This is a copy of the following message you sent to the Administrator
at Excalibur Online
This is an enquiry e-mail from Riad Hamad (pcwfaustin@yahoo.com)
To the Editorial Board:
I read with much interest the letter by a Mr. Noah Zatzman on Wednesday
January 19, 2005 ( link below) and fully support the concept that he
promoted which is that Israel is “ liberating” society that accepts every
one. From my brief knowledge of the history of the Zionist state which
I discovered from books and websites of human rights groups, Israeli
peace groups and United Nations publications. Some of the seemingly non
-important restrictions that Israel liberates its citizens from and
specifically after they join the army are:
1) The respect for human life and the freedom to kill even children
with impunity. These violations and criminal actions were documented
by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and several Jewish civil
rights and peace groups.
2) Immunity from punishment for humiliating, injuring or violating
the rights of individual under occupation in violation of international
law and the Fourth Geneva Convention.
3) Immunity from prosecution for destroying homes, businesses and
collective punishment against whole towns and villages although it has
been declared a clear violation of international law and the Fourth
Geneva Convention.
4) Immunity from prosecution for uprooting hundreds of thousands of
orange trees and olive trees that survived millennia of violence but
nothing like the atrocities being committed by Israel today.
5) Immunity for prosecution for stealing water and land from the
native inhabitants of Palestine and the only rightful owners of the land
in violation of international law, the Fourth Geneva Convention and
over 100 United Nations and United Nations Resolutions.
6) Immunity from prosecution for using weapons of mass destruction
and the use of illegal gases, weapons and biological weapons against
the Palestinians.
7) Immunity from violating international law for stealing land to
build a wall separating Jews from non Jews and highways exclusive for
Jews only.
Israel is indeed liberating and it invites others to come and join in
this liberating experience by bringing more than one million settlers
from Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Also, by going to
Peru and other far away places to bring non- Jews to live in settlements
built on stolen lands from the native Palestinian Arabs. Most of these
new settlers turned out to be Christians and a lot of them are even
anti Jewish, only to prevent the native Arab Palestinians from exercising
their right by returning to their homes. The right of return to their
homes which is protected and decreed by international law, the Fourth
Geneva Convention and United Nations Resolution 194.
Yes, Israeli accepts only Jews but not all Jews and the actions of the
Israeli government by deporting tens of Jewish peace activists in the
last year is just another indication that it is not a Jewish state for
the Jews but rather a state for political Zionism. Zionism that is
inflaming the hate for the Jews, Judaism and any actions or concepts
affiliated with Judaism due to the illegal and immoral acts by the Israel
government. The criminal actions by the Israeli army and the Israeli
government who claim to represent the Jews against the Palestinian Arabs are
being documented and distributed around the world. It is only natural
that the average person will associate the actions of the nation that
claims to represent Jews with the same crimes committed by the Nazis and
hate them just like they hated the Nazis
Mr. Zatzman’s tour of occupied Palestine and enjoying Arabic food,
music and the visit of places that even Palestinian Arabs are prevented
from is an insult to humanity and the human decency that we are supposed
to live by.
How can Mr. Zatzman claim that Israel is community that accepts every
one when it builds communities, roads and highways for Jews only. Is he
blind or plain dumb or both like all the Zionists I know. Did he try to
visit the University of Haifa and find out why the Israeli government
prevented the Christian students from putting up a Christmas tree in the
land of Jesus and his birth place. Who does Mr. Zatzman think that he
is fooling other than the idiot that he saw in the mirror this morning
when he contemplated washing his ugly face of racism and intolerance.
I am sure that one day the world will wake up from this long sleep and
end this nightmare and Israel will be just another temporary phenomenon
in the thousands of years of the history of mankind. Zionism will
become just another political movement flushed down the toilet of the long
history of the Arabs and the land of Canaan which belongs to the Arabs.
Riad Hamad
Austin, Texas
Noah Zatzman(York U. Excalibur);
"I want to share with the student body here at York what many writers
throughout the Excalibur opinion pages fail to see about the state of
Israel, probably because many of these writers know Israel from the
headlines and have never had the chance to visit it themselves.
I had the chance to go to Israel this December, one of the many times I
have had the opportunity to visit the country.
The beauty of Israel is in its people - not only Jews, but also
Muslims, Christians, Druze, Armenians and atheists who are an integral part of
the country. Walking around the old city of Jerusalem, through the
Jewish cardo and into the Arab market just down the path, is a testament to
the diverse and pluralistic character of the nation. Unlike many
countries in the region, Israel accepts everyone into its community
regardless of who they are and what they believe in.
Yes, it is a Jewish state. I am never going to be apologetic about this
fact. The history of my people, and indeed the history of Israel, has
taught us that self-determination is necessary for our people to survive
and grow, as it is for any other nation on this earth"
