Vic Alhadeff (Byron Shire Echo letters, January 6) does not dispute Patriarch Michel
Sabah’s claim that ‘Israel confiscated part of Bethlehem’s northern
lands and approved the expansion of the illegal settlement of Gilo –
built on privately owned lands of Bethlehem – by 891 new housing
units’.
Does Mr Alhadeff and the NSW Board of Jewish Deputies endorse
this theft?
In 2012 former Minister for Foreign Affairs, Bob Carr,
stated, ‘The government has repeatedly urged Israeli leaders to cease
settlement activity. In the communiqué of the Australia-UK
Ministerial meeting in January this year, for example, we called for
an end to Israeli settlement activity, noting that it was illegal and
undermined the prospects for peace’.
Despite his promise in 2009 not to build more settlements, Netanyahu has overseen a 40 per cent increase in settlement building in 2014-2015 alone and 68 per cent of that lies in land
slated for the foundation of a Palestinian state.
No doubt Netanyahu and the 580,000 settlers in 123 government authorised settlements, 100 unauthorised outposts and 12 major neighbourhoods in illegally annexed East Jerusalem don’t give a damn for Palestinian rights or the opinions of Australia and the international community.
Gareth W R Smith, Palestine Liberation Centre
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
