Letters, letters, letters

The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer's name, address and phone number. Letters to the Editor is an open forum for the community and contains unsolicited opinions not necessarily shared by the Editor. The Nugget reserves the right to edit, omit, respond or ask for a response to letters submitted to the Editor. Letters should be no longer than 300 words. Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned. The deadline for all letters is noon Monday.

To the Editor:

Mrs. Macauley quotes from the Old Testament (Genesis) that God promised Abraham the land of Israel.

Let me quote from an article in the New York Times titled "As Rabbis Face Facts, Bible Tales Are Wilting."

"Abraham, the Jewish patriarch, probably never existed. Nor did Moses. The entire Exodus story as recounted in the Bible probably never occurred. The same is true of the tumbling of the walls of Jericho. And David, far from being the fearless king who built Jerusalem into a mighty capital, was more likely a provincial leader whose reputation was later magnified to provide a rallying point for a fledgling nation." And "...it seems unlikely that the story of Genesis originated in Palestine."

These findings, the result of 25 years of archaeological diggings in Israel and its environs, have gained wide acceptance among non-Orthodox rabbis. In fact, the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism has just issued a new Torah called "Etz Hayim" ("Tree of Life" in Hebrew) with the view that the Bible is a human rather than a divine document.

So, Mrs. Macauley, the Jews, in fact, had and have no divine right to the land called Palestine.

Mrs. Macauley indicated that "...in 1956 Egypt invaded Israel." In fact, Israel invaded Egypt on October 29, 1956, with French and English attacks two days later. Intercession by an irate President Eisenhower forced the invaders to withdraw.

This debacle forced Prime Minister Eden of England to resign. Israel withdrew but retained possession of Gaza and the area of Aqaba.

Mrs. Macauley then states that "In 1967, seven Arab nations invaded Israel." This is ridiculous. On June 5, in a surprise operation the Israeli air force attacked 25 Arab airfields and destroyed just about all the Egyptian, Jordanian, Syrian, and Iraqi planes as they sat on the ground.

At the same time armored forces executed attacks on Egypt, Jordan and Syria. Israel was the aggressor. So much so, that President de Gaulle of France banned all further deliveries of arms and planes to Israel. At this point, the United States became Israel's only remaining ally.

I really don't believe that Israel is prepared for peace. They want more land. The original Zionist Frontier Proposals included southern Lebanon, southern Syria almost to the gates of Damascus and a large slice of western Jordan. I think that the Israelis still have this as their goal.

Mrs. Macauley, if you've deemed yourself the local propagandist for Zionism, at least try to get some of your facts straight.

Brigitte K. Gager

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To the Editor:

A large thank you to The Nugget for running the "special needs" youth placement stories such as last week's "Eddie awaits adoption."

Although many of these children come with inherent behavioral and social adjustment problems, many can grow to be productive citizens if only given a stable environment and unconditional love.

The people who open their hearts and homes to these children are the real heroes of our society, not those who do community service work and then write letters to the editor telling each other how wonderful they are.

Jeff Jones