To the INTELL Editors:
Helen Thomas, in her Nov. 12 column, "Obama and the Israelis," starts off with a false premise. She omits the fact that Israel conquered the Arab land she is accused of annexing and actually gave it, Gaza, back to the Palestinian Arabs, an unheard of action in human history.

Israel conquered Gaza because she was attacked and is still being attacked by Hamas after being attacked for years by Arafat's and now Abbas's Fatah terrorist group. Israel wants peace. So far only Israel respected the cease-fires. The Palestinians, backed by Iran weaponry, continue launching rockets at Israel.

Helen Thomas needs to read Joan Peters's "From Time Immemorial" to understand that most of the Israelis are refugees escaping persecution from Arab countries; that the British encouraged Arabs from surrounding areas to immigrate into "Palestine" while keeping Jewish Holocaust survivors out, causing their death.

Israel occupies only 17 percent of the intended Jewish National Homeland in the Palestinian region under British mandate as agreed upon in the Balfour Declaration.

Instead, Churchill, interested in Arab oil, hoped to placate the Arabs by giving them the larger part, Jordan, which is the real Palestine. That did not work; they wanted it all.

Hamas kills Palestinians who want peace. It uses Arab women and children as human shields by placing rocket launchers in their midst. Hamas and Hizbollah sends its own women and children as suicide bombers to destroy Israel. Even the Koran says Mecca and Medina are the Arab holy cities and Jerusalem is the Jewish people's and has been since time immemorial.
Liliane Stern
Ephrata