Israeli civilians being attacked again!

It's horrible that new Palestinian missile attacks against the Israeli town of Sderot are being ignored. Here's one video about the attacks:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtME--96C7c&eurl=

Sderot is a small working-class town in the southern part of Israel, far from any military bases. Since Israel withdrew from Gaza a year and a half ago there have been over 800 missiles fired at Sderot NOT INCLUDING DURING THE LEBANON WAR. 800 missiles! And yet the world ignores this and pretends that the Palestinians want peace.

Other coverage of attacks on Sderot include:

Kids discussing a missile that hit their school:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhzewaUU4nM

A movie showing missiles that hit Sderot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1299WiXld4

Another movie about the impact of missiles on Sderot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLjFel4ISm8&NR

60 MINUTES special report, in response to Holocaust denials

Just received this, about a 60 MINUTES special this Sunday:

Good afternoon. I wanted to give you a heads-up on a storythat will be running this Sunday, Dec. 17 (7PM ET/PT on CBS)on "60 MINUTES" about a long-secret German archive thathouses a treasure trove of information on 17.5 millionvictims of the Holocaust. The archive, located in the Germantown of Bad Arolsen, is massive (there are 16 miles ofhelving containing 50 million pages of documents) and untilrecently, was off-limits to the public. But after the Germangovernment agreed earlier this year to open the archives,CBS News' Scott Pelley traveled there with three Jewishsurvivors who were able to see their own Holocaust records.It's an incredibly moving piece, all the more poigant in thewake of this week's meeting of Holocaust deniers in Iran.We're trying to get word out about the story to pople whohave a special interest in this subject. So we were hopingyou'd consider sending out something to your listserveand/or posting something on your website. Furtherinformation will also be available on our website(http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1998/07/08/60minutes/main13502.shtml02.shtml), which you're welcome to link to from yours.

Israelis help Palestinian kids, Palestinians refuse to recognize Israel

The confluence of these two articles says it all. Israel will keep trying for peaceful co-existance, but it will never work if the Palestinians don't try.


http://members.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L29506164.htm
http://www.kuwaittimes.net/regional.asp?dismode=article&artid=408626469
Photos: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/061206/photos_lf/2006_12_06t102910_376x450_us_israel_palestinians_hearts

Israeli Surgeons Repair Young Palestinian Hearts
- Allyn Fisher-Ilan (Reuters/Malaysia Star)

Hala Ketnani, a 10-month-old girl from Gaza, sleeps
beneath an oxygen hood in an Israeli intensive care unit as
she recovers from heart surgery.
Under the private Israeli program "Save a Child's
Heart," doctors at Wolfson Hospital near Tel Aviv repair
congenital heart defects for children like Ketnani from the
Palestinian territories, Iraq, Jordan, and Africa.
More than 1,000 children, about half from Gaza and the
West Bank, have been helped so far.
Shlomo Dror, an Israeli Defense Ministry spokesman, said
about 1,000 Palestinians per month receive medical treatment
in Israel, up from 600 in recent years.


Palestinian Prime Minister Vows Not to Recognize Israel
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-12-08-palestinian-pm_x.htm?POE=NEWISVA
USA Today

Making his first visit abroad since the militant group took power in March, Haniyeh blasted U.S. demands that Hamas recognize Israel as a basis for renewed peace talks and before international aid to the Palestinians resumes.

The U.S. "and Zionists ... want us to recognize the usurpation of the Palestinian lands and stop jihad and resistance and accept the agreements reached with the Zionist enemies in the past," Haniyeh told worshippers at Tehran University.

The United States is pressing the Palestinian government to not only recognize Israel, but to renounce violence and form a national unity government with the moderate Fatah party.

"I'm insisting from this podium that these issues won't materialize. We will never recognize the usurper Zionist government and will continue our jihad-like movement until the liberation of Jerusalem," he said.

Ahmed Abdel Rahman, an adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of the Fatah party, said if Hamas wants to be part of a national unity government, it will need to abide by agreements the PLO has signed in the past. This would imply recognition of Israel.

"I can't criticize him (Haniyeh) when he is talking in the name of Hamas. But if he is speaking as prime minister, he should abide by the national agenda," Abdel Rahman said.

Since Hamas took power in March, direct international aid to the Palestinian government has been largely cut off. Iran has provided the government with $120 million this year, boosting its influence among Palestinians.

