Security Council Calls for Israel to Withdraw

It is perturbing to witness the one-sided response to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. The worldwide uproar and condemnation over Israel’s acts of self-defense ring hollow and shallow when the same condemning people and nations were so silent while terrorists sponsored by Yasser Arafat continued through the Easter weekend to kill innocent Israelis through suicide bombings.

Israel had shown great restraint before finally acting after the Passover bombing. Can you imagine the uproar if Israelis similarly killed Palestinians during their holy days?

Tommy Cheng

Cypress

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In Ariel Sharon’s so-called “war on terror” Israeli soldiers have been conducting large-scale house-to-house searches, engaging in detention and mass arrests of boys and men, destroying personal property and PA infrastructure and a general terrorizing of the civilian population (which is now living under siege without access to basic provisions).

Ramallah has gone from one of the West Bank’s finest cities to something that resembles post-WWII Europe. Even medics and the media have been denied access to areas under siege. If these aren’t war crimes then the phrase has no meaning.

It’s time for President Bush to stop parroting the same line suggesting Arafat (confined to what’s left of his compound) must do more. It’s time for Bush to do more and demand an end to this assault and an end to the occupation--the root of all this evil.

Alia Hasan

Vacaville, Calif.

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By openly declaring that he wants to be a “martyr,” I believe that Arafat is indicating he has no real intention for peace of any kind in that troubled land. Because why do people choose to die for their cause? Typically it is in the hope that others will remember them and fight with that much more alacrity.

Didn’t this seem to be the rallying cry for the terrorists who struck last September?

Arafat is the epitome of a terrorist’s terrorist. I’m convinced of this now. I, like others, have held out for a long time thinking that maybe, just maybe, Arafat could be instrumental in securing an end to violence in the Middle East. Well, he sure fooled me. But I guess that’s what he’s best at.

Gregg M. Shives

Alhambra

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Even we ordinary citizens can see the carnage brought by years of teaching Arab/Muslim hatred toward Israel and democracies. Why is it that the U.N. refuses to condemn the barbaric terrorist acts, yet when Israel merely tries to defend its people and root out the terrorist sources the Security Council passes a resolution aimed at Israel alone (March 30)? Does every country but Israel have the right to defend itself?

Donald Salem

Los Angeles

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War is not the answer to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The U.S. must impose the Saudi peace proposal on Israel. A political settlement must go hand in hand with a cease-fire. The Palestinians have waited 10 years for their state, for self-determination. The Israelis dragged their feet the entire time. Sharon never subscribed to the Oslo agreement. This is why the suicide bombers are escalating their attacks. They feel the Israelis will never stop their expansionist policies. They have consistently increased their settlements and, with over 1,000 Palestinian deaths, it indicates that the Israelis are aiming at a total ethnic cleansing of the remainder of the Palestinians in the territories.

The Israelis need to return to the 1967 borders and take the settlers with them. They should give all the settlements to the Palestinians as compensation for all the Palestinian homes they have destroyed. The U.S. should demonstrate to the world its true commitment to peace by sending U.S. troops to ensure the division of the two sides and to force Israel to return to its 1967 borders.

Jack Gilman

West Hollywood