Khalidi on Israel and Palestinians

Rashid Khalidi’s perspective on the Middle East seeks to resuscitate the discredited link between Iraq’s brutal and unprovoked attack on Kuwait with Israel’s hold on the West Bank and Gaza Strip (“Sauce for Goose, Sauce for Gander,” Commentary, Oct. 19).

Khalidi’s effort to divert attention from Iraq’s aggression by raising this false analogy deliberately obscures the facts.

The fact is that Israel came into possession of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights and the Sinai as a result of Arab aggression in 1967. In the Persian Gulf, Iraq attacked Kuwait.

The fact is that Israel made it clear very early that the future of the territories could be negotiated among the parties to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Only Egypt showed itself ready to end its war against Israel; peace was achieved and Israel turned the Sinai over to Egypt. In the gulf, Iraq quickly seized and annexed Kuwait.

How ironic that Khalidi should ask why the world should focus on Iraq’s refusal to implement United Nations Resolution 660 when Israel has not implemented U.N. Resolution 242. In the gulf, the U.N. unanimously instituted sanctions in recognition of Iraqi aggression.

By contrast, Israel has always supported Resolution 242. The reason it has not been implemented is because not one Arab state, with the exception of Egypt, has expressed willingness to accept its call for direct negotiations among the parties to the Arab-Israeli conflict, leading to peace with secure boundaries for the states in the region. Not one Arab state is willing to accept Israel’s existence or to negotiate peace.

So much for Khalidi’s analogy.

JERRY SHAPIRO, Associate Director, Anti-Defamation League, Los Angeles