To the editor:
In his March 18 letter, Jack E. Cohen is incorrect about three of the four motivations he blames for the continuing Arab-Israeli conflict.
He says "Palestinians are motivated because they are under occupation, stateless and with dreams of ruling all of the former Palestine." However, the so-called occupation was a result of the conflict, not a cause of it, and was all but over long before Yasser Arafat gave the signal to launch the current terrorist offensive in 2000, with more than 95% of the Palestinian Arabs then living in areas governed by their own Palestinian Authority. They also spurned the opportunity to establish their own state. It is clearly only the dream of destroying Israel that motivates them and prevents the end of the conflict.
As far as Israel is concerned, he states "it is evident that the Likud, under the leadership of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, dreams of a West Bank that is part of Israel." That may be a dream, but peace is a far more appealing dream and even virtually all of the so-called hard-liners are prepared to compromise to enable their children and grandchildren to live in peace.
Unfortunately, it takes two to make peace but only one side to prolong conflict. As Golda Meir recognized, peace will only come when the Arabs love their children more than they dream of the destruction of the democratic state of Israel.
Sincerely,
Alan Stein