Middle East Peace Controversy: Finding a Home for Palestinians
Hassan has not departed from the old line that Arab politicians have held for years: Israel is responsible for all the unrest in the Middle East. As if the Iran-Iraq War, the tensions between Iraq and Syria and between Iraq and its gulf neighbors, and the conflict in Lebanon are all due to Israel. Why should Israel meet with the Palestine Liberation Organization whose charter still calls for the destruction of Israel?
Why do the Arab states wish to have a United Nations conference to discuss peace with Israel? Is it because by this means they can avoid recognizing Israel as a state?
Why can’t Jordan’s King Hussein, Syria’s Hafez Assad or Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, either singly or in concert, call on Israel to meet with them to discuss peace, face-to-face?
Is it because they fear assassination by their own people or by the PLO?
I’m sure the world would like to hear the answers to these questions, directly, without equivocation.
IRVING F. LITHMAN
Tustin
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