Palestinian Complaints

My reaction to Palestinian complaints about closure imposed by Israel on the West Bank and Gaza (March 25) is compassion tempered by a large dose of puzzlement and even annoyance.

We should remember that total closure existed there for 19 years, after the West Bank was captured by Jordan and the Gaza Strip by Egypt in 1948 and until their recapture by Israel in 1967.

During all those years there were no contacts with Israel--no exports, no jobs, no Israel-based medical care and no universities and clinics that were built by Israel since 1967.

How did they survive then? Could it be that they traded with and were subsidized by their Arab rulers and by sympathetic Arab states? Why then can they not be helped again by their Arab brothers? There are 100 million Arabs surrounding 5 million Israelis. The Arab states are among the wealthiest. Why is it Israel’s responsibility to support, employ, heal and educate the Palestinians, who so badly wanted to be rid of the Jews?

I feel compassion for their economic plight, but I wish that some of the same compassion could be felt and acted upon by the wealthy, numerous and prosperous Arabs.

SI FRUMKIN

Studio City

* Re “Amir Guilty of Murder in Rabin Assassination,” March 27:

I am glad that an Israeli court has convicted and sentenced the terrorist Yigal Amir (and so quickly!). But I wonder: Is Amir being treated by the same standards as Palestinian terrorists, real and alleged? Has his family home been razed? His century-old family olive tree uprooted? His neighborhood sealed so that his neighbors cannot get to work in the rest of Israel?

JAMES DEVINE

Culver City