From: mberenhaus@comcast.net
To: letters@washpost.com
Cc: ombudsman@washpost.com
Sent: Thursday, April 7, 2011 3:00:22 PM
Subject: It wasn't Israel's creation that caused the Palestinian refugee problem, but the genocidal war that the Palestinians and their Arab neighbors started...
Dear Editor,
The article "Palestinians Mourn Israeli Mentor" (4/5/11) blames "Israel's creation" for the fact that Mer Khamis' "father’s relatives became refugees in Lebanon." But it wasn't Israel's proclamation of Independence that caused the Arab refugee problem. If there had been no war that followed, there would have been no refugees. There is no rational causal link. It was the genocidal war launched by the local Palestinian Arabs and the neighboring Arab countries against the nascent Jewish state that caused the refugee problem. If they had won, instead of a Palestinian refugee problem there would have been a Jewish massacre to such an extent, it would have caused back-to-back Holocausts for the Jewish people. As the Secretary-General of the Arab League said at the time, "This will be a war of extermination and a momentous massacre which will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacres and the Crusades."
The Washington Post continually turns around the origin of the Palestinian refugee issue, putting the onus on Israel or "Israel's creation". With that, whether knowingly or unknowingly, they are complicit in the international delegitimizing of Israel and the resultant anti-Semitism that is running rampant throughout the world.
Michael Berenhaus
