http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/11471
Perhaps the theatre people should bone up on their British history. The writer helps them along…
The Guardian, Thursday 29 March 2012
Open Letter by Members of the U.K.’s Theater and Film Industries: “We notice with dismay and regret that Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London has invited Israel’s National Theatre, Habima, to perform The Merchant of Venice in its Globe to Globe festival this coming May. The general manager of Habima has declared the invitation “an honourable accomplishment for the State of Israel.” But Habima has a shameful record of involvement with illegal Israeli settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
Writing this letter is a good way for me to discuss your denial of facts and the disrespect that you bestow on your British people’s history.
Did you know that your government was the leading force among the fifty-one member countries – the entire League of Nations – that unanimously declared on July 24, 1922:
“Recognition has been given to the historical connection of the Jewish People with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstructing their National Home in that country.”
Did you know that Britain as Mandatory became the official administrator and mentor over Jewish Palestine, the territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, where the “Mandate for Palestine” clearly stated as follow:
Article 5: “The Mandatory shall be responsible for seeing that no Palestine territory shall be ceded or leased to, or in any way placed under the control of the Government of any foreign power.” The territory of Palestine was exclusively assigned for the Jewish National Home.
Article 6: “The administration of Palestine … shall encourage … close settlement by Jews on the land, including State land and waste land not required for public purpose.”
Jewish settlements are legal, and there are no “Occupied Palestinian Territories.”
Did you know that your country’s hero Sir Winston Churchill had that to say about Jewish “Occupation” of Palestine:
“When it is asked what is meant by the development of the Jewish National Home in Palestine, it may be answered that it is not the imposition of a Jewish nationality upon the inhabitants of Palestine as a whole, but the further development of the existing Jewish community, with the assistance of Jews in other parts of the world, in order that it may become a centre in which the Jewish people as a whole may take, on grounds of religion and race, an interest and a pride.”
My friend, the British world of culture: It is not “The settlements” nor is it the “Occupation” that Arabs reject. They reject the internationally recognized lawful right of Israel to exist as a legitimate, secured, Jewish political entity –
