Israel and Netanyahu

Re James J. Zogby’s “America Must Challenge Netanyahu’s Obstructionism,” Commentary, July 29:

We were in the West Bank in 1997 and were stunned by the aggressive Israeli program of extending settlements and connecting roads into and around Palestinian villages. In spite of many Israelis as well as Palestinians who protest against Israeli policy, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to ignore local protests as well as mounting international opposition.

In the meantime, the U.S. sends $3.5 billion each year with no strings attached while Netanyahu thumbs his nose at us. The recent vote in the U.N. for Palestinian representation is a barometer of just how far our administration and Congress are out of kilter.

GWEN JOHNSON

JAMES R. JOHNSON

Corona del Mar

* It is time to shatter the myth created by our media that the primary obstacle to peace between Israel and the Palestinians is Netanyahu. Israel has already given the Palestinians 27% of its West Bank territory. What has it received in return from Yasser Arafat? A permanent end to suicide bombings? Elimination of the language in the PLO charter calling for the destruction of the state of Israel? Punishment of terrorists? A severing of ties with the Hamas murderers? The answer is “none of the above.”

Does anyone honestly believe that Israel, which since its birth in 1949, has been repeatedly attacked from all sides by forces zealously committed to its total annihilation, doesn’t hunger for peace?

Why should Netanyahu trust anything his Palestinian counterparts, from Arafat on down, say or even sign for that matter? The Oslo accords speak of land for peace. Land has already been exchanged.

Let’s put the ball where it belongs--in the court of those who have yet to back up their words with action. Then, and only then, does anyone have the right to ask more of Israel’s leaders.

BRUCE M. FRIEDMAN

Beverly Hills