Madam, – The Israeli ambassador’s claim in his letter of October 29th that his country abides by the Oslo agreement is untrue – Israel has never respected any of the agreements signed with the Palestinians. The Oslo agreement called for the establishment of a Palestinian state by May 1999.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the current Israeli prime minister, in his book A Place Among the Nationspublished in 1993, stated that the Oslo agreement aims at the destruction of the state of Israel and decided to do everything possible to destroy this agreement rather than respect it or any part of it.
In his letter criticising Amnesty International’s report Troubled Waters, the ambassador mentioned his country’s generosity of supplying the Palestinians with desalinated water. This is not merely untrue, but is also a sign of the apartheid nature of his country, in order to keep the fresh water for his fellow Jewish settlers. Because he also failed to tell the world that this fresh water in question comes from the Palestinian aquifers in the West Bank.
Thanks to Amnesty International and to your newspaper for bringing up this basic human rights issue – the water – to your respected readers. Regardless of what the Israelis say, the truth of matter was told by the Palestinian woman quoted in your Editorial (October 28th), who, commenting on such Israeli inhumane practices, said: “They make our life very difficult to make us leave”.