Middle East: Both Sides Acting in Self-Defense

Re “Military Option Has Run Its Course,” Opinion, Aug. 11: Amy Wilentz holds Prime Minister Ariel Sharon singly responsible for violence, for “pushing [the worst elements in Palestinian society] to new heights of cruelty.” She completely overlooks the fact that the Palestinians initiated their barbaric acts of cruelty long before Sharon was elected. Gratuitous murder and homicide bombings began when Israel’s “peace camp” was at its zenith of influence and the Barak government had made concessions to the Palestinians that far exceeded the mandate it had from its own people.

We now know that Yasser Arafat wanted more. The Palestinians exploited Israel’s withdrawal from their cities and towns to amass weapons and build a terrorist infrastructure. Through violence, they sought to pursue the ultimate destruction of the state of Israel.

Sharon was elected by a frightened and alarmed Israeli electorate in reaction to persistent and hideous terror attacks by Palestinians. Israel is fighting a defensive war against a relentless enemy that lacks minimum standards of human decency. Israel’s cause is larger than Wilentz’s and her “peaceniks’ ” apparent discomfort.

Gary L. Nudell

Sherman Oaks

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I would like to ask Wilentz what she thinks the Israelis should have done after Prime Minister Ehud Barak, at Camp David, offered the Palestinians the best possible scenario for a Palestinian state, only to be immediately rejected by Arafat. What happened next was a resurgence of Palestinian violence against innocent Israeli citizens.

What does Wilentz think the Israelis should have done? Should they have just sat there while more and more Israelis were being killed? No. They immediately voted Sharon in, for his aggressive tactics, because the Israelis felt betrayed by a Palestinian leadership that pretended to want peace when all it really wanted was all of Israel. Barak’s “peace” only prompted Arafat to launch the current intifada.

Norma Rosmarin

Santa Monica

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Re “Palestinians Engender Their Own Suffering,” letters, Aug. 11: Sidney L. Strajcher writes about Palestinians “choos[ing] evil over good” when they mount bomb attacks against their Israeli oppressors, and Alan M. Goldberg writes about Palestinians being “guilty of harboring terrorists.” Terrorism is the only weapon the Palestinians have for opposing the murderous Israeli military occupation of their country, now in its 35th year.

If a foreign power were occupying Strajcher’s and Goldberg’s country--California--killing, jailing and torturing their families, demolishing their homes, uprooting their orchards and performing every other sort of barbarity, would these two readers sit back calmly and do nothing? One suspects not. If they have even a fraction of the patriotism, bravery and willingness to sacrifice themselves for their country that the Palestinians have, they would be out fighting.

The Palestinians are using the only weapon available to them, the suicide bomb.

Richard Herman

Costa Mesa