Danny Wakil, Billinudgel
Around our planet there are currently 56 Islamic countries recognised by the UN (Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Mauitania are specifically Islamic republics). There are also around 100 Christian countries or states.
The massive land mass that was the region of Palestine was divided up and the small portion of land that was allocated to the indigenous Palestinian Jews was a tiny sliver of a state that is roughly 1/3 the size of Tasmania.
When Israel was established via the UN, it was very clearly the UN’s intention that Israel was for the Jews so the recent declaration that makes it officially a Jewish state should not be a surprise.
While making this official does not directly benefit Israeli minorities, Israeli Arabs (especially women) enjoy more freedom living in Israel than they would in any Muslim country.
Sadly we do not live in Disneyland and many Arab neighbours of Israel have never allowed her to live in peace for even one day, and many still want nothing less than Israel’s total destruction.
Israel has put forward numerous decent peace offers to both Arafat and Abbas, including many painful concessions, and these have all been completely rejected.
Jews have lived on the land for thousands of years and didn’t just all turn up on a P&O cruise after WWII. Jews do have a right to their own state and I have never seen one person here ever post a letter condemning any other country for having declared its religious identity or calling them racists.
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. 
