Rights and wrongs

Dr Tony Klug (Letters, August 10) sees Jewish and Palestinian self-determination as equal in that the Palestinians, unlike the Jews, have not achieved their aspirations. Yet national self-determination was bestowed by treaty to non-Jews in 99 per cent of the former Ottoman territories in the aftermath of the First World War, which later became independent Arab states.

Jews were denied national rights in these states but, in theory, retained civil and religious rights, while in Palestine the opposite was the case, national rights were specifically reserved for Jews and civil and religious rights assigned to non-Jews.

The Zionists seized the opportunity of a Jewish homeland when offered, albeit a whittled down version of the one originally promised. Why have the Palestinians not done the same during the past 100 years after having numerous opportunities, instead of galvanising their efforts in undermining Israel?

Melvyn Lipitch

London W14

Dr Tony Klug finds Melanie Phillips’ use of the word “Palestinianism” brims with scorn when it demonises and delegitimises authentic Palestinian aspirations. He does feel, however, that many Jews’ sympathies for the Palestinian plight emerge from the “very Jewish” commitment to equality and universal human rights.

Would that he and we could find any evidence of an equal Palestinian commitment to those values. If Dr Klug has found evidence that the PA and Hamas subscribe to such values he should reveal it.

Over many decades, the idea has been propagated by Palestinians and their allies that Jews have no rights in a land which is saturated with Jewish history. This idea has found traction on both the political left and right.

In his last interview with the Israeli journalist Ari Shavit, Edward Said suggested that Jews, having lived in Muslim lands for centuries and millennia, as a minority population, could do the same again in a Palestinian state. He thought that could be easily endured so long had been the Jewish experience of a state of Muslim-imposed dhimmitude.

Oxford academic and a patron of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Karma Nabulsi, promotes the work of the late Australian scholar, Patrick Wolfe, who observed the two-sided nature of settler colonialism. Negatively, it looks for the dissolution of native societies while, positively, it encourages the growth of the new incoming settler society.

Neither Wolfe nor Nabulsi  mention the near 1,400-year history of Arab and Muslim imperialism that indulged in the very “settler colonialism” they claim to abhor.

Rather than trouble himself with Melanie Phillips and her “fellow-travellers”, Tony Klug needs to confront his own fellow-travellers and their adherence to a segment of Palestinian opinion that wallows in resentment and promotes mass murder.

J D Norman

London N12

Boris and equality

I am writing to thank you for your editorial  (August 10)unambiguously condemning the language of Boris Johnson’s column in the Telegraph about women who choose to wear a niqab or burqa.

I helped to found the Muslim Jewish Forum of Greater Manchester in 2005, and currently serve as its Co-chair, as well as being Chairman of the Conservative Muslim Forum.

Britain’s Muslims and Jews are far stronger and safer when they support each other.

Mohammed Amin MBE FRSA

Chairman, The Conservative Muslim Forum

I agree that, if Boris Johnson had made fun of Chasidic dress rather than Muslim women wearing the burqa, it would have been deemed offensive by the Jewish community. But the requirement for Chasidic women to wear a sheitel and the Islamic hijab and niqab both challenge the sensibilities of the majority who believe in gender equality. The way to change people’s behaviour is to engage with them, and to this end we should try to convince Orthodox Muslims and Jews to liberate their women from male domination.

Stan Labovitch

Windsor

Talk instead of walk

Regarding your feature on whether Jews should start packing their bags (JC, August 10), are people really going to give up on 350 years of tolerance of Jews in the UK and the incredibly rich Jewish cultural and economic life here, just because some old Marxist at war with his own party happens to be Leader of the Opposition?

Is Israel really a better and safer place to live, with real antisemites on two of its borders wanting to destroy the country, which is why Israelis have to serve in the army?

Say what you like about Her Majesty’s Opposition, they are not likely to create an environment that Israelis have to deal with on a daily basis.

Also, Labour are not yet near power. Mr Corbyn needs to win about 40 marginal seats in places that currently vote Conservative like Dudley, Swindon and Milton Keynes. The most likely result will be another no-score draw, disappointment for both parties and the eventual change of both leaders.

We need to fight against extreme and over-the-top discussion. What we need is some calm moderation to return not just to public discourse but also to politics in general;  calm reflection and consideration rather than ranting or shock-filled editorials. Our sages said much of following “the middle path”, we should certainly reflect on that in relation to our future in this country.

Gordon Kay

Brighton

Munich horror

I feel compelled to comment on the leader of the Labour Party being associated with the wreath-laying ceremony for the terrorists responsible for the Munich atrocities.

On my leaving the Olympic Park in Munich on that fateful morning in 1972, I was aware of a major incident ensuing due to the frenzied activity of the authorities going past me as I made my way to find my vehicle to head for Frankfurt airport to return to London.

All flights were delayed as we watched the horrendous events unfolding on the TV screens.

Having been so close on the actual day is a personal and constant reminder of the cold blooded murder of Israeli athletes and the less than tepid response from the Olympic authorities, who showed scant regard in their haste for the games to continue.

To have once again the memory of brave athletes besmirched by Jeremy Corbyn shows him to be, if more proof were still needed, someone who would be a most unsuitable candidate for the high office of prime minister.

He is a danger not only to the UK Jewish population and the Israeli nation but to all right-thinking persons.

Stephen Vishnick

Tel Aviv, Israel

Cemetery need

I am hoping to contact people who have relatives buried in the Wolverhampton Jewish Cemetery, which is no longer in use. The first burial there was in 1866 and the last in 2000.

The Representative Council of Birmingham and West Midlands Jewry, together with the Board of Deputies, are looking to have the grounds  commercially cleared, as they have become overgrown and a dumping ground for unwanted household goods.

Once cleared, the grounds will  be maintained by a team of volunteers from the Birmingham community. The ohel, which is a listed building, requires renovation at a cost of approximately £25,000, without which it will eventually fall down.

I hope families whose relatives are interred there, and others, regardless of whether they have relatives there or not, will consider making a donation no matter how small, to ensure that the cemetery once again becomes a dignified and respectable final resting place.

If you have family buried there, please email jewishbirmingham@talktalk.net or call 07768761930. Cheques can be made payable to Representative Council of Birmingham and West Midlands Jewry and posted to Representative Council c/o BHC Singers Hill, Blucher St Birmingham B1 1HL.  All donations will be gratefully acknowledged.

Ruth Jacobs

Chair, Representative Council of Birmingham and West Midlands Jewry

Mansion history

Regarding Abigail Green’s article (Visiting the Jewish gentry, August 10) about mansions that can be visited, the scholar Claude Montefiore was the great-nephew  of Sir Moses, mentioned by Ms Green.

Claude’s parents purchased in 1870 an 1840s mansion called Coldeast at Sarisbury, Hampshire in 150 acres and they enlarged it and laid out formal gardens; the nearby Swanwick railway station opened in 1888 allowing convenient travel to London.

Claude used it regularly as a retreat from his Portman Square London home (now demolished).

Coldeast was sold in 1924, later became a hospital and  recently was refurbished as  “Coldeast Mansions” containing 37 apartments; some rooms are available for functions and weddings where some of the original  decoration and traces of the terraced garden can be seen.

Nearby are modern roads named Montefiore and Rothschild Drives, built on part of the original estate.

Claude then purchased an 1873 house in Surrey designed  by  Richard Norman Shaw for a grandson of Josiah Wedgwood, which was nearer to London and which has been divided into two large homes,now privately occupied.

Bryan Diamond

London NW3