Pressure Groups

Alison Weir’s Letter to the Editor

Alison Weir
Greenwich Post
March 6, 2008

To the editor,

A recent letter writer to the Greenwich Post challenges a statement on our website synopsis of the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: "When the inevitable war broke out the outcome was never in doubt, according to U.S. intelligence reports from the time. The Zionist army consisted of over 90,000 European-trained soldiers and possessed modern weaponry, including up-to-date fighter and bomber airplanes. The Arab forces, very much a third-world army, consisted of approximately 30,000 ill-equipped, poorly trained men. The U.S. Army, British intelligence, and the CIA all agreed: it would be no contest."

The writer calls this "junk history" and writes: "I challenge Ms. Weir to furnish the 'US intelligence reports' she offers as evidence, which as any student of Middle East modern history knows, is otherwise."

I am happy to oblige:

This specific information comes from two excellent books on Israel-Palestine: page 121 of Arabs & Israel for Beginners, by Ron David, and page 71 of Taking Sides, by Stephen Green. David's book is one of the clearest short introductions to the issue I have seen, and Green's books are among the best resources available on the US connection. Based on declassified State Department archives, Green's work is among the most impeccably documented available. The report the writer requests is found in Green, Chapter 3, footnote 31: "'Secret' memorandum for the Chief of Staff, Dept. of the Army, entitled 'Implication of a New Truce in Palestine,' dated July 16, 1948, Decimal File 350.05 Palestine, Decimal Correspondence Files, Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2, Record Group 319, National Archives."

I was pleased to interview Mr. Green in depth a few years ago, as well as to delve through his truly impressive archive at Stanford University. I suggest that the letter writer diversify his sources of information. He has been taken in by Israel's very effective propaganda efforts, past and present. We distribute an excellent short booklet on the history, The Origin of the Palestine-Israel Conflict, which we'll be happy to supply for free while supplies last. In addition, I highly recommend The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, by Israeli historian Ilan Pappe, and The Passionate Attachment, by American statesman George Ball.

I suspect that it is this kind of information that those who attempted to block my presentations at the Greenwich Library hoped to conceal.

Sincerely,

Alison Weir