Israel Matzav: Goodwill to Israel

Goodwill to Israel

This is from a letter about Bethlehem that appeared in the Belfast Telegraph:

I think as a New Year resolution we should use the name that God uses, namely Israel, rather than man-made modern labels such as 'Palestine' named after the Philistines, Israel's ancient and most bitter foes. Bethlehem, too, is in 'Judea' - not the often-used 'West Bank' which conveniently erases its inextricable Jewish link.

Mr McCann states that mothers are "forced to stand endless hours at checkpoints", yet when I visited Bethlehem, Beit Jala and Hebron in the 'West Bank' in late October, all the checkpoints we passed onboard a local Arab bus were completely unmanned and we did not get stopped once all the way from east Jerusalem.

Perhaps Mr McCann needs to update his information before he lambasts the Israeli security precautions set in place to ensure safety from the unrelenting terror attacks which regrettably emanate from the heart of Bethlehem.

Indeed.

Israel Matzav: Goodwill to Israel