Sir – Desmond FitzGerald, in his letter denigrating Palestinian “apologists”, makes the intentional mistake common to Zionists of conflating historical Palestine with Jordan in an attempt to delegitimise Palestinian identity. It is a trait typical of colonialists that after they steal your land they tell you that it was never yours in the first place.
Palestine has existed as an historical region separate to Jordan/Transjordan since biblical times and unlike Jordan has been called just that during Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman, British & Israeli occupations. It will continue to be called Palestine after the current occupation ends and no amount of historical revisionism from Mr FitzGerald and Mr Meleady will change that. Yours, etc,
CIAN CARLIN,
Priory Road,
London N8
Sir, – I’ve just won a small wager with myself – to the effect that any recitation of the facts and/or criticism of Israeli policies (however mild and accurate) would very soon be characterised as “anti-Semitic rant” (Letters, April 17th). My bet was, of course, a sure thing! Yours, etc,
MAURICE KING,
Inistioge,
Co Kilkenny