The news site of Santa Barbara City College.

The Channels

The news site of Santa Barbara City College.

The Channels

The news site of Santa Barbara City College.

The Channels

Letter to the editor

I would like to respond to a number of inaccuracies in the column by Sofia Gjerstad entitled: “Unfair Western policies favoring Israel.”

This column begins with: “A group of people with the same religion and system of values has for hundreds of years lived together in what they consider their country.” The region has actually been inhabited for centuries by people of numerous religious beliefs and customs including Muslims, Christians, and Jews. Israel is the historical birthplace of the Jewish people and Jews have lived continuously in this region throughout history. By 1856 the Jewish population in Palestine numbered 17,000. By the late 1800s Jews began arriving in the region in large numbers.

In regards to Gjerstad’s linkage between the Holocaust and the creation of Israel: in 1917 there was a formal statement of policy by the British government entitled the Balfour Declaration stating The British Government’s intention to establish a Jewish state in Palestine.

Gjerstad states: “The current conflict between Israel and Palestine is known as the reason for many other conflicts in the Middle East.” The problems in the Middle East stem from the fight against Islamic Extremism. These extremists are ideologically opposed to everything the U.S. and the West stand for. This opposition to the West is independent of Israel’s existence.

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I lived in Israel for four years and I know that most Israelis want peace, as do most Palestinians. Continuing to misrepresent the facts, and seeing this problem as one sided, only perpetuates the problem.

– Samantha Silverman

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