Letter: ‘Land grab’ is misleading term for heart of Israel

Thursday, Feb. 12, 2004 | 9:11 a.m.

I'd like to clear up a misconception some people may have about what is erroneously called Israel's "illegal settlement policy" and/or "land grab" by some ill-informed journalists and their readers.

In 1949, armistice lines (now called the "green line") separated Israel from the heartland of Judea-Samaria when Jordanian forces illegally annexed it. That's like an enemy country claiming the heartland of America for itself. The very center of our country. How would we handle that?

After the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, Israel regained that land, at which time the world began referring to Judea and Samaria as the "West Bank" in order to try to erase any Jewish connection to that historically Jewish land. Did you ever wonder why the area is not called by the correct name? By any name, it is still Judea and Samaria! The people in the settlements are still citizens of Israel and they feel they are entitled to live in the country anywhere they choose. Illegal settlement policy in their own land? Are we illegally occupying Las Vegas? It makes no sense. They have title to the land.

Please appreciate that Israel is one of the tiniest nations on Earth, only about 8,000 square miles -- two and a half times the size of Rhode Island. The surrounding 22 Arab countries are 640 times larger than tiny Israel, yet they expect Israel to turn over all of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights and half of Jerusalem -- territory the Arabs lost after they started the 1967 war!

I pray that Israel will not be led to ruin and will not be influenced by the rhetoric of journalists who have their own agendas or citizens who are opposed to Israel defending herself in the face of continual terrorism by those who wish to harm her.

MICKI JAY