Dear Sir or Madam

I was disgusted to read the article in the latest FURY/f2magazine, titled "Israel/Palestine-the time for action is now".  It contained so many slurs against the State and people of Israel and such a gross distortion of history and facts that I am driven to the conclusion that the writer is either wilfully ignorant or antisemitic.

As Christians, do we never learn?

For instance, your correspondent says simply that Israel "occupied the Gaza Strip and the West Bank in 1967" Why? Is it because he or she thinks the Israelis did so for no reason but to annoy the Arabs?

There is much confusion over the status of the West Bank. It is incorrect to call it the "occupied territories". It is land that was seized by Jordan-illegally-in 1949 in the course of a war launched against the infant State of Israel with the goal of its destruction. It is land that was gained by Israel in a war of self-defence in 1967. As such, these can be considered "unallocated" territories pursuant to the expiry of the Mandate, and there is a good case for saying that Israel legally and morally has the better title, especially as Jordan forbade Jews to become citizens or own property in territory under its control, and the Mandate required that Jews be given the same right to reside there as Arabs.

A very large number of laity and clergy in my Church-and in yours too-are frankly horrified at the prospect of a Christian boycott of Israel.

If the Churches were to disinvest from Israel, the consequences would not only be catastrophic for future Anglican and URC-Jewish relations, but would also give a green light to those who are not prepared to accept Israel’s legitimacy and existence and who seek the destruction of what is not only the only Jewish homeland, but is also the only real democracy in the Middle East.

Israel is the only country in the Middle East in which the Christian population has grown, and indeed Israeli Christians probably have the highest educational and economic status of all Israel’s citizens. Religious activity-including evangelism-is legally protected and upheld, and there is no other state in the region which affords its citizens complete freedom of religious observance. Yes, indeed, the number of Christians in the West Bank has dropped-but that is mainly because of their appalling treatment by the Palestinian Authority, which has fomented a rising tide of Islamic radicalism since its formation in 1994. Christians are being expelled by Moslems from their homes and businesses, are having their farms stolen and are being assaulted-all with the connivance of the Palestinian Authority and its security agencies. Please read today’s Daily Telegraph.

A friend of mine in the Israeli Army watched in horror as Fatah terrorists seized a Church in Beit Jala and used it as a vantage point to shoot at him and his comrades. Of course, if he fired back and the Church was damaged, he was well aware the Army would get all the blame.  Fatah terrorists took over the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and not only desecrated it, but looted and threatened the monks there-who, I assure you, were and are deeply, deeply grateful for their rescue by the Israeli soldiers.

The West Bank was not "stolen "from the Arabs, and Jewish settlements are built on what was Jordanian state-held land during 1949 to 1967 or on land which was lawfully owned by Jews before their forcible expulsion in 1949.

It is unfair that Israel should be singled out by your youth organisation for vilification, with the long history of attempts by Arab regimes to destroy her simply ignored by the publishers of the FURY magazine.

The security measures that Israel has taken have only been taken to prevent her citizens from being murdered by terrorists.

Suicide bombs have not discriminated between Jew, Christian and Moslem.

Your correspondent makes much of figures alleging 3,000 odd Palestinian casualties of the conflict since 2000. More than 75% of Israeli deaths since 2000 were noncombatants, whereas well over 60% of Palestinian dead were combatants.  Ignored is the fact that Palestinian terrorists have attempted to kill THOUSANDS MORE and only failed because Israel has thwarted about 80%of attacks. Were it not for this, the death toll from terrorism in Israel since 2000 would run into TENS OF THOUSANDS.

Ignored also is the fact that the figures include Palestinians who were killed for alleged collaboration for Israel. I suppose your correspondent has included the alleged "massacre" at Jenin which the UN later confirmed never happened!

Your correspondent criticises Israel for building the security fence-utterly dishonestly called "The Separation Wall",without explaining the campaign of terrorism which led to the fence being built and without which it would have been unnecessary.

Having visited Israel recently, I have seen the security fence on many occasions and along much of its length. Except in a very few places – and then only to protect motorists from snipers – it is not a wall. It is probably the most humane measure that Israel can take to protect all her citizens from murder and it has saved countless lives.

I feel it important to stress that none of the legal challenges by Palestinians to the construction of the fence concern the amount of (generous) compensation offered. Israel has an activist Supreme Court which cares for the rights of all its citizens, as well as the Palestinians who live under Israeli administration. It is utter rubbish to suggest that "thousands" of Palestinians have lost their livelihoods without generous compensation.

