Israel needs to conduct a powerful policy of regular education.
By JERUSALEM POST READERSLetters 370(photo credit: REUTERS/Handout )Educate themSir, – In “Palestinian teen kills IDF Pvt. Eden Atias in Afula stabbing attack” (November 14), Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz is quoted as saying that Palestinian Authority incitement was “also responsible” for the murder.It is not “also.” It is the major cause. This must be made known to the international community, and not just occasionally.Israel needs to conduct a powerful policy of regular education.There must be two elements: 1) Total withdrawal from any and all negotiations until incitement stops 2) Direct contact with all governments and international bodies and agencies, reminding them that their failure to object to the incitement makes them just as much responsible for the continuation of the conflict.ANATOLY VOLYNETS Belmont, CaliforniaWho’s next?Sir, – Regarding “PA: Israel killed Arafat the way Jews ‘killed Muhammad’” (November 14), for centuries Christians have been taught that the Jews killed Jesus. Now we’re supposed to have killed Muhammad. Who’s next? Buddha?GEOFFREY PREGERCaesareaFriendly adviceSir, – Lars Faaborg-Andersen, the EU ambassador-designate to Israel, identifies correctly many of the causes underlying the failure of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process despite the proposed two-state solution (“Delegitimizing Europe?” Comment & Features, November 14).He writes at length about the “difficulty in persuading ordinary Palestinians to support negotiations when they see Israeli settlements expanding year after year.” However, he does not reach down to the root of the matter or mention it anywhere in his list of shared EU-Israeli values. Yet it is there, clearly mentioned, in the Common Provisions of the Maastricht Treaty on European Union, TITLE 1, ARTICLE F/1, namely: “The Union shall respect the national identities of its Member States.”Israel is asking the Palestinian leadership to do the same – to acknowledge that within the officially recognized territorial boundaries of the State of Israel lies the legitimate cultural space of the Jewish people. Until this hurdle is crossed, there will be no solution to the conflict.LILY POLLIACK JerusalemSir, – Lars Faaborg-Andersen’s argument is based on the same patronizing premise that underlies the rhetoric we continually hear from the likes of US President Barack Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry and a host of other Western “friends” of Israel.The premise of “We know better than Israelis what is good for Israel” is embodied in Faaborg-Andersen’s statement that Europeans “sincerely believe that the vision of the State of Israel living in peace behind secure and recognized borders side by side with a democratic, viable and contiguous Palestinian state is the best possible guarantor of Israel’s security.”Thank you, Mr. EU Ambassador- designate to Israel, but that opinion has become Western code for trying to force Israel to make continuous concessions that are detrimental to its security, to a Palestinian Authority that is wholly undemocratic, uncompromising and supportive of terrorism against us.Nowhere is this coded attempt to force Israeli concessions more evident than in the Western embrace, as Faaborg-Andersen references, of the Arab Peace Initiative. It calls for more than 5,000,000 UNRWA-defined Palestinian “refugees” to be relocated to Israel; the Golan Heights to be returned to Syria; and Judea and Samaria to be made judenrein. We are told that if only we will agree, we will be secure and peace will blossom in the Middle East.What utter nonsense.It is for Israeli citizens in the democratic State of Israel to decide what is the best guarantor of Israel’s security, not the Obamas, Kerrys or Faaborg-Andersens of the world.GEORGE ROOKS AshdodSir, – It is amazing that, once again, an ambassador to Israel, this time the ambassador-designate from the EU, is so ignorant of the historical rights of this land, including so-called “settlements.”Ambassador Lars Faaborg-Andersen talks about the Palestinians as “partners for peace” while stating that settlement building contravenes international law and “physically complicates the implementation of a two-state solution....”Interestingly, the day before, Alan Baker and Dan Diker wrote an articulate argument why the “settlement issue” is a non-issue.They stated that there is no requirement in any of the signed agreements between Israel and the Palestinian Authority that either side “cease” or “freeze” settlement activity until the final disposition of the territories is negotiated between the two sides.It would do this ambassador- designate good to do his homework a little more diligently before writing falsehoods. The PA is not a partner for peace, does not respect human values and incites its people to violence, with rewards for doing so.Israel is the only democracy in this volatile region, and perhaps the EU should start realizing that we may be their only frontline for the terrorism that is on the rise.DEBRA FORMAN Modi’inThat Kerry thingSir, – Alan Baker and Dan Diker (“Kerry is mistaken on settlements,” Comment & Features, November 13) did a wonderful job of explaining why building housing for Jews in Area C of Judea and Samaria does not violate international law or the Oslo Accords. For the same reasons that the Palestinian Authority can build in Area A, Israel can build in Area C.Our prime minister needs to tell the Israeli people why he continually fails to explain this legal right to build housing in Judea and Samaria to the PA, UN, US and EU when they complain and issue threats.What is Bibi afraid of? Are Baker and Diker wrong? After years of failing to assert the reasons Israel can build legally, the alleged unlawfulness is becoming a reality.JOEL BURSTEIN JerusalemSir, – Alan J. Bauer’s “Secretary of Fate” (Comment & Features, November 13) was one of the best, most pertinent and relevant articles to be published in The Jerusalem Post.US Secretary of State John Kerry said he was here to forge a peace.How ironic, then, that he has already reaped what he sowed.BARRY LYNN EfratSir, – I would like to write the following through you: Dear Mr. Kerry: On the anniversary of the commemoration of Kristallnacht you had the audacity to shake your finger and threaten dire consequences unless the State of Israel agrees to comply with outrageous, predetermined, illegitimate and dangerous concessions in finalizing a peace accord with the Palestinians.We are in the post-Holocaust era. The days when we cowered, packed our bags, gathered at the unschlagplatz and dutifully boarded trains for resettlement in Auschwitz and such places have long passed. We have learned from history.We are a proud, legitimate, successful, sovereign state. We are not dependent on handouts from the EU or the US. We made the desert bloom. We developed hi-tech industries. We lead in medical and scientific discoveries.Most of all, we have the military might, intelligence and determination to defend ourselves.There has been a campaign of vilification against us in the Western and Middle Eastern world – anti-Semitism, racism, divestments, boycotts, all in an effort to intimidate, frighten and weaken us psychologically and monetarily. Mr. Kerry, we remember your former president, FDR, who said, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”Yes, we want peace. Yes, we wish to live in harmony with our neighbors but we will never again make concessions or accommodations to demands that we know full well can lead to our destruction.LILA LOWELL Jerusalem
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