OPINION:
Here we go again with the use of that pejorative word, annexation (“Israel: Politics, prosecution and annexation,” Web, May 30). Jed Babbin uses this word repeatedly, ignoring history and continuous attempts to get the facts straight. How can a nation “annex” its own land when it was taken away from them through war and subsequently regained?
For centuries Israel included the lands of Judea and Samaria. These areas are mentioned in the New Testament many times and throughout Jewish religious literature. That they were part of Israel was reaffirmed in the 1920s by the League of Nations. When Israel restored itself as a state in 1948, Jordan invaded these areas, drove out all the Jews and destroyed Jewish towns, communities and villages. Judea and Samaria were renamed the West Bank.
Israel regained Judea and Samaria in another defensive war, in 1967. But since then the world has allowed a false narrative to be used to demean the state of Israel. “West Bank” and “occupied lands” are being used in the face of overwhelming facts that they are false. The word settlements is being used to demean the re-establishment of Jewish towns by Jews, some the descendants of those driven out (or killed) by Jordan in 1948.
Peace cannot be achieved when false narratives are being used. It is time to end this facade.
WARREN MANISON
Potomac, Md.
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