Haniyeh arrived in the Iranian capital Thursday for four days of talks with Iranian leaders including hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map."

...

Israel offers concessions yet again in return for peace

Again, we have a message that will be forgotten, so I want to make it clear here.

Israel's Prime Minister is saying, like other PM's before him back to Barak, that everything needed to create a Palestinian state will be done if the Palestinians truly choose peace.

But here's my prediction: They'll choose terror, Israel will have to do something to protect our citizens, then the world will deny that Israel offerred peace.

So here's the article, in CNN of all places.

Israel offers peace concessions to Palestinians


POSTED: 8:05 a.m. EST, November 27, 2006

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert offered wide-ranging concessions if the Palestinians turn away from violence, saying Monday that they would be able to achieve an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza through real peace talks with Israel.

In what was billed in advance as a major policy speech, Olmert tried to entice the Palestinians to return to long-stalled peace talks with promises of an immediate improvement in their lives: promising to reduce checkpoints, release frozen funds and free prisoners in exchange for a serious Palestinian push for peace.

"I hold out my hand in peace to our Palestinian neighbors in the hope that it won't be returned empty," Olmert said.

Directly addressing the Palestinians in some of his most conciliatory remarks since winning election in March, Olmert described Israel as willing to make far-reaching concessions if the Palestinians choose peace.

"We, the state of Israel, will agree to the evacuation of many territories and the settlements that we built there. This is extremely difficult for us, like the splitting of the Red Sea. We will do it for real peace," he said.

He said that if the Palestinians establish a new government committed to carrying out the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan and securing the release of a captured Israeli soldier, then he would call for an immediate meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas "to have a real, open, honest, serious dialogue between us."

Olmert said that Israel planned to release "many Palestinian prisoners," including those serving long sentences, as a trust-building measure after Palestinian militants freed the captured soldier alive and healthy.

Israel also would ease the checkpoints across the West Bank, improve border terminals in Gaza, release the frozen money to the Palestinians and help develop a plan to rehabilitate their crippled economy, he said.

In exchange, Olmert said Palestinians would have to renounce violence, recognize Israel's right to live in peace and security and give up their demands to allow refugees from the 1948 war to return to their homes in what is now Israel.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the Palestinians were ready to negotiate a final peace deal.
"I believe Mr. Olmert knows he has a partner, and that is President Abbas. He knows that to achieve peace and security for all, we need to shoot for the end game," Erekat said.
As a first step, Erekat said, the two sides need to sustain a fragile new cease-fire along the Israel-Gaza border and also extend it to the West Bank.
"That will open the key to a political horizon," he said.
Olmert's offer came a day after the two sides implemented the cease-fire in Gaza, ending five months of widespread violence there and raising hopes that the agreement would lead to new peace efforts. It also raised the diplomatic stakes ahead of a visit to the region by President Bush. (Watch smoke trails from rocket attacks that threatened the cease-fire )
Relations between Israel and the Palestinians, already low after more than five years of fighting, further plummeted in January when the militant Hamas group won Palestinian parliamentary elections.
Israel cut off ties with the Hamas-led Cabinet and froze the transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars to the Palestinian government in an effort to pressure Hamas to recognize Israel and renounce violence.
Tensions exploded in June when Hamas-linked militants captured Cpl. Gilad Shalit in a cross-border raid, sparking a wide Israeli offensive in Gaza that killed more than 300 Palestinians, scores of them civilians. The violence also killed five Israelis.
Despite the offensive, Palestinian militants had insisted they would not release Shalit unless Israel freed hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Israel publicly rejected the demand, leaving the two sides in a violent stalemate.
But in recent days, there have been signs of progress, particularly Olmert and Abbas agreeing to the cease-fire in Gaza that took effect Sunday morning, stirring hopes that further agreements could follow.
"The uncompromising extremism of your terror organizations ... haven't brought you closer to achieving the goal that I'm convinced many of you share -- to establish a Palestinian state," Olmert said in his speech at a ceremony commemorating the death of Israel's first prime minister, David Ben Gurion.
"We cannot change the past and we will not be able to bring back the victims on both sides of the borders," he said. "All that we have in our hands to do today is to stop additional tragedies."
Olmert said that Palestinians stood at a "historic crossroads" and could choose to continue on the path of violence or peace.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Truce broken by Palestinians before it started

This is the start of another cycle: Israel and Palestinians agree on peace, the Palestinians break the deal, Israel is forced to respond, and the world acts as if Israel broke the peace and forget the Palestinian actions.





