Larry's Letters: New Yorker Crossword Puzzle: Negev Desert is Part of Palestine

Feb. 4, 2022

Letters to the Editor
New Yorker

Dear Editor,

Your Feb. 2, 2022 online crossword puzzle described the Middle East's Negev Desert as covering "part of Palestine." By now, eagle-eyed Cruciverbalists have informed you that (a), there is no actual country called Palestine, and (b), at best Palestine is an aspirational country. This is not the first time that parts or all of Israel have been erased and replaced by Palestine. A number of airline maps erased Israel from their onboard world maps. Textbooks promoting the Palestinian point of view have eliminated any mention of Israel and have even renamed Israeli cities by their Arab names, for example, Tel Aviv has become Tal ar-Rabeea.

While most of these erasures have been corrected, it is inescapable that there is an effort to edit out the Jewish state. I sincerely hope that your crossword editor was simply ignorant about Middle East geography and not one of those anti-Israel radicals working to inflict some pain on the Jewish state.

Sincerely yours,

Larry Shapiro,