Militants Find Refuge Within Bethlehem

Re “Palestinians Dispirited in Birthplace of Christ,” Dec. 25: Will someone please translate the phrase “connect the dots” into Arabic? We read that “this biblical city has become a refuge for hunted Palestinian militants ... since Israeli troops pulled out over the summer.” A commander of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade drives around with his car trunk filled with M-16 rifles and boasts of his “excellent, excellent, excellent” relations with Palestinian troops who police the city.

Palestinians complain that, although Bethlehem is now under their own administration, they still “suffer” from Israeli checkpoints when they travel outside the city.

Palestinians should ask themselves how a “governing” administration can simultaneously permit militants freedom to stash weapons and openly drive around the streets with them and still be trusted by its neighbors -- or even its own citizens. What civil society wouldn’t seek to construct checkpoints and separation fences between itself and such untrustworthy and dangerous neighbors?

Gary L. Nudell

Sherman Oaks