Peace Talks in Madrid

The Times is correct when it states that no one from Syrian President Hafez Assad’s regime needs to lecture Israel, or any state, on the evils of terrorism. By the same token, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir should never become a keynote speaker on the ills of terrorism.

Both of Israel’s last two prime ministers were leaders of notorious terrorist organizations in Palestine during the years preceding Israel’s 1948 war of independence. Given the heinous nature of atrocities committed by Shamir’s Stern Gang, and former Prime Minister Menachem Begin’s Irgun terrorist organizations against anyone opposing their manic agendas, it is virtually certain that these barbarous activities would have continued as before, had Israel’s war of independence ended in loss or stalemate. It is therefore hypocritical to define terrorists in terms of winners and losers; those on the winning side become statesmen, able to represent their people, while the losers remain terrorists, unable to do the same.

The key to a lasting Israeli-Palestinian settlement is clearly the removal of extremist elements from both sides of the conflict so that the crucial issues of Israeli security and Palestinian independence can be honestly negotiated.

MICHAEL A. SCOTT, Glendora