U.N. Vote Against Israel on Palestinians

High fives to U.N. Security Council for its endorsement of an international peace conference to resolve the Palestinian issue.

Israel claims to want a peace treaty with its Arab neighbors, but won’t participate in an international conference to resolve the crises. Israel also asserts that it wants to reach a negotiated settlement with duly elected representatives of the Palestinians, but refuses to meet with their overwhelming choice, the PLO.

Such doublespeak is probably a smoke screen to mask the policies of Israel’s right wing, as exemplified by Israeli Housing Minister Ariel Sharon, who was recently quoted by The Times, “There will never be a second Palestinian state. Jordan is the Palestinian state.” Sharon went on to say that Palestinians could have “a life almost without interference.” What Sharon and his Likud buddies are really offering the Palestinians is continuing subjugation; there is no incentive for them to negotiate.

The litany of PLO atrocities against innocents is deserving of worldwide condemnation and suspicion. However, the same can be said of Israeli involvement in atrocities dating back to 1948, such as the King David Hotel, Dier Yassin, Lod, etc.

What is so tragic about all of this is that Israel has struggled too long and shed too much blood not to understand the aspirations of another people who are currently struggling and bleeding for identical reasons. Any Palestinian solution must embody the principle that survival and independence be equally weighted for both sides, rather than the present concept that the survival of one people depends upon the subjugation of another.

MICHAEL A. SCOTT

Glendora