So let's not forget the news as reported after the first day of attempted truce:

13,000 Palestinian security forces maintain cease-fire

POSTED: 1:19 p.m. EST, November 26, 2006



Story Highlights


• 13,000 Palestinian security forces deployed to enforce cease-fire


• Palestinian groups to discuss extending truce to West Bank, Israeli PM says


• Rockets hit Israel after deal takes effect, Israeli officials say


• Hamas spokesman says all Palestinian factions agree to cease-fire



JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday ordered 13,000 security forces to deploy near the border to enforce a cease-fire agreement with Israel, sources in Abbas' office told CNN.



The move came hours after Palestinian militants in Gaza apparently launched nearly a dozen rockets toward Israel.



Abbas also called on the Palestinian factions who previously negotiated the cease-fire to meet again to ensure the agreement holds, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told reporters Sunday.



The Israeli leader said his country will not take immediate action in the wake of the violations.
"Israel is a powerful country that can allow itself to show restraint and to give the cease-fire a chance to be fully implemented," Olmert said. (Watch what threatens fragile truce )



Hamas' militant wing and the Islamic Jihad militant group claimed responsibility for firing several rockets into Israel after the cease-fire took effect at 6 a.m. (11 p.m. ET Sunday).



In its leaflet, Islamic Jihad said it will "hold our right for resistance as long as Israel continues its aggression."



According to the Israel Defense Forces, only two of the 11 rockets fired from Gaza after 6 a.m. landed inside Israel. Both landed in open fields and did not cause any casualties or damage.
Militants also fired several rockets just before the cease-fire took effect, according to IDF. No one was injured, but a house in Sderot was damaged. (Watch Israelis survey rocket damage )
Hamas government spokesman Ghazi Hamad insisted that all Palestinian factions are "100 percent" behind the cease-fire.



"All of them now, without exception, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad and Fatah and other factions, they decided to respect the agreement and also to be committed 100 percent to this agreement," Hamad told CNN.



Hamad denied reports that Palestinian militants fired rockets into Israel after cease-fire took effect.



"Hamas fired missiles before 6 o'clock, which is the time of the beginning of the cease-fire and they have released a statement [at] 7 o'clock," he said.



"We have contact with all factions now, especially from the prime minister [Ismail Haniyeh], and he asked to stop firing missiles from Gaza."



In addition to talking about implementation of the Gaza cease-fire, the Palestinian factions will discuss expanding the truce to the West Bank, Olmert said.



He said he hopes the meeting will lead to "a serious, real, honest and direct negotiation between myself and [Abbas] so we could make a progress towards a full settlement between Israel and the Palestinians."



Palestinian factions offered the cease-fire proposal to Israel on Saturday, agreeing to stop firing rockets into Israel.



In exchange, Israel agreed to withdraw troops from Gaza and cease military operations, including targeted airstrikes on militants.



Israel Defense Minister Amir Peretz convened a scheduled security meeting to discuss the cease-fire violation earlier in the day. During the meeting Peretz learned of the rocket launches out of Gaza and said every attempt to fire rockets on Israel will be considered a violation of the cease-fire and will be dealt with in "a severe manner," a ministry statement said.



CNN's Avivit Dalgoshen contributed to this report.

NY Times letter 2006 Sep 23: Whose Burden in the Mideast?

Whose Burden in the Mideast?

To the Editor:

Re “A Real Test for the Palestinians’’ (editorial, Sept. 18):

The Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in 2000, operating under the assumption that Israel will concede one-sidedly and unendingly under the threat of terror, resulted not in peace but in an intifada.

President Bush has been clear that he supports peace talks, but only when terror is off the table and all are operating in the true search for peaceful coexistence.

Hamas’s refusal to renounce terror is consistent with its taking control of Gaza a year ago and using it only as a launching pad for missiles.

It must renounce terror and show commitment to peaceful coexistence before negotiations can hope to be successful.

Bruce Dov Krulwich

Beit Shemesh, Israel, Sept. 18, 2006

NYT letter (not mine): Who Is to Blame for Gazans’ Plight?

