Terrorist Acts in the Middle East

Re “Arafat Jostled by Mourners of Slain Activist” (Nov. 4): Now the leader of the PLO himself is sharing with Israel the taste of Arab terrorism.

Freih abu Madeen, the Palestinian Authority’s minister of justice, accuses Israel of assassinating Hani Abed, a known member of the terrorist Islamic Jihad organization.

But there is absolutely no proof, or even evidence, that Israel is responsible. Madeen is quoted, “This is their style,” in accusing Israel of the assassination, and he implies that only Israel has the means and the motive to commit such an act. But this claim flies in the face of 40 years of Arab terrorist actions. We in the U.S. have the New York World Trade Center bombing as proof of their abilities.

This killing is another obstruction to the peace process and is not in Israel’s interests. Arab terrorists opposed to peace with Israel have purposely committed many similar acts in the past, just to blame Israel and keep the flames against peace burning.

IRVING E. FRIEDMAN

Laguna Niguel

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* Re “Treaty Places Another Piece in the Mideast Puzzle,” Oct. 27:

I have written innumerable times about the one-sided reporting of The Times regarding Israel. In your graphic “Redrawing the Borders in War and Peace,” the first illustration shows Israel as it was in 1949 and the text reads “The borders of Israel after it declared independence and fought first war with Arab neighbors.” Actually, my recollection is that the United Nations declared the State of Israel in 1948, not 1949, and that upon the declaration of the State of Israel its Arab neighbors attacked the small state.

Why for heaven’s sake don’t you put down the facts? In the 1967 map you forgot to state that Syria attacked Israel, as did Jordan. Every time you mentioned that Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan you never mentioned the fact that Jordan captured East Jerusalem from Palestine; it never belonged to Jordan, check your facts.

Again, in reporting of the terrible, tragic terrorist attack on a bus in the center of Tel Aviv, you actually almost glorified the Hamas who attacked only defenseless people. You also failed to explain to the public what the aim of the Hamas group is, which they have declared thousands of times and that is the destruction of Israel and setting up Palestine as a fundamentalist Iran-type state.

ARTHUR GILBERT

Beverly Hills

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* Every peace-minded person abhors terrorism. The recent bus bombing in Tel Aviv is no exception, but the Israelis will retaliate by blowing up the “suspected” bomber’s home (Oct. 21), and this is not considered terrorism. The U.S. gives Israel over $4 billion a year to perpetuate this kind of rationale.

WILLIAM MATHEWS

Redondo Beach

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* I believe it is about time for the Israeli commandos to go back on duty! They did a terrific job at Entebbe several years ago when they freed captives.

Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres, Ezer Weizman, et al. should reactivate the commandos in Israel and put them to work against Hamas. Yasser Arafat either does not feel like acting against Hamas, or maybe his hands are tied by his own party. His “apologies and condolences” don’t mean a thing, unless he acts on behalf of humanity and stops this senseless slaughter of human beings.

WILLIAM OSTEN

Los Angeles