JOHN Lyons quite rightly points out the rise of the Israeli right wing under Benjamin Netanyahu (“Settlers fuel cycle of bloodshed”, 22/11) but seems to suggest this is Netanyahu’s doing. The opposite is true: the growing right wing keeps him in power. And the right wing has grown because of the evidence presented by Palestinians about their intentions.
In the 1990s Israelis still hoped for peace, resulting in the Oslo accord and the withdrawal from south Lebanon. Hamas bus bombings, Hezbollah missiles and Yasser Arafat’s suicide bombing campaign soured that faith and brought the pro-settler Ariel Sharon to power. Hamas’s use of Gaza to pour thousands of missiles into Israel confirmed what withdrawal from the West Bank would bring. New incitement by Mahmoud Abbas and recent lone-wolf terrorism only push Israelis further to the right. Relentless Palestinian aggression is the cause of Israel’s move to the right; Netanyahu and the settlers are only its beneficiaries.
Dov Midalia, Bondi Junction, NSW
JOHN Lyons’ report clearly shows that Israeli leadership is the real culprit. When a people such as the Palestinians are forced to live under a brutal military occupation, they have no choice but to rebel.
Lyons points out that an independent Palestine is the solution. Yet the US cannot promote this solution because of the stranglehold of the Israel lobby on the Congress. The democratic process in the US is corrupted by the same group that promotes the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from West Bank and Gaza.
Bill Mathew, Parkville, Vic
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