Shimon Peres versus the Brits

My letter to the Jerusalem Post following the Karsh article (Aug.3) appeared today, Aug. 8,2010.
Dear Editor,

The Karsh article regarding the history of the British in the Middle East offers a much needed education. Successive Israeli governments have long neglected to state the facts about Jewish rights to a viable state and how the British derailed the approved Mandate plan in an attempt to curry favor with the Arabs. What irony that at a time that England was suffering devastation resulting from nightly aerial bombing forays by the Germans, the British government favored the anti-Jewish demand of the Muslim religious leader, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, who was a friend and supporter of Hitler and his 'final solution' for the Jews!

We should also remember that not only did the British fail in their Mandate mission to facilitate the creation of a Jewish state but they also abstained during the critical UN vote in 1947 that led to Israel's rebirth as a nation in 1948. One other noteworthy fact is that until that year , Jews who lived in these territories were also known as 'Palestinians'. Whereas for a long time the Arabs in the same area did not use that ancient identification they later adopted it for political expediency. That is why those who are unaware of the regional history may have the impression that Israel was created on Arab land; not so.

Chana Givon
Jerusalem