Robert Cherry’s statement in his Opinion piece, “Zionist Policies Towards Israeli Arabs” (Sept. 23) that “93 percent of Israeli land is in the hands of the Jewish National Fund (JNF)” is totally incorrect.
Perhaps he is confusing JNF with the Israel Land Authority (ILA), which is a government agency that manages land in Israel. JNF owns about 13 percent of the land in Israel. It also owns land in both Syria and Jordan. Neither government allows JNF to utilize those lands.
Furthermore, Cherry’s claim that JNF policy discriminates against the Bedouins is equally incorrect. JNF has many current projects working together with the Bedouins. A prime example is the Wadi Atir project.
As for his claim that Zionist policies exclude Arab parties from government coalitions, that is solely the fault of the Arab parties, who have never accepted an invitation to participate in any Israeli government. There have been many Arabs who served as Knesset members, and that includes the Arab members who are part of the current government coalition.
Cherry’s piece is based on false claims, and should have been better researched.
