Israel has a superb military that has proved four times that it can clobber the entire Arab world. In Gaza recently, the tally showed Palestinians deaths at 165, Israelis at four — guess that sums it up.
In spite of agreeing to a reasonable two-state solution based on 1967 borders, Israel has managed to delay and prolong negotiations with the pathetically weak Palestinians for 40 years — I said 40 years — during which time they have permanently moved more than 500,000 Israeli settlers into what would be the Palestinian homeland and, now, 3,000 more housing units. It's like a 250-pound sumo wrestler competing with a 10-year-old.
If Israel really wanted peace in the Mideast, we could have it in one week. Israel needs only to a) march out of the West Bank in exchange for the Palestinian and Arab world acceptance of Israeli borders and sovereignty, b) accept the fact that there will always be extremists calling for its destruction and, c) unless they can resolve this issue right now, make Jerusalem a free city for the benefit of Jews, Christians and Muslims. Then we and the rest of the world can have some peace. Bonus: one less war fought in the name of religion.
R.E. Griffith
Arlington Heights
