[23 Jun 03, N&O]  Sami A. Halaby

Your editorial "Mideast Maze" 6/21/03 while well intentioned is classic sophistry. You appear to approve the start of settlement removal at a cost of a "scuffle" between the Israeli army and the settlers, which is conveniently timed prior to Secretary Powell’s arrival "to save the roadmap." In fact, you fail to mention that the army was unable to prevent the torching of a Palestinian wheat field while trying to remove protesting settlers without using live ammunition, in contrast to what they do when Palestinian protest. If this was not distortion enough, you then blame the "hate-mongers," always Palestinians, which drive the cycle of violence. Of course our Israeli clients are blameless, they can destroy the Authorities capacity to cope and to continue with the targeted killings.

Most galling of all, you urge the administration not to give up on trying to get the two warring parties from feuding, as if they were both irresponsible, and as if it bears no responsibility for the conflict. Arguably, the instability can be blamed partly to the deliberate and uneven militerization of that region by our government. If there is a tendency to "hoist your hands and give it up" and "let them settle it themselves," as the editorial mentions, then perhaps a follow up could be to admonish the administration to stop flooding the region with war material and meddling in its affairs, by supporting right wing regimes. If you did that, at the very least you would sound a bit less patronizing.

 Sami A. Halaby