Terrorism in Mideast

One does not have to be a Jew to be interested in the survival of Israel. I deplore the tendency of the left, as epitomized by David Grossman’s March 24 column, to blame the victim for not being sufficiently accommodating to the terrorist.

There is a reason why the Likud Party is in power in Israel. Labor made concession after concession only to see more attacks on innocents. Yasser Arafat, in Arab newspapers, makes no concession to Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu gets no credit for following the Oslo accords in reducing the Israeli army presence in Palestinian areas of the West Bank.

The reason that East Jerusalem is the Arab sector is that all Jews were expelled in 1948. Israel is not going to divide Jerusalem ever again; I agree with that decision.

Maybe if it were a private company building those apartments on Har Homa the terrorists would have less excuse. The points that Grossman, in his uncritical longing for the Labor Party to govern, and the Clinton administration have forgotten are that terrorists need no excuse and that Israel, a democracy, elected Netanyahu to try to do better than Labor had been doing. They run the risk of weakening the ability of Israel to defend itself from an entity that has not stopped the war.

MICHAEL T. KENNEDY

Mission Viejo

* Amy Wilentz’s claim that the only communication Hamas believes in concerns death and destruction (Opinion, March 23) is wrong. The formula of “land for peace,” on which the peace process is founded, clearly means that Israel can have peace for as long as it returns occupied territory to its rightful owners. Now that Israel is instead confiscating and building on more Arab land, fighting occupation in every possible way becomes the only alternative left to achieve real peace.

Hamas’ logic is no different from America’s logic in Vietnam, Desert Storm or Hiroshima. Let us not forget that the concept of collateral damage is Western-made.

SALAH EZZ

Cairo

* The world watches with wonder as Israel has, seemingly on purpose, threatened the peace process in the Middle East. I believe its actions are calculated to bring about an intended result. The result of peace is the establishment of the Palestinian state and thus the end of the Israelis’ constant confiscation of Palestinian-claimed land.

Israelis need to continue to confiscate Palestinian land because they are anticipating a huge population problem brought on by an ambitious immigration policy. For Israel, the benefits of delaying the peace process far outweigh the benefits of peace.

ROBERT DALY

San Pedro

* If the Israeli government wants peace, then it should adhere to the U.N. resolutions. If the Israeli people want peace, then they should have voted for the Labor Party, not the Likud Party.

If Israel wants peace, it should withdraw from all occupied Arab lands. And if the world wants peace, it should make Israel withdraw, not tomorrow but right now.

AMEEN ABDULLAH

Yucca Valley

* I was both dismayed and angry to read the commentary by Daoud Kuttab (March 19). Building at Har Homa is consistent with the Oslo accords. Neither the declaration of principles nor the interim agreement places any restrictions on Israel concerning Jerusalem. The government plans to build approximately 20,000 new housing units for Jews and approximately 8,500 for Arabs, which ratio is comparable to the population. They also plan to build infrastructure for both communities. The land is vacant.

In Jerusalem, the Arab growth rate surpasses that of Jews. Since 1967, Jerusalem’s Jewish population has increased by 105%, while its Arab population has increased by 156%. Jerusalem is less Jewish today than it was in 1967.

Israel’s commitment to a united Jerusalem as its capital is absolute. Since 1967, Israel has successfully ensured that a united Jerusalem is fully open and available to members of all religions. A postponement of the Har Homa project would have the adverse effect of inflating Arab expectations of Israeli willingness to compromise those principles.

NETTIE BECKER, Chair

Israel Commission, Jewish

Community Relations Committee

Jewish Federation Council, L.A.