Peace Depends on the Facts on the Ground

Re “The Distant Call of Peace,” by Jo-Ann Mort, Opinion, July 29:

It is easy for an American who sits thousands of miles away to give advice on how to resolve the stalled Middle East peace process. Rightfully, I was told by an Israeli that if you want to have influence in Israeli politics, you should pack up and move to Israel and vote your conscience while living there. As long as the Arab schools are teaching hatred, the Peace Now advice is useless. When the Arab schools start teaching to love thy neighbor as thyself, then Peace Now might have a chance.

Ehud Barak and Ariel Sharon were elected by their constituents. Who elected Bashar Assad, King Hussein or Yasser Arafat? If it is OK for Arabs to live in Israel proper, what is wrong with Israeli settlements on the West Bank? As to the Arab refugees, I have no dilemma in asking the Arab nations, with all their oil money, to resettle the Arab refugees just as Israel resettled its refugees from Arab countries. Once the PLO and Arafat accept reality and stop dreaming of driving tiny Israel into the sea, Peace Now will have a better chance.

George Lubow

Arcadia

Re “Blame for Camp David Talks’ Failure Takes a Twist,” July 29: From a humanitarian perspective--based on achieving rights for the poor and the marginalized--the power imbalance of Israel-Palestine is clear. Israel has its army in control of every civilian Palestinian life in the occupied territories. Its soldiers routinely humiliate Palestinian civilians, destroy homes, block access roads to necessary living facilities, interrupt water supplies. The soldiers indiscriminately detain, torture and close off Palestinians living in the occupied territories to near levels of hopelessness.

Where at Camp David were the international community’s parameters for a humanitarian compromise for Israel-Palestine? At Camp David, U.N. Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 were not seen as realistic possibilities, nor were the rights of return and compensation for Palestinian refugees. Is it surprising that Camp David or any of the other negotiations in the peace process failed?

Certainly, the Palestinian workers detained in the hot sun almost every day at the Israeli checkpoint near my home knew better than to waste their time with Camp David’s anemic realities. Daily they feel how little its success would have offered them. Clearly, for them, only a complete removal of the occupation that governs their lives and a redressing of core justice issues will make any future Camp David a step toward lasting peace.

Thomas Getman

Jerusalem Director

World Vision, Jerusalem