Jews in the Mideast

Don Bustany makes several misleading statements in his letter (Nov. 29). He asserts that prior to the early 1900s, Jews “in Arab societies did not experience persecution.” The truth is that conditions for Jews in Arab lands, as in Christian Europe, were a mixture of good and bad. As a subjugated minority in both Islamic and Christian societies, Jews suffered chronic discrimination and recurring periods of active or even violent persecution. Indeed, Zionism developed as a modern movement in direct response to these dependent conditions and their resulting social, cultural and political problems.

Bustany wants Jews to recognize that Palestinians occupied the Holy Land (Israel/Palestine) “first.” But we Jews define “first” as a much earlier point in time, and maintain our own prior and uninterrupted claim to that same land. Having engaged Bustany and other Arab partisans in dialogue over the past 15 years, I do not expect either side to be convinced of the other’s philosophical stance.

What does hold some hope are the Israeli-Palestinian accords and the desire of both parties to find a practical way to live peacefully next to each other, despite our ideological divisions. I can only pray that both sides work toward this shared goal.

EITAN GINSBURG, Executive Director

United Jewish Appeal

Federation of Ventura County