A Destructive Mentality

To the editor:

“Fighting Apartheid with Equality” (Feb. 27, 2012) is the kind of article that reflects why the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has lasted so long and why the Palestinians have inflicted so much unnecessary suffering on themselves.

The authors, throwing around and misusing words like apartheid and equality, are simply reiterating the old goal of the Palestinians that has been at the root of the conflict from the outset: the desire to see the disappearance of the Jewish state.

The fact that Israel is still the only true democracy in the region; the fact that Israel has made numerous offers to the Palestinians that if accepted would have led to a Palestinian state; the fact that Arabs living in Israel have equal rights; the fact every international body has supported the right of the Jews to a state in their historic homeland—none of these things matter to the authors of this article.

It is, as is the “One-State Conference,” an assault on the very existence of a member state of the United Nations. That is bad enough. Even worse, it is this kind of mentality, the continued efforts to find a way to destroy Israel, if not by arms than by politics, which has prevented the Palestinians to make the fundamental transformation that will bring about a two-state solution. Only by finally accepting Israel’s legitimacy can the conflict end and the Palestinians achieve an independent state.

In other words, these writers, and indeed, all those behind this conference, are not only vile bashers of the Jewish people but they are also the worst enemies of the Palestinians themselves, the very people they claim to be helping.

Sincerely,

Derrek L. Shulman

Regional Director

Anti-Defamation League, New England Region

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