Yasser Arafat Backs Hussein

Your editorial (“The Cause That’s Being Hindered by Its Leader,” Sept. 17) properly laments Yasser Arafat’s embrace of Saddam Hussein’s aggression against Kuwait. Unfortunately, by focusing on Arafat’s failures, you are letting the trees blind you to the forest.

The issue is not Arafat’s failure as a leader of the Palestinian Arabs. The real issue is the failure of the Palestinian cause itself, and the failure of the Palestinian Arabs to find leaders who are prepared to accept Israel’s right to exist. The readiness of the PLO in supporting Iraqi aggression is a window into the soul of the PLO.

Many lessons might be learned from the crisis in the Persian Gulf, but one of the most important is the vindication of the Israelis in their lonely insistence that the PLO is nothing more than an irresponsible, terrorist organization dedicated not to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, but to the destruction of the Jewish state.

SIDNEY BALDWIN

Professor of Political Science Emeritus

Cal State Fullerton