Why we think the Bishops are wrong: (part 3)

• Because Palestinian hatred of Israel came before the ocupation, the occupation cannot be the cause of that hatred.
  The occupation is clearly the result of the Arab hatred of Israel, and of Jews generally, which has taken the form of three wars (1948, 1967, and 1973) and a 50-year terrorist campaign against Israeli civilians. This campaign has involved over 15,000 separate attacks since just since September, 2000, resulting in over 4500 dead and seriously wounded on the Israeli side. (In comparative terms, this would be the equivalent of 230,000 Americans killed or seriously wounded in less than two years.)
   
• Israel did not sieze the West Bank in order to govern Palestinian Arabs, but in order to defend itself from Arab governments.
  During the "Six-Day War" in 1967, Israel seized the West Bank from Jordan, and took Gaza and the entire Sinai Peninsula from Egypt. This was a military strategy meant to deny Arab armies easy access to Israeli population centers. Israel immediately offered land for peace, and this offer was just as immediately rejected by all the Arab governments involved. In 1973 Arab armies invaded for a third time, and again Israel was victorious. That victory led ultimately to the peace agreeement with Egypt, and the return of the Sinai to Egyptian control in 1982. But no peace offers were forthcoming from the organizations responsible for the terror campaign against Israeli civilians and loosely organized under the leadership of Yasser Arafat and the PLO.

Bishop Thomas Shaw with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat.