Another, I Guess, Unpublished Letter

This I sent to the NYTimes after reading this.

Steve Erlanger quotes a Birzeit University political scientist who affirms that the most fundamental of Hamas' beliefs is that "the entire land of Palestine belongs to Allah and is Muslim holy land" and it cannot be renounced nor abandoned ("Hamas Leader Vows to Pursue Stance on Israel", Jan. 28).

In 1922, the Zionist Movement agreed to yield its claims to portions of its historic homeland east of the Jordan River, previously recognized in international forums, to facilitate the decision to grant Great Britain a Mandate over what became known as Palestine. In 1937, it again willingly agreed to a partition plan that would whittle away portions west of the river. In 1947, the UN Partition Resolution was accepted.

At the end of all Israel's wars, it withdrew from territory to achieve peace as it did even with Jordan in 1994 and with the Oslo Accords.

Israel, and its pre-state institutions, has always been the one to compromise on territory but never did it achieve or receive peace. Never were these withdrawals backed up by firm longstanding international commitments in the face of an eighty-year long Arab campaign of terror, from the pre-state riots in Jerusalem, Jaffa and
Hebron until today's Fatah, Islamic Jihad and Hamas suicide bombers.

We are now at the point when we have to admit the failure of these policies. Peace can be exchanged only for peace, never for territory.