Letter to America

Here's a letter by a chap I know published in USA Today.

I have read many articles in U.S. media about the future of the Middle East. None of them seems to understand that the region's problems cannot be solved by money; only by the pursuit of justice through the law.

Sen. Bill Frist starts his commentary with the ludicrous claim that Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip is "courageous." Since when does it require "courage" to finally comply with the law after nearly 40 years of abuse and defiance?

Palestinians' problems are not even touched by the largely insignificant withdrawal from Gaza. There are only about 8,000 would-be colonists in Gaza, whereas in the occupied Palestinian territories altogether there are more than 400,000; a number that is growing daily as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon continues his theft of Palestinian land and the United States remains in impotent silence.

It is a distortion of reality to claim that the "international community has provided the Palestinians with a great deal of money over the years, only to see it frittered away through fraud and waste." It hasn't been frittered away. In my view, it has been destroyed by Israeli military action.

The article follows slavishly the claim that "ending terrorism is the prerequisite for peace in the region." The ignorance that such a claim reveals is frightening. The terrorism is a final reaction to 50 years of Israel's racist defiance of international law over refugees, settlements and occupation.

Only the inept and the inadequate seek to cure symptoms.

It is justice and the law that are the real prerequisites.

Christopher Leadbeater

Kent, England

I'm surprised they published it and it goes to show the value of writing to the press even when you think they're a dead loss.