The letter below isn't mine, but it's so on the mark that I wanted to post it here:

Who Is to Blame for Gazans’ Plight? (3 Letters)
Published: September 15, 2006

To the Editor:
Re “As Parents Go Unpaid, Gaza Children Go Hungry” (front page, Sept. 14):

While I feel sympathy for the children who suffer needlessly in Gaza, their parents’ generation needs to understand that actions have consequences.

If the electorate wants a government run by a party that is sworn to destroy Israel (the formative Palestinian state’s major source of financing), it shouldn’t be surprised when Israel cuts off financing in response.

One of the most powerful features of a democracy is that the electorate can get what it wants. One of the most dangerous features of a democracy is that the electorate gets what it asks for, whether or not it’s what it wants or even deserves.

Jeremy M. Posner

What would you do?

Sometimes a cartoon can say something better than words.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub_6uJxlDcg

Bottom line: If the Palestinians don't stop terror, Israel has no choice but to repsond.

Spread the link around!

Who made the West Bank what it is?

It's important for everyone to remember who made the West Bank what it is. Who put the Palestinians into refugee camps? Who decided not to create a Palestinian state? Who could have built up a modern economy and didn't?

The answer is simple: Jordan. And in Gaza it was Egypt. They're the ones who controled this area from 1948 to 1967. They put the refugees into refugee camps instead of building towns and cities. They kept them dirt poor instead of building an economy.

And most of all, they kept the territory without making a Palestinian state.

Everything that the Palestinians claim to want now, a state on the West Bank with Jerusalem as its capital, could have been created by Jordan. And they didn't do it.

Israel spent those years building the country from nothing to a high-tech and agricultural powerhouse. Israel spent the early year building housing and towns for Jewish refugees from Arab countries. Israel spent those years doing all the things that Jordan could have done in the West Bank (or Egypt in Gaza).

So when you see horrible pictures from the West Bank, blame Jordan. Blame the Arabs themselves. And think about why they're not doing anything about it to this day.

Remember 9/11, remember who we're dealing with

As 9/11 approaches, we need to remember that it wasn't a lone event, it was part of a global trend in Arab terror. This is the same trend that Israel is fighting to this day.

The video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vOJCQr1Now shows Palestinains celebrating when the World Trade Center fell. As 9/11 approaches, watch it, remember it, and remember who it is that we're dealing with here.

If you're on Hezbollah's side, you're on the side of the celebrators in this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vOJCQr1Now

Just imagine if the Lebanon war hadn't been needed...

Every day there's talk on CNN and in the American media blaming Israel for devastation in Lebanon, anger in the Arab world, troups in Lebanon and Gaza, and all the Arab world's troubles. I think that we need to keep a few things in mind, and be sure to remind others of these few simple facts:

1. If, after Israel withdrew from Lebanon and Gaza, the Arabs had built peaceful lives there, Israel would have stayed out, and in fact would probably have withdrew from more territory (legislation currently on hold because of Lebanon).

2. If Hamas hadn't kidnapped soldiers from Gaza, and Hezbollah hadn't kidnapped soldiers from Lebanon, and if both hadn't fired almost a thousand missiles into Israeli towns with no Israeli response, there would have been no war.

3. If, the day after the war started, Hamas and Hezbollah had said "OK, it's not worth a war, here are your soldiers back, we'll stop firing missiles, just don't attack us" then the war would not have happened.

4. If, a week or so into the war when it was clear that their infrastructure was being hurt, they had said "OK, we'll give you back the soldiers and stop firing missiles," most of the damage would not have been done.

5. If, right now, Hamas would disavow terror and accept co-existance with Israel, money would flow into the Palestinian Autonomy from Israel, the US, and the World Bank.

Of course, once we're thinking along these lines:

6. If the Arabs had accepted the 1947 UN partition plan, there would be no problems today

7. If Jordan and Egypt had built Palestinian countries in the West Bank and Gaza, instead of keeping the Palestinians in refugee camps for 19 years, the Palestinians might have a normal society today.

The world cannot afford to forget that terrorists are responsible for the consequences of terror.

The illogic of the "disparity" issue in the Lebanon war

To make a point, imagine the following scene: A thousand Arab terrorists carrying grenades run towards a crowded Israeli shopping center. Or maybe towards Times Square. A thousand Israeli (or New York) policemen are standing near the mall with their sidearms.

