Israel's rejected offers
From Michael Grenfell Sir: It is perhaps a bit unfair to single out Peter Oborne, because he is just one of many commentators to make the same error. He writes (Politics, 6 November) of the desirability of President Bush putting 'renewed pressure on Israel to press forward for a settlement with Palestine' — as though it was the Israelis who resisted reaching a settlement.
The truth is the very opposite. Whenever an Arab leader has shown a desire to negotiate peace, Israel has seized the opportunity. It has also been willing to give up land as the price for securing peace. When Anwar Sadat offered Israel peace, Israel gave up the territory it had conquered from Egypt, the Sinai. When Yasser Arafat finally agreed to recognise Israel and talk peace with it, Israel signed up to ceding land to the Palestinians as the price for peace. In 2000 at Camp David, Israel agreed to give up to the Palestinians the West Bank and Gaza — in other words, to hand over the entire occupied territories — and even to share sovereignty in Jerusalem, The Palestinians rejected this, to the astonishment of President Clinton, who understood that Israel was offering them everything the international community had demanded. The next step was where we are now: instead of agreeing to a peace settlement, Palestinian leaders (not just Hamas, but organisations controlled by Arafat's Fatah) unleashed a campaign of bombings intended to murder and maim Israeli civilians.
Isn't it about time the international community put pressure on the Palestinian leaders to reach a settlement with Israel?
Michael Grenfell
Edgware, Middlesex
Michael Grenfell
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