26 AUGUST 1972, Page 23

Arabs and Jews

5) repeats the myth that the Arab Sir: Mr David M. Jacobs (August refugees from Palestine and the Oriental Jewish immigrants to Israel constituted "an exchange of population." This equation of two different categories of persons suits Israel's book splendidly. But it is still a falsification of history and an obfuscation of the moral issues involved in the Zionist seizurc Palestine and expulsion of its Arab inhabitants. The myth has been shown to be false times without number and Mr Jacobs really should not now try to resuscitate it.

No one can tell how many of the Oriental Jews emigrating to Israel from Arab countries did so under duress and how many in response to Zionist efforts to promote the ingathering of Jews into Israel. But what is certain is that it was the Zionist seizure of Palestine which destroyed in some, but not all, Arab countries the traditional Arab tolerance for the Jewish minorities in their midst. Having caused the rift, Israel exploited it to secure a welcome accretion of Jewish recruits to the Zionist state. These newcomers are then represented as having been taken in exchange for the original Arab inhabitants and landowners. To cap it all, Israel argues that this discharges her obligation to give the latter the opportunity of returning to their homes (an obligation she accepted as a condition of her admission to the United Nations). Understandably, the international community has refused to accept this one-sided interpretation of events, S. J. S'arhiss

148 Guildford Avenue, Feltham, Middlesex