This is a response to the letter to the editor Jon Paul Youakim wrote entitled “Our gullibility about the Middle East.” I am deeply saddened by the ignorance that many Americans have of the whole “Middle East Conflict,” but particularly the notion that currently there is an illegal occupation in Israel.

Since the United Nations is a credible global governing body, Israel’s existence simply cannot be illegal. The United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181, otherwise known as the 1947 U.N. Partition Plan, created Jewish and Arab states, with Jerusalem coming under international control. The majority of the international community including most Jews accepted this plan; however, the Arabs did not accept it, and Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq quickly attacked Israel with the goal of “wiping it off the face of this earth.” This is very similar to what Roman Emperor Hadrian had in mind in 70 C.E. when he renamed the land of Judea to Syria Palaestina in order to erase any Jewish connection to this land; prior to that time, Palestinians did not exist. In essence, Palestine was a state exclusively created to destroy Israel.

Now, let us fast forward to the 1990s when Bill Clinton invited Yassir Arafat to the White House more often than any other international figure in the world. Essentially, Arafat signed these papers telling the United States and Israel that he wanted peace and a two-state solution; however, he would go on Arab television the next day telling his constituency that he is simply playing political games and that his ultimate goal is to have a one state solution of Palestine. In 2000, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak essentially offered a 100 percent return of Gaza and the West Bank, but Arafat said no to the offer because what he really wanted was an end to the Jewish State. He did not want to make a final commitment to peace. Friday’s letter to the editor said Israel is occupying Palestinian territories illegally; yet Israel is the state that wants to have peace. We can see this by the unilateral disengagement from Gaza in September 2005, which has only led to more violence. Essentially, Israel’s existence is not illegal, but it only is in the eyes of the Islamo-Fascists that want to destroy western civilization.

Vadim Sagalchik

Sophomore in Business