Who’s Blocking Peace in the Mideast?

Re “Committed to the Battle With Israel,” Dec. 28: Your photo essay claimed the Palestinian “militants,” “poised to do battle with Israel” and sworn to its destruction, were a roadblock to peace. No kidding, but the reality is far worse.

These youths have been brainwashed by Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Authority in schools since childhood, using Hitlerian propaganda, to hate Jews. As such, they are not mere militants; they are genocidal terrorists. And the problem is not merely them but also the larger Palestinian culture that has been sick and twisted for decades now by its neo-Nazism, starting with the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem’s support for Hitler in the 1930s. Until this ugly, deadly propaganda is confronted and eliminated by the Palestinian leadership, peace has no chance and Israel must fight and fence merely to survive.

Hyatt Seligman

Orange

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I certainly hope that in your photo essay, “Five Roadblocks to Peace,” you will eventually include a series on the Israel Defense Forces and the crimes against humanity they are guilty of committing. Once again The Times proves that it is grossly biased against the Palestinians when it comes to its coverage. Where are the photos of the Israeli bulldozer crushing peace activist Rachel Corrie, or the Palestinian schoolgirl recently shot to death by Israeli soldiers, or the Palestinian violinist who was forced to play his instrument by IDF soldiers at a checkpoint?

This is a country that sets itself above the international community by refusing to join the International Atomic Energy Agency or allow U.N. inspectors into its borders, yet wants to dictate policy to all Muslim countries in the region. I would call Israel a very big obstacle to peace.

John Zavesky

Riverside

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Peace will be found only when the victims of Arafat’s exploitation and a world that is blind to the abuses he perpetrated upon his people open their eyes to this time of new opportunity. Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has a chance to make not only history but hope for the Palestinian victims of the PLO.

Israel has held its moral standard far above what any other county under continuous assault of terrorism would do. However, until the Palestinians demand from their own government what they demand from Israel, we will never have peace. The Palestinian people must raise the standards of their leaders to give them a future. This rests in the hands of Abbas, not Israel.

Allyson Rowen Taylor

Valley Glen