Do we all agree that each policeman's job would be to take out their gun and shoot one of the terrorists? That would be their job, right? To protect the citizens in the mall against the terrorists.

Now, if this situation happened, and the policemen did their job and protected the citizens by shooting the terrorists, there would be a thousand terrorists dead and no citizens or policemen dead. Any dead citizens or policemen is a sign of a policeman that didn't do his job well enough.

Would this disparity be unfair? Would it show aggressive behavior by the policemen? NO! It would show policemen doing their job in a defensive situation.

THIS WAS THE SITUATION IN THE LEBANON WAR.

Israel withdrew from Lebanon and from Gaza, and both were used to fire missiles at Israeli cities. After giving world powers time to stop it, it was the Israeli army's job to stop the missiles. The only question now is whether they did a good enough job.

Disparities in the counts of dead and wounded are no sign of problems on Israel's part, it's a sign of terrorists needing to be stopped. I hope that Americans and Europeans reading this never have to learn this first hand.

The settler issue is a non-issue, Israeli Arabs are the proof

Everyone makes a big deal about Israeli settlers. But this is a complete non-issue.

About 15% of Israel's population is Arabs, most living in Arab towns spread throughout Israel. (Note that I'm talking about Arab citizens in mainstream Israel, not in the West Bank or Gaza.) All have the right to vote, and there are several Arab members of Israeli Parliament, all elected through due process.

Why can't a Palestinian state be started in the West Bank, with Jewish settlements remaining in place similar to Arab towns in Israel? These Jews might choose to leave, or might choose to stay and live within the newly formed Palestinian state as a minority. If Arabs can stay and live in Israel, why can't Jews stay in settlements in the West Bank?

Now, we all know that this will never happen, because the Palestinians will kill them all. But let's admit reality: there's no rational difference between Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Arab towns in mainstream Israel, and Jewish settlers would not receive the same rights in a Palestinian state that Israeli Arabs receive in Israel. This is proven by the fact that the Palestinians insist that Jewish settlements be removed.

Bottom line, this is a theoretical argument, because Israel will forcably move settlers if it would help bring peace, as we did in Gaza. But it's important to realize that the settlers aren't the issue preventing a Palestinian state, the problem is the lack of Palestinian desire to live with a two-state solution, and a lack of Palestinian desire to really build a country.

Anti-Israel anti-semitism

(This is my first blog-only message after posting all my letters to the editor...)

I had an interesting discussion on an on-line forum recently.

I made the statement that Israel wants paece and would do anything for peace, including withdrawing from territory and forcing citizens to move (as we did in Gaza), if the Palestinians would agree to stop terror and accept a two-state reality.

I expected argument. But I didn't expect what I saw.

The primary responses that I received were "oh, so you think you're chosen!" and "what do you expect when you believe you deserve the land because of the Bible?"

I've always heard that anti-Israel sentiment was driven by anti-semitism, but having grown up very mainstreamed in America, I never really believed it. But it's true. When people feel like arguing with Israel, and nothing rational comes to mind, what comes out is pure anti-semitism.

Maybe they don't even realize it. When I pointed it out, they ignored it. But that's what they had written.

So all that we Israel supporters can do it keep making our rational points. Anti-semetic vindictive just means that they have no rational response. And we can hope that some non-anti-semites are reading or listening.

Israel will keep praying for peace, hopefully one day the world will understand.

LA Times letter 2006 August 1: Pointing fingers in the Mideast conflict

Pointing fingers in the Mideast conflict

Re "Israel to Halt Bombing for 48 Hours," July 31

Looking at history, this is yet another repeat of the withdrawal from Lebanon six years ago and the withdrawal from Gaza a year ago. Both led directly to terror because they were not met on the Arab side with a commitment to end terror.

How many more withdrawals does Israel have to carry out before the world realizes that the only way to bring peace is a two-sided commitment to peace? How many flare-ups does the world need to see before we admit the real problem, the lack of commitment to peace on the part of the Arab countries?

BRUCE DOV KRULWICH
Beit Shemesh, Israel

Washington Post letter 2006 August 1: Lebanon and Israel: Is Diplomacy Worth It?

Lebanon and Israel: Is Diplomacy Worth It?

