ANALYSIS/OPINION:
Ben and Jerry were two men who made ice cream in Vermont long ago. Today’s owners are taking themselves seriously and have decided to display their ignorance for all the world to see (“Ben & Jerry’s boycott of settlements condemned by Israel officials,” Web, July 19.
To begin with, under international law there is no “Israeli-occupied West Bank.” It is Judea and Samaria, an integral part of Israel until such time as Israel decides to give part of it the Palestinian Authority. (See Article 80 of the United Nations charter.)
The disputed territories were captured by Transjordan in the 1948-1949 war to “drive the Jews into the sea.” Every Jew was killed or forced out. Synagogues were destroyed. Jewish tombstones were built into latrines. Jewish properties were given to Arab squatters.
In 1967, Jordan attacked Israel again. This time they lost and Jews started to move back into the territories and homes out of which they had been thrown.
In 1993, Israel and the PLO signed the Oslo Accords, allowing the PLO to set up headquarters in Ramallah and start the process for a permanent two-state solution. The PLO would control areas A and B and Israel would control area C until final arrangements could be made.
The PLO, which had injected the ‘Palestinian cause’ onto the world’s stage via terror, airline hijackings and bombings and Olympic murders, did not change their modus operandi. Instead of removing the clause in their charter that calls for killing every Israeli Jew, they promoted terrorism and added suicide bombers to their bag of tricks. Israel’s security barrier was built as a result.
So, Ben & Jerry’s, don’t sell your ice cream in the disputed territories. I’m sure you will soon fail in the rest of Israel, too. But you have made your point. You are fools and/or anti-Semites.
LEN BENNETT
Author, “Unfinished Work”
Deerfield Beach, Fla.
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