The Wall Street Journal-20080214-Palestinian Civil Society And Respect- Keys to Peace

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Palestinian Civil Society And Respect: Keys to Peace

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Bassem Eid and Natan Sharansky's insightful op-ed commentary is right on the mark ("Bush's Mideast U-Turn," Feb. 11).

Messrs. Eid and Sharansky rightly point out "President Bush should spend his final year in office helping Palestinians begin the transformation of their society so that the vision he once spoke of so eloquently will have a chance to come to fruition some day."

Strengthening Palestinian society by promoting true democracy and human rights in their territories will bring about a real peace process. Giving billions of dollars to so-called moderate, weak Palestinian leaders will not.

Iran-backed Hamas created a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza strip by using its financial resources and its electricity to fire rockets on Israeli women and children instead of helping its population.

The world needs to know about this and support Israel's right to take measured actions to defend itself in the face of such terrorist attacks.

In my opinion, the current peace talks taking place while Israel is constantly attacked by Palestinian terrorists is a terrible mistake.

Josh Basson

Seattle

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As an American and as a Jew, I reject the notion that Palestinian sovereignty is "conditional." Palestine has precisely the same absolute right to exist that the U.S. and Israel have. Moreover, under international law as repeatedly affirmed (including by Security Council Resolution 242 of 1967 and by the International Court of Justice's 2004 ruling on Israel's "separation barrier"), the acquisition of territory by force is absolutely (not conditionally) prohibited, and Israel is as absolutely required to relinquish the territories occupied since 1967, as Iraq was absolutely required to relinquish Kuwait in 1990. True peace between Israelis and Palestinians requires each side to recognize the other as an equal partner with exactly the same rights and responsibilities. If the Palestinians must recognize the legitimacy of Israel without preconditions, the Israelis must recognize the legitimacy of Palestine without preconditions. Period. "It's the occupation, stupid!"

Adam Rose

Chicago