I'm glad that Warren Christopher ["A Time to Act," op-ed, July 28] believes that previous U.S. diplomatic interventions in the Middle East were successful. I grew up in Washington, and I understand that from his Washington perspective, they probably looked successful. But from Israel, where terrorism has never stopped since Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon and Gaza, all previous examples are of failure.

Israel is learning from history. History shows that leaving terrorist infrastructure intact leads to more terrorism in a few years. Every time we fail to learn from that history, we doom ourselves to repeat it. If the Western world continues to put the pressure where it belongs, on Arab terrorists and supporters of terrorism, maybe we can break the historical cycle and have true peace.

BRUCE DOV KRULWICH
Beit Shemesh, Israel

Time magazine Europe letter 2006 August 15: The war that never ends

The war that never ends

Your article "Hate thy neighbor" did an excellent job of summarizing the situation in the Middle East, but the statement that "Bush has showed no interest in [negotiating], and Washington is handicapped by its unwillingness to negotiate with four of the key players" misses the point.

The only way to establish peace in the region is to eliminate terrorism, both by destroying terrorist infrastructure and by ensuring that terrorism is never rewarded. Stopping the violence and forcing negotiations before that is accomplished will put us in the same situation a few years down the road. Preventing Israel from destroying terrorists is not in the interest of peace.

Bruce Dov Krulwich
Beit Shemesh, Israel

Boston Globe letter 2006 July 23: Violence escalates in Middle East

Violence escalates in Middle East

HOW ON earth can anyone think to pressure Israel to stop attacks before destroying terrorist infrastructure?

Withdraw from Lebanon? We did that six years ago, and terrorism followed. Withdraw from Gaza? We did that a year ago, and terrorism followed. Offer complete withdrawal from Palestinian areas of the West Bank? We did that eight years ago, and terrorism followed.

The simple historical reality is that Israel's nice actions are always interpreted as weakness by Arab neighbors, and terrorism follows. Until terrorist infrastructure is destroyed, withdrawing from Lebanon will doom Israel to repeat a history of terror against its citizens.

BRUCE DOV KRULWICH
Beit Shemesh, Israel

NY Times letter 2006 June 19: On the Middle East, Words Do Battle, Too

On the Middle East, Words Do Battle, Too

To the Editor,

Re Diplomacy's Turn in Lebanon (July 18, 2006):

Your statement that many lives depend on a quick halt to the fighting is only true is a significant amount of terrorist arms and infrastructure is wiped out first. Doing so is not only in Israel's interests, but the interests of the whole free world. Otherwise, in a short while we'll be back to square one. Peace will not come from ignoring or turning a blind eye to terror.

Bruce Dov Krulwich
Beit Shemesh, Israel

NY Times letter 2006 May 16: Money to Terrorists

Money to Terrorists

To the Editor:

Re ''Cold, Hard Cash,'' by Geoff D. Porter (Op-Ed, May 11):

I find it mind-boggling that anyone can continue to think that supporting terrorists will lead to a moderation of terror. The Palestinians were offered a state by Israel's prime minister, Ehud Barak; the answer was terror. Israel has pulled out of Gaza, and the response has been more than 500 Qassam rockets fired into Israel. The Palestinians were given weapons to control terror; those weapons were used in terrorist acts.

I beg the world, for the sake of the lives of my children and all children living in Israel, please do not revert to giving money to terrorists.

Bruce Dov Krulwich
Beit Shemesh, Israel, May 11, 2006

Washington Post letter 2003 January 10: Israel's Responsibility

Israel's Responsibility

I grew up in Bethesda. Now I live in Israel, and I want to make something clear to Americans:

It's irrelevant which Palestinians support terror and which do not. Israel cannot allow its citizens to be butchered by bombs like the ones on Sunday ["Double Bombing Kills 23 in Israel," front page, Jan. 6]. Israel's statements against a Palestinian state are not political, and they are not vengeful; they are simply statements of fact, that no country can support the killing of its citizens. The same is true of Israel's defensive actions, such as closing Palestinian borders to make sure no terrorists enter Israel.

Our safety is not political or theoretical, it's Israel's responsibility.

BRUCE KRULWICH
Jerusalem

NY Times letter 2005 January 12: Mideast Prospects After Abbas's Victory

Mideast Prospects After Abbas's Victory

To the Editor:

Re ''Signs of Life After Arafat'' (editorial, Jan. 11):

Palestinian terrorism has not, as you claim, ''given the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, an excuse to refuse to negotiate a peace deal.''