Finally, I turn to the utterly misleading description of Rachel Corrie as "a peace activist". She was nothing of the sort.  She was a member of the International Solidarity Movement, which is blatantly pro-terrorist and which attempts to disrupt perfectly honourable Israeli military operations and sheltered 2 Islamic terrorists from the UK who bombed Mike’s Place in Tel Aviv. Rachel Corrie was photographed by AP and Yahoo news on Feb15 2003 burning a US flag and inciting crowds at a Hamas rally. Unlike the person who writes for the FURY magazine, f2, I have seen the video stills of the incident. Corrie deliberately and repeatedly attempted to place herself in the path of an Israeli bulldozer, covered with DANGER signs and whose driver repeatedly had to try and avoid running her down as she REPEATEDLY placed herself in his path.

Shame on the editor of FURY/f2 for printing such a disgracefully misleading article about Israel. Shame on him for giving such comfort to the Islamicist enemies of Jews and Christians in the Holy Land. Shame on him for supplying misleading propaganda to the youth of your Church. Shame on him for in effect crucifying our Lord twice by defaming the people of the Land of His chosen people.

Yours sincerely,

Simon McIlwaine MLJ MA FRSA ACIArb

ANGLICANS FOR ISRAEL

Dear Dr Moses

I am a regular worshipper at St Paul’s and am writing to you, as I am deeply concerned by the signs that our Church is close to adopting a boycott of Israel. As an Anglican who cares for Israel and its people, I felt it important that I write to you to congratulate you for your courage in opposing the motion to adopt the APJN’ s recommendations. A very large number of laity and clergy — as I know from my discussions with Dr Irene Lancaster of Manchester University — are frankly horrified at the prospect of an Anglican boycott of Israel. If the Church were to disinvest from Israel, the consequences would not only be catastrophic for future Anglican-Jewish relations, but would also give a green light to those who are not prepared to accept Israel’s legitimacy and existence and who seek the destruction of what is not only the only Jewish homeland, but is also the only real democracy in the Middle East.

Israel is the only country in the Middle East in which the Christian population has grown, and indeed Israeli Christians probably have the highest educational and economic status of all Israel’s citizens. Religious activity — including evangelism — is legally protected and upheld, and there is no other state in the region which affords its citizens complete freedom of religious observance. Yes, indeed, the number of Christians in the West Bank has dropped — but that is mainly because of their appalling treatment by the Palestinian Authority, which has fomented a rising tide of Islamic radicalism since its formation in 1994. Christians are being expelled by Moslems from their homes and businesses, are having their farms stolen and are being assaulted — all with the connivance of the Palestinian Authority and its security agencies. A friend of mine in the Israeli Army watched in horror as Fatah terrorists seized a Church in Beit Jala and used it as a vantage point to shoot at him and his comrades. Of course, if he fired back and the Church was damaged, he was well aware the Army would get all the blame. Fatah terrorists took over the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and not only desecrated it, but looted and threatened the monks there — who, I assure you, were and are deeply, deeply grateful for their rescue by the Israeli soldiers.

There is much confusion over the status of the West Bank. It is incorrect to call it the "occupied territories". They are land that was seized by Jordan-illegally — in 1949 in the course of a war launched against the infant State of Israel with the goal of its destruction. It is land that was gained by Israel in a war of self-defence in 1967. As such, these can be considered "unallocated" territories pursuant to the expiry of the Mandate, and there is a good case for saying that Israel legally and morally has the better title, especially as Jordan forbade Jews to become citizens or own property in territory under its control, and the Mandate required that Jews be given the same right to reside there as Arabs.

In any event, I feel it important to stress that the land was not stolen from the Arabs, and Jewish settlements are built on what was Jordanian state-held land during 1949 to 1967 or on land which was lawfully owned by Jews before their forcible expulsion in 1949. It is unfair that Israel should be singled out for vilification, with the long history of attempts by Arab regimes to destroy her simply ignored by APJN. The security measures that Israel has taken have only been taken to prevent her citizens from being murdered by terrorists. Suicide bombs have not discriminated between Jew, Christian and Moslem.

Having visited Israel recently, I have seen the security fence on many occasions and along much of its length. Except in a very few places — and then only to protect motorists from snipers — it is not a wall. It is probably the most humane measure that Israel can take to protect all her citizens from murder and it has saved countless lives. Finally, I feel it important to stress that none of the legal challenges by Palestinians to the construction of the fence concern the amount of (generous) compensation offered. Israel has an activist Supreme Court which cares for the rights of all its citizens, as well as the Palestinians who live under Israeli administration.

Once again, I thank you for your courage in opposing the boycott and I hope and pray that other senior members of the clergy will act to oppose any motion at the forthcoming Synod to adopt the APJN recommendations.

Yours Sincerely

Simon McIlwaine