Sources of Palestinian suffering

Poor, poor Bryna Gartenberg. Believe me, my friend, while I sympathize with your dismay with animosity towards Jews - which is still existent in today's unstable world - I find myself sympathizing even more with your misguided (but commonly perceived) notion that Arabs rejected the UN partitioning of Palestine due to their dismay at the thought of any Jews living next to them [Letters, Feb. 19].

If you were to examine the actual facts and events that embodied the lives of Arab nations before the creation of Israel as a state with a tad more precision and open-mindedness, you would probably find out, to your utter shock, that Europeans have left their own foolish problems to be dealt with by unsuspecting and uninvolved Arab citizens many a time.

Thus, my friend, the most understanding and solid reasons for the Arabs rejecting the proposed creation of the Jewish state in 1948 was not out of hatred. It was out of fear that Europeans were leaving their problems of Jewish genocide - that they had let happen without lifting a finger - fall on them. All the while, they were watching the West (especially America) help arm Jewish terrorist organizations such as Irgun and Stern Gang build up their military.

Guess what, they were right! Or maybe not. As I'm sure everyone knows, only Palestinians are terrorists right (ha! ha!)? Not to say that the Palestinian government doesn't have its own explaining to do when it comes to Palestinian suffering. They most certainly do. Arafat has been an absolute disaster for the attempted freeing of Palestinian suffering. However, to assert that the Palestinians are merely suffering or "deprived" because of their own governments' folly and not at all because of Israeli hegemony and militaristic arrogance as you do, displays an unfortunate amount of hubris. I hope I've cleared a few things up for you.

On a side note, the reasons why Europeans mainly support the Palestinians are embodied in two general beliefs. First, there is still a recognizable amount of anti-Semites in Europe (unacceptable), and second, because Europeans tend to lean left politically, and thus sympathize with the plight of the Palestinians, as many lefties do (acceptable).

One last piece of advice: You might want not to be so naïve in the future while writing to the Mirror saying, "I am 100 per cent positive that your paper has no intent of publishing a pro-Israeli viewpoint," when you can be damned assured they will not make the mistake of forgetting to publish one just to prove your point to be mere arrogance. Better luck next time!

» Jordan Frankel

Frothing at the mouth

The whole city's turning into a Couche Tard condo park and now I can't be anti-social anymore ["Irritating people beware," Feb. 19]. Not that I count myself among the marginalized, but I do like to spit, and from what I make of that article, one of the 26 new police call codes is assigned to that very act.

I'll spit until the cows come home - try and catch me, coppers! Except you won't because you'll be too busy moving the "disturbing presence of vagrants and beggers," the squeegees and the loitering juvenile delinquents to an island somewhere. You could build it out of the dirt dug up for yuppie condo foundations and name it Nouveau Manhattan.

I spit on you.

» Rob Coulas

Memorializing pigeons
and magpies

Whenever friends from elsewhere come to visit Montreal, they're double-struck by the scrappy elegance of the city and what its people do to make it strange, beautiful and unprecedented.

Recently, a friend alerted me to the various examples of non-traditional graffiti art that have been popping up around town. For all I know, the black cats, kissing couples and Andre the Giants (not to mention the odd baroque fleur de lys or ubiquitous Oui/Non) have been around for ever, but surely these pink birds I've recently come across are the sign of something new.

Not to get too sappy in the place of usual complaints and concerns, but I want to give a thank you to whoever is making this city ours in this free and bizarre way. We can't worship cornices and short-lived coffee shops in our image alone. And as pigeons and magpies are evicted from warehouses-gone-lofts, we will need something to memorialize them by.

» Alex M. Licker

Sasha's roar

Why does Sasha often take these angry and bitter twists on people's questions? I was reading a recent letter where the writer used the expression "cougar" [Sasha, Feb. 5].

Granted, maybe he should not have used it and deserved to have been corrected, but after you're done setting the guy straight, move on and answer his question. If Sasha wants to rant, tell her to call the Rant Line™.

» Lawrence Graveline

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