Israel and the Arabs
Sir: The Zionist claim to Israel is not " based solely on the fact that the Jews invaded and occupied the country for a comparative brief period 2,000 years ago" as Mrs Woolfson (June 16) claims.
Firstly, a period of over a thousand years, that is from the establishment of Jerusalem as the Jewish capital in 1016 BC to the fall of Massada in AD 73, can hardly be described as brief.
Secondly the Jewish connection with Palestine was continuous since that period. An important part of the Talmud was written there. In the sixteenth century Safed was a major centre of Jewish mysticism. However many times the Jews were driven from Jerusalem they always returned. The Jewish community that was driven out of the Old City by the Jordanians in 1948 had, for instance, last been reestablished in 1267. Above all the country had occupied a major place in tne hearts ot the Jews. It was not only the place where the people's major holy places stood, but down the centuries at the feast of the Seder night which opens the Passover festival a toast has always been drunk: "Next year in Jerusalem."
David M. Jacobs 22a Thurloe Street, London SW7
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