Terrorism is non-peace. Terrorism is the antithesis of peaceful coexistence.

For there to be a chance of peace in the Middle East, Western countries must stop making excuses for terror. If terror stops, peace will be possible, and Israel will be thrilled.

Bruce Krulwich
Beit Shemesh, Israel, Jan. 11, 2005

NY Times letter 2003 October 8: When Israel Acts Against Terror

When Israel Acts Against Terror

To the Editor:

Re ''A Turn for the Worse in the Mideast'' (editorial, Oct. 7):

Israelis, and Americans living in Israel, have to live every day with the horrors of their buses, malls and shops being bombed by Palestinian terrorists. Israeli military experts, so venerated by Americans after the World Trade Center attack, determined that the recent Israeli response was the correct one.

How can Americans try to dissuade Israel from doing what it deems best to combat terror?

BRUCE KRULWICH
Jerusalem, Oct. 7, 2003

NY Times letter 2003 May 22: A Viable Mideast Peace

A Viable Mideast Peace

To the Editor:

Re ''Breaking the Mideast Deadlock'' (editorial, May 21):

Israel has lifted Palestinian restrictions many times and has repeatedly demonstrated a willingness to do so.

But this always results in the killing of Israeli civilians, a dozen in the last week alone.

As an American living in Israel, I think that it would be negligent for the Israeli government to open the borders again until there is evidence from the Palestinians that such a move won't lead to the death of Israeli citizens.

BRUCE KRULWICH
Jerusalem, May 21, 2003

NY Times letter 2002 December 18: A Mideast Wall

A Mideast Wall

To the Editor:

Re ''No Peace in Sight, Israelis Trust in a Wall'' (front page, Dec. 17):

To say Israel's construction of a security wall reflects, from the Palestinian viewpoint, ''clear and pure'' hate on Israel's part is to ignore history.

Israel offered more than 90 percent of the West Bank to the Palestinians at Camp David. There was no hatred, only hope for peaceful coexistence. The Palestinians chose instead to start the present war.

The current situation, in which Israel needs a wall for its own safety, was not Israel's choice, but the Palestinians'.

BRUCE KRULWICH
Jerusalem, Dec. 17, 2002

NY Times letter 2002 October 9: East and West Jerusalem

East and West Jerusalem

To the Editor:

''Angry at U.S., Palestinians Ratify Capital in Jerusalem'' (news article, Oct. 7) does not mention the fact that the western half of Jerusalem, where the American government plans to locate a future embassy, has been Israeli since the inception of the state.

The only land under dispute is the eastern half, which Israel offered the Palestinians at Camp David. Perhaps the Palestinians should be angered by Yasir Arafat's having said ''no'' to this offer.

BRUCE KRULWICH
Jerusalem, Oct. 7, 2002

NY Times letter 2002 June 19: Israel's Pain and Arafat's Future

Israel's Pain, and Arafat's Future

To the Editor:

Re ''Suicide Bomber Hits Jerusalem'' (front page, June 18) and ''Sharon Rejects Proposals for Interim Palestinian State'' (news article, June 17):

Suppose another country were killing dozens of Americans a week. Would America be rushing to make ''provisional'' reconciliatory gestures? Or would it do whatever was necessary to guarantee the safety of American citizens?

BRUCE KRULWICH
Jerusalem, June 18, 2002

NY Times letter 2002 April 9: Israel and America, Out of Step

Israel and America, Out of Step

To the Editor:

Re "Israel Persisting With Wide Sweep Despite U.S. Calls"(front page, April 8):

I am an American citizen living in Jerusalem who can't goto the supermarket or coffee shop safely because ofPalestinian terror, and now President Bush wants Israel tostop its military operation before finishing steps toguarantee my safety and the safety of others here.

President Bush made clear with the Taliban hisunderstanding of the need to destroy terroristinfrastructure. Apparently, the lives of Americans (andIsraelis) living in Israel are not worth as much as thoseof Americans living in New York.

If President Bush really wanted to aid peace in the MiddleEast, he would address the true issue and do somethingconcrete to eliminate the terrorism. Then he could get thecredit that former President Bill Clinton wanted at CampDavid, and Israel can safely make offers, as it always has.

BRUCE KRULWICH

Jerusalem, April 8, 2002