Letter: Free a Spy to Help Save the Mideast Talks?

I think this is my #18 in the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/02/opinion/jonathan-pollard-and-the-mideast-peace-talks.html

The Opinion Pages | Letters

Free a Spy to Help Save the Mideast Talks?

APRIL 1, 2014

To the Editor:

I am glad to see that the United States government is considering releasing Jonathan J. Pollard, whose crime, while very serious, is certainly no more serious than each of the hundreds of murders and acts of violence committed by the prisoners whom Israel has already released as good-will gestures in the Mideast peace process.

It is very disturbing, however, to re-enter the recurring dynamic of Israel or the United States making gestures to appease the Palestinians. Israel has released prisoners three times in the last year, and the Palestinians continue to refuse even to agree that the end game involves two states for two peoples.

Shouldn’t a people who have never had a state be the ones making good-will gestures to continue a process that will benefit them the most? Why weren’t the previous good-will gestures, not to mention all the good-will gestures in the last 20 years, enough to expect the Palestinians to take a step themselves?

DOV BRUCE KRULWICH
Beit Shemesh, Israel, April 1, 2014