Now Is the Time: Send Peacekeepers, Arbitrate

Re “U.S. Drops Calls for ‘Restraint,’ Backs Israel’s ‘Self-Defense,’ ” Dec. 4: Does Israel’s right to defend itself include bombing the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority, the internationally recognized representative of 4.5 million Palestinians? Why is the killing of innocent civilians on one side considered an act of terrorism, while killing on the other side is considered an act of self-defense? Perhaps it is because, as Ari Fleischer said, Israel is a sovereign government, while the Palestinians have no government that confers upon them the right to self-defense. All the more reason to recognize a Palestinian state, so that at the very least, this double standard will no longer exist.

Both Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat are responsible for peace in the land their people share. About 1,000 people have been killed in the last 14 months, and three-quarters of them have been Palestinians. President Bush should persuade his true friend Sharon not to add to the death toll.

Philip Huang

Irvine

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One has to be blind to keep trying to figure out whether Arafat is an accomplice or merely ineffectual. There is one thing about Arafat that some do not understand and others are reluctant to talk about. His Palestinian Authority, for its legitimacy, is more dangerous than Hamas and Islamic Jihad. It exists for only one purpose: to cover the terrorist groups, including the temporary jailing of their members after the most horrible attacks. If the Arafat “government” did not exist, the terrorists would be face to face with Israel and would have been eradicated a long time ago. How much more innocent blood has to be shed to realize that Arafat, Hamas and Islamic Jihad are one team?

Vladimir Bogorad

Sherman Oaks

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Because vulnerable citizens are victimized and because all lives are meant to be sacred, acts of terror are morally repulsive, be they by Palestinians or via the more massive terrorism that wears the uniforms of military occupation. U.S.-supplied shells (sad to say) are also capable of being suddenly death-dealing and indiscriminate when fired quite unheroically from the safety of tanks, F-16s and helicopter gunships. The Palestinian people have suffered under an illegal and brutal occupation for decades, and their leaders are scapegoated for rightly repudiating the so-called generous offer of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.

We citizens and our government must tell Sharon to end the subjugation, abandon Israel’s colonizing settlements and abide by international law, while allowing an interim international peacekeeping force to protect civilians of both sides from terror.

Darrel Meyers

Burbank

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What occupation was Hussein Ibish (Commentary, Dec. 4) talking about? One suspects he’s thinking of the Israeli occupation of what he considers sacred Muslim land, that is, of Israel itself. From the Israeli point of view, an end to Israeli interference in Palestinian affairs can only be achieved when Palestinians stop teaching their children that it is moral to kill Israelis. From the Palestinian point of view, there will be no peace until there is no Israel.

George E. Delury

Goleta

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Now is the time. The U.N., the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Russia and others should tell Israel and Palestine, respectfully, “You are unsettling the Middle East, at least. You have shown that you are incapable of coming to terms. We are going to arbitrate and enforce a full peace settlement.” Israel and Palestine could each nominate two nations to choose arbitrators. The four would choose a fifth. The five arbitrators would listen to all views. They would determine, by majority vote, the terms for a permanent settlement. The arbitrators would decide on the rules of enforcement. It won’t be easy; it won’t be perfect. But it could be the beginning of peace in the Middle East.

Porter Ewing

Van Nuys