Baker’s Warning to the Israelis

I read with appreciation Daniel Williams’ column “New Conflicts of Historic Interest Rack the Heart of the Holy Land” (Opinion, May 14), and I agree with him that history is fraught with mendacity.

Some things, however, need more light. It is not factual to deny a comparison of David facing a Goliath of limited power.

Israel’s 3 million people may be well-armed but not as well-armed as the collective 300 million Arabs who receive the latest weapons from England, France, the Soviet Union, Germany and the United States.

The expulsion of Arabs from Ramle, Lydda (Lod) may have some truth but what Christian or Muslim country would not serve its own security after a half-dozen invasions meant to annihilate it? What other country would not have completely absorbed the West Bank, so many times used for a route of invasion?

Germany and France both did it in Alsace-Lorraine and other nations did not tear a world court asunder in protest. Israel did it in the Golan Heights. The West Bank has been no less a threat than the Golan Heights.

It must be remembered that PLO leader Yasser Arafat has inferred that a peace treaty is only the first step in Israel’s destruction.

The late Egyptian President Gamal Nasser’s threat to drive Israel into the sea was a polite euphemism for what would really happen were the Arabs to be successful.

We are truly watching a David versus Goliath struggle in the Mideast.

HARRY PRINCE

Laguna Hills