Geneva Conventions appear to give his claims an air of respectability and intellectual support. His claims are rubbish, as I shall verify:

He refers to Resolution 242 which never mentions the Palestinians and did not confer any political nor land rights to them and certainly did not oblige Israel to retreat from any territories retrieved during the 1967 war. 

Even if it did confer such obligations, the Arabs rejected Resolution 242 and thus Mr. Storey’s assertions are false.

He then refers to Article 2 (4) of the UN Charter as a legal weapon regarding Israel’s annexation of territory acquired. His ignorance is paralleled only by his bigotry as this is directed at Jordan’s illegal occupation of territory illegally occupied by Jordan during the 1948 conflict. 

Absurdly, he cites the 4th Geneva Convention which sounds educated and well informed, but he unfortunately doesn’t realise that this convention he cites only relates to sovereign states and the people therein.

 There never was, and has never been, a sovereign State of Palestine and therefore his citation of the 4th Geneva Convention is irrelevant and naturally inapplicable.

He describes Hamas as a resistance movement, which is also fantastical given their Charter of 1988 which calls not only for the liquidation of Israel and the extermination of Jews, but also for the extermination of charity workers such as Rotarians and Lions Club members, but also for the subservience to their form of Islam by all other races and religions. 

Given that the vast majority of the world’s population fall into these categories, Hamas is hardly a resistance movement.

I could just as easily debunk the quotes he associates to various persons to support his fantasies, but I do not feel the need to.

Peter Baum, 

Westcliff-on-Sea, 

Essex 

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