It is outrageously difficult to get a Jewish engineering student with unfinished problem sets to write something on the eve of one of the holiest days of Jewish calendar. Yet Michelle Sawwan's outrageously one-sided piece yesterday managed this feat.
Its biggest errors were those that misrepresented history. The list is long, but I will restrict myself to the most egregious errors:
Israel was created alongside a Palestinian state by the United Nations. Israel did unilaterally declare its independence earlier than the United Nations envisioned, on the eve of an invasion by five surrounding Arab nations.
In the Six Day War of 1967, Israel defeated the armies of three Arab neighbors who had aligned for war. The third was Transjordan, which until losing the war administered the renamed West Bank with strict military rule and little thought to allowing self governance under any 'Palestinian Authority.'
U.N. Resolution 242 emphasizes the "right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force."
The Israelis appear to have made every attempt to engage in dialogue with the Palestinians. Ms. Sawwan fails to mention that the previous Israeli government offered Palestinian Prime Minister Abbas a state in all of Gaza, 97% of the West Bank with swaps for the other 3%, territory in 'East' Jerusalem for a capitol and shared control of holy sites. The current Israeli administration has asked Abbas from day one to sit for candid talks at the negotiating table without preconditions. Both offers were turned down.
Joel Taubman \nSEAS III
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