Letters to the Editor
Rethinking Israeli withdrawal and championing free societiesNicholas Guyatt's editorial from March 11, "Participants in the Slaughter," offers the standard, unconvincing argument for a full Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza without the promise of Arab reciprocation in the form of peace.Not only is a total Israeli withdrawal from all of the territories not mandated by the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions, 242 and 338, but what Guyatt proposes is in fact inimical to the spirit of the resolutions in their demands for a termination of all states of belligerency and the holding of negotiations between the parties to establish a just and durable peace in the Middle East.While an Israeli move, such as the one that Guyatt advocates, is unlikely to result in the establishment of peaceful relations between the Israelis and Palestinians, it is more than likely to embolden radical Arab forces in the region, just as Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000 may have been a factor in instigating the most recent intifada and its maximalist territorial demands.Israel's relinquishing of territory should be contingent upon Palestinian fulfillment of its security obligations towards Israel enshrined in the Oslo Accords, such as the prevention of terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians, by both Islamic groups and factions associated with Arafat's Fatah movement, and the imprisonment of known militants.




