Strange meeting
From Mr Amos Oz Sir: Concerning Paul Gottfried's article (Extremism in the defence of liberty', 6 April) about my 'interview with Ariel Sharon', I have one important thing to say to Mr Gottfried. I have never interviewed Aridl Sharon. I have never met Arid l Sharon.
Amos Oz
Arad, Israel
From Mr Paul Bogdanor Sir: The vile terrorist statements which Paul Gottfried attributes to Arid l Sharon were never uttered by him. They were made by a nameless extremist interviewed by the leftwing Israeli novelist Amos Oz, though Oz has yet to produce any evidence that his anonymous fanatic ever existed.
There are, however, many authentic examples of murderous rhetoric in the Arab-Israeli conflict. For example, as the Arab armies invaded Israel in 1948, the secretary-general of the Arab League declared, 'This will be a war of extermination and a momentous massacre which will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacres and the Crusades.' More recently, Syria has looked forward to the day when 'the unjust, criminal Israeli terrorists breathe their last by Arab bullets or Arab knives' (Radio Damascus, 23 March 1995). Iraq has warned that 'the idea of throwing the Israelis into the sea is not good enough, since the Jews know how to swim and will survive' (Babel, Iraq, 4 June 1995).
Meanwhile, Hamas proclaims, 'The time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews and kill them; until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: "0 Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him!"' (Hamas charter, Article 7).
Now that Israelis are the victims of daily massacres as a result of their concessions to the PLO, it is especially important to identify the true advocates of genocide in the Middle East.
Paul Bogdanor
London FC1
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