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Misreading history

Mike Fegelman's June 8 letter, Incorrect assumptions, in response to Dianne Baker's June 5 letter, Pawns in their game, about the economic and political status of the Palestinians, offers a series of misreadings of historical and geopolitical fact. I'll limit myself to just three of them and a suggestion.

Fegelman claims UN Resolution 242 was designed to recognize Israel's possession of Palestinian territories because it conquered the land "in a defensive war." Resolution 242 does not mention defensive war; it does emphasize "the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war."

Instead of recognizing Israel's right to Palestinian land, it makes the necessity of Israeli withdrawal the first of two main requirements for a "just and lasting peace." Israel has been rebuked repeatedly by the UN because of its failure to meet that basic requirement.

He also makes the absurd claim that Israeli settlements make up less than three per cent of the West Bank's overall territory. A more realistic figure is provided by the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem, which uses Israeli government figures to show the settlements take up 42 per cent of the territory; another 10 per cent of the Occupied Territories has been annexed to Israel by the wall it has built to seal off the West Bank.

Fegelman claims the West Bank was never "taken from the Palestinians" because it was controlled by other political entities. Very simply, the UN resolution (181) that underpins the modern Israeli state was designed to create two political entities, one Arab, one Jewish.

Neither existed before the UN resolution since the whole area -- comprising both Jewish and Arab nascent states -- was controlled historically, as Fegelman notes, by the Ottomans and then the British. Both are invented states with a UN stamp of approval. Accepting one means accepting the other.

CHRISTOPHER PETTY

Winnipeg

In 2004, the World Court in The Hague determined the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem are occupied territories and Israel's transfer of Jewish settlers into these Palestinian territories is illegal.

Thanks to the American support and the propaganda efforts of pro-Israel groups, the rule of law however could not stop the ethnic cleansing of 60 per cent of the West Bank.

Area C is now almost free of Palestinians. In 1967, the Jordan Valley had about 250,000 Palestinians. Today, it's less than 50,000. In violation of international law, the Palestinians have been confined into non-contiguous cantons separated by roadblocks, settler-only roads, Jewish settlements and the Israeli wall.

Israel fully controls their freedom of movement and is "warehousing" the Palestinian population on the land from the Mediterranean to the Jordan. This is no longer just an occupation or an apartheid system; it is a policy of despair that disregards the rights of the original inhabitants of the land and secures superior privilege for the new settlers.

MARTINA LAUER

Chesterville, Ont.

Food for thought

At a recent visit to a not-so-big-box store garden centre, the woman in front of me in line was purchasing a beautiful ready-made basket of garden greens.

We spoke of its convenience for the garden, and for meal preparation. The cashier, a woman of about 21, was shocked to hear that the lettuce greens were edible.

When I asked her where she gets her salad greens, she responded she always just got hers from the grocery store, and did not know you could buy it, grow it, and eat it.

Have city-dwellers become so far removed from our food sources that this could actually occur at a garden centre?

MOIRA HONEY

Winnipeg

Other side of coin

Regarding Ron Robinson's June 6 letter, Remembering our past, if we share in the positive legacies of the British monarchy, then we must also share in the less pleasant aspects as well. While the Queen is celebrating her Diamond Jubilee with distasteful opulence, most of the public and the media seem content to gloss over the sins of the Crown.

Thanks to British imperialism, the Queen is little more than the current matriarch of one of the most successful families of murderers and thieves the world has ever seen. Many will protest the monarchy has changed, and it is no longer a sponsor of genocide and theft of wealth, but it's hard to call the institution reformed when the royals continue to live off of and benefit directly from these past improprieties.

Perhaps next time the opportunity for one of these so-called celebrations comes around, we should instead opt for a day of remembrance for the victims of British imperialism -- in Africa, the Americas, Australia, China, India, Ireland and countless other places.

MICHAEL DWILOW

Winnipeg

Michael Bagamery asks the question, "Why is Canada not interested in a debate in the monarchy in this country and why do so many still support it?" (A royal pain, Letters, June 4). Where has this man been for the past 50 years? Canadians have been debating the monarchy for at least that long, and those who support it do so for very good reasons.

They know, for instance, that all of the most advanced democracies in the world are constitutional monarchies. The monarch is the head of state, not the head of government. The government makes policy, parliament approves it, and the monarch gives assent. In the U.S., on the other hand, at the present time, the president, who is supposedly head of state and head of government makes policy and the Congress refuses to allow it to become law. Or the Congress makes laws and the president vetoes them.

BILL ROLLS

Emerson

Something's gotta go

Re: Winnipeggers' hate-on for city services (June 7). This "hate-on" doesn't surprise me at all. It seems to me that there is a direct connection between our mayor's constant battle to reduce or hold the line on taxes and our dissatisfaction with our city services.

If we keep cutting back the income, we can't expect to maintain the services. Something's gotta go. And the people of Winnipeg, whom you call "the crabbiest people in the nation," are now seeing these reductions and are not happy.

Yet every time there is a mere mention of a tax increase, the Free Press labels it an attack on the citizens. I think we need more balanced reporting on progressive taxation from our No. 1 newspaper.

RICHARD P. SAWCHUK

Winnipeg

Plastic refuseniks

Re: Plastic bags (Editorials, June 12). Does a ban on plastic bags also include a ban on plastic garbage bags? Where will the garbage be stored?

The more paper bags are used, the more trees need to be cut. A tree takes 10 to 30 years to be fully grown. A tree absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and gives out oxygen. No ecological measure matches it.

ERNEST DIAS

Winnipeg

A lot of people live in multi-storied apartment buildings. These buildings have garbage chutes. People put their kitchen garbage into used plastic bags and tie the handles and drop it down the chute into the garbage room.

This garbage must be wrapped. What do we use to wrap the garbage ?

DENNIS MCMAHON

Winnipeg

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 14, 2012 A15