LETTERS The price of peace
Sir: Brian Hanrahan's argument about Palestinian terrorism and the peace process could be described as 'bombed if you do, bombed if you don't' (`The inevitable explosion', 9 August).
Criticism of Mr Netanyahu's tough approach to security issues would be more convincing if an emollient policy had not already been tried by Mr Netanyahu's prede- cessors. Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres were rather nice to Mr Arafat. They rescued him from political oblivion, made him their `partner for peace', treated him with solemn respect, glossed over his manifest shortcom- ings, trudged the world raising funds for his Palestinian Authority and handed him power, territory, constituents and a well-armed police force of, by now, more than 40,000 men (the largest per capita in the world). It was an open secret that the Palestini- ans were on their way to statehood, with the tacit blessing of the Israeli government. The result was terror and suicide bombings on a scale never before seen in Israel.
Now Mr Netanyahu's less forgiving poli- cies are being blamed for the return of the bombers. Mr Hanrahan even suggests that the Palestinian leader might decide to sit it out and wait for a new Israeli prime minister who will, perhaps, be more tolerant of his failure to tackle political violence and more concessionary towards Palestinian demands. Mr Arafat would misjudge Israeli opinion if he were to choose that course. Israelis are far less trusting of him now than they were even at the beginning of this process. They simply do not buy the adage that 'terrorism is the price of peace'. They see no reason to expect that if Mr Arafat will not deliver on security now he will do so later, once he has been handed even more territory, more strategic assets, more power. This is the reality, whoever is the prime minister of Israel. Western politicians and commentators who would let Mr Arafat off the security hook do no service to Palestini- ans or Israelis.
Helen Davis
Britain Israel Public Affairs Centre, 30 Gordon Street, London WC1
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