AJC NYTimes Letter on Israel

The Many Victims in the Middle East July 27, 2006 To the Editor: Re “Spanish Lessons for Israel” (column, July 23): While urging Israel “to reach a final peace agreement, involving the establishment of a Palestinian state,” Nicholas D. Kristof doesn’t address the absence of a partner with whom to achieve an accord. From the United Nations partition plan adopted in 1947, which called for Jewish and Arab states, through the Barak-Clinton effort of 2000-1, to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s call for a two-state settlement, the Israeli record of seeking peace has been clear. But every overture has been rebuffed by Palestinian leaders. Instead of following the examples of President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and King Hussein of Jordan, who achieved enduring peace agreements with Israel, Palestinian leaders have balked at settling the conflict in a way that addresses the minimum conditions of both sides. Now with Hamas in power in the West Bank and Gaza, Hezbollah flexing its muscles in Lebanon, and Iran and Syria both financing and arming these two terrorist groups, Israel faces an array of forces that openly call for its destruction — hardly a formula for achieving the peace and coexistence that Israel has sought since its creation. David A. Harris Executive Director American Jewish Committee New York, July 24, 2006

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