Mideast Peace Requires a Palestinian State

Yossi Klein Halevi’s Feb. 21 commentary, “How Do We Cope? Less and Less Every Day,” was just another diatribe filled with convenient viewpoints and selective memory.

Halevi asks if “the Middle East will ever tolerate the lone non-Arab state in its midst.” An equally important question is, “Will Israel ever let the Palestinians have their own state?”

For years Palestinian towns were under Israeli military occupation. Israeli soldiers walked the streets toting automatic and semiautomatic weapons, leveling any home of a suspected “terrorist.” In most social circles, military occupation is considered a form of terrorism in itself.

So, why is Halevi surprised there still remains Palestinian resentment toward Israel? Why would anyone expect the Palestinians to cease aggression when no one is facilitating the formation of a Palestinian state and Israel has built settlements in areas that were designated as Palestinian? I could go on. But, who’s listening anyway?

Todd Groves

Santa Monica

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Halevi describes what it is like trying to live under terrorist conditions: “Daily life has itself become the threat: a crowded street corner, an outing at a pizza shop, a bat mitzvah celebration. It is a war without limits: This month, terrorists broke into a house in the Jordan Valley and killed a woman and her 11-year-old handicapped daughter as the child tried to crawl away.”

To the Palestinian apologists who write to complain about the Israeli responses to terrorism: The above, “killed an . . . 11-year-old . . . as the child tried to crawl away,” is an example of the heroic Palestinians efforts. Another example was the Palestinian college girl who blew up herself and an 80-year-old Israeli man. A pizza parlor and a disco full of kids?

The terrorists attack and the Israelis respond. Don’t you think it’s getting to the point that they just want to level a Palestinian city and say enough is enough--stop the violence or else? Do you think we would have their self-control?

Norm Galston

Los Angeles

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It is refreshing to read “Palestinians Must Take Charge of Their Own Destiny” (Commentary, Feb. 20), by Fawaz A. Gerges, who recognizes the major source of the Palestinians’ suffering: the misguided policies of Yasser Arafat.

Intentionally or not, Arafat caused the shift of the majority of Israeli public opinion from the peace camp to the right and helped the election of Ariel Sharon. The peace camp still has many followers in Israel, like soldiers refusing service in the occupied territories.

Let us hope that most Palestinians will soon get tired of the reciprocal violence and make their voices heard. An agreement that the majority of Israelis and Palestinians can accept with self-respect and mutual recognition is the only way toward a fully independent, economically viable Palestinian state. It is the best guarantee for the security of Israelis.

Leo Fiderer

Encino