Sheila Kufert: Israel’s history in Middle East region goes back over 5,000 years

To The Daily Sun,

Bill Robitelle’s July 9 editorial says Palestinians were “forcibly removed.” Israel’s history in the region goes back over 5,000 years. They were forcibly removed throughout history by one race after another.

Before Israel became a current day nation, the majority of people dwelling in the region were Arabs who lived in what was then known as Palestine. On May 14, 1948, after 6 million Jews were killed, Israel was officially declared a state, marking the first Jewish state in over 2,000 years. Just one day later, five Arab countries attacked the new State of Israel — Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Egypt and Lebanon. At the end of this conflict, known as the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Egypt was given control of the Gaza Strip.

In the 1993 and 1995 Oslo Peace Accords between Palestinian and Israeli leaders negotiated for Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza and other key areas, which happened in 2005.

Hamas won elections and took control of Gaza in 2006. Since then, Hamas has occupied the strip, which has become a site for protests, bombings, land assaults and other acts of violence. Israel and the United States, as well as several other countries, consider Hamas a terrorist organization.

Money provided to the Gazans in the form of aid went to building terror tunnels and obtaining weapons with which to attack Israel.

Bill, I did look up the USS Liberty, a wartime accident for which Israel paid restitution. Our country has had its own share of accidents, the last one to come to mind is Afghanistan where billions of dollars in weapons were lost to terrorists and 13 American servicemen lost their lives.

There are Muslims and secular Arabs in Israel. There are no Jews in Gaza nor in many of the other Arab countries in which Jews and Christians once lived.

Sheila Kufert

Sanbornton