Letters/Discussion Forums
Waiting for a ‘fair-minded’ follow-up
Shereen Usdin and Emma Daitz demonstrate so clearly, in their letter to the SAJR last week (on the village of Lubya) just what a free society Israel really is. What the two and their colleagues experienced, was contrary to what most mainstream newspapers print almost daily, labelling Israel as an oppressive apartheid state.
Allan Wolman
How can it be, given what they were able to do with such ease, which could only happen in a free society as they so aptly described?
Interesting also how freely they moved between Israel and Palestine without the hindrance of the “checkpoints” we read about. More interesting is how the Israeli army which is so often demonised in the columns of our newspapers, did not harass, nor hinder them.
They write about the ceremony that their group participated in at the South African Forest in the Galilee and despite all the negativity that we read almost daily about the terrible restrictive Israeli regime Emma, Shereen and friends from far afield, proved otherwise. And here your readers have it first hand from two pro-Palestinian activists. (We know this as we have read Daitz’s articles in the press).
Now, the two would have done some research on the subject of Lubya. Surely in the course of their research they might have come across another narrative that would have aroused some curiosity?
As fair-minded folk, (Daitz has previously written under the banner of Jewish Voice for a Just Peace), they would certainly have heard the old adage of “three side to every story – yours, mine and somewhere between lies the truth”.
I therefore look forward to their next “instalment”, giving us a balanced viewpoint. In particular, as they mentioned the residents of Lubya who fled to Lebanon and Syria, I am sure your readers would dearly like to hear why their work has not extended to those who were exiled to these two countries where in Lebanon they live a most precarious existence with little or no rights whatsoever; surely these people need their attention?
But more importantly, what about those Palestinians being murdered in Syria by both the Assad regime and the Islamic State militants?
I would imagine that these hapless people are far more in need of Usdin and Daitz’s attention than those in Israel/Palestine.
Rosebank, Johannesburg