Readers React: Israel owes none of its land to the Palestinians — just peaceful, neighborly coexistence

To the editor: In answer to the question of which countries have returned territory won during a conflict, victorious nations often keep conquered land; so did the World War II allies.

France took Alsace-Lorraine, which it historically claimed, while the United Kingdom and the U.S. took nothing since neither had a historical claim to parts of Germany. The Soviet Union took portions of Germany, Finland and Poland.

In contrast, Israel had and has historical claim to its territory and then some that precedes by millenniums the Arab conquest of the Jewish homeland, the Middle East and North Africa. Israel owes the Arabs nothing but peaceful neighborly coexistence — if the Arabs were willing to accept it.

Michael Wiener, Manhattan Beach

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To the editor: When the Allies won World War II, their citizens didn’t flood into Germany and build settlements on top of German houses. After the North defeated the South in the Civil War, the Union soldiers returned home as did the Confederate soldiers.

Seizing and occupying the land of a defeated enemy isn’t what is typically done in modern societies, and Israel has been doing just that in violation of a United Nations resolution since 1947.

One letter writer says, “The Palestinians have called for driving Israel into the sea and worse, but most of the world, for some reason, doesn’t seem to care.” What most of the world cares about is the apartheid rule Israel has imposed on Palestine and the ongoing violent clashes that are sparked by the encroaching Israeli settlements.

David P. Lewis, Long Beach

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