July 27: Mass message

Mass message

I was present with 100,000 other people at what can only be considered a powerful musical event. Can one imagine the spiritual and moral uplift if that enthusiastic audience had sung "Hatikva" following the performance? The message would have been an appropriate commemoration of Tel Aviv's centennial.

Perhaps, though, it would have been asking a little too much of Daniel Barenboim.

LESLIE GREENBAUM

Sir, - Instead of the focus on La Scala, maybe Daniel Barenboim should have been asked why he chose this particular piece.

JUDY GOLDIN

Sir, - How right Stanley Cohen is ("Requiem victory," Letters, July 24): I was 13 years old and privileged to hear all the rehearsals for Verdi's Requiem in the Terezin (Theresienstadt) Ghetto, as I lived in the house where they took place. It was a time when I could just listen and forget the horrible conditions we were living under; and I have never forgotten the experience.

ILANA KIRSCHNER

'Lines drawn on maps'

Precisely because the British colonial power drew a line on a map, its colonial secretary, Winston Churchill, succeeded in establishing the forerunner of the second state in Palestine, Transjordan (later Jordan).

In so doing, Mr. Churchill, in direct contradiction of British intentions during the first decades of the 20th century, tore away 78 percent of Palestine from the future Jewish state, which had already been made a legal entity by the San Remo Convention in April 1920.

Yes, there really are two countries in Palestine: the Arab state in eastern Palestine, also known as Trans-Jordan, and the Jewish state in western Palestine, or Cis-Jordan, brought into being by the Balfour Declaration, the San Remo Convention and the Treaty of Sevres, all the expression of the desire and design of prime minister David Lloyd George and others to give Palestine to the Jews (Arab aspirations to be fulfilled in Syria and Mesopotamia).

Had the British governments of the 1920s, '30s and '40s carried out the original intentions of the League of Nations, Lloyd George, the British Zionists of the early 20th century, Woodrow Wilson and the US, Israel would now include Judea, Samaria (the West Bank), Gaza and Jordan up to the Hejaz Railway. It would also be populated by 10-20 million Jews.

BERNARD SMITH

Selective condemnation

If Larry Derfner is correct and HRW has no "agenda" against Israel, why in raising funds in Saudia Arabia does HRW ignore Saudi Arabia's own violations of human rights? Are we to understand that "arbitrary arrest and torture" and "slavery-like exploitation" of foreign labor in Saudi Arabia are unimportant?

Larry Derfner provides no answer to these questions. Until he does, I believe it is only reasonable to suppose that HRW, like many other NGOs, has a hidden agenda against Israel ("The smearing of human rights organizations," July 23).

HARVEY MITCHELL

Larry Derfner responds:

Softer landing

Builders receive certain benefits for the construction of apartments, be they for rent or sale. The city, in turn, has a list of persons or families and knows their incomes. Basically, if you earn up to a certain amount, you may be eligible for one of these apartments.

The landlord of these units charges the market price, but because of certain benefits from the city, he must allocate 20 percent of his units to these lower-income groups, which are able to rent apartments at a 50% discount.

This program has been shown to work well for lower-income individuals and families, as well as for the builders. In this manner, the land has served the public at large.

MURRAY GREENFIELD

If you want to help

Business has by no means returned to "pre-Kassam" days. As a result, the Hesder Yeshiva in Sderot has started a special fund to help those in desperate need of financial assistance. It also continues to build, to show our enemies that Sderot will not become a ghost town.

Those interested in providing for the needy in Sderot or helping the Hesder thrive while spreading Torah Zionism in Southern Israel should email jhasten@bezeqint.net.