Levitas’ claims don’t tally with facts

Ran Greenstein

Letter from Ran Greenstein, University of the Witwatersrand

 Levitas’ ‘fantastic claims’ regarding Israel circa 1967, don’t tally with facts

Ben Levitas makes some truly fantastic claims in his letter (“Jordanian jets preparing to launch bombing runs”), but fails completely to address any of the points made in earlier correspondence in Jewish Report. These points consist of the following:

1. There was no invasion or even credible threat of invasion of Israeli territory in 1967, and no military action by Palestinians.

2. After the war, Jordan and local Palestinians leaders made repeated attempts to reach an agreement with Israel – peace in exchange for withdrawal – but were consistently rebuffed by an Israeli leadership committed to holding on to the occupied territories.

3. Since 1967, Palestinians in the territories have lived under conditions of military occupation, with no access to basic human and civil rights, and no say in the way they have been governed by the Israeli authorities.

4. Since 1967, Israel has exiled and imprisoned tens of thousands of Palestinians, confiscated large parts of their land, water and natural resources, and used its military power to benefit Jewish settlers and Israeli companies at the expense of local residents.

5. The settlement of hundreds of thousands of Israelis in the occupied territories has been conducted against the wishes of the local population and in violation of international law. It has created a system in which Israelis live in Jewish-only settlements, under different legal system from local residents, use different roads, have sole access to state services, and enjoy political rights and freedoms denied to their Palestinian neighbours.

6. The Israeli government remains unwilling to halt – never mind reverse – the pursuit of such inhumane policies, which have nothing to do with security and everything to do with exploiting the land for the benefit of some at the expense of others.

7. Progressive Israelis – Jews and Arabs alike – have campaigned against this oppressive system for the last 46 years. South Africans of good will should identify with this campaign, which resembles their own struggles against apartheid.