Lies About Israeli "Brutality"

In a letter to the Independent, UKIP FOI Press Officer, Jacob Campbell vehemently refutes false claims about Israel's recent security operations

DEAR SIR, It is with horror that I read that Israel has orchestrated a massive cover-up of its brutality in the Gaza flotilla raid, that the IDF murdered 759 innocent Palestinians in Operation Cast Lead, and that Israeli soldiers used civilians as human shields ('Israel betrays its ideals by whitewashing the military', 24 January). I read these things with horror because none of them is true. The Turkel Commission was a scrupulously thorough investigation into the military's handling of the flotilla incident which was overseen by a Nobel Peace Prize winner and a Canadian QC. Both international observers were fully satisfied with the impartiality of the commission. To all but the most rabidly anti-Zionist demagogue, it is patently clear that responsibility for the 9 Turkish deaths lies solely with those who resisted IDF commandos by attacking them with knives and iron bars. As for the 2008 Gaza War, the number of Palestinian civilians killed was approximately 295 (1 in 4 deaths), despite the best efforts of Hamas to maximise civilian casualties by operating in densely populated areas. This makes Operation Cast Lead one of the most humanely fought conflicts in the history of modern urban warfare. The sheer mendacity of the claim that IDF soldiers used children as human shields does not even warrant a response. How can peace ever be possible when such lies are allowed to masquerade as fact in the pages of British newspapers?

JACOB CAMPBELL, York Press Officer, UKIP Friends of Israel

End this Misguided Criticism of Israeli Settlements

In a letter to the Guardian newspaper UKIP FOI Press Officer Jacob Campbell argues the path to peace is not be found in settlements

DEAR SIR, Not for the first time, I read with exasperation that "all settlements built on territory occupied by Israel in the 1967 war are illegal under international law" ('Palestine papers are distortion of truth, say Palestinian officials', 24 January). No they are not. The illegality of Israeli settlements in the West Bank is contingent upon their violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which stipulates that "the occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies". Yet those territories captured quite legitimately in self-defence by Israel during the 1967 war are not "occupied" at all, since they did not previously belong to any sovereign power. Furthermore, the notion that settlement-building is "one of the most sensitive issues to be resolved in the conflict" is demonstrably incorrect. Thousands of Israelis settled in the Sinai between 1967 and 1982, and every last one of them was uprooted in accordance with the 1979 Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty. In short, settlements are not a barrier to peace.

JACOB CAMPBELL, York Press Officer, UKIP Friends of Israel

"A Textbook Example of the European Left's Delusion Over the Arab-Israeli Conflict

In a letter to The Guardian, UKIP FOI Press Officer Jacob Campbell points out the flaws in Naomi Shepherd's thinking.

DEAR SIR,

Thanks to Naomi Shepherd for her article ('Israel needs a coherent opposition', 19 January), which is a textbook example of the European Left's delusion over the Arab-Israeli conflict. If only Israel could get its act together, she sighs, there would be peace in the Middle East.

How many more failed negotiations will it take for Ms Shepherd to realise that no concession Israel can afford to make will be great enough for the Palestinians to accept? The idea that "the Palestine Authority [sic] needs only an end to settlement building to resume talks" is absurd, not least because even the recent ten-month moratorium could not coax the PA back to the table. The settlements issue is a red herring; the real clincher is the Palestinian 'right of return', which would be a death sentence for the Jewish state.

Even more outlandish is the belief that "Hamas is prepared for an indefinite truce" - a pronouncement so trusting of a fascist regime that it would make Neville Chamberlain blush - when precedent shows that Hamas only favours ceasefires when it needs time to rearm. Common sense dictates the futility of negotiating with someone whose raison d'être is to have you annihilated, but Ms Shepherd is apparently impervious to common sense.

Whether "the time is ripe for an end to the conflict" is questionable, but Israel cannot be blamed for Palestinian obduracy.

JACOB CAMPBELL, York
Press Officer, UKIP Friends of Israel"

Letter to the Independent

UKIP FOI Press Officer, Jacob Campbell has sent the following letter to The Independent highlighting the hypocrisy of Arab citizens living in East Jerusalem.

DEAR SIR,

Why are Arab residents of East Jerusalem protesting the construction of 1,400 new Israeli homes ('New Jerusalem settlement hits peace process', 17 January) when a recent poll informs us that a majority of them would rather live in Israel anyway?

Decades of Israeli 'occupation' have brought them access to world-class healthcare, education and employment, as well as the ability to vote in the only free and fair elections held in the Middle East. With plans in the pipeline for an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital threatening this comfortable status quo, they should be welcoming the new settlement.

Instead, it appears that East Jerusalem's Arabs would rather have their cake and eat it. While content to reap the benefits of living under the ward of the Jewish state, they are appalled by the prospect of having Jews in their neighbourhood.

Nimbyism, it seems, is alive and well in the Holy Land.

JACOB CAMPBELL, York
Press Officer, UKIP Friends of Israel

Expose this ignorant bigotry

In a piece published in the Jewish Chronicle, Prof. David Conway makes an eye-opening criticism of the United Nations Conference on Racism.