Rasheed Amir accuses others of abusing history when his letter, "While some information is correct, author needs to update viewpoint" (Aug. 12), is a perfect example of historical revisionism.

The fact that Jews made up a majority of Jerusalem's population dating back to the 19th century, which he calls "utter nonsense," is well documented in Turkish and British census reports.

He also blames the Jews for displacing the Arabs during Israel's creation. The Arab population of Palestine increased during the '20s and '30s, thanks largely to Jewish immigration, according to British records. As for the "ethnic cleansing," even the leaders of Jordan and Syria at the time recalled how the Arab armies encouraged the Palestinians to leave and then forced them into refugee camps. Current Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has also written about this.

Amir calls Benny Morris right wing. Apparently he has never read Morris or he would not make such a claim.

He also says there were no Palestinian guards at the concentration camps. This is true. However, Jerusalem's mufti, Haj Amin al Husseini, was a close ally of Hitler.

Josh Lipowsky

Class of 2003