[2003/06/23 , N&O > Hassan Safvi

Your Editorial "Mideast Maze" of June 21, though generally well balanced, did propagate a couple of falsehoods about the Middle East Issue that are deceptive and disingenuous. You paint Sharon as a man "making good on his promise to follow the Bush Administration’s "Road Map to Peace"" and the Palestinians as a bunch of militant hatemongers. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sharon, in order to agree to get on board the Road Map had not one or two but fourteen objections to the plan, whereas the Palestinians had none. Some of these objections will be what will break the proverbial camel’s back.

You further go on to say that one of the biggest challenges faced by Sec of State Powell in his quest for peace will be to "stop the bloody pattern of a terrorist attack followed by deadly retribution’. The implication being that the Palestinians are terrorists killing innocent Israelis which is the real impediment to peace. The facts on the ground belie that picture. The violence that the Israelis inflict on the Palestinians in the form of home demolitions, road blocks, the apartheid wall and the stealing of Palestinian land and water is just as, if not more, vicious as a terrorist killing.

A more desirable conclusion for your editorial would have been a recommendation to cease all aid to Israel until a resolution is reached where the rest of us are not held hostage to Israeli obduracy. It is American Military Aid that fuels the killings in the region and encourages intransigence on the part of Israel. Without that money Israel would find the Middle East Road Map a much more attractive option. The Bush Administration has a lot more leverage to diffuse the issue than it gives itself credit for.

Hassan Safvi