Regarding Israel and Palestine, I respect Rhonda Wainshilbaum for standing up for the truth as she sees it. (Recorder, Sept. 24) But we speak from a different set of facts, and there a quite a few on which we disagree. In addition, I must correct her reading of at least one of my statements. I did not say that Jews have no connection to the land which is now Israel and Palestine.
Of course, Jews lived there, before and during the Roman Empire and throughout the rule of Islam from 637 until the end of World War I in 1917. Of note is that during that later time, Jews and Arabs lived peacefully with one another. Conflict began to arise in the early 1920s when Zionist Jews became increasingly aggressive in their takeover of land from absentee landlords. In other words, Palestinians began to observe that these were not going to be friendly neighbors, but rather people who wanted to displace them.
It is not productive to dispute everything that I find to be incorrect or untrue in Ms. Wainshilbaum’s column. Whether the facts fit our framework or not takes careful study. I have only been studying this situation for 17 years, and I do not carry the emotional burden of being either Jewish or Palestinian. But I have seen first hand the results of the military occupation by Israel of Palestine, and I believe that justice requires the more powerful occupier to lift its boot from the occupied. I do think that one democratic state that protects the rights of all its citizens, Arabs and Jews, is the only goal that will restore balance and peace. No doubt there will need to be a long period of truth and reconciliation before that can happen.
Meanwhile, antisemitism is alive and dangerous, and I consider myself an ally to Jews who seek safety in this world.
Sherrill Hogen is a resident of Charlemont.