Israel and the PLO

It strikes me that Rabbis Marvin Hier and Abraham Cooper have somehow lost touch with reality in their column “U.S. Should Urge Arabs to Reverse 1975 Stand” (Op-Ed Page, March 7).

Once more, these hard-line Zionists are demanding another exercise in words from Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat to rescind the statement that “Zionism is racism.” How many more “I yield” word games must the Zionists demand of the Palestinians before they sit down and discuss peace with them?

This hit home when I read “Arab Dies in Shin Bet Interrogation Cell” (Part I) in the same issue, reporting yet another death by beating of a Palestinian during a three-day interrogation he underwent by the Israeli Shin Bet security services. This is simply one more in a series of beating, choking and “mysterious” deaths of Palestinians under interrogation by the Shin Bet to be added to a U.S. State Department assessment of Israeli human rights violations against Palestinians.

Jews were beaten, tortured and gassed to death by Nazis simply because they were Jews. Blacks are beaten, shot and tortured to death by whites in South Africa simply because they are black. Palestinians are beaten, tortured and tear-gassed and shot to death by Zionist Israelis in the West Bank and Gaza simply because they are Palestinian Arabs.

All three sound like racism to me. What is the exception, Rabbis Hier and Cooper?

PAT McDONNELL TWAIR

Los Angeles