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Peace wasn’t rewarded
A July 29 letter says, “If only Arabs and Hebrews had been able to work together to make the desert bloom, with peace and goodwill. …”
This not unreachable goal was tried. Remember when Anwar Sadat, the Egyptian leader (tired of seeing the Egyptian military used as bodies for radical elements and Mideast oil money), shook hands with Israeli Premier Menachem Begin? The whole sane world reacted with joy.
Unfortunately, those radical elements (still leading the rocket and guerrilla attacks on Israeli settlements) made Sadat pay the ultimate price for trying to come to a genuine peace with Israel: He was murdered by factions that not only deny cooperation with Israel, but contend that any Jewish presence there is not only unwanted, but somehow illegal in the first place.
Continuing this destructive and preposterous attitude only serves to keep the conflict going. Israel is expected not to respond to continued assaults and is vilified for causing so much pain and destruction.
All the while, innocent Christians see their homes destroyed.
Golda Meir’s words underline the attitude: “There will be peace in the Middle East when the (radical) Arabs begin to love their children more than they hate us.”
Milton Nelson
Rathdrum, Idaho