Nakbah acknowledged
An important judgement was delivered on May 15 by Justice Christine Adamson. The judge stated that the anniversary of the Nakbah (the catastrophe) could not be postponed for another day and compared it with other days that must be commemorated on the exact day when they occur.
Until recent times, the Zionist falsification about what occurred in April 1948, following the massacre of Deir Yassin, was accepted by the ruling class and all their organs of propaganda and government. Ultimately the truth has emerged.
The well-researched and well-written book The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, by Professor Ilan Pappe, has been an outstanding contribution to the cause of historical truth.
Professor Pappe has been senior lecturer in the department of political science at the University of Haifa, but the threats that were made to himself and his family forced him to leave Israel and secure a professorship at Exeter University.
Professor Pappe, together with all fair-minded people, would be pleased that 400 Arab and Jewish students at Tel Aviv University commemorated Naqbah Day.
I hope Professor Pappe’s book The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine will be translated into many languages and is on the book shelves of our libraries.
Bernie Rosen,
Strathfield, NSW
Major parties unrepresentative
Failure to pass the gay marriage legislation by the federal parliament and now the withdrawal of the proposed referendum on removal of race clauses in the Constitution suggests gross failure of governance systems at the national level.
The gay marriage legislation is clearly supported by a majority of Australians. The Constitutional referendum is withdrawn because the federal government has failed to publicise this important proposal sufficiently. The former failure is due to the fact that the national parliament is simply not representative of our diverse society.
This requires a major change to the electoral system to proportional representation, which would end the two party tyranny and the negative, adversarial culture in which the unrepresentative major parties are caught.
In the case of the Constitutional referendum this can be rectified by the Gillard government immediately — and it should do that. If, as Reconciliation Australia has indicated, only 39% of the population have heard about it, an advertising campaign is required.
I would think that over 80% of voters would want to see the race clauses removed from the Constitution, as soon as possible.
Klaas Woldring,
Pearl Beach, NSW