Israel interests

To the editor:

“Independent Arab and Jewish States and the Special International Regime for the City of Jerusalem … shall come into existence in Palestine … not later than 1 October 1948,” — UN General Assembly Resolution 18, Nov. 29, 1947.

Eva Grant’s Saturday letter in the Journal-World expressed dismay that the United Nations may be going forward with what was promised 65 years ago in the resolution that established modern Israel.

Although the boundaries of the lands were established by that resolution, Ms. Grant says Israel gave the Palestinians land — “gave” the land in the same sense that the United States gave our Native peoples Oklahoma.

In her mind, the Palestinians have forfeited the right to a state because, among other reasons, they cannot have a state “without corruption.”

Neither Israel nor the U.S. is without corruption. True, according Transparency International, the two sections of Palestine are tied with eight other countries for 107th place in corruption. However, they are far out of the bottom 10 But does anyone say that Chad, ranking 159th, the world’s most corrupt, ought not to exist?

Grant writes of our long friendship with Israel. Maj. Stav Adivi of the Israeli Defense Force says that military checkpoints are “generating terrorists” and the occupation is destroying what Israel is meant to be. “There is no public energy left to deal with education, the environment, and other issues,” says Adivi. Therefore, to encourage Israel to remain as an occupying power is not in her interests.