Israel and Human-Rights Violations

Although I appreciated the moderate tone of your editorial (“Israel and Human Rights,” Feb. 9) criticizing Israel’s use of force in the occupied territories, where was your call for an end to the rioting?

The world delights in comparing the Palestinians to the biblical David fighting the Israeli Goliath. Fine, but what about the end of that story: David kills Goliath by slinging a stone against his skull. You criticize Israeli conduct that you say makes rock throwing a de facto capital offense. Rocks kill.

Moreover, you fail to mention the rioters’ increasing use of Molotov cocktails and firebombs. What nation in the world would hesitate to use deadly force against rioters who would burn to death its citizens? The Palestinian youths who firebombed a bus last year, killing a young mother and her three small children, were hailed as heroes.

You claim that Israel isn’t like other nations; she must be judged by a higher ethical standard. But taken to an extreme, such a posture would be suicidal. Like it or not, Israel’s survival demands fighting fire with fire.

So should Israel withdraw from the occupied territories? After all, Yasser Arafat, the self-appointed Palestinian leader, has finally claimed to recognize Israel (after much arm-twisting by our State Department). Setting aside the questions of whether Arafat could prevent the various PLO terrorist factions from moving in and turning the West Bank and Gaza into another Beirut, or could restrain the current rioters from sneaking over what would become a virtually indefensible border into Israel proper, the Israelis must ask themselves if Arafat would really encourage such restraint. Is he sincere, or is this merely the latest tactic in the war of destruction that the Arabs have been waging on the Israelis for the last 40 years?

Arafat recently renounced terrorism. If he means it, he should try to persuade the rioters to stop, at least temporarily, as a show of good will and a catalyst for real peace talks. Short of that, sadly, little will change.

RUEBEN GORDON

North Hollywood