Israel Took First Steps on the ‘Road Map’

In “Arafat Asks Militants to Restore Truce” (Aug. 28) you stated that neither side had been willing to make concessions on the peace plan known as the “road map.” It’s one thing to give a certain editorial slant to the news and another to make a baldfaced lie. Israel has dismantled outposts and roadblocks and turned several cities over to Palestinian Authority control. The Palestinians have done nothing but whine and complain that Israel has not done enough, while doing nothing themselves.

The key first step for the PA was to dismantle the terrorist organizations in the West Bank and Gaza, but not only has it not done so, PA Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas publicly announced that he would never lift a finger to stop terrorism. Israel, in return for its concessions, has been the target of daily shootings, stabbings, bombings and shellings during the phony hudna [the Arabic term for the temporary truce], culminating in the “massacre of the children” bus bombing, which also claimed five U.S. citizens. It seems to be The Times’ position that Israel’s retaliation is the cause of the end of the cease-fire, not the constant Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians and children.

Judd Silver

Irvine