Your editorial, “Making Coexistence A Priority” (Aug. 24) concludes with the hope of “doing our best to address the problem before it is too late.” Dear sir, let me console you. It is already too late. The problem of the Palestinian Arabs was not settled in 1948 under David Ben-Gurion’s administration. It was not settled in 1967 following our victorious Six-Day War. Mistakes were made on our side. Moshe Dayan wrongly gave control of the Temple Mount to the Muslim Waqf, and today no Jew is allowed to pray at the holiest site of Judaism.
Regrettably we began to treat the Arabs as equals. But they certainly are not. Make no mistake about it. They do not want us to be on the soil of Israel, and we, for our part, would prefer them to be elsewhere. Jordan is the most appropriate place. It was 73 percent of British Mandatory Palestine given by Winston Churchill to the Emir Abdullah in 1922. Jordan is Palestine. Same language, same religion, same culture, same family tribes.
We would wish our Arabs well if they crossed the bridge into Jordan. Regretfully they prefer to remain in Israel with all the benefits of our citizenship, including voting, free education, national health insurance and pension retirement benefits. The majority of our Jewish citizens, young and old, would prefer a Jewish state for Jews. No one proposes pogroms or beatings of innocent Arabs on our streets. But the unwritten and unspoken message is clear: Arabs are not really welcome here.
Rishon Lezion, Israel
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