Israel’s unconditional defenders are its worst enemy

WHAT the recent letters to your paper defending Israel have in common is an obsession with effects and a refusal to deal with causes.

The primary causes of violence in the Middle East are the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians that followed the violent foundation of the Israeli state in 1948 and the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian and Syrian territories following the 1967 war.

Israel has persistently denied the right of return of Palestinian refugees, which is guaranteed by Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, just as it has ignored successive UN resolutions calling on it to withdraw from the occupied territories in accordance with the cardinal principle that it is inadmissible to acquire and retain territory by force. Just as the 1982 invasion of Lebanon, which was aimed at driving the PLO out of that country, led to the foundation of Hezbollah, Israel’s refusal to comply with the minimal demands of the Oslo peace process with the Palestinians led to the foundation of Hamas.