To the Editor:
Seven decades after the founding of the new nation of Israel, the conflict to rid the Middle East of this tiny nation seems to have cooled for the moment. Yet, the multitude of problems with the citizens of the West Bank has yet to be resolved.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has done his best to legitimize the theft of land from his neighbours, encouraging settlements on land which the United Nations has condemned openly. Then, to complicate matters, the current president of the Untied States states publicly that he has “no problem” with Israel annexing the territory known as the West Bank. The president fails to recognize the plight of the Palestinians and seems to be provoking conflict by moving the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
The attempt to broker peace in this volatile region has cost lives of courageous leaders like Yitzhak Rabin and Anwar Sadat.
Instead of lip service, can’t the United Nations dispatch a peacekeeping force to this region and supervise the orderly withdrawal of the occupation forces of an aggressor nation from Palestinian land?
Another contentious issue is the incessant hatred for the existence of Israel by her neighbouring Arab nations. If the Arabs are so concerned with the fate of the Palestinian people, why not expend all resources available from their phenomenal oil wealth and work with the nation of Israel to resolve the Palestinian question?
It’s about time that people cease to be so negative and develop a diplomatic solution, which will bring some measure of justice to the people living in the West Bank - the forgotten people of Palestine.
Angus Campbell Sr.
Thompson
