Comments made by some participants at the Nov. 2 forum on Israeli-Palestinian relations (letters, Nov. 8) sadly serve to highlight one of the basic obstacles to solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: acceptance of mutual responsibility.
The letter writers conveniently omit from their diatribes that the Oslo accords of 1993 and 1995 were agreements made by two parties. In an agreement made by two parties, whether in the business world or in the realm of international diplomacy, both signatories have responsibilities and obligations. While Israel was withdrawing from most of Gaza and from major cities on the West Bank in accordance with the agreements, the Palestinians repeatedly violated the obligations to which they committed. These obligations included pledges to combat terrorism against Israel, to prevent incitement to violence against Israel and to disarm Palestinian militias (like the Tanzim fighters currently shooting at Israeli soldiers and civilians).
The current violence is also a two-way street. Why have so many Palestinians been killed? The letter writers would have readers believe that cruel Israeli soldiers are randomly shooting innocent Palestinian children stone throwers who are legitimately exercising their right to fight the brutal Israeli military occupation of their people. Firstly, there is no more Israeli military occupation, Secondly, it has been widely documented in the U.S. media that Palestinian children are schooled in anti-Israel propaganda, starting in kindergarten, and that children have attended "summer camps" at which they are trained in the use of arms against Israelis. Senior Palestinian Authority officials have declared that the Palestinians have an edge this time around, because now they have guns.
Secondly, readers need to understand that Israeli soldiers are confronting mobs of angry Palestinians converging on their lightly manned check points (which are outside major Palestinian urban centers) with rocks, firebombs and guns. Given what happened to two Israeli reserve soldiers who were savagely lynched by a fanatic mob when their car made a wrong turn into Ramallah, it is quite understandable that Israeli soldiers cannot allow violent mobs to approach them. And, contrary to the irresponsible charge made by one letter writer, Israeli soldiers are officially prohibited from shooting at heads and upper backs.
Nor is this a war against the Israeli army alone. Israeli civilians are being attacked too. Whether it is the residents of Gilo who are being shot at by Palestinian snipers based in Beit Jala, or the Israeli man killed in his car on the Tel Aviv-Haifa highway when Palestinians threw a huge rock through his windshield, or the young Israeli woman who was shot to death on her way to work at the customs office at the Rafah border crossing, or the young woman and young man who were killed by an Islamic Jihad car-bomb in Jerusalem, these were all innocent Israeli civilians who were trying to live their lives; they were not engaged in violent actions against other people.
And finally, negotiated agreements between two parties imply that both parties will compromise. Why does Israel still maintain security control in parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip? Because Palestinian Authority Chairman Yassir Arafat refuses to compromise and negotiate an end to the conflict. He is seeking to force Israel into making far-reaching political concessions through the use of violence.
Previous Israeli negotiating positions included a refusal to recognize and negotiate with the PLO, opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state, the maintenance of full Israeli sovereignty in all parts of Jerusalem and no compromise on the right of return for Palestinian refugees. Today, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has offered the Palestinians creation of a Palestinian state in most of the West Bank and Gaza, shared sovereignty in parts of Jerusalem and compromises on the right of return.
Has Arafat compromised on anything? Oh yes. He has agreed not to destroy the state of Israel.
